|
Annashae
Corp
Ohio
August 26, 2003
A contractor who provides physicians work in Ohio prisons says the state's
progressively lower spending limits are causing the company to hire doctors with
less training, a newspaper and television station reported. The prison
system has reduced medical costs by using contract caps to gradually pay less to
the companies providing the doctors who work in prison clinics. A
Cleveland company that provides contract services, Annashae Corp., said the
reduced payments limit the quality of doctors it can hire to care for inmates,
the Columbus Dispatch and WBNS-TV reported Monday in the second installment of a
two-part series on medical care in Ohio's prisons. ``If you're offering
less than a doctor could make at a private clinic or emergency room, how are you
going to sell that physician on working with maximum-security or medium-security
inmates in a remote area of Ohio?'' said Christopher Pasiadis, Annashae's chief
operating officer. (Ohio.com)
Columbiana
County Jail
Leetonia, Ohio
CiviGenics
May 1, 2008 Morning Journal News
A decision by Columbiana County commissioners to settle a dispute over
retirement benefits for five former county jail employees could prove costly.
Just how much so has yet to be determined, but it could be substantial.
Commissioners voted at Wednesday’s meeting to enter into a consent agreement
with the former jail employees to resolve a lawsuit filed earlier this year with
the Ohio 7th District Court of Appeals. The lawsuit sought a court order
requiring commissioners to comply with a decision by the Ohio Public Employees
Retirement System (OPERS), which ruled last November five former employees were
entitled to retirement benefits dating back to 1998, when a private company took
over operating the jail. CiviGenics Inc., the company hired by commissioners to
operate the jail, hired a number of the former county jail employees who lost
their jobs due to privatization. In 2004, an attorney representing some of the
jail employees initiated legal action saying commissioners were required to
continue contributing into the OPERS on their behalf even though though the
county no longer operated the jail. The attorney cited a state law that requires
contributions continue to be made into a public employee pension plan of a
public employee whose job was abolished due to privatization. This applies if
the employee went to work for the private operator and continued to perform the
same or similar job duties. Commissioners fought the ruling for the next several
years until the OPERS board issued its ruling six months ago. When commissioners
failed to act quickly enough to suit the attorney, the lawsuit was filed with
the appeals court. Yesterday’s agreement to resolve the lawsuit requires
commissioners to pay both the employee and employer share of OPERS (about 14
percent of their salary) dating back to when the five employees were hired by
CiviGenics and to continue contributing into their public employee pension plan
as long as they remain employed by CiviGenics. The figure is to include
penalties and interest, with everything to be completed by June 30. No one seems
to know for sure how much the settlement will cost. County Auditor Nancy
Milliken said at one time she heard the figures $500,000-$600,000 thrown around,
while Commissioner Chairman Dan Bing said it could exceed $1 million.
Commissioner Jim Hoppel is the only current commissioner who was in office when
the decision was made to hire CiviGenics as a way to save money, which he says
it has done. “With privatizing the jail we’ve saved in 101/2 years in the
vicinity of $10 million,” Hoppel said. Although Hoppel doesn’t know how much the
settlement will cost the county, he is confident it will be significantly less
than what the county has saved. Bing said he doesn’t know where the money will
come from to pay the settlement. “It’s all because somebody didn’t do their job
in the past,” he said. Milliken said her office must obtain the workers’ pay
rates from CiviGenics during the period of their employment and begin making the
calculations based on the OPERS rates. The information would then have to be
submitted to the OPERS board for approval. This would be the second large
settlement commissioners would have to pay out because of their decision to
privatize the county jail. In 2002, commissioners agreed to pay $300,000 to
former jail employees to resolve outstanding labor complaints arising over
privatization.
January 20, 2008 Morning Journal News
Another corrections officer at the Columbiana County Jail, Nathaniel Barnes of
Youngstown, has been charged for reportedly smuggling marijuana and cigarette
tobacco to inmates. It is the second time in less than a year a correction
officer in Lisbon traded in his uniform for an orange jumpsuit for allegedly
smuggling items to inmates. Barnes, 28, was charged early Saturday with
conveyance of a substance into a corrections facility, which is a felony charge.
Dan Downard of the Columbiana County Drug Task Force said the charge was part of
an ongoing investigation that came after agents were made aware that one or more
corrections officers were smuggling marijuana or cigarette tobacco to the
inmates. He credited the warden at the county jail, operated by CiviGenics Inc.,
with being very cooperative. “The warden’s been a wonderful asset,” Downard
said. “He is adamant that he doesn’t want that kind of stuff going into the
jail.” Another corrections officer, Gary J. Ludt, 37, Bergholtz pleaded in
August 2007 to a similar charge of smuggling marijuana to inmates. He was
sentenced to 18 months in prison.
January 11, 2008 Morning Journal News
A ruling requiring Columbiana County commissioners to pay into the
retirement plans of five former county jail employees could provide expensive.
An attorney representing four of the five people filed a lawsuit this week with
the Ohio 7th District Court of Appeals seeking an order requiring commissioners
immediately comply with a recent decision by the Ohio Public Employees
Retirement System (OPERS). The OPERS board issued a final order on Nov. 14
saying the five workers were entitled to have the county continue paying into
their OPERS while they were employed by CiviGenics Inc., the company now running
the county jail. The roots of the dispute extend back to 1997, when
commissioners abolished all of the county jail jobs and hired CiviGenics Inc. to
take over operations, starting in 1998. The private company hired a number of
former jail employees, some of whom are still working there. In 2004, an
attorney representing former jail employees employed by CiviGenics initiated
action seeking OPERS payments on their behalf. The attorney cited a state law
requiring contributions continue into the pension plan of a public employee
whose job was abolished due to privatization. This applies to those former
public employees who were hired by the private company and continued to perform
the same or similar duties under their new employer. The OPERS ruled in January
2005 the law applied to the five former jail employees hired by CiviGenics.
Commissioners and the county sheriff spent the next two years appealing the
decision through the OPERS system before the final ruling was issued two months
ago. At one time, the attorney stated 19 former jail employees were affected, 11
of whom were no longer working for CiviGenics as of 2005. This was contested by
commissioners. Following the Nov. 15 ruling by the OPERS board, the county
auditor’s office was provided the necessary paperwork to fill out in order for
the retroactive pension compensation payments to be made. This was followed up
with a letter from the attorney, who threatened to take legal action unless the
county replied by the end of the year. Officials don’t know how much the five
employees are owed, but it could be in significant, depending how long they
worked for CiviGenics. Commissioners are required to contribute into OPERS a
dollar amount equal to about 14 percent of the employees’ salary, with the
employee required to contribute the same percentage. Commission Chairman Jim
Hoppel said they have yet to confer with their attorney about the lawsuit and
declined comment until then. He did say the county has saved more than $7
million since hiring CiviGenics 10 years ago. It was commissioners who
inadvertently contributed to the situation that currently exists by encouraging
CiviGenics to hire as many ex-jail employees as possible. “You try to be fair,
but that’s the way it goes,” Hoppel said. This would be the second large
settlement commissioners would have to pay out because of their decision to
privatize county jail operations. In 2002, commissioners agreed to pay $300,000
to former jail employees to resolve outstanding labor complaints arising out of
the privatization.
October 20, 2007 Morning Journal News
A fired county jail guard was sentenced to prison for smuggling marijuana to
inmates in exchange for money. Gary J. Ludt, 37, of Bergholz, was sentenced to
18 months in prison during a hearing Friday before Columbiana County Common
Pleas Court Judge C. Ashley Pike. In August, Ludt pleaded guilty to smuggling
and attempted smuggling of prohibited items into the jail. Assistant County
Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones recommended Ludt be sentenced to 18 months in
prison because of the seriousness of the crime and the fact he should be held to
a higher standard because of his position. “It goes without saying this kind of
conduct maligns law enforcement everywhere,” she said, adding that while under
indictment Ludt was also charged in Jefferson County with possessing weapons
while under indictment. Defense attorney Sherrie Liebschner pointed out her
client didn’t have any a prior criminal record and he had taken complete
responsibility for his actions. She said the Jefferson County charge was there
result of Ludt going hunting. She asked for leniency on behalf of Ludt. “My
client is afraid for his life in this matter.” Ludt had no comment when it came
time for him to address Judge Pike, who said his actions damaged the public’s
perception of the entire criminal justice system. The crimes occurred in late
September 2006. In both instances, Ludt was under surveillance by agents from
the county drug task force. In the one instance, Ludt was caught in the jail
parking with a package of marijuana that had been left for him on top of one of
his vehicle tires. Ludt was arrested while walking to the jail after taking
possession of the package. Investigators claimed Ludt had been smuggling small
packages that included marijuana, tobacco, rolling papers, cigarettes and
lighters, which he sold to inmates for $20 to $50. Ludt told investigators he
needed the extra money. Ludt was employed by CiviGenics Inc., the private
company hired by county commissioners to run the jail.
June 19, 2007 Salem News
A trial for a former corrections officer accused of smuggling marijuana into
the Columbiana County Jail remains set for June 26. Gary Ludt, 36, whose last
known address was 102 W. Main St., Salineville, appeared Monday for a status
hearing in Common Pleas Court with his defense attorney Sherri Liebschner.
Liebschner advised Judge C. Ashley Pike that she told her client the latest
offer from the prosecutor’s office, but there was no resolution to the case.
Ludt was indicted last fall for two counts of illegal conveyance of prohibited
items onto the grounds of a detention facility, both third-degree felonies.
Court documents said Ludt was working for CiviGenics as a corrections officer
and allegedly smuggled marijuana and tobacco into the facility to sell to
inmates last September.
March 9, 2007 Vindicator
An investigation into contraband being smuggled into the Columbiana County
Jail has been turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and
Investigation. Sgt. Brian McLaughlin, director of the Columbiana County Drug
Task Force, said Thursday the move was made to avoid any appearance of
impropriety. The task force is based at the building that includes the sheriff's
and coroner's offices, as well as the jail that is run by CiviGenics Inc., a
company in Milford, Mass. McLaughlin declined to comment on the investigation
but said it is ongoing. The task force began investigating smuggling at the jail
last year. Columbiana County Common Pleas Court records indicate that at least
one inmate used a cell phone smuggled into the jail to try to get drugs brought
into the facility. Jason L. Jackson, 28, of East Liverpool, was suspended
without pay Monday from his part-time job as a St. Clair Township patrolman. He
has not been charged.
March 8, 2007 Morning Journal
A St. Clair Township police officer who was suspended this week is suspected
of smuggling marijuana and cell phones to county jail inmates, according to
court records. The officer, Jason L. Jackson, also was fired Monday from his job
as a guard at the Columbiana County Jail, according to Jail Warden Hank Escola.
A request for a search warrant received by the county Drug Task Force indicated
the DTF was investigating Jackson because of allegations he was taking
prohibited items into the county jail for inmates. The alleged items included
cell phones, marijuana and tobacco. The search warrant stated the DTF received
information in January that Jackson and another guard had been engaging in this
behavior. The investigation culminated in the DTF obtaining a search warrant
over the weekend for Jackson’s pickup truck, with the warrant being executed
Sunday. The report on what the DTF may have found in Jackson’s truck has yet to
be filed in county Common Pleas Court. St. Clair Township Police Chief Don Hyatt
told the Morning Journal on Tuesday he suspended Jackson “while an investigation
is conducted into his alleged participation in criminal activity” and that this
criminal activity did not involve the township department. Warden Escola said he
fired Jackson Monday after being briefed by DTF officials. He said the other
implicated guard was fired last week for unrelated violations of policy and
procedures and failing to follow warden directives. He emphasized the other
guard’s dismissal had nothing to do with any of the alleged activities involving
Jackson. “That had been rumored, but there was no supportive information
presented to me” indicating the other guard was involved in any illegal
activity, he said. Jackson, 28, was still a probationary employee at the jail,
having worked there the past two months. The other guard had been employed for
the past 18 months. Last fall, former guard Gary Ludt was arrested after
allegedly being caught in the act of trying to smuggle the following items into
the jail: marijuana, loose tobacco, rolling papers and cigarette lighters. The
items were found hidden in Ludt’s belt when searched by DTF agents while he was
walking from his vehicle in the jail parking lot to report for his work shift.
