September 5, 2007 Huntsville Times
The state corrections commissioner was questioned by legislators Wednesday over a $233.73 million contract for health care for Alabama's nearly 26,000 inmates. Commissioner Richard Allen is seeking approval of a three-year contract with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services Inc. CMS would take over a contract now held by Prison Health Services Inc., of Brentwood, Tenn. Sen. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, a retired physician, endorsed the CMS contract, which would have two potential one-year renewals. "I have a keen interest in (prisons), particularly the health care," Griffith told the committee. "We're rapidly moving into the baby boomers going through the prison system just like we're going through it outside the prison system." Griffith said health care for convicts is a "major, major cost factor" for the state, but he added that "we're capping it with this contract and I think it's well thought out." The committee has the power to delay the contract for 45 days but cannot stop it from being enacted. Some members of the Joint Legislative Contract Review Committee questioned Allen about members of his staff who formerly worked for the two private companies and were involved in the selection process for CMS. A third company that submitted a proposal, Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources, was represented by an attorney who said he will ask for an explanation of the grading process when the committee meets again today. Allen acknowledged that Wexford's bid was about $6 million lower than CMS. "We evaluated the contracts very carefully," said Allen. "All the bidders were told that price would be 40 percent of the score and other things - innovations, cost savings, those types of things - would be scored 60 percent." Allen said Wexford scored third. Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden, said he was concerned that Department of Corrections employees who formerly worked for CMS and PHS were on the team that graded proposals submitted by the three companies. But Allen defended the process, calling prison health care "a very narrow specialty." "If you look at the resumes of these (DOC) people, they have worked for several companies, not just this company (CMS)," he said. "Nobody in our department has worked for this company in the last six or seven years. They've also worked for PHS. They've also worked for about a dozen other companies. They go back and forth between the companies and state service."

Broward County Detention Center, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
December 10, 2004 Sun-Sentinel
A new health management firm has taken over the care of the 5,200 inmates in Broward County's jail system after a dispute between the Sheriff's Office and the previous contractor over medical costs. Armor Correctional Health Services began work last week under its five-year, $127 million contract even though it did not yet have a license to dispense medicine. Armor replaced Wexford Health Sources, which first pushed for more money and then suggested cutting services despite the opening of a new detention center in the past year. The Sheriff's Office chose Armor over Wexford and two other firms that bid on the contract even though the Armor had only recently been incorporated. The company's chief executive officer is Doyle Moore, who previously founded Prison Health Services -- a longtime player in correctional health care in South Florida. Col. James Wimberly, who runs the jail system for Jenne, said the Sheriff's Office decided to put the contract out for bid after Wexford suggested a 12 percent increase in what it was paid. In the bidding process, Wexford's proposal was $300,000 less than that of Armor but would have cut eight positions from the jail system's medical staff.

Florida Department of Corrections
November 21, 2006 Tallahassee Democrat
After making a dramatic decision not to award a $707 million contract for prison health care, the Florida Department of Corrections spent its first day Monday managing the job itself. ''We are very confident that we can do this,'' said DOC Secretary Jim McDonough. ''I have been tracking it hour by hour and it appears that the transition is going very well.'' McDonough stunned the private prison-health-care industry late last week when he announced that the department was rejecting Tennessee-based Prison Health Services' latest bid to continue the work. The company's existing contract expired at just after midnight on Sunday. PHS has a troubled history with the department, one that began earlier this year when it announced it was pulling out of a 10-year contract it originally signed in 2005 because its $645 million bid did not anticipate the cost of hospitalizing sick inmates. The department recently announced that it was fining PHS $696,000 for failing to meet a series of benchmarks, including keeping legible medical records and missing deadlines to assign caseworkers and perform medical evaluations. Regardless, PHS was the department's choice again last month, after it was allowed to compete in a new round of bidding. That changed again after Pennsylvania-based rival Wexford Health Sources Inc. challenged the PHS award, saying that its lowest bid of $689 million should have made it the winner. McDonough said Monday that a new evaluation by outside experts showed that none of the contractors had the financial qualifications to complete the contract. ''Therefore, there were no responsive and responsible bidders,'' McDonough said. PHS spokesman John Van Mol said the company would have no comment. Wexford executives could not be reached for comment. As recently as this month, McDonough praised the effort to hand over the job of treating 16,000 inmates in South Florida to private industry, describing it as a $20 million cost saver for taxpayers. But at the same time, McDonough ordered his contract managers to begin an intensive review process to see if the department could perform the work itself. McDonough said the solution they came up with is a ''hybrid'' form of privatization that involves issuing 145 smaller contracts and purchasing orders. The department does not have to hire additional workers to get the job done, McDonough said. McDonough estimates that there will be a $12 million additional cost to the department in the first year, but that the department will save money in the long run. ''I have, in effect, cut out the middle man,'' McDonough said. ''I think we have come up with a very cost-effective way of doing it.'' Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, has been a critic of the privatization effort since it began under McDonough's predecessor. Aronberg pressured McDonough to impose the fines on PHS, and says he will be watching the department's performance under the new scheme. ''This is too important an issue to have a new policy in place every two weeks,'' Aronberg said.''We are very confident that we can do this. ..... it appears that the transition is going very well.''

November 17, 2006 AP
The Department of Corrections announced Friday that it will divide health services for nearly 18,000 inmates in South Florida prisons among many providers instead of bidding one comprehensive, multimillion-dollar contract. The agency has issued about 115 purchase orders and more than 30 non-bid contracts for its new health plan that goes into effect midnight Monday. A little-used state law provides an exception to bidding requirements for medical services, but two price quotes still were obtained for each contract, said department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. The decision was made after a review by independent auditors caught an error in the state's financial analysis after a second round of bidding for a comprehensive contract last month. The revised analysis indicated all bidders failed to met financial responsibility requirements. In October the agency declared its intent to award a $703 million, 10-year contract to Prison Health Services of Brentwood, Tenn., as the only "responsible and responsive bidder" based on the erroneous financial calculations. The contract award had been subject to negotiating final terms and resolving another bidder's protest. The rebidding had been ordered in response to Prison Health Services' decision to pull out of its current $645 million contract, signed earlier this year, claiming it was losing money on the deal. "DOC has a legal and moral obligation to provide appropriate health care, while ensuring the most efficient use of taxpayer money," Corrections Secretary James McDonough said in a statement. "The department has taken all necessary steps to ensure those obligations are met." A spokeswoman for Prison Health Services' parent, American Service Group Inc., declined comment beyond a news release that simply announced the state's decision and that the company will not provide service past Monday. McDonough last month also announced he intended to levy fines against the company for shortcomings under the original contract. Wexford Health Resources of Pittsburgh, Pa., had challenged the department's intent to award the rebid contract to Prison Health Services. Wexford submitted the low bid of $689 million but the department deemed the company was not financially qualified. Wexford did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment. McDonough said he is confident inmates and taxpayers will benefit from the new plan. "This private-public hybrid is a groundbreaking approach to privatization efforts that have brought great savings to Florida taxpayers," he said.

November 7, 2006 Tallahassee Democrat
A Pennsylvania-based prison health-care firm filed a formal protest Monday, disputing the Department of Corrections decision to award a $707 million, 10-year contract to a rival company with a troubled history. Wexford Health Sources Inc. filed a 10-page protest late in the day, saying that its lowest bid of $689 million should have given it the advantage and that the department made mistakes in calculating its financial strength. A Wexford executive questioned why the department awarded the bid to Tennessee-based Prison Health Services Inc., even though the department said Monday that it is fining PHS $696,000 for problems with its past work. ''The question has to come to mind, how can PHS be determined to be a responsible bidder?'' Wexford President and CEO Mark Hale said. Department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the department received the protest at the end of the business day and would not be able to comment until after it had time to study the document. PHS initially won the job in 2005 with a $645 million bid, tens of millions of dollars lower than Wexford. But PHS abruptly announced it was pulling out last year. PHS said it dramatically underestimated the cost of hospitalizing sick inmates and was losing too much money. However, PHS was invited to compete again when the department put out a new bid. ''Yes, $696,000 is a lot of money, but this is a $78 million-a-year contract and in terms of the overall contract, it is less than 1 percent,'' Plessinger said.

July 28, 2006 St Petersburg Times
A federal grand jury in Tampa indicted seven people Thursday on charges of filing fraudulent income tax returns using inmate identities and getting back nearly $1-million in illegal tax refunds. Daniel Goodheart, 36, a former psychiatric counselor for the Okeechobee Correctional Institution, and Frankie Jackson, 32, a former corrections officer there, were among those who IRS investigators say retrieved inmates' names and Social Security numbers from the Florida Department of Corrections intranet, then used them to prepare false income tax documents for inmates at nine Florida prisons. They are accused of working with John Palmer, 46, an inmate at the time, who prosecutors believe also conspired with four other acquaintances and inmates. In all, the scheme generated U.S. Treasury checks totaling $902,487 for the conspirators, according to IRS special agent Norm Meadows. The checks were processed at several banks throughout the state, including some in St. Petersburg. Goodheart was employed with the prison system through Wexford Health Associates, the IRS said.

September 16, 2005 Sun-Sentinel
Florida prison officials are defending their plans to divide an estimated $70 million annual contract for providing inmate health services at 13 South Florida prisons into four separate but lucrative contracts -- a move that has sparked interest from legislators, lobbyists and vendors. Several South Florida legislators said during a committee workshop Thursday that one result of the changes may be the Florida Department of Corrections weakens standards for the quality of inmate care. State Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Wilton Manors, said his review of contract paperwork shows that corrections officials have, without specific legislative authorization, lowered the guidelines dealing with the size and experience of staff that a private health care vendor would have to meet in order to bid on the contracts. "The standards are not as strict as they were when the contract was set five years ago," Seiler said. "The result of that is ... all of a sudden [the state] could end up with a company that is not qualified to do the job." Five years ago, the state contracted with Wexford Health Sources to provide medical, pharmaceutical, mental health and dental care for thousands of inmates in South Florida prisons. Last year, legislators cut that contract short and ordered that the work be divided among separate specialized vendors. The Legislature's auditing arm called Wexford's medical care "problematic" a year ago.

