California Department of Corrections
June 5, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was within his rights to declare a state of emergency at California's overcrowded prisons in 2006 and begin transferring inmates out of state, an appeals court ruled Wednesday over the objections of the prison guards union. The ruling by the state Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento overturned a judge's decision and was welcomed by Schwarzenegger, who is separately defending the state against lawsuits by inmates seeking to reduce the overall prison population and improve the prisons' health care system. A federal judge has transferred control of prison health care in California to a court-appointed manager after ruling that the system violated constitutional standards. There are nearly 160,000 inmates in the 33 state prisons, which were designed to hold about 83,000. The state is planning construction that will expand the capacity of state prisons and county jails by 53,000. A referee appointed by a federal court panel has proposed measures to reduce the prison population by 27,000 over four years, to 133,000. The measures would include alternatives to prison for some parole violators and felons facing short sentences. Wednesday's ruling "comes at a critical juncture in our prison reform efforts," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I am pleased that their decision allows out-of-state transfers to continue while our comprehensive reforms to reduce overcrowding are fully implemented." Laurie Hepler, a lawyer for the prison guards' union and another prison employee union that challenged the inmate transfers, said her clients disagreed with the ruling and would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger issued the order in October 2006 after a special legislative session on prison overcrowding fizzled, with Democrats seeking changes in sentencing laws and Republicans calling for prison expansion. As the inmate population continued to climb, 16,000 prisoners occupied bunks in prison gyms and other temporary quarters. Schwarzenegger has said as many as 8,000 inmates could be shipped out of state. So far, nearly 3,900 prisoners have been transferred to out-of-state prisons run by private companies under contracts with California. The transfers have continued despite a ruling in April 2007 by a Sacramento County judge that Schwarzenegger had acted illegally. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian agreed with the unions that state law allows a governor to issue an emergency order only when local officials need state help in responding to a disaster, and that the use of private prison employees violated civil service laws. The appeals court had put Ohanesian's ruling on hold while the state appealed. In its ruling Wednesday, the court said the governor can issue orders to respond to emergencies in state institutions that may endanger residents. In this case, the court said, the lack of space in state prisons was causing overcrowding in local jails, forcing counties to release some inmates who might commit more crimes. Overcrowding also increased the risk of diseases that could spread outside the prisons and had led to local water pollution from sewage spills caused by overtaxed prison wastewater systems, the court said. The court also said California's civil service rules allow the state to employ private contractors when public employees are not available to meet urgent needs. The planned expansion of state prisons will take years to complete, and the prison system will need five years to eliminate staffing shortages, the court said. "California cannot build or retrofit the prisons needed overnight, no matter how much money it invests to solve the problem," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said in the 3-0 ruling. The only available lockups are in other states and are staffed by private employees, he said.

August 18, 2007 Sacramento Bee
California corrections officials have begun sending hundreds of foreign national inmates against their will to a private prison in Mississippi as part of a stepped-up, out-of-state transfer plan. The first two flights of prisoners to the Tallahatchie County Detention Facility in Tutwiler, Miss., have taken place without incident, officials said, in spite of fears expressed by the California correctional officers union that the forced transfers would be met with inmate violence. "Many of the inmates had never been on a plane before in their lives," said Scott Kernan, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's chief deputy secretary for adult operations. "They were a little scared. But once they got on the flight, they were fine." Some 200 foreign national inmates, mostly from Mexico, were shipped to the Mississippi prison on flights July 20 and July 27, a state prison spokesman said. A total of 597 inmates -- including 397 volunteers -- have now been sent to private prisons in Mississippi, Arizona and Tennessee. Kernan said the state hopes to move 5,000 prisoners to out-of-state institutions by June 30 to help relieve overcrowding in California. "We have a very aggressive schedule that will include trips of approximately 120 inmates every couple of weeks," Kernan said. Some 173,000 inmates in the state are being housed in space designed for about half that many, with federal judges now considering a motion to place a population cap on the system that could result in early releases for tens of thousands of prisoners. Francisco Estrada, a lobbyist for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the transfers of the foreign nationals raise a host of potentially problematic legal issues for the corrections agency. If the inmates are legal residents, the transfers figure to separate them from their families and immigration attorneys, and "that's wrong," Estrada said. They also create a prospect for racial targeting on the part of prison officials. "We need to be very careful," Estrada said, adding that he will be discussing the issue with Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund attorneys. Foreign nationals being transferred under the out-of-state program are all subject to holds "or potential holds" placed on them by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said corrections spokesman Bill Sessa. They include both legal and illegal residents, he said. No inmates "with demonstrated family ties" are being transferred for now, Sessa said. Nor are any being moved "if they're in the middle of legal proceedings," including immigration matters, Sessa said. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association in February won a ruling in Sacramento Superior Court stopping the transfer program. The union claimed the program violated state civil service protections guaranteed under the California Constitution. The ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. CCPOA leaders also voiced opposition to the transfers during the debate over the recently enacted $7.9 billion prison construction plan, which included legislative approval for moving 8,000 inmates out of state. Union officials said the involuntary transfers would put officers in danger from resisting inmates. CCPOA spokesman Ryan Sherman said Friday that the union is "very grateful" that no officers have been injured in extracting the prisoners from their cells. "We're hopeful that will continue as the governor continues to do these unconstitutional transfers," Sherman said. Sherman characterized the Tallahatchie County prison in Mississippi, operated by the Correctional Corp. of America, as one of "the most troubled" in the country. He based his assessment on newspaper articles detailing assorted disturbances at the prison dating back to 2003. "Private prisons lower the bar for the entire profession by providing extremely limited training and remarkably poor compensation and benefits," Sherman said. "They're in it to make a buck. Public safety is nowhere on their priority list." CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant said her company "is extremely proud of the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility" and that private prisons are no more dangerous than those operated by the state.

July 23, 2007 Fresno Bee
Two federal judges on Monday ordered creation of a special panel to recommend ways to relieve California's overcrowded prisons, a move that could lead to the capping of the inmate population or the early release of some prisoners. In doing so, the judges rejected the main solution set forth by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to address a crisis that has been building for decades. Last spring, they agreed to an ambitious $7.8 billion program to build 53,000 new prison and jail cells. The judges said that plan, submitted to the courts in June, will only make matters worse for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state can't hire enough guards and medical professionals to provide proper care and oversight for the inmates it has now, let alone the thousands more who might be added through the building program. "From all that presently appears, new beds will not alleviate this problem but will aggravate it," U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento wrote. Schwarzenegger said he will appeal the judges' decision to create the three-judge panel.

