Fayette jail hires new health provider after previous company filed for bankruptcy
A new healthcare provider has been hired to serve inmates at the Lexington-Fayette County Detention Center, after the previous company filed for bankruptcy protection, according to the city’s Division of Community Corrections.
The urban county government completed an emergency procurement process to hire the new company, 3C Comprehensive Correctional Care.
Col. Scott Colvin, chief of community corrections, said the transition to 3C was “seamless.”
“Their immediate assumption of services has provided the Medical/Mental Health programs stability and uninterrupted care for all Detainees,” he said in a statement.
He said Kentucky-based 3C had also provided “leadership, direction and personal contact” to the jail’s medical and mental health teams during the transition.
The former vendor, YesCare, had left its staff members unpaid, but the city said the employees continued to show up for work to care for patients anyway.
“Their loyal and committed service has kept our continuum of care stable and safe for all detainees,” Colvin said in a news release last week. “Our healthcare staff is a critical and indispensable component of our facility’s daily operations.”
Some healthcare employees who work at the jail told WKYT earlier this month that they had gone several weeks without a paycheck and said they were low on some medications and supplies for inmates.
The Division of Community Corrections worked to provide support to the employees, the statement from Colvin said.
YesCare filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 8.
The company’s predecessor, Corizon Health, split into two companies, YesCare and Tehum Care Services, after being sued about 200 times over allegations of poor patient care at correctional facilities in 27 states, Reuters reported.
Corizon was sued in connection with the care it provided at the Fayette County Detention Center in at least two cases, in 2019 and in 2012.
Tehum, which inherited the liability for Corizon’s lawsuits, filed for bankruptcy and settled with its creditors, according to Reuters.
In April, creditors filed a $50 million lawsuit against YesCare.
YesCare’s website says it has provided healthcare at 475 corrections facilities around the country.
The Fayette County jail’s medical and mental healthcare contract provides for the equivalent of 63.1 full-time positions, and those employees are responsible for providing medical, dental, vision and pharmacy care to detainees, according to information provided by Major Matthew LeMonds, public information officer for Community Corrections.
They also provide medication-assisted treatment for substance abuse, a comprehensive behavioral health unit that provides opportunities for therapy and a “competency restoration program linked to the Fayette County judicial system, Mental Health Courts and the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center,” according to LeMonds.
