AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By DEBORAH CIRCELLI, News Journal (FL), May 03, 2008

DAYTONA BEACH -- The county jail is not physically equipped to deal with the ever-increasing number of inmates with mental illnesses and changes are needed, Volusia County Manager Jim Dineen and County Corrections Director Marilyn Chandler Ford said Friday.

But Dineen said making improvements is "not a quick fix." He's leaning toward a recommendation that the County Council extend for a year its jail health care contract with Prison Health Services. The contract expires Sept. 30.

...... Prison Health Services faces lawsuits locally and nationally by inmates claiming they didn't receive proper medications and treatment. The current psychiatrist, Dr. David Hager, is leaving this month to take a job out of state.

Posted by Info Center at 11:09 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: Pat Shellenbarger, The Grand Rapids Press (MI), March 25, 2008 17:12PM

....... The average annual cost of medical care for each inmate increased by nearly 65 percent over the decade ending in 2006, according to a report by Michigan's auditor general. (.pdf) During that same period, the cost of medical care for the general public grew by a little more than 40 percent.

......... The Corrections Department could control costs by following its own policies and doing a better job of monitoring its contracts with the private companies that provide medical and pharmaceutical services in the prisons, the report suggested.

.......... The audit released Tuesday, however, said medical services in the state's prisons are as good as or better than those covered by Medicare, Medicaid and some privates HMOs, a finding that advocates for inmates dispute.

Just because a medical procedure is listed as covered doesn't mean the Corrections Department or its private contractor, Correctional Medical Services, will pay for it, said Penny Ryder, head of the American Friends Service Committee's criminal justice program.

Posted by Info Center at 11:00 AM in Audits/Reporting | Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: Michigan

Source: By LEE WILLIAMS and ESTEBAN PARRA, The News Journal (DE), Friday, February 1, 2008

Continued poor performance by the Department of Correction's medical vendor could hamper the department's efforts to get out from under supervision by the U.S. Justice Department, according to a new report by an independent monitor overseeing the state prison system.

Correctional Medical Services, a private company Delaware pays millions of dollars a year to provide medical care to inmates, suffers from a "lack of stable and effective leadership," independent monitor Joshua W. Martin III wrote in a 229-page report released Thursday.

Posted by Info Center at 10:52 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink
Tags: Delaware

Source: Associated Press (IN), January 29, 2008

Six black nurses sued a private company operating a Marion County jail Monday, alleging they were fired or forced to leave their jobs because of racism or exposing medical practices that put inmates at risk.

The 10-count complaint alleges Corrections Corp. of America retaliated against the six because they had complained to their supervisors that inmates did not receive prescribed medications, were given wrong medications or were given other patients' drugs to save money.

Posted by Info Center at 10:39 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press (MI), 01.23.08, 1:02 PM ET

Michigan should seriously reconsider having a private company provide health care inside state prisons because doctors and others aren't productive enough, investigators said in a report released Tuesday. (.pdf)

The Chicago-based National Commission on Correctional Health Care found that most doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants average seeing eight to 12 patients a day - which the group said is low.

Related item from the Michigan Department of Corrections: Response to the report (.pdf)

Posted by Info Center at 10:53 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: Michigan

Source: By Diana M. Alba, Sun-News (NM)m 01/11/2008

Some Doña Ana County detention center staff are upset about a county decision to outsource the jail's medical services to a private company because it means employees will lose their jobs.

...... The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners voted in December to pay $2.53 million annually to the Tennesee-based Prison Health Services Inc. to operate the jail's medical wing. The contract goes into effect Jan. 24.

...... The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- a union representing jail workers -- attempted to voice concerns about the outsourcing during a county commission meeting Tuesday. However, county officials declined to allow it to address the commission, saying the matter related to collective bargaining -- discussions that are supposed to take place behind closed doors.

Posted by Info Center at 11:07 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: New Mexico

Source: BY NASEEM S. MILLER, STAR-BANNER (FL), November 21, 2007

Marion County Sheriff's Office is finalizing its contract with a locally formed non-profit group that will provide medical care to Marion County Jail inmates.

Ocala Community Care Inc. will take over the responsibilities of the private company Prison Health Services on Jan. 2, 2008.

Sheriff Ed Dean did not renew PHS' contract for a third year, because the two could not agree on compensation.

Posted by Info Center at 11:16 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: By TODD RUGER, Herald Tribune (FL), November 13, 2007

A jail nurse faces a felony drug charge after replacing an inmate's oxycodone pills with Tylenol and taking the prescription medicine home with her, the Sheriff's Office said.

