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Abraxas I Youth and Family Services Center
Marienville, Pennsylvania
Cornell

February 22, 2008 The Derrick
Two Philadelphia men were charged for their actions during separate riots that broke out this week at Cornell Abraxas I in Marienville. State police said Joseph Clark, 18, and Lenny Scott Cabrera, 18, were involved in both riots that occurred at the facility Monday and Tuesday. Clark was charged with one count of aggravated assault and two counts of riot, police said. They said Cabrera was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of riot. Both men were arraigned before District Judge George F. Gregory in Tionesta. They were placed in the Warren County jail on $25,000 bail. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. Police said three juveniles involved in both riots and five other involved in the Monday riot will face similar charges.

January 11, 2007 The Courier Express
In a last-ditch effort to forestall a strike, representatives of Abraxas I and members of PSSU Local 668 have agreed to meet Friday, according to a press release issued by Abraxas Wednesday. Abraxas I is planning to operate through any strike with qualified employees from other facilities and all employees who want to continue to work, according to the press release. "Any employee who wishes to work may do so at the current wages, benefits and other terms or conditions of employment," the release said. "Abraxas I will not implement its final offer until an agreement is reached." Abraxas I has informed its client-referring agencies about the strike and the company's plans to operate in the interim. It has also decided to stop admitting new residents and plans to accelerate the discharge of residents who are approved for discharge by the courts, said the press release. On Jan. 3, Abraxas Youth and Family Services received notification that the members of SEIU Local 668 rejected the company's offer of Dec. 21. Local 668 also issued a 10-day strike notice, which indicates it plans to strike at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. James Newsome, program director at Abraxas I, said, "We are very disappointed that the union and its members rejected this offer. It was a very fair offer given the economic realities of the Youth and Family Services business. "Our most recent offer includes wage increases ranging from 8.5 percent to 12.25 percent over the proposed three-year agreement," he said. "While we propose increases in employee contributions for medical benefits, our wage proposal also ensures that all employees would receive a real wage increase to offset the increased employee medical contribution. Our request for increased employee medical contributions is consistent with what many unions and employers have agreed to in the face of rising costs of health care." Abraxas I proposes maintaining an HMO medical plan for current employees, but employees hired after ratification would only be able to participate in a PPO plan. Newsome said the HMO plan is a very expensive benefit. "The only way we can continue to afford to provide the HMO is to make it available for current employees only," he said. "The union recognized the fairness of our economic proposals, because they told us that if we were willing to agree to a union shop or fair share - union security - they would recommend ratification. We refused to agree to a union shop or fair share because we believe employees should have a right to decide for themselves whether they wish to belong to the union and pay union dues, not be forced to do so," Newsome said. Abraxas I houses approximately 274 adolescents and provides drug and alcohol counseling, as well as operating a private school, for its residents.

Abraxas Center
Forest, Pennsylvania
Cornell

July 8, 2004
A Tamaqua 16-year-old, who was committed to a juvenile center after being charged with shooting a friend in the face with a gun he stole from a borough pawn shop, escaped after attending a funeral Wednesday, police said.  Duane R. Allen II was court-ordered to attend the funeral and told two workers taking him back to the Cornell Abraxas center in Marienville, Forest County, that he was sick, state police at Hazleton said.  The workers stopped about 2:30 p.m. at Pilot Truck Stop in Sugarloaf Township, Luzerne County, where Allen fled from the worker accompanying him to the restroom, police said.  (The Morning Call)

Allegheny Academy
Allegheny, Pennsylvania
The Academy System

September 14, 2003
Drastic disciplinary action has been taken at The Academy in the wake of the car crash death of a 17-year-old boy from York County who died after he escaped from the juvenile center Sept. 14.  Attempts also are being made to prevent future escapes from the facility, which has experienced a rash of runaways since April, said Joe Daugerdas, executive director of The Academy, formerly known as Allegheny Academy.  But he declined to specify actions because the state Department of Welfare is investigating the Sept. 14 incident in which Troy Lake of Dallastown, York County, escaped and was killed when he crashed a stolen car on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset.  Lake was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:40 a.m., but his absence from The Academy wasn't reported to police until 6:30 a.m., when staffers found his bed was empty.  Daugerdas said he could not say how many employees were disciplined for the oversight, but on the night Lake and two other teens escaped, only one staff member was in charge of making required bed checks every 15 minutes.  That policy has been changed to rotate responsibility for bed checks to everyone working at night, Daugerdas said.  Besides interviewing all eight staff members on duty that night, investigators also talked with the other two escapees, who were picked up on the morning of Sept. 14 in McKees Rocks, he said. The pair spent the night of their escape in the woods behind The Academy and left the area on foot when the sun came up.  Although they shared with investigators details of how the three got away, Daugerdas said he could not make that information public.  Welfare Department spokeswoman Carey Miller said the department's investigation could take up to one month and result in requiring a plan of corrective action or action against its license.  Besides the internal changes, Daugerdas has signed an agreement brokered by James Rieland, Allegheny County juvenile court administrator, that calls for The Academy to call Baldwin Borough police within 10 minutes after a juvenile is discovered missing from the center.  Although that facility is in the Hays section of Pittsburgh, its property abuts a residential Baldwin Borough neighborhood.  The agreement requires The Academy to provide police with the name, age, race, physical description and home address of the escapee, as well as a photo if one is available, and staffers will notify police if and when escapees are found.  The agreement also calls for quarterly meetings between Academy officials and Baldwin police to discuss issues of concern.  Baldwin Borough Police Chief Chris Kelly said he has been trying since April to get Academy officials to discuss what they planned to do about the number of escapes from the facility since that time.  Kelly, who vented some of his frustrations at a Baldwin council meeting the day after Lake's death, claimed that 12 Academy juveniles have escaped in seven incidents since April, including the July 24 escape of two girls from a van driving them to the center.  Daugerdas said eight juveniles have escaped in five incidents and that all except Lake were found and returned.  Kelly has expressed his concerns in recent months in letters to Daugerdas and officials of the county's juvenile court system, which orders delinquent nonviolent offenders to The Academy's day and evening program for rehabilitation.  About 170 nonviolent juvenile offenders are in the program now.  Anne Edwards, an Agnew Road neighbor of The Academy, also has complained. She said she predicted to Daugerdas that nothing would be done about her concerns until someone got hurt. She was not happy last week when that prediction came true.  "I am saddened that it was a child's death that will bring attention to The Academy's lack of supervision and control," she said.  Also at last week's council meeting, a resident of Edward Drive, whose car was stolen by Lake, asked council for some relief from escapees from the Academy. Kelly said it was the second time the family had had a car stolen by a youth from The Academy.  Council approved a motion authorizing Kelly to "take whatever action is necessary to curb the runaways," and to hold The Academy to the promises it originally made to the borough to contact Baldwin police as soon as a juvenile escapes from the center.  Notification didn't always happen with the escapes this spring and summer, he said.  Some were reported to him by Academy officials long after the juveniles escaped and others were reported by residents who spotted the runaways in their bushes and sheds.  Most of the juveniles who have escaped from the facility have been out-of-county youths held temporarily at The Academy in preparation for entering Summit Academy, a residential juvenile facility in Butler County.  Housing the juveniles destined for Summit is an expansion of the original program presented when the facility opened amid much protest in September 1989.  Academy officials stressed at that time that they planned to operate an after-school, day and evening program for nonviolent offenders.  The juveniles would be brought to the center in vans after school and stay through the evening, when they would be returned via vans to their homes.  But about five years ago, The Academy started to house juveniles overnight. Now roughly 50 juveniles are at the center each night. Half of them are like Lake, awaiting a transfer to Summit Academy.  The other half of the overnight population are male juveniles who have broken the rules of the day and evening program and are required as punishment to stay overnight for a period of time.  Those juveniles used to be housed at Shuman Detention Center until Shuman became overcrowded, said Rieland, the county's juvenile court administrator.  He called the day and evening program "a good service provided at a relatively inexpensive cost" and said he still believes it's a safe program for nonviolent juvenile offenders from Allegheny County.  Rieland said The Academy has a good track record, since it has operated for about 20 years -- 14 at the present site -- without a major problem until the recent incident.  If the state takes any action at The Academy, it is likely to be only against the overnight program and not the day and evening program, he said.  (Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette)

September 18, 2003
Joyce Lake had just returned home Sunday evening when she got a call from officials at the Allegheny Academy juvenile detention center asking if she knew where her 17-year-old son Troy was.  "I said, 'Yes, I know where he is. He's at the morgue,' " said Lake, who learned of her son's death from state troopers, who visited her home in Dallastown, York County, at 10 a.m. Sunday.  Lake was killed at around 3:40 a.m. Sunday when he lost control of the stolen car he was driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset. He was thrown from the car when it hit an embankment and was pronounced dead at the scene.  At the time of his death, Lake was supposed to be sleeping at Allegheny Academy in Pittsburgh's Hays section, where he was sent after violating his parole. Lake had been found guilty of stealing an all-terrain vehicle, and then violated his parole by getting caught for underage drinking, his mother said.  But staff members at Allegheny Academy didn't notice his absence until almost three hours after his death and apparently didn't know that he had been killed in a car crash until they talked to his mother at around 7 p.m. Sunday.  It was at 6:30 a.m. Sunday when an employee of Allegheny Academy called Baldwin Borough police to report that three teens had escaped.  Though it is located in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Academy abuts a Baldwin residential neighborhood and academy staff are supposed to alert Baldwin police whenever program participants escape, said Baldwin Police Chief Chris Kelly.  About 15 minutes before academy staff reported the escape, Baldwin police were notified by state police that a car registered to a Baldwin resident was involved in a fatal traffic accident on the turnpike. It turned out to be the car that Lake was driving. The car was stolen from a resident of Edward Drive, located a short distance from the academy, Kelly said.  Kelly said it appears the escapees left the center Saturday night but that their absence wasn't discovered until Sunday morning when it was time for residents to wake up. The other two escapees were picked up in McKees Rocks Sunday morning.  Allegheny Academy Director Joseph Daugerdaus said he is trying to find out why the center's policy of performing bed checks every 15 minutes was not followed Saturday night.  "It's not just open the door and check. Our policy states that you go in and you check to see their skin, to make sure they are really in the bed," Daugerdaus said.  "We have to figure out why the procedure was not followed and why it was not discovered that they were gone. Whoever did not do what they were supposed to do will be terminated," he said.  Daugerdaus said he expects an investigation from the state Department of Welfare as well. All escapes from the center are reported to the department. He said eight employees were on duty at the time -- a number that exceeds the welfare department's requirement of one staff per 16 residents.  Daugerdaus said it was the first time that any program participant who escaped was not caught and returned safely. "What happened is certainly a tragedy and it's definitely an exception and we hope it never happens again," Daugerdaus said.  Daugerdaus said Lake was sent to Allegheny Academy in preparation for being assigned to a residential facility. He was to be transferred to another center within days.  Joyce Lake plans to bury her son today. But after the funeral service she will start her search for answers in her son's death.  "I know he wasn't a perfect kid and he did have some problems. But I don't think he deserved to die. I have a court order that says my son was supposed to be under supervision at all times. That's what they were supposed to be doing for him."  (Post-Gazette.com)

Allegheny County Jail
Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Correctional Medical Services

