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The call to action was prompted by a series of reports in the Miami Herald and other news organizations that showed suspicious inmate deaths were covered up or never reviewed, inmate grievances and complaints of harmful medical care were dismissed or ignored, and internal controls were inconsistent.
Audits conducted by the state’s Correctional Medical Authority also found problems with inadequate medical care, nursing and staffing shortages, and hundreds of pending lawsuits claiming inadequate medical care.
Under the gun are two private companies that took over healthcare for the state’s 101,000 inmates in 2013. Wexford Health Services is being paid $48 million a year until Dec. 20, 2017 to provide health services to about 15,000 inmates at nine prisons in South Florida and Corizon Health, which provides healthcare to 74,000 inmates in North and Central Florida, receives $229 million per year until June 30, 2018. Both companies are required to provide medical care to inmates for 7 percent less than it cost the state in 2010 but both have already sought and received increases in the terms of their original agreement.
The move to privatize medical care in Florida prisons was not done in open committee hearings but quietly inserted into budget language during the governor's first term. The effort was challenged in court but ultimately was upheld and the contracts were allowed. Jones has subsequently criticized the contracts as too lenient for the vendors.
Private prison vendors could face new scrutiny Miami Herald Miami Herald
You gotta love privatization.
Audits conducted by the state’s Correctional Medical Authority also found problems with inadequate medical care, nursing and staffing shortages, and hundreds of pending lawsuits claiming inadequate medical care.
Under the gun are two private companies that took over healthcare for the state’s 101,000 inmates in 2013. Wexford Health Services is being paid $48 million a year until Dec. 20, 2017 to provide health services to about 15,000 inmates at nine prisons in South Florida and Corizon Health, which provides healthcare to 74,000 inmates in North and Central Florida, receives $229 million per year until June 30, 2018. Both companies are required to provide medical care to inmates for 7 percent less than it cost the state in 2010 but both have already sought and received increases in the terms of their original agreement.
The move to privatize medical care in Florida prisons was not done in open committee hearings but quietly inserted into budget language during the governor's first term. The effort was challenged in court but ultimately was upheld and the contracts were allowed. Jones has subsequently criticized the contracts as too lenient for the vendors.
Private prison vendors could face new scrutiny Miami Herald Miami Herald
You gotta love privatization.
