A group of nurses is hoping the Metro Council will reject at today’s meeting a plan by Mayor Kip Holden to privatize management of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison’s medical services. They argue the plan would be costly and ineffective, and would put current nurses and technicians out of work or reduce their benefits.
Holden is asking the council for authorization to sign a one-year, $5.2 million contract with CorrectHealth, a Georgia-based private health care company that manages medical care for 37 jails and prisons in the Southeastern U.S., including in seven Louisiana parishes.
The nurses plan to attend today’s council meeting to make their case.
“I’m hoping that (the Metro Council) will hear us out and lean toward what’s right,” says B. Stines, who’s worked for the city-parish as a nurse for seven years.
Of the city-parish’s 30 prison medical workers, nine have worked at the prison for a decade or more. The nurses say the deal will end up costing taxpayers. They also worry CorrectHealth will have the ability to fire them, and they say the benefits and retirement packages offered by the company are not as good as those provided by the city-parish.
The nurses also cite reports of poor employee ratings for CorrectHealth, as well as reports that Southern Center for Human Rights—a nonprofit advocacy and criminal justice law firm that represents death penalty clients—challenged CorrectHealth’s importing of the lethal injection drug sodium thiopental.
Holden’s administration, however, says contracting with CorrectHealth will actually save a little money. The city-parish is expected to pay $5.4 million this year for prison health care costs, which is $500,000 over budget. The administration also says privatization is needed because the city-parish is ill-equipped to manage health care at the prison, especially after one doctor quit in October.
Chief Administrative Officer William Daniel says partnering with CorrectHealth will allow prisoners to have better medical attention and create a better system for managing care, adding he will work to get other city-parish jobs for nurses close to retirement.
Earlier this year, the nurses alerted the city-parish about the poor management of the prison’s health care services, as well as the inadequate staffing and supply levels. As a result of their complaint, the city-parish commissioned a $95,000 study that found the same results.
“The nurses are phenomenal people. They do a great job. They were the whistleblowers that brought it to our attention. But we have got to do something to help these prisoners,” says Councilman Buddy Amoroso, who supports privatization. Councilman Trae Welch also says he’ll support the contract proposal, while council members such as Chauna Banks oppose it.
Also at today’s meeting, the council will hold a public hearing on the budget, police reforms and take up a proposal to create a film tax incentive program. The council meets at 4 p.m. today on the ninth floor of City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. See the full agenda.
—Sam Karlin
