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Adams
County Correctional Facility, Natchez, Mississippi
United States of America v. Juan Lopez-Fuentes:
August 8, 2012, 5 pages. Damning FBI statement regarding CCA's Adams County
Correctional Facility where one of its guards was killed during a riot.
Private Prison, Public Problem: June 6,
2012, Jackson Free Press. Excellent piece on how this prison was
built and CCA's operations.
May 13, 2013 www.clarionledger.com
At least one email allegedly
sent by an inmate informant to the chief of security at the Adams County
Correctional Center predicted the riot that broke out the next day
resulting in a guard’s death. Other emails described a “hit list” of prison
guards, one of whom was the guard killed. In a lawsuit filed in connection
with the May 20 riot, the family of Sgt. Catlin Carithers, the prison guard
who was killed, point to these emails and information from the informant as
reason to believe Corrections Corporation of America was negligent in
Carithers’ death. CCA is the Nashville-based parent company of the Natchez
prison. According to copies of the emails obtained by The Clarion-Ledger,
the security chief was warned that the leadership of certain prison groups
wanted to meet with the warden to ask for changes in medical, food,
recreation and laundry arrangements. The emails appear to have been sent to
the prison’s security chief from an inmate who had a cellphone inside the
facility. At 10:14 p.m. on May 19, the email writer says that the situation
is more serious than prison officials seemed to think. He indicated there
would be meetings the next day for the heads of the groups to list their
requests to Warden Vance Laughlin. The email characterizes one of the new
leaders as having a “couple riots on his belt,” and the informant believed
most of the inmates would follow him. “People will be ready 4 war tomorow
(sic), I am not joking,” he writes, going on to say, “Any officer that
disrespect an inmate will be punish (sic).” In the same email, the
informant warns leaders would present changes, and if the facility did not
comply, they “will burn the place down.” He then warns that it would be a
peaceful demonstration, but if the staff interfered, it could “get ugly.”
He ends the email by telling them to get ready, that this was serious, and
could involve as many as 1,600 inmates. Up to 700 inmates are believed to
have participated in the riot. The prison holds nearly 2,500 inmates
convicted of crimes while being in the U.S. illegally. CCA officials would
not comment on the informant’s warnings but condemned the actions of the
inmates. “CCA takes the safety and well-being of our staff very seriously,
and we work diligently to provide our dedicated correctional officers,
chaplains, nurses and teachers the training, security and support systems
they need in this very challenging field,” said CCA spokesman Steve Owen.
“In addition to conducting our own thorough review, we have cooperated
fully with law enforcement throughout their investigation of the incident,
and we support full prosecution of those inmates responsible for this
disturbance. There is never an appropriate justification for an inmate to
instigate and participate in violence against a correctional officer.” Alex
Friedmann, an associate editor at Prison Legal News, said he corresponded
with the informant for several months. He said the informant told him when
Laughlin met with two men he thought were leaders, they assured him there
would be no problem. What the warden didn’t know was that those men were no
longer “shot callers.” “CCA didn’t know and these guys didn’t say they’d
been forced out by the other inmates. They weren’t aware these guys had no
say anymore and no power to control the guys in their groups. The next day
the inmates begin congregating on the yard,” he said. “The guys who were
there at the time took a strong, hard response, and they threw tear gas
from the roof to break up the congregation, and they climbed up on the roof
and assaulted the guards throwing tear gas at them.” Carithers, 24, was on
that roof. According to one of the emails, the writer also told prison
officials Carithers was one of several guards who was on a “hit list,”
designated to be injured or worse if there was any trouble. Inmates stacked
food carts to get to the roof to attack Carithers and the others. During
the riot, fire also broke out. Carithers wasn’t supposed to work on the
Sunday of the riot. He recently had received a promotion to senior
corrections officer that took him off the weekend shift. “They called him
in for backup,” his brother Josey Carithers said at the time. “I know my
brother, and I bet he got in his truck and hauled butt to go help. He was
ready.” Emails supposedly from the inmate to the chief of security a few
days later said he couldn’t accept that someone as young as Carithers died
because of the warden’s “stupidity.” The security chief wrote back saying
he felt terrible about it because he was the one who called Carithers to
come into work on his day off, resulting in his death. The lawsuit brought
against CCA by Carithers’ family is based on the claims that CCA was aware
of the hit list and was aware that officers on the hit list would be
injured or punished. Carithers was not warned when he was called into work
that day. “The inmate informant further asked why the Facility security
officer put Catlin on the front line when the facility administration knew
he would be ‘eaten alive’ by the inmates,” the complaint states. The
complaint also states CCA officials put their guards in further danger by
maintaining a less than adequate staff with underequipped and undertrained
officers. In addition, the complaint states, CCA “further created a
dangerous atmosphere for the correction officers by depriving the inmates
of basic needs and treating them inhumanely.” The suit asks CCA for past
medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional distress, funeral and
related costs, future lost income, future emotional distress, loss of
consortium, attorney fees, punitive damages, prejudgment and post judgment
interest and any other damages warranted under the circumstances. The
family’s attorneys did not return calls for comment, and both the FBI and
the U.S. attorney’s office said they could not comment on the ongoing investigation.
