Photo by Adam Fagen.

The D.C. Council voted 6-5 to reject a controversial contract for the city’s jails in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s first major defeat since taking the reins.

Tennessee-based Corizon Healthcare’s bid to take over as inmates’ healthcare provider (it is currently provided by the local nonprofit Unity Health Care) won the recommendation of the District’s Office of Contracting and Procurement after an 18-month process. But prisoners’ rights advocates and other groups pointed to the hundreds of lawsuits filed against Corizon across the country—and the fact that a number of states have since dropped the company—as evidence that they aren’t the right choice for the job.

The issue was aggressively lobbied on both sides—with supporters, including the mayor, arguing that the procurement process should be respected and opponents highlighting horrific case after horrific case of alleged malfeasance.

“These lawsuits and investigations reveal one avoidable tragedy after another. This is the stuff of nightmares, not a model for the nation’s capital,” Tammy Seltzer, director of the D.C. Jail and Prison Advocacy Project at University Legal Services, said in a release late last year. A number of D.C. Council members expressed similar concerns.

Mayor Vincent Gray initially withdrew the contract in the face of such opposition, but Bowser chose to resubmit it—thus provoking her first major fight with the Council.

Eighty six organizations signed a letter last month urging Councilmembers to reject it, writing: “This is not about the D.C. Council meddling in contracts but about safeguarding the human rights of the District’s incarcerated residents.”

Meanwhile, supporters argued that the number of lawsuits was high simply because of how many prisoners Corizon has under its care. Most of them were settled or dismissed, they claimed. The company also hired a prominent lobbyist to step up their efforts. The Post reports:

“They certainly have been aggressive,” said Elissa Silverman (I-At Large), who said Corizon’s lobbyists have called, e-mailed and visited in person.
[David] Grosso recalled that Brown grew irritated when Grosso turned down a request for a meeting, arguing that he had met with Corizon representatives last year.
“[Brown] literally said, ‘You owe me the courtesy of meeting with these folks,’ ” Grosso said.

Grosso, who normally abstains from contract votes, broke that streak to vote “no.”

“Corizon’s history of failing to provide necessary medical care, allowing extreme delays in medical services to persist and operating substandard facilities cannot and should not be ignored. The circumstances surrounding this contract are too egregious to overlook,” he said in a release.

Freshman Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau, who also disagrees with the Council’s role in the procurement process, echoed that stance. “I believe the process produced an unacceptable result that would entrust the care of some of our most vulnerable residents to a company with a deeply troubling track record of human rights abuses. I couldn’t in good conscience vote in support of that outcome.”

The contract was defeated by one vote.

Bowser called the outcome “disappointing” in a news release. “As a result of the Council’s action, District residents will continue to overpay a vendor that is servicing a declining population at the DC Jail. The Council’s action will extend overpayment for care, which does not fully meet the health needs of a vulnerable population, until a new contract can be awarded.”