September 15, 2005 St Petersburg Times
Florida's top prison official has gone to concerts and sporting events with a lobbyist for clients seeking business with prisons. But Corrections Secretary James Crosby says he paid his own way and that he and Don Yaeger, a Sports Illustrated writer who also runs a lobbying firm, do not have a social relationship. A lucrative contract for inmate health care is on the line, and lawmakers, lobbyists and vendors are all keenly interested. A House committee that oversees prison spending will hold a hearing today on a contract for medical, dental, pharmacy and mental health for 17,000 inmates in South Florida prisons for five years. Yaeger has a client who wants a piece of the action, but others do too. Both Crosby and Yaeger find themselves as human ammunition in a high-stakes battle between rival vendors. Crosby acknowledges that he brought his wife to see the rock band Aerosmith, country singer George Strait , and a rodeo at Yaeger's skybox at the Leon County Civic Center . He also says he saw a Florida State-North Carolina State football game and FSU-Florida baseball game with the lobbyist. Yaeger represents a Miami firm, Medical Care Consortium, which is affiliated with Armor Correctional Health Services, a Broward County firm interested in the South Florida prison contract. But Armor says the state's bid requirements are "unreasonably restrictive," and the firm can't apply for the work because Crosby 's staff requires companies to have served a daily inmate population of 10,000 for at least one of the past three years. The health care firm with the most to lose in the latest vendor battle is Yaeger's main competitor, Wexford Health Sources, a Pittsburgh firm that won the South Florida contract in 2001. Wexford is fighting to keep caring for sick prisoners in South Florida , but it has a troubled past with the Corrections Department. The Legislature's watchdog agency called Wexford's medical care "problematic" a year ago and warned that without closer oversight, the state was inviting another federal lawsuit over quality of care. Things got so bad that the state threatened to impose monetary damages on Wexford, but a state official monitoring the contract, Larry Purintun, cited "substantial improvement" in July. By then, the Legislature had inserted a provision in the new state budget requiring that the contract be put out to bid next month.

Illinois Department of Corrections
July 20, 2007 Sun Times
The former director of the Illinois Department of Corrections was indicted Thursday for allegedly taking $50,000 in illegal kickbacks to hand out state contracts to favored companies, including $20,000 in bribes from the former undersheriff of Cook County. The former undersheriff, John Robinson, who left his job under a cloud, had a side job as a lobbyist for companies such as Addus Health Care of Palatine, trying to get them state business. He succeeded in getting Addus a contract providing health-care services in Illinois prisons in part because he bribed then-state Corrections Director Donald Snyder with $20,000, according to the indictment. $30,000 in alleged bribes - "Addus Health Care has not had a relationship with Robinson for several years, is not accused of any wrongdoing, didn't know the alleged activity was taking place, and is assisting authorities every step of the way," said Dave Bayless, a company spokesman. Addus is referred to as "Company A" in the indictment. Also indicted Thursday was Larry Sims, a lobbyist who allegedly gave Snyder $30,000 in bribes so state business could go to an unnamed Pennsylvania health-care company. Snyder, 52, of Downstate Pittsfield, was director of the state prisons under former Gov. George Ryan, from 1999 until 2003. Thursday's indictments grew out of the Operation Safe Road probe of corruption in the Ryan administration. Robinson, 59, of Barrington Hills, was undersheriff of Cook County from 1991 until 2000. He resigned amid a grand jury probe of him allegedly using his undersheriff stationery to solicit business for a British Virgin Islands-based company that ran an alleged investment scam. He was never charged. Robinson was undersheriff for part of the time he allegedly passed money -- in increments, totaling $20,000 -- to Snyder. 5 counts of mail fraud - "John is in a proper manner facing his charges. He will do what is right," Robinson's lawyer, George Collins, said. Robinson is currently unemployed, Collins said. Sims, 58, of Downstate Pleasant Plains, was a lobbyist for several vendors, including the Pennsylvania company. Snyder and Robinson were each charged with five counts of mail fraud. Sims was charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying to the grand jury during the investigation. Attorneys for Snyder and Sims could not be reached for comment. [Indictment is at www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2007/pr0719_02.pdf ] [US Attorney Press Release]

October 26, 2006 Sun Times
Gov. Blagojevich remembers political insider Stuart Levine spilling a cup of coffee on him during a New York fund-raising trip that is under federal scrutiny, but insists Levine spilled nothing about any illegal scheme to trade government business for campaign cash. "That's ridiculous," Blagojevich said Wednesday. "Absolutely not. Of course not." The Democratic governor spoke for the first time in detail about the 2003 trip as supporters of his GOP rival, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, said an itinerary shows Blagojevich illegally mixed government and political fund-raising. The itinerary lists meetings at New York's Harvard Club between Deputy Gov. Bradley Tusk, top Blagojevich fund-raiser Christopher G. Kelly and representatives of two companies. Those firms, Maximus Inc. and Wexford Health Sources, do millions of dollars in state business each year. Each also has contributed five-figure sums to Blagojevich. Feds probing trips: The Chicago Sun-Times last month reported that the Oct. 29, 2003, trip -- plus another to the East Coast later -- are focuses of a federal pay-to-play probe of state government. "The chief fund-raiser is meeting with people who are interested in government contracts along with a high-ranking member of the governor's staff," said Joe Birkett, DuPage County's state's attorney and GOP candidate for lieutenant governor. "You're setting the table to exchange your governmental decision-making in exchange for a political benefit." Blagojevich campaign spokesman Doug Scofield dismissed the criticism. Kelly and Tusk, he said, never met with Wexford or Maximus -- despite what the "preliminary draft" schedule indicates. "Bradley and Chris were not in any meetings together. I really have no idea why it would be that way on the schedule," Scofield said. "You have a schedule that looks like it's inaccurate in a number of ways."

August 25, 2006 The New Mexican
Santa Fe County has interviewed four people who applied to be the new jail administrator. One high-profile candidate, however, took her name out of the hat just before interviews were slated to begin Thursday. Ann Casey, a lobbyist and Illinois jail official embroiled in controversy over her relationship with state Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, had applied for the job along with five others. Casey canceled her interview Thursday and said she no longer wanted to be considered for the job, according to Assistant County Attorney Carolyn Glick. Casey was in the news in New Mexico when the state put Williams on unpaid leave and launched an investigation. Officials looked into his relationship with the woman, including use of his work cell phone and other expenses after the Albuquerque Journal reported billing records for his state cell phone showed 644 calls between the two over five months. Williams returned to work and is on probation following what a governor's aide called "a lapse in judgment." Illinois officials also looked into the matter, but Casey remains in her position of assistant warden of programs at the Centralia Correctional Center, said department spokesman Derek Schnapp. Casey was not available for comment.

May 31, 2006 New Mexican
A state prison contractor involved in the investigation of a relationship between Corrections Secretary Joe Williams and a lobbyist contributed $10,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign. The political-action committee for Aramark -- a Philadelphia-based company that makes millions of dollars a year to feed New Mexico inmates -- contributed to Richardson's campaign in May 2005, according to Richardson's most recent campaign-finance report. That was about a year after Aramark renewed its contract with the state Corrections Department. Aramark also has been generous to the state Democratic Party, contributing $10,000 in 2004, and the Democratic Governors Association, which Richardson chairs. The company contributed a total of $15,000 to the DGA in 2004 and another $15,000 in 2005, according to reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Aramark provides food service to more than 475 correctional institutions in North America. The corporation also has food-service contracts in colleges, hospitals, convention centers and stadiums. Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley referred questions about the campaign donation to Richardson's campaign manager, Amanda Cooper, who couldn't be reached for comment. The Governor's Office announced this week that Williams is being put on administrative leave while the state Personnel Office investigates his relationship with Ann E. Casey, who registered as a lobbyist for Aramark and Wexford Health Services, which provides health care to New Mexico inmates. Casey is an assistant warden at an Illinois prison. A copyrighted story in the Albuquerque Journal said Williams' state-issued cell-phone records show 644 calls between Williams and Casey between Sept. 24, 2005, and Feb. 23. According to that report, Casey was hired as a consultant by Aramark in 2005, but that contract has since been terminated. Aramark's $5.4 million contract ends in July. The Secretary of State Office's Lobbyist Index lists Casey as a lobbyist for Wexford, though the Journal report quotes a Wexford official saying the company never hired her. In 2004, a $10,000 contribution to a Richardson political committee from Wexford's parent company caused a stir and later was returned to the Pittsburgh company. The Bantry Group made the contribution to Richardson's Moving America Forward PAC in April 2004. This was during a bidding process just a month after the Corrections Department requested proposals for a contract to provide health care and psychiatric services to inmates. That contract potentially is worth more than $100 million, The Associated Press reported. In August 2004, a Richardson spokesman said the money would be returned "to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

May 30, 2006 AP
Gov. Bill Richardson has put Corrections Secretary Joe Williams on unpaid leave while the secretary's recent actions are investigated. Richardson said the review will focus on Williams' use of a state-issued cell phone, a state-funded trip that included some personal travel and his relationship with a lobbyist. "Gov. Richardson wants a thorough investigation to examine the secretary's actions and determine if anything improper occurred," said James Jimenez, Richardson's chief of staff. "The governor sets a very high ethical standard for his administration and will not tolerate any level of abuse of authority or public trust." A spokeswoman for the Corrections Department said Williams was unavailable for comment. State Personnel Director Sandra Perez will conduct the investigation through her office, Jimenez said. Williams will be on unpaid leave until June 9, the day Perez's office is to report to the governor. The Albuquerque Journal reported Sunday that Williams spent about 91 hours on his state-issued cell phone talking with Ann Casey, an assistant warden at a state prison in Centralia, Ill. The calls between the two phones were placed between Sept. 24, 2005, and Feb. 23, 2006. Casey registered as a lobbyist in 2005 for two companies that have contracts with New Mexico to provide health care and meals to prisoners. Williams described his relationship with Casey as a friendship and said he doesn't give preferential treatment to anybody. Richardson also is questioning a trip Williams took to Nashville on the state's dollar. In January, Williams attended a conference of the American Correctional Association. His travel records show he added a St. Louis leg to the trip, which he said was personal. A 30-mile drive from the St. Louis airport would land Williams at an address in O'Falcon, Ill., which Casey listed on lobbyist registration forms. Records show Williams wrote a check to his department in January for $266, the cost of adding the St. Louis trip. While on the trip, Williams and Casey accepted a dinner invitation from a company that operates a state prison in Santa Rosa, according to Williams' e-mail records. A billing statement for a hotel stay during the trip also lists two people in his party, but Williams would not say who the second person was. Richardson appointed Williams, a former warden at the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs and former warden at two state prisons, as corrections secretary in 2003.

