By Steve Schltze
The Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE COUNTY, Wisc. — Milwaukee County will hire a Florida firm on an emergency $8.9 million, one-year contract to run the county’s inmate medical program using both county and private-sector employees.
Circuit Court Judge William Brash III ordered the move in a oral decision Tuesday, settling a long-running dispute over the quality of the county’s medical and mental health care for inmates at the downtown jail and House of Correction in Franklin. Two inmate-advocacy groups sued over gaps in care, including vacancies of top jail health staff for more than two years and lack of a full-time doctor in recent months.
“All of this is an improvement over what we’ve been enduring over the last 2 ½ years,” Peter Koneazny, a lawyer for Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, said Wednesday. “It’s unfortunate it took so long to get to this point.”
Full story: Judge orders Milwaukee County to temporarily outsource inmate medical program