Hiring a single medical care provider for people held at the Warren County Jail could receive serious attention in the coming weeks as supervisors look at where to cut costs for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The costs

Inmate care costs,

projected for 2009-10

• Nurse salary and

benefits — $46,635

• Physician fees — $85,000

• Pharmaceuticals — $45,000

• Total — $176,635

The sheriff’s department has employed a nurse full-time for several years to administer prescription medicines to incarcerated people and has contracted with a physician for medical visits. Costs for those services are expected to surpass $170,000 this year — more than what it costs to house inmates either here or in Issaquena County, where much of the 103-year-old jail’s overflow is taken.

Mississippi law holds counties responsible for inmates’ medical expenses, with the state’s public employee benefit entity occasionally stepping in to negotiate discounts with providers. Allowing a private firm to handle all decisions on all aspects of inmate medical care would cut costs by thousands, Sheriff Martin Pace said.

“One of the biggest expenses has been pharmaceuticals — prescriptions that doctors have been prescribing inmates,” Pace told supervisors this week, adding his office has been receptive to offers from companies in the business of inmate health care.

Budget figures show the county expects to pay $176,635 for inmate care this year, which includes a salary and benefits for the jail nurse, doctor fees and prescription drug costs. Housing inmates elsewhere has already cost more than the $100,000 line-itemed in the 2009-10 budget. Recent invoices due to Issaquena and Madison counties for housing Warren County’s pre-trial detainees since the start of 2009 equaled more than $151,000.

An “all-inclusive” medical contract used in counties in several states could be what is needed to rein in the costs of inmate health care, Pace said.

“They would provide the nurse, they would provide the doctor, they would provide the pharmaceuticals and they would provide the training for our jail staff to look for certain medical conditions,” Pace said, adding the sheriff’s department would consult with other counties using all-inclusive providers before any proposals are requested.

Liability coverage under a private system of inmate care would cover the county and the company and provide a measure of protection for the public purse, County Administrator John Smith said, with the down side being the degree of market influences through a private system.

Pace said the current system has worked virtually complaint-free, but it has now become an issue of “dollars and cents.”

“It’s about saving money,” Pace said. “If we can provide the same service as we’ve been providing for less money, then it makes sense to at least explore that possibility.”

Warren County privatized food service for inmates in 2005. Private providers of health care to jails and detention centers are often accredited by standard-setting correctional organizations.

The City of Vicksburg does not have a jail, but pays Warren County per diem on the rare occasions space is available in the county jail for city inmates. The city also is responsible for medical expenses of its detainees, most of whom are shuttled to and from Issaquena County.

Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com