Judge mulls third contempt case against Arizona for failing to improve prison health care

PHOENIX — A judge presiding over a nearly 12-year-old lawsuit challenging the quality of health care in Arizona prisons is considering whether to launch a third contempt proceeding against the state for its failure to improve inmate care .

Arizona’s system for providing medical and mental health care to the nearly 25,000 people incarcerated in state-run prisons remains “fundamentally flawed,” U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver said, and inmates are at risk.

Experts overseeing prison health care on behalf of Silver said during a court hearing Friday that Naphcare, the private company hired by the state to provide these services, does not have enough employees and should increase salaries for new and existing employees .

Silver had previously said she expected to launch the third contempt proceeding against the state on Friday for violating a court order that required numerous corrections. But she ultimately postponed a decision and wants input from lawyers on both sides first.

“I still believe there are violations,” Silver said.

Previous contempt fines totaling $2.5 million have failed to motivate authorities to improve care, the judge has concluded in the past. Lawyers for inmates are asking her to overrule or repeal a 2009 law that requires private companies to provide health care in state prisons.

“It is becoming clear that state law is a barrier to compliance with the court’s order,” said Corene Kendrick, one of the attorneys representing the inmates.

Silver said she is concerned about overriding or repealing the privatization bill, though she said she has not yet made a final decision. Still, she said, the state could resolve the problems by enforcing the terms of the contract with Naphcare. Naphcare, which has asked the court to join the civil case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

The state has withheld more than $10 million from Naphcare in recent months due to understaffing.

Corrections Director Ryan Thornell told Silver that he and Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration are committed to solving health care problems, saying, “We have not deviated from that.”

Arizona settled the case in 2014, but was dogged for years by complaints that it had failed to deliver on its promises. The courts imposed fines on the state of $1.4 million in 2018 and $1.1 million in 2021. The settlement was ultimately rejected due to Arizona’s non-compliance, and a trial was ordered.

In a blistering 2022 ruling, Silver ruled that the state violated prisoners’ constitutional rights by failing to provide them with adequate care, knew about the problem for years and refused to correct it.

She also said the prison’s healthcare system’s shortcomings have led to preventable deaths.

A key witness at the trial was inmate Kendall Johnson, who tearfully testified about how she sought help for what started as numbness in her feet and legs in 2017, but wasn’t diagnosed with multiple sclerosis until 2020.

She testified that she could not brush her teeth, had to wear diapers, paid fellow inmates to feed her due to neglect from prison staff and generally spent her days in bed counting the ceiling tiles.

Johnson was not in court Friday, but an attorney read a statement in which she said, “I have noticed no difference in medical care since I testified. I still haven’t seen a neurologist or MS specialist. Can someone come and visit me?”

The lawsuit alleged that some inmates complained that their cancer went undetected or that they were told to pray for healing after begging for treatment. The state denied allegations that it provided inadequate care.

The complaint was filed on behalf of people in state prisons and does not cover the 9,000 people in private facilities.