The FBI has said in court records that the riot was started by a group of
Mexican inmates, known as Paisas. Paisas are a loosely affiliated group
within the prison, one of many groups referred to as “nations,” because
they usually congregate based on what country they are from or what
language they speak, Friedmann explained. Several inmates have been charged
with rioting in the case. One of them, Marco Perez-Serrano, has been
identified as the first person to attack Carithers when he hit him with a
food tray. Carithers was beaten to death with a lunch tray.
May 18, 2013 www.clarionledger.com
The Corrections Corporation of
America board chairman reportedly denied a request at Thursday’s annual stockholders
meeting for a moment of silence in memory of murdered prison guard Catlin
Carithers. Monday will mark one year since Carithers was killed after being
called in on his day off to help quell a prison riot at the CCA-owned Adams
County Correctional Center facility near Natchez. Thursday was the first
stockholders meeting since the May 20 riot. Stockholder Alex Friedmann said
when he asked for the moment of silence, CCA Board Chairman John D.
Ferguson refused to honor the request, saying CCA had honored Carithers in
other ways. The meeting was at CCA headquarters in Nashville, where
approximately 30 people stood outside, some with signs, protesting the
privately-run prison company. The meeting inside was formal and
businesslike, Friedman said, as only stockholders, executives and staff are
allowed to attend. Friedman, who said he owns CCA stock in order to
communicate issues with executives, previously served a six year sentence
at a CCA prison and is president of a watchdog nonprofit group that opposes
private prisons called Private Corrections Institute. “In that one meeting
CCA would not give 30 seconds of respect (for Carithers),” Friedman said.
“It speaks volumes how the company thinks of its employees and how it
treats them.” CCA spokesman Steve Owen said in an emailed response that
Friedman “would stop at nothing” to disparage CCA and its employees.
“Yesterday, professional corrections critic Alex Friedman shamefully
attempted to exploit the tragic death of Catlin for his own personal
agenda,” Owens said. “These antics do not honor his memory.” Friedman said
a number of other “activist stockholders” attended Thursday’s meeting,
including members of the Jesuits religious order and other religious
groups. Owens said CCA has “honored his memory in a number of ways, both at
the Adams County Correctional Facility and throughout the company.” The
family of Carithers filed a lawsuit this month in connection with the May
20 riot saying CCA was negligent in Carithers’ death. The lawsuit cites
information from an informant predicting the riot and suggesting Carithers
was on a “hit list.” Friedman said he attended a CCA stockholders meeting
in 2008 when the board honored someone’s memory with a moment of silence,
but he believed the board had a different chairman at the time. “This is
the only time, at the annual meeting, that shareholders could recognize Mr.
Carithers,” Friedman said. Owen said CCA takes the safety and well-being of
the staff very seriously, and the entire CCA family has been “deeply saddened”
by Carithers’ loss. A federal judge recently rescheduled the trial of an
inmate who is accused of being the first person to attack Carithers during
the riot, in which 20 others were injured, for Aug. 19. In other CCA news,
The Natchez Democrat reports that a new company will take over operations
of a facility in Wilkinson County, which is currently run by CCA, in July.
Management and Training Corporation, a Utah-based private corrections
company, reportedly received a five-year contract with the Mississippi
Department of Corrections to operate the facility.
May 2013 Associated Press Newswires
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The family
of a guard killed during a prison riot in Mississippi filed a federal
lawsuit Wednesday that says inadequate staffing and poor treatment created
a dangerous environment at the facility. Correction officer Catlin
Carithers was beaten to death during the May 20, 2012, riot at the
privately run Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez. It took hours
for authorities to control the riot, which grew to involve hundreds of
inmates and injured at least 20 people. The lawsuit was filed in U.S.
