|
2010
Arizona
August 25, 2010 Private Corrections Working Group
Today, the Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG), a not-for-profit
organization that exposes the problems of and educates the public about
for-profit private corrections, called for overhaul of the Arizona Department of
Corrections’ (ADOC) oversight of the for-profit prison industry, including: • An
immediate halt to all bidding processes involving private prison operators and a
moratorium on new private prison beds • Hold public hearings during the special
session to address the problems with for-profit prisons in Arizona • Enact other
cost-cutting measures that not only save money but enhance public safety, like
earned release credits, amending truth in sentencing, and restoring judicial
discretion. This action came about after the ADOC released a security audit on
August 19th concerning the July 30 escape of three dangerous prisoners from a
private prison in Kingman operated by Management and Training Corp. (MTC)
(Coincidentally, that same day the last escapee and an accomplice, John
McCluskey and Casslyn Mae Welch, were captured without incident at a campground
in eastern Arizona. The other two escaped prisoners, Tracy Province and Daniel
Renwick, had been caught previously in Wyoming and Colorado). Ken Kopczynski,
executive director of PCWG, condemned MTC for the numerous security failures
that led to the July 30 escape. “If MTC had properly staffed the facility,
properly trained their employees and properly maintained security at the Kingman
prison, this escape would not have occurred. But because MTC is a private
company that needs to generate profit, and therefore cut costs related to
staffing, training and security, three dangerous inmates were able to escape and
at least two innocent victims are dead as a result,” Kopczynski observed. “That
is part of the cost of prison privatization that MTC and other private prison
firms don’t want to talk about.” The murders of an Oklahoma couple, Gary and
Linda Hass, whose burned bodies were found in New Mexico on August 4, were tied
to McCluskey, Welch and Province. While MTC said it took responsibility for the
escape, vice-president Odie Washington acknowledged the company could not
prevent future escapes. “Escapes occur at both public and private” prisons, he
stated, ignoring the fact that most secure facilities do not experience any
escapes – particularly escapes as preventable as the one at MTC’s Kingman
prison. According to the ADOC security audit, the prison’s perimeter fence
registered 89 alarms over a 16-hour period on the day the escape occurred, most
of them false. MTC staff failed to promptly check the alarms – sometimes taking
over an hour to respond – and light bulbs on a control panel that showed the
status of the perimeter fence were burned out. “The system was not maintained or
calibrated,” said ADOC Director Charles Ryan. Further, a perimeter patrol post
was not staffed by MTC, and according to a news report from the Arizona Daily
Star, “a door to a dormitory that was supposed to be locked had been propped
open with a rock, helping the inmates escape.” Additionally, MTC officials did
not promptly notify state corrections officials following the escape and high
staff turnover at the facility had resulted in inexperienced employees who were
ill-equipped to detect and prevent the break-out. According to MTC warden Lori
Lieder, 80 percent of staff at the Kingman prison were new or newly promoted.
Although the ADOC was supposed to be monitoring its contract with MTC to house
state prisoners, the security flaws cited in the audit went undetected for
years. Ryan faulted human error and “serious security lapses” at the private
prison. Arizona corrections officials removed 148 state prisoners from the MTC
facility after the escape due to security concerns. “I lacked confidence in this
company’s ability,” said ADOC Director Ryan. Although it’s a small corporation,
since 1995 over a dozen prisoners have escaped from MTC facilities in Utah,
Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Eagle Mountain, California –where two inmates
were murdered during a riot in 2003.
August 18, 2010 AP
Past audits of the Arizona state prison where three inmates escaped last month
gave the facility high marks and revealed few issues with security or staff
training, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The escape on
July 30 has put corrections officials and the operator of the privately run
prison under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. But if there was an indication of
any widespread security problems at the facility that houses minimum- and
medium-security inmates, it doesn't show in the internal audits. On security
issues, the audits showed overall compliance rates of 98.8 percent in 2007, 99.9
percent in 2009 and 99.5 percent in 2010. Nearly 2,870 areas of security were
audited over the three years and 37 were marked as noncompliant. One security
issue was tagged in 2006. No audits were done in 2005 or 2008 because of fiscal
constraints, said Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson. No
independent audits of the Kingman prison have been done. The audits instead are
conducted by a team of about 15 made up of staff at the corrections department
and the prison who are considered subject matter experts. The audit team
evaluates areas of the prison that include security, training, medical, food
service and business for compliance with the state contract and other orders. A
yearly schedule of audits is available in July, giving prisons advance notice,
Marson said. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections
Working Group, said it's difficult to tell whether the audits are a true
reflection of the operations at the prison without attached documentation to
support the findings. The group advocates against private prisons he said
typically overwork, underpay and don't properly train the staff. "Audits are
used a lot of times to make things look like they're OK," he said. "Maybe they
are OK. I doubt it." Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said the prison
operator would correct the security deficiencies that contributed to the escape
of John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick. Criminal and
administrative investigations into the escape are ongoing. McCluskey's fiancee
and cousin, Casslyn Welch, is accused of throwing wire cutters over a perimeter
fence that the men used to slice their way out and flee. Welch's visitation
privileges at the prison were terminated after a random search in June during a
visit to McCluskey turned up what was believed to be heroin. Welch told
investigators that she was paid by members or associates of a white supremacist
group to smuggle the drug into the prison but didn't say who it was intended
for. State legislators have urged corrections officials and Gov. Jan Brewer's
office to release the results of a security review done following the escape.
Corrections officials said the report still is being written and should be
released this week.
National
July 8, 2010 PR Wire services
CCA Pays Over $22,000 to American Correctional Association to Claim “Stamp of
Approval” at Five Private Prisons On July 9, private prison firm
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) announced that five of the company’s
prisons had been recommended for re-accreditation by the American Correctional
Association (ACA), which CCA described as a “stamp of approval.” CCA did not
mention that it had paid over $22,000 for those five accreditations, that CCA
employees serve as ACA auditors, that CCA is a major sponsor of ACA events, or
that ACA-accredited CCA facilities have experienced major security problems.
Nashville, TN (PRWEB) July 9, 2010 -- On July 9, private prison firm Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA) announced that five of the company’s prisons had
been recommended for re-accreditation by the American Correctional Association (ACA),
which CCA described as a “stamp of approval.” The ACA, a private
non-governmental organization composed of current and former corrections
employees, offers voluntary accreditation of detention facilities based on the
ACA’s self-created standards. There is no oversight or regulation of the
organization beyond its own staff. It is disingenuous for CCA to describe
ACA accreditation as a ‘stamp of approval’ when the ACA, a private organization
that sets its own standards, accepts payments and donations from CCA. The ACA’s
president-elect, Davidson County, Tennessee Sheriff Daron Hall, is a former CCA
program director, and at least two CCA employees serve as ACA auditors – CCA
warden Todd Thomas and company vice president Dennis Bradby. The ACA provides
accreditation services to correctional agencies, both public and private, for a
fee. As stated by the ACA, facilities that seek accreditation must “pay an
accreditation fee.” The organization relies heavily on such fees. For example,
in 2008 the ACA reported receiving more than $3.83 million in accreditation fees
– over 40% of the organization’s total revenue for that year. Facilities that
fail accreditation can re-apply, and the ACA provides waivers for failure to
meet certain accreditation standards. According to a letter posted
on the ACA’s website, effective as of January 1, 2009, the cost of accreditation
is “$3,000 per day, plus $1,500 for each auditor on the audit team regardless of
the size or type of facility.” Thus, at a minimum, CCA paid $22,500 to the ACA
in order to obtain re-accreditation at five of the company’s prisons as
announced in CCA’s July 9 press release. Last year, CCA paid at least $63,000 to
have 13 of its facilities accredited. ACA accreditation is based largely
on documentation provided by the correctional agency being examined, and whether
it has certain policies in place – not necessarily whether it follows those
policies in practice. Thus, some ACA-accredited CCA facilities have experienced
significant problems despite being accredited. For example, earlier this year
two prisoners were murdered at CCA’s Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy,
Arizona, which is ACA accredited; CCA’s ACA-accredited Idaho Correctional Center
is presently the subject of an ACLU class-action lawsuit that describes systemic
violence condoned by CCA staff; and both Hawaii and Kentucky prison officials
removed their female prisoners from the CCA-operated Otter Creek Correctional
Center in Kentucky, which is also ACA accredited, following a sex abuse scandal
in which six CCA employees were charged with sexually abusing or raping
prisoners. One former CCA employee, Donna Como, who served as an accreditation
manager, candidly admitted that she helped falsify documents for an ACA audit.
“I was the person who doctored the ACA accreditation reports for this company,"
she stated in December 2008, referring to her employment at the CCA-operated
Southern Nevada Women’s Correctional Facility. In addition to the tens of
thousands of dollars that CCA pays to the ACA for accreditation, CCA is also a
major sponsor of the ACA’s biannual conferences. In August 2009, CCA sponsored
the main banquet at the ACA’s 139th Congress of Corrections held in Nashville,
Tennessee – where CCA is headquartered – and has been a major financial
supporter of other ACA events. “CCA proclaims ACA accreditation of the
company’s private, for-profit facilities as a badge of honor and an indication
of the quality of CCA’s services,” said Alex Friedmann, president of the Private
Corrections Institute and a former CCA prisoner. “Yet CCA basically buys
accreditations by paying tens of thousands of dollars in fees, CCA employees
serve as ACA auditors, and CCA is a major financial sponsor of the ACA’s
conferences. It is disingenuous for CCA to describe ACA accreditation as a
‘stamp of approval’ when the ACA, a private organization that sets its own
standards, accepts payments and donations from CCA. That is simply a stamp of
CCA getting what it has paid for.” The Private Corrections Institute had a paid
booth at the ACA convention in August 2009, where PCI members distributed
literature opposing prison privatization. The Private Corrections
Institute (PCI), www.privateci.org, is a non-profit citizen watchdog group that
educates the public about the significant dangers and pitfalls associated with
the privatization of correctional services. PCI maintains an online collection
of news reports and other resources related to the private prison industry, and
holds the position that for-profit prisons have no place in a free and
democratic society. For further information, please contact: Ken
Kopczynski, Executive Director Private Corrections Institute
1114 Brandt Drive Tallahassee, FL 32308 (850) 980-0887 Alex Friedmann,
President Private Corrections Institute 5331 Mt. View Road #130 Antioch, TN
37013 (615) 495-6568 ###
Hawai'i:
June 28, 2010 Hawaii Reporter
I am the associate editor of Prison Legal News, a non-profit publication
that reports on criminal justice issues, and I am contacting Hawaii lawmakers in
reference to HB 415, which was recently vetoed by Governor Lingle. HB 415 would,
among other provisions, require that the State Auditor conduct an audit of
Hawaii’s contract to house over 2,000 prisoners in mainland facilities operated
by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). I ask that you vote to override the
governor’s veto, to ensure that an audit is conducted into the state’s $60
million annual contract with CCA to house Hawaii inmates on the mainland. As you
are likely aware, last year the State of Hawaii withdrew its female inmates from
CCA’s Otter Creek Correctional Facility in Kentucky following a sex scandal in
which at least six CCA employees were charged with sexual abuse or rape,
including the prison’s chaplain. I was quoted in the New York Times concerning
that egregious situation; a copy of the article is enclosed. You are also likely
aware that two Hawaii inmates recently were murdered at the CCA-operated Saguaro
Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona – Clifford Medina was strangled to death on
June 8, while Bronson Nunuha was stabbed to death on February 18, 2010. Two
homicides within a four-month period is unusual in any prison system and is
indicative of major problems. Most importantly, an audit of the State’s contract
with CCA is necessary because CCA can not be relied upon to assess itself.
Although CCA conducts its own internal audits, according to a March 13, 2008
TIME magazine article based on the reports of a corporate CCA whistleblower, the
company produces two types of internal audit reports: A general audit report is
provided to contracting government agencies, while an audit with specific
comments and notations by the CCA auditors is retained for in-house use only. A
copy of the TIME article is enclosed. In fact, the company’s then-General
Counsel Gus Puryear admitted, in response to questions by the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee, that CCA “did not make customers aware of these documents,”
and specifically said CCA does not share “the separate commentary made by
auditors.” An excerpt from Mr. Puryear’s written responses is attached; the full
document is too large to fax but can be accessed at the following web link or I
can email you a copy upon request: www.privateci.org/private_pics/Puryear%20Sen%20Feinstein%202.pdf
Based on the sex abuse scandal at CCA’s Otter Creek facility, in which a number
of Hawaii inmates were sexually abused, as well as the recent murders of two
Hawaii prisoners at CCA’s Saguaro facility, and CCA’s admission that it does not
share all of its internal audit documents with its customers, I ask that you
vote to override Governor Lingle’s veto of HB 415. An audit of the State’s $60
million contract with CCA is necessary to ensure that Hawaii taxpayers are
getting the value they are paying for when housing inmates in mainland private
prisons. For full disclosure purposes, I also serve as president of the Private
Corrections Institute, which opposes prison privatization, and am a former
prisoner who served six years at a CCA-operated facility in the 1990s. Since my
release in 1999 I have extensively researched private prisons, and have
testified before legislative committees in two states and the U.S. House
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security in regard to that topic.
Thank you for your time and attention. Alex Friedmann is the Associate Editor of
PLN
National:
June 25, 2010 Tennessean
Eight Corrections Corporation of America detention centers that house asylum
seekers and immigrants awaiting deportation may be line for makeovers to create
a less prison-like feel. The move by Nashville-based CCA to spruce up eight
facilities – half of them in California and Texas – drew sharp reactions from
both sides of the debate over U.S. immigration policies. “We’re coddling
lawbreakers,” said Theresa Harmon, co-founder of the advocacy group Tennesseans
for Responsible Immigration Policies. “We have no teeth in our enforcement and
that’s the reason this whole problem continues.” Plants, flower baskets, fresh
colors of paint on prison walls, and more framed pictures were proposed by
private prison operator CCA to soften the look of several detention centers as
part of reform initiatives within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE is evaluating the changes, said agency spokeswoman Gillian Brigham. Changes
suggested by CCA wouldn’t apply to any detainees with criminal backgrounds or
those considered a threat. Low-risk detainees would be allowed extended visiting
hours up to 12 hours a day, movie and bingo nights, exercise classes, self-serve
continental breakfast on holidays and weekends, better access to legal
resources, free Internet-based phone service and the right to wear their own
clothes. Advocates of better treatment think the proposed changes are cosmetic
and superficial, avoiding the real problems within federal immigration centers.
Judy Greene, criminal justice policy analyst for the New York-based policy
research group Justice Strategies, remains skeptical. “Bingo nights is one
thing, but still having personnel that can’t figure out how to comport
themselves around women detainees or women in state custody shows that (CCA)
doesn’t learn from its mistakes,” Greene said. The federal immigration agency is
CCA’s fourth-largest customer after the federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshals
Service and the state of California prison system. On a typical day, there are
30,000 people in immigration confinement at 256 detention centers run by the
federal government, private firms such as CCA and local jailers. Today, CCA
houses roughly 6,400 detainees for ICE. Nearly a year ago, ICE announced plans
to implement revised policies and standards to make the immigration detention
system less penal and more humane.
Arizona:
June 9, 2010 Arizona Silver Belt
At two consecutive city council meetings in April, the Globe council members
heard from a group of men representing three corporations: Emerald Correctional
Management, Corplan and Cuny Corporation. These men addressed the council
regarding their desire to put in a bid with the Arizona Department of
Corrections to construct a private, 1,000-bed prison in the City of Globe. The
men presented estimates of economic growth that sounded almost too good to be
true. According to Mike Moore of Emerald Corrections, “the city could get a
monthly revenue check per inmate per month but it would depend on the monthly
per diem that the state pays. It does pay and it’s a sizable number.” The group
of business men went on to say the entire project would be $60 to $100 million
in construction, and the goal would be to hire local workforce for 70 percent of
the construction. They also promised to help the city with expansion of the
sewer infrastructure. The city council took two hours to reach a decision, but
in the end, a 4-2 vote in favor of supporting Emerald Corrections’ bid to build
the prison was approved. A deal too good to be true? Well, there might be more
than meets the eye. Case Study: Hardin, Mon. In 2004, Mr. James Parkey of
Corplan - the same James Parkey who spoke to the Globe city council - proposed
the construction of a private prison in Hardin, Mon., a small rural city
suffering from economic stalemate. A team of experts spoke to the city
officials, selling them hope of economic prosperity through the private prison
business. The 450-bed prison was supposed to generate 150 secure jobs and at
least $100,000 in annual per-prisoner revenue. The companies involved, Corplan
as the developer, Cuny Corporation as the civil engineer of the project, and
Civigenics as the prison operators, promised to realize the project from start
to finish. To pay for the prison, the city of Hardin would have to conduct a
bond sale. Prior to the construction, Parkey promised the city officials an
economic feasibility study, which was carried out by Howard Geisler, a
consultant specializing in prisons, and who had worked together with Parkey in a
number of other cities. The study presented facts and figures that a Montana
state auditor later described as providing “little methodology” and lacking
“historical data to support anticipated prisoner counts.” The auditor went on
the say the report made “a number of assumptions made related to financial
viability that appear to be unfounded.” The prison was built, and the three
companies involved received their payments and Hardin prepared itself for its
first prisoners. In this case, however, they built it, but no one came. Hardin
became so desperate to get prisoners in their prison, that they requested taking
sex-offenders and later even Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Since the prison had been
built for less high profile inmates, with 24-bed cells, Hardin’s requests were
turned down. Hardin’s detention center never received the expected prisoners and
the city has been in bond default for the last two years. A post on the
detention center’s website reads, “any person or parties interested in operating
or leasing space in the Hardin Detention Facility should contact...” “Do a lot
of research” -- The pain is still throbbing in Hardin, Mon. After contacting the
executive director of economic development and the mayor, the only comment given
was “do a lot of research.” Hardin, Mon. is one of the most prominent cases,
where Corplan and its partners have left a city with an empty prison. Corplan’s
website lists a number of sample prisons that they have built that are
surviving. However, it does not list Hardin. Neither are a number of other
cases, where things ‘went wrong,’ including facilities in LaSalle County, Texas,
Pioche, Nev., Lindsay, Okla., McLennan County, Texas, Las Cruses, N.M., and St.
Luis, Ariz. In Willacy County, three county commissioners who were working very
closely together with Corplan were indicted on bribery charges. Parkey’s and
Corplan’s actions have caught attention in the media. Dan Rather reported on a
few cases, especially the prison in LaSalle, Texas. Frank Smith, of the
non-profit organization Private Corrections Working Group, has been following
Parkey and Corplan over the years. Smith warned that the economic feasibility
report must be read very closely and to expect that there may be exaggerations
or left out aspects. The economic feasibility study “sells” the project more
than examines it in some cases. When asked why nothing has been done legally
against Corplan, Smith named a number of small factors that may be reasons why
is some cases nothing was done. In Globe’s case, Corplan, Emerald Corrections,
and Cuny Corporation have asked for support for a bid in response to a request
for proposals put out by the Arizona DOC. In Hardin, the three partner
corporations told the city that the prison operator, Civigenics, would provide
the service of having prisoners housed in the facility. This could be a major
difference in the success or failure of the proposed Globe project. The Arizona
DOC will be awarding the contracts for the prisons by June 30, 2010.
Tennessee
May 23, 2010 Tennessean
A 52-year-old Davidson County inmate who suffered from inflammation in his
stomach and an untreated ulcer died last year from lack of medical care, claims
a federal lawsuit filed Friday. With a bloated stomach, Roy Glenn Hall Jr. was
feeling ill while he sat in jail on May 24. Hall was found unresponsive on the
floor of his cell at the Criminal Justice Center on Second Avenue. He was not
treated while he was in Davidson County Sheriff's Office custody, even though
medical staff was aware of his illness, the lawsuit states. Lawyers for Hall's
estate are suing Metro, Davidson County, the Sheriff's Office, Correct Care
Solutions, which has the contract for medical care, the sheriff's officers
involved and the nurses individually. The sheriff's office declined to comment.
Efforts to reach representatives of Correct Care Solutions were unsuccessful.
Records show the sheriff's office conducted its own investigation and
disciplined an officer for ignoring security precautions. That report also shows
that Hall, who also had diabetes and hepatitis, complained of pain and was taken
to medical staff, which sent him to his cell. Hall had been arrested on May 19
on misdemeanor warrants and was screened by medical staff, who were made aware
that he was a diabetic who had liver disease and hepatitis, according to the
lawsuit. Six days later, Hall was found shaking, gasping for air, saying he was
going to die. He wasn't given medical treatment. He died hours later, the
lawsuit states. Video image described Lawyer David Randolph Smith has also
notified the parties of his intent to file a medical malpractice suit against
the state. He said the case highlights the conditions in jail. Smith represented
two inmates who died in Metro jail. Estelle Richardson was found dead in 2004
after a confrontation with guards and Terry Battle died of pneumonia. Hall's
estate is also represented by the Human Rights Defense Center, the parent
company of Prison Legal News, a magazine that advocates for inmates' rights.
Alex Friedmann, associate editor of the publication, conducted his own
investigation into Hall's death. Video shows Hall's bloated stomach, Friedmann
said. "His stomach was obviously grossly distended," Friedmann said. "I've
watched the video, and he looked nine months pregnant. "They had a dead man who
had a treatable condition. Correct Care Solutions, the sheriff's office has a
responsibility to keep him safe and secure." An autopsy report shows Hall had
three quarts of liquid drained from his body after death. The lawsuit is seeking
unspecified damages.
Florida
May 4, 2010 Tallahassee Democrat
An influential state senator who is running for governor called for an
explanation Tuesday of how the Blackwater River prison privatization project was
handled in the state budget. Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, wrote to the
Department of Corrections and Department of Management Services regarding the
Santa Rosa County prison. She said the Legislature appropriated $87 million for
it as a 2,000-bed privately operated prison in 2008, intending that it house
medium- to close-security inmates. In the closing days of the session that
adjourned last week, the budget adopted by the House and Senate added 224
prisoners to the institution's capacity -- potentially worth $2 million a year,
or more, for GEO Group, the company negotiating with DMS to run the prison. The
appropriation was also changed to specify that the prison will "primarily house
special-needs inmates," such as those with mental or physical health problems,
and that it would be in Santa Rosa County, she said. Dockery, who chairs the
Senate criminal justice committee, asked DOC and DMS if either department had
requested the appropriation. She also asked for a summary of responses from
companies competing for the state's business, what other locations were
considered for the institution and why it was designated for "inmates who
require chronic medical and mental health treatment." "She's asking all the
right questions," said Ken Kopczynski, a lobbyist for the Police Benevolent
Association, which represents security officers in state-run prisons. The PBA
opposes prison privatization, which has been a highly controversial endeavor at
six corporate-run prisons in Florida. Spokeswomen for DMS and DOC said the
agencies are gathering information to respond to Dockery later this week or next
week.
April 25, 2010 Tampa Tribune
House and Senate budget chiefs agreed Saturday to open a private prison and pour
$61 million into the University of South Florida's Lakeland campus, but remained
at odds over a variety of cuts and competing proposals. The Legislature, in its
2008 budget, approved the construction of the private Blackwater River
Correctional Institution, responding to predictions that the state's prison
population would jump more sharply than it has. The state-of-the-art facility
now stands empty. Saturday, the House agreed to Senate budget chief JD
Alexander's plan to cut state prison beds and eliminate more than 300 positions,
mostly vacant, in the state Department of Corrections to fill 2,224 Blackwater
prison beds. That's 224 more beds than the facility was designed to hold,
raising concerns about crowding. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said the state can
avoid that problem by "double-bunking" dormitory space. Ken Kopczynski,
political affairs assistant for the Florida Police Benevolent Association,
questioned whether it is ethical to turn incarceration of prisoners into a
profit-making industry. With 4,000 beds or more available in the state's public
prisons, Kopczynski said, there's no reason to open a private one. Alexander
disagreed. "I just couldn't, in all conscience, sit there with a brand-new, $120
million facility and not find a way to use it; it just doesn't make sense to me.
I think this is a reasonable compromise."
April 24, 2010 Tampa Tribune
House and Senate budget chiefs agreed Friday on money for Florida Forever and a
range of other issues, but will spend the weekend haggling over items ranging
from crisis pregnancy counseling to trading state-run prison beds for private
ones. The popular-but-pricey Florida Forever program won $15 million Friday
after losing in budget negotiations last year. When the House refused in 2009 to
provide new money for the land conservation program, its line item, to the alarm
of environmentalists, vanished from the budget. This year, the House initially
left the program out of its budget plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Janet Bowman of the Nature Conservancy said environmentalists are grateful for
the $15 million "bridge" funding. The proposed cash infusion, she said, will pay
for land appraisals and allow the state to negotiate with land owners. Other
issues on which Senate and House budget chiefs agreed during the past several
days: •Spending $10 million on Everglades restoration. •Repealing a shoreline
fishing fee lawmakers passed in 2009. •Cutting state payment rates to nursing
homes by 7 percent. •Spending $200,000 on a new Innocence Commission to study
why innocent people have wound up in prison and prevent future cases. •Spending
$11.7 million on aid to libraries, less than the full $21 million funding the
Senate proposed earlier. All decisions on the budget remain unofficial until the
end of conferencing. The nursing home rate reduction is among a handful of
recent agreements considered tentative, given concerns in both chambers about
potential harm to nursing home residents. House and Senate budget chiefs will
likely wrap up their negotiations on Sunday, at which point they forward any
remaining sticking points to House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President
Jeff Atwater for final decisions. Public versus private -- Among the issues
still at play this weekend: How to handle the opening of Blackwater River
Corrections Institution, a private prison in Santa Rosa County. The Legislature
authorized construction of the low-cost, highly efficient prison in response to
predictions that the prison population would jump more sharply than it has. The
Senate is proposing to shutter less efficient state facilities and eliminate
more than 300 vacant positions in the Department of Corrections to open 2,224
beds at Blackwater. That is 224 more beds than facility was designed to hold.
Carter Goble Lee, the Atlanta-based firm contracted as Blackwater's project
manager, warned the state Department of Management Services in an April 2 letter
that the extra beds would place the state at risk of litigation by violating an
industry standard of "25 square feet of unencumbered space per inmate." Senate
budget chief JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said Friday the state can avoid
overcrowding by "double-bunking" dormitory space for lower-risk inmates. "It's
typical of the kind of structure that we have in our publicly operated prisons,
so we felt like that was a good, efficient move to contain costs." The Senate
proposes more than $24 million in cuts to the state corrections budget to offset
the cost of opening Blackwater. Meanwhile, the state has 4,000 to 5,000 vacant
beds available in the existing state system, said Ken Kopczynski, political
affairs assistant for the Florida Police Benevolent Association. "There's no
need for this prison," Kopczynski said. "They should let it sit until they need
it." Alexander said that's not acceptable. "I believe it will save us money," he
said. "It's unconscionable to me to have a $120 million facility sitting empty -
the newest, most state-of-the-art facility. I don't know how I would tell the
taxpayers that that's OK." The House has agreed to the corresponding reduction
in prison staff vacancies, but not the extra 224 beds.
April 16, 2010 St Petersburg Times
Let me see if I understand this: Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent tours
the county jail managed by Corrections Corporation of America and discovers the
need for millions of dollars of repairs. The contract with CCA requires it to
maintain the facility other than "major" repairs. One has to wonder what
category the problems discovered by the sheriff fall under. Commissioners are
shocked, absolutely shocked. Well, where have you all been? It appears that
Hernando facility managers had not been to the jail in over a decade. Huh? CCA
is in this business for a profit. If it's going to cost money and affect the
bottom line for its shareholders, then it is going to think twice before
expending money. Now the irony of all this is that the Hernando County Jail is
ACA (American Correctional Association) accredited. One has to wonder if the ACA
actually toured this jail or if ACA accreditation has nothing to do with running
a jail. I wonder how much CCA paid the ACA for this? Ken Kopczynski, Private
Corrections Working Group, Tallahassee
April 2, 2010 St Petersburg Times
CCA is desperately trying to keep the contract to run the jail, since
Hernando Sheriff Nugent has decided that the jail should be run by his office
and staff. Does CCA truly believe that the citizens of Hernando County have
forgotten the sad history of CCA's mismanagement of their jail? In case they
have, here are some examples: Just this last month a CCA guard was caught
"doctor shopping" for narcotics and an inmate was caught with drugs hidden in
his fat folds. In July 2009 a CCA guard pleaded guilty to promising to bring
drugs into the jail, another faced two rape charges and one of sex with a
16-year-old, and the county fought CCA over $422,000 the county said CCA owed
it. In January 2008, the Times reported on the filing of a wrongful death by the
family of Edward Duritsky and a sexual harassment suit filed by a former female
CCA guard. A November 2008 story involves a suit over injuries suffered during a
"melee" at the jail. What about the suicides that happened or inmates who were
abused in 2007? Remember the fingerprinting and photographing of inmates issue?
How about the fines or high-profile controversies, an escaped prisoner and the
arrest of an employee suspected of stealing inmates' money during the booking
process? These articles can be found on our Web page: privateci.org/florida.htm.
This isn't just about who can run the jail cheapest. It's about the quality of
service and the safety of the community. Ken Kopczynski, Executive Director,
Private Corrections Working Group, Tallahassee
March 5, 2010 St Petersburg Times
We all know that when the real estate bubble burst a few years ago, it cost
us all. When the incarceration bubble bursts — as may be happening — it should
save us money. Because it's sure been expensive to blow it up. In 1988, when
Hernando County hired Corrections Corporation of America to run its jail, it
paid the company $1.7 million to house 160 inmates; in recent years, the number
of inmates, averaged over the course of a year, crested at 591 a day in 2007,
and the annual cost of running the jail is now $11.4 million. Sure, Hernando
County's overall population has almost doubled in that time, and inflation did
its usual dirty work. But the main reason for the increased costs here and
across the country is that we are locking up a higher percentage of our
residents. "In the past decade, we've more than doubled our jail population, and
consequently costs have gone up,'' said county purchasing director Jim Gantt.
What else has changed? Well, 22 years ago, privatization seemed a new and
promising approach to handling a growing inmate population at a reasonable cost.
Now, a lot of people think private jails and prisons waste taxpayer money, not
save it. And I'm not just talking about union-funded activists. I'm talking
about one of Hernando's most middle-of-the-road politicians, Sheriff Richard
Nugent. "The difference between us doing it and CCA doing it is, we don't have
to carry the corporate load,'' said Nugent, who this week said he wants his
department to reassume control of the jail. "We don't have to support all the
staff (at company headquarters) in Nashville. We don't have to show a profit
margin for shareholders.'' CCA has a reputation for cutting costs to the bone,
so I'm not sure Nugent really can save much money. But we'd come out ahead even
if he just keeps the costs level. The guards would be better paid and better
qualified, judging from CCA's historic pay rates and turnover levels. And all
the money spent on the jail would stay in the county. Nugent has talked about a
lot of potential savings. One big one is that, unlike CCA, he has a motivation
to cut the jail population. Big picture, the growth of CCA, from its founding in
1983 to a company that today supervises facilities with 80,000 beds, has
coincided with the explosion of the nation's prison population. The company
isn't the main cause of this increase, of course. Twenty years ago, as crime
rates climbed and prisons were filled to bursting, even violent criminals in
Florida could get credit for three years of their sentence for every year they
served. People had a right to be mad, and to demand longer sentences and to
elect tougher judges. But also consider this: CCA has contributed millions of
dollars to the campaigns of politicians who backed longer sentences, said Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of Private Corrections Working Group, who is one
of those aforementioned union-funded activists. And remember those laws that
required prisoners to serve 85 percent of their sentences or, for many repeat
offenders, a lifetime behind bars? They were written by the conservative
American Legislative Exchange Counsel at a time when CCA was helping steer its
criminal justice policy, said Byron Price, author of Merchandising Prisons, a
book about the private corrections industry. This advocacy makes sense. The more
people who are behind bars, the more CCA profits. Locally, Nugent says, the
company likes to stretch the booking of inmates out to at least six hours, even
if money is available for bail. CCA also has no motivation to explore
alternatives to jail time, such as ankle bracelets that could allow the
Sheriff's Office to track the movement of people charged with nonviolent crimes.
There would seem to be plenty of candidates for such a program. A county study
showed that in April of last year, 48 percent of the inmates were in jail for
probation violations. Another 30 percent were in for traffic offenses (not
including driving under the influence) or for either possessing or selling
marijuana. Counties and states are looking to cut inmate populations to save
money all over the country, said Steve Owen, a CCA spokesman, but that doesn't
mean the idea of private corrections is a thing of the past. CCA is growing fast
in some states, including California, where he expects CCA will supervise about
10,000 prison beds before the end of the year. But the Private Corrections
Working Group issued a statement in February stating that CCA had lost 7,594
beds in the previous 16 months, including the termination of its long-standing
contract to run the Bay County jail in the Florida Panhandle. If Hernando
follows Bay's lead, it could leave Citrus as the only county in the state with a
CCA-run jail. You can almost hear the air going out of the bubble.
Alaska
February 15, 2010 AP
State Sen. Johnny Ellis took to the Senate floor Monday morning to recognize the
behind-the-scenes work of a former state legislative aide who died last year.
Dee Hubbard became a confidential source to the FBI back in 2003 as it began to
investigate influence peddling in the state Legislature. Most people think of
the federal corruption investigation in Alaska as a probe of bribery associated
with oil taxes, but it began as "Operation Polar Pen" -- a private prison
investigation. And Hubbard was a crusader against private prisons. "She is the
person who very quietly with no fanfare remained anonymous throughout the FBI
investigation, the Veco scandal, the private prison scandal," said Ellis, an
Anchorage Democrat. She explained how the legislative process worked to FBI
agents and told them "who's who," Ellis said. "She was just a person there who
was interested in, as she always said, 'cleaning up Alaska politics,'" Ellis
said. "She was motivated by the right kinds of factors." If prosecutors later
made mistakes in pursuing cases, "it wasn't because of Dee," Ellis said. She
gave impeccable advice, he said. Hubbard was diagnosed with liver and kidney
failure in March and died in August. Her husband, Charlie, and two grown sons
are still struggling to cope with her death, Ellis said. Her contributions may
not be fully revealed for years, the senator said.
Arizona
February 12, 2010 KQNA
The prison facility issue does not appear to be dead in Prescott Valley. Despite
being pulled from last night's agenda, Frank Smith from the Private Corrections
Working Group was in attendance at the voting session. Smith told Council why he
felt it was important to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting:
Developer Bill Fain also spoke during the public comment period and explained
why the community wants to see resolution on this issue: Brad Wiggins, Senior
Director of Site Acquisition with Corrections Corporation of America has
indicated the Corporation is terminating site selection activities for a prison
in Prescott Valley. Developer Brad Fain told Council they will be seeking an
annexation and rezone of the proposed prison site.
Congress
January 26, 2010 Reporters Committee for Freedom of
the Press
Proposed legislation that would apply existing public records laws to all
prisons housing federal inmates was discussed during a congressional briefing on
Monday. The bill, H.R. 2450, was crafted to extend the Freedom of Information
Act to private prisons that contract with government agencies. If the bill is
passed, publicly financed private prisons, which house more than 100,000 federal
inmates, would be subject to the same reporting standards as the Bureau of
Prisons. The companies that run private prisons say they are not required to
disclose basic information about the facilities or the inmates -- except for
reports issued upon an inmate's death -- under existing FOIA law because while
they receive taxpayer money, they are not public agencies. A panel of
specialists at the briefing spoke about the need for more transparency. "If they
do answer the requests, all the documents are redacted and they cite 'trade
secrets' as the reason they can't disclose," said Tom Barry, senior analyst at
the Center for International Policy, of his experiences getting information
about inmates in private facilities from the Bureau of Prisons. David Shapiro,
an attorney for the National Prison Project at the American Civil Liberties
Union, put the scope of the issue in perspective, noting "over 70 percent of the
prisoners we represent are in for-profit prisons."
Kentucky
January 8, 2010 Courier-Journal
Gov. Steve Beshear announced Friday that the state will move more than 400
women prisoners out of the privately run Otter Creek Correctional Center, amid
allegations of sexual misconduct by male workers there. The women prisoners will
be transferred to the state-run Western Kentucky Correctional Complex in
Fredonia this summer — and the nearly 700 male inmates there will be moved to
Otter Creek in Eastern Kentucky, which has 656 beds, and other prisons in the
state, he said. At least six workers at Otter Creek have been criminally charged
with sex-related crimes involving inmates at the facility, run by
Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America. Kentucky State Police spokesman
Mike Goble said Friday that state police expect to present another case to a
Floyd County grand jury next month. “There is no place for this kind of behavior
in our system,” Beshear said Friday. He said the move would save taxpayers
“millions of dollars” a year because the state would pay CCA less per day for
males than females. But Justice Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown acknowledged
the private company that operates Otter Creek could end up making more money off
the deal, because the state would likely house more male prisoners at Otter
Creek than it had female prisoners. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the
Private Corrections Institute, a Florida-based anti-privatization group, said he
believes the deal rewards Otter Creek for failing to protect female inmates from
alleged sexual abuse. He said the state should've sanctioned Corrections Corp.
of America for not being able to meet the terms of the contract struck last
fall, which included minimum staffing levels and female worker ratios. The
state's contract with CCA allows the state to fine the company up to $5,000 a
day, but it has never imposed any staffing-level sanctions. “It's an abdication
of the state's responsibility first off to hold the vendors to the contract and
then to reward them for bad performance,” Kopczynski said. Corrections Corp. of
America has been under fire since last summer after multiple inmates at Otter
Creek made allegations that they were sexual assaulted by corrections officers
and other workers there. A Department of Corrections investigation found that
authorities at the prison failed to investigate seven alleged incidents of
sexual contact between workers and inmates since 2007. In four of those cases,
the workers involved were fired. But investigations, required under the federal
Prison Rape Elimination Act, were not conducted. The state of Hawaii moved its
nearly 200 women prisoners out of Otter Creek, in part because of the incidents.
Kentucky officials, however, extended its contract with CCA for one year last
fall. Brown said officials are in the process of renegotiating its contract
under the new arrangement. He said he hopes to have the contract in place by
July 1, the start of next fiscal year. Beshear attributed some of the problems
at Otter Creek to the lack of female corrections officers and said that because
the state pays more than CCA, it would have an easier time recruiting female
corrections officers to work at the Western Kentucky prison. However Corrections
Commissioner LaDonna Thompson said she doesn't expect to hire additional
officers and would instead transfer female workers from nearby prisons if
necessary. “We think this change will pay off in better management for inmates,”
Beshear said. When the state extended the Otter Creek contract with CCA in the
fall, it said it was requiring CCA to raise its ratio of female workers. Brown
did not answer when asked whether CCA was having difficulty meeting the new
requirement. “All I can say is we presented CCA what our intent was and asked
them to partner with us,” he said. “They are very much on board in that effort,
I can tell you that.” CCA issued a statement Friday applauding the new
arrangement. “CCA welcomes the opportunity to continue meeting Kentucky's
correctional needs at Otter Creek,” said Steve Conry, a vice president of
operations.
CCA
Freedom Forum CEO
Tied to For-Profit Prisons An advocate for--and against--freedom of information
2009
CCA
December 18, 2009 Nashville Business Journal
When Damon Hininger took over as president and CEO of Nashville-based
Corrections Corporation of America in October, it capped a 17-year journey from
his first job with the company as a correctional officer in his hometown of
Leavenworth, Kan. Hininger now presides over a corporation that many believe
could make a similarly meteoric rise out the recession — and one that
continually confronts skepticism and critics’ philosophical opposition to what
the company does. CCA (NYSE: CXW) is the nation’s largest private prison company
and the fifth-largest prison manager in the country behind the federal
government and three states. The company has nearly 87,000 prison beds in the
United States. Its closest competitor, The GEO Group (NYSE: GEO), has 53,000
beds in the United States and 60,000 worldwide. CCA’s revenue was $1.6 billion
in 2008, up $500 million since 2004. Corrections Corp. manages 65 facilities in
19 states and the District of Columbia, 44 of which the company also owns.
Managed facilities in Tennessee include the Metro-Davidson County Detention
Facility in Nashville and five other prisons. In a recent interview with the
Nashville Business Journal, Hininger said the company offers its customers the
best of both worlds: the oversight and accountability of government, and the
innovation and cost effectiveness of business. Critics, however, worry about the
dangers of introducing a profit motive into the penal system, fearing it may
lead to cost-saving measures that put inmates and the public at risk. Most
people see prisons when they think about CCA. Bill Ackman saw a high-quality
real estate business with credit-worthy tenants (governments), low maintenance
costs and competitive advantages. His investment firm, Pershing Square Capital
Management, has recently purchased 10.9 million shares of the company, a 9.5
percent ownership stake, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. In a recent presentation at the Value Investing Congress,
Ackman noted several things he likes about the company including its national
footprint, balance sheet and ability to both capture incremental growth in
prisoner populations and also relieve existing overcrowding in federal and state
prisons. T.C. Robillard, an analyst with Signal Hill Capital Group in Baltimore,
is similarly impressed with the company. “They’ve got a real solid balance sheet
and a strong management team,” he said, noting that only 8 percent of the
nation’s prisons are privately managed. “There’s clearly a lot of runway in
terms of growth …” But while Ackman sees CCA as a bargain investment, Robillard
believes the company’s value is appropriately built into its share price of
about $25. He has a hold rating on the company and believes competitors GEO and
Cornell Cos. are better investments. Anticipating growth CCA has adopted a
strategy of increasing its bed capacity faster than it adds inmates, so that it
can quickly meet customers’ needs. “We have learned … that when a state agency
or federal government wants to make a purchase, they make a decision at the very
last minute with overpopulation and budget constraints,” he said. “They want the
beds as soon as possible.” CCA more than doubled its capacity of beds through
the third quarter of this year. While its average population grew 4.5 percent,
its average available beds jumped 9.2 percent. CCA has weathered the recession
well — revenue is at $1.2 billion through the third quarter of this year, up
about $70 million — but Hininger said the prison business is impacted by states’
budget deficits. To confront budget woes, some states, including Tennessee, have
looked at releasing prisoners early. This month, CCA announced it will close a
Minnesota facility because the two states that house prisoners there have been
reducing their populations. Still, Hininger believes the company’s mid- to
long-term prospects are favorable. “You will have some states where, even with
tough budgets, they will have to expand due to overcrowding,” Hininger said.
“And states have little money to build new facilities themselves.” Hininger said
CCA can build a prison in a fraction of the time and for half the cost of
government by taking advantage of market conditions. For example, he said the
company recently built a prison for its largest state customer, California, in
Arizona to take advantage of lower construction, labor and real estate prices in
that state. Profit concerns Hearing incarceration discussed in such cut-and-dry
business terms grates on the ears of those who fear the profit motive could lead
to negative consequences in the penal system. “Freedom is a core right of the
American people and only government should have the right to take it away,” said
Amy Fettig, staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s National
Prison Project in Washington. Fettig said private prison companies achieve lower
costs through cutbacks in training, rehabilitation services, medical care and
compensation. CCA denies such allegations. Louise Grant, CCA’s vice president of
marketing and communication, and Hininger argued that it is precisely because
they are under such a microscope that their facilities are safe. “We have more
incentive to operate even more safely and securely because there is such a
demand for accountability by the government partners,” said Grant, who said a
government “contract monitor” works in each CCA facility. Overall research on
the quality and cost of private versus public prisons is inconclusive and often
biased. Studies in support of private prisons include those funded by
Corrections Corp. or authored by pro-privatization think tanks. Critical reports
often come from sources such as Nashvillian Alex Friedmann, a convicted felon
and former prisoner in a CCA prison, associate editor of Prison Legal News and
vice president of the Private Corrections Institute. Some critics contend there
is a fundamental problem with prisons being run by for-profit entities that have
no financial interest in seeing prisoners rehabilitated. Hininger acknowledges
that the company is paid on a per-inmate basis, but forcefully denies
allegations that it lobbies for stricter sentencing, against early release or
tries to influence prisoner populations. According to the Center for Responsive
Politics, CCA has spent $770,000 lobbying at the federal level this year and has
spent as much as $3.4 million in one year, 2005. Grant said “anybody who
provides services to government uses lobbyists” and that CCA is no exception.
She said the company may use lobbyists to fight bans on While most of the
negative publicity about private prisons has been focused on immigration prisons
in the Southwest, CCA also has been dragged into the spotlight locally, most
notably when inmate Estelle Richardson died in CCA’s Nashville facility in 2004.
The death was ruled a homicide, but charges against four CCA officers were
ultimately dropped.
Arizona
December 9, 2009 Wickenburg Sun
At least 40 individuals from the Forepaugh area attended a Town Council meeting
earlier this week to express their concerns regarding a proposed prison project
in their neighborhood. Three people were chosen by the group to speak to the
council about its opposition during the call to the public portion of the
meeting, including Elbert Bicknell, Jane Nash and Frank Smith of Private
Corrections Institute, an out-of-state organization that works against the
private prison industry. Bicknell spoke about his concerns regarding overall
prison safety, rate of pay private prison guards receive, lack of background
checks on private prison employees, drugs coming through town and abuse and
violence at the prison. Nash told the council that she has lived in the
Wickenburg area for the past 30 years and through most of those years she has
promoted tourism in Wickenburg. “One point I would like to make is that I think
tourism would be adversely affected by a prison in our community,” Nash said.
“Every city with a prison becomes known as a prison town.” Nash also said she
wanted to address the problem with resources in the area, such as water and fire
protection. “We implore you to listen to us,” Nash said “This is not a complete
representation here this evening, and there are many more people concerned about
these problems, and we hope at some point to have a hearing with you folks and
the CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) people.” Smith, who referred to
himself as the “outside agitator” from Kansas, said he has been studying private
prisons for years and that he comes to communities who ask for his help. “Rather
than being an asset to communities, these prisons end up a serious economic
drain,” Smith said. “This prison will hurt the community of Forepaugh and
adjoining communities. It won’t hurt Wickenburg so much, but it won’t do much
for Wickenburg either.” Then speaking in favor of the prison project was Alan
Abare and Rome Glover of the Wickenburg Economic Development Partnership. “I
work in Wickenburg and live in Congress, and the economic partnership believes
it is important to note that it is appropriate for people to have concerns,”
Abare said. “Anytime there is a new large employer, especially a prison, there
is a concern. We are concerned too, and we don’t want to bring anything into the
community that will hurt it.” Abare said most communities that house prisons
don’t even know the prisons are there, and that CCA would be starting its prison
guards at $15-$16 an hour. Mayor Kelly Blunt was not in attendance at the
meeting, but Vice Mayor John Cook told the contingent that it would get an
opportunity to have a meeting with the council at the Community Center at a
later date.
Georgia
November 25, 2009 Millen News
Dear Editor: I am honored that Correction Corporation of American’s (CCA)
spokeswoman Louise Grant thinks our tiny organization, the Private Corrections
Institute (PCI), might exert a powerful influence in the Millen community
(Letters, Nov. 4, 2009). In fact, CCA with $1.5 billion in annual revenues uses
its power to drown out a great deal of factual public discourse regarding their
operations. PCI’s single purpose is to educate the public on the issues arising
from for-profit corrections. CCA’s only purpose is to profit off the
imprisonment of human beings. We think they’re doing that in a way that
endangers their employees, the public and inmates and detainees. CCA would have
the public believe that it’s the answer to all Jenkins County ’s economic woes.
