Goddard slams Brewer for cuts after prison break

In the wake of three convicted murderers’ escape from a private prison in northern Arizona, Attorney General Terry Goddard slammed Gov. Jan Brewer for cutting the Department of Corrections’ budget.

“Two murderers are on the loose in Arizona. What has Jan Brewer done? Slashed Correctsion $67 million. Reduced DOC staff to 2008 levels,” Goddard wrote on his Twitter account Aug. 3.

Brewer, however, said Goddard doesn’t have much room to talk since he never drafted any budget proposal to counter the one that cut $67 million from the Department of Corrections. And, Brewer said, she was the driving force behind Proposition 100, the passage of which prevented $63 million in additional cuts to the Department of Corrections’ budget.

“I think the attorney general ought to present a budget, and until that time he doesn’t have any reason to be able to comment. His comment isn’t backed up with anything,” Brewer said Aug. 4 following a bill signing ceremony at the Capitol. “I will remind you, though, that I’m the one that led the charge for Proposition 100 to protect education and public safety. Had that not passed, it could’ve been much worse.”

Goddard spokeswoman Jeanine L’Ecuyer said the attorney general wasn’t blaming the cuts for directly causing the prison break. But, she said, he was trying to draw attention to the effect that cuts in public safety can have.

“I don’t think you can draw a direct line between the two dots. We don’t know that. The things we do know are as follows – we know the Corrections budget was cut by $67 million,” L’Ecuyer said. “The investigation’s under way. We don’t know a lot yet about what exactly happened. We do know that (Department of Corrections) Director (Charles) Ryan … said he believes security at the prison needs to increase. So I think that tells you something right there.”

Several Democrats have taken shots at Brewer over the prison break, blaming budget cuts and her support for private prisons for contributing to the convicted murderers’ escape from the medium sercurity facility near Kingman. Brewer reiterated her support for private prisons, and said the escaped prisoners were placed at the private Arizona State Prison-Kingman in accordance with guidelines established in 1978, and revised in 2005.

The three inmates escaped on July 30, and two are still on the loose. Ryan said prison staff was to blame for the escape.