Jimmy Jenkins
@JimmyJenkins
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Criminal Justice Reporter @azcentral | Signal 812.243.5582 | [email protected] | [email protected]
Joined September 2012
EXCLUSIVE: Arizona is inducing the labor of pregnant prisoners against their will — sometimes as early as three weeks before their due date. Health care experts call the policy unethical. Reproductive justice advocates say it's a human rights violation.
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Arizona Department of Corrections Director David Shinn just told the state legislature we can't shut down private prisons because too many communities rely on the cheap labor they provide and they would "collapse" without it
Shinn: "The Department does more than just incarcerate. There are services this Dept provides to local jurisdictions (prison labor) at a rate most jurisdictions can't afford. If you were to remove these workers, some of those jurisdictions would collapse.".
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EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers tell @kjzzphoenix a software bug is keeping hundreds of inmates in Arizona prisons beyond their release dates - Sources say Department of Corrections leadership has known about the problem since 2019
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A tipster shared these pictures with me. Apparently prison labor was used to set up the inauguration of Arizona's new governor today at the state capitol in Phoenix. The incarcerated workers were hurried away from the event as volunteers and staff arrived.
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When I presented our findings to the state agency in charge of collecting in-custody death statistics, they said "Those numbers can't be right. If there were that many deaths in the jails, it would be a huge news story.". "It's about to be," I replied.
EXCLUSIVE: Investigation finds "ASTRONOMICAL" death rate in Maricopa County jails. With 43 deaths in 2022 and 43 in 2023, they are among the deadliest jails in the country. But you wouldn't know that, because the deaths were underreported — until now.
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BREAKING: Governor Hobbs has announced the creation of an independent Arizona prisons oversight commission that will be made up of stakeholders and people impacted by the justice system, including 2 formerly incarcerated people. Story developing .
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EXCLUSIVE: I obtained Special Operations training materials and documents from Arizona Department of Corrections servers containing images that experts liken to Nazi and gang symbolism
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EXCLUSIVE: Investigation finds "ASTRONOMICAL" death rate in Maricopa County jails. With 43 deaths in 2022 and 43 in 2023, they are among the deadliest jails in the country. But you wouldn't know that, because the deaths were underreported — until now.
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Update: Sources tell me the Arizona Department of Corrections has blocked all employee computers from accessing the entire @kjzzphoenix website after we published Department whistleblowers this morning.
EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers tell @kjzzphoenix a software bug is keeping hundreds of inmates in Arizona prisons beyond their release dates - Sources say Department of Corrections leadership has known about the problem since 2019
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After 7 great years, this is my last week at @kjzzphoenix. I have accepted a job as a Criminal Justice Reporter at @azcentral where I will focus on the issues I am most passionate about: prisons, jails and courts.
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"We have to do it to support Arizona" — Corrections director says Arizona communities would “collapse” without cheap prison labor
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BREAKING: Former AZ prisons director Charles Ryan drank 1/2 bottle of tequila the night of an armed standoff with police at his home, according to his wife. Police reports say Ryan pointed a gun at officers who feared for their lives. He was never jailed.
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Shinn: "The Department does more than just incarcerate. There are services this Dept provides to local jurisdictions (prison labor) at a rate most jurisdictions can't afford. If you were to remove these workers, some of those jurisdictions would collapse.".
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I just talked with a Correctional Officer who works at the La Paz Unit at the Yuma prison: "Only a small percentage of our staff has not been infected. Everyone is worried. Administrators are hiding everything from us. They didn't want the public to know about the warden's death".
Sources tell me Arizona’s Yuma prison warden, Ed Jensen, died from COVID. I just saw an internal email confirming he passed and employees social media posts grieving the loss. @ABC15 reached out to @AZCorrections for comment about 3 hours ago. No response yet.
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These incarcerated women were forced to move from an Arizona state prison to live on-site at a chicken farm to continue working during a pandemic. Inmates who refused were threatened with disciplinary action. They are forced to use portable showers and bathrooms.
