NO MORE FREE MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR JAIL INMATES

The days of free medical treatment are over at the Cape Girardeau County Jail.

After the jail exceeded last year's $40,000 budget for medical expenses, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan decided to implement a program in which county prisoners are charged $10 for every visit they take to the doctor's office.

So far, the plan has paid off with the sheriff's department already claiming a savings of more than $15,000 over last year.

According to the sheriff's office, the jail spent $26,331 in medical expenses from January to April last year.

During those same months this year, the sheriff's department has only paid out $9,952.

"You can't ask for it to work any better," Jordan said.

The money comes out of the prisoners' commissary money, personal funds that are held when the subject is booked or brought in later by family members. The $10 fee is explained during the booking procedure as a part of the jail's normal operation, said Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson.

"It's explained as a jail policy while the booking is in process," Dickerson said. "Because it is explained up front, the prisoners accept it as just another part of the system, so we haven't had any complaints."

But the jail has had results. Medical expenses make up the majority of the jail's budget. Last fiscal year, the department spent $47,216 on medical costs, Dickerson said. The jail's medical bills were $11,800 for the three months prior to implementing the $10 fee on Dec. 12. The three months following that date showed a considerable drop in doctor's visits, resulting in the department only paying $7,000 for that period.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones told a group of Jackson business owners last week about the plan and said inmates used doctor's visits as a chance to break up the monotony of jail sentences.

"Prisoner medical expenses were getting out of hand, I think the only thing we went over budget on last year," Jones said. "If a prisoner's sick, or he needs to go to a doctor or dentist, you've got to pay for it. It's amazing how many times they feel bad, it has direct relation to how long it's been since they've been out of their cell."

Every time a prisoner complains of an ailment, and since the jail does not employ an on-hand medical person, that prisoner has to be taken to the doctor.

"This was running up a bill," Jones said. "And the sheriff came up with a little deal where you pay the first $10 and we pay the rest. You'd think $10 wasn't a big deal, but they're not running to the doctor anymore unless they're really sick. They don't want to take that $10 out of their Coke-and-cigarette fund."

Jordan said the plan eliminates what he calls the "sunny-day out syndrome."

"That's when it's a nice day and the prisoners want to get out and see the outside," he said. "The prisoners that genuinely need medical attention are still filing their requests. But the sunny-day syndrome has just faded away."

Dickerson said that jails in other counties have their own systems of prisoner payments for medical services and the legality of this fee was researched before it was implemented. The commissary fund is considered an asset, just like personal property, and can be used to pay some jail expenses, Jordan said.

"The sheriff was checking into it for a while before we put it into place," Dickerson said. "And, if nothing new comes up, it should be fine."