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Tom Callan, KSL NewsradioPrisoners arriving at the University of Utah Medical Center today are being escorted by two guards. But there may be a new way to cut the prisoner traffic to the hospital.
Fewer than a dozen prisoners today were escorted to the University Medical Center for treatment. Spokesperson Chris Nelson says inmate visits could be reduced by expanding the telehealth system, whereby doctors using high-speed Internet can evaluate inmates in jail on closed-circuit TV.
Nelson says, "What we would like to do is increase the use of that, and we actually think we can reduce the number of transports by 30 percent if we can ramp-up the system a little."
He says the technology also will improve health care.