November 24, 2005 State Journal Register
Less than five months after the state government canceled a contract with Wexford Health Sources to provide health care for most prison inmates, the company is resuming those duties with a new contract worth a potential $547 million. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which handles health-care procurement for most state agencies, awarded the contract late Wednesday. The agreement will pay Pittsburgh-based Wexford $97.6 million in the first year and $103.9 million in the second year, said HFS spokeswoman Kathleen Strand. Among the other bidders on the contract was Peoria-based Health Professionals Ltd., which the state hired after ending its previous contract with Wexford in July. HPL had prior agreements with the state to provide inmate health care at 10 other Illinois prisons, and those remain in effect, Strand said. The state canceled the earlier contract with Wexford just before the company's union-represented workers planned to go on strike. Workers said they authorized the strike because they were making little progress in contract talks with Wexford. The Department of Corrections awarded emergency contracts worth an estimated $55 million to HPL, and agency officials said at the time that the contracts soon would be put out for long-term bid. The emergency contracts cover the period from July 5, 2005, to Jan. 31, 2006. Wexford has contributed about $25,000 to Illinois political campaign funds since 1994, according to the State Board of Elections' Web site. The largest contribution was $10,000 to Friends of Blagojevich, the governor's fund, in November 2003.

August 27, 2005 Southern Illinoisan
In July, healthcare workers in Illinois prisons were so unhappy with Wexford Health Sources Inc., the company that employed them under contract with the state, they threatened to go on strike. Gov. Rod Blagojevich stepped in and pulled the contract from Wexford and awarded it to Health Professionals Limited. But the workers are still unhappy with Wexford, alleging the company has failed to pay them for accumulated "paid time off" including vacation and sick days. Wexford officials said it may be as late as October, but they will indeed pay what is owed pending receipt of information from HPL and money owed by the state of Illinois.

August 11, 2005 Pantagraph
In her job as a pharmacy technician at Lincoln Correctional Center, Kirsten Lolling has doled out pills and prescriptions to prison inmates for more than 12 years. On Wednesday, Lolling received some good medicine herself in the form of a 24 percent pay hike and a host of other improvements in her wage and benefits package. The added cash comes as part of a union contract ratified Wednesday by nearly 380 privately employed prison health care workers. Overall raises differ at the 23 prisons affected by the deal. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union reports its contract with Peoria-based Health Professionals Ltd. will result in better retirement benefits, cheaper health care costs and added benefits for education and length of service. Faced with the prospect of having inadequate staffing levels in many of its prisons, the Illinois Department of Corrections dropped Wexford and its $83 million contract and brought in HPL, which was already providing health care services at nine other state prisons.

July 7, 2005 Pantagraph
A Pennsylvania-based company may sue the Illinois Department of Corrections after the agency abruptly canceled its contract to avert a labor strike.  "We are looking at all our options," said Elaine Gedman, human resources chief of Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources Inc. "This is totally unprecedented."  The potential lawsuit comes in response to action the state took Sunday as the clock ticked down on a potential strike by nearly 380 nurses, pharmacists and other health-care professionals who work in the prison system but are employed through Wexford.  The workers, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, had threatened to walk off the job Tuesday if their contract demands were not met. Dozens of workers at prisons in Dwight, Pontiac and Lincoln are covered by the labor contract.  But a strike was averted late Sunday when the state terminated its lengthy relationship with Wexford -- worth about $83 million this year -- and hired a second company to manage health care at the prisons.  The affected workers, meanwhile, remain on the job while AFSCME attempts to negotiate a new labor agreement with the new contractor, Health Professionals Limited.

July 5, 2005 State Journal Register
The state has dropped its contract with Wexford Health Sources Inc. to provide health services at 23 state prisons on the eve of a scheduled strike by its employees. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Dede Short confirmed that an agreement had been reached between Corrections and Health Professionals Limited to take over the Wexford contracts, which were cancelled Monday. Health Professionals Limited is a private vendor that currently provides similar health services in nine prisons, according to representatives of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which represented the Wexford prison employees. As a result, the strike that had been scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. today, affecting more than 350 Wexford employees at 23 state prisons, has been put on hold, according to Anders Lindall, public affairs director for AFSCME Council 31. Negotiations broke off Friday between Wexford and the union. At the heart of the dispute is the difference in pay, health and other benefits between Wexford's employees and state workers, some of whom reportedly make twice as much as private vendor health employees doing similar jobs. Wexford's workers provided medical, dental and mental health services at nearly two dozen state prisons.  

June 26, 2005 Lincoln Courier
More than 350 health care workers at Illinois prisons, including those at Lincoln and Logan correctional centers, will go on strike July 5 if contract negotiations between their union and their employer, Wexford Health Sources, fail to produce an agreement.    Wexford has state contracts to provide health care at nearly two dozen correctional facilities.    The union-represented Wexford workers voted 356-5 this week to authorize a strike, said Buddy Maupin, regional director for Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.  For instance, he said, Wexford employees at state prisons are paid "vastly inferior" wages compared with state employees doing the same work.    Kirsten Lolling, a pharmacy technician at Lincoln Correctional Center, said she is paid $14 an hour, despite having 13 years of experience. State employees doing the same job are paid about twice as much, she said.    "Philosophically, we don’t think that the state should exploit its Wexford work force by using a low-wage, low-benefit vendor to save money on the labor costs," Maupin said.

June 24, 2005 Copley News Service
Frustrated by a lack of progress in contract talks, more than 350 workers who provide health care services to Illinois prison inmates have been taking strike-authorization votes, the results of which will be announced today.  A contract between AFSCME and Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Wexford Health Sources Inc. expires at midnight June 30, AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said Thursday. Wexford has state contracts to provide health-care services at most Illinois prisons. Negotiations on a new contract started in April, but they have not gone smoothly, Lindall said.  Wexford has proposed an "array of draconian takeback measures," including reductions in pay and benefits, he said.

August 18, 2003  Sun Times News
The union representing Illinois’ 15,000 state prison employees is praising Governor Blagojevich’s approval of legislation that would bar the privatization of prison commissary services.  Illinois law already prohibits the privatization of all security functions in the state prisons. AFSCME Council 31 initiated the new measure after former Governor George Ryan made an aggressive effort to contract out commissary services in the state’s 37 correctional facilities. Ryan contended that no security function was involved in the commissaries, which sell non-essential goods to inmates at reduced prices.  SB 629 makes explicit the prohibition against privatization of commissary services. It passed the General Assembly earlier this year by overwhelming majorities in both houses.

April 28, 2003 Clinton Herald
There's no money in the Illinois budget to staff and operate the Thompson prison next year but the state is exploring options for using that facility and other prisons not currently open.  One option would be to turn those facilities into federal prisons.  Doing so would require the Illinois Department of Corrections to first turn over the prisons to private companies to run, and the private companies would then lease the space to the federal prison system.

April 10, 2003  The Southern Illinois
Union picket lines could begin appearing as early as next week at eight Illinois Department of Corrections facilities because of stalled contract talks between health care workers and the private vendor that employs them.  Health care workers have been without a contract since Dec. 31 and have set Monday as a strike date, said Mark Samuels, public affairs director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the state's largest public-service employee union.  AFSCME Regional Director Buddy Maupin said Tuesday that HPL is one of three primary suppliers of health care services to the state corrections system. Wexford and Addus are the other two principal contractors. Maupin said HPL's contract proposals are not only "inferior" to wages and benefits earned by state employees in IDOC who provide the same services, but they are also below those paid by Wexford and Addus.

Mississippi Department of Corrections
January 14, 2008 Clarion Ledger
A health-care company contracting with the Mississippi Department of Corrections has been lax about providing some inmates with timely medical treatment among other problems, a legislative oversight group says. The Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review also says the piecemeal contract with Wexford Health Services cost the state $1.1 million more than it would have for the same company's turnkey model. The department is facing a shortfall of more than $19 million this year, some of that for overspending in medical costs, and PEER is recommending the state auditor investigate. But Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said the only issue he's had with Wexford concerns the way the company keeps records. And, he said, PEER's findings don't take into account the savings the department has seen in medical costs throughout the years, despite the increasing number of sick and aging inmates it is holding. Some lawmakers say they're prepared to give the department a deficit appropriation. "I'm not trying to beat up on PEER," Epps told The Clarion-Ledger. "All I'm saying is if you don't deal with this stuff every day, you're not comparing apples to apples." Issued to lawmakers last month, the PEER report reviews inmate medical expenses in fiscal year 2007, which began July 1, 2006 - the same day Wexford's contract with the state began. The Pittsburgh-based company provides Corrections with only routine care, with the department handling specialty services and care for inmates referred to hospitals. A turnkey model was used previously in which another company provided services to all state institutions except the private prisons the department contracts with. Epps said the department switched from that model to keep costs down. "The medical care at the department is better than I've ever seen it, and I've been here 26 years," Epps said. But the PEER report said the current agreement is costing the department $1.1 million more than it would with Wexford's turnkey model, and the department spent $2.8 million more than its appropriation in fiscal 2007. Spending more money isn't earning the state better services either, the group says. The report indicates that during a five-month review period in the same fiscal year, Wexford was short on staff, and some employees without "proper credentials" provided medical care to inmates. Also, PEER said many sick-call requests were not sorted by priority within 24 hours after they were submitted, which could have delayed treatment. Several deficiencies with the way medical records are stored were cited in the report as well, including no separation between physical- and mental-health records, which could affect the continuum of care. "These are people who have violated laws, but we are still responsible for their care and that's just the way it is," said Max Arinder, PEER's executive director. "We need to get these things remedied, or it could lead to some legal problems."