District Court in Natchez against Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections
Corporation of America, which runs the prison. A CCA spokesman didn't
immediately respond to phone and email messages Wednesday. CCA
"created a dangerous atmosphere for the correction officers by
depriving inmates of basic needs and treating them inhumanely," the
lawsuit says. It also says that prison officials were told by an informant
in the days before the riot that the situation was becoming volatile and
that the officials failed to warn Carithers that he and other guards were
on an inmate "hit list." Carithers was off the day of the riot
but was called in to help, his family has said. The prison holds nearly
2,500 inmates convicted of crimes while being in the U.S. illegally. The
FBI has said in court records that the riot was started by a group of
Mexican inmates, known as Paisas, who were angry about what they considered
poor food and medical care and disrespectful guards. Paisas are a loosely
affiliated group within the prison, without ties to organized gangs, FBI
spokeswoman Deborah Madden has said. Several inmates have been charged with
rioting in the case. One of them, Marco Perez-Serrano, has been identified
as the first person to attack Carithers when he hit him with a food tray. A
complaint filed by an FBI agent says prisoners took food service carts out
of the dining hall and kitchen and stacked them on top of each other to
climb onto the roof, where Carithers was working. Carithers joined CCA in
2009. His cousin, Jason Clark, told The Associated Press in an interview
after the riot that Carithers was engaged to be married and excited about a
recent promotion that took him off weekend shifts. He had been trained in
recent years as part of the prison's special response team and was called
to work Sunday to help with the uprising, Clark said at the time. The
prison's special response team and the Mississippi Highway Patrol's SWAT
team worked to end the riot while state and area law enforcement officers,
some from neighboring Louisiana, helped secure the outside.
October 12, 2012 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NATCHEZ, Miss. — A federal grand jury has indicted an inmate who authorities
have identified as an alleged instigator of the May 20 prison riot at the
Adams County Correctional Center that left a guard dead. The Natchez
Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/X0841l ) that Yoany Oriel Serrano-Bejarano
has been charged with instigating and conspiring to cause the riot. Court
records say prisoners were angry about their treatment the day the riot
erupted. In September, an FBI agent stated in an affidavit that
Serrano-Bejarano was one of a number of inmates who stacked food carts in
order to reach correctional officers on the roof of one of the prison's
buildings during the riot. Prison guard Catlin Carithers was assaulted on
the roof and later died from his injuries. At least 20 people were injured.
Authorities say Serrano-Bejarano had a prison staff radio during the riot,
assaulted a hostage and contributed to the destruction at the facility. The
prison holds nearly 2,500 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes in the
United States. It's owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation
of America, one of the nation's largest private prison companies. An FBI
agent's affidavit in the case said the riot was started by a group of
Mexican inmates, known as Paisas, who were angry about what they considered
poor food and medical care and disrespectful guards. Paisas are a loosely
affiliated group within the prison, without ties to organized gangs, FBI
spokeswoman Deborah Madden said. Court records show Serrano-Bejarano was
released from prison Aug. 28 for his previous crimes, but has been in
federal custody since Sept. 5. Another inmate, Juan Lopez-Fuentes, pleaded
guilty in August to charges related to the riot and is scheduled to be
sentenced Nov. 19.
