AZ State Prison Inmates on City Clean-Up Crew Robbed Homeless Camp?

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. Inside Arizona State Prison Complex - Tucson, that saying often rings true. However, what happens when the inmates are allowed outside of prison walls, off complex grounds, and aren't even under the supervision of Department of Corrections staff? Well, you almost wouldn't believe it, except that if you're reading it here, it must be true.

A very reliable source within the department recently revealed a story that might have been funny were it not just so wrong on so many levels. This source will not be named, especially in light of how poorly the following anecdote may reflect on the Arizona DOC, and indeed, the City of Tucson. Rest assured, however, this trusted source expressed first-hand, direct knowledge in the immediate aftermath of these incidents, and this account is not one bit exaggerated from how it was relayed.

The Back Story

Inmates incarcerated at low level units of ASPC-T are often allowed certain privileges, and even preparatory exercises geared toward readying them for re-entry into society. One such program utilizes inmate work crews. This practice provides cheap labor to the City of Tucson, while providing inmates job opportunities, and some measure of incentive to behave until they are released. The City apparently pays roughly 50-cents per inmate per hour, and the inmates are paid roughly 35-cents an hour. This equals a mere 15-cent revenue for the DOC, assuming those figures are accurate.

The real money at play here comes more for the city, in the form of savings. Assuming civilians would be offered $7-10 an hour to do some of the types of work being offered up to inmates outside prison walls, and assuming there are 100 active inmates working on crews at least part-time, year round, Tucson should be saving well over a million dollars annually.

The Catch

There's nothing wrong with this formula, in theory, especially from the City's standpoint. The economy is hurting everyone, and the City needs to get in where they fit in. But the Department of Corrections has a bit more responsibility to the citizens of Tucson here than does the City, because they are the ones with the keys to the bad guys. Well, most of the time.

You see, it cuts into profit margins and unit staffing to have an officer go off-complex. And when budget cuts are so bad that inmates are rationed their toilet paper, you can imagine the rationing of personnel that often goes on.

The Punchline...

For the 100-plus inmates who depart ASPC-Tucson many mornings a week to go work on the outside, there typically isn't a DOC officer among them. A City of Tucson employee arrives for each crew, takes them out to work in one of those white, airport-shuttle style vans, and returns them each afternoon before 4 pm counts are conducted. Is this sounding wrong yet? No? Just wait.

One day in late 2009, a City of Tucson employee picked up his work crew and headed out for an honest day's work. (As long as you have a very loose definition of the terms "honest" and "work".) It seems this particular city employee had a crew responsible for picking up litter in the more remote areas of town. As the story was told, it sounds like 'off the beaten path' types of areas.

The city employee noted a homeless camp within his work zone, and came up with a real whopper of a plan. He would send the inmates into the homeless camp to rob them of their soap and shampoo, and then come back and wash the city vehicle with it. Already, this is a bit bizarre. But the fun doesn't stop here, folks.

On one such plunder of the less fortunate among us, an inmate decided that besides the soap he was instructed to retrieve, he wanted a pair of shiny new sunglasses. Shiny new sunglasses that belonged to a homeless man who wanted just as much to keep them. The inmate, in full orange-jumpsuit regalia, begins to flee the homeless camp with the sunglasses in hand. The rightful owner of the shades was hot on his heels, and the chase was on.

Around this time, the other inmates on the work crew took notice of the events, and decided they wanted to play, too. We now have an inmate, who has just committed robbery of a Tucson citizen, lack of a legal residence notwithstanding, by the way, running through the desert. Behind him, the homeless man is catching up and cursing for his property back. The rest of the inmates join the foot pursuit, likely just happy to be going for a jog through the desert.

It's about that time when the City of Tucson employee, the mastermind of "The Great Jergens Raid of '09", realizes what's going on and pulls up the rear, trying desperately to regain control of the inmates recklessly left in his charge.

Take a moment, let all that soak in, and try to pull up a visual. Were it not so disturbing, it would be hilarious.

Now, the inmate who pulled off the sunglasses heist wasn't willing to drop the subject just yet. At this point, in fact, the Rayban Bandit made the genius decision to pick up a rock. He allegedly threatened the homeless man, and may have actually struck the homeless man, though that is disputed and there were no serious injuries.

The homeless man fled to a nearby black-and-white Tucson Police patrol car, where the officer inside apparently dismissed him. The homeless man ran a bit further up the road to find an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer. This officer took the homeless man's story seriously, and placed a call to the prison to inform the of the situation and arrange a round-up.

When the van transporting the inmates returned to ASPC-Tucson, under DPS escort, all sorts of fun stuff turned up in a search of the vehicle. Brand-name cigarettes (not common among inmates due to price), lighters, and even small knives were reportedly recovered from the van. Inmates from various crews were interviewed following the incident to gain more information on the goings-on off-complex, and the inmates admitted that the city employee's often take them out to local fast-food joints and buy them cigarettes and other rewards for a "job well done".

The Bottom Line

Inmates are running the streets with people unqualified to supervise or control them. This is what can be taken away from the story above, and as disturbing as it may sound, it's almost true. While "running the streets" may be an exaggeration, the source who relayed this story expressed valid concerns, saying, "It's just a matter of time until we lose one."

Already, in this case, we have the robbery and assault of a Tucson citizen (homeless or not), an uncontrolled chase through the desert involving numerous convicted offenders with no DOC staff present. Not to mention, the muggings of multiple homeless people (more citizens of Tucson), by supposedly 'in-custody' inmates of a state prison facility, commissioned by the very city employee in charge of the crew. One more point: just how much trash was getting picked up during all of this? Probably not much. The best part? Since the inmates and city employees were all on the clock, the entire incident played out on the tax-payer's dime!

The inmate involved is said to be facing street charges for assault and possibly more, though the DOC is reportedly trying to sweep the whole incident under the rug due to the circumstances. After all, how do you explain to the public that an inmate who was supposed to be under direct supervision, the very model of AZ DOC's mission statement, was able to rob, menace and assault an innocent person on the streets of Tucson?

The answer? Maybe you don't. Maybe you offer a nice, tidy lump sum of money to the victim, in this case, a homeless person who will likely accept any reasonable offer and run with it, and maybe the problem goes away. Maybe the public never has to know; after all, it happened months ago. Maybe.

Or maybe I find out about it, and write this article...