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HOMES NOT PRISONS!!!

ARIZONA PRISON NEWS:

HOMES NOT PRISONS!!!

STOP the new LEWIS SUPERMAX!!!

STOP the new LEWIS SUPERMAX!!!
$50 million is about to go into guaranteeing that our grandchildren have space in prison, instead of seats in a classroom...
FIRE CHUCK RYAN!!!

PARSONS v RYAN is a certified CLASS ACTION!

As many of you know, under the current administration of Governor Jan Brewer the suicide and homicide rates among state prisoners doubled almost immediately, and has persisted over the course of the past four years, on the watch of Arizona Department of Corrections' Director Charles Ryan. On March 6, 2013, "Parsons v Ryan" , the civil rights lawsuit filed last year by the ACLU and Prison Law Office, among others, against Ryan and AZ DOC Health Services Director Richard Pratt on behalf of 14 state prisoners was certified as a CLASS ACTION!!!! That means every prisoner in the state is now a litigant.

Thank you not only to all the legal staff who brought it this far, but also to Wendy Halloran, KPNX, and the families who have survived the horrors of prison violence in this state with a resolve to make sure that the gross indifference to human life at the AZ DOC kills no more.
ABOLISH THE PRISONS!
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AZ Prison Watch BLOG POSTS:

May 22, 2013:

On Loving to Hate Jodi Arias...


This is to all you visitors “enjoying” reading about Jodi Arias' future in my blogs, which I write largely for those who have lost loved ones in az prisons or are fighting to keep them alive through their sentences:

It is clear that your desire for vengeance is far greater than any yearning for true justice to prevail in the world, for you are celebrating the suffering of others. Please remember how happy you were that Jodi Arias would be miserable next time a young women who was sexually abused by a guard hangs herself in that prison, and know you had something to do with creating the culture of dehumanization and vindictiveness that makes that so likely to happen these days.

Perryville prison has killed many women through abuse and neglect, sometimes quite hideously – Google Marcia Powell, for one. No one deserves that kind of death. Most women there are mentally ill and survivors of trauma and shouldn’t even be in prison but for Arizona’s grossly inadequate mental health system, the right wing's contempt of the poor and people of color, and this overall fascist police state we live under.

In any case, by saying that it’s okay for the killers among them to be condemned to less-than-constitutional conditions of confinement, you lower the chances of survival of other women warehoused at Perryville as well. So, to those of you who truly care about “justice” – please just think on that before you pat the AZ DOC on the back for hurting and killing their prisoners as they do.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Friending Dennis Deconcini: Time to resign.

Brilliant! More power to the Resistance! Stay tuned for how today's protest at the AZ Board of Regents meeting turned out - hit Dennis' facebook page to get the latest, in fact. 

You can all be a friend of his, too.

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Facebook Fake-Out: Someone Created a Profile All About Dennis DeConcini's Ties to Private Prisons

Tucson Weekly

Posted by on  

Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 11:45 AM

This probably isnt actually Dennis DeConcini.

  • This probably isn't actually Dennis DeConcini.
The campaign to pressure former U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini to resign from the board of directors of Corrections Corporations of America looks like it's heating up again. We first wrote about the campaign in March when local immigrant rights groups were challenging the lawyer-politician to get rid of his ties to the private prison industry.

Yesterday, a few hundred folks out there in Facebook land woke up to a special treat — an invitation to become FB besties with the CCA board member. Turns out the page is a great resource for folks interested in learning more about Arizona and our state government's love affair with the private prison industry folks. And wow, looky there, the senator has something to say about his own love affair with the industry:
Dennis DeConcini
12 hours ago.

Just another long, hard day in the life of a wealthy ex-Senator. Juggling my law firm, real estate company, lobbying firm and position on the Board of Directors of the nation's largest prison company sure is tough. But at the end of the day, if I can look back and know my wallet's a little thicker than the day before, it's all worth it.
I say you better friend the guy, before he gets all shy and this page goes down.

The Facebook page, while all fun and good for you, isn't the only thing happening to continue to pressure the senator to leave CCA. Not only is DeConcini a former U.S. Senator, he's also a member of the Arizona Board of Regents that governs the three state universities. This week, Thursday, Dec. 6, Fuerza, the group organizing the pressure campaign, is asking folks to attend the Board of Regents meeting at the UA at 9 a.m. in the Student Union Memorial Center.

You can read our story on DeConcini's connection to CCA — Morals Before Profit, but here's a bit of what DeConcini had to say at the time:
"I've been involved in prison reform a long time, and as I explained to the coalition group ... government has failed to provide humane and constitutional standards for prisoners," DeConcini said, adding that private prisons are needed to help states with strapped resources, similar to how the federal government uses contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Last month, the Tucson office of the American Friends Service Committee issued a report on financial and security issues surrounding private prisons in Arizona (See "No Disclosure," Feb. 23), including CCA. The report also mentions the fact that private prisons do not have to operate transparently and comply with public-records requests.

DeConcini said he hasn't read the report, but he knew that CCA reps reviewed it. "I've been told we have much information that disputes (the report)—not that atrocities have not occurred. When they do, (people) are held responsible."

Regarding transparency issues, DeConcini said: "I'm concerned only that CCA, as any corporation, complies with all of the laws that are required. I'm satisfied from my review that they do. ... We are not a public entity."

Here's more. If you really want to do more than just show up for an action, you know, get your teeth into the issues, connect with the Tucson office of the American Friends Service Committee. Folks there have dedicated their work to taking on Arizona's private prison industry. Here's a story we did in February on their must-read report.
Posted by Arizona Prison Watch at 2:52 PM
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