Thread by @JimmyJenkins

NEW RECEIPTS: Amidst continued "frivolous" appeals from the state, Arizona prison health care lawsuit spending now exceeds $21 MILLION kjzz.org/content/167020…

Attorneys for the Arizona Department of Corrections say they are appealing the most recent contempt fine of $1.1 million dollars from a federal judge for failing to provide constitutional health care in state prisons. kjzz.org/content/166191…

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the department in 2020 when it appealed a similar, $1.4 million contempt fine. kjzz.org/content/141840…

U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver levied the most recent fines against DOC for failing to meet performance benchmarks the department agreed to more than six years ago to settle a prison health care class-action lawsuit, Parsons v. Ryan.

Judge Silver has been critical of the department’s expensive, years-long legal response to the settlement:

“Despite the outlays in fines and attorneys’ fees, Defendants’ counsel continues to litigate each and every issue to the maximum extent possible, including frivolous ones"

Judge Silver has written of the "unknown amount, undoubtedly in the millions of dollars, Defendants have
paid to their own counsel." Now @kjzzphoenix has receipts that show the actual total

The department has spent more than $21 million in legal costs on the Parsons lawsuit since Fiscal Year 2012. More than $10 million has been paid to outside counsel, the Phoenix-based law firm Struck, Love, Bojanowski & Acedo PLC kjzz.org/content/167020…

I have been asking for years why we pay a private law firm so much money instead of relying on the Attorney General's office to litigate Parsons, but the AG and DOC refuse to tell me. Here's a redacted letter from 2012 I managed to pry loose from the AG regarding the agreement