{"id":115,"date":"2026-05-19T18:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=115"},"modified":"2026-05-19T18:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:35:18","slug":"witness-locked-gate-at-womens-prison-impeded-inmate-suicide-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=115","title":{"rendered":"Witness: Locked gate at women\u2019s prison impeded inmate suicide response"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Nurses responding to a suicide in Arizona\u2019s women\u2019s prison on Saturday morning were impeded by a gate that shouldn\u2019t have been locked, one witness told Phoenix New Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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On Monday, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry announced that 34-year-old Crystal Walker died on Saturday after she hanged herself in her cell at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville, the state women\u2019s prison in Goodyear. She is the fourth person to die by suicide in the ADCRR\u2019s custody this year.<\/p>\n

A witness, Sarah Harbeke, said she watched the prison\u2019s response to Walker\u2019s suicide unfold from her seat in the visitors\u2019 room of Perryville\u2019s Santa Cruz unit, one of five open units in the prison complex. It was a food visit day, a designated day of the year when visitors to the prison can bring in a meal for inmates. Harbeke had been incarcerated in Santa Cruz a few years ago and was bringing funfetti cupcakes and Filiberto\u2019s carne asada fries to a friend who was still doing her time.<\/p>\n

It was about two hours into the visit when Harbeke, who sat at the table in the visitor\u2019s room closest to the gate to the main yard, saw the nurses hurrying down the sidewalk that runs next to the visitor\u2019s room window. She watched them stumble over several chairs blocking the pathway to the main yard, which leads to the housing area. Then they realized the gate in front of them was locked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy the fuck are these gates locked?\u201d Harbeke recalled one of the nurses saying.<\/p>\n

About 30 seconds later, two correctional officers \u2014 who had been walking less urgently behind the nurses, Harbeke said \u2014 arrived. They opened the gate and the nurses entered. Harbeke said she doesn\u2019t know if Walker had a chance at survival when the response got there, but that the delay caused by the locked gate could have mattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she was alive and 30 seconds was what needed to be done, and they didn\u2019t make it in 30 seconds, then like that, that\u2019s on them,\u201d Harbeke told New Times.<\/p>\n

ADCRR did not respond to emailed questions from New Times about Walker, her history with self-harm and mental illness, or the locked gate. The department described Walker\u2019s death in a notification to the public about her suicide sent out midday Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInmate Walker was discovered unresponsive in her cell and prison staff immediately responded and conducted life-saving measures until paramedics arrived onsite. Responding paramedics, in consultation with medical staff, pronounced Walker deceased,\u201d the notification read.<\/p>\n

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Walker, who was Native American, was convicted of drug charges in Coconino County. She had been in the agency\u2019s custody since November 2025.<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz is a medium-security unit. According to ADCRR , it is \u201cencouraged to practice open yard operations.\u201d Unlike high- or maximum-security prisons, where movement is highly restricted, many internal gates are left open to allow people to pass more freely. The locked gate the nurses encountered in the Santa Cruz unit regulated access between the main yard and an administrative area that included medical offices and work placements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a gate that typically is supposed to be open, said Harbeke, who was incarcerated in Santa Cruz for four years. But whether or not it\u2019s open is inconsistent, she said. Medium security prisons will restrict movements during security situations known as , such as a suicide. But the gate was closed before Walker\u2019s death triggered one, Harbeke told New Times.<\/p>\n

As staff responded to Walker\u2019s suicide, the prison allowed the visitations to continue, though they were restricted to the visitor room with only one guard standing watch. Walker said she thinks that was because of understaffing, a chronic problem that the corrections officer union has highlighted as well. (The union declined to speak with New Times.) Walker and everyone else at the food visit watched the rest of the emergency response teams arrive through the window.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had the appropriate people show up after the fact,\u201d she said. \u201cThey did a good job with that \u2014 making sure that the right people responded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbeke said she experienced the prison handling multiple suicides and attempted suicides while she was incarcerated. A friend, Tracie Otero, hanged herself while they were incarcerated at Perryville in September 2020. Being there when Walker killed herself made her feel shaky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was over that part of my life of having to deal with those emergency situations in prison,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n

Harbeke left Santa Cruz just after noon, when her visit slot ended. On the bus out of the facility, Walker\u2019s suicide came up in conversation. Harbeke said that a correction officer on the bus \u2014 who was from a different unit, San Carlos \u2014 was so dismissive that she called on Monday to file a formal complaint.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWell,\u201d Harbeke said the corrections officer told her, \u201cpeople die every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crystal Walker died at Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville. Nurses were delayed in reaching her by a gate that’s supposed to stay open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nWitness: Locked gate at women\u2019s prison impeded inmate suicide response - Phoenix Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=115\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Witness: Locked gate at women\u2019s prison impeded inmate suicide response - Phoenix Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crystal Walker died at Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville. 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