By LEE WILLIAMS and ESTEBAN PARRA
The News Journal
03/30/2006
DOVER -- Testifying on Wednesday before two House committees about changes and upgrades recently made to prison health care, Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor and members of his staff never once mentioned the massive Justice Department investigation that's set to probe all aspects of medical care in Delaware prisons.
And the lawmakers never asked.
Taylor, registered nurse James Welch -- the department's new health services administrator -- and officials from Correctional Medical Service, the Department of Correction's contract medical vendor, appeared before the House Corrections Committee and the House Health & Human Development Committee, chaired by Rep. Pamela S. Maier, R-Drummond Hill.
The hearing was a continuation of testimony Maier requested in November to update lawmakers on prison conditions. During the first round of hearings, family members of dead, dying or grievously ill inmates lashed out at Taylor and the prison's medical vendor, accusing them of causing illnesses and deaths by providing inadequate medical care.
"You say you dealt with the individuals who spoke at our last public hearing?" Maier asked Correctional Medical Service officials Wednesday.
Correctional Medical Service regional manager Mike Hooper said the company had.
At that time, the Justice Department had just begun to examine inmate health care in Delaware.
This time, no one broached the subject of the federal probe that could wrest control from the state, and forever change the way Delaware treats its 6,800 inmates.
"I am surprised they didn't make some inquiry into the status of the investigation into the Department of Correction," said Drewry Fennell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware.
Taylor began his testimony by telling lawmakers he's been on top of problems within his prisons since 2004, when members of his medical team noted problems with First Correctional Medical, the department's former private medical provider.
"In December of 2004, we asked the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to do a surprise audit," Taylor said.
Positive developments
The taxpayer-funded audit, which Taylor and former Attorney General M. Jane Brady refused to release to the public, identified deficiencies. The mental vendor First Correctional Medical was asked to produce an improvement plan, which the national commission determined would take six months to implement.
First Correctional Medical asked to be released from the contract, and Taylor chose Correctional Medical Service to fill the void. Correctional Medical was awarded a no-bid contract to take over.
"At that point we had our first conversations with The News Journal," Taylor said. "The News Journal came late to the story."
In September, a News Journal special report chronicled years of high death rates among inmates due to HIV/AIDS, suicide and poor medical care. As a result of the investigative series, federal civil rights regulators earlier this month launched the investigation of Delaware's prison medical system.
On Wednesday, Taylor and Welch read a laundry list of "positive developments" made to the way his department cares for inmates. They included: the new medical unit run by Welch, a request in this year's budget for a substance abuse specialist, random reviews of inmate charts by state physicians and a sole point of contact for information on inmate medical issues. The "single point of contact" Taylor said, will take questions from the public and lawmakers.
"We always have and we always will want to deliver quality health care services to our inmate population," Taylor said. "That doesn't mean it will always have a positive outcome, but we're striving to deliver the best care we possibly can."
'Working on the difficulties'
Welch, who has been at the Department of Correction for four months, said his role is to "look at the medical vendor and work with the medical vendor to make sure we're providing quality services."
He acknowledged a backlog of inmate physicals and of inquiries from legislators and the public, and other problems.
"There is a challenge with pharmacy now," he said. "We're working on the difficulties."
Correctional Medical Service officials said 99.85 percent of the medical positions within the Department of Correction are staffed. When pressed, they added that 88 percent are filled by Correctional Medical employees. The rest are staffed by temporary nursing agencies. The vendor is trying to recruit more full-time staff. To do this they raised the nursing salary 3.1 percent, while other medical staffers received a 3 percent pay increase.
"It's pretty clear they're struggling," Fennell said. "They're struggling."
Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or lwilliams@delawareonline.com Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com
