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A. B. S. R. A. Kid's
Boot Camp
Maricopa, Arizona
America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association
October 11, 2007 Arizona Republic
A Phoenix man and other parents whose children died at boot camps for
troubled youths gave wrenching testimony before Congress on Wednesday, urging
other families to avoid enrolling teens in such programs until there is more
oversight of them. Bob Bacon of Phoenix recounted how his 16-year-old son,
Aaron, died at a wilderness camp in Utah in the 1990s. "We were conned by their
(the camp's) fraudulent claims and will go to our graves regretting our
gullibility," Bacon told members of a House committee. The Government
Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, also announced it has
identified thousands of allegations of abuse, some involving death, at boot
camps since the early 1990s. It cataloged 1,619 incidents of abuse in 33 states
in 2005. "Buyer, beware," said Greg Kutz, who led the GAO investigation. "You
really don't know what you're getting." Kutz said the GAO closely examined 10
closed cases where juveniles died at residential treatment camps. In half of
those cases, the teens died of dehydration or heat exhaustion. Other factors
were untrained staff, inadequate food or reckless operations, the GAO said. Five
of the 10 camps are still operating, some in different locations or under new
names. "Ineffective program management played a key role in most of these
deaths," Kutz testified before the House Education and Labor Committee. Rep.
George Miller, D-Calif., who chairs the committee and requested the
investigation, has sponsored a bill designed to encourage states to enact
regulations. "This nightmare has remained an open secret for years," Miller said
in a statement. "Congress must act, and it must act swiftly." The death of
Bacon's son was one of the 10 cases studied by the GAO, but not the only one
with an Arizona connection. The sample cases did not include names, but some
were identifiable through news reports. One was the death of Anthony Haynes, 14,
at the American Buffalo Soldiers boot camp in Arizona in 2001. One of the
state's most high-profile camp deaths was that of Nicholas Contreraz, a
16-year-old Sacramento youth who died in 1998 while being subjected to
discipline at the Arizona Boys Ranch near Queen Creek. Bob Bacon's account was
among those Wednesday that outraged House committee members. Bacon said Aaron
was sent to the camp because of minor drug use and poor grades. The father said
he was fooled by the owners of the Utah facility into believing his son would be
well cared for. Instead, Aaron was forced to hike eight to 10 miles a day with
inadequate nutrition and was not given protective gear to withstand freezing
temperatures, Bacon said. When Aaron complained of severe stomach pains and
asked for a doctor, his pleas were ignored even though he had dramatically lost
weight and suffered from other serious symptoms, Bacon testified. According to
court documents, the boy's condition was ignored for 20 days, until he
collapsed. The autopsy showed he died of an acute infection related to a
perforated ulcer. Five camp employees pleaded guilty to negligent homicide, and
another was convicted of child abuse. All were sentenced to probation and
community service. Kutz testified that camp employees studied by the GAO were
often poorly trained. He said kids weren't properly fed and were exposed to
dangerous conditions, their cries for medical assistance ignored. He said that
in only one of the 10 sample cases was anyone found criminally liable and
sentenced to prison. The residential programs, designed to instill discipline
and character, can be privately run or state-sponsored programs and sometimes
include an educational or school-like component. They are loosely regulated by
states. There are no federal laws that define and regulate them. The programs
are marketed to parents who are at a loss as to how to help emotionally troubled
teens, Kutz said. Jan Moss, executive director of the National Association of
Therapeutic Schools and Programs, a trade group, said many kids have been helped
by the treatment programs. She said the industry is taking steps to improve, but
she added, "Clearly we still have a very long way to go." Kutz said there is no
comprehensive nationwide data on deaths and injuries in residential treatment
programs. Auditors found thousands of allegations in lawsuits, Web sites and
state records. "Examples of abuse include youth being forced to eat their own
vomit, denied adequate food, being forced to lie in urine or feces, being
kicked, beaten and thrown to the ground," Kutz said, adding that one teen was
reportedly "forced to use a toothbrush to clean a toilet, then forced to use
that toothbrush on their own teeth." At the boot camp where Anthony Haynes died,
children were fed an apple for breakfast, a carrot for lunch and a bowl of beans
for dinner, the GAO said. Haynes became dehydrated in 113-degree heat and
vomited dirt, according to witnesses. The program closed, and the director,
Charles Long, was sentenced in 2005 to six years in prison for manslaughter. The
autopsy on Nicholas Contreraz showed that after Boys Ranch staffers punished and
humiliated the teen for days, he suffered from a severe infection in the lining
of his lungs. Five employees were charged criminally, but all counts were
dropped. The ranch now operates under the name Canyon State Academy. Julie Vega,
Contreraz's mother, recently told The Arizona Republic, "I feel like he was
sacrificed, and some good things changed for the better because of him. But
nobody really paid a price for his death."
May 24, 2005 AP
The director of a boot camp where a teenage boy died
in 2001 was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison. Charles Long, director of
the America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors Association boot camp, could have
been sentenced to up to 27 years in prison, but Maricopa County Superior Court
Judge Ronald Reinstein sentenced him to six years. During the hearing Tuesday,
Long apologized to the family members of Anthony Haynes, the youth who died at
the "tough love" camp in July 2001. Prosecutors accused Long of
abusing his power.
January 4, 2005 Arizona Republic
Charles Long, who operated a tough-love boot camp in
the desert near Buckeye, was convicted Monday of reckless manslaughter in the
2001 death of a 14-year-old camper. Long also was found guilty of aggravated
assault for threatening another youth with a knife. The jury deadlocked on eight
counts of child abuse related to other campers who were reportedly forced to sit
in the sun without adequate water as discipline. Melanie Hudson, the mother of
Anthony Haynes, who died while in Long's care at the camp, broke down in tears
when the verdicts were read. Afterward, Hudson said she was pleased with the
jury's verdict. "It's a difficult thing to do," she said. "It
won't bring Tony back." Long wore the military-style uniform of the
organization he founded, America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association, as
he anxiously awaited the verdict in the hallway of Maricopa County Superior
Court. "There was never any doubt as to the guilt on count one," said
Myrna Lee, the only juror who would comment. "It was the level of
guilt." The jury believed testimony that Long held a knife to the chest of
a camper named Nicholas Conner and threatened to "gut him like a
fish."
November 5, 2004 Arizona Republic
A distraught mother told a Maricopa County Superior Court
jury Thursday how her son's emotional problems drove her to seek help from a
tough-love boot camp where he later died. Melanie
Hudson testified in the trial of Charles Long, who is charged with second-degree
murder in the 2001 death of Hudson's 14-year-old son, Anthony Haynes. "With
the medicines he was taking, he needed water," Hudson said, "lots of
water."
October 20, 2004 Arizona Republic
An adult who attended the tough-love boot camp where a
teen died in 2001, painted a grim picture of the boy's death for the jury in the
murder trial of Charles Long. Long, 59, is charged with second-degree murder in
the death of Anthony Haynes, 14, a camper attending Long's America's Buffalo
Soldiers Re-Enactor's Association "summer endurance camp" near Buckeye
in June and July 2001. Troy
Hutty pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in Haynes' death, and was promised a
sentence of probation if he testified in Long's trial.
On
July 1, 2001, Hutty said, Haynes began acting erratic while sitting in the sun
in a "drop on request" or DOR line, because he wanted to leave the
camp. Hutty claimed that Haynes ate dirt and refused to drink or wash out his
mouth with water. "He had dirt in his mouth and dirt in his teeth,"
Hutty said. "I tried to give him water to rinse it out." Then Haynes
ran around the campsite "screaming and making a bunch of crazy sounds"
and doing what Hutty called "Three Stooges antics," striking others,
hitting himself in the face and smearing dirt on himself. When
Haynes later appeared to go into convulsions, Hutty claimed he went to put a pen
in the child's mouth to keep him from swallowing his tongue. According to
Hutty, Long then told Hutty to take Haynes and four other boys to a nearby hotel
to shower. They carried Haynes to a pickup truck and placed him in the bed, then
carried him up to the room. He was now unresponsive and started vomiting dirt
and stones in the room. Hutty and the boys undressed him and placed him in the
shower. When Hutty checked on him, the shower drain had clogged with the vomit,
though he claimed that Haynes' face was above water. Then he said he used his
foot to put pressure on the boy's stomach to force out more dirt and stones. Hutty
said that he didn't call police because, as a Black man from Philadelphia, he
didn't trust them. Instead he called Long, who told
him to bring the boy back to camp. When
he got there, Haynes' pupils were dilated, and Hutty and Long began performing
CPR, but Haynes died.
October 9, 2004 Arizona Republic
For breakfast, campers got an apple. For lunch, a
carrot, and for dinner, a bowl of beans. In between, they were put through
"physical training" in the desert scrub southwest of Buckeye. On the
fifth day, some - those who wanted to leave - were forced to sit in the sun,
maybe for hours. Did I mention it was July? Did I mention that they were wearing
black sweat suits?
Did I mention that these campers were kids and that one of them died?
What went on at the summer endurance camp run by Chuck Long during the summer of
2001 was an outrage. It's shocking that Long had those kids out there in the
desert in July - and that parents allowed it. It's a full-out tragedy that a
14-year-old boy died. But was it really murder? Anthony
Haynes had troubles, as kids sometimes do. His
mother was looking for help. Unfortunately,
she found Chuck Long. The ex-Marine ran boot camps. On July 1, nine kids, kids
who wanted out, were forced to sit in the sun. Anthony was one of them. No one
really knows how long they endured it. There were reports that Anthony was
denied water. Eventually, he collapsed and was
taken to a motel to cool off, at Long's direction. The staffer who drove him,
caring soul that he was, dumped the boy in the tub and proceeded to watch TV. By
the time he checked on Anthony, the boy was drowning. The staffer, Troy Hutty,
called Long to complain that Anthony was faking and Long ordered them to return.
By the time they arrived, Anthony Haynes was dead. Now, Long is on trial,
charged with second-degree murder and child abuse. And who wouldn't want to see
this guy punished? Maybe even dressed in black sweats and dumped out there in
the desert. But I've got to ask: Was it really murder? Negligence, sure.
Manslaughter, maybe. But murder? Hutty - the man who put the boy in a tub and
left him - was allowed to plead guilty to negligent homicide in exchange for
testifying against Long. As a reward, he'll get probation.
October 8, 2004 Arizona Republic
Charles Long went on trial Thursday in the 2001 death
of a 14-year-old boy at the tough-love boot camp he ran in the desert west of
Buckeye. Long, who said he has been to court 47 times over the case to date,
said during a break in the trial that "my bottom line right now is I'm
ready for the truth to be told." Long, 59, was
charged with second-degree murder in the death of Anthony Haynes. He also faces
eight counts of child abuse and one count of aggravated assault stemming from
the weeklong, military-style boot camp run by Long's America's Buffalo Soldiers
Re-enactors Association. Deputy County Attorney Mark Barry detailed the events
of July 1, 2001. Haynes was among several kids who stood on a "Drop on
Request" line in 112-degree heat to get permission to leave the program.
Barry could not say how long they were in the line - 30 minutes or several
hours. According to Barry, Long had said, "Kids who slash their mothers'
tires don't deserve any water," a reference to some of the trouble the
youth had gotten into before being placed in Long's care. Haynes, who weighed
205 pounds, reportedly started acting erratically, eating dirt, refusing to
drink water and eventually collapsing in convulsions. According to Barry's
account, Long ordered that the boy be taken to a nearby hotel, where he had
rented a room so that the campers could bathe. Troy Hutty, the father of two
campers who also was acting as a camp staff member, took Haynes and other youths
to the hotel. They carried Haynes to the second floor, allowing his head to
strike the steps, undressed him, placed him in the bathtub, turned on the shower
and left him there unsupervised, Barry said. Some
time later, they discovered the boy facedown in the water; the tub drain was
plugged with dirt or other debris. They then took the lifeless boy back to camp
and called 911.
