The Marshall County Commissioners heard a proposal from Sheriff Matt Hassel concerning inmate health care.
Hassel said he’d like to continue with a contract with Quality Correctional Care.
“Due to the medical conditions of one inmate, the medical staff had to increase the hours of service Monday through Friday from 8 hours to 12 hours and Saturday and Sunday are 4 hours each day,” said Hassel.
According to Hassel, the inmate was booked into the facility in February. Since that time, nursing overtime hours have cost the county over $22,800.
For the time being, when it comes to policy renewal, Hassel said the current contract should be good through the next year. He has requested additional funds for prisoner care.
“I would like to do the assessment so we’re not changing the contract to meet the needs of one inmate. I would rather do the assessment to say the population is this, it takes the nurse this long to distribute medications, and there are this many requests to be seen by a doctor. So, if we’re going to make changes it’s changes that are going to service the whole jail and not just one inmate.”
For now, the contract was reported for information. Hassel said he will reevaluate the situation at the end of the year. In December, if the overtime hours are still high, they will have to increase hours and the contract price will be adjusted for commissioners’ approval.
