Check out these costs of medical care in prison. For states looking to cut costs, medical reprieves are the way to go.

Georgia: The state Board of Pardons and Paroles has the authority to release seriously ill prison inmates under the medical reprieve program. Some key facts about the program:

Number of inmates out on medical reprieve: 54

Crimes committed by those on reprieve:

• Drug violations: 16
• Murder: 6
• Armed Robbery: 5
• Burglary: 5
• Robbery: 4
• Voluntary manslaughter: 3
• Aggravated assault: 3
• Arson: 2
• Child Molestation: 2
• Theft by Taking: 2
• Other: 6

The following costs and medical conditions reflect the 10 most expensive in 2002 among individual inmates in the Georgia prison system. The inmates' names were withheld.

• $450,839: Respiratory failure
• $340,423: Lupus, diabetes, renal failure
• $259,450: AIDS, pneumonia
• $172,470: Stroke
• $159,989: Rectal prolapse, surgery
• $153,342: Peritonitis, acute renal failure
• $149,679: Bladder cancer
• $130,529: Cirrhosis of liver
• $131,844: Lung cancer
• $118,888: Aortic aneurysm

Source: State Department of Corrections, state Board of Pardons and Paroles