‘No consideration’: Kansas criticizes prison medical provider’s COVID-19 response

Kansas officials say the Tennessee company responsible for health care in its state prisons failed to adequately protect inmates from the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) announced on April 17 that it was severing its relationship with the company, Corizon Health.

On April 9, eight days before the announcement, Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Jeff Zmuda voiced serious issues with Corizon’s response to the pandemic in a letter to Corizon CEO James Hyman. Specific problems cited by Zmuda were failure to supply personal protective equipment, to hire enough nurses, and sending inmates with fevers back to their cells instead of to quarantine.

Zmuda called the company’s shortages of personal protective equipment and staffing “a serious impediment to the medical care of inmates during this emergency pandemic.”

Corizon officials dispute nearly all of the state’s findings.

The state’s decision to part ways with Corizon effective June 30 follows a series of complaints about the quality of care provided by the company over several years. An investigation by The Star found that Corizon fell short of contract requirements about a third of the time, delaying, postponing or completely failing to provide care to inmates.

“Inmates and staff are concerned about the level of care inmates have been receiving from the corrections medical provider, Corizon,” Gov. Laura Kelly told reporters at an April 10 press conference. “I understand the frustrations. In fact, I share them.”

KDOC recently reviewed the company’s procedures for halting the spread of COVID-19 in the Lansing Correctional Facility, site of the most serious outbreak in the prison system. At least 47 staff and 40 inmates have tested positive as of Tuesday.

In the April 9 letter, Zmuda cited three instances in which Corizon hadn’t properly taken care of Lansing inmates

While Kelly declared a state of emergency mid-March, Corizon didn’t establish any procedures for COVID-19 testing, quarantine, isolation and management until April 8, Zmuda said.

He also reported that as recent as March 27, multiple inmates who had fevers above 101 degrees were sent back to their cells and not placed in quarantine.

High fevers are a common symptom of coronavirus.

“There is no documentation about why they were returned to their cells and no consideration that they might be COVID-19 positive or otherwise require isolation,” Zmuda wrote in the letter. “This failure can be reasonably attributed to a shortage of staff and a lack of COVID-19 protocols and procedures.”

On April 5, Zmuda said, an inmate who tested positive for the virus was experiencing shortness of breath. A doctor ordered a nebulizer treatment, and later switched it to an inhaler.

An audit of the patient’s care conducted The University of Kansas Medical Center found no evidence that any doctor followed through with those treatments. A nurse brought an inhaler to that inmate after the issue was raised in the audit.

That same inmate’s temperature rose to 103 degrees on the evening of April 6. He was given Tylenol, but his temperature was not checked till 6 a.m. the following day, when it was 102 degrees.

In an April 16 letter, Hyman contended Zmuda’s assessment of the company’s care was inaccurate. He wrote that Corizon’s difficulty in securing PPE was no different from shortages experienced by health providers across the country. But “at no time has Corizon been without adequate PPE to handle immediate needs.”

He acknowledged staffing was an issue, but added the company has filled every shift. With the contract set to expire at the end of June it was difficult to hire, he said.

Hyman said Corizon instituted a COVID-19 protective plan on March 11, roughly a month earlier than Zmuda claimed. And the company’s attempts to collaborate with KDOC and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment had been declined, he said.

Hyman acknowledged that a doctor at Lansing did send patients with fevers back to their cells, in violation of COVID-19 protocols. He said the doctor was following previous guidance on influenza and that physician later was given “corrective action.”

And as for the inmate who tested positive for the coronavirus, Hyman recognized there wasn’t any documentation of treatment. It was later addressed with the Lansing staff. The inmate was given Tylenol and placed back on oxygen on April 6, he wrote.

“As evidenced in our response, it is not accurate to challenge that Corizon was unprepared for the COVID pandemic,” Hyman said.

Inmates previously criticized the medical treatment they’ve received, as shown in a video allegedly shot at the Lansing prison during a disturbance earlier in April.

“Y’all don’t want to give us no healthcare? Y’all don’t want to give us no healthcare? This is what we do,” someone said while showing footage of a trashed office.

Centurion Health of Kansas will assume responsibility for inmate care on July 1.