September 6, 2012 AP
One inmate has pleaded guilty to participating in a deadly prison riot in
Mississippi, while a second prisoner has been charged in the case. One
guard was killed and 20 people were injured in the May 20 riot at the
privately-run Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, which holds
illegal immigrants convicted of crimes in the United States. Yoany Oriel
Serrano-Bejarano was charged Tuesday. A complaint filed by an FBI agent
says he assaulted a guard and helped other inmates climb onto the roof of a
building where correction officer Catlin Carithers was beaten to death. The
affidavit says prisoners took food service carts out of the dining hall and
kitchen and stacked them on top of each other to climb onto the roof where
Carithers was assaulted. "Serrano-Bejarano has been identified as one
of the inmates who held the food carts so the inmates could access the
roof," the complaint says. The court documents also say that
Serrano-Bejarano assaulted a different guard, was seen with a prison
guard's radio, and destroyed cameras and windows. Serrano-Bejarano is at
least the second inmate charged in the case. Court records did not list an
attorney for him. Juan Lopez-Fuentes pleaded guilty to participating in the
riot during a hearing Aug. 27 in U.S. District Court in Natchez. He faces
up to 10 years in prison at sentencing on Nov. 19. Lopez-Fuentes was
charged with leading a group of inmates who took hostages in one section of
the prison. He forced one of the hostages to relay orders for tactical
teams to drop their weapons and back off, according to court records in his
case. Lopez-Fuentes was serving time for two previous felonies at the time
and was facing deportation. The FBI affidavit doesn't say why
Serrano-Bejarano was being held in the prison, though it says he was
released Aug. 28 and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs
enforcement for deportation. The criminal charge will allow authorities to
hold him pending the outcome of the case. Court records say the prisoners
were angry about their treatment the day the riot erupted. The prison holds
nearly 2,500 illegal immigrants, most of them convicted on charges of
coming back to the U.S. after being deported. The prison is owned by
Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, one of the
nation's largest private prison companies. The FBI says in court records
that the riot was started by a group of Mexican inmates, known as Paisas,
who were angry about what they considered poor food and medical care and
disrespectful guards. Paisas are a loosely affiliated group within the
prison, without ties to organized gangs, FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden has
said. It took hours for authorities to control the riot, which grew to
involve hundreds of inmates and caused an estimated $1.3 million in damage.
The prison's special response team and the Mississippi Highway Patrol's
SWAT team worked to end the riot while state and area law enforcement
officers, some from neighboring Louisiana, helped secure the outside.
August 14, 2012 Commercial Appeal
A deadly riot at a prison for illegal immigrants in Mississippi was started
by a group of Mexican inmates angry about what they considered poor food
and medical care and disrespectful guards, according to an FBI agent's
affidavit. One guard was killed and 20 people were injured in the May 20
riot at the privately-run Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez,
which holds illegal immigrants convicted of crimes in the U.S. The leaders
of the Mexican inmates, known as the Paisas, demanded to take a list of
grievances to the warden that day and told others in the group to disobey
orders from prison staff, according to the FBI affidavit. The affidavit,
filed last week in U.S. District Court in Jackson, is part of a complaint
charging one of the inmates with rioting. Correction officer Catlin
Carithers was beaten to death during the riot, which officials have said
involved as many as 300 inmates and left the prison badly damaged. The
affidavit does not say who killed Carithers. The affidavit says the Paisas
were the most influential group in the prison. But it had recently gone through
a shake-up in its leadership because members thought the old leaders
weren't effective in communicating complaints to prison officials. The new
leaders — Ernesto "Neto" Granados and Juan "Bobby"
Arredondo — allegedly ordered the Paisas to disobey prison staff by
refusing to return to their cells until their demands were met. FBI
spokeswoman Deborah Madden said Paisas are a loosely affiliated group
within the prison, without ties to organized gangs. "The Paisas were
further instructed by their new leaders to destroy the prison if staff made
any attempts to break up the riot," the affidavit said. It says
damages to the prison are estimated at more than $1.3 million. "In
addition to destroying the prison, Paisas planned to assault the correction
officers." At one point, the inmates gained access to a section of the
prison by telling the warden they wanted to go back to their cells, but
they ended up taking more hostages once they got into that part of the
facility, the affidavit said. Other inmates were able to break through a
fence and get a 32-foot ladder, which they used to get on the roof of a
building. That's where Carithers was killed. The affidavit describes a
chaotic scene in which inmates were picking up tear gas canisters and
hurling them back at guards. Some guards locked themselves in safe rooms,
but the inmates used keys taken from other officers to get into the rooms.
They also looted the kitchen and commissary. The affidavit is part of a
criminal complaint that alleges that Juan Lopez-Fuentes was in charge of a
group of inmates who took hostages in one section of the prison.
Lopez-Fuentes allegedly forced one of the hostages, a prison guard, to
relay orders for tactical teams to drop their weapons and back off. The
prison's special response team and the Mississippi Highway Patrol's SWAT
team worked to end the riot while state and area law enforcement officers,
some from neighboring Louisiana, helped secure the outside, officials have
said. The prison holds nearly 2,500 low-security inmates, with most serving
time for coming back to the United States after being deported. The
facility is owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corp. of America,
one of the nation's largest private prison companies.
