Report finds failures in private prison health care

COLUMBIA - A report released Monday says the state already failed at privatizing prison health care and should not try to do so again.

"If something didn't work then, why would it work now?" asked Si Kahn, executive director of Grassroots Leadership in Charlotte, N.C.

Kahn's group and S.C. Fair Share sponsored 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 provide health care at the state's prisons. Bids were supposed to be returned by March 31, but that was extended until Friday.

Three companies returned bids: Correctional Medical Services 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 privatizing 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 practice 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 monitoring.

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 justified.

Since last summer, Gov. Mark Sanford has been pushing privatization. He has made no decision to go forward, his office said.

"The governor's first priority is protecting the taxpayers of South Carolina," 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 current level of service is either 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 in state prison health care jobs out of work.

But House Majority Leader Rick Quinn, R-Columbia, says privatization doesn't seem to work in the state's prisons or juvenile justice facilities for a couple of reasons. First, it's not a profitable business. And it is a business in which civil rights issues are in the forefront.

"They're going to cut corners they shouldn't," Quinn said.

Some prison officials fear that also could lead to lawsuits.

Sanford has the authority to require his Cabinet agency to enter a privatization contract. But that move could be derailed through the state budget 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 General Assembly to stop it.