The arrest comes less than two months after Armor Correctional Medical Services, the nurse's employer, started its contract to provide health care to Sarasota County inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 10:54 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: By CAROL DeMARE, Albany Times Union (NY), Monday, November 12, 2007

County officials are contemplating hiring an outside company to run the mental health unit at the jail, partly because of the suicides of three inmates in the last two years.

Tentative plans call for privatizing the unit within the next six months, even before a new $13 million annex is built at Albany County Correctional Facility on Albany Shaker Road to house 80 to 100 mentally ill inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 10:52 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink
Tags: New York

Source: By Dave Maass, Santa Fe Reporter (NM), September 26, 2007

Over the last year, whistle-blowers have come forward, auditors have released findings, legislative committees have convened. All concluded that Wexford Health Sources Inc., the private company that secured an exclusive contract in 2004 to provide health care to New Mexico inmates, cut corners at the cost of prisoners' well being.

Last year, SFR published an award-winning 15-part series focusing on health care professionals' allegations about the care in the prisons "The Wexford files."

Although Wexford's contract expired on June 30, 2007, inmates are now filing handwritten civil suits leveled at Wexford, the State of New Mexico and its private-prison contractor, the GEO Group.

Posted by Info Center at 1:09 PM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By DOUG SWORD, Herald Tribune (FL), September 18, 2007

A $600,000 increase in the cost to provide medical services to jail inmates has spawned accusations between the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office and the consultant who was in charge of negotiating the deal.

The allegations surround Sheriff Bill Balkwill's decision last month to switch health care providers in the jail. Prison Health Systems, which has had the contract for five years and charged $2.4 million for this year, is out. Armor Correctional Services will be the new provider as of Oct. 1.

Posted by Info Center at 3:09 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: Michael Zeigler, Democrat & Chronicle (NY), August 23, 2007

A state commission has concluded that a private company gave inadequate mental health treatment to a teenager who hanged himself in Monroe County Jail.

A report by the state Commission of Correction stopped short of saying that Correctional Medical Services Inc. of St. Louis, which contracts with the county to provide medical care to jail inmates, was responsible for the death of 16-year-old Javon Leggett on Aug. 29, 2004.

Posted by Info Center at 2:20 PM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Bob Johnson, Associated Press (AL), September 6, 2007

A legislative panel on Thursday delayed a massive $223 million, three-year prison health care contract with a Missouri firm after questions were raised about why the contract didn't go to a company that offered to do the job for $9 million less.

The Legislature's Contract Review Committee also delayed a contract for $3.7 million with a Texas company to consolidate medical information about state Medicaid patients in one computer file after lawmakers raised questions about the company's performance in other states.

Lawmakers also questioned whether the Medicaid computer contract, to be paid from a federal grant, was the best use of resources for the cash-strapped agency whose commissioner has predicted it will need almost $200 million in additional funds next year.

Posted by Info Center at 10:37 AM in Corrections Health | Health | Permalink

Source: By HELEN COLWELL ADAMS, Lancaster Newspapers (PA), Aug 26, 2007 12:15 AM EST

A year after its first attempt at privatizing prison health care was scrapped because of questions about the contractor, the county Prison Board is expected to try again this week to recommend an outside provider for inmate medical services.

The Prison Board, which includes the county commissioners and other top officials, has narrowed the field of four candidates to CFG Health Systems of New Jersey and PrimeCare Medical of Harrisburg.

Posted by Info Center at 10:43 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: Michael Zeigler, Democrat & Chronicle (NY), August 23, 2007

A state commission has concluded that a private company gave inadequate mental health treatment to a teenager who hanged himself in Monroe County Jail.

A report by the state Commission of Correction stopped short of saying that Correctional Medical Services Inc. of St. Louis, which contracts with the county to provide medical care to jail inmates, was responsible for the death of 16-year-old Javon Leggett on Aug. 29, 2004.

Posted by Info Center at 10:12 AM in Corrections Health | Mental Health | Permalink
Tags: New York

Source: Star Banner (FL), August 2, 2007

Sheriff Ed Dean has a problem. He is cancelling a nearly $5 million-a-year contract with Prison Health Services, the provider of health care to Marion County Jail inmates, because he believes the care, the costs and the controversy that shrouds PHS are unsatisfactory. Problem is, the sheriff has no replacement for PHS in the wings - at least not yet.

....... What Dean is proposing is the creation of a community-based health care system for the jail, utilizing local medical professionals and institutions. It's a bold concept that has has been tried and succeeded in a handful of communities. Moreover, Dean argues his problem is no problem at all. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity not just for the Sheriff's Office, but for the community at large, where one out of every six residents has no health insurance coverage.

