County approves jail health contract

Inmates at the Sumner County Jail will now be able to receive sufficient health care.

The Sumner County Commissioners approved a contract on March 23 that would allow for health care services through Advanced Correctional Healthcare for inmates at the Sumner County Jail.

The contract would cover basic health care services but does not include dental work, Gilkey said. Extensive stay health services are also not included.

Total cost of the healthcare services will be $71,022.60. Payments will be made on a monthly basis after the contract starts on May 4, 2009.

The jail currently only has $50,000 in its budget for prisoner care, Gilkey said, but added because the contract wouldn’t start until May the cost would be offset. Gilkey said additional housing income would also offset any additional expenses.

“We’ll probably have to find a little bit of money in our budget to cover the overage but the thing of it is we are starting this in the fifth month of our year so it’s going to offset it. In 2010, we will be able to budget for the full amount. This year we are just going to have to manage,” he said.

Gilkey says plans for inmate health care were in the making long before the new jail was even built.

“We were looking at how we could better our health care services for the inmates and lower our liability to the County, which in my opinion is the most important thing we can do,” he said.

The sheriff says criminals — especially those with drug-related problems — are more prone to diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis now more than ever.

“Fifteen years ago it didn’t have that big an impact. Now you almost have to expect that when you are getting a certain criteria of an inmate,” Gilkey said.

Criminals come into the jail expecting to be taken care of on all levels, including health care, he said.

“They become the government’s responsibility to take care of and we need to find a way to manage that while still managing our jail facility,” Gilkey said. “They know they are going to get a free ride while they are here and they expect everything under the sun and we are able to look at their case and figure out how to manage their case on an acceptable, legal level while still being economically prudent to the constituents of our County.”

After long discussions with several different health facilities and entities, a contract was reached with Advanced Correctional Heathcare. Working exclusively with an organization that knows the safety issues, pharmaceuticals and medical issues associated with inmates helps tremendously, Gilkey said.

“We’re better able to manage the behavior of our inmates better, better able to manage their medical case while reducing the liability to the County because they are in our facility and they understand what is really working and what’s not,” the sheriff said. 

Making sure inmates are cared for is second to making sure deputies and detention officers are also kept safe.

“We’re protecting our own, in house, with our troops and it makes us safer. That’s the main thing,” said Detention Supervisor Steve Colwell.

Protecting from medical lawsuits lowers the liability to the County and to those who work at the jail.

“We get threatened periodically with medical lawsuits...we have to protect ourselves from those frivolous types of suits,” said Gilkey. “You have to protect yourself to the fullest extend.

Having inmate care raised to a higher level may now create the opportunity to contract with the U.S. Marshal for inmate housing which would bring bigger housing payments back to the County. 

“It really opens the door,” said Gilkey. “This contract is going to bring us to the absolute level that the U.S. Marshalls that all the federal contracts request.”