Chuck Ryan andTerry Stewart : Common Ground.

The original posting of this was made nearly a year ago, around the publication of an AZ Republic story about what fire traps the state prison facilities are. It seemed worth resurrecting in light of the death records I've been reading of late and the letter that came out last week from the Arizona Correctional Peace Officer's Association calling for Brewer to fire Chuck Ryan, the Director of the ADC.

As far as I know, many of the prisons are still primed to go up in flames, taking everyone inside - prisoner and CO alike - with them. Even if those problems were addressed, there are serious problems with the conditions of confinement at the ADC.

The history of the class action suit against AZ for not protecting prisoners in protective segregation is especially interesting, considering how many prisoners have been murdered or killed themselves in higher level custody settings at the ADC of late - and those who killed themselves after being denied extra protection.

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Arizona Prison Watch: January, 2010
(Edited slightly)

I don't know how the abuse that Marcia Powell endured in her final hours could have possibly been a shock to anyone in power at the AZ Department of Corrections. They've been defending that kind of behavior for a long time. Terry Stewart, the long time director there, is a disturbing man. Current Director Ryan was his protege, by all accounts.

Ryan's tenure consulting with Iraq's prisons isn't mentioned with the piece from Senator Charles Schumer's office about Stewart, but he apparently made it over there in time for the scandal: check out his bio. He was part of a team that was exporting our tactics for imprisoning and punishing people, while most of the rest of America thought we were "liberating" Iraq. It even appears he received a medal of valor for it. Coming from George Bush, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

In either case, I sure hope you begin to show us something new at the ADC, Ryan.

How can you not keep track of fires at the prisons, anyway? How can those facilities even be open? And why wouldn't you tell the rest of us about those repairs being turned down - we'd have given the legislature hell and got that funding approved or had some folks sent home.

You can't be imprisoning people if you can't keep them safe, Ryan - if you were a nightclub, you'd be shut down and charged with all sorts of things - and that's if nothing even caught fire and no one died. You're just waiting for someone to die before you have to do anything about it.


We can't afford to wait for that.


What other population that the state has custody of is left to languish locked inside fire traps? Maybe we better check all the institutions to make sure...

That must be some kind of constitutional violation - stripping someone of their liberty and trapping them someplace you can't safely evacuate. We saw what happened to the guys in New Orleans when the guards abandoned their posts, leaving them locked up to drown.



Anyway, here's ADC's darker side, Terry Stewart. He's the one who seemed to think that it was okay to ignore sexual abuse and to punish prisoners for days on end with exposure to the elements. It's a wonder he didn't kill more prisoners than he did.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2, 2004

Schumer Reveals Fourth Corrections Official With Checkered Record In Power Position At Iraqi Prisons

Former head of Arizona prisons turned a blind eye to sexual abuse of female prisoners by male guards including rape, sodomy and assault

Evidence mounts: Fourth civilian with shocking record of tolerating prisoner abuse hand picked to oversee reconstruction and running of Iraqi prisons


U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today revealed evidence that a fourth civilian who served in a position of power in the Iraqi prison system had a troubling history of tolerating and defending prisoner abuse while serving as a corrections administrator in the United States. Senator Schumer also called upon the Department of Justice's Inspector General to investigate how so many US prison officials with checkered records were selected by the DOJ to oversee the sensitive and important project of reconstituting the Iraqi prison system.

Schumer revealed that Terry Stewart, one of a handful of former prison officials recruited by the Department of Justice to help rebuild Iraq's prison system, came under scrutiny for numerous incidents involving the mistreatment of inmates while serving as the head of the Arizona Department of Corrections from 1995-2002.

In 1997, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division named Stewart in a suit brought against the Arizona Department of Corrections concerning a pattern of sexual assault against female prisoners by male prison guards. Stewart was charged with knowingly turning a blind eye to repeated incidents of sexual abuse by guards against female prisoners ranging from sexual assault, rape and sodomy to watching female prisoners undress and use the restroom. The suit was eventually settled after the Arizona Department of Corrections agreed to make major changes in numerous prison policies.

Under Stewart's watch prisoners at Arizona facilities were also made to stand outside in the summer for up to four days in the summer and for up to 17 hours in the winter without sanitation, adequate drinking water, changes of clothing, proper food or protection from the elements. In a third questionable incident a class action suit was brought against the Arizona Department of Corrections during Stewart's tenure charging that the prison system had failed to properly use protective custody to shield certain at-risk inmates from harm.

