2010 Activities

First week of January:  Begin to review pre-filed legislative bills for the upcoming legislative session, which officially opens on January 11, 2010.  As criminal justice/prison-related or sentencing-related bills become availalbe, we will post a synopsis of the bill and it's number.  We cannot provide copies of bills; you must visit the Arizona State Legislature website to download copies of bills.

Testify on HB 2525:  This bill proposes to retroactively provide parole eligibility to lifers sentenced for crimes prior to 1973.  It is scheduled for a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on January 28.  Please review the legislative committee hearing schedule at their website for precise times and location, which are subject to change.  The bills has several sponsors, including Republicans from both chambers.  Middle Ground will make a formal presentation in support of this bill.  (Note:  This bill was pulled from the hearing agenda at the last minute.  It is highly unlikely that it will be heard at any time in the future.  According to one of its proponents, victim's rights' groups opposed the bill and contacted their legislators; prosecutors strenuously opposed the bill; and, many legislators who had originally signed on as sponsors of the bill decided that they no longer supported it.  Some stated that they hadn't actually realized what they were sponsoring when they initially signed on as sponsors.  In short, in our opinion, the bill is dead).

Testify at "House Study Committee on Sentencing Reform" :  The second hearing of this committee is scheduled for Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. at the House of Representatives, Hearing Room #5.  Please check the legislative web site prior to attending, as this information is subject to change at the last minute.  Middle Ground will testify at this hearing in support of sentencing reform.  See our home page to read, "Dollars, Sentencing and Long-Term Public Safety," to see the types of changes we are recommending, including reinstatement of parole eligibility and other forms of good-behavior releases.  (Note:  This hearing was postponed until Thursday, February 25, 2010).

January 25, 2010:  Donna Leone Hamm, Executive Director, Middle Ground, will be interviewed by The Arizona Capitol Times for a profile piece.  She hopes to emphasize the need for prison/criminal justice and sentencing reform during this interview by pointing out why she became involved in prison reform in the first place.  Publication date was February 5, 2010.

February 22, 2010:  Sent formal letter of Complaint to the Arizona Department of Occupational Health and Safety with respect to the lack of operational fire safety systems throughout all facilities operated by ADOC and ADJC.  Gave them sixty (60) days to respond/produce a plan.  If no appropriate response is received, we will contact OSHA and other interested/applicable legal parties.  We had to take a stand for the employees of the correctional facilities because (1) they won't do it themselves; (2) inmates are not protected by OSHA regulations; (3) the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) limits inmate lawsuits to incidents of actual harm.  We don't wish to wait until there is "actual" harm (an enormous fire with loss of life involved) before some action is taken to force legislators to allocate the necessary funds to correct all the fire safety problems in the entire adult and juvenile prison systems in Arizona.

February 25, 2010:   Will testify in support of HB 2569 at the House Judiciary Committee Meeting.  This bill would allow some sex offenders to apply for removal from the requirement to register as a sex offender for the rest of their life. 

February 26, 2010:  James and Donna Leone Hamm will tour the Perryville and Lewis Prison facilities with DOC Director Charles Ryan to examine the retrofitted outdoor enclosures and to examine how the enclosures are used in the wake of the tragic, uncecessary death of Marcia Powell on May 19, 2009 at the Perryville Prison.

February 26, 2010:  Attended initial meeting of Stakeholder's Group, which is by invitation only, to discuss with other criminal justice stakeholders the possibility of various sentencing reforms which might be introduced as bills to the legislature.

March - April 2010:  Attend and present testimony at various legislative hearings in support of or in opposition to legislative proposals; meet with legislators to express our position on various bills; gave interviews to media regarding the ADOC policy on prohibiting or restricting the use of inmate retention funds to assist their children or families in emergency situations (CBS/Channel 5 will do the exclusive story on this issue); prepared sentencing reform proposal and presented it to members of the Stakeholder's Group, requesting 66% ERC for Class 4,5 and 6 offenders.

Note:  The legislature ended its regular session -- Sine Die -- on April 30, 2010.

Middle Ground will now turn its attention to fire safety issues within all prisons; the medical services delivery problems that we are notified of on a constant basis; the concerns about treatment of mentally ill prisoners, and many other issues within both the Arizona Prison System and the Maricopa County Jails (pre-trial detainees).  We will also be monitoring the continuing budget crisis as it affects the operation of the Department of Corrections. During the summer of 2010, we expect to continue to meet with other criminal justice stakeholders to work on proposals to be presented at the next legislative session to deal with sentencing reform.  All suggestions/proposals are welcome.  Send them directly to our attention via e-mail or by snail-mail.