Squabbling Proprietaries, Courts Looking The Other Way, Oversight Failing: Can Healthcare in Corrections Be Fixed?

Highlighted Stories

Editor's Note

This week's highlighted stories revisit several themes that COCHS has examined repeatedly over the years: the revolving door of proprietary correctional healthcare companies competing for lucrative public contracts; the limited ability of courts to provide meaningful oversight of correctional healthcare; and the uneven effectiveness of oversight bodies charged with monitoring conditions inside correctional facilities.

The first highlighted article, from Tennessee, illustrates many of these themes. Tennessee has experienced a long history of procurement disputes involving Wexford, Centurion, and YesCare. In 2020, YesCare filed an antitrust lawsuit against Centurion and the state, litigation that ultimately resulted in federal criminal charges against individuals involved in the procurement process. More recently, Wexford was selected for the state's prison healthcare contract, Centurion protested the award, and the state canceled the procurement. Wexford then challenged the state's actions in court. Before the court could address whether the procurement process had been conducted lawfully, however, the General Assembly repealed the statutory waiver of sovereign immunity that permitted such lawsuits. Chancellor Russell Perkins subsequently dismissed the case. Whether one agrees with the outcome or not, the practical effect is that the court never heard the merits of Wexford's claims. At least in this instance, judicial oversight of the procurement process ran up against a road block before it began.

Subscribers may also recall the qualified immunity case discussed in last week's Weekly Update. In that article, the estate of a woman who died while incarcerated alleged that correctional officers had been deliberately indifferent to her serious medical needs. After the Seventh Circuit concluded that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity, the estate asked the Supreme Court to review the case, Smith v. Kind. The Court declined to do so. Our second highlighted article reproduces Justice Sotomayor's dissent from the denial of certiorari, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson. While the legal issues differ from those in Tennessee, both cases illustrate circumstances in which courts ultimately did not or could not review the underlying allegations concerning correctional healthcare.

The final highlighted article turns from the courts to formal oversight. A report examining Delaware's Adult Correctional Health Care Review Committee concluded that the committee relies almost exclusively on information supplied by the Department of Correction. Also the committee seems not to conduct independent site visits, nor solicit feedback from incarcerated individuals. The findings call to mind COCHS's previous coverage of Arizona's Independent Correctional Oversight Office, which exists largely on paper because it lacks funding and therefore staff. Oversight mechanisms vary considerably from state to state, but too often they lack either the independence or the authority needed to drive meaningful change.

So what should we make of these stories? We see proprietary correctional healthcare companies battling over contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We see courts increasingly constrained from reviewing procurement disputes or declining to hear cases involving correctional healthcare. We see oversight committees that, at least in some instances, appear to function more as advisory bodies than as independent watchdogs.

COCHS recognizes that these are very different legal and institutional issues, but they all raise the same fundamental question: who, if anyone, is truly accountable for the quality of healthcare delivered behind correctional walls?

Our answer has remained consistent. COCHS has long advocated bringing Medicaid behind the walls of correctional facilities—not simply because of reimbursement, but because Medicaid carries enforceable federal Conditions of Participation. Unlike most oversight committees, those requirements are backed by meaningful enforcement authority. Whether that promise will ultimately be realized remains uncertain. But, in our view, it offers a more promising path than relying exclusively on reactive litigation or oversight bodies that often lack the authority to compel change.

That said, framing these issues in terms of an individual’s Medicaid entitlement creates an entirely different lens. That lens is not a universal antidote to any of these issues but would introduce the right of due process into the debate. It may strengthen accountability for the delivery of healthcare, but it is unlikely to end the fierce squabbling among proprietary correctional healthcare companies for correctional contracts. Some treatment plans simply do not exist.

Tennessee has repeatedly attempted to replace its prison healthcare contractor, only to reverse course after protests from the incumbent vendor, Centurion . When Wexford challenged the latest cancellation in court, the state successfully argued that a newly enacted law eliminated the waiver of sovereign immunity that allowed such suits. As a result, the court dismissed the case without addressing whether the procurement process was conducted lawfully.

The Supreme Court has denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in Smith v. Kind, leaving in place the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. In other words, the Court has declined to review the case. Smith v. Kind was discussed in the previous Weekly Update, June 30, 2026. It involved the death of a woman whose estate alleged that correctional officers were deliberately indifferent to her serious medical needs. The Seventh Circuit held that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity. The Legal Information Institute has published the the dissent from the denial of certiorari by Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson.