January 24, 2003
On Oct. 21, 1996, 33-year-old Charles Fine, a heroin addict From Monongahela, became the first inmate to kill himself in what was then the new Allegheny County Jail.  He rigged a makeshift noose out of his shoelaces and hung himself from a bunk in his cell.  Now, seven years later, the medical company that used to screen inmates for suicide risk at the jail is on trial in U.S. District Court, defending itself against a negligence claim.  Fine's stepmother, Barbara Mayfield, represented by local attorney Vincent Coppola, says employees of Correctional Medical Services Inc. of Missouri should have known Fine was going to kill himself.  Correctional Medical, the country's largest health-care provider for jails, pulled out of the Allegheny County Jail in 2000, but the move had nothing to do with the lawsuit.  Fine, who worked for a time as a welder, was jailed on Oct. 20, 1996, pending trial for retail theft and simple assault. Earlier that year he had also been jailed on drug possession charges and later released.  In both instances, according to the complaint, a nurse filled out a 10-question form used to determine if an inmate might be a suicide risk. Coppola said his answers to questions should have shown the medical staff fine was suffering from heroin withdrawal and that he was depressed and in "emotional distress."  Coppola has argued that the staff should have realized Fine might kill himself and placed him in the Mental Health Unit rather than in the general jail population. He said the staff should also have removed his shoelaces.  (Post-Gazette.com)  

Aramark
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 24, 2008 Naperville Sun
A company hoping to win another contract at the DuPage County Jail has donated thousands of dollars to elected county officials. Aramark, a Philadelphia-based company that has provided the jail's food service for 21 years, has poured $14,770 into campaign coffers of State's Attorney Joe Birkett, Sheriff John Zaruba, County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom and others since 1999, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. County Board members Brien Sheahan, Debra Olson and Mike McMahon have received several hundred dollars each. In a bidding process fraught with ambiguity and conflict, Aramark has been fighting for more than a year to continue serving food to jail inmates. When the bid was redone for the third time in December, the company submitted a $949,616 bid that was $6,000 lower than that of its competitor, Minnesota-based A'viands. But after the state's attorney's office said Aramark submitted a menu that didn't meet requirements, officials recommended the bid be awarded to A'viands. Aramark's menu diverged slightly by offering breaded fish patties rather than the specified fish fillets and 12-ounce instead of 8-ounce oatmeal servings, Assistant State's Attorney Tom Downing said. Potential savings -- However, County Board members are giving Aramark another shot at the contract, opting for a fourth bid instead of awarding the contract to A'viands. They say the county can save thousands of dollars by changing bidding requirements. Instead of stipulating a specific menu, board members want to mandate only certain nutritional requirements, as was done during the second round of bidding. Allowing bidders to submit their own menu resulted in a bid from Aramark that was $120,000 less than when it followed a menu mandated by the county. That cost difference is enough to justify yet another bid, said Sheahan, calling the whole process "ridiculous." "We're basically having a $120,000 argument over whether milk and oatmeal will fit on a tray, and I think we owe it to taxpayers to make sure we are getting the best value for their money," he said. "We're not interested in spending extra every year so people at the County Jail can eat fish fillets instead of fish sticks." Nothing to hide -- Sheahan said a $500 contribution from Aramark to his primary campaign had nothing to do with his support for a fourth bid. "I really don't care whether Aramark gets it or not," he said. "I want the lowest bid to get it. I think the interest of the committee is just to get the best value for taxpayers." Saying she believes Aramark has submitted responsible bids, Olson, of Wheaton, said she supports a fourth bid to potentially save the $120,000. "This is about saving taxpayers money," said Olson, who noted that she has supported extending the temporary contracts to A'viands. "Any implications that my motivations are other than in the best interests of taxpayers is insulting." Birkett, who has received $3,600 from Aramark, said the campaign contributions played no role in the opinion rendered by his office, which ruled Aramark's bid noncompliant. "If I'm asked for opinion or legal guidance, I give it, free from any political support I've received," Birkett said. The recipient of $4,500 from Aramark, Schillerstrom sided with the state's attorney, saying Aramark failed to meet the menu requirements. "I believe A'viands is the lowest responsible bidder," he said. "I think it's clear that Aramark did not comply with the bid." Zaruba did not return a phone call seeking comment. Nutrition requirements -- Disputes about nutrition requirements have plagued the bidding process, which began last March. After the county declared A'viands the winner of the first bid, Aramark filed a lawsuit claiming its submitted menus were deficient. Schillerstrom upheld the protest, finding that both companies failed to meet requirements and declared a second round of bidding. For the second bid, the county outlined more specific nutrition standards. But both companies fell short, saying it was impossible to meet sodium requirements. In the third bid, the county hired a nutritionist to create a specific menu. While A'viands said the menu gave clear and specific requirements, Aramark disagreed. "It was crystal clear to us that we were to submit a menu that exactly met those requirements, and that's what we did," said Perry Rynders, CEO of A'viands. Rynders expressed "significant disappointment" at the county's decision to hold another bid, saying no one had disputed that A'viands did meet requirements. Temporary contract -- To keep prison inmates fed, the county has issued a string of temporary contracts to A'viands since July. But it's difficult to attract and hire good workers at the jail while the contract remains in limbo, Rynders said. "It's very difficult for us to find staff to work on a temporary basis," he said. "Each time this comes up, they're wondering if their job is on the line. I don't think the County Board understands how difficult this is on us." Aramark spokesman Tim Elliot said the county should return to a nutrition-based bid instead of one based on a menu. That is standard procedure for most of the 700 correctional facilities the company services worldwide, he said. Aramark is a private company that is the 19th-largest employer on the Fortune 500, employing 240,000 workers in 19 countries. Hospitals, eldercare centers, schools, corporations and sports stadiums are among the company's clients. Board member Jim Healy of Naperville agreed with Aramark that the county's "ambiguous" menu should be thrown out in favor of nutritional requirements. "We don't care what you serve as long as you meet the nutritional standards," he said. The county should have stuck with very basic nutritional requirements as it had done until last year, said board member Jim Zay. "This is insane ... the more people we get involved, the worse it gets," Zay said. "This has been costing us hundreds of thousands more because we've been screwing around with it."

November 7, 2007 Financial Times
Madison Dearborn is preparing a sale of Valitas, a company that provides medical care to prison populations, three sources told mergermarket. An auction for the company will probably kick off early next year, and the company is working on putting together a staple financing package at the moment, according to one of the sources. UBS has been mandated to run the process, the second source said. Valitas’ EBITDA is around USD 50m, according to an industry banker. The company’s main subsidiary, Correctional Medical Services, reached USD 750m in revenues in 2007, according to its website. The company is likely to draw interest from private equity buyers only, as there are no natural strategic buyers for the asset, the banker added. Valitas could draw interest from Maximus, a listed provider of healthcare services to the US government, a second industry banker said. Madison Dearborn backed a management buyout of the Missouri-based company in 1997 from Aramark, the company that provides food service and uniforms to institutions, according to news reports. Under Aramark the division was called Spectrum Healthcare, and included a business that provided contract healthcare services to the US military. That business, however, was sold to Team Health, another Madison Dearborn portfolio holding, in 2002. Team Health itself was sold to the Blackstone Group, in 2005. The company is one of the oldest healthcare investments in Madison Dearborn’s portfolio, the industry banker said. A company spokesperson declined comment, and a Madison Dearborn official did not return calls.

March 18, 2007 The Oregonian
Federal court statistics show that plaintiffs filed nearly 4,200 cases under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs pay practices, in fiscal 2006, which ended Sept. 30. That's up from 4,040 cases in fiscal 2005 and 2,751 in 2003. In Portland this month, Richard Bird filed a class-action lawsuit against his ex-employer, Aramark Correctional Services Inc. He alleges the nationwide prison-service provider broke Oregon laws by failing to properly pay him and co-workers when they worked overtime, took rest periods and put in for their final paychecks. An Aramark spokeswoman said Friday that the company does not comment on pending litigation. Those claims surfaced in a state court -- Multnomah County Circuit Court, specifically. And although Oregon doesn't track civil cases by cause, attorneys say wage-and-hour claims are numerous in state venues. Why the flood of cases? It's easy for employers to make a mistake and relatively easy for employees to make them pay for it, said Nancy Cooper, an attorney with Bullivant Houser Bailey in Portland. Wage-and-hour rules are complicated and vary across state lines, making national firms such as Philadelphia-based Aramark vulnerable. Oregon, for instance, requires employers to provide paid 10-minute breaks, Cooper said. Arizona does not.

February 3, 2007 AP
The first time Joseph Neubauer took Aramark Corp. private in 1984, the deal was worth $889 million. When he and other managers led a leveraged buyout of the nation's largest food services company a second time, the price tag zoomed to $6.24 billion. And the biggest winner among shareholders at Aramark, which Friday completed its first week as a newly private company? Neubauer and his family, whose holdings soared in value to almost $1 billion. That puts Neubauer, 65, who came to the United States from Israel alone at the age of 14 and said he learned English from John Wayne movies, near the top of the list of beneficiaries from a wave of leveraged buyouts that has swept corporate America in the past year.

August 14, 2006 In These Times
While New Mexico’s landscape may make the state the Land of Enchantment, its rapidly growing rates of incarceration have been utterly disenchanting. What’s worse, New Mexico is at the top of the nation’s list for privatizing prisons; nearly one-half of the state’s prisons and jails are run by corporations. Supposedly, states turn to private companies to cope better with chronic overcrowding and for low-cost management. However, a closer look suggests a different rationale. A recent report from the Montana-based Institute on Money in State Politics reveals that during the 2002 and 2004 election cycles, private prison companies, directors, executives and lobbyists gave $3.3 million to candidates and state political parties across 44 states. According to Edwin Bender, executive director of the Institute on Money in State Politics, private prison companies strongly favor giving to states with the toughest sentencing laws—in essence, the ones that are more likely to come up with the bodies to fill prison beds. Those states, adds Bender, are also the ones most likely to have passed “three-strikes” laws. Those laws, first passed by Washington state voters in 1993 and then California voters in 1994, quickly swept the nation. They were largely based on “cookie-cutter legislation” pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), some of whose members come from the ranks of private prison companies. Florida leads the pack in terms of private prison dollars, with its candidates and political parties receiving almost 20 percent of their total contributions from private prison companies and their affiliates. Florida already has five privately owned and operated prisons, with a sixth on the way. It’s also privatized the bulk of its juvenile detention system. Texas and New Jersey are close behind. But in Florida, some of the influence peddling finally seems to be backfiring. Florida State Corrections Secretary James McDonough alarmed private prison companies with a comment during an Aug. 2 morning call-in radio show. “I actually think the state is better at running the prisons,” McDonough told an interviewer. His comments followed an internal audit last year by the state’s Department of Management Services, which demonstrated that Florida overpaid private prison operators by $1.3 million. Things may no longer be quite as sunny as they once were in Florida for the likes of Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the former Wackenhut, now known as the GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla. But with a little bit of spiel-tinkering—and a shift of attention to other states—the prison privatizers are likely to keep going. The key shift, Bender explains, is that “the prison industry has gone from a we-can-save-you-money pitch to an economic-development model pitch.” In other words, says Bender, “you need [their] prisons for jobs.” If political donations are any measure, economically challenged and poverty-stricken states like New Mexico are a great target. In this campaign cycle, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has already received more contributions from a private prison company than any other politician campaigning for state office in the United States. The Institute of Money in State Politics, which traced the donations, reported that GEO has contributed $42,750 to Richardson since 2005—and another $8,000 to his running mate, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. Another $30,000 went from GEO to the Richardson-headed Democratic Governors Association this past March. Richardson’s PAC, Moving America Forward, was another prominent recipient of GEO donations. Now, its former head, prominent state capitol lobbyist Joe Velasquez, is a registered lobbyist for GEO Care Inc., a healthcare subsidiary that runs a hospital in New Mexico. But don’t get the idea that GEO has any particular love for Democrats: $95,000 from the corporation went to the Republican Governors Association last year alone. What companies like GEO do love are the millions of dollars rolling in from lucrative New Mexico contracts to run the Lea County Correctional Facility (operating budget: $25 million/year), and the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility ($13 million/year), among others. CCA also owns and operates the state’s only women’s facility in Grants ($11 million per year). To make sure that those dollars keep flowing, GEO and CCA have perfected the art of the “very tight revolving door,” says Bender, which involves snapping up former corrections administrators, PAC lobbyists and state officials to serve as consultants to private prison companies. In fact, the current New Mexico Corrections Department Secretary Joe Williams was once on GEO’s payroll as their warden of the Lea County Correctional Facility. Earlier this year, Williams was placed on unpaid administrative leave after accusations surfaced that he spent state travel and phone funds to pursue a very close relationship with Ann Casey. Casey is a registered lobbyist in New Mexico for Wexford Health Sources, which provides health care for prisoners at Grants, and Aramark, which provides most of the state’s inmate meals. In her non-lobbying hours, it turns out that Casey is also an assistant warden at a state prison in Centralia, Ill. It appears that even for a prison industry enchanted by public-private partnership, Williams and Casey may have gone too far.

