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Arlington County Detention Center
Arlington, Virginia
Correctional Medical Services
March 1, 2006 DC Examiner
The cost of medical services for inmates in the Arlington County Detention
Facility has gone up, staff turnover is high and service is lacking, according
to an audit released this week by the Criminal Justice Institute. A 43 percent
rise in operating costs was due to skyrocketing health care expenses, a higher
influx of inmates with acute medical conditions and the rising prices of drugs
prescribed for mental illness, said Susie Doyel, the facility's administrative
director. Doyel said the report, which outlines a number of problems in the
service provided by contractor Correctional Medical Services, is a positive
thing for the facility. A number of criteria that were not specified in the
contract with CMS led to inefficiencies and costly procedures. CMS's contract
ends Oct. 31. In April, the detention facility plans to send out a request for
new contracts that includes the majority of the auditor's recommended changes in
operations, including allowing inmates to take drugs like Tylenol or antibiotics
without the assistance of a nurse - freeing nurses for more pressing duties. But
high turnover also contributed. Nurses were leaving, said the report, because of
"high costs for parking, transportation issues and higher-paying positions in
the vicinity with free parking."
Fairfax Connector
Fairfax, Virginia
Aramark
July 9, 2008 Washington Post
Fares for the Fairfax Connector bus come in $1 at a time, and that's how
they left, police said. There was an elaborate system to thwart bus-fare
bandits. Somehow, police said, a night-shift worker found a way to open the fare
boxes and make off with plastic bags full of $1 bills. A lot of $1 bills.
Fairfax County officials said $200,000 to $300,000 was taken from Fairfax
Connector cash boxes in the thefts, which started last year. Fairfax police put
the total at $326,000. Thong Khoune Sisaath of Sterling, who cleaned and fueled
buses at the Herndon depot and handled cash boxes, was arrested July 2 and
charged with grand larceny and possession of burglary tools in the case,
according to police and court documents. A Fairfax man was also arrested. An
investigation is continuing, police said. The cash boxes on Fairfax Connector's
197 buses have electronic safeguards. The boxes are scanned before they are
removed to provide a record of how much money the boxes hold. The locked boxes
are placed in a vault, where the cash is put into containers. The containers are
closed by a self-sealing mechanism and are collected the next day by an
armored-car service, said Rollo Axton, Fairfax's chief of transit services.
Police said Sisaath found a way around the security measures. "Anytime you get
the human factor and greed, you have the possibility of somebody trying to
steal," said Kathy Ichter, director of the Fairfax County Department of
Transportation. Police said Sisaath would bypass the usual area where cash boxes
were scanned and emptied. Instead, she would take the buses to another area at
the Herndon depot and use a key to unlock the cash boxes. She would fill the
bags with the money and drop the bags, along with the contents of her pockets,
into her car, police said. "As she did this she looked around in a suspicious
manner attempting to insure she was not observed," according to court documents.
Fairfax officials said the county did not lose money because of a contract
provision with the private firm that runs the buses guaranteeing that the county
receives the amount recorded when the cash boxes are scanned. "The county will
not end up absorbing any of the losses on this," said Mike Setzer, vice
president of Veolia Transportation in Oak Brook, Ill. Fairfax transportation
officials first noticed a problem last fall. The scanned totals from the cash
boxes stopped matching the totals on the bank deposits. According to industry
standards, the two figures should be within 1 percent of each other, Axton said.
"We were getting anywhere from 20 to 30 percent on some days, and that obviously
raised the red flag," Axton said. The installation of SmarTrip card readers,
which allow cash-less travel, throughout the Fairfax Connector system starting
last year made it hard to tell if the discrepancy was a problem with the new
technology or a sign of theft, officials said. Audits were begun. On nights when
supervisors were present, the cash discrepancy disappeared. When supervisors
were not at the depot, money was missing, officials said. Many questions remain,
Setzer said, among them: "who got the key and how they got the key and how the
system allowed that to happen." A Veolia employee also was arrested in
connection with the thefts, according to court documents and police. Carl Rich
of Fairfax was arrested July 3 and charged with embezzlement, possession of
burglary tools, and conspiracy to commit grand larceny. Setzer said he did not
have information on Rich's status. "Some of the people who are involved in this
are relatively low-ranking people who shouldn't have had access to any kind of
key, so we're still a little puzzled as to how that happened," Setzer said.
"Someone else had to help them get access to the key, whether that's our person
or someone else." Sisaath worked for a subcontractor, Aramark, which provides
staffing for prisons, jails, airports and other sensitive jobs. Sisaath no
longer works for the firm, company spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said. "The behavior
you've described is unacceptable and is not tolerated by this company," Jarvis
said.
Fairfax County Adult Detention
Facility
Fairfax, Virginia
Aramark
July 25, 2007 The Examiner
Fairfax County Sheriff Stan Barry accepted $1,000 in food for a campaign
event from a company the county pays to feed its inmates – a contribution one
state senator blasted as an attempt to “buy friendship” from the sheriff. Barry,
a Democrat who is unopposed in the November election, denied any impropriety in
accepting the donation from Aramark Corp. at a Fairfax City fundraiser on June
7. State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, however, on Tuesday called the contribution a
“cause for cynicism.” “They’re giving him money because their gravy train
depends on his position to continue their food contract,” said Cuccinelli,
R-Fairfax. “They’re just trying to buy friendship.” The Philadelphia-based
company provides food, uniforms and other services to scores of institutions
throughout the country, and won a two-year contract in July 2006 to feed inmates
and staff of the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. The Sheriff’s Office
operates the facility. Exactly how much the county has paid to Aramark since the
company started providing meals Sept. 1 was not available Tuesday. Based on
estimates in the county’s budget, the company served 1.47 million meals in
fiscal 2007, an average of 4,050 a day costing about $1 each. Aramark was the
only company to bid on the jail food-service contract, according to Cathy Muse,
director of the Department of Purchasing and Supply Management, which oversees
the county’s contracting. The Sheriff’s Office reviewed the bid and recommended
the county approve it, after which Muse signed off on the contract. Barry said
he had no input in that process. “If I was overseeing the contract or [was]
instrumental in who got the contract, then I can see where there would be
conflict,” he said. “But I’m not involved in those negotiations at all.” He said
the fundraiser took place before it was clear no opponents would emerge in the
election. The food, he said, included Swedish meatballs, lunch meat and chicken
wings. An Aramark spokeswoman said she was unable to find details of the
donation by early Tuesday evening and otherwise declined comment.
Genesis
Treatment Center
Newport News, Virginia
Correctional Services Corporation
May 14, 2005 Daily Press
The former operations director of a treatment center for troubled youth has
filed suit against the companies that ran the now-defunct center, alleging he
was discriminated against because of his race and fired in retaliation for his
complaints. In the suit, filed last week in Newport News Circuit Court, James E.
Graves of Hampton seeks $1.85 million in lost wages and damages as a result of
losing his job at the Genesis Treatment Center. The suit names center operator
Youth Services International and parent company Correctional Services Corp. as
well as the center's former facility administrator as defendants. The treatment
center, which operated out of the old Newport News General Hospital on Marshall
Avenue, treated boys and young men between the ages of 12 and 21 for severe
emotional disorders and sexual delinquency. It closed in October 2003 because of
financial problems, although former employees questioned whether internal
problems there had something to do with it. At the time the center closed, at
least five employees had reportedly filed discrimination complaints with the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At least one of those complaints
was settled, Graves said, while the EEOC gave him the green light to sue.
October 10, 2003
A treatment center for troubled youths will close Friday, about two years after
community activists protested the center's opening in Newport News' East End.
The Genesis Treatment Center treats boys and young men between the ages of 12
and 21 for severe emotional disorders and sexual delinquency. "It was
one of those kind of programs that we didn't need in the community," said
activist Lawrence Atkins. The 51-bed center had 16 patients when officials
notified the state's mental health agency of the pending closing. A state
spokeswoman said two patients remained at the center Wednesday. Others were
transferred elsewhere. Youth Services International, a subsidiary of
Florida-based Correctional Services Corp., operates the center. The company runs
19 treatment centers nationwide, treating about 2,500 youths. "The
reason for closing is purely an economic issue," said senior vice president
Woodie Harper. Harper said Genesis struggled to increase the number of
patients it served in the past nine to 10 months, mirroring a widespread
industry trend. In August, president James Slattery attributed a
$5.6-million drop in second quarter profits compared to the previous year to
"lower than expected occupancy rates in our juvenile division due to
systemwide budget cuts." Some former employees wonder whether
internal problems at Genesis also contributed to its closing. State
inspectors investigated two incidents - one in December and one in January - of
Genesis staff members improperly restraining patients. One patient suffered a
broken arm and another a broken nose. In response, the center fired two
employees and gave other employees more training. Also, at least five to
seven former employees have filed discrimination complaints with the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, according to several people who filed
complaints. Harper said company investigations are under way. He declined
to say more. Julia Cudjoe, former special education coordinator at Genesis,
attributes the center's low occupancy rate to high turnover among employees.
This raised questions about the center's quality of care at social services
departments making patient referrals. (Daily Press)
April 21, 2003
State inspectors said two patients suffered broken bones at a treatment center
for young men with severe emotional disorders after they were improperly
restrained by staff members. One patient at the 51-bed Genesis Treatment
Center suffered a broken arm, the other a broken nose. The center has
fired the two staff members responsible and agreed to offer more training and
draft new policies for staff. But inspectors are also include alleged
sexual misconduct between a staff member and a patient, staff members allegedly
assaulting patients, and patients not receiving proper care. A patient's
mother has complained of insults, poor food quality and excessive force.
Youth Services International operates the treatment center for young men between
the ages of 12 and 21 in the former Newport News General Hospital. (AP)
Grayson County
Prison
GEO Group
March 2, 2005 Galax Gazette
A state senator who is pushing for a state prison in Grayson County accepted
gifts totaling $3,762 in 2004 from one of three companies that have submitted
proposals to build the facility. Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. is a subsidiary
of Halliburton. KBR, Commonwealth Corrections Solutions, a consortium based in
Fairfax and the Florida-based GEO Group have submitted proposals to build the
prison under the state's Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure
Act. State Sen. William C. Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, reported gifts from 10
sources. KBR is the only prison firm to give a gift to Wampler. Wampler is the
only legislator in the state to receive a donation of any kind from KBR in 2004.
Wampler represents the 40th District, which includes the western part of
Grayson, Bristol, Lee County, Norton, Scott County, part of Smyth County,
Washington County and part of Wise County. He did not respond to phone calls and
an e-mail request for comment made during more than a week's time.
