If You Were Harmed by Medical Care or Healthcare you received In Prison or Jail, You Have Rights

• TIME LIMITS APPLY.  Claims against these corporations are subject to statutes of limitations — generally two to four years depending on the state and the nature of the claim, but in some states less such as 180 days from the date of injury. If you or a family member were harmed at a for-profit private medical corporatoin-served facility, please do not wait. Contact Berger Montague immediately for a free confidential evaluation.

For-Profit Prison Medical Care Corporations

For-profit private medical care corporations contract with state and local governments to provide healthcare to people who are incarcerated in jails and prisons throughout the United States. They are the only source of medical care available to incarcerated individuals.

The companies contract to provide “comprehensive medical care.” People incarcerated at facilities served by these companies have come forward with accounts of serious, recurring harms — inadequate care for chronic conditions, delayed responses to medical emergencies which can result in severe injuries including death, insufficient mental health treatment, medication errors, denial of opioid treatment, and other failures that left incarcerated individuals without the medical care they had a constitutional right to receive.

CLASS ACTION ALERT & ONGOING PERSONAL INJURY INVESTIGATION — ALL HARMS

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent plaintiff law firms and has already been court-appointed class counsel in a certified multi-state federal class action against Wexford Health Sources, Inc. in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. That lawsuit, Spurlock, et al. v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-00476, was certified as a class action by the federal district court on July 24, 2025, and the certification opinion was affirmed on appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in a published, precedential opinion on May 4, 2026.

Berger Montague is actively investigating individual personal injury and wrongful death claims arising from any serious injuries or harm suffered at correctional facilities across the country. Whether you were denied life-saving opioid treatment, experienced medical neglect for another condition, suffered a serious personal injury, or lost a family member because of inadequate care, we want to hear from you.

Personal Injuries and Medical Neglect

BERGER MONTAGUE IS INVESTIGATING ALL SERIOUS HARMS CAUSED WHILE IN PRISON OR JAIL

Berger Montague is investigating and evaluating individual personal injury and wrongful death claims arising from any serious harm caused by a medical corporation at any correctional facility they serve:

1. Denial or Delay of Treatment for Serious Medical Conditions If you or a loved one are denied or significantly delayed in receiving treatment for serious diagnosed conditions — including physical injuries or trauma, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, serious infections, neurological conditions, or kidney disease, we want to hear from you. Courts have recognized that such failures may constitute deliberate indifference to serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment and may also support state-law medical malpractice claims.
2. Failure to Diagnose Serious Medical Conditions If you or a loved one experiences the failure to diagnose a serious medical condition in the first instance — dismissing symptoms, failing to order appropriate diagnostic tests, or providing an inadequate initial evaluation, we want to hear from you. Delayed diagnosis of physical injuries, cancer, cardiac events, and serious infections can result in permanent injury or death that competent medical care would have prevented.
3. Mental Health Care Failures Incarcerated individuals with serious mental illness are among the most vulnerable in any correctional setting. Failures in mental health care — including inadequate psychiatric medication management, failure to identify and respond to suicidal ideation, failure to provide appropriate mental health treatment, and prolonged placement in restrictive housing contrary to mental health needs — can cause severe and lasting harm. Berger Montague is interested in speaking with individuals who suffered serious mental health harms while in prison or jail.
4. Medication Errors and Dangerous Drug Interactions If you or a loved one have received incorrect medications, prescribed medications discontinued without medical justification — including psychiatric medications and medications for chronic conditions — and experienced dangerous drug interactions that providers failed to identify or prevent, we want to hear from you. These errors can have serious, life-altering consequences.
5. Failure to Provide Emergency Medical Care Medical emergencies in correctional settings can be fatal when not addressed promptly. Reported problems at these facilities may include delayed or inadequate responses to physical injuries, cardiac events, strokes, seizures, serious infections, overdoses, and other emergencies — as well as insufficient protocols for identifying and escalating emergencies in a timely manner.
6. Wrongful Death If you or a loved one was incarcerated at a facility and died as a result of medical neglect, inadequate care, failure to diagnose, denial or delay of necessary treatment, or deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim. Berger Montague can represent family members of individuals who died while under care and invites those families to contact us for a free confidential evaluation.
7. Post-Release Harm Caused by Provider Failures The harm caused by medical company’s alleged failures does not always end at release. The Fourth Circuit recognized that forced opioid withdrawal dramatically increases the risk of post-release relapse and overdose. More broadly, people released with undiagnosed or undertreated conditions — or whose conditions were worsened by inadequate care during incarceration — may suffer ongoing harm directly attributable to these providers. Berger Montague is evaluating post-release harm claims, including post-release overdose deaths.

