In this day and age, most of us can relate to the feeling that our elected officials aren’t really listening to us or acting in our best interests.  But here’s the story of a group of citizens who are actually going to do something about it. 

Citizens Opposed to Globe Becoming a Prison Town has been organizing against a proposed private prison there for almost a year now.  They are one of the most effective and organized yet truly grassroots groups out there.  They have packed City Council meetings with people speaking out against the prison and handed in thousands of signatures of Globe residents on a petition in opposition to the plan.  Yet their City Council and Economic Development Board have refused to listen. 

So they are going to put the democratic process to the test.  They’re going to put the prison up for a vote. 

They have two ballot initiatives in the works.  The first simply says that no new prison can be built in Globe without first being approved by residents through a public vote.  The second requires voter approval for any municipal resource to be spent or utilized for any new prison construction project within, or outside Globe’s jurisdictional boundaries.

It’s a simple concept, but revolutionary in today’s political environment, particularly where these kinds of prison development deals are concerned.  Given the scandals that have recently arisen regarding Arizona politicians on the take (Fiesta Bowl, anyone?) and influence-peddling by corporations in state government (two of the Governor’s top advisors have ties to Corrections Corporation of America), what happens when you put the people BACK in the equation?  What might we learn by exposing these ordinarily backroom deals to the light of day?

The people of Globe are about to find out.  And you can bet that the for-profit prison corporations will be watching very closely to see what happens, because if the people of Globe can do it, so can the people of Florence, or Eloy, or Tucson.  Score one for democracy.

You can read the group’s official press release here:

Public Information/Press Release                                        June 3, 2011

TWO Ballot Initiatives are being launched by Citizens of Globe, AZ who do not want their community to become another rural Arizona Prison Town.

These TWO Ballot Initiatives are closely related, but have distinct purposes.  (see attached)

The first Ballot Initiative is titled, VOTERS MUST APPROVE NEW PRISON IN GLOBE ACT.  It requires Voter approval for any new prison constructed within Globe’s City Limits.

The second Ballot Initiative is titled, NO CITY RESOURCE SPENT ON NEW PRISON ACT.   It requires Voter approval for any municipal resource to be spent or utilized for any new prison construction project within, or outside Globe’s jurisdictional boundaries.

Citizens have launched these TWO Ballot Initiatives because local elected officials refuse to pass a Resolution that would prohibit a 1000 to 2000 – bed proposed private prison from being constructed in the Globe community. 

Nearly a year ago, citizens began speaking out in opposition to a proposed private prison project.  More than 2,500 area residents signed a Declaration of Opposition to such a prison, and implored elected officials to pass a Resolution that would safeguard their community from the private prison ‘industry’.  These elected officials refused to act on behalf of their constituents.  Globe residents continue to ask, “If they don’t represent the citizens of this community, then who do they represent?”  

The Arizona Constitution provides for citizens to “Initiate”, or propose laws or measures that are enacted by a direct vote of the people.  The citizens of Globe are now taking action to accomplish what their elected representatives refused and failed to do. 

Citizens of Globe must gather 582 signatures to place these TWO Initiatives on the ballot at the City’s next regular election in March, 2012.  Registered Voters of Globe, Arizona will ultimately decide the outcome of this very important community issue.

The Committees organizing these TWO Ballot Initiative Campaigns are receiving legal counsel from the Phoenix Law Firm, Perkins Coie, LLP.  Attorney, Rhonda L. Barnes, can be reached at 602-351-8305 or RBarnes@perkinscoie.com.

Jim E. Moss, Committee Chairman

480-540-1279 or mossjim13@hotmail.com

An article published today in the New York Times has revealed to the world what you heard here first:  Private prisons are not saving us money.  The article cites Arizona research that shows that, overall, we’re losing money on our private prisons.

Yet, the Department of Corrections is preparing to award lucrative contracts to for-profit prison companies to build and run 5,000 new private prison beds.

