Arizona Lawmakers Refuse to Fully Fund Prison Healthcare Staffing Ordered by Federal Court
by Chuck Sharman
Arizona lawmakers left the state facing a constitutional crisis on June 13, 2026, when they adjourned for the year without fully funding an increase in healthcare staffing that the state prison system is under order to make from a federal court.
As PLN reported, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona took control of prisoner healthcare from the state Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Re-Entry (DCRR), in preparation to appointed a Receiver. [See: PLN, May 2026, p.38.] The parties agreed that short-staffing was the heart of the problem, but they were at odds over how to address it.
In the order that she issued on February 19, 2026, Judge Roslyn O. Silver recalled the prison system’s foot-dragging in response to the Court injunction ordering a staffing increase, including “the startling proposal, contrary to law, that the Court issue an order that expressly mandated the Defendants order NaphCare [DCRR’s private healthcare contractor] to ‘pay wages in accordance with the contract if vacancies continued’”—an “unwarranted requests” that “the Court flatly rejected.” See: Jensen v. Thornell, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33723 (D. Ariz.).
After the Court provided the DCRR with a detailed staffing plan on May 15, Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) told lawmakers that funding was needed for an additional 615 healthcare positions by July 1, 2026, or the state risked being found in contempt.
Meanwhile the Court pushed the parties to get a Receiver appointed in time to negotiate with the legislature before it adjourned. But that didn’t happen, and the DCRR’s requested $108.2 million hike to cover the new staff was slashed to just $45.1 million in the final budget that lawmakers approved—enough for only 42% of the needed positions.
The parties have since agreed on former Ohio Department of Corrections Director Annette Chambers Smith to serve as Receiver. But no proposed order was submitted to the Court before state lawmakers went home for the year.
Leaders in the GOP-controlled legislature have accused the Court of overreach. They have also filed several appeals over the course of the litigation, now 15 years old, and all have been rejected. Still, state House Appropriations Committee Chair David Livingston (R-Peoria) insisted to KJZZ in Phoenix that “[w]e don’t need to fund what [Judge Silver is] asking for”—though he added: “I’m not quite sure what happens next.’”
Additional source: KJZZ
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