Two inmates cost
Arizona $3.6 million during their 15-day hostage standoff at a
state prison, a tab that included thousands of hours of
overtime and hundreds of takeout dinners for officers with
little to do but sit and wait.
The price tag also
included $49,000 for snipers to practice shooting through 37
windowpanes and $26,000 in damage to the prison tower seized
by the inmates.
The cost of the standoff with inmates
Ricky Wassenaar and Steven Coy at Arizona State Prison
Complex-Lewis is about the price of housing, feeding and
caring for 180 inmates for a year.
A special state
insurance policy is expected to cover all or most of the bill.
Among the costs reported by the agencies
involved:
$1.6 million in overtime for
Department of Corrections
employees.
$535,000 in other DOC personnel
costs (including bringing in extra officers to work at
Lewis).
$850,000 in bills from outside agencies.
For example, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office reported
expenses of $816 at Burger King, $620 at Subway, $577 at
Fazoli's and similar tabs at other restaurants.
About
a dozen agencies sent officers or equipment to the prison
during the standoff, which stretched from Jan. 18 to Feb. 1,
when the second hostage was released and the inmates
surrendered. For 24 hours a day, law enforcement teams had to
be prepared for anything that might happen.
"It took
what it took," said Cam Hunter, corrections spokeswoman,
referring to the costs. "It took a large-scale effort in terms
of personnel for tactical, negotiation, intelligence, and
command expertise."
Snipers were armed and ready to
fire. Tactical teams practiced and prepared to storm the
tower. Hostage negotiators tried to work deals with the
captors. Ambulance and fire personnel were on standby. And
extra corrections officers staffed the prison, which was on
lockdown throughout the standoff.
The sheriff's office
sent 120 employees to the prison, and has billed the state
$388,000.
Salaries and overtime accounted for the bulk
of the costs, with deputies and staffers logging 18,444 hours
during the standoff. Fuel and food made up the
rest.
"If we're not there and we don't have those
people, then we didn't have the ability to go in and save them
(the hostages)," said Jesse Locksa, a deputy chief with the
office. "You have to be ready to go in and do a rescue and an
assault-type situation . . . at any time."
The state
Department of Public safety has submitted bills of $279,000
for the standoff, including the cost of staff overtime and a
department helicopter. Tucson police have billed $14,000 and
the Buckeye Fire Department has billed $55,000.
As
Hunter points out, the facility's remote location southwest of
Buckeye added to the cost.
"It was out in the middle of
nowhere so we had a lot of hotel and food expense because of
that," she said.
Locksa said every penny of the cost
was worth it.
"Ask the two correctional officers that
came out alive if it was worth it for us being out there," he
said. "They asked for our help, and we sent it. They
absolutely needed it."