May 1, 2006 Bloomberg
Aramark Corp., the food-service company that sells hot dogs and beer at Boston's Fenway Park and Shea Stadium in New York, received a $5.8 billion takeover offer from a group led by its chairman and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The group, which also includes JPMorgan Chase & Co., Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Warburg Pincus LLC, bid $32 a share, Philadelphia-based Aramark said today in a statement. That's 14 percent more than its April 28 close. Aramark's shares surged as high as $34.95 as investors bet the company, which also runs college and corporate cafeterias, would eventually fetch more from the buyout group or another acquirer. The company's board formed a committee of independent directors to review the proposal, Aramark said. ``There exists for insiders an opportunity to sell the company to a rival bidder or compete in a bidding war for the company,'' JPMorgan Chase analyst Michael Fox wrote in a report. Fox has a ``neutral'' rating on Aramark. Private-equity firms have announced more than $120 billion of takeovers this year, up from $83 billion in the same period of 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Pressure to meet quarterly earnings targets and abide by new accounting and governance laws have pushed some companies to go private. Leveraged buyout specialists usually borrow about two- thirds of the purchase price to finance acquisitions. Their goal is to improve the operating performance of the companies they purchase, often by cutting costs, and then sell the companies in two to three years to make a profit.

Beaver County Jail
Beaver County, Pennsylvania
CiviGenics

May 24, 2007 Beaver Times
The Beaver County Commissioners' approval Thursday of a $72,000 payment to settle claims from the Massachusetts company that almost took over the county jail last year brings the total spent on trying to outsource the jail to nearly $1 million. CiviGenics was poised to assume control of the jail in October, but a ruling by President Judge Robert Kunselman ordering the county to obey an arbitrator's decision halted the deal. Instead, the county signed a new contract with jail guards. Commissioners had estimated that the county could have saved as much as $1.9 million annually by outsourcing the jail to CiviGenics. During the last week of December, the county paid CiviGenics $125,000 under the terms of its contract. Thursday's payment will cover additional expenses such as training and travel costs. "It's fair compensation," said Commissioners Chairman Joe Spanik after the board approved the payment. "They showed receipts for what (expenses) were there." In addition to the payments made to CiviGenics, the county's legal fees have reached nearly $793,000, said county financial administrator Rob Cyphert. That figure covers this year, 2006 and 2005, and includes not only work on privatization, but on contract negotiations with the union and settlement talks with CiviGenics. Commissioner Charlie Camp said he didn't regret trying to outsource the jail because "it was well within our rights to do that." Camp said the savings over the life of the guards' contract, estimated at $680,000 annually, will surpass the amount spent on CiviGenics and legal fees so the county won't really lose any money. "I regret we got two bad judgment calls from the arbitrator and the county judge," Camp said. Asked if he regretted pursuing privatization in light of the taxpayer money spent on the wasted effort, Spanik said outsourcing appeared to be a "good deal" for the county, and hindsight is always 20/20. "If I was a prognosticator," he said, "I'd hit the lottery." Initially, CiviGenics asked for $329,000 to cover its costs in preparing to manage the Hopewell Township jail, Cyphert said. Spanik said the county balked at that figure, though, and officials found some expenses they didn't think the county should pay. "We scrutinized the bills they submitted to us," Spanik said. When the $125,000 payment was made, county Solicitor Myron Sainovich said the county might consider reimbursing CiviGenics for additional costs, such as training and travel costs, because the county was unable to give the company any notice before nixing the contract. "Quite frankly, we would've been liable for those (expenses) because we were in breach," Sainovich said Thursday. Sainovich said the $72,000 doesn't compensate CiviGenics for "pain and suffering," but only for verifiable expenses.

January 10, 2007 Beaver Times
Beaver County has met its contractual obligation and paid $125,000 to the company that would have taken over the county jail if a court ruling had not nixed the deal, county solicitor Myron Sainovich said Wednesday. CiviGenics, a Massachusetts-based company, was paid in the last week of December, said Rob Cyphert, the county's financial administrator. Under terms of its contract with CiviGenics, the county was obligated to pay the company no more than $125,000 "for all reasonable and documented start-up expenses" if the county decided against outsourcing the Hopewell Township jail. That's exactly what happened after Beaver County President Judge Robert Kunselman ruled that the county was required to abide by an arbitration decision that prohibited privatization over the life of an arbitration-imposed three-year contract. County commissioners chose not to appeal Kunselman's decision. Instead of handing over management duties to CiviGenics on Oct. 31 as they had planned, commissioners agreed to a new four-year contract that was estimated to save the county about $600,000 a year. Commissioners had spent more than two years studying privatization and at least $500,000 over several months litigating their right to outsource the jail. They claimed the county would've saved $1.9 million a year by contracting with CiviGenics. Last month, commissioners raised county property taxes by 1 mill and laid the blame squarely at Kunselman's feet. The county's tax rate is now 18.7 mills. Sainovich said he hasn't heard of CiviGenics requesting additional money, but the county might consider paying for other verifiable training and travel costs. "The county will try and reimburse them for those (expenses) because we did kind of go up until the last hour," he said.

November 29, 2006 Beaver Times
A county judge believes that even if operations at the Beaver County Jail had been privatized, county residents would still have to pay higher taxes. In a written opinion released Tuesday, President Judge Robert E. Kunselman disputed county commissioners main argument: that turning over operations at the Hopewell Township facility to the CiviGenics company would save enough money that a tax increase could be avoided next year. Kunselman made his ruling in late October; Tuesdays opinion explained his reasoning. For months, commissioners pushed a plan that said that if the Massachusetts-based private correctional services company took over operations at the jail, the county could save $1.9 million annually. The changeover from county to private oversight was halted by Kunselman just a couple of days before the Oct. 30 switch was to take place. Beaver County Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said Tuesday afternoon that Kunselmans ruling was filled with errors, omissions and presumptions about the county's budget. He promised a written response to Kunselmans opinion within the next day or two. I am flabbergasted, Donatella said, adding that he thinks Kunselman purposely waited until the day after an appeal period had expired so that his written opinion wouldn't be questioned by a higher court. Earlier, however, commissioners said Kunselmans order barring privatization wouldn't be appealed because it was unlikely that a higher court would overturn the decision. Kunselman declined to comment on Donatellas remarks. Kunselman became involved in the jail issue when Service Employees International Union Local 668 sued the county earlier this year, saying it had to abide by a contract arbitration award. That arbitration included the prohibition of privatization for three years and requiring jail employees to make concessions. The arbitration was rendered moot when the county and jail employees came to an agreement in October on a new four-year contract. In his October opinion, Kunselman ruled there was no legal reason for the county to ignore the arbitration and privatize the jail. Also, Kunselman said in the opinion that during hearings on the arbitration award, county employees said the county would have a $140,000 deficit at the end of November and would be in the red by $3 million at the end of the year, if the arbitration was awarded. Kunselman said there was no direct proof that the arbitration was the reason for the deficit. He said that while the county projected a savings of $1.5 million in the first year of privatization, it also projected a $3 million budget deficit. Thus, we concluded that the county would have to increase taxes to pay for the CiviGenics contract anyway, Kunselman said.

November 9, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The legal fight over privatizing the Beaver County Jail has cost the county about $500,000, and that's just the beginning. The county commissioners will sit down soon with representatives of CiviGenics Inc., the company they had hired to run the jail, to work out a fair compensation for the company's troubles. "We have calculated the cost of preparing to take over the jail," company Chief Operating Officer Peter Argeropulos said, adding that CiviGenics had put more than 50 people through guard training and had assembled complete plans for the takeover and management. He declined to say what the calculated number was. CiviGenics responded to a county inquiry in the summer of last year, offering a deal that would have saved the county about $1.9 million a year. When the union representing the county-employed jail guards couldn't match the savings, the commissioners announced the switch, dropping the union and hiring CiviGenics starting Oct. 31. But four days before the takeover, Common Pleas Judge Robert E. Kunselman ruled that the county had to abide by an arbitration award that gave the union a new contract. The commissioners announced Oct. 31 that they had accepted a deal with the union and would not appeal the judge's ruling. Under the county's contract with CiviGenics, it owes the company $125,000 if the deal gets scratched "through no fault of the county." Asked if the company's costs exceeded $125,000, Mr. Argeropulos replied, "Oh, certainly." But he expressed confidence that a settlement could be worked out.

October 28, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Beaver County Jail will continue to be run by public employees, after a court ruling yesterday that derailed the county's privatization move. Beaver County President Judge Robert E. Kunselman upheld a June arbitration award that gave the county's jail guards a new three-year contract. The county had set Monday as the date for a Massachusetts firm, CiviGenics Inc., to take over jail operations, a move that would have left the unionized guards out of work. "It still hasn't hit home," union steward and jail guard Tom Trkulja said. "From the beginning we believed the law says what the law says and everybody has to follow it." The dispute has its roots in a series of cost-cutting moves made by the county commissioners over the last three years. Looking to pare the $6 million-plus jail budget, they decided to take proposals for private management. CiviGenics in the summer of 2005 made a proposal that would save the county $1.9 million a year, and with the union contract expiring in December, the commissioners demanded that the union meet that savings. When the union would not, the commissioners declared union negotiations at an impasse and signed a contract with CiviGenics in January. The union contract went to arbitration, but in June, before the arbitration panel finalized its ruling, the county enacted its contract with the private firm. CiviGenics has been hiring and training replacements for the 53 full-time and 17 part-time guards, who are members of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union. The union, however, asked the court to enforce an arbitration award issued in June, which it regarded as binding. The commissioners argued that since the award would force them to take legislative action to raise money to pay the guards, state law rendered it advisory only. In a hearing before Judge Kunselman on Tuesday, county Financial Administrator Rob Cyphert testified that the county would run out of cash in about a month under the union contract, and would likely have to increase its debt load to stay afloat. The union, however, argued that the county created its own budget crunch by basing its budget on the CiviGenics deal. The county "engaged in bad faith bargaining by establishing a budget which could only be accomplished by the privatization of the prison without the legal authority to make such an assumption," the union's legal brief said.

