Health Horror Stories
"These stories of health abuse are not independently verified by the editors of this website. However, all of the women have agreed to a HIPPA release to any qualified attorney willing to take their case, or to an investigative reporter from the media."On the Inside: The Chaos of Arizona Prison Health Care
The Arizona Department of Corrections contracts with privately owned correctional health care company Corizon Health to oversee all medical, mental and dental care at 10 state prisons. However, that care has come under scrutiny in federal court. Read more: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/nov/6/inside-chaos-arizona-prison-health-care/
Corizon Loses Indiana DOC Medical Contract Amid Lawsuits
Originally published OCT. 10, 2017 published in Prison Legal News October, 2017, page 44 by David Reutter
In 2005, at the urging of then-Governor Mitch Daniels, the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) awarded a contract to privatize medical care for prisoners. The winning bidder, Prison Health Services, merged in 2011 with Correctional Medical Services to form Corizon Health, which later won renewal of a three-year, $300 million contract to provide medical, dental, vision, mental health and substance abuse treatment services to IDOC’s 28,000 prisoners.
In February 2017, however, state prison officials declined to renew Corizon’s contract, instead awarding it to Wexford Health Sources. Consequently, Corizon announced the following month that it planned to lay off almost 700 employees in 22 IDOC facilities. [See: PLN,Sept. 2017, p.32].
PLN has reported extensively on Corizon and the company’s business model, which appears to consist of delaying or denying medical care and reducing staffing costs to increase profits; in turn, that has resulted in numerous prisoner deaths and injuries. [See, e.g.: PLN,Oct. 2015, p.20; March 2014, p.1].
Yet the IDOC’s watchdog over Corizon’s contractual performance was a former Corizon employee.
Dr. Michael Mitcheff was working as an emergency room physician at two Indiana hospitals when, in 1994, he was investigated for buying illegal drugs. He ultimately admitted that over a three-year period he had bottles of a cough syrup containing hydrocodone illegally delivered to his home. Mitcheff agreed to participate in a treatment program and was ordered not to practice medicine during treatment.
In 1998, Mitcheff’s license was suspended for 90 days after he wrote prescriptions in other people’s names and picked the drugs up from pharmacies. Documents from the state medical board indicated Mitcheff had admitted to a state police officer that he picked up 57 pints of a drug that contained hydrocodone.
When his license was reinstated in October 1999, records show Mitcheff was sober for a year – he passed 100 drug tests. The medical board agreed to let him work again, but “only in the Indiana state prison system” – which allowed Mitcheff to serve as Corizon’s regional medical director in Indiana. He said his personal experiences gave him a unique perspective.
“There’s nobody more empathetic to the patient population we serve,” Mitcheff stated. “Addiction is a disease, and who better to understand that?”
In 2014 he became the IDOC’s chief medical officer, overseeing Corizon’s contract. Responding to complaints, Mitcheff said he did not see medical staff “withholding care.” In fact, he added, “we watch that carefully.” Defending the health care provided to IDOC prisoners, Mitcheff proclaimed, “I am confident that our clinical metrics for chronic conditions are better than [in] the free world.”
Yet the number of prisoner medical complaints to the IDOC’s ombudsman jumped from 153 in 2010 to 509 in 2015. Prisoner deaths, including suicides, increased to 86 in 2015. Read the rest of the article here: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/oct/10/corizon-loses-indiana-doc-medical-contract-amid-lawsuits/
Numerous Lawsuits Filed Against Corizon Nationwide; Company Loses Contracts
Originally published AUG. 30, 2017 published in Prison Legal News September, 2017, page 32 by Matt Clark
Corizon Health is one of the nation’s largest for-profit medical providers for prisons and jails. Recent lawsuits against the company, however, call into question the quality, and even the availability, of the healthcare services it is supposed to provide. Further, a former New Mexico prison employee has filed a whistleblower suit claiming she was fired in retaliation for raising concerns about Corizon’s provision of medical care to prisoners in that state. …
“Dr. McDermott was personally aware that Corizon was not providing all mental health care required under the contract, which meant that some portion of the [$200 million] NMCD paid to Corizon had not been earned,” according to her complaint.
She filed a qui tam action, which allows a private party to sue for fraud against the government, and made several public records requests. The state Attorney General investigated her allegations, and McDermott claimed the NMCD took retaliatory actions against her.
