An agreement intended to overhaul and modernize the state’s prison health care system has been rejected by Gov. Schwarzenegger as being more than the state can afford.
The deal tentatively agreed to in May between state corrections officials and the federally appointed prison medical receiver would have provided two new prison hospitals for long-term care at a cost of 1.9 billion dollars.
It was also seen as a first step toward ending the 21 years of litigation over the poor quality of the medical and mental health care provided in the state’s 33 prisons.
The present settlement had been touted by state corrections secretary Matthew Cate and receiver J. Clark Kelso as an affordable compromise in the long running legal battle which appears headed for the U.S. Supreme court.
After agreeing to the outline of the proposal agreement in May, Cate, in a June letter to Kelso, stated that California can no longer afford the $1.9 billion price tag.
A spokesman for the receiver’s office, Luis Patino, stated: “This is now a matter for the courts. The receiver will have no public reaction at this time.”
In the letter to Kelso, dated June 24, Cate said, “the state cannot, at this time, become further indebted for correctional health care.”