Arizona appeals federal takeover of prison health care system

PHOENIX — Arizona filed a notice Thursday to formally appeal a federal judge’s order to place the state’s prison health care system under outside control.

The appeal challenges U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver’s Feb. 19 order establishing a receivership over medical and mental health services for roughly 25,000 people incarcerated in Arizona’s state-run prisons.

Arizona Department of Corrections Director Ryan Thornell and Deputy Director Richard Pratt are listed as the appellants. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the law firm Osborn Maledon are representing the state.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said in late February she “strongly disagreed” with Silver’s ruling, calling it a costly and unnecessary step in the face of “significant improvements” in Arizona’s prison health care over the past three years.

Thornell had previously warned the receivership would be “exorbitantly expensive” and said the state would promptly appeal. The notice, filed Thursday, comes less than a month after that promise.

Silver’s order came after she concluded in 2022 that Arizona had violated prisoners’ constitutional rights by providing inadequate care that led to suffering and preventable deaths.

Arizona prison health care case spans 14 years

The judge wrote in February that the state hadn’t achieved even “a semblance” of compliance with court-ordered reforms nearly 14 years after the lawsuit began.

The case stems from a 2012 class action lawsuit accusing the state of providing dangerously inadequate medical, dental and mental health care. Arizona reached a settlement in 2014 but was later found in contempt multiple times and fined millions of dollars for failing to meet its obligations.

Under Silver’s order, the state and attorneys representing prisoners have 60 days to submit up to five candidates for receiver. That official will gain operational control of all medical and mental health care in state prisons, with authority to direct staffing, spending and compliance.

The receivership has no set timeline for conclusion.

Lawyers for the prisoners, including the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, praised the receivership as a “life-saving intervention” after years of failed oversight.

The ruling does not apply to nearly 10,000 people incarcerated in private prisons under state contracts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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