For nearly 10 years, the Dane County jail system has employed Midwest Health System Inc., a company which recently was found to have grossly underperformed for the millions of dollars it was given annually to provide medical and dental services for inmates.
Dr. Jeffrey Kunz runs Midwest Health out of his home and since 1993 has been employed to provide services for the jail without ever being evaluated or outbid. During the period when Midwest Health serviced the jail, Dane County paid $1.4 million per year to the company.
On Sept. 27, Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin and County Executive Kathleen M. Falk announced a Tennessee-based correctional health-care provider, Prison Health Services, would provide health-care services to inmates until at least Nov. 30.
Under the contract with PHS, jail inmates will receive better health-care services at no additional cost to taxpayers. In addition to the terms of the agreement with Midwest Health, PHS will add an additional 20 hours per week for the services of a medical director and a health-services administrator.
The independent auditor Virchow Krause & Co.’s investigation discovered the jail medical program had several unethical practices, was understaffed and had cut corners. The audit stated that inmates often had to wait several weeks to see a doctor and that narcotics had been left unlocked and visible in the maximum-security unit of the prison.
Dane County attorneys have already begun the process of taking legal action against Midwest Health in an effort to recover funds that were paid to the company for services that were not provided.
Sheriff Hamblin said PHS, which currently serves more than 400 jails and prisons with 325,000 inmates across the country, will live up to its good record.
“I am confident that, under this agreement, we will be providing better health-care services to inmates in our jail system,” said Hamblin.
One of the reasons cited by Sheriff Hamblin for the poor health-care standards in the jail during the last decade is the rising level of jail populations.
But as elections draw closer, Hamblin has come under fire for not having properly overseen the administration of the jail system. Green Party candidate for sheriff, Adam Benedetto, said he was disturbed by the findings of the audit.
“When it comes to problems like substandard medical care, we’re really looking at a profound misappropriation of justice where the sheriff is directly responsible,” said Benedetto. “Running the jail is the most basic and straightforward duty asked of the sheriff by state statutes. It’s clearly time for new leadership.”
Falk and Tom Barrett, both Democratic candidates for governor, addressed the issue of rising jail population levels in the “We the People” debate last month. They said Wisconsin should send fewer people to prison but not sacrifice public safety.
In addition to changes being made to the Dane County jail health-care services, county rules are being revised to mandate that contracts cannot continue for more than five years without being opened for competition.
