Dear Editor;

In the Nov. 7 Valley/State state section Maricopa County Attorney William Montgomery put a negative and completely false spin on Michael Kiefer's four part series on bad prosecutors; and coincidentally Craig Harris did an article on the poor quality of health care in Arizona’s prisons. The two stories are related in several ways. The former article first.

For prosecutors; let’s look at the truth instead of Montgomery’s spin- which incidentally proves how tricky prosecutors are since the County’s lead prosecutor is obviously being rather disingenuous.

Montgomery is well aware of the recent 5 year old “road rage” murder case tried this summer where the police admitted to destroying over 100 pieces of evidence and the prosecutor allegedly created a false FBI document that led to the conviction of an obviously innocent man. Please note the prosecutor has refused to give the court the FBI document she allegedly created to frame the defendant; and still fights to prevent any DNA testing of any of the remaining evidence because she knows the test would prove the defendant is innocent and leave her and the County liable for knowingly framing an innocent man.

Second, any discussion of the later article by Craig Harris should really center on the last paragraph wherein it is stated that Gov. Brewer and the Republican Legislator are “advocates” of private firms operating in prisons; which is the greatest understatement in journalistic history.

Gov. Brewers’s top advisors are ALL from the “Privatized Prison Industry.”  The Governor, the legislator’s, Montgomery, the judge’s, the prosecutor’s, the public defender’s and the police officer’s pension funds are tied to the privatized prisons.

In short, the more prisoners in Arizona, the richer the Governor, the prosecutors, Montgomery, the judges, the public defenders and the police will be; and the more corrupt all of them are, the more prisoners there will be.

Montgomery really wants us all to believe that he and other politicians would never falsely imprison innocent people, even if it made him and his cronies’ boat loads of money.  Really?  Then explain Ray Krone, Debre Milke, Youngblood, Hansen and almost the “Tucson 4.”

Arizona courts have been corrupt for decades, ask any defense attorney; or ask any prosecutor who left the office why they left-the response is most often “because I got tired of sending innocent people to prison.”

Do not expect things to change anytime soon.  All Maricopa County Criminal Court judges are former prosecutors, no former defense attorneys allowed.  The absurdness of the bias is undeniable.

The earlier cited case is a great example; the prosecutor forged an FBI document to frame someone she knows is innocent and then refuses to give the document to the court, yet the court does not jail her for contempt and the State does not charge her for forgery or for framing a person.  If a defense attorney did either he would be charged, disbarred and imprisoned. 

As for the corruptness of the privatized prisons and how it has destroyed the ethics of Arizona’s judiciary and our court system in general-one need only do some basic accounting.

The State run prisons had State run inmate stores, medical facilities, kitchens, etc.

Under the new private system that the state uses-after the politicians and judges bought stock in and then the State pensions fund invested in-1.  The prices for food and other items prisoners can buy more than doubled and are now higher than prices at any convenience store; 2. The medical facilities are woefully understaffed and treat broken bones with Ibuprofen and 3 days bed rest; 3. The food quality and quantity has been greatly reduced.

The taxpayers are now paying more but being tricked into believing the “Privatization” is saving them money.  It’s not, but the pension funds are making boat loads of money and the real criminals in Arizona are getting rich off of the “tricks” Montgomery’s peons are using to garner false convictions on innocent people.

As long as our politicians, judges, prosecutors, police and public defenders are paid according to how many people they put in prison, regardless of whether or not those people are criminals, we will continue to have the most corrupt judiciary and violent police forces in America.

As long as prosecutors and police can frame innocent people and claim “immunity” when they get caught, our prisons will be full of innocent people.

As long as the “law” considers crimes committed by government employees against citizens as being little more than “harmless error”, as a people and as a state we will continue to be one of the worst human rights violators on the planet.

(For those “religious right” conservatives who incorrectly believe all prisoners are and must be guilty; and deserve to be treated like animals-see Hebrews 13:3.)

I would be remiss if I failed to mention the deplorable conditions at Arizona’s Jails; those concentration camps where inmates are starved and fed only twice a day with no meat and a meal that may only be described as worse than human “spew”.  Sherriff Arpaio, Arizona’s corrupt curator of prison for profit and his abuse of Arizona’s Mexican American population, is proof positive the corruption is so entrenched in Arizona society that our citizens not only turn a blind eye to the violators of our human rights, but actually condone the torture of innocent humans.

 In short, Arizona’s politicians, judges, prosecutors, police and public defenders are financially benefitting by the very corruption they have instituted ; do not expect them to change it.  NO other countries and no other state’s judicial, political and prison systems are as financially entwined as Arizona’s is.  As long as the aforementioned parties profit from sending innocent people to prison, no man, woman or child is safe from the terrorists we call our “leaders and protectors”.

It is time we hold the “real” criminals responsible and save some innocent people from the “privateers” who now occupy every branch of Arizona’s government.

Abrogate all “immunity” protection for politicians, judges, prosecutors and police; public defenders-like all defense attorneys-have no protection except the BAR-which is as corrupt as a group of lawyers is expected to be.

End privatized prisons completely.  Stop the corruption at its source.  As long as our politicians, judges, prosecutors and police will profit by incarcerating people, then everyone but themselves will be guilty of something in their eyes; which are blinded by the dollar signs they see as targets on everyone’s backs.

In closing, Arizona is infamous for its judicial and political corruption; our police forces are now nothing more than standing armies of mercenaries who profit by charging everyone they arrest with “assault on a police officer” (the most charged crime in America) for the victim’s act of beating the officer’s fists with his face and the soles of the officer’s boots with his ribs.  Or, in the alternative; accept the fact  that Arizona is the new Germany, Mexican Americans are the Jews and let’s start giving the Governor, Sheriff, politicians, prosecutors, police and public defenders our paychecks; and button up our “brown shirts” and start marching in step for the new Prisons for Profit Party.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of a friend who wishes to remain anonymous at this time.

Michael Brosnahan