Shelby County commissioners took another interim step Monday, April 12, toward a long-term contract for medical care to prisoners at the Shelby County Jail, County Corrections Center and Juvenile Court detention.

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The commission approved a 12-month, $19.7 million contract extension with Wellpath LLC to the end of this calendar year for the jail and corrections center as well as a six-month, $903,808 extension for juvenile detention.

The contract extensions with Wellpath and debates about them have been going on since these commissioners took office in September 2018.

“Three years later, here we are voting on another extension,” said commissioner Tami Sawyer, who has been a critic of Wellpath’s quality of care. “We’ve been asking for three years for this to be handled. Whether they get it or not, it needs to be handled.”

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Commissioner Van Turner said the county administration should have processes for bidding out the longer-term contract by the end of the extensions.

He also said the previous attempt ended with no share of the contract going to minority or black-owned businesses for what is one of the largest dollar-amount contracts the commission votes on.

“It’s not enough to give up 5% of your business to diversity,” Turner said. “But hell, this company wants 100% – doesn’t want any participation. So that’s just the climate we are living in.”

County government should have a new disparity study in place by the end of the contract extensions that meets the legal test for demonstrating the need for percentage goals for minority and women-owned businesses in such contracts.

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A new long-term contract proposal is also supposed to include new mental health services for prisoners not included in existing contracts.

The commission votes on Monday on each of the contract extensions were identical 11-1-1 votes, with Sawyer voting no on each item and Turner abstaining on each.