(Photo: Rich Pedroncelli ) 
 
 The California State Auditor on Thursday blasted federal and state oversight of sterilization surgeries for female prison inmates, finding numerous illegal surgeries and violations of the state's informed consent law. Of the 144 tubal ligations performed on inmates from fiscal years 2005-06 to 2012-13, auditors found, more than a quarter – 39 – were done without lawful consent, according to the report by State Auditor Elaine Howle. The audit also said the "true number" of illegal procedures might be higher, noting that it had found seven cases at one hospital for which health records were lost in a routine purging. The findings “made me sick to my stomach," said state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach, who was the first to call for the Medical Board of California to investigate the surgeries after The Center for Investigative Reporting broke the story nearly a year ago. Former inmates and prisoner advocates have claimed that prison medical staffers coerced the women, targeting those deemed likely to return to prison after they were released. The audit released Thursday notes that all women receiving tubal ligations had been incarcerated at least once before, indicating that they were repeat offenders. However, prison medical officials have denied any ill intent. Daniel Simon/The Desert Sun 
 
 In 27 cases, the inmate's physician — the person who would perform the procedure in a hospital or an alternate physician — did not sign the required consent form asserting that the patient appeared mentally competent and understood the lasting effects of the procedure and that the required waiting period had been satisfied. (Related:Bill seeks sterilization restrictions in California prisons | California prison doctor linked to sterilizations no stranger to controversy) 
 
 In some cases, physicians falsified the consent forms, indicating the proper waiting period had passed when it clearly had not. The audit noted that the federal receiver’s office, which took over medical care in the state’s prisons in 2006, maintains that it has no legal duty to make sure prison employees comply with the consent procedures, which Lieu called “ludicrous.” 
 
 Liz Gransee, spokeswoman for the federal prison receiver, confirmed that the office’s lawyers disagree with the audit’s conclusions. Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, of the California Legislative Women's Caucus had requested the audit in August in response to an investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting. (Recent CIR stories:Use of license-plate readers alarms privacy advocates | Expenses for Judy Olian, Teri Schwartz questioned at UCLA | UC endowment has worst investment returns among largest US college funds | California's lack of online child care records leaves parents in dark | Officials, advocates at odds over how California should handle caregiver abuse cases) 
 
 Auditors have urged federal officials to forward the names of the physicians involved in the illegal surgeries to the Medical Board and the California Department of Public Health for further investigation and disciplinary action. Lieu demanded a formal apology from the federal receiver's office, which took over medical care in the state's prisons in 2006. "The audit shows systemic failures by the federal receiver in the sterilization of female inmates," Lieu said. “These gross failures demonstrate again why the judicial branch is ill-equipped to run a large, complex prison system.” 
 
 CIR’s investigation, published in July, found that 132 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules from 2006 to 2010. CIR found that inmates were signed up for the surgery, also known as getting one's tubes tied, while pregnant at the two women's prisons that housed pregnant inmates: the California Institution for Women in Corona or Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla. Valley State became a men’s prison in 2013. Federal officials have said none of the tubal ligations performed since 2006 received the required signoff by a state-level committee of medical professionals. State prison data indicates that more than half of the surgeries requested during that time period — 74 — came from Valley State. More than two-thirds of those requests came from Dr. James Heinrich, Valley State’s OB-GYN, or a nurse on his staff, according to the prison’s medical service request records. Heinrich previously told CIR that the money spent sterilizing inmates was minimal “compared to what you save in welfare paying for these unwanted children – as they procreated more.” 
 
 In response to the CIR’s investigation, Jackson introduced a bill that would ban all inmate sterilizations for birth control purposes. Under SB 1135, such surgeries would be performed only during life-threatening emergencies and to cure physical illness. Prisons performing sterilizations would be required to report annually the number of surgeries by race, age, reason and surgical method. The bill also provides legal protections for any personnel who report abuses. Last month, the state Senate unanimously approved SB 1135, which is now being taken up by the Assembly.
– The California prison system illegally had dozens of women sterilized, possibly without their consent, according to a new report from the state auditor. Of the 144 inmates given tubal ligations from fiscal years 2005-06 to 2012-13, at least 39 were done without lawful consent, with physicians either failing to sign forms confirming that patients understood and consented to the procedures, failing to wait the requisite number of days to perform the procedure, or both, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. The "true number" might be even higher, the report adds, because auditors found seven cases in which health records had been lost entirely. The procedures were performed at hospitals, not at the prisons, and the federal receiver’s office, which oversees medical care in the state’s prisons, says it had no legal duty to ensure consent procedures were followed. "That is a ludicrous argument," one state senator says, according to the Desert Sun. "It made me sick to my stomach." The audit recommends that the doctors involved be reported to the state licensing board, the LA Times reports; officials say they'll follow all recommendations. Pending legislation would prohibit prison sterilizations altogether unless they are medically necessary. The audit came in response to an earlier investigation from the CIR that found that the procedures were all carried out without getting the necessary clearance from a state panel of medical experts. For more on that story, click here.