ILLINOIS GOVERNOR CRITICIZED FOR PROMOTING RECORD CANNABIS SALES
The initial length of Wexford’s contract is five years for $1. 956 billion, with a five-year renewal for $2. 201 billion.
Government officials’ decisions to award contracts are not based on cost alone. But Wexford has also come under heavy criticism for its performance, facing multimillion-dollar lawsuits accusing the company of delayed schedule or low-quality physical care and backlash for relying on outside services. doctors to determine if and which remedy is needed. Positions for fitness professionals continue to revel in maximum vacuum rates.
The state of Illinois is accused of awarding a contract to a company that traditionally can’t fill jobs.
A panel of experts appointed by a federal judge concluded in 2015 that the Corrections Department’s health care system was “unable to meet minimal constitutional standards.” Additional admonishments from the federal bench have subsequently followed.
Camille Bennett, director of the Correctional Reform Project at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, called the decision to remain in Wexford “disappointing and inexplicable. “
“Expert reports submitted to the Federal Court have shown that Wexford has failed to provide good enough physical care to Americans living in IDOC facilities across the state and has failed to ensure the presence of adequate staffing,” Bennett said in a statement. “It’s unclear how they’re willing to fulfill their wishes in the future. “
Bennett testified before a state House committee last summer during which lawmakers urged the corrections department to find a suitable replacement.
The Associated Press sent several requests for comment by phone and email to the correctional service, as well as a text message to a spokesman for Gov. J. B. Pritzker. A telephone message was left with a Wexford spokesperson.
Currently, about one-third of physician positions are vacant, while the vacancy rate for nurses and dental professionals is about 50 percent, according to Alan Mills, executive director of the Peoples Uptown Law Center. The school’s application opposes corrections on grounds of intellectual aptitude. He called for a general overhaul of the state’s physical care system, but it’s still pending. A Federal Court observer who dealt with the case in 2017 called psychiatric care in prisons “grossly inadequate” and said they were in a “state of emergency. “
“They’ve had years to turn things around, but they haven’t figured it out,” Mills said of Wexford. “We’re wasting money after money. “
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Wexford’s last 10-year contract expired in 2021 but has been extended since then.
Southern Illinois University College of Medicine introduced a pilot program in 2020 to provide physical care at two prisons, and officials said they are waiting for it to spread with an eye toward expansion. There will be no SIU spokesperson on Friday.