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.”

(January 9, 2023) In a thorough and sweeping order, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver is requiring the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR) to make “substantial” changes to staffing and conditions so that medical care and mental healthcare at Arizona prisons comes up to constitutional standards. 

Judge Silver’s remedial order brings Jensen v. Shinn — a decade-long struggle to ensure that the nearly 30,000 adults and children in Arizona’s prisons receive the basic health care and minimally adequate conditions to which they are entitled under the Constitution and the law — closer to a resolution. Both parties have 30 days to provide Judge Silver any comments on the remedial order before it becomes final. 

(December 20, 2022) The Court Expert in Armstrong v. Newsom, a class action lawsuit regarding disability accommodations in the California state prison system, released his report and recommendations following a year-long investigation of the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF). He found that people with disabilities are “living diminished and needlessly difficult lives” at SATF, and as a result “face harsher prison conditions, and thus greater punishment, than their peers.” People were denied accommodations needed to safely and independently perform a wide array of activities, including to eat, perform bodily functions, write, and participate in rehabilitative programs.

(June 30, 2022) U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver found on June 30 that the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR) systematically violates the constitutional rights of persons incarcerated in the state’s prisons by failing to provide them minimally adequate medical and mental health care, and by subjecting them to harsh and deprived conditions in solitary confinement units.