Sheriff Jack Parker keeps his word.
Or so proclaims his campaign literature.
After breezing through his seven “promises kept”, I began to wonder exactly what 2004 campaign promises he didn’t keep…
…and wasn’t telling us.
Interesting what’s stumbled upon when one’s googling for something else.
Back in November 2005, Miami Herald reporter Dan Christensen detailed specifics regarding a connection between several Florida sheriffs and Armor Correctional Health Services, a health care provider contracted to provide medical services to inmates in Florida jails and prisons.
Among the sheriffs identified? Jack Parker.
Funny. I didn’t find any of this in his campaign brochure.
And I never found those 2004 “Elect Me!” promises.
The article cited is quoted in its entirety.
Private firm has sheriffs riding shotgun
BY DAN CHRISTENSEN, dchristensen@herald.com
Tuesday, Nov 15, 2005With behind-the-scenes help from sheriffs, including BSO’s Ken Jenne,
Broward-based Armor Correctional Health Services is making millions.***
A year ago, Coconut Creek-based Armor Correctional Health Services was
an upstart in the business of providing healthcare for jail inmates.
The company had formidable political connections but no track record, no active contracts and not a dollar in sales.But Armor, owned by Miami physician Dr. Jose Armas, has bulked up fast.
Today, with behind-the-scenes help from several current and former
Florida sheriffs, Armor has signed multiyear contracts with Broward,
Brevard and Hillsborough counties worth about $221 million over five
years. A fourth contract, with Martin County, is being finalized.County sheriffs do their own hiring and set the rules that competing
bidders must follow.In Broward and Brevard, rules were changed in advance of bids in ways
that helped Armor qualify for contracts.And in Hillsborough, Armor’s bid was millions of dollars higher than
three others. It got a boost from a late decision to eliminate price as a consideration.Two sheriffs who bypassed Armor said fellow sheriffs have called them
and plugged the company. They identified those sheriffs as Ken Jenne of Broward, Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach and J.R. ”Jack” Parker of Brevard.Ex-Hillsborough Sheriff Cal Henderson told The Herald that Armor hired him as a ”consultant” shortly after he left office in January.
His duties, he said, have included lobbying sheriffs in at least six
counties — Marion, Collier, Sarasota, Manatee, Leon and Lee — where
healthcare contracts were pending or anticipated.According to company spokeswoman Dana Clay, Armor won the contracts
because of its ability to perform, the value it offered and the
experience of its staff.”If sheriffs are talking to each other, it’s been completely on their own initiative,” Clay said.
The privatization of medical, dental and mental health services for
prisoners is on the rise across the country as governments seek to cut costs, limit liability and avoid caring directly for an often sickly population, experts say.LOBBYING QUESTIONED
In Florida, opportunity exists for more rapid growth. The state
Department of Corrections is now seeking bidders for a five-year
contract to provide comprehensive healthcare services to about 18,000
inmates in 13 prisons in South Florida.Bids for that contract, estimated to be worth about $385 million, will be opened Nov. 29.
While Armor has no plans to go public, Clay said, it has positioned
itself to do so by registering itself and obtaining a trading symbol,
AHSV.Florida law generally allows public officials to lobby agencies other
than their own.But behind-the-scenes lobbying by sheriffs raises ethical questions, a University of Miami ethicist said.”The use of surreptitious lobbying that is unknown to the public and
unregulated by the public seems to be both unwise and arguably wrong,” said Anthony Alfieri, director of UM’s Center for Ethics and Public Service.Three sheriff’s offices changed bid specifications for prison healthcare service contracts in ways that helped Armor win.
• In Broward, BSO opened the door for Armor during the bid process by
dropping its requirement that companies have experience providing
healthcare to inmates. Armor had no experience, and was just three
months old, when Jenne awarded the company its first $127 million
contract in October 2004 to provide healthcare services to Broward’s
5,000 inmates during the next five years.And Armor is owned by Armas, who, through his companies and associates, has been a major contributor to Jenne’s reelection campaign.
• In Brevard, Armor won a five-year, $19.9 million contract from Sheriff Parker in May, after Parker’s office slightly altered the wording in bid specifications about corporate experience. The changes allowed fledgling Armor to qualify by giving it credit for the experience of individual executives.
• In Hillsborough, Armor snagged a three-year, $65 million contract
following a decision late in the process to eliminate price as a
consideration in picking a winner. Three competitors submitted bids that were millions of dollars less than Armor’s. The county’s detention chief acknowledged in an interview that the decision was ”unusual,” but it is not illegal.Two Florida sheriffs who chose not to hire Armor, St. Lucie’s Ken
Mascara and Lee’s Mike Scott, said other sheriffs attempted to influence them to hire Armor.Mascara told the Daily Business Review in March that Jenne called him
last year and recommended Armor.”He said he knew the guy running it and asked if I would entertain
their bid,” Mascara recalled.”We were talking. I brought it up,” Jenne told the Review. “I told
him our people were very satisfied with them.”But Jenne offered his favorable opinion before Armor had begun work for BSO.Jenne has not recommended Armor to other sheriffs, his spokesman said, and the sheriff doesn’t believe his statements to Mascara amounted to a recommendation of Armor.
Mascara declined to comment.LOTS OF PHONE CALLS
Lee County’s Sheriff Scott said fellow sheriffs, state senators and a
lobbyist for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, James M.