Ludt, 36, reportedly was paid $20 to $50 for each package he was to deliver. He
is scheduled to go on trial May 8. The county jail is run by CiviGenics Inc., a
private company hired by county commissioners. Escola said this type of activity
obviously will not be tolerated.
November 10, 2006 Youngstown Vindicator
Columbiana County Sheriff David Smith said he will try to stop a planned pizza
party for jail inmates during the upcoming Ohio State-Michigan football game. "A
jail is a jail," an angry Smith said. The sheriff initially said there was no
pizza party planned when approached Thursday by The Vindicator. When shown a
notice about the party given to inmates at the privately run jail, Smith said,
"There will be no party." Still, Smith said he was not sure he can stop it. He
said he is the only sheriff in Ohio who does not control his county jail — it is
run by CiviGenics of Milford, Mass. The commissioners had received and filed an
anonymous letter and a copy of a notice to inmates. The items were postmarked
Monday. The Vindicator had also received information about the party. The notice
to all inmates from Warden Hank Escola says, "As we all know, the Ohio
State/Michigan game is filled with so much tradition that we must to do
something to show our support for the Buckeyes." The notice said inmates will
each get three slices of pizza in addition to their regular meals. Inmates who
can't eat pizza are to notify authorities so "we can make other arrangements,"
according to the notice. In return, the notice says inmates must keep their
cells and living areas clean, keep the noise down during the game, stop
"horseplay and childish games" and "help us to help you to have an easy time
while you're here." The anonymous letter to the commissioners asked, "Since when
did we start to reward inmates for crimes they commit and make their stay in
jail easy? What are we running, a jail or a resort?" The letter said that
inmates had rioted in September over the food and caused $4,000 in damage to the
jail. Smith said the damage was actually closer to $6,000. Five inmates have
been charged in the riot. In a separate, ongoing investigation, a civilian
jailer and another person have been charged with trying to smuggle drugs and
contraband into the jail. The jailer has been fired by CiviGenics. The jail's
food manager, who worked for a company under contract with CiviGenics, has been
replaced.
September 14, 2006 Youngstown Vindicator
Columbiana County's financial situation is looking a little bit better as
the year winds down. Auditor Nancy Milliken said there is a chance the county
may end the year with $600,000 to $800,000 in cash and some unpaid bills.
Commissioner Jim Hoppel and Commissioner Gary Williams estimated in July the
county might have a year-end balance with up to $1.2 million to start 2007. That
forecast was based on the county's not paying an estimated $1.1 million to $1.3
million in bills to CiviGenics Inc. this year. On Wednesday, commissioners told
CiviGenics, the company that runs the county jail, they will continue to pay the
company within 90 days of receiving each monthly bill. Hoppel said that delaying
payments longer would cause financial problems for the Massachusetts-based
company. The county has paid CiviGenics for June, is about to pay the July bill
and hasn't received the bill for August.
August 12, 2006 Salem News
Columbiana County Jail operator CiviGenics recently asked for "written
assurances" that the county will pay its bills for housing prisoners, regardless
of what happens with the sales tax. The company also warned the termination
provision for ending the contract could be reduced to 30 days and could be put
into effect. "Any plan to artificially reduce the county jail population will
invoke CiviGenics rights to exercise a 30-day termination provision," the letter
from Chief Operating Officer Peter Argeropulos said. Commissioners received the
letter last month, a promised response to an earlier visit from Argeropulos, who
had asked the commissioners for an update on the county's money situation. When
commissioners approved the general fund appropriations for this year, one area
they shorted was the contract for CiviGenics, predicting the shortage could
leave them with $1 million to $1.5 million in prisoner housing bills to pay with
next year's funds, which they've said could be even shorter. At this point, the
county has paid all the bills to CiviGenics on time.
July 27, 2006 Vindicator
Columbiana County commissioners say better finances have reduced the county's
projected 2006 deficit. The commissioners said Wednesday that a variety of
factors went into the new calculations. Voters in November and May rejected a
0.5-percent sales tax that brings in about $4 million a year. The issue will be
on the November ballot. Commissioners Jim Hoppel and Gary Williams estimate that
the county may have a year-end balance of $600,000 to $1.2 million with some
unpaid bills. Commissioner Sean Logan's more conservative estimates indicate the
county may have about a $500,000 carryover with unpaid bills. The county needs a
balance to fund operations at the start of each year until taxes are collected.
Both forecasts are based on the idea that the county will not pay $1.1 million
to $1.3 million in bills for 2006. That includes about $800,000 the county
expects to owe CiviGenics Inc., the company that runs the county jail, and about
$172,000 to the Multi-County Juvenile Attention System.
December 22, 2005 Morning Journal-News
County Commissioners breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after approving the
requests by officeholders to appropriate the money they budgeted for each office
into the individual accounts. The one area that has the commissioners concerned
is the county jail. Last year, the county spent $491,273 during the first
quarter. The commissioners budgeted $570,000 for the first quarter of 2006.
However, commissioners are concerned that this might not be enough.
Commissioners indicated that the county was charged $289,000 for the last bill
they received from Civigenics, the company which operates the jail. This means
that if that pattern continues, the money appropriated will be only
approximately two-thirds of the money needed to pay for the jail.
September 22, 2005 The Review
With costs piling up for the hospitalization of murder defendant James Kovach
Jr., Columbiana County Commissioners took emergency action Wednesday to reduce
their financial liability. The commissioners approved a contract with Maxim
Healthcare of Boardman for a licensed practical nurse to cover times when
CiviGenics personnel aren't available at the county jail, so Kovach can be
transferred back to the jail. By law, counties must carry the burden of medical
costs for inmates in their care, which means the county will have to pay for the
hospitalization costs. As of Tuesday, the total overtime accumulated by deputies
manning the post exceeded $3,000. CiviGenics, the company running the county
jail, has a nursing staff, but doesn't have 24-hour-a-day coverage. Smith said
the county would have to cover the cost of a nurse to cover the empty shifts.
Maxim Nursing will cover Tuesday through Saturday at a cost of $1,424 at a rate
of $30 per hour on weekdays and $32 per hour for Friday and Saturday. The county
will also foot the bill for two nurses employed by CiviGenics to work extra
hours to cover Sundays and Mondays, at a cost of $360 at a rate of $20 per hour.
November 9, 2004 Morning Journal
A malfunctioning door alarm and a loose section of fence were responsible for
the recent escape of an inmate from the Columbiana County Jail. Michael Mick,
27, Frischkorn Drive, Wellsville, escaped from the minimum-security wing of the
jail complex on Oct. 30 by exiting through a door and then crawling under a
section of fence. County Commission Chairman Jim Hoppel toured the jail this
week and discussed the escape with officials from CiviGenics Inc., the private
company that operates the jail. Hoppel learned that Mick exited the jail through
a door which has a security alarm to notify corrections officers when it has
been opened. He said the alarm for the door and another malfunctioned and did
not alert the staff they had been opened. Although outside the building, Mick
still had to get out of the jail compound, which is surrounded by security fence
topped with razor wire. Hoppel
said the bottom of the fence is a tension cable that is supposed to be secured
to concrete pilings every eight feet, but Mick found a section of fence where
this was not done.
November 8, 2004 The Review
Some changes are to be made at the Columbiana County Jail as a result of a
recent escape. Commissioner Jim Hoppel met Monday afternoon with officials of
CiviGenics to discuss some upcoming work. Hoppel said a person familiar with
installing fences is to be asked to inspect the area and make recommendations on
the fence. Hoppel also stated two doors on which the alarms are not working
properly will be repaired.
October 31, 2004 Morning Journal
An
inmate from the Columbiana County jail remains loose after escaping Friday night
with a suspected truck stolen for the getaway found near the escapee's home.
According to the incident report filed by Civigenics, Mick was not located after
a lockdown at 9:15 p.m. with a complete search of the facility and a head count.
Smith said the perimeter and surrounding property was searched by deputies and
jail employees.
October 25, 2004 The Review
Democrat sheriff candidate John Soldano offered his own idea for keeping jail
profits in Columbiana County, suggesting an arrangement similar to the one used
for public defender services. Last week he challenged the $800,000 to $1 million
savings touted by the county through the jail contract with CiviGenics, telling
county commissioners he wanted to see the private company's revenue and
expenditure statement for himself to see if an alternative was possible. Soldano
said he didn't receive much information, at least not enough to verify the
savings, but he did note a net profit for CiviGenics of $962,000 since June
2002, money which he said left the county unnecessarily due to the lack of an
alternate plan.
October 23, 2004 The Review
The Democratic candidate for Columbiana County Sheriff questioned the numbers he
received from county commissioners for jail operations, but Commissioner Jim
Hoppel said the numbers are what they are. "That's what CiviGenics gave
us," Hoppel said Friday. Leetonia
Police Chief John Soldano, who's running against Republican incumbent Sheriff
David Smith, issued a written request earlier this week to Smith and the three
county commissioners asking for the annual revenues/expenditures statement for
CiviGenics, the private firm running the county jail. Soldano said he wanted to
study the numbers for himself to see if the county's really saving the amount of
money reported or whether it was financially feasible for the sheriff's office
to operate the jail. "I received some information from the
commissioners, however, I'm not so sure the information is accurate that I
received," he said. According
to Soldano, the numbers weren't adding up from the figures he had and they
didn't seem 100 percent accurate.
Correctional
Treatment Facility
Lucas County, Ohio
Aramark
March 18, 2005 Toledo Blade
Three Lucas County work-release inmates were taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical
Center Wednesday after they ate food that contained what appeared to be metal
shavings. Two of the inmates were released from the hospital and returned to the
facility, 1111 Madison Ave. One was kept for unrelated reasons, said Jean Atkin,
county Common Pleas Court administrator. She said work-release and the
Correctional Treatment Facility, 1100 Jefferson Ave., receive food from the
county jail, which contracts with Aramark for food service. Treatment facility
officials yesterday reported a similar problem, but they thought the pieces were
aluminum foil, Ms. Atkin said. She said no one at the treatment facility ate the
food, which was thrown away. Rick Keller, corrections administrator, said he did
not hear of any food complaints in the jail. Ms. Atkin said a complaint was
lodged with the food provider. She said the contract with Aramark is up for
renewal soon and that there have been some concerns about the food service.
Aramark officials could not be reached for comment.
Coshocton
County Justice Center
Coshocton, Ohio
Aramark
July 23, 2004
The new contract for the kitchen crew and the food they serve at the Coshocton
County Justice Center comes with good news and bad news. The two cooks at
the jail, Janet Swaney and Vickie McKee, will keep their current salaries.
However, the cooks will lose insurance and retirement benefits through the
county, and pay twice as much for health insurance with the contracted company.
