Forrest County Jail will use new medical care

FORREST COUNTY, Miss. - Forrest County Supervisors voted Monday to provide medical care for inmates in Forrest County Jail through a new contract.

Sheriff, Billy McGee said, “Hopefully it’ll be more of a streamline process and not as many people having to go out from the Forrest County Jail to different doctors for tests and so forth.”

Sheriff McGee said they used to have to go through several different vendors for medical care. But, now, Southern Health Partners of Tennessee will provide medical care to Forrest County Jail for an annual cost of $1,468,351.

“They had a figure that came in a couple of hundred thousand dollars less than what we paid last year for the hodge-podge of vendors that we used. It just made better sense to have them on board with all of their people as a one-stop shop for x-rays, medical calls, daily delivery of medication, and all that,” said Sheriff McGee.

Sheriff McGee said having Southern Health Partners of Tennessee on board will be beneficial for not only the Forrest County Jail staff, but for the inmates as well.

Forrest County will begin the new contract of Southern Health Partners of Tennessee on July 1.

The contract will run for at least a year.