Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office sought candidate referrals from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Prison Law Office for corrections-related legal positions, according to emails reviewed by Fox News Digital. The messages show Chief Deputy Attorney General Daniel Barr contacting the groups in 2023 as the office looked to bring more Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) legal work in-house and fill the department’s general counsel position.
In a February 2023 email, Barr told representatives of the ACLU and Prison Law Office that he wanted to hire attorneys for ADCRR work and asked them to suggest people who might be interested. In April, he forwarded a request for applicants for ADCRR general counsel and asked the groups for candidate recommendations. On May 11, he followed up, saying there were still no applicants and asking for suggestions.
David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, replied that he would make another effort to find a candidate. Corene Kendrick, the project’s deputy director, said one potential recommendation was already bringing civil-rights damages cases against ADCRR while operating a cafe. The emails do not identify that person by name in the supplied account.
Barr had worked with both organizations before joining the attorney general’s office. The source reports that, as a Perkins Coie partner, he litigated alongside them in a federal case concerning Arizona prison conditions. A judge in that case found the conditions constitutionally inadequate, according to the source.
The ACLU and Prison Law Office advocate changes to incarceration policy, though their stated work also includes legal matters such as prison conditions and medical care. The ACLU has called for reducing jail and prison populations and limiting incarceration to a last resort. The Prison Law Office says it works to reduce incarceration and has pursued litigation and alternatives to confinement. The source also describes the ACLU as supporting reductions in police funding and the Prison Law Office as backing release opportunities and community-based alternatives.
The correspondence does not show whether the organizations provided additional help beyond the referrals discussed in the emails. Fox News Digital said it obtained email records but not transcripts of calls or notes from in-person meetings. ADCRR ultimately hired Ashley Oddo as general counsel. The report says Oddo previously led Arizona State University’s Academy for Justice and had supported criminal-justice positions including addressing systemic racism in policing and pardoning some people convicted of nonviolent federal marijuana offenses. It says neither organization named Oddo in its emails to Barr and that she had no institutional affiliation with either group.
Other emails described a cordial working relationship. In February 2023, Fathi asked Barr to speak by phone, and Barr replied shortly afterward. Fathi also wrote that ADCRR’s director had contacted him to arrange a call about working together on department issues. Don Specter, a Prison Law Office attorney, later described a meeting with the ADCRR director as productive, according to the source.
Mayes’ campaign disputed the implication that the contacts showed alignment between the attorney general and the groups. Campaign manager Delaney Corcoran told Fox News Digital that the ACLU had repeatedly sued Mayes over disagreements. Corcoran also said Mayes has secured funding for Arizona police and cartel task forces and that her office and law-enforcement partners had seized 27 million fentanyl pills.
The source reports that Mayes defended state laws challenged by the ACLU concerning arrests of people who entered the country illegally between ports of entry and restrictions on filming police. It says her office later settled the police-recording lawsuit, agreeing to permanently bar enforcement of the law. Mayes’ campaign website describes her as a partner to law enforcement, while the source says she opposed defunding police during her 2022 campaign.
The emails surfaced as Mayes seeks re-election. The source says she is slated to face Republican Arizona state Sen. Warren Petersen in November’s general election and won her 2022 race by 280 votes. The attorney general’s office, the two advocacy groups and several individuals named in the report did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment, according to the source.
