The head of the state Department of Corrections offered blistering criticism of the medical care received by a Black inmate who died in a Vermont prison several months ago.
Commissioner James Baker said a health care contractor failed the prisoner who complained that he couldn’t breathe. “No one should die in our custody the way” he did, Baker said.
Kenneth Johnson died in December at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport.
Baker said the state would not renew its contract with Centurion Managed Care of Virginia, the private health care provider the state used for the past five years.
“Mr. Johnson was a 60-year-old African-American male who suffered from several health care issues,” Baker, interim corrections commissioner, said during a press conference to announce changes to the state’s prison health care system in the wake of Johnson’s death.
Baker, who started in his post in January of this year, added that while he wouldn’t go into specific details of Johnson’s health due to private medical matters, he did say that the man had an undiagnosed tumor that blocked his airway.
“Mr. Johnson for a period of time while incarcerated at Northern State facility had complained that he could not breathe,” Baker said. “The failure for our medical providers and health care providers outside the facility not to have diagnosed Mr. Johnson’s situation cost him his life on our watch inside corrections.”
The commissioner then reiterated that “Mr. Johnson repeatedly said he could not breathe.”
Baker said he didn’t know why the reaction from corrections staff and its medical provider had not been different.
“Our systems failed, not only our internal system, our external system,” he said “We should have a higher level of expectation when it comes to honoring our obligation, statutorily and morally, in providing the best we can for the individuals that we’re responsible for.”
The commissioner said several separate investigations are currently underway into Johnson’s death, including an internal one from the corrections department, as well as another by the Prisoners’ Rights Office of the Vermont Defender General’s Office.
Matthew Valerio, Vermont’s defender general, said his investigation is “98 percent” complete.
Valerio said he could not discuss specific details, other than to say Johnson’s death was “problematic.”
As for what he believed was behind the change in health care providers, Valerio said, “I think in part because of the Johnson case, but I think there were plenty of other issues besides that, but the Johnson one was one of the acute situations that arises.”
He said he knew little about the new company, VitalCore.
“I know the Department of Corrections is hopeful that there is a different attitude going forward, they believe there is with this provider,” Valerio said. “I have to say that I remain skeptical only because my experience over the past several years has forced me to remain skeptical.”
Baker said the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation office was looking into the matter, from a standpoint of the medical licenses from those involved.
Lauren Hibbert, director of the Office of Professional Regulation, said there was little she could say on the matter at this point in time. “I have no public information besides the fact we did receive a complaint and it’s still open,” she said.
The state has also contracted with the Vermont-based law firm, Downs Rachlin Martin, to investigate.
That law firm is already involved in another DOC investigation. The company is probing allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, the state’s only women’s prison. Michael Touchette, who had been corrections commissioner, resigned in December following the publication of those allegations in Seven Days.
Ed Paquin, Disability Rights Vermont’s executive director, confirmed that his organization conducted an investigation of the Johnson case.
“Since it’s been made public I can acknowledge that, yes, we did do an investigation and we shared a report with the Department of Corrections,” Paquin said, “but we have not got releases to make that public.”
He could not provide specific details from the report, which contains confidential medical information.
“We did find abuse and neglect on the part of the medical providers and DOC staff,” Paquin said.
“Our intention,” he added, “is to follow up with Commissioner Baker and have a candid discussion with them about our findings in our investigation and try and follow up and see what we can do to affect policy in DOC and among their contractors.”
Adam Silverman, a spokesperson for Vermont State Police, wrote in email Monday that the law enforcement agency was notified of Johnson’s death early on Dec. 7, 2019, and opened an investigation, as is customary for deaths of people in corrections custody.
“Initial indications are that the death was due to natural causes,” Silverman added. “The VSP investigation is continuing, in conjunction with the Orleans County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office and the Office of Professional Regulation.”
Johnson, of Staten Island, New York, had been held without bail since September 2017 when he was charged with sexual assault and human trafficking. His family members could not immediately be contacted Monday.
Baker did say he wasn’t aware of any lawsuit filed in connection with Johnson’s death.
A death certificate from the Vermont Department of Health listed Johnson’s cause of death as airway obstruction by laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, with the onset of death within “minutes/week.”
The certificate stated that the manner of death “Could not be determined.” It was not immediately clear Monday from the health department why no cause of death was cited.
State signs three-year contract with VitalCore
At the press conference Monday, Baker announced that following a request for proposals the corrections department as of the start of this month is now contracted with Kansas-based VitalCore Health Strategies for about $20 million a year for prison health care services. The contract will span three years.
Centurion had been the contracted health care provider for the state corrections department since 2015. Officials with Centurion could not immediately be reached Monday for comment.
Three companies submitted bids in response to the request for proposal, including both VitalCore and Centurion, and corrections officials described VitalCore as the lowest bidder.
Asked if Johnson’s death was the impetus for changing health care providers, Baker responded, “What I would say is that that case was an example for me coming in after the fact, being briefed on it, that caused me to rethink the way health care is provided within the system.”
The commissioner then told reporters, “I want you all to picture someone having an unidentified tumor in their airway and can’t breathe, and verbalized that, ‘I can’t breathe’.” Baker added, “I don’t know how better I can describe what I think is a failure of the system.”
Baker also talked about his own medical care for cancer.
“Jim Baker was able to get health care at one of the leading health care facilities in the country, in Sloan Kettering in New York,” Baker said. “That saved my life. Mr. Johnson did not get that opportunity. That to me is a failure of the system.”
Questions about the quality of health care provided behind bars have been raised often in the past. Last year the estate of another Vermont inmate who died sued both the state Department of Corrections and Centurion.
David Bissonnette, a prisoner of Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans died of a cardiac infection on Nov. 22, 2016, after being in solitary confinement for 15 days. His claims of ill health were attributed to anxiety, according to the lawsuit.
VitalCore, according to Viola Riggin, the company’s chief executive officer, has contracts with about 20 other large and small prisons across the country, though Vermont is the first it has contracted with to provide prison medical care across a state system.
“We, at VitalCore, started this company to make people know there was another way, we’re making sure that in the industry we try to break down the walls,” Riggin said during the video press conference Monday.
“How we do that” Riggin added, “is by providing the same services that you would get at your doctor’s office to the patients inside the correctional facility while keeping the community safe.”
Baker, during the press conference, also said the corrections department will also now be partnering with the state Department of Vermont Health Access to monitor the contract.
“So we now have a medical doctor providing clinical oversight and support to how we provide medical care within our system,” Baker said.
The commissioner also announced the creation of the Office of Professional Standards in the corrections department to replace the Office of Professional Development/Training.
“The change,” Baker said, “is part of a reshaped focus of the Vermont Department of Corrections on recruiting, hiring, training, constituent outreach, equity fairness and impartiality in our systems.”
Baker said the prison system will endeavor to hire corrections officers that come from diverse backgrounds. The department is consulting with Tabitha Moore, president of the Rutland Area Chapter of the NAACP, and Curtiss Reed, executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness & Diversity.
The commissioner ended the Monday press conference by again speaking about Johnson’s death.
“I do want to offer my sincere condolences even though it’s eight months later to his loved ones,” Baker said.
“And our commitment,” he added, “is that we as a department are going to not try to do better, we are going to do better when it comes to providing the $20 million health care system that we provide.”
Correction: The last name of VitalCore CEO Viola Riggin was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.