Meanwhile, Corizon has faced multiple lawsuits nationwide that allege inadequate medical care similar to McDermott’s whistleblower claims.
Read the full article here: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/aug/30/numerous-lawsuits-filed-against-corizon-nationwide-company-loses-contracts/
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I was in prison for 17years and have seen so many people die in front of me It’s traumatic and I have PTSD from it. Medical never helped me for my heart problems, never took tests, just told me I have congested heart failure and didn’t do anything for me. I saw it every day. They never helped us, made us always feel like we were lying and would send us away. Making people work in the kitchen who have scoliosis, heart problems, people who have AIDS and Hep C as well as other STDs. There’s rat poop on our kitchen food, birds all over our trays that we eat off of making us all even sicker, black mold everywhere. We can’t breathe in our cells due to all the mold and crud in our walls, vents, and coolers. They are trying to kill us – they don’t care and the money they get for us does not go to us. There is so much more.
I’ve been sexually attacked by the CO police officers twice. I have my whole life to account for in there and I’m surprised I made it out after 17years. They have medium inmates on max yards getting assaulted and they don’t care. They say it is due to no room. They also send you to max yard as punishment without ever getting tickets. It’s all retaliation. They will ruin your life if you don’t do what they want. They make up lies, yep the sergeants, if you refuse to work because you don’t feel good. I heard a Sergeant say “Oh you’re going to hurt yourself” then cuff her up and put her in isolation when the girl never said it. I’ve seen it all, believe that.
Hi Cynthia! I’m not sure if you’ll see this but I am so sorry for what you went through. Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your story. I would love to ask you questions as I am exploring ideas for my doctoral capstone and am interested in issues in the AZ Women’s Prison. Is there any way we could talk further?
That was my friend 😭 she was cool ag and funny. I feel bad I had to leave San Carlos for Cruz. But fck their medical center, the whole prison is fucked up and corrupted. I’ve been out for 8 months now and I still remember everything like yesterday especially with health care. Like can the prison do an upgrade and fix their shit or will more ppl have to die like my friend here? It’s fucked up because I knew she was having a hard time in the beginning getting her shots. We both came from the same county. She wasn’t even a criminal like person. She was fun, bright and very smart, like she could’ve went to college. She had alot planned for herself…damn I love Jowell thank for the laughs and being a loyal friend. Rest in Paradise
Yeah, she was a very cool person to know. She would hug you when she saw you with a big smile. She was always cool to everyone, no hate or anger in her heart but she probably did towards ADOC health employees
I was incarcerated for 9 years and just released March 2024. In 2019, my stomach swelled up and I looked 9 months pregnant. They told me I had impacted stool and had me drink a laxative. The pain got worse, I couldn’t breath or walk and this went on for 2 months. My family contacted the ACLU and prison and finally in February 2020 I was sent to the hospital and diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian cancer. I was in the hospital for 10 days and started chemo. I went back to the prison and was expecting chemo every 3 weeks. It took over a 3 weeks for me to get scheduled for my next chemo. In May, I had just came back from chemo and was told I was packing up and being sent to San Carlos. I had to load and unload all of my belongings after a day of chemo and was being transferred to a yard with 1300 women. I then had surgery to remove the cancer in July and once released from the hospital was sent to Maria and put in a cell, by myself with no A/C. I had to move everything by myself and carry a chair out to take a shower. I had an incision from belly button to my pubic bone. Finally after 2 weeks, I was sent back to Carlos. I was told later that I had peritoneal cancer and not ovarian, after I had had a complete hysterectomy. I never had a follow up PET scan to make sure the cancer was gone. In March of 2023, I started seeing a new oncologist, Dr. Benjamin and he finally ordered a PET scan and saw that I had cancer again in the same area of my stomach. I had surgery again in May and started six rounds of chemo. Between the medical Dr’s John and Johnson my medical treatment at the prison was horrible. They didn’t give me anything but Tylenol and Excedrin for the pain and I had to fight to get an extra mattress and extra milk for protein shakes. If I didn’t have my family to support me and stand up for me I would have died. I applied for clemency 2 times and because I wasn’t dying in 3 months, I was refused. Something needs to change with the health system and prison.