A substantial body of long term, peer-reviewed, university and think tank
research has demonstrated the opposite is the case. The presence of their
prisons typically represents drains on community resources and promotes economic
stagnation. CCA claims to offer “well-paying, stable” jobs. If a person is
willing to work under dangerous conditions for fast-food wages with expensive
benefits, and is comfortable with 50+ percent annual turnover rates, an unstable
job might be waiting for them. Ms. Grant resorts to calling PCI names because
she knows that the facts are on not on CCA’s side. If CCA wants Millen residents
to believe it is so wonderful, the corporation should publicly release turnover
rates for all their facilities, details of all the lawsuits against them and the
number of escapes from and details of the violent incidents at their prisons and
detention centers. With accurate information the public can actually make an
informed decision versus one driven by false promises, economic desperation and
job uncertainties. Ms. Grant is well aware that anytime any CCA representative
wants to publicly debate this issue in Millen or elsewhere, PCI will be eager to
oblige. For more information go to our webpage: www.privateci.org Sincerely, Ken
Kopczynski, Tallahassee , Fla
November 4, 2009 Millen News
Dear Editor: I was honored to recently speak to 350 Jenkins County residents
about the many benefits of a new partnership prison coming to Millen, should
Georgia award CCA a contract to design, build and manage the facility. During
our public meeting, the community highly supported what a CCA prison would bring
to the County: 200 well-paying, stable jobs; needed taxes to improve schools,
roads and hospitals; and active community participation by our staff. Citizens
heard me talk about our accountability to government and taxpayers in operating
very safe, very cost-efficient prisons that are held to the strictest
correctional standards. I shared with the crowd that opposition groups often
enter into communities that are considering hosting a CCA-operated prison,
trying to create fear and uncertainty. Well, to no surprise, one such group has
come to Millen - the labor-funded Private Corrections Institute (PCI), which is
run out of Florida and led by a /paid union organizer. /Union activists don't
like public-private partnerships, because most prisons operated by corrections
management providers aren't unionized. One of this group's head activists
actually posted an online message encouraging their national supporters to vote
NO on /The Millen News' /recent poll about a prison coming to Jenkins. These
outsiders - who don't live in Jenkins or Georgia - skewed the poll results so
that it made it appear that the people of Jenkins don't support the prison. This
group also ran an ad in this paper to raise false fears about a prison in your
community. To the hundreds of residents I've already met and the others reading
this letter, I want you to know that CCA is a trusted government partner. If we
weren't, then Georgia and the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement wouldn't do business with us in this state, and we wouldn't
be employing 1,500 Georgians state-wide. If we are fortunate to be awarded a
Georgia contract, CCA will be a long-term partner to Jenkins County. Our jobs,
our taxes, our community support will benefit you - the local community. We'll
be here - to stay - in your community. PCI, on the other hand, will go back home
and simply seek to stir up another community. I'm proud of the early partnership
you in Jenkins County have created with CCA. We won't disappoint you. Sincerely,
Louise Grant, Vice President of Communications, Corrections Corporation of
America
Montana
October 12, 2009 TPM Muckraker
With the unraveling of the deal for the shadowy American Private Police Force to
take over and populate an empty jail in Hardin, Montana, it's pretty clear that
the small city got played by an ex-con and his (supposed) private security firm.
But an investigation by TPMmuckraker into how Hardin ended up with the 92,000
square foot facility in the first place suggests that, long before "low-level
card shark" Michael Hilton ever came to town, Hardin officials had already been
taken for a ride by a far more powerful set of players: a well-organized
consortium of private companies headquartered around the country, which
specializes in pitching speculative and risky prison projects to local
governments desperate for jobs. The projects have generated multi-million dollar
profits for the companies involved, but often haven't created the anticipated
payoff for the communities, and have left a string of failed or failing prisons
in their wake. "They look for an impoverished town that's desperate," says Frank
Smith of the Private Corrections Institute, a Florida-based group that opposes
prison privatization. "They come in looking very impressive, saying, 'We'll make
money rain from the skies.' In fact, they don't care whether it works or not."
The Pitch -- In June 2004, James Parkey, a Texas-based prison developer and
architect, met at the Las Vegas airport with Judy Martz, who at the time was the
Republican governor of Montana. Described by the Texas Observer as a "polished
salesman" for the booming private prison industry, Parkey presents himself on
his Web site as a beneficent savior for local communities hit hard by the
decline of the manufacturing sector. Parkey, who runs a company called Corplan
Corrections, was seeking to sell Martz on a prison project for her state. His
method is to promise a full-service team to handle the entire project from soup
to nuts -- what one source described as a "turn-key system." That team includes
a construction firm to build the prison, a prison operator to work with local
officials to find prisoners, then run the facility, underwriters to sell the
bonds, and even a consultant to do an economic feasibility study. "They walk
into a municipality and say, you don't have to do a thing, we'll take care of
everything," Christopher "Kit" Taylor, a municipal bond expert who has followed
Parkey's operation, told TPMmuckraker. State officials eventually referred
Parkey to the city of Billlings. From there, he was directed 50 miles east, to
rural Hardin -- where he found a receptive audience. Parkey promised the town's
brass that his team would take care of everything. The project would generate
150 solid jobs. The prison operator in Parkey's team pledged to pay the town a
business license fee and at least $100,000 in annual per-prisoner fees. To
officials in a county whose poverty rate is double the national average, that
seemed like too good an opportunity to turn down. Big Pay Day -- For Parkey and
his crew, the deal soon paid off. The prison's designer and builder, Hale-Mills
Construction of Houston, was guaranteed a maximum price of $19.88 million,
according to the official bond statement obtained by TPMmuckraker. The exact
amount the firm ultimately received isn't known. And Hardin's $27 million
municipal bond sale, conducted in 2006, netted the underwriters -- a pair of
companies called Herbert J. Sims, of Connecticut, and Municipal Capital Markets
Group (MCM), of Dallas -- a total of $1.62 million. Other players recruited by
Parkey -- lawyers, surveyors, and the North Carolina-based consultant who
conducted the feasibility study -- reaped $169,750. It's not known how big a cut
Parkey took, and he didn't respond to calls for comment. Hardin itself didn't
make out nearly so well. Not a single inmate has ever slept in the jail, and the
town hasn't seen a cent of revenue from the project. The bonds, which were to be
paid back through the anticipated -- but non-existent -- revenue, have gone into
default. The prison "was built on spec," says Taylor, the muni bond expert, who
has looked at the Hardin deal. "[The consortium's] whole premise was hell, we
don't care what happens to the bonds." That's left Hardin with an empty jail
that it so desperately wanted to fill that it begged first for sex offenders
from the state, then for Gitmo inmates from the Feds, and, finally, for some
kind of salvation from the American Private Police Force. A Compromised
Consultant? -- Central to Hardin official's expectations for the deal was the
feasibility study that Parkey's team conducted, which concluded that the project
was all but certain to pay off. But that study appears to have been not only
deeply flawed, but essentially rigged from the start. A Montana state auditor
found in a 2007 memo that the study -- carried out by Howard Geisler, a North
Carolina feasibility consultant specializing in prisons -- was racked with
problems. It provides "little methodology" regarding its estimates of potential
prisoners for the jail. It lacks "historical data to support anticipated
prisoner counts." And it makes "a number of assumptions made related to
financial viability that appear to be unfounded," including "potential
improvements to local aviation facilities." In addition, Geisler's study failed
to mention that bringing in out-of-state prisoners is potentially illegal under
Montana law -- even though that idea was held up as a key method for recruiting
prisoners. The state's attorney general challenged Hardin over the provision,
and though a judge ultimately sided with the town, it was only after a year of
legal wrangling. Perhaps those flaws aren't surprising. The study was paid for
by one of the underwriters, MCM, which had worked frequently with Geisler in the
past. A truly independent feasibility study, says Taylor, the muni bond expert,
would involve multiple firms making bids to do the job for the city. Geisler was
clearly aware while writing the study of the conflict of interest inherent in
the set-up. On one page, he notes in bolded text that, "to assure independence,"
his fee "is not contingent upon the sale of the Bonds." But Taylor calls that "a
smokescreen." "[The passage] is trying to give a sense of legitimacy to the
deal, when that's not the case at all," he told TPMmuckraker. Indeed, the study
was in fact the third such report produced on the subject -- and the second by
Geisler -- over a two-year period, according to a Montana source close to the
process. The first two studies -- the other of which was done internally by
Hardin -- came to ambiguous conclusions as to whether the project would succeed.
After the first two reports, says the source, "the MCM people had [Geisler] come
back and do another. That's when they decided it made sense to go forward." To
this day, some local officials defend the study, arguing that it's easy to
criticize with the benefit of hindsight. Dan Kern, Hardin's economic development
director in late 2005 and early 2006, told TPMmuckraker he's not sure why
support for the project evaporated after the jail was built. "Everybody told me
that this was a great project and there was a need for it," he said. But Taylor
says if the official bond statement, which includes the feasibility study, was
false or misleading, the bond players have legal liability. Beyond Hardin -- It
looks like Hardin isn't the only place where the the lavish promises of Parkey's
consortium failed to pan out. The Montana state auditor's memo notes that, in
three separate jail deals with Texas counties, pushed through by Parkey's team,
"current revenues are insufficient to cover operating and debt expenses." And in
2005, three Texas county commissioners were convicted on bribery charges in
connection to one of those Parkey-led projects. As in Hardin, MCM acted as the
underwriter, and Hale-Mills handled construction. All of the companies in the
consortium either declined to comment for this story or did not return calls and
e-mails.
October 2, 2009 AP
A California company’s bid to take over an empty jail in rural Montana appears
to be unraveling, with an attorney involved in the project cutting ties Friday
and a second company, once named as a subcontractor, denying any involvement.
Those moves followed revelations earlier in the week that Michael Hilton — the
lead figure of the company, American Police Force — is a convicted felon with a
history of fraud and failed business dealings in California. “We met with him
and he asked us if we can support him,” said Edward Angelino with Allied Defense
Systems, an Irvine, Calif.-based defense contractor. “We checked his background,
we checked his company. He’s not an adequate person to do business with.” Hilton
had said he had a contract with Allied Defense Systems to provide uniforms.
Santa Ana attorney Maziar Mafi had served as the legal affairs director for
American Police Force. Mafi said he wanted to see the project begin to move
forward before he could continue his involvement. “For the time I’m pulling
out,” Mafi said Friday. “I need to see more concrete action before I can be
involved.” American Police Force reached a deal last month with officials in
Hardin, Mont., to operate the city’s jail, which never has held an inmate since
its 2007 completion. Hilton has said he would bring more than 200 new jobs to
the struggling community, through the jail and a military and law-enforcement
training center he pledged to build. A spokeswoman for the company, Becky Shay,
indicated the project remained on track. She said a job fair for prospective
jail employees still will be held during the week of Oct. 12. Shay said she was
unaware of the move by Allied Defense Systems. As for Mafi, she said she hadn’t
spoken with him directly but was told he felt there was a conflict of interest.
Shay, who quit her job with the Billings Gazette to work for Hilton, said she
remained confident in American Police Force. She said Hilton told her when she
was hired about his criminal record and several civil judgments against him
totaling more than $1.1 million. Those judgments remain outstanding. “A lot of
people that know me, know about me have asked me if I’ve been duped,” she said.
“No.” Hilton, who returned to California after spending several days in Hardin,
intends to return for the job fair, Shay said. The contract on the jail agreed
to by some city officials and the company, but never ratified by US Bank, which
has a stake as trustee for $27 million in construction bonds used to pay for the
464-bed facility. No money has changed hands between Hardin and American Police
Force. Hardin Mayor Ron Adams said Friday that despite his reservations about
the project, he would still like to see it go forward so the city can fill its
jail. Mafi’s involvement began last month, when Hilton brought him on about the
same time he reached an agreement with Hardin’s Two Rivers Authority, which owns
the jail. Alex Friedmann with the Private Corrections Institute — a group that
long has been critical of Hardin for building a jail that would be privately run
— suggested Mafi’s departure was a sign the project is doomed to failure. “He
sees the ship is going down and he wants to not be on that ship when it sinks,”
Friedmann said. Hilton, who claims an extensive military background and calls
himself “captain,” initially described Mafi as a “major” in American Police
Force. He later said Mafi was the company’s president — although Mafi denied the
role and said he had no military or security background.
September 30, 2009 AP
Michael Hilton pitched himself to officials in Hardin, Mont. as a military
veteran turned private sector entrepreneur, a California defense contractor with
extensive government contracts who promised to turn the rural city's empty jail
into a cash cow. Hardin's leaders were desperate to fill the $27 million jail,
which has sat empty since its 2007 completion. So when Hilton came to town last
week — wearing a military-style uniform and offering three Mercedes SUVs for use
by local law enforcement — he was greeted with hugs by some grateful residents.
The promise of more than 200 new jobs for a community struggling long before the
recession hit had won them over. But public documents and interviews with
Hilton's associates and legal adversaries offer a different picture, that of a
convicted felon with a number of aliases, a string of legal judgments against
him, two bankruptcies and a decades-long reputation for deals gone bad. American
Police Force is the company Hilton formed in March to take over the Hardin jail.
"Such schemes you cannot believe," said Joseph Carella, an Orange County, Calif.
doctor and co-defendant with Hilton in a real estate fraud case that resulted in
a civil judgment against Hilton and several others. "The guy's brilliant. If he
had been able to do honest work, he probably would have been a gazillionaire,"
Carella said. Court documents show Hilton has outstanding judgments against him
in three civil cases totaling more than $1.1 million. As for Hilton's military
expertise, including his claim to have advised forces in Iraq and Afghanistan,
those interviewed knew of no such feats. Instead, Hilton was described
alternately by those who know him as an arts dealer, cook, restaurant owner,
land developer, loan broker and car salesman — always with a moneymaking scheme
in the works. Hilton did not return several calls seeking comment. American
Police Force attorney Maziar Mafi referred questions to company spokeswoman
Becky Shay. When asked about court records detailing Hilton's past, Shay
replied, "The documents speak for themselves. If anyone has found public
documents, the documents are what they are." Shay declined comment on Hilton's
military experience. Al Peterson, vice president of Hardin's Two Rivers
Authority, which built the jail, declined to comment on Hilton's legal troubles.
He refused to say if he knew about Hilton's past when the authority reached a
10-year agreement with American Police Force last month. The deal is worth more
than $2.6 million a year, according to city leaders. Hilton has also pledged to
build a $17 million military and law enforcement training center. And he's
promised to dispatch security to patrol Hardin's streets, build an animal
shelter and a homeless shelter and offer free health care to city resident's out
of the jail's clinic. Those additional promises were not included in the jail
agreement, which remains in limbo because US Bank has so far declined to sign
off on the contract. The bank is the trustee for the bonds used to fund the
jail. A US Bank spokeswoman declined to comment, but Peterson was adamant the
deal would be approved. "It's a solid deal. That's all I'll say," he said. But a
representative of a corrections advocacy group that has been critical of
Hardin's jail and has investigated Hilton's past said city leaders dropped the
ball. "I'm amazed that city officials didn't do basic research that would have
raised significant questions about American Private Police Force and Mr.
Hilton's background," said Alex Friedmann, vice president of the Private
Corrections Institute. Hilton, 55, uses the title "captain" when introducing
himself and on his business cards. But he acknowledged it was not a military
rank. He said he is naturalized U.S. citizen and native of Montenegro. Aliases
for Hilton that appear in court documents include Miodrag Dokovich, Michael
Hamilton, Hristian Djokich and Michael Djokovich. One attorney who dealt with
Hilton in a fraud lawsuit referred to him as a "chameleon" and he has a
reputation for winning people over with his charm. His criminal record goes back
to at least 1988, when Hilton was arrested in Santa Ana, Calif. for writing bad
checks. Beginning in 1993, Hilton spent six years in prison in California on a
dozen counts of grand theft and other charges including illegal diversion of
construction funds. The charges included stealing $20,000 in a real estate
swindle in which Hilton convinced an associate to give him a deed on property in
Long Beach, Calif., ostensibly as collateral on a loan. Hilton turned around and
sold the property to another party but was caught when the buyer contacted the
original owner. After his release, he got entangled in at least three civil
lawsuits alleging fraud or misrepresentation. Those included luring investors to
sink money into gold and silver collectible coins; posing as a fine arts dealer
in Utah in order to convince a couple to give him a $100,000 silver statue; and,
in the case involving co-defendant Carella, seeking investors for an assisted
living complex in Southern California that was never built. Carella said he was
duped into becoming a partner in the development project and that Hilton used
Carella's status as a physician to lure others into the scheme. He was described
in court testimony as a "pawn" used by Hilton to lure investors. Those involved
with Hilton say he is an accomplished cook with a flair for the extravagant —
wining and dining potential partners, showing up at the Utah couple's house to
negotiate for the silver statue in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes. "This is the way
we got taken," said Carolyn Call of Provo, Utah, who said she gave Hilton her
family's silver statue to sell on the open market. According to court documents,
Hilton turned around and gave the statue to an attorney to pay for his services.
Two California attorneys said Wednesday that after learning of Hilton's latest
activities they planned to follow him to Montana to seek payment on the
outstanding judgments against him. "Once I know that there is an asset or some
sort of funds to go after, we'll go after it," said Call's attorney, Roger
Naghash.
September 22, 2009 KULR 8
Less than two weeks after Hardin officials announced an agreement with American
Police Force to house prisoners and stimulate the Hardin economy the questions
and controversy continue. APF officials want to build an animal shelter and
police training center, but private prison expert Frank Smith, who's spent the
last 13 years researching private jails, says the plan doesn't seem legitimate.
"It doesn't make any sense at all. They come on like Mother Theresa in camo,"
said Smith about the APF. The jail expert claims the first problem American
Police Force will have in trying to meet its end of the bargain is filling the
jail. "APF doesn't have any juice in this fight. It's a fight for contracts
where they'd be up against mammoth corporations," said Smith who claims there
are thousands of beds already available in the private jail sector. The Hardin
facility only adds to that problem. "They're talking about closing a prison in
Oklahoma because there's no prison they've closed one in Michigan," said Smith.
The private jail experts also fear that the 10 year agreement will force the
city of Hardin into a financial meltdown, something he's seen happen first hand
at private jails in Coke County, Texas and Tallulah, Louisiana. "They go bad
often," said Smith. "They don't virtually ever produce the economic benefits
they are touted to produce." A lot of mystery still surrounds the facility and
Hardin officials hope to clear that up when they release the contract to the
public. Officials claim to have done their homework and believe APF is a
justifiable group that has every intention to fill the jail and help the
residents of Hardin for the next decade.
Kentucky
August 25, 2009 New York Times
Hawaii prison officials said Tuesday that all of the state’s 168 female
inmates at a privately run Kentucky prison will be removed by the end of
September because of charges of sexual abuse by guards. Forty inmates were
returned to Hawaii on Aug. 17. This month, officials from the Hawaii Department
of Public Safety traveled to Kentucky to investigate accusations that inmates at
the prison, the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, including seven
from Hawaii, had been sexually assaulted by the prison staff. Otter Creek is run
by the Corrections Corporation of America and is one of a spate of private,
for-profit prisons, mainly in the South, that have been the focus of
investigations over issues like abusive conditions and wrongful deaths. Because
Eastern Kentucky is one of the poorest rural regions in the country, the prison
was welcomed by local residents desperate for jobs. Hawaii sent inmates to
Kentucky to save money. Housing an inmate at the Women’s Community Correctional
Center in Kailua, Hawaii, costs $86 a day, compared with $58.46 a day at the
Kentucky prison, not including air travel. Hawaii investigators found that at
least five corrections officials at the prison, including a chaplain, had been
charged with having sex with inmates in the last three years, and four were
convicted. Three rape cases involving guards and Hawaii inmates were recently
turned over to law enforcement authorities. The Kentucky State Police said
another sexual assault case would go to a grand jury soon. Kentucky is one of
only a handful of states where it is a misdemeanor rather than a felony for a
prison guard to have sex with an inmate, according to the National Institute of
Corrections, a policy arm of the Justice Department. A bill to increase the
penalties for such sexual misconduct failed to pass in the Kentucky legislature
this year. The private prison industry has generated extensive controversy, with
critics arguing that incarceration should not be contracted to for-profit
companies. Several reports have found contract violations at private prisons,
safety and security concerns, questionable cost savings and higher rates of
inmate recidivism. “Privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems
in maintaining secure facilities,” a 2001 study by the Federal Bureau of Prisons
concluded. Those views are shared by Alex Friedmann, associate editor of Prison
Legal News, a nonprofit group based in Seattle that has a monthly magazine and
does litigation on behalf of inmates’ rights. “Private prisons such as Otter
Creek raise serious concerns about transparency and public accountability, and
there have been incidents of sexual misconduct at that facility for many years,”
Mr. Friedmann said. But proponents say privately run prisons provide needed beds
at lower cost. About 8 percent of state and federal inmates are held in such
prisons, according to the Justice Department. “We are reviewing every
allegation, regardless of the disposition,” said Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for
the Kentucky Department of Corrections, which she said was investigating 23
accusations of sexual assault at Otter Creek going back to 2006. The move by
Hawaii authorities is just the latest problem for Kentucky prison officials. On
Saturday, a riot at another Kentucky prison, the Northpoint Training Center at
Burgin, forced officials to move about 700 prisoners out of the facility, which
is 30 miles south of Lexington. State investigators said Tuesday that they were
questioning prisoners and staff members and reviewing security cameras at the
Burgin prison to see whether racial tensions may have led to the riot that
injured 16 people and left the lockup in ruins. A lockdown after a fight between
white and Hispanic inmates had been eased to allow inmates access to the prison
yard on Friday, the day before the riot. Prisoners started fires in trash cans
that spread. Several buildings were badly damaged. While the riot was an unusual
event — the last one at a Kentucky state prison was in 1983 — reports of sexual
abuse at Otter Creek are not new. “The number of reported sexual assaults at
Otter Creek in 2007 was four times higher than at the state-run Kentucky
Correctional Institution for Women,” Mr. Friedmann said. In July, Gov. Linda
Lingle of Hawaii, a Republican, said that bringing prisoners home would cost
hundreds of millions of dollars that the state did not have, but that she was
willing to do so because of the security concerns. Prison overcrowding led to
federal oversight in Hawaii from 1985 to 1999. The state now houses one-third of
its prison population in mainland facilities. The pay at the Otter Creek prison
is low, even by local standards. A federal prison in Kentucky pays workers with
no experience at least $18 an hour, nearby state-run prisons pay $11.22 and
Otter Creek pays $8.25. Mr. Friedmann said lower wages at private prisons lead
to higher employee turnover and less experienced staff. Tommy Johnson, deputy
director of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, said he found that 81
percent of the Otter Creek workers were men and 19 percent were women, the
reverse of what he said the ratio should be for a women’s prison. Mr. Johnson
asked the company to hire more women, and it began a bonus program in June to do
so.
Louisiana
August 22, 2009 Texas Civil Rights Review
The family of imprisoned asylum seeker Rrustem Neza tells the Texas Civil
Rights Review that he was visited Friday by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Lufkin). The
visit comes as welcome news for Rrustem's brother Xhemal (pronounced Jehmal)
Neza who was shocked by the way Rrustem looked during a visit on Thursday. After
seeing his brother Rrustem at the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana
on Thursday evening, Xhemal drove to Dallas Friday morning to swear out an
affidavit of his impressions. "When I saw him he was wasted," says Xhemal about
Rrustem in the affidavit provided by attorney John Wheat Gibson of Dallas. "He
was wearing the same clothes he had on when he was arrested two weeks ago. His
face looked as if he were dead. It made me very weak to see his face." The
affidavit alleges that since his arrest on Aug. 5 Rrustem has been kept in "a
hole" or solitary confinement in a room of about three feet by six feet with a
slit on the door but no window to the outside. "I believe Congressman Gohmert
saved Rrustem's life by his intervention," says Friday's affidavit. Xhemal says
he approached the facility two times prior to Thursday seeking to visit his
brother, but it was only after Rep. Gohmert's office stepped in that a
successful visit was completed. The Neza brothers applied for asylum in the USA
after they fled Albania following a political assassination. Xhemal's asylum was
granted, but Rrustem's was denied. The family believes the difference in
treatment can be explained chiefly by the difference in attorneys handling the
cases. Rrustem and his brothers fear that a forced return to Albania would
endanger his life. The LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana is operated
by the GEO Group, Inc. under a "perpetual" contract between the LaSalle Economic
Development District (LEDD) of LaSalle Parish and the federal bureau of
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A recent $30 million dollar expansion
of the former juvenile facility has increased the capacity of the center from
416 beds to 1,160, according to news clips archived online at privateci.org.
"The contract is expected to generate approximately $23.5 million in annualized
operating revenues for GEO at full occupancy," stated a Business Wire press
release of July, 2007. The Texas Civil Rights Review will continuing to monitor
developments in this case.
Tennessee
August 7, 2009 Tennessean
Prisons run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America perform a
government function and must follow public records laws, the Tennessee Court of
Appeals has ruled. The prison giant appealed the ruling issued last year by
Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman, who ruled that the corporation was
the functional equivalent of government and that its administrators must turn
over all records requested by prison reform advocate Alex Friedmann. Friedmann,
the associate editor of the monthly publication Prison Legal News, sued for
access to several types of records, including CCA's government contracts, legal
settlements and cases where CCA was sanctioned or fined. "With all due respect
to CCA, this court is at a loss as to how operating a prison could be considered
anything less than a governmental function," Judge D. Michael Swiney wrote in
the opinion. But the court also reversed Bonnyman's order that the company
produce all the records, though, saying that the Private Prison Contracting Act
limits the records the country's largest private prison corporation must make
public. CCA spokesman Steve Owen said in an e-mail that the company is still
"reviewing the decision to determine its full impact." Friedmann said he is
pleased with the ruling, although it's mixed. "The main issue we did prevail on,
and that CCA argued very hard at, was whether CCA was the functional equivalent
of a state agency," Friedmann said. "Their argument against that was blatantly
frivolous." He said he has not consulted yet with his attorney but plans to
submit another public records request to the company in light of the ruling.
They are considering whether to challenge parts of the decision.
Florida
July 24, 2009 Santa Rosa Press-Gazette
It doesn’t appear that some tensions have died down since Monday’s meeting
of the Santa Rosa County Commissioners where Chairman Don Salter entered into
the minutes he “as chairman feared for the safety of certain individuals
involved with economic development” based on the comments he quoted of Alan
Isaacson. Since then, the feelings are still there. “I have a right to petition
my government and asked them to take action based on the contract I drafted with
them,” said Isaacson. “Then to have someone who accuses you of potential murder.
“I was hurt, but I was also concerned about the fact that in the past two months
I found 11 instances of items being withheld by TEAM. And that violates the
agreement with the county according to paragraph 14.” Paragraph 14 section b in
the Funding Program Agreement between TEAM and the Santa Rosa County Commission
states, “TEAM shall, subject to and comply with the provisions of Chapter 119,
Florida Statutes, and other relevant laws, permit public access to all documents
or other materials prepared, developed or received by it in connection with the
performance of its obligations or the exercise of its rights under this
Agreement, unless exempted or confidential by law. This Agreement may be
terminated by (the) County pursuant to paragraph 17 if TEAM fails to allow such
public access.” Isaacson, who is now a witness into the State Attorney’s
investigation into matters involving TEAM and government entities, is wondering
why the contract is not being followed. “In 2007 the state attorney’s office
told us TEAM was crystal clear on the regulations, but in Oct. of 2008 they form
a committee to study what they need to do to be in compliance with the Sunshine
Law,” said Isaacson. “Then in Jan. of 2009 they are still studying it and are
basically forced to follow the law.” Most of the recent contention to arise this
past week focused on an e-mail that came to light when John Myslak, who is a
TEAM Board Member, addressed charges against him to members of the Santa Rosa
County Commission as Myslak was awarded a contract involving the GEO Prison
Project in East Milton. Other names were noted in the e-mail included TEAM
members John Griffing, Pete Gandy, and Dick Hohorst may have or are all being
paid by taxpayer funds even through the meetings leading up to these payouts
which were held outside of the sunshine. He also questioned the $70,000
grant/contract Jeff Helms, with PBS&J, just finished with the Whiting Aviation
Park. Since the e-mail was sent it has been learned Helms was awarded the
contract prior to joining the board of TEAM Santa Rosa. Helms pointed out the
contract he was awarded was based on a request for proposals and we went through
a process and was fortunate enough to get part of the work. But questions
involving the board and recent action still remain. Ken Kopczynski, with the
Florida Police Benevolent Association, has been going through a battle to get
documents involving an open records request since Sept. 2008 as they were
looking into the matter with GEO Prisons. “We have had a long dialogue between
the PBA and the County,” said Kopczynski. “One of our guys heard about this
private prison on the agenda one Monday and they vote on the letter of support
the following Thursday. “Our member raised questions on how this prison came
about.” When the association sent their letter, TEAM replied their records were
exempt. “We also asked for correspondence between Management Training
Corporation and John Vanyur,” said Kopczynski. “They told us there was no
documents regarding MTC. “Yet we learn about an e-mail dated in April 2008 from
Vanyur to TEAM Santa Rosa.” Since this time the Florida PBA, one of the state’s
largest unions, contacted Roy Andrews who on July 14 stated he was not the
custodian of the public records for TEAM, but that he has “given the staff my
opinion that all their records are public with the exception of those exemptions
specifically set forth in Florida Statute 288.075 for the applicable time
periods.” This is causing a great deal of concern to those like Isaacson, who
have been championing open records and meetings for a long time. “If one of the
largest unions in the state can’t get the information, what makes you think an
individual like me can,” said Isaacson. When asked about if he has ever taken
the time to talk to Isaacson about these questions and concerns Salter stated
they had talked some six months ago. “I talked to Alan about six months ago for
three hours to explain my position on economic development and base protection
and we agreed to disagree,” said Salter. “My big point is for two years they
have been saying their allegations on local radio and everywhere they can that
we are guilty and the allegations they have. “If you have a problem and feel
something is wrong then file the proper complaint and let the legal system work
through it; don’t convict in the media.” “I want to say just as a reminder when
you do stuff like this personalities do arise,” said Isaacson. “But I do not
apologize for what I am doing because these items need to be done out in the
open. “I have a fiduciary responsibility to check on what is questionable and in
my opinion in Oct. of last year your own attorney agreed.”
Tennessee
June 25, 2009 The Tennessean
Whether Nashville’s Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that
runs state prisons, is equivalent to a governmental entity and should turn over
records is in the hands of the State’s Court of Appeals. Appellate judges heard
arguments this morning from CCA’s attorney, Joe Welborn, and civil rights lawyer
Andy Clarke, who is representing Alex Friedmann, the prison reform activist
requesting the records. CCA appealed a Chancery Court judge’s ruling last year
that stated the for-profit prison operator must follow public records law and
open its files for viewing. From the start, CCA’s argument has been that
allowing access to some of their records will set a bad precedent with other
private companies who contract with the state. Welborn says CCA does only 10
percent of its business in Tennessee and the company is not a state agency. In
the lawsuit, Friedmann, a former inmate with CCA, is requesting records of
audits by state and local agencies, every lawsuit, claim and legal action taken
against them, settlement agreements, judgments, databases showing all litigation
against CCA and contracts between the state and the company. “This will tell us
how they operate these facilities that are all funded by taxpayer dollars,” says
Friedmann.
Florida
June 10, 2009 AP
People sentenced for a Florida crime could someday do their time thousands
of miles away. It's not likely to happen soon; state prisons officials oppose
the idea and so does a union that represents corrections officers. But a law
signed by Gov. Charlie Crist in late May would give Florida the option, for the
first time, of sending its inmates to out-of-state prisons. "Out-of-state inmate
management is a logical option," said Louise Grant, a spokeswoman for the
nation's largest private operator, Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of
America, which operates three of Florida's six in-state private prisons.
Out-of-state housing can be an emergency measure for states that don't plan for
growth and can relieve a state from having to build an expensive new prison, she
said. Eight states currently have contracts with CCA to house over 9,000 inmates
outside their home state. Another eight have had the company temporarily house
prisoners out of state because of overcrowding. Florida's prison population
topped 100,000 for the first time late last year, making it only the third state
in the nation with a six-figure prison population. But the system currently has
more prison beds than it has prisoners. Besides CCA, Florida's only other
private prison contractor is The GEO Group Inc., based in Boca Raton. A lobbyist
for the company, Damon Smith, said The GEO Group did not lobby for the
out-of-state housing measure but could be interested if Florida ever uses the
option. A spokesman for the company, Pablo Paez, said in an e-mail the company
does not currently have any out-of-state contracts. The Florida Department of
Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil, however, said in an e-mail statement that
he has no plans to move inmates. Moves could take inmates them farther away from
their families, and family and community ties make a person less likely to
return to prison, according to the department. The new law requires the
department "consider, to the extent possible" the distance the inmate would be
from his or her family before moving, but it doesn't offer any guarantees. The
department likes another part of the law (SB 1722) that would let officials keep
prisoners in extra space in city and county jails because it could help keep
inmates closer to their families, department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said.
Crist said during a visit to Miami earlier this week that he thought it was
"probably better" to house inmates in Florida, but the state should have the
option of moving inmates if the prison population continues to grow. Florida
currently has beds for about 106,000 inmates but plans to add space for some
13,900 more over the next five years. The prison population is expected to top
124,000 by 2014. Lawmakers this year didn't set aside money for any new prison
construction projects. One group opposed to any future moves is the Florida
Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents law enforcement and
corrections officers. Ken Kopczynski, who handles legislative issues for the PBA,
said moving inmates to other states sends away jobs and money and can be
complicated because Florida inmates housed elsewhere are still subject to
Florida law. Kopczynski pointed to a 2004 riot at a CCA prison in Colorado where
inmates from Colorado, Washington and Wyoming were being held. An investigation
later found that inmates were angry in part because the various states paid
inmates differently for similar work. Grant, the CCA spokeswoman, said despite
the incident all three states have continued their relationship with CCA and
that the company continues to improve its out-of-state management.
Alabama
May 28, 2009 Tuscaloosa News
Authorities believe that two men who escaped from a private prison in Perry
County early Monday morning had outside help. Joshua Southwick, 26, and Ashton
Mink, 22, escaped the Perry County Detention Center in Uniontown after someone
helped them cut through three fences. Southwick is serving a life sentence after
pleading guilty in a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone County. Mink, 22,
was serving time for an attempted murder conviction in Madison County in 2005.
The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Task Force, which includes members of several law
enforcement agencies and five members of the Department of Corrections, are
still looking for the men. Prison Warden Tommy Buford did not answer phone calls
from a Tuscaloosa News reporter Tuesday or Wednesday. A prison employee referred
calls to Dick Harbison, the vice-president of Lafayette, La.-based LCS
Corrections Services, which owns and operates the prison. Harbison did not
return a call placed to his cell phone Wednesday afternoon. The 734-bed facility
houses prisoners from Alabama and other states in addition to federal prisoners.
The state’s Department of Corrections does not have oversight of the company’s
management or security practices at the prison because it is a private
corporation. The Department of Corrections pays the company $32 a day to house
249 state inmates, less than the $41.71 it costs to house them in a state
facility, spokesman Brian Corbett said. He said that the department has not had
problems with the Uniontown facility or the company, which housed Alabama
inmates in Louisiana because of prison overcrowding between 2003 and 2006. Until
last month, the prison also housed around 80 prisoners from Vermont, but the
Vermont Department of Corrections removed those inmates after an investigation
into prisoner complaints that they had been injured in fights with other
inmates, said Seth Lipshutz, the supervising attorney in Vermont’s Prisoners’
Rights Office. The prisoners complained to the Prisoners’ Rights Office, a
branch of the state’s Office of the Defender General. Lipshutz said that an
investigator with his office conducted an investigation followed by an
independent investigation from the state’s Department of Corrections. “They were
letting the inmates run the asylum,” he said. The staff and management did not
pay adequate attention to security, he said, which resulted in inmate-on-inmate
violence and the smuggling of items such as drugs and cell phones into the
facility. “Drugs get into a lot of prisons, but cell phones don’t get into
many,” Lipshutz said. “It doesn’t take long to figure out why this would be a
problem.” He said that inmates complained that an assistant warden boasted that
he was drunk while driving the bus from Vermont to Uniontown and behaved
unprofessionally when he threatened to shoot them if they tried to escape during
a dinner stop at a fast-food restaurant. Lipshutz said that Vermont, one of the
country’s smallest and least-populated states, sends around 700 of its 2,200
prisoners to out-of-state facilities because it costs roughly $140 per day to
house them in in-state prisons. Prices in Vermont are high for several reasons,
he said, including union wages, small prisons and snowy weather that makes
transportation between facilities difficult. Many of the state’s prisoners are
housed in detention centers owned by Corrections Corp. of America, the first
company to open private prisons more than 25 years ago. “I’m not too keen on the
privatization of prisons. This is an example of how things go wrong,” Lipshutz
said. Ken Kopczynski is the executive director of Private Corrections Institute,
a private prison watchdog group based in Tallahassee, Fla. The organization’s
mission is to provide information and assistance to citizens, policy makers and
journalists about what they consider the dangers of privatizing correctional
institutions and service. Kopczynski said no records are kept on the number of
escapes from private prisons. The last records kept, he said, were in 2002 and
indicated that escape rates are higher at private institutions. The institute
compiles media reports of incidents at private facilities on its Web site.
According to their information, an inmate who had been on suicide watch died at
a LCS facility in Texas in January. At least 15 escapes were reported at some of
the company’s prisons in Texas and Louisiana since 2002, according to the
institute. The Texas Prison Board conducted a review of the Eastern Hidalgo
Detention Center in 2006 after six inmates escaped. The review found that the
prison employed too few guards, added an unauthorized number of bunks and kept
unlicensed guards and guards without adequate training on payroll, according to
a news story from The Monitor, a newspaper in the area. The company president
said at the time that those problems were later corrected. The six inmates
escaped, company officials said, after someone tampered with a control box for
the electrical fence surrounding the prison. Perry County prison guards noticed
that Southwick and Mink were not in bed during a 5:20 a.m. bed check. After
inspecting the perimeter, they noticed that the fences had been cut.
Cuba
May 22, 2009 FOXNews
What if you gave it a name like "Shining Sands" or "Ocean Breeze" instead of
... Gitmo? The prison center at Guantanamo Bay is destined to be closed down in
January because "the name itself is a condemnation" of U.S. anti-terrorism
strategy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday. But while it has become a
"taint" on America's reputation, according to Gates, the prison facility in Cuba
is at the same time "probably one of the finest prisons in the world today," he
said Friday on NBC's "Today" show. So could Gitmo be saved with a drastic
rebranding effort? If you give it a new name and increased transparency, some
marketing and public relations experts say yes. "If there were serious changes
made that were dramatic and communicated in a direct way to the American public,
I do think that you could get past the baggage, because the issue is more
approach than geography," said Adam Hanft, CEO of Hanft Raboy and Partners, a
marketing firm. Making the prison more transparent would be the first hurdle,
Hanft said. He suggested enabling prisoners to blog about their experience at
Guantanamo, or to "literally put Web cams" in some cells. "If the government is
so forthright that nothing inappropriate is going on, let everybody virtually
inside and we'll see for ourselves," Hanft said. "What are they wearing? What
are they being fed? I personally don't see any security risk in revealing that."
Hanft said independent, third-party inspectors would also go a long way in
repairing -- and perhaps reshaping -- the prison's image. Allowing visitors
would help, too, he said. "They need to let people down there to visit, and
those people can come back and report what's going on," he said. "It's not
really rebranding; it's a reinvention of what's going on there." John Tantillo,
a marketing and branding consultant, told FOXNews.com that if he were hired to
rebrand the prison, his first step would undoubtedly be to change its name --
perhaps to a generic term like "Offshore Holding Facility," he said. "Secondly,
what you'd want to do is show the American public something concrete that you're
doing, so maybe a bipartisan commission that deals with renaming the facility
and somehow doing the right thing," Tantillo said. "You want to communicate that
you're trying to do the right thing without compromising America's safety."
Tantillo suggested other changes -- like a visitors' center for relatives of
inmates and a "progressive" warden. And then there should be a marketing blitz,
including town hall-style meetings across the country to tout the improvements,
he said. "You would do a whole promotional campaign, advertising, public
relations, Internet, direct mail, e-mail," Tantillo continued. "From a marketing
point of view, that's exactly the kinds of things you'd want to do." Other
marketing professionals contacted by FOXNews.com were less optimistic that Gitmo
can be rebranded. "It's so heavily damaged now as a brand and it's so widely
declared a bad visual symbol for America that my sense is that it's over," said
Jack Trout, president of marketing strategy firm Trout & Partners. "I just don't
see any real hope. There's too much damage." Ken Kopczynski, executive director
of the Private Corrections Institute, a prison watchdog group, agrees. "It's too
notorious," he said of the prison base. "I don't think it can happen. "You might
find it in the dictionary soon. 'Gitmo: see abuse, see waterboarding.'"
Nevada
January 23, 2009 Pahrump Valley Times
A film crew from Dan Rather Reports, a program aired on HD Net, a subscriber
network available on high-definition TV, was on hand to tape about 80 opponents
of the Corrections Corporation of America project crammed into a strategy
meeting in a back room at the Pahrump Community Library last Thursday night.
Cameraman Derek Reich is from Park City, Utah. Reporter Kim Balin is based in
New York. Balin said she didn't want to be quoted but said for publication they
were researching how prisons affect towns on a national level. There is no
guarantee the excerpt will be aired on Dan Rather's show, she said. Opponents of
the proposed 1,500-bed facility for inmates awaiting trial in federal court or
deportation, however, made their presence visible during a hearing in federal
court Wednesday and plan to bring the fight to state district court and hearings
before the Public Utilities Commission on water and sewer service. "We're going
to continue to fight this thing. We're going to fight it in state court. We're
going to fight it in the Public Utilities Commission. It isn't a done deal.
Don't get discouraged," Jeff Wiest told the crowd at the library. Field
organizer Frank Smith, from the Private Corrections Institute, which opposes the
privatization of prisons, said Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada has yet to
receive permission to annex the site into their service area. Smith urged the
crowd to "raise holy heck" at PUC meetings. He suggested they find out the
addresses of PUC members and write letters to newspapers in their home towns.
The PUC "isn't four or five stiffs that live in Pahrump or Tonopah," he said.
Smith said each inmate needs 150 gallons of water per day. He appealed to fears
over the sinking water table adding, "CCA is going to be sucking that with the
biggest straw you've ever seen ... They've come here and sold this proposal to a
county commission that doesn't know any better, that should know better. "They
came to a little town like Pahrump and they said, 'We're going to bring
development to you, we're going to bring jobs to you, money will rain from the
sky.'" Smith said the plans were originally for a facility with 350 beds, then
500 beds, then 1,072 beds, now 1,500 beds. He claimed CCA actually wants to
house 3,000 prisoners here. Smith also claimed there aren't enough federal
prisoners from Nevada to fill the detention center. He added, the purpose of the
facility will change from just housing federal inmates. Smith exhorted the crowd
with an impassioned speech. "They are going to fill this up with gangbangers
from California because California has three people to a cell. They have them
sleeping in gymnasiums. They don't know what to do with them all and CCA is
looking at that market. This federal detention center is just BS. It's a
pretense. It's a charade, and if the county commissioners didn't know that, they
deserve to be recalled for stupidity if nothing else." Smith repeated
accusations CCA will buy their products nationally, not from local vendors. When
CCA Marketing Manager Louise Grant told Storey County Commissioners in Virginia
City last week there were only a few residents in Pahrump opposed to their
project, Smith jokingly remarked she was using "new math." Smith said 1,500
people signed a petition against the project in Pahrump. Smith charged Pahrump
residents were kept in the dark about the project until CCA "had all their ducks
in a row" with county commissioners, the planning department and others in
approval. In fact, discussions with CCA were outlined in some detail in the PVT.
Hector Velarde, one of four residents who showed up to protest the rezoning of
the East Mesquite Avenue property in front of the Pahrump Regional Planning
Commission in July 2007, said he was one of only two people who received notice
of the proposed zone change.
Florida
January 16, 2009 Tallahassee Democrat
I read with interest Laura Bedard's letter ("Privatized prisons have their
purpose," Jan 14). Ms. Bedard should know better than to state that she was "the
only person in the state of Florida with both an inside and outside perspective
of the prisons system." There are a number of public correctional officers
working part-time in private prisons. She states for-profit private prisons
provide comprehensive programs with the goal to reduce recidivism. But then she
writes that, because of budget cuts, the for-profits can't provide
"contractually mandated" rehab programs. Well, which is it? Ms. Bedard should
also know that there is no difference in recidivism rates at public and private
facilities; she was part of an analysis released in 2003 reporting those
results. I take exception to Bedard's position that privatization's "purpose" is
to serve a "niche" inmate population. For-profit private prisons serve only one
purpose: To enrich shareholders and corporate executives. KEN KOPCZYNSKI,
Executive director, Private Corrections Institute
Missouri
January 10, 2009 KMBC
Some Independence residents are voicing concerns about a private jail that may
be built near their homes. Scores of people gathered on Saturday to learn more
about the proposal to move the Metropolitan Detention Center to a site north of
23rd Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard. While the $7 million project would bring a
strong tax base to the area, neighbors are worried about safety. Frank Smith, of
the Private Corrections Institute, said he drove 200 miles to voice his
opposition. "People think they're going to get jobs out of this, construction or
guard jobs," he said. "The construction is almost never there. They say they're
going to make all of the purchases locally, but that's almost never true. Then,
they say they're going to hire the guards locally, but people could work at
Wendy's and get the same kind of money." Supporters of the idea counted Smith's
arguments and said the project would bring construction and guard jobs. The
Independence Planning Commission will take up the issue on Tuesday evening at
City Hall.
Nevada
January 8, 2009 Nevada Appeal
An industrial park in Storey County is preparing land and paperwork for a
private prison. The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center will seek a zoning change on
about 550 acres of the park, according to its broker, Lance Gilman. Nashville,
Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison
company in the country, has said the 107,000-acre industrial park that takes up
over half of Storey County is one the places it is considering for a new private
prison. It would hold up to 3,000 inmates and employ about 600 workers,
according to the company. The Storey County Planning Commission will not
consider a permit for a private prison at its Jan. 15 meeting as was tentatively
scheduled, according to the planning department. The item was taken off the
agenda because an application for the permit was not finished. Gilman said the
industrial park is a great place for a private prison. It is home to large
distribution centers for Walmart and others and has an open 160 square miles.
“Don’t you think I can find a really nice canyon or meadow that won’t interfere
with anyone?” he said. “Hell, yes, I can.” Gilman said he can’t say anything
about Corrections Corp. under an agreement with the company, but the industrial
park will be ready for a private prison as soon as possible. The Corrections
Corp. prison would be built in two phases on the southeast side of the
industrial park near the corner of Portofino and Malta drives, according to
paperwork filed with Storey County by the industrial park. The buildings will be
less than 35 feet tall and “similar in scale and appearance to a light
industrial park or secondary school,” according to the county records. A minimum
100-foot buffer zone would surround the patrolled prison along with double
12-foot security fences, records say. Corrections Corp. would get inmates
through a state or federal contract, said Louise Grant, a company
representative. The company has no contract and no definite schedule to start
building the prison, however, she said. Corrections Corp. managed the Southern
Nevada Women’s Correctional Facility in North Las Vegas from 1997 to 2004. It
was the first private company to manage a Nevada prison. The company did not
renew a contract to continue managing the prison, saying medical care and other
costs made it too expensive. Nye County in December approved a federal detention
center that the company will build and run in Pahrump. Some residents and the
Florida-based Private Corrections Institute criticized the plan during the
company’s two-year negotiations with the county. Frank Smith of the institute
said in an e-mail that the detention center will lack oversight and hurt Nye
County. But the project is supported by the county government and the “vast
majority” of residents, according to Grant. She said the institute rallied a few
people to spread “misinformation” about the company.
2008
Pennsylvania
December 22, 2008 Philadelphia Enquirer
AT ONE END of Delaware County's rekindled debate over prison privatization,
you'll find Wally Nunn, a tough-talking fiscal hawk and former county
councilman. At the other, Fay Kallenbach, a bereaved mother. The George W. Hill
Correctional Facility is ground zero. Nunn led the 1995 effort to privatize the
county jail, outsourcing its operation to the GEO Group, a multinational
corrections corporation. He stands by his decision today, saying the move cut
government waste and saved taxpayers millions of dollars – including the more
than $30 million the county saved by hiring GEO, then called Wackenhut
Corrections Corp., to build the current prison in 1998. "It's a success right
there, by definition," Nunn said. Fay Kallenbach has a different perspective.
She says privatizing the prison has put inmates in the care of a money-hungry
"machine" that cuts corners anywhere it can. Her son, comedian Kenneth Keith
Kallenbach, died in April of complications from cystic fibrosis while in prison
custody. She says he didn't receive the crucial treatment that had kept him
alive for 39 years. "They definitely killed my son," she said of Florida-based
GEO. The deep philosophical divide between Kallenbach and Nunn is typical when
it comes to prison privatization, a love-it-or-hate-it concept that pits labor
unions against politicians and corporate leaders against inmate-advocacy groups.
