Not “human error.” Conditions at Kingman prison are a case of criminal negligence.

by David Safier

Here's an example of human error leading to a prison break: A guard falls asleep at his post.

Here's another example: Someone throws the wrong switch on a control panel, and a door that should be locked is left open.

What happened at the Kingman private, for-profit prison was not human error. It was systematic, institutional mismanagement. And since it resulted in a prison break that led to the death of two innocent people . . . I'm not a lawyer, but to my untrained eye, that looks like criminal negligence.

I've had a chance to read the two AZ Department of Corrections reports on Kingman. The list of problems the inspectors found at the Kingman prison is, frankly, jaw dropping. I'll spotlight the problems in posts this week.

The ADC gave Management Training Corporation, the company that runs Kingman, 49 separate problems to fix. Forty-nine problems is not a case of human error, unless by "human" you mean the people at the top of the MTC food chain. It's their error, their negligence that is responsible for the unacceptable state of the prison. They should be held personally, possibly criminally, responsible.

As I said, I'm planning to go over the problems one by one in the next few days. But here are a few problems listed in the assessment, just to give you an idea.

"While monitoring chow turnout, we witnessed a large percentage of the inmate population — approximately 75% — walking without their identification cards."

"The inmate attitude appeared to be poor. One inmate spoke in a disrespectful manner to the Warden, another yelled out 'Fuck ADC' as we approached."

"The perimeter system at Kingman . . . is not functioning properly, it is not maintained properly, it is not maintained correctly, it is not tested properly."

"The sensitivity of the [alarm] zones is not routinely tested or adjusted. This led to constant false alarms (during one five minute period on Swing Shift, I noted six alarm activations)."

"No master inventory is maintained in the Armory or where weapons are stored."

"Post orders were insufficient to be used by staff new to a post."

You can find a complete list of ADC documents relating to the Kingman breakout here.

A FINAL NOTE: Kingman is one of five private prisons housing Arizona prisoners. Based on the systematic violations at Kingman, the other four must be assessed with the same thoroughness immediately and the results made public. We need to know if private prisons are up to the job of housing dangerous criminals — or any criminals, for that matter.