“How four individuals with such checkered pasts could be placed in positions of power in Iraq's prison system defies reason and demands explanation,” Schumer said. "The fact that Terry Stewart turned a blind eye to sexual assault perpetrated by guards under his watch is appalling. Every revelation leads to further questions, and to further silence from the Department of Justice. I wish Attorney General Ashcroft would at a minimum explain what kind of vetting system, if any, was in place for such high level appointments to such sensitive posts."

Stewart joins John Armstrong of Connecticut and Lane McCotter and Gary DeLand of Utah as members of a growing list of civilians with checkered records who were placed in positions of power overseeing the reconstitution and running of Iraq's prison system. While serving in Iraq McCotter and Stewart even dubbed themselves the "Baghdad Duo" while traveling the country in their roles working for the Department of Justice.

Schumer's revelations concerning Stewart come on the heels of his discoveries concerning John Armstrong, who was forced from his post as the head of Connecticut’s corrections department for defending abuses of prisoners before eventually serving in a high-ranking management position overseeing the Iraqi prison system. While running Connecticut’s prison system, Armstrong made a practice of shipping even low-level offenders to a supermax facility in Virginia which was notorious for its use of excessive force - ranging from unjustified use of stun guns shooting 50,000 volts through prisoners to locking inmates in five-point restraints for such lengthy periods that they were routinely forced to defecate on themselves.

Armstrong resigned under a cloud of credible allegations that he tolerated and personally engaged in the sexual harassment of female employees under his command.

Lane McCotter, who had a similarly disturbing history of defending inmate abuses, was also tapped to be one of four individuals sent by the Department of Justice to redevelop Iraq’s prison system. McCotter was forced out of the top spot in Utah's Department of Corrections when a schizophrenic prisoner died after being strapped to a chair naked for sixteen hours. His record was further tainted when the DOJ investigated a New Mexico prison that was run by a private corrections firm that employed McCotter for failing to provide inmates with a safe environment and adequate medical facilities.

Gary DeLand served in the same position later held by McCotter, as head of Utah's Department of Corrections, in the late 1980's. According to Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, Deland was well known for the "sadistic" manner in which he ran the state's penal institutions. DeLand was also recruited to help reconstitute Iraq's prison system, including Abu Ghraib.

"A pattern like this just doesn't happen spontaneously," said Schumer. "It is time for the Department of Justice to explain how lightening managed to strike four times in the same place. This why I am calling on the Inspector General to investigate how the United States government manage to send four individuals with histories of involvement in prisoner abuse cases to oversee a prison system that is now notorious for prisoner abuse. Given the far reaching impact of the revelations of abuse at Abu Ghraib it is vital that we answer this fundamental question, and we must answer it soon."

Slaves of the State: Prisoner Labor.

This looks like good PR in the wake of the ADC murder and suicide recently - not to mention CCA's mess - who keeps an eye on them when they're in our state, anyway?

I know the men and women alike in AZ prisons often prefer these work crews to other jobs, or to no job at all. But it disturbs me that no one seems appalled that our communities are eager to realize all kinds of benefits to incarceration that have nothing to do with lowering crime rates, and everything to do with savings/profit. That's one reason Israel prohibits privatization of prisons - because the profit motive is inherently at odds with protecting human rights. Besides, I do believe that exploiting prisoner labor doing public works like that deprives struggling young workers of such opportunities - some who might now end up committing crimes of desperation and going to prison. That's just plain stupid investing, if it's a community and not a company that's behind such a job market design.

Furthermore, if 93% of the state's prisoners are "violent and repeat offenders" (like how they lumped them into one category - that puts assailants and chronic check-bouncers in the same class of predator...) why are so many in minimum security going out into the community to work? They're all so dangerous that the ADC needs more beds and a bigger budget - and judges need to put people away longer - but they aren't so dangerous that they can't tend a municipal garden? That's doublespeak.

Why have a minimum security prison at all if you have a bunch of people there who will work, can be safe in the community, want to make amends and get on with their lives - and cost a lot of money to warehouse? The ADC could at least begin by abolishing those prisons...instead they're one of the few departments of corrections in the country planning to expand by over 100 prisoners a month. Everyone else is reforming sentencing laws, while Arizona is becoming more fascist. Director Ryan appears to be more of the same we had with Stewart - justifying modern-day convict-leasing. Nearly 10% of our state budget goes to that guy already...

Anyway, municipalities should be giving these folks jobs at decent wages BEFORE they end up as outsourced prisoners - especially struggling youth...

Doesn't anyone around here think outside the box?

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Cash-strapped municipalities urged to turn to inmate labor

by JJ Hensley -

Jun. 20, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

DOUGLAS - At 7:30 a.m. one recent morning, a group of 10 men was pouring concrete at a quiet corner on the northern edge of this border community.

