Judge
removes California prisons receiver
SACRAMENTO
(AP) -- A federal judge on Wednesday removed the court-appointed receiver
overseeing California’s troubled prison health care system, a move that comes
as the state is trying to balance costly prison reforms with a massive budget
deficit.
U.S.
District Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco
replaced Robert Sillen, the blunt, tough-talking
receiver who has ordered staffing increases and pay raises
for prison medical staff while advocating a multibillion dollar expansion of
inmate health care.
Sillen was replaced immediately with Clark
Kelso, California’s chief information officer under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Henderson
praised Sillen for his work since taking the job in
April 2006, citing improvements to medical care in the nation’s largest state
prison system. Before Sillen took over, the system
was blamed for an average of one inmate death a week, the result of malpractice
and neglect.
But
Sillen is not the right person to continue making
progress, Henderson said in a six-page order.
“The court has concluded that such work would best be
accomplished by appointing a new receiver who brings a different set of
strengths,” he wrote.