Austin American-Statesman, May 3, 2007 AUSTIN -- After 60 days on the job, the official charged with cleaning up the Texas Youth Commission on Wednesday blamed the agency's former headquarters staff for failing to deal with reports of staff abusing inmates. Jay Kimbrough, the commission's temporary conservator, also urged the Legislature to cap the population of offenders at a manageable level and reduce the staff-to-inmate ratio to 1-to-6, half of what lawmakers are considering in pending legislation. He also criticized the Youth Commission's health care system for being fragmented and failing to offer seamless behavioral and medical care. That medical system came under scrutiny at a joint House and Senate committee Wednesday. After conducting an initial audit of medical records at three lockups, a Georgia consultant identified "significant problems" ranging from a lack of soap and toilet tissue at the Marlin facility to letting licensed vocational nurses, instead of more experienced staff, evaluate inmates' health needs. Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, chairman of the House Corrections Committee, and Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, both expressed concern about health services.  Youth Commission runs its own mental health program, which the consultant praised, but the medical services are contracted to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Whitmire said he was concerned that he had not been told earlier about the medical system's shortcomings. "I've come to expect TYC to cover up or not be real about their issues," Whitmire said. "I was disturbed that UTMB had not brought some of these issues to us." Dr. Owen Murray, chief executive for UTMB's Correctional Management Care, said the audit did not interview providers and got the wrong impression in many instances. For example, he said, nurses at the Youth Commission receive special training in evaluating an inmate's health problems. As for lawmakers not being told by UTMB, Murray said they made all their recommendations through the chain of command at the Youth Commission. Murray said UTMB supports the audit's recommendations for a higher level of care. "It's been a funding issue for TYC in the past," Murray said. "If the state feels like they want to provide more care, we'd be happy to do that."