Arizona elected a new governor!
Katie Hobbs is already sworn in and hard at work. Almost immediately upon taking office, she appointed a new Director of Prisons.
Dr. Ryan Thornell hails from the state of Maine. He has a Master’s in Criminal Justice and a Doctorate in Political Science. Those residents of Arizona who care are eager to see what changes his leadership will bring.
The previous director, David Shinn, knew he would soon be out of a job and resigned before Governor Hobbs was sworn in. When Shinn was appointed by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, the culture within the Department changed, too, and many current and former staff members agree this change was not for the better.
Throughout the Department, a cold trickle-down effect from Director David Shinn was felt by staff members and inmates alike. This backward slide of Arizona’s prisons has made them more than just a shitty place to be incarcerated, they’re also a shitty place to work.
“More and more, I’ve felt like I’m just a number and not a person,” said one officer during the final two weeks of a department career he was walking away from several years before the standard retirement.
The irony of his comment was not lost on me: A number and not a person? Welcome to every inmate’s shared experience.
In the above instance, the officer was talking specifically about Lumley Unit at Perryville Prison, its current Deputy Warden and that man’s boss, Perryville’s now-former Warden. The latter has since departed the complex.
Low levels of staff have been an ongoing problem at The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry for years — long before rebranding with a fancy mouthful of a name, long before extra money in the form of economic stimulus checks began flowing into correction officers’ bank accounts, and long before “the great resignation” or “quiet quitting” or whatever one calls it began to trend.
With the election of Governor Katie Hobbs comes the hope that improvements are on Perryville’s desert horizon. Hobbs believes in prison reform, and while she did not campaign heavily upon this point, we the disenfranchised have high hopes that her incumbency will bring much-needed improvements to an ailing institution.
Inmates aren’t the only ones who have dared to hope for improvement. Recently, I listened as one officer reminisced about better days in her career with the department. She has watched the staff morale sink ever lower over the last several years. “Maybe she’ll appoint a female director,” she said the week before Mister Dr. Thornell’s appointment.
Inmates’ families also hope for change. Some of us, myself included, simply want back the pre-pandemic privilege of food visits.
Others have been petitioning for an intervention that makes wanting food visits look very shallow by comparison: Many a prayerful parent hopes that Katie Hobbs will commute his or her child’s death sentence to life. Those prayers were answered in part around January 20th when it was announced that Governor Hobbs, this heaven-sent angel of anti-death, paused all executions of Arizona inmates pending an in-depth review of the process by which the government murders its captives.
Last week, staff at Perryville were abuzz with news that Dr. Thornell is the new top dog. Women at Perryville, especially those who have done a lot of time, remain a bit more apathetic, having grown accustomed to things not working out.
I’ve always remained hopeful that society will lurch forward in fits and starts, even in states like Arizona where progress has traditionally been slow. Your typical gun-totin’, tobacco-chewin’, cowboy-hat-wearin’, long mustache-sportin’ extremists who believe secession from the US should be Arizona’s next move are, thankfully, in the minority.
As my friend SJ always says, “Onwards!”
Jodi Arias
January 2023
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ArtByJodiArias.com – UPDATE
Jodi’s personal efforts to raise money for her appeals continue through the production of her art, which is sold at ArtbyJodiArias.com. Her art admin supports her efforts by running this “side hustle” of sorts on her behalf and taking none of the funds. The time and effort he devotes to this process (filing the taxes, trips to the post office every week to ship art) are an invaluable contribution.
If you are interested in another way to contribute to the cause, any purchase at ArtbyJodiArias.com is a legitimate way to support Jodi. You can also check out Jodi’s art on Instagram @ArtbyJodiArias.
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And Remember folks… as I always say – each day that passes takes us one day closer to Jodi’s release date.
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Leave your thoughts & comments below…
SJ
Team Jodi #WINNING <<<
Click the banner below to read Jade’s post – “Justice Denied: Why The Jurors Got It Wrong & How The Facts Decimate The State’s Case Against Jodi Arias.”:
Hi All,
As one who has watched many documentaries on jails and prisons, I have seen how bad these places can be. A perfect example is a very notorious prison in Louisiana called Angola which I learned from Google… (is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States with 6,300 prisoners and 1,800 staff). Anyway, I would imagine the hot summers will be slightly cooler now that a good and decent person is running the department.