|
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
Top
Ten Industry Lies: Cell Out Arizona, August 22, 2011
2010
escape at Kingman an issue for MTC’s bid: August 11, 2011, Bob
Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Expose on MTC
La. firm says prison escapes led to changes: August 10, 2011, Bob
Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Expose on LaSalle
Prison firm
optimistic about Arizona bid despite incidents: August 8, 2011, Bob
Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Exposé on CCA
December 23, 2011 Arizona Daily Sun
Saying crime rates are dropping, the state Department of Corrections on Thursday
cancelled plans to contract for 5,000 new private prison beds. Agency director
Charles Ryan said the plans, first approved in 2009, came at a time when the
number of people being locked up was increasing. Based on that, he said, the
department came up with some projections of what it would need long term. But
the big increase never materialized. In fact, during the 12 months ending on
June 30, 2010, the total prison population increased by just 65. And in the last
budget year, the tally actually slipped by 296. Ryan said that made it "prudent
to reassess" the plans and its forecast that it would need 8,500 new beds by
2017. But Ryan said his agency still believes more beds will be necessary. So it
is now asking private companies to submit bids for just 2,000 minimum and medium
security beds, to be completed something before the middle of 2014. And the
department will ask the Legislature for permission to build a new maximum
security unit, to be operated by the state beginning the following year, which
can house up to 500 inmates. The decision to start a new bid process also likely
undercuts any new legal effort to block the state from awarding a contract to a
private firm to house inmates. In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, the
American Friends Service Committee said a 1987 state law requires that agency to
first conduct a study to determine if a private firm can provide at least the
same quality as the state at a lower cost. Factors that must be studied range
from security and inmate programs to health services and food services. The
state had never completed such a study. But a trial judge refused to block the
state from awarding a contract to the five firms which had previously submitted
bids. Now, with that study completed just this week and those original bids
discarded, the state is free to start the bidding process all over again without
that legal impediment.
December 15, 2011 In These Times
The Arizona Bureau of Planning, Budget and Research notes a whopping savings of
three cents per head among the relatively low-maintenance minimum security crowd
held in private pens: $46.56 per diem for a private bed, versus $46.59 at
state-run institutions. The recent dismissal of a lawsuit filed against both
Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) Director Charles Ryan and Arizona
Governor Jan Brewer (R) is the latest step in the state’s hell-bent plan to
roughly double its number of privately managed prison “beds.” The suit, filed in
an Arizona Superior Court by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) on
September 12, sought an injunction against ADC and the governor’s pending award
of 5,000 new prison beds to be operated by a for-profit vendor. The state
currently contracts out more than 6,500 minimum- and medium-security beds at
seven facilities with Geo Group, the nation’s second largest private prison
operator, and Management and Training Corporation (MTC). AFSC argued that ADC is
negligent in its statutorily required duty to conduct biennial cost and quality
assessments of the state’s private prisons. The purpose of these assessments is
to determine whether the state is receiving the same quality of service from
private prison operators as provided by public facilities. Nevertheless, ADC has
not completed a single survey. While the law defines a clear list of specific
items to be assessed (such as security standards and personnel training), and a
set time frame for assessments to be performed (every two years), it does not
say that these assessments are the sole bar that must be used to measure
standards of private penitentiaries. Without the existence of these biennial
reports, it’s anyone’s guess what cost comparison model is used by ADC, the
legislature and the governor’s office. When asked what criteria the department
uses to determine if the private correctional beds managed in Arizona are
operating with the same level of security and care as state-run facilities, and
whether those facilities are providing any savings to the public, ADC spokesman
Barrett Marson directed In These Times to the ADC’s “Fiscal Year 2010 Operating
Per Capita Cost Report.” The most recent FY 2010 per capita report
available–published by the Arizona Bureau of Planning, Budget and Research on
April 13, 2011–offers nothing to suggest the state should continue its rush
toward the privatization of correctional services. The report states that the
total adjusted per diem (per prisoner, per day) cost for state-run medium
security facilities was $48.42. The per diem for medium security prisoners held
by private contractors amounted to $53.02. The bureau did note a whopping
savings of three cents per head among the relatively low-maintenance minimum
security crowd held in private pens–at $46.56 per diem for a private bed, versus
$46.59 at state-run institutions. But the report goes on to quickly deflate the
standing of that $0.03 margin, stating: “[There are several] inmate management
functions that are provided and paid for by the state but are not provided by
the private contractors. This inequity increases the state per capita cost
which, in comparison, artificially lowers the private bed cost.” Nevertheless,
AFSC’s suit was dismissed on October 27 by Arizona Superior Court Judge Arthur
Anderson. The basis for the dismissal, however, was not based on the merits of
the suit, but rather in Anderson’s concurrence with Assistant Attorney General
Rex Nowlan. Nowlan had argued that AFSC and other plaintiffs did not have
standing to seek relief for a violation of the law requiring assessment. AFSC is
appealing the dismissal. “We will vigorously fight the state’s effort to dismiss
the case on procedural standing grounds,” said Vince Rabago, a former state
prosecutor who is representing AFSC in the case. “Given the obvious public
safety issues and impact on taxpayers, the parties should have a hearing on the
merits of the state violating its own laws for more than two decades.”
December 1, 2011 AP
Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan says the state won't act on proposals
for additional private prisons until his department completes a report comparing
private prisons and publicly operated ones. Ryan told a legislative oversight
committee recently that the report is nearly complete and will be submitted to
the Legislature before January The comparison study has long been required by
state law but has never been done before. Several private prison companies have
submitted proposals for 5,000 additional beds authorized under a 2009 state law.
The project was delayed and revamped after security at a privately-operated
state prison near Kingman was found to be deficient following an escape.
November 19, 2011 Arizona Republic
The Arizona Department of Correction's long-delayed plans to contract for 5,000
additional private-prison beds are again under fire. A Quaker prison-watchdog
group, whose lawsuit seeking to block any contract was dismissed in Maricopa
County Superior Court last month, Friday filed an appeal and a fresh request for
an injunction. That injunction would block any contract until Corrections
completes required studies comparing the performance of its existing
private-prison contracts to state prisons. Judge Arthur Anderson dismissed the
initial suit on the ground that the Tucson office of the American Friends
Service Committee lacked standing to sue the state. The committee noted the
dismissal didn't address substantive issues raised by the suit, which alleges
that the state is in violation of its own laws, which require that any
private-prison contracts save the state money and that the state conduct
biannual studies comparing the operations of private and state prisons. The
department has never conducted these studies, which are supposed to analyze
costs, the security and safety of each prison, how inmates are managed, inmate
discipline, programs, staff training, administration, and other factors. The
suit and the appeal charge that without these studies, the state can't say
whether private prisons are more cost-effective than state facilities. The
department didn't immediately reply to requests for comment. Bids on contracts
were halted last year to beef up security requirements after three inmates
escaped from a private prison in Kingman. The department had expected to award
contracts as early as Sept. 12, but that process has been repeatedly delayed.
This week, the department asked the four bidders to extend their bids to Dec.
22.
October 28, 2011 AP
A judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by a Quaker group that had been a
potential roadblock to the state's plan to add 5,000 more private prison beds.
Judge Arthur Anderson of Maricopa County Superior Court said the American
Friends Service Committee lacked a legal right to request an injunction to block
the state from awarding new private prison contracts before the state satisfies
a long-ignored law requiring periodic studies comparing costs and services of
private and publicly run prisons. The Quaker group cited a 2010 escape from a
privately operated state prison near Kingman, and concerns about public safety
and tax dollars, in its lawsuit. The state requested dismissal of the suit and
is now conducting a comparison study while reviewing proposals for new or
expanded private prisons in communities around the state. The proposals under
evaluation are from four finalists chosen from companies that responded to the
Department of Corrections under a 2009 law. Caroline Issacs, Arizona program
director for the Quaker group, noted that Anderson's ruling was based only on
the issue of legal standing. The group remains concerned about the safety and
effectiveness of private prisons and is considering the possibility of an appeal
or other legal action, she said. Arizona's use of private prisons and its 2009
decision to increase that reliance have come under increased scrutiny because of
a 2010 escape from the Kingman prison, a facility later found to have been
plagued by security flaws. Two of the three inmates who escaped have been
charged with murdering an Oklahoma couple in New Mexico. Arizona now uses
private prisons to house about 6,000 of its 40,000 inmates. An attorney for the
Quaker group argued that the comparison study would provide the state with "a
baseline set of knowledge" needed to help protect the public's safety and tax
dollars. If the state had done the studies in the past, the Kingman escape might
not have happened and the public might have questioned whether private prisons
have provided cost savings for the state, the attorney told Anderson during an
Oct. 7 hearing. A lawyer for the state said the state's ongoing evaluation of
the four companies' contract proposals involves comparing costs and that the
proposals are scored on whether they meet the state's performance standards.
October 14, 2011 East Valley Tribune
A Quaker group asked a judge on Friday to block the state from putting more
inmates in private prisons, saying the Department of Corrections has never shown
it is safe or even cost effective. Vince Rabago, representing the American
Friends Service Committee, told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur
Anderson that the law requires the state to make a comparison every two years
between the services and safety of state-run facilities and those operated by
private companies. But there has never been such a study even though that law
has been on the books for more than 20 years. Without the study, Rabago argued,
there is no basis to know whether it makes sense for the state to go ahead with
its plans to contract for another 5,000 private prison beds. So he wants
Anderson to block that contract from being awarded until the first study, which
the Department of Corrections is finally doing this year, is completed. “The
state has an obligation to follow its laws,” Rabago told the judge. The 1987 law
dealing with awarding of contracts for private prisons requires the director of
the Department of Corrections to look at the job contractors are doing every two
years, considering everything from the programs and services offered to inmates
to food service and security. Rabago told Anderson the state needs the study as
a baseline to compare to what bidders for the new contract are offering.
Assistant Attorney General Rex Nowlan conceded that the state never had
performed the study. But he said that is legally irrelevant, arguing that the
Department of Corrections is effectively looking at all those issues. He also
pointed out that same law already prohibits the state from contracting for
private prison beds “unless the proposal offers cost savings to this state.”
Anyway, Nowlan questioned how the Quaker group — or the other plaintiffs who are
the parents of an adult inmate in a private prison — has any right to sue simply
because the Department of Corrections has not complied with the law requiring a
study. He said the only people who would have a right to complain are the
lawmakers who are supposed to get the report. Rabago disagreed. “Taxpayers have
a right to prevent the illegal expenditure of taxpayer monies,” he told the
judge. Nowlan responded that the Legislature specifically directed the
Department of Corrections to contract for another 5,000 beds at privately run
prisons. That is on top of the 6,400 inmates already housed in private
facilities. With that direction, Nowlan said, what the agency is doing cannot be
called illegal. Rabago said this is more than a question of a missing report.
“Maybe had the state done its job, maybe had it been doing these studies
properly ... maybe we would not be in a position where we would have had Kingman
(private prison) escapees murdering innocent people,” he said. “Maybe we
wouldn’t have riots and unsafe conditions which we know exist.” That murder
reference is to an incident last year when three violent criminals escaped from
a private prison run by Management and Training Corp. after an accomplice threw
a wire cutter over the fence. All eventually were recaptured, but not before an
Oklahoma couple, kidnapped at a New Mexico rest area, was murdered; several of
those involved have been charged in that incident. A study following that
incident found various failures with the operation of the facility, including a
perimeter alarm system that malfunctioned so often that corrections officers
routinely ignored it. The study also concluded the state itself had done a poor
job of oversight. State officials have not said when they will finally award the
new contract. But Barrett Marson, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections,
said his agency asked all the bidders to extend the expiration date on their
offers until Nov. 22 to provide more time to review the proposals. Anderson gave
no indication of when he will rule.
October 12, 2011 Coolidge Examiner
D-Day has been extended. The “D” stands for decision as in whether a prison is
built in Coolidge. Regardless of what side Coolidge citizens are on they want an
answer. The answer to whether Coolidge gets a private prison apparently will
come later rather than sooner. A decision that could have come as early as Sept.
16 has now been extended to Nov. 22, according to the Arizona Department of
Corrections. The DOC has apparently asked Management and Training Corporation (MTC)
and the other companies that bid on a private prison “to extend its bid through
November 22, 2011, while they continue to evaluate the proposals.” Though no DOC
officials were available for comment, Coolidge Mayor Tom Shope has a few ideas
of the hold up. “There is a lot of political play about the need for prisons,”
Shope said. “With the question about jail time that has been raised as well as
the private vs. state debate, there is a lot going on. That is probably what is
responsible more than anything for holding this up.” What Shope referred to was
an expose that appeared in the Sunday Arizona Republic that examined how Arizona
has some of the harshest sentences of any state in the country and the huge
price tag incurred. Also, there is the ongoing battle between the private and
federal prison advocates. Shope said he had hoped a decision would have been
made by now, but that he understands that there are external factors at work as
well. “Obviously, I was hoping for a decision sooner,” Shope said. “This just
prolongs the wait process. I am not losing sleep over it. It’s not the end of
the world. Every company that made a bid has to wait. Every city has to wait.
We’re all in the same boat. And I don’t have any hint of who is in the lead.”
There has been some talk that Eloy is in the lead because it would be most cost
effective. One undocumented report said that beds are already being cleared in
one of the city’s facilities. But Eloy Mayor Byron Jackson said he hasn’t heard
anything either from Corrections Corporation of America or the DOC. Jackson
still believes his city would make the most sense because it is most
cost-effective. “It only makes sense,” Jackson said. “It’s not like they would
have to build a new prison. They would just move people (from California) out
and move new people in. It’s not that big of a deal. We already have or could
provide the bed space. I haven’t heard that a final decision has been made.”
September 24, 2011 Arizona Republic
Arizona's Department of Corrections needs to do more to improve security at
private-contract and state-run prisons, a report released Friday by the state's
auditor general concludes. The report credits the department with making many
significant improvements since the July 2010 escapes of three prisoners from the
Kingman prison. These improvements include revamping the state's monitoring and
inspection programs, which had failed to detect obvious security flaws at
Kingman before the escapes; new, tougher annual audits of each prison; better
security and reporting requirements in new contracts; and stiffer requirements
and better training for state monitors who oversee private prisons.The audit
called for further steps to address ongoing security problems.
September 15, 2011 Arizona Daily Sun
A judge refused Wednesday to block the state from awarding new contracts to put
inmates in private prisons. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson
said members of the Quaker organization who filed suit earlier this week had not
shown their interests would be "irreparably harmed" if he refused to issue an
emergency order. That made the challengers legally ineligible for immediate
relief. But the ruling does not end the dispute. Anderson scheduled a hearing
for next week when he wants to hear from both the American Friends Service
Committee as well as the Department of Corrections. He could at that time, after
hearing evidence, then bar the state from proceeding with the additional private
prisons. That presumes, however, it is not too late. The law directing the
Department of Corrections to contract out for 5,000 private prison beds allows
the agency to award the bid as early as this Friday. And agency spokesman
Barrett Marson would not commit to holding off until after next week's hearing.
About 6,500 of the state's approximately 40,000 inmates already are in private
prisons. The lawsuit is based on the contention by the group that privately run
prisons are both more costly and less secure than those operated by the state.
What gives the group ammunition is that a 1987 state law requires a study to
determine whether private companies can not only do the job at a lower cost but
that the private companies meet the same standards on everything from security
to food. That law was ignored until Gov. Jan Brewer directed a study be done.
That study, however, will not be completed before the end of the year. The group
wants Anderson to preclude new contracts until that happens. Anderson, however,
said he cannot act now -- before the Department of Corrections gets a chance to
respond -- absent some showing of irreparable harm. Carolyn Isaacs, the group's
Arizona program manager, said there is such proof. "Certainly, the taxpayers are
harmed by wasting $650 million," she said. Isaacs also noted that other
plaintiffs in the lawsuit include a couple whose son in locked up in a private
prison in Kingman. They allege that guards in that facility have allowed attacks
to occur on African-American inmates. "There is irreparable harm happening daily
in these facilities, or at least the potential for it," Isaacs said. She also
pointed to the review done by the state of the operation of that Kingman
facility after three dangerous inmates escaped last year. One of the escapees
and an accomplice have been charged in connection with the murder of an Oklahoma
couple. "At any minute, another Kingman (incident) could possibly happen,"
Isaacs said.
September 15, 2011 Arizona Republic
A prison watchdog group's effort to block state plans for more private-prison
beds fell short Wednesday. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson
denied a request by the American Friends Service Committee for a temporary
restraining order against the Department of Corrections, pending a hearing
Tuesday on an injunction filed by the committee. That injunction seeks to block
Corrections from contracting for more private-prison beds until the department
completes a comprehensive cost-benefit study of private vs. state-run prisons,
due to be completed by January. Corrections officials have said they may
announce as early as Friday the award of one or more contracts for up to 5,000
new private-prison beds. The committee had requested the restraining order to
stop Corrections from awarding any contracts before its injunction is
considered. The committee's Arizona program director, Caroline Isaacs, called on
Corrections to voluntarily hold off on any award until after the hearing.
Corrections declined to comment on the injunction.
September 13, 2011 Arizona Republic
A group opposed to privatizing prisons filed suit Monday seeking to block, at
least temporarily, state plans to contract for 5,000 new private-prison beds as
early as Friday. The state "should not be allowed to hand over another cent of
taxpayers' money until the Department (of Corrections) can prove to us that
these prisons are safe, that the corporations are doing the job we're paying
them to do, and that the state is capable of holding them accountable," said
Caroline Isaacs, director of the Tucson office of the American Friends Service
Committee, a Quaker group that monitors prisons. Besides requesting a temporary
restraining order, the suit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court accuses
Arizona's Department of Corrections of failing to follow two state statutes: -
State law requires that any private-prison contract either save money or provide
better services for the same cost as state-run prisons. Cost comparisons done by
Corrections every year since 2005 consistently show that private prisons are
more expensive, the suit noted. - Corrections has failed for decades to carry
out biannual studies, required by law, comparing the performance of private vs.
state prisons on security, safety, how inmates are managed, programs and
services, and many other issues. The Corrections Department declined to comment
on the suit. Corrections officials previously have admitted that the biannual
studies have not been done. Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said the
department expects to complete its first such study by January. The department
had said it would announce the award of one or more contracts on or after
Friday. Four companies are finalists to build or provide prisons at five
possible sites. The committee was joined in the suit by Oralee and Joyce
Clayton, parents of an inmate at the privately run Kingman state prison who say
they're concerned for their son's safety. The group asked the court to issue a
temporary restraining order stopping Corrections from awarding any contract, at
least until it completes its first biannual cost-benefit comparison study. The
suit also asks the court to force the department to disclose the details of all
of its current contracts with private-prison operators.
September 12, 2011 Blog for Arizona
The state of Arizona is poised to award a lucrative private prison contract on
September 16, despite the Department of Corrections failure to comply with
Arizona law. (Arizona law requires the department to conduct a cost-benefit
analysis comparing state and private prisons every two years, which has never
been done). The American Friends Service Committee is going to do something
about it. Quakers threaten lawsuit over private prisons - Arizona Capitol Times
(subscription required): A Quaker organization and a West Valley advocacy group
are making last-minute efforts to stop the state from building private prisons.
American Friends Service Committee, a social action arm of the Quaker faith,
notified the Attorney General’s Office today it intends to sue to keep the
Department of Corrections from awarding contracts to build private prisons to
house 5,000 inmates. The contract award is scheduled for Sept. 16. Four
companies have bid to build prisons at five possible sites. Stacy Scheff, a
Tucson attorney representing the group, said she is going to ask a Maricopa
County Superior Court judge to prevent the state from awarding the contracts
until the completion of a required cost-benefit analysis comparing state and
private prisons. [Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said the
department is working on the study and it should be complete no later than
January.] The group has scheduled a press conference for Monday at 1:30 p.m. in
the House of Representatives.
August 17, 2011 ABC 15
Family members of a couple allegedly murdered by two Arizona prison escapees are
speaking out against a proposed prison. The Haas family is on a mission that
they never wanted, but feel they need pursue. “It’s something you think about
everyday,” said Linda Haas Rook. Rook’s brother Gary Haas and his wife Linda
were murdered last year. Investigators believe the killers are two men who
escaped from a prison in Kingman just days earlier. The Kingman prison is
operated by the Management and Training Corporation, which now has hopes to
build prisons in San Luis and Coolidge. The Haas family hopes to prevent the
company from doing so. Linda Rook planned to travel more than 1,400 miles with
her husband and her mother to the public hearing Tuesday night in San Luis to
voice her concerns. “[MTC] needs to right their wrongs,” she told ABC15 from her
stopover in Scottsdale. MTC has made several security upgrades to their facility
in Kingman, and a spokesperson said the company has a great track record with
the state. If MTC is approved to build the new prison, the company stated it
plans to bring about 500 jobs to the San Luis area.
August 17, 2011 Arizona Republic
Rep. Chad Campbell, the Arizona House minority leader, asked Gov. Jan Brewer on
Tuesday to temporarily halt a proposed 5,000-bed expansion of private prisons in
Arizona. Public hearings on the expansion continue this week, with one held
Tuesday in San Luis. It is among five communities where four companies are
bidding to provide the beds. The Arizona Department of Corrections is expected
to issue one or more contracts in late September. But, as The Arizona Republic
recently reported, the department has never completed the biannual, cost-benefit
analyses required by law to compare private and public prisons. Corrections
Director Charles Ryan said he expects the first such analysis to be completed in
January. In a letter to Brewer, Campbell, a Phoenix Democrat, asked her to hold
off on any new contract until the analysis is ready and "after enhanced
security, training and monitoring policies are in place and shown to be
effective at all existing private facilities." Brewer could not immediately be
reached. At Tuesday's public hearing, the two companies bidding to build prisons
near San Luis - Management and Training Corp. and Geo Group Inc. - tried to
fight back against criticism of their records in Arizona and elsewhere. MTC, in
particular, was criticized for the escapes of three prisoners from its Kingman
prison last year. Two of those prisoners are accused of kidnapping and murdering
an Oklahoma couple, Gary and Linda Haas. Vivian Haas, Gary's mother, has said
little in public in the year since the murders. But at the San Luis hearing, she
spoke out. "I've been through a lot of painful times in 81 years, even surviving
the terrible tornado that hit Joplin recently. But nothing compares to the pain
of having my kids brutally murdered because MTC couldn't do its job of keeping
criminals locked up," Haas said. MTC Vice President Mike Murphy, who spoke
before Haas, emphasized the 500 jobs and the tax benefits he said the proposed
prison would bring, and promised good security. Geo Group similarly focused on
jobs and security in its presentation.
August 11, 2011 Arizona Republic
Geo Group Inc.’s proposal to build a 2,000- to 5,000-bed private prison in
Goodyear ran into fierce public opposition Wednesday, with much of the anger at
a public hearing coming from residents who said the state has broken a promise
made at the time the nearby Perryville state prison was built. Geo tried to head
off criticism, saying its prison would be built to far higher security standards
than the state requires, with several extra layers of fencing and security
devices and with more staff. Company CEO George Zoley also stressed the economic
benefits of adding up to 1,000 construction jobs and up to 1,100 permanent jobs
if the largest alternative were selected. But despite giving a far more detailed
presentation than rival bidder Corrections Corp. of America provided at a
hearing in Eloy one night before, Geo Group ran into a buzz saw. Litchfield Park
Mayor Thomas Schoaf, in a statement read by City Manager Darryl Crossman, called
the proposal “a slap in the face to our residents,” a direct threat to the
public safety of the area “and a threat to the public welfare of our
communities.” Schoaf, in an argument echoed by others, said that when the state
built the Perryville prison in 1980, the Legislature overcame local opposition
by promising to limit the facility to 1,400 minimum-security women prisoners.
But by 1989, the state began sending male, higher-security inmates there.
Perryville now houses just under 3,500 inmates. Schoaf called a further prison
expansion preposterous. “I’m the guy who founded this company in 1984 . . . and
I’m accountable to you,” Zoley promised at the hearing. But when he declined to
answer a question about the ratio of correctional officers to prisoners, Dianne
Post, the NAACP’s Maricopa County representative, argued, “He says, ‘I’m
accountable to you.’ How? He won’t tell us his staff ratio. They’re not
accountable.” Other speakers alternated between those in construction – “We all
need jobs, we need jobs in this area,” said John Coffman – and those peppering
the company with questions, criticizing its record and political donations, or
arguing, as Goodyear resident Barb Julien said, “If this area had a Scottsdale
ZIP code, we wouldn’t be holding this meeting tonight.”
August 10, 2011 Arizona Republic
Private prisons are already a familiar sight in Eloy. Residents, many of them
employees of Corrections Corporation of America, expressed their support for the
company at a public hearing Tuesday night. "This is what CCA does to the
community," said Eloy resident and CCA employee Lt. Charlie Payne in front of
the crowd. "We become winners." "We truly, truly need this," said resident Linda
Gibson, also a CCA employee, when it was her turn to speak. Residents at the
hearing wanted the state to award CCA an agreement to manage 4500 Arizona
inmates. The inmates would be housed at Red Rock and La Palma correctional
facilities. "We're certainly very proud of the fact we already employ 2700
people in Pinal County alone and to the extent that the state needs to
additional services, the scope of the services will determine how many more jobs
that might entail," said Steven Owen, director of public affairs for CCA. "You
can see that there are a lot of folks here that currently work in these
facilities," said American Friends Service Committee program director Caroline
Isaacs as she stood outside of the public hearing at Curiel Annex School. "I
think the jobs argument is one they've been selling to small,
economically-strapped rural towns for decades." Opponents ranging from American
Friends Service Committee to the American Civil Liberties Union said that
private prisons don't really offer savings and are not accountable to taxpayers
like the state department of corrections. They questioned whether the new
contract would bring more jobs since current facilities will be used and
suggested that if current inmates are transported from state facilities to
private ones, state corrections jobs could be at stake. "Which current Arizona
facilities will be affected?" asked private prison critic Susan Maurer as she
stood in front of the hearing audience. "Will there be closures there and how
many jobs from those facilities would be lost?" "I cannot discuss informational
content in relationship to a vendor's proposal until we complete the public
hearing process at five sites," answered Charles Ryan, director of the Arizona
Department of Corrections.
August 10, 2011 Arizona Republic
Corrections Corp. of America is proposing to use two of its existing prisons in
Eloy to provide new private-prison beds for Arizona. Nashville-based CCA, the
country's largest operator of private prisons, would empty its Red Rock and La
Palma facilities of the inmates from Hawaii and California they now house to
create space for 4,500 Arizona inmates. CCA is one of four companies bidding to
contract with Arizona's Department of Corrections for up to 5,000 private prison
beds. It provided details of its plans at a standing-room-only meeting Tuesday
evening in Eloy. Under the proposal, CCA wouldn't expand either private prison;
rather, the Hawaiian and Californian inmates would move to one of the more than
60 other prisons elsewhere in the CCA system, likely in other states.
May 18, 2011 New York Times
The conviction that private prisons save money helped
drive more than 30 states to turn to them for housing inmates. But Arizona shows
that popular wisdom might be wrong: Data there suggest that privately operated
prisons can cost more to operate than state-run prisons — even though they often
steer clear of the sickest, costliest inmates. The state’s experience has
particular relevance now, as many politicians have promised to ease budget
problems by trimming state agencies. Florida and Ohio are planning major shifts
toward private prisons, and Arizona is expected to sign deals doubling its
private-inmate population. The measures would be a shot in the arm for an
industry that has struggled, in some places, to fill prison beds as the number
of inmates nationwide has leveled off. But hopes of big taxpayer benefits might
end in disappointment, independent experts say. “There’s a perception that the
private sector is always going to do it more efficiently and less costly,” said
Russ Van Vleet, a former co-director of the University of Utah Criminal Justice
Center. “But there really isn’t much out there that says that’s correct.” Such
has been the case lately in Arizona. Despite a state law stipulating that
private prisons must create “cost savings,” the state’s own data indicate that
inmates in private prisons can cost as much as $1,600 more per year, while many
cost about the same as they do in state-run prisons. The research, by the
Arizona Department of Corrections, also reveals a murky aspect of private
prisons that helps them appear less expensive: They often house only relatively
healthy inmates. “It’s cherry-picking,” said State Representative Chad Campbell,
leader of the House Democrats. “They leave the most expensive prisoners with
taxpayers and take the easy prisoners.” In the 1980s, soaring violent crime,
tougher sentencing and overcrowding led lawmakers to use private prisons to
expand. Then, as now, privatization advocates argued that corporations were more
efficient. Over time, most states signed contracts, one of the largest transfers
of state functions to private industry. Nationally, the number of state inmates
in private prisons grew by a third over the past decade to more than 90,000, but
it has stagnated, and some states have reduced total prison populations —
shifting nonviolent offenders to treatment programs while bolstering probation.
Now, Ohio lawmakers want to privatize prisons with 6,000 inmates, and Florida
will transfer institutions with 15,000 inmates to private management. The
Arizona plan would add 5,000 private prison beds. Matthew Benson, spokesman for
Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, a Republican, did not dispute the state research.
But he said officials had a “pretty wide lens” to interpret the cost-savings
mandate, like taking into account the ability of private companies to recoup
hundreds of millions in construction costs over the life of contracts. “It is a
significant advantage to have a private firm be able to come in and front the
costs,” he said. Privatization advocates play down the data. Leonard Gilroy,
director of government reform for the Reason Foundation, a libertarian research
organization, questioned whether all costs were included and said the figures
were too narrowly drawn, particularly on medium-security prisons, to prompt
conclusions. “It is looking at a limited slice,” Mr. Gilroy said. Competing
studies — some financed by the prison industry — have argued over claims of
savings. But when a University of Utah team including Mr. Van Vleet reviewed
years of research, it concluded in 2007 that “cost savings from privatizing
prisons are not guaranteed and appear minimal.” Steve Owen, spokesman for the
largest operator, Corrections Corporation of America, said: “There is a mixed
bag of research out there. It’s not as black and white and cut and dried as we
would like.” A number of states mandate that contracts save money. But Arizona
is one of the few — if not only — places to measure the outcome so rigorously.
While private prisons collect a daily rate per inmate, some expenses
disproportionately borne by states are not counted. The most significant are
terms limiting sicker inmates. Five of eight private prisons serving Arizona did
not accept inmates with “limited physical capacity and stamina” or severe
physical illness or chronic conditions, according to the state’s analysis,
issued last month. None took inmates with “high need” mental health conditions.
Some inmates who became sick were “returned to state prisons due to an increase
of their medical scores that exceeds contractual exclusions.” “Unlike the
private contractors,” the analysis said, the state “is required to provide
medical and mental health services to inmates regardless of the severity of
their condition.” Medical costs averaged up to $2.44 a day more for state
inmates, a third higher than private prisons. That gap can be wider. In Florida,
officials found that two private prisons spent only about half as much on health
care per inmate as comparable state prisons, a difference of $9 million over two
years. Florida officials say that the new plan will better balance costs, and
that private prisons comply with a 7-percent-savings law. But skeptics like
State Senator Mike Fasano, a Republican, fear cherry-picking may be the only way
they can do that. In Arizona, minimum-security state inmates cost 2.6 percent —
or $1.39 per day — more than those in private prisons, before accounting for
extra costs borne by the state. But after eliminating these, state prisoners
cost only three cents more per day, the analysis found. And state
medium-security inmates cost 4.4 percent less before adjustments and 8.7 percent
less afterward. That is more than $2 million annually at one prison, or $1,679
per inmate. Using 2009 corrections data, state auditors calculated the
difference at up to $2,834 per inmate. Charles L. Ryan, the Arizona corrections
director, said private prisons “often negotiate restrictions on the type of
inmates” and limit “inmates with medical conditions to a specific cost level.”
The new contracts seek to reduce this practice. Mr. Owen did not dispute the
Arizona research, but said the industry saved money. He pointed to a study —
partly financed by the industry — that found states with private prisons had
lower growth in public prison costs. “We do provide value to our government
partners,” he said. However, Mr. Owen acknowledged that most contracts had cost
caps, and that terms barring the sickest prisoners were not unusual. He said his
company never voiced a preference for such terms. “The myth is that we are
somehow hand-selecting” inmates. According to Arizona officials, the data
account for costs as varied as guards’ pensions and inmate food. They track past
results publicized in the state, but those have not prompted any privatization
rethinking: contracts on the state’s expansion could be awarded by the summer.
November 9, 2010 Arizona Republic
A criminal-justice watchdog group has called on state leaders to cancel a
contract for 5,000 private-prison beds and launch an investigation into the
private-prison industry's "lack of accountability" and influence on state
politics. The Arizona office of the American Friends Service Committee, a
national Quaker non-profit group that focuses on human rights, held a news
conference Monday announcing their concerns. The group said it wants the
Attorney General's Office and Secretary of State's Office to investigate issues
including the private-prison industry's campaign contributions to state
legislators, lobbyists' efforts to push legislation that boosts incarceration
rates, and the need for private prisons in Arizona. "We're just asking for basic
transparencies in an industry that has a stake in making money off incarcerating
people," said Caroline Isaacs, a committee spokeswoman.
November 3, 2010 KPHO
A state audit of the Arizona Department of Corrections found private prisons
cost taxpayers more money per inmate. The audit report says housing a
medium-custody inmate at a private prison costs $55.89 per day. The daily cost
of housing the same inmate at a state facility was calculated at $48.13 a day.
State auditor Dale Chapman said there more extensive research is needed on the
costs of private prisons. Chapman has examined Arizona's Department of
Corrections budget and recommended state lawmakers invest money examining
private prisons' price tag. "We think there would be a value in determining and
spending time and resources on determining the costs of housing an inmate in a
state facility versus a private facility," said Chapman.
September 27, 2010 Havasu News-Herald
A Golden Valley prison will get a new prison administrator within a few weeks,
the facility’s officials said Monday. Management & Training Corp. staff members
were informed Friday via e-mail that Jerry Sternes would be appointed as complex
administrator, and Neil Turner as warden at the Hualapai unit. Al Murphy, MTC’s
corrections vice-president, sent the e-mail. Sternes has more than 25 years
experience in corrections and recently retired as complex administrator at the
Arizona State Prison in Yuma, which is a 5,000-bed prison, according to the
e-mail. Turner is a returning MTC employee who worked at a correctional facility
in Grafton, Ohio. He has 20 years experience, according to the e-mail. Turner
will replace former unit warden Lori Lieder, who resigned following the escape
of three prisoners, Daniel Renwick, John McCluskey and Tracy Province, from the
prison July 30. Carl Stuart, MTC communication director, wrote Monday in an
e-mail that Darla Elliott, former MTC/Arizona State Prison — Kingman complex
administrator, “was placed on administrative leave by MTC sometime in mid-August
… Ms. Elliot remains an employee with MTC. She has not yet been reassigned. She
will not be returning to the Kingman facility.” Sternes will take her position.
Charles Ryan, Arizona Department of Corrections director, presented Mohave
County Supervisors with an overview of it internal investigation into the prison
break Sept. 20 in Kingman. Although the investigation continues, it has exposed
factors contributing to the escape including human error, a faulty perimeter
security system and opportunistic inmates, according to earlier reports. After
the escape, an investigation showed that prison officials neglected to inform
state legislators, Mohave County Board of Supervisors and Mohave County
Sheriff’s Office about facility changes. This neglect violated state law and the
prison’s contract. In 2005, the prison failed to notify authorities when it
changed status from a minimum-custody DUI prison to a minimum/medium-custody
prison, which means it could house more dangerous criminals. MTC failed to
notify authorities again in 2006 and in 2008 about prisoner movement and
contract status amendments linked to the prison’s addition of a 2,000-bed
complex. In 2007, the first murderers were transferred to the prison near
Kingman, according to earlier reports. Local authorities did not know. “It was
almost unbelievable these people (murderers) had been out there,” said Mohave
County Sheriff Sheahan recently. “I was surprised at the amount of high-risk
criminals.” Tracy Province is currently in custody at the county jail in
Kingman, Sheahan said. “(Province’s) comments were something to the effect that
he was somewhat surprised he was transferred to this type of prison,” Sheahan
said. Province came to ADC in January 1993, and was serving a life sentence for
murder and robbery in Pima County at the time of his escape, according to
earlier reports. On the night of the escape, by the time prison officials had
reported the incident to law enforcement authorities the prisoners were “long
gone,” Sheahan said. According to ADC information, MTC determined the three
inmates missing around 9 p.m. but didn’t alert MCSO until 10:19 p.m. “At that
time, (MCSO) dispatchers were trying to fill out the information for statewide
and national dispatch,” Sheahan said. “(MTC) didn’t event know (the inmates’)
names after the individuals had been missing an hour-and-a-half.” When
dispatchers asked MTC officials to describe the escaped prisoners, all MTC
conveyed was that they were wearing orange. The prison also gave sheriff’s
deputies photographs of the escapees that were nearly 20 years out of day,
Sheahan said, adding this added to his agency’s frustration with the facility.
September 21, 2010 The Arizona Republic
The Arizona Department of Corrections employee assigned to ensure a privately
run prison near Kingman was operated according to state standards was
overwhelmed by paperwork and admitted he screwed up, according to an internal
review released Monday of a prison escape that led to a nationwide manhunt.
David Lee, who was associate deputy warden at the facility when the escape took
place July 30, told the state's internal investigators that he had not read the
contract between the state and prison operator Management & Training Corp. in
his 14 months on the job and that he was unaware of the persistent issues with
false alarms that plagued the complex. A lieutenant told investigators that the
alarm system could go off 200 or 300 times a shift. The report also indicates
that the alarm system hadn't been serviced in two years after a contract expired
with a maintenance provider. Neither Lee nor any of his superiors knew anything
about the alarm problems, according to the report. Lee was fired and his
supervisor resigned following the escape. Daniel Renwick, 36, Tracy Province,
43, and John McCluskey, 45, broke out of the prison July 30 after McCluskey's
fiancée, Casslyn Welch, 44, allegedly threw cutting tools and weapons into the
prison yard. An officer initially said the perimeter was clear after the escape
and authorities worked under the assumption that the inmates were still inside
the compound until the officer returned a second time and noticed a hole in the
perimeter fence.
September 15, 2010 Arizona Silver Belt
The Arizona Department of Corrections has made it official. Four bids to build
new private prison complexes in the state for up to 5,000 beds for DOC inmates,
including a 1,000 inmate prison in Globe, all have been formally rejected. The
state agency has been sitting on the proposals for a 20-year contract from these
prison operators since the May 28 deadline for submission. However, after some
three months and two weeks of deliberations, and coping with a major July prison
escape at Kingman, the Arizona Department of Corrections made its decision last
Friday and sent separate letters to the four firms. They were Emerald
Correctional Management, Management and Training Corporation, GEO Group
Corrections and Corrections Corporation of America. Denel Pickering, Chief
Procurement Officer for the Arizona Department of Corrections told the firms the
state agency had decided to cancel the solicitation for building the private
prisons in its entirely and no contracts would be awarded. According to
Pickering, the corrections department cancelled the solicitation for bids, all
which had been opened, because it was determined the requirements for new
prisons have changed . The state official indicated a new request for proposals
for building private correctional centers in the state would be made again and
when that happens each of these firms would be sent a copy. In the meantime, DOC
said the current solicitation file will remain closed and not open for public
review until a new contract is secured.
