California’s prison healthcare mess

So now three federal judges demand that California pay out $8 billion to serve rapists and drug pushers ahead of the fiscal and service needs of innocent citizens. How can such an outrage be justified?

The continuing saga of federal court efforts to reform medical care in California’s prisons is a textbook example both of why constitutional courts are unpopular in this country and why we need them. At a hearing Monday, a panel of three federal judges will consider whether the governor and comptroller should be held in contempt of court for failing to provide a cash down payment of $250 million on an $8-billion court-ordered plan to build seven medical facilities for prisoners.

The political timing for this shootout couldn’t be worse if Stephen King had written the script. The U.S. is in the middle of a financial meltdown in which short-term cash for even creditworthy states is endangered. Meanwhile, California’s finances are imploding. The state just passed a budget that cuts spending programs for the poor and the elderly and engineers accounting strategies last seen at Enron.