Arizona’s prison system will boost spending and medical staffing for prison healthcare by more than a third as it works to meet a federal judge’s orders that it vastly improve treatment of the nearly 25,000 prisoners in state-run prisons.But the move puts added pressure on a state budget that is already deep in the red.State Corrections Director Ryan Thornell told lawmakers last week that he expects the boost in contracted per-day medical care rate to satisfy orders from the judge to improve medical, mental and other inmate treatment.
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver issued a sweeping injunction in April that required massive improvements in prisoner treatment.The added costs – $117 million in the coming budget year – add to the pressure on a state budget that already has a projected $400 million shortfall in the current budget and $450 million in the next budget, which begins on July 1.And none of that counts for the yet-to-be-determined additional cost to the state of universal vouchers of tax dollars for students to attend private and parochial schools.Much of that shortfall is blamed on a massive income tax cut enacted in 2021 by the Republican-controlled Legislature and former Gov. Doug Ducey that replaced graduated tax rates and with a flat rate – a move that primarily benefited the wealthy.The tax went into full effect early this year and the legislature’s budget analysts said last month that individual income tax collections are down by 27% since the fiscal year began on July 1.The new prison healthcare spending is just one of several items that will blow even bigger holes in the state budget, putting pressure on Hobbs and the Republican-controlled Legislature to make cuts elsewhere to deal w …
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