Study Praises Health Care at County Jails

In a report that county officials intend to use in efforts to end a federal lawsuit, a team of medical consultants says the health care provided to inmates in Orange County’s jail system “meets or exceeds” all state and federal standards.

The team’s findings were released Thursday. It was the second generally positive report the county has received on its jail system this month, and officials hope both studies will be helpful in seeking dismissal of a lawsuit over jail conditions filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The doctors said in Thursday’s report that their only recommendations were minor and related to administrative improvements such as record-keeping procedures. They also said the jail medical facilities are much better than they were just a few years ago.

Bonnie Norman, a nationally recognized consultant on jail medical facilities, said in the report that she “has seen the (Orange County) system progress from one with a great many needs to one which now requires what can best be described as continuous upgrading of resources.”

The $7,000 study was ordered last fall, partly to help the county seek a dismissal of the ACLU suit. A companion report released May 5 focused on other jail conditions, such as overcrowding, brutality and housing standards.

The May 5 report commended the sheriff for providing inmates with adequate eating, sleeping and recreational conditions. But it also said there have been cases of excessive force used by jail deputies, though it added that there was not a brutality problem.

Deputy County Counsel Edward N. Duran said Thursday that he plans to give both reports to U.S. District Judge William P. Gray, who has been monitoring jail conditions in Orange County since the ACLU first filed suit in the case in September, 1975.

Hearing on Suit June 6

The next hearing in the ACLU’s lawsuit is scheduled for June 6.

Last fall, Gray noted numerous improvements in the conditions at Orange County jails and, as a result, dismissed a special court monitor who had been assigned to watch jail overcrowding.

The judge also suggested then that the county conduct studies to give him a more comprehensive picture of how recent changes had improved conditions at the jails.

“He gave us strong hope back in September . . . when things seemed to be going our way,” Duran said. “I hope all the time . . . he will limit (the suit) or dismiss it.”

In the last year, the county has opened a new jail facility in Santa Ana and has decided to expand one of its branch jails. In addition, a new, 6,000-bed jail is planned for Gypsum Canyon.

The new Santa Ana facility, known as the Intake and Release Center, included 96 new medical beds and additional health-care facilities.

Herbert Rosenzweig, director of medical services for the county Health Care Agency, said in the last four years the jail has increased the hours that a physician is present, hired a full-time pharmacist and purchased automated laboratory equipment such as an electrocardiograph. He also said the county is seeking to hire a full-time medical director for the jails.

Rosenzweig said the county has a schedule for implementing all of the recommendations included in the medical study and has hired Norman to oversee some of the changes, including the writing of new policies for medical care.

Attorneys for the ACLU were not available Thursday.

“They keep repeating things they have said in the past,” Rosenzweig said of the ACLU’s complaints. “They haven’t looked at the changes that have taken place.”

Team of Doctors

The medical study was conducted by a team of three doctors, who focused on different aspects of health care in the jail system. Besides Norman, who is based in Los Angeles, the doctors involved were Roger Schock of Los Angeles, a former director of the Los Angeles County Forensic Program and now a consultant, and Dr. Floyd Bralliar of Denver, who is on the staff of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.

The report called for more supervision by a medical director as well as oversight committees, some of which have already been established, Rosenzweig said. It also suggested that the licenses for nurses be more accessible and the medical records of patients be better maintained.

The report also found that the one dentist in the jail system is overworked. It said some inmates had waited up to a month for dental appointments.

Rosenzweig said the Health Care Agency has requested money for an additional dentist.