|
Adams County Jail, Adams County,
Pennsylvania
March 26, 2009 The Evening Sun
Adams County will soon get into the culinary business - in jail. Starting
in June, the county will be providing its own food service at Adams County
Prison. The current contractor, Aramark Food Services, chose to cancel its
contract with the county effective June 18. County Solicitor John Hartzell
said the contract allowed for Aramark to choose not to renew with 90 days notice. The contractor planned on raising its
rates by 25 cents per meal per prisoner, about a 5 percent increase. The
county did not agree with the rate hike, believing they could do the job
cheaper, or at least at the same cost as the contractor prior to the hike,
Commissioner George Weikert said. Commissioners
also said prison officials were not happy with the quality of the food
served by Aramark. Weikert said several factors
have been taken into account in starting a county service, including cost,
food quality and nutritional value. Commissioner Glenn Snyder said some of
the cost will be curtailed with the county in control because the county
can use vegetables grown in the prison's new garden. Vegetables from the
garden were used last year, but there was no reduction in the contractor's
cost.
Aire
Filter Products, Arizona
Federal agents arrested nine Mexican nationals Tuesday and accused them of
working illegally at a Mesa plant that manufactures military
helicopters. The workers, whose names were not released, were
contract employees of Aramark and Aire Filter Products, subcontractors at
the Boeing plant. (The Arizona Republic, September 1, 2004
Aramark, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Oct
2, 2019 cincinnati.com
Hamilton
County Justice Center was locked down as prisoners protested 'meager' food
Prisoner outrage over "meager
main courses" of food sparked multiple disturbances at the jail last
weekend, according to jail documents. Due to the Sept. 21 incidents, the entire
south building of the Hamilton County Justice Center was locked down and at
least three people were written up. It started at dinner just before 6 p.m.
"After finding that Aramark had placed meager main courses on the
trays, F Pod, G Pod and H Pod had, as a whole, refused chow," Sgt.
Nicholas Kilday reported. "I had explained
to the inmates...that I was on the phone attempting to sort out this mess
when they began voicing their displeasures while in line...causing a group
disturbance." Kilday reported some of the
inmates showed "aggressive behavior" prompting him to call other
corrections officers in for assistance. "For their actions, F Pod will
be locked in for the remainder of the day," Kilday
reported. In B Pod, more prisoners were upset. Deputy David Plemons
reported that prisoner Michael Mann was disatisfied
with his dinner tray and started telling all the other inmates in the pod
to refuse the food. Plemons tried to reason with Mann, but Mann argued with
the deputies and led others to turn down the meal, according to jail
reports. "For his attempts to incite the pod to an uproar, (Mann) will
be written up," Plemons wrote. During this time, two more inmates,
upset that phones were turned off, began breaking cleaning supplies in
their pod, records state. Due to the multiple disturbances, the entire
south building of the Justice Center was locked down, deputies said. Greivance forms were distributed to inmates to file
formal complaints as well. The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, which
operates the Justice Center, complained to Aramark about the food. "We
received feedback that an item served on September 21st did not meet our
high standards and we took the necessary steps to ensure that it does not
happen again," the company wrote in a statement. "Our food safety
processes and procedures are industry leading. We maintain rigid standard
operating procedures for the entire flow of food production." In an
email exchange between the company and jail officials, Aramark apologized
for the "unfortunate mishap" stating the main entree meal
"didn’t thicken properly before it was served."
Feb 8, 2018 detroitnews.com
State set to end private prison food service
Lansing — Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday said the state is moving away
from paying private vendors to prepare state prison food. His budget
proposal unveiled to lawmakers at the Capitol included a proposed $13.7
million in new money for prison food with the goal of returning the job to
state workers following several years of problems with private prison food
vendors Aramark Correctional Services and Trinity Services Group. The extra
money appears targeted at financing the move back to state food workers.
“We’ve worked with a couple of different private vendors on that process,”
Snyder said. “Their cost structures, a number of issues, I believe it’s
appropriate to say the benefits of continuing on that path don’t outweigh
the cost and that we should transition to doing that back in house.” The
Republican-led Legislature voted to privatize prison food in 2012, a move
that was projected to save the state $16 million a year as contract workers
replaced more than 370 state employees. The state canceled an initial
three-year, $145 million contract with Aramark in the summer of 2015 after
allegations of sexual activity between employees and prisoners, unsanitary
conditions including maggots and food problems. Aramark’s contract began in
December 2013. Trinity took over food service in August 2015 after signing
a three-year, $158 million contract with the state. It has since been fined
more than $2 million for unplanned meal substitutions, delays, staffing
shortages and contract violations. But this summer, the Michigan Department
of Corrections will return to a state-run food service after agreeing not
to renew another contract with Trinity when the current contract expires —
a move that was called a mutual decision by the state and Trinity. Michigan
fined Trinity $4.5 million in total for contract violations, unplanned meal
substitutions, delays and staffing shortages. The state forbid 197 Trinity
contracted workers from working in state prisons, essentially firing them.
Last year, Trinity asked the state for a 10.3 percent increase -- totaling
$5.2 million -- to help with staffing issues, said Correction spokesman
Chris Gautz. Gautz said
$6.6 million of Snyder’s $13.7 million prison spending increase request are
“legacy costs” and would not constitute new funding. The move is being met
with mixed reactions across party lines. Rep. Laura Cox, the Republican and
chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said “there will be some
angst with probably both chambers” because of the increased cost of
shifting prison food services back to the state. “My knee jerk reaction is
not supportive of that,” Cox said. But Democrats such as Rep. Jon Hoadley,
D-Kalamazoo, said the shift was a long time coming. “When you try to
privatize services, it often means you’re getting a lower quality product,”
he said. “”This idea that you can govern with spreadsheets doesn’t work
because people are human beings and we have to make sure we’re putting
people first in our budget.” The shift would bring about 350 state workers
back into prison kitchens, according to the Department of Corrections. “As
the contract with Trinity was approaching its end, we took the opportunity
to re-examine our operations,” Corrections Director Heidi Washington said
in a statement. “After discussing options with Trinity, it was determined
it was in the best interest of both parties not to renew our agreement. We
believe the department’s needs would be better met by returning to
state-run food service.” The unionized prison workers had complained about
the privatized food service and called for a return to state-run prison
food service. The state corrections system said that while private vendors
saved money, the savings did not outweigh problems with food preparation,
high employee turnover and other problems. A liberal group that has called
on Snyder to scrap private prison food contracts for years praised the
announcement in a statement Wednesday. “Progress Michigan has been calling
for this cancellation for years and we uncovered many of the problems with
these contracts, which, frankly, should have ended years ago,” said Lonnie
Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “The abuses and waste that
has resulted from these contracts have endangered corrections officers,
prison employees and prisoners.” The Michigan Corrections Organization, the
union for corrections officers, is lauding the proposal as helping to boost
prison safety, said Andy Potter, the union’s chief of staff and vice
president. Having bad and meager food “puts the folks that are incarcerated
along with the staff in danger. ... It’s a safety issue, to put it short,”
Potter said.
Jul 2, 2017
clevescene.com
Lawsuit: Aramark Knew Employees Were Sexually Assaulting Ohio Prisoners
But Did Nothing
The rape of a Cleveland woman at a downtown jail is just one ugly part
in a series of lawsuits aimed at the state over the use of controversial
private food service company, Aramark. Originally hired on in 2013 after
the state cut ties with the public employee union that previously handled
the culinary responsibilities at Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and
Correction facilities, the company is now being hit with complaints and
legal action, according to a recent rundown by the Columbus Dispatch. The
latest reporting tracks with Scene's own hard look at the company's track
record in Ohio and Michigan. The Cleveland inmate, serving a six-year
sentence, was harassed and eventually raped in May 2015 in the kitchen at
the Northeast Integration Center on E. 30th near downtown. Her assailant,
an Aramark employee named Jonathan Velez, was eventually arrested and
charged with the crime. But according to lawsuits the victim has filed in
state and federal court, Aramark knew Velez was messing with prisoners but
failed to stop the inappropriate behavior. And as the Dispatch reports,
this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the paper, 300 Aramark
staffers "have been banned from working in state prisons because they
imported contraband or committed security violations or other
misconduct" since the company took over at ODRC. The Dispatch
determined an average of seven company employees were banned each moth. One-hundred-and-sixty-eight Aramarkers
were dismissed for “unprofessional and inappropriate relationships” with
prisoners. Employee misbehavior and criminality are not the only problem.
The company has also been accused to providing disgusting food to
prisoners. As Scene reported in February 2015, Ohio "cited Aramark 240
times in 2014 for shorting inmates on food. The state's prison kitchens
have also seen issues with maggots, mice turds, employee shortages,
substandard food, and unsanitary conditions."
Apr 30, 2016 heraldbulletin.com
PCF worker charged with trafficking
PENDLETON — An Aramark food service
worker at the Pendleton Correctional Facility was arrested Friday for
trafficking with an inmate. At approximately 12 a.m. Aramark employee
Charles Gish entered the facility to work his scheduled shift in the
facility’s Food Service Department, said PCF Assistant Superintendent
Andrew Cole. During a routine search, Sgt. Blaine Hurt felt a large lump
inside the waistband of Gish’s pants. Gish was directed by Capt. Michael Spurgin to remove the items. Gish then pulled out three
packages containing unknown substances. The Indiana State Police were
contacted and reported to the facility. Gish was taken by Detective Bob May
to the Indiana State Police post, where he was interviewed by ISP and PCF
Information and Intelligence Officer Hubert Dunca.
Gish was then taken to the Madison County Jail, where he was booked on four
counts of trafficking with an inmate involving a controlled substance,
which is a Level 5 Felony, and one count of trafficking with an inmate
involving tobacco, a Class A misdemeanor. Aramark contracts its food
service to the facility. “The confiscation of illicit substances found on a
contractual staff member is a constant reminder of the importance of
vigilance and consistency by staff when searching other staff
members," Cole said. "I am personally disappointed that a person
employed at this facility would put our staff at risk by trafficking with
an offender."
Mar 12, 2016 keysnet.com
Jail kitchen worker and an inmate find love behind bars, worker and a
second inmate are arrested
A suspected burglar may have stolen the kitchen lady's heart. A
43-year-old woman who ran the food service department at the Stock Island
jail sent sexually explicit letters to an inmate and at one point kissed
him, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said. Donna Launer,
a contract worker for Aramark who lives in Key West, was arrested Wednesday
on a felony charge of introduction of contraband to the jail for the love
letters, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Becky Herrin. The inmate, Daniel
Rodriguez, 34, of Key West met Launer while he
was working in the kitchen as a trusty and, according to him, they
"expressed feelings" for one another and "kissed and
rubbed" at one point but did not have sex, Herrin said. After
Rodriguez was taken off kitchen duty, Launer
started sending him letters and photos that were delivered by another
inmate, Kristofer Jovany Lluis, 20, Herrin said.
Those letters constitute contraband, a third-degree felony, because they
didn't arrive via the U.S. Postal Service, the Sheriff's Office said. While
the letters were sexually explicit, the photos were not, Herrin said. A
sergeant at the jail learned earlier this month of Rodriguez's in-house
admirer's correspondence. Lluis, of Miami, was
also booked Tuesday on the contraband charge. Lluis
is doing time after being arrested in April 2014 on multiple counts of
burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief, while Rodriguez was arrested
last July on charges of burglary, grand theft and multiple fraud counts.
Feb 7, 2016
miningjournal.net
Former prison worker sentenced
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) - A former food supervisor who worked at
an Upper Peninsula prison will serve two years to five years for trying to
have an inmate assaulted. The Michigan Attorney General's office said
27-year-old Michael Young of Kincheloe was sentenced Thursday in Sault Ste.
Marie. He was convicted in December of solicitation to commit assault with
intent to cause great bodily harm. Young was working for a private company,
Aramark, at an the eastern U.P. prison in 2014 when he asked an inmate to
find another inmate to commit an assault at a different prison.
Investigators have said Young was targeting someone who was involved in the
death of a family member. The attorney general's office said Young had
offered tobacco products as payment for the assault.
Dec 6, 2015 9and10news.com
Aramark Accused of Overcharging State for Prison Food
Auditors say the state is footing a bill for prison food that was never
served. The Michigan Corrections Department paid $3.4 million to Aramark
for that food. Auditors say some meal counts, kept by Aramark, were higher
than the prison's actual population. A company spokesperson says any
suggestions of overcharging is completely false.
Aramark was replaced in September after a billing dispute and a series of
incidents involving prisoners and their employees.
Oct
17, 2015 lowellsun.com
Another
janitor arrested in theft at a Chelmsford school
CHELMSFORD
-- Another Aramark custodian at Chelmsford High School has been charged
with theft after a month-long investigation into missing cafeteria funds,
police said. Jowell Ramos, 19, of Lawrence, is charged with larceny from a
building in connection with a series of thefts from a cafeteria register.
Police said Ramos will no longer be allowed on any Chelmsford school
property. According to School Committee Chairman Al Thomas, another Aramark
employee who allegedly acted as a lookout for Ramos was not charged but was
also removed from the school. On Sept. 29, a school administrator reported
to police that someone had been stealing money from the cafeteria cash
drawer for several weeks, police said. Cafeteria staff place the cash
drawer in a locked closet after every shift. There were several occasions
where employees noticed the drawer was not balanced at the start of the
morning shift. Staff reported there were no signs of forced entry into the
closet. In addition to cafeteria workers, janitors have keys to the closet.
Two police detectives investigated and found evidence allegedly linking
Ramos to the missing cash. "This is an unfortunate situation where a
man allegedly stole from his place of employment on several
instances," Police Chief Jim Spinney said in a statement. "I
applaud the work of the detectives who were able to successfully identify
the suspect in this case." Since the School Department outsourced
custodians to Aramark in 2011, three employees of the company have been
charged with stealing items belonging to the schools, students and staff. A
subcontractor with the company was also arrested on a warrant for failure
to appear in court for a drug charge after a Chelmsford traffic stop. The
most recent alleged theft involving an Aramark employee was in June, when
Ayer resident Donald Beardsley was accused of stealing several computers
and other items from the schools. In May, Lamar Wright, of Mattapan, was
accused of breaking into CHS lockers and stealing equipment, cash and
student property, including a credit card that was later used at a local
convenience store. In 2013, Corey Ralls, of Lowell, was accused of breaking
into a locked McCarthy Middle School nurse's office cabinet and stealing
dozens of pills belonging to students for treatment of attention deficit
disorder. "Obviously, I'm not pleased," Thomas said of the
thefts. "We're looking at options in terms of whether Aramark will be
able to stay with us or not. This has just become more than we're able to
deal with. It has not been what we expected." He said the Aramark
contract is up on June 30, the end of the fiscal year. A group comprised of
School Committee members and school and town staff have been assessing
janitorial needs for the facilities, Thomas said. "We're moving as
quickly as we can to consider options so that we can take action in a
timely fashion," he said. Superintendent Jay Lang called the incident
"disappointing" and the behavior "unacceptable." He
said police worked closely with school staff to investigate the matter and actions
were taken as soon as the employee was identified. "It was a
relatively small amount of money, but it's more the principle of someone
who you would trust stealing from you, that's the issue here," Lang
said. Jim Durkin, director of legislation, political action and communications
for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Council 93, a union representing public custodial workers in New England,
said he hopes this incident will be the tipping point for Chelmsford to
bring union custodians back into the schools. He said the previous school
administration had called the first arrest in 2011 "an isolated
incident," but that clearly has not been the case. "When is the
School Committee going to wake up and realize they made a critical mistake?"
Durkin said. "They need to do whatever it takes to bring these
custodian services back in-house." An Aramark spokesperson did not
return a request for comment Fri
Aug
18, 2015 freep.com
Report:
Michigan failed to hold Aramark accountable
LANSING
— The administration of Gov. Rick Snyder repeatedly failed to hold prison
food contractor Aramark Correctional Services accountable for problems, and
it’s questionable whether oversight will be any better under the new prison
food vendor, the group Progress Michigan said in a report released today.
“Simply changing the vendor without changing the culture that allowed such
egregious actions will do nothing but cost taxpayers more money,” said
Lonnie Scott, the liberal nonprofit group’s executive director. The state
is replacing Aramark midway through its three-year, $145-million contract
after a series of reports in the Free Press detailed problems with food
shortages, maggots and Aramark workers smuggling drugs and other contraband
and engaging in sex acts with inmates. The state cited billing concerns in
July when it opted to replace Aramark with Trinity Services Group of
Florida, which is now in a transition phase and is to take over the prison
kitchens completely on Sept. 9. As reported by the Free Press, the Trinity
contract contains terms more favorable to the company than the Aramark
contract did and is estimated to be worth $158.8 million over three years.
The report released Tuesday by Progress Michigan is based on more than
25,000 pages of e-mails related to the Aramark contract that the group
received from the state through Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act at a
cost of more than $10,000, Scott said. He said the records show that of
3,707 issues with the contract identified by the state, 1,791 were
persistent or recurring and not resolved. “This experiment of privatization
is certainly a glaring example of failure to hold them accountable,” he
said. Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler said in response to the report:
"We know that public/private partnerships work and are proud to have
served the state during a major groundbreaking shift to privatization that
saved Michigan taxpayers over $20 million." Chris Gautz,
a spokesman for the Corrections Department, said the report is based on old
stories about a company that is on its way out of Michigan prisons. Clearly
the department was doing a good job of overseeing the contract, because
problems identified by the contract monitors form the basis of the Progress
Michigan report, Gautz said. A spokesman for the
Department of Technology, Management and Budget, which now oversees the
contract, did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment. In August
of 2014, Snyder acknowledged problems with oversight of the contract,
announced a $200,000 fine against Aramark for contract violations and said
oversight would be moved away from the Michigan Department of Corrections.
In September, the state hired Ed Buss, a former corrections department
director in Florida, to oversee the contract for $160,000 a year, reporting
to the director of the Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
Buss left in January under circumstances the state has declined to fully
explain. Though the report does not separate the incidents before and after
Snyder acknowledged a problem with contract oversight, Progress Michigan
communications director Hugh Madden said there was no noticeable change
after August and September. The report's recommendations include an
investigation into the Aramark contract and its monitoring by Attorney
General Bill Schuette, as well as a requirement that the state make all
contract monitor reports available on the Internet within 30 days of
issuance.
Jul
14, 2015 azdailysun.com
Michigan ends prison food contract year after company fined
LANSING,
Mich. (AP) — Michigan has terminated a three-year, $145 million contract
with Aramark Correctional Services a year after the company hired to feed
state prisoners came under scrutiny for unapproved menu substitutions,
worker misconduct and other issues, state officials announced Monday. Gov.
Rick Snyder's administration said the state and company mutually agreed to
end their relationship 14 ½ months early after being unable to resolve
Aramark-initiated talks about contract revisions related to billing and
menus. Michigan fined Aramark $200,000 last year for unauthorized food
changes, inadequate staffing and employee misconduct such as fraternizing
with inmates and drug smuggling. There also have been maggot problems,
though Aramark was cleared of responsibility for incidents in 2014. An
Aramark kitchen worker was fired for ordering cake that appeared to have
been nibbled by rodents to be served to prisoners. Snyder previously
defended sticking with Philadelphia-based Aramark, saying Michigan was on
pace to save $14 million a year through privatization. Trinity Services
Group, based in Oldsmar, Florida, will transition to becoming Michigan's
new vendor in the next two months under a three-year, $158 million contract
up for approval by a state board Tuesday. The company was the only other qualified
bidder when Michigan first privatized prison food services. "Their
business is correctional food service, and they have a proven track record
across the country working in other facilities — some 44 states,"
state Corrections Department Director Heidi Washington said. Aramark has
food contracts with schools, colleges, hospitals and stadiums in addition
to janitorial and uniform businesses. Michigan's contract with Aramark was
supposed to run through September 2016. Democrats and a liberal advocacy
group, while pleased with the contract's cancellation, said the state
should no longer bid out prison food services. The 2013 outsourcing led to
the loss of 370 unionized state jobs replaced by lower-paid private
workers. "It's plainly obvious now that cutting corners to save money
on prison services not only doesn't work, but puts prison guards and
families living near prisons at risk," House Minority Leader Tim Greimel said. Snyder, however, said Michigan will see
"significant" savings — at least $11.5 million a year — by still
having a private firm prepare food in its 33 prisons. In a statement,
Aramark said it was disappointed the deal didn't work out, but was proud to
serve Michigan "during a major groundbreaking shift to privatization
and delivering on our commitments to serve 65 million meals in MDOC
facilities and save Michigan taxpayers more than $25 million."
Aramark, which on its website says it has retained 97 percent of its
correctional facility business in more than 35 years, said it takes
"full responsibility" for its performance in Michigan prisons
"while operating in a highly charged political environment that
included repeated false claims." The Snyder administration hired
Aramark to prepare food for the Michigan's 43,000 prisoners after initially
saying the move would not save enough money. Once Republican lawmakers
objected, the administration reversed course, saying mistakes were made in
evaluating bidders' proposals. Ohio recently renewed a contract with
Aramark to feed 50,000 prison inmates. The company had faced criticism in
that state last year over understaffing, running out of food and a few
cases of maggots near food prep areas.
Jun
26, 2015 freep.com
Maggots prompt call for prison kitchen inspections
LANSING
— Michigan's prison food contractor, Aramark Correctional Services, is
targeted in a bipartisan bill to require food safety inspections of prison
kitchens, following the most recent incident involving maggots in or around
food. Reps. John Kivela, D-Marquette and Ed
McBroom, R-Vulcan, want Aramark to pick up the cost of the inspections by
local health departments. Currently, prison kitchens are exempt from the
food safety inspections that restaurants receive because they are not
considered "food establishments" under the Michigan Food Law.
House Bills 4748 and 4749 would change that. "Just in the past few
weeks there was yet another allegation of maggots in food served by Aramark
in one of our prisons, so clearly fining the company and the bad press
they've received over previous incidents hasn't helped get them to run a
good food service operation or clean kitchens," Kivela
said in a news release. Related: Did inmates eat potatoes with maggots in
them? McBroom said, "Our prisons should face the same scrutiny as our
schools, universities and senior centers," and "it seems only
reasonable that those kitchens face the same strict inspections as required
by any kitchen serving the public." Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler
said "food safety is our highest priority and we welcome the public
discussion regarding the appropriate roles and responsibilities in the MDOC
(Michigan Department of Corrections) kitchen facilities as it relates to
overall food safety." MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz
said the department has no position on the bill, but is open to discussing
it. He said the kitchens are inspected more frequently now than when they
were staffed by state workers, because state contract monitors do monthly
inspections, a registered sanitarian does an unannounced annual inspection,
and Aramark also employs a company that conducts inspections. The Free
Press reported June 2 that maggots were found that day in potatoes being
prepared for serving at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility near
Jackson. Gautz said though it was possible some
contaminated food was served to prisoners before the meal was stopped,
there were no such reports. On June 11, after obtaining records under
Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, the Free Press reported that the
prisoner who discovered the maggots said an Aramark supervisor told him to
keep quiet about the incident. Cutler said the prisoner's account is
hearsay. "We have passed our recent sanitation audits, while MDOC
continues to work with its pest control provider to manage a persistent
pest problem in the kitchen," she said. Gautz
said there have been "isolated incidents" of pests at Cotton,
which the department has addressed, but "we don't have persistent pest
problems at the Cotton facility." He agreed the department is
responsible for pest control, while Aramark is responsible for kitchen
sanitation. The discovery of maggots was the latest in a series of
incidents since Philadelphia-based Aramark replaced about 370 state workers
and began a three-year, $145-million contract to serve meals to Michigan's
43,000 prisoners in December 2013. The state fined Aramark $98,000 in March
2014 for food shortages, unauthorized menu substitutions and
over-familiarity between kitchen workers and inmates and $200,000 in August
2014 after problems persisted. The state later confirmed it quietly waived
the March fine soon after it was imposed, and Aramark never paid it. There
were earlier incidents of maggots found in or around food, though state
officials later said the maggots couldn't be blamed on Aramark so much as
issues with how food was stored. There also have been incidents of Aramark
employees arrested for trying to smuggle drugs into state prisons for
inmates and several instances in which Aramark workers and inmates have
been caught engaging in sex acts. Earlier this month, a former Aramark
worker at Kinross Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula was
arraigned on criminal charges of trying to hire an inmate to assault
another inmate. On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Ohio renewed
a contract with Aramark to feed that state's 50,000 prison inmates, despite
similar early problems with that contract involving understaffing, running
out of food and a few cases of maggots near food preparation areas.
May
25, 2015 post-gazette.com
New
Mexico: Aramark employee smuggling drugs
After
a lengthy investigation, detectives say they now know who has been
smuggling drugs into the Metropolitan Detention Center. According to
investigators, 23-year-old Nick Perea admitted to
bringing in dozens of Suboxone strips to inmates at the jail. At that time,
Perea was working for Aramark services in the
laundry department. Police say most of those strips were delivered to an
inmate named Steven Mertz. Investigators say they strip searched Mertz and
found a total of 15 Suboxone strips. Both men are now facing charges in
connection to this case.
May 17, 2015 lansingstatejournal.com
Snyder
appoints Heidi Washington to run corrections department Gov. Rick Snyder
announced a cabinet change Friday, with Warden Heidi Washington replacing
Dan Heyns as head of the Michigan Department of
Corrections. LANSING Gov. Rick Snyder announced today that Warden Heidi
Washington – a Michigan Department of Corrections veteran who has been an
outspoken critic of the service provided by prison food contractor Aramark
– will replace Dan Heyns as department director
on July 1. Snyder officials said Heyns is
stepping aside by mutual agreement but will continue to work with the
Council on Law Enforcement and Reinvention and help to coordinate criminal
justice strategy. Snyder is to deliver a special message on criminal
justice Monday, laying out new proposals for reform. Washington of East
Lansing has been with the Corrections Department for 17 years, most
recently as the head of the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in
Jackson, where new inmates get sent. She earlier served as warden at the
Robert Scott Correctional Facility and as legislative liaison for MDOC, as
well as working as a staffer in both the state House and Senate. She told
the Free Press today that when her time as warden is completed, she wants
people to say that "I helped make a difference in people's
lives." Washington, who holds a law degree from Cooley Law School, a
bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and an associate's degree
from Lansing Community College, will continue to serve as the corrections
liaison to the Michigan Women's Commission. "As the warden at Egeler,
Heidi has demonstrated firm management and a commitment to understanding
why offenders are there, and where they are headed in the future,"
Snyder said in a news release. Washington has been an outspoken critic of
food service provided at the Egeler facility by Aramark Correctional
Services, the food vendor that replaced state workers when it began a three-year,
$145-million contract in December of 2013. Many of the e-mails the Free
Press obtained through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act for a July
2014 special report on the prison food contract featured Washington
expressing disgust at the level of service. "At times I felt like
Lansing thought I was just being too difficult and too demanding because I
was always complaining," Washington told a contract manager in one of
the e-mails, in March of 2014. "However, I think everyone knows that's
not the case. "Bottom line is lay down with dogs, get up with
fleas." Though complaints have died down, the contract early on was
marred by complaints of food shortages, sanitation problems, prisoner
unrest, and instances of Aramark workers smuggling in drugs or other
contraband and engaging in sex acts with prisoners. Washington said Friday
"it's no secret" there's been challenges having Aramark provide
the level of service that is needed. "Every day is a new day,"
and she intends to look at how all services are being provided across all
prisons in the system, she said. Snyder said Washington's time "spent
within the prison administration and working directly with corrections
officers, as well as on the public policy of criminal justice issues, will
bring great value to this time of transformation in identifying the
policies to be changed and how those reforms will improve public
safety." Heyns, a former Jackson County
sheriff, has served four years as director. Washington will be paid
$155,000 a year, the same amount Heyns received,
officials said. "Dan took on an incredible burden and really began the
overall transformation of our corrections system," Snyder said.
"Because of his leadership, our recidivism rate is lower and we have
identified the factors we need to address to ensure parolees have the tools
they need to reintegrate into society outside the prison walls." Heyns will remain as director until June 30 and will
work with Washington on the transition, the release said. The appointment
is subject to Senate consent. The department faces constant pressure from
lawmakers to reduce its $2 billion budget, which almost all comes from the
state's general fund. "As you know, the budget, what we spend, is a
function of how many people we have to take care of," Washington said.
She said will work with other stakeholders in the justice system to see if
those numbers can be reduced.
Mar 18, 2015 Detroit Free Press
LANSING—An
Aramark Correctional Services worker was disciplined last year after
inmates were fed cake that rodents had been chewing on, according to
e-mails released today by the liberal group Progress Michigan. The July
2014 incident took place while Aramark, a Philadelphia-based prison food
contractor serving the Michigan Department of Corrections, was under
intense scrutiny as a result of a series of articles in the Free Press
documenting sanitation issues, smuggling of drugs and other contraband by
Aramark workers, and incidents of sex acts between Ara-mark workers and
inmates. The e-mails, which Progress Michigan obtained under Michigan’s
Freedom of Information Act, show an exchange between prison officials about
an incident at Central Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis in which
an inmate kitchen worker “reported to custody staff that he was ordered to
serve cake that had evidence of rodents eaten from it.” “The Aramark
employee allegedly ordered him to cut the sides off the cake ... and serve
it to the population,” Corrections Department official Dawn Livermore said
in one of the e-mails. “I’m heading into work now to assess the mood of the
population and address any situation concerns.” “Unbelievable!” Warden
Jeffrey Larson replied when told of the incident. “Thanks for handling the
situation.” According to the e-mails and to Corrections Department
spokesman Chris Gautz, an Aramark employee who
told the inmate to serve the cake but “put frosting on it,” was sent home
and fired over the incident, and a pest control firm was sent to the
kitchen. Gautz said the cake was served, but he’s
not aware of any illnesses that resulted. Karen Cutler, an Aramark
spokeswoman, said she was “not going to comment on an allegation from eight
months ago that is one of hundreds of allegations made by special-interest
groups against our company and our hardworking employees in Michigan.”
Cutler said “food safety is a top priority that we take very seriously,”
and “our processes and procedures are industry leading, and if issues are
raised, we fix them quickly.” Lonnie Scott, director of Progress Michigan,
said the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder should “use this opportunity to
come clean about all the problems that they know of related to Ara-mark
because the public has a right to know.” Aramark began its three-year,
$145-million contract in December 2013, eliminating about 370 state jobs.
The state has fined the company $200,000 for contract violations and more
than 100 workers have been fired for various infractions and banned from
prison property amid concerns about prison security. But complaints about
the contractor have eased in recent months. “We took this very seriously,” Gautz said. “We wanted to make sure nothing like this
will ever happen again.”
Jul
31, 2014 seattlepi.com
COLUMBUS,
Ohio (AP) — The state on Wednesday announced a second fine against the
private vendor that took over the job of feeding inmates last year as the
company defended its operations before a prisons oversight committee. The
$130,200 fine against Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services
covered continued staffing shortages, unacceptable food substitutions and
shortages and sanitation issues, including maggots observed in food service
operations at five prisons this month and last, according to Ohio's July 23
letter to the company. "There were and there are remaining
concerns," Gary Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction, told members of the Correctional Institution
Inspection Committee. Mohr emphasized that problems are largely limited to
seven prisons. He said some of the fine will be used to increase the
training Aramark employees receive. "What was going on was just not
adequate," he said. Mohr said Aramark has saved Ohio $13 million since
September and likely prevented the state from having to close Hocking
Correctional Facility in southeastern Ohio. The Aramark contract is on
track to save Ohio more than $16 million next year, Mohr said. The state
levied a $142,000 fine against Aramark in April. John Hanner, president of
Aramark Correctional Services, defended his company's record in Ohio to the
committee, saying food delays and substitutions have happened less than 1
percent of the time. Afterward, he said the company is committed to
improving its Ohio operations. "Ninety-nine percent of the time our
people are doing a great job," Hanner said. "These are Ohio
citizens that we've hired. These people come to work every day and do a
great job under trying circumstances." The quality of food has gone
down since Aramark began work last September and food service concerns are
more significant than in the past ten years, Joanna Saul, chief of the
oversight committee, said in earlier testimony Wednesday. Aramark's low
wages lead to high turnover and a temptation to smuggle in contraband, Saul
said. "You're making $10 to $11, you can bring in a pack of cigarettes
and sell it for $300 — what are you going to choose?" Saul said.
Numerous reports have documented cases of Aramark running out of main and
side dishes over the past several months. Reports also indicate several
days when Aramark employees simply failed to show up, cases of unauthorized
relationships between inmates and Aramark workers, and the reports of
maggots. Ninety-six Aramark employees are banned from working in Ohio
prisons, according to the state. Aramark's $110 million deal to feed some
50,000 Ohio prisoners began in September and runs through June 30, 2015.
The prison employees union has filed a formal grievance over the Aramark
contract. It said it offered a competitive proposal to keep food service
in-house. In Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder's administration is approaching a
decision on possibly reconsidering Aramark's 3-year, $145 million contract.
Earlier this year, Michigan officials reported two incidents of maggots
found in a prison's food service area in Jackson. At issue is a bigger
national debate over privatizing prison services — from food preparation to
the running of entire facilities — to save money at a time of squeezed
state budgets. The seven prisons with the most problems, according to the
state: Warren, Belmont, Noble, Mansfield, Pickaway, Lebanon and the Ohio
Reformatory for Women.
Jul
16, 2014 Detroit Free Press
LANSING — In a
development a state government spokesman described as “unprecedented,” four
Aramark prison workers at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia were
fired Wednesday for having inappropriate sexual contact with inmates inside
a walk-in cooler, a Corrections Department official confirmed. Critics said
the latest development in the 7-month-old Aramark saga should be the last
straw for the Philadelphia-based company, whose performance has been
plagued with hundreds of problems — including food shortages and kitchen
maggots — since it displaced 370 state workers and took over the job of
providing three meals a day to about 43,000 state prisoners. The latest
firings also mean more than 80 Aramark workers have now been banned from
prison property for various infractions — through a mechanism the
Corrections Department calls stop orders — since the company took over.
State Rep. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, joined the chorus Wednesday of those
calling for an end to the contract. “Once again, misconduct by Aramark
employees have caused disruption in our prison system,” Singh said in a
news release. “What started out as a few concerning incidents has grown
into to a pattern of continued poor performance. The result of this failed
privatization policy is more than 80 Aramark employees have been banned
from correction facilities for their transgressions,” and “all of this
leads to dangerous conditions for our corrections officers and ultimately
the general public.” Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler, who has said the
company is working with the state to improve operations — but also has
blamed interest groups who opposed privatization for what she has described
as a “media circus” surrounding the contract — had no immediate comment. Of
the latest incident, Aramark has “zero tolerance for improper conduct and
thank the department for working with us to promptly handle this
situation,” Cutler said. Sara Wurfel, spokeswoman
for Gov. Rick Snyder, said on Wednesday that the governor “has strong and
serious concerns,” and “these things must get addressed and resolved.
“Quality, safety and security are simply imperative,” Wurfel
said. Spokesman Russ Marlan said the corrections
department plans to review the status of the Aramark contract at the end of
July, though he wouldn’t rule out the state taking further action against
the contractor sooner than that. “It’s long past time for the governor to
take action,” Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer said in a
news release calling on Snyder to terminate the three-year, $145-million
deal with Aramark Correctional Services. “Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be
used to pay for the kind of gross incompetence and dangerous behavior that
Aramark is peddling.” Wednesday’s firings came after prison officials
reviewed recent surveillance video from inside a kitchen cooler showing
female Aramark workers cavorting with male inmates, Marlan
said. Two of the kitchen workers were at work Wednesday and were escorted
out. Two others were fired and not allowed into the prison when they showed
up for work, he said. “It’s unprecedented that four workers at the same
facility, in the same day, are placed on stop order,” Marlan
said. “It’s concerning on a number of levels.” The conduct involved kissing
and sexual touching with several inmates, but no intercourse, Marlan said. “I don’t believe all four of them were in
the cooler at the same time,” he said. The firings reduce Aramark staff at
Bellamy from 14 to 10, meaning help will need to be brought in from
elsewhere, Marlan said. It’s the latest in a
litany of problems since Aramark took over food services from state workers
Dec. 8. Officials have fined Aramark $98,000 over meal shortages and
improper menu substitutions and began strict enforcement of those portions
of the contract on July 1. There have also been problems with security
issues, Aramark workers smuggling in contraband and getting too friendly
with inmates, and with food quality that has led to growing prisoner
unrest. The Free Press detailed such problems on Sunday after receiving
thousands of pages of records related to Aramark’s contract under
Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. Those records disclosed a range of
problems, including complaints of rotten meat, threats of violence by
Aramark workers, frequent food shortages and an earlier incident in which
an Aramark worker and an inmate were discovered engaged in a sex act in a
walk-in cooler at Carson City Correctional Facility. The state hasn’t yet
put Aramark on formal notice on the fraternization/stop order issue and Mel
Grieshaber, executive director of the Michigan
Corrections Organization union representing corrections officers, said
Wednesday he doesn’t understand why. The high turnover and untrained
Aramark workers pose the greatest threat to prison security and “a
potentially volatile situation,” said Grieshaber,
who has called on the state to end the contract. The Aramark workers
typically are paid about $11 an hour — roughly half what the state workers
were paid. Officials estimated the contract would trim $12 million to $16
million from the $2 billion Corrections Department annual budget. Last
week, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, said the state
should rebid the contract after the Free Press reported on maggots being
discovered in or near food at two Michigan prisons. “It doesn’t matter if
they’re prisoners or who they are, people don’t deserve that type of treatment,”
Richardville said. Marlan said criminal charges
are possible against the Aramark workers in the latest incident. Federal
law treats any sexual contact between prison staff and inmates as abuse,
and officials are investigating, Marlan said.
Jul
13, 2014 Detroit Free Press
LANSING
— At Carson City Correctional Facility in February, prison officials
entered a walk-in freezer to find the cooling unit shut off and an Aramark
kitchen worker on her knees in front of a male inmate, engaged in a sex act.
The worker didn’t tell prison officials she was coerced. She was wearing a
personal alarm, which wasn’t activated. Officials fired her and banned her
from prison properties. It’s one of dozens of examples of Aramark workers
losing their jobs after getting too friendly with inmates, by exchanging
love letters, kissing them, trying to smuggle them contraband, and even
baking one a special farewell cake to celebrate his release, according to
records obtained by the Free Press under the Michigan Freedom of Information
Act. Corrections officers say the conduct of some Aramark workers — who
typically make about $11 an hour and have high turnover — puts them and the
safety of the entire prison system at risk.
■
They say it’s a short and slippery slope from getting friendly or intimate
with inmates to helping them obtain weapons or escape. Aramark officials
stress that keeping a professional distance from inmates is part of
employee training. But records show that training has often been
ineffective. “We’re so fed up,” said Mel Grieshaber,
executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization union
representing correction officers.
■“They’re
around prisoners who are manipulative,” he said of the Aramark employees.
“If you’re not determined, you end up allowing things to happen.” Former
Aramark employee Christopher Amando Mitchell is a
case in point. Prison reports show the 19-year-old worker at G. Robert
Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson was already “suspected of
over-familiarity/fraternization with inmates” when a March 19 search as he
entered the prison turned up two bags of marijuana wrapped in duct tape.
Mitchell awaits sentencing after he pleaded guilty June 13 to smuggling
contraband into a prison, a five-year felony. It’s not that
over-familiarity never happened with kitchen workers employed by the state,
who were paid about twice as much and had additional training that allowed
them to pat down prisoners without corrections officers present. But the
rate of incidents was not nearly as high, state and union officials agree.
■
In other instances of over-familiarity involving Aramark workers:
■
At the Charles E. Egeler Reception & Guidance Center in Jackson, “I was
making a round through the kitchen and saw approximately 15 inmates back in
the commissary area eating cake,” Corrections Officer Jason Duncan reported
March 16. He found out an Aramark employee “baked the cake for inmate
Harris 196839 and was permitting a group of inmates to eat it because
Prisoner (Paul Dione) Harris was leaving the next day.”
■
At Newberry Correctional Facility, a Feb. 16 search of an Aramark worker
found two love notes in the bill of her cap, which she later admitted were
from an inmate.
■
At Michigan Reformatory, two Aramark workers were fired Jan. 28 after
officials discovered they were receiving phone calls from prisoners and
putting money into the inmates’ accounts.
■
At Lakeland Correctional Facility, a March 20 search of an Aramark worker
turned up a love note to a prisoner hidden in her shoe.
■
On March 18 at Egeler, corrections officers overheard prisoners applauding
an Aramark worker who was telling them the “corrupt” prison officials had
“tried to get me” removed, but failed. The worker, who was later fired,
“has decided to side with the prisoners as friends or co-workers,” prison
Sgt. Robert Grace said in an e-mail.
Jul
10, 2014 wlns.com
LANSING,
MI (WLNS) - The Snyder administration has not made a final decision, but
there are indications that the governor is considering terminating a food
service contract in the state prison system. 6 News Capitol Correspondent
Tim Skubick has an update on this continuing
story. The governor is not happy with the Aramark Company and its handling
of food services behind prison walls. Insects were found on the chow line,
80 employees have been fired, the company has been fined $98,000 and 150
inmates got sick. Although no one has linked that to maggots and fly larvae
in the kitchen. So is the governor thinking about terminating the contract?
He did not say yes, but he clearly did not say no. “Well there’s been a
number of issues. So I would say we’re approaching
those kind of points, in terms of what needs to be done.” Reporter: “You
would consider canceling the contract?” Governor Snyder: “Well again, I
don’t want to start all kinds of speculation, but the performance hasn’t
been acceptable and so we need to get these things resolved.” The
legislature, not the governor decided to fire 370 state employees who did
the food services prior to the private company coming in. The state prison
director even told lawmakers not to do it. Representative Greg MacMaster chairs the prison budget and he is warning
against moving too quickly to end the contract. He thinks that organized
labor, which lost those jobs, may be trying to exploit this story.
Meanwhile it has been learned that while no final decision has been made,
the governor is considering all options and termination of the contract has
not been ruled out. “They need to fire the company. They need to get rid of
them. We’re having big problems in the institutions out there. Aramark
should be let go,” said Mel Greishaber, union
president. Even though this union leader does not represent the food
service workers, he says his members are worried. “Corrections officers are
worried about the safety and security of the intuitions,” said Greishaber. For now all eyes are on the governor as he
considers his next move.
Jul 2, 2014 detroitnews.com
Lansing—
Michigan Department of Corrections officials have put their private prison
food service provider on notice about a second corrections facility maggot
infestation, department spokesman Russ Marlan
confirmed Wednesday. Maggots — reportedly in one or more potatoes — were
discovered by food workers peeling potatoes for a meal to be served later
in the day at Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson, Marlan said. Egeler is the intake center where 1,103
new inmates are held for up to two weeks awaiting placement in the
corrections system. The infestation was the second in less than a week at a
Jackson prison facility and adds to Corrections Department officials’
worries regarding their $145-million, three-year contract with service
giant Aramark to run the prison system food service. “It’s another serious
issue as pertains to sanitary conditions of our Corrections system
kitchens,” Marlan said. He said Egeler Warden
Heidi Washington ordered Aramark workers to throw out a pallet of raw
potatoes that had been stored in the prison kitchen. He said the kitchen
was scrubbed with bleach and the Corrections Department then ordered an
early garbage collection to get the spoiled potatoes off the prison
grounds. An estimated 30 inmates developed food poisoning symptoms last
weekend and Monday, following an incident last Friday in which maggots were
discovered in a crack between components of a food service apparatus at Parnall Correctional Facility, also in Jackson. In that
case, workers also scrubbed down a cafeteria with bleach. Aramark signed
with the state in December to run the prison food services at an estimated
annual savings of at least $12 million. The arrangement displaced 370 state
workers and drew criticism from the prison officers union, which speculated
the private provider would make mistakes that compromise safety.
