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CA Prison Health Care System Will Be Placed in Receivership

by TChris

Litigation over the sorry state of California's prison health care system (covered by TalkLeft here and here) prompted U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson to announce yesterday that he will appoint an independent authority to supervise the administration of inmate health care.

Henderson, ruling in San Francisco in a class-action lawsuit, is expected to appoint a receiver during a hearing July 8, when he also will set the scope, authority and duration of the receivership. The judge could choose one or more receivers from among candidates suggested by the state prison system and attorneys for the plaintiffs.

Calling the system "terribly broken," Judge Henderson found it necessary to step in, given the state's inability to fix its own mess. In the words of Judge Henderson, "We're dealing literally with life and death."

Reform advocates were pleased with the decision.

"It is everything we wanted it to be," said Cayenne Bird, a prison reform advocate whose United for No Injustice, Oppression or Neglect (UNION) has helped several families of inmates who have died at the local prisons to file wrongful-death suits. "It's going to affect all the prisons similarly. There will be budget issues to consider, but it puts medical care at a higher priority."

Bird said it was the only proper step for the judge to take. "We are all sick of the bureaucratic inertia and we are sick of an inspector general that is basically useless," she said. "We are hopeful now."

"We supported the receivership because we believe this department is incapable of reforming itself," said Gary Robinson, executive director of the Union of American Physicians and Dentistry. "The department has had the opportunity for numerous years to implement these standards and has done nothing."

Doctors, dentists and nurses had written to Judge Henderson urging him to place the system into receivership.

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