Sheriff Bobby McCallum requests state assistance with rising inmate medical costs.

By Terry Witt- Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Inmate medical costs are beginning to break the bank for Levy County Sheriff Bobby McCallum.

            The sheriff’s office this year has spent in excess of $397,000 on inmate medical costs, exceeding the $325,000 McCallum budgeted for that purpose.

            McCallum said his office spent an additional $277,000 for inmate medical insurance that pays for hospitalization. The sheriff’s office carries a “catastrophic” policy at the jail on all inmates. The policy covers any costs for inmates admitted to the hospital when the costs exceed $10,000.

            The sheriff made a formal request of State Sen. Rob Bradley and State Rep. Charlie Stone at the recent legislative delegation hearing to end the state’s policy of halting Medicaid payments for inmates as soon as they are imprisoned.

Inmate medical costs become the sheriff’s responsibility when they are in custody. McCallum estimated 65-70 percent of inmates qualify for Medicaid but can’t access the program while they are inmates.

“Medicaid stops once they are under our care and control. We would like legislation to address that issue,” he said.

Stone said he was unaware Medicaid stopping paying for inmate medical costs when they were in the custody of local law enforcement.

Bradley said he was aware inmate costs were rising and were the responsibility of the sheriff’s office. He said Medicaid is a federal and state partnership and research needs to be done on the issue McCallum cited.

“I see your point and I think it’s something we need to explore,” Bradley said. Bradley chairs the powerful appropriations committee in the Florida Senate.

Threats of Mass Violence

McCallum also asked the lawmakers to stiffen the penalties for people who make threats of mass violence. He said it’s an issue that needs to be shored up in schools and elsewhere.

The sheriff said it is a second degree felony to write a threat of mass violence, but the law is silent on speaking verbally about committing an act of mass violence.

McCallum said the Florida Sheriff’s Association wants to make verbal threats of mass violence a third degree felony. It is one of their four priorities for the next legislative session that starts in January.

“We’re asking you to look at that statute and add verbal threats as a third degree felony,” McCallum said. “Verbal threats; one student to another, we spend a lot of time running those down, sometimes at night. We hear about those when kids get home from school. Parents of so and so said this was said at school.”

Using Drones       

The sheriff’s association also wants language in state statutes that allows sheriff’s offices to use drones for critical issue management including crowd control, traffic management, crime scene investigations and natural disasters, McCallum said.

Court Security

McCallum said the sheriff’s association wants to clarify language in state statutes to ensure sheriffs have the responsibility for court security and working with chief judges and judges.

Qualifications for Sheriffs

The sheriff’s association would like to establish qualifications for someone to hold the office of sheriff, McCallum said.

He said the sheriff’s association is aware that responsibilities have increased for sheriffs and there should at least be minimum qualifications for the job to ensure the office is constitutionally protected.

——

Levy County Legislative Delegation September 23, 2019; Posted September 28, 2019