October 27, 2006 The Beaver Times
Beaver County Courthouse workers voted on a contract proposal Thursday that union officials said was essential to keeping the county jail from being privatized, but results were unavailable late Thursday. Whether their new contract and the one approved this past Monday by jail guards actually save enough money to persuade the county commissioners not to privatize the jail this coming Monday remains to be seen. Service Employees International Union Local 668 members were called to a 4:30 p.m. meeting at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall in Vanport Township to vote on the proposal that SEIU state officials unveiled in a tense meeting Tuesday. Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella and Commissioner Charlie Camp said late Thursday they had yet to be informed of the result of the union's vote. Commissioner Joe Spanik could not be reached for comment. The union is under pressure to resolve the situation because Beaver County President Judge Robert Kunselman is expected to issue his ruling today on whether the county must abide by an arbitration decision released earlier this year. If Kunselman would rule that the decision is not binding, the county would be free to pursue privatization. At the Tuesday meeting, SEIU leaders told courthouse workers that their new contract was being tied to the jail guards' contract. The savings from those two contracts would be combined to try to meet the financial demands of county commissioners, who want to privatize the jail to save approximately $1.9 million annually.

October 26, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Management of the Beaver County Jail is up for determination tomorrow, though whether it is by court order or through last-minute labor talks remains to be seen. County President Judge Robert E. Kunselman plans to issue a ruling tomorrow on whether the county can turn jail management over to a private firm Monday morning. Judge Kunselman held a hearing Tuesday and demanded briefs from union and county attorneys by this morning. The county commissioners are calling for a decision by tomorrow on an across-the-board contract offer that would keep the unionized, publicly employed jail guards in place but would include new contracts with five other unions representing county workers. The last-ditch deal was ratified by the jail guards Sunday, but faces an uphill battle with the other unions, which have been working without contracts for almost two years while rejecting similar offers. The unions held a tumultuous membership meeting Wednesday, with no agreement forthcoming. If the unions decline the contract offer and Judge Kunselman rules in the county's favor, CiviGenics Inc. will take over jail management Monday. The takeover would culminate a two-year effort by the commissioners to cut costs at the Hopewell facility.

October 25, 2006 Beaver Times
As the deadline for privatizing the Beaver County Jail looms closer, it appears the only way for jail guards to avoid losing their jobs is for courthouse union members to accept concessions, too. But, if an emergency meeting Tuesday of Service Employees International Union Local 668 members who work at the courthouse is any indication, those jail guard jobs are as good as gone. Courthouse workers were summoned to a meeting with state SEIU officials at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall in Vanport Township to hear a last-minute proposal to save the jobs of their SEIU brethren at the jail. Once there, according to one employee who attended the meeting but asked not to be identified, union officials told courthouse workers to accept the contract terms presented or Massachusetts-based CiviGenics would take over the jail. Some guards have applied to and been hired by CiviGenics, but most would be laid off if the company took over. The employee said the proposal would have workers pay 1 percent toward health-care insurance costs in 2007 and 2008 and 1.5 percent starting in 2009. Employees would receive raises of 2.5 percent on Jan. 1; 3 percent in 2008 and 3.5 percent in 2009. Courthouse workers have been without a contract since Jan. 1, 2004, and negotiations have snagged on wages and the county's demand that employees start contributing to health insurance costs. Other terms, according to the employee, include a one-week reduction in the maximum amount of vacation earned (from five to four weeks) and the loss of three holidays (Flag Day, Dec. 26 and an employee's birthday). The employee said the raucous meeting ended with frustrated courthouse workers leaving without taking a vote. Tuesday's meeting followed a vote by jail guards Monday to accept a contract proposal. Union officials would not publicly discuss the contract, but one said it was similar to an arbitration decision released earlier this year. That decision reduced the number of full-time guards, froze wages for jail guards for three years and implemented a 1 percent contribution toward health insurance. But it also prohibited the county from privatizing the jail for three years. County commissioners, though, rejected the arbitration decision, saying that the purported $450,000 in savings fell short of the estimated $1.9 million the county could save by having CiviGenics manage the jail in Hopewell Township. CiviGenics is scheduled to take over the jail Monday, so pressure is mounting on jail guards to do something or face layoffs. Whatever the guards agreed to apparently still didn't meet the commissioners' financial demands, so courthouse employees were asked to take concessions in order to package a cost-saving deal to the county. One flier being circulated around the courthouse Tuesday perfectly illustrated the feelings over the proposal. "We are not happy about this and hope that everyone will not be blackmailed by the commissioners," the flier read. In a related matter Tuesday, attorneys for the SEIU and the county debated the merits of the arbitration decision before Beaver County President Judge Robert E. Kunselman. Both sides said they expect Kunselman to issue a decision by Friday. The union wants Kunselman to order the county to abide by the arbitration decision, while county commissioners argue that the ruling would force them to raise property taxes to pay for the jail. Before that hearing began, Claudia Lukert, the SEIU's attorney, withdrew the union's request for an injunction, but she refused to explain why.

October 17, 2006 Beaver Times
A hearing that could decide the fate of the Beaver County Jail is expected to be moved up a week, as a final deadline looms. Civigenics is scheduled to take over management of the jail on Oct. 30, in a move that county commissioners have billed as one that will save taxpayers money. Within the past few weeks, representatives of Service Employees International Union Local 668 filed suit against Beaver County, asking a judge for an injunction that would stop the switchover from county to private supervision. Under the changeover, dozens of current jail guards would lose their jobs.

October 12, 2006 Beaver Times
Beaver County President Judge Robert Kunselman apparently doesn't believe in the old idiom "A day late and a dollar short." Even though CiviGenics is poised to take over management of the county jail Oct. 30, Kunselman has scheduled a hearing on a request for an injunction from the jail guards' union for Oct. 31. Beaver County Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said the head-scratching decision by Kunselman would not stop CiviGenics from taking over the jail as scheduled. "We can't sit around and speculate on what is going to happen," Donatella said. The judge's decision is bewildering because county officials have made it clear over the last few weeks in newspaper articles and letters to jail employees that CiviGenics would assume control Oct. 30. Kunselman did not respond to a telephone message left at his courthouse office Wednesday seeking an explanation for his decision. Dave Ramsey, the jail guards' union representative with Service Employees International Union Local 668, also did not return a message left at his office. To win an injunction, county solicitor Myron Sainovich said the union must prove to Kunselman that it is likely that it would prevail in litigation and that irreparable harm would occur if the jail were privatized. "I don't believe they can show that," Sainovich said. The Pittsburgh law firm of Thorp, Reed & Armstrong is representing the county in litigation about the jail. In a one-page order, Kunselman gave both sides until Oct. 27 to submit briefs "on the question of whether or not injunctive relief can or should be granted." This is the second recent court decision on the jail takeover that has raised the eyebrows of county officials. Six of the seven judges rejected a county request to recuse themselves from litigation involving the jail to avoid conflicts of interest. Judge Deborah Kunselman removed herself from any hearings citing her former position as county solicitor.

October 5, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Beaver County labor leaders might soon face a touchy, difficult choice. They hate seeing the county bringing in a private firm to run the county jail, and they feel betrayed by Democratic Commissioners Dan Donatella, a longtime friend of labor, and Joe Spanik, a labor official elected in 2003. But would they go as far as to shut down all political activities? Would they punish Mike Veon, of Beaver, and Vince Biancucci, of Center, incumbent Democratic state legislators counting on union support for re-election? Such a request is implied in a Sept. 26 letter from Kathy Jellison, president of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, to its members who are county employees working at the jail. "It is no longer acceptable for local party leaders and other elected officials to remain silent while asking us to help them," the letter says. "They must stand with us." The letter says Local 668 plans "to demand an immediate suspension of all electoral activity in Beaver County by organized labor. ... We are requesting that labor organizations shut down phone banks, labor walks and all other in-kind contributions. ... We are requesting that you and/or your family members not take part in any candidate on the ballot in the county. Cash contributions should be suspended as well." In a county that is still heavily Democratic and where organized labor is still a huge political force, the idea has people nervous, waiting to see if the request is actually made.

October 3, 2006 Beaver Times
In an order signed Monday, only Judge Deborah Kunselman recused herself from hearing any arguments, citing the fact that she was county solicitor when the move to privatize the jail began. The county had asked the judges to remove themselves from any cases concerning litigation with Service Employees International Union Local 668, which represents the jail guards. SEIU opposed the county's request, insisting that any arguments should be heard by a Beaver County judge. The union has asked for an injunction to halt the county from handing the reins of the jail to CiviGenics on Oct. 30 and it has asked the court to order the county to abide by an arbitrator's contract decision that prohibited the county from privatizing the jail. County commissioners have said the decision was not binding and that they don't have to obey it because doing so would force them to pass a tax increase to pay for jail operations. "This is a Beaver County problem," said Dave Ramsey, the jail guards' SEIU representative. "We're satisfied that this is going to stay before Beaver County judges." Ramsey said he found it insulting that Beaver County tried to get the jail litigation "shipped off to another county."

September 28, 2006 Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Barring further legal action, private enterprise will manage the Beaver County Jail beginning Oct. 30. The county issued a letter Tuesday informing jail workers -- who are all Beaver County employees -- that Civigenics Inc. would be taking over jail operations. The Marlborough, Mass., company operates prisons nationwide, including the jail in Columbiana County, Ohio, which borders Beaver. The announcement was not unexpected, since the county activated its contract with Civigenics June 22, and the contract gave the company 120 days to take over operations. The move has been opposed in court, however, by the local unit of the Service Employees International Union, representing corrections officers at the jail.

August 3, 2006 Pittsburg Post-Gazette
Lawyers representing Beaver County do not think county judges would be biased in the case pitting the county against its jail guards' union. But they do think there is an appearance of the possibility of bias, and are thus asking that the county's seven judges be recused from the case -- meaning it would be handled by a retired judge or one from another county. The county's attorneys -- Joseph Friedman, Kurt Miller and Amy Herne, of Thorp Reed and Armstrong, Pittsburgh -- made the recusal motion yesterday. "Because the county has set aside 10 percent of the general fund budget for the jail, any deviation from that budget will have a direct and material impact on the other operations funded through the general fund, including the courthouse and the court of Common Pleas," the argument for recusal reads. The judge, whoever it eventually is, will play at least a minor role in deciding the fate of the county jail, whether it will continue as a county-run, union-worked facility or whether it will be privately run. The county has signed a contract with a private firm, CiviGenics Texas Inc., to take over jail operations, looking for a savings of about $1.9 million a year. Meanwhile, the county went through arbitration with the guards' union over a contract that expired at the end of 2005, and the arbitration panel signed off on a deal that would keep the union guards in place but would cost the county more. The union regards the arbitration award as binding. The county regards it as advisory, arguing that holding to it would force county commissioners to take legislative action in the form of a tax hike, and that arbitration can't force a county to take legislative action. That's an argument the commissioners set in stone last Thursday, passing a three-page resolution stating the position that the arbitration award is advisory only and empowering the county's attorneys to fight it. The resolution states that county funds are already earmarked for other departments and programs, many of which are mandated by the state or federal government. Reserves need to be protected in case of cash-flow problems, meaning the only way to pay for the arbitration award would be to borrow money, paying it back through higher taxes later. "The commissioners hereby reject the award as an unconstitutional infringement on the legislative powers of the commissioners, and deem the award to be advisory only in nature ..." the resolution reads. The resolution brought a long pause from Commissioner Joe Spanik, a labor leader before his 2003 election. "That's a tough one," he said quietly, before eventually seconding Commissioner Charlie Camp's motion and voting for the resolution. After the meeting, Mr. Spanik said he felt the advisory nature of the award to be up to the courts to determine, though he backed the county's stance. The union, Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, has filed a petition asking the court to enforce the arbitration award, and has also filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.

