A.R.S. tit. 31 ch. 1 — Arizona Revised Statutes Title 31 Chapter 1 — Jails

31-101. Common jails; duty of sheriff; use of jails The common jails in the several counties and county jails under the jurisdiction of county jail districts shall be kept by the sheriffs of the counties in which they are respectively located. The jails shall be used for detention of persons committed to them in accordance with the provisions set forth in this chapter. The cost of housing the persons committed to common jails by the city or county shall be paid pursuant to section 31-121, subsection D or E. 31-104. Employment of temporary guards The sheriff may, when necessary, with the written consent of the county board of supervisors, employ temporary guards for protection of the county jail or safekeeping of prisoners, the expenses of which shall be a county charge or, if a county jail district has been established, a charge of the district. 31-105. Designation of jail in contiguous county; revocation of designation A. If there is no jail in the county, or when a jail becomes unfit or unsafe for confinement of prisoners, the judge of the superior court may, by written order filed with the clerk of the court, designate the jail of a contiguous county for confinement of prisoners at the expense of the county or the county jail district from which they are transferred, and may at any time modify or annul the order. B. A copy of the order, certified by the clerk of the court, shall be served on the sheriff or keeper of the jail designated, who shall receive all prisoners authorized to be confined in such jail, and who shall have the same responsibility for safekeeping the prisoners transferred as if he were sheriff of the county for whose use the jail is designated, and with respect to the prisoners so committed, he shall be deemed sheriff of the county from which they were removed. C. When the jail in the county is made fit and safe for confinement of prisoners, the judge of the superior court in that county shall, by written order of revocation filed with the clerk of the court, declare that the necessity for the designation of another jail is terminated and that the prior order is revoked. The clerk of the superior court shall immediately serve a copy of the order of revocation upon the sheriff of the county where the prisoners are confined, who shall thereupon remove the prisoners to the jail of the county or county jail district from which they were removed. The cost of confining a prisoner from another county shall be the same as the average rate established by the confining county for prisoners held pursuant to section 31-121. 31-106. Disease in jail; removal of prisoners When a pestilence or contagious disease occurs in or near a jail and the physician in attendance certifies that it is liable to endanger the health of the prisoners, the judge of the superior court may, by an order in writing, designate a safe and convenient place in the county, or the jail in a contiguous county, as the place of confinement. The order shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the superior court, and the sheriff shall thereupon remove the prisoners to the place or jail designated, and there confine them until they can be safely returned to the jail from which they were taken. 31-107. Emergency removal of prisoners When a county jail or building contiguous to it is on fire and there is reason to apprehend that the prisoners may be injured or endangered, the sheriff shall remove them to a safe and convenient place and there confine them as long as necessary. 31-121. Duty of sheriff to receive and provide for prisoners; contracts for furnishing food; city or town prisoners; employment; canteens; special services fund; insurance; education programs A. The sheriff shall receive all persons who are committed to jail by competent authority and provide them with necessary food, clothing and bedding, the cost of which shall be a county charge or, if a county jail district has been established, a charge of the district, except as otherwise provided by law. B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, the sheriff may establish procedures to recover from the inmate the cost of providing the inmate with necessary food. The cost to the inmate shall not exceed two dollars per day. All meal costs recovered from the inmate shall be used for meal preparation or to improve meal quality. C. The county board of supervisors or board of directors of a county jail district may enter into contracts for furnishing food for persons who are confined in the county jail, but a contract shall not be made for a period longer than one year. D. A person who is arrested by a peace officer employed by a city or town and who is charged in a municipal court as defined in section 22-401 may be housed in a county jail. The costs of this incarceration shall be paid by the city or town that established the municipal court in which the charges are to be filed. A person who is convicted in a municipal court may be sentenced to a county jail. The costs of this incarceration shall be paid by the city or town that established the municipal court in which the sentence was rendered. A person who is arrested by a peace officer employed by a city or town and who is charged in the superior court or a justice court may be housed in a county jail. The costs of this incarceration are a county expense. Two or more cities, towns or counties may enter into agreements with one another for joint or cooperative action pursuant to section 11-952. E. Notwithstanding subsection D of this section, the cost for providing for prisoners committed to the county jail by competent authority of the county or any political subdivision in the county shall be borne by the county jail district in any county in which such district, pursuant to title 48, chapter 25, is established and operating. F. Any prisoner who is accepted by the county jail may be employed as provided by section 