Jensen v. Thornell is a federal lawsuit challenging medical care, mental health care, and conditions in maximum custody isolation units in Arizona state prisons. The case, which previously has been called Jensen v. Shinn and Parsons v. Ryan, is a class action on behalf of all people housed in the nine (formerly ten) Arizona state prisons. The lawsuit sought only to change the policies and practices of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry (ADCRR), and did not seek money damages. The case was filed in March 2012 by the Prison Law Office, the ACLU, and other lawyers.

Although the parties settled this case in October 2014, the state consistently failed to follow the terms of that settlement. So, District Court Judge Roslyn Silver rescinded the Court’s approval of the settlement in July 2021, and the parties went to trial in the fall of 2021.

After a fifteen-day trial, the Court issued a 200-page order on June 30, 2022, finding that ADCRR violates the constitutional rights of people in prison. The Court found that the “health care system is plainly grossly inadequate. Defendants have been aware of their failures for years and Defendants have refused to take necessary actions to remedy the failures.” The Court also found that the treatment of people in the detention units was shocking, and that the ADCRR kept “hundreds of prisoners in maximum custody housing despite all prison officials admitting there is no penological justification for doing so.”

On April 7, 2023, the Court issued a 57-page Order (called an Injunction) requiring the ADCRR to fix the constitutional violations. The Court has appointed four experts to serve as neutral monitors to assist the Court in monitoring ADCRR’s compliance with the Order. In addition, lawyers from the Prison Law Office, the ACLU National Prison Project and the Arizona Center for Disability Law will also be monitoring and assessing compliance. This will include making periodic visits to the state prisons.

The Court’s Order recognizes that the ADCRR’s model for providing health care was unconstitutional, and that prison officials will have to make substantial changes to deliver necessary care. Broadly speaking, the Order requires the ADCRR to provide health care that is “clinically appropriate.” To provide appropriate care, ADCRR will be required to, among other things:

• Address chronic staffing problems by filling all currently vacant health care positions and hiring additional health care staff, including doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and psych associates within three months of the Order;
• Develop and implement a new sick call process, in which all people who request medical attention will see a Doctor, Nurse Practitioner or Physician’s Assistant, without being required to first see a nurse for triage;
• Identify people who are are not fluent in English, and ensure that they have adequate interpretation services for all individual and group health care encounters;
• Greatly expand their program to screen and treat people with Hepatitis C; and
• Develop and implement a comprehensive program to treat people for Opioid Use Disorder.

The Order also requires improvements to mental health care, including better coordination of care, regular face-to-face meetings with mental health workers, and improved mental health training for custody officers. It also places restrictions on prison officials placing people in isolation conditions for extended periods of time, and requires numerous changes to improve the living conditions in segregated housing units.

“We hope that with this powerful order, Arizona officials will finally comply with the Constitution, abide by the rule of law, and respect the rights and dignity of the thousands of people in their custody,” said David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project. “We are grateful to our clients — what they have had to endure is unconscionable. This landmark order is the result of their bravery and testimony. We expect state officials to comply with this order and finally put an end to appalling conditions in Arizona prisons.” 

“Arizona’s prison walls for too long concealed immense suffering and needless death. Finally, there is a path forward,” said Rita Lomio, a staff attorney at the Prison Law Office. “This order would not have been possible without the brave people who testified from their hospital beds and prison cells.” 

“The trial laid bare the significant harm that living in isolation causes to people who are incarcerated, especially people with serious mental illness living in such conditions,” said Maya Abela, an attorney with the Arizona Center for Disability Law. “With this order, ADCRR is required to take steps to address those harms and ensure constitutional living conditions and appropriate mental health services are provided to people in isolation units.” 

To help them address ongoing concerns in ADCRR, the Court-appointed monitors launched a website for the public to send information regarding healthcare in the nine state-run prisons and living conditions in maximum custody, detention, and watch units. You can access the website at https://azcourtmonitors.org/.