Arizona State Jails
Arizona, located in the southwestern region of the United States, is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Arizona is one of the Four Corner states. It borders New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and California, touches Colorado, and has a 389-mile (626 km) international border with the states of Sonora and Baja California in Mexico. It is the largest landlocked U.S. state by population. The crime rate for 2009 for Arizona was 3,856.5 crimes per 100,000 population based on a population of approx. 6.7 million. There were 257,727 crime index offenses reported in 2009.
In Arizona's 15 counties there are 28 facilities with a combined rated capacity of 14,561 inmates. Most jails are operated by the sheriff's office. There is no formal jail inspection program in the state. The Department of Corrections employs 9,502 people. (2008). The County probation agencies under the Superior Court supervise 82,232 probationers. The Department of Corrections supervises nearly 7,534 adult parolees. (2008)
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The crime rate in Arizona is about 23% higher than the national average rate. Property crimes account for around 90.6% of the crime rate in Arizona which is 25% higher than the national rate. The remaining 12.2% are violent crimes and are about 2% lower than other states.
Among the numerous jails in Arizona is Fourth Avenue Jail which opened in April 2005. A facility that is considered to be one of the most secure and technologically advanced in the nation, Fourth Avenue was part of the largest county jail expansion project in the history of the nation, supported overwhelmingly by the taxpayers of Maricopa County. The Fourth Avenue Jail features user friendly video visitation for the general public. This facility also maintains a fully staffed and equipped medical and dental clinic. In addition, inmates are offered educational and religious services in the chapel and classrooms within the facility.
Lower Buckeye Jail opened also in 2005, with its no frills philosophy it is Arizona’s largest detention facility.
Inmates in Arizona’s jails and correctional facilities by Arizona law are required, if able bodied, to work. The pay scale for most institutional jobs ranges between 10 cents and 50 cents per hour. The majority of jobs are to be found in the following areas: kitchen work, grounds keeping, maintenance, building porters/janitors, clerks, and recreation aides. The Department has established some limited/specialized contracts with outside entities through Arizona Correctional Industries which allows some inmates to earn more than 50 cents per hour.
Adult Basic Education (ABE) and GED programs are available to all inmates at all the units at ASPC-Perryville. All inmates committed to the Department after July 1, 1997 must be enrolled in the Department's ABE Literacy Program if it has been determined that they are unable to function at the 8th grade level. They must also progress beyond the 8th grade level in order to be eligible to receive anything more than the base pay for any job to which they are assigned.
Substance abuse services are also available in a variety of formats.
