Medical needs increasing at correctional facility

The health care provider for the Berks County Correctional Facility continues to be busy despite a shrinking number of inmates at the jail.

Todd Haskins, the chief operating officer at PrimeCare Medical, painted a picture of the changing landscape inside prisons like the one in Bern Township. PrimeCare has been managing the health care of inmates at the jail for more than three decades.

Haskins said at a prison board meeting Wednesday that while the prison has had fewer inmates over the last several years the medical needs of the inmates housed there continues to increase.

He reported that the number of inmates who saw a member of his staff at the jail grew during 2022. He said there were 175,639 completed appointments for care over the course of that year. Those appointments cover everything from routine medical visits to consultations with a mental health professional.

Haskins said the number of inmates transported to medical facilities is also on the rise.

He said there were about 550 off-site trips, representing an increase of about 26% over the previous year. These transports are to facilities that provide specialized medical services that are not offered at the jail like medical imaging and reproductive health.

The prison also saw an increase in the number of inmates who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness from 9% of the population in 2021 to 10% in 2022.

The number of incoming inmates who need detoxification treatment for drug or alcohol addiction rose dramatically as well. There were 979 individuals who needed this treatment in 2022 compared to 806 in 2021.