Medical & Mental Health Care in Maryland (DPSCS)

Health care in Maryland’s state prisons is administered by the DPSCS Office of Clinical Services and delivered by a contracted provider. Care covers medical, mental-health, dental, and substance-use treatment, intended to follow community standards from intake through release. An incarcerated person who needs care requests it through the facility, not through a family member; the sections below describe how that works and how to raise a problem.

Requesting medical, mental-health, and dental care

Care begins with a health request (sick call). The incarcerated person submits a request — typically a written or electronic sick-call slip — describing the problem, and is scheduled to be seen by the contracted medical, dental, or mental-health staff at the facility. Routine requests are seen on a schedule; urgent and emergency needs are handled through the facility’s medical unit rather than the routine sick-call line.

Families cannot schedule appointments or obtain medical records on the person’s behalf without the person’s authorization. Federal medical-privacy rules apply, and a release signed by the incarcerated person is generally required before a provider will discuss that person’s care.

Cost of care (co-pays)

Maryland, like most prison systems, may charge a small co-pay for certain inmate-initiated health services. Co-pay amounts and exemptions are set by DPSCS policy and can change.

This guide does not list a co-pay figure, because an exact current amount should come from an official source rather than be assumed. To confirm the current co-pay policy — the amount, what is and is not charged, and any exemptions (for example, for emergencies, chronic-care visits, or those without funds) — check the DPSCS Office of Clinical Services information or the facility’s inmate handbook, or ask the facility’s medical unit. An inability to pay does not, by policy, prevent a person from being seen for a medical need.

The contracted provider

DPSCS does not employ most of its clinical staff directly; it contracts for prison medical and mental-health care. As of this writing, the system is currently contracted with Centurion of Maryland, which began providing care in August 2024 under a multi-year contract, replacing the previous vendor (YesCare/Corizon).

Correctional health contracts are re-bid periodically and can change, and the name of the company providing care at a given facility may differ from what is stated here. The DPSCS Office of Clinical Services oversees the contract regardless of which company holds it; confirm the current provider with the facility if that detail matters.

Mental-health care and CMHC-J

Mental-health services range from screening at intake through outpatient care, Mental Health Step-Down Units for people at risk in a traditional housing setting, and Mental Health Transition Units for people approaching release who are connected with community providers.

Acute, inpatient psychiatric care is centralized at the Correctional Mental Health Center–Jessup (CMHC-J), a licensed mental-health unit located at the Patuxent Institution complex in Jessup. CMHC-J stabilizes incarcerated men with serious psychiatric needs for return to a general-population or special-needs setting. Placement in any of these programs is a clinical decision made by DPSCS and the contracted provider, not a request a family can make directly.

Raising a problem with care

There are two main channels for a concern about health care.

1. The Administrative Remedy Procedure (ARP). The ARP is the prison system’s internal grievance process. An incarcerated person files an ARP complaint about a medical, mental-health, or dental issue at the facility; the complaint is investigated and answered, and an unsatisfactory response can generally be appealed — first to the Commissioner of Correction, then to the Inmate Grievance Office (IGO). Deadlines apply at each step, and the ARP is typically the required first step before outside review.

2. The Office of the Correctional Ombudsman (OCO). The OCO is an independent state agency, created in 2024 and operating separately from DPSCS, that receives and investigates complaints from incarcerated people and their families and can conduct inspections and make recommendations. In most cases, the internal grievance process (the ARP) must be pursued before the OCO will take a complaint. Communications with the OCO are confidential. Contact information and complaint instructions are on the OCO website (oco.maryland.gov).

Verify Before Acting

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Know Your Rights.