Hampton
Roads Regional Jail
Prison Health Services
June 20, 2004
Three inmates at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth who suffer from
mental illnesses say the jail's medical staff failed to prescribe drugs that
effectively treat their conditions. For months they were wracked with
feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, sleeplessness and delusional thoughts, they
say. Sometimes they even wanted to harm themselves. The men didn't get the
medicine they requested until the end of May, after repeated calls to the press
and to an advocacy group for the mentally ill. Since then, they say they're
feeling better. Hampton Roads Regional Jail holds about 1,060 inmates from
Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Portsmouth. Of those, about 260 inmates are
treated for mental illness by Prison Health Services, Inc., a private company
that provides health care to inmates in 400 jails and prisons in 35 states. The
quality of medical care for mentally ill inmates treated by private companies
has been the subject of investigations and lawsuits throughout the country in
recent years. In Virginia, officials are examining the quality of mental health
care at jails and prisons to see if mentally ill inmates are receiving the
proper medications. The issue boils down to this: Mental health advocates say
these private companies often care more about their bottom lines than about the
well-being of inmates. They say these companies are reluctant to prescribe
expensive drugs, even if they provide the most effective treatment. Prison
health care companies typically devise their own pre-approved lists of drugs
that often don't include more expensive, proven drugs, said Valerie Marsh,
director of the Alliance. They can prescribe drugs not on the list, Phelps said,
but they may be reluctant to do it. (Dailypress.com)
King
Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Prison Health Services
August 2, 2004
The top contributor to Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore’s gubernatorial
campaign is a retired Tennessee millionaire whose former pharmaceutical company
is under federal investigation over how it set prices on drugs for government
health programs. John M. Gregory, of Bristol, Tenn., has contributed
$325,000 to Kilgore through personal donations and gifts from an investment
company he owns. The reason for Gregory’s generosity toward Kilgore is
unclear, but the businessman has a history of giving to Republicans,
particularly those who have publicly identified themselves as conservative
Christians. Gregory has credited his own religious conversion for his
success in starting King Pharmaceuticals Inc. The company thrived until last
year, when the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services notified the firm that officials are looking into
whether King followed federal rules requiring it to offer its cheapest prices on
drugs for the government-operated Medicaid insurance program. Gregory also
is being sued in federal court by investors who accuse him and other former King
executives of artificially inflating sales to enrich themselves, a scheme those
stockholders say has cost them millions of dollars. King officials notified
their investors that the SEC is looking at rebates on Altace that King gave to
Prison Health Services, a Tennessee company that provides health care to prison
and jail inmates. A spokesman for Prison Health Services said he knew
nothing about the investigation. He said the company’s Virginia clients
include the Virginia Department of Corrections, the Hampton Roads Regional Jail
and the Portsmouth city jail. A contract with the Norfolk city jail ended last
month. DOC officials said the agency began doing business with the health
company in February 2001, long after Kilgore had left his previous position as
the state’s secretary of public safety. The health company provides medical
and dental services at prison clinics. Officials estimated the annual contract
at $33 million. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Lawrenceville
Correctional Center
Lawrenceville, Virginia
GEO Group (formerly run by CCA)
August 22, 2008 Times-Dispatch
A former officer at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center was sentenced
yesterday to six months behind bars for taking a $2,000 bribe from an inmate.
Harold Douglas Jr., 30, a former lieutenant at the privately run state prison,
took a cashier's check from inmate David E. Davis, 39, in 2006 in exchange for
not reporting the inmate had been caught with marijuana. Davis claimed Douglas
extorted the money from him and triggered the investigation by showing
authorities the canceled check he wrote Douglas. But Davis, too, was convicted
of bribery, and got three years added to the 13 years 11 months he is already
serving. Yesterday, Brunswick County Commonwealth's Attorney Lezlie S. Green,
who asked that Davis be sentenced to six years, told Judge W. Allan Sharrett she
believed she needed to seek no less for Douglas. She said inmates from area
prisons are often prosecuted for drug and other offenses. "Certainly, we must
hold the officers to at least [the same], if not higher standards." she argued.
Douglas testified that he was the single parent of a 9-year-old son and took the
money because he got in financial difficulty. "I needed the money to try and get
ahead of my bills," he told the judge. Sharrett told Douglas that he "committed
a crime which has struck at the heart of the integrity of our justice system."
Sharrett said he often has to balance the testimony of corrections officers with
those of inmates in court cases. Nevertheless, Sharrett noted among other things
that Douglas, unlike Davis, was not already a felon and that he was making an
attempt to raise his son, though not doing as good a job as Douglas's own
parents had done with him. Sharrett then sentenced Douglas to five years in
prison with four years and six months suspended. The law makes it a crime for
public officials to take or solicit a bribe or for someone to make one. Each man
was facing a maximum of 10 years in prison. Davis told investigators in late
2006 that on April 14 of that year he bought a marijuana joint from another
inmate in a chow hall and that Douglas saw the exchange. Davis said Douglas did
not charge him, saying they would talk later. A few days after the incident,
Davis said Douglas demanded $2,000 or Davis would be prosecuted. Davis claimed
he told Douglas that it was too late to charge him. So Douglas, alleged Davis,
responded he would falsely accuse Davis of assaulting him. Lawrenceville, with
1,500, medium-security inmates, is Virginia's only privately run prison.
February 7, 2008 Richmond Times-Dispatch
Female officers may now frisk male prisoners as the number of women working
for the Virginia Department of Corrections grows. The move was prompted by cell
phones and other contraband getting into the hands of inmates at the
Lawrenceville Correctional Center, the state's only private prison, where
two-thirds of the staff are women and all 1,500 inmates are men. An independent
study last year found that the relative shortage of male officers there meant an
inadequate number of searches were being conducted. The change in the Virginia
Department of Corrections' long-standing policy took effect Jan. 1. At least
four other states, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan and Colorado and the U.S. Bureau of
Prisons also allow such searches. But at least one expert believes it is a
change in the wrong direction. Larry Traylor, the department spokesman, says
only staff of the same sex are still allowed to conduct -- or be present during
-- strip searches of inmates unless there is an emergency situation. Also, he
said, male staff are still barred from searching female inmates. "We deem it
inappropriate and not within professional boundaries," said Traylor. Traylor
said the department made the change, "in order to ensure good facility security
and adjust our operations to meet the changing gender makeup of our employees."
Statewide, more than 38 percent of Virginia's 6,473 corrections officers are
women and 92.5 percent of the inmates are men. Ten years earlier the staff was
35 percent female. According to federal figures, women now constitute roughly a
third of prison and jail staff across the country. The phenomenon is leading to
new rules and sometimes difficult situations -- if not trouble -- for staff and
inmates.
December 27, 2007 Times-Dispatch
A surprise shakedown this month at Virginia's only private prison turned up a
half-dozen cell phones. Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of
Corrections, could not provide details yesterday but confirmed the phones were
discovered during an unannounced search by state officials at the Lawrenceville
Correctional Center on Dec. 7. An independent study released in September found
the prison had a problem with cell phones, drugs, other contraband and high
staff turnover, but the study noted it was difficult to compare the scope of
problems there with those in state-run prisons. Nevertheless, members of the
Virginia State Crime Commission, which met at the Lawrenceville prison in
September, were assured by officials with the Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton,
Fla., that steps were being taken to improve security there. Geo runs the
1,500-inmate, medium-security prison under a five-year, $95 million contract.
More than 40 other correctional facilities in the state are run by the Virginia
Department of Corrections. In March, The Times-Dispatch, using state figures,
reported that last year one in five cell phones confiscated in all state prisons
were seized at Lawrenceville and that a highly disproportionate number of
inmates were caught with drugs there. However, authorities later said those
figures were incomplete and gave a misleading picture of the contraband problem
at Lawrenceville. Complete figures for cell phone, drug and other seizures in
state prisons were not made available by prison officials. Among other things,
the independent study found that Lawrenceville had been targeting inmates
suspected of using drugs for drug testing to a larger extent than in state
prisons, where there is more of an emphasis on random testing. The study found
that in 2006, Lawrenceville inmates tested positive for drugs more than 19
percent of the time, four times the highest rate in six nearby state-run prisons
and more than 20 times higher than at the state's Brunswick Correctional Center
next door. A Lawrenceville inmate, Eric L. Williams, 45, wrote in a Dec. 11
letter to The Times-Dispatch that a state strike team composed of officers from
other prisons entered Lawrenceville Correctional Center around 7:30 p.m. on Dec.
7. Inmates were ordered to report to the gymnasium where they were searched,
Williams said. He said the operation was conducted without the prior knowledge
of Lawrenceville officers. Geo spokesman Pablo E. Paez declined to comment,
referring questions to Traylor. Williams, serving almost 45 years on robbery,
escape and drug convictions in Arlington, said the prison had been searched
recently by Lawrenceville officers. He said that on Dec. 7, each inmate had to
sit in a metal-detecting chair, and he claimed there also were strip and
body-cavity searches. He said that as many as 40 inmates who had contraband or
were deemed uncooperative were transferred to other prisons the next day.
Traylor would not confirm if any inmates had been transferred but wrote in an
e-mail that "inmates that are caught concealing contraband may be subject to
disciplinary procedures including criminal prosecution and transfer to a higher
security prison facility." Brunswick County Commonwealth's Attorney Lezlie Green
could not be reached for comment yesterday. Traylor said yesterday that the
department now has several dogs trained to detect cell phones. "We will be
utilizing these dogs on a regular basis at all facilities for the purpose of
finding cell phones and other contraband," he said. Earlier this year, two
former Lawrenceville officers caught with 14.6 grams of cocaine pleaded guilty
to federal charges of conspiring to deliver drugs to inmates, and a former
lieutenant is facing a bribery charge after being accused of taking $2,000 from
an inmate there.
September 12, 2007 Times-Dispatch
An independent study released yesterday found the state's only private
prison has problems with drugs, cell phones and high staff turnover. It was not
possible, however, to compare the extent to which drugs are getting into the
Lawrenceville Correctional Center with prisons run by the Virginia Department of
Corrections because the testing at Lawrenceville was not conducted according to
state requirements. The Virginia State Crime Commission met inside the prison
yesterday for a briefing on a report written by MGT of America Inc. for the
Department of Corrections. The report found that Lawrenceville, despite its
contraband problems, overall was a well-run, clean and safe facility and noted
that any prison can have serious security breaches. "In this case those breaches
resulted in the high incidence of drugs and cell phones being introduced inside
the prison," the report said. In March, The Times-Dispatch, using state figures,
reported that more than twice as many inmates were caught with drugs at
Lawrenceville as in all other Virginia prisons combined, and that one in five
cell phones confiscated in prisons in Virginia were seized there. Later,
however, the Department of Corrections said those figures were incomplete and
gave a misleading picture of the contraband problem at Lawrenceville. This year,
two former Lawrenceville officers caught with 14.6 grams of cocaine pleaded
guilty to federal charges of conspiring to deliver drugs to inmates, and a
former lieutenant is facing a bribery charge for allegedly taking $2,000 from an
inmate there. Lawrenceville is operated by GEO Group Inc. under a five-year, $95
million state contract. The medium-security prison holds more than 1,576 male
inmates. Yesterday, Kenneth McGinnis of MGT told the crime commission that the
number of inmates testing positive for drugs at Lawrenceville could not be
properly compared with figures from state prisons. That is because until
December, Lawrenceville had been targeting inmates suspected of using drugs for
testing to a larger extent than in state prisons, where there is more of an
emphasis on random testing. MGT found that in 2006, Lawrenceville inmates tested
positive for drugs more than 19 percent of the time, four times the highest rate
in six nearby state-run prisons and more than 20 times higher than at the
state's Brunswick Correctional Center next door. Also, Lawrenceville had not
been conducting as many tests as required under its contract. It should have
been randomly testing 5 percent of the inmate population each month, but in
2006, it tested an average of 2.9 percent. State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle,
R-Virginia Beach and vice chairman of the commission, said adequate random
testing is needed to determine the extent of a prison's contraband problem. John
M. Hurley, a GEO vice president, agreed and conceded that "we let our guard
down. . . . We weren't complying." Officials said that in March, after more
extensive random testing began, of 107 inmates tested, just two were positive.
