United States District Court, E.D. California
ORDER
In a
bench ruling on October 23, 2019, Reporter's Transcript
of Proceedings (10/23/2019 RT), ECF No. 6380, subsequently
memorialized in a written order filed December 17, 2019, ECF
No 6247, the court has found defendants knowingly provided
false and misleading information material to ongoing remedial
efforts in this long running matter. On October 23, 2019, the
court directed plaintiffs to file within seven days a brief
identifying their proposed remedies for the identified
violations. Plaintiffs filed their brief on October 30, 2019,
ECF No. 6374, and defendants filed a response on November 13,
2019, ECF No. 6388. After review, the court now issues this
first in a series of remedial orders.[1]
I.
ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH BUSINESS RULES AND DATA
The
first remedial measure proposed by all parties involves
relocating management of California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation (CDCR) mental health care data from CDCR
Mental Health Headquarters to the California Correctional
Health Care System (CCHCS) Quality Management Section,
overseen by the Plata Receiver.[2] See ECF
No. 6374 at 4-7; ECF No. 6388 at 7. This proposal originated
with defendants, and plaintiffs are in agreement.
See ECF No. 6374 at 4; ECF No. 6388 at 7.
As the
court has made clear, see 10/23/2019 RT at
467:15-21, the framework in which it would approve such a
transition, if at all, is that of client and service
provider. That is, the court interprets this proposal as one
in which the parties are proposing use of the CCHCS Quality
Management Section as the quality manager and service
provider in this court's remedial proceedings. The court
and the Special Master would therefore be clients of this
proposed service provider. Assuming this framework, the court
intends to take all steps necessary to ensure that the needs
of the plaintiff class and complete remediation in this
action would be served by such an arrangement, prior to any
approval. The parties must take certain preliminary steps to
allow the court to begin the process of assessing whether
this proposal or some variation thereof should be adopted.
This order directs the taking of those initial steps.
First,
with the parties' concurrence, the court has authorized
the Special Master to hire his own data expert or otherwise
make arrangements to ensure he has the necessary data
expertise at his disposal. Concurrently, defendants must
arrange for the Special Master must forthwith be given access
to all of the business rules defendants are currently using
to process mental health data and generate informational
reports related to delivery of constitutionally adequate
mental health care to members of the plaintiff class. This
access must include, but not be limited to, access to
business rules in use by the CCHCS Quality Management Section
if that section is processing any data or generating any
reports related to the delivery of constitutionally adequate
mental health care to members of the plaintiff class.
Second,
defendants must arrange for the Special Master to be included
in all discussions that concern use of the CCHCS Quality
Management Section to manage CDCR Mental Health data.
Defendants shall comply with this order and must take all
steps necessary to both include the Special Master in all
such discussions and respond to any steps the Special Master
may require of them in the process of their compliance.
Third,
both the Special Master and the plaintiffs must forthwith
have access to all mental health care data that affects the
care and treatment of members of the plaintiff class.
Defendants shall take all steps necessary to make sure this
access is available forthwith.
II.
MESSAGING
As
discussed in the December 17, 2019 order, the court expects
that Undersecretary Toche “is thinking deeply about a
proper response to plaintiffs' counsel's question [at
hearing on the Golding Report] about how she can work to make
clear to those who work for and with her that ‘CDCR has
been found to have violated the Constitution as to the mental
health program and is under a remedial order supervised by
this court' and that ‘Coleman is not just
a word' but signifies a federal court order,
‘upheld by the United States Supreme Court[, ] that
governs a remedial process.' 10/16/19 RT at
359:12-360:4.” ECF No. 6427 at 46. The court has
directed Dr. Toche to provide a report on her answer to that
question by the March 23, 2020 status conference.
Id. Given the flurry of activity since the hearing
on the Golding Report, and the central importance of
defendants' appropriate answer to this question as a
threshold reframing as defendants take steps to ensure they
never again lose sight of the substantive issues at stake for
members of the plaintiff class, cf., e.g.,
id. at 44-46, the court now directs Dr. Toche to
file an initial statement within the next thirty days setting
forth the steps she has already taken and is planning to take
to provide a complete response to the question posed at
hearing and to the gravamen of the court's findings.
In
accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1.
Within fourteen days from the date of this order, defendants
shall file a list of all steps they have taken to ensure that
the Special Master has access to all the business rules
defendants are currently using to process mental health data
and generate informational reports related to delivery of
constitutionally adequate mental health care to members of
the plaintiff class, including access to business rules in
use by the CCHCS Quality Management Section if that section
is processing any data or generating any reports related to
the delivery of constitutionally adequate mental health care
to members of the plaintiff class.
2.
Defendants shall promptly take all steps necessary to ensure
that the Special Master is included in all discussions that
concern use of the CCHCS Quality Management Section to manage
CDCR Mental Health data and shall respond promptly to any and
all steps the Special Master may require of them during this
process.
3.
Within fourteen days from the date of this order defendants
shall file a list setting forth all steps they have taken to
provide the Special Master and the plaintiffs access to all
mental health care data that affects the care and treatment
of members of the plaintiff class. With respect to the
Special Master, such access is governed by the Order of
Reference, ECF No. 640. With respect to plaintiffs'
counsel, such access is subject to the applicable protective
orders issued in this action.
4.
Within thirty days from the date of this order Undersecretary
Toche shall file a ...