For many years AFSC-Arizona has been working to reform sentencing and prison laws in Arizona. Now, we are excited to announce that we are partnering with the national group, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). FAMM is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization located in Washington, DC that has advocated for […]
The American Friends Service Committee has long been opposed to Arizona’s deep financial involvement in the for-profit private prison industry. Fundamentally, that is because we believe that incarceration for profit is immoral. But we also know that these corporations are profoundly mismanaged, negligent, and do not deliver the […]
The American Friends Service Committee of Arizona, a leading watchdog and opponent of for-profit incarceration in Arizona and nationwide, has condemned the decision of the Mesa City Council last night to enter into a contract with CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). “We would like to thank […]
Tucson, AZ— Today, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo that acknowledges the need to “reform federal halfway houses.” Since the 1960’s, halfway houses (now called Residential Re-entry Centers- RRCs) have been used to facilitate a formerly incarcerated person’s transition back into the community. The decision […]
Palestinian journalist and author Mohammed Omer has been documenting the realities faced by people and communities in Gaza for over a decade. This month, Omer will be on a speaking tour of several cities in the United States. We invite you to meet and hear from Omer here in […]
By Lyle Daychild, BSW I graduated with my Bachelors of Social Work degree from Arizona State University (ASU) on May 11, 2016. I participated in three separate graduation ceremonies- the School of Social Work, the American Indian Convocation, and the large university undergraduate commencement. Getting to graduation […]
What a year! There’s never a dull moment when you are working for criminal justice reform in Arizona. We’d like to share with you just the highlights of some of our achievements from 2015: We added THREE new incredible staff people We passed sentencing reform legislation for the […]