Retiring Arizona Prison Watch...


This site was originally started in July 2009 as an independent endeavor to monitor conditions in Arizona's criminal justice system, as well as offer some critical analysis of the prison industrial complex from a prison abolitionist/anarchist's perspective. It was begun in the aftermath of the death of Marcia Powell, a 48 year old AZ state prisoner who was left in an outdoor cage in the desert sun for over four hours while on a 10-minute suicide watch. That was at ASPC-Perryville, in Goodyear, AZ, in May 2009.

Marcia, a seriously mentally ill woman with a meth habit sentenced to the minimum mandatory 27 months in prison for prostitution was already deemed by society as disposable. She was therefore easily ignored by numerous prison officers as she pleaded for water and relief from the sun for four hours. She was ultimately found collapsed in her own feces, with second degree burns on her body, her organs failing, and her body exceeding the 108 degrees the thermometer would record. 16 officers and staff were disciplined for her death, but no one was ever prosecuted for her homicide. Her story is here.

Marcia's death and this blog compelled me to work for the next 5 1/2 years to document and challenge the prison industrial complex in AZ, most specifically as manifested in the Arizona Department of Corrections. I corresponded with over 1,000 prisoners in that time, as well as many of their loved ones, offering all what resources I could find for fighting the AZ DOC themselves - most regarding their health or matters of personal safety.

I also began to work with the survivors of prison violence, as I often heard from the loved ones of the dead, and learned their stories. During that time I memorialized the Ghosts of Jan Brewer - state prisoners under her regime who were lost to neglect, suicide or violence - across the city's sidewalks in large chalk murals. Some of that art is here.

In November 2014 I left Phoenix abruptly to care for my family. By early 2015 I was no longer keeping up this blog site, save occasional posts about a young prisoner in solitary confinement in Arpaio's jail, Jessie B.

I'm deeply grateful to the prisoners who educated, confided in, and encouraged me throughout the years I did this work. My life has been made all the more rich and meaningful by their engagement.

I've linked to some posts about advocating for state prisoner health and safety to the right, as well as other resources for families and friends. If you are in need of additional assistance fighting the prison industrial complex in Arizona - or if you care to offer some aid to the cause - please contact the Phoenix Anarchist Black Cross at PO Box 7241 / Tempe, AZ 85281. collective@phoenixabc.org

until all are free -

MARGARET J PLEWS (June 1, 2015)
arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com



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Friday, December 4, 2009

GEO Human Rights Violations: Reeves Co. TX

This via Ken at Private Corrections Institute. It touches on one of the consequences of putting profit into the prison business. We should look at what we'll be doing here on International Human Rights Day, too.
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Grassroots Leadership Calls for Scrutiny of Pecos Prison 
 
 Posted by editor on Friday, December 04 @ 09:57:00 EST 
 
Friends:

For International Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), please join us in condemning the human rights abuses against immigrants incarcerated in the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas. At least nine deaths in the last four years have been reported at Reeves and countless prisoners live daily with fear for their lives.

Reeves is run by the private prison company GEO Group for the Bureau of Prisons. Those held at Reeves are segregated based on their immigration status. Many, including several who have died, served 5 or 10 year sentences for immigration violations.

We're on lock down 21 hours a day. When you're sick they don't call you till a week or a month later. There's people that put in request for surgery over six months ago and they still haven't gotten it. - Reeves County Prisoner

Grassroots Leadership joins with prisoners' families, the ACLU of Texas, Southwest Worker's Union, and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to denounce the serious human rights abuses at the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas.

Please join us in the coming weeks in a series of actions to stop these abuses.

We urge the Obama Administration and the Department of Justice to end the contract with the controversial GEO Group, investigate the abuses at Reeves, and ensure humane conditions for all inmates.

Bob Libal and Luissana Santibañez
Grassroots Leadership
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