31-141. G. At the discretion of the board of supervisors or board of directors of a county jail district, the sheriff may maintain a canteen pursuant to this subsection at any jail facility under the sheriff's jurisdiction to sell to confined persons toilet articles, candy, tobacco products, notions and other sundries and may provide the necessary facilities, equipment, personnel and merchandise. The sheriff shall specify the commodities to be sold in the canteen. The sheriff shall fix the prices of the commodities at such amounts as will, as far as possible, render each canteen self-supporting. H. A special services fund is established in the office of the county treasurer. The sheriff shall deposit any canteen and charge-a-call telephone profits, if such become available, in the special services fund. All profits resulting from inmate services shall also be deposited in the special services fund. The board of supervisors may insure against the damage or loss of canteen materials, supplies and equipment that are owned by the county jail facility. I. The sheriff shall hold in trust all special services fund monies for the benefit and welfare of inmates. These monies may be used for the education and welfare of inmates, including the establishment, maintenance and purchase of items for resale and other necessary expenses incurred in operating the canteens. J. The county board of supervisors or board of directors of a county jail district may authorize a biennial audit of the canteen operations at any jail facility referred to in this section. At the end of each intervening fiscal year, the jail administration shall prepare a statement of operations. At least one copy of any audit report or statement of operations shall be posted both at the canteen and for inmates at designated areas. K. Each county that operates a county jail shall offer an education program to serve all prisoners who are under eighteen years of age and prisoners who are pupils with disabilities, who are twenty-one years of age or younger and who are confined in the county jail. The county sheriff and the county school superintendent shall agree on the method of delivery of the education program. L. This section does not prohibit a city or town from recovering incarceration costs pursuant to section 13-804.01. 31-122. Receiving and keeping federal prisoners A. The sheriff may receive and keep in the county jail any prisoner committed thereto by process or order issued under the authority of the United States until the prisoner is discharged according to law as if he had been committed under process issued under the authority of the state. Provisions shall be made by the United States for the support of such a prisoner. B. A sheriff to whose custody a prisoner is so committed is answerable in the courts of the United States for the safekeeping of the prisoner, according to the laws thereof. 31-123. Confinement of person committed to jail A prisoner committed to the county jail for trial or for examination, or upon conviction for a public offense, shall be actually confined in the jail until he is legally discharged. If the prisoner is permitted to go at large, except by lawful order or process, or pursuant to the sheriff's authority to authorize house arrest, it is an escape. 31-124. Segregation of prisoners; males and females; minors and adults A. Male and female prisoners shall not be kept or placed in the same room. B. A person under the age of eighteen years shall not be confined in the same section of any jail or prison in which adult prisoners are confined. 31-125. Duty of sheriff to deliver judicial papers to prisoner When a paper in a judicial proceeding is directed to a prisoner in the custody of a sheriff and is served upon the sheriff, he shall forthwith deliver it to the prisoner with a notation thereon of the time of service. If the sheriff neglects to do so he is liable to the prisoner for damages occasioned thereby. 31-126. Examination of certain prisoners for mental disorder When a person confined in the county jail upon arrest for or conviction of a misdemeanor manifests symptoms of a mental disorder, the sheriff shall notify a licensed physician who shall examine the person. If in the judgment of a licensed physician the person is suffering from a mental disorder, proceedings shall be taken as prescribed by title 36, chapter 5. The proceedings under title 36, chapter 5, shall be separate from court proceedings relating to the misdemeanor charge. 31-127. Abuse of prisoner; classification A public officer who with criminal negligence is guilty of inhumanity or oppression toward a prisoner under his care or in his custody is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. 31-128. Unauthorized communication with prisoner; classification A person not authorized by law who, without permission of the officer in charge of a jail, communicates with a person imprisoned or detained therein, or who takes any letter, writing, literature or reading matter to or from a person imprisoned or detained therein, is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. 31-129. Taking prohibited articles into jail; violation; classification; definitions A. A person not authorized by law who knowingly takes into a jail or the grounds belonging to the jail any marijuana, narcotic drug or dangerous drug, or intoxicating liquor of any kind, or firearms, weapons or explosives of any kind is guilty of a class 5 felony. B. For the purposes of this section, "marijuana", "narcotic drug" and "dangerous drug" have the same meanings prescribed in section 13-3401. 31-130. Destruction of or injury to public jail; classification A person who intentionally and without lawful authority breaks, pulls down or otherwise destroys or injures a public jail or other place of confinement is guilty of a class 5 felony. 