Nassau jail inmate care review sought by Edward Mangano

Although a state commission directed that county lawmakers investigate the quality of care at Nassau’s jail months ago, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano is making the first public move.

A team of county public health officials is slated to visit the jail next week to review the quality of medical treatment now handled by a private vendor, Armor Correctional Health Services. The company’s performance at the East Meadow jail has come under severe criticism from the state commission of correction, a judge and the former head of the county’s bar association.

Armor contends that it offers quality services.

But it’s Nassau’s job to ensure that the company’s services — like any other county vendor — are up to par.

Until this week, Nassau’s reaction to complaints about health care at the jail had been twofold.

The county, which has struggled with budget deficits, noted, correctly, the millions of dollars Armor is saving.

And Nassau contended that ending the Armor contract early likely would lead to litigation because allegations of inadequate inmate care had not been “substantiated, to date.”

Armor’s contract, which was extended in June, ends in 2017. But the county already is working on a request for proposals for a jail health care vendor, although it’s unclear whether a new contract for such services could go into effect quickly, or, as is more likely, closer to when Armor’s term ends.

A team that includes Nassau’s health and mental health commissioners and others as-yet unnamed is slated to visit the jail next week, Mangano said Wednesday. The team is supposed to review medical treatment given to jail inmates and report back to Mangano on ways in which the county can better monitor what is going on.

One possible outcome could be Nassau’s moving a full-time person with a medical background to the jail. The position — which likely would report to the county health commissioner, instead of the sheriff, who runs the jail — would monitor inmate health care and, if needed, offer inmates referrals to county mental health or other services.

“We would have to see what the committee recommends, but I am looking for recommendations for health care oversight,” Mangano said.

The issue of health care at the jail has been roiling since the state Commission of Correction last year found that Armor has a pattern of neglectful inmate care. The commission cited inadequate care in the deaths of four Nassau inmates since the company signed on with the county in mid-2011.

The commission also directed the Nassau County Legislature to conduct an inquiry into Armor’s fitness to treat jail inmates. Legis. Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow), the presiding officer, has said she is investigating, but so far has released no results.

Mangano’s move to monitor — if done with transparency and thoroughness — would add a layer of much-needed oversight, no small matter given the seriousness of the commission’s findings about Armor.

Legis. Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury), who has been pushing Mangano to appoint a commissioner of correction to oversee jail health care, called the monitoring panel a step in the right direction. But she said a correction commissioner — a long-vacant position mandated by the county charter — nonetheless remains vital.

“I don’t want this to be a fruitless exercise,” Bynoe said.