Arizona State Prison Complex - Douglas

Arizona State Prison Complex - Douglas is one of 13 prison facilities operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC).
ASPC-Douglas is located in Douglas, Cochise County, Arizona, 248 miles southeast from the state capital of Phoenix, Arizona.

The ASPC-Douglas, adjacent to the Bisbee-Douglas airport, first opened as the Cochise Correctional Training Facility early in 1984. It now consists of 6 units: Gila, Maricopa, Eggers, Mohave, Papago and the Complex Detention Unit (CDU). Built with inmate assistance to the contractor, the first unit to become operational at ASPC-Douglas, was the Maricopa unit. The next was the Mohave unit. Due to prison overcrowding the Gila unit was built with portable modular housing. In 1984 a law was passed that DUI inmates could not be housed with other inmates this created a problem and the Papago Unit was purchased from the Desert Inn Motel Company and converted into a prison unit. A special Detention unit was also added.

Significantly inadequate health care for inmates has plagued ASPC-Douglas for years. This stems directly from the unconscionable callosity exuded by the medical staffs of the prison. In February of 2008, Atkins, an inmate at ASPC-Douglas's Gila unit died from pneumonia after being repeatedly ignored and neglected from the callous medical unit at ASPC-Douglas. By the time the staff finally took his condition seriously, it was too late. He died en route to the prison hospital. A simple diagnosis and treatment could have saved his life. Episodes such as this, which could have been easily prevented had the medical staff been the least bit effective at their jobs, have been going on at ASPC-Douglas since its inception. Residents all over Arizona have been stunned and angered by these incidents, as they keep occurring without proper action or reform being taken against the prison's medical staff. According to transcripts obtained from the Arizona Medical Board, several of the nurses are currently under investigation.

Corrections Officers at the Arizona State Prison Complex - Douglas have been notoriously corrupt for years. In 2005, four officers were arrested for using their border connections to transport drugs from Mexico into the United States.

In September of 2006, Renee Dias, a Corrections Officer working at the prison's medium-security Mohave unit, was arrested while at work at the prison for possessing 227.5 grams of cocaine. For more information on that case, see http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2006/09/16/news/news1.txt

Another Corrections Officer, Andy Almaguer, is also currently under investigation.

It is also very apparent that employees at this prison do not want the truth about the prison to be exposed. This is evidenced by their repeated attempts to remove the previous text delineating recent history regarding the prison.

ASPC-Douglas has an inmate capacity of approximately 2,148 in 5 housing units at security levels 1, 2, 3 and 5. The ADC uses a score classification system to asses inmates appropriate custody and security level placement. The scores range from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest risk or need. ASPC-Douglas is a modern, medium to high security prison.

See also

*List of U.S. state prisons
*List of Arizona state prisons

External links

* [http://www.adc.state.az.us/ Arizona Department of Corrections]