ARCHIVE
OCTOBER 2005

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COLORADO

The American Civil Liberties Union

March 17, 2003 A female inmate who claimed she was sexually assaulted and threatened during a prison transfer has settled a lawsuit against a transport company and one of its guards. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Robin Darbyshire, said Friday that the terms of the settlement would not be released. The suit claimed Darbyshire, 41, was sexually assaulted and harassed by two male officers and male prisoners during a trip in May 2001 from Nevada to Colorado. The suit named Colorado-based Extraditions International, Inc., which transports prisoners between states. An after-hours call to Extraditions was not immediately returned. The lawsuit alleged that one of the officers sexually harassed Darbyshire and another female prisoner and forced Darbyshire to perform a sexual act in a rest stop near Trinidad. Darbyshire said the officer threatened to shoot her if she screamed. The ACLU also claimed the two officers allowed few bathroom stops, didn't give the prisoners enough water and food, and violated state laws requiring stops every 24 hours so inmates can be unshackled and allowed to sleep and shower. (AP)

Bent County Correctional Facility Bent County, Colorado CCA

July 1999 A 24-year-old inmate escaped from the private prison. Officials believe he may have stowed away on a trash truck. He is still at large. Earlier in the month, another inmate who was working at the regional recycling center escaped after hot-wiring a prison van. (The Denver Post, August 1, 1999)

Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition

April 9, 2004 The city of Pueblo has conceded that an ordinance passed by City Council last year, zoning a lot at the airport industrial park for construction of a private prison, is invalid. "We discovered some deficiencies in the procedures of the ordinance," said City Attorney Tom Jagger. "We felt there was no reason to take the court's time to challenge this." The city intends to begin the zoning process anew in the near future, Jagger said. The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, a nonprofit prison watchdog group, filed a lawsuit against the city last year seeking to prevent construction of a proposed private prison at the Pueblo Memorial Airport Industrial Park. The coalition asserted in the suit that the city's actions to provide land to WCC, the private company seeking to build and operate a prison here, were done without following the city's zoning protocol or the state's open-records law, which requires advance notice of public meetings. District Judge Scott Epstein, with the blessing of both the city and the coalition, ruled the ordinance that zoned the site earmarked for the prison invalid, leaving only the open-records questions in the suit to be resolved. The suit is set for a two-day court trial before Epstein on May 6-7. Alison Maynard, the Denver lawyer representing the coalition, said the city's admission that the zoning ordinance was invalid constitutes a victory for her clients. (Pueblo Chieftain)

January 8, 2004 The company looking to bring a private prison to the Pueblo airport industrial park is in a holding pattern. WCC can't set a timeline for construction of the prison until a court case challenging the city's sale of land to the company is settled, said spokesman Ken Fortier. "Really, until those issues are resolved, I can't provide any timeline," he said this week. The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates prison only as a last resort, sued the Pueblo City Council in October in an attempt to stop WCC from taking control of the land upon which it plans to build the prison. The council voted 7-0 last year to sell the company a 34-acre lot at the eastern end of the airport industrial park, in spite of protests from nearby business owners and neighbors. WCC plans to build a 700- to 1,000-bed prerelease facility on the site. The suit claims that City Council violated the open meetings law by going into executive session without specifically publishing that the land deal for the prison would be discussed. (The Pueblo Chiefta)

October 8, 2003 A prison-reform group filed suit Tuesday to stop the state from issuing $305.6 million in bonds to build a high-security lockup in Cañon City and a university medical facility in Aurora. The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition filed the action in Denver District Court, claiming lawmakers violated the state constitution by not placing the issue before voters. The accusation was denied by legislators and by Gov. Bill Owens. "We're confident the state has the legal authority," said Owens' spokesman Dan Hopkins, adding the matter had been reviewed by lawyers for the governor, the legislature and the attorney general. The coalition, which advocates substance-abuse treatment and mental-illness treatment over incarceration, has been highly critical of the state's prison policies, but attacked both construction plans because they were included in the same bill. "It's a blatant attempt to rob Colorado voters of their constitutional right to approve or reject government debt," said Stephen Raher, co-director of the Colorado Springs group. The coalition says the bonds, or certificates of participation, violate the TABOR Amendment, which places strict taxing and spending limitations on governments. Attorney Paul Grant, who filed the suit, added that the "pairing of the prison and the (medical) project is a classic example of legislative logrolling - combining two very different proposals in one bill in order to collect enough support for both to pass." "It's 'You vote for mine; I'll vote for yours,' " he said. "This kind of political maneuver is exactly what the single-subject clause was meant to prevent." (Rocky Mountain News)

Colorado Legislature

June 25, 2003 WCC has asked the state to allow it to look at other sites in Pueblo to locate a private prison, after its first choice was turned down by City Council early Tuesday. After a long meeting, council by a 4-3 vote turned down WCC's first choice of land for annexation, 40 acres located just west of Pueblo Boulevard and 24th Street. WCC Vice President Ken Fortier said Tuesday that the company would like to build a prison in Pueblo, but must get state approval to change its initial proposal. "Pueblo is an ideal location for this procurement," Fortier said. "We would like to stay in Pueblo if we could." WCC, formerly the Wackenhut Corrections Corp., won a state contract to build a 700-bed medium-security facility here to house convicts with little time left on their sentences and those who violated parole. But a stream of city residents told council that they don't want a prison so close to the Nature Center and the Hyde Park neighborhood, and several said WCC doesn't pay enough and can't properly run a prison. Though they voted the annexation down, council members said they want the prison and its estimated 160 jobs in the Pueblo area. Councilman Al Gurule, who also opposed the annexation, said he didn't think WCC plans to hire enough people to care for the inmates. But, he said, he wasn't completely opposed to the prison. Aguilera also joined Gurule in complaining that Pueblo's poor neighborhoods are always the areas targeted for controversial developments like prisons. "If we tried to build this same development in Walking Stick or El Camino, there would be such an outcry that you wouldn't believe," Aguilera said. WCC also is talking with Lamar about building a prison there. (the Pueblo Chieftain Online)

May 16, 2003 The state wants to expand the size of a private prison proposed for Pueblo to 750 beds from the original 500 beds, a spokesman for prison-operator WCC Corp. said Tuesday in Pueblo. WCC released the economic forecast on Tuesday, the same day Fortier and other WCC administrators and workers were in Pueblo to hold an informational open house about the prison project. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

April 21, 2003 Wanna buy a beautiful, historic old capitol building? How about a state prison? Or maybe even the Governor's Mansion? Believe it or not, state lawmakers are considering selling them. Oh, buyers wouldn't get to keep the buildings. They could get them on a lease-sale agreement, meaning they'd have to lease them right back to the state. (Rocky Mountain News)

April 10, 2003 The state Senate gave a green light Wednesday to using lease-purchase agreements to build a 948-bed, high-security prison and a medical school in Colorado. Despite long, heated arguments on the Senate floor, including warnings that voters should have a voice in determining long-term debt, the issue won't be decided by an election as some lawmakers had hoped. (Rocky Mountain News)

February 2, 2003 The senate got its first look Friday at a bill that would begin the process of building two medium-security prisons and adding space at the state's other corrections facilities. "The problem is the prisoners who are housed out of state," said Sen. John Hanes, R-Cheyenne, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "And that consists of 443 men and 64 women." Most of Wyoming's out-of-state prisoners have been kept at private prisons in Colorado. While that situation has been less than ideal because they have not been getting treatment, Colorado is now telling Wyoming to find another place for its inmates. Some Wyoming inmates are being sent to Nevada. (Billings Gazette)

Colorado Department of Corrections

September 24, 2003 A private prison planned for Pueblo should be operational in two years, the director of the Colorado Department of Corrections reported Tuesday. Joe Ortiz, whose department has a contract for the 500-bed pre-parole center, said Wackenhut Correctional Corp. of Palm Beach, Fla., is ready to proceed with the private prison construction at Pueblo Memorial Airport industrial park. Pueblo City Council recently approved the airport site, previously rejecting Wackenhut's first choice of a parcel of land near Pueblo Boulevard and 24th Street. "It's my understanding it's still very much a 'go,' " Ortiz said, alluding to local controversy over neighborhood opposition to both the Pueblo Boulevard and industrial park sites. Ortiz was asked about the timing of the pre-parole center during a hearing of the legislative Interim Committee on State Government Expenditures. The interim committee is chaired by House Speaker Lola Spradley, R-Beulah, whose district includes several Fremont County prisons. "He (Ortiz) is kind of the intake. He takes what the courts give him," Spradley said in response to several legislators' requests for his recommendations for reducing the prison budget's rate of growth. Ultimately, prison sentencing laws are made by the Legislature and applied by judges, not by the Department of Corrections. Ortiz covered many points, including plans to use private prisons even more in the future because they cost less than state-run prisons. The Department of Corrections will save money, he said, with the additional 500 private beds in Pueblo, as well as a similar 500-bed prison to be built by another firm in Colorado Springs. (The Pueblo Chieftan Online)

July 22, 2003 Officials are negotiating with a second firm to build 100 beds for male prison inmates with substance abuse problems after the first company was unable to get financing. The second company is Corrections Education Center (CEC), headquartered in Roseland, N.J., said Rep. Doug Osborn, R-Douglas, chairman of the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee and a member of the evaluation team that selected the companies. The Colorado Department of Corrections announced on June 23 that CEC has been approved to expand its pre-parole and parole revocation center to 750 beds. The company, described as the "largest provider of rehabilitative services to the criminal justice system" treats offenders at nine facilities in Colorado, the announcement said. Osborn said Thursday that three companies replied to the state's request for proposal. The company chosen first, CiviGenics, couldn't get financing to build the structure, he said. (The Casper Star-Tribune)

June 25, 2003 Mike Arrelano, a top official with the Colorado Department of Corrections, told local officials Friday that the Colorado Department of Corrections is projecting continuing growing needs for additional prison beds. His comments came during a meeting of an ad hoc committee charged with recruiting a privately owned prison to Prowers County. "Right now we have essentially every bed filled," said Arrelano, noting that there are only about 100 available beds among the system's 22 publicly and privately owned facilities. Arrelano estimates that by January, 2004, the DOC would be using every bed that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the state's largest private prison provider, has to offer. He said the DOC is in the process of writing a contract with GRW, another private prison company, for a 250-bed facility in Brush, Colorado, that will house both Colorado and Wyoming prisoners. Arrelano noted that there is both a growth of crime and a growth of population in the state, which, combined with stiff sentencing laws, drives the need for additional prison beds. He said there are factors which could reduce demand, so it is hard to predict exactly. "Demand is hard to predict because economic conditions prompt new ideas and they could affect demand," he said. In response to a question from a resident about out of state prisoners, Arrelano said that currently only CCA is housing out of state prisoners. When privately owned facilities first came to Colorado, he said, the DOC had a shortage of prisoner space and was housing Colorado prisoners out of state. That, he said, caused a lot of problems for the DOC, and two corporations, CCA and Dominion, came into the state and built private prisons on speculation. Last year Dominion sold their Crowley County facility to CCA. People say the private prisons can do the job of housing inmates cheaper than the state, he noted, but the private companies do not incur the same expenses as the state. The state continues to pay for medical expenses, and the state, of course, houses the higher security inmates in its own facilities. Arrelano said inmates with serious medial complications are kept in state facilities, because the DOC does not want to burden local hospitals and medical facilities in communities where privately owned prisons are located. In response to a question about whether private prison employees could go on strike, Arrelano noted the the Colorado Department of corrections retains the right to step in and take control of any private prison any time it needs to. "The Department of Corrections will never create a risk to the public," he said. "We (DOC monitoring staff) are there, visible, twenty-four seven. Both the state and the private operators strive to make them as safe as possible." (Lamar Daily News)