July 20, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Beaver County Commissioners are going full-steam ahead with plans to privatize the county jail while the union representing the guards is chugging right back with legal action to stop the move. "We feel we have to go forward with it," commissioners' chairman Dan Donatella said. "There is too huge a savings for the taxpayers for us not to." Meanwhile, the county's contractor, CiviGenics Inc., is interviewing potential guards. In response, the union: On July 10 filed a petition asking the county Common Pleas Court to uphold a favorable arbitration award. On July 12 filed a complaint with the state Labor Relations Board. On Monday filed a motion for an injunction to keep the county from continuing its move to CiviGenics. "The county commissioners want to be above the law, to ignore the arbitration award and do what they want anyway," union steward Tom Trkulja said. The issue has roots going back to late 2004, when the commissioners hired a private firm to manage the county-owned nursing home and started considering the jail as another candidate for privatization. The county put out a request for proposals early in 2005, and CiviGenics, based in Marlborough, Mass., offered a plan in June 2005 that included $1.8 million in annual savings. The county asked the guards' union to offer similar savings in a new contract -- the old labor agreement expired Dec. 31 -- but the contract went to arbitration when the union declined to match the private offer. On June 7, after seeing a preliminary proposal from the arbitrator, the county told the union it would go ahead with the CiviGenics deal. It sent an official letter to that effect June 22, the same day the arbitration award was announced. The union ratified the arbitrator's proposal, which offered about $400,000 in savings. The union -- Local 1168 of the Service Employees International Union -- contends that the arbitration award is legal and binding. "They can't just ignore it," business agent Dave Ramsey said. The county contends that while arbitration can determine what a contract will include, it can't stop the county from simply walking away and going in a different direction. "If an arbiter has that kind of power" -- to force a county into a union contract if it has other options -- "then the contract will run forever, and just keep getting renewed," Mr. Donatella said. In fact, Mr. Donatella said, the dispute could end up touching on some important uncharted territory. Depending what happens, the courts could end up determining whether counties have an automatic right to subcontract work, or if they only have that right when it is specifically allowed in their union contracts. "Many, many, many counties are watching this case," he said. If counties have a general right to employ subcontractors, it would make privatization a lot easier. Beaver County's old union contract said nothing about subcontracting work to a private business. The county contends that since it is not specifically forbidden, it is an option the county has. "That's a management decision," Mr. Donatella said. "I can't believe we don't have the right to manage." The union contends that since the arbitration award does include language on subcontracting -- the award says the county cannot subcontract work during the length of the new, arbitrated union contract -- then the county's hands are tied. "My understanding of the law is that if it isn't in the contract then you have to bargain for it," Mr. Ramsey said, "and that's what we did." He said top SEIU officials, like county officials, are watching the case closely. "They have to decide how they want to use their resources," he said. "I don't know if we're going to have purple shirts" -- the union's trademark color -- "marching in Beaver or not." Meanwhile, CiviGenics has until early September to take over jail operations, barring an injunction, and already is interviewing potential jail guards, including some union members. "Nobody really wants to work for this company," Mr. Trkulja said, "but some of the guys, because of the way their lives are, are going to have to." He said generally people are keeping quiet on the issue. There have been some hard feelings and a little name-calling, but nothing more serious than that, and union leaders are not asking members whether they are doing interviews. "There are mixed emotions down there," he said. "A lot of people are at somewhat of a low point."

July 18, 2006 Beaver Times
The union representing the Beaver County Jail guards filed for an injunction on Monday to stop the county from contracting with CiviGenics to manage the Hopewell Township jail. Service Employees International Union Local 668's motion for an injunction filed in Beaver County Court said allowing the county to contract with the Massachusetts-based CiviGenics would "cause immediate and irreparable harm to the employees," who would "suffer a loss of employment, medical coverage and other benefits ....." SEIU asked the court to grant an injunction "until (the union) has fully exhausted the administrative and judicial remedies." One of those remedies, presumably, is the union's request - filed July 10 - to have the county court force the county commissioners to honor an arbitration decision released by a panel last month. A neutral arbitrator and a union representative on the panel approved the decision, while county Solicitor Myron Sainovich, the panel's third member, rejected it. The union insists the arbitration decision is binding, but the county disagrees. Under the three-year decision, wages would be frozen and the number of full-time jail guards would be reduced, but the county would also be prohibited from privatizing the operation of the facility. The county's attorneys have said the arbitration decision would save the county $450,000 annually for three years, compared to the more than $4 million that would be saved by contracting with CiviGenics through 2008. Asked if the request for an injunction would affect the ongoing privatization process, Sainovich replied, "Not at this point in time." Claudia Lukert, SEIU's Harrisburg attorney, didn't return a message left at her office. County financial administrator Rob Cyphert said the county's contract with CiviGenics calls for the company to be reimbursed up to $125,000 for recruiting expenses "if they don't ultimately end up running the operation at the jail." A temporary halt to the process would not trigger that clause, Cyphert said. CiviGenics asked current guards to submit applications by July 14, and it was scheduled to hold a job fair at Penn State-Beaver today.

June 29, 2006 Beaver Times
How frayed has the relationship between Beaver County and the union representing its jail guards become amid contract arbitration and a move to privatize the jail? So tattered that when Service Employees International Union Local 668 business agent Dave Ramsey was told Wednesday that the county commissioners were disappointed in an arbitration decision that saved the county "only" $450,000 annually, this was his reaction: "Tell them to go (expletive) themselves, and you can tell them I said that." Well, then. The relationship won't improve now that an arbitration panel has issued a decision that would prohibit privatization from happening through 2008 and reduce the number of full-time guards, but would also freeze wages for three years and implement a 1 percent employee contribution toward health insurance. That's because county commissioners probably won't accept the deal, which they say falls far short of the estimated $1.9 million the county would save if the jail was outsourced to the Massachusetts company CiviGenics. "It is unlikely that this board is going to accept that," Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said of the decision by arbitrator Marc Winters that was agreed to by SEIU representative Rick Adams. The decision was issued Thursday, only hours after commissioners declared negotiations at an impasse and voted to authorize CiviGenics to start the takeover process. "We dislike just about everything (in the decision), but we're pleased they're not going to have any (privatization) for the life of the contract," Ramsey said. County Solicitor Myron Sainovich - who along with Winters and Adams made up the arbitration panel - rejected the decision. The arbitration decision would not keep the county from privatization, he said.

June 23, 2006 Beaver Times
A Massachusetts company could take over operation of the Beaver County Jail by October after county commissioners on Thursday declared negotiations with the guards at an impasse and unanimously approved privatizing the facility. "This," said Commissioner Joe Spanik, "is the next step forward." County Solicitor Myron Sainovich said officials hope to have CiviGenics in place no later than Oct. 15. Sainovich, who represented the county on the three-member arbitration panel in April, said Butler County arbitrator Marc Winters, the agreed-to neutral party, gave his proposal in May, but the county rejected it. Sainovich said the union rejected the proposal as well, although no union representative would confirm that on Thursday. Rick Adams, a representative for Service Employees International Union Local 668, argued for the jail guards in arbitration; he could not be reached at his Erie office. Sainovich would not release Winters' proposal because it was not a final decision. Winters did not return a telephone message left on Thursday. But Sainovich said late Thursday afternoon that Winters was preparing a revised proposal that would be given to both sides for consideration. Tom Trkulja, the guards' chief union steward, said he was unaware of the commissioners' vote.

June 23, 2006 Tribune-Review
A private company will take over management and operations of the Beaver County Jail by Oct. 15, county commissioners said Thursday. Putting CiviGenics Inc. in charge of the 360-bed jail in Hopewell will save the county $1.9 million in the first year of the deal, commissioners said in a news release. The county will pay CiviGenics $14.6 million over three years to run the jail. The union representing 72 county jail guards fought the move, fearing pay cuts and the loss of benefits, and they questioned private prisons' safety record and officials' rosy savings projections. "You shouldn't be imprisoning people for profit," Service Employees International Union Local 668 business agent Dave Ramsey said.

April 20, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The fate of Beaver County's push to privatize the county jail now rests in the hands of Marc Winters, an arbiter from Butler County. Beaver County officials and jail guards testified before a three-member arbitration panel April 12 and last Thursday, making their cases for alternative versions of how the Beaver County Jail should be run. With one of the three panel members selected by the county and one by the guards, however, it is essentially up to the one neutral arbiter, Mr. Winters, to say what should happen. The county has signed a contract with a Massachusetts firm, CiviGenics Inc., to take over management of the jail. The county says it can save up to $1.6 million a year by moving the jail into the private sector. The corrections officers union, working without a contract since Jan. 1, made a counterproposal, but it could not match the savings promised by CiviGenics. The union filed for arbitration after the county signed the CiviGenics contract. Neither guard nor county representatives would talk in detail about the proceedings, which were closed to the public. County financial administrator Rob Cyphert and jail Warden Bill Schouppe were the county's primary witnesses; three corrections officers testified for the union.

March 27, 2006 Beaver Times
The bitter contract negotiations between Beaver County Jail guards and the county will go before an arbitration panel next month at the county courthouse. County solicitor Myron Sainovich said last week that the county and the jail guards' union will square off April 12 and 13 in closed sessions. A three-member panel will hear arguments, but the decision essentially boils down to which side can win over the one neutral arbitrator. Sainovich will sit on the panel as the county's representative, and Rick Adams, a Service Employees International Union Local 668 business agent, will represent the guards. Butler County lawyer Marc Winters was picked as the neutral member by the county and the union. Sainovich said the two-day hearing will resemble a trial, with county officials involved in negotiations being called to testify. Although the county is poised to privatize the jail and allow CiviGenics to take over operations, county commissioners have said they would keep the jail under county control if they could get the financial concessions they're looking for. County officials have said the Massachusetts-based CiviGenics could save Beaver County $5 million over the next three years, but jail guards have questioned the validity of those estimates. The county has said the guards have not offered savings anywhere close to what CiviGenics is promising. As the arbitration process winds to a conclusion, the county continues to operate the jail, and guards continue to work under the terms of the contract that expired at the end of 2005.

February 16, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Beaver County commissioners yesterday unanimously passed a 2006 budget with no tax increase. The county's millage rate will hold at 17.7 mills, the same as it was in 2005. The projected total budget is roughly $257.5 million for the county's 29 separate funds and includes no major cuts or additions in funding or programs. The budget likely will be amended in the near future depending on the outcome of an arbitrator's decision on a contract between the county and the Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the county jail's roughly 80 guards. The guards' contract expired on Dec. 31, and the two sides are at an impasse after the county decided to contract with a private firm, Civigenics, to run the jail. The county hopes to save upward of $1.5 million a year by switching to a private firm; guards are concerned that they might have to face sizable pay and benefit cuts to retain their jobs with a private company.

January 24, 2006 Beaver Times
Beaver County will pay CiviGenics $14.6 million over the next three years to manage the county jail, and it retains the right to cancel the contract at any time without giving a reason. Peter Argeropulos, CiviGenics' chief operating officer, said the deal is pretty typical of the company's other contracts. Current jail guards have said that private guards make considerably less than the $17.33 per hour the county now pays. Argeropulos said the wage scale would range from $10 per hour for entry-level guards to $14 per hour for guards with seniority. The benefits package would be a dramatic change for guards, who now pay nothing for health insurance. Argeropulos said company employees generally pay about 30 percent of health-insurance costs.

