The Brown administration's high-stakes motion to wrest control of California's prisoner mental health care away from federal court oversight ran into a buzz saw Wednesday.
An angry U.S. District Court judge said state corrections officials engaged in a "profound ethical violation" when their experts quizzed inmates without the knowledge of the prisoners' lawyers.
The merits of the state's motion to terminate Judge Lawrence K. Karlton's hold over the treatment of 33,000 inmates who suffer from serious mental health disorders were shoved into the background when Karlton took the bench. He immediately lashed out at state corrections officials and their attorneys over what he said were the unethical methods employed by their
experts.