In a LA Times article this morning, it was announced that the GOP is blocking medical plan improvements for prisoners.
In an ominous sign for efforts to end federal oversight of state prisons, state Senate Republicans on Tuesday rejected a $7-billion proposal to build medical facilities intended to improve unconstitutionally poor healthcare for inmates.
The plan was created by a federal receiver and backed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who appointed the receiver, wrote a letter last week urging lawmakers to approve it.
But Senate Republicans balked at the bill's high price tag and objected that it had not been coordinated with other plans that could dramatically affect state prisons, such as a proposal for settling a federal court case on overcrowding by reducing the inmate population by tens of thousands.
In two days, some of the same Republican legislators, the Schwarzenegger administration, inmates' lawyers and other parties to the overcrowding case are scheduled to report in federal court whether they agree to the settlement, which would divert some convicted criminals and parole violators into local treatment programs, county jails and alternative forms of incarceration.
Advocates for inmates in the case assert that overcrowding is the main cause of substandard healthcare in California prisons. Republican lawmakers and some local officials have expressed reservations about the proposed deal. A panel of three federal judges is poised to hold a trial that could result in a mass release of prisoners if the settlement talks fail.
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE - CLICK HERE!!!
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Judge Henderson has been truly patient,hoping the legislators,will make the necessary changes,using their own common sense.So far,they have not,it does not matter to them that an inmate dies,every week,as they continue to stall~~I pray Henderson comes down hard on them,and imposes the prison cap,and orders compassionate releases for the neglected dying inmates AB 1539 the compassionate release bill,was signed by the governor,but prison doctors are afraid,to recommend the releases,even though the prisoners,fit the criteria,for fear of retaliation on them,and losing their jobs~~~~~The Judge needs to command those releases.The state had 2 years to make changes,as ordered by Judge Henderson,but,they only move forward,by setting up more road blocks~~within their grossly mismanaged prison system matrix,they have intentionally created,spilling the blood of our loved ones~~~~~
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