California Correctional Health Care Services has sent layoff warning notices to 2,200 of its employees, the Sacramento Bee's "The State Worker" reports (Ortiz, "The State Worker," Sacramento Bee, 12/12).
Background
About six years ago, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson appointed federal receiver J. Clark Kelso to oversee the state's prison health care system after determining that an average of one inmate per week died as a result of malpractice or neglect.
In May 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to reduce its inmate population to help improve health care.
In April, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation released a plan for reorganizing the state's prisons and ending federal oversight.
In October, federal officials agreed to begin transferring select administrative functions of California's prison health care system to state officials (California Healthline, 10/25).
Details of Layoffs
Liz Gransee -- a Department of Health Care Services spokesperson -- said the layoffs are the result of reductions in the prison population.
CCHCS seeks to eliminate a total of 829 positions. The layoffs will affect nearly 60 job classifications statewide, from physicians to custodians.
The cuts will take effect March 31, 2013.
CCHCS officials do not have a savings estimate from the layoffs.
Gransee said, "Ultimately, there is a lot of realigning of staff between facilities and classifications, so there is no way to quantify the potential savings associated with the layoffs" ("The State Worker," Sacramento Bee, 12/12).