SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California's spending on inmate medical and mental health care has surged 554 percent since 1995, while the number of inmates is up just 30 percent during that time.
That's according to testimony Friday from a Schwarzenegger administration finance official in an ongoing federal trial.
Judges are deciding if prison crowding is causing unconstitutional conditions for ill and mentally ill prison inmates. If so, the special three-judge panel could order the release of tens of thousands of inmates.
The administration started its defense Friday by showing it is spending $2.25 billion on inmate medical and related costs. That's up 81 percent in just three years.
The figure represents an average cost of $2,714 per inmate in 1995 to $13,778 per inmate this year.
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