May 22, 2012 Colorlines.com
A Mississippi jail is on lockdown today after a Sunday night riot left one
prison guard dead and as many as 20 inmates and guards injured. According
to sheriff’s reports, the violence began as a gang feud and soon engulfed
the privately operated facility, which holds 2,500 non-citizens
incarcerated for reentering the United States after deportation and for
other charges. But the fragments of information that have emerged from
inmates and advocates suggest that the violence had more to do with a
pattern of abuse and neglect that has emerged at privately run, for-profit
prisons. The Adams County sheriff’s office and the Corrections Corporation
of America, the behemoth prison company that operates the facility for the
federal Bureau of Prisons, have tightly controlled news of the riot and
what caused it. In statements, officials say the violence emerged out of
thin air and soon “turned into a mob mentality,” according to Adams County
Sheriff Chuck Mayfield. “This could have happened anywhere, anytime,”
Mayfield told the Associated Press. Prison watchdogs say that’s not
necessarily true. What little independent information that has emerged from
inside Adams County Correctional Center suggests a different story—one of
mistreatment and abuse at the hands of guards that may have reached a
breaking point. At 5 p.m. on Sunday evening, an inmate reportedly phoned a
local TV station with a cell phone, sending photos to confirm that he was
indeed held inside the facility. “They always beat us and hit us,” the
prisoner told the local reporter. “We just pay them back. We’re trying to
get better food, medical (care), programs, clothes, and we’re trying to get
some respect from the officers and lieutenants.” According to the news
report, the prisoner said that nine guards had been taken hostage. In an
interview with Colorlines.com, Patricia Ice, who directs the legal program
at the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance, said that her organization
has heard reports of neglect and abuse inside the Adams County facility.
Ice said she received a call last month from a California woman who
reported medical neglect of a family member in the jail. “I got a complaint
from a family member saying that a man had lung cancer and was being
ignored,” Ice said. “Three weeks earlier, he was examined by a doctor and
diagnosed with lung cancer but had not received any treatment at all.”
Prisoners' rights advocates say that the accounts of these inmates are
consistent with documented conditions in private prison facilities around
the country. “Private prisons have a financial incentive to spend as little
as possible in order to make a greater profit,” said Bob Libal of
Grassroots Leadership. Libal is a longtime advocate for the rights of
prisoners held in private facilities. “They skimp on staff salaries and
training, which leads to high turnover rates. They spend as little as
possible on services in order to maximize profit. This mentality leads to
poorly run facilities where abuse, neglect and prisoner uprisings are
common.”
May 22, 2012 Clarion Ledger
A U.S. Representative is calling for an investigation into the Adams County
Correctional Center, where a riot on Sunday left a guard dead and several
other people injured. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is the ranking Democrat on
the House Homeland Security Committee, and thus oversees the Bureau of
Prisons. WAPT-16 reports he has called the inspector general to start the
inquiry into the facility and how it manages inmates. "There are some
issues with the privately run facilities, so I think between the Bureau of
Prisons and the Department of Homeland Security, you will see some
restricting of that process," Thompson said.
May 21, 2012 Clarion Ledger
At least one former employee of the Adams County Correctional Center
said he was sad but not surprised when he heard that things had turned
violent inside the facility. Donnie Hedgepeth of Lincoln County said he
worked there when the facility opened in 2009 until sometime in 2010. He
said he quit his job because he believed the jailers were outnumbered.
"I told everyone before I left, 'I know what's going to happen,'"
he said. "It was too unsafe the way it was. There were too many
prisoners for each guard." Hedgepeth said when he worked there the
ratio was somewhere between 200 and 300 prisoners per guard. There was one
guard per pod of up to 300 prisoners, and three pods per dorm. Each dorm
had one officer per pod, he said. "I don't know that it's still like
that. It could have changed," he said. "But I didn't like working
there. It was too unsafe for me." Emilee Beach, a prison spokeswoman,
did not return an email seeking comment on how many corrections officers
there were as opposed to prisoners.
May 21, 2012 AP
As many as 300 inmates, some of them armed with makeshift weapons such
as broomsticks, rioted at a privately run prison for illegal immigrants,
beating a guard to death and injuring 19 people, a sheriff said Monday.
