Deaths in Custody: ADC January 2011.

Arizona State Capitol/Wes Bolin Memorial Plaza, Phoenix. February 22, 2011.

It is inevitable that some people will die in prison, even given the best of care. Not every death behind bars is due to negligence - some prisoners receive extremely compassionate and capable end-of-life care from the Arizona Department of Corrections, regardless of their crime. The past two years have seen skyrocketing homicide and suicide rates in the state prisons, however, as program resources have been cut, violence has escalated, and the quality of medical services has deteriorated. Look at how young these folks are.

Therefore, we're compiling as much documentation as possible to strengthen our call for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the ADC, and are developing a list of attorneys to refer survivors of prisoners seeking to file claims against the state for their loss. Please contact me if you have evidence that any of these prisoner deaths were preventable (including the "natural causes") and/or serve to illustrate systemic problems with access to appropriate health care, psychiatric treatment, and emergency services in Arizona's state prisons.


Peggy Plews
Arizona Prison Watch
PO Box 20494
Phoenix, AZ 85036
480-580-6807

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According to the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) website, the following prisoners died in custody in January, 2011:

Delbert Carr, 61
David Bandstra, 64
John Zimmerman, 44
David Moreno, 40
Fred Myers, 59
Brenda Todd, 44
Andre Hutchins, 59
Jose Lopez-Hernandez, 46
Timothy Lewis, 54
Jeffrey Ortiz, 55

Our condolences to their loved ones.