AUGUST 2004
August 31, 2004 - Citizens respond to Cornell/City (Lamar
Daily)
The Concerned Citizens of Lamar has a submitted a response in Prowers County District Court to a legal action filed by the city of Lamar seeking a court opinion on the CCL's proposed petition calling for an amendment to the Lamar city charter.
(Click here for more)
August 31, 2004 - MTC staffing shortages? Never! (The Star)
Chronic understaffing at Ontario's privately run superjail has led to inadequate supervision of the maximum-security institution and of inmates escorted into the community, an internal document suggests.
(Click here
for more)
August 31, 2004 - Group 4 delivers prisoners three hours late (Manchester
Online)
MANCHESTER'S new £30m court is at the centre of a new storm after dozens of prisoners were hours late arriving from their cells.
(Click here for more)
August 31, 2004 - MTC put on notice of wrongful death suit (Santa
Fe New Mexican)
A lawyer has sent a letter warning Santa Fe County and the private company that runs its jail to expect a lawsuit from the family of a man beaten to death in the facility earlier this summer.
(Click here
for more)
August 31, 2004 - GEO overtime class action suit nears settlement (Taft
Midway Driller)
A Kern County Superior Court judge has tentatively approved a settlement in a class action lawsuit that accused Wackenhut Corrections of requiring employees at the Taft Correctional Institution east of Taft to work unpaid overtime.
(Click here for more)
August 31, 2004 - Dead PHS inmate refused medication (The
Charlotte Observer)
Jail officials said Tuesday that Hugh Locklear Jr., who was found not breathing in his cell Saturday, refused medical treatment during the first two weeks he was incarcerated.
(Click here for more)
August 30, 2004 - More on PHS deaths? (The Charlotte Observer)
The company that provides medical care at Gaston County Jail, which has dealt with two recent deaths, was recently dropped as the healthcare provider by Palm Beach County, Fla., jail officials.
(Click here for more)
August 29, 2004 - Caution urged in using questionable financing scheme (Sunday
Advocate)
New agreements need closer look. (Click
here for more)
August 29, 2004 - Robbing public employees to pay for-profits!!! (Tulsa
World)
Low pay, remote locations and high turnover rates are listed as reasons.
(Click here
for more)
August 29, 2004 - GEO group detainees' hunger strike ends (NY
Daily News)
The hunger strike is over. (Click
here for more)
August 28, 2004 - Violations close jail's kitchen for a day (Kansas
City Star)
The Wyandotte County sheriff closed the county jail's kitchen for 24 hours after an inspection revealed sanitary and storage problems.
(Click here for more)
August 28, 2004 - CO firm picked to review CCA jail (Tulsa
World)
A Colorado-based consulting firm has been selected to perform an efficiency analysis of the Tulsa County criminal justice system.
(Click here
for more)
August 27, 2004 - For-profit medical never delivered (Corrections
Professional)
Case name:Feliciano, et al. v. Rullan, et al., No. 04-1300 (1st Cir. 08/06/04).
(Click here
for more)
August 27, 2004 - Former guard wins $600,000 suit against GEO
group (Taft Midway Driller)
A federal jury has awarded a former employee at the Taft Correctional Institution more than $600,000 after he sued Wackenhut Corrections for wrongful termination.
(Click
here for more)
August 27, 2004 - Bid rigging by Aramark? Tell me it isn't so!!! (Sun
Times)
With allegations lingering that the fix was in, Cook County officials were set to open bids Thursday on a $50 million food service contract at the county jail.
(Click
here for more)
August 27, 2004 - Judges NOT immune in CSC wrongful death suit (Star-Telegram)
Tarrant County's criminal court judges are not protected by judicial immunity in a civil rights lawsuit stemming from the death of a teen-ager at the former Mansfield boot camp, a federal judge ruled.
(Click
here for more)
August 27, 2004 - City takes Cornell prison vote petition to court
(Pueblo Chieftain)
The fight over a proposed private prison has moved to the courtroom.
(Click
here for more)
August 27, 2004 - Avalon van crashing into building (News Ok)
The driver and four state prisoners were injured Thursday when a van hit three vehicles and crashed into a southeast Oklahoma City business.
