Investigators at our sister station in Phoenix expose leaked surveillance videos and documents from inside Arizona's Lewis Prison. Experts call it one of the most chaotic and dangerous environments they've ever seen. Click here to read the full investigation.
The investigators have obtained multiple leaked surveillance videos from violent assaults inside an Arizona prison where multiple units have cell doors that don’t properly lock.
The videos show how unlocked doors have led to ambush-style assaults that have resulted in serious injuries to multiple officers and contributed to one inmate’s death.
Cell doors in three units of Lewis Prison have been broken for years, and temporary fixes have failed, records show. Independent experts said what’s happening inside the facility is one of the most chaotic and dangerous prison environments they’ve ever seen.
“Extreme, there’s no other way to describe it,” said Richard Subia, a prison consultant and expert witness, who spent nearly 30 years in the California prison system. “It’s clear to me that somebody who goes in there to do their job is going to be killed.”
ABC15 also obtained records showing that top Department of Corrections administrators, including Director Charles Ryan, know about the problems but have failed to adequately address them.
