Attorneys for WV inmates say sealing document would undermine inmates’ right to knowledge of contract
BY: LORI KERSEY – DECEMBER 20, 2023 6:00 AM
A company providing health care to West Virginia inmates has asked a judge to seal parts of its contract, which outlines the types of care it provides, from the public record.
The motion is part of a class-action lawsuit
EditSign, originally filed in 2018 against former West Virginia jails director Betsy Jividen. It alleged that the state failed to provide the minimum necessary medical and mental health care for inmates in the state’s jails.
The filing comes as the state has faced scrutiny for its treatment of inmates in multiple lawsuits and continues to face criticism over transparency for its jails system. A proposed settlement was reached last month in another case against the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation after a federal magistrate found that corrections officials destroyed evidence and that the state hadn’t made enough efforts to retain relevant information for the case.
While the class action suit against Jividen was settled in 2022, Wexford Health Sources, the medical provider in the state’s jails system, recently asked
EditSign U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers to seal the “technical proposal” it submitted to the state.
The proposal was how the Pennsylvania-based company was ultimately selected in 2022 to be the state’s sole health care provider for jails and prisons.
Attorneys with Mountain State Justice, a legal advocacy organization representing inmates in the case, argue that sealing the contract would undermine inmates’ right to knowledge of the contract.
“If class members do not know the level of care to which they are entitled, they will not be able to effectively inform class counsel when their rights are being violated,” the attorneys said in their motion.
Last year, the state paid Wexford more than $83 million for its health services to inmates. A lawsuit filed earlier this year accused the company of routinely denying thousands of people medication to treat opioid use disorder.
In its petition to seal the records, the company argues the technical proposal, attached as an exhibit, was included without the company’s knowledge or consent. It should be sealed because it contains “methodologies that Wexford believed made it the most effective entity to deliver medical care to the State correctional system, which consists of a unique and challenging environment presented by public correctional facilities,” the company says.
“Disclosure of this technical proposal causes immediate and tangible, competitive harm to Wexford,” the company said. “This unique technical proposal distinguishes Wexford in the extremely competitive marketplace of private healthcare companies that contract with States like West Virginia to provide healthcare to inmates.
“It has the potential for Wexford’s competitors to undercut its competitive position in that process as its competitors could supplement and tailor their technical proposals based on their review of Wexford’s technical proposal,” it wrote.
Wexford Health did not respond to an email seeking comment. Attorneys for Mountain State Justice declined to comment further than the filings.
Attorneys for Brad Douglas, who was later named a defendant in the suit while serving as interim commissioner for the Division of Corrections, did not oppose either motion to intervene or to seal the document.
They argued that sealing the documents will not “delay or prejudice the adjudication of Defendant’s rights or impact this motion in any way because this case is on the inactive docket and is settled.”
A spokesman for the Division of Corrections said, “Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation is unable to provide comment at this time.”
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