A federal judge presiding in a legal settlement over the quality of health care in Arizona's prisons has raised the possibility of throwing out the four-year agreement and resuming litigation over inmate care due to the state's pervasive noncompliance with the deal.
Judge Roslyn Silver says the state's insistence on defending its noncompliance is ill-advised.
The threat to restart litigation came months after Corrections Director Charles Ryan was found in contempt of court for failing to make many of the improvements to inmate care the state promised when settling the lawsuit.
David Fathi, an attorney representing the prisoners, says the ruling marks a crushing defeat for the state.
Department of Corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder says the agency is reviewing the order.
The agency had no immediate comment on Silver's order.
