Audit  Audit of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department—A Review of Healthcare and Inmate Deaths

In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department (SCSD) for the period July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2021. The objectives of this audit were to determine the following:

• whether SCSD complied with the requirements of Section 932.17(2) of Title 103 of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR) and SCSD’s Policy S623 (Serious Illness, Injury or Death of Any Person on Site or on the Job) regarding the deaths of inmates in its custody¹
• whether SCSD held quarterly meetings with its contracted healthcare vendor and reviewed the vendor’s quarterly reports in accordance with 103 CMR 932.01(3)
• whether SCSD provided receiving screenings² to its inmates upon arrival at SCSD’s jail or house of correction and initial health assessments in accordance with Sections 2 and 4 of its Policy S604 (Inmate Care and Treatment)
• whether inmates received all the healthcare required by Section 7 of SCSD’s Policy S604 (Inmate Care and Treatment), 103 CMR 932.18(2)(h), and 103 CMR 932.18(2)(k) when using SCSD’s sick call process.

Below is a summary of our findings and recommendations, with links to each page listed.

Our audit of SCSD identified two other issues, but only one is disclosed in this public report (see Other Matters). The other issue has been omitted from this report in accordance with Exemption (n) of the Commonwealth’s public records law, Section 7(26)(n) of Chapter 4 of the General Laws, which allows for the withholding of certain records, such as confidential and sensitive information, if their disclosure is likely to jeopardize public safety.

In accordance with Paragraphs 7.61–7.62 of the Government Accountability Office’s Government Auditing Standards, as well as the policies of the Office of the State Auditor, for reporting confidential and sensitive information, we have given a separate, complete report to SCSD, which will be responsible for acting on our recommendations.

1.    SCSD told us that if an inmate is in custody, it means that SCSD has the authorization from a court to incarcerate an inmate until the court orders their release. A death in custody is one that occurs during this period of incarceration.

2.    A receiving screening is an assessment of an inmate’s health needs and/or medical conditions. It is conducted upon an inmate’s arrival at SCSD’s jail or house of correction.