Corrections officials penalized Aramark $98,000 in March for problems such
as over-familiarity by its workers with inmates. The department has warned
the company it will strictly enforce contract terms, effective at the start
of this month. Gov. Rick Snyder expressed concerns about the maggot problem
during a public appearance Tuesday.
Mar
22, 2014 mlive.com
JACKSON,
MI – A judge arraigned a food service worker Friday, March 21, on a charge
of bringing contraband into prison for allegedly trying to smuggle two
packages of marijuana into the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility.
Christopher Amando Mitchell, 19, appeared late
Friday afternoon before Jackson County District Judge Michael Klaeren. His alleged crime is punishable by a maximum
prison sentence of five years. Klaeren gave him a
personal recognizance bond, meaning he pays nothing to leave the jail as
long as he does as ordered by the court. As a condition of his release, he
cannot have any physical contact with any correctional facility, court
records show. Police arrested Mitchell on Wednesday after a Michigan
Department of Corrections officer doing a pat-down found two packages of
marijuana on his body. The packages were wrapped in duct tape. They were
about the size of two baked potatoes and weighed a total of a little more than
5 ounces, Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Michael Church said.
Mitchell was working as an employee of Aramark Correctional Services. The
arrest is the latest in a series of problems since Gov. Rick Snyder’s
administration opted to eliminate 370 state jobs and pay a contractor
provide prison meals, according to the Detroit Free Press. An Aramark
spokeswoman told the newspaper the company shares the corrections
department’s zero tolerance for inappropriate conduct. “Assuming the facts
are as reported, this incident would violate everything Aramark stands for
and is contrary to our procedures, operations and values.”
Mar
11, 2014 michiganradio.org
The
Michigan Department of Corrections has fined Aramark, the company that
handles food operations in state prisons. The MDOC notified Aramark of the
fines, totaling almost $100,000, by two letters sent in the last two weeks.
The MDOC said Aramark violated its contract by substituting meals, and by
failing to prepare the right number of meals. The fines have been assessed
for 52 unauthorized meal substitutions and 240 instances of improper meal
counts. Russ Marlan is a spokesperson for the
MDOC. He said food service is important to stability in prisons, and it
matters that prisoners receive the meals they've been told they'll get and
that there is consistency among housing units. "They're (Aramark)
required to follow our menu and they're required to serve the same food and
the same portions to the entire prison population," Marlan said. "And we found some examples after
working through that transition period where that just wasn't
occurring." Last month, 200 prisoners at Kinross Correctional Facility
staged a peaceful demonstration over shortages in scheduled meal items. The
demonstration took place two months after Aramark started handling prison
food services. The MDOC also fined Aramark for a
dozen instances of company employees being over-familiar with prisoners. Marlan said the incidents involved kissing, touching,
and carrying notes from prisoners, all of which are prohibited by MDOC
regulations. Marlan is hopeful these problems
will be resolved going forward. Aramark took over food service for
Michigan's prisons in December. Marlan said the
company replaced about 350 state employees. "So we would expect that
there would be some transition issues associated with switching a system
that large overnight to a contractor," he said. "But we're
hopeful that this will continue to improve, and we'll have a good
contractual relationship with Aramark." Marlan
said the MDOC has eight contract monitors who continuously review
operations at Michigan's 31 correctional facilities and regularly meet with
Aramark to ensure contract compliance. In a written statement, Aramark said
"we are commited to resolving any issues as
quickly as possible."
Feb 21, 2014 digital.olivesoftware.com
LANSING — About 200 prisoners at Kinross
Correctional Facility in Kincheloe left their cells and demonstrated Monday
over their food — two months after the Department of Corrections eliminated
370 state jobs and privatized its food service. Mel Grieshaber,
executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization union, said he
remains extremely concerned about the way the food service is being handled
under the $145-million, three-year contract awarded to Ara-mark
Correctional Services of Philadelphia. “You don’t screw around with
prisoners’ food,” Grieshaber told the Free Press.
“They don’t have much else.” “I hope
they get things worked out, because when it gets warm out ... we’re just
fearful something might kick off.” Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan said the prisoners left their cells and marched
in single file into the yard in what was a 25-minute peaceful demonstration
at Kinross, in Chippewa County in the eastern Upper Peninsula. The
department received advance word that the protest might happen and was able
to plan for it, Marlan said. “I think it was
somewhat centered on the meals and changes in some of the menu items,” and
“some shortages in what the scheduled meal item was supposed to be,” Marlan said. The issue appeared to be isolated to the
Kinross facility and the concerns have already been taken up with Aramark
officials, Marlan said. An Aramark
spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment. The
contract is estimated to save the state $12 million to $16 million a year.
It’s likely the ringleaders of the demonstration will be disciplined if
they can be identified, he said. Grieshaber said
there have been “dozens” of stop orders issued against Aramark employees,
barring them from returning to work for a variety of issues, including
over-familiarity with inmates. Marlan said there
have been 29 stop orders issued against Aramark employees since the company
took over food service in December.
Oct
28, 2013 pressofatlanticcity.com
Inmates
of Bayside State Prison in Cumberland County are reportedly protesting meal
service following the switch to a private food vendor earlier this year.
Labor union representatives characterized the protest as a “hunger strike,”
but a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman said there have been
complaints but no strike. “In the past week, we have had several inmates
express dissatisfaction with meals and portion sizes,” DOC spokeswoman
Deirdre Fedkenheuer said Saturday. “We are
working with the inmate representatives to address their concerns.” Eric
Holliday, president of the New Jersey Law Enforcement Supervisors
Association, said guards at the Maurice River Township facility reported
that inmates have been on strike for several days because the “food is not
up to par.” In 2011, 91 inmates staged a one-meal hunger strike in protest
of prison services. At the time, a DOC spokesman said their concerns were
addressed and the strike ended immediately. This February, the private firm
Aramark Correctional Services, took over food production at the facility as
part of a state pilot program. According to Aramark’s website, the
Philadelphia-based company serves 1 million meals a day, in addition to
other support services at 600 correctional facilities. Representatives from
Aramark could not be reached for comment.
Oct.
17, 2013 mansfieldnewsjournal.com
MANSFIELD
— Two Aramark Food Service employees who worked at Mansfield Correctional
Institution were fired over the weekend for “inappropriate relationships”
with inmates, according to a prison incident report. A third Aramark
employee resigned, according to the report dated Sunday by the Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. “There was an investigation
conducted involving three inmates involved in relationships with three
Aramark employees,” the report states. “In result of overwhelming
information received from independent sources it was decided to remove C.
Swann, L. (Lori) Rush and S. (Shaylee) Wade from their employment as an
Aramark contractor at MANCI. “C. Swann was interviewed on Oct. 12. Her
belongings were searched and a patdown was
performed resulting in no contraband found. C. Swann was informed not to
report to work at MANCI. S. Wade was interviewed on Oct. 13 and informed
not to report to work at MANCI. L. Rush resigned her position to Ms.
Heather Solon (Aramark) on Oct. 13 prior to being interviewed.” The
incident report states three inmates involved in the probe were placed in
segregation. “Aramark employees do go through training about inappropriate
relationships,” said JoEllen Smith, spokesperson for the ODRC. “We take it
very seriously.” Two inmates had new tattoos in reference to the workers,
the report stated. One is serving 10 years for robbery and aggravated
burglary. Another is serving 25 years for involuntary manslaughter,
aggravated robbery, kidnapping and having a weapon under disability. A
third inmate is serving six years for involuntary manslaughter. He did not
admit he was involved with one of the workers, but acknowledged “helping
her (one of the women) a lot.” “Information from both inmates and staff
members were confirmed through the course of this investigating validating
that inappropriate relationships were ongoing between these contractors and
inmates,” the report stated. There have been no allegations of criminal
activity to date. Scott Basquin, spokesman for
MANCI, said Aramark employees have been working at MANCI in food service
since Sept. 8. He did not know how many Aramark employees are working at
MANCI. “It’s changing daily,” Basquin said. The
union representing the majority of corrections employees in the ODRC stated
it will be on alert during the transition period to a private food service
vendor. “We will be vigilant and watching to be sure that Aramark maintains
its contractual obligation and sustains an adequate level of security in
the prisons,” said OCSEA President Christopher Mabe.
“We will be monitoring this contract very closely.” The corrections
employees in food service were there for decades, Mabe
said. “These stories are just the beginning. This isn’t the only
institution,” he said. The union says the takeover will continue to weaken
security in Ohio’s prisons since private food service workers are not
trained in protection and security and cannot respond to emergencies. Mabe said this is a warning sign the union has talked
about in using mass amounts of private contractors in the department of
corrections. “Nobody’s freedoms should be left up to the highest bidder,” Mabe said. “And for-profit companies, that’s what they
deal with. When you take away a person’s freedoms through incarceration,
there should be no-profit motive behind that.
Jul
15, 2013 sfgate.
COLUMBUS,
Ohio (AP) — A private vendor in line to begin feeding roughly 100,000
prison inmates in Ohio and Michigan has a track record of billing for food
it doesn't serve, using substandard ingredients and riling prisoners with
its meal offerings, past audits in several states show. But some states say
Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services has performed well. The
audits in Ohio, Florida and Kentucky found Aramark charged states for meals
not served, changed recipes to substitute cheaper ingredients and sometimes
skimped on portions. A 2001 audit by then-Ohio Auditor Jim Petro found a
verbal amendment to Aramark's two-year contract led the state prisons
department to pay Aramark for serving almost 4.5 million meals rather than
the 2.8 million meals it actually served. That added $2.1 million to the
contract cost. An internal audit by Florida's prisons department in 2007
concluded Aramark's practice of charging the state per inmate rather than
per meal created "a windfall for the vendor" after a large number
of inmates stopped showing up for meals, reducing company costs by $4.9
million a year. The review found the company was paid for some 6,000 meals
a day that it didn't serve. Aramark stopped serving Florida's prison meals
in 2009. Kentucky's state auditor launched a review of Aramark in response
to the 2009 prison riot at Northpoint Training Center sparked over food
issues. Auditor Crit Luallen's
2010 report found Aramark overbilled the state by as much as $130,000 a
year, charging for the meals of as many as 3,300 inmates that were shown
through head counts not to be incarcerated. Besides payments for unserved
meals, the audits found Aramark sometimes substituted cheaper ingredients —
receiving inmate-grown food against contract terms or substituting less expensive
meat products, for example — without passing savings on to taxpayers.
During an Ohio site visit, inspectors reported witnessing a "near
riot" at breakfast when Aramark adhered strictly to its contractual
portion sizes. In general, states still saved money overall — the primary
enticement behind the latest privatization efforts in Ohio and Michigan.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's administration initially decided not to
privatize certain prison services after determining three contracts out for
bid didn't achieve the savings state law required. Fellow Republicans in
the Legislature balked and officials re-evaluated the cost estimates,
ultimately awarding the contract to Aramark on grounds the company's
proposal would cut about $16 million from the state's current $73 million
food service budget. Democrats said the state had "magically reworked
the money." The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association questions
whether Aramark can deliver the $14 million in annual savings it has
promised the administration of Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich without
cutting corners. The union, which represents roughly 8,600 state workers in
Ohio's adult and youth prisons, had made its own higher bid aimed at
keeping prison food service in-house. "As much as the state says they
want to give them another shot, all you've got to do is look at their
recent history in Kentucky and Florida and you'll see they haven't changed
from when Jim Petro did his investigation years ago," said Tim Shafer,
the union's operations director. "That's how they make money."
Calls and emails from The Associated Press to Aramark seeking comment
weren't immediately returned. The $110 million Ohio deal to feed some
50,000 inmates starts Sept. 8 and runs through June 30, 2015, with two
opportunities to extend. More than 230 of the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction's 433 food service workers have been moved to
other positions, and additional relocations are being attempted. The deal
calls for the state to pay Aramark for serving three meals a day to the
number of inmates at the previous day's midnight census count — a
per-inmate arrangement rather than per meal like those criticized by
auditors in the past. Michigan's change of heart on cost savings also
hinged on agreeing to Aramark's assumption that all 44,000 state inmates
would eat three meals a day, a state bulletin on the matter indicated.
Shafer said the contracts are a recipe for overbilling. "Not every
inmate eats. Not every inmate eats every day. Not every inmate eats every
meal," he said. JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for Ohio's corrections
department, said the state requested "multiple pricing
methodologies" from prospective vendors and determined that basing the
contract on midnight census counts was the most cost-effective. She said
this contract won't allow for verbal changes. Kansas Department of
Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay said Kansas pays Aramark on "a
kind of sliding scale" based on the average population per facility
the previous month. He said the state has had a generally positive
experience. "We've been using them for at least a decade and overall
the track record's been very good," said Barclay. "Keep in mind,
we also have internal procedures to make sure that's going well. We don't
just sign a contract and say, 'Everything will be well.' We monitor that
carefully." Kentucky has also chosen to put safeguards in place as a
result of the 2010 audit findings, said Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Lisa Lamb. Among other things, the department established a new
position devoted to helping monitor the contract, she said.
Mar
20, 2013 kttc.com
ST.
PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- The University of Minnesota lost almost $16,000 last
year on alcohol sales at football games, despite selling more than $900,000
worth of beer and wine. The school released the figures to The Associated
Press after a records request. The university reported incurring
significant expenses from selling alcohol. Those include hiring additional
police and security officers, setting up tents and other facilities, and
equipment rental. About half of the $900,000 generated by alcohol sales
went directly to Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., which had the contract
to sell beer and wine. University officials say it was never the intent
that the school turn a profit on alcohol sales. They expect a small profit
this year, since about $30,000 of the 2012 expenses were one-time. A state
lawmaker has a bill to also allow the school to also sell alcohol at
basketball and hockey games.
March
18, 2013 bangordailynews
MACHIAS,
Maine — A decision to outsource meal preparation at the Washington County
Jail has been reversed after it was discovered that cost savings were
grossly overstated by a former jail administrator, according to the
sheriff. “We were misled,” Sheriff Donnie Smith told the county
commissioners last week. Although the commissioners originally felt the
move could save money and approved hiring the food service company Aramark
to provide jail meals, Smith said the figures provided last December by
then-Capt. Robert Gross, were incorrect. He said Gross’s figures were
questioned by a former cook before a contract was signed with Aramark.
Gross, 62, of East Machias resigned in January, one day before the
commissioners were to act on his termination following a mismanagement
scandal involving inmate funds. A second employee, former jail clerk Karina
Richardson, 50, of East Machias also was accused of mismanaging inmate
funds and was terminated. She is currently appealing that decision and the
Maine attorney general’s office is conducting an ongoing investigation into
the scope of the mismanagement. At a Dec. 13 meeting, Gross told the
commissioners that the current cost per meal was $4.68 and that Aramark
provide meals for $3.99 per meal. Gross estimated the cost savings would
have been $30,000 a year. Smith told the commissioners last week, however,
that it appears jail meals are being prepared for only $1.16 per meal.
Smith said he has launched a full audit of meal costs so a final
determination can be made. He said that since the cost discrepancy was
first discovered, the County Manager Betsy Fitzgerald had notified Aramark
that the contract would not be signed. “We are putting this on hold at the
very least until we can get a handle on the actual food costs,” Smith said.
February
08, 2013 morningjournal.com
PERKINS
TOWNSHIP — A cook at the Erie County Jail has been arrested after admitting
to bringing tobacco, liquor and a pair of scissors to inmates who worked
with her in the kitchen. Mildred Hensley, 59, of Sandusky, has been charged
with two counts of illegal conveyance of prohibited items or deadly weapons
onto the grounds of a detention facility or institution. One count is a
misdemeanor charge for bringing the alcohol while the other is a felony as
the scissors could have been used as a weapon, said Erie County Sheriff’s
Chief Deputy Jared Oliver. Tobacco is not listed as a prohibited item.
Hensley was busted after an anonymous tipster told deputies Tuesday that
Hensley gave inmates a two-liter Sprite bottle full of Tanqueray gin on
Super Bowl Sunday. When Hensley came to work Wednesday, she was stopped by
the jail administrator and admitted that she had been bringing tobacco for
the inmates for at least four months. The investigation found that she’d
brought alcohol on Sunday and that a pair of scissors she had with her were
meant for an inmate so he could cut his hair, according to Oliver. It does
not appear that Hensley gained anything from the deliveries, he said. “She
said she did it because she wanted to,” he said. “She said there is really
no other reason than that.” Hensley has worked in the jail’s kitchen for
more than 20 years as an employee of food services company ARAMARK. In the
kitchen, she worked with inmates convicted of misdemeanor crimes. The inmates
cut time off their sentence through the work, Oliver said. Three of the
inmates involved with the Super Bowl incident have been removed from
kitchen and their accumulated time has been revoked, Oliver said.
Detectives are interviewing inmates and trying to determine how long
Hensley has been doling out goods. Some of the inmates she has helped might
not even be in the facility anymore, he said. Hensley was bringing items
inside her purse, Oliver said. The matter has raised concern over the
potentially lax security imposed on employees. “That is one of the issues
we are reviewing concerning the jail staff and the security that takes
place when they either come to work or depart from work,” he said. “This is
an isolated incident, but we are looking at our security procedures when it
comes to staff in our kitchen.”
December 14, 2012 BY Philly.com
AN ARM of the food-services giant Aramark and a local minority-owned
business will pay the city a total of $400,000 to settle a suit that
accused the companies of fudging their numbers to skirt
minority-participation requirements in a Philadelphia prison system
contract, the city announced Thursday. "They really were denying
opportunities for legitimate minority companies that wanted to work,"
said city Inspector General Amy Kurland, whose office oversaw the
investigation. Aramark Correctional Services provides three meals a day to
prisoners, but it is required to subcontract out 20 percent to 25 percent
of the work to businesses owned by minorities, women or disabled persons.
The suit alleged that Aramark and Strother Enterprises, a minority-business
group in Philadelphia, employed a circular payment scheme to overstate how
much of the business Strother was getting. Neither company admitted fault
in the settlement, which will cost Aramark $352,000 and Strother $48,000.
Both will also have to improve their compliance codes. Aramark described
the problem as a "reporting discrepancy. "We have corrected the
issue and implemented a comprehensive compliance program," the company
said in a statement. Strother did not return a request for comment. Kurland
said that schemes like this one are a "huge problem." "It's
very common," she said. "We've approached companies that have
done this and [they] said, 'Well, isn't this the way things are done in
Philadelphia?'
August 30, 2012 Northwest Arkansas Business Journal
Former University of Central Arkansas president Allen Meadors
is facing a misdemeanor charge stemming from a deal with food vendor
Aramark. The office of Faulkner County Prosecutor Cody Hiland
filed the charge on Wednesday, nearly a year after the UCA board began an
investigation of Meadors. Hiland
was out of the office Thursday morning and unavailable for comment. Meadors and board Chairman Scott Roussel apologized
last year for not revealing that Aramark offered $700,000 for renovating
the UCA president's home if its contract with the school was renewed.
Several trustees have they didn't know the Aramark offer was tied to the
renewal of its contract with UCA. The trustees said they thought the
$700,000 was a gift. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Wednesday that Meadors' charge was solicitation of tampering with a
public record, which "carries a punishment of up to one year in jail
and a $1,000 fine." Meadors "is accused
of urging a vice president to destroy a letter that said the offer would be
in exchange for renewing Aramark's contract," the newspaper said.
June 19, 2012 AP
University of Central Arkansas officials are saying little about the
resignation of chief of staff Jack Gillean. Gillean has not returned messages left on his cell
phone and a UCA spokesman told the Log Cabin Democrat on Monday only that
Friday’s resignation is not related to an investigation into money given
UCA by food vendor Aramark. Former UCA President Allen Meadors
and board President Scott Rousell each resigned
following revelations that $700,000 given by Aramark last August to
renovate the president’s home was dependent upon Aramark’s contract being
renewed for seven years. UCA spokesman Jeff Pitchford said Gillean’s duties included overseeing the campus police
department and the affirmative action program. Pitchford said interim UCA
President Tom Courtway was not available for
comment.
April 27, 2012 Log Cabin
University of Central Arkansas Faculty Senate members are calling for a
trustee’s resignation. The group voted Thursday on a resolution requesting
Scott Roussel, a real estate business man of Searcy appointed to the board
for a second term in 2008 by Gov. Mike Beebe, to leave his post. The action
follows the board’s approval of a new deal with Aramark, one that would
“wipe clean” $6.7 million in unamortized funds and interest. Roussel voted to
approve the contract along with other trustees as it was presented, though
governing groups on campus said they believed the trustee should recuse.
Thursday’s resolution states that Roussel “was cognizant of the conditions
described by Aramark in the acceptance of $700,000 in return for a
seven-year, no bid contract for food services on the UCA campus...” It
further explains that Roussel “would or should have been aware” of
potential damage to the university’s reputation when he announced the large
“gift” from the university’s food vendor, and did not disclose, by his
account without purpose, that the pledge was contingent upon the renewal of
the company’s contract. The money would have furthered renovations under
way at the UCA president’s home that was occupied by former president Allen
Meadors, who resigned last September after
trustees learned of the stipulation. UCA conducted its own interviews
shortly after the discovery, but then turned the investigation into
possible improprieties by university staff over to Arkansas State Police.
State police gave a “lengthy” case file to Twentieth Judicial District
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland earlier this
month. Hiland said Friday that his office is
still reviewing the file to determine if a criminal act has been committed.
September 7, 2011 Arkansas Times
"There's right and there's wrong and there's UCA." I don't even
know what that means. I doubt that the Conway insider who uttered it to me
Friday afternoon does either. I use it, though, because it conveys the
relevant utter frustration. A few years ago the University of Central
Arkansas was the hottest college in the state. It was located in a booming
suburban college town. It had a politically astute president. Enrollment
was skyrocketing. Television advertising was Landersesque.
Then that politically astute president, Lu Hardin, got caught cutting
ethical corners to gin up some bonus money for himself to pay gambling
debts. He will be going to prison any day now, surely. The UCA Board of
Trustees, looking around for the anti-Lu, found its man in Dr. Allen Meadors, a campus graduate with experience as a
small-college president and a meek manner. Not long ago I made a crack
about Hardin's ethical wasteland in the presence of a leading UCA staff
member. It angered her. She explained that she loved the school and that it
was steadily righting itself and, essentially, that a smart-aleck press
commentator ought to watch his mouth. But now this: Meadors
was revealed this week to have misrepresented to the UCA board that the
campus food vendor, a company called Aramark, was donating $700,000 to fix
up the president's official home across the street from the campus. The
board, initially as blindly obeisant to administrative happy talk as with
Hardin before, said sure, yes, without delay, we accept this gift for this
most urgent academic need and we authorize preliminary architectural
designs and cost estimates. Then came that pesky reporter for the statewide
daily, famous for bedeviling Hardin, and still wielding the Freedom of
Information law like a switchblade. She asked board members if they had
known a little detail: Aramark actually would donate the money from one
hand only if it was guaranteed that it would reel more money from UCA into
the other hand by getting its food service contract renewed without
competitive bidding for a period at least long enough for a guaranteed
realization of enough profit to get back the gift. Why, no, we didn't know
that, said some of these board members, and, by golly, we are just a little
bit ticked. They called themselves to a special meeting. This was not
charity, but amortizing. It was a food service vendor seeking to escape a
new round of competitive bidding by going into the home improvement lending
business on the side. It was an advance on marked-up grub the kids would
eat later in their hostage environment. I'm advised that this kind of
arrangement is not uncommon. But it ought to be. And if it is common, why
conspicuously neglect to mention it? Meadors,
going all-in for damage control, told the board in this second special
meeting that he had erred and that he would recommend that the school not
accept the money as offered. He recommended that the school open the food
service contract for bidding. The board withdrew its previous approval for
a housing allowance by which Meadors and his wife
could rent suitable quarters elsewhere until the presidential home was
renovated. Meadors' wife, a stronger personality,
has been spending quite a bit of time with family in North Carolina. Just
24 hours later, on Friday afternoon, the board met in special session
again, this time by phone. Then the board reconvened in public and bought
out Meadors' contract. The board could have
restored Meadors' authority to live temporarily
off campus. But that might simply have kept matters festering — a la Hardin
— and nobody wanted to go through that again. Meadors
may be a bit of a victim, just as UCA. He clearly erred by not revealing
the full nature of the arrangement with the food vendor. But it is entirely
possible that he considered such deals commonplace. He may have felt some
pressure close to home about inadequate living arrangements, the short-term
solution to which got sacrificed in this fast-roiling controversy. So now
UCA will start trying again to right the ship.
September 1, 2011 AP
A $700,000 gift from Aramark to the University of Central Arkansas came
with a condition that Aramark's food service contract with the university
be renewed. At least five members of UCA's Board of Trustees say they did
not know about the condition. A letter from Aramark district manager to UCA
vice president Diane Newton calls the money an unrestricted grant
contingent upon a seven year extension of Aramark's food service contract.
UCA President Allen Meadors told the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette that he takes responsibility for the trustees not knowing
the terms of the gift. Meadors says such
conditions are not unusual. Trustee Rush Harding III told the Log Cabin
Democrat agreed the transaction is common — but said trustees should have
been informed.
January 29, 2010 Herald-Leader
State Auditor Crit Luallen
said Thursday she would do an audit of the private company that has a
nearly $12 million annual contract to serve food at the state's 13 prisons.
The announcement came a day after a House committee voted to cancel a
contract with Aramark Correctional Services, which served food at
Northpoint Training Center at the time of a costly riot there. Also
Wednesday, the state released its full investigative report on the Aug. 21
riot, which went into more detail about problems with food at the Mercer
County prison. House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Rep. John Tilley, chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that they thought Luallen should look into Aramark's performance under
the contract. "I do think it's appropriate to ask the state auditor in
some fashion to audit the situation," Tilley said Thursday. Said Luallen: "While there has not been a formal
request yet, there have been enough questions raised by legislators that we
will begin to make plans to do an audit of the contract." Members of
the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 6-4 to cancel Aramark's
contract because of concerns about the food. Many on the committee
questioned whether Aramark was skimping on ingredients to serve more people
cheaply. "Aramark stands behind the quality of service we provide,
which has won the accolades of our clients and the national accreditation
agencies who monitor the quality of food service," an Aramark
spokeswoman said Wednesday. An audit conducted of Aramark's performance for
the Florida prison system in 2007 showed the number of inmates eating meals
declined after Aramark took over the food service. But the company was paid
based on the number of inmates, not on the number of meals served. Aramark
also substituted less costly products such as ground turkey for beef, the
audit said. The audit recommended that Florida rebid the food service or
take it over. But Aramark terminated the contract near the end of 2008,
according to published reports. Gov. Steve Beshear
praised prison officials' handling of the riot. He said he was
"confounded" with the legislature's "continued fixation with
the menus for convicted criminals when we're desperately trying to avoid
cutting teachers and state troopers. ... We have more than 10 percent
unemployment and Kentucky families are struggling to put food on the table,
and I am loath to consider millions more dollars for criminals who wish
they could go to Wendy's instead." But Tilley and Stumbo — both
Democrats — defended the House's investigation into the riot, which damaged
six buildings and caused a fiery melee. "The truth is, we had a riot
on our hands that is probably going to cost the taxpayers $10
million," Stumbo said, referring to money Beshear
has requested to rebuild the prison outside of Danville. "And we need
to find out why the hell we had it." Meanwhile, there are still
questions about why key parts of the original report on the riot were not
immediately released in November. It was only after the House Judiciary
Committee repeatedly asked to see the report that the Department of
Corrections agreed to release a redacted version of the full report at
Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee meeting. The report released Wednesday
showed that Northpoint Warden Steve Haney did not want to implement
restrictions that were a primary cause of the riot, but he was overruled by
Deputy Commissioner of Adult Institutions Al Parke and Director of
Operations James Erwin. The report said the handling of restrictions was
"haphazard and poorly planned." The report also revealed other
problems before, during and after the riot, including non-existent radio
communications among agencies, a lack of documentation, failed video
cameras and a considerable delay in the formal investigation. The report
said there was confusion over whether Kentucky State Police or Justice
Cabinet investigators should handle the post-riot investigation. Those
details were not released in a summary Nov. 20. Beshear
defended his administration Thursday, saying he was confident the riot was
handled correctly. "I have full confidence in the Secretary of the
Justice Cabinet J. Michael Brown and his staff and how they handled the
Northpoint riot and its subsequent investigation," Beshear
said. Kerri Richardson, a spokeswoman for Beshear,
said Beshear's office never saw the original
report, but had seen the report summary. Beshear's
staff asked for more explanation in the summary report but did not ask for
anything to be taken out, she said. Jennifer Brislin,
a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said there was no attempt on
the part of the Justice Cabinet or the Department of Corrections to hide or
minimize some of the problems on the day of the riot. Department of Corrections
Commissioner LaDonna Thompson left out some of those problems in her Nov.
20 summary because she thought some of those details would compromise
security at the prison, Brislin said.
"During her review, she exempted information that she felt would be a
security risk to staff and inmates, and that included information regarding
how command decisions were made," Brislin
said. House Bill 33 — the bill that would cancel the Aramark contract — now
heads to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee. If the state
cancels the contract, it could add as much as $5.4 million a year to the
state's cost of feeding inmates, according to the Department of
Corrections.
January 28, 2010 Herald-Leader
The warden at Northpoint Training Center did not want to implement the
prison yard restrictions that contributed to an August riot that heavily
damaged much of the facility, but he was overruled by Department of
Corrections officials, according to an investigative report released
Wednesday. The investigation also revealed numerous other problems at
Northpoint that occurred before, during and after the riot, including
inmate anger about food on the day of the riot and a crucial delay in the
formal investigation of how the fiery melee occurred. After reviewing the
report, the House Judiciary Committee voted 9-4 to approve a bill that
would cancel the state's $12 million annual contract with Aramark
Correctional Services to provide meals at 13 prisons. The investigative
report showed that anger over food contributed to the Aug. 21 riot at the
Mercer County prison. The report, which was withheld from the public by
state officials until Wednesday, puts more emphasis on food as a
contributing cause of the riot than the state Corrections Department's
"review" of the investigative report, which was released Nov. 20.
The review concluded that the main cause of the riot was inmate anger about
a lockdown and other restrictions imposed after a fight at the prison.
However, the latest report shows that virtually every inmate and employee
interviewed by investigators said that Aramark food and its prices at the
canteen were among the reasons for the riot. The report lists those issues
as the third and fourth factors, respectively, that contributed to the
riot. "Apparently, there had been complaints for years about the
quality of the food, the portion sizes and the continual shortage and
substitutions for scheduled menu items," the report states.
"Sanitation of the kitchen was also a source of complaints," says
the report. Inmates set fires that destroyed six buildings, including those
containing the kitchen, canteen, visitation center, medical services,
sanitation department and a multipurpose area. Several dorms were heavily
damaged, and eight guards and eight inmates were injured. 'Haphazard'
action -- According to the report, the riot began 15 minutes after details
were posted about new movement restrictions for prisoners in the yard. The
restrictions came after an Aug. 18 fight over canteen items that caused
prison officials to institute a lockdown. The investigation found that
Northpoint Warden Steve Haney wanted to return the prison yard to normal
operations as he typically did after a lockdown, but he was overruled by Al
Parke, deputy commissioner of adult institutions and James Erwin, director
of operations. "The implementation of the controlled movement policy
at NTC was haphazard and poorly planned at best," says the report. The
report also says the warden never got word that inmates had dumped food
from their trays on the floor at breakfast and at lunch on the day of the
riot. Aramark officials e-mailed details of the incident to a deputy warden
at Northpoint, but the information apparently was not passed along, the
report said. During the riot, "radio communications between all agencies
involved was virtually non-existent, causing chaos and a general feeling of
disconnect with the various agencies involved," according to the
report. After the riot, there was a "gross lack of coordination of
submitting reports," evidence was compromised because most video
cameras failed the evening of the riot, and there was a considerable delay
in the formal investigation, the report said. Kentucky State Police
immediately tried to begin an investigation to see which inmates were
involved in the riot but was advised by the corrections department's
operations director that the investigation would be conducted internally.
Several days later, the report said, two staff members from the Justice
Cabinet determined that state police should conduct the investigation.
"The criminal investigations should have started immediately to
preserve evidence, testimony and critical information," the report
says. "After a few days, staff thoughts and observations became
diluted."
December 3, 2008 Star-Ledger
The family of a young girl paralyzed in a drunk-driving accident nine
years ago received a $25 million settlement from Aramark Corp., the Giants
Stadium beer vendor whose employees continued to serve the intoxicated fan
who caused the crash. The settlement with the family of Antonia Verni, who is now 11, took place last year but was not
disclosed until today, when a state appeals court ruled that sealed
documents in the case must be made public. Antonia, a quadriplegic who
requires a ventilator to breathe, received $23.5 million in the settlement,
said the family's lawyer, David A. Mazie of Roseland. Her mother, Fazila Verni, received $1.5 million for injuries she suffered
in the crash.
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.
August 9, 2006 Toledo Blade
Food-service company Aramark Corp. agreed yesterday to a $6.3 billion
buyout by a group of investors including Joseph Neubauer, the company's
chairman and chief executive officer. The buyers will also assume $2
billion in debt. The deal is the latest in a series of management-led
buyouts. Others recently include the $21 billion offer to take hospital
chain HCA Inc. private and the $13.4 billion offer for oil and gas pipeline
operator Kinder Morgan Inc. Aramark said yesterday that shareholders will
get $33.80 in cash for each share, an improvement on the $32-a-share
initial bid made by the same group in May. Shares fell 47 cents to $32.58
on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. Headquartered in Philadelphia,
Aramark has approximately 240,000 employees in 20 countries. It provides
food services, facilities management, and uniform apparel to hospitals,
schools, stadiums, and arenas.
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.
BBC
August 22, 2011 Daily Mail
ALL the old jokes about the BBC canteen are true – and it’s no laughing
matter. For years the grub provided cheeky material for stars including
Ronnie Corbett, Peter Sellers, Terry Wogan and
Les Dawson. Sellers quipped on the Goon show in 1954: “Lunch is now being
served in the BBC canteen. Doctors are standing by.” And Wogan regularly refers to his Beeb tea as “the evil
brew”. Now, following a Freedom of Information request, the Mirror can
reveal things seems to be as bad as ever. More than 130 staff have moaned
about catering at TV Centre in the last two years. One claimed to have
found animal droppings in a sandwich. He wrote: “I could have been
poisoned.” A colleague said he saw a mouse run across the serving counter
at breakfast. He said: “It fair put me off the scones.” Another wrote:
“Fingers crossed that this time I’d find some meat in the lamb stew. Alas
it was not to be.” Gripes about the canteen and other cafes in the West
London centre included “dust-dry” toast,
“undrinkable” coffee and “shameful” service. And there was an outcry when
the Beeb announced it was closing a popular “greasy spoon” van used by
workers at nearby Shepherd’s Bush. Catering firm Aramark, which serves
4,500 meals a day, said the complaints represented a tiny percentage. Chief
executive Andrew Main insisted: “Most of the feedback we get is entirely
positive.”
Bexar
County Jail, Bexar County, Texas
May 13, 2009 KSAT
Most people can simply run out to the store when they need a jar of
peanut butter or a loaf of bread, but people behind bars are a captive
audience for such necessities, literally. Inmates at the Bexar County jail are allowed to buy simple things like ramen soup, soap
and candy bars at the jail commissary, run by Aramark, but now some wonder
if they're not being ripped off. "The prices are just outrageous and
ridiculous,” said one inmate. "I think they're outrageous,” said
another. “They're terrible." Abel Gallardo agrees. "Here we go
baby. Where are we going, HEB?" Gallardo said to his small child as he
pushed the child in a toy car near the home they share on the southside. Gallardo
is trying to raise two kids while his wife is in jail. He said the jail
commissary’s high prices make it hard on families to get by, because money
has to be spent behind bars. "They need to treat these ladies and
these guys right,” Gallardo said. “Yeah, they committed a crime, well
they're sitting in jail paying for it." In a comparison
shopping trip, the KSAT 12 Defenders found that a bar of Irish
Spring soap is $1.29 in the commissary, but $.75 at a store. Candy bars are
$1.09 in the commissary versus $.74 in the store. Chili is $3.59 in the
commissary, $1.45 at the store. A tuna pouch is $2.99 in the commissary,
$.89 in the store and the ramen soup is $.69 in the commissary, but only
$.15 in the store. "It's just straight highway robbery," said an inmate.
But the jail said prices here are in line with convenience store prices,
not grocery store prices, and that the county takes 35 percent of the
profits from commissary profits and puts the money back into inmate
services.
Brown County
Jail, Brown County, Wisconsin
June 14, 2007 Green Bay Press Gazette
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision that Brown County Sheriff Dennis
Kocken doesn’t have the constitutional power to
privatize food service at the jail could cost the county more than $1
million a year. But Bruce Ehlke, the Madison
attorney representing the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees union, said the court’s decision preserves the state
legislature’s authority over county offices such as sheriff, district
attorney and coroner. “A decision in favor of the sheriff would have
substantially impaired the state legislature from having anything to say
about county government,” Ehlke said Thursday.
“It’s one thing to blow off a few disgruntled employees, but there were
very significant constitutional issues here.” The court voted 4-3 that the
union could challenge Kocken’s decision to lay
off its workers and enter an agreement with Illinois-based Aramark
Correctional Services to provide the jail’s food service. Kocken said the privatized service saves the county
about $1.1 million a year and allows him to put more officers on the road
and at the jail. Kocken was not available for
comment Thursday. A spokesman in Kocken’s office
said questions should be forwarded to attorney Tom Godar
in Madison, who represents Kocken in the case. Godar did not return calls to his office Thursday. Dean
Meyer, executive director of the Badger State Sheriff’s Association, which
backed Kocken with a friend-of-the-court brief,
called the ruling disappointing.
Camden
County Jail, Camden, New Jersey
February 17, 2009 Courier-Post
Rodent droppings, improper food storage and plumbing problems afflicted the
kitchen at the Camden County Correctional Facility early this month,
according to a county health report. A Feb. 2 inspection at the county
jail, in downtown Camden, turned up more than a half-dozen health-related
violations in the kitchen. It serves about 60,000 meals a day to inmates
and staff, according to the inspection report. "The presence of mice
throughout kitchen and storage area was evident," according to the
report signed by inspectors Chris Naddeo and Caryelle Lasher. They estimated more than 200 mouse
droppings had collected there. Responding to media inquiries on Friday, the
county administration released a written statement that says that "a
corrective-action plan is in motion." "Inspectors will work
closely with the Correctional Facility's administration to make sure
appropriate policies and procedures are in place and implemented," the
statement reads. County jail inmates carry out day-to-day food preparation
under the supervision of Aramark Correctional Services workers, the county
reported. Aramark manages and operates the kitchen, according to the
prepared statement. The jail, the county health department and Aramark are
cooperating to address all the problems in the health report, including the
cleanliness and food-preparation concerns, the statement reads. Among the
problems outlined in the inspection report: Floors in the kitchen were not
smooth or easily cleaned. Instead, they were worn and allowed water, grease
and food debris to collect. Food was not covered well enough or protected
from contamination during storage. Mouse droppings were discovered in some
loosely covered butter. External doors near outdoor Dumpsters were not
solid or tight-fitting, so they did not protect well against rodents or
insects. A slow leak had developed in a storage-room ceiling. Several foods
-- grits, chicken, rice and beef -- were not kept at required temperatures.
Plumbing systems were not kept in good repair. Some water was draining
directly onto the floor.
Campbell
University, Harnett County, North Carolina
January 17, 2008 Dunn Daily Record
The Harnett County Sheriff's Office has busted a burglary ring which
struck Campbell University student housing during the Christmas holidays.
Two suspects have been arrested and Harnett County Sheriff Larry Rollins
said he plans to arrest three more but offered no details. In custody are
Terrance Jerel Moore, 21, and 22-year-old Leslie Herman Gaitor,
both of Main Street in Buies Creek. Both men have
been charged with 12 felony counts each of breaking and entering, larceny
and possession of stolen goods. Mr. Moore was employed as a cook at the
Chick-fil-A on the Campbell University campus, which is run by the Aramark
food management company. An Aramark official declined comment. Sheriff
Rollins said all of the suspects in the case except Mr. Moore are former
Campbell students. Most of the burglaries took place in Bob Barker Hall, he
said. Stolen items included laptop computers, PlayStation games and
textbooks.
Cascade
County Regional Jail, Cascade County, Montana
January 28, 2011 Great Falls Tribune
A former Cascade County Detention Center contract employee pleaded not
guilty Thursday to five counts of sexual intercourse without consent
stemming from accusations that she had sex with an unidentified inmate.
Rebecca Rose Pfeifle, 44, was charged with the
felony counts earlier this month. An affidavit from the Cascade County
Sheriff's Office states that she admitted to at least five different
incidents in which she had sex with an inmate she supervised as an ARAMARK
food service employee.
January 6, 2011 Great Falls Tribune
A food service employee at the Cascade County Detention Center was charged
Wednesday with five felonies after being accused of having a sexual
relationship with an inmate. Becky Pfeifle was
arrested by the sheriff's office deputies after an internal investigation
by ARAMARK, Pfeifle's employer. Pfeifle is charged with five counts of sexual
intercourse without consent. Under Montana law, an inmate cannot consent to
a sexual relationship. The sheriff's office did not release the name of the
inmate involved in the alleged incidents.
October 27, 2005 Great Falls Tribune
The kitchen supervisor at the Cascade County regional jail was arrested at
the correctional facility Tuesday for allegedly smuggling illegal drugs,
tobacco and smoking paraphernalia to inmates in exchange for a small fee.
Kelly Jerad McCann, 21, appeared in District Court Tuesday on charges of
transferring of illegal articles to inmates, a felony. McCann is an
employee of ARAMARK Corp., a national company the jail contracts with to
supply meals at the facility. Detention officers became suspicious when two
inmates chosen at random tested positive for marijuana.
Central
New Mexico CF, Los Lunas, New Mexico
July 31, 2012 KOB News 4
There has been a lot of bad press around correctional facilities in New
Mexico over the last six weeks. But Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said it is all part of a culture change. Two
employees of food vendor Aramark have been arrested over the last six weeks
for smuggling contraband into prisons. Candace Holmes was arrested for
smuggling drugs into a correctional facility in Las Cruces in June. Then on
Sunday, Mel Baca admitted to smuggling food into the Central New Mexico
Correctional Facility in Los Lunas. A fellow food vendor suspected Baca of
the smuggling and reported it. Baca admitted to the crime during an
interview with the prison officers, but that just started his contraband
list. Officers searched Baca's lunch box and found a cell phone, something
Secretary Marcantel called a "serious
violation." Then officers searched his car, finding alcohol,
prescription drugs and "about a 12-inch long knife," Marcantel said. The officers were not sure whether Baca
planned on smuggling those into the prison, but the fact he had them in his
car is a criminal violation. Baca was arrested for a fourth-degree felony
of smuggling contraband into a correctional facility.
