Newspaper Page Text
Report notes failures in
privatizing prison health care
By JIM DAVENPORT
COLUMBIA, S.C.
(AP) — A report released
Monday, April 12 says
the state already failed at
privatizing prison health
care and should not try to
do so again.
**lf something didn’t
work then, why would it
work now?” asked Si
Kahn, executive director
of Grassroots Leadership
in Charlotte.
Kahn’s group and South
Carolina Fair Share spon
sored the report written
by Marguerite Rosenthal,
a social work professor at
Salem State University in
Massachusetts.
The report’s release
came as the Department
of Corrections wrapped
up a bid process to use a
private company to pro
vide health care at the
state’s prisons. Bids were
supposed to be returned
by March 31, but that
was extended until Fri
day.
Three companies
returned bids: Correc
tional Medical Services
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Inc. of St. Louis; Prison
Health Services Inc. of
Brentwood, Tenn., and
Wexford Health Services
Inc. of Pittsburgh. They
agreed to negotiate:
charges later for privatiz
ing all the' Corrections
Department’s health care
services, agency director
Jon Ozmint said.
‘The bids haven’t been
evaluated.
The state’s prisons used
a private contractor for
health care for more than
a decade. But that prac
tice stopped in January
2000. A Legislative Audit
Council report from
March 2000 was sharply
critical of how the work
was done and of the
agency’s poor monitor
ing.
Correctional Medical
Services did the work
that the auditors faulted.
One shortcoming was a
$632,689 payment for
HIV treatments the
report said was not justi
fied.
Since last summer, Gov.
Mark Sanford has been
pushing privatization. He
has made no decision to
Medical College of Georgia Health System, Augusta GA
go forward, his office
said.
“The governor's first
priority is protecting the
taxpayers of South Car
olina,” Sanford
spokesman Will Folks
said. “We're obviously
not going to implement
that option unless we are
sure that it will save
money and that the cur
rent level of service is
cither maintained or
enhanced.”
Kahn and others say the
state shouldn’t expect to
save money and provide
the same or better service
with a private contractor.
Kahn said the switch
would likely put some of
the 600 people who now
work in state prison
health care jobs out of
work.
While Sanford “sympa
thizes with that perspec
tive, it’s not state govern
ment’s job to create an
inefficient system simply
to employ a few people
here or there,” Folks said.
“We ought to implement
systems because they
work.”
But House Majority
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Leader Rick Quinn, R-
Columbia, says privatiza
tion doesn’t scem to work
in the state’s prisons or
juvenile justice facilities
for a couple of reasons.
For one, it’s not a prof
itable business. And it is a
business where civil rights
issues are in the forefront.
“They’re going to cut
corners they shouldn’t,”
Quinn said.
And that could lead to
lawsuits, which could
erode savings govern
ments expect privatiza
tion to yield, Rosenthal
said.
Quinn says the state’s
budget crunch has the
Corrections Department
“considering things that
probably are not the best
ideas.”
Senate Corrections
Committee Chairman
Mike Fair, R-Greenville, -
said Sanford’s plans can
work only if the state
saves money or prisoners
get better care. Those are
“threshold issues,” Fair
said. “What's the point of
doing this if you're not
going to save money or
improve the quality of
services or both?” Fair
asked.
Sanford has the author
ity to gequire his Cabinet
agency to enter a privati
zation contract. But that
move could be derailed
through the state budget
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or with a separate piece of
legislation.
Quinn said he would
work with Sanford’s office
to stop the privatization
effort. Failing that, he
said, it would be up to
the Legislature to stop it.
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