June 4. 2007 LA Times
Two appointees whom Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent to fix California's dysfunctional prison healthcare system pushed a $26-million, no-bid contract for outside medical services while contract reviewers steadfastly maintained it was overpriced and illegal, records and interviews show. But instead of providing a strong step toward reforming the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's $1.8-billion medical system, the handling of this relatively small contract erupted into a fight that forced out the two appointees and highlights what critics say are systemic contracting breakdowns that helped bloat healthcare costs at the state's 33 prisons. The contract for a pilot program at two Southern California prisons was supposed to be a model for improving the care of inmates who need to see specialists — one of the major failings that led a federal judge to seize control of prison healthcare and appoint a receiver last year to oversee it. However, John Hagar, chief of staff for receiver Robert Sillen, said, "This is a classic example of the department looking at a problem and jumping to a solution that, in fact, does not work and increases costs unnecessarily…. "It appears there were outside influences," he said. "It was not being done at the urging of the contract staff who usually negotiate the contract. They were saying 'No.' " After hiring a private prison industry lobbyist, a Florida company successfully submitted a proposal for the three-year pilot program. Although the contract was not finalized, corrections officials last summer gave the company permission to start working and bill the state. After finding out about the deal, Hagar swiftly froze the contract process before Christmas and later halted payments. The appointees who arranged the contract soon resigned. The state inspector general launched a conflict-of-interest investigation of one who held stock in a company listed as a subcontractor. And now the contractor wants the state to repay $2.6 million for inmate medical expenses that company officials say they incurred. This ugly contract dispute has been a distraction in the first year of a long-overdue effort to improve inmate medical treatment, said Don Specter, director of the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit whose lawsuit on behalf of the state's 175,000 prisoners prompted U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to take over prison healthcare in 2005. The contract uproar centered on Medical Development International, a $100 million-a-year business that arranges medical appointments, handles billing, and contracts with doctors and hospitals to serve inmates. It was founded in 1992 by a father and son, Richard and Ted Willich. MDI has grown into one of the largest medical providers for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, having won contracts at 27 facilities. That work led California lawmakers to invite a company official to testify at a 2004 hearing into skyrocketing prison healthcare costs in the state. About two years ago, MDI officials hired Mark Nobili, a Sacramento lobbyist whose clients included a private prison operator. To date, records show that MDI has paid Nobili at least $170,000. MDI representatives learned that the point people for new prison contracts were Peter Farber-Szekrenyi and Darc Keller — both longtime medical administrators appointed by Schwarzenegger in late 2005 to help reform healthcare. In March 2006, MDI submitted a proposal to deliver up to $26 million in services at the state prisons in Tehachapi and Lancaster, where backlogs for outside medical appointments were acute. Among the providers MDI listed was Mobile Medical International Corp., which supplies surgical and diagnostic facilities in big tractor-trailer trucks. Keller recently had served as a senior vice president at Mobile Medical and, according to his economic interest statement, he owned $10,000 to $100,000 in the company's stock. As MDI was preparing its California proposal, company Vice President Ted Willich said he learned that Keller once had worked at Mobile Medical, so he asked Keller to call the firm because MDI was having trouble contacting it about potential work on a federal contract. However, Willich denied that Keller encouraged MDI to use Mobile Medical for the California pilot program. "To me, it is ridiculous," he said of the inspector general's probe. "There is a whole lot of nothing there." Keller said that, although he called Mobile Medical to help out MDI, he was unaware that his former employer was being lined up as a subcontractor until Mobile Medical later appeared in MDI's proposal. Keller said that he had moved to liquidate his stock in Mobile Medical shortly after his appointment and that the sale was completed Aug. 8 — a few weeks before MDI began work on the project. "There is no conflict because there is no enrichment," he said. "No one got money…. We never did have a [final] contract." Although MDI ultimately did not use Mobile Medical, Keller's participation in the contracting process may have violated the state Political Reform Act, said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "The violation could be that he participated in a decision where he had a financial interest: the stock he owned," Stern said. Violations are punishable by a fine or jail term. The state Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces the conflict-of-interest law, would neither confirm nor deny that it was conducting an investigation. The inspector general's office, an independent corrections oversight agency, declined to comment. The MDI contract mess unfolded as the state controller issued an audit report in early August outlining waste and abuse in medical contracting at prisons. On Aug. 31, Farber-Szekrenyi requested issuance of a $26-million contract to MDI, then the company began work. Farber-Szekrenyi "gave us the green light," said Willich of MDI. "We were given assurances by Darc [Keller] and Peter that we would be paid, and we were told to do the work." To become final, the contract required approvals by contracting and legal staff at corrections as well as attorneys at the state Department of General Services. But interviews and corrections department e-mails reviewed by the receiver's office show that contracting staff raised objections, such as whether the contract should have been competitively bid, whether MDI needed a medical license and whether the rates were too high. When MDI complained about the delays, Hagar said, Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller repeatedly urged the employees to move the contract ahead. "Nobody leaned on them to approve a contract; we asked them the status of the contract," Farber-Szekrenyi said, adding that he told the contractor to start work without a contract because there was an emergency, with hundreds of medical appointments backlogged. Concerned about delays with the contract last fall, Farber-Szekrenyi said he gave MDI and a corrections attorney a couple of weeks to resolve the medical licensing issue — and it was. Meanwhile, employees who process medical contracts were placed under the receiver. A short time later, Hagar learned from one of them that Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller were implementing a pilot program without competitive bidding — and that contracting staff thought the price was exorbitant and that the work required a medical license. Hagar stopped the contract and later asked the inspector general to investigate. Although the receiver said he had been unaware of the pilot program, Farber-Szekrenyi said he personally informed Sillen about it. Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller said that earlier this year they were forced to resign by the governor's office, which declined to comment. Though MDI said it saved the state money and had dramatically reduced backlogs for appointments at the two prisons, Hagar said his investigators found healthcare still in crisis there. Tehachapi Warden Joe Sullivan, who served as interim warden at Lancaster early this year, said MDI had inmates scheduled for appointments but they had not all been seen by doctors. "In my view, they were doing an excellent job," he said. The receiver's office now is developing its own contracts with providers. And MDI is threatening to sue if necessary to recoup $2.6 million not reimbursed by the state. MDI's Willich said the company apparently was caught in a fight between two gubernatorial appointees and a powerful court-appointed receiver. "We were the meat in the sandwich," he said.

June 2, 2007 Sacramento Bee
State corrections officials resumed transferring inmates to out-of-state prisons Friday, moving 38 convicts by bus to Arizona. The transfers had been placed on hold since November, when two public employee unions convinced a Sacramento judge that sending inmates out of state violated California's civil service laws. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian's ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal to the 3rd District Court of Appeal by the Schwarzenegger administration. Oral arguments have yet to be scheduled. Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said state officials "believe we have statutory authority" to go ahead with more transfers, and he suggested that if the administration lost its appeal, it would not pose a major problem. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Unger said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger obtained legislative approval in the recently enacted Assembly Bill 900 prison construction and rehabilitation package to transfer up to 8,000 inmates, involuntarily if it comes to that. Only inmates volunteering for the out-of-state placement were transferred Friday, however. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is planning to transfer as many as 400 inmates a month to help ease overcrowding, with 18,000 inmates now living in gyms, dayrooms and other spaces not designed to house them. "Temporary out-of-state inmate transfers will provide immediate relief to California's prison system while the rest of the governor's comprehensive reforms are implemented," Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in a prepared statement. Tilton said the transfers "will also give us breathing room" to try to pick up the system's rehabilitation effort and also to help improve its medical delivery system, which a San Francisco federal judge has declared unconstitutional. Friday's transfers to the Florence Detention Center in Arizona increased to 218 the number of California inmates being housed in the prison, which is owned and operated by the Correctional Corporation of America. Another 76 state prisoners have been transferred to the West Tennessee Detention Facility, another CCA-owned prison not far from Memphis. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 were the unions filing the suit last fall that temporarily blocked the transfers. CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran said Friday that even though the most recent transfers involved only inmates who the department said wanted to go out of state, the decision to move out prisoners who don't want to go "is absolutely one of the most dangerous things this administration has utilized." Corcoran said the prison system has been "marketing these (out-of-state) institutions much like cruise ships," yet still has fallen short of obtaining anywhere near the 19,000 inmates the corrections agency initially said were interested in the transfers. "Very quickly, they're going to have to move them involuntarily, then we'll see what happens from there," Corcoran said. Union leaders have said they expect inmates who don't want to be transferred out of state to wage intense struggles to keep from being removed from their cells.

April 6, 2007 Sacramento Bee
The Schwarzenegger administration sought Thursday to block a court ruling that the governor's program transferring inmates out of state is "unlawful." In the meantime, the administration is taking the ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal. Ohanesian ruled against the administration on Feb. 20, but the official order blocking the order wasn't entered until Monday. The state filed its appeal on Tuesday, and on Thursday filed the stay order on Ohanesian's ruling until the appeal is heard. In a statement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said his office is prepared to "fight to preserve our emergency efforts to address the prison overcrowding crisis." He said the out-of-state transfers, in which hundreds of prisoners already have been moved to private prisons in Arizona and Tennessee, are "imperative to relieve the pressure on our overburdened prison system and improve safety for correctional officers, staff and inmates." Ohanesian's ruling agreed with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 that the transfers violated the state's civil service protection laws. Her ruling also said the governor overstepped his authority by issuing an emergency proclamation on the prison overcrowding because the issue remains within the state's ability to control. Moreover, the judge's ruling said, no local authorities asked the state for assistance. The challenge to the governor's authority to declare an emergency created "wider implications" that his appeal will seek to address, Schwarzenegger said in his statement. "It jeopardizes my executive authority to maintain the public's safety, the lives and property of our citizens," Schwarzenegger said. " CCPOA attorney Gregg Adam said the administration is setting itself up for potentially larger problems if it goes ahead with the transfers. He said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is just about out of inmates who have volunteered for the transfers and that future movements in all likelihood will involve prisoners who don't want to go. As a result, Adam predicted that inmates rights attorneys and other groups will sue the state and push the matter from the state courts into the federal system. "It's reckless for the state to carry on with the transfers (given) the ruling," Adam said. "To continue to send inmates out of state will trigger a ton of litigation, and the administration is going to have more than a couple of disgruntled labor unions to deal with."

February 8, 2007 LA Times
Attorneys for two California prisoners on Wednesday asked a federal court to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from forcibly transferring convicts to private lockups in other states. The challenge comes less than a week after the governor ordered the mandatory moves to relieve overcrowding, which he said had reached crisis levels in most of the state's 33 prisons. Close to 400 California inmates already have transferred voluntarily to private prisons in Tennessee and Arizona under a program that began in November. Schwarzenegger authorized the mandatory moves because so few convicts had agreed to go. In papers filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Los Angeles civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman asked for an order barring the forced transfers of inmates David Diaz and Paul Blumberg — and others in similar circumstances. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel issued an order instructing the Schwarzenegger administration to file a response before a hearing Feb. 20. The order also said the court had been assured Diaz and Blumberg would not be forcibly transferred before then. Diaz is incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison, in the San Joaquin Valley, for attempted murder and related charges. Blumberg was sentenced to life for attempted murder and is housed at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe. Both men have filed habeas corpus appeals in federal court, and Yagman argues that because those are pending, the inmates may not be transferred out of state. The mandatory transfers also would violate their constitutional right to due process, he said.

