The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating conditions at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, ADJC Director David Gaspar announced in a June 18 memo to employees. ADJC officials refused to discuss details of the investigation, but George Weisz, deputy chief of staff and crime advisor to Governor Jane Hull,…

Jeff Newton is looking for office space. Nothing fancy, just a table and chairs, a good desk lamp and a caramel double-shot latte waiting when he walks in the door. For the past four years — nearly every night since January, when he quit his waiter job at Olive Garden…

A boy who died in an apparent suicide at an Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections facility was locked in his cell for more than a week at a time and complained repeatedly that a staff member was touching boys inappropriately, according to internal ADJC documents. ADJC has released almost no…

Every Tuesday evening, Paul Hamra leaves his jewelry store in Scottsdale and drives across town to Si Kenig’s house in central Phoenix for his weekly Ping-Pong lesson. Paul parks his Lexus in the driveway, knocks hard and loud on the front door, then peers through the window to see if…

Clint Bolick is cheerful. Not cheerful in the toys-all-over-your-desk, high-five-your-co-workers-at-the-copy-machine way. He’s truly happy. Bolick attributes his permanent good mood to a great home life, but those who know him best — friends, colleagues and even his wife — say it’s job satisfaction that really makes him smile. A decade…

One morning not long ago, several firefighters gathered around a kitchen table to lament their impending old age. It’s a lot tougher to slide down that pole than it used to be. Heck, just getting out of bed can be a challenge. Those 3 a.m. bells clang louder than they…

People who live in the big homes that line the Arizona Biltmore golf course recently spent several weeks brushing their teeth and making ice for their vodka tonics with pond water intended for the nearby greens. Diners at Biltmore Fashion Park and nearby locales might have sipped the bad water,…

Editor’s note: The names of juveniles have been changed to protect their privacy. Last January, Gail Edwards got a message on her answering machine from a nurse at Adobe Mountain School, the state juvenile detention facility in north Phoenix where her son Scott was then living. “Your son was in…

When Kirsten turned 16, a counselor at Black Canyon — the state’s detention school for girls — asked her to make a list of all the things that had happened in her life. “3 or 4 years old — Uncle molesting me.” “4 years old — Mommy was murdered.” “9…

Spaghetti-Os slide down Jamie Moore’s chin and onto his paper-towel bib as he strains away from mom and spoon to get a better look at the television. Jamie is a discerning — if constant — viewer, preferring Barney to the Teletubbies. Like many parents, Cheryl Moore is sick of Barney,…

As reports of anthrax contamination continue on the East Coast, hysterical Arizonans have given authorities everything from a vacuum cleaner to a moldy orange juice can to a copy of Playboy, asking that the items be tested for the deadly bacteria.And the state’s Department of Health Services is complying –…

State Senator Tom Smith spent time recently in a Mexican prison. And loved it. Now, Smith (who was just visiting the jail, not locked up in it) and some of his colleagues are clamoring for Arizona to be the first state to use an experimental drug treatment program for prisoners…

More than two months have passed since more than 30 community leaders wrote to Governor Jane Dee Hull asking her to create an independent task force to review conditions at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections.Their letter remains unanswered. And the governor’s office has yet to comment on concerns raised…

The U.S. Department of Justice is making inquiries regarding conditions at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, New Times has learned.The inquiries are based on a New Times special report, “Slammed” (“The Kids Are NOT Alright,” Amy Silverman, July 5), which revealed poor conditions at ADJC since 1998, when a…

More than 30 community leaders, including academics, clergy, public defenders and a former state senator, are calling on Governor Jane Dee Hull to create an independent task force to review conditions at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections in response to a New Times special report.The “Slammed” series (“The Kids…

Fifteen-year-old Sun Lynn Henage threatened another girl with a butter knife after the girl cut ahead of her in line for the shower at the group home where they both lived. The court sentenced Henage to 90 days at Black Canyon, the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections detention facility for…

On a warm day in mid-May, the Black Canyon School campus is quiet and clean, the rose and hibiscus bushes as well-groomed as the girls in their white sneakers, khakis and regulation bras visible beneath peach polo shirts. The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections girls school — off Happy Valley…

Editor’s note: The names of juveniles throughout these stories have been changed to protect their privacy. Although their criminal case files are public record, their corrections files are not. The boys in the Nova cottage at Adobe Mountain School had been locked in their cells for six days. They had…

Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in all her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were five hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand upon their hands and feet, to make the arches. …

The citizens’ committee to recall Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano collected almost 5,000 signatures to put Giuliano’s name on a September recall ballot. But with three months left to qualify, not a single serious candidate has emerged to challenge the mayor.The most viable potential candidate, activist and two-time (unsuccessful) city council…

Arizona’s highest-ranking U.S. Customs Service official is on leave, pending the outcome of an internal investigation into allegations she assaulted a customs employee.Awilda Villafane, who has been the special agent in charge of Arizona’s customs office since 1994, is accused of confronting Sharon Sue Penrod, who does budgeting for the…

When it comes to the outdoors, Bruce Babbitt and Bill Clinton couldn’t be more different. The former Secretary of the Interior is a connoisseur of nature — a hiker, a biker, a camper, a guy more comfortable amidst the rattlesnakes that inhabit his native Arizona desert than the variety that…