The assistant attorney general assigned to the state Department of Corrections said that a report commissioned by the department evaluating the medical care provided to Utah State Prison inmates should not be made public.
"As their legal counsel, I would tell them to keep it confidential because the reason this document was produced was a threatened lawsuit," Assistant Attorney General Stuart Hinckley said.The threat of a lawsuit came last fall from the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has received numerous complaints about the medical care available to inmates at the state prison.
Hinckley said the report was part of the state's effort to avoid ending up in court over the complaints. "We spent many hours negotiating," he said. "This is one of the first steps in the resolution of those problems."
ACLU Executive Director Robyn Blumner, who was given a copy of the report by the department, has said she was asked not to release it to the media and to discuss it only in general terms.
A department spokesman said that the report is considered a confidential document by the department's executive director, Gary DeLand.