Arnold is talking some sense and he's telling the man to fuck off. I'm digging it.
CONTEMPT OF COURT? How bout contempt of Humanity
State ready to defy judge on prison hospitals
10-27) 17:18 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The lawyer representing California in a lawsuit over prison health care said Monday that state officials aren't ready to comply with a federal judge's order to turn over $250 million for new hospitals for inmates, despite the possibility of a contempt-of-court order against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson ordered Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang on Oct. 8 to tell him how soon they would provide the money, the first installment in an $8 billion construction plan that a court-appointed manager drew up to raise the prison health system to constitutional standards.
Henderson said at an earlier hearing that he was prepared to hold Schwarzenegger and Chiang in contempt, with fines against the state of as much as $2 million a day, unless they turn over $250 million in prison funding that the Legislature has already approved. But at today's hearing in San Francisco, Deputy Attorney General Daniel Powell said the state is not legally required to follow such an order and has no immediate plans to do so.
"This court has no authority to order construction of prisons," Powell told Henderson. He said state officials must review the construction plans, decide whether they comply with legal restrictions and seek specific approval from the Legislature.
If the state maintains that position, Henderson said, he'll go "full speed ahead" with contempt proceedings. Later in the day, he ordered state officials to transfer $250 million to the prison health system's federal overseer by Nov. 5 or face a contempt hearing a week later.
"Despite the progress that has been made, the health care system remains in a state of crisis," the judge said at the hearing.
Henderson took control of the prison health system in 2006, saying evidence in an inmate lawsuit showed that inadequate medical care was killing at least one prisoner a week and that state officials had shown themselves incapable of complying with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Clark Kelso, a law professor appointed by Henderson to manage the system until it is returned to state control, has submitted a plan to build seven health centers for 10,000 prisoners, improve some existing facilities and construct a site for dental care.
The plan contemplates funding from state bonds, but the Legislature has repeatedly rejected Schwarzenegger's request for bond funding for prison hospitals. Henderson said in his Oct. 8 order, however, that the initial $250 million that Kelso needs to begin construction in February is available from a prison expansion bill that lawmakers approved last year.
Powell said today that Kelso hasn't given state officials enough information about what he plans to do with the money. Once Kelso spells out his proposal, Powell said, state finance and prison officials will determine whether it complies with the law - a reference to a federal statute that allows judges to order only the minimum improvements needed to protect prisoners' constitutional rights.
The Legislature would also need to approve Kelso's plan, Powell said. "I don't think the state has ever considered construction of prisons without the involvement of the Legislature," he said.
Kelso said afterward that he had given state officials all the information he had.
Powell's stance angered James Brosnahan, an attorney who represents Kelso. Brosnahan said the state had taken part in Kelso's planning, approved his proposals months ago and had no authority to withhold funding.
"They're in contempt of this court. There's no other word for it," Brosnahan told Henderson. "Unless the state gets their act together, some prisoners will die."