Gary Grado//February 29, 2016//[read_meter]
Gary Grado//February 29, 2016//[read_meter]
The Department of Corrections is returning to court on claims the agency is shirking its obligation under a year-old lawsuit settlement to improve health care for prisoners.
A federal judge signed off on an agreement in February 2015 between roughly 34,000 state prisoners and the department that requires it to meet up to 80 performance standards for handling medical issues. For example, the department has to meet staffing requirements, emergency response times, and ensure prisoners get their medications in a timely fashion.
The agreement also required the department to revamp its rules on solitary confinement for seriously mentally ill prisoners.
Lawmakers appropriated $8 million in fiscal-year 2016 to meet the requirements. The lawsuit also cost the state $4.9 million in attorneys’ fees to the plaintiffs.
Attorneys for the state and prisoners are set to meet Tuesday with Judge John Buttrick of U.S. District Court in Phoenix to try and work out the dispute in which prisoners say the state isn’t living up to its agreement.
Don Specter, an attorney with Prison Law Office, a public interest law firm in California representing the Arizona prisoners, said the department, which contracts with Corizon Correctional Healthcare, isn’t meeting some of the agreed upon requirements at all while meeting others in an unreasonable way.
Specter said Corizon is also misinterpreting some performance measures.
Mia Garcia, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General, which is representing the department, said the department disputes the claims and is gathering documentation to support its position.
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