The federal court-appointed receiver who oversees medical care in California's prison system said in a report Tuesday that the state still needs thousands of new prison hospital beds even as Gov. Jerry Brown proposes transferring responsibility for tens of thousands of convicts to local governments.

Even if Brown's proposal is approved, the state would need to build a $906 million, 1,722-bed medical center in Stockton, along with other facilities, because the most seriously ill inmates would remain in state custody, the report projects.

Poor treatment of physically and mentally ill inmates led the U.S. Supreme Court last month to uphold a federal court decision ordering California to reduce its prison population by about 33,000 inmates over the next two years...

The top three aides to California's embattled court-appointed prison receiver have abruptly quit. An e-mail obtained Thursday by The Associated Press from the trio to the receiver's staff and outside attorneys says the three are leaving "effective immediately."

The resignations come five days before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration asks a federal judge to end the receivership, which controls medical care in the state's 33 adult prisons.

Chief of Staff John Hagar, his assistant Steve Weston and Terry Hill, the chief medical officer, cite "irreconcilable differences" over the "new direction of the receivership" under receiver J. Clark Kelso. Kelso took over a year ago…

Saying he was "cognizant" of the state's budget woes, California's prison medical czar offered policymakers some cheaper alternatives Friday to his $8 billion plan to achieve a constitutional level of inmate health care.

But state Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has emerged as the chief nemesis of federal receiver J. Clark Kelso's plans, denounced the new options as "flimflam." California corrections chief Matthew Cate said the receiver's plans need more analysis and overstate how many more medical beds the state really needs.

Kelso's cheapest plan offered Friday would cost $2.5 billion and provide 5,000 beds for medically impaired prisoners – not the psychiatric cases – at existing prisons. It would cost $480 million a year to operate, or $96,000 per inmate…

Prison healthcare receiver J. Clark Kelso today submitted three construction options to the federal court — including a pared-down plan that would eliminate the possibility of building a prison healthcare facility in Camarillo.

The least expansive option proposes just three facilities with a combined 5,000 beds exclusively for inmates with medical needs.

Kelso is asking the courts to convene hearings to take comments from state officials and plaintiffs representing inmates…

The battle over California prison inmates' constitutional rights has come down to this: finger-pointing over who dreamed up the idea of giving convicted criminals taxpayer-funded bingo and yoga rooms.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown have lambasted effortsby J. Clark Kelso, the court-appointed overseer of prison healthcare, to spend $8 billion on a "gold-plated utopian hospital plan" for 10,000 inmates. It features a "holistic" environment with natural light and space for yoga, music, horticulture and art therapy.

On Tuesday, Kelso fired back, saying that the facilities are meant for mentally ill inmates, and that he had simply followed the state's example for treating them. The evidence? Sexual predators forced to live at Coalinga State Hospital, which opened on Schwarzenegger's watch, have access to an electronic bingo board, a state-of-the-art gymnasium with a rubberized floor, a weight room and eight landscaped atriums…

In a cost-cutting move that could affect plans for a prison hospital near Camarillo, federal receiver J. Clark Kelso said Tuesday he will present a number of recommendations to the court and state, including eliminating mental health care from proposed prison facilities.

The change would drive down the number of proposed prison hospitals statewide from seven to three. The hospital slated for land outside Camarillo is fourth or fifth on the list.

Kelso disclosed the recommendations amid ongoing criticism by state Attorney General Jerry Brown and the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over building prisoner facilities that would include therapy rooms, basketball courts and landscaping…

State officials are awaiting a judge's ruling in their suit seeking an end to the federal receivership overseeing state prison health care and its construction program.

That program includes plans to build a large new prison hospital in Chino, which local officials and residents have opposed.

The attorney general, on behalf of the governor and the state Department of Corrections, filed a motion in U.S. District Court last week asking a court to remove the receiver who has "simply gone too far" in proposing expensive changes to the system…

Re: J. Clark Kelso's Dec. 3 commentary, "Federal receiver responds to prison hospital concerns":

Kelso's commentary ignores the legitimate concerns of Ventura County residents and attempts to gloss over the valid reasons why the Camarillo site is inappropriate for 1,500 state prisoners.