Spearing Jr., peppered him with calls boosting Armor when Lee County bid out a multimillion-dollar jail healthcare contract in May and June.”You could call it lobbying,” said Scott who named Palm Beach’s
Bradshaw and Brevard’s Parker, as well as ex-Hillsborough Sheriff
Henderson as the ones who called him.Scott said Armor chief executive Doyle Moore also “suggested I give Ken Jenne a call, too, but I didn’t need to. By that time, I’d made up my mind.”
Scott, who chose to keep his county’s incumbent provider,
Tennessee-based Prison Health Services, said some sheriffs, including
Jenne and Parker, had helped Armor by lowering corporate experience
requirements in bid documents.”As a sheriff, you can relax those things and others did,” said Scott.
Palm Beach Sheriff Bradshaw ”may have talked about this company” with Sheriff Scott, said Bradshaw’s spokesman Paul Miller.
MIND MADE UP?
Bradshaw, who took office in January, is reviewing all contracts in
search of savings, Miller said. The existing jail healthcare contract
with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services has a clause that
would allow Bradshaw to opt out early and seek new bids, Miller said.In September, The Palm Beach Post reported that Bradshaw had sent a team of Armor executives into the jail to review CMS’s operations. Sheriff Scott thinks Bradshaw had already made up his mind on a successor”I talked with Ric at length. It was my understanding he was going to shut it down and go with Armor,” said Scott.
An aide to Brevard Sheriff Parker, Tom Jenkins, acknowledged that Parker talked with Scott about Armor. ”He remembers it more as a reference report on our experience up to that point,” Jenkins said.
But Armor didn’t start work in Brevard until July 1 — after Scott’s
decision.Jenkins said the bid was modified not to benefit any particular company, but “to allow companies with experienced personnel to be considered.”
”Nobody asked for it,” Jenkins said.
Postscript
–Former Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne resigned and pled guilty to federal corruption charges involving tens of thousands of dollars he allegedly received from sheriff’s office contractors and employees. Sheriff for nearly a decade and a former Democratic state senator whom many thought might rise to governor, Jenne pled guilty to one count of mail-fraud conspiracy and three counts of income-tax evasion in federal court. He admitted accepting more than $151,625 in improper payments and services from Sheriff’s Office contractors — including money funneled through his secretaries.
Jenne was sentenced to a year and a day and is scheduled for a Sept. 29 release.
He gets his law license back after five years.
–Dr. Jose Armas–the owner of Armor–donated to a series of Republican state candidates, including Governor Charlie Crist.
That is significant, because Crist just appointed Ana Viamonte Ros as the state’s first Surgeon General. Where did Viamonte Ros work?
Viamonte-Ros 50, of Coral Gables, manages Clinical Operation Support at Armor Correctional Health Services in Coconut Creek, Florida. She is the author of numerous publications in the areas of mental health, radiology and family health.
crossposted from Talk to Me
Not only that but they made the pot head a team leader at work….he got promoted and didn’t get in trouble for his illegal drug use….all because his mother-in-law works as an administrator. Armor is so two-faced. What kills me is that the jail either doesn’t know about his drug use, or they are also turning a blind eye because of his family connections.
Armor_LPN, can you contact me in private to talk about family members protecting each other at Armor? And which jail this is at?
Other areas in Florida are complaining about Armor as well, this is take from the blog: PBSO exempt from inspector general’s review?
The opinion zone/Palm Beach Post
These for profit blackeyes in jails and prisons can’t stay hidden from the taxpayers for long.
“A few years ago, Sheriff Bradshaw went out for a non competitive bid (which is his right) for a health care provider to provide medical services to the county jail. The company he picked, using millions of Palm Beach County tax payer dollars was for Armor Correctional Health Services in Davie, Fl. The company was given a contract even though they weren’t licensed, they had no track record and the audit that was given to the State of Florida was for another company. There are many Florida Jail Standards broken in the jail as LPN’s do naked body searches on male inmates which is against the law, it has to be done by a licensed physician or someone of the same sex; also according to the Florida Jail standard, under no circumstances are the officers supposed to refrain from any foul language to an inmate, this is done by most of the Armor Nurses and the head doctor who is not living up to his Hippocratic Oath, where his allegiance is to his patient, not his employer. Sheriff Bradshaw, Armor
Correctional and the head doctor (who is a dermatologist) not an internist have about fifteen to twenty cases on the books in the Fifteenth Judicial District for ADA/Civil Rights violations in the county jail. There is another problem with Armor Correctional whose medical director was Ana M. Viamonte Ros. Dr. Armas who heads up Armor Correctional was a heavy contributor to governor Charlie Crist. As soon as he became governor, he appointed Ana M. Viamonte Ros his Florida Surgeon General. THIS IS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST since Ms. Ros supervises the activities in the county jails.”
Contract woes for Armor: after loosing Escambia County recently and that jail going back to the sheriff department for care:
Now Jail builder files $501K lien for unpaid expenses, workers laid off at Baker County Jail.
The lack of funds is also affecting BCDC’s vendors. Mr. Bishop said a roughly $1.7 million annual contract with Miami-based Armor Correctional Health Services is being renegotiated to reflect the smaller demand for services.
On the Armor Correctional website, under their recent development section; they boast about the contract with Baker County Jail, but they don’t mention that they are being foreced to change to contract and make a lot less money than they had originally contracted for.
