Arizona Department of Corrections

Christina Black, Convicted of Killing Grandma With a Piece of Fruit, Kills Herself in Prison

The Arizona Department of Corrections says convicted murderer Christina Black apparently killed herself on Tuesday.Black, a 52-year-old former Apache Junction resident, had been in prison since 1999, when she was sentenced to life after fessing up to murdering her grandmother with a piece of fruit.

Richard Glassel, Death Row Inmate, Dies From "Natural Causes" at Age 74

After waiting around in prison for nine years, death-row inmate Richard Glassel died from "apparent natural causes" at the age of 74, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.Glassel killed two people and injured three when he opened fire at a board of directors meeting for a retirement co ... More >>

Erasmo Ledezma, Ex-Con Released Early From Prison, Murdered on Thanksgiving Day by Unknown Attacker

Erasmo Ledezma, a 26-year-old Phoenix scofflaw, might have felt hope on the day he was released from prison last year after having served four years for theft. Though he'd been convicted of theft, Department of Corrections records show he'd been released a couple of years early in a 2004 program se ... More >>

Department of Corrections Worker Mad at Wife Rammed Unrelated Vehicle Full of Kids on I-10

An Arizona Department of Corrections worker is accused of ramming into an SUV with six passengers -- five of them kids -- on Interstate 10 last week, causing some of the children to be ejected from the vehicle.The reason 35-year-old Ricardo Castro allegedly ran into this SUV on November 20 was that ... More >>

Dylan Escalanti Has Tattoos for Eyebrows, and Allegedly Beat a Woman With a Frying Pan

Believe it or not, the man pictured to our right is accused of committing a crime.Specifically, the Yuma County Sheriff's Office says Dylan Escalanti allegedly beat a woman with a frying pan.

Tucson Prisoner Stole a Truck and Tried to Escape, but He Just Ran Into a Fence

Convicted murderer Jimmy Odom's attempted escape from a Tucson prison today was pretty lame.Odom's plan, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections, was to beat up a contracted worker who was driving a delivery truck into the prison, steal the truck, and drive to freedom by running down seve ... More >>

ACLU Files Big Class-Action Lawsuit Against State of Arizona Prison System

The American Civil Liberties Union (and other public-service organizations and law firms) filed a monumental class-action lawsuit within the hour on behalf of 14 prisoners against the Arizona Department of Corrections and its current direct, Charles Ryan. ​The 78-page complaint was fi ... More >>

Border Agent, Corrections Officer Charged With Helping Traffickers Smuggle Drugs Into U.S.

​A U.S. Border Patrol agent and a corrections officer with the Arizona Department of Correction were arrested yesterday on charges that they helped a drug trafficking organization (DTO) smuggle drugs into the United States.Ivhan Herrera-Chiang, 29, a U.S. Border Patrol agent stationed in Yuma, and ... More >>

Former DOC Officer Anthony Rinaldi Says He "Snapped" Before Shooting Wife. Then "Military Training Kicked in"

MCSOAnthony Rinaldi​"She is definitely dead -- I put two to the chest and one to the head."That's what Anthony Rinaldi -- now a former Department of Corrections officer -- told a Department of Public Safety officer last night, less than 30 minutes after fatally shooting his wife, 28-year-old Amand ... More >>

Another DOC Inmate Steals Car, Escapes Custody

​For the second time in just over a year, an Arizona prison inmate has stolen a car and escaped custody.The latest con to escape the clutches of the Arizona Department of Corrections: 40-year-old Dyan Castorena.According to the DOC, Castorena was was working at the Manheim Auto Auction in Tolleson ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Susan Brock Not Playing Nice in Prison; Gets First Disciplinary Infraction Four Months into 13-Year Sentence

ADC Four months into her 13-year prison sentence, and Susan Brock has already earned her first ADC disciplinary infraction.​The same day this week's New Times cover story, "Brocked Up," hit newsstands across the Valley, it was brought to our attention that the (ahem) star of the story, Susa ... More >>

Arizona Prison Inmate Hit by Truck on I-10, in "Extremely" Serious Condition

​The Arizona Department of Corrections has shut down the westbound I-10 at the Marana exit after a prison inmate was hit by a truck this morning.DPS spokesman Bart Graves says the inmate is in extremely serious condition.Department of Corrections officials would not yet identify the inmate when as ... More >>

Arizona Prison Inmate Hit by Truck Identified as Cary Allan, Serving 27-Month Sentence for Check Fraud

Arizona Department of Corrections Cary Allan​The Arizona prison inmate hit by a truck this morning has been identified as 47-year-old Cary Allan -- and yesterday just happened to be his birthday.A repeat customer of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Allan's current prison stint is a 27 ... More >>

Reports of DMX Smuggling Drugs into Prison are False, According to the Arizona Department of Corrections

DMX​Despite some media reports to the contrary, DMX did not "smuggle drugs" into prison, according to both a representative for DMX and a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections. Though the public inmate record for DMX (real name: Earl Simmons) shows a disciplinary infraction on June ... More >>

