From Central Current (originally posted on Bluesky by Letitia James) -
New York AG’s office bars former Onondaga County jail medical provider from NY jails
The Onondaga County jail’s former medical care provider will — for now — not be allowed to operate in New York because it violated multiple state laws while providing care to incarcerated people at the county jail.
The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James and NaphCare, the correctional healthcare organization, agreed to a settlement that banned NaphCare from the state for at least five years, James said Friday in a statement. NaphCare will also pay an $875,000 fine to the state.
James’ office found NaphCare misrepresented its role in providing services to the county, committing repeated fraud and violating correctional health care standards, James said.
The Alabama-based company oversaw health care at the jail from 2020 to 2022, when at least four people died at the Onondaga County jail. That includes the death of an infant girl who was born at the jail.
“Our investigation found that NaphCare illegally practiced medicine in New York and failed to adequately protect individuals in custody who relied on their care. These failures put vulnerable individuals at serious risk and had devastating consequences,” said James in a statement.
Why would this matter in AZ?
Because they're the healthcare provider/contractor in AZ's prisons.
From the Arizona Department of Corrections -
They've formed a corporation in AZ. From the Arizona Corporation Commission -
When looking up MD, PA, and Osteopath licenses, I found that no one listed as an officer or director on the CorpComm paperwork has one in AZ.
However, I did find one interesting item on the website of the Arizona Medical Board -
While NaphCare's lawyers may have told them that may be enough for them to get out of a "practicing medicine without a license" complaint in Arizona, it may not be enough to obviate a judge's order.
From Arizona Capitol Times, written by Kiera Riley, dated 2/20/2026 (emphasis added by me)-
Federal judge orders takeover of Arizona prison health care system
After nearly a decade and a half of litigation, a federal judge has cleared the way for a court-ordered takeover of medical and mental health care at the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, citing chronic, persistent constitutional violations.
The order will effectively take the health care system out of the state’s hands and place it under the care of a third party to address and alleviate insufficient staffing and health care delivery.
“Plainly, only the imposition of the extraordinary can bring an end to this litigation and the reasons it was brought,” Judge Roslyn Silver wrote. “An end to unconstitutional preventable suicides. An end to unconstitutional preventable deaths. An end to unconstitutional failures to treat those in severe pain. The Motion for a Receiver will be granted.”
[snip]
The department asked the court for more patience, claiming a receivership would be premature less than two years after the injunction, two years into the contract with NaphCare and under the purview of current director Ryan Thornell.
From the order itself (courtesy Prison Law Office) (emphasis added by me) -