Although this info is a few months old it’s significant to this blog, as it shows how far Armor will go to hide it’s dirt: What are the chances two computers in two different parts of Florida, have files accidently erased, with the same internet free program?
It’s not chance, Doyle Moore of Armor and Bill Balkwill sheriff, thought they could get away with deleting proof of their unethical behavior but didn’t count on getting caught.
SARASOTA COUNTY – Attorneys have discovered a second batch of missing computer files related to the inquiry into former Sheriff Bill Balkwill’s award of a $9 million no-bid jail contract. Someone deleted a “significant amount of data” from a desktop used by a top executive for Armor Correctional Health Services.
When Doyle Moore, Armor’s CEO, handed over his desktop to forensic experts, they found someone had “scrubbed” the computer with an Internet program known as C Cleaner — the same program that Balkwill used to delete 11,000 files from his department-issued laptop.
Exerts taken from Glassdoor.com, a place where you can rate your employer:
Please see the posts below.
Armor Correctional Health Services Anonymous: (Past Employee – 2009)
“Unprofessional/Unethical Employer” 2 of 2 people found this helpful
Pros
Armor’s salary and benefits package are very good. No complaints with Human Resources at the corporate level. They will be there to support you every step of the way.
Cons
Armor does not have an effective employee training program and promotions with this company are unlikely. Inmates do not receive medical care or medications in a timely manner due to procedural changes made at the corporate level and lack of communication to site managers.
Advice to Senior Management
Corporate is lacking professionalism towards the employees that run their sites. They need to show all employees more respect. They need to promote from within the sites instead of bringing in new people from the outside.
Helpful Review? Yes | No Inappropriate? Share: ..
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Sep 27, 2009
2009-09-27 18:48 PDT
1.0 Details
Career Opportunities 1.0
Senior Leadership 1.0
Employee Morale 1.0
Compensation & Benefits 3.0
Work/Life Balance 2.0
Communication 1.0
Fairness & Respect 1.0
Recognition & Feedback 1.0
Disapproves of CEO Armor Correctional Health Services RN Management in Tampa, FL: (Past Employee – 2008)
“Unethical Environment” 2 of 2 people found this helpful
Pros
I was able to work with a very professional Correctional Organization (HCSO)
Cons
Corp management unethical, Middle management unethical, HSA unethical, no communication, unable to get supplies, unable to get medications for patients.
Advice to Senior Management
Stop pretending your a new company and admit to everyone that your just PHS with another name.
Helpful Review? Yes | No Comments (1) Inappropriate? Share: ..
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Aug 30, 2009
2009-08-30 20:01 PDT
4.0 Details
Career Opportunities 2.5
Senior Leadership 4.5
Employee Morale 4.0
Compensation & Benefits 3.5
Work/Life Balance 5.0
Communication 5.0
Fairness & Respect 4.0
Recognition & Feedback 3.5
Approves of CEO Armor Correctional Health Services Business Analyst in Miami, FL: (Current Employee)
“Pleasant Place to Work” 0 of 0 people found this helpful
Pros
It is a very happy, generally friendly work environment. Despite being a large company, at corporate it feels very small. It’s easy to feel like you are affecting the way the company does business.
Cons
I think Armor could be a better company to work for if it had some of the more formal review policies in place at larger corporations.
Advice to Senior Management
Instate yearly review process with employee for wage evaluations.
Helpful Review? Yes | No Inappropriate? Share: ..
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Jul 22, 2009
2009-07-22 14:39 PDT
2.0 Details
Career Opportunities 2.5
Senior Leadership 2.0
Employee Morale 2.0
Compensation & Benefits 3.0
Work/Life Balance 4.0
Communication 2.5
Fairness & Respect 2.5
Recognition & Feedback 3.0
Disapproves of CEO Armor Correctional Health Services Anonymous: (Past Employee – 2008)
“Run…do not walk…away. Unprofessional to say the least” 2 of 2 people found this helpful
Pros
Working in a correctional facility can be very exciting, but I do not recommend for the faint-hearted. Salary wise- very competative. Working conditions were OK, enjoyed working with officers who were professional and who did a good job of care and custody of inmates.
Cons
Mid management, i.e. facility managers and supervisors, were very unprofessional and most times did not havea clue of how to handle staff situations. Much of the information I received was via the officers who received information through their chain of command. If you are thinking of making correctional care a carrer, think again, Armor does not have a retirement savings plan, nor do they encourage continuing education.
Advice to Senior Management
Your facility management staff need to understand that without people on the floor, Armor could not provide the million dollar services for which they are contracted. Remember, the inmates, are your responsibility and are entitled to receive medical care as instructed. They should not have to wait for 3, 5, 7 or whatever amount of days to receive this care. What if it were your family member, would you accept this lack of care/treatment?
Helpful Review? Yes | No Comments (2) Inappropriate? Share: ..
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May 18, 2009
2009-05-18 06:07 PDT
5.0 Details
Career Opportunities 4.0
Senior Leadership 4.0
Employee Morale 5.0
Compensation & Benefits 4.5
Work/Life Balance 5.0
Communication 4.0
Fairness & Respect 4.5
Recognition & Feedback 5.0
Approves of CEO Armor Correctional Health Services Nurse in Fort Lauderdale, FL: (Current Employee)
“Great Company to work to for if you want to work hard. Not a place to come so you can be idle.” 0 of 1 people found this helpful
Pros
Good compensation package compared to other companies in our business.
Cons
None that I can think of at this time.