Arizona’s Auditor General estimates this expansion will cost us over $640 million by 2017.  Yet our prison population only grew by only 65 inmates in 2010.

This year, our corrections budget is over $1 billion, consuming 11% of the state general fund.  In these difficult economic times, when the Governor and Legislature are making devastating cuts to health care, education, and social services, it is absolutely outrageous that we would waste scarce tax dollars on private prisons that generate no savings.

Other states, which formerly had sentencing laws similar to those now in effect in Arizona, enacted sentencing reforms between 1999 and 2010. States saw reductions in prison populations while violent and other crime rates fell significantly. Annual savings in these states are estimated at as much as $80 million annually.

If the Governor really wants to make us safer and balance the budget, she should support the efforts of Representative Ash and others to reform Arizona’s harsh sentencing laws.

OK, nobody’s pretending that Arizona State Legislators listen to NPR.  But if they did, they might learn that they are about to make a $65 million mistake in awarding contracts for 5,000 more private prison beds in Arizona.  

The reports both focus on the exploits of the GEO Group, the nation’s second largest private prison company and one of the bidders for a lucrative new contract here in Arizona.  Sadly, these problems are not limited to one corporation—there are similar examples on the rap sheets of every for-profit prison operator.  That’s because they all have the same problem:  They are in the business of making money first, and they will always prioritize profits over protecting the public or rehabilitating prisoners.

A two-part expose aired last month lays out two of the inherent risks in handing over corrections to for-profit corporations:

1.  The profit motive trumps rehabilitation
2. Small towns can get left holding the bag for empty prisons when the prison corporations go after more lucrative contracts

The first installment, “Town Relies on Troubled Youth Prison for Profit,” details how a small town became so financially dependent on the Walnut Grove juvenile prison that elected officials, monitors, and other government actors have repeatedly turned a blind eye to rampant abuses against incarcerated youth.  NPR found that the prison is paying the town $15,000 in lieu of taxes, paying $4,500/month to the Correctional Authority, and even “reimbursing” the salary of the corrections employee whose job is to monitor how the prison is run.

Who’s going to let a little sexual abuse, drug trafficking, or medical neglect in comparison get in the way of such a cash cow?  

In the second part of the expose (the amusingly alliterative, “Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns in Trouble”), NPR reveals how a small rural town was left on the verge of bankruptcy after GEO Group pulled out of a contract to run their detention center.  To avoid defaulting on the loan they took out to build the prison, the city has “raised property taxes, increased water and sewer fees, laid off workers and held off on buying a new police car.” 

Citizens of towns like Globe, Eloy, Sahuarita, and Benson would do well to study this report.  The story and even the actors may be uncomfortably familiar.  Here’s how it goes:

1.  A guy by the name of James Parkey comes to your town representing a company named Corplan
2. He makes a sales pitch to your Mayor and Council promising a brand-spanking new prison for immigrants, or state inmates, or inmates from another state that won’t cost you a cent to build.  The private operator will finance, construct, and operate the prison and pay off the costs with the money generated by the contracts they get to put inmates in the facility 
3. Your town elders, desperate for jobs and economic development sign on the dotted line
4. Everything is swell until you can’t find any inmates
5. The town is left scrambling to keep from defaulting on the bonds for the prison; the town’s credit rating is down graded making it hard for the town to borrow money for new schools or hospitals;  and drastic measures are taken like raising taxes, laying off workers, and putting off other important projects or purchases

Think it can’t happen here?  Prisoners aren’t as easy to come by as they once were.  Crime is down, and many cash-strapped states turn to sentencing reform to reduce prison populations and save money. 

In some cases, horrendous abuses and lawsuits against the prison corporations have led states to cancel contracts.  This is the case in Hawaii:  That state’s Governor has pledged to pull their prisoners out of a CCA prison in Eloy, Arizona after abuses and deaths in that company’s Saguaro Detention Center came to light.  CCA is currently the largest employer in Pinal County, and is most likely one of the bidders on those 5,000 new beds.     

