A federal judge has denied the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s proposal to be allowed to provide psychiatric care to state prisoners exclusively by telephone.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller gave final approval of a 2020 provisional settlement policy that allows some remote telepsychiatry but rejected a bid by CDCR to switch to telepsychiatry only, according to Courtroom News Services.
The ruling stemmed from a decades old lawsuit over inadequate mental health care at California state prisons, which led to the appointment of a special master to oversee efforts to improve care.
Amy Xu, an attorney for incarcerated patients in the lawsuit, said the court acted correctly.
“We urge the defendants to implement the final telepsychiatry policy, which draws a balance between live and remote psychiatry that is consistent with the relevant literature and prioritizes patient safety,” Xu said.
A CDCR spokesperson said the department is reviewing the order, according to the article.
CDCR has been struggling to provide in-person psychiatric care given a chronic shortage of psychiatrists and other mental health workers. As a result, the special master recommended expansion of telepsychiatry, but as a supplement to in-person care, not a substitute.
This led to a 2020 settlement agreement between the special master, CDCR, and plaintiffs. After 18 months of monitoring, the state argued that certain limitations should be removed from the agreement. This included exclusive telepsychiatry and removal of the requirement for the state to have “continued good faith recruitment and retention of on-site psychiatrists,” according to the article
In the ruling, Mueller wrote, “Any proposed expansion of the telepsychiatry policy advanced without specific findings to support the expansion from the special master and his experts is problematic.”
