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With nearly 42,000 incarcerated people, Arizona has one of the largest prison populations in the country.

Advocates plead with Arizona to release vulnerable inmates amid COVID-19

A new predictive model shows nearly all of the almost 42,000 incarcerated people in Arizona will contract the virus.
Adiba Nelson with her daughter Emory.

“'Rona needs to stay away!”: How a single mother stays resilient.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Free meals for our community; and an interview with César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, author of "Migrating to Prison: America's Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants".
A line of cars drives past the La Palma Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona. Demonstrators honked horns and hung banners from their windows calling for thge release of detainees in the wake of the coronavirus.

Eloy car rally calls for ICE detainee releases during COVID-19 pandemic

At least five detainees in custody in Arizona have tested positive for the virus.
A construction worker works on installing 30-foot bollard fencing along Arizona's border with Mexico in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, February 2020.

Lawsuits challenging border wall funding can move forward, judge rules

A U.S. District Court judge last week ruled two lawsuits brought by environmental groups will be allowed to continue.
Outside the Eloy Detention Center in Pinal County.

Immigration attorneys, turned away without protective gear, call for detention center closures

Arizona attorneys say they can't find protective equipment required to visit clients, putting their cases in danger.

More demands to close immigration courts as judge tests positive for COVID-19

Immigration lawyers, judges and prosecutors sent a joint message to the Department of Justice to close the courts.

Judges ask DOJ to reconsider hearings in high-traffic immigration courts amid coronavirus outbreak

Judges and attorneys working in immigration courts say they need federal support to protect their clients and the public.
Just days after it ruled that a Mexican family could not sue the Border Patrol agent who shot from Texas and killed their son across the border, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered a lower court to reconsider its ruling that a Sonoran family could sue an agent for a similar shooting in Nogales.

Supreme Court vacates ruling in Nogales cross-border shooting

The high court’s order followed its 5-4 ruling last week in a nearly identical case from Texas.
The Pima County Attorney's Office in downtown Tucson.

Diversion programs aimed at lowering drug-related incarcerations in Pima County

The county attorney's office says its approach is unique in Arizona.
A Pima County correctional officer glances inside a cell at the county jail.

How Pima County treats inmates with addiction, behavioral health issues

Lorraine Rivera toured the jail with correctional officers and health care staff.
Attorney Cristobal M. Galindo outside the Supreme Court in November, after the court heard arguments in the case of Sergio Hernández, a Mexican 15-year-old who was on the Mexican side of the border when he was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent standing in the U.S. The court Tuesday ruled that Sergio’s parents, Mexican citizens, do not have the right to sue the agent.

Court says Mexicans cannot sue Border Patrol agents in fatal shootings

A ruling on Tuesday about a cross-border shooting in Texas could affect a decision on a similar case that took place in Arizona.
Many people rely on opioids to manage chronic pain.

Arizona Spotlight Special: Arizona Addicted

Tearing down the stigma that surrounds opioid addiction with stories from Arizonans who have lived the experience, and found the road to recovery.
No More Deaths volunteers.

Federal judge throws out No More Deaths convictions

The volunteers had been convicted of misdemeanors after leaving food and water in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.
Prison reform advocate Maggie Maloney at Arizona Public Media on January 23, 2020.

Former inmate-turned-advocate on the challenges of transitioning from prison

Maggie Maloney served eight years in the Arizona prison system.
Kelly Willis and Michelle Balogh, Brian Terry's sisters, speak out the U.S. District Courthouse in Tucson following the life sentence imposed on Heraclio Osorio Arellanes.

Man gets life in prison for 2010 killing of US border agent Brian Terry

Heraclio Osorio Arellanes was a member of a "rip crew" that fired on Terry's unit in 2010, killing the Border Patrol agent.
Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse, Phoenix, Arizona.

Navajo man appeals death penalty conviction, claiming jury bias

Lezmond Mitchell's case exemplifies the complexities of capitol punishment on tribal lands.

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