|
Alachua County Jail, Gainesville, Florida
January 13, 2005 WCJB TV20
An Alachua County inmate was still warm to the touch Wednesday when Alachua
County Sheriff's deputies found him dead in his cell. Investigators say it
was an apparent suicide raising questions about mental health care at the
jail.
Delaware Department of Corrections
May 11, 2006 News Journal
State Sen. Harris McDowell III, D-Wilmington North, has added another bill
to an assortment of pending measures designed to address the medical
condition of inmates in Delaware's prisons. Senate Majority Leader McDowell
on Wednesday introduced Senate Bill 306, which would require the state
Medical Examiner's Office to investigate each death in a state correction
facility and conduct an autopsy. The bill follows a series in The News
Journal last fall that detailed a large number of deaths inside state
prisons and inadequate medical care. The series helped prompt an
investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
March 9, 2006 News Journal
After years of high inmate death rates due to HIV/AIDS, suicide and
poor medical care, federal civil rights regulators have launched an
investigation of Delaware's prison medical system -- a process that could
take years to complete and forever change the way the state treats its
6,800 inmates. The investigation comes on the heels of a five-month
preliminary inquiry by the Justice Department during which federal
regulators interviewed many of 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. As
with the newspaper's investigation, the Justice Department uncovered
significant problems at the Delaware Department of Correction. The federal
investigation now may involve FBI agents and grand juries with subpoena
power."Thank you, Jesus. I've been praying for this so hard,"
said Susie Wilson, whose son, Jermaine Lamar Wilson, was found hanging in
his cell with blood-stained clothes and a gash on his head. It was Feb. 18,
2005 -- the day his family says he was scheduled to be released after
serving time for robbery. Wilson's death is now the focus of a federal
wrongful death lawsuit, which claims Jermaine Lamar Wilson
was murdered while being held at the Delaware Correctional Center near
Smyrna. The federal investigation will be conducted by the Special
Litigation Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. A
News Journal special report on inmate health care published in September
revealed sometimes gruesome details of neglect, such as an inmate's massive
brain tumor -- largely ignored by staff -- which led to his death, and an
outbreak of flesh-eating bacteria. Other findings of the newspaper's
six-month investigation were inmate death rates -- specifically
AIDS-related and suicide -- far above the national norm. During the
newspaper's investigation, reporters discovered that Minner and 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 CMS. Former
prison doctor Ramesh Vemulapalli, an AIDS specialist practicing in Dover,
said the investigation is long overdue. Vemulapalli said he quit working in
Delaware prisons because he was not allowed to provide adequate care.
"I think the investigation will help make reforms in the prison
system," Vemulapalli said. "It's a good thing. It will benefit
the people of Delaware."
February 18, 2006 News Journal
Correction Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor Jr.'s failure to properly
train his staff to recognize suicidal inmates and properly care for them
allowed Christopher Barkes to hang himself in his prison cell in November
2004, a federal lawsuit contends. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court
in Wilmington by his family members, said the prison's former medical
provider also failed to properly train staff to recognize and properly care
for inmates who had made previous attempts on their lives. That medical
provider, Arizona-based First Correctional Medical, or FCM, pulled out of
its contract last year. During his time at the Young Correctional
Institution in Wilmington, the suit said, Barkes told prison officials he
had attempted suicide before. Prison staff placed him in a cell alone,
though, with no suicide watch, the suit said. Barkes, 37, was found
unconscious the following morning and taken to Christiana Hospital, where
he died. Prison officials determined Barkes used his bedsheet to hang
himself. Taylor often defends his department by noting it is accredited by
the national commission, a process that cost taxpayers $12,400. Taylor,
though, has declined to make public an audit by the commission on prison
health care, saying it contains inmate medical information and peer reviews
of doctors. Lawmakers, who have repeatedly asked for the report, even if
elements are blacked out, are considering legislation to make it public.
Barkes' case came to light during an investigation by The News Journal last
year. The six-month investigation highlighted allegations by inmates of
poor medical treatment for cancer, meningitis and hepatitis; a no-bid $25.9
million contract awarded to the current health care provider, Correctional
Medical Services, based in St. Louis; and a comparatively high rate of
AIDS-related inmate deaths and suicides over a four-year period. Another
lawsuit filed by a prisoner highlighted in the newspaper articles was
settled out of court in October. Anthony Pierce, also known to inmates as
"the brother with two heads," was serving a 14-month sentence for
a parole violation when a small lump appeared on the back of his head. At
the time, a prison doctor employed by Correctional Medical Services said
the marble-size lump was a cyst or an ingrown hair. The tumor kept growing,
and on March 22, 2002, Pierce died from a "brain tumor, due to osteosarcoma
of the skull," according to an autopsy report. The conditions revealed
in the articles are the subject of an inquiry by the U.S. Department of
Justice's Civil Rights Division. "Stan Taylor said that they follow
the guidelines, and it is clear that they didn't," said Barkes' wife,
Karen. She also said "it is discouraging that the lawmakers aren't
doing anything to change the problems in the prisons." The lawsuit
targets Taylor and FCM, along with prison warden Raphael Williams, the
Department of Correction and unknown Correction Department and FCM
employees. The suit, which alleges wrongful death and cruel and unusual
punishment, seeks compensatory and punitive damages to be set by the court.
Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com. Contact
investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or
lwilliams@delawareonline.com.
February 16, 2006 Delaware State News
The legislature’s budget-writing committee on Thursday urged the head of
the state Department of Correction to release a 2005 report evaluating
prisoner medical care. Should the report stay under wraps, some of the
panel’s members are ready to include language in the fiscal year 2007
budget bill forcing it to be made public. The audit, performed by the
National Commission on Correctional Health Care, turned up enough
deficiencies that DOC switched care providers. The contract with
Arizona-based First Correctional Medical was terminated and the state
signed a deal with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services.
Legislators, the Delaware State News and other news organizations requested
copies of the report last year under the Freedom of Information Act, but
were denied.
January 26, 2006 Wilmington News
Journal
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. The News
Journal requested the audit, which cost taxpayers $12,400, while
investigating AIDS-related inmate deaths and suicides of Delaware prisoners
as well as reports of poor medical treatment for cancer, meningitis and
hepatitis. Prompted in part by a series of News Journal stories, the U.S.
Department of Justice is conducting an inquiry into the Department of
Correction's management and inmate health care. 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. Rep. Pamela S. Maier,
R-Drummond Hill, is a House co-sponsor who said she believes that
"sunshine helps" in governmental affairs. "I think the
public needs to know, and if they're not satisfied, we need to keep the
pressure on the Department of Correction and [prison health care provider
Correctional Medical Services] to improve the health of our
prisoners."
November 18, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
A Department of Correction official said Thursday that Medicaid and its
former medical service provider owe St. Francis Hospital less than $500,000
in past-due bills. That amount is half of what a committee reported they
owed the hospital two months. But exactly how much Medicaid and
Arizona-based First Correctional Medical, which provided services to the
prison until July, owe St. Francis and other health care providers remains
unknown, said Joyce Talley, the department's bureau chief of management
services. It's also unclear what portion of the unpaid bills is owed by
Medicaid and by First Correctional Medical of Tucson, Ariz. "I still
don't have my arms around the whole thing," Talley said. First
Correctional Medical's owner and founder, Dr. Tammy Kastre, did not return
calls made to her firm Thursday.
