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8A – Daily News – Monday, March 7, 2011 Hospitalized prisoners cost California millions VACAVILLE (MCT) — A degenerative nerve dis- ease has left 57-year-old California inmate Edward Ortiz semi-paralyzed in a private Bay Area hospital for the last year. The breath- ing tube in his throat tethers him to a ventilator at one end of the bed; steel bracelets shackle his ankles to safety rails at the other. Still, California taxpay- ers are shelling out roughly $800,000 a year to prevent his escape. The guards watching Ortiz one day last week said department poli- cy requires one corrections officer at the foot of his bed around the clock and anoth- er guard at the door. A sergeant also has to be there, to supervise. "Some of this is ridicu- lous, but you can't argue with policy," said Correc- tions Officer Allan Roper as he stared down at the unconscious Ortiz, a con- victed child molester who requires medical attention beyond the prison system's capabilities. Authorities have identi- fied 25 "permanently med- ically incapacitated" inmates being treated at out- side hospitals who are can- didates for parole because they no longer pose a threat to the public. Californians will pay more than $50 mil- lion to treat them this year, between $19 million and $21 million of that for guards' salaries, benefits and overtime, according to data from the federal receiv- er who oversees California prison health care. The final amount will depend on how many of the guards are paid overtime. In September, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a "medical parole" law designed to spare tax- payers the cost of guarding inmates like Ortiz and dozens of others who offi- cials say are incapacitated. Some are in comas, others paraplegic. If the prisoners were released from custody, the medical costs would shift to their families if they could afford to pay, or to other government programs if they could not. The expense of guarding the patients would be eliminated. But the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has yet to schedule a parole hearing for even one such inmate. "It's maddening," said State Sen. Mark Leno, D- San Francisco, who spon- sored the bill that Schwarzenegger signed. "We have school districts on Best of Tehama County Will be announced in a special section on Digital Edition will stay online through March, 2012 2011 Winners Thursday, March 31, 2011 D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY between 1991 and 2010 were rejected for compas- sionate release, often because top prison adminis- trators or sentencing judges believed they could still pose a threat. MCT photo Inmate John Dias, right, lies in a private hospital, where he is being treated for Crohn's Disease as steel bracelets shackle his ankles to safety rails, Feb. 23, while a corrections officer stands guard nearby. the verge of closing" because of the state's budget crisis. "We don't have mil- lions of dollars to squander on this kind of nonsense." Terri McDonald, chief deputy secretary of adult operations for California prisons, said her department had been working with the receiver, appointed in 2005 after a federal court found that health care in the state's prisons was tantamount to "cruel and unusual" punish- ment, to draft regulations to implement the new law. Despite those efforts, McDonald would not pre- dict when the first sick inmate might get a parole hearing. "These are com- plex public-safety regula- tions," she said. Nancy Kincaid, spokes- woman for receiver J. Clark Kelso, said Kelso is "anx- ious to have these regula- tions in place so we can maximize savings." Leno said he introduced the medical parole law to address concerns about the existing statute that allows "compassionate release" of prisoners who are perma- nently incapacitated or ter- minally ill with less than six months' life expectancy. Compassionate release has the same legal effect as completion of a prison sen- tence, meaning the former inmate can't be sent back to prison unless he is convict- ed of another crime. Opponents of that sys- tem pointed to the notorious case of the Lockerbie bomber, the Libyan terrorist who blew up a Pan Am flight in 1988, killing 270, but was released from a Scottish prison in 2009 when doctors thought prostate cancer would kill him in less than three months. He was still alive a few days ago, according to published reports. An inmate freed on med- ical parole in California, however, would be sent back to prison if his physi- cal condition improved enough that he could pose a reasonable threat to public safety. Partly because of the concern that an inmate could cheat justice by out- living a prison doctor's prognosis, the odds have not favored inmates petitioning for compassionate release. Seventy percent of the 1,157 prisoners determined by doctors to qualify Although some able- bodied inmates have tried to escape while on outside medical appointments, cor- rections department offi- cials could not cite any who had succeeded. Reducing the guard on such patients, even the most incapacitated, invites risk, said prison spokesman Oscar Hidalgo. "And we are not in the business of taking risks," Hidalgo said. Thousands of inmates are treated at outside hospi- tals during the course of a year. Although a broken arm can usually be set and splinted at an internal facil- ity, surgery is often done at outside hospitals, said Joseph Bick, chief medical officer of the state's largest prison hospital, in Vacav- ille. Last week, at least 12 guards were on hand to oversee five patients at the Bay Area hospital where Ortiz resides. Administra- tors there allowed reporters to visit on the condition that the institution's name not be published because of secu- rity concerns. The guard detail consist- ed of two officers assigned to each inmate, a supervisor and "a security escort in case they have to go to the shower," said Lt. Rudy Luna, administrative assis- tant to the warden at nearby San Quentin. The extra guards also escort patients for X-rays and other med- ical procedures. McDonald said the guards' interpretation of department policy was "inaccurate" _ that the num- ber of corrections officers required to watch inmates when sent outside of prison walls is flexible. Food from the Heart Project: Mission Accomplished! Published as part of a project co- sponsorship by the D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY The Community donated over 8,000 lbs. of food to the Tehama County Food Bank Through the second annual sponsorship of a food drive by the Downtown Red Bluff Business Association. Dozens of local stores agreed to serve as collection points for the donations. Thanks to all food donors and supporting local businesses. PS: The Tehama County Food Bank needs support and food donations all year long! If you would like to volunteer or donate, please contact Executive Director Jane Shirley at (530) 529-2264