(Riverside) Supervisors shift funds back to health care for inmates

Each jail will have medical professionals
1:14 AM, Jul. 4, 2011
Written by
Erica Felci
FILED UNDER
Local
Crime & Safety

Budget cutbacks have forced Riverside County to rely on sheriffs' deputies and emergency rooms to cover gaps in the jails' health care system.

But after a grand jury report warned the funding reductions meant Riverside County wasn't complying with state regulations, supervisors are changing course and reinvesting in the jails' health care system.

Their decision means every county jail will again have medical professionals to diagnose and treat inmates.

But it might only be the start of what's needed: In coming weeks, supervisors are expecting the results of an independent analysis of the jail health care system.

“There are responsibilities we have when people who are held against their will,” Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff said.

“Most of my jail inmates haven't even been found guilty. While they're undergoing trial, they're innocent in the eyes of the law.”

The county sheriff is legally responsible for providing basic services to the 60,000-some inmates who come through the five county jails each year.

But since the mid-1990s, supervisors have delegated that job to the Riverside County Regional Medical Center.

The supervisors also slashed funding to inmates' health care as part of countywide budget reductions.

Two years ago, officials set aside $23.9 million from the general fund for such services.

That was reduced to roughly $17.7 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year — leaving no medical teams in the Blythe jail and only part-time services in the Indio and Murrieta jails.

If inmates were injured or got sick during the medical teams' off-hours, a deputy sheriff would diagnose them and take them to the emergency room for treatment.

“You're relying on deputy sheriffs being nurses and doctors,” Sniff said.

“Instead of having the medical services provided in a secure custody environment, I have to put them in chains and send them to the ER with John Q. citizen.”

The system saved money for the health care budget, but resulted in additional overtime and transportation costs for the sheriff's division, Sniff said.


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