(Click
here for more)
August 26, 2004 - CiviGenics does staff drug search at gunpoint (Ruidoso
News)
Darcy Holmes said she didn’t mind being tested for drug use during a surprise facility-wide search at the CiviGenics Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitative Center at Fort Stanton Tuesday.
(Click
here for more)
August 26, 2004 - From the fire (PHS) into the frying pan (Palm
Beach Post)
Sheriff's officials have opted for the lowest bidder on health care for Palm Beach County Jail inmates, overruling a screening committee that ranked the current contractor higher despite its record of lawsuits and complaints of poor care.
(Click
here for more)
August 26, 2004 - DA wants death penalty and attorney to file suit
in MTC inmate's beating death (ABQ Journal)
The Santa Fe District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty against two county jail inmates who are accused of beating a fellow inmate to death.
(Click
here for more)
August 25, 2004 - CMS nurse fired for helping FBI? (Boston
Globe)
A longtime nurse at the Suffolk County House of Correction says she was ordered off the property and later fired after Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral's administration discovered she was helping the FBI investigate allegations of inmate abuse at the troubled institution.
(Click
here for more)
August 24, 2004 - County to raise taxes to pay for CCA jail (Z
Wire)
The Leflore County Board of Supervisors will likely consider raising taxes to meet expenses relating to the operation of the new county jail, says Sam Abraham, chancery clerk.
(Click
here for more)
August 24, 2004 - More on county food fight (Daily Herald)
A Cook County Board commissioner called on his fellow commissioners Monday to block a $50 million contract for jail food until allegations of bias are resolved.
(Click
here for more)
August 23, 2004 - For-profit facing billing errors (Rutland
Herald)
The company providing mental health care services at Vermont prisons is still engaging in improper billing practices, a top Corrections Department official said.
(Click
here for more)
August 22, 2004 - Concerns raised over Wackenhut nuke oversight (AP)
Tenn. -- Staccato bursts of a machine gun rip through the woods near the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, a warhead parts factory and uranium storehouse that has been criticized for lax security.
(Click
here for more)
August 22, 2004 - Food fight (Chicago Business)
A firm that had hoped to oust a politically connected competitor on a huge Cook County contract instead is pulling out of the bidding — complaining of "flawed and biased" county procurement procedures.
(Click
here for more)
August 20, 2004 - Claims maggots dished up to detainees (The
Age)
A food sample from South Australia's Baxter detention centre will be
presented to health authorities for inspection after detainees
complained they had been served a meal crawling with maggots. (Click
here for more)
August 19, 2004 - 200 locked away & under the radar (New
York Daily News)
There is a little gulag in New York City. And it
is nothing to be proud of. Its name is the Wackenhut Detention Center,
and more than 200 human beings - men and women - languish ignored within
its walls. (Click here for more)
August 18, 2004 - Private prison close to breaking point
(Manchester)
A GREATER Manchester prison is at breaking point -
according to an officer who has admitted trying to smuggle drugs into
it. (Click here for more)
August 18, 2004 - Former inmate sues private prison (Pueblo
Chieftain)
A former
prison inmate in Las Animas alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday the prison
staff transported him on the floor of a van and did not give him
prescribed pain medication and proper care after surgery for a hernia. (Click
here for more)
August 16, 2004 - GEO Group prisoners stage hunger strike (Pacifica.org)
Thousands
of Palestinian prisoners have entered the second day of a hunger strike
to protest conditions in Israeli jails. Meanwhile in New York 200
immigrant detainees are staging a one-day hunger strike at the Wackenhut
Detention Center in Queens. (Click
here for more)
August 16, 2004 - Richardson returns controversial donation
(Santa Fe New Mexican)
A Pittsburgh company's $10,000 contribution to one of Gov. Bill
Richardson's political committees made while a subsidiary was seeking a
state contract will be returned "to avoid even the appearance of
impropriety," a spokesman for the governor said.
(Click here for more)
August 15, 2004 - Questions raised about Basile prison inmate's
death (Daily World)
Soon after arriving at the South Louisiana
Correctional Center near Basile in 2003 inmate Gregory Lee died.
