The Arizona Department of Corrections is potentially facing additional fines and oversight for failures to provide adequate health care in state prisons.
Attorneys for people incarcerated in state prisons told a federal judge on Friday that they now believe the state is liable for an additional $24 million in fines for failing to meet performance benchmarks in an ongoing settlement over prison health care.
The state has so far been hit with two previous contempt fines in the case, totalling $2.5 million.
Additionally, ACLU attorney Corene Kendrick, representing the prisoners, is calling on presiding Judge Roslyn Silver to appoint a receiver to take over health care services.
“It’s the federal court basically taking control because either the state officials are unable or unwilling to follow the law," Kendrick said.
If Silver does levy more fines, plaintiffs’ attorneys are asking that the Department of Corrections be forced to pay, instead of recouping the cost from its private health care contractor, Centurion of Arizona.