Posted on 07/13/2006 7:34:24 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The federal receiver in charge of California's inmate health care system said Thursday that the two prisons Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to build should be used instead as hospitals for inmates.
The proposal was among a wide range of initiatives outlined by Robert Sillen in his first in-depth interview since he was given broad authority to reform the inmate health care system, which has been plagued for years by poor treatment and neglect.
"Why spend that money twice?" Sillen told The Associated Press during an interview in his capital office. "It would seem to me the smart way to go about this is to get the double benefit for the dollar, because it has the same bottom-line impact on the overpopulation problem."
His comments also mark the first time Sillen has inserted himself into the political debate over the larger question of improving conditions in the nation's largest prison system.
A separate federal watchdog with oversight of inmate abuse issues, employee discipline and eliminating the so-called code of silence among prison guards has been deeply critical of the Schwarzenegger administration, saying it has backtracked on mandated reform efforts.
Schwarzenegger has called a special session of the Legislature later this summer to address prison reform and favors building new prisons as one part of the solution. A system designed for 100,000 inmates now holds about 172,000.
The price tag for a new prison is generally thought to be about $500 million.
Sillen has virtually unlimited power to demand reforms to the health care system since a federal judge gave him control in April. U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson told Sillen to draft a reform plan within seven months of assuming his office, although Sillen said he might need more time.
Sillen said he will present his proposal for the prison hospitals as a recommendation to Schwarzenegger. However, he said he will require that California build more prison hospitals regardless, so the state might as well authorize the beds now to get a double benefit - relieving crowding by taking ill prisoners out of existing prisons while also improving inmate health care.
"We still have people dying every week in that system - needlessly - and we need to stop that," Sillen said.
Sillen said he believes at least 1,200 additional prison hospital beds are needed to help bring care to adequate levels. His staff had been considering three 400-bed hospitals scattered around the state to handle patients from California's 33 adult prisons.
A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman said Sillen's announcement underscores the importance of the special session, expected to start when the Legislature returns from its summer recess Aug. 7.
"It is a positive sign in recognition of the governor's leadership in this area that the receiver is actively engaging in the special session so that we can jointly solve the problem," spokeswoman Margita Thompson said.
In addition to his proposal for the hospitals, Sillen said that within weeks he will order pay raises for thousands of prison health workers. In some cases, he will double their salaries and make them some of the highest-paid state employees.
He is demanding that California hire many more medical providers and is ordering more supplies and temporary medical facilities to be housed in trailers on prison grounds around the state.
Sillen said he won't be deterred by the price tag for reforms.
"Astronomical is in the eye of the beholder," Sillen said.
But he said the $100 million allocated by lawmakers for reform this year is insufficient and even the $250 million Schwarzenegger had proposed might not be enough to cover improvements just in the first 12 months.
Improving medical care eventually will require changing state laws, rules and regulations to eliminate bureaucracy, he said. He blamed the current system for a long list of troubles, including an inability to fire bad doctors and preventing basic medical supplies such rubber gloves and gauze from being ordered.
Sillen, who previously headed Santa Clara County's public health system, made it clear that he is now in charge of prison health care and will act on his own or through the federal judge if Schwarzenegger, state lawmakers or prison employee unions get in the way of reforms or don't act quickly enough.
He acknowledged that reforms will lead to dramatic upfront costs, but said California taxpayers ultimately will see savings because inmates will be treated before they require expensive hospitalizations. The state also will be able to stop paying for expensive outside medical services that it now uses because it can't hire or retain enough of its own doctors and nurses.
There are many many prisoners being treated at the Ohio State Univ. Med center.
They are all under 24 hour guard too.
A prison hospital does make sense but it is also a lawsuit ready to happen if it does not provide top line care for the prisoners.
Spoken like a true socialist bureaucrat.
He's AN administrator to the core,, I think he ran the Santa Clara County Valley Medical Center for years..
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