Radiologist technologist Joanne Wiedman works with a machine that allows Pima County jail inmates to get X-rays without leaving the facility.

A.E. ARAIZA / arizona daily star

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When some people think of being locked up in jail, they think of Edmond Dantés in "The Count of Monte Cristo," imprisoned in a dark, dank cell and watched by cruel and uncaring prison guards.

But officials at the Pima County jail are quick to brag about the recent changes at their facility, particularly those in the areas of medical and mental health treatment.

Three years ago, a 19-bed infirmary was added to the jail, cutting transportation costs — and decreasing the possibility of inmates escaping while on a trip to the hospital.

The jail's medical wing also has a relatively new X-ray machine that can instantaneously send digital images to University Medical Center and University Physicians Healthcare Hospital at Kino Campus so doctors can make quick diagnoses.

As UPH Hospital grows, the jail will get more use out of a new telemedicine machine, said jail Capt. Greg Gearhart. The machine lets a doctor and patient in an examining room at the jail on Silverlake Road near Mission Road or at the jail in Ajo consult, via video, with a doctor at UPH Hospital, Gear-hart said.

In addition to the new equipment, the jail has had a new medical provider for the past year. St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services was given a two-year, $18.5 million contract in April 2006. As part of the contract, CMS provides individual, group and recreational therapy to mentally ill inmates — services unavailable at the jail before, Gearhart said.

Such therapy gives mentally ill patients a chance to interact with others, identify sources of stress and learn coping skills, said Michael Christiansen, mental health clinical director.

The jail is just like any other community in that there is a mix of needs, said Patricia Alvarez Hurley, assistant county administrator for judicial and law enforcement. It houses inmates who are pregnant, who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and who have sexually transmitted diseases, bad teeth or chronic conditions.

Doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and obstetricians saw inmates at the jail 7,600 times last year, county records show. There were nearly 1,000 dental visits as well.

Those who are too sick to be treated at the jail are taken to area hospitals. Jail records show an average of seven inmates were admitted to local hospitals each month last year and another 17 per month were seen by outside specialists.

The county believes that tending to patients' needs saves money over the long terms because it prevents civil rights lawsuits, Alvarez Hurley said.

"Would you rather us spend $1 million trying to do the right thing or settling a lawsuit?" she asked.

That's not to say the county doesn't try to save money. In May 2005 it signed an intragovernmental agreement with the state.

Whenever an inmate is admitted to the hospital, he or she is asked to fill out an application for the Arizona Heath Care Cost Containment System, the state health-care program for the indigent, said Honey Pivirotto, assistant county administrator for health policy. About 85 percent qualify for state assistance so the county doesn't have to foot the bill, Pivirotto said.

In the first year, she said, the county saved about $1 million.