(A conflict of interest is a situation in which a person
or organization is involved in multiple interests (financial, emotional, or
otherwise), one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation of the
individual or organization.)
Honorable Legislators,
Today, Governor Doug Ducey announced that Arizona
Department of Corrections, Charles L. Ryan, shall lead a complete investigation
of the Kingman riot which occurred during the week of July 1st
through July 4th, 2015.
This is a situation that should be addressed by the
Legislature as the main stakeholders in the preservation of public safety and
financial responsibilities for the funding of private prison monies and all
related allocated expenses.
Charles Ryan, an appointed public official is not the
most appropriate individual to oversee such an investigation. His judgement,
impartiality and personal or professional interest could be influenced by the
mere fact that he is also the main person at the Department of Corrections who
makes executive decisions on inmate bed allocations distributed between the
various private contractors with the agency and other internal policy decisions
including contract monitoring of various facilities.
This puts him in a potential and possible position to
undermine the investigation based on findings which may be negative or damaging
to these private prison groups as well as his own agency for any or all
management decisions created or made verbally or through policy he makes to
distribute, manage, oversee, and direct compliance conditions of all these
contracts.
When a government official, who is involved in the
procurement, distribution, allocation or any other major decision is put in a
position of trust and the position is used to determine faulty findings, these
findings can be influenced, degraded or devaluated by his executive position to
contain such findings and dismiss them or lower them to a lesser finding at
will.
This defeats the entire discovery and information
gathering process of any investigation especially this one where the
performance, compliance and management skills of MTC is in question as well as
his own agency’s responsibility to ensure compliance with all contractual
services and agreements.
I appeal to you, our members of the Legislature, to call
for another lead designated investigator or person for this investigation of
the MTC Kingman riots. A good example of choosing an independent individual
would be command position at the Attorney General’s or the director of our
Department of Public Safety administration.
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