SACRAMENTO, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. government is set to end its oversight of healthcare in California prisons after more than five years in receivership, a federal judge has determined.
U.S. District Judge Thelton E. Henderson found that healthcare in state lockups has significantly improved since he seized control of the system in 2006, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
The three-page order issued by Henderson said some critical work still needs to be done, "most notably on construction issues."
Henderson ordered state officials, receiver J. Clark Kelso and an inmate advocacy group that sued over prison conditions to meet and file a report by April 30 on how to go forward.
Donald Specter, director of the inmate advocacy group Prison Law Office, warned that progress could be fleeting.
"I'm very worried about the state backsliding, especially in times when money is tight," Specter said.
Federal overnight of the prisons began after Henderson ruled in 2006 that medical conditions were so poor they violated inmates' constitutional rights.
The state spent billions of dollars to correct the situation, the Times reported.