June 13, 2003 If city officials approve the annexation of the 70-acre site for its private prison this month, construction could start by fall, according to Wayne Calabrese, president of WCC, formerly the Wackenhut Corrections Corp. He said wages would be competitive in order to attract and retain staff. "We don't want to train people and have them leave for other jobs. A lot of attrition in the ranks isn't going to help us," he said. WCC has indicated wages for entry-level corrections officers would be more than $22,000 a year - more than $11,000 less than what the state pays its starting officers. (The Pueblo Chieftain Online)

February 13, 2003 Prisons continue to be a growth industry in Colorado as the state, strapped for cash, looks for ways to build and fill them without a big up-front hit on the budget. Department of Corrections officials said Tuesday that in addition to financing a second state-owned and operated Colorado State Penitentiary of up to 948 high-security cells, they would like to contract with private prisons for an additional 5,000 medium-security beds. Colorado law prohibits privatizing high-security prisons housing dangerous criminals, and Gov. Bill Owens' policy is to cap lower-security private prisons at no more than 30 percent of total beds statewide. Rich Schweigert, the department's director of finance and administration, said all four existing private prisons in Colorado now are owned by Corrections Corporation of America in Nashville , Tenn. Colorado inmates currently fill 2,409 of CCA's prison beds -- 584 at the 724-bed Bent County facility, 616 of the 778-bed Huerfano County facility, 639 of the 1,185 beds at Crowley County and 570 of the 820 beds at Burlington in Kit Carson County . The remaining 1,000 beds are or soon could be available to Colorado , reported CCA President John Ferguson. The state of Wyoming has inmates in 365 of CCA's beds here and has been put on notice that they will have to move out if and when Colorado decides to take them over. According to Schweigert, private prisons pay employees an average of $ 8,000 less than state correctional officers' salaries. While CCA is Colorado 's sole private prison operator right now, the state has accepted bids for two other 500-bed prisons submitted by CCA competitors. If those contracts are completed, they would take care of 1,000 of the 5,000 additional private prison beds identified as needed by the state. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

January 13, 2003 Wyoming inmates housed in Colorado prisons will be sent packing as the Colorado Department of Corrections makes more space available for its own exploding prison population. Wyoming Department of Corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale said Wyoming is forced to send prisoners out of state because of the lack of space in Wyoming's prisons. (Star Tribunal)

January 8, 2003 Growth in Colorado's prison system appears ready to explode over the next decade as the population of prisoners soars, state officials warn. State Department of Corrections officials told lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday that they are preparing to ask for the construction of enough private prisons to house 1,500 low- to medium-security inmates by 2006. But not everyone agrees with the rapid growth of the private prison system. Rep. Tom Plant, D-Nederland, said all four of the state's private prisons soon will be owned by Corrections Corporation of America, creating a monopoly that could leave the state hostage to higher prices. "We are becoming overly reliant on the private prison system, which is motivated by profit, not societal objectives of rehabilitation," Plant said. "As we become more reliant on them, we become hostages of private prisons." To find more space for Colorado inmates, officials will begin this summer kicking out 369 Wyoming inmates from two of Colorado's private prisons. "We will do it gradually starting in August, depending on our intake," said Gerald Gasko, director of Corrections Services for the department. "Wyoming is already starting to rent beds in Nevada." The Wyoming prisoners are housed in correctional facilities in Kit Carson and Crowley counties. Six years ago, Colorado housed prisoners in Texas, Minnesota and Missouri, and had a bad experience, Gasko said. "The prisons were expensive and poorly run," he said. "It required us to be constantly running to these prisons to solve problem. ..." (Denver Post)

November 22, 2002 Colorado Department of Corrections officials still are reviewing four proposals from private prison companies to build a new medium security prison, including a plan that would put a 500-bed, pre-parole prison on a site just west of Pueblo Boulevard and 24th Street. WCC (formerly the Wackenhut Co.) is the company that wants to build the new prison in Pueblo, if given the contract by the state. The prison would sit on a 40- to 70-acre site, depending on whether Pueblo County officials decided to join in the project and have WCC build a 500-bed county jail that would adjoin the prison. WCC operates private prisons in the United States, Great Britain and Australia. During the last session, the General Assembly passed legislation calling for the construction of a medium-security prison along the Front Range, with the condition that it be built and operated by a private prison company. Pueblo County officials were approached by WCC in August to support the prison project and offered to build a new county jail at the same time. The commissioners said that having WCC build a 500-bed county jail would make it less expensive, although Sheriff Dan Corsentino has said that his officers would staff any new county jail, not WCC employees. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition

September 25, 2002 State may be paying more for private prisons than previously thought Campaign contributions could be influencing policy makers The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) today released a report raising serious questions as to the accuracy of figures used by the state to show cost savings from privatizing prison operations. The CCJRC report, "Private Prisons and Public Money: Hidden Costs Borne by Colorado’s Taxpayers," explores indirect (or “hidden”) costs which the state still pays for inmates incarcerated in privately operated prisons. Although the state pays less money per inmate per day when housing a prisoner in a privately-operated facility, the DOC (and by extension, taxpayers) still foot the bill for functions such as medical care, transportation, and administrative costs. The FY 2002-03 DOC budget anticipates spending $47.3 million on private prisons during the year. The report draws on studies (conducted in other states and nationally) which have found no conclusive evidence of cost savings from privatizing prisons and point to the probability that private prisons provide substandard services. “It is absolutely crucial that Colorado gets to the bottom of the cost savings issue before we put any more money into the privatization experiment,” said CCJRC Co-Coordinator Stephen Raher, the author of the report. “We don’t know the truth about whether we’re actually saving money and the evidence indicates that private prisons are unsafe operations with inadequate rehabilitative programming.” (www.ccjrc.org)

Crowley County Correctional Facility Olney Springs, Colorado Dominion

July 11, 2003 Three former Crowley County Prison guards are suing the private companies that operate the prison, claiming they were coerced into having sex with managers and that sexual misconduct was rampant among employees and inmates. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, one of the three female guards alleged that a high-ranking male official of the Crowley County Correctional Facility came to her Pueblo home and forced her to have sex. The lawsuit alleges that man had been fired by the Colorado Department of Corrections for sexual harassment. Another of the three women claimed she was raped at the prison by a guard. Female employees who resisted sexual advances by male managers were punished with undesirable assignments, hostile and demeaning verbal attacks, sexual assault and unwarranted discipline, the lawsuit said. Named as defendants are several businesses including Dominion Correctional Services that own and operate the private prison and three current or former top officials. It claimed that Warden Steve Hargett, security chief Ronald McCall and security official Julian Vigil hired female staff based on "attractiveness, whether she might be 'easy to get to bed,' or whether she might be easily manipulated." (AP)

February 8, 2002 Even before the January opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad, Colo., and a 127-bed detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private, for-profit prisons in the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates private prisons in Burlington, Walsenburg and Las Animas, Colo., had a total of 575 empty prison beds. Additionally, the private prison at Olney Springs, Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA acknowledged it has lost revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January, the private prisons had nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state transferred inmates to its new 2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo. It is state policy to keep as many state prisoners as possible in state prisons, rather than private ones. (Corrections Professional)

November 23, 2000 Officers from several state prisons had to suppress a riot at the prison in March 1999. Inmates flooded floors, smashed doors and windows and tried to set fires, and prison staff responded with gas and rubber bullets. Two people received minor injuries. (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, November 23, 2000)

CSC

July 2000 A guard is arrested as he left the facility after he allegedly showed up in a uniform shirt with badge and holstered sidearm and ordered a wedding party on private property to turn down its music. (Denver Post, July 27, 2000)

Defendant Extraditions International Inc. Colorado

April 12, 2002 The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Thursday on behalf of a female inmate who claimed she was sexually assaulted and threatened during a four-day prison transfer. The national and Colorado ACLU are suing Colorado-based Defendant Extraditions International Inc., a private company which transports prisoners between states. The ACLU claims a 41-year-old female prisoner was sexually assaulted and harassed by two male officers and male prisoners during a trip in May 2001 from Nevada to Colorado. One of the officers sexually harassed the prisoner and forced her to perform a sexual act in a rest stop near Trinidad, according to the lawsuit. The prisoner said the officer threatened to shoot her if she screamed. The ACLU also claims that during the four-day trip, the two officers allowed few bathroom stops, didn't give the prisoners enough water and food and violated state laws requiring stops every 24 hours so inmates can be unshackled and allowed to sleep and shower. The prisoner's constitutional rights were violated and she is seeking unspecified damages, the lawsuit said. An employee who answered the phone at a number listed under Extraditions International in Commerce City said the company was bought and is now called American Extraditions. The lawsuit is an attempt to highlight abuses in an industry that operates out of the public view, said Craig Cowie, a lawyer with the ACLU's National Prison Project in Washington, D.C. "We are investigating other incidents and we expect to file additional lawsuits in the coming weeks and months," Cowie said. The Colorado ACLU branch settled a lawsuit in the past two weeks with TransCor of Nashville, Tenn., over similar allegations, ACLU officials said. (Rocky Mountain News)

El Paso County, Colorado CMS

February 14, 2002 Last week, El Paso County commissioners dumped the company that has, for the past 13 years, provided medical and mental health services to the county's two jails. You'll recall that the Criminal Justice Center and downtown's overcrowded Metro facility carry the dubious distinction of logging nine inmate deaths since 1998. In November, the county's longtime jailhouse health provider, St. Louis based Correctional Medical Services (CMS), submitted a bid to continue its contract. The upshot is that the commissioners accepted a $1.9 million low bid from Englewood, Colo.based Correctional Health Care Management to provide medical services to the jails. During the commissioners meeting, both the elected officials and county staff only delicately approached the, uh, unfortunate problems of the past, which have resulted in wrongful death lawsuits against the county and tax-paid settlements to the families of the dead inmates. Current Undersheriff Terry Maketa was on hand to warmly welcome Correctional Health Care Management aboard. Maketa specifically noted that the new company has promised that at least one nurse who is trained in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLF) will be scheduled during every shift, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A subsequent Independent review of the county's most current jailhouse contract for health services shows that the old company, CMS, also promised at least one ACLS-trained nurse would be available at all times at the jail. Which begs a couple of questions: If Maketa and the county commissioners are so relieved to have trained 24-hour cardiac emergency nurses, why didn't they know that their current contract already required such staffing? And, did CMS violate the terms of its contract by not providing such nurses at the county's jails? Four days after the new health care contract was approved, the Sheriff's Office announced a new committee to review policies and procedures related to mental health issues at its jails. And why the county signed the contract first and asked for citizen input after the fact is one of those great mysteries of life. The sheriff's 14-member detention review panel includes representatives from the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, the Adams and El Paso County Sheriff's Offices, as well as Colorado Springs City Councilman and cardiologist Dr. Ted Eastburn and other local professionals. Unfortunately, the press was barred from attending their inaugural meeting on Monday night. Let's hope that doesn't set the standard for a decision-making body engaged in what should be a serious -- and very public -- review of jailhouse health-care policies. (CSIndy: Public Eye)

