In the life of every inmate is a mother, a father, a sister or a brother that has concerns about their loved ones receiving medical attention when it is needed.

When I took office as your Sheriff in 2008, medical care for the inmates involved taking an inmate to Charity hospital and having them seen through emergency. When prescription medications were required, they would be filled and disbursed accordingly by a staff member working in the jail. This was both awkward and expensive.

During 2009 we had an opportunity to change the way things were being done and we hired a part time doctor and a part time nurse. Initially, this worked out better in terms of having trained medical staff on board to provide care for the inmates, but we soon saw it was becoming expensive in terms of the cost of unnecessary medication.

The Washington Parish Sheriff’s Department shares the cost of medication and transportation by ambulance to have an inmate seen at a local hospital. When an ambulance was not required, we would need to pull a deputy from his or her regular job and provide a car for transport so the inmate could be transported for care. In most cases this would be an all day affair resulting in an unrecoverable loss for the department in the arena of manpower and money.

Costs for parish inmate care is proportionally shared by the Washington Parish Government and the Sheriff’s office. Department of Corrections inmate care is reimbursable by the state.

After analyzing what the Sheriff’s Department and the parish government was paying for inmate care and understanding that medical care must be provided but cannot be projected, we took another careful look for quality assurance purposes. The volume and cost of medical care and prescriptions still appeared too high .

In 2010 a decision was reached to hire Dr. Jerry Thomas to come into the jail two times per week. In preparation for his visits we have the inmates ready to attend sick call for maximum efficiency. The Doctor is able to treat most things from the inside which has substantially reduced what we were spending in transport. For those inmates that require hospital care, appropriate arrangements are made and action is taken. For emergencies that occur when the Doctor is not in, we transport immediately.

By doing the work and making the necessary changes so we can provide efficient and cost effective care to our inmates, it has resulted in an annual savings of approximately $23,000.00. That is a lot for a department that needs to safeguard every dollar and spend it wisely.

Doctor Thomas often comes in when he is not scheduled to do follow up on the inmates in his care. On behalf of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s office we thank him for his dedication.

Robert J. Crowe

Sheriff, Washington Parish