No figures on cell-phone seizures at Lawrenceville or state prisons were
available in the 34-page report. However, the report said prison investigators
said that some inmates who got cell phones inside the prison rented them to
other inmates. The report offered 50 recommendations for improving security. MGT
also said there were staffing problems at the private prison, where the
employees are paid less than their state counterparts. In 2006, 112 staff
members at Lawrenceville resigned or were fired out of 341 positions. At the
time of the study, the security staff had a 15 percent vacancy rate and nearly
30 percent of the security staff had less than a year of experience. "Given the
present problems of contraband within the institution, the present number of
vacancies with the security staff . . . contributes to the present security
problem," said the MGT report. The most frequently cited reasons former
employees gave for leaving Lawrenceville included the pay and benefits. It was
noted that the Geo Group Inc. authorized a $1 an hour pay increase for security
staff in Lawrenceville in April.
May 23, 2007 Times-Dispatch
The Virginia State Crime Commission wants a satisfactory explanation for
contraband seizures reported at the state's only private prison, or it may
conduct its own investigation. "Something's not right, and we need to make sure
that we have an understanding of what this problem is," state Sen. Kenneth W.
Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, the commission chairman, said yesterday. Citing
figures from the Virginia Department of Corrections, The Times-Dispatch reported
in March that last year there were twice as many drug seizures at the
Lawrenceville Correctional Center than in all the other prisons combined. Also,
one in five cell phones seized from inmates was seized at Lawrenceville during
that same period. However, at yesterday's crime commission meeting, Gene
Johnson, director of the Virginia Department of Corrections, said the figures
reported in the newspaper and cited by Stolle were incomplete because of the way
prisons around the state report them to Richmond. The result was a misleadingly
bleak picture, he said. "It's not twice as many at Lawrenceville than at our
other facilities," Johnson said. "They may have been higher . . . but it was not
the large difference that appeared," he said. Johnson promised to get the
correct figures to the commission as soon as possible. He also disclosed
yesterday that the department has hired an outside consultant to review security
at the 1,500-inmate medium-security prison operated by GEO Group Inc. of Boca
Raton, Fla., since 2003. "We should be getting that report pretty shortly," said
Johnson, adding that his department and GEO will follow any recommendations that
may be made. Earlier this year, the department said 28 of the 41 cases of inmate
drug seizures in the prison system in 2006 occurred at Lawrenceville. Also, the
department said 14 cell phones were taken from Lawrenceville inmates, while 40
were found in all other prisons. GEO did not dispute the figures when asked
about them by The Times-Dispatch. However, Johnson said yesterday that while
Lawrenceville reports all of its incidents to department headquarters,
investigators at the state-run prisons may refer some of them directly to the
local commonwealth's attorney rather than to Richmond. Lawrenceville has had
contraband problems. This year, two former Lawrenceville officers caught by the
FBI with 14.6 grams of crack cocaine pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to
deliver drugs to inmates there. A former lieutenant at Lawrenceville is facing a
charge of bribery stemming from allegations he took $2,000 from David E. Davis,
a former inmate there. Davis, now at another prison, claims the lieutenant
extorted the money, though Davis is also facing a bribery charge. Current and
former employees and inmates at Lawrenceville say they do not believe Davis was
an extortion victim. They said they believe he lost the money in a drug deal
gone bad. State Del. Kenneth R. Melvin, D-Portsmouth, a crime commission member,
said Johnson's explanation about the numbers may be correct, "but I get a
feeling that it is not." The explanation, he said, "doesn't sit right with me.
It doesn't smell right." "If we allow the Department Of Corrections to handle
this in sort of a lazy way . . . I think we are letting down the people of
Virginia," he said. He said he believed the crime commission has a
responsibility to make sure the prisons are being run properly. Stolle said,
"It's not something that we can ignore or that we'd want to ignore." He asked
Johnson to send the commission the correct figures and the results of the
outside study. "Then I think the committee needs to sit down and see if we're
satisfied with it, and if we're not satisfied with it, then I think the
committee has the authority and the ability to do an independent investigation
to what's going on in Lawrenceville," he said. Stolle added, "Unless there's a
wholesale failure of the [department] to keep statistics or reports, I think
there's enough evidence to warrant at least a thorough examination of how
Lawrenceville is conducting security."
March 23, 2007 Times-Dispatch
An inmate who alleged an officer at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center
extorted money from him has himself been charged. A tentative trial date of
April 19 has been set for David E. Davis, 38, on one count of bribery alleged to
have occurred April 26 -- the same date on a $2,000 check he says he had written
to former prison Lt. Harold Douglas Jr. Davis, 38, was indicted Feb. 27, less
than three weeks after a story about the extortion allegation appeared in The
Times-Dispatch and several months after he claimed he reported it to authorities
and showed them the canceled check. The Department of Corrections acknowledged
that an investigation had been conducted and the results forwarded to the
prosecutor. Court records show Harold Douglas Jr. of Brodnax was also indicted
on a bribery charge on Feb. 27 concerning an offense that occurred April 26,
2006. But as of yesterday, he had not been served, according to the Brunswick
County Circuit Court clerk's office. Davis and Douglas are alleged to have
violated a law against public officials taking or soliciting a bribe or for
someone to make one. Court records show Davis appeared in court March 15 when
the trial date was set. In a letter to The Times-Dispatch dated March 20, Davis
wrote, "I did not 'bribery' anyone. I was extorted." He claimed the charge is an
attempt by the Virginia Department of Corrections to cover up the extortion.
Lawrenceville, operated by The GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., is the
state's only private prison. GEO has said it cannot comment on the matter
because it is under investigation. Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor also said
yesterday that he could not comment. Douglas, reached by telephone this month,
denied wrongdoing and said he was not aware of any indictment. Meanwhile, the
Department of Corrections yesterday confirmed that a physician was assaulted at
Lawrenceville, the state's only private prison, around 1 p.m. on Wednesday
during a scheduled mental-health visit. Traylor, the spokesman, confirmed in an
e-mail that, "The doctor was admitted to VCU Medical Center. I don't know the
extent of his injuries, however, it is my understanding that he may be released
as early as today." Traylor could not provide the physician's name or other
details because the incident is under investigation. "Our investigation will be
referred to the commonwealth's attorney." A spokeswoman for the medical center
said she could not confirm or release any information without a name. More than
twice as many drug interdictions were made at Lawrenceville last year than in
all of the state's other prisons combined. A disproportionate number of cell
phones were also seized from inmates at the prison.
March 18, 2007 Richmond Times-Dispatch
Last year, more than twice as many inmates were caught with drugs at the
Lawrenceville Correctional Center as in all other Virginia prisons combined.
State officials also said that more than one in five cell phones confiscated in
prisons during the year came from Lawrenceville, the state's only privately
operated prison, run by GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., since 2003. And in
an unusual case, two former Lawrenceville officers caught by the FBI with 14.6
grams of crack cocaine pleaded guilty last month to charges of conspiring to
deliver drugs to inmates there. The state disclosures and federal convictions
support former Lawrenceville inmate David Eugene Davis' claims that marijuana,
cocaine and cell phones were smuggled in by staff and readily available to
Lawrenceville inmates for a price. "It's crazy over there. It's just
unbelievable . . . it's wide open," he said in interview in January. "You can
buy a cell phone for $150." State officials have confirmed they are
investigating Davis' claim that a former lieutenant extorted $2,000 from him at
the 1,536-inmate, medium-security facility in April. Davis has since been moved
to an adjacent state prison. The Virginia Courts Case Infor- mation Web site
shows that Harold Douglas Jr. of Brodnax was indicted on a bribery charge under
a state law that makes it illegal for a public official to accept money in
exchange for special favors. The alleged incident occurred April 26, 2006. Davis
said the man who extorted the money from him was former Lt. Harold Douglas Jr. A
copy of a cashier's check shows it was made payable to Douglas and was dated
April 26, 2006. Brunswick County officials will not confirm that the Douglas who
was indicted is the former Lawrenceville correctional officer because the
indictment is sealed and the accused has not been served with the papers.
Reached last month by phone, the former officer, who lives in Brodnax, denied
any wrongdoing and said he quit the job of his own volition. This month, he
denied knowledge of any indictment. Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia
Department of Corrections, wrote in an e-mail that "the department has been
working diligently with GEO and the management of Lawrenceville to ensure that
prudent and effective measures are implemented to address the frequency of both
drugs and cell phones." Traylor said cell phones can be used by inmates to plot
escapes, intimidate people and conduct other criminal activities. He said
technological advances enabling smaller cell phones with minimal metal
components are making detection more difficult. "Consequently, cell phones are
becoming more easily smuggled into institutional environments. Cell phones are
usually discovered during routine visitation and security searches," he wrote.
GEO spokesman Pablo Paez, responding to questions by e-mail, said that in
October the management at Lawrenceville "began a concentrated effort to reduce
the interdiction of contraband and specifically illegal drugs into the
institution." According to the Department of Corrections, 28 of the 41 cases of
inmate drug seizures in the prison system in 2006 occurred at Lawrenceville.
Also, the department said that 14 cell phones were taken from Lawrenceville
inmates, while 40 were found in all other prisons. Asked if the large amount of
contraband prompted the crackdown, or if the large amount of contraband was a
result of the crackdown, Paez replied that Lawrenceville officials monitor
inmates' drug-screening results. An increase was noted, he said, and steps were
taken to fix the problem. "These interdiction efforts and the requirement to
test offenders who show positive results more frequently may be a reason the
number of positive drug screens at Lawrenceville were higher than those reported
by [state] facilities." Paez also said, without providing specific details, that
"earlier in 2006 the company was piloting a device that was touted as being able
to detect cell phones. Lawrenceville was chosen as one of the pilot sites." "For
a period of time additional staff, some not usually involved in these kinds of
searches, participated in the detection of cell phones. This might account for
some of the increased numbers of cell phones detected," he said. "GEO shares
this problem with every other correctional entity in the country," Paez said.
