Louisville jail director responds to scathing report of Metro Corrections' safety and security

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The director of Louisville Metro Corrections responded Friday to a scathing report from a consulting firm and calls from the American Civil Liberties Union for the jail to to end its health care contract.

Director Jerry Collins said the jail is a work in progress, and they're already making changes, including new metal screens being installed to make the loading dock more secure.

Leaders at the jail said people were coming by and throwing contraband over the wall. Inmates would grab it when they were loading and unloading trucks.

Pictures show plexiglass put over bars inside the jail, which is a suicide hazard mentioned by consultant Gary Raney in his 20-page report laying out the poor conditions of the jail. Raney called the facility obsolete, poorly designed and riddled with "poor practices." An inmate this week was the 12th to die at the jail since last November.

Both security and inmate safety are issues that Collins says jails are facing across the nation.

"These statistics are saddening and alarming but also a call for action for communities and leaders of correctional facilities," he said.

The ACLU and other groups claim medications are withheld and health complaints go ignored, and, ultimately, Wellpath provides no addiction or mental health care, which is what they say is needed to prevent more deaths.

The ACLU is calling on the jail to end its contract with Wellpath, the company currently providing health care to inmates. They are asking LMDC to instead choose community-based health care groups to provide care, arguing it will save the city money, provide better care and prevent more deaths.

Collins said he's always evaluating the needs of inmates including the amount of mental health staff members.

"Medical and mental health care is a priority for leadership of Metro Corrections," Collins said. "We are continuing to monitor the performance of our medical provider while realizing the complexities and challenges within this setting."

Wellpath sent a statement to WDRB saying:

"Wellpath holds patients at the center of everything we do. Our company promotes rigorous standards of care, nurtures innovation, and values compassionate service. We are always striving to improve the care we bring to our patients.

Correctional healthcare is a unique clinical environment most akin to emergency rooms. Our staff usually has no prior provider relationship with their patients, and so our goals are to quickly assess a patient’s health status and develop diagnoses. In so doing, we work with a wide range of partners to connect our patients with the care they need. Many of our patients may be diagnosed with an acute or chronic disease process for the first time under our care; many have been previously untreated for such conditions for an extended period before our first contact with them. These factors make them more difficult to treat, and we are proud of the way that our dedicated team of caregivers perform under these trying conditions.

Respectful of our patients’ privacy needs, and mindful of State and Federal healthcare confidentiality laws/regulations, we cannot speak to individual incidents of care, but we do not believe the claims allegedly advanced by the ACLU have merit."

Collins wouldn't specifically say if he'd renew the contract with Wellpath when its contract is up in July. He said the decision would reflect whichever company provides the best care.

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