A state senator will hold a hearing this month into a rash of deaths at a California women's prison, including three recent deaths for which there have been no explanations.
Prison officials are awaiting toxicology reports in all three deaths, reports which may not be available until mid-January, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Margot Bach said. All three were in relatively good health when they suddenly died.
Pamela Coffey, 46, of Los Angeles, died Dec. 2; Stephanie Hardie, 34, of Pomona, died Dec. 9; and Eva Vallario, 33, of San Diego, died Dec. 15.
Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, has scheduled a Jan. 17 hearing on the deaths.
Kimberly Valazza, 37, of San Diego County, died December 26, bringing to 17 the number of deaths this year at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla.
Valazza was terminally ill and was transferred to the prison's hospice Nov. 29 from another prison.
“Her death had been anticipated,'' Bach said.
A medical team from the University of California-Davis is expected to complete its review of the prison's medical care by mid-January, Bach said.
Polanco led an October hearing into allegations of medical neglect in women's prisons. Four advocacy groups called on him to reopen his investigation in the wake of the Chowchilla deaths.
Judy Greenspan of the advocacy group California Prison Focus said recently that she hopes Polanco will conclude that he needs to lead his own independent investigation by sending his top staff into the prison.