Prisons

Emergency preparedness: how to survive in Arpaio’s jails

Federal Judge Found a Litany of Inhumane Problems in Joe Arpaio's Jails

Inmate Killed at Florence Prison, Investigation Ongoing

Letters

Letters from the week of November 6, 2003

Letters

Letters from the week of February 19, 2004

Letters

Letters from the week of June 17, 2004

Inmate Killed in State Prison System; Second Such Case in Four Weeks

Whether the new slayings involve similar breakdowns in security or procedures at the prisons will be answered in investigative reports still being prepared, says Department of Corrections spokesman Nolberto Machiche.

Joe Arpaio's Outrage Du Jour: Transporting His Prisoners Via Light Rail (w/Update)

For the uninitiated, "Arpayaso" is a play on the word "payaso," which means "clown" in Spanish.Do you need another reminder that you live in a police state controlled by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his brown-shirted goons? If so, just take a trip on the Valley Metro Light Rail, which our clownish top con ... 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 >>

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 >>

Four Inmate Homicide Deaths (at Least) in State Prisons in 2008; High Number Comes After Employees Disciplined in '06 Murder

Four men, possibly more, were killed by other inmates in Arizona state prisons last year, an unusually high number just one year after an inmate death spurred the firing of a warden and discipline for 13 guards.AZ Department of CorrectionsSean Kelly, one of four state prisoners killed by other inmat ... More >>

Violence Continues in Arizona Prisons; Inmate Possibly Stabbed

Less than a week after our report on the high number of 2008 inmate homicides in Arizona prisons, the state Department of Corrections is reporting another possible stabbing. Maybe this latest incident will help draw attention to the inmate-on-inmate violence in state prisons -- which has a ... More >>

Lawyers for Inmates in County Jail Conditions Lawsuit Seek $1.4 Million in Fees; Jail Problems Improving, Says Lawyer

Lawyers in a major lawsuit that sought better conditions for Maricopa County Jail inmates want the county to reimburse their $1.4 million in fees since a judge ruled in their favor. In October, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ordered the county to allow pretrial inmates to take th ... More >>

The Wily Warbler Visits Ciria Lopez-Pacheco and Courtney Bisbee Behind Bars

Lawyers in a major lawsuit that sought better conditions for Maricopa County Jail inmates want the county to reimburse their $1.4 million in fees since a judge ruled in their favor. In October, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ordered the county to allow pretrial inmates to take th ... More >>

Nation’s Oldest Death Row Inmate Will Never Be Executed

Lawyers in a major lawsuit that sought better conditions for Maricopa County Jail inmates want the county to reimburse their $1.4 million in fees since a judge ruled in their favor. In October, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ordered the county to allow pretrial inmates to take th ... More >>

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Jails Lose National Accreditation

Lawyers in a major lawsuit that sought better conditions for Maricopa County Jail inmates want the county to reimburse their $1.4 million in fees since a judge ruled in their favor. In October, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ordered the county to allow pretrial inmates to take th ... More >>

Was Juan Mendoza Farias beaten to death by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s guards?

Lawyers in a major lawsuit that sought better conditions for Maricopa County Jail inmates want the county to reimburse their $1.4 million in fees since a judge ruled in their favor. In October, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ordered the county to allow pretrial inmates to take th ... More >>

Bombshell: The explosive backstory in the Robert Ortloff murder trial may be more fascinating than the case itself

Lawyers in a major lawsuit that sought better conditions for Maricopa County Jail inmates want the county to reimburse their $1.4 million in fees since a judge ruled in their favor. In October, U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ordered the county to allow pretrial inmates to take th ... More >>

Inhumanity Has a Price

Corpses, a flesh-eating virus, the most-sued sheriff in America. Lawsuits against Joe Arpaio have cost us $41 million, so far

Inmates' Rights Lawsuit Languishes

The unresolved Hart vs. Hill suit was filed 30 years ago in federal court. It brings up the same jailhouse abuses that occur today

Heard Mentality

From jeer to depravity

Useful Idiots

The pissed-off puffin paddles fellow journalists, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and an FBI monkey-spanker at U of A

Letters From Hell

Robert Comer wrote to New Times from prison for years, predicting recently that his soul would be in the real hell "soon enough"

Death Sentence

Maricopa County jail personnel handled an unruly prisoner so harshly that he died. So what else is new?

Running Scared

There are a couple of reasons Janet Napolitano won't be on John Kerry's ticket

Assisted Suicide

A county psychiatrist's indifferent treatment of a disturbed inmate leads to a courthouse hanging

The Thing That Won't Leave

The feds have busted a gut trying to deport Emmanuel Agyeman. Even seven tumultuous years in an Arizona prison couldn't budge him

Turn Up the Heat

Napolitano should get behind the state's new fire marshal and force Tent City's closure

The Unlikely Lambs

A cross between Oz and The Shawshank Redemption

Dora's Darlings

Prisoners are precious to Dora Schriro, Arizona's new corrections chief

Mental Wards

Mental health care for jail inmates is woeful, commissioner says

Reasonable Doubt

Federal judge questions DOC chief's credibility

Covering Tracks

State officials made dubious decisions and then whitewashed their actions

Cellblock Salsa

Obie Bermudez, Jerry Rivera, and Vico C bring an unfiltered prison consciousness back to Puerto Rican pop

Locked Up

Despite promises of true reform, legislators appear bent on shelling out more money to private prison companies

Clink!

