The Quaker nonprofit American Friends Service Committee is asking Gov. Doug Ducey to stop negotiations with the for-profit prison company that runs the state prison in Kingman—you know, where there was a riot last week.

After several days of craziness, nine prison staff and seven inmates were injured. The facility is so beat up, that roughly 1,000 people had to be moved out of the place. In response, Ducey called for an investigation into what happened, saying residents need to ensure stuff is in order within private and state-run prisons.

Mind you, this is the same prison where three inmates escaped and killed two people in 2010.

Still, in a few weeks, Ducey and Management and Training Corporation—which operates the prison in Kingman—and other prison gurus are going to discuss contracts to manage thousands of additional prison beds. The committee is calling on Ducey to suspend the talks, at least until the investigation into the riot clears up.

“None of these companies deserve another multi-million dollar 20-year contract,” Caroline Isaacs, the committee’s program director says in a statement. The group works to reduce the prison population and improve conditions for those who are incarcerated. “Problems like riots, assaults, and escapes are inherent in the business model of for-profit incarceration. These corporations’ first priority is to make money, and public safety comes second. The way to win contracts is to be the lowest bidder. Yet, these companies also need to make a profit. The result is cutting corners, usually on staff pay and training.”

Isaacs says the sate’s for-profit prisons have chronic issues with mismanagement and inexperienced staff. The only way to make sure the issues are addressed is to cancel the bidding process for new prison beds and do a full review of all contracts, she adds. 

From the committee’s press release:

In 2013, the state legislature repealed a statute that previously required the Department of Corrections to conduct cost and quality comparisons of public and private prisons. This and other oversight measures might have prevented this latest tragedy.
The riots in the MTC prison represent more than a costly blunder—they are a betrayal of the public’s trust. Our state leaders have handed over control of this critical public safety function to corporations that put their shareholder’s interests ahead of ours. We cannot afford to make this mistake again.

Arizona House Democratic Leader Eric Meyer issued this statement. He really wonders whether Ducey will fix any glitches there are in the system, since his campaign “received more than $10,000 in contribution from lobbyists and political committees with ties to the private prison industry.”

In 2012, Republicans repealed a state law requiring a comparison of state and private prisons every two years to ensure that private prisons provide the same quality of services as state prisons at a lower cost. Although this official comparison is no longer available, the multitude of security breaches paints a dire picture. Despite these public safety issues, Republicans passed a budget this year that will spend millions of tax dollars on 1,000 new private-prison beds in 2016 and potentially 1,000 more in 2017.

The for-profit, private prison system is not working, and I question the governor’s ability to reform this system when his campaign received more than $10,000 in contributions from lobbyists and political committees with ties to the private prison industry. This seems like a conflict of interest and presents some serious concerns about both safety and responsible use of taxpayer money.

The state Legislature/Ducey budget butchered funding for education, but gave the Arizona Department of Corrections an additional $39 million.

This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2015.

I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I moved to Tucson about 10 years ago. Since I was old enough to enjoy reading, I developed an interest in writing, and telling stories through different...

11 replies on “Hey Ducey: Arizona’s Prison System Ain’t Working, Don’t Give It More Money (Especially After the Kingman Riot)”

  1. You are worried about the responsible use of taxpayer money? That’s a laugh. When it’s your pet project you would spend us down the river without giving it a second thought.

  2. Typical tea party right wing actions. If independent studies show your ideology base policies are nonsense, don’t change policy, surpress the data. Economic data shows tax cut policies don’t inspire ED, Fire the economist reporting same. Data shows charter schools waste money, divert public funds to for profits, demand parent contributions to teacher improvement funds, and do no better than regular public schools, don’t require any data or surpress the data. Data shows guns are significant public health issue, don’t allow public health data to be collected. Data shows private prisons don’t actually save money and are significantly worse at public safety, don’t collect any data, and in fact, outlaw data collection. Pattern there much?

  3. Let’s not forget it was the private prison industry that helped Russell Pearce write SB1070. The prison healthcare system is privitized too. It’s an ugly system all the way around, thus there’s no doubt AZ legislators would embrace it with no oversight. All their talk about human life is just that. Like Eric Meyer said, campaign money is the real goal of their legislation. All else be damned.
    (And Francis, great comment. There is a pattern.)

  4. Don’t like immigration laws, create sanctuary cities where illegals roam the streets killing innocent Americans and complain about prisons.

    It’s a mental disorder.

  6. This is called Tucson Weekly right? then shut your mouth about Kingman and Ducey . Your biased journalism is ridiculous. TUCSON is where the news is about. Not about left or right wing personal opinions. Only the things that benefit TUCSON should be written. Responsible journalism

  7. If Ducey can be bought for $10,000, then AZ messed up electing a puppet for the so called “corrections” department. Surely, there was more greasing of the palms by the profiteering private prison industry. Go to the root of this pathetic method of protecting the public – the laws and the associated sentencing by prosecuting attorneys. I do not know why we have judges, 90 percent of the sentences are plea agreements. Mandatory minimums and truth in sentencing are the private prisons best friends. There are alternatives to incarceration. This state is the sucker for the prison industry and the AZ taxpayers are the true victims. The nonviolent, victimless crimes could be addressed by probation and behavior modification. Correction should not mean lock up in all cases. The Governor needs a new Corrections director, and Ryan needs to be replaced. Ryan is giving Ducey bum advice, and Ducey should consult with politicians like Steve Pierce and maybe a few Democrats.

  8. More illegals commit murder in Maryland. MS 13 gang members and previous deportees. The President’s failures are killing fellow Americans.

    Who cares if we have prisons. Let them roam the streets like animals looking for prey.

  9. Rat T says: “Who cares if we have prisons. Let them roam the streets like animals looking for prey.”

    Management and Training Corporation has that trademarked.

  10. Why are Republicans so scared to know the alleged cost effectiveness of private prisons?

    “The Legislature in 2012 repealed the law that required the Corrections Department to conduct a state and private cost comparison, which had occurred since fiscal 1995.”

Comments are closed.