Richard Bible, Kid-Killing Child Molester, Dead. State Executes Murderer on Death Row for More Than 20 Years

Arizona Department of CorrectionsKid-killing child molester Richard Bible is no more.​Arizona Department of Corrections officials confirm to New Times that kid-killing child molester Richard Bible has been executed.Bible, DOC spokesman Barrett Marson says, was pronounced dead at 11:11 a.m.Bible wa ... More >>

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution for Arizona Kid-Killing Child Molester Richard Bible

Arizona Department of CorrectionsKid-killing child molester Richard Bible is scheduled to die manana.​Kid-killing child molester Richard Lynn Bible is running out of time. He's set to be put to death tomorrow for murdering a 9-year-old girl, and today, the United States Supreme Court denied him a ... More >>

Cronkite News Service Corrects Story on Sentencing Guidelines; Ex-Inmate Wasn't Good Example for Reform

  Image: Arizona Department of Corrections The Cronkite News Service issued a lengthy correction to an article that featured ex-inmate Candita Gottsponer (above) as a poster child for sentencing reform.​The Cronkite News Service issued a lengthy correction to a students' article about ... More >>

Executed Murderer Eric King's Last Meal: Catfish, Collard Greens, and Corn Bread

Catfish, collard greens, and cornbread: yum.​If there's one good thing about getting executed, it's the food.Eric John King was put to death this morning for the 1989 murders of two men at a Phoenix convenience store -- but he didn't die hungry.According to the Arizona Department of Correcti ... More >>

Brenda Todd's Death: Did Arizona Department of Corrections Personnel Ignore Her Cries for Help?

Arizona prison inmate Brenda Todd, who died in ADC custody January 21Like most death announcements from the Arizona Department of Corrections, the one for Brenda Todd, who died January 21 in custody at Goodyear's Perryville Prison, is spare and unemotional.It relates that Todd, 44, was found unrespo ... More >>

DMX Moved to Mental-Health Unit at Arizona State Prison Complex

Arizona Department of Corrections Rapper DMX​Rapper Earl Simmons, better known as DMX, is housed in a mental-health unit at an Arizona State Prison Complex facility called Alhambra near 25th street and Van Buren.DMX was sentenced to a year in jail (minus 113 days served) on December 16 ... More >>

Arizona Prison Escapees: Mohave County Bills Prison for Capture Efforts

Tracy Province (left) and John McCluskey​When inmates escape from prison, mobilizing thousands of people to track down the escapees costs money, and Mohave County, apparently, doesn't want to pick up the tab for its part in fixing the prison's blunder.You may recall, three inmates escaped from the ... More >>

Last Meal: Local Artists and Scenesters Pick Out What They'd Eat For Their Final Feasts

Wikimedia Commons What would you pick for your last meal?​It's estimated that the average human will consume more than 85,000 meals in his or her lifetime. And some are inevitably more important or memorable than others (such as Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners, wedding feasts, or at impor ... More >>

Phoenix Mom Gets 1.75 Years for Sending Teens to Rough Up Ex-Boyfriend

  Image: Arizona Department of Corrections Katherine Faye White received 1.75 years in prison after sending a group of teens to rough up her ex-boyfriend.​A Phoenix woman who sent her daughter and other teens to rough up her ex-boyfriend has been sentenced to 1.75 years in prison ... More >>

Marcia Powell Cage Death: County Attorney Releases ADC PowerPoint, Internal ADC Investigation Not Reviewed by CA

Marcia Powell, whose death remains unavengedThe Maricopa County Attorney's Office did not review a 3,000 page internal Arizona Department of Corrections investigation into the 2009 cage death of Perryville Prison inmate Marcia Powell.The County Attorney's office last week declined to prosecute anyon ... More >>

Marcia Powell's Death Unavenged: County Attorney Passes on Prosecuting Prison Staff

Sadly, Marcia Powell may never get justiceThe Maricopa County Attorney's Office has chosen not to prosecute Arizona Department of Corrections staff in the death of inmate Marcia Powell.Powell, 48, died May 20, 2009, after being kept in a human cage in Goodyear's Perryville Prison for at le ... More >>

Escaped Arizona Prison Inmate Busted; Second Escapee and Fiancee/ Cousin Still on the Loose

Tracy Province (left) was arrested this morning. John McCluskey, and his accomplice, are still at large ​Officials at the Arizona Department of Corrections confirmed this morning that one of the two Arizona prison inmates, who escaped from a privately-run prison near Kingman on July 30, has been c ... More >>

Two Arizona Prison Inmates Commit Suicide in One Weekend

​The Arizona Department of Corrections media relations department has had a busy few days. Last week, there was an apparent shanking, which left one inmate dead. Within minutes of relaying that news to media outlets, prison officials were charged with explaining to the public how a different inmat ... More >>

