Why a private medical contractor has fallen under scrutiny for how it treats prisoners in Mississippi

Mississippi’s private contract for prison medical services has come under growing scrutiny this year as complaints mount about care and oversight.

The allegations are nothing new. Mississippi has cycled through five private prison health vendors over the past three decades amid recurring concerns about staffing shortages, weak oversight, unpaid bills to hospitals and inadequate care provided to patients. One report published nearly two decades ago by the Legislature’s watchdog committee echoes many of the questions raised by state lawmakers this year.

Meanwhile, Mississippi Today’s Beyond Bars, Beyond Care series has documented alleged routine denial of health care in Mississippi prisons: potentially thousands of people living with hepatitis C going without treatment, an untreated broken