AZ Corrections Dept., prisoner attorneys tell federal judge about changes in prison health care, staffing
After more than a decade of court battles, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry and the attorneys suing for better treatment for incarcerated people complimented the progress toward improving staffing and health care in state prisons, during a hearing in federal court Thursday.
In front of U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver, both sides in the Jensen v. Thornell case updated the court on its permanent injunction to improve conditions for people detained in Arizona's state prisons.
Silver opened the hearing by confirming with the American Civil Liberties Union attorneys representing the plaintiffs that the ADOCRR had been making sincere efforts to implement the changes she had ordered.
Parsons v. Ryan prisoner rights case started in 2012
In 2012, a federal court acknowledged a group of Arizona prisoners who claimed their rights against cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment were being violated. The lawsuit was called Parsons v. Ryan after named plaintiff Victor Parsons and then-director Charles Ryan. Arizona settled the case in 2014, and it was certified in 2015.
Witnesses described a prison system where people in custody went years without medical treatment or medications, went more than 14 hours without meals or were left in maximum security past any need for them to be there because of a lack of beds. Witnesses testified that detention officers overused pepper spray on people with severe mental illness.
Eventually, the case was reopened in 2021 after the court found that years of monitoring had done little to force the state to improve prison conditions.
In April, Silver set a permanent injunction ordering the state to increase staffing and improve health care delivery. The injunction also covered some of the following:
Better documentation of medical records
Quicker follow-up appointments and diagnostic tests
Protection of patient confidentiality
Requiring more experience for staff in supervisory roles
Adherence to licensing and scope of practice
Limits on overtime and hours worked for health care staff
Suicide prevention and analysis of prisoner deaths and suicides
Monitoring health care trends among patients
Ensuring language interpretation services are available to patients
Regular and timely delivery of medications
Rapid medical and mental health screenings upon intake
Planning for the release of patients back into society
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Level of transparency, responsiveness 'so dramatically different'
On Thursday, the new director of the Corrections Department, Ryan Thornell, and the attorney for the state, Daniel Struck, presented the court with an update on what changes had been made since April. Seven attorneys from the ACLU were in court on behalf of the plaintiffs to weigh in on the state's progress.
The court discussed five major changes and concerns: overall staffing, temporary staff, transparency, pilot programs, and a new contract with a health care provider.
In three months, the state has increased staffing with a combination of hiring new staff, using temporary staff and using a percentage of overtime, according to Struck.
The state also started pilot programs in two of its prisons to study how some of the major changes in its delivery of health care will affect its operations.
Struck also testified that a new contract with health care provider NaphCare will be signed in September. This new contract was expected to resolve more staffing shortages by increasing salaries.
Struck asked the judge to let the state continue to hire a larger percentage of temporary workers to fill some vacancies for longer than is currently allowed by the injuction.
The judge did not make a decision but did ask the state to hand over more information about the temporary staff to the court monitors and the plaintiffs so that she could make a better-informed decision at the next status conference in November.
ACLU attorneys raised concerns about the need for transparency regarding the use of temporary staff. They also said that some of the orders given by the court to move all people out of maximum-security units who should not be there were not being documented or not being followed for every person.
Even with these concerns, the relationship between the state and the attorneys for the people in prison appeared collaborative.
The judge commended both parties for working together and helping the prison make so many changes in such a short period of time.
David Fathi, who has been working on this case since 2012 for the ACLU, made clear that this collaboration was a positive departure from what came before.
"The level of transparency and accountability and responsiveness is so dramatically different under director Thornell than it's been under either of the two previous directors that were in place," he said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Judge orders more transparency from Corrections Dept. in federal case
