(Entire credit for this article goes to Jimmy Jenkins, reporter extraordinaire)

Inmates inside the AZ prisons are routinely subjected to disease, violence, inhumane conditions, and untimely death. Suicides have reached record highs, and staffing has reached record lows.

The ongoing legal case started in 2012, is now known as Jensen v. Shinn. This class action lawsuit is the direct result of substandard health care by for-profit Insurers. As Judge Silver said, “There is overwhelming evidence and repeated instances of insufficient care leading to suffering and death.”

The DOC violated the law and its own policies by denying media witnesses to executions. In 2021 the DOC lost a complaint to an inmate that said the agency was denying people the opportunity to earn time off their sentences. Shinn is also under fire for spending more than $24 million on a flawed computer system that was unable to calculate new sentencing laws, keeping people in prison more than necessary.

Staffing got worse under Shinn’s leadership. When he was appointed in 2019 there were 1,136 officer vacancies. Now vacancies have gone up 66% to 1,931.

Prisoners and staff alike testified at trial that lock issues remain unsolved, despite millions spent on replacement parts.

Health Services in 2020 documented rampant pest infestation, broken equipment, and use of expired food in state prison kitchens.

Covid in 2020 showed Shinn’s leadership was deeply flawed. The DOC recorded 70 inmate deaths, 15,000 infections of inmates, and 15,000 staff infections. Shinn initially mandated staff to wear masks, but not inmates. At Hickman’s egg ranch, 140 female prisoners were forced to live and work at the ranch during the pandemic but had to forgo GED and other programs.

Shinn again came under fire in July after saying Arizona cities would “collapse” without cheap prison labor. The DOC makes millions in profits annually while failing to deliver on promises of job skills and training.

Shinn stopped phone interviews with inmates and prohibited staff from speaking to the media. He never held a news conference and declined repeated requests for interviews.

Rep. Blackman said about the new Governor and the DOC, “The new administration has to give the new Director flexibility to really clean house and run a comprehensive review of that prison system.”

With the ACLU breathing down the DOC’s back, inmates have been “expedited” out of prison. Women not even expecting release were told to pack up and go home. This is welcome news to the inmates experiencing serious overcrowding in Perryville.

We received numerous reports of a shakedown of guards this weekend, by visitors, inmates, tram drivers, and other staff. The Internal Investigation unit allegedly searched the guards’ cars and found illegal drugs. Other staff was personally searched after leaving the tram to report to work. Reportedly, many drugs and paraphernalia were found.