Details of the contract with Aramark were worked out with administrators at the
sheriff's office and the Coshocton County Commissioners. "We'll
be making our current wages, (but) we'll be losing out on several things,"
she said. "If you don't have a county job, you don't have the retirement.
What we've put (into our retirement), we'll get, but it won't continue."
(Coshocton Tribune)
Cuyahoga County
Jail
Cuyahoga, Ohio
Extraditions International
September 12, 2001
A van transporting 12 prisoners from a Cuyahoga County jail to upstate New York
was hijacked Tuesday by one of the prisoners in a failed escape attempt, police
said. During a food stop, a guard and the driver of the van, which was
operated by Extraditions International, a private company, went into a
McDonald's restaurant, leaving a female guard to watch the prisoners.
Police said one of the prisoners, Lawrence Tutt, 32, of Pueblo, Colo.,
overwhelmed the woman, jumped in the driver's seat and sped off. Police
were able to stop the van after a brief chase and take all the prisoners into
custody. (AP)
Franklin County
Jail
Franklin, Ohio
Correctional Medical Services
March 7, 2002
Charles Dials was
carjacked while driving past the Franklin County
Courthouse.
With
a few phone calls, a doctor at the Franklin County jail would have been
warned that inmate Alva Campbell might be faking his paralysis.
That
evidence was in a deposition taken for a lawsuit filed by the family of
Charles Dials, whom Campbell killed during a 1997 escape. The family
recently settled for $1 million with the company that provided medical
services at the jail. The
settlement between Dials' family and Correctional Medical Services was
recorded Monday in Franklin County Probate Court. Campbell
jumped out of a wheelchair as he was being brought to the county
courthouse on April 2, 1997, and overpowered a deputy. The deputy had not
handcuffed Campbell because she thought he was a paraplegic.
The
hospital treated Campbell for a gunshot wound suffered when a store manager
shot him during a robbery attempt.
Common Pleas Judge Richard S.Sheward in November ruled in favor of Dials'
family.
"This
was a 1998 case and Correctional Medical dragged its feet and ignored
orders to comply so I gave a default judgment to the plaintiff,'' Sheward
said. "It wasn't a complicated case, but it was a serious case of a
wrongful
death of a young person who was executed.'' (The Dispatch)
Hamilton County
Jail
Hamilton County, Ohio
Correctional Medical Services
March 17, 2006 Enquirer
Seeing her with her head shaved, it apparently was easy for Stacey Erwin's
co-workers to believe she was being treated for cancer, and they wanted to help.
But police say the 40-year-old Erwin, who worked as a nurse at the Hamilton
County Jail, does not have cancer, and they have charged her with theft for
taking more than $5,000 in donations. "She was telling people she had brain
cancer, and they were giving her money," Steve Barnett, spokesman for the
Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, said Thursday. "One of her co-workers got
suspicious of her behavior." The sheriff's office said Erwin, of West McMillan
Street in Clifton Heights, obtained the money from "numerous co-workers after
leading them to believe she was suffering from cancer." Erwin, who was arrested
last week, was released on her own recognizance pending her next court
appearance. Barnett said Erwin even convinced even her husband she had cancer,
and he had unwittingly accepted donations on her behalf. Money problems
apparently prompted Erwin's scam, Barnett said. Erwin, a contract employee, has
been fired, Barnett said. Erwin was employed by St. Louis-based Correctional
Medical Services, which provides medical personnel for jails around the country.
Lake
Erie Correctional Institution
Conneaut, Ohio
Management and Training Corporation
May 18, 2005 AP
Ashtabula County's budget problems are so severe that dozens of crimes
committed at one of the state's two privately operated prisons aren't being
prosecuted. The northeast Ohio county doesn't have enough money to handle all
the crimes reported, Prosecutor Thomas Sartini said. Some crimes reported at the
Lake Erie Correctional Institution are being overlooked as a result. "I
don't like not to prosecute any case that's a legitimate case," Sartini
said. "I've always taken the position that we're going to prosecute cases
to the fullest extent, but if I've got one hand tied behind my back, it's a
little tough to do. So we're in a position where we've had to make some calls.
The only crimes consistently prosecuted from the prison involve inmates
assaulting guards or attempts to smuggle drugs into the prison. State Highway
Patrol records show that inmate attacks on other inmates are usually overlooked.
Prisoners aren't being prosecuted for having weapons, either.
March 14, 2004
An inmate at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution was found badly beaten
Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The inmate, identified as Bobby Donaldson,
22, was reportedly struck by a padlock placed inside a sock, officials said.
(Star Beacon)
January 24, 2003
CONNEAUT - The state
prison perched on Conneaut's East Side generated nearly
$400,000
for the city's budget last year, nearly half of that in municipal income-tax
revenues, according to figures provided by Finance Director John Williams.
The information has been relayed to Gov. Bob Taft, who on Wednesday
confirmed he will close at least one state prison to help heal a $720 million
budget deficit. The Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut has not been
excluded, officials have said. The
medium-security prison is operated by Management and Training Corp., of Utah,
and MTC employees - more than 250 people - paid nearly $125,000 in city income
taxes, Williams said. The prison
also buys a huge amount of water from the city. Water revenue from the prison
was $88,000, while sewer revenue was $159,000, Williams said.
Conneaut counts on prison-related revenues to help pay off its
prison-related debt. To entice the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and
Correction to consider a Conneaut site for its first privately managed prison,
the city offered gifts of land and infrastructure.
While the state contributed more than $39 million to the prison project -
primarily in construction costs - Conneaut agreed to absorb nearly $2.1 million
in expenses. The city's expenses include sewer lines ($647,000), waterlines
($591,000), a mandatory water tank ($532,000) and land ($309,000). Loans were
obtained to help the city handle the costs.
The city bought nearly 500 acres of land from USX Corp. and donated some
175 acres to the state for the prison. The balance of the acreage is home to the
East Conneaut Industrial Park and the city's compost site.
State Rep. George Distel, D-Conneaut, has said the loss of the prison
would bankrupt the city since it would lose its main method of repaying the
prison debt. Distel has said he has shared Williams' information with Taft's
office. (The Staff)
Lucas County
Miscellaneous
September 22, 2003
The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information on the whereabouts of
a jail inmate who escaped Monday from a West Toledo hospital, where he was
awaiting surgery for a jaw injury he had sustained the day before in a jail
elevator. John A. Perez, 23, whose last known address was in the 900 block
of Elm Street in Toledo, had finished taking a shower when he asked a guard
whether he could return to the bathroom in his second-floor room at St. Anne
Mercy Hospital so he could spit out blood from the jaw injury. He wasn’t
wearing leg irons because he had just gotten out of the shower. A private
security guard, who was hired by the sheriff’s office, turned his head, and
Mr. Perez ran out the door and down the hall and fire escape, wearing only a
hospital gown, authorities said. Mr. Perez was arrested Aug. 13 on two
counts of felonious assault. He is accused of shooting Anthony Contreras in the
right leg and firing at a vehicle driven by Dustin Evans on July 27 in East
Toledo. Anyone who can provide information on Mr. Perez’s whereabouts is
asked to call the Toledo Crime Stopper program at 419-255-1111. Callers
may remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward. (Toledo
Blade.com)
Mahoning
County Jail
Mahoning, Ohio
Prison Medical Services
November 25, 2002
Mahoning County will
pay more next year to provide medical
services for county jail inmates. The
county has contracted with Prison Medical Services of Brentwood, Tenn., since
the jail on Fifth Avenue opened in 1996. In
December, commissioners increased the monthly payment to PMS by $13,000, for
a
total of $102,000.
The company had threatened to drop the county without the increase
because it was losing too much money.
To help keep the cost down, commissioners will probably have to give up
an indemnification clause that has shielded the county from incurring any costs
for medical treatment required by inmates who are transferred to a hospital or
special treatment facility outside the jail.
Under those terms, the contract would cost the county $1,409,364 a year,
which is an increase of $183,186 over what the county pays now. (The
Vindicator)
Miami Fort Power
Plant
Cleves, Ohio
Wackenhut (Group 4)
December 20, 2004 Cincinnati Enquirer
A
security guard at a Cinergy power plant in Cleves has been accused of making a
false report of a bomb threat and other security breaches. Adam D. Griffin, 19,
of Lawrenceburg, Ind., was charged inducing panic, a fourth-degree felony, and
three misdemeanor counts of making a false alarm, according to the Hamilton
County Sheriff's office. Griffin is an employee of Wackenhut Security Corp. and
was working as a night security guard at Cinergy's Miami Fort power station.
Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections
January 22, 2003
A variety of factors
will determine which of Ohio's prisons will close to help trim a state budget
shortfall, officials said Tuesday. Andrea
Dean, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman, confirmed
the Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut is "on the table"
and not exempt from consideration. The privately managed prison is one of 33
prisons under review. Several factors will determine which prison - or prisons -
are closed, Dean said. Location, age, security issues and maintenance costs are
among the variables, she said. If so, that bodes well for LaECI, which opened
its doors in April 2000, said State Rep. George Distel, D-Conneaut. In
the meantime, Distel said he was preparing a report for prison leaders,
detailing the financial investment made by the City of Conneaut regarding the
prison. His report will touch on money spent years ago to buy land and to extend
water and sewer lines for the prison project. As a result of the financial
incentives, the city has incurred some debt on behalf of the prison, Distel
said.
(Star Beacon)
November 10, 2001
A much-criticized contract to feed convicts in a southeastern Ohio prison is
merely one example of a much-larger problem with the state's efforts to
privatize government operations, a union spokesman said yesterday. Peter
Wray of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association made his comments shortly
after Auditor Jim Petro released a report that severely lambasted the 1998
contract. "This is just the tip of the iceberg,'' Wray said.
"This is a textbook case of why privatization doesn't work. The hidden
costs of privatization happen in case after case.'' Petro's audit involved
a contract between the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and
Aramark Correctional Services to provide meals for prisoners at Noble
Correctional Institution in Caldwell. Previously, full-time state
employees bought the food for Noble's 1,730 inmates and oversaw its preparation
and distribution. But in November 1998, the state awarded a two-year contract to
Aramark, a private company based in Oakbrook, Ill., to take over the operation
for $3.52 million. Prisoners soon complained about the quality and
quantity of the food and the contract was verbally amended during a closed-door
meeting between the company and state officials. The amended contract
allowed the company to charge taxpayers $2.1 million -- 60 percent -- more, the
audit found. After months of negative publicity, the correction department
last year chose not to renew the contract with Aramark. Instead, the department
awarded a two-year contract to Local 11 of the civil service employees union,
which allows state employees to again take over food-service operations at
Noble. At a news conference yesterday, Petro said amending the Aramark
contract did not violate the law. However, the change "allowed for the
waste of public dollars,'' he added. Ideally, contracts should be written
so they don't have to be amended, Petro said. And if an amendment is
necessary, it should be done in writing, not verbally and in private, he said.
Privatizing some government operations can save taxpayers money, Petro added.
However, such privatizing must be closely monitored by state officials to
prevent hidden expenses and cost overruns, he said. Wray contended that
the Aramark contract is relatively small, compared with other privatization
efforts by the corrections department and other agencies. Entire
operations -- not just food services -- are privatized at Lake Erie Correctional
Institution in Conneaut and the North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in
Grafton, Wray noted. Those two prisons, which hold 1,360 and 530 inmates,
respectively, opened last year with private companies providing all employees.
