Ambulance transports from a state prison: a unique service staffed by prisoners

To describe an emergency medical service (EMS) staffed by convicted felons and to determine the nature of emergencies at a state penitentiary.

We retrospectively reviewed runs performed by the prison EMS for 2003. For each run, we recorded emergency run or a non-emergency transport, location of the patient, whether or not the run was staffed with a nurse or physician, and whether or not an automated external defibrillator (AED) was used. We also determined the cost of operating the service.

During 2003, the prison EMS had a total call volume of 477 transports. The AED was used 8 times with one patient surviving to hospital admission neurologically intact. There were 357 emergency runs and 120 nonemergency transports. The majority of emergency transports, 305 (85%), were for medical complaints. The actual cost of operating the service for 2003 was $35,421. There were no attempted escapes or injured providers. This study shows that the majority of emergency transports in our prison were for medical conditions.

The use of state prisoners as EMS providers results in substantial cost savings and most transports were for medical emergencies.