Each new prison promises a future in which we expect to only defeat violence with violence, giving the state even greater discretion about who to perpetrate what kind of violence against for what sort of offense. Planning ahead for Arizona, right now, means planning more prison beds - we've got our criminals planned for and accommodated 50 years down the road - which doesn't instill much confidence in the Department of Corrections, I must say.
But what if citizens took control of that planning process, turned it around, and said: "we don't want no more prison beds, so what are we going to do instead?". Then proceeded to have a five day conference with people from across the state to answer that question and develop a summary of recommendations for the governor and legislature to look at criminal justice reform when they reconvene - first under the heading of immigration reform, I suspect.
Anyone interest in forming an "Arizona Juvenile Justice Watch" group and putting together a website, we can use some research now on juvenile justice issues in America, particularly those issues which are most likely to present as campaign issues for the 2010 election. Running this site would require not only extensive internet research, but organizing with people across the country, predominately through email.
Another front we need to address is the prosecutors and judges coming up for re-election, what prominent cases people should be aware of, how they're ranked by their peers, what kind of fund-raising and campaigning activity they'll have going on, where they have their money invested, etc.;
There we also need a valley-wide "Judicial Watch" organized. We'll need to come up with some form for evaluating judges based on decisions and sentences and abolitionist reform criteria, and then we'll ask them each some questions, and publish the results (if any). We can also use it to survey ex-prisoners / parolees about their experiences with different characters along the way in the CJ system (who was helpful / who was not/ why).
This is your chance, geeks of all varieties. It's an historical moment. Organizer wanna-bees, unarmed revolutionaries - do your thing. This place is ready for some major change.
Crashing now but hit me back as soon as you get this and have any ideas. Thanks, Peggy
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
WINSLOW, Ariz. - The Winslow Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved conditional use permits for Ruby Wash Properties, LLC regarding a private prison complex to be built near the present Arizona State Prison at the southern border of the city.
An attorney representing the company said at the meeting that the company plans to build a 5,000 bed prison facility in Winslow if the company is awarded a contract for constructing and operating the facility by the state. The state has said that the contract would be awarded by June 30. The attorney said that once the contract has been obtained, the company would begin construction as quickly as possible and expects to complete the project in approximately 18 months from then.
The area is already properly zoned and the permits required were expected to be acquired by Tuesday. The attorney said that the staff working for the city of Winslow was a great team to work with and were totally cooperative.
The city has agreed to allow use of the airport for transportation of prisoners. This is a very important ingredient to the facility as it is perfect for the safe handling of ICE and federal prisoners.
The plans indicate that the 5,000 bed unit is only phase one of the development the company plans in the area. Two more units are planned for a total of 12,000 prison beds or 16,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees in the next two phases of the development. There may also be an ICE processing unit constructed. The entire area of the proposed development contains some 900 acres located south of the Winslow-Lindberg Airport, north and to some extent east of the Arizona State Prison and west of State Route 87.
Phase one of the projects is expected to cost approximately $350 million and employ some 1,000 people not including those who work during the construction of the facilities. Those added jobs and residents would be a huge benefit to the city.
The facilities will large house state prisoners who are currently farmed out to other states, prisoners from other states and ICE prisoners. Arizona currently has nearly 5,000 prisoners serving their time in other states and locating them in Arizona should lower the cost of incarceration. The lack of adequate prison space is a factor in many states and the federal system is also overcrowded.
There are at least two more actions the city council and a staff committee need to perform before the company can expect the state to grant the contract they need to build and operate the prison. The state, according to legislation authorizing the 5,000 prisoner facility, will award the contract on June 30. It should be to the advantage of the city and the company to have their plans in place and local conditions met as soon as possible.
The first item that needs to be considered is for the Winslow City Council to accept a development agreement with the company. The council may accept, reject or modify such an agreement and is expected to do so at its Dec. 8 meeting provided the agreement is ready for such action.
After an agreement is has been accepted by the council, the staff Development and Review Board will review the agreement, looking at plans to make sure they meet the city code, suggesting changes, looking at the plot plan and building plans. There are a host of items the board will address including most of those mentioned by speakers in opposition to the project.
Once the agreement has been accepted by the city agencies, the company will seek a contract with the state for the 5,000 prisoner beds in question. Construction of phase one of the projects will begin immediately after the contract is awarded.
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