(California prison audit) Small group of ill inmates costs state plenty

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(05-19) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - --

As California struggles to pay for social services for its poorest residents, it spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on health care for a small group of sick inmates - in one case $1 million during a dying inmate's final year, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

The state also spends billions of extra dollars on the longer sentences handed down under the state's "three strikes" law in part because those inmates age in prison and need health care, the report by State Auditor Elaine Howle found.

Roughly one-quarter of the $2.1 billion spent on prison health care in 2007-08 paid for specialty health care, or services beyond primary care. Specialty care is provided by contractors, and typically involves inpatient acute medical and surgical care.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/19/MN7E1DGKPK.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

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In fact, this article reports that a Democratic State Senator from San Francisco, Mark Leno, proposed Senate Bill 1399 to grant parole for incapacitated inmates who do not pose a threat to public safety. And this audit confirms Californians' suspicions that the state spends too much money on prisons while shoving off social services for the law-abiding people. Next thing to do would be also to release and de-convict the non-violent drug offenders!

[Donnachaidh]

1. Okay, so the prisons save money by letting the sick patients go

But the STATE winds up footing the bill because these folks may be too sick to work. And the state also THEN has to pay for a roof over the person's head, food stamps, medications, etc.

Tell me WHO is saving money this way? If this is the way California politicians propose to deal with the *problem* of sick people -- they (the politicians) should ALL be run out of the Capitol on a rail, with a tar and feather make-over.

WTF?

Or are those people going to just get dumped into the street to die, because not taxing people is more important?

[Hekate]

2. "Life without parole" means having to care for geriatric prisoners. "Three strikes" means many more

... geriatric prisoners.

In practical terms, releasing such people means they become a burden to another sector of society that is ill-equipped to handle the senile and the frail elderly, and that their risk of homelessness is that much greater.

Cheery thought, that.

Hekate

[Matariki]

3. Perhaps if we put money into education and social services IN THE FIRST PLACE

we wouldn't need to spend so much money on prisons.

I've been thinking lately how backward our society's priorities are and this is a perfect example.

[bluestateguy]

4. When Susan Atkins (Manson family) croaked that saved California a lot of money

Of course if it were me, I would just have the state deny medical care to lifers who are in prison for murder.

[Turbineguy]

5. Helping criminals do their job.

their job is to cost society.