Kelso explains that hiring medical staff is impractical in remote regions, so his priority is to place facilities where "highly educated, trained and skilled staff are already available…"

Residents and local leaders have expressed concern about the possibility that nearly a third of California's inmates could be released in order to deal with prison overcrowding.

In a lawsuit brought on behalf of sick and mentally ill inmates, three federal judges in San Francisco are considering whether to release thousands of inmates early because the overcrowding has led to unconstitutional conditions.

Attorneys for inmates want the state's prison population reduced from 156,300 to 110,000…

As many of you are aware, the state of California has failed at every level for the past 20-plus years to address sorely lacking disease control that is hazardous to the public and the grossly inhumane conditions arising from substandard healthcare in its prisons. Because of this failure, a federal judge took the extraordinary measure of taking charge of the broken healthcare system and appointed a receiver to fix it. It is important to note that the state of California — the governor and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — agreed with all of the plans and decisions made by the federal judge in establishing the receivership.

In an effort to fix the system, we are working to site and build up to seven new correctional healthcare facilities around California. Due to the availability of underutilized state-owned property and proximity to urban areas, the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility is currently under consideration for one of these facilities…

A NEW PLAYER has surfaced in the ongoing saga dealing with California's broken prison inmate health-care system, the GEO Group Inc. of Florida. Just who is GEO Group? Some believe this is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's best chance for a great escape from federal courts, but we believe otherwise.

GEO Group is a private company that manages various prisons throughout the U.S. and other countries. The company has been lobbying the governor's office and the state Legislature since January, spending more than $300,000, with hopes of taking over California's prison system, and thus, giving the state a possible way out from a federal court mandate.

That mandate, which is currently being fought in court, could force California to pay $8 billion to clean up its inmate health care system. As a side note, the Florida firm contributed $50,000 last month to the Proposition 11 campaign, the redistricting initiative backed by Schwarzenegger…

Signs protesting a Ventura County prison hospital lined a Camarillo park Sunday, where members of a community group handed out fliers and answered questions about a proposal they say would change the quality of life in the county.

The proposal calls for converting the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility into a 1,500-bed adult prison healthcare facility. The facility for inmates with chronic medical and mental health problems is one of seven that court-appointed Receiver J. Clark Kelso envisions around the state as part of the effort to restore healthcare in California prisons to constitutional standards.

Members of the community-based Prison Hospital Action Committee, however, say the plan would undermine the county's medical system, lower home prices and threaten safety, among other consequences…

Federal District Court Judge Thelton Henderson on Monday ordered state officials to pay $250 million toward construction of new prison healthcare facilities by Nov. 5.

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or Controller John Chiang do not comply, Henderson scheduled a Nov. 12 hearing in his San Francisco courtroom at which they would have to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court. If they are held in contempt of court, they could face fines of up to $3 million a day.

The order followed a hearing earlier in the day at which Assistant Attorney General Daniel Powell argued the court does not have the authority to "simply seize that money…"

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson on Wednesday ordered state officials to explain in a hearing later this month how and when they will give federal prison health care receiver J. Clark Kelso $250 million.

The San Francisco judge's order came as San Joaquin County officials announced an upcoming meeting with Kelso's staff to open a direct dialogue with the receiver's office about how his plans could hurt the local community's health care services.

Kelso seeks a total of $8 billion to build seven inmate medical centers to care for 10,000 mentally and physically ill state prisoners. Kelso plans to build the first 1,500-bed medical center southeast of Stockton…

A federal judge Wednesday gave state officials nearly three weeks to explain how they will transfer $250 million to the overseer of medical care in state prisons.

In his order, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson stopped short of finding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Controller John Chiang in contempt of court for refusing to turn over a total of $8 billion for new prison medical facilities sought by the overseer, J. Clark Kelso.

"This is an opportunity for the state to bring itself into partial compliance," Kelso said in an interview. "It obviously leaves a big chunk of the remaining funding unresolved. We're going to take this a step at a time…"

A U.S. District Court judge is giving the state a few more weeks to determine how to make a $250 million down payment on prison health care projects.