"The battle in the interdiction of contraband into a correctional facility is
ongoing and ever-changing." Lawrenceville is a state prison operated by GEO
under a five-year, $95 million contract that began in 2003. GEO -- then called
Wackenhut Corrections Corp. won the contract from the Corrections Corporation of
America, which opened the prison in 1997. Paez added that 34 inmates were caught
by drug screenings and that officials also increased the searching of staff,
visitors and vehicles, and increased the use of information gathered during
investigations. According to Paez, the number of positive drug screens increased
in October, November and December "but have shown a marked decrease during the
period between January 1 and March 8, 2007." Two former Lawrenceville
Correctional officers -- Theresa Hall Marrow, 48, of Victoria and Tiffany Nicole
Goodrich, 23, of Lawrenceville -- pleaded guilty Feb. 26 to charges of
possession with the intent to distribute more than 5 grams of crack cocaine and
with conspiracy to distribute, according to the U.S. attorney's office. They
were caught with the cocaine in December. The FBI witnessed a drug transaction
in which Marrow and Goodrich received about half an ounce of cocaine base and
$300 as payment to smuggle it into the prison. Authorities said they were
arrested in Colonial Heights after they were paid to smuggle the cocaine but
before they could do so. They are set to be sentenced May 25 and are facing five
to 40 years in prison. Davis said inmates receive cash from visitors or others
from outside the prison and use it to pay the officers, whom he said are
underpaid. "The guards make $18,000 a year and the inmates are walking around
with a thousand dollars in cash on them," he said. Paez said that a starting
correctional officer at Lawrenceville is paid $8.65 an hour, which would be
about $18,000 a year for 52 standard, 40-hour work weeks. Paez said that after
their training period is over, officers make $9.70 an hour, which would be
$20,176 for a standard work year. Traylor said that after the probationary
period, a new state officer makes $2,445 a month, which would be an annual
salary of $29,340, more than $9,000 a year more than their GEO counterparts.
Paez said GEO has not had trouble recruiting staff, but he would not say what
the turnover rate is at Lawrenceville or how many vacancies there are at the
prison, citing security reasons. The prison is authorized to have a staff of 168
officers, Paez said.
February 7, 2007 Richmond Times-Dispatch
David Eugene Davis claims he was roused from his cell in the middle of the night
by officers at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center last April. He was escorted
to a small office and left there alone with the shift commander. The officer,
Davis claims, demanded $2,000. Davis said the officer threatened to falsely
charge him with assault if he did not pay. If he paid, the officer said Davis
would be protected as long as he was at Lawrenceville, the state's only
privately run prison. Davis said he paid. Then in September, Davis alleges, the
officer -- who has since left the prison -- wanted $10,000 more. Davis said he
refused. Days later, Davis reported being attacked by three inmates and robbed
of cigarettes, according to a prison incident report. Davis decided to file a
complaint, and he said authorities now have a copy of the $2,000 cashier's check
from the Virginia Heartland Bank in Fredericksburg. A purported copy Davis gave
the Richmond Times-Dispatch was made payable to and apparently cashed by the
former officer on April 28. It was dated April 26, and beside the word "purpose"
was written: "DAVID E DAVIS." Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia
Department of Corrections, would not discuss the details of any particular
investigation or the names of any individuals involved. However, he confirmed
there is an investigation into allegations an officer extorted $2,000 at
Lawrenceville. No Virginia Department of Corrections employee is believed to
have ever been convicted of such an offense, Traylor said in an e-mail. The
Lawrenceville Correctional Center is operated by The GEO Group Inc. of Boca
Raton, Fla. GEO has a five-year contract to operate the 1,536-inmate,
medium-security prison. The officer in question was a GEO employee, not a
Department of Corrections employee. He is not being identified because he has
not been charged in connection with Davis' allegations.
November 3, 2005 Free Lance-Star
A state prison inmate from Spotsylvania County was captured yesterday after a
violent escape and car chase in Emporia, in southern Virginia. Jeffrey Bruce
Shortal, 37, had been taken under guard to an Emporia medical center to receive
physical therapy, Emporia Police Chief Keith Carr said. One correctional officer
was struck on the head with a hand weight and robbed of his pistol, Carr said.
Another was robbed at gunpoint. A short time later, a man approached two people
at a senior citizens center about a half-block away. He tried, at gunpoint, to
get their car keys, the Emporia chief said. When he wasn't successful, Carr
said, the man went to a nearby furniture store. He confronted the manager in her
office, where she was with customers. She was robbed of the keys to her Ford
Explorer, Carr said. Officers in two Emporia police cars chased the Explorer
east on U.S. 58, reaching speeds of 110 mph, Carr said. Shortly after the
Explorer and police cars entered Southampton County, deputies there deployed
"stop sticks," spikes that stick in a vehicle's tires and deflate
them. The Explorer crashed, Carr said, and the driver exited unarmed and ran. He
was captured "within about 30 seconds," Carr said.
March 22, 2003
NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Corrections Corporation of
America (NYSE: CXW - News) announced today that it has received notification
from the Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Corrections that it has decided
to assume operations of the 1,500-bed medium-security Lawrenceville Correctional
Center, located in Lawrenceville, Virginia, upon the expiration of the Company's
existing contract on March 22, 2003. The Commonwealth of Virginia has requested
that the transfer of operations to the Department of Corrections become
effective at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, March 23, 2003. In addition, the Company has
been notified that Virginia intends to award the contract to another private
operator. The Company does not expect this termination to have a material impact
on our financial results. (Corrections Corporation)
March 3, 2003
Three high-ranking state officials have withdrawn from the selection of a
private company to operate the Lawrenceville Correctional Center.
Secretary of Public Safety John W. Marshall, Corrections Director Gene M.
Johnson and Deputy Director John Jabe have recused themselves from handling the
five-year, roughly $100 million contract - one of the largest involving the
Virginia Department of Corrections. Marshall's brother, Thurgood Marshall
Jr., is on the board of directors of the Corrections Corporation of America, CCA,
which currently holds the contract. Johnson and Jabe backed out well into
the selection process. But while attending an American Correctional
Association meeting last month, Johnson and Jabe met one of Jabe's former
colleagues as the three were waiting for a ride to dinner, said Larry Traylor, a
state Corrections Department spokesman. The former colleague is a warden
for Wackenhut Corrections Corp., one of the Lawrenceville bidders. Traylor said
the warden was not involved in the procurement process, nor did the three
discuss Lawrenceville. Jabe introduced the warden, whom Traylor did not
name, to two CCA employees as they waited for their ride. Johnson, Jabe and the
warden then left for the dinner together. On Jan. 21, a CCA representative
questioned the propriety of Jabe dining with the Wackenhut employee. Jabe, and
then Johnson, decided it was appropriate that they step out of the process
because the question had been raised, said Traylor. The contract to
operate the prison expires March 22. The recusals further muddy the waters
surrounding the bidding for the contract. Sealed proposals were received
by the department Dec. 11. Proposals were submitted by CCA, Wackenhut, Cornell
Corrections Corp. and Correctional Services Corp. In a Jan. 10 letter to
the bidders, the department said that: "No contact with the director and
the two deputy directors should be made by any offeror apart from this
presentation until after the contract has been entered into with the successful
offeror." On Jan. 17, however, Russell Borass, private prison
administrator for the department, wrote to bidders that a decision would not be
announced until the week after the oral presentations. On Feb. 3, Borass
announced that the department would negotiate with Wackenhut for the contract.
Wackenhut issued a news release saying so on Feb. 5. But it appears the
Corrections Department had ignored its own rules. The department quickly
announced it would negotiate with two firms - Wackenhut and CCA. The
department's request for proposals in October stated it would negotiate with two
bidders. Further complicating the issue is a requirement in the state
appropriations act that Gov. Mark R. Warner compare the best bid with the
Correction Department's estimate of what it would cost to do the job. The
comparison would then be shared with two key legislators - the chairmen of the
House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees. Traylor said the
department still expects to have a contract awarded by March 22. If not, the
department could run the facility or there could be a short-term contract with a
private firm. (The Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Portsmouth City
Jail
Portsmouth, Virginia
Prison Health Services
October 7, 2010 Virginia-Pilot
A Circuit Court jury awarded $25,000 in damages to a former Prison Health
Services nurse who filed a defamation suit against Sheriff Bill Watson. The
civil jury found that Adrienne West was defamed by Watson in comments he made in
a story that ran in The Virginian-Pilot in June 2007. The story, about an
investigation into drugs being brought into the jail, reported that Watson
suspected a nurse, who he said at the time had since resigned. The nurse was not
named, but West had resigned after being questioned during the investigation,
according to testimony that came out during the three-day trial. She felt
Watson's statements identified her as the nurse referenced in the story. Watson
testified that he told the reporter "contractors" were suspected and did not
specify a nurse. Watson's attorneys argued that the statement attributed to
Watson was not a direct quotation. To prove defamation, they said the plaintiff
had to show that Watson had used the exact words in the story.
December 15, 2009 The Virginia-Pilot
Former medical providers for the City Jail will pay $1.5 million to settle a
lawsuit filed by the widow of a mentally ill man who died of pneumonia and
dehydration six days after he was jailed on a misdemeanor charge. Joseph Combs,
a 57-year-old Vietnam veteran and shipyard worker, was in the midst of a bipolar
episode in June 2006 when he was put in jail because authorities couldn't find a
bed for him in a mental facility. A deputy found the man dead, naked and lying
in the feces he had repeatedly smeared on himself and the cells he was housed
in. In 2007 Combs' widow, Granada, filed a lawsuit against Prison Health
Services, the jail's medical provider at the time, other medical professionals,
Sheriff Bill Watson and other individuals. Last month, the suit against Watson
resulted in a mistrial. Jurors could not come to a unanimous verdict on whether
the sheriff was negligent in Combs' death. On Monday, Judge Thomas Shadrick
approved the settlement between Combs' estate and Prison Health Services; two of
its employees, Dr. Shawne R. Bryant and Emma Floyd; and Dr. Luis F. Ignacio. Pat
Nolan, a spokesman for the Nashville, Tenn.-based Prison Health Services, said
they had no comment. Ignacio could not be reached Monday. The settlement order
says only the defendants have offered together to pay the $1.5 million. The
largest part of the settlement - $600,000 - will go to attorneys who represented
the Combs family from the law firms of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen and Bricker
Anderson. Another $192,711.21 will cover the costs and expenses incurred. Combs'
widow will receive $424,373.27, and his four adult children will each receive
$70,728.88. Granada Combs testified that during the days leading up to her
husband's incarceration he had stopped eating and taking care of himself. At
some point, he told her to leave the house or he might hurt her. She sought help
and eventually called 911. Officer Richard Overstreet testified that he
responded to the call and was going into the apartment with her when he saw
Combs inside with a knife. He said he appeared to be coming toward his wife. The
officer said Combs continued to make angry comments about his wife and he
considered him a risk to her. He said after mental health workers could not find
a hospital that would take the man, a police sergeant told him to secure a
warrant for a misdemeanor charge of threatening bodily harm. Combs died of
pneumonia and dehydration. The medical examiner testified during the civil trial
last month that people suffering from bipolar disorder will sometimes ignore
thirst. Deputies and officers in the sheriff's office testified about Combs'
bizarre behavior and how they had helped him shower and moved him to a clean
cell after finding smeared feces everywhere. They also testified about asking
doctors, nurses and a worker from the city's Behavioral Health Services
Department to examine him. Lawyers for the sheriff contend that it was Prison
Health Services and the medical providers who were responsible for making
decisions related to an inmate's health care. The case between the sheriff and
Combs' estate is scheduled to be tried again in early May.
