Podcast: In Arizona, A New Movement To Incarcerate Fewer People Struggles Against Bureaucracy

The vast desert lands of Pima County, Arizona, are geographically larger than the state of Connecticut. This border region consistently struggles with a variety of issues related to its existing criminal justice system, and in its premier episode, "70 Million", a new podcast launched August 27, 2018, by the production company Lantigua Williams & Co., focuses on Pima County's attempts to depopulate its jails.

The focus of "70 Million" is the American criminal justice system. 

In season one, we chronicle the toxic impact of local jails on people and communities across the country, and what neighbors and local leaders are doing about it.  

In Arizona, reporter Jesse Alejandro Cottrell meets a variety of directly impacted people: those formerly incarcerated, those who serve on the Pima County Community Collaborative like representatives from the DA’s office, the public defender, sitting judges, and local law enforcement, and Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier. Throughout the podcast, Cottrell weaves perspectives together that provide a holistic and dimensional look at initiatives like Operation Stonegarden, a project of the Department of Homeland Security. 

For now, it’s unclear whether the [Operation Stonegarden] program is really helping to bring down big-time international drug cartels or is needlessly ensnaring small fish like Francisco Juez, and people who haven’t broken any laws, like Terry Bressi. Maybe it’s doing both.