September 3, 2010 Arizona Republic
The first legal action in the Arizona prison breakout that led to the killing of
two campers has been filed against the state and the operator of the private
prison. Vivian Haas, the mother of murder victim Gary Haas, filed a $10 million
claim against Arizona and a wrongful death lawsuit against Management Training
Corp., the company that operates the private prison near Kingman where three
fugitives escaped on July 30. The notice of claim is a required precursor to a
lawsuit. Police believe one of those escaped inmates, John McCluskey, murdered
Gary Haas and his wife, Linda, near Santa Rosa, N.M. in the days following the
escape as the fugitives grew weary of traveling in a car and targeted the Haas'
for their camping trailer. The escape led to a nationwide manhunt that stretched
from Arizona to the Canada border. The claim against Arizona notes the state's
failure to maintain custody of the inmates, to properly train and supervise
personnel at the prison and to promptly notify law enforcement officials in the
area after the escape. "I have conveyed my condolences to the Haas family and
friends, however, I cannot comment on pending litigation," Department of
Corrections Director Charles Ryan said in a statement. Management Training Corp.
could not be immediately reached for comment. Reviews of the July 30 incident
have painted the picture of a prison where detention officers became
lackadaisical and predictable in their movements and where equipment failures-
including false alarms- were so common that they were frequently ignored.
Detention officers failed to check an alarm that sounded when McCluskey, Tracy
Province and Daniel Renwick cut through one of two security fences ringing the
privately run prison near Kingman. Investigators have said McCluskey's fiancée,
Casslyn Welch, threw cutting tools over the fence to the men who snipped through
chain link and barbed wire to flee into the desert. It was more than two hours
before staff at the private prison notified the state corrections officials of
the escape. By then, Renwick was making his way north to Colorado while
McCluskey, Province and Welch were on their way to hijacking a truck near
Kingman and forced the drivers to take them to Flagstaff. Renwick was captured
two days after the escape after he exchanged gunfire with police in Colorado.
After allegedly receiving help from relatives in Arizona, McCluskey, Province
and Welch made their way east, ultimately ending up at a rest stop in New Mexico
where, according to statements Province gave investigators, they saw 61-year-old
Gary and Linda Haas, an Oklahoma couple taking an annual camping trip. After
days on the road in a cramped sedan, the fugitives decided to target travelers
with a camping trailer and the Haas' fit the bill. Province told investigators
that he and McCluskey forced the couple into their truck at gunpoint while Welch
followed behind. They all ended up in a remote area near Santa Rosa where
McCluskey shot the Haas' in their trailer, according to court documents. The
fugitives set fire to the trailer in an effort to hide the evidence. A rancher
discovered the burned trailer on Aug. 4.
August 25, 2010 Private Corrections Working Group
Today, the Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG), a not-for-profit
organization that exposes the problems of and educates the public about
for-profit private corrections, called for overhaul of the Arizona Department of
Corrections’ (ADOC) oversight of the for-profit prison industry, including: • An
immediate halt to all bidding processes involving private prison operators and a
moratorium on new private prison beds • Hold public hearings during the special
session to address the problems with for-profit prisons in Arizona • Enact other
cost-cutting measures that not only save money but enhance public safety, like
earned release credits, amending truth in sentencing, and restoring judicial
discretion. This action came about after the ADOC released a security audit on
August 19th concerning the July 30 escape of three dangerous prisoners from a
private prison in Kingman operated by Management and Training Corp. (MTC)
(Coincidentally, that same day the last escapee and an accomplice, John
McCluskey and Casslyn Mae Welch, were captured without incident at a campground
in eastern Arizona. The other two escaped prisoners, Tracy Province and Daniel
Renwick, had been caught previously in Wyoming and Colorado). Ken Kopczynski,
executive director of PCWG, condemned MTC for the numerous security failures
that led to the July 30 escape. “If MTC had properly staffed the facility,
properly trained their employees and properly maintained security at the Kingman
prison, this escape would not have occurred. But because MTC is a private
company that needs to generate profit, and therefore cut costs related to
staffing, training and security, three dangerous inmates were able to escape and
at least two innocent victims are dead as a result,” Kopczynski observed. “That
is part of the cost of prison privatization that MTC and other private prison
firms don’t want to talk about.” The murders of an Oklahoma couple, Gary and
Linda Hass, whose burned bodies were found in New Mexico on August 4, were tied
to McCluskey, Welch and Province. While MTC said it took responsibility for the
escape, vice-president Odie Washington acknowledged the company could not
prevent future escapes. “Escapes occur at both public and private” prisons, he
stated, ignoring the fact that most secure facilities do not experience any
escapes – particularly escapes as preventable as the one at MTC’s Kingman
prison. According to the ADOC security audit, the prison’s perimeter fence
registered 89 alarms over a 16-hour period on the day the escape occurred, most
of them false. MTC staff failed to promptly check the alarms – sometimes taking
over an hour to respond – and light bulbs on a control panel that showed the
status of the perimeter fence were burned out. “The system was not maintained or
calibrated,” said ADOC Director Charles Ryan. Further, a perimeter patrol post
was not staffed by MTC, and according to a news report from the Arizona Daily
Star, “a door to a dormitory that was supposed to be locked had been propped
open with a rock, helping the inmates escape.” Additionally, MTC officials did
not promptly notify state corrections officials following the escape and high
staff turnover at the facility had resulted in inexperienced employees who were
ill-equipped to detect and prevent the break-out. According to MTC warden Lori
Lieder, 80 percent of staff at the Kingman prison were new or newly promoted.
Although the ADOC was supposed to be monitoring its contract with MTC to house
state prisoners, the security flaws cited in the audit went undetected for
years. Ryan faulted human error and “serious security lapses” at the private
prison. Arizona corrections officials removed 148 state prisoners from the MTC
facility after the escape due to security concerns. “I lacked confidence in this
company’s ability,” said ADOC Director Ryan. Although it’s a small corporation,
since 1995 over a dozen prisoners have escaped from MTC facilities in Utah,
Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Eagle Mountain, California –where two inmates
were murdered during a riot in 2003.
August 23, 2010 Arizona Republic
After three violent criminals escaped from a private prison last month in
Kingman, state officials began asking why they had been assigned to a
medium-security facility. John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick
escaped July 30 after an embarrassing series of security lapses at the prison,
operated by Utah-based Management and Training Corp. All three have been
captured, but their escape is likely to spur further discussion on how to
classify inmates' security risks and decide where to house them. Both public and
private prisons use the state's classification system, but the Arizona
Department of Corrections already has pulled some inmates from the Kingman
facility as it rethinks how it assigns risk. Arizona assigns inmates a number
from one to five, with five representing the highest risk, based on their
crimes. Depending on their score, inmates are assigned to one of four custody
levels: minimum, medium, close and maximum. Over time, an inmate's
classification can be adjusted up or down based on the inmate's behavior in
custody. The system works when used properly, said Tom Rosazza, a consultant and
former state corrections director. But the system can also mean that more
violent offenders can wind up in less-secure facilities depending on their
behavior. Although they were in a medium-security facility at a private prison,
McCluskey, Province and Renwick qualified as dangerous offenders. Renwick was a
convicted murderer. Province killed a man in 1991 by stabbing him 51 times.
McCluskey was sentenced in Arizona for attempted murder and had a previous
armed-robbery conviction in Pennsylvania. "My first thought was, 'What the hell
were those guys doing at that (Kingman) place?' " Rosazza said. Their cases are
not unique. There are more than 1,400 inmates serving time for murder in
medium-security settings in Arizona, including 796 with life sentences. More
than 100 were housed at the prison near Kingman, the only private facility in
Arizona to house murderers. Province entered the prison system with a maximum
"five" rating when he reported to serve his life sentence in 1993 but was moved
down to a "three," or medium security, by 1997. Renwick followed a similar path
through the system, while McCluskey entered custody as a medium-security inmate
for firing a shotgun into a Mesa home in 2009. Authorities allege the trio
escaped with help from Casslyn Welch, McCluskey's cousin and fiancee. The
escapees are believed to have cut their way through a fence. Alarms were ignored
because, according to state officials, prison guards thought they were false.
Renwick was recaptured Aug. 1 in Colorado after a shootout with police. Province
was caught Aug. 9 in Wyoming. McCluskey and Welch were caught Thursday evening
in Apache County and are suspected along with Province of being involved in the
murder of an elderly couple in New Mexico shortly after the escape. Because of
the three inmates' possible post-escape crimes, the classification issue likely
will come up in any future lawsuits against the state or a prison operator,
Rosazza said. "That would be the first thing I'd look at," he said. Arizona
officials control what factors are used in determining prisoner classifications
and, based on those classifications, decide which facilities prisoners are held
in. Although the former fugitives escaped from a private facility, the state
will bear some liability in any court action because it is responsible for
prisoners sentenced in Arizona. "The state doesn't contract away its
responsibility," Rosazza said.
August 22, 2010 Arizona Republic
Arizona puts more of its inmates into privately run prisons every year, even
though the prisons may not be as secure as state-run facilities and may not save
taxpayers money. Lawmakers began using private prisons to ease overcrowding and
have supported their use so aggressively that today, one in five Arizona inmates
is housed in a private facility. Many inmates from other states also are housed
in private prisons in Arizona, but the state has little information about who
they are and limited oversight of how they are secured. The state has 11
privately operated prisons. A high-profile escape of three Arizona inmates last
month from a Kingman-area private prison, which spurred a nationwide manhunt and
is believed to have resulted in two murders, raises questions about the
industry's growth and the degree of state oversight. The last fugitives in that
escape were caught Thursday, and the state's prison director has promised
changes to the private sites that house Arizona inmates. State leaders in recent
years have pushed for more privatization and have blocked efforts to regulate
the industry, which has invested heavily in local lobbying and contributed to
political campaigns. Last year, officials approved a plan to hand over the
operation of nearly every state prison to private companies. The plan was
repealed only after no credible bidder came forward. This year, lawmakers
approved 5,000 new private-prison beds for Arizona prisoners. Data suggest that
the facilities are less cost-effective than they claim to be. A cost study by
the Arizona Department of Corrections this year found that it can often be more
expensive to house inmates in private prisons than in their state-run
counterparts. A growing industry -- Arizona's use of private prisons dates back
to the early 1990s, when lawmakers, grappling with overcrowding in state
facilities, authorized the construction of a 450-bed minimum-security prison in
Marana to house drug and alcohol abusers. The prison is owned and operated by
Management & Training Corp., the Utah-based company that also operates the
Kingman facility where the three inmates escaped. Since then, Arizona has
increasingly relied on for-profit operators to manage its own inmates. It also
has allowed private companies to import prisoners from other states. Rapid
growth began in 2003 and the years immediately following, when Arizona was again
wrestling with prison overcrowding. To ease the shortage, Republican lawmakers
agreed to build 2,000 new prison beds, compromising with a reluctant Gov. Janet
Napolitano, a Democrat, to make half of them private. Around the same time,
nearly a dozen other states grappling with the same issues began shipping their
inmates to private facilities elsewhere in the country. Arizona, with cheap land
and a receptive political climate, became a go-to destination for private-prison
operators, who began accepting inmates from as far as Washington and Hawaii.
Today, Arizona houses 20.1 percent of its prisoners in private facilities,
according to state data from July. Exactly how many inmates are here from other
states is unclear. Last year, lawmakers took the unprecedented step of exploring
the privatization of almost the entire Arizona correctional system, passing a
bill that would have turned over the state's prisons to private operators for an
up-front payment of $100 million. The payment would have helped the state close
a billion-dollar budget gap. The bill, which also included a host of changes
related to the state's budget, was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer, but the language
relating to prison privatization was repealed in a later special session. The
state now has an open contract for the construction and operation of 5,000 new
private-prison beds. Arizona's reliance on private facilities coincides with
operators' increasing national political activity in hiring lobbyists and
donating to political campaigns. The ties between the companies and Arizona
elected officials - which go back nearly a decade - have become a campaign issue
in this year's gubernatorial race. Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of
America, the nation's largest operator of private prisons, runs six in Arizona,
three of which house inmates for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Brewer's critics have suggested that she signed Senate Bill 1070, and has
advocated for privatization of some prisons, in part to benefit CCA's bottom
line. Democrats have called on Brewer, a Republican, to fire "aides" associated
with the prison company. That includes HighGround, a Phoenix consulting and
lobbying firm managing Brewer's gubernatorial campaign. The firm counts CCA
among its clients. Brewer's official spokesman, Paul Senseman, also used to
lobby for CCA. Campaign finance reports filed earlier this year show that eight
executives with CCA contributed $1,080 of the $51,193 in seed money Brewer
received for her gubernatorial campaign. CCA also gave $10,000 to the "Yes on
100" campaign, which backed a temporary, 1-cent-on-the-dollar increase in the
state's sales tax. Brewer was the chief advocate for the tax, which was approved
by voters in May. In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Brewer said those
connections have not influenced her policy decisions. She said she never felt
pressured by any of her advisers. "It's absolutely political posturing and
rhetoric," Brewer said. "I find it very disappointing. We have a bed shortage
here in Arizona, and we have to come up with some way to incarcerate
(criminals). The best way, the least expensive way, is to do it with private
prisons." The industry's political connections have extended to other Arizona
politicians. According to a 2006 report from the National Institute on Money in
State Politics, the private-prison industry gave to the campaigns of 29 of 42
Arizona lawmakers who heard a 2003 proposal to increase state private-prison
beds. Between 2001 and 2004, the industry contributed $77,267 to Arizona's
legislative and gubernatorial candidates, the vast majority through lobbyists
paid to represent their interests at the Legislature. In most cases, donations
ranged from a couple of hundred dollars to as much as $2,500. Lax oversight --
The state Department of Corrections has varying levels of oversight of Arizona's
private-prison network. Some prisons house criminals convicted in Arizona. The
Corrections Department regulates those facilities, though private-prison critics
question whether those facilities maintain the same safety standards as their
state-run counterparts. Other private prisons house inmates from other states or
on behalf of the federal government. Arizona does not dictate what kinds of
inmates they may accept, nor the manner in which they are secured. In those
situations, private-prison operators work with their outside-government partners
on training specifications and other operational details. They report to Arizona
only the names, security classifications and number of inmates housed at their
facilities. State stat- utes do not require private operators to provide Arizona
officials details about the crimes the prisoners committed or escape data. In
2007, two convicted killers sent from another state stole ladders from a
maintenance building and climbed onto a roof at a private prison outside
Florence. Brandishing a fake gun, they climbed over the prison walls and escaped
to freedom. One was caught within hours, but it was almost a month before the
other was caught hundreds of miles away in his home state of Washington. As with
the Kingman breakout, the 2007 escape drew attention to the largely unregulated
growth of private prisons in the state, particularly prisons that house other
states' inmates. To address security concerns, a bipartisan bill drafted by
Napolitano's office in 2008 and introduced by Republican state Sen. Robert
Blendu would have required private prisons to be built to the state's
construction standards. The proposal also would have ended the practice of
private prisons importing murderers, rapists and other dangerous felons to
Arizona. And it would have required the companies to share security and inmate
information with state officials. After an initial flurry of activity, the bill
died. "The private-prison industry lobbied heavily against that bill, and they
were successful," said Michael Haener, Napolitano's lobbyist at the time. Blendu
later left the Legislature, and the bill was not reintroduced. What little
regulation private prisons have in Arizona stems from a series of escapes in the
late 1990s. In response, the Legislature passed a law requiring the
reimbursement of law-enforcement costs from private-prison operators in the
event of an escape. Arizona laws also require companies to carry insurance to
cover law-enforcement costs in cases of escape, to notify state officials when
they bring new prisoners into the state and to return out-of-state prisoners to
their home states to be released. But there are no penalties if the companies
don't comply. Costs questioned -- Notwithstanding lawmakers' concerns about
security, private prisons gained favor in part because of the promised savings
they could deliver to a cash-strapped and overcrowded prison system. Yet studies
have questioned whether those savings are real. In making their pitches,
private-prison companies played on the desire of many lawmakers to shift more
state services to the private sector. Direct cost comparisons between for-profit
and public prisons can be difficult, however. According to the National
Institute of Justice, private prisons tend to make much lower estimates of their
overhead costs to the state for oversight, inmate health care and staff
background checks. Officials at public prisons often argue that the state winds
up paying a higher cost for those services than is advertised, mitigating
savings that private prisons are built to deliver. A study this year by the
Arizona Department of Corrections found that when various costs are factored in,
it can be more expensive to house an inmate in a private prison than it is to
house one in a state-run prison. The cost of housing a medium-security inmate is
$3 to $8 more per day in a private prison, depending on what assumptions are
made about overhead costs to the state, the study found. Travis Pratt, a
professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University, said
there is no evidence that private prisons save government agencies money, even
though they typically promise up-front savings. To maintain profit margins,
Pratt said, companies often cut back on staff training, wages and inmate
services. "Cost savings like that don't come without consequences," Pratt said.
"And that can present a security risk that's elevated." Odie Washington, a
senior vice president at Management & Training Corp., acknowledged Thursday that
the Kingman prison employed an inexperienced staff. "We have a lot of very young
staff that have not integrated into very strong security practices," Washington
said. Private-prison operators disagree with Pratt's assessment, contending that
they can deliver services efficiently and safely. "That's one of the more
frustrating misconceptions out there for us that we have to repeatedly respond
to," said Steve Owen, director of public affairs for Corrections Corporation of
America. Owen said it is CCA's "general experience" that private prisons can
save states and the federal government 5 to 15 percent on operational costs. The
company also can build facilities more cheaply, he said. CCA is contractually
required to meet or exceed training requirements that states they work for set
for themselves, Owen said. In addition, the company has made sure its prisons in
Arizona comply with accreditation standards put in place by the American
Correctional Association, a Virginia-based trade group. Many communities,
meanwhile, eagerly welcome private prisons because the facilities generate jobs
and economic activity. CCA prisons in Florence and Eloy, for example, employ
2,700 people. Last year, the company paid $26 million in property taxes, Owen
said. What's next -- Lawmakers from both parties have called for hearings into
what went wrong in Kingman. Presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry
Goddard has said he would push to bring back the 2008 private-prison bill.
Goddard also is calling for an immediate re-evaluation of the system used to
classify and place inmates in facilities. The five-tiered system, which allows
some violent criminals to migrate to lower-security facilities for good
behavior, met with bipartisan criticism in the wake of the escapes. Two of the
three inmates who escaped from the medium-security Kingman prison had been
convicted of murder. Goddard said the three recent escapees never should have
been in a medium-security prison. Charles Ryan, director of the Department of
Corrections, announced Thursday that the state would slow its bidding process
for the 5,000 new private-prison beds pending additional review. Brewer has said
little publicly about the escape but told The Republic last week that she is
committed to holding prison operators responsible for mistakes they made. She
said she has ordered Ryan to conduct a "complete review to make sure that
inmates are appropriately secured and in the right kinds of facilities." While
Brewer remains confident that private prisons are well suited to house
less-violent offenders, she said: "What has happened is unacceptable, and I am
absolutely pushing for more accountability."
August 18, 2010 AP
Past audits of the Arizona state prison where three inmates escaped last month
gave the facility high marks and revealed few issues with security or staff
training, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The escape on
July 30 has put corrections officials and the operator of the privately run
prison under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. But if there was an indication of
any widespread security problems at the facility that houses minimum- and
medium-security inmates, it doesn't show in the internal audits. On security
issues, the audits showed overall compliance rates of 98.8 percent in 2007, 99.9
percent in 2009 and 99.5 percent in 2010. Nearly 2,870 areas of security were
audited over the three years and 37 were marked as noncompliant. One security
issue was tagged in 2006. No audits were done in 2005 or 2008 because of fiscal
constraints, said Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson. No
independent audits of the Kingman prison have been done. The audits instead are
conducted by a team of about 15 made up of staff at the corrections department
and the prison who are considered subject matter experts. The audit team
evaluates areas of the prison that include security, training, medical, food
service and business for compliance with the state contract and other orders. A
yearly schedule of audits is available in July, giving prisons advance notice,
Marson said. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections
Working Group, said it's difficult to tell whether the audits are a true
reflection of the operations at the prison without attached documentation to
support the findings. The group advocates against private prisons he said
typically overwork, underpay and don't properly train the staff. "Audits are
used a lot of times to make things look like they're OK," he said. "Maybe they
are OK. I doubt it." Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said the prison
operator would correct the security deficiencies that contributed to the escape
of John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick. Criminal and
administrative investigations into the escape are ongoing. McCluskey's fiancee
and cousin, Casslyn Welch, is accused of throwing wire cutters over a perimeter
fence that the men used to slice their way out and flee. Welch's visitation
privileges at the prison were terminated after a random search in June during a
visit to McCluskey turned up what was believed to be heroin. Welch told
investigators that she was paid by members or associates of a white supremacist
group to smuggle the drug into the prison but didn't say who it was intended
for. State legislators have urged corrections officials and Gov. Jan Brewer's
office to release the results of a security review done following the escape.
Corrections officials said the report still is being written and should be
released this week.
June 30, 2010 Arizona Silver Belt
Members of the Southern Gila County Economic Development Corporation (SGCEDC)
hosted an invitation-only luncheon banquet at the Dream Manor Inn on Thursday,
June 24, to further promote and rally support in favor of having a 1,000-bed
prison built on state land out by the County Fair Grounds within Globe City
limits. The luncheon cast the prison project in a very positive light, stressing
the economic impact it will have for the communities of Southern Gila County.
Opponents of the prison were not invited to attend, however. The press was also
excluded, but was given admittance at the door with the request that no pictures
be taken and no questions be asked. Special guests included Arizona State
Senator Sylvia Allen and Arizona State Representative Bill Konopnicki, Gila
Community College Senior Dean Dr. Stephen Cullen and Dean Patricia Burke, Globe
Vice-Mayor Thea Wilshire, City Manager Kane Graves, county supervisors Mike
Pastor and Shirley Dawson, County Manager Don McDaniel, Sheriff John Armer, and
Emerald Companies Director of Business Development Mike Moore, F.C. Cuny
Corporation President Chris Cuny, and Corplan Corrections President James Parkey.
The meeting reiterated many of the same points made in previous presentations at
Globe City Council. The main objective this time was to ask Allen and Konopnicki
to make their support of a private prison to be built in Southern Gila County
known at the state level. Allen was very receptive of the proposal after
watching a DVD put together by the EDC and hearing from the EDC board members
and city and county officials. Konopnicki was eager to hear how the project
would benefit the local economy and said he supported the state building the
prisons in rural areas throughout the state of Arizona. He did ask for more
information about qualified workforce numbers as well as the exact per diem
number. Konopnicki further requested more information on the expansion
possibility that was touched on, with the option of increasing the facilities
from a 1,000 to a 2,000-bed prison. He asked to have information sent to him in
a summary form. Thea Wilshire gave a presentation about the need to diversify
the local economy. Pastor commented on the need for expanded services to the
region. Finally, Mickie Nye spoke of how the prison will benefit local families
and businesses. Melissa Woodall concluded the presentation part of the luncheon
saying “We are only asking for 1,000 beds, only 20 percent of the total amount.
That is not too much.” The three gentlemen from the companies who build and
operate the private prison ended with a plea “Is there anything our team can do
to help this project? Is that a fair question?” On June 29, 2010, the Arizona
Department of Corrections media relations office reported that the decision
regarding the private prisons is still pending legal review and review of the
technical logistics suggested in each proposal. There is currently no set date
for the announcement.
June 9, 2010 Arizona Silver Belt
At two consecutive city council meetings in April, the Globe council members
heard from a group of men representing three corporations: Emerald Correctional
Management, Corplan and Cuny Corporation. These men addressed the council
regarding their desire to put in a bid with the Arizona Department of
Corrections to construct a private, 1,000-bed prison in the City of Globe. The
men presented estimates of economic growth that sounded almost too good to be
true. According to Mike Moore of Emerald Corrections, “the city could get a
monthly revenue check per inmate per month but it would depend on the monthly
per diem that the state pays. It does pay and it’s a sizable number.” The group
of business men went on to say the entire project would be $60 to $100 million
in construction, and the goal would be to hire local workforce for 70 percent of
the construction. They also promised to help the city with expansion of the
sewer infrastructure. The city council took two hours to reach a decision, but
in the end, a 4-2 vote in favor of supporting Emerald Corrections’ bid to build
the prison was approved. A deal too good to be true? Well, there might be more
than meets the eye. Case Study: Hardin, Mon. In 2004, Mr. James Parkey of
Corplan - the same James Parkey who spoke to the Globe city council - proposed
the construction of a private prison in Hardin, Mon., a small rural city
suffering from economic stalemate. A team of experts spoke to the city
officials, selling them hope of economic prosperity through the private prison
business. The 450-bed prison was supposed to generate 150 secure jobs and at
least $100,000 in annual per-prisoner revenue. The companies involved, Corplan
as the developer, Cuny Corporation as the civil engineer of the project, and
Civigenics as the prison operators, promised to realize the project from start
to finish. To pay for the prison, the city of Hardin would have to conduct a
bond sale. Prior to the construction, Parkey promised the city officials an
economic feasibility study, which was carried out by Howard Geisler, a
consultant specializing in prisons, and who had worked together with Parkey in a
number of other cities. The study presented facts and figures that a Montana
state auditor later described as providing “little methodology” and lacking
“historical data to support anticipated prisoner counts.” The auditor went on
the say the report made “a number of assumptions made related to financial
viability that appear to be unfounded.” The prison was built, and the three
companies involved received their payments and Hardin prepared itself for its
first prisoners. In this case, however, they built it, but no one came. Hardin
became so desperate to get prisoners in their prison, that they requested taking
sex-offenders and later even Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Since the prison had been
built for less high profile inmates, with 24-bed cells, Hardin’s requests were
turned down. Hardin’s detention center never received the expected prisoners and
the city has been in bond default for the last two years. A post on the
detention center’s website reads, “any person or parties interested in operating
or leasing space in the Hardin Detention Facility should contact...” “Do a lot
of research” -- The pain is still throbbing in Hardin, Mon. After contacting the
executive director of economic development and the mayor, the only comment given
was “do a lot of research.” Hardin, Mon. is one of the most prominent cases,
where Corplan and its partners have left a city with an empty prison. Corplan’s
website lists a number of sample prisons that they have built that are
surviving. However, it does not list Hardin. Neither are a number of other
cases, where things ‘went wrong,’ including facilities in LaSalle County, Texas,
Pioche, Nev., Lindsay, Okla., McLennan County, Texas, Las Cruses, N.M., and St.
Luis, Ariz. In Willacy County, three county commissioners who were working very
closely together with Corplan were indicted on bribery charges. Parkey’s and
Corplan’s actions have caught attention in the media. Dan Rather reported on a
few cases, especially the prison in LaSalle, Texas. Frank Smith, of the
non-profit organization Private Corrections Working Group, has been following
Parkey and Corplan over the years. Smith warned that the economic feasibility
report must be read very closely and to expect that there may be exaggerations
or left out aspects. The economic feasibility study “sells” the project more
than examines it in some cases. When asked why nothing has been done legally
against Corplan, Smith named a number of small factors that may be reasons why
is some cases nothing was done. In Globe’s case, Corplan, Emerald Corrections,
and Cuny Corporation have asked for support for a bid in response to a request
for proposals put out by the Arizona DOC. In Hardin, the three partner
corporations told the city that the prison operator, Civigenics, would provide
the service of having prisoners housed in the facility. This could be a major
difference in the success or failure of the proposed Globe project. The Arizona
DOC will be awarding the contracts for the prisons by June 30, 2010.
March 7, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
With the closure of the town's second-largest employer approaching, town
officials are preparing to deal with the loss of almost 200 jobs in an already
struggling economy. Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates
the Huerfano County Correctional Center, announced in January that it will close
the prison in April. Officials at the private prison company said this week that
the prison officially will close April 2. The upcoming closure has cast a pall
over the town. Citizens in this community of more than 4,000 already are feeling
the pain. The impending prison closure and a prior budget shortfall have forced
the town to lay off 10 people with another four layoffs possibly to come. "The
prison closing and the (loss of) revenue derived from it has added to the burden
of an already stressed budget," said Mayor Bruce Quintana. "All departments have
been affected. I believe that this (town) council is acting to right the ship.
It's a difficult job, laying off people in a small community, because many of
these people are our friends," Quintana said. City Administrator Alan Hein said
the town could lose between $250,000 and $300,000 from lost utility sales to the
prison, concessions and sales taxes. Hein said the budget already was short
$300,000 before the closure was announced. "We have to restructure our
operations to try and accommodate this loss. It's pretty serious when you drop
that much on your revenue side in a budget the size that we have," Hein said.
Hein said he hopes the layoffs will help take care of the original shortfall. "I
am just not sure. There are a lot of variables here. "The worst-case scenario is
that we would have to lay off four more people," Hein said. Hein said there will
be minimal cuts to the police department. "We are actually restructuring the
whole department and trying to make it more efficient. We are reevaluating the
way the department does business and trying to save money," Hein said. The town
had been in discussions to merge the police department with the Huerfano County
Sheriff's Department, but the issue was tabled by the town council last month,
Hein said. "The council has decided not to discard the proposal, but to put it
on the back burner and see if we can do some adjustments within our
organization," Hein said. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other state officials are
phasing out all out-of-state beds, including the use of the Huerfano County
prison, where 700 Arizona inmates are housed. The contract with CCA is set to
expire Tuesday. Allan Cramer, a spokesman for the Huerfano County prison, said
inmates will begin leaving Colorado next week by bus and plane. "The last ones
will be gone by March 22," Cramer said. Cramer said CCA is continuing to
actively seek a new client for the prison, but that as of Thursday, none had
come forward. The Walsenburg prison employs 188. Approximately 75 of the
employees commute from Pueblo. Of the remaining workers, about 90 reside in
Walsenburg and Huerfano County, with others commuting from Trinidad and Colorado
City. Cramer said several employees are transferring to CCA’s other prisons in
Colorado, and some are obtaining employment in other areas. "The mood here is
pretty upbeat and optimistic. Everyone wants to give it their usual 100-percent
effort until the last inmates are gone," Cramer said. The sluggish economy also
is having an impact on Main Street here. The historic Fox Theater, 715 Main St.,
will take a direct hit from the prison closure. Huerfano County Administrator
John Galusha said the county has been paying for utilities for the theater out
of what is called the Prison Authority Fund. "The county contracted with the
correctional center when it opened to form this fund. In that agreement, the
county receives 50 cents per prisoner per day which goes directly into the
Prison Authority Fund," Galusha said. Galusha said the revenue generated from
the fund is about $130,000 a year. "Without that revenue coming in, some of the
things from the prison authority will take a hit next year," Galusha said. The
prison fund also helps pay for new sheriff's department vehicles and youth
programs. Galusha said the Fox was receiving about $400 a month to pay for
utilities. "The county will use the reserves from the prison to fund the Fox
Theater through the end of the year. If CCA doesn't have a new contract, then we
are going to have to evaluate if we can help the theater through other funds or
if we are going to have to ask them to become self-sufficient," Galusha said.
The county has budgeted $7,500 this year for the theater.
March 4, 2010 Enid News and Eagle
Diamondback Correction Facility in Watonga is closing within the next 60 days,
due to Arizona ending its private prison contract. Corrections Corporation of
America, owner of Diamondback, issued 60-day termination notices to all
employees at Diamondback this week in anticipation of closing the facility,
which is timed with the departure of the Arizona inmates housed there.
Diamondback has more than 300 employees. The payroll of the facility is around
$11 million annually. The facility has a capacity of 2,160. The contract is set
to expire April 30. Diamondback has been operating in Watonga since November
1998.
November 7, 2009 AP
Arizona’s plan to turn over its prisons to private companies in exchange for
a $100 million upfront payment is having trouble getting off the drawing board,
with the plan behind schedule and private prison operators showing little, if
any, interest. The privatization effort is required under a law enacted last
summer as lawmakers struggled to close a huge budget shortfall. It directs the
state to award a contract to one or more private companies to run an unspecified
number of prisons for $100 million. It emerged as Republican lawmakers cast
about for alternatives to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to increase the
sales tax to avoid deep cuts to state program. An official who worked on the law
told The Associated Press that the $100 million figure was based on hope, not
certainty. The prison concession provision doesn’t specify which or how many of
the state’s 10 prison complexes would be included, what would happen to current
state employees or the length of a contract. An early version specified a term
of 50 years and identified three prisons with approximately 11,000 beds. The
Yuma prison complex was excluded from the law at the insistence of a Yuma
legislator. State officials were supposed to provide an initial batch of
information to potential bidders on Oct. 1, but missed the deadline. But even
without that, there appears to be little interest among private-prison
companies. Corrections Corp. of America, the nation’s largest private prison
company, “is not focused on that,” said Louise Grant, a CCA vice president.
Grant said CCA is interested in pursuing traditional private-prison deals with
states and would review any Arizona request. However, “it’s very questionable
whether or not we would participate,” she said. Another operator, Boca Raton,
Fla.-based GEO Group, declined to comment, citing corporate policy. A third,
Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, issued a noncommittal
response. Arizona is among many states that contract with private companies to
house state inmates, but officials and industry observers say the large upfront
payment request may be unprecedented. “That is such a new idea. The model hasn’t
been done,” said Leonard Gilroy, a Reason Foundation official who champions
privatization of government services. Gilroy questioned whether Arizona’s plan
would be attractive enough for potential bidders in the industry. “It’s sort of
like ’we want you to do an operational contract and loan us $100 million,”’
Gilroy said. “I don’t know if there’s enough there to sweeten the pot for the
private sector.” Democratic legislators have questioned whether the state should
turn control of violent maximum-security offenders, including murderers on death
row, to private operators. Little is known about how the plan would be
implemented, including whether it would include the Eyman prison complex in
Florence that includes death row. Citing procurement confidentiality, state
officials declined to release a draft of the document they plan to send to
bidders. Corrections Director Chuck Ryan declined multiple requests for an
interview in recent weeks. But he told legislators during a May hearing that it
was “very concerning” to consider privatizing a major prison complex that houses
nearly all death row inmates and 1,000 other dangerous inmates. Privatizing
death row involves taking a chance, Ryan said. “It won’t stand the headline test
in my opinion.” A leader of a union representing prison guards criticized the
plan and suggested that public safety could be at risk. “They’re trying to
replace us with lower-paid guards, to handle sex offenders, murders, rapists,
inmates with very volatile gang connections,” said J. “J-Rod” Rodriguez, vice
president of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association. Senate
Appropriations Chairman Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said during the May hearing that
the prisons concession had been proposed by House Republicans during budget
negotiations and was based on “very good numbers” from an investment firm.
However, a top House Republican aide said lawmakers and legislative aides came
up with the idea as a way “to monetize state assets,” such as Indiana and
Chicago have done with toll highways. “Well, Arizona doesn’t have toll roads and
there aren’t a lot of assets that can be monetized. That was sort of the genesis
of the idea,” said Grant Nulle, House director of fiscal policy. There was no
research by an investment firm or anybody else, Nulle said. And the $100 million
payment appears unlikely. “Based on preliminary feedback, we may find it
difficult to generate an upfront payment of this magnitude,” legislative budget
director Richard Stavneak wrote in an Oct. 22 memo. Even if the state does
receive good bids, it will take most of the fiscal year to try to implement the
idea, so lawmakers shouldn’t count on getting the money in time to help close
the current budget’s shortfall, Stavneak said in a recent interview.
October 23, 2009 New York Times
One of the newest residents on Arizona’s death row, a convicted serial killer
named Dale Hausner, poked his head up from his television to look at several
visitors strolling by, each of whom wore face masks and vests to protect against
the sharp homemade objects that often are propelled from the cells of the
condemned. It is a dangerous place to patrol, and Arizona spends $4.7 million
each year to house inmates like Mr. Hausner in a super-maximum-security prison.
But in a first in the criminal justice world, the state’s death row inmates
could become the responsibility of a private company. State officials will soon
seek bids from private companies for 9 of the state’s 10 prison complexes that
house roughly 40,000 inmates, including the 127 here on death row. It is the
first effort by a state to put its entire prison system under private control.
The privatization effort, both in its breadth and its financial goals,
demonstrates what states around the country — broke, desperate and often
overburdened with prisoners and their associated costs — are willing to do to
balance the books. Arizona officials hope the effort will put a $100 million
dent in the state’s roughly $2 billion budget shortfall. “Let’s not kid
ourselves,” said State Representative Andy Biggs, a Republican who supports
private prisons. “If we were not in this economic environment, I don’t think
we’d be talking about this with the same sense of urgency.” Private prison
companies generally build facilities for a state, then charge them per prisoner
to run them. But under the Arizona legislation, a vendor would pay $100 million
up front to operate one or more prison complexes. Assuming the company could
operate the prisons more cheaply or efficiently than the state, any savings
would be equally divided between the state and the private firm. The
privatization move has raised questions — including among some people who work
for private prison companies — about the private sector’s ability to handle the
state’s most hardened criminals. While executions would still be performed by
the state, officials said, the Department of Corrections would relinquish all
other day-to-day operations to the private operator and pay a per-diem fee for
each prisoner. “I would not want to be the warden of death row,” said Todd
Thomas, the warden of a prison in Eloy, Ariz., run by the Corrections
Corporation of America. The company, the country’s largest private prison
operator, has six prisons in Arizona with inmates from other states. “That’s not
to say we couldn’t,” Mr. Thomas said. “But the liability is too great. I don’t
think any private entity would ever want to do that.” James Austin, a co-author
of a Department of Justice study in 2001 on prison privatization and president
of the JFA Institute, a corrections consulting firm, said private companies
tended to oversee minimum- and medium-security inmates and had little experience
with the most dangerous prisoners. “As for death row,” Mr. Austin said, “it is a
very visible entity, and if something bad happens there, you will have a pretty
big news story for the Legislature and governor to explain.” Arizona is no
stranger to private prisons or, for that matter, aggressive privatization
efforts (recently, the state put up for sale several government buildings
housing executive branch offices in Phoenix). Nearly 30 percent of the state’s
prisoners are being held in prisons operated by private companies outside the
state’s 10 complexes. In addition, other states, including Alaska and Hawaii,
have contracts with private companies like Corrections Corporation of America to
house their prisoners in Arizona. For advocates of prison privatization, the
push here breathes a bit of life into a movement that has been on the decline
across the country as cost savings from prison privatizations have often failed
to materialize, corrections officers unions have resisted the efforts and
high-profile problems in privately run facilities have drawn unwanted publicity.
“We have private prisons in Arizona already, and we are very happy with the
performance and the savings we get from them,” said Representative John Kavanagh,
a Republican who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and an
architect of the new legislation authorizing the privatization. “I think that
they are the future of corrections in Arizona.” Under the legislation, any
bidder would have to take an entire complex — many of them mazes of multiple
levels of security risks and complexity — and would not be permitted to pick off
the cheapest or easiest buildings and inmates. The state also wants to privatize
prisoners’ medical care. Louise Grant, a spokeswoman for Corrections Corporation
of America, said the high-security prisoners would be well within the company’s
management capabilities. “We expect we will be there to make a proposal to the
state” for at least some of its complexes up for bid, Ms. Grant said. In pure
financial terms, it is not clear how well the state would make out with the
privatization. The 2001 study for the Department of Justice found that private
prisons saved most states little money (there has been no equivalent study
since). Indeed, many states, struggling to keep up with the cost of corrections,
have closed prisons when possible, and sought changes in sentencing to reduce
crowding in the last two years. As tough sentencing laws and the ensuing
increase in prisoners began to press on state resources in the 1980s, private
prison companies attracted some states with promises of lower costs. The private
prison boom lasted into the 1990s. Throughout the years, there have been
high-profile riots, escapes and other violent incidents. The companies also do
not generally provide the same wages and benefits as states, which has resulted
in resistance from unions and concerns that the private prisons attract
less-qualified workers. Then the federal government stepped in, with a surge of
new immigrant prisoners, and began to contract with the private companies. The
number of federal prisoners in private prisons in the United States has more
than doubled, to 32,712 in 2008 from 15,524 in 2000. The number of state
prisoners in privately run prisons has increased to 93,500 from 75,000 in that
time. With bad economic times again driving many decisions about state
resources, other states are sure to watch Arizona’s experiment closely. “There
simply isn’t the money to keep these people incarcerated, and the alternative is
to free many of them or lower cost,” said Ron Utt, a senior research fellow for
the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group whose work for privatization was
cited by one Arizona lawmaker.
