🚨 Incarcerated people in at least three different units at the Eyman prison in Florence, Arizona are reporting the water is out - looks like the whole complex might be affected - I have reached out to @AZCorrections for more information
It's going to be close to 100 degrees tomorrow and Monday in Florence and most of these guys have "swamp coolers" that use water to keep their housing units somewhat tolerable - not to mention that whole needing drinking water to live thing
More: 10 gallons of water for 100 men to drink, bathe and wash clothes
I correspond with this man regularly at Eyman - He says they've been without running water for 12 hours - the prison is bringing in jugs of water but it's not enough for the more than 5,000 people who live there
The Arizona Department Of Corrections' annual budget is $1.3 Billion:
"We are in a struggle to decide whether to use the water we do get for hygiene, food, or drinking"
People at Eyman say they still haven't been given any updates as to why the water is out or when it will be back (Neither have I ) Basic communication from the Department could prevent so much anxiety and unrest amongst our incarcerated population
If this goes anything like previous instances, I'll get an email tomorrow that says:
Jimmy,
For a brief period of time Saturday the water system at Eyman was taken offline for routine maintenance. Inmates had access to clean water and portable toilets and everything is fine now
Still no update from DOC as to what happened but I'm getting reports from prisoners and families that the water is back on this morning - so that was 24 hours without running water for more than 5,000 incarcerated people - this is a regular occurrence in our prisons
Water outage at Eyman confirmed - This is an email from a Deputy Warden to the prisoners: "There was an issue with the well not filling"
Another incarcerated person at Eyman says a Deputy Warden told them there will be no showers or water for swamp coolers until the issue is resolved
Yet another prisoner describes the impacts of the water outage at Eyman:
"It was a free-for-all to get any water from the jug and of course the tough guys had plenty while the rest of us suffered. I managed to get one more cup all day."
The Auditor General found that Arizona is putting more seriously mentally ill children in our juvenile prison because we lack the resources to treat them anywhere else
"For example, the closing of the adolescent unit of the Arizona State Hospital in September 2009 removed a
secure treatment option for these youth." azauditor.gov/sites/default/…
In Arizona's juvenile prison there were "9 serious and life-threatening youth suicide attempts during calendar year 2019, and 7 serious and life-threatening youth suicide attempts during calendar year 2020."
BREAKING: Citing "pervasive material breaches" of Arizona's prison health care class action settlement by the state, Judge Roslyn Silver has ordered the Department of Corrections and prisoner attorneys to prepare for a trial to be held no later than November 1st, 2021
Judge Silver: "Over the past six years, Defendants have consistently failed to meet many of the Stipulation’s critical benchmarks. Beyond these failures, Defendants have in the past six years proffered erroneous and unreliable excuses for non-performance . . .
asserted baseless legal arguments, and in essence resisted complying with the obligations they contractually knowingly and voluntarily assumed. The Court has repeatedly used the remedies authorized by the Stipulation and often exercised forbearance rather than imposing sanctions.
Breaking: Despite continued failures to meet court-ordered benchmarks, the Arizona Department of Corrections has renewed its prison health care contract with Centurion of Arizona for 15 months for a total of nearly $217 Million - a $12 million increase kjzz.org/content/169514…
The new contract includes a $2.7 million "reimbursement" to Centurion for pandemic-related expenses AND an indemnification cap for the company at $2 million for “court ordered judicial sanctions and fees” related to the Parsons versus Shinn prison health care lawsuit
Two federal judges have levied contempt fines totaling $2.5 million against the department for inadequate prison health care in recent years. The department is seeking to have its previous contractor, Corizon Health, pay for those fines - background: kjzz.org/content/166191…
EXCLUSIVE: Blood, Cockroaches and Gigantic Rats - Inspection Reports Reveal Filthy Conditions In Arizona Prison Kitchens kjzz.org/content/168320…
Twelve months of inspection reports conducted at all 16 state prisons in 2020, provided to KJZZ through a records request, detail pest infestation, broken equipment, and frequent use of expired food
The records show that while almost all of the facilities were consistently found to have critical violations, the prison kitchens were given “satisfactory” ratings by oversight agencies, and allowed to continue serving food to incarcerated people.
Going through Arizona Department of Corrections food inspections - Kitchens with dead cockroaches and mice droppings get a "Satisfactory" rating - these would be critical violations in any commercial food service facility
Walk-in coolers don't work. Dishwashers don't work. Civilian staff not wearing gloves. Roaches in the kitchen. Warm milk. Warm lunch meat. Rating? "Satisfactory"
"Pest infestation still present in main kitchen, at serving lines, beverage stations, and dish room."
"Hot Holding Cabinets out of service for being infested with cockroaches"
An incarcerated person at the Lewis prison in Buckeye, AZ says they are washing their clothes in buckets, exposed to bug infestation, served moldy food and brown drinking water