{"id":496025,"date":"2026-01-06T07:57:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T07:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/496025\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T07:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T07:57:15","slug":"push-for-1-5m-in-prison-oversight-funding-follows-a-deadly-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/496025\/","title":{"rendered":"Push for $1.5M in prison oversight funding follows a deadly December"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0dh7majuqjhdq4hw.jpg\" alt=\"Inmate deaths spark calls for prison oversight funding\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/video\/fmc-nqe2c1ndq3de5jm3\" data-v-4292be72=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inmate deaths spark calls for prison oversight funding<\/a> <\/p>\n<p data-v-4292be72=\"\">With the 2026 Arizona legislative session set to begin in one week, lawmakers and advocates are pushing to secure $1.5 million in funding for an independent prison oversight office that currently exists only on paper. FOX 10&#8217;s Nicole Krasean reports.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\"><strong>PHOENIX<\/strong> &#8211; With the 2026 Arizona legislative session set to begin in one week, lawmakers and advocates are pushing to secure $1.5 million in funding for an independent prison oversight office that currently exists only on paper.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KSAZ\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Governor Katie Hobbs signed legislation creating the oversight body in 2025, but the office remains unstaffed and inactive because it was passed without a budget. Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, and Sen. Shawna Bolick, R-Phoenix, have introduced identical bills for the upcoming session to rectify the funding gap.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The push for oversight follows a violent December in which three inmates within the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) were <a href=\"https:\/\/corrections.az.gov\/taxonomy\/term\/1028\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>killed by other prisoners<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;When an inmate death occurs, it also means there\u2019s been a breach of security in terms of a weapon, contraband, that sort of thing,&#8221; said Donna Hamm, founder and executive director of Middle Ground Prison Reform. Hamm noted that while the department has a budget exceeding $1 billion, taxpayers lack transparency regarding how those funds are utilized.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KSAZ\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Blackman, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said he intends to scrutinize the executive budget to ensure the $1.5 million is included.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;It\u2019s a systemic problem, and with that systemic problem, we want to have an outside pair of eyes look at it,&#8221; Blackman said. He is also exploring legislation to increase pay for prison staff to improve retention.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Estrella Lopez, senior state policy manager for the Justice Action Network, called the funding a &#8220;smart investment&#8221; to prevent tragic human and monetary costs.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KSAZ\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">ADCRR has not yet responded to requests for comment on the pending legislation or requests for body-camera footage related to the December inmate deaths.<\/p>\n<p>     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/us\/az\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arizona<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/news\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inmate deaths spark calls for prison oversight funding With the 2026 Arizona legislative session set to begin in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":496026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,6082,50,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-496025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-crime-publicsafety","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115847092312329647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}