Eight of the men earn just 50 cents an hour, allowing the cash-strapped city of Douglas to stretch its public-works dollars.

They are inmates from the Arizona State Prison Complex-Douglas 10 miles away - supplemented by one city worker and a detention officer - and they say they savor the chance to get out of prison and do something productive every day.

"It's an opportunity to get out and do some physical labor," said Anthony Perez, a 40-year-old Mesa resident serving a five-year sentence on burglary and drug charges. "It allows me to keep my mind focused on my future once I get out of here."

The benefits to cash-strapped municipalities as well as inmates are reasons Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan is pushing to take the program to other communities coping with dwindling tax revenues.

The agency has about 1,500 inmates putting in more than 1.8 million hours of labor every year through more than 100 agreements with governmental bodies around Arizona. But with about 13,000 minimum-security inmates in state custody, Ryan said there's plenty of room to grow.

"Inmate labor, in our estimation, is an underutilized resource," he said.

All those hours of 50-cent labor add up to significant savings for cities.

"It represents a cost avoidance of $12.1 million," Ryan said.

Communities like Douglas have come to rely on the labor pool that inmates in nearby prisons provide.

Douglas sits on the Mexican border, about 50 miles west of New Mexico. Its economy struggled after the smelter closed in the late 1980s. City leaders had less revenue to work with.

Michael Ortega saw the potential to fill that void in 1994.

Ortega, who was Douglas' public-works director at the time, said the relationship began with selling the program to residents who might have been concerned about inmates in orange jumpsuits doing maintenance at city parks and easing concerns of employees who feared the cheap labor pool would take their jobs.

"There were discussions amongst staff and employees, and we told them the reality is this: They're not taking your job," Ortega said. "They're helping you accomplish your job so I don't have to hire more staff, because I can't afford it."

In the 16 years since Ortega struck up a relationship with the prison warden, inmates have helped convert a former retail store into the town's library and built all the maple furniture in the building.

They have been instrumental in constructing a skate park and aquatic center and done dozens of smaller projects, such as building park bathrooms and performing routine maintenance.

On Thursday morning, a group of 14 inmates was busy demolishing the inside of the former Phelps Dodge Mercantile store in downtown Douglas. The building will eventually house a courtroom, a sheriff's substation and an arm of the Cochise County Health Department.

For now, it's another example of the cooperation and trust city employees have developed with the inmates.

"I don't hire inmates, I hire craft workers," said Armando Maza, the city employee supervising the demolition in the Phelps Dodge building.

Ortega, now Cochise County administrator, has taken to promoting the benefits of prison laborers to other cities long on projects and short on tax dollars.

In nearby Bisbee, a crew performs maintenance tasks every day at the Queen Mine, one of the area's major tourist attractions, which draws more than 50,000 visitors each year.

A group of schoolchildren from Tucson were thrilled with the prospect of going down into the mine. They didn't notice the three inmates clad in orange "ADC" jumpsuits.

That prospect of blending in suits Abel Suniga, a 35-year-old Phoenix resident serving a three-year sentence on drug charges.

"You keep busy, you know?" Suniga said as he finished chopping wood at the mine. "It helps the time go by quicker."

There are strict requirements for inmates like Suniga to get one of the sought-after jobs outside prison walls. And there is quick punishment for any who act up on the job.

The minimum-custody inmates must be within five years of being released and cannot have a criminal history that includes sex crimes or crimes of violence, such as manslaughter. They also cannot be subject to detainers from other agencies waiting to take custody once their sentence is up.

And they need to be working toward a diploma if they don't have one already.

Ryan said those factors motivate inmates to use their time behind bars to their advantage.

Research indicates such programs reduce recidivism among inmates, but Ryan said the jobs give convicts a taste of what will be expected after their sentence is up.

"It's going to be expected of them when they get out of prison," he said. "We don't want inmates sitting around idle doing nothing."

RFP Out for Privatizing State Prisons. Just Say No.

State steps toward private operation of Douglas prison

Sierra Vista Herald

Mon, 02/01/2010 - 22:03 

 

PHOENIX — The state wants to know whether private companies are interested in running state prisons in Douglas and Safford.

A “request for information” from private prison companies was issued Monday in response to House Bill 2010, approved last year as part of the state budget.


“We will know before the end of February whether there is any interest by private companies in operating these two prisons,” Corrections Director Charles L. Ryan said. “We will await the responses and conduct an evaluation before proceeding.”

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Capital Review narrowed the scope of the “request for information” to exclude prison complexes with maximum-security and close-custody beds. The Safford and Douglas prisons are the only two complexes that fall into that scope, Ryan said. They house only minimum- and medium-security inmates.

Responses from companies are due Feb. 23.