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August 28, 2009
Vt. Prison Health Care Questioned by Guards
Vt. Prison Health Care Questioned
Montpelier, Vermont - August 27, 2009
Vermont's state employees union claims the Corrections Department is providing inadequate training and care for mentally ill prisoners. Prison officials say the facts prove otherwise.
The state employees union told a legislative committee that its union member corrections officers had observed many instances of improper care for mentally ill inmates in prisons.
The union claims inadequately trained corrections officers too often are left alone to deal with mental health emergencies because the private-contracted mental health experts are unavailable.
"If this occurs off hours or on weekends an inmate can wait up to 24 hours or more before they receive services," said Taryn Moran of the Vt. State Employees Association.
"At this juncture I don't see any evidence to support those allegations," Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito said.
Pallito says the department is still waiting for the union to produce any specific evidence or facts to support their allegations. He points out that the department's medical services have passed independent investigations for decades with flying colors.
"So if there were specific cases, and by specific cases I mean names in some of those instances that she named I would be happy to respond. To them," Pallito said.
The union claims one specific example was the recent death of a female inmate with an eating disorder. And they question the accuracy of the passing grades for the medical services in Vermont prisons.
"We disagree," said Conor Casey of the VSEA. "Our members are on the frontline of corrections. And they're telling us that while they don't receive training as mental health professionals they're expected to act just like that. Our members aren't able to identify if somebody's having a panic attack or if there's some serious self-harming going on."
For now the department is starting new mental health training for corrections officers this week, while the lawmakers have ordered copies of the assessment investigations from federal investigators to determine if there is evidence to support the union claims.
Vermont paid about $16 million this year to a private contractor to provide health care services for the state's seven prisons. That's an average of $1,600 per inmate. Commissioner Andy Pallito says the department is now taking bids for a new contract and he is cautiously optimistic the per inmate cost will go down next year.
Brian Joyce - WCAX News
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11005056
Posted by lois at August 28, 2009 09:14 AM