June 20, 2008 The Virginian-Pilot
A woman who worked as a nurse for a health care contractor at the city jail has
sued Sheriff Bill Watson, charging that he defamed her in comments that were
published in The Virginian-Pilot. Adrienne West sued in Portsmouth Circuit Court
earlier this month, naming Watson and the Portsmouth Sheriff's Office as
defendants. She is represented by attorney Jason C. Roper. In an interview,
Watson called West's suit "frivolous" and said she had "nothing to stand on
here." He said he had never mentioned the woman by name. West's suit says that
when she reported to work on June 2, 2007, she was met by police detectives
investigating illegal drugs in the jail. The suit says she cooperated with them
because she had "nothing to hide." She was searched and questioned, and she
agreed to take a polygraph exam. She was "extremely nervous" and the result was
inconclusive; the test was given again and she passed. She consistently denied
bringing drugs into the jail, her suit says. Her complaint says that the
detectives were satisfied. Watson told her as she left he knew the results and
"not to worry about it," her suit says. Watson said Thursday he didn't recall
ever meeting West. West felt singled out and decided she no longer wanted the
job and resigned, her suit says. Weeks later, the Pilot published two articles
that contained statements attributed to Watson, now attached as exhibits to her
suit. One reported that an inmate had told Watson that contractors were bringing
drugs into the jail, and that Watson suspected two former employees, including a
Prison Health Services nurse who had resigned. The other article reported the
sheriff said two contractors he suspected of bringing drugs to the jail no
longer worked there. West was not identified by name. Her suit says her identity
was clear to people who knew her. It says people asked her about the articles
and asked if she was a drug dealer. She says Watson's statements were
defamatory. West seeks $3 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in
punitive damages.
June 14, 2007 The Virginian-Pilot
Concerned that there might be drugs inside the city's jail, Sheriff Bill Watson
used dogs earlier this month to search some inmates and deputies inside the
facility. Though none of the roughly 35 deputies and inmates on duty was found
to have drugs during the June 1 search, the dogs detected narcotic scents on two
deputies, Watson said. Officers can pick up drug scents on their clothes during
the course of duty, he said. However, later that night in an unrelated incident,
one of Watson's deputies was arrested on charges of drug possession in Norfolk.
The search, Watson said, was the first time he has brought in dogs to look for
drugs on inmates and deputies at the jail since he took over as sheriff more
than 18 months ago. Random searches will occur from now on, Watson said. Norfolk
Sheriff Bob McCabe's office provided two K-9 dogs as a courtesy that night. They
looked for evidence of drugs at the jail for about five hours, said Bonita
Harris, a spokeswoman for McCabe's office. A small amount of contraband, ranging
from cell phones to drugs, has made its way into the jail for years, Watson
said. The investigation began nearly a month ago, after Watson received a tip
from an inmate. The inmate told Watson that some contractors working inside the
jail were bringing small amounts of marijuana and crack cocaine into the
facility. Watson said he suspected that one of the contractors was a nurse who
worked for Prison Health Services. She has resigned, he said. The other
contractor worked for the food service company that supplies the jail, Watson
said. He no longer works there, he said. Neither contractor has been charged.
December 1, 2006 The Virginian-Pilot
Joseph Combs was sent to the City Jail in June and died there six days
later. Combs, 57 , died of severe dehydration and acute pneumonia, with bipolar
disorder contributing, according to the medical examiner. Earlier this week,
Portsmouth City Attorney Tim Oksman requested a federal civil rights
investigation into Combs’ death. He wrote a letter to representatives of the
U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation , asking that
they “determine whether any civil or criminal investigation is called for by
either of your agencies.” Norfolk FBI spokesman Phil Mann said the department
has received the letter and is reviewing it to determine whether to open an
investigation. Oksman began to look into the case after being contacted by
Combs’ widow, Granada Combs . She said in an interview last week that she sought
medical attention for her husband after he was taken into custody on June 22.
“This should not have happened,” she said. “His death could have been avoided
had they taken him to a hospital.” In the past, her husband, who worked as a
painter at Norfolk Naval Shipyard , had repeatedly been hospitalized for mental
health treatment for weeks at a time, she said. Police and the city are
conducting separate investigations into his death. The City Jail is run by
Sheriff Bill Watson , whom Oksman copied on his letter to federal authorities.
After several calls to Watson’s office for comment, Lt. Col. John Gomokey
returned a phone call. He said the sheriff said to contact Prison Health
Services Inc. , the jail’s medical contractor. “His position right now is that
PHS needs to handle that,” Gomokey said. “It was their thing.” Emma Floyd ,
director of nursing for Prison Health Services at Portsmouth City Jail , said:
“I don’t know why he would ask you to contact me.” Asked about Combs, Floyd said
she remembered the case. But she declined to comment further and said to contact
Prison Health Services’ corporate office in Tennessee . “Our mission is to
provide quality health care to all the patients we serve,” company spokeswoman
Susan Morgenstern wrote in an e-mail, responding to Oksman’s letter. “Anytime a
patient dies, we are deeply saddened, and extend our heartfelt sympathy to the
patient’s family and friends.” She added that, because of confidentiality laws,
Prison Health Services can’t talk about details of the care provided to a
patient. But she said the company would cooperate fully if there is an
investigation.
South Hampton
Centex
April 24, 2003
Developers proposing to build two 1,024-bed prisons in Virginia are considering
Southampton County as a site for one of them. The plan submitted to the
Virginia Department of Corrections also includes options to expand the Deerfield
Correctional Center in Southampton and St. Brides Correctional Center in
Chesapeake. The state's prison population, currently 30,950, is expected
to rise in coming years, due to longer sentences imposed since the abolition of
parole in the mid-1990s. Corrections officials predict they will need
2,000 to 3,000 new prison beds by 2006. However, declining tax collections
have strained the state budget and delayed efforts to raise the estimated $334
million needed for new construction. The development team making the
proposal comes from Centex, a Texas-based Fortune 500 company with an affiliate
headquartered in Fairfax, and investment bankers Lehman Brothers and Morgan
Keegan. The companies are not releasing details about their plans to
finance the projects. However, the businesses are building three prisons
in North Carolina that will be leased back to the state for 20 years before the
structures would become publicly owned. The North Carolina work is
highlighted in the proposal the companies have submitted to Virginia.
Prison officials are giving competing developers until May 8 to submit plans
before reviewing the proposal. Southampton County already has three state
prisons. Southampton Correctional Center, which houses about 650 inmates,
was nearly mothballed last year as a cost-saving measure, but state leaders
backed down when the community rallied to save prison jobs. Corrections
officials connected then that the prisons would be needed a few years. An
adjacent but separate "reception center" for new inmates holds another
180 inmates. The remaining prison, Deerfield, is home to about 500
geriatric inmates. Developers have listed Southampton as one of six
counties where a new prison would be feasible. Reggie W. Gilliam, chairman
of the Southampton Board of Supervisors, said he would welcome the 600-bed
expansion at Deerfield included in the plan. He said county officials know
little about other parts of the proposal, but they will be briefed by prison
officials on April 28. The St. Brides expansion is identified by
developers as an optional addition to their plan. The state is scheduled
to finish a 352-bed addition next spring, but has no funding to achieve its
plans for demolishing the original 19963 prison and replacing it with modern
dormitories and a multipurpose building that could include a gym and music room.
The capacity is now 575. State plans call for expanding it to between
1,000 and 1,2000 beds. North Carolina's prison-building program has
attracted some criticism from a former state treasurer and consumer groups, who
argued that the deal was too expensive and that it was being used to increase
public debt without a voter referendum. State officials created a
nonprofit corporation to issue $225 million in bonds for the projects.
North Carolina is expected to pay $370 million over the next 20 years through a
lease agreement. State officials concluded that they are saving money
because prisoners are being built faster. Legislators are now considering
a proposal for Centex to build another three prisons. Virginia pays a
private company to manage one of its prisons, located in Lawrenceville.
However, the state has never built a prison under a lease-to-own arrangement.
State leaders passed a law last year to encourage developers to submit proposals
for constructing government buildings under lease-to-own and similar types of
public-private partnerships. The law helps developers qualify for tax
incentives that make the projects more attractive to the private sector.
In response, Centex and another Texas developer, Lincoln Property Co., have
submitted proposals for renovating and building new state government offices in
and around Capitol Square in Richmond. Some local governments also are
taking advantage of the new law. Falls Church and Stafford County are
considering proposals to build schools through public-private partnerships.
(The Virginian-Pilot)
Virginia Beach Jail
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Conmed Health Management (formerly run by Correctional Medical Services)
August 18, 2011 The Virginian-Pilot
The family of a man who died at the Virginia Beach jail has filed a wrongful
death suit against the sheriff and the jail medical staff. The case alleges
shoddy medical care, accusations similar to those raised by the family of
another deceased jail inmate, Jacquelynn Diane Schwartz. Douglas P. Poole
entered the jail Oct. 29, 2010, to serve a 10-day sentence for driving with a
suspended driver's license. Five days later he was rushed to the hospital, where
he died. He was 54. When he arrived in the jail, he told a nurse that he
suffered from diabetes and hypertension and that he required certain
medications, according to the suit. It says he didn't receive any meds for four
days, and he was given insulin but nothing to control his hypertension. The
afternoon of Nov. 3, Poole reported to jail staff that he was had severe pain in
an eye. He was unsteady on his feet and sweating. He then collapsed and struck
his head on a table, the suit says. He was taken to the infirmary, where the
medical staff inferred "that he was malingering," the lawsuit states. When he
was taken back to his cell, a deputy, a doctor and nurses told other inmates
that Poole was "faking blindness," it says. Poole later reported that he felt
nauseated and he again fainted and remained unconscious for 15 minutes. When he
tried to rise, he struck his head on a toilet and lost consciousness again, the
suit says. "The inmates in his cell block began frantically banging on the
window and the deputies only then removed him from the block," the lawsuit says.
At the infirmary, Poole's blood pressure was recorded as 197 over 90, which is
high. Jail staff called 911, and Poole was taken to the nearby emergency room in
handcuffs. He was transferred to Virginia Beach General Hospital, where he was
diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage. He was declared brain-dead Nov. 4 and
pronounced dead Nov. 7, according to the lawsuit and his obituary that appeared
in The Pilot. The lawsuit, which seeks $5 million, alleges "deliberate
indifference" to Poole's condition by the medical and jail staff. His family is
suing in federal court under the Eighth and 14th amendments, which prohibit
cruel and unusual punishment and deprivation of life and liberty, respectively.
The suit, filed by Poole's sister, Evelyn Sawyer of Norfolk, names as defendants
Sheriff Ken Stolle; Conmed Healthcare Management, which runs the jail's medical
facility; and several members of the medical staff.