Advice to Senior Management
Always listen, even if the suggestion isn’t the best…just listen.
Helpful Review? Yes | No Inappropriate? Share: ..
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Apr 29, 2009
2009-04-29 22:55 PDT
2.0 Details
Career Opportunities 1.0
Senior Leadership 1.0
Employee Morale 1.0
Compensation & Benefits 3.0
Work/Life Balance 4.0
Communication 1.0
Fairness & Respect 1.0
Recognition & Feedback 1.0
No Opinion of CEO Armor Correctional Health Services Anonymous in Fort Lauderdale, FL: (Current Employee)
“Don’t walk, run! Far, far away!” 1 of 2 people found this helpful
Pros
Compensation and benefits – they are not greatest, but could be worse.
Cons
Total lack of respect towards non-management staff, unfair treatment, extremely low morale, unethical hiring (and terminating!) practices. Accusatory, sometimes bordering on defamatory statements given to employees. Most of mid-management is incompetent in effectively dealing with staff. Lack of logic is an everyday occurance in decision-making. The company is not supposed to be a paramilitary organization, yet some members of management attempt to run it as such. Egos come before the interest of the common good. Fragmented organizational structure. Management does not encourage professional training or growth, or the philosophy of “hire from within.” Some managers flat-out lie to employees, without blinking an eye. What happened to integrity?
Advice to Senior Management
Please incorporate the following words in your vocabulary: ethics, morale, fairness, retention, teamwork.
Don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish. It costs a lot of money to hire and train new staff as opposed to keeping the existing one. Discourage the practice of authoritarian leadership. Please! And remember: a company’s greatest asset is its staff!
Helpful Review? Yes | No Comments (1) Inappropriate? Share: ..
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Jun 19, 2008
2008-06-19 06:53 PDT
1.0 Details
Career Opportunities 3.0
Senior Leadership 1.0
Employee Morale 1.0
Compensation & Benefits 1.0
Work/Life Balance 1.0
Communication 1.0
Fairness & Respect 1.0
Recognition & Feedback 1.0
Armor Correctional Health Services Nurse in West Palm Beach, FL: (Current Employee)
“this job sucks” 2 of 3 people found this helpful
Pros
the correctional care arena is a great place for nurses who are tired of working 12 hour shifts in the hospital because the actual work is much less physically demanding than your typical patient load. The jail is a fun place to work and we have the opportunity to work with corrections staff in addition to the inmate population. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Cons
The negativities are definately the current management in this facility. the administrators are incompetent nurses which makes then ineffective managers. They’re unable to perform the daily nursing requirements. The managers sit in an office and shuffle papers around, when they should be out in the working environment monitoring staff and offering assistance when things get to be to much. This tends to be a they say we do environment rather than a teamworking environment! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Advice to Senior Management
Get out of the offices and take a good look at what some of the employees are doing to make your job easier. Be more personable and friendly. Say good-morning when you see someone. take the opportunity to thank someone for going over and above.
Armor CEO and Company ratings from the same website Glassdoor.com:
Company Rating Based on 7 ratingsCareer Opportunities 2.2
Communication 2.2
Compensation & Benefits 3.1
Employee Morale 2.1
Recognition & Feedback 2.2
Senior Leadership 2.1
Work/Life Balance 3.4
Fairness & Respect 2.1
“Dissatisfied”
2.3
CEO Approval Based on 6 ratings“Do you approve of the way this person is handling the job of leading this company?”
33% Approve
33% Disapprove
6 responses (2 ‘Not Sure’)
Bruce Teal
CEO
33% Approve
We believe we have finally struck a nerve on the ethics scale. This week we’re told that Armor has sent a lawyer to Hillsborough County Jail, one of their biggest contracts, to find out who is blogging information to the public on our blog and other places. Sources inside the jail tell us that they are called from their duty stations and taken to a room without being told what they are going for and then grilled by a lawyer about blogs and previous employees of Armor.
Maybe Bruce Teal is finally listening to his staff like he says he does in an article titles:
Final hearing
How Bruce Teal uses the power of communication to unlock the potential at Armor Correctional Health Services
By Mike Cottrill
Smart Business | May 2007
http://www.sbnonline.com/Local/Article/11847/76/0/Final_hearing.aspx
History of Unethical dealings.
