By C1 Staff
SALINAS VALLEY — Nurses at the Salinas Valley State Prison voiced several complaints at a recent city council meeting, including a broken call light and understaffing.
The Californian reports that a call light system allows a patient to summon a nurse should they experience any sort of medical distress.
The one at the state prison doesn’t work, forcing nursing staff to walk the halls to check on inmates every fifteen minutes. This requires overtime, and puts nurses and inmates at risk.
Inmates who had just been checked on might have a medical emergency and not see a nurse for another fifteen minutes. This puts nurses at risk of losing their license and at risk of civil liability.
One nurse also said the prison simply needs more nurses; currently, there are 50 registered nurses and 50 vocational nurses responsible for 2,600 medium and high-security inmates.
The Soledad Correctional Training Facility is also said to have correctional nurse staffing issues.
Representatives of both prisons didn’t return calls for comment.