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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
prisoners; correctional facilities; sentencing
Purpose
Expands Arizona sentencing and custodial offenses to include crimes committed by individuals who are incarcerated in state-contracted, private or federal correctional facilities.
Background
Courts have discretion to impose multiple imprisonment sentences to run either concurrently or consecutively and must state the reason for that determination on the record, except that a sentence for a felony committed in the custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) while a person is already serving an undischarged imprisonment term must run consecutively. Statute governs sentencing for first-degree murder, providing for death sentences, life imprisonment or natural life depending on the defendant's age, the circumstances of the offense and the outcome of aggravation and mitigation proceedings. One aggravating factor that may be considered is whether the offense was committed while the defendant was in the custody of ADCRR. Additionally, current statute classifies dangerous or deadly assault committed by a person in custody of ADCRR as a class 2 felony, requires such sentences to be served consecutively to any existing sentence and makes offenders ineligible for probation, suspension of sentence, pardon or early release until the sentence is fully served or commuted (A.R.S. §§ 13-711; 13-751; and 13-1206).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Adds privately owned correctional facilities and federal prisons and detention centers to the list of custodial settings in which an incarcerated person who commits a felony offense during an undischarged term of imprisonment must receive a consecutive sentence for the additional offense.
2. Adds facilities that contract with ADCRR, private correctional facilities, federal prisons and detention centers to the list of correctional facilities that qualify as an aggravating circumstance when a first-degree murder is committed while the defendant is in custody.
3. Adds facilities that contract with ADCRR, private correctional facilities, federal prisons and detention centers to the list of correctional facilities where assault involving a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument committed by a person in custody is a class 2 felony.
4. Defines correctional facility as ADCRR, the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections, a law enforcement agency, a county or city jail, a facility that contracts with ADCRR for the confinement of persons who are committed, a private correction facility or a federal prison or detention center.
5. Makes technical and conforming changes.
6. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
February 2, 2026
ZD/MY/ci