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| Private prison health care criticized |
| By The State |
| Published: 04/19/2004 |
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More than 100 state employees gathered last Monday at the State House for the unveiling of a report slamming the proposed privatization of prison health care. Carrying signs that said "Don't Hire Crooks,'' "Prisons Already Full" and "Keep $$$ in S.C.," the demonstrators gathered around Si Kahn, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, a Charlotte group that released the report along with S.C. Fair Share. Jon Ozmint, director of the S.C. Department of Corrections, said he read the report Monday afternoon, and its contents did not make him rule out privatization as an option. "There was nothing new in it," the director said. Ozmint issued a gag order preventing corrections employees from talking to the media, several employees said. A decision on whether to privatize is expected to be made by the end of May, Ozmint said. The eight-page report, "Prescription For Disaster: Commercializing Prison Health Care in South Carolina,'' was written by Marguerite Rosenthal, Grassroots Leadership senior research fellow. It details troubling issues connected with privatization, including lawsuits, questionable backgrounds of doctors employed by these companies and deaths of inmates through negligence. A Department of Corrections move to privatize part of its prison health care services from 1986 to 2000 with Corrections Medical Services was a failure, according to the report. "If it didn't work then, why would it work now," Kahn said. CMS is one of three companies that submitted bids to the state, Ozmint said. The other two are Wexford and Prison Health Services. Following the rally, participants delivered a copy to the office of the State Budget and Control Board for review. Ozmint said he had not seen evidence from corrections officials in other states that privatization does not work. As for the report, "we'll give it the weight it deserves." "I have talked to directors in dozens of states who are much happier with the privatized system than the state-run system. ... We will compare the present system with what we get in the bids we received. We want to provide the best health care for inmates at the lowest possible cost," Ozmint said. |
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