Supreme Court clears the way for receiver to run Arizona prison healthcare

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Arizona's request to delay a receivership over its prison healthcare system, after the state lost the same argument before the trial judge and the 9th Circuit. The receiver, former Ohio corrections chief Annette Chambers-Smith, is set to take over October 19 for a system covering roughly 25,000 inmates.

The litigation dates to 2012, when inmates sued alleging preventable injuries, suffering and deaths from substandard care. U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver found extensive constitutional violations in 2022 and ordered receivership this year after citing continued pervasive failures and deaths despite a permanent compliance order.

Arizona paid former solicitor general Paul Clement $300,000 to argue the state had made great progress and would suffer irreparable harm from losing control of the system. Legislative leaders Warren Petersen and Steve Montenegro separately warned receivership would interfere with the legislature's budget authority.

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