Our History

From the beginning

“Lord, when it’s time to go inside, That place of steel and stone. I pray that you will keep me safe, so I won’t walk alone.

Help me to do my duty, please watch me on my rounds. Amongst those perilous places and slamming steel door sounds.

God, keep my fellow Officers well and free from harm. Let them know I’ll be there too, whenever there’s alarm.

Above all when I walk my beat, no matter where I roam. Let me go back whence I came, to family and home. Amen.”

… Corrections Officer’s Prayer

In 1868 the Fifth Territorial Legislature met and proposed a bill calling for a prison to be located near Phoenix. Although the bill was passed construction did not begin. Later in 1875 the Eighth Territorial Legislature proposed another bill calling for the establishment of a penitentiary. Granville H. Oury introduced the legislation which would have placed the Territorial Prison in the Phoenix area but representatives from Yuma, Jose Maria Rendondo and R. B. Kelly, inserted the name Yuma where Phoenix had been and Governor Anson P.K. Safford signed the bill, resulting in the Territorial Prison built in Yuma. Between the years of 1875 and 1909 the Yuma Territorial Prison held some of the most notorious desperados of the old southwest. A resident of Yuma, A. L. Grow submitted the plans for construction of the prison and won $150 for his endeavor. The land for the construction of the prison was donated to the Territory by the village of Yuma and the work was soon underway. On February 18, 1876 a ceremony was held on Prison Hill which celebrated the laying of the cornerstone. On July 1, 1876 seven convicts were led up to Prison Hill and were placed in the quarters they helped build.

Yuma Territorial Prison Cellblock housed over 3,000 prisoners over a period of 33 years. Of that number 111 prisoners died while incarcerated. Many of them are buried in the prison cemetery to the east of the prison. Of the deaths 1/3 were from Tuberculosis, a common disease of the time. Typhus, Scarlet Fever, and Smallpox due to unsanitary conditions present during that time. Although the prison was clean and had a clean source of drinking water, the town did not.

It was an old myth popularized by dime novels and Western movies that no prisoner ever escaped from the Yuma Territorial Prison. Twenty-six convicts escaped from the Prison and were never captured, and at least two of these escapes were made within the confines of the prison walls. Prison guard positions were highly sought after, but the only way get a job was to know someone. The job paid $75.00 per month (The average wages for workers in 1900 was about $41.00.) Various punishments were used within the prison walls to ensure discipline was maintained in the prison population. The most notorious of these punishments was the Dark Cell. Dug into the caliche hillside, the dark cell was a room about 10 feet by 10 feet and contained an iron cage in which the prisoners would be locked. The only light came from a small ventilation shaft in the ceiling and contact with other people was forbidden. Bread and water was given once a day and prisoners were stripped to their undergarments. The Dark Cell was nicknamed the snake den, only the most serious of all punishments were subjected to the dark cell.

The Arizona Prison at Florence was built by inmates and opened in 1908 replacing the old Territorial Prison at Yuma.  Inmates built the prison and lived in tents scattered about the desert during the time it was under construction. The new prison was a distinct improvement over Yuma.  There was no dungeon, no solitary confinement and no snake hole (the Yuma prison’s infamous cave for rebellious prisoners). Instead, the prison at Florence had a death chamber. It was located one floor above the cells on death row. The chamber itself was a scaffold, and in the floor, a trap door was constructed, through which the bodies of the hanged fell into a room below. 

The Arizona Corrections Association (ACA) was formed in July 2009 by two former members of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association (AZCOPA). Glenn Conlon and James Christy were both Board members of AZCOPA. Glenn Conlon was also ASPC-Eyman Chapter President and James Christy was AZCOPA Recruitment Officer. 

 Unfortunately after serving on the AZCOPA Executive Board it became very apparent to Glenn and James that AZCOPA at the time was not interested in protecting their members. Although Glenn Conlon and James Christy attempted to change and refocus AZCOPA, it came to no avail, and AZCOPA’s pattern of self-serving behavior by some members of the Board continued.

 The decision to form the ACA was made after determining there was no other option for correctional representation.  After numerous consultations with the Arizona Police Association (APA), the Phoenix Law Enforcement  Association (PLEA), and the legal team of a law firm known as, Napier, Baillie, Wilson, Bacon & Tallone, P.C. 

Starting a labor organization was not only an arduous administrative and legal process but an expensive endeavor, requiring Glenn Conlon and James Christy to obtain a substantial loan at great personal risk should this endeavor fail.  Glenn Conlon  and James Christy retired from the Department of Corrections in January 2014, after serving 27 and 20 years respectively.

Their decision proved to be more successful than anticipated, signing more than 150 staff members the first weekend of recruitment and being able to repay their loan in 12 months due to the continuous successful recruitment program based on selfless service to the members and the talent and quality of Executive Board members.

– We have been serving corrections officers in Arizona since 2009