It’s pretty clear that our state legislators are not listening to the warning signs.  Maybe it was those steak dinners that CCA paid for at the ALEC meeting or the donation checks they got during the last election cycle.  So, that means it’s up to the voters and taxpayers to get the facts and make our voices heard.  Private prisons aren’t good economic development.  They’re a short-sighted boondoggle that could leave our children on the hook for our leader’s poor decisions.

Yesterday, AFSC representatives gathered at the Capitol to deliver testimonies, along with pages and pages of independent research and published works that make the incontrovertible case against the practice of for-profit incarceration.  The event was covered by KPHO’s crack reporter, Morgan Loew.  Loew has long been a thorn in the side of for-profit prisons, exposing their influence-peddling in Arizona state government.

That same day, the Arizona Republic announced that several bills to impose oversight and reporting requirements on private prisons were effectively dead because the Chair of Judiciary refuses to allow them a hearing.

The Arizona Auditor General reports that Arizona is set to add 6,500 private beds at an estimated cost of $640 million through 2017.  This year, our corrections budget is over $1 billion, consuming 11% of the state general fund.

In the midst of a crippling budget crisis, as devastating cuts are continuing in the areas of health care and K-12 education, Arizona is poised to award more multi-million dollar contracts to these corporations with absolutely no guarantee that they save money or are safe for our communities.

In fact, a review of the available research data, from Arizona and nationally, presents compelling evidence to the contrary.

FACT: Private prisons in Arizona are not cheaper than public prisons. In fact, they cost more on average.  The Arizona Department of Corrections has done a cost comparison analysis every year since 2005, and the results are consistent.  The most recent of these, from 2009, shows that the State paid private prisons $55.89 for each medium-custody inmate per day compared to a daily cost of $48.13 per medium-custody inmate in state facilities. The State also paid private prisons slightly more for each minimum-custody prisoner.

FACT: Private Prisons are less safe. If the Kingman escapes did not prove this point sufficiently, there is a host of federal research data and published media accounts to verify it.  Private prison operators make their money through securing contracts with governments (county, state, federal) to house their prisoners.  These contracts go to the lowest bidder, so in order to make a profit, these corporations cut corners, most often in the areas of staff pay and training and Research and Development (R&D).  This results in facilities that are short staffed, with high turnover rates, and inexperienced staff.  This combination is a recipe for unsafe facilities.

FACT:  For-profit prison corporations are not accountable to the taxpayers of Arizona. While it can be very difficult to obtain information from state-run prisons, it is ultimately possible to do so because these are government institutions and thus are subject to laws requiring disclosure of public information.  However, private prison companies are not currently subject to the same laws, and therefore are immune to the normal checks and balances that protect people from abuse by such institutions.

This is particularly true in the case of prisons that do not contract with the state.  These prisons are accepting prisoners from other states and the federal government, yet are not required to report to local law enforcement or state entities who they are holding, what crimes they were convicted of, what their population numbers are, what their staffing levels are, or what programs they offer to prisoners.  They do not have to disclose their budgets or other financial matters.  They are not required to report disturbances or assaults.

This is precisely the problem that Representative Campbell is addressing in his bills.  These bills are perfectly in line with our recommendations for increased oversight and monitoring of private prisons, and we thank Rep. Campbell for his efforts.  To read the text of each bill, click on the number:

HB2298 General, Private Prison Monitoring

HB2299 Private Prisons; Regulation

HB2300 Private Prison Contractors; Public Records

HB2589 Legislative Hearings; Private Prison Escape

HB2590 Prisons; Security Monitoring Systems; Notification

Unfortunately, Senator Gould, Chair of Judiciary Committee was quoted as saying that he “did not believe these bills are necessary.”

So, just to be clear, Sen. Gould believes it is not necessary for you to know if a private prison is importing murderers or sex offenders into Arizona from other states.  Sen. Gould also believes it is not necessary for you to know if those inmates escape.  And, Sen. Gould believes it is not necessary for you to know whether or not the alarms work in a prison.