In Delaware, a report evaluating the state’s Adult Correctional Health Care Review Committee concluded that the body has not effectively monitored the Delaware Department of Correction's healthcare system and may lack the authority needed to carry out meaningful oversight. According to the report, the committee relies almost exclusively on information provided by the department, does not conduct independent investigations or site visits, and does not solicit feedback from incarcerated individuals. Separately, Delaware Attorney General has joined a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Centurion of Delaware fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in taxpayer funds while providing healthcare services in the state's correctional facilities.

Follow Ups

YesCare/Corizon/Tahom Care

Editor's Comment: In this week's Editor's Note, we discussed the lucrative correctional healthcare contracts over which Wexford, Centurion, and YesCare have been squabbling. This Follow Up to the YesCare/Corizon/Tehum Care bankruptcy saga raises a different question: what does the fierce competition for contracts ultimately mean for the healthcare of incarcerated people?

According to this article, YesCare nurses at Louisville's jail reportedly purchased medications for individuals in their care with their own personal funds. We also see another familiar consequence of proprietary correctional healthcare bankruptcies: the disruption they cause to the hospitals, emergency medical services, and other subcontractors on which these companies rely. Subscribers may recall that Wellpath's bankruptcy left a trail of unpaid subcontractors in its wake. The Idaho Statesman reports a similar scenario in the YesCare/Corizon/Tehum Care bankruptcy, with St. Luke's Health System in Boise seeking approximately $31 million for unpaid services.

As healthcare giant YesCare grappled with bankruptcy proceedings, the company managing medical services at Louisville’s jail left nurses short of basic supplies, forced staff to buy medications with personal funds, and directed them to keep quiet about critical shortages. The company, which filed for bankruptcy a second time in three years as the successor to healthcare contractor Corizon Health, had held the jail’s medical services contract since March 2024.

For the second time in less than a decade, St. Luke’s Health System has filed a lawsuit against the Idaho Department of Correction’s health care contractor, Tehum Care (Corizon/YesCare). This time the Boise-based hospital system’s suit stems from what it says was a fraudulent bankruptcy scheme to avoid paying prison health care providers what they were owed. St. Luke’s is seeking $31 million for costs it says the company neglected to pay.

What are we paying for?

Editor's Comment: Speaking again of correctional healthcare contracts, Illinois offers another glimpse into the revolving door of proprietary vendors. Wexford previously held a contract with the state worth approximately $4 billion before Centurion assumed responsibility. Another example of the highly lucrative world in which these companies compete? Yet, according to the WBEZ article below, care provided under Centurion is described as severely neglectful, prompting Jennifer Vollen-Katz from of John Howard Association to ask, "What in God's name are we paying for?" That question should sound familiar. Earlier this year, Mississippi House Corrections Chair Becky Currie voiced a remarkably similar concern about care provided by VitalCore: "Why are people getting sicker when we're paying millions for medical care?" Different states. Different vendors. The same question.

Centurion Health, one of the nation’s largest correctional medicine companies, has been the medical provider for the Illinois Department of Corrections since July 2025. Late last June, the Illinois Department of Corrections abruptly severed ties with Wexford Health Sources, backing out of a 10-year, $4 billion contract with that firm. Since then, the state has been extending a short-term emergency contract with Centurion. After twice extending a 90-day contract, IDOC and Centurion entered into a one-year, $507 million contract in January that expires next year. Now a year into Centurion’s short tenure, people inside Illinois prisons say their medical needs are severely neglected. Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director for the independent prison monitor John Howard Association is reported to ask : What are we paying for?

Medicaid

Editor's Comment: Two years ago, it was not unusual for the Weekly Update to report on a state's submission of a proposed Section 1115 reentry demonstration waiver to CMS. It is therefore noteworthy that this week we include Ohio's proposal. What distinguishes Ohio's waiver from many earlier demonstrations is its narrow scope. Rather than covering state prisons, county jails, or juvenile correctional facilities—as California's demonstration does—Ohio's proposal is limited to Community-Based Correctional Facilities (CBCFs), secure residential prison diversion programs often referred to as halfway houses.