September 22, 2006 Intelligencer Journal
Charges will not be filed against the head of a Florida-based private medical services company unless new information comes to light, District Attorney Don Totaro said Thursday. Doyle Moore, CEO of Armor Correctional Health Services, was being investigated by Totaro’s office for allegedly falsifying information on an application for a county contract. Totaro based his decision on an affidavit Armor submitted in February when it applied for a 5-year, $17-million contract to provide all medical services to Lancaster County Prison. The affidavit — one of three submitted by Armor — sought information on “employee criminal history.” A county detective discovered Moore was convicted in Massachusetts in 1994 of tax evasion, a felony offense. Moore was sentenced to 2 years in prison, but he never served jail time, according to an article in the Boston Globe, because a judge suspended the prison term. Moore also was fined $68,650 and ordered to pay all legal costs, the paper reported. The instructions on the “employee criminal history” affidavit required the person completing it to place his or her initials next to one of two statements: The first stated no one who would work on “this contract” has ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony or has any criminal action pending. The second stated some employees have been convicted of crimes and instructs the person completing the document to list the names of those workers. An “X,” rather than someone’s initials, was typed on the line next to the first statement. “This affidavit was the only one of the three that did not include space for a signature or a notary seal,” Totaro said. Although Moore signed the two other affidavits, Totaro said there was no way to prove he completed the third one because it had no signature and no initials on it. Had Totaro been able to prove Moore completed the document, Moore could have been charged with falsifying an official document because of his criminal record. “There is no way for us to prove who completed this” affidavit of employee criminal history, Totaro said. “Our burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt, and we cannot meet that burden.” ••• In June, county prison Warden Vince Guarini told the prison board Armor was the most qualified firm to provide medical services to the county prison. He has been pushing for about a year to outsource those services to save money and because the current in-house program is understaffed and cannot provide sufficient care to the prison’s 1,200 inmates. With Guarini’s endorsement, the prison board voted at its June meeting to recommend the county commissioners negotiate a contract with Armor. But shortly after the commissioners were charged with that task, Commissioner Molly Henderson has said, the board received e-mails from the public regarding the track record of Armor and several of its executives, including Moore. James Laughman, the county’s interim director of human services, said the e-mails contained newspaper articles that suggested Armor and its executives had used various forms of influence to procure contracts to provide prison medical care, primarily in Florida, and that Moore’s former company, Prison Health Services, had been sued several times for providing poor service to its customers. Guarini said he received that information, too, moving him to ask the district attorney’s office to investigate. That is when the county detective discovered Moore’s 1994 tax evasion conviction. Guarini has said he knew nothing about Moore’s conviction before the detective discovered it. ••• Contracting for prison health care is new to Lancaster County, said Totaro, who sits on the county’s prison board. Guarini, who said he’s known Moore for more than 30 years (the two worked together in the 1970s when Guarini was deputy warden of Delaware County’s prison and Moore was a health care professional there), was responsible for the process of soliciting bids and reviewing contracts. “The documents the county sent out to potential bidders were provided by the warden,” Totaro said. “The warden obtained these documents from Armor.” Guarini deferred all comment on the Armor situation to Laughman. Laughman said “there were serious flaws throughout the process.” “It appears going to Armor (for documents used in the bidding process) was a huge concern,” he said. Laughman also said he found it “alarming” the affidavit of employee criminal history did not require a notarized signature of the person who completed it. Totaro concurred with Laughman’s assessment of the process. “It most certainly was flawed,” he said. Armor’s attorney could not be reached Thursday for comment. As the county moves forward with its search for a prison health care provider, Laughman and county solicitor Don LeFever will oversee the process. “We are starting over again from square one,” Totaro said. He added that he is “confident” the process has been corrected.
Unethical history of doing business continues:
How familiar this sounds, Lobbyists? Contributions to political campaingns? Doyle Moore?
That’s because Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. was started by the same person with the same unethical principles of “Mak’n Money” on the taxpayers dime. I’ve said this before in the blogs and I’ll say it again…Doyle Moore, Bruce Teal, Ken Palombo and many of the Armor Corporate fat cats came directly from PHS…they brought with them the same mismanagement and problems they created while they were fat cats at PHS. Hillsborough Co fired PHS and brought in Armor…Sarasota Jail (and we all know about the balkwil debackle) fired PHS and brought in Armor….Escambia Co fired PHS and brought in Armor (recently took back over the health care and fired Armor)…and other jails have done so too…….So why don’t the legal system see that they are just hiring the same Group under a different Name?????
“taken from the new york times article: Private Health Care in Prisons Can Be A DEATH SENTENCE.
As it grew, Prison Health proved adept at ingratiating itself with local politicians, hiring lobbyists and contributing to campaigns for sheriff. Under a promise of immunity from prosecution, the nurse who founded the company, Mr. Moore, testified at a 1993 Florida corruption trial that he had paid the Broward County Republican chairman $5,000 a month – “basically extortion,” he said – to keep the contract there and in neighboring Palm Beach County.
“Under a promise of immunity from prosecution, the nurse who founded the company, Mr. Moore, testified at a 1993 Florida corruption trial that he had paid the Broward County Republican chairman $5,000 a month – “basically extortion,” ”
This is the same contract Armor now has (landed again by Doyle Moore when he formed Armor):
and is touted about on their web page under:
Armor Client, BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE, named NCCHC Facility of the Year. National Commission commends Sheriff Al Lamberti citing excellence in health services delivery, correctional health care professionalism, and a commitment to continuity of services.
Armor likes to show off accredidation but everyone should remember court rulings on this matter:
ACA accreditation does not determine constitutionality. See Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 543 n. 27; Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail, 502 U.S. 367, 391 n. 13 (1992). “It is absurd to suggest that the federal courts should subvert their judgment as to alleged Eighth Amendment violations to the ACA whenever it has relevant standards.” Gates v. Cook, 376 F.3d 323, 337 (5th Cir. 2004). Although ACA standards “may be a relevant consideration,” compliance with them “is not per se evidence of constitutionality.” Id. “[A]ccreditation, in itself, is not a clear indication that [defendant] is properly following its policies and procedures.” Ruiz v. Johnson, 37 F.Supp.2d 855, 924 (D. Tex. 1999) rev’d and remanded on other grounds by Ruiz v. U.S., 243 F.3d 941 (5th Cir. 2001).
