FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The deadline for Washington County to find a new medical provider for its jail is quickly approaching.
Wednesday, officials heard from 3 possible medical providers to replace its current provider by the new year.
"It's imperative that we get someone identified, on-site to provide that needed medical care,” said Washington Co. Sheriff-Elect Jay Cantrell.
So, the county put out a call to fill the void before the Jan. 1 deadline.
"We opened those bids and received three qualifying bids," Cantrell said.
The bids are from Turn Key health—which provides services to the Benton County Jail—Advance Medical Services—which provides serves nearby states but not Arkansas—and Karas Health Care.
"It doesn't make sense that just two to three weeks ago he announced that he was pulling out, now he's bidding on it again," said ACLU of Arkansas Legal Director Ed Sullivan.
The ACLU of Arkansas filed a lawsuit against Karas on behalf of four inmates who accused him of giving them ivermectin to treat covid, without their consent.
"I'm hoping that Washington County will give serious consideration to whoever the other two bidders are," Sullivan said.
County attorney Brian Lester says the legal battle has nothing to do with Karas' contract, "They didn't believe they were going to be able to continue to service the jail and provide medical services to the jail due to some changes in insurance."
Malpractice insurance needs to be provided within the jail… that the sheriff-elect told 5news earlier this month that would cost Karas an extra $525,000.
“He just couldn't afford to operate," Cantrell said.
The sheriff-elect claims that those issues have been resolved.
"We'll have a decision the next day,” said Lester. “So, that we can go ahead and process anything that needs to be processed so that we don't see a gap in medical services at our jail."
"Our inmates will continue to receive the quality medical services that they've received," Lester said.
Deciding factors included the needed 9 references, malpractice insurance, proximity to the jail, amount of staff, and the cost -- which was a big factor. 5NEWS is told Karas is the cheapest.
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