Medical transports of Utah State Prison inmates to local hospitals resumed Thursday, just three days after an inmate allegedly killed a corrections officer during a visit to a University Hospital clinic.
The escape and subsequent recapture of Curtis Allgier on Monday, when corrections Sgt. Stephen Anderson was killed, prompted a review of procedures. Corrections and hospital officials have agreed to changes designed to prevent problems — including increasing the number of guards who escort a prisoner and using telemedicine to reduce the need for transport.
The U. also posted two security guards at University Orthopaedic Center, the site of the shooting and escape, where they will remain "until patients and staff feel safer," said center spokeswoman Tresha Kramer.
The Department of Corrections at first had said all non-emergency procedures would be canceled until next week. But a decision was made late Wednesday afternoon to resume transports starting Thursday, following a meeting between corrections officials and University Hospital administration, said corrections spokesman Jack Ford.
The new policy stipulates that two guards will go along with every prisoner being transported, he said.
That policy will remain in effect at least until an investigation into the shooting death of Anderson and the subsequent escape attempt by Allgier is completed, Ford said. Anderson was the only guard with Allgier, who is being held without bail for investigation of aggravated murder, carjacking and several other charges related to the fatal escape attempt.
"This is not forever, but for at least a few weeks, as we sort things out," said University Health Care spokesman Christopher Nelson, who added that the U. has been treating prisoners for decades. "This is a wake-up call for both sides that this is dangerous. I think after we review the policies, we'll find they're pretty good, but we need to make sure we're all following them. It raises awareness so everyone's safer."
The hospital security guards are well-trained and provide extra eyes and ears, Nelson said, but they are not gun-toting law-enforcement officers. "They're not trained to deal with inmates," he said. "When we have a patient that needs extra security, that's not the job of U. Hospital security officers."
The U. has its own police force, and those officers are sometimes pressed into service at the hospital, as well.
One of the reasons medical transports resumed was that the number of inmates needing specialized medical attention was starting to back up, Ford said.
Several other changes have been implemented. All MRIs on prisoners will be conducted at the main hospital, not the orthopedic center where Monday's tragedy occurred. Also, more inmate-patients will be examined at the prison by videolink using the U.'s Telehealth network, instead of being transported.
"We have telemedicine capability with the state prison and do already use it," said Nelson. "We think if we can grow the use of it, it would initially reduce transports by up to 30 percent."
The network already offers services to the prison population in dermatology, cardiology and orthopedics, as well as a hepatitis C. clinic. Hospital officials are working on establishing some telemedicine gynecology and obstetrics services. Nelson said the network also can be used for certain follow-up appointments and exams.
The U. burn intensive-care unit and stroke center both use telemedicine video extensively, particularly to serve patients in rural areas, he said. The expectation is that the technology could be just as valuable in dealing with health issues of some incarcerated patients.
David Entwistle, chief executive officer of University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, outlined the new policy for staff members in a memo Wednesday. The top priority, he wrote, "is to ensure that our organization is a safe place to receive care and a safe place to work."
Among some of the other conditions for inmate transports, outlined in the memo:
In addition to two prison guards, all inmates will wear wrist and ankle restraints.
Inmates brought to University Health Care facilities from the Salt Lake County Jail will also wear wrist and ankle restraints and will have one or two guards watching them, depending on their risk level.
Care providers will be given a history of the inmate and his or her risk potential before an inmate receives care.
The guard and health-care provider will have to agree on whether restraints should be removed during medical examination or treatment, or the inmate will not receive care at that time. Hospital and clinic staff also will never request that restraints be removed for any nonmedical reason, such as signing forms, "under any circumstances." That provision, Nelson said, "is permanent."
University Hospital has also created a task force to discuss and evaluate other ideas, including a secure facility specifically for inmates, Entwistle said.
Kramer said hospital administrators recognized that many staff members were traumatized by the events Monday. They've made extraordinary effort, she said, to encourage staffers to express their concerns, offer input and ask questions, providing an e-mail address specifically for that.
Sixteen inmates were scheduled to be transported for medical procedures on Thursday, Ford said, including 14 at the U. A total of 93 prisoner transports were scheduled, including trips for court as well as for medical care.
Visits at the prison are canceled until Monday, and inmates remained on a partial lockdown, where they were allowed out of their cells but not out of their sections, Ford said.
The new requirement for mandatory double staffing of all transports has corrections officials doing some personnel juggling. Guards from the department's Gunnison facility were brought up Thursday to help, as well as SWAT team members. If they are needed, Ford said, the prison may have to pay Adult Probation and Parole agents overtime to also help with the transports.
"We'll use whoever we can find who are qualified," he said. "You have to be peace-officer certified."
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