Attorney Willie J. Nunnery, who is representing Lee's mother, Mae
Thompson Lee, is charging that the private, for-profit prison abused and
tortured him. (Click
here for more)
August 15, 2004 - Contract won after donations to Gov's PAC (ABQ
Journal)
A Pittsburgh company contributed $10,000 to one of Gov. Bill
Richardson's political committees while a subsidiary was seeking a
contract to provide health care to prison inmates in New Mexico. The
Bantry Group made the contribution, and a subsidiary, Wexford Health
Sources, won the contract, potentially worth more than $100 million.
(Click here for more)
August 15, 2004 - Shareholder revolt targets prison firm (Houston
Chronicle)
Rarely does the siren of shareholder revolt sound
as loudly as it has at Cornell Cos., a Houston-based operator of adult
and juvenile corrections centers and treatment facilities. During a
conference call last week, investors irate over the company's
performance blasted Chairman Harry Phillips. (Click
here for more)
August 13, 2004 - $50,000 reward, tip line announced
(Express-News)
Federal
authorities are hoping $50,000 will persuade someone to give up the
whereabouts of five inmates who escaped last week from the privately
operated Frio County Jail. (Click
here for more)
August 13, 2004 - Prison's doctor freed after his arrest
(Portland Press Herald)
The U.S. attorney for Maine released a Westbrook doctor Thursday
without filing criminal charges, a day after federal drug agents raided
his medical office and arrested him. (Click
here for more)
August 12, 2004 - Corrections firm to pay $98,000 (Express-News)
A private corrections company has agreed to pay more than $98,000 to
settle a civil-rights lawsuit alleging negligence by staff at a San
Antonio jail led to an inmate giving premature birth. (Click
here for more)
August 11, 2004 - Rising jail costs hit (Hernando Today)
County officials have underestimated the number of people that will be
hauled to the county jail, leaving taxpayers with a potential bill
approaching $1 million. (Click
here for more)
August 11, 2004 - Inmates removed from private jail (Dallas
Morning News)
The U.S. Marshals Service has withdrawn 240 inmates from a privately run
jail near San Antonio after the escape last week of five federal
prisoners. (Click
here for more)
August 11, 2004 - Listing of Premier prison's troubles (The
Mirror)
KILMARNOCK'S private prison - the only one in Scotland - has had a troubled and violent history since it opened in 1999.
(Click here for more)
August 11, 2004 - CSC lay-offs begin (Express-News)
The first round of layoffs began Tuesday at the privately run Frio County Jail in the wake of last week's broad daylight escape of five federal inmates.
(Click here for more)
August 11, 2004 - Lamar blows-off citizens on Cornell prison vote (The
Pueblo Chietain)
A vote on the proposed construction of a private prison will not be included on the November general election ballot.
August 11, 2004 - More on COO abrupt resignation (The
Tennessean)
James A. Seaton has resigned as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Corrections Corporation of America.
(Click here for more)
August 11, 2004 - MTC jail eating up tax money (ABQ Journal)
Escalating costs at the Santa Fe County jail are likely to consume new revenue from a gross receipts tax hike approved by county commissioners last month in just 21/2 to four years, commissioners determined Tuesday.
(Click here for more)
August 10, 2004 - CSC jail in trouble (WOAI.com)
Big changes at the Frio County Jail, as hundreds of inmates are shipped out.
(Click here for more)
August 10, 2004 - Mobile phone found in Group 4 prison (Herald
Sun)
A MOBILE phone has been found in a cell at the maximum security Port Phillip Prison.
(Click here for more)
August 10, 2004 - Securicor prison worst (BBC)
Parc Prison in Bridgend has been rated the worst performing privately-run prison in Wales and England.
(Click here for more)
August 10, 2004 - Premier guards sentenced in drug planting (BBC)
Two ex-prison officers from Scotland's only private jail have been sentenced for planting heroin on an inmate.
(Click here for more)
August 9, 2004 - Newspaper weighs in against Cornell (The
Daily Republic)
Here is our critical review of the past week’s triumphs, tragedies, oddities and blunders.
