Arizona Interfaith Network

VIP calls for release of Hidden Jail Accreditation Report

For Immediate Release: Contact: Dick White 480-510-9071

October 2, 2008 Rev. Sue Youngblood 602-248-0607

Valley Interfaith Project calls on Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to release to the public its 2005 Accreditation Report from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC). That report details the areas where the county failed to comply fully with national accreditation standards.

“Maricopa County has sought to conceal the fact that our jail’s correctional health services have been on probation with the NCCHC,” said Rev. Sue Youngblood, VIP Executive Committee member. “Only now are we discovering that Sheriff Arpaio appears to be running a third world jail in a first world country.”

The NCCHC has cited concerns over the conditions of pre-trial inmates in its decision to withdraw accreditation. Over seventy percent of jail detainees are awaiting trial and not convicted. These individuals are innocent until proven guilty. In fact, most simply can’t afford bail until their day in court. Failure to account for the conditions in which people are being held is fiscally and morally irresponsible. The refusal by Sheriff Arpaio and Correctional Health Services to release the results of the 2005 report is an insult to taxpayers who, in fact, funded and, therefore, own the report.

Since the spring, VIP has repeatedly pressed the county throughout the summer to release the report, and the County has balked, insisting that the areas of concern had been resolved. This apparently was not the case.

“The County is now engaged in a cover up of actual conditions,” said VIP President Dick White. “When will the responsible parties stand up and take responsibility and correct this? Over the past 12 years, there have been six reports commissioned by the County Board of Supervisors, costing us over $1,000,000 in taxpayer funds, plus other warnings and audits and a Department of Justice Settlement. This should mark the end of the delay. We need action now.”

Concerns over a coverup of jail conditions have snowballed in recent months. Earlier this year, VIP discovered that the Sheriff failed to comply with Arizona revised statute 36.402, enacted in 2003, which required the Sheriff to file written statements to the Department of Health Services regarding jail compliance with national health standards.

“For four years Sheriff Arpaio simply ignored the state law that requires him to ‘submit the certificate of accreditation or proof of successful inspection annually,’” said Rev. Youngblood. “We know that there are real people behind those walls, over 70% of whom have not been convicted of a crime. Many are sick or injured. They are in pain, they suffer permanent physical damage if they are inadequately treated, and they carry communicable diseases which, if untreated, will spread when they are released, creating a threat to public health.”

For more information, see the Arizona Republic Article on October 1, 2008: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/10/01/20081001mcsojails1001.html