Extraditions International Colorado

February 18, 2002 Robin Darbyshire is the first to admit that she hasn't led an exemplary life. What she didn't expect was a five-day journey into squalor aboard a van operated by a Colorado-based private extradition company. According to Darbyshire, the trip included large doses of physical privation, humiliation, threats and harassment, culminating in a sexual assault by one of the two male drivers escorting her back to Routt County. "I was shocked at what he did to me," Darbyshire says. "What happened was a crime, and he's not going to get away with it if I can help it." Darbyshire's claims of mistreatment by a former employee of Extraditions International has prompted investigations by law-enforcement agencies in Colorado and New Mexico and drawn the attention of the ACLU's National Prison Project, which now counts Darbyshire as a client in any potential civil litigation. As with so many other aspects of corrections, the private sector has found a profitable niche in transporting prisoners. (Westword)

Huerfano County Correctional Facility Walsenburg, Colorado CCA

April 14, 2001 A Fort Cobb man pleaded guilty to injuring a restrained inmate at a prison in southern Colorado where he was a guard. Michael Cook was working for Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Walsenburg prison under contract for Colorado. Cook was charged in U.S. District Court in Denver and pleaded guilty Thursday to depriving the inmate of his constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Cook admitted in a signed plea agreement that in 1998 he dropped the inmate, who was handcuffed, face down from about knee height onto the floor. The inmate appeared unconscious. (The Oklahoman)

January 17, 2001 Two former prison guards are on there way to prison. A federal judge sentenced Joseph Torrez and Harry Pollard on Friday to two years behind bars for beating an inmate March 1998 at private prison in Walsenburg. The two guards worked at the Huerfano County Correctional center, which is operated by Corrections Corp. of America, the nation's largest for-profit prison company. Federal prosecutors said numerous guards and officials at the facility now are under investigtion. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Kaufman said the investigation has taken a long time because of "the wall of silence by individuals in the institution...protecting each other or just denying that any wrongdoing occurred." Torrez and Pollard admitted beating inmate Daniel Murphy while his hands were cuffed and his ankles were shackled. The two admitted beating inmate Daniel Murphy while his hands were cuffed and his ankles were shackled. The investigation began after Murphy wrote to an FBI agent in Colorado Springs, asking for help. Murphy since has filed a civil lawsuit in federal court. (Denver Rocky Mountain News)

October 26, 2000 A federal judge has told two former supervisors at a private prison in Walsenburg they will serve time behind bars when they are sentenced for beating an inmate. Harry Pollard and Joseph Torrez admitted beating the inmate Daniel Murphy on separate occasions on March 17, 1998. Murphy had been subdued after injuring another guard in a fight. Prosecutors and Pollard said his supervisor, who has not been identified, told him, "You know what to do," which Pollard understood as permission to teach Murphy a lesson by beating him. The inmate was dropped face down onto the floor, injuring his face. Later that day, Torrez, who was a captain and shift supervisor, was assigned to transport Murphy to a state-operated prison in Canon City. An unidentified supervisor told Torrez to beat Murphy again, according to a 13-page plea agreement. Torrez and an unnamed officer beat Murphy while he was restrained by handcuffs, leg irons and a belly chain, according to the plea agreement. Other prison employees may also be prosecuted for beating Murphy, authorities said. (The Associated Press, Oct. 27, 2000)

INS Detention Facility Aurora, Colorado Wackenhut

September 27, 2002 Security guards at the Wackenhut INS detention facility in Aurora quelled a disturbance Thursday. The disruption was caused by several detainees during the lunch hour, said Nina Pruneda- Muniz, Denver District spokeswoman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "It got handled in a very timely manner," Pruneda-Muniz said. "We were able to defuse any situation from going any further." Agents were determining how many prisoners were involved and why the confrontation erupted, she said. (Rocky Mountain News)

Jefferson County (Female Delinquents) Jefferson County, Colorado Cornerstone Programs

January 22, 2002 Two administrators who ran a youth corrections facility that had its license revoked by the state in 1998 have won a preliminary, multi-million dollar state contract to run a similar facility. In 1998, the Colorado Department of Human Services shut down the High Plains Youth Center operated by a company called Rebound and run by Jane O'Shaughnessy and Joe Newman. The facility often was cited for violating state regulations and the suicide of a 13-year-old boy eventually led to its downfall. Now, O'Shaughnessy and Newman head a company called Cornerstone Programs, which earlier this month received preliminary approval for the contract to run a new $7 million facility for 40 female delinquents in Jefferson County. "We've been very satisfied" with the work of Cornerstone's programs, said Steve Bates, director of the state Division of Youth Corrections. "They provide good services." However, audits of the Grand Prairie operation show the state consistently cited the 40-bed facility for violating state regulations and Grand Prairie consistently ignored those citations, some for up to three years. Violations included: Nonlicensed personnel performing medical examinations ; No relevant vocational programs outside of a Saturday welding class ; No programming with meaningful credit for students who have GEDs; No data to track students' academic progress ; Food-handling practices that were potential threats to food safety. Bates said it's important to note an audit is based on 400 different standards, Grand Prairie gets monitored quarterly, and each time there is a violation the facility is required to submit an action plan for correction. Newman said all of the states where Cornerstone operates have been very pleased. The High Plains Youth Center at Brush also failed to meet standards, but it was the death of 13-year-old Matthew Maloney in February 1998 that precipitated an intense investigation by human services, eventually leading to the facility's demise. The Utah boy committed suicide by hanging himself with a bedsheet. His body went undiscovered for four to six hours. Under the guise of "positive peer pressure," inmates essentially ran the facility, investigators found. They had terrorized staff and more vulnerable inmates. Several female employees had been offering inmates sexual favors. Other states removed their youth and Colorado followed suit. Rebound's license was revoked in April 1998. (Denver Post )

Kit Carson CC Burlington, Colorado CCA

September 10, 2003 A lawsuit making its way through the federal courts charges that the staff at a privately run prison in eastern Colorado allowed an inmate to die after they failed to provide him with needed medication. Jeffery Buller’s medication cost only about $35 a month. But for some reason, when it ran out, Buller’s mother said his prescription wasn't renewed by prison staff, and he ended up dying. Private prisons are a growing trend in this country as states try to keep costs down. Buller's mother believes that can have a fatal downside. “I have not gotten a real explanation,” said Tamara Schlitters about the circumstances surrounding her son’s death two years ago. Buller was serving time in the Kit Carson Correctional Center for sex assault. He suffered from a medical condition called hereditary angioedema and his files stated that he was to receive the drug Winstrol. Without this drug, his lungs could swell up and he could die. So the private company that runs the prison, Corrections Corporation of America, gave him the drug until several days before he was to be released. “They stopped giving him his medication because he was going to be released on the second of May,” she said. For ten days, Schlitters said her son suffered in his cell as his condition worsened, reportedly going to the medical counter each day asking for Winstrol. He was told they were out and was given another drug that didn't work. The day before he was to be released, he couldn't speak and he could barely breathe. “He was observed by other inmates trying to force his own fingers down his throat in an effort to open up his own airway,” said Schlitters. Buller died in the prison May 1, 2001. The coroner who examined his body found it was his untreated condition that killed him. Tamara's lawyers also found out that the manager of the prison's medical unit had been given an award from the company for keeping costs down. Schlitters believes her son died as a result of overzealous cost cutting. (9 News KUSA-TV)

March 25, 2003 A former inmate's mother has filed a lawsuit alleging her son died in prison because officials didn't want to refill his prescription. Tamara L. Schlitters of Trinidad filed the federal lawsuit Monday over the death of her son, Jeffrey A. Buller, 26. He died at the Kit Carson Correctional Center at Burlington in 2001. The prison is run for the state by a private company, Corrections Corporation of America. A woman answering the telephone at the prison said no one was available to comment on the lawsuit Monday. Buller had hereditary angioedema, which can cause swelling in the airways of the throat, the lawsuit said. He ran out of his prescription medication 10 days before his scheduled release on parole. Buller repeatedly asked for a refill and a doctor ordered it, but staff never obtained the medicine, the lawsuit said. The suit alleges that prison officials didn't want to spend money on the medicine because Buller was about to leave the prison. It cost about $35 for a 30-day supply. Buller had trouble breathing May 1, 2001, as he was packing for his release the next day and died, the lawsuit said. He was in prison for a sexual encounter with an underage teenage girl when he was 20, said attorney David Lane, who filed the lawsuit for Schlitters.

February 8, 2002 Even before the January opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad, Colo., and a 127-bed detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private, for-profit prisons in the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates private prisons in Burlington, Walsenburg and Las Animas, Colo., had a total of 575 empty prison beds. Additionally, the private prison at Olney Springs, Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA acknowledged it has lost revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January, the private prisons had nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state transferred inmates to its new 2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo. It is state policy to keep as many state prisoners as possible in state prisons, rather than private ones. (Corrections Professional)

July 2000 Colorado renews its contract with CCA despite sex scandals, a drug death and rioting. The prison has been plagued by lawsuits from ex-employees, high-turnover and security breaches. (Denver Rocky Mountain News, July 3, 2000)

January through September 1999 Charges were made that up to 15 female guards and nurses had affairs with Colorado inmates during the first 9 months of operation of this private facility.

Las Animas, Colorado CCA

February 8, 2002 Even before the January opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad, Colo., and a 127-bed detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private, for-profit prisons in the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates private prisons in Burlington, Walsenburg and Las Animas, Colo., had a total of 575 empty prison beds. Additionally, the private prison at Olney Springs, Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA acknowledged it has lost revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January, the private prisons had nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state transferred inmates to its new 2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo. It is state policy to keep as many state prisoners as possible in state prisons, rather than private ones. (Corrections Professional)

Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center Golden, Colorado Youthtrack

January 1, 2003 Nearly two dozen juveniles housed at the Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center could face criminal charges after they barricaded themselves in the orientation building for about an hour Monday night. The disturbance started about 11 p.m. when the boys began overturning bunk beds and breaking light fixtures. The juveniles were housed in the 22-bed orientation building, one of the several dorm-style units. While the campus is operated by the state, the orientation unit is operated by Youthtrack, a private company. (Rocky Mountain Nes)

Phoenix Center Adams County, Colorado Avalon Correctional Services Systems Inc.