Clayton
County Jail, Clayton County, Georgia
November 25, 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Extra officers had to quell a small protest of Clayton County inmates upset
about cold meals at the jail. About a dozen male inmates were eating lunch
in a common area at the jail on Tuesday when they began complaining about
the meal, which was cold. “They were upset about the potatoes being
undercooked and initially didn’t return to their cells,” Clayton County
Sheriff Kem Kimbrough told the AJC on Wednesday. Guards summoned more
corrections officers who were able to calm the inmates and get them back in
their cells. The ordeal took only “a matter of minutes,” Kimbrough said. No
injuries were reported and there was no force used, the sheriff said. “Once
the extra corrections officers entered the section, everyone went to their
cells without any resistance,” Kimbrough said. The protest occurred the day
after the AJC visited the Clayton jail and interviewed disgruntled inmates
about the cold food. On Sunday, the AJC reported that the 1,900 Clayton
inmates have been eating cold meals for five weeks because of broken
kitchen equipment. Five weeks ago, officials deemed the jail’s three large
kettles -- used to cook rice, pasta and potatoes -- unsafe to use because
of broken equipment. Last week, the county commission allocated $60,000 to
purchase new kettles, but they won’t be installed until mid-January. The
jail has also been operating for about a year without four stoves and three
large skillets, which all broke down, food services manager Ricky Jordan
said. Georgia law requires inmates be served two hot meals a day. The
sheriff said inmates are still getting three meals a day and the same
portions. Despite the lack of hot meals, Kimbrough said there has not been
an increase in illness or complaints from inmates. Food vendor Aramark,
which runs the kitchen at the jail, is working to heat some food in the
sheriff’s staff dining area, Jordan said.
Cook
County Jail, Cook, Illinois
May 4, 2010 Sun Times
A cook assigned to bring food to Cook County Jail was sentenced to two years probation today after he pleaded guilty to
bringing marijuana into the facility. Last fall, Cook County investigators
received a tip that Ivan Garcia, 22, had been smuggling marijuana and
tobacco into the jail. At the time of his arrest in October, Garcia worked
as Aramark’s supervisor of cooks. Aramark provides food services at the
jail, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office. Garcia allegedly
accepted cash payments from a friend or family member of the inmate, then
smuggled the contraband in and delivered it to the inmate while working in
the cafeteria.
October 30, 2009 Daily Herald
A Cook County Jail cook has been charged with smuggling marijuana into the
jail for an inmate. Cook County sheriff's police said Ivan Garcia, 22, of
Huntley, was paid by a relative or friend of an inmate to smuggled pot and
tobacco into the jail and deliver it while working in the jail cafeteria.
After receiving a tip about Garcia, an undercover operation was conducted
by the sheriff's internal affairs division. On Oct. 16, an undercover
officer approached Garcia and, in a videotape, he's shown accepting $500 in
exchange for smuggling an ounce of marijuana into the jail, the sheriff's
office said. After the transaction, Garcia was arrested, authorities said.
He's been charged with felony possession of cannabis with intent to
deliver, and is free on $30,000 bond. Garcia works as supervisor of cooks
for Aramark, a jail contractor.
April 4, 2007 Sun Times
"I'm not going to be a minority front for anybody," declared
Chicago businessman Harold Davis. Who asked you to? "Mike
Maltese," answered Davis. Davis, the solitary figure you see in the
picture, standing alone in a big empty South Side warehouse, called after
I'd written about the FBI paying a visit last month to fired Cook County
employee Paula Perkins. Perkins' job was to make sure firms like Davis'
that applied for lucrative county contracts were run by actual minorities
and were not just fronts for thick-necked white guys, a time-honored
tradition in these parts. Perkins' axing, some believe, was the result of
her doing her job too well. "I know her," Davis told me.
"Ms. Perkins' job was to prove that I was not phony." And that
she did. After a 14-month evaluation and inspection of his operation,
Perkins certified Davis' company, American Enterprise Food Service, as a
bona fide African-American business. She reaffirmed that Monday, saying,
"When I saw it, it was full of merchandise . . . people were in there
working." Perkins' certification paved the way for Davis to win an 18
percent share of $62 million in contracts to supply commissary products
(chips, underwear, paper products) to inmates at Cook County Jail. The main
contractor, Aramark Correctional Services Inc., is part of a multinational,
multibillion-dollar corporation that services 475 prisons across North
America, including Cook County jail. It's a Fortune 500 company with a
reputation for racial diversity. Davis begs to differ. He claims that
Aramark's account executives based in Oakbrook Terrace didn't want a
minority partner at all. "They wanted a minority front," he told
me as we walked through his empty warehouse on Monday. Exactly who told you
that? "Mike Maltese did," he said, referring to Aramark's
district manager who has since been transferred to its Kentucky division.
Any relation to imprisoned Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese? Not
that there's anything wrong with that. Davis said Maltese conceded he was
her nephew, but didn't want to talk about it. Maltese did not return my
phone calls. Company spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis Tuesday told me,
"Aramark does not discuss personnel or contract matters, but we
conduct our business with utmost integrity and according to the highest
ethical standards." Davis wants to argue that point. He says his
contract began in February of 2006 and that from the beginning, the Aramark
guys did all the purchasing, hiring and running of the warehouse. Davis said
he expected, after a brief training period, that he would take over all of
those responsibilities. "I started asking questions," he said.
"When was I going to take over the warehouse?" Never, was the the answer he says he got. Maltese, claims Davis, offered
him $17,000 a month in "free money" to be a "pass through .
. . a dummy company," Maltese allegedly preferring to have one of his
own guys do the actual running of his operation. Davis said he told Maltese
no. And that, he says, is when, in the summer of 2006, Aramark pulled its
merchandise out of his warehouse and stopped paying the rent. The county,
however, is still paying Aramark on that contract, though Davis gets none
of it. Aramark's spokeswoman said the company couldn't release specifics
but terminated the deal "for legitimate business reasons." All of
this makes me want to talk to Betty Hancock Perry. Hancock Perry is the
head of Contract Compliance, one of the many county departments the feds
are currently crawling all over. It was Hancock Perry who fired Paula
Perkins earlier this year. And Hancock Perry to whom Davis reported his
problems with Aramark, according to letters and memos I've seen. My request
Tuesday to interview her was turned down by County Board President Todd
Stroger, who issued a statement saying he referred my inquiries to his
inspector general but would not "compel any employee to speak publicly
about this ongoing investigation." We await the results. I wonder,
though, if the FBI's next visit won't be to an empty warehouse on the Far
South Side.
October 22, 2004 Sun Times
Aramark, accused of using politics to secure the food service contract at
the Cook County Jail, will likely hang onto the contract because it is the
low bidder. Bids were opened Thursday and they showed Aramark will charge
about 75 cents per meal, compared with 99 cents from Amerimeals
and Compass -- which accused Aramark of playing politics last month.
September 14, 2004 Sun Times
A lucrative Cook County contract is being extended three months, as county
officials debate how much political patronage has influenced the contract
process. Aramark will continue to provide food at the county jail, at a
rate of $856,000 a month, while county officials seek bids for a new
contract. Aramark signed a $39 million contract in 2000, but with
increases, the contract is now worth more than $43 million. Last month, as
the contract came up for bid, an Aramark competitor -- Compass, a division
of Canteen -- claimed the bid process was rife with troubles, including the
influence of politics, and backed out of the bid process, leaving Aramark
as the only qualified bidder for another contract. Aramark hired John
Robinson and contracted with John Maul, both former aides to Sheriff
Michael Sheahan, and Compass claims they influenced the bid process.
Compass also said it was denied records and access to information needed to
submit a bid. Campaign finance records show Aramark and its many divisions
since 2000 have contributed $11,240 to county officials, including
commissioners and Sheah. With allegations
lingering that the fix was in, Cook County officials were set to open bids
Thursday on a $50 million food service contract at the county jail.
But when only one company -- Aramark -- submitted a proper bid, county
officials said they weren't even opening it, instead opting to re-bid the
contract in hopes of attracting more companies. Fat chance, at least
one of Aramark's competitors said, as Compass Group -- a division of
Canteen -- alleges that Aramark has hired enough cronies of Sheriff Michael
Sheahan that it is sure to lock up the contract. Both Sheahan and Aramark
deny these allegations and Sheahan encouraged Compass to sit down and
discuss its concerns with the county. Aramark holds the contract now,
but is accused by Compass of creating unsanitary food conditions at the
jail, attracting rodents and airborne disease by leaving food out for
several hours before serving inmates. Compass also alleged, in a letter
sent last week to county officials, that as it tried to get records to
prepare a bid, it was rebuffed time and again. (Sun Times, August 27,
2004)
A Cook County Board commissioner called on
his fellow commissioners Monday to block a $50 million contract for jail
food until allegations of bias are resolved. Chicago Democrat Forrest
Claypool made the demand Monday after Crain's Chicago Business reported
that a competitor for the contract accused the sheriff's office of not
giving it information necessary to bid. The contractor, Canteen
Correctional Services, is competing against Aramark Correctional Services,
which employs two former top aides to Sheriff Michael Sheahan and may end
up being the only bidder for the job.
(Daily Herald, August 24, 2004)
A firm that had hoped to oust a politically
connected competitor on a huge Cook County contract instead is pulling out
of the bidding — complaining of "flawed and biased" county
procurement procedures. In a blunt letter to Sheriff Michael Sheahan
and other county officials Friday, Canteen Correctional Services says it
will be unable to bid for an estimated $50-million pact to feed inmates at
the Cook County Jail because officials haven't given it the data it needs
to compete, despite repeated requests. That means incumbent
contract-holder Aramark Correctional Services may face no opposition for a
new four-year pact on Thursday, when Mr. Sheahan, who operates the jail,
and other officials are due to open bids. Aramark employs Mr.
Sheahan's former top aide, John Robinson, as a lobbyist and vice-president.
Mr. Robinson resigned as undersheriff in December 2000, days after
revelations that he used sheriff's office stationary to promote a British
Virgin Islands-based company that ran an alleged investment scam. He faces
the potential suspension or loss of his license as a lawyer over that
matter, with a state disciplinary hearing set for Oct. 5. Aramark
also this month retained as a consultant another top ex-aide to Mr.
Sheahan, John Maul. He was acting executive director of the jail until last
summer. Aramark, a division of Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., and
Canteen are giants in the food-service industry. They've clashed repeatedly
around the country, including in Chicago, where U.K.-based Compass' Levy
Restaurants unit has held off Aramark for the food contract at McCormick Place.
Still, Compass' Cook County letter is notable for its language and
specificity. The letter also asserts that Aramark's operating
procedures are "questionable to any industry standard." For
instance, "hot" meals for inmates sit on racks as long as three
hours before they're delivered to be eaten, the letter alleges.
"Improper storage of food was observed continually" during a site
tour and "pest control issues exist," it says. Aramark, a
division of Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., and Canteen are giants in the
food-service industry. They've clashed repeatedly around the country,
including in Chicago, where U.K.-based Compass' Levy Restaurants unit has
held off Aramark for the food contract at McCormick Place. Still,
Compass' Cook County letter is notable for its language and
specificity. Under its current contract, Aramark provides meals at
slightly more than 77 cents a serving, according to Mr. Stroger's
spokeswoman. That's well under the average of $1.01 the Illinois Department
of Corrections spends just to purchase food. The Compass letter implies
that Aramark may have cut costs through lowered standards and deferred
maintenance. (Chicago Business, August 22, 2004)
Correctional
Treatment Facility, Lucas County, Ohio
March 18, 2005 Toledo Blade
Three Lucas County work-release inmates were taken to St. Vincent Mercy
Medical Center Wednesday after they ate food that contained what appeared
to be metal shavings. Two of the inmates were released from the hospital
and returned to the facility, 1111 Madison Ave. One was kept for unrelated
reasons, said Jean Atkin, county Common Pleas Court administrator. She said
work-release and the Correctional Treatment Facility, 1100 Jefferson Ave.,
receive food from the county jail, which contracts with Aramark for food
service. Treatment facility officials yesterday reported a similar problem,
but they thought the pieces were aluminum foil, Ms. Atkin said. She said no
one at the treatment facility ate the food, which was thrown away. Rick
Keller, corrections administrator, said he did not hear of any food
complaints in the jail. Ms. Atkin said a complaint was lodged with the food
provider. She said the contract with Aramark is up for renewal soon and
that there have been some concerns about the food service. Aramark
officials could not be reached for comment.
Coshocton County Justice
Center, Coshocton, Ohio
The new contract for the kitchen crew and the food they serve at the
Coshocton County Justice Center comes with good news and bad news.
The two cooks at the jail, Janet Swaney and
Vickie McKee, will keep their current salaries. However, the cooks will
lose insurance and retirement benefits through the county, and pay twice as
much for health insurance with the contracted company. Details of the
contract with Aramark were worked out with administrators at the sheriff's
office and the Coshocton County Commissioners. "We'll be
making our current wages, (but) we'll be losing out on several
things," she said. "If you don't have a county job, you don't
have the retirement. What we've put (into our retirement), we'll get, but
it won't continue." (Coshocton Tribune, July 23, 2004)
Dallas
County Jail, Dallas, Texas
October 11, 2006 The Dallas Morning News
Dallas County commissioners voted Tuesday for the first time to award a
jail commissary contract, ending a tradition in which the sheriff decided
who gets the lucrative deal to sell snacks and other items to more than
7,000 inmates. The roughly $34 million, five-year contract awarded to Keefe
Commissary Network is expected to generate more money for the county than
the existing contract. County officials who didn't like how the former
sheriff handled the awarding of the existing commissary contract moved to
get state law changed last year to allow commissioners to decide the
commissary vendor. The new law allows the sheriff to designate
commissioners to decide the contract. Sheriff Lupe Valdez didn't want to be
involved because of past problems, her spokesman has said. Keefe, a St.
Louis company, estimated that annual revenue to the county based on sales
of snacks, pens, toiletries, playing cards and other items would be about
$2.6 million, which is almost four times what the current contractor
provides. That contractor, Mid-America Services, was given the contract in
2002 by then-Sheriff Jim Bowles, who was a longtime friend of the owner,
Jack Madera. At the time, commissioners complained that other companies
offered better financial terms. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield cast the sole
vote against the contract award, saying Aramark offered a better value to
the county. He said Aramark offered a slightly higher commission rate as
well as $1 million in upfront money, to be paid out each year of the
contract. But Commissioner John Wiley Price said Keefe guaranteed the
county at least $2 million each year. "The numbers speak for
themselves," he said. Mr. Mayfield also said Keefe did not disclose to
the county its involvement in a federal corruption investigation in Florida
involving a prison contract until after the Justice Department issued a
news release about it in July. The county's request for proposals required
such a disclosure. The former head of the Florida corrections department
and a prison official were charged in July with accepting more than
$130,000 in kickbacks from a Keefe subcontractor over two years in
connection with a 2003 prison-store contract. "There's a lot of smoke
there," Mr. Mayfield said. "I find it incredulous that Keefe did
not know they were under investigation in 2004 and 2005." No
knowledge: Keefe's chief executive wrote in a July 31 letter to purchasing
supervisor Linda Boles that the company had no knowledge of illegal
activity related to the case. In a Sept. 11 letter, U.S. Attorney Paul
Perez in Florida wrote that Keefe and its employees are considered
witnesses in the investigation but that could change. "Nothing in this
letter ... shall preclude the United States from later determining that
Keefe or any of its employees are subjects or targets of this
investigation," he wrote. It isn't the only controversy in which the
company has been involved. In 2004, Keefe was found to have charged sales
tax on some items that aren't taxable in Texas in connection with a Collin
County jail commissary contract. As a result, almost 600 inmates were
overcharged more than $5,000, records showed. Because of the error, the
Collin County sheriff awarded the contract to a different firm.
Daniel Webster College, Nashua, New Hampshire
July 17, 2009 FOX 25
This information was supplied by law enforcement and describes recent
arrests and charges. All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless
proven guilty in a court of law. On July 16, 2009 at approximately 8:00 am,
Nashua Police Department Youth Services arrested Sharon Delio,
age 46, on an arrest warrant obtained from the Nashua District Court
charging her with Theft By Unauthorized Taking or Transfer, Consolidation,
Class A Felony. An investigation by Nashua detectives revealed that Ms. Delio had stolen approximately $40,000 from her
employer, Aramark Corporation, between June 2008 and June 2009. Ms. Delio was the Assistant Food Service Director at Daniel
Webster College in Nashua, a client of Aramark Corporation.
Deschutes County
Jail, Oregon
Dec
3, 2017 .bendbulletin.com
Jail employee accused of having sex with inmate
A kitchen employee with Deschutes County Jail is accused of having sex
with an inmate and sneaking tobacco into the jail. April Ann
Hoisington-Kite, 44, of Bend, was charged Friday with two counts of
custodial sexual misconduct and supplying contraband. Hoisington-Kite
allegedly had sex with inmate, Stephen Rechner,
on at least two occasions at the jail between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1, according
to charging documents. In that time, she reportedly brought tobacco into
the jail. Sgt. William Bailey, spokesman for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s
Office, said Hoisington-Kite was a contract employee through Aramark, a
company that provides food service and uniform services to businesses and
public facilities. Hoisington-Kite was cited and released Nov. 1, and has
not been allowed back in the jail. She met Rechner
in the kitchen area, Bailey said. “She worked as a contract employee, and
he was an inmate worker, and they developed their relationship through
that,” Bailey said. Rechner is in jail on a
parole violation, and was convicted of methamphetamine possession in late
August. Records show Rechner was convicted of
third-degree rape, second-degree sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a
minor in September 2014. His criminal history includes convictions of identity
theft, third-degree theft and strangulation. Hoisington-Kite is scheduled
for an arraignment hearing Wednesday in Deschutes County Circuit Court.
Dauphin County Prison, Dauphin,
Pennsylvania
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)
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" (WHPTV February 1, 2004)
DeWitt
County Jail, Cuero, Texas
May 9, 2006 The Victoria Advocate
Bookkeeping problems in the DeWitt County Jail commissary should be a thing
of the past now that the supplier and office policy have changed, Sheriff Jode Zavesky told county
commissioners Monday. Zavesky said he had signed
a contract earlier this month with Keefe Supply Company to supply and
administer the jail's commissary. "Our last supplier (Aramark) kind of
left us dangling," the sheriff said. "They said we were too small
an operation and they weren't coming back." Commissioner Curtis Afflerbach asked if the problems with the system that
the county auditor reported at the last court's meeting would be resolved
with the new company. "We hope to reconcile that the best we can prior
to this new contract," Zavesky said.
"We've also implemented some changes with our staff that we hope will
keep us from getting into the same problems."
Dona
Ana County Detention Center, Dona Ana, TX
A Sun-News investigation into allegations of impropriety within Doña Ana
County government makes it clear that at least some of the accusations are
true. The allegations, including mismanagement of contracts, failure
to follow county ordinances and problems related to the county’s 1999 water
system bonds and the proposed county complex to be built on Motel
Boulevard, are serious enough to gain the attention of State Auditor
Domingo Martinez. The state auditor’s letter contains allegations that the
county continued to pay for maintenance services at the Doña Ana County
Detention Center after the contract expired in June 2003, and that the
county manager signed a contract for $340,000 for maintenance services at
the jail though he isn’t authorized to sign contracts over $10,000.
The allegations stem from the expiration of the maintenance services
contract between the county and Aramark on June 30, 2003. Jail Director Al
Solis gave a contract-extension document to Haines, who signed it, though
it was for $340,000. (Lcsun-news.com, April 4, 2004)
Downview Women's Prison,
Banstead, UK
March 27, 2007 IC Surrey
REPLACING prison food with over-priced outside catering fare is a recipe
for disaster in a women's jail. This is the opinion of prison visitors
whose latest report says inmates much preferred 'porridge' the way it is.
Aramark, the company which has taken over the canteen at Downview Women's Prison, is typical of the caterers who
have taken over the food at many jails. And the report by the Independent
Monitoring Board claims the new system is not being welcomed anywhere. The
report says: "We were warned in advance by other independent
monitoring boards who had experienced a similar change to expect a disastrous
transfer - and it has been. "The decision to privatise
the canteen may bring cash benefit to the Treasury but the introduction of
Aramark to run the prison canteen has so far been a disaster. "For
prisoners the canteen is one of the most important facets of their lives
but prices have risen sharply,the
inventory has shrunk, revisions take ages to implement and the
administration is poor. "In contrast the old prison-run canteen at
least understood the needs of the prisoners and charged prices that matched
their wages. "It worked and this seems to be the same story repeated
throughout as prison after prison has lost control of its canteens."
In a report which praises "committed and dedicated" staff, the
board said all the faults it found with Downview
were beyond their control.
Duke
University, Durham, North Carolina
January 19, 2006 The Chronicle
Duke Student Government kicked off its first meeting of the spring semester
with an eye toward the future Wednesday night. During the meeting, DSG
discussed the upcoming confidence-no confidence vote on ARAMARK, Corp.—the
Philadelphia-based company that operates a number of eateries on campus.
Every year, DSG votes on whether or not it has confidence in the current
dining service. The decision is ultimately brought before the Board of
Trustees, which has the final say in whether or not to renew the company’s
contract. For the past two years ARAMARK, which operates the Great Hall,
the Marketplace, Trinity Café, Subway and Chick-Fil-A, has received a “no
confidence” vote from Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee and
DSG. The vendor has nonetheless remained on campus. Senior Paige Sparkman,
vice president of student affairs, said the upcoming vote is “extremely
important” because ARAMARK’s five-year contract is up at the end of this
year. “There can be a more drastic result of the confidence-no confidence
vote this year,” said DSG President Jesse Longoria, a senior.
DuPage
County Jail, DuPage County, Illinois
January 13, 2010 Daily Herald
Debra Olson painted a giant target on her back in the shape of a dollar
sign when she announced she'd hold herself to a higher campaign finance
standard in her bid to win the Republican nod in the DuPage County Board
Chairman's race. The District 4 board member said she won't accept money
from people or companies that do business with the county when she
announced her candidacy. Since then, two of her opponents and their
supporters have attacked Olson, complaining she was
"hypocritical" about campaign finance reform and that she lined
her war chest with ill-gotten dollars before taking the campaign-funding
high road. Olson denies any wrongdoing and blasted state Sen. Dan Cronin
and state Sen. Carole Pankau for the accusations.
"They can't win on the issues so they go for
a smear campaign," Olson, who is a current District 4 board member
said. Both state senators attacked Olson for accepting campaign donations
from food vendor Aramark while voting in 2007 and 2008 on a $1 million
contract to provide meals at the county jail for a year. The contract
eventually went to Minnesota-based A'viands Food
& Services Management. "I voted consistently for A'viands and gave donations back to Aramark,"
Olson said. Cronin's camp also said they tallied more than $20,000 worth of
campaign donations from companies or people that do business with the
county in Olson's coffers over the years, including donations as late as
May, 2009.
September 24, 2008 Naperville Sun
Inmates of the DuPage County Jail finally have permanent food service
after 18 months of wrangling by competing companies ARAMARK and A'viands. A'Viands was issued
a $792,585.92 contract on Tuesday by the DuPage County Board to provide
meals to inmates and officers from Oct. 23 to Oct. 22, 2009. The company
emerged as the lowest responsible bidder after the contract was sent out
for a fourth bid. It's been vying for the contract ever since March 2007,
when the first bid was thrown out because of accusations by ARAMARK that A'viands' winning menu did not meet requirements. A'viands has been serving meals at the jail throughout
the bidding process, under temporary contracts approved by a county
committee. Before that, ARAMARK had fed the inmates for 21 years.
August 22, 2008 Naperville Sun
Inmates of the DuPage County Jail may finally have permanent food service
after 18 months of wrangling by competing companies ARAMARK and A'viands. For a fourth time, the companies are bidding
for a yearlong contract to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at the jail.
They've been vying for the contract ever since March 2007, when the first
bid was awarded to A'viands and thrown out
because of accusations by ARAMARK that the winning menu did not meet
requirements. Along with another company officials declined to name, both
ARAMARK and A'viands agreed Monday to bid on two
menus approved by a professional nutritionist. All three companies have
until the first week of September to submit prices on one or both of the
menus and the lowest bidder will be chosen.
May 29, 2008 Reporter Met
For the fourth time in about a year, the DuPage County Board has
extended a temporary contract for food service at the county jail. After
Tuesday’s County Board meeting, Chairman Robert Schillerstrom
expressed frustration that the process has dragged on for so long. But
board member Michael McMahon, R-3rd District, of Hinsdale, who heads the
board’s Judicial and Public Safety Committee, said the county should be
able to award a long-term contract by the end of June. By the numbers --
$850,000 Annual cost of original contract -- $1.3 million Approximate cost
of temporary contracts -- 53 percent increase The board decided in February
to open a fourth round of bidding for the food-service contract and
extended the temporary contract through May 31. The new extension runs
through Aug. 31, but McMahon said the matter should be settled well before
then. A’viands, a Minnesota-based company, has
been serving food at the jail under a temporary contract since last June.
The contract has been under dispute since May 2007, when it was put out for
bidding. A’viands was originally awarded the
contract, but it was voided after another bidder, Philadelphia-based
ARAMARK, objected that A’viands’ bid did not meet
nutritional requirements. The original contract with A’viands
would have cost the county about $850,000 for a year of food service. The
new temporary contract will total about $1.3 million if a long-term deal is
not reached before Aug. 31. “Simply put, the County Board can’t make up
their mind on (the contract),” Schillerstrom
said. “It should have been done a long time ago. There’s no reason for this
to have dragged on for so long.” After a second round of bidding, bids by
both companies were thrown out because they failed to meet nutritional
requirements. For the third round, the county hired a nutritionist to
create a menu with which all bidders were required to comply. ARAMARK’s bid
of 91.9 cents per meal was slightly lower than A’viands’
bid of 92.5 cents, but county staff members recommended the contract be
awarded to A’viands because ARAMARK strayed from
the menu, county officials said. To avoid the confusion over nutritional
requirements, the county is taking a new approach for the fourth round of
bidding, McMahon said. Rather than requiring bidders to conform to a set
menu, each company will be allowed to submit up to three menus, he said. A
dietitian hired by the county will then review each menu and determine if
it meets nutritional standards. The companies will then be allowed to bid
on any of the approved menus, including those submitted by their
competitors, and the contract will be awarded to the lowest bidder, McMahon
said. “I think this is going to prove to be a good approach,” he said. “It
should all be over within the next month.”
May 8, 2008 Naperville Sun
Maybe DuPage County Board members got it right the first time they
opened competition for a contract to serve food to some 850 County Jail
inmates. They approved a fourth round of bidding Tuesday that is almost
identical to the original bid more than a year ago. While board members
hope this bid will end a long feud between companies Aramark and A'viands over the contract, some say it will lead to
even more contention. This time, bidding companies may submit up to three
menus to the county, which will then be either approved or rejected by a
certified nutritionist. The bidders may then submit prices on any of the
approved menus and the lowest bidder will be chosen. The Judicial and
Public Safety Committee has conducted and thrown out three bids during the past
year. As members tried adding more specific nutrition requirements and then
specific menu requirements, Aramark and A'viands
either failed to meet standards or raised objections to each other. But
committee member Jim Healy of Naperville said allowing bidders to select
from a pool of approved menus may just lead to more conflict. "Then
you have two parties arguing about fish cakes versus fish patties, orange
juice versus orange drink," Healy said. But the county could save
money by allowing bidders to select from a pool of approved menus, said
DuPage CFO Fred Backfield. "(This) allows a vendor to choose another
menu they could make cheaper," Backfield said. As the bidding process
drags on, A'viands continues to feed inmates
under an extended temporary contract that was first awarded last July.
Before that contract, Aramark had serviced the jail for 21 years.
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."
Durham
County, Durham, North Carolina
September 13, 2005 The Herald-Sun
A report from the county finance office shows that more than half the
contractors required to comply with Durham's "living wage" policy
have failed to submit payroll records that would show whether they're doing
so. The report, forwarded recently to County Manager Mike Ruffin, also
alleges that three contractors violated the policy by paying workers less
than the required minimum salary, which now stands at $10 an hour. The
others on the list are: -- The Aramark Corp., which had two contracts worth
$33,429 from the county General Services Department and the Sheriff's
Office. -- Carter Goble Associates Inc., which had a $17,000 contract to
provide staff to the county jail.
East
Baton Rouge Parish Schools, East Baton Rouge, Louisiana
March 19, 2009 The Advocate
A school janitor was arrested in what investigators believe is a crime
ring in the thefts of purses, wallets and cell phones from employees at
nine public schools in Ascension and East Baton Rouge parishes. Detectives
with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested Marnia Marie Parks on Tuesday in the incidents at six
schools in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, said Casey Rayborn Hicks, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman. Parks,
20, of 6248 Calion Drive, was booked into East
Baton Rouge Parish Prison on seven counts of simple burglary, three counts
of attempted theft and six counts of unauthorized use of an access (or
credit) card. It is unclear whether Parks was also involved in the
burglaries of two schools in the Zachary school system and one in Ascension
Parish, Hicks said, adding there is a “definite possibility” the cases are
linked. Parks worked for Jani-Care, a commercial cleaning company the East
Baton Rouge school system uses for janitorial services, when the burglaries
and thefts occurred earlier this month at the schools in the district,
Hicks said. Detectives believe Parks had at least three accomplices and
that she helped those accomplices gain access to the schools through her
job, Hicks said. An arrest warrant has been issued for Tronette
Leshae Leonard, 19, 803 Peach St. The other two
accomplices, one of whom was caught on surveillance video, have yet to be
identified, Hicks said. Chris Trahan, a spokesman with the East Baton Rouge
school system, said the school system has a contract with Aramark for its
janitorial services and that Aramark subcontracts with Jani-Care.
February 23, 2004
The East Baton Rouge Parish school system is holding a series of
informational meetings this week to explain to more than 400 custodians,
maintenance, groundskeeping and warehouse workers what will happen now that
their jobs are in the hands of ARAMARK Inc. The School
Board voted Thursday to approve a $22.5 million contract with ARAMARK,
which employs about 216,000 people throughout the world, and it is already
taking effect. The school system has set up an automated 24-hour
information line -- 225-226-3794 -- outlining meeting times, and has posted
similar information on a link on its Web site, http://www.ebrschools.org.
The Web site also has a four-page application for employment with
ARAMARK. This information was also provided in a letter issued Friday
to school system employees. "It is with regret that I must
information you are scheduled for separation," said the letter signed
by Elizabeth Duran Swinford, associate
superintendent for human resources, and Annette Mire, director of personnel
services. ARAMARK and the school system's Human Resource Department
are holding separate meetings. ARAMARK's meetings, to be held in the
physical plant training room, 2875 Michelli
Drive, will be from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday. Employees will meet with ARAMARK representatives in groups in
order of where their last names fall in the alphabet. An optional meeting
will also be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday. ARAMARK will follow
up with interviews from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday with
potential employees. Those meetings will be held at the Instructional
Resource Center, 1022 S. Foster Drive. Representatives from ARAMARK, the
Louisiana Department of Labor, LSU and Baton Rouge Community College will
also be on hand. The Human Resources Department is holding meetings
of its own for employees A-L from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday and for
employees M-Z from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Friday. These meetings will focus on
questions about payroll, benefits, retirement issues and job-transition
options. These meetings will also take place in the Instructional Resource
Center. ARAMARK has yet to lay out what it will pay privatized
workers, except to say it will pay "prevailing market wages."
Employee organizations that have opposed the deal say already low-paid
support workers will inevitably have to take a pay cut. The contract signed
by the school system also does not guarantee their employment with
ARAMARK. (Advocate)
East Carolina University,
Greenville, North Carolina
March 10, 2005 The East Carolinian
An ARAMARK cashier working on campus was arrested when found with two
financial cards belonging to members of the ECU community. Police said
Lawanda Patrice Draughn, 22, worked at Java City
in Wright Place when she allegedly kept credit cards from two of her
customers. "The two individuals went to Java City and purchased coffee
... and then they walked away without their cards," said Major Frank
Knight with the ECU Police Department. Once the victims realized they did
not have their cards, they called the credit card company. The company
representatives told them purchases had been made since the cards were
lost. More than $200 was spent on one card and more than $1,000 on the
other. ECU Police went to the stores where the cards were used, spoke with
cashiers and viewed store videotapes. "It was good leg work by the
police officers," Knight said.
Eastern Kentucky
Correctional Complex, West Liberty, Kentucky
June 3, 2011 Herald-Leader
An inmate at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex at West Liberty found a
dead mouse in his soup May 1, leading to an investigation by corrections
officials, according to state prison incident reports. State Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, characterized the incident as the
latest problem with Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services, which
has a $12 million contract with the state to provide prison food. "It
indicates what I call malpractice of their job," Yonts
said. But Aramark spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said the company provides good
service to the state. "We have strong quality-assurance processes that
ensure the high quality and safety of the meals we serve, and this has been
consistently verified by the high scores we receive on independent county
and industry health inspections," Jarvis said in a statement. Those
inspection scores average close to 100 percent, she said. The incident
occurred about 11 a.m. May 1, according to prison reports. In a written
grievance, inmate Christopher Branum said that
after eating some of his soup, he saw "what appeared to be a mouse
leg." "I touched it with my spork (a combination spoon and fork),
and it was a cooked mouse," Branum said in
the grievance. Corrections officer Ronald Cantrell wrote in a report that Branum called for him and showed him the mouse 30 to 45
seconds after Cantrell served Branum lunch in his
cell. "The mouse was saturated as though it had been in the soup for
some time or cooked in it. The soup was still lukewarm," Corrections Capt.
Paul Fugate wrote in a report. Branum, who is
serving a 10-year sentence for first-degree robbery, received the prison
incident documents through an open records request, said Wade McNabb, a
paralegal for Spedding Law Office in Lexington. Branum gave McNabb permission to share the documents
with the Herald-Leader. The prison report on the incident included a
photograph of the mouse. All of the soup made that day was thrown out, and
the inmates were served other food, according to the incident report compiled
by Fugate. Aramark food service director Jody Sammons, in a May 12 memo,
said Sammons had conducted an investigation, and "it appears the mouse
was isolated to the bowl of soup in which it was found." "It was
not likely that a mouse was cooked in that batch of soup," Sammons'
memo said. Some inmates were immediately concerned that they would be sick
after eating the soup, and they were seen by medical personnel, an incident
report said. Prison medical officials also contacted a Department of Corrections
physician within an hour. The physician said "the mouse would not make
them sick this soon," according to the incident report. Jennifer Brislin, a spokeswoman for the Justice & Public
Safety Cabinet said the staff addressed the problem immediately. "The
product was pulled and discarded, and an alternative served. Medical
services were made available to all inmates. After those initial actions,
Warden (Gary) Beckstrom took steps to increase
pest control and monitor sanitation to ensure there is no reoccurrence of
this event," Brislin said. Yonts said he would be contacting corrections officials
Friday to see what action they have taken. In January, Yonts
asked Attorney General Jack Conway to investigate possible Aramark
violations of its contract. Yonts, D-Greenville,
said Aramark violated the contract last year by refusing to provide
cost-related records to state auditors conducting an investigation of
Aramark's contract to provide food service to inmates at Kentucky's 13
prisons. In a Feb. 10 letter to Yonts, obtained
by the Herald-Leader through the state's Open Records Law, Conway said that
the Finance and Administration Cabinet found that Aramark was not in breach
of the contract and that Conway saw no need for a separate investigation.
But Conway and state Auditor Crit Luallen want a state regulation changed to clarify that
state officials — not the contractor — should determine which records are
pertinent, Allison Martin, a spokeswoman for Conway, said Thursday.
Eastern
Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky
April 9, 2009 Register News
A Madison County grand jury reinstated an arson charge Thursday against
a former Eastern Kentucky University food service worker accused of
starting a January fire in the Powell Building. James Reynolds, 26, of
Richmond, had initially been charged with third-degree arson, first-degree
wanton endangerment and first-degree criminal mischief for allegedly
starting a fire Jan. 22 in a trash storage room near the loading dock of
the building on the university’s campus. Madison County Attorney Marc
Robbins dismissed the arson charge prior to Reynolds waiving a preliminary
hearing March 4 on the other felony charges, but the grand jury chose to
indict Reynolds on a single charge of first-degree arson. Robbins said the
dismissal was because the facts of the case were “just as consistent” with
the endangerment and mischief charges as the arson charge. The first-degree
arson charge is a Class A felony punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison if
convicted. Reynolds originally had faced at total of up to 10 years on the
endangerment and mischief charges. Reynolds, who was employed by Aramark,
is accused of starting a fire in a storage room that ignited a large stack
of cardboard boxes, filling the building with heavy smoke and damaging the
loading dock. He is not suspected in a string of October fires on campus
that remain unsolved, according to university officials.
March 5, 2009 Register News
An arson charge was dropped Wednesday against a Richmond man who was
arrested in connection with a fire at Eastern Kentucky University. James
Reynolds, 25, waived his right to a preliminary hearing, sending
first-degree wanton endangerment and first-degree criminal mischief charges
to a Madison County grand jury for possible indictment. Reynolds and his
attorney, Jimmy Dale Williams, appeared briefly before Senior Judge David Hayse, who was on the bench for Madison District Judge
Brandy O. Brown, to waive the hearing. Reynolds was arrested Feb. 2 and
charged with starting a fire Jan. 22 in a trash storage area in the Powell
Building that ignited a large stack of cardboard boxes, filling the
building with heavy smoke and damaging portions of the loading dock.
Firefighters searched the building, which was not damaged, to ensure it was
empty after the fire. Reynolds was working for Aramark, a company which
provides food service to the university, at the time of the fire. Madison
County Attorney Marc Robbins dismissed the arson charge, saying the facts
of the case were “just as consistent” with endangerment and mischief
charges as the arson charge.
February 12, 2009 Register News
Madison District Judge Brandy O. Brown continued a preliminary hearing
Wednesday in the case of a man charged with arson for a fire at Eastern
Kentucky University. The continuance was requested by Madison County
Attorney Marc Robbins to allow investigators to complete their reports
before James Reynolds’s case is heard. Reynolds is charged with
third-degree arson, first-degree wanton endangerment and first-degree
criminal mischief for allegedly setting a Jan. 22 fire at the Powell
Building on EKU’s campus. The fire, in a trash storage area near the
building’s loading dock, filled the building with smoke and caused damage
to the loading dock, but no one was injured. Investigators believe the
blaze started when cardboard boxes in the room caught fire. Richmond Fire
Department crews were able to extinguish the blaze within minutes of
arriving on scene. Reynolds was an employee of Aramark, which provides
food-service and other services to the university. Marc Whitt, associate
vice president of public relations and marketing for the university, said
he was unsure if Reynolds was still employed by Aramark because they were a
contractor for the school. Several suspicious fires on EKU’s campus last
October went unsolved, but Whitt said after Reynolds’s arrest that EKU
police do not believe he was connected to those fires. “This appears to be
an isolated incident,” Whitt said earlier this month.
February 5, 2009 Richmond Register
An employee of Aramark, the food service company that serves Eastern
Kentucky University, was arraigned Wednesday in Madison District Court on
several charges relating to a fire last month on the university’s campus.
James Reynolds, 25, of Richmond, who was arrested Monday, was arraigned on
third-degree arson, first-degree wanton endangerment and first-degree
criminal mischief charges in connection with a Jan. 22 fire in the Powell
Building, said Marc Whitt, EKU associate vice president of public relations
and marketing. The fire started in a trash storage area near the building’s
loading dock. According to Richmond Fire Department public information
officer Corey Lewis, cardboard boxes stored in the room caught fire,
filling the building with heavy black smoke and causing damage to parts of
the loading dock area. Investigators with the state fire marshal’s office
worked with Richmond firefighters to determine the cause of the fire, and
interviewed several people who were near the building at the time of the
fire for more information. Whitt said that an investigation by EKU police
does not indicate Reynolds was involved in a series of unsolved arsons in
October on the university’s campus.
El Paso
County, Colorado
August 11, 2005 Colorado Springs Independent
Deputies at the El Paso County jail are in a food fight of sorts and giving
inmates the bird. A Sheriff's Office press release of Aug. 3, defending the
jail's meals in the wake of a brief hunger strike by inmates, is the latest
development in what has become a jail food saga. The release says that on
July 30 inmates were served turkey for a fifth consecutive meal, despite
protests, and it promises more turkey is to come. The episode comes as the
Sheriff's Office faces numerous internal complaints and at least 10
lawsuits filed by disgruntled inmates over jail food. One suit, filed by
former inmate Mark Compton, describes the jail fare as substandard. He
alleges that each meal was cut back by 25 percent as of March, and that
some inmates have reacted by eating scraps from the trash, begging or
intimidating fellow inmates for food. Yet complaint forms attached to
Compton's lawsuit raise doubts about food quality. Inmate Darius Pinkney
wrote that some peaches served in June were "four different colors
(i.e. black, green, red and orange). "Some were mushy, some were rock
hard," he wrote. "They were in my opinion not fit for human
consumption." Other inmates complained about the peaches, too, but
were instructed by a deputy not to consume them. "In your handbook, it
states to eat around anything not to your liking," the deputy wrote in
the official complaint form. Michael Holmes, another inmate, accuses
Sheriff Terry Maketa of standing idly by as the
jail's food contractor, Aramark Correctional Services, shirks its
responsibilities by serving "unhealthy disease causing garbage."
Former inmate Mark Compton claims portion sizes at the El Paso County jail
were cut by 25 percent per meal.
July 18, 2005 The
Gazette
Spoiled milk, rotten fruit and watered-down soup that tastes like dishwater.
Those are some of the items on recent menus at the El Paso County Criminal
Justice Center, according to inmates who are suing the jail, Sheriff Terry Maketa and the jail’s food-service contractor, Aramark
Corp. Nineteen inmates have filed separate lawsuits since June,
claiming the sheriff and jail are violating a state law that requires jails
to provide “good and sufficient” food to prisoners. Since mid-March,
food portions and quality have decreased to 25 percent of what they were,
according to the inmates’ suits filed in 4th Judicial District Court.
Inmates claim they’ve been ignored or harassed when they complained to jail
officials about the food. Some of the suits say Aramark, Maketa and the jail are “endangering the health and
safety of approximately 1,300 seemingly innocent prisoners at this facility
three times daily, seven days a week.” Inmates are being forced to
eat scraps out of trash cans or beg for other inmates’ food, the suits say.
Stronger inmates have resorted to taking food from weaker ones, according
to the suits.