It will be interesting to see whether CMS approves the waiver. As our subscribers know, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) has significantly altered the Medicaid landscape, particularly with respect to work requirements. In the June 9, 2026, Weekly Update, we noted that CMS had adopted a revised definition of "medical frailty" that narrows eligibility for an exemption from those requirements. The following week, we highlighted a Health Affairs article by Sara Rosenbaum and her colleagues arguing that the last-minute changes departed significantly from the legislation on which the rule was based.

This week we report on yet another development. Dozens of states have now sued the Trump administration, alleging that the revised definition of medical frailty is inconsistent with the governing statute. Whether these legal challenges and the broader changes to Medicaid under H.R. 1 will affect the future direction of justice-involved Section 1115 demonstrations remains an open question.

In 2025, the Ohio General Assembly enacted House Bill 96 (HB96), which included Ohio Revised Code (ORC) section 5166.50 requiring the Ohio Department of Medicaid to “apply for a Medicaid waiver component to provide reentry services to Medicaid-eligible imprisoned individuals for ninety days before an imprisoned individual's expected release date.” The Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM, referred to herein as “the State” or “Ohio”) is seeking Social Security Act Section 1115 demonstration waiver authority to implement this important section of HB 96.

A coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia is suing the Trump administration over a new rule implementing Medicaid work requirement exemptions for medically frail people. According to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in federal district court in Massachusetts, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) violated congressional protections when it issued an interim final rule concerning who is eligible for exemptions from new Medicaid work requirements. States had been discussing implementation plans with the CMS for months ahead of the rule and were blindsided by the much stricter definition. The new standard was not included in the law.

Food

Editor's Comment: Food in correctional facilities has become a recurring topic in this section, and this week we include a cluster of articles that examine the issue from several perspectives.

The first article, an op-ed in the Washington Post by John Koufos of Healthy Prisons, Healthy Communities, praises the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for promoting healthier food throughout the nation's correctional systems. Koufos highlights the Federal Bureau of Prisons' new national menu as an innovative public safety initiative, arguing that better nutrition can improve health, reduce violence, and support rehabilitation.

The administration deserves credit for promoting healthier and safer food for incarcerated individuals. Reading Koufos' article, however, one might reasonably assume that such policies would extend throughout facilities operated or overseen by the federal government. Yet, as the New York Times reports, both federal and state inspectors found unsafe food handling practices at the ICE detention facility, Delaney Hall, in New Jersey. GEO Group, which operates the facility, disputes the inspectors' findings.

Why, then, is food quality in correctional facilities so often poor? An article from the Center for Science in the Public Interest suggests one possible answer: privatization. It argues that the pressure on private food service contractors to minimize costs too often results in poor-quality and at times unsafe food. While the article focuses on Aramark, the concern is hardly limited to a single company. In recent weeks, COCHS reported on Broome County, New York, where Trinity Services Group's handling of food was linked to serious cases of food poisoning. Ironically, Trinity had replaced Aramark after concerns were raised about the quality of Aramark's food service. Broome County is now seeking yet another vendor, with the contract once again expected to be awarded to the lowest qualified bidder.

This raises a broader question. Can initiatives promoting healthier food realistically succeed when correctional food service is frequently procured through a system that rewards the lowest responsible bid? Secretary Kennedy and Koufos have advanced a laudable goal. Whether that goal can be achieved without addressing the structural incentives created by privatized, low-cost contracting remains an open question.

John Koufos, who leads Healthy Prisons, Healthy Communities, writes that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a keynote address at the U.S. Capitol, announced a partnership with the nation's correctional leaders through Healthy Prisons, Healthy Communities. The partnership aims to make prisons safer by improving the quality of prison food. Research suggests that a simple, highly cost-effective intervention—providing incarcerated people with nutritious food—can fundamentally transform the behavioral climate within correctional institutions. Properly funding prisons to meet federal dietary guidelines could reduce healthcare costs, improve health outcomes, and increase the likelihood of successful rehabilitation and self-sufficiency

Migrants at the Delaney Hall facility in Newark have complained for months about unsafe meals. Inside the kitchen of an immigration detention center, potato salad sat at 81 degrees, roughly 40 degrees warmer than is considered safe. Surfaces that were used to prepare food were left unsanitized. Only three months after the Trump administration began using Delaney Hall to detain immigrants last year, a federal inspection identified deficiencies in food refrigeration and determined that food was not protected from overhead leakage. State health inspectors found similar conditions. Geo Group disputed allegations of substandard conditions included in the federal and state reports.

