In order to make up part of their state budget shortfall, Arizona prisons will now charge all visitors a fee of $25 so that a background check can be performed. This is a one time fee at the present but possibly Arizona could come back to the trough for a background check "update" once a year or so. The state admits that it costs noting to perform a background check. They also can't point to any security concerns that would justify imposing a fee on visitors. They claim that the action is needed to ensure inmate safety, as if the inmates need to be protected from their visitors! Perhaps Arizona's prisons are built not to keep the prisoners from society, but to protect them from the general public.
The canard of inmate safety doesn't explain the amazing coincidence that Arizona faces a 1.5 billion budget shortfall, and the prison system needed an additional $150 million for repair and maintenance of its buildings that it wasn't going to get from the state. It doesn't explain why the law that puts the fees into place also directs the proceeds to be deposited into a fund that was to be used for - prison system building maintenance and repair.
Notwithstanding the burden this creates on families of prisoners, who probably don't need this additional cost, the real crime here is that the visitors are going to be less likely to visit the inmates. However one of the biggest factors in whether a prisoner is able to be rehabilitated is contact with his family and friends. So you have the department of corrections, the single entity in the state that is responsible for rehabilitation of prisoners, placing barriers in the way of a method that has been proven to be a major factor in rehabilitation. All to make the money they need to make some building repairs and perform some maintenance. What is more important, the buildings the prison system uses or the mission of the prison system itself? That would be like the military giving up real estate so that they could obtain some paint and engine oil for some tanks. What is the point in having it in the first place?
Another way they get you:$25 to enter prison