Report: L.A. County’s female prisoners waited months for medical treatment

Sick female inmates in the Los Angeles County jail system have waited weeks, even months, before receiving medical treatment that should have been provided within 24 hours of their requests for help, according to a monitor’s report released today.

Additionally, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials have a lack of written policies on how to treat sick or pregnant women housed in their jail facilities, according to Merrick Bobb, a special counsel hired by the County Board of Supervisors to monitor the Sheriff’s Department.

In his semiannual report, Bobb recommended that “every woman who asks for medical attention or to see a nurse gets to do so within 24 hours of the request,” in compliance with national standards for jails and prisons set by the National Corrections Commission on Correctional Health Care.

For instance, Bobb noted that the department has no policy forbidding the shackling of a female inmate during childbirth even though state law prohibits such actions.

Although deputies told Bobb’s staff that they generally don’t shackle women giving birth, a county hospital delivery nurse said “leg chains, which are heavy but long enough to allow the inmate to get to the bathroom, are often present during childbirth,” the report stated. Bobb recommended that the department adopt a policy that conforms with state law.

Steve Whitmore, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said department officials were reviewing Bobb’s report, adding that “Sheriff Baca is well aware of the issues in the jails.”

According to Bobb, treatment delays are common for the 31,000 female inmates who are annually processed through the jails. He said there are not enough nurses and other medical staffers to accommodate the inmates’ needs. And, he reported, the county has been slow in filling many vacant medical employee positions.

Bobb’s conclusions were similar to findings in a Times investigation in December 2006, which found that a lack of nurses, doctors and other medical workers resulted in long delays, breakdowns in medical care and left medical conditions for male and female inmates untreated

Bobb’s investigation found that some women with conditions such as passing blood clots, hives and yeast infections waited days, weeks and even months before receiving treatment. In some cases, the inmates were released from custody without ever getting help for their maladies.

“Delays in the provision of medical services are not even tracked, contrary to good practice as defined by the medical profession,” Bobb wrote. Because of the poor record keeping, Bobb said it was impossible to determine precisely how long some inmates waited to receive treatment.

According to Bobb, about 10 to 25 female inmates per housing area request to see the nurse each day. But fewer than five women a day get to see a nurse. As a result, the number of inmates requesting medical attention mounts over time.

Bobb also reviewed the last six years of litigation against the Sheriff’s Department and found that there has been a reduction in lawsuits in recent years, particularly in the area concerning use-of-force complaints. He credited the reduction to better risk-management practices.

Yet, while the cost of force-related litigation has declined, Bobb noted that costs of jail-related cases have increased. Of the 17 lawsuits settling for more $100,000 in fiscal year 2006-2007, six cases were custody-related lawsuits that accounted for payouts totaling more than $5.6 million – more than 50% of all legal payouts.

richard.winton@latimes.com