March 27, 2002
Lawmakers are moving
closer to a crackdown on unregulated
boot camps
that dish out "tough-love" discipline to wayward teens.
The
House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill
Tuesday that
would force boot camp owners to get state certification.
Calls
for regulation
started last summer after 14-year-old Tony Haynes died
while participating
in an unregulated boot camp run by the America's Buffalo
Soldiers
Re-enactors Association.
Rep.
Deb Gullett, who sponsored House Bill 2610, said
boot camps and
wilderness programs have become a multibillion-dollar
industry around
the nation, with quality and price varying wildly.
"Some
of these programs are wonderful," said Gullett,
R-Phoenix. "But
many are outright frauds. We want to make sure our state
doesn't become
a haven for unscrupulous operators who are preying on
desperate
parents."
Gullett
said one camp that has been kicked out of Ohio
and California has
relocated to Arizona and charges $25,000 to treat a
troubled teen. (The Arizona Republic)
February 23, 2002
An innocent plea was
entered Friday in Maricopa
County
Superior Court for the director of a tough-love boot camp
who is charged
with second-degree murder in the death of a 14-year-old
boy.
Charles
Long, who was arrested last week and also is
accused of child
abuse and aggravated assault, said he couldn't afford a
lawyer and
requested a public defender. The request was granted.
Tony
Haynes died July 1 at a Buffalo Soldiers summer camp
after being
forced to stand for hours in 111-degree heat in the
desert camp near
Buckeye and nearly drowning in a motel bathtub 10 miles
away, according
to Maricopa County sheriff's detectives.
Two
other supervisors at the same camp were arrested and
accused of
abusing children. One has pleaded guilty. (azcentral)
February 21, 2002
A former corporal at
a tough-love boot camp
pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of
negligent homicide in the death of a
14-year-old Phoenix boy last summer.
Troy
A. Hutty, 29, also agreed to cooperate
with authorities in the prosecution of other
camp leaders, including Charles Long II, the
director of the Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors
Association.
Long
was arrested last week on
second-degree murder and other charges relating to his
administration of
the boot-camp program. (azcentral)
July 15, 2001
The boot camp near Buckeye where 14-year-old Anthony Haynes died July 1 is
Arizona's fourth such program to be shut down in three years, the second
following the death of a child. Across the country, at least 18 children
in such programs have died. Five of those deaths occurred in
Arizona. Boot camps in at least eight other states have been closed or
overhauled after allegations of abuse. Oregon lawmakers have ordered
regulations for youth programs, following the death last year of Eddie Lee, 15,
at a privately run boot camp. The boot camp where Anthony Haynes ate dirt
and stood in the sun for hours was not licensed by the state. The Arizona
Department of Economic Security, which regulates some rehabilitation programs
for children, does not license boot camps or any program that uses corporal
punishment. Anthony was in a program run by Charles Long of the America's
Buffalo Soldiers Re-Enactors Association. Its handout calls the boot camp
"A NO NON-SENSE - IN YOUR FACE - TOUGH LOVE operation." The
California Department of Corrections closed its boot camp in 1997. Georgia
overhauled its boot camp after a 1998 investigation found it overcrowded and
dangerous. In December 1999, Maryland closed two boot camps after reports
of staff members punching teens. Also in 1999, Alabama briefly closed a
boot camp after reports of abuse. In Arizona, the boot camp where Haynes
died has been closed, through perhaps only temporarily. The Arizona Boys
Ranch in Oracle was closed in 1998 after Nicholaus Contreraz, 16, died of a lung
infection there after being forced to exercise. Another boy drowned while
trying to escape in 1994. "If you don't monitor them closely, it is
easy for an abusive situation to occur," said Steve Meissner, spokesperson
for the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. In 1998, after two
years, his agency shut its boot camp at the Black Canyon Detention Center north
of Phoenix. (The Arizona Republic)
Aire
Filter Products, Arizona
Aramark
September 1, 2004
Federal agents arrested nine Mexican nationals Tuesday and accused them of
working illegally at a Mesa plant that manufactures military helicopters.
The workers, whose names were not released, were contract employees of Aramark
and Aire Filter Products, subcontractors at the Boeing plant. (The Arizona
Republic)
Arizona
Department of Corrections
August 21, 2007 Indianapolis Star
One-third of the Arizona inmates transferred to serve their sentences in an
Indiana prison are violent criminals, including 25 who were convicted of murder,
according to new data from state prison officials. Prison officials said inmates
were chosen based on their behavior in prison, not their criminal records. But
an advocate for prisoners' rights was surprised by the news, saying officials
had left the impression with the public that violent offenders would not be
included among those moved to the New Castle Correctional Facility, which is
managed by Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group. "That's not what they said they
were going to send," said Celia Sweet, former president of the Indiana chapter
of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants. "You know, live up to your
word. Don't go trying to hoodwink the public just to make some money off the
backs of these prisoners. That's not right. It's immoral." The state never
misled anyone, said Department of Correction Commissioner J. David Donahue.
Indiana's deal with Arizona allows medium-security prisoners and bans only sex
offenders, prisoners with discipline problems and recognized gang members, he
said. Medium security, Donahue said, does not preclude those convicted of
violent crimes. The majority of inmates in Indiana prisons are housed in
medium-security areas, he said. In all, 203 of the 611 Arizona inmates are
serving terms for violent crimes, including men convicted of assault, kidnapping
and attempted homicide.
March 16, 2007 Business Week
Efforts to relieve Arizona's shortage of prison space were dealt a setback
when procurement officials canceled a competition between the state Department
of Corrections and three private prison companies to provide up to 3,000 new
beds. None of the proposals met a requirement to open 1,000 of the beds by
April, 2008, the State Procurement Office said in a formal notice canceling the
state's request for proposals. The notice was obtained by The Associated Press
on Friday. The three companies submitting proposals were GEO Group Inc., based
in Boca Raton, Fla.; Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, and
Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America. It's now up to the
Legislature to decide what to do about the 2006 law that directed the Department
of Administration to seek proposals and set the deadline for opening 1,000 beds,
department spokesman Alan Ecker said. Corrections Department spokeswoman Katie
Decker said the prison agency was beginning to consider its options. "We're
regrouping," she said. Decker also said the Corrections Department was prepared
to meet the required timeline. "I don't know if there was confusion ... but our
understanding was that we would have been able to do that."
July 15, 2005 Tucson Citizen
Arizona legislators have made their philosophical point. And it is costing you
$11,000 a day. It was in 2003, when Arizona prisons were badly crowded,
that the Legislature decided to act. Called into a special session to
appropriate money for building cells for 4,200 inmates, the Legislature said it
would do so only if at least 1,000 of the new beds were in private
prisons. Gov. Janet Napolitano and Corrections Director Dora Schriro
objected, saying there was no proof it would be cheaper to send inmates to
private facilities. But state Sen. Bob Burns, R-Peoria and chairman of the
Senate Appropriations Committee, couldn't resist the private prison siren song:
"To pass up the opportunity of the private upfront money for construction
to me is not responsible fiscal management," he said back in 2003.
Well, now it's 2005 and that siren song has gone flat. Under legislative
mandate, the Department of Corrections contracted with Correctional Services
Corp. to build a 1,000-bed prison in Florence for sex offenders. But
here's the kicker: CSC will charge the state $61 a day to house each inmate. The
state could do it for $50 a day in a state facility. The CSC bill works out to
an extra $11,000 a day for Arizona taxpayers - and an extra $4.1 million a year.
So where is the "responsible fiscal management" of which legislators
boasted? CSC explains its higher cost by saying it will have an "innovative
rehabilitation program." We'll see. Because the vast majority of
inmates eventually are released back into society, rehabilitation is an
important part of operating a prison. Paying more for effective rehabilitation
may be worth it in the long run. But sex offenders are among the most
challenging inmates to rehabilitate. So CSC faces a substantial challenge.
Protecting the public from harm is one of the major responsibilities of
government. But have legislators done that when they turn over the
responsibility of incarcerating dangerous inmates to a private, profit-driven
company? Private prisons make money by hiring fewer correctional officers
and paying lower wages. Private prisons also can fail to adequately meet
inmates' needs, setting the stage for escapes or disturbances inside prisons,
while leaving the state with little authority to correct mismanagement. At a CSC
facility in Texas, inmates rioted in January 2003 because, they said, they were
underfed. Arizona has a responsibility not only to its law-abiding
citizens, but also to its inmates to ensure they are properly, safely and
humanely cared for. And it has a responsibility to do so at the most reasonable
price. Instead of dictating the use of private prisons, legislators should
leave those decisions to the corrections professionals.
July 8, 2005 The Arizona Republic
The state Department of Corrections will contract with Correctional Services
Corp. to build a 1,000-bed private prison facility for sex offenders in
Florence. But instead of saving taxpayers money, officials say, the new
facility actually will cost about $11,000 per day more to operate. In
CSC's winning bid, the company said it could operate the new prison for $61 a
day per inmate, said Bart Graves, spokesman for the Corrections Department. The
average cost to house an Arizona sex offender in a state-run prison is about $50
a day. Even though Corrections Director Dora Schriro repeatedly warned the
Legislature that the per diem rates of both bidders were "excessively
high," her hands were tied by legislation, passed during a special session
in 2003, that required the state to contract out 1,000 new prison beds to ease
overcrowding, Graves said. Bids could be considered from only the three private
prison companies already operating in Arizona, and the Legislature waived a
state law requiring corrections officials to pick the lowest bidder.
Private prisons have been hotly contested in Arizona, with supporters saying
they save money and detractors arguing that state-run prisons are more reliable
and cost-effective. Many private prison firms have faced allegations about
problems in their facilities, including abuses of inmates and improper care. In
January 2003, inmates at CSC's Newton facility rioted because they said they
were underfed. Nearly 4,400 Arizona inmates are housed in seven private
prisons in Arizona and out-of-state, according to the Department of Corrections.
When the new facility is opened in late 2006, CSC will be able to house 2,800
Arizona inmates. The contract with CSC is for 20 years, which includes an
initial base period of 10 years, with two five-year renewal options. CSC
officials estimate the contract will generate about $22 million in revenues
during its first year of operation. The new prison will provide
specialized programs for medium-risk male sex offenders, including treatment,
behavioral modification, education and institutional work programs.
October 27, 2004 KTOK
The
company which runs a private prison in Watonga is slapped with more than a dozen
lawsuits stemming from a riot at the prison earlier this year.
May 26, 2004
Despite several large fights and riots at two out-of-state private prisons in
the last several weeks, state officials say they have no plans to reverse course
and bring home any of the 2,000 inmates in Texas and Oklahoma. On Saturday, more
than 40 inmates in a Pecos, Texas, prison owned by the Geo Group created a
disturbance, damaging the prison. Earlier this month, about 70 inmates were
injured in a fracas at Corrections Corporation of America's Watonga, Okla.,
prison. The two recent events are in addition to a hunger strike and large
fight in the Pecos prison and problems in 2002 at another private Texas
prison, which included several inmate escapes while a state review found an
unacceptable quality of service from the company. About 240 inmates
participated in a fight in the Watonga prison yard, with at least 70 suffering
injuries. (AP)
May 2, 2004
Groups of Arizona prisoners transferred to a Texas private prison staged fights
and hunger strikes to either improve conditions or earn transfers back to
Arizona. The incident report from Wackenhut Corp.'s Pecos, Texas, prison
officials recommends eight inmates be sent back to Arizona because they are
security problems. The report details a fight between two groups of
prisoners, with at least 14 taking part in the late-night April 10 fight. The
subsequent investigation showed that some inmates from each group were
conspiring to get back to Arizona. The decision last year by the Arizona
Legislature to ship about 2,000 inmates to out-of-state prisons angered some
inmate family members, mainly because contact with inmates will be limited by
the financial ability to travel to either Texas or another prison in
Oklahoma. (Arizona Daily Star)
April 29, 2004
A Corrections employee lost his job last week, more than a month after he sent
8,000 e-mails to prison officials around the country eliciting support for
Terry Stewart's bid to lead a private, national correctional organization.