November 8, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
Family members of dead, dying or grievously ill inmates lashed out at
Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor on Monday night, accusing Taylor and
the prison's medical vendor of causing illnesses and deaths by providing
inadequate medical care to the state's 6,800 inmates. Some of those who
testified said the state treats its inmates worse than animals. The public
scolding occurred at an "informational" hearing called by Speaker
of the House Terry Spence, R-Stratford, and Rep. Pamela S. Maier, R-Drummond
Hill, who sought to educate lawmakers about prison conditions before the
upcoming legislative session. "It's your facility -- clean it
up," Matilda Carello, whose son is an inmate with Grave's disease,
yelled at Taylor, who was sitting by her side. Also in the audience were
representatives from Correctional Medical Services, the company Taylor
recently awarded a controversial $25.9 million no-bid contract to run
inmate health care. "CMS -- you're a liar," Carello said.
"Stan Taylor -- you are a liar!" After about 50 witnesses from
the public testified at the hearing, Spence said "it's time for a gut
check." "We've lost confidence in the department," he said.
"We've lost confidence in CMS." Spence called for an independent
oversight panel for the department and CMS. Ann Mac, a nurse practitioner
and CMS vice president of operations, told lawmakers and inmate family
members that "delivering health care in prisons is a uniquely
challenging but very rewarding field." Her message was not well
received. "I am sorry, but the things being said from this lady --
this is not what's really going on inside," said Lee McMillan, who
says her husband, an inmate, nearly died when flesh-eating bacteria ravaged
his body. Monday night's hearing was scheduled after a six-month investigation
by The News Journal found a high rate of AIDS-related inmate deaths and
suicides over the past four years, and uncovered allegations of poor
medical treatment for cancer, meningitis, hepatitis and other communicable
diseases and bacterial infections. Prompted in part by the newspaper's
series, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a preliminary inquiry
into the Department of Correction's management and inmate health care.
Maryanne McGonegal, secretary of Common Cause, criticized Gov. Ruth Ann Minner
for failing to address evidence of negligent inmate care. On Oct. 3, Common
Cause of Delaware asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to open a
federal investigation. "The lack of response by our governor is the
strongest indication of the need for outside oversight of prison
conditions," McGonegal said Monday night. Several of those who
testified said after the hearing that Taylor should release a recent audit
of inmate health care under the state's former prison medical vendor, First
Correctional Medical. Performance audited: Taylor asked a medical
accreditation firm to audit FCM's performance from December 2004 to January
2005. According to documents Taylor provided to lawmakers, the audit showed
"several problems with medical administration and clinical practices
including record keeping, utilization management, medical history and sick
call follow-up." The News Journal submitted a request under Delaware's
Freedom of Information Act for the audit, which cost Delaware taxpayers
$12,400, but Attorney General M. Jane Brady denied the newspaper's request.
Former CMS substance abuse counselor Denise Rodriguez said she supports
punishment for those who break the law. "But that punishment should
not be neglect, humiliation or death," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez, who
worked for CMS at Gander Hill from 1999 to 2002, told The News Journal in a
previously published story that a CMS official ordered her to falsify
documents so state inspectors would not pull the company's license to run a
prison treatment program. "Stan Taylor, I always told my clients that
in order to make changes in your life, you have to hold yourself
accountable," she told Taylor at Monday's hearing. "Someone needs
to hold you accountable."
October 22, 2005 Delaware State News
The Medical Society of Delaware on Saturday urged lawmakers to create a
prison health care oversight committee and implement mandatory HIV and
hepatitis C testing for inmates. The medical society's voting body, the
House of Delegates, approved the two prison health resolutions unanimously
at the society's annual meeting, which about 240 physicians attended.
Delaware's prison health care system has come under fire of late, with
accusations of inadequate care prompting an inquiry by the U.S. Department
of Justice's Civil Rights Division. The St. Louis-based Correctional
Medical Services has a contract with the state to provide health care to
inmates. Delaware physicians currently serve in an advisory capacity, but
Dr. James P. Marvel Jr., president of the medical society and an orthopedic
surgeon in Lewes, said they need actual authority to oversee the care
provided behind bars. Physicians on the society's Prison Health Committee
are responsible for reviewing the medical records of inmates who have died
while incarcerated, Dr. Marvel said. "We're supposed to review the
deaths. But we often don't have all the records available to us.
"We're sort of working with one hand tied behind our back." The
resolution calls for an independent oversight committee authorized to
review the quality of health care services. The committee would consist of
doctors, psychiatrists, nurses, lawyers, pharmacists, members of the
Delaware Center for Justice, and representatives from the prison care
provider, according to the resolution. Dr. Joseph F. Hacker III, chairman
of the society's legislative committee and an upstate gastroenterologist,
said the oversight body should report to the legislature, rather than the
governor.
October 23, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
Democratic lawmakers want Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor to answer
lingering questions about health care in his prisons. In a letter sent
Thursday to Taylor -- signed by 16 senators and representatives -- the
lawmakers requested both answers and a personal briefing by the commissioner
"as soon as you are able to gather this information." "It is
not intended as criticism of the administration," said Sen. Patricia
M. Blevins, D-Elsmere, who signed the letter. "At this point, we are
seeking information on policy and procedure." Attached to the letter
were 21 questions, including what criteria are used to approve or deny an
inmate's request for health care and policies regarding HIV testing and
treatment. They also want to know what continuing medical responsibility
the Department of Correction takes after a prisoner is released. The letter
was sent after a series of News Journal articles highlighting AIDS-related
inmate deaths and suicides over the past four years; a no-bid $25.9 million
contract awarded this year to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services
to manage health care in the state's prisons; and allegations by inmates of
poor medical treatment for cancer, meningitis and hepatitis.
October 21, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
The Department of Correction's former medical provider owes nearly $1
million to St. Francis Hospital and late last month other state health care
providers were boycotting the department's current provider because of
past-due bills, according to documents obtained by The News Journal. The
unpaid medical expenses were run up by First Correctional Medical of
Arizona, which held the contract to provide inmate health care in Delaware
prisons from 2002 until July. The firm's owner and founder, Dr. Tammy
Kastre, did not return calls for comment. Delaware taxpayers may be asked
to pay the prison's delinquent bills, state Auditor R. Thomas Wagner Jr.
said. "The fact that the government is stiffing the public bothers me
greatly," said Wagner, who is considering an audit of medical spending
by the DOC. The $1 million owed to Wilmington's St. Francis was disclosed
in the minutes of the DOC's Medical Review Committee, which is composed of
correction officials and private medical providers. According to the
minutes, CMS regional manager Mike Hooper told members of the committee the
company is having difficulty contracting "with a number of providers
in the community ... [and would] provide an updated list of vendors
refusing to sign with CMS due to FCM."
October 18, 2005 Delaware News Journal
While in a state prison last year, Delaware's private health contractor
gave Motrin to Ed Brittingham to treat the bacteria that was eating away at
his flesh. A concerned guard eventually sent the inmate to St. Francis
Hospital in Wilmington -- where doctors administered massive doses of
antibiotics. Today, Brittingham is free of the bacteria that nearly killed
him -- but he's still getting hospital bills. Current and former inmates
are being billed thousands of dollars for medical care they received while
incarcerated by the Delaware Department of Correction, which contracted
with the Tucson, Ariz.,-based First Correctional Medical, a private health
care provider. Brittingham's bills are estimated at $2,100. His common-law
wife, Lee McMillan, says those bills are the responsibility of FCM, the
private health contractor. "What happened to all the millions of
dollars the state paid FCM to take care of Ed and the other inmates?"
asked McMillan. "Where did all that money go?" Department of
Correction spokeswoman Beth Welch, responding in an e-mail, wrote:
"The DOC is aware of the billing issues. We have been pro-actively
working with the Budget Office, the Attorney General's Office, the Medicaid
Office and the sub-vendors to address outstanding FCM bills as well as
bills being received by inmates and/or inmate's family members. Also, the
DOC is working with several inmates and inmate's family members on this
issue." Welch did not know the total amount FCM owes clinics and
hospitals. "I've got an inquiry out," Welch wrote.
