Federal Judge Advances Court Date To Consider Placing State Prison Medical System in Receivership

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, presiding over a 2002 court order requiring California to provide adequate prison health care by 2008, on Tuesday issued an order advancing to June 30 a court date to hear oral arguments on whether the California prison medical system should be placed in receivership, nearly two weeks earlier than planned, the Sacramento Bee reports.

"We're ready to move quite quickly," Henderson said after hearing four hours of testimony by Department of Corrections officials about short-term prospects for change in the system (Cooper, Sacramento Bee, 6/8).

Henderson had requested Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) administration to appear at a hearing on July 11 to present arguments against the plan.

Henderson in May took the first step in placing the state prison system in a receivership, a step that would transfer full power to direct prison health policy to an outside authority (California Healthline, 5/11).

The hearings are expected to end on Wednesday (Sacramento Bee, 6/8).