It would be surprising if any American carceral facilities were truly feeding people well. But privatizing operations—a decision typically justified as a way to cut costs—has made a bad public health disparity even worse. While it’s not even clear that moving from in-house food service to companies like Aramark saves money, what is clear is that the shift often compromises the quantity, quality, and safety of the food incarcerated people are served. And that can put them at increased risk not just of food poisoning but, eventually, of chronic conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Not surprisingly, it comes down to money...with the lowest bidder—often Aramark—prevailing.

New York

Editor's Comment: This week, New York's prison system returns to the Follow Up section. City Reporter has a story on the mounting cost of the approximately 170 lawsuits filed against the state and the stalled installation of additional security cameras. Meanwhile, Gothamist reports that an independent review of the prison system found low staff morale and an increase in the use of force.

Taken together, these reports paint a discouraging picture. Following the murder of Robert Brooks and the subsequent wildcat strikes by correctional officers, there was hope that meaningful reforms could follow. These latest developments suggest that, while those events may have prompted a flurry of news stories, achieving lasting improvements within New York's prison system may prove to be a much longer process.

There has been at least 170 lawsuits against the New York prison system that resulted in settlements totaling $25.7 million over the last five years. The payouts offer a rare glimpse into conditions inside New York’s prisons at a time when state officials face renewed scrutiny following the recent deaths of prisoners Robert Brooks and Messiah Nantwi at the hands of prison guards and following a debilitating strike last year by 2,000 state corrections officers. Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to make sweeping changes but some of those, like installing security cameras in each of the state’s 44 correctional facilities and a comprehensive review by outside experts, remain stalled nearly two years later.

A decade ago, corrections officers in New York state prisons used pepper spray 124 times over the course of a year. But by 2024, the year Robert Brooks was murdered by guards while incarcerated at a prison near Utica, the number of pepper spray deployments had spiked to 4,758. It's just one finding in a long-awaited 277-page outside review of New York’s prison system ordered by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The report, by the law firm WilmerHale, found a degraded culture and low morale among corrections officers. It cited statistics that show the use of force rose steadily in the decade before Robert Brooks. Of nearly 1,200 complaints of excessive force filed by prisoners against guards in 2024, only 40 were substantiated.

ICE

The private prison company CoreCivic has sold two of the largest immigration detention facilities in California to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in a deal worth $1.5 billion, the company announced Monday. CoreCivic said it anticipates that the sale of the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County and the California City Detention Facility in Kern County will bring the company an estimated net proceeds of approximately $1.1 billion. Maryland-based CoreCivic said the proceeds from the sale, which would be about $1.1 billion after taxes and transaction costs, could go toward paying down its bank credit and retiring $238.5 billion in senior notes coming due in 2027.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced on July 1 that a deal has been reached with Homeland Security officials that will, for now, prevent a Surprise building from being used as an immigration detention center. According to a statement from Mayes' office, an agreement has been reached with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE to pause "efforts to convert a Surprise property into an immigration detention center until required environmental review is complete." In April, Mayes filed a lawsuit, claiming environmental reviews still needed to be completed. The work was paused, but the federal contract database USAspending.gov shows the stop-work order was later rescinded.

GardaWorld Federal, which was contracted to renovate and operate ICE's warehouse in Surprise, has not removed job postings on its website despite the Department of Homeland Security agreeing in federal court to halt conversion of the building until it completes an environmental review. A judge still has to sign off on the proposed agreement.

ICE has arrested at least 422 individuals from Central Valley prisons and jails through administrative transfers since President Donald Trump took office. One facility — Avenal State Prison in Kings County — accounted for 133 of the ICE arrests, or 32% — the most at any San Joaquin Valley-based penitentiary. While California’s sanctuary state laws restrict cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement agencies, state prisons can cooperate with ICE on a limited basis.

Juveniles

Roughly 150 children who were confined at facilities run by the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center and Camp Wilmont Sweeney were sexually abused by Probation Department staff, mostly in the 2000s, according to a recently filed lawsuit. The alleged abuse at the county facilities “was not a matter of isolated misconduct by a few rogue employees. Rather, it reflects a longstanding, systemic failure on the part of Alameda County officials to address red flags, properly supervise staff, and create conditions that could prevent such abuse.”

