When I retired from corrections in April 2010, I proclaimed I had a message about how our state government was misusing and abusing the prison system in Arizona for their own selfish opportunities and profit. Spending 25 years in the New Mexico and Arizona Department of Corrections, I wrote several books about the corruption, the mismanagement and the flaws of systemic and human errors within the agency and nobody neither listened nor cared about the truth inside our state prisons. I am sure that today, two years later, after seeing the budge expand beyond the $ 1.1 billion dollar mark, taxpayers are very frustrated and wanting to take back their government from some of these unelected bureaucrats’ that have been making the decisions how we spend taxpayers money lately in all government spending and not just prisons.
The answer to this matter is quite simple, we must hold our governor and state leaders accountable for how prisons are operated, managed and how the budget is used to maintain sound prison operations and services. In fact, the answer has been there all along but ignored by those in power to make this change and work actively to reduce prison spending, prison expansion and prison population while reducing the recidivism rate of prisoners going back into prisons by enhancing the parole officer’s ability to make better decisions regarding technical violations and returning them back to prison to serve their term inside the razor wire making it much more expensive than keeping them under supervision within our communities
Since my retirement, the prison population has shrunk but the budget has increased; the number of staff or correctional officers assigned has diminished and the number of deaths assaults and medically related lawsuits have increased. In fact, a recent contract bid for more prison beds has been approved although it has already been proven that private prisons don’t save us any money and our prison system is not being managed effectively as there are empty beds within the state system today. Common sense has not prevailed and greed has won another round in the Capitol building.
Today, we read in the newspapers from people or community leaders who have been ignored or abused by this state government. Government has not only harassed and aggravated these people but has threatened them harm either directly or indirectly through family members who speak out. . Hopefully, we can agree to take our state government back from the unelected bureaucrats and return the decision making process back to a democratic system that is willing to listen to both sides, pro and con before making final decisions.
Today you will hear stories that will chill you to the bone. Lawsuits are filed dozens at a time and large organizations have elected to cure Arizona of its prison woes by going out and educate the people how prisons are being run, funded and the motive behind the scenes to make the rich richer and the powerful more powerful.
Nobody wants to admit the government is failing in their public safety or prison management. The governor has ignored the media and public organizational pleas for reforms and investigations into the prison business deals as well as operational decision making. My biggest surprise is the fact that nobody from the Attorney General to the Justice Department wants to get their hands dirty by investigating this agency thus making a silent statement of endorsing such prison practices and systemic flaws.
I cannot believe that after all that has been written and all the testimony or documentation provided by reputable individuals or organizations, nobody is angered, upset or outraged if not dismayed what our state government has become in Arizona. Every day, people in our communities read about the tragedies, the horrific prison conditions, poor medical and mental health care and turn their heads away while closing their eyes to the truth. One must assume that none of these individuals have any family members locked up or they just don’t care.
Many are just afraid to make noise and break the silence. Others are embracing the hate, the malfeasance and injecting their own brand of justice thinking this is the only way to run prisons, cruel and harsh with toxic results to many families.
Constituents are people and many people in Arizona have relatives inside this huge prison system. Many are lawful residents of this state and belong to that class of people who are paying excessive costs for maintaining their prisons in the same manner that brought California taxpayers and elected bureaucrats to their knees because of the excessive costs of prison and those services associated with mass incarceration methods.
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