American Friends Service Committee, its partners and volunteers plan a legislative delegation and press conference on the Arizona Capitol House Lawn on Tuesday, Feb. 15, at 11 a.m., to remind lawmakers that prison privatization is a bad investment.

From the press release:

In the same week that one of the Kingman escapees went to New Mexico to face murder charges, the state of Arizona re-issued an RFP for 5,000 more private prison beds. The American Friends Service Committee calls on Governor Brewer and the state legislature to put a stop to this dangerous and irresponsible action.

On Tuesday, February 15th, we will send delegations of volunteers to meet with key legislators and deliver the testimonies and other materials gathered through our Public Hearing on Prison Privatization (Tucson, October 27, 2010) and other activities.

We will then gather on the House lawn at 11:00am for a brief press conference to report on our meetings with the offices of the Arizona Secretary of State and Attorney General, discuss our opposition to prison privatization, and renew our call for an immediate cancellation of the recently re-released RFP for 5,000 new private prison beds in Arizona.

The press conference will also feature Maria Vera-Martin, Executive President of Correctional Professional Officers Association/AZCOPS and Susan Maurer, retired Commissioner of Corrections for the state of New Jersey.

Carpools from Tucson will be organized. Please contact us at 520.623.9141 or email cisaacs@afsc.org to participate!