Oaks Correctional Facility, Eastlake, Michigan
December 1, 2004 Lundington Daily News
A former Oaks Correctional Facility physician pleaded guilty to four counts of tax evasion with a total tax liability of $139,794. Dr. Daniel Smalley, 56, formerly of Wellston now of Ludington, is scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 22, 2005 at the Lansing Federal Building. On June 28, 2004, Smalley was arrested at the Baltimore Washington International Airport, in Baltimore, Maryland, after returning from Ghana, West Africa. According to a complaint filed in June 2004, during the years 1997 through 2002, Smalley was employed at both the Baraga Correctional Facility, Baraga, and at the Oaks Correctional Facility, Eastlake, working for several different companies, including Genesys Integrated Group, Wexford Health Services, the State of Michigan, and Correctional Medical Services. In 1996 and 1997, Smalley provided Genesys with what U.S. attorneys are calling a false W-4 form, claiming to be exempt from all federal income taxes. In 2002, the IRS submitted a notice of levy to Correctional Medical Services to collect taxes due and owing from his wages. Each count of conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

New Mexico Department of Corrections
September 26, 2007 Santa Fe Reporter
Over the last year, whistle-blowers have come forward, auditors have released findings, legislative committees have convened. All concluded that Wexford Health Sources Inc., the private company that secured an exclusive contract in 2004 to provide health care to New Mexico inmates, cut corners at the cost of prisoners’ well being. Last year, SFR published an award-winning 15-part series focusing on health care professionals’ allegations about the care in the prisons [www.sfreporter.com; “The Wexford files.” ] Although Wexford’s contract expired on June 30, 2007, inmates are now filing handwritten civil suits leveled at Wexford, the State of New Mexico and its private-prison contractor, the GEO Group. Richard Vespender, an inmate in GEO Group’s Lea County Correctional Facility, filed suit in the First Judicial District on July 3, 2007, alleging that Wexford denied him treatment for a back injury he suffered in 2001 when he slipped on a wet floor at another prison facility. Vespender, who is representing himself, says doctors had identified two herniated discs in his lower back that required surgery, but Wexford would only pay for temporary pain-killers. On Aug, 15, former Western New Mexico Correctional Facility inmate Johnny Gallegos filed suit claiming that, in the summer of 2005, Wexford employees ignored his serious urinary condition. The suit alleges that Gallegos was treated for constipation, despite regular bowel movements and, after more than a week of complaints, was finally taken to the hospital after the prison’s warden discovered him waiting in line at the medical clinic with his shorts covered in blood. While the plaintiffs have yet to respond to Gallegos’ complaint, GEO Group and the New Mexico Department of Corrections have denied culpability in Vespender’s case, and claim, in their legal response, that they are “without sufficient knowledge or information” to either admit or deny 32 of Vespender’s allegations. Most conspicuously, the plaintiffs claim they don’t know enough about Vespender’s 2006 visits to Dr. Don Apodaca, who at the time was Wexford’s medical director at the Lea County prison. Apodaca resigned in November 2006 and previously told SFR: “It came to the point where I felt uncomfortable with the medical and legal position I was in. There were individuals who needed health care who weren’t getting it.” Although NMDOC and GEO now deny sufficient knowledge of both Apodaca’s diagnosis and that of the specialists at an Albuquerque health clinic, both were cited in an April 4, 2007 memo from NMDOC denying Vespender’s final administrative appeal, which was included in Vespender’s case file. Tia Bland, spokesperson for NMDOC, says this is a moot point: As of July 1, St. Louis, Mo.-based Correctional Medical Services began handling prison health care. “If there are inmates who felt that they were not receiving proper treatment when Wexford was there, there is a process for them to let us know about that, for them to let the current vendor know about that and we certainly will address whatever their concern is now,” she says. Solomon Brown, Gallegos’ attorney, says he’s interviewed dozens of upset New Mexico inmates, and a new vendor may not be enough. “In my estimations, there’s nothing but dissatisfaction among the inmates,” Brown says. “The governor needs to appoint a group to formally look at it, or an ombudsman to go and talk to these inmates like I do and meet with them.”

February 7, 2007 The Santa Fe Reporter
At the behest of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), two correctional health experts have launched an extensive audit of the medical care in New Mexico’s state prisons. SFR has learned that Dr. Steve Spencer and Dr. B Jaye Anno were hired late last month by the LFC to evaluate the level of medicine provided to state inmates. Their work is part of a larger audit the Legislature is conducting of the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), slated for conclusion this spring. “We needed medical expertise in our audit, because up until now we haven’t had any,” Manu Patel, the LFC’s deputy director for audits, says. “This way, it’s not just us second-guessing the Corrections Department. We can actually get a sense of what’s working and what isn’t.” Patel says the contract with Spencer and Anno is worth approximately $21,000. The health care component to the Corrections audit follows a six-month investigation by SFR into Wexford Health Sources, the private company that administers medical care to state inmates [Cover story, Aug. 9, 2006: “Hard Cell?”]. The investigation led to a request for the audit by the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee last October [Outtakes, Oct. 25, 2006: “Medical Test”]. SFR’s series also compelled Gov. Bill Richardson to terminate the state’s contract with Wexford in December, a process that will likely take until June, when the prison medical contract is up for renewal [Outtakes, Dec. 13, 2006: “Wexford Under Fire”]. Regardless of Wexford’s fate, the LFC is pressing ahead with the audit. “We are looking at this serving a long-term benefit to the Corrections Department, so that we can all better evaluate the medical program in the prisons and its services,” Patel says. Spencer, a former medical director of NMCD, and Anno, who co-founded the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, started work on Feb. 5, when they traveled to Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. “We’re going to look at a number of things when we travel to the sights,” Spencer says. “We’ll look at the adequacy of staffing, the appropriateness of care, the timeliness and use of off-site specialists. We’ll review inmate deaths and whether Corrections is adequately monitoring the contractor.” Moreover, the medical audit will involve a review of the contract between Wexford and the Corrections Department, as well as sifting through tuberculosis, HIV and other medical testing data. Various medical personnel will also be interviewed throughout the process, Spencer says. Inadequate tuberculosis testing, chronic staffing shortages and a systemic failure to send inmates off-site have been among the concerns raised to SFR by former and current Wexford employees [Outtakes, Oct. 18, 2006: “Corrections Concerns”]. In an e-mail, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman said, in part, that Wexford plans to cooperate with the audit and is confident its outcome will be positive. She also said Wexford is cooperating with NMCD for a smooth transition. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland tells SFR that Corrections is still working on a request for proposal, set to go out in March, that will kick off the agency’s search for a new medical provider. “We’re providing [the auditors] with whatever they need, and whatever the results are, we’ll use that information to our advantage in working with the next vendor,” Bland says. Bland reiterates NMCD’s contention that Wexford violated the terms of its contract with the state because of staffing problems. She says Corrections is still analyzing whether Wexford broke other contractual stipulations. During the mid-1990s, Spencer and Anno were hired by the Wyoming Department of Corrections to conduct medical audits of its prisons. Wexford, which administered health care for the Wyoming DOC, eventually became embroiled in a US Justice Department investigation regarding prison health care in that state and lost its contract. Recalls Anno: “There were a number of problems with Wexford’s operation in Wyoming.”

January 10, 2007 Santa Fe Reporter
For Elizabeth Ocean, the poor medical and psychological care at Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility (SNMCF) in Las Cruces had become too much to bear. After three years working as a mental health counselor there, she quit her job last March. Ocean tells SFR that inmates reported waiting weeks, even months, for medical and dental appointments and to receive prescription medications. “The guys came to me constantly about the medical care,” Ocean says. “They were going and putting in requests and waiting so long to be seen. A lot of times, they were being told there was nothing wrong with them.” Wexford Health Sources, a private, Pennsylvania-based company, has handled health care in New Mexico’s state prisons since July 2004. On the heels of a six-month SFR investigative series on Wexford, in which many former and current Wexford employees came forward, Gov. Bill Richardson told the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) on Dec. 8 to replace Wexford [Outtakes, Dec. 13: “Wexford Under Fire”]. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland says NMCD is moving ahead with the termination process and that a request for proposals will be crafted by March. Bland says NMCD has identified at least one area—staffing shortages—in which Wexford violated the terms of its state contract. Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman did not return phone or e-mail messages. Ocean says the problems in the facility where she worked were systemic. Earlier this year, she says she wrote letters to the US Justice Department and the governor’s office, alerting them to the health care deficiencies. She also wrote of four fellow mental health counselors whom Ocean alleges were operating without state licenses; Ocean also filed a complaint last January with the New Mexico Counseling and Therapy Practice Board. On May 17, Erma Sedillo, NMCD’s deputy secretary of operations, wrote Ocean on behalf of the governor’s office to inform her that NMCD was working to obtain the counselors’ temporary licenses. Sedillo did not return a phone message, but spokeswoman Bland confirms a past “licensure issue” at NMCD because the department was unaware of a recent change in existing state regulations that now require mental health professionals working in prisons to obtain a full state counseling license. “When we discovered the change, we got all of our counselors to obtain full licenses,” Bland says. As for Ocean, she is out of the prisons, but still connected. Ocean is married to an inmate and former patient at SNMCF, who is incarcerated for murder. She says their relationship started after he was no longer a patient. Ocean adds: “I saw with my own eyes all the problems, all the injustices at the prison before I ever married him.”

