ARIZONA STATE SENATE

ZACK DEAN

LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Telephone: (602) 926-3171

RESEARCH STAFF

TO:                  MEMBERS OF THE SENATE

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

DATE:            February 12, 2024

SUBJECT:      Strike everything amendment to S.B. 1629, relating to department of corrections; reporting requirements

Purpose

Establishes reporting requirements for the Ombudsman-Citizens Aide and the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) relating to inmates.

Background

The Ombudsman-Citizens Aide is required to investigate the administrative acts of agencies without regard to the finality of the administrative act, and must prepare a written report to the Governor, Legislature and the public that contains a summary of the Ombudsman-Citizens Aide's activities during the previous fiscal year. The report must include specified information, including the number of matters that were within each specified category, contact statistics and public awareness and outreach (A.R.S. § 41-1376).

The Director of ADCRR has various responsibilities, including developing and establishing a uniform state method of reporting statistics related to the duties of ADCRR (A.R.S. § 41-1604).

There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.

Provisions

1. Requires the Ombudsman-Citizens Aide, by January 1 of each year, to create a report containing the number of complaints made regarding ADCRR, the topic of the complaints, and how each complaint was resolved, and submit the report to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chairpersons of the Senate and House Judiciary committee or their successor committees.

2. Requires ADCRR, by January 1 of each year, to submit a report to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chairpersons of the Senate and House Judiciary committee or their successor committees, that contains the following information:

a) the number of in-custody inmate deaths, including suicides and the number of suicide attempts while the inmate was in custody;

b) the number of physical and sexual assaults in custody;

c) the number of inmates who were placed in administrative segregation or solitary confinement and the duration of stay in segregation or confinement;

d) the number of facility lockdowns that lasted longer than 24 hours;

e) the number of staff, the tenure of each staff member, the staff turnover rate, staff vacancies and staff compensation at each facility;

f) the number of inmates at each facility;

g) the inmate-to-staff ratio at each facility;

h) the number of in-person visits that were made for each inmate at each facility;

i) the number of in-person visits that were denied for each inmate at each facility;

j) the number of inmate complaints or grievances that were submitted to ADCRR, the resolution of the complaint or grievance pursuant to the administrative remedies process and the amount of time it took ADCRR to resole each complaint or grievance.

3. Makes technical changes.

4. Becomes effective on the general effective date.