During the 2026 Wyoming legislative session, lawmakers didn’t draft any bills to address allegations that minors had been abused at the Wyoming Boys’ School, a juvenile detention facility near Worland. Not a single bill addressed the juvenile justice system, which has been the subject of state task forces and committees for decades. Stacks of reports have been produced, with little legislative action to address myriad problems. Wyoming, for decades, has had some of the highest juvenile incarceration rates in the nation, and is one of three states that refuse federal funds to help. There is no uniform system of tracking juvenile justice cases; each county has its own system.

Air Conditioning

As summer temperatures rise into the 90s, more than 1,000 Iowa prisoners and correctional officers are sweating it out without air conditioning. Prolonged heat waves behind bars can cause heat stroke and exacerbate chronic conditions like asthma, heart ailments and arthritis. Studies also show prisons without air conditioning are more violent. For years, the Iowa Department of Corrections has been asking lawmakers for funding to install air conditioning at the Anamosa State Penitentiary and the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility – prisons that regularly house more than 1,000 men each. The Iowa Legislature adjourned in May without approving the $8.1 million for the projects.

Tens of thousands of state prisoners will ride out extreme heat waves inside cell blocks with no air conditioning and on recreation yards with little shade. Only three of the state's 28 prisons have universal air conditioning: the Franklin Medical Center, Toledo Correctional Institution and the Ohio State Penitentiary.

Shelby County jail staffers are asking for help in a letter sent to county leaders, describing the extreme heat inside the downtown jail as “inhumane and cruel.” The letter, signed “SCSO Jail Staff” and sent to county commissioners and the mayor, says the air conditioning in the jail at 225 Poplar Ave. stopped working Sunday, and temperatures inside are ranging from 88 to 95 degrees with humidity at 100%.

State Roundup

Alabama

The state could be allowed to hire fewer qualified corrections officers to address mental health needs in Alabama prisons under a federal court ruling last week, according to criminal justice reform advocates. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday sustained U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson’s ruling in the case, known as Braggs v. Lovelace, that inadequate mental health care in the Alabama Department of Corrections constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

California

Governor Gavin Newsom today signed a bill to strengthen California’s mental health diversion program by modifying the public safety standard courts apply when determining whether diversion is appropriate. Assembly Bill 46 by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen (D–Elk Grove) expands judicial discretion by allowing judges to fully consider public safety implications when evaluating diversion requests, while also maintaining access to treatment for individuals who are appropriate candidates for diversion.

In 2011, California shifted responsibility for incarcerating and supervising certain adult felony populations from the state to counties. The state also shifted a portion of tax revenues to counties to cover the additional costs. These changes were part of a larger shift of responsibilities known as the 2011 realignment. Pursuant to Chapter 96 of 2023 (AB 1080, Ta), this report provides information on how various aspects of the realignment of adult felony populations have been implemented and evaluates the results.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court is dumping cold water on the county’s $2.8 billion plan to reduce its jail population by enough to close decrepit Men’s Central Jail without a replacement in the next five years. David Slayton, the court’s executive officer, warned county officials that the courts cannot implement significant portions of the proposal — developed without the court’s input — at the “scale or pace assumed” unless the state gives it more money and judges.

One-third of people headed into Sacramento County jails each month were identified as homeless in the past year, new data show — a number that shows little has changed since the start of the decade. The newly released data from 2025 and 2026 show that there were more bookings of homeless people than there were homeless individuals each month, meaning that some were booked into jail, released, and then jailed again within the same month.

Florida

A man in Florida’s Bay County Jail was placed in solitary confinement on the highest level of suicide prevention, but received no additional medical treatment or counseling after attempting suicide. Eleven days after his arrest, Daniel Bennett removed both of his eyeballs with his own hands while experiencing a psychotic episode. After raising claims for negligence and violation of his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, a U.S. District Court judge found that Bennett’s rights were not violated, stating that the mental health counselors who assessed Bennett acted with “ordinary negligence, not deliberate indifference.” The case is now awaiting a decision from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Michigan

A Michigan prisoner is asking a judge to order her transfer from the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, arguing that remaining at the state prison is putting her health at greater risk. An attorney for Krystal Clark filed an emergency motion on Tuesday (July 7) requesting that she be moved to a secure medical facility, alleging she is not receiving the care she needs while incarcerated. The motion claims Clark suffers from a documented mold allergy, ongoing fungal infections, respiratory problems, and hearing loss.

