January 29, 2009
California Asks Removal of Prison Overseer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state attorney general, Jerry Brown, filed a motion on Wednesday in Federal District Court here to remove the receiver charged with overhauling California's decrepit prison health care system.
The motion comes on the heels of a demand by the receiver, J. Clark Kelso, for $8 billion from the state to build seven new prison health care centers with 10,000 beds for inmates. The motion seeks to halt construction plans and begin moving control of prison health care back to the state.
"What the receiver has become is a parallel government, operating virtually in secret, not accountable, not subject to public scrutiny," Mr. Brown said at a news conference on Wednesday. Mr. Kelso, he said, "feels he has unchecked authority to ride roughshod over the State of California and its officials…"
LINK - NYTimes.com
