When Prison Management go Flat Line -
the Inmates get Angry & Bolder
It is very likely the Arizona governor and legislature will
flat line the prison budget sooner than expected. It is today exceeding over 1
billion dollars a year and it is obvious the state can’t sustain such financial
growth. The downsize of this phenomena is that state prison management,
projects, programs and other prison related expenditures must be curtailed and
draw back resources allocated over the past four years to ensure a rapid and
aggressive growth in bed space and prisoner numbers.
It is time to stop this insane funding for more prison money
as it has already skyrocketed past normal expectations and fiscal demands.
Arizona must hold the line on spending and that includes holding prison growth
flat over the next year or so otherwise politicians will be forced to admit
their mass incarceration agenda has drowned the state of financial debt and
insolvency,
Unfortunately, the current prison management team will make
recommendations that end all forms of reform, rehabilitation and educational
programs that include substance abuse and other self-improvement programs or
studies. It will unwisely reduce prison expenses that will create a severe and
potentially violent backdrafts on the state’s prison population and create more
tension and violence than ever before. History will
reflect this throughout our prisons systems.
Under current practices and laws, Arizona prisoners serve
longer prison terms than many other state prison systems. That means more
growth and more problems. Arizona has no intention of changing the good time
law that mandates inmates serve 85 % of their sentence and will need to finance
for more growth here in the next few months to avoid turning them away from
doing prison time. Little effort has been placed on alternative sentencing and
community based supervision.
Policy changes are pending and more efforts will be put on
controlling the purse strings to avoid overspending and not meeting
constitutional mandates for healthcare, food and other auxiliary services.
Their utility bills, already out of control will mount and their ability to get
credit on payment of such will be closely securitized by those providing the
services. Physical plant and waste water resources are stretched beyond
reasonable limits already and ready for failure. Prisons without utilities are
prone to be set on fire out of protest and revolutionary thinking that puts
staff in harm's way.
The policy changes that reduce prison expansion are
critical, but without investing in our local public safety infrastructure, we
will not likely occur within time to prevent a prison riot or disturbance of
grave proportions. There is no current system in place to oversee internal
prison related crimes and accountability in sustainable ways until it is too
late and legislators will demand transparency and accountability after the fact
and destruction.
The governor needs a bold agenda and the Legislative body
needs to begin to take full responsibility for what is about to happen inside
Arizona prisons this summer. It will be one of the most severe impacts on public
safety as this will eventually be one of the most impactful issues the
legislature will attempt to tackle.
Here is hoping they can get done before the riots start.