November 21, 2010 The Virginia-Pilot
Paul Lanteigne got right to work for his new company. Within days of stepping
down as Virginia Beach sheriff in December, he began exchanging e-mails and
documents with former subordinates about a multi million-dollar contract that
would soon be up for grabs. Some of the information high-ranking officials in
the Sheriff's Office passed onto their former boss was available to anyone. But
some was not, such as drafts of bid specifications for the contract, which
Lanteigne received weeks before other competitors, e-mails and other documents
obtained by The Virginian-Pilot show. Lanteigne's exchanges - friendly, familiar
and informative - were with the same officials who would ultimately write and
award the contract. At stake was the jail's most lucrative private work:
providing medical services for inmates. Five companies submitted bids for the
job. Lanteigne's company, Conmed Healthcare Management Inc., and Correctional
Medical Services were short-listed as finalists. In September, with Lanteigne on
board as a senior director for governmental affairs, Conmed prevailed, landing
the Beach's $3.5 million-per-year contract. Conmed is a publicly traded company
operating in seven states and expanding in Virginia. In 2008, it won an $18
million contract in Chesapeake. Conmed recently bid on the Norfolk jail medical
contract but didn't get it. St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services is
privately owned and has contracts in 19 states. The company had the contract for
the Beach jail 25 years, including the 10 years Lanteigne was sheriff. Current
Sheriff Kenneth Stolle, elected to the post last year with Lanteigne's support,
said he didn't know the former sheriff was getting the information about the
contract from department staffers but that no laws were broken. He said he did
not get involved in the decision because of his long time friendship with
Lanteigne. "I'm not happy about what took place," Stolle said. "It allows the
perception that there was inside information or a stream of information that
Paul was getting that was not available to everybody else." Conmed, using many
former Correctional Medical Services' staffers, took over in Virginia Beach on
Oct. 1. The three-year contract could be worth up to $17.5 million if two years
of optional extensions are granted. In late October, after The Pilot started
asking questions about the information Lanteigne received, Stolle changed the
department's policy to make the sheriff the single point of contact while bid
documents are being developed. He said in practice that means all information
shared with one potential bidder would be shared with others. Procurement
experts interviewed by The Pilot agreed that providing early bid specifications
to one company doesn't violate Virginia law but said it's not consistent with
industry standards and discouraged the practice because it could provide
competitive advantage.
September 10, 2010 The Virginia-Pilot
Less than a year after stepping down as sheriff, Paul Lanteigne helped land a $9
million contract to provide health care for inmates in the jail he used to run.
The company the former sheriff works for was selected for the contract, even
though its bid was slightly more than the proposal of the company that currently
provides the services. Before stepping down as sheriff at the end of last year,
Lanteigne lined up a job with Conmed Health Management, a health services
provider that had tried unsuccessfully to do business with Virginia Beach in the
past. Lanteigne became a senior director of governmental affairs for Conmed and
helped prepare the bid, which resulted in the approximately $9 million,
three-year contract to provide health care for the city's 1,350 inmates. The
company was recommended by a panel appointed by Virginia Beach Sheriff Ken
Stolle, said John McCon-nell, city procurement services coordinator. Stolle and
Lanteigne have long been political allies and friends. Correctional Medical
Services Inc., the current provider, has worked in the Beach jail for 25 years.
That company was the low bidder for the new contract by about $20,000 a year,
Stolle said. Conmed was deemed the better applicant, Stolle said. "To be
completely candid, Paul had a huge advantage," Stolle said. "He knew exactly
what we needed." Had Lanteigne been a city employee, he would've been prohibited
by city ordinance for one year from accepting a job with a company that does
business with the city. Because he was sheriff, a constitutional officer in
Virginia, the rule doesn't apply, Deputy City Attorney Roderick Ingram said.
Lanteigne sought a legal opinion from the city attorney's office in June 2009
before taking the job with Conmed. Lanteigne, who was sheriff for 10 years, said
he applied his understanding of the Virginia Beach jail to help Conmed prepare
the bid. "I certainly can't take the knowledge I have and erase the slate," he
said. "I certainly used that knowledge." Lanteigne said he works for Conmed full
time from home. He wouldn't disclose his salary other than to call it "a very
fair wage." He made about $150,000 a year as sheriff. He did some paid
consulting in Louisiana for Conmed after July 1, 2009, while still in office.
Stolle, a former state senator elected sheriff in November, said he didn't take
part in the bid-review process because he and Lanteigne are friends. "I didn't
want there to be any impression that I was trying to steer the contract to
Paul," he said. " I didn't want there to be appearance of collusion between us."
Lanteigne supported Stolle in his run for sheriff, giving him $10,000 in
campaign contributions, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which
tracks money in politics. Conmed gave $2,000 to Stolle. Stolle hired Lanteigne's
daughter, Ashley, who had previously been his legislative aide, as a public
information officer. Her salary is $53,500. Stolle said the contract went to
Conmed even though the company wasn't the low bidder partially because Conmed
offered extra psychiatric services that eventually will make the company the
cheaper option. He also said Conmed is more experienced with the upcoming switch
to electronic medical records, which is part of the contract. The city is not
obligated to go with the lowest bid. Other factors, including predicted quality
of service, are taken into account, Deputy City Attorney Ingram said.
Virginia Department of
Corrections
Prison Health Services (formerly run by Correctional Medical
Services)
May 22, 2006 Washington Post
COMPANIES THAT provide for-profit medical care to prison inmates have grown
enormously in the past couple of decades, spurred by booming prison and jail
populations that have strained the ability of states and cities to cope. The
medical treatment they provide is generally shielded from outside scrutiny, and
inmate patients are a largely powerless and voiceless constituency. That gives
rise to the potential for abuse and substandard treatment without meaningful
redress. Prison Health Services, the nation's largest private supplier of inmate
health services, provides care and treatment to about a third of Virginia's
31,000 inmates. The company has been the target of many lawsuits, in Virginia
and in other states and municipalities. In Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and
a number of large cities, the firm has been accused by inmates' families,
courts, and local, state and federal officials of providing shoddy, neglectful
and at times harmful treatment. Last year, in a series of articles, the New York
Times documented repeated instances in which treatment provided by Prison Health
Services was substandard and, in some cases, led to unnecessary deaths in New
York jails and prisons. In a recent report focusing on Virginia, the Associated
Press quoted several inmates who said that the treatment they have received --
or failed to receive despite repeated requests -- was life-threatening. One of
the inmates interviewed by the AP, Marguerite Brown, is at Fluvanna Correctional
Center for Women in Troy, Va., home to more than half the state's female
inmates. Ms. Brown, 51, said she told prison nurses repeatedly that she was
bleeding from fibroid tumors, but she was given nothing more than vitamins for
anemia. Eventually she was rushed to the emergency room for a blood transfusion,
she said. At the heart of some of the criticism leveled at Prison Health
Services has been the charge that its pursuit of profit has led it to scrimp on
the provision of decent health care. The company has denied that. But the
breadth of its problems suggests that the company would benefit from ongoing and
intensive monitoring to ensure that it provides adequate treatment. In a number
of states, Prison Health Services and other for-profit prison health providers
are under the scrutiny of a court-appointed monitor or a state agency
legislatively established for that purpose. But in Virginia, Prison Health
Services is watched over only by the state Corrections Department's own health
services operation. That is insufficient, especially given the well-publicized
problems elsewhere. Inmates may lack broad public sympathy, but they are
nonetheless entitled to a decent level of medical attention. To ensure that is
provided consistently over time, Virginia needs to intensify its vigilance.
May 19, 2006 The Roanoke Times
A medical contractor's nationwide track record should prod Virginia to
examine such services. When we, the people of Virginia, lock up people convicted
of crimes, we are responsible for their humane treatment. To ignore that
responsibility is to risk doing worse to inmates in our prisons and jails than
many of these convicted criminals have ever done to others. If we are
indifferent to the well-being of those under our power and control, we erode
principles of justice, diminish our capacity for mercy and become a more brutal
society. Virginians should keep that in mind in light of a news report that 330
state prisoners filed medical grievances in 2004 against a health care
contractor that provides medical services to about a third of the state's 31,000
inmates. Prison Health Services has a troublesome record of substandard care in
several other states, The Associated Press reported. Virginia's Department of
Corrections knows how many grievances were filed against the company here, a
spokesman told AP, but it does not track how many of the complaints were found
to be justified. It should. How else can the department -- and all Virginians --
judge the company's performance? Is the public not expected to care? A company
spokeswoman noted that the practice of medicine everywhere "is fraught with
exposure to lawsuits, and a disproportionately high number of lawsuits originate
in prisons and jails." Undoubtedly. Yet it also is true that prisoners present
uncommon security concerns that can affect medical judgments and lead to poor
treatment. Because inmates are so generally despised by and isolated from the
society outside their prison walls, inadequate care might pass unnoticed.
Law-abiding citizens surely do not want to pamper lawbreakers. But prisoners
writing to the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia complain that their
serious medical issues are routinely neglected. Thoughtful people will not
accept such pleas without question. But neither should they automatically
dismiss inmate complaints as troublemaking by ne'er-do-wells with too much time
on their hands. The quality of medical care in Virginia prisons bears scrutiny.
May 14, 2006 AP
A prison health care company that has come under fire nationally for what
some call shoddy medical care is under contract with the Virginia Department of
Corrections and stirring similar complaints here. Prison Health Services, the
largest U.S. provider of health care to inmates, has been the target of lawsuits
and allegations of poor medical care and neglect in other states and now
provides care to about one-third of Virginia's 31,270 inmates. In 2004, 330
medical grievances were filed by inmates at the prisons using the Brentwood,
Tenn., company, Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said. The
department does not track how many of those grievances were deemed justified, he
said. Inmates, however, in dozens of complaints shared with The Associated
Press, say the care is so bad, some fear for their lives. "I know we're in
prison, and I know things won't operate how they do out there--but we are not
sent here to die," said Aimee Mootz, a former inmate medical aid in the
infirmary at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. Prisoners regularly
received substandard care at the infirmary _ including one seriously ill inmate,
Mootz said, who was often left alone by medical staff to sleep in a pool of her
own vomit. PHS and the Department of Corrections argue they are unable to defend
themselves against complaints because of patient confidentiality laws. A
spokeswoman for the contractor would not disclose how many lawsuits have been
brought against the company, but said 96 percent of such cases are dismissed
before trial. "It's worth noting that the practice of medicine is fraught with
exposure to lawsuits, and a disproportionately high number of lawsuits originate
in prisons and jails," PHS spokeswoman Susan Morgenstern wrote in an e-mailed
response to questions from the AP. "We have an excellent team of medical
professionals in Virginia, and they work hard every day to provide quality
medical care." Fluvanna inmate Marguerite Brown, 51, said the prison's nurses
repeatedly ignored her pleas for help after she told them she'd been bleeding
heavily from fibroid tumors. Brown said the nurses sent her away with vitamins
for anemia. She said she eventually had to be rushed to the emergency room for a
blood transfusion. "It's been rough--real rough," said Brown, serving a 13-year
sentence on a variety of fraud and credit card theft charges. "If it weren't for
God, I probably wouldn't know which way to go." Inmates from every prison in
Virginia that uses PHS have lodged medical complaints with the American Civil
Liberties Union of Virginia, executive director Kent Willis said. The ACLU
received 167 inmate health care complaints in 2005, he said. In letters to the
ACLU that were shared with the AP, inmates from PHS-run facilities complained
about a variety of problems, including chronic medication shortages and constant
neglect of serious medical issues. "This place is killing me," wrote Greensville
Correctional Center inmate Larry AsBury, who said more than half the inmates he
knows at Greensville are covered in rashes that go untreated. AsBury, who said
he also suffers from tuberculosis, wrote he once waited months for a doctor to
remove a cast from his broken wrist, finally becoming so frustrated he used a
pair of fingernail clippers to remove the cast. Willis acknowledged that
garnering public sympathy for inmates is a tough task. "You combine that with
the fact that the whole process is so isolated (and) it's difficult for
information critical of the services to surface," Willis said.
