Corizon

Corizon, formerly Correctional Medical Services, Inc. (CMS), is a health care provider headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri,[1][2][3]

Overview

CMS became Corizon, Inc., in 2011, after essentially merging its operations with its largest competitor in the correctional health care industry, PHS Correctional Healthcare (PHS), a company previously known as Prison Health Services, Inc. PHS's headquarters, in Brentwood, Tenn., is now the headquarters for Corizon, a privately held company led by several of the same top executives from Prison Health Services.

Corizon, like the companies it absorbed, CMS and Prison Health Services, has become an increasingly popular alternative for state, county and municipal governments that historically provided their own doctors and nurses to provide health care to inmates. As those governments looked to save tax dollars and offload the cost and complexity of that public health responsibility, Corizon, the largest in a field of corporate prison health care providers, has signed dozens of contracts with state and local governments to take over health care and, as a result, an important public-health mandate. Public health experts say the ability to effectively treat prison and jail inmates is an important factor in creating sound public health in general.

Controversies

Corizon, like its predecessors CMS and PHS, has faced criticism from government officials, public-health advocates and experts for being more concerned with maintaining lucrative government contracts than effectively treating sick inmates, who are considered the most chronically and profoundly physically and mentally ill members of any society.[4] In 2005, The New York Times published investigative articles that revealed broad complaints about Corizon's corporate predecessor, PHS, from officials, medical experts and its own employees about the companies treatment of the incarcerated people in its care.[5] Civil rights organizations such as the ACLU claim Corizon puts profits ahead of the healthcare of inmates.[6] David Fathi, the director of the ACLU National Prison Project, said in response to the death of a prisoner in June 2010 after a nurse working for Corizon denied him life-saving medical care:

“ We believe that incarceration is a uniquely governmental function that should never be contracted out to private, for-profit corporations. When you combine the profit motive with limited oversight and an unpopular, politically powerless group like prisoners, it’s a recipe for bad outcomes.[7] ”

The Maine Department of Corrections selected CMS as a party to begin a contract with in early April 2003.[8] However, a 2011 Report by the Maine State Legislature Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability revealed serious deficiencies in the care provided to Maine prisoners by CMS.[9] It cited issues with administration of medication, improperly maintained medical files, delays in provision of care and insufficiently trained staff. In June 2012, the Maine Department of Corrections terminated their contract with CMS.

At one time the Mississippi Department of Corrections contracted with CMS, and CMS provided health care services at state-owned Mississippi DOC facilities.[10] CMS's contract was scheduled to begin on July 1, 2003.[11]

Corizon currently operates Arizona's prison healthcare system and has been criticised for inadequate staffing and neglect by former employees and the ACLU. A former Corizon employee turned whistleblower claims that staff shortages resulted in mentally ill prisoners going unfed or sitting for hours at a time in their own excrement; in some cases prisoners died from lack of proper treatment. Dan Pochoda, legal director for the ACLU in Arizona, said the healthcare system in Arizona prisons is the worst he has seen in his 40 year career. “People are often sent to prison for two-year, three-year sentences that have turned into death sentences because of the absence of the basic minimal care,” he said.[12] Another former Corizon employee, psychotherapist George Mallinckrodt was fired after writing reports on inmate abuse. Corizon claims the discharge was due to falsifying timesheets in order to take longer lunches.[13] Mallinckrodt has since written a book about the torture and murder of Darren Rainey by guards at Dade Correctional Institution which occurred while Corizon employed DCI medical staff.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jonsson, Greg. Complaints swirl around prison care Creve Coeur-based firm faces inquiries and suits." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. June 7, 2007. A4. Retrieved on August 14, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Contact CMS - General Inquiry." Correctional Medical Services. Retrieved on August 14, 2010. "Correctional Medical Services, Inc. 12647 Olive Blvd. Saint Louis, Missouri 63141 USA."
  3. ↑ "CMS Corporate Office." Correctional Medical Services. Retrieved on August 14, 2010.
  4. ↑ City questioned over prison-health-care firm. Philadelphia Daily News, Jan. 10, 2013
  5. ↑ Harsh Medicine: An examination of Prison Health Services, the biggest commercial provider of medical care to inmates The New York Times, 2005.
  6. ↑ Liliana Segura (1 October 2013).With 2.3 Million People Incarcerated in the US, Prisons Are Big Business. The Nation. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Simon McCormack (26 June 2012). Xavius Scullark-Johnson, Prisoner, Dies After He's Denied Health Care. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Goodman, Giselle. "Prisons have new contractor for health care." Portland Press Herald. April 26, 2003. 1B. Retrieved on August 14, 2010.
  9. ↑ Maine State Legislature, Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability. "Health Care Services in State Correctional Facilities". Maine State Legislature. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  10. ↑ "Medical Services." Mississippi Department of Corrections. December 21, 2003. Retrieved on August 14, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Critics: Death row is causing insanity." Associated Press at Gainesville Sun. April 25, 2003. 2A. Retrieved from Google News Page 25 of 93 on August 14, 2010.
  12. ↑ Abigail Leonard & Adam May (28 May 2014). Whistleblower: Arizona inmates are dying from inadequate health care. Al Jazeera America. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  13. ↑ Is it OK for guards to scald an inmate to death?
  14. ↑ Florida prisons boss, under fire over shower death, announces changes

External links