Posted by Info Center at 11:55 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

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.

Posted by Info Center at 11:42 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: Daytona Beach News Journal (FL), July 17, 2007

Volusia County officials took a leap of faith two years ago, hiring a private company to handle health care at local correctional facilities. They took that leap knowing full well that the company -- Tennessee-based Prison Health Services -- had a troubled history.

........ Within a year of the contract, there were rumblings about trouble. One local minister said her husband was deprived of his antianxiety and antidepression medication at the jail -- and subsequently turned violent. Local defense attorneys said their clients weren't getting the medication they needed to be lucid for court.

In recent months, the picture has become much clearer. Inmates who come into the jail on medication for mental disorders are routinely deprived of it -- no matter how badly they need it, and despite the fact that many of these medications carry stern warnings against discontinuing them suddenly.

Posted by Info Center at 11:04 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By LEE WILLIAMS and ESTEBAN PARRA, The News Journal (DE), Friday, July 6, 2007

The state’s new prison monitor released his first semi-annual report today, which is highly critical of Correctional Medical Services, the Department of Correction’s medical contractor.

....... However, the team did identify several problem areas, such as poor sanitation and chronic understaffing by Correctional Medical Services.

........ The reason for the understaffing, Martin’s team discovered, was an unwillingness by Correctional Medical Services to spend money.

Posted by Info Center at 3:19 PM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL), July 6, 2007

A nurse who works with juvenile offenders in Polk County was arrested Thursday on charges of battery and false imprisonment, authorities said.

....... Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Wood said Petreit is a contract nurse assigned to the STAR program and employed by Correctional Medical Services.

Posted by Info Center at 10:47 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Kim Smith, Arizona Daily Star, 07.09.2007

......... officials at the Pima County jail are quick to brag about the recent changes at their facility, particularly those in the areas of medical and mental health treatment.

........ As UPH Hospital grows, the jail will get more use out of a new telemedicine machine, said jail Capt. Greg Gearhart. The machine lets a doctor and patient in an examining room at the jail on Silverlake Road near Mission Road or at the jail in Ajo consult, via video, with a doctor at UPH Hospital, Gear-hart said.

In addition to the new equipment, the jail has had a new medical provider for the past year. St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services was given a two-year, $18.5 million contract in April 2006. As part of the contract, CMS provides individual, group and recreational therapy to mentally ill inmates — services unavailable at the jail before, Gearhart said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:46 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Heather Ratcliffe, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (MO), Thursday, Jun. 07 2007

A delay in letting paramedics into the city jail and "substandard" emergency care by staff there may have doomed an inmate who suffered an asthma attack, according to a blistering report by the fire department.

........ And autopsy findings obtained Wednesday showed no trace of the drug that jail nurses said they repeatedly administered to ease Kimble's breathing

........ "People don't generally die of an asthma attack when they go to the hospital," Wallach said. "I fully believe our evidence will show if she was treated properly, she would have been fine."

Sam Simon, the city director of public safety, pledged to learn more about what happened, and about the medical care provided under contract for more than $5 million a year by Correctional Medical Services. The Creve Coeur-based private company has come under heavy criticism in Missouri and elsewhere for years.

Posted by Info Center at 10:50 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Gus G. Sentementes, Baltimore Sun (MD), March 1, 2007

....... Faced with pressure to improve the system, particularly in Baltimore, state officials offered separate contracts for the prison system's varying health care needs. Different companies were awarded contracts for medical, dental, mental health and pharmaceutical coverage. These contractors now "pass-through" the costs of their goods and services to the state for reimbursement. For fiscal year 2006, the tab for inmate health care in the state totaled $109.7 million.

(.pdf) Auditors found that medical care, dental care and mental health care providers weren't providing required levels of staff. They also noted problems with medical screenings, chronic care checkups, medication dispensation and timely treatment based on inmate needs.

Posted by Info Center at 11:18 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: BY Robert Balicki, Daily Californian (CA), Tuesday, February 6, 2007

DUBLIN—The medical center at a county jail that some say has poor medical care will hire additional personnel this year following the jail’s settlement of negotiations with the health care providers’ union.

....... Union officials said the health workers were ill-equipped to respond to the inmates’ medical needs. “There were many days when the staffing levels were as low as 50 percent of the staffing levels that Prison Health Services had committed to provide in their contract,” said Dana Simon, spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers-West. “Absolutely, it was affecting the basic care.”

