A judge in Tallahassee ruled today that the Florida Department of
Corrections improperly withheld public records from a vendor that filed
a lawsuit after being ousted from a mental health care contract.
The
ruling is a victory for MHM Correctional Services, which wants to
extend its 2 1/2 year contract to provide services to more than 15,000
inmates in a dozen South Florida prisons. But it is a defeat for
Attorney General Bill McCollum, whose office asked the judge to dismiss
the lawsuit and argued that the Sunshine Law does not apply to
purchasing committees, only boards and commissions.
The DOC wants
to replace MHM with Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis, even
though that company would charge $5.5 million more for the same service
over five years. MHM sued to stop the deal and argued that the state
violated the Sunshine Law by omitting some e-mails related to the case.
"The court has conducted an in camera inspection
of the document containing the e-mail stream and has determined that it
is not exempt under the provisions of Chapter 119," Circuit Judge Kevin
Davey wrote today. "It does not appear that any of the communications
in the stream were made in contemplation of litigation, which is
required for the exemption." (full ruling here.)
The bid protest is scheduled before a state hearing officer on Friday.
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