December 13, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
After two troubled years of administering health care in New Mexico’s prisons, Wexford Health Sources will lose its multimillion-dollar contract with the state. Wexford has been the subject of a five-month investigative series by this paper. Now, SFR has learned that on Dec. 8, Gov. Bill Richardson ordered the New Mexico Corrections Department (NCMD) to immediately begin the search for a new health care provider. “The governor has directed the Corrections Department to develop and implement immediate and long-term options for improving health care quality at the state’s correctional facilities,” Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos says. “Those options are expected to include sanctions and seeking another provider—which basically means the Corrections Department will be crafting a request for proposal [RFP] to solicit a new vendor. They’re working out the terms of the RFP now and will most likely be terminating the contract with Wexford.” Wexford’s contract expires in June 2007, Gallegos says. SFR has repeatedly and exclusively published allegations by current and former Wexford employees regarding inmate care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Those accounts focused on dangerously low medical staffing levels at the nine correctional facilities where Wexford operates; Wexford’s refusal to grant chronically ill inmates critical, off-site specialty care; and systemic problems in administering prescription medicine to inmates. Gallegos says the governor learned about the problems with Wexford through SFR’s stories. “The governor had been concerned about the quality of care delivered in the correctional facilities and directed the Corrections Department to increase oversight of Wexford,” Gallegos says. “Corrections was doing that, but it appeared that many of those deficiencies were not being corrected.” Wexford, which also administers health care in facilities run by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), will lose those operations as well, Gallegos says. Wexford began working in New Mexico in July 2004, after signing a $27 million contract with NMCD. The Pittsburgh-based company has also lost contracts in Wyoming and Florida because of similar concerns over health care. SFR also learned this week that Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical director in New Mexico, has resigned, effective Dec. 31. In addition, a dentist at a state prison in Hobbs tells SFR that facility is so understaffed that inmates sometimes wait up to six weeks to receive important dental care. Dr. Ray Puckett, who has been working as a part-time dentist at Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF) in Hobbs for approximately one year, alleges that some inmates are suffering because the backlog to receive dental treatment is so massive. “I’ve heard about inmates pulling their own teeth after months and months. I’ve heard about inmates saying, ‘I just can’t stand it anymore,’” he says. Puckett says Wexford should have hired a full-time dentist at LCCF because so many inmates require medical attention to take care of abscesses, cavities, tooth extractions and other painful dental problems. Puckett works at the facility only one day a week, during which he typically sees up to 16 patients. He says that Wexford also has another dentist who will occasionally work one day a week at the facility. “What we have now is a poorly run operation. It’s grossly understaffed and disorganized. And it ends up being unfortunate for the inmates,” Puckett says. Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman did not respond to e-mails and phone calls from SFR. Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland says NMCD is not aware of a backlog of dental patients at LCCF, but will look into it. She adds that Wexford is only required to have a dentist at LCCF for two days a week. With regard to the governor’s action against Wexford, Bland says: “It’s a fact. Wexford has not met its contractual obligations to the Department, and that’s something we can’t ignore. We have to do something about it. We will be putting a plan in place.” In the coming year, both Wexford and NMCD are slated for an extensive audit by the Legislative Finance Committee. The audit was the result of a hearing on Wexford by the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee in October. The hearings also were held in response to reports in this paper [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. It’s now unclear whether the audit will still take place. As for Puckett, he has considered leaving his post because of what’s happening at LCCF. A veteran of correctional health care, he also worked for Wexford’s predecessors, Addus HealthCare and Correctional Medical Services. In his estimation, both companies, which operate to make a profit like Wexford, cared more about the inmates’ physical well-being and were willing to sacrifice dollars to ensure that medical problems were treated expeditiously. Says Puckett: “It is my sense that Wexford doesn’t care what sort of facility they run. Everything is run on a bare-bones budget. They’re in it to make money.” Not anymore. When asked whether there was any chance at all that Wexford could remain in its current capacity at NMCD or CYFD, Richardson spokesman Gallegos responded: “They’re done. The governor’s intention is to replace Wexford with a new company. We expect to have a new provider in a reasonable amount of time.”

November 28, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
In the latest setback for Wexford Health Sources, a former employee has slapped the prison health care company with a civil lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. The suit, filed Oct. 25 in US District Court in Albuquerque, alleges that former health services administrator Don Douglas was fired by Wexford last October because he is black. Moreover, the suit alleges that sick and injured inmates at Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, where Douglas worked, received poor treatment and that the facility lacked critical medical staff. Wexford, which administers health care in New Mexico’s prisons, has been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result, the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee held a hearing last month, and the Legislative Finance Committee is slated to audit Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department [Outtakes, Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”]. The allegations in Douglas’ lawsuit echo many of the concerns from employees who have talked to SFR. Specifically, it charges that even though Douglas alerted a Wexford corporate administrator about medical and staffing problems, the company did not respond. Instead, according to the lawsuit, Douglas’ job was audited and he was found negligent, despite no prior problems and a record of exemplary job evaluations. On Oct. 10, 2005, Douglas was fired and replaced by a white woman, the lawsuit says. “Wexford did not provide critical health care in a timely manner, and I called attention to that,” Douglas tells SFR. “Inmates have a civil right as incarcerated American citizens to be afforded adequate health care. But that service is not being provided, and Wexford is neglecting inmates.” Douglas began working at Wexford in July 2004, but also worked for its predecessor, Addus. Shortly after his firing, Douglas filed a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A June 5 letter from the EEOC’s Albuquerque office says the agency found reasonable cause to believe Douglas “was terminated because of his race.” When queried by SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman wrote in a Nov. 27 e-mail that Wexford is withholding comment until the forthcoming audit is complete and referred to 14 prior successful audits of Wexford. Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland also would not comment on the lawsuit and noted that NMCD does not oversee Wexford personnel matters. Says Deshonda Charles Tackett, Douglas’ lawyer: “This is an important case. Mr. Douglas should not have to suffer racial discrimination in an effort to provide inmates with proper health care.”

November 22, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
The medical director of a state prison in Hobbs has stepped down from his post less than a month after a legislative committee requested an audit of the corrections health care in the state. Dr. Don Apodaca, medical director of Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF), turned in his resignation on Nov. 6 due to concerns that inmates there are not receiving sufficient access to health care. According to Apodaca, sick inmates are routinely denied off-site visits to medical specialists and sometimes have to wait months to receive critical prescription drugs. Apodaca blames the policies of Wexford Health Sources, the private company that contracts with the state to provide medicine in New Mexico’s prisons, for these alleged problems. Wexford has been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation, during which a growing number of former and current employees have contended that Wexford is more concerned with saving money than providing adequate health care, and that inmates suffer as a result. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) tentatively approved an audit that will assess Wexford’s contract with the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also evaluate the quality of health care rendered to inmates [Outtakes, Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”]. LCCF’s medical director since January 2006, Apodaca is one of the highest-ranking ex-Wexford employees to come forward thus far. His allegations of Wexford’s denials of off-site care and the delays in obtaining prescription drugs echo those raised by other former and current employees during the course of reporting for this series [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Specifically, Apodaca says he personally evaluated inmates who needed off-site, specialty care, but that Wexford consistently denied his referrals. Apodaca cites the cases of an inmate who needed an MRI, another inmate who suffered from a hernia and a third inmate who had a cartilage tear in his knee as instances in which inmates were denied off-site care for significant periods of time against his recommendations. When inmates are actually cleared for off-site care in Albuquerque, they are transported in full shackles without access to a bathroom for the six- to seven-hour trip, Apodaca says. “Inmates told me they aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom and ended up soiling themselves,” he says. “The trip is so bad they end up refusing to go even when we get the off-site visits approved.” When it comes to prescription drugs, there also are significant delays, Apodaca says. Inmates sometimes wait weeks or even months for medicine used for heart and blood pressure conditions, even though Apodaca says he would write orders for those medicines repeatedly. “Wexford was not providing timely treatment and diagnoses of inmates,” he says. “There were tragic cases where patients slipped through the cracks, were not seen for inordinately long times and suffered serious or fatal consequences.” Apodaca says he began documenting the medical problems at the facility in March. After detailing in writing the cases of 40 to 50 patients whom he felt had not received proper clinical care, Apodaca says he alerted Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical director, and Cliff Phillips, Wexford’s regional health services administrator, through memos, e-mails and phone calls. In addition, Apodaca says he alerted Wexford’s corporate office in Pittsburgh. Neither Breen nor Phillips returned phone messages left by SFR. Apodaca says he also informed Devendra Singh, NMCD’s quality assurance manager for health services. According to Apodaca, Singh assured him that he would require Wexford to look into the matter, but Apodaca says he never heard a final response. “Wexford was simply not receptive to any of the information I was sending them, and I became exasperated,” he says. “It came to the point where I felt uncomfortable with the medical and legal position I was in. There were individuals who needed health care who weren’t getting it.” Singh referred all questions to NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland; Bland responded to SFR in a Nov. 20 e-mail: “If Don Apodaca has information involving specific incidents, we will be happy to look into the situation. Otherwise, we will wait for the LFC’s audit results, review them and take it from there.” Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman would not comment specifically on Apodaca’s allegations. In a Nov. 20 e-mail to SFR, she wrote that Wexford will cooperate with the Legislature’s audit and is confident the outcome will be similar to the 14 independent audits performed since May 2005 by national correctional organizations. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to continuing to provide high quality health care services in New Mexico,” Gedman writes. Members of the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, which requested the forthcoming audit, toured LCCF on Oct. 19 and were told by both Wexford and NMCD officials that there were no health care problems at the facility. On the same tour, however, committee members heard firsthand accounts from inmates who complained they couldn’t get treatment when they became sick [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. That visit, along with Apodaca’s accounts, calls into question Wexford’s and NMCD’s accounts, State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, says. “We were told on our tour that nothing was wrong. And now to hear that there is a claim that Wexford and the Corrections Department might have known about this makes it seem like this information was knowingly covered up,” McSorley, co-chairman of the committee, says. “We can’t trust what’s being told to us. The situation may require independent oversight far beyond what we have. This should be the biggest story in the state right now.”

