Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, November 7, 2009
State prison officials announced a five-year plan Friday to add beds and treatment space for about 2,600 mentally ill inmates, in response to years of federal court rulings that found substandard psychiatric care in California’s penal institutions.
Most of the construction would be in converted juvenile prisons that are no longer needed because the state has shifted most incarcerated youths to county custody. The sites include the former Karl Holton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Stockton and other locations in San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo and San Bernardino counties.
“The department is trying to demonstrate its commitment to meeting our constitutional requirements and providing the bed space needed,” said Matthew Cate, secretary of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
A federal court filing in which the state outlined its plans acknowledged uncertainties, however, about bond funding for the project.
Legislators approved $7.3 billion in prison construction bonds in 2007 but have not yet signed off on use of the money for mental health centers, state lawyers said. There is no guarantee that state agencies will authorize the bonds or that investors will buy them.
The state may also meet local resistance, said Ernest Galvan, a lawyer for prisoners who have sued the state over mental health care. He said prison officials have already encountered opposition in Stockton after announcing plans to refurbish the Holton lockup for adult inmates.
“The state has not demonstrated that people have the stomach for another wave of prison building,” Galvan said.
He also questioned whether juvenile prisons that are “in terrible shape” could be converted to mental health centers.
The inmates’ lawyers haven’t decided whether to oppose the plan in court.
In the court filing, the state said the corrections department is meeting with local residents and officials to hear their concerns.
Federal judges have ruled that medical and mental health care in state prisons violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. A three-judge federal panel ruled in August that overcrowding at the 33 prisons, now packed to nearly twice their designed capacity of 80,000, was the main cause of poor health care.
The panel has given Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’ s administration until Thursday to present a plan to lower the prison population by 40,000 in two years.
Cate said Friday that the new mental health centers would lessen the need for reducing the inmate population.
Schwarzenegger has said he would appeal any population reduction order to the U.S. Supreme Court. His administration has also asked a federal appeals court to return prison health care to state authority and remove the receiver appointed by a federal judge in 2006 to manage the system.
Despite their legal conflict, the receiver, J. Clark Kelso, joined Cate on Friday in announcing the plan for new mental health centers.
“It’s a good agreement,” Kelso said.
As for the state’s readiness to resume supervision of prison health care, he said, “we agree to disagree.”
Source: SFGate.com
I have great doubts about getting anything done for the mentally ill anywhere in California (or the US).
Right now if an individual in California and has not worked because of mental illness, or didn’t earn enough for early retirement and Medicare again due to mental illness they have some big problems.
First, the amounts disability pay has dwindled. The average single person’s benefits in Californai have gone down about $150.00 per person since 2006 according to SSI’s tables listing benefits for 2006 – 2009. You can find the information on their website.
The second issue that concerns me is that all mentally ill adults in California are no longer able to have paid visits to their therapist. Most people are referred to a clinic of some type. Most clinics that are free have had their funding cut, so they almost always assign patients to a group. This grouping is often determined by sex, a general diagnosis or sometimes just by what time of day can the patient come and join a group. Groups can be good social support if managed properly. However, they are not a substitute for individual therapy. Siding scale clinics have a little more monies and can usually offer one on one therapy if it is needed. The problem is many sliding scale clinics are simply full. Patients are sometimes put on a waiting list, but are usually just turned away. I have even heard of patients being referred to clinics that have already closed their doors for good.
Not all patients want group therapy, and those who don’t often go without therapy at all. Some do spend their precious little income at a sliding scale clinic. Fees that would delight you can be burdensome to the serious mental health consumer. No one should give up food or clothing money to get necessary health care. Again consumers of mental health care simply don’t go to therapy
What does this have to do with California prisons? Well, it is important to give the mental health consumers a support system. In California a patient may be covered to see a psychiatrist if they are diagnosed and being treated for mental illness. It is not as likely that a person on psychiatric medications will continue to take them if they loose their support system. It is more likely then that person would end up homeless or in an institution. It could possibly be a mental health care facility, but usually it’s the prison system.
Prison is a breeding ground for mental illness. Over crowding, stress, worry about safety from physical and mental harm, hopelessness, issues surrounding basic medical care are problems in prisons (just to name a few). These kinds of problems have been shown to combine and take a toll on an individual in such away that if they are somewhat prone to a mental illness, it is almost certain that it will develop under these negative conditions. Considering the background of a majority of the prison population surely there is a higher portion of people at risk. Prevention as well as treatment is needed.
California is not alone in this matter. It is merely representative of the US. Health care in general. I would like to see the mentally ill get better treatment everywhere possible. The reality is that mental health will always be a low priority. Serious mental health consumers are in a silent minority. I don’t believe any politician has ever lost sleep with worry because he/she won’t be getting the mental illness vote on Election Day.
By: Christine on December 2, 2009
at 12:06 am
[...] “The state has not demonstrated that people have the stomach for another wave of prison building.”– Ernest Galvan, a lawyer for prisoners, quoted on prisonmovement. [...]
