First of two parts
Randall Benton | RBenton@sacbee.com
California’s prison health care employees work hard – or so it would seem by their schedules. Many average 12 hours a day; others routinely log 16- to 18-hour shifts for months on end, creating a costly overtime free-for-all in this budget-strapped state.
An abundance of forced and voluntary overtime has driven some nurses beyond human endurance. In the process, the long hours have opened the door for deadly lapses in a health care system just beginning to recover from decades of neglect.
“People who are pushing it to that level, working a ridiculous number of hours, usually crash,” said Yolanda Esparza, a certified nursing assistant who works evenings and some nights at the California Institution for Women in Corona.
“I myself have witnessed people sleeping at their posts – heavily, snoring, full sleep. They don’t even notice people walking by. It’s pretty common,” Esparza said.
Asked what happens when nurses are found sleeping on the job – a gross violation of prison rules – one prison nursing director said simply, “We would wake them up.” Often, she said, the nurse is then sent back to work.
A Bee investigation found that lax recruitment, worsened by the state budget crisis, and programs such as one for the suicidal that’s exploited by savvy inmates, have contributed to extreme staff work schedules. Correctional officials have tolerated the practice despite criticism about the price of prison health care, which cost more than $2.1 billion in the year ending in June 2008.
Click here to read the full article and view chart on Nurses wages….also take a moment to read the comments.
Prison Reform Movement's Weblog- America: Land of the Free, Home of the Incarcerated 
I encourage anyone who would like to educate the general public in reference to the corruption in the CDCr, etc. to follow the link to this story and register at the Sac Bee and comment away! Our voices are heard on the news paper threads by the writers and editors of these stories and this is what motivates them to write more stories. In addition to that the CO’s love to go on these papers threads and propaganda the GP against the prisoners and their families. So the more comments from our side, the better! I promise you won’t be bored!
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You said it all. No need to add anything except agreement….
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This is one of the BEST articles I have seen published in the SacBee for some time now. The comments reflect how uninformed the general public is. They blame the prisoners for bloated medical costs, even having any healthcare at all.
They have no idea about the 8th Amendment, or the massive corruption that goes on inside CDCr. I say FOLLOW THE MONEY…that trail will NOT lead to prisoners..but to corrupt Government…when will we say finally, ENOUGH? When CA is BANKRUPT!
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