Raising Arizona’s Commitment to Health and Safety: The Need for Independent Oversight of Arizona’s Prison System
Michele Deitch* Full Article. Introduction Over the last decade or so, Arizona’s prisons have become synonymous with mismanagement, lack of safety, unconstitutional health care, and abysmal conditions for people in custody. The problems that have marred the corrections agency’s reputation have been documented in countless news stories and show the agency’s seeming inability to address even the most fundamental flaws in its operations that lead to violence and deaths in custody.[1] A litany of scandals, including broken locks on cell doors, abuses of incarcerated people, riots, escapes, horrific care of pregnant women, and water shortages have also dominated news headlines.[2] Moreover, a federal class-action lawsuit about Arizona’s disastrous privatized prison health care delivery system has spanned many years; it led to a detailed settlement and also to a civil contempt…