Several of the Hickman’s crew enjoyed an Easter sermon by Charlie Edmond from Champions for Christ Ministries on Saturday
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A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE FOCUSED ON PRIVATE PRISONS, BUT WHAT THEY DON'T REALIZE IS THAT OUR REMAINING PUBLICLY OPERATED PRISONS HAVE PRIVATIZED MOST OF THEIR ESSENTIAL SERVICES LIKE HEALTH CARE, COMMISSARY, AND COMMUNICATIONS, SO THE PROFIT MOTIVE STILL EXISTS. WE NEED TO RETHINK THE
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Crazy how reporters keep finding Nazi symbolism in law enforcement agencies all over the country.
NEW: An internal memo shows oversight officials are probing a possible deputy gang they say features Nazi-like symbolism. Half a dozen deputies confirmed the group's existence to me, and some provided images of their logo. My latest for @latimes: .
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Breaking: The Arizona State Supreme Court has ruled state law does not compel the Governor to carry out an execution warrant. It only "authorizes" the executive branch to do so, and Gov. Hobbs has stated she will not resume executions pending a review of the process.
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BREAKING: U.S. District Court Judge rules in landmark prison health care case finding Arizona "failed to provide . a constitutionally adequate medical care and mental health care system for all prisoners." Judge Silver orders injunctive relief to be determined by court expert
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Director Shinn made the comments while trying to explain why the state is accepting bids on a private prison contract that would guarantee the vendor a 90% occupancy rate, meaning Arizona would be paying a private contractor for more than 200 empty beds.
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Speaking of Rep. Kavanagh, an Arizona Republic investigation found that Arizona lawmakers invested more in private prisons after record-high campaign contributions from the industry in recent years.
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This is the same Arizona prisons director (David Shinn) a federal judge called "Completely detached from reality" after he claimed prisoners had better access to health care than him. The judge ruled the AZ prison health care system is unconstitutional.
"Not credible" "Completely detached from reality" "Pretending the problems he knows about do not exist". Federal judge roasts Arizona prisons director David Shinn for "flagrant dereliction of responsibilities," unconstitutional conditions
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so much evil in the world but i'll never get over prisons charging incarcerated people 25 cents an email just to stay in contact with their families - truly heinous.
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@natashawrote it's the incarcerated women who are brave - im honored that they trusted me - thanks for your kind words!.
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In his final interview from death row on Monday, Murray Hooper maintained his innocence, but told me he'd accepted his fate: “Because I know what I’m up against — A racist criminal justice system. And there’s more politics in the system than justice.”
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BREAKING: @GovernorHobbs has appointed a Death Penalty Independent Review Commissioner, and @AZAGMayes has filed to withdraw a motion for the only pending death warrant, effectively pausing executions in Arizona.
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The Joint Legislative Budget Committee will hear a proposal this morning for a new private prison contract guaranteeing a 90% occupancy rate. This is despite a declining prison population and more than 11,000 empty beds in the Arizona prison system.
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Arizona quite literally runs on prison labor, and apparently will continue to do so under the new administration. Our cities and towns are maintained by incarcerated people who are forced to work for pennies a day. Read our @azcentral investigation here:
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This is the most incredible recognition i'll ever receive as a reporter - the guys in the Cibola unit at the Yuma prison made me a card for reporting on the conditions there: "Please don't give up on us" - I never will
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I got the full Tempe Police body camera footage from the night former Arizona prisons director Charles Ryan led them on a drunken, armed standoff, pointing his gun at officers. This went on for 3 hours. Imagine if the police always used this much restraint.
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But where did that $85 per diem rate come from? Surely the Arizona Department of Corrections drives a hard bargain to get taxpayers the lowest price, right? Wrong. According to a state budget staffer, the private prison lobbyists literally set the price:
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NEW: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals finds Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office practice of posting detainee mugshots online UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Attorneys say the ruling is unprecedented and could lead to changes at law enforcement agencies across the country.
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take down that stupid submission form and post your comms director's email you cowards!.
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NEW: A transgender woman has won a judgement against the United States for failing to protect her from an attack while she was incarcerated in a men's unit at the Federal prison in Tucson.