Achieving ACA accreditation is not an outcomes-based performance goal. Rather, ACA standards primarily prescribe procedures. The great majority of ACA standards are written in this form: “The facility shall have written policies and procedures on . . . .” The standards emphasize the important benefits of procedural regularity and effective administrative control that flow from written procedures, and careful documentation of practices and events. But, for the most part, the standards prescribe neither the goals that ought to be achieved nor the indicators that would let officials know if they are making progress toward those goals over time. (Abt Associates, “Government’s Management of Private Prisons,” September 15, 2003)
So Doyle Moore and Armor Correctional just picked up in Broward right where Doyle Moore and PHS stopped at Broward. Truth is more interesting than Fiction.
Armor also has other ex Prison Health Services employees working in middle management positions: Records show that Hillsborough County Jail medical is ran by Lewis Hays and Sarasota Jail administrator Robin Devine were both PHS employees before coming to Armor Correctional.
Again remember: Hillsborough County Jail and Sarasota Jail…both fired PHS because they felt they dind’t do a good job….then they brought in Armor Correctional, who’s managment is from PHS (whom they said didn’t do a good job). Where do these people get their logic in hiring?
Blogging has seen the facts even back in 2005:
28 February 2005
07:21 Pacific Standard Time
Privatization Gone Horribly, Horribly Wrong
In the New York Times this weekend was a story about one of the companies that does the contract health care for many, many prisons across the country. They make the lowest bid, and then they basically don’t do their job. They withhold medication, ignore prisoners’ health conditions, etc. Some people don’t think prisoners deserve any rights at all, because they are criminals. That ignores a few facts: first, most prisoners will eventually be released; second, not all prisoners deserve to be in prison. Some are wrongfully convicted, some have incompetent state representation, and some are convicted of breaking laws that shouldn’t be laws (and I’m specifically thinking about petty, non-violent, drug possession). Worse, many of these people would never have been convicted of anything, because they died in holding cells before they had their day in court. Regardless, you should read the article. He’s a small snippet (it’s a longish article):
Candy Brown, a 46-year-old Rochester woman jailed in 2000 on a parole violation, died when her withdrawal from heroin went untreated for two days as she lay in her own vomit and excrement in the Monroe County Jail, moaning and crying for help. But nurses did not call a doctor or even clean her off, investigators said. Her fellow inmates took pity and washed her face; some guards took it on themselves to ease her into a shower and a final change of clothes.
Scott Mayo Jr. was only a few minutes old in 2001 when guards fished him out of a toilet in the maternity unit of Albany County Jail. It was the guards, investigators said, who found a faint pulse in the premature baby and worked fiercely to keep his heart beating as a nurse stood by, offering little help.
. . .
Before Prison Health even started in Georgia, there had been several inmate deaths in neighboring Florida that cost the company three county contracts, millions of dollars in settlements – and an apology for its part in the 1994 death of 46-year-old Diane Nelson. Jailed in Pinellas County on charges that she had slapped her teenage daughter, Ms. Nelson suffered a heart attack after nurses failed for two days to order the heart medication her private doctor had prescribed. As she collapsed, a nurse told her, “Stop the theatrics.”
The same nurse, in a deposition, also admitted that she had joked to the jail staff, “We save money because we skip the ambulance and bring them right to the morgue.”
So, Prison Health is the bad guy here. That corporation was founded by a Delaware nurse named Doyle Moore, who also founded Armor Correctional Health Services after several prisons blacklisted Prison Health because it was killing people. In Florida, in Pinellas county saved a little bit of money by hiring Prison Health, but lost most of that savings to wrongful-death lawsuits brought by families of those people that Prison Health allowed to die.
Goddammit, this kind of shit makes me so mad! The NY Times had an expose a couple years ago about the private contractors that run the New York mental health facilities, which were in even worse shape than these prisons. See, not many people will listen when a prisoner complains of inadequate treatment, but even fewer people will listen to the mentally ill. If you are a sadist and want a job that allows you to murder people without fear of retribution, you have a job waiting for you working in managed care of insane asylums and halfway houses. What a sad state of affairs.
notice how they got the connection between doyle moore, PHS and Armor.
