Valley Interfaith Project and Arizona Interfaith Network leaders have been in conversations with the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) and Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS) since the Spring, urging them to protect prison staff, inmates, and their families during the COVID-19 crisis.

Excerpts from Arizona Daily Star,  8/31/2020:

A late-July spike in Pima County COVID-19 cases shown on the Arizona Department of Health COVID-19 webpage... [on] July 30 shows 642 cases, the highest number of cases by far that month.

On July 2, Barbara Hudson died in the San Carlos Unit in Perryville Women’s Prison in Goodyear. Before her death, she sought medical care for shortness of breath and chest pain, said Kim Crecca, convenor of the Diocesan Prison Ministry, who has volunteered at Perryville and communicates often with prisoners.

Crecca is part of the Arizona Interfaith Network, a group of faith-based leaders across the state that organizes people for social and economic improvement.

“We feel that her death is a rallying cry, not only to help with the release of inmates as possible but also about the underlying conditions there that make them really vulnerable to the virus,” Crecca said.

August 19, 2020:  VIP and Arizona Interfaith Network clergy have held ongoing meetings, since May, with Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) and Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) officials regarding COVID-19 in the Arizona prison system. We have requested specific measures to be taken to protect prison communities, and hundreds of VIP and AIN leaders have signed on in support of those requests.

Ask our Arizona Senators to enact a Coronavirus package that will protect families, the economy and public health.

The U.S. Congress has debated the next round of federal Coronavirus relief for months, yet they could not produce a relief package before federal unemployment benefits ran out (July 31).  

Leaders and clergy of Valley Interfaith Project, along with our statewide Arizona Interfaith Network, are calling for our Senators to act promptly and across party lines for solutions. 

Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates joined VIP’s Leaders Assembly on July 22, working with VIP Leaders to join forces for a public strategy to accelerate COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing.

Hundreds of VIP clergy and leaders, through a petition with our statewide network, the Arizona Interfaith Network, called on Governor Ducey to extend the Stay-at-Home order, due to expire on April 30.

The Governor announced on April 29 that Arizona will continue under the Executive Order, with gradual loosening of the current restrictions over the next weeks. Clergy representatives of AIN have responded with a statement of cautious approval.