On May 18, California State Auditor Elaine Howle released an audit which found that nearly one-quarter of the $2.1 billion California spent on prisoner health care between 2007 and 2008 went to specialty care services.  The report found that 59,000 of the state’s 170,000 inmates received specialty care and that the cost for specialty care for inmates over age 60 averaged $42,000 annually.  The audit also noted that the health care costs for inmates incarcerated under the three-strike rule, under which three convictions for serious or violent felonies result in a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life, were 13 percent higher than costs for inmates not incarcerated under the rule.  In related news, the California Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation (SB 1399) May 17 to allow incapacitated inmates that do not pose a threat to others to receive medical parole and on May 20 the California Assembly approved legislation (AB 1817) establishing a process for the state to determine the necessity of certain health procedures and treatments in prisons.  That bill now goes before the Senate.  Lawmakers intend both measures to control prison health care costs.

From the report:

As of April 2009, 25 percent of the inmate population was incarcerated under the three strikes law, which requires longer sentences for individuals who are convicted of any felony and have been convicted previously of crimes defined in state law as serious or violent felonies, also known as strikes. As discussed in our prior report, we estimated that on average, these individuals’ sentences are nine years longer because of the requirements of the three strikes law. In further analyzing the nature of the crimes for which striker inmates are incarcerated, we found that the current conviction for which many are imprisoned is not a strike. However, the longer sentences that striker inmates are receiving are based on their previous strikes. We also found that significant portions of the striker inmate population were convicted of committing multiple serious or violent offenses on the same day, and that some committed one or more serious or violent offenses as a juvenile.

Full report:  California Inmates Sentenced under the Three Strikes Law and a Small Number of Inmates Receiving Specialty Health Care Represent Significant Costs (PDF | 2.19 KB)

California State Auditor. (2010). California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Inmates sentenced under the three strikes law and a small number of inmates receiving specialty health care represent significant costs.