Aaron Hernandez’s Suicide Highlights a Huge Gap in Correctional Health

During my residency training, I worked in the hospital responsible for evaluating and treating emergencies in male patients transferred from Rikers Island, New York’s largest jail complex. Shaped like Maui, but far from paradise, Rikers had a population of more than 10,000. It had its own medical staff—not to mention its several grocery stores, chapels, and a car wash. For ongoing medical care and minor issues, a short trip to the on-site infirmary would do. But for anything serious, the men...