May 23, 2002 Adams County will approve a new community corrections contract, despite one commissioner's concern about the escape of a sex offender from a halfway house. Commissioner Marty Flaum balked at approving the contract last week after learning that John Martinez, 19, had walked away from Phoenix House. Martinez was being held for attempted sexual assault on a minor and attempted menacing. Flaum said a sex offender belongs in prison, not in a halfway house. After the meeting, Flaum said he will vote to approve the new contract with the Colorado Department of Corrects, which provides $120,000 to keep several inmates in halfway houses who are making the transition from prison to freedom. But he is still convinced the Martinez case was mishandled. Even if Martinez thought the girl was 16, there is still the matter of waving the knife at the girl's father, Flaum said. "This guy probably isn't going to commit another sex offense -- he's going to stab someone," Flaum said. Of 29 prisoners who have walked away from halfway houses in Adams County this year, 24 have been caught, Phoenix House director Samantha Novatne said. (Rocky Mountain News)

May 16, 2002 Adams County commissioners balked Wednesday at approving a contract to put more offenders in a private community corrections program that lost a convicted child molester. Since July at least 29 inmates have walked away from facilities operated by a local subsidiary of Oklahoma City-based Avalon Correctional Services Systems Inc., according to county records. The last straw for Adams County Commissioner Marty Flaum was news that John Martinez, convicted of attempted sexual assault on a child, walked away Monday from Phoenix Center, the company's male facility. "We get these all the time," County Commissioner Marty Flaum said of the notice that Martinez had fled. "I don't know how many of these I read. What are we going to do to lock these people up?" The news came as commissioners were preparing to approve a $120,000 contract with the Colorado Department of Corrections to house additional inmates at the company's facilities who are making the transition from prison to freedom. Flaum asked that the contract be pulled from the agenda. Instead, commissioners will call a study session on community corrections, probably next week. (Rocky Mountain News)

Pueblo City-County Health Department Pueblo, Clorado American Correctional Association

November 29, 2003 The Pueblo City-County Health Department is forwarding the local public defender's concerns about jail conditions to the American Correctional Association, an association that accredits jails. Heather Maio, the Pueblo health department's environmental health director, received the Board of Health's approval on Wednesday to pass on Chief Public Defender Doug Wilson's complaints about the jail. Maio brought the issue to the board in light of the health department's recent jail inspection that mainly raised ongoing concerns about crowding in the facility, which was built for 189 inmates but usually houses around 500. She also referred to a state health official's letter noting that the state does not have jurisdiction over a jail's medical services. In the letter to the Pueblo health department, Judy Hughes of the state health department, wrote that medically related complaints may be passed on to the state board's licensing physicians and nurses, and two jail accrediting agencies - The American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare. Maio received the health board's approval to pass on Wilson's concerns to the American Correctional Association, and to send copies of the letter to Wilson, Sheriff Dan Corsentino, and Management Team Solutions' (the company providing jail medical care) physician. Maio said she hoped to speak with licensing board officials before deciding whether to contact them. For some time Wilson has publicly decried the jail's conditions, citing deficiencies in medical and mental-health treatment, as well as its sanitary and safety standards. (The Pueblo Chietan)

Pueblo City Council Pueblo, Colorado Wackenhut

October 30, 2003 The lawyer for an accused killer wants a chance to question officials about the county jail's medical and mental-health care system. Chief Public Defender Doug Wilson claims their testimony would reveal proof of wrongdoing in the awarding of the jail's medical contract to a Pueblo company. Wilson also believes the testimony would bolster his argument that his client, James Orcutt, has received inadequate care while in jail awaiting trial, violating his civil rights. Orcutt, 36, faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree assault against an at-risk adult in connection with the alleged beating death of 74-year-old Primitivo "Pete" Sanchez in September 2002. Orcutt remains in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. Wilson is seeking dismissal of the charges against Orcutt or alternative relief, such as a reduction in charges or the judge's refusal to admit evidence at trial of Orcutt's behavior in jail. Wilson based the request on allegations that Orcutt was given the wrong medication, and sometimes none at all, by the jail's contract medical staff from Management Team Solutions. Wilson alleges in the motion that Management Team Solutions is more concerned with its bottom line than the care of inmates at the jail. He raised questions about whether the company came to hold the jail contract through unscrupulous means, and said the anonymous witness he'd put on the stand would testify that officials at Management Team Solutions were privy to bids submitted to the county for consideration by other companies before submitting theirs. (The Pueblo Chieftain)

October 9, 2003 A watchdog group filed a lawsuit Wednesday against City Council seeking to stop a private prison firm from taking control of land the city plans to sell it. The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates prison only as a last resort, claims City Council violated Colorado's open meetings law and local zoning ordinances when it committed land at the Pueblo Memorial Airport Industrial Park to private prison giant WCC, according to Pueblo District Court documents. Joining the coalition as plaintiffs bringing the suit are two couples who live near the proposed prison site: Nick and Tawnya Stringer and Steve and Linda Wilson. The suit was filed by lawyer Alison Maynard. It alleges council sidestepped the state's open meetings law by convening in executive session during a June 30 work session without making specific mention in its agenda that the land transaction involving the prison would be discussed. Also cited as a violation of the Sunshine Law was a letter to WCC vice-chairman Wayne Calabrese, which was signed by each council member and dated July 1. It stated that council authorized city administration "to take all action necessary and required" for WCC to acquire the lot at the industrial park. The suit points out that no public meeting of the council was ever publicized for that date, as the law requires. Maynard said during a telephone interview from her office in Denver on Wednesday that council could have avoided the court challenge by following state and local protocol for the actions it has taken. "The open meetings law is a very simple law," she said. "If they don’t comply with it, they’re toast. That’s what the law says, and they know it." The suit also attacks a recent zoning change to the affected lot that would allow government use of the land. It alleges that proper protocol was not followed to bring zoning in line with the anticipated use of the land. According to Maynard, the suit seeks to void actions taken at the meetings that are being challenged, and to uphold the zoning status that forbids government use of the lot in question. "Pueblo City Council has demonstrated a pattern of conducting public business behind closed doors and ignoring the opinions of Pueblo residents," said Stephen Raher, co-director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. "The laws that were designed to ensure open process in government have been flagrantly violated and the people of Pueblo have been shut out of this process." City Attorney Tom Jagger said he was not familiar with the suit, and declined to comment on the issues it cited. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

August 29, 2003 Pueblo County commissioners agreed Tuesday to pay $ 6,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from an initial meeting about bringing a private prison to the city. Members of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, who opposed the prison, sued the commissioners for not giving notice to the public of an Aug. 8, 2002, meeting at which the prison was first discussed. The county will pay the group $ 6,000 for its attorneys fees and costs, according to County Attorney Dan Kogovsek. Kogovsek said the meeting actually was called by the Pueblo Economic Development Corp. and held at PEDCo's offices. County commissioners were invited, along with City Council members and about 50 local businessmen and women. Because at least two commissioners attended the meeting, and it contained discussion of public business, notice of it should have been given to the public, Kogovsek said. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

August 27, 2003 Despite harsh criticism from economic development officials, City County voted Monday night to ask voters to extend and redirect part of the city's half-cent economic development sales tax. Critics were not convinced. Several former council members and former members of the Pueblo Economic Development Corp. testified during the public hearing that council will be "killing the goose that laid the golden eggs." "You're killing the incentives that bring jobs," said John Verna, a PEDCo member and former council member. "How many of you are paid-up members of PEDCo? PEDCo officials, past and present, were already unhappy with council for approving the construction of a private prison in the airport industrial park. Several speakers Monday said that and the sales-tax question show that council isn't friendly to economic development. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

August 18, 2003 ON JULY 1, all seven Pueblo city councilmen signed a letter to Wayne Calabrese, vice chairman and president of WCC, stating it was City Council's "official intent to annex, sell, and transfer Lot 69 (at Memorial Airport Industrial Park) to WCC upon terms and conditions mutually acceptable to the City of Pueblo and WCC." On the evening of July 23 Council convened a public hearing on the annexation - a hearing that spilled over to the early hours of July 24. The hearing ostensibly was to get public reaction to the "proposed" annexation and sale to WCC, which plans to build a privately operated pre-release prison in Pueblo. But back on July 1, the Council letter stated: "Upon signing this letter, the City Council is hereby authorizing and directing the City Administration to take all action necessary and required to effect the sale and transfer of Lot 69 from the City of Pueblo to WCC, including, but not limited to, negotiating and drafting an appropriate contract for sale and purchase of Lot 69 and instituting proceedings for the annexation of Lot 69 to the City of Pueblo." In other words, this was a done deal as of July 1, as far as the Council and administration were concerned. Those who testified at the public hearing more than three weeks later were talking to deaf ears. This was an insult to all who came to testify in good faith. Those ears should have listened. For example, Dave Cardinal, one of the founders of the Pueblo Economic Development Corp., warned the councilmen of the dangers inherent in placing any kind of prison at the Industrial Park. He spoke of the problems PEDCo and the community faced when this city had a bad reputation around the state and nation. "It was hard for me to believe the negative things our competitors said about us when we were competing against them," Mr. Cardinal testified. "Most of them were not true, but to a company not familiar with Pueblo, they were easy to believe. "It only takes a few subtle negative remarks by the competition and we are off the site selection list and we never know why. I can just hear the competition saying, 'Pueblo, yes they have good incentives and a nice Industrial Park. I hear they even have a state-of-the-art prison in their industrial park.' "Those types of negative comments can do us serious harm with prospects, and we have no way to combat such remarks. Don't think that doesn 't happen in the cutthroat business of economic development." Mr. Cardinal's forewarning was justified. A few days after Council officially approved the annexation so that the prison would pay city taxes, a sizable company interested in a vacant building at the Airport Industrial Park broke off talks when its top officials were told that, yes, a prison was planned for the park. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

August 18, 2003 Pueblo City Council members said Wednesday that a July 1 letter they sent to WCC did not mean that a later public hearing and vote on allowing a private prison at the airport industrial park was merely a formality. The seven councilmen signed the letter to the prison company, which in part said: "This letter represents the Pueblo City Council's official expression of our intent to annex, sell and transfer Lot 69 (at the airport industrial park) to WCC upon terms and conditions mutually acceptable to the City of Pueblo and WCC. "Upon signing this letter, the City Council is hereby authorizing and directing the City Administration to take all action necessary and required to effect the sale and transfer of Lot 69 from the City of Pueblo to WCC, including, but not limited to, negotiating and drafting an appropriate contract for sale and purchase of Lot 69 and instituting proceedings for the annexation of Lot 69 to the City of Pueblo." City Council held a public hearing on the annexation July 23 and approved it at the end of the meeting, after midnight on the morning of July 24. It could be interpreted that the July 1 letter indicates that the council had decided well before the hearing to annex the land and sell it to WCC for the prison. Past and current PEDCo officials have criticized the council for allowing the private prison to be built at the airport industrial park. They fear the prison will turn off businesses who might consider moving to the park in the future. (The Pueblo Chieftan Online)

August 4, 2003 Two former economic development leaders on Thursday charged Pueblo City Council with hurting the airport industrial park's chances of attracting new business. The two also said the city should start looking for new sites for business parks. Dave Cardinal, who helped start the Pueblo Economic Development Corp., and Rich Golenda, a former councilman and longtime PEDCo board member, said putting a private prison at the airport park is a terrible mistake. Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to annex a parcel at the industrial park into the city for a prison. They also voted to sell the 34 acres to WCC, a prison company that wants to build a 700- to 1,000-bed prison at the site. Cardinal and Golenda testified at Monday night's public hearing on the annexation, telling City Council not to kill the city's golden goose. The two men said they've helped bring many businesses to the industrial park and it was never easy. Pueblo already lacks some of the amenities that Colorado Springs or Denver have for luring companies, they said. Putting a prison in the park will make it impossible to persuade business officials to consider moving to the industrial park, they said. Golenda likened council's decision to how the Romans poured salt on the fields and rubble of Carthage after they destroyed it, making sure the city could never use the land again. "That's kind of what City Council has done to economic development at that site," Golenda said. Said Cardinal: "They felt like they knew more than PEDCo. "We've got 20 years experience between us recruiting companies to Pueblo," Cardinal added. "Pueblo has had to overcome a lot of negatives. We've had to fight and struggle to to get every single industry." Several council members said before their vote that communities like Aurora, Colorado Springs and even San Antonio, Texas, have private prisons that haven't hurt economic development. "But people are clamoring to go to Colorado Springs. People are clamoring to go to San Antonio," Golenda said. "No one's going to call Pueblo and say 'I want to come there.' " The former PEDCo officials think PEDCo and the city should find another spot for luring prospective businesses. They said there are spots around Pueblo and in Pueblo West where businesses could be pointed. But mostly, Golenda and Cardinal said they just wanted to speak out about the prison decision. "We've invested so many years and worked so hard, and so have a lot of other people," Cardinal said. "We can't just walk away." Golenda repeated what he told City Council late Monday night, that it won't be the council members who ultimately live the consequences of their decision. "That's the real tragedy of this," he said. "The community is going to have to live with difficulty of the aftermath." (The Pueblo Chieftan)

