The Arizona Department of Corrections is planning to reopen part of a prison in Douglas after running out of cell beds for women.
Recently appointed Corrections Director David Shinn told members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee this week the prison system is short more than 60 beds at the end of last month.
The Arizona Republic reports advocates for overhauling Arizona’s criminal sentencing laws argue that reopening the Papago Unit is a waste. They say it would be best to find ways of reducing the state’s prison population.
The part of a Douglas prison that would be reopened has housed lower security inmates in past years.
The state closed the facility in 2017 and had planned to sell it.
