The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled that a federal lawsuit, Parsons v. Ryan, can proceed against the state of Arizona on behalf of all 33,000 prisoners in the state’s 10 prisons and all future prisoners. The ruling is critical to obtaining necessary systemic changes to conditions on confinement in the Arizona Department of Correction, and is a key victory for civil rights plaintiffs throughout the country. The lawsuit challenges years of inattention to the health needs of state prisoners and improper and excessive use of solitary confinement. The lawsuit was filed in 2012 by the American Civil Liberties Union, The Prison Law Office, and the law firms Perkins Coie and Jones Day. Trial is set to start in October 2014. Read the Opinion and Press Release. You can also read the Complaint filed in the case in 2012.