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
Arizona prison businesses are big political contributors:
Bob Ortega - September 4, 2011, The Arizona Republic. Ortega connects the
dots between the for-profits, the money, and legislators.
Top Ten Industry Lies: Cell Out Arizona, August 22, 2011
2010 escape at Kingman an issue for MTC’s bid: August 11, 2011, Bob
Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Expose on MTC
La. firm says prison escapes led to changes:
August 10, 2011, Bob Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Expose on LaSalle
Record an issue for company bidding on Ariz. prisons contract:
August 9, 2011, Bob Ortega, Arizona Republic. Expose on GEO Group
Prison firm optimistic about Arizona bid despite incidents:
August 8, 2011, Bob Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Exposé on CCA
Arizona prison oversight lacking for private facilities: August 7,
2011, by Bob Ortega, Arizona Republic
Part 2: NPR expose on for-profits and
immigration law
Shaping
State Laws With Little Scrutiny
Part 1: NPR expose on
for-profits and immigration law
Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law
More from Rachel Maddow
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#38965161
Rachel Maddow stay on it
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#38700092
Rachel Maddow kicks butt
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/38685023#38685023
AZ Gov Brewer avoids questions about CCA and her
administration: July 23, 2010, 5:01 min: Very funny watching
December 23, 2011 Arizona Daily Sun
Saying crime rates are dropping, the state Department of Corrections on Thursday
cancelled plans to contract for 5,000 new private prison beds. Agency director
Charles Ryan said the plans, first approved in 2009, came at a time when the
number of people being locked up was increasing. Based on that, he said, the
department came up with some projections of what it would need long term. But
the big increase never materialized. In fact, during the 12 months ending on
June 30, 2010, the total prison population increased by just 65. And in the last
budget year, the tally actually slipped by 296. Ryan said that made it "prudent
to reassess" the plans and its forecast that it would need 8,500 new beds by
2017. But Ryan said his agency still believes more beds will be necessary. So it
is now asking private companies to submit bids for just 2,000 minimum and medium
security beds, to be completed something before the middle of 2014. And the
department will ask the Legislature for permission to build a new maximum
security unit, to be operated by the state beginning the following year, which
can house up to 500 inmates. The decision to start a new bid process also likely
undercuts any new legal effort to block the state from awarding a contract to a
private firm to house inmates. In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, the
American Friends Service Committee said a 1987 state law requires that agency to
first conduct a study to determine if a private firm can provide at least the
same quality as the state at a lower cost. Factors that must be studied range
from security and inmate programs to health services and food services. The
state had never completed such a study. But a trial judge refused to block the
state from awarding a contract to the five firms which had previously submitted
bids. Now, with that study completed just this week and those original bids
discarded, the state is free to start the bidding process all over again without
that legal impediment.
December 15, 2011 In These Times
The Arizona Bureau of Planning, Budget and Research notes a whopping savings of
three cents per head among the relatively low-maintenance minimum security crowd
held in private pens: $46.56 per diem for a private bed, versus $46.59 at
state-run institutions. The recent dismissal of a lawsuit filed against both
Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) Director Charles Ryan and Arizona
Governor Jan Brewer (R) is the latest step in the state’s hell-bent plan to
roughly double its number of privately managed prison “beds.” The suit, filed in
an Arizona Superior Court by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) on
September 12, sought an injunction against ADC and the governor’s pending award
of 5,000 new prison beds to be operated by a for-profit vendor. The state
currently contracts out more than 6,500 minimum- and medium-security beds at
seven facilities with Geo Group, the nation’s second largest private prison
operator, and Management and Training Corporation (MTC). AFSC argued that ADC is
negligent in its statutorily required duty to conduct biennial cost and quality
assessments of the state’s private prisons. The purpose of these assessments is
to determine whether the state is receiving the same quality of service from
private prison operators as provided by public facilities. Nevertheless, ADC has
not completed a single survey. While the law defines a clear list of specific
items to be assessed (such as security standards and personnel training), and a
set time frame for assessments to be performed (every two years), it does not
say that these assessments are the sole bar that must be used to measure
standards of private penitentiaries. Without the existence of these biennial
reports, it’s anyone’s guess what cost comparison model is used by ADC, the
legislature and the governor’s office. When asked what criteria the department
uses to determine if the private correctional beds managed in Arizona are
operating with the same level of security and care as state-run facilities, and
whether those facilities are providing any savings to the public, ADC spokesman
Barrett Marson directed In These Times to the ADC’s “Fiscal Year 2010 Operating
Per Capita Cost Report.” The most recent FY 2010 per capita report
available–published by the Arizona Bureau of Planning, Budget and Research on
April 13, 2011–offers nothing to suggest the state should continue its rush
toward the privatization of correctional services. The report states that the
total adjusted per diem (per prisoner, per day) cost for state-run medium
security facilities was $48.42. The per diem for medium security prisoners held
by private contractors amounted to $53.02. The bureau did note a whopping
savings of three cents per head among the relatively low-maintenance minimum
security crowd held in private pens–at $46.56 per diem for a private bed, versus
$46.59 at state-run institutions. But the report goes on to quickly deflate the
standing of that $0.03 margin, stating: “[There are several] inmate management
functions that are provided and paid for by the state but are not provided by
the private contractors. This inequity increases the state per capita cost
which, in comparison, artificially lowers the private bed cost.” Nevertheless,
AFSC’s suit was dismissed on October 27 by Arizona Superior Court Judge Arthur
Anderson. The basis for the dismissal, however, was not based on the merits of
the suit, but rather in Anderson’s concurrence with Assistant Attorney General
Rex Nowlan. Nowlan had argued that AFSC and other plaintiffs did not have
standing to seek relief for a violation of the law requiring assessment. AFSC is
appealing the dismissal. “We will vigorously fight the state’s effort to dismiss
the case on procedural standing grounds,” said Vince Rabago, a former state
prosecutor who is representing AFSC in the case. “Given the obvious public
safety issues and impact on taxpayers, the parties should have a hearing on the
merits of the state violating its own laws for more than two decades.”
December 1, 2011 AP
Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan says the state won't act on proposals
for additional private prisons until his department completes a report comparing
private prisons and publicly operated ones. Ryan told a legislative oversight
committee recently that the report is nearly complete and will be submitted to
the Legislature before January The comparison study has long been required by
state law but has never been done before. Several private prison companies have
submitted proposals for 5,000 additional beds authorized under a 2009 state law.
The project was delayed and revamped after security at a privately-operated
state prison near Kingman was found to be deficient following an escape.
November 28, 2011 Arizona Republic
Arizona's state lawmakers are especially receptive to corporate money and
influence, according to a new report from two liberal-leaning advocacy groups.
The 100-page report strives to show how the American Legislative Exchange
Council uses "its resources to shepherd legislation from the corporate boardroom
to the governor's desk," said Marge Baker, executive vice president at the
Washington D.C,-based People for the American Way Foundation. ALEC describes
itself as a nonpartisan national association of state legislators. Critics,
however, say it is a conservative-based partisan organization that brings
together about 300 large corporations and 2,000 predominately Republican
legislators on task forces to produce model bills. Lawmakers then take those
bills back to their state legislatures in hopes of passing them into law. The
groups released the report, "ALEC in Arizona: The Voice of Corporate Special
Interests in the Halls of Arizona's Legislature," as ALEC prepares to hold its
"States and Nation Policy Summit" in Scottsdale, beginning Wednesday. More than
50 Arizona lawmakers are members of the group. Arizona corporations that provide
financial support to ALEC include the Salt River Project, Taser International,
and Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the parent company of Arizona Public Services
Co., the state's largest utility company. "There's no way ordinary citizens can
match the level of access and influence that ALEC provides to these
corporations," Baker said. "So Arizonans are subjected to laws that serve the
interests of the rich and powerful." But Kaitlyn Buss, an ALEC spokeswoman, said
the organization is merely a "resource" for lawmakers. "Our main goal and focus
is to promote free market, limited government and federalism (ideals)," Buss
said. "We do have model legislation. It's a main part of what we do, but that
doesn't give it priority over anything else that might be introduced at the
Legislature." The report includes side-by-side comparisons of dozens of "model
bills" generated at ALEC conferences, and those introduced at the Arizona
Legislature. In Arizona, lawmakers passed 19 of the 36 model bills introduced in
2010, ALEC officials said. Typically, ALEC model legislation -- including those
highlighted in the report -- focus on anti-immigration, anti-union, and
anti-federal health-care reform initiatives.
November 19, 2011 Arizona Republic
The Arizona Department of Correction's long-delayed plans to contract for 5,000
additional private-prison beds are again under fire. A Quaker prison-watchdog
group, whose lawsuit seeking to block any contract was dismissed in Maricopa
County Superior Court last month, Friday filed an appeal and a fresh request for
an injunction. That injunction would block any contract until Corrections
completes required studies comparing the performance of its existing
private-prison contracts to state prisons. Judge Arthur Anderson dismissed the
initial suit on the ground that the Tucson office of the American Friends
Service Committee lacked standing to sue the state. The committee noted the
dismissal didn't address substantive issues raised by the suit, which alleges
that the state is in violation of its own laws, which require that any
private-prison contracts save the state money and that the state conduct
biannual studies comparing the operations of private and state prisons. The
department has never conducted these studies, which are supposed to analyze
costs, the security and safety of each prison, how inmates are managed, inmate
discipline, programs, staff training, administration, and other factors. The
suit and the appeal charge that without these studies, the state can't say
whether private prisons are more cost-effective than state facilities. The
department didn't immediately reply to requests for comment. Bids on contracts
were halted last year to beef up security requirements after three inmates
escaped from a private prison in Kingman. The department had expected to award
contracts as early as Sept. 12, but that process has been repeatedly delayed.
This week, the department asked the four bidders to extend their bids to Dec.
22.
November 9, 2011 Colorado Independent
The times they are a changin’. It seems like only yesterday, Arizona Senate
President Russell Pearce was considered the most powerful politician in Arizona
and a man whose counsel was sought by legislators in Colorado and around the
country. The author of Arizona’s anti-immigration law, SB-1070, Pearce was
considered the father of state-level immigration reform. Tuesday, he became the
first Arizona legislator ever to lose a recall election, the first state senate
president in the country to ever face such a fate. He conceded late last night
on his way to a 53-45 defeat to fellow conservative Republican Jerry Lewis.
“This is huge,” said DeeDee Garcia Blase, national president of the Tequila
Party and immediate past president of Somos Republicans. She likened the
successful recall to the civil rights movement of the 60s and said it may mark a
turning point in the American debate over immigration. “This is like a miracle,”
she said. She said Arizona’s passage of SB-1070 was a watershed event in that it
awakened Latino voters in America to the fact that they had to get involved.
“I’m an American citizen. I’m a veteran, but with this law people could ask for
my papers based on how I look. Latinos came out to vote after 1070 passed.” She
said is still working with Somos Republicans, but is shifting her efforts to the
non-partisan Tequila Party because the Republican Party does not seem open to
Latino concerns. “The GOP better wake up, but I am not doing their dirty work
anymore,” she said. Victor Jerry Lewis, a conservative Republican and a Mormon,
who agreed with Pearce on almost every issue except immigration, where he said
all parties needed to work together to find solutions without demonizing large
groups of people. Garcia Blase was the first person to initiate the recall of
Sen. Russell Pearce but later joined with other groups working toward the same
end. She said enlisting the Mormon community was huge and that as Mormons in
Mesa became more familiar with The Utah Compact and efforts by Mormons in Utah
to craft humane immigration policies, the tide began to turn. “Last night’s win
consisted of the LDS community, conservatives, libertarians, independents and
Democrats uniting and ousting one of the most anti-immigrant, anti-Latino
politicians in American history,” Garcia Blase said. “The defeat of Russell
Pearce means the tide is turning back toward the United States maintaining its
reputation as that Shining City on a Hill. The nation is now set to reverse the
evil deeds of anti-immigrant crusaders John Tanton, Kris Kobach, Sheriff Joe
Arpaio, NumbersUSA, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, and
so forth,” she said. Pearce’s ties to the private prison industry, which worked
with him to craft a law that would benefit private prisons by providing a steady
stream of new inmates, has been widely documented.
October 28, 2011 AP
A judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by a Quaker group that had been a
potential roadblock to the state's plan to add 5,000 more private prison beds.
Judge Arthur Anderson of Maricopa County Superior Court said the American
Friends Service Committee lacked a legal right to request an injunction to block
the state from awarding new private prison contracts before the state satisfies
a long-ignored law requiring periodic studies comparing costs and services of
private and publicly run prisons. The Quaker group cited a 2010 escape from a
privately operated state prison near Kingman, and concerns about public safety
and tax dollars, in its lawsuit. The state requested dismissal of the suit and
is now conducting a comparison study while reviewing proposals for new or
expanded private prisons in communities around the state. The proposals under
evaluation are from four finalists chosen from companies that responded to the
Department of Corrections under a 2009 law. Caroline Issacs, Arizona program
director for the Quaker group, noted that Anderson's ruling was based only on
the issue of legal standing. The group remains concerned about the safety and
effectiveness of private prisons and is considering the possibility of an appeal
or other legal action, she said. Arizona's use of private prisons and its 2009
decision to increase that reliance have come under increased scrutiny because of
a 2010 escape from the Kingman prison, a facility later found to have been
plagued by security flaws. Two of the three inmates who escaped have been
charged with murdering an Oklahoma couple in New Mexico. Arizona now uses
private prisons to house about 6,000 of its 40,000 inmates. An attorney for the
Quaker group argued that the comparison study would provide the state with "a
baseline set of knowledge" needed to help protect the public's safety and tax
dollars. If the state had done the studies in the past, the Kingman escape might
not have happened and the public might have questioned whether private prisons
have provided cost savings for the state, the attorney told Anderson during an
Oct. 7 hearing. A lawyer for the state said the state's ongoing evaluation of
the four companies' contract proposals involves comparing costs and that the
proposals are scored on whether they meet the state's performance standards.
October 14, 2011 East Valley Tribune
A Quaker group asked a judge on Friday to block the state from putting more
inmates in private prisons, saying the Department of Corrections has never shown
it is safe or even cost effective. Vince Rabago, representing the American
Friends Service Committee, told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur
Anderson that the law requires the state to make a comparison every two years
between the services and safety of state-run facilities and those operated by
private companies. But there has never been such a study even though that law
has been on the books for more than 20 years. Without the study, Rabago argued,
there is no basis to know whether it makes sense for the state to go ahead with
its plans to contract for another 5,000 private prison beds. So he wants
Anderson to block that contract from being awarded until the first study, which
the Department of Corrections is finally doing this year, is completed. “The
state has an obligation to follow its laws,” Rabago told the judge. The 1987 law
dealing with awarding of contracts for private prisons requires the director of
the Department of Corrections to look at the job contractors are doing every two
years, considering everything from the programs and services offered to inmates
to food service and security. Rabago told Anderson the state needs the study as
a baseline to compare to what bidders for the new contract are offering.
Assistant Attorney General Rex Nowlan conceded that the state never had
performed the study. But he said that is legally irrelevant, arguing that the
Department of Corrections is effectively looking at all those issues. He also
pointed out that same law already prohibits the state from contracting for
private prison beds “unless the proposal offers cost savings to this state.”
Anyway, Nowlan questioned how the Quaker group — or the other plaintiffs who are
the parents of an adult inmate in a private prison — has any right to sue simply
because the Department of Corrections has not complied with the law requiring a
study. He said the only people who would have a right to complain are the
lawmakers who are supposed to get the report. Rabago disagreed. “Taxpayers have
a right to prevent the illegal expenditure of taxpayer monies,” he told the
judge. Nowlan responded that the Legislature specifically directed the
Department of Corrections to contract for another 5,000 beds at privately run
prisons. That is on top of the 6,400 inmates already housed in private
facilities. With that direction, Nowlan said, what the agency is doing cannot be
called illegal. Rabago said this is more than a question of a missing report.
“Maybe had the state done its job, maybe had it been doing these studies
properly ... maybe we would not be in a position where we would have had Kingman
(private prison) escapees murdering innocent people,” he said. “Maybe we
wouldn’t have riots and unsafe conditions which we know exist.” That murder
reference is to an incident last year when three violent criminals escaped from
a private prison run by Management and Training Corp. after an accomplice threw
a wire cutter over the fence. All eventually were recaptured, but not before an
Oklahoma couple, kidnapped at a New Mexico rest area, was murdered; several of
those involved have been charged in that incident. A study following that
incident found various failures with the operation of the facility, including a
perimeter alarm system that malfunctioned so often that corrections officers
routinely ignored it. The study also concluded the state itself had done a poor
job of oversight. State officials have not said when they will finally award the
new contract. But Barrett Marson, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections,
said his agency asked all the bidders to extend the expiration date on their
offers until Nov. 22 to provide more time to review the proposals. Anderson gave
no indication of when he will rule.
October 12, 2011 Coolidge Examiner
D-Day has been extended. The “D” stands for decision as in whether a prison is
built in Coolidge. Regardless of what side Coolidge citizens are on they want an
answer. The answer to whether Coolidge gets a private prison apparently will
come later rather than sooner. A decision that could have come as early as Sept.
16 has now been extended to Nov. 22, according to the Arizona Department of
Corrections. The DOC has apparently asked Management and Training Corporation (MTC)
and the other companies that bid on a private prison “to extend its bid through
November 22, 2011, while they continue to evaluate the proposals.” Though no DOC
officials were available for comment, Coolidge Mayor Tom Shope has a few ideas
of the hold up. “There is a lot of political play about the need for prisons,”
Shope said. “With the question about jail time that has been raised as well as
the private vs. state debate, there is a lot going on. That is probably what is
responsible more than anything for holding this up.” What Shope referred to was
an expose that appeared in the Sunday Arizona Republic that examined how Arizona
has some of the harshest sentences of any state in the country and the huge
price tag incurred. Also, there is the ongoing battle between the private and
federal prison advocates. Shope said he had hoped a decision would have been
made by now, but that he understands that there are external factors at work as
well. “Obviously, I was hoping for a decision sooner,” Shope said. “This just
prolongs the wait process. I am not losing sleep over it. It’s not the end of
the world. Every company that made a bid has to wait. Every city has to wait.
We’re all in the same boat. And I don’t have any hint of who is in the lead.”
There has been some talk that Eloy is in the lead because it would be most cost
effective. One undocumented report said that beds are already being cleared in
one of the city’s facilities. But Eloy Mayor Byron Jackson said he hasn’t heard
anything either from Corrections Corporation of America or the DOC. Jackson
still believes his city would make the most sense because it is most
cost-effective. “It only makes sense,” Jackson said. “It’s not like they would
have to build a new prison. They would just move people (from California) out
and move new people in. It’s not that big of a deal. We already have or could
provide the bed space. I haven’t heard that a final decision has been made.”
September 24, 2011 Arizona Republic
Arizona's Department of Corrections needs to do more to improve security at
private-contract and state-run prisons, a report released Friday by the state's
auditor general concludes. The report credits the department with making many
significant improvements since the July 2010 escapes of three prisoners from the
Kingman prison. These improvements include revamping the state's monitoring and
inspection programs, which had failed to detect obvious security flaws at
Kingman before the escapes; new, tougher annual audits of each prison; better
security and reporting requirements in new contracts; and stiffer requirements
and better training for state monitors who oversee private prisons.The audit
called for further steps to address ongoing security problems.
September 15, 2011 Arizona Daily Sun
A judge refused Wednesday to block the state from awarding new contracts to put
inmates in private prisons. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson
said members of the Quaker organization who filed suit earlier this week had not
shown their interests would be "irreparably harmed" if he refused to issue an
emergency order. That made the challengers legally ineligible for immediate
relief. But the ruling does not end the dispute. Anderson scheduled a hearing
for next week when he wants to hear from both the American Friends Service
Committee as well as the Department of Corrections. He could at that time, after
hearing evidence, then bar the state from proceeding with the additional private
prisons. That presumes, however, it is not too late. The law directing the
Department of Corrections to contract out for 5,000 private prison beds allows
the agency to award the bid as early as this Friday. And agency spokesman
Barrett Marson would not commit to holding off until after next week's hearing.
About 6,500 of the state's approximately 40,000 inmates already are in private
prisons. The lawsuit is based on the contention by the group that privately run
prisons are both more costly and less secure than those operated by the state.
What gives the group ammunition is that a 1987 state law requires a study to
determine whether private companies can not only do the job at a lower cost but
that the private companies meet the same standards on everything from security
to food. That law was ignored until Gov. Jan Brewer directed a study be done.
That study, however, will not be completed before the end of the year. The group
wants Anderson to preclude new contracts until that happens. Anderson, however,
said he cannot act now -- before the Department of Corrections gets a chance to
respond -- absent some showing of irreparable harm. Carolyn Isaacs, the group's
Arizona program manager, said there is such proof. "Certainly, the taxpayers are
harmed by wasting $650 million," she said. Isaacs also noted that other
plaintiffs in the lawsuit include a couple whose son in locked up in a private
prison in Kingman. They allege that guards in that facility have allowed attacks
to occur on African-American inmates. "There is irreparable harm happening daily
in these facilities, or at least the potential for it," Isaacs said. She also
pointed to the review done by the state of the operation of that Kingman
facility after three dangerous inmates escaped last year. One of the escapees
and an accomplice have been charged in connection with the murder of an Oklahoma
couple. "At any minute, another Kingman (incident) could possibly happen,"
Isaacs said.
September 15, 2011 Arizona Republic
A prison watchdog group's effort to block state plans for more private-prison
beds fell short Wednesday. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Arthur Anderson
denied a request by the American Friends Service Committee for a temporary
restraining order against the Department of Corrections, pending a hearing
Tuesday on an injunction filed by the committee. That injunction seeks to block
Corrections from contracting for more private-prison beds until the department
completes a comprehensive cost-benefit study of private vs. state-run prisons,
due to be completed by January. Corrections officials have said they may
announce as early as Friday the award of one or more contracts for up to 5,000
new private-prison beds. The committee had requested the restraining order to
stop Corrections from awarding any contracts before its injunction is
considered. The committee's Arizona program director, Caroline Isaacs, called on
Corrections to voluntarily hold off on any award until after the hearing.
Corrections declined to comment on the injunction.
September 13, 2011 Arizona Republic
A group opposed to privatizing prisons filed suit Monday seeking to block, at
least temporarily, state plans to contract for 5,000 new private-prison beds as
early as Friday. The state "should not be allowed to hand over another cent of
taxpayers' money until the Department (of Corrections) can prove to us that
these prisons are safe, that the corporations are doing the job we're paying
them to do, and that the state is capable of holding them accountable," said
Caroline Isaacs, director of the Tucson office of the American Friends Service
Committee, a Quaker group that monitors prisons. Besides requesting a temporary
restraining order, the suit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court accuses
Arizona's Department of Corrections of failing to follow two state statutes: -
State law requires that any private-prison contract either save money or provide
better services for the same cost as state-run prisons. Cost comparisons done by
Corrections every year since 2005 consistently show that private prisons are
more expensive, the suit noted. - Corrections has failed for decades to carry
out biannual studies, required by law, comparing the performance of private vs.
state prisons on security, safety, how inmates are managed, programs and
services, and many other issues. The Corrections Department declined to comment
on the suit. Corrections officials previously have admitted that the biannual
studies have not been done. Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said the
department expects to complete its first such study by January. The department
had said it would announce the award of one or more contracts on or after
Friday. Four companies are finalists to build or provide prisons at five
possible sites. The committee was joined in the suit by Oralee and Joyce
Clayton, parents of an inmate at the privately run Kingman state prison who say
they're concerned for their son's safety. The group asked the court to issue a
temporary restraining order stopping Corrections from awarding any contract, at
least until it completes its first biannual cost-benefit comparison study. The
suit also asks the court to force the department to disclose the details of all
of its current contracts with private-prison operators.
September 12, 2011 Blog for Arizona
The state of Arizona is poised to award a lucrative private prison contract on
September 16, despite the Department of Corrections failure to comply with
Arizona law. (Arizona law requires the department to conduct a cost-benefit
analysis comparing state and private prisons every two years, which has never
been done). The American Friends Service Committee is going to do something
about it. Quakers threaten lawsuit over private prisons - Arizona Capitol Times
(subscription required): A Quaker organization and a West Valley advocacy group
are making last-minute efforts to stop the state from building private prisons.
American Friends Service Committee, a social action arm of the Quaker faith,
notified the Attorney General’s Office today it intends to sue to keep the
Department of Corrections from awarding contracts to build private prisons to
house 5,000 inmates. The contract award is scheduled for Sept. 16. Four
companies have bid to build prisons at five possible sites. Stacy Scheff, a
Tucson attorney representing the group, said she is going to ask a Maricopa
County Superior Court judge to prevent the state from awarding the contracts
until the completion of a required cost-benefit analysis comparing state and
private prisons. [Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said the
department is working on the study and it should be complete no later than
January.] The group has scheduled a press conference for Monday at 1:30 p.m. in
the House of Representatives.
August 17, 2011 ABC 15
Family members of a couple allegedly murdered by two Arizona prison escapees are
speaking out against a proposed prison. The Haas family is on a mission that
they never wanted, but feel they need pursue. “It’s something you think about
everyday,” said Linda Haas Rook. Rook’s brother Gary Haas and his wife Linda
were murdered last year. Investigators believe the killers are two men who
escaped from a prison in Kingman just days earlier. The Kingman prison is
operated by the Management and Training Corporation, which now has hopes to
build prisons in San Luis and Coolidge. The Haas family hopes to prevent the
company from doing so. Linda Rook planned to travel more than 1,400 miles with
her husband and her mother to the public hearing Tuesday night in San Luis to
voice her concerns. “[MTC] needs to right their wrongs,” she told ABC15 from her
stopover in Scottsdale. MTC has made several security upgrades to their facility
in Kingman, and a spokesperson said the company has a great track record with
the state. If MTC is approved to build the new prison, the company stated it
plans to bring about 500 jobs to the San Luis area.
August 17, 2011 Arizona Republic
Rep. Chad Campbell, the Arizona House minority leader, asked Gov. Jan Brewer on
Tuesday to temporarily halt a proposed 5,000-bed expansion of private prisons in
Arizona. Public hearings on the expansion continue this week, with one held
Tuesday in San Luis. It is among five communities where four companies are
bidding to provide the beds. The Arizona Department of Corrections is expected
to issue one or more contracts in late September. But, as The Arizona Republic
recently reported, the department has never completed the biannual, cost-benefit
analyses required by law to compare private and public prisons. Corrections
Director Charles Ryan said he expects the first such analysis to be completed in
January. In a letter to Brewer, Campbell, a Phoenix Democrat, asked her to hold
off on any new contract until the analysis is ready and "after enhanced
security, training and monitoring policies are in place and shown to be
effective at all existing private facilities." Brewer could not immediately be
reached. At Tuesday's public hearing, the two companies bidding to build prisons
near San Luis - Management and Training Corp. and Geo Group Inc. - tried to
fight back against criticism of their records in Arizona and elsewhere. MTC, in
particular, was criticized for the escapes of three prisoners from its Kingman
prison last year. Two of those prisoners are accused of kidnapping and murdering
an Oklahoma couple, Gary and Linda Haas. Vivian Haas, Gary's mother, has said
little in public in the year since the murders. But at the San Luis hearing, she
spoke out. "I've been through a lot of painful times in 81 years, even surviving
the terrible tornado that hit Joplin recently. But nothing compares to the pain
of having my kids brutally murdered because MTC couldn't do its job of keeping
criminals locked up," Haas said. MTC Vice President Mike Murphy, who spoke
before Haas, emphasized the 500 jobs and the tax benefits he said the proposed
prison would bring, and promised good security. Geo Group similarly focused on
jobs and security in its presentation.
August 10, 2011 Arizona Republic
Corrections Corp. of America is proposing to use two of its existing prisons in
Eloy to provide new private-prison beds for Arizona. Nashville-based CCA, the
country's largest operator of private prisons, would empty its Red Rock and La
Palma facilities of the inmates from Hawaii and California they now house to
create space for 4,500 Arizona inmates. CCA is one of four companies bidding to
contract with Arizona's Department of Corrections for up to 5,000 private prison
beds. It provided details of its plans at a standing-room-only meeting Tuesday
evening in Eloy. Under the proposal, CCA wouldn't expand either private prison;
rather, the Hawaiian and Californian inmates would move to one of the more than
60 other prisons elsewhere in the CCA system, likely in other states.
July 20, 2011 Tucson Citizen
Much has been made of Governor Brewer’s intimate ties to Corrections Corporation
of America. Her Chief of Staff, Paul Senseman, is a former CCA lobbyist, and his
wife is currently a lobbyist for the company. Brewer’s campaign manager and
senior policy advisor, Chuck Coughlin, runs a consulting firm that also lobbies
for CCA in Arizona. Brewer accepted a total of $60,000 in contributions from
people associated with CCA for her campaign and the tax increase initiative that
she was pushing last year. The scandal made waves after the passage of SB1070,
raising questions about CCA’s role in drafting legislation that would
potentially provide the company with millions more in contracts for immigrant
detention facilities in Arizona. But Brewer is hardly the only powerful
politician in Arizona with ties to this influential industry. A Cell-Out Arizona
investigation has revealed that John Kavanagh (R-8), Chair of the House
Appropriations Committee, has accepted numerous campaign contributions from
lobbyists and others associated with Geo Group, the nation’s second largest
private prison company and one of the bidders for a contract to build and manage
5,000 new prison beds in Arizona. Now we know why Kavanagh is such a staunch
supporter of private prisons. He appeared last week on Phoenix Channel 8’s
public affairs program, Horizon, debating the issue with Rep. Cecil Ash. In the
2010 election cycle, Kavanagh accepted at least 6 donations from lobbyists
associated with Geo Group. According to Beau Hodai’s investigation for In These
Times, “Geo Group employs consulting firm Public Policy Partners…While Public
Policy Partners (PPP), an Arizona-based firm, has more than 30 Arizona clients,
it only has two clients at the federal level: Geo Group (based in Florida) and
Ron Sachs Communications, a Florida-based public-relations firm that, promotes
prison privatization. PPP, as a firm, also appears to be an advocate for
expanded use of private prisons. Federal lobbying records show PPP owner, John
Kaites, lobbying on behalf of the firm on issues of “private correctional
detention management.” Kavanagh’s campaign finance reports show that he accepted
money from John Kaites as well as Ann Peralta Kaites, John’s lovely wife. He
received his-and-hers matching donations from another husband and wife team, Ken
and Laurie Quartermain. Ken is a lobbyist for Public Policy Partners. Several
other donations came from lobbyists with PPP. It’s a shrewd move for Geo Group.
Since CCA has bought the Governor’s office, the best way to get those lucrative
contracts is to buy off the guy in charge of releasing the money for them—the
Chair of Appropriations and outgoing Chair of the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee.
February 15, 2011 Arizona Republic
Despite a bipartisan outcry last summer after three inmates escaped from a
private prison near Kingman, bills to increase state oversight of for-profit
corrections companies can't get a legislative hearing. Democrats have introduced
10 bills, including measures that would bring six private-prison complexes in
Eloy and Florence under state standards. Those facilities, run by the
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, house federal prisoners and
detainees, as well as inmates from Hawaii, Washington and California, and are
unregulated by the state. Democrats also are concerned that, while the Kingman
prison still isn't accepting new inmates because reforms aren't complete,
another 5,000 private beds have gone out for bid. "There's no legitimate reason
why our private prisons shouldn't be held to the same standards as public
prisons," said House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, who is sponsoring
five bills. In the weeks after the Kingman inmates scaled a fence, led a
cross-country chase and were tied to the death of a couple in New Mexico, the
Department of Corrections issued a searing report that found "a culture of
laxness among the staff," including false alarms so frequent they were routinely
ignored. Department Director Charles Ryan replaced top administrators and added
state employees, while the contractor, Utah-based Management and Training Corp.,
installed a new alarm system and beefed up staff training. Republicans who
called for hearings into the breakout now say they're generally satisfied with
Ryan's response. Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, said the five Senate bills
won't get a hearing in his Judiciary Committee because he doesn't believe
they're necessary. The key reform, he said, is to ensure the state employee
charged with monitoring each of the five private prisons overseen by the state
has experience running a prison unit. That wasn't the case in Kingman, he said.
Governor Brewer running away from hard questions regarding her staff's
relationships with CCA.
November 9, 2010 Arizona Republic
A criminal-justice watchdog group has called on state leaders to cancel a
contract for 5,000 private-prison beds and launch an investigation into the
private-prison industry's "lack of accountability" and influence on state
politics. The Arizona office of the American Friends Service Committee, a
national Quaker non-profit group that focuses on human rights, held a news
conference Monday announcing their concerns. The group said it wants the
Attorney General's Office and Secretary of State's Office to investigate issues
including the private-prison industry's campaign contributions to state
legislators, lobbyists' efforts to push legislation that boosts incarceration
rates, and the need for private prisons in Arizona. "We're just asking for basic
transparencies in an industry that has a stake in making money off incarcerating
people," said Caroline Isaacs, a committee spokeswoman.
November 3, 2010 KPHO
A state audit of the Arizona Department of Corrections found private prisons
cost taxpayers more money per inmate. The audit report says housing a
medium-custody inmate at a private prison costs $55.89 per day. The daily cost
of housing the same inmate at a state facility was calculated at $48.13 a day.
State auditor Dale Chapman said there more extensive research is needed on the
costs of private prisons. Chapman has examined Arizona's Department of
Corrections budget and recommended state lawmakers invest money examining
private prisons' price tag. "We think there would be a value in determining and
spending time and resources on determining the costs of housing an inmate in a
state facility versus a private facility," said Chapman.
October 31, 2010 Joplin Globe Sun
A Joplin woman is among the relatives of an Oklahoma couple, allegedly slain by
two escaped prisoners from Arizona and an accomplice, who are seeking $40
million in damages, according to notice of claim letters the family’s attorneys
have mailed to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other officials in that state.
Letters sent last week by attorneys for the relatives of Gary and Linda Haas, of
Tecumseh, Okla., allege that their Aug. 2 deaths in New Mexico were the result
of “a long series of egregious errors and omissions of gross negligence” by the
Arizona Department of Corrections and officials at the Arizona State Prison at
Kingman, where the inmates escaped July 30. The Haases, who grew up in McDonald
County, had been planning to return to Southwest City, where they had property,
after losing their jobs in Oklahoma when a GM plant shut down, Linda Rook told
the Globe after their deaths. Rook, of Joplin, is a surviving sister of Gary
Haas. In August, the couple were heading out west on a camping trip when they
were abducted and killed. ‘Slipshod security’ -- The attorneys’ letters allege
that Arizona corrections officials and the prison’s private operator, Utah-based
Management and Training Corp., “set the stage for and permitted the careless and
slipshod security environment” at the prison that allowed the inmates to escape
and allegedly kidnap and kill the victims. MTC is liable for punitive damages in
the case, according to notice of claim letters sent to company officials. The
notice of claim letters were mailed on behalf of the Haases’ daughter, Cathy
Byus, and the mother, sister and two brothers of Linda Haas. Their attorney,
Jacob Diesselhorst, said Thursday that the claim letters are required before a
wrongful-death lawsuit can be filed against the state. Diesselhorst said Arizona
officials have 60 days to respond. Contacted over the weekend, Rook declined to
comment and referred questions to a Joplin lawyer, John Dolence, who is
representing her in the matter. The Globe’s efforts to reach Dolence on Sunday
afternoon were unsuccessful. A spokesman for Gov. Brewer, Paul Senseman, did not
immediately return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for MTC, Carl Stuart,
said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
September 1, 2010 Phoenix New Times
Last night's report from KPHO's Morgan Loew on the ties between private prison
behemoth Corrections Corporation of America and Governor Jan Brewer has drawn
some serious plasma from Brewer's camp. Specifically, the hemorrhage is from
Brewer's top political advisor Chuck Coughlin, president of HighGround Public
Affairs, which also represents CCA. Seems Coughlin's squealing like a skewered
javelina over Loew's latest. In response, HighGround today published a nasty,
unsigned screed about Loew and KPHO on HighGround's Web site. Most of this whiny
jeremiad is just blather. But the most interesting part has to do with an ad buy
with KPHO that HighGround dropped. At the end of last night's segment, Loew
mentioned that Coughlin's company canceled the governor's campaign advertising
with the station. This, after KPHO began following the Brewer-CCA connection,
which has scored national coverage with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show. HighGround's
online reply states that, "The fact is that the Governor Brewer 2010 campaign
never made a buy on CBS 5 for its current commercial. There was nothing to
cancel." Um, okay. Then why does CBS 5 have on file documents signed by the
Carlton Media Group's Fran Parker, who is listed on HighGround's Web site as
working with the company? The docs, which are public record, show that Parker
was the contact for an ad purchase in the gross amount of $13,775 that was to
run in the weeks before the primary. (You can see the docs, here.) According to
KPHO general manager Ed Munson, Brewer's camp canceled the buy before the ads
began running. Confronted with this info, Coughlin e-mailed me that, "The ad buy
he is referring to was in August and was never placed. We were considering buys
all over the State. We choose [sic] not to air on Channel 5 at that time."
