 Overview | Index | CMA Board & Subcommittees | Meeting Notices & Minutes Reports & Documents | Survey Process | Links | News | Contact Us Judge Black's Comments from Opinion and Order Granting Final Judgment in Celestino v. Singletary: "The federal courts have struggled for years to disentangle themselves from supervising stated functions without jeopardizing the resolution of the basic constitutional issues which were raised in this litigation. The State of Florida through its Legislature and the executive branch have implemented a way to accomplish this goal. By statute and the good faith efforts of the Department of Corrections the means were provided by which the overcrowding issue has been resolved. By statute the Correctional Medical Authority (the 'CMA') was created. The CMA is an innovative solution to the desirability of institutionalizing the changes in the health care delivery system that brought about this litigation. The CMA provides the independent, objective oversight functions required to be performed by the federal court. The independence of the CMA is unique in the United States. Because of the creation of the CMA in 1986 by the State of Florida, the court was able, two years ago, to relinquish the prison monitoring and oversight function which it had performed for the last twenty years. It is indeed encouraging to see a major state such as Florida with a significant prison population taking such a creative step. With innovations such as the CMA, a satisfactory way for the federal courts to withdraw their supervision may have been found. The Court has before it the Special Master’s Report and Recommendation and the Court will enter an Order with findings adopting the Special Master’s Report and Recommendation as a final judgment of this Court." |