December 31, 2006 AP
California no longer plans to transfer more than 1,200 of its inmates to an Indiana state prison, an official said. Trina Randall, New Castle Correctional Facility's public information officer, on Thursday confirmed to The Courier-Times that the deal had fallen through. The plan was thwarted because of a lawsuit against California over the possible transfer, and a lack of inmates willing to volunteer to make the cross-country move. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in October a contract between California and Florida-based GEO Group Inc., the company Indiana hired to operate the New Castle prison. He said 1,260 inmates would be transferred to Indiana in a deal that was to have created 200 Indiana jobs. The deal was part of plans to alleviate prison overcrowding in California, and the Indiana prison was to be paid $63 per day to house each of that state's inmates, with $15 of that going to state government. Daniels had said the state would make about $6.2 million in each of the next two years. The medium-security prison in New Castle, 40 miles east of Indianapolis, has a capacity of 2,416 but has only 1,068 inmates. But a news release earlier this week from the Indiana Department of Correction termed the transfer as "not likely." It said that the DOC was working with another state on an agreement similar to the California deal. "We are in the process of reviewing a proposal from that jurisdiction," said DOC Commissioner David Donahue.

December 2, 2006 The Sacramento Bee
California's prison health czar awarded a pharmacy management services contract two months ago "in blatant violation of California law, state competitive bidding requirements and fundamental principles of fair dealing," a losing bidder charged in papers filed this week in San Francisco federal court. In asking U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to set aside the contract, attorneys for Public Health Service Bureau, LLC, said in their motion filed Monday that prison health care receiver Robert Sillen awarded the contract to Maxor National Pharmacy Services Corp. "in such a way as to create the appearance of collusion and 'cronyism' between himself and Maxor." The motion represents the first legal challenge to the sweeping authority Henderson granted Sillen when he created the receivership earlier this year to oversee and overhaul the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's troubled $1.5 billion prison health care system. Sillen's appointment earlier this year followed Henderson's May 2005 ruling that medical delivery services in the prison system violated constitutional standards. The judge found that the system's shoddy health care was responsible for as many as 34 unnecessary inmate deaths and that the prison system was incapable of stopping the carnage on its own. But in going after prison pharmacy services, Sillen let Maxor tailor the management bid to its own liking, kept the Request for Proposal secret, "refused to answer questions from qualified bidders and ultimately awarded the contract to the one bidder that had the inside track all along," the Oakland-based Public Health group's motion read. "To ratify a public contract awarded in such a manner flies in the face ... of public contract law declared by the Legislature to protect the taxpayers from fraud, corruption and carelessness," it added. Attorneys for Public Health said the contract was worth between $80 million and $100 million. John Ward, the chief executive officer of the Amarillo, Texas-based Maxor, said the contract was worth less than that, but he refused to identify its value. Ward referred questions on the size of the contract to Sillen's California Prison Health Care Receivership Corp., whose spokeswoman, Rachael Kagan, said she didn't know what it was worth and that the people who did weren't in the office Friday. Kagan declined to comment on the motion, saying her office was in the process of reviewing it. Kagan said she didn't know if the contract had been "fully awarded" or officially signed yet. A Jan. 22 hearing has been tentatively scheduled in San Francisco to hear the motion. In creating the receiver's office, Henderson, in his Feb. 14 order, said the appointee "shall make all reasonable efforts" to do the job "in a manner consistent with California state laws, regulations and contracts." The judge also empowered the receiver to seek and obtain court authority to suspend state contracting requirements if they impede his efforts to fix the health care system. On Nov. 16, Sillen jolted the Capitol with his testimony at the Little Hoover Commission where he said he was prepared to have federal marshals put the bite on the state treasury to pay for California's prison health care if that's what it took to get the system on track. He also threatened to waive state laws and civil service protections and seek contempt-of-court citations against prison system officials who tried to impede him. "We're on our way," Sillen told the commission. Long plagued by high vacancy rates and inefficiencies that have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs per year, the prison system's pharmacy services were one of Sillen's first targets once he took his post. The receiver's office put out the bid for the pharmacy management contract on Aug. 18 to correct what Sillen's office characterized as "particularly grave problems" in the prisons' drug delivery system. The Request for Proposal said the scope of the contract called for a contractor that could implement a "road map" previously outlined in an audit the receiver commissioned Maxor to conduct. On Oct. 20, the contract was awarded -- "not surprisingly," according to the motion -- to Maxor. Key to the "road map," the Public Health Service Bureau's court papers said, was Maxor's recommendation that the prison system administer drugs to inmates out of a "central fill" distribution system, which the Texas company already had up and running in its own state. Ward, the Maxor CEO, denied that his company tailored the audit's "road map" to its own specifications. "We had no way of knowing it would go any further than our recommendation," Ward said. The CEO said his firm has "absolutely not" had any pre-existing relationship with Sillen. Public Health Service Bureau's court papers said the award amounted to "misconduct" on the receiver's part because the bid wasn't published in any newspapers or in the State Contracts Register as required by state law. The motion said the Oakland group didn't find out about the contract until eight days after the bid went out. When the Public Health outfit sent questions to the receiver's office for details on the contract, Sillen never responded, the motion said. "That tells me he didn't want to see any responsive bids because he wanted to issue it to Maxor -- isn't it obvious?" Alton Burkhalter, the attorney for the Public Health Service Bureau, said in an interview. The Public Health Service Bureau is a "pharmacy benefits administrator and information management company," according to its Web site. The firm already administers the state's $250 million AIDS Drug Assistance Program. "We don't think this was a fair contract," said Public Health's president and CEO, Eric Flowers. "We don't think it's fair for the people of California, and we don't think it's an effective solution for the prisoners." Maxor identifies itself in press releases as "a leading expert in correctional health care," with a current and past client list that includes the Texas prison system, for which it re-engineered pharmacy services when the agency was under federal court supervision. Other listed clients include the Denver County Jail and the Colorado Department of Corrections.

November 22, 2006 AP
A state judge decided Wednesday to let California send 2,260 inmates to Indiana and four other states to relieve prison crowding, though she said the transfers may be illegal. Two state employee unions "are reasonably likely" to win their lawsuit against the state next year, but can't prove they are suffering enough immediate irreparable harm to justify a preliminary injunction in the meantime, ruled Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian. Any damages the unions suffer are more than offset by the "extreme peril" created by keeping more than 173,000 inmates in space designed for fewer than 100,000, Ohanesian said.

November 2, 2006 KESP
A Sacramento County judge today rejected state employee unions' attempt to temporarily block California's plans to move more than two thousand inmates to other states. But Judge Patrick Marlette set another hearing for later this month. The judge says that will give the unions another chance to argue that Governor Schwarzenegger is violating the state Constitution by shipping the inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee this month to relieve crowding in the nation's largest state prison system. The unions say Schwarzenegger is illegally sidestepping the state's civil service system and the usual contracting procedures. Schwarzenegger's attorney says the move is needed to relieve dangerous conditions and the possibility that a judge could order the early release of inmates.

October 31, 2006  Sacramento Bee
Two major public employee unions Monday filed a lawsuit to block the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from transferring more than 2,000 inmates to private prisons in other states. Representatives of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 filed the suit in Sacramento Superior Court. It seeks to stop the transfers on grounds that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger overstepped his legal authority in seeking the moves based on prison overcrowding. Although California has used private prisons for years within its own boundaries, CCPOA Vice President Chuck Alexander said the in-state facilities received approval from the Legislature while the out-of-state plan has not. "I think that's the fundamental difference," Alexander said at a press conference at CCPOA headquarters in West Sacramento. Representatives of the CCPOA and SEIU were joined at the press conference by state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-East Los Angeles, and officials from other labor and community groups. Romero said that private incarceration is "an abdication of the will of the people" and "an abdication of responsibility" on the part of the state.