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SCOOP: Arizona will transfer 2,706 prisoners from a state run prison to a private facility in a move that’s expected to cost the state more money, while generating millions of dollars in profits for the private prison industry
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BREAKING: Entire Phoenix Field Office for Government Services Administration has been fired. GSA is the landlord for the Federal courts, whose work, the Clerk told me, will suffer a "major impact." 100s more may have been fired over entire Southwest Region
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you are submitting FOIAs through a portal. i am bringing donuts to the records custodians. we are not the same
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Once again, the Arizona Department of Corrections denied my request to tour a prison. I've been making these requests for 5 years, and never been granted a tour. I'm told all such requests are reviewed by the Governor's office. What are @AZCorrections & @9thFloorAZ so scared of?
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BREAKING: A Federal Court Judge has once again held the Arizona Department of Corrections in CONTEMPT for failure to comply with prison health care benchmarks -U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver has fined the state $1.1 MILLION
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Some incarcerated people lacking hygiene products have resorted to wiping themselves with their socks and then washing them in the toilet. Meanwhile, Arizona prisons were ordering bulk toilet paper from their cleaning supply wholesaler to sell to employees at cost.
BREAKING: Private Facebook posts show the Arizona Department of Corrections is selling prison toilet paper to employees at cost during a pandemic, while inmates struggle to access personal hygiene products
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If you're outraged over prison conditions in El Salvador (Left), might I suggest learning about prison conditions in America (Right).
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BREAKING: A Maricopa County grand jury has charged former Arizona prisons director Charles Ryan with two felonies, the County Attorney's office confirms to me. This report is developing . .
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The last private prison contract in Arizona was awarded to CoreCivic in December, 2021. The state agreed to pay CoreCivic $85.12 per prisoner, per day, with a guaranteed minimum 90% occupancy rate, generating millions of dollars in profits.
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Director Shinn didn't have an answer, but Representative John Kavanagh did: To get companies interested in bidding for the contract, it was necessary to provide a profit motive. Kavanagh called it "basic business."
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BREAKING: Private Facebook posts show the Arizona Department of Corrections is selling prison toilet paper to employees at cost during a pandemic, while inmates struggle to access personal hygiene products
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Whoa - the Governor of Oregon commuted the sentences of 41 prisoners who worked on fire crews
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Really, really honored to have my reporting included in my favorite show @LastWeek. Thank you @csmcdaniel for putting so much time and effort into researching the complex and terrible saga of prison health care, and for looking out for local reporters.
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NEW: A prison privatization project touted as a money-saver by Gov. Doug Ducey’s administration cost Arizona tens of millions of dollars more than projected and will continue to run over budget, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.
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The Prison Sell: How Arizona's Department of Corrections leases prisoners for profit. @azcentral and @kjzzphoenix investigation by @JosephJaafari, @geoffhing, @justinJprice & me. Edited by @MichaelBraga2, Chad Snow and @skyschaudt
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Arizona consistently relies on incarcerated workers making $0.50/hr to save us from natural disasters.
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VINDICATION!!! @AZCorrections whistleblowers told me the Department was holding 100s of prisoners past their release dates. I reported it. DOC denied it. Arizona Auditor General: DOC "Did not release 313 inmates 3 months early as required by statute"
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According to Arizona Department of Corrections whistleblowers, hundreds of incarcerated people who should be eligible for release are being held in prison because the inmate management software cannot interpret current sentencing laws.
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Citing lower prison populations @KelliButlerAZ asked "Why aren't we closing more prisons, & ending some of these contracts?" Shinn said “While it doesn't serve the department's best interest to have these places open, we have to do it to support Arizona."
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I'm getting reports of correctional officers bringing bleach into Arizona prisons and selling it to the inmates so they can clean their living areas. If your loved one has resorted to procuring cleaning supplies through the prison black market please contact me jjenkins@kjzz.org.
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BREAKING: Arizona Department of Corrections announces 517 inmates in just one unit of the Tucson prison have tested positive for COVID-19. THIS IS NEARLY HALF THE UNIT! @AZCorrections sent the press release just as initial primary election results were released in Arizona
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Governor Ducey has signed a bill that will guarantee free, unlimited feminine hygiene products for incarcerated women in Arizona state prisons. @AthenaSalman first raised the issue three years ago in front of an all-male committee
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BREAKING: Inmates at the Yuma prison say they were threatened with violence and ordered by prison officials to refuse COVID-19 testing to keep outbreak numbers artificially low
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Prisons and jails in Arizona responded to the pandemic by permanently raising custody levels and locking everyone down longer, while reducing recreation time and access to programming. I hear from so many people who are still being deprived of showers, phone calls and sunlight.
