|
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."
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)
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