Wray said his union has heard repeated complaints about lax supervision, high
turnover and mistreatment of inmates at both prisons. But Thomas Stickrath,
the correction department's assistant director, said operations there are being
handled efficiently. The correction department has assigned a full-time
monitor at each of the prisons to keep close tabs on privatized operations,
Stickrath said. He acknowledged that Aramark "was not a perfect
vendor.'' But when Local 11 bid on a new contract, the union came up with ways
the state employees could cut food-service costs, Stickrath said. "We
sat down with the union and negotiated a better deal,'' he said. Petro's
audit yesterday also criticized a program that allows prisoners to take college
courses. Many inmates who enrolled in the courses never actually attended
classes, wasting $3 million, the audit found. Stickrath conceded that his
agency's monitoring of the inmate education program was "sloppy.''
New procedures have been implemented to ensure taxpayers are not charged for
courses that inmates do not attend, he said. (The Columbus Disatch)
November 9, 2001
The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction also paid a private food-service
company $2.08 million more for meals served to inmates than the state's contract
with the company required, according to the audit. The report by state
Auditor Jim Petro has two parts. The first is an investigation of a contract
between the state and Aramark, which is based in Oakbrook, Ill., to provide
meals to inmates at Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell. Petro
began investigating the Aramark contract in December 1999 after getting an
anonymous tip that the company was billing the state for meals it hadn't served,
according to the report. A state employees' union took over food service
at Noble after Aramark's contract expired. (AP)
May 22, 2001
Two private companies managing state-owned prisons are violating state law and
have created unnecessary dangers because of high turnover rates among their
security staff, according to one of Ohio's state employee unions. The
group says that, according to information obtained yesterday from the Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, the Management and Training Corp.
and the CiviGenics Corp., which manage state prisons in Conneaut and Grafton,
respectively, are ignoring laws that require the companies to keep annual
turnover rates below 20 percent. CiviGenics' turnover at the North Coast
Correctional Treatment Facility was 52 percent for 2000, and plus an additional
13 percent turnover in the first quarter of 2001. MTC's Lake Erie
Correctional Institution was in operation for only nine months in 2000, yet they
had a 25 percent turnover among their security staff. The Criminal Justice
Institute's 1999 Corrections Yearbook showed that the average reported turnover
rate was nearly 41 percent. (Ohio Civil Service Employees Association News
Release)
March 22, 2001
The Internal Revenue Service, at odds with Ohio over the state's use of private
contractors to fill prison jobs, is auditing hundreds of contracts from 1998 and
1999. The largest of the 438 contracts were held by psychiatrists, doctors and
other medical professional, including more than 60 six-figure agreements.
The IRS has strict rules for when a worker is classified as an independent
contractor, which involves a different method of tax payment. In the state's
case, the IRS is claiming that the prison contractors should have been state
employees and taxed as such, said Tina Krueger, a lawyer with the prison system.
The state argues that it's up to private contractors to pay their own federal
taxes. The contractors pay taxes now under different IRS rules for independent
contractors. (AP, March 22, 2001)
Northeast
Ohio Correctional Center
Youngstown, Ohio
CCA
March 18, 2008 The Huffington Report
At a moment when Democratic Party officials are urging voters to trust
unelected superdelegates to act in the country's best interests, HuffPost's
OffTheBus investigation into the background of DNC superdelegates reveals at
least one appointed superdelegate who is as likely to use his political
connections for personal profit as for the greater good. Take the case of Joseph
F. Johnson, a member-at-large of the Democratic National Committee from
Chantilliy, Virginia -a suburb of Washington D.C. -- and a superdelegate
currently tilting toward Hillary Clinton. Using his web of connections, Johnson
successfully lobbied for the construction of a private prison linked to a
company on whose board he sat; he managed to have that prison contract with
other companies he was linked to; and though the prison became a notorious and
dangerous failure, Johnson benefited personally, pulling in millions of dollars
in stock options and fees. Johnson first rose through the ranks of the
Democratic machine in the early 1990s, as executive director of Jesse Jackson's
Rainbow PUSH Coalition. He brought with him strong ties to D.C. government that
he'd built after his first job in the nation's capital, as chief of staff for
the city of Washington DC's city council head. He also managed Douglas Wilder's
successful campaign to become Virginia's first African-American governor in
1991. And Johnson advised Mark Warner on his successful 2001 gubernatorial bid
in Virginia. Johnson's reputation as a mover and shaker in D.C. Democratic
politics helped pave the way for his appointment to the board of Corrections
Corporation of America, the largest operator of private prisons in the country.
While serving in that position from 1996 to 1999, Johnson was instrumental in
convincing the local government in Washington, DC to pay CCA to run a prison in
Youngstown, Ohio for DC inmates, according to SEC filings for the company.
Meanwhile, two of Johnson's own companies, National Corrections and
Rehabilitation (NCRC) and MedCorr, were contracted to provide employment
rehabilitation and health services in the same prison he helped establish. The
private Ohio prison which Johnson helped establish was, according to
Youngstown's then-mayor, "a nightmare." By 1998, there had been two fatal
stabbings, 44 assaults, and six escapes at the prison. A Department of Justice
report found that under CCA, the prison had "failed to accomplish the basic
mission of correctional safety;" and prisoners eventually collected $1.65
million in damages and legal costs for their treatment under CCA. News reports
traced the problems at the prison to both CCA's management and D.C. Corrections'
practice of sending high-security inmates to the medium-security facility. The
problems, Johnson told the Washington Post at the time, weren't "anyone's fault,
it was just one of those things." Mr. Johnson nonetheless profited from the
deal, receiving $2.6 million in stock options for his work linking CCA with
officials in Washington, D.C. Calling his work "instrumental" to their receipt
of the contract, CCA said that Mr. Johnson had "exceeded his duties and
obligations" to the company and also paid him $382,000 for his "consulting
services" in helping to arrange the deal, and $991,000 for NCRC's services in
another CCA prison in Texas. Johnson had also helped arrange for Washington,
D.C. to sell one of its local prisons to CCA in 1996. Local activists complained
that procurement rules had been skipped over to hand the bid to CCA, but the
deal ultimately went through, and CCA then managed the facility and used NCRC to
provide services to inmates. When the Washington Post asked Johnson if he
considered his dual roles as a conflict of interest, he replied, "Not in my
mind." Two years later, the Washington Post reported that CCA faced $1.3 million
in fines for failing to provide services to inmates, including $536,000 in fines
for failing to properly administer medications and another $77,400 for failing
to provide vision services. The city's Department of Corrections, despite being
$8.8 million in the red, suspended most of the fines, according to Post reports
from the time. Johnson has over time expanded his list of companies; NCRC is
technically a subsidiary of his firm, the Johnson Companies [www.jcmps.com].
Under that umbrella, Mr. Johnson also houses the Houston-based Satellite
Tracking of People, LLC (STOP), which deals in GPS tracking devices for inmates
and parolees; the Nashville-based ConnectGov, Inc, which coordinates distance
learning; and the National Preparedness Training Center, which trains first
responders to disasters.
September 7, 2007 The Vindicator
A corrections officer told police that she was punched by an inmate at the
private prison on Hubbard Road. Although the attack is alleged to have occurred
Aug. 30, the 41-year-old guard didn't file a report with city police until
Wednesday, saying she did so after contacting an attorney. She told police that
several individuals at Northeast Ohio Correctional Center had advised her not to
report what happened. Candace Rivera, prison spokesman, said incidents that
occur at the facility, which houses mostly illegal criminal aliens for the
federal Bureau of Prisons, are investigated internally and the findings turned
over to the FBI. She said any charge against an inmate would be federal, not
through the city prosecutor. Rivera said employees are advised that they can
contact city police if they want to file a report but the jurisdiction is not
the city's for an assault charge. Rivera said the report of an assault is the
first serious incident since the prison reopened in 2005 with federal inmates.
May 25, 2007 The Vindicator
A one-time counselor at the private prison on Hubbard Road slipped cocaine,
cigarettes, cell phones and MP3 players to an inmate, the government said. A
federal grand jury in Cleveland issued a two-count indictment Thursday charging
Michael K. Pearson, 35, of Fairmont Avenue, with bribery and providing
contraband in prison. The indictment describes Pearson as a public official who
accepted cash from an inmate for the prohibited items. The indictment alleges
that Pearson brought contraband into the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center from
January through August 2006. Pearson could not be reached. Pearson was hired at
NOCC on Dec. 6, 2004, and fired Aug. 25, 2006, for policy violations, said
Candace Rivera, prison spokeswoman. Results of the prison's investigation were
turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General
and the U.S. attorney's office in Cleveland. Rivera said Pearson's duties as a
counselor required him to act as liaison between inmates and prison officials.
Counselors take care of inmate's issues, such as grievances, and make sure they
complete work assignments, she said. Special OIG Agent Terrence Hake described
Pearson in a 12-page affidavit as a correction officer/counselor. Hake said an
informant inside the prison revealed to guards that Pearson was bringing in
prohibited items, such as marijuana, cigarettes, radios, MP3 players, body
building supplements and heroin — for one inmate.
May 24, 2007 The Vindicator
An Austintown man who said he was carjacked by an escaped federal prisoner
in a St. Elizabeth Health Center parking lot and held at gunpoint for three
hours as the man drove him to the Columbus area, sued the hospital and the
prison. Richard Orto Sr., 53, of Innwood Drive, filed the lawsuit this week
against St. Elizabeth and the Corrections Corp. of America's Northeast Ohio
Correctional Center on Hubbard Road. He alleges the April 2 carjacking, spawned
by neglect of proper security precautions, caused him "extreme mental agony and
emotional distress." The suit, which seeks damages in excess of $25,000 and
demands a jury trial, was filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by Atty.
John A. McNally III. Escape from hospital - The prisoner, Billy Jack Fitzmorris,
escaped from the hospital, where he was being treated, after using a homemade
knife to overpower, disarm and handcuff a NOCC guard, police said. Fitzmorris
took another guard and two nurses hostage for about 15 minutes, donned the
overpowered guard's uniform, fled the hospital and carjacked Orto with the
guard's .38-caliber revolver, authorities said. Orto managed to escape when
Fitzmorris stopped at a Columbus area convenience store. Fitzmorris went on to
rob two central Ohio banks, wreck the car in Hilliard and hold two more women
hostage, before surrendering in Hilliard and being held in Franklin County jail
on multiple charges. Tina Creighton, hospital public information officer, said
she couldn't comment specifically on the suit, but she said the hospital
"strives to provide a safe and secure environment for all our visitors and
patients." Orto and a NOCC representative could not be reached to comment.
May 20, 2007 Vindicator
A prison inmate accused of escaping during a hospital visit in Youngstown
was charged with robbing two banks and taking hostages before surrendering.
Billy Jack Fitzmorris, 34, also was indicted Thursday on three gun violations in
the April 2 escapade. Fitzmorris was at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center,
the private prison on Hubbard Road, Youngstown, awaiting sentencing on federal
drug charges when he went to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment.
Investigators say he overpowered two guards, stole an officer's gun and then
drove a carjacked vehicle about 150 miles to the Columbus area, where he robbed
the banks of more than $50,000. Police said they chased Fitzmorris to a house in
Hilliard, where he kicked in the door and held two women hostage. One escaped
out of a second-floor window, and the second was released when Fitzmorris
surrendered about two hours later, officers said. Fitzmorris could receive 45
years in prison when he's sentenced May 31 on the earlier cocaine convictions.
Authorities said they believe most of the money from the bank robberies has been
recovered.
