Inmates' health care a mandated expense: State law requires that Berks County provide medical treatment for the incarcerated, county officials say. - Reading Eagle (Reading, PA)

Byline: Holly Herman

Mar. 9--The Berks County commissioners say they are frustrated with the high cost of medical care for inmates.

But they agree there is little they can do to control the expenses.

'Many of the people come into the system with mentalhealth issues,' said Commissioner Judith L. Schwank, board chairwoman. 'We have to treat them.'

The commissioners project they'll spend at least $4.5 million on medical services for inmates this year. The figure includes a $3.7 million contract with a Harrisburg medical services firm, plus $800,000 in projected costs for inmates who are hospitalized during the year.

In addition, the county has set aside $408,000 for expenses incurred when inmate care exceeds the $5,000 per-inmate peryear figure agreed to in the contract with PrimeCare Medical Inc.

'There is no way of telling if we are going to make the budget,' Berks County Prison Warden George A. Wagner said. 'Some years, we may have six or seven very sick inmates who break the budget.'

The $4.5 million figure amounts to 18 percent of the overall prison budget of $25.1 million.

State law requires the county to pay for prisoners' medical care. In October 1989 the county outsourced inmate medical care services to PrimeCare, and has renewed its contract with the firm periodically over the years -- most recently in 2003.

Professional services are not subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other services the county purchases.

Wagner said it was necessary to privatize health care services because it was too hard for the prison to hire enough medical staff to properly serve the inmates.

'We had difficulty providing the services we needed to provide, so we hired a contractor,' he said.

Wagner said a study conducted in 1989 determined it would be less costly to hire PrimeCare than to staff a prison medical department.

Wagner said most county prisons in the state contract for medical services or are exploring that option.

Commissioner Mark C. Scott said the switch was made to save money.

'But as the population increases at the prison, the cost for health care rises and there is nothing we can do to prevent it,' he said.

Wagner attributed the high costs to routine health maintenance coupled with a handful of sick inmates who require hospitalization.

The law requires the prison to provide security when an inmate is hospitalized. That costs about $700 a day in overtime.

In 2006, the county spent $813,000 for the hospital stays of 51 inmates.

Commissioner Thomas W. Gajewski Sr. said the only way to reduce costs is to reduce the inmate population.

'It's an absolute tragedy to the taxpayers that we have to spend so much money on crime,' Gajewski said. 'We need to follow former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's example to let people know it doesn't pay to commit crime in Berks County.

'We need to move the bad guys out of Berks County.'

Schwank said the county is looking to alleviate some prison overcrowding by opening a correctional center next year for nonviolent offenders.

Copyright (c) 2007, Reading Eagle, Pa.

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