The Arizona Department of Corrections says it needs nearly $46-million to replace cell door locks, fire alarm and suppression systems and air conditioning at two state prisons.
The announcement comes just two months after the department was rocked by revelations that inmates at the Lewis prison complex west of Phoenix could open their locked cell doors and attack corrections officers and other prisoners.
The Yuma prison has similar lock issues. The department will ask a joint legislative committee that reviews capital spending Tuesday to immediately spend more than $20-million for new locks and fire systems at the Lewis prison.
The prison would get a new $11.3-million air conditioning system starting next March.
Similar work at the Yuma prison starting in July 2020 is expected to cost almost $14-million.