July 7, 2003 The city of Pueblo has offered WCC a plot at the airport industrial park for its proposed private prison. The city sent WCC a letter Wednesday offering a lot on the southeast corner of the park for sale to the prison company, although an asking price wasn't released. City officials said they plan to negotiate a sale price with WCC next week. WCC was turned down last week in its attempt to get the city to annex land west of the intersection of Pueblo Boulevard and 24th Street for a 700-bed prison. The medium-security facility would house inmates who are about to be released and those who violated their terms of parole. City officials want the prison in or near Pueblo, but didn't think the 24th Street location was good because of nearby homes and the Pueblo Greenway Nature Center. WCC officials have seen the industrial park site and like it, according to Assistant City Manager Dave Galli. The land is not in city limits, but the city plans to attempt to annex it later this month. Even though they voted down the last WCC annexation 4-3, most of the City Council members said they'd like the prison and its 160 jobs here. Council members met in executive session Monday to talk about offering the land and reached an informal consensus. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

May 30, 2003 City Council will hold a public hearing June 9 on annexing land for a private prison, the first of a few hearings required on the issue. The June 9 hearing will deal only with whether the land proposed for the prison meets state annexation requirements, according to City Manager Lee Evett. The larger issue of the prison's compatibility with Pueblo won't be addressed by council until later in June when the council debates actually annexing the land. Many city residents are opposed to the prison, especially residents of the West Side. While they can speak to council members at the June 9 meeting, council won't be deciding anything but whether the land can legally be annexed. WCC, formerly the Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, plans to build a 500-bed private prison on land near the intersection of Pueblo Boulevard and 24th Street. (The Pueblo Chieftan Online)

February 14, 2003 The company wanting to build and operate a private prison for the state still is interested in also helping Pueblo County get a new jail next door. Wayne Calabrese, vice chairman and president of WCC in Palm Beach, Fla., said his company has an option on a site for both projects just west of Pueblo Boulevard near 24th Street. To counter any neighborhood opposition to a prison, Calabese touted the potential economic benefits of the project to the community. If things work ou, the company also would help the county secure financing for construction of an even larger jail that Pueblo County Sheriff Dan Corsentino's office -- not WCC -- would run. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

October 31, 2002 Roughly 90 people came to get answers from Pueblo County officials Wednesday night on how a private prison company, WCC, was able to get the commissioners' support to build a 500-bed prison just west of Pueblo Boulevard and 24th Street without first consulting the public. Commissioner John Klomp was the only commissioner at the forum, hosted by the local group, Better Pueblo. He sketched many of the details of the prison plan for the audience, many of whom were clearly opposed to the project. He emphasized that the state Department of Corrections will make the decision on whether WCC gets a contract to build the prison. The other speakers included Larry Odegard, state president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and Stephen Raher, of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Odegard used his time to read a lengthy list of complaints and incidents involving WCC prisons around the country. AFSCME represents state employees and Odegard said it was clear that private prison companies make money by cutting their expenses on staff and inmate care and service. "This is a nasty company," Odegard told the audience. "I would urge the elected officials to make sure they know who they are getting in bed with." (Pueblo Chieftan Online)

October 30, 2002 Better Pueblo, a coalition of Pueblo-area labor, environmental and community groups, is hosting a public forum tonight on the plan by a private corporation to build a medium-security state prison just west of Pueblo Boulevard at 24th Street. Better Pueblo also has invited representatives from WCC (formerly the Wackenhut Co.), which wants to build the new prison, as well as representatives from the Colorado Department of Corrections. WCC ha submitted a bid to build a new 500-bed medium-security prison for the state that would house pre-parole inmates. Pueblo County commissioners have endorsed the application in hopes that WCC will also be able to build a 500-bed county jail as part of the complex, although Sheriff Dan Corsentino has said county officers would staff the jail if built. (Chieftan.com)

October 22, 2002 A Colorado criminal justice reform group has filed a lawsuit in Pueblo District Court to erase the decision by the county commissioners last Sept. 4 to endorse the construction of a private prison and possibly a new county jail as well on land west of Pueblo Boulevard. The group, called the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, claims the commissioners violated the state's open meetings law by making the decision to endorse the project by WCC (Formerly Wackenhut Co.) in an executive session that was closed to the public. Stephen Raher, co-coordinator for the group, said the court should force the commissioners to withdraw their letter of endorsement for the WCC project, which would be a 500-bed, medium-security prison on 70 acres west of Pueblo Boulevard at 24th Street. "The county has refused to reverse the actions they made in executive session. Equally disapointing is the fact they have yet to schedule a public meeting on this topic," he said. County Attorney Dan Kogovsek acknowledged that an Aug. 8 meeting with the WCC and members of City Council and the business community had not been advertised to the public or the media notified. NO decisions were made at that meeting, however. As for the Sept. 4 executive session, Kogovsek disagreed that the commissioners erred in deciding to give WCC a letter of endorsement at that non-public meeting. "WCC was making a proposal to the county on providing a county jail as well as building a prison for the state and that discussion properly fell under the protection of an executive session," he said. Kogosvek said the decision on the WCC project is out of the county's hands and rests with the Department of Corrections. "It's not the commissioners who will decide whether the prison will be built in Pueblo," he said. (The Pueblo Chieftan Online)

September 27, 2002 Pueblo County Sheriff Dan Corsentino remains to be convinced that WCC, a private prison corporation, has improved its performance record at other jails it operates before he will support any plan to have the company build a new county jail here. Corsentino said that news reports and other information about Florida-based WCC's jails in other states show there have been near-riots, stabbings and assaults that raise questions about whether the private company provides adequate staff and training at its prisons and jails. "I have a list of concerns about the professionalism of the organization that need to be addressed, but I will have to be convinced they can do the job," he said Thursday. WCC officials said they could answer those concerns, and said the 36 prisons and jails they operate in the United States are closely scrutinized because of the opposition to privatizing prisons by government-employee unions. "This is a highly politicized issue because we are displacing workers who have typically been government employees," said Ken Fortier, WCC's regional vice president. Corsentino is going with Commissioner Loretta Kennedy to meet with WCC officials next week in Florida to discuss the company's bid to the Department of Corrections to build a 500-bed, medium-security prison just west of Pueblo Boulevard and 24th Street. The prison would hold inmates about to be paroled. The company is paying for the pair's travel and lodging. WCC would build, staff and operate that prison for the state, and the company has also offered to build a new 500-bed county jail at the complex. Corsentino insisted earlier this week that his officers provide the staff at any new county jail. Fortier said the company (formerly Wackenhut Co.) was willing to agree to Corsentino's terms, although WCC's business is to build and staff prisons, jails and detention centers. "One of the big cost savings for (WCC) is in personnel expenses because we do not provide as generous a benefit package as government employees receive," Fortier said. "But if it is important to the county to use its own detention officers, we're willing to agree to that." Corsentino elaborated on his concerns Thursday, saying they amounted to more than just a question of whose personnel guard the inmates. He said that WCC prisons in New Mexico, Texas and Florida - among others - had all had serious incidents in the past three years of inmates or guards being assaulted or killed. News reports available over the Internet show that three WCC officers at the Lea County Corrections Facility in Hobbs, N.M., were convicted last April of federal civil rights violations after beating an inmate at the jail. Reports also said inmates attacked WCC guards at the Guadalupe County (New Mexico) Correctional Facility in April 1999, resulting in one guard's death. There were other incidents reported at WCC jails in Florida and Texas. Corsentino said the problems indicate WCC may not have done adequate background screening on its staff or provided adequate numbers of officers or training in some cases. While the sheriff's department would provide the detention officers at any new jail, Corsentino said that those concerns are still valid if WCC is providing the prison staff in adjoining buildings. "At the very least I would want some kind of role in who WCC hires and who is allowed to provide ancillary services inside that complex," he said. Fortier said the company had experienced problems at some facilities, but said they were no different than the problems found in state- or county-run jails. He said the company had lost "a handful" of prison contracts since it began operation in 1987. One reason WCC is willing to include a new county jail in the construction project is that gives its proposal an advantage in the eyes of state prison officials, Fortier said. "In our experience, that's always an asset," he said. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

September 25, 2002 Pueblo County Commissioner Loretta Kennedy will travel to Florida next week to discuss the possible construction of a new Pueblo County Jail as part of a 500-bed state prison here. Kennedy will visit WCC, which builds and operates private prisons. The company has proposed a prison just west of Pueblo Boulevard at 24th Street. At their regular meeting Tuesday, the commissioners said one reason they have endorsed WCC's bid to build and operate a prison for the Department of Corrections is that the Florida-based corporation might be willing to build a new county jail at the complex, which would be located on 50 acres west of Pueblo Boulevard. Kennedy, Klomp and Commission Chairman Matt Peulen said they would be unwilling to let WCC completely staff a new county jail. Sheriff Dan Corsentino also will make the trip to WCC offices in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., next week. He said the staffing issue is fundamental. "The state constitution gives the sheriff the responsibility of running the jail and I'm not going to give up that authority to any private company," he said. "I'm keeping an open mind about having (WCC) build a new jail, but there will be no discussion of having their employees provide the security." All of the county's hopes for finding a cheaper solution to the problem of building a new jail hinge upon WCC getting the state contract to build the new medium-security prison. Last week, corrections officials said the bid process would remain open through the end of September. The contract award is supposed to occur in November. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

August 30, 2002 One of the world's largest private prison corporations is putting together a plan to build a 500-bed, medium-security prison that would be located on the west side of Pueblo Boulevard at 24th Street. Officials from WCC (formerly The Wackenhut Corp.) made a presentation to Pueblo County and city officials Thursday at a meeting at the offices of the Pueblo Economic Development Corp. The meeting should have been advertised to the public because of the elected officials involved, but neither the county or city gave the necessary notice. County Administrator Mark Carmel said the lack of notice was accidental. Councilman Ted Lopez Jr. said WCC wanted a letter of support from local officials, saying they were willing to consider the project and he was willing to go that far. Councilman Pad Avalos said he could foresee obvious problems with the plan. He said WCC officials made it clear that they could not be paying wages and benefits comparable to DOC employees. "I told them this is still a labor community and by privatizing this prison, they would be displacing better-paying jobs," he said. (Pueblo Chieftan)

Pueblo County Jail Pueblo, Colorado Management Team Solutions

March 31, 2004 A class-action lawsuit filed Monday in federal court says that health-care services at the Pueblo County Jail should be taken over temporarily by the U.S. Justice Department. The lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates states that the jai's health care "fall(s) beneath standards of human decency." The lawsuit names Sheriff Dan Corsentino, the county government and the jail's health-care contractor, Management Team Solutions, as defendants. (The Pueblo Chieftan)