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By TERRY GANEY, Columbia Tribune (MO), Tuesday, January 16, 2007

University of Missouri Health Care would help a private company deliver medical care through an electronic network to thousands of state prison inmates under a bid being considered by state officials. The health-care system has partnered with Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources Inc. for a Department of Corrections contract that could generate more than $100 million a year in gross revenue.

Posted by Info Center at 1:22 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: The News Journal (DE), Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 4:23 pm

For six months in 2005, The News Journal examined conditions of care within the state's prisons. In late September 2005, the newspaper published a series of stories highlighting AIDS-related inmate deaths and suicides over the past four years; allegations by inmates of poor medical treatment for cancer, meningitis and hepatitis; and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services to manage health care in the state's prisons.

Posted by Info Center at 11:45 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Angela Woodall, InsideBayArea.com (CA), 01/05/2007 03:09:38 AM PST

Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker is probing accusations that severe understaffing of medical personnel at two Alameda County jails is endangering their safety and inmates' health.

The inquiry by Lai-Bitker, the board's Health Committee chairwoman, came in response to complaints by Prison Health Services workers that staffing was 30 to 50 percent below contract requirements from August to December.

Posted by Info Center at 11:40 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: JEFF ECKHOFF, Des Moines REGISTER (IA), November 24, 2006

Polk County supervisors, concerned that a privately run jail medical clinic hasn't pinched pennies enough, have launched a search for someone to keep an eye on how it is operated. Supervisors voted unanimously this week to hire a new "health services administrator" to oversee the county's contract with Correctional Medical Services Inc., a St. Louis company.

Posted by Info Center at 1:26 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Jim Ash, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), November 21, 2006

After making a dramatic decision not to award a $707 million contract for prison health care, the Florida Department of Corrections spent its first day Monday managing the job itself. ........ McDonough said the solution they came up with is a ''hybrid'' form of privatization that involves issuing 145 smaller contracts and purchasing orders. The department does not have to hire additional workers to get the job done, McDonough said.

Posted by Info Center at 1:57 PM in Corrections Health | Publicization | Permalink

Source: By JOE FOLLICK AND KAREN VOYLES, Gainesville Sun (FL), Nov 18, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Ending one of the largest and most contentious privatization efforts in state history, the Florida Department of Corrections has decided to break apart a $700 million effort to provide health care for inmates in South Florida. Instead of handing the effort to one company, DOC Secretary James McDonough said Friday the agency will buy supplies and services from nearly 150 sources. McDonough made the move after an error was found in an earlier decision to allow Prison Health Services to keep the $700 million contract over 10 years.

Posted by Info Center at 10:32 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Pat Shellenbarger, The Grand Rapids Press (MI), Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Declaring the "days of dead wood in the Department of Corrections are over," U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen ordered (.pdf) state prison officials immediately to improve care of mentally ill inmates and stop using restraints as punishment.

......... Enslen concluded with a warning to Corrections Department officials and Correctional Medical Services (CMS), the for-profit company under contract to care for Michigan's prisoners. Anyone who fails to provide proper care "may be arrested," he wrote, adding: "The days of dead wood in the Department of Corrections are over, as are the days of CMS intentionally delaying referrals and care for craven profit motives."

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By Jim Ash, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), November 7, 2006

A Pennsylvania-based prison health-care firm filed a formal protest Monday, disputing the Department of Corrections decision to award a $707 million, 10-year contract to a rival company with a troubled history. Wexford Health Sources Inc. filed a 10-page protest late in the day, saying that its lowest bid of $689 million should have given it the advantage and that the department made mistakes in calculating its financial strength.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Shay Totten, Vermont Guardian, November 3, 2006

WATERBURY — After losing more than $1 million in three months, the out-of-state company in charge of providing medical services to Vermont’s nearly 1,700 inmates has told corrections officials it wants out of its three-year contract.

The state and Prison Health Services have been at the bargaining table for the past four months, but hit an impasse Monday, company officials said, and gave the state three months notice that it would not finish the last year of its contract.

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Mike Zapler, Mercury News (CA), Wed, Nov. 01, 2006

Contractors that provide drug treatment to California parolees received $5 million more from the state than they were entitled to because of lax oversight by corrections officials, according to an audit released Tuesday (.pdf).

The report by the state inspector general's office also revealed that one contractor, Mental Health Systems, overstated its expenses by $250,000 over a period of several years by continuing to charge the state the full cost of 22 automobiles, even after they had depreciated significantly in value.

....... Representatives of the other three contractors named in the report -- Walden House of San Francisco, WestCare and Phoenix Houses -- did not return calls for comment.

