Prison report: Where the money goesBy Just A Guy
Editors note: Just A Guy is an inmate in a California state prison. His reports run twice a week.
Tuesday night’s news reported on California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spending and, believe it or not, the anchor was actually outraged.
The report said that over the past three years, CDCR has spent 32 percent more -- but the inmate population has decreased by one percent. over that same period of time.
CDCR claims that the increase in spending is due to an increase in the cost of health care for inmates as well as lawsuits and overtime.
Well, in the two years and change that I have been in the custody of CDCR, I have not seen the quality of health care improve one iota. For our perspective, it has not improved as it should with this purported increase in spending. At least not at the institution I’m in.
The federal courts seem to agree as well, since they have ordered the release of more than 43,000 inmates since CDCR’s overcrowded conditions are resulting in constitutionally inadequate health care.
For you whiners and corrections officers who say we get better health care than most people on the streets, and that we should consider ourselves lucky, blah blah blah: Just because are getting some “health care” does not mean we are getting better health care than the general public.
The state is obligated to give us health care. Just because we’re in prison doesn’t mean we should be denied health care. To do so would create misery for CDCR and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association anyway -- it’s really in their best interest to keep us recidivists healthy to guarantee their jobs for the long haul.
The aging prison population still has to be watched, right?
For every one of us that does get an expensive procedure done, there are hundreds that don’t get shit done. Half the medical staff and doctors barely speak English well enough to be understood, and they use their broken language to try and convince you there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s not like CDCR hires the best and the brightest -- working in prison for most health care providers is the bottom of the rung.
The overtime: The news said that there were seven CDCR officers -- sergeants and lieutenants -- who earned more than the director of CDCR, Matt Cate, who makes a salary of $225,000 a year. They also said that 8,400 staff made $20,000 or more in overtime last year. At $20,000, that’s $168 million. But how many made $30,000, or 40,000? How many earned between $10,000 and $20,000 in overtime? What’s the real overtime figure, $250 million? How many programs could be created to help out prisoners -- or crime victims -- for $250 million? How many college kids could afford to go to school for a year?
Lawsuits? What are they talking about? Are they talking about money paid out to plaintiffs and in settlements? If so, is that not indicative of a pretty big problem -- so big that CDCR is losing lawsuits because of its ineptitude?
Just something to think about.
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Comments (6)
you dont deserve health care, you worthless scum.
shut the hell up and quietly rot in your cell.
Posted by sf | September 10, 2009 07:11 PM
you dont deserve health care, you worthless scum. shut the hell up and quietly rot in your cell.
Posted by sfd | September 10, 2009 07:12 PM
I was going to say something witty in response to the drivel you posted, but then I realized you probably won't comprehend what I say.
Posted by Carol | September 10, 2009 10:49 PM
Sfd: Pot kettle black. What a typical response. Must be a cop.
Posted by just a guy | September 11, 2009 07:34 AM
Just a guy, I recently found your column and like and respect what you have to say. Although I've been reading your column for a couple of months this is the first time I have commented.
I concur with what you say about the health care. My brother has been trying for years to get proper medical treatment in prison only to be told there is nothing wrong with him. Agreed, for every person who gets care there are plenty who are not treated and fall by the way side.
There are many guards who like to falsely report about how inmates get sex changes. My response is: give us the name of the individual who received such surgery. They never provide that info because they know it's bogus.
Just a guy, thanks again for speaking your truth to the masses. I'm a fan.
Posted by Roberta Walsh | September 11, 2009 02:17 PM
INCARCERATING PEOPLE "FOR PROFIT" IS IN A WORD....WRONG!
Even if one does not ask or pretends not to see the rope and the flashing red flag draped around the philosophical question standing solemnly at attention in the middle of the room, it remains apparent that the mere presence of a private “for profit” driven prison business in our country undermines the U.S Constitution and subsequently the credibility of the American criminal justice system. In fact, until all private prisons in America have been abolished and outlawed, “the promise” of fairness and justice at every level of this country’s judicial system will remain unattainable. We must restore the principles and the vacant promise of our judicial system. Our government cannot continue to "job-out" its obligation and neglect its duty to the individuals confined in the correctional and rehabilitation facilities throughout this nation, nor can it ignore the will of the people that it was designed to serve and protect. There is urgent need for the good people of this country to emerge from the shadows of indifference, apathy, cynicism, fear, and those other dark places that we migrate to when we are overwhelmed by frustration and the loss of hope.
My hope is that you will support the National Public Service Council to Abolish Private Prisons (NPSCTAPP) with a show of solidarity by signing "The Single Voice Petition"
http://www.petitiononline.com/gufree2/petition.html
Please visit our website for further information: http://www.npsctapp.blogspot.com
–Ahma Daeus
"Practicing Humanity Without A License"…
Posted by strayarts | September 13, 2009 02:28 PM