The money was approved under Assembly Bill 900.

The court-appointed receiver for improving how state prisons provide health care to inmates, J. Clark Kelso, is also seeking a contempt citation against Gov. Schwarzenegger and State Controller John Chiang for failure to pay $8 billion earmarked for prison construction projects…

A federal judge seemed ready to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller John Chiang to cough up $250 million in the next few weeks for prison health care construction.

But Senior U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson isn't quite ready to hold the governor and controller in contempt of court, a move that could put California on the hook for millions of dollars in fines per day until state officials do the judge's bidding.

Henderson said the $8 billion price tag that his appointed receiver, J. Clark Kelso, has placed on construction required to bring the state's long-addled prison health care system up to constitutional snuff is "the best approximation that anyone can make at this time," and his orders have been clear that the state must pick up this tab…

A federal judge has scolded California officials for failing to provide the billions of dollars a court-appointed receiver says is needed to upgrade the state's prison health care system.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson made it clear Monday he expects California to pay $8 billion for seven new inmate medical facilities. But he stopped short of immediately holding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang in contempt for failing to turn over the money.

Medical care in California's prisons is so bad it has been ruled unconstitutional. Henderson appointed a receiver to run the prison medical system after finding that an average of an inmate a week was dying from neglect or malpractice…

A federal receiver seeking $8 billion to bring California's prison health care up to constitutional standards brought his case to a federal judge in San Francisco today.

Receiver J. Clark Kelso asked U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson to hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang in contempt if they didn't give Kelso the money. Kelso wants to build inmate medical centers, with the first such facility scheduled to be built just southeast of Stockton…

With California struggling to pay its bills and facing another deficit, the receiver in charge of the state's inmate medical care will argue Monday for the right to take $8 billion from the state treasury.

The federal court hearing in San Francisco is one of two legal challenges weighing heavily on the California corrections department. In the other, a panel of three federal judges must decide whether to cap the state's inmate population to solve overcrowding.

Addressing both will be expensive. In addition to the billions for medical beds, the state has approved a $7.4 billion construction plan to add more space and relieve crowded prison conditions, although the program has been delayed amid partisan bickering in Sacramento…

Federal Prison Receiver J. Clark Kelso on Monday will ask the judge who appointed him to hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Controller John Chiang in contempt for failing to provide the funding needed to build prison healthcare facilities.

Kelso has devised an $8 billion "turnaround plan" that calls for the construction of seven stand-alone facilities that will provide medical and mental health care to about 10,000 inmates with chronic diseases. These facilities, he says, are necessary to bring California's prison healthcare system up to standards that do not violate the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment…

An open letter to Ventura County residents, released last week from the federally appointed receiver assigned to develop a healthcare facility in Camarillo for incarcerated criminals, contained one basic message:

The controversial project is going forth with all engines firing.

The Sept. 23 note, so far the only direct, formal communication J. Clark Kelso has had with members of the community, was written as a means to assuage the buildup of concern about the proposed 1,500-bed center slated for construction sometime next year…

California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a motion in federal court on Friday, demanding public disclosure of Federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso's $8 billion construction plan.

The move is the latest in a simmering legal and political battle between the state's prison officials, their powerful lobby and the state's top political leaders. "If public money is being spent," Brown said, "the public has the right to know how it's going to be spent."

Kelso's plan for prison facility construction is a 917-page document containing information on the layout, design and amenities of the seven prison health care facilities…

California needs a cohesive approach to prison reform, not a disjointed effort. That's why during the final days of the budget negotiations last week, Republicans were poised to pass a budget trailer bill that would have funded the receiver's bond and build the 53,000 beds required in AB 900. This way, we were properly addressing the first bond before working on the second.

Unfortunately, liberals in the Legislature decided to sneak in language that would have given prison inmates one day of credit for every day served – for simply breathing.

We all know the popular adage "there ain't no such a thing as a free lunch." Well, apparently free lunches do exist for far left liberals, and they only apply to convicted felons serving hard time in prisons. Under existing law, early release credits are earned through participation in work training and education programs, not given for free as an entitlement…

A new state budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign Tuesday, ending a record 85-day deadlock, has a skimpy reserve that is already under attack.