HISSES on the collapse of the reopening of the juvenile detention center in Plankinton.
(Click here for more)
August 9, 2004 - FFA: Geo Group proposal unprecedented (KOAA.com)
The Federal Aviation Administration is raising questions about Pueblo's plan to put a prison next to the city's airport.
(Click here for more)
August 9, 2004 - CCA escape enrages victim's family (Jackson
Sun)
A convicted murderer remained on the loose from the Hardeman County Correctional Facility on Sunday night, and the family of the elderly McKenzie woman whom he killed is furious.
(Click here for more)
August 9, 2004 - Group 4 cited in hanging death (ABC)
The South Australian coroner has handed down his findings into the hanging death of a prisoner at Mount Gambier Prison, in the state's south-east, almost three years ago.
(Click here for more)
August 9, 2004 - Search continues for CCA escapee (Commercial
Appeal)
More than 70 law enforcement officers throughout West Tennessee continued searching Sunday for a convicted murderer and rapist who escaped from a Whiteville, Tenn., prison Saturday.
(Click here for more)
August 8, 2004 - Anger and more in CSC escape (Express-News)
After the fifth breakout at Frio County Jail in the past eight years,
nearby residents reacted Saturday with a mix of anger and indifference
to the rash of escapes. (Click here for more)
August 8, 2004 - Murderer escapes CCA facility (Jackson Sun)
Harris doing life for raping, killing 81-year-old woman A 26-year-old convicted murderer who was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole remained at large Saturday night after he escaped from the Hardeman County Correctional Facility in Whiteville.
(Click here for more)
August 8, 2004 - CCA slow in response to riot (Denver Post)
As inmates at Crowley County Correctional Facility grew restless and agitated in the exercise yard on the evening of July 20, officers of the private company charged with managing the prison withdrew to regroup.
(Click here for more)
August 8, 2004 - DOC chief puts OK riot where it belongs: on CCA's
shoulders!!!
(Arizona Republic)
On May 14, more than 500 Arizona inmates rioted at the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Okla., a private prison where more than 1,200 Arizona inmates were being housed because of overcrowding at state facilities.
(Click here for more)
August 8, 2004 - More on premier's troubles (The Barker
Portfolio)
A grand jury in West Palm Beach this year exposed the shameful operation of Florida Institute for Girls, a prison for maximum-risk and mentally ill teens.
(Click here for more)
August 7, 2004 - Five firms interested in CCA analysis (Tulsa
World)
Five firms have expressed an interest in conducting an efficiency
analysis of Tulsa County's criminal justice system. (Click here for more)
August 6, 2004 - Five escape CSC facility (AP)
Five federal prisoners escaped today from a privately run lockup near
San Antonio, according to the Frio County Sheriff's Department.
(Click here for more)
August 6, 2004 - CCA guard with gun and drugs (Tulsa World)
A Corrections Corporation of America employee was arrested Wednesday night in the staff parking lot of the Tulsa Jail after a gun and a bag of marijuana were discovered in his vehicle.
(Click here for more)
August 6, 2004 - County looks to let medical contract (The
Pueblo Chieftain)
Starting today, the county is asking companies to bid on a contract to provide medical and mental health services at the jail.
(Click here for more)
August 6, 2004 - Wackenhut abuse no excuse for escape (The
Age)
The High Court today rejected an asylum seeker's claim that harsh conditions justified his escape from the Woomera Detention
Centre. (Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - Cornell's puzzle (The Daily Republic)
Unfortunately, the picture that has emerged regarding the Cornell Companies closing at Plankinton wasn’t a major misunderstanding over reimbursement as much as an assumption by Cornell that the state would give in and pay a higher rate.
(Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - More Cornell bait and switch (The Daily
Republic)
Cornell Companies announced Thursday that it would temporarily close its juvenile detention center at Plankinton while working to secure a higher rate of payment for its residential treatment center.
(Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - Cornell pushing buttons (The Daily Republic)
Republican State Sen. Ed Olson said Thursday that an effort is under way to bring all the players in the Cornell situation to a meeting, even though some legislators are angered and bewildered by Cornell’s business practices.
(Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - Transcor prison escapes (Denver Post)
Police are searching for a man they say was being held on burglary charges who escaped from a transport van in Brighton late Wednesday night.
(Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - CCA guards fired for escape (Houston
Chronicle)
Two correctional officers have been fired and another suspended without pay following an investigation into the June 23 escape of three inmates from the Liberty County Jail.
(Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - More details on Cornell troubles (Argus
Leader)
Three months after the State Training School at Plankinton reopened as a privately run detention and treatment center, the company operating the facility says it might close the doors.
(Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - global inmate slashes arm (News and Star)
A WORKINGTON man who admitted a series of sex offences against a teenage girl slashed his forearm moments later in the cells at Carlisle Crown Court, it has emerged.
(Click here for more)
August 5, 2004 - Cornell pulls a bait and switch (AP)
A decision could come by week's end on whether the company that reopened the state training school at Plankinton will need to close the center at least temporarily.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - Less than 500 inmates left in out-of-state CCA
prisons (The Milwaukee Channel)
The state now has fewer than 500 inmates in out-of-state prisons, but Wisconsin prisons remain thousands of prisoners over capacity.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - Cornell guard charged in sexual assault (Ktuu.com)
The man who managed an Anchorage halfway house is accused of sexually assaulting an inmate.
Charles Rubin, 41, was arrested last night at his home on Elmendorf Air Force Base.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - Public turns out against MTC proposal (Benson
News-Sun)
Led by local veterinarian Paula Tyler, many San Pedro Valley residents spoke out against proposed construction of a $25 million Benson Rehabilitation/Detention Center Thursday night.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - Victory against MTC!!! Great work! (Benson-NewsSun)
Admitting to handling the process badly, the City Council Monday night halted plans to build the Benson Rehabilitation/Detention Center on State Route 80, voting to dissolve the Greater Benson Economic Development Corporation and start over.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - Aramrk pulls out of senior's contract (11alive.com)
A company accused of serving bad food to senior citizens is moving on.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - CCA inmate hospitalized without family's
knowledge (The Champlain Channel)
A Vermont inmate sent out of state to serve his sentence was hospitalized with pneumonia three weeks ago without anyone from the state or the prison telling the inmate's family that he was sick, officials acknowledge.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - Judge under federal investigation in private
medical deal (Puerto Rico Wow)
At a time when Secretary of Justice Anabelle Rodriguez was confirmed by the Senate to the post of Associate Judge to Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court, the Federal Prosecutor Office received an official request from Judge Juan Perez Gimenez for an investigation of Rodriguez.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - CCA names four guards in inmate's killing (The
Tennessean)
A boxing instructor is among the four correctional officers who have been on leave from a privately run Nashville prison since an inmate was found beaten to death in her cell last month.
(Click here for more)
August 4, 2004 - More on CCA inmate's fears (Greeley Tribune)
Family members of inmate Rudy Lujan sat around his mother's dinning room table recently, looking at pictures from his childhood and worrying about his well-being now.
(Click here for more)
August 3, 2004 - CSC facility to close (Maryville Daily Forum)
Tarkio Academy, which provides residential treatment for juvenile offenders ages 13-19 who were court-ordered into the system, will be closing its doors on Sept. 19.
(Click here for more)
August 2, 2004 - CCA crying about lost contract (AP)
Leaders of Corrections Corporation of America, the private prison
operator that built and has run the state women's prison in North Las
Vegas since 1997, complain the company has unfairly criticized for its
treatment of inmates. (Click here for more)
August 2, 2004 - PHS pulled into Medicaid fraud case (The
Virginian-Pilot)
The top contributor to Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore’s
gubernatorial campaign is a retired Tennessee millionaire whose former
pharmaceutical company is under federal investigation over how it set
prices on drugs for government health programs. (Click here for more)
August 2, 2004 - CCA adds more guards at troubled prison (Clarion
Ledger)
Tutwiler prison officials say they will be adding more staff this week
and will host a community meeting following a recent disturbance by
unruly Colorado inmates at the private facility. (Click here for more)
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