October 12, 2005 Delaware State News
Acting on advice from the Delaware attorney general's office, the
Department of Correction on Tuesday rejected a request from the Delaware
State News to provide a copy of an audit performed earlier this year on the
prison healthcare system. After a State News reporter orally asked DOC
spokeswoman Elizabeth Welch for the audit, she told the reporter to file a
written request under the Freedom of Information Act. The DOC asked the
National Commission on Correctional Health Care to perform the audit in
January after the agency uncovered problems with the company providing
medical care to prisoners. The audit's results led to the state terminating
its contract with First Correctional Medical Delaware effective July 1.
Commissioner of Correction Stanley W. Taylor, during an interview last
week, declined to give specific examples of deficiencies in First
Correctional Medical's performance. John D. Flaherty, a lobbyist for the
good-government group Common Cause, said the audit should be released because
of the public interest in the prison healthcare system and recent newspaper
reports questioning the quality of care. "I would think they would
want to err on the side of public welfare and release this document,"
Mr. Flaherty said. "I can see no reason why this should not be a
public document."
October 5, 2005 Delaware State News
The U.S. Department of Justice will review claims that the state Department
of Correction has exhibited a pattern of providing inadequate medical care
to inmates. U.S. Attorney for Delaware Colm F. Connolly said Wednesday that
the justice department's Civil Rights Division has opened a preliminary
inquiry into the allegations. Mr. Connolly said the division would collect
information and "see if it warrants a full-blown investigation."
The inquiry, Mr. Connolly said, stems from a series of articles in a
Wilmington newspaper, which he forwarded to the Civil Rights Division in
Washington. Articles in The News Journal highlighted inmate suicides and
AIDS-related deaths over the last four years, allegations by inmates of
poor medical treatment and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded this
year to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services to provide medical
care to inmates.
October 5, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has opened
a "formal inquiry" into medical care and other systemic issues
inside Delaware prisons, U.S. Attorney Colm Connolly said Tuesday. A formal
inquiry is a precursor to an investigation by the Justice Department.
During an inquiry, the Civil Rights Division reviews allegations to
determine merit. Depending on the findings, a formal investigation can be
launched. The newspaper's six-month investigation highlighted 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 this year to St. Louis-based
Correctional Medical Services to manage health care in the state's prisons.
Susie Wilson, whose son Jermaine died in a Smyrna prison, said a federal
investigation is needed because the state is not capable of impartially
investigating itself. "I believe it will make the [Minner]
administration shape up or ship out," Wilson said. Wilson's son was
found Feb. 18 hanging from a bedsheet in the Delaware Correctional Center
eight days after court documents indicate he was supposed to have been
released. Most inquiries focus on medical care. However, complaints about
excessive force, mental health care, safety, AIDS care and screening,
environmental health and safety, sanitation and food service also are
covered. When problems are found, the Justice Department can sue the prison
in federal court for relief. The Special Litigation Section, the arm of the
Justice Department's Civil Rights Division responsible for enforcing CRIPA,
has never lost a case.
September 30, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
The extraordinary four-part News Journal series about myriad problems
within the Department of Correction health care system cries out for
response from the governor and state lawmakers. The series detailed the
spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases inside the prisons, high-rates
of suicides and AIDS-related deaths, minimal oversight of medical care and
numerous reports of inadequate medical attention to inmates' conditions.
But instead of outcries, with only a few exceptions, the public is
confronted with a deafening silence. Those whose legislative record would
suggest they would embrace concern for the plight of inmates victimized by
substandard health care are mute. Where are the liberal Democrats like
Sens. Harris McDowell, Karen Peterson and Robert Marshall? Where is Gov.
Ruth Ann Minner, who vowed last year to aggressively address prison correction
officers' low pay and mandatory overtime? So far, we've heard from two
potential Republican gubernatorial candidates, Sen. Charles Copeland of
Greenville and House Majority Leader Wayne Smith of Brandywine Hundred, and
conservative Sussex Democratic Sen. Robert Venables of Laurel. They
certainly aren't among the usual cast of characters lobbying for prisoners'
rights. The three called for various levels of investigations. Democrat
Rep. Hazel Plant of Wilmington wants Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor
fired and an outside investigation. Two other Republican officials, U.S.
Attorney Colm Connolly and state Public Defender Lawrence Sullivan spoke
out. Mr. Connolly said he passed on complaints. At least Mr. Sullivan has
standing on the prison health issues since many of his clients have been
affected. The silence of Gov. Minner and her Democratic leaders brings to
mind the governor's comment last year in the wake of a
kidnapping-rape-hostage incident involving prison counselor Cassandra
Arnold. "This isn't something that is unique to Delaware," the
governor said. "In prisons, you almost expect this to happen."
No, governor, we didn't then, and we don't now.
September 30, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
A day after four Delaware lawmakers called for independent
investigations of medical care in the state's prisons, Department of
Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor admitted there were problems and
promised to cooperate with any inquiry. "I am not saying that nothing
is wrong," said Taylor, who met with some of Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's
senior staff Thursday. "We take our responsibility seriously."
Minner declined to specifically address a series of News Journal articles
published this week that examine the state's AIDS-related inmate death
rates -- the highest in the nation in 2001 and 2003; an inmate suicide rate
in 2000 and 2001 that was twice the national average; reports of
undiagnosed flesh-eating bacteria, poorly treated cancer, hepatitis,
meningitis and pneumonia; and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded this
year to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services to manage health care
in the state's prisons. Outrage about the stories spread Thursday from
Delaware's capital to community leaders. The Rev. Christopher Bullock of
Wilmington's Canaan Baptist church said his congregation and other clergy
plan to march outside the governor's mansion Monday, calling their protest
the "March for Justice and Prison Reform in Delaware." "I'm
doing this because it's a moral outrage that the Delaware prison system is
sick, in need of healing and repentance," Bullock said. "And I'm
concerned about the reputation of the state as it relates to how we treat
these people." Sen. Robert L. Venables, D-Laurel, said the images of
inmate mistreatment were hard to ignore. There have been similar problems
with contract medical services in other state prison systems, Venables
said. "I'd like to know how much those companies are making this
year," he said. "I'd like to know how well the shareholders are
sleeping, if they know what's being done to save money." Calling for
investigations of prison medical care are Smith, Rep. Hazel D. Plant,
D-Wilmington Central, Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East, and Sen.
Charles L. Copeland, R-West Farms. U.S. Attorney for Delaware Colm F. Connolly
said he has forwarded allegations of inmate abuse to the U.S. Department of
Justice to review. Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, is comparing contracts
Maryland and Delaware have with Correctional Medical Services. Forming an
independent committee to examine prison health care may be the smartest
option, said Delaware Public Defender Larry Sullivan. He said the panel
should include doctors and medical malpractice lawyers so the consequences
of this kind of treatment are stated as strongly as possible in any report.
"I believe that some of the decision makers may have no idea as to the
extent of liability exposure the state may have, if this kind of practice
is permitted to continue," Sullivan said. "Unless the possible
and probable consequences of all of these events are fully understood,
there may be an inclination on the part of some decision makers to remedy
this 'on the cheap.' " During its six-month
investigation of prison medical care, The News Journal submitted a Freedom
of Information request to Taylor for the most recent audit report by the
commission, which was completed in February. The request was refused.
