You Won’t Believe How Big Arizona’s Largest Prison is

There is no doubt that prisons are no joke, and often questions will surface about them — such as, “What prison is the largest in Arizona?”

Now, I would never want to be in any prison, and certainly not the largest in Arizona. For one, that’s just too many people in one area for my taste, not to mention the issues all prisons seem to have — but we won’t get into that.

To answer the question, I did some light research and found that the largest prison in the state is located in Tucson. It’s an ADCRR (Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation & Reentry) prison called the Arizona State Prison Complex — Tucson.

corrections.az.gov

What do we know about the Tucson Prison Complex?

The prison sits on 640 acres of land and has eight different prison units, according to ADCRR. The capacity is 5,403 and there are 1,608 authorized staff. Like I said, a lot of people…

There are several programs within the prison for inmates including work crews, education, and treatment and self-improvement.

The prison was fully opened by 1979 and housed a population of over 300 non-violent male first offenders.

As mentioned, the prison has grown to have numerous units and a population in the thousands. Today it is also considered to be a minimum to high-security prison.

While this may be the biggest prison in Arizona, that doesn’t make it the worst

The Worst prison complexes in the state consist of the Arizona State Prison Complexs Eyman, Parryville, Douglas, Phoenis, and Florence.

While prisons are known to be designed for punishment and not as a relaxing retreat, these are still some you’d want to avoid. It seems that what makes these particular prisons so dangerous are the murders committed within. But you can read more about those here.

Regardless if it’s the worst, largest, or smallest prison, I wouldn’t want to be in any of them.

America Behind Bars: State Rankings for Prison Population Growth

With many states experiencing corrections officer shortages and no shortage of criminals willing to land themselves behind bars, some states are closely monitoring prison populations and searching for solutions. Other states have thrown caution to the wind and more lawbreakers into prison, with a southern state leading the way, growing its incarcerated population by over 14% from 2021 to 2022, according to a study conducted by H&P Law. Let’s countdown to the state with the largest percentage growth of residents housed in prison.

Gallery Credit: Scott Clow