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In an intense ruling with far-reaching implications, a federal judge has intervened in the Arizona prison system’s health care operations, opting to appoint an external official to administer the system. This decision follows a protracted period of grievances over the subpar medical and mental health provisions in the state’s correctional facilities.
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver’s ruling comes in the wake of her 2022 judgment, which found that Arizona’s prison health care system had severely breached inmates’ rights. The inadequate care provided led to unnecessary suffering and deaths that could have been avoided, according to the court’s findings.
Judge Silver expressed her dissatisfaction with the state’s failure to comply with mandated reforms and constitutional standards, despite nearly 14 years of legal battles. She emphasized that the ongoing lack of progress amounted to a judicial tolerance of deeply ingrained unconstitutional practices. “This approach has not only failed completely, but, if continued, would be nothing short of judicial indulgence of deeply entrenched unconstitutional conduct,” she remarked.
Highlighting the severity of the situation, Silver pointed out that prisoners remain at risk due to “systemic deficiencies” that continue to plague the administration of health care within the prison system. The judge has labeled these conditions as “an intolerable grave and immediate threat of continuing harm and suffering.”
In response to the ruling, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry has announced plans to appeal. The department criticized the decision in a statement released on Friday, arguing that it fails to recognize improvements made in recent years. They also expressed concerns about the financial burden on taxpayers and the lack of a clear timeline for when the receivership would conclude.
“If this decision stands, an exorbitantly expensive, unnecessary receiver risks disrupting the significant progress we have made in our prisons, all with no time clock on its authority,” said Ryan Thornell, the agency’s director. The state and attorneys representing prisoners have 60 days to submit a list of candidates to run health and mental health care operations in prisons.
“This decision means that an independent authority will be able to implement the systemic changes necessary to ensure that medical and mental health care meets constitutional standards,” said David Fathi, one of the lawyers representing the prisoners. “This is a life-saving intervention, and it brings hope that the preventable suffering and deaths that have haunted Arizona’s prison system for over a decade can finally end.”
Lawyers for prisoners say Arizona has made few improvements since the verdict and asked the judge for the more drastic remedy of creating such a “receivership,” arguing system remains broken and prisoners who need care are still in danger.
For over a decade, state government has been dogged by criticism that its health care system for the 25,000 inmates in Arizona’s state-run prisons was run shoddily and callously.
The state had vowed to overhaul medical and mental health services for prisoners in a 2014 settlement, but was soon accused of failing to keep many of those promises. That led to $2.5 million in contempt of court fines against the state and, eventually, the revocation of the agreement by Silver, who explained that corrections officials had shown little interest in making the changes.
The judge then ruled against the state at a 2022 trial, issuing an injunction requiring corrections authorities to fix the constitutional violations.
While attorneys for prisoners say the state lacks the leadership to comply within a reasonable amount of time, the corrections department said it has transformed the prison health care system over the last two years, such as expanding access to treatments, increasing staff and opening medical housing units.
Corrections officials say the opposing side refuses to acknowledge their progress and “focus on the reputation and circumstances of the past rather than recognizing or even supporting the good work of the present.” Lawyers for the department say the agency’s leadership has been acting in good faith with the court’s orders.
In September 2019, lawyers representing the prisoners made a similar request for a takeover, but Silver shied away from it, saying she would revive that possibility if the state acts in bad faith or fails to comply with the court-ordered changes. Past receiverships have been ordered for prisons in other states. In California in 2005, a federal judge seized control of the prison medical system after finding that an average of one inmate a week was dying of medical neglect or malpractice.
The Arizona lawsuit does not cover the nearly 10,000 people incarcerated in private prisons for state convictions.