At least 148 female inmates in California prisons were sterilized from 2006 to 2010 by doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation without required state approval, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting.
The women received tubal ligations and, according to state documents and interviews conducted by CIR, there could be 100 more women who were sterilized dating back to the 1990s.
Between 1997 and 2010, the state paid $147,460 to doctors to perform the procedure and allegedly coerced women to undergo the procedure, targeting those who were pregnant and those who they determined were likely to return to prison in the future.
