"Probably the majority of our inmates that are in prison? It has something to do with drugs," Deputy Warden Roxanne Hill said. "They may not have gotten caught with drugs, but, stealing something to buy drugs. I think it has something to do with drugs." Hill explained she thinks programs like these will help ease the transition back into the real world, making it less likely for former prisoners to relapse and use drugs again, leading to them re-offending. "The reentry centers give a little bit more freedom, but not so much freedom like when you're out and free and there's no sort of supervision," she said. "It lets them get their feet back into society, a little bit at a time." Barnes made it through 75 days of the program when he relapsed and used meth again.
Making sure criminal immigrants are not released back to the community has been a top priority for President Donald Trump, and in Arizona, the Department of Corrections takes part in a program that transfers undocumented prisoners who have served their time, directly into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "We've been working with ICE since 1985, and what we're trying to do is make sure the process is very efficient," said Ruben Montano with the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Inmate crews busy fighting fires in southern Arizona, with the Fort Grant Wildland Fire Crew having responded to a dozen brush fires in southern Arizona since March 1. Supervisors lead the team of 18 inmates who are qualified in fighting fires and fire prevention.
ABC15 Arizona reports on a former felon with Arizona Department of Corrections who is parlaying job training while imprisoned into a firefighting opportunity on the outside. ... These inmate fire crews are a shining example of how to rehabilitate prisoners and prevent recidivism, according to the governor’s office. The governor’s budget proposal this year calls for millions of dollars in new spending to reduce prion recidivism, including a post-release fire crew.