Judge Rules Report from Whistleblower on Psychiatric Care in Prison Can Be Made Public

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A federal judge in Sacramento recently ruled against the state of California’s push to keep private a whistleblower report about psychiatric care in the state’s prisons. As a result, much of the 160-page document is now available for public review.

Judge Kimberly J. Mueller issued the order Thursday, October 25, telling legal counsel they must submit redacted versions of the report by the following Tuesday.

What’s in the report?

The report in question was drafted by Dr. Michael Golding, who serves as the top prison psychiatrist for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Dr. Golding leaked the report earlier in October to a federal overseer of prison healthcare, and has been fighting since then with lawyers for several state inmates to make the information in the report public, with patient names redacted.

According to attorneys for attorneys in need of psychiatric care in California’s prisons, the report contains allegations that corrections officers gave inaccurate information to the court system about the quality, type and amount of psychiatric care provided to inmates. Some believe the corrections officials committed fraud by hiding the actual results of their efforts to provide improved psychiatric care.

State attorneys arguing against making the report public said the contents of the report could result in damage to reputations of state employees and harm working relationships. However, Judge Mueller ruled the public interest in the report outweighed the state’s interest to keep the document private.

If you have information about wrongdoing within your business or organization, work with a trusted whistleblower attorney at Kardell Law Group to make a report and protect your rights.

By Steve Kardell | Published November 29, 2018 | Posted in Whistleblower Litigation | Tagged confidential data, Dallas attorney, whistleblower cases, whistleblowers

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