Yesterday, the state legislature approved a compromise budget they negotiated with the Governor. 

The budget agreement would:

• Fund 500 state-run maximum security prison beds we don’t need
• Fund 1,000 private prison beds we don’t need
• Pay for these prison beds by stealing $50 million from a mortgage settlement that was intended to provide relief for victims of the foreclosure crisis
• Remove the requirement to study the quality and cost of public vs. private prisons

In his defense of her “d...

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This week The Nation features an editorial focused on the folly of private prisons in our infamous state of Arizona.  Sasha Abramsky, who has written extensively on criminal justice and prison privatization issues, exposes the hypocrisy of our legislators:  They say they want to save money and keep the public safe, but when faced with overwhelming evidence that our private prisons do neither of these things, their response is to eliminate the evidence.  Once again, Arizona is a national embar...

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In an unprecedented move, the American Friends Service Committee has filed a protest with the State Procurement Office over the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the Department of Corrections for 2,000 private, for-profit prison beds.

The AFSC was joined by the NAACP of Maricopa County in filing the protest.

The protest letter, sent to the Department of Corrections’ Chief Procurement Officer as well as the head of the Arizona State Procurement Office, argues that the state of Arizona does ...

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 In the midst of a statewide controversy over private prisons, the Arizona State Legislature’s budget bill released last week eliminates the requirement for a cost and quality review of private prison contracts.  The move would ensure that the public would have no way of knowing whether the state’s private prisons are saving money, rehabilitating prisoners, or ensuring public safety.

The state recently came under fire for not complying with state statute requiring a quality comparison re...

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Yesterday, the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that has been advocating against prison privatization in Arizona, released an extensive report reviewing the safety, quality, and cost of private prisons in Arizona—including 6 prisons operated by Corrections Corporation of America that do not contract with the state.  The report, Private Prisons:  The Public’s Problem,  is the first of its kind to be completed in Arizona, and reveals widespread and persistent problems ...

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By Guest Blogger Penny Pestle, ppestle@cox.net

Years and sometimes decades after ignoring safe and cost-effective sentencing reform in states across the country, Arizona’s politicians and prosecutors are afraid…very afraid.  They fear changes they should have made a long time ago.

Last year, Judiciary chairs Rep. Farnworth and Sen. Gould out-and-out refused to allow any sentencing reform bills to be heard in their committees. It’s the legislative equivalent of sticking your...

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It’s been a hot summer in Arizona, but there were a lot of private prison corporate executives whose pants were on fire over the past two weeks.  On the plus side, our crop yields will set records this year due to the amount of b.s. that we just got showered with. 

Over the past two weeks, the Arizona Dept. of Corrections (ADC) conducted public hearings on proposed private prisons in 5 Arizona towns:  Eloy, Goodyear, Winslow, San Luis/Yuma, and Coolidge.  At each hearing, the ADC gave a pr...

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The Arizona Department of Corrections has given a green light to four private, for-profit correctional management corporations for the construction and management of an additional 5,000 state prison beds.

The Department of Corrections will be holding public hearings in each of the towns under consideration for a new prison or prisons.  The public is encouraged to attend and voice their concerns about having a private prison as a neighbor. 

Here is the schedule of the hearings:

1.   Eloy:  ...

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Much has been made of Governor Brewer’s intimate ties to Corrections Corporation of America.  Her Chief of Staff, Paul Senseman, is a former CCA lobbyist, and his wife is currently a lobbyist for the company.  Brewer’s campaign manager and senior policy advisor, Chuck Coughlin, runs a consulting firm that also lobbies for CCA in Arizona.  Brewer accepted a total of $60,000 in contributions from people associated with CCA for her campaign and the tax increase initiative that she was pushin...

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The Arizona Department of Corrections has given a green light to four private, for-profit correctional management corporations for the construction and management of an additional 5,000 state prison beds.

The American Friends Service Committee condemns this action as unnecessary and deeply irresponsible given the state’s economic crisis and the dismal safety records of all four of the corporations involved.

Arizona’s Auditor General estimates this expansion will cost us over $640 million by ...

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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 Counc...

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