Essex
County Jail, Essex County, New Jersey
July 18, 2010 The Star-Ledger
Aramark is the giant of America’s food-service industry, topping Fortune’s
list of the "World’s Most Admired Companies." So when Aramark,
whose menu runs the gamut from lobster rolls at Boston’s Fenway Park to
meals for most of New Jersey’s county inmates, came up short on a $12
million contract, it flexed its legal muscle. In a tug-of-war featuring a
debate over pennies per meal and highlighting a criminal case against a
competitor’s food-service executive, the Philadelphia giant fought a court
ruling giving New Jersey competitor Gourmet Dining the very Essex County
jail contract Aramark snatched from Gourmet in 2004. Then it relented. The
4-inch thick stack of legal briefs and exhibits is now closed. But the
legal battle — brief as it was — offers insights into the clash of a
food-service titan and its smaller competitor in the sometimes murky world
of competitive bidding. On one hand, Aramark Correctional Services bid
$1.32 a meal for each inmate, technically making it the lowest bidder. On
the other, Gourmet Dining bid $1.42, technically losing. But Essex County
rejected Aramark, saying its per-meal pricing wasn’t really
"firm," as required by the bid specifications, and threw open the
bidding anew — an action Gourmet says was a "thinly veiled
attempt" to give Aramark time to fix its defective bid. On April 1,
Madison-based Gourmet sued, making references to Aramark’s
"monopoly" and asserting that its bid would actually save Essex
$1.16 million over 3 years. Aramark countered, saying Gourmet was not a
"responsible bidder" since the man it would put in charge of
meals at the Essex County Correctional Facility had been fired by Aramark
for embezzling funds. "It’s a good old-fashioned game of
chicken," Professor Larry Bennett of the Whitman School of Management
at Syracuse University said of the legal punches and counter-punches. It’s
the second time the food-service competitors have squared off in a New Jersey
courtroom. Just 16 months ago, Gourmet Dining won a ruling in Monmouth
County, snatching a contract initially awarded to Aramark for that county’s
inmates. "We’re pretty happy with it," Savino Russoniello
Jr., the West Orange attorney representing Gourmet Dining, said of the
latest outcome. "The county is going to be saving money with the new
contract. The taxpayers are the winners here." That’s not the way
Aramark sees it. "Our proposal would have provided the county with
$800,000 in savings over the term of the contract compared with the
selected bid," said Sarah Jarvis, an Aramark spokeswoman. But Aramark,
which held Essex County’s contract from 2004 til
now, wasn’t burning any bridges. "We delivered outstanding service to
Essex County over the past seven years and hope we have the opportunity to
do so again," she said. To James Paganelli,
Essex County’s chief county counsel, the truth lies somewhere in the great
divide. "They’re both going to give you a competing analysis," he
said. Gourmet Dining’s legal complaint was just that, and a painstaking
one. Gourmet, whose $40 million a year in revenues includes serving means
to undergrads at Seton Hall University and executives at Hertz, asserted
that Aramark was able to push up the price it charges for an inmate meal in
Essex by 49 percent from March 2004 to May 2009. That was, in part, the
basis for its argument that Aramark’s latest bid was not based on a
"firm price" as required by the bid specifications, according to
the lawsuit. On Feb. 18, Gourmet Dining protested in a letter to Essex
County. Less than a month later, Essex rejected Aramark’s bid on the basis
that it did not submit a "firm quote" and sent a memorandum of
agreement to Gourmet Dining. But on March 26, the county instead rejected
all bids and opted to rebid, altering the terms, noting "confusing and
misleading" bid wording that created "uncertainty," and
adding a provision disqualifying any bidder on the basis of a key
executive’s criminal record. On June 23, in a 5-page opinion, Superior
Court Judge Claude Coleman, sitting in Newark, rejected Essex’s decision to
reopen the bids and ordered the county to award the contract to Gourmet.
"Rejecting all bids was improper, without sound reasons, and was an
abuse of discretion," Coleman ruled. "Aramark’s bid was not in
compliance with the bid specifications." As for the former Aramark
employee about to handle Gourmet Dining’s Essex contract, he pled guilty of
theft by deception, was sentenced to probation and ordered to attend Gamblers
Anonymous, according to court papers. Paganelli,
the county counsel, said he listened to the judge’s advice on that issue.
"Judge Coleman said, ‘You have the right to pick whoever that leader
is going to be. Just tell them that person is not acceptable to you, and they’ll
get you another person." Did Essex follow through? Paganelli
was succinct. "Yep," he said.
Evanston
Hospital, Evanston, Illinois
July 7, 2010 Evanston-Review
An on-site food services worker is charging that her employers, Evanston
Hospital and Aramark Services, allowed co-workers to repeatedly harass and
discriminate her despite her pleas to management for help. In a lawsuit
filed Tuesday, Yaffa Washington, a member of a
Hebrew Israelite sect who was born in Israel, said she was hired by
Evanston Hospital in 2004 and soon thereafter began working for Aramark
Services, on location at the hospital, 2650 Ridge Ave. Washington, an
African-American, charges in her lawsuit that she was subjected to
offensive racist and and anti-Semitic slurs,
including references to her as the “Jew Girl,” soon after after she began working for Aramark. The lawsuit
alleges that soon after informing Aramark officials that she was
contemplating filing an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge if
the harassment didn't stop – in what her lawsuit describes as “unlawful
retaliation against her for engaging in legally protected activity” –
Washington was fired. Aramark could not be reached for comment Wednesday
afternoon. A spokeswoman for the hospital said Wednesday that the hospital
had not been served notice of such a lawsuit and so could not comment.
Fairfax
Connector, Fairfax, Virginia
July 9, 2008 Washington Post
Fares for the Fairfax Connector bus come in $1 at a time, and that's
how they left, police said. There was an elaborate system to thwart
bus-fare bandits. Somehow, police said, a night-shift worker found a way to
open the fare boxes and make off with plastic bags full of $1 bills. A lot
of $1 bills. Fairfax County officials said $200,000 to $300,000 was taken from
Fairfax Connector cash boxes in the thefts, which started last year.
Fairfax police put the total at $326,000. Thong Khoune
Sisaath of Sterling, who cleaned and fueled buses
at the Herndon depot and handled cash boxes, was arrested July 2 and
charged with grand larceny and possession of burglary tools in the case,
according to police and court documents. A Fairfax man was also arrested.
An investigation is continuing, police said. The cash boxes on Fairfax
Connector's 197 buses have electronic safeguards. The boxes are scanned
before they are removed to provide a record of how much money the boxes
hold. The locked boxes are placed in a vault, where the cash is put into
containers. The containers are closed by a self-sealing mechanism and are
collected the next day by an armored-car service, said Rollo Axton,
Fairfax's chief of transit services. Police said Sisaath
found a way around the security measures. "Anytime you get the human
factor and greed, you have the possibility of somebody trying to
steal," said Kathy Ichter, director of the
Fairfax County Department of Transportation. Police said Sisaath would bypass the usual area where cash boxes
were scanned and emptied. Instead, she would take the buses to another area
at the Herndon depot and use a key to unlock the cash boxes. She would fill
the bags with the money and drop the bags, along with the contents of her
pockets, into her car, police said. "As she did this she looked around
in a suspicious manner attempting to insure she was not observed,"
according to court documents. Fairfax officials said the county did not
lose money because of a contract provision with the private firm that runs
the buses guaranteeing that the county receives the amount recorded when
the cash boxes are scanned. "The county will not end up absorbing any
of the losses on this," said Mike Setzer, vice president of Veolia
Transportation in Oak Brook, Ill. Fairfax transportation officials first
noticed a problem last fall. The scanned totals from the cash boxes stopped
matching the totals on the bank deposits. According to industry standards,
the two figures should be within 1 percent of each other, Axton said.
"We were getting anywhere from 20 to 30 percent on some days, and that
obviously raised the red flag," Axton said. The installation of SmarTrip card readers, which allow cash-less travel,
throughout the Fairfax Connector system starting last year made it hard to
tell if the discrepancy was a problem with the new technology or a sign of
theft, officials said. Audits were begun. On nights when supervisors were
present, the cash discrepancy disappeared. When supervisors were not at the
depot, money was missing, officials said. Many questions remain, Setzer
said, among them: "who got the key and how they got the key and how
the system allowed that to happen." A Veolia employee also was
arrested in connection with the thefts, according to court documents and
police. Carl Rich of Fairfax was arrested July 3 and charged with
embezzlement, possession of burglary tools, and conspiracy to commit grand
larceny. Setzer said he did not have information on Rich's status.
"Some of the people who are involved in this are relatively
low-ranking people who shouldn't have had access to any kind of key, so
we're still a little puzzled as to how that happened," Setzer said.
"Someone else had to help them get access to the key, whether that's
our person or someone else." Sisaath worked
for a subcontractor, Aramark, which provides staffing for prisons, jails,
airports and other sensitive jobs. Sisaath no
longer works for the firm, company spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said. "The
behavior you've described is unacceptable and is not tolerated by this
company," Jarvis said.
Fairfax County Adult
Detention Facility, Fairfax, Virginia
July 25, 2007 The Examiner
Fairfax County Sheriff Stan Barry accepted $1,000 in food for a
campaign event from a company the county pays to feed its inmates – a
contribution one state senator blasted as an attempt to “buy friendship”
from the sheriff. Barry, a Democrat who is unopposed in the November
election, denied any impropriety in accepting the donation from Aramark
Corp. at a Fairfax City fundraiser on June 7. State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli,
however, on Tuesday called the contribution a “cause for cynicism.”
“They’re giving him money because their gravy train depends on his position
to continue their food contract,” said Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax. “They’re just
trying to buy friendship.” The Philadelphia-based company provides food,
uniforms and other services to scores of institutions throughout the
country, and won a two-year contract in July 2006 to feed inmates and staff
of the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. The Sheriff’s Office operates
the facility. Exactly how much the county has paid to Aramark since the
company started providing meals Sept. 1 was not available Tuesday. Based on
estimates in the county’s budget, the company served 1.47 million meals in
fiscal 2007, an average of 4,050 a day costing about $1 each. Aramark was
the only company to bid on the jail food-service contract, according to
Cathy Muse, director of the Department of Purchasing and Supply Management,
which oversees the county’s contracting. The Sheriff’s Office reviewed the
bid and recommended the county approve it, after which Muse signed off on
the contract. Barry said he had no input in that process. “If I was
overseeing the contract or [was] instrumental in who got the contract, then
I can see where there would be conflict,” he said. “But I’m not involved in
those negotiations at all.” He said the fundraiser took place before it was
clear no opponents would emerge in the election. The food, he said,
included Swedish meatballs, lunch meat and chicken wings. An Aramark
spokeswoman said she was unable to find details of the donation by early
Tuesday evening and otherwise declined comment.
Fayette County Detention Center,
Lexington, Kentucky
October 5, 2007 Lexington Herald-Leader
An Aramark employee who works at the Fayette County Detention Center is
suspected of illegally bringing drugs and cigarettes into the jail. Melda
Janae Coffman, 32, was charged yesterday with promoting contraband in the
first and second degree, said Capt. Darin Kelly, jail spokesman. The
first-degree charge was for illegally bringing in drugs. It is a Class D
felony offense that can carry a sentence of at least one year in jail. The
second-degree charge for illegally bringing in cigarettes is a class A
misdemeanor with a minimum sentence of 90 days in jail. After her arrest,
Coffman was fired, said Sarah Jarvis, Aramark spokeswoman. Coffman, who
oversaw food preparation at the jail's kitchen, began working there on July
19. Kelly said additional charges could be coming.
Florida Department of
Corrections
February 9, 2009 St Petersburg Times
Three times a day, the inmates at Madison Correctional Institution
discover what a budget deficit tastes like. The scene in the prison chow
hall in this quaint North Florida town is repeated across the state as it
returns to in-house food service and struggles to cut costs. While the
inmate population is growing, the Legislature is cutting spending in the
nation's third-largest state prison system. Florida is now coping with the
effects of a failed and expensive food-privatization venture of former Gov.
Jeb Bush. In 2001, Florida turned over most prison food operations to
Aramark Corp., even after Ohio had scrapped a similar experiment with bad
results. After seven years marked by numerous irregularities, fines for
sloppy service and a state report that flagged the vendor's
"windfall" profits, Aramark pulled out of Florida prisons last
month. The firm said it could no longer make money due to skyrocketing
prices of bread, milk and other staples amid pressure from the state to cut
costs. A second, smaller company also left: Trinity Services Group of Oldsmar
had served meals at North Florida prisons, including Madison. Now that the
vendors are gone, the privatization experiment is officially dead and the
state must run an in-house meals program on less money amid the worst
budget crisis in decades. In fiscal 2007-08, Florida paid two private
vendors a total of $85 million. The current year's food budget is $76
million. Aramark's per-diem rate, or cost per day to feed an inmate, was
$2.69. Now it's $2.12, which will force the state to make menu changes to save
money.
December 23, 2008 Gainesville
Sun
Florida's inmates will soon have a new chef in the kitchen. By the
second week of January, all food served in state prisons will be prepared
by state employees and inmates. The Department of Corrections is taking over
in the kitchen after its two contracted providers, Trinity Food Services
and Aramark Correctional Services, terminated their contracts to feed
inmates. Both providers have told prison officials that inflation,
especially rapidly rising food costs, was a primary factor in their
decisions to end their contracts. The department is taking over at a time
when the inmate population is growing significantly and the Legislature is
cutting expenditures. The 2008 state Legislature cut the department's
2008-2009 food appropriation by $9.25 million to $76.5 million. When the
Legislature met in the spring, the inmate population was estimated at
nearly 89,000, but earlier this month topped 100,000 for the first time in
state history. Prison contracts show Trinity pulled out of the prisons it
was serving in November and Aramark will be out of all the prisons it has
been serving by Jan. 12. Since beginning to assume control of the prison
kitchens, the department has contracted with U.S. Food Services to provide
food.
November 13, 2008 Palm
Beach Post
A seven-year privatization effort for prison food services is
officially over as the state begins taking over meal preparation in some
prisons today. But Florida prison officials are unable to pinpoint exactly
how much serving nearly 100,000 inmates will save taxpayers, or if it will
at all. "We don't have a number right now," Department of
Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger
said this week. Corrections officials were ordered by the legislature this
year to trim more than $9.2 million from their annual $83.9 million food
services budget by cutting back on calories, changing the meal plan and
allowing the two vendors to reduce staff. But prison officials were
reluctant to implement reductions because they feared it could lead to
inmate uprisings and endanger guards. After rebidding the food services
contract and issuing an invitation to bid on just food, the department
settled on a $77.2 million contract with U.S. Food Services to supply the
food and take over cooking the meals and cleaning up in-house. Lawmakers
have been looking for places to trim the state budget all year with as much
as $3 billion less in revenue than expected. They could meet as early as
next month for another cost-cutting session. "The days of 'trust me'
and ask the legislature to just sign off on things are over. People are
going to have to justify every cent that the public provides. If it saves
money, I'm all for it. But everything's going to have to be proven,"
said Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, who served on the Senate Criminal and
Civil Justice Appropriations Committee and was appointed Rules Chairman
Thursday. Vendors Trinity Food Services and Aramark said they could not cut
costs without changing the menu, something else prison officials were reluctant
to do because studies show that meal changes create disturbances in
prisons. Both Vendors Trinity Food Services and Aramark vendors gave notice
this year sent letters to the department earlier this year giving officials
notice that they were going to walk away from the contracts. DOC this
summer reissued a bid food services and another for food products only. The
cheapest bid for food services came from Philadelphia-based Aramark for
$96.1 million, Plessinger said, nearly $21.5
million more than their revised budget allows. "We're looking at all
of those numbers and we do believe it will come in under $96.1
million," Plessinger said of the new
contract. Since signing a contract with the state seven years ago, Aramark
has received mixed reviews. There have been questions about food quality,
quantity and potential health violations. At times, the company has been
fined by the state for failure to meet the specifications of its contract.
The company now faces fines of more than $300,000 for violations. Trinity,
which serves the region of the state from Madison to Flagler counties, will
cease serving food today. Aramark will gradually withdraw from the rest of
the state and will be out of the state's prison food business by
mid-January. Taking back food operations is "quite unprecedented for a
department of corrections," Aramark spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said.
Prison officials they can cut the food price by altering the menu and
making other cost savings quickly, Plessinger
said. The department will realize 100 percent of the savings by changing
the menu to cheaper items instead of splitting that with the vendors, she
said. The plan includes having inmates grow more of their own food and
training them as cooks, Plessinger said, part of
DOC's efforts to prepare inmates for release. "We think this is going
to be a win for everybody. First and foremost for Florida taxpayers because
this is the best way for us to cut our food budget. It's also a win for our
inmates because it's going to expand training programs for them," Plessinger said, while maintaining prison safety.
September 10, 2008 St
Petersburg Times
Food service vendor Aramark soon will cut ties with Florida prisons,
bringing to an end another privatization venture begun when Jeb Bush was
governor. Hired in 2001 to replace a state-run food system, the company,
often criticized by the state for cutting corners and maximizing profits,
said it will stop serving meals Jan. 9. That leaves the cash-strapped
prison system four months to find a new way to deliver food to the nation's
third-largest prison population, which has more than 92,000 inmates.
Aramark told the Department of Corrections on Tuesday that it will invoke a
120-day termination clause in its contract. The company cited
"unprecedented" inflation in food costs and a poor working
relationship with the state. "We have been unable to achieve the type
of partnership consistent with our expectations for a positive long-term
relationship," wrote Tim Campbell, president of Aramark Correctional Services.
The stormy seven-year tenure between the Philadelphia-based food giant and
the Department of Corrections has deteriorated in recent months. This year
alone, the state fined Aramark $261,000 for violations ranging from long
lines to excessive substitutions of menu items. Food in prison isn't just a
necessity. Many corrections experts consider it a key to keeping inmates
under control and to avoiding lawsuits alleging inhumane treatment of
prisoners. "Food really becomes a security issue for us," Corrections
Secretary Walt McNeil said recently. He complained of Aramark cooks
substituting lower-quality ingredients for beef or turkey. Under pressure
by the state Legislature to cut costs by $9.3-million without sacrificing
quality, McNeil last month invited other vendors to submit bids in hopes of
finding a company willing to earn less. A review last year by the prisons'
inspector general found that Aramark earned a "windfall" because
it was allowed to serve cheaper ground turkey instead of real beef, and was
paid based on the number of inmates, and not on the actual number of meals
served. The report urged a rewriting of the contract or restoring food
service to an in-house operation. "The state rushed into it, and like
most shotgun weddings, the marriage has been pretty tortured," said
Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach.
May 12, 2008 Palm
Beach Post
One of the two companies that feed state prisoners has racked up nearly
$250,000 in fines since the beginning of the year for violations including
not having enough food and staffing shortages. That brings the total fines
for Aramark to more than $864,000 since 2001 when the state hired private
companies to take over feeding the more than 92,000 inmates in Florida
prisons. More than $300,000 of Aramark fines have been rescinded by the
Department of Corrections. Corrections officials are questioning Aramark's
ability to provide quality food in sufficient quantities. The officials
also say they are concerned about the company's staffing levels. "We
have certain standards regarding foods for inmates that we're not prepared
to see relaxed. We want to make sure they jibe with our standards,"
Corrections Chief of Staff Richard Prudom said of
Aramark, which is negotiating a new contract with the state. One recent
concern was an outbreak last month at the Santa Rosa Correctional
Institution where almost 300 inmates became ill. The cause of the illness
remains under investigation and no one is blaming Aramark, but corrections
officials have not ruled out that the food caused the illness. Aramark
spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said the food was not the cause. "There are a
lot of different reasons why inmates, especially in close quarters, can get
ill," Jarvis said. "It can be close quarters. It can be sewer
systems." Corrections officials took the trays and tested them and
stool samples of inmates for food poisoning, Jarvis said, and the results
were negative. Corrections officials said Monday they have not received the
results and the investigation is ongoing. Aramark has been fined for
running out of food, not having enough staff and diverging from the meals
agreed to in its contract with the state, according to DOC records. The
department let Aramark off the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in
fines under former Corrections Secretary Jimmy Crosby, now in prison for
taking kickbacks from contractors.
March 29, 2008 Palm
Beach Post
Mushy bland broccoli stems accompanied by a greasy mystery meat endowed
with undercooked rice is as good as it gets for inmates behind bars. But,
according to the vendor who provides the food and some lawmakers, that's
still too good. They want to cut as much as $11 million from prison food
contracts as part of an effort to pare about $3 billion from next year's
state budget. Prison officials fear that cutting the food budget will lower
the quality of meals that are already bland and cause unrest among inmates.
Anger about meals is the No. 1 reason for inmate uprisings, according to
corrections officials, and menu changes imperil safety for prison guards,
inmates and the public in general. "We think any reduction to (the
current menu) that is not a change for health reasons poses a risk to
public safety," said Department of Corrections Chief of Staff Richard Prudhom. "It may sound overly dramatic, but we
strongly believe that." The state pays nearly $79 million per year to
two food service vendors - Philadelphia-based Aramark and Oldsmar-based
Trinity Services Group Inc. - for the bulk of the food that is purchased
for Florida's more than 92,000 inmates. The state now pays $2.67 for three
meals a day for each inmate. Lawmakers in the House want to reduce that
cost to $2.30 a day. Aramark representatives have convinced some lawmakers
that the state can save millions by reducing calories fed to inmates. The
company wants to go back to a menu it once served that prison officials say
was unacceptable. While the current menu is better then
the old one, some inmates still complain about the food. "I don't eat
it. I just come here to give it away," Calvin Mayes, an inmate at
Jefferson Correctional Institution in Monticello, said after a lunch of
Spanish rice and broccoli. Instead, he spends about $150 a month at the
prison canteen to buy food. "The quality of the food is
substandard," said a relative of an inmate at Marion Correctional
Institution in Lowell, who asked not to be named because she feared
retaliation against the prisoner. "The preparation is haphazard.
They're supposed to wear hairnets and gloves. You find hair in your food
and you find a Band-Aid in your food. Things are so overcooked it's mush,
or it's not cooked at all." Sen. Tony Hill recently asked the
legislature's Joint Auditing Committee to conduct an investigation into the
Aramark contract, and Aramark spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis confirmed that the
state auditor general is also looking into it. "When you've got people
boycotting the food altogether, that's a problem," said Hill,
D-Jacksonville. Some inmates, like Donald Jones, say the food is the best
it has ever been. But food quality is less important to some lawmakers than
saving money for taxpayers. The Senate has proposed slicing $6 million from
the current prison food budget, while the House wants to cut $11 million.
"We're talking about substantial savings," Jarvis said. "They way the savings come about is by making better use
of the ingredients served. For instance, replace French toast with
pancakes." Jarvis said that Aramark's spending for food has tripled
since the initial contract was established in 2001. Aramark wants to do
more than change the menu. The company also is proposing cutting back on
the number of workers it provides prisons, shifting the responsibility to
corrections officials. Guards would have to fill in, posing a problem for
an already understaffed corrections system that could lose 1,800 guards
under the Senate proposal, according to corrections officials. Since
signing a contract with the state seven years ago, Aramark has received
mixed reviews. There have been questions about food quality, quantity and
potential health violations. At times, the company has been fined by the
state for failure to meet the specifications of its contract. Critics
suggest the proposed new contract is really an attempt by Aramark to make
more money by paying less for food. The company is paid not by the number
of meals consumed but by the number of inmates. If fewer inmates eat the
food, Aramark can save money by providing less food. In February,
Aramark-served institutions had an 85 percent participation rate of inmates
eating the company's meals. Trinity, which serves food to about one quarter
of the state's inmates, had a 97 percent participation rate. A state audit
of the Aramark contract last year found that the participation rates
equated to a "windfall for the vendor" and that Aramark substituted
low-cost foods, such as turkey instead of beef, without passing the savings
on to the state. Aramark representatives and corrections officials both say
those problems have been resolved. Trinity this month canceled its contract
with the state, giving it until August to renegotiate because, the company
claims, it is losing money on the deal. Corrections officials said they
will meet with Trinity and Aramark next week to discuss their contracts.
February 16, 2008 Miami
Herald
Sweat dripping from his brow, union representative Bruce Raynor promised a
crowd nearing 100, including two state lawmakers, that he wouldn't rest
until food service provider Aramark is stripped of its contract with the
Florida Department of Corrections. At the sidewalk rally outside downtown
Miami government buildings Friday, Raynor, the president of the Unite Here
union that represents more than 20,000 Aramark employees nationwide,
accused the company of collecting millions of dollars of taxpayer money by
charging for meals that were never served and using substandard ingredients
in food preparation. ''We are sick and tired of hard workers and taxpayers
having their pockets picked by greedy corporations,'' Raynor said. ``We
want to call on the attention of state officials.'' The allegations are
based on a January 2007 Department of Corrections internal audit that
states Aramark's practice of charging the state per inmate and not per meal
served resulted in ''a windfall for the vendor,'' which reduced Aramarks costs by $4.9 million per year. However,
Department of Corrections and Aramark officials claim the unions are using
the audit to push a labor-related agenda, and that the issues in the report
have been resolved. 'As far as Aramark getting a windfall profit, we don't
believe that's the case,'' said DOC spokesperson Gretl
Plessinger. ``The contract is now a really good
deal.'' According to the audit, the company was being paid for more than
6,000 meals per day that it didn't serve. Still, Plessinger
said the DOC renewed its contract with Aramark last year, with changes
partially based on the audit's findings. In a Jan. 30 letter to Tim
Campbell, Aramark's president, DOC secretary James McDonough wrote: ``It is
our department's position that Aramark has acted faithfully to abide by
both its former and its current contract with the department.'' While union
representatives claim Aramark used cheaper meat products to cut corners,
McDonough said in the letter all food changes were approved by a DOC
committee, and inmate meals in Florida meet ``minimum health standards.''
Kristine Grow, an Aramark spokesperson, said the unions' accusations are
based on ulterior motives: ``This is more about allegations to get us to
agree to their demands than it is about our clients or taxpayers.'' At the
rally, State Sen. Tony Hill and State Rep. Luis Garcia said they would
explore starting a state probe into DOC's contract with Aramark.
Florida officials are
gambling with prison safety by continuing to employ Aramark Corp. as the
principal food service provider for the state's correctional facilities.
Since the company took over prison kitchens last year, it has continually
violated regulations designed to promote sanitation and safety within the
facilities. Their five-year contract, part of Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to
reduce payroll by privatizing many state operations, is expected to cut
prison food costs by $8-million in its first year. But quality has been one
of the first ingredients sacrificed by Aramark's cost-cutting measures.
State officials have yet to push the company to comply with prison
regulations or to find a food service provider that will. The Times' Thomas
Tobin recently reported that, under Aramark, daily logs kept by corrections
officers across the state have described filthy kitchens, frequent meal delays,
attempts to serve spoiled, watered down or undercooked food and a chronic
inability to follow a state rule requiring all inmates to receive the same
meal -- a security measure to prevent petty food jealousies from escalating
into fights. Florida has already assessed $110,000 in fines against
Aramark. But compared with the profit the company will earn in its first
year, that's hardly the crackdown needed to force the company to mend its
reckless ways. If the company cannot live up to its promises, the state
needs to find a food service provider that can. Florida inmates deserve
better service and corrections officers deserve to work in as safe an
environment as possible. Gov. Bush and corrections secretary Michael Moore
have been warned repeatedly about Aramark's unsafe practices. If a food
riot breaks out and someone is killed, state officials will have some
explaining to do. (St. Petersburg Times, July 2, 2002)
Hiring Aramark to feed prisoners has saved the state millions, but the
company faces fines and fears over guard safety. Take any cross-section of
Floridians and poll them about prisons. Few would care that, one day last
February, lunch at the Madison Correctional Institution featured a
particularly soupy batch of sloppy joes. But corrections Capt. Hugh Poppell took notice right away. He saw the prison's new
civilian food service staff dilute the entree even more, adding ketchup and
tomato paste to make it stretch among the 700-plus inmates still lined up
to be fed. Poppell reported what he saw to warden
Joe Thompson, who quickly investigated and found the workers had shorted
the recipe by 70 pounds of ground beef and turkey. The warden also noted:
"The other ingredients such as onions, celery and green peppers in the
entree were not observed." Far from a show of concern over the inmate
palate, the officers were heeding an age-old canon of prison
administration: A hungry, discontented inmate is often a problem inmate --
and a potential threat. The culprit in the sloppy joe episode and scores of
other recent food foibles across Florida was Aramark Corp., the
cost-conscious Philadelphia company hired last year to feed inmates in 126
of Florida's 133 corrections facilities. The contract is part of Gov. Jeb
Bush's push to reduce payroll by privatizing many state operations. But a
rocky first year has prompted the state to assess $110,000 in fines against
Aramark. Though the company has saved money for Florida, its stewardship
over the state's prison kitchens has created a new set of concerns for
frontline corrections officials, including: dirty kitchens that in one
county produced maggots, frequent cooking delays that throw off prison
schedules, food quality that often falls beneath expectations and a chronic
inability to follow a state rule that requires every inmate to receive the
same meal. So vigilant is Aramark's cost-cutting that a supervisor ordered
workers to scoop food from pans in a way that wouldn't jam too much into
the ladle, said Norma Schamens, 33, an Aramark
employee for three months in Gulf County before she was fired in May.
"There were some decent meals," she said. "But they were few
and far between." "Any corrections officer will tell you that
when inmates don't get fed right, that's where the riots start," said
Al Shopp, a former corrections officer who
monitors working conditions in prisons for the Florida Police Benevolent
Association. "It's an officer safety issue . . . It's just a situation
that I'm afraid will eventually go awry." Before Aramark, Florida
corrections officers cooked meals. "It was like a military operation.
You got them in, you got them fed and you got them out," Shopp said. "There were bumps in the road, but
nothing like it is today." (St. Petersburg Times, June 17, 2002)
Fresno County Jail,
Fresno, California
September 23, 2008 Fresno Bee
Fresno County is looking for a new vendor to supply food to jail
inmates. Aramark Correctional Services notified the county that it is
terminating its contract and will stop providing meals to the jail Nov. 20.
A company spokeswoman said the contract is no longer profitable because of
rising food costs. Spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said the cost to purchase food
has tripled. Last November, board members signed off on a five-year, $30.2
million deal with Aramark. The deal lowered the per-meal cost, from $1.24
to $1.12, and required Aramark to pay utility costs associated with use of
the county's central kitchen. The company recently tried to increase its
profits by proposing a program called "Fresh Food for Inmates"
that would allow inmates to purchase a special hot meal once a week.
Inmates would have been able to purchase items such as cheeseburgers,
nachos, chili cheese fries and burritos. But Board Chairman Henry Perea called the proposal "ridiculous."
"It's insane to even be considering such a program," he said.
"I can't tell you how much this upsets me." County supervisors
said they would allow other companies to bid on the contract. Aramark said
it's interested in rebidding, but county officials said they want to see
whether they can exclude the company from the process. Aramark also
provides meals to the juvenile detention facility and the county's
psychiatric units. County supervisors indicated that they may look for
separate vendors to supply food to those areas. Supervisor Bob Waterston
also wants the county to consider having inmates cook and prepare their own
meals.
Fresno County Juvenile Hall,
Fresno, California
June 28, 2006 KFSN
An investigation is underway into a troubling discovery at Fresno
County's juvenile hall, where a rodent head was found inside a dinner meal.
The current juvenile hall in southeast Fresno has been plagued with
concerns about overcrowding and other unsafe conditions. A new $142 million
facility is set to open south of Fresno to take its place. Juvenile hall
officials are confirming a rodent head was found in a meal served there.
They are investigating just how the foreign object got into the dinner meal
served to a young offender. Chief Probation Officer Linda Penner tells
Action News, "It looked to be like a small mouse head between bread
that was served to a minor at the facility." Environmental health
officials are investigating how the rodent head may have gotten into a
dinner meal served on Sunday, June 18th. Meals are prepared at the Fresno
County central kitchen by a company named Aramark. The county memo sent to
employees says, "There have been no similar allegations from the jail
facilities ... and the county regularly inspects the operation to ensure
proper handling of food."
Fulton
County, Fulton, Georgia
March 22, 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County will take a step back and ask more companies to bid on a
contract to feed inmates at the Fulton County Jail. Fulton's County
Commission voted unanimously Wednesday for a 90-day deferral on a vote to
hire a food service provider for the jail and satellite facilities. County
purchasing officials are to use the delay to advertise the contract in
national publications that cater to the corrections industry. Commissioners
weren't pleased by a staff recommendation to hire Gourmet-ARAMARK
Correctional Services, which the county fired two years ago. Some
commissioners drilled into the county's purchasing guidelines because they
give a big bonus to companies that have an office in Fulton County.
Commissioner Robb Pitts said Gourmet-ARAMARK would have won the contract
even if all three bidders had scored the same in every category but one —
location. For the sole reason that it was the only company with a physical
address in Fulton County, the company outscored its competition and won the
staff's recommendation, Pitts said. Chairman John Eaves said he didn't
understand why Gourmet-ARAMARK got the nod when its $4 million bid was the
highest of the three that were submitted. It was about $1 million higher
than the low bidder. Eaves made the motion to defer the vote. Felicia
Strong-Whitaker, a deputy director of the county's purchasing department,
said the county's purchasing guidelines state that cost makes up 25 points
of the formula used to recommend a company for this type of contract. A
company gets an automatic 10 points if it has an office in Fulton County,
she said.
February 21, 2007 Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
Amid allegations of bid rigging and corruption, Fulton County commissioners
agreed Wednesday to rebid a lucrative food service contract at the county
jail. County Attorney O.V. Brantley said Wednesday she's launched a probe
into the allegations, but Commissioner Robb Pitts said any investigation
should be turned over to state or federal agents. "Someone seems hell
bent on giving the contract to this firm," Pitts said. "I'm going
to find out why.... This is serious stuff...This needs to be investigated,
not in house but by someone outside." The Trinity Services Group won
the original contract in 2005, but it expired more than a year ago. When it
was rebid in December, Trinity received the recommendation, even though it
was the highest bidder of the three, according to county records. One of
the firms that was rejected filed a formal protest with the county, and the
other filed a letter, also with the county, claiming employees were
pressured to change bid evaluations to ensure that the deal stayed with
Trinity. Charles Mathis Jr. said his client, Meat Masters Inc., was the
rightful winner of the contract with a bid that was $850,000 lower than
Trinity's $4.1 million offer. They only failed, Mathis said in his letter,
because county employees were pressured to doctor the bid evaluations.
"Meat Masters should legitimately be awarded the contract,"
Mathis wrote. Two county employees, Sgt. Chandra Hall and former Chief
Jailer Charles Felton, provided written statements to Meat Masters that they
had been directed to change the contract evaluations to boost the results
for Trinity. The Board of Commissioners has copies of the letters, which
were also obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Both said they were
threatened that if they went before commissioners with Meat Masters as the
bidder they would be hammered. The other bidder, Gourmet-Aramark
Correctional Services, has alleged collusion involving the other two
bidders since Meat Masters was included as a subcontractor on the winning
bid by Trinity. Lawyer Michael Coleman, who served as hearing officer for
the complaint, issued a ruling on Feb. 16 that recommended Fulton rebid the
deal. "Due to the questions raised by the county's rejection of
Gourmet-ARAMARK's proposal and the collusion claims involving Trinity and
Meat Masters, the appropriate remedy is to cancel the current RFP and
re-issue a new RFP," Coleman found.
A company accused of
serving bad food to senior citizens is moving on. Aramark has
voluntarily given up a $700,000 contract to prepare food for seniors and
the homebound in Fulton County. An 11Alive News investigation last
month revealed numerous complaints about the company’s services ranging
from spoiled and outdated milk to deliveries of fish that were not fully
cooked, clumps of grease on food and one report of a roach found embedded
in meat. Earnestine Yarborough, a senior citizen, said she got
chicken that was badly undercooked. "It was pink water running out of
it and pink next to the bone,” Yarborough said. (11alive.com, August
4, 2004)
Giants
Stadium, New Jersey
December 3, 2008 Star-Ledger
The family of a young girl paralyzed in a drunk-driving accident nine
years ago received a $25 million settlement from Aramark Corp., the Giants
Stadium beer vendor whose employees continued to serve the intoxicated fan
who caused the crash. The settlement with the family of Antonia Verni, who is now 11, took place last year but was not
disclosed until today, when a state appeals court ruled that sealed
documents in the case must be made public. Antonia, a quadriplegic who
requires a ventilator to breathe, received $23.5 million in the settlement,
said the family's lawyer, David A. Mazie of Roseland. Her mother, Fazila Verni, received $1.5 million for injuries she suffered
in the crash.
October 25, 2007 The
Record
On a fall Sunday eight years ago, Antonia Verni
of Cliffside Park was sent to a harsh prison, probably for the rest of her
life. Her incarceration does not include steel bars, stone walls and stern
guards, though. Antonia's prison is far more merciless. On that Sunday, a
man who later said he was "beyond drunk," drove his pickup truck
head-on into the Verni family's Toyota Corolla.
Antonia was paralyzed from the neck down. She was only 2 years old and was
returning with her mother and father from a trip to pick pumpkins. Antonia
now spends her days in a wheelchair, hooked to a breathing machine and
monitored by a nurse. Over the course of her life, her parents, who quit
their jobs to care for her, may have to come up with as much as $32 million
to pay all of Antonia's medical bills. The fiery crash on Terrace Avenue in
Hasbrouck Heights, which also left Antonia's mother partially blind,
galvanized national attention to the dangers of drunken drivers. But it
raised other questions, too: What about those who serve booze to drunks?
Are servers guilty? If not, why not? The drunken driver, Daniel Lanzaro, a Cresskill carpenter and father of two young
sons, spent that tragic day swilling the equivalent of three six-packs of
beer, mostly inside Giants Stadium. When he rammed his truck into the Verni car, his blood alcohol level was more than three
times the legal limit. Didn't anyone who sold beer at Giants Stadium or at
area bars later visited by Lanzaro notice that he
was blind drunk? As you might expect, this tragedy landed in court. Lanzaro pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of
vehicular assault and was sentenced to five years in prison. The Verni family filed a lawsuit, and won a historic $135
million judgment, with $105 million of it to come from the stadium beer
vendor, Aramark Corp. Aramark appealed – no surprise there. Nor was it
surprising that lawyers for Antonia's family and Aramark privately worked
out a settlement, approved last week by a Bergen County judge. What's
surprising – and sad -- is that the judge sealed the records. This pivotal
chapter of Antonia's story needs to be told, not locked in a judicial file
drawer. We've heard many times how drunken driving wrecks innocent lives.
Indeed, such stories are important. But we also need to explore other,
wide-ranging implications of drunken driving, especially for those who sell
booze in taverns or at public sporting events. Our government issues liquor
licenses to these vendors. Why shouldn't taxpayers know more about them?
Sealing records in such an important court case does not add to
constructive discourse. It puts a damper on it. In reaching an agreement
with Antonia's family, Aramark issued a statement claiming it "settled
the litigation without any admission of wrongdoing." It merely paid
Antonia's family – as if that means nothing. Antonia's parents seem
satisfied that the settlement will cover their daughter's medical bills.
That's good news. But why not disclose the amount? Knowing the size of the
judgment might be a warning to vendors to be careful. And why allow Aramark
to avoid admitting any responsibility? Or was that question dropped from
discussions? More important, was Giants Stadium required to take additional
steps to make sure tipsy fans are not served at future events? Open those
records. It's the only way to be sure.
September 7, 2006 Star-Ledger
Lawyers for a Bergen County girl paralyzed in a drunken-driving accident
have asked the state Supreme Court to review her case against the beer
vendor at Giants Stadium, claiming the issues could affect drunken-driving
policies in New Jersey. The attorneys argue that a state appeals court
erred in August when it overturned a landmark $135 million jury verdict
against the stadium vendor, Aramark Corp., and a fan whose drunken-driving
accident left 2-year-old Antonia Verni of
Cliffside Park paralyzed. The appeals court ordered a new trial, ruling
that testimony about the "culture of intoxication" at the stadium
should not have been presented to the jury. Antonia's attorneys disagree.
"If this decision is allowed to stand, it will emasculate the ability
of victims of drunk driving to go after liquor establishments that serve
visibly intoxicated patrons, by eliminating certain evidence that can go
before a jury, and that's not what the law ... intended," said
Antonia's attorney, David Mazie, who filed a 25-page petition to the state
Supreme Court on Tuesday.
August 3, 2006 AP
A New Jersey appeals court on Thursday overturned a landmark $105
million verdict against a Giants Stadium concessionaire that sold beer to a
drunken football fan who later caused an auto accident, leaving a girl
paralyzed. The three-judge appeals panel ruled that the trial court erred
by improperly allowing testimony about the “drinking environment at the stadium”
and ordered a new trial should be held. “The admission of this evidence
cannot be considered harmless. A central theme of plaintiffs’ case was the
culture of intoxication at the stadium,” the court wrote in its 65-page
ruling. Last year, a state judge in Hackensack rejected an effort by
Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. to throw out or reduce the verdict. Its
vendors sold beer to Daniel Lanzaro, of
Cresskill, during a 1999 New York Giants game just hours before he caused a
car crash that left then-2-year-old Antonia Verni
paralyzed from the neck down. In January 2005, a Bergen County jury said Lanzaro and Aramark should pay a total of $135 million
in damages. At the time, legal experts said it was the largest alcohol
liability award in the United States in at least the last 25 years.
Aramark’s portion of that award included $30 million in compensatory
damages and $75 million in punitive damages.
May 31, 2006 NewJersey.com
Lawyers for a food-service giant that was ordered to pay $105 million to
the family of a Cliffside Park girl paralyzed in a drunken-driving crash
argued Tuesday that the victim's father shares responsibility for her
condition. Antonia Verni was 2 years old when a
truck driven by a drunken Cresskill man slammed head-on into her family's sedan
on Terrace Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights on Oct. 29, 1999. A Bergen County
jury in January 2005 ruled that employees of Aramark Corp. irresponsibly
sold beer to the drunken driver, Daniel Lanzaro,
contributing to the crash. The jurors awarded more than $135 million in
compensatory and punitive damages – an amount many lawyers believe is the
largest ever in such a lawsuit. Aramark is liable for $105 million and Lanzaro the rest. Arguing before a state appellate
panel in Trenton on Tuesday, Aramark attorneys lambasted Superior Court
Judge Richard Donohue for dismissing evidence that they said should have
been admitted during the civil case in Hackensack. For one thing, they
contended, Ronald Verni had strapped Antonia in
an adult seat belt instead of a child restraint. The impact jolted her head
forward, breaking her neck and causing the paralysis, they said. Antonia's
mother, Fazila Baksh Verni, was the only other
person seriously injured in the crash. The woman, who the lawyers said
wasn't wearing a seat belt, was hospitalized for two months and left
partially blinded. "Everyone walked away from the accident, except
Antonia and her mother," said Aramark lawyer Michael Rodburg. However, he said, the jurors in Hackensack
were never allowed to review that evidence during the trial. "This was
a smear case against Aramark," he said. "And the judge allowed it."January 26, 2006 Star-Ledger
A lawyer for an 8-year-old paralyzed car crash victim has filed a motion to
expedite the appeal of a $135 million jury verdict, most of it against the
beer service company at Giants Stadium. Attorney David Mazie of Roseland
said the state appellate court should speed up the case because his client,
Antonia Verni, is ventilator-dependent and has
been unable to get the 24-hour nursing care that experts on both sides of
the case recommend. Neither Antonia nor her mother, Fazila, has been able
to collect the money while the case is pending, Mazie said. "It's very
unusual to file an appeal to expedite," Mazie said. "It's only
done in the gravest of cases. We think her situation is one such case. This
is to prevent something catastrophic from happening." Last January,
Antonia and her mother were awarded $135 million in compensatory and
punitive damages, most of it against Aramark Corp., the concessionaire at
Giants Stadium. A jury determined there was a "culture of
intoxication" at the stadium and found Aramark guilty of serving a
visibly drunk fan who later caused the car crash that left the Cliffside
Park girl injured. Aramark appealed, but a state appellate court could take
until September to hear arguments. Antonia's court-appointed legal guardian
for the case, Albert Burstein, said the second-grader can't wait that long
to collect her award. He said the family only has limited access to about
$500,000 collected in settlements from third parties. "There's not
enough money to match the daily costs of taking care of Antonia,"
Burstein said. "If we were to do the job we would like to do on her
behalf, which means round-the-clock care by professionals, it adds up very
rapidly." Antonia has a nurse during school hours, paid for by the
school district. Her mother, who has no formal medical training, cares for
Antonia at home.