Regardless, if Nunn is considered Delaware County's "father of privatization,"
his first born remains an only child in Pennsylvania – and there have been some
growing pains lately. In the 12 years since the county handed the jailhouse keys
to GEO, no other county in the state has followed its lead. Now, the company is
terminating its $40-million-a-year contract there, ridden out of town by an
onslaught of lawsuits and inadequate profits. A new firm takes over on New
Year's Day. All about the $$$ -- Prison Superintendent John Reilly Jr. oversees
GEO's performance at the 1,883-bed lockup in Thornton, and he doesn't shy away
from discussing the good, the bad and the ugly. There has been plenty of each,
from huge cost savings and indemnification from civil-rights lawsuits, to filthy
showers and dead inmates. The cost of operating the prison - nearly $45 million
when you factor in the superintendent and his staff – is the single largest
expenditure of county tax dollars in the budget. It is expected to eat up 15
percent of the $303 million budget next year. But GEO has run the prison cheaper
than the county ever could, Reilly said. And outsourcing still saves the
government an estimated $3.2 million a year, according to Delaware County
Executive Director Marianne Grace. By having Reilly and his staff on the
premises, the county's version of privatization is ideal because the government
is able to keep an eye on GEO and implement hefty fines - more than $700,000
this year - when the jail is understaffed. "Our security, maintenance and food
service is similar to, and in some instances maybe better, than when the county
ran it," Reilly said. Proponents of privatization say profit-driven companies
can eliminate patronage jobs, play hardball with the labor unions and find new
efficiencies without a substantial drop-off in services. Government officials
"tend to hire people that have worked on their campaigns or political-patronage
people," Nunn said. "Corporations tend to hire people that are competent and
capable. They can manage more effectively than a public entity can." Critics say
the profit incentive is a double-edged sword, and that the industry makes its
money on the backs of inmates and guards by reducing personnel costs and cutting
back on inmate care. "I don't trust them as far as I can throw them," said Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute and a
lobbyist for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents
police and correctional officers. "All those millions of dollars they are making
that are going into corporate executives' pockets should have been put into
inmates services," he said. Delaware County officials say they are generally
satisfied with GEO's performance here since 1996, with one large caveat: The
medical services in the prison have, at times, fallen woefully short. Employee
turnover in that department has been extremely high in recent years, Reilly
said, and the company has gone through eight health-services administrators
since 2004. As a result, the daily "pill call" for inmates, for example, is
sometimes run by nurses who are incompetent or overworked, he said, and the
backlog of prisoners waiting for medical attention can exceed 400 cases. "The
medical department has underperformed here," Reilly concedes. GEO has spent an
inordinate amount of time and money fending off federal lawsuits, including
wrongful-death cases. The frequent litigation is one of the main reasons the
company is bailing out on its contract next week. In 2006, the company agreed to
pay $100,000 to the family of Rosalyn Atkinson, a 25-year-old mother of two who
died from a toxic dose of a blood-pressure drug while in prison custody. In
October, GEO agreed to an undisclosed settlement in the case of Cassandra
Morgan, 38, who died in 2006 of complications from an untreated thyroid
condition while jailed on a shoplifting charge. GEO also paid $125,000 in 2005
to the family of a prisoner who hung himself with his bootlaces and agreed to a
$300,000 settlement in 2000 involving another suicide. Fay Kallenbach and her
attorney are awaiting more medical information before deciding whether to move
forward with a lawsuit on behalf of her son, a longtime member of Howard Stern's
"Wack Pack." Prison officials say they are not at fault in his death. While the
Delaware County prison was far from a utopia when it was run by the county -
seven guards were convicted of federal charges stemming from inmate beatings in
1994 - GEO's correctional officers have compiled a lengthy rap sheet since the
jail was privatized. This year a K-9 officer pleaded guilty to having sex with
an inmate in his pickup truck, and a guard admitted to sending a forged letter
to the state parole board so her boyfriend - a convicted murderer - could move
in with her. In 2006 the jail's former work-release supervisor, who is now
registered under Megan's Law as a sex offender, pleaded guilty to sexually
assaulting an inmate, and a guard pleaded guilty in federal court last year to
conspiracy to commit bank robbery. Two other guards were convicted of
participating in a 2002 attack on an inmate who claimed that he was handcuffed
and pummeled with a basketball and that his pants were pulled down. That
inmate's attorney, Jon Auritt, has said the incident reminded him of "Abu Ghraib,
except without the dogs." GEO later paid an undisclosed settlement in that case,
though. Prison staff incorrectly released three inmates between 2002 and 2004,
and in 2006, GEO agreed to pay a settlement to an innocent man who sued the
company because he was imprisoned for more than 40 days. It was a case of
mistaken identity. GEO officials declined to be interviewed for this story, as
did state Rep. John Perzel, R-Phila., a paid member of its board of directors.
The company did not admit any wrongdoing in the lawsuits it settled. Pa.
counties unreceptive -- In 1998, the state Supreme Court approved the
privatization of the Delaware County prison, ruling against the prison guards'
union, which had filed suit to block the outsourcing. At the time, labor leaders
fretted that the ruling would pave the way for other counties to hire firms to
run their own jails. That never happened. While privatization has taken off in
other states, particularly Texas, the George W. Hill Correctional Facility
remains the only privately-run county prison in Pennsylvania, largely due to
strong union resistance, according to Richard Culp, a prison privatization
expert and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York
City. "It's a matter of labor costs, pure and simple," said Culp, who has worked
as a consultant for the Delaware County Board of Prison Inspectors. Beaver
County tried to privatize its prison in 2006, but was bombarded by union
opposition. The county lost a ruling by an arbitrator, which was upheld in
Common Pleas Court, according to county Commissioner Charles Camp. Beaver County
officials decided not to appeal the case because the legal bills were getting so
high, he said. "We had everyone coming at us," Camp said of the unions that
fought the privatization proposal. "It would have saved us a million bucks a
year," he said, adding that the county is now facing a $2 million budget deficit
and is planning layoffs. Large corrections companies increasingly are looking to
the federal government for their profits, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement and other federal agencies have been expanding their use of private
companies in recent years, Culp said. While Culp recommended that counties and
other government agencies keep a short leash on those firms – as Delaware County
does – he said the industry has become more "professional" since the mid-1990s.
"I think the market has shaken out a lot of the underperformers and poor
performers and people that got into it to make a fast buck," Culp said. The
future is CEC -- Community Education Centers (CEC), a smaller, privately-held
company that specializes in inmate re-entry services, will replace the GEO Group
on Jan. 1 at the Delaware County prison. Based in West Caldwell, N.J., CEC
operates county prisons in Texas, Arizona and Ohio, as well as treatment centers
within publicly-run prisons. In Philadelphia, it runs Hoffman Hall, a
residential re-entry center for city inmates that opened in July, and Coleman
Hall, which runs a work-release program for state inmates. William Palatucci, a
CEC senior vice president, said the Delaware County prison will become the
largest county jail in the company's network. Most of the existing GEO guards
will keep their jobs, and county officials say that guards that once worked for
GEO are interested in coming back now that the company is leaving. CEC made
headlines in 2004 when a Coleman Hall resident was shot to death in his room,
and the company is being sued by the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project on
behalf of several inmates who said they were denied adequate medical care there.
Palatucci declined to comment on the litigation, but said the company planned to
bring to the Delaware County prison a "renewed commitment to quality
operations." "I think competition is good for everybody. It keeps the public
sector and private sector on their toes," he said. "At the end of the day,
that's good for the taxpayer." Robert Eskind, spokesman for the Philadelphia
Prison System, said the city is "pleased so far" with CEC's performance at
Hoffman Hall. County officials say CEC could be a better fit than GEO at their
jail, particularly because the company has experience in reducing recidivism.
Overcrowding has long been a problem there. John Hosier, chairman of the county
Board of Prison Inspectors, is optimistic about the changing of the guard, but
warned against unrealistic expectations. "We can hope for the best," Hosier
said, "but it is a jail."
Nevada
December 12, 2008 Pahrump Valley News
Corrections Corporation of America officials hope Nye County commissioners
will approve a development agreement for the federal detention center after a
public hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, at the Bob Ruud Community
Center. "We have been very, very diligently working with all of the parties in
regard to the development agreement and certainly our anticipation is that we
will end the meeting with an approved development agreement so we can move
forward and relay that information to our customer, who is eager as well to have
that finalized," CCA Vice-President of Marketing and Communications Louise Grant
said. "That customer" is the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee which has
given CCA 18 months to have the detention center constructed and ready to begin
accepting inmates. "We have been told time and again by our customer, the
expectation is we are still on the same time frame," Grant said. Natasha
Metcalf, who manages CCA contract negotiations, has been in frequent discussions
with Nye County representatives since the Sept. 16 tabling of the agreement,
Grant said. "We want it to be a positive win-win," she said. When asked whether
her company came to agreement on some points raised by Nye County consultant Ira
Cotler back in September, she said, "I believe there has been a lot of
resolution." Frank Smith, a field organizer for the Private Corrections
Institute, a group opposed to the privatization of correctional facilities, said
he will arrive in the area on Saturday. He has arranged to have Donna Como visit
Pahrump. She was in charge of determining American Correctional Association
accreditation for CCA when the company had a contract to operate the state
women's prison. During the 8:30 a.m. session commissioners will consider
approving 20 contracts totaling $2.9 million to support the county Yucca
Mountain oversight program, under the consent agenda in which numerous items can
be approved with one motion. A $42,950 change order in the contract with Mills
Construction for the abatement of asbestos pipes in the demolition of the
Calvada Eye building is up for approval and an asbestos monitoring agreement
with SCS Engineers. Owners of Paddy's Pub are scheduled to reappear before the
Nye County licensing and liquor board at 9 a.m. on a show cause hearing over
their liquor license, in a case continued from Feb. 5.
Texas
October 24, 2008 Bloomberg
GEO Group Inc., the Florida-based prison operator, was charged with murder
in Texas for allowing prisoners to kill another inmate who was days away from
completing a six-month sentence, a nonprofit group said. Willacy County District
Attorney Juan Guerra in Texas filed a three-count indictment against GEO Group
for allegedly allowing inmates in 2001 to use padlocks in socks to bludgeon to
death Gregorio De La Rosa, who was serving time for a drug offense, said Alex
Friedmann, a spokesman for the Private Corrections Institute watchdog group.
"Most District Attorneys wouldn't pursue these kinds of charges,'' Friedmann
said today in a phone interview. The case is likely the ``first time a prison
company has ever faced criminal charges as a result of a prisoner death in
custody,'' he said. ``There might be another one out there, but if so, we're not
familiar with it.'' GEO Group employees allowed ``beatings and fights between
inmates for money, and a tradition of payback, whereby prisoners were beaten
just before their release,'' Guerra said in a PCI statement, citing a civil
lawsuit filed by De La Rosa's family. In 2006, a Willacy County jury awarded
$47.5 million in the wrongful-death case filed against GEO Group, according to
the statement. Guerra said killings in private prisons are ``more than civil
matters'' and that GEO Group should be held "criminally responsible for the
death of this particular inmate,'' according to the statement. Friedmann said he
didn't know the status of the civil suit. Pablo Paez, a spokesman for Boca
Raton, Florida-based GEO Group, didn't immediately return a call and e-mail
seeking comment after business hours. Guerra and Terry Flores, a clerk at
Willacy County court, couldn't be reached for comment.
Nevada
October 24, 2008 Pahrump Valley Times
Action on a proposed development agreement with Corrections Corporation of
America for a federal detention center was postponed another two months until
Dec. 16 by Nye County commissioners Tuesday. A crowd of bystanders showed up
anyway to voice comments about the project, though it was reported there
wouldn't be any action taken. That delays a vote on the agreement until well
after the election. CCA Senior Director of Site Acquisition and Development Brad
Wiggins, said when the project was tabled last month commissioners made a
critical timeline even more critical. Consultant Ira Cotler, managing director
of Correctional Finance and Consulting Solutions, just gave his comments on the
development agreement back to CCA officials Monday. The two sides are said to be
far apart on the conditions. Cotler, who was given a $50,000 contract by county
commissioners to work on the development agreement, said he drafted an outline
with all the issues that were raised in the past. "We've had two meetings with
CCA, going through that outline in very general terms, just to throw out the
topics on the table," Cotler told commissioners. Cotler also gave his input to
Mark White, the attorney who represents Nye County on the drafting of
development agreements, for inclusion in the agreement. More meetings between
Cotler and CCA were scheduled Wednesday. "Our goal has been to expand the
original development agreement to more than just a development agreement to any
other style of project and address the thoughts and concerns associated with a
correctional facility," Cotler said. Nye County Commission Chairman Joni Eastley
said commissioners didn't have a copy of the revised development agreement as
CCA hasn't had time to reply to Cotler's remarks. She proposed tabling the
discussion until Dec. 16, as there will only be one regular commission meeting
in November due to the election and the Thanksgiving holiday. Nye County Manager
Rick Osborne asked about scheduling a special meeting. Eastley said her schedule
was totally booked the rest of this month and the first week or two in November.
She said a second public hearing would have to be scheduled during a regular
commission meeting with adequate public notice. When Judith Holmgren asked for a
copy of the revised development agreement, Osborne replied, "It's all
confidential negotiations at this point until we get a draft that we feel is
suitable to present to the board, and at that point it becomes a public
document." The crowd booed. Asked for a comment after the delay was announced,
Louise Grant, CCA's vice-president of marketing, said, "CCA is disappointed that
the development agreement is not yet finalized. Assuredly, our government
partners are eager for us to have that last component of the plan final and
secure so we can move forward with this exciting project. We trust that the
commission will work to help us make final arrangements by the date they'd just
indicated. CCA will continue to operate in good faith to move forward this very
important agreement." Eastley ran a tightly-controlled public comment period,
with two minutes allowed for each speaker. They were restricted to commenting on
suggestions to be included in the development agreement, not whether they liked
the project or not. Eastley indicated her exhaustion at being bombarded with
comments about the detention center, asking speakers not to talk about things
like a "60 Minutes" news special on CCA or similar topics. The crowd spilled
into Room B, where a television monitor was installed. Frank Smith, representing
the Private Corrections Institute, was cut short after two minutes. "Nobody did
the most basic research on this," Smith said. "The development agreement is
predicated on certain premises. One is that somehow this would be an economic
benefit to the community. We found no evidence the prison has stimulated growth.
In fact, we found evidence the prison has impeded economic growth." County
commission candidate Harley Kulkin wanted a public hearing where the public
isn't limited to two minutes. Jeff Wiiest asked commissioners to table action
until January, so the new board can take responsibility for their actions.
Numerous suggestions were made by Pahrump residents.
October 22, 2008 Pahrump Valley Times
A crowd of more than 50 people, energized by a "60 Minutes" video blasting
Corrections Corporation of America's operation of a private prison in
Youngstown, Ohio, had finished two hours of heated rhetoric against the proposed
federal detention center in Pahrump at the Hafen Elementary School multipurpose
room Saturday afternoon. It had escalated into an atmosphere of cries to vote
all the incumbent politicians out of office when Nye County District 4
Commissioner Butch Borasky walked in. "I just spent two and a half days with a
couple of other folks in Eloy and Florence," he said of two communities in
Arizona where CCA runs prisons. "We visited eight facilities. I talked to as
many people as I could in those communities. I'll tell you right now, I didn't
get one negative comment from anybody." That comment drew boos from the crowd.
Former Nye County sheriff's candidate Ted Holmes remarked about his fear gang
members and possible drug cartel members would be housed at the proposed center.
Holmes said he wouldn't have any concerns if the detention center was at Cold
Creek, where the present Indian Springs state prison is located, just over
Wheeler Pass from Pahrump. But he said with the proposed location on 2250 E.
Mesquite Ave., "the quickest house is less than six minutes walking distance."
Holmes then remarked he was so mad he wanted to punch a politician about it.
Borasky then walked up to Holmes, where they stood nose-to-nose before Holmes
backed down on his threat and Borasky walked out of the room. It was probably
the climax of a crescendo of angry comments directed at the federal detention
center by people who complained they weren't aware of the project. Judith
Holmgren read transcripts from a public hearing on the detention center by the
Office of the Federal Detention Trustee in June 2007 in which Borasky,
commenting as a private citizen, said "I wholeheartedly support the idea of
bringing the detention center here." The 60 Minutes excerpt concerned a prison
break in Youngstown that the mayor said could've been the country's largest
prison break. Show co-host, the late Ed Bradley, announced hard-core inmates
were transferred from Washington, D.C., into what was supposed to be a
medium-security prison. Frank Smith, of the anti-privatization Private
Corrections Institute, who hosted the informational meeting, noted other prison
breaks, including one in Oklahoma that involved two elderly women hostages,
invoking the worst case nightmare. He told about prison riots, like one at the
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs, Colo. Smith charged CCA
would use out-of-town labor to build the facility, as evidenced by his
conversation with roofers at a restaurant in Olney Springs, Colo., who admitted
they had worked on a detention center in California City, Calif. "No matter what
the chamber of commerce may want to believe, they don't leave money in town,
they don't leave a penny more than they have to," he said. Smith said the
presence of detention facilities, even where there are good paying jobs, chases
away other industries and residents. "They go to towns that are desperate, that
are easily convinced they are going to be some kind of godsend, there's going to
be money raining from the sky," Smith said. Steve Holbo, a retired California
correctional officer, said the majority of correctional officers initially will
probably be imported from other states as a job promotion. "You cannot open your
facility with 240 green people trying to work at the facility. The probability
of the fact is that the Pahrump area is only going to see possibly 10
correctional officers hired initially out of the valley during the first year of
operation," Holbo said. He said being this close to California could be a
temptation for CCA to house some of its 5,000 inmates in that state in the
Nevada Southern Detention Center. Kenny Bent said he was a general engineering
contractor for over 21 years, putting in treatment plants and pump stations. He
claimed the project, which would use 130,000 gallons per day, would drop water
levels in wells. Pat Kerby said the development agreement should require CCA to
dig wells deeper, if it impacts the water supply. "We need to pressure the
county commission to alter this development agreement so it's more favorable to
Pahrump and make the decision before the election," Kerby said. An angry Butch
Clendenen, who recently bought a home on nearby Kitty Hawk Drive, went a step
further. "You can vote in this election, and the incumbents have to be voted out
now. That's the only way this agreement isn't going to happen. Face it, they had
17 supposed meetings where they notified the public that nobody knew about,"
Clendenen said. County commission candidate Harley Kulkin said the development
agreement was spearheaded by outgoing County Manager Ron Williams behind closed
doors. "We need to push so that the public is part of this development agreement
and then we need to come up with some ideas of how we can make this development
agreement fair to protect a community, and then I believe CCA will back out of
the agreement and go somewhere else," Kulkin said. "They're only here for one
reason, they want to house prisoners and the cheapest place to do business, and
they found this is the most naive place and they'll get away with plenty here."
Town board candidate Mike Darby said he has a history in the construction
industry as a heavy equipment operator. "The agreements that I've read that they
have put out there, I would love to have that agreement because it basically
gives you a wide open contract to do anything and everything you want," Darby
said. Jeff Bobeck, who ran unsuccessfully for Nye County Commission District 1,
said he's a flight instructor at Calvada Airpark, located near the detention
center site. Bobeck said he requested an opinion from the Federal Aviation
Administration about including the private airport in the development agreement.
"If I were going to try to escape from this prison -- and we have learned it is
possible -- I would be headed straight for there," Bobeck said. "Within 100 feet
of each airplane is the owner with keys who knows how to fly it and many of them
also have enough fuel to make it to Mexico." Robert Smith, no relation to Frank
Smith, asked for a recall "on all the corrupt politicians in this town." Bent
criticized an alleged e-mail from Commissioner Joni Eastley in which he quoted
the commissioner as saying, "This is a done deal there's no turning back,
there's nothing left but signing the development agreement." "It could be easily
stopped right there, right now," Bent said. Robin Lloyd urged attendees to flood
commissioners with e-mails, phone calls and letters. She urged them to sign a
petition asking commissioners to reinstate the 9.5 mile minimum distance to
correctional facilities in the county code.
October 15, 2008
Pahrump Valley Times
Officials from Corrections Corporation of America don't plan to be in
attendance when the Private Corrections Institute hosts a meeting on the pros
and cons of a federal detention center in Pahrump at 3 p.m. Saturday at the
Hafen Elementary School Auditorium. Frank Smith, field organizer for the Private
Corrections Institute will be the featured speaker. He invited prominent local
opponents of the project to join him on a panel. A biography on the Private
Corrections Institute Web site states Smith has been a social justice activist
for four decades, involved in criminal justice research, worked on a medical
marijuana initiative in Alaska, labor organization, moratoriums on prison
construction, restoring civl rights, alternatives to incarceration and programs
offering substance abuse treatment. If his resume looks as if he's committed to
finding alternatives to incarceration, that's a correct assumption. "That makes
sense to the taxpayer," Smith said in a telephone interview. "We have way too
many people in jail for way too long." During comments at the public hearing on
the development agreement for the federal detention center at the Nye County
Commission meeting Sept. 16, Smith said the new president inaugurated Jan. 20,
2009, could change the country's immigration policy. The CCA facility would
house prisoners awaiting a hearing in federal court and illegal immigrants
awaiting deportation. "There will be an enormous surplus of beds which the
(private prison) industry tends to ignore," Smith predicted. Smith said he has
dealt with CCA, the nation's largest private prison operator, for 12 years and
warned, "A deal is never a deal." "If you look at a town like Shelby, Mont.,
you'll find out how many times a deal gets negotiated in CCA's favor," he said
at the public hearing. Smith said CCA uses a central purchasing system, which
means they don't spend as much money in town. Smith and CCA Vice-President of
Marketing and Communications Louise Grant exchanged words at the conclusion of
the public hearing. Grant said the Private Corrections Institute was founded by
the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union representing prison workers.
"They're completely opposed to privatization because unions are (opposed),"
Grant said. She charged the organization receives funding from the American
Federation of State, Federal, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). "They are
paid or they volunteered to come into communities specifically to go against
privatization. That's their sole purpose," Grant said. Smith, who is from Love
City, Kan., denied Grant's accusations. He said the Private Corrections
Institute was formed by several people active in the area of private prisons. He
downplayed executive director Ken Kopczynski's role with the Florida Police
Benevolent Association, though his resume on the institute's Web site states
Kopczynski has been a legislative and political affairs assistant for the FPBA
since 1993, the largest collective bargaining agent for law enforcement,
correctional and probation officers in Florida. "I can assure you that we won't
be there," Grant said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "We have stated publicly
what the agenda of the Private Corrections Institute is, and certainly our
relationship is with the county and we are continuing to very proactively work
on the development agreement. That's where our focus is today." Grant said the
company has held numerous public hearings, spoke at length at two recent town
hall type meetings, posted information on its Web site and had community
officials visit their facilities in other communities. Smith will provide
extensive data regarding the harmful consequences for host communities of
detention centers, the advertisement states. He will discuss media, political
and legal strategies to keep Pahrump from being victimized by CCA.
National
September 29, 2008
The link below will direct you to Boston Legal’s Season Premiere. The
episode is about a court battle between a young girl who was raped by a private
prison guard and the private prison industry’s high paid attorney. To view this
episode, agree to the End User License Agreement from ABC and follow their
instructions to install the free player. After the player is installed select
the play triangle in the center of the screen to play the episode. If you
encounter trouble viewing the video, back-out of the program and then reload.
http://fep.abc.go.com/fep/player?src=abccomjs&show=135787&pn=index Noteworthy:
The Private Corrections Institute provided background information to the Boston
Legal’s producers for this Season Premiere.
September 24, 2008 Nashville Scene
Yesterday, Lamar Alexander, the lead water-carrier for judicial nominee Gus
Puryear, read the campaign its last rites. Alexander's statements are the last
nail in the coffin for Puryear, lead counsel for private prison giant
Corrections Corporation of America. They're also an unofficial acknowledgment of
the power of the one-man campaign. No matter where your loyalties lie, it's
tough to argue that anyone deserves more of the credit (or blame) for Puryear's
failed nomination than Alex Friedmann. Getting the locals to care about who
swings a gavel in Middle Tennessee is one thing. Getting pub from national
outlets is another. Now with the campaign over, Friedmann is a stick without a
spoke. He says he'll continue working on the humdrum elements of vigilanteism
and may even aim his scope at larger targets. "There's always Palin," he jokes.
We here at Pith, however, think Friedmann's bandwagon should be steered
elsewhere. Trudging through the muck of rancorous politics during this election
season has left us exhausted. It's time all of Nashville had a cause worth
championing. Something fun and family-friendly that makes us forget about the
world while alternately making us worry about the cleanliness of our
undergarments.
September 24, 2008 Tennessean
Nominations of two Tennesseans — Gus Puryear of Nashville to be a federal judge
and Susan Williams of Knoxville to be a TVA board member — have been derailed by
political squabbles. Several prison rights and civil rights groups have objected
to the nomination of Puryear, general counsel for Corrections Corporation of
America, the private prison giant based in Nashville. CCA had been hammered by
allegations of underplaying serious incidents in its jails and misrepresenting
the circumstances of in-custody deaths. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the third-ranking
Republican in the Senate, said Tuesday that neither nomination would be approved
before the end of the year. That means the nomination process for both slots
will begin again after a new president takes office in January. "That's another
example of the Democratic Congress not approving a qualified nominee," Alexander
said of Puryear's choice by President Bush to be a judge in the Middle District
of Tennessee. Democrats opposed both -- Puryear was caught in an election-year
political fight. Republicans have tried to gain approval for as many of Bush's
nominees as possible before the end of his term. Reasons cited by opponents as
to why Puryear should not be confirmed include: a lack of trial and judicial
experience, his role as chief lawyer for the country's largest private prison
company, and the company's handling of the 2004 death of Estelle Richardson
while she was in the Metro Detention Facility in Nashville. Democrats, who
control the Senate, say they have treated the president's nominees as well as
Republicans did near the end of Bill Clinton's presidency. But they have slowed
the process, hoping they will be able to fill the vacancies if their nominee,
Sen. Barack Obama, wins the presidency. Williams' nomination to the TVA board
was a casualty of a battle between Alexander and Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, D-Nev. Reid held up her nomination and that of Bishop William Graves of
Memphis because he wants a Democratic representative on the TVA board. In June,
Reid let Graves' nomination go through after Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker
blocked a nomination Reid wanted. In response to Alexander's comments, Puryear
released a written statement through CCA. "I was honored to be nominated and
understand fully how election-year politics works in Washington. I am very happy
in my current job and look forward to continuing to work with my friends in
Nashville to make our city and state a better place." Alex Friedmann, vice
president of Private Corrections Institute, coordinated much of the opposition
to the Puryear nomination, which Bush made in June 2007. "Mr. Puryear was an
unqualified, inexperienced, conflicted and controversial nominee for a lifetime
appointment to the federal bench. The citizens of Middle Tennessee deserve
better and hopefully will receive a more qualified candidate during the next
administration," Friedmann said in a statement.
Nevada
September 19, 2008 Pahrump Valley Times
When Nye County commissioners postponed consideration of a development
agreement for the proposed federal detention center until Oct. 21, they put
Corrections Corporation of America in a tight spot. County commissioners heard
almost two hours of testimony on the proposed development agreement Tuesday,
which mostly involved listening to the public air their opinions. Commissioners
didn't get into negotiating specific items of the agreement with the company. "A
critical time line has just become even more critical," Brad Wiggins, CCA's site
acquisition manager, said. The development agreement was made a condition of the
rezoning before CCA can obtain the building permit to begin construction. The
company also expects a biological opinion today on what mitigation measures
should be taken to protect the desert tortoise, which isn't expected to be a
deal-breaker. CCA is expected to have the detention center ready within a number
of months after the biological opinion, Wiggins said. The record of decision
issued in May, identifying the site at 2250 E. Mesquite Ave. as the preferred
location, stated development of the proposed detention facility is expected to
be accomplished within approximately 12 to 15 months following the award of the
contract. Louise Grant, CCA vice-president of marketing and communications,
said, "The federal government has not changed its expectations for when we would
accept the first prisoners." Grant said the turnout and reaction from many
Pahrump residents was typical of the reaction in other communities unfamiliar
with private correctional facilities. Wiggins said Pahrump opponents may think
CCA isn't being honest. But Wiggins, a former Federal Bureau of Prisons
official, added, "They don't know after all those hundreds of thousands of hours
of working in those facilities, I have to go to sleep at night knowing that I
haven't said anything that's not true." Grant said groups that oppose
privatization of prisons in general, like the Private Corrections Institute, had
"their hired guns" at the hearing. She said the corrections institute was
founded by prison union workers from Florida. Frank Smith, of Love City, Kan.,
representing the Private Corrections Institute, cautioned commissioners that
after 12 years of dealing with CCA, he has found that "a deal is never a deal.'
Steve Holbo, a retired lieutenant with the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation, said. "It's really difficult for me to believe you have to
accept the fact the federal government is going to put a federal pen right in
the middle of your town. This is just not happening in California when we build
state pens." Holbo said two prisons were built 20 miles outside of Blythe,
Calif. He previously had promoted research prepared by the American Correctional
Officer Intelligence Network critical of private prisons.
National
September 7, 2008 Murfreesboro Post
Look, can we get this out of the way right here? When a teenager, Alex
Friedmann pulled an armed robbery, got into a shoot out, was wounded, tried,
convicted then spent 10 years in the pen. Unlike the rest of us, he made some
mistakes when he was a teenager. “I can’t provide any reasonable explanation. I
was stupid. I was greedy. In addition, I was a terrible criminal and was caught
right away.” That was in ’87. “I was young, but there are a lot of young people
out there who don’t get in trouble.” He’s aware of maybe a debt he still owes.
“I’ve tried to make amends. The experience led me to become interested in
criminal justice issues,” he said from his Nashville office where he is
associate editor of Prison Legal News (www.prisonlegalnews.org). He’s also vice
president of the non-profit Private Corrections Institute. Friedmann, who spent
the usual college years—18-26 – behind bars, is an articulate spokesman for
prison reform. “Look, we have 2.3 million locked up now and the number’s going
up, and 95 percent of them will be released back into society. They’ll be given
50 bucks and shoved out the gate. They’ll go back, most of them, to their old
neighborhoods that probably are crime infested. They’ll have trouble getting a
job. Sixty percent of them will be back in prison sooner or later.” “We’re not
preparing prisoners to be released. Drugs are a problem, OK, but many crimes are
the result of alcohol.” Friedmann, a graduate of both types of prison, is
solidly against privatization of prisons. “I have moral and philosophical
objections to the privatization of prisons. Now, I want to be very careful not
to imply that our public prisons are great. They aren’t. “But the privately run
prisons are operated for one reason: profits. That’s a poor excuse to be in the
prison business.” He points out that our “corrections system” fails to correct.
“And I have a big gripe that we think institutionalizing is the only punishment.
Most of the nation’s prisoners are not murderers or bank robbers. They are into
drugs, drinking, fights, stealing, fraud, and they can be punished by drug and
alcohol courts, fines, community work service, weekend incarceration, electronic
monitoring, counseling, treatment. All this is cheaper than prison and will
increase the chances of bringing about corrections in behavior.” Friedmann likes
drug, alcohol and mental treatment courts. “Most of our citizens want less
crime, less victimization. These measures will generate some correctional
behavior.” Friedmann drew regional attention in mid-August when he led a fight
to derail a federal court nominee.
August 31, 2008 Murfreesboro Post
Four years ago, Estelle Richardson, 34, was murdered in a Nashville jail run
by Corrections Corporation of America. That's a tangential issue in the legal
career of Gustavus A. Puryear IV, just one of the things that has caught the
attention of Alex Friedmann, an ex-con gone good and now an editor of Prison
Legal News, an organization devoted to digging out mistreatment and maltreatment
of prisoners. Charges were filed against four guards who were accused of beating
Richardson to death. But their conviction foundered on a technical matter
involving time of death. It is one of the things that troubles Friedmann (once a
convict himself) about Puryear's nomination for a lifetime appointment to the
federal district court in Middle Tennessee. Puryear is chief lawyer of
Corrections Corporation of America that is headquartered in Nashville. "CCA is
the defendant in scores and scores of lawsuits each year. It is difficult to see
how Puryear could ever serve as presiding judge in a trial involving his old
bosses." The nomination---presented before the Senate Judiciary Committee by
Republican Senators Corker and Alexander---came about the way most do: Puryear
has been a worker in the vineyards for Tennessee and national Republicans. He
gave important money to Corker and Alexander and coached up Dick Cheney for the
'00 vice presidential debates. He worked for Fred Thompson. He's been named a
"Republican heavyweight" by a Nashville newspaper. Unhappily, his qualifications
for a federal judgeship are wanting. Friedmann says Puryear has been personally
involved in only five federal cases and two trials over his entire legal career,
and lost one of those. "He has not served as a practicing attorney for years,"
Friedmann says. Republicans answer that Puryear has been rated as "qualified" by
the American Bar Association. "Well," Friedmann says, deconstructing the
classification methodology. "ABA rates lawyers Qualified, Unqualified, or Well
Qualified. Seventy-five percent of all lawyers get the Well Qualified
classification. Puryear, therefore, is in the bottom 25 percent." But
Friedmann's great objection to Puryear's appointment remains his conflicted
position. He's a CCA man and has been their chief lawyer for years. He says
he'll recuse himself from their cases for five years. "Well, CCA's in the courts
all the time. And what about after five years? He doesn't say what he'll do
after that." In typical Republican fashion of the past seven years, Puryear's
record was great from a political standpoint but wanting for professional creds.
Today, the nomination is being held up in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which
indicates it failed to get pro forma approval, a bad indicator for the state's
Republican senators and party. There is a chance that Puryear won't be approved
in the Senate committee. This would, in effect, kill the nomination.
Tennessee
August 20, 2008 The City Paper
Bedeviled this year by negative publicity on several fronts, Corrections
Corp. of America late last week launched a public relations push to counter what
it says are biased reports. The Nashville-based company has been under the
microscope since its general counsel, Gus Puryear, was nominated for the federal
judgeship of the Tennessee Middle district in February. At the same time,
activists have stepped up their work against the company, seeking the company’s
contracts and other papers under public-record laws. CCA’s response includes an
advertising campaign pointing people to a new Web site that promises an
“unfiltered, full, 360-degree view of CCA.” The company has bought advertising
on NashvillePost.com and the Web site of its sister publication, The City Paper.
The company also published an open letter in The City Paper’s Monday print
edition. The campaign, designed by local firm MMA Creative, accuses "a local
daily paper" of ideological bias that CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant says has
produced a media smear campaign. “It’s completely baffling,” Grant said. “We
definitely think there’s a bias that’s been there for years and years.” Grant
said the company was particularly stung by a recent Tennessean article that drew
renewed attention to the unanswered questions surrounding the death of CCA
inmate Estelle Richardson. “There was no new news in it," she said. "It was a
very editorialized article." The article reiterated the details leading to
Richardson’s death, featuring the comments of fellow inmate and friend Sharron
Peterman, who called for the cold case to be solved. The Web site, called The
CCA 360, responded by dissecting the article line by line, linking to evidence
Grant says the company believes has been withheld from public consumption. She
says accusations leveled against four prison guards were dropped because medical
experts hired by both the prosecution and the defense found that Richardson
sustained her injuries before the accused guards were in contact with her. The
site also claims The Tennessean printed allegations against CCA without
publishing the company’s accompanying denials. Grant also said that the paper
ignored the medical evidence and focused only on the negative side of the story.
“We have achieved excellence on American Correctional Association audits and our
customers hold us in high regard,” Grant said. “That wasn’t a fair and balanced
viewpoint.” Grant also said Tennessean editors have told CCA representatives
that they oppose private correctional facilities from an editorial standpoint.
Tennessean Editor Mark Silverman would only say that the paper stands by its
article. But Alex Friedmann, a prison reform activist and associate editor of
Prison Legal News, dispute the Web site’s claim to a 360-degree view of the
issue. “They’re a corporation — their only responsibility is to their
shareholders,” he said. “They’re interested in this incident because it causes
problems with their stock price and shareholder confidence.” Shares of CCA
(Ticker: CXW) are down about 6 percent in 2008 and are up almost 10 percent from
a year ago. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has dropped more than 11 percent
since last summer. Friedmann believes that, for the Web site to be considered
balanced, it should have included a sheriff’s report excoriating CCA practices
as well as an initial autopsy that conflicts with those conducted by the
examiners during the trial. Friedmann’s credibility is also questioned on the
Web site, which points to his lack of academic expertise and refers to him as a
“former inmate.” Friedmann says everyone has an agenda and freely admits to his
own. “Obviously, I have a bias. I have been an inmate at a CCA prison,” he said.
“But CCA, they’re a private, for-profit organization. They have a $1.45 billion
bias.”
August 13, 2008 Tennessean
Alex Friedmann doesn't think people can see past his conviction, so he's the
first one to bring it up. He spent 10 years in a cell — six of them at a
Corrections Corporation of America prison in Tennessee — for armed robbery and
attempted murder. "I was absolutely not cut out for a life of crime," Friedmann,
39, says. "And I was quite incompetent at it. I deserved the punishment. But
punishment, technically, ends at some point. Society says it doesn't, and that
lasts for the rest of your life. It follows you around like a legacy." Now,
years removed from prison, Friedmann is engaged in an ardent struggle against
Nashville-based CCA, the nation's largest for-profit prison company. He is a
self-described underdog, battling the multibillion-dollar corporation that has
drawn nationwide criticism for its treatment of prisoners. He didn't like the
way he was treated while he was incarcerated, and he has questioned whether CCA
gave prompt medical attention to a friend who died while in CCA custody many
years ago. CCA, in turn, paints him as a less-than-credible advocate for prison
reform and a pawn of unions that oppose privatized prisons like those run by CCA,
which has 17,000 employees nationwide and holds more than 75,000 inmates. "He is
a former inmate convicted of armed robbery at Green Hills," said Louise Grant, a
spokeswoman for CCA. "The fact that he shot at a father and a son is lost. He
now works for a union-funded company.'' Still, Friedmann says prison reform is
what defines his life. "I admire people who devote their lives to causes — to
saving whales, the environment, child abuse," he said. "This cause gives meaning
to my life." He's a CCA shareholder -- In that role, Friedmann has
single-handedly taken CCA to task over the years — even at the shareholder
meetings. Friedmann owns one share of CCA stock, giving him the right to attend
and ask questions at the meetings. "What I'm saying is that CCA is for-profit
and it colors their decision," he said. "It's their business model." He is
seeking access to CCA records. He won that access, albeit briefly, when a judge
said that because the for-profit prison operates similar to a government entity,
it should make its records open to the public, but CCA is appealing the judge's
ruling. Friedmann is vice president of Private Corrections Institute, which is
against the privatization of correctional institutions and is supported by
unions. He says he does not collect a paycheck in his role with Private
Corrections Institute. The company has paid for his travel and he has been
reimbursed for expenses. He also is associate editor of Prison Legal News,
working 60 hours a week reading and editing dozens of stories for the monthly
publication, which looks at the nation's penal system. Then he leaves his desk
to hand out fliers asking for more information regarding the death of a CCA
inmate. He went to Congress to testify against the federal judgeship nomination
of Gus Puryear, CCA's general counsel, a battle he is even keener about. He
double-checked every answer Puryear gave to the Senate Judicial Committee. He
investigated the general counsel's commission meetings and memberships in a
country club, and he challenged a contradictory statement regarding the death of
an inmate. He started a Web site, againstpuryear.com. His was 'a harsh crime' --
Friedmann considers himself a private person despite the public battles he has
waged against CCA. During a lunch interview, he does not want to talk in any
depth about his family, his personal life or religious affiliations. He is
succinct. His father's family was Jewish, his mother a Southern Baptist.
Friedmann was born outside of Boston and left for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, with
his parents as a 1-year-old only child. His father worked for Aramco, the
Arabian American Oil Co. "I did not have to share my toys," he said jokingly as
he eats a salad and waits for his pizza to cool down. They lived in a compound
with people from around the world. Years later, with extended family in
Tennessee, Friedmann returned to the U.S. as a teen. It was the 1980s and he was
not accustomed to American society, he said. Caught in a downward spiral of
greed, stupidity and his personal struggle to assimilate back to American life
after being raised in Dhahran, the 18-year-old Friedmann armed himself with a
gun and robbed a Green Hills store. During the robbery he got into a gunfight
with the store owner, who shot Friedmann in his left hand. "It was a harsh
introduction to the system, but I committed a harsh crime," he said. Friedmann
says he was able to get probation but still fouled up. His probation was revoked
and he had to serve 10 years after he was busted for shoplifting. In prison he
read a number of books, including the classics and a couple that sparked his
interest in activism: Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago and One Day
in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a story based on a character who served 10 years
in prison in Stalin's gulag. He began writing and learning how to do research.
He admired the in-depth investigative pieces produced by reporters. Today, he
worries it's not done enough. He has no social life, he says. His downtime
consists of zipping around in his restored 1982 Corvette and working on computer
systems. But he sees himself as a reporter and an activist.
National
August 14, 2008 AP
Had this been like most nominations for federal judgeships, the chief lawyer
with Corrections Corporation of America might have been packing up his office
and heading for the courthouse by now. But a determined opponent — a former
prisoner at a Corrections Corporation of America facility in Clifton, Tenn. —
has worked tirelessly to see that would not happen. And he may have succeeded.
More than a year after President Bush nominated Gustavus A. Puryear IV to become
a U.S. district judge in Nashville, the 40-year-old's appointment appears to be
in serious trouble, thanks in no small part to Alex Friedmann, a convicted armed
robber turned inmate advocate. Friedmann, 39, contends Puryear is unqualified
because he lacks experience in federal courts — he's been involved in only two
federal trials — and might have a potential conflict of interest in hearing
cases that involve CCA. On his Web site, http://www.againstpuryear.org,
Friedmann also has detailed Puryear's ties to powerful Republicans like Dick
Cheney, whom he helped prep for a 2000 debate, and portrayed Puryear as someone
who got the nomination because of his connections rather than his
qualifications. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Puryear's
nomination in February but has yet to vote on whether to send his name to the
full Senate. Erica Chabot, the press secretary for committee Chairman Patrick
Leahy, said Puryear is one of only three people who have been nominated for
district judgeships since January 2007 and have had hearings before the
committee but have not had their nominations voted on. Leahy, D-Vt., has said
the panel will not consider any more nominees this session without the consent
of leaders from both parties. "I understand they have put Puryear in the
'controversial' category," said Brian Fitzpatrick, who once worked for
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas defending Bush's Supreme Court nominees and
is now an assistant law professor at Vanderbilt University. "It's very rare for
a district court nominee to become controversial. Usually they just fly
through." The Senate typically defers heavily to the senators from the nominee's
home state, and Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee
solidly support Puryear. But the opposition has been unusually committed.
Multiple organizations, including the left-leaning Alliance for Justice and the
National Lawyer's Guild, have challenged Puryear's nomination, all of them using
research that originated with Friedmann, occasionally quoting it verbatim.
Friedmann says he learned of the nomination because he keeps track of
Nashville-based CCA, which manages 66 facilities around the country. He looked
through dockets and court cases, contacted former co-workers and made Freedom of
Information Act requests. To get the word out, he relied on the nonprofit
Private Corrections Institute, for which he serves as vice president, and a
group he formed called Tennesseans Against Puryear. Puryear did not return calls
from The Associated Press for this story. White House spokesman Blair Jones said
the White House suggests that nominees not speak to the media, prior to
confirmation, out of respect for the deliberative process of the Senate. "Groups
can attack a nominee, but you'll never see (the nominee) respond to anything
except at hearings," said Puryear's friend Ed Haden, an attorney in Birmingham,
Ala. Haden said the obstacles to Puryear's nomination are political, and don't
mean he is not qualified for the job. "As far as his qualifications go, he was
at the top of his class in law school, he clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals,
he has legislative experience in the U.S. Senate, he manages litigation for a
big Fortune 500 company, and the ABA (American Bar Association) rated him as
qualified," Haden said. "Gus realizes this is a lame duck year in politics," he
added. "It's true for all nominees — whether you're in the deal or not is beyond
your control." Puryear's nomination remains active until Congress adjourns, and
he could still be confirmed. The most likely scenario for that would be a deal
struck between senators. "At the end of the session, it's, 'Who wants a bridge
in Vermont?'" said Haden, who has worked with two U.S. senators on judicial
nominations. Meanwhile, Friedmann is continuing his opposition campaign in the
hopes of making a last-minute deal less likely. "I'm glad the Judiciary
Committee is taking a closer look at Mr. Puryear as a candidate because the
issues we raised are legitimate issues," he said. "But," he added, "I'm
definitely not claiming victory."
Tennessee
July 30, 2008 Tennessean
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America must follow public
records law and open its files for viewing, a Chancery Court judge ruled
Tuesday, a decision that could lead to more transparency in a historically
hidden industry. Alex Friedmann, an ex-offender and vice president of advocacy
group Private Corrections Institute, had filed suit after CCA denied his request
for records about prison operations and lawsuits they were part of. CCA, which
operates the Metro Davidson County Detention Facility and six other detention
facilities across Tennessee, maintained the company did not have to comply with
public records requests because it is private. Access to prison records could
accomplish two main goals, said Michele Deitch, an expert on private prison
issues and adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin: shedding
light on the operation of the private facilities and showing taxpayers how much
money is spent on settlements with those who claim mistreatment. "When the
private sector says, 'We can do this cheaper and better,' people don't think
about what happens if things go wrong," Deitch said. "Who pays for that? In
fact, it does come back to the taxpayers and the government. We need that
information for a fuller picture of the true cost of these prisons." CCA plans
to appeal the ruling, according to attorney Joe Welborn, who represented the
company. Public-private line blurs - It's too soon to say whether there will be
national implications to the decision, said Gene Policinski, vice president and
executive director of the First Amendment Center. But as more governmental
functions are turned over to private industry, he said, the issue of what
documents remain public can get muddied. "These issues will be litigated more
and more," Policinski said. "Where does public responsibility and public
visibility end, and a private institution's own records begin, when performing
public functions and accepting public money?" Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ruled
that CCA was a "functional equivalent" to a governmental entity, because the
operations of jails and prisons are essential governmental functions, and most
of their revenues are taxpayer-funded. She ordered the company to make all of
its records available, except those sealed by a court order. Andrew Clarke,
attorney for Friedmann, said he kept his arguments simple because he felt the
facts supported his client's assertion that CCA performs a governmental
function. "Sometimes it just is what it is," Clarke said. 'A layer of secrecy'
The chancellor has not yet ruled on whether to award attorney's fees to
Friedmann. CCA spokesman Steve Owen said the company is reserving comment until
a final order has been issued. CCA has been hammered in recent months by
allegations of underplaying serious incidents in its jails and misrepresenting
the circumstances of in-custody deaths. Much of the heat came after CCA's
general counsel, Gus Puryear, was nominated to a federal judgeship. The
company's treatment of mentally ill inmates locally also was questioned after it
was reported that an inmate hadn't left his cell or showered for nine months.
Friedmann's organization recently offered reward money for anyone who could shed
light on the death of Estelle Richardson, who died in the Metro jail in 2004.
CCA officials said that, because of a malfunction, there was no tape of the
incident that led to Richardson's fatal injuries. Friedmann served six years in
a CCA-run facility before his release in 1999. "This important ruling strips
away a layer of secrecy that CCA has misused to conceal embarrassing and
negative information from the public," Friedmann said.
July 9, 2008 News Channel 5
Medical records are supposed to be private. But one watchdog group said they
found 50 pages of sensitive patient information out in the open in a trash bin
outside a methadone clinic. State and federal investigators are now trying to
figure out what happened. The information ended up in the hands of the Private
Corrections Institute, a watchdog group that plans to turn the documents over to
authorities. But it could have been much worse if they ended up in the wrong
hands. As far as privacy goes few places require it as much as the Middle
Tennessee Treatment Center, a methadone clinic that helps patients with
substance abuse problems. "As we understand it, a group of records was found in
a Dumpster near the clinic," said Bruce Emery, who leads the Division of Alcohol
and Drug Abuse Services for the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and
Developmental. Some documents containing the private information of more than 40
clients ended up a large unlocked trash bin. The documents contained telephone
and Social Security numbers as well as accounts of medicine use and drug
history. State and federal agencies launched investigations to find out how the
information got into the open. "I was as upset as any of us would be that such
personal, private information would be compromised like that," Emery said. "We
will absolutely get to the bottom of this," he said. "We take it as seriously as
any client does. This is an important issue for us." "This is information that
is very personal and private," said Vanderbilt University professor Josh Perry.
He said cases such as this are especially important when dealing with substance
abuse patients, who often worry their private information will be exposed and
used against them. "I think whenever you're dealing with a vulnerable
population, individuals who are seeking treatment in a methadone clinic, they
are particularly vulnerable, I think, to discrimination," he said. Perry said
that information mishaps can lead to trust issues between the medical community
and the larger population. "Having strict regulations and policies regarding
sensitive health information is important factor to promote that sense of public
trust," he said. State officials said patient information is supposed to be kept
on site for five to 10 years before documents are shredded and disposed. Debbie
Crowley, the center's chief operating officer, said the center is doing
everything it can to prevent future mistakes. She said her staff takes client
privacy very seriously. It is unclear how the documents were disposed the way
they were. State officials said their investigation will likely be completed
sometime next week. They said those responsible could face penalties and fines.