31-131. Operation of inmate industry program; special services fund; application of earnings A. On approval of the county board of supervisors, the sheriff may operate an inmate industry program and for that purpose may employ personnel, purchase equipment and incur other necessary expenses for the operation and management of the program, making payment therefor through the use of monies in the special services fund established pursuant to section 31-121 and proceeds derived from the inmate industry program, or the sheriff may contract with private or public institutions within or without this state to operate an inmate industry program. B. Any monies received in the operation of an inmate industry program shall be transmitted to the county treasurer for deposit in the special services fund. Monies deposited in the special services fund may be withdrawn by the sheriff for the operation of the inmate industry program. The special services fund is a continuing fund not subject to reversion. C. Monies in the special services fund may be expended to pay the wages or salaries of prisoners who are sentenced to imprisonment in a county jail and who participate in the inmate industry program. The monies earned by a prisoner shall be expended monthly by the prisoner for the following purposes in the order specified: 1. If a court has ordered the prisoner to pay restitution pursuant to section 13-603, thirty per cent for the court ordered restitution. 2. Not less than thirty per cent, but not more than fifty per cent for the room and board costs of maintaining the prisoner at the county jail facility. 3. Thirty per cent for the support of the dependents of the prisoner, if any. D. Any monies not expended by the prisoner for the purposes prescribed in subsection C of this section shall be paid to the prisoner on discharge. E. Any monies generated by the operation of an inmate industry program shall not be included under county expenditure limitations established pursuant to article IX, section 20, Constitution of Arizona. F. Except for monies in the special services fund, no funds from any other source shall be used for the operation of the inmate industry program. G. The county board of supervisors may authorize an annual audit of the inmate industry program. At the end of each fiscal year, the sheriff shall prepare a financial statement of operations of the county jail inmate industry program and shall submit a copy to the county board of supervisors. 31-132. Duty to deliver medical records Prior to or at the same time a prisoner is transferred from a county jail facility to a state department of corrections facility by a county, a copy of the prisoner's county jail medical record file, including the prisoner's mental health file, or a standardized medical record summary shall be transferred. 31-141. Enforcement of sentence imposing hard labor; employment of prisoners; definition A. If a person is sentenced to serve a certain number of days in a county jail, the court imposing the sentence may order, in addition to any other sentence authorized by law, that the defendant be kept at hard labor during the term of the sentence, or for any part of such sentence. B. When a person is sentenced to hard labor, the sheriff shall cause the prisoner to be kept constantly engaged in labor during every day, Sunday excepted. The sheriff may work such prisoners either inside or outside the jail. C. The sheriff may require prisoners who have been sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail to perform such labor as he deems necessary, even if the prisoner was not sentenced to hard labor. D. A prisoner who is held awaiting trial or sentencing and who consents in writing to perform labor may perform such labor as the sheriff determines is appropriate. E. For purposes of this section, "hard labor" includes only labor skills that are within the ability of the prisoner. F. Notwithstanding any other law, no prisoner given a work assignment or required to perform any labor under this section shall be considered an employee or to be employed by the county or the sheriff, regardless of whether the prisoner is compensated or not, nor shall an employee-employer relationship exist between the prisoner and the county or sheriff for any purpose and none of the rights or privileges otherwise accorded to employees by law shall accrue to such prisoners. 31-142. Use of prisoners on public works A. The sheriff may, with the consent of the board of supervisors, require prisoners under his charge who are capable of hard labor to be employed on the public streets, highways or other public works where they will not compete with free labor in the county. B. If a person is sentenced by a justice of the peace in a precinct having a branch or subcounty jail to imprisonment such person may be employed upon the highways or streets of the precinct in which the offense was committed with the approval of the sheriff. 31-143. Use of prisoners by county engineer The county engineer shall receive and work prisoners sentenced to hard labor who are authorized by the board of supervisors to be employed. The engineer may exercise the powers of a constable to transport, supervise and control available numbers of prisoners released to him for work. 31-144. Double time allowance for work done outside jail as trusty A. A prisoner in a city, town or county jail, while working on the public streets, highways or other public works as a trusty outside the jail without requiring armed guards, or while holding a position of trust either within or without the jail, shall be allowed double time while so employed and each day he is so employed shall be counted as two days in computing time on his sentence except in cases in which a specific release date is set forth in the commitment. B. In case of a breach of trust by a prisoner, the chief of police or sheriff may declare the double time forfeited. 