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| Arizona Inmates Face Cuts in Meals, Earnings |
| By Arizona Daily Star |
| Published: 03/18/2002 |
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State prisons chief Terry Stewart is cutting inmate pay and reducing the number of weekend meals in hopes of saving some cash. Beginning immediately, all inmates who work in the prison system will be earning a nickel an hour less. That may not seem like much. But with inmates earning an average of 38 cents an hour that is a significant cut. Even with exempting those inmates who now get only a dime an hour, the cuts will save the state about $350,000 by the end of the budget year June 30. Stewart also ordered that inmates be served only two meals on Saturdays and Sundays. He said while prisoners will get the same amount of food - and the same caloric content - cutting down on having to serve three meals could cut prison costs by $700,000 through June 30. All this comes as Stewart said he has imposed other cost-cutting measures, including locking inmates in their cells, huts or tents on days when there are not enough staffers to monitor their movements. And it comes as Stewart is pleading with legislators to exempt him from the latest round of budget cuts - a plea that has so far been largely ignored. The changes are not just inconvenient but potentially dangerous, according to Caroline Isaacs, criminal justice program coordinator for the Arizona chapter of the American Friends Service Committee. Isaacs said these moves come on top of other changes, including cuts in the vocational education programs and limits in the amount of clothing the state is providing to inmates. 'When you start stripping the basics, inmates are less inclined to behave the way you want them to,' she said. Stewart does not dispute that contention. 'But we have nowhere else to go' to cut expenses, he said. |
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