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Prison Rights Groups Attack Health Care New Provider Faces Lawsuits in Other States

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

The new health care provider for the Indiana Department of Correction has come under sharp criticism from prisoner rights' advocates and faced lawsuits over the quality of health care it has provided inmates in other states.

The department has signed a four-year contract with St. Louis- based Correctional Medical Services Inc. to provide health care services to more than 23,000 adult and juvenile offenders beginning Sept. 1.

The state will save more than $19 million over four years over current prison health-care costs under two new contracts with Correction Medical and dental care provider Mid-America Health Inc. of Indianapolis, DOC spokeswoman Java Ahmed said. She said she did not know how much money the state will pay Correctional Medical. The agency announced the two contracts Monday.

The corrections department and the Department of Administration, which oversees state contracts, both looked into the lawsuits Correctional Medical has faced in other states before striking the deal with the contractor, Ahmed said.

"All major health-care providers have faced litigation at some point," Ahmed said.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued Correctional Medical in June over prison health care in Mississippi. The company also has faced claims in the past nine months in Kentucky and Missouri, following the deaths of inmates.

In the Missouri case, the family of a 33-year-old female inmate sued after the woman died in 2003 of a ruptured brain aneurysm days after complaining of blinding headaches. That case and the death of a second inmate at the same prison led to an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. The division closed the investigation earlier this year without filing charges.

Elizabeth Alexander, director of the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Correctional Medical routinely has failed to provide the minimal level of health care to prisoners required by law.

Her criticisms included the company not providing sufficient access to medical care, timely referrals to specialists and appropriate care for chronic ailments, such as chemotherapy for cancer patients.

In Michigan, where Correctional Medical also provides statewide inmate medical care, a federal court found the company's delays in providing prisoners with referrals to outside specialists contributed to three deaths within 18 months, Alexander said.

"They have a long record of not doing what they need to do in regard to health care," Alexander said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The company, in a statement issued late Tuesday afternoon, called Alexander's criticism inaccurate and unfair.

"Time and again, evaluations have shown that the quality of care provided by CMS and the health-care professionals who serve with us meets or exceeds the standards established in the community," the statement said.

Alexander also criticized the contractor that Correctional Medical is replacing.

Prison Health Services Inc., whose contract runs through the end of this month, has provided Indiana health care since the state privatized it nearly eight years ago.

Source: Evansville Courier & Press

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