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The Prison Health Files, part 1Internal audits, 412 pages of contract amendments and interviews with 31 former staff show how warnings about understaffed clinics were filed away while the payments kept rising.
Emails obtained under the open records law show the change was discussed as a way to avoid public notification.
For a decade, one contractor has run medical care in the state’s prisons. The audits said the clinics were short-staffed. The payments went up anyway.
We follow the money, the paper trail and the people who raised the alarm.
Fourteen months of reporting, 9 public records requests, 412 pages of contracts and 31 interviews with former clinic staff. Every document we cite is published in full. Read the documents
The source documents behind our reporting, published in full so you can check our work.
The Contractor shall maintain a minimum of fourteen (14) licensed staff per facility. Penalties for non-compliance shall not exceed $25,000 per quarter, subject to waiver by the Deputy Commissioner.
Obtained through a public records request, 12 Oct 2026
Of the facilities sampled, seven of nine fell below contracted staffing levels for more than 120 days. Management response: no corrective action planned at this time.
Provided by a former state employee, verified 3 Sep 2026
If we move the threshold to 20 ppb before the next sampling round, we would not trigger public notice requirements. Please keep this off the board agenda.
Obtained through a public records request, 19 Oct 2026
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Maren Holt walks through the amendment at the centre of the Prison Health Files, clause by clause, and shows where the money was hiding.
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