Privatized Prison Care Not up to Standard – Florida
While the practice of complete or partial privatization of health care for prisons is relatively new – most states have privatized within the last ten years –it has become popular due to the fact that it can drastically cut costs needed to run state prisons each year.
Corizon Health Corporation, up to 2012,was the country’s largest correctional medical care provider. Corizon had operations in 31 states, at nearly 400 institutions and was responsible for the care of almost 100,000 inmates.Wexford Health Sources, another correctional medical care company, was and still is one of the leading companies for privatized care for prisons.
Outsourcing medical care may seem efficient; the argument is made that the shift from public to private helps the prison administration focus on other important issues surrounding the prison system. But how positive is the impact? In Florida, Corizon Health Corporation and Wexford Health Sources have jointly provided health care to inmates since 2011, when they were awarded contracts in spite of a public outcry. Totally, Corizon and Wexford will make $277 million per year until the end of 2017 to serve approximately 89,000 inmates throughout Florida. Despite the fact that within the last ten years, both Corizon and Wexford have had to settle lawsuits concerning their responsibility in either the death and/or neglect of inmates under the care of their staff, their contracts were still awarded. Wexford, who provided prison care in Arizona from 2012-2013, was named in wrongful death lawsuits filed by the wives of men who died after alleged mistreatment by staff. Statements say that inmates Gary Dixon and Tony Brown were both allegedly refused medication for manageable illnesses and eventually died as a result of delayed medical car and misdiagnosis.At these corporations, within the last three years, two separate instances occurred in which a nurse used a dirty needle to administer medication to patients.
The Wexton and Corizon nurses exposed inmates to Hepatitis C and a ‘blood borne pathogen’, respectively. This year the Florida Department of Corrections secretary announced that she will be rebidding contracts to private health care companies to provide service to the state’s inmates. This decision when a member of the Senate visited several prisons and found them understaffed; an issue Corizon Health has had for years.
Although Florida is becoming wiser, many other states are still contracted to private companies that cut costs by providing substandard care to patients. Outsourced medical care for prisons and jails may seem budget friendly, but how beneficial are these companies to each state when the importance of the lives and health of the inmates in their care is not first priority?