Arizona State Prison Complex – ASPC Tucson

Arizona State Prison Complex – Tucson has an inmate capacity of about 4,360 in 7 housing units and 3 special housing units at security levels 2, 3, 4, and 5. The ADC uses a score classification system to assess inmates' appropriate custody and security level placement. The scores range from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest risk or need. ASPC-Tucson is a minimum to a high-security prison. one of 13 prison facilities operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC).

ASPC-Tucson prison had its beginnings as the Arizona Correctional Training Facility. Its first phase opened in January 1978 and it was fully open by August 1979, housing 384 non-violent male first offenders, aged 18–25. A separate unit held juvenile males convicted as adults, as it does today. The Santa Rita Unit was built in 1982, with the first inmates being received in July 1982.

The 1986-87 building program established the 744-bed Cimarron Unit, creating the Tucson Complex, and added 200 beds to Echo Unit. The Rincon/Santa Rita/Units form a hub, which has buildings for inmate records, health services, maintenance, and a 40-cell central detention unit.

Work Programs – As part of an Intergovernmental Agreement ASPC-Tucson has approximately 28 inmates off complex work crews. There are also; two onsite call centers for hometown heroes that employ 78 inmates; Arizona Department of Transportation work crews that conduct off-site trimming and cleaning debris from the medians and sides of roads, two wildland fire crews that also spend off-season assisting with brush abatement and a work crew at the Kartchner Caverns State Park located in Benson, Arizona. The offsite work crews cover an area between Tucson, Nogales, Marana, Benson and Sells. There are ten crews that work on-site, outside of the secure perimeter to maintain the Complex.

In addition to these inmate crews, each unit is allocated a WIPP (Work Incentive Pay Plan) budget based on the number of inmates assigned to the unit. On average over 1900 inmates are paid to work at jobs ranging from labor crews which clean the yard, rake rocks and mow lawns, to semi-skilled and skilled jobs such as clerical, barber and maintenance jobs. Inmates may also work half a day and attend vocational education classes half a day for which they also receive WIPP wages. The Arizona Correctional Industries Sign Shop at ASPC-Tucson employs up to 26 inmates at an average wage of $.65/hour. These inmates reclassified as skilled to highly technical, depending on the job involved. Most positions require a background in computer, silk screen, painting or metal fabrication.

Education Programs – Presently of a total population of approximately 5000 inmates at the Tucson complex, approximately 30% of ASPC-Tucson inmates are involved in some form of education. Forty percent of arriving inmates have not yet achieved the 8th-grade level of education and are automatically enrolled in the Functional Literacy program. Programs available to the inmates are High School, GED, and Mandatory Literacy. The programs offered by the CTE program are Automotive, Computers, Construction, Electrical, and HVAC. Inmates also have access to distance learning and CCTV programs.

Treatment Programs