Judge fines California over prison mental health staffing

Abstract

A federal judge last month ordered California state to pay $112 million in fines over inadequate staffing to meet the mental health needs of state prison inmates, California Healthline reported on June 26. Chief U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of California Kimberly Mueller issued the order following numerous hearings regarding prison staffing shortages, one of several components of the federal class action lawsuit now known as Coleman v. Newsom. An order that was issued in the lawsuit last May requires state corrections officials to pilot a manual-based treatment modality for inmates with personality disorders later this summer (see “Latest order in California prison suit will launch treatment pilot effort,” MHW, June 17, 2024; https://doi.org/10.1002/mhw.34083). Referring to inadequacies in the hiring of mental health professionals, Mueller wrote in her latest order that the harm “caused by these high vacancy rates is as clear today as it was 30 years ago, and the harm persists despite multiple court orders requiring defendants to reduce those rates.” State officials criticized the order, saying it does not reflect the state's best efforts to hire staff at a time when the entire nation continues to grapple with a shortage of mental health professionals. It has been 30 years since the case's initial ruling that California violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment by offering inadequate care to inmates with serious mental illness.