Arizona Centralizes Prison Medical Care
TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Department of Corrections is converting its Tucson prison to a medical and mental health facility to centralize healthcare operations and reduce operating costs.
When completed, Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson will provide 5,756 beds to house inmates with medical and mental health problems from across the state. An additional 1,000 beds are being added to the 4,756-bed facility, which currently houses 4,276 inmates.
The facility conversion is designed to reduce costs by centralizing medical care, streamlining operations and reducing statewide inmate transportations, officials say. Officials anticipate bringing the 1,000 new beds online by February 2010.
Previously, DOC prisons throughout the state provided only routine inmate medical care on site, with inmates requiring specialty care and emergency medical care transported to outside clinics and hospitals.
The new facility will allow the DOC to house inmates who need medical care closer to hospitals and specialty clinics, the majority of which are located in Tucson and Phoenix. The DOC will monitor facility operations to evaluate the initiative for efficiencies, outcomes and cost savings, officials say.
At least 400 inmates from the Tucson facility’s Rincon Unit have already been transferred to other prisons to free bed space in anticipation of the conversion, says DOC Director Charles Ryan.