June
27, 2005 Times Dispatch
Medical care for a growing number of Virginia prisoners is in the hands of
a company that investigators in other states say has a dubious, if not alarming,
record. Independent reviews of Prison Health Services' performance in Alabama
and New York found instances of improper or substandard care, in some cases
involving inmates who died. Unlike in those states, there is no outside
oversight of inmate medical care in Virginia, and much about the subject,
including inmate medical records, is kept secret. The Virginia Department of
Corrections is satisfied with the job Prison Health Services -- PHS -- is doing
here, a spokesman said. As of last month, PHS, which touts itself as the largest
private health-care provider for prisons and jails in the U.S., served 270,000
male, female and juvenile inmates at 384 sites in 38 states. Tennessee-based PHS
now provides health services at 10 Virginia correctional facilities, including
two prisons with infirmaries: the Greensville Correctional Center -- the state's
largest prison -- and the Powhatan Correctional Center. In the five years that
ended last June 30, Virginia spent nearly half a billion dollars on health care
for its 31,000 prison inmates. The system has about 375,000 "inmate
visits" for medical care each year. The company's five-year contract is
worth nearly $160 million. The amount paid to PHS rose from nothing in 2000 to
more than 42 percent of the department's inmate health-care budget in 2004. That
concerns Jean Auldridge, executive director of Citizens United for
Rehabilitation of Errants of Virginia. She charges that inmates needlessly
suffer and ailments can go untreated because of poor health care from PHS and
the Department of Corrections. Inmates and their families have complained to The
Times-Dispatch of a host of medical-care grievances, including instances of
prescribed medication not given to inmates; unduly long waits to see doctors;
rude and indifferent care; and physician referrals to specialists being
cancelled by higher-ranking PHS physicians. Susan Morgenstern, a spokeswoman for
PHS, said that patient confidentiality prohibits the company from discussing
details of any individual's case. "Unfortunately, that means we can't
defend ourselves when people make false accusations," she said. "I
assure you that we have processes in place to ensure all our patients receive
quality care. That's our mission, and that's what we provide in Virginia,"
Morgenstern said. Willis Keith, a 68-year-old inmate with chronic health
problems, disagrees. He said he was sent to the Greensville Correctional Center
where the medical care was supposed to be better. "Out of the approximately
3,000 inmates here, most will agree with me [that] . . . it is difficult to get
an appointment with a doctor; [it] usually takes three weeks or more," he
said in a June 16 letter. In Virginia, PHS is overseen by the Department of
Corrections' office of health services, said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the
department. Internal auditors with the department's inspector general's office
also review health-care operations, he said. Traylor provided a May 11, 2004,
internal audit report of the job the Office of Health Services was doing
monitoring two PHS medical units and one run by the Department of Corrections.
The audit found that in general there were adequate controls of the health
services being provided. However, the audit also found that there needed to be
better oversight of the distribution of medicine to inmates; assurances that
inmates are following prescribed diets; and adequate documentation of medical
procedures in inmate medical records. Kent Willis, executive director of the
ACLU of Virginia, said "our information is anecdotal, but prison health
care in Virginia does not seem to have improved since the ACLU conducted a study
of it in 2003." The study, which took six months and cost $20,000, reported
that the Department of Corrections produces no public reports monitoring or
assessing the quality of inmate medical care. "We were concerned then about
PHS' expanding role in offering medical care in Virginia's prisons," Willis
said. Noting criticism of PHS in other states, Willis said: "There's no
reason to believe it is doing any better in Virginia." One of the ACLU's
recommendations was for independent oversight of inmate health care. Serious
shortcomings have been found in other states where there is more independent
oversight. In April, an expert in correctional health care who monitors Alabama
prisons as part of a federal court settlement, reviewed the medical charts of 22
inmate patients at a women's prison where health care is provided by PHS and
found serious problems with 19 of them. Dr. Michael Puisis also faulted the
records kept for all three woman who died at the prison in 2004. Gretchen N.
Rohr is an Atlanta lawyer working with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a party
in the suit at the Alabama women's prison. She said there is cause for concern
in any state where inmate health care is being provided by a for-profit company.
Rohr said that states that handle inmate medical care directly are more
successful at meeting minimal standards of care. In states where there are
private health-care providers, "there has to be a tremendous amount of
transparency and oversight." The New York State Commission of Correction in
recent years has strongly criticized PHS for errors in handling the cases of
roughly two dozen inmates who died in city and state jails. James E. Lawrence,
director of operations for the commission, said investigations into deaths of
inmates under the care of PHS found that "some of the problems had more to
do with business practices rather than simple, medical mistakes, or simple
negligence." "The nature of the problems are different than you
typically find in health-care lapses," he said. The problems "relate
more to business practices rather than simple medical mistakes, errors and
negligence." In some cases, it was found that health-care personnel, such
as nurses, were routinely asked to deliver care for which they were not
qualified or licensed. In such cases the nurse would earn less than the person
who would be qualified to deliver the service, he said. Lawrence said
cost-cutting by PHS when hiring staff has led to care-cutting for the inmates.
In February, The New York Times ran a three-day series of stories about problems
with PHS' performance in jails in New York and in jails and prisons in other
states. "The company's performance around the nation has provoked criticism
from judges and sheriffs, lawsuits from inmates' families and whistle-blowers,
and condemnations by federal, state and local authorities. The company has paid
millions of dollars in fines and settlements," the lead article stated. PHS
referred questions to Morgenstern, with the public-relations firm of Dye, Van
Mol & Lawrence in Nashville, Tenn. Morgenstern said part of the reason the
company has been the subject of negative media coverage is because inmates have
generally poor health and that the health care must sometimes be provided in
difficult circumstances. "When they enter the correctional setting and
become our patients, they are much less healthy than the general public,"
she said. "They may not have had access to health care, and have
undiagnosed/untreated chronic conditions. There are high levels of HIV,
hepatitis, diabetes, hypertension, respiratory problems." "As you
know, anyone can make an allegation about care, but that does not mean it's
true," she said. "We are in the position of being unable to discuss
the topic . . . because of patient confidentiality." Morgenstern said the
premise that PHS puts business interests ahead of patient care is false. PHS,
she said, has never denied necessary medical care because that would be wrong
"and a violation of the company's values and mission. Secondarily, it would
also be a bad business practice" Morgenstern said that charges by New York
officials about PHS performance there "are subjective, without basis of
fact and political in nature." She said Lawrence is opposed to the
privatization of health care in jails and prisons. Beginning in the fall of
2001, PHS has requested to meet with the New York State Commission Of Correction
to respond to allegations, Morgenstern said. "All requests, both written
and verbal, have been denied. Specific denial in writing by the [commission's]
general counsel was received in May 2003," she said. But a spokeswoman for
the Commission of Correction said PHS has never sought meetings between its
clinical leadership or physician-executives and the commission's Medical Review
Board to discuss PHS' performance in specific cases. "The commission has
only been approached by PHS' business agents, corporate officers, attorneys and
lobbyists in attempts to influence agency policy," Jessica Scaperotti said.
Scaperotti said that when the commission's Medical Review Board "seeks
interaction with PHS on specific cases, it encounters only attorneys. In fact,
PHS unsuccessfully sued the commission to suppress Medical Review Board reports
in 2002, not an auspicious approach to establishing the dialogue it claims to
seek." Traylor said that last year Virginia inmates filed 1,037 inmate
medical grievances. The number of such grievances filed against PHS -- 31
percent -- was roughly proportionate to the percentage of Virginia inmates under
PHS care. Traylor could not say how many of those complaints were deemed
justified by the department's Office of Health Services. He said that the
Department of Corrections does not pay PHS for positions that are not filled.
Those assessments against PHS have averaged roughly $40,000 per institution per
year over the past four years. Morgenstern contends the assessments -- which
have totaled $1,622,437 -- are the result of normal turnover. The positions
remain unfilled while replacements are found and cleared to work in prisons, a
process that can take 30 days. According to company records, the assessments
have dropped from almost $600,000 in 2002 to $309, 901 last year. Traylor said
the primary reason the department sought a private medical-care contractor is
because they are better able to recruit medical staff for the prisons with
better salaries, more flexible schedules and recruitment bonuses that the
department cannot match. Traylor said the department is not concerned about the
job PHS is performing in spite of negative reports elsewhere.
November 21,
2003
Legal action over the stun-gun death of an inmate has led to a third settlement,
this one involving the company that once provided medical care at Virginia's
supermax prisons. Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis recently
agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of
Larry Frazier. The Connecticut inmate died three years ago after being shocked
repeatedly with a stun gun during a struggle with guards in the infirmary of
Wallens Ridge State Prison. An order dismissing the case was filed this
week in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. John Fishwick, a Roanoke attorney
who represents Frazier's family, said the amount was confidential as part of the
settlement. Although CMS employees did not handle the stun gun, the
lawsuit accused them of nonetheless contributing to Frazier's death.
Shortly before Frazier was shocked, Dr. Larry Howard told guards that the
inmate's actions were behavioral, not medical, according to an investigation by
state officials. Had the case gone to trial, Fishwick would have argued that
Howard's comments amounted to an authorization of use of force at a time when
Frazier's legitimate medical needs were being ignored. Also, the lawsuit
claimed that CMS officials did not use a defibrillator that might have saved
Frazier's life after he suffered heart failure. Howard did not know the medical
device was in a nearby office; a nurse knew it was there but had not been
trained to use it, according to court records. As for CMS, a state audit
conducted in 2000 found the company had been assessed more than $900,000 in
penalties for not complying with standards in its contract. CMS no longer
provides health care at Wallens Ridge or Red Onion. (Roanoke.com)
October 24, 2003
The state of Virginia has settled its part in a $204
million lawsuit filed by the family of an inmate from Connecticut who died after
being shocked repeatedly with a stun gun. The agreement, made public
Thursday in U.S. District Court, allows Virginia to avoid a trial that would
have examined the use of force at Wallens Ridge State Prison. The amount of the
settlement was not disclosed. The Virginia Department of Corrections has
denied that excessive force led to Larry Frazier's death about three years ago.
And in the agreement, it acknowledged no wrongdoing, said Larry Traylor, a state
prisons spokesman. The lawsuit's defendants had included a group of state prison
administrators and employees. David Fathi, an attorney for the National
Prison Project, said he was not surprised by the news. "I think the
department was wise to settle," he said. "Based on everything I know
about the facts, they had substantial liability." Still remaining as
defendants in the lawsuit are Correctional Medical Services, which provided
health care at Wallens Ridge, and a doctor and nurse formerly employed by the
St. Louis company. The trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 17. "We
are looking forward to trying the case against the three remaining
defendants," said John Fishwick, a Roanoke attorney representing Frazier's
family. Frazier, a 50-year-old convicted rapist who suffered from diabetes
and other health problems, was one of 500 prisoners from Connecticut being held
in Virginia prisons under a state contract. He was taken to the Wallens
Ridge infirmary on June 29, 2000. When he began to thrash about on his gurney
and kick correctional officers, he was shocked several times with the stun gun,
prison officials said. He was discovered unconscious some minutes later.