July 9, 2008 Tennessean
Nashville's methadone clinic is being accused of throwing away patient
records without shredding them, jeopardizing clients' privacy and putting them
at risk for identity theft. Alex Friedmann, an ex-offender and vice president of
Private Corrections Institute, a watchdog group that opposes prison
privatization, says he has obtained roughly 50 pages of patients' information
that came from Middle Tennessee Treatment Center's unlocked Dumpster. These
documents include private information such as the names, Social Security
numbers, addresses and phone numbers of patients who receive methadone, a
synthetic opiate medication that eliminates the severe withdrawal symptoms of
heroin. "This is incredibly improper. These are confidential records," Friedmann
said. "There is a stigma attached to people undergoing methadone treatment. If
this information got in the wrong hands, it could jeopardize people's jobs and
their standing in the community." Debbie Crowley, the center's chief operating
officer, said patient information is never thrown in the garbage without being
shredded. She said she suspected that the documents were somehow taken from the
center and promised that a full investigation would be conducted. "Maintaining
the confidentiality of our clients is paramount," Crowley said. "This is not how
we do business." Friedmann said the records were taken from the Dumpster on June
28 but wouldn't say who brought them to him. Crowley did not learn about the
unshredded documents until Tuesday. She said she planned to contact the patients
who are identified in the records to inform them of the situation. "As far as
I'm concerned, these documents were obtained illegally," Crowley said. Friedmann
fears that the clinic's actions could place patients at risk of having their
identities stolen. Forty-three patient names and seven of their Social Security
numbers can be found in the tossed records, which include notes from counseling
sessions that contain details of patients' personal lives. State will look into
clinic Friedmann — who served 10 years in prisons and jail after being convicted
of assault with intent to commit murder, armed robbery and attempted aggravated
robbery — said his only plans for the records are to turn them over to
regulatory agencies. Jill Hudson, a Tennessee Department of Mental Health and
Developmental Disabilities spokeswoman, said the state is looking into the
allegations. She said methadone clinics are required to hold on to patient
records for 10 years and they must be destroyed before they are thrown away.
Clinics that violate these practices face fines ranging from $500 to $5,000,
Hudson said. Also, a complaint against the methadone clinic has been filed with
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights, which
enforces patient privacy laws. The civil rights office can't discuss complaints
that are under investigation. But in general, once a complaint is filed the
agency investigates, and if the complaint is founded, the agency will work with
the provider to correct the problems. If the problems continue, the agency has
the option to levy fines. Friedmann said it's especially egregious that the
clinic failed to protect patient privacy because there is no other methadone
clinic in this area. "Where else are they going to go?" Friedmann asked. "There
is no other game in town." The building that houses the Middle Tennessee
Treatment Center is co-owned by Gus Puryear IV, the Corrections Corporation of
America's general counsel and a federal judicial nominee. Puryear has been
accused by a former CCA employee of overseeing a practice that produced
misleading reports about safety incidents at the company's prisons. The Private
Corrections Institute has been an outspoken critic of Puryear's nomination.
National
June 26, 2008 Nashville Scene
Regarding the Scene’s cover story on CCA, “Locked and Loaded” (June 19),
when it comes to prisons—particularly private prisons—the devil’s in the
details. While the article was informative and wide-ranging, it missed some
important details, including these: It wasn’t clear that there was a cover up of
the assault on inmate James Ingram at CCA’s Hardeman County facility. The
assault by Warden Turner occurred on May 17, 2007, but the Tennessee Department
of Correction wasn’t notified until July 19—two months later. Nor were they notified
by CCA; they learned about the incident from Ingram’s attorney. CCA staff had
tried to hide the incident from state officials. CCA employees apparently have
problems following the law. From February 2003 to April 2008, at least 55 CCA
employees at three prisons in Tennessee (Hardeman County, Whiteville and South
Central) were charged with criminal offenses—or an average of one a month. That
doesn’t include arrests of CCA staff members at the company’s 62 other
facilities. Gerald Townsend, the inmate at the CCA-Metro facility who was beaten
to death by his cellmate in January, was the brother of Judy Townsend—who,
ironically, was present at the same CCA-run facility in July 2004 when Estelle
Richardson was found “unresponsive” in her segregation cell and later died. Four
CCA guards were indicted in connection with her death, but the charges were
later dropped. A $35,000 reward has been offered for information related to
Estelle’s murder: See whokilledestelle.org. Alex Friedmann Vice President,
Private Corrections Institute (and former CCA prisoner)
June 17, 2008 AlterNet
Gustavus "Gus" Puryear, head legal honcho for the nation's largest private
prison company, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), isn't the kind of guy
who's accustomed to sitting in the hot seat, much less showing visible signs of
discomfort. The kind of discomfort, say, that Puryear might have felt when he
heard that up to $35,000 in cash reward money had been announced for information
leading to the conviction of Estelle Richardson's murderer(s). Ten thousand
dollars will go to anyone who can recover "missing" cell extraction video
footage from within the CCA-operated Nashville prison where Estelle was found
dead in her solitary confinement cell. The cash reward announcement came a
couple of weeks after AlterNet ran the two-part investigative feature I wrote
about the Estelle Richardson, and what any of the events surrounding her life
and death has to do with Puryear's bid for federal judgeship. This money's quite
real, and the offer is quite legitimate, although the actual donor has chosen to
remain anonymous. Check it out for yourself at WhoKilledEstelle.org. The
grassroots organizing front has picked up steam, as well, especially after Amy
Goodman took interest in the story and brought me on Democracy Now! to discuss
some of the particulars. Many readers and viewers have followed up by going to
AgainstPuryear.org, run by a man named Alex Friedmann. [T]he judicial nomination
of CCA general counsel Gus Puryear is largely in the toilet," Friedmann wrote to
me in a recent e-mail, referring to an article from The Tennessean. Wow. When
President Bush nominated him to a lifetime federal judicial appointment last
year, it seemed to most people paying attention that he'd be confirmed without
much fanfare or fuss. Puryear had always been a staunch GOP loyalist, but he
wasn't the kind to rock the boat with public, proclamations about controversial
issues. Instead, he proved himself to be the behind-the-scenes guy; the kind of
guy, for example, who got a kick out of prepping Dick Cheney for the 2000 and
2004 vice-presidential debates. By the time he was nominated for the U.S.
District Court judgeship. Puryear also proved himself to be a relentlessly
corporate litigator whose loyalty to CCA's bottom line had been (and still is)
handsomely rewarded. If it weren't for the fact that CCA brought in a corporate
commando in 2001 by the name of John Ferguson (and that Ferguson decided to
bring Puryear in to create a new, formidable legal fortress), CCA's
scandal-ridden, stock-price-tanking, shareholder-suing mess would have surely
have brought the entire company crashing to the ground. (Yes, CCA scandals are
now more prevalent than ever, but so are the number people cycling in and out of
prison. Where federal and state governments have run out of options, CCA and
other prison privatizers have made in their business to make themselves
indispensable.) With a net worth of $13 million (and climbing), the 39-yr-old
Puryear didn't just show up with an old-money pedigree and a seemingly
skeleton-free closet; he was able to turn it up a few notches as a quick-witted,
nattily-attired, blue-eyed whippersnapper eager to play his part to freshen up a
stale party image. And what better way to do so than to slip on a nice, roomy
judge's robe and decide on the fate of people's lives? He was riding in the
slipstream of the most reprehensible driver of the American prison machine,
Sure, he hit a few small speed bumps along the way, and Estelle Richardson was
one of those. I'm grateful that Friedmann wasn't willing to let her memory fade
away. "But the fight isn't over yet," he cautions. "Puryear can still be
confirmed anytime from now until January 2009. Since his nomination is presently
on the ropes, it's time for a knock-out blow. If you or your organization
haven't already done so, now is the time to contact the Senate Judiciary
Committee and object to Puryear's pending nomination. I'll second that.
www.againstpuryear.org. Estelle, I hope that you can rest in peace.
June 13, 2008 Tennessean
A year ago today, Gustavus "Gus" Puryear IV was nominated for a federal
judgeship in Nashville and appeared headed to an easy confirmation. Now
Puryear's confirmation seems unlikely. In addition to questions raised about his
qualifications and actions as general counsel for Corrections Corporation of
America, Puryear's fate is now caught in intense election-year battles between
Republicans and Democrats in the Senate over lifetime judicial appointments.
Senate Democrats are looking to approve as few of Republican President Bush's
appointments as they can before his term expires, hoping Democratic Sen. Barack
Obama of Illinois wins the presidency. Republicans did the same during the final
months of the Democratic Clinton administration. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., a
longtime member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which vets nominees, said at
a committee hearing Thursday that this practice is simply the "fact of the
matter." "It is legitimate," Biden said. "These are lifetime appointments."
Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., said at the end of the hearing,
which included approval of three judicial nominees, that no more judges would be
confirmed unless there is agreement among him and ranking committee Republican
Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the
Senate. Even Tennessee's two Republican senators, who signed off on Puryear's
nomination, acknowledge his confirmation is in trouble. "Gus Puryear is a
qualified nominee who deserves an up-or-down vote in the Senate, and we're
continuing to pursue every option to that end," Sen. Bob Corker said in a
written statement. "The current atmosphere in the Senate makes his confirmation
more difficult — not impossible, just increasingly more difficult as we approach
the fall elections." Sen. Lamar Alexander said he was still hopeful. "But the
Democrats have slowed confirmation of President Bush's nominees to a ridiculous
extent," Alexander said in a recent interview. CCA spokesman Steve Owen,
responding to a request for Puryear to comment, said the company has "no way of
knowing what the outcome of the confirmation process will be. We continue to
believe that Mr. Puryear would make an excellent federal judge. He has served
the company admirably and with great integrity as general counsel." The
Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Puryear's nomination in February but has
not scheduled a vote on whether to send his name to the full Senate for a vote.
Reasons cited by opponents as to why Puryear should not be confirmed include: a
lack of trial and judicial experience, his role as chief lawyer for the
country's largest private prison company, and the company's handling of the 2004
death of Estelle Richardson while she was in the Metro Detention Facility in
Nashville. Among those opposing Puryear's confirmation are: The Alliance for
Justice, an umbrella group of national civil rights and other organizations,
Private Corrections Institute Inc., which opposes prison privatization and the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
May 3, 2008 Tennessean
Several recent editorials, including an April 13 opinion piece by former
Sen. Bill Frist, have expressed support for the federal judicial nomination of
Gustavus A. Puryear IV, general counsel for Corrections Corp. of America (CCA).
Mr. Frist decried political bickering over Mr. Puryear's nomination, and,
indeed, it would be laudable if politics played no part in judicial selections.
But as former Sen. Frist knows from his own partisan positions on judicial
nominees, the process is rife with politics. In addition to having worked for
Mr. Frist, Mr. Puryear was employed by Sen. Fred Thompson during an
investigation into Democrat campaign finances. He also served as a debate
adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, and has been described as a "Republican
heavyweight." According to a 2004 report, 96 percent of the campaign
contributions made by CCA, Mr. Puryear's employer, went to Republican
candidates. So how is Mr. Puryear's nomination not political in nature? In fact,
political payback is a reasonable explanation for why Mr. Puryear is now a
judicial nominee. It certainly wasn't his trial or courtroom experience. By his
own admission, Mr. Puryear has been personally involved in only four or five
federal cases and has taken only two cases to trial over his entire legal
career. He has never handled a federal appeal, and he has not personally
litigated a case in the past decade. An April 28 article in the National Law
Journal described Mr. Puryear's nomination as one of only two that have "vocal
opposition." Where is that opposition coming from? Not from just one group, but
from the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, the
National Council of Women's Organizations, AFSCME (one of the nation's largest
labor unions, which represents public employees), the Alliance for Justice and
other civil rights organizations. These varied groups would not take positions
against Mr. Puryear's nomination if they did not have serious concerns as to
whether he should serve on the federal bench. On the flip side, Mr. Puryear's
supporters note that he received a "qualified" rating by the American Bar
Association. However, during this Congressional term the ABA has rated 75
percent of judicial nominees as "well qualified"; thus, Mr. Puryear ranks in the
bottom 25 percent. Further, almost all of Mr. Puryear's supporters have
financial or business ties to his employer, CCA, either through stock ownership
or client relationships. A CCA spokesperson has criticized opposition to Mr.
Puryear's nomination as being part of a larger campaign against for-profit
prisons. While his employment with CCA is one of many factors, the bottom line
is that Mr. Puryear lacks the experience and qualifications necessary to serve
as a federal judge, whether he works for CCA or any other company. In terms of
politics, Mr. Puryear would be unqualified whether he was a Democrat or a
Republican, or whether he was nominated by President Bush or former President
Clinton. For more information about Mr. Puryear's contested judicial nomination,
please visit www.againstpuryear.org. Alex Friedmann is vice president of the
Private Corrections Institute, a nonprofit group that opposes prison
privatization. He is also a former prisoner who served six years at a CCA-run
facility in Tennessee before being released in 1999.
Hawai'i:
March 31, 2008 Honolulu Advertiser
State lawmakers today will consider ordering an audit of two Corrections
Corporation of America facilities in the wake of national media accounts
alleging that the huge private prison company misrepresented statistical data to
make it appear that CCA facilities had fewer violent acts and other problems
than was actually the case. Hawai'i pays CCA more than $50 million a year to
house more than 2,000 men and women convicts in CCA prisons in Arizona and
Kentucky. Senate Bill 2342 calls for the State Auditor to conduct performance
audits of two of the three Mainland prisons that house Hawai'i inmates,
including reviews of the food, medical, drug treatment, vocational and other
services provided to Hawai'i inmates. The audit also would scrutinize the way
the state Department of Public Safety oversees the private prisons and enforces
the terms of the state's contracts with CCA. According to the bill, "there has
never been an audit of the private Mainland prisons that Hawai'i has contracted
with to house the state's inmates, despite the fact that deaths and serious
injuries have occurred at several of the contract prisons on the Mainland."
Clayton Frank, director of the state Department of Public Safety, testified
against the proposed audits in Senate hearings last month, calling the audits
"unnecessary and repetitive" because his department already conducts quarterly
audits to make sure CCA is complying with its contracts with the state. Frank
also suggested his department was being singled out, arguing that if lawmakers
want performance audits to provide more accountability and transparency to the
public, "then it should apply to all state contracts and not be limited to just
the Department of Public Safety." Critics of the Mainland prison contracts
contend the audits are needed because the private prisons are for-profit
ventures designed to keep costs as low as possible. During the decade that
Hawai'i has housed inmates on the Mainland, the state itself has criticized
private prison operators when the companies failed to provide Hawai'i inmates
with programs that were required under the contract. Now, supporters of the
audit bill say an independent review is necessary to scrutinize what is one of
the state's largest ongoing contracts of any kind with a private vendor. "Are we
getting what we pay for? We'd like to know," testified Jeanne Y. Ohta, executive
director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i. The audit would cover the
1,896-bed Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., which houses only male
prisoners from Hawai'i, and the 656-bed Otter Creek Correctional Center in
Wheelwright, Ky., which holds about 175 Hawai'i women inmates. The House Finance
Committee hearing on the bill today comes in the wake of Mainland media reports
citing a former CCA manager who said he was required to produce misleading
reports about incidents in CCA prisons. The company operates about 65 prisons
with about 75,000 inmates. Time magazine interviewed former CCA senior quality
assurance manager Ronald T. Jones, who said CCA General Counsel Gus Puryear IV
ordered staff to classify sometimes violent incidents such as inmate
disturbances, escapes and sexual assaults as if they were less serious events to
make the company performance appear to be better than it was. Jones said more
detailed reports about the prison incidents were prepared for internal CCA use,
and were not released to clients. CCA denied the allegations, which Time
published as Puryear is being considered for a post as a federal judge. The
Private Corrections Institute Inc., an organization opposed to private prisons,
wrote to Hawai'i prison officials urging them to investigate CCA's reporting
procedures in the wake of the Time report. Alex Friedmann, vice president of the
institute, said most state monitors who are overseeing CCA prisons "largely rely
on information and data provided by CCA; further, the accuracy of incident
reports is entirely dependent on whether those incidents are documented by the
company's employees." Hawai'i Public Safety officials did not respond to
requests for comment on the allegations in the Time article.
Tennessee
March 26, 2008 Tennessean
Add women’s rights groups to the list opposing the federal judicial
nomination of Gus Puryear IV, the embattled general counsel for the Corrections
Corporation of America. Puryear’s membership to Nashville’s Belle Meade County
Club is under fire by the women’s rights organization who say women are unable
to vote or hold office at the private golf club. National Organization of Women,
the National Council for Women’s Organizations and the Women’s Equal rights
Legal Defense and Education Fund have sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary
Committee. Puryear’s nomination ignited a debate whether the general counsel of
CCA, the for-profit prison giant, is suited for the bench in light of
allegations that he encouraged misleading incident reports. Private Corrections
Institute, an advocacy group that opposes prison privatization, has been an
outspoken critic of Puryear's nomination. The Alliance for Justice and the
National Lawyers Guild are among the opposition. There’s also a website,
www.againstpuryear.org, is part of the opposition campaign. The hearings were
held last month and the committee has not voted on his nomination. President
Bush nominated Puryear last June to serve as a federal judge for the Middle
District of Tennessee.
March 20, 2008 Nashville Scene
The Scene’s article on Gus Puryear’s federal judicial nomination covered
many of the bases but missed one important detail (“Elephant in the Room,” March
6). If people want to learn more about this inexperienced, less-than-qualified,
conflicted and controversial Bush-nominated judicial candidate—and perhaps want
to do something about it—they should visit the website againstpuryear.org.
Otherwise the Scene did a great job. The issues related to the death of Estelle
Richardson, Mr. Puryear’s lack of experience and conflicts of interest, his
membership in the overwhelmingly white Belle Meade Country Club, which does not
afford voting rights to women members, and Mr. Puryear’s employment with CCA
(the nation’s largest for-profit prison firm) go far beyond partisan politics.
Mr. Puryear would be unqualified whether he was a Democrat or a Republican,
whether Bush or Clinton nominated him. He’s not qualified and not the right man
for the job, which transcends politics (or at least should). For those who know
Mr. Puryear, they may not know he is a man of contradictions. Contradictions
between what he says and does and between the whole and entire truth. That isn’t
a quality we want or need in a federal judge. The residents of Middle Tennessee
deserve better, but they won’t get it unless they make their voices heard. ALEX
FRIEDMANN VICE PRESIDENT, PRIVATE CORRECTIONS INSTITUTE
March 14, 2008
Nashville Scene
Once thought to be a sure thing, Gus Puryear's nomination to the federal
bench is now in serious trouble. A devastating story published on Time
magazine's website yesterday alleged that the young attorney whitewashed company
reports in his role as corporate counsel for Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA). The story revolves around Ronald T. Jones, a former CCA prison manager
described as a loyal Republican like the judicial nominee himself. Jones claims
Puryear oversaw a reporting system in which the company basically lied to its
public-sector clients, minimizing outbreaks of prison disturbances in the jails
it operates. In theory at least, CCA is supposed to provide thorough and
objective reports to the government agencies who have outsourced the management
of its jails to the private company. But Jones says his ex-boss Puryear masked
or omitted details that could result in litigation, fines or bad press. That
aside, he behaved admirably. “When Puryear felt there was highly sensitive or
potentially damaging information to CCA, I would then be directed to remove that
information from an audit report,” Jones told Time.com. Today, The Tennessean
published a well-reported front-page story that included additional details,
including how in 2005 a CCA official once had the temerity to issue a memo with
potentially damaging information about a prison incident. That led to a change
in company policy—in which any reports to be made public had to be cleared by
the office of the general counsel. The Private Corrections Institute, which has
led the charge against Puryear, issued a press release calling on the Senate
Judiciary Committee to summon the nominee back to Washington for yet another
hearing. The group may well get its wish. It's been a dismal week for Puryear—right
as he tries to explain his membership in the historically discriminatory Belle
Meade Country Club, he now will likely have to defend himself against serious
charges of turning CCA’s cold, hard facts into creative fiction. It's still
possible for Puryear to survive this latest onslaught of bad press and go on to
become a good judge. But considering how much trouble he's had so far convincing
people he's up for the job, couldn't the Bush administration have just plucked
someone else? There are plenty of intelligent Republican attorneys in Nashville.
How many of them have Puryear's baggage?
March 14, 2008
Tennessean
A former Corrections Corporation of America manager is accusing the
company's general counsel and federal judicial nominee Gus Puryear IV of
overseeing a practice that produced misleading reports about safety incidents at
its prisons. Ronald T. Jones, who until last year worked as a senior manager in
quality assurance at the Nashville-based prison operator, said that Puryear
directed him and other staff to classify incidents such as escapes, unnatural
deaths and disturbances as less serious to make its performance look better in
reports to government agency clients. Reports prepared for internal use,
meanwhile, included more details about the specific incidents, Jones said.
Private Corrections Institute, an advocacy group that opposes prison
privatization and has been an outspoken critic of Puryear's nomination, Thursday
urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold another round of hearings at which
Jones could testify and Puryear be asked more questions about his actions.
"Alternatively, we support the position of not bringing Mr. Puryear's judicial
nomination forward for a committee vote," said Alex Friedmann, a former inmate
at a CCA prison and the group's vice president. At a Feb. 12 hearing before the
Judiciary Committee, Puryear faced tough questions on the 2004 death of a woman
at the Metro Detention Facility, possible conflict of interest with cases
involving CCA and its executives that are often filed in Middle Tennessee
District, where he would serve, and his membership in the exclusive Belle Meade
Country Club. In response, Puryear said that he would recuse himself for at
least five years from all cases involving CCA and its executives: said there
were disagreements among medical experts about what happened in the death of
Estelle Richardson at the detention facility; and promised to resign from Belle
Meade if he found its membership policies violated the code of judicial ethics.
Committee staff said any action on Puryear's nomination is unlikely until April
at the earliest. The committee has no more business meetings this week and
Congress is on Easter break for the next two weeks. The Judiciary Committee
usually does not hold additional hearings with the nominee and other witnesses.
Instead, the senators rely on written responses to questions and the transcript
of the original hearing when discussing and voting on a nominee. Puryear
couldn't be reached last night for comment. CCA denies allegations -- Louise
Grant, a CCA spokeswoman, called Jones' allegations inaccurate and added that it
paints a false picture of CCA's quality assurance process and of Puryear's role.
"We question the motives of this former employee, who was not in a leadership
position in quality assurance and resigned in lieu of termination," Grant added.
"If our interest was in under-reporting or not finding quality issues, we simply
would not have created this (quality assurance) department or its programs in
the first place." Jones denies that he faced termination at CCA. He now lives in
Detroit and said he left CCA to pursue a legal career. He said in his job he was
responsible for tracking information on events such as unusual deaths,
disturbances and audit findings and that the misleading practices began in early
2005, when the quality assurance department was put under Puryear as general
counsel. A CCA staff member in 2005 provided a report containing potentially
damaging information about an incident at a prison to a government client
without corporate approval, Jones said. That incident, according to Jones, led
to a new policy in which any reports that could be made public needed to be
cleared by the office of the general counsel. "Mr. Puryear then directed me, and
other quality assurance department staff who process audit report finding, to
create two reports for distribution of audit findings," Jones wrote in a
statement sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I would prepare one report
with all of the audit findings and auditor comments in it for "internal purposes
only" and a separate more generic report that contained only general information
about audit results as a whole." In a separate interview with The Tennessean,
Jones added that the more information that could potentially damage the company
if it was released publicly, the more that its operations and financial status
could be affected. In the corrections industry, the number of incidents such as
prison escapes, riots, and sexual assaults are among variables often used to
determine bonuses for employees from wardens to chief executives, industry
observers said. If a prison contract provides for a bonus, such incidents also
would be taken into account by a client government agency in determining the
award. CCA is required to file reports with the state on incidents such as
inmate-on-inmate assaults or inmate-on-staff assaults, disturbances and a daily
census of inmates at its prisons that house state inmates, said Dorinda Carter,
a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Corrections. The department has
onsite contract monitors and other designated employees at the prisons that
report daily on incidents and another division that conducts annual audits of
the CCA prisons, she said. "We feel pretty sure that we're finding out about
incidents as they happen," Carter said. She added that CCA is required to follow
the same policies as the 13 prisons run by the state and that officials are
confident in their monitoring of the company.
March 7, 2008 Tennessean
Long list of problems exists in use of CCA By ALEX FRIEDMANN Corrections
Corporation of America, the nation's largest for-profit prison firm, has a
history in Tennessee that dates back to 1983. It hasn't always been a proud
history, though. Last May, the warden of CCA's Hardeman County facility
assaulted an inmate who was in restraints. The warden resigned, was prosecuted
and pled guilty. The prison's internal affairs officer was charged with an
unrelated assault. On July 30, 2007, a riot occurred at CCA's South Central
Correctional Center in Wayne County. The company's tactical officers responded;
however, there was a delay when they tried to enter the housing units because no
one had the gate keys. On Jan. 14, 2008, an inmate at the CCA-run Metro-Davidson
County Detention Facility was beaten to death by his cellmate. Also, a prisoner
escaped from CCA's Metro jail. CCA initially didn't know he had absconded on
Feb. 16. Those are just the latest in a long line of assaults, escapes, inmate
and employee deaths, and riots at CCA facilities in Tennessee. Most people don't
care because they don't have a private prison in their backyard. That will soon
change for residents of Trousdale County, where CCA plans to build a 2,040-bed
detention center. Type of jobs an issue -- Proponents cite the estimated
350 jobs the prison will bring. But what kind of jobs? According to internal CCA
documents, as recently as October 2007, guards at the Hardeman County prison
were paid a starting wage of $9.41 an hour; after two years, they were earning
less than $10.25. An administrative clerk at the prison was hired at $7.67 per
hour. CCA's supporters also point to taxes and fees the company will pay. Those
payments are partially offset by other costs, such as $6 million in water and
sewage upgrades that Trousdale County will make in preparation for the prison.
In at least two cases, in Ohio and Texas, CCA was sued over tax breaks and
failure to pay taxes owed. In another case, CCA sued the state of New Mexico in
an attempt to recover $2.5 million in tax payments. A 2003 report titled, "Big
Prisons, Small Towns," found that incarceration is a poor form of economic
development. Once a city becomes a "prison town" other industries are less
likely to move in, making the community dependent on the facility for income —
and in the case of a private prison, at the mercy of the company that owns it.
Last month, CCA threatened to remove inmates from one of the company's prisons
in Colorado if the state didn't increase its payments. After a for-profit
facility is filled, the contracting government agencies can be held captive to
rate increases or other demands, as they have nowhere else to put their
prisoners. The residents of Trousdale County may be stuck with a private prison
despite the objections of concerned community members whose repeated requests
for a public hearing were denied. Those who favor the CCA facility will deserve
exactly what they get.
National
March 5, 2008 Tennessean
The accuracy of testimony by Gustavus "Gus'' Puryear IV at his confirmation
hearing to be a federal judge is being questioned by four Democratic members of
the Senate Judiciary Committee. Puryear is general counsel of Nashville-based
private prison giant Corrections Corporation of America and was nominated by
Republican President Bush. After the February hearing, he provided written
answers to additional questions about the company's handling of the death of an
inmate at a company-run facility in Nashville, potential conflicts of interest
he would face as a judge and his membership in the Belle Meade Country Club. The
sometimes-pointed questions and Puryear's responses again raise the stakes in
his confirmation. Once thought to be routine, Puryear's nomination is being
fought by a coalition of civil rights, labor and other groups spearheaded by the
Private Corrections Institute, which opposes prison privatization. Puryear's
responses were released Thursday. Inmate death testimony -- Judiciary Committee
Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, along with Sens. Ted Kennedy of
Massachusetts, Dianne Feinstein of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
questioned the testimony Puryear gave last month about the 2004 death of Estelle
Richardson. Richardson died at the Metro Detention Facility after she was
forcibly removed from her solitary confinement cell by four guards. She had a
fractured skull, broken ribs and liver damage. The state's medical examiner
ruled the death a homicide and the four guards were charged, but the indictments
eventually were dropped. Later, a civil suit brought by Richardson's family was
settled out of court when experts representing the family and the CCA concluded
the skull fracture occurred before she was extracted from her cell. At his Feb.
12 hearing, Puryear testified it was not clear how Richardson received her head
injuries and that they could have been self-inflicted. He said CPR done in an
attempt to revive Richardson could have caused her broken ribs and liver damage.
All four senators questioned that testimony, citing a letter sent to the
committee from Dr. Bruce Levy, Tennessee's chief medical examiner, who conducted
the autopsy on Richardson. He reiterated that the death was a homicide caused by
blunt force trauma that was not self-inflicted. Levy called "misleading at
best'' Puryear's comment about CPR causing injuries. Puryear responded by citing
a letter to the committee from David Smith, attorney for the Richardson family,
who wrote that the "the circumstances and causes of Ms. Richardson's tragic
death were complex and debated ... our own experts attributed the death to a
seizure.'' "There were also issues on whether CPR may have caused the liver and
rib injuries,'' Smith wrote. Puryear said the company's expert, Dr. William
McCormick, former deputy chief medical examiner for Tennessee, wrote that the
rib and liver injuries were "almost certainly'' caused by CPR and cited medical
research to back his claim. Promises made -- Puryear expanded on a promise made
during testimony that he would recuse himself for at least five years from CCA
cases and would also not take on personal cases involving company executives. He
said at the hearing he also would sell all of his CCA stock. Puryear also wrote
that he would resign from the Belle Meade Country Club if he discovered that the
club's membership practices violated the judicial code of conduct. Kennedy wrote
that the club did not allow blacks to join until 1994 and does not give women
the right to vote on club business. Puryear said there are no women who are
"resident members,'' the class allowed to vote, but that he knows of no policy
that restricts women from being recommended for that category. "I am not aware
... that any woman has been proposed or has sought to be proposed as a 'resident
member,' " he said. Judiciary Committee spokesman Erica Chabot said the
committee would likely not deal with the nomination until April at the earliest
because members may want to ask follow-up questions and Congress is out of
session the last two weeks of March. The full Senate must confirm the nomination
once it is out of committee.
February 21, 2008 AP
A private prison company executive nominated to become a federal judge has run
into a determined opponent — a former inmate. President Bush in June nominated
Gustavus A. Puryear IV, chief lawyer with Corrections Corporation of America, to
become a U.S. district judge in Nashville. That led Alex Friedmann, who spent
six years at the company's prison in Clifton, Tenn., to investigate Puryear's
qualifications. He looked up every case where Puryear was listed on the docket
as counsel. The prisoner-turned-inmate advocate found only five instances where
Puryear was the attorney of record. By his count and Puryear's, the judicial
nominee has been involved in only two federal court trials during his career.
That's just one more case than Friedmann himself has handled in federal court.
Convinced that the well-connected Puryear was unqualified to be a federal judge
and might face a conflict of interest overseeing litigation involving his former
employer, Friedmann began a public relations campaign against the nomination
that led all the way to the Senate. He formed the group Tennesseans Against
Puryear and enlisted the help of the liberal Washington-based Alliance for
Justice and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
both of which sent letters opposing the appointment. Puryear, a 1993 graduate of
the University of North Carolina law school, didn't respond to several phone and
e-mail requests left at his home and office for an interview with The Associated
Press. At a Feb. 12 hearing of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif.,
questioned Puryear about several issues originally raised by Friedmann and the
nonprofit Private Corrections Institute, a group opposing private prisons that
Friedmann helps run. Puryear told the Senate committee he already was selling
off his stock in the company, according to reports in The Tennessean newspaper.
He owned CCA shares valued at just under $1.3 million as of Feb. 1, according to
Lionshares.com, an online database of stock ownership. He also pledged to recuse
himself from cases involving CCA even after he no longer holds a financial
interest. The committee also questioned Puryear about whether the volume of
lawsuits against Nashville-based CCA — the nation's largest for-profit private
prison company — would burden other judges who would have to hear the cases when
Puryear recused himself. Puryear said it would not be a significant burden.
Friedmann's campaign against Puryear continues. He plans to send a letter to the
Committee on the Judiciary pointing out what he contends are inaccuracies in
Puryear's answers. The two men have never met. Although Friedmann learned of the
nomination because he keeps tabs on CCA, he insists his crusade is based on
Puryear's lack of qualification and not because he's a CCA executive. Friedmann
sued CCA and several employees in 1996 while incarcerated for six years for
armed robbery. Serving as his own lawyer, Friedmann eventually won a $6,000
judgment against a former prison unit manager for a civil rights violation.
Puryear's legal resume includes significant political work — serving as counsel
to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and junior counsel during the U.S.
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee investigation of campaign finance abuse
led by former Sen. Fred Thompson. He also was a debate adviser for Dick Cheney
in 2000. Stefanie Lindquist, an associate professor of political science and law
at Vanderbilt University, said courtroom experience is good but not essential
for federal judge nominees. She sees more significance in the American Bar
Association rating of Puryear as "qualified," instead of "well qualified" to be
a judge. "A 'qualified' rating is relatively weak. That's going to hurt him,"
Lindquist said. Lindquist said Friedmann's efforts are unusual for even
temporarily disrupting what should be a routine confirmation. There are about
180 Bush nominations pending as the administration and Democratic-controlled
Senate tangle over some sharply contested nominees. Of the Puryear nomination,
Lindquist said: "If there are other, more controversial nominees, this might
slide through as a compromise."
February 20, 2008 Mother Jones
In October 2000, Dick Cheney faced off for a debate with Connecticut Sen. Joseph
Lieberman. The 60-year-old Cheney appeared comfortable discussing the ins and
outs of policy and made good-natured jokes about Lieberman's singing abilities,
or lack thereof. Cheney's smooth performance reflected his many years in public
service. But the aspiring vice president also had a strong debate-preparation
team made up of longtime friends and GOP loyalists. Among them was Gustavus
Adolphus Puryear IV, a legislative director for Tennessee senator Bill Frist,
who was on contract with the Bush/Cheney campaign. Puryear apparently did such a
good job prepping Cheney that he was called in again in 2004 to help him gear up
for his debate with Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards.
Puryear's efforts on behalf of the Bush administration paid off last June when
the president nominated him to be a federal trial court judge for the Middle
District of Tennessee. Puryear certainly isn't the first judicial nominee
selected primarily for his political service, but still, his resume is
remarkably thin on the practice of law, a basic prerequisite even for the
best-connected political hacks. Puryear got his start in politics in the
mid-1990s working as counsel to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs,
then chaired by Fred Thompson, as it investigated the Clinton fundraising
scandals. From there he went to work for Frist. Beyond a brief stint in private
practice for a corporate law firm when he was fresh out of law school, Puryear
has spent more time inside an executive suite than a courtroom. And it's that
corporate work that makes him an especially questionable candidate for the
federal bench. Puryear was in Washington last week for his confirmation hearing
before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Senators Arlen Specter (D.-Pa,) and
Dianne Feinstein (D.-Ca.) both put his resume under a microscope, noting his
conspicuous lack of trial experience. At one point Specter asked him point
blank, "How many cases have you actually tried?" To which Puryear answered: Two.
Indeed, according to his written questionnaire for the committee, of the two
cases he has tried in the entirety of his legal career, he was lead counsel on
one of them. The last time he litigated a case in federal court was more than a
decade ago. Puryear has spent the bulk of his legal career at the
Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest private
prison company. As its general counsel since 2001, Puryear has made millions of
dollars working for a company that profits from the country's incarceration
boom, particularly through his recent sale of more than $3 million worth of the
company's stock. (His financial disclosure form shows a net worth of more than
$13 million.) His employer creates enormous conflicts for Puryear as a potential
federal judge, as the CCA gets sued all the time, often in the very district
where he hopes to preside as judge. Since 2000, roughly 260 cases have been
filed in that court against the CCA, its officers, and subsidiaries. In
addition, Puryear's current job involves overseeing the CCA's defense against
inmate litigation, a prison staple that he has publicly dismissed as a nuisance,
even though such litigation has led to significant verdicts and settlements
against the company. For instance, in 2000, a South Carolina jury hit the CCA
with a $3 million verdict for abusing juveniles. Other successful suits have
alleged that the company's employees abused inmates and provided negligent
medical care. Yet in a quote he no doubt now regrets, in 2004 Puryear said that,
"Litigation is an outlet for inmates. It's something they can do in their spare
time." Inmate lawsuits typically account for more than 10 percent of the docket
in Tennessee's Middle District, meaning that Puryear will see his share of them
if he gets confirmed. During his confirmation hearing last week, Puryear told
the committee that he would recuse himself from any cases involving the CCA—at
least, he said, for some time after he's divested all of his stock in the
company. He dismissed concerns about his conflict of interest by noting that the
CCA cases make up a small part of the court's workload and that his recusals
would not create problems for the other judges. But his promises to recuse still
don't get to the heart of a fundamental conflict: To the CCA, inmates are a
revenue stream warehoused at the cheapest price. This not exactly the view of
the criminal justice system you want from a judge if you are a defendant. A
trial court judge in Tennessee's Middle District can expect to handle more than
60 criminal cases a year. Every person Puryear sends to prison is a potential
money-maker for his former employer, which contracts with the federal government
to manage 15 detention facilities, and also holds federal prisoners in other CCA
institutions that house state and local prisoners when the need arises,
according to Steve Owen, the company's director of marketing and communications.
The number of inmates coming from Tennessee may be relatively small, but still,
it seems fair to ask whether Puryear's conflict of interest runs so deep that he
might have to recuse himself from criminal cases entirely. Thus far, Puryear has
largely escaped media scrutiny, as the activist groups that monitor the federal
courts tend to focus mostly on appellate courts and the occasional Supreme Court
battle rather than on trial court nominees. Puryear's CV also doesn't signal
fights on many of the hot-button social issues that usually set off a
confirmation battle. He doesn't sound—or look—like Robert Bork. He's young,
patrician, a model member of the exclusive Belle Meade Country Club, and
director of the Antiques & Garden Show of Nashville. But for his deep voice he
could be Niles on "Frasier." Nonetheless, Puryear might be in for an unexpected
fight, due in part to his decision to publicly dis jailhouse lawyers. Alex
Friedmann was one of those jailhouse lawyers. He spent six years inside one of
the CCA's prisons in Tennessee for attempted murder and armed robbery. Friedmann
actually sued the CCA while incarcerated for retaliating against him for his
comments to a reporter for The Nation. Representing himself, he took another
case all the way to a jury trial, where he mostly lost, though he won a default
judgment against a former unit manager. He also appealed a different case
against the state, over censorship, that went all the way to the Sixth Circuit
court of appeals where he won. "In that regard, I'm more qualified than [Puryear]
is," he observes, noting that Puryear isn't even admitted to practice in the
Sixth Circuit. Now out of prison nine years, Friedmann is an editor for Prison
Legal News, which is how he first learned about Puryear's nomination. After
doing a little checking on him, Friedmann ran across Puryear's quote about
inmate litigation, which didn't sit too well with him, and he set out to torpedo
Puryear's nomination. As a former CCA inmate and a board member of a Florida
nonprofit group that opposes prison privatization, Friedmann readily admits that
he's not a disinterested party in the nomination battle. Nonetheless, his
political instincts are sound. He is cobbling together a coalition to oppose
Puryear's nomination, including the American Federal State and Municipal
Employees Union, which opposes private prisons for their anti-labor positions.
Friedmann's currently at work trying to enlist the real powerhouse of liberal
judicial activists to join the coalition: women's groups. Friedmann has compiled
stats from the federal court docket on the CCA's lawsuit history in order to
highlight the potential conflicts of interest Puryear might face, and he picked
apart Puryear's resume and his responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee's
questions last week. For instance, when pressed on his view of criminal
defendants and prison inmates, Puryear pointed to his service as a commissioner
on the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission. Skeptical, Friedmann checked
out Puryear's attendance record with the commission. He says the commission held
eight public hearings between 2005 and 2007—and Puryear missed at least four of
them. "If the gentleman does have a genuine concern about inmates, why did he
miss half the meetings?" he asks. Friedmann is also raising significant
questions about Puryear's response to questions about the death of a female
inmate at the CCA's facility in Nashville. The medical examiner ruled that
34-year-old Estelle Richardson was beaten to death while in the company's
custody. She suffered a skull fracture, broken ribs, and liver damage.
Prosecutors indicted four CCA guards in 2005, but later dropped the charges
after being unable to determine the time of death. So far, no one has been held
responsible for Richardson's death, although the CCA settled a private lawsuit
filed by her family. When Sen. Feinstein asked Puryear about the case, Puryear
disputed the medical examiner's findings and claimed that Richardson's death
might not have been a homicide at all. He suggested that the broken ribs and
liver injury may have been caused by CPR. It's "common" for people to suffer
such injuries from CPR, Puryear said, to which a dumbfounded Feinstein
exclaimed, "Common?" Apparently not satisfied with Puryear's answers, Feinstein
asked him to provide the committee with further written information about the
case. Meanwhile, after the hearing, Friedmann called the Tennessee medical
examiner who worked the case, who he says reaffirmed the original finding that
Robinson's death was a homicide and that there was nothing to suggest her
injuries were caused by resuscitation efforts. Friedmann also spoke with the
lawyers who represented Richardson's family and he says that they told him that
the CCA never raised CPR injuries as a defense in the litigation. Puryear's
comments to the committee, says Freidmann, are "not supported by the medical
record," which makes him skeptical about Puryear's judgment as a lawyer—and his
credibility. Friedmann seems to recognize that prison inmates are not the stuff
of judicial confirmation fights, so he has also homed in on another issue that
might provide more traction, not to mention the interest of powerful women's
groups: Puryear's country club. The tony Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville
is so exclusive that you have to be a member just to access its website. It
didn’t admit a single black member until 1994, a racist history so potent that
even Puryear's mentor, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, quit the club
in 1993 when he first ran for office. While Belle Meade admits women, Friedmann
has heard that it still won't give "lady members" voting rights. (Troy
Cunningham, the controller of the club for the past 17 years, wouldn’t respond
to questions about women's voting rights, saying that "all questions flow
through the members," meaning that someone will have to put the question to
Puryear himself.) But if Friedmann can stir up controversy over Puryear's
country club membership, he might actually have a shot at scuttling his
nomination.
Oklahoma
February 19, 2008 Muskogee Phoenix
Warner County, Oklahoma CCA February 19, 2008 Muskogee Phoenix Numerous
university studies from Washington State and Ohio State, Iowa State, Kentucky
and Kentucky State, and from the Sentencing Project think tank conclude
otherwise. Studies include Susan E. Blankenship and Ernest J. Yanarella, “Prison
Recruitment as a Policy Tool of Local Economic Development: A Critical
Evaluation;” Ryan Scott King, Marc Mauer and Tracy Huling, “An Analysis of the
Economics of Prison Siting in Rural Communities;” Terry L. Besser and Margaret
M. Hanson, “The Development of Last Resort: The Impact of New State Prisons on
Small Town Economies” (www.privateci.org/private_pics/Prison%20Impact%20Report.doc).
For-profits pay shameful wages and have staggering employee turnover, 52 percent
annually at last admission. Last month a Texas for-profit prison manager told me
they pay new guards $7 an hour. (In 2006, the Corrections Corporation of America
CEO made $22.5 million.) Due to contractual difficulties, private prisons at
Hinton and Sayre were closed from months to years with massive layoffs, leaving
hosting communities reeling. An annual California survey indicates for-profits
have 30 times the escape rate of public prisons. Tulsa World files recount 19
escapes and mistaken releases between 2000 and 2005, when local facilities were
finally taken back from for-profit operators. A 1998 Hinton escape caused
Oklahoma’s DOC to fine Cornell Corrections $304,000. In 2007, Hinton escapees
kidnapped a 71-year-old local woman hostage, taking a second elderly woman
hostage 50 miles away in Oklahoma City, apparently before the fleeing convicts
were even missed. They were captured in Tulsa. Riots in CCA Oklahoma prisons in
2003, 2004 and 2005 included murder. CCA had massive riots in other states
during the four months following the 2003 Watonga riot. Hardin, Mont., officials
are seeking relief after hosting a $27 million speculative prison development
without prospects of it ever holding a single prisoner. Bonds payments are
rapidly coming due. Corporate music men may sing sweet songs, but Warner really
needs to turn a deaf ear upon them. Frank Smith, national field organizer,
Private Corrections Institute www.privateci.org Bluff City, Kan.
2007
Florida
December 16, 2007 Star-Banner
Thoughts of suicide began to form in James Johnson's mind. He felt nauseous. He
couldn't sleep. He was confused. "Please give me my Paxil," he begged the jail's
corrections officers. Johnson, 50, had been booked into the Marion County Jail
in March on a charge of driving with a suspended driver's license. It wasn't his
first time. This time, though, he was charged as a habitual offender and held
without bail. He admits he was at fault. What he didn't understand then - or now
- is why the jail's medical staff refused to give him the legally prescribed
medications he had taken for years for his clinical depression, including the
anti-depressant Paxil, an anti-psychotic called Seroquel and the sedative
Trazodone. "The psych nurse came to me and said, 'You're not going to get this
medication,'" Johnson said in a recent interview. "I said I'd get violently
ill." And so he did. He began throwing up. He grew increasingly agitated. Nurses
wrote in his medical records, day after day, that he was asking for his
medication; that Johnson was "doubled over in anguish evidenced by facial
expressions"; that he was making suicidal statements. His father, James Johnson
Sr, called the jail to share his fears that his son was "very suicidal." He was
taken in and out of a suicide prevention cell. At one point, he sat on the floor
and began to pray with his cellmates. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still
waters. Johnson's son, Jordan, said an off-duty corrections officer called and
pleaded with him to do something. "She was in tears and she said I need to get
my dad out and get him a lawyer. She said they were torturing him," Jordan
recalled. As Johnson's pleas for help went unanswered, he became more desperate.
By the seventh day, he was wailing and flinging himself headlong into the
concrete walls hoping to either lose consciousness or alert the guards to the
depth of his agony. "He started going crazy in front of my eyes," said Kyle
Morrill, one of his cellmates. "I woke up in the middle of the night and he was
running from one side of the cell and banging his head on the other side."
Johnson's frightened cellmates begged officers to do something - anything - to
relieve his suffering. But nothing changed. So when officers opened Johnson's
cell on the 10th day after his arrest, he bolted up a nearby stairway and leapt
off the balcony, crashing onto the hard floor 14 feet below and shattering his
right leg. That jump earned him a trip to the hospital, where a psychiatrist put
him back on an anti-depressant and painkillers and sent him back to jail.
Johnson eventually was released after 90 days on the same combination of
medication he was on before he was incarcerated: an anti-depressant, an
anti-psychotic and a sedative. His son said Johnson looked like a zombie the day
he walked out of the jail. And Johnson says for the first time he's dealing with
a new manifestation of his illness - paranoia. A SICK HEALTH SYSTEM? Johnson's
harrowing story isn't unique to the Marion County Jail, or for that matter, to
many jails across the country. Correctional health care is complex, costly and
politicized. And many times it is outsourced to large private companies. Critics
say the profit motive that drives these companies leads them to cut corners on
inmate care to save money and keep their investors happy. Prison Health
Services, Inc., a Brentwood, Tennessee-based private company, has been providing
medical care at the Marion County Jail for the past two years. As one of the
largest providers of correctional health care in the nation, PHS is a frequent
target of complaints about the quality of the care it provides. Just last week
the company was sued by a Volusia County family accusing PHS of failing to
provide suitable medical cSince PHS has been at the Marion County Jail, many
inmates and their families say injuries often go untreated, serious medical
conditions go undiagnosed and inmates are routinely denied necessary
medications, even with a legal prescription. During a seven-month inquiry, the
Star-Banner spoke to nearly a dozen inmates, reviewed hundreds of pages of
medical records and invited medical experts not affiliated with the jail to
review the policies and procedures of PHS. The newspaper found: * PHS is often
reluctant to prescribe medication to mentally ill inmates. Some, like Johnson,
arrive with legally prescribed medications, but are taken off of them. PHS
officials say that's a part of "evaluation and observation during a period of
abstinence from illicit drugs and alcohol." Some medical and legal critics call
the practice irresponsible or even unethical, and say it's more about saving
money on prescription medications than about performing a sound medical
evaluation. PHS says the allegations aren't true, and that like all health care
providers, including public and private hospital systems, it works to improve
efficiencies and manage costs to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. *
Twenty-five inmates have died while in the jail's custody in the past five
years, including six who took their own lives. By comparison, Orange, Palm Beach
and Pinellas counties, all of which have populations at least three times that
of Marion County, have similar jail death figures. During the period from 2000
through 2005, the Orange County Jail reported 21 deaths, Palm Beach reported 25
deaths, and Pinellas reported 28 deaths, while Marion had 20 deaths in that same
period, according the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. Meanwhile,
Miami-Dade County reported 89 deaths, and Broward reported 49 deaths. Sheriff Ed
Dean attributes the deaths here to the graying of the jail population and the
fact that many people who come to jail have life-threatening illnesses. "Any
death in jail is one too many," he said. "What we need to do is do anything
possible to extend life, but only the giver of life knows when their time
comes." No formal link has been shown between the deaths in Marion County and
the care provided by PHS. Herman Tucker's death, however, is one that his family
blames on the lack of appropriate treatment provided by PHS. Tucker was arrested
at a local mental health facility in 2002 for attacking a doctor. At the Marion
County Jail, he received a cocktail of drugs to subdue him, but no treatment.
