(Corrects to show ruling addresses mental health services for
inmates in overcrowded prisons rather than overcrowding itself
and adds comment from judge to show link between the two issues
in headline, paragraphs 1, 7-9)
By Sharon Bernstein
LOS ANGELES, April 5 (Reuters) – A federal judge has
rebuffed California Governor Jerry Brown’s effort to ease U.S.
oversight of mental health services in the state’s overcrowded
prisons, saying he did not trust officials to improve conditions
for inmates.
Brown, a Democrat, is under political pressure to scale back
a program under which state prisoners are sent to local
jurisdictions to ease crowding. That move has led to the early
release of thousands of non-violent offenders from lower-level
county jails as municipalities struggle to make room for them.
California has been under court orders to reduce population
in the 33-prison system since 2009, when a panel of federal
judges ordered it to relieve the overcrowding that has caused
inadequate medical and mental health care.
California must reduce its prison population to 137.5
percent of capacity by June 27. The Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation reported 119,213 inmates on Jan. 2, just
under 150 percent of capacity.
In January, Brown asked a panel of federal judges to vacate
its order to further lower its prison population, saying that
California had fixed its overcrowding problem and further
releases of prisoners would harm public safety.
“In the years since the court issued the current population
cap order, the state has dramatically reduced the prison
population, significantly increased capacity through
construction, and implemented a myriad of improvements that
transformed the medical and mental health care systems,” the
Brown administration said in court filings.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence K. Karlton,
whose court is in Sacramento, denied in a 68-page opinion the
administration’s request to be released from federal oversight
of an order to improve mental health care for inmates.
A further ruling, on the state’s assertion that it should
not be required to reduce its prison population to 137.5 percent
of capacity by June, is expected in the coming months.
“Overcrowding in California’s prison system was the primary
cause of the state’s failure to remedy ongoing constitutional
violations in the delivery of mental health care to prison
inmates,” Karlton wrote.
He added that, despite arguments that the system had
improved, there were not enough beds to house mentally ill
inmates, nor enough staff members to treat them.
He expressed skepticism that California, if released from
the oversight of the court, would follow through on promises to
improve conditions.
“Based on defendants’ conduct to date, the court cannot rely
on their averments of good faith,” Karlton wrote.
He also criticized the administration for failing to provide
adequate mental health supports for inmates, citing “systemic
failures” in suicide prevention and other care for mentally ill
inmates.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)
