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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AZ Prison Watch BLOG POSTS:


Saturday, May 11, 2013

CCA Eloy LaPalma: Prisoners fasting for religious rights.



May 11, 2013

Dennis DeConcini
Arizona Board of Regents
2020 N. Central Ave., Suite 230 
Phoenix, AZ 85004-4593
d.deconcini@att.net


Dear Mr. DeConcini:

I am a Phoenix area artist, freelance writer, and human rights activist known for my concern about Arizona' prisoners. This week I was contacted by the wife of a California Department of Corrections prisoner in Corrections Corporation of America's LaPalma Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ. They've been having  a lot of trouble in their prisons in Eloy lately. As you can see from the letter and attachments below, several Jewish prisoners have begun to fast  after extensive efforts to resolve the problems with CCA's  lack of respect for their religious rights. If what they report is true, then CCA is out of compliance with the law and there's no excuse for it.

I'm sure this is something you'll be deeply concerned about, as I am, and expect that you will  put in a good word for the US Constitution with Warden Jim MacGregor at LaPalma prison. He can be reached at 520-464-3200. Since you're so proud to be on the CCA board and used to be a US senator, this seems to be something you should take some responsibility for resolving.

We all look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Margaret Jean Plews
Arizona Prison Watch
480-580-6807
arizonaprisonwatch@gmail.com





We'll see if he condones this...


---------------from the wife of CCA prisoner Kenneth Santiago---------------------



May 10, 2013
Annie Santiago
841 Robinson Street, Apt. B
Martinez, CA 94553

 
RE: PRISONERS FASTING over Anti-semitism and religious rights violations at Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)  LaPalma Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ.
My name is Annie Santiago.

My husband, Kenneth Santiago, is a prisoner of the state of California, in a private prison in Eloy, Arizona run by  Corrections Corporation of America. His CDC # is F03822.

Kenneth reports that as of May 7, 2013, he and several other prisoners at LaPalma Correctional Center began to fast. They are doing so in hopes of focusing the attention of the larger faith community on their more than 1 ½ year long struggle to  compel the prison administration to come into compliance with the US Constitution, recent court settlements, and the norms for human decency, regarding Kosher food service for California prisoners located in Arizona.

Documentation of the problems at LaPalma and the struggle of Jewish prisoners against harassment, unconstitutional conditions of confinement, and retaliation is attached. More will be available soon, as will correspondence directly from the  prisoners themselves about their objectives that is, if they haven’t been stripped of their belongings and thrown in the hole already.

Yesterday morning an officer confronted my husband and the other men who were fasting, threatening to punish them with  detention if they didn’t eat. Warden Jim MacDonald told me in the afternoon that he was going to look into it, but he asserted that “hunger strikers” would indeed be inviting disciplinary action, so please do not characterize this as a “hunger  strike”.

These men are fasting in a deeply spiritual tradition, not setting their mattresses on fire or inciting riots. Why are they not even afforded the most simple respect for their efforts to adhere to their faith?

Please, whether you are media or a member of the faith community in Arizona or California, help my husband and the other prisoners get the outside world’s attention on that place there’s a bigger problem there than just what’s happening to them. Contact me at the number above for more information.

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Annie Santiago


 
 Good overview from prisoner Kenneth Santiago to a sympathetic Rabbi...


But first, the complaint was in-house with CCA's "unsung hero",
 Chaplain Tim O'Dell... who apparently did not come to the rescue.