THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410010246
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Inmates at the City Jail will begin paying some of their medical costs today in a move designed by Sheriff Robert J. McCabe to reduce frivolous trips to the doctor.
All prisoners will have to pay $10 to see a physician, $10 to see a dentist and $5 to have a prescription filled.
The same plan starts today at the Newport News City Jail, according to Maj. Chuck Moore, jail administrator. Initial trips to physicians and dentists will cost $10, and there will be a $3 charge for prescriptions.
At both jails, prisoners will not be refused medical care if they have no money, said Moore and George Schaefer, public relations director for the Norfolk Sheriff's Department which operates the jail.
Prisoners will be assessed through their canteen accounts. If their accounts are low, the bills will be paid when friends or family members bring in money, or when inmates are otherwise able.
Until now, Norfolk prisoners have not been charged for medical care. Saving money is only a secondary objective of the new policy, Schaefer said.
``We mostly want to cut down on unnecessary visits to the doctor,'' he explained.
The new plan in Norfolk will continue to offer several free medical visits. No charge will be made to inmates for medical, dental or mental-health screenings, emergencies and follow-up visits to physicians.
The medical co-payment concept was made possible by a new law sponsored by State Sen. Mark L. Earley, R-Chesapeake.
The Portsmouth City Jail instituted its medical payment plan Sept. 1. The charges are the same as those in Newport News.
There are no charges at the Virginia Beach City Jail or at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk. There are plans to institute them soon. There are no charges at the Chesapeake City Jail.
McCabe has made several other changes at the Norfolk jail. He put an end to the all-you-can-eat buffet menu for prisoners, and instituted a menu that limits how much prisoners can eat. McCabe also closed the homosexual cellblock and disbursed gay prisoners into the general inmate population.
On Dec. 1 the jail will become a no-smoking facility.
``He is trying to do too much too fast,'' said one sixth-floor inmate who asked not to be identified. ``When he cuts out smoking, that is really going to upset people.''
Prisoners being held in Norfolk for the state have reacted violently to the changes.
They staged fire-starting uprisings on Sept. 19 and 20 in cellblocks on the seventh floor. On Sept. 19 a guard and two inmates were injured when prisoners took over a cellblock.
Another fire was started this week on the sixth floor by angry inmates.
The jail's most pressing problem continues to be overcrowding. The intended capacity is 579, but about 1,300 prisoners are in the facility. At least 400 prisoners are sleeping on the floor.
On Aug. 5 the U.S. Justice Department concluded that the City Jail was ``grossly overcrowded'' and was a serious public-health threat.
The Justice Department demanded that McCabe come up with a plan within 90 days to cut the jail's population nearly in half, from 1,377 to 750.
He must implement the plan within six months.
``Based on our investigation, we believe that conditions at the Norfolk City Jail are grossly deficient and violate the constitutional rights of prisoners,'' the Justice Department said.
McCabe continues to blame many of the problems at the city jail on his predecessor, David Mapp, whom McCabe defeated in the November 1993 election. McCabe said Mapp's 12-year neglect of the facility is still being felt.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK CITY JAIL
by CNB