Arizona Prisons Face Growing Number of Health Care Complaints As Lawsuits Continue
Agent
The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry has been embroiled in a long-running legal battle over inmate health care that spans more than a decade.
Lawsuits filed over the past 14 years reveal failures in the Arizona state prison health care system, with inmates pursuing damages for inadequate care.
The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, and its rotating vendors have been tied up in a class action lawsuit over inadequate health care since 2012 in the case now dubbed Jensen v. Thornell.
Individual cases appear against the backdrop of Jensen v. Thornell, which provides ample case law for inmates to rely on.
Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the ACLU National Prison Project and an attorney for the plaintiffs in Jensen v. Thornell, said the interplay between the class action and individual cases typically occurs when judges weigh deliberate indifference — or whether prison staff knowingly disregarded the risk of harm.
Some complaints date back to prior vendors, but the throughline comes via a long list of claims related to untreated or inadequately addressed ailments — cancer, hepatitis C, hernia, lost vision, brain bleeds, waning mental health, infected surgical wounds, seizures, chronic pain, denied or discontinued medication.
In 2020, a federal judge rejected an attempt to dismiss the case by the Arizona Department of Corrections and Corizon, the health care vendor at the time. Judge David Campbell found deliberate indifference by the department and its health care provider.
One inmate described his deteriorating condition while in custody:
He had two more seizures. In one instance, he woke up face down in a pool of blood from a head injury. His mental state continued to worsen, he was still in solitary confinement when he raised concerns with court monitors in Jensen v Thornell.
In February, Judge Diane Humetewa denied the department and defendants motion for summary judgment, ruling a reasonable jury could find harm to Anderson and deliberate indifference to his condition.
The class action lawsuit and individual cases continue to define the legal landscape for prison health care in Arizona, with plaintiffs alleging the department has failed to provide adequate medical treatment to inmates housed across the state.