LAWRENCE COUNTY - NOVEMBER 24, 2023 - In Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day's first year of evaluating the departments operations, systems, contracts and many other componets Sheriff Day has recomended a new medical provider for the jail.
Photo: Lawrence County Correctional facility
The county has used Advanced Medical for many years, however the sheriff thought the time for a change in medical coverage is now.
The Lawrence County Commissioners approved a new contract with Quality Correctional Care with a yearly cost of $354,660.
This price is less than the $357,544 offered by Advanced Medical. " This contract with the Quality Correctional provider has more medical coverage and more services for the $2,397.55 less than Advance Medical is offering," stated Sheriff Day.
Photo: Sheriff Greg Day
Quality Correctional Care is based out of Carmel, Indiana and serves more than 80 correctional facilities in Indiana.
" When I was taken to the jail earlier this year, I have diabetes and other medical conditions. I was not given any medicines for my medical problems. The jailers stated we are not allowed to give out medications, " one inmate told the Lawrence County Zephyr.
" For me it was very scary not knowing if I was going to have a medical episode at the jail, and no one there to evaluate me, never seeing a nurse or doctor,"
A Lawrence County Jail Inmate stated that he was not able to talk to a nurse while incarcerated at the Lawrence County jail. " I was there for three days, and there was no medical intake by any medical professional, " the inmate alleges in a interview with the Lawrence County Zephyr.
The inmate has since been released but due to a pending court case he did not want to be identified.
Highlights of the new contract:
There will be 84 hours of nurse coverageper week ( 12 hours coverage 7 days a week)
This will be an increase of 56 hours a week from Advanced Medical
At the present time there was no medical providers on the weekends
Both morning and evening prescriptions will be handled by medical staff
A doctor will professional be on site one day a week
A mental health professional will see inmates one day a week
Telecommunications available with doctors and mental health proffessionals will be available
Presriptions will be covered except for some specialty treatments
There is $56,000 off-site services provided in the contract
Medical training provided to jail staff for intial intake for medical and mental health
Administrative support to inmates for Mediaid and Healthy Indiana
Planning and cooridating health care needs with their release or transfer to another fscility
Psychological testing at Sheriffs request for new hires and jail officers
Critical Incident response services and counseling
Deaths in Indiana jails continue to rise with one inmate death in 2022 and another in 2023 at the Lawrence County Jail.
There is an average of one inmate death in Indiana jails every two weeks. The lack of intial medical intake and failure to monitor inmates medical conditions are leading factors at Indiana county jails.
In 2022 there were more than 168 inmate deaths in Indiana correctional facilities across the state.
Sheriff Day has proposed more than $ 5 million in projects at the current Lawrence County Correctional facility including $600,000 in camera upgrades.
Those proposals have yet to be made public.
The justice study conducted by the Lawrence County Commissioners proposed a $46 million new facility that would cost taxpayers $60 million by the time the bond would be paid off.
The current correctional facility was built in 1990 with the average life span of a jail at 20 years.
For breaking news and information go to lczephyr.org or like/follow the Lawrence County Zephyr Facebook page.
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