Lawyers who filed a lawsuit challenging the quality of health care in Arizona's prisons are seeking $1.6 million in additional legal fees and other costs in enforcing a 2014 settlement that they say the state has repeatedly resisted.

Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan will testify in federal court tomorrow about an email he sent to his staff questioning a judge’s order.

United States Magistrate Judge David Duncan on July 25 ordered the Arizona Department of Corrections not to retaliate against any prisoners who offered verbal or written testimony in a case concerning health care provided to thousands in state custody.

The Arizona Department of Corrections faces more than $2 million in sanctions after providing documentation of widespread noncompliance with court-ordered health care standards.

A federal judge overseeing the settlement agreement of a class-action lawsuit has found the Arizona Department of Corrections is falling considerably short in several areas of providing adequate health care to prisoners.

A federal appellate court has agreed to decide whether Arizona’s 33,000 prisoners can be in a lawsuit alleging that prison healthcare and confinement conditions amount to cruel and unusual punishment.