Deputies shocked Tucker with a Taser, pepper-sprayed him and bound him to a
chair. Thirty-six days after his arrest, they found him unresponsive on the
floor of his jail cell, his esophagus filled with half-chewed food. He was
pronounced dead a short while later. The cause of death was asphyxiation. His
family is now suing PHS, jail staff and Sheriff Ed Dean for what it says is
criminalization of mental illness. * Many of the jail's medical staff and guards
are skeptical of inmates' medical complaints, because some inmates fake symptoms
for a variety of reasons. As a result, though, legitimate health complaints
sometimes are overlooked or ignored. Anita Lesner, who was jailed in April 2007
for fraud charges, began showing symptoms of a debilitating neurological disease
and lost her ability to walk. Jail staffers called her a faker and put her in
suicide prevention when she wouldn't stop crying. Shortly after her release, she
was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a severe nerve disorder. * PHS has
been the subject of numerous lawsuits. Private Corrections Institute, a
Florida-based nonprofit devoted to highlighting the pitfalls of privatization of
correctional institutions, keeps rap sheets on companies like PHS, documenting
allegations and lawsuits from around the nation, ranging from Alabama to Florida
to Maryland. And the attorney general waged an unsuccessful campaign to keep PHS
from working in New York State. * No state health agency oversees the medical
operation of jails, mainly due to budget cuts. Although there are a variety of
accreditations and standards that spell out minimum requirements for medical
operations, critics say most of them are just paperwork and policy standards,
not performance audits for care. The sheriff says he knew of the PHS checkered
track record when he agreed to a contract with the company two years ago and
said he added two extra layers of oversight: an independent contract monitor,
and a medical doctor to go over PHS operations regularly. PILLS AND PROFITS The
sheriff decided not to renew that contract earlier this year because he could
only offer a 2.6 percent increase in the health care budget for next year and
PHS was seeking a 6 percent increase. Dean insists the decision to part ways
with PHS was a strictly financial one and that inmate care was not an issue. And
both Dean and PHS insist that ailing inmates receive adequate care and dismiss
allegations of poor medical treatment. PHS officials, however, would not agree
to be interviewed for this story. The company would only respond to questions
submitted in writing. Dean said in a recent interview that PHS provided
community standards of care, and he had in place several layers of oversight.
"Perfect health care does not exist," Dean said. "With 16,000 inmates going
through MCJ [each year], you'll have issue where someone missed a diagnosis."
Neither PHS nor the sheriff would answer questions about individual inmates'
medical care. For example, why would an inmate like James Johnson with a
medically diagnosed mental illness be denied prescribed medication? Critics say
the answer is as simple as dollars and cents. "The biggest problem is that often
the profit motive gets in the way of providing medical care," said Randall Berg
Jr., executive director of Florida Justice Institute in Miami. Berg's experience
with PHS began more than two decades ago, when the company was one of the first
private correctional medical providers to come to Florida. "My first experience
dealt with [PHS's] refusal to provide medication to an indigent inmate ... since
then I've sued them a number of times for failing to provide needed care," Berg
said. Johnson's attorney, David Kerce of Daytona Beach, is also suing PHS,
alleging the company failed to administer psychotropic medication. Kerce
represented eight inmates in Volusia County in a class-action lawsuit, alleging
they, too, were denied their psychotropic medication. A federal judge dismissed
the case without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled, but Kerce doubts the
families involved could afford to hire an expert or a doctor to examine their
cases individually. He said he will pursue Johnson's case because Johnson
suffered a physical injury. "Pulling patients off medication is not acceptable
and Hager has a history of it," Kerce said of Dr. David Hager, a psychiatrist
who serves the Marion County Jail and also the Volusia County Branch Jail. "From
my understanding, it's just not safe. You've got to step them down." Johnson,
for instance, was told by the jail's medical staff that he had to go through a
"30-day wash" period and that's why he was taken off of his medication. PHS says
the term is not accurate. And there is no documentation of it in Johnson's
records. Two independent psychiatrists, one of whom reviewed Johnson's records,
said cutting patients off of their psychotropic medications is not common
practice. "Most commonly, antidepressants are discontinued in a step-wise
fashion so as to avoid 'withdrawal' symptoms, such as increased anxiety,
depression, etc.," wrote Dr. Louis W. Solomon, assistant clinical professor of
psychiatry at the University of Florida in an e-mail. He did not review
Johnson's records. He added that a psychiatric examination is used to determine
whether medications should be changed. Johnson never received such an
examination at the time he was booked and taken off of his medication. Dr.
Hager, who agreed to respond to the Star-Banner's questions via e-mail, wrote:
"The '30-day washout period' has become an overused and misunderstood
catchphrase. It refers to the process of evaluation and observation during a
period of abstinence from illicit drugs and alcohol. It is not a rigid 30 days.
It may be more or less depending on each patient's situation and does not apply
to every patient referred to the mental health team. The determination to apply
a washout period is fully dependent upon gathering reliable information and
observations, including our ability to obtain outside medical and pharmacy
records." Hager referred to the American Psychiatric Association's Practice
Guidelines and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th.
Edition, or DSM-IV, which requires that patients be clean of drug addiction so
that the provider can make accurate diagnoses of major psychiatric syndromes
such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. Johnson's records
do not show that he was using illicit drugs. Dr. Don Sherry, a psychiatrist who
practices here, said he doesn't suddenly cut off his patients' medication. He
said even if Johnson had been taking illicit drugs, he could have been kept on
his psychotropic medication. "This is [Hager's] standard of practice, and it's
fine, as long as he doesn't hurt people," Sherry said. "[As a doctor] you have
authority, but you also have the responsibility ... this jail psychiatrist is
hurting people by doing things his way." NO SIMPLE CURE Even critics of PHS and
other private correctional services say there is no simple solution to the
problem of providing adequate medical care to inmates. Sherry has a motto:
"Cheap ain't good; good ain't cheap." "When you start putting profit motive
ahead of medical care, medical care becomes bad," he said. But with tight
budgets, counties don't have many good options for jail health care. "You've got
people who haven't taken care of themselves and have to be taken care of, and
you just can't let them die. And they're a burden for the taxpayer," said Ken
Kopczynski of Private Corrections Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit
organization that opposes the for-profit private corrections industry. "The
county commission looks and sees it getting expensive, so they go to private
groups, because their price is lower. But not only do they have to look at care,
but also profit for shareholders. And that's no way to operate the jail." While
health care is an inmate's legal right, most people in jails and prisons are
poor, lack education, have high rates of mental illness and chronic illness and
are frequently substance abusers or addicts. Many are uninsured and have not
seen a doctor or dentist for years. "Rarely you find someone who has one
illness. Providing service to these individuals is complex and costly, because
they haven't received quality health care. And it's expensive, outside and
inside the prison," said Dr. Melvin Delgado, author of the 2006 book Health and
Healthcare in Prison. In addition, prescribing medication to inmates is not a
quick process, because inmates are not allowed to use the medication they bring
in to the jail. "[Jail staff] don't know what the medication is. They didn't
hand it to the person, so its puts them in a Catch-22. They should have the
doctor to say 'yes, they are psychotic and need XYZ,'" said Kopczynski.
Meanwhile, many people have little sympathy for those behind bars. "Inmates
don't have a very large advocacy group, or lobbying group. Nobody is clamoring
at the sheriff's door to provide better care to inmates," said Paul Sheehan,
chief operating officer of Community-Oriented Correctional Health Services, a
nonprofit group whose mission is to help correctional facilities use local
resources for providing medical care. The U.S. adult correctional population -
incarcerated or on some form of community control - reached 7.2 million,
increasing by 159,500 this year, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice
Statistics announced earlier this month. About 3.2 percent of the U.S. adult
population, or 1 in every 31 adults, was in prison or jail or on probation or
parole at the end of 2006. Another report by the Justice Department shows the
inmate population in jails increased by 306 percent, from 184,000 in 1980 to
748,000 in 2005. The spike in the number of people behind bars is largely a
result of sentencing and correctional policy changes over the past 30 years
involving tougher sentences for a variety of crimes, and particularly for
drug-related offenses. COSTLY, COMPLICATED ... AND NECESSARY While privatized
correctional health care might control costs in the short run, cases such as
Johnson's show that in the long run, it potentially can pose a higher cost to
taxpayers and the community, inmate advocates say. Even if inmates who sue over
alleged poor care lose their case, the county still must pay to defend against
those lawsuits. And sick inmates who go untreated in jail can endanger public
health when they're released back into the community. Taxpayers also share the
burden if those inmates land in a publicly-funded hospital. Medical care at
jails is costly and complicated, "but it's necessary and required," said Alex
Friedmann, associate editor of Prison Legal News, an independent monthly
magazine that provides a review and analysis of prisoner rights, court rulings
and news about prison issues. "Once you remove a person's freedom, you're
required to provide that medical care for them. "People in jail are people,
they're neighbors, brothers, daughters. Ninety-five percent of them get out,"
Friedmann said. "When people think of jail, they think of rapists and murderers,
but that's not representative of the jail population." With the pending
departure of PHS, Sheriff Dean is about to launch a community-collaborative
nonprofit group, called Ocala Community Care, that will take over medical care
at the jail. "I concluded that the future of inmate health care needed a
change," he said. "We needed to embrace the community and figure out how $5
million of taxpayers money could be better utilized for delivery of care to
inmates." His initiative is uncommon and it remains to be seen if it will help
people like James Johnson. Editor's note: Since his release, James Johnson has
been living in motels, trying to hold down a job. He told the Star-Banner he
didn't want his picture printed, because he was afraid he would lose his job.
But he said he wanted people to hear his story.
Florida
December 11, 2007 News-Press
A company that runs three prisons for the state has agreed to pay more than $1.5
million — about 42 cents on the disputed dollar — to settle a long-running
controversy over staffing levels and equipment purchases. Department of
Management Services Secretary Linda South said she was satisfied that the
settlement with Corrections Corp. of America avoids a costly court fight that
might not net the state all of the $3.6 million the agency sought. But a
lobbyist for the Police Benevolent Association, which has long been critical of
privately run prisons, said the state let the prison company off too lightly.
CCA spokesman Steven Owen in Nashville said the company was glad to get the case
settled. "I certainly would have preferred to have captured all those things we
knew the state was entitled to, from our perspective," said South. "But CCA had
its own perspective and this is the agreement we came to. The fact is, you weigh
the cost of litigation against the risk of success in these things." A 2005
audit report by the DMS inspector general, conducted shortly after the old
Corrections Privatization Commission was abolished and DMS took over contract
admission, said the state overpaid nearly $13 million to two companies — CCA and
GEO Group of Boca Raton — that have contracts for private prisons across
Florida. Auditors alleged that the state paid for non-existent employees and
that companies overfilled for maintenance and operations expenses. GEO agreed to
pay $402,501 late last year and to cover half of the legal fees to defend
against challenges by local governments that disputed the tax-exempt status of
corporate-run prison facilities. The agreement with CCA provides for the company
to pay the state $660,000 for maintenance work that was not performed, $430,000
for service and program payments that were already under contract, $207,722 for
failing to deduct staff vacancies from billings to the state and $138,803 in
legal fees. There was also another $120,000 to reimburse the state for waivers
of staffing levels in nursing and teaching positions in the prisons, which were
allowed by the Corrections Privatization Commission but not permitted by DMS.
"They were given informal waiver for staffing of nursing and teachers," said
South. "This goes back to the old CPC. It was not formalized or memorialized in
contract and we disagreed with it, so they had to return money paid for staffing
in those two areas." CCA operates prisons under state contract in Gadsden
County, Bay County and Lake City. Ken Kopczynski is a long-time lobbyist for the
PBA, which represents officers in state-run prisons, and he has followed
privatization issues closely in the Legislature for many years. He said DMS let
GEO off too lightly last year and didn't do much better with CCA. "It's nice
that DMS got better than 10 cents on the dollar this time but almost half is
better then nothing," said Kopczynski. "It's a shame that CCA and GEO are so
entrenched with state government that they can get away with this." He recalled
that the DMS audit in 2005 showed $12.7 million in overpayments to prison
companies. "If you or I had gone to the bank and the teller gave us $12.7
million by mistake, you would expect to pay all of this back," he said. "Now, if
you're a well connected private prison company and the state overpays you $12.7
million, you only have to pay back less then $2 million total between CCA and
GEO — not a bad return for your investment in lobbyists, no?" Owen, CCA's
director of marketing and communication, said it was "a good faith settlement"
for both sides. "We're glad to get the matter resolved," said Owen. "We look
forward to a continued successful partnership with DMS."
Canada
November 26, 2007 The McGill Daily
At Macdonald campus’s Centennial Centre cafeteria, students can purchase a
classic two-egg breakfast all day for just $4.20, taxes included. Though the
cafeteria is a relatively small operation, it is run by Sodexho Inc., a massive
multinational food services company that also operates private, for-profit
prisons and detention centres. Sodexho’s presence at McGill is minimal compared
to that of well-known food-service giant Chartwells, but with revenues exceeding
$17.6-billion in 2005-2006, Sodexho is one of the largest food-provision
companies in the world. Last year, “Correctional Services” accounted for two per
cent of its total revenue. In an interview with Vancouver-based Stark Raven
radio last month, Alex Friedmann, Associate Editor of the magazine Prison Legal
News, explained that the nature of for-profit detention centres facilitates
poor-quality meals and services for inmates. “[Companies’ that run private
prisons] sole interest is to bolster their bottom line and to make profit for
their shareholders,” Friedmann said. “If you have to do that by cutting corners,
or by reducing benefits and wages paid to your staff…or by skimping on food
portions or quality, then that’s what you do.” Sodexho has faced student
boycotts since 2000, and recent reports reveal overcrowding and hunger strikes
at its Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre in London, England. Friedmann
said that professional corrections officials, like guards and wardens,
understand the importance of food in prisons and the consequences it has on
prison life, but that food-service companies like Sodexho – which make huge
profits from corrections facilities – are not interested in the public good.
“Their interest is not in the welfare or benefit of the public, the prisoners,
or even their employees, really,” he said. Incidentally, the 2006 Corporate
Responsibility Report from Sodexho’s U.K. and Ireland faction stated that just
54 per cent of its employees actually enjoy going to work. Similar reports from
the last two years are filled with idyllic pictures, quotes from various
executives championing Sodexho’s efforts toward sustainability and a greater
diversity of employees, including affirmative actions plans. In April of 2005,
however, Sodexho paid out an $80-million settlement after thousands of its
African-American employees sued the company on charges of racial discrimination,
citing the company’s utter lack of African Americans in high-ranking management
positions. Boycott Sodexho -- Two years ago, students at Laval University
started a “Boycott Sodexho” campaign in protest of the school’s decision to
award a large food contract to the company instead of accepting the student
union’s offer. Boycott Sodexho is still active, although according to member
Fadi Maalouf, it now focuses on encouraging students to frequent the 14
student-run coffee shops as opposed to one of the eight larger Sodexho-run
cafeterias. Maalouf explained that students were against the multinational
corporation for reasons ranging from its high prices for mediocre food to its
involvement in the U.S. military. “When the campaign was on campus, we were just
giving information about Sodexho’s involvement in the [Iraq] warzone, and that
was frustrating for students to learn,” Maalouf said. “They make millions of
dollars and they cannot offer a good service to students?” In 2000-2002,
students from 60 campuses across the United States and Canada formed the “Not
With Our Money” campaign. They succeeded in prompting Sodexho to divest its
eight per cent stock holdings from Correctional Corporations of America, which
runs private prisons in the U.S. But Sodexho still owns private for-profit
prisons, primarily in the U.K. – recent announcements on its web site boasts 20
and 25-year contracts to run prisons in Chile and Scotland, respectively – and
it provides food and ancillary services for prisons around the world, including
more than 450 in the United States alone, according to Friedmann. Prison
atmosphere -- Rebecca Godderis, a PhD student at the University of Calgary who
interviewed 16 prisoners as part of her research on food in prisons, echoed
Friedmann’s comment about the significance of food, which can calm or excite
inmates. She explained that food has a large impact on a prison’s atmosphere.
“Food is a constant reminder of the lack of control that these prisoners have
over their lives,” Godderis said, adding that one participant told her simply,
“If the guys are well-fed, they’re more manageable.” Godderis did not comment
about any specific corporations who run private prisons, but she maintained that
because prisoners have very little recourse to take on mechanisms that control
them, the general public should be concerned about what goes on inside the
institutions. “[Prisoners] are very marginalized, very controlled, and that
means we should be more attentive to them,” Godderis said. Representatives from
Sodexho Inc. declined to comment for this piece.
Tennessee
November 11, 2007 Tennessean
They are some of the most powerful people in the state, but you rarely hear
about them. They make decisions that address hot-button topics ranging from
abortion and political corruption to religious freedom and the death penalty.
They can put you in prison or they can vindicate your civil rights. Who am I
talking about? Federal judges. The legal decisions rendered by U.S. district
court judges seldom make the news unless they deal with issues of public
importance, such as Judge Aleta Trauger's ruling last month that suspended
executions in Tennessee. Federal judges, who are appointed for life, wield an
enormous amount of power. Thus, it stands to reason that only highly qualified
candidates would be nominated for federal judicial positions. Considering the
nomination of Gustavus A. Puryear IV for the district court in Middle Tennessee,
however, that apparently isn't the case. You've probably never heard of Mr.
Puryear, but you may know his employer, Corrections Corporation of America — the
nation's largest private-prison company. Mr. Puryear serves as CCA's general
counsel. He received a salary of $237,308 plus $602,957 in other compensation
last year, and since November 2006 has cashed in $2.64 million in CCA stock.
This presumably means he would have a conflict of interest should he preside
over cases involving CCA ... and more than 400 federal cases naming CCA or CCA
employees have been filed in Middle Tennessee. While Mr. Puryear may be wealthy
in terms of cash and stock, whether he is equally rich in legal experience is
debatable. He spent just three years at a Nashville law firm. He has been named
as counsel in 130 federal cases in Tennessee, mostly after hiring on with CCA in
2001. However, 85 of those cases were dismissed by the court, with no action
taken by Mr. Puryear. In 39 of the cases, other attorneys handled the actual
litigation. Mr. Puryear sent a letter to the court in one case and was actively
involved in five others — most recently in 1998. According to court records,
only one case in which he was personally involved went to trial, and he has
never litigated a case on his own. So what makes Mr. Puryear qualified for
appointment as a federal judge? He has strong political connections. He worked
under former Sens. Bill Frist and Fred Thompson, and served as an adviser to
Dick Cheney during the 2000 debates. He has donated more than $13,000 to
Republican candidates since 2001 — including to Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob
Corker, who have endorsed his nomination. But lifetime federal judicial
appointments should not be based on political payback; only the most experienced
and qualified candidates should be appointed to the federal bench. Sadly, this
does not seem to be the case in regard to Mr. Puryear's nomination, which
ill-serves all Middle Tennessee residents. Last week, the Alliance for Justice
submitted a formal letter to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, opposing Mr.
Puryear's nomination. For more information on Mr. Puryear's judicial nomination,
please visit: www.privateci.org/puryear2.htm. By ALEX FRIEDMANN
Tennessee
November 8, 2007 The Tennessean
On Oct. 31, John Ferguson, CEO of Corrections Corp. of America, wrote that his
private prison company saves the state money despite charging higher rates than
those paid to county jails that house state prisoners. Most studies that have
been conducted on private prison costs have found uncertain or minimal savings —
including a study by the Tennessee Legislative Fiscal Review Committee that
compared expenses at two state prisons, and the CCA-run South Central
Correctional Center. Regardless, I don’t doubt Ferguson’s statement that CCA has
lower per-diem rates than state prisons. But he didn’t explain why, so I will.
CCA doesn’t operate any maximum-security prisons in Tennessee, does not house
death-row prisoners and doesn’t operate women’s facilities. All of those prison
populations have much higher incarceration costs that CCA doesn’t have to pay.
The state must also cover all medical costs for prisoners. CCA’s medical
expenses are capped at a certain amount ($5,000 the last time I checked); after
that, the state has to pick up the tab. Further, CCA has cherry-picked prisoners
at South Central, such as transferring prisoners who are HIV-positive — and more
expensive to house — to state facilities. So, yes, CCA might have lower per-diem
costs than state prisons, but only if you compare public apples with
privately-managed oranges. Alex Friedmann, Antioch 37013
Texas
October 31, 2007 The Daily Texan
Texas will continue to house immigrants in prison-like facilities despite
ongoing opposition and warnings of possible legal ramifications. A panel of four
Williamson County commissioners and the county judge voted 5-0 Tuesday to keep
the operation agreement between the Corrections Corporation of America and
Williamson County. The corporation owns and operates the T. Don Hutto Family
Residential Facility in Taylor, Texas, about 40 miles north of Austin. "It has
been a good day, a really good day," said Evelyn Hernandez, a Hutto facility
administrator. "The efforts of our staff and what the commissioners witnessed in
the facility was proved today." As part of Tuesday's decision, U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement will be required to communicate directly with the
corporation on matters relating to the Hutto facility. The facility houses
"other-than-Mexican" immigrants and their children as they await the outcome of
their immigration hearings. These immigrants were picked up crossing the border
or in residential and factory raids. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pays
the corporation $2.8 million a month, about $5,471 per prisoner. Williamson
County receives $1 per prisoner per day from Immigration Customs and
Enforcement. The facility is full with 512 prisoners. Hernandez touted the
efforts of her employees during her address to the commission. She said the
staff does everything it can to keep the children occupied and to distract them
from thinking about their cases, which are handled by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. "We're preparing for Halloween right now, and the kids have made
beautiful piñatas for the haunted house," Hernandez said. "You can see the
dedication from the people working here." Hernandez said she is so impressed by
the commitment the employees have to the residents that she wishes she could
bring her 4-year-old daughter to Hutto every day for day care. Eight activists
appeared before the commission demanding Hutto be closed down because they said
it is inhumane to detain children - especially children who have not broken the
law - and because imprisoning asylum seekers violates their liberties. Scott
Medlock, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, warned the commission
of the legal issues and liability the facility creates. "The fundamental problem
is that it is hard to run a prison without incurring liability that violates
prisoner's civil rights and provides poor health care," he said. "The county
doesn't seem to be taking my arguments seriously though." Medlock said he
understood the decision to require the corporation to pay $5,000 a month for the
county monitor to come out and inspect the Hutto facility and report back to
Williamson County officials. He said he does not think $5,000 is enough money to
pay for serious monitoring, plus the salary will be paid by the Correction
Corporation of America. A corporation employee had inappropriate contact with a
Hutto resident in May, which is not in compliance with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement detention standards, according to a contracting officer for the
agency. As a result, Williamson County was required to provide a plan correcting
the center's deficiencies. Inmates in the corporation prisons have filed five
different sexual assault and harassment claims against the corporation since
2006, according to the Private Corrections Institute, a group which seeks to
provide information on and inform the public of problems with privatization of
correctional institutions. A poster at the back of the courtroom displayed
letters in both English and Spanish from former residents decorated with
pictures of smiling corporation employees and detained children. One letter
written in English thanked the corporation, saying "Thank you but you shouldn't
have." "The resident is the best for family," "I love you" and "I had a great
time," said other letters. Asma Salam, an active philanthropist from Dallas,
held up a sign in the courtroom demanding the Hutto facility be closed. She
traveled from Dallas to Taylor twice since Sunday to participate in a 24-mile
walk from the Hutto facility to the Williamson County Commissioner's Court. "I
am a proud Muslim-American and America is the most lovable, and most proud
country in the world," she said to the commissioners. "Do not let [Immigration
and Customs Enforcement] destroy this image of our beautiful country. Please
wake up and shut Hutto down." Salam did not agree with the decision made but
said her two trips to Taylor, the walk from the facility and her demonstrations,
were not a waste of time. "I will not be silent and I will not be discouraged,"
Salam said. "This is my message: I will do anything to protect rights and
freedom."
Idaho
September 12, 2007 Boise Weekly
There's little to no distinction in the world of private prisons, a place where
capitalism meets public service. It's an industry based on keeping people locked
up, and doing it as efficiently as possible. It's also an industry that
generates lots of controversy. While some argue that privately owned and
operated prisons allow government agencies to deal with increasingly overcrowded
prison systems and dwindling budgets, others say that introducing the element of
profit into the management of incarcerated people leads to corruption,
mismanagement and mistreatment of prisoners. "You shouldn't introduce a profit
margin and a profit motive into a prison," said Christie Donner, executive
director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. "The industry as a
whole shouldn't exist." But it's an industry that may be expanding into Idaho if
some state leaders get their way. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has asked lawmakers to
begin drafting legislation that would allow privately owned and operated prisons
to go to work in Idaho. There are currently no private facilities in the state,
although the Idaho Correctional Center in Kuna is managed by the Correction
Corporation of America of Tennessee. CCA is the largest private prison business
in the country, ranking just behind the federal prison system. The company owns
41 prisons nationwide, and manages another 24 facilities in 19 states and
Washington, D.C., for a combined total of roughly 75,000 beds. To pave the way
for their Idaho entry, a work group made up of lawmakers, Idaho Department of
Corrections officials and industry representatives are in the early stages of
drafting legislation that will be introduced in the next legislative session.
"[It would] set the stage for a private firm to come into the state of Idaho and
create a facility that the firm would own and operate," said Brent Reinke,
director of the Idaho Department of Corrections. "Truly, Gov. Otter is very
insistent in this area and has been very, very outspoken and there's no doubt at
all the way he wants to proceed," Reinke said. "We have a critical need right
now to do something immediately to address the [prison] population crisis that
we're seeing," said Jon Hanian, Otter's press secretary. "When you're talking
about a private prison vs. a state-run one, building one, you're talking about
up to four years on the state-run side vs. 18 to 24 months. The private side is
going to be a more immediate impact." Hanian said Otter's priority was to get
prisoners now housed in out-of-state facilities back in the state. Until Idaho
has more room, Hanian said, "our hands are tied on that." Otter has vowed that
any agreement reached with a private company would include stipulations that the
state has a first right of refusal on any beds, and could bump any out-of-state
inmates if the space is needed. It's not so cut and dried for opponents of the
industry, though. "The bottom line for the private prison industry is to make a
profit," said Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections
Institute, a Florida-based group that opposes the private prison industry. "They
give you a snow job about rules and training. They have to provide a profit, and
they actually turn quite a profit for quite a few years. "They do a very good
P.R. job," he said. A key part of that public relations campaign is to make
inroads with politicians in states targeted by the industry as likely locations
for expansion. Opponents of private prisons are full of stories of corrupt
officials and lobbyists serving as advisers for the state, including a college
professor in Florida who served as a state adviser on the private prison
industry while that industry funded his professional research. There's also
Manny Aragon, former president of the New Mexico Senate, who was indicted by a
jury in April for an alleged kickback scheme. "There's going to be more of it
when it's [in Idaho]," said Kopczynski. "They're not stupid. Most of these folks
[private corrections company leaders] come out of government anyways." The
industry has already made its first foray into the wallets of Idaho politicians.
According to campaign finance reports filed with the state, both CCA and GEO
Group, the two largest private prison operators, donated $5,000 to Otter's 2006
campaign for governor. But Hanian said there is no impropriety in Otter's
interest in private prisons. "There is no quid pro quo when it comes to any
campaign contribution the governor has received and the establishment of state
policy. None," Hanian said. "He bases every decision solely on its merits."
Reinke said he doesn't feel there's any undue influence within the state
government. "It's very important that we have the system in place so that it is
competitive, and everything is done in the light of day. That's a challenge
we're faced with," he said. The Texas Connection -- Idaho has already had
experience with the industry. Some 750 of Idaho's roughly 7,300 inmates are
housed in private prisons in Texas and Oklahoma, and plans call for another 240
to be moved by the end of the year, according to Reinke. Another 500 are being
housed in county facilities. "Our needs are very significant," Reinke said.
Idaho's prison population has been growing by roughly 6.5 percent annually, and
Reinke estimates it will take an additional 2,000 to 3,000 beds to meet the
state's short-term needs. "What I'm concerned with right now is bed capacity,"
Reinke said. "This is not a new need." If the prison population continues to
increase at the same rate, Reinke said the state will need several new
facilities within the next 10 years. "We need to do what we can to meet the need
of Idahoans within the state of Idaho," he said. "The longer we wait on this,
the longer the inmates are going to be out of state." Currently, Idaho has eight
prisons, four community work centers and 22 probation and parole district
satellite offices. The state corrections agency employs roughly 1,500 people.
While moving inmates to out-of-state facilities with extra room seems to offer
some relief for Idaho prison managers, the practice hasn't been without its
problems. Idaho's troubles with private prisons began when they shipped 302
prisoners to a private prison in Minnesota in October 2005. After space ran out
at the Minnesota prison in August 2006, the Idaho inmates were sent to two
facilities in Texas, one of which was the Dickens County Correctional Facility
in Spur, Texas, a private prison owned by GEO Group. In March, according to news
reports, Idaho inmate Scot Noble Payne committed suicide. In letters to family,
he placed the blame for his depression on the unsanitary conditions at the
prison and the poor treatment by staff. While Idaho officials plan to move the
56 inmates remaining at the Dickens County facility by the end of the year, they
will be transferred to another Texas facility owned by the same company. It's
just the latest of the state's problems stemming from housing prisoners out of
state—a list that includes riots and escapes at a private prison in Louisiana in
1997. Those who oppose private prisons say these sort of problems are indicative
of the industry as a whole. "Why does your governor think having a private
prison in Idaho is going to be any different than the mess they had in Texas?"
Kopczynski said. Among his and Donner's chief concerns is the hiring of
untrained correctional officers, who they say are paid wages below that of their
public sector counterparts. This, coupled with poor training, leads to prisoner
abuses, poor conditions, high employee turnover and an unwillingness to respond
in the face of a dangerous situation, they believe. "The problems we have had in
Colorado are around some of the tactics of private prisons use to make money:
smaller staff, fewer programs, lower pay," said Donner. "If you want a riot,
that's a great strategy." "There's no institutional knowledge," said Kopczynski.
"You don't know your elbow from a hole in the ground when it comes to
correctional work." Industry representatives vehemently disagree. "That's
completely baseless," said Steven Owen, director of marketing for CCA. "It's
absolutely, categorically false." Owen argues that all employees of CCA meet the
training standards of the American Correctional Association, the largest
correctional trade association in the world, and because of contractual
agreements with the states they serve, must have as much training as
correctional officers in public facilities. When it comes to wages, Owen said
it's a philosophical difference. "Generally, in a state correctional system,
it's a one-size-fits-all starting salary for a correctional officer," he said. "CCA
prices salary and wages by the facility. We compete with the labor pool in the
area around the facility. "Critics like to focus in on wages," Owen said. "We
are competitive in the locations where we operate." He added that wages for
mid-management positions are typically much higher than in the public sector. A
2003 report published by Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First and
Prison Privatization Report International—both corporate watchdog groups—stated
that CCA has managed to stem the tide of negative publicity. But the report
didn't have a favorable overview of the company. "CCA has built a reputation
marred by numerous instances of scandal, mismanagement, alleged mistreatment of
prisoners and its own employees, attempted manipulation of public policy and a
proliferation of questionable research. Its record is a clear example of how the
pursuit of profit stands in the way of carrying out a core public function such
as corrections. CCA has succeeded in staying in business for two decades, but it
has not succeeded in demonstrating that prison privatization makes sense," the
report reads. From CCA's perspective though, the advantages are clear and
numerous. "We try to operate as well as, or better than, our public
counterparts," Owen said. "We don't have some of the bureaucracy that can
sometimes get in the way of government processes." It's the company's size that
Owen said gives it an advantage, not only with purchasing power for goods, but
with the ability to get a new facility up and running quickly. "It takes three
to five years for the state to have to go through the legislative process," Owen
said. "We can bring a new facility on line in 12 to 18 months." He said a
privately owned prison also saves taxpayers the cost of the capital investment.
Typically, the states pay CCA on a per-prisoner, per-day basis depending on the
level of programs required by the state contract, as well as the level of
security needed. "It's the capacity that we bring on line that relieves
overcrowded systems," he said. "It helps existing systems to become safer and
more efficient." Since the company typically hires much of its workforce from
the local community, Owen said there's a strong economic impact. "We want to do
business in places where we're wanted," he said. Apparently, Idaho ranks among
those places. Owen said CCA has had a good partnership with the state since the
Idaho Correctional Center opened in 2000. He said if the law should change, the
company would be interested in building a facility in the state. Problems Behind
the Bars -- One of the biggest issues for critics of the private prison system
is the practice of moving prisoners out of state. For many, separating inmates
from their families and familiar environments only leads to more problems and
creates an unending cycle of prisoners returning to jail. "They're doomed to
re-offend," said Frank Smith, national field coordinator for the Private
Corrections Institute. "They're estranged from their families and support
systems. It's a futile effort. It's life on the installment plan. It drains tax
money, and they're never rehabilitated." If prisoners from other states are
involved in conflicts, there are jurisdictional issues, Donner said. "If
prisoners from other states have problems, it's in your jurisdiction," she said.
"Now they have to be under your cost." Owen said CCA does extensive work
assimilating prisoners brought from out of state. Including sending staff to
their home state to learn about the habits and cultural practices of the
inmates. "It's worked well for us," he said. But that doesn't always seem to be
enough. In 2004, one of the largest prison riots in recent Colorado history took
place at the Crowley County Correctional Facility, a prison owned by CCA.
Apparently, the incident was touched off by tensions between a group of inmates
from Washington state and prison staff. A general feeling of unrest spread
through the prison, and more than 1,000 inmates rioted. In the end, 13 prisoners
were injured. Following the incident, a state investigation placed the blame on
staff shortages and inexperience. Additionally, the final report stated that the
prison's emergency plan was not effective and that basic security measures
weren't followed. CCA also took flak because the company's incident commander
refused an order from state officials to use gas to quell the riot, until he had
approval from the parent company. CCA was recently fined by the state of
Colorado for continued understaffing. Fines totaled $23,000 for leaving 157
shifts unfilled at the Crowley facility, $103,743 for 701 unfilled shifts at the
Kit Carson Correctional Center and $2,651 for 18 shifts at the Bent County
Correctional Facility.
Arizona
August 25, 2007 Narco Sphere
The Wackenhut Corporation, whose buses wait along the border to be filled with
migrants for deportation, is actually owned by a foreign corporation. Wackenhut
is a subsidiary of the Danish security corporation G4S (Group Securicor) in the
Netherlands. Privatizing the deportation of migrants, Wackenhut/G4S took over
these duties from the U.S. Border Patrol. The executive director of the watchdog
group Private Corrections Institute, Ken Kopczynski, exposed the privatization
of the migrant deportation at the US/Mexico border. Meanwhile, another
corporation, GEO Group, Inc., is building migrant prisons for profit. In the
year 2007 alone, GEO Group won contracts for a prison in Eagle Pass, Texas; an
immigration detention facility in Jena, La. and a detention facility for U.S.
Marshals service in Laredo, Tex. After the Jena, La., immigration detention
facility reaches full occupancy with 1,160 inmates in 2008, GEO expects $23.5
million annually in revenues.
August 24, 2007 Narco Sphere
Another industry has been privatized in the United States by the Bush
administration. This time it is the transportation of migrants for deportation.
The Wackenhut Corporation, whose buses wait along the border to be filled with
migrants for deportation, is actually owned by a Danish Corporation, Group
4/Securicor. It is known as G4S. Some border residents are concerned that a
foreign-owned corporation, and not a U.S.-owned corporation, is handling
security and deportations at the border and profiting from it. Wackenhut/G4S
took over these duties from the U.S. Border Patrol. The executive director of
the watchdog group Private Corrections Institute, Ken Kopczynski, wrote to the
Censored Blog: "Great piece on the Minutemen and immigration but Wackenhut is
not connected to GEO Group. Group 4 bought out Wackenhut Corporation a number of
years ago and sold off the corrections unit to George Zoley and friends. Part of
the agreement was that they could no longer use the name Wackenhut which
currently is a subsidiary of Group 4/Securicor. Hope this helps and keep at 'em,
Sincerely, Ken Kopczynski, executive director, Private Corrections Institute.
Imprisoning migrants -- George Zoley is chairman of GEO Group, Inc., which
operates privatized prisons across the nation, including prisons in Florence,
Arizona. Building prisons for immigrants has been profitable for the GEO Group.
In 2007, Geo Group won contracts for a prison in Eagle, Pass, Texas; an
immigration detention facility in Jena, La. and a detention facility for U.S.
Marshals service in Laredo, Tex., according to its news releases. Headquarted in
Boca Raton, Fla., GEO Group, announced in January that it received a new U.S.,
10-year contract, for the detention of 2,407 "criminal aliens" at the Reeves
County Detention Complex in Texas. GEO took over the county's contract with the
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Reeves County is located in southwest Texas, with its
county seat at Pecos. GEO said it believes that the facility is the largest
privately-operated prison in the world. In Taylor, Texas, another for-profit
company, Corrections Corporation of America, imprisons migrant and refugee
children at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Recently, a prison guard
exposed maggots in the food there.
Idaho
August 1, 2007 Idaho Mountain Express
The Idaho Mountain Express has precisely gone to the heart of the problems with
for-profit prisons. It's that profit is at the basis of all decision making.
Doing a bad job increases those profits in the absence of effective oversight.
The Idaho Department of Corrections has long been on notice that this situation
has been out of control, but it appears to have hoped by virtue of the physical
distance they wouldn't be noticed. This represents a complete failure of will
and responsibility. This is hardly a single-state failure. I've examined
monitoring and oversight all around the country, including Idaho and Texas. Even
in the few states where there has been a genuine attempt to assure the efficacy
of services, billion-dollar corporations such as GEO and its competitor CCA have
frustrated the efforts of those attempting to represent the interests of
taxpayers and insure humane conditions. No state is very good at performing this
function. Most are simply terrible. The politicians who have been entrusted with
the interest of the public have been easily and thoroughly distracted by floods
of campaign contributions, ideological dogmatism represented by the mantra
"private is better," and in some provable instances, outright bribes. Worst of
all, the for-profits have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo,
increasing the numbers of prisoners by helping craft ever more draconian
legislation, pushing for "more market and more market share." Only public outcry
can staunch this flow of corruption. Only the press can guide citizens to
action. Frank Smith, Private Corrections Institute, Bluff City, Kans.
Kansas
June 6, 2007 KC Community News
Legal hurdles and Johnson County Sheriff Frank Denning's opposition surfaced in
a Johnson County Commission discussion May 31 of private jails. Denning said he
opposed private jails on principle. “I am opposed to any private organization
imprisoning people,” Denning said. “I believe the best institutions are ones
with government oversight and government transparency.” Denning also said a
state statute prohibits him from using private jails for state inmates. The
statute would have to be amended to allow him to house inmates in a private
jail, he said. Commissioner John Segale disputed the sheriff's opinion. County
Chief Counsel Don Jarrett said the county could contract with a private jail.
“The county has the authority to contract or use jail space in public and
private facilities,” Jarrett said. “The sheriff does not have to agree to the
contract. The sheriff is in charge of designating where prisoners go. So you can
buy space, but if the sheriff doesn't choose to put people in that space, you're
going to have empty spaces.” The discussion followed a pitch by Corrections
Corp. of America, Nashville, Tenn., one of the country's biggest private
jailers, for county business. The county paid about $6 million in 2006 to farm
out more than 300 inmates daily to county jails as far away as Ottawa. The
Gardner jail's 416-bed expansion is expected to be full upon opening in late
2009. Commissioner Ed Peterson said he invited CCA so commissioners could learn
what a private jail offered. Ray Hodge, CCA senior director of business
development, told commissioners of plans to expand the company's maximum
security 802-bed Leavenworth Detention Center by another 320 beds. CCA
anticipates more beds would be required in the next few years and plans to build
another jail in Leavenworth County, Hodge said. If CCA secured sufficient
contracts from customers, including Johnson County, the company would expedite
construction of the jail. Federal, state and county governments have contracts
with CCA's 64 accredited jails, Hodge said. The company has a 52 percent share
of the national private jail market, he said. Contract renewal rates are 95
percent. Hodge listed benefits for the county from using CCA: capital meant for
jail construction could be freed up for other needs; first rights to beds;
inmate consolidation in one nearby jail, making access easier for families;
transportation cost savings; and insulation from lawsuits. Hodge said costs
would depend on services. The U.S. Marshals Service, which uses the Leavenworth
jail, pays CCA $81 per day per inmate. That fee includes services the county
would not require, Hodge said, bringing costs closer to $50 per inmate per day.
Denning said he expects research on his business plan, which he intends to
submit to commissioners in six months, will show that he can run a jail cheaper
than private jail companies. Frank Smith, of nonprofit research company Private
Corrections Institute, said private jails keep costs down by paying employees
low wages and benefits and providing little training. Smith, who drove more than
200 miles to speak to commissioners, said problems plague the private jail
industry, including low professionalism, high employee turnover and the practice
of mixing inmates from different states, leading to tension and riots in several
jails. Smith said his information came from publicly available reports, visits
to private jails and “a vast network” of whistleblowers. Most commissioners
favored studying private jails as an alternative to building more jails. “An
individual may have different feelings about the question of public or private
(jail) facilities … but all of us need to keep in mind the bottom line, which is
the taxpayer's pocket,” Commissioner Ed Eilert said. “Our objective should be to
provide the most efficient, appropriate incarceration services at the most
effective price. If that involves … changing an attitude, we need to do that,”
Eilert said. “If this is in fact an economical way of providing equal services
and coverage for our inmates, we owe it to our taxpayers to take a hard look,”
Peterson said. “I think they make a persuasive case as to how a private entity
can operate a prison for less than government can and be just as accountable,”
Segale said. Chairwoman Annabeth Surbaugh said the county should wait for the
sheriff's plan before considering private jails.
Illinois
June 5, 2007 Southern Illinoisan
A weekend riot involving one-fifth of Tri-County Justice and Detention
Center's inmates may have been contained in less than an hour, but the incident
is not over as far as area law enforcement officials are concerned. The Pulaski
County Sheriff's Department, along with the Illinois State Police, is conducting
an investigation into the incident, which began on Friday evening when 46
inmates at the Ullin facility barricaded themselves in a room and began setting
fire to mattresses and books. "We're investigating why it happened, how it
happened and we're going to get down to who needs to be charged," Sheriff Randy
Kern said. Kern said there is a strong possibility that criminal charges will
come out of the incident. Pulaski County owns the Tri-County building, and the
jail's management is contracted to the GEO Group headquartered in Florida. Kern
also serves as warden for the 226-bed facility. Responding to the scene about
8:30 p.m., law enforcement agencies brought the riot under control by firing
tear gas into the area where inmates were barricaded about 30 minutes after the
riot was reported. GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez said the company is assisting
local law enforcement in the investigation. "We will be fully cooperating with
local law enforcement in any charges they decide to bring," Paez said. It is the
second time in just more than a month that the company has had to deal with the
aftermath of a riot. An Indiana state prison managed by GEO Group reported nine
people who were injured in a riot on April 24 at New Castle Correctional
Facility. The Indiana riot occurred just a week after the facility gained an
additional 630 inmates from Arizona. A report on the incident by the Indiana
Department of Correction states factors such as "too many unseasoned staff on
duty and a lack of veteran staff in key positions" as contributing to the riot.
Other factors listed include too much offender idleness, a breakdown in
communications and failure to impose consistent sanctions for offender
misbehavior. Paez said both state and private prisons have similar incidents
sporadically. He said the GEO Group was pleased with how quickly the Ullin
incident was contained. "These unfortunate incidents happen from time to time in
both public and private institutions," Paez said. "We do have policies and
protocol in place. We fully followed those procedures and got the incident under
control in less than 30 minutes." Kern said he too was pleased with how quickly
responding agencies were able to defuse the situation. "We took control of it
quickly and efficiently," Kern said. Even so, Ken Kopczynski of the Private
Corrections Institute said the incident is further evidence supporting his
organization's mission. The Private Corrections Institute advocates abolishing
for-profit prisons throughout the country. "If you get over the moral issue of
incarcerating people for profit, I think you can see they don't do a good job,"
Kopczynski said. He added that the percentage of incidents in private prisons is
higher than in state- and federally-operated prisons. "If you take the GEO Group
as a whole and look at their incidents, riots and escapes and compare to a
comparable facility in the state of Florida Department of Corrections, it's
higher in terms of their escape and abuse," Kopczynski said. "Public facilities
have the same problems, but the percentage of what they have is not as bad."
Kansas
May 30, 2007 Kansas City Star
Searching for a way to ease jail crowding and save money, Johnson County
commissioners are considering striking a deal with a private, for-profit
corrections facility in Leavenworth. Officials with Corrections Corp. of
America, one of the nation’s largest private penal firms, will meet with
commissioners today to consider how the two could work together to meet the
county’s growing need for jail space. Sheriff Frank Denning says the problem has
been ignored for nearly a decade, but opposes the idea of private jails. In
2005, a consultant’s report showed that a proposed 416-bed jail expansion would
be full immediately if it opened in 2009 and an additional 752 beds were
recommended to be opened a year later, said Joe Waters, the county’s director of
facilities. “Somewhere this is going to overtake us where we’re doing nothing
more than running jails,” Commissioner Doug Wood of Olathe said. “We’ve got to
get a handle on this.” Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corp. wants to expand
its operation on the western bluff of the Missouri River to build more beds for
federal prisoners. That would open space at the 802-bed Leavenworth Detention
Center, a maximum-security facility that the firm wants to expand to 1,122 beds
for offenders from across the region and beyond. For Johnson County, that could
forestall the costly construction and operating expenses of new county jails.
Supporters say it also could free up county money for such other needs as a
juvenile detention center, courthouse or even the research triangle proposed by
area universities. Supporters of for-profit jails say the private sector can do
the job more efficiently and save taxpayers up to half the cost of inmate
boarding. Critics contend bottom-line law enforcement is a risk to public safety
that is not worth taking. It is an idea that has been kicked around for decades
in Johnson County with four sheriffs and has gone nowhere. “We’re not here to
grow the sheriff’s office, but I’m trying to blow this myth that somebody else
can do this a whole lot cheaper than we can,” Denning recently told
commissioners. Denning said the county’s two detention centers were safe, secure
and cost-effective. The last escape was 24 years ago, and the last inmate killed
in custody was 29 years ago. Most county commissioners, however, were
unconvinced that the sheriff had explored all his options to building more jails
or backed up his plan with hard numbers. “I don’t think the public is willing to
pay the price,” Commissioner Ed Peterson said. “We’ve got to find some other
options.” Private jails are not the answer, Denning said. “There aren’t very
many success stories out there,” he told commissioners. “And there should not be
any profit in people.” Denning said that some private jails have staffing ratios
of one jailer for every 35 inmates. In Johnson County, the ratio is closer to
one deputy for every six inmates. “We know what we’re doing,” Denning said. Ken
Kopczynski of Private Corrections Institute Inc., a nonprofit group that opposes
private prisons, said for-profit firms are notoriously understaffed and have
turnover rates as high as 50 percent. Deputies in Johnson County have a 6
percent turnover rate. “You get what you pay for,” Kopczynski said. Sheriff’s
spokesman Tom Erickson was more blunt. For-profit jailers are salesmen, he said.
“They’re going to tell you whatever … you want to hear to get you to purchase
their product, which is bed space. “They can promise you everything in the world
… but we have enough documentation to prove that they are a really bad idea.”
Not so fast, said Ray Hodge, Corrections Corp.’s senior director of business
development. “What we’re offering is a chance for the county to consolidate its
farmed-out prisoners in an accredited facility … at a fairly reasonable price,
certainly far cheaper than the county can do it,” Hodge said.
Indiana
May 25, 2007 Indianapolis Star
No additional Arizona inmates will be transferred to Indiana until conditions
that contributed to an April 24 riot at the New Castle Correctional Facility are
resolved, officials in both states said Thursday. Those problems include: an
inexperienced staff at the privately run prison; inadequate orientation of
inmates who lost privileges, such as smoking and use of personal TVs, that they
enjoyed in Arizona; and a schedule that forced Arizona inmates to eat and have
recreation at odd hours, such as midnight basketball games. The findings were in
a report released Thursday by the Indiana Department of Correction. J. David
Donahue, commissioner of the department, said he accepts responsibility for the
hurried speed of the transfer of inmates from Arizona, which doesn't have room
to house all its prisoners, to New Castle, a facility that had sat more than
half-empty. The agreement between Arizona and Indiana was concluded March 9.
Three days later, inmates began arriving. By April 17, 630 Arizona inmates had
been transferred to New Castle. Some staff had less than two months' experience,
the report notes, with a large number having less than a year of experience.
"The speed by which I allowed inmates to come in, I take responsibility for
that," Donahue said. "Looking back on that, that was a decision I should have
reflected on," he said. "We could have done better, and I could have done
better." The state's contract calls for 1,260 inmates from Arizona to be sent to
New Castle. Donahue said Indiana "wants to make sure that we meet (Arizona's
need for prison space) if we can, and we're prepared to do that. "But I am not
advocating that we're going to be bringing additional offenders in tomorrow or
any time in the immediate future until all of the (report) recommendations" have
been addressed, he said. Katie Decker, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department
of Corrections, said Arizona would not send any more inmates to Indiana until
the "issues that are addressed in the report are resolved." After those
conditions are met, Arizona "will evaluate how to proceed," she said. Decker
said Arizona took part in the investigation, but corrections officials there
generated their own report and version of events. Decker said that report would
not be made public. "This is Indiana's version of the report," she said. "But we
believe the underlying factors have been addressed." Costs for repairing the
facility -- including better doors and getting nonflammable mattresses -- will
be paid by The GEO Group, the Florida-based firm the state hired in September
2005 to manage the prison, Donahue said. Whether anyone will be fired or demoted
for the problems that led to the two-hour riot remains to be seen. "I just got
this report yesterday (Wednesday)," Donahue said. "I'll be assessing this and,
where we see that there's accountability, we obviously hold not only staff
accountable, we'll hold offenders accountable." He said the Indiana State Police
delivered information to the Henry County prosecutor Wednesday that could lead
to charges against 26 inmates, 25 of whom are from Arizona. Craig Hanks, the
warden of the prison and an employee of The GEO Group, said he expects to remain
in charge. "That's my plan," he said. Problems with the transfer were apparent
almost immediately. On the day before the riot, April 23, Arizona officials had
halted additional transfer of inmates, citing inadequate and inexperienced
staff. At 12:40 p.m. the next day, the riot began after 30 to 40 Arizona inmates
wearing white T-shirts ignored staff orders to return to their cells and don
their green smocks. That clothing issue had been simmering for days, the report
says. But on that day, the dispute erupted into a riot, with doors and windows
smashed, mattresses set on fire and at least two correction officers beaten.
Twenty-seven prisoners also required medical treatment, with none of the
injuries or ailments serious. Donahue and Hanks said they were aware of
transition problems, including schedules that had Arizona and Indiana inmates
having recreation and eating at different times and frustration over rules that
hadn't existed in Arizona, such as a ban on pornography, personal TVs and
smoking. But neither official anticipated the blow-up. "I was briefed literally
the day before the event," Donahue said. "Did I think it was going to rise to
the level of this type of event? Absolutely not." Family members of inmates,
though, said the riot was exactly what they had feared, even before the transfer
of the Arizona inmates. Christian J. Losch, an Elkhart anesthesiologist whose
mentally ill son has served part of a murder sentence at New Castle, said he
wasn't surprised by the findings in the report, or that a riot broke out. Losch
said his son was most recently held at New Castle from August 2006 to February.
During about a half-dozen visits to New Castle, Losch said, he noticed that the
"staff, in general, seemed to be inexperienced and very young." He said a
security door near the visitors' area was sometimes inoperable, forcing visitors
to take a circuitous route to see the inmates. The lockers used by visitors to
stow personal belongings often were broken. "It just felt like the place wasn't
being maintained, just with what you could see as a casual observer," Losch
said. "I can only presume that the problems had to do with the running of the
institution." Prison reform advocates have criticized Indiana, Arizona and The
GEO Group for entering into the transfer deal. "There needs to be someone who
throws this back at the administration and the decision-makers, because that's
where the problem lies," said Donna Leone Hamm, founder and executive director
of Middle Ground Prison Reform, a nonprofit inmate advocacy group based in
Arizona. "In the narrowest terms, of course, the inmates are to blame," she
said. "But you have to treat the symptoms and not just the disease. And that
means taking a look at the administration and the people who negotiated this
contract." Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the watchdog Private
Corrections Institute based in Tallahassee, Fla., said all of the forces at work
-- an inexperienced staff, unhappy inmates and a facility with substandard
security doors and windows -- should have sent up red flags. "You've got
inexperienced staff manipulated by the inmates," Kopczynski said. "You've got a
private company trying to turn a profit. And you've got inmates from different
places who are comparing themselves (and their treatment and benefits) to each
other. It all sounds like a recipe for disaster." Jody Kent, public policy
expert with the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union,
commended Indiana for "taking this issue seriously, doing an investigation and
acknowledging that their policies are flawed." That said, she criticized both
Indiana and Arizona for carrying out a deal that should not be considered a
long-term fix for prison overcrowding. "Upon reflection, these transfers were
done too hastily. They were done irresponsibly," she said. "And, as a result,
the safety of prisoners and guards were put at risk."
May 15, 2007 Journal-Gazette
For-profit prisons not good for state: I want to thank The Journal Gazette
for raising important questions regarding the recent riot by Arizona inmates at
GEO’s New Castle correctional facility in the editorial, “Prisons and
Privatization,” (April 28). What Hoosiers are coming to realize is that
prisons-for-profit are just that: They’re profits makers for shareholders and
corporate execs. While all the editorial’s questions are on point, I predict
nothing will be done because this issue is pure politics (let’s see, your
Department of Correction chief is a former executive for U.S. Corrections
Corp.). GEO and the other for-profit private prison companies depend on low
wages, no benefits, high turnover and political contributions so that corporate
executives can bring in the big bucks (GEO’s George Zoley lives in an $8 million
mansion with a 150-foot dock for his yacht). All of this corporate profit should
have been reinvested into the criminal justice system to maybe have a positive
influence on the system. But hey, they’re just smart businessmen – they know
that nothing will be done to cancel the contract. The fix is in, folks; you
bought the con (no pun intended). KEN KOPCZYNSKI, Executive Director, Private
Corrections Institute, Tallahassee, Fla.
Florida
May 3, 2007 St Petersburg Times
Three months after Gov. Charlie Crist ordered an investigation of some
$4.5-million in overpayments to two companies that operate private prisons for
the state, those same companies will be the only ones permitted to bid on
expanding and building another facility. The state's budget calls for 384 new
beds to be housed in a medium security private prison, estimated to cost between
$15-million and $20-million, and has limited the bidding for those beds to the
two companies that currently contract with the state. Those companies are GEO
Group of Boca Raton and Corrections Corp. of America of Nashville. Two state
audits have indicated the state had paid GEO Group and CCA more than
$4.5-million for vacant jobs and other questionable expenses. The Florida
Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating. Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa,
a member of the Senate committee that funds jails and prisons, and who first
called for the investigation into GEO and CCA, said that a tight budget year
meant that the state had to change the way it thought about providing more beds.
"It would be nice to have options for new vendors that may not be in the
process, because that provides for better competition, " Crist said. "But toward
the end of the budgeting process, when money was very tight, we decided to go
ahead and just award new beds to existing sites because it's cheaper." Sen.
Crist said he's confident that Gov. Charlie Crist and Corrections Secretary Jim
McDonough will keep a close eye on the projects. "We have a new governor and he
has an interest in this subject area, " Crist said. The budget is an up or down
vote on the entire $72-billion document. Gov. Charlie Crist does have the
ability to veto certain line items, but to veto the language limiting the bids
would mean vetoing an $84-million pot of money for all private prison
operations. Both Gov. Crist and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink have
criticized the handling of contracts with GEO and CCA. The Department of
Management Services, which inherited the contracts from the now defunct
Correctional Privatization Commission, recently reached a $402, 501 settlement
with GEO but is still negotiating with CCA. Heather Smith, a spokeswoman for the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said the investigation is ongoing.
"They've got issues with these vendors and concerns with some of the things done
in the past, and yet they're giving them more beds, " said Ken Kopczynski,
lobbyist for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents public
corrections officers. CCA marketing director Steve Owen said that the
investigation concentrates on events before 2005 and that CCA has since shown
the state an ability to meet its needs. "We do think we have a good record for
bringing beds online quickly, " Owen said. The budget also says that private
prison contractors, including those under investigation, can compete to build
three additional "work camp" prisons, each with 432 beds - a total of 1, 296
beds. These facilities would each cost about $9-million to build, according to
Department of Corrections estimates. The work camps are a new idea that
Secretary McDonough recently pitched to help reduce recidivism. The work camps
are for those sentenced to fewer than 12 months in prison who would spend much
of their time digging ditches and doing other types of manual labor. Some would
also get drug treatment. While the work camps will be competitively bid, several
in the prison industry acknowledged that existing private prisons will have a
competitive advantage in winning such contracts. That's because they can offer
to put them next to existing jails or prisons facilities, which, again, is
cheaper than building them from the ground up. McDonough, who was at the state
Capitol on Wednesday, said he is concerned about the GEO and CCA contracts, but
he plans to keep an eye on these prisons and the money to build them, no matter
who is running them. "I'm always keeping an eye on the inmates, because I see
them as my inmates, by law, " McDonough said.
Indiana
April 29, 2007 The Tribune-Star
Like license plates, shivs and pruno, there’s money to be made in prison.
Just ask investors in GEO Group (GEO), who’ve seen their stakes in the private
jailer more than triple in value in the past year. — SmartMoney.com, Feb. 26.
Among the seven specific “risks and uncertainties that could materially affect”
future earnings estimates, The GEO Group Inc. does not mention “prison riots” in
its online 2007 Financial Guidance Update. Apparently, incidents such as
Tuesday’s uprising by hundreds of inmates in the GEO-operated New Castle
Correctional Facility fall under risk-and-uncertainty No. 8 — “other factors.”
Those are outlined in the Florida company’s annual Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. This relegation to the small print of GEO’s big
international world sums up what is — and is not — of importance to GEO and Wall
Street. Indeed, within two days of what New Castle’s mayor proclaimed “a
full-scale riot,” GEO Group’s stock had regained most of the 2.2-percent loss
caused by the destructive protests. By week’s end, GEO had more than rebounded,
closing at $51.20 — a healthy $1.30 over its pre-riot price. The United States
may account for less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but we have more
than 25 percent of the globe’s prisoners. You’d think that fact would give pause
to those who boast incessantly of this nation’s Christian values, but that seems
not to be the case. Incarceration in America is a major growth industry. About
2.2 million men and women are locked up in U.S. correctional institutions —
compared to 500,000 in 1980 — with another 4.8 million on parole or probation.
Industry projections call for a 13-percent increase in our prison population
within the next four years. Only 6 to 7 percent of U.S. prisons are operated by
private-sector companies like the GEO Group, but it isn’t because public
officials are hesitant to hand over the reins. Demand simply outstrips supply.
Competition among states for contracts is fierce, which spells a rosy future for
corporations. In other words, it will take more than a few burned mattresses and
seven minor injuries in one short-lived rebellion to derail the privatized
prison express. Especially in Indiana. In 2005, Gov. Mitch Daniels awarded a
four-year, $53-million contract for New Castle prison to the GEO Group, the
nation’s second-largest prison management company. Listed on the NYSE since
1996, GEO operates 58 prisons in the United States, Australia and South Africa
and is building some of its own. The company also runs a few mental-health
facilities, including the Florida Civil Commitment Center, where sex offenders
who have served out their prison sentences are kept locked up, ostensibly to
receive rehabilitative treatment mandated by Florida law. Last year, Daniels
began to try to snag some of the millions of bucks floating around the prison
industry and get them back into Indiana’s coffers. A deal to house California
inmates, where correctional institutions are bursting at the seams, went south
in December, but the governor then struck a one-year agreement with Arizona:
$6.1 million to house about 1,200 of its inmates at New Castle. As we now know,
thanks to the uprising, about a week before the free-for-all, Dora Schriro,
Arizona’s prisons chief, came to Indiana to see how things were progressing for
the first 630 transferees. The number of New Castle guards and the inexperience
of some inspired her to delay moving any more Arizona inmates here. Katie
Decker, a spokeswoman for Schriro, explained to the Associated Press: “They were
pulling staff from other areas around the state to put them into these
[security] positions, and we needed to be sure there was a permanent
professional crew on site. It wasn’t just a quantity issue, it also was quality
and the level of experience.” Tuesday’s violent protest, primarily by the
medium-security Arizona inmates who’d had no say-so in their hasty 1,500-mile
move to Indiana, confirmed Schriro’s worries. In the aftermath, when some folks
criticized Gov. Daniels for busing in hundreds of seething Arizona prisoners
before New Castle had an adequately trained staff to handle them, he said his
intentions were for the welfare of Indiana workers. “We were looking for a way
to get some Hoosiers hired at New Castle,” he told the Indianapolis Star. Also,
it was a chance to “have them well-trained on somebody else’s nickel.” Of the
uprising, Daniels assumed his characteristic corporate executive stance and
reminded everyone that “corrections is a high-risk business managing high-risk
offenders.” True, and the return is also very high. SmartMoney.com’s bullish
story on the GEO Group noted that expected increases in the prison population
mean “construction of new prison beds will cost as much as $12.5 billion. That
kind of burden will likely force states and the federal government to outsource
even more.” Patrick Swindle, a Tennessee investment analyst, told SmartMoney
that states build prison beds for $75,000 to $80,000 per bed and the federal
government “at north of $100,000 per bed.” Meanwhile, the private sector does it
for about $60,000 per bed. That sort of economizing comes at a cost — to
someone. Indy Star staff writer Erika D. Smith interviewed Ken Kopczynski,
executive director of the Private Corrections Institute, a non-profit
organization that researches and reports on the problems of privatized prisons.
According to Kopczynski, the employee turnover rate in privately run prisons is
about 50 percent. In public correctional institutions it’s in the 15-percent
range. “They answer to the shareholders so they make cuts whenever possible,” he
said. The off-set, of course, is the dependability of the consumer base for
prison services; the “customers” just keep on coming. Plus, they’re
recession-proof. As Jamie Cuellar, a manager of the Brazos Micro Cap fund,
explained to SmartMoney.com: “When times are bad, more people tend to go to
jail. It’s awful but true.” And if those people don’t like the accommodations,
what are they going to do? They can take their business elsewhere, but the only
way to do that is to bust up the joint, shove some security guards around, set
some mattresses on fire and get thrown into a place that’s even worse.
April 25, 2007 The Star Press
More than $37 billion is spent on incarcerating inmates in the country's jails
and prisons each year, and critics of the private prison industry said Tuesday
that riots like the one at the New Castle Correctional Facility are often
sparked by cost-cutting measures. "You get what you pay for," said Kent
Kopczynski, director of the Private Corrections Institute, a group critical of
the private prison industry and the privatization of prisons. Peter Wagner of
the Prison Policy Initiative agreed. "As a general matter, private prisons cut
corners," Wagner said. "Private prisons cost as much as public prisons, so the
only way they can make a profit is to cut corners." Inmates at the New Castle
facility rioted Tuesday, causing injuries to two guards and damage to the
facility. The prison is run by the GEO Group. Under the name Wackenhut, the
company considered locating a facility in Delaware County in the late 1990s.
When guards call in sick, services or recreation programs can be cut, Wagner
noted, causing unrest among inmates. Officials on Tuesday cited the role of
inmates from Arizona in the riot. More than 600 Arizona inmates -- housed at New
Castle after an arrangement among the two states and GEO Group, which operates
the privatized state facility -- were housed at the facility this week. As many
as 1,260 Arizona inmates were to have been housed in the prison, which has a
capacity of 2,400 beds. The prison also housed 1,050 Indiana inmates as of
Tuesday. Kopczynski said importing inmates from another state -- such as the
Arizona inmates at the New Castle prison -- can also increase the possibility of
disturbances. "It's run like a hotel," he said. "They've got to fill the beds.
If they can't fill the beds with Indiana natives, they've got to bring them in
from elsewhere. You bring in inmates from out of state, and you have a blow-up
between inmates." The prison industry in the United States is a big one.
CNNMoney reported in March that $37 billion is spent on corrections each year in
an effort to keep more than 2 million inmates incarcerated. Kopczynski said the
problem of "understaffed and underpaid employees" was common in private prisons.
"In a public facility, the staff is reasonably paid, you have health insurance,
retirement," he said. "The privateers don't have that. At one GEO facility when
the company was still Wackenhut, less than 10 percent of employees participated
in the retirement plan because the company paid so much less than they did."
April 25, 2007
Indianapolis Star
GEO Group, the Florida-based company that runs New Castle Correctional Facility,
is one of the oldest private prison operators in North America. Led by industry
veteran George C. Zoley, considered by some to be a "grandfather" in the
industry, the publicly traded company has operations around the world in
industries that include prison management, health care and government services.
"They have a very strong track record of working with a number of states and
other countries," said Geoff Segal, a prison-privatization expert and director
of government reform for the Libertarian think tank The Reason Foundation. In
the United States alone, GEO Group runs or owns about 50 prisons, mostly in the
South. The company said Monday it signed a contract to open a 1,500-bed facility
in Laredo, Texas. GEO Group is growing fast -- just like the industry. The
company, which is second only to Corrections Corp. of America in the number of
prisons and prisoners it oversees, had an average two-year net revenue growth of
about 22 percent. Business is so good, in fact, that prison riots don't
necessarily hurt a company financially, analysts say. Not in the long run,
anyway. "It's not the case that if you have a riot, you're going to lose a
contract," said Anton Hie, an analyst with Jefferies. GEO Group's stock price
did take a hit Tuesday, though. It fell $1.12, or 2.2 percent, to close at
$48.78. Pablo Paez, a spokesman for the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company, said
little about the New Castle riot, saying employees hadn't assessed the
situation. "We have policies and procedures in place," he said. "At this point,
the focus is to bring the situation under control." Privately run prisons
account for about 6 percent of the U. S. prison population -- and that
population is expected to grow over the next decade. The industry is highly
consolidated, and its reach is growing. At the same time, the federal government
has stopped building prisons, and states such as Arizona are discovering it's
cheaper to ship their prisoners elsewhere than to build prisons of their own.
Also, states such as Indiana are starting to see private prisons as a moneymaker
because demand is so high and the supply of beds is not, said Ken Kopczynski,
executive director of the watchdog Private Corrections Institute. "The market is
so tight that there's a bidding war going on," he said. GEO Group has started
building more of its own facilities, in addition to managing them, as it does in
New Castle. "You can't be evicted from your own facility," He said. However,
Kopczynski said GEO Group faces the same problems as the rest of the industry.
Turnover at private prison companies is about 50 percent, compared with about 15
percent at public prisons, he said. "They answer to the shareholders," he said,
"so they make cuts whenever possible."
April 24, 2007
Indianapolis Star
State officials will temporarily halt the transfer of Arizona prisoners to
the New Castle Correctional Facility after a riot Tuesday that prompted calls
for an end to housing another state's inmates in Indiana. Department of
Correction officials said nine people -- two prison employees and seven inmates
-- suffered minor injuries in separate disturbances involving Arizona and
Indiana prisoners during a two-hour period Tuesday afternoon at the facility 50
miles east of Indianapolis. Commissioner J. David Donahue said the Arizona
prisoners may have been upset because Indiana prisons have different rules,
including a ban on smoking and limits on personal items inmates can have in
their cells. The Arizona prisoners are kept separate from Indiana inmates.
Tuesday's disturbance is the latest example of riots led by prisoners shipped to
other states for incarceration. At least two other uprisings since 2003 involved
Arizona inmates held in out-of-state prisons. The riot also prompted a key
legislative leader to call for the state to cancel the Arizona deal. "The idea
of bringing in people from another state who bring along their gangs,
allegiances and different alliances immediately was a mixture that was bound to
bring trouble," said House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend. Gov. Mitch
Daniels said Tuesday night the inmates specifically involved in the incident
"need to go home" and that he will review the entire out-of-state arrangement
today with Donahue. But even before Tuesday's riot, Arizona officials had
decided to stop sending inmates to the New Castle prison because a recent visit
raised "serious security concerns." Dora Schriro, director of the Arizona
Department of Corrections, visited the New Castle Correctional Facility on
Thursday and found insufficient staffing for her state's 630 inmates, said Katie
Decker, a spokeswoman with the department. Schriro also was concerned about
where officers were stationed. "She advised the operators of that prison that
she was going to halt the transfer of inmates until these issues were resolved,"
Decker said. "There were serious security concerns." Decker said only 37
correctional officers were assigned to the Arizona inmates Thursday. She could
not say what that number should have been but said 131 officers would have been
required if all 1,260 Arizona inmates had already been transferred. She declined
to comment on whether those staffing levels could have contributed to the riot.
Arizona is paying Indiana $6.1 million to house its inmates. Daniels and others
supported the deal in part because the prison was only about half full. The New
Castle prison is state-owned, but Indiana contracts with GEO Group of Florida to
operate it. The first 104 prisoners arrived March 12. Decker, the Arizona
corrections spokeswoman, said Arizona would prefer to keep its prisoners
in-state but can't accommodate the growing inmate population. Arizona also sends
some inmates to a prison in Oklahoma. It had sent about 1,500 to private prisons
in Texas, but those contracts were canceled late last year. Decker said the
future of the contract with Indiana is in question. "Is the facility going to be
capable of housing the inmates we have there? Are the things that caused this
going to be addressed? " While the riot raised concerns about the deal with
Arizona, it also prompted questions about the state's contract with a private
firm to manage the facility. The state signed a contract with GEO Group in
September 2005 to run the prison for four years with an option for three
two-year extensions. Officials with the company declined comment Tuesday.
Daniels said the fact that the prison is privately managed did not have anything
to do with the riot, and his office released a history of disturbances at
Indiana correctional facilities to help support his point. "In fact, the
management there responded beautifully, as did the public authorities," said
Daniels, who has sought to privatize parts of state government. But Indiana
Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker disagreed and said privatization of the
prison likely contributed. "What happened today is a tragedy. I think it all
ties back to the fact that (the governor) has privatized essential government
services," Parker said. House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis,
cautioned people not to rush to judgment. "It's too early to make any rash
judgments about what happened in New Castle," he said. "I think we need to find
out exactly what happened, who is responsible and how prison officials reacted.
This is not the first prison riot in national history, nor is it the last."
Tuesday's trouble began about 2 p.m. as a group of Arizona inmates became
defiant as they were being moved from a dining hall to their cellblocks, said
Donahue, the DOC commissioner. Donahue said many of the inmates began removing
their shirts, apparently in a show of solidarity for the "noncompliance," and
one guard was either knocked or pushed to the ground. A group of Indiana inmates
-- who do not mingle with the Arizona prisoners and are kept separate by fences
-- became aware of the disturbance, and about 500 of the prison's 1,668 inmates
became involved, he said. Rioters broke scores of windows and set several fires
in outdoor recreation areas before guards used a chemical agent to quell the
disturbance after about two hours. Guards first isolated the areas of
disruption, giving inmates time to decide who was going to participate and who
was going to be bystanders rather than rushing in, Donahue said. "We don't rush
to judgment," he said. "We don't want to put additional folks at risk. We didn't
have anyone in harm's way." It's not unusual for tensions to flare up at a
prison that's privately run and has prisoners from different states, said Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of the watchdog Private Corrections Institute.
For one, prisoners often end up far away from their relatives and friends,
making visits difficult. "How do you expect the family to stay in touch," he
said, "when they're in Arizona and they have to fly all the way to Indiana?" In
addition, companies such as GEO Group subject prisoners to different rules,
based on the contracts they have with different states. For example, prisoners
from one state can have food more times per day or access to reading materials
or better medical care than prisoners from another state. Guards did keep the
prison populations apart, as all management companies are required to do, but
that rarely stops the flow of information, Kopczynski said. Once one group finds
out the guards are treating another group better, prisoners can become
resentful, angry and violent. That kind of unequal treatment doesn't usually
happen in public prisons, because the prisoners are from the same state. But
transferring prisoners from state to state is becoming more and more common as
states run out of beds and decide it's cheaper to ship prisoners to other
states, rather than build a prison of their own. Prisoners' rights' advocates
said that the arrangement is a recipe for disaster from the start. Donna Leone
Hamm, director of Middle Ground Prison Reform, an Arizona-based nonprofit inmate
advocacy group, said she is not surprised that violence broke out at the prison.
She said her organization has been contacted by inmates and their family members
who said prisoners were shipped off to Indiana against their will and with
little notice, including some who said they were roused from their beds in the
middle of the night and told to pack. Because Arizona transports prisoners
deemed least likely to cause trouble, well-behaved inmates felt they were being
punished for playing by the rules, Hamm said. In addition, some couldn't bring
along personal property, including televisions, she said.
California
April 9, 2007 San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Paris
Hilton's simple life might soon become slightly more simple if she becomes an
inmate in one of the area's several "pay-to-stay" city jails. On Thursday, the
Los Angeles City Attorney's Office announced it had sufficient evidence that
Hilton violated the terms of her DUI probation. Prosecutors want her to serve at
least 90 days in jail. A hearing for Hilton is scheduled April 17. Fortunately
for Hilton, 26, several local cities offer jail accommodations that might be
considered a cut above the standard accommodations available in the Los Angeles
County women's lockup. In Pasadena for example, Hilton can spend $127 a night
for three hot meals and a cot, and live in a dorm that's separate from the
housing offered to inmates awaiting arraignment, or those sleeping it off in the
drunk tank. "We ask that our inmates pay in advance with a money order or
cashier's check," Pasadena police Cmdr. John Perez said. "It's safe here. We
won't take people with a history of violence or medical problems." The appeal of
a jail like Pasadena's comes from its size, Perez said. "It's kind of like a
hotel," he said. "This is just a more controlled environment." Besides Pasadena,
Montebello, Alhambra and La Verne offer "pay-to-stay" programs. Orange County,
Seal Beach and Fullerton offer similar facilities. Fullerton's jail even allows
inmates access to personal laptops and cell phones. While the Pasadena and La
Verne jails are city-run operations, the Montebello and Alhambra pay-to-stay
facilities are run by Correctional System Inc., an Anaheim-based company. Frank Mateljan, spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, said Hilton
would have to file a request with the judge in her case if she wanted to choose
to do time in a city jail instead of the county lockup. "At that point, it would
be up to the discretion of the judge," Mateljan said. If Hilton is sentenced to
jail time and chooses to stay in a pay facility, she won't be the first
celebrity to take advantage of the special accommodations. Actor Christian
Slater served a 59-day sentence in La Verne in 1998. Former Orange County
Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo is currently serving a one-year sentence in
Montebello after pleading no contest to felony charges of perjury and misuse of
public funds. Pasadena has had its share of celebrity inmates too, Perez said.
"In years past we've had some," Perez recalled. "Who was the last? I don't
remember." As for revenue the city might earn from the program, Perez said it
isn't much of a money maker, but it does pay for itself. Steve Lechuga, an
employee of Correctional System Inc. and the supervisor for both the Alhambra
and Montebello jails, said inmates are required to participate in menial chores
like mopping, doing laundry, cleaning cells and taking out the trash. But, there
is also the opportunity to see visitors and take part in some recreation. The
Montebello jail has two cells devoted to its paying inmates. One cell houses 10
men; the other holds two. A night's stay costs $75, he said. Alhambra's jail has
a similar layout, but also accommodates women inmates. "It's all the same
price," he said. "And what you get is all about the availability." There are two
classes of inmates who typically participate in pay-to-stay programs: Those
serving terms of a year or less and those on work furlough, who can serve their
sentences on the weekends while living at home and going to work during the
week, Lechuga and Perez said. Importantly, those who pay for their jail stays
are separated from the general population. "They are all separated from the
regular arrestees off the street," Lechuga said. "But, they can still interact
with each other." Not everyone thinks pay-to-stay programs are just - or fair.
"Their whole purpose is to make a profit," said Ken Kopezynski, head of the
Florida-based Private Corrections Institute, which opposes the establishment of
private prisons and jails throughout the United States. "These places sound too
much like hotels," Kopezynski said. "This really smacks of some sort of
checkbook justice. It's kind of like the Middle Ages - kind of like buying
indulgences to earn your way into heaven."
Florida
January 27, 2007 Tallahassee Democrat
The first definition of "oversight" involves supervision, as in the
oversight of a contract by a state agency; the second involves a careless
mistake or omission, as in, "Sorry for my oversight. I'll straighten it out
right away." The problem with a settlement between the state and a private
prison contractor that was one of two firms that were overpaid $4.5 million is
that it's not at all clear which kind of oversight was in play. But if it's the
first, the Department of Management Services' agreement with a Boca Raton
company called GEO Group was highly questionable and very possibly a lousy deal
for Florida taxpayers. DMS' agreement with the company calls for the collection
by the state of $402,501 to settle previous claims. That comes to about 10 cents
on your dollar that the state decided was a sensible arrangement - although the
state is still negotiating with a second contractor, Corrections Corporation of
America, which also received overpayments. It's no wonder that Sen. Victor Crist,
R-Temple Terrace, was taken aback this week, saying the settlement "almost seems
criminal." He asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate.
That's a reasonable request. If there's more here than meets the eye, taxpayers
would love to know. If the rest of the story smells just as fishy, taxpayers
should know that, too. There's little question that politics and past
mismanagement are helping to cloud the picture. The original contract was
handled by the now-defunct Correctional Privatization Commission, an agency
created to oversee prisons in the state that are run by private companies. That
board was legislated out of existence in 2004 and the commission's oversight
responsibilities transferred to DMS. Given the performance of the Correctional
Privatization Commission, that was a smart move. But the news about the DMS
agreement with GEO now raises real questions about that agency's ability to
effectively manage contracts with private prison companies. "It was not an
honest mistake," Ken Kopczynski, a lobbyist for the Police Benevolent
Association who's been tracking private prison contracts for more than 10 years,
said of GEO. "I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to know that if a bank
teller gives you $100 more than you are legally liable to receive, you need to
give the money back." The politically influential PBA, which represents state
corrections officers, has been the most consistent opponent of prison
privatization. It maintained for years that the defunct commission had
inappropriately cozy ties to the industry it was supposed to regulate - a charge
that Mr. Crist, the Senate justice appropriations chairman, echoed last week.
Mr. Kopczynski said he asked FDLE to investigate last year, but without success.
But an investitgation is still appropriate - before any more bad deals are cut
on taxpayers' behalf.
Florida
January 25, 2007 Tallahassee Democrat
The head of a Senate budget committee today called for a criminal
investigation of overpayments to two companies running private prisons for the
state. Sen. Victor Crist, R-Temple Terrace, said he is not satisfied with a
$402,501 settlement negotiated by the Department of Management Services this
month with GEO Group, a Boca Raton-based company that runs prisons for the state
in South Bay and Moore Haven. The state is still negotiating reimbursement of
overpayments with Corrections Corp. of America, the Nashville company that runs
prisons at Quincy, Lake City and Panama City. "This almost seems criminal,"
Crist told his Senate Justice Appropriations Committee. He said the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement should investigate how the overpayments occurred.
After DMS assumed oversight from the old Correctional Privatization Commission,
the department's inspector general did an audit that questioned some $13 million
in payments to the two private prison operators. The audit said the companies
were overpaid $4.5 million for unfilled positions. Crist said he was not blaming
DMS because the overpayments occurred under the defunct commission, but that
"we'd like an extra set of eyes to take a closer look at" the settlement with
GEO and past payments to both companies. "If it was an honest mistake and $4.5
million was overpaid, they ought to write a check and clear it up," he said
after the meeting of his committee. "They (CCA and GEO) took more than $4
million for positions that didn't exist and it just sticks in my craw that we
would be getting $400,000 for it." The settlement includes $111,000 for partial
reimbursement of legal fees incurred by the state in court challenges to the
property-tax exemption of the state-owned, privately operated prisons. Those
fees were unrelated to the overpayment. Roz Ingram, director of specialized
services for DMS, said almost $5 million in overpayments occurred under
"competitive area differential" provisions carried forward from the old
contracts between the CPC and the companies. She said the differentials were
killed by DMS when renegotiating contracts. "We used this a as a tool to go in
and try to revamp the system and we've put a lot of different things in place,"
Ingram said of the audit. Ken Kopczynski, a lobbyist for the Police Benevolent
Association, cheered Crist's action. The PBA, which represents correctional
officers in state prisons, has been a vocal critic of privatization. "God bless
'em. It's about time," said Kopczynski.
Florida
January 24, 2007 Tallahassee Democrat
The state has reached a $402,000 agreement with one of the two companies that
run private prisons in Florida. Department of Management Services Secretary
Linda South said Tuesday night she was satisfied with the settlement with The
GEO Group Inc., which operates prisons in South Bay and Moore Haven. GEO also
has a contract for the Graceville prison opening in September. South said DMS is
negotiating terms with Corrections Corporation of America, the company that runs
three other privatized prisons. She declined to discuss those talks. After the
Correctional Privatization Commission was abolished and oversight of the five
private prisons was shifted to DMS in 2004, the DMS inspector general did an
audit that cited numerous discrepancies. The GEO Group settlement involved
$357,520.94 in overpayments. Under the agreement, signed by previous DMS
Secretary Tom Lewis, GEO agreed to pay $290,952.43. The company separately
agreed to pay $111,549.27 of the state's legal fees in a court fight over
disputed property-tax bills for the prison facilities. The agreement said DMS
has paid $446,197.08 defending the sovereign immunity of the state-owned
prisons. Ken Kopczynski, a lobbyist for the Florida Police Benevolent
Association, said the state "let them off easy." The PBA, which represents
correctional officers in state-run institutions, has been highly critical of
privatization. South said "this is good news for DMS" and that the audits ended
"some really critical lack of internal controls" under the defunct Correctional
Privatization Commission. She added, "The $400,000 is a lot higher than zero."
Oklahoma
January 5, 2007 Tulsa World
Angel Green has no health insurance and works two jobs to make do, so talk
of industry in her small Mayes County town of Spavinaw -- even if that industry
is a private prison -- excites her. "A lot of people here are retirees," Green
said of residents who are lured here by the community's scenic waterside setting
on Spavinaw Lake. "What they don't understand is that there is a younger
generation here that is living at the poverty level or below." A standing-room
only crowd of least 130 people turned out Thursday evening for a town meeting to
discuss whether the community will embrace a private prison. Leaders of the
Florida-based GEO Group Inc. told the audience that the company is considering
expanding its for-profit facilities. Although it is looking at several sites,
the company has proposed erecting a 1,000-bed prison in Spavinaw, a move that
GEO claims would generate 200 jobs. State Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, said Thursday
that a prison in Spavinaw could boost the economy in the town of 600 people. "I
view this as an industry that doesn't pollute the water, doesn't pollute the
ground, doesn't cause the air to smell," he said. Cox said more than 25 percent
of residents in his legislative district receive food stamps and that at least
50 percent have no health insurance. Don Houston, senior vice president of the
GEO Group, told the crowd that if the prison is located in Spavinaw, it would
generate jobs that average $10 an hour and that one-third of the employees
wouldn't be corrections officers. "We're 18 months away if they said go
tonight," Houston said. "We're at the point of just talking to you." Frank Smith
is a national field organizer for Private Corrections Institute, a nonprofit
watchdog group that speaks out against private prisons. The Kansan said the
Mayes County town isn't large enough to support a correctional facility. "They
will manipulate anybody they can to get what they want," he said. "They are
interested in a profit. They are not interested in the community."
2006
Colorado
December 24, 2006 The Daily Sentinel
Regarding The Daily Sentinel’s story about exporting of 240 prisoners to
Sayre, Oklahoma, this “crisis” is the direct result of malfeasance by Colorado
legislators and officials. A lack of nerve plus pandering to the fears of the
public have resulted in increased sentences for Colorado prisoners and backward
parole policies that keep many minor, non-dangerous offenders in prison for so
long. Along with TABOR, a deficit of DOC ethics and professionalism have kept
Colorado from building its own prisons and the failure to properly monitor the
performance of the for-profit lockups that were built in their place. I
predicted a riot would occur at the Crowley private prison months before it
exploded in flames on July 20, 2004. Colorado officials blithely looked the
other way, ignoring the same whistleblowers to which I’d been speaking for a
year. That riot cost taxpayers over $700,000, less than half of which the DOC
recovered after it was finally forced to assess damages. It was the second such
Crowley riot. The first required intervention of law enforcement from four
states. Recently, the Pueblo Chieftain editorialized, “Private prison plans for
Pueblo have been declared dead as the result of a scathing state audit and other
serious questions involving the proposed operator, Florida-based GEO Group. We
say good riddance.” State Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo requested the audit,
which found that a former state director of prisons, for $1 million, “was
helping GEO to get a contract for a private prison in Weld County while he still
was employed by the state.” The Crowley warden went to Sayre, Okla., the
destination of the Colorado inmates. It was closed for years after Wisconsin
withdrew its prisoners because they were deprived family contact. FRANK SMITH,
National Field Director Private Corrections Institute Bluff City, Kan.
New Mexico
December 20, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
It’s been a long, turbulent year for Wexford Health Sources, the private
prison company that administers health care in New Mexico’s state prisons. It’s
been even harder for the 6,000-plus inmates that the Pittsburgh-based company
treats or, as a growing number of critics would argue, doesn’t treat. Over the
last five months, SFR has written 11 stories on Wexford and the litany of
serious problems the company has experienced in New Mexico [Cover story, Aug. 9:
“Hard Cell?”]. Those who have raised concerns about Wexford include the
company’s former regional medical director, the former medical director of Lea
County Correctional Facility (LCCF) in Hobbs and numerous former and current
Wexford medical employees. Their allegations are all hauntingly similar: Wexford
refuses to fill critical medical positions. Wexford refuses to grant off-site
visits for seriously ill inmates. Wexford refuses to renew critical prescription
medicine for inmates. According to Manu Patel, the Legislative Finance
Committee’s deputy director of audits, the LFC expects to issue a report on the
Corrections Department by June 2007, as per a review that is currently under
way. That report will include extensive information on Wexford’s role as a
prison health care provider. And, according to those who worked for the company,
and some who still do, the company’s insistence on the bottom line over the care
of its charges causes inmates to suffer, sometimes with lasting, even fatal,
results. Amid a growing chorus of critics, Gov. Bill Richardson decided Wexford
needed an overhaul. On Dec. 8, prompted by SFR’s reporting, Richardson ordered
the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and the state’s Children, Youth and
Families Department (with whom Wexford also holds a contract) to find a new
medical provider [Outtakes, Dec. 13: “Wexford Under Fire”]. According to
Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, details regarding Wexford’s departure are
still being worked out, but both agencies will be using a different company to
provide health care very soon. “First we had Addus. Now we have Wexford. It
seems like every time the state brings in another private health care company,
things just get worse,” Dr. Gayla Herbel, former regional medical director for
Wexford in New Mexico and a chief critic of the company, says. Even before
Richardson took action, SFR’s series, which also has documented Wexford’s past
problems in other states, lawsuits in this one and a state nursing board
investigation into alleged record falsifying, spilled over into the state
Legislature. On Oct. 20, the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice
Committee held a hearing on Wexford in Hobbs. In addition to listening to
testimony, legislators toured LCCF and heard firsthand from inmates about
Wexford’s failures at the facility. As a result, committee members unanimously
voted to recommend that the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) conduct an
independent audit of Wexford [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. “We heard a
great deal from the inmates about the problems with medical care,” State Rep.
Joseph Cervantes, D-Doña Ana, says. “The result was the request for the LFC
audit. I’m pleased that NMCD is now placing the scrutiny on Wexford that is
deserved.” The LFC has since moved fast; the audit is already in the works and
will continue even though Wexford is on its way out. “We want to establish good
quality controls with any future company we contract with,” LFC’s Deputy
Director of Audits Manu Patel says. Ken Kopczynski, director of the Private
Corrections Institute, a Florida-based watchdog group, has kept an eye on
Wexford’s New Mexico operations. He’s called publicly for the US Justice
Department to intervene and says the state shouldn’t be surprised at what has
happened. “It’s great to hear that the governor is moving forward on this. But
I’m hoping the state doesn’t drop the ball in terms of recouping liquidated
damages regarding Wexford not carrying out the contract, if that’s what
happened,” he says. “With a for-profit company like Wexford, you get what you
pay for. Not only do they have to provide health care to the inmates, but they
need to make a profit margin for their shareholders.”
National
November 2, 2006 Counter Punch
Lazaro Perez (not his real name), a poor Tzotzil Indian farmer from San Juan
Chamula Chiapas, caught the old bus out of the state capital Tuxtla Gutierrez
for the three-day journey to the northern border. Lazaro was determined to cross
the brutal desert that separated him from the American dream - a cousin in
Phoenix Arizona where there is a growing Chamulan community had written that
there was plenty of work there. Disembarking in El Altar, Sonora on the lip of
the desert, Lazaro and a handful of fellow Chamulans with whom he had hopped the
bus in Tuxtla contracted a "guia" (guide) for $1000 a head to get them across
the foreboding badlands where more than 200 have perished each year for a
decade. But "the corridor of death" as this wedge of the border west of Yuma is
called is not such an easy place to die in these days. The beefed-up "Migra"
(Border Patrol or Immigration Customs Enforcement as Homeland Security now calls
it) aided and abetted by National Guard "scouts" brought in to back up the ICE
under Operation Jumpstart as one facet of the Bush administration's politically
motivated immigration crackdown, is corralling record numbers of undocumented
travelers in this sector and Lazaro and his pals were taken into custody not an
hour into their trek across the desert. Out a $1000 he had borrowed from
relatives, penniless, and in detention in a strange land, Lazaro wished he had
never left Chiapas. The Chamulan's bad luck is shared by thousands of new
would-be "indocumentados" these days all along the 3000-kilometer border between
Mexico and Fortress America as immigration detentions skyrocket. But Lazaro
Perez's misfortune is making a fortune for one of the fastest-growing industries
in the border region private immigration detention centers operated by such
titans of the euphemistically-named "corrections industry" as GEO (formerly
Wackenhut) of Boca Raton, Florida and the billion buck Corrections Corporation
of America (CCA) out of Nashville. For the privatizers, managing the detention
centers requires minimal investment compared to criminal incarceration
facilities the no-frills lock-ups do not require legally mandated recreation,
educational, or law library components that must be made available to common
criminals. Although the U.S. prison population 1.5 million inmates remains
the most voluminous on Planet Earth, incarceration rates are slowing to a little
over 1%a year increase while the detention side is running 21% annual growth. As
the detention market balloons so do the fortunes of the corrections titans
CCA's detention facilities turned a $95 million profit last year and its stock
is up to $53 a share according to this morning's Wall Street Journal. Similarly,
GEO stock has boomed 68% in the past year. "The detention market should grow by
$200 to $250,000 in the next two years" figured Patrick Swindle of Avondale LLC
in an instructive July 27th New York Times business page piece. "What's great is
that this industry promises steadily growing profits," offered an upbeat Anton
High of Jefferies & Company brokers (ibid.) The detention market needs tough
enforcement laws to fly and the corrections industry contracts high-powered
Washington lobbyists to grease the wheels of Congress, prison activists like
Kansas-based Frank Smith contend although Smith says the bucks are hard to
track. Reluctant to advertise how they profit on the migrants' misery, the big
guns sneak in under the radar, masquerading as PACs to bulk up the war chests of
such immigration hawks as San Diego's Duncan Hunter, Colorado's Tom Tancredo,
and the venerable Sensenbrenner.
California
October 21, 2006 Sacramental Bee
The first transfers of California inmates to private, out-of-state prisons
are scheduled to take place next month under two no-bid contracts the
overstuffed Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed Friday. Under
the deals worked out with the GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of
America, the state will move 2,260 inmates out of its jampacked prisons over the
next 120 days to private institutions in Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and
Tennessee. Corrections officials say the separate deals will help stem its
emergency overcrowding crisis, but union officials opposed to the transfers
contend they will undermine public accountability and shift responsibility for
the tough business of prison administration to profit-driven corporate
boardrooms. Newspaper reports compiled on a Web site run by the Private
Corrections Institute in Florida paint a different picture of the CCA prisons,
however. The stories cited riots and inmate drug dealing at Diamondback, more
violence and drug issues at Florence, inmate complaints over phone rates at
North Fork and the unexplained death of a prisoner at West Tennessee.
New Mexico
October 18, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
Current prison health workers say they fear retaliation if they speak out.
Just days before state legislators convene a hearing on correctional health care
in New Mexico, a group of medical employees in the state prison system have come
to SFR with allegations about how inmates are treated. All four requested
anonymity because they say they fear retaliation from Wexford Health Sources—the
private company that administers health care in the prisons—if their identities
are revealed. The employees currently work at Central New Mexico Correctional
Facility. They allege, among other things, that chronically ill inmates are
forced to lie in their own feces for hours, are taken off vital medicine to save
money and often wait months before receiving treatment for urgent medical
conditions. Moreover, the employees say conditions at the facility are
unsanitary. “In my entire career, I’ve never seen this sort of stuff happening,”
one employee says. “These inmates are not being treated humanely. They don’t
live in sanitary conditions. They live in pain.” Wexford Vice President Elaine
Gedman denies all the employees’ allegations in an e-mail response to SFR.
Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland says the department is unaware of these
allegations and that “none of these issues have surfaced during our regular
auditing process.” The employees’ allegations come on the heels of a series of
stories by SFR, in which several former Wexford employees have publicly come
forward with similar charges [Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result of
the stories, the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee
will hold a hearing on Oct. 20 in Hobbs to discuss the matter [Outtakes, Sept.
13: “Checkup”]. Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), which
oversees the Pennsylvania-based company, have categorically denied charges that
inmates are being denied proper health care. These latest allegations are the
first to come from current employees of Wexford. The employees describe an
environment where medical staff must purchase their own wipes for incontinent
patients because they say Wexford administrators say there’s no money for
supplies. They say there’s a shortage of oxygen tanks and nebulizer machines
(for asthma patients) and also scant protective equipment for those staff
treating infectious diseases. Gedman says, “Wexford is unaware of any shortage
in medical supplies. Extra oxygen bottles and nebulizers are always on hand and
ready for any emergency use. The oxygen bottles are inventoried daily as part of
our emergency response requirement.” The employees also allege that chronically
ill inmates sometimes wait what they say is too long to be taken off-site for
specialty care. Gedman says this also is false and that Wexford “strongly
encourages all of our providers to refer patients for necessary evaluation and
treatment, off-site when necessary, as soon as problems are identified that need
specialty referral.” All four employees say their complaints to Wexford
administrators about the lack of supplies and treatment of inmates have been
ignored, and all believe coming forward publicly will cost them their jobs.
Gedman says this concern is unfounded because “Wexford encourages an open-door
policy for all employees to bring issues to the attention of management so that
they can be investigated and acted upon as appropriate.” Bland says Corrections
staff are “visible and accessible in the prisons. If any of Wexford’s staff
would like to speak with us concerning these allegations, we welcome the
information and will certainly look into the matter.” As for the legislative
hearing, State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, R-Doña Ana, co-chairman of the Courts,
Corrections and Justice Committee, says he hopes some of these Wexford critics
will show up in Hobbs. And he says further hearings are a possibility. “I hope
there is a full airing of the issues. I would like to learn that the Corrections
Department is working to resolve all of this, but if they haven’t, I expect to
make deadlines for them so we can expect adequate progress,” Cervantes says.
“We’d still like to protect the anonymity and bring to light any allegations and
complaints.” Cervantes also says he wants to introduce legislation during the
next session to protect whistle-blowers. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of
the Private Corrections Institute watchdog group in Florida, says the
Legislature must do everything it can to safeguard current Wexford employees
against retaliation. “The Legislature is the ultimate authority, and they need
to put pressure on the Corrections Department to find out what the hell is going
on. They also need to protect these employees so they can come forward and
testify about their specific experiences,” Kopczynski says. “And if there are
allegations of civil rights abuse, which is what it sounds like, then the
Justice Department needs to come in.”
California
October 6, 2006 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent declaration of an emergency in state
prisons will mean two new possibilities for inmates at the California
Institution for Men and other prisons: doing time at private prisons and doing
time in other states. Special Section: Criminal Neglect Schwarzenegger's
proclamation makes it possible for California to contract for prison beds with
private operators in other states - a proposal the governor had sought earlier
this year but was rebuffed by the Legislature. "Our prisons are now beyond
maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this
issue," he said Wednesday. But experts questioned the wisdom of the move, noting
that placing prisoners in out-of-state facilities has in the past led to
violence. "There's been lots of problems with inmates being shipped out, in
particular if they're put into a facility with multijurisdictional inmates,"
said Ken Kopczynski, of the Florida-based Private Corrections Institute.
