Paying for the cost of prisoner’s health care has been debated since 1774, when the British parliament pasted the Health of Prisoners Act. In the United States prisoners have a constitutional right to health care via the Eighth Amendment concerning cruel and unusual punishment.
As the result of a 2001 class action law suit (Plata v. Schwarzenegger) brought against the State of California over the quality of medical care in the state’s 33-prison system the California Prison Health Care Receivership was established to oversee the care. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson appointed Clark Kelso as “receiver” to administer prison health care. For 2009 Kelso is demanding at least $8 billion to construct new facilities. Continue reading ‘Penal Health Care California Style’
