Brewer, Goddard trade jabs over Arizona prisons

KINGMAN, AZ - The presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Terry Goddard, and Gov. Jan Brewer are both taking on a hot button issue: Arizona's use of private prisons.

Brewer is standing by the use of private prisons despite a Corrections Department report saying the escape of three inmates followed numerous security lapses at the privately operated facility.

Brewer says she's "not happy" about the escape last month from a Kingman prison and says her administration is "getting to the bottom of it." But she says she's confident private prisons can be properly regulated.

Brewer says the classification system that allowed three violent inmates to be placed in a medium-security private prison has been used for years, but she'd be open to reviewing it.

Democrats, including Goddard, have hammered Brewer over the July 30 escape, saying she's not doing enough to address the problem.

Goddard says the public is at risk in Arizona because of what he calls "a climate of permissiveness" toward private prisons.

Goddard directed that criticism at Brewer and the Republican-led Legislature after Brewer's corrections director said his department's investigation found numerous security flaws at a Kingman prison where three convicts escaped nearly three weeks ago.

Goddard said he would have already fired the company that operates the prison on grounds that it "clearly breached the public trust."

Goddard is unopposed in Tuesday's primary.