Title 31 — Prisons and Prisoners

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Department" means the state department of corrections. 2. "Director" means the director of the department.

A. The director shall hold in custody all persons who are sentenced to the department under the law and shall hold such persons for the term directed by the court, subject to law. B. In addition to the medical and health services to be provided pursuant to subsection D of this se…

No person shall be appointed to any office or be employed by the department on behalf of the state who: 1. Is a contractor for the department, except pursuant to section 31-204. 2. Is interested, directly or indirectly, in any business carried on in connection with the department…

A. An officer or employee shall not have any monetary interest in any contract or purchase made by anyone for or on behalf of the department, or receive, directly or indirectly, compensation for services unless approved by the director. B. An officer or employee of the department…

A. The prison chaplains shall devote as much of their time as the condition and employment of the prisoners reasonably justifies in giving the prisoners moral and religious instruction. The chaplains shall at all times, under the authority of the director, have access to the pris…

The department of administration shall draw a warrant for claims approved and allowed by the director under the provisions of this chapter, and the warrants shall be paid from the appropriation made to the department.

A. The state department of corrections shall maintain a master record file on each person who is committed to the department that contains the following: 1. All information from the committing court. 2. The reports of the reception-diagnostic centers. 3. Evaluation and assignment…

A. The department shall establish programs of research, statistics and planning, including the study of its own performance concerning the treatment of adult offenders. B. The department may conduct and supervise research into the causes of detention and treatment of crime and di…

A correctional officer as defined in section 41-1661 may use all reasonable and necessary means including deadly force to prevent the attempt of a prisoner sentenced to the custody of the state department of corrections to: 1. Escape from custody or from a correctional facility. …

Prior to or at the same time a prisoner is transferred from a state department of corrections facility by the department to a county jail facility, a copy of the prisoner's state department of corrections medical record file, including the prisoner's mental health file, or a stan…

B. For the purposes of this section, "medical record" includes any medical record that is retained by the department or a medical professional and that relates to medical treatment that was provided to the prisoner while in a department facility.

When it is necessary that a person imprisoned by the department be brought before any court, or that a person imprisoned in a county jail be brought before a court in another county, an order may be made for that purpose by the court and executed by the sheriff of the county wher…

A. If a prisoner confined in any facility operated by the state department of corrections displays symptoms of mental disorder to such a degree that transfer to the state hospital or a licensed behavioral health or mental health inpatient treatment facility operated by the state …

A. If the written report made pursuant to section 31-226, subsection A indicates reasonable cause to believe that, as a result of mental disorder, the prisoner is a danger to self or others and that without immediate treatment in a mental health inpatient treatment facility or th…

A. If a person is arrested within this state for any crime committed in or adjacent and related to a correctional facility under the jurisdiction of the state department of corrections or committed while escaped from a correctional facility under the jurisdiction of the departmen…

A. When a prisoner is released conditionally on parole, community supervision or probation if the court waived community supervision pursuant to section 13-603 or is discharged from a facility of the state department of corrections there shall be returned to the prisoner everythi…

A. The director shall establish and administer a functional literacy program in each correctional institution in this state. B. On commitment to the department, each inmate shall be given an educational evaluation, including a standardized assessment test in English or Spanish as…

A. If an inmate is determined to be functionally literate pursuant to section 31-229, has not received a high school diploma and is responsible for the support of dependent children who are receiving assistance pursuant to title 46, chapter 2, article 5, the inmate shall particip…

A. Except as provided in section 41-1604.07, subsection F, if an inmate fails to achieve functional literacy at an eighth grade literacy level before the inmate becomes eligible for release pursuant to section 41-1604.07, the inmate is not eligible to begin the inmate's term of c…

A. The director shall establish a prisoner spendable account for each prisoner. All monies that are received by a prisoner and that are not required to be deposited in another account shall be deposited in the prisoner's spendable account. B. The director shall adopt rules for th…

A. A person who is not authorized by law and who without legal or official permission communicates with a prisoner who is within the custody and control of the department is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. B. For the purposes of this section, all prisoners who are detained withi…

A. To the greatest extent possible and after accounting for security and capacity factors, the department shall place a prisoner who is a parent of a minor child in a prison facility that is located within two hundred fifty miles of the prisoner's permanent address on record. B. …

A. The director may authorize the temporary removal under custody from prison or any other institution for the detention of adults under the jurisdiction of the department of any inmate for the purpose of employing the inmate in any work directly connected with the administration…

A. The director of the state department of corrections may enter into an agreement with a city, county jail district, county, or city and county to permit transfer of prisoners in the custody of the director of the state department of corrections to a jail or other adult correcti…

