The Alabama Department of Corrections plans to enter a contract with a mental hospital to provide in-patient care for inmates.

The treatment will be in addition to the medical and mental health care the ADOC provides inside state prisons under another contract. It will be for patients whose mental illness requires more intensive treatment than is offered in prisons. The ADOC has requested proposals from companies that want to compete for the work. The ADOC wants a hospital with bed space for 10 inmates and the capability of adding five more.

The request for proposals (RFP) says: “The ADOC possesses a constitutional duty to provide healthcare services to inmates in its custody. The ADOC has contracted with a third party to provide comprehensive healthcare services, including mental health services to inmates housed within its facilities. From time to time, an inmate is identified by the mental health care staff as needing advanced inpatient mental health care in a hospitalized setting, which is beyond the scope of the services provided by the third-party healthcare provider.”

The contract is related to a federal lawsuit over mental health care in Alabama prisons. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled in 2017 after a non-jury trial that care fell short of standards required by the Constitution. One of the judge’s findings was that the prison system did not provide hospital-level care for prisoners who needed it. Since then, attorneys representing the ADOC and attorneys who represent inmates have negotiated on improvements in care, such as increasing the mental health staff, under the supervision of the court.

The RFP says inmate-patients must have mental health care teams of qualified professionals that include a psychiatrist. Inmate-patients must have individualized treatment plans.

Companies must send in their proposals by April 20. The proposals will be opened on April 21. The ADOC plans to begin using the services on October 1. The contract will be for two years, with options for renewal up to a total of five years.