The report notes that although the CA Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation oversees the prison population, a more substantial role in providing inmates with medical care during the eight year audit period (FY 05-06 to FY 12-13) was played by "California Correctional Health Care Services" -- the Receiver's Office operating under a federal court appointed receiver which took control of CA prison medical care in 2006...and will retain control until the court finds CA's Dept. of Corrections can maintain a constitutionally adequate prison medical care system.

The audit revealed that over an eight year period::

• [Report highlight text] 144 female inmates were sterilized through a surgery known as bilateral tubal ligation.

• 39 inmates were sterilized following deficiencies in the informed consent process.

• We saw no evidence that the inmate's physician signed the required consent form in 27 cases.

• In 18 cases, we noted potential violations of the required waiting period between when the inmate consented to the procedure and when the sterilization procedure actually took place.

• Among these 39 inmates there were six cases where we noted violations of both consent form and waiting period.

• Neither the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation nor the California Correctional Health Care Services ensured that the informed consent requirements were followed in 19 instances in which their employees obtained inmates' consent

And a footnote to the report indicates the actual numbers may be higher. Footnote 2 to the report states: "The true number of inmates for whom Corrections or the Receiver's Office did not ensure that lawful consent was obtained before sterilization may be higher. For example, one hospital destroyed seven inmate medical records in accordance with its records retention policy. Five of these seven inmates consented to the sterilization procedure while in prison, and it is unclear -- based on available records -- whether physicians signed the sterilization consent forms just prior to surgery." udit

In response to the audit, the Receiver's Office [audit text] "generally agreed with the report's factual findings, but noted that it reached conclusions about its duty to ensure compliance with the sterilization and consent procedures set forth in Title 22 that differ from the report. Nevertheless, the Receiver's Office pledged to implement all of the recommendations."

The audit report stems from a news story first reported by the Center for Investigative Reporting, which led to calls for an audit from the co-leaders of the state legislature's women's caucus -- Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal (D., LB) and state Senator Hannah Beth-Jackson (D., Santa Barbara) (co-leaders of the legislative women's caucus) which was formally requested by the state legislature's Joint Legislative Audit Committee.

To view the full report, click here.