- In July 2023, Utah Department of Health and Human Services took over healthcare in Utah prisons.
- The state bought dialysis machines and six inmates now receiving treatment at the facility.
- Officials say the new program improves security, convenience and health for inmates and saves taxpayers money.
Daniel Lassche sits in a chair inside a narrow room labeled “Dialysis Treatment 2.” The crisp white walls are a stark contrast to the peach-colored door and window frame, which provides a view of a long white hallway with more peach doors. Another man sits beside him, tubes protruding from both of their bodies.
A blue blanket covers Lassche up to the neck as the machine he’s hooked to draws blood from his veins, filters it and returns it to his body over a four-hour process. He’s been receiving this dialysis treatment three times a week for the past 20 years, relying on a machine to do the work his kidneys can’t.
Dialysis is a common treatment for people with kidney disease or kidney failure. According to the American Kidney Fund, “Nearly 555,000 Americans are on dialysis.”
But there’s something different about the setting in which these patients receive care: Officers periodically pass the door of their room with other patients in tow, and the sound of clinking chains echoes through the halls.
These men are receiving their dialysis treatment in prison.
Handcuffed to his chair in one of the two dialysis rooms at Utah State Correctional Facility, Lassche reminisced about the days not long ago when he could leave the prison for his treatments.
“I miss seeing the outside world,” he said.
For most of the years Lassche has been behind bars and receiving dialysis, he was transported to the University of Utah Hospital three times a week for treatment. Dialysis moved in-house for a time back in 2007, but that was later discontinued. In September 2025, dialysis returned to the prison with the installation of five dialysis machines, bought for $40,000 to $50,000 each.
Even though Lassche doesn’t get to leave the prison walls like he used to, he said walking down the hall to get his treatment has its advantages. “I don’t have to go outside in the cold during the winter anymore.”
Saving half a million dollars
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services decided to buy dialysis machines for the prison clinic for several reasons. A big one is how much money officials say it saves.
Tracy Gruber, Utah DHHS commissioner, said when her team started overseeing prison healthcare, the dialysis program was in a deficit. Dr. Marc Wisner, division director of Utah Correctional Health Services, said it was costing $558 per patient per treatment to cover the costs of personnel, transportation and care.
According to Gruber, the change saves taxpayers $525,000 a year. Most of that sum — $400,000, she said — is from transportation costs.
When a prisoner requires dialysis
When an inmate needs dialysis, it’s not as simple as waking up and driving to a clinic. Wisner called providing the care in the community a “high-risk operation.”
First, the prisoners got a 4 a.m. wake-up call every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, depending on which three days they were scheduled for treatment.
After being strip-searched by officers and escorted to a vehicle, inmates were driven to the University of Utah Hospital. Each prisoner needed two corrections officers to accompany them, and there are typically between four and six inmates among the prison population receiving dialysis. Right now, there are six. That’s a lot of prison personnel.
Once they arrived at the hospital, the inmates were escorted to the dialysis clinic where they had their blood filtered for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.
They weren’t separated from other patients at the hospital. “They could be sitting next to your grandma,” Wisner said.
After the treatment, inmates made the journey back to the prison and went through additional screenings before they could return to their cells.
Transporting inmates out of the prison creates security risks whenever it happens, Wisner said. And for dialysis, it was happening six days a week. “Bringing it onsite takes one difficult piece out.”
Instead of transporting prisoners for care every day but Sunday, inmates can now simply walk with an officer to the next building, be treated, then head back to their cells. Wisner also said that between the five machines at the clinic, up to 20 patients could be treated, and the cost doesn’t increase because Utah already owns the machines.
Improving patients’ health
John Oliva, another inmate receiving dialysis at the prison, said the program saved his life. He said he started getting the treatment three months ago after his health severely declined.
“These ladies do a really good job, and they treat me the right way,” he said of the nurses.
Each dialysis patient needs to be treated a specific way, Oliva said. Having the treatment done at the prison creates familiarity between the nurses and inmates, and they can provide each with the specific care that’s needed.
Jillian Flinders is the co-owner of Lifeline Renal Care, the company contracted to provide dialysis treatments at the prison. She said in her 26 years of working in medicine, this is the coolest experience she’s had.
She loves “seeing good happen in an otherwise negative experience,” she said, noting that her staff takes great care of the inmates and sees their health as the main focus, not their criminal pasts.
When inmates were being transported out of the prison for dialysis, it took a toll on their mental health. Wisner said some inmates started to refuse to go to their dialysis treatments because the all-day process was exhausting and stressful. If they refused their treatment, which they had the right to do, their health inevitably declined.
Gruber said now that DHHS oversees healthcare at the prison, inmates’ health outcomes have improved, money has been saved and there is better communication and security throughout the clinic.
Wisner called Utah a “poster child” and said some other states see Utah’s initiative as a model. They’ve also brought other programs into the prison clinic, like ophthalmology and a pharmacy.
“Beyond the balance sheet,” DHHS is improving security, convenience and health outcomes for inmates, he said.
