MA ACLU Sues State Auditor Over Inmate Health Reports In Barnstable, Plymouth County

BARNSTABLE COUNTY, MA — A new lawsuit in Massachusetts is hoping to gain complete information into deaths of people at two houses of correction in the state.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed a public records lawsuit against State Auditor's Office for prisoner deaths and healthcare of people held by the Barnstable County and Plymouth County Sheriffs Departments.

In March, the Office of the State Auditor issued two, heavily redacted public audit reports on the topic. The Office of the State Auditor removed its audit results in the report on “an issue that includes confidential information,” the ACLU said.

So the organization filed a public records request seeking the complete reports.

That request didn't yield better results, the organization said. The auditor's office still produced a heavily redacted version that didn't describe the aforementioned issue, prompting the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court which accuses the auditor's office of wrongfully withholding reports.

"Without the complete reports, the public is unable to assess whether the ‘issue’ discovered by the Auditor’s Office presents a risk to prisoner health and safety, or otherwise creates risks for people in custody," said Daniel McFadden, staff attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts.

"Even if there is underlying confidential information that informed the audits, the audit results should not be confidential. Our government should always strive for transparency and openness—especially when it relates to the life and death of people in its custody."

The organization said there is an entire section of the report redacted, and that the reports also indicate that additional text was removed from other sections of the public report "without any way for the public to discern that it was missing."

Officials justified the redactions with a reference to a Public Records Law exemption concerning records that, in the words of the Supreme Judicial Court, "a terrorist would find useful to maximize damage."

The Plymouth County audit was conducted between July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2021. The auditors found "no significant instances of noncompliance by PCSD that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards."

The full complaint can be read here.

Barnstable County Audit

The audit into Barnstable County, released on March 16, found that the Sheriff's Office "did not ensure that all inmates’ health appraisals were completed on time and that its health appraisals and admission medical screenings were documented."

Findings continued:

"During the audit period, there were 1,228 inmates admitted to the Barnstable County Correctional Facility (BCCF) for 7 or more days, who were subject to an admission medical screening upon intake and a health appraisal between 7 and 14 days after admission. We found that 4 health appraisals in our statistical sample of 60 were not completed within 14 days of the inmates’ admission to BCCF."

The audit estimate that the healthcare vendor didn't complete between 24 and 196 health appraisals within the required timeframe.

Documentation was also an issue for the healthcare vendor, according to the findings.

Auditors took a sample of 94 inmates, five of which had no medical entrance exam reports in the system, and three of those five had no physical examination or initial chronic disease forms in the system.

Without these forms, there is no evidence that the admission medical screenings and health appraisals were completed at all.

These problems mean that "there is a higher-than-acceptable risk that inmates’ medical issues are not identified and treated, ultimately affecting the health and safety of all BCSO inmates," the audit said.

Sheriff's Office management states that the healthcare vendor was understaffed during this time, leading to this lapse. However, the office did say it would take steps to rectify the issues, leading the auditors to conclude that, at the time of the publication of the report, they had solved the issues.

An overview of the report can be read here.