By Kiera Riley | Arizona Capitol Times
Key Points
- Prison healthcare funding in state budget falls short of court requirements
- Oversight office goes unfunded again, delaying prison accountability efforts
- Advocates warn delays in full funding risk harm to inmates, staff, hinder reforms
Funding critical to improving the state prison system fell short in the state budget this session.
The budget — negotiated and agreed upon by the Legislature and Gov. Katie Hobbs — included only about half of the funding necessary to comply with healthcare staffing requirements laid out in a long-running class action lawsuit against the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
The final proposal also left out $1.5 million in funding necessary to create a functioning Independent Corrections Oversight Office.
The lackluster appropriation is likely to stall both implementation and compliance with a year-old court order and could stir concerns with counsel for incarcerated people and the federal judge going forward.
And, on the oversight front, advocates must now look to federal funding, grants, gifts and contributions to support operations, though they continue to stress the state’s obligation to fund and make functional the oversight mechanism it created.