Ridge view Youth Services Center Arapahoe, Colorado Miscellaneous

December 26, 2002 Arapahoe County sheriff's deputies captured three teenagers late Tuesday after an escape from a youth services center. The juveniles had been free for about three hours before Deputy Chris George spotted them. Roche said deputies don't believe the teenagers had any help in their escape. The facility, at 28101 E. Quincy Ave., is not fenced but has security guards. The staff quickly became aware of the escape and began a search, but lost the trio in the darkness and surrounding hills, McDonough said. Personnel then notified deputies. Ridge View is a 500-bed juvenile facility by the state, but it is privately operated by the Rite of Passage Schools based in Minden, Nev. (Rocky Mountain News)

Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center Cornell

January 30, 2004 A subsidiary of Cornell Companies, Inc. (the "Company") executed an agreement in June 2003 to purchase a correctional facility to be built in Colorado – the Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center (the "Center") – upon completion of its construction. In late August 2003, in connection with the transaction, the Company deposited approximately $12.9 million of the purchase price (the "Funds") into an escrow account to assure the developer's construction lender of the Company's ability and willingness to purchase the Center upon completion. After funding the escrow account, and after repeated unsuccessful attempts by the Company and its counsel to obtain confirmation of the wire transfer and the interest accrued since the date of the wire transfer, the Company was informed in early December 2003, that (i) the bank purportedly serving as escrow agent claimed its signature to the escrow agreement had been forged and that the escrow agreement was not an obligation of the bank; (ii) the Funds were not held in an escrow account at the bank, but were held instead in one of the construction lender's bank accounts; and (iii) certain of the Funds had been released from such bank account prior to completion of the Center, in contravention of the terms of the escrow agreement. The Company immediately began an investigation to locate the Funds and to determine the circumstances that resulted in their misappropriation. In the process of trying to locate the Funds and establish a valid escrow arrangement, the construction lender and the developer of the Center represented to the Company that the Funds were then being held in a bank in Florida which had agreed to be the escrow agent under a new escrow agreement. Subsequently, the bank in Florida confirmed to the Company that an account had been established with deposits totaling $12.9 million and that it was willing to serve as the escrow agent under a new escrow agreement. After executing a new escrow agreement with the Florida bank, the Company learned that the available funds in the new escrow account totaled only $5.0 million. The Florida bank later advised the Company that the remaining $7.9 million of deposits in the new escrow account had been deposited in the form of a check drawn on a foreign bank account. The foreign check, although deposited for collection, was never paid. Accordingly, the Company initiated legal proceedings under theories of fraud, conversion, breach of contract and other theories to determine the location of and to recover the Funds. The Company has obtained temporary restraining orders freezing any and all financial accounts of the construction lender, one of its principals and certain other defendants identified during discovery. The frozen accounts include one of the construction lender's bank accounts which contains approximately $250,000. The Company has learned in discovery that approximately $700,000 of the Funds was advanced to the general contractor to fund construction of the Center, and that approximately $1.6 million was advanced to the developer. Construction of the Center is ongoing and progress to date is within the agreed time schedule, but the ability to continue construction in the absence of a valid construction loan remains in doubt. The Company remains committed to the Center and is exploring possibilities for its completion. Certain of the defendants in the lawsuit filed by the Company have represented to the Company on several occasions that up to $7.9 million would be delivered to the Florida bank restore the Funds, including a representation on January 23, 2004, that $7.9 million would be delivered on January 27, 2004. To date, no amount has been received as represented. As a result, based on current information, the Company believes its potential maximum exposure is approximately $7.9 million plus any attorneys' fees and costs associated with its investigation and the legal proceedings discussed above. The Company is unable at this time to determine the ultimate outcome of this matter. (Yahoo.com)

Walsenburg, Colorado CCA

February 8, 2002 Even before the January opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad, Colo., and a 127-bed detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private, for-profit prisons in the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates private prisons in Burlington, Walsenburg and Las Animas, Colo., had a total of 575 empty prison beds. Additionally, the private prison at Olney Springs, Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA acknowledged it has lost revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January, the private prisons had nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state transferred inmates to its new 2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo. It is state policy to keep as many state prisoners as possible in state prisons, rather than private ones. (Corrections Professional)

August 2, 2001 An Oklahoma man who had been a Colorado prison guard was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for deliberately injuring a restrained inmate. Michael Cook of Fort Cobb worked at a prison in Walsenburg, Colo., operated by the Corrections Corporation of America. He pleaded guilty in April to charges of dropping the handcuffed inmate face-down from about knee-height onto the floor in 1998. At the sentencing in U.S. District Court, Cook, 31, said he was following orders

KANSAS

Reno County CCA

January 8, 2004 Former Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie and Hutchinson attorney Gerald Hertach won't pay $750,000 in restitution sought by the state, a senior judge ruled Tuesday morning. Instead, the case will be closed when the two have served their one-year jail sentences that end in January - Leslie on Saturday from the Saline County Jail and Hertach on Jan. 31 from the Rice County Jail. (Hutch News)

September 17, 2003 With prospects for a negotiated settlement dimming, a senior judge set a trial date for Reno County's civil lawsuit against the former private operators of its jail annex. Judge Michael Barbara set Oct. 29 as the start date in Reno County District Court for the county's bid to recover almost $750,000 in annex operations profits from MgtGp Inc., which operated the center for four years. Former Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie and Hutchinson attorney Gerald Hertach were partners in MgtGp. That alliance landed the two men in jail for a year on two counts of misdemeanor conflict of interest, for failing to disclose the contract. Both men apparently are going to serve their one-year terms without offering a court-ordered plan to repay the county, a condition of parole. In August, attorneys for the two men and Reno County said they were close to a negotiated settlement in the case. Barbara gave the two sides 10 days to reach an agreement, a time frame that more than passed before the judge took action late last week. Stan Hill, Reno County's counsel for the civil suit, offered no comment on the trial date Monday. Efforts Monday to contact Leslie's attorney, Mike Gillespie, and Hertach's attorney, Steve Joseph, were unsuccessful. Gillespie is handling the case from his new job with a Manhattan law firm, Seaton, Bell and Seaton. Leslie and Hertach formed the partnership in 1997 to operate MgtGp and the annex. The two men established dummy corporations in Nevada to route the annex profits back to their personal corporations in Kansas. Leslie and Hertach were convicted in October 2002 of two counts of misdemeanor conflict of interest, the result of a plea bargain from 21 original counts of bribery. Leslie's sentence expires Jan. 3, 2004; Hertach's 28 days later. (The Hutchinson News)

July 2, 2002 The bribery trial for former Sheriff Larry Leslie and his alleged business partners will remain in Reno County District Court, a judge ruled Tuesday. Leslie, Hertach and MgtGp each face 21 counts of bribery. The charges allege that Hertach paid Leslie almost $285,000 over three years in exchange for Leslie's recommendation that MgtGp run the county's jail annex. (The Hutchinson News)

Hutchinson Jail Annex Reno, Kansas MgtGp Inc.

January 10, 2003 Former Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie spent his first day as an inmate Friday, beginning his jail sentence for misdemeanor conflict of interest in the county jail annex scandal. Leslie and his business partner, Hutchinson attorney Gerald Hertach, were convicted in October of misdemeanor conflict of interest. The two men formed MgtGp Inc., a private company that ran the jail annex until late last year. Leslie, as an elected official, was required by Kansas law to divulge his "substantial interest" in MgtGp to Reno County commissioners. (The Hutchinson News)

December 20, 2002 It came down to that old line from the film "Jerry Maguire." "Show me the money." So when Larry Leslie and Gerald Hertach wouldn't - or couldn't - the result was a year in jail for their illegal partnership as MgtGp Inc., running Reno County's jail annex. The people wanting to see where Hertach and Leslie's share off about 570,000 in annex profits went were numerous. And the two who mattered the most - Senior Judge Michael Barbara and prosecutor John Bork - didn't get any answers Wednesday in Reno County District Court. "I wouldn't said it played the main role in my decision, but it played a role, of course," said Barbara, who sentenced the two men to jail terms for conflict of interest in the annex case. "The 285,000 your client received from the annex profits - what happened to that?" Barbara asked Steve Joseph, representing Hertach. "I don't know, your honor," Joseph replied. Both times the men and their attorneys offered no direct explanation, instead raising general claims of financial ruin. "Jerry doesn't have $750,000 or significant funds at all," his attorney said. Gillespie had little to say Wednesday about Leslie's future, only noting that the former sheriff is close to bankruptcy. Leslie isn't paying three creditors he owes a total of $46,000, the attorney said, and had $300 in monthly disposable income after he pays the rest. Leslie will voluntarily surrender his law enforcement certification, Gillespie said. And a case against Hertach's law license will be revived by the state's legal review board in Topeka, Joseph said, now that sentencing has been completed. (The Hutchinson News)

December 19, 2002 In a prepared statement, Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall on Wednesday defended her decision to accept a plea bargain in the Larry Leslie-Gerald Hertach bribery case. In the statement, issued by prosecutor John Bork, one of Stovall's assistants, the AG said the state's decision to accept two misdemeanor conflict-of-interest convictions "serves the interest of justice by ensuring a conviction and establishing restitution for the unlawful acts perpetrated by the defendants.... Stovall said the presumptive sentences in the original bribery cases filed against Leslie and Hertach would have been probation. However, Senior Judge Michael Barbara, angered by the lack of a clear plan to repay $750,000 in annex profits to Reno County, sentenced the two men Wednesday to a year in jail on each of the conflict-of-interest counts. The plea bargain came under local criticism as a slap on the two men's wrists. District Attorney Keith Schroeder, whose office played a role in uncovering the allegations, said he will refuse to refer cases to Stovall's office as a result of the light deal. (The Hutchinson News)

December 19, 2002 Larry Leslie and Gerald Hetach will begin the new year in jail, a senior judge ruled in Reno County District Court Wednesday afternoon. How long they have to stay depends on whether they can come up with their share of an estimated $750,000 in restitution to Reno county, money "cheated" from local taxpayers in the private and illegal operation of the county's jail annex, Judge Michael Barbara ruled. Leslie, 59, the former Reno County sheriff, and Hertach, 56, a Hutchinson attorney, were sentenced to a year in jail Wednesday - six months consecutively on each of two misdemeanor conflict-of-interest counts. Both men were moved out of Reno County for security concerns, Barbara said. The charges grew out of the two men's partnership in MgtGp Inc., a private firm that in 1997 obtained a contract to manage the jail annex - without divulging to the Reno county Commission that Leslie, then sheriff, was involved. A clearly angry Barbara rejected pleas from the defense for probation in both cases, instead taking issue with the two men's refusal to provide plans to repay almost $750,000 in profits from the annex operation. A year owed to the people of Reno County, Barbara said as he handed down the sentence. "Counsel wondered today what good it would do to send these men to jail," the judge said. "Well, a viable objective in the sentencing process is viable deterrents. "Counsel has agreed that deceit was involved in this case - political not criminal. But pure, deliberate greed was involved." (The Hutchinson News)