The general fund that pays for most programs spends $104.3 billion in the new fiscal year that began July 1. It's backed by a reserve of $800 million, which approaches a record of another kind — smallest amount set aside, proportionately, for unexpected costs.

A court-appointed receiver placed in charge of health care in the state's troubled prison system said today that he will suggest that a federal court compel the state to spend $250 million on a stalled improvement program…

Feuding flared up Monday between state officials and the federally appointed receiver who proposes bringing California prison health care up to constitutional standards by building seven inmate medical centers, starting with one near Stockton.

Prison health care receiver J. Clark Kelso filed court papers in advance of an Oct. 6 hearing in San Francisco before U.S. District Thelton Henderson, who appointed Kelso. Kelso seeks $8 billion to build a total of 10,000 medical and mental health beds.

The first of the medical centers statewide is planned for the plot of land occupied by the shuttered Karl Holton Youth Correctional Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility southeast of Stockton…

The Camarillo City Council has authorized hiring a consultant to find out how much a prison hospital could cost the city and surrounding area.

At its meeting Wednesday night, the council voted 5-0 to spend up to $50,000 for the Natelson Dale Group to conduct a review of economic issues associated with a proposed prison hospital just beyond the city limits. The council opposes the project and previously authorized hiring a different consultant to review environmental concerns.

Federal receiver J. Clark Kelso has selected the current site of the Ventura County Youth Facility on Wright Road as one of seven spots in California for prison hospitals. The facility is expected to house 1,500 physically and mentally ill inmates…

A proposal to build a 1,500-bed inmate medical facility on Folsom Prison grounds drew strong warnings from Folsom city officials who said they would oppose any project that threatened to snarl traffic on local roadways.

Council members said they had serious concerns about increased traffic that would come with 1,500 additional employees.

Councilman Jeff Starsky said $30 million in city funds have been spent to build the new bridge over the American River to relieve traffic congestion created by the closure of Folsom Dam Road…

Californians have always persevered. Even through tough emotional and economic times, our American values and a persistent sense of hope and humanity in the face of adversity have served as guiding principles. Now, once again, tough budget choices are spawning an emotional, hot-button debate over the following question: Why should the state spend billions of dollars to provide prisoners with access to basic health care when other important priorities also need funding? In answering this question, we must turn to our basic sense of what is right.

The U.S. Constitution protects every person in this country from cruel and unusual punishment. It is a time-honored value in all civilized and free societies, and yet, after years of litigation, three federal courts have independently found that the state of California consistently violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment by failing to provide even the most basic medical, mental health and dental care for its prison inmates. California can and must do better…

Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long, 37th Assembly District candidate Ferial Masry and representatives of Congressman Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R-Moorpark, 19th District Senate candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson, and Senator Diane Feinstein, D-California, attended a meeting Thursday organized by the Prison Hospital Action Committee, which seeks to halt the construction of a prison hospital near Camarillo.

Federal receiver J. Clark Kelso plans to construct a 1,500-bed hospital for physically and mentally ill inmates at the current site of the Ventura County Youth Facility. The hospital is part of a plan to build seven facilities around the state to address the healthcare needs of inmates…

As a Ventura County resident and parent of two young children, I am firmly opposed to the planned conversion of the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility near Camarillo into a 1,500-bed prison hospital for level 3 and level 4 prisoners. These convicts may not have committed the worst crimes, but have exhibited the most violent behaviors while in prison and are the most problematic to correction officers.

Furthermore, this issue certainly highlights the frustration Californians feel with a judicial branch of government that simply ignores the sentiments of a community…

A lot of people in this state are chafed about J. Clark Kelso, the federal court receiver who is asking a judge to allow him to extract about $8 billion from the state budget.

The money would go to build about 10,000 hospital beds for state prison inmates and bring prison health care to a constitutionally guaranteed standard. Exactly what that standard is remains a bit nebulous.

One of the seven hospitals Kelso wants to build would be in Stockton, on the site of an abandoned youth prison…

Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said local law enforcement opposes the construction of the maximumsecurity prison hospital proposed for Camarillo.