November 8, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
The New Mexico State Legislature is one step closer to an audit of Wexford Health Sources, the private company that administers health care in New Mexico’s prisons. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) tentatively approved the audit, which will evaluate Wexford’s contract with the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also assess the quality of health care administered to inmates. The request for a review of Wexford originated with the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, which voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to recommend the audit after a hearing on prison health care in Hobbs [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. A subsequent Oct. 30 letter sent to the LFC by committee co-chairmen Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Doña Ana, and Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, refers to “serious complaints raised by present and former employees” of Wexford. The letter cites this newspaper’s reportage of the situation and notes that on a recent tour of Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, “committee members heard numerous concerns from inmates about medical problems not being addressed.” It also refers to confidential statements Wexford employees provided to the committee that were then turned over to the LFC. The decision to examine Wexford and NMCD comes on the coattails of months of reports that state inmates are suffering behind bars due to inadequate medical services, documented in an ongoing, investigative series by SFR. Over the past three months, former and current employees have alleged staffing shortages as well as problems with the dispensation of prescription drugs and the amount of time sick inmates are forced to wait before receiving urgent care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. The timing, Manu Patel, the LFC’s deputy director for audits, says, is ideal, because the LFC already planned to initiate a comprehensive audit of NMCD, the first in recent history. Regarding the medical component of the audit, Patel says: “We will be looking at how cost-effective Wexford has been. Also, we will be looking at the quality of care, how long inmates have to wait to receive care and what [Wexford’s] services are like.” Patel says the LFC plans to contract with medical professionals to help evaluate inmates’ care. As per a request from the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, current Wexford employees will be given a chance to participate in the audit anonymously. The audit’s specifics require final approval from the LFC in December; the committee will likely take up to six months to generate a report, according to Patel. In a Nov. 6 e-mail to SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman cites 14 successful, independent audits performed of Wexford in New Mexico since May 2005. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to continuing high quality health care services in New Mexico,” Gedman writes. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland echoes Gedman: “We welcome the audit and plan on cooperating any way we can,” she says. Meanwhile, former employees continue to come forward. Kathryn Hamilton, an ex-NMCD mental health counselor, says she worked alongside Wexford staff at the Pen for two months, shortly after the company took the reins in New Mexico in July 2004. Hamilton alleges that mentally ill inmates were cut off psychotropic medicine for cheaper, less effective drugs and that inmates waited too long to have prescriptions renewed and suffered severe behavioral withdrawals as a result. Hamilton, who had worked at the Pen since April 2002, says she encountered the same sorts of problems under Addus, Wexford’s predecessor, but quit shortly after Wexford’s takeover because the situation wasn’t improving. “They would stop meds, give inmates the wrong meds or refuse to purchase meds that were not on their formulary, even if they were prescribed by a doctor,” Hamilton says. “I felt angry, sometimes helpless, although I always tried to speak with administrators to help the inmates.” Hamilton married a state inmate by proxy last month, after continuing a correspondence with him following her tenure at the Pen. Hamilton says she did not serve as a counselor to the inmate, Anthony Hamilton, but met him after helping conduct a series of mental health evaluations. Hamilton has been a licensed master social worker under her maiden name since 2000 (according to the New Mexico Board of Social Work Examiners). She emphasizes that her relationship with her husband did not begin until after she left the Corrections Department. According to Hamilton, her husband, still incarcerated at the Pen for aggravated assault, recently contracted methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a serious staph infection. In a previous story, four current Wexford employees specifically mentioned MRSA as a concern to SFR because they allege Wexford does not supply proper protective equipment for staff treating infectious diseases like MRSA [Outtakes, Oct. 18: “Corrections Concerns”]. Wexford Vice President Gedman did not address Hamilton’s claims when queried by SFR. Corrections spokeswoman Bland also says she can’t comment on Hamilton’s allegations because she had not spoken with Hamilton’s supervisor at the time of her employment. Says Hamilton: “I initially called the newspaper as the concerned wife of an inmate, not as a former therapist. With all the stories the Reporter has done, I wanted to come forward with what I had seen at the Pen.”

October 25, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
Following months of reports that state inmates are suffering behind bars due to deficient medical services, a state legislative committee has requested a special audit of health care in New Mexico’s state prisons. During an Oct. 20 hearing at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, members of the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee voted unanimously to ask for the audit, which will focus on Wexford. Last week’s hearing resulted in a requested audit of New Mexico’s prison health care. (Photo by Dan Frosch.). Health Sources, the private company that contracts with the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD). The company’s operation in New Mexico has been the subject of a three-month investigative series by SFR, during which former and current Wexford employees have come forward with allegations of problematic health services for inmates [Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result of the series, the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee decided to address the issue during a regularly scheduled hearing in Hobbs [Outtakes, Sept. 13: “Checkup”]. Norbert Sanchez, a nurse suspended by Wexford in September after an alleged dispute with health administrators, spoke at the hearing about problems he witnessed at Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas. Sanchez recalled witnessing a wheelchair-bound inmate who sat in his own feces for hours and a sick inmate who missed critical doses of medicine for congestive heart failure. Sanchez also expressed concerns that echo those raised previously to SFR by other former and current Wexford staff: a systemic lack of medical supplies, failure to properly dole out prescription drugs and reluctance to send sick inmates off-site for specialized treatment. Though he was the only former Wexford employee in attendance, Sanchez referred legislators to a packet he’d disseminated with testimony from current Wexford employees. Those employees feared retaliation if they came forward, Sanchez said. ACLU New Mexico staff attorney George Bach testified that his organization has been hearing similar concerns from Wexford employees and that many are, indeed, afraid to go public. “These employees are so passionate about this issue that if you called them to testify, I’m certain they would do it,” Bach said. Both NMCD and Wexford refuted Sanchez’ and Bach’s allegations. Devendra Singh, NMCD’s quality assurance manager for health services, hashed through the nationally approved correctional health care standards to which he said the Corrections Department adheres. He also pointed to the strict auditing process he said NMCD uses to monitor Wexford. “We go for auditing for every inch of every aspect of care,” Singh said. Wexford President and CEO Mark Hale said his Pennsylvania-based company is subject to more stringent oversight in New Mexico than in any other state where it operates. “If inmates need health care, they get it,” Hale, who categorized the attacks on Wexford as deriving from disgruntled ex-employees, said. But Singh’s and Hale’s assurances were not enough for the legislators on hand, who peppered the two with questions. At one point, State Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, referred to a recent SFR story in which a current Wexford employee at Central decried treatment of inmates as inhumane and noted that never before had the employee seen such deficiencies in health care [Outtakes, Oct. 18: “Corrections Concerns”]. “That’s pretty darn scary to me,” Wirth said of the allegation. Committee co-chairman and State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Doña Ana, questioned Singh’s assertion that medical complaints from inmates are rare and noted that on a tour of Lea County Correctional Facility the previous night, legislators had heard numerous inmate concerns about medical problems. Co-chairman Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, said on the same tour he’d seen an inmate suffering from a visible cystic infection. The cyst should have easily been identified through only a “cursory” medical evaluation, McSorley said. Corrections Secretary Joe Williams said his agency welcomes a special audit of health care in the prisons. Legislators agreed that such an audit, under the aegis of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), should be conducted by an independent third party and include accounts from current Wexford employees who could remain anonymous. LFC Chairman Lucky Varela, D-Santa Fe, says he has not yet received an official request from the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, but will be keeping an eye out. “We will seriously consider looking at the Corrections component to see what type of health care and what type of contracts are being approved by the Corrections Department,” Varela says. Indeed, for Peter Wirth, the logical next step is an audit that examines Wexford’s services and NMCD’s oversight and that allows current employees to speak freely. Says Wirth: “We really need to hear more from these folks. Obviously, we’ve begun a dialogue here, and we don’t want to short-change it.”

October 18, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
Current prison health workers say they fear retaliation if they speak out. Just days before state legislators convene a hearing on correctional health care in New Mexico, a group of medical employees in the state prison system have come to SFR with allegations about how inmates are treated. All four requested anonymity because they say they fear retaliation from Wexford Health Sources—the private company that administers health care in the prisons—if their identities are revealed. The employees currently work at Central New Mexico Correctional Facility. They allege, among other things, that chronically ill inmates are forced to lie in their own feces for hours, are taken off vital medicine to save money and often wait months before receiving treatment for urgent medical conditions. Moreover, the employees say conditions at the facility are unsanitary. “In my entire career, I’ve never seen this sort of stuff happening,” one employee says. “These inmates are not being treated humanely. They don’t live in sanitary conditions. They live in pain.” Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman denies all the employees’ allegations in an e-mail response to SFR. Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland says the department is unaware of these allegations and that “none of these issues have surfaced during our regular auditing process.” The employees’ allegations come on the heels of a series of stories by SFR, in which several former Wexford employees have publicly come forward with similar charges [Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result of the stories, the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee will hold a hearing on Oct. 20 in Hobbs to discuss the matter [Outtakes, Sept. 13: “Checkup”]. Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), which oversees the Pennsylvania-based company, have categorically denied charges that inmates are being denied proper health care. These latest allegations are the first to come from current employees of Wexford. The employees describe an environment where medical staff must purchase their own wipes for incontinent patients because they say Wexford administrators say there’s no money for supplies. They say there’s a shortage of oxygen tanks and nebulizer machines (for asthma patients) and also scant protective equipment for those staff treating infectious diseases. Gedman says, “Wexford is unaware of any shortage in medical supplies. Extra oxygen bottles and nebulizers are always on hand and ready for any emergency use. The oxygen bottles are inventoried daily as part of our emergency response requirement.” The employees also allege that chronically ill inmates sometimes wait what they say is too long to be taken off-site for specialty care. Gedman says this also is false and that Wexford “strongly encourages all of our providers to refer patients for necessary evaluation and treatment, off-site when necessary, as soon as problems are identified that need specialty referral.” All four employees say their complaints to Wexford administrators about the lack of supplies and treatment of inmates have been ignored, and all believe coming forward publicly will cost them their jobs. Gedman says this concern is unfounded because “Wexford encourages an open-door policy for all employees to bring issues to the attention of management so that they can be investigated and acted upon as appropriate.” Bland says Corrections staff are “visible and accessible in the prisons. If any of Wexford’s staff would like to speak with us concerning these allegations, we welcome the information and will certainly look into the matter.” As for the legislative hearing, State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, R-Doña Ana, co-chairman of the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, says he hopes some of these Wexford critics will show up in Hobbs. And he says further hearings are a possibility. “I hope there is a full airing of the issues. I would like to learn that the Corrections Department is working to resolve all of this, but if they haven’t, I expect to make deadlines for them so we can expect adequate progress,” Cervantes says. “We’d still like to protect the anonymity and bring to light any allegations and complaints.” Cervantes also says he wants to introduce legislation during the next session to protect whistle-blowers. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog group in Florida, says the Legislature must do everything it can to safeguard current Wexford employees against retaliation. “The Legislature is the ultimate authority, and they need to put pressure on the Corrections Department to find out what the hell is going on. They also need to protect these employees so they can come forward and testify about their specific experiences,” Kopczynski says. “And if there are allegations of civil rights abuse, which is what it sounds like, then the Justice Department needs to come in.”

