One-third of California prisons provide ‘inadequate’ medical care, watchdog report says

A third of California’s adult prisons provide an “inadequate” level of medical care to their inmate patients, according to the most recent inspections from the state’s prison watchdog.

Every few years, the Office of the Inspector General evaluates medical facilities and patient care at each of California’s 34 (now 33) adult institutions. California Correctional Center in Susanville closed in 2023, but it was still included in the current cycle of medical inspections.

The most recent cycle of inspections took place from March 2019 through September 2023, which notably included the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due largely to the pandemic, most facilities saw a decline in performance across many of the benchmarks that the OIG measures, according to the summary report released this week. These indicators include access to diagnostic services, referrals to specialty services and the quality of the health care environment (e.g. staff hand hygiene, equipment management and sanitation).

Of the 34 facilities that were evaluated this round, 11 provided “inadequate” care to their patients. Twenty-three institutions earned “adequate” rankings, and no facilities earned the top designation of “proficient.”

Six of the “inadequate” facilities – including San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and High Desert State Prison – had previously received “adequate” rankings in the previous evaluation cycle. Nine prisons moved from “inadequate” in the previous inspection cycle to “adequate” in the latest inspection.

“Nine institutions received ratings that demonstrated overall improvement,” wrote Inspector General Amarik Singh in her letter that accompanied the report, “a notable achievement considering the challenges that beset the prison system over the past three years.”