Arizona's prisons are packed. Building more would cost millions. Governor Janet Napolitano wants to lockup even more people. But others say it may be time to let a few out.

Habitat for Inhumanity

The "asylums" depicted in The Magdalene Sisters undermine both the Catholic Church and the popular image of Ireland

Inmate Move, Redux: Arpaio Covers Himself with Move of 900 Inmates This Afternoon

Joe had so much fun marching inmates awaiting trial in February, he's doing it again...In an attempt to recapture his status as an equal-opportunity sadist, Sheriff Joe Arpaio's reprising his 200 Mexican March, which inflamed the Hispanic community and civil rights activists back in February. Howeve ... 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

Joe had so much fun marching inmates awaiting trial in February, he's doing it again...In an attempt to recapture his status as an equal-opportunity sadist, Sheriff Joe Arpaio's reprising his 200 Mexican March, which inflamed the Hispanic community and civil rights activists back in February. Howeve ... More >>

Diabetic Died Without Treatment in County Jail, Lawsuit Says; In Another Case, a Jailed Epilectic Claims Injury After Being Denied Meds

​ Two new lawsuits against Maricopa County seem to emphasize why medical treatment for jail inmates needs improving. In one case, a diabetic man died of gangrene in 2007 after six weeks in the clink. The family of David McClurg alleges that even though McClurg himself ... More >>

Dead Inmate's Family Sues State, Says Prison Failed to Protect Man Who Wouldn't Kill for Aryan Brotherhood

  ​The Valley family of one of the dead prison inmates we wrote about in February is suing the state, claiming the Department of Corrections knew the inmate was in danger and did nothing. Timothy Lucero (at right) was a pot violator and car thief who was scheduled to be released by 2011 ... More >>

Hot Links: Big Surf, Prison Books, and NAU's Porn Lawsuit

​Big Surf water park in Tempe will close at the end of Labor Day, perhaps for good. Golfland Entertainment Centers, which has operated the park since 1991, announced yesterday it will cease operations of the park to focus on its other ventures. The El Paso-based company that owns Big Surf has not ... More >>

Thousands of Arizona Convicts Held Out-of-State Would Come Home Under Proposed State Budgets

Thousands of Arizona convicts held out-of-state in at least two private prisons would be coming home this year under budgets proposed by state leaders.The prisons in question are:* Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg, Colorado. Capacity: 752 beds. Held 676 Arizona inmates as of yesterd ... More >>

Prison Escapee Caught. No, Not That Escapee, the Other One

Jeffrey Douglas​Hopefully, Arizona prison inmate Jefferey Douglas enjoyed his brief taste of freedom because it certainly didn't last long -- about 20 hours.Douglas, an inmate serving a 7-and-1/2-year sentence at a minimum-security prison complex near Tucson, walked away from a prison work detail ... More >>

More Than 100 Inmates Moved From Kingman Prison to State-Run Facilities Following Escape

John McCluskey and his fiancee/ cousin Casslyn Welch.​More than 100 inmates previously housed at Arizona's privately-run Kingman Prison have been moved to state-run digs thanks to the three inmates who escaped from the prison last month.The Arizona Department of Corrections released its report on ... More >>

Report Released on Inmate Escape; Monitoring Practices at Kingman Prison "Lax," DOC Officials Find

Tracy Province, John McCluskey, and Daniel Renwick escaped from the Kingman Prison -- with help from McCluskey's fiancee/cousin -- on July 31.​Human error and "lax" inmate-monitoring procedures are to blame for three men escaping from an Arizona prison in July, according to an internal repor ... More >>

Immigrants Who Fight Deportation Are Packed Into Federal Gulags for Months or Years Before Their Cases Are Heard

Tracy Province, John McCluskey, and Daniel Renwick escaped from the Kingman Prison -- with help from McCluskey's fiancee/cousin -- on July 31.​Human error and "lax" inmate-monitoring procedures are to blame for three men escaping from an Arizona prison in July, according to an internal repor ... More >>

Why Did the Arizona Department of Corrections Put a Mentally Ill Man in a Cell With a Convicted Killer?

Tracy Province, John McCluskey, and Daniel Renwick escaped from the Kingman Prison -- with help from McCluskey's fiancee/cousin -- on July 31.​Human error and "lax" inmate-monitoring procedures are to blame for three men escaping from an Arizona prison in July, according to an internal repor ... More >>

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

Tracy Province, John McCluskey, and Daniel Renwick escaped from the Kingman Prison -- with help from McCluskey's fiancee/cousin -- on July 31.​Human error and "lax" inmate-monitoring procedures are to blame for three men escaping from an Arizona prison in July, according to an internal repor ... More >>

A Respected State Prison Officer Quits Over Dangerous Conditions for Inmates and Guards

Tracy Province, John McCluskey, and Daniel Renwick escaped from the Kingman Prison -- with help from McCluskey's fiancee/cousin -- on July 31.​Human error and "lax" inmate-monitoring procedures are to blame for three men escaping from an Arizona prison in July, according to an internal repor ... More >>