SAN FRANCISCO — The pharmacies in California prisons are so poorly run and dangerous to inmates' health that they must be seized from the state and placed under private management, the federal receiver in charge of prison healthcare told a judge here Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson seemed more than ready to take such a step and welcomed a second proposal aired at a morning hearing -- that he double the pay of prison pharmacists and dramatically increase salaries for other prison healthcare employees.
"It is time for action, and action you will take," Henderson told Robert Sillen, the receiver, after auditors described a chaotic pharmacy operation that has harmed inmates and squandered millions of taxpayer dollars.
On a related issue, Sillen said he is calling on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators to build hospitals for inmates, instead of the two new prisons the governor has proposed to ease severe overcrowding behind bars. Shifting incapacitated, terminally ill and other sick inmates to hospital beds would thin the incarcerated population, Sillen said in a letter outlining his proposal, and ensure that ailing prisoners get the care they are not getting now.
"Why spend the money twice?" said Sillen, who assumed his post in April. "The receivership plans to fill the need for medical facilities regardless" of whether the state decides to collaborate.
Sillen said he would discuss his hospital proposal for at least 1,200 beds at three facilities in the state next week with Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) and Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland).
Schwarzenegger's communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, said the governor welcomed the chance to talk as the special session he called on corrections, scheduled for next month, approaches.
"The governor called the special session because there needs to be a serious dialogue about what changes need to occur in the prison system," Mendelsohn said. "It's the governor's belief that we must address overcrowding, and there are a variety of alternatives ... which deserve discussion."
As for Sillen's proposal to hire a private firm to manage prison pharmacies, a lawyer for the state said the Schwarzenegger administration backs the idea. He said state officials would help Sillen expedite the contracting process, which normally takes from four to seven months.