Coughlin didn't get back to me on a question asking if this decision was because
of Loew's reporting. I asked Munson the same question. He answered that it was
"hard to say," but maintained that the lost dollars would not affect KPHO's
coverage of the CCA-Brewer connection. HighGround's online temper-tantrum is
telling. First, it attacks Loew ad hominem, calling him "maniacal," saying he
has to "make things up," and that Loew is interested in advancement to a bigger
gig, maybe in New York or someplace. On the first and the third charges, if so,
so what? On the second, when it gets down to the nitty-gritty, HighGround
doesn't really offer anything that Loew made up. That's because Loew didn't make
anything up. The kvetches in the post are pretty petty, and reflect Coughlin's
biased, self-centered worldview. One of them involves Caroline Isaacs of the
American Friends Service Committee, a CCA critic whom Loew interviews for his
piece. HighGround quotes verbatim from Loew's report, which plainly states who
Isaacs is, then the post goes on to claim that Loew never did this. "Moreover,
Loew never establishes who Caroline Isaacs is," the screed reads. "Apparently
she is in Philadelphia and according to AFSC's own website, 'AFSC is a Quaker
organization devoted to service, development, and peace programs throughout the
world. Our work is based on the belief in the worth of every person, and faith
in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.' Sounds like a group
with a definite political ax to grind." Like HighGround doesn't have a political
ax to grind? Give me a freakin' break! Also, Isaacs is out of the AFSC's Tucson
office. If whoever wrote this garbage bothered to look more than six seconds at
AFSC's Web site, they could see under "Where we work" a list of AFSC's offices,
including the Tucson one. And talk about a smear on Quakers. If AFSC happened to
be a Mormon organization devoted to service, love and peace programs, would
Coughlin's organization be so quick to slam it? As for Coughlin's Mount
McKinley-sized conflict of interest, I've written about this at length in a
previous Bird column. Coughlin denies that there's a conflict of interest, when
there clearly is. Even by his own admission, he spoke with the governor about
whether or not to sign SB 1070, Arizona's "breathing while brown law," while he
already had CCA as a client. CCA stands to benefit from SB 1070 because CCA has
contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain people for
immigration-related crimes. And as ICE spokesman Vinnie Picard confirms in
Loew's piece, individuals picked up by local law enforcement do end up in ICE-CCA
custody. Indeed, Picard recently related to me that for just one CCA prison, the
Central Arizona Detention Facility in Florence, ICE paid CCA a staggering $49.5
million for the period between 7/1/09 and 6/30/2010. Not all of that is
inmate-related. I'm working on getting a breakdown. But it does give you an idea
how much money is involved. Loew's piece from Tuesday followed up on a series of
reports he's done for KPHO, pointing out what was first published by the
magazine In These Times: That Coughlin lobbies for CCA, that Brewer's
communications director Paul Senseman used to lobby for CCA, and that Senseman's
wife Kathy still lobbies for CCA. In the past, Coughlin has insisted to me that
HighGround has "no position on 1070" and did not lobby Brewer on 1070. Of
course, CCA lobbyists and execs did contribute to Brewer's seed money, and
donated substantially to the Prop 100 campaign, which was Brewer's baby. What is
this, some Benny Hill segment where Coughlin talks to CCA out of one side of his
mouth, then changes hats and talks to Brewer with the other? Just how dumb does
Coughlin think the Arizona public is? On second thought, I guess he's got them
pretty dead to rights.
August 31, 2010 KPHO
A July prison break in Kingman, Ariz., brought a local and national attention to
the state's private prisons. But a CBS 5 News investigation discovered records
of inmates in the for-profit facilities of which state Department of Corrections
are unaware. In the early morning of Sept. 17, 2007, two inmates overpowered a
guard and used ladders to climb out of a prison in Florence. Both were convicted
murderers, including one who killed a man with a machete, according to prison
records. "I just think they took the opportunity because it was there," said
former guard Robert McDonald. McDonald, who worked at the Florence prison,
attributed part of the problem to the fact the facility is a private, for-profit
prison. "Night shift was always the weakest scheduled shift because of
staffing," McDonald said. The surprising fact isn't that the prison break
involved the machete murderer, but that neither the Department of Corrections
nor any other law enforcement agency in Arizona was aware he was there. The
escapees committed their crimes in Washington state but were sent to a
privately-run prison in Arizona that houses out-of-state inmates. There are at
least three of these prisons operating in Arizona, and not even the director of
the Arizona Department of Corrections knows who is locked up in them. The CBS 5
investigation found inmates such as Byran Uyesugi, who was convicted of
murdering seven people in Hawaii in 1999, the worst mass murder in the state's
history. He is an inmate at a private prison in Eloy. There is no Arizona law
that requires private prisons to report who they hold. Bill Brotherton was an
Arizona state senator in 2006 and sponsored two bills that would have reined in
some of the freedom private prisons enjoy. "One of the pieces of legislation was
just to say nobody can import murderers or sexual offenders to the state of
Arizona," he said. "You keep your people. We've got enough of our own. We don't
want any more." Neither bill passed, Brotherton said. "I had a hearing on one in
committee. Couldn't get a hearing on the other one. They died," he said.
Brotherton found himself against a brick wall the private prison industry has
created at the state Capitol. Records show that from 2001 to 2004 the companies
that run private prisons and their lobbyists contributed $77,000 to powerful
state lawmakers, and have contributed even more since then. "These companies
have been buying influence in the Legislature for decades, really," said social
justice advocate Caroline Isaacs, whose job includes monitoring the industry for
the American Friends Service Committee. She said big state contracts and loose
regulations combine to make Arizona the "promised land" of private prisons.
Prison companies are exploring new locations in Globe, Benson, Prescott Valley,
Florence, Tucson and the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. "They've been very
busy running around the state talking to these various town councils and county
zoning commissions getting land rezoned for correctional usage," Isaacs said. A
prison break in Kingman in July that drew national attention and a nationwide
manhunt for three escaped convicts and an accomplice put a temporary stop to
those prison expansion plans. Even some of the Legislature's top supporters of
private prisons now say it's time to enact "some" regulation of prisons that
house out-of-state inmates. State Rep. John Kavanagh said, "I think the major
requirement is that we get to ensure that the custody level of the prison
matches the custody level of the prisoner." Kavanagh stopped short of saying
there should be limits on who these prisons house in Arizona, which means
convicts like the machete murderer from Washington and the mass murderer from
Hawaii will continue to call Arizona home. Corrections Corporation of America,
which runs the private prisons that hold inmates from other states, issued a
statement that reads, in part: "We cannot support regulations that would result
in the closing of facilities and the loss of hundreds of jobs in Arizona."
August 25, 2010 Private Corrections Working Group
Today, the Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG), a not-for-profit
organization that exposes the problems of and educates the public about
for-profit private corrections, called for overhaul of the Arizona Department of
Corrections’ (ADOC) oversight of the for-profit prison industry, including: • An
immediate halt to all bidding processes involving private prison operators and a
moratorium on new private prison beds • Hold public hearings during the special
session to address the problems with for-profit prisons in Arizona • Enact other
cost-cutting measures that not only save money but enhance public safety, like
earned release credits, amending truth in sentencing, and restoring judicial
discretion. This action came about after the ADOC released a security audit on
August 19th concerning the July 30 escape of three dangerous prisoners from a
private prison in Kingman operated by Management and Training Corp. (MTC)
(Coincidentally, that same day the last escapee and an accomplice, John
McCluskey and Casslyn Mae Welch, were captured without incident at a campground
in eastern Arizona. The other two escaped prisoners, Tracy Province and Daniel
Renwick, had been caught previously in Wyoming and Colorado). Ken Kopczynski,
executive director of PCWG, condemned MTC for the numerous security failures
that led to the July 30 escape. “If MTC had properly staffed the facility,
properly trained their employees and properly maintained security at the Kingman
prison, this escape would not have occurred. But because MTC is a private
company that needs to generate profit, and therefore cut costs related to
staffing, training and security, three dangerous inmates were able to escape and
at least two innocent victims are dead as a result,” Kopczynski observed. “That
is part of the cost of prison privatization that MTC and other private prison
firms don’t want to talk about.” The murders of an Oklahoma couple, Gary and
Linda Hass, whose burned bodies were found in New Mexico on August 4, were tied
to McCluskey, Welch and Province. While MTC said it took responsibility for the
escape, vice-president Odie Washington acknowledged the company could not
prevent future escapes. “Escapes occur at both public and private” prisons, he
stated, ignoring the fact that most secure facilities do not experience any
escapes – particularly escapes as preventable as the one at MTC’s Kingman
prison. According to the ADOC security audit, the prison’s perimeter fence
registered 89 alarms over a 16-hour period on the day the escape occurred, most
of them false. MTC staff failed to promptly check the alarms – sometimes taking
over an hour to respond – and light bulbs on a control panel that showed the
status of the perimeter fence were burned out. “The system was not maintained or
calibrated,” said ADOC Director Charles Ryan. Further, a perimeter patrol post
was not staffed by MTC, and according to a news report from the Arizona Daily
Star, “a door to a dormitory that was supposed to be locked had been propped
open with a rock, helping the inmates escape.” Additionally, MTC officials did
not promptly notify state corrections officials following the escape and high
staff turnover at the facility had resulted in inexperienced employees who were
ill-equipped to detect and prevent the break-out. According to MTC warden Lori
Lieder, 80 percent of staff at the Kingman prison were new or newly promoted.
Although the ADOC was supposed to be monitoring its contract with MTC to house
state prisoners, the security flaws cited in the audit went undetected for
years. Ryan faulted human error and “serious security lapses” at the private
prison. Arizona corrections officials removed 148 state prisoners from the MTC
facility after the escape due to security concerns. “I lacked confidence in this
company’s ability,” said ADOC Director Ryan. Although it’s a small corporation,
since 1995 over a dozen prisoners have escaped from MTC facilities in Utah,
Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Eagle Mountain, California –where two inmates
were murdered during a riot in 2003.
August 22, 2010 Arizona Republic
Arizona puts more of its inmates into privately run prisons every year, even
though the prisons may not be as secure as state-run facilities and may not save
taxpayers money. Lawmakers began using private prisons to ease overcrowding and
have supported their use so aggressively that today, one in five Arizona inmates
is housed in a private facility. Many inmates from other states also are housed
in private prisons in Arizona, but the state has little information about who
they are and limited oversight of how they are secured. The state has 11
privately operated prisons. A high-profile escape of three Arizona inmates last
month from a Kingman-area private prison, which spurred a nationwide manhunt and
is believed to have resulted in two murders, raises questions about the
industry's growth and the degree of state oversight. The last fugitives in that
escape were caught Thursday, and the state's prison director has promised
changes to the private sites that house Arizona inmates. State leaders in recent
years have pushed for more privatization and have blocked efforts to regulate
the industry, which has invested heavily in local lobbying and contributed to
political campaigns. Last year, officials approved a plan to hand over the
operation of nearly every state prison to private companies. The plan was
repealed only after no credible bidder came forward. This year, lawmakers
approved 5,000 new private-prison beds for Arizona prisoners. Data suggest that
the facilities are less cost-effective than they claim to be. A cost study by
the Arizona Department of Corrections this year found that it can often be more
expensive to house inmates in private prisons than in their state-run
counterparts. A growing industry -- Arizona's use of private prisons dates back
to the early 1990s, when lawmakers, grappling with overcrowding in state
facilities, authorized the construction of a 450-bed minimum-security prison in
Marana to house drug and alcohol abusers. The prison is owned and operated by
Management & Training Corp., the Utah-based company that also operates the
Kingman facility where the three inmates escaped. Since then, Arizona has
increasingly relied on for-profit operators to manage its own inmates. It also
has allowed private companies to import prisoners from other states. Rapid
growth began in 2003 and the years immediately following, when Arizona was again
wrestling with prison overcrowding. To ease the shortage, Republican lawmakers
agreed to build 2,000 new prison beds, compromising with a reluctant Gov. Janet
Napolitano, a Democrat, to make half of them private. Around the same time,
nearly a dozen other states grappling with the same issues began shipping their
inmates to private facilities elsewhere in the country. Arizona, with cheap land
and a receptive political climate, became a go-to destination for private-prison
operators, who began accepting inmates from as far as Washington and Hawaii.
Today, Arizona houses 20.1 percent of its prisoners in private facilities,
according to state data from July. Exactly how many inmates are here from other
states is unclear. Last year, lawmakers took the unprecedented step of exploring
the privatization of almost the entire Arizona correctional system, passing a
bill that would have turned over the state's prisons to private operators for an
up-front payment of $100 million. The payment would have helped the state close
a billion-dollar budget gap. The bill, which also included a host of changes
related to the state's budget, was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer, but the language
relating to prison privatization was repealed in a later special session. The
state now has an open contract for the construction and operation of 5,000 new
private-prison beds. Arizona's reliance on private facilities coincides with
operators' increasing national political activity in hiring lobbyists and
donating to political campaigns. The ties between the companies and Arizona
elected officials - which go back nearly a decade - have become a campaign issue
in this year's gubernatorial race. Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of
America, the nation's largest operator of private prisons, runs six in Arizona,
three of which house inmates for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Brewer's critics have suggested that she signed Senate Bill 1070, and has
advocated for privatization of some prisons, in part to benefit CCA's bottom
line. Democrats have called on Brewer, a Republican, to fire "aides" associated
with the prison company. That includes HighGround, a Phoenix consulting and
lobbying firm managing Brewer's gubernatorial campaign. The firm counts CCA
among its clients. Brewer's official spokesman, Paul Senseman, also used to
lobby for CCA. Campaign finance reports filed earlier this year show that eight
executives with CCA contributed $1,080 of the $51,193 in seed money Brewer
received for her gubernatorial campaign. CCA also gave $10,000 to the "Yes on
100" campaign, which backed a temporary, 1-cent-on-the-dollar increase in the
state's sales tax. Brewer was the chief advocate for the tax, which was approved
by voters in May. In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Brewer said those
connections have not influenced her policy decisions. She said she never felt
pressured by any of her advisers. "It's absolutely political posturing and
rhetoric," Brewer said. "I find it very disappointing. We have a bed shortage
here in Arizona, and we have to come up with some way to incarcerate
(criminals). The best way, the least expensive way, is to do it with private
prisons." The industry's political connections have extended to other Arizona
politicians. According to a 2006 report from the National Institute on Money in
State Politics, the private-prison industry gave to the campaigns of 29 of 42
Arizona lawmakers who heard a 2003 proposal to increase state private-prison
beds. Between 2001 and 2004, the industry contributed $77,267 to Arizona's
legislative and gubernatorial candidates, the vast majority through lobbyists
paid to represent their interests at the Legislature. In most cases, donations
ranged from a couple of hundred dollars to as much as $2,500. Lax oversight --
The state Department of Corrections has varying levels of oversight of Arizona's
private-prison network. Some prisons house criminals convicted in Arizona. The
Corrections Department regulates those facilities, though private-prison critics
question whether those facilities maintain the same safety standards as their
state-run counterparts. Other private prisons house inmates from other states or
on behalf of the federal government. Arizona does not dictate what kinds of
inmates they may accept, nor the manner in which they are secured. In those
situations, private-prison operators work with their outside-government partners
on training specifications and other operational details. They report to Arizona
only the names, security classifications and number of inmates housed at their
facilities. State stat- utes do not require private operators to provide Arizona
officials details about the crimes the prisoners committed or escape data. In
2007, two convicted killers sent from another state stole ladders from a
maintenance building and climbed onto a roof at a private prison outside
Florence. Brandishing a fake gun, they climbed over the prison walls and escaped
to freedom. One was caught within hours, but it was almost a month before the
other was caught hundreds of miles away in his home state of Washington. As with
the Kingman breakout, the 2007 escape drew attention to the largely unregulated
growth of private prisons in the state, particularly prisons that house other
states' inmates. To address security concerns, a bipartisan bill drafted by
Napolitano's office in 2008 and introduced by Republican state Sen. Robert
Blendu would have required private prisons to be built to the state's
construction standards. The proposal also would have ended the practice of
private prisons importing murderers, rapists and other dangerous felons to
Arizona. And it would have required the companies to share security and inmate
information with state officials. After an initial flurry of activity, the bill
died. "The private-prison industry lobbied heavily against that bill, and they
were successful," said Michael Haener, Napolitano's lobbyist at the time. Blendu
later left the Legislature, and the bill was not reintroduced. What little
regulation private prisons have in Arizona stems from a series of escapes in the
late 1990s. In response, the Legislature passed a law requiring the
reimbursement of law-enforcement costs from private-prison operators in the
event of an escape. Arizona laws also require companies to carry insurance to
cover law-enforcement costs in cases of escape, to notify state officials when
they bring new prisoners into the state and to return out-of-state prisoners to
their home states to be released. But there are no penalties if the companies
don't comply. Costs questioned -- Notwithstanding lawmakers' concerns about
security, private prisons gained favor in part because of the promised savings
they could deliver to a cash-strapped and overcrowded prison system. Yet studies
have questioned whether those savings are real. In making their pitches,
private-prison companies played on the desire of many lawmakers to shift more
state services to the private sector. Direct cost comparisons between for-profit
and public prisons can be difficult, however. According to the National
Institute of Justice, private prisons tend to make much lower estimates of their
overhead costs to the state for oversight, inmate health care and staff
background checks. Officials at public prisons often argue that the state winds
up paying a higher cost for those services than is advertised, mitigating
savings that private prisons are built to deliver. A study this year by the
Arizona Department of Corrections found that when various costs are factored in,
it can be more expensive to house an inmate in a private prison than it is to
house one in a state-run prison. The cost of housing a medium-security inmate is
$3 to $8 more per day in a private prison, depending on what assumptions are
made about overhead costs to the state, the study found. Travis Pratt, a
professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University, said
there is no evidence that private prisons save government agencies money, even
though they typically promise up-front savings. To maintain profit margins,
Pratt said, companies often cut back on staff training, wages and inmate
services. "Cost savings like that don't come without consequences," Pratt said.
"And that can present a security risk that's elevated." Odie Washington, a
senior vice president at Management & Training Corp., acknowledged Thursday that
the Kingman prison employed an inexperienced staff. "We have a lot of very young
staff that have not integrated into very strong security practices," Washington
said. Private-prison operators disagree with Pratt's assessment, contending that
they can deliver services efficiently and safely. "That's one of the more
frustrating misconceptions out there for us that we have to repeatedly respond
to," said Steve Owen, director of public affairs for Corrections Corporation of
America. Owen said it is CCA's "general experience" that private prisons can
save states and the federal government 5 to 15 percent on operational costs. The
company also can build facilities more cheaply, he said. CCA is contractually
required to meet or exceed training requirements that states they work for set
for themselves, Owen said. In addition, the company has made sure its prisons in
Arizona comply with accreditation standards put in place by the American
Correctional Association, a Virginia-based trade group. Many communities,
meanwhile, eagerly welcome private prisons because the facilities generate jobs
and economic activity. CCA prisons in Florence and Eloy, for example, employ
2,700 people. Last year, the company paid $26 million in property taxes, Owen
said. What's next -- Lawmakers from both parties have called for hearings into
what went wrong in Kingman. Presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry
Goddard has said he would push to bring back the 2008 private-prison bill.
Goddard also is calling for an immediate re-evaluation of the system used to
classify and place inmates in facilities. The five-tiered system, which allows
some violent criminals to migrate to lower-security facilities for good
behavior, met with bipartisan criticism in the wake of the escapes. Two of the
three inmates who escaped from the medium-security Kingman prison had been
convicted of murder. Goddard said the three recent escapees never should have
been in a medium-security prison. Charles Ryan, director of the Department of
Corrections, announced Thursday that the state would slow its bidding process
for the 5,000 new private-prison beds pending additional review. Brewer has said
little publicly about the escape but told The Republic last week that she is
committed to holding prison operators responsible for mistakes they made. She
said she has ordered Ryan to conduct a "complete review to make sure that
inmates are appropriately secured and in the right kinds of facilities." While
Brewer remains confident that private prisons are well suited to house
less-violent offenders, she said: "What has happened is unacceptable, and I am
absolutely pushing for more accountability."
August 20, 2010 Arizona Star
An executive with the firm that runs the private prison from which three
dangerous inmates escaped promised Thursday to beef up security but said that's
no guarantee it won't happen again. "Escapes occur at both public and private,"
Odie Washington, a vice president of Management and Training Corp., said while
noting it's incumbent on the company and state to do whatever is necessary to
close those security gaps prisoners can take advantage of. But a security review
of the MTC-run prison near Kingman, released Thursday, reveals that what
Washington referred to as "gaps" were more like chasms. As a result, State
Corrections Director Charles Ryan has ordered 150 of the highest-risk prisoners
removed. The report shows the prison perimeter-alarm system was essentially
useless. Bulbs showing the status of the fence were burned out on a control
panel. Guards were not patrolling the fence. And a door to a dormitory that was
supposed to be locked had been propped open with a rock, helping the inmates
escape. Washington, however, said that's not the fault of the corporation. He
said company employees at Kingman never told anyone at the corporate
headquarters about the problems. Ryan admitted his own audit team, which had
been to the prison before the July 30 escape, "didn't see or didn't report" the
shortcomings. All that is significant because the three inmates escaped when an
accomplice tossed them wire cutters and they made a 30-by-22-inch hole that went
undetected for hours. Of particular concern to Ryan is the fence. "What was
found were excessive false alarms," Ryan disclosed, noting over 16 hours on July
30 there were 89 alarms. "The system was not maintained or calibrated." The
result, he said, was employees were "desensitized" to the alarms going off, and
it took 11 to 73 minutes for staffers to check out problems and reset the
alarms. "That is absolutely unacceptable," he said. The last of the three
inmates, a convicted murderer, along with an accomplice, was recaptured Thursday
night. The other two were recaptured, but not before they were linked to the
deaths of an Oklahoma couple who were in New Mexico. "This is a terrible
tragedy, and the department and the contractor have a lot of work to do," Ryan
said. The findings prompted Ryan to put limits on what kind of criminals can be
housed at the facility. Until now, the 1,508-bed medium-security section has
included people convicted of murder. His order removes, at least from Kingman,
anyone convicted of first-degree murder, anyone who attempted escape in the last
decade and anyone with more than 20 years left on a sentence. All told, 148
inmates were taken from the facility. But Ryan would not rule out allowing
murderers back in the prison after he is satisfied that security has been
upgraded. He defended the classification system that allows convicted murders -
and even lifers - to serve their time in medium-security prisons. Gov. Jan
Brewer sidestepped questions about the system, saying it was in place long
before she became governor in January 2009. "It is something that maybe should
be reviewed," the governor said Thursday, but added, "That classification is
used across America." Ryan said he remains convinced there is a role for private
prisons. About 6,400 of the more than 40,000 people behind bars in Arizona are
in private prisons. Another 1,760 Arizona prisoners are at an out-of-state
facility. The Republican-controlled Legislature remains very much in favor of
private prisons, as does Brewer. That support hasn't wavered because of the
escape. Brewer said the report from Ryan underscores her belief the escape was
caused by human error, and nothing inherent in private prisons. "It's very
obvious those alarms should have been responded to," the governor said. But the
problems that Ryan sketched out go beyond the actions - or inactions - of
guards. Washington admitted there are "significant construction issues" with the
perimeter fence and the alarm system that will have to be handled. And Ryan
found flaws with the entire way MTC allowed the facility to be operated. For
example, he said no one was making regular checks along the fence to look for
breaches. And Ryan said guards were "not effectively controlling inmate
movements" within the prison system. Other flaws included inmates not wearing
required ID badges, grooming requirements being ignored and proper searches of
people going into the facility not being done. Casslyn Welch, the woman accused
of providing the wire cutters and a vehicle, was banned from the prison after
she was caught trying to bring in drugs. But Ryan said prison officials still
allowed her to talk to inmates on the phone, making it possible for her to help
plan the breakout. Welch and John McCluskey, her fiancée and cousin, were caught
Thursday night in northeastern Arizona. Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick have
been recaptured. Another problem is that the design of the prison allows anyone
to drive up close to the facility. Corrections officials want traffic routed
away from the fence.
August 18, 2010 AP
Past audits of the Arizona state prison where three inmates escaped last month
gave the facility high marks and revealed few issues with security or staff
training, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The escape on
July 30 has put corrections officials and the operator of the privately run
prison under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. But if there was an indication of
any widespread security problems at the facility that houses minimum- and
medium-security inmates, it doesn't show in the internal audits. On security
issues, the audits showed overall compliance rates of 98.8 percent in 2007, 99.9
percent in 2009 and 99.5 percent in 2010. Nearly 2,870 areas of security were
audited over the three years and 37 were marked as noncompliant. One security
issue was tagged in 2006. No audits were done in 2005 or 2008 because of fiscal
constraints, said Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson. No
independent audits of the Kingman prison have been done. The audits instead are
conducted by a team of about 15 made up of staff at the corrections department
and the prison who are considered subject matter experts. The audit team
evaluates areas of the prison that include security, training, medical, food
service and business for compliance with the state contract and other orders. A
yearly schedule of audits is available in July, giving prisons advance notice,
Marson said. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections
Working Group, said it's difficult to tell whether the audits are a true
reflection of the operations at the prison without attached documentation to
support the findings. The group advocates against private prisons he said
typically overwork, underpay and don't properly train the staff. "Audits are
used a lot of times to make things look like they're OK," he said. "Maybe they
are OK. I doubt it." Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said the prison
operator would correct the security deficiencies that contributed to the escape
of John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick. Criminal and
administrative investigations into the escape are ongoing. McCluskey's fiancee
and cousin, Casslyn Welch, is accused of throwing wire cutters over a perimeter
fence that the men used to slice their way out and flee. Welch's visitation
privileges at the prison were terminated after a random search in June during a
visit to McCluskey turned up what was believed to be heroin. Welch told
investigators that she was paid by members or associates of a white supremacist
group to smuggle the drug into the prison but didn't say who it was intended
for. State legislators have urged corrections officials and Gov. Jan Brewer's
office to release the results of a security review done following the escape.
Corrections officials said the report still is being written and should be
released this week.
August 9, 2010 FOX
Questions surround the escape of three violent convicts from a prison in
Kingman, casting a shadow on Arizona's relationship with the private prison
industry. Officials are reviewing security measures at private prison
facilities, and are looking into the future of private prisons in our state. "My
concern about this has been the manner in which the facility was operated. I do
not believe that the physical plant itself from which these inmates escaped was
the issue, it is the performance of the staff that concerned me," says Chuck
Ryan, Arizona Department of Corrections Director. State Attorney General Terry
Goddard is calling for a break in new contracts with private prison companies,
until security issues can be ironed out and a review of their relationship with
the DOC is undertaken. "We have basically turned a very significant direction in
our state towards more and more private prison operations without looking at the
consequences. I'm afraid those consequences have been put in very stark relief
by the escape of three violent prisoners," says Goddard. Ryan told us he's in
the process of reviewing his team's findings at the facility but offered no
further comment on what the future may hold for the state of Arizona and its
relationship with MTC. "Until we review their findings and their recommendations
it would be premature to comment further about that," says Ryan. Guards at
private prisons do not carry weapons and are not trained law enforcement
officers. The three convicts escaped on July 30 -- one alarm never sounded and
it remains to be seen whether prison guards went to check the second alarm.
Prison staff didn't realize they were missing until a 9 p.m. head count, which
was five hours after they were last accounted for. The local sheriff's office
wasn't alerted until more than an hour later, and state corrections officials
found out about the escape at 11:37 p.m. House Democrats are calling for a
special session to address security issues with private prisons. The governor's
office has not yet sent a comment.
August 3, 2010 AFSC
The escape of three prisoners from the Kingman prison on Friday July 30, 2010,
highlights continuing concerns about the management of state prison facilities
by for-profit corporations, according to the American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC). The Kingman facility is run by Management and Training Corporation of
Ogden, Utah. MTC also runs the Marana Community Correctional Center, and is one
of four prison corporations that have submitted bids to the Arizona Department
of Corrections to build and operate up to 5,000 new state prison beds. This
incident comes on the heels of a riot at the Kingman facility in June in which
eight prisoners were injured. The escapes are being blamed on lax security and a
failure to follow proper protocol. The prisoners reportedly were able to sneak
out of their dormitory and cut through a perimeter fence without being detected.
"You get what you pay for," said Caroline Isaacs, Director of the AFSC's Arizona
office. "These for-profit prison corporations are primarily concerned about the
bottom line and making money for their CEO's and shareholders." Isaacs charges
that the companies cut corners everywhere they can, but primarily on staff pay
and training. The result is a facility with high turnover rates, where the staff
is inexperienced and the prisoners have nothing productive to do. Such a prison
is unsafe for the inmates, the guards, and the surrounding community. This is
not the only Arizona private prison scandal to make headlines recently. A prison
run by Corrections Corporation of America in Eloy was recently on lockdown after
prisoners from Hawaii rioted over an Xbox video game. When a staff member
attempted to intervene, he was severely beaten, suffering a broken nose, broken
cheekbones and damage to his eye sockets. The incident was the latest episode in
a history of violence that has plagued the facility. Two prisoners are facing a
possible death sentence in the fatal beating of another inmate there last
February. These types of incidents are "alarmingly common" in privately operated
prisons, Isaacs says, citing patterns of mismanagement, financial impropriety,
abuse, and medical negligence. Further privatization of Arizona's prisons will
be a financial boondoggle for a cash-strapped state and a nightmare for the host
communities, she warns. "Arizona's legislature needs to take a good look at the
track record of these companies before they spend any more of the taxpayers'
money on this failed experiment."
July 29, 2010 Phoenix New Times
In May, I reported in my Feathered Bastard blog that executives and lobbyists
for the giant, Tennessee-based prison company Corrections Corporation of America
had donated $1,780 in "seed money" for Governor Jan Brewer's Clean Elections
campaign. Such early contributions are limited to $140 per person. But if that
seems like chump change, consider that CCA also contributed a whopping $10,000
to the campaign for Prop 100, the state sales-tax initiative, the success of
which was considered key to Brewer's bid to be more than an "accidental"
governor. The proposition was approved overwhelmingly by voters in May. What's
the big deal with the CCA contributions? CCA operates six prisons in Arizona,
three of which house detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As
this column goes to press, SB 1070, Arizona's "breathing-while-brown" law,
awaits the decision of U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton on whether she will
grant an injunction of all or part of the statute. The various enforcement
provisions of 1070 practically ensure that more undocumented folks will be
turned over to ICE. CCA probably will end up holding some of these individuals
as they wait for removal proceedings or if they are convicted of federal
immigration-related crimes. So CCA stands to profit from SB 1070, and as recent
reports from the investigative magazine In These Times and Phoenix's CBS 5 (KPHO)
indicate, Brewer's relationship to CCA runs far deeper than just the political
contributions mentioned above. In These Times' July issue featured a story by
Beau Hodai that revealed that Brewer's top flack, Paul Senseman, worked for
Arizona's Policy Development Group, which lists CCA as a client. Senseman's
wife, Kathy, is listed with the firm as a lobbyist for CCA. Hodai also reported
that the CCA employs Highground Public Affairs Consultants to represent its
interests in Arizona. Highground's president is Chuck Coughlin, Brewer's top
political adviser and the man running her gubernatorial campaign. Though In
These Times was the first to publish this information, CBS 5's investigative
unit was the first to run with it locally. During a recent newscast, reporter
Morgan Loew revealed that CCA gets $11 million a month for inmates in the
company's Arizona facilities. Loew got that figure from the U.S. Marshal's
Office. Marshal David Gonzales confirmed the figure to me. But he said that's
just what he pays CCA for holding his prisoners, many of whom have been
convicted on immigration-related offenses. So that $11 million doesn't include
whatever ICE pays CCA for the same services. I've asked ICE for that number, but
it hasn't gotten back to me. Loew sandbagged Brewer at an event, but Brewer
refused to answer questions about her advisers' ties to CCA. Brewer's boy was
willing to chat it up with me about his big-dollar, private prison client,
however. Clearly miffed by the CBS 5 report, Coughlin referred to it as
"drive-by" journalism, and claimed that CCA "doesn't house any Arizona
prisoners." "They don't house those types of inmates," insisted Coughlin
regarding CCA and immigration-related collars. "[The CBS 5 report] is . . . a
total piece of made-up journalism." When I told him that I'd been to the federal
courthouse in Tucson myself, and witnessed CCA buses carting people convicted of
immigration crimes, he backpedaled — but not by much. "That may be a federal
contract," he said. "It has nothing to do with the state." But it will have
something to do with the state if 1070 takes effect, as 1070 is all about local
police enforcing federal immigration law to the fullest extent possible. Indeed,
law enforcement agencies that do not enforce 1070 can be sued by Arizona
citizens under one of the law's provisions. The law makes "attrition through
enforcement" the policy of Arizona, and one provision requires that all those
arrested have their immigration status checked before they are released. If CCA
ends up holding some of these individuals, then 1070 will benefit CCA directly.
"If that happens, if it were the case, if ICE does," scoffed Coughlin. "You have
a lot of ifs down the road that's not a matter of fact right now. We're not
working on speculative ventures here. We had no position on 1070. We did not
lobby on 1070." Didn't lobby on 1070? That's one hard-to-swallow lump of coal. I
asked Coughlin if he was telling me he'd never talked to Brewer about 1070 or
advised her to sign the bill, as many presume he did. "I talk with her about a
lot of stuff," he admitted. "Of course, we talked about 1070. We run her
campaign. Absolutely." Coughlin also admitted that his firm began representing
CCA "over a year ago." So he was representing CCA at the same time he was
advising Brewer on whether to sign the law. If that's not a conflict of interest
big enough to drive a semi through, I don't know what is. Neither Brewer's flack
Senseman nor CCA responded to requests for comment for this column. But when I
wrote about CCA and Brewer in May, CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant was not shy
about gabbing. Grant maintained that CCA has no position on 1070. She denied
that the law would be good for her employer or that CCA had any influence over
the drafting of the law. "CCA has had no involvement whatsoever with this
legislation," she told me at the time. "And we will not have any involvement
with it." Well, not until local cops start handing over people to ICE. After
that, despite Grant's disavowals, CCA will be involved. Don't get me wrong. I'm
not positing a conspiracy theory. In my view, the odious ideology of nativism
was the driving force behind the passage of SB 1070. But Coughlin clearly is
making bank off CCA. And the company knows where its croissant is buttered.
Everybody can smell the links between Brewer and CCA. They stink like one of
Brewer's headless bodies in the desert. Or they would, if those bodies were
real.
July 28, 2010 Daily Kos
Bigotry may not be the only motive behind Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's rabidly
xenophobic new immigration law. Another factor may be that timeless Republican
standard: greed. Zaid Jilani of Think Progress explains: Yet a new investigation
by local Arizona TV news station CBS 5 finds that the Brewer administration may
have ulterior motives for its strong support of the new law. The station has
found that "two of Brewer’s top advisers have connections" to private prison
giant Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Paul Senseman, Brewer’s deputy
chief of staff, is a former lobbyist for CCA. His wife continues to lobby for
the company. Meanwhile Chuck Coughlin, who leads her re-election campaign,
chaired her transition into the governorship, and is one of the governor’s
policy advisors, is president of HighGround Public Affairs Consultants, which
lobbies for CCA. The best of all possible Republican worlds: codify racism, and
make money while doing so? From the CBS 5 website: The private prison industry
houses illegal immigrant detainees for the federal government. Those companies
could gain contracts with state and local agencies to house illegal immigrants
arrested for state violations. Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, holds
the federal contract to house detainees in Arizona. The company bills $11
million per month. CCA insists it had nothing to do with the creation of the new
law, has no state or local contracts to house detainees, and doesn't propose to
house those detained because of the new Arizona law. In other words, it will be
purely coincidental if those swept up by the new law end up being held by the
same private contractor the federal government pays to hold detainees in
Arizona. It will be purely coincidental if those swept up by the new law end up
being held by the same private contractor that once employed Brewer's deputy
chief of staff as a lobbyist, still employs his wife as a lobbyist, and pays a
company run by Brewer's re-election chief, transition chair, and policy advisor
to lobby. In the spirit of innocent-until-proven-guilty--something the new law's
supporters might not understand--someone should ask the Brewer team how,
exactly, they do propose to house those swept up by their new law, and who,
exactly, will be paid to house them. There can't be many options, but who can
imagine that it might somehow coincidentally end up being CCA?
June 21, 2010 In These Times
Over the past several years private-prison companies Corrections Corporation of
America (CCA) and the Geo Group, through their work as members of the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and through their ties to the Arizona
Legislature and the office of Gov. Jan Brewer, have had ample opportunity--and
obvious intent--to ensure the passage of S.B. 1070. According to Sen. Russell
Pearce and Brewer's spokesman Paul Senseman, the S.B. 1070 went through a
lengthy edit and review process that took place predominantly within the Arizona
Legislature and the offices of the Maricopa County Attorney and Gov. Brewer. A
little over a week after Pearce introduced S.B. 1070 on the floor of the Arizona
Senate, CCA enlisted Highground Consulting, one of the most influential lobbying
firms in Phoenix, to represent its interests in the state. Lobby disclosure
forms filed with the Arizona Secretary of State indicate that Maricopa County
also employed Highground during the time of the bill's formation. Highground's
owner and principal, Charles "Chuck" Coughlin, is a top advisor and the current
campaign manager of Gov. Brewer. State lobby reports show that Brewer's current
spokesman, Senseman, previously worked as CCA's chief lobbyist in Arizona as an
employee of Policy Development Group, another influential Phoenix consulting
firm. His wife, Kathryn Senseman, is still employed by Policy Development Group
and still lobbies the legislature on behalf of CCA. In other words, in 2005 and
2006, as Arizona legislators--many of them ALEC members--were drafting
provisions of what would eventually become the "Breathing While Brown" law,
Brewer's director of communications, Senseman, was lobbying them on behalf of
CCA. Brewer's "chief policy advisor," Richard Bark--a man Senseman and Pearce
both say was directly involved in the drafting of S.B. 1070--remains listed with
the Office of the Secretary of State as an active lobbyist for the Arizona
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI). CCA is a "board level" member of the
ACCI and is the top employer in Pinal County, located just south of Maricopa
County, where it operates five detention facilities for both state prisoners and
immigrant detainees. Geo Group employs consulting firm Public Policy Partners,
which, like Highground, also provides consultation and lobbying services to
Maricopa County. While Public Policy Partners (PPP), an Arizona-based firm, has
more than 30 Arizona clients, it only has two clients at the federal level: Geo
Group (based in Florida) and Ron Sachs Communications, a Florida-based
public-relations firm that, promotes prison privatization. PPP, as a firm, also
appears to be an advocate for expanded use of private prisons. Federal lobbying
records show PPP owner, John Kaites, lobbying on behalf of the firm on issues of
"private correctional detention management." CCA has also shown special interest
in Arizona through recent hiring decisions. In 2007, CCA hired on Brad Regens as
"Vice President of State Partnership Relations" for the purpose of cultivating
new contracts in Arizona and California. In the two years immediately prior to
his employment at CCA, Regens had worked in the Arizona House as director of
fiscal policy. Before his appointment as director of fiscal policy, Regens had
spent nine years working in the state legislature in various roles, including
assistant director of the Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Following
its hiring of Regens, CCA elected former U.S. Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) to
its board of directors.
May 18, 2010 Phoenix New Times
Governor Brewer's CCA connection: Conflict of interest over SB 1070? Several
months before signing SB 1070, Governor Jan Brewer accepted hundreds of dollars
in "seed money" for her clean elections campaign from corporate executives and
others with a possible stake in Arizona's "papers please" legislation becoming
law. In all, seven executives with the Tennessee-based private prisons giant
Corrections Corporation of America contributed $980 for the governor's start-up
fund with Arizona's clean elections system. A warden for one of CCA's Arizona
prisons gave $100. A CCA shareholder gave $140. Lobbyists listed with the state
of Arizona as having CCA as a client gave another $560, for a total of $1,780.
In addition, CCA has contributed a whopping $10,000 to the campaign for Prop
100, the one cent sales tax heavily promoted by Brewer, which is up for approval
by voters today. The success of Prop 100 is considered by many to be the
linchpin for a Brewer victory in November. How does CCA stand to gain from SB
1070? CCA, which houses 75,000 offenders and detainees in more than 60
facilities nationwide, operates six prisons in Arizona, three of which list U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a client: Florence, Eloy, and the Central
Arizona Detention Center. If SB 1070 is not stopped by a federal court
injunction before it goes into effect late July, as a recently filed ACLU
lawsuit aims to accomplish, all Arizona law enforcement will be required to
check the immigration status of those they have "reasonable suspicion" of being
in the country illegally. This, during any lawful stop, detention, or arrest. So
the law could potentially mean a boon in warm bodies for CCA prisons, as those
aliens turned over to ICE might find themselves in CCA facilities, even if for a
short stay. "The more folks that get pulled over and detained, the more money
CCA makes," said Monica Sandschafer, executive director of the Phoenix immigrant
rights group LUCHA, which stands for Living United for Change in Arizona. "It's
a pretty disturbing connection between Brewer and this company." But Brewer
campaign flack Doug Cole scoffed at the suggestion that there was anything
nefarious about the connection between Brewer and CCA, referring to CCA as a
"good corporate citizen" and denying that CCA's contributions to Brewer in any
way affected her decision to sign the controversial law. "People contribute to
political campaigns, in my experience, because they want to be part of the
process," said Cole, speaking in general. "Oh, so we're talking a thousand
dollars here now," he harrumphed at one point. Asked if the money might have
influenced Brewer to sign SB 1070, he stated emphatically, "Absolutely not."
