Arizona Republican lawmaker says he's escalating his investigation into prison violence

Arizona state Rep. Quang Nguyen announced that he’s ramping up his investigation into prison violence.

The Republican lawmaker (R-Prescott Valley) said it’s part of a broader, troubling wave of violence that’s gone unchecked in Arizona facilities with no clear explanation and no answers he finds convincing from state officials so far.

“Something isn't right. And I'm guessing it's not procedural or policy,” said Ngyuen. “I'm just guessing that this might be a political ideology where, you know, we have what you — I would refer to as misplaced compassion to allow these inmates to do what they want to do.”

The decision to escalate, Ngyuen said, came after he learned about a triple homicide by someone with a long history of what he says were all marked as "major violations" this April in a Tucson prison.

“I'd like to know why it's happening. I want to understand,” said Ngyuen. “I want to understand why Mr. Ricky Wassenaar was allowed to be in the general population.”

Arizona Legislature

Nguyen, who serves Arizona's 1st Legislative District, requested documents from the Arizona Department of Corrections on every inmate homicide since the start of this year.

According to Nyguen, that includes reports on how the deaths were handled, details on contraband weapons and phones, and communications between the department and advocacy groups like the ACLU.

“We need to have the answers, because we didn’t send people there to die,” he said. “There's a thing called a death sentence, but they were not sentenced to death. They shouldn't go to prison to die.”

Nguyen said that if the department doesn’t meet the June 2 deadline to submit those documents, he’s willing to consider further action, and that he hopes Arizonans will pay close attention to how the probe develops — no matter what they find.