"California inmates are under California law. If they have Oklahoma inmates, or
Texas inmates, they all have to be handled separately." Disparity in treatment
of prisoners from several states was one cause identified in a 2004 riot where
inmates alternately smashed, flooded and torched a private institution in
Colorado, Kopczynski noted. In that incident, prisoners from different states
-Colorado, Washington and Wyoming - felt they were being treated unfairly, since
each state paid different wages for inmate labor. Other problems can arise when
inmates from different states get together to form their own gangs, or when the
distance from their families and support networks is too great, making
rehabilitation less likely. Kopczynski also said the private corrections
industry has racked up a less-than-stellar record in the past, mostly due to
cost-saving efforts such as using low-wage guards and cutting corners on
security.
New Mexico
October 4, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
Medical personnel at a New Mexico state prison don’t have protective gear to
treat inmates with infectious diseases. Nurses at the same prison lack sanitary
wipes for sick inmates who have soiled themselves. Inmates regularly miss doses
of critical medicine because their prescriptions are not renewed properly. These
are just some of the allegations made by Norbert Sanchez, a nurse for Wexford
Health Sources, the private company that administers health care in New Mexico’s
state prisons. Sanchez asserts that Wexford suspended him on Sept. 6 from his
post at the Long Term Care Unit (LTCU) at Central New Mexico Correctional
Facility in retaliation for continually raising concerns about Wexford’s
operations at the facility. But he recently spoke with SFR in an exclusive
interview. His account follows a series of stories by SFR in which a wide range
of former Wexford employees have raised similarly serious concerns regarding
Wexford’s treatment of inmates [Cover Story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. “There were
no guidelines, no policies from Wexford. It was unsafe for the inmates and the
employees,” Sanchez, a 20-year veteran nurse, says. Sanchez says he began to
work for Wexford in April and quickly noticed problems. Incoming nurses received
only scant safety training from Wexford and were immediately thrown into intense
treatment settings to plug staffing shortages, he alleges. More disturbingly,
Sanchez says that there weren’t protective gowns and masks for medical staff who
needed to treat inmates with infectious diseases, dangerous for staff, inmates
and the general public. There also was a shortage of linens and sanitary wipes,
which are particularly critical for chronically ill inmates. Wexford Vice
President Elaine Gedman responded in a lengthy Oct. 2 e-mail to SFR. She would
not comment on the details of Sanchez’s suspension but denies he was disciplined
for complaining. SFR also queried New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)
spokeswoman Tia Bland on Sanchez’ allegation of retaliation and his issues with
Wexford’s health care. Bland says NMCD has no information on Sanchez’ employment
status and is unaware of a shortage of medical supplies or protective gear, as
well as prescription drug lapses, but that the Department is looking into it. As
for Sanchez’s assertions about dirty linens, Bland says: “The linens are our
responsibility. We have gotten a little behind with linen laundry in LTCU
because of some electrical problems. We’ve ordered new linens, and we’re working
on fixing the problem.” Regarding the staffing shortages Sanchez and other
ex-Wexford employees have complained of, Bland says: “We’ve always acknowledged
staffing challenges. We are happy to say the vacancy rate is the lowest it’s
been in months. We applaud Wexford’s efforts and encourage them to keep it up.”
Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog
group in Florida, says that aside from the hearing, NMCD should consider
liquidating damages or fining Wexford if it refuses to live up to its
contractual obligations. NMCD hired Wexford in July 2004; last fall, a $35,000
agreement was reached between NMCD and Wexford over the state’s concern that
Wexford didn’t provide enough work hours for its full-time employees,
particularly psychiatrists. “You’re only as good as your contract. And if there
are systematic problems here, than the state might need to hit Wexford where it
hurts,” Kopczynski says. Ultimately, though, Kopczynski maintains that it is up
to the Legislature and Corrections Secretary Joe Williams to ensure that Wexford
upholds humane standards of care. “Somebody needs to be enforcing that contract.
And it should be up to the Legislature to hold the secretary’s feet to the
fire,” he says. “And if the secretary chooses not to, then they need to get rid
of him.” Meanwhile, Sanchez says he plans on speaking at the forthcoming hearing
in Hobbs. “Wexford doesn’t care about its employees,” he says. “And they don’t
care about the inmates.”
Georgia
September 30, 2006 Ledger-Enquirer
There is something morally repugnant about making a profit on someone else's
brokenness. It's not that the prisons in the state of Georgia don't do that, but
there is some incentive for the state not to fill every prison bed, said John
Cole Vodicka, director of the Prison & Jail Project, a watchdog organization in
Americus, Ga. But when you have a company operating a prison that needs to fill
up every cell in order to turn a profit that meets their shareholders
expectations, there is absolutely no incentive to reduce that population or to
figure out ways to get people out of that prison, said Cole Vodicka. Jim
Wetherington, former commissioner of the Department of Corrections, said the
state opted for private prisons because it's cheaper, but he also has reasons
for not favoring for-profit facilities. "I never was in favor of private prisons
because they don't offer the services we offer in state prisons. They don't go
in depth on the rehabilitation as the state does, and they have fewer guards,"
said Wetherington, who is a candidate for mayor of Columbus, and the city's
former police chief. Cole Vodicka said he understands officials' desperate need
for jobs and to bring their county up and out of poverty. "Stewart County is one
of the poorest counties in the state -- one of the poorest counties in the Deep
South," he said. "At the same time, I think they are being sold a bill of goods.
I think ultimately what's going to happen is that a lot of the jobs at the
prison will be filled by people who do not live in Stewart County right now, and
won't choose to live there once they get jobs at the prison," Cole Vodicka said.
Failing public? Frank Smith agreed. Smith, who is national field organizer for
Private Corrections Institute, contacted me after reading "For profit prisons
fail public." It was Tuesday's column about the Corrections Corporation of
America's upcoming job fair. CCA runs for-profit corrections facilities. "People
call this the Prison Industrial Complex. They recruit guys who are wardens in
state penitentiaries. The corporations bring in the big shots. And pay the
guards low wages," said Smith, who said he got involved with for-profit prisons
about 15 years ago in Alaska. At that time, he said, Alaska wanted to send 320
prisoners to Texas. Smith referenced a 1970s study in which researchers looked
at prisoners who, in the last year of incarceration, had zero, one, two or three
visitors. They found that the people who had no visitors had a recidivism rate
six times that of people who had three or more visitors. Researchers defined
visitors as different people. One person who visited a prisoner three times
counted as one visitor, said Smith, a social worker, who had contracted with
Alaska department of corrections to provide substance abuse treatment. Smith
also recalled an incident in which a for-profit prison in Oklahoma was emptied
because Wisconsin officials removed the prisoners. "Wisconsin insisted on a deal
so that prisoners didn't lose contact with their families back home. The prison
couldn't negotiate for a reasonable phone rate, so Wisconsin pulled all the
prisoners. And the prison sat empty for about three years," he said. Cole
Vodicka said most of the prisoners in the Stewart County facility are going to
be those who either haven't been in the country very long or are in this country
illegally: "This means folks working there will encounter folks not like
themselves. Different culture. Different language. That immediately raises some
concerns about how well trained these prison employees will be." Prison
employees will live in Columbus. They'll live in Albany. And they'll live in
Alabama. But they are not going to choose to live in Stewart County, which needs
a lot more help with its infrastructure than they are going to get from the
Corrections Corporation of America, Cole Vodicka said. "There may be a gas
station or a restaurant that will get a few dollars because the prison is
there," he said. "And maybe a few people will choose to live in Lumpkin. But by
and large, Lumpkin will be known as a prison town. The prison is a mile from the
courthouse square." Contact Kaffie Sledge at 706-571-8585 or ksledge@ledger-enquirer.com
Kansas
September 12, 2006 Kansas City Star
If Phill Kline had legitimate credentials, he wouldn’t need to pad his
résumé. He alleges he “worked to get ‘Jessica’s Law’ passed this year,
increasing sentences for four types of sex crimes against children” (9/7, Local,
“Kline cites record on water rights, sex predators”). Jessica’s Law was a
terrible bill, but one that only our bravest state senators had the guts to
oppose. Whether Kline was for, against or indifferent to it would not have made
one whit of difference. Legislators were stampeded into voting for it, as they
would be for mom, apple pie and the American flag. The bill will raise our state
prison population by 1,000 prisoners, which will cost well over the average of
$22,000 for each in today’s correctional dollars. That’s 22 million bucks a
year, for typical prisoners, not high-cost, geriatric sex offenders, plus
another $50 million for bed space to house them. The bill was bundled by Sen.
Derek Schmidt, champion of the for-profit prison GEO Group, in his effort to
actually import rapists, pedophiles and murderers to Kansas. Not much to take
credit for, is it, even if it were deserved? Frank Smith, Bluff City, Kan.
Michigan
August 31, 2006 Daily News
The Lake County community is one step closer to
reopening the former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility thanks to a bill
passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives in a 72-31 vote. The bill heads
to the governor’s desk for approval, and she has said she will sign it. House
Bill 5800, sponsored by Rep. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart, would allow GEO Group, the
prison’s owner, to contract with out-of-state vendors to house inmates in the
Baldwin facility. Current state law mandates the former Michigan Youth
Correctional Facility can only be used to house Michigan youth offenders. “We
are supportive and the governor expects to sign the bill,” said Liz Boyd,
spokeswoman for the governor’s office. “It’s up to lawmakers how quickly they
move it to us.” Once the bill arrives on the governor’s desk, she will have 14
days to sign it into law. The approved Senate amendment removed the state from
oversight in the facility. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” said Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute, a
Tallahassee, Fla., based not-for-profit watchdog organization that opposes the
concept of for-profit prisons. “I’m sure the citizens of Michigan are proud to
know their Legislature is looking after their public safety. The state is
responsible for inmates in the facility. The courts have ruled on that. You
can’t contract away liability. Michigan has the ultimate responsibility of
regulating prisons and jails in the state. They’re ultimately responsible for
the conditions.” Kopczynski has documented on his Web site more than 30 pages of
lawsuits against GEO. “The whole idea they can take over a government service
and do it cheaper (is false),” Kopczynski said. “They don’t pay wages, they
don’t have the benefits, and they have high turnover which leads to abuse and
escapes. They say they’re in it for public safety — that’s BS. They’re in it for
the money.”
Texas
September 3, 2006 Killeen Daily Herald
An organization opposing private prisons has contacted
Coryell County officials, warning them of potential risks involved with building
such a facility. The move came after the commissioners' court retained Waco
lawyer Herb Bristow in August to represent the county in looking into
contracting with a private prison group to handle inmate overflow from the
near-capacity Coryell County Jail. Bob Libal of Grassroots Leadership, a
25-year-old Charlotte, N.C.-based organization with a field office in Austin,
said he sent a letter and information packet to commissioners Jack Wall, Cliff
Price, Don Jones and Kyle Pruitt as well as Sheriff Johnny Burks and County
Attorney Brandon Belt. Overcrowding in the current facility and the anticipation
of population growth and a rise in crime that may come with it have prompted
county officials to look into the issue, but Libal says privatization is not the
way to go. "I think there are a lot of dangers when you start turning over
control of your county jail to a private prison company. The private prison
industry is notorious for higher rates of violence in their facilities, for poor
conditions and for paying the people who work for them less," Libal said. "They
do all of this because they make a profit. They cut corners on all the things
that are necessary." Libal said a report compiled by his organization found
disturbing incidents that have occurred in several private facilities in the
state. "One such jail is the Val Verde County Jail, which is operated by The GEO
Group, and was financed by county revenue bonds," Libal said. "That facility,
along with the county, has been subjected to two well-documented lawsuits. In
one suit, an employee claimed racial discrimination after a superior displayed a
hangman's noose in his office and took pictures in KKK garb while posing in a
GEO Group uniform." Liability is another concern, Libal pointed out, because
counties, such as Val Verde, can be named in lawsuits. "Correlating with that is
sometimes counties think they decrease their liability by privatizing the jails.
We've seen lawsuits where individual county officials have been named. The
county does not avoid liability," he said. When asked about the concern for
higher rates of violence and abuse allegations in private facilities, Burks said
that is part of the criminal justice environment. "What I say is anytime you get
into an environment like that, you are going to be having those problems. Even
in our facility here, we get the same type of complaints," he said. "They have
them out here in the prison system in Gatesville. That is just something you are
going to run into in a jail environment." Burks, Wall and Jones agreed that the
county is only researching the possibility of a private jail and is not
obligated to anything. "We're just in the process of looking into this. We don't
have anything in stone. That's why we have hired a guy that is going to help us
go through this," Burks said. "If anytime they say the county is going to be
liable, we are going to stand back and look into it before the county jumps into
something." The sheriff said that the county is going to have to address the
overcrowding issue soon. "Whether it costs us this way or we have to build a
facility, eventually jail standards is going to force us to carry inmates to
other facilities or we are going to have to add on to our current facility to
accommodate the inmates we are going to get," Burks said. He said privatization
is just one option the county can investigate to avoid spending $8 million or $9
million to build a new facility. Jones had similar comments, noting that he had
looked over the packet from Grassroots Leadership briefly. "That is an
alternative. We are going to have to do something with the overcrowding," he
said. "That is going to be a pretty big undertaking for the county. We are going
to have to sit down and study it a lot more than we have. I haven't made a
decision either way, but I sure want to know the pros and cons on it. It would
be crazy not to." Libal and his organization say counties can be left holding
the bag if contracts to house state or federal prisoners fall through. "I think
basically it is a scheme in Texas. Public facilities corporations that are
basically quasi-government organizations are started by a county commission.
They issue revenue bonds that don't have to be voted on because the idea is that
the revenue coming in is suppose to pay back the debt," Libal said. "A lot of
times these counties borrow money on the idea that they will be fine, but if
they don't get a contract, the county is stuck with these debt payments." Libal
said just such a thing occurred recently in Willacy County. "They didn't get the
federal detainees they were hoping for so they are having to pay on their debt
because they owe for their bonds." He said when this happens, a county's credit
is affected. "Their credit rating has shriveled up. That hurts the county's
ability to borrow. Bond rating companies don't differentiate between a public
facility corporation and a county when it comes to rating a bond," Libal said.
"They will devalue a bond for the county if the public facility corporation is
unable to make that payment." Frank Smith with Private Corrections Institute,
another organization monitoring the industry, said contracts with for-profit
prison companies are only bandages for overcrowding issues. There is also the
ethical dilemma presented by for-profit prisons, Libal said, noting that some
faith traditions view incarceration for profit as an unethical act. Bristow told
commissioners in August he would begin preparing requests for qualifications and
requests for proposals to send out to potential vendors. He did not return phone
calls seeking comment.
Mississippi
September 1, 2006 Sun Herald
The No. 1 purpose of a private prison is profits. We
must sympathize with the efforts of Harrison County Sheriff George Payne to
temper the rush to privatize the county jail. The privates have chronically
demonstrated they have no loyalty to anything but profits. They have
continuously jeopardized the safety of inmates, staff and the public alike. A
California annual survey shows they have 30 times the escape rate of public
facilities. A recent study conducted for the state of Arizona shows they are 8.5
to 13.5 percent more costly than public prisons. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, the
county had to take back its facility after a series of for-profit operators
grossly bungled the job in their efforts to increase profit margins. FRANK
SMITH, The Private Corrections Institute, Bluff City, Kansas
New Mexico
August 30, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
A Santa Fe dentist and his assistant say they quit their jobs at the
Penitentiary of New Mexico in 2004 because of concerns that state inmates were
not receiving adequate dental care. Dr. Norton Bicoll and Sharon Daily left
their employment at Wexford Health Sources, which handles health care in nine
New Mexico correctional facilities, because the company ordered them to cut
their hours for inmates in half, they say. Bicoll and Daily’s problems with
Wexford follow a number of serious allegations levied by six ex-Wexford
employees that also question the level of health care inmates are receiving
[Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Last week, SFR also reported that two
Albuquerque psychiatrists have sued Lovelace Health Systems for firing them
after they refused to participate in a proposed contract with Wexford. The
contract would have called for the psychiatrists to provide substandard
treatment to state inmates, the lawsuit alleges [Outtakes, Aug. 23: “Unhealthy
Proposal”]. These latest assertions about Wexford appear to be part of a growing
chorus of criticism of the company and its treatment of inmates. Wexford Vice
President Elaine Gedman, who has responded previously to questions regarding the
company, did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story. But
Bicoll and Daily’s issues with Wexford relate to the company’s staffing
shortages in New Mexico, one of the company’s most pervasive problems, according
to ex-employees. While both NMCD and Wexford have consistently played down such
shortages, according to Wexford’s own Web site, there are currently 47 vacancies
for medical personnel in New Mexico. That number comprises close to half of the
117 total positions Wexford, the nation’s third largest private correctional
health care company, is currently advertising for. Such vacancies not only
include a range of nursing positions but also critical, high ranking
administrative posts. According to the Web site, Wexford is looking to hire a
director of nursing and medical director at the New Mexico Women’s Correctional
Facility in Grants. The medical director position is also open at Southern New
Mexico Correctional Facility in Las Cruces and Lea County Correctional Facility
in Hobbs. The Penitentiary of New Mexico needs a director of nursing. Ken
Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute watchdog
group in Florida, says charges of compromised prison health care in New Mexico
warrant federal involvement. “It would be good to get the Department of Justice
involved if there are allegations of lack of care on behalf of the inmates,” he
says. “The New Mexico Corrections Department and the Legislature can’t hide
their heads in the sand and say they didn’t know about these problems if there’s
ever a lawsuit. The inmates are ultimately the responsibility of the state, and
you can’t contract that away.”
Canada
August 25, 2006 The Mirror
Not enough staff at Central North Correctional Centre led to the murder of
inmate Minh Tu on May 5, 2004, charges a Penetanguishene woman. Richard Quansah
was found guilty of first-degree murder and recently sentenced to life in prison
without parole for 25 years for killing Minh Tu, after an argument over a board
game while the two were inmates at the Penetanguishene prison operated by
Management and Training Corporation (MTC). Sharon Dion, chairperson of Citizens
Against Private Prisons, told The Mirror she is surprised more violence has not
occurred at the privately-operated jail because of ongoing problems and lack of
staff to deal with them properly. Dion is known locally and internationally for
her knowledge about privatized prisons, and has lent her expertise to the
Ontario government, as well as correctional organizations throughout Canada and
the United States. She says she was contacted by several upset correctional
officers after the May 2004 stabbing who told her that a CO was given a note
from an inmate that said there was a knife in the unit and a 'killing' would
take place. However, a lockdown and search failed to locate the weapon so
inmates were allowed out of their cells. Tu was murdered soon after. "Management
was warned that this was going to happen," said Dion. "They shouldn't have
allowed inmates to come out of their cells until something was found or more
investigation was done. And, of course, because of the outcome, that proves the
theory."
Florida
August 5, 2006 Tallahassee Democrat
Re: " Prisons chief questions merits of privatization," (news story, Aug.
2). Kudos to Department of Corrections Secretary Jim McDonough for having the
backbone to take on the politically connected for-profit private prison
industry. Private-prison flacks would have you believe that because their
facilities exceed American Correctional Association (ACA) standards, private
prisons are safely run. Here are two things readers need to know: According to a
report prepared for the National Institute for Justice (Sept. 15, 2003),
"Achieving ACA accreditation is not an outcomes-based performance goal. Rather,
ACA standards primarily prescribe procedures.” In other words, ACA standards
have nothing to do with whether a prison is run well. Second, when a CCA
facility in Mississippi was trying to cut costs, the warden decided to cut ACA
accreditation. His comment: "You can have a good jail and still not be
accredited" (Sept. 7, 2005, Greenwood Commonwealth). Which is it, CCA? KEN
KOPCZYNSKI, Executive director, Private Corrections Institute
Colorado
June 28, 2006 Greeley Tribune
The state Department of Corrections on Tuesday made a decision that could
alter the face of the small Weld County town of Ault. By granting Florida-based
Geo Group Inc. the right to build a 1,500-bed medium security men's prison
southeast of town in the next two years, the state paved the way for prisoners
to outnumber residents. Negotiations between the town and Geo will begin next
week on infrastructure costs and impact fees. If residents of Ault need
development and economic vitality, the last place they should look at is a
prison, warns a long-time private prison opponent. Frank Smith, 67, co-founder
of the Private Corrections Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
monitoring private prisons, cites study after study and incident after incident
pointing to the ills of private prisons. Several studies have been conducted to
test markets where private prisons locate, and most conclude that prisons do not
stimulate an economy any more than the regular cycles of growth that would come
without the parade of orange jumpsuits. "They don't pay for themselves, they
chase away safer and better industry," said Smith, who began fighting the
private prison movement in Alaska in 2000 and now fights them nationwide from
his home in Bluff City, Kan. "You foreclose your possibility of getting a really
remunerative industry that would actually compensate people so they can make a
living." While pointing out the numerous riots that have occurred in private
prisons for years -- the problems that come with corporate, for-profit prison
building -- Smith cites one insidious problem that has a domino effect on
economic activity: Pay. Geo Group noted in discussions with Ault officials that
prison employees would start at $25,000, about $3,000 less than Ault police
officers. The pay is no accident, Smith said. "The biggest problems are that
they cut corners and pay people so poorly they can't get trainable staff, and
they wind up with a bunch of fast-food workers," Smith said. "They move to where
they can pay the least." The private prison movement has sprawled across rural
America in the past decade, according to Terry Besser and Margaret Hanson in a
2003 study entitled, "The Development of Last Resort: The Impact of New State
Prisons on Small Town Economies." The pair studied 10 years of prisons in rural
America, a time when 69 percent of the 274 new state prisons were opened in
towns of 10,000 or less in population in 1990. In that time, they found the
unemployment rate differed very little in small towns with prisons, versus their
non-prison counterparts, but poverty levels in prison towns did decrease. "In
all other economic indicators, however, the new prison towns fared worse than
the non-prison towns," the study found. "The rate of increase in the number of
new businesses, non-agricultural employment, average household wages, retail
sales, median value of owner occupied housing and total number of housing units
is substantially less in new prison vs. non-prison towns." The study showed that
turnover rate in private prisons was three times higher than public prisons due
to low wages and a lower level of employee training, creating employee safety
concerns. The study also found that rural towns, lured by the potential
development opportunities, will frequently give tax abatements and breaks, which
are not commensurate with the supposed vitality a prison would bring to a
community. In Ault, for example, a state contract for the men's prison could be
a $28 million annual contract for Geo, which has promised just $250,000 a year
to the town as an impact fee. Ault Police Chief Tracey McCoy, who sought the
prison, said that's a number that will have to increase. Ault resident Ed Lesh
worries about the reputation being a prison town could mean in the long run. "I
don't think we've gleaned the good and bad about the facility," Lesh said.
"There are some points I think should be considered. ... I don't think having
the handle of being a prison town is a plus. If I were going to start a
business, I don't know that I would go to Cañon City." Ault resident John Dudley
believes growth will come as a result of a prison, but said the town would not
see fit to make sure growth pays its own way, his chief concern when it comes to
any growth that might increase town coffers in the short term. "It would be nice
and wonderful if everyone could assure me it's going to be controlled growth,"
said Dudley, a local school board member who was on the town board when a prison
in the area was proposed, then shot down in the mid 1980s. "It's not just going
to soak the city, it will soak everyone in Colorado," Dudley continued. "It's
going to end up where you're going to have impacts on highways and we'll have to
find more money to pay for highways, and all the sudden, it will impact state
patrol, and we'll have to find more people (to hire)." "I feel pity for our
board because they have this tough decision to make," he said. "Do we give away
things to get this, or do we just kiss more opportunity goodbye? It's a tough
choice."
Florida
June 19, 2006 News Herald
About half of the Bay County jail system’s correctional officers left in 2004
and 28 percent quit last year, making effective and safe operations tough to
achieve, county officials say. High turnover has been a primary concern of
Commissioner Jerry Girvin, a retired captain with the Bay County Sheriff’s
Office, which ran the jail until the county awarded the original Corrections
Corporation of America contract in 1985. Girvin said the constant hiring of new
guards unfamiliar with Bay County’s jails jeopardizes security. “An experienced
correctional officer can sense the need and circumvent a situation from
occurring or minimize the effect,” he said. Jason Bradley Sims, a 30-year-old
who recently was detained at the main jail on Harmon Avenue for violating his
probation for a battery charge, said fighting among inmates is frequent, partly
because there aren’t enough guards. “I’ve been in at least a dozen fights in the
last two years,” said Sims, who has spent the majority of his life locked up in
Bay County jails and in correctional institutions elsewhere in the state.
Assistant Warden Richard Thore said understaffing is not leading to more inmates
beating one another. “They’re going to fight whether guards are there or not,”
he said. For an attorney representing an inmate at first appearance, new
correctional guards are sometimes a source of frustration for mistakes made or
delays in bringing inmates to the hearings. Occasionally, Deputy Public Defender
Walter Smith said, guards show up with the wrong inmate because of similarities
in names. Frequent turnover of jail guards, he said, contributes to
complications in the firstappearance process. “They always have new people
coming in,” he said of CCA. New jail guards and the company they work for are
not solely responsible for difficulties during a first appearance, he added.
“It’s not all CCA’s fault. It’s the warrants division; it’s correctional guards
calling in sick. …” Turnover problems locally also rise to the top. The past two
wardens of the Bay County Jail have stayed on the job only six and eight months,
respectively. Kevin Watson took the post in December 2004, relieving Denny
Durbin, who was warden for 19 years. Watson requested a transfer in August 2005,
citing personal reasons. Mark Henry came in as the replacement, but he departed
in March, also citing personal reasons. Durbin is back as the interim warden
until a new warden is found. Former wardens could not be reached for comment,
but Jennifer Taylor, senior director of business development for CCA, said
Watson is still with the company in Indianapolis. Her explanation for Henry’s
departure was that the job “was a lot more demanding than he thought going into
it.” Some of the reasons for the difficulty in drawing people into corrections
work also account for the frequent departures. Starting salary currently for
guards at Bay County’s jails is $27,296, and some of them decide several months
or a year into the job that they can’t continue to support themselves or their
families with that pay, Thore said. Quitting after a few months or a year on the
job, Durbin said, is not always a symptom of dissatisfaction with the employer;
it may have more to do with the general evolution of their careers. “Corrections
officers are very mobile and want to try new things,” he said, noting that many
former Bay County guards have ventured to Washington Correctional Institute in
Washington County and other state-operated prisons. Thore said he believes that
the appeal of working for state prisons, which pay more and are continually
being built as Florida’s inmate population grows, is the main culprit of local
turnover. “The state has given (jail guards) at least two raises in the last
year-and-a-half, and that makes it extra difficult for us to compete,” he said.
There are young people looking for their first job who pick a jail guard
position for lack of decisiveness, Thore said. “The reality of the job hits when
we’re booking 16,000 inmates a year. Sometimes, that creates a little turnover.”
Of the 48 correctional guards in 2005 whose employment at Bay County’s jails was
severed, 21 were voluntary and involved no misconduct. But jail guards testing
positive for drug use, having unprofessional relationships with inmates and
smuggling contraband into the jail also were to blame for high turnover. The
guards committing these and other offenses — which totaled nine — were fired in
2005 for violating state moral character standards or violating CCA and county
policies, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records. Ken
Kopczynski, a legislative affairs assistant for of the Florida Police Benevolent
Association and vocal CCA opponent, called Bay County’s turnover outrageous.
“How can you properly run a facility when half of the people don’t have any
experience” at that facility? said Kopczynksi, who is also executive director of
Private Corrections Institute Inc., an organization that opposes privately run
correctional facilities. While the turnover rate at Bay County’s jails is high,
it is tame compared to the departures at some other CCA facilities in Florida.
Hernando County jails, for instance, had a turnover rate of 82 percent in 2003,
75 percent in 2004 and 69 percent in 2005. Other CCA-run facilities in Florida
had the following turnover rates in 2005: Gadsden Correctional Institution, 48
percent; Lake City Correctional Facility in Columbia County, 57 percent; and
Citrus County Detention Facility, 28 percent. Turnover at Bay Correctional
Institute, the CCA-operated state prison on Bayline Drive off U.S. 231, was 19
percent. In 2004, turnover was 36.7 percent. Taylor said the company’s jail
staff is “down some everywhere” at its 63 U.S. facilities, but it is not at a
critical point. “If it was at a critical point, we’d pull people in from other
facilities. “It’s hard to find people to work in a jail,” she added. “We have to
do extra things to attract employees and keep them there.” The company recently
started posting help wanted messages on billboards in various locations,
including Bay County, Taylor said. One on Tyndall Parkway aimed at military men
and women reads: “From Camouflage to Corrections.” “We’ve found that people
coming out of the military make very good correctional officers,” she said.
Targeting military personnel is not a new focus of CCA’s, but there has been a
stronger emphasis on attaining that demographic in the past year, she added. CCA
also has been filling some vacancies in Bay County with part-time correctional
officers, said CCA spokesman Steve Owen. Until it gets closer to full staff, the
company is operating with mandatory overtime for all correctional guards, Thore
said. Thore said 10 to 15 more guards are needed to be at normal levels.
Currently, about 30 non-certified officers and 147 certified officers man the
two county jails. While jail guard pay is mid-range compared to what guards at
other Florida CCA facilities make, it’s far from the six digit incomes corporate
bigwigs bring home. The highest-paid executive for CCA, John Ferguson, has a
2006 salary of $700,000 plus a $677,727 bonus, according to filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. But Owen defended the salaries for jail
guards as competitive, especially since about two months ago the company started
paying people attending the three month certification school the salary of
uncertified officers. Certified jail-guard pay at the Bay County jail and annex
has risen almost $2,000 in the past two years, up from $25,475 in 2004. Jackson
County Correctional Facility, which is county-operated, has not approved a
higher pay grade for its new certified guards since 2004; the salary stands at
$23,947. The $20,500 salary at Gadsden County Jail hasn’t changed since 2003.
The sheriff’s office there runs the facility. Escambia County currently offers
certified correctional guards $30,400 at its two detention facilities, and
Franklin County Jail jumped its pay by $3,000 over last year and is now $27,500.
The sheriff’s offices in all three counties run the jails. CCA-run Hernando
County Jail upped its pay for certified guards this year from $28,000 to
$32,000.
Florida
June 16, 2006 News Herald
Former Bay County Manager Jon Mantay joined a former county attorney and the
current assistant county manager Thursday in defending themselves against an
ethics complaint before an administrative law judge in Panama City. Two
attorneys representing Mantay, former County Attorney Nevin Zimmerman and
Assistant County Attorney Bob Majka sparred with an attorney for the Florida
Commission on Ethics over the legality of a February 2000 trip the three men
took to view a Corrections Corporation of America jail facility in Tennessee and
a publicly run facility in Arizona. CCA, based in Tennessee, paid for the
airfare and lodging of the three men and two former county commissioners. CCA
has operated Bay County’s jails for 20 years, and the county was negotiating a
new contract with the company during the time of the trip. The Florida Police
Benevolent Association initiated the ethics complaints in July 2003, and the
ethics commission in September 2004 found probable cause that Mantay, Zimmerman
and Majka may have violated gift laws. Much of the attention during Thursday’s
hearing before Judge Harry Hooper focused on Zimmerman and his declaration to
county officials that the trip and payment arrangements were legal. Zimmerman
said it was reasonable and beneficial to taxpayers for a third party, such as
CCA, to pay for “fact-finding” trips that county officials take. “That (logic)
is reflected in our ordinances and regulations — to have developers pay for
permitting based on the time it takes county staff to process the permits,” he
said. The Bay County officials that went to Tennessee and Arizona, he said,
needed to see in person how other facilities were handling overcrowding and
recidivism, which are problems here. There is local precedent for allowing a
company to pay for such trips, Zimmerman said. In 1997, several county officials
traveled to Vancouver, Canada, and Long Island, N.Y., to view facilities now run
by Montenay Bay LLC. Westinghouse Corp., which wanted another company to run the
Bay County waste-to energy incinerator, paid for that trip. Ethics commission
attorney Linzie Bogan challenged Zimmerman’s interpretation of Florida statutes
on gift laws, and he tried to discredit Zimmerman for not reviewing ethics cases
between 1997 and 2000 related to acceptance of gifts. “It’s not a gift if it’s
an expense related to your employment,” Zimmerman said. Bogan insisted the
definition of gift was clear, but Hooper said the entire statute governing
acceptance of gifts (112.312) is not clear to him. “First you have to determine
if it was to their benefit. … Do people benefit from looking at a bunch of
prisoners?” Hooper said. Majka said during his testimony that he was unaware CCA
paid for his airfare for the trip until records were being collected at county
offices three years later in connection to the ethics complaint. But he said he
learned the company paid for his lodging while at the hotel. In 2000, Majka was
the emergency services chief and shared responsibility with other officials in
jail oversight. Hooper said not knowing CCA paid for the trip does not produce a
“complete defense” for Majka. The ethics commission, however, dropped the
allegations against former County Commissioners Carol Atkinson and Danny Sparks
because they had no knowledge CCA covered the expenses. Sparks and former County
Commissioner Richard Stewart have admitted and paid fines for violating gift
laws by accepting a round of golf paid by county financial adviser Gary Askers.
Majka faces the same allegation, but his attorney, Albert Gimbel, said Thursday
that he didn’t know how Majka would plead to that issue. Majka declined to
comment. After Hooper has had sufficient time to review the facts of the case,
he will issue a recommended finding for the ethics commission to consider.
Tallahassee attorney Gary Early, representing the Bay County officials, said it
would be at least two months for Hooper has a recommendation.
Alaska
June 11, 2006 Anchorage Daily News
The response of Paul Doucette, the executive director of the Association of
Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations, complaining about the building
of a state prison in Mat-Su is somewhat ironic. For seven years, Cornell
Corrections, which had Mr. Doucette as its vice president, labored mightily to
stop the state from building a state-operated prison in Mat-Su as it tried to
foist off its own low-paying, dangerous Rent-a-Pen proposals in Wrangell, Sitka,
Ketchikan, Kenai, Delta Junction, Nome, Houston, Sutton and finally Whittier.
Democrats and good-government Republicans defeated their immensely expensive
lobbying efforts year after year, despite the dough Cornell shoveled toward its
efforts. This is all a matter of extensive record. Now Doucette is complaining
about the state closing one of Cornell's halfway houses in Anchorage. The
Department of Corrections is exploring far less expensive options such as ankle
bracelets to track those released conditionally or those less dangerous who are
diverted from prison in the first place. Doucette and APCTO are little more than
the public-relations arm of the for-profit prison industry, and their bleatings
and Tobacco Institute-type research should be given the credibility they
deserve: zero. --- Frank Smith, Private Corrections Institute, Bluff City,
Kan.
Canada
May 24, 2006 Midland Free Press
Small and quiet, with dark hair and eyes, eight-year-old Sharon Desjardins
never asked for much. What she wanted, she worked hard to get - and she wanted
that baby squirrel more than anything. A boy in her class had raided its nest
and was showing off the tiny black rodent in the schoolyard. The young girl was
known for stepping in and protecting weaker students when they were being picked
on, because it was the right thing to do. This was another one of the poor souls
she was out to save. She promised him a dollar if she could have it. It was the
mid-60s and a dollar was hard to come by. Desjardins begged and borrowed what
she could, counting up her pennies and pleading with her mom to part with spare
change until she had enough to save the pet she would later name 'Chipper.' She
lets out a hearty laugh as she tells the story. "It was house trained, I'm not
kidding you. I have pictures of it sitting on our hands, on our shoulders ... It
would scratch to get in the door and scratch to get out to the bathroom," she
said. "My mother was wonderful; she let me have pretty well any animal that I
wanted." More than 40 years later, Desjardins' married name is Dion and Chipper
is long gone; but there is still a small bowl of shelled peanuts sitting on her
kitchen counter. If there is anyone with the patience and tenacity to train a
squirrel, it's this woman who has fought tirelessly to see Canada's first and
only privatized adult jail brought into public hands. Her kitchen is larger and
brighter than the one in the small Water Street house in Penetanguishene that
she grew up in, as the youngest of three children to Bernice and Gordon
Desjardins. That house, full of troubled memories of an alcoholic father and a
childhood spent in poverty, is markedly different than the stylish and welcoming
home she has created for herself and her family. Some of the happiest times of
Dion's life have been in this room, with family and friends gathered on
barstools, comfortable leather furniture or around the large dining room table.
This is what means the most to her, she confides, looking around the room at
framed pictures of herself and her husband of 30 years, Ray, their two children
and grandchildren. Her posture is relaxed, her smile warm and her brown eyes
have lost their intense look of defiance that marked seven long years of
battling the provincial government and corporate America. It's over; Central
North Correctional Centre is going back into the public fold. While it looks
like she can rest in Canada - for now, at least - she has accepted several
invitations to speak throughout the U.S. She admits the last several days since
she received the call from Queen's Park that the province would not renew its
contract with Utah-based Management and Training Corporation have been
emotionally exhausting. "It's elation ... something I just can't explain and at
times I'm afraid I'm going to fall when it's done ... Of course you don't do it
for the accolades, but I guess it just feels so good and I'm just so pleased
that the right decision was made by the Liberal government." Though she admits,
sometimes, even family took a backseat to the fight. "My convictions were so
strong that I couldn't let anyone away with the nonsense that was happening,"
she said. The scrappy Metis woman has been called tenacious, a defender of the
defenceless, passionate, and some names that aren't exactly flattering by those
who oppose her. But by all accounts, she brushes off these labels. She says she
is simply a woman who cares about the small community she was born and raised
in, and the people who live there. She flashes a wide smile showing off
straight, polished teeth surrounded by her trademark pink lips, and is
unapologetic when she explains why she continues standing up for what she
believes is right. "What I would like to see is money spent on social programs.
Getting children in high-risk families help so they don't go through that
revolving door. Prison privatization will just enhance that because that's what
they want; that's how they make money. I just couldn't stand for our Canadian
standards and values to be harmed in that way." She credits her tough childhood
for making her survivor. "I guess I've always stood up for myself and I guess
that's the one credit I can give to my father; that life made me want to
survive. Nothing's been given to me. "So, I go for what I feel I want to have.
It's a good thing," she says, adding, "I look at my (past) life as a positive
not something negative." Beyond the back gate of her yard is Fuller Avenue, a
road that has gotten much busier in the past seven years; a road that leads to
Canada's first-ever private prison - a five-year pilot project of the former
Conservative government that failed. When the leaves have fallen from her
neighbours' trees that shroud her backyard, Dion can see the edge of the prison
property from her kitchen window. She has never been against CNCC's location or
the jobs it brought to Penetanguishene. Ray is a psychiatric nurse at Oak Ridge,
Ontario's only maximum-security forensic program located at the Mental Health
Centre Penetanguishene, right beside the prison, and she knows having
incarcerated people in local facilities can work. The fight against
privatization took her to the United States, where she is a member of the
Private Corrections Institute, to Queen's Park, where she passed on information
she had about private prisons and Management and Training Corporation, and to
countless meetings and rallies where she eloquently spoke about prison
privatization. "What I love about Sharon is she always comes prepared," Liberal
MPP Dave Levac recently told The Mirror. "She's factual. She's not emotional
about it. She brings passion to the situation, but I have to tell you that she's
probably one of the most prepared people I've ever dealt with and worked with."
At times, feeling left out of the evaluation process between Central East
Correctional Centre in Lindsay and CNCC, she didn't stop calling politicians
until she was heard. Towards the end of the process, they even started calling
her. The last four-and-a-half years that the jail has been open have been marked
by inmate deaths (Jeffrey Elliott and Lorne Thaw), stabbings, beatings of
inmates and correctional officers, low staffing levels, and numerous security
issues, she says. Although it's acknowledged that these incidents also happen in
publicly-run jails throughout Ontario, Dion didn't want to accept it as the
status quo. She continually asked the ministry tough questions and worked hard
to keep the issues in the public eye. It wasn't always easy, but she admits to
only a handful of times when she felt like it was a lost cause. There were even
times, she confides, to feeling like she was in over her head, as a woman from
small-town Ontario. Those thoughts never lasted long. "Of course I felt that
way, but because of the knowledge that I had, I had the courage to do what I'm
doing," she says, drawing herself up higher on the sofa. "It's the truth. I
don't get paid for this. I'm not making it up because I have documentation and
that's the power. It's simple. Anybody else could have done it." But no one else
took the lead. Dion was one person amongst dozens at a public meeting in 1996.
At the time, the Conservative government hadn't even decided that
Penetanguishene would host one of two 'super jails' the province was proposing,
but a rumour about privatization was brought up. Dion didn't know anything about
prison privatization and began to research the issue. What she discovered she
didn't like. It pushed her to dig deeper and talk to more people in the United
States that had experience in the private prison system. In 1999, when the
government announced Penetanguishene's jail would be run by a private company,
she began her crusade against privatization and started Citizens Against Private
Prisons. "I have extremely strong convictions, when I know the issue and I've
taken the time to educate myself on them. There's no way I would ever let anyone
tell me different, because I know the truth," she says, her voice indignant.
"Every time I would ask questions of the past government, I would basically know
the answer and I'd know I was lied to and that just (gave) me more
determination." Although she has often been at the forefront of the cause, she
notes that there were always people she could count on to help, specifically her
mother and Ray, Midland resident Dawn Marie Horn, friends and colleagues at the
Private Corrections Institute, members of OPSEU and Brant MPP Levac. Of course,
there were also the employees who had the courage to speak to her. Although she
was sometimes a sounding board for inmates and their families, she has never
professed to be an inmate advocate. When would she find the time? When she
wasn't writing letters, organizing rallies or public forums and publicly
speaking against privatization, Dion operated her own used clothing business
(she has since retired), volunteers in Aboriginal Services at the Mental Health
Centre Penetanguishene and is a competitive a capella four-part harmony singer
with the Barrie Chorus, where she is also the assistant director. Two years ago,
she also completed five university credits towards a degree in Aboriginal
Education. Still, she took countless calls from inmates, wives and hysterical
mothers with sons inside the walls of CNCC, and helped the father of Jeffery
Elliott - the inmate who died in hospital in 2003, after receiving a cut to his
left ring finger while at CNCC - throughout the inquest into his horrific death.
They will not forget what she has done, nor will some employees at CNCC who
disagreed with the way the prison was operated. Her phone has been ringing
incessantly since April 27, when the Minister of Community Safety and
Correctional Services announced the jail would be publicly run as of Nov. 10.
Many CNCC employees, politicians, residents and union officials have left
messages - among them, a heartfelt message from a former inmate, thanking her
for her unwavering determination and for giving a voice to inmates like him. She
can't seem to erase this one. As she re-plays the emotional recording, her eyes
tear up. Then she smiles. It's a very good day.
Hawaii
May 10, 2006 In These Times
It has been an arduous, surreal journey for eight Hawaiian female prisoners
sent to do their time on the mainland. The plight of this group of women housed,
most recently, in a prison in the small eastern Kentucky town of Wheelwright,
would have escaped unnoticed, had it not been for the death of 43-year-old Sarah
Ah Mau, on New Year's Eve 2005. Mau, serving a life sentence for second-degree
murder, had been incarcerated since 1993 and had a shot at parole eligibility in
August 2008. She never got that chance. Instead she died of as-yet-unexplained
"natural causes" after two days in critical condition--and a month after first
complaining of severe gastrointestinal distress. Family members and fellow
prisoners say that Ah Mau's pleas for medical care were ridiculed, downplayed or
ignored by prison employees. As her stomach distended--and other body parts
began to swell visibly--prisoners say that Ah Mau was fed castor oil and told to
stop complaining unless she wanted to face disciplinary action. What was
Hawaiian resident Ah Mau doing in Kentucky in the first place? She was a
commodity in an increasingly common practice: interstate prison transfers.
Prison transfers, while not unusual, have a profound effect on inmates and
family members alike. Children and spouses of "shipped" prisoners have little,
if any, opportunity to see their loved ones. And due to special contracts with
phone companies, telephone calls are prohibitively expensive. Prisoners
themselves are sent to culturally unfamiliar facilities where they are supposed
to be treated according to the laws and regulations granted by their home
states--but rarely are. Home state law and prison regulation books are rarely
available, making the prisoners' appeals or grievance requests even more
difficult to file. Most of the prisoners transferred out of their home states
(which include but are not limited to Alabama, Colorado, North Dakota, Vermont,
Washington and Wyoming) end up in privately run facilities in rural communities.
Many of the guards hired for such prisons are under-trained, ill-prepared for
their stressful work environments, and are paid "fast-food restaurant wages,"
according to Ken Kopczynski, executive director of Private Corrections Institute
(PCI), a prison watchdog group. "This is a major issue," says Kopczynski. "The
private prison companies have found a real niche for themselves." (click
here for complete article)
Canada
May 3, 2006 The Mirror
Opponents of private prisons throughout the world are heralding the
provincial Liberal government's decision to bring Central North Correctional
Centre into the public fold. "This is a very large victory, not only in Canada,
but across the world," said Brian Dawe, executive director of Corrections USA, a
non-profit coalition of corrections professionals from Canada and the U.S. "This
is the very first time, anywhere in the world, that any governmental agency has
undertaken an actual apples-to-apples comparison of the two public and private
prisons. No one has ever, anywhere else, designed two identical prisons for the
sole purpose of determining whether or not the private industry should be
involved in corrections or it should remain a public function." The Liberal
government announced its decision to transfer the operation from the Utah-based
Management and Training Corporation to the public sector on April 27, after a
five-year study compared the privately-run prison with its publicly-run twin in
Lindsay, Central East Correctional Centre. During that time, Dawe said a world
spotlight has been on Penetanguishene. He noted this precedent-setting move will
catch the attention of governments in the rest of Canada, the U.S., and beyond.
Dawe gives a lot of credit to Penetanguishene resident Sharon Dion, who has been
fighting privatization of the jail since 1999, when the former Conservative
government under Mike Harris announced CNCC could be privatized. "She deserves
an incredible amount of credit for her dogged perseverance on behalf of all of
the people in, not only her neck of the woods, but across Canada and around the
world," he said.
Kansas
May 1, 2006 Lawrence Journal-World
For-profit prisons aren’t likely to pop up across the Kansas plains
overnight if, as expected, the Legislature approves a law this week allowing the
prisons to be built here. In fact, the law wouldn’t necessarily mean that
private prisons would ever be used to house existing Kansas prisoners. But it
would allow for the industry to set up shop and begin housing out-of-state
prisoners in any Kansas county where voters approve the idea. In Frank Smith’s
view, it’s a slippery slope. Smith, a critic of private prisons who lives in
Bluff City, believes that Kansas is “buying a lemon” by opening the door to a
business he claims is fundamentally flawed. “I don’t believe you can have an
efficacious private prison because the profit motive rules everything,” he said.
“I don’t think there are any legitimate protections in this bill. They can build
anywhere they can convince the locals — the rubes and hicks — that it’s not such
a bad thing.” Smith, a retired social worker, argues that private prisons are
chronically understaffed and don’t pay enough to keep good employees. He said
there’s no hard evidence that there are more disturbances inside private
prisons, but that the mingling of out-of-state inmate populations — who often
have unequal treatment because of differences in their states’ respective
contracts — is an inherent problem. On July 20, 2004, inmates at the privately
run Crowley County Correctional Facility near Pueblo, Colo., demanded to speak
to a warden about grievances. One problem was that a group of recently imported
inmates from Washington state were earning $60 a month for work assignments,
compared with $18.60 for Colorado inmates. The inmates were denied an audience,
and they grew hostile. The staff was inexperienced and had not had enough
training for an emergency, according to a report by the Colorado Department of
Corrections. So the staff evacuated. Inmates started fires, broke into the
management offices, and broke water pipes, sinks and toilets, causing cells to
flood with contaminated water. A pending lawsuit filed by inmates alleges that
when a special-operations team came in with backup to reclaim the prison, guards
brutalized inmates — forcing them to lie face-down in contaminated water and
dragging people from their cells by their ankles. As the night went on, inmates
were forced to urinate and defecate in their pants because they weren’t allowed
to go to the restroom, the suit alleges.
Kansas
April 29, 2006 Hutchinson News
Thanks to distortion of our legislative procedures, a bill clearly against
the interests of public safety and protection of Kansas taxpayers may soon win
passage. Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, has inserted
special interest, for-profit prison language into a veto-proof sexual offender
bill. For three years, Schmidt's bills were unable to win passage on their own
merits. Were it not for the valiant efforts of Rep. Jan Pauls, D-Hutchinson, and
the misgivings about the process held by Rep. Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, this
bill would likely have made it to the governor's desk. At a time when the
attention of the public has been focused on deal-making in Washington , D.C., by
exposure of scandals such as the crimes of Jack Abramoff and ex-Rep. Randy
"Duke" Cunningham, as well as the budget earmarks that led to the $230 million
"Bridge to Nowhere," this legislative bundling tactic is particularly brazen.
The bill's existing provisions don't truly protect Kansas. Instead it encourages
wholesale importation and private transport of out-of-state robbers, rapists,
and murderers. Annual surveys show for-profits have 30 to 45 times more escapes
than public facilities. Closed facilities, frequently shuttered following rapes
and grotesque maltreatment by staff, litter the national landscape. Imported
convicts regularly riot in a half dozen states. Poorly paid workers often flee,
leaving state employees to suppress disturbances. For-profit staff turnover
averages more than three times that of public prisons. Although the Kansas
measure has a provision allowing a state takeover of failed private pens, the
bill does not adequately address "real world" problems. It is difficult to
imagine how a private operator would provide adequate insurance for its
operations. Examples of potential exposure include situations like the murder of
a Montana prisoner by Hawaiian convicts at the BRG prison in Texas. Hawaiians
twice torched that facility. The Kansas Department of Corrections already has
difficulty filling employee vacancies. The notion that it could immediately
provide hundreds of trained officers and support staff to operate a remote
for-profit where workers had resigned en masse or went on strike is simply
ludicrous. The department lacks the authority to incarcerate other states'
prisoners, but a private pen in Kansas would house many hundreds of such
convicts. For-profit salesmen testifying before legislative committees claimed
staff from other states could fill in, but they often are already unable to meet
contractual staffing level requirements in those distant locations. After summer
2004 riots by out-of-state prisoners at the Corrections Corporation of America
facilities at Crowley, Colo., and Beattyville, Ky., scores of employees
immediately quit their jobs. Hutchinson already has experienced some perils of
privatization, witness the jailing of former Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie
for accepting $284,000 in payments from a private firm that used to operate a
jail annex. Kansas would be wise to heed the call for a moratorium on
construction of these "Rent-a-pens" by denominations ranging from Catholic,
Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and the United Church of Christ. Frank Smith,
Bluff City
Kansas
April 23, 2006 Topeka
Capital-Journal
A bill clearly against the interests of public safety
and protection of Kansas taxpayers may soon win passage. Senate Majority Leader
Derek Schmidt has inserted special interest, for-profit prison language into a
veto-proof sexual offender bill, HB2576. For years, Schmidt's similar bills were
unable to win passage on their own merits. The bill is presently in conference
committee to be considered when legislators return from adjournment. This
legislative "bundling" tactic is particularly brazen. Through dozens of
substantial contributions from the for-profit GEO Group and its lobbyists,
Schmidt and his colleagues have been amply rewarded for ignoring the public
interest. The bill encourages wholesale importation and private transport of
out-of-state robbers, rapists, and murderers. Annual surveys show for-profits
have 30-45 times more escapes than public facilities. Imported convicts
regularly riot in a half dozen states. Poorly paid workers often flee, leaving
distant state employees to suppress disturbances. The Kansas's Department of
Corrections already has substantial difficulty recruiting employees. At year's
end, 121 uniformed positions were vacant. It couldn't immediately provide
hundreds of trained officers and support staff at a remote for-profit where
workers struck or resigned en masse. For-profit salesmen testified that staff
from faraway states could fill in, but they often are already unable to meet
their own contractual staffing requirements. After 2004 riots by out-of-state
prisoners at facilities in Colorado and Kentucky, scores of low-paid employees
immediately quit their jobs. Kansas would be wise to heed the call for a
moratorium on construction or outright abolition of these "Rent-a-pens" by
denominations including Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and the
United Church of Christ. FRANK SMITH, Private Corrections Institute, Bluff City
Canada
April 28, 2006 The Mirror
Canada's only privately-operated jail will return to the public sector in
the fall. Although cost was a factor in the decision of whether or not to keep
Penetanguishene's prison privately run, in the end, lower costs offered through
Management & Training Corporation (MTC) of Utah wasn't enough to maintain its
role as the operator of the Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC). Community
Safety and Correctional Services Minister, Monte Kwinter announced yesterday
that the jail will be transferred into the public sector when the contract
expires Nov. 10, 2006. "Our concern was to make sure we were providing a
facility that was adequately looking after the people that we have
responsibility for, the inmates, that we make sure their health-care provisions
are provided for; that we make sure their recidivism rates (are minimized),"
Kwinter said in a telephone interview with The Mirror shortly after the decision
was announced. "We want to make sure that there is integration back into the
community and there is adequate facilities to do that, and adequate personnel
resources to do that," he said. "When we took a look at it, we just found we
were getting better results (at Central East Correctional Centre). Mind you,
it's going to cost us more money - but everything is a trade off. Overall, we
felt the citizens of Ontario would be better served with this facility being
back in public hands." Although the decision is disappointing for MTC, public
relations director Peter Mount says the private operator will continue to work
with the ministry. "We're going to work and continue to work very closely with
our partners at the ministry, especially during this transition period," Mount
said. "Our responsibility is and always will be the safety of the public, the
staff and the inmates. That's going to continue during the transitional period."
For local resident Sharon Dion, who has campaigned against the privatization of
the prison since it was announced in 1999, the decision came as a welcomed
surprise. "It's such a triumphant day for Canada," said Dion, who received a
call from Queen's Park shortly after the decision was made. "I'm really praising
the Liberal government for making the right decision."
Canada
April 28, 2006
Midland Free Press
Canada’s first privately operated adult prison is being turned over to the
province. Central North Correctional Centre, which opened in 2001 and has been
run by Management and Training Corporation since, will be operated by the
provincial government, effective Nov. 10, 2006, when MTC's five-year contract
expires. The Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections made the announcement
Thursday after completing a report comparing CNCC with its physical twin in
Kawartha Lakes, which is publicly run. A decision on the prison's future was
needed six months prior to the current contract expiring. "On just a cost basis
the (private operation) was more economical," corrections minister Monte Kwinter
told Osprey News Thursday afternoon, "but that reflected on the outcome.
"Management and Training Corporation was in material compliance with the
(existing) contract, but there's no question that health care was delivered
better at the Kawartha Lakes facility and that integration was better at the
Kawartha Lakes facility," Kwinter said. "We have a responsibility to make sure
we provide adequate resources, and while there's no question there were some
benefits from this exercise that we could learn from," he said. "The evidence
clearly indicates that the public facility produced better results." The
province opened CNCC under a private-public partnership after a Conservative
overhaul of Ontario's prison system in the 1990s. CECC opened soon after with
the idea of comparing the facilities based on cost effectiveness and
performance. Price Waterhouse Coopers, a consulting firm, conducted a comparison
review on CNCC and CECC for the province over an extended timeframe. Part of
that review shows the public prison rated higher than CNCC in eight of 10
performance categories, including security and community impact. CNCC
spokesperson Peter Mount said he was surprised by the decision of the government
not to renew the company's contract and called it “disappointing." “We will
begin the process of talking to staff right away,” said Mount, adding the
U.S.-based company intends to continue working with the province until its
contract expires. "We have a responsibility and we will continue to live up to
that responsibility," he said. "We will work closely with the government to
ensure safety is looked after." Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop, who has been a
proponent of the private jail and who's also the Conservative corrections
critic, wasn’t thrilled by Thursday's announcement. “The Liberals are in power
and they have the ability to do this," he said. "I’m going to live with the
decision, but I just hope they’ll provide us with the numbers.” In September of
2004, Dunlop estimated that having the jail run by a private operator saved
taxpayers more than $20 million annually, according to financial figures he had
seen at the time. "I think there was a substantial savings there. I'd like them
to show me in black and white, without fudging the numbers, what it actually
was," he said. "That should be something that's available. What's to hide?" For
Penetanguishene resident Sharon Dion, an opponent of privatized prisons, was
pleased by the government's decision to go public. "It's an enormous victory. I
couldn't be more pleased. It's a great day for all Canadians," said Dion, of
Citizens Against Privatized Prisons. "I was a little concerned at times about
this review, but I think the consultation was done in an honest manner on the
government's part." Kwinter said details still need to be ironed out, but the
province plans to provide 91 additional staff at the Penetanguishene prison when
it takes over in November.
Kansas
April 19, 2006 Chanute Tribune
Op-Ed By: Frank Smith Private Corrections Institute. Thanks to distortion of
our legislative procedures a bill clearly against the interests of public safety
and protection of Kansas taxpayers may soon win passage. Senate Majority Leader
Derek Schmidt from Independence has inserted special interest, for-profit prison
language into a veto-proof sexual offender bill, HB2576. For three years,
Schmidt's similar bills were unable to win passage on their own merits. The bill
is presently in conference committee and will be considered when the Legislature
returns from adjournment. At a time when the attention of the public has been
focused on deal-making in Washington by the exposure of scandals such as the
crimes of Jack Abramoff and ex-Representative "Duke" Cunningham, as well as the
budget "earmarks" that led to passage of the $230 million Alaska "Bridge to
Nowhere," this legislative "bundling" tactic is particularly brazen. Through
dozens of substantial contributions from the for-profit GEO Group and its
lobbyists, Schmidt's colleagues and leadership committees have been amply
rewarded for ignoring the public interest. Woodson County and Yates Center were
led to believe a private prison would provide an economic boon. Quite the
opposite is the case. Peer reviewed national studies from six universities, in
Washington, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina and Kentucky and research from a D.C.
think tank indicate that even public prisons, where staff are often paid twice
as much as in the privates, don't help the economy. Communities within a 50-mile
radius of Yates Center lack the available workforce to staff such a facility.
Guards would require clean criminal and domestic violence records, a GED or high
school diploma, and need to be young enough to physically handle the extremely
stressful and dangerous shift-work environment. The for-profits endure a 52
percent annual staff turnover, more than thrice that of better-paying public
facilities. Guard make $8 hourly, or less commonly, work two jobs depriving them
of the alertness necessary to protect themselves and other staff, inmates and
the public alike. For-profits regularly contest assessments and overcharge
taxpayers for millions of dollars. 79 percent of Corrections Corporation of
American and 69 percent of GEO's facilities have received tax abatement and
infrastructure incentives leaving municipalities with little to show for their
investments. If GEO somehow actually decided to build in Woodson, it expects
free land with utilities already in place. The bill's existing provisions don't
truly protect Kansas. Instead it encourages wholesale importation and private
transport of out-of-state robbers, rapists, and murderers. Annual surveys show
for-profits have 30-45 times more escapes than public facilities. Closed
facilities, frequently shuttered following rapes and grotesque maltreatment by
poorly screened staff, litter the national landscape. Imported convicts
regularly riot in a half dozen states. Poorly paid workers often flee, leaving
distant state employees to suppress disturbances. Although the measure has a
provision allowing a Kansas state takeover of failed private pens, the bill does
not adequately address "real world" problems. For instance, it's difficult to
imagine how a GEO could provide adequate insurance for its operations. Examples
of potential exposure include situations like the murder of a Montana prisoner
by Hawaiian convicts at BRG's Texas prison. Hawaiians twice torched that
facility. The Kansas Department of Corrections already has substantial
difficulty filling employee vacancies. The notion that it could immediately
provide hundreds of trained officers and support staff to operate a remote
for-profit where workers had resigned en masse or went on strike is simply
ludicrous. The Department lacks the authority to incarcerate other states'
prisoners, but a private pen in Kansas would house many hundreds of such
convicts. For-profit salesmen testifying before legislative committees claimed
staff from other states could fill in, but they often are already unable to meet
contractual staffing level requirements in those distant locations. After summer
2004 riots by out-of-state prisoners at the Corrections Corporation of America
facilities at Crowley, Colorado and Beattyville, Kentucky, scores of low-paid
employees immediately quit their jobs. Kansas has already experienced some
perils of privatization; witness the imprisonment of Reno County Sheriff Larry
Leslie for accepting and laundering $284,000 in bribes for privatizing his jail.
Kansas would be wise to heed the call for a moratorium on construction or
outright abolition of these "Rent-a-pens" by denominations ranging from
Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and the United Church of Christ.
*** Frank Smith has been a researcher and provider in criminal justice and
corrections for 35 years and is considered to be a leading expert on for-profit
prisons. He resides in Bluff City.
Kansas
April 10, 2006 Lawrence Journal-World
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said she’s willing to accept private prisons to get a
bill that increases penalties for sex offenders. “There are a lot of protections
in place,” Sebelius said of the measure that would authorize the state to enter
into a contract for a private prison. The prison proposal is contained in a bill
that would increase prison sentences for sex offenders. While there is nearly
unanimous support in the Legislature for the sex offender portion of the bill,
there is less support for changing policy to allow private prisons. The
provision would give the corrections secretary authority over the construction,
licensing and oversight of a private prison. In addition, under the measure, no
private prison could be operated in a county without approval of the county
commissioners and a vote of county residents. But Frank Smith of Bluff City, an
outspoken critic of private prisons, said the private prison industry has been
plagued with problems such as prison riots, low wages for employees and
substandard conditions for inmates. “Other states have had terrible experiences
with legislation such as this, which when passed seemed to provide certain
guarantees,” Smith said.
Kansas
March 24, 2006 Wichita Eagle
With an appalling display of lobbyist strength, special interest legislation
meant to solely enrich the out-of-state for-profit prison industry was recently
forced through a Kansas House committee. Then Wednesday, a bill authorizing
privately owned and operated prisons cleared the full Senate. The ostensible
rationale for bringing nonliving wages to Kansas corrections is alleged taxpayer
savings. But repeated legitimate research fails to demonstrate any such thrift.
And there's no guarantee the proposed private prisons would ever hold a single
Kansas inmate. For-profit operator GEO Group enlisted economically depressed
Woodson County in eastern Kansas to strengthen its ploy to enable proliferation
of its "Rent-a-Pens." Studies conducted by professors from five universities and
an independent think tank, however, conclusively demonstrate that even public
prisons, where wages are sometimes twice as high, do not improve faltering rural
economies. Prisons dissuade safer and better-paying industries from locating in
host counties. No economic feasibility assessment has ever been done in Woodson
County, which simply couldn't recruit sufficient low-paid employees. A survey
comparing similar-sized populations of a public prison system with national
for-profits indicated the privates had 30 times as many escapes. Liability
damage language has rarely protected any hosting state. And might for-profits
bring corruption? Prosecutors accused former Reno County Sheriff Larry Leslie of
taking $284,000 to privatize his jail. To test the efficacy of the services
provided, look no further than the GEO Group's Jena, La., prison and the Cornell
Companies' New Morgan Academy in Morgantown, Pa. Both have been closed for years
after horrendous abuse of scores of juveniles. Management and Training Corp.
closed its prison in Eagle Mountain, Calif., after rioting and murders. I've
visited Corrections Corporation of America prisons in Kentucky, Colorado and
Arizona following such riots. It took law enforcement from four states to quell
the previous riot at the Crowley County, Colo., prison. After extensive study,
numerous denominations -- including Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal
and the Church of Christ -- condemned this industry. Kansas would do well to
heed their call. Frank Smith lives in Bluff City.
Tennessee
March 10, 2006 Nashville City Paper
If I understand correctly, the General Assembly is voting on a bill that
would make things more "efficient" for Nashville-based Corrections Corporation
of America (CCA) by eliminating the Select Oversight Committee on Corrections
performance review of the company’s privately-managed prisons (“CCA bill moving
through Senate,” March 8, p. 14). How can our elected representatives seriously
consider ethics reform on one hand while passing special-interest legislation
like this with the other? Isn’t CCA the company that runs the Metro Detention
Facility where a female prisoner, Estelle Richardson, was beaten to death by
four CCA guards who have since been indicted? Isn’t this the company that
operates South Central Correctional Facility in Wayne County, where there was a
quadruple escape? Doesn’t CCA refuse to comply with open records laws even
though it operates public prisons and jails? This bill would remove the
legislative performance review, which includes evaluation of management,
security and safety issues at CCA-operated prisons. It’s likely a coincidence
that CCA employs a number of former Tennessee state officials, has donated
generously to the election campaigns of state lawmakers, and was formerly
represented by a lobbyist married to House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. This is blatant
political pandering to a private for-profit corporation at the expense of public
oversight and accountability. Don’t like it? Contact your state senator now, as
the bill, S.B. 1283, will be considered by the Senate soon. Alex Friedmann
Alabama
March 2, 2006 Birmingham News
In the recent letter "Partnerships can ease overcrowding," the executive
director of the Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations
resorts to smoke and mirrors in promoting privatization as the answer to
Alabama's overcrowded prisons. He relies on dubious studies, some of which were
paid for by his boss - the for-profit private prison industry. The Association
of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations advocates nothing more than
a throwback to the convict lease system of the late 1800s, which was ended in
the early 1900s. Privatization has resulted in a "race to the bottom." You get
what you pay for, folks. For more information about this industry, visit our Web
site: www.PrivateCI.org. We don't make this stuff up. Ken Kopczynski, Executive
director, Private Corrections Institute
Florida
February 28, 2006 St Petersburg Times
Re: Inmate went days without medical help, Feb. 26 Times: In your excellent
story about the tragic death of James T. Wells, the Times put a human face on
Corrections Corporation of America's maltreatment of prisoners. Instances of the
neglect leading to his death abound in the for-profit prison industry. When a
reporter was finally allowed to interview fellow Hawaiian inmates of a woman who
died in their Kentucky prison, they were forbidden to speak without the presence
of a CCA monitor. They were not allowed to share the circumstances of her
demise. Like Mr. Wells, she had complained of her condition long before her
unfortunate and presumably preventable death. Why does this happen? I testified
on a panel with CCA's recently hired vice president for operations. I informed
the Commission on Safety and Inmate Abuse in America's prisons that CCA was
paying poorly trained guards $7.61 hourly in Kentucky, while the vice president
was making $270,000 with two-thirds of a million in stock awards. A commissioner
asked him, "What kind of people do you get for seven dollars and 61 cents?" The
VP responded, "Well, let me say I'm not sure what facility in Kentucky you're
referencing." The answer he avoided giving was, "Bottom of the barrel,
commissioner." As for "what facility," the truth would have been, "pick any." --
Frank Smith, Bluff City, KS
Florida
February 4, 2006 Hernando Today
Corrections Corporation of America, which has a $10 million contract with
the county to run the Hernando County Jail, has come under fire recently after
three inmate suicides and other problems called CCA's performance into question.
It's not the first time CCA, the country's largest private prison operator, has
been in this position. Records show CCA has a record of trouble in facilities
across the nation. In Hernando County, part of the problem is a high turnover
rate. And with so much turnover, it's hard to keep experienced, qualified
corrections officers on staff. According to Florida Department of Law
Enforcement records, 70 employees left the Hernando County Jail in 2005. Some
were fired and one died. But most of them, 45 to be exact, resigned on their
own. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections Institute, or
PCI, said the jail's high turnover rate is because of low wages. And people
making low wages aren't likely to be as conscientious in performing their
duties. CCA spokesman Chris Howard said certified corrections officers start at
$13.46 an hour and non-certified at $10.02 per hour. "If you're making that, are
you going to put your life in jeopardy?" Kopczynski asked. Kopczynski said CCA
is going to have to pay for wage increases to remedy the situation, but that
goes against the company's ultimate goal of making money. "They'll have to pay
for training and pay proper wages in order to keep good people," he said. "You
can't do it on the cheap." Kopczynski's organization was established to inform
the public of the troubles and dangers of privatized jails and prisons, he said.
"There's a number of people, including myself, that believe law enforcement and
corrections are a core function of government," he said. "When you put the
private and profit motives in there, it's likely to be abused...I call it the
black hole of prison privatization. Most of the private jail and prison issues
are lack of oversight issues." Some people are calling for the termination of
CCA's contract in the wake of the recent suicides. Sheriff Richard Nugent has
said he doesn't want to take over the jail's operations. The county is now
looking at other private companies to run the 730-bed facility, but cost is a
concern. Kopczynski said there's no doubt such a change will cost more money,
but he said the commissioners aren't left with many choices. "The county is
ultimately responsible for the well-being of the inmates. That's a core function
of county government," he said. "And it's going to cost money. Let's face it,
you get what you pay for." "The commissioners need to get some spine and pony
up," he said. "What's it going to take to for the county to hold (CCA's) feet to
the fire?" CCA is no stranger to controversy and criticism. A 2003 study
commissioned by the nonprofit Grassroots Leadership concludes that CCA's pursuit
of profit undermines the government's core function of providing a safe
environment for prisoners. The 81-page study reflects on CCA's first 20 years.
CCA was founded in 1983 by Thomas Beasley, former chair of the Tennessee
Republican Party. The study cites dozens of incidents at CCA facilities across
the country, including several at the Hernando County Jail. Until the recent
string of suicides, most of the jail's public embarrassments related to inmate
escapes. In January 1990, four prisoners escaped the facility, which had just
been built for $8 million. A state investigator found that the escape was due to
a combination of infrequent cell security checks, defective cell doors and
ineffective security grating behind a light fixture. One of the guards on duty
during the escape was later fired, but he alleged that he was ordered to falsify
records by jail administrators. He claimed that the jail had not been complying
with the requirement that prisoners who are known escape risks be checked every
15 minutes. His falsified records were an attempt at covering up the jail's
error, the study states. In two of the three recent suicides, the jail was found
to have the same problem. The inmates weren't checked on every 30 minutes as
required. One went more than two hours and the other nearly three hours between
checks. In late 1990, another Hernando County Jail inmate escaped by removing a
stainless steel plate in a shower stall. Then in July 2001, inmate John Devane
escaped from the Hernando County Jail after removing his identification bracelet
and replacing it with another bracelet he got from the trash. Devane had a
cleaning job in the facility and found the bracelet, which was for
lower-security inmates. The bracelet enabled Devane to join a work detail that
was emptying trash outside the facility. He took that opportunity to escape. He
was captured a few weeks later when a former cellmate spotted him in a
supermarket and called authorities. "For a company that set out to improve upon
what the public sector can offer, it has had to spend an inordinate amount of
time defending its own performance," the study states. "...CCA continues to be
the subject of enough local scandals and court cases to keep its lawyers and
public relations people quite busy." The study concludes that its time federal,
state and local governments take back the operation of prisons and jails in
their jurisdiction. It states, "While CCA celebrates the past 20 years and looks
forward to many more, we believe the time has come to put an end to the
misguided experiment of prison privatization." Reporter Christi Stevens can be
contacted at (352) 544-5271.
Canada
February 1, 2006 The Mirror
A petition will soon be delivered to Queen's Park asking that Premier Dalton
McGuinty publicly promise to not renew the Management and Training Corporation (MTC)
contract at the Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC) in Penetanguishene.
Sharon Dion, chairperson of Citizens Against Private Prisons, has created a
petition that cites alleged issues at the jail, including lack of food, clothing
and medical care, insufficient staffing levels; and MTC's exemption from paying
the Town of Penetanguishene business taxes. She expects about 15,000 signatures
once the petition becomes available electronically. She plans to give the
petition to Brant Liberal MPP Dave Levac - a vocal opponent of private prisons -
in March so he can present it in the Ontario Legislature. McGuinty made promise
not to renew jail contract at Penetanguishene Council. When then-Opposition
leader McGuinty visited Penetanguishene Council with Levac, before the jail was
open, he promised that a Liberal government would not renew the contract with
Utah-based MTC. "We are trying to draw the attention of the Liberal government
so that they keep their promise," Dion said. "That's the ultimate goal." Dion
says she has received calls of support from correctional officers at the Central
East Correctional Centre (CECC) in Lindsay and the Maplehurst Correctional
Complex in Milton which are publicly-operated. "Also, what's not included in the
per diem rate is all of the hidden costs of prison privatization, like ambulance
and hospital costs, escorts, and lawsuits that some inmates and their families
have against MTC, First Correctional Medical and the Province of Ontario, in the
case of Jeffrey Elliott's death."
Florida
January 30, 2006
Hernando Today
What will it take for the county to realize their lawful responsibility and
return the Hernando County Jail to public management? Does the administration
really believe that another for-profit company will run the jail any better than
CCA? I encourage everyone, including county commissioners, staff, the sheriff
and the public, to visit the Private Corrections Institute's Webpage
(www.PrivateCI.org) to read for themselves how these companies operate. CCA's
Hernando County Jail had a correctional officer turnover rate of 75 percent in
2004 and 82 percent in 2003 (source: FDLE 2004 Criminal Justice Agency Profile).
No wonder CCA is having problems. Will it cost more for the public the run the
jail? Yes it will because the officers will be paid more and have more benefits
but the jail will be run professionally. The county needs to realize that
for-profit private corrections company have one interest: profits. Ken
Kopczynski Executive Director Private Corrections Institute
2005
Canada
December 16, 2005 The Mirror
A local woman has taken her fight to Queen's Park to have Central North
Correctional Centre publicly operated. Sharon Dion of Citizens Against Private
Prisons met with MPP Liz Sandals, parliamentary assistant to Monte Kwinter,
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, on Monday to discuss her
concerns about Management and Training Corporation. She also met with Brant MPP
Dave Levac in a separate meeting. Levac was the Liberal Opposition Critic for
Corrections when the Tories were in power and was a vocal opponent of the
privatization of the super jail in Penetanguishene. "My goal was to remind
the Liberal party of their promise to end the private prison culture in
Ontario," Dion told The Mirror. "I provided Ms. Sandals with paperwork
to enlighten her of the patterns and practices of the documented mismanagement
of MTC, both here and in the U.S." There is one year left of the province's
current five-year contract with MTC but, as per contract stipulations, the
government must decide by May 2006 whether to extend the contract for another
year; extend the contract up to five years, based on an agreement of financial
terms; re-tender the contract; or return the prison to the public service.
During the meeting with Sandals, Dion talked about inmate deaths, violence and
staff issues at the privately-run facility. "We talked about the inadequate
health care that caused the death of Jeffrey Elliot, the stabbings, the murder,
riot, staff safety, low staff levels and high staff turnover, and (correctional
officer) Dwight Stoneman's brutal beating," she noted. Levac praised Dion
for her preparedness. "Sharon has been tenacious as always. What I love
about Sharon is she always comes prepared," he said, noting he's hopeful
the jail will become publicly operated. "She's factual. She's not emotional
about it. She brings passion to the situation but I have to tell you that she's
probably one of the most prepared people I've ever dealt with and worked
with."
Pennsylvania
November 2, 2005 Delco Times
Lying on his stomach and propped up by his elbows, a middle-aged man stares
through a window with a slightly curious, but otherwise blank, expression. The
window doesn't lead outside, but to a secluded hallway where a prison guard is
staring back. It is the guard's sole responsibility to prevent that inmate from
becoming another Michael Rafferty, the accused triple-murderer who died in
August after slamming himself into a prison wall. The guard, an employee of the
private corrections firm GEO Group Inc., has been assigned to one-on-one suicide
watch, the most intense form of observation practiced at the George W. Hill
Correctional Facility. While this particular inmate is isolated in a small room,
he is one of hundreds of mentally ill inmates living at the overcrowded county
prison on Cheyney Road. Like other prisons around the country, it has become a
repository for some of society's most unstable citizens. "Prisons are
housing more and more mentally ill people because we have no other place to put
them," said Jessica Raymond, a member of the Pennsylvania Prison Society
who monitors conditions at the county prison. The society advocates for better
living conditions for inmates. Last year, the county prison expanded its medical
unit to 53 beds, more than twice the size of the previous unit. During a recent
visit, it was packed with inmates, some wearing "suicide gowns" that
will rip if used as a noose. Frank Green, an assistant superintendent employed
by the county to monitor GEO's management of the prison, said that volume is not
unusual. "It's double the workload," he said. "It makes
everything tougher." The increasing workload, combined with high turnover
and low wages, prompted 15 registered nurses, physician's assistants and nurse
practitioners to unionize in September, voting unanimously to join the
Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. In March,
about 80 other GEO employees - including all the licensed practical nurses --
unionized through Teamsters Local 312. "If you have substandard salary and
benefits, you simply cannot recruit and retain the kind of quality professionals
you need to do the job," said April Smith, director of organizing for
PASNAP. Nurses at the prison, for example, receive no paid vacation during their
first year on the job, according to Smith. Temple University Hospital, she said,
gives new nurses three weeks paid vacation. Delaware County's jail is the only
privately run county prison in the state. Reducing labor costs is one of the
ways GEO and other private corrections firms are able to run prisons more
cheaply than the government that hires them. With privatization comes a tradeoff
in the level of services, said Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private
Corrections Institute, a group that opposes privately run prisons. He said
private corrections companies are prone to "cut corners" - including
in the administration of medical services - in order to maintain their
profitability. "Why is it better for the county to do it? Public officials
are accountable to the public. The board of directors for GEO is accountable to
whom, the public? Hell, no. They're accountable to the shareholders," Kopczynski said. "And what are the shareholders interested in? The profit.
They have to turn a profit." "Guess what, that's bad criminal justice
policy," he said.
Canada
November 16, 2005 The Mirror
The province will have to decide whether or not Management Training Corporation
(MTC) is meeting its service contract responsibilities, and if it wants the
Utah-based company to continue to run the Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC),
by May. There is one year left of the current, five-year contract but as per
contract stipulations, only six months for the government to decide whether to
extend the contract for another year; extend the contract up to five years,
based on an agreement of financial terms; re-tender the contract; or return the
prison to the public service. According to Brian Low, Executive Lead,
Alternative Service Delivery with the Ministry of Community Safety and
Correctional Services, the contract decision-making process has begun and will
continue into the new year. Consultants from Price Waterhouse Coopers will
interview people from key groups to ensure the information the government has is
accurate. While members of Council, chamber of commerce, board of monitors at
the jail, and Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services will be
interviewed, members of community groups, like Citizens Against Private Prisons,
will not be included. "It's disappointing they're not coming to speak to me
because I have been doing private prison research for five years and it's
important that this new government knows the character of the company they're
working with," said Sharon Dion, chairperson of Citizens Against Private
Prisons. "I have scathing reports about Management and Training Corporation
in the United States. This government needs to know there are major problems
with MTC in the United States and First Correctional Medical who (also) runs our
medical unit." Low says the government already has information from Dion
and others who have made their views clear. Dion has been involved in the debate
for five years - even before the decision was made to run the jail privately -
and remembers a public promise made in 2001 by then-Opposition leader, Dalton
McGuinty, when he paid a visit to Penetanguishene Council. "I want to make
sure they uphold their promise, that it's going back into public hands (if the
Liberals come into power)," she said, noting that she will soon meet with
the parliamentary assistant to Monte Kwinter, Minister of Community Safety and
Correctional Services, to discuss her findings, at Queen's Park. When
considering whether to extend the MTC contract, Dion wants the government to
take into consideration the deaths, violence, and one instance where the wrong
inmate was released, over the past four years. But Low cautions that the
incidents must be put in perspective.
Canada
August 3, 2005 The
Mirror
A Penetanguishene resident says she believes members of municipal council should
be apprised of the procedures and policies that will be involved in securing the
Central North Correctional Facility, in the event of a strike by OPSEU
correctional officers on Aug. 11. Sharon Dion, the Canadian liaison for The
Private Corrections Institute in Florida and chairperson of Citizens Against
Private Prisons, has expressed her concerns about the safety of the community in
a letter to council, dated July 26. "There seems to be many unanswered
questions regarding who will be securing the facility in the event of a strike.
The ministry's office advised me the issue would be dealt with between
(Management and Training Corporation) and the union. On the contrary, union
representatives have stated that no public service workers will be utilized
during a strike," wrote Dion. Although he expresses similar concerns,
Deputy Mayor Randy Robbins said he is not sure what council can do. "Sure,
we are (concerned about the possible strike)," Robbins told The Mirror,
before he had an opportunity to read the letter. "We've been through a few
strikes with OPSEU with the mental health centre and it's always a concern. Not
knowing the contingency plan heightens that concern. We'll have to see. It's not
as if we can send our people up there. What can we do?" But
Dion wants assurances the plan will be implemented properly. "I do
understand the importance of not making public staffing numbers for security
reasons, but due to the fact that this American company does not have other
institutions in Canada to draw upon, (it) could jeopardize the safety of our
community."
Florida
July
27, 2005 St Petersburg Times
TALLAHASSEE - A harsh new state audit discloses that Florida overpaid nearly
$13-million to two private prison vendors in the past eight years. Among
the findings were that the state paid for unfilled jobs and a vendor received
money for facility maintenance that was never spent. Nonetheless, the two
companies that run the state's five private prisons remain on the job. The
disclosures come a year after state lawmakers disbanded a controversial citizen
board that had overseen the state's private prisons. The audit paints a
mutually beneficial relationship between the defunct Correctional Privatization
Commission and the two vendors that have run the private prisons for a decade:
Corrections Corp. of American of Nashville and The GEO Group of Boca
Raton. "The CPC failed to adequately safeguard the state's interest.
. . . The CPC consistently made questionable contract concessions to
vendors," according to the audit, released Tuesday by the inspector general
of the Department of Management Services. Among the audit's findings,
based on records dating from 1997: The state paid vendors $4.5-million for
jobs that were vacant, in part because it failed to require vendors to report
the vacancies. The commission authorized $5-million in cost-of-living
salary adjustments at GEO's South Bay Correctional facility. Auditors say the
money wasn't fully passed on to employees as required. At Gadsden
Correctional facility in Quincy, Corrections Corp. received $2.9-million more
for facility maintenance than it spent. The commission, without clear
legislative authority, staved off any impact from $263,489 in budget cuts in
November 2001 by requiring vendors to return the same amount of money from a
recent hike in their compensation. DMS Secretary Tom Lewis said his
general counsel is investigating whether the state can recoup any of the
overpaid money. "I was surprised we would have a commission that would be
that lax in their oversight role," said Lewis. His predecessor, Bill Simon,
ordered the audit last fall after assuming responsibility for the prison
contracts. "To the Legislature's credit, they realized that and did away
with them," Lewis said. Attempts to reach former members of the
commission, disbanded by the Legislature last year, were unsuccessful
Tuesday. Spokesmen for both companies declined to comment specifically on
the audit, saying staff were still reviewing it. "There may be
details and fine print in the audit that we take issue with, but the intent of
the audit, we certainly embrace," said Steve Owen, spokesman for
Corrections Corp., paid about $43-million annually by the state to run three
north Florida prisons. GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez said, "We will
work with our client and respond to any questions it may raise." GEO
collects about $36-million annually to operate two south Florida
facilities. Democrats and private prison critics seized on the findings as
evidence of privatization gone awry. "We would hope this would prompt some
kind of action," said Ken Kopczynski, lobbyist for the Florida Police
Benevolent Association, the union that represents public prison guards. "We
should be talking criminal charges." But dramatic ramifications to
the findings appeared unlikely. Lawmakers have been reluctant to tamper with the
system despite recurring questions about whether the state's private prisons
meet the 7 percent cost savings required in law. This spring, lawmakers
voted to build additional beds at three of the facilities with the current
vendors, requiring a two-year extension on those contracts. Expanding private
prisons is cheaper in the short term than building public ones because vendors
shoulder the financing, supporters say. DMS also renewed the contracts on
the two other prison facilities for a year. Lewis said there wasn't time, after
he became secretary in March, to launch a full rebidding process for those two
contracts. He said he is committed to rebidding those contracts before they
expire in June 2006. Corrections Corp. and GEO have been successful since
at least 2002 in thwarting efforts to rebid their contracts. That year, the
Correctional Privatization Commission, whose members were appointed by the
governor, launched a plan to rebid the contracts. But its efforts became
mired in controversy after the commission's director illegally hired a former
Department of Corrections secretary as a consultant. Lawmakers voted to disband
the group and give oversight to DMS. Gov. Jeb Bush concurred. DMS is in
negotiations to build a sixth private prison at Graceville with 220 beds. It
appears either GEO and Corrections Corp. will win that contract, as well. GEO
announced two weeks ago it planned to buy a third possible competitor in the bid
process.
Indiana
June
30, 2005 Evansville Courier & Press
Indiana prison officials are drawing up the details on
plans to contract out operation of a state prison in New Castle, Ind. They've
chosen a firm to run food service for the other state prisons and are also
looking into having a contractor take over nursing services. These are just a
few changes state officials are looking into that could potentially cut state
jobs. That has some state employees and their representatives wondering just how
many jobs -- and at what pay scale -- may be left after the dust settles.
"There's been a profound disregard of state employees by this
administration," said Joe Lawrence, a spokesman for AFSCME, one of several
affiliated unions that represent state workers. One of Gov. Mitch Daniels' first
moves in office was to end state employees' right to collectively bargain.
Lawrence said that and the push to privatization have made the work environment
for state employees "treacherous." And some big backers of
privatization, such as Geoffrey Segal, director of government reform with the
Reason Foundation, are lending their support to the push. "The basic
principle is that competitive arrangements are always superior to monopoly
arrangements," Segal said. "Competition fosters innovation and a focus
on the bottom line and cost savings." State Rep. Tom Saunders,
R-Lewisville, said he understands the administration's push and he's excited
that running the prison at full capacity would mean more jobs in the region. Be
he said he's concerned about how a private prison company would treat employees.
"There will be more jobs here," Saunders said. "The concern is
what will those jobs pay and what kind of benefits will they get?" Most
likely not comparable to state wages and benefits, according to Ken Kopczynski
of the Private Corrections Institute, a watchdog and critic of Florida's private
prison system. "What the industry does is they come in and say: 'We can do
it better and we can do it cheaper,'" Kopczynski said. "One way they
do that is on the back of employees." He said private prisons nationwide
have about a 50 percent employee turnover rate while government-run prisons have
a 15 percent rate. Donahue has already inked a deal to turn over the food
service of state prisons to a private company. And he's also reviewing whether
to contract out for nurses. He said a private firm already oversees the medical
systems but the nurses are state employees. He said chronic shortages of nurses
force the state to hire temporary workers to fill the jobs. And with a private
firm managing and a mixture of state and temp workers providing the service, it
sometimes becomes a matter of "too many cooks in the kitchen." But
some prison nurses are worried about the possibility. "I'm terrified,"
said Rebecca Fowler, a nurse at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility for nearly
13 years. "We've put up with a lot of physical, mental and verbal abuse for
this job security and we're losing it." Fowler said many nurses came to
work in Indiana to escape privatization in Illinois' state prison nurse system.
She said in Illinois, the wages and benefits were competitive when the private
companies first took over but fell year by year. "The health care is going
to drastically drop," Fowler said. "Why work for a private company
when you can go back to a hospital?"
Tennessee
May 25, 2005 Nashville City Paper
After 20 years in business, Corrections Corporation of
America still finds itself having to defend the very nature of its existence.
Being the largest private prison operator in the country has thrust CCA into the
spotlight of the ongoing debate over whether the nation's prisons should be
privately owned and run. The issue hit home for CCA in May when a union of
jailers picketed in front of their Nashville headquarters on Burton Hills
Boulevard. Their beef: Don't replace the government-run county jail in Shelby
County with a private prison. Opponents claim privately-run jails are
understaffed and suffer from high turnover and inadequate training - claims that
CCA insists have no basis in fact. Critics, led by the Private Corrections
Institute Inc. in Florida, strongly disagree with CCA's assessment, saying that
many of the studies that CCA relies upon have been financed by the industry.
"What I found with the industry is they don't save money. It's always an
apples to oranges comparison," said Ken Kopczynski, the institute's
executive director and lobbyist for the Florida Police Benevolent Association.
His institute has been leading the charge on behalf of unionized corrections
officers, taking their cause to battlegrounds around the country, including
Dickson and Shelby counties. He said per-diem cost comparisons done by CCA don't
take into account the health care and pension tabs picked up by state
governments after employee benefits exceed the caps placed by private operators.
Florida absorbed $1.8 million in cost shifts last year, he said. Labor officials
argue that although private operators pay jailers an average of $3,000 less a
year in wages than public prisons, the issue is not one of union jobs erosion.
"This is more of a public safety issue. When you start cutting corners in
prisons, you start having riots, you start having inmates burn the place
down," Kopczynski said. In fact, 2004 proved to be a challenge for CCA,
which saw disturbances and riots break out in its facilities in Arizona, Florida
and Kentucky. A riot that lasted several hours last July at the Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Colorado prompted a review by the state Department of
Corrections. State officials found flaws in the prison staff's level of
emergency preparedness.
Florida
February 25, 2005 Tallahassee
Democrat
Confronted with conflicting cost and benefit numbers, a
Senate budget committee ordered a special audit Thursday to determine whether
privatizing prisons really saves Florida taxpayers any money.
Lobbyists for the Police Benevolent Association said the private
companies have used their political influence to cut corners and dodge a legal
mandate of operating 7 percent cheaper than state-run prisons. The PBA, which
represents about 18,000 correctional officers in state institutions and
probation officers, opposes privatization - as other state employee unions do. "This is the poster child for everything that's bad in
privatization of state government," said David Murrell, executive director
of the PBA. "We think the taxpayers are being soaked for millions of
dollars. We think the people of this state are being sold a bill of goods."
Murrell and Ken Kopczynski, the PBA's legislative aide, said Geo and CCA enjoy a
cap of $8,100 per inmate in medical costs and can "dump" extremely
costly hospitalization treatment on the DOC if a prisoner needs long-term care.
They also said the companies were supposed to pay property taxes to counties,
when privatization was begun in 1986, but that the Legislature has given them
tax breaks and credits against their corporate income taxes.
Kopczynski said the state has assumed $4.1 million in medical costs for
prisoners who passed the $8,100 cap in a private institution and that lawmakers
reimbursed counties $1 million for lost property taxes.
He and Murrell said state prisons have to pay higher salaries because
they have more senior staff. Kopczynski said the five private prisons average 43
percent turnover a year because of low salaries and poor benefits and that the
Gadsden County institution for women had 76 percent turnover in 2003.
"The for-profit private prison industry says they can do it better
and cheaper," said Kopczynski. "This is true when you ignore statutes,
medical cost, taxes, debt service, high turnover, low pay and fewer
benefits." Sen. Victor Crist,
R-Temple Terrace, chairman of the Justice Appropriations Committee, said he
would have the Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability audit the
costs of private prisons. OPPAGA is the Legislature's accounting and
performance-monitoring agency. "What
are the real costs and what are the real savings?" Crist asked. "Are
we taking into consideration all the indirect costs with the private
prisons?"
Florida
February 25, 2005 St Petersburg
Times
Ten years after Florida hired private companies to run
some state prisons, lawmakers still aren't convinced the deal saves tax money. "What
are the real costs and what are the real savings?" Sen. Victor Crist,
R-Tampa, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee, asked
Thursday. "We've got to find that out." The
discussion was part of a long-running dispute between the companies and the
Police Benevolent Association, which represents prison guards. PBA lobbyist Ken
Kopczynski told the panel private prisons never produced the 7 percent savings
required under state law. And the private prisons pay corrections officers
$3,000 less than state prisons, leading to higher turnover rates. "If the Legislature wants private prisons for
"privatization's sake' it should just say so," Kopczynski said. Crist said he would order the Legislature's Office of Program
Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to investigate.
Florida
February 24, 2005 News Herald
Former Bay County Commissioner Danny Sparks has entered
into a "joint stipulation" with an advocate for the Florida Commission
on Ethics in which Sparks admits he violated state law when he accepted a $240
round of golf paid for by the county’s financial adviser.
The Ethics Commission must approve the stipulation,
which it will consider at its April 21 meeting.
The Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union
representing police and correctional officers, filed ethics complaints against
Sparks and five other former and current county officials in July 2003. The
complaints targeted a February 2000 trip the officials took to Tennessee to
visit a jail operated by Corrections Corporation of America, which also operates
Bay County’s jail and jail annex. As a second leg of the trip, the officials
traveled to Arizona to view a publicly run jail. Bay
County was negotiating a contract renewal with CCA at the time.
The PBA also filed complaints, each with multiple
allegations, against former Commissioners Carol Atkinson and Richard Stewart,
former County Manager Jon Mantay, former county attorney Nevin Zimmerman, and
county Emergency Services Chief Bob Majka.
The Ethics Commission issued probable-cause
findings against all but Atkinson. All allegations against her were dismissed. Spark’s
stipulation with the commission advocate includes a recommendation that he be
fined $1,000 and that he be publicly censured and reprimanded. The public
censure and reprimand would occur as part of an executive order by the governor.
The $240 golf game, which was played during the trip, was paid for by
Gary Akers, a financial consultant that assists the county with bond issues.
Florida law prohibits public officials from accepting any gift with a
value of more than $100 from a "lobbyist." Ken
Kopczynski, PBA’s legislative assistant, said Ethics Commission investigators
found out about the golf game as part of their review of the PBA’s complaint.
The Ethics Commission dismissed allegations against Sparks related to CCA’s
paying his travel expenses. The commission based the dismissal on its
determination that Sparks was not aware that CCA was paying for the trip.
The dismissal of the allegations against former Commissioner Atkinson was
based on the same determination. In its
probable cause findings issued in September, the Ethics Commission found:
That Majka, Mantay and Zimmerman may have violated state gift laws by
allowing CCA to pay their travel expenses. That
Majka and Stewart, in addition to Sparks, may have violated gift laws by
accepting rounds of golf from Akers. The
commission dismissed the most serious allegations — that the officials
accepted the gifts with knowledge that they were intended to influence future
votes or decisions. Kopczynski said
Wednesday that he believes the stipulation with Sparks is
"reasonable." But he noted that
allegations related to CCA would not be addressed until the other officials
enter into stipulations or settlements or take their cases to hearing.
Kopczynski’s organization, the Police Benevolent Association, opposes
privately operated prisons and jails.
Florida
December 8, 2005 News Herald
A police union wants to know whether state officials and a private company gave
themselves financial wiggle room in their plan to build and operate a prison in
Graceville. The Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents cops and
corrections officers statewide, is challenging a state estimate that GEO Group
Inc. - accused earlier this week of Sunshine Law violations - will save
taxpayers $10 million on the 1,500-bed facility. Ken Kopczynski, a PBA lobbyist,
has asked for financial plans and information about the "cost savings
summary," a one-page worksheet prepared by state officials that shows GEO
Group's total estimate at about $74 million. The summary indicates that GEO
Group would pay $45.32 per day, per inmate over the three-year contract for a
total of $74,438,100. In contrast, the state would pay a $51.41 per diem at a
total cost of $84,440,925. The difference is about 12 percent. According to
state law, private facilities must operate at 7 percent less than what the state
would pay. PBA's beef, Kopczynski said, is that the long-term cost of the
facility is hidden in construction bonds. The question, he said, boils down to
this: How much less could the state build and operate the prison for? Kopczynski
said the state does not usually build prisons with bond financing, and that if
legislators paid cash for the project it would likely save "tons of
money." "(GEO Group) hasn't gotten the financing so we don't know what
the interest rate is going to be," Kopczynski said Wednesday. "So how
can you make a comparison? They give you this simplistic little one-sheet flier
with the figures on it, but that doesn't make sense. How can you determine what
the true cost is going to be without looking at the financial plan." GEO
Group beat out another private prison company, Corrections Corporation of
America, and was awarded the contract in September. The Florida Department of
Management Services, which this year began overseeing the state's private
prisons, on Wednesday defended the contract and GEO Group, saying that the bonds
will be tax exempt because the underlying financial obligation belongs to the
state. DMS spokeswoman Colleen Englert also said that GEO Group is assuming all
construction risks related to the project, which quickly will provide
much-needed bed space that saves the state money. The prison will employ 287
workers, Englert said, providing a boost to the Jackson County economy when it
opens in mid-2007. "They bid a price for the construction and
operation," Englert said, "and they are contractually obligated to
meet that price." GEO Group and CCA operate facilities around the country,
and each was named in a report earlier this year that said the now-defunct
government agency that oversaw the private prisons routinely put the vendor's
interest ahead of the taxpayer. The state evaluation said the Correctional
Privatization Commission, which was disbanded when DMS began overseeing private
prisons, allowed the companies to overbill the state by about $13 million. The
report also said that the commission allowed the companies to bill for vacant
positions, avoid minimal requirements for nurses and teachers, and used inmate
welfare funds to be used for chaplain and library services. The report indicated
that Florida was the only state where privately operated prisons are not
administered by the department of corrections. When asked if DMS took the audit
into account when it awarded GEO Group the Graceville contract, Englert said the
evaluation was a management review - not a review of the companies. "Based
on the documentation reviewed," Englert later wrote in an e-mail, "we
did not find an indication of any improper conduct by GEO." Said
Kopczynski: "They're in a race to the bottom. They say, 'We're going to do
this on the cheap,' but you get what you pay for. Privates can't do it better
and they definitely are not going to do it cheaper. They've created a race to
the bottom." Last week, a watchdog group sued GEO Group in a Palm Beach
County court, alleging that the company violated the Sunshine Law and had
refused to turn over records. On Wednesday, a GEO Group spokesman said the
company was going to work with Prison Legal News, the organization that
requested public documents related to contracts, lawsuits and settlements.
"We were in the process of responding to their request and we were
surprised by the lawsu |
