The editors of prisoners.org consider the exile of Alaskan prisoners to Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) Central Arizona Detention Center (CADC) in Florence, Arizona, to be an evil on par with those acts that required the prisoners to be imprisoned. Banishment to out-of-state facilities that are thousands of miles from families and communities can't help inhibiting, if not eliminating, any opportunity for the healing of those prisoners' families or successful reintegration of those prisoners into the communities they will return to upon their release from custody.
As of January 29, 1999, Alaska housed 873 prisoners in CCA’s CADC facility pursuant to a contract which cost the State $21,500,000.00 per year1. Contrary to statements of Alaskan prison officials including DOC Commissioner Margaret Pugh, the number of prisoners housed in out-of-state institutions will increase, as the present prisoner population levels already out strips the number of new prison beds funded by the legislature and the number of Alaskan prisoners is only expected to grow.
To the end that prisoners.org desires to see the policy of exile halted, we offer the following document prepared by an anonymous prisoner now housed in the CADC facility. The writer explains in great detail, how the very existence and operation of this facility for housing long-term sentenced felons violates Arizona Statutes and how the State of Alaska has violated its own laws in making contracts with CCA.
We encourage all parties to use this information to legally attack CCA, Alaska Department of Corrections, and the "policy of exile," in general. At the same time, we recommend that all the offered citations and data be independently verified as the editors of prisoners.org lack the time to do so.
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1
Per DOC Commissioner Margaret Pugh before a legislative Sub-committee
on January 29, 1999.
Private
Prisons in Arizona
Private Prisons in Arizona III