Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.
“Wright said the banning of Prison Legal News is another way some penal institutions try to prevent inmates from knowing their rights. Under Silver’s directive, the state of Arizona and its corrections department can no longer violate prisoners’ First Amendment rights, which include the right to read — something that also impacts non-incarcerated people once prisoners are released, Fathi said.“
Washington Post
November 12, 2019
Read More“After inmates in the Douglas prison complained their drinking water was brown and tasted like diesel fuel, the Arizona Department of Corrections has confirmed water at the prison had a “noticeable petroleum odor and taste.” Spokesman Andrew Wilder said the complex was forced to change water sources.“
KJZZ 91.5 Arizona
October 21, 2019
Read More“Arizona, where Abdullah died, is tied for sixth highest in its use of solitary confinement. It has also seen an uptick in the number of suicides and instances of self-harm. During the fiscal year in which Abdullah killed herself, six prisoners died by suicide in Arizona prisons. In fiscal year 2018, there were seven suicides and 708 recorded instances of self-harm. For the last three-quarters of fiscal year 2019, after the state changed how it documented these events, there were six suicides, 87 suicide attempts and 1,406 non-suicidal instances of self-harm in the average daily population of about 42,000 inmates.“
Huffington Post
August 29, 2019
Read More“The book's author, Georgetown University Professor Paul Butler, said he never understood why his book was considered contraband, but he is grateful the pressure campaign caused Arizona corrections officials to rethink their position.“
NPR
June 21, 2019
Read More“As temperatures approach 100 degrees, the water system is not working at an Arizona state prison housing more than 2,000 people. The Douglas prison is located next to the Bisbee-Douglas International Airport, which is owned by Cochise County. A well on that property, which is about 10 miles north of the border with Mexico, supplies water to the prison. Cochise County Public Information Officer Amanda Baillie said on late Friday afternoon that the Arizona Department of Corrections notified the county that the water supply had stopped.“
KJZZ Arizona
June 10, 2019
Read More“Women miscarrying due to a lack of proper health care, a woman giving birth alone in a cell, and deaf inmates not getting interpretation services during doctor visits. These instances and numerous others were detailed in more than 200 letters lawyers sent to Arizona Department of Corrections officials over the past four months.“
Arizona Central
May 20, 2019
Read More"Before these people died in 2017, they were among the 34,000 people housed in Arizona’s state prisons who are completely dependent upon the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) and its for-profit contractor, Corizon Health, for all medical and mental health care. ADC, in its own reviews, found that these deaths were 'caused by or affected in a negative manner by healthcare personnel'."
ACLU
June 25, 2018
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