by Matthew T. Clarke

The methods used for psychological evaluation and housing of prisoners at the Washington, D.C. Jail are being questioned after two prisoners committed suicide within a three-month period.

Alicia Edwards, 32, had a history of mental illness when she hung herself in her D.C. Jail cell on March 31, 2007. Jail officials initially released a false statement claiming she was housed in the facility?s mental health unit and was under observation every 15 minutes. This led The Washington Post and The Examiner to publish articles repeating the false information.

However, D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) spokesperson Beverly Young later admitted that Edwards was neither in the mental health unit nor under increased observation, but rather was locked in a single-bunk intake unit cell isolated from other prisoners and was suffering from bipolar disorder when she killed herself.

The initial incorrect information was an apparent attempt to conceal the fact that, despite having a long history of mental illness and having been flagged for mental health problems during her intake screening, Edwards? required mental health evaluation had not been completed following her arrest two days prior to her death.

According to Vincent Keane, president of Unity Health Care, ...

by Michael Rigby

The daughters of a mentally ill man who was raped and beaten to death by another prisoner in New Jersey's Camden County Correctional Facility (CCCF) will receive a combined $4 million from the state and the jail's mental health care provider, Steininger Behavioral Care Services.

Joel Seidel, ...

Wyoming and CMS Settle Suit Over Diabetic Prisoner's Loss of Foot

by Matthew T. Clarke

In June 2006, CMS, the State of Wyoming and a prison doctor settled a lawsuit involving a prisoner who had to have his lower right leg amputated following dismally inadequate medical care.

Salvatore Lucido is ...

by David M. Reutter

Inadequate medical care by Prison Health Services (PHS) has resulted in yet another death and $1.6 million in settlements for the mother of a baby boy who was born over a cell toilet at Florida's Hillsborough County Jail (HCJ).

Incarcerated for prostitution, Kimberly Grey was also ...

by John E. Dannenberg

The Supreme Court of New Jersey, incensed with the inhumane treatment of a state prisoner who was systematically denied Hepatitis-C treatment for four years, ordered the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) to enact regulations codifying its responsibility for prisoners? healthcare.
The ruling also mandated that NJDOC promptly notify prisoners if they have a serious medical problem requiring treatment, provide them with access to their medical records, and formulate procedures to correct errors in prisoners? medical files.

A Trenton, New Jersey state prisoner identified in court pleadings as J.D.A. was told he had Hepatitis-C when he was in a Pennsylvania prison.
Upon his transfer to NJDOC, the state would neither believe him when he said he had tested positive nor administer new tests. When he finally obtained another Hepatitis-C test in 2001, the results (positive) were errantly entered into his medical records by NJDOC?s medical contractor, St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services (CMS), as ?negative.? When he tried to see his lab results, J.D.A. was denied by NJDOC; he then turned to the courts. It took four years before he was even seen, let alone treated, for his life-threatening medical condition.

In 2004, after J.D.A. had learned ...

For-profit private prison operator Management & Training Corporation (MTC) has recently lost lucrative contracts to run prisons in the United States and Canada. While the private prison industry is dominated by industry giants Corrections Corporation of America, Geo Corporation and Cornell Corrections, a number of smaller private prison companies hold the remaining 20% of the private prison ?market?. Not as well known as their bigger colleagues, nonetheless, these companies suffer the same problems and shortcomings of their industry as a whole. The ongoing consolidation of the private prison industry by CCA and Geo Corp. also makes the ongoing existence of the smaller companies questionable. The smaller companies tend to lack the deep pockets, lobbying resources and economies of scale that make CCA and Geo Corp., the dominant players in the private prison industry. But none of that really maters to the prisoners housed in the smaller for profit prisons nor to the people employed by them.

Before terminating its contract at New Mexico?s Santa Fe county jail in 2005, the company had been sued for a wrongful death, rape, suicide and illegal strip searches at the facility. The Canadian government also declined to renew MTC?s management contract for the Central ...

