Milestones

• 1968 - 1972:

  Arizona State Industrial School (ASIS) staff and juveniles had to travel to the town of Safford for medical care that their one-cot dispensary could not handle; in 1969, Phelps Dodge donated the Morenci Hospital building, a company-owned facility, to ASIS and "a crew of Ft. Grant boys moved it 80 miles, piece by piece," to the industrial school's grounds ...Alpine Conservation Center opened in 1964 housing 80 juvenile males (closed in 1980)... Highland House at 538 West Highland, an adult community treatment center, opened in1971 . . . in 1972, Diamond House and Wilson House, juvenile halfway houses opened; they closed in 1974.

• 1973 - 1977:

  Spruce House, 1801 West Spruce, a halfway house/community treatment center, opened in 1975 ... in 1974, North Campus opened at Arizona Girls' School, it was renamed Adobe Mountain School and converted to mate and female juvenile population . . . The last of the original (1909) construction was torn down in 1974.

• 1978 - 1982:

  In 1979-80, there were approximately 2,000 parolees and five parole offices: three in Phoenix, one in Tucson, one for outlying areas ... In 1979, ADC was one of 12 states to receive a Law Enforcement Assistance Administration grant ($220,000) to become accredited by the American Correctional Association ... A new 40,000 sq. ft. warehouse, exclusively for the use of ARCOR (correctional industries program), was dedicated at ASP-Florence in January 1982. . . Graduation ceremonies for the first Phoenix College/ Correctional Training Academy took place November 2, 1979... First Fort Grant Training Center graduation held February 19, 1982 ...First Tucson Training Academy graduation held May 24, 1982 ... In February 1982, the Work Furlough Program, which had begun in1978, was revised.

• 1983 - 1987:

  Della Meadows, who began working at the Florence prison March 1, 1948, retired December 31, 1983; the Meadows Unit in the Eyman Complex, which is scheduled for ground breaking early in 1994, is named in her honor... The Aspen DWI facility began receiving inmates in September 1983 ...Picacho Correctional Work Center received first 25 inmates January 1984 ... Central Arizona Work Center (CAWC) closed November30, 1984 ... First COTA class at ALETA facility in Tucson graduated February15, 1985 ... Central Office move to1601 West Jefferson completed January1986 . . . Recruitment Unit for Selection and Hiring (RUSH) created in January 1986 . . .ARCOR prison industries program changes its monogram to ACI, Arizona Correctional Industries, effective July 1, 1986.

• 1988 - 1993:

  Three-day Symposium on Corrections held November 1988 in Scottsdale ... New Dawn, originally opened as halfway house for juvenile females, converted to ADC's first DWI facility for female inmates; during FY 1990-91, New Dawn converted to a Community Correctional Center for female inmates ... Shock Incarceration Unit (SIU), for first-time offenders age 18-25, opened at ASPC-Florence in October 1988 with five male inmates; first female SIU inmates received December 1991... In June 1991, Parole/Field Services supervised 4,031 offenders; parole officers' average caseload was 74 offenders . . .Effective May 1, 1992, Southern Arizona Correctional Release Center (SACRC) is converted from male to female inmate release center ... Due to budget constraints, both New Dawn and Northern Arizona Correctional Release Center (NACRC) were closed on June 30, 1992 . . . During FY 1992-93, Health Services changed from a bureau of Human Resources/Development Division to separate Division ... Terry L. Stewart assigned as ADC Deputy Director in September 1992.

• 1994 - 2003:

  In 1994 two notable bills were signed -Truth in sentencing and Private Prisons legislation… In 1995, Director Samuel Lewis retires, Terry Stewart succeeds…In 1997, Opening of SMU II, one of the most secure facilities in the country … Arizona Death Row population moved to SMU II… Arizona State Prison (ASP) - Florence West was activated…Two Hundred-bed minors unit dedicated in Tucson… As a result of the Casey vs. Lewis decision by U.S. Supreme Court, all law libraries were closed and converted into smaller resource centers…In October 1998, Opening of Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis, the state’s newest prison complex near Buckeye… In 1998, New prison gang intelligence efforts begin in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies as a result of an assassination attempt on Director Stewart by the New Mexican Mafia, an ADC prison gang… Launched a national correctional discussion on the issue of CO safety, stressing the importance of construction, equipment and training to keep COs safe…. The establishment of the Staff Safety Hotline…Development of Telemedicine technology…In 2000, the conversion of ASPC-Perryville to an all female facility…In 2001, the creation of the Four-Legged Stool, an ADC doctrine focusing on inmate work, education, religion and treatment programs that will give inmates the best opportunity for a successful release into the community…The legislature passes the 20-year retirement benefit for employees in the Correctional Officers Retirement Plan… The establishment of the Total Quality Management (TQM) model…Launching of the QWL-21study to deal with complex employee issues and enhance the culture of the ADC workplace … In 2002, Charles L. Ryan succeeds Stewart as Acting Director of ADC… Stewart served as Director from 1995 to 2002.

• 2003 - Present:

  In July 2003, Dora Schriro was appointed by Governor Janet Napolitano. Schriro is the first woman to lead the department. Under Schriro, the department’s Parallel Universe approach to Re-Entry preparation has yielded a number of positive outcomes in its first two years of operation including marked reductions in inmate-on-inmate, inmate-on-staff assault and inmate grievances in the prisons and cutting by 45% technical revocations in community supervision.