The Prison Law Office, ACLU, and Disability Rights Arizona asked a federal judge today to appoint a receiver to take over the management of healthcare in Arizona prisons. The request was made in a long-running class action lawsuit originally filed in 2012 on behalf of the nearly 30,000 people incarcerated by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR). The receiver, an independent authority appointed by the court, would assume control of ADCRR’s medical and mental health care systems and ensure that they meet constitutional standards. 

Prison Law Office has submitted an amicus curiae brief in CJLF v. CDCR,  supporting CDCR’s use of its Proposition 57 authority to grant increased credits for good conduct and participation in rehabilitative programming.

(January 7, 2025) In a report filed today, court-appointed experts found “serious and pervasive systemic health care delivery failures” in Arizona state prisons that “place the residents at significant risk of serious harm, including death.” The experts told the judge: “And patients are dying. Unnecessarily.”

DRC and PLO Findings Letter to San Mateo

San Mateo County Response Letter

DRC and PLO Findings Letter to San Joaquin County

(April 7, 2023) In a 57-page order, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver ordered substantial reform to the Arizona prison system. Judge Silver explained that the “unusual” order includes “significant detail regarding medical care, mental health care, and conditions imposed on the subclass to remedy the egregious constitutional violations” because of “the substantial dysfunction in Defendants’ operations.”