The Florida Department of Corrections and former prison health-care provider Corizon have agreed to pay about $2.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that the state agency and the company denied hernia operations to inmates to save money.
Under the settlement, Corizon agreed to pay $1.7 million to current and former inmates.
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The Department of Corrections agreed to pay $150,000 for legal fees and costs.
Corizon would have to pay the rest of the legal fees and costs, which are capped at $385,000.
Florida Justice Institute Executive Director Randall Berg filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of about 2,000 inmates, months before Corizon walked away from a five-year, $1.2 billion contract with the state three years early.
According to a consent order given preliminary approval Thursday by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, the state and Corizon "continue to vigorously deny all allegations contained in the complaint," but agreed to the settlement "to avoid costly and protracted litigation."
The three inmates who filed the lawsuit --- Tracy Copeland, Archie Green and Amado Parra --- will each receive payments of $5,000, plus attorneys' fees and costs.
An estimated 311 current or former inmates who sought treatment for hernias at prisons where Corizon handled health care will receive $2,733.12, and another 1,637 will receive $519.24.
The lawsuit detailed numerous inmates' years-long struggles to get hernia operations.
The lawsuit alleged that inmates were repeatedly denied consultations with surgeons or were not allowed to have surgery once doctors decided it was necessary.
The consent order approved by Hinkle also will require the corrections agency to change its health-care policy regarding hernias to ensure that prisoners are referred to surgeons for consultations and that the surgeons' recommendations are carried out. "This settlement is one step toward the overall improvement of medical care for all incarcerated people in Florida," Berg said in a prepared statement.