PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona hopes to negotiate a new legal settlement over the quality of health care in state prisons after facing persistent complaints that it was dragging its feet in complying with an earlier agreement over inmate care.
Lawyers for the state say Monday that they would like to negotiate a new settlement, rather than reaffirm their promise to comply with the 2014 agreement or bring the case to trial.
Three weeks, Judge Roslyn Silver made it clear she won't tolerate the state's failure to follow through on its promises.
Attorneys for the prisoners say their preference is to go to trial, though they are willing to renegotiate the agreement under certain conditions.
In 2018, then-Corrections Director Charles Ryan was found to be in contempt of court for noncompliance the settlement.