September 25, 2005 San
Francisco Chronicle
Fans who drive after drinking excessively at 49ers or Raiders games, or any
other sporting event, would be well advised to consider the plight of an
8-year-old New Jersey girl. And a vendor who sells an intoxicated fan
another beer should think not only about the little girl but about the
multimillion-dollar judgment a jury ruled she and her family were entitled
to receive earlier this year from the New York Giants' concessionaire.
"Concessionaires throughout the country are well aware of that
case," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. In January, a jury awarded $135
million to the family of Antonia Verni, who was
paralyzed from the neck down in a car wreck caused by a drunken football
fan. The fan is serving a five-year prison sentence, and the concessionaire
whose employees sold him beers when he was already clearly intoxicated will
pay the family $110 million unless the verdict, currently on appeal, is
reduced or reversed. The NFL, the 49ers and the Raiders say the Verni case was a wakeup call for the league and the
people who serve fans millions of dollars worth
of beer and other alcoholic beverages each season. Like other pro sports
leagues, the NFL is heavily intertwined with beer companies. Their signage
is as much a part of stadiums as the goalposts, and their commercials form
the backbone of the league's TV sponsorship. Attorney David Mazie said from
his office in Roseland, N.J., "Quite frankly, I haven't heard anything
that demonstrates the NFL and teams have changed their policies on serving
alcohol -- other than paying lip service. I haven't seen anything at
all." Mazie called the verdict against Aramark "a milestone"
in holding a concessionaire accountable. "There may have been
settlements before, but I'm not aware of any verdicts. Clearly, it's a
landmark, not only because of its size but because of the punitive
damages."Lanzaro "was trashed"
when the accident occurred, Mazie said. "I'm sure there were 5,000
others in the same condition (driving away from the game)." "As
long as you're not falling down, they'll serve you," Mazie said of
Aramark employees. "The person who trained them said that. But by the
time you're slurring your speech or stumbling, your blood-alcohol is
between .10 and .15. Anything above .08 is drunk driving, so what they're
saying is they'll still serve people when they're at twice the legal
limit." "There are a series of signs -- slurring of speech,
talking a lot, not being able to hold themselves up straight,"
spokesman David Freireich said from the firm's
headquarters in Philadelphia. Aramark is a founding member of the
Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management (TEAM) Coalition, a nonprofit
group that advises pro sports leagues and sponsors designated-driver
programs at McAfee Coliseum and other parks, Freireich
pointed out.
March 4, 2005 USA
Today
A state judge on Friday upheld a $105 million verdict against a Giants
Stadium concessionaire for selling beer to a drunken football fan who later
caused an auto accident, leaving a girl paralyzed. State Superior Court
Judge Richard J. Donohue in Hackensack rejected an effort by
Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. to throw out or reduce the verdict. Its
vendors sold beer to Daniel Lanzaro of Cresskill
during a 1999 New York Giants game hours before he caused a car crash that
left then 2-year-old Antonia Verni paralyzed from
the neck down. "It sends a message to Aramark and other beer
concessions around the state that they have to change their ways,"
said David Mazie, a Roseland lawyer representing Verni's
family. Aramark's portion of that award included $30 million in
compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages. Interest accruing
daily has brought the company's total to nearly $110 million, according to
Mazie. The family claimed Aramark vendors sold beers to Lanzaro
at the stadium in East Rutherford even though he was clearly drunk. The
company, they said, fostered an atmosphere in which intoxicated patrons
were able to buy more.
January 21, 2005 Reuters
The family of a girl paralyzed in a car crash caused by a drunken football
fan won $105 million in damages from the concessionaire that sold him beer,
and the girl's father said on Thursday the case should have far-reaching
effects. The Superior Court
jury in Hackensack, New Jersey, assessed punitive damages on Wednesday
against Giants Stadium concessionaire Aramark Corp., for its role in the
October 1999 accident that left Antonia Verni,
then 2 years old, paralyzed from the neck down.
January 18, 2005 AP
A jury awarded $60 million Tuesday to the family of a girl paralyzed in a
car wreck caused by a drunken football fan. Ronald and Fazila Verni were headed home from a pumpkin-picking trip in
1999 with their 2-year-old daughter, Antonia, when their car was hit by a
truck driven by Daniel Lanzaro, 34. Antonia was
paralyzed from the neck down. The family sued Aramark, the Giants Stadium
concessionaire, claiming vendors sold beers to Lanzaro
even though he was clearly drunk and that Aramark fostered an atmosphere in
which intoxicated patrons were served. The stadium also mandates that fans
can only buy two beers at a time -- a rule Lanzaro
sidestepped by tipping the vendor $10, allowing him to buy six beers.
January 14, 2005 WNBC
News
Jury deliberations have begun in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of
a 7-year-old girl who was paralyzed when a drunken football fan on his way
home from a New York Giants game crashed into the family's car. The family claims Aramark, the Giants
Stadium concessionaire that sold beers to the fan, was partly responsible
for the crash in Hasbrouck Heights. The family claims Aramark vendors sold
beers to Daniel Lanzaro at the stadium even
though the Cresskill man was clearly drunk and that Aramark
"fostered" an atmosphere where intoxicated patrons were served,
which is against the law.
January 12, 2005 NewJersey.com
An admitted alcoholic who slammed his truck into a Cliffside Park family's
car, paralyzing their 2-year-old daughter, wasn't visibly drunk when he
bought beer at Giants Stadium earlier that day, an alcohol expert told
jurors Tuesday. Robert J. Pandina, a psychology professor and director of the
Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University, said Daniel Lanzaro of Cresskill couldn't have had more than five
or six beers inside the stadium. The parents of the injured girl
are suing Aramark, the food-service company that holds the liquor license
at the stadium, saying it sold alcohol irresponsibly to Lanzaro.
Lanzaro, a 35-year-old carpenter and father of
two, left a Giants game on Oct. 24, 1999, and crashed his truck head-on
into the car of Ronald and Fazila Baksh Verni in
Hasbrouck Heights. The crash seriously injured Baksh Verni
and left the Vernis' daughter, Antonia, a
paraplegic. The family is suing Aramark under a state law that holds
vendors liable for damages caused by patrons who were served alcohol while
visibly intoxicated.
December 9, 2004 Star-Ledger
Sitting in her wheelchair with a stuffed doll propping her head, unable to
move her arms or legs, 7-year-old Antonia Verni
told a jury yesterday what she wants to be when she grows up. "I want
to be a singer, a rock star, a kindergarten teacher and a ballerina," Verni said, her melodic voice filling the tiny
courtroom. Two jurors cried. Others shifted in their seats. Doctors say the
Cliffside Park girl will never be able to walk as a result of a car
accident when she was 2 years old, when a drunken football fan rammed his
truck into her family's car as they were driving home from pumpkin picking.
Verni testified on the second day of a civil
trial in Superior Court in Bergen County in a case against Aramark, the
Giants Stadium concessionaire that sold beers to the fan who crashed into
the Vernis, Daniel Lanzaro.
December 9, 2004 NorthJersey.com
A drunken driver who rammed his truck into a young family's car in
Hasbrouck Heights - paralyzing a 2-year-old girl for life and landing
himself in prison for five years - openly admits that he was "beyond
drunk" in the 1999 accident. But the buck doesn't stop there, lawyers
for the Cliffside Park family contend. Aramark's beer servers, who sold
more than a dozen beers to the driver at Giants Stadium during a game, are
equally responsible, say the lawyers, who have taken the battle to the
multinational food-service conglomerate. As a civil trial opened Wednesday
in Superior Court in Hackensack, the first witness for the Verni family was Daniel Lanzaro,
the drunken driver, who is still in prison. Lanzaro
is a defendant, but is penniless and is testifying willingly. He testified
that Aramark concession stands - contrary to state law and the company's
internal rules - sold alcohol at the stadium to visibly intoxicated
patrons. Aramark's lawyer, Brian Harris, told the jury during his opening
statement that Lanzaro was a seasoned drinker who
didn't display signs of intoxication when he was drunk. Even though
Aramark's beer sellers are trained in identifying intoxicated people, Lanzaro fooled them, he said.
Hays State Prison, Rome,
Georgia
July 20, 2010 Rome News-Tribune
Two people were arrested on drug charges Sunday after a road check was
conducted on the access road to Hays State Prison in Chattooga County, a
prison spokeswoman said. According to Chattooga County Jail records and
Susie McGraw, secretary to Warden Clay Tatum: Patricia Denton of Flintsone was charged with crossing guard lines with
drugs or intoxicants, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with
intent to distribute and the possession of a weapon during the commission
of a crime. Denton worked for a private food service company.
Hendry Correctional Institute,
Immokalee, Florida
A 35-year-old woman authorities say bought cocaine from an undercover
sheriff's deputy to take inside the walls of the Hendry Correctional
Institute was arrested Wednesday night. On Wednesday, Collier County
deputies received a tip from the state Inspector General's Office in the
corrections department about a cocaine delivery involving Quashie, who
worked for Aramark Food Service. She was trying to get some cocaine to take
into the prison for an inmate. (Naples Daily News, October 5, 2001)
Hudson
County Correctional Center, Hudson County, New Jersey
September 8, 2010 The Jersey Journal
The Hudson County Board of Freeholders spent more than an hour tonight
debating the merits of a food service company that is set to get a nearly
$12 million contract at the Hudson County Correctional Center. Freeholder
Bill O’Dea, of Jersey City, took issue with awarding the contract to
Aramark Correctional Services LLC, saying the company had issues with a
prior contract at Meadowview Psychiatric Hospital, resulting in a $75,000
settlement with the county last year and an agreement that the company
would not bid on future contracts. County Administrator Abe Antum said the company was not prohibited from bidding
on the jail food service contract, because it was a completely separate
issue from Meadowview. "The performance at the correctional center was
satisfactory and they were views as separate services and separate
contracts,” Antum said at tonight’s freeholder
meeting. Freeholder Albert Cifelli, an attorney from Kearny, noted that at
$11.77 million over three years, Aramark was the lowest bidder. By law the
county must award the contract to the “lowest, responsible” bidder and
Cifelli questioned whether the freeholders had the authority to determine
that Aramark was not “responsible” per the contract standards. Both the
board’s attorney, Edward Florio, and the county administration’s attorney,
Donato Battista, said it was up to the administration to determine whether
or not the company was the lowest, responsible bidder and recommend the
contract to the board. O’Dea said he was concerned that the company had
provided psychiatric patients with prison-grade meals, instead of
hospital-grade meals, as required by the Meadowview contract. But Carol Ann
Wilson, county director of Health and Human Services, said the issue had to
do with staff not having the state-required qualifications to run the
hospital’s kitchen. She said despite telling Aramark about the failure to
meet state standards, which would put the hospital in risk of losing its
certification and state reimbursements, the company did not comply with the
terms of the contract. Wilson said a dietitian was not always available, as
required. Freeholder Jose Munoz, of West New York, said he thought Aramark
was using one dietician at both the jail and Meadowview, which may have
contributed to the problems. Antum said a report
was compiled by Meadowview and O’Dea asked for both a copy of the report
and for the settlement agreement. An Aramark representative at tonight’s
meeting said the issue was the result of a bad decision made by one manager
and it should not reflect on the company as a whole. Nationwide, Aramark
has over 500 correctional facility food contracts. O’Dea and Freeholder
Jeff Dublin, of Jersey City, tried to table the contract until they
received additional information, but didn’t get any of the other seven
freeholders to support their motion.
Hutchinson Correctional
Facility, Hutchinson, Kansas
December 9, 2006 Hutchinson News
A former Aramark Services employee who worked inside the Hutchinson
Correctional Facility was sentenced to one year, three months in prison
Friday for trying to bring methamphetamine inside the prison. Joseph L. Delancy of South Hutchinson pleaded guilty to
trafficking in contraband in a correctional facility, possession of
methamphetamine with intent to sell and unlawfully arranging a drug sale by
a commercial device. He faced up to four years, 11 months in prison. Delancy's attorney, Kerry Granger, asked for a lesser
sentence and cited his client's drug use starting as "a misguided
attempt to deal with the death of his son."
June 24, 2006 Hutchinson
News
Drug detectives arrested a South Hutchinson man employed in the
Hutchinson Correctional Facility dining hall for allegedly purchasing drugs
he planned to sell to prison inmates. Joseph Lamont Delancy,
33, worked for Aramark Services, which provides food service for part of
the prison. According to police reports, Delancy
made phone contact with a drug enforcement detective about buying an ounce
of "Ice" methamphetamine. The detective set up the drop, and Delancy allegedly arrived and accepted the drugs from
the detective. The report indicates Delancy said
he planned to sell the drugs in the correctional institute and attempted to
set up another buy with the detective. Delancy is
being held on $25,000 bond on suspicion for possession of meth with the
intent to sell, a drug tax stamp violation and unlawfully arranging a sale
by a commercial service.
Illinois
Legislature
September 15, 2004 Sun Times
Scott Fawell, once a golden boy of Illinois
politics, cut a deal with federal prosecutors Tuesday that put his lover's
fate over the future of former Gov. George Ryan, a man once like a father
to Fawell. Fawell, a former top aide to Ryan, pleaded guilty to a bid-rigging
scheme and is already providing prosecutors substantial assistance in their
corruption case against Ryan, the Sun-Times has learned. Fawell is also giving information on Ryan's friend,
Republican businessman Lawrence Warner, and other potentially high-profile
investigations not yet made public. On Tuesday, Fawell pleaded guilty to leaking inside bid information
in 2001 on an $11.5 million contract to oversee expansion at McCormick
Place. The company that got the contract was Jacobs Facilities Inc., a
client of Fawell's friend, Ronan. Fawell ordered his girlfriend, Coutretsis,
to give the details to an employee of Ronan's. In Fawell's
plea agreement, he admitted providing inside information to help two other
Ronan clients while Fawell oversaw McCormick
Place and Navy Pier -- food service giant Aramark, and LaSalle Bank, which
wanted the ATM contract at Navy Pier, according to the plea and sources.
Indiana Department of Corrections
Jan
31, 2014 inthesetimes.com
When
prisoners in the segregation unit at Westville Correctional Facility in
Indiana received their lunch trays last Tuesday, it was, for some of them,
a small taste of victory. While “savory stroganoff with noodles, mixed
vegetables, and enriched bread” might not seem like much, the prisoners say
it was their first hot weekday lunch in months, except on holidays. For the
previous week, dozens in the unit had been protesting what they saw as
inadequate food by refusing the cold sack lunches provided by the prison,
according to two inmates who spoke to In These Times on condition of
anonymity out of fear of reprisal from the prison. “A lot of people didn't
believe that we could win,” says “Jela,” (not his
real name), one of the prisoners involved in the protest. “We proved them
wrong.” Barring holidays, prisoners in the maximum security unit had been
receiving sack lunches instead of the usual hot meal, five days a week for
approximately seven months. Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC) Public
Information Officer John Schrader says the switch to the sack lunch program
was a response to requests from some prisoners, and was an effort to speed
meal times and free up more time for recreation and showers. But “people
were losing weight, people were not getting the proper nutrients and
calories,” charges “Malik,” another prisoner in the unit, who also asked to
be identified by a pseudonym. Each bag contained slices of bread, peanut
butter and jelly, and a cookie—“not enough,” according to Malik and Jela. In response, say Jela
and Malik, prisoners began making dozens of complaints about the program,
which they say went unheeded. So more than 40 inmates took part in the
protest, which was inspired by prisoner actions in California and Georgia,
and organized by shouting between rec rooms. For their part, corrections
officials say they had only heard “one or two” complaints about the food
before this month. “There were a number of complaints we got all at once,”
says Schrader, “and so we said: 'we'll change what we're doing.' ” The
Department of Corrections would not confirm the number of prisoners who
participated in the protest. Jela says that the
food problem goes further back than the cold lunch program. He claims he
has seen the food worsen in quality and amount since responsibility for the
menu was handed over to a private company, Aramark, in 2005. Aramark, one
of the country's largest foodservice providers, has a
multimillion-dollar-a-year contract with the Indiana Department of
Corrections that is up for renewal in 2015. The department claims that
putting food services in the hands of a private company has saved the state
millions of dollars each year. However, there have been repeated complaints
from prisoners. Jela says he took part in another
hunger strike to protest the portion cuts shortly after Aramark took over.
“It’s all about profit and all about profit motives; it's not about
nutrition or nothing,” he says. Jela believes the
switch to the cold bag lunches was just the latest in a long line of
attempts by the company to cut costs. The case highlighted the particular
problems facing people in segregation units. Many of these prisoners are
barred from buying additional food from the prison commissary to supplement
their meals, and so rely entirely on food from the prison, Falk says. The
ACLU's case was settled last year without going to trial. “There was never
an admission that anything was wrong and there was never a finding anything
was wrong,” says Falk, “but I think there was enough anecdotal concern that
the DOC was willing to implement fairly mild review procedures.” Those
“mild review procedures” involve random checks on portions by correctional
staff. That hasn't stopped Aramark and the Department of Corrections from
skimping on food in other prisons, at least not according to Jela, who says restoring hot lunches at Westville was a
first step, but with the food still inadequate and its quality still poor,
more needs to be done. John Schilling, the executive director for contract
compliance at the Indiana DOC, insists that the switch to the sack lunches
was not a cost-cutting measure. According to Schilling, the state pays
Aramark $1.24 for each meal it provides. However, the amount of profit the
company makes from each meal is secret. “Aramark's pricing is confidential.
It's what they call proprietary information,” says Schilling. He added that
Aramark had expressed concern that the lunch sacks would actually increase
costs. Aramark did not respond to a request for comment from In These
Times. Aramark, which provides a million meals to prisoners in the United
States every day, has stood accused of skimping on food before. In 2004,
prisoners in New Mexico organized a hunger strike to protest food the
company was providing. In 2007 state auditors in Florida found Aramark had
been charging for meals it hadn't provided, and in 2009, the poor quality
of food supplied by the company was blamed for riots in Kentucky's
Northpoint Training Center. Apart from weight loss, Jela
charges that poor-quality food has caused mental-health problems for
prisoners—a major concern in Indiana's segregation units, where, according
to a federal judge’s ruling last year, prisoners with mental-health issues
are disproportionately represented and do not receive adequate healthcare.
“When you're in the Supermax, locked-down, you're already socially
isolated,” says Jela. “You're in a refrigerated
cell and they're not feeding you, so you take all of that on top of each
other. A lot of guys can't take that.” Jela says
when prisoners in the unit harm themselves “they're trying to get some
relief, or trying to get moved to a less secure facility, or really crying
out for some damn help." Prisoners in the units are usually locked in
their cells for 23 hours a day, with time out for exercise or showers. Jela says in this environment, the lack of food has a
debilitating effect. “You're not out researching the law, you're not out
filing lawsuits, you're not filing complaints, you're not doing a lot of
things, because you're too cold and too hungry—so it's a form of control,”
he says. Asked for comment, Westville Public Information Officer John
Schrader says that medical staff keep a close eye on prisoners’ weight: “If
there's a medical issue... they can document it and see how much a guy
gained or lost.” Department of Corrections staff also visit prisons at
least twice every four months to check that Aramark is providing the
contractually agreed amounts of food. The company is supposed to provide a
minimum of 2,500 calories to each prisoner every day. Menus are designed by
Aramark's dieticians and approved by Schilling. “For the most part we've
not had any problems whatsoever with the contract, with the meals being
provided, with the nutritional values, with the product,” he says. But
according to Kenneth Falk, legal director for the ACLU of Indiana,
“Prisoners have an acute knowledge of how much they should be getting, and
are fairly ingenious in setting up their own measurements to see if in fact
they are getting the proper amount,” Falk says. He says prisoners in the
segregation unit in another Indiana prison, Wabash Correctional, monitored
and recorded portion sizes themselves, sometimes using makeshift measures
made from polystyrene cups, and found the food wanting. Based on their
complaints, the Indiana ACLU filed a lawsuit in 2011 against the state's
Department of Corrections, claiming that prisoners in the Wabash
segregation unit were not receiving adequate food, in violation of their
Eighth Amendment rights. The lawsuit alleged that “prisoners are receiving
significantly less food and calories [than] required by the contract
between DOC and Aramark” and were “losing significant amounts of weight
because of caloric and portion deficiencies.” According to the ACLU,
complaints from prisoners were ignored, even though the department was
aware of the issue.
Indiana State Prison,
Michigan City, Michigan
October 27, 2009 The News-Dispatch
An Indiana State Prison offender reportedly didn't like the new
heart-healthy menu recently implemented by the Indiana Department of
Correction. The Michigan City prison has been on lockdown since last
Tuesday, when a prisoner allegedly dropped his tray on the prison
dining-room floor, according to Pam James, ISP administrative services
secretary. "There was a commotion in the prison's dining room,"
James said, noting one person dropped his food tray on the floor. "He
was peacefully making his point known. He was displeased with the quantity
of the food." Although she said the complaint was about the quantity
of the breakfast food, she also said the quality "wasn't that
bad." But she couldn't remember the exact menu for the meal that
sparked the protest. Carol Cogar went to the
prison to visit her son last Thursday and learned of the lockdown. She knew
it was about the food quality because she talked to her son about it
earlier. "One day, he called and said it's really rank, not any
good," Cogar said. James said 25 prisoners
were in the dining hall during the "commotion," but she didn't
elaborate on who was involved, saying only that just the one prisoner
dropped a tray. According to Cogar, though, more
than one person is behind the food protest. "Why would they lock the
whole place down for one person?" she said. The lockdown will end,
James said, when the prison is "safe and secure for the staff and
offenders," but couldn't explain how that would be determined. The
IDOC switched to a reduced-sodium, low-cholesterol diet Oct. 9, according
to James. The new menu has 20 percent less sodium and more fruit in place
of baked desserts. Five or more servings of fruits and vegetables are being
served each day. The menu aims to reduce fat and cholesterol by eliminating
fried foods and serving fewer high-fat menu items. The new menus were
introduced this month in all 28 facilities statewide, and no other
correctional facility has reported resistance from offenders, according to
Doug Garrison, IDOC chief communications officer. Garrison said the revised
diet should reduce the costs of treating offenders by helping prevent heart
attacks and strokes. He also said lockdowns are not that unusual and are
used for restoring a sense of order. "It gives people a chance to cool
down," he said. "It's a relatively routine tool in corrections to
reset the button." The IDOC contracts with Aramark to supply food for
correctional facilities and has 10 full-time registered dietitians who
review meal plans according to American Correctional Association
nutritional guidelines, according to an official IDOC press release.
September 12, 2008 South
Bend Tribune
A contractor was arrested Friday morning at Indiana State Prison in
Michigan City for reportedly attempting to smuggle tobacco into the
facility, according to a news release. During a routine search of
contractors and prison employees, two bags of tobacco weighing a combined
8.8 ounces were found hidden in an Aramark food services employee’s shoes,
the release stated. The employee was charged with suspicion of trafficking
with an incarcerated offender, a Class A misdemeanor.
June 25, 2008 The
News-Dispatch
A contractual food service employee was arrested for trafficking early
Sunday morning at the Indiana State Prison when he allegedly brought
marijuana into work. Thomas Fly, 25, was seen with marijuana, wrapped in
plastic, falling out of his pants leg while reporting to work at 3 a.m.,
said Barry Nothstine, spokesman for the prison. Prison
staff recovered the drug, which weighed two ounces. Indiana State Police
took Fly to the La Porte County jail, where he was charged with attempting
to traffic with an offender, a Class C felony, and possession of marijuana,
a Class D felony. Nothstine said he did not know
how long Fly had been assigned to the facility. He has been employed by
ARAMARK Correctional Services since 2000. The prison has been contracted
with ARAMARK for the past 18 to 24 months, he said. Nothstine
said there is no indication so far as part of the investigation that Fly
has brought drugs to the prison in the past. "The investigation report
that I have seen does not indicate that," he said.
Jackson County Adult
Detention Center, Pascagoula, Mississippi
February 26, 2009 The Mississippi Press
State health officials said they have not yet determined the cause of a
salmonella outbreak earlier this month at the Jackson County Adult
Detention Center, but that the illness has been contained. State Health
Department spokeswoman Liz Sharlot said Wednesday
that the investigation into the cause may take up to four weeks to
complete. Aramark spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said the food service company is
working with state health officials in the investigation. Aramark has been
the food service provider for the jail for at least 16 years, and the
company purchases and prepares all food at the jail, according to the
county. "There were 80 inmates who complained of flu-like symptoms,
but there were only four that the hospital determined had salmonella,"
Jarvis said. She noted the illness could have come from something other
than a food item, such as improper hand washing or improper storage of
food. "We are looking at everything," she said. Sharlot confirmed 80 inmates complained of symptoms
between Feb. 6 and 14 but couldn't say how many of those had salmonella.
February 19, 2009 The
Mississippi Press
State Health Department officials were trying to determine Wednesday
what gave 80 maximum-security inmates food poisoning beginning last week
and resulted in five prisoners being taken to a local hospital this week.
Liz Sharolt, director of communications with the
state Health Department, said there were 80 prisoners in the Jackson County
Adult Detention Center complaining of gastrointestinal illness, or
salmonella sickness, from Feb. 6-14. "But, the illness has run its
course, and there are no new cases to report," she said. Jackson
County Sheriff Mike Byrd said Wednesday five inmates were taken to Singing
River Hospital on Monday, where it was confirmed that they had a
salmonella-related illness. The sheriff said four prisoners were treated
and released Monday, but one inmate remained hospitalized Wednesday
afternoon. The inmate was in good condition Wednesday, Byrd said, and
should be released soon. "They mainly suffered from diarrhea,
abdominal cramps, and throwing up," Byrd said. He added that two
prisoners experienced a low-grade fever. Byrd said he believes the
bacterial food-borne illness was not caused by peanuts or peanut butter, but
possibly by lettuce. He added that ARAMARK World has been the food service
provider for the jail for at least 16 years. The company purchases and
prepares all food at the jail. Byrd said the international company is
conducting an independent investigation. Officials with ARAMARK's home
office in Philadelphia, Pa., were unavailable for comment Wednesday.
September 27, 2006 The
Mississippi Press
Overcrowding at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center should ease
in the near future. The Jackson County Board of Supervisors approved an
additional steel fabricated facility on the ADC grounds in Pascagoula. The
$1.2 million facility will house 116 inmates. It is expected to be ready in
five months. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said relief from overcrowding
is a critical issue. "We're just doing what we have to do to maintain
what we have. It's very stressful. We have done shakedowns where we have
found weapons which is very dangerous to officers. We had a contract
employee with Aramark, we just caught her last week bringing drugs into the
facility. Everyday is a challenge just to
maintain things on a day to day basis," Byrd said.
Kane
County Jail, Kane, Illinois
January 10, 2008 The Daily Herald
Aramark, the Kane County jail's longtime food service vendor, has come
under fire by a union-affiliated group. Four representatives of the
Campaign for Quality Services, a group formed by two labor organizations,
on Tuesday asked the Kane County Board to examine its contract with Aramark
in light of complaints against the company filed across the country.
Aramark is accused of billing the Florida Department of Corrections for
meals that were never prepared or eaten and failing to pass on the cost
savings for serving less expensive food items to inmates, according to an
analysis conducted by Florida's inspector general last year. Kane County
Sheriff Pat Perez said he is aware of those and other complaints against
Philadelphia-based Aramark, which has provided food to county jail inmates
since at least 1996. Perez said he and his staff are evaluating Aramark and
other vendors in light of the jail's pending relocation from Geneva to a
new building in St. Charles Township. "Obviously moving into the new
facility, we're reviewing all of our operations. The kitchen is one of
them," Perez said. "It's entirely possible that we're going to
open this up to bid. … This may be an opportunity for us to look and see
could we get better service and could we get it for a better price."
An Aramark spokeswoman dismissed the Campaign for Quality Services'
concerns, saying the group is interested only in increasing union
membership.
Keller School Board,
Keller, Texas
November 14, 2008 Keller Citizen
Three years after assuming management of the maintenance and operations
departments in the Keller school district, officials are lauding improved
upkeep of facilities and savings from preventative measures and green
initiatives. In September 2005, the school board voted to terminate a
contract with Aramark Education to manage district maintenance, custodial and
grounds workers. A survey of facilities and payroll practices showed very
little preventative maintenance performed, equipment in poor condition and
widespread abuse of overtime among workers. The district’s lawsuit against
Aramark, filed in February, is ongoing. Aramark generally denies the
district’s accusations of negligence. Shortly after the contract was ended,
district administrators put an in-house management team in place and
created a plan for the upkeep of facilities and systems. They limited the
amount of overtime and more closely monitored employees. "It is 100
percent better than it used to be," deputy superintendent Mark Youngs
said. "There is an attitude of customer service. They actually want to
be of service, and the principals are giving them high marks." Youngs
said that an outside management team can benefit by minimizing services,
but the district’s in-house directors are trying to do as much as they can
within their department budgets. David Farmer, a trustee since 1997, said
he didn’t hear nearly as many complaints about facility upkeep as he heard
during Aramark’s tenure. "With it being in-house, our staff members
are much more directly involved in day-to-day requests," Farmer said.
"There was a disconnect in the past of what needed to happen and what
was happening." In an October report to the board, officials said that
maintenance and operations departments are achieving improvements without a
large increase in funds. The 2006-07 budget year included $1.4 million for
operations; the current budget year has $1.3 million set aside for the
department. Board President Bob Apetz said he was
encouraged that the department could find ways to save despite the growing
district. "They are looking outside the box to curtail costs and still
provide all the services," Apetz said.
September 20, 2005 Star-Telegram
Keller school trustees voted unanimously Monday to fire Aramark Management
Corp., a company paid more than $1 million annually to supervise
custodians, grounds and maintenance in the district. Aramark has 30 days to
leave the district, and district employees will take over, Assistant Superintedent Bill Stone said moments after the vote.
The company was hired in September 1999 to oversee district employees,
including custodians, groundskeepers and maintenance workers. Their
five-year contract was renewed for another five years in 2004. But in
recent months, complaints from district employees and trustees have grown.
And on Aug. 17, Veitenheimer sent a letter to the
company saying the district "is considering termination of the
agreement." According to the
letter, about one-third of the money paid to Aramark does not cover
anything tangible, but is for an "added value" the company will
bring to all tasks. That value has not been realized, officials say.
Custodians voice "an almost constant complaint" that they do not
have the supplies and materials they need to keep buildings clean. And
district officials are not certain they are getting what they pay for. The
district paid Aramark just over $25,000 to furnish cleaning equipment
needed at Liberty Elementary School, the district's newest campus. But
guidelines suggest the typical cost for equipping a new elementary school
runs $5,000 to $10,000 less, according to the letter.
Kentucky Department of Corrections
June 3, 2011 Herald-Leader
An inmate at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex at West Liberty found a
dead mouse in his soup May 1, leading to an investigation by corrections
officials, according to state prison incident reports. State Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, characterized the incident as the
latest problem with Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services, which
has a $12 million contract with the state to provide prison food. "It
indicates what I call malpractice of their job," Yonts
said. But Aramark spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said the company provides good
service to the state. "We have strong quality-assurance processes that
ensure the high quality and safety of the meals we serve, and this has been
consistently verified by the high scores we receive on independent county
and industry health inspections," Jarvis said in a statement. Those
inspection scores average close to 100 percent, she said. The incident
occurred about 11 a.m. May 1, according to prison reports. In a written grievance,
inmate Christopher Branum said that after eating
some of his soup, he saw "what appeared to be a mouse leg."
"I touched it with my spork (a combination spoon and fork), and it was
a cooked mouse," Branum said in the
grievance. Corrections officer Ronald Cantrell wrote in a report that Branum called for him and showed him the mouse 30 to 45
seconds after Cantrell served Branum lunch in his
cell. "The mouse was saturated as though it had been in the soup for
some time or cooked in it. The soup was still lukewarm," Corrections
Capt. Paul Fugate wrote in a report. Branum, who
is serving a 10-year sentence for first-degree robbery, received the prison
incident documents through an open records request, said Wade McNabb, a
paralegal for Spedding Law Office in Lexington. Branum gave McNabb permission to share the documents
with the Herald-Leader. The prison report on the incident included a
photograph of the mouse. All of the soup made that day was thrown out, and
the inmates were served other food, according to the incident report
compiled by Fugate. Aramark food service director Jody Sammons, in a May 12
memo, said Sammons had conducted an investigation, and "it appears the
mouse was isolated to the bowl of soup in which it was found."
"It was not likely that a mouse was cooked in that batch of
soup," Sammons' memo said. Some inmates were immediately concerned
that they would be sick after eating the soup, and they were seen by
medical personnel, an incident report said. Prison medical officials also contacted
a Department of Corrections physician within an hour. The physician said
"the mouse would not make them sick this soon," according to the
incident report. Jennifer Brislin, a spokeswoman
for the Justice & Public Safety Cabinet said the staff addressed the
problem immediately. "The product was pulled and discarded, and an
alternative served. Medical services were made available to all inmates.
After those initial actions, Warden (Gary) Beckstrom
took steps to increase pest control and monitor sanitation to ensure there
is no reoccurrence of this event," Brislin
said. Yonts said he would be contacting
corrections officials Friday to see what action they have taken. In
January, Yonts asked Attorney General Jack Conway
to investigate possible Aramark violations of its contract. Yonts, D-Greenville, said Aramark violated the contract
last year by refusing to provide cost-related records to state auditors
conducting an investigation of Aramark's contract to provide food service
to inmates at Kentucky's 13 prisons. In a Feb. 10 letter to Yonts, obtained by the Herald-Leader through the
state's Open Records Law, Conway said that the Finance and Administration
Cabinet found that Aramark was not in breach of the contract and that
Conway saw no need for a separate investigation. But Conway and state
Auditor Crit Luallen
want a state regulation changed to clarify that state officials — not the
contractor — should determine which records are pertinent, Allison Martin,
a spokeswoman for Conway, said Thursday.
April 7, 2011 Lexington
Herald-Leader
It's atrocious that Dismas Charities, a
non-profit that runs on millions of tax dollars, refuses a full public
accounting while spending lavishly on entertainment, sports events and
executive salaries. If the Louisville-based corporation, which provides
transitional housing and outpatient drug treatment for inmates, could
afford a luxury suite (which it gave up once exposed) and some of the
highest executive salaries in its industry, maybe, just maybe, Kentucky is
overpaying for its services. But, hey, who knows? As state Auditor Crit Luallen said in
releasing a special examination of Dismas
Charities, "Because the detailed information we requested wasn't
provided to our office, we could not determine if state and federal funds
were spent appropriately and the extent of other excessive or unusual
expenditures." This has become something of a recurring theme.
Earlier, Luallen was unable to get information
requested of Aramark, the contractor that Kentucky pays $12 million a year
to feed prison inmates. The Beshear
administration should quickly adopt Luallen's
recommendation that contracts, including no-bid contracts, contain specific
language allowing the state auditor and other agencies access to pertinent
records — and, this is important, the determination of what's pertinent
will be made by the state, not the contractor. As Luallen
said again in releasing the Dismas report, if
government is going to privatize its responsibilities, the private
contractors who are being paid tax dollars to provide government services
should be held to the same standards of accountability and transparency as
the government. If this administration or future administrations fail to
impose reasonable standards of accountability and transparency on government
contractors, the legislature should insist on it. Let's be clear: We're not
talking about a private company that does a little government work. Dismas Charities is 97 percent funded by state and
federal tax dollars. Dismas received more than
$27 million in federal funds in 2009 and receives more than $7 million a
year from Kentucky. It operates 28 halfway houses in 11 states. Kentucky
usually inserts standard language in contracts requiring vendors and other
contractors to allow state auditors access to pertinent records. (Aramark
refused on the grounds that what Luallen
requested was not pertinent, which is why future contracts must make clear
that the state decides what is pertinent.) The Department of Corrections'
excuse for excluding that standard requirement from its agreement with Dismas is that the contract was not competitively bid.
Not a very reassuring explanation.
January 10, 2011 Lexington
Herald-Leader
A state lawmaker wants Attorney General Jack Conway to investigate possible
violations of Aramark Correctional Services' $12 million food service
contract with the Kentucky Corrections Department. Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, said Aramark broke the terms of
the deal last year by refusing to provide cost-related records to state
auditors who were conducting their own investigation of food served to
inmates at Kentucky's 13 prisons. In a Jan. 4 letter to Conway, Yonts also listed other "examples of contract
breach" identified in state Auditor Crit Luallen's final report, including Aramark overbilling
the state and serving old food to inmates that was not stored properly.
"I believe it is obvious that the contract has not been complied with
and that Aramark is in substantial breach of it," Yonts
wrote. Conway spokeswoman Allison Martin on Friday said the attorney
general's office is reviewing Yonts' request.
Aramark spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis defended her company in a brief prepared
statement but did not respond to Yonts'
individual allegations. "We provide excellent service that has saved
the commonwealth more than $30 million to date," Jarvis said.
October 7, 2010 Lexington
Herald-Leader
An audit of the state Department of Corrections' $12 million food service
contract with Aramark Correctional Services has found that the state is
overpaying the company thousands of dollars a year and is not ensuring that
Aramark serves the proper quantities of required ingredients or meets its
obligations. State Auditor Crit Luallen released the report Thursday. The
Philadelphia-based company provides food service three times a day at
Kentucky's 13 state prisons. The report said: ■ Aramark declined the
auditors' requests for certain cost records. ■ The audit identified
more than $36,000 in overpayments to Aramark due to billing errors and
non-compliance with contract provisions and said the total overpayments
could exceed $130,000. It found that in most cases, billing errors and
food-production problems favored Aramark rather than the state. ■ Due
to poor documentation, auditors were unable to verify that Aramark consistently
followed approved recipes, used the proper quantities of ingredients and
met safety standards for food temperatures or use of leftovers. ■
Aramark received almost $148,000 in inmate-grown food for nearly no cost,
which is not compliant with the contract. ■ The Department of
Corrections does not appear to have a comprehensive contract-monitoring
process. "There's a pattern of non-compliance that's raised some
questions of whether or not taxpayers are getting their money's
worth," Luallen said. "We can privatize
services, but we can't contract out responsibility. Our recommendations
will ensure the vendor is held accountable." Luallen
is asking the Department of Corrections and the Finance and Administration
Cabinet to determine whether Aramark is in breach of the contract for
failing to submit financial documents for the audit. The auditor made 30
recommendations to the Department of Corrections for strengthening its
oversight of the Aramark contract. Luallen's
office was unable to review food costs, personnel costs, bonuses to vendor
managers and other critical data because Aramark declined a request for
direct cost information. In her response to the audit, Department of
Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson agreed to determine whether
Aramark was in breach of the contract, agreed that billing errors had
occurred and agreed that monitoring efforts should be increased. Gov. Steve
Beshear and Justice and Public Safety Secretary
J. Michael Brown said the Justice Cabinet would strengthen its monitoring
process. But Beshear and Brown stood by the
Aramark contract.
February 1, 2010 KY Post
Legislation has passed a House committee that would eliminate privatized
food service for inmates at Kentucky’s prisons. The House Judiciary
Committee approved House Bill 33, sponsored by Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, which would require inmate food
service at the state’s prisons be turned over to the Department of
Corrections at a cost of an additional $5.4 million per year. The state
currently pays around $12 million a year for prison food service through
Aramark. HB 33 now goes to the full House for consideration. A recent
Corrections report indicates that the quality and quantity of Aramark’s
food service—provided to the state at a cost of $2.63 per inmate per day—was
an underlying factor in last fall’s riot at Northpoint Training Center, a
state prison in Burgin. State prisons officials at last week’s meeting said
restricted inmate movement at Northpoint was the main trigger of the riot.
January 29, 2010 Herald-Leader
State Auditor Crit Luallen
said Thursday she would do an audit of the private company that has a
nearly $12 million annual contract to serve food at the state's 13 prisons.
The announcement came a day after a House committee voted to cancel a
contract with Aramark Correctional Services, which served food at
Northpoint Training Center at the time of a costly riot there. Also
Wednesday, the state released its full investigative report on the Aug. 21
riot, which went into more detail about problems with food at the Mercer
County prison. House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Rep. John Tilley, chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that they thought Luallen should look into Aramark's performance under
the contract. "I do think it's appropriate to ask the state auditor in
some fashion to audit the situation," Tilley said Thursday. Said Luallen: "While there has not been a formal
request yet, there have been enough questions raised by legislators that we
will begin to make plans to do an audit of the contract." Members of
the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 6-4 to cancel Aramark's
contract because of concerns about the food. Many on the committee
questioned whether Aramark was skimping on ingredients to serve more people
cheaply. "Aramark stands behind the quality of service we provide,
which has won the accolades of our clients and the national accreditation
agencies who monitor the quality of food service," an Aramark
spokeswoman said Wednesday. An audit conducted of Aramark's performance for
the Florida prison system in 2007 showed the number of inmates eating meals
declined after Aramark took over the food service. But the company was paid
based on the number of inmates, not on the number of meals served. Aramark
also substituted less costly products such as ground turkey for beef, the
audit said. The audit recommended that Florida rebid the food service or
take it over. But Aramark terminated the contract near the end of 2008,
according to published reports. Gov. Steve Beshear
praised prison officials' handling of the riot. He said he was
"confounded" with the legislature's "continued fixation with
the menus for convicted criminals when we're desperately trying to avoid
cutting teachers and state troopers. ... We have more than 10 percent unemployment
and Kentucky families are struggling to put food on the table, and I am
loath to consider millions more dollars for criminals who wish they could
go to Wendy's instead." But Tilley and Stumbo — both Democrats —
defended the House's investigation into the riot, which damaged six
buildings and caused a fiery melee. "The truth is, we had a riot on
our hands that is probably going to cost the taxpayers $10 million,"
Stumbo said, referring to money Beshear has
requested to rebuild the prison outside of Danville. "And we need to
find out why the hell we had it." Meanwhile, there are still questions
about why key parts of the original report on the riot were not immediately
released in November. It was only after the House Judiciary Committee
repeatedly asked to see the report that the Department of Corrections
agreed to release a redacted version of the full report at Wednesday's
House Judiciary Committee meeting. The report released Wednesday showed
that Northpoint Warden Steve Haney did not want to implement restrictions
that were a primary cause of the riot, but he was overruled by Deputy
Commissioner of Adult Institutions Al Parke and Director of Operations
James Erwin. The report said the handling of restrictions was
"haphazard and poorly planned." The report also revealed other
problems before, during and after the riot, including non-existent radio
communications among agencies, a lack of documentation, failed video
cameras and a considerable delay in the formal investigation. The report
said there was confusion over whether Kentucky State Police or Justice
Cabinet investigators should handle the post-riot investigation. Those
details were not released in a summary Nov. 20. Beshear
defended his administration Thursday, saying he was confident the riot was
handled correctly. "I have full confidence in the Secretary of the
Justice Cabinet J. Michael Brown and his staff and how they handled the
Northpoint riot and its subsequent investigation," Beshear
said. Kerri Richardson, a spokeswoman for Beshear,
said Beshear's office never saw the original
report, but had seen the report summary. Beshear's
staff asked for more explanation in the summary report but did not ask for
anything to be taken out, she said. Jennifer Brislin,
a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said there was no attempt on
the part of the Justice Cabinet or the Department of Corrections to hide or
minimize some of the problems on the day of the riot. Department of
Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson left out some of those problems
in her Nov. 20 summary because she thought some of those details would
compromise security at the prison, Brislin said.
