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Arizona Legislators should seize an opportunity to transform state’s prisons
The Legislature is on the cusp of putting another feather in its cap of bipartisan criminal justice reform achievements. We should laud their progress and keep up the momentum of transformational change.
John Dacey: Aiming to put private prisons before Supreme Court
All John Dacey wants is to get a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Then, if he’s successful, the high court would rule in favor of his cause by outlawing private prisons.
Hundreds of Arizona prison inmates have used razors, drugs in attempted suicides
There were nearly 500 incidents in Arizona’s prison system when convicts attempted to either hurt or kill themselves in 2015, despite efforts to push for better mental health treatment and a legal settlement ordering the Department of Corrections to improve psychiatric services.
Prisoners claim DOC fails to meet obligations under legal settlement
The Department of Corrections is returning to court on claims the agency is shirking its obligation under a year-old lawsuit settlement to improve health care for prisoners.
Prisons received nearly $1 million to cover leap year costs
The only agency in Arizona that requires leap year funding was allocated more than $900,000 to cover the costs of one extra calendar day.
Year in Review: Classrooms vs. cells – spending on prisons increases faster than on education
As lawmakers developed the fiscal year 2016 spending plan, an unofficial rallying point among the education and human services communities was that the prison system is growing at the expense of schools and children.
Arizona awards contract for 1,000 new private prison beds
The Arizona Department of Corrections has awarded a contract for 1,000 private prison beds to Corrections Corporation of America.
Kingman prison sex offenders to go elsewhere for release
Officials with the private prison operator that runs Arizona State Prison-Kingman say sex offenders that are set to be housed at the prison by the end of March will be taken elsewhere before their release.
DOC turns over troubled private prison to new company
The Department of Corrections handed the keys to the damaged, troubled private prison in Kingman to a new company that runs two other prisons for the state.
For-profit prisons are bad public policy and contrary to Arizona values
The for-profit prisons have become very prolific lobbyists, shoveling more than $10 million to candidates since 1989 and have spent nearly $25 million on lobbying. GEO Group alone reported $650,000 in federal lobbying expenses in 2014. In addition, they spent over $5.7 million on state and local political contributions between 2003 and 2014, according to data compiled by the National Institute on[...]
Sheriffs say state favors private prisons in housing bids
An Arizona sheriffs' group says private prisons have the advantage when it comes to bidding for inmate housing contracts.
Ducey calls for probe of private prison unrest
Days of unrest at a privately run prison in Arizona became a nightmare scenario as inmates rioted, trashed housing units and injured guards, prompting the governor to order an investigation Monday into the problem at the facility.
