By Jimmy Jensen | Arizona Republic
The landmark trial Jensen v. Shinn began Monday in Phoenix, the latest chapter in an almost decade-long struggle to determine whether Arizona’s prisoners are getting the basic health care they are entitled to under the law.
The federal trial pits Arizona against the people held in its prisons, who argue in a class-action lawsuit that the medical services they receive are so poor, they constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The state’s health care contractor, Centurion, is the latest in a string of companies that have failed to pass muster with the courts.