October 28, 2006 The Star Press
Talking about how inmates re-enter society after serving time in prison is a touchy subject here, as residents worry about the 1,260 California inmates who are headed to the New Castle Correctional Facility. So, when Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner J. David Donahue came to New Castle on Friday for a town hall meeting to talk about the road to re-entry, he knew he'd have to address public concerns about the issue. Donahue, appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005 as the leader of the DOC, said questions about where and how those California inmates will be released are among the most-frequently asked. And though the deal should bring with it no expense to local taxpayers, Donahue did acknowledge there are some instances when the county has "certain inherent responsibilities" because the prison is located there. That likely means that in the event an inmate is charged with a crime while behind bars, Henry County Prosecutor Kit Crane's expenses would remain the county's responsibility. That's not the answer Henry County officials wanted, as Henry County Councilman Richard Bouslog hoped the county could recoup its court expenses. Bouslog was among the many elected officials in the crowd of the old circuit courtroom inside the courthouse Friday afternoon. Members of the county council and board of commissioners, as well as candidates for political office, made up the majority of the 50-person crowd.

October 21, 2006  Sacramento Bee
The first transfers of California inmates to private, out-of-state prisons are scheduled to take place next month under two no-bid contracts the overstuffed Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed Friday. Under the deals worked out with the GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America, the state will move 2,260 inmates out of its jampacked prisons over the next 120 days to private institutions in Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Corrections officials say the separate deals will help stem its emergency overcrowding crisis, but union officials opposed to the transfers contend they will undermine public accountability and shift responsibility for the tough business of prison administration to profit-driven corporate boardrooms. Newspaper reports compiled on a Web site run by the Private Corrections Institute in Florida paint a different picture of the CCA prisons, however. The stories cited riots and inmate drug dealing at Diamondback, more violence and drug issues at Florence, inmate complaints over phone rates at North Fork and the unexplained death of a prisoner at West Tennessee.

October 6, 2006 Courier Journal
Up to 1,200 medium-security prisoners from California will be housed in the state's underused New Castle Correctional Facility, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced yesterday. Daniels said the deal he struck with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will result in a $6.2 million profit for Indiana. Indiana officials initiated the negotiations, which took four or five months, after reading about California's prison-crowding crisis, Daniels said. GEO Group, the private company that runs the prison in east-central Indiana, will hire 200 additional workers to oversee the new prisoners. "We saw an opportunity and contacted California officials several months ago," Daniels said. "We look at every way we can to be creative and businesslike, and this is a win for everyone."

October 6, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A California prison overcrowding emergency declaration could speed up that state’s contract negotiations with GEO Group, which owns the Lake County prison. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Bill Sessa said the agency is continuing to talk with three private prison companies, one of which is GEO, to negotiate contracts to move prisoners to out-of-state facilities. “We’re going to continue contract negotiations with three companies and whoever else jumps in,” Sessa said. Officials from GEO said they are continuing talks with California. “We’re looking forward to working with the state,” said Pablo Paez, director of corporate communications at GEO. “We’re working with them and we look forward to work through the process.” GEO has available beds at three facilities, including the Lake County site, Paez said, noting that California officials have visited the facility sites. Paez said he has no specific timeline for contract talks, but added that the state-of-emergency declaration demonstrates “they have an immediate need to send up to 5,000 inmates out of state.”

October 6, 2006 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent declaration of an emergency in state prisons will mean two new possibilities for inmates at the California Institution for Men and other prisons: doing time at private prisons and doing time in other states. Special Section: Criminal Neglect Schwarzenegger's proclamation makes it possible for California to contract for prison beds with private operators in other states - a proposal the governor had sought earlier this year but was rebuffed by the Legislature. "Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," he said Wednesday. But experts questioned the wisdom of the move, noting that placing prisoners in out-of-state facilities has in the past led to violence. "There's been lots of problems with inmates being shipped out, in particular if they're put into a facility with multijurisdictional inmates," said Ken Kopczynski, of the Florida-based Private Corrections Institute. "California inmates are under California law. If they have Oklahoma inmates, or Texas inmates, they all have to be handled separately." Disparity in treatment of prisoners from several states was one cause identified in a 2004 riot where inmates alternately smashed, flooded and torched a private institution in Colorado, Kopczynski noted. In that incident, prisoners from different states -Colorado, Washington and Wyoming - felt they were being treated unfairly, since each state paid different wages for inmate labor. Other problems can arise when inmates from different states get together to form their own gangs, or when the distance from their families and support networks is too great, making rehabilitation less likely. Kopczynski also said the private corrections industry has racked up a less-than-stellar record in the past, mostly due to cost-saving efforts such as using low-wage guards and cutting corners on security.

October 5, 2006 The Press-Enterprise
The governor's emergency order to transfer California inmates to other states to ease crowding sent private-prison stocks soaring Thursday while provoking the ire of Democratic legislators, corrections officers and inmate advocacy groups. The state is poised this month to sign deals with private prison operators to house California inmates in states such as Indiana. The plan would send 2,200 inmates to other states almost immediately. Campaign Money: It has already stirred the frustration of state legislators, who shot down a similar proposal during a special session on prison crowding in August. Amid accusations of cronyism and conflicts of interest, Gov. Schwarzenegger's campaign announced Thursday that he has returned $32,000 in campaign donations to a private prison slated to benefit from his proposal. "The Governor has a strict policy against accepting contributions from persons or entities doing business with the state or seeking to do business with the state and in which he or his office might be negotiating the terms of such state contracts," wrote his attorney in a letter to The Geo Group. The Geo Group is a Florida-based private prison firm, and one of three firms currently negotiating with the state for three- to five-year, no-bid contracts to house inmates out of state. Democrat's Response: It reeks of "pay to play," said Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. "What it demonstrates is that the governor can't resolve this crisis. He doesn't have the political will, and he doesn't have the stomach for it." Romero questioned the constitutionality of forced transfers and suggested the state concentrate on programs to reduce California's 70 percent recidivism rate.

September 10, 2006 Sacramento Bee
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate them. Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said the agency can administratively transfer inmates out of state if they volunteer for the move and if the contracts with out-of-state operators do not exceed a year. Longer term deals, Hidalgo said, would require legislative approval. "If there's a willing inmate and a vendor, we can do this on our own right now," Hidalgo said. One major private prison company, the GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., has expressed interest in housing California inmates at its facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Louisiana. GEO currently operates four private prisons in California. It also contributed $22,300 to Schwarzenegger on Aug. 25, in the last week of the legislative session, when lawmakers declined to act on proposals designed to ease prison overcrowding in California. One bill would have required inmate approval for out-of-state transfers. In legislative hearings, GEO expressed support for an involuntary transfer plan. Altogether, GEO has contributed $90,300 to Schwarzenegger going back to 2003.

September 7, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A deal that might have supplied California inmates to the former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility in Lake County could be in jeopardy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) proposed sending inmates to out-of-state facilities — potentially including the Lake County prison — without getting the inmates’ permission. However, the future of the proposal is unclear. The California Assembly refused to vote on the measure despite the California Senate passing a bill allowing the transfers only with the inmate’s permission, which is current California law. The California legislature, a part-time legislature, left session for the year Friday without approving Schwarzenegger’s four-bill package. The bills faced opposition by Republicans in the Assembly as well as the corrections officer union and garnered only lukewarm support from Democrats. In addition, Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger also faces a challenge from Democrat Phil Angelides in the November election. The Baldwin area facility was mentioned as a possible recipient of California inmates, and officials from California reportedly visited the site earlier this summer. Pablo Paez, communications director for GEO Group which owns the Lake County prison, said he had “nothing new to report” with regard to any deal to house inmates there. Paez said GEO has been in contact with California and with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding possibly renting bed space at the facility a few miles north of Baldwin. Refusing to name where else GEO is seeking rentals, Paez said “the company remains active in marketing our facility.”

September 13, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
A company that wanted to reopen a private prison in Bakersfield under a no-bid contract had a clear conflict of interest because it had hired two recent retirees from the Department of Corrections, the state auditor said Tuesday. But the auditor concluded there was no conflict of interest by another company that was awarded a no-bid contract to operate a prison in McFarland, even though it had put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance director on the board of a subsidiary. Those were the key points in a report by Auditor Elaine Howle's office that was ordered by lawmakers upset about the handling of the department's decision to reopen the two facilities that had been shut down barely a year before. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, requested the audit in January because she said the contract for the McFarland facility "smells bad." That contract was awarded to GEO Group Inc., the same firm that had operated it for years before it was shut down. The contract drew fire because the real estate trust that owns the facility and leases it to GEO put former state budget chief Donna Arduin on its board of directors shortly before it was offered the contract late last year. The audit report said that did not involve a conflict of interest because GEO has a 10-year lease on the property from the subsidiary that began long before Arduin joined the company and before the state decided to reopen the facility. Besides, it noted, GEO was the only possible operator because its subsidiary owned the facility. But the department's handling of a contract to reopen the Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield came in for sharp criticism by the auditor. The bidder, Massachusetts-based CiviGenics Inc., did not disclose the fact it had hired two former high-level department officials, at least one of whom contacted the department about the contract. They had both retired from the department less than a year before. State law bars top officials from being involved with state contracts for at least a year after they leave state service.

