Comments on: 5,000 More Private Prison Beds for Arizona?

By: ohohmrbill

ohohmrbill — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:48:35 +0000

Why educate when you can incarcerate. The future police state of Arizona.

By: correctional officer

correctional officer — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:31:02 +0000

I work at the female prison near Goodyear and can say that this governer and the current prison director Ryan are both for private prisons. They have been trying to sell off parts of the state prisons to their private company and do plan to create criminals to fill the beds. Some of the inmates at Kingman are murderers and violent felons. Their custody levels were lowered by the previous director and governer to give to the private prison. Director Ryan has done nothing but try to punish the rest of the prisons in the state by creating extra work for us. We are already suffering from budget cuts, lack of maintanence, shortage of staff, recently officer rotations which compromised the integrity of the staff and their control over the inmates. Last year Ryan took our 2.75 percent performance pay away from us that the federal government gave to us as an incentive to work a difficult job. After Brewer ws elected into office she kept Ryan as director and slapped us in the face with a payraise. Moral and the willingness to perform our duties is slipping away, because when something happens at any prison in this state all officers feel we are being punished with more workload and responsibilty placed on our shoulders. Any officer who knows Ryan also knows he can’t effectively run a prison system properly, he is also known for his temper tantrums, lack of respect for the officers and public safety. OSHA would have a field day with the current living and working conditions of the state prisons. Brewer and Ryan refuse to fix the state prison system. I know that if they get more private prisons running in this state they will end up failing and more potentional escapes will happen. They have mismanaged the prison system for the cause of privatizing the prisons and the profits involved.

By: greymatters

greymatters — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:04:46 +0000

Our prisons have turned into our mental health facilities. If the budget continues to be slashed to our state’s most vulnerable, prison populations will continue to escalate. Why not sink some of this money into treatment facilities instead of punishing people with brain disorders? Just think of all the money we would save…..not just in prison populations, but in emergency room visits and intensive care for more and more of our residents who are falling through the cracks.

By: Uncle Genie

Uncle Genie — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:15:09 +0000

As I am only a seasonal migratory resident of Tucson (snowbirdus coloradensis) I comment with humility and deference to the citizens of this wonderful state. Nonetheless, I am compelled to point out what I believe to be the overriding flawed assumption in the logic of your essay as you begin the second paragraph, “Perhaps the legislature thinks….”
I speak from the perspective of having noted similar problems in my home state’s government at times.
The major difference between private business and government is this: business, by definition, is to create profit for its owners; government, by definition, is to provide services to its citizens.
Another significant difference: government is controlled by its citizens, through elections.
Finally, a similarity: both are staffed and operated by the exact same imperfect race, human beings. We, in any state of the union, simply have to decide which model is more likely to keep our best interests in mind.