Florida Corrections chief calls for re-do of private health contracts
Florida’s prisons chief said Wednesday that she plans to renegotiate or rebid lucrative private health care contracts in the wake of widespread reports of inmate deaths and poor treatment.
Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones told the House Judiciary Committee that “all options are on the table,” for reviewing contracts with private Corizon Prison Health Management and Wexford Health Sources, which signed five-year contracts in 2013.
Corizon’s contract is worth $1.2 billion and Wexford’s is $240 million.
“I don’t believe privatization was the wrong thing to do,” Jones told the committee. “I think we didn’t do it in the right way.”
Jones later said that DOC already has opened talks with Corizon and Wexford on reworking the long-term contracts.
She said a goal would be to get included better oversight of prescription drug delivery, mental health services, and an enhanced level of nursing within prisons, with more registered nurses available than less-skilled staffers.
Although reworking the contracts could take more than a year to finalize, Jones said the private companies have been “open” to short-term steps aimed at improving patient care in the meantime.
If the renegotiation collapses, Jones said a “Plan B” is for DOC to renew providing in-house treatment as it had for decades, although she acknowledged that could prove too costly.
A Palm Beach Post series has cited wholesale flaws in inmate health care – much of it involving the state’s private contractors. The Post this week showed that inmate death reports weren’t regularly submitted to the state by the private companies and medical exams showing whether inmates were injured by guards were missing in 2013 and 2014.
“We are going to make recommendations to the governor and the Legislature about what our best option is for the future,” Jones said. “And it’s going to based solely on the needs of our inmates and their health care.”
Jones’ testimony came a week after a leading state senator also demanded that Jones re-do the contracts.
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, said he had visited a Panhandle prison and was shocked that more than 1,400 inmates were being monitored over the weekend by one health care staffer.
“You need to renegotiate the contract and start immediately on that,” Evers told Corrections Secretary Julie Jones.
The Florida Nurses Association also has written Evers calling for the state’s DOC to end its contract.
