INMATE COSTS SKYROCKET

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department has surpassed its budgeted amount for inmate medical expenses this year, but the bills continue to roll in.

The department's business operations manager, Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson, said $40,000 was allotted for inmate medical expenses in 1995. last week the county already was $1,312.40 in the red for medical expenses, she said.

"But we have to keep paying it," said Dickerson. "Anytime the inmates fill out a medical request form, we usually have to take them to the doctor."

Sheriff's deputies this year have taken groups of inmates to visit a doctor at least once a week, Dickerson said. Four or five trips have been made to the emergency room, and inmates also have needed to see the dentist.

In addition to the medical attention, prescriptions must filled while people are behind bars. All of those medical services are paid by the county, she said.

"Some of them are taking medication for mental illnesses," she said. "We sure don't want them going off of that while they're here."

No matter what the ache or pain, Dickerson said the department is obligated to take inmates for medical attention because of liability reasons. She said questioning the worthiness of medical complaints is pointless in most cases.

The inmates' complaints range from minor headaches to injuries a trusty suffered when he fell down the steps. Dickerson said an ambulance was called to the jail four or five times this year.

James Robert Harris, 21, of Cape Girardeau was in the county jail for eight months. He was sentenced and transported last week to spend 15 years in prison for armed robbery.

But during his eight months in the county jail, Harris complained of headaches and was taken to the doctor, had prescriptions filled and visited a dentist. His bill totaled $234.

And because Harris was sentenced to prison, the county will pay that bill with no chance of reimbursement. The Missouri Department of Corrections doesn't pay any medical bills when inmates are in the county's custody.

Timothy Lesch, 32, of Cape Girardeau also is spending time in prison. But while he was in the county jail this year, charged with attempted manufacturing of a controlled substance, he incurred medical bills totaling $2,796 for the county to pay.

Lesch had costs for prescriptions and extensive lab work at the doctor's office and at a Cape Girardeau hospital. He was diagnosed with an inflamed prostate and given antibiotics.

Officials call medical expenses for Harris and Lesch nothing out of the ordinary for the inmate population. But they are concerned when someone in the county's custody faces serious medical problems at taxpayers' expense.

A man last year avoided being arrested because his medical bills would have cost the county thousands of dollars had he been formally taken into custody.

Khamata Kornkhamsee, 19, of Elgin, Ill., was shot Sept. 3, 1994, in Jackson he threatened a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper with a gun. But because he needed several operations to recover, Cape Girardeau County avoided issuing a warrant for his arrest, knowing that an arrest warrant against Kornkhamsee alleging assault had been issued by Winnebago County, Ill. Officials from Winnebago County had to take custody of Kornkhamsee and his medical bills.

The county does get reimbursed for some of its inmate medical expenses, but only in rare instances, officials said.

If an inmate is placed on probation, the judge sometimes orders that court costs -- including medical expenses -- must be paid. But usually the costs are made in payments, and it might take several years to recoup the medical costs.

Officials with the sheriff's department, circuit clerk's office and the county treasurer's office said exact figures on the reimbursement of medical expenses aren't readily available. The medical expenses are lumped with other expenses, and officials only know when total court costs are paid, which might or might not contain medical expenses.

Officials agreed that reimbursement of medical expenses or other costs are an exception and not the rule.

Dickerson said part of the reason for surpassing the budgeted amount this year was the number of inmates.

Last year, she said the county took 1,621 inmates to jail. As of last week, the county booked 1,631 inmates, already 10 more than all of last year.