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Bedford County Jail, Johnstown, Pennsylvania
January 6, 2009 AP
A prison health care provider and the family of a western Pennsylvania man who
died in a prison have settled a lawsuit. John Margo claimed his son,
23-year-old James Margo, started to go through heroin withdrawal at the
Bedford County Prison when he was jailed in June 2002. The suit claimed
medical personnel did nothing to help him. He died July 5, 2002. A lawyer
for PrimeCare Medical Inc. says terms of the
settlement can't be released. PrimeCare has
denied responsibility throughout the case. Margo had been in prison for a
parole violation in a drug case.
Lancaster County Prison
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Correctional Care, Inc. (formerly run by Armor Correctional Health
Services)
Apr 29, 2018 lancasteronline.com
Nurse working at Lancaster County Prison charged with having meth, fentanyl in her truck
A nurse working with Lancaster County Prison has been
charged with having drugs in her truck, according to the Lancaster County
district attorney's office. Leann M. Barr, 32, was charged after the
Lancaster County Drug Task Force found a half-ounce of methamphetamine, two
capsules of fentanyl and drug paraphernalia in
her car Monday, according to the the district
attorney's office. The investigation continues to determine if Barr brought
drugs inside the prison, 625 E. King St. Task force investigators executed
a search warrant on Barr's truck, parked in the first block of North
Franklin Street, after they saw her enter the prison, according to charging
documents. Inside the truck they found methamphetamine packaged in four
baggies, with an estimated street value of about $1,400, according to the
district attorney's office. There was also about .4 grams of fentanyl in two capsules. Detectives also found a
digital scale, smoking devices and a diversionary safe. Barr, of Hollow
Road, New Providence, was charged with two felony counts of possession with
intent to deliver and two misdemeanor drug charges. She was arraigned
Tuesday and released on $20,000 unsecured bail, court records show. Barr
has been terminated from working at the prison, according to the district
attorney's office. She was employed part-time with PrimeCare
Medical since December 2016, according to Lancaster County Commissioner
Josh Parsons. She started working full-time at the beginning of April, he
said. Based in Harrisburg, PrimeCare Medical is
the prison's health care provider. "Because of the ongoing drug
epidemic in the community we have been aggressively attacking all possible
avenues for drugs into the Prison," Parsons said. "That includes
investigations such as this one, ending contact visitation, changes to how
mail is handled, and other security measurers we cannot discuss publicly.
We will not rest in this fight to keep the Prison safe for staff and inmates."
District Attorney Craig Stedman said in a statement that investigation to
find sources of controlled substances in Lancaster County Prison continues.
“Given the fact that we are seeing more overdoses to more dangerous drugs
than ever before in this county, it is important that we treat any
offenders who are introducing drugs into the prison with the appropriate
severity," Stedman said.
Northhampton County Prison, Easton, Pennsylvania
Sep 10, 2017 mcall.com
Lawsuit claims Northampton County Jail to blame for Bethlehem man's
suicide
Northampton County Jail officials, a prison psychiatrist and the
company that provides medical care to inmates failed to prevent a suicidal
Bethlehem man from hanging himself in his cell in July 2015, a lawsuit in
federal court alleges. Bryan A. Applegate died July 8, 2015, while he was
being held on rape charges under $200,000 bail, according to the lawsuit,
which lawyers for the jail moved from Northampton County court to U.S.
District Court in Allentown last week. It claims that although Applegate
had attempted to hang himself while in Bethlehem police custody and was
admitted to St. Luke’s University Hospital-Anderson Campus for treatment,
he was placed in a standard jail cell where guards checked him only every
15 minutes and issued a defective suicide prevention smock from which he
fashioned the cord he used to kill himself. In addition to Northampton
County, prison health care provider PrimeCare
Medical Inc. and psychiatrist Kishorkumar Dedania, the suit names as a defendant North
Carolina-based Bob Barker Co., which sold the suicide
prevention smock. A suicide prevention smock is a heavy quilted
garment designed so that it cannot be torn or rolled into a rope by a
suicidal prisoner. Lawyers Adam Meshkov and John
Vivian of Easton represent Applegate’s mother, Victoria Applegate, who is
in charge of her son’s estate. They did not immediately return calls
Wednesday. Attorney David MacMain, who represents
Northampton County, and lawyers for PrimeCare and
Bob Barker Co. also did not immediately return
calls. Bethlehem police arrested Applegate July 5, 2015, on rape,
involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by force and related charges, stemming
from an incident in which he allegedly took a 17-year-old girl to his home,
gave her beer and made sexual advances toward her, which she refused. The
girl reported she later fell unconscious and awoke the next morning to find
herself naked with Applegate touching her, police
said. According to the lawsuit, Applegate was placed in a holding cell,
where he attempted to hang himself with his shirt before police stopped him
and took him to the St. Luke’s emergency room. He was evaluated, released
to Bethlehem police and arraigned before a district judge before he was
taken to the jail about 1 a.m. July 6, the suit says. Prison officials were
informed in paperwork that Applegate had made several attempts at suicide,
according to the lawsuit. As a result he was placed on one-on-one suicide
watch, in which a corrections officer checked Applegate every five minutes,
the suit says. The following day, the psychiatrist decreased the suicide
watch and Applegate was moved to a cell block where an officer checked on him
every 15 minutes, according to the suit. The suit says Applegate was found
hanging in his cell about 2:30 a.m. from a cord made from Velcro straps
used to fasten the suicide smock. Lawyers for Applegate’s mother allege
Northampton County Jail’s policies and practices regarding the treatment of
mentally ill and suicidal inmates were to blame for her son’s suicide. They
claim PrimeCare and the prison psychiatrist
failed to provide proper mental health evaluation and treatment. The suit
also alleges Bob Barker Co. was negligent in designing a suicide prevention
smock that could be used to commit suicide.