September 13, 2005 AP
California's prison population is at a record high, officials said Tuesday, as the state auditor panned the corrections system's last attempt to deal with sudden crowding. The news comes as the state auditor reported that two former high-ranking state corrections employees may have violated conflict of interest laws when they contacted their former colleagues as the state was opening two private prisons. One contract was later rescinded in part because of the conflict allegations. The department wasted an undetermined amount of money on the aborted project before it had permission from the Department of General Services, auditors found. Two high-level department retirees had gone to work for private prison operator CiviGenics Inc. and worked with their former colleagues on the contract within a year after leaving state government, in possible violation of conflict of interest laws, auditors found. They faulted the Marlborough, Mass.-based contractor for not disclosing the employees' background, and the department for not requiring disclosure. Auditors decided there was no conflict of interest by a former state Department of Finance director who went to work for the second prison contractor, GEO Group Inc.

January 2, 2004
Two of Kern County's private prisons are officially shut down, after the state pulled funding and moved all the inmates.  Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield, and the McFarland Community Correctional Facility in McFarland were finishing closing down Wednesday after losing state funding. One other private prison in Riverside County was also closed.  Former Gov. Gray Davis wanted to shut down the prisons last year, but the Legislature was against the closures. Davis officials had said that the closures would save $400,000 the first year and $900,000 every year after.  But McFarland's city administrator said the closure of the prison will mean lost jobs and a drop in revenue for the city.  The prison industry is one of the city's largest employers, said Anthony B. Lopez, interim McFarland city administrator.  "That (losing jobs) in itself is a detriment," Lopez said.  The water and sewer service that was provided by the city for prison use is also a major revenue source, Lopez said. The city stands to lose $260,000 a year, he said.  The city plans to negotiate reopening the facility and maybe housing federal inmates at the facility "hopefully in the very near future," Lopez said.  More than 100 full and part-time employees will lose their jobs at Mesa Verde which run by Alternative Programs Inc.,, said Gary White, the company's president.  White said the closures were more to appease the state prison guards' union than to save money for the state.  State officials have consistently denied that, saying it was a purely budgetary decision to close the prisons.  Officials with the union, officially called the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.  But the CCPOA has made no secret of its opposition to private prisons. Union officials insist it is due to a belief that prisons should be publicly owned, not run for profit at taxpayers' expense, not anger that they are non-union.  The closed McFarland prison was operated by the former Wackenhut Corrections Corp., and now the GEO Group Inc. The company runs two other prisons in McFarland that will remain open.  The closed prisons housed more than 500 inmates combined. Displaced inmates have been moved to various locations across the state, said California Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Heimrich said.  (Bakersfield Californian)

California Legislature
June 5, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was within his rights to declare a state of emergency at California's overcrowded prisons in 2006 and begin transferring inmates out of state, an appeals court ruled Wednesday over the objections of the prison guards union. The ruling by the state Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento overturned a judge's decision and was welcomed by Schwarzenegger, who is separately defending the state against lawsuits by inmates seeking to reduce the overall prison population and improve the prisons' health care system. A federal judge has transferred control of prison health care in California to a court-appointed manager after ruling that the system violated constitutional standards. There are nearly 160,000 inmates in the 33 state prisons, which were designed to hold about 83,000. The state is planning construction that will expand the capacity of state prisons and county jails by 53,000. A referee appointed by a federal court panel has proposed measures to reduce the prison population by 27,000 over four years, to 133,000. The measures would include alternatives to prison for some parole violators and felons facing short sentences. Wednesday's ruling "comes at a critical juncture in our prison reform efforts," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I am pleased that their decision allows out-of-state transfers to continue while our comprehensive reforms to reduce overcrowding are fully implemented." Laurie Hepler, a lawyer for the prison guards' union and another prison employee union that challenged the inmate transfers, said her clients disagreed with the ruling and would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger issued the order in October 2006 after a special legislative session on prison overcrowding fizzled, with Democrats seeking changes in sentencing laws and Republicans calling for prison expansion. As the inmate population continued to climb, 16,000 prisoners occupied bunks in prison gyms and other temporary quarters. Schwarzenegger has said as many as 8,000 inmates could be shipped out of state. So far, nearly 3,900 prisoners have been transferred to out-of-state prisons run by private companies under contracts with California. The transfers have continued despite a ruling in April 2007 by a Sacramento County judge that Schwarzenegger had acted illegally. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian agreed with the unions that state law allows a governor to issue an emergency order only when local officials need state help in responding to a disaster, and that the use of private prison employees violated civil service laws. The appeals court had put Ohanesian's ruling on hold while the state appealed. In its ruling Wednesday, the court said the governor can issue orders to respond to emergencies in state institutions that may endanger residents. In this case, the court said, the lack of space in state prisons was causing overcrowding in local jails, forcing counties to release some inmates who might commit more crimes. Overcrowding also increased the risk of diseases that could spread outside the prisons and had led to local water pollution from sewage spills caused by overtaxed prison wastewater systems, the court said. The court also said California's civil service rules allow the state to employ private contractors when public employees are not available to meet urgent needs. The planned expansion of state prisons will take years to complete, and the prison system will need five years to eliminate staffing shortages, the court said. "California cannot build or retrofit the prisons needed overnight, no matter how much money it invests to solve the problem," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said in the 3-0 ruling. The only available lockups are in other states and are staffed by private employees, he said.

March 21, 2008 The California Majority Report
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who railed against special interests during his recall campaign and has since shattered all fundraising efforts -- has quietly been padding his campaign accounts with hundreds of thousands of dollars during the past few weeks. In the last week, Schwarzenegger has added five- and six-figure donations from health care interests, pharmaceutical companies, homebuilders, and private prison companies -- just as he begins reviewing legislation being passed in the legislature reviewing those industries. For example, he has received $25,000 from Pacific West Pharmacy, $5,000 from the Corrections Corporation of America, and $25,000 from General Motors Corporation. The funds have been funneled to this "California Dream Team" account, one of several the governor has to raise campaign cash. It should be noted, however, that Schwarzenegger cannot run for re-election. Fascinating that Schwarzenegger can shake down the wealthy and contributions from millions in campaign money but rules out Democratic proposals to tax these very same interests to pay their fair share for our kids education.

