Craig Harris

The Republic | azcentral.com

Arizona wants to add 3%2C000 more medium-security prison beds through 2018

A key lawmaker says the GOP-controlled Arizona Legislature likely will approve request

A critic says Arizona can't afford to add more prison beds given the condition of its budget

The Arizona Department of Corrections is bucking a national trend by asking the Governor's Office to continue its prison expansion into the next few years, citing an anticipated uptick in inmates.

The department is expected to hire a private-prison contractor to provide additional beds in order to ease the strain on a state budget facing a $1.52 billion shortfall for the current and next fiscal years, according to a key lawmaker.

A contractor is required to pay all up-front costs to build a prison, saving the state tens of millions of dollars in the short term. However, the state eventually pays the full cost of the prison, or more, by paying the contractor to house inmates over a long period.

The Corrections Department wants Gov.-elect Doug Ducey and the Arizona Legislature, which convenes in January, to grant permission to add 3,000 new medium-custody beds to the system by fiscal 2018.

Medium-custody male inmates are scattered throughout Arizona prisons and account for the largest chunk — about 40 percent — of the system's roughly 42,000 inmates.

A medium-custody inmate represents a moderate risk to the public and staff. Those inmates are not allowed to work outside the secure perimeter of a prison and are allowed only limited, controlled movement within any institution.

The Corrections Department already opened two new prison sites this year, adding 500 maximum-security and 1,000 medium-security beds. The medium-security beds are at a private prison in Eloy.

The state relies on private contractors to house about one-sixth of its population.

Corrections Director Charles Ryan declined to be interviewed for this story. In his request to the Governor's Office, Ryan cited a current bed shortage, future population growth and a need to properly house "specialized inmate populations" — requiring 3,000 more medium-custody beds.

Ryan in his request did not put a price tag on the proposal. He also did not say whether inmates would be housed in state facilities or with a private contractor.

A spokesman said Ryan is deferring comment during a transition period for Ducey, who takes office in January.

Ducey's spokesman did not respond to The Arizona Republic's questions about Ryan's request.

But Sen.-elect John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, a key lawmaker who spent eight years in the Arizona House as a budget writer, said the Republican-controlled Legislature likely will accommodate Ryan.

"When the Department of Corrections tells me they need 3,000 beds, I know they need them for serious offenders," Kavanagh said. "I'm inclined to give them the funds for public safety."

Kavanagh said he expects the Legislature to lean toward using a private-prison contractor to supply the new beds because the contractor, under current state policy, would assume the cost of building the facility, saving the state tens of ­millions of dollars in up-front cost. He said that route is less costly for taxpayers.

But a critic of prison expansion points to state data showing it actually has been more expensive to house inmates in private prisons than to house them in Arizona facilities.

Caroline Isaacs, program director of the American Friends Service Committee, said the state does not have the money for a prison expansion.

"We can't afford to fund K-12 education," Isaacs said. "The last thing we need are more prison beds. We need to take a cue from the rest of the country and look at alternatives to incarceration."

The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C., group whose goal is to work for a fair and effective U.S. criminal-justice system, said it found that, since 2011, at least 17 states have reduced prison capacity by a total of more than 35,000 beds.

Nicole Porter, the ­Sentencing Project's director of advocacy, said many states lowered ­capacity because of budget problems and found alternatives to long sentences for non-violent offenders.

Porter said Arizona has trended in the other direction because of its "truth-in-sentencing" law, which requires inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentence before being considered for release.

Isaacs said Arizona needs to reconsider its truth-in-sentencing law, which Corrections Department records show has significantly increased the prison population since it went into effect in 1994. At that time, there were slightly fewer than 19,000 inmates. The state inmate population has more than doubled since then.

Ryan's request says Arizona's inmate population grew by 809 during fiscal 2013 and 1,087 in fiscal 2014. The Corrections Department projects the number of inmates will grow by roughly 960 inmates per year through fiscal 2018.

Ryan's spokesman, Doug Nick, declined to answer questions about why the state's inmate population is projected to increase despite declining or flat growth the past several years.

As of Nov. 21, the Department of Corrections reported that it had 329 more medium-custody inmates than beds in its system. To deal with overcrowding, the department houses inmates in dorms in temporary bunks.

Only medium- and minimum-security inmates can be housed in private prisons. However, private prisons will take only the healthiest inmates, which lowers their housing cost.

More prison beds

The Arizona Department of Corrections wants to add 3,000 medium-security prison beds to the prison system to ease overcrowding. Medium-security inmates are scattered throughout Arizona's system. Figures below are current as of Nov. 21.

Douglas: 1,006.

Florence: 4,670.

Phoenix: 149.

Buckeye: 2,640.

Safford: 316.

Tucson: 2,594.

Winslow: 374.

Yuma: 2,129.

Florence:* 1,282.

Kingman:* 1,508.

Eloy:* 499.

Total: 17,167.

*Denotes private prison. State facilities include inmates in detention units.

Source: Arizona Department of Corrections

ON THE BEAT

Craig Harris covers public pensions and state agencies like the Department of Corrections, with an emphasis on government accountability and public money.

How to reach him: craig.harris@arizonarepublic.com

Phone: 602-444-8478

Twitter: @charrisazrep