Prison Receiver Makes Move

A new receiver appointed by a federal judge to fix California’s prison health care system announced Friday that he is cutting staff and moving the receiver’s office to Sacramento from San Jose.

Last month, the federal judge overseeing the case terminated the previous receiver, Robert Sillen, and appointed as his replacement law professor Clark Kelso, who has extensive experience with troubled state bureaucracies.

Kelso is expected to take a less confrontational stance than Sillen as he implements a program to bring the prison health care system up to constitutional muster, which is likely to involve capital investments as well as additional operational spending.

Moving to Sacramento will allow the receiver’s office to coordinate more closely with the state corrections department to develop an acceptable health care system in a cost-effective manner, Kelso told the San Jose Mercury News.

Kelso was appointed in 2000 to replace the state’s insurance commissioner after he resigned in a corruption scandal, and has also served as California’s top informational technology official.

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