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June 20, 2007
AZ: 6,000 new cages
"Schriro expressed confidence that her department would be able to staff new or expanded prisons providing 4,000 new public beds included in the Legislature's bipartisan budget for the fiscal year. The budget also authorizes 2,000 additional private beds.``We are earnest in pressing forward on all 6,000 beds ... and are ready to spring into action,'' Schriro assured the lawmakers."
Arizona Prisons Staffed but Still Stuffed with Inmates
June 19th, 2007
by Associated Press
PHOENIX - Arizona has nearly filled vacancies in the ranks of its corrections officers but still lacks space for thousands of inmates, keeping the state in the market for prison beds in other states, Corrections Director Dora Schriro said Tuesday.
Pay raises have helped the department hire new officers and retain experienced ones, dramatically reducing the vacancy rate and providing savings on overtime that officers formerly had to work, Schriro told a legislative oversight committee.
However, Arizona's shortage of beds puts it on the verge of sending more prisoners out of state as growth of the inmate population continues to jump each month, Schriro said.
Arizona halted transfers of inmates to a prison in New Castle, Ind., just before an April 24 riot involving Arizona and Indiana prisoners but is close to deciding whether to send more, Schriro said.
Repairs to the New Castle prison have been completed and, in another sign that the facility is returning to normal, Indiana authorities plan to lift restrictions on inmate movements, Schriro said. ``We are anxious for Indiana to succeed.''
Meanwhile, the state is contracting for additional beds at a Watonga, Okla., prison already housing some Arizona inmates and planning to send inmates to a prison in Hinton, Okla., for the first time, she said.
The oversight committee's chairman, Republican Rep. Russell Pearce, welcomed the additional hirings and the retention of current officers.
``This is good progress when we're filling positions that we have, both for public safety and for officer safety,'' he said.
Schriro expressed confidence that her department would be able to staff new or expanded prisons providing 4,000 new public beds included in the Legislature's bipartisan budget for the fiscal year. The budget also authorizes 2,000 additional private beds.
``We are earnest in pressing forward on all 6,000 beds ... and are ready to spring into action,'' Schriro assured the lawmakers.
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Posted by lois at June 20, 2007 09:55 PM