U.S. Supreme Court Denies Arizona's Bid to Delay Prison Healthcare Takeover
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Arizona's request to delay the court-ordered takeover of healthcare operations in its state prisons. Justice Elena Kagan denied the state's application, clearing the way for an outside corrections professional to assume management of healthcare for 25,000 incarcerated individuals on October 19. This decision comes after Arizona was found to have provided constitutionally inadequate healthcare to prisoners and had failed to implement required improvements for over a decade. The state had sought to delay the takeover while appealing the decision and the appointment of former Ohio corrections director Annette Chambers-Smith to lead the effort, but lower courts had already rejected these requests. The lawsuit, filed in 2012, has seen Arizona accrue over $2 million in contempt-of-court fines for failing to comply with a 2014 settlement agreement aimed at overhauling medical services for prisoners.
