The union that represents California state psychiatrists called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to boost their pay Monday, saying a shortage of prison psychiatrists is harming inmates’ mental health care and endangering employees who work in the institutions.
Representatives from the Union of American Physicians and Dentists said 48% of psychiatry jobs at the state’s prisons are unfilled.
“Why all these vacancies? Dangerous working conditions, oppressive management, poor compensation and benefits,” said Dr. Stuart Bussey, the president of UAPD, in a noon speech on the west steps of the state Capitol building.
In an email, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the vacancy rate among psychiatric line staff, who provide direct care to patients, is 37%.
The rate does not include contractors who fill some of the positions, spokesman Vicky Waters said in an email. With contractors included, the vacancy rate is 9% among line staff, according to information Waters provided.
Bussey and other union psychiatrists said Monday that the contractors are paid much more, making it hard to keep psychiatrists on staff. The state psychiatrists said the sustained, long-term care they provide leads to better patient outcomes than treatment from rotating contractors.
State psychiatrists, with benefits including pensions converted to wages, earn $178 to $212 per hour, according to figures provided by Waters.
The contractors earn $135 to $325 per hour, Waters said. She said the amount varies primarily based on location, with pay higher at some of the remote prisons where recruitment is most difficult.
The department’s provision of mental health care is monitored by a court-appointed federal receiver under a longstanding court order.
Waters said the department works “closely with the federal receiver to ensure our prisons have adequate medical and mental health care staffing, and we have robust recruitment and retention programs across the state.” She said that the pandemic has exacerbated a national shortage of mental health clinicians.
The union is pressing for a 15% pay hike for psychiatrists, asking that the increase be included in the state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. The across-the-board hike for clinicians who work in state prisons and mental hospitals would add about $24 million to the estimated $300 billion budget.
With benefits factored in, the state’s compensation package for psychiatrists was a little better than what other private- and public-sector employers offered in 2018, according to the most recent wage survey published by the state Human Resources Department.
Bussey has said the surveys don’t account for some aspects of private-sector compensation, such as loan forgiveness programs and zero-interest home loans. He said state psychiatrists earn about half of what the corrections department pays some contractors.
The state has nudged pay upward, and last year offered $10,000 bonuses for psychiatrists who agreed to meet with patients in-person. But the incentives haven’t been enough to close the vacancies.
The union has sought help from lawmakers outside the usual contract negotiations with the Governor’s Office.
State Sen. Bob Herztberg, D-Van Nuys, said at Monday’s press conference that the state’s spending on contract psychiatrists is “stupid.”
“Our job is to do our job, to protect taxpayers, to protect continuity of care, and here we’ve got this crisis in mental health that is nothing less than extraordinary,” Hertzberg said.
