The Arizona State Prison Complex (ASPC) in Winslow, located south of town on Highway 87, is currently without natural gas service. On Oct. 24, the Arizona Corporation Commission performed a routine inspection of the complex, which revealed multiple gas leaks. Unisource provides the gas and service is not slated to return to the complex for approximately five to eight months. As a result of the shut off, the complex is without heat, hot water or gas stoves.
Warden Ed Jensen explained, “We began to shut off the valves to identify and address those leaks. In doing so, we found a third leak that was on the wrong side of the valve, so we couldn’t turn it off. The only way to cut off gas was to cut it off for the entire complex.” He added that due to the age and condition of the gas lines, the decision was made to replace the entire underground line.
The complex, which typically houses 1,250 inmates, has mitigated the situation in various ways. Jensen said, “What we have done is brought in portable showers that are run on generators and propane. We have a mobile kitchen that will be here by the time this goes to print but we have been using a grill for hot meals. Inmates have been given a cold breakfast, a sack lunch and a hot meal in the evening.” Inmates have also been issued four blankets for their beds and portable heaters are being brought in.
In addition to the modifications to regular inmate services, the warden has also transferred 400 inmates to other facilities throughout the state. Those left at the Winslow location have been consolidated to one housing unit. “In order to make better use of the resources we do have, we took 200 inmates from the Coronado Unit, which is the medium security unit and sent them to other complexes. We took 200 inmates from the Kaibab medium custody side and sent them to other facilities and the 200 remaining inmates from Coronado are now housed at Kaibab. So, they are all in one unit.”
“The 200 that we kept from Coronado are the workers; the guys that do our work for the City of Winslow, for the Arizona Department of Transportation and fire crews. We made sure to keep them so as not to affect our partnerships within the community. We also retained inmates that maintain operations at the prison complex.” The move is not permanent, Jensen explained, but will last as long as is necessary through the repair process.
“Inmates are continuing to receive their showers, their food, their programming, their education. Our whole goal in this is to continue to provide all of the services that we normally provide to the inmates with minimal disruption,” said Jensen. “All of their needs are being met. The inmates have been understanding and cooperative. It is something that can physically see, you know, the digging and work being done.”
This situation has been labor intensive for the staff at ASPC Winslow. However, Jensen said, “No one is in danger of losing their jobs. This is a temporary move, so as soon as things are restored, we will reopen the Coronado Unit. Currently, anyone who is assigned to the Coronado Unit has been assigned to the Kaibab Unit. Because we currently have a 30 percent staff vacancy rate, we are basically operating with what we should have if we were fully staffed.”
He praised his staff for their hard work and patience throughout the ordeal and said, “The staff has been great, they have been putting in some really long hours, but they are dedicated to making sure everything is being addressed as it should. We train for things like this, so not to say that we were ready, but we were prepared. The whole thing has run pretty smoothly.
“The timeline is difficult, because there is a lot of digging involved. Our estimate to be fully online is going to be about five to nine months. Part of that depends on any issues encountered, of course and that is to be fully restored. As we get to each housing unit, we are bringing those online separately. We will do Kaibab first.”
Jensen noted that there is a lot of good coming out of this. “It was unplanned, but good is being seen. Staff moral and teamwork is at a high and we have had other officers from other complexes come in to help relieve our staff, so they can rest. We have dealt with the initial crisis and now we work on getting back to what our normal is going to be for the foreseeable future.”