Todd Lang, executive director of Arizona's Citizens Clean Elections Commission
contended that Brewer had violated no rules in taking the money from CCA, even
if CCA stood to benefit from Brewer's actions as governor. "Anyone can give to
anyone," said Lang of the so-called "seed money," which is limited to a $51,250
cap. "The restriction Clean Elections puts in place is how little money those
guys can give. The theory is that this restricts their influence." Clean
Elections holds contributors to the initial seed money fund to a $140 per person
limit. Participating gubernatorial candidates must also raise thousands of $5
individual contributions. If they obey these dictates, they are rewarded with
public funds: $707,447 for the primary campaign, and $1,061,171 for the general
election. However, Sandschafer pointed out that each of the CCA executives and
lobbyists in question gave the maximum amount allowed, save for the warden of
the Eloy Detention Center Charles DeRosa, who gave $100. "These are the people
who stand to profit from this horrible racist legislation," Sandschafer
asserted. CCA execs contributing to Brewer include the company's top brass:
Damon Hininger, CCA President and CEO; "senior administrator" Anthony Grande;
Gustavus Puryear, at one time CCA's general counsel; Todd Mullenger, executive
VP and chief financial officer; and so on. Louise Grant, a CCA spokeswoman based
in Tennessee, claimed that the contributions to Brewer, which were made in
November of 2009, were not intended to influence public policy, and that the
$10K contribution to the Yes on 100 fund, dated April 5, 2010, was made because
CCA wanted what was best for its employees in Arizona. Grant also stated that
under Brewer, CCA had lost two contracts with a total of 3,000 prisoners
involved. She said that the main facility they use for ICE detainees is Eloy,
the warden for which gave $100 to Brewer's start up fund. She denied SB 1070
would be a good thing for CCA, or that CCA had any influence over the law
itself. "CCA has had no involvement whatsoever with this legislation, SB 1070,"
she said. "And we will not have any involvement with it."
May 7, 2010 AP
One side has big donations paying for television commercials and glossy mailers
sent to voters' homes. The other is a shoestring effort based on e-mail chains
and homemade signs. It's a picture of stark contrasts when it comes to
campaigning for or against Proposition 100, the temporary sales tax increase on
Arizona's May 18 special election ballot. If voters approve the measure, the
state sales tax would rise to 6.6 cents on the dollar from the current 5.6 cents
to raise a projected $1 billion annually. The increase would begin June 1 and
would last three years. The Legislature narrowly sent the issue to the ballot in
February. That was 11 months after Republican Gov. Jan Brewer first proposed a
sales take hike to help close the state's big budget deficits, along with
spending cuts, federal stimulus dollars and borrowing. But it didn't take long
for Proposition 100 supporters to begin writing checks in the tens of thousands
of dollars -- or amounts even larger -- to committees backing the measure. Those
included over $81,000 from the Arizona and Phoenix chambers of commerce,
$250,000 from the University of Arizona Foundation and $80,000 from the Arizona
Education Association and its parent union. Other major contributors include
hospital companies, a firefighters' union, manufacturers, arts backers, a
private prison company, economic development groups and the Arizona School
Boards Association. Their backing has paid for television ads endorsing the
ballot measure, and full-mailers plastered with testimonials from teachers,
public safety officials and Brewer. "Our state's future is tied to the success
of this measure," one mailer has Brewer saying.
April 27, 2010 Mercury News
How's this for border insecurity? In another swipe at Arizona and its strict new
anti-immigration rules, California Senate leader Darrell Steinberg on Tuesday
asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to "deliver an unequivocal message" of disgust
by tearing up the state's contracts with Arizona businesses and government
agencies. Arizona's new law, which allows police to demand identification from
anyone reasonably believed to be an undocumented immigrant, has spawned a
maelstrom of emotions since its approval last week — from quiet applause from
those who support the crackdown to protests and boycott shouts, including San
Francisco's move Tuesday to ban city workers from traveling to the state on
official business. Steinberg, in a withering letter to the governor, called the
new rules "unconscionable" and a recipe for "racial profiling." Noting energy
agreements with Arizona as well as deals to send the state California's overflow
prisoners, he urged Schwarzenegger to take action. "The state of California
should not be using taxpayer dollars to support such a policy," the Sacramento
Democrat wrote. The move may largely wind up symbolic. Severing many of the
contracts may not be legally possible, although Steinberg also has called for a
ban on new contracts. In a quick compilation provided Tuesday, the Department of
General Services found deals with 73 Arizona entities worth $10.3 million. But
officials said that doesn't include all contracts, including those held by
Caltrans, state universities or the prison system, so the real number may be
much larger. The state has a $700 million contract with a private prison firm
that houses California inmates in several out-of-state prisons, including three
in Arizona.
April 11, 2010 Arizona Republic
Businesses and business groups are lining up on both sides of the proposed
statewide 1-cent-per-dollar sales-tax increase. Some say it will hurt them by
reducing consumer spending and hiking costs. Others say the tax is needed to
support the overall state economy. Businesses generally oppose tax increases on
themselves or their customers, but a number of high-profile groups are
supporting Proposition 100 in the May 18 election because they consider it
necessary to improve the state's fiscal picture and prospects for economic
development. "You generally don't see business organizations supporting tax
increases," said Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of
Commerce and Industry. "But I think in this case, the near-term budget situation
is deemed serious enough that some sort of temporary revenue enhancement was
needed to prevent further (budget) cuts." As the election approaches, both
factions can point to reports that support their points of view on the proposed
tax increase. A study commissioned by the Goldwater Institute and conducted by
the Beacon Hill Institute in Boston says passage of Proposition 100 would cost
the state about 14,400 private-sector jobs because it would reduce the consumer
spending that supports retail jobs. A conflicting study by the Economic and
Business Research Center at the University of Arizona says passage would save
more than 13,000 jobs and preserve more than $442 million in federal matching
funds because much of the estimated $918 million in increased revenues the state
would receive would be spent on products and services provided by private
companies. Hamer said the Arizona chamber supports the tax as part of a
comprehensive package that includes the state Jobs Recovery Act, which would
give tax breaks to businesses in hopes of encouraging them to increase hiring.
The chamber and Greater Phoenix Leadership, a business coalition, have each
contributed $50,000 to the Yes on 100 Committee, according to the Secretary of
State's Office. Arizona Public Service Co., Magellan Health Services, Scottsdale
Healthcare and Tucson Medical Center have each given $25,000. Other companies
making large contributions include Honeywell International PAC, which gave
$15,000, and Sundt Companies Inc., Resolution Copper Mining and Corrections
Corp. of America, each $10,000.
February 26, 2010 AP
Cornell Cos. Inc.'s sales and profit will decline if
the state of Arizona removes inmates from the company's Oklahoma prison, an
analyst said as he downgraded the prison operator's shares. First Analysis
Securities analyst Todd Van Fleet downgraded the Houston company to "equal
weight" from "overweight." The January budget proposals from Arizona's governor
and legislature would phase out the use of private out-of-state beds. Arizona is
struggling to close budget shortfalls. Van Fleet said there was less than a 25
percent chance that Cornell would be able to persuade legislators to keep
Arizona inmates in the company's Oklahoma prison. The loss of the Arizona
prisoners which could cut into Cornell's annual earnings by 35 cents to 45 cents
per share. Van Fleet cut his estimate for 2010 profit to $1.09 per share from
$1.69 per share, and his 2010 sales estimate to $398 million from $440.6
million. On Wednesday, when it released fourth-quarter earnings, Cornell
predicted it would make $1.31 to $1.41 per share in 2010. The guidance assumed
that Cornell would continue to keep all its Arizona inmates for the rest of the
year. The contract for the Arizona prisoners ends in mid-September, Van Fleet
said. Cornell shares slipped 13 cents to $18.61 in midday trading. They have
dropped about 25 percent since Arizona proposed its budget in mid-January.
January 22, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
State lawmakers had mixed reactions to Thursday's announcement that Arizona is
pulling its inmates out of a private prison in Walsenburg, dragging almost 200
jobs out with them. Last year, Colorado inmates were relocated from the Huerfano
County Correctional Facility, owned by Corrections Corporation of America, to
make room for 800 Arizona inmates. "I'm not surprised that Arizona would be
pulling back its inmates," Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West. "That state is
in a terrible budget crunch. Its whole prison system is up for sale."
Conversely, Joint Budget Committee member Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, said
Thursday afternoon, "This is the first I've heard of it. I work with CCA as part
of the budget process." In 2008, CCA sought a 5-percent increase in the fee paid
to it by the state of Colorado per inmate, per day from $52.69 to $55.32. At the
time, McFadyen characterized CCA's demands as the Legislature being "held
hostage" by threats that CCA would end acceptance of Colorado's inmates if the
pay hike wasn't approved. "We took their threat seriously," McFadyen said
Thursday. "It's relevant to this discussion. We got our inmates out of there
because CCA was going to throw them out." She said CCA officials shouldn't have
been surprised by the potential problems it faced from shrinking government
budgets and prison populations. "CCA came in as speculative investors, banking
on the booming prison populations of a decade ago," McFadyen said. "Economic
development through growing the prison industry is not good public policy." Rep.
Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, was reluctant to blame the situation on CCA's absence of
foresight. "They simply need to find some new customers," McKinley said. "The
reason we have prisons is the market's out there. If we didn't need them, we
wouldn't have them.
January 21, 2010 Corrections Corporation of America
CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) (NYSE: CXW), the nation's largest
partnership corrections provider to government agencies, announced today that
the proposed budgets by the Arizona Governor and Legislature, released on
January 15, 2010, would phase out the utilization of private out-of-state beds.
CCA currently has management contracts with Arizona at its 752-bed Huerfano
County Correctional Center in Walsenburg, Colorado and at its 2,160-bed
Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma. The proposed phase-out
of utilizing out-of-state beds is based on Arizona's budget crisis and its
desire to utilize additional in-state capacity that will come on-line in 2010.
As a result of the budget proposals, there is a significant risk that CCA will
lose the opportunity to house offenders from Arizona at its Huerfano and
Diamondback facilities during 2010. Our contract with Arizona at Huerfano
expires on March 8, 2010, and our contract at Diamondback expires on May 1,
2010. In the event that Arizona should not renew one or both of these contracts,
CCA will work with Arizona officials related to the timing of any phase-out of
Arizona inmate populations. We would anticipate that such populations would be
transferred out within 30 to 60 days following expiration of each management
contract. If Arizona removes its offender populations housed at these
facilities, CCA will likely close both facilities. During 2009, CCA generated
approximately $56.5 million in revenues from both of these contracts.
December 10, 2009 Truthout
Caroline Isaacs -- You know you’re in trouble when "The Daily Show" sends a
“fake correspondent” to your state capitol. Perhaps it was inevitable - who
could resist the irony of a state literally selling its capitol to the highest
bidder? The comedy in the footage of the aforementioned correspondent standing
on Rep. Kyrsten Sinema’s desk to test the quality of the drop ceiling in her
office was eclipsed only by the tragedy of Rep. Linda Lopez's complete inability
to answer the question that should have been first on the mind of every elected
official in Arizona: "After you sell these buildings and have to pay rent on
them, how will you balance the budget next year?" But the "Daily Show" segment
was only the beginning. What’s got the cable “fake news” programs and
incredulous audiences worldwide rolling in the aisles now is even more
far-fetched: Arizona’s gonna privatize death row. State leaders want to give out
lucrative, long-term contracts to private, for-profit corporations to run entire
state prison complexes, essentially putting rent-a-cops in charge of women
inmates, sex offenders and supermax lockdown units. Brilliant! How come nobody
ever thought of this before? Because it’s a terrible idea. In 30-plus years of
America’s experiment with prison privatization, never has a private company run
entire state prison complexes with multiple security levels. Only one,
Corrections Corporation of America, manages high-security prisoners, and only in
very small numbers. Even Tennessee, home of CCA, wisely passed on the company’s
offer to run the whole state system. Private prison companies prefer to
cherry-pick the prisoners that are already cheapest to house - low-security with
no medical, disciplinary or mental health problems. That way, they can skimp on
paying or training their staff and make a nice tidy profit. So why would any of
these corporations even think of putting up $100 million to get some crumbling
old prison buildings and contracts to manage prisoners from minimum to death
row? Because their campaign contributions and armies of lobbyists have convinced
Arizona lawmakers to sweeten the deal. The bill actually requires the state to
split the savings generated through privatization 50/50 with the private
operator. That’s right - we have to give them half the money back. But wait!
There’s more! The deal allows the prison companies to raise their per-diem rate
(the amount the state pays them per prisoner, per day) every year for the length
of the contract. With no upper limit. And what’s a measly $100 million compared
to the combined guaranteed income of 20-year lease payments and those sweet per
diems over the length of the contracts? Now, a story like that is a comedy gold
mine! The New York Times, first nationally to report on the story, attempted to
hide its smirk behind reassuring quotes from Rep. John Kavanagh, a backer of the
proposal who just happens to be chair of Arizona's Joint Legislative Budget
Committee, which happens to oversee the Department of Administration, which will
be managing the contracts. But there was no restraining Stephen Colbert, who
took the Twainian opportunity to take this ridiculous idea to its most extreme
conclusion: Let’s just privatize the entire criminal justice system and pay cops
a commission for every arrest. Surely the profit motive will result in more
efficient "justice." How could there be anything wrong with the idea of
profiting from depriving other human beings of their freedom? Ha! Ha! And now
the joke is going global. On November 23, the Guardian UK featured a story whose
incredulous author referred to the Arizona proposals as "bizarre" and "kooky."
Resisting the urge to outright mock us, Mr. Abramsky did, however, soberly note
that the joke is really on the people of Arizona. Citing the dismal track
records of abuse, escapes and riots that have plagued the private prison
industry for its entire existence, he warned that this "wacky" scheme could have
dire consequences. So, laugh it up, everybody. Arizona taxpayers appear only too
happy to foot the bill for your amusement. And be sure to tune in for the next
installment, chronicling a state in even deeper debt, on the hook for 20-year
contract obligations it can’t afford, fending off lawsuits over shoddy prison
medical care and prisoner abuse scandals and frantically searching for the next
brilliant short-term scheme to get us out of this mess.
November 7, 2009 AP
Arizona’s plan to turn over its prisons to private companies in exchange for
a $100 million upfront payment is having trouble getting off the drawing board,
with the plan behind schedule and private prison operators showing little, if
any, interest. The privatization effort is required under a law enacted last
summer as lawmakers struggled to close a huge budget shortfall. It directs the
state to award a contract to one or more private companies to run an unspecified
number of prisons for $100 million. It emerged as Republican lawmakers cast
about for alternatives to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to increase the
sales tax to avoid deep cuts to state program. An official who worked on the law
told The Associated Press that the $100 million figure was based on hope, not
certainty. The prison concession provision doesn’t specify which or how many of
the state’s 10 prison complexes would be included, what would happen to current
state employees or the length of a contract. An early version specified a term
of 50 years and identified three prisons with approximately 11,000 beds. The
Yuma prison complex was excluded from the law at the insistence of a Yuma
legislator. State officials were supposed to provide an initial batch of
information to potential bidders on Oct. 1, but missed the deadline. But even
without that, there appears to be little interest among private-prison
companies. Corrections Corp. of America, the nation’s largest private prison
company, “is not focused on that,” said Louise Grant, a CCA vice president.
Grant said CCA is interested in pursuing traditional private-prison deals with
states and would review any Arizona request. However, “it’s very questionable
whether or not we would participate,” she said. Another operator, Boca Raton,
Fla.-based GEO Group, declined to comment, citing corporate policy. A third,
Management & Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, issued a noncommittal
response. Arizona is among many states that contract with private companies to
house state inmates, but officials and industry observers say the large upfront
payment request may be unprecedented. “That is such a new idea. The model hasn’t
been done,” said Leonard Gilroy, a Reason Foundation official who champions
privatization of government services. Gilroy questioned whether Arizona’s plan
would be attractive enough for potential bidders in the industry. “It’s sort of
like ’we want you to do an operational contract and loan us $100 million,”’
Gilroy said. “I don’t know if there’s enough there to sweeten the pot for the
private sector.” Democratic legislators have questioned whether the state should
turn control of violent maximum-security offenders, including murderers on death
row, to private operators. Little is known about how the plan would be
implemented, including whether it would include the Eyman prison complex in
Florence that includes death row. Citing procurement confidentiality, state
officials declined to release a draft of the document they plan to send to
bidders. Corrections Director Chuck Ryan declined multiple requests for an
interview in recent weeks. But he told legislators during a May hearing that it
was “very concerning” to consider privatizing a major prison complex that houses
nearly all death row inmates and 1,000 other dangerous inmates. Privatizing
death row involves taking a chance, Ryan said. “It won’t stand the headline test
in my opinion.” A leader of a union representing prison guards criticized the
plan and suggested that public safety could be at risk. “They’re trying to
replace us with lower-paid guards, to handle sex offenders, murders, rapists,
inmates with very volatile gang connections,” said J. “J-Rod” Rodriguez, vice
president of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association. Senate
Appropriations Chairman Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said during the May hearing that
the prisons concession had been proposed by House Republicans during budget
negotiations and was based on “very good numbers” from an investment firm.
However, a top House Republican aide said lawmakers and legislative aides came
up with the idea as a way “to monetize state assets,” such as Indiana and
Chicago have done with toll highways. “Well, Arizona doesn’t have toll roads and
there aren’t a lot of assets that can be monetized. That was sort of the genesis
of the idea,” said Grant Nulle, House director of fiscal policy. There was no
research by an investment firm or anybody else, Nulle said. And the $100 million
payment appears unlikely. “Based on preliminary feedback, we may find it
difficult to generate an upfront payment of this magnitude,” legislative budget
director Richard Stavneak wrote in an Oct. 22 memo. Even if the state does
receive good bids, it will take most of the fiscal year to try to implement the
idea, so lawmakers shouldn’t count on getting the money in time to help close
the current budget’s shortfall, Stavneak said in a recent interview.
October 23, 2009 New York Times
One of the newest residents on Arizona’s death row, a convicted serial killer
named Dale Hausner, poked his head up from his television to look at several
visitors strolling by, each of whom wore face masks and vests to protect against
the sharp homemade objects that often are propelled from the cells of the
condemned. It is a dangerous place to patrol, and Arizona spends $4.7 million
each year to house inmates like Mr. Hausner in a super-maximum-security prison.
But in a first in the criminal justice world, the state’s death row inmates
could become the responsibility of a private company. State officials will soon
seek bids from private companies for 9 of the state’s 10 prison complexes that
house roughly 40,000 inmates, including the 127 here on death row. It is the
first effort by a state to put its entire prison system under private control.
The privatization effort, both in its breadth and its financial goals,
demonstrates what states around the country — broke, desperate and often
overburdened with prisoners and their associated costs — are willing to do to
balance the books. Arizona officials hope the effort will put a $100 million
dent in the state’s roughly $2 billion budget shortfall. “Let’s not kid
ourselves,” said State Representative Andy Biggs, a Republican who supports
private prisons. “If we were not in this economic environment, I don’t think
we’d be talking about this with the same sense of urgency.” Private prison
companies generally build facilities for a state, then charge them per prisoner
to run them. But under the Arizona legislation, a vendor would pay $100 million
up front to operate one or more prison complexes. Assuming the company could
operate the prisons more cheaply or efficiently than the state, any savings
would be equally divided between the state and the private firm. The
privatization move has raised questions — including among some people who work
for private prison companies — about the private sector’s ability to handle the
state’s most hardened criminals. While executions would still be performed by
the state, officials said, the Department of Corrections would relinquish all
other day-to-day operations to the private operator and pay a per-diem fee for
each prisoner. “I would not want to be the warden of death row,” said Todd
Thomas, the warden of a prison in Eloy, Ariz., run by the Corrections
Corporation of America. The company, the country’s largest private prison
operator, has six prisons in Arizona with inmates from other states. “That’s not
to say we couldn’t,” Mr. Thomas said. “But the liability is too great. I don’t
think any private entity would ever want to do that.” James Austin, a co-author
of a Department of Justice study in 2001 on prison privatization and president
of the JFA Institute, a corrections consulting firm, said private companies
tended to oversee minimum- and medium-security inmates and had little experience
with the most dangerous prisoners. “As for death row,” Mr. Austin said, “it is a
very visible entity, and if something bad happens there, you will have a pretty
big news story for the Legislature and governor to explain.” Arizona is no
stranger to private prisons or, for that matter, aggressive privatization
efforts (recently, the state put up for sale several government buildings
housing executive branch offices in Phoenix). Nearly 30 percent of the state’s
prisoners are being held in prisons operated by private companies outside the
state’s 10 complexes. In addition, other states, including Alaska and Hawaii,
have contracts with private companies like Corrections Corporation of America to
house their prisoners in Arizona. For advocates of prison privatization, the
push here breathes a bit of life into a movement that has been on the decline
across the country as cost savings from prison privatizations have often failed
to materialize, corrections officers unions have resisted the efforts and
high-profile problems in privately run facilities have drawn unwanted publicity.
“We have private prisons in Arizona already, and we are very happy with the
performance and the savings we get from them,” said Representative John Kavanagh,
a Republican who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and an
architect of the new legislation authorizing the privatization. “I think that
they are the future of corrections in Arizona.” Under the legislation, any
bidder would have to take an entire complex — many of them mazes of multiple
levels of security risks and complexity — and would not be permitted to pick off
the cheapest or easiest buildings and inmates. The state also wants to privatize
prisoners’ medical care. Louise Grant, a spokeswoman for Corrections Corporation
of America, said the high-security prisoners would be well within the company’s
management capabilities. “We expect we will be there to make a proposal to the
state” for at least some of its complexes up for bid, Ms. Grant said. In pure
financial terms, it is not clear how well the state would make out with the
privatization. The 2001 study for the Department of Justice found that private
prisons saved most states little money (there has been no equivalent study
since). Indeed, many states, struggling to keep up with the cost of corrections,
have closed prisons when possible, and sought changes in sentencing to reduce
crowding in the last two years. As tough sentencing laws and the ensuing
increase in prisoners began to press on state resources in the 1980s, private
prison companies attracted some states with promises of lower costs. The private
prison boom lasted into the 1990s. Throughout the years, there have been
high-profile riots, escapes and other violent incidents. The companies also do
not generally provide the same wages and benefits as states, which has resulted
in resistance from unions and concerns that the private prisons attract
less-qualified workers. Then the federal government stepped in, with a surge of
new immigrant prisoners, and began to contract with the private companies. The
number of federal prisoners in private prisons in the United States has more
than doubled, to 32,712 in 2008 from 15,524 in 2000. The number of state
prisoners in privately run prisons has increased to 93,500 from 75,000 in that
time. With bad economic times again driving many decisions about state
resources, other states are sure to watch Arizona’s experiment closely. “There
simply isn’t the money to keep these people incarcerated, and the alternative is
to free many of them or lower cost,” said Ron Utt, a senior research fellow for
the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group whose work for privatization was
cited by one Arizona lawmaker.
June 14, 2009 Arizona Republic
The prospect of Arizona selling off its state prisons for a cash influx might
bode well for the budget, but it comes with "grave concerns" from the director
of the Department of Corrections, according to a letter Charles Ryan sent to
Gov. Jan Brewer earlier this month. The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Russell
Pearce, R-Mesa, was part of the budget plan approved last week. Lawmakers have
yet to send the bills to Brewer. Senate Bill 1028 would allow private vendors to
operate one or more of the Arizona State Prison complexes, with a 50-year
contract to run the prisons and an upfront payment of $100 million. Ryan asks
Brewer to veto the legislation - if and when it gets to her desk. Brewer's
budget plan also includes sale-leaseback deals on prisons. In the letter, Ryan
cites concerns with the plan, including the ability of for-profit prison
companies to properly control some of the volatile inmates in the state's
maximum-security units. He also raises concerns about the proposal's impact on
plans to expand prisons, contracts the prisons have with vendors and on prison
employees. "Undoubtedly, a private company would pay its employees significantly
lower wages and provide them lesser training to realize cost savings. This would
lead to higher staff turnover, low morale and place public safety at risk," the
letter states. In a presentation Ryan gave to the Brewer last week , he also
expressed some logistical concerns about the ability to privatize bits and
pieces of the state's large prison complexes, which are designed to handle a
variety of inmates with a centralized control-and-operations center.
"Privatizing maximum-security beds would be unprecedented in the United States,"
according to Ryan's presentation. "Who would be responsible for execution of
inmates?" There are six privately run prisons in Arizona that house more than
7,000 minimum- and medium-security inmates, about 20 percent of the state's
prison population. Another 5,000 inmates are housed in private facilities
outside of Arizona, leaving more than 19,000 in state custody. In an e-mail sent
to corrections' employees on Friday, Ryan reiterated that the legislation was
still up for debate. "Continue to be professional and perform your public safety
duty," Ryan told the employees.
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 of 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
Lewis, Arizona
Canteen Correctional Services
November 6, 2009 Arizona Republic
Legal repercussions from Arizona’s longest prison-hostage saga continue
dragging through court five years later, but with a curious twist: One of two
women sexually assaulted during the drama is blaming the other rape victim for
allowing the violence to get started. The Maricopa County Superior Court suit
was filed three years ago by Lois Fraley, a correctional officer at Lewis Prison
who was held in a guard tower for 15 days during 2004 by two inmates, Ricky
Wassenaar and Steven Coy. Defendants include Canteen Correctional Services
Corporation, which prepared inmate meals in a kitchen where the incident began,
as well as a company employee who was raped by Coy. That employee previously
sued the Department of Corrections and received an undisclosed financial
settlement after alleging that prison officials negligently allowed violent
felons to work with civilians in the kitchen. She blamed lax prison security,
inadequate training and incompetence. In the ongoing case, attorney Joel
Robbins, who represents Fraley, alleges that the female kitchen employee failed
to close and lock an office door as required by prison rules. As a result, the
suit says, Wassenaar and Coy were able to enter the office and overpower the
Canteen employee and a DOC guard in the room. While Coy raped the kitchen
worker, Wassenaar went to a nearby guard tower where Fraley and detention
officer Jason Auch were on duty. According Department of Correction records,
Auch failed to verify who was at the door before pressing an electronic buzz-in
device. Wassenaar entered the tower, subdued both guards and gained control of
an arsenal. Coy then joined him. Auch was released midway through the ordeal,
while Fraley was held hostage and terrorized for two weeks. A peaceful surrender
was arranged with both inmates promised out-of-state transfers to complete their
prison terms. Fraley’s lawsuit says Coy was able to fashion a homemade shank in
the kitchen using metal bands removed from milk cases that had been banned
because of previous incidents. Although Auch’s decision to open the tower door
was crucial later on, the suit argues, the rampage could have been averted if
kitchen employee upheld their security responsibilities: “Ms. Fraley would never
have had to endure the two weeks in hell but for Canteen’s conduct.” Canteen
Corp. contends in legal filings that the company was responsible for preparing
food, not overseeing inmates or maintaining security. The trial has been
tentatively scheduled for late 2011. As a state employee, Fraley was barred from
suing the Department of Corrections under terms of Arizona’s workers
compensation law. According to court papers, she sued Canteen on behalf of the
state, which owned the rights to her complaint. However, the state reassigned
those rights back to Fraley, subject to a lien. Arizona previously sued its
insurance company for refusing to honor liability coverage in the prison saga.
The outcome of that case could not be determined.
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)
Arizona State Prison-Kingman
Kingman, Arizona
Management & Training Corporation
2010 escape at
Kingman an issue for MTC’s bid: August 11, 2011, Bob
Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Expose on MTC
Cathy Byus,
et al vs. MTC, et al: March 17, 2011, 30 pages: Wrongful death suit
involving the murder of Linda Haas by escapees from MTC's Arizona State Prison
Kingman.
Rachel Maddow stay on it
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#38700092
Rachel Maddow kicks butt
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/38685023#38685023
January 20, 2012 Arizona Republic
One of the three men who broke out of Arizona’s Kingman prison in 2010, and an
accomplice, pleaded guilty Friday in a New Mexico federal court to a host of
charges in the murder of an Oklahoma couple during the escape. Tracy Province,
44, took a plea agreement under which he’ll serve five consecutive life terms
without the possibility of parole. He pleaded guilty to nine charges, including
conspiracy, carjacking resulting in death, and three counts of carrying and
using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, among others.
Casslyn Welch, 45, pleaded guilty to eight offenses, including conspiracy,
carjacking and three counts of using a firearm in a crime of violence. She faces
a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. They previously pleaded not guilty to
all changes. If they had been convicted, both could have faced the death
penalty. Welch’s cousin and fiancee, escapee John McCluskey, who allegedly shot
to death Gary and Linda Haas, is scheduled for trial in federal court in
Albuquerque in March 2013. Federal prosecutors said they have not decided
whether to seek the death penalty.
September 24, 2011 Arizona Republic
Arizona's Department of Corrections needs to do more to improve security at
private-contract and state-run prisons, a report released Friday by the state's
auditor general concludes. The report credits the department with making many
significant improvements since the July 2010 escapes of three prisoners from the
Kingman prison. These improvements include revamping the state's monitoring and
inspection programs, which had failed to detect obvious security flaws at
Kingman before the escapes; new, tougher annual audits of each prison; better
security and reporting requirements in new contracts; and stiffer requirements
and better training for state monitors who oversee private prisons.The audit
called for further steps to address ongoing security problems.
August 17, 2011 ABC 15
Family members of a couple allegedly murdered by two Arizona prison escapees are
speaking out against a proposed prison. The Haas family is on a mission that
they never wanted, but feel they need pursue. “It’s something you think about
everyday,” said Linda Haas Rook. Rook’s brother Gary Haas and his wife Linda
were murdered last year. Investigators believe the killers are two men who
escaped from a prison in Kingman just days earlier. The Kingman prison is
operated by the Management and Training Corporation, which now has hopes to
build prisons in San Luis and Coolidge. The Haas family hopes to prevent the
company from doing so. Linda Rook planned to travel more than 1,400 miles with
her husband and her mother to the public hearing Tuesday night in San Luis to
voice her concerns. “[MTC] needs to right their wrongs,” she told ABC15 from her
stopover in Scottsdale. MTC has made several security upgrades to their facility
in Kingman, and a spokesperson said the company has a great track record with
the state. If MTC is approved to build the new prison, the company stated it
plans to bring about 500 jobs to the San Luis area.
August 17, 2011 Arizona Republic
Rep. Chad Campbell, the Arizona House minority leader, asked Gov. Jan Brewer on
Tuesday to temporarily halt a proposed 5,000-bed expansion of private prisons in
Arizona. Public hearings on the expansion continue this week, with one held
Tuesday in San Luis. It is among five communities where four companies are
bidding to provide the beds. The Arizona Department of Corrections is expected
to issue one or more contracts in late September. But, as The Arizona Republic
recently reported, the department has never completed the biannual, cost-benefit
analyses required by law to compare private and public prisons. Corrections
Director Charles Ryan said he expects the first such analysis to be completed in
January. In a letter to Brewer, Campbell, a Phoenix Democrat, asked her to hold
off on any new contract until the analysis is ready and "after enhanced
security, training and monitoring policies are in place and shown to be
effective at all existing private facilities." Brewer could not immediately be
reached. At Tuesday's public hearing, the two companies bidding to build prisons
near San Luis - Management and Training Corp. and Geo Group Inc. - tried to
fight back against criticism of their records in Arizona and elsewhere. MTC, in
particular, was criticized for the escapes of three prisoners from its Kingman
prison last year. Two of those prisoners are accused of kidnapping and murdering
an Oklahoma couple, Gary and Linda Haas. Vivian Haas, Gary's mother, has said
little in public in the year since the murders. But at the San Luis hearing, she
spoke out. "I've been through a lot of painful times in 81 years, even surviving
the terrible tornado that hit Joplin recently. But nothing compares to the pain
of having my kids brutally murdered because MTC couldn't do its job of keeping
criminals locked up," Haas said. MTC Vice President Mike Murphy, who spoke
before Haas, emphasized the 500 jobs and the tax benefits he said the proposed
prison would bring, and promised good security. Geo Group similarly focused on
jobs and security in its presentation.
June 26, 2011 Arizona Republic
Linda and Gary Haas pulled up at the rest stop on Interstate 40 in eastern New
Mexico to walk their dogs and tidy up. It was a sunny morning, already hot, on
Aug. 2, 2010. Linda was walking back to the pickup truck and camper when two men
came up behind her. One stuck a handgun in her back and warned her in a low
voice to keep quiet. As he ordered her in the passenger side, the other man came
up on the driver’s side and pointed his handgun at her husband. Gary started to
reach beneath his seat. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the man said
roughly. Gary put up both hands. He did have a gun, he said, but it was in the
camper. The two men – escaped convicts John McCluskey and Tracy Province, who
had broken out of Arizona’s Kingman prison three days earlier – clambered into
the back seat of the Chevy crew-cab pickup, shoving the Haases’ three small Shih
Tzu dogs, Prissy, Roxie and Bear, to one side. FBI affidavits, which record the
later confessions of McCluskey, Province and their companion, Casslyn Welch,
detail the story of what befell the Haases that day. “Drive,” ordered McCluskey.
Gary and Linda didn’t know it yet, but they had only minutes to live. Documents
show lapses | DOC faces security issues The most fundamental duty for those who
run prisons is to make sure dangerous criminals stay behind bars. Eleven months
after three convicts escaped from Arizona’s Kingman state prison and an Oklahoma
couple were murdered, both the Arizona Department of Corrections and Utah-based
Management & Training Corp., which manages the prison under contract, have made
sweeping changes meant to prevent another escape. MTC says it has worked
cooperatively with the state to address problems at Kingman. After the escapes
and murders, it took eight months, and a formal threat by Corrections Director
Charles Ryan that he would terminate MTC’s contract if it didn’t fix the
problems within 90 days, before the company shored up security at Kingman to the
department’s satisfaction. Security flaws of the same types as in the Kingman
escape were found across the entire Arizona prison system, according to records
obtained by The Arizona Republic through Freedom of Information requests. But
the department has made some broad changes, imposing tougher and more thorough
standards for its annual reviews of all state prisons, including those run by
private contractors. A department spokesman says it has improved its security
tests, and Ryan now requires that any Corrections employee appointed to monitor
a contract prison have experience running a prison unit. McCluskey, Province and
Daniel Renwick escaped the Kingman prison on July 30, 2010, with the help of
McCluskey’s cousin and girlfriend, Casslyn Welch, who tossed over the fence
tools that they used to cut their way out. Prison staff ignored the alarm that
sounded when the fence was cut because it had been malfunctioning for 21/2
years, going off up to 200 times a shift. Gary and Linda had been on their way
to meet relatives for their 11th straight summer campout at Pagosa Springs,
Colo. High-school sweethearts, married for 40 years, they’d spent a lot of time
on the road since taking early retirement in 2007 from the General Motors plant
in Oklahoma City. They were expecting their first grandchild in four months. Now
Gary, at gunpoint, drove west on the interstate. Casslyn Welch followed them in
a gray Nissan Sentra. Maybe, Gary suggested, the two men could just leave them
off the road somewhere and take his truck. They could unhook the 32-foot Cougar
camper, if they wanted. McCluskey said that was just what they’d do. He told
Gary to pull off and drive north a couple of miles on an old ranch road. Then he
had him turn around and pull up by a big rusty water tank. McCluskey waved them
out of the cab with his .40-caliber semiautomatic. Time to get the guns from the
camper. As McCluskey and Province got out, the three little brown-and-white dogs
jumped out, too. Welch came up from her car. McCluskey ordered Province to round
up the dogs while he and Welch took Gary and Linda into the camper to get Gary’s
gun. Five days after the escape, a Corrections team scoured Kingman to determine
what security flaws led to the escape. Their scathing assessment, described in
an internal Corrections memo, listed the broken alarm, eight burned-out
perimeter lights, other broken security equipment, and a lax, high-turnover
culture in which MTC’s green, undertrained staff and rookie supervisors ignored
alarms, left long gaps between patrols of the perimeter, left doors leading out
of some buildings open and unwatched, didn’t alert the state or local police
until hours after the escape, and failed in all manner of basic security
practices. The state’s monitor assigned to Kingman admitted that in 14 months on
the job he’d never read MTC’s contract to see what they were supposed to do, and
that he had no idea the alarm system was so flawed as to be worthless. Ryan
subsequently replaced that monitor, who was fired. Going forward, Ryan said,
only employees with administrative experience running a prison unit would be
given monitoring assignments. The day after the escapes, Ryan suspended all
prisoner transfers to Kingman until it could pass inspection. Shortly afterward,
he also ordered the transfer of 238 medium-security inmates from Kingman to
other facilities. In a letter to Ryan on Aug. 13, 2010, 14 days after the
escapes, MTC formally admitted responsibility and agreed to work with the state
to fix the problems. It replaced the warden, complex administrator and chief of
security, all of whom resigned that week. The first of more-rigorous audits
ordered by Ryan was performed at Kingman in November 2010, three months after
MTC’s public promise to tackle security flaws. MTC had installed new alarms, but
they weren’t working properly and went off so often that staff ignored them,
auditors said. Problems with security lights and the control panels continued.
Inmates still weren’t wearing IDs. Auditors left tracks in the sand along the
perimeter fence to test the staff’s security practices. They failed to notice
them. Doors were left unsecured and unmonitored; searches still weren’t being
conducted properly. Inside the camper, McCluskey ordered Gary and Linda to sit
at the dinette. Gary told them where to find his two guns, a .38-caliber
revolver and a 9 mm handgun. Welch put them in a bag and took them outside. The
day they’d escaped from Kingman, using guns Welch provided, the trio had
kidnapped two truck drivers in a semi to get to Flagstaff. According to the FBI
affidavits, McCluskey had wanted to shoot the drivers, but Welch and Province
voted not to, so they let the men go. Now, alone with Gary and Linda, McCluskey
considered for a moment. Then he raised his gun and fired a shot through Gary’s
temple. He turned and pumped three bullets into Linda. Province and Welch ran to
the trailer. Province opened the door. He could smell the gunpowder. Blood had
splattered everywhere. McCluskey asked Province to help him drag the bodies,
slumped at the table, away from the window. Bear, Prissy and Roxie came in
through the open door, getting blood on them. For five months following the
escapes, the Department of Corrections and MTC sparred over fixing the problems
at Kingman. Finally, on Dec. 29, Ryan sent a long letter identifying the 31 most
serious concerns, and noting curtly that “a failure to cure all deficiencies” by
March 29 would lead him to terminate MTC’s contract. Ryan’s December letter
noted that “from 2005 forward, there were 13 instances of large groups of
inmates refusing directives or chasing MTC staff off the yard.” Twice in
October, large groups of inmates had created “disturbances” over the food. Ryan
said this kind of inmate behavior was unacceptable. He noted that during the
October incidents, MTC staff couldn’t tell Corrections officials who the complex
administrator was, couldn’t find a number for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office
“and didn’t have the presence of mind to dial 911,” leaving it to a Corrections
monitor on site to contact police. Ryan’s letter noted continuing problems with
MTC officers failing to control inmate movement, with security devices not being
repaired, with MTC failing one security test after another. Ryan demanded better
staff training and “sustained and systemic improvement.” Not until March 21,
eight months after the escapes, did Ryan agree that MTC had fixed the problems.
