Idaho man housed in private Arizona prison dies after assault, IDOC says
An Idaho man incarcerated in a private prison hundreds of miles from the state died after an assault.
A 38-year-old man, who was in custody at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, died after suffering “life-threatening injuries” Wednesday, according to the Idaho Department of Correction. CoreCivic, which owns the prison, in a statement said the man was killed in an “inmate assault.”
Correctional staff found the man at 8:37 a.m. and began lifesaving measures immediately, with medical staff and first responders eventually taking over, CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin said. The man was pronounced dead at 9:16 a.m. local time, according to CoreCivic and IDOC. He hasn’t been identified.
“Crime scene procedures were initiated by SCC staff and our partners at IDOC were immediately notified,” Gustin wrote, adding that the Eloy Police Department was handling the investigation.
Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic, a spokesperson for the state’s correctional system, told the Idaho Statesman by phone that the investigation was ongoing Wednesday. She declined to provide additional details about the assault. When reached by phone, the Saguaro Correctional Center also declined to provide the Statesman with any information on the incident.
For years, correction officials have housed hundreds of Idaho prisoners out of state because of struggles with overcrowding. In 2020, IDOC entered into a five-year contract with Saguaro Correctional Center to hold men, the Statesman reported. Prisoners from Hawaii and Montana are also incarcerated in the nearly 2,000-person facility.
The contract, which costs local taxpayers about $28.7 million a year, was signed after the GEO Group, another private-prison company, told the Idaho correctional system that it wasn’t interested in bidding for another long-term contact, according to prior reporting. That led to the transfer of hundreds of men being housed in Eagle Pass, Texas, to the Arizona facility, which is 60 miles southeast of Phoenix in the desert.
The Saguaro Correctional Center has been plagued by complaints and allegations for years, with the ACLU of Hawaiʻi calling for a federal investigation of the prison in 2024 after a Hawaiian prisoner was killed, and another was stabbed, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat. Six Hawaiian prisoners were indicted this month in the May 2024 homicide of another prisoner, with five of the men being charged with first-degree murder, the news outlet reported.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 4:37 PM.
