CHESTERFIELD, Va. (AP) - Concerns about inadequate medical care at a regional jail in Virginia have prompted officials in one county to begin removing nearly 200 inmates.
Chesterfield County Sheriff Karl Leonard said he has received nearly daily phone calls, emails and text messages from family members of inmates who say their loves ones are receiving poor or negligent medical care at the Riverside Regional Jail.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Leonard recently told the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors that the next 96 inmates who are booked in the Chesterfield Jail will remain at the county facility instead of being transferred to Riverside, as they typically would be. He said another 100 Chesterfield inmates will be transferred to another regional jail in the state.
Riverside has been has been dogged by allegations of mismanagement. It is currently under state probation for three years following two inmate suicides in 2017 that state officials said were directly or indirectly caused by staff shortcomings and policy violations.
Chesterfield is one of four counties and three cities that pay to house inmates at Riverside.
Chesterfield Supervisor Chris Winslow told Leonard he’s “doing the right thing” in creating additional space at the Chesterfield Jail to house inmates. “You’ll be saving lives based on what I’ve seen down there,” Winslow said of his experience with Riverside.
Riverside spokeswoman Lt. Charlene Jones declined to comment on Chesterfield’s plans to remove inmates or on the allegations of inadequate medical care. Judy Lilley, a spokeswoman for Wellpath, Riverside’s medical provider, said in a statement the company could not comment on any specific patients due to state and federal privacy laws.
Leonard told the board that he removed a young female inmate this week from Riverside after she experienced multiple seizures, because jail staff did not provide the inmate with her prescribed medication.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.