Pima County is a leader in Arizona for criminal justice reform efforts, initiating innovate programs and diversion while several bills addressing the issue statewide remain in flux at the Legislature. That was the consensus when community members and several participants from last year’s Arizona Town Hall on criminal justice reform gathered in Tucson last week to discuss recommendations from November’s statewide town hall. In 2018, Arizona Town Hall, a nonprofit organization that educates, connects and empowers people to resolve societal issues through consensus, held 17 town halls addressing criminal justice in Arizona for more than 2,000 participants across the state. For the first time in the groups’ 56-year history, two of the town halls were held inside Arizona prisons, which board chairman Hank Peck said allowed the group to get information from a population they otherwise wouldn’t have hear from.
You’ll want to watch this inspiring report from FOX 10’s Troy Hayden about the Televerde call center program at ASPC-Perryville and a personal success story of how it’s providing Arizona inmates a great opportunity for a real second chance in life. The Arizona Department of Corrections is proud of our longstanding partnership with Televerde and the success it has in helping women change for the better.
The Mohave Unit at Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC) Douglas Complex on Highway 191 made another rather large donation to a charitable organization recently. On Thursday, December 20, DOC Case Manager Tony De La Torre presented Alex Aragon, Senior Community Development Manager with the American Cancer Society (ACS) with a check for $5,870.26. This donation was made possible from an inmate fund raiser the Mohave Unit held. Aragon drove from Tucson to Douglas for the check presentation. De La Torre said the Mohave Unit held a fund raiser with the help of Dollar General manager Rafael Quintero and his staff. It was from this fund-raising event the donation was raised.
After spending more than a year carefully restoring Florence’s 1953 Ford firetruck to good running order and a shiny like-new appearance, Arizona State Prison and Central Arizona College officials proudly presented the vintage vehicle to Pinal County Historical Society Museum members and friends Nov. 29. “I kind of get the glory for everything,” Florence Complex Warden Kevin Curran told those present for the unveiling, “but Butch (Loudenslager), CAC, my Deputy Warden of Operations Jeff Van Winkle, all the inmates, came together to make this happen.”