Search Firm Hired To Help Hire Receiver for Prison Health Care System
Hiring a receiver for the California prison health care system "could take months longer than expected" after the court hired a professional search firm to identify appropriate candidates, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A court order placed the system into receivership in June.
The court has dropped initial plans to secure a receiver through an informal process involving state lawyers, prisoners' attorneys and Judge Thelton Henderson, who is overseeing the case.
Mark Collins -- a partner at search firm Korn/Ferry International, which is working on the case -- said it has been difficult to find a person with the necessary background in health care management on a large scale, an understanding of prison systems and an interest in the social justice issues involved in the case. Collins said the firm is moving quickly to find a receiver but noted that Henderson has not set a deadline for the appointment.
The Chronicle reports that formal interviews and a selection by Korn/Ferry might not take place until early 2006 and that a receiver might not be appointed until "sometime in the spring." It could be longer if the appointed receiver has to move to California or leave another job, according to the Chronicle (Sterngold, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/3).