Prison System Could Save Money With Health Care Contract

By Emily Wagster Pettus Associated Press JACKSON – The head of the Mississippi Department of Corrections says the state could save $2 million over the next three years by choosing a new private contractor to provide health care for inmates. The health services contract is one of several Department of Corrections financial pacts that are being redone after last year’s federal criminal indictment of former Commissioner Christopher Epps. The current corrections commissioner, Marshall Fisher, said Friday that the department is recommending that Centurion of Mississippi LLC be awarded a three-year contract worth $149.2 million starting July 1, the beginning of the new state budget year. Fisher said in a statement that the Centurion pact would replace contracts the department now has with Wexford Health Sources Inc.