Sen. Gould represents a district that includes Kingman, site of the infamous prison operated by MTC from which three murders escaped last summer.  Of all people, you’d think he would understand the risks inherent in for-profit incarceration.  How on earth could he want to block legislation that simply holds these facilities to the same standards as other prisons?

We are left with two possible conclusions:

1.       That Se. Gould is so ideologically wedded to the idea of privatization that he is unable or unwilling to face reality, or;

2.      That, like Governor Brewer, he has been bought by the for-profit prison industry.

Recent media reports have revealed the influence of the for-profit prison industry in the Governor’s office and have suggested that these corporations were behind SB1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration bill, which, if fully implemented, would likely have led to an increase in the number of immigrants held in ICE detention facilities in Arizona, the majority of which are operated by Corrections Corporation of America.

For decades, for-profit prison interests (usually lobbyists) have contributed heavily to Arizona politicians.  Lobbyists and former employees of prison corporations have moved on to positions of power in Arizona where they have influence over decisions impacting the growth of prison populations, awarding of contracts, and other policy matters.  For example:

• Paul Senseman, Gov. Brewer’s Chief of Staff is a former lobbyist for CCA and his wife is currently lobbying for them
• Chuck Coughlin, the Governor’s campaign manager, runs a public relations firm that lobbies for CCA
• Mark Brnovich, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Privatization and Efficiency, served as a Senior Director of State and Customer Relations for Corrections Corporation of America from 2005-2006 and was a lobbyist for them in 2007

Dem blog AZ Blue Meanie has suggested that perhaps Sen. Gould has taken such a strident position because he, like the Governor, has been bought by the for-profit prison industry.  His district includes the city of Kingman, home of the infamous MTC prison.  You’d think of all people, he would know the risks involved in privatization by now.  Then again, maybe he’s been talking to MTC’s high-powered lobbyists.

AFSC has made all their research on the issue available via their webpage.  This includes the testimonies received for the public hearing on prison privatization held in Tucson on October 27, 2010.  There are links to national coverage, published reports, and government studies all showing that private prisons are more costly, less safe, and less accountable to taxpayers.

AFSC is making all of this public in an effort to encourage voters to do the due diligence on prison privatization that our lawmakers, like Sen. Gould, refuse to do.

If you are outraged by the actions of Sen. Gould, AFSC has also put out an action alert, encouraging people to contact the Senate President and Speaker of the house.  If you are interested in making your voice heard, please do so IMMEDIATELY.  The deadline for bills to be heard in committee is this FRIDAY, 2/18.

Only six months have passed since violent criminals escaped the private prison in Kingman, but our legislature has re-issued the request for proposals for a new private prison. Back in August of 2010, killers were literally on the loose while Arizona slept. Gary & Linda Haas were brutally murdered. Private prisons let that happen.

Perhaps our legislature thinks we’ve forgotten due to recent events. But it adds insult to injury to assume that Arizonans are uninterested about decisions affecting our safety.

In fact, Arizonans are saturated with law-and-order and tough-on-crime rhetoric. Gov. Brewer & Senator Pearce won their offices last election by touting SB 1070, even though In These Times and NPR revealed that the law was conceived in the right-wing belly of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), with influence from Corrections Corporation of America – a private company that houses immigrant detainees in Arizona.

But it seems our legislators are confused. The message surrounding SB 1070 was to discourage “criminals” from entering and staying in Arizona. However, the influence of private prison companies creates the exact opposite result: because these companies are paid per prisoner/day, they want to bring more criminals to Arizona and keep them here longer. Because land is cheap, private prison companies look at Arizona like England viewed Australia in the 1800′s – one big prison.

These corporations say they save states money, but they never guarantee it. In fact, the company’s profits/expense to the taxpayers can be increased by lockdowns, giving undeserved disciplinary tickets, resulting in loss of good-time credits. Also, because companies like CCA are involved in drafting laws, they can influence profits by supporting laws that create new crimes, and longer sentences. Cha-ching!

