Prisons receiver may ask for court order

In his broadest, harshest critique of state officials yet, the court- appointed overseer of healthcare in state prisons said Tuesday he would run out of money soon and had begun preparing to seize the funding he needs with an order from a federal judge.

Receiver J. Clark Kelso, who had previously directed most of his displeasure at state lawmakers for refusing to approve his $7-billion plan to construct prison healthcare facilities, on Tuesday added Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Controller John Chiang and the nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office to the list of officials showing “an unwillingness to accept accountability.”

“The state’s failure to make the necessary financial commitment is not a result of inadvertent neglect or mere incompetence,” Kelso said in a filing to U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who appointed him. “It is a result of conscious, deliberate obstruction.”

Kelso told reporters that although he still hopes state officials will cooperate, preferably by borrowing the money he needs, he has begun laying the groundwork to ask Henderson to issue an order for the money. That could take the form of an injunction directing Chiang to pay the receiver’s bills or a draft on state bank accounts and could occur within a couple of months, he said.

“There will come a time when I simply run out of money, and sometime before then I will be forced to take more substantial steps,” Kelso said.

Last month, state Senate Republicans blocked SB 1665, a bill authorizing the receiver to borrow $7 billion to build seven healthcare facilities for inmates, to comply with orders in a federal lawsuit against the state. In part, he blamed a report by the legislative analyst’s office questioning the need for his 10,000-bed plan, and said it was full of misleading and inaccurate statements.

Dan Carson, who directs the analyst’s criminal justice unit, said his office did nothing to sabotage Kelso and recommended $2 billion in funding, even though the receiver failed to provide “very basic information” to justify such a large request.

Within days of the bill’s defeat, Kelso demanded that Schwarzenegger and Chiang provide him money, starting with $70 million, though the state is in fiscal crisis. But he said they have indicated they will not provide it.

Chiang’s spokeswoman, Hallye Jordan, said the office has been exploring options with Kelso but has told him that the controller is prohibited from cutting a check without an appropriation from lawmakers or a court order.

“Even if there was a court order, it would be problematic because the fact is today there is no cash in the general fund,” Jordan said.

She added that to pay the receiver, money would have to be diverted from schools or healthcare providers serving the poor, or from funds dedicated by voters for purposes such as transportation. She said such a move would probably spur lawsuits.

Lisa Page, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said the governor’s office is “in active, continuous discussions with the receiver” and wants to help deliver the court-ordered prison healthcare plan.

State Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster) said he and his colleagues would like to approve Kelso’s plan, but only as part of related negotiations on state prison construction and a pending federal court case on prison overcrowding. He said Republican senators know the state must improve the healthcare provided to its prisoners.

“At the same time,” Runner said, “I’m not sure it’s as clear as the receiver thinks it is” that “the state has to roll over and deal with it exactly on his terms.”

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michael.rothfeld@latimes.com