Taylor and Minner have pointed out that prison medical care is scrutinized
by the Medical Society of Delaware. But Dr. James Marvel, president of the
Medical Society of Delaware, said the state's account of his group's prison
work may be overblown. "We don't have any plans to do anything,"
Marvel said. "We do not have an investigative body. Our prison health
committee is simply advisory.
September 29, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
A Senate Republican leader and three fellow Delaware lawmakers on Wednesday
called for independent investigations of medical care in the state's
prisons. "We have a crisis now," said House Majority Leader Wayne
A. Smith, R-Clair Manor. "The system is broken and it needs to be
fixed. If I was governor, I would have immediately raked someone over the
coals." Federal investigators also have been alerted to allegations of
poor medical care provided to the state's 6,600 inmates. The bipartisan
response follows a four-day series of News Journal articles detailing the
spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases behind bars; the award of a
no-bid $25.9 million contract for medical care approved this year by
Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor and Gov. Ruth Ann Minner; high rates of
AIDS-related deaths and suicides; gaps in independent oversight of the
prison's private medical contractor and the prison's medical grievance
process; and numerous allegations of inadequate medical care. Rep. Hazel D.
Plant, D-Wilmington Central, asked to convene a special House committee to
investigate prison medical care. "I would rather see a federal
investigation, but if that takes too long, then we need an independent
investigation," she said. "I want it to start yesterday."
Taylor, Plant said, must go. In a written release to the newspaper, one of
Minner's spokespersons wrote: "Providing quality health care services
to an inmate population is a very demanding task and a very difficult
service to deliver, but it is a program that Commissioner Taylor and the
Governor have been working to improve for the past few years, and it will
continue to be a priority in the years ahead." U.S. Attorney for
Delaware Colm F. Connolly said he's known since September 2004 -- when a
local defense attorney told him about poor medical care for a client --
about allegations of mistreatment within Delaware's prison system. "As
a result of that complaint, we forwarded it to the Civil Rights Division in
Washington," he said. "I've also forwarded the [News Journal]
articles." Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East, wants to lead
a Senate investigation into prison conditions. She hopes to organize a
diverse panel that will include legislators, health professionals, prison
reform advocates, prison staff and local citizens. She believes such a
group should find the root causes of the breakdown in the health care
system in our prisons, she said, and how it can be corrected.
September 28, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
There were two Jermaine Wilsons doing time at
Gander Hill prison in Wilmington. They were young black men who were
unrelated. One, in prison for a robbery charge, had served about three
years and was due to be released in February of this year. His mother was picking
him up. The other, doing time for violating parole stemming from drug
charges, was facing new charges associated with a cocaine bust. He was
scheduled in February to be transferred to the maximum security wing of the
Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna -- the state's roughest prison,
built for the most incorrigible offenders. But corrections officials sent
the wrong Jermaine Wilson to Smyrna. And days later -- when he should have
been free, guards found 20-year-old Jermaine Lamar Wilson dead, hanging
from a bedsheet in his cell. Because he had a cut on the back of his head,
his family suspects he was murdered. "There was blood all over his
clothes," said Laretta Wilson, Jermaine Lamar Wilson's aunt.
"There was blood in his underwear and all over his pants. Maybe
someone hit him on the back of his head?" The Delaware Medical
Examiner's Office called the wound "superficial" and ruled the
death a suicide. Wilson's family received little information from the
Delaware Department of Correction. No apology. No excuse. Just Wilson's
blood-soaked clothes. Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor declined to
comment on specific inmate deaths, including Wilson's. During a six-month
News Journal investigation, a former doctor and two nurses who worked in
Delaware prisons and dozens of inmates and their families claimed prison
health care in Delaware is dangerously substandard -- leading to needless
deaths, prolonged suffering and the spread of infectious diseases inside
and outside prison walls. Wilson's death raises a larger question: Are
standards throughout Delaware's prison system too low? There are few
safeguards in Delaware prisons: oDr. Janet Kramer, of Wilmington, an expert
in prison health care, said inmates should be screened for hepatitis C and
HIV -- but pretrial and convicted inmates are not routinely screened when
they are sent to prison or when they leave. Delaware prisons have become
incubators for new strains of the AIDS virus, creating a public health
crisis, experts say. oFormer prison doctor Ramesh
Vemulapalli says a private medical company ordered him to treat inmates for
HIV or hepatitis C, but not both. Delaware led the country in two of the
past four years in the rate of inmates dying of AIDS. oInmates
in Delaware kill themselves at twice the national rate. Dr. Carol A.
Tavani, a neuropsychiatrist and executive director of Christiana
Psychiatric Services, said new inmates should be counseled in person about
suicidal tendencies, not simply given a "contract" to sign
promising not to kill themselves. oUnlike Pennsylvania and other states, Delaware does not
have a medically trained state employee overseeing contract health
providers. Maryland has its own statewide correctional accrediting agency,
Delaware does not. oThe prison's grievance system
is overseen by the medical vendor, not prison officials or an independent
medical professional. oCommissioner Taylor awarded
the current $25.9 million medical contract -- signed this year with
Correctional Medical Systems (CMS) of St. Louis -- without putting the
contract out for bid. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner approved the decision, but
insisted it was a contract extension even though CMS replaced First
Correctional Medical of Tucson, Ariz., a different company. oThe state occasionally discharges convicted inmates early
so neither the state nor its prison health care contractor has to pay
medical costs, leaving the payments to families or the federal Medicaid
program. Neither federal prison regulators nor the public is told about
inmates who die after such discharges. oThe state
does not routinely conduct autopsies on inmates who die in prison or those
hospitalized at the time of their death, a policy the president of the
National Association of Medical Examiners believes prevents evaluation of
the quality of prison medical treatment. And if it does conduct autopsies,
the results are sent to the medical vendor -- not the prison. oDr. Robert Cohen, an expert in prison health care whom
state and federal courts have appointed to monitor prisons in five states,
said the state should investigate medical malpractice claims. Instead, the
state's medical board occasionally takes complaints from inmates and their
families about prison health care professionals, but it is only an advisory
panel. The board's findings are confidential and given to the private
medical vendor. Every institution in the Pennsylvania Department of
Corrections has a correctional health care administrator whose role is to
oversee the medical vendors and investigate grievances and other complaints
made against the state's medical vendor -- Prison Health Services. Shirley
Laws-Smith -- a registered nurse -- is the correctional health care
administrator at SCI Chester. She has counterparts at every facility in the
state. If she questions a vendor's procedure, she can take immediate
action. "If they make a decision and I don't agree with it, I will
contact the central office at the Bureau of Health Care Services," she
said. Delaware's inmate grievance process is quite different. In Delaware,
no one with any medical training oversees the actions of the medical
vendor, and the vendor controls any complaints. When an inmate files a
grievance about poor care, it goes straight to the vendor. When an inmate
appeals the decision, the grievance eventually goes back to the vendor. All
mental health workers in Delaware prisons are contract workers employed by
medical vendors.