Legislators are galloping down this dangerous road, even though they’ve known for years that privatization will cost more and deplete our already devastated budget. Every year since 2005, our Dept. of Corrections has released an independent study comparing private and public prisons showing that some private prisons are actually more expensive than public prisons. In the 2009 criminal budget bill, there was a provision that required the state to split any savings generated with the for-profit operator! Clearly, some legislators are more interested in benefiting their corporate backers than with saving money.

Arizona laws provide that private prisons under contract with the state must notify the state of any transfers, and compensate any costs associated with escapes. Putting aside the fact that no one can ever fully compensate the people who loved Gary and Linda Haas, this is the only power Arizonans have over these companies. But CCA has six prisons in Arizona that are not under contract with the state, meaning they are not subject to even those modest regulations.

Our state government is putting our lives in danger by handing control of our prisons to the lowest bidder. Corners were cut in Kingman: maximum security prisoners were housed with medium and minimum, the alarms didn’t work, and there weren’t enough guards to watch the entire prison.  Hours elapsed before Management and Training Corporation (MTC) notified the state of the escapes. The public wasn’t warned for over twelve hours.

Arizona needs to decide whether we want to reduce crime, or turn our state into the Botany Bay of America. If we get serious about crime prevention and education, we won’t need to expand our prisons… indeed, we may shrink them, save money, and make Arizona safer for everyone.

Arizona’s not the only place where shills for the private prison corporations get appointed to positions of power.  Despite a vigorous opposition campaign, the US Senate recently appointed Stacia Hylton as the head of the US Marshals Service.  The Marshals Service handles security for federal courthouses, apprehends federal fugitives, and also oversees the detention of federal prisoners awaiting trial or immigration proceedings.  Many of these detention centers are run by for-profit prison corporations like CCA and GEO Group. 

The opposition campaign against Hylton’s nomination focused on conflicts of interest based on her acceptance of $112,500 in consulting fees from GEO Group, the nation’s second-largest private prison company, which has contracts with the U.S. Marshals to house federal detainees, and which obtained multi-million dollar contracts during Hylton’s tenure as the Federal Detention Trustee.

A month before she retired from her position as the Federal Detention Trustee in February 2010, Hylton formed a consulting company in Virginia. Following her retirement, her company (of which she is the sole owner) quickly accepted consulting work with GEO in regard to detention services and was paid $112,500. 

For more information on the objections raised by the opposition coalition, visit Prison Legal News to view their press release on the issue:  https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/350_displayNews.aspx

The situation is echoed here in AZ by Chuck Coughlin’s appointment as a senior advisor to Governor Brewer.  Coughlin owns HighGround Public Affairs Consulting, a lobbying firm that represents about 20 clients, including Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).  The relationship raised serious questions about Coughlin’s role in Brewer’s decision to sign SB 1070, which will, if fully implemented, send thousands of immigrants to detention centers run by CCA.

But the influence peddling doesn’t stop there.  KPHO’s Morgan Loew reported in November that:

…HighGround’s client list nearly doubled after Brewer ascended to the governor’s office and brought Coughlin on board.

In addition, nearly one dozen former employees of Coughlin’s clients now have positions on boards and appointments to state government positions.

The list includes Mark Brnovich, who is the director of the state Gaming Department and the chairman of the Commission on Privatization and Efficiency. Brnovich is a former senior director at Corrections Corporation of America, which is a HighGround client.

Sherry Henry is the director of the state Office of Tourism. She’s a former hospitality manager with the Fiesta Bowl, which is a HighGround client.

Eileen Klein is the governor’s chief of staff. She’s the former chief operating officer of Physician’s IPA of United Healthcare, another HighGround client.

Richard Bark is the governor’s deputy chief of staff for policy. He’s a former attorney with the law firm of Gallagher and Kennedy, which is a HighGround client.