October 18, 2002 Four years of memories came flooding back this week in the Reno County Sheriff's Department. Secretaries to deputies were stopped cold with disbelief when former Sheriff Larry Leslie pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of misdemeanor conflict of interest for collecting $285,000 from a partnership operating the county's jail annex. Leslie had been charged with 21 counts of bribery. Leslie and Hutchinson attorney Gerald Hertach, partners in MgtGp Inc., each face up to a year plus restitution and fines up to $820,000 for their role in the partnership. "It's kind of made everyone relive the whole thing," Sheriff Randy Henderson said. "Kind of back to the old thing that we can do something wrong and get by with it because of who we are. The frustration with plea bargain, which likely will bring little or no jail time, was expressed by a couple of players in the Leslie story. "I don't think he got near what he deserved," said Sherri Owston, the sheriff's office manager. Owston was directed by Leslie to help him prepare invoices that were used to bill Hertach for almost $285,000 over the three years of their annex partnership. "I was not at all happy about their decision to plead it down to a misdemeanor," said Howard Shipley, a detective who made the first late-night foray into Leslie's office to copy documents about the partnership. "I think the original charge of bribery could have been proven. We should have gone to court and let the jury make a decision on that." "I am somewhat discouraged that the case did not go to trial in order for the whole truth to come out," said Capt. Dennis Radke, who heads the detective bureau. There's also a consensus that Leslie let his officers and employees down by taking part in the partnership. (The Hutchinson News)

October 18, 2002 The business partners in a controversial deal to operate Reno County's jail annex entered guilty pleas Monday to misdemeanor conflict of interest charges. The pleas by former Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie, Hutchinson attorney Gerald Hertach and the attorney's MgtGp Inc. short-circuited Monday's anticipated start of their trials on 21 bribery counts. The plea deal also includes a "joint or separate" agreement to pay Reno County $750,000 in restitution. The conviction falls under Kansas statue 75-4304 (b), which prohibits entering into any contract "where any local government officer or employee, acting in that capacity, is a signatory to or a participant in the making of the contract and is employed by or has a substantial interest in the person or business." (Hutch News.com)

June 03, 2001 Reno County commissioners filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Sheriff Larry Leslie and the private firm hired to run the county jail annex, seeking repayment of more than $500,000 in profits they claim the two have split since 1998. Commissioners also asked a judge to terminate the county's four-year, $2 million contract with MgtGp Inc., signed in January 2000. Leslie is charged with accepting more than $280,000 in bribes from MgtGp Inc. secretary Gerald Hertach in exchange for persuading commissioners to hire the company. Hertach is also named in the lawsuit. Leslie had an obligation to disclose any business relationship between himself and MtgGp Inc. when he recommended the contract, County Counselor Joe O'Sullivan said Wednesday. "The defendant's silence when they had the duty to speak constituted a fraud upon the plaintiffs," the suit alleges. Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall contends that Leslie accepted payments ranging from $4,000 to $15,625 between June 1998 and January 2001. The county's suit claims the alleged payments were routed through a series of Kansas and Nevada corporations, each of which is either owned or operated by Hertach or Leslie. The lawsuit alleges that Leslie and Hertach "negotiated and agreed to a proposal whereby Hertach would present, and Leslie would recommend, a management agreement to the plaintiff for the minimum security facility." (The Wichita Eagle)

May 19, 2001 Fellow law officers and a county commissioner said Tuesday they are shocked that Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie has been implicated in a bribery scheme that authorities say involves more than $280,000. Leslie, who was elected sheriff in 1992, was arrested Monday and charged with 34 counts of bribery. He's accused of accepting $284,875 from a Hutchinson lawyer and, in return, influencing county commissioners to hire MgtGp Inc., the private company that handles the daily operations of the annex, authorities said. Commissioner Francis "Shep" Schoepf said Leslie advised the commission in 1998 that entering into an agreement with MgtGp Inc. would save money. The alternative was to hire more county employees to run the new annex, he said. The county in January awarded MgtGp Inc. a new four-year contract worth $612,000 this year alone, according to the county. Schoepf said he "completely trusted" Leslie's judgement. "It seemed like he was giving us good advice," Schoepf said. "When I heard about the charges, I was absolutely floored. I have had so much faith in that guy." According to court records, Leslie is accused of accepting $284,875 in 34 payments from June 1998 to last January. The largest payment -- $15,625 -- was allegedly made on July 15, 1999, court records show. (The Wichita Eagle)

May 17, 2001 The private company at the center of the bribery case against Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie was incorporated just 13 days before the county awarded it a contract worth more than $1.5 million to run a jail annex in 1997, according to state records. But county officials said Wednesday they weren't concerned with the newness of the company because Leslie vouched for one of its owners, who had experience running a dormitory for nonviolent offenders. Leslie, 57, pleaded innocent to 34 counts of bribery at his first appearance before a district judge Wednesday. Hutchinson lawyer Gerald Hertach, treasurer and co-founder of MgtGp Inc., which operates the annex, also pleaded innocent to charges that he bribed the sheriff. The company also is named as a defendant. Leslie is accused of accepting more than $280,000 from Hertach from June 1998 to last January. Leslie, who is still on the job, earns $59,672 a year as sheriff. It's also a unique relationship, said Darrell Wilson, executive director of the Kansas Association of Sheriffs. He knows of no other county in the state that contracts with a private company to run part of its jail. MgtGp Inc. is still operating the annex, County Administrator Ed Williams said.

Kansas Department of Corrections

November 27, 2001 Citing a temporary shortage of prison beds, the Kansas Department of Corrections said Tuesday that it will send 100 inmates to a privately run institution in Colorado where they will remain until spring. The agreement with Corrections Corp. of America marks the first time that Kansas has sought facilities in other states to house some of its prisoners. Federal money can be used to pay 90 percent of the contract costs with the private firm. That money cannot be used to pay for space in public facilities such as county jails. (The Kansas City Star)

Leavenworth Prison Leavenworth, Kansas CCA

September 27, 2002 Keith Gabriel was intially incarcerated at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., where he was diagnosed as being HIV-positive. The Federal Bureau of Prisons began immediately to provide Gabriel with medical treatment. In 1988, he was transferred to another federal penitentiary. His medical jacket was transferred with him and he continued to receive appropriate treatment for his HIV condition. In 1990, he was transferred to a penitentiary run by the District of Columbia in Lorton. That facility was operated by CCA under contract with that district. When Gabriel was transferred to Lorton, his medical jacket was not transferred with him. The medical history that was sent did not explicitly state that he was HIV-positive. After he was moved to Lorton, Gabriel said he did not receive any further medical treatment until his HIV status was "rediscovered" in 1998. He alleged that as a result of his failure to receive treatment, he suffered a decline in his T-cell count. He also experienced the onset of premature dementia and depression. He also contended that when CCA and the District were alerted to his HIV status, both failed to search for and obtain his medical jacket. He also said CCA provided him with an improperly low dosage of one of the drugs he needed. Gabriel filed suit against the Bureau of Prisons and CCA for negligence and medical malpractice. The U.S. District Court, District of Columbia agreed with the bureau that BOP was not a state official acting under color of state law. The CCA then asked for dismissal, saying it was not a proper defendant because it wasn't a public entity. The company said it could not be held accountable in the same manner as a governmental organization. The CCA also said Gabriel had not filed his claim within the required two years.

August 14, 2000 A guard pleaded guilty to drug charges after he was caught delivering a half once of crack cocaine to an undercover officer. The guard admitted to smuggling contraband into the prison for inmates. (AP, August 14, 2000)

Prison Health Services Shawnee County, Kansas PHS

September 20, 2002 Shawnee County corrections director Betsy Gillespie said Thursday she was confident that jail medical and correctional staff members didn't make any errors causing the death of an inmate earlier this month. Roy Hardy III died Sept. 2 in the jail's custody. His family claims Hardy, who had a congenital heart defect, died because medical staff failed to provide him with his medication. Hardy-Smith declined to say whether the family plans a wrongful death suit against the jail, but any lawsuit likely would include Prison Health Services Inc., a Tennessee-based company specializing in correctional health care. The county entered a contract with the company in November 2001. The contract states PHS will cover court costs if inmates sue the county and the jail on health care issues. An almost complete turnover of medical staff ensued March 1, when PHS took over medical services. Only one nurse who previously worked for the county health agency remained. Daily dose Topekan Allen Stann was jailed for two days earlier this month for a traffic violation. Stann knew he had to do his time, but said he was upset because he didn't receive his medication, Celebrex, twice a day for arthritis. "It was like cruel and unusual punishment," he said. Stann did get Ibuprofen his first full morning at the jail and until his release. He said he went to the jail the week before serving his sentence to learn if he had to do anything to ensure he received his medication. "I even went in early the morning I checked in to make sure about it," he said. After his release, Stann said, he called the jail because he was concerned about other inmates. "I told them while I was in a lot of pain, it didn't kill me. But I said to them 'what if I had a serious illness and didn't get my medication. I could have died.' I said that to them and then found out about Mr. Hardy," he said. (Topeka Capitol Journal)

Reno County Jail Annex Reno, Kansas Misc

November 27, 2002 By signing off at the last minute on a plea bargain agreement in the Reno County Jail Annex case, Attorney General Carla Stovall agreed Oct. 7 to toss out 21 felony bribery charges against three criminal defendants accused of bilking taxpayers out of $570,000. Instead of putting the facts before a jury, the lame duck attorney general accepted guilty pleas to two misdemeanors apiece and endorsed potentially meaningless promises of restitution from former Sheriff Larry Leslie, Hutchinson attorney Gerald Hertach and MgtGp Inc. The outrageous decision not only deepened this newspaper's disappointment with Stovall's job performance as attorney general, it also set three dreary precedents that could have undesirable long-term consequences on public policy in the Sunflower State. Different laws The Stovall-approved plea agreement shows that county sheriffs in Kansas, particularly those who have friends in high places, have the latitude to operate under a different set of laws than other public officials. KBI Director Larry Welch received documents tying Leslie to the illegal payment scheme in the summer of 1999. Yet Welch disgraced his position by failing to initiate an investigation of Leslie, a long-time friend, until prompted a second time - 18 months, 19 payments and $140,250 later – by outgoing Reno County District Attorney Tim Chambers. The U.S. Attorney's Office of Kansas took a similar hands-off attitude toward an FBI investigation. Coincidentally, Welch's son, Lanny, worked there during that time as the office's top criminal prosecutor. Chilling effect. Most of all, Stovall's decision to cut a deal with defendants Leslie-Hertach-MgtGp Inc. will have a chilling effect on government whistleblowers in Kansas. Consider that employees at the Reno County Sheriff's Department expressed the greatest frustration with the plea bargain. Several employees uncovered the scheme and tried to prompt an outside investigation. "I don't think he got near what he deserved," said Sherri Owston, the sheriff's office manager. Former Sheriff Leslie directed Owston to help him prepare invoices to bill Hertach for supposed jail consulting services. (Hutchinson News)

