SACRAMENTO (KCBS) — The health care department for California’s prison system is under fire, after reports that pregnant inmates were coerced into having sterilization surgery. A group of state legislators is now demanding answers from the federal receiver who oversees the department.
Lawmakers are concerned that consent for tubal ligation surgeries performed on almost 150 female inmates between 2006 and 2010 was not obtained properly.
“The whole question of whether a prisoner can consent without any duress I think is the question before us,” said State Senator Mark Leno of San Francisco.
Leno is part of a group of legislators calling on federal receiver Clark Kelso to explain why these procedures were performed and if the practice has stopped.
