At its meeting tonight, the Middlesex County freeholders are poised to renew the contract between the Department of Corrections and the medical-care provider Center for Family Guidance. This paper covered an immigrant detainee's death in the jail in March, just before he was to be released after months in detention. Fellow detainees cited a delay in medical treatment.
We have received information that there were other deaths and inmates with delayed or inadequate health-care measures.
The freeholders as part of their due diligence must question the care provided by the for-profit CFG before agreeing to millions of dollars for another three years of service. CFG is required to investigate any deaths as part of its contract; this must be made public.
We are concerned about:
With no demonstrable oversight of last year's incidents or any that might have occurred in the previous two years of the contract, we question the renewal of a contract with this medical-care provider. We urge the county to follow the New Jersey Corrections Department and deprivatize medical care for the county jail. Discontinuing contracts with private, for-profit medical-care providers will reduce problems with health-care delivery and lower costs by reducing profit considerations.
