Prisons are not designed to be cozy and comfy but, in Arizona, these 5 are the ones you really, REALLY want to avoid.

Before you ask about the "tent city jail" that made headlines everywhere back in the day, no, it's not on this list. 1), it closed in 2017, 2), it was a jail, not a prison and 3), it doesn't seem to have had a very high number of murders.

While conditions there were far from ideal, they were not deemed "cruel" and the jail operated for almost 25 years under then Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The state of Arizona controls their prisons, giving them all the same name - "Arizona State Prison Complex" - followed by the name of the county it's located in.

Murders committed inside the prisons seem to be what makes these the most dangerous by hartsvillenewsjournal.com standards. Here's their list:

  • Arizona state prison complex – Eyman
  • Arizona state prison complex – Perryville
  • Arizona state prison complex – Douglas
  • Arizona state prison complex – Phoenix
  • Arizona state prison complex – Florence

Some guards in the Florence unit had a scary moment back in 2021 ...

It seems to be mostly inmate deaths that got these prisons on the "worst" list although at least one story involves several non-inmates being murdered while visiting a prisoner.

Thompson was facing murder charges in 2019 while incarcerated at the Ayman state prison facility in Arizona. His sister-in-law and brother visited him, but he brutally murdered them and the other officers there with a little, homemade knife. Only he emerged from the room, severely wounded, alive. - hartsvillenewsjournal.com

Don't think he'll be getting out anytime soon ...

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Gallery Credit: UCR Staff