"During her review, she exempted information that she felt would be a
security risk to staff and inmates, and that included information regarding
how command decisions were made," Brislin
said. House Bill 33 — the bill that would cancel the Aramark contract — now
heads to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee. If the state
cancels the contract, it could add as much as $5.4 million a year to the
state's cost of feeding inmates, according to the Department of
Corrections.
January 28, 2010 Herald-Leader
The warden at Northpoint Training Center did not want to implement the
prison yard restrictions that contributed to an August riot that heavily
damaged much of the facility, but he was overruled by Department of
Corrections officials, according to an investigative report released
Wednesday. The investigation also revealed numerous other problems at
Northpoint that occurred before, during and after the riot, including
inmate anger about food on the day of the riot and a crucial delay in the
formal investigation of how the fiery melee occurred. After reviewing the
report, the House Judiciary Committee voted 9-4 to approve a bill that
would cancel the state's $12 million annual contract with Aramark
Correctional Services to provide meals at 13 prisons. The investigative
report showed that anger over food contributed to the Aug. 21 riot at the
Mercer County prison. The report, which was withheld from the public by
state officials until Wednesday, puts more emphasis on food as a
contributing cause of the riot than the state Corrections Department's
"review" of the investigative report, which was released Nov. 20.
The review concluded that the main cause of the riot was inmate anger about
a lockdown and other restrictions imposed after a fight at the prison.
However, the latest report shows that virtually every inmate and employee
interviewed by investigators said that Aramark food and its prices at the
canteen were among the reasons for the riot. The report lists those issues
as the third and fourth factors, respectively, that contributed to the
riot. "Apparently, there had been complaints for years about the
quality of the food, the portion sizes and the continual shortage and
substitutions for scheduled menu items," the report states.
"Sanitation of the kitchen was also a source of complaints," says
the report. Inmates set fires that destroyed six buildings, including those
containing the kitchen, canteen, visitation center, medical services,
sanitation department and a multipurpose area. Several dorms were heavily
damaged, and eight guards and eight inmates were injured. 'Haphazard'
action -- According to the report, the riot began 15 minutes after details
were posted about new movement restrictions for prisoners in the yard. The
restrictions came after an Aug. 18 fight over canteen items that caused
prison officials to institute a lockdown. The investigation found that
Northpoint Warden Steve Haney wanted to return the prison yard to normal
operations as he typically did after a lockdown, but he was overruled by Al
Parke, deputy commissioner of adult institutions and James Erwin, director
of operations. "The implementation of the controlled movement policy
at NTC was haphazard and poorly planned at best," says the report. The
report also says the warden never got word that inmates had dumped food
from their trays on the floor at breakfast and at lunch on the day of the
riot. Aramark officials e-mailed details of the incident to a deputy warden
at Northpoint, but the information apparently was not passed along, the
report said. During the riot, "radio communications between all
agencies involved was virtually non-existent, causing chaos and a general
feeling of disconnect with the various agencies involved," according
to the report. After the riot, there was a "gross lack of coordination
of submitting reports," evidence was compromised because most video
cameras failed the evening of the riot, and there was a considerable delay
in the formal investigation, the report said. Kentucky State Police
immediately tried to begin an investigation to see which inmates were
involved in the riot but was advised by the corrections department's
operations director that the investigation would be conducted internally.
Several days later, the report said, two staff members from the Justice
Cabinet determined that state police should conduct the investigation.
"The criminal investigations should have started immediately to
preserve evidence, testimony and critical information," the report
says. "After a few days, staff thoughts and observations became
diluted."
January 21, 2010 Lexington Herald-Leader
The state agreed on Wednesday to turn over its original report on the
August riot at Northpoint Training Center after nearly two weeks of denying
requests for the document by lawmakers. The Department of Corrections
released an investigative report of the fiery melee on Nov. 20, but not
before it was edited to allegedly address security concerns. At the time,
officials did not disclose that they had altered the investigative report.
Legislators are hoping the original report will help them determine if food
provided by a private contractor was partly to blame for the Aug. 21 riot
that destroyed several buildings at the prison outside of Danville. Part of
that report can be redacted for security reasons, the two sides agreed at a
meeting of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. It should be ready
by next week, they agreed. The report released in November showed that the
main cause of the riot was inmate anger over a lockdown and other
restrictions imposed following a fight at the prison. Inmates set fires
that destroyed six buildings, including those containing the kitchen,
canteen, visitation center, medical services, sanitation department and a
multipurpose area. Several dorms were heavily damaged, and eight guards and
eight inmates were injured. Rep. Brent Yonts,
D-Greenville, said Wednesday that he had heard in early January that there
was another version of the report and asked the department for the
original. Yonts said he had been told that the
original report gave more weight to the concerns about food than the
version that was released to the public. Yonts has
filed a proposal -- House Bill 33 -- that would cancel the state's $12
million-a-year contract with Aramark to provide meals at 13 prisons.
Aramark Correctional Services has had the state contract since 2005. It was
renewed in 2009 and expires at the end of this year. Yonts
has also asked State Auditor Crit Luallen to do a performance audit of the Aramark
contract, but Terry Sebastian, a spokesman for Luallen,
said the auditor is still waiting for a formal request from the House
Judiciary Committee. Yonts said Wednesday that he
expects the committee to make that request. Democratic Rep. John Tilley,
chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he also had requested the
original investigative report from the Department of Corrections.
Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson said the department didn't
release the original report because it contained sensitive details about
security at Northpoint. She also said the report that was released provided
more details about the incident than the original report. Some members of
the committee said they found the department's concerns about security
unfounded. "I'm not in the habit of disclosing that information (to
prisoners)," said Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow. Thompson said they were
worried the information might make its way into newspapers, which prisoners
read. Thompson said she was not aware that Tilley had also asked for the
original information, but Tilley said that wasn't true. Tilley said he
verbally requested the information from the Department of Corrections at a
meeting last Friday. Thompson said she must have misunderstood Tilley's
request. Yonts also complained that he has asked
since this fall for grievances that inmates have filed concerning the food
that Aramark provided. That request has been denied to protect the identity
of the inmates, department officials said. At the hearing on Wednesday,
Thompson and representatives from Aramark acknowledged that there have been
complaints about food at the state's prisons but said they were generally
satisfied with the quality of food that the company has provided. The
contract has saved the state $5.4 million a year, Thompson said. Yonts said there have been widespread complaints about
the food, including: food-borne illnesses at Western Kentucky Correctional
Facility, worms being found in food and food being watered down. He said
corrections officers are concerned that unrest over food quality is
jeopardizing their safety. Although there have been three incidents of
widespread illness at Western Kentucky Correctional Facility since 2005,
Thompson said there was no conclusive evidence that any of the three
incidents was caused by the food. Thompson confirmed there was one grub
worm found in soup at Green River Correctional Complex. It was found before
it was served to inmates, she said. "There have been other
institutions that have found bugs in their food," Thompson said. Part
of the problem, she said, was that produce grown at the prisons hasn't
always been properly cleaned. Officials are working to correct that
problem, she said. Inmate menu surveys have shown a decline in satisfaction
with the food, but the percentage of food being served to inmates has
increased by 10 percent, Thompson said. Tim Campbell, president of Aramark
Correctional Services, told the committee that the company does solid work.
"We stand by the quality of services that we provide the
commonwealth," he said. Still, some legislators said there is a
disconnect between the testimony they heard from officials on Wednesday and
remarks made by corrections officers during a committee meeting in
November. Those corrections officers said the food was barely edible and
that they were concerned that discontent with the food was making the
prisons unsafe. Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, said he didn't believe
that those officers would lie to a legislative committee. The committee did
not vote on Yonts' bill on Wednesday.
October 22, 2009 AP
Surveys of Kentucky's prison inmates indicate they are less pleased
with the food they're served than they were a few years ago. The state
outsourced the work in 2005 to a private company, Philadelphia-based
Aramark Correctional Services. An Aramark spokeswoman says the inmates may
have "self-interested motivations" for criticizing the food. The
level of satisfaction was lower at Northpoint Training Center in Boyle
County than among prisoners statewide. Prisoners rioted and burned much of
the Northpoint complex on Aug. 21, and state Rep. Brent Yonts
said corrections officers, other lawmakers and inmates have all told him
that unrest "over food" figured into the riot. But Aramark
officials have said there's no evidence that anything but gang violence and
anger over prison yard restrictions played a role in the riot. They said
their food was not a factor. The Lexington Herald-Leader obtained the
survey results under the Open Records Act and reported Tuesday that early
this year, state inmates rated the food 3.24 on a scale of 1 to 10, down
from 5.84 in 2003. At Northpoint, the rating this year was 2.66, compared
with 6.13 in 2003. Yonts, D-Greenville, has filed
legislation that would cancel Aramark's $12 million annual contract with
the state. State officials haven't said yet what led to the Northpoint
incident. Eight guards and eight inmates suffered minor injuries. Small
portions, cleanliness and food shortages were among the issues inmates
often addressed in the survey. "Get rid of Aramark, bring back the
state," an inmate at Roederer Correctional
Complex in La Grange wrote in the anonymous 2009 survey. At the Eastern Kentucky
Correctional Complex, an inmate wrote, "I would like not to be hungry
all the time." Jennifer Brislin, a state
Justice Cabinet spokeswoman, said Tuesday that Aramark's food "meets
all recommended daily allowances and dietary requirements."
Kingston High School, Kingston, New York
June 10, 2010 Daily Freeman
The Kingston High School cafeteria’s snack area was closed voluntarily
by food service operator Aramark on Monday after a county health inspector
found a cockroach infestation while investigating an anonymous complaint,
according to county health officials and an inspection report. Cory Kassler, a senior public health sanitarian for the
Ulster County Health Department, observed roaches “in various locations”
when he visited the cafeteria Monday morning, but most of them were dead,
the inspection report said. Kassler cited the
cafeteria for a cockroach violation, and a “cleanout” was conducted later
that day. The problem was solved by Tuesday, according to the report, and
the snack bar was reopened. Kevin DuMond, the
county’s director of environmental health, described Kassler
as “meticulous” and noted that the inspector did not find any cockroaches
in food or coolers. Kassler “told our cafeteria
personnel and director of buildings and grounds to have the snack area
cleaned and re-sprayed by our exterminator to ensure that we were in
compliance with the Health Department,” school district Superintendent
Gerard Gretzinger said via e-mail on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Gretzinger referred to rumors of a
cockroach problem in the high school cafeteria as “much misinformation.”
“When (the inspector) visited on Tuesday morning, I am told that we were
given a clean bill of health,” Gretzinger said on
Wednesday. Insect infestation “related to any food work” is considered a
public health issue because bugs find their way into food and pieces of
them can cause respiratory problems, said Dr. La Mar Hasbrouck, Ulster
County’s public health director. On the spectrum of major to minor threats
to public health, Hasbrouck said cockroaches are closer to the minor side.
Hasbrouck said food-preparation operations always have the potential to
attract pests, and he described the school district as being proactive in
expunging the nuisances. “If they continue doing their due diligence in
terms of cleanup and inspections, it should be just fine,” he said. He also
noted school districts are limited in what types of pesticides they can use
to deter cockroaches. Kelly Dachenhausen, a
parent of a Kingston High School student, said she heard rumors about a
cockroach problem but that but when she called for information on Tuesday,
she was transferred to the kitchen at J. Watson Bailey Middle School and
her questions were not answered. “I just wanted to make sure what I was
giving my son was healthy,” she said. Gretzinger,
commenting on his remark Tuesday about “misinformation,” said on Wednesday
that he was sharing what he knew at the time. “Never was it reported to me
that there was an ‘infestation’ of roaches, and definitely no roaches were
found in food,” he said.
Lee
County Jail, Sanford, North Carolina
November 3, 2005 Sanford Herald
District Attorney Tom Lock will not pursue charges against a former Lee
County Jail kitchen employee, who was under investigation for allegedly
buying food with jail funds and using them in his private catering
business. Lock asked the State Bureau of Investigation to conduct a probe
into the issue after it was brought to him in March by Herb Hincks, the
chairman of the Lee County Board of Commissioners, who told Lock that he'd
heard that the chief cook at the jail was diverting jail food to his own
business. "After reviewing the SBI's report, I have concluded that
there is no credible evidence upon which to lodge any criminal charges
against the suspect," Lock said in a press release on Tuesday. Lock
said the SBI reviewed a number of "suspicious" receipts and
invoices for food purchases from various food vendors, interviewed Hincks,
as well as county commissioners Amy Stevens and Ed Paschal, Lee County
Finance Director Lisa Minter and finally the suspect. There was at least
some evidence that Hincks' concerns were shared by others: n Both Stevens
and Paschal told the SBI they'd heard similar allegations against the
suspect on a second-hand basis. n Minter told the SBI that she had concerns
about what the county was paying for meals in the jail compared to other
counties. But Lock said that there was "no substance" to the
allegations. Lock said some of the most compelling evidence came from the
suspect himself, whom neither Lock nor sheriff's department officials would
identify other than by his title, "chief cook." Lock's press
release indicates the cook "denied stealing any food from the Lee
County Jail or diverting any food products for the jail to his personal
catering business." Lock also said the suspect submitted to an SBI
polygraph test in August and passed it. The suspect still works in the
jail's kitchen, but not as a county employee. In the summer, the board of
commissioners voted to contract all kitchen duties to Aramark, a private
company. Bryant said he's not sure if it saves the county money, but he
likes the arrangement.
October 2, 2005 Sanford
Herald
District Attorney Tom Lock says his review of the investigation into
whether an employee with the Lee County Jail illegally diverted food to his
own catering business is nearly finished. The allegation is that the jail
kitchen employee, who runs a private catering business, was ordering food
through the jail and taking it to use at his own business. The employee,
who has not been named publicly by either the sheriff's department or by
Lock, still works at the jail but not as a county employee, according to
Kevin Bryant, chief deputy of the Lee County Sheriff's Office. Rather, he
now works for Aramark, a company the county began contracting with for food
services in the spring.
September 5, 2005 Sanford
Herald
State Bureau of Investigation officials are promising to deliver a report
about the possible misuse of food supplies at the Lee County Jail to the
district attorney in the near future. SBI agents have been investigating a
former jail employee for several months on suspicion that he diverted food
from the jail to his private catering service. At the onset of the
investigation in March, SBI agents said it would take them a matter of days
to resolve the matter and hand a report to District Attorney Tom Lock. Six
months later, SBI Agent Jerry Weaver says a report will be handed to Lock
"soon."
August 9, 2005 Sanford
Herald
A State Bureau of Investigation probe into a former Lee County Jail
employee is still ongoing. The investigation began in March and, at the time,
SBI officials said it would take three to four days to complete. District
Attorney Tom Lock asked the SBI in March to investigate allegations that a
jail cook was ordering food through the jail and then diverting some of it
toward his own private catering service. The employee - who still works in
the jail's kitchen but no longer as a county employee after Lee County
commissioners voted to contract with Aramark for food service in the jail -
has not been publicly identified.
Mammoth County Jail,
Mammoth County, New Jersey
April 10, 2009 Asbury Park Press
A new vendor will begin serving up meals to Monmouth County inmates and
youth detainees May 1, thanks to last month's ruling by a Superior Court
judge that county officials erred in awarding a three-year contract to a
higher bidder. Gourmet Dining LLC of Madison will take over the work — but
only after the county makes one final payment to rival vendor Aramark
Correctional Services LLC for providing the food service while the contract
was in dispute. The county freeholders on Tuesday unanimously passed a
resolution paying Aramark $729,000 for service from the start of the year
until April 30. The amount covers 488,000 Monmouth County Jail staff and
inmate meals at $1.35 per serving and 733 religious meals at $3.82 each;
plus 21,500 detainee and staff meals at $2.92 each at the Youth Detention
Center. Both facilities are in Freehold Township. "The resolution is
necessary as part of the court decision to change vendors, because Aramark
continued vending services past the date of the former contract,"
Purchasing Director Gerri C. Popkin said.
March 6, 2009 Asbury
Park Press
A Superior Court judge has set aside a prison food contract award to
Aramark and ordered the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders to pass a
resolution giving the work to a lower bidder, Gourmet Dining LLC of
Madison. Judge James P. Hurley said the freeholders -- acting on a
recommendation from the Sheriff's Department -- were wrong to toss out
Gourmet Dining's bid on the basis of lacking substantial experience from
past work in prisons. Gourmet Dining's attorney, Thomas P. Scrivo, argued during a Feb. 18 hearing that the
company had served over 40 million meals when it held Essex County jail
contracts from 1991 to 2004. "Gourmet's 13 years of experience
providing on-site meals speaks to Gourmet's compliance with the
specifications,'' the judge said in his written decision issued today.
County taxpayers will be on the hook for legal fees from the case but will
save money on the change in contract. The county will pay $155,360 less
annually than it would have paid Aramark, and could save $466,000 over the
life of the three-year contract. The contract also allows for two one-year
renewals. Aramark held the previous contract that expired in December and
has continued as the vendor during the period of dispute. Gourmet Dining's
one-year bid price is $2,836,514 compared to Aramark's $2,992,000.
Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Cynthia Scott said no date has been
selected for the change in vendors to occur. "The freeholders still
have to act by resolution but as a practical matter we plan to move forward
with a smooth transition,'' Scott said. "The Monmouth County Sheriff's
Office always welcomes competition and plans to work closely with Gourmet
Dining to ensure that the comparable level of quality and quantity of food
services will be maintained at the jail.'' The case was heard in Superior
Court in Middlesex County after being transferred from Monmouth County.
February 10, 2009 Asbury
Park Press
Arguments will be heard by a Superior Court judge today over whether
Monmouth County should be ordered to reopen its $3 million contract award
for prison food so that a lower bidder can be considered for the work.
Acting on the recommendations of the Sheriff's Office and county purchasing
officials, the county freeholders voted unanimously in December to award
the contract to feed inmates at the Monmouth County jail and youth
detention center to Aramark, a Philadelphia-based company that has held the
contract since 1991. Gourmet Dining of Madison submitted a bid of $2.5
million, about 18 percent lower than Aramark's bid, but the low bid was
rejected because county officials said the company lacked jail experience.
However, Gourmet Dining attorneys are expected to argue today the company
served some 42 million meals to inmates in the Essex County jail system
from 1991 to 2004. The case will be heard by Middlesex County Superior
Court Judge James P. Hurley. The challenge was filed by Gourmet Dining in
Monmouth County, then transferred to Middlesex.
Meadowview
Psychiatric Hospital, Meadowview, New Jersey
September 8, 2010 The Jersey Journal
The Hudson County Board of Freeholders spent more than an hour tonight
debating the merits of a food service company that is set to get a nearly
$12 million contract at the Hudson County Correctional Center. Freeholder
Bill O’Dea, of Jersey City, took issue with awarding the contract to
Aramark Correctional Services LLC, saying the company had issues with a
prior contract at Meadowview Psychiatric Hospital, resulting in a $75,000
settlement with the county last year and an agreement that the company
would not bid on future contracts. County Administrator Abe Antum said the company was not prohibited from bidding
on the jail food service contract, because it was a completely separate
issue from Meadowview. "The performance at the correctional center was
satisfactory and they were views as separate services and separate
contracts,” Antum said at tonight’s freeholder
meeting. Freeholder Albert Cifelli, an attorney from Kearny, noted that at
$11.77 million over three years, Aramark was the lowest bidder. By law the
county must award the contract to the “lowest, responsible” bidder and
Cifelli questioned whether the freeholders had the authority to determine
that Aramark was not “responsible” per the contract standards. Both the
board’s attorney, Edward Florio, and the county administration’s attorney,
Donato Battista, said it was up to the administration to determine whether
or not the company was the lowest, responsible bidder and recommend the
contract to the board. O’Dea said he was concerned that the company had
provided psychiatric patients with prison-grade meals, instead of
hospital-grade meals, as required by the Meadowview contract. But Carol Ann
Wilson, county director of Health and Human Services, said the issue had to
do with staff not having the state-required qualifications to run the
hospital’s kitchen. She said despite telling Aramark about the failure to
meet state standards, which would put the hospital in risk of losing its
certification and state reimbursements, the company did not comply with the
terms of the contract. Wilson said a dietitian was not always available, as
required. Freeholder Jose Munoz, of West New York, said he thought Aramark
was using one dietician at both the jail and Meadowview, which may have
contributed to the problems. Antum said a report
was compiled by Meadowview and O’Dea asked for both a copy of the report
and for the settlement agreement. An Aramark representative at tonight’s
meeting said the issue was the result of a bad decision made by one manager
and it should not reflect on the company as a whole. Nationwide, Aramark
has over 500 correctional facility food contracts. O’Dea and Freeholder
Jeff Dublin, of Jersey City, tried to table the contract until they
received additional information, but didn’t get any of the other seven
freeholders to support their motion.
Minute
Maid Park, Houston, Texas
August 24, 2009 My Fox Houston
The family of a state worker hit and killed a year ago by an Aramark
manager has filed a lawsuit against Aramark and three of the bartenders who
served the employee. David Hall, 40, was hit last year while working in
downtown Houston last August. Prosecutors say Aramark Manager Ray Wilson
was driving drunk after leaving a game at Minute Maid Park. It was there
where investigators say Wilson was given free drinks, which led to the
crash which claimed Hall's life. A lawsuit was filed by Hall's family on
Monday in civil court. Wilson was found guilty in the death of hall just
last week. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In a statement issued to
the media, President, ARAMARK Sports, Entertainment & Conventions Marc
Bruno said: "Our sincere sympathies go out to Mr. Hall's family and
friends. We have not yet seen the lawsuit and are therefore not in a
position to comment on it."
August 18, 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jurors sentenced a Pasadena man who worked at Minute Maid Park to 15 years
in prison Tuesday for killing a state worker while driving drunk minutes
after leaving a baseball game last year. Ray John Wilson, 72, a supervisor
for corporate caterer Aramark who worked at the downtown ballpark, was
leaving an Aug. 30, 2008, game when he veered around a Texas Department of Transportation
truck hitting David Hall Jr., 42, a road worker, who was assisting a
cleanup crew. Wilson's attorney's argued that he should get probation
despite a DWI conviction 15 years ago and a public intoxication in 2003
when police found him passed out in his car. “He's already pushing the edge
of the actuarial tables, so 10 years probation
would be probation for life,” defense attorney Dorian Cotlar
told jurors in closing arguments. Because the jury decided the car was used
as a deadly weapon, Wilson will not be eligible for parole until he serves
at least half of his sentence. They deliberated punishment in state
District Judge Susan Brown's court for about 45 minutes and also fined him
$10,000. After he struck Hall, Wilson continued for about a quarter of a
mile before he was stopped by a police officer in an unmarked car,
prosecutors said. Investigators said Wilson failed a field sobriety test,
and his blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit. Assistant Harris
County District Attorney Ryan Patrick reminded jurors that Wilson, who was
at the game on a date, was drinking for free while being served by
employees he supervised. An investigation by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission found substantial evidence that Aramark, which holds the ballpark's
concessions contract including selling alcohol, conducted business in a way
that led to the fatality, said TABC Capt. Rick Cruz. Cruz said Aramark's
beer and wine license is in jeopardy of being pulled, but the corporation's
liquor license, which also allows them to sell beer and wine, would not be
affected — meaning Minute Maid Park would not go dry and patrons would not
notice a difference. Calls to Aramark were not immediately returned.
August 11, 2009 Examiner
Jurors have begun hearing evidence in the trial of a man, accused of
killing a TXDOT worker and putting the Minute Maid Park liquor license in
jeopardy. Ray Wilson, 72 of Pasadena, is charged with felony Intoxication
Manslaughter and felony Hit and Run for the August 30, 2008 death of
42-year-old TXDOT worker David Hall. Hall was working near University of
Houston at the Travis onramp to I-45 North when Wilson is accused of
smashing through the roadblocks and running him down. Police caught Wilson
a short distance from the scene. Wilson sat in the courtroom today as
jurors started hearing the first witnesses testify against him. A gag order
is in effect, so lawyers involved in the case said they were not able to
comment. Sources involved in the investigation said a mandatory blood draw
after the crash showed Wilson had a Blood Alcohol Content of .14, which is
nearly double the legal limit. He refused all sobriety tests in the field,
according to police. Investigators told KPRC Local 2 Investigates that Wilson
was the guest of honor at a party during the ballgame at Minute Maid Park,
where fellow employees with Aramark told investigators they gave him six to
eight free drinks. Aramark is the primary vendor that holds a liquor
license for serving at the Astros ballpark. The Astros have declined to
comment as the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission moves forward with an
administrative case against Aramark's liquor license at the ballpark.
June 11, 2009 Fox 26 News
FOX 26 News has learned the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission may be
going after at least one of the liquor licenses at Minute Maid Park. This
comes almost a year after an Aramark manager was involved in a drunken
driving crash that claimed the life of a Houston man. Aramark is the food
and beverage vendor for Minute Maid Park. In that August 2008 crash, David
Hall Jr. was allegedly hit and killed by 70-year-old Ray John Wilson, who
had just left the Astros game. Sources close to the investigation tell FOX
26 News the beverage commission may attempt to file a civil case to have at
least one of the alcohol licenses pulled at the ballpark. Sgt. Mike Burnett
with the beverage commission would not comment on camera. However, he did
say there is an administrative case against the vendor Aramark, the license
holder at the ballpark. Wilson has been behind bars at the Harris County
Jail since the crash last year. He's set to go on trial next month for
manslaughter. Hall Jr.'s father says he would like to see the liquor
license at the stadium pulled. He says not only the driver but those who
sell the drinks are ultimately responsible. FOX 26 News called management
at the Astros for comment, and they referred us to Aramark. Officials with
Aramark issued the following response: "We take the responsible
service of alcoholic beverages very seriously and have industry-leading
standards in place at each venue where we provide food and beverage
services. We do not comment on pending matters."
Monroe
County Correctional Facility, Monroe County, Pennsylvania
September 10, 2009 Pocono Record
A new company is serving meals to inmates and staff and the Monroe
County Correctional Facility. Canteen Correctional Services, a division of
Compass Group USA, has been doing the cooking since Sept. 1. Canteen was
awarded a three-year contract at $622,388 per year, replacing Aramark,
which had been employed at the Snydersville jail
for five years. Staff members are happy with the new menu and larger
portions, says Acting Warden Donna Asure.
"We've gotten great comments," said Asure,
who also is a county commissioner. "The staff is satisfied with the
staff meals." Four Canteen employees, assisted by inmates who apply
for positions, prepare about 1,200 meals daily in the prison kitchen.
Inmates eat in the day rooms of their assigned units. Staff members eat in
the employee dining room. Aramark was the subject of at least a few
complaints before losing its bid for a renewed contract. "We have had
several complaints," Asure said. "We
tried to work things out." The county has options to extend Canteen's
contract beyond the current three years, she said.
Monterey County Jail,
Monterey, California
January 11, 2006 The Salinas Californian
Illness has spread at the Monterey County Jail, leaving about 75 inmates
with diarrhea and stomach cramping in what the county Health Department
says might be a food-borne outbreak. Reports of sickness at the jail
infirmary started Sunday, and by Monday morning, 20 inmates had complained
of diarrhea and bloody stool, the jail announced. As of Monday night, 75
cases had been reported, the Sheriff's Office said. "We can be pretty
confident that it's a food-borne illness," said John Ramirez,
assistant director of environmental health at the Monterey County Health
Department. The jail had another outbreak in June, when at least 112
inmates complained of flu-like symptoms including nausea, diarrhea and high
fever. Investigators determined that infection began after some inmates
hoarded food to make tamales that later became spoiled, Liebersbach
said. As of now, it appears the illness might have started with a chicken
dish that was improperly cooked, he said. The jail's Philadelphia-based
food provider, Aramark, did not return calls on the incident.
Morgan County
Correctional Complex, Wartburg,
Tennessee
July 20, 2010 AP
A Morgan County inmate acting as his own lawyer has convinced a federal
appeals court to reverse the dismissal of his suit against a private prison
contractor. According to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling, Robert
Vaughn Bruce injured his knee in September 2002 when he fell from a trash
truck. The attending physician recommended immediate surgery but he was
instead given pain medicine and crutches. Bruce claims Correctional Medical
Services, Inc. ignored his need for surgery for almost five years, a delay
that made knee replacement necessary and caused his knee to become
permanently impaired. A district judge had dismissed the suit. On
Wednesday, the appeals court remanded the case to the district judge,
allowing Bruce to respond to the company's motion for summary judgment and
ordering the judge to consider the arguments.
Morris County Jail, New
Jersey
June 23, 2005
In the usual scenario, people caught using heroin go to jail, but last week
authorities discovered the obverse is also true: People who go to jail get
caught using heroin. Two women,
Mount Olive Township resident and former state prisoner Karen Ryerson, 42,
and Newark resident Leslie Harwell, 36, a worker in the Morris County Jail
cafeteria, were charged with heroin distribution. Harwell is employed by Aramark, a
Pennsylvania-based food service company. She was arrested Sunday after
allegedly selling drugs inside the jail, according to the Morris County
Prosecutor’s Office. She was charged
with possession of heroin and possession with intent to distribute. She is
being held in a cell in the jail where she worked on $50,000 bail. Ryerson was arrested Monday after
authorities determined she had been the supplier of the heroin to Harwell.
She was charged with possession of heroin and heroin distribution. She is
being held in the Morris County jail on $100,000 bail. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, a
corrections internal affairs officer had learned last Thursday that Harwell
was allegedly selling the drugs. Harwell was allegedly able to bring in the
drugs because employees are not searched upon entry, Rubbinaccio
said. Harwell has been employed at the jail since mid-May. Aramark
employees prepare food in the jail’s kitchen and help train inmates in food
preparation. She has no criminal record, Rubbinaccio
said.
New Mexico Department of
Corrections
May 31, 2006 New Mexican
A state prison contractor involved in the investigation of a
relationship between Corrections Secretary Joe Williams and a lobbyist
contributed $10,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson's re-election campaign. The
political-action committee for Aramark -- a Philadelphia-based company that
makes millions of dollars a year to feed New Mexico inmates -- contributed
to Richardson's campaign in May 2005, according to Richardson's most recent
campaign-finance report. That was about a year after Aramark renewed its
contract with the state Corrections Department. Aramark also has been
generous to the state Democratic Party, contributing $10,000 in 2004, and
the Democratic Governors Association, which Richardson chairs. The company
contributed a total of $15,000 to the DGA in 2004 and another $15,000 in
2005, according to reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Aramark
provides food service to more than 475 correctional institutions in North
America. The corporation also has food-service contracts in colleges,
hospitals, convention centers and stadiums. Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley referred questions about the campaign
donation to Richardson's campaign manager, Amanda Cooper, who couldn't be
reached for comment. The Governor's Office announced this week that
Williams is being put on administrative leave while the state Personnel
Office investigates his relationship with Ann E. Casey, who registered as a
lobbyist for Aramark and Wexford Health Services, which provides health
care to New Mexico inmates. Casey is an assistant warden at an Illinois
prison. A copyrighted story in the Albuquerque Journal said Williams'
state-issued cell-phone records show 644 calls between Williams and Casey between
Sept. 24, 2005, and Feb. 23. According to that report, Casey was hired as a
consultant by Aramark in 2005, but that contract has since been terminated.
Aramark's $5.4 million contract ends in July. The Secretary of State
Office's Lobbyist Index lists Casey as a lobbyist for Wexford, though the
Journal report quotes a Wexford official saying the company never hired
her. In 2004, a $10,000 contribution to a Richardson political committee
from Wexford's parent company caused a stir and later was returned to the
Pittsburgh company. The Bantry Group made the contribution to Richardson's
Moving America Forward PAC in April 2004. This was during a bidding process
just a month after the Corrections Department requested proposals for a
contract to provide health care and psychiatric services to inmates. That
contract potentially is worth more than $100 million, The Associated Press
reported. In August 2004, a Richardson spokesman said the money would be
returned "to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."
May 30, 2006 AP
Gov. Bill Richardson has put Corrections Secretary Joe Williams on
unpaid leave while the secretary's recent actions are investigated.
Richardson said the review will focus on Williams' use of a state-issued
cell phone, a state-funded trip that included some personal travel and his
relationship with a lobbyist. "Gov. Richardson wants a thorough
investigation to examine the secretary's actions and determine if anything
improper occurred," said James Jimenez, Richardson's chief of staff.
"The governor sets a very high ethical standard for his administration
and will not tolerate any level of abuse of authority or public
trust." A spokeswoman for the Corrections Department said Williams was
unavailable for comment. State Personnel Director Sandra Perez will conduct
the investigation through her office, Jimenez said. Williams will be on
unpaid leave until June 9, the day Perez's office is to report to the
governor. The Albuquerque Journal reported Sunday that Williams spent about
91 hours on his state-issued cell phone talking with Ann Casey, an
assistant warden at a state prison in Centralia, Ill. The calls between the
two phones were placed between Sept. 24, 2005, and Feb. 23, 2006. Casey
registered as a lobbyist in 2005 for two companies that have contracts with
New Mexico to provide health care and meals to prisoners. Williams
described his relationship with Casey as a friendship and said he doesn't
give preferential treatment to anybody. Richardson also is questioning a
trip Williams took to Nashville on the state's dollar. In January, Williams
attended a conference of the American Correctional Association. His travel
records show he added a St. Louis leg to the trip, which he said was
personal. A 30-mile drive from the St. Louis airport would land Williams at
an address in O'Falcon, Ill., which Casey listed
on lobbyist registration forms. Records show Williams wrote a check to his
department in January for $266, the cost of adding the St. Louis trip.
While on the trip, Williams and Casey accepted a dinner invitation from a
company that operates a state prison in Santa Rosa, according to Williams'
e-mail records. A billing statement for a hotel stay during the trip also
lists two people in his party, but Williams would not say who the second
person was. Richardson appointed Williams, a former warden at the Lea
County Correctional Facility in Hobbs and former warden at two state
prisons, as corrections secretary in 2003.
Prison food is not
supposed to taste great, but inmates in two state-correction institutions
said this week that their food had taken a turn for the worse in recent
days while inmates in a third facility staged a widespread boycott of meals
earlier this week. Only 44 of the 330 inmates at the minimum-security
facility in Los Lunas showed up for lunch Wednesday because of complaints
about the food, Corrections Department spokeswoman Tia Bland confirmed
Thursday. "We've had nothing but ground turkey for days,"
an inmate at the state prison in Las Cruces told a reporter Thursday.
"It's terrible. You can't eat some of this stuff."
Meanwhile, an inmate at the state prison in Grants said his prison kitchen
has been serving a soy-meat substitute, which he described as tasting like cardboard . Under that new contract, the company
receives about 20 cents less for each meal served. "That does
change what is offered," Albert said. (The New Mexican, July 9,
2004)
North Elementary School,
Godfrey, Illinois
August 22, 2006 The Telegraph
A part-time custodian with Aramark, the firm hired last year to clean
Alton schools, was charged Monday with felony theft for allegedly stealing
four laptop computers from North Elementary School. William D. Gray, 53, of
the 1200 block of Rodemeyer Street, Alton, was
charged after school staff members noticed the computers missing over a
period of weeks and called the Madison County Sheriff's Department. Bail
was set at $30,000. Lt. Brad Wells said Gray is suspected of carrying the
computers out of the building in trashcans and placing them in bins outside
the building, then returning later to take them from the bins to his house.
The school is located at 5600 Godfrey Road. Two of the computers were found
in Gray's home after he was arrested Friday. The most recent computer theft
was reported Friday, Wells said. He said he is not sure of the total value
of the computers, but it is well over $300, which qualifies the thefts as a
felony. The Alton School Board last year signed a contract with Aramark in
a move to save about $1 million a year. The Alton Education Association
reluctantly agreed to drop the custodians from its bargaining unit in
exchange for a promise of 10 percent pay raises over four years. The staff
of custodians was reduced from 52 to 42 employees. A survey of school
employees later rated Aramark 3.2 on a scale of 5, prompting complaints
from board member Ed Gray that the firm was not keeping the schools clean
enough.
Northhampton County Prison,
Easton, Pennsylvania
November 19, 2005 The Express-Times
Six Northampton County Prison guards sickened by exposure to mold filed
notice Friday of their intent to sue the county and several past and
present county officials. A construction company, an environmental cleanup
contractor and a food services corporation are also named as defendants in
the document. The plaintiffs suffered both respiratory and gastrointestinal
infections after an ongoing expansion at the jail stirred up mold that
contaminated the air and food there, according to their attorney, John P. Karoly Jr. County officials have long known mold is a
problem at the prison, but did not act quickly enough to fix it, he said.
Also, Karoly said his clients meals were fouled
by mold because of flaws in the jail food service provider's storage and
preparation methods. The county is trying to cover up the mold problem, he
said. "These plaintiffs have been attempting to get more information
about what they've been exposed to and they've been denied that
information." All of the men have received medical treatment for their
illnesses and a few of them were hospitalized, Karoly
said. They continue to work at the prison, he said. Northampton County
Executive Glenn Reibman, who is named in the
notice, did not return a phone call for comment Friday evening. Other
defendants named in the notice are former Director of Corrections James
Smith, Director of Corrections Todd Buskirk, Acting Warden Scott Hoke,
Daniel J. Keating Construction Company, of Philadelphia, CMC Environmental
Hazard Abatement Inc., of Jim Thorpe, Pa., and Aramark Correctional
Services, Inc., of Philadelphia. In 2003, state prison inspectors found
moldy areas and moisture-related damage in the prison. The mold was blamed
on a leaky shower system in one of the cell blocks. At the time officials
acknowledged that the mold was a "very serious" health risk and
said they intended to replace the shower system.
August 9, 2005 The Morning Call
Northampton County Prison has stored food in a bathroom, did not have hot
water or soap for kitchen workers to wash their hands and used
refrigerators not cold enough to safely store food. The conditions are
revealed in the Easton Health Bureau's inspection records of 2004 and 2005,
which were released last week to The Morning Call following a legal
challenge by the newspaper to the city's refusal to make the records public.
City inspector Ed Ferraro, interviewed about the city's inspection of
prison conditions, described the violations as so severe that, had they
been found in a private business, he would have asked the owner to close
voluntarily until problems were corrected. Like other food establishments,
county prisons are covered by a patchwork of agencies. And just like
restaurants and food retailers, some prisons are inspected more often than
others and score better or worse than others. Northampton County Prison
failed two categories in its 2004 inspection by state officials, which is
separate from inspections done by the city. It failed to meet general
cleanliness standards because of missing and damaged floor tiles, and it
failed to provide health exams to kitchen workers to ensure they are
disease-free. While maintaining a clean kitchen is ultimately the
responsibility of Northampton County Prison administrators, the county pays
a private company, Aramark, to run its food services. Aramark is
responsible for how the kitchen runs on a daily basis, Buskirk and Hoke
said, and violations such as storing chicken and roast beef at room
temperature and storing boxes of dry food in the bathroom would fall under
Aramark's responsibility.
Northpoint
Training Center, Boyle County, Kentucky
January 29, 2010 Herald-Leader
State Auditor Crit Luallen
said Thursday she would do an audit of the private company that has a
nearly $12 million annual contract to serve food at the state's 13 prisons.
The announcement came a day after a House committee voted to cancel a
contract with Aramark Correctional Services, which served food at
Northpoint Training Center at the time of a costly riot there. Also
Wednesday, the state released its full investigative report on the Aug. 21
riot, which went into more detail about problems with food at the Mercer
County prison. House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Rep. John Tilley, chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that they thought Luallen should look into Aramark's performance under the
contract. "I do think it's appropriate to ask the state auditor in
some fashion to audit the situation," Tilley said Thursday. Said Luallen: "While there has not been a formal
request yet, there have been enough questions raised by legislators that we
will begin to make plans to do an audit of the contract." Members of
the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 6-4 to cancel Aramark's
contract because of concerns about the food. Many on the committee
questioned whether Aramark was skimping on ingredients to serve more people
cheaply. "Aramark stands behind the quality of service we provide,
which has won the accolades of our clients and the national accreditation
agencies who monitor the quality of food service," an Aramark
spokeswoman said Wednesday. An audit conducted of Aramark's performance for
the Florida prison system in 2007 showed the number of inmates eating meals
declined after Aramark took over the food service. But the company was paid
based on the number of inmates, not on the number of meals served. Aramark
also substituted less costly products such as ground turkey for beef, the
audit said. The audit recommended that Florida rebid the food service or
take it over. But Aramark terminated the contract near the end of 2008,
according to published reports. Gov. Steve Beshear
praised prison officials' handling of the riot. He said he was
"confounded" with the legislature's "continued fixation with
the menus for convicted criminals when we're desperately trying to avoid
cutting teachers and state troopers. ... We have more than 10 percent
unemployment and Kentucky families are struggling to put food on the table,
and I am loath to consider millions more dollars for criminals who wish
they could go to Wendy's instead." But Tilley and Stumbo — both
Democrats — defended the House's investigation into the riot, which damaged
six buildings and caused a fiery melee. "The truth is, we had a riot
on our hands that is probably going to cost the taxpayers $10
million," Stumbo said, referring to money Beshear
has requested to rebuild the prison outside of Danville. "And we need
to find out why the hell we had it." Meanwhile, there are still
questions about why key parts of the original report on the riot were not
immediately released in November. It was only after the House Judiciary
Committee repeatedly asked to see the report that the Department of
Corrections agreed to release a redacted version of the full report at
Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee meeting. The report released
Wednesday showed that Northpoint Warden Steve Haney did not want to
implement restrictions that were a primary cause of the riot, but he was
overruled by Deputy Commissioner of Adult Institutions Al Parke and
Director of Operations James Erwin. The report said the handling of restrictions
was "haphazard and poorly planned." The report also revealed
other problems before, during and after the riot, including non-existent
radio communications among agencies, a lack of documentation, failed video
cameras and a considerable delay in the formal investigation. The report
said there was confusion over whether Kentucky State Police or Justice
Cabinet investigators should handle the post-riot investigation. Those
details were not released in a summary Nov. 20. Beshear
defended his administration Thursday, saying he was confident the riot was
handled correctly. "I have full confidence in the Secretary of the
Justice Cabinet J. Michael Brown and his staff and how they handled the
Northpoint riot and its subsequent investigation," Beshear
said. Kerri Richardson, a spokeswoman for Beshear,
said Beshear's office never saw the original
report, but had seen the report summary. Beshear's
staff asked for more explanation in the summary report but did not ask for
anything to be taken out, she said. Jennifer Brislin,
a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, said there was no attempt on
the part of the Justice Cabinet or the Department of Corrections to hide or
minimize some of the problems on the day of the riot. Department of
Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson left out some of those problems
in her Nov. 20 summary because she thought some of those details would
compromise security at the prison, Brislin said.
