Middle Ground Prison Reform

07/22/2026

Thank you, Arizona Capitol Times. We will keep pushing for authentic transparency and accountability from ADCRR. Anything short of that is corruption. We've had enough of that for decades.

After Donna Hamm decades of advocacy, she has cemented herself as the foremost advocate for the incarcerated and thorn in the side of carceral agencies.

06/12/2026

The Legislature has passed the 2026-27 budget and they did NOT fund the Independent Corrections Oversight Office (HB 2063). Hence, oversight of the ADCRR is not likely to begin soon unless funding from another outside source is located. The office needs about $1.5 million for start-up costs. ADCRR Director Ryan Thornell is opposed to any "outside" oversight of his department. Sadly, the Governor seems to be supportive of Thornell's position and, therefore, no funding was proposed or included in the next fiscal year budget. Independent oversight of ADCRR is needed now more than ever.

Also, the bill (SB 1110) to establish a program for home confinement for low-level offenders serving the final 18 months of an imposed prison sentence did not pass into law. We suspect it has to do with 2026 being an election year and legislators not wishing to have an opponent label them "soft" on crime.

The Department has written a new policy for the handing of Legal Mail (DO 902, " Inmate Legal Access to the Courts") which completely destroys the ability of a PRO PER litigant (someone representing him or herself; not using a lawyer) to receive legal mail, calls or visits from experts, investigators, process servers or other para-professionals. We have located a law firm who will challenge this new policy, but the outcome remains to be seen. The same policy, DO 902, also imposes new rules for how licensed attorneys, judges and the courts -- including the U.S. Supreme Court -- must communicate with prisoners in Arizona. Most of the attorneys we've spoken to who have reviewed the policy are astounded at the steps they are now required to follow just to mail a letter to a client. We've contacted some Pro Per prisoners to ask them to provide specific information about how they will be negatively impacted by the revised DO 902, effective July 13, 2026.

If you would like to donate to the work being performed by Middle Ground, we accept donations in any amount and are grateful for your support. Make checks payable to: MIDDLE GROUND, 1825 WEST RAY ROAD, SUITE 1120, CHANDLER, AZ. 85224.

Our email address is: [email protected]

Call now to connect with business.

02/22/2026

On 2/19/26, the district court of Arizona, Hon. Roslyn Silver, ordered that the Arizona DOC healthcare system be placed under the control of a receiver. This means that the court will appoint an expert to make all decisions about the delivery of health care to Arizona's prisoners (private prisons are not included in the order) and the receiver will report directly to the Judge, and not to anyone else. DOC Director Thornell immediately announced that he would "vigorously" appeal the decision, so it may take some time for the receiver to be in place. Still, she appears to have anticipated an appeal and she documented her reasons for taking this drastic final-effort approach in a scathing 128-page order, which fell just short of calling Thornell and his lawyers "liars," referring to information and statistics they have reported to the court ever since the litigation began in 2012. This case has cost millions of dollars (mostly paid to lawyers on both sides) and the receiver will be paid by tax dollars, too. ALL because the Arizona DOC, no matter who is at the helm of this agency, refuses to do what it needs to do to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental healthcare to prisoners under its custody and control. Rest assured, this order represents a SEA CHANGE once it is implemented. In 2005, the state of California Prison system was placed under receivership for its healthcare system, and all reports since then appear to demonstrate vast improvement. We are hoping for the same outcome for Arizona's prisoners. In 2012, when the complaint was initially filed, the ACLU made a decision NOT to include the private prisons as defendants, and that is why this order does not apply to prisoners who are in private prisons.

Call now to connect with business.

02/18/2026

The 2026 legislative session only began the second week of January. While there are some promising bills introduced, including one which would allow home confinement for some low-level, non-violent offenders during the final year of their sentence, and one bill which would fund the previously authorized independent corrections oversight office, it is important to understand that NO BILLS HAVING TO DO WITH PRISON, SENTENCING OR CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM have actually passed into law as of mid-February. All bills must pass through at least 2 committees in the House or Senate, then they must pass through the entire House and the entire Senate, and then the bill must be signed into law by the Governor as a final step. So, none of passed into law. Rumors about home confinement laws going into effect in a few weeks or months are simply untrue. Don't spread false rumors, please. If you have a question, send us an email to: [email protected] and we will respond. Also, make sure when you ask us about a specific bill number that you are referring to an active bill from the 2026 legislative session. For previous sessions and previous bills that have "died" during those previous sessions, they have no relevance in 2026 at all. Once a bill dies, even if the exact subject matter is reintroduced during a new, subsequent legislative session, it is assigned a DIFFERENT bill number. Please only refer to bill numbers attached to bills that are introduced in the current 2026 session.

01/28/2026

Well intentioned protests have apparently taken place (no media coverage) of protests by inmates or their family members against the new commissary prices and limitations, reinstatement of approved phone lists, the new mail policy and other changes taking place within ADCRR. As we have repeatedly stated, with the exception of how timely the mail is delivered to an inmate or his tablet, there is no constitutional right being violated by implementing these new policies. Hence, no formal challenges to the policies would be successful in any court. That's the reality: The courts will always support the prison administrators' argument that the new policies are imposed in order to protect the "secure and orderly operation of the prison." And insofar as food/commissary is concerned, they will argue that a nutritionist develops the meal plans for the prisons and that they provided "sufficient nutrients and calories for adult men." The only ways to DISPROVE that claim would be for several inmates to accurately and with precision keep a journal of every food item served to inmates by Aramark over, say, a full one week plan, including estimated portion sizes and a list of all condiments included with meals (butter packet, sugar, salt/pepper packet, etc.). We've invited several inmates to do this in response to complaints, but no one has done it. We're sorry to advise that we don't see a way to legally challenge these new policies, and we already know that marches or demonstrations -- poorly attended at best -- don't significantly move the needle, and when inmates try sit ins or work stoppages, they end up with disciplinary tickets, forfeited earned release credits resulting in longer prison stays, and loss of privileges.