ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh County Board of Commissioners have approved a non-bid, professional services agreement with a Harrisburg medical provider for its department of corrections.
PrimeCare Medical Inc. will provide comprehensive medical, dental, medical assisted treatment and mental health and related services to the inmate/patient population in the custody and control of the department.
The four-year contract, which runs Aug. 1 through July 31, 2029, will cost the county $34.67 million and be paid in monthly installments.
The agreement calls for an option for two additional years to the contract.
The contract may be terminated by either party upon default of the agreed terms, with 90 days’ notification.
The base adult population for the contract is 700-850, county records show.
A vote on the contract was tabled at the board’s June meeting.
“It’s a necessity to keep the people in our jail healthy. The jail is significantly a hospital as well as a jail. This is a consequential contract and value for the county.”Lehigh County Commissioner Jon Irons
The contract was approved by an 8-1 vote on Wednesday night, with Commissioner April Riddick voting against.
“We’ve had three suicides under their watch,” she said of PrimeCare Medical. “That’s why I can’t vote for it.”
Three inmate deaths at the county prison, from August 2024-March 2025, were attributed to suicide.
“It’s a necessity to keep the people in our jail healthy,” Commissioner Jon Irons said.
“The jail is significantly a hospital as well as a jail. This is a consequential contract and value for the county.”
Added Board Chairman Geoff Brace: “A jail is not the best place to be treating people with mental illness. But when somebody is in the county jail and has significant mental illness, we have to have some kind of treatment.”
Grant to support opioid use disorder
Also Wednesday, commissioners authorized a $135,000 grant to Bloom for Women Inc., to support services for individuals with opioid use disorder.
Operating five homes in the Lehigh Valley, Bloom for Women Inc., is a nonprofit corporation that provides a sanctuary and continuum of care for survivors of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The funding comes from $2.6 million allocated to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office from $17.6 million the county received from the national opioid settlement.
That settlement, totaling billions of dollars, was reached with major drug distributors, pharmaceutical manufacturers and retailers for their role in the opioid epidemic.
Funds will be paid to the county over an 18-year period.
