Taxpayers face costly prison workforce ‘solutions’

In July the DOC began exploring prison health care privatization, and since then health care workers have steadily been leaving. As of Sept. 22, 48 out of 307 workers have already resigned.

Sept. 26 marks the deadline for vendor proposals, but state employees would not switch to a new employer for an additional seven to nine months as contracts are negotiated.

Workers’ interest in signing on with a vendor is tepid at best. There are ample opportunities to hop to another state agency, or move to a more favorable work environment in the private sector.

All indications are that resignations will continue unabated, and major nursing staff shortages are cropping up at multiple prisons. Applications for job vacancies have slowed dramatically. Realistic short-term solutions to address staffing crises are expensive for the Iowa taxpayer.

One particularly worrisome possibility is Iowa cutting an emergency deal with a prison health care vendor. Such contracts in other states have been catastrophically expensive, such as Mississippi’s contract with VitalCore Health Strategies, which nearly doubled in cost to $100 million in just four years. New health care workers also do not materialize, so recruitment woes are simply outsourced at a steep fee.

Inmate health care might not seem like a top priority in Iowa, but legal costs associated with soaring lapses in care are footed entirely by taxpayers. Adequate health care staffing at prisons is by far less expensive.

Financially sound longer-term solutions for inmate health care are now much more difficult as a result of Iowa entertaining prison health care privatization. Vendor contracts very rarely lead to taxpayer savings, whereas simply continuing state-run health care is significantly damaged due to questionable job security.

One prudent longer-term solution for prison health care is expanding DOC’s existing partnership with UIHC. Five other states partner with teaching hospitals to maximize efficiency and reduce costs.

Seth Franke is an executive board member of AFSCME Local 451. He lives in Newton.