The Colorado State Auditor completed a review of the state's private prison contracts in November 2006. The audit found that former Director of Prisons Nolin Renfrow's "private business activities arguably present a conflict of interest and result in a breach of his fiduciary duty and the public trust."

The State Auditor recommended that the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) investigate Renfrow and possibly turn the matter over to the district attorney for prosecution. The audit also suggested that the CDOC strengthen its safeguards for ensuring compliance with codes of ethics and conduct, and develop a strategic plan to address Colorado's prison overcrowding crisis.

While the State Auditor failed to identify Renfrow by name, referring instead to a "former senior-level employee," State Representative Liane "Buffie" McFadyen identified Renfrow as the employee in question. McFadyen, a long-time foe of prison privatization, had requested the audit. She characterized Renfrow's conduct as a "clear conflict of interest."

In August 2005, Renfrow incorporated a prison consulting business with the Colorado Secretary of State. He began operating the business as early as November 2005 while on a combination of annual, sick and holiday leave from his position at the CDOC. Renfrow retired on January 31, 2006 ...

Florida's Civil Commitment Center Exhibits Little Change Despite New Contractor

by David M. Reutter

Despite recent scandals and a new private contractor, the Florida Civil Commitment Center (FCCC) is still a facility with little direction other than as a confinement center to warehouse sex offenders who have completed their sentences.

PLN has previously reported on the out-of-control, "free-for-all" atmosphere that reigned at FCCC. That article, published last year, detailed incidents of FCCC employees selling drugs, delivering contraband to facility residents, having sex with residents, and allowing residents to do as they pleased so long as they were "happy." [See: PLN, Nov. 2006, p.13].

Meanwhile, little treatment was being providing to the then 484 resident sex offenders. In fact, as of May 2005, only 35 percent of the residents were even enrolled in sex offender therapy programs. During Liberty's eight-year term of managing FCCC, only one resident obtained a recommendation from company staff that he should be released.

FCCC was ostensibly created to treat sex offenders after they were released from prison. From its establishment in 1998 under the Jimmy Ryce Act (FS 394.910), the facility was operated by Liberty Behavioral Health Corporation under an annual contract of $18.7 million, or ...

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest private prison operator, has agreed to pay more than $438,000 to settle allegations of discriminatory hiring practices at the company's Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence, according to a February 23, 2007 report in the Arizona Republic.

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor said the company violated federal affirmative action law by disproportionately rejecting non-Hispanic job applicants who sought employment at the prison during a two-year period ending in March 2005.

Under the settlement, CCA will hire 16 applicants who were previously rejected. The company will also pay $945.32 each to 464 former job applicants, for a total payout of $438,626.

CCA further promised to immediately cease its discriminatory hiring practices and implement self-monitoring procedures to ensure it maintains legal hiring standards, the Department of Labor said. The Florence facility faces a future audit by federal investigators to verify compliance.

The Department of Labor routinely audits companies that conduct business with the federal government. "We'll go in and we'll look at who applied for the jobs and who was hired," said Department spokeswoman Deanne Amaden. "In this case, what we found was a high disproportionate number of Hispanics were being hired. ...

State Officials Resign

by John E. Dannenberg

California?s federal receiver over prison healthcare, Robert Sillen, took umbrage with Florida-based private contractor Medical Development International (MDI) by withholding $2.6 million in fees and locking MDI out of two southern California prisons in February 2007. Two high-level state prison health care officials have resigned over the incident.

MDI had secured a questionable $26 million no-bid contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in August 2006 to provide outpatient scheduling of prisoners with medical specialists, an area of CDCR?s healthcare processing that had been chronically deficient. It was later reported that state officials who had reviewed MDI?s contract found it was overpriced and should have been competitively bid; they also questioned whether the company needed to have a medical license.

Regardless, MDI began work before the contract was finalized and was told to bill the state for services performed. The receiver?s office wasn?t notified of the arrangement.

Sillen?s chief of staff, John Hagar, learned about the contract and determined that part of MDI?s protocol was to only schedule appointments with specialists if the projected cost did not exceed $5,000. Thus, a medically-needy prisoner was not scheduled at all if the ...