He also agreed to start sending new inmates there starting a week later. Asked
why it took so long, Odie Washington, a senior vice president at MTC, replied in
writing to The Republic that MTC worked closely with the department to make
improvements at Kingman “and will continue to actively monitor and assess
operations to ensure we provide a safe and secure facility for the citizens of
Arizona.” State auditors also visited MTC’s Marana prison in March. The
Corrections Department hasn’t released that audit, saying it is not yet
complete. Province shoved the three dogs back into the Chevy truck. McCluskey,
who was covered with Gary’s and Linda’s blood, drove the truck and camper to a
gas station in Santa Rosa, N.M. Province and Welch followed in the Nissan. As
Province pumped the gas, Welch noticed blood dripping from the camper’s back
door. The trio drove back west on I-40, turning onto a dirt road until they were
out of sight of the highway, behind a barn. While Province unloaded the dogs and
dumped out food for them, McCluskey and Welch unhooked the camper and doused the
interior, including Gary and Linda’s bodies, with liquor they’d found inside.
Then they torched it. Two days later, a rancher called state police, who found
the blackened skeletons in the remains of the trailer, and Prissy and Roxie
waiting nearby. Prissy had burns on her paws and back. Bear was never found.
Guadalupe County Sheriff Michael Lucero used the number on Prissy’s tag to reach
Gary and Linda’s only child, the pregnant Cathy Byus, in Oklahoma. She traveled
to New Mexico the next week, to identify and recover their remains. On Dec. 1,
Byus gave birth to a son, James, who will know his maternal grandparents only
through stories and photographs. Daniel Renwick, the third escapee, who’d driven
off in Welch’s car the night of the escape, was arrested after a shootout with
police on Aug. 1, in Colorado. Province was caught in Wyoming on Aug. 8;
McCluskey and Welch were arrested Aug. 19 at a campground in eastern Arizona.
McCluskey was convicted this month in Kingman on escape, kidnapping and assault
charges. He, Province and Welch are expected to go to trial in New Mexico early
next year on charges of murdering the Haases. On March 17, Byus and several
other relatives of the Haases sued MTC, Arizona, and Dominion Asset Services,
the company that built the Kingman prison, alleging gross negligence. At
Kingman, MTC receives $62.16 per inmate per day from the state – about $79
million a year at full capacity, or $64 million a year at its current population
of 2,823, which is 80 percent of capacity. Meanwhile, MTC is bidding to manage
another 5,000 contract prison beds in Arizona. The Department of Corrections
expects to make its recommendation on an award next month.
June 17, 2011 AP
An Arizona inmate whose escape sparked a three-week national manhunt last summer
was sentenced Friday to 43 years behind bars for breaking out of prison and
abducting two truck drivers whose big rig was used as a getaway vehicle. John
McCluskey's sentence came the same day a Mohave County jury found him guilty of
escape, kidnapping, aggravated assault and other charges in his July 30 break
from the medium-security Arizona State Prison in Golden Valley. Authorities said
McCluskey, a second inmate and their accomplice went on to kill Gary and Linda
Haas, of Tecumseh, Okla., who were traveling through New Mexico on their way to
an annual camping trip in Colorado. The couple's family members watched Friday
as McCluskey requested that he be sentenced sooner rather than later. He was
ushered back into the courtroom a short time later, shackled at the wrists and
ankles and wearing a red jumpsuit. "What we were really pleased with was that
he, himself, decided that today was a good day to be sentenced and get this over
with. Personally, I feel it's the first right thing he has done," Linda Rook,
whose brother was killed, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Prosecutors said McCluskey, 46, and two other inmates escaped with the help of
Casslyn Welch, who threw cutting tools onto the prison grounds and supplied the
men with guns, money and a vehicle.
May 8, 2011 The Daily News
The 2010 escape from a prison near Golden Valley did not have to happen, Mohave
County Sheriff Tom Sheahan told the group assembled at Saturday’s Colorado River
Republican Forum meeting. It happened because security protocols were not
followed and it took longer to catch three escapees and a woman who helped them
because information was slow in getting out to other parties, including the
sheriff’s office, he said. About 15 people were assembled to hear Sheahan’s
description of what happened and what prison operator Management and Training
Corp. has done and is doing to prevent a repeat. While staff at Arizona State
Prison-Kingman knew that Daniel Kelly Renwick, John Charles McCluskey and Tracy
Alan Province were missing at 9 p.m. July 30, Sheahan said, the sheriff’s office
wasn’t alerted until 10:30. When sheriff’s officials asked prison staff for the
escapees’ names or even races, he said, prison officials were unsure. “They were
all wearing orange,” Sheahan recalled being told. The retelling led to chuckles
in the Scooter’s meeting room, but the sheriff said it was far from funny at the
time. The sheriff’s office set up a command post inside the prison to spread
information as it became available, Sheahan said. The inmates’ behavior early in
the escape, as described by Sheahan, seemed to suggest that a quick response by
prison staff and law enforcement could’ve led to a quick capture of McCluskey,
Province and Casslyn Mae Welch, who allegedly planned the breakout together.
Sheahan said Welch left a getaway vehicle containing clothing, weapons, cash and
extra gasoline in the desert. Renwick, who Sheahan said “just ended up coming
along because he felt like escaping,” found their getaway vehicle and drove off,
leaving the others stranded. Province, McCluskey and Welch then allegedly walked
about four miles to Interstate 40 and kidnapped and assaulted two truckers. They
later allegedly murdered an Oklahoma couple in New Mexico and face the death
penalty in that matter. Sheahan said the inmates used wire cutters thrown by
Welch into the prison to cut a three-foot hole in the fence, which he said
should have been spotted rather quickly, as guards are supposed to drive the
perimeter road every 15 minutes. Inside the prison, Sheahan said, lax security
was well evident. “There were alarms that never worked,” he said. “There were
doors propped open with rocks.” Sheahan said the escapees had no inside help.
“No officers were implicated at all,” he said. “There were just officers not
doing their jobs.” He also thought it unwise to have the inmates allowed alone
outdoors at night to walk dogs. Province and McCluskey were in a dog training
program at the prison. Sheahan said the prison is supposed to house minimum- and
medium-security inmates, but Province and Renwick were convicted murderers and
McCluskey had been convicted of attempted murder. Local authorities were not
notified that such inmates were being housed there, he said. After the escape,
Sheahan said, the state Department of Corrections nixed the housing of certain
types of convicts at the Golden Valley prison, including not housing inmates
convicted of murder, attempted murder or murder conspiracy.
March 17, 2011 Arizona Republic
Family members of an Oklahoma couple allegedly slain by a trio of escaped
Arizona inmates have filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the state, as
well as the operator of the private prison near Kingman and a company that
helped build the 7-year-old facility. Cathy Byus, the daughter of Gary and Linda
Haas, filed the lawsuit Thursday morning in Maricopa County Superior Court. The
legal move came less than six months after the Haas' surviving family members
filed a $40 million notice of claim against the state and Management & Training
Corp., the Utah-based company that operated the private prison from which the
inmates escaped. Thursday's lawsuit expands the liability to Dominion Asset
Services, because the family's attorneys claim the company improperly installed
a faulty alarm system at the prison from which the inmates escaped. "The purpose
of this lawsuit is to get justice," said Jacob Diesselhorst, attorney for the
family. "Not just for this family - the whole public is at risk." The Haas'
murders came in the midst of a nationwide manhunt for the escaped inmates and
their accomplice that unfolded over three weeks in late summer 2010. An Arizona
Department of Corrections review of the facility following the escape found
numerous deficiencies with training and equipment, including an alarm system
that issued false alarms so frequently that staff members began to ignore them.
Authorities believe inmates Daniel Renwick, John McCluskey and Tracy Province
escaped from the prison on July 30 after McCluskey's fiancée, Casslyn Welch,
threw cutting tools over the prison's fence, allowing the inmates to snip
through the chain link fence surrounding the facility. It was more than two
hours before prison staff notified state corrections officials of the escape.
January 29, 2011 AP
An inmate who escaped an Arizona prison last summer and allegedly went on a
crime spree was taken to New Mexico on Saturday to face capital murder charges,
the U.S. Marshals Service said. Tracy Province, 42, was flown from Kingman to
Albuquerque. He was sentenced in Kingman on Friday to more than 38 years in
prison on charges of escape, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault and
weapons misconduct stemming from crimes in Arizona after his escape. The
sentencing cleared the way for him to be sent to New Mexico to face the murder
charges in the deaths of Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla. Authorities say
Province, John McCluskey and Daniel Renwick escaped from a medium-security
prison in Kingman on July 30. Authorities say McCluskey's fiance and cousin,
Casslyn Welch, helped the men by throwing cutting tools over the prison's
perimeter fence, allowing them to flee into the desert. The escape sparked a
nationwide hunt, and all four were recaptured within three weeks. Province,
McCluskey and Welch all face capital murder and carjacking charges stemming from
the Haas' killings.
January 28, 2011 AP
One of three inmates who escaped from the state prison in Kingman last summer is
scheduled to be sentenced Friday. Tracy Province pleaded guilty earlier this
month to state felony charges of escape, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated
assault and misconduct with weapons. Province will be sent to New Mexico after
he's sentenced on the Arizona charge. He faces capital murder and carjacking
charges in the deaths of an Oklahoma couple there. Province was captured without
incident in northwestern Wyoming in August after he dropped by for Sunday
services at a church and was recognized by a woman who chatted with him.
January 7, 2011 Phoenix New Times
The mother of prison escapee John McCluskey's been sentenced to seven months in
prison for helping her son and two other inmates evade authorities after they
escaped from prison last summer. Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner
Steven Lynch could have sentenced Claudia Washburn to 2 1/2 years behind bars
under a sentencing range laid out in a plea agreement reached in November.
Washburn admitted to sending money to her convict son and his two accomplices
after they escaped from a Kingman prison on July 31. That money was used by the
cons to fund what became a multi-state nightmare for authorities, as the cons
crisscrossed the western half of the United States following their escape. While
on the run, McCluskey, his cousin/fiancee Casslyn Welch, and escaped inmate
Tracy Province, are accused of murdering an Oklahoma couple on vacation in New
Mexico.
January 3, 2011 The Daily News
The operators of a privately run prison near Kingman have reimbursed Mohave
County for the capture of three inmates who escaped from the prison in July.
Management and Training Corporation reimbursed the county Nov. 14 about $23,587
for costs associated with the capture of Tracy Alan Province, John Charles
McCluskey and Casslyn Mae Welch. Province, McCluskey and Daniel Kelly Renwick
escaped from the state prison July 30 with the help from Welch. MTC will
reimburse the county for additional costs once Renwick’s case in Colorado is
resolved and returned to the county, Deputy County Manager Dana Hlavac said. The
cost does not include the cost to prosecute and defend the inmates along with
the cost to incarcerate the inmates and court costs to try the suspects. Those
costs will not be known until the cases are resolved. Those costs are paid
through the county’s general fund, Hlavac said.
December 30, 2010 AP
Federal prosecutors in New Mexico have begun steps to seek the death penalty
against two Arizona prison escapees and a woman who allegedly helped them
escape. A federal grand jury on Wednesday returned a superseding indictment
against John Charles McCluskey, 45; Tracy Allen Province, 42; and Casslyn Mae
Welch, 44, who are accused in the murders of Gary and Linda Haas, both 61, of
Tecumseh, Okla. Their bodies were found in August with their burned-out
recreational trailer near Santa Rosa in eastern New Mexico. The superseding
indictment incorporates the 13 counts of the original indictment, but adds a
notice of special findings under a law that allows the death penalty after
consideration of mitigating and aggravating factors for people found guilty of a
crime eligible for the death penalty. “It’s part of the procedural steps we have
to go through” to preserve the right to seek the death penalty, Elizabeth
Martinez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico, said
Thursday.
November 5, 2010 AP
Inmates housed at a privately run prison in Golden Valley in northwestern
Arizona tossed rocks and caused a minor disturbance Thursday night. Mohave
County Sheriff's deputies responded to the prison near Kingman just before 9
p.m. A sergeant at the prison advised the sheriff's office that several inmates
in the yard were causing a disturbance by throwing rocks at prison staff.
Deputies immediately established and maintained a roving perimeter. Prison staff
got the situation under control at 10:30 p.m. This is the same privately run
prison where three dangerous inmates escaped last July.
November 5, 2010 Kingman Daily Miner
Mohave County is holding prison officials to their word that it be reimbursed
for costs related to the July 30 escape of three inmates. The county has sent
its first bill to Management and Training Corporation, the operator of the
private prison located just outside of Kingman, in the amount of $23,587.68.
Deputy County Manager Dana Hlavac said the charges are primarily for manpower
and mileage fees incurred by corrections staff and the Mohave County Sheriff's
Office. Hlavac said the fees are from the time of the escape to the time of the
captures of Tracy Province on Aug. 9, and John McCluskey and alleged accomplice
Casslyn Welch on Aug. 20. Charges incurred by Mohave County for Daniel Renwick,
the third inmate who was caught in Colorado two days after the escape, will be
billed after he is extradited to Arizona once his Colorado charges are resolved.
Renwick continues to be held in the Garfield County jail on charges of shooting
at police and ramming a patrol car with his SUV before he was caught. His
arraignment there has been pushed pack to Nov. 26. It is not known when he will
be returned to Arizona. Calls to Garfield County about their possible
reimbursement were not returned by deadline. Hlavac said the $23,000 bill to MTC
does also not include legal fees and jail costs for McCluskey, Province and
Welch, who are being held at the Mohave County Jail on various escape-related
charges. The jail, along with the Mohave County Attorney's Office and the Legal
Defenders Office, have all been instructed to keep a running tab for costs
associated with the three. That would include all of the money spent by the
county in housing them. Hlavac added that reimbursement for those expenses would
not be sought until the conclusion of their cases here. Under terms of the
emergency assistance portion of its contract with the Department of Corrections,
MTC is held liable for the cost of resources associated with escapes. It is not
known whether those costs will be borne by the company directly or by an
insurance carrier. MTC spokesperson Carl Stuart said his company has received
the bill and that payment will be forthcoming. The Department of Corrections is
seeking more than $78,000 from MTC for expenses incurred by its Offender
Operations Division and Inspector General Bureau.
October 31, 2010 Joplin Globe Sun
A Joplin woman is among the relatives of an Oklahoma couple, allegedly slain by
two escaped prisoners from Arizona and an accomplice, who are seeking $40
million in damages, according to notice of claim letters the family’s attorneys
have mailed to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other officials in that state.
Letters sent last week by attorneys for the relatives of Gary and Linda Haas, of
Tecumseh, Okla., allege that their Aug. 2 deaths in New Mexico were the result
of “a long series of egregious errors and omissions of gross negligence” by the
Arizona Department of Corrections and officials at the Arizona State Prison at
Kingman, where the inmates escaped July 30. The Haases, who grew up in McDonald
County, had been planning to return to Southwest City, where they had property,
after losing their jobs in Oklahoma when a GM plant shut down, Linda Rook told
the Globe after their deaths. Rook, of Joplin, is a surviving sister of Gary
Haas. In August, the couple were heading out west on a camping trip when they
were abducted and killed. ‘Slipshod security’ -- The attorneys’ letters allege
that Arizona corrections officials and the prison’s private operator, Utah-based
Management and Training Corp., “set the stage for and permitted the careless and
slipshod security environment” at the prison that allowed the inmates to escape
and allegedly kidnap and kill the victims. MTC is liable for punitive damages in
the case, according to notice of claim letters sent to company officials. The
notice of claim letters were mailed on behalf of the Haases’ daughter, Cathy
Byus, and the mother, sister and two brothers of Linda Haas. Their attorney,
Jacob Diesselhorst, said Thursday that the claim letters are required before a
wrongful-death lawsuit can be filed against the state. Diesselhorst said Arizona
officials have 60 days to respond. Contacted over the weekend, Rook declined to
comment and referred questions to a Joplin lawyer, John Dolence, who is
representing her in the matter. The Globe’s efforts to reach Dolence on Sunday
afternoon were unsuccessful. A spokesman for Gov. Brewer, Paul Senseman, did not
immediately return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for MTC, Carl Stuart,
said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
September 27, 2010 Havasu News-Herald
A Golden Valley prison will get a new prison administrator within a few weeks,
the facility’s officials said Monday. Management & Training Corp. staff members
were informed Friday via e-mail that Jerry Sternes would be appointed as complex
administrator, and Neil Turner as warden at the Hualapai unit. Al Murphy, MTC’s
corrections vice-president, sent the e-mail. Sternes has more than 25 years
experience in corrections and recently retired as complex administrator at the
Arizona State Prison in Yuma, which is a 5,000-bed prison, according to the
e-mail. Turner is a returning MTC employee who worked at a correctional facility
in Grafton, Ohio. He has 20 years experience, according to the e-mail. Turner
will replace former unit warden Lori Lieder, who resigned following the escape
of three prisoners, Daniel Renwick, John McCluskey and Tracy Province, from the
prison July 30. Carl Stuart, MTC communication director, wrote Monday in an
e-mail that Darla Elliott, former MTC/Arizona State Prison — Kingman complex
administrator, “was placed on administrative leave by MTC sometime in mid-August
… Ms. Elliot remains an employee with MTC. She has not yet been reassigned. She
will not be returning to the Kingman facility.” Sternes will take her position.
Charles Ryan, Arizona Department of Corrections director, presented Mohave
County Supervisors with an overview of it internal investigation into the prison
break Sept. 20 in Kingman. Although the investigation continues, it has exposed
factors contributing to the escape including human error, a faulty perimeter
security system and opportunistic inmates, according to earlier reports. After
the escape, an investigation showed that prison officials neglected to inform
state legislators, Mohave County Board of Supervisors and Mohave County
Sheriff’s Office about facility changes. This neglect violated state law and the
prison’s contract. In 2005, the prison failed to notify authorities when it
changed status from a minimum-custody DUI prison to a minimum/medium-custody
prison, which means it could house more dangerous criminals. MTC failed to
notify authorities again in 2006 and in 2008 about prisoner movement and
contract status amendments linked to the prison’s addition of a 2,000-bed
complex. In 2007, the first murderers were transferred to the prison near
Kingman, according to earlier reports. Local authorities did not know. “It was
almost unbelievable these people (murderers) had been out there,” said Mohave
County Sheriff Sheahan recently. “I was surprised at the amount of high-risk
criminals.” Tracy Province is currently in custody at the county jail in
Kingman, Sheahan said. “(Province’s) comments were something to the effect that
he was somewhat surprised he was transferred to this type of prison,” Sheahan
said. Province came to ADC in January 1993, and was serving a life sentence for
murder and robbery in Pima County at the time of his escape, according to
earlier reports. On the night of the escape, by the time prison officials had
reported the incident to law enforcement authorities the prisoners were “long
gone,” Sheahan said. According to ADC information, MTC determined the three
inmates missing around 9 p.m. but didn’t alert MCSO until 10:19 p.m. “At that
time, (MCSO) dispatchers were trying to fill out the information for statewide
and national dispatch,” Sheahan said. “(MTC) didn’t event know (the inmates’)
names after the individuals had been missing an hour-and-a-half.” When
dispatchers asked MTC officials to describe the escaped prisoners, all MTC
conveyed was that they were wearing orange. The prison also gave sheriff’s
deputies photographs of the escapees that were nearly 20 years out of day,
Sheahan said, adding this added to his agency’s frustration with the facility.
September 21, 2010 The Arizona Daily Sun
State Corrections Director Charles Ryan said he is instituting an entirely new
system for monitoring private prisons -- one he said should prevent the kind of
escape that resulted in the death of two people. Ryan said Monday the old system
was flawed, with months going by between inspections. And even when they were
done, he said, they didn't necessarily spot problems. He also said state
oversight of private prisons has often been left to inexperienced personnel.
"That was not a good decision," he said. Ryan said that includes the Kingman
facility run by Management and Training Corp., where David Lee, an associate
deputy warden, was the top state official on site. "The employee has been
replaced," Ryan said, with monitoring now being done by a "seasoned deputy
warden." And Wade Woolsey, who was the department's operations director for
private prisons and Lee's supervisor, has since quit. Ryan also said Monday he
is tossing out the bids that already have been submitted to contract for another
5,000 privately run prison beds. The director said he wants to start over again,
but this time with some new -- and he said more stringent -- requirements for
the private companies that want state funds to house inmates. Ryan's comments
came as his agency released the results of its own internal investigation on how
three violent criminals, two serving time for murder, managed to break out of
the facility with the help of an accomplice who provided wire cutters. They all
were eventually captured, but not before the murder of a couple at a New Mexico
campground which has been linked to some of those involved. He also said that
several of the 50 deficiencies his staff first found after visiting the facility
following the July 30 escape still exist. He said it is "certainly a
possibility" that the state will cancel its contract with MTC. "The jury is
still out," Ryan said. As expected, the report finds various failures with the
operation of the facility by MTC. Most of those, including a perimeter alarm
system that malfunctioned so often that corrections officers routinely ignored
it, had been detailed in an earlier review. What is new are the details of how
the state's own monitoring of the 1,508-bed facility fell short and allowed the
problems to develop. One central problem, Ryan said, has been having reviews
done annually, with private prisons graded on how well they carried out various
policies. "Frankly, I think that is very misleading," he said. In fact, that
program gave the Kingman facility high marks despite the problems found only
after the escape. Ryan said the new system, still being tested, will allow for
ongoing evaluation rather than an annual review. "We want to know what's going
on daily," he said, and for that information to reach those in his agency who
need to know. That was not happening. According to the report, Lee told
investigators he was unaware of issues with the alarm system and "never walked
the entire perimeter to check if the alarm system was working correctly." And
Lee, who had been in the position for 14 months, said he wasn't even sure that
was part of his job. "I'm telling you right now, I'm not making excuses," the
report quotes Lee as saying. "I had one day with my predecessor, Deputy Warden
Mary Clark, and she didn't tell me squat." Woolsey, however, said he was
"surprised" Lee did not know there was an issue with the alarms. The report
paraphrases Woolsey as saying "it doesn't take a 20-year veteran to look out and
see all the light turning on, and the lights don't just turn on unless something
sets them off." Woolsey said the sensors, which detect ground disturbance, could
be set off by something other than an escape, whether an animal, weather
conditions or even poor maintenance. Lee, in his interview, said he never read
the contract between the state and MTC. And when asked how he could determine if
MTC was fulfilling its obligations, he responded, "I guess I can't." He also
said in that interview that, only as a result of the escape, he was required to
"walk the zones" and check the alarm system. Lee also said he never actually
tried to set off the alarms to see how it works, and that if there were "issues"
with the system someone would have mentioned something to him.
September 20, 2010 The Arizona Republic
The Arizona Department of Corrections employee assigned to ensure a privately
run prison near Kingman was operated according to state standards was
overwhelmed by paperwork and admitted he screwed up, according to an internal
review released Monday of a prison escape that led to a nationwide manhunt.
David Lee, who was associate deputy warden at the facility when the escape took
place July 30, told the state's internal investigators that he had not read the
contract between the state and prison operator Management & Training Corp. in
his 14 months on the job and that he was unaware of the persistent issues with
false alarms that plagued the complex. A lieutenant told investigators that the
alarm system could go off 200 or 300 times a shift. The report also indicates
that the alarm system hadn't been serviced in two years after a contract expired
with a maintenance provider. Neither Lee nor any of his superiors knew anything
about the alarm problems, according to the report. Lee was fired and his
supervisor resigned following the escape. Daniel Renwick, 36, Tracy Province,
43, and John McCluskey, 45, broke out of the prison July 30 after McCluskey's
fiancée, Casslyn Welch, 44, allegedly threw cutting tools and weapons into the
prison yard. An officer initially said the perimeter was clear after the escape
and authorities worked under the assumption that the inmates were still inside
the compound until the officer returned a second time and noticed a hole in the
perimeter fence.
September 15, 2010 Arizona Republic
From start to finish, the three inmates who broke out of a Kingman prison and
the girlfriend accused of helping them really didn't have much of a plan and
often were winging it, with disastrous results. That's the picture that emerges
from a U.S. Marshals Service report on the July 30 breakout and the extensive
manhunt it prompted. Case of escaped Arizona inmates -- The report details
interviews with the first two inmates who were recaptured. The interviews were
conducted in part to help authorities track down the other two fugitives: John
McCluskey and his girlfriend, Casslyn Welch. McCluskey and Welch were captured
at a campground in Arizona. Inmate Tracy Province was arrested earlier in
Wyoming. They are in jail in Kingman. They face murder charges in the shooting
deaths of two tourists in New Mexico. The other inmate, Daniel Renwick, was
arrested after a gunfight with authorities in Colorado and remains in jail
there. The report blacked out the names of the two suspects who were interviewed
and those of the various investigators who spoke with them. But the dates and
locations indicate investigators were talking with Province and Renwick, partly
in an effort to find the other two. The report said investigators discounted
Province's comments due to inconsistencies. The statements, if true, say there
wasn't much of a plan for what would happen after the escape, set up via a
cellphone borrowed from an imprisoned drug dealer. The problems started almost
immediately after the three inmates cut their way out of the prison with tools
that police say were tossed inside by Welch, who had arrived toting a rifle. The
escapees couldn't find a Chevy Blazer that was filled with food and clothes -
necessities for life on the run. They all split up to search for the SUV.
Renwick found it and headed for Colorado on his own, the report said. The report
said there was "no definitive plan'" of where to go. Plans to stay at a cabin in
Safford fell through immediately when the owners were home. McCluskey, Welch and
Province wound up driving around the Southwest. At one point, authorities say,
they kidnapped the two tourists in New Mexico. The report said the three decided
they would "fight to the death" or kill one another if confronted by police.
Province told investigators that the three slept in the car but that he would be
kicked out when the other two wanted to "be alone." The report said he
eventually asked to be dropped at Yellowstone National Park, where he planned to
get high and kill himself because he couldn't live outside jail and didn't want
to die inside. The report said he lost his nerve and drifted around until
caught. He was arrested in Wyoming. Renwick said he got into the shootout in
Colorado because he wanted to die but couldn't kill himself due to a promise he
had made to his mother. The report said he looked bewildered when asked about
the carjacking and double killing in New Mexico. He agreed to talk only about
his own role in the escape, the report said, because he feared being killed in
prison if he talked about the others. He tried to find the others before taking
the Blazer, the report said, adding he had no idea where to go or what to do.
The report quoted him as saying the group planned to go to Arkansas to enjoy its
mild winters and "old-fashioned" pawnshops, which they considered easy to rob.
They would "pull a couple jobs'" there, and split up. He said another
fundraising scheme was to steal semitrucks. They would avoid trucks with GPS
trackers and tie up drivers in secluded parts of truck stops so they could have
the rigs longer.
September 14, 2010 Courthouse News
The Arizona prison breakout that led to the killing of two campers was caused by
"lax procedures and incompetent management" of the private prison operator in
Kingman, the mother of one of the victims says. Vivian Haas, whose son, Gary and
his wife were shot to death, claims that Management and Training Corp. admitted
in an Aug. 13 letter its responsibility for the escapes, and that the
circumstances "were shocking and egregious." Haas claims that one of the escaped
inmates, John McCluskey, killed her son and his wife in New Mexico in the days
after the escape. Haas says the private prison operator "had duties to protect
the general public in employing proper incarceration policies and procedures to
assure that violent offenders stayed locked up and away from the general
public." McCluskey was sentenced to 15 years in 2009 for attempted second-degree
murder, aggravated assault, and discharge of a firearm, and was sent to the
private prison, according to the complaint. His fellow escapee Tracy Province
was sentenced in 2009 for murder and robbery, and escapee Daniel Renwick was
sentenced to two 22-year sentences for second-degree murder, the complaint
states. On July 30, McCluskey, Province, and Renwick escaped from the Kingman
prison through a door wedged open by a rock, "climbing one improperly protected
fence, hiding behind an inappropriate building in 'no-man's land,' and cutting
through the wire of a second chain link fence," according to the complaint. Haas
says that Management and Training Corp.'s officers failed to check an alarm that
sounded when the men cut through one of two security fences surrounding the
prison. She says the alarm system set off false alarms so often that the guards
ignored them. Haas adds that the "perimeter fencing was substandard," and that
patrols of the perimeter "were scattershot at best." Light poles around the
prison were routinely burned out, and "intrusions by outsiders near the fence
perimeters were common." On Aug. 2, McCluskey and Province, allegedly with help
from Casslyn M. Welch, "confronted" Gary and Linda Haas while they were "in or
near their pickup truck towing a camping trailer." Gary and Linda Haas were
traveling from Oklahoma to Colorado. McCluskey and Province ordered Gary and
Linda Haas into the truck, and forced Gary to drive to the west, his mother
says. McCluskey directed Gary to leave the highway and drive to a secluded area,
then took the couple into the camping trailer and "brutally shot them, killing
each of them," Haas says. McCluskey, Province, and Welch then allegedly drove
the camper on the highway until they noticed blood leaking out of the trailer
door. The escapees and accomplice "drove to a remote location, disconnected the
trailer and intentionally set fire to the trailer with the bodies of Gary and
Linda Haas still inside," according to the complaint. Haas says the escapees
abandoned the stolen truck in Albuquerque. Province was captured on Aug. 9 in
Meeteetse, Wyo. McCluskey and Welch were captured on Aug. 19 in the Apache-Sitgreaves
National Forest. On March 22, 2004, the Arizona Department of Corrections
awarded a contract to Management and Training Corp. to operate the private
prison which was "designed and constructed for 1,100 minimum security beds and
300 medium security beds to house DUI inmates," according to the complaint. Haas
seeks punitive damages for negligence and recklessness. She is represented by
Christopher Zachar.
September 7, 2010 AP
The woman accused of helping three inmates escape from the state prison in
Kingman has pleaded not guilty to drug charges. Casslyn Welch entered her plea
Tuesday in Mohave County Superior Court. She faces six counts of narcotics
violations for the drugs she's accused of bringing to the medium-security prison
in June. Authorities say a random search of Welch and her vehicle turned up
marijuana, heroin and drug paraphernalia. Welch was visiting John McCluskey, her
cousin and fiancee, at the time and lost her visitation rights but not her phone
privileges. Authorities say she wasn't immediately jailed because she agreed to
become an informant. She was charged following the July 30 escape of McCluskey
and two other inmates.
September 3, 2010 Arizona Republic
The first legal action in the Arizona prison breakout that led to the killing of
two campers has been filed against the state and the operator of the private
prison. Vivian Haas, the mother of murder victim Gary Haas, filed a $10 million
claim against Arizona and a wrongful death lawsuit against Management Training
Corp., the company that operates the private prison near Kingman where three
fugitives escaped on July 30. The notice of claim is a required precursor to a
lawsuit. Police believe one of those escaped inmates, John McCluskey, murdered
Gary Haas and his wife, Linda, near Santa Rosa, N.M. in the days following the
escape as the fugitives grew weary of traveling in a car and targeted the Haas'
for their camping trailer. The escape led to a nationwide manhunt that stretched
from Arizona to the Canada border. The claim against Arizona notes the state's
failure to maintain custody of the inmates, to properly train and supervise
personnel at the prison and to promptly notify law enforcement officials in the
area after the escape. "I have conveyed my condolences to the Haas family and
friends, however, I cannot comment on pending litigation," Department of
Corrections Director Charles Ryan said in a statement. Management Training Corp.
could not be immediately reached for comment. Reviews of the July 30 incident
have painted the picture of a prison where detention officers became
lackadaisical and predictable in their movements and where equipment failures-
including false alarms- were so common that they were frequently ignored.
Detention officers failed to check an alarm that sounded when McCluskey, Tracy
Province and Daniel Renwick cut through one of two security fences ringing the
privately run prison near Kingman. Investigators have said McCluskey's fiancée,
Casslyn Welch, threw cutting tools over the fence to the men who snipped through
chain link and barbed wire to flee into the desert. It was more than two hours
before staff at the private prison notified the state corrections officials of
the escape. By then, Renwick was making his way north to Colorado while
McCluskey, Province and Welch were on their way to hijacking a truck near
Kingman and forced the drivers to take them to Flagstaff. Renwick was captured
two days after the escape after he exchanged gunfire with police in Colorado.
After allegedly receiving help from relatives in Arizona, McCluskey, Province
and Welch made their way east, ultimately ending up at a rest stop in New Mexico
where, according to statements Province gave investigators, they saw 61-year-old
Gary and Linda Haas, an Oklahoma couple taking an annual camping trip. After
days on the road in a cramped sedan, the fugitives decided to target travelers
with a camping trailer and the Haas' fit the bill. Province told investigators
that he and McCluskey forced the couple into their truck at gunpoint while Welch
followed behind. They all ended up in a remote area near Santa Rosa where
McCluskey shot the Haas' in their trailer, according to court documents. The
fugitives set fire to the trailer in an effort to hide the evidence. A rancher
discovered the burned trailer on Aug. 4.
August 27, 2010 Payson Roundup
The would-be Bonnie and Clyde fugitives who’d led police on a wild, three-week
chase began talking soon after their capture in the Apache-Sitgreaves National
Forests last week. When Apache County Sheriff’s Office deputies took Casslyn
Welch’s silver .38-caliber revolver, Sgt. John Scruggs warned the other officers
not to touch it for fear it was a murder weapon, according to court documents.
John McCluskey “That’s not the murder weapon,” now-captured fugitive John
McCluskey, both Welch’s fiance and cousin, told the officers. “The murder weapon
is in the tent.” After police recaptured the convicts who escaped from a private
prison near Kingman on July 30, allegedly with Welch’s help, the clues to their
escape and crime spree have quickly emerged. The frightening tale included an
easy escape through an unguarded fence, a lost getaway car, a fateful vote that
saved the lives of two truckers, two aimless and improvised alleged murders and
a narrowly averted gun battle at the end. McCluskey and Welch, along with
escaped murderer Tracy Province, allegedly caused the deaths of Oklahoma couple
Gary and Linda Haas as the couple drove through New Mexico on vacation. The
fugitives had grown tired of sleeping in a sedan and decided to find a camper.
Later, while tracking the bloody trail with Province after his arrest, police
eyed bloodstains from the camper that had seeped onto the asphalt of a Phillips
gas station off Interstate 40 in Santa Rosa, N.M. Police had captured Province
in Wyoming about a week-and-a-half after his escape, as he held a hitchhiking
sign that read, “Casper.” Once in custody, Province helped police piece together
his time on the run, the blood stains, an eerie breadcrumb in a warped version
of Hansel and Gretel. The courtroom drama of McCluskey and Welch, the two
fugitives who evaded capture the longest, has just begun. McCluskey, Province
and Welch have all pleaded not guilty to their lists of charges. The court has
appointed public defenders for the men, and Flagstaff attorney Stephen Glazer
will represent Welch. All three are held on $1 million bail on Arizona charges
including escape in the second degree, kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated
assault. McCluskey and Province also face charges of misconduct involving
weapons. In New Mexico, the fugitives face charges for carjacking the Oklahoma
couple with the intention of causing their deaths. McCluskey and Province face
other charges connected to the killing, and each of the three could receive the
death penalty. Although Mohave County now has custody of the fugitives, Tom
Henman, a supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal out of Phoenix, said this week that
officials there would have to coordinate with New Mexico to see “who’s going to
get first dibs.” Claudia Washburn, McCluskey’s mother and owner of the Jakes
Corner Store in Tonto Basin where Welch worked, now sits in Maricopa County Jail
on charges of hindering prosecution and conspiring to commit escape after she
allegedly gave the fugitives money or supplies. Payson attorney Harlan Green
will represent Washburn, whose preliminary hearing was set for Thursday, but no
other details were available by press time. Welch, 44, had been working in Jakes
Corner until she allegedly threw wire cutters over the prison fence to free her
beloved and his two friends, Province and Daniel Renwick on July 30. Authorities
captured Renwick the next day in Colorado. Just the month before, Welch avoided
jail time by agreeing to become an informant after authorities found marijuana,
heroin and drug paraphernalia during a random search of Welch and her vehicle,
the Associated Press reported. Welch reportedly told authorities that people
associated with a white supremacist group were paying her to smuggle heroin into
prison. Henman, the U.S. Marshal, said this week that McCluskey had ties to the
Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. Four days after arriving in Mohave County Jail
after the escape, McCluskey was taken to Kingman Regional Medical Medical Center
after cutting his neck and wrists with a Bic razor. The lacerations were
serious, but not life threatening, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s
Office. After receiving treatment, McCluskey returned to his high-security level
single cell in jail. The courtroom drama is just beginning, and the sordid
details of the crime spree are emerging. A complaint filed in the U.S. District
Court of New Mexico outlines how the three prisoners’ escape allegedly led to
car-jacking and murder. Immediately after the escape, Renwick became separated
from the crew while the group tried to find the car that Welch had parked in the
desert. Welch had packed the car with food and clothes, and had bought two
.40-caliber semi-automatic handguns for the escape. But then Welch couldn’t find
it. Instead, they hijacked two men driving an 18-wheeler at gunpoint and forced
them to drive to Flagstaff. In Flagstaff, the trio voted whether to kill the
truckers. McCluskey, just escaped from a 15-year sentence for attempted
second-degree murder voted to kill them while Welch and Province voted to
release them. McCluskey then somehow “secured” a gray Nissan Sentra and the
group stopped in Safford before driving to New Mexico, according to court
documents. In New Mexico, Province noticed that the car had an expired license
plate, and the crew stole another one. By Aug. 2, all three had tired of driving
and sleeping in the sedan. They agreed to find a camper or trailer to steal. At
a rest area, McCluskey and Welch eyed Gary and Linda Haas, thinking them a good
“prospect,” according to the complaint. The Haases were camping near Santa Rosa
on their way to Colorado as they had every year for more than a decade. The
couple had concealed weapons permits, and typically carried at least one gun
with them. But on the morning of Aug. 2, when McCluskey and Province took their
places behind Linda as she walked to her truck, no gun would save her. The
fugitives forced Linda into the truck’s passenger seat as Welch acted as a
lookout. Gary reached down as if to retrieve something from under the seat.
