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California Regains Control of San Quentin Inmate Health Care

SAN QUENTIN (CBS/AP) -- California is regaining responsibility for providing medical care at San Quentin State Prison from federal officials because of improving conditions there.

The federal court-appointed receiver, J. Clark Kelso, announced Wednesday that he has returned operations at the state's oldest prison to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

It's the 10th of California's 34 prisons to be released from federal control as the state slowly makes progress toward improving conditions for inmates.

A federal judge says the state must successfully operate all the prisons for a year before he considers ending a long-running class action lawsuit over inmate health care.

San Quentin was built in 1852 by inmates who slept on a prison ship anchored in San Francisco Bay. It now has more than 3,800 inmates, including California's death row.

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