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: Palm Beach Post Editorial (FL), Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Floridians who thought Gov. Bush was on to something when he touted privatization as the cure-all for government's ills know better now after seven years of disappointing results. When it comes to disappointment, no private contractor has been worse than Prison Health Services.

Posted by Info Center at 11:33 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By KAREN VOYLES, Gainesville Sun (FL), Oct 24, 2006

Florida's prison chief is giving another chance - and another $58 million - to a company that is bailing out of a health care contract for a quarter of the state's inmates. Prison Health Services of Tennessee signed a 10-year, $644.8 million contract earlier this year, promising to provide health care for inmates in Region IV - southernmost Florida - of the Department of Corrections. Over the summer, the company announced it would pull out of the deal in November after 10 months, claiming the contract "underperformed financially."

Posted by Info Center at 11:42 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By KAREN VOYLES, Gainesville Sun (FL), September 19, 2006

Back in January, the Department of Corrections thought it had health care for a quarter of all state inmates taken care of for a decade. Prison officials signed a nearly $69 million-a-year contract with Prison Health Services to provide health care for inmates in 13 South Florida prisons for the next 10 years. Instead of 10 years, however, the contract will end up lasting just over 10 months.

Officials at Prison Health Services, owned by the publicly traded American Service Group, said they based their winning low bid for the contract on faulty numbers from the state. They also blamed rising health care costs for needing to bail out of a contract that they said "underperformed financially."

Related article from the Sun Sentinel: Tennessee firm backs out of $792 million deal to provide health care to Fla. inmates

Posted by Info Center at 2:02 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By ANNE GEGGIS, Daytona Beach News Journal (FL), September 07, 2006

A private company took over health care for Volusia County's jail last year, promising to save the county $2.2 million through 2008. But today the County Council will be asked to increase its spending on jail medical services by $1 million so Prison Health Services can complete this year's contract, which ends in three weeks.

Posted by Info Center at 2:28 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Dan Frosch, Santa Fe Reporter, August 30, 2006

A Santa Fe dentist and his assistant say they quit their jobs at the Penitentiary of New Mexico in 2004 because of concerns that state inmates were not receiving adequate dental care. Dr. Norton Bicoll and Sharon Daily left their employment at Wexford Health Sources, which handles health care in nine New Mexico correctional facilities, because the company ordered them to cut their hours for inmates in half, they say.

Posted by Info Center at 10:19 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By JOE FOLLICK, Gainesville Sun (FL), Aug 23, 2006

One of the state's largest privatization efforts is ending abruptly with Prison Health Services' decision to end work with the Florida Department of Corrections nearly eight years before the contract was to expire. ..... "The contract has underperformed financially," a news release states, "primarily due to a higher than anticipated volume of off-site hospitalization services.

Posted by Info Center at 1:50 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: Detroit Free Press (MI), August 22, 2006

Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Monday ordered an independent review of the troubled prison health care system. …. The move follows a Free Press investigation that revealed widespread problems with how medical care is delivered to the state's 50,000 inmates, including the Aug. 6 death of a mentally ill inmate who had spent most of his last four days in four-point restraints. …. The review will cover the entire $190-million-a-year prison health care system, including a $70-million contract with Missouri-based Correctional Medical Services Inc., and the additional $90 million a year the state spends on mental health services, Marlan said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:26 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: BY CHARLIE FRAGO, Arkansas Democrat & Gazette, Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Providing psychiatric care to prison inmates will no longer be a state job after the Board of Corrections decided Monday to hire a private medical contractor to staff the position. The move came after two psychiatrists gave notice of their resignation recently, leaving the Department of Correction with just three part-time practitioners for about 13, 500 inmates. ....... Monday’s unanimous vote authorizes an expansion of the department’s $ 43 million contract with Correctional Medical Services Inc. by $ 1, 385, 000. The St. Louis-based company is in the third year of a 10-year contract with the Correction Department to provide medical services to inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 1:10 PM in Corrections Health | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By M. William Salganik, Baltimore Sun, July 14, 2006

....... Working at her kitchen table, she and two partners, all pharmacists, put together a business plan for Correct Rx Pharmacy Services, a name chosen to represent both accuracy in filling orders and a target market of correctional facilities.

