Inmate Medical Expenses Rising, County Council Hears
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
Hearing that funds for medical needs for the county jail’s 260 inmates is quickly dwindling, Kosciusko County Council approved $50,000 in additional appropriations Thursday. County Sheriff Rocky Goshert told council the fund is now down to $3,000, adding that his department “has made it every year, but just barely.” He attributed costs to both the number of inmates and the types of charges the jail is required to house them for. “The state Department of Corrections, in their infinite knowledge and wisdom, have decided to try Class D felony (charges) here,” he told council. The category includes drug offenders, who he noted need a lot of medical help. “The Department of Corrections decided to get the cost off the state and onto the counties. It’s a huge problem statewide,” he said, though noting Kosciusko is doing better than many others. The jail, which has a capacity of 326, has come as high as 283 inmates in the past and has never been below 201, Goshert said. He estimated that about 40 percent of the jail’s 223 men and 37 women have health issues. One inmate alone racked up $21,000 in medical expenses in less than 30 days in April, he said. Nurses are seeing 20 prisoners a day and a doctor sees 21 to 30 every week. The jail commonly has to take prisoners to the emergency room when they have health issues at night. The county faces potential lawsuits for misdiagnosing an inmate or not getting him to the hospital quickly enough. “We have to be careful to get them to the hospital on time or they’ll say ‘You knew about it’” and hold the jail liable, he said. He also noted many of the D felony inmates are repeat offenders. “A lot of these D’s we’re getting, they’re frequent flyers. They know they can get everything taken care of,” Goshert said. “They know that as soon as they get in, we have to take care of them.” “They’ve got more rights than you and I do,” council member Larry Teghtmeyer remarked. Goshert said he expects the problem to get even worse if the state directs counties to house Class C felony offenders. He said if his department could send inmates to the county health clinic three times a week, at only $15 per visit, it would be a huge cost savings. He is also exploring the possibility of having mental health issues covered through the recently enacted health insurance exchange. Also Thursday, council approved another additional appropriation of $4,179.99 for rent of the county health clinic building. They also approved a transfer of $78,555 from miscellaneous to other equipment in the cumulative bridge fund, which Highway Superintendent Scott Tilden said came from the return of an excavator purchased in February. The vehicle had issues which could not be resolved so the county got its money back, he said. Tilden will get three quotes for another vehicle in the future. And council approved a 2014 budget of $481,000 for the Kosciusko County Convention Recreation and Visitors Commission. Dave Taylor, commission president, also reported to council that about 87 percent of the signs for the county-wide trail system have been installed and the commission’s new membership in the Michiana Area Council of Government will now allow MACOG to advertise for the county and drive tourism. Council also heard from County Administrator Ron Robinson that he will present at the next meeting the need for $500,000 to pay for the widening of CR 100E until the bonds come in. Trupointe Co-op will pay the bond back after it’s been processed, he said. The work started last Wednesday on the north half of the road and will be resumed on the southern half in spring, he told council.