Another prisoner at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Washtenaw County has died. Dalephenia Jones died at Trinity Health Hospital. Ms. Jones was having a cardiac event and she was taken into surgery after arrival at the hospital. Jones is the fourth confirmed death of a prisoner at the facility in recent months.

Missouri

Missouri will stop providing hormone replacement therapy to transgender people incarcerated in state prisons under a new budget provision signed into law by Gov. Mike Kehoe. The one-sentence provision, included on the final page of the Department of Corrections appropriations bill, states that “no funds shall be expended for any cross-sex hormones, or gender transition surgery undertaken for the purpose of any gender transition.”

Nevada

Overdoses inside Nevada's state prisons have exploded, jumping from just 12 in 2021 to more than 120 in 2025. It's a problem that's had a domino effect, leading to rising hospitalizations and spiraling overtime rates that have cost the state millions of dollars. Correctional officers are pushing for a different answer: drug-detection dogs. Nevada is one of the few states that does not have a canine unit in its state prison system, according to the state's correctional officers union.

North Carolina

The president of the state employees association says more needs to be done to support state prisons. Wendell Powell is urging state lawmakers to make more resources available at correctional facilities. Powell, who is also a captain at Harnett Correctional Institution made those comments regarding the inmates who overpowered jail staff in the eastern part of the state this week. "This is dangerous," said Powell. "You're talking about people's lives, and we're not just talking about the staff. We're talking about the offenders. No one wants to have an incidents where offenders are assaulted, physically or sexually, or their needs aren't being met. That's what can happen due to a lack of staff."

Several agencies are trying to figure out what went wrong inside the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail in Eastern North Carolina after inmates gained control of the facility and held two jail staffers hostage for hours. Unlike most jails across North Carolina, this regional facility isn't run by the local sheriff. Instead, a commission is in charge. Last year, the jail's long-time administrator resigned. During that transition, concerns were voiced about the conditions inside the jail.

Texas

Victor Runnels is the fourth death in less than two weeks at the Tarrant County Jail. Runnels was pronounced dead at 4:46 p.m. Friday June 26. He was released from custody at the jail at 4:18 p.m. that same day, court records show. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office says it will not be investigating the death, as it doesn’t match the criteria of an in-custody death. “The Texas Commission on Jail Standards reviewed the case and formally determined that it does not meet the criteria for an in-custody death,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. See previous stories about deaths in Tarrant County Jail.

Wisconsin

DOC Secretary Jared Hoy signed a contract with Falcon Correctional and Community Services to put a series of reform proposals into practice. Falcon produced a report gave Wisconsin’s adult prison system advice on how to provide incarcerated people with better healthcare, reduce prisons’ use of solitary confinement and address a persistent understaffing problem. The report also found a “general lack of uniformity” across facilities, creating problems with monitoring, oversight and accountability. Advocates expressed concerns over the lack of funding allocation for the changes and called for an independent ombudsman’s office to oversee the DOC,

Rikers Island

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the permanent closure of the North Infirmary Command on Rikers Island, as the city prepares for the complete closure of the notorious jail complex, arguably known best for its public history connected to violence, gross injustice, and egregious human rights violations largely committed against Black and Latino prisoners.

Correctional Healthcare Providers

Wellpath

The Buncombe County Detention Facility has launched a new partnership with correctional healthcare provider Wellpath. The partnership officially took effect July 1, with Wellpath replacing the facility's previous healthcare provider under a two-year contract that runs through June 30, 2028. The contract with Wellpath will cost $4.2 million. From previous stories, it seems that MEDIKO was the unnamed previous provider.

YesCare/CFG

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office (FL) terminated the health care services agreement with the jail provider. YesCare, the medical services provider for the Polk County Jail for 33 years, recently had filed for bankruptcy, representing a breach of the contract with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office contracted with correctional healthcare provider CFG Health Systems to provide medical services. As a part of the contract, PCSO said CFG Health ensured that the current health care employees who have faithfully and professionally served would be retained and continue their dedicated work at the Polk County jail.