Prison Health Care Receiver Touts Prison Plan as Economy Booster

At a press conference on Tuesday, California prison health care receiver J. Clark Kelso pitched his prison health care construction plan as an option for California leaders to stimulate the state economy, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The conference was called partly to respond to a leaked corrections department document that criticized Kelso's plan and forecasted its annual operation costs at $2.3 billion (Furillo, Sacramento Bee, 11/12).

Background

Kelso has requested a total of $8 billion to fund his prison health care construction project.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson removed the prison medical system from state control more than two years ago after concluding that health care did not meet constitutional standards.  He approved the construction proposal in June (California Healthline, 11/3).

Kelso has filed a motion asking Henderson to force the state to transfer the money to his office.  Kelso also is seeking contempt citations against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and Controller John Chiang (D) over their refusals to fund the program.

Economic Stimulus?

Kelso said his plan will quickly add jobs and provide a prompt boost to the state's economy (Sacramento Bee, 11/12).

Last week, Gov. Schwarzenegger called the Legislature back into session to address the state's growing budget deficit, economic stimulus plans and efforts to boost employment (California Healthline, 10/28).

Kelso said his plan would create 63,800 construction jobs and add 24,250 permanent jobs to the state's payrolls once they are in operation.

Aaron McLear, a spokesperson with Schwarzenegger's office, said Kelso's construction proposals are not fiscally responsible.

Opening Lines of Communication