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Prison Health Care Chief Recommends Doctor, Nurse Salary Increases
The health care chief of California’s prison system announced Tuesday that he wants to raise the salaries of medical personnel in an attempt to improve the quality of health care provided in prison, a move that could cost up to $24 million if approved by a judge.
The quality of medical care has been one of the largest problems facing the prison system, said U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson. The negligence or wrongdoing of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals has resulted in the deaths of an average of one inmate a week.
In an effort to correct a system Henderson believes is “broken beyond repair,” he appointed the former head of the public hospital system in Santa Clara County, Robert Sillen, to make some serious changes.
Sillen’s recommendation to increase the wages of medical workers was part of a prison-reform plan. He believes raising salaries between five percent and 64 percent would help keep qualified employees and curtail job vacancies.
According to Sillen, the sate could actually end up saving money with this plan, which would fill the vacancies and help curb the dependence on temporary employees who command high hourly wages.
“These salary adjustments are long overdue as a first step to attracting and retaining health care professionals in the effort to turn the prisons around and improve the quality of care for inmate patients,” Sillen said.
California’s inspector general agrees that the health care in prisons is extremely poor and
Henderson calls the system inadequate and unconstitutional.
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