Arizona lawmakers are looking for accountability after reports of an unprecedented number of homicides inside Arizona prisons.

They have formed the Joint Ad Hoc Study Committee on Correctional Practices and Facility Safety.

On Tuesday, the committee called Ryan Thornell, director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry, to the Capitol. He answered questions about policies and the number of assaults, overdoses, and deaths behind bars.

Thornell said there had been nine homicides inside state prisons since the beginning of 2025.

One of Arizonas most notorious inmates, Ricky Wassenaar, is accused of three of the killings. The deaths, in April, occurred just months after prison officials had moved Wassenaar from a maximum-security cell to the general population

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