Arizona Prison Director Begs for Mo Money

Reading the comments of the prison director related to his request to get more money from the legislature for special needs regarding the upgrading and repairs of existing locking devices and alarms his words echo for his concern of staff safety as he uses this need to elevate the awareness of “threats to the safety of employees and inmates” in his interview with a newspaper. He says nothing about the high number of flaws a recent security audit found at his prisons and the high rate of assaults on staff or other prison employees. He says these threats are “real and we have to be vigilant 24 and 7″ a prelude to his request for 306 more correctional staff next year.

According to the information provided to the legislature, these locks and alarms are prone to failure because of deterioration from age and outdated electronics. This is only half the truth as it neglects to indicate the poor preventive maintenance programs in placed inside these prisons, the refusal by the agency to hire locksmiths and using correctional officers part time to fix these locks without any formal training whatsoever wasting time and money on attempted repairs or flawed methods to correct the locking devices working condition. You might say this was a self-inflicted wound that will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars because of years of neglect or lack of priorities in the daily care as required by policies. He failed to mention that one of those failed policies was the key control policy and the tool control policy that dictates and mandates certain timely inspections to prevent unnecessary wear and tear on keys and locks by a rotation system that extends the life of this equipment. The alarm system is another problem but is worked on by a contractor and is in serious need for upgrade to meet the security needs of our prisons. The director is almost frantic about this proposal and is now claiming this will improve the prison security if provided the “more funding” request. His main concern at this point is how to get this money and opening the door to future requests like he has done before. Taxpayers, hard pressed and paying a premium price of $ 1 billion dollars must be aware of his strategy to fleece them out of more money as he created a very expensive money pit.

Rather than looking for ways to save money, he ignores these measures and seeks support for budget increases. Showing an “I don’t care” attitude how he spends this tight budget under his watch, he makes it clear that safety is the issue here to protect staff and inmates. Showing his recent data on the web he is telling the truth about his concern for safety. Showing a chart of fights between inmates and other inmates the rate is shown to be 381 in FY 05 growing at a rapid ate and expected to reach 1,675 assaults by FY 2012. This changed the rate of number of inmates involved in a fight from 1 out of 75 inmates to the projected 1 out of 23 inmates according to their graphs provided. Certainly a significant increase in violence with no apparent end of the road for such conduct as the maximum custody units are already at capacity and being double bunked. Showing the chart of assaults on staff the rate is shown to be 149 in FY 05 climbing to a record high 410 in FY 2012. In the inmate on staff assaults the figures are even more frightening. For FY 2005 the number reported was 1 out of 36 staff was assaulted climbing to a record high of 1 out of 16 staff being assaulted today. When the DOC runs out of money they complain that they don’t have enough to live up to their legal responsibilities and protect staff or the public. They ignore other options on the table such as prison reforms and associated alternative ideas. The compliance with most existing policies itself will reduce operational costs but it is my believe that when it’s all said and done, he will ask the governor for a tax raise to bail out the prison’s expensive habits.

The director claims to have a 93 % compliance rate with policies found during the last security audit but what he fails to tell the public was how expensive that remaining 7 % noncompliance is as this is a prime example of costing millions of dollars that was totally preventable if policies were adhered to as written and expected per his own words.

Source:

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/022db78205e14adf83a3367df9b1fba1/AZ–Prison-Locks/


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