Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 31, 1994 TAG: 9501030047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One day in October, 491 Roanoke City Jail inmates requested medical services.
There was no highly contagious virus sweeping through the jail's population of 540 on Oct. 17, nor was there an outbreak of violence that left inmates in need of first aid.
In fact, it was just a slightly busier than normal day for the paramedics who push medication carts through the four-story jail, doling out aspirin and cold remedies to almost anyone who asks for them.
For years, jails in the Roanoke Valley and across the state have been deluged with inmate requests for medication or treatment - many of them unnecessary, some say.
That may be ending at the Roanoke jail, which will start charging inmates for medical care.
Effective Tuesday, inmates will be required to make a $10 co-payment each time they ask to see the jail medical staff, a physician or a dentist. Prescription handling fees will be $5, and over-the-counter medications will be sold at cost to inmates.
In the past, all medical care was provided free to inmates, but at a growing cost to taxpayers.
Sheriff Alvin Hudson, whose office is responsible for running the jail, hopes that charging inmates will reduce the number of unnecessary medical requests. Each year, the Roanoke jail spends about $600,000 on medical care for inmates.
Emergency treatment will be provided at no cost under the new policy, and indigent inmates still will receive medical care.
``We are not going to deny anyone medical service, but we've got to do something to control the cost,'' Hudson said.
Jail officials say a vast majority of the medical care requests are for aspirin and cold medicine - aspirin for headaches caused by noise and overcrowding, and cold medicine to cause drowsiness so inmates can sleep through as much of their sentences as possible.
``Everybody wants aspirin, Tylenol or cold medicine,'' Maj. George McMillan said. ``If it's free, everybody wants it.''
Under the new system, costs for medical care will be charged to inmate accounts. Prisoners in the city jail are not allowed to carry currency, so the money they have when they are arrested, along with contributions from family and friends, goes into an account they use to buy items from the canteen.
Inmates who have no money in their account will receive medical treatment when they request it, and a negative balance will go on their account. If any money is deposited into the account - either during the inmate's current or any future incarcerations - the amount owed for medical care will be deducted.
Initial medical screening for new inmates, mental-health screening, and follow-up visits by the medical staff will be provided at no cost.
Roanoke is the latest jail to charge for inmate medical care. Jails in Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties recently made the change, and the Roanoke County-Salem Jail plans to implement its own program later next year.
At its last session, the General Assembly passed a law that allows jails to charge inmates for medical visits.
Health care costs have soared at jails and prisons nationally, according to corrections specialists. Because Medicaid does not cover inmates, the cost is borne totally by taxpayers.
by CNB