By: Quote of the day on November 9, 2009
at 2:45 pm
Some excerpts from the Opinion and Order of the Three Judge Court:
“Deborah Hysen, the CDCR’s chief deputy
secretary for facility planning and construction management, Sept. 3, 2008 Hysen Dep. at
14:11-14, explained that environmental impact reviews, which have not yet been completed
for any of the proposed building sites, “could potentially hang up projects for years,” id. at
38:8-16, 56:1-2. Delays would also result from the need to obtain necessary construction
materials, id. at 38:17-25; permit public comment at each phase of construction, id. at
111:9-15; and provide for seismic retrofitting, id. at 112:16-21.”
“Given the serious inadequacy of the state’s only existing facilities construction plan, it
is also clear that no other, yet-to-be-developed plan could remedy the constitutional
violations here within a reasonable period of time. The evidence before the court is thus
clear and convincing that the state has no feasible plan to remedy the constitutional violations
at issue in Plata and Coleman through either prison construction or re-entry facility
construction, and that such construction does not provide a meaningful alternative to the type
of order sought by plaintiffs in this case.”
“Besides re-entry facility construction, defendants identify two additional proposals to
increase the capacity of the prison system: the Plata Receiver’s medical facility construction
plan and prison expansion through the construction of space for in-fill beds, as authorized by AB 900. Rep. Tr. at 1689:10-18 (Cate). For reasons similar to those discussed above, we
conclude that neither the Receiver’s medical facility construction plans nor the proposed
AB 900 in-fill beds – prison expansion – can remedy the constitutional violations at issue in
Plata and Coleman. Like the AB 900 re-entry facilities, these proposed facilities will not be
realized at any point in the near future. Furthermore, their funding is threatened by the
present fiscal crisis, and the proposed construction would in any event likely fall far short of
remedying the problems created by the crowding of California’s prisons.”
“The delays are compounded by the fiscal crisis now facing the state, which makes the
completion of any new construction even more distant and unlikely.”
“Given all of the above problems, we are convinced that neither prison expansion, nor
re-entry or medical facilities construction, nor any other construction effort offers a meaningful and timely remedy for the constitutional deficiencies in the delivery of prison medical and mental health care caused by crowding.”
This list of quotes is endless, and the message is crystal clear. For Matthew Cate to say ““The department is trying to demonstrate its commitment to meeting our constitutional requirements and providing the bed space needed,” is no different then someone declaring the intent to fly to Jupiter in 5 years.
OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi
By: Jacob on November 8, 2009
at 6:45 am
Some excerpts from the Opinion and Order of the Three Judge Court:
“Deborah Hysen, the CDCR’s chief deputy
secretary for facility planning and construction management, Sept. 3, 2008 Hysen Dep. at
14:11-14, explained that environmental impact reviews, which have not yet been completed
for any of the proposed building sites, “could potentially hang up projects for years,” id. at
38:8-16, 56:1-2. Delays would also result from the need to obtain necessary construction
materials, id. at 38:17-25; permit public comment at each phase of construction, id. at
111:9-15; and provide for seismic retrofitting, id. at 112:16-21.”
“Given the serious inadequacy of the state’s only existing facilities construction plan, it
is also clear that no other, yet-to-be-developed plan could remedy the constitutional
violations here within a reasonable period of time. The evidence before the court is thus
clear and convincing that the state has no feasible plan to remedy the constitutional violations
at issue in Plata and Coleman through either prison construction or re-entry facility
construction, and that such construction does not provide a meaningful alternative to the type
of order sought by plaintiffs in this case.”
“Besides re-entry facility construction, defendants identify two additional proposals to
increase the capacity of the prison system: the Plata Receiver’s medical facility construction
plan and prison expansion through the construction of space for in-fill beds, as authorized by AB 900. Rep. Tr. at 1689:10-18 (Cate). For reasons similar to those discussed above, we
conclude that neither the Receiver’s medical facility construction plans nor the proposed
AB 900 in-fill beds – prison expansion – can remedy the constitutional violations at issue in
Plata and Coleman. Like the AB 900 re-entry facilities, these proposed facilities will not be
realized at any point in the near future. Furthermore, their funding is threatened by the
present fiscal crisis, and the proposed construction would in any event likely fall far short of
remedying the problems created by the crowding of California’s prisons.”
“The delays are compounded by the fiscal crisis now facing the state, which makes the
completion of any new construction even more distant and unlikely.”
“Given all of the above problems, we are convinced that neither prison expansion, nor
re-entry or medical facilities construction, nor any other construction effort offers a meaningful and timely remedy for the constitutional deficiencies in the delivery of prison medical and mental health care caused by crowding.”
This list of quotes is endless, and the message is crystal clear. For Matthew Cate to say ““The department is trying to demonstrate its commitment to meeting our constitutional requirements and providing the bed space needed,” is no different then someone declaring the intent to fly to Jupiter in 5 years.
By: Jacob on November 7, 2009
at 1:49 pm