31-145. Allowance for hard labor in reduction of fine A. A prisoner sentenced to pay a fine shall be allowed not to exceed fifty dollars per day credited to the fine for each day he is employed at hard labor. B. A person committed for nonpayment of a fine shall be given credit toward payment for each day of imprisonment at the rate specified in the commitment not to exceed fifty dollars per day. C. A prisoner who refuses to perform hard labor for payment of a fine is subject to the consequences for nonpayment of fines in section 13-810. 31-146. Notice of discharge of prisoners sentenced to pay fine or to be imprisoned until payment made Within five days after the end of each week, the officer having custody of prisoners who have been sentenced to pay a fine and ordered imprisoned until the fine is paid shall give notice to the committing court of all discharges during the week ending at midnight of the preceding Saturday and transmit to the court all monies received in payment of fines. If a fine is paid before commitment it shall be transmitted to the committing court in the same manner. 31-161. Inmate health care; costs A. Subject to the approval of the county board of supervisors or the board of directors of a county jail district, the sheriff may charge each inmate who is committed to jail by competent authority a reasonable fee or copayment of not more than ten dollars for each inmate initiated health service that is provided, for each medical visit to a physician that is referred by a physician, a physician assistant or nurse practitioner or for prescription drugs that a county jail health services agency dispenses to an inmate. An inmate shall not be refused health services for financial reasons. B. If the sheriff is not prohibited from charging a health care services fee or a copayment at the time the service is provided or prescription dispensed as provided in subsection D of this section, the sheriff may maintain a negative balance on an inmate's personal account against which future collections may be made. C. All fees or copayments for health services that the county collects shall be deposited in the inmate health services fund established by section 31-162. D. Notwithstanding section 11-291, each county sheriff for the purposes of collecting fees or copayments under this section from inmates under the sheriff's jurisdiction may charge a fee authorized under subsection A of this section except the sheriff shall not charge an inmate a health care services fee or copayment if the inmate maintains a balance in the inmate's personal account of less than ten dollars for thirty consecutive days. E. A sheriff may exempt inmates with certain medical conditions from the payment of health care services fees or copayments. 31-162. Inmate health services fund; audit A. The inmate health services fund is established in each county treasury consisting of monies received pursuant to section 31-161. The sheriff shall administer the fund. B. The board of supervisors shall approve the use of fund monies to administer or provide health services to persons in the care of the sheriff. C. The county board of supervisors or the board of directors of a county jail district shall authorize an annual audit or financial review of the inmate health services fund. 31-163. Subrogation A. If a county provides health services to an inmate or a juvenile detainee, the county has the right of subrogation against the individual's right of recovery from any source to the extent of the costs of services provided. B. The county is entitled to a lien for the charges for hospital or medical care and treatment of an ill or injured inmate for whom the sheriff is responsible on any and all claims for damages accruing to the inmate to whom hospital or medical service is rendered, or to the legal representative of the inmate, on account of injuries that gave rise to the claims and that necessitated the hospital or medical care and treatment. C. A commercial health benefits insurer shall not deny benefits to an otherwise eligible person who is in the custody of the sheriff. D. If another jurisdiction except a city or town is primarily responsible for an incarcerated person who is in the custody of the sheriff, the entity is responsible for the medical and health care costs that are incurred by the incarcerated person, except that the entity is not responsible for those health services that are covered under a contract between the county and the entity for prisoner per diem reimbursements. 31-164. Inmate health insurance pools A. The board of supervisors of two or more counties or the board of directors of two or more county jail districts may enter into contracts or agreements pursuant to section 11-952.01 to jointly purchase insurance or to pool retention of their risks for inmate health care and to provide for the payment of claims made against any member of the pool on a cooperative or contract basis with one another or may jointly form a nonprofit corporation or enter into a trust agreement to carry out the provisions of this section on their behalf directly or by contract with a private party. B. An inmate health insurance pool established pursuant to this section may only provide coverage for inmate health services. 31-165. Inmate medical services; rate structure If an inmate in a county jail or a person who, but for the circumstances, would otherwise be treated in the county jail requires health care services that the county jail cannot provide, the county shall pay claims approved by the county from a facility or provider that provides these services, unless otherwise provided by an intergovernmental agreement, as follows: 1. For inpatient and outpatient hospital services, the county shall reimburse at a level that does not exceed the reimbursement methodology established pursuant to section 36-2903.01, subsection G. 2. For health and medical services, the county shall reimburse at a level that does not exceed the capped fee-for-service schedule that is adopted by the Arizona health care cost containment system administration pursuant to title 36, chapter 29, article 1 and that is in effect at the time the services are delivered.