September 27, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
A Delaware prison inmate serving time for traffic violations -- including
driving under the influence of alcohol -- Bernadette Fogell said trouble
with her pregnancy started weeks before birth. Prison documents show that
she complained to nurses at Delores J. Baylor Women's Correctional
Institution in New Castle. But in a lawsuit filed against Delaware's prison
medical provider and the state, Fogell claims nothing was done. "What
could I do?" Fogell asked. "You're helpless. It's not like you
can get in your car and leave looking for competent medical care." Her
water broke at 11 p.m. on March 19, 2001. Several inmates on her wing
changed Fogell into dry sweat pants. Two nurses arrived and one scolded
her, Fogell claimed, suggesting that Fogell's water had not broken. Rather,
the nurse suggested, Fogell had urinated in her pants. Fogell was taken to
the infirmary, where she was left alone in a filthy room with no sheets,
blankets or pillow, she claimed. Prison documents included in the federal
lawsuit Fogell filed in 2001 against First Correctional Medical, the state,
a local doctor and St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington (which has since been
dropped from the suit) show that nurses checked on Fogell until 2:25 a.m.
Those same records indicate that Fogell went unchecked between 2:25 a.m.
and 8:30 a.m. "I just couldn't figure out why I wasn't going [to the
hospital]," Fogell said. At 8:40 a.m. an ambulance was called, and
Fogell was admitted to St. Francis Hospital, where doctors told her she
would be transferred to Christiana Hospital. Health care workers said they
would try to prolong the delivery to allow time for the transfer, Fogell
said. It never happened. A doctor arrived about 4:30 p.m., more than 17
hours after her water broke. According to medical records, the doctor wrote
there had been "no prenatal complications til now." An hour and a
half later, "The nurse came in and told me they were inducing the
baby," Fogell said. Twenty-two weeks after conception, Anna Lee was
born at 11:27 p.m. -- 24 hours and 27 minutes after Fogell's water broke.
Fogell cradled her newborn daughter, who was dressed in a light blue gown.
The infant, whose eyelids were fused, wasn't breathing. Anna Lee jerked
several times, and her heart continued to slow, medical records show.
Fogell said she called for help, but claimed nurses nearby wouldn't
respond. She placed her mouth over Anna Lee's tiny lips and nose and tried
to resuscitate her. But the baby continued to fade. "There was no
attempt to save her," Fogell claimed. "Nobody was doing anything.
I kept crying and singing to her, 'You are my sunshine.' I just didn't know
what else to do." As she held the baby in her arms, Fogell realized it
would be the last time she ever saw her. The same doctor reached inside her
womb and removed the placenta -- or at least he thought he did. Two hours
after the doctor finished with what he thought was the last of the
placenta, at 3:10 a.m., Anna Lee died. Days later
Fogell contracted an infection that led to her being hospitalized again,
where the remainder of her placenta was taken out. Prison officials and the
state's medical vendor at the time, FCM, declined to comment.
September 26, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
Bernard Coston was taken to prison in March 2002 on charges he stole a $50
jacket from an elderly woman. Coston was released from prison 18 months
later on a slab. Dirt and feces covered his body. Insects had been gnawing
on his corpse. Diagnosed with AIDS before he went to prison, Coston spent
his last four months in the infirmary of Wilmington's Gander Hill prison --
at least that's what is written on a state medical examiner's autopsy report.
But Coston's sister, Victoria Trice, said she was told by a prison
counselor that her brother wasn't in the infirmary, that
he withered away, alone in a cell with no food or medical attention. He was
too weak to bathe. "They are more humane to an animal than to my
brother or anyone else who died in there," Trice said. "It's a
disgrace," said Dr. David M. Cohen, an AIDS specialist with the
Christiana Care HIV Wellness Clinic. "Because they're prisoners, the
government has the right to take away their liberty. But they do not have
the right to take away their health." Coston's death certificate
states simply that he died of AIDS. The external examination from the
autopsy paints a more gruesome picture: •"The scalp is dirty"
•"Examination of the skin on the back reveals a layer of dirt"
•"Dirt is noted under the fingernails" •"Fecal material is
smeared on the buttocks." "It's obvious he got poor, poor, poor
medical care," said Lynda R. Kopishke, a forensic nurse and branch
director of Interim Health Care in Newark. At the request of The News
Journal, Kopishke agreed to review Coston's autopsy report, prepared by Dr.
Adrienne Sekula-Perlman, Delaware's deputy chief medical examiner. Kopishke
found it hard to believe that Coston had been treated for four months in a
prison infirmary. "I struggle to understand the inconsistencies
surrounding these findings," Kopishke said. "If I did not know
this individual was in the infirmary, I would wonder if he had been buried
under dirt at some point in time." The last AIDS doctor employed in
the state's prisons -- Dr. Ramesh Vemulapalli of Dover, an infectious
disease specialist -- quit in 2003. The state's current private medical
provider, St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services, employs an
infection-control nurse. Louis W. Chance Jr. died in 2003 -- seven days
short of freedom. Chance, 37, was serving a six-month DUI sentence at the
Webb Center, a work-release facility in Prices Corner, when he developed a
severe headache. At his first medical visit, Chance told nurse Beverly
Anderson that he had had a headache for three days, according to a medical
malpractice lawsuit filed against the state and First Correctional Medical,
Delaware's medical provider at the time, in U.S. District Court in
Wilmington. Anderson gave him six Excedrin and sent him back to his cell.
The next day, Chance reported no relief and was prescribed Motrin. After
three more days, a correctional officer reported Chance was confused and
had possibly "overdosed." Chance was transferred to Gander Hill
prison in Wilmington, where, his attorney says, the pressure inside his
head from cryptococcal meningitis affected his hearing. Unable to respond
to nurses, Chance was reported to be disoriented, uncooperative and
hostile. Officers subdued him, put him in a straitjacket and left him in a
cell under suicide watch. Chance, who had not yet
been examined by a doctor, was prescribed Ativan, Benadryl and Haldol. The
drugs are used to treat panic attacks, allergies and psychosis,
respectively. Together, they can calm a person. About three days later, Dr.
Niranjana Shah, a contract physician with First Correctional Medical
working at Gander Hill, prescribed Tylenol and a daily cup of coffee
because, Chance's medical records state, caffeine helps combat headaches. On
Sept. 18, 2003, Chance was sent back to the work-release facility at Prices
Corner. Five days later, Chance died. Had Shah and Dr. Jose A. Aramburo
followed protocol for a patient with HIV, Chance could have lived, claims
Ken Richmond, a Philadelphia attorney representing the Chance family in the
lawsuit against FCM and the two doctors. "It appears to be a concerted
effort to avoid treating someone who was HIV-positive," Richmond
charged. "This is gross negligence." Months before Chance got
sick with cryptococcal meningitis, FCM employees performed a blood test on
him, Chance's medical records say. He tested positive for hepatitis C and
was given brochures on hepatitis and HIV, according to the lawsuit. About a
quarter of people in the United States who have HIV also have hepatitis C,
according to the CDC. Because HIV patients are especially susceptible to
cryptococcal meningitis, Richmond said, FCM should have tried to rule out
the condition before trying other treatments. "That's the sad part
about this," he said. All four classes of antiviral treatments are
available in Delaware prisons, said Dr. Vemulapalli, an infectious disease
specialist who worked a little more than a year at the Delaware
Correctional Center near Smyrna. But inmates, he said, did not always
receive them. "Most patients who come to the hospital from the
Department of Corrections are generally far too advanced," said
Vemulapalli, who is now in private practice in Dover. "I've seen
several cases from the prison -- all patients who have died -- that didn't
get referred to the hospital at the appropriate time. They're not providing
adequate care." Vemulapalli, who worked for Tucson-based FCM, claims
company owner Kastre ordered him to treat AIDS or hepatitis C -- but not
both, even though many patients have both. The reason, Vemulapalli said he
was told, is that "it was too expensive to treat both."
