THIS ARTICLE IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF DUJUAN ARMSTRONG
Dujuan died at Santa Rita Jail in 2018. According to the East Bay Express article and the wrongful death claim filed by Dujuan’s mother, Barbara Doss, “Dujuan entered Santa Rita Jail on June 22nd, he told deputies that he felt sick because he ingested narcotics. Jailers first placed him into a cell alone but later moved him into the jail’s clinic. At some point, he was injured in a confrontation with jail deputies. Eventually, he collapsed and stopped breathing and was taken to Valley Care Medical Center in Pleasanton, where his death certificate says he died the following evening, at 7:24 p.m.”
https://eastbayexpress.com/the-most-dangerous-place-in-alameda-county-1/
Wellpath LLC is the largest for-profit jail health care corporation in the United States of America. As I reported in December 2024, Wellpath filed for bankruptcy in Houston, Texas, and that filing has stayed numerous civil lawsuits, as well as other court proceedings (i.e., appeals). The evidence that our independent nonprofit news organization has presented against Wellpath has been overwhelming, to say the least. However, what if I told you that some of the most damning evidence against Wellpath and their operations at Santa Rita Jail located in Dublin, California (SRJ), was paid for by taxpayers of Alameda County.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN COINCIDENCES? – I DON’T
On June 11, 2020, former Alameda County Sheriff, Gregory J. Ahern, with the help of Alameda County’s General Service Agency, sent a letter to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors (BOS), whose Vice-President at the time was Nate Miley.
Letter from Sheriff Ahern: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkURCjxVvy29md90ylMDD7bZckv1cQ?e=heR1xw
Miley became President of the Board of Supervisors in 2023. The letter requested that BOS award a contract to Mazars USA Public Sector LLC in order to conduct an audit of medical services provided by Wellpath LLC at SRJ.
Forvis Mazars (Mazars) is a Sacramento-based company that specializes in accounting, medical consulting, quality assurance services, and audits. Mazars operates internationally and is very well respected within its field of expertise. Alameda County initially paid Mazars $722,868,000 in order to conduct their audit of Wellpath’s medical services at SRJ. Here is a link to the contract between Alameda County and Mazars
Alameda County/Mazars Contract: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkURCjxVvy29md91KB9dGjwOmUvhjA?e=MAodYp
I want to remind our readers and the community at large that Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez ran on a platform of transparency and accountability when she defeated former Sheriff Ahern.
https://www.sanchez4sheriff.com/platform
With that in mind, one would think that Sheriff Sanchez would be eager to share the findings of the Mazars audit reports. Initially, we thought that these reports would be shared with the public on the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department’s (ACSO) website. Such was not the case.
Quote from Sheriff Sanchez’ run for Sheriff website: “I have the trust and credibility to shift the culture of the ACSO and guide them into policing with humanity. ACSO’s approach as a law enforcement agency needs to change — community input, transparency and accountability need to be priorities.”
Can we all agree that the above statement by Sheriff Sanchez reeks of hypocrisy?
The only way to obtain the reports created by Mazars is to file a California Public Records Act Request. This seems like a lot of trouble for a report that taxpayers had to foot the bill for. It is relevant to mention that BOS’ President, Nate Miley; County Counsel, Donna Ziegler; and County Administrator, Susan Muranishi were ALL well aware of the ongoing audit conducted by Mazars at SRJ. The final report produced by Mazars regarding Wellpath’s performance at SRJ was released on July 17, 2024. This specific report, which I have reviewed meticulously, covered the month of March 2024.
Before I delve into some of the specifics contained in the Mazars’ final report, I’d like to direct our readers’ attention to a few occurrences that I found peculiar and quite interesting. On July 12, 2024, just five (5) days before the release of Mazars’ final report, U.S. District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley GRANTED Wellpath’s Motion for Summary Judgment in the Gonzalez case (Case No. 3:19-cv-07423-JSC). The Davis Vanguard published my article which discussed the decision (Alameda County Partially Settles Gonzalez Civil Lawsuit at Santa Rita Jail – Breaking News! Wellpath Dodges Liability Again).
