Key Points: 

• Lawmakers push funding for independent prison oversight office 

• Scrutiny continues over prison conditions, safety, custody classification

• Legislation on home confinement returning for another session 

Prison oversight and criminal justice reform bills maintain some residual momentum from the prior legislative session, leaving lawmakers and lobbyists hopeful in passing and funding key policy priorities. 

As lawmakers, advocates and attorneys keep eyes on a string of complaints and reports on poor conditions, staffing and safety in the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, funding the prison oversight office has emerged as the top priority this session. 

In the meantime, legislators continue to keep close tabs on ADCRR, and stakeholders plan to revive and workshop criminal reform legislation across the board. 

Sen. Shawnna Bolick, R-Phoenix, and Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, joined by Justice Action Network, remain on the crusade to see the Independent Correctional Oversight Office fully funded after legislation passed last session without any funding.

The office, headed by a director appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, would be responsible for monitoring confinement conditions, providing information about inmates rights, accepting complaints and gathering data for an annual report. 

The framework for creating the office is already enacted in law, but the request for $1.5 million to actually get work off the ground fell flat, leaving renewed enthusiasm to push the issue this session. 

Bolick and Blackman introduced mirror appropriation bills, House Bill 2063 and Senate Bill 1032, to earmark the $1.5 million to make the oversight mechanism functional.

Bolick said she wished the office would have been funded last session as originally hoped and noted the continued need amid more deaths inside prison walls, as well as the looming potential for a federal judge to put the department under receivership. 

“Obviously, if we had some sort of independent entity, we could not only hold them accountable, but hopefully turn things around more quickly,” Bolick said.

Blackman noted the oversight committee could work to preempt any takeover.

“(Hobbs) is going to have to decide if she wants receivership or if she wants to be able to get in front of this,” Blackman said. “This board will give her an opportunity to get in front of this.” 

And as for coalition support, Blackman guessed members of the majority would be on board, if just purely from an economic standpoint. 

“When we’re looking at over $10 million of fines or fees or lawsuits, 1.5 is a drop in the bucket. So when we’re looking from a perspective of saving taxpayer dollars, I would say that my colleagues are on board with this,” Blackman said. 

Hobbs put off any money talk to budget negotiations and portended future conversations on the scope of the oversight office. 

“The fact is that there was a lot of compromise when it came to that bill and the creation of that office, and so I’m certainly willing to continue those conversations to make sure that that office is as effective as possible,” Hobbs said. 

She backed up Director Ryan Thornell’s time at the helm, too.

“Our prison system has been neglected for a long time, and so it’s going to take a long time to right the ship,” Hobbs said. I think he’s on the right track, and I think that we should all be working together toward that end. And so as much as oversight can be helpful, we welcome it.” 

Oversight is not likely to be exclusive to the new statutory office. 

Over the summer, Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, and Rep. Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, held a committee hearing with the department to press on staffing and safety in state prisons after a string of homicides, an effort Payne plans to continue in this session. 

He noted his ongoing concern over custody classification, which determines the level of supervision and restriction on an inmate, after Ricky Wassenaar, a man incarcerated at Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson, allegedly killed three inmates after he was reduced to a less restrictive custody level. 

“You get those violent people that really have nothing to lose, and they don’t have any problem attacking other people,” Payne said. 

He said the current custody classification system puts other inmates, who may have lower level offenses, in jeopardy. 

“We didn’t put them away to be killed, and they’re coming out dead,” Payne said. 

In a statement, an ADCRR spokesperson said, “Following the ad hoc committee a few months ago, the Department has maintained open communication with Senator Payne and Representative Nguyen, including direct communications with their offices and an on-going fulfillment of their public records requests.”

Nguyen did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Beyond oversight, Payne is also working with stakeholders on reviving a home confinement bill. 

Last session, Senate Bill 1366 aimed to allow a select population of inmates early supervised release. 

The legislation would allow those convicted of a list of non-violent offense, who had served at least one year of their sentence, were within 18 months of getting out and had no violent disciplinary infractions, to be released early, with electronic monitoring for at least one year, or until the inmate becomes eligible for probation or community supervision. 

“There’s a lot of prerequisites to them getting out,” Payne said. “But one of the things that I think it will help, is that it gives them incentive to behave.” 

Advocates have tried to push the bill through over the past three sessions, but hit a different wall each time. 

This time around, however, Payne and stakeholders are hopeful, with recent tweaks to the language and mechanics of monitoring breathing new life into the proposal. 

Steven Scharboneau, an attorney with Steven George Law and advocate for the bill, said this session started with a more robust stakeholder process, putting it on steadier ground to start. 

“There’s a population of people that are in prison right now that don’t necessarily need that level of supervision, that could be out in the community,” Scharboneau said. “They could be participating. They could be with their families, raising their kids. They could be out there paying taxes. They could be out there working, they could be out there contributing to the economy instead of, instead of sucking away from it.” 

Beyond home confinement, lobbyists floated the potential for bills around probation, court-ordered fee reform and earned release credits. 

John Fabricius, executive director of Praxis Initiative, plans to work to support the above bills and then some, and in general, he senses a greater attitude around criminal justice reform at the Legislature. 

“What we found down there is that there are people that are experiencing this through their own loved ones, whether it’s lawmakers that have loved ones that have been inside, or they have constituents,” Fabricius said. “This is touching people. It’s getting to people. It’s getting to lawmakers.”