Medical & Mental Health Care in Florida (FDC)
How health care works in Florida prisons — requesting care through sick call, the contracted provider Centurion of Florida, the $5 co-pay for inmate-initiated visits, the Reception and Medical Center hospital at Lake Butler, and oversight by the Correctional Medical Authority.
Health care in Florida prisons is requested through each institution’s sick-call process and is delivered by a contracted provider — currently Centurion of Florida, LLC — under a statewide managed-care model. A $5 co-pay applies to non-emergency visits the incarcerated person initiates, and access to care is not denied for inability to pay. The system’s central medical facility is the Reception and Medical Center (RMC) at Lake Butler.
Requesting medical, mental-health, and dental care
Non-urgent medical care is requested through sick call by submitting an Inmate Sick Call Request (form DC4-698A) at the person’s institution. A person who identifies a medical or mental-health emergency may declare a medical or psychological emergency, which prompts an immediate evaluation. Each institution sets the specific times and method for sick call, so the procedure is confirmed at the individual institution.
Mental-health care and dental care are provided through the same contracted health-services structure as medical care. Routine, non-emergency care is generally scheduled, and wait times vary by institution.
Cost — the $5 co-pay
For each non-emergency visit to a health-care provider that is initiated by the incarcerated person, a $5 co-payment applies. A person may not be denied access to health care because of an unpaid co-payment; an unpaid balance may be deducted from the person’s account later.
Certain visits are not charged a co-pay, including the required initial medical history, visits related to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations for approved individuals, and physical examinations. Emergency care is handled through the emergency-declaration process rather than as an inmate-initiated sick-call visit.
How care is organized
Medical, mental-health, and dental care is provided by a private contractor under a managed-care model, rather than entirely by state employees. The current contractor is Centurion of Florida, LLC. Statewide prison health-care contracts have changed in the past — a prior contractor (Corizon) held the contract before Centurion — so the company responsible for care can change over time.
The system’s central medical facility is the Reception and Medical Center (RMC) at Lake Butler, which functions as the Florida Department of Corrections’ main hospital. RMC includes inpatient hospital beds and specialized services such as a cancer treatment center, a dialysis unit, and an ambulatory surgical unit. Care that cannot be provided at a person’s own institution may be arranged at RMC or at outside hospitals.
Raising a problem with care
A complaint about medical, mental-health, or dental care is raised through the Florida Department of Corrections inmate grievance process, the formal internal complaint procedure, which has institution-level and central-office review steps and set time limits. Health-care grievances are handled within that process.
The Florida Department of Corrections also lists a health-care contact for questions or concerns about FDC health-care providers or their services (FDCHealthCare@fdc.myflorida.com or 850-717-3277).
Oversight — the Correctional Medical Authority
Independent monitoring of the quality of Florida’s prison health care is conducted by the Correctional Medical Authority (CMA), an independent state body. The CMA conducts physical and mental-health surveys of correctional institutions, reviews the adequacy of the health-care system, and reports on its findings. The CMA is a monitoring and reporting body; it does not provide individual medical or legal assistance.
Verify Before Acting
Sources
This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.