January
2, 2006 The Morning Call
Because of a lack of medical treatment, Trent Apple claims his multiple
sclerosis deteriorated so much he had trouble walking. Yahteek
Miles says his broken wrists went untreated for nearly two months, causing
permanent problems with his hands. And the family of Donald Weiss Jr.
alleges he killed himself after mental health experts failed to provide
adequate psychiatric care. Each of these individuals served time at a
county prison where a private business provided medical services. And each
of them has had a federal civil rights lawsuit filed on his behalf,
alleging the business failed to provide sufficient medical care in an
effort to save money. Across the nation, prison health care companies have
come under increased scrutiny, with prison watchdogs questioning whether
the profit motive has harmed the quality of prison health care. Prisons
that have hired private medical companies generally have done so because of
the promised financial savings for taxpayers. ''If they're doing it
cheaper, it's usually because they're cutting something, and those cuts
have consequences for the quality of care,'' said David Fathi,
an attorney with the National Prison Project of the American Civil
Liberties Union. Locally, PrimeCare Medical Inc.,
based in Harrisburg, provides services at four prisons - in Lehigh,
Northampton, Berks and Monroe counties. Schuylkill County is considering
hiring it. Inmates have filed dozens of suits against PrimeCare,
which serves 22 county prisons in Pennsylvania. In Northampton County, at
least 16 suits have been filed against the company since it started
providing services there in 1999, the most against any local prison served
by PrimeCare. Traditionally a
litigious group, inmates often file handwritten suits on a variety
of issues that end up being dismissed as frivolous. But in Northampton
County, many of the suits against PrimeCare
involve prisoners with private attorneys. And many of their cases have been
given court approval to move forward. One of the more significant
Northampton County cases involved a seriously ill inmate who reached a
$150,000 settlement in 2003 with the county and PrimeCare.
It alleged that PrimeCare failed to fill
prescriptions and gave incorrect prescriptions and that the prison delayed
access to medical care. PrimeCare has been an
improvement over Wexford Health Sources Inc., which provided medical care
at the Lehigh County Prison until 2004, Sweeney said. PrimeCare
is better partly because it's more oriented toward county jails than
Wexford, he said. Inmates have shorter stays in county jails than those in
state prisons, so their medical needs are different. But the owner and
president of PrimeCare, Carl A. Hoffman Jr., has a questionable medical record. In 1997, the
Pennsylvania Board of Osteopathic Medicine disciplined him. It issued a
formal reprimand and fined him $500. At the time, Hoffman owned
Pennsylvania Institutional Health Services, the predecessor to PrimeCare, which was contracted to provide medical care
at five state prisons.
September
7, 2005 The Express-Times
Three Northampton County Prison inmates have contracted
antibiotic-resistant staph infections, and three others may have the
disease, according to the prison's health care provider. All infected
prisoners and those who may have the disease were segregated from the
general prison population, and every prisoner was inspected to rule out
additional cases, PrimeCare Medical spokesman
Todd Haskins said Tuesday. PrimeCare of
Harrisburg has the contract to provide medical care to the prison's 600
inmates. Haskins said the prisoners have methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a skin disease
that results in slow-to-heal boils or sores. The bacteria can lead to
serious wound infections, blood infections and pneumonia, according to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PrimeCare
adopted an MRSA prevention and treatment policy in June and put information
about the disease in the pay envelopes of the prison employees. They
received the information shortly before the disease was detected this week,
Haskins said.
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