Health Care Costs Soaring in Mississippi
Hinds County, Mississippi, jail inmate medical costs were more than $1.3 million over budget in fiscal 2008 – and it’s likely the costs will exceed what’s budgeted for this fiscal year.
The cost of inmate care will go up with plans to expand the jail in Raymond by 132 beds by the end of the calendar year. Yet the county budgeted $2.5 million for medical care this fiscal year, nearly $1 million less than the $3.3 million it spent in fiscal 2008. “It’s just kind of difficult to budget for inmate medical,” District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham said. One lost lawsuit or catastrophic medical case could force the county to dip into its reserve fund to pay the bills. A move as such might hurt the county’s bond rating and limit its borrowing power.
Hinds Sheriff Malcolm McMillin said there is no simple solution to the cost of inmate care. “In general, the inmate population is not as healthy as the rest of the population,” McMillin said. “We are compelled by law to treat them.” Hinds has inmates being treated for maladies such as renal failure, deviated septum, HIV/AIDS, anemia, paranoid schizophrenia, knee replacement and Hepatitis C. Many factors play into the cost of medical care. HIV/AIDS drugs, in particular, are expensive. This year, Hinds County has seen 46 HIV/AIDS patients as inmates, according to Maj. Ruth Wyatt, health service administrator for county corrections. From May through August, the county spent almost $21,000 on medication for those patients, Wyatt said. During that same period, the county spent almost $63,000 on medications for mentally ill inmates, she said. The county recently paid a $400,000 medical bill to Central Mississippi Medical Center for an inmate who suffered a stroke or had a possible heart problem. Another $566,667 is going toward paying a settlement to former inmate Michael Burnley, who was paralyzed during a jailhouse fight in 2007. The county is paying a total of $3 million in annual installments to settle the case.
Six staff nurses and one doctor on contract provide care for the inmates. Those who cannot be treated in-house go to Central Mississippi Medical Center. Their salaries are paid by the Sheriff’s Department. The county has inmates at the jail in Raymond, the penal farm nearby and the jail downtown …
Medical care for inmates cost DeSoto County $858,000 in fiscal 2008. In the new fiscal year, the county has $800,000 budgeted for the expense. The county jail, with a capacity of 395, has four nurses and a doctor to treat many inmates in-house, which helps avoid costly trips to the local hospital, said DeSoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco. However, the county cannot deny medical care to inmates, he said. “If they say they’re sick, you have to send them to the hospital,” he said.
DeSoto County officials have gotten so frustrated with the expense of housing inmates that they have started charging each of the county’s five municipalities $20 per day, per inmate to offset the cost. Rasco said that won’t even cover the cost of housing the inmates. The jail tries to keep its costs down by treating inmates as much as possible in-house, he said. “You just have to be very selective,” he said…
Lauderdale County has insurance that aids the county with its inmate medical bills, which totaled $288,079 in fiscal 2008. The county has a 300-bed jail, said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Ward Calhoun.
More on this issue that strikes a chord nationwide at the Jackson Clarion-Ledger.
Inmate Health, MS De Soto County, MS Hinds County, Mississippi