January 19, 2006 Beaver Times
Before the Beaver County Prison Board approved privatizing the Beaver County Jail, guards offered a plan that would have saved the county $1.6 million this year, the same as a private company has promised, a union official said Wednesday. "We tried to save (the county) as much money as we could," said Tom Trkulja, the chief union steward for the jail guards. Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella said the contract with Massachusetts-based CiviGenics was executed Wednesday. "It's signed, sealed and delivered," he said. Trkulja charged that the county is demanding outrageous concessions from the guards that no other county unions have been offered. He said the guards have been asked to accept a 25 percent cut in hourly wages and pay a 25 percent health insurance premium while other county employees pay 1 percent. The county also wants to slash the number of full-time guards from 55 to 49 and part-time guards from 22 to 15, Trkulja said. Although it doesn't want to hurt other county workers, the union is exploring what bumping rights guards might have so they could move into other county jobs if they get displaced by CiviGenics, Trkulja said.

January 18, 2006 Beaver Times
Nearly two years after the Beaver County Commissioners first talked about privatizing the Beaver County Jail, the county prison board on Tuesday authorized them to contract with a Massachusetts company to run the Hopewell Township facility. "It's a contract that is good for the county," said Rick Towcimak, prison board member and county controller. Under the proposed contract with CiviGenics, the county would save a projected $5 million over the next three years. Most of the savings would come from the county no longer employing jail guards and having to pay their salaries and benefits. Tom Trkulja, the chief union steward for the county's jail guards, said the vote was a surprise to him and he again insisted that privatization would only create problems for the county and its residents. "Taxpayers are going to lose on this," Trkulja said. "We're all going to lose." Towcimak said he was initially skeptical about the savings expected from CiviGenics, but he is now convinced the figures are realistic. Also, he said the public would not be endangered by having a private company operate the jail, something the current jail guards have repeatedly warned about. "We've seen things happen down at the jail now, and it's not private," said Towcimak. Last month, a jail sergeant was fired for mistakenly releasing an accused child molester, the third time the sergeant had wrongly released an inmate in 2005. Towcimak said he had also received assurances from CiviGenics that the "vast majority" of jail guards would be offered jobs at comparable wages. Trkulja bristled at those comments, saying the union has been told that each full-time guard would have to accept an $18,000 pay cut.

January 1, 2006 AP
Beaver County says it is prepared to hire a private management firm to run the county jail, which officials say would save the county $5 million over three years. But the union representing the guards, whose contract expired Saturday, says it hopes a new proposal will save the county enough money to fend off privatization and ultimately save most of their jobs. "We're making every attempt we can to come up with ways to save them money, said Tom Trkulja, the union steward for the jail's 70 full-time and part-time guards. CiviGenics of Massachusetts has said it could save the county about $1.6 million a year over what it pays its guards currently - a projection disputed by the union. If CiviGenics is hired, the company would have the option of keeping the existing staff, but Trkulja said about 80 percent of the guards would probably not take the jobs because of the lower pay. Although negotiators for two sides are scheduled to meet Jan. 9, the county approved a budget last week that includes the $1.6 million annual savings expected if CiviGenics is hired.

December 27, 2005 Beaver Times
Under Beaver County's preliminary 2006 budget that commissioners should approve on Thursday, there won't be a county property tax increase for a second consecutive year. Commissioners are prepared to outsource the management of the jail to the Massachusetts company CiviGenics for a projected savings of nearly $5 million over the next three years, including at least $1.6 million in 2006. Savings achieved through no longer having to pay benefits could push those figures higher. Health coverage accounts for nearly $760,000, according to the county's 2005 budget, with dental and vision costing an additional $55,000. Taking all costs into account, the total savings from outsourcing could easily exceed $2 million annually. Service Employees International Union Local 668, the union representing county jail guards, has disputed the numbers contained in CiviGenics' proposal. And union officials have also been reviewing the contract proposal in an effort to submit their own proposal. The union's contract expires Dec. 31, and both sides have been negotiating. Donatella said commissioners expect significant savings from the jail whether they're provided by the union or CiviGenics. "We'll be more than happy to keep (the jail) in-house as long as the savings are there," Donatella said.

December 15, 2005 Pittsburgh Post Gazette
It is, essentially, a tale of 2 mills. If the Beaver County commissioners get a Massachusetts firm to run the county jail, or if they strike an equivalent deal with the union representing jail workers, they expect to pass a budget with no tax increase. If they keep running the jail under the terms of the existing union contract, they expect to pass a budget with a tax increase of about 2 mills. They plan to approve a preliminary budget Dec. 29, including the projected savings under the contract with CiviGenics, Inc., and then hunker down to see what happens next. If the union makes an offer with equivalent savings, they'll pass the preliminary budget essentially unchanged. If the commissioners sign with CiviGenics, they expect the union to go to court, seeking an injunction delaying the contract. If the court grants an injunction, the commissioners would be forced to continue operating the jail under the terms of the existing union contract, and would then pass a budget with a tax increase to pay for it. Dave Ramsey, business agent for Local 668 SEIU of the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, said the union would be coming up with a counter-offer, but that it would not match the one from CiviGenics. "We are going to make a proposal to them that includes enough people to actually man all the duty stations," he said, labeling the private proposal a "ghost offer" based on hiring and staffing assumptions that fly in the face of reality. Mr. Ramsey said the county was having trouble hiring corrections officers now, leading him to doubt whether CiviGenics can do so at lower wages. "The prospects of this proposal from CiviGenics being viable are not very high," he said.

November 6, 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 
Beaver County is an unlikely place for a conservative revolution. Democrats hold a two-to-one registration advantage, have dominated county government for decades, own the state legislative seats. The steel mills are gone, but a blue collar is still a badge of honor and unions remain a political force. Inside the offices of the county commissioners, though, the flag of private enterprise is flying high -- high enough to draw repeated protests from local union officials. Over the last year, the commissioners have brought in new management for the county nursing home, outsourced services like printing, nursing home laundry and lawn care, and named a private restaurant to run the courthouse lunchroom as a for-profit entity, not to mention two rounds of layoffs, the first two in county history. And they're in the process of making two larger moves toward privatization: They solicited private companies to build and manage a regional juvenile detention center in the county and they have negotiated a tentative agreement for a private company to take over the county jail. The moves have local unions howling. "Our number one concern is for safety," said Ed Rowan, a correctional officer at the county jail and safety officer for Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union. "That's a big issue when it comes to private prisons. They have less training and lower wages." There is an even larger issue, though, that has the union's state headquarters on high alert as well. To put it simply, if this can happen here, it can happen anywhere. Beaver's move toward private management at the jail would be even more revolutionary, though it's not a done deal -- the union's contract runs through Dec. 31, and the county cannot make a change until then. The county does, however, have a basic agreement in place with CiviGenics Inc., of Marlborough, Mass. The bottom line is $1.8 million in promised savings annually, with perhaps another $600,000 in annual pension and benefit savings on top of it. If that happens, Beaver will be only the second county in Pennsylvania with a privately run jail -- the other is Delaware County, just south of Philadelphia. The protests of unions has been backed by a vociferous anti-private-jail lobby, which has Web sites and publications offering thousands of pages of horror stories and studies disputing the industry's claims of safety and savings. And in fact, Delaware has run into some recent problems, with five deaths in five months, sparking an internal investigation and one by the county district attorney's office. The county and jail operator The Geo Group Inc. are named in a $500,000 lawsuit by the family of a man who died in the jail of a drug overdose in April.

October 14, 2005 Beaver County Times
Beaver County Jail guards picketed the courthouse again on Thursday to protest the privatization of the jail, and a union official gave the county commissioners a petition bearing more than 1,400 names opposing the move. County residents are "beginning to become aware of what's happening, and they don't like it," said Dave Ramsey, the business agent for Service Employees International Union Local 668. Ramsey told the commissioners at their regular meeting that he noticed several resolutions on last month's agenda that addressed increases in contracts. He warned the commissioners that they'd be doing the same with CiviGenics if they outsource the jail to the Massachusetts company. Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella didn't appeared swayed by the petition or the 1,472 signatures.

September 29, 2005 Beaver County Times
Beaver County Commissioner Joe Spanik is between the proverbial rock and a hard place as county officials inch closer and closer to privatizing the Beaver County Jail. "Absolutely, there's pressure," said Spanik, a longtime labor official who was elected in 2003 with the support of unions. As the move to privatize the jail in Hopewell Township picks up steam, Spanik has become the sounding board for not only jail guards, but local and state union officials who oppose outsourcing the jail's management to Massachusetts-based CiviGenics. Spanik found himself in an awkward position recently when the Beaver County Central Labor Council, on which Spanik sits, approved a resolution opposing privatization. Spanik abstained from the vote approving the resolution.

September 23, 2005 Beaver County Times
The debate over privatizing the Beaver County Jail intensified Thursday with jail guards picketing at the county courthouse and commissioners saying they might hire a public relations firm to counter union criticism. Prior to the commissioners' meeting at 10 a.m., about 30 people - mostly guards, their families and other union colleagues - carried signs and passed out fliers protesting the possible hiring of CiviGenics, based in Marlborough, Mass., to manage and staff the jail. Standing with other protesters along Market Street, Tom Trkulja, the guards' union steward, reiterated his stance that a purported $5 million in savings over three years is being exaggerated. Not only would hidden costs ultimately cost taxpayers more in the long run, but private jail guards are not as dedicated as public ones, he argues, which would compromise the safety of guards, inmates and residents. During the commissioners' meeting, Ramsey presented Commissioners Chairman Dan Donatella with a resolution from the Beaver County Labor Council opposing privatization and asking that the county disclose CiviGenics' record, including its operation of the Penn Pavilion minimum-security jail in New Brighton. Donatella said the board is considering hiring a public relations firm that would direct the county's response to the union's attacks on privatization. "We need to show the taxpayer where we're coming from," he said. Donatella said a public-relations campaign might include pamphlets, radio spots and newspaper ads. "We're going to present the facts," he said, "and we'll let the public decide."

September 22, 2005 Pittsburgh Post Gazette
For nearly a year, the Beaver County commissioners have been talking about hiring a private firm to run the county jail. In that same time, the union representing corrections officers at the jail has been making dire predictions about the impact of such a move. And last night, the Beaver County Central Labor Council told the commissioners at their meeting that they too object to the county prison board negotiating a contract with CiviGenics Inc., the Marlborough, Mass. company that submitted the sole proposal to manage the jail. All three commissioners serve on the prison board. The labor council said it opposes "any scheme that risks the health and safety of all [county] residents by contraction with out-of-state contractors who don't care about Beaver County and whose sole concern is taking precious taxpayer dollars out of the community." The council claims CiviGenics' projected savings of $1.8 million per year in operating costs is vastly overstated, partly because it's based on a jail budget larded with overtime. The council also said CiviGenics' numbers do not account for increased costs from a higher number of escapes and assaults they expect from a lower-paid corrections staff. But the "No. 1 concern is safety," said Ed Rowan, a corrections officer and safety officer for Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union. "That's the big issue when it comes to a private prison," he said. "You have people with less training making lower wages.

Cornell-Abraxas Howe
Howe Townshi
p, Pennsylvania
June 11, 2006 The Derrick
A boy escaped from the Cornell Abraxas facility Sunday morning but was captured several hours later, said state police in Tionesta. The 17-year-old youth fled into nearby woods after leaving the juvenile drug and alcohol treatment facility in Howe Township, Forest County, police said. He was found Sunday morning by staff members not far from the facility at 59 Blue Jay Road, police said.

