Thursday, January 26, 2012

CA: Convicted Felons Sent to Local Nursing Facility

Before Kenneth Bryan Holcomb shot and killed a homeless man in San Mateo County in 1992, he had been in prison for burglary and drug dealing. While he was serving a 22-years-to-life sentence for the murder, he fractured his spine during a fight, which left him a quadriplegic, unable to walk, dress or bathe himself.

Holcomb speaks with some difficulty, although he is able to see and hear, Patrick Sparks, his lawyer, said during a medical parole hearing last September. Yet Sparks said that his client retained “the capacity in his mind for dangerousness,” a transcript shows. “Not to say that he’s the Godfather or anything, but he’s a pretty dangerous guy,” he said.

Even so, the California Board of Parole Hearings found that because of Holcomb’s disabilities “the conditions under which the inmate would be released will not pose a reasonable threat to public safety.”

Today Holcomb lives in the Idylwood Care Center, a private 172-bed nursing home in a leafy suburban neighborhood in Sunnyvale, near a park and a private school. He and three other medical parolees from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — murderers, drug dealers and burglars, ranging in age from 40s to 70s — are watched by medical staff instead of by prison guards.

The four are among the first 29 prisoners to be granted medical parole under a 2010 California law intended to save the state tens of millions of dollars in medical and guarding costs for permanently, medically incapacitated prisoners. Some of the parolees are bedridden, while others can be moved by wheelchair, and officials said that the parolees posed no threat to others.

“There are worries involved in putting prisoners in with the regular population of frail seniors, but there is a lot of risk involved in putting them in with psych patients,” said Wanda Hale, who visited the Idylwood Care Center as the program manager for the long-term care ombudsman program at Catholic Charities in Santa Clara County. “My concern is that there is a lot of potential for problems. They just haven’t happened yet.”

Facilities that care for medical parolees are not required to inform other patients or their families about the parolees. The ombudsmen receive no formal notification when medical parolees are transferred to facilities in their region.

Full Article and Source:
Convicted Felons Sent to Bay Area Nursing Home

5 comments:

Becky said...

This is as wrong as it gets. "Residents" should be told so they can make an informed decision on whether to accept the parolee or move themselves.

Terry said...

We were already afraid of nursing homes and this just seals the deal.

Norma said...

Remember Daniel Gross?!

Anonymous said...

ARE THEY INSANE ?

How much is it costing the State to house these prisoners with the innocent elderly and disabled at the nursing home compared to prison ?
Don't believe it's costing the Prisons more, they just don't want to be bothered with them.

Instead of putting these criminals among innocent victims, train the prisoners to take care of their own. wouldn't cost anymore than what it's costing the nursing homes.

Very dangerous situation...

The State officials that made this decision should allow their love ones to live with these criminals then see how fast these prisoners would be transferred back to prison..

What is happening in America that the people no longer have any say in their Rights ?

Finny said...

I remember Daniel Gross. His roomate was a murderer.

I know the Gross case is still open and I pray for victory for Gross' daughter.