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Death of 8-year-old girl in Border Patrol custody highlights challenges providing medical care
The recent deaths of an 8-year-old Panamanian girl and 17-year-old boy from Honduras who were under U.S. government supervision have again raised questions about how prepared authorities are to handle medical emergencies suffered by migrants arriving in the U.S., especially as agencies struggle with massive overcrowding at facilities along the southern border.
Blackman prisoner release bill fails – again
There were plenty of issues taken up during the 171-day legislative session that ended June 30 that everyone knew would be contentious, even in January.
Key criminal justice bills dormant in Senate
Although several measures aimed at cutting prison sentences and making other major changes to Arizona’s criminal justice system have passed the House this year, the big question is whether these bills will make it through the Senate or even get a hearing there.
Secrecy prevails as executions to resume
Arizona is readying to resume executions after nearly seven years, although the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry did not provide reassurances that the medical team or the drugs used would avoid issues that surfaced through litigation leading up to and during the hiatus.
Report lists economic benefits of early prison release
A report detailing economic benefits of proposed expanded earned release credits gives a look into a possible new middle ground in the debate on revamping Arizona’s prison system.
House panel to tackle bills on rioters, defunding police
The House Military and Public Safety committee is scheduled to take up two controversial bills Monday that were introduced in reaction to the protests and calls for police defunding last spring and summer.
Prison transition program allowing for early release expires
Gov. Doug Ducey this week extended a prison re-entry and rehabilitation program that was slated to go offline due to a lapse in legislative authorization on July 1, giving some relief to criminal justice advocates who worried that a door was about to shut on a valuable opportunity for incarcerated people to end their sentences […]
State prisons have potential for nearly 100% infection rate
The Arizona Public Health Association is urging the state’s health director to do more to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the prisons as studies and public health officials predict a nearly 100% infection rate.
Lawmaker: Virus makes need for change to sentencing laws greater than ever
This is all frustrating for Rep. Walt Blackman,R-Snowflake, one of many Arizona lawmakers who over the years have sought to amend the state’s sentencing laws -- some of the strictest in the country -- and improve prison conditions, mostly to no avail.
Players in movement to remake Arizona’s criminal justice system
Since conservatives got on board with revamping Arizona’s sentencing laws, bills to do that no longer lay unheard, not considered. And as the movement has taken hold over the past few years, a host of groups and people have made their presence known at the Legislature. Following are some of them.
Groups file sweeping criminal justice ballot measure
Prisoners serving time for non-violent crimes would get one day off their sentences for every day served under a ballot measure filed by a newly formed group Friday.
New Arizona prison boss once restricted books for inmates
The new head of the state Department of Corrections is a career employee of the federal Bureau of Prisons where last year he instituted a policy that restricted access to books by inmates.