...... In the beginning, "We focused most of our marketing on the correctional market," she said. Correct Rx's largest customer, and one of its first, is the GEO Group Inc., a private company that manages and provides medical services to prisons. GEO manages prisons in 16 states with some 43,000 beds.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (MS), Mon, Jun. 26, 2006

JACKSON - State officials are defending their decision to no longer require prison inmates to undergo chest X-rays to test for tuberculosis, saying current tests are more cost-effective and meet national guidelines. ....... The state pays Correctional Medical Services $6.82 per inmate per day to cover health services. That company suggested eliminating the X-rays because of cost overruns, and the state Health Department and MDOC agreed.

Posted by Info Center at 10:40 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: JEFF GERRITT, Detroit Free Press (MI), June 19, 2006

This is the first in an occasional series of columns on problems with the health care system for state prison inmates.

..... the quality of prison health care seems to have gotten worse since 2000, when the state contracted with Correctional Medical Services Inc. for primary care physicians and other services. It should be getting better. The Michigan Department of Corrections has been under a federal consent decree since 1985 to improve medical care and other conditions at prisons in Jackson.

Posted by Info Center at 10:18 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: BEN NEARY, Associated Press (WY), Friday, June 23, 2006

CHEYENNE -- The State of Wyoming has paid $50,000 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a former Wyoming prison inmate from Casper who blamed the state Department of Corrections and a private company that provided medical care to inmates for the loss of his lower right leg. ........Lucido contended that prison officials and Correctional Medical Services, a private company that provided health care to inmates, delayed taking him to a hospital where his foot might have been saved.

Posted by Info Center at 10:15 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: BY JASON GROTTO, Miami Herald (FL), Mon, Jun. 19, 2006

ARCADIA - Holding the razor in his mouth, Ernest Contrillo ran the blade over his right wrist seven times as blood flowed from the crooked wounds. It wasn't the first time he mutilated himself inside the Florida Civil Commitment Center. ....

...... With Liberty's contract set to expire June 30, the Florida Department of Children & Families -- the agency that runs the program -- has the difficult job of cleaning up a treatment center it allowed to deteriorate during the past seven years. DCF lays most of the blame for the center's woes on its Pennsylvania-based contractor and has decided to manage the center until January 2007, when the international corrections company GEO Group is slated to take over the contract. But Liberty, which holds similar contracts in four other states, says the agency's decisions and the state's refusal to adequately fund the program caused it to falter.

Posted by Info Center at 10:31 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Steve Terrell, The New Mexican, May 31, 2006

A state prison contractor involved in the investigation of a relationship between Corrections Secretary Joe Williams and a lobbyist contributed $10,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign. The political-action committee for Aramark -- a Philadelphia-based company that makes millions of dollars a year to feed New Mexico inmates -- contributed to Richardson's campaign in May 2005, according to Richardson's most recent campaign-finance report.

...... The Governor's Office announced this week that Williams is being put on administrative leave while the state Personnel Office investigates his relationship with Ann E. Casey, who registered as a lobbyist for Aramark and Wexford Health Services, which provides health care to New Mexico inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Corrections | Corrections Health | Food Services | Permalink

Source: By PATRICK JACKSON and ESTEBAN PARRA, The News Journal (DE), 05/19/2006

....... The committee, which is amending Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's proposed $3 billion budget for the year that begins July 1, did add some extra money for prison health care. The panel agreed to pay the state's private health care provider more for existing services, and for several positions to better oversee Correctional Medical Services. The panel added $2.9 million as an "inflation adjustment" for the CMS contract, raising the annual cost by 11 percent to more than $28.8 million. The multiyear contract was transferred to CMS without bidding last July on an emergency basis.

Posted by Info Center at 10:16 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By KRISTEN GELINEAU, The Associated Press (VA), 5/14/2006

A prison health care company that has come under fire nationally for what some call shoddy medical care is under contract with the Virginia Department of Corrections and stirring similar complaints here. Prison Health Services, the largest U.S. provider of health care to inmates, has been the target of lawsuits and allegations of poor medical care and neglect in other states and now provides care to about one-third of Virginia's 31,270 inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 9:51 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: KYTJA WEIR, Charlotte Observer (NC), Wed, May. 03, 2006

A 51-year-old woman awaiting trial on a misdemeanor charge died Tuesday morning while in custody at a Mecklenburg County Jail, prompting routine investigations into whether officials did all they could to help her ...... Prison Health Services, the jail's Tennessee-based private health care provider, is conducting its own investigation into how its employees responded, said company spokesman John Van Mol.

Posted by Info Center at 9:51 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By JOHN GHIRARDINI, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 05/02/06

Nearly 175 inmates and employees at the Gwinnett County Detention Center were put on antibiotics after the weekend death of an inmate, officials said Monday. Detainee Zachary Harris, 20, died from an infection in his bloodstream at Gwinnett Medical Center on Saturday after being admitted three days earlier, jail officials said. A Detention Center physician said Harris' blood contained a bacterium that commonly causes meningitis.

