Can an Inmate at ADCRR Douglas State Prison Get a Furlough?

Furloughs are rare in the Arizona state prison system and should not be counted on as a realistic option for most inmates at Douglas or anywhere else in the ADCRR.

A furlough is a temporary authorized release into the community, typically ranging from 24 hours to several days. In the states and systems that offer them at all, they are granted under very specific and limited circumstances. The two most common are a family death furlough to attend a funeral of an immediate family member, and a reentry furlough granted to inmates within the final weeks of their sentence to help them establish housing, employment, or other community connections before full release.

Arizona's Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry has a limited furlough policy and even within that policy only a small percentage of eligible inmates are actually approved. Security classification, conduct record, sentence length, and the specific nature of the request all factor into any furlough determination. The decision rests with the warden and is entirely discretionary.

Heat conditions inside a unit, while genuinely miserable during Arizona summers, do not constitute grounds for a furlough. Facilities are responsible for managing temperature and inmate welfare through other means.

If your person has a legitimate furlough-qualifying circumstance such as a family death or an approaching release date, the process starts with a written request to the counselor who escalates it through the appropriate channels to the warden's office. Without a qualifying reason, a furlough request is unlikely to gain traction.