Brooks was one of five panelists to address issues concerning the facility with about 300 people at Mesa Union School in Somis last Thursday. The meeting was organized by the Prison Hospital Action Committee, a group of residents who are opposed to the facility.

"The concerns are that the hospital is not an acute healthcare hospital and a lot of people there will have fairly serious behavioral and physical health problems. They will have to be transported . . . to hospitals in this area."

Brooks is concerned about inmates potentially escaping en route to or at the hospital…

Wednesday's court motion by a federal receiver demanding $8 billion to upgrade healthcare in the state's prisons is not some last-minute surprise. The state was on notice for its prison crisis even before 2006, when it lost control of its inmate medical system to a federal court, and at least since 2001, when a class-action suit alleged that treatment of prisoners was so poor that it violated the U.S. Constitution.

The Legislature supposedly was going to authorize bonds to begin the necessary payments, but it has failed so far this year to take that obvious and most fundamental step, and is two months past due on simply adopting a budget for the fiscal year already in progress. Receiver J. Clark Kelso was well within his rights to seek a contempt order against state officials for failing to turn over the money…

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and two of his aides were ordered to take part in a lawsuit that seeks to reduce in size the state's prison population.

Governor Schwarzenegger, Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy and Deputy Chief of Staff Robert Gore will have to answer under oath questions linked to the highly debated issue of prison overcrowding - a fact which seems to be the main cause that harms the medical and mental healthcare of the inmates.

The trial was scheduled for November, when a special panel of three judges will decide whether the state of California should diminish its prison population. The administration argued that the Governor and his top aides have limited immunity from questioning, but Magistrate Judge John Moulds of U.S. District Court in Sacramento rejected it. Instead, the judge wrote in his order that the three top officials are aware of many facts and decisions regarding the class-action lawsuit…

California prison medical receiver J. Clark Kelso's motion to ask the federal courts to order the state to give him $8 billion for inmate care raises questions about what he's doing and how he's doing it.

Does he have the authority? He can ask for it, thanks to a Feb. 14, 2006, federal court order that created his office. Whether U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson grants the motion is another matter.

Here are some answers to more key questions…

He threatened and cajoled and negotiated, and nothing happened. Now he's simply going to take the money.

He is J. Clark Kelso, a federal receiver ordered by a federal court to upgrade medical care for California's 160,000-plus state prison inmates.

Kelso said the state needs 10,000 inmate hospital beds at a cost of $8 billion. Included in the plan is construction of an 1,800-bed medical facility on the site of the defunct Karl Holton Youth Correctional Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility in Stockton, a plan that has many local officials seething…

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office mistakenly sent the wrong letter to a Woodland resident that caused quite a stir in the community last week.

It started when Woodland resident Arnold Sargent sent a letter to Schwarzenegger earlier this month, voicing his concerns over a controversial state prison re-entry facility proposed to be located in Yolo County.

The re-entry facilities are designed to house prisoners from state facilities in their home counties during the last year of their sentence. While there, inmates will learn job training skills and receive counseling, prison officials have said…

A possible court order to seize $8 billion for prison health care construction costs in California got negative responses from Republicans and Democrats Wednesday.

State Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (R-Clovis) said the move amounted to an end-around on normal state budgeting, while Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, said doing so would violate his office's ability to operate legally.

Federally appointed prison receiver J. Clark Kelso announced Wednesday morning at his Sacramento office that he would seek a court order for the money, totaling $8 billion over the next five years…

California prison receiver J. Clark Kelso filed a a court motion today demanding $8 billion over five years to build medical health facilities for the state correctional system.

The move could add $3.1 billion to California's already enormous budget deficit of $15.2 billion in the current fiscal year.

Kelso said at a news conference this morning that he is tired of waiting for the governor and Legislature to provide the money on their own. Legislative Republicans recently defeated a bill that would have provided bond financing for prison medical facility construction…

A tide is rising among San Joaquin County leaders who oppose plans to build a medical center for state inmates on the site of a former youth prison near Stockton.

The office of J. Clark Kelso, a federal receiver tasked with reforming prisoner health care in California, released plans this week that now call for an 1,800-bed medical center near Stockton to treat chronically ailing and mentally ill state prisoners.

