The judge said the state’s failure to provide adequate medical care for prisoners has led to suffering and preventable deaths. “We need to go to trial.”A court-appointed expert has concluded that understaffing, inadequate funding and privatization of health care services are significant barriers in improving health care for about 30,000 inmates in Arizona’s state-run prisons. Judges in the case have hit Arizona with a total of $2.5 million in past contempt fines for noncompliance. The settlement arose out of a lawsuit that alleged the state’s prisons didn’t meet the basic requirements for providing adequate medical and mental health care for prisoners. The state denied allegations that it was providing inadequate care, and the lawsuit was settled without the state acknowledging any wrongdoing.

Source: ABC News July 17, 2021 01:52 UTC