Dr. Mirchell Mitcheff, the chief medical officer for Indiana's DOC, has long been at the center of the relationship between the state and Corizon Health
He was hired by Corizon in the late 1990s and eventually became its regional medical director, making him the company's top medical employee in Indiana, overseeing the treatment of inmates.
But by 2014, Mitcheff's relationship with Corizon had soured.
He says Corizon added administrators to oversee his decisions. Mitcheff was concerned the new Corizon corporate reviewer — who he said was a pediatrician with no correctional experience — would make errors and he'd be responsible for the results. So after 16 years with the company, he left in mid-2014.
"The only way I found we could be successful in Indiana or any other state for that matter...was to have autonomy," Mitcheff said. "I'm a firm believer that you follow the clinical metrics and you take care of patients properly, and the money's going to follow. And, as a physician, I'm not worried about the money."
Corizon officials declined to be interviewed and did not answer questions about the added review or Mitcheff's account of it.
Regardless, Mitcheff wasn't gone from the state prison health care system for long, nor was he done dealing with Corizon. Shortly after leaving Corizon, Mitcheff began working part time as a DOC consultant about August 2014.
Then, about a year later, he was hired as the DOC's chief medical officer, with an annual salary of $234,000. His state job description gives him the ultimate authority over the contract with the company he used to work for, Corizon.