Friday morning I spoke by telephone with Nolberto Machiche, of the media relations department for the Arizona Department of Corrections, who said he would inquire why I was prohibited from attending Addam Swapp's parole hearing in spring 2007 while the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer was permitted into the state's prisons.

In general, Machiche said, Arizona corrections allows journalists and cameras into its prisons for special projects or by special invitation when the corrections department wants to discuss "its goals."

Arizona corrections, Machiche said, invited the NewsHour so it could see some of its inmate programs.

"Every case is different," Machiche said. "Everything is a case by case kind of thing."

This contradicts what I was told in 2007. Machiche was not with the department then and pointed me to policies posted on the Arizona corrections Website.

-- nc

Labels: jail/prisons