September 26, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
Doctors and nurses at Gander Hill prison, in Wilmington, never treated Ed
Brittingham for the flesh-eating bacteria that scarred his body. They
thought the 47-year-old inmate had a broken arm. Nearing the end of his
13-year sentence for second-degree burglary, Brittingham was enrolled in a
drug treatment program and was allowed to leave the prison for furloughs
home and for work release. The frequent trips outside the wire, it turns
out, exposed his wife, friends and the public to the lethal disease that
was eating away his shoulder. Just one cough or sneeze could have spread
the infection. Brittingham first noted an intense pain in his shoulder on a
weekend furlough in December 2004. When he returned to prison the following
Monday, he reported to sick call, which was managed by First Correctional
Medical, a Tucson, Ariz.-based private medical company working in Delaware
prisons under contract with the Department of Correction. At sick call, an
employee with FCM gave Brittingham a sling, took some blood and scheduled a
few tests. "When the X-rays showed I didn't have any broken bones,
they wrote me up for faking," Brittingham said. "I knew it wasn't
a broken bone. I told them this. They gave me Motrin, but the pain was
pretty awful so I took a double dose. They wrote me up for that, too."
Severe abdominal pain followed. There was blood in his urine. The medical
staff assumed Brittingham was passing a kidney stone. They issued him a
strainer and more Motrin. "I was drinking five gallons of water a day,
but I never passed any stone," he recalled. "I kept trying to get
to medical, filling out sick call slips." Brittingham stopped eating.
He couldn't hold down food; the pain in his shoulder, stomach and leg were
too intense. "On a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 20," Brittingham
said. Necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating bacteria, is a
condition caused by strep A bacteria, which is the same bacteria
that causes strep throat. Brittingham said, "They told me if I went to
the hospital while on a home furlough, they'd consider it an escape, and
I'd get sent back to prison to serve the remainder of my sentence." The
prison staff gave the same warning to his wife, Lee McMillan, she said.
"They told me if he had a heart attack and fell to the floor, I wasn't
supposed to call 911," she said. "I was supposed to bring him
back to the prison." Weeks passed. The pain became torturous. In
January, Brittingham did the unthinkable. He ended a home furlough on his
own and went back to prison early. The bacteria was eating its way through
to the surface of the skin, causing massive red lesions on his leg, foot
and shoulder. His face was swollen, and he was burning up with fever. He
had difficulty communicating with his wife. It hurt to move, sit or lie in
bed. Rather than heading to the prison infirmary, where his complaints had
been ignored, Brittingham went to a prison guard, stripped off his clothes
and showed him the lesions. "Thank God they thought they were blood
clots, because they sent me to St. Francis Hospital," he said.
"Once I got to the hospital I went blank. I was there for 11 days. I
don't remember much." In late January, Brittingham was discharged from
the hospital and transferred back to Gander Hill. "I spent my first
four days without any pain meds, antibiotics, physical
therapy or wound care information," he said. "My leg started
swelling up again. I thought I was having a reoccurrence. I swear to God I
didn't want to go through that again." Brittingham was eventually
given medication and has since been released. He now lives with his wife in
New Castle. The couple hasn't filed a lawsuit, but they want the prison
staff and First Correctional Medical held accountable. "These people
should be prevented from practicing medicine and from making decisions that
affect people's lives," he said. "What they did to Ed was a
crime," McMillan said. "If these prison doctors would have
suffered like Ed suffered, it would have stopped." Brittingham spends
his days looking for work. His wife has recently completed a medical
transcriptionist course. They spend their free time researching necrotizing
fasciitis on the Internet.
September 25, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
Some inmate deaths are harder than others for Drewry Fennell to discuss.
Charles Blake's is the worst. Blake pleaded guilty in November 2000 to
possessing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school. Three years later, while
at the Delaware Correctional Center in Smyrna, Blake became sick. "He
had an operation on a kidney. They put a stent in the kidney to hold the
ureter open. He was released back to the prison," said Fennell,
executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware.
"He started calling his mom. He was in intense pain. He later passed
the stent through his penis and died ... from that and other complications.
They were treating him with an analgesic -- Motrin. They wouldn't send him
back to the doctor. He lingered for weeks in the infirmary, before they
sent him to the hospital." Blake died Sept. 7, 2003, at St. Francis
Hospital in Wilmington. He was 36. Some seriously ill inmates are granted a
medical discharge by the Delaware Department of Correction, a move that can
shift the cost of mounting hospital bills to family members or Medicaid. In
its former contract with First Correctional Medical (FCM), the state agreed
to provide Medicaid to inmates who are hospitalized for more than 24 hours.
But when this happened, the state was allowed to reduce its monthly payment
to the medical vendor, so the state's overall expense remained the same.
Shortly before her son died, Francine Anderson said, a friendly guard told
her prison officials wanted to release Darnell to the family so his death
would go unreported to federal prison regulators -- and so the family would
be responsible for some of the medical bills. Anderson considered taking
her son home from St. Francis Hospital, in Wilmington, but he died before
she could arrange it. After an inmate dies, the medical vendors conduct an
internal "peer review" led by the contract medical director --
not by an independent board. Occasionally, the vendor will bring in outside
physicians to look at the patient's medical records, Taylor said. Under
Delaware law, the entire process is confidential. Not even the inmate's
family can see the findings. When the peer review is completed, the results
stay with the medical vendor. It's not known what, if anything, the vendor
does with the findings. When an inmate is autopsied, which happens in
roughly 15 percent of prison deaths, the medical examiner's office does not
send the report to Taylor or the warden. The autopsy reports go straight to
the medical vendor.
September 25, 2005 Wilmington News
Journal
Pierce was serving 14 months for a parole violation stemming from a
burglary charge at the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown when a
small lump appeared on the back of his head. It was January 2001 and a
prison doctor employed by a private medical contractor said the marble-size
lump was most likely a cyst or an ingrown hair. Seven months later, when
the growth had become like a second head, Delaware's contract prison
medical director, Dr. Keith Ivens of Correctional Medical Services, stabbed
the bulging tumor five times with an 18-gauge needle, withdrawing a bloody
fluid. Rather than keeping the sample for analysis, Ivens emptied the
syringe into a trash can, according to Michelle Thomas, a former prison
counselor who was holding Pierce's hand during the examination. The News
Journal gained access to Pierce's medical file through his family, and
there was no record of a biopsy performed before cancer ate into the
21-year-old's skull. Asked about the case in a telephone interview, Ivens
said, "I'm trying to remember who Anthony Pierce is." He declined
to comment further. Near the end of Pierce's life, the tumor stretched the
skin around his face, pulling his right eye closed, causing muscle spasms
and crippling pain. The medical staff still ordered no tests or treatments,
claims a lawsuit that Pierce's family filed against Ivens, CMS and the
state of Delaware. On March 22, 2002, Pierce died from a "brain tumor,
due to osteosarcoma of the skull," an autopsy report stated. A
six-month investigation by The News Journal shows that the lack of care
suffered by Pierce is all too common inside Delaware prisons. AIDS,
hepatitis, flesh-eating bacteria and other communicable diseases percolate
behind the wire. Inmates in their 20s and 30s die from diseases that people
outside prison routinely survive. Like other states, Delaware has turned
over health care inside its prisons to private companies specializing in
inmate medical care. There are two significant differences, however: •Whether
they have been convicted or are awaiting trial, inmates in Delaware depend
on the state for medical care. In states with county and city jails, care
in smaller facilities usually is provided through a local hospital or
physicians' group. •National experts say most states employ a medically
trained staff to monitor the medical vendors. Delaware does not. Here, the
medical vendors oversee death investigations, regulate access to care, and
control any complaints that arise over their work. Dr. Robert Cohen, an
expert in prison health care whom state and federal courts have appointed
to monitor prisons in five states, said all states are constitutionally
required to provide adequate medical care for inmates. If Delaware
"outsources" that responsibility, it is still obligated to
monitor its medical vendors, Cohen said. That doesn't happen. The Medical
Society of Delaware, a physicians group, is occasionally called -- at the
warden's discretion -- to investigate an inmate death. Yet its
investigation is led by the vendor's medical director. And the society's
report is confidential under Delaware law; it remains in the custody of the
medical vendor. "It's surprising to me that Delaware just lets the
vendor do it by themselves," Cohen said. Under the current $25.9
million annual contract with Correctional Medical Services, state prison
officials are indemnified against wrongful death and medical malpractice
lawsuits. If an inmate or survivor sues the state, the medical vendor pays
the state's attorney fees and any settlement. However, Cohen said, the
indemnification will not protect the state from federal civil rights
lawsuits filed by inmates or their survivors. "It's going to cost the
state a lot of money in the long run," Cohen said. Correctional Medical
Services of St. Louis held Delaware's $12.45 million annual contract from
2000 to 2002, when it asked to be released from its obligations. At that
point, Taylor accepted a bid from First Correctional Medical, a Tucson,
Ariz., firm, for a $16.44 million annual contract. FCM left the state in
July after explaining that it wanted to be released from its contract.
