Opinion: Inmates’ Medical Care of Concern for Counties

One "consequence" of the recent "U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering California to reduce its prison population by 30,000" will be the "strain on local budgets of trying to meet the health care needs of this population," Lois Davis -- a senior policy researcher at RAND -- writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece. "The chief reason the court ordered a reduction in the prison population was the failure of the state to meet the basic medical needs of prisoners," Davis writes. "If the state shifts responsibility to counties, it will also need to shift enough money to fund the treatment needs of this population," Davis concludes.

• "California's Prisoner Shuffle" (Davis, Los Angeles Times, 8/19).