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CDCR clinicians cite contractor pay, turnover and safety gaps that they say undermine continuity of care
Summary
Psychiatrists and psychologists who work for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told the Senate subcommittee that high contractor pay, short contractor tenure and staffing instability harm continuity of care for seriously mentally ill incarcerated people and raise safety concerns for clinicians and patients.
Dr. Navarette Mann, a psychiatrist with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and member of UAPD, described a growing reliance on contract psychiatrists and the consequences for continuity of mental‑health care inside state prisons.
"Contract psychiatrists are making a lot more money, than they ever have," Dr. Mann said, adding that some contractors have earned more than $100,000 per month. She said contractors frequently move between employers for higher pay, and short tenures mean clinicians cannot build the trusting relationships many patients with severe mental illness require.
"Contractors usually are not able to stay long enough at one institution to establish that rapport," Dr. Mann said. She told the subcommittee that repeated crises degrade functioning for people with severe mental illness and that instability raises both patient‑care costs and long‑term public‑safety risks.
Dr. Erin Cannon, a clinical psychologist at Donovan State Prison and representative of AFSCME Local 2620, described hazardous working conditions including violence, threats and unsanitary environments. Cannon, who has worked in CDCR for 18 years, said contractors sometimes make multiple times what civil‑service clinicians earn and that civil servants routinely take extra jobs or leaves because of pay and working conditions.
Both clinicians said the Coleman court case, the long‑running federal litigation over mental‑health care in California prisons, drives court‑ordered staffing requirements that are difficult to meet when civil‑service positions remain vacant and contractors are used to fill gaps. "The Coleman case ... has been going on for 35 years," Cannon said.
Committee members questioned the witnesses about safety measures: Dr. Mann and Dr. Cannon said they have been assaulted or nearly assaulted on duty and that alarms and radios are sometimes unavailable or not functioning. They urged better pay and hiring practices to retain civil‑service staff and reduce dependence on high‑cost contractors that provide short‑term coverage.
The subcommittee took this testimony as informational. No formal policy changes were proposed or voted at the hearing.
