Taxpayers Fund Felon's Breast Reduction

Even Democrats are outraged that taxpayers are being forced to squander a billion dollars a year on California criminals' medical bills, including such ridiculous items as a male prisoner's breast reduction and pampering at a Beverly Hills dermatologist and La Jolla orthopedist.

California Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, fumed Tuesday at a hearing on prisons' soaring medical spending that last week a prisoner had undergone breast reduction surgery, courtesy of Joe and Jane Sixpack.

"I understand lots of inmates at this particular prison have undergone this procedure," she said.

"California inmates enjoy a better level of health care than millions of Californians."

Corrections spokesman J.P. Tremblay insisted: "We don't know all the facts of this case until the file is reviewed, but I can tell you from a procedural and policy standpoint, the department does not provide cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery. There has to be a medical reason."

Speier fired back, "I can't imagine the necessity for breast reduction surgery in a male inmate."

Adding $9 million a year to the taxpayers' tab: Criminals are regularly sent hundreds of miles for treatment rather than getting medical care locally.

"We need to protect the constitutional rights of the prisoners, but excuse me, as a taxpayer I have constitutional rights too, and these guys are getting care that I don't even get," said Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, D-Saratoga.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, noted, "This is what people hate about government."

Editor's note: