November 19, 2004
David Pierce
Dept. of Health & Social Services
PO Box 110601
Juneau, AK 99811-0601
RE: Cornell CON Application
Dear Mr. Pierce:
Because the Department would not allow my testimony at the Public Hearing in
Anchorage on November 17, 2004, I am submitting written testimony today.
Since the Department had decided to restrict testimony, I believe disclosure of
that decision should have had prominent mention in the Public Hearing notice.
The public has a right to participate in all public hearings. Restrictions to
that right must also be made public.
When one is contemplating an arrangement that would allow a company to have
almost complete control over children, I feel it is important to look at the
character of the company involved. In my exploration of Cornell Companies I have
found Cornell to be completely inadequate in its care of children.
Here is a synopsis of what I have discovered.
Alaska
At the Fairview Community Council meeting on Thursday, November 11, 2004,
Cornell said that this proposal would work to bring Alaska’s children back
home for treatment.
At the Fairview Community Council meeting on Saturday, November 13, 2004,
Cornell said that this proposal would not bring any of Alaska’s children home.
It is slated for new referrals only.
On Channel 11 Wednesday, November 17, 2004, Cornell stated that its proposal was
designed to bring Alaska’s children home for treatment.
From these statements I can only assume that Cornell doesn’t yet know what its
proposal is supposed to be doing on behalf of Alaska’s children. If even this
simple fact is in question, can anyone honestly look at the proposal and truly
believe this is what Cornell will be doing?
Arkansas
Cornell signed a contract with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services to manage
the Alexander Youth Services Facility on September 1, 2001.
Cornell was found to be substantially out-of-compliance with IDEA state and
federal laws and regulations. The Arkansas Department of Education had to
threaten Cornell with reduction of its state and federal money to try and make
Cornell comply. The Arkansas DOE also discovered $100,000 missing in textbook
and educational materials. Please refer to the Arkansas DOE documents dated
October 5, 2001 and January 2, 2002.
There were two suicides within two months in 2001. In both cases there was no
supervision by Cornell staff. At the time of the second suicide all
Cornell employees were attending a required meeting.
The Federal Department of Justice still has Cornell under supervision for
violation of constitutional and statutory rights of the residents of Alexander
Youth Services Center. This originated as a Federal lawsuit against the State of
Arkansas. A settlement was reached that specified the illegalities of
Cornell’s management in the areas of Mental Health, Fire Safety, Education,
Religious Freedom and Juvenile Justice Management. Please refer to the DOJ
letter to Governor Mike Huckabee, Federal lawsuit of USA v. the State of
Arkansas and the Federal Court entered Settlement of USA v. State of Arkansas.
Cornell hired a woman to supervise counseling services without checking to see
if she had a state license. Her license had been revoked a year earlier.
There were a number of cases of physical abuse by staff on residents. There were
also a number of escapes. Refer to the Cornell and Youth Facilities document
that is attached.
Colorado
Cornell opened Southern Peaks Treatment Center outside of Canon City on
September 18, 2004. Within two weeks seven residents had escaped. Cornell said
that it would have to go back and re-train all of the employees. Refer to the
news stories from Colorado.
This facility is very similar to what Cornell is proposing for Anchorage.
The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition responded to a Cornell RFQ
proposal to build a private prison in Lamar, Colorado. This document mirrors the
format of Cornell’s response to the RFQ.
It is a good synopsis of Cornell’s record of following its own Core Value
Statements, its financial statements and its corporate philosophy on maximizing
economic benefits to the community in which its is located.
Hawaii
The Cornell representative in Alaska misspoke about the reason Hawaii officials
sent seven girls to a Cornell-operated facility in Utah. Refer to correspondence
with Queenie Kuheana in Governor Lingle’s office.
Pennsylvania
Cornell opened New Morgan on September 29, 2000. The facility was
unceremoniously closed on October 31, 2002. In fact, the facility was operating
on a provision six-month license up until it closed. Had Cornell not closed it,
the State was in position to take back the license.
There were 16 substantiated sexual abuse cases and 15 substantiated physical
abuse cases and a number of escapes that were reported to have happened at New
Morgan.
Information from a former teacher at New Morgan indicates that Cornell rarely
had the required number of teachers at the facility.
Please read the State of Pennsylvania 13 page Inspection Report. Other
information can be found in the news stories.
South Dakota
Cornell made great headlines in 2003 with the announcement of a signed
contract to open and manage the Plankinton Juvenile Detention Center and
Plankinton Juvenile Residential Treatment Center. The costs were minimal to
Cornell, $75,000/yr in payment to the Training School Campus Development Company
(TSCDC).
Cornell opened the Detention Center in May of 2004. Cornell closed the Detention
Center in August of 2004. The Treatment Center never opened.
The cause of the abrupt closing centered on the allowable State payment rate per
day for the Treatment Center. The State said it would allow a rate of
$125.27/day. Cornell said it needed $179/day. The difference is roughly $54/day.
This is significant. As the news stories show, there was a standoff between the
State and Cornell. Cornell said it had been promised by senior state official(s)
a rate of $179. Ultimately, Cornell decided to walk out of South Dakota, leaving
the residents of Plankinton and the TSCDC without a company to operate the
facilities.
At a Fairview Community Council meeting on Saturday, November 13, 2004, Mr. Tim
Marshall suggested that attendees call the South Dakota Governor’s office and
ask about how good a reputation Cornell has in that state.
I did just that on Tuesday, November 16, 2004. Kim Juffer, Special Assistant to
Governor Rounds for the Dept. of Corrections, and I talked about Cornell. I
asked if the Governor would have an official statement to make. She said that he
wouldn’t at this time. However, she referred me to his quoted statements in
the Mitchell Daily Republic. She also said she would be happy to talk about
Cornell with anyone from the State of Alaska. Her phone number is 605-773-3212.
Her location is three hours ahead of Alaska Time.
Here are Governor Rounds' statements, which can be found in two articles dated
August 5, 2004.
Plankinton rate standoff
Thursday, August 05, 2004
By SETH TUPPER, The Daily Republic
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/Main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=83&ArticleID=10576
When Gov. Mike Rounds was told Wednesday about Cornell’s “informed
expectation” concerning the higher rate, he became visibly upset.
“I can’t imagine anywhere that they would ever get that rate, because that
rate has never been discussed with the state of South Dakota in which they
weren’t immediately corrected,” Rounds said during an interview at the
“Capital for a Day” festivities at Oacoma.
“They have been consistently advised on more than one occasion on what the
rate of payment in South Dakota is. No one in their organization on any level
has ever been told that that type of rate would be acceptable.””
Cornell says it's closing temporarily
Thursday, August 05, 2004
By Seth Tupper, The Daily Republic
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&ArticleID=10585&SubSectionID=83
On Wednesday, as rumors of a closure surfaced, Gov. Mike Rounds and other state
officials said they never led Cornell to believe that the $179 rate for the
residential treatment center would be granted. Rounds said he thought Cornell
was trying to “threaten to take jobs away at Plankinton to put pressure on the
state.””
I think it is safe to say that Cornell’s reputation in South Dakota isn’t
too good.
Cornell was also trying to get Indian children sent to its Detention Center.
This is what generated the Cornell letter to The Honorable Jannelle Sully, with
an attachment. There was concern in the Indian communities about Cornell.
Within the attachment and cited at More Charges Surface at County’s Juvenile
Jail, Jail Guard Accused of Molesting Inmate, Cornell Guard Arrested for
Smuggling Cocaine into Prison and Cornell Guard Charged in Inmate Sex Case is
the following statement:
“Sub-par personnel represent a very small percentage of Cornell’s national
employee roster, and there is no percentage difference of sub-par personnel
between Cornell’s staff and those working in state correctional systems.”
I have never seen nor found any way to substantiate this statement. This is
clearly very detrimental to all Alaska state employees working within this
state’s correctional system, in particular, or any employees working in any
state’s correctional system.
Within the Plankinton Regional Detention Center Resident Handbook on page 6 I
found the following statement listed under Emergency/Routine Health Care:
“3. The facility has a suicide prevention/intervention program available.
It is your responsibility to inform staff that you need help. Notify any
staff immediately. We have well-trained professional staff available to help
you.” (My emphasis added.)
I find this statement to be completely contrary to what I believe should be
happening in a treatment center. Cornell is putting all the responsibility and
blame on a child, if that child doesn’t let a Cornell staff person know that
he is feeling suicidal. Evidently, the staff is required to do nothing until
notified.
Political Contributions
The one document you have lists the Cornell contributions toward the vote on
a private prison in the Kenai area. Cornell lost this vote by a percentage of
74% No to 26% Yes votes.
I can furnish further documents that state the total Cornell investment in
political contributions from 2001 to 2004 totals $ 109,400. Cornell’s contract
representative in Alaska, Mr. Frank Prewitt, and his family donated $ 100,775 in
the same time period. Even by Alaska standards this exhibits a high level of
contributions.
Investor Relations
Cornell is a company experiencing investor unrest. Many news articles and
SEC filed letters concerning the management of Cornell were previously submitted
to you. If you read pages 15 through 28, you will get an idea of how dire this
unrest is. Pay special attention to Zachary George’s statement on pages 26 and
27.
Zachary George has written five letters to Cornell’s management team and the
Board of Directors. The major conclusion that anyone could make after reading
them is that the investors want the management team to resign, and the investors
want Cornell sold, either wholly or in parts.
A showdown deadline of the June 2005 Annual Meeting was stated in the 3rd.
Quarterly Cornell Investors Teleconference on November 9, 2004. One can only
surmise from all of this investor action that the company known as Cornell might
not be in existence at the end of June of 2005.
National Institutes of Health
These two documents explain the NIH Consensus Development Program report
that was released on October 15, 2004. The report and conference were on
“Preventing Violence and Related Health-Risking Social Behaviors in
Adolescents”. One result of this report is that group detention centers, boot
camps and other “get-tough” programs do not work and can provoke even worse
behaviors in adolescents.
These are only offered as an example of timely work in the area of juvenile
treatment. There seem to be new, documented examples of treatment that should be
considered, when you review these and future CON applications.
As you will be able to see from everything I’ve said and what I have provided,
Cornell’s ability to operate juvenile treatment centers raises a number of
questions. These are in the areas of safety of the residents and the community,
education, ability to follow state and federal laws, religious freedom and
general juvenile management. Cornell’s tactics in pursuing state contracts is
also questionable. I don’t feel that Cornell should be allowed to operate any
juvenile treatment center in Alaska.
To set the record straight, I am not, nor have I ever been employed within the
Alaska State Correctional System. I have never been a state employee union
representative. No one pays me for the work I do. All work is done at my own,
personal expense.
At the Public Hearing statements made by Mr. Bill Bobrick about me were not
true. I have never attended any Downtown Community Council meetings. To my
knowledge Cornell has not refuted any facts that I have presented.
Thank you for allowing me to testify in a written format.
I would like to request a copy of the complete, taped testimony from the
November 17, 2004, Public Hearing. Should there be a cost, please let me know
via e-mail.
If you feel that you need further documentation, please let me know. I’m sure
I can furnish it to you.
Sincerely,
/s/
Dee Hubbard
252-3155
cc: Commissioner Joel Gilbertson
Interested Alaska State Legislators
Mayor Mark Begich, City of Anchorage
Asst. Chief Audie Holloway, Anchorage Police Department
Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News
Kim MacBeath, Downtown Community Council
Becky Beck, Anchorage Downtown Partnership
Noel Rea, Vice-President, Fairview Community Council
Ruth Moulton, Anchorage Citizen Activist
Kim Juffer, Special Assistant to Governor Rounds of South Dakota
encl.: News Articles about Cornell-operated Youth Facilities 1999-2004
Lawsuits, Investigations and Law and/or Contract Violations Associated with
Cornell Companies