Formerly, Kelso said he would raze the defunct Karl Holton Youth Correctional Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility to build one of about seven 1,500-bed medical centers statewide for California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmates…

After months of focusing on the site near the old Natividad hospital grounds as the ideal location for a secure re-entry prison facility, Monterey County officials are now looking at other possible locations.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation expressed concerns with the site near the Monterey County Sheriff's Office, including: the elevation of the land; the existing buildings that would have to be destroyed; and the road that goes through the area.

County officials are now looking at other parcels of land in Salinas, including the existing Juvenile Hall as an option…

Add the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to the list of local officials who are against the proposed prison hospital near Camarillo.

The board voted 4-0 Tuesday to send a letter to the federal receiver overseeing the California prison healthcare system, J. Clark Kelso, urging him to take Camarillo off the list of potential sites for new hospitals.

Kelso is charged by a federal judge with bringing the standard of care in the prison system up to constitutional standards, and his proposed solution is to build seven hospitals, one of them at the current site of the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility outside Camarillo…

Being the Governor of California isn't like being the general of an army. As the growing furor over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's threat to temporarily chop state worker wages to $6.55 per hour illustrates, folks on the lower rungs can fight back or just ignore you.

I've posted an internal e-mail below that Federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso sent to all Prison Health Care staff. The State Worker hears that it was prompted by his concern that staff morale might take a hit, just as he is beginning to implement the turnaround plan to improve health care in California's 33 prisons.

Kelso "doesn't think it's appropriate" for state health care workers in the prison system to have to take time to run around applying for loans since "health care services in prison is a life or death, 24/7 job," e-mailed Luis Patino, spokesman for the Federal Prison Health Care Receivership…

A community organization that opposes the construction of a prison hospital near Camarillo has raised nearly 10 percent of its initial fundraising goal and plans to launch a new Web site next week to help raise money, its leaders say.

The Prison Hospital Action Committee met Thursday night at Sterling Hills Golf Club to discuss its strategy for preventing the construction of the 1,500-bed physical and mental health facility for adult male inmates…

The impact of a 1,500-bed medical prison will have negative long-term consequences for all Camarillo residents, not just those living in the west end.

Camarillo State Hospital left a stigma on this community for decades that has been replaced by the exceptional CSU Channel Islands. Our city has prospered with such a positive addition, drawing new businesses and residents to our community.

What effect do you think "Camarillo: Prison Town" will have on every resident of our city? If you live in Mission Oaks or Santa Rosa Valley and think you're exempt, think again. Every resident will be impacted by the ludicrous placement of such a facility in a densely populated area, extremely close to schools, housing and commercial centers. Your property values will plummet even further, and the additional strain on our medical system will affect the level of care you and your family will be able to receive…

Federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso filed notices last week to begin environmental reports for high-security medical facilities at two Southern California sites.

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reports are underway for sites in Stockton and San Diego, said Luis Patino, a spokesperson for the receiver's office. It hasn't been decided whether Camarillo will be studied as well.

Patino said Camarillo won't be considered as a site until the CEQA process, which includes a followup report on how to mitigate potential problems, is completed and U.S. Judge Thelton Henderson approves Kelso's report…

Moving further into largely uncharted legal territory, the man acting under a federal judge's order to fix California's abysmal prison healthcare system last week committed state taxpayers to spending $2.5 billion.

The money would be the first installment on a $7 billion plan to build the new healthcare facilities he believes are necessary. The plan envisions the construction of seven new, stand-alone prison healthcare facilities, one of which is being considered at the site of the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility in Camarillo.

Where the money will come from, no one knows for certain. But receiver Clark Kelso, armed with a construction plan approved by federal District Court Judge Thelton Henderson, is certain he has the authority to spend it…

On Thursday, the court-appointed receiver for California's prison health care system signed construction design documents to commit the state to spending $2.5 billion on three new health care facilities for inmates with chronic medical and mental health conditions, the Ventura County Star reports.

