Homeless in Arizona

There is NOT a prison guard shortage.

There is a SURPLUS of prisoners in the Arizona State Prison.

Sadly a huge number of the people in Arizona's prisons are not criminals, but politician prisoners who have been convicted of victimless drug war crimes.

Release these honest law abiding political prisoners from the Arizona State Prison system and this phoney baloney shortage of prison guards will disappear overnight.

According to the ACLU, 50% of the people arrested nationwide are arrested for victimless marijuana crimes.

According to the US Bureau of Prisons, 51% of the people in Federal prisons are there for victimless drug war crimes.

I an not sure exactly what percentage of the people are in Arizona prisons for victimless drug war crimes, but based on the prior 2 statistics I suspect the number is very large.

Arizona's prison-guard shortage prompts workers to sue over 'dangerous conditions'

Craig Harris, The Republic | azcentral.com 3:38 p.m. MST January 29, 2016

Arizona Department of Corrections workers sue the state, claiming unsafe conditions caused inmates to attack them

The lawsuit comes after a $3 million payout to another DOC employee who was raped in prison Eight Arizona prison employees who were attacked by inmates and said they suffered debilitating injuries are suing the state, Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan and prison administrators over what they say are dangerous working conditions.

The eight employees, including one who said she was sexually assaulted by a convicted murderer, allege widespread safety problems in Arizona's prison system and an indifference by management to maintaining a safe work environment. The main problem, the suit alleges, is that there aren't enough correctional officers to adequately monitor prisoners.

The suit, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, seeks from the state "immediate and permanent changes that are desperately needed to alleviate the dangerous conditions," and compensatory damages.

The suit comes on the heels of the state paying a record $3 million to settle a different lawsuit filed by a former DOC teacher who was raped and beaten by an inmate two years ago. The settlement contained no admissions of wrongdoing.

Scott Zwillinger, who represented the teacher, is co-counsel in the latest suit. He said other Corrections Department employees approached him and lawyer Martin Bihn to handle the most recent suit because they feel DOC has repeatedly failed to protect its employees. For example, Zwillinger said, Corrections administrators are accused of ignoring requests to fix broken cell locks and broken lights, which the suit contends contributed to some of the assaults.

Andrew Wilder, a DOC spokesman, said the agency is reviewing the allegations. But he said safety remains the top concern for the agency.

"There are more than 7,000 corrections professionals who work inside Arizona state prisons each and every day. Their safety and security is the department's highest priority, and we take seriously all concerns," Wilder said.

He noted that in seven of the eight instances in which a plaintiff in the suit was injured, the department was able to identify the inmate responsible and sought prosecution.

The suit says four of the attacks occurred at Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis near Buckeye, two occurred at ASPC-Tucson and one each occurred at ASPC-Florence and ASPC-Yuma. Zwillinger said all of the employees were so badly injured they no longer can work, with some having serious head injuries.

Zwillinger said it was not enough for DOC to prosecute inmates after the attacks occurred. He said the state should provide sufficient funding to assure enough correctional officers for safe operation of the prisons.

Ryan, the Corrections director, has previously acknowledged his agency is understaffed and has said his office aggressively tries to recruit more correctional officers.

There currently is a 7.4 percent vacancy rate, with 496 unfilled correctional officer positions, according to DOC. The average salary for a correctional officer is $36,881.

Daniel Ruiz, a spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey, said the governor has told the Corrections Department to "review the complaint closely and take every action necessary to ensure the safety of the state’s correction officers and personnel."

However, the governor has not included additional funding in his state budget proposal to significantly raise the wages of correctional officers.