April 3, 2007 AP
A Youngstown man said he tried to maintain calm conversation and keep an eye out
for a chance to make a getaway as he was driven across Ohio by an escaped prison
inmate accused of carjacking him at gunpoint after overpowering guards at a
hospital. "I just kept asking questions to take his mind off of whatever he was
going to do to me. I was trying to be his buddy because I thought, 'You wouldn't
hurt your buddy,'" Richard Orto said Tuesday. "It was the only thing I could
think of at the time, that the calmer he was, the better I was." Orto said he
was carjacked as he circled the lot at St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center in
Youngstown on Monday, looking for a spot to park so he could pick up his mother,
who was being discharged. He said the carjacker approached the car and stuck a
gun through the partially open driver's side window and told him to slide into
the passenger seat. Billy Jack Fitzmorris, 34, an inmate at Northeast Ohio
Correctional Center in Youngstown, was being treated at the hospital when he
overpowered prison guards, stealing a gun from one of them, before he forced his
way into Orto's car, authorities said. Orto said the two spent the next three
hours together. Fitzmorris drove the Chevrolet Impala about 150 miles from
Youngstown to the suburbs of Columbus, where he was eventually arrested Monday
afternoon after he robbed two banks and holed up for hours in a house with a
hostage, authorities said. Throughout the drive, Fitzmorris kept the gun tucked
between his leg and the car's center console, Orto said. "As we drove down we
talked. He was nervous and I was trying to keep him happy so that I could get my
own skin out of there," Orto said. "He told me as long as I was good, I would be
released unharmed." Fitzmorris responded to his questions, Orto said, and talked
about getting away to a place with no phones where he couldn't be found. Orto
told him about his family and his mother, hoping Fitzmorris would start to think
of him as a family man. Orto contemplated trying to escape when the car stopped
at a few intersections, but decided Fitzmorris and the gun were too close to
take a chance. Finally, Fitzmorris pulled into a shopping center in suburban
Powell, got out of the car and tucked the gun into the sleeve of his shirt, Orto
said. "All this time (in the car) I was thinking about how I was going to get
away," Orto said. "I just saw this as the best opportunity." "I took my shot
when I felt that he couldn't get it out," he said. Figuring it would take
Fitzmorris a few crucial seconds to get to the gun, Orto said, he darted out of
the car and ran across the parking lot into a UPS store, where employees called
911. Orto's girlfriend drove down to Columbus to pick him up Monday night after
he finished talking to law enforcement officials. While he said he's thankful he
made it out unscathed, Orto thinks the operators of the prison owe him an
explanation for how Fitzmorris was able to escape. "They've not contacted me,
but I think they should," he said.
April 3, 2007 AP
A report found that the private prison that housed an escaped Youngstown inmate
had an unusually high rate of inmates attacking other inmates. The report by the
state Correctional Institution Inspection Committee says the Northeast Ohio
Correctional Center reported 44 inmate-on-inmate attacks in a 12-month period in
2005 and 2006. By contrast, the state reported a total of 305 such assaults for
all 32 state facilities in 2005. The July 2006 report also questioned the
facility's 55 total inmate grievances for the same 12-month period, calling it
an extremely low figure for a prison. The report says a low number of grievances
can be a sign that inmates have lost faith in the system for reporting problems.
April 3, 2007 The Enquirer
A police SWAT team and federal marshals captured an escaped convict from
Youngstown Monday after surrounding a home-office in Hilliard. No one was hurt,
police said. The armed convict took a woman hostage for about two hours before
his arrest. A second woman jumped from a second-floor window, according to
witnesses. Convict Billy Jack Fitzmorris, 34, robbed two banks, one in Powell
and another in Upper Arlington, after escaping from a hospital in Youngstown
earlier Monday, police said. Columbus police spotted his car on Interstate 270
and chased him to Hilliard. Fitzmorris took a prison guard's gun and uniform
Monday morning after threatening him with a shank at St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
The blue and white uniform bore the insignia of Corrections Corp. of America,
the private prison operator. At least a dozen officers from Columbus and the
Franklin County Sheriff's Department entered the ground floor of the Hilliard
home - which doubled as an accountant's office - with guns drawn. Fitzmorris was
on the second floor, police said. Hilliard schools were locked down during the
incident at Norwich and Main streets near I-270. Fitzmorris had been imprisoned
in Youngstown for robbery, burglary and possession of stolen property after a
1997 carjacking. Federal officials said Fitzmorris "had nothing to lose" because
he faces a lengthy prison sentence for his multiple crimes.
July 17, 2006 Tribune Chronicle
A 32-year-old Warren man who police say sparked neighborhood manhunts over
sexual assaults last year faces potential life sentences for rape. Jury
selection is scheduled to get under way today for James L. Cline Jr., who has
remained in Trumbull County Jail for nearly a year in lieu of a $500,000 bond.
Potential jurors have been called to the courtroom of Judge John M. Stuard for
the trial that could run four or five days. The case against Cline involved
young girls in Niles and Warren who were sexually attacked or molested on their
way to or from school or near local parks. Cline was taken into custody Sept. 14
on a parole violation after the third teen reported she was attacked that
morning on her way to East Middle School, Warren police said. After the arrest,
Niles police started building a case against Cline since they said crimes there
in July occurred in similar fashion. In Warren, Cline was indicted for three
attacks that occurred during a seven-day span beginning Sept. 8. A Sept. 14
attack involved a 14-year-old girl, and one day earlier a 13-year-old girl was
attacked, also on her way to East Middle School, police say. The first attack
occurred to a 15-year-old girl walking home from Warren G. Harding High School
near the railroad tracks at Woodland Avenue N.E. She told police the man
surprised her from behind, pulled her into a nearby wooded area and assaulted
her, police say. In Niles, on July 1, 2005, two 11-year-old girls told police
they were in Kennedy Park in the late afternoon when a man approached them,
pulled out a gun and ordered them to follow him into the woods near Mosquito
Creek between Fairhaven School and the park’s basketball courts. Police said the
man sexually assaulted both girls in a similar manner to the teens in Warren.
After the assault, the man ordered the girls to start walking. He turned his
back on them, the girls said, and they ran away. Authorities say when the Niles
assaults occurred, Cline was on a 48-hour furlough from Corrections Corporation
of America.
May 22, 2006 Forbes
Youngstown, Ohio has tried to ignite an economic
revival-- by building prisons. When the Ohio State Department of Corrections
decided to move death row to Youngstown's supermaximum security prison a year
ago, then mayor George McKelvey was part of the welcoming committee. The city
was already home to Ohio's most dangerous inmates, and there were already three
more prisons, two jails and two halfway houses in the surrounding area. "Our
community is grateful for its presence here," McKelvey said of the move to add a
lethal component, "and the millions of dollars it contributes to our local
economy." If only. In fact, the metro region has been in decline since the
shutdown of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube's steelworks in 1977, the first of
50,000 industrial layoffs over the next decade. Turning to prison building over
the last ten years hasn't created the hoped-for economic salvation. Average
annual real income and job growth over the last five years have been
pitiful--negative 2.4% and negative 0.9%, respectively. Seeing little but bleak
opportunity, folks have been leaving the area at a rate of 0.4% a year. About
the only bright stat you can point to: The Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area has a
low crime rate--3,508 offenses per 100,000 people. Perhaps that's because most
of the ruffians are already in jail. Placing 198 out of 200 major metro regions,
Youngstown wins our booby prize this year. Who thought that backing the big
house would lead to bigger times? It was Patrick Ungaro, Mayor McKelvey's
predecessor, who, between 1993 and 1995, offered state officials and
private-prison owner Corrections Corporation of America free land and, in CCA's
case, a seven-year 50% tax abatement and new water and sewer lines. In return
Youngstown builders and suppliers got $127 million worth of contracts, the city
received an annual $895,000 boost in tax revenue and upward of 900 people
obtained jobs as guards, janitors, cooks and health care workers. The strategy
seemed to work for a while. The two prisons, along with the county jails, the
halfway houses, Warren state prison (which opened in 1992) and nearby Elkton's
federal prison (1997) created quite an industry. Between 1992 and 1997
Youngstown's gross metro product rose at an average 3.4% a year net of
inflation. The lift was not to last. Regional unemployment was a recent 6.7%,
down from 7.2% a year ago, thanks to upswings at metal manufacturers Exal Corp.
and V&M Tube and at Kmart and Toys "R" Us, which have warehouses there. The
problem is that Youngstown hasn't been able to attract much in the way of new
ventures or growing corporations to the area. Not for want of trying. In 2003
the Chamber of Commerce attempted to lure Boeing, to build its 787. The
aerospace giant opted out, officially because a coastal city made better sense
for receiving large shipments of parts. It appears, though, that the lack of a
highly skilled labor force played a role. Only one in six adults in the region
has a college degree. Besides, says John Russo, a Youngstown State University
business professor, "If I were a businessman, I'd look around and ask, 'Do I
really want be in an area that's basically a penal colony?'" Finding
neighborhood boosters is nigh impossible. "It's a bleak, sick, sad and pathetic
reality," says talk radio host Louie Free. "Prisons just fuel the cycle."
Youngstown's new mayor, Jay Williams, is hoping to break the cycle. The city has
given $200,000 or so in grants to a downtown auditorium and will spend $100,000
this year to improve lighting and landscaping. Williams is also pledging up to
$1 million in taxpayer money to build space for young high-tech companies that
graduate from an existing, nonprofit incubator. Who knows? Maybe some genius
there will invent a robotic chain gang foreman.
May 2, 2005 Vindicator
A Willoughby Hills accountant, who pleaded guilty about a week ago to 29
federal criminal counts, committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor in
the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center private prison on Hubbard Road. An
NOCC corrections officer found Paul A. Rendina, 53, in his cell breathing at
5:26 a.m. Sunday. Rendina had cut himself with a razor on the left and right
sides of his neck and on both arms, a Youngstown police report said. The
Federal Bureau of Prisons awarded a contract in December to Corrections
Corporation of America of Nashville, parent company of NOCC. The contract calls
for the federal government to house federal prisoners classified as low security
at the Hubbard Road facility.
November 5, 2004 Corrections
Professional
Ruling: An inmate's claim that he should have been paid the same wages as
workers in the private sector was rejected by an appeals court. Summary: Robert
R. Ziegler said while he was an Oklahoma state prisoner managed by Corrections
Corporation of America, he performed work for a company called Hy-Tec. He filed
a lawsuit against CCA and two company employees stating that his due process
rights had been violated when Hy-Tec failed to pay him the prevailing wage for
his work. Ziegler's complaint also asserted that CCA officials violated a state
statute by using his net rather than gross wages in determining how much money
to deposit in his inmate savings account. Finally, Ziegler said his due process
right was violated, as well as his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel
and unusual punishment. The District Court dismissed Ziegler's claims. On
appeal, Ziegler challenged the dismissal of his wage-related claims. In
particular, he argued that he had a constitutionally protected liberty interest
in being paid the prevailing wage. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
reviewed Ziegler's property and liberty interest claims arising from prison
conditions and determined that Ziegler's complaints did not present an atypical
deprivation. The appeals court affirmed the decision of the lower court.
September 9, 2004 The Tennessean
Recent actions in two states could delay or kill Corrections Corporation of
America's efforts to win contracts to house new prison inmates there. In
Georgia, the state's procurement office because of ''budget'' reasons has
canceled a request for proposals on a contract to house 1,000 inmates, said Pat
Swindle, an analyst at investment banking firm Avondale Partners of Nashville.
