Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 25, 2006 0:55:50 GMT -5
5-story medical center proposed at San Quentin
Plans for a major new medical center and other health-care system
improvements were unveiled Thursday as part of an ambitious construction
plan at San Quentin State Prison.
No costs or size estimates were released, but the new main medical center
would involve razing a partially abandoned 3-story building and replacing
it with a five-story structure that would serve as the prison's center for
medical, mental health, dental, pharmacy and medical records.
The basement of that center would include a new reception center for
processing inmates who arrive each week.
Elsewhere, there would be two new modular buildings, two new sick centers
between cell blocks, a new area for specialized care and possibly even a
new supply warehouse.
"The department has been adamant that San Quentin is a permanent
facility," said John Hagar, chief of staff for a court-appointed receiver
charged with turning around California's prison health-care system. "We
have to provide adequate medical treatment."
Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, who unsuccessfully fought plans for
a new $233 million death row at San Quentin, had not heard of the
proposals when contacted Thursday. He said he wouldn't be surprised if the
plan costs $100 million in addition to the new death row, which is
scheduled to break ground in January.
"We have an absurd situation and this makes it more absurd," he said.
"It's a dilapidated prison."
Receiver Robert Sillen took control of health care in the state's
33-prison system in April after U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson
ruled conditions were so poor they were unconstitutional. In July, Sillen
announced that San Quentin would be the 1st prison overhauled so it could
be a model for others around the state.
Sillen released a report this week that said San Quentin suffers
widespread problems that include low pay for clinical workers, poor
facilities and supplies, and a disorganized approach to health care at all
levels. His recommendations include constructing many new buildings,
overhauling the nursing system and capping the number of inmates.
Part of the program at San Quentin involves a weekly meeting between
Hagar, his employees and prison department heads to take stock of what has
been accomplished and what needs to be done. During Thursday's meeting,
the group discussed recent medical appointments made for more than 200
inmates whose neglected problems required immediate attention from
specialists outside the prison.
Other topics at the session included updating a computer record-keeping
program, testing air in the North Block that is contaminated with pigeon
feces and rat hair, and employee issues related to all the changes.
Several San Quentin medical officials said Thursday that no employees have
been fired because of the dismal conditions, but added there has been high
staff turnover in light of retirements, transfers or resignations.
However, they noted morale is better among veteran employees.
"We couldn't be doing what we're doing now without them," Nursing Director
Jane Robinson said.
For the most part, doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and every other
medical employee at San Quentin works in a makeshift environment.
A doctor created an examination room by bolting a door onto a shower
stall, leaving the fixtures mounted in the wall.
Two examination rooms on death row were created by walling off cells,
although plastic sheets are draped in front of them to keep out water that
pours out of inmates' showers above them.
The emergency room is so small that it gets too crowded when a full team
of medical officials works on a stabbed inmate.
"Even a urine sample is an embarrassing public event," Robinson said.
Compounding matters, San Quentin is a prison where convicts from 17 county
jails are sent for processing before they're sent to other prisons to
serve time. About 70 come in each day, and each is required to have a
physical exam.
"Privacy is a real issue," Robinson said.
The biggest changes involve the plan for the new medical center and
abandoning the Neumiller hospital building.
The Neumiller hospital was originally a women's prison and was once
considered one of the nation's best trauma rooms because doctors treated
so many stab wounds. Neumiller still functions as the prison's main
medical center, but it lost its accreditation and licensing more than 15
years ago.
Officials recently repainted the interior, took an inventory of medical
supplies for the first time in memory, and hired a supply manager. But the
ceilings are full of holes, the lab flooded Thursday and doctors and
nurses work in converted cells.
"It's where most medical care takes place," Hagar said.
To make room for the new main center, officials want to tear down a large,
empty brick building that was abandoned because of seismic problems after
the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The library at one end and an historic
dungeon at the other would remain, but everything else would be torn down,
replaced and another story added.
"It will be an appropriate, licensed medical facility," Hagar said.
San Quentin Facilities Director Vince Marengo said he wants to bypass a
formal environmental report because of the time and cost of such a study.
But he said he plans to work with historians to preserve the site and
abide by the California Environmental Quality Act. "We intend to fully
comply," he said.
Marengo's other proposals include:
- A new modular building at the East Gate for officer training and
recruitment.
- A new modular building in front of the visitor's entrance for medical
offices.
- Renovating an abandoned building or building a new one for a medical
supply warehouse.
- Remodeling the existing area used currently for medical records.
- Moving an exercise yard and, in its place, building a new center for
primary care and specialty medical services.
- Building 2 new sick centers at either end of South Block, where it joins
the East and West block cells.
Nation said he hasn't heard anyone in Sacramento request money for the
project, much less allocate it. However, he said the state is at the
court's mercy because it effectively lost control of what happens with the
prison's health-care system.
"It's unfortunate, it's too bad," he said.
Hagar and his staff said they are aware of local opposition to the new
death row, which would have its own new medical center, but added their
plan is a separate project to improve the lives of prisoners already at
San Quentin.
They noted the plan would cap the number of inmates allowed.
"This project will not add inmates," said Joe McGrath, director of custody
support services for the receiver.