How did they get that first contract in Miami….wow read this:
March 22, 2005 Broward Daily Business Review
Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne privately encouraged the St. Lucie County sheriff to award the county’s jail health care contract to a new Miami company that also bid for the Broward jail health care contract and was headed by a major Jenne campaign contributor. Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. had yet to perform work for anyone when Jenne pitched the company to St. Lucie Sheriff Ken J. Mascara last year in a personal telephone conversation. Armor CHS owner Dr. Jose Armas, an entrepreneurial Miami internist – along with his companies, his partner, and his employees – had pumped thousands of dollars into Jenne’s re-election campaign. In an interview, Mascara said Jenne recommended Armas’ company to him. Mascara said Jenne phoned him and praised Armor Correctional Health Services, then known as Correctional Health Services, saying, ” ‘Listen, you have a bid contract going on for inmate health services.’ I said yes, and he said, ‘We just retained a company that we feel is going to do a good job.’ He said he knew the guy running it, and asked if I would entertain their bid.” Jenne acknowledged talking up the company to Mascara. “We were talking,” he said in an interview. “I brought it up. I don’t know if that’s a conversation. I told him our people were very satisfied with them.” The two sheriffs said the phone conversation took place sometime after Oct. 29, the date when the BSO awarded a $127 million, five-year contract to Armor to provide health care to detainees at Broward’s five jail facilities. By that time, Armor CHS had been eliminated for more than a month as a qualified bidder for the St. Lucie jail contract. But John deGroot, executive assistant to BSO’s inspector general, provided Broward prosecutors with written notes of his Nov. 28 meeting with the St. Lucie County detention director. According to the notes, that official, Maj. Patrick Tighe, told deGroot that Jenne made the recommendation to Mascara in August – before the BSO designated a winning proposal and before Armor submitted its bid in St. Lucie. DeGroot’s notes also said that Tighe told him that Aventura-based lobbyist Ron Book, a Jenne political ally, “visited our purchasing guy several times trying to talk him into going with [Armor].” DeGroot, citing orders from a BSO superior, declined to comment. Book could not be reached for comment. But a St. Lucie sheriff’s spokesman confirmed that Book lobbied for Armor in a conversation with the department’s chief financial officer. Armor CHS did not get the St. Lucie jail contract. A selection committee that included Tighe promptly tossed out its bid when it was submitted on Sept. 24 because Armor failed to provide audited financial statements and failed to meet minimum experience requirements, according to St. Lucie sheriff’s spokesman Mark Weinberg. Jenne’s support for Armor CHS could prove problematic for the embattled sheriff, whose office has been embroiled in a scandal over its alleged manipulation of crime statistics to make the BSO look more effective at fighting crime than it really was. Broward State Attorney Michael Satz’s office is investigating that matter. So far, two BSO deputies have been arrested and charged, and more are under suspicion. Jenne is widely considered Broward’s most powerful elected official. The disclosure of his private lobbying for a company owned by a major campaign contributor raises questions about the appropriate use of political office and possible favors for political allies. If it turns out that Jenne recommended Armor CHS to Sheriff Mascara while BSO was still evaluating proposals, it would raise questions about the fairness and impartiality of the bid process in Broward. Dr. Armas and his Coral Gables attorney, Brent D. Klein, incorporated the Armor CHS on July 19, 2004. Three days later, the Broward Sheriff’s Office issued RFP No. 439002, soliciting bidders for the job of providing health care to 5,000 prisoners housed at the county’s five detention facilities. The ink was hardly dry on the BSO’s jail health care request for proposal when the sheriff’s office recalled it six days later. On Aug. 10, BSO issued a new RFP that sought bids to provide the same services. But as the Miami Herald reported, RFP No. 439003 included some significant changes that opened the door for Armor CHS. For example, BSO’s requirement that bidders have experience “in an institutional or correctional setting of equal magnitude and complexity” was broadened to allow for experience in medical facilities only. No longer, then, were bidding companies required to have experience delivering health care services to inmates. The selection committee consisted of Broward detention chief Col. James Wimberly, detention Lt. Col Rick Frey and John Curry, the sheriff’s executive director of administration. Wimberly said Jenne legal adviser Kimberly A. Kisslan also participated. In an interview, Wimberly said Jenne was not involved. Wimberly also said that he took the unusual step of recalling the inmate health care RFP for alteration “simply because we wanted to expand the pool of applicants.” He said the changes were made to recognize that a company’s leadership could be more experienced than a company itself. He said it was “an oversight” that those changes weren’t made before the initial bid went out. Armor CHS submitted its $127 million proposal to BSO on Sept. 16 along with three other bidders. Neither Armor CHS nor Dr. Armas, the company’s president and chairman, had any experience providing health care to inmates. To remedy that, Armas sought out instant experience by hiring managers who’d worked at a troubled industry giant, Brentwood, Tenn.-based Prison Health Services. That included Armor CHS’s current chief executive, Doyle H. Moore, who founded Prison Health Services. In its proposal to BSO, Armor also cited its affiliation with Miami-based Medical Care Consortium Inc., Dr. Armas’ outpatient health care services firm. While all this was happening, Armas, his companies and employees were contributing to Jenne’s re-election campaign multiple maximum contributions of $500 each. Between June 29 and Aug. 5, they gave at least $9,500 – including $1,500 returned by the campaign as illegal, excessive contributions. Armas has supported Jenne in earlier races, too. Armas spokeswoman Dana L. Clay said Armas has backed Jenne politically since Jenne was Senate Democratic leader in Tallahassee in the mid-1990s. But Jenne only said he’s known Armas “for a couple of years in a business capacity.” Armas also retained the sheriff’s good friend and unofficial lobbyist, William D. Rubin. State registration records show that Rubin and his Fort Lauderdale firm, the Rubin Group, represent Armas’ Sunrise-based South Florida Acute Care LLC. Jenne said in an interview that Rubin sometimes serves as an unpaid lobbyist for his office. A month later, despite lower bids from two other companies including incumbent Wexford Health Services, Armas’ company got the nod from the BSO selection committee
This is taken from a copy of the PHS executive team page in 2004.
PHS – Executive Team – [Cached Version]
Published on: 3/27/2004 Last Visited: 3/27/2004
Doyle MooreFounder & Executive Director of Client Services and Business DevelopmentMr. Moore founded Prison Health Services in 1978 when, working as an RN, he saw the need for improved healthcare services in local correctional facilities.Beginning with a single contract, he oversaw the growth of the company during its early years and its expansion from jails to state prison systems.Active in all segments of the correctional healthcare field, Mr. Moore is responsible for overall client relations and sales development.In addition to his responsibilities as Vice President of Sales, he actively serves in an executive capacity providing guidance and consultation to the Company’s Executive Management Team.With more than 25 years of experience in correctional healthcare, Mr. Moore continues to contribute to and refine the field that he helped to create.Mr. Moore received his Bachelor of Science degree from Widener University.
