‘This is an opportunity’
Tent City site set to be repurposed as rehabilitation, learning, training space
An echoing air-conditioned room that once gave respite to inmates at Maricopa County’s infamous Tent City jail is being transformed into a rehabilitation center for those dealing with substance abuse and opioid addiction, Sheriff Paul Penzone announced Friday.
And the sheriff’s plans may just be the beginning for the Tent City property near 27th Avenue and Durango Street.
Penzone said the area at the recently shuttered facility will house classroom space and sleeping areas, allowing an intensive multiagency substance-abuse program to expand by more than 50 percent in the coming months. It’s the latest effort to combat recidivism and set chronic of-
fenders on the straight and narrow.
“We want to ensure that they have an opportunity to be productive, to not return here to this jail,” Penzone told reporters Friday. “I hope that all of those in our community recognize the investment that we are making to become a more holistic Sheriff’s Office.”
In addition, the state on Friday announced a proposal to build a 265bed community corrections center and a 335bed employment center for inmates at the site.
Gov. Doug Ducey has an agreement in principle with county supervisors for the facilities. The state’s goal, as well, is to reduce recidivism in state prisons. The estimated start-up cost is at least $20 million, according to Daniel Scarpinato, the governor’s spokesman.
“If we can make an up-front investment in something like this, it will bring millions of dollars in savings to the state over time and help people turn their lives around,” Scarpinato said.
Scarpinato added that if the new corrections and employment centers are successful, the state could lower its reliance on private prisons and shift tax dollars to other programs. He added that the governor wants to have the new facilities open by next summer.
“That certainly would be part of the goal,” Scarpinato said. “We would have to take a look at all the (private prison) contracts.”
The number of inmates in the state system has dropped slightly to 42,222 at the end of September, compared with 42,611 a year ago. However, the number of inmates in private prisons increased to 8,329, up 523 compared with a year ago.
Relying less on private prisons would be a significant policy change for Ducey, who is up for re-election next year.
He and Republicans who control the state Legislature have received campaign contributions from privateprison companies, and they previously pushed the Corrections Department to send more inmates to those facilities to alleviate overcrowding.
Corrections would move similar state-run facilities that have been successful in north Phoenix and Buckeye to Tent City and repurpose those other sites, Scarpinato said.
Friday’s dual announcements came less than a week after the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office quietly shuttered Tent City. It was long the butt of jokes and the subject of criticism, both for the antics that occurred, as well as the oppressive conditions and high costs.
Tent City cost taxpayers about $8.6 million last year to remain open, The Republic has reported. Officials in April said closing the facility would save $4.5 million annually.
Looking ahead, Penzone on Friday focused on mental-health and substance-abuse issues that exacerbate recidivism rates and drive costs.
He stressed that half — about 50,000 — of the people booked into Maricopa County jails annually previously have spent time in custody. Using the Tent City facility as housing and classroom space will boost the number of medium- and high-risk offenders who can participate in the Mosaic rehabilitation program to 770 from 500, a sizable increase that ultimately could decrease crime rates.
“This is not a gift,” Penzone said. “This is an opportunity.”
The substance-abuse program, an evolution of the long-standing Alpha program, is a joint effort between the Sheriff’s Office and Correctional Health Services.
The seven-week program helps certain inmates identify the root causes of their criminality, specifically targeting trauma that happened earlier in life. Through that understanding, participants gain a better understanding of problematic behaviors and ultimately learn better coping skills that can replace substance abuse, said Dawn Noggle, mentalhealth director at Correctional Health Services.
They are then connected with resources in the community upon their release.
The goal, Noggle reiterated Friday, is to reduce recidivism, something preliminary results suggest is occurring but won’t be fully reflected for months or years to come.
Citing the increasing number of people grappling with opioid addiction in the Valley specifically, she and Penzone said the program’s expansion comes at a critical time.
“Using this space to teach people to deal with their substance abuse and mental health issues will do more to reduce recidivism in this county than a jail full of tents ever did,” Noggle said in a statement.
Mosaic is allocated tax revenue from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Conversion of the day center into sleeping areas and classrooms was projected to cost about $173,000, officials said.
The money came from the county’s existing Jail Enhancement Fund and came at no increased cost to taxpayers, they said.
Posters hang in a classroom next to the sprawling room where inmates previously hunkered down in an effort to escape triple-digit temperatures.
On the classroom wall, instructors have taped sheets of paper embodying the “Mosaic Five” to white bricks. The words are: engagement, creativity, community, respect and responsibility.
Penzone said he expects the larger space will be populated within about 45 days, housing detainees in a more efficient manner and turning the tide of negativity surrounding the space.
These evidencebased programs will help deter criminality, he said.
“We must function with an ultimate goal,” he said. “The ultimate goal is to change behavior and to return individuals to society where they can be productive.”
He didn’t mince words about the previous facility’s use, calling it a “tax money pit” and a “drain on detention staffing.”
Outside the sprawling room of empty bunk beds, remnants of the infamous Tent City facility are harder to find. The blue sign that as recently as last weekend directed people to “INTENTS VISITATION” from the West Durango Street entrance has been torn down.
Someone even took a black marker to the jail’s laminated emergency evacuation plan hanging near the east entrance of the facility. But if you looked carefully Friday — and if the lighting was right — you could still decipher what five-letter word someone tried to erase. “Tents.”
The governor also is looking to lower recidivism in state prisons by having a much larger community corrections and employment center in Tent City.
The community corrections center is designed to help provide offenders who have been sent back to prison because of “technical violations,” such as substance-abuse issues or homelessness. The center would help inmates with employment, life skills, temporary housing and drug-treatment programs.
A similar program has been successful in north Phoenix, but it drew the ire of neighbors who persuaded Corrections to remove sex offenders from the facility.
While it will have 265 beds, it is projected to treat 3,525 individuals annually because inmates only are there for a short amount of time.
The employment center also comes after success at a pilot program within the Buckeye prison complex.
The employment center will have 335 beds, but is projected to assist 1,747 inmates annually.