Sheriff opposes proposed medical facility
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said local law enforcement opposes the construction of the maximumsecurity prison hospital proposed for Camarillo.

Brooks was one of five panelists to address issues concerning the facility with about 300 people at Mesa Union School in Somis last Thursday. The meeting was organized by the Prison Hospital Action Committee, a group of residents who are opposed to the facility.

"The concerns are that the hospital is not an acute healthcare hospital and a lot of people there will have fairly serious behavioral and physical health problems. They will have to be transported . . . to hospitals in this area."

Brooks is concerned about inmates potentially escaping en route to or at the hospital.

The sheriff said local law enforcement investigates crimes committed in Atascadero State Hospital, a prison hospital that would be similar in size and scope to the facility proposed for Camarillo. If the hospital would be built in Camarillo, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department would be responsible for policing crimes inmates commit against each other or against staff.

"That's a tremendous financial burden on our already strapped local police infrastructure," he said. "We didn't get an answer (from Federal Receiver J. Clark Kelso) about where the money's going to come from."

Kelso asked a federal court Wednesday to seize $8 billion to pay for the seven proposed medical facilites to be built throughout the state, including the Camarillo site, which is expected to cost $1 billion.

Brooks was also worried about safety during a natural disaster and how it would affect traffic.

"There are a lot of qualityoflife concerns," Brooks said. "Even to law enforcement, traffic problems we may have to deal with dovetail into another whole list of community concerns."

The other panelists were Jerry Bankston, Camarillo city manager; Handel Evans, Cal State Channel Islands president emeritus; Bob Majorino, owner of Prudential California Realty; and Gerald Arcuri with the Hospital Association of Southern California.

Kathi Miller, who has spearheaded the Prison Hospital Action Committee, said Bankston talked about water and earthquake issues. Majorino discussed housing concerns, and Arcuri spoke about the depletion of medical staff.

"Handel talked about what the effect would be in the community in general," Miller said. "He's semi-retired, and he's of the age where he's thinking, 'Who's going to be around as I get older to take care of me?' He talked more from the community perspective of what's going to happen for seniors when they need healthcare."

Miller hopes the Prison Hospital Action Committee can raise $200,000 before the next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thurs., Aug. 21 at a location yet to be determined.

The group is seriously considering taking legal action against Kelso, since he has yet to speak in person with residents or officials in Camarillo.

When a spectator urged people to donate money to fight the prison, Tony Strickland, a candidate for state Senate in the 19th District, who was in the audience, pledged $10,000 on the spot, Miller said.

"We've launched a complete fundraising campaign, and it's our intent that we're going to take this gentleman (Kelso) to court and fight it that way," Miller said. "We feel Kelso has left us no choice.

"Some of the comments I'm hearing these days from people are there's nothing we can do about this or it's a done deal. What I say to them is, if you get informed and you have all the facts, then you'll see why that's not the case. If you have all the details, you'll see this doesn't make sense, and it doesn't need to happen, and we can prevent it from happening."

For more information on the Prison Hospital Action Committee, visit www.phac.org.