A company with ties to a state representative has submitted the lowest-cost proposal for medical services at the Tulsa Jail, it was learned Monday.
Officials stressed that cost is only one element considered in evaluating the three proposals opened Monday morning, and the contract — worth roughly $450,000 to $550,000 per month — won’t be awarded until at least September.
State Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, is a partner in Turn Key Health, one of three companies that submitted proposals. His involvement in the jail contract attracted some attention because he and two other Turn Key executives contributed $1,000 each to Sheriff Vic Regalado’s election campaign.
Another company associated with Echols, Sooner Medical Staffing, contributed $2,000 to Regalado.
Echols has donated to several other candidates, including two of Regalado’s opponents in last spring’s elections.
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Echols downplayed the link to Regalado’s campaign and said he believes that his company’s proposal was the best submitted.
“I’m honored to be considered for the Tulsa County contract,” Echols said Monday. “We believe we bid more services for less cost.”
Turn Key provides medical services in 20 Oklahoma county jails, the largest being Cleveland County’s F. Dewayne Beggs Detention Center in Norman. It also has contracts with four Arkansas jails and one in Kansas.
It would not have been eligible for the Tulsa County contract, though, had a requirement that providers already serve a correctional facility with at least 1,000 beds not been changed to 500 beds.
Without the change, Regalado said Monday, Florida-based Armor, the current provider, would have been the only candidate for the contract.
Turn Key’s base cost proposals were $3.6 million for the last eight months of the current budget year and $5.5 million for the subsequent year.
Armor proposed just under $4.1 million for eight months. It did not submit a 12-month proposal.
Armor’s clients include Oklahoma County; the Virginia Department of Corrections; Broward (Fort Lauderdale) and Palm Beach counties in Florida; and Nassau (Long Island) County, New York.
Southwest Correctional Medical Group, an affiliate of California-based Correctional Medical Group Cos., came in at $6.65 million for 12 months. It is new to the region, with operations at three jails in New Mexico, two in Texas and one in Arkansas.
Correctional Medical Group, however, includes regional subsidiaries throughout the United States and is especially prevalent in California, where the California Forensic Medical Group provides services in almost 30 counties. In the past few years some of its facilities have been accused of not properly caring for inmates with mental-health problems, according to published reports.
A five-member committee will evaluate the proposals based on several factors, including base cost, staffing, credentials, and cost add-ons and subtractions.
Medical costs have contributed significantly to the Tulsa Jail’s recent financial straits, and the county budget board — the county’s eight elected officials, including the sheriff — and the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority have been pressing the Sheriff’s Office to reduce expenses.
The construction of four new jail pods, two of which will dedicated to mental health, is expected to add to those costs while also opening a new revenue stream from a 0.041 percent sales tax approved in 2014.