September 13, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
Concerns about prison health care reported exclusively by the Santa Fe Reporter will be discussed by a legislative committee next month. The Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee will gather in Hobbs on Oct. 19 and 20 for a regularly scheduled hearing and discuss, among other items, the health care provided to state inmates by Wexford Health Sources. Wexford, a private, Pennsylvania-based company, has come under fire from ex-employees who allege that inmates receive dangerously substandard health care [Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Doña Ana, co-chairman of the committee, says those concerns prompted the Legislature to take action. “The issues [SFR] has raised have not come before our committee recently. Inevitably, you get a perception that the management wants you to see, but we want to go beyond that,” Cervantes says. Cervantes expects representatives from Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) to answer questions at the meetings. He also encouraged all those who have concerns about Wexford’s health care in the prisons to come forward. “We need these individuals to not only participate in the public portion of the meetings but consider presenting evidence and testimony to the committee,” Cervantes says. State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, co-chairman of the committee, echoes his counterpart’s sentiment. “With the increasing outcry of health care in the prisons, Joe and I decided this was an issue that needs to be discussed,” McSorley says. Meanwhile, SFR recently obtained an Aug. 29 memo from Wexford that directs staff not to speak with this paper. The memo is from J Chavez, identified as director of nursing at Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas. “It is important that you either contact the Pittsburgh office or myself if this reporter contacts you,” the memo states. “Please keep in mind that all of you have read and signed the business code of conduct…” The memo also cites the company’s media relations policy, which prohibits employees from speaking with the news media on matters relating to Wexford.

August 30, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
A Santa Fe dentist and his assistant say they quit their jobs at the Penitentiary of New Mexico in 2004 because of concerns that state inmates were not receiving adequate dental care. Dr. Norton Bicoll and Sharon Daily left their employment at Wexford Health Sources, which handles health care in nine New Mexico correctional facilities, because the company ordered them to cut their hours for inmates in half, they say. Bicoll and Daily’s problems with Wexford follow a number of serious allegations levied by six ex-Wexford employees that also question the level of health care inmates are receiving [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Last week, SFR also reported that two Albuquerque psychiatrists have sued Lovelace Health Systems for firing them after they refused to participate in a proposed contract with Wexford. The contract would have called for the psychiatrists to provide substandard treatment to state inmates, the lawsuit alleges [Outtakes, Aug. 23: “Unhealthy Proposal”]. These latest assertions about Wexford appear to be part of a growing chorus of criticism of the company and its treatment of inmates. Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman, who has responded previously to questions regarding the company, did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story. But Bicoll and Daily’s issues with Wexford relate to the company’s staffing shortages in New Mexico, one of the company’s most pervasive problems, according to ex-employees. While both NMCD and Wexford have consistently played down such shortages, according to Wexford’s own Web site, there are currently 47 vacancies for medical personnel in New Mexico. That number comprises close to half of the 117 total positions Wexford, the nation’s third largest private correctional health care company, is currently advertising for. Such vacancies not only include a range of nursing positions but also critical, high ranking administrative posts. According to the Web site, Wexford is looking to hire a director of nursing and medical director at the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The medical director position is also open at Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Las Cruces and Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. The Penitentiary of New Mexico needs a director of nursing. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog group in Florida, says charges of compromised prison health care in New Mexico warrant federal involvement. “It would be good to get the Department of Justice involved if there are allegations of lack of care on behalf of the inmates,” he says. “The New Mexico Corrections Department and the Legislature can’t hide their heads in the sand and say they didn’t know about these problems if there’s ever a lawsuit. The inmates are ultimately the responsibility of the state, and you can’t contract that away.”

August 25, 2006 The New Mexican
Santa Fe County has interviewed four people who applied to be the new jail administrator. One high-profile candidate, however, took her name out of the hat just before interviews were slated to begin Thursday. Ann Casey, a lobbyist and Illinois jail official embroiled in controversy over her relationship with state Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, had applied for the job along with five others. Casey canceled her interview Thursday and said she no longer wanted to be considered for the job, according to Assistant County Attorney Carolyn Glick. Casey was in the news in New Mexico when the state put Williams on unpaid leave and launched an investigation. Officials looked into his relationship with the woman, including use of his work cell phone and other expenses after the Albuquerque Journal reported billing records for his state cell phone showed 644 calls between the two over five months. Williams returned to work and is on probation following what a governor's aide called "a lapse in judgment." Illinois officials also looked into the matter, but Casey remains in her position of assistant warden of programs at the Centralia Correctional Center, said department spokesman Derek Schnapp. Casey was not available for comment.

August 14, 2006 In These Times
While New Mexico’s landscape may make the state the Land of Enchantment, its rapidly growing rates of incarceration have been utterly disenchanting. What’s worse, New Mexico is at the top of the nation’s list for privatizing prisons; nearly one-half of the state’s prisons and jails are run by corporations. Supposedly, states turn to private companies to cope better with chronic overcrowding and for low-cost management. However, a closer look suggests a different rationale. A recent report from the Montana-based Institute on Money in State Politics reveals that during the 2002 and 2004 election cycles, private prison companies, directors, executives and lobbyists gave $3.3 million to candidates and state political parties across 44 states. According to Edwin Bender, executive director of the Institute on Money in State Politics, private prison companies strongly favor giving to states with the toughest sentencing laws—in essence, the ones that are more likely to come up with the bodies to fill prison beds. Those states, adds Bender, are also the ones most likely to have passed “three-strikes” laws. Those laws, first passed by Washington state voters in 1993 and then California voters in 1994, quickly swept the nation. They were largely based on “cookie-cutter legislation” pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), some of whose members come from the ranks of private prison companies. Florida leads the pack in terms of private prison dollars, with its candidates and political parties receiving almost 20 percent of their total contributions from private prison companies and their affiliates. Florida already has five privately owned and operated prisons, with a sixth on the way. It’s also privatized the bulk of its juvenile detention system. Texas and New Jersey are close behind. But in Florida, some of the influence peddling finally seems to be backfiring. Florida State Corrections Secretary James McDonough alarmed private prison companies with a comment during an Aug. 2 morning call-in radio show. “I actually think the state is better at running the prisons,” McDonough told an interviewer. His comments followed an internal audit last year by the state’s Department of Management Services, which demonstrated that Florida overpaid private prison operators by $1.3 million. Things may no longer be quite as sunny as they once were in Florida for the likes of Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the former Wackenhut, now known as the GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla. But with a little bit of spiel-tinkering—and a shift of attention to other states—the prison privatizers are likely to keep going. The key shift, Bender explains, is that “the prison industry has gone from a we-can-save-you-money pitch to an economic-development model pitch.” In other words, says Bender, “you need [their] prisons for jobs.” If political donations are any measure, economically challenged and poverty-stricken states like New Mexico are a great target. In this campaign cycle, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has already received more contributions from a private prison company than any other politician campaigning for state office in the United States. The Institute of Money in State Politics, which traced the donations, reported that GEO has contributed $42,750 to Richardson since 2005—and another $8,000 to his running mate, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. Another $30,000 went from GEO to the Richardson-headed Democratic Governors Association this past March. Richardson’s PAC, Moving America Forward, was another prominent recipient of GEO donations. Now, its former head, prominent state capitol lobbyist Joe Velasquez, is a registered lobbyist for GEO Care Inc., a healthcare subsidiary that runs a hospital in New Mexico. But don’t get the idea that GEO has any particular love for Democrats: $95,000 from the corporation went to the Republican Governors Association last year alone. What companies like GEO do love are the millions of dollars rolling in from lucrative New Mexico contracts to run the Lea County Correctional Facility (operating budget: $25 million/year), and the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility ($13 million/year), among others. CCA also owns and operates the state’s only women’s facility in Grants ($11 million per year). To make sure that those dollars keep flowing, GEO and CCA have perfected the art of the “very tight revolving door,” says Bender, which involves snapping up former corrections administrators, PAC lobbyists and state officials to serve as consultants to private prison companies. In fact, the current New Mexico Corrections Department Secretary Joe Williams was once on GEO’s payroll as their warden of the Lea County Correctional Facility. Earlier this year, Williams was placed on unpaid administrative leave after accusations surfaced that he spent state travel and phone funds to pursue a very close relationship with Ann Casey. Casey is a registered lobbyist in New Mexico for Wexford Health Sources, which provides health care for prisoners at Grants, and Aramark, which provides most of the state’s inmate meals. In her non-lobbying hours, it turns out that Casey is also an assistant warden at a state prison in Centralia, Ill. It appears that even for a prison industry enchanted by public-private partnership, Williams and Casey may have gone too far.