"During her review, she exempted information that she felt would be a
security risk to staff and inmates, and that included information regarding
how command decisions were made," Brislin
said. House Bill 33 — the bill that would cancel the Aramark contract — now
heads to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee. If the state
cancels the contract, it could add as much as $5.4 million a year to the
state's cost of feeding inmates, according to the Department of
Corrections.
January 28, 2010 Herald-Leader
The warden at Northpoint Training Center did not want to implement the
prison yard restrictions that contributed to an August riot that heavily
damaged much of the facility, but he was overruled by Department of
Corrections officials, according to an investigative report released
Wednesday. The investigation also revealed numerous other problems at
Northpoint that occurred before, during and after the riot, including
inmate anger about food on the day of the riot and a crucial delay in the
formal investigation of how the fiery melee occurred. After reviewing the
report, the House Judiciary Committee voted 9-4 to approve a bill that
would cancel the state's $12 million annual contract with Aramark
Correctional Services to provide meals at 13 prisons. The investigative
report showed that anger over food contributed to the Aug. 21 riot at the
Mercer County prison. The report, which was withheld from the public by
state officials until Wednesday, puts more emphasis on food as a
contributing cause of the riot than the state Corrections Department's
"review" of the investigative report, which was released Nov. 20.
The review concluded that the main cause of the riot was inmate anger about
a lockdown and other restrictions imposed after a fight at the prison.
However, the latest report shows that virtually every inmate and employee
interviewed by investigators said that Aramark food and its prices at the
canteen were among the reasons for the riot. The report lists those issues
as the third and fourth factors, respectively, that contributed to the
riot. "Apparently, there had been complaints for years about the
quality of the food, the portion sizes and the continual shortage and
substitutions for scheduled menu items," the report states.
"Sanitation of the kitchen was also a source of complaints," says
the report. Inmates set fires that destroyed six buildings, including those
containing the kitchen, canteen, visitation center, medical services,
sanitation department and a multipurpose area. Several dorms were heavily
damaged, and eight guards and eight inmates were injured. 'Haphazard'
action -- According to the report, the riot began 15 minutes after details
were posted about new movement restrictions for prisoners in the yard. The
restrictions came after an Aug. 18 fight over canteen items that caused
prison officials to institute a lockdown. The investigation found that
Northpoint Warden Steve Haney wanted to return the prison yard to normal
operations as he typically did after a lockdown, but he was overruled by Al
Parke, deputy commissioner of adult institutions and James Erwin, director
of operations. "The implementation of the controlled movement policy
at NTC was haphazard and poorly planned at best," says the report. The
report also says the warden never got word that inmates had dumped food
from their trays on the floor at breakfast and at lunch on the day of the
riot. Aramark officials e-mailed details of the incident to a deputy warden
at Northpoint, but the information apparently was not passed along, the
report said. During the riot, "radio communications between all
agencies involved was virtually non-existent, causing chaos and a general
feeling of disconnect with the various agencies involved," according
to the report. After the riot, there was a "gross lack of coordination
of submitting reports," evidence was compromised because most video
cameras failed the evening of the riot, and there was a considerable delay
in the formal investigation, the report said. Kentucky State Police
immediately tried to begin an investigation to see which inmates were
involved in the riot but was advised by the corrections department's
operations director that the investigation would be conducted internally.
Several days later, the report said, two staff members from the Justice
Cabinet determined that state police should conduct the investigation. "The
criminal investigations should have started immediately to preserve
evidence, testimony and critical information," the report says.
"After a few days, staff thoughts and observations became
diluted."
January 21, 2010 Lexington Herald-Leader
The state agreed on Wednesday to turn over its original report on the
August riot at Northpoint Training Center after nearly two weeks of denying
requests for the document by lawmakers. The Department of Corrections
released an investigative report of the fiery melee on Nov. 20, but not
before it was edited to allegedly address security concerns. At the time,
officials did not disclose that they had altered the investigative report.
Legislators are hoping the original report will help them determine if food
provided by a private contractor was partly to blame for the Aug. 21 riot
that destroyed several buildings at the prison outside of Danville. Part of
that report can be redacted for security reasons, the two sides agreed at a
meeting of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. It should be ready
by next week, they agreed. The report released in November showed that the
main cause of the riot was inmate anger over a lockdown and other
restrictions imposed following a fight at the prison. Inmates set fires
that destroyed six buildings, including those containing the kitchen,
canteen, visitation center, medical services, sanitation department and a
multipurpose area. Several dorms were heavily damaged, and eight guards and
eight inmates were injured. Rep. Brent Yonts,
D-Greenville, said Wednesday that he had heard in early January that there
was another version of the report and asked the department for the
original. Yonts said he had been told that the
original report gave more weight to the concerns about food than the version
that was released to the public. Yonts has filed
a proposal -- House Bill 33 -- that would cancel the state's $12
million-a-year contract with Aramark to provide meals at 13 prisons.
Aramark Correctional Services has had the state contract since 2005. It was
renewed in 2009 and expires at the end of this year. Yonts
has also asked State Auditor Crit Luallen to do a performance audit of the Aramark
contract, but Terry Sebastian, a spokesman for Luallen,
said the auditor is still waiting for a formal request from the House
Judiciary Committee. Yonts said Wednesday that he
expects the committee to make that request. Democratic Rep. John Tilley,
chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he also had requested the
original investigative report from the Department of Corrections.
Corrections Commissioner LaDonna Thompson said the department didn't
release the original report because it contained sensitive details about
security at Northpoint. She also said the report that was released provided
more details about the incident than the original report. Some members of
the committee said they found the department's concerns about security
unfounded. "I'm not in the habit of disclosing that information (to
prisoners)," said Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow. Thompson said they were
worried the information might make its way into newspapers, which prisoners
read. Thompson said she was not aware that Tilley had also asked for the
original information, but Tilley said that wasn't true. Tilley said he
verbally requested the information from the Department of Corrections at a
meeting last Friday. Thompson said she must have misunderstood Tilley's
request. Yonts also complained that he has asked
since this fall for grievances that inmates have filed concerning the food
that Aramark provided. That request has been denied to protect the identity
of the inmates, department officials said. At the hearing on Wednesday,
Thompson and representatives from Aramark acknowledged that there have been
complaints about food at the state's prisons but said they were generally
satisfied with the quality of food that the company has provided. The
contract has saved the state $5.4 million a year, Thompson said. Yonts said there have been widespread complaints about
the food, including: food-borne illnesses at Western Kentucky Correctional
Facility, worms being found in food and food being watered down. He said
corrections officers are concerned that unrest over food quality is
jeopardizing their safety. Although there have been three incidents of
widespread illness at Western Kentucky Correctional Facility since 2005,
Thompson said there was no conclusive evidence that any of the three
incidents was caused by the food. Thompson confirmed there was one grub
worm found in soup at Green River Correctional Complex. It was found before
it was served to inmates, she said. "There have been other
institutions that have found bugs in their food," Thompson said. Part
of the problem, she said, was that produce grown at the prisons hasn't
always been properly cleaned. Officials are working to correct that
problem, she said. Inmate menu surveys have shown a decline in satisfaction
with the food, but the percentage of food being served to inmates has
increased by 10 percent, Thompson said. Tim Campbell, president of Aramark
Correctional Services, told the committee that the company does solid work.
"We stand by the quality of services that we provide the
commonwealth," he said. Still, some legislators said there is a
disconnect between the testimony they heard from officials on Wednesday and
remarks made by corrections officers during a committee meeting in
November. Those corrections officers said the food was barely edible and
that they were concerned that discontent with the food was making the
prisons unsafe. Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, said he didn't believe
that those officers would lie to a legislative committee. The committee did
not vote on Yonts' bill on Wednesday.
November 19, 2009 News-Star
Inmates at Northpoint Training Center rioted in August because the warden
had put the prison on lockdown four days earlier and implemented a new
schedule that restricted inmates’ time in the yard, recreation areas and
library, according to a report released today by the Department of
Corrections. Staff and inmates told investigators that the quality of food
was not a primary factor, the report states. Six buildings, including the
kitchen, were burned and eight inmates and eight corrections officers
suffered minor injuries after prisoners began setting fires and trashing
buildings Aug. 21 at the facility near Burgin.
November 7, 2009 Herald-Leader
A corrections officer at Northpoint Training Center told lawmakers
Friday that an August riot at the prison near Danville was caused by inmate
anger over bad food and was planned. "It's over the food,"
corrections officer Matt Hughes told the Interim Judiciary Committee.
"The food was slop." State corrections officials did not speak at
Friday's meeting but have said that as early as next week they will issue a
report based on a Kentucky State Police investigation. State Rep. Kelly
Flood, D-Lexington, said that corrections officers at Northpoint said they
doubt officials will admit it in the official report but that "it was
about the food." State Rep. Brent Yonts —
who has filed a bill that would cancel the $12 million annual contract of
Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services, food provider for
Kentucky prisons — said the General Assembly should launch its own
investigation. He wants lawmakers to go to Northpoint to interview inmates.
Yonts, D-Greenville, said the problems exist at
state prisons all over Kentucky. He told the committee of lawmakers that a
corrections officer at Green River Correctional Complex in Central City
told him about "a very large body of worms that boiled to the top of a
pot of soup" that had to be removed from a serving line. Yonts said human feces was found in a burrito at the
Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville and just this week he received
information that an Aramark supervisor allowed inmates at Blackburn
Correctional Complex in Lexington to eat brownies containing human feces.
Citing numbers showing the state might not be getting its money's worth in
the contract from Aramark because fewer inmates were eating in prison
cafeterias, Yonts said that the state needed to
take back food service operations. "It's not working," Yonts said. Aramark spokeswoman Kristine Grow said
Friday that the company "had received no official complaints regarding
our food before the riot occurred" and had no "absolute
proof" of the allegations that Yonts made.
"We stand by the quality of our service and our food, and we look
forward to the state's official report," Grow said. Aramark officials
have previously said that there's no evidence that anything but gang
violence and anger over yard restrictions caused the riot. Hughes, however,
told lawmakers that the explanation about yard restrictions was
"bogus." He said that inmates were betting over high-priced
packaged food from the Northpoint canteen because they couldn't eat the
cafeteria food. Hughes also said the gambling was leading to fights and
security problems for corrections officers. In the riot at Northpoint on
Aug. 21, inmates burned and damaged buildings, several of which were a
total loss. Eight guards and eight inmates suffered minor injuries. Hughes
was one of three corrections officers from various prisons who appeared at
Friday's meeting. All said they were members of the union American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Union officials also
attended. Yonts acknowledged he is supportive of
unions and of labor, but he said "that has nothing to do with the
validity of this bill." If the bill is passed by the Kentucky General
Assembly in 2010, food service to inmates at state prisons could be
provided only by state employees, inmates or volunteers. That was the case
until January 2005, when the state contracted with Aramark. The contract
was renewed in January 2009 and expires in 2011. State corrections
officials have said that with the savings from the Aramark contract, they
were able to give corrections officers a nearly 7 percent raise in 2005.
Jennifer Brislin, a spokeswoman for the state
Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, said that in October 2005, corrections
officers' hours were increased from 37.5 to 40 hours a week, resulting in a
6.67 percent increase. Meanwhile, lawmakers who heard the testimony said
they wanted a special meeting with Department of Corrections officials and
representatives of Aramark to find out the truth. "It's only one
side," state Rep. Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, said of the allegations
raised Friday. He said that lawmakers could have a "direct
impact" on fixing the situation if the complaints were valid.
October 22, 2009 AP
Surveys of Kentucky's prison inmates indicate they are less pleased
with the food they're served than they were a few years ago. The state
outsourced the work in 2005 to a private company, Philadelphia-based
Aramark Correctional Services. An Aramark spokeswoman says the inmates may
have "self-interested motivations" for criticizing the food. The
level of satisfaction was lower at Northpoint Training Center in Boyle
County than among prisoners statewide. Prisoners rioted and burned much of
the Northpoint complex on Aug. 21, and state Rep. Brent Yonts
said corrections officers, other lawmakers and inmates have all told him
that unrest "over food" figured into the riot. But Aramark
officials have said there's no evidence that anything but gang violence and
anger over prison yard restrictions played a role in the riot. They said
their food was not a factor. The Lexington Herald-Leader obtained the
survey results under the Open Records Act and reported Tuesday that early
this year, state inmates rated the food 3.24 on a scale of 1 to 10, down from
5.84 in 2003. At Northpoint, the rating this year was 2.66, compared with
6.13 in 2003. Yonts, D-Greenville, has filed
legislation that would cancel Aramark's $12 million annual contract with
the state. State officials haven't said yet what led to the Northpoint
incident. Eight guards and eight inmates suffered minor injuries. Small
portions, cleanliness and food shortages were among the issues inmates
often addressed in the survey. "Get rid of Aramark, bring back the
state," an inmate at Roederer Correctional
Complex in La Grange wrote in the anonymous 2009 survey. At the Eastern
Kentucky Correctional Complex, an inmate wrote, "I would like not to
be hungry all the time." Jennifer Brislin, a
state Justice Cabinet spokeswoman, said Tuesday that Aramark's food
"meets all recommended daily allowances and dietary
requirements."
October 19, 2009 Courier-Journal
Workers at the Northpoint Training Center will begin serving food out of a
makeshift kitchen Monday, nearly two months after the worst inmate riot in modern
Kentucky history. The portable, tent-style building will be fully
functional and seat 200, Justice Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin said. The department is paying $195,447 to rent
the facility for six months. It could extend the rental if work on a new
kitchen isn't completed by then. The facility has been approved by the
state fire marshal and local health department, she said. Until now, food
has been delivered daily to Northpoint from another state prison. Six
buildings, including the kitchen, were burned and eight inmates and eight
corrections officers suffered minor injuries after inmates began setting
fires and trashing buildings at the prison near Burgin on Aug. 21. The
state moved roughly 700 prisoners to other facilities the day after the
riot. As of Friday, the prison, which is about 30 miles southwest of
Lexington, held 468 inmates. It's operating at less than 40 percent
capacity. Limited visitation for inmates resumed recently, Brislin said. A Department of Corrections investigation
into the cause of the disturbance is expected to be completed later this
month, she said. There is still no cost estimate for the damage. Prison
officials are working to remove debris from three dormitories that were
damaged. An architectural firm is working on renderings of facilities that
would contain a medical area, kitchen, library and inmate canteen — all of
which appeared gutted in photographs provided by the Justice Cabinet. Brislin said that, while six buildings were burned,
it's unclear whether six new buildings will be built or whether the
department would build fewer structures that would be more efficient.
Justice and corrections officials are expected to give a legislative
committee an update on Thursday. One legislator, Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, has questioned whether inmate
dissatisfaction with food provided by a private vendor caused problems at
Northpoint and other prisons in the state. Yonts
has prefiled a bill that would cancel the
Department of Corrections' $12million contract with Pennsylvania-based
Aramark Services and prohibit privatization of inmate food service in
Kentucky's state-operated prisons. He said families of inmates, prison
employees and inmates have complained that inmates don't receive enough
food during meals and can't afford the food that is sold in prison
canteens. “About 20 percent of prisoners or more do not receive money from
their families to buy canteen food, which some say is high-priced,” he said
in a recent news release. Aramark has disputed the claim that its food
service might have contributed to the August riot.
September 9, 2009 Herald-Leader
Complaints about the quality and quantity of food that a private
company provides to Kentucky state prisons has led a state lawmaker to file
a bill that would cancel the $12 million annual contract. Northpoint
Training Center, where there was a riot last month, is one of several state
prisons where inmates and corrections officers have complained about the
food provided by Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services, said
state Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville. Yonts said he also is concerned that the illness of as
many as 300 inmates at a Western Kentucky prison might have been caused by
food. "There's no reason for people to be treated inhumanely," Yonts said. "I don't think the system is
recognizing the problem with Aramark. I'm hoping the administration will
... cancel the contract." If the bill is passed by the Kentucky
General Assembly in 2010, food service to inmates at state prisons could be
provided only by state employees, inmates or volunteers. That was the case
until January 2005, when the state contracted with Aramark. The contract
was renewed in January 2009 and expires in 2011. Yonts
said he received many complaints from across the state about food quality,
shortages and even "crawling creatures in the food" in the past
year. Inmates at Boyle County's Northpoint staged a sit-in in 2007 over the
quality of food and prices of snacks in the prison canteen, according to
the American Correctional Association. In a riot at Northpoint on Aug. 21,
inmates burned and damaged buildings, several of which were a total loss.
Eight guards and eight inmates suffered minor injuries. Yonts
said that he sent a questionnaire about the food to corrections officers.
The replies said that food problems have caused "control"
problems with inmates. Sarah Jarvis, a spokeswoman for Aramark, said
Tuesday that the company "has an excellent track record" and has
received many accolades. "We reduce the costs to taxpayers of feeding
inmates, while providing nutritious meals in close consultation with
dietitians and nutritionists," she said. In January, Aramark stopped
serving meals at Florida prisons, citing rapid rises in food costs and a
poor working relationship with the state. In 2008 alone, the company was
fined $241,499 by Florida for problems with the food and service, according
to news reports. Saving millions -- State corrections officials say the
contract with Aramark saves $5 million each year and allowed them to give
corrections officers a nearly 7 percent raise in 2008. Northpoint inmates
and family members have told the Herald-Leader that the quality and price
of food and canteen items continues to be a source of unrest at the prison
and might have figured in the August riots. Jarvis said there is no
evidence that the riots "were the result of anything other than
gang-related activity and yard restrictions. Some of the facts in this
story seem to be based on anecdotes, half-truths and suspicious complaints
by inmates and others who ... ignore official reports and contradictory
facts." Incidents that led to the riot and fire are under
investigation by the state Department of Corrections and State Police.
Source of illnesses unknown -- At the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex
at Fredonia, James Tolley, the public health director at Pennyrile District Health Department, said his staff
has investigated three cases in 2009 in which inmates had gastrointestinal
distress. In one instance in the spring, Tolley said, as many as 300 inmates
fell ill there. State Corrections Department spokeswoman Cheryl Million
said a foodborne illness was suspected, but it could not be verified in lab
tests. Tolley said that even though lab results did not confirm that food
was the problem, his staff advised food service employees on safe food
handling. Yonts said he is looking into those
cases. "Inmates do complain about Aramark," Million said.
However, she said, there were similar complaints before Aramark took over
food service. The Department of Corrections receives, on average, 21 food
grievances among 13 institutions each month, she said. The state pays
Aramark $2.63 for each inmate each day, Million said. Yonts
said he also has received complaints about the food at Blackburn
Correctional Complex in Fayette County. Yonts'
legislation barring private companies would not apply to canteens where
inmates at state prisons can buy food, to local jails or to food provided
to inmates being transferred from one prison to another.
September 2, 2009 Herald-Leader
Last month's riot at Northpoint Training Center was at least the second
inmate protest at the medium security prison in the past two years. The
other disturbance occurred in October 2007, when 60 to 70 inmates staged a
sit-in inside the prison yard to complain about prison food and canteen
prices, according to an accreditation report completed in February by the
American Correctional Association. In the Aug. 21 riot, inmates burned and
damaged buildings at the Boyle County facility. Several were a total loss.
Eight guards and eight inmates received minor injuries. Since then, some
prisoners and their families have contacted the Herald-Leader alleging that
the quality and price of prison food and canteen items continues to be a
source of unrest at the prison and may have played a role in the riot.
However, Justice Cabinet Spokesperson Jennifer Brislin
said a Northpoint official responsible for handling inmate grievances told Brislin she had received no information from inmates
that indicate concerns over food service or the canteen led to last month's
disturbance. At Northpoint, "there are nutritional standards and
calorie levels that must be met, and there is a certified dietitian who
reviews the menus, so inmates are being offered nutritionally balanced
meals," Brislin said. A spokeswoman for
Aramark Correctional Services, the private company that operates the
prison's food services and canteen, said the company had “no indication”
that inmate concerns about food service or high canteen prices had anything
to do with the Aug. 21 riot. “We serve meals that are healthy and
nutritious,” said Sarah Jarvis, the spokeswoman. She said the food meets
all state and federal standards and that canteen prices have to meet the
approval of prison administration. Incidents that led up to the riot and
fire are still under investigation by the state Department of Corrections
and State Police. A report on the cause of the riot may not be complete for
weeks, said Brislin, because 700 inmates were
transferred to other facilities throughout Kentucky, making conducting
interviews difficult, she said. About 500 of the prison's 1,200 inmates are
now living in two dorms. During the 2007 disturbance, the prison's
accreditation report said protesting inmates "quickly dispersed"
when security staff "assembled with video cameras" to document
who was involved. Two inmates filed grievances concerning food service and
the canteen after the 2007 incident, the report said.
Northwest
Missouri State University, Maryville,
Missouri
September 14, 2011 Maryville Daily Forum
Northwest Missouri State University's Board of Regents has wasted little
time in addressing findings delivered in a state audit declaring that the
school violated the Missouri Constitution by failing to solicit competitive
bids from its food service, facilities maintenance and bookstore vendors.
Instead of bidding out the contracts as required by state law, Northwest
extended arrangements with Aramark and Barnes & Noble for years in
exchange for $1.5 million in donations to the Northwest Foundation to fund
football stadium improvements. In a formal response to the State Auditor
Tom Schweich's findings, Northwest President John Jasinski
committed the university to a competitive bidding process that would end
with the awarding of new vendor contracts within 24 to 36 months. The
regents, however, moved that deadline forward last week, pledging to begin
the request-for-proposal process as soon as October with a goal of having
new facilities management and bookstore contracts in place by the end of
next summer. Awarding a new food service contract will take a bit longer,
but Northwest finance chief Stacey Carrick said she expects a deal to be in
place by May 2013. Getting its fiscal house in order could be expensive for
Northwest. Current contracts provide for prorated refunds of vendor
donations if contracts are not extended through 2017. However, Carrick said
such penalties will not be a factor as Northwest moves forward with new bid
requests. University Counsel Scott Sullivan said staggering the contract
awards is necessary in order to avoid logistical problems associated with
making major changes in connection with key student services all at once.
Negotiating three major vendor deals at the same time, he said, could
create "real conflicts with a very short amount of time to deal with
them." Sullivan added that completing the contract award process in
about 18 months ― as opposed to two or three years ― should
serve as a strong statement that Northwest is acting in a timely fashion to
address audit findings that suggest sloppy fiscal management on a number of
fronts. In addition to trading contracts for stadium money, Northwest is
also said to have committed fiscal improprieties by using $3.3 million over
three years to subsidize the non-profit Northwest Foundation, another
constitutional violation. Also, following his retirement, former university
President Dean Hubbard apparently received more than a quarter-million
dollars in cash payments and other benefits for which few or no services
were rendered ― yet another violation of state law.
Nueces
County Jail, Nueces County, Texas
September 29, 2008 KRIS TV
The Nueces County sheriff is asking the company that makes the county
jail inmates' meals to change its policies after a knife disappeared from
the jail kitchen last week. Knives are kept under lock and key by the food
manager's office in the Nueces County Jail kitchen. Yet, on Sept. 19, the
jail realized a knife was missing early in the morning. Nueces County
Sheriff Jim Kaelin said both the jail and the
McKenzie Annex went into immediate lockdown. "We searched from the top
floor to the bottom floor, every cell, every nook, every cranny where
someone might be able to hide a utensil such as that," Kaelin said. Even so, they still have not found the
knife. Kaelin pointed out that if an inmate
really wanted a knife, they would just make one. "I feel very
confident the knife is no longer in our facility," Kaelin
said. He explained that the most likely scenario was that the knife was laying
on a table and somehow was knocked into a trash receptacle. Then, it was
carried and dumped into an outside dumpster. The experience has prompted Kaelin to ask Aramark, the company contracted to make
the food, to change the way it operates. "The policy needs to be
changed. Their current system failed and I cannot afford to have them in
our kitchen and have that system fail," Kaelin
said.
September 27, 2008 The Caller
A search of Nueces County Jail and Annex cells failed to turn up a chef's
knife missing from the jail's kitchen. Sheriff Jim Kaelin
said the knife was discovered missing the morning of Sept. 19. The cutlery,
which belongs to jail food provider Aramark Corp., was supposed to be kept
in a locked box and logged out for use by kitchen contractors. All of the
company's knives have different color handles so that they are easy to
identify, Kaelin said. "Once we knew it was
missing, we locked down the jail and conducted a cell by cell
inspection," Kaelin said. "No knife was
uncovered in our operation. It's a big enough knife that it would be
difficult to conceal in any of the cells we have. It was either taken by
one of their employees or it fell off a table into the garbage bin and then
was thrown into the Dumpsters." Aramark sent a memo to Kaelin stating that proper sign-out procedures were not
followed and that disciplinary actions and corrective training were taking
place with the employee responsible. The company also is revising its
policy to include that kitchen knives will be tethered to work stations, Kaelin said.
Oak Grove School, Macon County,
Illinois
April 15, 2011 Herald-Tribune
Vershaw Patton, a 21-year-old felon formerly
employed as a food service worker at Oak Grove School, was arraigned
Thursday in Macon County Circuit Court on a charge of aggravated criminal
sexual abuse for allegedly having sex with a girl younger than 16. Patton's
cousin, Darren P. Edmonds, 22, was arraigned on the same charge, for
allegedly having sex with a girl younger than 14 in Patton's van. If
convicted, Patton and Edmonds each face up to seven years in prison. Patton
worked for Aramark Food Services at the school from September 2010 until
January, said Chris Herbert, spokeswoman for the Decatur School District.
When contacted by a police detective by telephone immediately before his
arrest April 5, Patton said he was working at Oak Grove School that day
until 3 p.m., according to a sworn statement by the detective. The
detective, Kristopher Thompson of the Macon County Sheriff's Office, then
drove to the school, at 2160 W. Center St., at 12:25 p.m. When Thompson
arrived, he spotted Patton driving a van away from the school parking lot.
As Thompson followed Patton in his unmarked car, his phone rang. As Patton
drove from the school lot toward his home a few blocks away, he told the
detective he was still busy working at the school and offered to meet him
after his shift ended at 3 p.m. Thompson then conducted a traffic stop,
arresting Patton after he pulled into his driveway in the 2400 block of
West Division Street. The mother of the girl who allegedly had sex with
Patton informed the sheriff's office that Patton had told her daughter that
he was an 18-year-old virgin. Patton had picked up the victim at her
friend's house before having sex with her in the van. The girl gave police
Patton's phone number, and her mother gave them his license plate number.
Passaic
County Jail, New Jersey
February 19, 2006 Herald News
Passaic County Jail inmate prayers -- and stomach rumblings -- have
been heard. Sheriff Jerry Speziale is firing the
jail's meal provider, Aramark, and inmates will take charge of the kitchen
come May, Speziale spokesman Bill Maer said Friday. "We can do it as well as them at
this point," he said. The company's $1.7 million annual contract is
being terminated because of poor "quality, service,
attentiveness," said Maer. Jail officials
haven't estimated how much they will save by cooking in-house, and the
financial aspect is secondary, said Maer. Inmates
said the food is cold, measly in portion size, not varied enough and served
on dirty trays, forcing some to pay as much as $200 a month on pre-packaged
food from the jail's commissary. The Philadelphia-based vendor was the only
bidder for the contract and company executives have since 2002 contributed
at least $3,700 to Speziale's campaign, according
to election reports. Speziale had advised the
company twice over the past year to step up food quality and
professionalism or lose the contract. Earlier this month, an Aramark
employee at the jail was charged with selling marijuana to inmates. The
federal government began an audit -- its second within four years -- into
possible mistreatment of detainees and substandard jail conditions at
Passaic. The audit is due for release by April. Maer
said the firing of Aramark is unrelated to the audit. Three jail inmates
said Friday they believed Speziale's decision is
designed to appease a growing chorus of inmate complaints about
unacceptable jail conditions, in his quest to secure more federal and state
inmates in 2006. Housing those inmates provided $20.9 million to the
department last year.
February 5, 2006 NorthJersey.com
A food service employee at the Passaic County Jail was arrested Saturday
and charged with smuggling marijuana to inmates. Three weeks ago, an
anonymous source tipped jail investigators that Roody
Preval, 18, of Spring Valley, N.Y., could be
selling marijuana to jail inmates, according to Bill Maer,
a spokesman for the Passaic County Sheriff's Department. Employed by
Aramark Food Services, Preval had been working as
a warehouse supervisor at the Passaic County Jail on weekends since July
15. Investigators searched Preval when he
reported to work at 12:10 p.m. Saturday, and they found three grams of
marijuana hidden in a Newport 100 cigarette box. Preval
was charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession of
marijuana, possession of marijuana 1,000 feet from a school, and conspiracy
to provide an inmate with contraband knowing that the contraband was
illegal.
January 20, 2006 Herald News
Under pressure from inmates complaining about the quality of jail
cuisine, Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale
may terminate a $1.7 million food service contract with facility's current
provider, Philadelphia-based Aramark. "The sheriff is holding
Aramark's feet to the fire regarding the food quality issue," Bill Maer, spokesman for the Passaic County Sheriff's
Department, said Thursday. Speziale's threat this
week issued to Aramark is his second - last June he changed the company's
contract from annual to month-to-month and told Aramark officials the firm
needed to improve food quality and increase the menu variety, Maer said. Speziale's promise
to re-evaluate Aramark's competency came after a 2 p.m. meeting on
Wednesday with a group of about seven U.S. Marshals Service inmates over
grievances, which included the poor quality of the food served at the
county, Maer said. Much of the changes demanded
from the food service company could be traced to a long-simmering
controversy over the poor quality of the meals being served at the county
jail. A letter dated Jan. 7 from an anonymous group of U.S. Marshals
Service inmates said the meals are cold and too cheap to be nutritious.
April 2, 2005 Herald News
The Passaic County Jail may drop its $1.4 million-a-year contract with the
food vendor Aramark. "At this point, the department is
considering making alterations or terminating the contract," said
Sheriff's Department spokesman Bill Maer.
"Although the department feels that the vendor has been deficient in
many areas, at this point a final decision has not been made."
"Preliminarily, yes, (jail officials) have said that we could do it
cheaper and better," said County Administrator Anthony DeNova.
Pennsylvania
Legislature
May 16, 2011 AP
The cafeteria in Pennsylvania's Capitol is reopening under new management
18 months after it was briefly shut down by a rodent infestation. The
Patriot-News of Harrisburg reports a local company is reopening the
cafeteria Monday as Capitol Restaurant by C&J Catering. The caterer
took over control of the cafeteria after food services giant Aramark
scraped its three-year lease in December. The state Department of Health
shut down the cafeteria for two weeks in December 2009 over a rodent
infestation. It soon reopened but more problems were discovered a month
later during an unannounced walkthrough. Catering company owner Jamie
Berger has been selling salads and sandwiches from kiosk outside the
cafeteria for the last month. She says her employees will conduct weekly
health inspections so previous problems don't return.
January 4, 2010 Tribune-Democrat
State employees and visitors can again buy food and coffee in the
Capitol cafeteria. The privately run eatery at the state Capitol opened its
doors Monday morning after being shut down for more than two weeks for a
cleanup. State inspectors had found mouse droppings and other health
hazards. Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. holds the contract to operate the
cafeteria on the ground floor of the statehouse. Officials acknowledged
that the cafeteria had not been inspected for four years, even though state
law requires annual inspections. The cafeteria will be inspected monthly
for the next six months, they said.
December 18, 2009 Tribune-Democrat
The cafeteria in Pennsylvania’s Capitol was shut down and workers
scoured the facility Friday after health inspectors found evidence of a
rodent infestation and dishwashing water that wasn’t hot enough. The
ground-floor cafeteria, a popular coffee and lunch spot for visitors to the
statehouse and people who work there, was closed Thursday after state
Department of Agriculture officials made an unannounced inspection. “There
were mouse droppings around the facility too numerous to mention,” said
Justin Fleming, a spokesman for the state Agriculture Department. Aramark
Corp., the Philadelphia-based food service company that runs the cafeteria,
said the problems were being corrected.
Pueblo County Jail, Pueblo, Colorado
October 23, 2007 Pueblo Chieftain
A cook at the Pueblo County jail was arrested Friday for allegedly
smuggling in drugs. Colleen Ann Frazier, 33, was arrested on suspicion of
unlawful possession of a controlled substance and introduction of
contraband. She is free after posting $15,000 bail Saturday. Frazier was
the second person affiliated with the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department to
be arrested in the same day. Deputy Joetta Iles was arrested under
suspicion of attempted sexual assault and other crimes after she allegedly
solicited a high-school girl over the Internet. Iles was a student resource
officer at County High School. Iles was placed on unpaid administrative
leave and posted $10,000 bail the same day. Frazier, who was working in the
kitchen during dinner at the time of her arrest, had a white envelope
containing 10 pills, five each of Vicodin and Percocet, Capt. Leide DeFusco of the Pueblo
County Sheriff's Department said Monday. The envelope was found in
Frazier's work apron following Friday's dinner, he said. "I don't know
if she was selling them. I know she was distributing from the kitchen while
she worked," DeFusco said, adding that the
manner of alleged distributions was part of an ongoing investigation. He
said more arrests could be likely. The sheriff's department teamed with the
Pueblo Police Department narcotics unit on the investigation and arrest.
Frazier, who lives in the 2000 block of West 11th Street, is an employee of
Aramark Food, a private company the sheriff's department has contracted with
for six years to prepare jail meals, according to a press release. Frazier
and another unidentified Aramark employee had their security clearances
revoked. Sheriff Kirk Taylor said he was pleased with the investigation and
that the screening process for civilian kitchen staff could change. He also
said the county's contract with Aramark will expire soon and food-provider
bids will open in November.
October 21, 2006 The Pueblo Chieftain
The latest round of campaign finance reports on Pueblo County races reflect
a trio of David-and-Goliath contests, at least in financial terms. In the
race for sheriff, incumbent Republican Dan Corsentino
has raised $133,500 and spent $100,000 as of last week. His Democratic
challenger, Kirk Taylor, has raised $41,424 and spent all but $800 of it. Corsentino, who has been sheriff since 1990, had
$49,000 in his campaign treasury a year ago and has raised more than
$85,000 this year. His most recent report, covering contributions through
Oct. 12, includes $1,000 contributions from Transcor
America LLC, Aramark political action committee and Motorola PAC, as well
as $1,000 each from local residents Keith and Sharon Swerdfeger,
Daniel Montano, Thomas Rusler, Gary and Georgia
Walker, Larry Mizel of Denver and Richard Lucibella
of Oceanridge, Fla. Transcor
is a large prisoner transportation company and Aramark is another large
company, which has the contract for food service at the county jail.
Putnamville
Correctional Facility, Putnamville,
Indiana
February
15, 2013 tribstar.com
Indiana
Dept. of Correction — PUTNAMVILLE – Aaron Flora, 44, of Brazil was arrested
on Feb. 14 for attempting to traffick with an
offender at the Putnamville Correctional
Facility. When Flora arrived to work Thursday morning, Correctional
Officer Sharon Wernick was monitoring the
facility’s x-ray machine and observed what appeared to be a package
concealed in a can of coffee that he was attempting to bring into the
facility. A search of the container and of Flora revealed four cell phones,
a large quantity of tobacco, and rolling papers. During an interview with
Correctional Police Officer Troy Keith, Flora admitted to trafficking
stating that the items were intended for offender Jason Wyttenbach,
40, from Indianapolis. Flora was arrested and transported to the Putnam
County Jail on a preliminary charge of trafficking with an inmate, Class C
felony. Wyttenbach is being held in
administrative segregation and could face criminal charges pending the
outcome of an investigation. He is currently serving multiple felony
sentence. His projected release date is September 8, 2016, for a felony
conviction of theft and fraud. Flora has been employed at Putnamville since November 2011 as an Aramark
contractual worker. “Volunteers, State and Contractual staff receive
extensive training in offender manipulation tactics and how to avoid them.
Unfortunately, some still succumb to offender coercion to traffick and betray their obligations,” Superintendent
Stanley Knight said in the release. “In a prison environment, it’s not a
question of ‘if,’ but ‘when’ your illegal activity will be detected … and,
not a question of ‘if’ criminal charges will be pursued, but ‘how long’ of
a sentence you may receive.”
February 9, 2011 Banner Graphic
A Brazil man has pled guilty to drug dealing. Seth M. Curtis, 23, will
be sentenced March 7 on one count of Class B felony dealing in a narcotic
drug. Curtis worked for Aramark Food Services, the company that provides
meals for offenders at the Putnamville
Correctional Facility. Curtis was originally charged with Class A felony
dealing in a narcotic drug and Class C felony trafficking with an inmate.
Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley has taken under
advisement a plea agreement that reduces the A felony to a B felony and
dismissed the trafficking charge. A Class B felony is punishable by up to
20 years in prison. Curtis was a supervisor with Aramark. An investigation
into his possible trafficking activity at Putnamville
was launched after prison officials received a tip that Curtis was involved
in trafficking with Aryan Brotherhood members at the prison.
September 3, 2010 Banner Graphic
A Brazil man who worked for Aramark Food Services, the company who provides
meals for offenders at the Putnamville
Correctional Facility, has been charged with two felonies connected to
trafficking with an inmate. Seth M. Curtis, 22, was formally charged in
Putnam County Circuit Court with Class A felony dealing in a narcotic drug
and Class C felony trafficking with an inmate. At his initial hearing,
Curtis pled not guilty to both charges. His bond was set at $40,000 cash,
and as of Thursday he remained lodged in the Putnam County Jail. Curtis
requested a public defender, and Joel Wieneke was
assigned to the case. A pretrial conference was set for Oct. 14. Court
records said Curtis, who was a supervisor for Aramark, was interviewed by
officers on Aug. 25 in the Internal Affairs Office at the prison after
prison officials received a tip that Curtis was trafficking with Aryan
Brotherhood members there. "During the interview Mr. Curtis did admit
to trafficking with offender (James) Campbell," a narrative prepared
by Putnamville Correctional Facility Correctional
Officer Quentin Storm said. Campbell, 37, was convicted in Fulton County in
October 2005 on two counts of Class B felony dealing in cocaine or a
narcotic drug. His earliest possible release date is listed on the Indiana
Department of Correction Web site as June 25, 2015. Curtis told Storm he
had received a cell phone call from Campbell earlier that day instructing
Curtis to "being in the package when he comes into work around 2
p.m." Curtis had smuggled that package into the prison. It was
concealed under his testicles, and he voluntarily surrendered it. Storm's
report described the package as "a horseshoe-shaped, clear plastic
parcel containing what was identified by Mr. Curtis as tobacco." Also
in the parcel, the report said, were two smaller parcels wrapped in black
electrical tape. Curtis told Storm he had received the parcel from "an
unknown black man in Indianapolis behind a 7-11 store on Michigan Street at
the direction of offender Campbell. Curtis was not sure what was inside
these parcels, but indicated he believed the substances were
narcotics." When the parcels were unwrapped, officers found three more
parcels wrapped inside balloons. The substance contained in the balloons
was field tested and determined to be heroin -- a total of 13.9 grams.
Curtis told Storm he had been trafficking with Campbell for about seven
months. He said he was paid $300 via Western Union each time he brought a
package into the facility. "He could not give me an estimated amount
of money he has been paid for trafficking because there were too many
incidents to recall," Storm said in his report.
January 31, 2006 Banner Graphic
A new crackdown on contraband inside the prison and a partnership with the
Putnam County Sheriff's Department led to the arrest of a Putnamville Correctional Facility staff member Monday. Putnamville Public Information Officer Jim Ebey told the Banner Graphic Monday the arrest of
Michelle Lynn Targett, 35, Terre Haute, a contract employee with Aramark
food services, came after several corrections officers at the facility were
recently deputized by the Putnam County Sheriff's Department. Targett is
charged with bringing tobacco into the facility with the intent to
distribute it to offenders. She faces a fine of $5,000, Ebey
explained. The internal affairs officers, who had been made special Putnam
County deputies on Friday, had been targeting Targett after receiving a tip
from another staff member. "A lot of information comes from offenders,
and the (internal affairs officers) take those tips and try to put together
what is truth and what isn't, and then act on it," Ebey
said of how the prison handles trafficking issues.
Richard Bolling Federal Building, Kansas City, Missouri
November 5, 2009 InfoZine
Matt J. Whitworth, United States Attorney for the Western District of
Missouri, announced that the former food service director at the Richard
Bolling Federal Building in Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty in federal
court to assisting an illegal alien who was using a false Social Security
number in order to work in the cafeteria. Christopher Wenell,
44, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S.
District Judge Greg Kays this afternoon to a federal information that
charges him with Social Security fraud. Wenell
was the Food Service Director for Aramark Services, Inc., the contractor
which operates the cafeteria in the federal building. Wenell
admitted that he recruited Luis Carreon, an illegal alien from Mexico, to
work for Aramark. Between Dec. 9, 2005, and Sept. 25, 2007, Wenell assisted Carreon in using false Social Security
cards by re-employing him, knowing that the Social Security cards were false.
In a separate but related case, Carreon was sentenced to two years of
probation after pleading guilty to Social Security fraud and identity
theft. In other related cases, former Aramark employees Felipe Carreon and
Francisco J. Munoz-Carmona, also illegal aliens from Mexico, and Nilda A.
Franco and Fania L. Garza, both illegal aliens
from Guatemala, also pleaded guilty and were sentenced on similar charges
contained in a series of indictments returned on Nov. 6, 2007.
Ryerson
University
February 14, 2013 thestar.com
Ryerson University faculty are outraged with the
school’s decision to pony up more than $5.6 million to cover the losses of
a food services company it employs — and they’re determined to hold the
administration accountable. Anver Saloojee, president of the Ryerson Faculty Association,
said members were upset to read in the Star Wednesday that Ryerson has
incurred losses for Aramark Canada Ltd., which runs the cafeterias and
catering operation. “Faculty are not happy with what has been revealed,”
the professor of politics and public administration said Thursday. “We have
every right to hold the administration to account for a $5.6 million
shortfall that they had to pay Aramark for the last five years.” The
association represents more than 800 members including faculty,
professional librarians and professional counselors. The executive will
meet Feb. 26, where it will discuss next steps. As the Star reported
Thursday, students are also unsatisfied. Among Saloojee’s
concerns are where the funds came from, why the university amended its
contract with Aramark in 2006 agreeing to take on the risk, and why an
audit wasn’t done looking into the quality and value of Aramark’s goods and
services. Particularly perplexing is that all departments were asked to
identify 3 per cent in potential cuts from their operating budgets — yet
the university found millions to give to a private company. “I have been
hearing over the last day or two from faculty who say simply, ‘We’re being
asked to cut and we’re paying Aramark . . . something doesn’t feel right
and sound right.’” Ryerson officials have said the university, with a small
base of students resident on the campus and
competition from hundreds of downtown restaurants, does not expect to make
money from foodservice operations. Saloojee said
he was assured by the administration that the funds covering the losses
didn’t come from the university’s general operating budget, a response that
“can be seen as smoke and mirrors,” he said. The university is paying the
losses from its business services fund — money it earns, in part, off meal
plan students who buy food at the campus’s only two student-run eateries.