Convicted Child Molester Reportedly Commits Suicide at Arizona State Prison

Arizona Department of Corrections Monte McCarty​A man serving a life sentence for sex crimes was found dead of an apparent suicide at the Arizona State Prison Complex at Florence on Saturday.The inmate has been identified as 47-year-old Monte McCarty. Police say McCarty was pronounced dead ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, October 15, 2009

Arizona’s Shameless About the Cage Death of Marcia Powell

Marcia Powell's Autopsy Report Rules Cage Death in ADC Custody an "Accident"

Marcia Powell, who died in ADC custody May 20 The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office has released the autopsy report and toxicology results for Marcia Powell, the 48-year-old woman who died May 20 after being confined to a human cage at Perryville Prison in Goodyear for some four h ... More >>

Canadian Newspaper Retraces How Local Murderer was Spared Death Penalty in Mean, Old Arizona

Image: Arizona Department of Corrections Ten years ago, a team of Canadian defense lawyers and diplomats pressed then-Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley to spare the life of a man convicted of murdering an elderly Valley woman. Romley relented, deciding not to seek the death penalty again ... More >>

Glendale Man Takes Bus to Virginia to Have Sex With Online Contact, Cops Say; Person He Thought Was 13-Year-Old Girl Really State Cop

  Image: Arizona Department of CorrectionsAn ex-con from Glendale took a bus to Chesapeake, Virginia this week to meet (and hopefully have sex with) a 13-year-old girl he met online, police say. The two had been communicating via the Internet since May, but the girl was really ... More >>

Patrick Bearup Loses Appeal; Murder Conviction and Death Sentence Upheld

  This just in: A neo-Nazi who's the son of a former political opponent of Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio has lost the appeal of his murder conviction and challenge to his death sentence. Read today's Arizona Supreme Court's opinion on Patrick Bearup by clicking here. At right is ... More >>

Marcia Powell Did Have Next of Kin, Says Guardian During Hearing

Why was Marcia Powell's plug pulled so quickly, when an investigation has now revealed next of kin?During a hearing today in Commissioner Michael Hintze's courtroom, the public guardian for Marcia Powell -- the inmate who died May 20 after prolonged exposure to 107 degree temperatures in an outside ... More >>

Marcia Powell Update: Her Guardian, the Cages, and a Friend from Perryville Speaks

For those who haven't seen this, the AP is reporting that the Arizona Department of Corrections "has suspended the use of all outdoor holding cells while crews retrofit them to provide shade and water" following the heat-related demise of 48-year-old Marcia Powell. Of course, this comes too late for ... More >>

The Lumley Vampire Attacks Arizona Department of Corrections’ Charles Ryan for the Death of Marcia Powell, Arpaio’s Goons Zip-Tie a 12-Year-Old, and the Jail Lockdowns Are Over

Strip-Searches of Male Prisoners by Female Guards OK'd by 9th Circuit Court; Maricopa County Jail Inmate Sued

Image: Arizona Department of CorrectionsCharles Byrd A former Maricopa County jail inmate who was stripped to his underwear and felt up by a female guard-in-training during a search did not have his rights violated, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Charles Byrd, who was convicted of ... More >>

"Bad Hair" Bandit Busted in Scottsdale; Reserve Deputy Thought "Big Afro Wig" was Strange

  Jim Jeselun, a reserve deputy for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, thought something was odd about a man he saw walking into a Scottsdale bank on Monday. For one thing, he was wearing a "big Afro wig." When the man came out of the First Fidelity Bank at 7401 E. Camelback R ... More >>

No Abu Ghraib in Arizona, Yet: Governor Brewer Appoints Interim Director to Replace ADC's Dora Schriro

Could you come back in about six months? See, the jury's still out.Governor Jan Brewer's office has announced an interim replacement for Arizona Department of Correction's chief Dora Schriro, naming corrections veteran Charles Ryan to the post of Interim Director and appointing Charles Flanagan as R ... More >>

Arizona Abu Ghraib? Will Terry Stewart Take Over AZ Prisons from Dora Schriro Despite His Iraqi Prisons Link?

ADC Director Dora Schriro, off to join Napolitano at DHS.As you may have read elsewhere, Arizona Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro has announced her resignation, and by the end of the week will have vacated her offices to follow ex-Governor Janet Napolitano to the U.S. Department ... More >>

Inmate Killed at Florence Prison, Investigation Ongoing

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, January 18, 2007

Law and Disorder

Letters from the week of November 28, 2002

Learning Disorder

The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections fails the state's worst kids

Indecent Exposure

They spent months covered in the dust and dirt of a prison renovation. Now, dozens of officers and inmates say the state risked their lives by making them work with asbestos.

MisJudged

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Muecke ruled on the letter of the law, but his liberal views and tough courtroom style made him the judge that conservatives love to hate

Flashes

TRUST FUND TROUBLES

INMATES IN ARIZONA'S PRISONS CLAIM THEY HAVE $11 MILLION AT THEIR DISPOSAL. THE STATE DOESN'T LIKE THAT.