March 9, 2008 Sacramento Bee
As far as the inmates are concerned, it's fine if California pays tens of millions of dollars more to their private-prison captors. They like the relaxed atmosphere in the private sector, not to mention the satellite TV that on a recent Friday flashed plenty of poolside bikini action from a Spanish-language soap opera. "You're relaxed here," said Don Chandler, 43, of West Sacramento, who was propped up on his bunk at Golden State Modified Community Correctional Facility while finishing up a stint for violating parole on an underlying domestic-violence conviction. "You're comfortable. You can enjoy yourself here." Although California has been contracting with private correctional facilities for 22 years to cope with overcrowding, saving money in the process, costs are about to go up. This year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state corrections agency is proposing a five-year, $67 million increase to one company, GEO Group Inc. The proposal would bump up the daily rate the state pays per inmate by 50 percent, which the company says it needs to increase the minimum pay of its officers from $10 an hour to $14.70. It is a deal that will require approval from the Legislature and one that figures to attract an added level of scrutiny. State Sen. Mike Machado, chairman of the budget subcommittee that oversees prison spending, promised a "tough look" when he examines the proposed deal for the GEO Group, especially in light of the remaining $8 billion budget deficit projected through June 2009. "Any proposal to spend money with this type of deficit raises serious questions," the Linden Democrat said. Corrections officials say private prisons are crucial to finding more space to house inmates, while critics in the public employee unions castigate them for lower pay scales that they say attract a less-than-professional work force. Private prisons generally house lower-risk, healthier inmates in the final 18 months of their terms. It's a class of prisoner that costs less to incarcerate than the dangerous, the sick and the long-term who require added expenses for things such as security and medical care. On a recent visit to the Golden State facility, 25 miles north of Bakersfield, inmates lauded the prison for its easier feel, which they said contrasts sharply with the oppressive environment of state institutions marked by overcrowding, violence and control. "Right here is love, compared to where I've been," said inmate William Cook, 27, of Newark, who previously walked the yards at San Quentin, Pleasant Valley and Lancaster. "Here you get all the football games, you get movies every day. It's real easy to do your time here. You don't have to worry about nothing – no politics right here." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said the satellite TV cost is "minimal" and characterized it as a "privilege" that makes inmates want to behave. "It enhances the security and the safety of the facility," Paez said. Two veteran GEO officers, Tim Harrison and Melissa Barrientos, said in interviews that they like their jobs and the company that employs them, even though they have topped out on the firm's pay scales at $15.70 an hour. The hourly base for a top-scale state correctional officer is $35. "We know we work in a private institution," said Harrison, an 11-year employee. "The state has received training in firearms and batons, and we're not allowed to possess those things because we don't have the training." Harrison and Barrientos said they work about 20 hours of overtime a week. They said they get good health benefits and a 401(k), but no pensions. "Some people are embarrassed to admit they work here, because of all the stuff that was said about this place" by former employees, Barrientos said. "It's not that bad. It's a good place." Even though she likes working for GEO, Barrientos disclosed she is taking a test to become a state correctional officer. GEO officials support that, and Golden State Warden Chris Strickland sees his prison as "a great steppingstone." UC Berkeley Labor Center Chairman Ken Jacobs said there should be no surprise in the company's relatively modest salary scales. "That's how they make their profits," said Jacobs, whose research focuses on public employment and living wages, among other topics. "Labor is one of the places where people tend to squeeze." On the non-custody side, teachers in the GEO prisons start out at $18.15 an hour, according to the company. The rate is substantially below most starting categories in the state prisons. Eric Beltran, 31, who teaches a computer class, has been in his current job for about two years, working his way up from the kitchen. His qualifications for the computer job, he said, include working with computers when he was in the motor pool in the Marines and a "couple courses" he took in his one year at Bakersfield College. "I want to keep climbing the ladder," Beltran said. Fewer than 100 Golden State inmates currently are enrolled in educational or vocational classes. GEO officials said they hope to increase that number to 250 inmates with the new contract. Mike Poulson, 48, a drug offender from San Diego, slapped dominoes with fellow inmates – including some of other races, a rare sight in state prisons – and said he likes the GEO prison, compared with sardine cans he's been in such as Solano and Chino. He just wishes the place had more rehab programs, or more job opportunities – such as working in the kitchen – which he said are lacking at Golden State. "I don't like to sit around doing nothing," Poulson said. GEO's deal would apply to three of the five prisons it owns in the state – Golden State, Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility, also located in McFarland, and Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility in Adelanto, San Bernardino County. The proposed increase comes as Schwarzenegger seeks to grant early releases over the next two years to 22,000 prisoners. Scott Kernan, the prison agency's chief of adult operations, said the proposed contract increase will be canceled if the releases go through. Corrections officials say the raise is long overdue, that GEO had been operating below market value until the state increased its daily, per-inmate rate from $40 to $60 in December. "I know some people's sensibilities are bruised, but I think it's a reasonable rate increase, and it's going to be for five years into the future," Kernan said. GEO Western Region Vice President Ed Brown defended the contract. According to the company, the deal reflects the increase in minimum officer pay from $10 to $14.70 an hour; added costs for food, health care and utilities; the tab for buying the prisons it formerly leased; and a GEO promise to ramp up inmate rehabilitation. "This was an opportunity for a clean sheet of paper, rebid, with practical figures based on 2007 dollars," Brown said. "It's in my opinion reasonable in all respects." Together, the three facilities house about 1,800 of the 5,600 inmates in the state's 13 community prisons – seven private, six owned by cities. GEO is the second-largest private prison company in the United States, behind Correctional Corp. of America. It contributed $68,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in 2003 and 2005. Its chief executive officer, George C. Zoley, made $3.7 million last year, not counting stock options, according to Salary.com. GEO's profits jumped 25 percent last year to $41 million on revenue of $1 billion, according to its 2007 annual report. The company's $60-a-day rate per inmate compares with the $118 the state pays on average to accommodate an inmate in one of its own prisons every day; the $77 it pays counties to house state prisoners; and the $63 it pays on its out-of-state contracts. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association voiced strident opposition to the deal. Union spokesman Ryan Sherman called it "corporate welfare." "If GEO is complaining they need extra money to pay their staff more, that's a joke," Sherman said. "If GEO wants to pay them $15 (to start), they can do that right now."

July 23, 2007 Fresno Bee
Two federal judges on Monday ordered creation of a special panel to recommend ways to relieve California's overcrowded prisons, a move that could lead to the capping of the inmate population or the early release of some prisoners. In doing so, the judges rejected the main solution set forth by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to address a crisis that has been building for decades. Last spring, they agreed to an ambitious $7.8 billion program to build 53,000 new prison and jail cells. The judges said that plan, submitted to the courts in June, will only make matters worse for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state can't hire enough guards and medical professionals to provide proper care and oversight for the inmates it has now, let alone the thousands more who might be added through the building program. "From all that presently appears, new beds will not alleviate this problem but will aggravate it," U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento wrote. Schwarzenegger said he will appeal the judges' decision to create the three-judge panel.

June 14, 2007 NBC 11
A no-show at a Thursday hearing fueled the controversy over moving prisoners across state lines against their will, NBC11 reported. The state committee on prison operations was ready to ask tough questions of the private company set to transfer inmates out of California during a hearing Thursday. However, the Corrections Corporation of America representative was a no-show. "Here we have a $56 million contract, and it guarantees them payment whether we have one prisoner or 1,000 prisoners -- and it's a guaranteed contract," Assemblyman Todd Spitzer said. "And they can't send one official to California to answer questions of the legislators?" California has already sent 400 inmates to private prisons in Tennessee and Arizona. Those inmates were volunteers. A video used as a recruitment tool encourages prisoners to volunteer to move to less crowded facilities out of state. The Department of Corrections created the video, which tells inmates they will have bigger cells, dozens of cable channels and all night parties if they move to a prison in Tennessee. Under the prison reform package signed last month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California will soon begin sending up to 8,000 prisoners out of state -- whether they like it or not -- prompting concerns about potential riots. Bill Sessa of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said there's no safety concern whatsoever. "We move hundreds of thousands of inmates a year against their will," Sessa said. "Moving them to a prison in another state is really no different." Not everyone is enthused about sending prisoners out of state to ease prison overcrowding. Critics said there is a better way to go. Matt Gray of Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety said that the 20,000 foreign national inmates in prisons on "our dime, California's dime," could be transferred into federal custody and begin the deportation process back to their country so Californians would no longer have to pay to keep them housed. Prison authorities said undocumented immigrants would be among the first inmates screened for involuntary transfers. The Corrections Corporation of America told NBC11 it didn't show up because of a scheduling conflict and because it did not receive enough advance notice.

June 2, 2007 Sacramento Bee
State corrections officials resumed transferring inmates to out-of-state prisons Friday, moving 38 convicts by bus to Arizona. The transfers had been placed on hold since November, when two public employee unions convinced a Sacramento judge that sending inmates out of state violated California's civil service laws. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian's ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal to the 3rd District Court of Appeal by the Schwarzenegger administration. Oral arguments have yet to be scheduled. Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said state officials "believe we have statutory authority" to go ahead with more transfers, and he suggested that if the administration lost its appeal, it would not pose a major problem. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Unger said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger obtained legislative approval in the recently enacted Assembly Bill 900 prison construction and rehabilitation package to transfer up to 8,000 inmates, involuntarily if it comes to that. Only inmates volunteering for the out-of-state placement were transferred Friday, however. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is planning to transfer as many as 400 inmates a month to help ease overcrowding, with 18,000 inmates now living in gyms, dayrooms and other spaces not designed to house them. "Temporary out-of-state inmate transfers will provide immediate relief to California's prison system while the rest of the governor's comprehensive reforms are implemented," Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in a prepared statement. Tilton said the transfers "will also give us breathing room" to try to pick up the system's rehabilitation effort and also to help improve its medical delivery system, which a San Francisco federal judge has declared unconstitutional. Friday's transfers to the Florence Detention Center in Arizona increased to 218 the number of California inmates being housed in the prison, which is owned and operated by the Correctional Corporation of America. Another 76 state prisoners have been transferred to the West Tennessee Detention Facility, another CCA-owned prison not far from Memphis. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 were the unions filing the suit last fall that temporarily blocked the transfers. CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran said Friday that even though the most recent transfers involved only inmates who the department said wanted to go out of state, the decision to move out prisoners who don't want to go "is absolutely one of the most dangerous things this administration has utilized." Corcoran said the prison system has been "marketing these (out-of-state) institutions much like cruise ships," yet still has fallen short of obtaining anywhere near the 19,000 inmates the corrections agency initially said were interested in the transfers. "Very quickly, they're going to have to move them involuntarily, then we'll see what happens from there," Corcoran said. Union leaders have said they expect inmates who don't want to be transferred out of state to wage intense struggles to keep from being removed from their cells.

