Jail health provider, sheriff in showdown over pact
Source: BY NASEEM SOWTI, Ocala STAR-BANNER (FL), July 27, 2007
The private company that provides medical care at the Marion County Jail is refusing to renegotiate the third year of its contract because the Sheriff's Office isn't offering enough money.
"So we will probably end up terminating that contract," Sheriff Ed Dean said on Wednesday.
The contract for Tennessee-based Prison Health Services will end on Oct. 1. Dean would have to find another way to provide medical care for inmates. On Wednesday, he floated one possibility: creating a community nonprofit group to handle the job.