Companies Under Investigation

• Wexford Health Sources Inc. operates in approximately 100 correctional facilities across at least 11 states
• Wellpath Holdings, formerly Correct Care Solutions, works in 550 facilities across 37 states, serving more than 300,000 patients
• Centurion Health serves nearly 275,000 incarcerated individuals in more than 325 sites through 20 programs in 14 states nationwide
• YesCare Corp. provides medical services to more than 1,000,000 patients at 475 correctional facilities across the country
• NaphCare Inc. operates across more than 220 correctional facilities nationwide, managing more than 200,000 active patient records
• VitalCore Health Strategies serves over 136 facilities across 17 states, providing care to 80,000 incarcerated individuals
• PrimeCare Medical, Inc. operates at 88 managed sites
• Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc. serves more than 256 facilities in 18 states
• TKHealth partners with 144 jails in 14 states to provide medical care
• Armor Health previously operated primarily in Florida and other southeastern states

The Legal Framework — Your Rights

CONSTITUTIONAL AND CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS FOR INCARCERATED PEOPLE

People who are incarcerated do not lose their right to medical care. The United States Constitution guarantees incarcerated individuals the right to receive treatment for serious medical needs. The Eighth Amendment protects convicted and sentenced prisoners from deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs. The Fourteenth Amendment provides similar — and in some respects stronger — protections to pretrial detainees who have not yet been convicted of any crime.

Because these are private corporations acting under color of state law through its government contracts, they may potentially be held liable, depending on the facts, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for constitutional violations — the same standard that applies to government entities. Courts across the country have confirmed that private medical contractors like Wexford cannot avoid constitutional accountability by hiding behind private contracts. The Fourth Circuit affirmed that Wexford’s alleged policy-driven denial of MOUD raises common constitutional questions for all affected class members.

Beyond constitutional claims, people harmed by inadequate care may also have state-law claims for medical malpractice, professional negligence, and wrongful death where Wexford’s care fell below the applicable standard of care and caused injury.

The Certified Class Action — Denial of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment (MOUD)

WHAT THE LAWSUIT ALLEGES — AND WHAT TWO FEDERAL COURTS HAVE CONFIRMED

The core allegation in Spurlock, et al. v. Wexford Health Sources is that Wexford maintained a uniform, company-wide policy of excluding Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) — including buprenorphine (Suboxone), methadone, and naltrexone — from the comprehensive medical care it contracted to provide. As a result, it is alleged that thousands of incarcerated people with Opioid Use Disorder were forced through painful, dangerous, and medically unnecessary opioid withdrawal instead of receiving the standard-of-care treatment that can save lives. If this happened to you or a family member, we want to hear from you.

What Is MOUD — and Why Does Denying It Cause Harm?

MOUD stands for Medication for Opioid Use Disorder. The FDA has approved three medications: buprenorphine (Suboxone), methadone, and naltrexone. MOUD is the medical standard of care for Opioid Use Disorder, endorsed by the World Health Organization, the CDC, the FDA, the American Medical Association, SAMHSA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare, and virtually every other major medical authority in the United States.

Rather than providing MOUD, it is alleged that Wexford’s prior policy put patients through “medically supervised withdrawal” — treating symptoms with Tylenol, ibuprofen, anti-nausea medication, and clonidine. As the Fourth Circuit made clear, this is not a treatment for OUD. It does not reduce cravings. It does not prevent relapse or protect against post-release overdose.

Wexford itself conceded in the litigation — in a passage highlighted by the Fourth Circuit in its published opinion — that at the facilities covered by the class action, it contracted to provide comprehensive medical care but excluded OUD screening and MOUD treatment, and that this failure contravenes medical standards of care.