A. The department shall mark all mail written by a prisoner committed to the state department of corrections indicating that the mail was sent from a prison maintained by this state. B. An inmate shall not send any communication to the victim of the offense for which the inmate w…

A. To the greatest extent possible and consistent with safety and order the department shall adopt rules that limit a male correctional officer from conducting an inspection or search of a female prisoner who is in a state of undress. This subsection does not limit the ability of…

A. Each wage earning prisoner who is committed to the department shall deposit into a dedicated discharge account of the prisoner a percentage of wages earned by the prisoner pursuant to section 31-254. The department shall continue to deposit the percentage of wages earned by th…

A. The director of the state department of corrections shall establish an annual cost of incarceration for any person who is convicted in a state court and committed to the state department of corrections. B. This cost of incarceration shall reflect the amount of dollars this sta…

A. The director shall establish by rule a reasonable utility fee for electrical utilities that are consumed by prisoners who are confined in a correctional facility. The fee shall not exceed two dollars per month. The director shall charge each prisoner who possesses at least one…

A. The director shall establish and maintain a dedicated prisoner education services budget for each state prison to identify the monies appropriated to the department and expended for the following education programs: 1. The functional literacy program established pursuant to se…

A. An inmate shall exhaust all internal department grievance procedures before filing a complaint with any of the following boards: 1. The state board of dental examiners established by section 32-1203. 2. The Arizona regulatory board of physician assistants established by sectio…

A. Except as authorized by the department, an inmate shall not have access to the internet through the use of a computer, computer system, network, communication service provider or remote computing service. B. An inmate who violates this section is guilty of a class 1 misdemeano…

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires, "work crew" means a group of prison inmates who possess the skills and training to work at prison sites and to participate, under the security supervision of correctional service officers, in any phase of prison construction…

A. The director has the authority to require that each able-bodied prisoner under commitment to the state department of corrections engage in hard labor for not less than forty hours per week, except that not more than twenty hours per week of participation in an educational, tra…

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "First offender" means a prisoner who has not previously served a prison term for conviction of an offense which would constitute a felony if committed in this state.

A. The director may enter into a cooperative agreement with any state agency or political subdivision of this state or any department or agency of the federal government to provide hard labor by prisoners on public works. B. The director shall develop and maintain a cooperative p…

A. The director of the state department of corrections and the director of the department of administration shall use prisoner labor to the maximum extent feasible in the construction of all prison facilities. B. Prisoner labor shall be used exclusively for all fencing and concre…

A. Each prisoner who is engaged in productive work in any state prison or institution under the jurisdiction of the department or a private prison under contract with the department as a part of the prison industries program shall receive for the prisoner's work the compensation …

A. The alcohol abuse treatment fund is established. B. Notwithstanding section 31-254, the director of the state department of corrections shall deposit in the fund the lesser of sixty-seven per cent or fifty cents per hour of the monies earned by persons sentenced to the departm…

[Repealed or reserved.]

A. Products of individual prisoner enterprise, hobby, craft or art may be marketed to the public. B. The director is authorized to establish a trust fund, or retention account, for the administration of the marketing programs prescribed by subsection A of this section or particip…

Any adult correctional facility acquired, converted or constructed shall confine more than one person in each cell or room except as strictly necessary for the purposes of punishment or the protection of specific prisoners.

(Rpld. 7/1/30) A. The department shall establish a transition program that provides eligible inmates with transition services in the community for up to ninety days. The department shall administer the transition program and contract with private or nonprofit entities to provide …

(Rpld. 7/1/30) A. Each entity that contracts with the department to provide transition services pursuant to this article shall coordinate all services provided by the entity with the department. B. Each contracted entity shall establish a network that may include community and fa…

[Repealed or reserved.]

(Rpld. 7/1/30) The transition program fund is established consisting of the monies collected pursuant to section 31-254, subsection D, paragraph 3 and subsection E, paragraph 3 and section 31-285, subsection C. The department shall administer the fund to pay for any costs related…

(Rpld. 7/1/30) A. An inmate who enters a transition program pursuant to this article shall be released from confinement three months earlier than the inmate's earliest release date based on the inmate's risk and need and rules adopted pursuant to section 31-281. An inmate who the…

(Rpld. 7/1/29) A. The department shall establish the mental health transition program to provide eligible inmates with transition services in the community. An inmate who is in the mental health transition program and who was not convicted of any offense listed in section 31-281,…

A. Any prisoner with the written consent of the director and the chief of health services may volunteer to participate in an approved program of medical research or plasmapheresis and whole blood program. B. Before consenting to participate in the program, the chief of health ser…

A. Any person, firm or corporation desiring to conduct a program of medical research or plasmapheresis and whole blood program employing prisoners shall submit to the director a written proposal containing a detailed statement of the purpose and nature of the proposed program. B.…