Stewart, who led the state prison system from 1995 to 2002, is running for
president-elect of the American Correctional Association. (Arizona Daily
Star)
December 8, 2003
Key elements of the new prison proposal include: --
Providing $12.8 million of federal and state dollars for 2,100 new temporary
beds, probably at private prisons outside Arizona, for the rest of the current
fiscal year. Arizona already houses approximately 600 inmates in a Texas private
prison and about 1,700 inmates in three private prisons in Arizona. --
Having the administration try to negotiate a new deal with a private prison
company previously picked to build and operate a 1,400-bed facility near Kingman
in Mohave County. That project stalled because of financing problems and,
according to legislators, stalling by the administration. --
Providing $5 million to maintain recruitment and retention bonuses for
correction officers at prisons in Perryville and Florence. --
Requiring that an existing legislative oversight committee review both the
state's request for proposals for new or expanded prisons - public or private -
and the competing proposals that come back. However, a decision on which
proposal to accept would still be made by the executive branch, though by the
Department of Administration instead of the Corrections Department. (Zwire)
November 26, 2003
NEWTON, Texas - Cleveland Palmer, 54, formerly of Casa
Grande, who died Nov. 19 in a private prison, had entered a plea with his wife
in the killing of a child they were adopting. No
cause of death has been released pending an investigation, said Jim Robideau, a
spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections. Palmer had been sent to the
private prison under contract with DOC to "adjust the prison population in
Arizona." DOC has been short of prison space. (Casa Grande Dispatch)
November 20, 2003
A private Mainland prison company that houses hundreds of Hawai'i inmates has
proposed to build and operate a new prison for Hawai'i in Arizona, Gov. Linda
Lingle's staff confirmed yesterday. The facility would be constructed in Eloy, a
community of about 10,000 residents in Pinal County where Corrections
Corporation of America runs a 1,500-bed prison that houses federal prisoners and
immigration detainees. Such a deal could also guarantee CCA a steady
income stream and alleviate the risk that Hawai'i will build space for all its
inmates and stop sending them to the Mainland. But Hawai'i prisoner advocates
have opposed using Mainland facilities because inmates are cut off from their
families and exposed to the Mainland prison gang culture. (Advertiser)
October 21, 2003
Kingman's state legislator predicted Friday that a private
prison 17 miles southwest of the city will not be finished. Republican
Rep. Joe Hart said he bases his belief upon what he and other legislators were
told by Dora Schriro, the new director of the state Department of Corrections,
during a recent meeting at the Capitol. "The new director flat said
there will be no new contracts awarded" for prisons, Hart said. Jim
Hunter, executive vice president of Dominion Venture Group L.L.C. of Oklahoma,
which owns the land upon which the prison is being built, recently told the
Miner that four of 10 planned buildings at the company's 200-acre site are
nearly complete. The original plan was for the prison to house 450 DUI
prisoners after the first phase of is complete. Dominion would then have another
eight months in which to build an additional six buildings to serve an
additional 950 inmates, for a total inmate population of 1,400. The prison
would then be managed by a Utah company under contract with the Department of
Corrections. "I don't think this prison is going to fly," Hart
said. "I think there's going to be lawsuits. The state will just say, 'Sue
us.' They don’t care. "If they (Dominion) want to build on
speculation, that's their business," said Hart, who added that he's no fan
of privatizing the state's prisons. "The governor wants to do away
with private prisons unless the contract has already been signed," he said.
Hart said he's "sort of read between the lines" and believes
Napolitano is "bowing to labor unions." (Kingman Daily Miner)
October 8, 2003
Gov. Janet Napolitano's call for a special session of the Arizona Legislature
Oct. 20 to address the state's prison crisis will have significant implications
for the Marana area, where the Arizona Department of Corrections was considering
placing the nation's largest privatized women's prison. Proponents of
building the 3,200-bed prison pointed to the more than 500 jobs the project
could potentially bring to the Marana area and the millions of dollars that
would be pumped into the local economy. Opponents called the scheme
dangerous, profit-driven and beneficial only to whichever of the three private
prison contractors prevailed in the bidding for the prison, which was expected
to cost more than $150 million to build and operate. Napolitano's
opposition to further privatization of the state's prison system as a remedy to
overcrowding has left the future of the project uncertain and may also cause
complications for Marana's only existing prison. The special session is
expected to consider sentencing reforms proposed by a group of 10 legislators
which could affect the existing private prison in Marana, which houses only DUI
and low-level drug offenders. Members of the governor's staff and
corrections officials say the privately operated women's prison is a dead issue,
but some legislators and representatives of the companies looking to build the
facility say plans for the prison may still prevail in the political give and
take expected during the session. "The private women's prison is
pretty much dead," said Pati Urias, a spokeswoman for the governor.
"It's a situation where the governor would be the one to move the project
forward in terms of funding and direction" for issuing the bid for the
prison. The governor is instead proposing to expand existing facilities and
programs. In calling for the special session during a speech Oct. 1,
Napolitano proposed spending $700 million, primarily funded by public bond
sales, to add 9,134 beds to seven existing state prisons. The governor's
plan would expand the existing women's prison in Perryville by 1,500 beds rather
than create a new private prison for the state's female offenders.
Corrections officials say they have a shortage of 4,150 beds statewide. The
overcrowding is expected to mushroom and the prison system could be as much as
11,661 beds short by 2007 if nothing is done. Jim Robideau, a spokesman
for the Arizona Department of Corrections, also said the prison which was to be
placed in either two locations north of Marana or at a site south of Phoenix,
more than likely will not be built. "In light of the governor's
statements, yes, it seems to be a dead issue," Robideau said. The
Department of Corrections was expected to announce last month which of the three
companies had won the bid to construct the prison. Contacted by the
Northwest EXPLORER last month, Robideau said the department had asked for
changes in the bids by the three companies hoping to operate the private prison
- Utah-based Management & Training Corporation, Correctional Services
Corporation, which is headquartered in Sarasota, Fla., and Cornell Companies of
Houston. Robideau declined to detail the changes in the bid, but a
spokesman for Cornell said last week the private sector prison contractors had
been asked to guarantee their prices for the project until late November when
the special session is expected to wrap up. "They asked us to confirm
the costs submitted on the bid until Thanksgiving, so there may still be some
hope that things get worked out in the Legislature. The Legislature has been
very supportive of the 3,200-bed prison and we and our competitors have already
spent a significant amount of money and time on the proposal," said Paul
Doucette, communications director for Cornell. Carl Stuart, a spokesman
for Management & Training which operates the 450-bed Marana Community
Correctional Treatment Facility, 12610 W. Silverbell Road, said his company was
also pinning its hopes on the special session. "We already operate a
prison in Marana and we're very proud of our reputation there, so we hope that
there is some way that we can continue to serve the state. But after the
governor's statements, we're kind of in a reassessment of our position,"
Stuart said. "We hope it may still move forward in the legislative
process." Representatives from Correctional Services Corporation did
not return calls seeking comment. Rep. Jennifer Burns, a Republican whose
District 25 includes Marana, said she was unsure if the women's prison would
survive the special session. She also expressed concern that Napolitano, who
said during the regular session that all options would be considered to try and
balance the state's budget, now seemed reluctant to look at privatization as a
viable approach to controlling the state's spending. "It's
interesting that when the governor discussed the budget she said everything was
on the table, but now that we're dealing with prisons, prisons are off the
table. I think we need to look at all options and not just throw more money at
the problem. There may be some potential that a private prison could save
money," Burns said. Rep. Ted Downing, a Democrat from Tucson and one
of the most vocal critics of the women's prison, said he believed the
privatization issue will be raised during the special session, but doubted it
would get far. "By the governor not having it as a priority, it
certainly makes it a great deal more difficult to pass it in the Legislature. My
hope is that it's finished. My feeling is that it wasn't bringing the kind of
high paying jobs to Marana and Tucson as was being represented," said
Downing, who is advocating sentencing reform as a way to reduce the prison
population. During a public hearing held in Marana in July, Management and
Training estimated the prison would generate 500 to 600 corrections jobs that
would on average pay a starting wage of more than $24,000 a year plus
benefits. Some legislators and lobbyists said they expected the
privatization issue to become a political dog fight during the special session,
but asked for anonymity out of fear of angering the governor or the house
leadership. "The Legislature may still try and compel the governor to
do a private prison," said one Phoenix insider familiar with the debate
over privatization. "They could refuse to fund any other beds in any other
manner. While they can't force her to do it, they can put her in a position that
makes it hard for her not to do it. But then the question becomes - who loses
the most politically if they try that kind of strong arm tactic?" House
Majority Leader Eddie Farnsworth of Gilbert, a proponent of privatization who
will more than likely lead the Republicans who favor the 3,200 bed prison, did
not return calls seeking comment. A sentencing reform proposal being
pushed by 10 members of the House could also reverberate in Marana, where the
private minimum security prison is required by agreements with the state to
house only DUIs and low risk drug offenders. Rep. Bill Konopnicki, a
Republican from Safford who chairs the sentencing reform group, said changes
such as replacing jail time with higher fines for DUI convictions, changing
felony classifications for some crimes deemed to be victimless and revising the
state's mandatory sentencing would help reduce the prison population.
"What's driving the proposal is the alarmingly increasing rate of
incarceration in Arizona. We're incarcerating 513 people per 100,000 of our
population, the highest rate in the western United States. We have to look at
what's causing the problem, we have to look at sentencing. "I know
that, economically, it's a significant thing to Marana, and I wish I could say
absolutely that it would affect the population of the prison, but the fact of
the matter is, we haven't been able to put even a dent in the number of DUIs or
drug offenses so far. We're just trying to find a way to slow them down,"
Konopnicki said. Gil Lewis, warden of the Marana facility, said only a
small percent of the inmates in Marana are serving time for DUIs, and it's
unclear how the proposed sentencing reform would affect the other minimum
security inmates in his prison or the future of his company's contract with the
state. "We've been here a long time and are proud of our role in
Marana. I believe any change in classifications or sentence structure would hurt
the Marana community," Lewis said. Napolitano, who served as the
state's attorney general before becoming governor, may also oppose some of the
sentencing reform being proposed by Konopnicki's group. "I just don't
believe you balance the budget by changing your criminal code. Should sentencing
be examined from time to time? Absolutely, but it should be in the context of
what's the right thing to do, not balancing your budget," Napolitano said
in an interview with the Associated Press on Oct. 1. Marana Town Manager
Mike Reuwsaat said the town is taking a "wait and see attitude" and
did not plan to lobby the Legislature - either for or against the women's
prison. "Our position throughout has been to just sit back and see
what shakes out, and that's the same thing we'll do during the special
session," Reuwsaat said. Caroline Isaacs, a spokeswoman for the
Tucson Chapter of the American Friends Service Committee which has been at the
forefront of grassroots opposition to the women's prison, said she doubts the
private facility will make much headway in the special session. "I
think the prison is dead," Isaacs said. "Nothing is a done deal, but I
think the governor's statements certainly indicated that she was not in favor of
privatization and that the state can do it better. There's going to be some
support for the prison in the Legislature among the die-hards, but the very
vocal public opposition makes it such a political hot potato that I can't really
seeing anyone taking it too far." (Northwest Explorer)
August 14, 2003
Petite and soft-spoken, Dora Schriro brings a thoughtful approach to the crisis
in Arizona prisons. Now, she faces an even bigger challenge: dealing with the
prisons in Arizona, where the shortage of beds grows every month, where costs
rise by the millions each year, and where hundreds of inmates have been shipped
off to Texas to avoid even more overcrowding. Arizona has 4,130 more
prisoners than it has prison beds. In a move of last resort, Arizona sent
624 inmates to a private county jail in Texas. That initially backfired
after underfed inmates rioted in January, flooding dormitories, tearing up
mattresses and breaking windows. Corrections officials gave the jail a
clean bill of health in June. But just last week, two prisoners briefly
escaped from the jail. The overcrowding has thrown Schriro another
curveball. She will have to decide whether to build the largest private
women's prison in the nation. The 3,200-bed facility, which would probably
be built in Pima County, has stirred protests because the three bidders have
less-than-stellar track records, critics say. (AZ Central)
July 25, 2003
An Oklahoma company is going ahead with construction of a 1,400-bed prison in
Arizona even though that state's Department of Corrections has not given its
official approval. Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Mike Arra
said the lack of a formal "notice to proceed" is because Dora Schriro
has only recently been appointed to head the department. Schriro has been
traveling across Arizona to see the prisons she is to manage, he said.