Province saw him, and said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The fugitives
ordered Gary to drive west on I-40, and eventually directed the truck to a
secluded area between Tucumcari, N.M., and Santa Rosa. McCluskey and Welch made
Gary and Linda hand over their two guns, which had been in the camping trailer,
while Province stayed outside. Welch joined Province outside, and several
gunshots rang out with McCluskey still inside. According to the complaint,
McCluskey shot Gary once in the head and then turned the gun on Linda, who he
shot three times. McCluskey told investigators he felt compelled to kill the
Haases if the fugitives were to remain free. McCluskey and Province scooted the
bodies down in the trailer so nobody could see them from outside, and then the
fugitives drove the truck and the trailer — dead bodies inside — back on the
highway to the Phillips 66 gas station, where they would leave that telltale
bloodstain. Meanwhile, Province followed McCluskey in the Sentra with stolen
plates. After gassing up, McCluskey found a spot off the highway and unhitched
the trailer. Inexplicably, they quickly decided to abandon the trailer that
they’d allegedly committed two senseless murders to obtain. With Welch’s help,
the two found liquor in the trailer and poured it on the floor before lighting a
fire with matches. Province had dumped out food for the dogs, and the three left
the Haases as their bodies burned. Later at a shopping center, Province and
McCluskey wiped the truck with paper towels and brake fluid, hoping to remove
their fingerprints. Welch took blankets, Province took a backpack, and the three
drove away in the Sentra. By this time, Province had asked the engaged cousins
to drop him off at Yellowstone Park. Police arrested Province soon after in
Meetetese, Wyo., reportedly the day after singing “You’re Grace is Enough,” with
other churchgoers in the small town outside Yellowstone. He carried the backpack
stolen from Gary and Linda Haas. McCluskey and Welch would remain free for about
another week. News reports placed the couple anywhere from Canada, where the
Royal Mounted Police searched, to Arkansas, where a beauty salon robbery was
briefly and incorrectly linked to the fugitives. But on Aug. 19, a Forest
Service ranger was patrolling the Gabaldon Campground at the base of Mount Baldy
back in Arizona where their terrible journey had begun. When the ranger spotted
the couple, McCluskey walked behind a tree, trying to hide, according to court
documents. The ranger also noticed bullet holes in a nearby tree. He jotted down
the license plate number, and realized it was stolen. Later, McCluskey told
police he was sorry he hadn’t killed the ranger when he had the chance.
Authorities covertly watched the couple, closing off escape routes, while an
arrest team assembled. Shortly after 7 p.m. on Aug. 19, officers from the U.S.
Forest Service, Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Apache County
Sheriff’s Department apprehended the fugitives and ended the nationwide manhunt.
Welch pulled her silver revolver out from behind her back, pointing it at
police, according to court documents, before realizing police outnumbered her.
McCluskey was lying in a sleeping back outside the tent where he’d hidden his
guns. Later, he told the officers he would have killed them.
August 25, 2010 Silver Belt
The Arizona Department of Corrections has confirmed that any decisions over bids
submitted by four companies to build private prisons here in our state have been
delayed because of security issues raised about a privately operated prison in
Kingman last month where the breakout of three violent convicts occurred on July
30. Barrett Marson, Director of Communications for the state agency, told the
Arizona Silver Belt, efforts to add an additional 5,000 private prison beds has
been stalled because of concerns which have developed on how the medium-security
private prison was being operated in Kingman. He said representatives of each of
the four companies that submitted proposals to build and operate private prison
complexes housing ADC inmates will be called in for more questioning about their
proposals. When asked, does this mean these proposals will have to be re
advertised and go out for bids again? Marson said that decision has not been
made at this time. The companies submitting proposals to the Arizona Department
of Corrections, which have been under review since May 28th, were Management and
Training Corporation ( which owns and operates the private prison at Kingman
along with another facility in Marana and 24 Job Corps Centers in the U.S), GEO
Group Corrections, Corrections Corporation of American and Emerald Correctional
Management Company. Emerald, in its proposal , submitted plans to build a 1,000
bed medium prison in the city of Globe between the Gila County Fairgrounds and
the San Carlos Reservation line. The controversial Emerald project has been
endorsed by the Southern Gila County Economic Development Corporation but is now
actively being opposed by a group of merchants and local citizens. All top
officials of Utah based Management and Training Corporation who were operating
the company’s medium security prison at Kingman either were terminated or
removed to other job assignments as a result of a report released by the Arizona
Department of Corrections on Thursday citing numerous security flaws at the
correctional facility. Among the flaws was the private prison’s alarm system.
Some 89 false alarms reported at the correctional facility on July 30th, the day
the three convicts walked out. Ryan’s agency claims there was no maintenance on
these prison alarms for the past two years and responding to these alerts was
not a priority with prison workers who had become “desensitized” to false
alarms. Too, turnover of employees at the Kingman private prison had been high
resulting in a lack of training. One official of Management and Training
Corporation indicated she was working with a staff that was basically 80 percent
new due to the turnover problems. It was further reported that an excessive
delay occurred in discovering the escape of the three convicts ( two convicted
of murder, one a double homicide) and notifying law enforcement. In addition, it
was found that operational practices at the prison after led to a gap of 15
minutes or longer during shift changes along the outside perimeter fence.
August 25, 2010 Private Corrections Working Group
Today, the Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG), a not-for-profit
organization that exposes the problems of and educates the public about
for-profit private corrections, called for overhaul of the Arizona Department of
Corrections’ (ADOC) oversight of the for-profit prison industry, including: • An
immediate halt to all bidding processes involving private prison operators and a
moratorium on new private prison beds • Hold public hearings during the special
session to address the problems with for-profit prisons in Arizona • Enact other
cost-cutting measures that not only save money but enhance public safety, like
earned release credits, amending truth in sentencing, and restoring judicial
discretion. This action came about after the ADOC released a security audit on
August 19th concerning the July 30 escape of three dangerous prisoners from a
private prison in Kingman operated by Management and Training Corp. (MTC)
(Coincidentally, that same day the last escapee and an accomplice, John
McCluskey and Casslyn Mae Welch, were captured without incident at a campground
in eastern Arizona. The other two escaped prisoners, Tracy Province and Daniel
Renwick, had been caught previously in Wyoming and Colorado). Ken Kopczynski,
executive director of PCWG, condemned MTC for the numerous security failures
that led to the July 30 escape. “If MTC had properly staffed the facility,
properly trained their employees and properly maintained security at the Kingman
prison, this escape would not have occurred. But because MTC is a private
company that needs to generate profit, and therefore cut costs related to
staffing, training and security, three dangerous inmates were able to escape and
at least two innocent victims are dead as a result,” Kopczynski observed. “That
is part of the cost of prison privatization that MTC and other private prison
firms don’t want to talk about.” The murders of an Oklahoma couple, Gary and
Linda Hass, whose burned bodies were found in New Mexico on August 4, were tied
to McCluskey, Welch and Province. While MTC said it took responsibility for the
escape, vice-president Odie Washington acknowledged the company could not
prevent future escapes. “Escapes occur at both public and private” prisons, he
stated, ignoring the fact that most secure facilities do not experience any
escapes – particularly escapes as preventable as the one at MTC’s Kingman
prison. According to the ADOC security audit, the prison’s perimeter fence
registered 89 alarms over a 16-hour period on the day the escape occurred, most
of them false. MTC staff failed to promptly check the alarms – sometimes taking
over an hour to respond – and light bulbs on a control panel that showed the
status of the perimeter fence were burned out. “The system was not maintained or
calibrated,” said ADOC Director Charles Ryan. Further, a perimeter patrol post
was not staffed by MTC, and according to a news report from the Arizona Daily
Star, “a door to a dormitory that was supposed to be locked had been propped
open with a rock, helping the inmates escape.” Additionally, MTC officials did
not promptly notify state corrections officials following the escape and high
staff turnover at the facility had resulted in inexperienced employees who were
ill-equipped to detect and prevent the break-out. According to MTC warden Lori
Lieder, 80 percent of staff at the Kingman prison were new or newly promoted.
Although the ADOC was supposed to be monitoring its contract with MTC to house
state prisoners, the security flaws cited in the audit went undetected for
years. Ryan faulted human error and “serious security lapses” at the private
prison. Arizona corrections officials removed 148 state prisoners from the MTC
facility after the escape due to security concerns. “I lacked confidence in this
company’s ability,” said ADOC Director Ryan. Although it’s a small corporation,
since 1995 over a dozen prisoners have escaped from MTC facilities in Utah,
Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Eagle Mountain, California –where two inmates
were murdered during a riot in 2003.
August 23, 2010 Arizona Republic
After three violent criminals escaped from a private prison last month in
Kingman, state officials began asking why they had been assigned to a
medium-security facility. John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick
escaped July 30 after an embarrassing series of security lapses at the prison,
operated by Utah-based Management and Training Corp. All three have been
captured, but their escape is likely to spur further discussion on how to
classify inmates' security risks and decide where to house them. Both public and
private prisons use the state's classification system, but the Arizona
Department of Corrections already has pulled some inmates from the Kingman
facility as it rethinks how it assigns risk. Arizona assigns inmates a number
from one to five, with five representing the highest risk, based on their
crimes. Depending on their score, inmates are assigned to one of four custody
levels: minimum, medium, close and maximum. Over time, an inmate's
classification can be adjusted up or down based on the inmate's behavior in
custody. The system works when used properly, said Tom Rosazza, a consultant and
former state corrections director. But the system can also mean that more
violent offenders can wind up in less-secure facilities depending on their
behavior. Although they were in a medium-security facility at a private prison,
McCluskey, Province and Renwick qualified as dangerous offenders. Renwick was a
convicted murderer. Province killed a man in 1991 by stabbing him 51 times.
McCluskey was sentenced in Arizona for attempted murder and had a previous
armed-robbery conviction in Pennsylvania. "My first thought was, 'What the hell
were those guys doing at that (Kingman) place?' " Rosazza said. Their cases are
not unique. There are more than 1,400 inmates serving time for murder in
medium-security settings in Arizona, including 796 with life sentences. More
than 100 were housed at the prison near Kingman, the only private facility in
Arizona to house murderers. Province entered the prison system with a maximum
"five" rating when he reported to serve his life sentence in 1993 but was moved
down to a "three," or medium security, by 1997. Renwick followed a similar path
through the system, while McCluskey entered custody as a medium-security inmate
for firing a shotgun into a Mesa home in 2009. Authorities allege the trio
escaped with help from Casslyn Welch, McCluskey's cousin and fiancee. The
escapees are believed to have cut their way through a fence. Alarms were ignored
because, according to state officials, prison guards thought they were false.
Renwick was recaptured Aug. 1 in Colorado after a shootout with police. Province
was caught Aug. 9 in Wyoming. McCluskey and Welch were caught Thursday evening
in Apache County and are suspected along with Province of being involved in the
murder of an elderly couple in New Mexico shortly after the escape. Because of
the three inmates' possible post-escape crimes, the classification issue likely
will come up in any future lawsuits against the state or a prison operator,
Rosazza said. "That would be the first thing I'd look at," he said. Arizona
officials control what factors are used in determining prisoner classifications
and, based on those classifications, decide which facilities prisoners are held
in. Although the former fugitives escaped from a private facility, the state
will bear some liability in any court action because it is responsible for
prisoners sentenced in Arizona. "The state doesn't contract away its
responsibility," Rosazza said.
August 22, 2010 Arizona Republic
Arizona puts more of its inmates into privately run prisons every year, even
though the prisons may not be as secure as state-run facilities and may not save
taxpayers money. Lawmakers began using private prisons to ease overcrowding and
have supported their use so aggressively that today, one in five Arizona inmates
is housed in a private facility. Many inmates from other states also are housed
in private prisons in Arizona, but the state has little information about who
they are and limited oversight of how they are secured. The state has 11
privately operated prisons. A high-profile escape of three Arizona inmates last
month from a Kingman-area private prison, which spurred a nationwide manhunt and
is believed to have resulted in two murders, raises questions about the
industry's growth and the degree of state oversight. The last fugitives in that
escape were caught Thursday, and the state's prison director has promised
changes to the private sites that house Arizona inmates. State leaders in recent
years have pushed for more privatization and have blocked efforts to regulate
the industry, which has invested heavily in local lobbying and contributed to
political campaigns. Last year, officials approved a plan to hand over the
operation of nearly every state prison to private companies. The plan was
repealed only after no credible bidder came forward. This year, lawmakers
approved 5,000 new private-prison beds for Arizona prisoners. Data suggest that
the facilities are less cost-effective than they claim to be. A cost study by
the Arizona Department of Corrections this year found that it can often be more
expensive to house inmates in private prisons than in their state-run
counterparts. A growing industry -- Arizona's use of private prisons dates back
to the early 1990s, when lawmakers, grappling with overcrowding in state
facilities, authorized the construction of a 450-bed minimum-security prison in
Marana to house drug and alcohol abusers. The prison is owned and operated by
Management & Training Corp., the Utah-based company that also operates the
Kingman facility where the three inmates escaped. Since then, Arizona has
increasingly relied on for-profit operators to manage its own inmates. It also
has allowed private companies to import prisoners from other states. Rapid
growth began in 2003 and the years immediately following, when Arizona was again
wrestling with prison overcrowding. To ease the shortage, Republican lawmakers
agreed to build 2,000 new prison beds, compromising with a reluctant Gov. Janet
Napolitano, a Democrat, to make half of them private. Around the same time,
nearly a dozen other states grappling with the same issues began shipping their
inmates to private facilities elsewhere in the country. Arizona, with cheap land
and a receptive political climate, became a go-to destination for private-prison
operators, who began accepting inmates from as far as Washington and Hawaii.
Today, Arizona houses 20.1 percent of its prisoners in private facilities,
according to state data from July. Exactly how many inmates are here from other
states is unclear. Last year, lawmakers took the unprecedented step of exploring
the privatization of almost the entire Arizona correctional system, passing a
bill that would have turned over the state's prisons to private operators for an
up-front payment of $100 million. The payment would have helped the state close
a billion-dollar budget gap. The bill, which also included a host of changes
related to the state's budget, was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer, but the language
relating to prison privatization was repealed in a later special session. The
state now has an open contract for the construction and operation of 5,000 new
private-prison beds. Arizona's reliance on private facilities coincides with
operators' increasing national political activity in hiring lobbyists and
donating to political campaigns. The ties between the companies and Arizona
elected officials - which go back nearly a decade - have become a campaign issue
in this year's gubernatorial race. Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of
America, the nation's largest operator of private prisons, runs six in Arizona,
three of which house inmates for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Brewer's critics have suggested that she signed Senate Bill 1070, and has
advocated for privatization of some prisons, in part to benefit CCA's bottom
line. Democrats have called on Brewer, a Republican, to fire "aides" associated
with the prison company. That includes HighGround, a Phoenix consulting and
lobbying firm managing Brewer's gubernatorial campaign. The firm counts CCA
among its clients. Brewer's official spokesman, Paul Senseman, also used to
lobby for CCA. Campaign finance reports filed earlier this year show that eight
executives with CCA contributed $1,080 of the $51,193 in seed money Brewer
received for her gubernatorial campaign. CCA also gave $10,000 to the "Yes on
100" campaign, which backed a temporary, 1-cent-on-the-dollar increase in the
state's sales tax. Brewer was the chief advocate for the tax, which was approved
by voters in May. In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Brewer said those
connections have not influenced her policy decisions. She said she never felt
pressured by any of her advisers. "It's absolutely political posturing and
rhetoric," Brewer said. "I find it very disappointing. We have a bed shortage
here in Arizona, and we have to come up with some way to incarcerate
(criminals). The best way, the least expensive way, is to do it with private
prisons." The industry's political connections have extended to other Arizona
politicians. According to a 2006 report from the National Institute on Money in
State Politics, the private-prison industry gave to the campaigns of 29 of 42
Arizona lawmakers who heard a 2003 proposal to increase state private-prison
beds. Between 2001 and 2004, the industry contributed $77,267 to Arizona's
legislative and gubernatorial candidates, the vast majority through lobbyists
paid to represent their interests at the Legislature. In most cases, donations
ranged from a couple of hundred dollars to as much as $2,500. Lax oversight --
The state Department of Corrections has varying levels of oversight of Arizona's
private-prison network. Some prisons house criminals convicted in Arizona. The
Corrections Department regulates those facilities, though private-prison critics
question whether those facilities maintain the same safety standards as their
state-run counterparts. Other private prisons house inmates from other states or
on behalf of the federal government. Arizona does not dictate what kinds of
inmates they may accept, nor the manner in which they are secured. In those
situations, private-prison operators work with their outside-government partners
on training specifications and other operational details. They report to Arizona
only the names, security classifications and number of inmates housed at their
facilities. State statutes do not require private operators to provide Arizona
officials details about the crimes the prisoners committed or escape data. In
2007, two convicted killers sent from another state stole ladders from a
maintenance building and climbed onto a roof at a private prison outside
Florence. Brandishing a fake gun, they climbed over the prison walls and escaped
to freedom. One was caught within hours, but it was almost a month before the
other was caught hundreds of miles away in his home state of Washington. As with
the Kingman breakout, the 2007 escape drew attention to the largely unregulated
growth of private prisons in the state, particularly prisons that house other
states' inmates. To address security concerns, a bipartisan bill drafted by
Napolitano's office in 2008 and introduced by Republican state Sen. Robert
Blendu would have required private prisons to be built to the state's
construction standards. The proposal also would have ended the practice of
private prisons importing murderers, rapists and other dangerous felons to
Arizona. And it would have required the companies to share security and inmate
information with state officials. After an initial flurry of activity, the bill
died. "The private-prison industry lobbied heavily against that bill, and they
were successful," said Michael Haener, Napolitano's lobbyist at the time. Blendu
later left the Legislature, and the bill was not reintroduced. What little
regulation private prisons have in Arizona stems from a series of escapes in the
late 1990s. In response, the Legislature passed a law requiring the
reimbursement of law-enforcement costs from private-prison operators in the
event of an escape. Arizona laws also require companies to carry insurance to
cover law-enforcement costs in cases of escape, to notify state officials when
they bring new prisoners into the state and to return out-of-state prisoners to
their home states to be released. But there are no penalties if the companies
don't comply. Costs questioned -- Notwithstanding lawmakers' concerns about
security, private prisons gained favor in part because of the promised savings
they could deliver to a cash-strapped and overcrowded prison system. Yet studies
have questioned whether those savings are real. In making their pitches,
private-prison companies played on the desire of many lawmakers to shift more
state services to the private sector. Direct cost comparisons between for-profit
and public prisons can be difficult, however. According to the National
Institute of Justice, private prisons tend to make much lower estimates of their
overhead costs to the state for oversight, inmate health care and staff
background checks. Officials at public prisons often argue that the state winds
up paying a higher cost for those services than is advertised, mitigating
savings that private prisons are built to deliver. A study this year by the
Arizona Department of Corrections found that when various costs are factored in,
it can be more expensive to house an inmate in a private prison than it is to
house one in a state-run prison. The cost of housing a medium-security inmate is
$3 to $8 more per day in a private prison, depending on what assumptions are
made about overhead costs to the state, the study found. Travis Pratt, a
professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University, said
there is no evidence that private prisons save government agencies money, even
though they typically promise up-front savings. To maintain profit margins,
Pratt said, companies often cut back on staff training, wages and inmate
services. "Cost savings like that don't come without consequences," Pratt said.
"And that can present a security risk that's elevated." Odie Washington, a
senior vice president at Management & Training Corp., acknowledged Thursday that
the Kingman prison employed an inexperienced staff. "We have a lot of very young
staff that have not integrated into very strong security practices," Washington
said. Private-prison operators disagree with Pratt's assessment, contending that
they can deliver services efficiently and safely. "That's one of the more
frustrating misconceptions out there for us that we have to repeatedly respond
to," said Steve Owen, director of public affairs for Corrections Corporation of
America. Owen said it is CCA's "general experience" that private prisons can
save states and the federal government 5 to 15 percent on operational costs. The
company also can build facilities more cheaply, he said. CCA is contractually
required to meet or exceed training requirements that states they work for set
for themselves, Owen said. In addition, the company has made sure its prisons in
Arizona comply with accreditation standards put in place by the American
Correctional Association, a Virginia-based trade group. Many communities,
meanwhile, eagerly welcome private prisons because the facilities generate jobs
and economic activity. CCA prisons in Florence and Eloy, for example, employ
2,700 people. Last year, the company paid $26 million in property taxes, Owen
said. What's next -- Lawmakers from both parties have called for hearings into
what went wrong in Kingman. Presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry
Goddard has said he would push to bring back the 2008 private-prison bill.
Goddard also is calling for an immediate re-evaluation of the system used to
classify and place inmates in facilities. The five-tiered system, which allows
some violent criminals to migrate to lower-security facilities for good
behavior, met with bipartisan criticism in the wake of the escapes. Two of the
three inmates who escaped from the medium-security Kingman prison had been
convicted of murder. Goddard said the three recent escapees never should have
been in a medium-security prison. Charles Ryan, director of the Department of
Corrections, announced Thursday that the state would slow its bidding process
for the 5,000 new private-prison beds pending additional review. Brewer has said
little publicly about the escape but told The Republic last week that she is
committed to holding prison operators responsible for mistakes they made. She
said she has ordered Ryan to conduct a "complete review to make sure that
inmates are appropriately secured and in the right kinds of facilities." While
Brewer remains confident that private prisons are well suited to house
less-violent offenders, she said: "What has happened is unacceptable, and I am
absolutely pushing for more accountability."
August 20, 2010 Arizona Star
An executive with the firm that runs the private prison from which three
dangerous inmates escaped promised Thursday to beef up security but said that's
no guarantee it won't happen again. "Escapes occur at both public and private,"
Odie Washington, a vice president of Management and Training Corp., said while
noting it's incumbent on the company and state to do whatever is necessary to
close those security gaps prisoners can take advantage of. But a security review
of the MTC-run prison near Kingman, released Thursday, reveals that what
Washington referred to as "gaps" were more like chasms. As a result, State
Corrections Director Charles Ryan has ordered 150 of the highest-risk prisoners
removed. The report shows the prison perimeter-alarm system was essentially
useless. Bulbs showing the status of the fence were burned out on a control
panel. Guards were not patrolling the fence. And a door to a dormitory that was
supposed to be locked had been propped open with a rock, helping the inmates
escape. Washington, however, said that's not the fault of the corporation. He
said company employees at Kingman never told anyone at the corporate
headquarters about the problems. Ryan admitted his own audit team, which had
been to the prison before the July 30 escape, "didn't see or didn't report" the
shortcomings. All that is significant because the three inmates escaped when an
accomplice tossed them wire cutters and they made a 30-by-22-inch hole that went
undetected for hours. Of particular concern to Ryan is the fence. "What was
found were excessive false alarms," Ryan disclosed, noting over 16 hours on July
30 there were 89 alarms. "The system was not maintained or calibrated." The
result, he said, was employees were "desensitized" to the alarms going off, and
it took 11 to 73 minutes for staffers to check out problems and reset the
alarms. "That is absolutely unacceptable," he said. The last of the three
inmates, a convicted murderer, along with an accomplice, was recaptured Thursday
night. The other two were recaptured, but not before they were linked to the
deaths of an Oklahoma couple who were in New Mexico. "This is a terrible
tragedy, and the department and the contractor have a lot of work to do," Ryan
said. The findings prompted Ryan to put limits on what kind of criminals can be
housed at the facility. Until now, the 1,508-bed medium-security section has
included people convicted of murder. His order removes, at least from Kingman,
anyone convicted of first-degree murder, anyone who attempted escape in the last
decade and anyone with more than 20 years left on a sentence. All told, 148
inmates were taken from the facility. But Ryan would not rule out allowing
murderers back in the prison after he is satisfied that security has been
upgraded. He defended the classification system that allows convicted murders -
and even lifers - to serve their time in medium-security prisons. Gov. Jan
Brewer sidestepped questions about the system, saying it was in place long
before she became governor in January 2009. "It is something that maybe should
be reviewed," the governor said Thursday, but added, "That classification is
used across America." Ryan said he remains convinced there is a role for private
prisons. About 6,400 of the more than 40,000 people behind bars in Arizona are
in private prisons. Another 1,760 Arizona prisoners are at an out-of-state
facility. The Republican-controlled Legislature remains very much in favor of
private prisons, as does Brewer. That support hasn't wavered because of the
escape. Brewer said the report from Ryan underscores her belief the escape was
caused by human error, and nothing inherent in private prisons. "It's very
obvious those alarms should have been responded to," the governor said. But the
problems that Ryan sketched out go beyond the actions - or inactions - of
guards. Washington admitted there are "significant construction issues" with the
perimeter fence and the alarm system that will have to be handled. And Ryan
found flaws with the entire way MTC allowed the facility to be operated. For
example, he said no one was making regular checks along the fence to look for
breaches. And Ryan said guards were "not effectively controlling inmate
movements" within the prison system. Other flaws included inmates not wearing
required ID badges, grooming requirements being ignored and proper searches of
people going into the facility not being done. Casslyn Welch, the woman accused
of providing the wire cutters and a vehicle, was banned from the prison after
she was caught trying to bring in drugs. But Ryan said prison officials still
allowed her to talk to inmates on the phone, making it possible for her to help
plan the breakout. Welch and John McCluskey, her fiancée and cousin, were caught
Thursday night in northeastern Arizona. Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick have
been recaptured. Another problem is that the design of the prison allows anyone
to drive up close to the facility. Corrections officials want traffic routed
away from the fence.
August 20, 2010 AP
An unattended campfire and a suspicious forest ranger led to the arrest of two
of the most wanted fugitives in the U.S., ending a three-week nationwide manhunt
that drew hundreds of false sightings, authorities said. John McCluskey fled
July 30 with two other inmates from a private prison in northwest Arizona and
evaded authorities in at least six states before being caught Thursday evening
just 300 miles east of the prison. Authorities arrested McCluskey, 45, and his
alleged accomplice Casslyn Welch, 44, at a campsite in the Apache-Sitgreaves
National Forest in eastern Arizona. Welch, who is McCluskey's fiancee and
cousin, reached for a weapon but dropped it when she realized she was outgunned
by a swarming SWAT team, said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona. Officers
apprehended McCluskey without incident after finding him lying in a sleeping bag
outside a tent. He told authorities he had a gun in his tent and would have shot
them if he had been able to reach for it. It was a peaceful close to a manhunt
that authorities had said was likely to end in a bloody shootout between
officers and desperate outlaws who fancied themselves as a modern-day Bonnie and
Clyde. "The nightmare that began July 30 is finally over," Gonzales said. The
fugitives' ruse began to crumble about 4 p.m. Thursday when a U.S. Forest
Service ranger investigated what appeared to be an unattended campfire, Gonzales
said. He found a silver Nissan Sentra backed suspiciously into the trees as if
someone were trying to hide it. The ranger had a brief conversation with
McCluskey, who appeared nervous and fidgety. A SWAT team and surveillance unit
surrounded the campsite and swarmed on the fugitives, Gonzales said. McCluskey
told officers he wishes he would have shot the forest ranger when he had the
opportunity, authorities said.
August 18, 2010 AP
Past audits of the Arizona state prison where three inmates escaped last month
gave the facility high marks and revealed few issues with security or staff
training, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The escape on
July 30 has put corrections officials and the operator of the privately run
prison under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. But if there was an indication of
any widespread security problems at the facility that houses minimum- and
medium-security inmates, it doesn't show in the internal audits. On security
issues, the audits showed overall compliance rates of 98.8 percent in 2007, 99.9
percent in 2009 and 99.5 percent in 2010. Nearly 2,870 areas of security were
audited over the three years and 37 were marked as noncompliant. One security
issue was tagged in 2006. No audits were done in 2005 or 2008 because of fiscal
constraints, said Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson. No
independent audits of the Kingman prison have been done. The audits instead are
conducted by a team of about 15 made up of staff at the corrections department
and the prison who are considered subject matter experts. The audit team
evaluates areas of the prison that include security, training, medical, food
service and business for compliance with the state contract and other orders. A
yearly schedule of audits is available in July, giving prisons advance notice,
Marson said. Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the Private Corrections
Working Group, said it's difficult to tell whether the audits are a true
reflection of the operations at the prison without attached documentation to
support the findings. The group advocates against private prisons he said
typically overwork, underpay and don't properly train the staff. "Audits are
used a lot of times to make things look like they're OK," he said. "Maybe they
are OK. I doubt it." Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said the prison
operator would correct the security deficiencies that contributed to the escape
of John McCluskey, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick. Criminal and
administrative investigations into the escape are ongoing. McCluskey's fiancee
and cousin, Casslyn Welch, is accused of throwing wire cutters over a perimeter
fence that the men used to slice their way out and flee. Welch's visitation
privileges at the prison were terminated after a random search in June during a
visit to McCluskey turned up what was believed to be heroin. Welch told
investigators that she was paid by members or associates of a white supremacist
group to smuggle the drug into the prison but didn't say who it was intended
for. State legislators have urged corrections officials and Gov. Jan Brewer's
office to release the results of a security review done following the escape.
Corrections officials said the report still is being written and should be
released this week.
August 14, 2010 Santa Fe New Mexican
Lost in the Bonnie and Clyde tale of Arizona fugitives on the run for two weeks
is the grisly slaying of an Oklahoma couple whose bodies were found in a
burned-out travel trailer on a remote ranch in Eastern New Mexico. Police have
linked the deaths of Gary and Linda Haas last week to the inmates and the woman
who helped them escape, but they are keeping a tight lid on what happened as the
couple traveled to an annual camping trip with friends in Colorado. Family and
friends say they have no idea how the Haases' paths would have crossed with
escaped convicts John McCluskey and Tracy Province and their accomplice, Casslyn
Welch. Blood inside the couple's pickup — found days later in Albuquerque —
makes the family certain of one thing: The 61-year-olds put up a fight. "So much
of the story has been the bad guys this and the bad guys that," said Cathy Byus,
the Haases' daughter. "That's important too. We want them out there too, but we
don't want people to forget the human side of this."
August 14, 2010 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Key personnel have resigned their posts at a privately operated state prison
where three dangerous inmates escaped last month. The Management & Training
Corporation, which houses 3,500 minimum- and medium-security inmates at the
Arizona State Prison-Kingman, confirmed the departures Friday. "MTC accepted the
resignation of Warden Lori Lieder and her unit's chief of security this week,"
MTC spokesman Carl Stuart said. Lieder and the security chief were
administrators at the Hualapai Unit, the medium security wing of the complex
from which the inmates made their July 30 getaway. Arizona Department of
Corrections Director Charles Ryan said he has directed changes and upgrades in
security and operations protocols at the prison. Increased perimeter patrols and
increased control and restriction of inmate movement within the units are among
his directives. MTC operates 11 private prisons, including two in Arizona.
August 13, 2010 USA Today
An Arizona fugitive's accomplice was acting as a drug mule for a white supremacy
group and agreed to become a police informant weeks before she helped him escape
from prison, authorities said Friday. Casslyn Welch, and her fiance and cousin
John McCluskey, are now considered among the most wanted fugitives in America
after authorities say Welch helped McCluskey and two other men escape from the
Arizona State Prison in Kingman by throwing wire cutters over a fence. Daniel
Renwick and Tracy Province have since been captured. Welch was visiting
McCluskey at the medium-security prison in June when a random search of Welch
and her vehicle turned up marijuana, heroin and drug paraphernalia, Mohave
County sheriff's spokeswoman Trish Carter said. Welch wasn't jailed because she
agreed to become an informant, and she provided information about the suppliers
of the drugs, Carter said. Welch told investigators she was being paid by
members or associates of supremacists to smuggle heroin into the prison as she
had successfully done three times before, but she declined to say who the items
were intended for at the prison. Fidencio Rivera, chief deputy U.S. marshal for
Arizona, said authorities believe Welch and McCluskey have minimal ties to white
supremacy groups in or out of prisons and "we're not expending much resources on
that right now." Investigative efforts were focused Friday in Arkansas, where
Welch has family, and Montana, where the two were last seen Aug. 6, but Rivera
said the pair could be anywhere. They are financing their getaway by committing
crimes along the way and using their experience as long-haul truck drivers,
Rivera said. "Our stance is they're being very reactionary at this point and
time, playing off the cuff," he said. A reward of up to $35,000 is being offered
for information leading to their arrest. They are believed to be traveling in a
1997 Nissan Sentra that is gold, gray or tan in color, and authorities say that
the two likely will become more dangerous as the manhunt continues. Marshals are
asking travelers at truck stops along highways and in campgrounds across the
nation to watch out for the couple, who may have dyed their hair and otherwise
changed their appearance. "We know they're out there and they're committing
crimes out there to get money," Rivera said. "They have limited funds, they're
sleeping in their car, they're staying at rest stops, campsites. They're not
using a whole lot of money." Marshals and border officials in Montana are
following up on what leads they have, but there have been no developments in the
past few days, said Rod Ostermiller, Montana's acting U.S. marshal. "At this
point in time, just because of the time frame we're working with, we're
expanding way beyond Montana," Ostermiller said Friday afternoon. Welch is
facing a growing list of charges since the July 31 escape, including kidnapping,
armed robbery and aggravated assault. She was charged last week with six counts
of narcotics violations for the drugs she's accused of bringing to the prison.
Welch told investigators in June that the marijuana belonged to her, Carter
said, but she picked up what she was told was heroin packaged in balloons from
two men in Phoenix and was paid $200 each time she smuggled it into the prison,
according to police records. On the night of the escape, Welch had packed a
getaway car nearby with cash, weapons and false identification, Rivera has said.
But Renwick, Province, McCluskey became disoriented and could not find the car
after they cut through the prison fence. The group split up, and Renwick found
the vehicle and drove off, leaving the other three to hijack a tractor-trailer
and head to Flagstaff. Renwick, who was serving time for second-degree murder,
was arrested after a shootout with law enforcement in Rifle, Colo., two days
after the escape. The rest of the group was linked through forensic evidence to
the deaths of an Oklahoma couple whose bodies were found in their charred camper
in eastern New Mexico last week, authorities there said.
August 11, 2010 AP
The manhunt for a fugitive from Arizona and his fiancee shifted from Montana to
Arkansas after they were suspected of holding up a beauty supply store there
Wedneday morning, the U.S. Marshal's Service said. A couple who robbed Kut and
Curl beauty salon in Gentry, Ark., fits the description of John McCluskey and
his fiancee, Casslyn Welch, said David Gonzales, the U.S. Marshal for Arizona.
The town of about 2,000 is in northwest Arkansas, nearly 1,600 miles from the
small Montana town where the pair was last spotted on Sunday. The Benton County
Sheriff's Department said it is investigating the robbery, but U.S. Marshals
there haven't positively identified the couple. "We're trying to use any means
possible — surveillance cameras, anything possible to determine (their
identifications)," said Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Gary Gray of the Western
District of Arkansas. "Right now, Benton County is working this incident as a
crime that happened in their jurisdiction. In the event it is tied to something
else, we're all working together on this." McCluskey, 45, and Welch, 44, have
eluded capture since he and two other inmates escaped from an Arizona prison on
July 30. Welch's mother lives near Gentry, authorities said. Welch was last
spotted Sunday at a restaurant in St. Mary, Mont., on the eastern border of
Glacier National Park and authorites thought the couple may be trying to cross
into Canada. Interpol issued an international alert for the two Wednesday. Since
then, authorities had not had any credible leads in the northern Montana valley
near the Canadian border, where Glacier National Park meet the vast, open Great
Plains.
August 9, 2010 FOX
Questions surround the escape of three violent convicts from a prison in
Kingman, casting a shadow on Arizona's relationship with the private prison
industry. Officials are reviewing security measures at private prison
facilities, and are looking into the future of private prisons in our state. "My
concern about this has been the manner in which the facility was operated. I do
not believe that the physical plant itself from which these inmates escaped was
the issue, it is the performance of the staff that concerned me," says Chuck
Ryan, Arizona Department of Corrections Director. State Attorney General Terry
Goddard is calling for a break in new contracts with private prison companies,
until security issues can be ironed out and a review of their relationship with
the DOC is undertaken. "We have basically turned a very significant direction in
our state towards more and more private prison operations without looking at the
consequences. I'm afraid those consequences have been put in very stark relief
by the escape of three violent prisoners," says Goddard. Ryan told us he's in
the process of reviewing his team's findings at the facility but offered no
further comment on what the future may hold for the state of Arizona and its
relationship with MTC. "Until we review their findings and their recommendations
it would be premature to comment further about that," says Ryan. Guards at
private prisons do not carry weapons and are not trained law enforcement
officers. The three convicts escaped on July 30 -- one alarm never sounded and
it remains to be seen whether prison guards went to check the second alarm.
Prison staff didn't realize they were missing until a 9 p.m. head count, which
was five hours after they were last accounted for. The local sheriff's office
wasn't alerted until more than an hour later, and state corrections officials
found out about the escape at 11:37 p.m. House Democrats are calling for a
special session to address security issues with private prisons. The governor's
office has not yet sent a comment.
August 9, 2010 Arizona Daily Sun
Authorities in Arizona have charged two women with helping convicted felons
after they escaped from prison in the northwestern part of the state. The
Arizona Attorney General's Office on Monday charged 42-year-old Diana Joy
Glattfelder and 68-year-old Claudia Washburn with hindering prosecution and
conspiracy to commit escape. Glattfelder lives in Prescott Valley and is the
ex-wife of escapee John McCluskey. Washburn, of Payson, is McCluskey's mother.
Both are accused of providing money, supplies or transportation to the inmates
and their alleged accomplice, Casslyn Welch. It was not clear if the women had
attorneys. Three violent inmates escaped from a prison near Kingman last month.
Two have been captured but authorities say McCluskey is still on the run with
Welch.
August 9, 2010 PCWG
Who’s Guarding the Private Prison Guardians? At about 9:00 p.m. on Friday,
July 30, alarms began to go off at the Management and Training Center’s (MTC)
Arizona State Prison at Golden Valley, near Kingman. Other alarms appeared to be
defective and didn’t sound. Only when an evening count was taken was it apparent
that three extremely violent inmates had escaped. The Mojave County’s Sheriff’s
Office was finally notified of the escape at 10:20 p.m. Another 80 minutes
elapsed before MTC notified state officials with the Arizona Department of
Corrections. The media wasn’t alerted until mid-morning on Saturday, and thus
the public was not informed about the dangerous escapees until that time.
Casslyn Mae Welch, the first cousin and fiancée of prisoner John McCluskey,
allegedly had been caught smuggling drugs into the MTC-operated prison. That
night she threw bolt cutters over the fence to McCluskey and his partners in the
escape, Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick. Welch then distracted a perimeter
guard to cover their getaway. Province, a neo-Nazi, and another recent parolee
had stabbed a robbery victim 51 times in 1991. Renwick ambushed and killed his
ex-girlfriend and her father in 2000. McCluskey had attempted to kill a man and
an arresting officer in 2009, but his shotgun jammed. Around midnight on July
30, McCluskey, Welch and Province hijacked a semi-truck parked by the highway in
Kingman, kidnapped the drivers and forced them to drive to Flagstaff, 150 miles
away. They released them about 5:00 a.m. on Saturday and then fled, possibly
aided by another accomplice. On August 1, an alert sheriff’s deputy in Rifle,
Colorado spotted Renwick driving a Ford Bronco. A quick-thinking police officer
chased and disabled the SUV after shots were fired at his cruiser, capturing
Renwick. Three days later a pickup belonging to Gary and Linda Hass, a
61-year-old vacationing Tecumseh, Oklahoma couple, was abandoned in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. Their cremated remains were found at a burned-out camper a hundred
miles east in Santa Rosa on August 7. Forensics evidence has tied their deaths
to the MTC escapees. Police used On-Star to locate the missing pickup. From
there, the police believe the killers headed north to Yellowstone National Park.