May 24, 2007 California Aggie
A state appellate court gave the go-ahead for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to resume transferring inmates from overcrowded state prisons into out-of-state, privately run correctional facilities earlier this week. The decision came as deliberation over a lawsuit filed by the prison guard's union to end the transfer practice carries on. The May 21 announcement by the court will allow the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to prepare the transfer of up to 300 inmates in June, according to CDCR spokesperson Bill Sessa. Sessa said that by the end of the year, 5,000 prisoners are expected to be shipped out of state, and by March 2009, the number of inmates will reach 8,000. "We think it gives us an opportunity to put some breaking room into the prison system," Sessa said. The governor's plan to send prisoners out of state to alleviate overcrowding in the California state prison system was originally proposed in late 2006 by eliciting prisoners to voluntarily move into correctional facilities managed by the Corrections Corporation of America, located in Tennessee and Arizona. Only 360 inmates opted to relocate to the privately run prisons, prompting Schwarzenegger to make the transfers for selected prisoners mandatory in February 2007. The move brought about a lawsuit filed by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association to block the practice, calling it an unconstitutional and desperate attempt at solving prolonged prison overcrowding. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled in favor of the CCPOA in a Feb. 20 decision, saying the governor inappropriately used his powers to declare that the crowded state prison system was in a state of emergency. The Schwarzenegger administration appealed the judge's ruling and was granted a temporary stay - allowing the transfers to resume. The CCPOA disapproved of this week's decision by the appellate court, saying prison guards will be at higher risk for assaults when forcing inmates who are unwilling to transfer into the out-of-state prisons. "All [the inmates] have to do if they don't want to get transferred is assault the staff," said Ryan Sherman of the CCPOA. "And now they're disqualified from going." Sherman said the governor is resorting to transferring inmates because of the lack of a short-term plan to solve the prison overcrowding problem. He said shipping inmates out of state is inconsistent with recommendations from Schwarzenegger's own staff to establish community-based correctional facilities. "His own experts said that the best chance rehabilitation occurs when the inmates are in their communities," Sherman said.

April 6, 2007 Sacramento Bee
The Schwarzenegger administration sought Thursday to block a court ruling that the governor's program transferring inmates out of state is "unlawful." In the meantime, the administration is taking the ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal. Ohanesian ruled against the administration on Feb. 20, but the official order blocking the order wasn't entered until Monday. The state filed its appeal on Tuesday, and on Thursday filed the stay order on Ohanesian's ruling until the appeal is heard. In a statement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said his office is prepared to "fight to preserve our emergency efforts to address the prison overcrowding crisis." He said the out-of-state transfers, in which hundreds of prisoners already have been moved to private prisons in Arizona and Tennessee, are "imperative to relieve the pressure on our overburdened prison system and improve safety for correctional officers, staff and inmates." Ohanesian's ruling agreed with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 that the transfers violated the state's civil service protection laws. Her ruling also said the governor overstepped his authority by issuing an emergency proclamation on the prison overcrowding because the issue remains within the state's ability to control. Moreover, the judge's ruling said, no local authorities asked the state for assistance. The challenge to the governor's authority to declare an emergency created "wider implications" that his appeal will seek to address, Schwarzenegger said in his statement. "It jeopardizes my executive authority to maintain the public's safety, the lives and property of our citizens," Schwarzenegger said. " CCPOA attorney Gregg Adam said the administration is setting itself up for potentially larger problems if it goes ahead with the transfers. He said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is just about out of inmates who have volunteered for the transfers and that future movements in all likelihood will involve prisoners who don't want to go. As a result, Adam predicted that inmates rights attorneys and other groups will sue the state and push the matter from the state courts into the federal system. "It's reckless for the state to carry on with the transfers (given) the ruling," Adam said. "To continue to send inmates out of state will trigger a ton of litigation, and the administration is going to have more than a couple of disgruntled labor unions to deal with."

February 21, 2007 AP
Private prison operator Corrections Corp. of America shares dropped Wednesday morning after a judge ruled California could not transfer thousands of prisoners out of state. In October, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency because of prison overcrowding and ordered that as many as 5,000 prisoners be sent to private prisons around the country. But the prison guard union sued, and Tuesday Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian said the situation was not an emergency, and the order violated the state Constitution, which bans jobs normally done by state workers from being done by a private company. She gave the state until June to reduce overcrowding in its prisons - rather than work with CCA. Banc of America Securities analyst T.C. Robillard said the ruling was not unexpected and would be appealed, though it does create a brief psychological barrier for CCA and, thus, an opportunity for investors. "We continue to be buyers of the stock and would use any near-term weakness as a buying opportunity," he said. Corrections Corp. shares gave up $1.02, or 1.9 percent, to $52.35 on the New York Stock Exchange.

February 20, 2007 Sacramento Bee
A Sacramento judge Tuesday blocked California corrections officials from transferring inmates to out of state, ruling that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's declaration of a prison overcrowding emergency was "unlawful" and that the movement of the prisoners violates the state's civil service principles. Schwarzenegger vowed to appeal the decision issued by Superior Court Judge Gail D. Ohanesian and the state attorney general's office has said it will seek a stay of the ruling. More than 400 inmates already have been transferred to private, out-of-state prisons on contracts that Ohanesian has enjoined. In her five-page ruling, Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger's declaration violated the state's Emergency Services Act because the prison overcrowding is a statewide issue rather than a local disaster that would require a response from state government. "The emergency here is not within the control of any single county or city in California," Ohanesian wrote. "This is so not because of the magnitude of the crisis. It is because control of the state prisons is exclusively within the purview of state government and not local government. The intent of the Emergency Services Act is not to give the governor extraordinary powers to act without legislative approval in matters such as this that are ordinarily and entirely within the control of state government." Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger made a "good faith attempt" to resolve the crisis in which 172,000 inmates are living in space designed for about half that many but that he acted "in excess of his authority" in proclaiming the emergency. She said the state's arguments that the transfers did not violate constitutional civil service protections were "unavailing" because the lack of employee services were never cited as a reason for the transfers. The suit was brought by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union Local 1000.

February 16, 2007 Contra Costa Times
Overcrowding is fueling violence inside California's prisons and creating an atmosphere primed for a major riot, a state attorney said Friday during court arguments over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to send prisoners to other states. As an example, Deputy Attorney General Vickie Whitney cited a Dec. 30 brawl by hundreds of inmates at the California Institution for Men in Chino that injured more than 50 inmates. "It's because of very crowded situations, and it's a miracle that something more dangerous hasn't occurred that's going to imperil not only correctional officers but inmates and the public," Whitney told reporters after the court hearing. Severe overcrowding prompted Schwarzenegger to declare an emergency in October and order thousands of inmates to be transferred to private prisons in other states. Two state employee unions, including the one representing prison guards, challenged the order on two points. They said it violates the Emergency Powers Act and a provision in the state Constitution that prohibits using private companies for jobs usually performed by state workers. Union attorney Gregg Adams said state law reserves emergency declarations for unforeseen disasters that overwhelm local authorities. It should not be used to address predictable situations such as crowding in prisons, he said. "It makes no sense to me that an illegality can be justified by a danger to the public," he said. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger's declaration might have overstepped state law but delayed a decision in the case. The judge said she will consider whether the public safety threat outweighs any harm to the unions.

February 8, 2007 LA Times
Attorneys for two California prisoners on Wednesday asked a federal court to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from forcibly transferring convicts to private lockups in other states. The challenge comes less than a week after the governor ordered the mandatory moves to relieve overcrowding, which he said had reached crisis levels in most of the state's 33 prisons. Close to 400 California inmates already have transferred voluntarily to private prisons in Tennessee and Arizona under a program that began in November. Schwarzenegger authorized the mandatory moves because so few convicts had agreed to go. In papers filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Los Angeles civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman asked for an order barring the forced transfers of inmates David Diaz and Paul Blumberg — and others in similar circumstances. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel issued an order instructing the Schwarzenegger administration to file a response before a hearing Feb. 20. The order also said the court had been assured Diaz and Blumberg would not be forcibly transferred before then. Diaz is incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison, in the San Joaquin Valley, for attempted murder and related charges. Blumberg was sentenced to life for attempted murder and is housed at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe. Both men have filed habeas corpus appeals in federal court, and Yagman argues that because those are pending, the inmates may not be transferred out of state. The mandatory transfers also would violate their constitutional right to due process, he said.

December 31, 2006 AP
California no longer plans to transfer more than 1,200 of its inmates to an Indiana state prison, an official said. Trina Randall, New Castle Correctional Facility's public information officer, on Thursday confirmed to The Courier-Times that the deal had fallen through. The plan was thwarted because of a lawsuit against California over the possible transfer, and a lack of inmates willing to volunteer to make the cross-country move. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in October a contract between California and Florida-based GEO Group Inc., the company Indiana hired to operate the New Castle prison. He said 1,260 inmates would be transferred to Indiana in a deal that was to have created 200 Indiana jobs. The deal was part of plans to alleviate prison overcrowding in California, and the Indiana prison was to be paid $63 per day to house each of that state's inmates, with $15 of that going to state government. Daniels had said the state would make about $6.2 million in each of the next two years. The medium-security prison in New Castle, 40 miles east of Indianapolis, has a capacity of 2,416 but has only 1,068 inmates. But a news release earlier this week from the Indiana Department of Correction termed the transfer as "not likely." It said that the DOC was working with another state on an agreement similar to the California deal. "We are in the process of reviewing a proposal from that jurisdiction," said DOC Commissioner David Donahue.

