PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan is appealing the appointment of expert to examine the method for determining whether the state is making the changes it promised to make to health care in state prisons when it settled a lawsuit over inmate care.
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver appointed Dr. Marc Stern last month amid complaints about irregularities and errors in monitoring compliance with the settlement.
Stern has served as an expert in similar inmate-care lawsuits across the country.
A lawyer for Ryan had objected to Stern's appointment, saying the expert in past cases appears to have a bias in favor of prisoners.
Silver has raised the possibility of throwing out the 2014 settlement because of the state's pervasive noncompliance with the settlement.