"She just has not gotten around to signing the notice to proceed yet,"
Arra said. "At this point it does not mean that anything (being built) was
stopped." Although the notice may be a paperwork issue, it is
preventing companies involved in the project from issuing about $60 million in
bonds to pay for construction, said Jim Hunter, a vice president with The
Dominion. Dominion Correctional Services LLC is building the jail. Its
parent company is The Dominion, of Edmond. Despite the financial
complication, Hunter said construction is going forward and the prison should be
ready to accept the first group of inmates in November. The prison is
being built on 196 acres near Interstate 40. Once finished, it will be
managed by Management and Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah. It will
eventually house about 1,400 male inmates convicted of felony driving under the
influence. (AP)
June 5, 2003
Missouri is considering but has no immediate plans to accept prisoners from
Arizona to relieve prison crowding there, a Missouri Corrections Department
official said. Last week, an adviser for Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano
suggested that Missouri is one of the states being considered for a potential
prisoner transfer. Arizona has 30,700 prisoners - about 4,000 more than the
prison system's capacity. Dennis Burke, a senior adviser to Napolitano who
mentioned Missouri as possible destination for Arizona prisoners, agreed that
the plans were preliminary. "Our governor would rather have inmates
in a public facility as opposed to a private prison," Burke said. "We
said Missouri looks like an option. That's how preliminary it is."
(AP)
May 31, 2003
Arizona may try to house more prisoners in other states, using both
public and private facilities, to cope with the burgeoning inmate population, a
state official said. At least two other states, Missouri and Michigan,
reportedly have 1,000 or more beds available in their prisons that Arizona might
be able to use, said Dennis Burke, Gov. Janet Napolitano's chief of staff for
policy. While some legislators have been pushing to increase the state's
use of private prisons, Napolitano has said she would prefer to house prisoners
in public facilities. Arizona will get 1,400 new beds in the next year as
a private facility for male DUI offenders in Mohave County south of Kingman. The
state also is seeking proposals for a 3,200-bed private prison in Pinal County
for female inmates. (AP)
May 29, 2003
The operator of a county jail in Texas housing 600 Arizona inmates said
Wednesday that his privately run company eventually will save the state nearly
$800,000. But Arizona prison officials disputed that figure and called the
strategy of sending inmates to Texas a "troubled experiment."
Jim Slattery, president of the Florida-based Correctional Services Corp.,
conceded that putting Arizona inmates in a Texas jail has been challenging. But
he said CSC has made "extraordinary efforts" to help ease prison
overcrowding in Arizona by housing those prisoners. On Tuesday, George
Weisz, a special assistant for corrections to Gov. Janet Napolitano, had called
the Texas experiment "a financial disaster." State Department of
Corrections documents pointed to a number of problems at the Texas facility,
including a prison disturbance in January. DOC officials said the Newton
County Jail has improved only after constant prodding. And they maintain that
the experiment has ended up costing the state money because of soaring costs for
monitoring. "There is a list of about 20 things that they are still
fixing," Weisz said. "It's not what we expected. It took constant
prodding from our monitors to get things done. Why did we have to complain about
all this to get it done?" (The Arizona Republic)
May 29, 2003
A move to ease prison overcrowding in Arizona by sending hundreds of inmates to
a private county jail in Texas has backfired, angering Department of Corrections
officials and adding to the state's budget crisis. The state had counted
on saving $400,000 by shipping inmates to the Newton County Jail in eastern
Texas. But the potential savings evaporated when costs soared. Meanwhile,
underfed inmates rioted in January, flooding dormitories, tearing up mattresses
and breaking windows, according to documents from the DOC. "This
proved to be a financial disaster," said George Weisz, a special assistant
for corrections to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. The Texas facility
houses about 600 Arizona prisoners. In a letter to Arizona prison officials,
administrators at the Newton County Jail said they have fixed problems at the
facility. The letter lists 17 areas of concern that have been addressed,
including repairs to a broken fence and disciplinary actions for negligent staff
members. The state had thought it would save money by going with a private
contractor, which promised to house and feed inmates at a lower cost than a
public facility. But corrections officials said that additional monitoring costs
and other inefficiencies ended up costing more money. (Tucson Citizen)
May 9, 2003
A cost-overrun in sending prisoners out of
state has Arizona leaders wondering whether contracting with private operations
will save the state money and solve prison overcrowding. A jail uprising
by Arizona prisoners at Texas' Newton County Corrections Center earlier this
year delayed busing of additional inmates and cost taxpayers $415,939, according
to an analysis of state records by The East Valley Tribune. It has also
raised red flags among state leaders, who question whether the push toward
privatization will solve the worst prison-bed shortage in state history, said
George Weisz, Gov. Janet Napolitano's special assistant for corrections.
"That (contract in Newton County) has been a financial disaster. It's
tough, and the governor has definite concerns about privatization," Weisz
told the paper for Thursday's editions. Arizona prisons now exceed their
capacity by 4,200 inmates and some lawmakers say hiring private companies will
solve the problem. "We have some alternatives with private prisons.
They are successful," said Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa and chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee. Members of the Arizona Department of
Corrections investigated the Jan. 2 jail uprising which happened less than a
month after the first 96 prisoners arrived in Texas. Investigators said
that the jail and its staff were ill-prepared to accept the new arrivals and
gave the company a month to correct problems. The deadline resulted in a
terse response from its leaders, in correspondence obtained by the
Tribune. "We have gone over and above compliance for this short-term,
seven-month contract," wrote Thomas Rapone, the company's executive vice
president and chief operating officer. Attempts to reach company officials
on Wednesday were unsuccessful. Although busing resumed in February,
Arizona prisoners continued to rebel. Incidents included escapes, peaceful
protests, group demonstrations and hunger strikes. A state monitor wrote
to his supervisor that the inmates wanted to return to Arizona so their families
could visit them. More than 600 Arizona prisoners are now at the Texas
jail. On June 30, the state will determine whether to renew its contract with
Correctional Services Corp. Officials said the deficiencies found by
monitors are a concern, but with prison space likely to run out this fall, the
state may be forced to renew it. "The problem is our back is against
the wall," Weisz said. "Whether it's private or public, we just have
to find places to put these inmates." (AP)
April 11, 2003
The state spends too much money to send Hispanics to prison and not enough to
help them get a college diploma, according to a study released Wednesday by an
education advocacy group. "Borrowing Against the Future: The Impact
of Prison Expansion on Arizona Families, Schools and Communities" argues
against two proposed state prisons the group says could cost the state up to
$100 million a year. Funding for prisons has continued to increase in the
past two decades, while the percentage of the state budget spent on higher
education is going down. "Arizona now spends more money to
incarcerate its Latino population than it does to educate them," Foster
said. The state has put out a request for proposals for two private
prisons, one that would house 1,400 males and another for 3,200 females, said
Department of Corrections spokesman Jim Robideau. (Tribune)
January 5, 2003
The Arizona Department of corrections has suspended transfers of inmates to a
Texas private prison after 82 prisoners already transferred were involved in a
disturbance last week. Prison staff fired pepper gas into the dormitories
to quell the disturbance Thursday night at the Newton County Correctional
Facility, but no inmates were injured, the department said. The inmates
flooded dormitories, tore up mattresses, destroyed television sets and broken
windows and light textures, with damage estimated at $10,000 to $15,000, the
department said. Transfers will be halted until the completion of an
investigation by the department and Correctional Services Corp., the Sarasota,
Fla.-based company which runs the facility, into the cause of the disturbance,
the department said. The department had transferred 346 inmates since
November under a contract to house 636 inmates at the Newton County
Facility. (AP)
December 19, 2002
A legislative oversight committee on Thursday gave the Department of Corrections
the go-ahead to add more space by seeking a private prison to house nearly all
of the state's female inmates. Under the plan endorsed by the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee, the state is seeking proposals for a new prison
that would be privately built and operated. (AP)
September 25, 2002
If the Arizona Department of Corrections awards a contract to Dominion
Correctional Facilities, Inc., Mohave County could have a prison near Kingman by
next year. According to Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) Public
Information Officer Jim Robideau, requests for proposals are currently open for
four new private prisons in the state with a filing deadline of Sept. 30.
To have their ducks in a row, should they get a nod from ADC, Dominion sought
and received support from the Mohave County's Industrial Department Authority
(IDA) Tuesday in the way of a "preliminary resolution" for $60 million
in bonds to finance the project. "Mohave County holds no liability
for this project whether it goes or not," said IDA Chairman Dan
Hargrove. "This gives them (Dominion) the opportunity to go
forward." With IDA approval, the Oklahoma-based developer can now
have their tax-free municipal bonds rated and prepared for sale. Hargrove
said. If ADC accepts their proposal, the next step will be a "final
resolution" from IDA which must then be approved by the Mohave County Board
of Supervisors. "They will have people standing by ready to buy the
bonds," he said. The prison will be managed by Management and
Training Corporation (MTC) and offer 230 jobs, Hunter said, ranging from
entry-level correctional facility officers, for which training would be provided
by MTC, and teaching and counseling positions requiring college degrees.
The financial impact on local law enforcement, in the event they are called out
to the facility to assist prison staff with hostile inmates or an escape, Hunter
said, should be minimal as they would be "fully reimbursed by the
state" for their services. Dominion had sought a contract for a
federal facility, he said, but that project was later canceled. "If
we don't get this one, we'll keep trying," Hunter said. (Tri-State
Online)
Arizona
Legislature
February 1, 2008 Arizona Republic
Brandishing a fake gun and using ladders stolen from a maintenance building, two
convicted killers climbed onto the roof and over the walls of a private prison
in Florence in September. They navigated through several lines of razor wire and
outmaneuvered security patrols, escaping to freedom, an investigative report on
the incident says. One was caught within hours. It was nearly a month before the
other was caught, hundreds of miles away in his home state of Washington. Now,
in response, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to tighten up rules for the
state's growing private-prison industry, which is virtually unregulated by the
state. A legislative proposal drafted by the Governor's Office and introduced by
Republican Sen. Robert Blendu of Litchfield Park would bar private prisons from
importing murderers, rapists and some other dangerous or seriously ill felons to
Arizona. It would also require the companies to share security and inmate
information with state officials. "It is a matter of public safety," said Dennis
Burke, Napolitano's chief of staff. "(Other states) are exporting their worst
criminals to Arizona, and we can't even know what they are doing and what steps
they are taking to protect Arizonans." But private-prison officials and other
industry supporters say the bill could threaten the industry, which is the
largest employer in Pinal County. "We were welcomed to the state 15 years ago.
