Legal News

District judge has "no confidence" in state to run prison healthcare

By Richard Binder

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who seized control of California's prison health system in 2006, rejected a bid by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to end court oversight of healthcare in state prisons and to drop construction plans for inmate medical facilities estimated to cost up to $8 billion.

Henderson wrote in a 24-page decision that the state had not proved it would, on its own, bring the quality of care up to standards consistent with inmates' constitutional rights.

His ruling escalated the showdown between state officials and the federal courts over conditions in California prisons. Brown and Schwarzenegger's aides said they would seek to have the decision overturned by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Read the full story at LA Times.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 25, 2009 (boomark / email).