More Than A Third Of State Prisons Still Giving Poor Care

(AP) — A scathing inspector general's report says medical care at a Northern California state prison remains "markedly inadequate" despite 10 years of work to improve it.

The state inspector general has found six of the 16 prisons inspected since last year still are providing poor care.

The report released Wednesday gives Mule Creek State Prison failing grades in 13 of the 14 key benchmarks, including providing basic medical services.

The prison has about 3,000 inmates in Ione, about 40 miles southeast of Sacramento.

It has a severe shortage of doctors and nurses. Inspectors say that leads to poor morale and complaints that providers are overworked and can't keep up with a perpetual backlog of work.

Inspectors also reported poor health care leadership and supervision.