Armor and PHS’s founder and top executive, Doyle H. Moore, was convicted of felony tax evasion in Massachusetts in 1994.
More info on the 1993 incicent:
The company’s chief executive officer, Doyle Moore, had run into trouble in Broward before, however.At the 1993 federal tax fraud trial of former Port Everglades Commissioner Walter Browne, Moore — the founder of a company called Prison Health Services — testified he funneled money to a Republican power broker and hired lobbyists to sway then-Sheriff Nick Navarro when he became concerned Prison Health was going to lose its contract to provide medical care at the Broward jail.Moore testified with the guarantee his testimony would not be used against him.His attorney at the time said neither Moore nor the company did anything wrong.
Of coarse they didn’t do anything wrong…they were doing everything they could to steal as much money as they could from all of us taxpayers!
If only more agencies checked backgrounds like these guys did!!!
Pennsylvania Hall of Shame – [Cached Version]
Published on: 2/22/2008 Last Visited: 12/11/2008
Doyle Moore, CEO of Armor Correctional Health Services, was being investigated by Totaro’s office for allegedly falsifying information on an application for a county contract.
…
A county detective discovered Moore was convicted in Massachusetts in 1994 of tax evasion, a felony offense. Moore was sentenced to 2 years in prison, but he never served jail time, according to an article in the Boston Globe, because a judge suspended the prison term. Moore also was fined $68,650 and ordered to pay all legal costs, the paper reported. The instructions on the “employee criminal history” affidavit required the person completing it to place his or her initials next to one of two statements: The first stated no one who would work on “this contract” has ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony or has any criminal action pending.
…
Had Totaro been able to prove Moore completed the document, Moore could have been charged with falsifying an official document because of his criminal record.
…
But shortly after the commissioners were charged with that task, Commissioner Molly Henderson has said, the board received e-mails from the public regarding the track record of Armor and several of its executives, including Moore.
…
That is when the county detective discovered Moore’s 1994 tax evasion conviction.
It appears someone turned Armor Christmas Party 2008 video back on at You-Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcqTF-zSCtA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXap5Eo5IM
The Christmas Armor videos showing how Armor likes to throw money on it’self; plus, big corporate salaries and bonuses for corporate Armor like: paying for managers apartments and living expenses…bonus moneys and more, has lead Armor to hurt the front line workers where it counts…(in the wallet). While making sure their own saleries stayed secure, Armor cut benefits to the regular staff and kept the good benefits for the corporate staff and now they are making sure none of the regular staff at the facilities get raises many of them deserve they are putting out a blanket statement to not give anyone more than a 2% annual raise (except for a very few). In this statement Armor even admits they are holding back because they have lost money on contracts of late. Sources today, gave us this statement sent out by Armor Human Resources.
Greetings:
We have received questions/feedback from some of our sites as to the status of the annual performance reviews for 2009 and also for 2010.
Each site if they have not already done so should complete no later than Friday, March 5, 2010 their outstanding performance evaluations for 2009 and submit along with a properly executed PAF to the Human Resources Department for processing.
As many of you are aware we have received significant reductions in some of our contract renewals therefore, we are asking that the reviews and increases not exceed an average of 2%. If you have an employee that you feel is deserving of more than 2% please obtain approval from your RVP and xxxxxxx, prior to submitting to the HR department.
If you have employees that are due for an evaluation in January, February or March of 2010 please hold off on processing those evals. We will be providing an employee communication tool, a revised eval tool and supervisory training in the coming weeks to roll out our new process.
If you have any questions please contact either myself or xxxxxxxxxxxx.
Thanks,
xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx
Human Resources Manager
Armor Correctional Health Services
Armor Corporate Paydays: Why 2% doesn’t bother the top.
Name Hire Date Salary Title
Armas, Jose Founder unknown Founder-Pres. of Armor/Owner MCCI
Burton, Robert 2/1/2006 215000.24+ Chief Admin Officer/HR
Campo, Otto 8/21/2005 48000.16+ Consultant/Chief Financial Advisor MCCI
Cobia, Kyle 4/26/2005 63000.08+ Analyst HCSO (Step son of Doyle Moore)
Devine, Robin 9/4/2007 100000.16+ Health Service Adm Sarasota/Ex PHS Employee
Epple, Steven 3/26/2007 120000.14+ Regional VP Hillsborough/Sarasota
Goehring, Angela 10/1/2004 140000.12+ Senior VP of Operations/Ex PHS Employee
Harkis, Kathy 10/1/2005 88000.12+ Director of Staff Development
Hays, Lewis 9/4/2007 95000+ Health Service Adm HCSO/Ex PHS Employee
Lambert, Johnnie 8/8/2005 106050.1+ VP Accredidations
May, John 11/24/2004 250000.14+ Chief Medical Officer/Ex PHS Employee
Moore, Doyle Founder unknown Founder-Consultant Armor/Founder PHS
Palombo, Kenneth 10/30/2006 230000.16+ Chief operating-Ethics Off/Ex PHS Employee
Rawls, Ceron 8/23/2007 75000.12+ Human Resources Manager
Sardinas, Lissette 12/14/2006 105500.2+ Director of Finance
Teal, Bruce 4/1/2006 275000.18+ Chief executive officer/EX PHS Employee
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