Bill seeks end to privatized health care in Ariz. prisons
PHOENIX — A lawmaker has proposed ending Arizona’s practice of hiring private companies to provide health care for its 34,000 prison inmates and instead turning that duty back to the state.
Democratic Rep. Diego Rodriguez of Phoenix said his bill to end privatized health services at Arizona’s 10 state-run prisons was inspired by numerous accounts about inmates with minor ailments later facing serious health problems because the privatized system responded slowly or inadequately.
“It’s broken, and people are dying because of this,” said Rodriguez, who disputes the claim that privatization has saved the state money.
But Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican from Fountain Hills who opposes the bill, said ending privatization would lead to high costs for the state, including higher pension costs. “It’s a lot cheaper having a private company do that,” Kavanagh said.
The proposal faces an uphill climb in the state Legislature. While Rodriguez acknowledges his bill will face difficulties, Kavanagh predicted the proposal stood little chance of success.
The Department of Corrections declined to comment.
The bill comes two months after a court-appointed expert in a class-action lawsuit challenging the quality of health care for Arizona inmates recommended ending privatization.
Expert Marc Stern said in a report that paying companies to provide inmate care ends up costing more than if the state had performed those duties itself and leads to duplication of staff and efforts.
Stern said the state already has the leadership, clinical expertise and talent to provide health care for inmates. “Thus privatization has not brought ADC any advantages that it is not already ably poised to achieve on its own,” Stern said.
Health care operations in state prisons were run by the Department of Corrections until the Legislature voted in 2009 to require those services to be provided by private companies. The state is now on its third prison health care contractor since it made the switch to private providers in mid-2012.
Privatization was criticized in 2018 when a magistrate judge overseeing the prison health care lawsuit found then-Corrections Director Charles Ryan in civil contempt of court and fined the state $1.4 million for failing to adequately follow through on its promises made during a 2014 legal settlement to improve inmate care.
“That goal of privatization cannot be achieved at the expense of the health and safety of the sick and acutely ill inmates,” wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge David
Duncan.
Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver, who has since taken over supervision of the case, threatened a second round of contempt fines, which could be as high as $1.2 million, for its continued noncompliance.
Attorneys for the state and prisoners are trying to craft a new settlement after several years of criticism that the state has been dragging its feet in making the improvements.
The 2014 settlement arose out of a lawsuit that alleged that the state’s prisons didn’t meet the basic requirements for providing adequate medical and mental health care.
It said some prisoners complained that their cancer went undetected or that they were told to pray to be cured after begging for treatment.
The state denied allegations that it was providing inadequate care, and the lawsuit was settled without the state acknowledging any wrongdoing.