A lawsuit brought on behalf of 18 Hawaiian prisoners held in Corrections Corporation of America’s Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy charges that guards stripped, beat, and kicked the prisoners and threatened to kill them in retaliation for a prison disturbance over the summer that injured a CCA employee.

The guards beat the prisoners in order to coerce statements from them.  The guards beat their heads against tables while they were stripped to their underwear with their hands cuffed behind their backs.  CCA staff, including the Warden of the facility, threatened the prisoners and their families.  The Warden reportedly told them he would add time to their sentences if they did not cooperate. 

The suit also alleges that the CCA administrators and guards destroyed evidence of the beatings, including videotapes, and deliberately falsified reports to cover the incident up.  The prisoners were also denied prompt medical treatment for their injuries in an effort to conceal evidence of the abuse.

An article in the Honolulu Courthouse News provides the shocking details:

“Plaintiffs were threatened with harm to themselves and their families, including through such statements as:

     “a. ‘We have your emergency contact information;’

     “b. ‘We know who your family is and where they live and we are going to harm them;’

     “c. ‘We are going to kill you;’

     “d. ‘We will continue to beat you and the only way to stop that is to commit suicide;’

     “e. ‘We will send you to hell;’

     “f. ‘We will stick something up your ass.’

The Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, has pledged to do everything in his power to bring all Hawaiian prisoners back to the islands and out of CCA and other private prisons on the mainland. 

Meanwhile, here in Arizona, state legislative leaders are pledging to do everything they can to put more of our prisoners in these facilities.  Representative Nancy McLain, who represents Mohave County, where the Kingman prison is located, said she’s all for allowing for-profit corporations to run our prisons:  “I’m still in favor of private prisons, and the escape at the Kingman prison doesn’t change that,” she said.

When Russell Pearce brought his Senate Bill 1070 to an ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) meeting it was made into model legislation, and now this model legislation has turned up in Tennessee–the home state of Corrections Corporation of America.

According to an article in The Tennessean, the bill, sponsored by Senator Bill Ketron, would make it a state crime to be in the country illegally, as well as give police the power to question and detain ‘suspicious’ people. While CCA denies taking a stance on any immigration bills it is clear that they stand to benefit, and the company has certainly taken an interest in Tennessean politics:

Campaign finance records shows that CCA, its officers and their families contributed more than $95,000 to campaigns in the state this past election cycle. The company also had five lobbyists on its payroll working at the Tennessee legislature this year. CCA earns as much as 12 percent of its revenue from contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ALEC provides a direct link to these legislators with an interest in ‘public-private partnerships’.  Six members from the Tennessee House of Representatives attended ALEC’s conference in San Diego this year at a cost of $15,000.

Read more about Tennessee, CCA, and ALEC, at The Tennessean website.

Where will 1070 end up next?

Governor Jan Brewer’s Commission on Privatization and Efficiency (COPE) announced it will be releasing a report recommending increased use of private prisons in Arizona as a way to address the budget crisis.

That’s right, a group of people handpicked by the Governor, whose top advisors are lobbyists for the for-profit prison industry, just recommended that we give more of our tax money to private prison companies.

And who are the “experts” the Governor has chosen for the task?

The Chair of the Commission is Mark Brnovich.  Mr. Brnovich served as a Senior Director of State and Customer Relations for Corrections Corporation of America from 2005-2006 and was a lobbyist for them in 2007.

Also on the Commission are Robert Burns, outgoing President of the Senate, and Kirk Adams, Speaker of the House.  Between 2008 and 2010, Adams received multiple campaign contributions from individuals associated with the GEO Group, and one donation from a person associated with CCA.

Burns is the Arizona Public Sector Chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and oversees ALEC’s Scholarship Fund, which “reimburses” legislators for the travel expenses incurred in attending ALEC’s events.  At these events, the legislators are wined and dined by corporate lobbyists and are given a sales pitch on ALEC’s “model legislation,” such as SB1070.