CCA was one of the bidders on the contract and, if successful, had planned to
house the inmates at its Stewart County Correctional Facility in Lumpkin, Ga.
Swindle, in a stock research report issued yesterday, also cited actions in
Connecticut that could affect CCA's bid to win a contract to house up to 2,500
inmates. M. Jodi Rell, that state's new governor, just announced plans to bring
home by year-end the 400 Connecticut inmates housed in a Virginia prison. She
also has expressed a lack of interest in sending Connecticut inmates to
privatized prisons outside the state, Swindle said.
May 1, 2004 Corrections Caselaw
Quarterly
Warren v. District of Columbia, 353 F.3d 36 (D.C.Cir. 2004). A prisoner brought
a pro se [section] 1983 action against the District of Columbia, alleging that
he suffered constitutional violations while incarcerated in a private prison
operated under contract with the District. The district court dismissed the
claim and the prisoner appealed. The appeals court reversed and remanded,
finding that the prisoner's allegations that the District had, or should have
had, knowledge of alleged constitutional violations were sufficient to state a
claim against the District under [section] 1983. The prisoner alleged that
private prison officials used common needles to draw blood from prisoners.
(Corrections Corporation of America, Youngstown, Ohio)
March 26, 2004
Mahoning County commissioners were slapped with a lawsuit and
unkind words Thursday from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 141.
"They don't do their jobs," FOP president Glenn
Kountz said of commissioners. "They get paid $65,000 a year to do a
part-time job and they don't even do that." The
FOP filed a lawsuit in common pleas court against Commissioners Ed Reese, Vicki
Allen Sherlock and David Ludt, and against Sheriff Randall Wellington.
It says that a plan to bring federal inmates to Mahoning County
and house them in a private prison on the city's East Side violates terms of the
FOP's contract. Local 141 represents deputy sheriffs. Commissioners
and other county officials have worked for months to strike a deal with federal
authorities for housing the federal inmates at the Northeast Ohio Correctional
Center on Hubbard Road. The first busload of inmates was due to arrive Thursday.
About 70 federal inmates are regularly kept in the county jail
while they await appearances in federal court. The federal government reimburses
the county $67 per day for each inmate kept there. What's
behind suit Under the new plan, more federal
inmates would be brought to the county and kept at NOCC, for which the county
also would be reimbursed by the federal government. Those inmates would be
guarded and monitored by NOCC employees, not the sheriff's department. The
county would then pay Corrections Corporation of America the money it receives
from the federal government, minus a small administrative fee. CCA is the parent
company that operates the private prison. The FOP
says the problem is that the plan violates a clause in its contract that
prohibits contracting out work that is normally done by union employees.
The lawsuit sought a restraining order to keep the county from
accepting inmates at NOCC until the dispute is settled. However, about 150
inmates already were on the way here from Maryland when the suit was filed.
Visiting Judge Charles J. Bannon of common pleas court said
NOCC could accept those inmates but barred the prison from taking any more until
the dispute is resolved. A hearing on the matter is scheduled Monday morning.
Kountz said the FOP has tried to negotiate an agreement whereby
the sheriff would be able to house the federal prisoners without violating the
contract, but commissioners have yet to ratify terms of the agreement. No
details were given. The wrinkle is that
commissioners have not sent a representative to the bargaining table so they can
negotiate a final contract. The FOP negotiates with Wellington, but Kountz said
commissioners should be there as well since they are the appropriating
authority. Response Commissioner
David Ludt said commissioners don't need to be included in negotiations and
haven't been presented with an agreement to consider. "They
need to just get their proposal together and send it over to us," Ludt
said. "We'll either approve it or reject it." Ludt
said he and Auditor George Tablack have met with the union several times to go
over the issue of contracting out services. "I
was totally blindsided by this lawsuit," Ludt said. "I can't believe
they did this just when we are getting ready to bring some prisoners in."
(Vindicator)
February 3, 2004
At least 90 employees will be on hand next month to reopen the private prison on
the city's East Side. Roseanne Rubosky, a spokeswoman for the North East
Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road, said Monday that the prison plans to
reopen March 10. She added that she has no idea how many inmates are
expected, but a staff of more than 90 employees will be on hand to greet them.
Of those employees, 68 percent are former employees of the prison, which closed
in 2001 when its owner, Corrections Corporation of America, closed the facility
because of financial problems. ''We hired a large number of former
employees,'' Rubosky said. Rubosky said the employees have been undergoing
training since the first of the year, and a class is set to graduate Friday.
The number of employees at the prison will increase as it receives more inmates,
Rubosky said. The road to reopen the prison was paved in November when
Mahoning County commissioners ratified an agreement with CCA that limits the
number of federal inmates in the county jail according to space needs. Those
inmates would have to be sent to the private prison if there is no room at the
county jail. (Tribune-Chronicle)
January 5, 2004
A D.C. prisoner who sued the District claiming that officials ignored
life-threatening conditions in a now-closed prison will be allowed a new chance
to make his case, a federal appeals panel ruled yesterday. The three-judge panel
overturned a federal trial judge's decision to dismiss the lawsuit of Morris J.
Warren, a prisoner who said the city violated his rights by allowing him to be
mistreated and harmed when he was confined at an Ohio prison run by a city
contractor from August 1997 to September 1999. Acting as his own attorney
and writing in longhand, Warren filed his legal claim in 2001 alleging that the
for-profit prison denied him water, food and prescribed medication. He also said
prison staff members drew his blood with used needles and left him naked on his
cell floor for hours at a stretch, leading him to contract pneumonia and
jaundice and suffer a stroke. Warren said that he and others alerted the
District to problems at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown but
that no action was taken. In papers he submitted to the court, he said
that he wrote letters to District Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and Corrections
Department Director Odie Washington and that news media and court monitors also
warned of mistreatment at the penitentiary run by Corrections Corp. of America.
U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. dismissed Warren's lawsuit in 2002,
saying the prisoner had failed to establish his claim or present facts that the
District knew about the alleged conditions at the Youngstown facility. But
the three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit wrote in
yesterday's opinion that Kennedy was holding the prisoner to a higher standard
than the law allowed. The judges said the lower court must give Warren the
benefit of the doubt that he might be able to prove both that he was mistreated
and that the District was aware of it. "If Warren can prove the
violations, and prove as well that the District had actual or constructive
knowledge of them, he will have established the District's liability,"
Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote for the panel. Peter J. Lavallee,
spokesman for the D.C. Office of Corporation Counsel, which had called for the
suit's dismissal, said his office was reviewing the opinion but could not
comment on its substance. The Youngstown facility had been plagued by
problems from the time it opened in 1997 and started accepting prisoners from
the District's Lorton complex. Two inmates were stabbed to death, 40
assaults were reported and six prisoners escaped in 1998. Inmates also won $1.65
million in a class-action lawsuit that accused guards of excessive force.
The facility closed in August 2001. Warren is now incarcerated at the federal
penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa. Warren was represented in Nov. 13 appellate
arguments by Susan S. Friedman, a third-year student at the Georgetown
University Law Center, and supervising professor Steven H. Goldblatt. The
panel, which also included Judge John G. Roberts and Senior Judge Stephen F.
Williams, wrote that although it was reversing Kennedy, it was leaving many
issues open for the trial court to decide. They included, the judges said,
whether the allegations about the mistreatment and city knowledge were true and
whether Warren's claims might be covered by the previous settlement. (The
Washington Post)
November 22, 2003
Former workers at the private prison on the East Side should be the first to be
rehired when it reopens, several speakers told Mahoning commissioners on Friday.
Commissioners approved an agreement with the Corrections Corporation of America
to house federal inmates at the prison on Hubbard Road, which has been closed
since 2001. CCA will house federal inmates when the U.S. Marshal's Service
cannot send any more inmates to the Mahoning County Jail, county Administrator
Gary Kubic said. (Tribune Chronicles)
November 21, 2003
The private prison on the city's East Side may be on the verge of reopening.
Mahoning County commissioners will hold an emergency meeting today to vote on an
agreement with Corrections Corporation of America to reopen the prison on
Hubbard Road to house federal inmates who are presently housed in the county
jail. Commissioners were set to vote on the agreement Thursday, but they
tabled the issue because of last- minute negotiations. ''I am confident we
will be able to come to a tentative agreement,'' county Administrator Gary Kubic
said. ''I think it will be beneficial to the county and the city of Youngstown.
I think it can be a long-term relationship, and that's clearly what we've been
working on.'' If an agreement is reached, Kubic said CCA would hire 300
people to staff the prison. About 500 people lost their jobs when the prison
closed in July 2001. Kubic said CCA is negotiating the possible reopening
with Mahoning County officials because the county has an agreement with the
federal government to house those inmates. A provision exists that requires any
previous agreement between CCA and the city be honored. If there is an
overflow of federal inmates that cannot be housed at the county jail, they will
be housed in the private prison, Kubic said. Steve Owen, a spokesman for
CCA, said the agreement does not necessarily mean the prison will reopen
immediately. He said that will depend on when the U.S. Marshal's Service will
need the space to house their inmates. ''If the Marshal's service wants to
use it, we'll be in place,'' Owen said. (Tribune Chronicles)
October 16, 2003
U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott says there are "no guarantees," but he's
taking a look at housing federal detainees at the mothballed private prison on
the East Side. "Reopening the prison would be a huge tax boost for
the city of Youngstown and create a number of jobs," Elliott said. "I
know it would be great for the economy, and that's one of my
considerations." The U.S. marshal, based in Cleveland, said he'd like
a federal detention center there but is considering other options in an effort
to make the best decision for his marshal district. "I'll say this,
I'm taking a very good hard look at [Youngstown]. I will have a number of
discussions and meetings," Elliott said. "I hope to have a decision
after the first of the year." Federal detainees are now housed in
county jails in the vicinity of federal courthouses where they have matters
pending. Occasionally, judges will remand defendants to custody the day of
sentencing and they stay in county jails until the federal Bureau of Prisons
designates a prison. Former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., for example,
spent a few days at the Summit County jail before being sent to a federal prison
in central Pennsylvania in August 2002. Operated four years Northeast Ohio
Correctional Center, the private prison on Hubbard Road, has a bed capacity of
2,106. It opened in mid-1997 and operated until July 2001, after losing its
contract to incarcerate roughly 1,500 federal inmates, mostly from the
Washington, D.C., area. The prison had an annual payroll of $11 million
for a staff of more than 400 and paid the city $250,000 in income tax its last
year. Elliott said that he has roughly 300 federal inmates housed in eight
county jails. For each inmate, the government pays the jails a daily rate of
about $70. "It's the federal marshal's call. We'll cooperate in any
way we can," said Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington. "It
would be good for the economy of the whole area." Wellington said
overpopulation with federal detainees is a problem nationwide. This past week,
the Mahoning County jail had 75 federal inmates. NOCC could open with 300
inmates but would need more federal detainees from other districts — not just
Northeast Ohio — to show a profit and sustain operations, said sheriff's Maj.