Cornell-Abraxas Quincy
Quincy Township, Pennsylvania
November 1, 2004 Public Opinion
A 17-year-old boy allegedly assaulted three Cornell Abraxas staff members at 9 p.m. Thursday at the treatment center in Quincy Township. The boy allegedly punched, kicked and head-butted Leslie Fitch, 27, Chambersburg, David Black, 46, Chambersburg, and Robert Reed, 31, Gettysburg, after they attempted to restrain him, according to police. All three staff members suffered minor injuries, police said.

Correctional Physicians Services
October 14, 2002
State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, the Republican candidate for the 12th District, has accused his Democratic opponent, Howard Rovner, of lying and misstating facts during Rovner's press conference last week.   Greenleaf was referring to assertions made both during the debate, hosted by program director Darryl Berger, and in a written statement issued to the media at the press conference Wednesday in Norristown.  Greenleaf, a lawyer, did legal work for Correctional Physicians Services Inc., which was awarded a $49 million contract in 1995 to provide medical services to inmates at the state's prisons. The firm paid Greenleaf, who was chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, $2,000 every other week for more than two years as compensation for legal work.   In his press release, Rovner said Greenleaf approved the contract and later accepted a $20,000 campaign contribution from the company's president.   "That's a lie and you know it," Greenleaf said. "The state legislature approves no contracts. That's the governor's office."   Plus, Greenleaf added, he had no connection with the company when the original agreement was drafted in 1990, and the only legal services he provided Corrections dealt with the firm's out-of-state clients.   Rovner has called for an immediate investigation into Greenleaf's actions.   He said he would like to know exactly how much the senator received as part of his involvement with Corrections and as a member of the firm's oversight committee during the company's sale in 2000.  (The Intelligencer)  

Curran-Fromhold Prison
Pennsylvania
Prison Health Services

May 10, 2006 Philadelphia Weekly
A new federal civil rights lawsuit alleges mistreatment of a Curran-Fromhold prison inmate that culminated in a brutal rape. Attorney Rich Ostriak of the law firm Ostriak Birley filed the suit last week in U.S. District Court, demanding unspecified damages on behalf of inmate Thomas Moore, who entered the Philadelphia prison system in January 2005, awaiting trial on robbery charges, and fought with a pair of inmates over use of the phone on his first day there. Moore was transferred to restrictive confinement, otherwise known as "the hole," where his complaints about severe pain and difficulty breathing were ignored for almost three days before he was taken to the infirmary. On June 20 he was transferred to Frankford Hospital to receive coronary angioplasty and an arterial stent. The suit alleges Prison Health Services failed to deliver his required heart medications for five days after he returned to jail.

August 16, 2001
Three suicides in a month, mentally ill patients being drugged senseless, filthy treatment rooms, staffing shortages, management systems unable to cope.  Those are just some of the medical problems two consultants have found within the city's prison health-care system, according to secret reports obtained by the Daily News.  It is a system operated by a Tennessee conglomerate that the city pays $25 million a year.  The city's contractor, Prison Health Services, a subsidiary of American Service Group Inc., freely admits it's losing money in Philadelphia, but insists the quality of care has not dipped.  Though the Street administration professes to be happy with its contractor, ignorance can be bliss. On critical issues, administration officials don't appear to be carefully supervising the private company, in part because they have a minuscule oversight unit.  The city's contract with PHS lacks the precision tools for tight oversight.  Dr. William Patterson, a Washington psychiatrist, noted that the average mental-health caseload has been running at 1,600 inmates, far above the contract estimate of 1,000 inmates and far beyond the staffing level PHS set up.  Patterson also found that about 1,500 of 1,600 inmates were getting prescribed drugs.  But PHS's Newkirk conceded: "We are treating more people than what we were staffed for. You see that in Dr. Patterson's report.  What was in the contract is what we have. That's the fact. As a result, we probably are giving more medications than we would if we had more staff."  Among the other issues raised by the city consultants: * Hygiene - Greifinger found the medical units at Curran-Fromhold and the Detention Center were dirty. He found infirmary cells with food scattered around with bloody bandages. Refrigerators contained both food and medicine. Biohazardous waste was left uncovered.  * Medication - For all the problems with drugging mental-health patients, Greifinger found that the half of the doses given to patients at the Detention Center were undocumented.  * Records - One reason the city was so pleased with the expanded PHS contract was that inmates would be cared for by only one medical unit rather than the dual system that existed when Hahnemann University Hospital provided mental-health care.  But an integrated system still doesn't exist more than a year after PHS gained control of the entire contract.  * Testing - Only 22 percent of female inmates were tested for sexually transmitted diseases, though prison policy and the contract require all women to be tested.  Consultant Patterson closed with a warning that the next round of class-action lawsuits will be over improper mental-health care for inmates.  (Daily News)

August 16, 2001
When Kyle York, 20, showed up at the Philadelphia prisons, his life was in utter shambles.  After ingesting PCP on New Year's Eve last year, he'd gone into a hallucinatory rage, shooting his mother, shooting at his father and inflicting a grazing wound to himself.  Less than three months later he was dead.  And Blake Berenbaum, the attorney hired by York's parents, is trying to learn what happened to the troubled young man.  Was he beaten to death by prison guards? Given too many injections of sedatives by prison physicians? Was it a combination of the two? Or did he meet his fate by some unknown means?  Prison spokesman Bob Eskind said York had been under "four-point restraint," meaning that four guards each took a limb.  Both Eskind and Berenbaum said a PHS doctor had given York a dose of Ativan, a sedative. Berenbaum identified the physician as Benjamin Caoile. Put into an infirmary bed, York was still combative, Berenbaum said. At that point Caoile left York and the guards in the room.  Berenbaum said records show that the doctor ordered the nurse to give York "another" injection of Haldol and Benadryl, both sedatives. To Berenbaum, that suggests there were earlier and unrecorded doses of those drugs.  When Caoile returned about 15 minutes later, York was in an unresponsive state and emergency measures were started. York never regained consciousness and died on March 14.  (Daily News)

September 15, 2000
Jose Santiago was arrested on drug charges Sept. 13. While in police custody, the 28-year old diabetic received three insulin shots. But after he was transferred to prison custody on Sept. 15, his condition deteriorated and he died Sept. 16. The medical examiner stated that the death was diabetes related.

City Councilman Angel Ortiz wants an investigation to take place. He said, "Mr. Santiago was totally neglected by health services at Curran-Fromhold. He didn't commit suicide. He was just not given medical assistance."

Pending in U.S. district Court is a suit filed by seven diabetics and the American Diabetes Association against the city. They contend that the police denied them proper care while in police custody.

Dauphin County Prison
Dauphin, Pennsylvania
Aramark

September 20, 2005 Patriot News
While Dauphin County Prison's food service vendor has agreed to reimburse the county $65,000, there was no criminal intent behind the overbilling, authorities say. The agreement reached between Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. and the county district attorney ends a several-month grand jury investigation started last year into allegations of watered-down food and overcharging. Aramark did provide adequate food as called for in its contract with the Swatara Twp. prison, but the investigation showed the county was billed for meals that were not made, said District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. The $65,000 is for overbilling that occurred in 2002 and 2003, Marsico said. The investigation was spurred by repeated inmate complaints. While there were menu changes under the current contract, Marsico said the investigation found Aramark was providing the required meal content. Aramark officials refused to discuss what went wrong on their end or what steps they've taken to make sure the problem does not reoccur

September 20, 2005 AP
Dauphin County Prison's food service vendor agreed to reimburse the county $65,000 for overbilling during 2002 and 2003, authorities said. Officials said there was no criminal intent behind the overbilling, and Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. did provide adequate food as called for in its contract with the prison. "I'm very pleased with the amount of money we received," District Attorney Edward M. Marsico said. "I believe it more than covers any loss the county may have had." Masrisco said much of the overbilling occurred because the company had charged a flat amount for meals instead of tracking the actual ups and downs of the jail population, and he said both prison officials and the company would keeping a more careful eye on how many meals actually are provided. Aramark officials declined to discuss what went wrong what steps they were taking to prevent a recurrence. "We fully cooperated with the inquiry and consider the situation to be resolved," company spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said.

March 19, 2004
A 16-year old Harrisburg boy escaped from a Dauphin County juvenile detetnion center, using a stock to disable a locked door and a walkie-talkie to create confusion.  The teenager, who then outran two guards, remains at large following the escape at about 1 a.m. Tuesday from the Schaffner Youth Center in Steelton.  No one was injured, according to county spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher.  The teen, who was admitted Saturday on unspecified misdemeanor charges, is not considered dangerous. His name and the nature of the charge was not released because of his age.  Two guards have been suspended without pay pending a review of the facility, which is managed by Cornell Abraxas and holds about 65 youths, Kocher said.  "We did have several unfortunate breakdowns in security," she said.  (AP)

February 1, 2004
Officials are looking into whether a food service company is cutting back on the amount of food served to prisoners. Reporter Chris Schaffer has the exclusive story.  When inmates come to the Dauphin County Prison food service giant Aramark provides the food they eat. A few months ago county officials began looking into the company's books, as part of a contract renewal process. They saw documents including years of menus, instructions, and budgets.  Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste: "The numbers didn't quite match up - it appeared in our minds that we had been over-billed"  The county renewed its contract with Aramark. In early November, the prison went into a partial lock-down because of what the warden called "heightened tension levels" among inmates. At that time a corrections officer told WHP-CBS-21 that one factor leading to the increase in tension was that food portions appeared to be smaller.  Another source now says documents suggest that for years, inmate portions have been reduced or watered down to save money. Soon the investigation will go before a grand jury in Dauphin County.  A representative from Aramark would only say quote, "we did receive a request for information from the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office, and we are cooperating fully.  Commissioner Haste says the discrepancies he noticed could be accounting errors, but;  "If in fact there's criminal intent I'm going to recommend we prosecute to the extent we can prosecute"  Aramark is a world-wide company, headquartered in Philadelphia. It provides food for sports stadiums, hospitals and universities in addition to more than 300 correctional facilities.  (WHPTV.com)

DuPont Laboratories
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Wackenhut (Group 4)

April 30, 2008 Philadelphia Daily News
A former postal employee serving a year's probation for stealing bars of gold from an express-mail package was jailed yesterday for three months for violating his probation. Edward Henderson, 22, of Dover Street near W. York Street, ran afoul of the feds after he told his probation officer he had been fired from his job as a security guard for Wackenhut Security. Todd Schaffer, the probation officer, testified at a hearing yesterday that Henderson found a SIM card for a cell phone in a storage locker at DuPont Laboratories and used it for several months in his own cell phone. A SIM card is a tiny data card that stores account information. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Burnes said Henderson used the SIM card between May and August 2007, ringing up charges of almost $1,750 to call his girlfriend and family members. Henderson was charged in Common Pleas Court last August with theft by unlawful taking and with receiving stolen property. Those charges are still pending. A condition of Henderson's probation was that he not commit any federal or state crimes. U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Rice was not pleased. Last May, Rice sentenced Henderson to a year's probation for stealing 15 bars of .9999 fine gold from an express-mail package, valued by authorities at about $11,850. Burnes said Rice had given Henderson an opportunity last year to set himself straight but he blew it. Burnes asked that the judge jail Henderson for three months. Henderson admitted he had "done a foolish thing" but said he hadn't deliberately violated his probation. Defense attorney Maranna Meehan said she thought three months in jail was a "bit excessive." "I'm asking for a second opportunity for [him]," she said, adding that Henderson was supporting his mother and his 3-year-old son. But this time, Rice was not so understanding. "I had confidence in you, I gave you a chance," he told Henderson. "You made a promise to me and you broke it." The judge was just getting warmed up. "You just don't get it. I think you just thought you could get away with it because you're wearing a uniform," Rice said, his voice rising a few decibels. Rice also ordered Henderson to make restitution of $1,750 to DuPont Labs. Rice ordered Henderson to be taken into custody immediately.