“Wexford concedes that, at the institutions included in the Damages Class, it contracted to provide comprehensive medical care services but excluded OUD screening and MOUD treatment. Wexford also concedes that failure to provide this care contravenes medical standards of care.” Id. at 8 n.3

The Named Plaintiffs — Real People, Real Harm

The class action was filed on behalf of three named plaintiffs whose experiences represent thousands of others across 18 facilities in 11 states:

• The first plaintiff developed Opioid Use Disorder and was receiving Suboxone and brought her medication to intake at the jail. Wexford staff knew of her condition and denied continued treatment. She suffered severe withdrawal for three months.
• The second plaintiff completed rehabilitation and was treating her Opioid Use Disorder with Suboxone. She turned herself in on a warrant with her prescription in hand. Wexford verified the prescription and still refused to provide the medication. The plaintiff was placed in solitary confinement during withdrawal, her arms and legs jerking so severely she could not sleep.
• The third plaintiff had managed Opioid Use Disorder with Suboxone since 2012. Arrested for a technical probation violation, he disclosed his Suboxone history at intake but was denied medication. He had previously suffered heart attacks during opioid withdrawal and feared another. Less than two months after his release, he suffered a drug overdose.

Who Qualifies for the Damages Class

CLASS DEFINITION AFFIRMED BY THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

The certified Damages Class — affirmed by the Fourth Circuit on May 4, 2026 — includes individuals who meet all of the following criteria:

• Were confined at a Listed Facility during the applicable Relevant Time Period; AND
• Had a diagnosis of Opioid Use Disorder at intake that they reported to Wexford staff, or were diagnosed with Opioid Use Disorder during incarceration, OR had an active prescription for FDA-approved medication for Opioid Use Disorder at intake, OR were monitored for opioid withdrawal during incarceration; AND
• Were not continued on medication if already prescribed, or were not screened properly; AND
• Were thereafter released from the Listed Facility.

The 18 Listed Facilities and Relevant Time Periods

Contact Us – Free Case Evaluation

What to Include in Your Inquiry

If you or a family member were harmed at a prison or jail — whether through denial of opioid treatment, medical neglect, personal injury, or any other serious harm — please contact Berger Montague by calling (800) 424-6690, emailing info@bm.net, or submitting the contact form on this page. To help us evaluate your situation as quickly as possible, please provide as much of the following as you can:

(a)  The name of the facility  where you or your family member were incarcerated, and the approximate dates of incarceration.

(b)  The nature of the harm that was experienced  for example: denial of Suboxone or buprenorphine; denial or delay of treatment for a serious medical condition; failure to diagnose; mental health care failures; medication errors; emergency care failures; serious injury; or death of a family member who was incarcerated.

(c)  Your opioid use disorder history and treatment (if applicable) — including whether you had an OUD diagnosis, a MOUD prescription, and whether you disclosed this to staff at intake.

(d)  What happened when you sought medical care requests made to staff, responses received, and whether care was denied, delayed, or inadequate.

(e)  The physical, psychological, and financial harm you suffered, symptoms, medical complications, ongoing conditions, and out-of-pocket medical expenses allegedly caused by the prison medical care company’s failure.

(f)  Any harm after release including whether you relapsed, overdosed, were hospitalized, or suffered worsening of a medical condition after release as a result of alleged inadequate care during incarceration.

(g)  Whether a family member died while in Wexford’s care or after release as a result of harm during incarceration, and the circumstances of their death.

(h)  When the harm occurred. Please provide the approximate date or time period, which is important for evaluating the statute of limitations.

Please Also Submit (if available):

• Medical records from the facility documenting diagnosis, treatment, withdrawal monitoring, or refusal of care
• Sick call slips, grievances, or written requests for medical care submitted during incarceration
• Written responses from Wexford or facility staff regarding medical care requests or denials
• Prescription records for Suboxone, buprenorphine, methadone, naltrexone, or other medications from before incarceration
• Records of medical treatment received after release related to conditions arising from or worsened by Wexford’s care
• In wrongful death cases: death certificate, autopsy report if available, and documentation of care provided or denied during incarceration

You do not need any of these documents to contact us. Berger Montague can advise you on how to request medical records from the facility or from Wexford if you do not have them.

About Berger Montague

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. With more than $2.4 billion in 2025 post-trial judgments alone, the Firm is a leader in the fields of complex litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 55 years, Berger Montague has played leading roles in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago; Malvern, PA; Minneapolis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto, Canada; Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, DE.