FCM's owner and founder, Dr. Tammy Kastre, did not return numerous calls
for comment. Taylor would not discuss reasons for the departure, but added
that FCM owes thousands of dollars in unpaid bills to private clinics,
hospitals and physicians. The exact amount is in dispute. Taylor said he
was forced to move fast to find a replacement. He turned to a company he
knew well: CMS, the same company that cared for Anthony Pierce while his
tumor grew to the size of a grapefruit. Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner said
the contract awarded to CMS was not a "no-bid" contract, as
described by Taylor. She argued that, even though CMS asked to be released
from its contract in 2002, forcing the state to hire another vendor, CMS'
return to Delaware came by piggy-backing on the contract of the vendor it
replaced, FCM. It's unclear how the "extension" resulted in an
annual price hike of $9.5 million. Taylor declined to answer that question.
CMS provides medical care for some 285,000 inmates in more than 360 prisons
in 25 states. It is named in many lawsuits filed in state and federal
courts across the country, although the exact number of suits filed against
the 25-year-old St. Louis firm is difficult to obtain. There have been 53
lawsuits filed in Wilmington's U.S. District Court against CMS since 2000.
Twelve are still active. Former CMS medical director Ivens,
has been sued 15 times in U.S. District Court by Delaware inmates or their
families. Each of the federal lawsuits against Ivens has been dismissed,
but at least two state Superior Court court cases naming Ivens as a
defendant remain active. Michelle Thomas, who worked for Spectrum, a CMS
subsidiary that provided substance-abuse treatment to inmates, helped
establish the treatment program that inmate Pierce attended before he
contracted the cancerous growth on his head. "They're the scum of the
earth," Thomas said of her former employer. She quit CMS shortly after
Pierce died. Thomas said she watched in horror as Pierce's tumor grew.
Thomas said she repeatedly questioned the medical staff about the lack of
treatment, but she never got an answer. Yet Dr. Sitta Alie, the former
medical director for FCM, who, like many of its employees, was hired by CMS
when it took control of Delaware institutions in July, said this about the
two companies: "They're both awful." Alie was an employee of FCM
when interviewed by the newspaper. Contacted again after CMS took control,
she declined to comment further. Before 1978, Delaware's Department of
Correction had a long tradition of hiring its own doctors and nurses, or
guards who were former military medics, to provide health care for adult
and juvenile offenders. But two years after the 1976 U.S. Supreme Court
ruling that inmates deserve health care equivalent to community standards,
Delaware signed a contract with Sacred Heart Hospital of Chester, Pa., to
provide care for state prisoners. In 1981, then Correction Commissioner
John L. Sullivan hired Claymont-based Prison Health Services, following a
national trend of states privatizing prison medical services. The new
company was founded by Delaware nurse Doyle H. Moore, who had been Sacred
Heart's prison health care program coordinator. A year later, PHS ended its
23-month contract, citing a spike in incarceration rates. Eleven private
prison companies bid for the open contract. Decisions about performing
medical tests or procedures on inmates in Delaware are not made here, but
by company executives at the corporate offices. When an inmate dies in
Delaware, the autopsy -- if there is one -- and other investigative reports
go to the vendor, not to any state official. And Taylor does not review
inmate autopsies.
August 30, 2005 AP
The family of an HIV-positive
man who died while serving a six-month sentence at Gander Hill prison in
Wilmington, Del., is suing First Correctional Medical, the prison system's
health care provider, and two of its doctors over allegations that they did
not take adequate steps to diagnose or treat the inmate's disease, the
AP/WBOC reports. The lawsuit alleges that prison health care providers
ignored 37-year-old Louis Chance's health complaints in September 2003 and
should have ordered a CT scan or an MRI to help diagnose and treat his
cryptococcal meningitis, according to attorney Ken Richmond, who is
representing Chance's family. Chance became comatose and was admitted to a
Wilmington hospital, where he died of the opportunistic infection. Family
members said they were unaware that Chance was HIV-positive and said he
might not have known his status either. "It's our belief that the
death of Chance resulted from cost-containment policies," Richmond
said. The inmate's relatives are among several critics of First Correctional
and the Delaware Department of Correction who think health care providers
are putting financial concerns before medical care. More than 40 lawsuits
have been filed against Arizona-based First Correctional since 2002, when
it was awarded a six-year contract to provide health care for Delaware's
inmates. First Correctional pulled out of the contract in June after DOC
officials requested an inspection of the provider by the National
Commission on Correctional Health Care. DOC Commissioner Stan Taylor said
the department's medical review committee and NCCHC identified "some
issues" with First Correctional. Officials from First Correctional
declined to comment.
August 29, 2005 WBOC
Louis Chance Jr., serving six months behind bars for his fourth drunken
driving conviction but hoping to start a new life when he got out, was only
a few weeks away from his release date when he began suffering severe
headaches. The headaches grew so agonizing that Chance became disoriented
and incoherent, but his family says his pleas for help from prison medical
workers went mostly unheeded. Instead, according to a lawsuit the family
filed in federal court, Chance was deemed uncooperative and hostile and
accused of trying to overdose on pain medication. At one point, a doctor at
Gander Hill prison in Wilmington prescribed "Tylenol and one cup of
coffee per day," according to the lawsuit. More than two weeks after
he first reported feeling sick in September 2003, Chance, 37, lapsed into a
coma and was sent to a Wilmington hospital. He died of cryptococcal
meningitis, an infection and swelling of the membranes surrounding the
brain that is one of the opportunistic infections associated with HIV.
Chance's family and other critics say too many inmates with HIV- and
AIDS-related illnesses are dying because prison medical providers are more
concerned about holding down costs than providing adequate medical care. Department of Correction Commissioner Stan
Taylor declined to comment on individual inmates' cases. Asked whether he
was satisfied with First Correctional Medical Inc., the system's medical
provider when Chance died, Taylor said noted the company maintained
Delaware's National Commission on Correctional Health Care accreditation. The
privately held company, based in Arizona, operates in a handful of other
states. Its six-year contract with Delaware was worth more than $17 million
a year. In June, First Correctional Medical pulled out of the contract,
forcing the department to sign a $25.7 million-a-year, no-bid contract with
its previous medical services provider, Correctional Medical Services of
St. Louis. Ken Richmond, a
lawyer suing First Correctional Medical and two of its doctors on behalf of
the Chance family, said Chance's condition could have been diagnosed and
treated had the contractor's doctors scheduled a CT or MRI brain scan. The end of First Correctional Medical's
contract came after DOC officials requested an inspection earlier this year
by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. Taylor said both
the NCCHC and the DOC's medical review committee had identified "some
issues," but he declined to provide details.