Many of these same corporations make huge donations to the Scholarship Fund.  This is how ALEC is able to disburse on average over a million dollars in travel, lodging and other expenses annually to state lawmakers, while simultaneously reporting zero expenditures for “payments of travel or entertainment expenses for any federal, state, or local public officials.”  The donors to the Scholarship Fund are likewise able to remain anonymous and do not have to report this money as gifts to elected officials.  Is it just me, or does this smell a lot like money laundering?

For more background on ALEC, see Beau Hodai’s piece for In These Times and the two-part series from NPR’s Laura Sullivan on ALEC’s ties to CCA and its influence on Arizona legislation.

Yet another member of the Commission is Glenn Hamer, President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  Corrections Corporation of America is listed as a corporate member of the Arizona Chamber at the “Board Level.”  According to the Chamber’s website, “Corporate membership provides varying levels of packaged benefits for membership within the Arizona Chamber.”  The Board Level requires dues and other fees upwards of $10,000.  This payoff entitles the corporation “higher levels of participation” and access to Chamber events.

It should be no surprise to anyone that this commission’s recommendations are to privatize everything.  Its members are clearly beholden to these industries and have personally profited from them.

What is shocking is that anyone in the state of Arizona would take their recommendations seriously or view them as anything but a thinly veiled attempt to further enrich themselves and their corporate sponsors.  The people of this state should be outraged that Brewer, Adams, Burns and their ilk would have the audacity to throw away millions more of our scarce tax dollars on an industry that has failed so spectacularly.

On November 17th a legislative committee led by Rep. Cecil Ash gathered to discuss options for sentencing reforms, and to hear a report and recommendations by the Auditor General.

Despite testimony heard by the legislative committee, and the best practices of numerous other states, Senator Ron Gould, the new Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vowed that he will block any sentencing reform bill that comes before his committee:

“That’s something that will never be heard in the Judiciary Committee this year,” Gould said. “Citizens would be aghast if they heard we reduced penalties because of budget-related issues.” (“Gould jeopardizes sentencing reform; says he won’t hear bills,” Arizona Guardian, 11/15/10) 

Obviously, Sen. Gould has not been paying attention:  Sentencing reform is about basic fairness, public safety, AND a balanced budget.   Arizona is way out of step on this issue.  Our penalties are some of the harshest in the nation, our incarceration rate is the 6^th highest, and our prisons are overcrowded.  Apparently all this is news to Sen. Gould, who said he hadn’t read the auditor general’s report, which was released Oct. 1.” (Associated Press) 

And, in case Sen. Gould hasn’t noticed, our state is deeply in the red and making cuts to many critical state agencies.  The bloated corrections budget was about $1 billion this year, eating up 11% of the state’s General Fund.  Why should Corrections be spared cuts while education, healthcare, and social services get slashed? 

 Does Gould want to deny organ transplants to poor people just so we can keep nonviolent offenders in prison?  Now that’s something that should make citizens aghast.

Please call, email, or fax the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Ron Gould, and tell him to give sentencing bills a fair hearing.

rgould@azleg.gov

Toll-free phone number to reach any state representative or senator:  1-800-352-8404. Press #3 for the Senate.  Then just ask the operator to connect you to the office of the person you want to talk to.

Tell Him Arizona Needs Sentencing Reform Because:

• Arizona has the highest incarceration rate of western states. Our prisons are overcrowded, creating dangerous conditions for prisoners and staff. 
• Arizona should spend what little money it has on interventions that reduce crime, are cost effective, and increase public safety.  Despite our high incarceration rate, Arizona has one of the highest crime rates in the country and a recidivism rate that is an embarrassment.  It’s time to try something new.
• Many other states have enacted research-based sentencing reforms that save millions and IMPROVE public safety by reducing recidivism.
• Arizona taxpayers cannot afford to keep expanding our prison system.  We spent $1 billion on corrections this year.  Corrections eat up 11% of our general fund.  Meanwhile, our state budget crisis is forcing school closures, massive cuts to healthcare and social services, and job losses at the county and state level.