Arizona Department of Corrections Director David Shinn is reasserting that prisoners in Arizona have better access to health care services than he and other members of the community have.
This statement comes after Shinn's years of failing to live up to the standards set forth by the court, repeated court sanctions that involve fines totaling several million dollars and well-documented testimony by prisoners that directly contradicts his claim.
“They often have greater access to care than I do as a private citizen,” Shinn said, according to AZ Central.
Shinn was testifying in federal court in Phoenix last week when he gave his controversial statement. The purpose of his presence was to defend his department against claims that prisoners' constitutional rights were being infringed upon due to the poor conditions and lack of access to quality health care in the prisons that Shinn oversees.
Shinn had a rough day on the stand, frequently struggling to answer questions and prompting the intervention of the judge on several occasions for clarification of an answer.
Despite the testimony of prisoners in the system who say otherwise, Shinn continues to claim that Centurion, the health care provider for the prisons, is doing "an extraordinary job" of delivering medical services to the inmates.
