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	MONITOR ISSUES FINAL STATUS REPORT ON DEKALB JAIL INMATE MEDICAL SERVICES

DECATUR, Ga. – Sheriff Thomas Brown received the court-appointed medical monitor’s final status report on inmate health care at the DeKalb County Jail Tuesday, June 28, 2005. Dr. Ronald Shansky of Chicago, IL, found that the medical program “overall is in substantial compliance” with terms of an inmate lawsuit (Ernest Adams et al. v. Sidney Dorsey et al., 1997) settled in March 2001, shortly after Brown was elected sheriff. Shansky, who in December 2003 became the second auditor assigned to provide oversight at the jail, conducted the final of his three audits June 13 - 15, 2005. “At this time, I do not believe it is unreasonable for the court to consider terminating active monitoring of this litigation,” Shansky recommends in the report. The final audit report also identified “several opportunities for improvement.” “That is not unexpected . . . ,” Shansky says. “I do believe there is a program in place that is designed to methodically identify problems and determine appropriate interventions.” The auditor’s report noted there were a few instances in which nurses did not respond immediately to an inmate’s problem but instead put the inmate on the normal sick call list. Brown said that problem has already been corrected through retraining of the specific contract employees involved. The auditor’s positive report on inmate health care arrived seven business days after Brown’s notification of reaccreditation by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC). The facility was awarded its first full accreditation in June 2003. “Accreditation confirms that a facility is 100 percent compliant with applicable essential standards for health services in jails and at least 85 percent compliant with applicable important standards,” said Judith Stanley, NCCHC’s director of accreditation. “We congratulate DeKalb County’s facility for maintaining its accreditation and for joining an elite group of nearly 300 accredited jails nationwide.” A team of five NCCHC auditors, including a physician and four nurses, performed a comprehensive evaluation April 25 - 28, 2005, to confirm that the facility continues to meet the commission’s Standards for Health Services in Jail.

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