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Breaking: Arizona Department of Corrections confirms 655 new COVID cases at the state prison in Yuma, La Paz Unit. This is the largest outbreak in the prison system since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Breaking: Arizona Department of Corrections waives medical copays for inmates with cold and flu symptoms, makes soap available to inmates for free, stops internal inmate movement
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NEW: Bombshell internal investigation conducted by Arizona's new prisons director reveals "State is in no position to conduct an execution".
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i'm going through mail from people incarcerated in Arizona prisons today - this man wrote me a 20 page letter front and back about the unsanitary conditions and lack of care for COVID patients: "Sorry so sloppy been writing 16 hours straight - tired"
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The docket for Arizona's prison health care lawsuit is full of letters from incarcerated people begging for medical treatment. Many have predicted their own deaths. The latest: Diagnosed with bladder cancer, this man has been peeing blood for a month. “I was told not to worry.”
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It's no secret - the current Department of Corrections director told the legislature that Arizona communities would “collapse” without cheap prison labor.
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This was June 2021 - well before the procurement process was over - when the budget staffer said private prison lobbyists had come up with the $85 per diem figure. Arizona announced the new contract award 6 months later - after I found it on the procurement website - at $85/day!
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Arizona Department of Corrections employees produced this internal video as a recruitment tool for their Tactical Support Unit, so it would be pretty ironic if *hypothetically* someone used these images to spread awareness of their atrocities all over town.
Totally unrelated but here's some still images from a video leaked to me showing brutal tactics used against people incarcerated in Arizona prisons
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ICYMI: Arizona paid at least $120,000 in cash to executioners and it was totally off the books. The state has no tax records for the payments. The Governor and Department of Corrections won't comment.
Scoop: Arizona has no receipts for $20,000 cash payments made to executioners, potentially violating federal tax law.
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ASPC-Lewis.Barchey Unit.Buckeye, Arizona. "I am an inmate at the Barchey Unit in Buckeye. As I write, please know that I am not anti-prison. I committed a terrible crime almost 16 years ago, and I deserve to be here for what I did. However,.
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it greatly overstates my abilities, but i will work every day to live up to this mug i got in the mail from the women at the Perryville prison
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Tracie Otero wrote to me from the Perryville women's prison in August saying she was in so much pain that she had considered taking her life. She claims she wasn't able to see a doctor or receive proper medical treatment. She died by suicide yesterday.
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Sure seems like there was enough money raised to pay event staff to set up the inauguration instead of relying on prison labor:.
New: For Arizona @GovernorHobbs' inauguration events, donors were asked to give $250,000 - an unprecedented amount - to a new group incorporated by Hobbs' campaign manager that doesn't have to disclose donors/amounts/spending. via @azcentral
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Attention potential whistleblowers:. A change of administration at the end of the year is the perfect time to leak to the press. Your office is in chaos. Everyone's leaving. Everyone's got a motive. They'll never know it was you:. jjenkins@arizonarepublic.com.Signal: 812-243-5582.
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This is what dedication looks like. @robertanglen & @ecsantacruz3 broke the story this week about white, affluent, teenagers terrorizing suburban Phoenix. Their investigation already prompted the police to take action, and they're not letting up!
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Arizona's prison health care system was ruled unconstitutional, validating the claims of incarcerated people who hope change will follow. One prisoner has a simple request: "I would like for pepper ball guns to no longer be used on mentally ill inmates."
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DID YOU KNOW: Hickman's created a non-profit to successfully lobby for a bill that made it more difficult for formerly incarcerated people to sue for damages after they were injured during forced labor at the egg ranch?
DID YOU KNOW: @AZCorrections and @hickmanseggs have enjoyed an "EGGCELLENT" partnership for 27 years, providing AZ inmates meaningful work opportunities along with full-time jobs, transportation and transitional housing AFTER incarceration?
