www.montereycountynow.com DECEMBER 11-17, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 17 The relationship between incarceration and mental illness is not new, nor is the public reckoning with the fact that prisons and jails resemble de facto psychiatric hospitals. For the state prison system operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a class-action lawsuit filed in 1990 alleged that prisoners received inadequate mental health care. In 1995, a federal court agreed. Further lawsuits and court decisions revealed continued deficiencies, ultimately leading judges in 2009 to order California to reduce its prison population dramatically, noting that overcrowding was an underlying factor. A massive transition known as realignment began, in which people who formerly served out their sentences in state prisons were instead incarcerated in county jails. That effectively shifted the problem, and Monterey County Jail’s continued struggles to provide adequate mental, physical and dental health care to the people in its custody has been a subject of the Weekly’s reporting for years. But while Monterey County Jail has been trying and failing and trying again to meet bare-minimum legal obligations, not to mention the moral obligations to people imprisoned, there’s been a parallel problem unfolding at the state prison level. (System-wide, CDCR has accumulated $95 million in fines as of March for failure to comply with the court’s demands.) According to an audit released on Dec. 4 by the California State Auditor, understaffing remains a chronic problem at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad. Staffing vacancies were up by 50 percent since July of 2019. For 2023-24, the facility faced a 65-percent vacancy rate in mental health staffing positions. Three facilities are covered in the audit—CDCR’s Salinas Valley State Prison, the Department of Developmental Services’ Porterville Developmental Center in Tulare County and Atascadero State Hospital (run by the Department of State Hospitals). All three reported relying on overtime and contract employees to help meet minimum staffing requirements. At SVSP, contract employees accounted for 10 percent of the 637-person workforce last year. (Due to the high vacancy rate, there was actually a cost savings—more than $188 million at the prison since 2019—but “the departments could not explain how they used the specific savings that we identified,” according to the audit.) But more important than the cost is the care inmates receive. The audit reports that Salinas Valley State Prison has filled psychology positions at the required level only 23 percent of the time, clinical social workers 17 percent of the time, and other mental health positions 33 percent of the time since 2019-20. “CDCR is committed to providing adequate health care for the incarcerated population, while ensuring fiscal responsibility,” CDCR Public Information Officer Kyle Buis says in a statement. “We thank the State Auditor for their work on this important issue.” It’s understandably hard to fill positions in these settings, and the auditor has some recommendations, but they are far short of what’s needed to transform the idea of a prison as a workplace. The audit looks at rural environments and high cost of living, factors that contribute to recruitment challenges across the health care sector. The auditor suggests CDCR reconsider flexibility (with eight-, 10- or 12-hour shifts) and reassess its recruitment strategy. But none of those things get at the reality of a tough environment. A former contract psychologist at SVSP, Dr. Beth Fischgrund, sued CDCR in Sacramento County Superior Court in 2020, claiming a pattern of workplace issues, including enduring threats from inmates (namely one who “said that he would like to cut her head off before walking out of his therapy session,” according to the suit). After she complained, she was terminated. On Oct. 31, 2025, a jury awarded Fischgrund nearly $16.9 million in damages. (In November, CDCR filed a notice of intent to seek a new trial.) All of these reports, lawsuits, revelations and now an audit help reveal something we already knew, that the government is continuously failing to provide adequate medical and mental health care to people in its custody. Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com. Jail House Understaffing problems go from local to state level in prison facilities. By Sara Rubin PERFECT PITCH…Squid isn’t a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, but Squid has peeked at a few and has the ultimate pitch for Hallmark execs. A survey by travel company Exoticca provides the ideal location. The company surveyed thousands of people asking which real-life towns in their state would make the perfect setting for a Hallmark Christmas movie. Carmel was named number one by Californians, followed by Truckee and Solvang. Here’s Squid’s pitch: Holly, an attorney from a big-city law firm, returns to her hometown of Carmel a week before Christmas in the landmark case Pickleball US v. Carmel, with orders from her demanding boss to get settlement papers signed so the Christmas charity pickleball tournament benefiting sweater-less dogs can take place. In the perfect meet-cute, she stops for hot chocolate at Carmel Bakery and as she leaves, stumbles into high school sweetheart and Patagonia-vested Jack. Alas, Jack is the leader of the anti-pickleball residents, plus Holly’s snobbish fiance shows up unexpectedly. Not to worry, Holly tells off the boss, tells off the fiance, and brokers a temporary peace between players and residents just in time for the tournament, with plans to move the courts to a location all can agree on. Holly and Jack stroll to Carmel Beach where suddenly, it begins to snow! Then they kiss, yada, yada. The end. STATIC ON THE RADIO…Squid likes to listen to the radio, including the local NPR station, KAZU 90.3 FM, when Squid wants a break from music. So it was puzzling when Squid recently encountered a long— really, really long—instrumental version of a Britney Spears song. Then Squid realized, regular programming was disrupted due to a facilities move from the campus of CSU Monterey Bay to Ryan Ranch to make way for a student residential hall. Squid received an email notification on Dec. 2 to say the move was complete and streaming was restored after a series of technical issues, and live programming is expected to return by Dec. 16. But there was another announcement buried within that email: “Dan Larkin has made the decision to step down from his role as general manager, effective Dec. 1, 2025,” it read. Squid thought that was almost as weird as a long Britney Spears instrumental—Larkin had just taken over seven months prior, on May 1. (Kellsy Panno, previously the director of business operations, is now serving as interim station manager.) Squid’s colleague asked what happened and for a copy of Larkin’s resignation letter, but was met just with static from a CSUMB spokesperson “because this is a personnel matter.” Maybe they expect listeners will just continue to turn the radio dial. THE LOCAL SPIN SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “CDCR is committed to providing adequate care.” SEND SQUID A TIP: squid@montereycountynow.com
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