AA: The story is about privatized medical care in jails, but who are the public entities here that are part of this web?
LR: All of these jails are publicly held jails so funded with money we pay in tax dollars. Another part of this is SCOC, which oversees jails across the state. They do investigations any time someone dies in jails they have an investigation into why that person died, so if you’re interested in your county you can find it online. They are able to suggest county jails change their medical provider but are not actually in the business of forcing the jails to change their medical providers.
AA: What is the effectiveness of public scrutiny over the jails?
LR: It’s varied at different points, people have filed lawsuits which held these companies accountable once the Attorney General’s office got involved. Sometimes there’s pressure from people, protests to change.
One person who I spoke to who had a mother who died in prison didn’t know until I spoke to her that there were records available that showed how the person died and how he’d been neglected leading up to his death. They don’t even know that there’s tangible proof out there, then they are able to file lawsuits and keep companies accountable.