Prisons boss testifies in court

PHOENIX — Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan took the witness stand at a hearing Tuesday and blamed a medical services contractor for the state’s failure to follow through on all its promises to improve inmate care.

Ryan testified during a federal court hearing on whether he should be found in contempt of court for providing inadequate health care to prisoners.

He said he was ultimately responsible for providing health care to the state’s roughly 35,000 inmates but repeatedly pointed the finger at Corizon Health Inc., saying it failed to make improvements the state promised in 2014 when it settled a lawsuit alleging shoddy health care.

“We have put forth, I believe, considerable effort in trying to have the vendor achieve compliance and fulfill it,” Ryan said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David Duncan has threatened to hold Ryan and corrections official Richard Pratt in civil contempt. He also raised the possibility of fining the state $1,000 for each instance in December and January when the state failed to make the improvements.

The state has acknowledged more than 1,900 instances of noncompliance during those months.

Duncan convened the contempt hearing after repeatedly voicing frustration over what he called Arizona’s “abject failure” to make the improvements.

The state has followed through on some promises. But the areas in which Duncan is requiring improvements include ensuring newly prescribed medications be provided to inmates within two days and making medical providers tell inmates about the results of pathology reports and other diagnostic studies within five days of receiving such records.

It wasn’t the first time Ryan has been called to testify in the lawsuit. Over the summer, Duncan grilled Ryan over whether he tried to undermine an order that prohibited retaliation against prisoners who participated in the lawsuit.

Ryan testified Tuesday that his agency has imposed financial penalties on the company for noncompliance, demanded it bring in medical staff from other states to get the agency into compliance, and renegotiated a contract to ensure that Corizon would have to pay any fines arising from the lawsuit.

Under questioning from a lawyer for the inmates, Ryan said it wasn’t acceptable for Corizon to be in noncompliance for 20 straight months.

He also was questioned on the wisdom of negotiating a contract that let the Department of Corrections impose fines on Corizon of more than $600,000 while at the same time giving Corizon $2.5 million in incentives.

“It was a negotiated business decision,” Ryan said.

Corizon has served as the health care provider for Arizona’s prisons for the past five years and isn’t a target in the lawsuit.