“Wherever the money comes from, it’s coming out of Ryerson’s overall pool
of money,” Saloojee said, noting universities are
chronically underfunded. “I have a lot of problems with that . . . because
that money could be put to use somewhere else.”
Salem Hospital, Salem, Oregon
June 9, 2011 AP
Salem Hospital is unhappy with the work of a private contractor, so it
will use the commercial laundry at the Oregon State Penitentiary to clean
its microfiber mop heads. Spokeswoman Julie Howard told the Statesman
Journal that mop heads were coming back smelly and crusty from Aramark
Uniform Services and couldn't be used. She says the hospital already
contracts with the prison laundry for bed linens and staff scrubs and is
happy with the inmate labor. A spokeswoman for Aramark in Philadelphia says
it stands behind the quality of it service.
Santa Rosa County Jail, Santa Rosa County, Florida
April 9, 2010 Panama City News-Journal
A Milton woman who worked at the Santa Rosa County Jail is suspected of
taking items that belonged to inmates. Tammy Murvine,
43, of the 7800 block of Marlette Drive is charged with grand theft, petty
theft and fraud. She was in jail Thursday under $16,000 bond. Murvine, who was arrested Wednesday, is an employee of
Aramark and was assigned to work in the inmate property room. She was hired
Feb. 4. In February, inmates released from the jail started to complain
that some of their belongings were missing. The items included jewelry,
food stamp cards, a wallet and cigarettes, according to a Santa Rosa County
Sheriff's Office report. The Sheriff's Office interviewed Murvine on March 24. She admitted to taking jewelry and
money from inmates but said she did not steal the other missing items,
according to the Sheriff's Office report. The report said Murvine previously worked at a nursing home and was
fired after she was accused of stealing jewelry from residents.
Sheboygan
County Detention Center, Sheboygan,
Wisconsin
June 6, 2009 Sheboygan Press
A two-time convicted sex offender is going back to prison after
resuming a sexual relationship with a former Sheboygan County jail worker
who was fired for having sex with him in 2007. The relationship is detailed
in the case file of Wydell J. Vaughn, a
28-year-old Sheboygan man sentenced Thursday to a year in prison. Vaughn
was out of prison for all of three days before authorities discovered the
relationship and put him back behind bars. Court records say Vaughn met
Tammy Green, 37, while incarcerated at the Sheboygan County Detention
Center in 2007. Green, who was married, was a kitchen worker employed by
Aramark, which contracts to provide jail foodservice. Vaughn denied having
sexual contact at the jail, but the two began having sex shortly after his
release in August 2007, and Green was later fired for having the
relationship, court records show. The two were found out when Vaughn called
Green’s supervisor to complain their relationship couldn’t move forward
since she wouldn’t leave her husband. That relationship — along with other
probation violations such as unapproved contact with minors and frequenting
parks — led to Vaughn being sent to prison for two years in November 2007.
He was released Feb. 24 to a halfway house. Before his release, Vaughn was
repeatedly told he could not have contact with Green, and all sex offenders
must have relationships approved by a probation agent, but he reestablished
contact the day he was released, court records show. Green visited him at a
halfway house that day and the next, then had sex with him on the 26th when
Vaughn was let out to buy clothes for a court appearance on the 27th. A GPS
monitoring bracelet showed the pair drove throughout Sheboygan and also
left the city. Green then went with Vaughn to the court hearing, and the
two were seen kissing in the courthouse hallway, court record show. Vaughn
later called his probation agent from Green’s phone, and Green called the
probation agent and identified herself as his girlfriend after he was
arrested for having contact with her. That arrest came on Feb. 27, three
days after he had been released from prison. He was kept in jail on a
probation hold until being sentenced Thursday by Judge Timothy Van Akkeren. Sheriff Mike Helmke said Green was not a
county employee, though jail administrators have a say in who can work
there. “We conduct a pre-hire background investigation, but other than that
the supervision and employment standards and everything are pretty much
regulated by her employer,” Helmke said, adding that Aramark made the
decision to fire Green. Vaughn was convicted twice in 2002 of felony
second-degree sexual assault for having sex with 14- and 15-year-old girls
in 2001, when he was 20. He has served a total of more than five years in
prison in the cases, all but two years of it resulting from probation
violations.
Shea
Stadium, New York
May 7, 2007 AP
The New York Mets fan whose back was broken by an apparently drunken
300-pound man who fell on her at Shea Stadium during the team's home opener
has filed a lawsuit because of her injuries. Ellen Massey, 58, says in
court papers that on April 9 she was in the second row of the right field
upper deck near a "visibly intoxicated" man who was "acting
in a rowdy, boisterous and dangerous manner for a long period of
time." Around 3:30 p.m., court papers say, the man, who has not been
found or identified, "in an intoxicated condition fell upon plaintiff
causing her to sustain severe personal injuries." Massey's lawyer,
Stephen Kaufman, said Monday that the fall by the drunk, who was described
as a blond 300-pounder, cracked several of the woman's vertebrae. "He
got up and left," apparently uninjured, Kaufman said. "We have information
that one of the security people might have spoken to him and let him
leave." Two emergency medical technicians sitting directly in front of
Massey gave her first aid and comforted her until an ambulance arrived,
Kaufman said. Massey underwent surgery for spinal injuries at Jacobi
Medical Center and was hospitalized there for about two weeks, Kaufman
said. Doctors put rods and screws in her back and will have to operate on
her again, he said. Massey was at the game with two adult nephews when the
incident occurred between the sixth and seventh innings, with the Mets
behind 5-3. The home team went on the beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-5.
Massey, a Manhattan lawyer, named Sterling Mets L.P., owner of the baseball
team; Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., the beer vendor; the Service
Employees International Union Local 177, whose members are security guards
at Shea Stadium, and "John Doe," the unidentified man who fell on
her, as defendants. Massey's court papers say that Sterling Mets had a duty
to provide reasonable safety for stadium patrons, that Aramark should not
have sold alcohol to spectators who appeared to be already drunk and that
the union employees should have prevented unruly behavior. The lawsuit,
filed Friday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, seeks unspecified money
damages for Massey's injuries. The Mets issued a statement about the
lawsuit saying, "We believe the claim has no merit." Aramark said
it was reviewing the complaint. "We continue to work closely with the
Mets and stadium security personnel in investigating this incident,"
spokeswoman Kristine Grow said.
Shelby
County Correction Center, Memphis, Tennessee
August 18, 2011 Commercial Appeal
Shelby County Commissioners passed a preliminary 5-0 vote Wednesday to
oppose a move to lay off about 31 kitchen workers at the Shelby County
Division of Corrections and give the work to food-service giant Aramark. If
the full commission rejects the contract on Monday, it will be at least the
third time that opposition from employees and a local food vendor has led
commissioners to refuse the cost-cutting plan. The move would save the
county $250,000 per year in its general fund and another $400,000 in the
corrections fund, County Chief Administrative Officer Harvey Kennedy has
said. The commission outsourced food services at the county jail in 2002,
but commissioners have since rejected efforts to do the same with food
services at the state-affiliated prison complex near Shelby Farms. Some
commissioners apparently didn't realize that the outsourcing plan was
included in the annual budget document they approved earlier this year. The
county administration had introduced the plan at a meeting that only a few
commissioners attended. Casting the "no" votes Wednesday were
Walter Bailey, Melvin Burgess, Sidney Chism, James Harvey and Terry Roland.
Kennedy and Aramark representative Jim Hinds said the company had agreed to
hire 21 of the workers and pay them as much as they're getting now -- many
are paid about $16 per hour. Kennedy also said the remaining workers would
go on a list for priority hiring elsewhere in the county and that several
were eligible to retire. Several people expressed skepticism. "If you
believe that they're going to hire these people and keep 'em, I've got some property on the moon that I'd like to
sell you for $2 and eight," said Sammie Walker, 64, a county road
department retiree whose wife, Alice, works in prison food services. Sam Escue, general manager of contractor Consolidated
Foods, said losing the county business would hurt him and expressed doubt
that he could work with Aramark. Representatives from Aramark said they'd
reached out to the company. The workers wouldn't get the same
defined-benefit pension benefits, vacation days and sick days that they get
now, said Kennedy and Aramark human resources representative Karen
Franklin. "The more we delve into this the more shameful I think this
policy is," Bailey said. "I don't know what the administration is
thinking. I hope this is not a trend." Commissioners did vote 3-1 in
favor of a three-year, $12.7 million contract renewal with Aramark to
provide food at the Shelby County Jail and Jail East.
August 17, 2011 Commercial Appeal
Thirty-one county jobs and hundreds of thousands of tax dollars are at
stake as the Shelby County Commission deliberates today on a proposal to
give a $3.2 million contract to food service giant Aramark to prepare meals
at the Shelby County Division of Corrections. Proposals to outsource food
services at the East Memphis prison came before the County Commission in
August 2008 and June 2009 and failed in the face of employee opposition.
But commissioners actually approved the outsourcing concept in an annual
budget document earlier this year. Some commissioners apparently weren't
aware that the budget that they had passed endorsed the plan. The county
administration presented the outsourcing plan at a committee meeting on
June 1, a day when only a handful of commissioners came. Commissioners
present that day agreed to the plan and other cost-cutting measures, and
the matter didn't come up again until after the budget passed. "Some
of us up here were asleep at the wheel, and they slipped this in," the
commission's chairman, Sidney Chism, said last month. The county will save
$250,000 in its general fund and another $400,000 in the corrections fund,
County Chief Administrative Officer Harvey Kennedy said. Several factors
will reduce the harm to employees, Kennedy said. The county is likely to
keep at least two of the 31 workers and several are already eligible for
county retirement benefits. And the government expects Philadelphia-based
Aramark to hire 21 people. The county contracted out food services at the
jail at 201 Poplar in 2002 to Aramark, but employees and organized labor
have protested attempts to do the same at the correction center near Shelby
Farms. The resolution that the administrators are voting on says that
Aramark will pay between $15.97 per hour and $17.36 per hour, plus
benefits. Some workers are worried that pay would be lower. At a hearing
last month, Lawrence Black expressed concern that his hourly wage would
drop from $15.76 now to $9 in the future and said the reduction would be a
tough burden.
July 7, 2011 Commercial Appeal
More than two weeks after the Shelby County Commission finalized its $1.2
billion annual budget, the commission's chairman said some commissioners
didn't realize that the budget endorsed a mayor's administration plan to
lay off 31 food service employees at the Shelby County Correctional Center
and send the work to a private company. "Some of us up here were
asleep at the wheel, and they slipped this in," said the chairman,
Sidney Chism. Commissioner Mike Carpenter said commissioners should have
paid better attention to a list of proposed cost-cutting measures. "It
was right there in the center of the page, week after week after week in
budget discussions," he said. On Wednesday, some of the workers who
are slated to lose their jobs protested to the County Commission. Current
workers lucky enough to get jobs with the private company will likely earn
less than they do now, said Lawrence Black, a 57-year-old food service
supervisor and a labor union steward. He spoke of his hourly wage dropping
from $15.76 now to $9 in the future. "That's going to be a tough burden
on me," he said. County Chief Administrative Officer Harvey Kennedy
said the county is already talking with Philadelphia-based food service
giant Aramark, which has an existing contract to provide food at the county
jails but not the state-affiliated correctional center. Wednesday's
discussion ended with the matter unresolved.
August 1, 2006 Commercial Appeal
When voters in Thursday's general elections are presented their choices
for Shelby County sheriff, there will be two names: the incumbent
Republican Mark Luttrell, and his Democratic challenger, Reginald French.
But there is a Republican lieutenant in the sheriff's department who wants
to tip the balance as a write-in candidate. John Harvey admits he has one
goal: "I'm using all available means to make sure Mark Luttrell is not
sheriff on Sept. 1." On Monday, Harvey sent an e-mail to Shelby County
attorney Brian Kuhn accusing Luttrell and several other members of the
sheriff's office with accepting tickets to a dinner cruise at a Chicago law
enforcement convention from Aramark, the company that has a food services
contract with the county and the sheriff's office. Kuhn said Monday he sent
an e-mail to Luttrell asking about it, and would evaluate Harvey's
complaint. Luttrell said he remembered the dinner, but did not remember if
Aramark paid for tickets. He said he did not believe it would have violated
county ethics policies because the dinner was open to thousands of others
at the convention.
Snyder
County Jail, Selingrove, Pennsylvania
October 17, 2005 The Daily Item
The Snyder County prison board has received a verbal agreement that a food
service company will continue feeding inmates through the end of the year.
The board's one-year contract with Aramark expired Oct. 1, but the county
is presently engaged in a legal battle with the Teamsters Union regarding
last year's hiring of the independent food provider. The issue came about
last fall when the prison board decided to eliminate staff at the prison
who had been preparing meals and hire the company with an aim of saving
about $100,000 a year. The union filed a grievance, claiming the county
violated the labor relations law by cutting eight union positions. The
grievance was upheld by the State Labor Relations Board, but now the county
is appealing. Pending the appeal, the county approached Aramark about
continuing to provide three meals daily even after its contract ended.
March 31, 2005 The
Daily Item
Six months after the Snyder County prison board made a cost-cutting move
replacing four union employees with a food-service company, the state labor
board has ordered the county to reinstate the workers. Teamsters Local 764,
which represents the prison employees, charged the county with unfair labor
practices for hiring Aramark Food Service to provide meals to inmates in
place of four union kitchen employees. The prison board inked a one-year
contract with Aramark Oct. 1, claiming the outside contractor would save
the county about $100,000 a year. The union sought to keep the four
employees on the payroll, but county officials said Aramark had its own
employees. Citing the single meeting between the union and prison board on
the matter, the labor board found "no evidence" the two parties
engaged in mediation and determined the county failed to "bargain in
good faith." In its ruling, the labor board ordered the county to
rescind the contract with Aramark, restore the food service work to the
union, rehire the four employees and pay them lost wages and benefits.
February 10, 2005 Daily Item
Police clad in riot gear were called Tuesday night to assist
Snyder County Jail corrections officers in dealing with 13 hungry and angry
inmates who refused to return to their cells until they received more food.
The prisoners, federal and out-of-county inmates, were in the recreation
room Tuesday evening when they became upset that the commissary failed to
arrive on time, Warden George Nye said. When prison staff tried to move
them back to their cells, he said, 13 inmates refused to budge. About 15
police equipped in full riot gear showed up at the facility at 600 Old
Colony Road. Nye said negotiations with the prisoners began immediately.
The main request from the inmates was for sandwiches, he said. "They
were hungry and angry because they didn’t get the commissary," the
warden said, referring to food items prisoners are allowed to buy with
their own money. Sandwiches were made and brought in for each protesting
inmate. Afterward, the inmates returned to their cells without injury to
anyone involved or damage to the facility, Nye said. The incident lasted
about four hours, he said. The extra food was a concession the warden was
willing to oblige. Nye conceded the inmates had received substantial meals
before Aramark Food Services took over the kitchen a few months ago and
began serving daily meals of 3,000 calories. The switch is saving the
county about $100,000 a year. "We had a heck of a menu before,"
Nye said. Inmates "don’t get the extras, like ice cream, that they
used to get." Teamsters representative Donnie Deivert
said budget cutbacks are putting the corrections officers he represents at
risk.
Somerset
County School Board, Bernards,
New Jersey
February 2, 2010 AAP.com
Four Shore area men have been arrested in an alleged scheme to artificially
inflate bills for school maintenance work that cost taxpayers in Bernards, Somerset County, at least $2.1 million over a
five-year period. Appearing in court here Tuesday were Robert E. Titus Jr.,
52, of Jackson; John Paris, 61, of Middletown's Belford section; Edward
Beach, 52, of Toms River and Gabriel Caponetto,
50, of Howell. Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest announced the
arrests during a news briefing Tuesday morning in his Somerville office,
and said at least two state agencies will review the case. The overbillings
took place between January 2003 and October 2008, and part of the proceeds
supported Titus' gambling habit, according to Forrest. "So far, we've
been able to prove inflated invoices totaling $2.1 million," said
Forrest, who added the amount lost by the Bernards
district probably never will be known, since the exact price of each job,
bid at competitive levels during those years, never was explored through
the bidding process. The scheme was uncovered during a yearlong
investigation. According to Forrest, Titus, as an employee of the
district's facilities-management vendor, Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp.,
submitted inflated bills for various projects performed by Paris'
construction firm and subcontractors. Aramark, a national corporation that
provides similar services to school districts throughout the country, was
unaware of the overbilling and is not charged in the case. Aramark has
since reimbursed the school district for what is believed to be the entire
amount of the thefts, according to Forrest. Aramark also provides
food-service and janitorial work for the district, but the overbilling
concerns mostly maintenance projects, noted Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Chirachilla. "Various projects, things like door
replacement, a boiler, storm-drain replacements," he said. Aramark
pays it back -- Forrest said the investigation began in December 2008,
after the Prosecutor's Office was approached by Aramark and the Bernards school district with word of a long-term theft
against the district by Titus, an Aramark employee. Titus had been the
company's onsite manager in the district since 1999, a position that
enabled him to hire contractors to complete various construction projects
without the district going through the public bidding process. Since 2003,
Titus allegedly used the same contractor — Paris — for all projects,
repairs and maintenance he oversaw. At times, Paris also hired
subcontractors, none of whom is charged in the scheme. "Defendant
Paris then submitted invoices to Titus that would be processed by Aramark
and ultimately submitted to the school district for payment," Forrest
said. "However, unbeknownst to Aramark, the invoices had been inflated
by Titus to allow him to receive monies to which he was not entitled,"
the prosecutor said. The difference between the actual and inflated cost
was then given to Titus as a kickback by Paris as a payment for providing
Paris with a steady flow of work in the district, according to Forrest. The
defendants tried to cover up the thefts by having Paris deposit the
inflated checks into his business account. The checks then either were made
payable to cash and taken to Caponetto, who would
add or substitute his company's name on the payee line, endorse the checks,
cash them and send the money back to Titus, again through a third party. Caponetto was given $100 for each check he cashed.
Checks also were written by Paris with the payee line left blank and taken
to a check-cashing store, Check Cashing Station in Hazlet, where Beach
allegedly entered the check-cashing client database, chose an existing name
at random and entered it on the payee line for Paris. Beach then received a
portion of the check-cashing fee that was normally charged. Discrepancies
spotted -- Forrest said the scheme was uncovered in July 2008, when newly
appointed Bernards School District Business
Administrator Nick Markarian began noticing inconsistencies between
invoices submitted by Titus and the actual work performed. After Titus was
confronted by Schools Superintendent Valerie Goger,
he admitted "doctoring" an invoice, apologized, cleaned out his
office and left the district, according to Forrest. Aramark, Titus'
employer, then launched its own investigation, Forrest stated, turning over
an internal audit to the Prosecutor's Office that revealed approximately
$2.1 million in thefts over the five-plus years. Titus and Paris face
charges of money laundering, theft by deception and conspiracy, while Beach
faces money-laundering and conspiracy charges, as well as charges of
forgery and uttering forged instruments. Caponetto
is charged only with money laundering.
Southern New Mexico
Correctional Facility, Las Cruces, New Mexico
June 19, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
The food services contractor employee who was caught trying to bring drugs
to a Las Cruces inmate was arrested this afternoon, officials said. Candace
Holmes, 20, an Aramark employee, was arrested at about 1:30 p.m. without
incident, according to a news release from the Corrections Department. She
was caught attempting to smuggle 26 grams of cocaine and 46 grams of heroin
into Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility. She was allegedly working
with 31-year-old Frank Morales Jr., who Holmes said was her fiance. Police said she voluntarily surrendered the
drugs on Friday. Holmes is charged with two counts each of trafficking,
conspiracy to traffic and bringing contraband into a prison facility, the
release said. She is being held at the Dona Ana County Detention Center.
Tarrant
County Jail, Texas
For the third time in less than a year, Tarrant County commissioners are
expected Tuesday to award a jail food service contract. The
recommended contractor, Mid-America Services, will provide three daily
meals for about 3,300 inmates. The contract is worth about $3.79 million a
year. Mid-America already runs the jail commissary, which sells
snacks and personal items to inmates. Its chief executive is Jack Madera, a
controversial businessman with long-running ties to several local
politicians, including Sheriff Dee Anderson and Commissioner J.D. Johnson.
Both officials have said Madera is a friend but have pledged that the
friendship will in no way color their decisions about the contract.
Madera was indicted earlier this year on charges of using forged documents
to win a 1997 food-service contract in Kaufman County, but the charges were
dropped. With the expiration date looming, county officials requested
proposals for a new contract, which was ultimately awarded to Aramark
Correctional Services. But inmates and county officials alike had
many complaints about Aramark, which is based in Philadelphia. Aramark
resigned its contract, and Mid-States, as the back-up contractor, resumed
providing food service at the jail. (Star-Telegram, July 20, 2004)
February 25, 2004
Mid-States Services - the Hurst company in line to take over Tarrant
County's jail food contract if the current company fails to do a better job
-- has its own food-quality problems, a former Mid-States manager told
commissioners Tuesday. Emilio Gonzalez, who until January was director
of operations for Mid-States, said the former jail contractor often took
outdated food from its commissary operations and served it to inmates after
removing packaging that listed the freshness dates. "Vendors
need to make a profit, but it doesn't need to be at the county's
expense," Gonzalez told county commissioners Tuesday during their
meeting. Mid-States Chief Executive John Sammons said the allegations
are untrue and blamed them on a competitor that he declined to name.
Sammons said some boxes of outdated food were found in Mid-States' stocks
when the company provided food service to the jail, but he said those boxes
had already been designated for disposal when jailers told the company to
remove them. "This is another desperate attempt by those who
would like to cause Mid- States problems, at a time when the commissioners
are looking at us as a back-up supplier," he said. Last week,
commissioners put current contractor Aramark Correctional Services on 30
days' notice to improve the quality of food and service or be removed from
the contract. Mid-States, which held the jail food contract until
December, was designated as a backup supplier if Aramark failed to meet the
terms. Sheriff Dee Anderson said Tuesday that in the week since the commissioners
issued the ultimatum, Aramark has made improvements and inmate complaints
are declining. Checks of the food service have found improved food
temperatures and larger portions, he said. But the company still has
a long way to go to be acceptable, he said. "If I had to make a
recommendation today, I'd cancel the contract," Anderson said.
As to Gonzalez's allegations about Mid-States, Anderson said he would
discuss them with commissioners. "If any of it is true, it's
disturbing," he said. Gonzalez apologized to commissioners for
not coming forward sooner, and said that during contract deliberations last
fall he was still employed by Mid-States and feared retaliation. He
said he resigned because of concerns about Mid-States' operations. Sammons
said that Gonzalez left Mid-States on good terms to take another job and
that he was disappointed by the comments. An Aramark spokeswoman did
not return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday but has said Aramark
officials believe they are meeting contractual obligations.
Commissioners did not discuss Gonzalez's comments at the Tuesday meeting
because the issue was not posted as an item for consideration. After the
meeting, however, commissioners questioned the timing of the
comments. "I'm always grateful for people to come forward, but
it's odd that he would come forward at this time," Precinct 1
Commissioner Dionne Bagsby said. Precinct 3
Commissioner Glen Whitley said he gave no credence to Gonzalez's comments
and would vote to bring in Mid-States if Aramark did not improve its
service. "It just amazes me that this guy shows up to speak
against Mid-States a week after we put Aramark on 30-days' notice," he
said. Mid-States was the food service operator that served meals to
inmates in the Tarrant County Jail until Aramark won a $3.3 million
contract over Mid-States, Mid-America and Canteen Correctional
Services. Mid-America -- run by former Mid-States executive Jack
Madera -- operates the jail commissary, which sells toiletries and snack
items to jail inmates. Madera has been indicted along with two other men on
charges that they used a forged document to win a jail food-service
contract in Kaufman County. The indictments stem from an
investigation into whether Madera influenced Dallas County Sheriff Jim Bowles
with thousands of dollars in favors before Bowles picked Madera's company
for a $20 million jail commissary contract. The scope has widened to
include Madera's dealings with other counties, including Tarrant and
Denton. (Lawyer Texas Parole)
February 19, 2004
It would be easy to dismiss inmates' complaints about jail food simply as
whining -- not worthy of serious attention because incarceration is not
meant to be a pleasant experience. But in the case of the Tarrant
County Jail and the meals being served by its newly contracted food service
provider, Aramark Correctional Services, the food being distributed to
prisoners not only does not meet the taste test -- it may actually pose
health risks. Inmates have been complaining about the quality of the
food since Aramark began serving the county's four jail sites in December
under a $3.3 million annual contract. In response to the complaints
and boycott of the meals by some prisoners, county purchasing director Jack
Beacham and other county officials went to inspect the food service
operation. Beacham said they saw 17 pans of soured pinto beans,
discovered foods that were being kept at improper temperatures, and
witnessed one employee drop tortillas on the floor and then place them back
on the service line. (Lawyer Texas Parole)
Thompson
Academy, Broward County, Florida
June 23, 2006 Miami Herald
Lunch at Thompson Academy, a youth camp for delinquents in Broward
County, recently featured some unexpected cuisine: maggots. One teenager
decided he didn't like the extra protein on his green beans and complained
to his parents. The parents complained to Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach
County, which then complained to the state's child-abuse hot line. The
Broward Sheriff's Office investigated. The results: Police with pictures of
maggots in the food. The food vendor summarily fired. And the state
Department of Juvenile Justice, responsible for overseeing the camp,
``horrified.'' ''We are outraged and horrified at the quality of food
served to youth at Thompson Academy,'' said department spokeswoman Cynthia
Lorenzo. ``DJJ does not tolerate such improper service to youth in our
care.'' And at least one juvenile judge also is paying attention. Palm
Beach Circuit Judge Ron Alvarez, who has been a frequent critic of conditions
at Juvenile Justice's lockup in his county, said he and other judges are
considering asking the department to find another food service company for
the site. The facility gets its meals from the same company that served
Thompson Academy: Trinity Food Services, based in Homestead. ''The
callousness, the disregard for these kids as human beings made me so
angry,'' Alvarez said of the Thompson Academy investigation, which he heard
about from the county's Legal Aid office. Thompson Academy is a 112-bed moderate-risk
youth camp for troubled boys on the Pembroke Pines campus of what used to
be South Florida State Hospital. It is operated under contract with
Juvenile Justice by Youth Services International, a Sarasota-based youth
corrections company with seven programs in Florida. Jesse Williams, a
senior vice president at Youth Services International, said that on the day
the police arrived to investigate the complaint -- and confirmed the
existence of maggots -- his company immediately fired Trinity Food Services
and bought the boys a new meal of roast chicken and rolls. ''The next day,
we had a new provider in there serving food -- starting with the breakfast
meal,'' Williams said. ``That was the last day they served a meal to kids
at Thompson Academy.'' It was by no means, however, the last time Trinity
served food to kids in state custody. Juvenile Justice currently has $3.7
million in contracts with Trinity, which is responsible for food service at
all 26 of the state's juvenile detention centers, including in Miami-Dade,
Broward and Palm Beach counties, said Lorenzo, the spokeswoman. On average,
Trinity is paid $2.62 per child for every meal served. And Trinity
continues to provide meals to children at other Youth Services
International facilities as well, said Sarah Hada,
a publicist representing Trinity. ''Trinity Services Group takes these
allegations very seriously,'' Hada said in an
e-mail to The Miami Herald on Thursday.
Trenton
School Board, Trenton, New Jersey
June 30, 2010 Star Ledger
Aramark defended its operation of the school district's cafeterias this
week as parents claimed the company gave their children poor quality food
and demanded its contract not be renewed. The parents who complained to the
school board during its meeting Monday included Waldemar Ronquillo, who
distributed copies of a photo he said he took of his son's cafeteria tray
during a recent lunch at Woodrow Wilson School. The Styrofoam tray in the
picture contained a serving of macaroni and cheese, a piece of broccoli and
an unidentified third dish. Two other compartments on the tray were empty.
"Tell me if you guys want to eat that lunch," Ronquillo, the
school's PTO president, said to the board members. "My kids come home
hungry because they don't eat in school. They throw the food away."
"Please, bring some better food for the kids," he said. Other
city residents, including Councilman Manuel Segura, renewed their protests
against the privatization of school services. Aramark took over the food
service last fall, and the district is considering hiring a private
security company to replace its school guards. "I went to one school
where I saw the kids throwing the food in the garbage," Segura said.
"Privatizing hasn't worked. Hold them accountable, or bring someone else
who really cares." The board also heard from Aramark's regional
manager, Alicia Kent, who gave a presentation describing the company's work
since it was hired to help eliminate the district's $3 million annual food
service deficit. Total costs have fallen from $6.8 million last year to
$3.7 million this year, according to her presentation. Aramark rehired 117
former district cafeteria workers at lower pay, as well as a few new
workers, cutting labor costs from $3.7 million to $2.3 million. It spent
$1.7 million less on food, in part by using free government commodities.
The company pushed to enroll more students in the free- and reduced-price
lunch program, and began providing free breakfasts to all students last
November, she said.
Union
County Jail, Union County, New Jersey
July 13, 2010 News-Record
Union County police officers arrested an Elizabeth woman on July 6
following an investigation into tobacco smuggling at the Union County Jail,
officials said. The month-long investigation resulted in the apprehension
and arrest of Shakiedah Payne, 30, an employee of
Aramark, the company that provides food service at the jail. Authorities
said Payne admitted to smuggling contraband in the form of tobacco products
into the jail. She was released pending a court appearance.
University
of Central Arkansas, Conway, Arkansas
August 30, 2012 Northwest Arkansas Business Journal
Former University of Central Arkansas president Allen Meadors
is facing a misdemeanor charge stemming from a deal with food vendor
Aramark. The office of Faulkner County Prosecutor Cody Hiland
filed the charge on Wednesday, nearly a year after the UCA board began an
investigation of Meadors. Hiland
was out of the office Thursday morning and unavailable for comment. Meadors and board Chairman Scott Roussel apologized
last year for not revealing that Aramark offered $700,000 for renovating
the UCA president's home if its contract with the school was renewed.
Several trustees have they didn't know the Aramark offer was tied to the
renewal of its contract with UCA. The trustees said they thought the
$700,000 was a gift. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Wednesday that Meadors' charge was solicitation of tampering with a
public record, which "carries a punishment of up to one year in jail
and a $1,000 fine." Meadors "is accused
of urging a vice president to destroy a letter that said the offer would be
in exchange for renewing Aramark's contract," the newspaper said.
June 19, 2012 AP
University of Central Arkansas officials are saying little about the
resignation of chief of staff Jack Gillean. Gillean has not returned messages left on his cell
phone and a UCA spokesman told the Log Cabin Democrat on Monday only that
Friday’s resignation is not related to an investigation into money given
UCA by food vendor Aramark. Former UCA President Allen Meadors
and board President Scott Rousell each resigned
following revelations that $700,000 given by Aramark last August to
renovate the president’s home was dependent upon Aramark’s contract being
renewed for seven years. UCA spokesman Jeff Pitchford said Gillean’s duties included overseeing the campus police
department and the affirmative action program. Pitchford said interim UCA
President Tom Courtway was not available for
comment.
April 27, 2012 Log Cabin
University of Central Arkansas Faculty Senate members are calling for a
trustee’s resignation. The group voted Thursday on a resolution requesting
Scott Roussel, a real estate business man of Searcy appointed to the board
for a second term in 2008 by Gov. Mike Beebe, to leave his post. The action
follows the board’s approval of a new deal with Aramark, one that would
“wipe clean” $6.7 million in unamortized funds and interest. Roussel voted
to approve the contract along with other trustees as it was presented,
though governing groups on campus said they believed the trustee should
recuse. Thursday’s resolution states that Roussel “was cognizant of the
conditions described by Aramark in the acceptance of $700,000 in return for
a seven-year, no bid contract for food services on the UCA campus...” It
further explains that Roussel “would or should have been aware” of
potential damage to the university’s reputation when he announced the large
“gift” from the university’s food vendor, and did not disclose, by his
account without purpose, that the pledge was contingent upon the renewal of
the company’s contract. The money would have furthered renovations under
way at the UCA president’s home that was occupied by former president Allen
Meadors, who resigned last September after trustees
learned of the stipulation. UCA conducted its own interviews shortly after
the discovery, but then turned the investigation into possible
improprieties by university staff over to Arkansas State Police. State
police gave a “lengthy” case file to Twentieth Judicial District
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland earlier this
month. Hiland said Friday that his office is
still reviewing the file to determine if a criminal act has been committed.
September 23, 2011 Booneville Democrat
A prosecutor Thursday asked Arkansas State Police to investigate the
University of Central Arkansas’ contract with a food vendor that hastened
university president’s departure from the school. The contract with Aramark
included a $700,000 donation for renovations of the president’s residence
contingent upon UCA retaining Aramark as the university’s food service
vendor. The UCA board of Trustees earlier this month voted to buy out the
rest of UCA President Allen Meadors’ contract
after board members apparently felt he misrepresented the offer to them as
a gift. State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said Thursday that Faulkner
County Prosecutor Cody Hiland asked the state
police to investigate the contract. “The request transmitted to us by was
to investigate the contract between the University of Central Arkansas and
Aramark,” Sadler said. “Once the agent is assigned ... his first assignment
will be to meet with the prosecutor and receive some more specific
information.” Hiland did not immediately return a
call seeking comment Thursday. A committee created by the UCA board to look
into the contract issue voted to ask the university’s internal audit office
to review the arrangement.
September 7, 2011 Arkansas Times
"There's right and there's wrong and there's UCA." I don't even
know what that means. I doubt that the Conway insider who uttered it to me
Friday afternoon does either. I use it, though, because it conveys the
relevant utter frustration. A few years ago the University of Central
Arkansas was the hottest college in the state. It was located in a booming
suburban college town. It had a politically astute president. Enrollment
was skyrocketing. Television advertising was Landersesque.
Then that politically astute president, Lu Hardin, got caught cutting
ethical corners to gin up some bonus money for himself to pay gambling
debts. He will be going to prison any day now, surely. The UCA Board of
Trustees, looking around for the anti-Lu, found its man in Dr. Allen Meadors, a campus graduate with experience as a
small-college president and a meek manner. Not long ago I made a crack
about Hardin's ethical wasteland in the presence of a leading UCA staff
member. It angered her. She explained that she loved the school and that it
was steadily righting itself and, essentially, that a smart-aleck press
commentator ought to watch his mouth. But now this: Meadors
was revealed this week to have misrepresented to the UCA board that the
campus food vendor, a company called Aramark, was donating $700,000 to fix
up the president's official home across the street from the campus. The
board, initially as blindly obeisant to administrative happy talk as with
Hardin before, said sure, yes, without delay, we accept this gift for this
most urgent academic need and we authorize preliminary architectural designs
and cost estimates. Then came that pesky reporter for the statewide daily,
famous for bedeviling Hardin, and still wielding the Freedom of Information
law like a switchblade. She asked board members if they had known a little
detail: Aramark actually would donate the money from one hand only if it
was guaranteed that it would reel more money from UCA into the other hand
by getting its food service contract renewed without competitive bidding
for a period at least long enough for a guaranteed realization of enough
profit to get back the gift. Why, no, we didn't know that, said some of
these board members, and, by golly, we are just a little bit ticked. They
called themselves to a special meeting. This was not charity, but
amortizing. It was a food service vendor seeking to escape a new round of
competitive bidding by going into the home improvement lending business on
the side. It was an advance on marked-up grub the kids would eat later in
their hostage environment. I'm advised that this kind of arrangement is not
uncommon. But it ought to be. And if it is common, why conspicuously
neglect to mention it? Meadors, going all-in for
damage control, told the board in this second special meeting that he had
erred and that he would recommend that the school not accept the money as
offered. He recommended that the school open the food service contract for
bidding. The board withdrew its previous approval for a housing allowance
by which Meadors and his wife could rent suitable
quarters elsewhere until the presidential home was renovated. Meadors' wife, a stronger personality, has been
spending quite a bit of time with family in North Carolina. Just 24 hours
later, on Friday afternoon, the board met in special session again, this
time by phone. Then the board reconvened in public and bought out Meadors' contract. The board could have restored Meadors' authority to live temporarily off campus. But
that might simply have kept matters festering — a la Hardin — and nobody
wanted to go through that again. Meadors may be a
bit of a victim, just as UCA. He clearly erred by not revealing the full
nature of the arrangement with the food vendor. But it is entirely possible
that he considered such deals commonplace. He may have felt some pressure
close to home about inadequate living arrangements, the short-term solution
to which got sacrificed in this fast-roiling controversy. So now UCA will
start trying again to right the ship.
September 1, 2011 AP
A $700,000 gift from Aramark to the University of Central Arkansas came
with a condition that Aramark's food service contract with the university
be renewed. At least five members of UCA's Board of Trustees say they did
not know about the condition. A letter from Aramark district manager to UCA
vice president Diane Newton calls the money an unrestricted grant
contingent upon a seven year extension of Aramark's food service contract.
UCA President Allen Meadors told the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette that he takes responsibility for the trustees not knowing
the terms of the gift. Meadors says such
conditions are not unusual. Trustee Rush Harding III told the Log Cabin
Democrat agreed the transaction is common — but said trustees should have
been informed.
Wabash Valley
Correctional Facility, Carlisle,
Indiana
April 14, 2010 Green County Daily World
A Wabash Valley Correctional Facility contracted food service employee
discovered today the recipe for trafficking with offenders includes arrest
and a trip to the Sullivan County jail. ARAMARK employee Chandra Beeman, 28
of Sullivan, Indiana allegedly trafficked a cell phone and 243 grams of
tobacco to offenders she supervised in a facility segregation unit this
afternoon. Alert correctional staff made the discovery after monitoring her
activities and searching the workers. Beeman faces a Class C Felony for
Trafficking a Cell Phone and a Class A Misdemeanor for Trafficking Tobacco.
Internal Affairs Correctional Police Officer Frank Littlejohn's
investigation revealed Beeman made arrangements with offender food service
worker Jerole Adams to traffick
the items into the facility. Adams, 35, and four other offender workers
have been segregated as the probe continues. Adams was sentenced to 40
years on a Dearborn County Dealing Cocaine conviction. Adams earliest
release date is April 2026. Indiana State Police transported Beeman to
Sullivan County for processing after Littlejohn placed her under arrest.
Bond was set at $18,000 with Beeman making bail late Wednesday afternoon.
Beeman's employment with ARAMARK has been terminated. ARAMARK is under
contract to provide food services for the Indiana Department of Correction.
Wachovia
Center, Pennsylvania
An Aramark vendor working at the Wachovia Center has been arrested for the
sexual assault of a teen-age girl after a Sixers-Knicks game. Joseph
Rota, 40, has been charged with attempted rape and related charges in the
March 12 assault, police said. He is accused of forcing a 17-year-old girl
into a service room at the arena and holding her against her will. He also
forced her to perform oral sex on him and attempted to sexually assault
her, police said. (Philadelphia Daily News, March 25, 2004)
Warren
County Jail, Warren, Kentucky
September 24, 2009 WBKO
A Bowling Green woman was put behind bars and two inmates remain there,
after local authorities break up a drug smuggling ring at the Warren County
Regional Jail. Following a joint investigation by Warren County Jailer
Jackie Strode and the Bowling Green/Warren County Drug Task Force,
indictments were returned charging Aramark employee Georgia Mueller with
trafficking in cocaine and promoting contraband. Two inmates were also
charged with complicity to traffic in a controlled substance and complicity
to promote contraband. Tracie Reeder was arrested September 18, and Scottie
Thomas was arrested September 21 in a halfway house in Lexington by
Kentucky State Police. The investigation revealed cash was being paid to
smuggle cocaine, marijuana and tobacco into the jail and then distribute it
to inmates.
Washington,
DC
October 19, 2011 Washington Post
Former Arlington County Sheriff Thomas N. Faust has been tapped by D.C.
Mayor Vincent Gray (D) as acting director of the District Department of
Corrections. Faust, who must be confirmed by the D.C. Council, said at
Gray's weekly news briefing that his years as an elected sheriff have made
him sensitive to community needs. “This is not my jail system,” he said.
“This is the system of the citizens of the District of Columbia.” Faust
retired as Arlington’s sheriff in 2000, less than a year into his third
four-year term, to become executive director of the Alexandria-based
National Sheriff’s Association. He had worked in the sheriff’s office for a
total of 24 years. In Arlington, he is credited with the opening of the new
jail and justice center in 1994, and with implementing innovative programs,
including substance abuse treatment and parenting classes for inmates.
Faust took the helm of the Department of Corrections last week, according
to a biography of him posted on the agency’s Web site. Faust worked most
recently as a public safety consultant, and before that was a vice
president for Aramark Correctional Services.
Westville
Correctional Facility, Westville, Indiana
March 18, 2009 South Bend Tribune
A food service employee was arrested at Westville Correctional Facility
today (Wednesday), accused of smuggling drugs and cell phones into the
prison, according to a news release. Erika Garner, 52, of Michigan City, an
Aramark Food Service employee, was arrested by Indiana State Police on
suspicion of trafficking with an offender and bribery of a public official,
the release stated. During a routine search at the prison’s main gate,
Garner was reportedly found to be in possession of a package of marijuana
and three cell phones and chargers.
Wyandotte County Jail, Wyandotte,
Kansas
The Wyandotte County sheriff closed the county jail's kitchen for 24 hours
after an inspection revealed sanitary and storage problems. Joe
Connor, county health director, said the problems were discovered Thursday
in an annual inspection of the juvenile detention center. Part of that
inspection was the food service area, which also serves adult
inmates. Brad Ratliff, a spokesman for the sheriff, said the health
violations included the buildup of grease and the improper storage of items
in the kitchen, which serves about 450 inmates. The department has a
three-year contract with Aramark Inc. to operate the kitchen. The company,
which is paid about $669,000 annually, is responsible for the
cleaning. (Kansas City, August 28, 2004)
Yarl's Wood, Benfordshire, England
May 23, 2006 The Mirror
A WOMAN was sacked from a detention centre after
a criminal stole her identity. Melanie Dudley has no previous convictions
but her bosses at Yarl's Wood detention centre accused her of concealing a criminal past. She
was sacked on the spot by cleaning contractor Aramark and has since been
unable to find another job. She later found a Scottish offender with a
string of 30 convictions used her name and date of birth as an alias. Mrs Dudley, 35, was sacked from the Bedfordshire centre last February for failing Home Office security
clearance. The Home Office told her she should contact police to try to
clarify the situation. But her Criminal Records Bureau check shows she has
no convictions or cautions. She told the Daily Mirror: "The Home
Office and my bosses won't believe and I can't find any work with this
hanging over me." Aramark said: "It's not company policy to
comment on matters between an individual and the company."
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