Guest Commentary: Alameda County Partially Settles Gonzalez Civil Lawsuit at Santa Rita Jail
Plaintiffs in the Gonzalez case alleged that Wellpath has established a policy and practice of delaying and denying medical care to jail detainees which has led to harm. Judge Corley stated: “Plaintiffs have not identified evidence sufficient to support a finding a Wellpath policy or practice caused their alleged injuries.” Furthermore, on September 23, 2024, the Court stated the following when Wellpath attempted to obtain attorneys’ fees from the Plaintiffs:
“While the Court granted Wellpath’s Motion for Summary Judgment because Plaintiffs failed to offer evidence creating a dispute of fact as to their Monell claims against Wellpath, Plaintiffs’ claims were not ‘frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation.’ To the contrary, as the Court noted, ‘While the evidence Plaintiffs have proffered might have created a dispute of fact as to whether the (medical) care they were provided on particular occasions fell below the standard of care,’ they chose to pursue Monell claims rather than individualized claims and they did not create a dispute of fact as to their policy and practice claims.” (emphasis added).
I state clearly as a journalist and as a seasoned jailhouse civil litigator who has studied the Mazars’ final report that there is factual information and evidence that would have strengthened the argument posed by the Gonzalez Plaintiffs. Question: “WHAT IF THE FINDINGS OF THE FINAL REPORT BY MAZARS WAS INTENTIONALLY DELAYED?”
Wellpath and ACSO are both defendants in the Gonzalez case. Could they have sought to game the system by withholding or delaying the release of incriminating evidence?
THE MAZARS REPORT
The July 17, 2024 final audit report released by Mazars covered 10 specific categories as follows:
- Access to care;
- Grievance process for health care complaints;
- Receiving screening;
- Initial health assessment;
- Non-emergency health care request and services;
- Continuity, coordination, and quality of care;
- Discharge planning;
- Patients with chronic disease and other special needs;
- Restraint, seclusion, and segregated inmates;
- Informed consent and right to refuse.
Wellpath FAILED to reach “satisfactory compliance in all 10 categories.” The National Commission on Correctional Health Care sets a satisfactory compliance rate of 90-95% in each category. For this reporting period, March 2024, Mazars analyzed 14 patient files and checked them for their compliance rate in the 10 categories above. We’ve attached the actual Mazars final report. NOTE: Not every patient file analyzed was applicable to the 10 categories referenced here.
2024.03 ACSO Medical Quality Assurance Monthly Report_FINAL.pdf
In order to understand the relevancy and impact that the final Mazars audit report could have made in the Gonzalez proceeding, one must read and study it. The 10 categories were separated into two sections, “Essential” or “Important.” Here we report the findings in some of the categories marked “Essential”:
Category 6: Continuity, Coordination and Quality of Care (Is patient medical, dental, and mental health care coordinated and monitored from admission to discharge?). Here is the observation that Mazars made on page 8 of 15 of the ACSO Medical Quality Assurance Review Monthly Results Summary: March 2024 released 7/17/2024. “Evidence of ‘Mental Health’ referral outcomes visible within CorEMR an incomplete Return from Off-Site Care Visit documentation continues to be inconsistent. Patient medical, dental, mental health and specialty care should be coordinated and monitored from book-in to release. The inability to provide appropriate and timely care in accordance with clinical practice standards, increased the risk for inadequate care, inappropriate care, delayed care, and uncoordinated care, which could negatively impact patient outcome(s) AND RESULT IN PATIENT INJURY AND/OR HARM.” (Emphasis added.)
After reading this, I couldn’t help to think about the in-custody death of Eric Magana (Article: Re-Visiting the Death of Eric Magana at Santa Rita Jail):
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AkURCjxVvy29md92Lc82ZPBUzN5asA?e=31jrry
He died on April 27, 2023 at SRJ from water intoxication. I spoke directly to attorney Kara J. Janssen who works for the San Francisco-based law firm of Rosen, Bien, Galvan & Grunfeld, LLP not long after Mr. Magana’s death. Kara and I both agreed that death by water intoxication was rare and usually precipitated by a diagnosis of mental illness. My point is this, Wellpath failed to document Eric’s history of mental illness in his chart at intake. It frustrates me to no end to see our community members die inside this jail and the health care provider, Wellpath, continues to dodge liability. The real crime and the blood of our sisters and brothers is on the hands of the BOS, County Counsel, County Administrator, and Sheriff of Alameda County. They have and continue to allow Wellpath to harm men and women inside SRJ.