Tracy Province was captured in Meeteetse, Wyoming on August 9 – eleven days
after the escape. A massive manhunt for Welch and McCluskey continues,
concentrated in Yellowstone. Arizona Dept. of Corrections Director Charles Ryan
laid the blame for the escape at MTC’s feet. “My concern is that the staff at
this prison may have been lax in doing their job, and that probably created the
opportunity so that they could escape,” he said. On Memorial Day there had been
a riot at the MTC-operated Golden Valley facility. News of that disturbance also
was delayed, and the scope and severity of the incident were substantially
minimized. Additionally, MTC’s Marana prison near Tucson rioted on February 10,
2010, resulting in injuries among both prisoners and staff. Although it’s a
small corporation, since 1995 over a dozen prisoners have escaped from MTC
facilities in Utah, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and Eagle Mountain, California
where two inmates were also murdered during a race riot. There has been no
explanation regarding MTC’s responsibility for uncorrected security failures and
the amateurish lack of timely notification that may have prevented this most
recent tragedy. It is yet another example in a long history of lapses and
failures of oversight that is pervasive in the private prison industry, where
the motive of companies to generate profit by cutting corners leads to incidents
that endanger public safety. Until for-profit private prison companies and the
lawmakers who support them are held accountable, avoidable tragedies such as the
recent MTC escape are certain to recur. Unfortunately, any reforms will come too
late for Gary and Linda Haas. The Private Corrections Working Group (PCWG) is a
non-profit citizen watchdog organization that works to educate the public about
the significant dangers and pitfalls associated with the privatization of
correctional services. PCWG maintains an online collection of news reports and
other resources related to the private prison industry, and holds the position
that for-profit prisons have no place in a free and democratic society.
www.privateci.org. For more information, please contact: Ken Kopczynski,
Executive Director Private Corrections Working Group 1114 Brandt Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32 (850) 980-0887 kenk@privateci.org
August 9, 2010 MSNBC
One of two convicted killers who escaped from an Arizona prison has been
captured in Wyoming, law enforcement officials said Monday. Tracy Province, 42,
was arrested Monday morning while walking in the small Wyoming town of Meeteetse,
about 80 miles from Yellowstone National Park, said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal
for the Phoenix area. At the time of the arrest, Province was carrying a
hitchhiking sign with "Casper," the name of a town in east-central Wyoming,
written on it, officials said. He also had a 9mm handgun in his possession,
Gonzales said. At first the man denied he was Province, then admitted his
identity and said he was "relieved this manhunt was over for him," Gonzales
said. The other escapee and a suspected accomplice remained on the loose. The
search for them was centered in an around Yellowstone and intensified after
authorities said they linked one of the inmates to a double homicide in New
Mexico. The U.S. Marshals Service said earlier that information indicates
Province, John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch might be hiding in portions of the
park that span Montana and Wyoming, though investigators believe Province had
separated from McCluskey and Welch. The fugitives reportedly have ties to white
supremacist groups, MSNBC analyst Clint Van Zandt said Monday, and could be
seeking sympathizers to help them flee the law.
August 8, 2010 CNN
Authorities believe two Arizona prison escapees and their alleged accomplice may
be in the Yellowstone National Park area of Montana and Wyoming, based on recent
information, the U.S. Marshals Service said Sunday. John Charles McCluskey, 45,
and Tracy Province, 42, are described as armed and dangerous. They have been at
large since fleeing an Arizona prison on July 30. A third escaped inmate, Daniel
Renwick, 35, was arrested the day after the escape in Rifle, Colorado, where he
got in a shootout with police.
August 7, 2010 AP
The mother of one of three inmates who escaped from a northwestern Arizona
prison was arrested Saturday after authorities suspected she helped two of them.
Claudia Washburn, 68, was arrested at her home and place of business in Jakes
Corner south of Payson on charges of conspiracy to commit escape, hindering
prosecution and facilitation to commit escape, said Thomas Henman, supervisory
deputy at the U.S. Marshals Service. He said Washburn is the mother of John
McCluskey, who escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison near
Kingman with Tracy Province and Daniel Renwick on July 30. Authorities believe
McCluskey’s fiancee and cousin — 44-year-old Casslyn Welch of Mesa — helped the
inmates escape by throwing wire cutters over the prison fence. Henman said
Washburn is suspected of giving financial and other types of support to help
McCluskey, Province and Welch. Renwick was arrested Aug. 1 in Rifle, Colo.
following a brief car chase and shoot-out.
August 7, 2010 AP
Two men who escaped from a private Arizona prison and a woman thought to have
helped them have been linked to the investigation of a couple’s killing in New
Mexico, authorities said Saturday. New Mexico State Police spokesman Peter Olson
said Tracy Province, John McCluskey and Casslyn Welch were linked through
forensics but he declined to provide specifics. He declined to say whether
police believe the three were responsible for the killings, adding that “we
don’t know how involved they are.” Province, McCluskey and Daniel Renwick
escaped from the medium-security Arizona State Prison near Kingman on July 30
after authorities say 44-year-old Casslyn Welch of Mesa threw wire cutters over
the perimeter fence. Renwick was arrested in Colorado on Aug. 1. The prison is
managed by a Utah firm, Management & Training Corp., of Centerville. The badly
burned skeletal remains of Linda and Gary Haas, both 61, of Tecumseh, Okla.,
were found in a charred camper on Wednesday morning on a remote ranch in Santa
Rosa in eastern New Mexico. Olson said a car belonging to the couple was found
100 miles west in Albuquerque on Wednesday afternoon.
August 4, 2010 AP
The three inmates didn't seem to arouse the least bit of suspicion when they
sneaked out of their dorm rooms and rushed to the perimeter of the
medium-security prison. Alarms that were supposed to go off didn't. No officers
noticed anything amiss. And no one was apparently paying attention when the
violent criminals sliced open fences with wire cutters and vanished into the
Arizona desert in their orange jumpsuits. The series of blunders surrounding the
escape and the state's practice of housing hardened murderers and other violent
criminals in private, medium-security prisons have placed Arizona corrections
officials under intense scrutiny in recent days. Two of the fugitives remained
at large Wednesday as the manhunt entered its fifth day. Authorities believe the
inmates have left Arizona and were heading east with a girlfriend who allegedly
threw the wire cutters over a fence and fled with two of them. Arizona
Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said he met Wednesday with
representatives of the Utah-based prison company Management and Training Corp.
and that they "have been assured that MTC is committed to addressing and
correcting the security deficiencies that contributed to the escape." Ryan said
a corrections security team at the prison was completing a comprehensive
evaluation, and he would meet with MTC next week to finalize a plan.
Investigators were focused on how the inmates managed to go undetected for
several hours around the time of the escape and why three violent criminals were
allowed in a medium-security prison in the first place. An Arizona lawmaker said
the state needs to overhaul its inmate classification system, which allowed the
prisoners to get put into the medium-security lockup despite their violent
pasts. Corrections officials said their prison behavior was good enough that
they downgraded the inmates' threat risk, clearing the way for placement in the
facility. "One thing we might have to look at is saying if you're convicted of a
crime that is as serious as murder, that you are always considered a high risk,"
said David Lujan, a state lawmaker who unsuccessfully sought to regulate the
types of inmates held in private prisons. "They may be a moderate risk to the
staff when they're inside. But when you see what happens outside afterward,
obviously, they're more than a moderate risk to the public." The Arizona State
Prison in Kingman sits amid nothing but a dusty field, three miles from a major
east-west interstate highway. It opened in 2004 and was designed to house repeat
drug and alcohol offenders and set them on a path to rehabilitation, but
eventually grew to include more serious offenders in a separate unit. That was
where Daniel Renwick, 36, Tracy Province, 42, and John McCluskey, 45, plotted
their escape. Province was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery,
including allegations that he stabbed his victim multiple times over money.
Renwick was serving two 22-year sentences for two counts of second-degree
murder, and McCluskey was doing 15 years for attempted murder, aggravated
assault and discharge of a firearm. Authorities originally said McCluskey was
convicted of murder, when it was in fact attempted murder. Province has a dozen
prison disciplinary infractions since 1996 — many of them drug-related. He
worked in the prison's kitchen, while Province and McCluskey worked in the
prison dog kennel, where they trained the animals for adoption. The trio last
was accounted for at 4 p.m. Friday, said Department of Corrections spokesman
Barrett Marson. Staff noticed the men missing in a head count and after
electronic sensors along the perimeter fence sounded around 9 p.m. The local
sheriff's office wasn't notified of the escape until 10:19 p.m., and state
corrections officials weren't called until 11:37 p.m. "I think there was a
concern by everyone that it was after the fact," said Trish Carter, a
spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff's Office. "Time is of the essence
during this type of incident. The faster you get there, the more likely you're
able to catch these inmates who escaped the facility." The three hopped a fence
in the area of the dog kennel and used wire cutters that McCluskey's fiancee,
who also is his cousin, had thrown over a fence to cut through two perimeter
fences and flee. Carl Stuart, a spokesman for MTC, indicated that the dog
program might have to be suspended because of the incident. He declined to
comment further on security at the 3,508-bed prison. Province, McCluskey and his
fiancee, 44-year-old Casslyn Mae Welch of Mesa, kidnapped two semi-truck drivers
at gunpoint in Kingman and used the big rig to flee to Flagstaff, police said.
Renwick was captured Sunday after an early morning shootout with an officer in
Colorado. Ryan has said "lax" security may have created an opportunity for the
men to escape, and authorities are looking into whether prison staff members
might have aided the inmates. Ryan also has said the prison contractor will "be
on the hook" for costs associated with finding the fugitives. The fugitives were
among more than 115 inmates housed at the medium-security unit where others
convicted murderers were held. Under their classification, they were considered
a moderate risk to the public and staff. They weren't allowed to work outside
the prison and were limited in their movement within the prison walls. The men
were in orange jumpsuits when they escaped, which should have been easy to spot
against the desert backdrop, said Kristen Green of Phoenix, who visits an inmate
at the prison. "Guards should be on top of this, people in the control room
should be on top of this," she said. "There's no way that they should have
missed these guys, three of them going through a fence? This was pretty well
planned."
August 3, 2010 AP
Three convicted murderers escaped a privately run prison in Arizona by using
wire cutters that a woman threw over a fence, a state Department of Corrections
spokesman said Tuesday. Officials also said prison staff didn't realize the
inmates were missing Friday until after sensors on the perimeter fence sounded
and a 9 p.m. head count, which came five hours after the three were last
accounted for by prison staff. The woman who authorities say helped in the
escape is Casslyn Mae Welch, 44, of Mesa — the fiancee and cousin of John
McCluskey, one of the three inmates. She was waiting outside the prison in
Kingman as the inmates breached a perimeter fence with the wire cutters and
escaped, said department spokesman Barrett Marson. A security camera captured
Welch driving a blue sedan around the facility that holds minimum- and
medium-security inmates. Corrections Director Charles Ryan has said "lax"
security created an opportunity for the men to escape. He's scheduled to meet
with representatives of the prison operator, Utah-based Management and Training
Corp., on Wednesday, Marson said. "We are going over everything that happened
during the night of the escape, and many issues will be addressed with MTC,"
Marson said. A spokesman for MTC, Carl Stuart, declined to comment on security
at the 3,508-bed facility. The local sheriff's office wasn't alerted until more
than an hour after prison staff discovered the three were missing, and state
corrections officials found out about the escape at 11:37 p.m., Maroon said.
Daniel Renwick, 36, was captured Sunday in western Colorado. Tracy Province, 42,
the 45-year-old McCluskey and Welch had kidnapped two drivers of a semi-truck in
Kingman early Saturday morning and traveled in the rig to Flagstaff, where they
left the drivers unharmed, authorities said. The three remain at large and are
believed to be together in Arizona, said U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Thomas
Henman. Province was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery, and
McCluskey was serving 15 years for second-degree murder, aggravated assault and
discharge of a firearm. Renwick was serving a 22-year sentence for second degree
murder. Renwick was being held Tuesday in a Colorado jail on suspicion of
attempted first-degree murder, vehicular eluding, possession of a weapon by a
previous offender and felony escape. His bail is set at $2.5 million. Ninth
Judicial District Attorney Martin Beeson in Colorado said his office is
reviewing the case and will decide whether to file charges by Aug. 11. "He's
presumed innocent," Beeson said. "But if what we have seen in the reports is
true, then I would say you're not going to come into my jurisdiction, shoot at
officers and not be taken to task for it. My intent is, if we have business to
do, we will do it, and accomplish it, and then we would be glad to turn him over
to whomever wants him." According to an arrest affidavit, a Garfield County,
Colo., sheriff's deputy noticed a vehicle with its lights off in a church
parking lot and found that it matched the Arizona license plate of a Chevy
Blazer connected with the fugitives. Another officer noticed the vehicle pulling
out of the parking lot and chased it for three miles on an interstate until
Renwick slowed down and exited. Renwick shot through the rear window of the
Blazer, and Rifle, Colo., police Officer William Van Teylingen said he heard
objects hitting his car. Teylingen rammed Renwick's vehicle, which came to a
stop in a hotel parking lot. Teylingen's airbag activated in his cruiser and by
the time he got out, Renwick was lying on the ground behind the cruiser.
Teylingen found a rifle in the Blazer and a hole in a headlamp on his cruiser.
August 3, 2010 AFSC
The escape of three prisoners from the Kingman prison on Friday July 30, 2010,
highlights continuing concerns about the management of state prison facilities
by for-profit corporations, according to the American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC). The Kingman facility is run by Management and Training Corporation of
Ogden, Utah. MTC also runs the Marana Community Correctional Center, and is one
of four prison corporations that have submitted bids to the Arizona Department
of Corrections to build and operate up to 5,000 new state prison beds. This
incident comes on the heels of a riot at the Kingman facility in June in which
eight prisoners were injured. The escapes are being blamed on lax security and a
failure to follow proper protocol. The prisoners reportedly were able to sneak
out of their dormitory and cut through a perimeter fence without being detected.
"You get what you pay for," said Caroline Isaacs, Director of the AFSC's Arizona
office. "These for-profit prison corporations are primarily concerned about the
bottom line and making money for their CEO's and shareholders." Isaacs charges
that the companies cut corners everywhere they can, but primarily on staff pay
and training. The result is a facility with high turnover rates, where the staff
is inexperienced and the prisoners have nothing productive to do. Such a prison
is unsafe for the inmates, the guards, and the surrounding community. This is
not the only Arizona private prison scandal to make headlines recently. A prison
run by Corrections Corporation of America in Eloy was recently on lockdown after
prisoners from Hawaii rioted over an Xbox video game. When a staff member
attempted to intervene, he was severely beaten, suffering a broken nose, broken
cheekbones and damage to his eye sockets. The incident was the latest episode in
a history of violence that has plagued the facility. Two prisoners are facing a
possible death sentence in the fatal beating of another inmate there last
February. These types of incidents are "alarmingly common" in privately operated
prisons, Isaacs says, citing patterns of mismanagement, financial impropriety,
abuse, and medical negligence. Further privatization of Arizona's prisons will
be a financial boondoggle for a cash-strapped state and a nightmare for the host
communities, she warns. "Arizona's legislature needs to take a good look at the
track record of these companies before they spend any more of the taxpayers'
money on this failed experiment."
August 3, 2010 KGUN9-TV
When a prison inmate escaped--who killed a woman's husband and daughter, she
says 19 hours went by before the Arizona Department of Corrections informed her
she could be in danger. KGUN 9 wants to know why. Daniel Renwick was one of
three inmates who escaped from a privately run prison in Kingman. For Vicki
Walker learning that Renwick escaped brought back a world of bad memories. "He
murdered my husband and my daughter, " she said. "They were in their vehicle and
he shot them, leaving my grandson who was 14 months. Kaleb now is ten." The way
she heard of the escape made things worse. A son in law in another state saw it
on the news and called her. Mrs. Walker says, "As a victim I'm supposed to be
notified right away if there's an escape or if he's released and I did not hear
from Department of Corrections for 19 hours." KGUN9 News asked Arizona
Department of Corrections director Charles Ryan what went wrong. Ryan said, "The
Department was also not advised immediately about the escape by Management
Training Corporation and it's unfortunate it took as long as it did."
August 3, 2010 Arizona Republic
When the man who plunged a knife 51 times into their loved one received a
sentence of life in prison in May 1993, Bryan Knoblich and his mother hoped they
would never hear Tracy Province's name again. In 1991, Province and David
Rodacker were on leave from jail when they attacked Norman Knoblich, 57, as he
closed his coin-operated laundry business in Tucson. The pair left Norman dead
and took only his wallet. Nineteen years later, Bryan Knoblich and his mother
are again on the lookout for his father's killer. Province, 42, John McCluskey,
45, and Daniel Renwick, 36, escaped from a privately run medium-security state
prison in Kingman on Friday night. "My first thought was, 'Are you kidding?' "
Bryan said, recalling when he heard Province's name on the weekend news. "He's a
twisted guy. Why weren't they in a maximum-security facility?" It's a question
Mohave County supervisors and other officials are asking as authorities continue
their search for Province and McCluskey. Renwick was recaptured Sunday in
Colorado. "It's one thing when it's vehicular homicide and you're drunk," County
Supervisor Buster Johnson said Monday of such prisoners. "But these people
shouldn't be allowed anywhere else but in (maximum security)." While the manhunt
continues, officials with the county, the Arizona Department of Corrections, and
Management and Training Corp., the Utah-based company that operates the
facility, are studying how the men penetrated several layers of security.
Unarmed prison officials sounded the alarm about 9 p.m. after Province,
McCluskey and Renwick missed their head count, Johnson said. An hour passed
before the Mohave County Sheriff's Office was notified that the men somehow had
made their way through locked doors and avoided surveillance cameras, ground and
fence sensors, guard towers and roving ground patrols before cutting a hole in
fencing near a dormitory. Officials are now investigating whether the escapees
had inside help. "That's the question," Johnson said. "With this whole
situation, this does bring up some concerns." Authorities believe the men were
assisted by McCluskey's fiancee, Casslyn Welch of Mesa. They are believed to
have hijacked two semitrucks and driven to Flagstaff before purchasing a car in
Goodyear. Renwick was captured in Rifle, Colo., following a shootout with local
authorities. No one was hurt and Renwick was booked into the Garfield County
Jail. Although state officials have said all three men were serving time for
murder, court records show McCluskey was serving 15 years for attempted murder
after he fired a shotgun into a Mesa home in March 2009. He told police he would
have killed his target had his weapon not jammed, records say. "He (McCluskey)
also indicated that he would have shot the officer who detained him," court
documents state. The Kingman facility holds 3,508 inmates, according to Carl
Stuart, a Management and Training Corp. spokesman. Of those inmates, 117 are
serving life sentences, with 57 being housed on first-degree murder and 60 on
second-degree murder convictions, according to state corrections officials. The
facility is classified as a medium-security prison, meaning it houses "inmates
who represent a moderate risk to the public and staff," state Corrections
Department Director Charles Ryan said in a release. Prison officials are seeking
bids to add an additional 5,000 beds at the prison, which means the facility
could house inmates from other states, Johnson said.
August 1, 2010 AP
A convicted murderer who escaped Friday with two other men from an Arizona
prison fired a bullet at Rifle police before being arrested early Sunday
morning, police say. Lt. J.R. Boulton said no one was injured during the
incident, in which Daniel Renwick, 36, was then apprehended after an officer
used his car to ram the vehicle the man was driving. Renwick was arrested after
first drawing the attention of a Garfield County sheriff’s deputy in the Rulison
area. Renwick was one of three convicts who authorities say escaped Friday
evening by cutting a hole in a fence at an Arizona state prison. The other two
and an accomplice remained at large Sunday, authorities said. Arizona Department
of Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson said authorities there have no
information leading them to believe the other escapees are in Colorado. Rather,
information from law enforcement suggests they are still in Arizona, said
Charles Ryan, director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. Boulton said
Renwick was alone when he was arrested. Marson said the other two inmates should
be considered especially dangerous because of the nature of their convictions.
Officials identified them as Tracy Province, 42, who was serving a life sentence
for murder and robbery, and John McCluskey, 45, serving 15 years for attempted
second-degree murder, aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm. Marson said
the men are believed to be with Casslyn Mae Welch, 44, who is suspected of
aiding in the escape. Renwick is being held without bond in the Garfield County
Jail, the Sheriff’s Department said. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted
first-degree murder, vehicular eluding and escape. The escapees kidnapped two
semitrailer drivers at gunpoint in Arizona and initially used their truck to
flee, authorities say. Boulton said he believes Renwick was arrested in a Chevy
S-10 Blazer. Rifle police believe that the vehicle is owned by an acquaintance
of Renwick. The Garfield County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release that
a sheriff’s deputy noticed a suspicious vehicle in the Rulison area, and while
the deputy was trying to get behind the vehicle on Interstate 70 and check the
license plate, the driver’s behavior became more suspicious. The driver got off
at the west Rifle I-70 exit, dispatchers confirmed with the deputy that the
vehicle was associated with the Arizona escape, and the deputy prepared to pull
over a high-risk vehicle, the Sheriff’s Department said. Rifle police were
dispatched to the west Rifle exit at 12:16 a.m. Sunday. The driver left as they
prepared to approach and drove east on I-70, refusing to pull over, then exited
at the main Rifle interchange. Boulton said the driver fired a shot that struck
the front of a patrol car before police rammed his vehicle. He then surrendered
without incident, Boulton said. Boulton said he believes at least two Rifle
officers and a sheriff’s deputy were involved in the arrest. “They did
everything they should have done. Everybody got to go home,” he said. The
Sheriff’s Department said deputies used dog teams at the scene and there was no
indication that other escapees were in the area. Renwick and the others escaped
from a medium-security prison in Golden Valley, Ariz., Marson said. Renwick was
serving two consecutive 22-year sentences for second-degree murder for shooting
a father and his daughter, Marson said. His sentence expiration date was 2043.
KOLD TV in Tucson reported that the daughter was Renwick’s ex-girlfriend. Police
spent much of Saturday using helicopters and dogs to search for the three men.
At about 5 a.m. Saturday, the group kidnapped two drivers of a semitrailer in
Kingman, Ariz., and forced them at gunpoint to drive two hours east to
Flagstaff, said Flagstaff police Sgt. James Jackson. The group left the drivers,
unharmed, in the truck at a stop just off Interstate 40 and then fled. “The
truck drivers were lucky to get away unscathed,” Jackson said. “I mean, they’ve
been convicted of murder and they’re escaping from prison.” Authorities said
Welch was seen at the prison before the escape driving a blue 1996 Chrysler
Concord car with Arizona license plate ABL7584. Authorities urged anyone with
information on the escaped prisoners to use caution and call police immediately.
Province was last seen wearing dark blue jeans, a dark purple polo shirt with
red stripes and white tennis shoes. McCluskey was wearing light-colored blue
jeans, a white button-up shirt with horizontal and vertical blue stripes, and
white tennis shoes. Management and Training Corp. of Centerville, Utah, operates
the prison where the escape occurred. The company operates 17 correctional
facilities in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Idaho and Ohio, according
to its website. Ryan said Sunday that the escape is under investigation. “We
have great concerns that there was laxness on the part of security staff at this
private prison, but I’m going to allow the investigation to run its course,”
said Ryan, who plans to meet with prison officials in the next day or two.
July 31, 2010 AP
Three prison inmates convicted of murder escaped from a northwest Arizona
prison Friday after cutting a perimeter fence. Helicopters and police dogs
searched for the men, who were found missing Friday evening from the Arizona
State Prison in Golden Valley. The men are considered armed and dangerous.
Flagstaff police believe the men kidnapped two people at gunpoint in the Kingman
area, left them in Flagstaff and continued in an unknown direction. The missing
prisoners are: Tracy Province, who was serving a life sentence for murder and
robbery; Daniel Renwick, who was serving 22 years for second-degree murder; and
John McClusky, who was serving 15 years for second-degree murder, aggravated
assault and discharge of a firearm. Police also believe the men got help from a
woman named Casslyn Mae Welch and may still be traveling with her. Anyone with
information on the escaped prisoners should call police immediately. They were
last seen wearing orange prison jumpsuits.
June 2, 2010 Arizona Daily Sun
State prison officials are investigating the circumstances of a brawl at a
privately run prison in Kingman that left eight inmates injured. The fight in a
minimum security unit of the Arizona State Prison-Kingman involved black and
white inmates, some using padlocks wrapped in socks as weapons. Department of
Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson says Monday's altercation lasted nearly 45
minutes. A spokesman for prison operator Management and Training Corporation
says no staff members were hurt. Of the eight inmates taken to a hospital, seven
were released after treatment and one hospitalized for a non-fight related
condition. The prison remained on lockdown on Wednesday.
June 2, 2010 Kingman Daily Miner
The Cerbat unit of the Arizona State Prison-Kingman was on lockdown Tuesday
following an incident on Memorial Day. Carl Stuart, spokesperson for Management
and Training Corporation, which operates the prison, said a fight broke out
among inmates in the east yard of the minimum security Cerbat unit around 1 p.m.
Monday. He said it is unclear how many inmates were actually involved in the
fight since the vast majority were simply spectators. The fight lasted nearly 45
minutes and was between black and white inmates, according to Barrett Marson,
director of communications for Arizona State Prison. Some of the inmates used
padlocks wrapped in socks as weapons. Eight inmates were taken to the hospital
following the fight. Seven were observed and released, while an eighth inmate
was treated for a condition unrelated to the fight. No staff members or guards
were injured, according to Stuart. Officials are still investigating what caused
the altercation to break out. Stuart said the lockdown was a precautionary
measure and would last indefinitely. Inmates in the Hualapai unit were on
restrictive movement, meaning that all non-essential activities, such as
rehabilitation classes, were temporarily suspended.
Benson, Arizona
Corplan
May 11, 2010 San Pedro Valley News-Sun
The Benson City Council was not persuaded on the idea of having a detention
center built to house illegal immigrants without more proof that the federal
government would pay for it. In a short discussion Monday night, the council
heard from James Parkey of Corplan Corrections, headquartered in Texas. Corplan
Corrections has proposed building a detention center near the Benson Municipal
Airport using a $21 million bond the city would secure. Corplan said the bonds
would be retired from funds paid by federal agencies to house illegal immigrants
in the holding facility. But City Manager Glenn Nichols said he has checked with
numerous agencies such as Immigration Customs Enforcement, U.S. Marshal's
Service and U.S. Customs, and all stated they would only use such a facility if
there is a valid contract. With no contract in place, Nichols recommended the
council not proceed with plans to build the facility. Parkey, who attended
Monday's meeting, said there would be no liability to the city, and Corplan
Corrections is asking the city to back the plan so they can "go to Washington
and find a contract." Councilman Al Sacco said the liability to the city is "our
good name." The first-term council member said he would not support such a
proposal ever. Parkey said with more illegal immigrants being apprehended by
authorities in Southern Arizona, this proposal is Benson's opportunity to get
ahead economically. Councilwoman Jo Deen Boncquet said the city could secure
bonds and use funding on projects more beneficial to the city, noting that
illegal immigration is a hot topic in Arizona right now, and Benson should stay
out of the business. Vice Mayor Toney King said when he first heard the proposal
in January, it sounded like a good business venture for the city, but now, with
so many questions surrounding the project, the risks aren't worth it. Councilman
John Lodzinski said with too many unanswered questions it's better to "keep my
hand on the city wallet." Councilman David Lambert questioned the deal, stating
if it was such a good investment, why didn't the company find sponsors or
investors, instead of having the city secure the required funding. Mayor Mark
Fenn said at this time he agrees with fellow council members, telling Parkey
that Corplan should get the federal contracts in writing before coming to cities
with the proposal. Councilwoman Lori McGoffin was not in attendance, and no
action was taken on the issue.
April 28, 2010 San Pedro Valley News-Sun
Allowing a private detention center to operate in Benson is not in the
city's best interest said Michelle Brane, the director of the detention and
asylum program for the Women's Refugee Commission. In fact, Brane said private
prisons like the proposed 200-bed facility are "horrible for rural communities."
Corplan Corrections, a Texas Company, wants to build a 104,000-square-foot
facility to house mostly women and children who are in the country illegally.
The company known for building prisons and detention centers in the U.S., has
promised the city big payouts if they sponsor the $27 million bonds needed to
pay for the prison construction. Representatives of Corplan, including Toby
Michael and James Parkey, have told city officials and council members that the
bond is paid for through federal funding. Corplan Corrections has already
selected a 25-acre parcel that would hold the facility, that they are calling a
"Family Residential Center of the Southwest," near Benson Municipal Airport.
However, Brane said the promise of federal funding is not a true statement. "I
have spoken to the Department of Homeland Security, and the Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement because if Corplan were to get funding, it would be from
them," she said. "At this point there are not any (request for proposals); there
have been no discussions with the federal government. Nothing is a sure thing
and in fact I would say highly doubtful." City Manager Glenn Nichols said city
staff has moved forward with investigating whether this would be a good economic
move for the city, and it will be discussed by the City Council during the May
10 regular meeting. Nichols said the biggest concern remains accountability. "We
have seen nothing in writing from the Department of Corrections that this would
definitely be funded," he said. The second concern is the city's liability if
the bond were to go into default. Corplan Corrections says there is no liability
on the city's part, but Nichols said they are not completely sure. Nonetheless,
the direction the city will take will depend on how the council votes on May 10.
Nichols said the council will be presented the information, discuss it and vote
to either move forward with the process or stop it. Corplan Corrections has
painted a picture of great economic promise if Benson moves ahead with the
project. In closed-door meetings with council members, Corplan has promised a
federally funded facility that would house 500 women and children in the country
illegally and would create up to 150 jobs. The city has also been told they
would get an increased revenue stream of $218,000 a year. Similar facilities
have been proposed in New Mexico and Texas, and one became a failure in Hardin,
Mont., where the city signed off on $27 million in bonds in 2007 for a 200-bed
facility. The facility was constructed, but to this day sits empty with no
federal grant funding or per diem fees as promised by Corplan Corrections. Kim
Hammond, mayor of Hardin, has warned cities like Benson to tread lightly when
considering the proposals brought forth by private companies like Corplan.
March 9, 2010 San Pedro Valley News-Sun
While members of the Benson City Council have been given private sessions to
hear the sales pitch that might bring a detention center to town, residents
Monday night had to hear the news second hand. Mayor Mark Fenn led the
discussion, reciting a sales pitch he was given by Corplan Corrections, a Texas
company that wants to build a 104,000-square-foot facility to house mostly women
and children who are in the country illegally. Representatives of the project,
Richard Reyes of Innovative Government Strategies, and James Parkey and Toby
Michael of Corplan Corrections, did not attend the first public meeting
regarding the proposal. Following the company pitch, Fenn said it would not be a
detention center like the one proposed about six years ago when residents
vehemently opposed a 500-bed facility off State Route 80. Instead, the facility,
that could be built near the Benson Municipal Airport off Ocotillo Road, is
being called a "Family Residential Center of the Southwest," a 25-acre project
that would only house families and children. Fenn said it would be the first
facility of its kind. Fenn said the center would be federally funded, but that
is not really the case. The center would be paid for with revenue bonds the city
would issue. The revenue from the federal per diem for residents would pay off
the bonds, as long as the center wins a contract from the federal government.
That is not guaranteed. The city would be responsible for retiring the revenue
bonds, whether or not they win the bid. This would not be the first center of
its kind. Parkey was involved in a similar project in Hardin, Montana. That city
signed off on $27 million in bonds to fund the construction of a 200-bed center
that was supposed to house women and children awaiting asylum, deportation or
court. The prison was built in 2007, but remains empty to this day, and Hardin
is now responsible for the bonds that are now in default. According to published
reports, Parkey promised Hardin that Corplan Corrections would take care of
everything; there would be no liability and the town would benefit economically
because it would bring 150 high-paying jobs. In Hardin, $27 million in bonds
were secured. Benson will have to create a corporation that would secure $21
million in revenue bonds to pay for the prison construction. Corplan Corrections
has promised the bonds will be paid for by per diem fees that federal agencies
will pay the private corporation over the next 21 years, at which time Benson
would assume full ownership of the facility. Corplan Corrections has also looked
at other cities searching for a council willing to build the family centers. In
Las Cruces, N. M., city officials are still considering the exact same facility
after questions were raised in February. However, approval may be harder to get
now that a state senator has joined the debate. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, who
represents Las Cruces, questioned whether or not the promise of federal funding
is legitimate. The senator told reporters he was unaware of any federal
initiatives to fund such a project, and if there were, the Department of
Homeland Security would first put such a project out to bid, instead of taking a
"build it and the money will come approach." Corplan Corrections pitched the
same project in Las Cruces it is now trying to sell in Benson, stressing that it
would not be a detention center. In a February public meeting in Las Cruces,
Toby Michael of Corplan said, "This is not a detention center. It is an
extended-stay center. We're not going to be housing criminals, but for the fact
that they are undocumented immigrants ... there will be no bars, no cells, no
razor wire on the fences. Residents will be housed in a safe and secure
environment." While Corplan Corrections contends they are not proposing a
detention center, residents of the facility will be held against their will.
Fenn and other council members said they would proceed cautiously, noting they
do have some concerns about the company's reputation and how the financing would
work. But, Fenn told some weary residents in the audience that Benson could
benefit from such a facility. "I have a feeling if someone was presenting a
similar facility as a university with dorms, we would say great and would all
embrace it," he said. "I realize that the nature of the center is very
controversial. Do we as a city put our foot down and say as Americans we don't
support this? At some time there could be up to 150 well-paying jobs. You have
to balance all that. How much of our political opinion do we interject into city
business? I will go on record saying I don't completely endorse this facility.
The company may have a checkered history and background and a lot of questions
to answer on finances." Fenn said if the facility isn't built in Benson, it will
be built somewhere else where another city could reap the economic benefits. The
council also defended their actions during the 25-minute discussions. In a short
speech to defend the elected board, Councilman David Lambert said they have not
gone behind the public's back in considering the measure, but have attended
several personal meetings with Corplan Corrections. Lambert said no laws were
broken in the meetings because only three council members were present at a
time, therefore a quorum was never formed. Lambert did not say how many meetings
council members have had with the developers. Councilwoman Lori McGoffin excused
herself from the discussions entirely, citing a possible conflict of interest.
The second-term councilwoman said Corplan Corrections has contacted her
employer, the Medicine Shoppe, about providing pharmaceutical supplies to the
facility once it opens. After discussions, the council directed city staff to
continue researching the proposal. According to the Corplan Corrections Web
site, the for-profit Texas company specializes in building detention centers for
illegal immigrants, correctional facilities and prisons.
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
Correctional Facility
Florence, Arizona
GEO Group
October 4, 2010 Arizona Republic
A federal agency filed a lawsuit last week alleging a private company that
operates prisons in Florence sexually harassed and retaliated against female
employees. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's lawsuit against
GEO Group Inc. alleged the company and some male managers supervising
correctional officers fostered a "sexual and sex-based hostile work environment"
at two Florence prisons that allowed harassment and retaliation against female
employees. GEO Group, which operates Arizona State Prison-Florence and Central
Arizona Correctional Facility in Florence, declined to comment on the EEOC
lawsuit. The EEOC alleges GEO Group was aware but failed to take measures to
prevent the harassment. The EEOC case stems from a harassment complaint that a
female employee filed in June 2009 with the Arizona Civil Rights Division and
the EEOC. The lawsuit alleged the prison operator retaliated against her after
she filed her complaint. The EEOC said the male employees engaged in verbal and
physical harassment of female employees. A male manager grabbed and pinched a
female employee, and a female employee was forced on a desk and kissed and
touched by a male employee, the lawsuit says. The federal agency reportedly
attempted to reach a voluntary settlement with the GEO Group before filing the
lawsuit. The Arizona Attorney General's Office previously filed suit and
investigated complaints against the prison operator. The EEOC is authorized
under federal law to collect compensatory and punitive damages, which are not
available under Arizona law. It was the fourth discrimination lawsuit announced
last week by the EEOC against Arizona employers. The federal agency also filed
lawsuits against a Peoria car dealership, a Bullhead City Mexican eatery and a
Phoenix restaurant. Mary Jo O'Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC's Phoenix
office, said the agency filed a batch of lawsuits last week due to work-flow
issues. Agency attorneys focused on new cases after they finished other duties
such as trials and filing motions in existing cases.
Central
Arizona Detention Center
Florence, Arizona
CCA
January 28, 2011 Star-Advertiser
The Abercrombie administration is starting to make good on the governor's
promise to bring all state prison inmates incarcerated on the mainland back to
Hawaii.The state returned 243 inmates from Arizona last week and sent back just
96 to take their place. Of the 243 returning inmates, 54 are getting paroled, 28
are about to complete their prison terms and three are back for court hearings.
When Gov. Neil Abercrombie promised swift action last month to bring back all
Hawaii inmates serving time in mainland prisons, state Senate Public Safety
Chairman Will Espero was not expecting action so soon. "I was pleasantly
surprised," he said. Espero said he learned of the returning inmates yesterday
from state Public Safety Director Jodie Maesaka-Hirata. He said the state
conducts prison transfers quarterly, but it usually sends at least the same
number of prisoners to the mainland as it returns. He applauded Abercrombie's
plan to bring back all Hawaii inmates. "If we're going to spend $60 million a
year to house inmates, I'd rather spend it here in Hawaii than on the mainland,"
Espero said. The state returned 152 inmates to Hawaii on Jan. 19, sent 96 to
Arizona on Jan. 20 and returned an additional 91 last Friday. The transfers
leave 1,759 Hawaii inmates in Arizona: 1,705 in Saguaro Correctional Center, 51
in Red Rock Correctional Center, two in Florence State Prison and one in Central
Arizona Detention Center. Central Arizona, in Florence, and Saguaro and Red
Rock, both in Eloy, are private prisons operated by Corrections Corp. of
America, which houses Hawaii inmates under contract with the state. Abercrombie
made his promise after 18 Hawaii inmates at Saguaro sued CCA, the state and the
state's contract monitor. The inmates claim they were beaten and assaulted and
their families threatened by prison guards. The Public Safety Department sent a
team to examine practices at Saguaro last year after two Hawaii inmates died in
February and June. The state returned all but one of the 169 women serving time
in a CCA prison in Kentucky in 2009 after the inmates reported widespread sexual
abuse by guards and prison employees. The Abercrombie administration is
starting to make good on the governor's promise to bring all state prison
inmates incarcerated on the mainland back to Hawaii.
November 25, 2010 Florence Reminder
Contract talks between Corrections Corporation of America and the union
continued Monday in Chandler, but the business agent for the local said he
wasn’t very optimistic for a breakthrough in negotiations that started in May.
“I think [CCA is] going through the motions. The bottom line is they don’t want
the union here,” Robert Inman said. A company spokesman in Nashville disagreed,
saying the company is working in good faith toward an amicable solution. At
issue is a new three-year contract for employees at CCA’s Central Arizona
Detention Center in Florence. The majority of CADC detention officers,
approximately 350 in all, don’t belong to the Security, Police & Fire
Professionals of America Local 825. Just over 100 do belong. The union is
seeking a 4 percent raise in each of the next three years, which Inman said is
what local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees received in
their new contract. Union members have said CCA is offering 10 cents an hour.
CCA spokesman Steve Owen declined to discuss specific dollar amounts “out of
respect for the negotiating process.” But he said CCA does have a proposal in
front of the union that offers a raise and “preserves outstanding benefits.” But
Inman said even with the raise the union is seeking, CADC employees would still
earn considerably less than they would at ICE. “Twenty-two bucks [an hour at
CADC] is not bad, but up the street [at ICE] it’s 26, 27 and 28.” He said a
regular ICE detention officer earns about $26.87 per hour, while transportation
officers and armed guards earn about a dollar more. Inman said the union would
also like to secure CADC employees some bereavement leave, which they have at
ICE. Owen said CADC and ICE don’t house exactly the same inmates. He said CADC
does have ICE detainees, but there are other partners too. “I wouldn’t call it
identical” to the local ICE facility, he said. He said CADC also holds inmates
for the U.S. Marshal Service and the Pascua Yaqui tribe. Inman said CCA can
simply pass on the costs of the new contract to the federal government. It
submits the contract to the U.S. Department of Labor for approval. If the wages
ar
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