TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – The Smith County Commissioners Court voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an agreement that will keep UT Health as the provider of inmate health care services.
UT Health has provided care at the jail since 2024. In that time, jail leaders say things have improved compared to care under the previous provider.
“Inmates self-mutilating and inmates banging their head against the wall – we don’t have that anymore,” said Gary Pinkerton, Chief Deputy with the Smith County Sheriff’s Office.
While improvements have been made, leaders acknowledge there’s still work to do. Among the areas in need of improvement: figuring out how to recruit for hard-to-fill jobs like med techs, who give inmates their medicine.
“We pass about 60,000 doses a month of medications when you look at individual medication administrations,” said Carol Henson, Director of Jail Operations for UT Health.
While nurses can do the job, Henson said it’s not a cost-efficient decision. She and the county hope to tackle the issue in the next year.
While all members of the court voted in favor of the new agreement, it did not come without questions and concerns.
“This isn’t about the quality of care,” said Christina Drewry, Pct. 1 Commissioner. “My concern is with the cost – the cost increase that we’ve had.”
Drewry expressed interest in getting bids from other providers and locking in prices for staffing. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Wilson said doing such a thing would be difficult since staffing depends on jail population.
When it comes to the cost of caring for inmates, Henson said pharmaceutical costs can vary the most.
“I can treat a person with high blood pressure with Lisinopril for a few cents a pill,” she said. “I can’t treat a Hep C patient. It’s more like $6,000 a month just for their drug and they are on it 8 to 12 weeks.”
According to Smith County Auditor Karin Smith, the county budgeted $5 million for inmate medical care in the current fiscal year. The cost is on trend to be about $6 million, she said. $5.3 million was budgeted for the next fiscal year, which Smith said she believes is “inadequate.”
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