Federal Judge Appoints Receiver to Oversee Healthcare in Arizona Prisons

Former Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Annette Chambers-Smith will bring more than 30 years of correctional experience to her role as federal receiver for Arizona’s prison healthcare system.

• A federal judge appointed former Ohio corrections director Annette Chambers-Smith as receiver to take control of healthcare delivery in Arizona’s nine state-run prisons.
• The order gives the receiver authority over healthcare-related staffing, operations, contracting and budgeting, with a 180-day deadline to submit an operational remediation plan.
• Arizona corrections officials indicated they plan to appeal the appointment, though the court said it would consider a stay pending appeal.
• The move follows years of litigation and findings of chronic understaffing, referral failures, poor data reporting and inadequate resources in the prison health system.

PHOENIX — A federal judge has appointed an independent receiver to oversee healthcare operations in Arizona’s prison system, escalating court intervention after years of findings that the state failed to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental healthcare to incarcerated people.

U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver appointed former Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) Director Annette Chambers-Smith to manage healthcare delivery in Arizona’s nine state-run prisons. The order grants Chambers-Smith broad authority over healthcare-related staff, contracts, budgeting and operations, while Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) officials have indicated they intend to appeal the appointment.

According to reporting by Courthouse News Service, Silver had ordered receivership in February after prolonged noncompliance, and formally appointed Chambers-Smith on July 17. In her order, the judge cited chronic understaffing, reliance on nurse-driven care for complex cases, breakdowns in the referral process, data collection and reporting failures, and inadequate resources, funding and facilities as persistent systemwide problems.

The appointment significantly expands federal oversight over ADCRR’s healthcare delivery. Chambers-Smith is authorized to supervise healthcare-related administrative and operational functions, establish compensation and personnel policies for relevant employees and third-party contractors, and work with state leaders on the budget needed to provide constitutionally adequate care. The order also stipulated that the receiver must submit, within 180 days, an operational plan outlining how previously identified constitutional violations will be remedied and how progress will be measured.

“The court genuinely welcomes the eventual return to the state of Arizona of the operational control of the healthcare relating to the class members, upon a finding that the unconstitutional violations have been remedied and the unconstitutional healthcare existing in the state of Arizona prison system has ceased,” Silver wrote in the order, according to reporting by Courthouse News Service.

The case traces back to 2012, when incarcerated plaintiffs sued over inadequate care in Arizona prisons. Courthouse News Service reported that Silver later found the department failed to meet the terms of a settlement and, after trial, entered a permanent injunction requiring improvements in staffing, documentation, patient confidentiality and medication delivery.

Chambers-Smith served as the Director of the ODRC from 2019 through March of 2026, when she left the department for a role in Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office. She has more than 30 years of correctional experience and served as the chair of the Correctional Leaders Association’s Healthcare Committee during her tenure. She was nominated by ADCRR in April for the receiver role.

For correctional administrators and project stakeholders, the receivership underscores how operational performance, staffing capacity, vendor accountability and facility resources remain tightly linked in constitutionally compliant healthcare delivery.

This article is based on reporting originally published by Courthouse News Service on July 17, 2026.