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Jack Harper’s $13,000 question
In a quest to kill a component of the budget earlier this year, Sen. Jack Harper cost the state more than $13,000. But the Republican lawmaker says the money was well-spent, and may have saved the state from letting hundreds of "hardened" criminals out on the street...
Corrections disciplines 16 over death of inmate in outdoor enclosure
The Arizona Department of Corrections has disciplined, dismissed or accepted resignations from 16 employees in connection with the death of a female inmate left in an outdoor enclosure and a strategy that used such enclosures as an alternative to force with prisoners, the agency's interim director said Sept. 22.
Brewer approves $50 million in stimulus money for Corrections
Gov. Jan Brewer on Sept. 18 approved the use of $50 million in federal stimulus money to help pay the salaries of Department of Corrections officers. The $50 million is the first portion awarded by Brewer from a pool of stimulus money called the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Government Services Fund. The $185 million pool can be used by the governor for essentially any government services she[...]
Arizona suspends use of outdoor cells
Arizona's prisons director has suspended the use of all outdoor holding cells while crews retrofit them to provide shade and water in the wake of an inmate's heat-related death.
Cost of jailing illegal immigrants soars; feds plan to cancel funding
The Legislature and the governor have approved a two-bill package that suspends payment of $300 million to school districts until next fiscal year and instead allows districts to tap into their excess cash balances to cover ongoing expenses.
Last stop for felons is no field of dreams
FLORENCE — A five-acre cemetery in this small community holds the remains of shattered lives — the lives of the people buried there, the lives of those they touched and, by extension, the lives they took. Here lie murderers by the dozens, as well as rapists, robbers and other felons. There are 457 in all, with room for an additional 440, says Carson McWilliams, warden of the Arizona State P[...]
House Approps advances budget bill on 8-5 vote
A House panel voted along party lines May 5 to approve a fiscal 2010 budget bill that relies on $630 million in spending cuts and taking another $394 million from other dedicated funds.
