Corrections_Today_Spring_2025_Vol.87_No.1

COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICATIONS

in a clinic near Baltimore to help disadvantaged communities access healthcare. However, Linthicum was as signed to Texas, which was distressing as she had no connec tions there and was an East Coast native. Despite appeals to stay in Baltimore, she had to comply due to severe financial penalties for refusal. When she arrived in Texas, she learned the Commissioner of Health in Texas decided to take all the National Health Service physicians and place them in the Department of Corrections. She implemented programs for physically handicapped and mentally ill offenders, built regional medical facilities, and expanded psychiatric units. At the time, the Texas correc tional system was under a federal judge’s oversight. The state needed physicians in its correctional system to meet compliance. “Judge Justice was fining the state of Texas thousands of dollars out of compliance with certain aspects of his rulings,” she remembered. She was placed in the Hunts ville Unit, a prison with outdated and unsanitary conditions, and faced significant cultural and racial discrimination. “When I got there, within a week, an inmate on the cell block

had passed out or something. The correctional officer called over to the medical infirmary and said, hey, we’ve got a convict down here. Y’all need to come on over here and see what’s wrong with him.” Linthicum responded with a nurse to the emergency and was stopped by an officer on the scene. “He picks up the phone in front of me and the nurse, and he calls the warden and says, warden, you know that new-colored Yankee doctor we got? To my face, he referred to me as the new-colored Yankee doctor, and it’s 1986. Now, mind you, I’ve been educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy at one of the seven sister Ivy League schools, Smith College, and in 1986, I’m referred to as a col ored Yankee doctor.” she recalled. Despite these hardships, she per severed and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the longest serving medical director in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. “I started as a staff physician, and then within two years, I be came a unit medical director. Then I became a regional medical director over an entire region, 20,000 in mates. Then I became chief of staff, which was about clinical services for the department. Then I became as sociate medical director. And then in 1998, I became the medical director, the longest tenured division direc tor in the history of TDCJ.” She recounted. An enormous legacy She played a key role in imple menting reforms in the prison system. Her efforts led to the re moval of a stipulation order

from the Huntsville unit and the development of a premier health care system. She implemented programs for physically handicapped and men tally ill offenders, built regional medical facilities, and expanded psychiatric units. These reforms resulted in 2,000 inpatient psy chiatric beds and specialized units for developmentally disabled and female inmates, leaving a last ing legacy in Texas’s correctional healthcare. “TDCJ is the size of some cities in Texas. Our healthcare budget is about $1.7 billion. It is the largest contract in TDCJ,” she explained. She always wanted to return home to the East Coast but even af ter her service time had expired, she was always convinced to stay just a bit longer in Texas to finish one job or another. “Before I knew it I was 40 years old and had 10-15 years into retire ment,” she remarked. In the end, Dr. Linthicum be lieves she has fulfilled her mission. “It’s been my mission and my ministry always from the very beginning wanting to serve an un derserved population,” Linthicum stated. “I had an epiphany. These people in the facilities are the people you are serving. They were the people I wanted to serve.” CT

Kirk Raymond is the Director of Communications & Publications at the American Correctional Association in Alexandria, VA. For more information, contact Kirk Raymond at (703) 224-0093 or kraymond@aca.org.

Spring 2025 | Corrections Today

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