Worst Prisons List

7 Worst Prisons In The State of Arizona

What are some of the worst prisons in the State of Arizona? We have listed Arizona's top 7 worst prisons based on multiple metrics.

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Oct 22, 2023 • 5 min read

Top 7 Worst Prisons in The State of Arizona

In Arizona, there are 13 prisons in total, and all are state-owned. But all the prisons have the same name; only their counties are making the names different by attaching each county name at the end of the prison. All the prisons are named as Arizona state prisons complex and later added with their county name to make the prisons sound different from each other.

1. Arizona state prison complex – Douglas, Arizona

Arizona state prison complex – Douglas is one of the thirteen prisons in Arizona. It is state-owned like all and operates and runs under the Arizona Department of Corrections. This prison has the capacity to fit 2148 inmates. And it was established in 1984.

Arizona state prison complex – Douglas has a good history of riots and protests within it. Right after the opening, there was a riot in prison in 1987, which was so bad for the whole prison was completely demolished, and it was not good for anyone to be there. This gives many of the prisoners an opportunity to escape as well as the death of inmates. The death of 37 inmates reportedly occurred, and the rest were not founded.

Arizona state prison complex – Douglas was rebuilt and operation again in a short time, but in 2017, there was a protest against racial inequality. This protest brought the death of 17 inmates, and within it to stop it, it cost the prison life of six of their good guards and staff.

2. Arizona state prison complex - Ayman

Arizona state prison complex – Ayman is considered to be the largest prison in Arizona. It was open in 1991 with the capacity to hold 4549 inmates. It seemed to have the highest risk of infiltration and riots in prison, so now it is equipped with 3, 4, and 5 levels of security together in one prison. And having a large number of guards protecting it.

Arizona state prison complex – Ayman is also the home of prison homicides and murders. Arizona state prison complex – Ayman is housing criminals with pretty bad records of murder and many more.

When they are thrown into prison with others ,they tend to fight and murder more. In 2019, Thompson was a prisoner of the Arizona state prison complex – Ayman ,and he was charged with murder. When his sister-in-law and brother came to visit him, he stabbed them and other officers in the room with a small handmade knife, resulting in the death of everyone in the room, and only he left the room alive but badly injured.

3. Arizona state prison complex – Florence

Arizona state prison complex – Florence was opened in 1908 and with the capacity to hold 3946 inmates at one time. It is equipped with four levels of security and houses the main federal state prisoners in it.

Although the Arizona state prison complex – Florence is equipped with four levels of security measurement but still in 2020, it was reported that there had been a massive riot which led to the explosion in the cooking unit of the prison, which has asset the escape off several hundred groups of prisoners from the jail.

This riot was later on named a war zone by the officers because it caused the death of many officers, guards, and a lot of all the staff working in the cooking unit at the time of the explosion. After this riot, they decided to increase the level of security. Still, the Arizona Department of Corrections didn’t agree to it and asked for an investigation as it was suspected man officers who were missing gory were involved in this war zone riot.

4. Arizona state prison complex – Lewis

It is one of the thirteen poisons on Arionna close to the capital of Arizona, about 13 miles away from it. It has the capacity of holding 1397 inmates. And it is equipped with five levels of security because of its critical location, which is very near to the capital. It is run and operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Arizona state prison complex – Lewis surely has the maximum security but there are still many murders case of inmates after all the security measures. In 2017 there was a murder that remained unknown as the door of the cell was broken, and the inmate was murdered by Timothy Monk.

He also held a librarian of the prison hostage with a knife but was later brought down with the help of guards and other staff members to block him in the corner. But he still held the librarian hostage for two hours and he only had a time when he was left unsupervised in the rest unit.

A prison where he held the librarian hostage also became a deathbed for him, and no investigation was completed because it could be the inmates who broke the door and murdered him or the staff because he held one of them hostage.

5. Arizona state prison complex – Perryville

Arizona state prison complex – Perryville is the second largest prison in Arizona and has a capacity of 460 inmates. It opened in 1981. It is a house only for females on death row.

In 1997, in Arizona state prison complex – Perryville, a correction officer was killed in it; the correction officer called three inmates for their good behavior and opened their hands and all cuffs, and left them free to talk to him while one of the inmates stabbed the correction officer why rest hold and stab him too which causes his death at the time till the officer from back up arrives to save him. These three inmates were then charged with murder with no bail and no reduction of the time period with extensive punishment till death.

6. Arizona state prison complex – Tucson

Arizona state prison complex – Tucson was opened in January 1978 with a capacity of 4830. It has 3 and 4 levels of security because it is 127 miles away from the capital of Arizona.

This prison can hold up to 4830 inmates, but they all are close to each other, and due to this, there are always deaths of inmates being reported. These are due to fighting among each other or death due to not receiving the proper medical treatment on time. In 2022, more than 300 inmates died in time from January to May.

The reason for only a few has been uncovered who are murdered by other inmates. While rest are to be uncovered. Some say guard staff murders them, but there is no evidence of it, so it can be said that there is the death of innate with no reason to be found. Some are stabbed, some are beaten to death, and some bleed to death.

7. Arizona state prison complex – Phoenix

Arizona state prison complex – Phoenix is the main prison in Arizona and is the headquarters of all the other 12 prisons in Arizona. And as we all know, Phoenix is the capital of Arizona, and the prison in the Capital of Arizona will be highly guarded add to have the maxim level of security no matter what. It currently houses more than 100 death row inmates; the rest are unknown.

After all the maximum security and heavily guarded prison, there are still murders of prisoners in the cafeteria and other units of the prison, mostly prisoners being murdered by other inmates by stabbing. Kenneth W. Thompson is an inmate who has a long history of murdering inmates in various prisons in Arizona, and now he has been shifted to the Arizona state prison complex – Phoenix.

And still, he has managed to get a knife, stab two of its inmates in the cell, and murder them. He has already been charged with imprisonment till death, but there is still no stop to him. Now he is being kept in a sole cell with limited access to everything and kept away from other inmates.