A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of incarcerated individuals in Alaska, alleging that the state Department of Corrections fails to provide adequate medical, mental health, and dental care, a systemic issue persisting for years. The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Alaska and the ACLU National Prison Project, names Governor Mike Dunleavy and correctional officials as defendants. The lawsuit highlights a significant problem where inmates are routinely denied medical services based on their pre-trial status, exacerbated by prolonged detention due to court delays. Specific examples include individuals being denied necessary eye surgeries or dental treatments, with the state failing to provide timely or adequate healthcare access and insufficient healthcare staffing. The lawsuit seeks judicial intervention to compel the state to create and implement a plan to resolve these deficiencies in healthcare provision for the incarcerated population.

A class action lawsuit has been initiated by the ACLU of Alaska and the ACLU National Prison Project, targeting the Alaska Department of Corrections for allegedly providing substandard healthcare services to inmates, marking it as a long-standing systemic issue.

The Governor of Alaska, Mike Dunleavy, along with corrections officials, are named as defendants in this legal action, which underscores significant governance and administrative challenges in the state's correctional facilities.

The lawsuit brings attention to the routine denial of medical services to pre-trial detainees, which is a critical issue compounded by the prolonged detentions due to the inefficiencies in the court system's handling of criminal cases.

Specific instances cited in the lawsuit include the denial of essential medical procedures, such as eye surgeries, and dental care beyond tooth extraction, highlighting the severe neglect faced by inmates based on their legal status.

Further allegations point to the state's failure in providing timely or adequate healthcare services, lack of access to specialty care, and denial of assistive devices, all exacerbated by insufficient healthcare staffing within the correctional facilities.

The legal action seeks a court order mandating the state to devise and execute a comprehensive plan to improve healthcare accessibility and quality for incarcerated individuals.

The lack of comment from both the Department of Corrections and the Department of Law underscores the potential for significant legal and public scrutiny as this case progresses.