(source: Marin Independent Journal)
Plans for a major new medical center and other health-care system
improvements were unveiled Thursday as part of an ambitious construction
plan at San Quentin State Prison.
No costs or size estimates were released, but the new main medical center
would involve razing a partially abandoned 3-story building and replacing
it with a five-story structure that would serve as the prison's center for
medical, mental health, dental, pharmacy and medical records.
The basement of that center would include a new reception center for
processing inmates who arrive each week.
Elsewhere, there would be two new modular buildings, two new sick centers
between cell blocks, a new area for specialized care and possibly even a
new supply warehouse.
"The department has been adamant that San Quentin is a permanent
facility," said John Hagar, chief of staff for a court-appointed receiver
charged with turning around California's prison health-care system. "We
have to provide adequate medical treatment."
Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, who unsuccessfully fought plans for
a new $233 million death row at San Quentin, had not heard of the
proposals when contacted Thursday. He said he wouldn't be surprised if the
plan costs $100 million in addition to the new death row, which is
scheduled to break ground in January.
"We have an absurd situation and this makes it more absurd," he said.
"It's a dilapidated prison."
Receiver Robert Sillen took control of health care in the state's
33-prison system in April after U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson
ruled conditions were so poor they were unconstitutional. In July, Sillen
announced that San Quentin would be the 1st prison overhauled so it could
be a model for others around the state.
Sillen released a report this week that said San Quentin suffers
widespread problems that include low pay for clinical workers, poor
facilities and supplies, and a disorganized approach to health care at all
levels. His recommendations include constructing many new buildings,
overhauling the nursing system and capping the number of inmates.
Part of the program at San Quentin involves a weekly meeting between
Hagar, his employees and prison department heads to take stock of what has
been accomplished and what needs to be done. During Thursday's meeting,
the group discussed recent medical appointments made for more than 200
inmates whose neglected problems required immediate attention from
specialists outside the prison.
Other topics at the session included updating a computer record-keeping
program, testing air in the North Block that is contaminated with pigeon
feces and rat hair, and employee issues related to all the changes.
Several San Quentin medical officials said Thursday that no employees have
been fired because of the dismal conditions, but added there has been high
staff turnover in light of retirements, transfers or resignations.
However, they noted morale is better among veteran employees.
"We couldn't be doing what we're doing now without them," Nursing Director
Jane Robinson said.
For the most part, doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and every other
medical employee at San Quentin works in a makeshift environment.
A doctor created an examination room by bolting a door onto a shower
stall, leaving the fixtures mounted in the wall.
Two examination rooms on death row were created by walling off cells,
although plastic sheets are draped in front of them to keep out water that
pours out of inmates' showers above them.
The emergency room is so small that it gets too crowded when a full team
of medical officials works on a stabbed inmate.
"Even a urine sample is an embarrassing public event," Robinson said.
Compounding matters, San Quentin is a prison where convicts from 17 county
jails are sent for processing before they're sent to other prisons to
serve time. About 70 come in each day, and each is required to have a
physical exam.
"Privacy is a real issue," Robinson said.
The biggest changes involve the plan for the new medical center and
abandoning the Neumiller hospital building.
The Neumiller hospital was originally a women's prison and was once
considered one of the nation's best trauma rooms because doctors treated
so many stab wounds. Neumiller still functions as the prison's main
medical center, but it lost its accreditation and licensing more than 15
years ago.
Officials recently repainted the interior, took an inventory of medical
supplies for the first time in memory, and hired a supply manager. But the
ceilings are full of holes, the lab flooded Thursday and doctors and
nurses work in converted cells.
"It's where most medical care takes place," Hagar said.
To make room for the new main center, officials want to tear down a large,
empty brick building that was abandoned because of seismic problems after
the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The library at one end and an historic
dungeon at the other would remain, but everything else would be torn down,
replaced and another story added.
"It will be an appropriate, licensed medical facility," Hagar said.
San Quentin Facilities Director Vince Marengo said he wants to bypass a
formal environmental report because of the time and cost of such a study.
But he said he plans to work with historians to preserve the site and
abide by the California Environmental Quality Act. "We intend to fully
comply," he said.
Marengo's other proposals include:
- A new modular building at the East Gate for officer training and
recruitment.
- A new modular building in front of the visitor's entrance for medical
offices.
- Renovating an abandoned building or building a new one for a medical
supply warehouse.
- Remodeling the existing area used currently for medical records.
- Moving an exercise yard and, in its place, building a new center for
primary care and specialty medical services.
- Building 2 new sick centers at either end of South Block, where it joins
the East and West block cells.
Nation said he hasn't heard anyone in Sacramento request money for the
project, much less allocate it. However, he said the state is at the
court's mercy because it effectively lost control of what happens with the
prison's health-care system.
"It's unfortunate, it's too bad," he said.
Hagar and his staff said they are aware of local opposition to the new
death row, which would have its own new medical center, but added their
plan is a separate project to improve the lives of prisoners already at
San Quentin.
They noted the plan would cap the number of inmates allowed.
"This project will not add inmates," said Joe McGrath, director of custody
support services for the receiver.
(source: Marin Independent Journal)