By Joe Rogalsky and Drew Volturo,
Delaware State News
DOVER — The U.S. Department of Justice will review claims that the state Department of Correction has exhibited a pattern of providing inadequate medical care to inmates.
U.S. Attorney for Delaware Colm F. Connolly said Wednesday that the justice department's Civil Rights Division has opened a preliminary inquiry into the allegations.
Mr. Connolly said the division would collect information and "see if it warrants a full-blown investigation."
The inquiry, Mr. Connolly said, stems from a series of articles in a Wilmington newspaper, which he forwarded to the Civil Rights Division in Washington.
Articles in The News Journal highlighted inmate suicides and AIDS-related deaths over the last four years, allegations by inmates of poor medical treatment and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded this year to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services to provide medical care to inmates.
Mr. Connolly said he spoke to Acting Assistant Attorney General Bradley J. Schlozman, the Civil Rights Division director, Tuesday and learned that the division had opened an inquiry.
"It will be conducted by the Civil Rights Division," he said. "They have a number of experts in this area. They have a historical track record of investigating similar types of matters."
Although a defense attorney had alerted his office to alleged prisoner abuse last September, Mr. Connolly said the newspaper articles were the first indications of alleged inadequate medical care.
Mr. Connolly declined to comment on how the inquiry would be conducted.
U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Eric Holland said he could not comment on what sparked the agency's inquiry.
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner had no comment Wednesday on the federal inquiry.
The governor's office released a letter her legal counsel Joseph C. Schoell sent Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that said "we stand ready to cooperate with any review of this matter that the federal government wants to undertake."
Kate Bailey, Gov. Minner's spokeswoman, said DOC is accredited by the independent National Correctional Health Care Commission, which regularly reviews states' prison systems, so there is no need for the governor to launch an investigation.
Common Cause of Delaware, a government reform group, wrote Mr. Gonzales on Tuesday to request the Department of Justice's involvement.
John D. Flaherty, the organization's lobbyist, said the public would have more faith in a federal inquiry than one run by state officials.
The public did not have confidence in a panel Gov. Minner established last year to investigate an incident where an Delaware Correctional Center inmate took a prison counselor hostage and raped her before being shot to death by a correctional officer, he said.
"Some of the people the governor appointed, while competent people, had contributed to the governor's campaign so you had an appearance of impropriety," Mr. Flaherty said.
"An investigation by the federal government will give the public that confidence that the work will be independently done. That is the only way it will work."
Brady looking
State Attorney General M. Jane Brady said she was aware Mr. Connolly had referred the issue to the Civil Rights Division, which she said is doing "exactly what we're doing — looking at the facts and see whether there's a need for an investigation."
Ms. Brady said both inquiries are being conducted independently of each other, but there might be an opportunity for the two justice agencies to work together.
She noted that the DOC has disputed much of the information printed in the newspaper and her office must sift through both sides.
"We will make any decision based on the facts," Ms. Brady said.
"We will look at all ranges of responsibility, including criminal charges and possible referral to the medical malpractice board."
Ms. Brady said her office could be called upon to defend the DOC if the federal government files a suit against the department.
"My ethical and professional responsibility is to provide legal assistance to the DOC," she said.
Ms. Brady said there would not be a conflict with the attorney general's office representing the DOC in a federal suit and possibly prosecuting individual DOC employees.
The civil division handles the DOC cases and the criminal division would prosecute any charges against individuals, she said, adding that the situation has happened before.
She said there is no conflict with the attorney general's office reviewing Freedom of Information Act requests for DOC information because her office only gives advice, not opinions, regarding FOIA requests to state agencies.
Legislators react
The federal government's action did not lead the legislators who head the General Assembly's correction committees to launch investigations.
Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, chair of the Senate Adult and Juvenile Corrections Committee, said he is reviewing the state's contract with its prison medical care provider.
Sen. Vaughn, a former commissioner of corrections, said he also is looking at the other documents, such as the Department of Correction's request for proposals for medical services and the bids the agency received the last time the contract went out to bid.
"I am not ignoring it, I am trying to find out as much as I can," Sen. Vaughn said.
"If the feds want to come in and take a look and find ways to solve problems, so be it. I have no plans for an investigation at this time."
Rep. John C. Atkins, R-Millsboro, chair of the House of Representatives Corrections Committee, said he has not heard public clamor for legislative action.
"From what I understand, it is only an inquiry, though it will probably lead to an investigation, but I have talked with (Commissioner of Correction Stanley W. Taylor) and talked with Sen. Vaughn and a lot of the information out there is wrong," Rep. Atkins said.
"I have not received one call from a constituent about health care in our prison system. I am not sent to Dover to represent the federal government. Until I hear an outcry from my district, I am not having a hearing."
House Majority Leader Rep. Wayne A. Smith, R-Wilmington, said any federal intervention stemming for the Department of Justice's inquiry could be costly.
"Federal oversight would be disastrous for Delawareans on both sides of the wall," Rep. Smith said.
"Federal oversight usually leads to additional problems that are expensive.
"It's offensive to state sovereignty. These are Delaware problems that should be solved in Delaware."
A formal legislative inquiry may not be needed, Rep. Smith said, but the General Assembly can take action to improve health care in prisons.
Rep. Smith has proposed switching from paying medical care contractors a flat fee to paying them their costs plus an additional percentage, creating a Healthcare Inspector General, partnering with the Delaware healthcare community to improve the quality of care in prisons, and screening new inmates for hepatitis and HIV/AIDS.
"I am concerned that at the anecdotal level, we have serious problems, but I am not concerned that we have problems system-wide that would condemn the whole prison system," Rep. Smith said.
"Part of our job is oversight. I think the legislature should address this in some forum. This is an issue that needs to be probed."
‘Do something'
William J. Cox, 50, died on May 2, 2004, less than a week after serving 4½ months in the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna.
He was sentenced to 90 days for a DUI conviction.
His mother, Gertrude Cox, and his niece and caregiver, Amy Cox, both of Dover, say they would welcome a federal inquiry on the prison's health care system.
They say they didn't know how to question prison officials about why and how their son and uncle became so ill while incarcerated.
"How would we go about it? Who would be the one to talk to? They wouldn't make it easy," Gertrude Cox said Wednesday.
"I think (federal investigators) need to do something. His daughters tried to get something done and they were told since he passed away, they couldn't do anything," Amy Cox said.
Staff writer Gwen Guerke and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
Staff writer Joe Rogalsky can be reached at 741-8226 or jrogalsky@newszap.com.
Staff writer Drew Volturo can be reached at 741-8296 or dvolturo@newszap.com.