We answered the call to help with economic development in Pinal County," said
Tony Grande, a senior vice president for Corrections Corp. of America, the
largest private-prison firm in the nation. The firm runs five Arizona prisons,
including the one in Florence where the escape took place in September. He said
the company has a good track record and doesn't do business in states with tight
restrictions. "If you change the rules of the game midstream, we are going to
resist it because we invested based on the current rules," he said. No current
restrictions -- The private-prison industry has grown rapidly in Arizona since
the first such prison opened here in 1994, bringing jobs and thousands of
out-of-state inmates to Pinal County. Now, more than 9,000 felons from Alaska,
Hawaii, Washington and other states and the federal government are housed in six
of 11 privately run prisons in Arizona. Most of the out-of-state inmates are in
CCA facilities in Pinal County, according to information collected by the
Arizona Department of Corrections. But unlike other states, Arizona has no
restrictions on the kind of out-of-state inmates that can be brought here. And
private-prison companies in Arizona are not required to share detailed
information on inmates, staffing and security measures or have their facility
designs approved by state officials. Such requirements are in place in other
states with significant private prisons. Some states ban private prisons
altogether or, like California, don't allow them to house prisoners from out of
state. Of the 15 states that expressly authorize private prisons, Arizona is one
of the least restrictive, said Dora Schriro, director of the state prison
system. Arizona laws require companies to carry insurance to cover
law-enforcement costs in cases of escape, notify state officials when they bring
new prisoners into the state and return prisoners to their home states to be
released. But, Schriro notes, there are no penalties if the companies don't
comply and no way to check on releases. That's a concern shared by Attorney
General Terry Goddard. Goddard said he was surprised after talking to attorneys
general in other states that Arizona's laws lagged so far behind. "I really
think it is about time we had some record keeping ... and Arizona takes a stand
on what kind of prisoners from other states we are willing to accept," Goddard
said. Sending felons home -- Blendu's bill would bring together several
restrictions found in other states and give the state the ability to assess
fines if the private companies don't comply. To Blendu, who has been a
private-prison supporter, a key piece of the bill is strengthening requirements
to send the felons back home. He said he supports private prisons, but he also
worries that Arizona's laws have not kept up. "We cannot become the
private-prison attraction for the child molesters of our country," he said. His
proposal is not the first time the state has attempted to pass more restrictions
on private prisons. Escapes and other major incidents have been rare, supporters
say. But the escape of three murderers and three other inmates from a private
prison in 1996 and another escape of a murderer and a sex offender in 1997 led
lawmakers to pass the current law requiring the reimbursement of law-enforcement
costs.
April 26, 2007 KTAR
Tuesday's riot by Arizona inmates at an Indiana private prison prompts a
caution from Democrat Ed Ableser. "We need to be very careful about a private
industry that actually makes money off of the amount of criminals we produce in
this society," he said. But, Republican Russell Pearce said the riot wasn't
caused by private prisons, but by a non-cooperative department of corrections
which won't spend available money. "They refuse to build or provide access to
3,000 beds in this state," said Pearce. The philosophical dispute has left the
state thousands of prison beds short.
March 19, 2006 Arizona Star
The Arizona Legislature, which has never been shy about enacting laws that
enlarge the prison population, should provide adequate funding this year to
ensure the safety of the officers and inmates in those institutions. The inmate
population, which stands at 33,887, declined slightly last spring but has risen
steadily since the summer. As the prison population increased, the number of
correctional officers decreased. More prisoners and fewer officers equals
danger. Arizona Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro notes that on
some overnight shifts, there is only one officer for 150 inmates. That should be
a matter of concern for everyone. Two legislators crucial to solving the
corrections problems are Sen. Robert "Bob" Burns, R-Peoria, and Rep. Russell
Pearce, R-Mesa, chairmen, respectively, of the Senate and House Appropriations
Committees. Both lawmakers believe the state can save money by moving more
inmates into private prisons, a belief disproved by a report issued last month
by MAXIMUS Inc., a national consulting firm. The consultants compared costs of
operating low- and medium-security private prisons with the same level of state
prisons and found that the state's costs were 8.5 percent to 13.5 percent less
than those of the private prisons. Lawmakers should not allow pre-conceived
ideas about privatization to cloud their judgment when examining these numbers.
More importantly, they should not turn the debate over privatization into an
excuse to ignore the serious pay problems within the Corrections Department.
March 1, 2006 Arizona Daily Sun
Gov. Janet Napolitano wants Congress to fund a federal regional prison where
Arizona and other Western states can send inmates who are in this country
illegally. The governor said Wednesday she has asked for funding in the budget
for Federal Bureau of Prisons to build and operate a facility to house people
convicted of state crimes but who also are illegal immigrants. Construction of a
federal facility also would help blunt calls by some Republican legislators to
construct a private prison in Mexico to house state inmates who are not legal
residents of this country.
February 23, 2006 Arizona Daily Star
State senators voted Wednesday to ask voters to approve a referendum that would
prevent their cities and counties from accepting Mexican consular identification
cards. And the House Appropriations Committee voted 9-4 to construct a private
prison in Mexico to house criminals convicted of violating Arizona laws who are
not citizens of this country. Backers of HB 2761 argue that it is cheaper to
house foreign nationals outside the country and that many would prefer to be
closer to relatives.
November 28, 2005 Arizona Capitol Times
The labor union that represents the state's corrections officers is meeting
individually with lawmakers to push its legislative plan for next session, which
includes higher wages, higher retirement contributions from the state and
scrutinizing private prisons. The one-on-one meetings are being conducted to
educate legislators about what exactly corrections officers do for a living and
the role they play in keeping Arizona citizens safe. So far, says the future
head of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association, results have been
positive. Several lawmakers who have historically been opposed to increased
spending on corrections have responded favorably to the meetings. "A lot of
times, the reason they say 'no' to things is because they have no
knowledge," said Tixoc Munoz, executive-president-elect of the Arizona
Correctional Peace Officers Association. Chuck Foy, a representative of the
Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs (AZCOPS), a sort of "mother
union" that oversees dozens of public safety organizations and represents
more than 6,300 officers statewide, said getting lawmakers as much information
as possible is key. The unions are also setting their sights on the private
prison industry. Arizona law allows the state to contract with private
penitentiaries - both in- and out-of state - to house the state's criminals. The
unions have long opposed the notion of private prisons, saying they are not as
cost-effective as the state-run corrections system. Mr. Foy said seeing just how
cost-ineffective the prisons are, though, is extremely difficult because the
companies have no obligation under the state's public records law to divulge any
information beyond what is included on the company's yearly financial report.
The groups will push for legislation that would open the financial records of
these for-profit prisons. "Let's level the playing field and see where the
chips fall," he said. "If the corporates don't want to open the books,
what are they hiding?" Opening the books, he says, will allow a clear
comparison of the private industry with its state-run brethren. "We believe
that once everybody has all of the information, the best decision will be made
for the taxpayers," Mr. Foy said.
February 11, 2004
If legislative leaders are looking for a
scapegoat in the wake of the nation's longest prison hostage siege, any mirror
would be a logical starting point. But some
lawmakers seem determined to score political points by blaming the hostage
crisis on the state prisons director, who has been on the job barely six months.
Blaming her would be unfair and wrong. Arizona
is notorious for falling short when it comes to meeting all kinds of state needs
- and prisons are no exception. Although
few details have been released about last month's 15-day hostage incident at the
Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis near Buckeye, it appears that inexperienced
staff was a contributing factor, if not a key element. The
breakdown in security that allowed two inmates to get into the prison watchtower
will be a key focus of an investigation into the incident. The
fact that the hostages and inmates were released alive is a testament to the
skills of negotiators and prison officials who kept the tension under control.
Corrections officers were inexperienced One
potential problem already is apparent: Each of the two corrections officers who
were taken hostage by two inmates had been on the job less than six months.
Sgt. Joe Masella, president of the Arizona Correctional
Peace Officers Association, estimates that 70 percent of state correctional
officers have been on the job 18 months or less. He
cites low pay as the cause of high turnover that leaves the state with
inexperienced staff. Since the Legislature sets the Department of Corrections
budget, lawmakers should own up to their own role in setting the stage for the
hostage siege. Instead, some seem more
intent on finding a scapegoat. Legislative leaders plan to delay Senate
confirmation of state prison Director Dora Schriro until a probe is completed
into her handling of the incident. Schriro
was hired in June. It is likely some of the problems that led to the hostage
crisis predated her. Legislators also would
be wise to scrutinize the motives of ex-state prison chief Terry Stewart, who,
according to the Arizona Republic, called Senate leaders to "express
concerns" about Schriro's handling of the crisis. Stewart
has a conflict of interest. He runs a private prison firm at a time when
legislators have been pushing to privatize more of Arizona's prisons. Lawmakers
must ask whether undermining Schriro is one of Stewart's business strategies.
More focus on rehab needed here Schriro
devised a successful rehabilitation program in Missouri that earned her a
reputation as one of the top corrections directors in the nation. It's
no surprise her progressive ideas are eyed with suspicion here. Nor would it be
surprising if conservative Republican lawmakers were to use the hostage crisis
as an excuse to oust the Democratic governor's nominee. If that's how the
hostage drama plays out politically, it would be a loss for the entire state.
Arizona's prison population is growing at an alarming
rate. A key strategy to reducing it is rehabilitation. Schriro has the skills to
do that in a system that now does little more than warehouse criminals.
A complete and thorough investigation of the hostage
crisis must be conducted to determine what went wrong and how it can be
prevented in the future. But it would be patently unfair to make Schriro a
scapegoat in a political struggle. (Tuscon Citizen)
December 4, 2003
Paul Senseman, who has served on the House majority staff under three speakers,
announced he will resign at the end of the current special session to become
principle lobbyist for Policy Development Group, a government/public relations
firm. Most recently, he has been chief of staff for House Speaker Jake
Flake and has also served as director of communications, press secretary and
special assistant to the majority. I have seen that one of Policy Development
Group’s clients is Corrections Corp. of America, a private prison company. We
seem to have an on-going debate on the value of private prisons versus public or
state-run prisons. It appears that you’re going to be thrust into that. It’s
possible. Right now, I’ve taken myself out of it. Two or three weeks ago, I
put a letter to the speaker and Norm Moore, the chief clerk, removing myself
from that issue. When I became aware of the fact that with my future employer I
would be involved in that, I took myself completely out of the corrections issue
so there would be no questions about it. (Arizona Capitol Times)
December 3,
2003
A bipartisan Senate agreement could pave the way for a major step forward
in the lengthy legislative special session. Republican and Democratic
leaders promoted a compromise agreement Monday that would send 2,100 Arizona
inmates to temporary cells out of state while allowing the Department of
Corrections to bid against private companies to build new prisons. The
bill also would raise drunken driving fines by $500 for a first offense, $1,250
for a second offense and $1,500 for a subsequent conviction. Minor driving
scofflaws, for instance those driving on a suspended license, would face a $250
additional fine. The money would be used to relieve crowding in the
state's prison system. The fines could produce about $15 million a year.
The state would send about 140 inmates to county jails at a cost of $2.1
million. "It looks promising," said Sen. Gabrielle Giffords,
D-Tucson. Dealing with prison crowding and reforming Child Protective
Services are the two primary subjects of the special session. However, during
the first six weeks there has been little agreement on either issue. Gov.
Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, is expected to decide today whether to give her
blessing to the prisons agreement. One of the hang-ups is the creation of
an independent committee to design and assess requests for new prisons. The
final decision would remain with the executive branch. The committee, with
appointees from the Senate president, the House speaker and the governor, would
create the requests so that the Department of Corrections, a potential bidder
against private companies, would not have an unfair advantage. (Arizona
Daily Star)
November 25,
2003
The debate over whether the use of private
prisons is the answer to the state’s overcrowding problem will spill
over into the regular session, a senator predicts. Proposed legislation
may bring a temporary solution, but Sen. Bob Burns, R-Dist. 9, chairman of the
Senate Appropriations Committee and a proponent of private prisons, says he
thinks the debate “will go on for a while.” Mr. Burns says Governor
Napolitano’s office is trying to kill privatization and may tarnish the state’s
reputation so badly that private companies will not want to do business with the
state. At the end of a Nov. 18 committee meeting, Mr. Burns challenged the
governor to meet with committee members to show why private prisons are not a
solution. A day earlier, Ms. Napolitano said during her weekly press
briefing that legislators pushing private prisons do not have the facts.