He died five days later at a Richmond hospital. After Frazier's death,
Virginia correctional officials hired an outside consultant to review the
incident. The consultant found that Frazier died from "chronic medical
conditions" complicated by his struggle with guards. Use of the stun gun
played no role in the inmate's death, the consultant found. However, an
autopsy the following year found the stun gun might have played a role in
Frazier's death, prompting the Department of Corrections to suspend use of the
device. After filing the lawsuit last year, Fishwick discovered that Larry
Howard, the Correctional Medical Services doctor involved in Frazier's care, was
fired after saying the stun gun appeared to have killed the inmate. In addition,
a medical device that might have saved Frazier was never used after he suffered
heart failure. The state of Connecticut already has agreed to pay $1.1
million to settle a separate lawsuit with the inmate's family. The family has
said that Frazier's medical condition made him unsuitable for the maximum
security prison in Wise County. (AP)
September 9, 2003
Several suppliers to state prison commissaries are suing the Department of
Corrections to end a privatization plan they say is hurting Virginia businesses.
In a lawsuit filed in Richmond Circuit Court, three Virginia-based vendors claim
the corrections department is breaking the law by allowing a private company,
Keefe Supply Co. of St. Louis, to use inmate labor in the prison commissaries
Keefe Supply is operating. "You can't provide inmate labor to a
private enterprise as a subsidy," said Ian J. Wilson, a lawyer for the
Richmond firm Hirschler Fleischer PC, which is representing the plaintiffs.
A spokesman for the Department of Corrections declined to comment on the lawsuit
filed last week. Traditionally, prison officials have managed
commissaries, where inmates can buy toiletries, snacks, paper and other items.
Officials at each prison have chosen their own vendors through competitive
bidding. That began to change in 2002 when the agency started to privatize
commissaries. The state contracted with Keefe Supply to take over the management
of five commissaries in a pilot program. Keefe Supply's contract has since been
expanded to include 28 more prisons, according to the suit. The
corrections department has said the privatization will save the state $1.2
million a year. Ten other prison commissaries are run by the agency. The
three plaintiffs are Highland Beef Farms Inc., a Reston-based supplier of
packaged meats and cheeses; Ashland-based Virginia Snacks Inc., a supplier of
snack foods; and Roanoke-based Lee Hartman & Sons Inc., which supplies
electronics such as radios. They argue that the privatization is hurting
Virginia businesses by essentially granting a monopoly to a company based in
another state. The owner of Virginia Snacks said the loss of commissary
sales would put him out of business. Jay Hersch, owner of Highland Beef
Farms, said he will lose about $200,000 a year in sales because several
commissaries he once supplied have come under Keefe Supply's management. The
company has its own supply chain. "What I want to do is stop the
privatization," Hersch said. "I want it to be open so it is
competitive, so companies like mine have a shot." Keefe Supply pays
the department a monthly commission of 6.5 percent on all sales. Inmates work in
the commissaries, and Keefe Supply reimburses the state for the labor. Inmates
are typically paid 35 to 45 cents an hour. The lawsuit claims that
violates state law, which allows the department to provide inmate labor only for
government, nonprofit or civic organizations. Wilson said corrections
department documents show that the privatization plan "always envisioned
that the state would allow access to inmate labor, at a very low cost."
"We think that the privatization program is founded on the use of inmate
labor, which is inconsistent with the statute governing the department of
corrections," he said. "If that falls, it really taints the
program." (Times-Dispatch)
Virginia Tech
University
CCA
February 3, 2006 Collegiate Times
For the Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc., social responsibility is not on the
radar when investing its endowment. “Why should it be?” asked Raymond Smoot, the
chief operating officer of the foundation. The foundation invests $5.1 million
of it's $728 million in total assets and managed funds in Farallon Capital
Management LLC, one of the world's largest hedge funds. Smoot reported that the
Foundation began the investment with Farallon in 2000. Farallon, a hedge fund
favorite among several university-affiliated institutions, including Duke
University, the University of Richmond and Yale, has raised concerns among
students and alumni. Phoebe Rounds, a Yale undergrad, explained that Yale was
the first to pioneer the investments in hedge funds and continued the practice
because of the high monetary return. In order to receive the money, she
explained that Yale ignored some social issues involved with Farallon. “(Yale)
got returns in the double digits, but wasn't thinking about the context of the
entire world,” she said. Rounds, the spokesperson for UnFairallon, a coalition
of activist students seeking to publicize Farallon's investments, explained that
Yale students became suspicious of the company's investment in the Corrections
Corporation of America, the largest prison company in America. CCA has been
condemned by Amnesty International for human rights violations. UnFairallon has
accused the hedge fund for investing in companies that do not adhere to
environmental regulations. “I think a lot of people are looking the other way
and that's why it's so important to step up and start investigating these
investments,” she said.
Wallens Ridge
Prison
Big Stone Gap, Virginia
Virginia Department of Corrections
October 13, 2003
A medical device that could have saved Larry Frazier's life went unused as he
lapsed into a coma after being shocked repeatedly with a stun gun in a prison
infirmary, lawyers for the inmate's family say. The allegation, made in
motion filed last week in federal court, adds a new layer to a $204 million
lawsuit that raises questions about conditions at Wallens Ridge State Prison.
When it was filed last year, the lawsuit claimed that Frazier's death was the
result of excessive force by stun gun-wielding guards and inadequate medical
care by Correctional Medical Services, a private company that provided health
care to inmates at the supermax prison. The latest claim, which attorneys
for Frazier's family say they only recently discovered, is that an automatic
external defibrillator that would have saved the inmate's life was not used to
revive him. Frazier suffered heart failure on June 29, 2000, after being shocked
with an Ultron II, a stun gun that releases 50,000 volts of electricity. A
CMS doctor who treated Frazier did not know the defibrillator was available, and
a nurse for the company knew it was at the prison but had not been trained to
use it, according to a motion filed by John Fishwick, a Roanoke attorney who
represents Frazier's family. Despite knowing since 1998 the value of a
defibrillator, which shocks the heart into beating again, CMS failed to promptly
provide the devices to staff members in all the prisons it served, the motion
states. (The Roanoke Times)
August 15, 2003
A prison doctor was fired after concluding that electric shocks from a guard's
stun gun killed an inmate, according to papers filed in federal court. The
private company that provided medical services at Wallens Ridge State Prison
said it dismissed Dr. Larry Eugene Howard because the state Department of
Corrections barred him from the Wise County prison. A $204 million lawsuit
accuses guards of killing Wallens Ridge inmate Larry Frazier with the Ultron II
electroshock device in July 2000. Frazier was one of a number of prisoners from
Connecticut being held in Virginia prisons under a state contract.
Documents filed Thursday allege that Correctional Medical Services Inc.
terminated its contract with Howard almost immediately after he told his
employer and state corrections officials that he believed Frazier died as a
result of the repeated shocks. Howard's opinion contradicted a state
medical examiner's report that Frazier, 50, died because of a heart problem
``due to stress while being restrained following stunning with Ultron II
device.'' The examiner determined the death was ``natural.'' The
corrections department nevertheless has suspended use of the Ultron II device.
Howard was the physician on call June 29, 2000, the day Frazier struggled with
Wallens Ridge guards and was zapped with 50,000 volts of electricity as guards
pinned him to a gurney. He lapsed into a coma and died five days later.
Asked at a July 10, 2000, meeting in Richmond for his opinion on the cause of
Frazier's death, Howard recalled saying, ``I think it was a result of him being
stunned,'' according to his deposition. He said a company representative called
him on his cell phone to fire him as he drove back to Big Stone Gap after the
meeting. (AP)
March 15, 2002
Connecticut has agreed to pay nearly $2 million to settle lawsuits involving the
deaths of two inmates it sent to a controversial supermax prison in Wise County
. According to an attorney involved in the case, the Department of Correction
will pay $1.1 million to the estate of Lawrence Frazier, who died after guards
shocked him repeatedly with a stun gun at Wallens Ridge State Prison. Another
$750,000 will go to the estate of David Tracy, a mentally ill 20-year-old who
had less than a year left to serve when he committed suicide at Wallens Ridge, a
prison designed for hard-core inmates with little hope of release. Antonio
Ponvert, a Bridgeport , Conn. , attorney who represented the inmates' families,
said prison officials never should have transferred 500 of the state's inmates
to Wallens Ridge in 1999, considering the prison's reputation. (The Roanoke
Times)
May 31, 2001
Seventy-two inmates from Wyoming are the latest out-of-state prisoners at a
Virginia supermax. The inmates were transferred last week from the Wyoming
State Penitentiary to Wallens Ridge State Prison in Wise County. The
highly restrictive prison, designed to hold the "worst of the worst"
inmates, was just what Wyoming officials had in mind for the transfer. The
inmates made the 1,300-mile trip Friday on a jet operated by the U.S. Marshals
Service. In addition to the Wyoming inmates, there are 139 prisoners from
Connecticut, 40 from New Mexico, one from Washington, D.C., and one from Hawaii.
Statewide, Virginia prisons are holding 3,376 out-of-state prisoners as the
result of a massive prison-building campaign that left the state with more cells
than inmates. (The Roanoke Times)
A Connecticut inmate, Lawrence
Frazier, said he nearly died because he was not given his insulin during a
22-hour trip to Virginia. After arriving at the facility, he continued to have
problems getting insulin and medical care. Frazier died July 4 after being
shocked several times by a stun gun. An investigation into his death and
that of David Tracy has begun by the U.S. Justice Department and the F.B.I.
July 2000
Two deaths of inmates from Connecticut and charges of abuse plague this
for-profit public prison. (AP, July 19, 2000)
February 27, 2003
Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (NYSE: WHC - News), announced on February 5,
2003 that it had been selected to negotiate with the Commonwealth of Virginia
Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Correctional Education (DCE)
to operate the Lawrenceville Correctional Center, a 1,536-bed medium
security, adult male prison in Lawrenceville, Virginia. WCC has recently
been informed that the DOC has determined that it must negotiate with two
bidders, rather than one bidder, prior to awarding the contract to operate the
Lawrenceville facility. Accordingly, both WCC and Corrections Corporation of
America are currently in negotiations with the DOC and the DCE for the contract
to operate the Lawrenceville facility. A decision as to which party will be
awarded the contract is expected shortly. (Yahoo Finance)
February 7, 2003
A rival of Corrections Corporation of America yesterday said it was selected to
negotiate with Virginia to operate a prison now run by CCA. Pending a final
agreement, Wackenhut Corrections Corp. said it expects on March 23 to begin
operating the 1,536-bed prison in Lawrenceville , Va. ''This is a pretty rare
event,'' said James Macdonald, an analyst with First Analysis in Chicago , about
a prison firm losing a contract up for rebidding. If Wackenhut takes over the
contract, it would mean an annual after-tax loss of 3 to 4 cents a share for CCA,
Macdonald said. (Tennessean.com)
February 5, 2003
Wackenhut Corrections Corporation has been selected to negotiate with the
Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Corrections and Department of
Correctional Education to operate the Lawrenceville Correctional Center, a
1,536-bed medium security, adult male prison in Lawrenceville, Virginia.
(Yahoo Finance)
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