Prisoner or Patient – Who is Responsible for Security
It really depends on what part of the country you are located, and sometimes even what county you are located, to know the answer to who is responsible for patients that are also prisoners. In some locations the law enforcement personnel will stay with their prisoners the entire time while at a medical center, but in other areas they may just “un-arrest” and walk away.
The issue is law enforcement does not want to get their agency stuck with a medical bill for the prisoner. So it is becoming more common for law enforcement to un-arrest the person they have in custody for the purposes of seeking medical attention, and then re-arresting them once they are medically cleared.
Hospital Security Threat
In the northern California area recently a deputy presented a prisoner at a medical center who was in an orange jump-suit and wearing shackles and hand-cuffs. Once in the E.D. the deputy commenced to un-cuff the prisoner and exchanged the jump suit for a hospital gown. Then to everyone’s astonishment the deputy states that he is leaving and he will be back in 30 minutes to get the prisoner. Since the medical center is not a forensic unit, they did not take custody of the prisoner. In fact, not knowing what crime he had committed, and assuming that he was a security risk; the prisoner/patient was advised where the exits were. In addition to that, medical staff would not approach the patient until the deputy returned 45 minutes later.
In this same geographical area there was recently a patient that had previously been involved with a high-speed pursuit with law enforcement that ended with the suspect ramming his car into a highway patrol car and another occupied motor vehicle several times. Because of his ramming others in an attempt to elude, the driver was shot several times by police. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the nearest medical center where he was un-arrested in order to get medical treatment, but not stick the city/state with the bill. The suspect was a patient for a few days and on the day he was scheduled to be released he walked away just as the police were coming to place him back under arrest to take him to jail. Several days later they located him and took him into custody without incident.
Both of these cases and another one in the San Diego area all pointed to a growing trend. With police services being cut due to budget shortfalls around the country, law enforcement certainly does not want to be responsible for paying the medical bills of people that they arrest. Un-arresting a DUI suspect who was injured in a car crash to receive medical care is very common in some states.
Mitigate Hospital Security Risks
Hospitals have been looking at ways to minimize their risk exposure in cases like this, because for the most part they are not increasing their security staff to take the place of the police. In-fact, several California hospitals have cut their security staff due to budget issues. All hospitals should plan for this, because if it is not happening in your location yet, and there is no law to require police to maintain custody, this problem may be coming to your emergency room soon. Be ready; bring together a team of security, risk management, emergency department, and legal personnel to plan your response. Reach out to law enforcement and come up with a joint cooperation plan so that everyone knows what the others will, will not, or cannot do. And most importantly, stay safe!