“I know that down at the Legislature every private prison company in America
seems to have a lobbyist or two working the halls,” she said. “They are
providing information that is contrary to the facts.” The major
inaccuracy, she said, was that private prisons “are cheaper over time. I see
no data that suggests that.” (Arizona Capitol Times)
November 25, 2003
Some Arizona legislators are concerned that a Florida prison company
hoping to land millions of dollars in state contracts paid a $300,000 fine this
year for failing to report numerous gifts to New York lawmakers.
Correctional Services Corp. wants to expand two prisons in Arizona in exchange
for long-term contracts. However, even some backers of private prisons question
the company's gift-giving. "That concerns me," said House
Appropriations Chairman Russell Pearce, R-Mesa. "If these allegations are
true, then I would have a problem." In February, the company agreed
to pay $300,000 to the New York Temporary State Commission on Lobbying to settle
an investigation into the company's activities. The commission's executive
director, David Grandeau, said the company failed to properly account for gifts
given to lawmakers. "This was a pattern of conduct that existed for a
long time," Grandeau said in a phone interview. "They found it
politically helpful to them." One New York lawmaker pleaded guilty
earlier this year to taking bribes in an unrelated matter but also admitted to
accepting free rides from New York City to the state capital in Albany from the
company. The commission's investigation went back only to 2000, but former
Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, a Bronx Democrat, admitted accepting company rides
beginning in 1998. New York law forbids lawmakers from accepting gifts
worth more than $75. The trips, as well as at least four or five gift baskets,
meals and an airplane ticket given to various lawmakers, exceeded the limit,
Grandeau said. The company signed a settlement agreement in February. It
notes that the company's filing with the commission contained errors and
omissions. Grandeau said the practice began under a company vice president
who was fired for unrelated activities. Grandeau said his successor, Jack Brown,
admitted continuing the gift-giving practice. Under Arizona law, lobbyists
are allowed to buy meals and offer gifts worth less $10. Expenditure reports for
Arizona's current special legislative session are due to the secretary of state
in January. Previous expenditure reports on meals and gifts show little or no
activity from the Correctional Services Corp. lobbyist. Company Vice
President Russell Rau denied any wrongdoing, saying the troubles were just
filing errors. "It was incorrectly filling out forms," Rau said.
"Campaign reporting laws are very complex. Ask any elected official. A fee
was paid because the mistake was made." Rau said he has not given any gifts
to Arizona lawmakers. Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro said
she is keeping tabs on the company's New York troubles but is not going to pull
any contracts now. In addition to two Arizona facilities, the firm houses more
than 600 inmates in a Texas facility. "This kind of issue underscores
some of the concerns I have expressed recently about privatizing a core
government function," Schriro said. "We will continue to monitor
closely the criminal investigation and anything that ensues from it."
While the original House bill on prisons featured a passage that would have
virtually guaranteed that the company receive more state business, questions
arose both about the constitutionality of the bill and the firm's overall
performance. In the Senate, Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Phoenix, wants to ban
any contractor that has been found to have offered a bribe from receiving a
private prison contract. "If we are going to be dealing with private
companies doing a law enforcement job, they should be as clean as
possible," Brotherton said. (Arizona Daily Star)
November 19,
2003
Lobbyists descended on the Capitol this month to convince legislators that
private prisons are the best option for a cash-strapped state facing an inmate
overcrowding crisis and are the cheapest deal for taxpayers. "Just
like sharks that smell blood in the water, the lobbyists sense that there's
support in the Legislature for private prisons," said Sen. Pete Rios,
D-Hayden. "That's why they are coming out in full force." A bill
muscling its way through the Legislature calls for 3,000 private beds: 1,600
permanent beds at private facilities and 1,400 temporary beds at an out-of-state
private prison. The bill passed the House overwhelmingly Monday and is expected
to go to a vote of the full Senate today. "Private companies have
demonstrated we can save money on building and operating these facilities,"
said Russell Rau, vice president of Correctional Services Corporation, which
houses 1,825 Arizona inmates, including 625 in Texas. "Privatization has
been a good partner for Arizona." Opponents, led by Gov. Janet
Napolitano, say they are not convinced the cost savings exist. Napolitano's
proposal called for expanding some state prisons. (The Arizona Republic)
November 18, 2003
The House on Monday overwhelmingly approved a Republican bill to provide
3,000 new private prison beds, in Arizona and elsewhere, to help relieve
crowding in the corrections system. The GOP-led House's 37-17 vote by
party lines sent the bill (HB2019) to the Senate where similar legislation
already has been endorsed by one committee and awaits action by another.
However, Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano has said she has "grave
concerns" about the bill, which would rely more on private prisons than she
wants and provide a smaller midyear spending increase to the Department of
Corrections. The bill approved by the House would add 1,600 additional
permanent beds at private prisons and send 1,400 inmates at least temporarily to
private prisons outside Arizona. It also would impose a mandatory new $1,000
"assessment" on DUI offenders to help pay for prison expansion.
The state now has approximately 2,315 inmates in private prisons in Arizona and
Texas, or about 7 percent of the total 31,146 prisoners in the state system. The
state currently has a shortfall of approximately 4,000 permanent beds, forcing
the Department of Corrections to take such steps as putting inmates' beds in
converted dayrooms. Napolitano proposed adding 1,600 temporary beds, mostly at
private prisons, and 1,200 permanent beds by expanding state-run prisons in
Florence, Perryville and Yuma. Republicans favor more use of private
prisons, contending private facilities can provide beds at a competitive cost
and be available quickly to help solve the bed shortage. Napolitano
administration officials dismiss the Republicans' plan as providing too few beds
and not enough money, committing the state to expanding private prisons with
inadequate sites and tying the Department of Corrections' hands in dealings with
private-prison operators. Napolitano has been cool toward private prisons,
contending prisons are a core government function. However, she included
additional temporary private beds in her plan for lack of alternatives.
Napolitano's bill would appropriate $26.4 million for the department. The
Republican bill would provide $8.9 million. It also reduces by $3.1 million the
amount the department must pay for employees' health insurance. No
Republicans defended the bill as House Democrats rose to denounce it. Rep.
Tom Prezelski, D-Tucson, said it's a mistake for the state to rely on money from
the new assessments to pay for prison projects. "I don't know if the
money's going to exist to actually fund this scheme," he said. The
bill has too many unanswered questions, said Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix.
"This bill is begging to be vetoed." (Privateer News)
November 13,
2003
A Republican plan to require the state to contract for more private
prison space is unconstitutional and likely to be vetoed, two top aides to Gov.
Janet Napolitano said Wednesday. Tim Nelson, the governor's legal counsel,
said lawmakers cannot mandate that the state give money to Correctional Services
Corp. to expand its existing private prisons in Phoenix and Florence. He said
the state Constitution specifically prohibits the Legislature from directing
that taxpayer dollars go to a particular company.
(Arizona Daily Sun)
October 21,
2003
Lawmakers are looking at reviving the idea of sending Mexican nationals
locked up in Arizona prisons south of the border to serve the remainder of their
sentences. And it could come into play as the Legislature goes into a
special session today on prison spending and crowding. Caroline Isaacs,
with the Tucson branch of the prison reform group American Friends Service
Committee, a Quaker organization, said the idea is fraught with problems,
including who is accountable for the prisoners. Former prison chief Terry
Stewart had been shopping an idea for a private prison in Mexico to house
nationals. Stewart could not be reached for comment. Dora Schrirro, head
of the Arizona Department of Corrections, said she will take a look at the
proposal. "It's an interesting idea," Schrirro said.
"Everything ought to be given some consideration. The question is whether
there is authority." Her boss isn't exactly thrilled with the idea,
however. "It's not something the governor is in favor of
pursuing," said Napolitano's spokesman, Paul Allvin. "These will be
wards of the state in Mexico. If they escape or hurt themselves or commit
crimes, there is a huge liability issue for Arizona." (Arizona Daily
Star)
May 5, 2003
Poor planning has fueled an overcrowding crisis in Arizons's prison system and
state leaders are scrambling to find a solution. "We're trying
everything we can," said George Weisz, Gov. Janet Napolitano's special
assistant for corrections. Meanwhile, the department is coping by building
tents at its prison complexes in Goodyear, Tucson, Douglas and Yuma, and having
inmates double-bunk in some units. Three years ago, the state had a
solution, when a $196 million prison was planned in Tucson that would have added
4,400 beds. Since plans for the Tucson complex were canceled, lawmakers
have focused on privatization to handle growth. Last November, the
department contracted with Correctional Services Corp. to place up to 645 male
inmates in the Newton County Correctional Center in Texas. (AP)
April 10, 2003
Legislators are being urged to consider a broad array of state properties for
sales or other transactions beyond the handful of sites proposed by Gov. Janet
Napolitano to help balance the budget. Gov. Janet Napolitano has suggested
that the State Compensation Fund buy either the state mental hospital, the
Department of Safety headquarters or the Perryville prison in exchange for $50
million needed to help balance the current fiscal year's budget. (Tucson
Citizen)
March 8, 2003
State lawmakers on Friday turned down a proposal to build a prison in Mexico for
more than 3,000 undocumented immigrants behind bars in Arizona. On a 7-6
vote, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee denied allowing the state
to seek a private contractor to build and operate a prison in Sonora, the
Mexican state that borders Arizona. "It would be a good business for
Arizona and Mexico," argued Terry Stewart, former Arizona corrections
director, who now has a consulting firm, Advanced Correctional Management.
"It would solve language and cultural issues." But some senators
questioned the legality of repatriating undocumented inmates to Mexico without
their consent and the state's responsibility of overseeing a prison in another
country. Further, there is no guarantee that the Mexican government would
agree to such a proposal, said Sen. Pete Rios. (The Arizona Republic)
February 2, 2003
As state leaders search for creative ways to fix a $1.3 billion deficit, they
are turning to the sale of state buildings and equipment and money-making
enterprises to fill the gap. And while the state has buildings with a
replacement value of at least $2.3 billion to offer on the open market, critics
are beginning to question the long-term positive impacts of such moves.
"It's borrowing off the future. You have an asset that is almost
paid for and now it's sold and in someone else's hand," said Bruce Wheeler,
a former Tucson City Councilman who opposed some similar ideas in the past.
"I don't think it's a responsible way for making up for deficits."
"
Sale
of assets is not a strategy that has been widely used," said Tim Blake, an
analyst with the credit rating firm Moody's. "What we look for them to do
is to get back through recurring measures, not just through one-time fixes.
Either of the sale of assets and borrowing are one-time fixes. They just set
themselves up for looking for other one-time fixes."
That could hurt the state's limping credit rating. Blake said Moody's
outlook for
Arizona
is negative, and more debt would not help the situation.
A low credit rating makes borrowing more expensive as investors seek
higher return in exchange for taking on possibly higher-risk sellers.
Republicans propose an outright sale of buildings and equipment, seeking
to raise about $350 million. The state may rent the buildings back or, in the
case of prisons, contract with private operators that would run them.
Dormitories could also be sold and privatized.
Here are the replacement values for state owned buildings that
legislators will consider selling: Department of Corrections: $774.8 million.
