DUBLIN — A health care provider that serves Alameda County jails fired 16 vocational nurses on Friday, a sacking the nurse’s union said endangered inmates by leaving a skeleton crew of overworked employees struggling to serve the correctional system’s vast health needs.
While organizers from the National Union of Healthcare Workers blasted the decision by Corizon — which also fired 49 vocational nurses in January — a nurse still working inside the jail described a scene so chaotic she termed it “World War III.”
“It’s horrible. We have people melting down, we have people sick,” said the nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was fearful of reprisal. “It’s a disaster looking for a place to happen.”
The firings occurred three days after the family of an inmate who died from an asthma attack at Santa Rita Jail sued Corizon for inadequate medical treatment.
Both incidents, as well as other allegations of poor care in Alameda County and across the nation, are leading members of the union to call for Corizon to be booted from the county when a three-year, $100 million contract goes into effect July 1. Corizon, a Tennessee firm, bills itself as the leading provider of correctional health care services in the United States, serving 429 facilities in 25 states.
“The bottom line is that Corizon needs to get out,” said Dennis Dugan of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the nurses. “What they are doing is unsafe and dangerous. It’s putting inmates and nurses at risk.”
Martha Harbin, a Florida-based spokeswoman for Corizon, said the layoffs are an effort to comply with a 2015 settlement that required registered nurses, not vocational nurses, conduct initial health care screenings for inmates. Registered nurses earn a higher academic degree and have more rigorous training.
The $8.3 million settlement was between the Sheriff’s Office, Corizon and the children of Martin Harrison, who alleged their father wouldn’t have died during a confrontation with guards if nurses had realized he was suffering from alcohol withdrawal during his intake screening.
Since Jan. 1, Corizon has fired all 65 licensed vocational nurses at Santa Rita and Glenn E. Dyer Detention Facility in Oakland. The two jails combined hold 2,850 inmates.
Harbin denied the layoffs endangered inmates and said the company has hired 25 registered nurses since September, when it began ramping up for the transition, and will soon hire 10 more. Only 10 of those nurses are full-time, according to records Corizon provided the union.
Dugan said the new workers can’t make up for the layoffs, and he described a dangerous atmosphere inside the jail, where nurses often work double shifts, and a rotating crew of temporary health care workers fills in the best they can.
The version of events was backed up by the nurse inside the jail, who said she was told that sick calls would be eliminated next week because of the shortage.
Sheriff’s Spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said that to his knowledge inmate care had not been affected by the staffing changes.
Sheriff Gregory Ahern has touted Corizon’s excellent performance in the past and has even appeared in public relations material for the company.
The sheriff has been a beneficiary of tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Corizon during his tenure.
In an interview with KTVU-TV last fall, he denied those contributions gave Corizon any added advantage when it came to securing contracts and said he mostly used the money for charity golf tournaments.
Though Corizon has held the contract for health care services for eight years, it appears that its work at Alameda County could be in jeopardy.
The death of 29-year-old inmate Mario Martinez from an asthma attack last summer put the spotlight back on the company. Martinez’s family alleged he wouldn’t have died had he received court-ordered treatment for nasal polyps.
Another inmate sued the Sheriff’s Office last summer, alleging that he had a seizure because he wasn’t provided necessary epilepsy medicine.
The company has been sued hundreds of times across the country and was booted out of Rikers Island in New York City last year after an investigation revealed that errors by employees may have contributed to problems ranging from inmate deaths to hiring staff members with violent criminal convictions.
According to Dugan, at least two other companies have expressed interest in the health care contract, which will be awarded by the Board of Supervisors in Junes.
Contact Dan Lawton at 408-921-8695. Follow him at Twitter.com/dlawton.