Michael Budd. He said the idea has been discussed with and received favorably by
county and NOCC officials. How it would work Budd said the concept of
housing hundreds of federal detainees locally for the U.S. Marshals Service
would work like this: The Mahoning County jail would take the first 100
inmates and serve as the conduit for the overflow who would go to the private
prison on "piggyback contracts" that would include food service from a
local vendor. Mahoning County would get a processing fee from NOCC, say $1 per
day for each inmate. NOCC would collect the going rate, $70 per day, for
each federal detainee. Budd described the proposed arrangement as a
marriage between the public and private sectors. He said the county would want a
long-term contract to ensure that it remains the conduit for federal detainees
placed at NOCC. Steve Owen, spokesman for Community Corrections Corp. of
America, NOCC's parent company in Nashville, Tenn., said the company has been
actively marketing the Youngstown facility to state and federal officials. He
said that there's nothing to report at this time and that he looks forward to
the day he can report a contract has been signed. (The Vindicator)
May 12, 2003
Nothing is imminent, but a settled lawsuit makes reopening the closed private
prison easier, the company says. There are governments interested in a
contract with Corrections Corporation of America to use the local prison, said
Steve Owen, a company spokesman. Five years ago, the school board filed
the lawsuit against CCA and the city over tax breaks granted to the
company. Millions of dollars were at stake. CCA has talked with the
federal government for more than a year about the prison, but there has been no
progress toward a sale, Owen said. Local officials have wondered about acquiring
and operating the prison, too. CCA hasn't even talked with them, Owen
said. (The Vindicator)
May 5, 2003
A new tax deal and "best efforts" at reopening the closed private
prison are the main features in a major legal settlement. City Law
Director John McNally IV said he is confident the prison's owner, Corrections
Corporation of America, eventually will reopen the prison with the lawsuit
resolved. City council approved the settlement at a special meeting
Thursday. The deal, after a year of talks, avoids a trial scheduled for
last summer but delayed while the deal developed. At issue was the
5-year-old suit the school board filed against CCA and the city over tax breaks
granted to the company. Millions of dollars were at stake. The
12-yyear deal gives CCA a 100-percent abatement on property taxes.
Instead, CCA will make payments in lieu of taxes. Previously, the city
gave CCA a deal that said the company would pay only a small part of its
property taxes in the first five years. The bulk of that would go to the
city schools. In the second five years, CCA would continue paying its
school tax bill and a large lump sum directly to the city alone. The
school district would get none of that money. The deal also called for the
schools and city to share in income tax revenue. The school district
protested the deal, and the Ohio Tax Commission never approved it. That
left CCA to pay its full tax bill since opening the prison. Payments
continued despite the prison being emptied of prisoners two years ago when a
federal contract expired. CCA has paid about $5 million in property tax to
date. The deal also says CCA can transfer the property to a new owner that
will open the prison, with the city's permission. The federal government
and some local officials have talked about buying and operating the prison.
(The Vindicator)
May 4, 2003
A tax abatement war waged for nearly five years between the city and the
Youngstown Board of Education is coming to a close. Board president Lock
P. Beachum Sr. said a tentative agreement has been reached between the school
district, the city and Corrections Corporation of America. The suit
revolves around a full, three-year tax abatement the city granted CCA in 1996 as
an incentive to build the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center prison off Hubbard
Road. The exemption was later extended to 10 years. School officials
had estimated that the break would cost them $9 million in lost property taxes.
(The Vindicator)
December 16, 2002
Trumbull and
Mahoning County officials agree that creating a
regional jail would be beneficial to the Valley, but no one is
quite sure how to make it happen. Officials
from both counties met Thursday during the Trumbull County Community Corrections
Board regular meeting and discussed the idea of transforming the empty private
prison in Youngstown into a
multicounty jail. "It's a
great idea, but what do we need to do to get it?" asked Capt. Tim Bowers of
the city police department. The
2,106-bed medium-security prison has been empty since July 2001 when the federal
government transferred the last of its 1,700 inmates from the private facility,
built in the 1990s by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America.
(The Vindicator)
July 18, 2002
A long and ugly
period in relations between city hall and the board
of education could soon reach an end.
Four
years ago, the school board sued the city and Corrections Corporation of
America
over tax breaks the city granted the private prison company. "The
city and the school board are starting to realize they have more common
interests and want to resolve issues," said Martin Hughes, a Columbus
lawyer
retained by the school board to battle the city and CCA.
From
the board of education's point of view, the tax breaks were a city hall
money-grab at the expense of schoolchildren.
"It
was a sweetheart deal that leaves the city rolling in money; our
money,"
said Carolyn Funk, school district treasurer.
The
dispute dates to 1994, when a new state law required that cities get the
approval of school boards before handing out tax breaks of more than 75
percent.
But
the city wanted to continue giving out 100 percent tax incentives to attract
new businesses to town.
A
year later, the city and CCA agreed to a 10-year tax break package as an
incentive for CCA to build a private prison in Youngstown.
The
city offered CCA something called a "tax increment financing" deal, or
TIF.
The
city says the TIF called for two things:
* CCA
would pay only 25 percent of its property taxes in the first five years,
with the bulk going to the city schools.
* In
the second five years, CCA would continue paying 25 percent of its school
tax bill but also would pay a lump sum equal to the remaining 75 percent of the
taxes directly to the city alone. The school district would get none of that
money.
Without
the tax package, the school board would get about $1.1 million a year in
taxes from CCA. With the package, the district would see about $300,000 a year.
City
officials approved the tax agreement in 1996, and CCA opened the prison in
1997.
The
Ohio Tax Commission, however, has never approved the deal, so CCA has paid
its full $1.37 million tax bill since it opened. Those payments have continued,
despite the prison's being emptied of prisoners almost two years ago.
Nevertheless,
the school board cried foul.
"If
this isn't a case of the city trying to put the skewer up the you-know-what,
I don't know what is," Funk said.
The
school board sued in September 1998, claiming three major violations:
* The
school system was not properly notified.
* The
tax break agreement was retroactive. Hughes said state law requires that
tax abatements can be used only to create or retain jobs. The CCA prison
already
was under construction when the city approved the tax break package, he said.
* The
votes of then-councilman Charles Ellis on the CCA tax deals were an
unlawful interest in a public contract, the lawsuit claims. The 2nd Ward
councilman later got a job at the private prison.
"He
voted to approve the abatement for the sole permissible purpose of creating
jobs and then took one of those jobs," Hughes said.
If
the city loses, CCA wants the city to pay anything the company may owe to the
school district.
The
city could have to pay roughly $3 million that the school board is seeking
in damages and an additional $5 million or more in property taxes already paid
that CCA might get back.
"That
would bankrupt the city of Youngstown," McKelvey said.
If the school district loses the dispute, CCA has asked that the school
district
refund 75 percent of the taxes it has paid over the past four years, Hughes
said. That would amount to about $4 million. (The Vindicator)
February 13, 2002
A Florida official
faces ethics
charges in that
state, in part, on allegations that he improperly
sold a public
document to the city of Youngstown for $7,500.
City
contracts and invoices show the official also
sold Youngstown
a draft of the document -- a private prison
monitoring manual -- for
another $7,500.
That
puts the questionable total at $15,000 paid to
consultant C.
Mark Hodges. He also is executive director of
Florida's Correctional
Privatization Commission.
Hodges
and city Law Director Robert Bush Jr.,
however, disagree
with Florida ethics investigators. Hodges did more
work for the
money spent than just provide the documents, he and
Bush said.
The
document, unedited, would have cost $10.20 -- 15
cents a page in
copying fees.
Besides the manual, the
Florida Commission
on Ethics recently found probable cause that Hodges
violated other
laws the past six years.
A few of the ethics charges stem from Hodges' work
in Youngstown
in 1998.
Bush said the city expected a unique manual for
Youngstown. He
didn't know the manual mostly was copied from
Florida's document,
he said. Hodges never indicated that the manual was
based on a
public record, Bush said. (The Vindicator)
August 5, 2001
More than 500 workers lost their jobs last month when Corrections Corporation of
America mothballed the 2,016-bed Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, the state's
only privately owned and operated prison. Warden Brian Gardner and a
skeleton crew stayed on after the last of the 1,700 inmates housed under
contract with the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections were bused out of
Youngstown, about 145 miles northeast of Columbus. Raymond Wells, a guard
since the prison opened in 1997, decided not to transfer to one of the company's
64 other prisons. Between 25 and 30 co-workers accepted. Now, at age 54,
Wells is looking for work. "My daughter is a junior in high school;
my wife has a beauty shop business,'' he said. "There's no way I could pull
up roots now.'' Wells considers himself lucky. Not only does his wife have
an income but he has his police pension from nearby Hubbard. But the
company's business plan had no contingency for what seemed unthinkable when the
company opened the Mahoning County prison: a day when it would run out of
inmates. Critics contend the prison and its backers have only themselves
to blame for the problems at the prison that likely played into the government's
decision to cancel the company's contract with the prison system. In less
than four years, two inmates were murdered, six escaped and the company agreed
to pay $1.65 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the prisoners.
"They just didn't take steps necessary to safeguard the community,'' said
Alan Kretzer, an attorney and critic of the city's involvement with the company.
"The problem was that everyone was convinced the private prison was the
greatest thing since sliced bread,'' he said. Bob Fitzer, president of the
Greater Youngstown Citizens' League, a group dedicated to transforming the
city's reputation for political corruption, thinks the company preys on
distressed communities. "They don't approach Columbus, because
Columbus doesn't need this type of job,'' Fitzer said. "Here, you accept
scraps because it seems like scraps are all you're going to get.'' Ralph
Naples, meanwhile, shakes his head when asked about the empty prison just up the
road from the Golden Dawn. "I don't understand it,'' he said while
breaking a $100 bill for a regular. "It's a brand-spanking new building.''
Then he paused to add: "Isn't it a shame to be fighting for that kind of
business?'' (The Columbus Dispatch)
July 9, 2001
Ohio's only privately owned, privately operated prison, originally scheduled to
close in August, will close several weeks earlier as the final inmates are moved
elsewhere. Within two weeks, the remaining 101 inmates at the 2,016-bed
Northeast Ohio Correctional Center will be moved out and prison operates will be
suspended. (AP)
May 11, 2001
The remaining 350 D.C. inmates at a private prison in Youngstown, Ohio, will be
moved to federal prisons across the country in coming months as the troubled
penitentiary prepares to close in August, officials said yesterday. The
prison, run by Corrections Corp. of America, has been beset with problems since
it opened in 1997, accepting D.C. inmates from the Lorton Correctional Complex
in Fairfax County. Two inmates were stabbed to death; 40 assaults were
reported; six prisoners escaped in a 1998 breakout; and inmates won $1.65
million in a class-action lawsuit that accused guards of excessive force.
Depending on their classification and prison space, the D.C. inmates will be
moved to any of the 98 federal prisons across the country, Bureau of Prisons
spokesperson Traci Billingsley said. (The Washington Post)
May 11, 2001
Once famously plagued by violence and escapes, an Ohio prison owned by America's
largest operator of for-profit lockups now faces a new problem: it may soon have
no prisoners. Corrections Corporations of America's 2,016-bed facility in
Youngstown, Ohio currently houses overflow inmates from Washington, D.C.
But the federal Bureau of Prisons is taking charge of the capital's prison
system and has announced plans to move all the Youngstown inmates to other
facilities by August. (Mother Jones)
April 25, 2001
Mayor George McKelvey refuses to believe that Corrections Corp. of America will
close its private prison Aug. 18, with the loss of 500 jobs and a
quarter-million dollars in annual income taxes. "I don't think they
will close," McKelvey said yesterday. "I'm sure they will find
new clients." "We can't allow this facility to close," he
added. "We just had Tartan Textile close a couple months ago, meaning
the loss of 300 to 500 jobs. Steel companies in the area that employ
Youngstown people have been closing all over. We'll do anything and
everything we can to keep the prison here." (The Plain Dealer)
April 25, 2001
Gov. Bob Taft asked the federal government on Wednesday to buy a Youngtown
private prison that is slated to close in August. Corrections Corporation
of America, which runs the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, announced this
week that it was closing the Youngstown facility Aug. 18, affecting 500 jobs.