Elizabeth Township
June 22, 2007 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
A former Elizabeth Township district judge is about to embark on a new venture -- as a blogging federal prisoner. Ernest Marraccini, 62, was sentenced Thursday to 16 months in a yet-to-be-determined federal prison and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. Marraccini pleaded guilty in March to one count of obstructing justice for coaching a witness to lie to a grand jury. As he left the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch, Marraccini thanked his supporters and promised to post a diary online from prison -- even if he has to mail the daily entry to a friend. Federal prisoners are not typically given access to the Internet. "I've already found someone who's agreed to do it," said Marraccini, who will remain free on bond until he is told where to report. Marraccini obstructed the investigation of former Allegheny County Chief Deputy Sheriff Dennis Skosnik. Skosnik was sentenced last year to five years in prison on a variety of charges, including taking bribes to promote the construction of a private jail facility at Swiss Alpine Village -- the Route 48 shopping center where Marraccini's office was located. In 2001, Gary McDermott, of Stowe, paid for a trip to the Bahamas for Marraccini and a friend. In exchange, Marraccini spoke favorably about the jail facility at public meetings, prosecutors said. Marraccini later tried to get McDermott -- an FBI informant -- to tell the grand jury that he was repaid for the trip.

February 1, 2007 Tribune-Review
A former district judge said Wednesday he reluctantly agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal corruption investigation of the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office. "People who are innocent frequently believe that they must take the 'percentage play' because they have a lot to lose if the jury finds them guilty," said Ernest L. Marraccini, an Elizabeth Township district judge from 1992 until he resigned in December. Marraccini, 62, was charged Tuesday with obstruction of justice in connection with an investigation into former Chief Deputy Sheriff Dennis Skosnik, who pleaded guilty last year to taking bribes to promote the construction of a private jail in the shopping center where Marraccini's office was located. Prosecutors allege Marraccini got an all-expense-paid trip for two to the Bahamas in 2001 from the person trying to build the private jail. Investigators said Marraccini tried to get a witness to lie in 2005 to a federal grand jury looking into the trip. Marraccini's attorney, Victor H. Pribanic, said that Marraccini was given the trip by former sheriff's deputy Gary McDermott, of Stowe, and that it was McDermott his client later tried to influence. McDermott was identified in 2005 as an informant in the federal probe of the planned facility at Swiss Alpine Village, a shopping center on Route 48. Skosnik, 55, a friend of McDermott's, pleaded guilty in June to related bribery, witness tampering and other charges. He is serving a five-year sentence in a federal prison in West Virginia. Pribanic said the Bahamas trip "was not a quid-pro-quo thing. I think it was more like a gift in gratitude for things (Marraccini) had already done." Marraccini, who said he was a grocery bagger at his cousin's store in Elizabeth Borough before successfully running for district judge in 1992, spoke in favor of the alternative inmate facility at public meetings and elsewhere, Pribanic said. Pribanic claimed McDermott repeatedly approached Marraccini to get him to fix cases and accept bribes, but Marraccini rebuffed him. The attorney said he hoped U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch would consider that at the plea hearing, scheduled for March 15. McDermott did not return calls for comment. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan declined to comment on the case. Reached at home yesterday, Marraccini said he and a longtime male friend who lives with him went on the trip together. He suggested that the fact that he is gay might have played a role in triggering the investigation. "There are some people who have a very difficult time simply accepting gay people no matter what they do," Marraccini said. The state Court of Judicial Discipline reprimanded Marraccini in October after he was accused of calling some defendants "morons" when they hesitated to leave the court after he summarily dismissed their traffic cases. He resigned two months later. Marraccini said he was "sad" to no longer work as a district judge. He joked that he is thinking of writing his memoirs. "With any luck, I'll get to go on 'Oprah' and cry, I'll get to be on 'The View' and insult somebody famous, then maybe Jay Leno will call me a name. And with any luck I'll get rich and become a celebrity ... and turn this lemon into lemonade," he said.

Erie County Jail
Erie, PA
Prison Health Services
July 19, 2005 Red Nova
Erie County must soon come up with another $311,877 to pay 2004 medical expenses at the Erie County Prison.  Warden James Veshecco said medical costs have been rising partly because the number of inmates has been increasing. The average population was 705 in 2004, compared with 676 in 2003.  The $311,877 will be on top of the regular premium of $1.3 million already paid in 2004, he said.  Veshecco said the prison is receiving more inmates who need mental health treatment and related prescriptions. There are also more women, some of whom are pregnant.  The county has contracted with Prison Health Services of Brentwood, Tenn., since 1999 to provide all medical care and pharmaceutical costs at the prison.  Because of the rising costs, the county in recent years agreed to a contract that set limits on the amount that the insurance company would pay for inmates who go to hospitals and other facilities and for pharmaceutical products. The prison must pay any amount above that.  In 2003, the premium was $1.2 million and the county had to pay an additional $60,000 for exceeding the cap.
In 2004, the prison once again exceeded the caps and had to pay $207,365 more for off-site visits and $104,512 more for pharmaceutical products, totaling $311,877.  The premium to PHS has been increased to nearly $1.5 million for 2005, exclusive of the money owed if the caps are exceeded.

Franklin County Jail
Pennsylvania
EMSA/Prison Health Services

EMSA was warned that it -- not taxpayers-- must pay any legal damages that might be awarded in connection with the death of an inmate last month. (Columbus Dispatch, Oct.5, 2000)

Inmate, Rocky Eickstadt, dies of complications from diabetes. Jail records show he requested medical help not knowing he was diabetic, complaining of problems and did not see a jail nurse for eighteen days. Family is suing. Three lawsuits are pending against EMSA and one against CMS in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on other issues. (Columbus Dispatch, Oct.5, 2000)

EMSA replaces correctional medical services after CMS was repeatedly faulted by Franklin County officials for being short staffed. Commissioners warned EMSA that poor service would not be tolerated after national media reports linking the company to suits and improper care. (Columbus Dispatch, Oct. 5, 2000)

George W. Hill Correctional Facility
Thornton, Pennsylvania
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)

June 30, 2008 Delco Times
A former Delaware County prison guard has been charged with forging a supervisor's signature in an attempt to convince state parole officials to allow a convicted murderer to move in with her. Nytara Hall, 29, who was a sergeant at the county prison, has been suspended without pay pending termination, according to Prison Superintendent John Reilly. Hall, of the 700 block of South Juniper Street, Philadelphia, asked three prison officials on May 9 to send a letter on her behalf to the Pennsylvania Probation and Parole Board, according to the affidavit of probable cause written by county Detective Thomas Worrilow. Hall allegedly told the prison officials that George Kidd, her "Muslim husband," was being released from federal prison. A letter from her employer, Delaware County prison, was needed if Kidd was to reside with her, according to the affidavit. The letter was to state that it was not a conflict and that she does not possess a firearm. The same day she made her request, however, Hall sent the letter herself, and forged the signature of a prison official, the affidavit states. Three days later, Deputy Warden Mario Colucci received a call from a parole agent questioning the authenticity of the faxed letter. The person whose signature was on the fax denied writing or signing the letter, the affidavit states. Prison officials questioned Hall about the letter as well as about her "husband," since she was not married. Hall allegedly explained that she was not legally married, but considered Kidd, who had been sentenced to 10-20 years for third-degree murder, her husband in a religious marriage. On June 24, Worrilow interviewed Hall, who allegedly admitted she produced the letter and faxed it to the parole board. She also admitted that the purpose in doing so was to obtain parole for Kidd. Hall was arraigned on charges of forgery and tampering with public records. She was released on $35,000 unsecured bail.

April 29, 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer
An autopsy will be performed tomorrow on Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, a 39-year-old comedian who died Thursday after contracting pneumonia at the Delaware County jail, where he was awaiting trial. Since 2005, at least eight people have died at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility, the state's only privately run jail. Several of those deaths resulted in lawsuits by family members who say the facility did not provide adequate medical care or proper supervision for inmates. Kallenbach suffered from cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease. He had been housed at the jail since mid-March, when he was arrested on a charge of attempted child abduction. He was taken to Riddle Memorial Hospital April 21, where he died. Kallenbach's mother, Fay, said her son called her a week before his death, asking her to intervene and help him receive better treatment. He said he didn't think he would "make it" in the jail, she said. "He managed [his condition] perfectly well at home," she said. "He was only in there for about a month." The prison had no comment on Kallenbach's death. GEO Group operates prisons around the country, and its operations in Texas have been sharply criticized over poor conditions and the treatment of some of its prisoners. At the Delaware County facility last year, a woman who suffered from a thyroid condition died at the jail where she had been held for six weeks. Family members said she did not receive her medication during her incarceration. "There is an awful lot of deliberate indifference to the medical needs" in the prison, said Harold I. Goodman, a lawyer currently suing the company that operates the jail on behalf of the woman's family. GEO did not comment on this case. In 2005, five inmates died within a five-month span, drawing scrutiny from Delaware County District Attorney Michael Green. Two men apparently committed suicide, one died after a fist fight, another died of a heroin overdose, and another man was found dead in his bed. No criminal charges were filed, but GEO Group has settled lawsuits with several families who sued on behalf of their relatives. In 2006, GEO paid $100,000 to the family of Rosalyn Atkinson, 25, who died in 2002 because of a fatal overdose of a high-blood pressure drug administered by jail medical staff. Atkinson had been at the jail for only 18 days. GEO also agreed in 2005 to pay $125,000 to the family of John Focht, 43, who used his boot strings to hang himself in 2002. Jon Auritt, a Media lawyer who handled both cases, is reviewing another case of inmate death that occurred in October. David Dewees, who was in his 40s, died from what appeared to be a seizure from hypoglycemic shock, Auritt said. Dewees suffered from diabetes and had been at the jail only a few months at the time of his death, he said. "They tried to save him once he went into this coma," Auritt said yesterday. "I don't know whether or not there was anything they did or could have done that could have changed things." A private forensic pathologist is reviewing an autopsy of Dewees, and Auritt expects to determine by the end of the summer whether to pursue the matter in court. Angus Love, executive director of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, said the number of deaths in three years was exceptionally high. "I'm suing Bucks County, and I don't think they've had any deaths in custody in five years," he said. Love is suing the GEO Group on behalf of an AIDS-infected inmate who allegedly did not receive his medications for more than five months. He said a Delaware judge released the man from prison early, citing the prison's failure to provide needed medicine. GEO, based in Florida, also has been under fire in Texas, where it operates more than a dozen correctional facilities. Last fall, the Texas Youth Commission abruptly canceled its $8 million contract with GEO after investigators found unsanitary living conditions at its juvenile facility. Several of the teens said they were sexually assaulted by a guard who was a convicted sex offender, according to lawsuits. GEO lost its contract at an adult facility in west Texas last year after an inspector reportedly characterized the prison as "the worst correctional facility I have ever visited." The inspection was sparked by an inmate's suicide. Texas legislators have called for a review of all of GEO's contracts with state and local agencies. GEO spokesman Pablo Paez did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. The Delaware County Board of Prison Inspectors, a group of five people who oversee the contract with the jail and appoint the superintendent, agreed in May 2006 to renew GEO's contract for another 19 months. The board members are satisfied with GEO's performance, said Robert M. DiOrio, a Media lawyer who acts as spokesman for the board. "The prison board is always concerned about inmate deaths and very much regrets any death in the prison," DiOrio said. "Just because a family member in a distraught state expresses culpability for a death doesn't necessarily mean a