Since coming to Delaware, a move that more than doubled the number of
inmates for whom the company was responsible, First Correctional Medical
has been the target of more than 40 lawsuits, the vast majority filed by
Delaware inmates. Several have been dismissed for a variety of reasons -
including the fact that inmates must go through an internal grievance
process before they can seek relief in the courts. Since January 2000, 190 Delaware prison
inmates have died while in custody, many, according to DOC press releases,
"after a lengthy illness."
North Coast Correctional Facility, Grafton,
Ohio
September 10, 2009 Chronicle-Telegram
EMH Regional Medical Center is locked in a dispute with the private
contractor that runs the North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in
Grafton over unpaid medical bills for inmates treated at the hospital. A
lawsuit filed earlier this year accuses Utah-based Management and Training
Corp. of failing to pay $628,193.81 in medical bills it racked up for
inmates between September 2006 and February 2009. But Tim Reid, the
company’s attorney, said Management and Training doesn’t actually owe the
hospital the money. Instead, he said, a former subcontractor is responsible
for the outstanding bills. Management and Training has been paying its
bills since severing ties with Arizona-based First Correctional Medical in
May 2008, Reid said. That company, he said, ran into financial problems and
fell behind in paying the medical bills under a contract with the hospital.
But Management and Training didn’t realize how much money was owed until
after the lawsuit was filed in May of this year, Reid said. “We realized there
was a problem, but we didn’t know the extent of the problem,” he said.
First Correctional and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
are not named as a party in the lawsuit, according to court records. Julie
Walburn, an ODRC spokeswoman, said the prison system paid Management and
Training about $15.4 million in fiscal year 2009 to operate the North Coast
prison, which mostly houses prisoners convicted of drunken driving and
other substance abuse crimes. “They’re responsible for providing medical
care to inmates,” she said.
Pima
County Jail, Pima, Arizona
April 5, 2006 Arizona Star
Health care at the Pima County jail soon will be the responsibility of one
of the nation's largest private providers of medical care in jails and
prisons. The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved an $18.5 million,
two-year contract Tuesday with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical
Services. The company will replace First Correctional Medical, the
Tucson-based company that has provided medical care at the jail since 2002,
at the end of April. The contract represents an average 18.5 percent
increase in the yearly cost of providing care at the jail. County
Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said the increased cost was driven by
several factors, including medical costs rising 7.5 percent a year, the
jail population increasing 7 percent to 9 percent a year and the addition
of seven full-time employees over the previous contract. Supervisor Richard
Elias voted no after raising concerns about aspects of the contract. For example,
the contract calls for medications to be distributed two times a day
instead of three, a change that will save the county $300,000. Elias
wondered what would happen to inmates with chronic conditions if they
needed medication three or four times a day. "I just want to make sure
we're not creating more liability by creating a situation where people
aren't getting their meds," Elias said. Elias said later he also was
worried about accountability and records transfers when dealing with an out-of-state
company. "I have a lot of concerns about Correctional Medical
Services," Elias said. "In the end, I would have been a lot more
comfortable with a local provider." Correctional Medical Services runs
320 facilities with 250,000 inmates in 25 states. Former inmates and family
members have accused the company of providing inadequate care and cutting
corners to save money. Karen Russo, president of the Wrongful Death
Institute, has served as a clearinghouse for those accusations. She said
the company has a "facade" of providing health care. A 2000 audit
by the South Carolina Legislature found problems with distribution of
medicine, lack of planning for discharge of mentally ill patients and
workers who did not have the right qualifications. Ken Fields, a spokesman
for Correctional Medical, said many of the allegations were years old and
false.
April 29, 2005 Tucson Citizen
The woman who hanged herself Sunday at the Pima County Jail was showing
psychotic symptoms, a jail official said, and told a jail nurse that she
had been taking prescription drugs for chronic pain and depression. Vickie
Logan never saw a doctor in the jail who could have prescribed the
medications for her, even though that is standard jail procedure, a jail
official said. She also never saw a psychiatrist in the jail, even though
inmates sent to the jail's mental health unit - as Logan was - routinely
see a psychiatrist for a follow-up screening, the official said. Instead
Logan, 42, was put in isolation - in a cell where she had contact only with
jail staff and where her meals were delivered. She also was not put on
suicide watch, even though she was "hearing voices and talking to
people who were not there," said jail supervisor Capt. Judy
Hendrickson. After 61 hours of isolation, Logan hanged herself Sunday and
died Monday. The county jail's medical and mental health services are
provided by First Correctional Medical Inc., a local private contractor.
The nurse ordered Logan into isolation because she was "hearing voices
and talking to people who were not there," Hendrickson said. The nurse
who interviewed her didn't think she needed close supervision and so did
not put her on suicide watch, which would have required jail personnel to
check on her every five minutes, instead of every 15 minutes. Hendrickson
said.
March
26, 2004
A woman whose son died when she went into premature labor and
gave birth at the Pima County jail has begun the process of filing a
million-dollar lawsuit against the county and the company that provides
medical care at the jail. An attorney for Valerie Lopez, 23, began
sending notices of claim, legally required before a lawsuit can be filed,
Wednesday to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, whose department runs the
jail; the county, including the Board of Supervisors; First Correctional
Medical and the various nurses and corrections officers involved in the
September 2003 incident. The $1.75 million claim says Lopez's rights
were violated by inadequate medical care and that she suffered serious
injuries and emotional trauma when officials ignored her complaints of pain
for 10 hours. They finally took her to the medical unit, where she pulled
down her pants and gave birth on a table with only two Tylenol to ease her
pain. (Arizona Daily Star)
October
19, 2003
Valerie Lopez says she had problems convincing authorities at
the jail that she was in labor. Changes are being made. Valerie Lopez
lay on her bunk at the Pima County jail. Nearly six months pregnant and
just arrested for fighting with her brother, the 23-year-old didn't want to
be in labor. She called for help, the third time that night. But
instead of being taken to a hospital, Lopez says she was moved to another
cell because she was disturbing her cellmate, told to calm down and stay
off her feet, and given only an aspirin for the pain. Fifteen minutes
later, she felt her son coming into the world. She cried out again
and says corrections officers and nurses finally believed her. They took
her to the medical unit, where she says she pulled down her pants and gave
birth after 10 hours of labor. And, there, Juan Carlitos Long, a boy with
perfect fingernails and a tiny, beautiful heartbeat, died. Jail
officials say the Sept. 29-30 incident should have been handled better;
that mix-ups helped cause it and they've made
changes. They'll even ask the County Attorney's Office if criminal charges
are merited. But most of the decisions were made by nurses with the
private company that cares for inmates under a contract with the county, a
company with no major problems since taking over jail care in March 2002,
amid allegations of improper care by previous workers. Officials at
First Correctional Medical defend their standards of care and point to a
recent new accreditation the local operation received to show it provides a
high level of care here. Still, Lopez wants to know why she wasn't taken to
a hospital and why instead of the birthday parties she'd envisioned for her
son, she had to plan a funeral. (Yahoo News)
|