November 22, 2006 AP
A state judge decided Wednesday to let California send 2,260 inmates to Indiana and four other states to relieve prison crowding, though she said the transfers may be illegal. Two state employee unions "are reasonably likely" to win their lawsuit against the state next year, but can't prove they are suffering enough immediate irreparable harm to justify a preliminary injunction in the meantime, ruled Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian. Any damages the unions suffer are more than offset by the "extreme peril" created by keeping more than 173,000 inmates in space designed for fewer than 100,000, Ohanesian said.

November 2, 2006 KESP
A Sacramento County judge today rejected state employee unions' attempt to temporarily block California's plans to move more than two thousand inmates to other states. But Judge Patrick Marlette set another hearing for later this month. The judge says that will give the unions another chance to argue that Governor Schwarzenegger is violating the state Constitution by shipping the inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee this month to relieve crowding in the nation's largest state prison system. The unions say Schwarzenegger is illegally sidestepping the state's civil service system and the usual contracting procedures. Schwarzenegger's attorney says the move is needed to relieve dangerous conditions and the possibility that a judge could order the early release of inmates.

October 29, 2006 Robinson County Times
Beginning in November, Corrections Corporation of America will begin receiving up to 1,000 medium-security inmates from the California prison system at its correctional facilities in Tennessee, Arizona and Oklahoma. The contract is worth $22.9 million to the Nashville-based prison builder and operator. The state of California considers it both a bargain — $63 instead of the $90 per prisoner per day it would cost to keep inmates in their state system — and a necessity. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency in order to speed up no-bid contracts with CCA and Geo Group Inc. of Florida, another private prison operator. California has 172,000 inmates crowded into space designed for 100,000. Adverse reaction began in California, where the prison workers' unions complained it's cheaper to farm out the convicts only because the private firms are allowed to pick the inmates they want — meaning those with fewer discipline and medical problems. The CCA contract is quite advantageous to the state of California, as well. The inmates will be housed at a CCA facility in Tennessee for three years with the possibility of two-year extensions. This is intended to allow California lawmakers time to decide whether to add more cells, more programs to trim the prison population; or do nothing. In Tennessee, the focus is on how an influx of out-of-state convicts will interact with current inmates, and whether the new inmates, if any were to escape, would behave more ruthlessly in a state that is not their own. But perhaps the greatest concern echoes past discussions on this page about who is accountable when a state's prisons are run by a private company. Since the state of Tennessee is ultimately responsible for the safety of its residents, it's critical that government officials scrutinize such a large transfer of criminals who did not pass through Tennessee's legal system. Corporate boardroom decision-makers should not take precedence over state correctional experts when safety is involved.

October 27, 2006 Contra Costa Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to relieve overcrowding in state prisons by sending thousands of inmates to private, out-of-state prisons hit an unexpected snag Thursday when a legal opinion suggested the idea may violate the California constitution. The opinion by the state's nonpartisan Legislative Counsel could trigger a lawsuit by the state's powerful prison guards union, which opposes Schwarzenegger's proposal and is upset with him over its stalled bid for a new contract. "Private profit is the wrong reason to make decisions about someone's liberty," said Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. Jimenez added that the union was already assessing whether to file a lawsuit, even before the legal opinion. California crams about 173,000 inmates into its 33 prisons, roughly double the number the facilities were meant to house. Thousands sleep in triple bunks or gymnasiums, and officials say space is so tight that there isn't enough room to provide basic rehabilitation programs. Exporting inmates is one piece of Schwarzenegger's prison strategy. Earlier this month he signed contracts with two private prison companies to send 2,260 inmates to out-of-state facilities. The state expects to begin moving them next month, and ultimately the governor hopes to send 5,000 inmates out of state, to both private and public prisons. The opinion released Thursday was written by attorneys for the Legislative Counsel, the nonpartisan agency that advises the state Legislature. They concluded that in order for the state to contract with private entities to provide services, officials must show that the services "cannot be performed adequately, competently, or satisfactorily by state civil service employees." The attorneys cautioned, however, that they interpreted the law generally and did not specifically evaluate Schwarzenegger's proposal. Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who opposes Schwarzenegger's private prison plan, asked the counsel to provide a legal opinion. Administration officials said Thursday afternoon they needed more time to digest the opinion before commenting. But one corrections official said that severe overcrowding combined with thousands of prison guard vacancies justify the private prison contracts. "This is not an action we took lightly," said Oscar Hidalgo, an assistant secretary for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. If 5,000 inmates don't volunteer to move out of state, administration officials have said they will try to force some prisoners to go. Illegal immigrants and prisoners scheduled to eventually be paroled in other states would be at the top of the list for involuntary transfers, which would almost certainly trigger a legal challenge. Paying private companies to house California inmates is not a new idea. Some 2,800 inmates currently reside in privately run facilities in California, Hidalgo said, and the state has been housing inmates in those prisons since the 1980s. "It's stood the test of time," Hidalgo said. But Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the prison guard union, said no one has ever challenged it in court. That may change soon.

October 26, 2006
A nonpartisan legal opinion requested by Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) has confirmed that state contracts with private prison companies are unconstitutional. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced last week that his Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) signed two contracts for over $153 million to temporarily provide 2,260 beds for California inmates in other states. The contracts, with The GEO Group Inc. headquartered in Florida and the Corrections Corporation of America headquartered in Tennessee, follow the Governor’s October 4 declaration of a state of emergency in California’s overcrowded prison system. In response to a request by Senator Romero, the Legislative Counsel issued a seven-page legal opinion declaring “the state would violate Section 1 of Article VII of the California Constitution by contracting with private entities for security and public safety services traditionally performed by [public employees of] the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.” “This legal opinion confirms what I have long believed: that we should not support prisons for profit,” said Romero, who serves on the Senate Public Safety Committee and chairs the Senate Select Committee on California’s Correctional System. “California has a prison overcrowding crisis, and we cannot privatize our way out of it. This legal opinion brings the responsibility back on us and reaffirms my call for real reforms that reduce overcrowding while ensuring public safety. If the Governor wants to call a special session of the Legislature, he should focus on breaking the cycle of recidivism with parole reforms and effective rehabilitation programs. “Public prisons are morally and fiscally accountable to the taxpayers of California. Private prisons are accountable to their shareholders, with a binding obligation to maximize profits. If the Governor goes through with these private prison contracts, he risks exposing the state to costly civil lawsuits. California can’t afford this mistake. I call on the Governor to do what is ethical and constitutional and withdraw these contracts immediately.” A hard copy of the Legislative Counsel opinion is available via fax. Details of the Administration’s October 19 contracts are athttp://www.cdcr.ca.gov/communications/press20061020.html .

October 2006  Duke Magazine
The governor of Florida combines the savvy of a seasoned politician with a sense of humor that would better befit a junior-high student. No one comes through Jeb Bush's office in Tallahassee without getting at least a gentle ribbing; the man likes to joke around. But when he talks about Donna Arduin, his tone changes, his eyebrows settle, and he begins to celebrate his state and the fiscal health he wholeheartedly attributes to his former budget manager. "What state improved to a triple-A bond rating during these tough times? What state ran an $8.6-billion surplus? She's the budget king." Arduin so effectively revamped Florida's budget, Bush says, that she made it possible for him to make good on almost all his campaign promises, cut taxes, and build a surplus, all despite an economy that continued to lean on tourism even after 9/11 made Americans reluctant to travel. On Tuesday morning at 5:00, Arduin's mind is already moving at 100 miles an hour. As if today's presentation wasn't enough pressure, she sits on the board of Centracore Properties Trust (CPT), a $200-million company that's just entered crisis mode. The company leases correctional facilities to operators like the GEO Group Inc., which issued a statement yesterday that it did not plan to renew its lease with CPT. Investors interpreted the announcement as a vote of no-confidence, and, by the closing bell, CPT shares had taken an 11 percent hit. Arduin's pretty sure she knows what's going on: GEO is trying to sink CPT's stock price so it can gobble up enough shares to take over the company. By 8:00, she's in the Mercedes, whirring south, downloading e-mail and answering calls, simultaneously tweaking today's presentation and coordinating CPT's next move. She gets on the phone with Jeannie Woodford, California's director of state prisons. "I wanted to see if you were interested ..." Arduin leads without a drop of desperation. The plan is to persuade California to lease the prisons directly from CPT, cut out GEO, and "announce it now," to pump the stock back up before GEO can afford to buy a controlling share. There's already been a lot of m