......... Medical services at the jail have been under scrutiny since the October 2005 death of inmate Harriet Washington, 43, who had myeloid leukemia........ In March, Conway appointed 26-year department veteran Maj. J.J. Hogan to oversee Prison Health Services on a full-time basis. PHS has a $6 million annual contract with the county.

Posted by Info Center at 1:07 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By LEE WILLIAMS, ESTEBAN PARRA and PATRICK JACKSON, The News Journal (DE), 04/12/2006

DOVER -- All inmates in Delaware prisons would be tested for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and tuberculosis and guards would be trained as medical caregivers -- including for emergency childbirth -- under a bill unveiled Tuesday by a coalition of state lawmakers, prison guards and clergy. The sweeping reform bill, which has the support of minority and majority leaders in the Senate, also would require the Department of Correction's medical service provider to deliver records of inmate deaths within three days to the Medical Society of Delaware's Prison Health Committee for review and make other records available to the state for audit. Inmate medical grievances must be sent to the Department of Correction.

Posted by Info Center at 11:12 AM in Corrections Health | Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: By LEE WILLIAMS and ESTEBAN PARRA, The News Journal (DE), 04/09/2006

Kimwayna "Kim" Allen gave birth to twins in a toilet stall at Baylor Women's Correctional Institution last month, after she says a prison nurse employed by Correctional Medical Services ignored her complaints of powerful contractions, which began 24 hours prior to the births. ..... The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division launched a federal investigation into prison health care in Delaware on March 8 -- a probe Correction Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor Jr. and Gov. Ruth Ann Minner opposed and lobbied to stop. Although Minner agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department, the governor told U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the federal probe was not necessary.

Posted by Info Center at 10:14 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By JENNIFER LIBERTO, St Petersburg Times (FL), April 1, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Department of Corrections is killing two no-bid contracts with a private company, together valued at $84-million, after months of criticism and a scathing audit. In two letters written Friday, interim prison boss James McDonough wrote that the state is ending two contracts with Tallahassee's TYA Pharmaceuticals, including one to repackage medications for prisoners, worth $72-million, and the other to split tablets, valued at $12-million. ..... The state plans to take over the pill splitting at the end of 30 days, conducting the work in-house at a savings, McDonough wrote.

Posted by Info Center at 11:39 AM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Publicization | Permalink

Source: By MAUREEN MILFORD, The News Journal (DE), 03/26/2006

Jackie Battaglia Moore was a 30-year-old nurse in 1978 when she saw a market opportunity and seized it. A Wilmington native and graduate of the University of Delaware, Moore is widely credited with pioneering the private, for-profit prison health industry. ..... But if Moore had to start all over in the current prison health environment, she wouldn't do it. Skyrocketing prescription costs and the rising number of prisoners with mental illness, hepatitis C and age-related diseases have changed the landscape, she said. ..... Privatization arose in part after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that people behind bars have a constitutional right to health care. When companies like PHS emerged in the late 1970s, states quickly saw them as a way to outsource a function to a private firm that promised to be more efficient at delivering and managing care, experts said.

Posted by Info Center at 9:46 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: The State (SC), Fri, Mar. 24, 2006

RICHLAND COUNTY is wise to replace the company that provides medical services at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in a response to suicides and other problems at the jail. It’s unfortunate that it took inmate deaths and lawsuits to get the county to act. But the change should increase public confidence in the operation of the jail. The county has negotiated a $2.7 million annual contract with Tennessee-based Correct Care Solutions to provide medical and mental health services. It replaces Prison Health Services Inc., also of Tennessee. County Council fired Prison Health after the deaths of three mentally ill inmates.

Posted by Info Center at 12:16 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By STEVE BOUSQUET, St. Petersburg Times (FL), March 14, 2006

After a scathing audit of two no-bid contracts for prescription drugs for prison inmates, interim prison boss James McDonough is considering scrapping the deals and having the state do the work itself. "It was a poorly managed contract," McDonough said after testifying Monday before a legislative committee. "I think this is a classic case of mismanagement." At issue are two contracts worth $84-million between the prisons and TYA Pharmaceuticals of Tallahassee: one to repackage medications for prisoner use, the other to split tablets. The larger deal, worth $72-million, began in 1998 under a Democratic administration. The second, worth $12-million, was inked last year. ..... Among the problems cited: The Corrections Department did not seek bids, did not have adequate records of a former prison official who later went to work for TYA, did not run background checks on TYA employees and did not keep adequate paperwork.

