A Brief Chronicle of ASPC Lewis

Ever since the prison was built there were notorious and brutal beating taking place in this penitentiary just down the road from Buckeye, Arizona. The facility experienced trauma year after year and conditions never improved to the point where the administration was confident enough to say that the Lewis prison was operating under normal operational standards and the foul smelling trace of a wicked malady that has existed there since the very first day it opened has been cured.

A general overview will reveal many chinks in the armor of this penitentiary. The staff were new or inexperienced; the administration was out of touch with its staff; the physical plant was in disarray and the food, sanitation and medical care was atrocious. Adding the other mitigating factors of direct or indirect abuses, there was a definite touch of neglect by Central Office to ensure there was a legitimate due process in place and grievances were heard on a timely basis.

Ten years later and the Lewis hostage situation is almost forgotten except by a few. The penitentiary is still very volatile and more weekly beatings take place now than ever. Staff are spread dangerously thin and have to “buddy up” to feel safe. Sloppy searches reveal nothing but nuisance contraband as the hidden weaponry comes on the very next day after a mass search was completed and people are stabbed.

Wardens take the time off and ignore the needs of the facility and spend money on things that are close to their own personal glory or prestige rather than prioritizing the safety of others. Knowing there is tension on the yards and officers are being tested to their limits and sometimes beyond. People in key positions are taking time off to avoid the misery of their tasks and appoint designees to take care of their business taking no ownership in what happens on their yards.

Staffs are being assaulted weekly. These reports are being hindered by the fact that very few make it to the media or a press release making the appearances of law and order to exist within the Lewis Complex when in fact the opposite is true. Most of their CCTV systems are obsolete and in dire need of repairs. Insufficient funds for maintaining a sound stocked armory is a reality and staff are hindered with poor communication tools as they suffer these shortcomings day to day until it no longer matters.  There are more critical issues but not wanting to give away information that might help the enemy within.

Their locking devices are shot or impaired and nothing is being done to fund their operational efficiency or upgrade those devices in dire need of attention. These issues aren’t different from the Eyman Complex or any other major prison complex throughout the state. Their physical plant have been ignored and preventive maintenance is nearly non-existent. The water is tainted and the sewage fields are at capacity and in need of expansion. It is likely their HVAC systems will be tested this summer and will surely fail.

Cleaning supplies and sanitation priorities were no-existent. Many were denied their religious services and many more were ignored when their mail, property and other personal items were being withheld because of staff shortages or because of a retaliatory mood that was never completely justified as a means to end the “us versus them” attitude that prevailed.

Minor infractions became justified reasons to make them major infractions. Bed space was driven by an increasing need to fill beds at the higher custody levels to justify expansion of beds and the need for more maximum custody space. All these symptoms of the institutional sickness have been ignored and nothing is expected to be done before the heat of the summer in 2014.

It will be under these conditions that the disruption at Lewis will have occurred. The community has a lot to fear as this facility is in dire straits and nobody is paying attention to its fragility or demise. The gangs roam freely as the means to control them has been given to the incompetents that use their matter of personal preference of endorsing specific yard leaders to shape and manage the lives of others no matter what the cost is or which person or persons get in their way to achieve the glory.