By C1 Staff
PHOENIX — The January 2014 rape and beating of an Arizona Department of Corrections teacher was part of a record 412 inmate assaults on staff during the past year, according to DOC records.
AZ Central reports that the assaults are a result of overcrowding and the departure of hundreds of correctional officers, most seeking better-paying jobs.
“The Department of Corrections is portraying this image that everyone is safe in there. But everyone does not feel safe and secure,” said Scott Zwillinger, the attorney for the teacher who was attacked. “Everyone is doing more with less and as a result, safety is being compromised.”
The DOC does acknowledge that assaults have risen, in part because the definition of “assaults on staff” was changed in 2009 to include any kind of attack, even if it didn’t include an injury.
A spokesperson says the DOC has been aggressively trying to fill 614 open positions, but it’s been difficult.
“When the economy wasn’t doing as well, we had more officers. But when the economy improves, we are competing with other jobs,” said Bill Lamoreaux, a DOC spokesman. “It is always a challenge to get folks to come in here and do the task to keep the community safe.”
Gov. Doug Ducey has a plan to spend $100 million during the next three years to move inmates to a new 3,000-bed, medium-security private prison as a way to make state prisons more secure and less overcrowded. His proposal does not include pay raises for correctional officers due to the state’s current revenue shortfall.
Instead, he believes another private prison will save the state money.
The GOP-controlled Legislature has not produced its budget, and both branches must agree on a state spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
There are three private-prison operators that run minimum- and medium-security facilities in Arizona with state tax dollars. The private prisons have less-violent inmates, and some will only take inmates who have no history of escapes. Others won’t take inmates who require special-education services.
There were 41 staff assaults among Arizona’s six private prisons in the last fiscal year.