Posted by Info Center at 11:13 AM in Audits/Reporting | Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By LEE WILLIAMS and ESTEBAN PARRA, The News Journal (DE), 03/08/2006

Federal civil rights regulators will enter Delaware prisons within days with the authority to assume control of operations and health care if the state refuses to allow a U.S. Justice Department examination of inmate medical care and prison management, which could take years to complete. The announcement came today, on the heels of a five-month preliminary inquiry by the Justice Department during which federal regulators interviewed the same medical experts, inmates and families of dead inmates who spoke to The News Journal late last year during the newspaper’s six-month investigation of prison health care. ...... During the course of the newspaper’s investigation, reporters discovered that Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor awarded a $25.9 million, no-bid contract for inmate health care to Correctional Medical Services -- a private medical contractor with a history of litigation over how the company provides medical care. Minner and Taylor also refused to release -- publicly or to lawmakers -- an audit of prison health care they say prompted the emergency hiring of Correctional Medical Services.

Posted by Info Center at 12:48 PM in Audits/Reporting | Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (WY), Sunday, February 26, 2006

CHEYENNE (AP) -- An independent audit of health services provided to Wyoming prison inmates reported improvement in the system since the last quarterly audit in October. The latest audit found that in December, only 5.8 percent of incoming inmates were not being given health screenings within 24 hours of arrival and only 1.6 percent of new arrivals were not screened within a week, according to the Department of Corrections. That was down from 36.2 percent and 27.3 percent, respectively, in October.

Posted by Info Center at 1:56 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: BY DAN CHRISTENSEN, Miami Herald (FL), Wed, Feb. 08, 2006

A politically connected Coconut Creek company that provides inmate healthcare services at the Broward County Jail has won a multimillion-dollar, three-year no-bid contract to provide medical services to county prisoners in Palm Beach County. Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw hired Armor Correctional Health Services last month after quietly dumping St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services. Florida sheriffs are not required by law to use a competitive process to award contracts, but they often do when large contracts are involved.

Posted by Info Center at 3:29 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By PAUL von ZIELBAUER, New York Times, January 31, 2006

The deputy commissioner responsible for the city health department's Medicaid and jail health care programs resigned last Friday after only seven months on the job. His resignation is the latest of several recent departures and reassignments of doctors and administrators who supervised jail medical and mental health services, including the resignation this month of the assistant commissioner who oversaw the jail health program's daily operation. ..... Managing a jail health care program as complex as New York City's is a daunting task for any administrator, one that the city's Tennessee-based medical contractor, Prison Health Services, has often made more difficult, city officials say, since taking over the contract in 2001. With varying degrees of success, city health officials have repeatedly prodded the company to improve its care, particularly for mentally ill and suicidal inmates, six of whom hung themselves during a six-month period in 2003. At the moment, only one of the top two jobs in charge of the health department's jail health care program is filled, and not by a doctor, leaving no one with much experience dealing with inmates' medical problems to monitor Prison Health Services.

Posted by Info Center at 2:46 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By PAUL von ZIELBAUER, New York Times (NY), January 27, 2006

The Tennessee company that provides health care to city inmates failed to meet one-fourth of its contractual performance standards for a third consecutive quarter last year, city records show. The latest review, completed this month, prompted city health officials to withhold $71,000 in payments to the company, the largest quarterly penalty for poor jail care since 2001. In the third quarter of 2005, the company, Prison Health Services, did not meet medical or mental health standards in 10 of 39 areas, including those covering H.I.V. treatment, mental health care and suicide watch, records show.

Posted by Info Center at 1:13 PM in Corrections Health | Horror Stories | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By J.L. MILLER, The News Journal (DE), 01/26/2006

DOVER -- Lee McMillan, whose husband nearly died in prison after flesh-eating bacteria attacked his body, wants to know why the state won't release an audit of Delaware's prison health care system. So do some legislators, who are backing a bill that would require the state to release the audit and similar reports -- as long as confidential information such as personal medical records is withheld. House Bill 320, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Wagner, R-Dover North, would make reports that are paid for with public funds open to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.

..... In defending his record, Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor pointed to the audit, prepared by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, but denied a Freedom of Information request for the report by the newspaper. Taylor and former Attorney General M. Jane Brady ruled the accreditation report was not a public document. Taylor, though, said the audit was critical of the work of First Correctional Medical, a Tucson, Ariz., company. In July, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and Taylor awarded a $25.9 million no-bid contract to Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis to pick up the provision of medical care in Delaware's prisons.