The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry will close a Marana prison by year-end, terminating its contract with the private contractor running the facility.
Governor Katie Hobbs revealed in a press release that the state’s agreement with the private operator, Management & Training Corporation, obliges payment for a minimum of 475 beds at the Arizona State Prison in Marana. However, the current inmate population is only around 225.
Hobbs stated that ending the contract would result in approximately $15 million in savings for the state over the next two years. The Marana prison’s inmates will be relocated to other facilities within the ADCRR system.
After the year-end transfer, the state-owned prison’s fate remains undecided, as per Judy Keane, a spokesperson for the department, who mentioned, “The ADCRR will maintain the property in a ‘ready state’ until decisions and determinations regarding next steps are made.”
The governor’s office justified the closure and non-renewal of the MTC contract based on a cost-benefit analysis, indicating that housing Marana inmates in other prisons would be more economical.
Although a 2010 report by the Arizona Auditor General noted that the Marana prison was operating at 98% capacity, Keane did not respond to queries about the factors contributing to the decline in the prison’s population over the past 13 years.
Established in 1994, the Marana prison primarily houses non-violent offenders, according to ADCRR. Keane clarified that this decision would not impact other private prison contracts, as the department has not reviewed contracts for the six other private prisons in the state, which are not currently up for renewal or extension.
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