FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2005

TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION NAMES NEW MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Nashville, Tenn. - Correction Commissioner Quenton White and TDOC Director of Health Services Donna White today announced Dr. Lester L. Lewis, Jr. of Brentwood has accepted the position of State Medical Director with the Department of Correction.  Lewis will be filling the post vacated by Dr. Donald Boatright who retired from state service in May 2005.

"We are fortunate to have Dr. Lewis join the department's health services division," said Commissioner White.  "His thirteen years of correctional health care experience, as well as his knowledge and experience of Tennessee's operations, will provide for a smooth transition into this new position with TDOC.  Dr. Lewis' understanding of medical contract management will also be valuable to TDOC as the department will be entering into a new medical contract in 2006."

Since August 2004, Dr. Lewis has served as a contracted physician for Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton, Tenn.  He has also worked as Tennessee regional medical director for Correctional Medical Services, corporate medical director for Prison Health Services, Inc. and state medical director for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections' Bureau of Health Care Services.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to support the efforts of the Department of Correction staff in providing care to the inmate population we serve," said Lewis.  "My experience working at various institutions in Tennessee has been rewarding and I have come to know the department and provider staff as professionals dedicated to making Tennessee one of the finest correctional systems in the country.  I hope to make a positive contribution to the health status of those to whom we provide care."

The Tennessee Department of Correction houses more than 19,000 inmates in the state's fifteen prisons, twelve of those facilities are managed by the department and three are managed privately.  The Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville provides a number of specialty inmate health services including acute and convalescent health care, intensive mental health intervention and a therapeutic program for sex offenders.  Two skilled nursing units in the health center provide care for inmates recovering from surgery, serious illness, or housing for inmates whose treatment regimen is not manageable at other TDOC facilities.  There is also a rehabilitation unit that houses inmates with long-term medical needs.

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