Prison Health Care: Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 | |

Lawyers for prisoners and the state of California have been in and out of court for years over conditions in the state’s prisons, with courts finding that poor prison health care is killing as many as 50 inmates a year. A recent court ruling to cut the prison population has prompted the Schwarzenegger administration to vow to take the case up to the US Supreme Court. But the problem has been festering for years. In part two of our series “Criminal Neglect: California’s Failing Prison System,” we look at the state of health care in California’s prisons. Christopher Martinez files this report.