Holly v. State

OPINION

FIDEL, Judge.

¶ 1 Under A.R.S. § 31-238(D)(1996), the State may set off the cost of incarcerating a prison inmate if the inmate recovers a damage award against the State, but the statute exempts 20 percent of the inmate’s recovery from the setoff. We consider in this appeal whether the statute violates the anti-abrogation clauses of the Arizona Constitution and, if not, whether computation and deduction of the setoff precedes or follows the deduction of the inmate’s attorneys’ fees and costs.

Background

¶2 Plaintiff Charles Holly, an Arizona prison inmate, sued the State for personal…