Groups Target State Over Women Inmates

The state Corrections Department has failed to improve treatment of women inmates as required by a 1997 settlement agreement, an alliance of prison watchdog groups alleged Monday.

The groups, including California Prison Focus and Legal Services for Prisoners With Children, filed a motion in U.S. District Court to reopen a 5-year-old class-action lawsuit.

The case was settled when the state agreed to pay $1.2 million in attorneys’ fees and costs, carry out doctors’ orders at the women’s prisons in Chowchilla and Corona, provide timely access to medical care, keep professional medical records and treat patients with respect and dignity, among other things.

Two prison employees from Chowchilla said prison officials may have tampered with medical records to make it appear as if the prison complied with the agreement.

Monnie Ibrahim, a former nursing supervisor at Chowchilla, and Maryanne Perlmutter, a medical administrator, contend in court documents that they observed the Department of Corrections officials from Sacramento working on medical files at the prison a few weeks before an inspection by court monitors.

The monitors subsequently found that the prison was living up to the agreement.

“These women came forward to me because they believed that the finding of compliance was based on fraud, on altered medical records,” said Catherine Campbell of California Prison Focus.

If those allegations are upheld, the watchdog groups want to find a way to better measure and supervise compliance with the settlement.

A Corrections Department lawyer denied the claim and said an independent monitor issued a favorable rating in 1999.

Also, recent revelations about a medical lab contracted by the Corrections Department that was generating false test results may also provide new evidence of the original allegations, according to a statement released Monday by Legal Services for Prisoners’ Children.

A hearing is set Oct. 16.