MISSOURI

Correctional Medical Services St. Louis, Missouri

September 2, 2003 Virginia Terry was thankful when her daughter, a drug addict suffering from bipolar disorder, got locked up at the women's prison in Vandalia, Mo., for a forgery conviction. "I thought, at least she'd be safe," Terry recalls. That changed when Terry's daughter, Al'Deana Simmons of Camdenton, began complaining, in letters and phone calls home, about the type of health care she was getting behind bars. She said prison doctors changed her anti-depression medication. She cried about blinding headaches. And Terry will never forget what Simmons said in their phone conversation July 1, the day before she died of an apparent aneurysm. "She said her head was sizzling and that she was going blind," Terry recalls. "The prison doctor saw her for 10 minutes and said nothing was wrong." The case of Simmons, 33, is one of many being explored this summer by investigators with the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in Washington. Investigators have been to the prison three times and interviewed 127 inmates about the medical treatment provided by St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services. They also have met in St. Louis with inmates' relatives, including Terry. She provided them with her daughter's letters and medical records. CMS won its first Missouri contract in 1992 under then Gov. John Ashcroft, who now as U.S. attorney general heads up the Justice Department. Yet, in a move rarely seen by the Justice Department, Missouri's prison system has denied the investigators the access they want. The investigators have wanted to see the infirmary and talk to prisoners and staff at the prison, about 70 miles northwest of St. Louis. Prison officials wouldn't allow it, instead telling federal investigators they could talk to prisoners only in the visitation area during normal visiting hours. That kind of restriction to a prison setting is rare, happening only a handful of times in the Justice Department's 23 years of work using the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act. The act was passed by Congress in 1980. It empowers the attorney general to investigate the conditions at these institutions and file lawsuits to remedy "a pattern or practice" of unlawful conditions. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. Tim Kniest, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said investigators weren't permitted to "walk around unescorted" because of safety concerns. Kniest said that, if the investigators make arrangements with the Missouri attorney general's office, they can have a tour. The investigators work with the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division. That section's job is to protect constitutional rights of people confined to institutions such as state-run nursing homes and prisons. $80 million a year Correctional Medical Services is the nation's largest prison health care provider. It has contracts to provide medical care for about 228,000 inmates and prisoners in 27 states. In Missouri, CMS' current five-year contract, renewed in late 2001, covers medical and mental health care for the 29,500 prisoners in Missouri's 21 prisons. The cost to the state is about $80 million a year. It is based on a fixed per-day price (now at $7.50) for each housed inmate. That cost pays for everything from Band-Aids and aspirin to inmates' prescriptions and catastrophic health care. There are about 1,700 female prisoners in the Vandalia prison. There are women prisoners in Chillicothe, but the federal investigators have not visited that prison. CMS has been the subject of controversy in recent years. A five-month investigation by the Post-Dispatch in 1998 found more than 20 cases nationwide in which prison and jail inmates died as a result of alleged negligence, indifference, understaffing, inadequate training or cost cutting by private health care companies. Many of the cases involved CMS. (STL Today)

November 8, 2001 Gregory Jennings, Jacqueline Reich, Lorenzo Ingram, Sr., Henry Simmons, Calvin Moore, Billy Roberts and Kathy S. Kearns didn't know each other in life, but they shared a common bond in death: All died in U.S. prisons, the victims not of the death penalty, or at the hands of fellow inmates or guards, but in the allegedly negligent care of a single provider of privatized health services. Correctional Medical Services (CMS) is a St. Louis, Missouri-based for-profit corporation that contracts to provide health care services to over 270,000 inmates at more than 330 prison sites in 29 states. A 1998 in-depth investigative report done by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, its hometown newspaper, shed light on the downside of prison care privatization. The Post-Dispatch's investigative team spent five months "visiting prisons and jails; gathering hundreds of police, court and medical records and other documents; and interviewing doctors, nurses, inmates, lawyers, scholars, prison and health experts and families of inmates who died behind bars." Published in September 1998, "Death, Neglect and the Bottom Line: Push to Cut Costs Poses Risks," found that while CMS successfully reduced the cost of health care to several states, there were "more than 20 cases in which inmates allegedly died as a result of negligence, indifference, understaffing, inadequate training or overzealous cost-cutting." At the ACLU web site, the civil liberties organization posts a late-January 2001 letter it sent to the Connecticut Department of Correction (CDOC) that claims CMS's health care services -- medical, mental health and dental care -- at the Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia is woefully "inadequate." The ACLU writes: "The health care provided by Correctional Medical Services, the contract provider at [Wallens Ridge], was considered so grossly inadequate that [Virginia Department of Corrections] recently fined CMS nearly one million dollars. The Virginia State Auditor specifically found that CMS did not provide a dentist at [Wallens Ridge] for over three months, and never provided an optometrist. Medical privacy and confidentiality is non-existent at [Wallens Ridge]; as a matter of policy, prisoners are required to discuss their most private medical and mental health issues in the presence of security staff and other prisoners." In 1998, the Minnesota Department of Corrections contracted with CMS for health care services in its state's prisons. According to the Twin Cities Independent Media Center, the NAACP called a press conference in mid-October to publicize a lawsuit "over the death of Gregory Jennings, who died in Stillwater prison on April 6, 2001 because the medical staff were indifferent to his complaints of symptoms of diabetes." Should Calvin Moore, in custody for less than a month at the Kilby Correction Facility in Alabama, have died from being ignored while he lost fifty pounds and exhibited severe symptoms of mental illness, dehydration and starvation? Should Diane Nelson, a 46-year-old mother of three, have died because her request to receive her heart medicine prescribed by her doctor was refused? And what of Charles Guffey, who died of a perforated ulcer because nurses at the Tulsa County Adult Detention Center in Oklahoma refused to pay attention to his complaints of severe abdominal pain? If these folks were around today they'd have a lot to say about the human cost of the growing privatization of prison health care services. Hopefully, privatization will begin to receive the close scrutiny it deserves. That is the least we can do. The deaths of these men and women, while tragic, should not have been in vain. (AlterNet.org)

Kansas City, Missouri Wackenhut

June 3, 2002 A prisoner's respectful letter to a federal judge finally led to his release - more than two years after the judge had ordered him set free because his conviction had been overturned. Reynaldo Tovar-Valdivia, now 42, was arrested by Kansas City police in April 1998 and charged with possessing methamphetamines with intent to distribute. Tovar-Valdivia asked to serve his sentence in California, and was sent to Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, Calif. He appealed his conviction on grounds that he'd been searched illegally, and won. Consequently, U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs of Kansas City signed an order for Tovar-Valdivia's release in January 2000. But somehow, the release never happened, and Tovar-Valdivia remained behind bars. Terry Craig, executive assistant at the private prison, said Monday that he could not release any information on the case unless a written request was received. He wrote a letter in March of this year to Judge Sachs, including pages from the October 1999 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which told the judge to order the prisoner's release. After Sachs received the letter, he issued a new order citing his previous release order, and Tovar-Valdivia was finally freed on April 4. (The Associated Press State and Local Wire)

Ray County

January 13, 2004 A man who escaped from a private jail in Ray County turned himself in early today after being missing for several hours. Officers said Frank Randal Lumley, 42, escaped about 4:20 a.m. from a private jail in Henrietta, Mo. Lumley attacked a security guard and stole the man's keys, said Ray County Sheriff Sam Clemens. (The Kansas City Star)

St. Louis Jails

August 15, 2003 If, as Mayor Francis Slay is considering, management of St. Louis jails goes private, city officials will shake hands with an industry the state of Missouri abandoned years ago. Frustrated over embarrassing miscues, Slay has assembled a committee to examine the city Corrections Department with an eye toward hiring private management for the Justice Center downtown and the City Workhouse on Hall Street. The action resulted from missteps over the past two years, most recently the mistaken release of three prisoners let go because jail workers did not know how to interpret paperwork. The options under consideration by Public Safety Director Sam Simon and a committee of 12 would keep municipal ownership of the buildings but possibly hire out their operation. The Corrections Department has 530 employees and a budget of about $23 million. Private jails and prisons claim to offer tight security for less money through the efficiency of private enterprise. But they have not been without controversy. Missouri withdrew state prisoners from a privately operated lockup in Texas years ago, after a training video in 1996 showed abuse of inmates housed there under a lease arrangement. The video, which showed Missouri prisoners getting bitten by dogs and shocked with electric prods, led to a $2.2 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit. Spokesman Tim Kniest of the Missouri Department of Corrections said Friday that use of a private prison was never more than a stopgap answer to overcrowding. Missouri legislators' enthusiasm for private prisons, never more than slight, declined as a result of the Texas incident, Kniest noted. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

NEBRASKA

Hall County Corrections Hall, Nebraska Opposition to private jails

June 4, 2003 At the same time Hall County is trying to decide whether a new county jail should be funded publicly or privately, Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. President Monty Montgomery is working for a private prison firm -- the same firm he recommended to Hall County supervisors. "I have a debt of honor to them," Montgomery said of Corplan Corrections of Argyle, Texas. "I do it on my own time, and I don't do it on business time." Montgomery first introduced Corplan Corrections to the Hall County Board of Supervisors in 2001, after starting work as president of the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. that July. That same year, he also arranged and accompanied four supervisors on a tour of a 1,097-bed jail Corplan worked on in Garza County, Texas, just southeast of Lubbock. Corplan worked on a similar but smaller 548-bed jail in Haskell, Texas, where Montgomery was then economic development director. Montgomery said it was that association with Corplan officials, a more than four-year effort, that led to his "debt of honor." Because Corplan worked with Haskell for no pay for four years before the community finally settled on and constructed the privately funded jail, Montgomery feels a need to return the commitment. "I'm helping friends of mine," Montgomery said of why he represents Corplan County supervisors most recently toured jails in Kansas and Iowa in pursuit of construction and operational ideas. However, the county is awaiting an attorney general's opinion on whether a private jail is even a legal option for the county. Besides pitching Corplan Corrections to Hall County, Montgomery has also represented the firm to Huron, S.D., which is considering a jail there. (The Independent)

March 12, 2003 A dozen Hall county corrections staff members listened on Tuesday as the spokesman of a national organization opposing private jails and prisons told the Hall County Board of Supervisors why such facilities pose a threat to the public, jail staff and inmates. "I think it hit the nail on the head, " Hall County corrections Cpl. Tom Hansen said of the presentation. "They are unsafe entity and are unsafe in your community," Brian Dawe, executive director of Corrections USA, told the board about private jails. In a passionate and well-rehearsed 20-minute presentation, Dawe cited studies from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service and academicians detailing that private prisons cost more and have more escapes, riots and assaults that publicly run jails. "Our concern is the operator -- are we government employees or private company employees?" Hansen told The Independent. "We're not about to jeopardize our homes and property." (The Independent)

Lincoln County, Nebraska Western Correction

1992 Sold on the economic development scam by WC, the county hired private equity company Juran & Moody to issue $ 3.5 million in tax-free bonds to build a spec prison. The town was sold on the idea that the profits from the prison would build new sewage plants and schools. It paid-out the bond money to construct the prison. The gates opened in 1994 and still sits empty. Bondholders were told they could have the facility back. They may get $ .10 on the dollar if they can find a buyer. (The Independent, London, June 25, 2000)

Private Prison Contracting Act

January 23, 2003 Nebraska counties aren't authorized to have a private contractor build or operate a private county jail, a legal opinion from the Nebraska attorney general said. Specifically, the Nov. 5, 2002, opinion interpreting the Private Prison Contracting Act said the act "does not authorize a county or other political subdivision to enter into a contract with a private prison contractor to construct or operate a correctional facility within or on behalf of such county or other political subdivision." That language was included in the act by its sponsor, state Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln, to specify that a private prison has to be done through the state and with the approval of the Department of Corrections, the opinion said. But state Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island, who requested the attorney general's opinion, said he doesn't think it should prohibit Hall County's pursuit of a private county