After years of pubic outcry from incarcerated people and their families and a federal judge's condemnation of medical care in Arizona prisons, Governor Katie Hobbs issued an executive order to thoroughly investigate Arizona's entire corrections system.
The top-to-bottom investigation will be conducted by an "Independent Prison...
Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver ruled that the state of Arizona has violated the constitutional rights of people incarcerated at state-run prisons by failing to provide them with adequate healthcare, including behavioral health services.
Judge Silver determined that there are not enough healthcare employees to care for...
The federal trial to determine whether or not the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) has provided inadequate healthcare to incarcerated people is now in its third week.
Last week, the prosecution brought medical expert Todd Wilcox to the stand to establish a history of malfeasance by the...
The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) is currently embroiled in a landmark trial, facing new allegations of failure to meet the basic healthcare needs of inmates in violation of the Eighth Amendment's guarantee of basic medical care, hygiene and living conditions.
The American Civil Liberties Union...
The U.S. District Court for the State of Arizona has ordered the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Recovery (ADC) to go to trial for failing to make agreed-upon progress toward prison healthcare reforms.
The case against ADC was initially filed in 2012 by 15 people incarcerated in Arizona facilities on behalf of...
Coronavirus cases are beginning to infiltrate Arizona prisons and the odds are stacked against the facilities where inmates live in close quarters, bathe communally and have little opportunity for isolation, all while being under the same roof as another few hundred people for 24 hours, seven days a week.
The conditions are even...News
As the state continues to drag its feet in meeting settlement agreements, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver is giving the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) 60 days to renegotiate a 2014 settlement.
The state is currently fighting $1.4 million in noncompliance fines and faces another $1.7 million for its continued failure to...Arizona News
Five years after a settlement was reached, Judge Roslyn Silver is ordering the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) to act, presenting three options: comply with the settlement, create a new settlement, or go to trial. Both parties were given until Oct. 23 to decide and inform the court.
Silver's order follows a recent report...Arizona News
Special expert appointed by U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver to review Arizona prison healthcare submitted a report on Oct. 4 recommending the state to steer clear of privatizing inmate healthcare and recommended that Silver instead override a state law requiring Arizona to contract healthcare for prisons from third parties. Following...Arizona News
Following a town hall held in downtown Phoenix on July 31 to discuss the state's prison system, Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan announced his resignation, bringing to a close 40 years in the industry.
The town hall was littered with vehement pleas to fire the controversial director after citing various...Arizona News
Last summer Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) Director Charles Ryan was found to be in civil contempt-of-court in a federal judge ruling, but Governor Doug Ducey has continuously expressed confidence in Ryan to run Arizona prisons. At a town hall last week, various attendees called for the firing of the director after recounting...Arizona News
The Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) filed an appeal asking the court to throw out a contempt citation against its director along with a $1.4 million fine for not adequately improving the healthcare of 33,000 inmates in state-run Arizona prisons.
The appeal was filed two days after the department was threatened with more fines...Arizona News
The Parson v. Ryan saga continues to drag on for nearly five years. Before retirement in June, U.S. Magistrate Judge David Duncan issued a series of orders in response to a lack of progress from the Department of Corrections (DOC) and Corizon.
In a statement, CEO of Corizon Health Stephen Rector said the court failed to recognize...
For failing to improve inmate healthcare following a 2014 lawsuit, the Arizona Department of Corrections was found to be in civil contempt of court along with its Director Charles Ryan and Medical Director Richard Pratt.
A judge on June 22, found Arizona’s prisons chief to be in civil contempt of court and fined the state $1.4...
Charles Ryan, director of Arizona’s Department of Corrections (DOC), has now lost an appeal of a court order issued to him in Oct. 2017 by U.S. Magistrate Judge David K. Duncan.
The case has been closely monitored by Duncan since its settlement in 2014 due to continued noncompliance with standard prison healthcare regulations. A...
Questions arose in the Parsons v. Ryan prison health care case.
Corene Kendrick with the Prison Law Office, a firm representing Arizona prisoners, questioned changes and renewal of the contract between the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) and Corizon Health for prison health care.
In a procurement document entitled...