J. Clark Kelso was appointed by Federal District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to bring the state's prison health care system up to constitutional standards after a class action lawsuit found that state officials failed to improve conditions at the facilities…

A "supervised health facility" for prison inmates will pose no threat to nearby residents or a youth correctional facility, and can boost the local economy by creating new jobs, according to officials for the proposed project slated for construction in Camarillo.

In response to claims voiced last week by opponents of a $7 billion plan to make Camarillo one of seven statewide locations housing a clinic for gravely ill criminals, supporters of the project have since come forth to disprove some perceived inaccuracies that could hurt its chances of succeeding in Ventura County.

Though the facility is planned as a 1,500-bed, maximum security operation on Wright Road, the stereotyped image of a foreboding penitentiary striking fear into local residents who hide behind bolted doors is false, says Luis Patino, a spokesman for Federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso, who put forth the project…

San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore worried aloud the other day about a proposal to build a 1,500-bed prison hospital in the county.

His concerns were not the usual ones heard from locals when the state announces a new or expanded prison here. Generally, those complaints are about the expansion of a less-than-desirable industry and what it means to the area's image. Or concerns about the families of inmates moving into the area and, because they're generally low-income, putting an additional burden on social services. Or that more inmates, once paroled, will end up on our streets.

Those are all legitimate worries…

Opponents say the proposed 1,500-bed, maximum-security prison hospital for criminally insane inmates would not only have a harmful effect on the local economy, but would be near residential neighborhoods.

"What we are saying is, put it where the impact to the community is minimized," explained Kathi Miller, one of the homeowners coordinating the effort. "This facility they're talking about is right next to a couple of schools."

Miller, who says hundreds of Camarillo residents have organized into committees to make their case to elected officials, emphasizes they are not strictly opposed to having the medical facility in Camarillo at all…

Saying it is time for "state leaders to face their constitutional obligations," federal receiver J. Clark Kelso on Thursday asked a judge to give him authority to inspect the state's financial accounts in anticipation of having to seize the cash he needs to build seven new prison healthcare facilities.

Kelso, who is in charge of a court-ordered effort to fix a prison healthcare system that District Court Judge Thelton Henderson ruled in 2005 was "broken beyond repair," filed a motion asking Henderson to add Controller John Chiang to the list of defendants and to give the receiver access to the controller's internal records.

With the state facing a potential cash-flow crisis if a budget is not adopted by the end of July, Chiang this week intimated there might not be enough money available to satisfy Kelso's request even with a court order…

The threshold question is this: Are they going to be built?

The answer: Yes.

The federal court has ordered the state to drastically upgrade its health care for the tens of thousands of state prison inmates. It could cost $7 billion for the 10,000 new prison hospital beds proposed.

The question for San Joaquin County residents is this: Do we want part of that investment made in this county?

On Monday, a federal judge approved a plan for the state's prison health care receiver to begin constructing up to seven new health care facilities statewide as part of an effort to bring the quality of care for prisoners to a constitutional level, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

It remains unclear how construction of the new medical facilities will be funded because the Senate has twice rejected receiver J. Clark Kelso's proposal to have the state issue $7 billion in bonds for the effort (Clock, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/17).

However, Kelso, who is appointed by a federal judge, has the power to bypass the legislative process and order the money to be appropriated from the state's general fund…

A court-appointed receiver charged with overseeing health care in the state's prison system wants to build a 1,500-bed medical facility in Otay Mesa, part of a $7 billion statewide package to improve the quality of treatment for prisoners with chronic conditions.

A federal judge yesterday approved the plan by the receiver, J. Clark Kelso, to improve prison medical care, but funding is unresolved for the facility near the Richard J. Donovan prison and up to six others around the state. The state Senate has twice voted down plans to borrow money to pay for the upgrades…

The overseer of healthcare in California state prisons asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday to circumvent state lawmakers by using an emergency declaration to proceed with a $7-billion plan to build medical beds.

Last month, Republicans in the state Senate blocked passage of the plan proposed by court-appointed receiver J. Clark Kelso and endorsed by Schwarzenegger to borrow money to construct 10,000 beds in up to seven facilities for ailing and mentally ill inmates and to renovate existing prison clinics…