Sacramento Area Local News

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― The Schwarzenegger administration and a federal court receiver are heading toward a showdown over states' rights in an escalating fight over inmate health care.

In a Monday hearing, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said he will proceed with a contempt-of-court hearing against the administration for not providing the money sought by the court-appointed receiver. He said it will raise significant constitutional issues about state sovereignty.

The judge said the inmate medical system remains in crisis.

"We cannot afford to have more delays," he said.

Clark Kelso, the receiver in charge of California's prison medical system, wants $8 billion to reform it and $250 million immediately as a down payment. He is seeking the money to build seven medical and mental health care centers at the same time California faces a budget crisis.

The state says the court cannot simply seize that money and must instead negotiate with lawmakers.

"It's unprecedented in our nation's history where a court ... would try to take $250 million dollars from the state treasury," said Assistant Attorney General Daniel Powell.

He argued that the receiver's request for money -- and any payment order from Henderson -- would violate a 1995 federal law designed to limit federal judges' power in inmates' rights cases. The Prison Litigation Reform Act prohibits judges from ordering states to build prisons, the administration says.

The administration said that prohibition also applies to Henderson's appointee, Kelso, and to Kelso's plan to build prison medical facilities.

The state also says Kelso has failed to show that his plan would be "the least intrusive means necessary" to bring medical care up to constitutional standards, as required by the 1995 law.

"Our fundamental position is that it's the Legislature working with the court that must approve these prisons, period. The court can't act unilaterally," Powell said.

The federal law is outweighed by the fact that "prisoners are dying," Henderson responded.

James Brosnahan, the attorney representing the prison receiver, said preventable inmate deaths amount to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment that the court can order corrected regardless of the federal limitations.

Moreover, Brosnahan said, the state has lost its right to raise the sovereignty issue after repeatedly agreeing to help fix the problems.

Henderson said he would weigh his wording before issuing a written order on the receiver's contempt hearing request.

"We need to proceed very carefully because of the uniqueness as well as the size of the case," Henderson said. "We're talking about a federalism dispute of the very highest order."

Henderson criticized the state for raising last-minute legal objections three weeks after he ordered the administration to say Monday how and when it would turn over the $250 million.

Brosnahan said it was outrageous that the state was refusing to provide the money to fix a medical system that the courts already have ruled is unconstitutional. He said it was a reversal of the state's previous cooperation and amounts to contempt of court.

"Make no mistake, if the governor and the controller want to play hard ball, then we have no choice. They'll be found in contempt," Brosnahan told reporters after the hearing.

He asked the judge to hold a contempt hearing starting Nov. 12 if the state doesn't turn over the $250 million by Nov. 5.

The receiver has previously suggested fines of $2 million a day until the state complies, though Brosnahan said the judge would have other punishment options if he finds state officials in contempt.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page says the administration remains willing to work with the receiver. However, "he still must operate within the confines of applicable state and federal law. The people of California expect nothing less," she said.

Schwarzenegger previously backed the receiver's proposal that the state borrow $8 billion over 25 years to pay for medical centers to house 10,000 inmates. But lawmakers repeatedly failed to approve the bonds this summer as they struggled to bridge a $15.2 billion deficit during a record budget impasse.

Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang said they couldn't legally pay without lawmakers' approval. However, the administration acknowledged that legislators had appropriated the $250 million last year as part of a $7.4 billion prison and jail construction program.

Monday's hearing before Henderson came the same day that the governor and legislative leaders discussed accelerating problems with the state budget because of the economic downturn. Kelso says that besides the first $250 million to design the facilities, he needs more than $3 billion by July 1 to begin construction.

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