Key Points:

• Arizona wants to use federal funds to provide job training for inmates

• Gov. Hobbs believes the funding will reduce recidivism rates

• The training is subject to changes in federal funding under the Trump administration

Arizona is going to use federal funds to provide more job training for inmates in a plan to reduce recidivism and, as the state’s prison chief says, to cut down on violence behind bars.

Gov. Katie Hobbs, in announcing the program on April 22, said there is a need to do something more than what is happening now to end the revolving door.

“In Arizona, approximately one in three people has a criminal record,” she said, quoting from figures from the Clean State Initiative which says there are more than 1.9 million adults who have “a conviction or non-conviction record.” More to the point, Hobbs said about 95% of those behind bars will eventually be released, a figure that translates to about 17,000 a year.

At the same time, she said that less than half of those who had been released were employed a year later.

“That’s a staggering number that increases their chances of reoffending, reentering the corrections system and costing taxpayers even more,” said Hobbs.

The timing of the announcement of Arizona’s Reentry 2030 comes as there is increasing scrutiny of the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.

A federal judge who has been reviewing the system for decades is now threatening to appoint a receiver to manage the health care for the more than 35,000 inmates.

And more recently, Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, launched a probe after an inmate currently serving 16 life sentences allegedly murdered three other inmates at the state prison complex in Tucson.

Corrections Director Ryan Thornell said what’s in this program may help deal with the violence behind bars, both among inmates and attacks on guards.

“We know that giving opportunities to individuals who are incarcerated, under the supervision of staff and with support of staff creates a safer prison environment,” he said. Thornell called it “one of many strategies to support the overall effort to create safer prisons.”

That, however, may not be enough to satisfy Payne.

“What transpired within this prison is inexcusable and incredibly troubling,” said Payne, who chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee, in a prepared statement. “I fear for the lives of the correctional officers and staff who are reporting to duty every day and risking their safety in a facility that has proven it cannot prevent dangerous criminals from inflicting violence.”

Thornell, pushed on the question of violence, and said there is no “common thread” among the various instances. Instead, he called it “a lot of various complicating factors.”

“It’s not an isolated situation,” Thornell said. “It’s not one isolated factor,”

“We’re putting together a very robust plan in response to it,” he said, promising to share details later this week with the governor’s office. “It’s a combination of many things that we think will bring better solutions to statewide incarceration.”

What’s behind the April 21 announcement dates back to 2008 when Congress approved the Second Chance Act which provides dollars through the U.S. Department of Justice. Marshall Clement, the interim director of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, said six other states already have started similar programs with those funds.

“The challenge of improving reentry outcomes is not new,” Clement said, with programs across the nation, including in Arizona, involving state governments and nonprofit organizations. “This initiative was born with the understanding the time has come to scale up what we have seen working in reentry and that we know is critical to success.”

Clement said there exists evidence that ongoing programs can make a difference.

He said recidivism in Arizona went from 38% in 2009 to the current figure of 29%. But Clement said what is in Reentry 2030 “is very different” and can help reduce that figure even more.

That, he said, involves removing all unnecessary barriers to training that are not needed to promote prison safety. This includes continuing health care services and special support services for those with serious mental illness. It also means more vocational training.

One benefit of the program, Hobbs said, is that all the cash is coming from the federal government.

She said no state dollars are involved. Conversely, the governor said, reducing recidivism would actually save money for the state.

All that, of course, is dependent on federal dollars not disappearing.

Clement said the dollars should be there, particularly as they have been approved by Congress. But he did not dispute that, since taking office in January, President Trump has issued a series of orders and directives to end federal programs despite their congressional authorization.

Clement said, however, he believes this program is likely to survive all that.

He pointed out that the program was reauthorized in 2018 as the First Step Act — legislation approved by Trump during his first administration.

“This is work that he signed into law,” Clement said.

“This is work that he supported.” And Clement added that the program “enjoys bipartisan support in Congress.”

That still leaves the related issue of health care behind bars in Arizona.

Inmates filed a class action lawsuit in 2012 claiming cruel and unusual punishment due to poor medical and mental health care.

The state agreed to a settlement in 2015, promising to do better. Yet it was fined $1.4 million in 2018 for failing to meet the performance measures it had agreed to, and U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver imposed another $1.1 million penalty in 2021.

A year later, in a 200-page order, Silver said the care provided by the state is “plainly grossly inadequate” and that state officials were acting “with deliberate indifference” to the substantial risk of harm to inmates.

Now, claiming no real progress, the American Civil Liberties Union which is representing Arizona’s inmates, wants the court to transfer management of health care operations in state prisons to a third party under the direction of a court-appointed receiver. 

A hearing on that is scheduled for July.