As the state deals with issues in its prison health care system and the exclusion of two senior prisons managers, the Oregon Department of Justice this month engaged a Chicago-based consulting firm to assist in getting ready for legal action.
The contract, which is valid through November 2027, stipulates that the state will reimburse Falcon Correctional & Community Services up to $250,000.
Around the time that Chief Medical Officer Dr. Warren Roberts and his supervisor, Joe Bugher, were placed on administrative leave by the Department of Corrections, the state signed the deal.
Bugher serves as the assistant director of health services, overseeing 634 employees involved in delivering medical care to Oregon s estimated 12,000 prisoners.
Mike Reese, the director of corrections, has refused to provide further details about the administrators’ absence. In a statement at the time, Reese stated that the state had engaged an outside specialist to look at how our healthcare systems were being run.
Although medical care and treatment are not included in the contract, Falcon will do a pre-assessment of the Department of Corrections’ health services system, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Amber Campbell.
The agency has been plagued for years by litigation and accusations regarding inadequate medical care for a variety of ailments, ranging from head traumas to asthma.
Campbell said the state plans to hire another outside contractor to do a second broader review of prison medical care, though those details have not yet been worked out.
Falcon employs former corrections administrators who advise state and municipal governments on mental health and prison and jail health care, as well as testify as expert witnesses in court.
According to the state’s contract with Falcon, the company’s duties include assisting the Department of Justice with investigations, trial preparation, expert opinions, and testifying in court.
The agreement includes a confidentiality clause that says Falcon will provide information to assist DOJ attorneys to both prepare for and conduct litigation and that all information in any form is considered confidential.
The contract does not specify which particular litigation the consultants were recruited to assist with or whether it has anything to do with Roberts and Bugher.
According to Campbell, the state intends to hire an outside consultant to conduct a separate personnel investigation of both administrators, which is being led by the Department of Justice.
Lawyers who reviewed the state s agreement with Falcon at The Oregonian/OregonLive s request said it does not include a review of prison medical services.
Basically the government, the state, is paying $250,000 to hire experts to potentially defend them, said John Coletti, a lawyer based in Lake Oswego who has sued Washington and Clackamas counties over medical care in jails.
He said the contract makes clear that the work produced by the Falcon is confidential and intended to prepare and assist attorneys in litigation, which, if we put our minds to work, what type of litigation would possibly flow from this malpractice in the prison setting. That s how I read this.
Thomas Stenson, deputy legal director of Disability Rights Oregon, a prominent advocacy organization that has pushed the state to improve prison conditions for people experiencing mental illness, said the contract is limited to helping the state defend itself.
Essentially, everything that they want to do, everything that they re outlining, is calculated to contribute to some sort of unknown litigation, he said.
He said the agreement spells out the secrecy surrounding the consultants work.
What they are saying is everything you do is work product and it must be confidential, he said. It is solely for the purpose of helping DOJ prepare for and conduct litigation. There is no other provision in here.
Four experts are named in the contract, with the state agreeing to pay each an hourly rate ranging from $175 to $350. The people named as consultants include two clinical psychologists, a physician and a lawyer who previously led state corrections agencies in Colorado and Wisconsin.
The Falcon consulting group has done work for other states prison systems, including Massachusetts, which hired it several years ago to conduct an examination of restrictive housing for prisoners. The group also has contracted with the Department of Corrections in Wisconsin, where prisoners and advocates raised concerns about neglect and mistreatment.
On Wednesday, the agency said it had hired Dr. Michael Seale to serve as chief medical officer while Roberts is on leave. Seale previously served as medical director for corrections in Multnomah County. He will be paid $31,977 per month.
Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184;[email protected]
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