Corrections Dept. gets bad report about health care at Corcoran Prison (updated)

KPCC — As California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation deals with an ongoing hunger strike and having to move more then 2,500 inmates this week from two prisons plagued by Valley Fever, the department received another bit of bad news Monday: Independent court investigators have found medical care at Corcoran State Prison to be sorely lacking.

In a report filed in Federal Court, three independent investigators found an array of problems that they say threaten the health and safety of inmates at the Central Valley prison:

“Clinical supervision of providers and oversight of medical care at Corcoran is grossly inadequate and threatens the safety of patients.”

Among the findings:

--Medical staff were observed repeatedly failing to wash their hands before treating patients.

--Medical supplies and equipment were stored in non-sanitary conditions.

--Medical leadership failed to conduct oversight and review of clinicians. continue reading...