A federal judge will be deciding whether to approve the terms of a settlement in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Arizona’s more than 34,000 prisoners.
The Arizona Department of Corrections reached the settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union in October. The lawsuit alleged the state prison system did not provide adequate physical and mental health care to prisoners.
If approved Wednesday the settlement would require the Department of Corrections to implement improvements to the prison health care system, including an overhaul to the rules surrounding solitary confinement. It would also require prisons to meet more than 100 health care performance measures and give lawyers some monitoring and oversight privileges.
The settlement would go into effect immediately.