May 31, 2006 New Mexican
A state prison contractor involved in the investigation of a relationship between Corrections Secretary Joe Williams and a lobbyist contributed $10,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign. The political-action committee for Aramark -- a Philadelphia-based company that makes millions of dollars a year to feed New Mexico inmates -- contributed to Richardson's campaign in May 2005, according to Richardson's most recent campaign-finance report. That was about a year after Aramark renewed its contract with the state Corrections Department. Aramark also has been generous to the state Democratic Party, contributing $10,000 in 2004, and the Democratic Governors Association, which Richardson chairs. The company contributed a total of $15,000 to the DGA in 2004 and another $15,000 in 2005, according to reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Aramark provides food service to more than 475 correctional institutions in North America. The corporation also has food-service contracts in colleges, hospitals, convention centers and stadiums. Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley referred questions about the campaign donation to Richardson's campaign manager, Amanda Cooper, who couldn't be reached for comment. The Governor's Office announced this week that Williams is being put on administrative leave while the state Personnel Office investigates his relationship with Ann E. Casey, who registered as a lobbyist for Aramark and Wexford Health Services, which provides health care to New Mexico inmates. Casey is an assistant warden at an Illinois prison. A copyrighted story in the Albuquerque Journal said Williams' state-issued cell-phone records show 644 calls between Williams and Casey between Sept. 24, 2005, and Feb. 23. According to that report, Casey was hired as a consultant by Aramark in 2005, but that contract has since been terminated. Aramark's $5.4 million contract ends in July. The Secretary of State Office's Lobbyist Index lists Casey as a lobbyist for Wexford, though the Journal report quotes a Wexford official saying the company never hired her. In 2004, a $10,000 contribution to a Richardson political committee from Wexford's parent company caused a stir and later was returned to the Pittsburgh company. The Bantry Group made the contribution to Richardson's Moving America Forward PAC in April 2004. This was during a bidding process just a month after the Corrections Department requested proposals for a contract to provide health care and psychiatric services to inmates. That contract potentially is worth more than $100 million, The Associated Press reported. In August 2004, a Richardson spokesman said the money would be returned "to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

May 30, 2006 AP
Gov. Bill Richardson has put Corrections Secretary Joe Williams on unpaid leave while the secretary's recent actions are investigated. Richardson said the review will focus on Williams' use of a state-issued cell phone, a state-funded trip that included some personal travel and his relationship with a lobbyist. "Gov. Richardson wants a thorough investigation to examine the secretary's actions and determine if anything improper occurred," said James Jimenez, Richardson's chief of staff. "The governor sets a very high ethical standard for his administration and will not tolerate any level of abuse of authority or public trust." A spokeswoman for the Corrections Department said Williams was unavailable for comment. State Personnel Director Sandra Perez will conduct the investigation through her office, Jimenez said. Williams will be on unpaid leave until June 9, the day Perez's office is to report to the governor. The Albuquerque Journal reported Sunday that Williams spent about 91 hours on his state-issued cell phone talking with Ann Casey, an assistant warden at a state prison in Centralia, Ill. The calls between the two phones were placed between Sept. 24, 2005, and Feb. 23, 2006. Casey registered as a lobbyist in 2005 for two companies that have contracts with New Mexico to provide health care and meals to prisoners. Williams described his relationship with Casey as a friendship and said he doesn't give preferential treatment to anybody. Richardson also is questioning a trip Williams took to Nashville on the state's dollar. In January, Williams attended a conference of the American Correctional Association. His travel records show he added a St. Louis leg to the trip, which he said was personal. A 30-mile drive from the St. Louis airport would land Williams at an address in O'Falcon, Ill., which Casey listed on lobbyist registration forms. Records show Williams wrote a check to his department in January for $266, the cost of adding the St. Louis trip. While on the trip, Williams and Casey accepted a dinner invitation from a company that operates a state prison in Santa Rosa, according to Williams' e-mail records. A billing statement for a hotel stay during the trip also lists two people in his party, but Williams would not say who the second person was. Richardson appointed Williams, a former warden at the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs and former warden at two state prisons, as corrections secretary in 2003.

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
August 18, 2007 Times-Tribune
The Lackawanna County Prison’s medical director was fired from a similar post at a Pittsburgh-based health care services company in 1999 in an apparent dispute over a new treatment for hepatitis C in state prisons the company served. Company officials could not be reached to explain his termination, but in a lawsuit later filed against the company, Dr. Edward J. Zaloga claimed he was fired because he disagreed with a plan to begin treating the liver disease with a then-new, unproven drug that ultimately would be a waste of taxpayer money. The treatment “would waste more than $7 million of the (state) taxpayers’ money on unnecessary and unwarranted medical treatment,” he charged in a suit filed against Wexford Health Sources Inc. in November 1999. He claimed in his suit that his management practices had created a profit for the company of $4.1 million, and the company — which at the time was trying to get the state to pay for the new treatment — feared it might have to pay for treating inmates if the state found out about its profits. He was fired for raising the concerns, he alleged. The suit demanded more than $1 million in unpaid wages, expenses, lawyer’s fees and punitive damages. The company, in its legal responses, denied earning anywhere near $4 million. It denied his other claims as well. County judges rejected Dr. Zaloga’s suit in separate rulings in 2002 and 2004 with one judge writing that Dr. Zaloga failed to establish “a report of wrongdoing ... or waste.” Wexford in its legal filings acknowledged firing Dr. Zaloga but did not say why. Dr. Zaloga is now co-owner of a company, Correctional Care Inc., of Moosic, that provides medical services to county prison inmates, and oversees those services. A former inmate, Shakira Staten, 22, a federal prisoner who gave birth at the prison July 10 and has since been transferred to Adams County Prison to await sentencing, has sued him, the company and the prison in federal court. She claims she was a victim of cruel and unusual punishment because her pleas to be taken to the hospital when she went into labor were ignored and she had the baby alone in a cell. The county Prison Board this week apologized for the way she treated and blamed a Correctional Care nurse for “serious errors of judgment” that included failing to properly monitor her labor and unnecessarily delaying taking her to the hospital. The board barred the nurse from working in the prison. A secretary in the company’s office said Dr. Zaloga was not available for comment and would only reply to written questions. A secretary at Wexford Health Sources said no company officials would be available to comment until next week. Dr. Zaloga was Wexford’s regional medical director for its central Pennsylvania operations from Feb. 1 to Sept. 29, 1999, the day the company’s operations director dismissed him, according to court records.

State Correctional Institution, Muncy, Pennsylvania
May 12, 2005 Wilkes Barre Times Herald
The family of a Wilkes-Barre woman who suffered a fatal asthma attack while in prison will receive $2.15 million in a settlement of a lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections and a health care provider. Erin Finley, 26, died on Aug. 29, 2002 after medical personnel at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy ignored her repeated pleas for help, according to a federal lawsuit filed by her mother, Christine Thomas of Wilkes-Barre. Evidence uncovered by Thomas’ attorney, Dan Brier of Scranton, showed Finley desperately sought medical care for severe asthma she had had since she was a child, but she was repeatedly rejected based on a prison doctor’s belief that she was “faking” her symptoms. The federal suit, filed in June 2003, alleged employees of SCI Muncy and its health care provider, Wexford Heath Sources Inc., showed a “callous and deliberate” indifference for Finley. Finley continued to have problems breathing and on July 27 wrote another request, asking a different physician to see her “as soon as possible.” “My asthma is so bad and Dr. Bardell says I am faking it. I don’t know what else to do,” the request stated. On the morning of her death, Finley phoned her mother in a hysterical state, saying she could not breathe. At around noon she was directed to go to the infirmary, where a physician’s assistant examined her. The assistant told Bardell that Finley needed to go to the hospital, but he refused to see her and left the prison at 2:40 p.m. Twenty minutes later, Finley lost consciousness and stopped breathing. She was transported to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 4:11 p.m.

St. Clair County Jail, St. Clair, Illinois
October 20, 2005 St. Clair Record
A St. Clair County Jail inmate charged with first degree murder is seeking $1 million in a lawsuit claiming he was denied proper medication. In a federal court suit filed Oct. 18 against the county and Wexford Health Sources, Darron Perkins claims his civil rights were violated and his mental stability has been detrimentally affected. Perkins, a disabled Vietnam veteran, claims he was given a greater dose of medication by a nurse making rounds in the jail approximately two months ago. He consumed all the medication that had been prescribed to him by a psychiatrist, but the nurse accused him of giving pills to another inmate.

Wyoming Department of Corrections
September 19, 2005 Star-Tribune
Wyoming Department of Corrections officials hope a new $10 million-a-year contract with Prison Health Services will save them some health care costs in the long run. Unlike the department's previous contract with Correctional Medical Services, the new private health care provider will be an umbrella entity responsible for all medical, dental and health services and other programs for the state's four penal institutions. Prison Health Services of Brentwood, Tenn., will subcontract for some of these services and also assumes 100 percent of the risk with no caps on catastrophic claims. PHS, like CMS and another predecessor, Wexford, has its critics. The May 2005 issue of Prison Legal News said PHS has been the target of lawsuits over inmate health care in New York, New Jersey, Nevada and Florida. Linda Burt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union for Wyoming, said the volume of health care complaints from inmates has remained the same from Wexford through CMS and now to PHS. "It's still one of our big concerns," Burt said. She said she looks carefully at all private prison providers. "Nothing has ever shown me that private providers in the prison system work well. It doesn't matter whether they are private providers of the entire prison or just health care," she said. She noted that both Wexford and PHS also were sued. "I think the solution is an in-house solution," she added. "If you're working for profit in that kind of system, you can't provide the appropriate care and be a for-profit system. I think it's almost impossible to do that."