Juvenile Corrections Department: $63.8 million. (Arizona Daily
Star)
January 28, 2003
Republican legislators are proposing to sell state fair grounds, Arizona
Highways magazine and other state property to help balance the budget while
eying a possible private prison in Mexico to house inmates from that country for
future savings. Other assets were no specified in the package of bills
introduced by Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Burns. Burns and other
lawmakers also introduced a bill to have the state seek proposals from private
prison operators to build and operate a prison in the neighboring Mexican state
of Sonora. The prison would house some or all of the approximately 3,000
Mexican nationals that now compromise approximately 10 percent of the state's
prison inmates. The state still would have to have a presence at the
prison in Mexico to monitor conditions and guarantee a standard of care, Burns
said. "Arizona would be in control because there would be our
prisoners, our responsibility," he said. (AP)
January 26, 2003
A small coalition of University of Arizona faculty and students yesterday called
for Gov. Janet Napolitano an the Legislature to use money earmarked for private
prisons to fund higher education. The group, Education Not Incarceration
Campaign, number four or five faculty members and about 10 students, said
Caroline Issacs, a member of the group. The state must authorize
construction of two private prisons that would handle a total of 5,400
nonviolent offenders, the group claimed. It said one prison is for
convicted drunken drives and the other for female inmates. In the past 20
years, Arizona's spending on education dropped 11 percent while spending on
prisons increased 140 percent, the coalition said. (Tuscon Citizen)
January 22, 2003
A
small coalition of University of Arizona faculty and students called today for
Gov. Janet Napolitano and the Legislature to use money set aside for private
prisons to fund higher education.
The group, Education not Incarceration Campaign, numbers four or five
faculty members and about 10 students, according to member Caroline Isaacs. The
state must authorize construction of two private prisons that would handle a
total of 5,400 nonviolent offenders, the group claimed. One prison it said is
for convicted drunken drivers, the other for female inmates.
Coalition members told an audience of about 25 people that if the state
put those prisoners in treatment and counseling programs instead of prison,
Arizonan could save the $33.4 million it will pay in operating costs.
In the last 20 years, Arizona's spending on education dropped 11 percent
while spending on prisons increased 140 percent, the coalition said.
(Tucson)
January 16, 2003
Arizona's $1.3 billion budget deficit would vanish in a cloud of property
sell-offs accounting maneuvers and relatively small cuts in services under a
plan unveiled Wednesday by Gov. Janet Napolitano. She hopes to succeed
where governors elsewhere have failed: to offset a huge state deficit without
raising taxes or slashing money for schools, children's services and
prisons. Napolitano's top budget aide, George Cunningham, said the team
benefited from consulting with other states. That's where aides learned
that New York and New Jersey had programs where they sold state assets and
leased them back from the private owners. Napolitano's plan includes the
sale and leaseback of $250 million in assets, including several prison
facilities. (The Arizona Republic)
January 13, 2003
The battle begins Monday to solve a budget crisis so ingrained in Arizona
government that firing all state workers wouldn't solve it an closing all 67
state agencies would fix only half of it. The prisons budget, nearly $600
million a year and growing, is not technically protected from cuts and could be
a source pf trims. One possible solution would be to sell prisons to
private companies that would hire their own workers to operate the
facilities. A second would be to release some prisoners early. (The
Arizona Republic)
November 16, 2002
Some of Yuma's
prison inmates may end up crossing state
lines, but with the
government's permission, of course.
In
an effort to ease crowding in Arizona prisons, the
state Legislature is allowing 645
inmates statewide to be transferred to a private prison
in Newton, Texas, said Jim
Robideau, a spokesman with the Arizona Department of
Corrections.
The
Newton County Correctional Center, also called the
Fillyaw Correctional Facility, is a
private prison run by Correctional Services Corp. It is
near the Louisiana state line. (Yuma sun.com0
April 10, 2002
Before the House took a vote Monday to rein in tough-love boot camps for wayward
teens, Melanie Hudson was confident that her son did not die in vain. She
was nearly wrong. Hudson, whose 14-year-old son, Tony Haynes, died after
strenuous exercise at a boot camp last summer, sent a message to lawmakers who
assumed the bill would pass. After a close call on Monday, the House gave
new life Tuesday to a bill that would close the loophole allowing boot camps in
Arizona without a license or trained staff. Behind the strength of several
members who were absent Monday, it passed 33-15. It now moves on to the
Senate, which passed a similar measure last month. (azcentral.com)
Arizona
State Prison Complex-Lewis
March 3, 2004
The prison where two corrections officers were held hostage is plagued by
unprofessionalism and complacency among officers, a panel reviewing the hostage
standoff said Tuesday. Procedures in the kitchen where the Jan. 18
incident began should also be reviewed. The two inmates, Ricky Wassenaar and
Steven Coy, were armed with shanks and were able to overcome the only officer on
duty there. In the future, the kitchen office should be locked and two officers
should be on duty, panelists concluded. The panel said the department
should also assess whether to continue to employ civilian contract workers in
the kitchen. One such worker was raped during the incident. Another failed to
show up for work that day, and is being investigated for a possible
involvement. That investigation should continue, the panel recommended.
The kitchen worker, who did not show up Jan. 18 and has since been fired by food
service company Canteen, has refused to cooperate with investigators. The
Arizona Republic is not identifying the man because he has not been named as
a suspect or charged with a crime. Attempts to locate him for comment have been
unsuccessful. Representatives with Canteen did not return calls seeking
comment. (The Arizona Republic)
March 2, 2004
Investigators are looking into whether a civilian food-service worker is linked
to a botched escape attempt that led to a 15-day hostage siege at the state
prison in Buckeye. The unidentified man reportedly was one of two
food-service workers assigned to the Morey Unit kitchen area at the Arizona
State Prison Complex-Lewis on Jan. 18, when inmates Ricky Wassenaar and Steven
Coy overpowered the other worker and two corrections guard. "There
were only the two employees scheduled for duty morning and when he didn't show
up, inmate Ricky Wassenaar began asking in particular where he was," former
Arizona Att General Grant Woods, co-chairman of an investigative panel reviewing
the hostage situation, said Monday. "There is cert suspicious circumstances
surrounding this employee." Authorities said the employee in question
left the food service company assigned to the prison shortly after the standoff
began and thus far has refused to cooperate in the subsequent
investigation. (KVOA.com)
Canyon
State Academy
Quenn Creek, Arizona
February 24, 2003
Phoenix police are investigating allegations that a female employee at the
Canyon State Academy had an affair with a 16-year-old resident of the boot camp
for delinquent boys. Formerly known as Arizona Boys Ranch, the non-profit
academy in Queen Creek has struggled in the past with allegations of misconduct
by employees toward students, mostly involving alleged physical and emotional
abuse. According to Phoenix police, the youth's mother lodged a complaint
Feb. 16, saying an adult instructor had a sexual relationship with her
son. (AzCentral.com)
Central
Arizona Detention Center
Florence, Arizona
CCA
February 23, 2007 The Arizona Republic
The parent company of the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence has
agreed to pay more than $400,000 to settle findings of hiring discrimination.
U.S. Department of Labor investigators said the privately run prison's selection
process disproportionately rejected non-Hispanic job applicants who applied to
be correctional officers during a two-year period that ended in March 2005. The
prison has agreed to pay 464 former applicants an equal share of $438,626, or
$945.32 each, which includes back pay and interest. The prison will also hire 16
previously rejected applicants. The Corrections Corporation of America, which
manages the prison, said the settlement doesn't mean it violated federal
affirmative action law. "Although we continue to disagree with the position
taken by (the Labor Department), we have agreed to take certain steps to resolve
this matter," a company statement said. The investigation was the result of
routine audits that the Labor Department conducts with companies contracting
with the federal government. "We'll go in and we'll look at the job applicant
pool for more than one position, and we look at who applied for the jobs and who
was hired," spokeswoman Deanne Amaden said. "In this case, what we found was a
high disproportionate number of Hispanics were being hired. The result was that
the non-Hispanics were not getting that job opportunity." Corrections
Corporation of America has also agreed to immediately stop discriminatory
practices and undergo self-monitoring measures to ensure legal hiring practices,
according to the Labor Department.
November 11, 2006 Arizona Daily Star
A lockdown at the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence has suspended
visitation as authorities conduct a routine search for contraband, said Gilbert
Carmona, assistant warden. "This is a yearly shakedown," he said Friday, but
declined to say if anything has been found. The detention center has about 3,000
inmates, Carmona said. The lockdown is expected to last about a week, he said.
Visitation will be resumed when the lockdown is lifted, he added. The
privately-run facility is owned by Corrections Corporation of America.
September 29, 2005 Casa Grande Valley News
Several employees at Central Arizona Detention Center used their mid- day break
last Thursday to have a piece of cake and congratulate a colleague on his
birthday. Harry J. Larson celebrated his 80th birthday while on the job as a
correctional officer. CADC Warden Bruno Stolc presented a plaque to Larson, who
has been with the private prison in Florence since June 2001. The warden
recalled in front of about 25 people assembled, how Larson recently helped pull
an aggressive inmate off another officer. "So Mr. Larson is not just
filling a spot. Mr. Larson is a correctional officer, and we're dang proud to
have him," Stolc said. Warden Stolc said while Larson is the oldest CADC
employee, he is not the oldest employee in CCA. Frank Deloria, an officer at the
company's Eden, Texas, prison is 83. The company also has a part- time
registered nurse who is 87, Stolc said.
December 7, 2004 Metropolitan News-Enterprise
A federal magistrate judge in Arizona should have
appointed a lawyer to represent an incarcerated immigrant suing a private jailer
over his treatment, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. It
was an abuse of discretion not to name counsel under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1915(e)(1)
for Emmanuel Senyo Agyeman in his civil rights suit, Senior Judge John T. Noonan
said. He was held at a variety of correctional facilities, included one
operated by a private contractor, Corrections Corporation of America. In his
lawsuit, he contended he was shackled, bound and beaten by CCA employees while
being transported for medical treatment in 1998. After a trial at which he
represented himself, a jury rejected his claims. The Ninth Circuit appointed a
lawyer to represented him in his appeal and yesterday vacated the judgment
resulting from the trial. Agyeman, Noonan explained, was under the misconception
that he could proceed against the individual CCA corrections officers under 42
U.S.C. Sec. 1983 as if they were state employees, while in fact their liability
could only be predicated on Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403
U.S. 388 (1971). The corporation itself, however, could not be subjected to
liability under Bivens, as Agyeman sought to do, Noonan said; instead, Agyeman
should have sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act and sought
to join CCA as a defendant. The plaintiff never succeeded in gaining access to
the federal regulations which, on appeal, CCA argued governed his treatment at
the time of the alleged incident, Noonan added. Without gaining access to the
federal prison regulations, Agyeman could not establish that the treatment he
alleged that he received was or was not contrary to what was required by the
United States as to noncriminal detainees. Without a lawyer, Agyeman not only
did not think of obtaining this information but did not advance any coherent
theory for subjecting Corrections Corporation to liability.”
In
addition to ascertaining a viable basis for liablility, a lawyer might have been
able to exploit the “anomaly of incarcerating a person on noncriminal charges
and confining him for seven years,” Noonan suggested. He elaborated: “Such
incarceration may be a cruel necessity of our immigration policy; but if it must
be done, the greatest care must be observed in not treating the innocent like a
dangerous criminal. Is there any warrant for shackling the feet and binding the
chest of an innocent detainee? It requires legal skill to frame this issue and
distinguish Agyeman’s case from that of the ordinary transferee—.”
Dolan Springs, Arizona
CCA
February 19, 2008 The Daily News
A proposed private prison near Dolan Springs was denied Tuesday by the Mohave
County supervisors. The supervisors denied a change to the county's general plan
and the Dolan Springs Area Plan for the prison. They also denied rezoning the
property from agricultural residential to general manufacturing. In December,
the planning and zoning commission also denied changing the general plan and the
area plan for the private prison as well as denying the rezoning the property.
