As part of a new program at the prison’s Health Care Services Building, San Quentin inmates employed by California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) received top marks for professionalism. In fact, a rigorous inspection report concludes that SQ’s CALPIA Healthcare Facilities Maintenance (HFM) has set the bar for other facilities.
The HFM program provides janitorial services and cleanliness for contracted patient-care areas for San Quentin’s health care facilities. It has approximately 10 outside HFM staff and 53 offender-workers.
San Quentin residents have all had their cells inspected and think they know what it’s like, but this internal audit went on for a full week and included a total of 11,616 individual items inspected and cataloged. While the report does not refer to the use of sniffing dogs, the inspectors did use new computer audit tools, bacteria monitors and a process that had them review specific areas multiple times over the weeklong inspection.
The addition of new System Sure Plus Hygienia ATP Monitoring equipment confirmed the visual inspections. There were consistently low readings for germs and microorganisms.
The HFM Program stands as a model of efficiency, according to a bottom-to-top assessment.
“SQ performance had a compliance rating of 98 percent and ranked second highest statewide in overall score and ranked highest in housekeeping with a score of 99 percent,” the inspectors concluded.
“SNY [Sensitive Needs Yard] …comprises roughly half the California prison system,” according to Lody Lewn in the Prison University Project Spring 2018 Newsletter Volume 13, No.1
The report was a chance to confirm what the local management believed, “that cleanliness of the contracted areas had greatly improved” since the November 2014 start of the HFM Program.
As is standard business practice for such inspections, the report identified best practices and areas of deficiencies. With the sanitization of medical equipment (like surgical pumps, oxygen tanks, crash carts, etc.), floor care, waste receptacle sanitization and hard to reach areas all scoring 100 percent.
Areas of improvement included the need for mobile storage containers in a storage room for waste containment and the need to complete training and certifications of the workers.
Anticipating a formal inspection by the Office of Inspector General and the court-appointed receiver, the inspectors concluded “The HFM Programs has the ability to meet contractual obligations both in the quantity and quality of the work required…by a skilled and well-trained offender-workforce” while at the same time “providing a viable trade to offender-worker’s employability.”
“I did this same job on the street and was making over $30 an hour,” claimed one of the current HFM workers.
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Boatwright