AP: Calif. Must Pay $2B For Medical Facilities Before Prison Oversight Ends
SACRAMENTO (AP) — The court-appointed receiver overseeing California's prison health care system says the state must keep its promise to spend more than $2 billion for new medical facilities before the federal courts can end an oversight role that has lasted six years.
California has committed to spending $750 million to upgrade existing medical facilities, building a new medical center and converting juvenile lockups. So far, only the new medical center in Stockton is being built.
Receiver J. Clark Kelso told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the state must begin all the upgrades before it should be allowed to retake control of the prison medical system.
They are Kelso's first public comments since a federal judge last week told officials to begin preparing for an end to the receivership.
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