Like at prior supervisor and planning and zoning commission meetings, dozens of
speakers, mostly Dolan Springs residents, opposed the prison. They cited the
amount of water a prison would use as the main issue. John Ford, who is running
for District 1 supervisor, said the will of most of the people in the community,
located about 45 miles north of Kingman, said no to the prison. The prison could
use up to 300,000 gallons a day, he said. Others spoke of how putting a prison
near a residential area would not be compatible with the surrounding properties.
Others questioned the prison builder's, Corrections Corporation of America,
record including the number of escapes, assaults and riots at CCA's other
prisons located in other states. Others did not want out-of-state prisoners
transferred to Mohave County. Bob Holsinger of Golden Valley said that inmates
are often dropped off and released nearby with a ticket back to their
jurisdiction. He also said the owners of a prison near Yucca promised the prison
would house low-risk inmates but it now houses higher-risk inmates. Kathy
Tackett- Hicks, who represents CCA, said the prison would have developed its own
water system. However, the firm would not guarantee a $250,000 contract with Mt.
Tipton Water Company.
Eloy Detention
Center
Eloy, Arizona
CCA
May 11, 2008 Washington Post
Neil Sampson, who ran the DIHS as interim director most of last year, left that
job with serious questions about the government's commitment. Sampson said in an
interview that ICE treated detainee health care "as an afterthought," reflecting
what he called a failure of leadership and management at the Homeland Security
Department. "They do not have a clear idea or philosophy of their approach to
health care [for detainees]," he said. "It's a system failure, not a failure of
individuals." A new director for health services arrived six months ago,
following a stretch when the agency was run first by Sampson and then by a
second interim director. The new boss is LaMont W. Flanagan, who brought with
him the credential of having been fired in 2003 by the state of Maryland for bad
management and spending practices supervising detention and pretrial services.
An audit found that Flanagan had signed off on payments of $145,000 for employee
entertainment and other ill-advised expenditures. His reputation was such that
the District of Columbia would not hire him for a juvenile-justice position.
"Another death that needs to be added to the roster," Diane Aker, the DIHS chief
health administrator, tapped out in an e-mail to a records clerk at headquarters
on Aug. 14, 2007. Juan Guevara-Lorano, 21, was dead. Guevara, an unemployed
legal U.S. resident with a young son, was arrested in El Paso for driving
illegal border-crossers farther into the city. He was paid $50. An entry-level
emergency medical technician, with barely any training, had done Guevara's
intake screening and physical assessment at the Otero County immigration
compound in New Mexico. Under DIHS rules, those tasks are supposed to be done by
a nurse. After two difficult months in detention, Guevara had decided not to
appeal his case. He would go back to Mexico with his family. But on Aug. 4, he
came down with a splitting headache, what he called a nine on a pain scale of
10, his medical records show. The rookie medical technician prescribed Tylenol
and referred Guevara to the compound's physician "due to severity of headache
... and dizziness," according to medical records. But Guevara never saw a
doctor. Eight days after the first incident, he vomited in his cell. The same
junior technician came to help but was unable to insert a nasal airway tube.
Guevara was taken to a hospital, where doctors determined an aneurism in his
brain had burst. His wife, pregnant at the time with their second child,
recalled that she rushed to the hospital but ICE guards would not let her
inside, until the Mexican Consulate interceded. Guevara's mother waited five
hours before they let her in. By then he was brain-dead. "My son is not coming
back," sobbed Ana Celia Lozano months later, sitting in Guevara's small mobile
home as her grandson played on the floor. "I want to know how he lived and died,
nothing more." What appears to be the most incriminating document in Guevara's
case has been partially blacked out. Still, what is left shows that he did not
receive adequate care. "The detainee was not seen or evaluated by an RN,
midlevel or physician. . . . At the time of the incident on 8/12/2007, the
detainee was seen and examined by EMTs." Each immigration facility is allotted a
different number of positions, and a shortage of doctors and nurses is not
unusual at centers across the country. Records from February show that about 30
percent of all DIHS positions in the field were unfilled. ICE officials said
last week that the current vacancy rate is 21 percent. Concern about the
vacancies is voiced repeatedly at clinical directors' meetings. "How do we state
our concerns so that we can be heard? . . . this is a CRITICAL condition. . . .
We have bitten off more than we can chew," a physician wrote in the minutes of
one meeting last summer. In some prisons, the staffing shortages are acute. The
Willacy County detention center in South Texas -- the largest compound, with
2,018 detainees -- has no clinical director, no pharmacist and only a part-time
psychiatrist. Nearly 50 percent of the nursing positions were unfilled at the
1,500-detainee Eloy, Ariz., prison in February. At the newly opened 744-bed
Jena., La., compound, nurses run the place. It has no clinical director, no
staff physician, no psychiatrist and no professional dental staff. Last August,
Sampson, who was then DIHS interim director, warned his superiors at ICE that
critical personnel shortages were making it impossible to staff the Jena
facility adequately. In a vociferous e-mail to Gary Mead, the ICE deputy
director in charge of detention centers, he wrote: "With the Jena request we
have been re-examining our capabilities to meet health care needs at a new site
when we are facing critical staffing shortages at most every other DIHS site.
While we developed, executed and achieved major successes in our recruitment
efforts we have been unable to meet the demand." The slow ICE security-clearance
process forced many job applicants to go elsewhere, Sampson wrote. Of the 312
people who applied for new positions over the past year, 200 withdrew, he wrote,
because they found other jobs during the 250 days it took ICE, on average, to
conduct the required background investigations. Last week, ICE officials said
the average wait had decreased recently to 37 days. These shortages have
burdened the remaining staff. In July 2007, a year after Osman's death in Otay
Mesa, medical director Hui strongly complained to headquarters about workload
stress. "The level of burnout . . . is high and rising," she wrote in an e-mail.
"I know that I have been averaging approximately 2-6 hrs of overtime daily for
the past 2 months. I will no longer be able to sustain this pace and will be
decreasing the number of hours that I work overtime. This being said, more will
be left undone because we simply do NOT have the staff." The overcrowding has
created a petri dish for the spread of diseases. One mission of the Public
Health Service is to detect infectious diseases and contain them before they
spread, but last summer, the gigantic Willacy center was hit by a chicken pox
outbreak. The illness spread because the facility did not have enough available
isolation rooms and its large pods share recycled air, but also because security
officers "lack education about the disease and keep moving around detainees from
different units without taking into consideration if the unit has been isolated
due to heavy exposure," noted the DIHS's top specialist on infectious diseases,
Carlos Duchesne. The staff was forced to vaccinate the entire population in
mid-July. In one 2007 death, memos and confidential notes show how medical staff
missed an infectious disease, meningitis, in their midst. Victor Alfonso
Arellano, 23, a transgender Mexican detainee with AIDS, died in custody at the
San Pedro center. The first three pages of Duchesne's internal review of the
death leave the impression that Arellano's care was proper. But the last page,
under the heading "Off the record observations and recommendations," takes a
decidedly critical tone: "The clinical staff at all levels fails to recognize
early signs and symptoms of meningitis. . . . Pt was evaluated multiple times
and an effort to rule out those infections was not even mentioned." Arellano was
given a "completely useless" antibiotic, Duchesne wrote. Lab work that should
have been performed immediately took 22 days because San Pedro's clinical
director had ordered staff members to withhold lab work for new detainees until
they had been in detention there "for more than 30 days," a violation of agency
rules. "I am sure that there must be a reason why this was mandated but that
practice is particularly dangerous with chronic care cases and specially is
particularly dangerous with . . . HIV/AIDS patients," Duchesne wrote. "Labs for
AIDS patients . . . must be performed ASAP to know their immune status and where
you are standing in reference to disease control and meds." Given the frequency
with which ICE moves people within the detention network, keeping track of
detainees is critical to stopping the spread of infectious illnesses. The
purchase of an electronic records system named CaseTrakker in 2004 was supposed
to help. But according to internal documents and interviews, CaseTrakker is so
riddled with problems that facilities often revert to handwritten records. A
study at one site found that it took one-third more time to use CaseTrakker than
to use paper. Thousands of patient files are missing. Recorded data often cannot
be retrieved. Day-long outages are common. When detainees are transferred from
one facility to another, their records, if they follow them, are often
misleading. Some show medications with no medical diagnoses, or "lots of
diagnoses but no meds," according to Elizabeth Fleming, a former clinical
director at one compound in Arizona. After Yusif Osman's death and the discovery
of the problem with his computerized records, the DIHS ordered a review of all
charts at the Otay Mesa center. During the review, auditors also found that 260
physical exams were never completed as required. The nurse responsible for the
error in Osman's case was reprimanded, but the computer problem was not fixed.
The CaseTrakker system "has failed and must be replaced," Sampson, the DIHS
interim director, wrote to his ICE supervisors in August. In January 2008,
medical director Shack told colleagues that CaseTrakker "is more of a liability
than the use of paper medical record system," according to the minutes of a
meeting. It "puts patients at risk." ICE officials said last week that they are
not satisfied with CaseTrakker and are working to replace it. Along with being
at the mercy of computer glitches, detainees suffer from human errors that deny
or delay their care. And with few advocates on the outside, they are left alone
to plead their cases in the most desperate ways, in hand-scribbled notes to
doctors they rarely see. "I need medicine for pain. All my bones hurt. Thank
you," wrote Mexico native Roberto Ledesma Guerrero, 72, three weeks before he
died inside the Otay Mesa compound. Delays persist throughout the system. In
January, the detention center in Pearsall, Tex., an hour from San Antonio, had a
backlog of 2,097 appointments. Luis Dubegel-Paez, a 60-year-old Cuban, had
filled out many sick call requests before he died on March 14. Detained at the
Rolling Plains Detention Facility in the West Texas town of Haskell, he wrote on
New Year's Day: "need to see doctor for Heart medication; and having chest pains
for the past three days. Can't stand pain." Ten days later he went to the clinic
and became upset when he wasn't seen. He slugged the window, yelled, pointed at
his wristwatch. He was escorted back to his cell. Another of his sick call
requests said: "Need to see a doctor. I have a lot of symptoms of sickness ...
as soon as possible!" The next was more urgent: "I have a emergency to see the
doctor about my heart problems ... for the last couple days and I been getting
dizzy a lot." The next day, Dubegel-Paez collapsed and died. His medical records
do not show that he ever saw a doctor for his chest pains.
May 5, 2008 New York Times
The four sons of Maya Nand, 56, are still haunted by the last collect call he
made to them from an immigration detention center in Eloy, Ariz. “This was the
first time we ever heard our dad cry,” said one, Jay Ashis Nand, 25. “He said,
‘Son, if you don’t get me out of here today, I’m going to die.’ ” Mr. Nand, a
legal immigrant from Fiji who was diabetic, had been calling his family with
mounting desperation over a 10-day period, the sons said. Already ailing when he
was abruptly taken into custody at the family’s home in Sacramento early in the
morning of Jan. 13, 2005, he had deteriorated after a week at the Arizona
detention center, which is run for the federal government by Corrections
Corporation of America, a publicly traded prison company. “He felt a lot of pain
in his heart,” Jay Ashis said. “He would stand up all night because he couldn’t
breathe.” The sons, all naturalized American citizens, said their father told
them that the medical staff at Eloy did not take his condition seriously, and
that when he could barely walk, guards would tell him to stop faking. The sons
kept calling the center to plead for medical attention, they said, but could get
through only to an answering machine. They said they hired a lawyer to reach the
warden, but nothing changed. And in their father’s last call, it seemed his life
was hanging in the balance. That he was being detained at all was hard for the
family to understand. Mr. Nand, whose forefathers were brought to Fiji from
India as slaves by the British, had waited 10 years so he could move the family
legally to the United States, in November 1998. A former civil servant, he
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