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If fentanyl is the catastrophic threat to society that the police and other government agencies make it out to be, why aren't they making fentanyl test strips free and readily available?.
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"Not credible" "Completely detached from reality" "Pretending the problems he knows about do not exist". Federal judge roasts Arizona prisons director David Shinn for "flagrant dereliction of responsibilities," unconstitutional conditions
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Arizona state senator says the quiet part loud, acknowledging that people convicted of sexual assault become targets of assault themselves when committed to state prison - not a great look for a prison system currently fighting claims of deliberate indifference in federal court
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Plaintiff Attorney in Parsons v Ryan overheard Arizona Department of Corrections Officers talking about her while conducting a prison tour
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“It makes me sick,” one source said, noting that even the most diligent employees are capable of making math errors that could result in additional months or years in prison for an inmate. “What the hell are we doing here? People’s lives are at stake.”.
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Rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in the central Phoenix building I live in has increased 70% in the past 7 years - unfortunately my salary has not maintained the same rate of growth lol.
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I have witnessed life. And I have witnessed death. But nothing could have prepared me for the surreal spectacle I witnessed during the execution of Frank Atwood.
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As of 2019, the Department had spent more than $24 million contracting with IT company Business & Decision, North America to build and maintain the software program, known as ACIS, that is used to manage the inmate population in state prisons.
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Just dropping in to say "public records portals" are gatekeeping BS designed to discourage the public from accessing information that is rightfully ours by creating additional barriers & charging fees to access documents that our tax dollars already paid to produce happy Friday!.
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16 pistols, rifles, and shotguns were confiscated from Ryan's home. "It should be noted," the report states, "not all listed firearms had an identifiable serial number." State law prohibits "Possessing a defaced deadly weapon knowing the deadly weapon was defaced.".
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The Arizona prison media policy allows tv shows with titles like “Nazi Underworld" and "Aryan Brotherhood" but prohibits the music of @kendricklamar and the writings of Elijah Muhammad. The 9th Circuit sided with an incarcerated man who called out the bias
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Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell just attacked @abc15's @NicoleSGrigg and their station's coverage of teen violence at a press conference. This was completely unprovoked. Mitchell called press access to her office a privilege: "You're done - I'll cut your microphone off!"
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I asked a man who just got out of an Arizona prison about reentry programming and he laughed at me:. “The only reentry programming I got was from looking through a 3-ring binder in the unit library that had the addresses of food pantries and places to get old clothes for free.”.
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But the ACIS software is not still able to identify inmates who qualify for SB 1310 programming, nor can it calculate their new release dates:. “We knew from day one this wasn’t going to work” a source said. “When they approved that bill, we looked at it and said ‘Oh shit.’”.
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Breaking: 2 private prisons operated by CoreCivic in Eloy, Arizona are without main power & running on generators after last night's storms. Prisoners report "stifling" conditions and cells so humid the floors are sweating. The outages could last for days.
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It's my one-year anniversary at @azcentral and 8 years since I moved to Phoenix. I'm so grateful for everyone's support. Thank you all for making this Hoosier boy feel so welcome out here in the desert. Special thanks to my editors @kimbui @mikecnews and @gburton
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EXCLUSIVE: Progressive group launches campaign to unseat two Arizona Supreme Court justices whose recent bombshell ruling upheld a near-total abortion ban from 1864.
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NEW: Police begged a judge to hold former AZ prisons chief Charles Ryan accountable for pointing a gun at them during a drunken standoff, after County Attorney Rachel Mitchell personally signed off on a deal to keep Ryan out of prison. He got probation.
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Totally unrelated but here's some still images from a video leaked to me showing brutal tactics used against people incarcerated in Arizona prisons
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Crazy how privatizing jail and prison health care services produces the exact same terrible results in every state in the nation — probably just a coincidence.
Two Jacksonville legislators called on the Department of Justice to investigate Duval County’s jail after The Tributary found the death rate among inmates tripled after the jail privatized medical care.
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Police reports obtained by @azcentral state Ryan's wife told police it is not abnormal for him to think that someone is trying to break into their home, and he "does commonly patrol the property at night after consuming alcohol.".
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