Community group pushes Alameda County supes to end Wellpath contract at Santa Rita Jail
When Maurice Monk of Oakland was found dead in his Santa Rita Jail cell, there were uneaten food trays and pills in his cell.
DUBLIN, Calif. - A community group of criminal justice advocates are presenting information to a group of Alameda County supervisors on Thursday, trying to convince them to end a healthcare contract with a controversial, private company at Santa Rita Jail, and instead, provide public, county-run medical care to those incarcerated there.
Other counties provide their own healthcare in jail
"We've talked to several Bay Area counties, and if they can do it, Alameda County can do it," said Micky Duxbury, a facilitator with the newly formed Stop Deaths and Harm Group, an offshoot of the Interfaith Coalition for Justice in Our Jails.
Duxbury said her group members have conducted extensive research in Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Marin and San Francisco counties, all of which provide healthcare in their jails.
Instead, Alameda County has opted to pay the California Forensic Medical Group, where a private company called Wellpath manages the healthcare for Santa Rita Jail, at a cost of $252,112,035 over five years.
The contract runs through Sept. 20, 2027.
"Wellpath needs to be replaced and the county needs to start planning now, or we'll be stuck with a poor-performing private equity corporation," said Bob Britton, a member of the Interfaith Coalition for Justice in Our Jails. "The best option is to gear up a county healthcare system."
Jail death inspires public hearing
Duxbury said her group, which plans to present its findings to the Public Protection Committee, was moved by the death of Maurice Monk in 2021.
KTVU obtained exclusive bodycamera video from inside Santa Rita Jail showing that deputies and Wellpath staff did not perform meaningful checks on Monk in his bunk, and were seen throwing in food and medicine through the slat in his door.
He had been languishing in his room for about three days, not eating or getting up, until he was discovered dead.
As a result of Monk's death, nine sheriff's deputies, a behavioral health clinician and a Wellpath nurse have been criminally charged in Monk's death.
All 11 defendants have pleaded not guilty.
"We became especially concerned about Wellpath after the death of Maurice Monk," Duxbury said. "When we saw the videos of all that medication on the floor, we were appalled that he was dying in his cell for three days."
EXCLUSIVE: Oakland man's last days at Santa Rita Jail
KTVU obtained body camera video showing the last few days of Maurice Monk's life in Santa Rita Jail. The coroner said he died Nov. 15, 2021. This video shows he was left for dead for several days before that. Note that some this video is not time stamped correctly. It was made public through a federal lawsuit. Lawyers Adante Pointer, Patrick Buelna and Ty Clark sought to make it public.
After that, Duxbury said her group obtained audits by the Forvis Mazars consulting group, which was hired by the county in 2020 to conduct performance reviews of the jail.
Consulting group finds high failure rates
Those reports show a consistent and ongoing failure to meet the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare standards.
An analysis of March 2023 to June 2024 audit reports shows a 70% to 100% failure rate of the "important" and "essential" "compliance indicators."
"Those evaluations show way below industry standards," Duxbury said. "And they have not improved."
Supervisors Elisa Márquez and Nate Miley sit on the Public Protection Committee.
Miley's office did not respond for comment and Marquez's office said the supervisor would reserve all opinions until after the meeting.
Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez also has not commented publicly on what she thinks about extending, or ending, the Wellpath contract.
But in a statement, her office said that her "goal is to ensure our incarcerated population receives the best medical care possible."
Wellpath did not respond for comment.
Wellpath woes
Wellpath provides healthcare services in approximately 420 facilities across 39 states, according to court documents. It is owned by private equity firm H.I.G. Capital and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Wellpath provides healthcare in 34 of California’s 56 county jail systems, including in four of the Bay Area’s nine counties.
In 2023, the San Francisco Chronicle investigated the company, which at the same time was facing 1,000 lawsuits in federal courts, alleging Wellpath provides substandard care.
One of those lawsuits was filed by Adante Pointer and Ty Clarke, of Laywers for the People in Oakland, who sued both Alameda County and Wellpath on behalf of Monk's children.
The county paid Monk's family a record $7 million.
Monk's family also sued Wellpath, which has yet to pay anything to the family.
In November 2024, Wellpath prepared bankruptcy filings with $644 million in debt.
Reuters reported Wellpath generated more than $2 billion in revenue in 2023, mostly from contracts to provide healthcare in federal and state prisons and local jails.
In January, Wellpath received a judge's approval in Texas to spin off its behavioral health division to lenders, in exchange for canceling about $375 million of Wellpath's debt.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED: The Public Protection Committee is meeting March 27 at 10 a.m. at 1221 Oak Street, or online here.