Lastly, I want to go back to the March 2023 Mazars Audit Report that focused on intake/reception (ITR) department at SRJ. The ITR historically has been riddled with problems. Here is an excerpt from page 13 of the March 2023 Mazars report:
“Problems (At intake) – Observation: While there continues to be improvement from the prior month, after the ITR Receiving Screening Form(s) were completed by the Clinician/Nurse, applicable Problem Lists were not consistently started, completed, or up to date for some of the patient files reviewed. In these instances, supporting Receiving Screening documentation, including clinically relevant chronic diseases, such as “Asthma,” “Chronic Pain,” ‘Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease,” “Poly Substance Abuse,” “Pregnant” “Serious Mental Illness,” were not initially listed on the Problem List; some were missing or documented later throughout the patient’s booking….,” “Without a complete accurate Problem List at the initial encounter there is an increased risk for inadequate care, inappropriate care, delayed care, and result in patient injury and/or harm.” (emphasis added).
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the exact argument that the Plaintiffs in the Gonzalez case were attempting to make. These reports by Mazars could, in fact, have been the smoking gun for them to overcome Wellpath’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Alameda County paid Mazars nearly $1 million dollars to conduct an audit of Wellpath. Let’s reflect on all the deaths at SRJ. Human beings like Dujuan Armstrong, Devin West, Maurice Monk, Elizabeth Laurel, Cody Van Buren, and so many others. Then consider all the wrongful death and civil lawsuits. The recent bankruptcy should have grabbed the attention of all citizens of conscience, but for some reason it hasn’t.
Where is the East Bay Times and Mercury News in all of this? Certainly, the Mercury News has more resources at its disposal than the Davis Vanguard and Destination Freedom Media Group. Is this not a newsworthy story for them? We have sent numerous emails to David DeBolt at the Mercury News asking him who are the reporters responsible for Santa Rita Jail? He has remained as quiet as a church-house mouse.
Why has the BOS made it so difficult for the public to access these audit reports? I ask the public at large to draw their own conclusions. Wellpath must provide the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals a status update for the bankruptcy stay in the Gonzalez case no later than May 19, 2025. For those who don’t know May 19, 2025 is the birthday of Malcolm X. I vow to continue to fight for our incarcerated sisters and brothers and follow this case by any means necessary!
A NEW DIRECTION
It is obvious that local public servants like Nate Miley, Donna Ziegler, Susan Muranishi, and Sheriff Sanchez have no interest in protecting our community members from Wellpath. In the State of Massachusetts, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren confronted Wellpath when she realized the harm being done to inmates housed in state prisons where Wellpath was the medical provider.
Warren, Durbin, Ossoff, Lawmakers Raise Concerns with Wellpath Over Inadequate Healthcare Services in Prisons and Jails Nationwide
Senators raise alarm about nation’s largest prison health care provider
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/us/wellpath-senators-investigation-invs/index.html
Northern California has a new U.S. Representative by the name of Lateefah Simon.
I ask our community members to join Destination Freedom Media Group in reaching out to Representative Simon via email, letter, phone, and social media in order to request that she conduct a thorough and fact-finding investigation into what is happening inside SRJ with a special focus on Wellpath. We cannot do this work alone.
Today, I formally ask editors and journalists at 48 Hills, El Tecelote, KPFA, SF Bay View, KPOO, Sun Reporter (San Francisco), Oakland Post, and Progressive Hub to consider fighting Wellpath in order to protect and defend the lives of our community members.
We are at a crossroads in the struggle for human and civil rights in America. I encourage everyone not to be consumed by your emotions and your disgust at the individuals attempting to take us back to a time when we were viewed as less than. Let’s move forward together in Unity, Love, Determination, and Single-mindedness of Purpose.
Malik Washington is a freelance journalist and Director at Destination: Freedom and Destination Freedom Media Group.
I do not believe they paid $722 million for an audit.