Federal Judge Mandates State Takeover of Arizona Prison Healthcare After Years of Neglect

Arizona’s prison healthcare crisis has reached a breaking point that no American who values freedom and human dignity should ignore. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver ordered the state to surrender control of health care operations within its prisons, appointing an independent authority to oversee reforms after more than a decade of systemic neglect. Judge Silver’s decision stems from her landmark 2022 ruling which found Arizona guilty of violating prisoners’ constitutional rights by delivering inadequate medical and mental health services—failures that have caused unimaginable suffering and preventable deaths behind bars. The state’s repeated inability or unwillingness to comply with...