The prison, which opened in May 1997, houses inmates from the District of
Columbia. (AP)
April 24, 2001
CCA officials have announced that the company's current contract with the
District of Columbia to house its inmates at Northeast Ohio expires September 8
and will not be renewed due to a new law that mandates the Federal Bureau of
Prisons to assume jurisdiction of all D.C. offenders by the end of this year.
The facility has been securely housing inmates for the District of Columbia
since its opening in 1997. (Nashville, Tenn. -- Business Wire)
April 24, 2001
Corrections Corporation of America said Tuesday it will close its Youngstown,
Ohio, prison on Aug. 18 but wants to reopen it if the company wins a new
contract to house inmates. The shutdown will mean the loss of more than
500 jobs. Warden Brian Gardner said the company would consider housing
women inmates at the prison to reopen it. The Nashville-based prison
operator said the decision was made after the District of Columbia decided not
to renew its contract with CCA. The prison, which at one time housed up to
1,500 inmates from Washington, has faced various problems over past
years--including the 1997 stabbing deaths of two inmates by other prisoners, an
inmate class-action lawsuit alleging excessive use of force by guards and a 1998
jail break. Youngstown Mayor George McKelvey said the closing would be
devastating economically to the city. The prison has an annual payroll of
about $11 million and paid the city $250,000 in income tax last year.
"They are one of the largest employers in the city," McKelvey had
said. (AP)
April 23, 2001
Corrections Corporation of America said yesterday it will close its troubled
Youngstown, Ohio, prison effective Aug. 18 until it can secure a new contract to
house inmates at the facility. The decision was made after the District of
Columbia decided not to renew its contract with CCA, which has been housing
prisoners from the nation's capital in the Ohio facility. The
Nashville-based prison operator cited a new law that requires the Federal Bureau
of Prisons to take jurisdiction of all D.C. inmates by the end of the year as
the reason the contract won't be extended when it expires on Sept. 8.
Problems at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, including the 1997 stabbing
deaths of two inmates by other prisoners, an inmate class-action lawsuit
alleging excessive use of force by guards and a 1998 jail break, created a
public relations nightmare for CCA specifically and the private corrections
industry generally. CCA now houses 350 D.C. inmates at the 2,016-bed Ohio
prison, company spokesperson Steve Owen said, down from 1,500 at one time.
James Macdonald, an analyst at First Analysis in Chicago, said a permanent
closure of the Ohio prison is more likely. He said currently there is a
weak demand for new beds among states. The Youngstown prisoners will moved
to other private non-CCA facilities. CCA recently notified about 330
employees at the Youngstown prison that they would be laid off a later date.
This week, the remaining 184 workers will receive similar notices, the company
said. (AP)
April 23, 2001
A private prison that houses out-of-state prisoners could close as soon as
August if it doesn't get more inmates, city officials said Monday.
Corrections Corporation of America announced last month that it was cutting 200
jobs--or about 45 percent--at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, citing a
declining inmate population. The 2,106-bed prison had only 350 inmates
left as of last week and at one time housed up to 1,500 inmates from Washington,
D.C. Nashville-based CCA told the city in a letter Friday that the prison
could close Aug. 18, said city law director Robert Bush. "The city
will do everything it can to save that facility," Youngtown Mayor George
McKelvey told The Vindicator on Monday. Even if the prison has to close,
the company will work on getting another contract and reopen the facility, NOCC
warden Brian Gardener said. CCA also may try to bring in female prisoners.
McKelvey said the prison closing would be devastating economically to the city.
The prison has an annual payroll of about $11 million and paid the city $250,000
in income tax last year. (Ohio News and AP)
March 29, 2001
CCA has notified about 200 employees at its Northeast Ohio Correctional Center
in Youngstown that they would be laid off. The 45% reduction in the
prison's 499-employee work force aims to adjust to reflect the number of inmates
there, CCA spokeswoman Louise Green said yesterday. The prison now houses
574 inmates. At one time, it had housed up to 1,500 inmates. The
families of 500 workers in Youngstown depend on the private prison. They roughly
15-million dollars in wage tax into the city treasury. But the prison's parent
company, Correction Corp. of America, is trying to reduce a 1.1 billion dollar
debt ;pad. Monday it sold one of its North Carolina Facility. Even old critics
like senator Bob Hagen are concerned about that, "I understand that we have
to be responsible about protecting the jobs there, and protecting the facility.
But they've lied to us so many times, we can't believe what they're
saying." What CCA's executives are saying is that it's getting very costly
to run their prison in Youngstown. (Tennessean)
March 28, 2001
Robert Bush Jr. knew the private prison would be cutting a significant number of
jobs. But planned layoffs of about 200 workers, nearly 45 percent of the staff,
startled even the city law director. The Nashville, Tenn.--based company wants
to reduce the work force because there are only 574 inmates in the 2,106-bed
prison. The prison housed up to 1,500 inmates from Washington, D.C., at one
time. A federally approved contract between CCA and the city said the prison
must be fully staffed regardless of the number of inmates. As of December the
prison had an $11 million annual payroll and paid the city $250,000 a year in
income tax. Reduced staffing will cut the city's income tax collections by more
than $112,000 a year. (OCSEA)
December 8, 2000
CCA lost $253.7 million in its third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. An annual
report released report released earlier this year said the company lost $62
million on revenues of $285 million in 1999. Mayor George McKelvey said the
company told him this week that it is losing millions of dollars a year in
Youngstown because the prison is housing less than 1,000 prisoners, well below
its capacity of 2,000. "It's a bombshell," McKelvey told the
newspaper. "We're in a crisis situation." (The Associated Press State
and Local Wire, Dec. 8, 2000)
Probably the most notorious
for-profit private prison in the US. CCA settled a $ 1.65 million
class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of inmates. CCA brought in District
of Columbia inmates without the knowledge of local authorities. They only
found out after six escaped.
March 15, 1999
About 1,900 inmates in Ohio's only private prison would split $1.65 million
under a settlement of their lawsuit that claimed guards used excessive force and
that the facility improperly housed maximum-security prisoners. Three inmates
sued CCA in August 1997, claiming the 3-month-old Northeast Ohio Correctional
Center, which was built to handle unsafe and that medical treatment was
inadequate. After the lawsuit became a class action, two inmates were killed by
fellow prisoners. A Justice Department report said staff members had used "
unnecessarily harsh and humiliating procedures" during inmate searches
after the killings. Last summer the prison made several security and personnel
changes after six inmates escaped. Their breakout prompted a series of
legislative hearings and a proposal to ban maximum-security inmates at private
prisons in Ohio.
June 27, 1998
Six inmates, including four murderers, cut through a gate and escaped from
Ohio's only privately run prison Saturday afternoon. The prison, operated by
Correction Corp. of America, has been plagued with problems since it opened in
May 1997. Two inmates have been killed, and there have been at least 13
stabbings.
North
Coast Correctional Facility
Grafton, Ohio
CiviGenics
September 11, 2003
Dr. Shura Hegde didn't have to look far for
work after he lost his $96-an-hour job at the Lorain Correctional Institution
for "questionable clinical, behavioral and billing practices."
The psychiatrist simply, and literally, crossed the road and landed a job at the
North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in Grafton, a state prison operated
by a private contractor. State prison authorities were unaware Hegde was
hired at North Coast, a 552-bed minimum-security prison for drug and alcohol
offenders, after officials at Lorain refused to renew his contract. He is
one of at least four medical professionals ousted from one prison for
substandard performance only to later gain a job at another. An
investigation by The Dispatch and WBNS-10TV of problematic prison health care
for inmates led Gov. Bob Taft to seek a comprehensive study of prison medicine,
including improved screening of medical professionals. Amid numerous
complaints in 2001, a deputy warden at Lorain found Hegde performed "full
mental-health evaluations" in 10 minutes and gave the same assessment
scores to 30 of 31 inmates, "some of whom were psychotic." Hegde
also was accused of inappropriate behavior -- including playing pingpong on duty
-- and of billing the state for half-hour lunches during his four years of work
at the prison. The lunches resulting in an overpayment of $36,864. He
began working at North Coast, then operated by CiviGenics Corp. of Marlborough,
Mass., on July 1, 2001, the day after his personal-services contract expired at
Lorain. The prisons are in a cluster with Grafton Correctional Institution
about 100 miles north of Columbus. Officials with the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction's Bureau of Mental Health Services were unaware
that Hegde, a resident of of Avon Lake, was working at North Coast, said
department spokeswoman Andrea Dean. Jacqueline Thomas, warden of North
Coast, told state officials that Hegde "has not been a problem there at all
and is conducting himself appropriately," Dean said. "The warden
has been apprised of our concern about (Hegde's) performance at Lorain and will
monitor him," she said. The state has the right to review and veto the
personnel decisions of prison contractors. The North Coast prison is
operated by Management Training Corp. of Ogden, Utah, under a $13.3 million
annual contract. Thomas did not return repeated telephone calls, and Hegde
could not be reached for comment. Ralph Tate, health service administrator at
North Coast, declined to comment. In a May 16, 2001, letter to Lorain
prison officials, Hegde denied their allegations. The 45-year-old native of
India said his contract was not renewed because of "prejudice and
malice." (Columbus Dispatch)
July 31, 2002
Public employees and
state-managed prisons are being forced to rescue a
problem-plagued private prison, according to the state's prison employee
union. Leaders from the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association said that
today's transfer of 12 inmates involved in a disturbance at the
privately-operated North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility to the Marion
Correctional Institution was an unnecessary burden on the state prison
system and a waste of public funds. MCI is managed and staffed by state
workers.
"Why
can't the private prisons take care of their own problems," said
Darrell Starcher, president of OCSEA¹s chapter at MCI. "If the private
prisons really thought they were our equal, they wouldn¹t need us to take
care of their trouble makers."
According
to union sources, the transfers were linked to an incident
yesterday (July 29) at NCCTF in which at least a dozen inmates refused to
put on prison clothing.
NCCTF
is managed by the Management and Training Corporation, "So-called
prison professionals should be ashamed that they couldn't handle
a problem of this magnitude," said Starcher. "This would be laughable
if it
weren't for the fact that MCI and the other state prisons are already under
stress from closures and staff reductions. We shouldn¹t be cleaning up
problems that for-profit companies created." (Ohio Civil Service
Employees Association News Release)
July
30, 2002
Thirty-six inmates have
been moved in the past week from their prisons to other institutions because of
disciplinary problems. Twelve inmates were moved Tuesday from the
privately run North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility in Grafton to the
Marion Correctional Institution for refusing to wear proper uniforms, department
spokeswoman Andrea Dean said. On Saturday,
24 inmates at the Southeastern Correctional Institution in Lancaster who would
not return to their living areas were moved to other prisons, Dean said.
The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, which represents some prison
workers, including guards, said removal of 12 inmates from the privately run
prison, which has nonunion guards, demonstrates that the state puts its problem
inmates in union prisons. "We shouldn't be cleaning up problems that
for-profit companies created," said Darrell Starcher, the president of the
union's local at the Marion prison. Dean said that none of the disciplined
Lancaster inmates were moved to private prisons. "We're not targeting
inmates in a private facility," Dean said. (The Associated Press
State and Local News Wire)
July 7, 2002
The company that operates the North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility and
the state' only other privately run prison has agreed to take a |
