The Department of Corrections is investigating the state prison in Kingman. The complex was the site of multiple riots last weekend that injured officers, inmates and forced the relocation of more than a third of the prisoners.
The second and third riots of the weekend caused such severe damage to a large part of the prison that 1,055 inmates were transferred to other facilities.
Department of Corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder said the state is concerned with the way Management and Training Corporation is operating the prison.
“There is a need to take a look at this comprehensively to understand whether or not the private prison is being operated as the state expects it to," he said.
In addition to the department's probe, Management and Training Corporation said in a statement it’s investigating the disturbances.
Caroline Issacs with the advocacy group American Friends Service Committee has a problem with that.
“It clearly needs to be independent," she said. "We’ve given DOC ample chances to do a better job of managing these facilities and they have consistently failed.”
A 2010 reportfound the same Kingman facility had 13 reported instances where large groups of inmates chased staff off the yard. The assessment of the prison was done after three inmates escaped the complex and murdered a couple in New Mexico.
The state is currently awaiting bids from private prison companies to build or expand to accommodate 2,000 new medium-security inmates.
Updated 10:55 am 7/9/2015