More than two dozen officers were held hostage at some point during the
hours-long spate of violence Sunday, including a group of 15 who had to be
rescued by special response teams, Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield
said. A gang fight set off the violence, the sheriff said. The guard was
killed on the roof of one of the prison buildings. Sixteen prison employees
were treated for various injuries and released from a hospital. Three
inmates were hurt, officials said. The Adams County Correctional Facility
holds nearly 2,500 illegal immigrants, with most serving time for coming
back to the United States after being deported, said Emilee Beach, a prison
spokeswoman. Some of the inmates have also been convicted of other crimes.
The guard killed was identified as Catlin Carithers, who joined Corrections
Corporation of America in 2009 and was a senior correctional officer, the
Nashville, Tenn.-based company said on its website. CCA is one of the
largest private prison companies in the country. Carithers' cousin, Jason
Clark, said the slain guard was engaged and was excited about a recent
promotion that took him off the weekend shifts. He had been trained in
recent years as part of the prison's special response team and was called
into work Sunday to help with the uprising. "He liked protecting
people," Clark said, adding that his cousin had worked as a volunteer
firefighter. It wasn't immediately clear if the gang fight started between
members of the same gang or rival groups, but the situation escalated
quickly and spread throughout the prison, Mayfield said. "They had
makeshift weapons, broom handles, mop handles, anything they could pull
apart, trashcan lids for shields, anything they could grab," Mayfield
said. At one point, the inmates set a fire in the prison yard. Frank Smith,
who runs the online prison watchdog group Private Corrections Working
Group, said riots are usually caused by poor conditions, but the sheriff
said that was not the case. "The big problem is CCA tries to cut
corners in every possible way. They short-staff, the don't fix equipment,
and things just get more and more out of control, and that's what leads to
these riots. It's just about maximizing short-term profits," he said.
May 20, 2012 CNN
A prison guard was killed and several employees injured Sunday in a
riot at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, Mississippi,
officials said. The 23-year-old guard appeared to suffer "blunt trauma
to the head," said Adams County Coroner James Lee. The riot, which
began about 2:40 p.m., was still going on Sunday night, the facility's
operator said in a statement. Local and state law enforcement officials as
well as authorities from the Federal Bureau of Prisons were helping the
facility quell the violence. "The disturbance is contained within the
secure perimeter of the facility, with no threat to public safety,"
the statement said. Five employees and one inmate were taken to a hospital for
treatment of unspecified injuries, while additional staff members were
being treated at the prison. Johar Lashin told CNN that he'd heard a lot of
noise and commotion when he talked around 6 p.m. with his brother Jawad, an
inmate at the Natchez facility serving time for aiding and abetting illegal
immigrants. His brother said he was not participating in the riot, despite
pressure from other inmates to do so. The cause of the incident is under
investigation. Rusty Boyd, a spokesman with the Mississippi Highway Patrol,
said Sunday evening that 45 to 55 units from that state agency are helping
corrections officers deal with the situation. The facility is a 2,567-bed
prison that houses adult men who are in the United States illegally and
charged with crimes. It is owned by the Tennessee-based Corrections
Corporation of America. Warden Vance Laughlin described the facility as
quiet and with "few problems" in a March 2010 article in The
Natchez Democrat, a few months after it opened to incarcerate illegal immigrants
detained for mostly low-security crimes. At that point, it contained more
than 2,000 inmates -- more than two-thirds of whom were of Mexican descent,
although scores of nationalities were then represented.
April 21, 2009 Natchez Democrat
Eric Staiger just moved to Natchez and now he and his family need a
place to live. Staiger is a newly hired assistant warden at the Correction
Corporations of America facility and has not been able to find rental
housing since he began searching prior to his move to Natchez. “It’s been a
challenge so far,” Staiger said of locating a rental house for himself, his
wife and their two kids. He started his search on the Internet before he
left his home in Ohio. “I thought it would be easier,” he said. “Now I’m
just relying on word of mouth and working with my Realtor.” And Natchez
Realtor Sue Stedman said while she’s thrilled to see job growth in the
community, she isn’t surprised by Staiger’s struggle. “There aren’t many
rentals out there right now,” Stedman said. “And some people are going to
notice a shortage.” But Stedman said while rentals can be hard to come by,
the sale market in Natchez is doing well. Stedman said the number of houses
for sale in the area has reached pre-Katrina levels. But that won’t help
Staiger. CCA Warden Vance Laughlin said upper level management at the
prison is being hired from within the company. Laughlin said his group of
managers is coming to the area with the intent of being promoted out of
Adams County, and are not in the market to buy a house. “They need
rentals,” Laughlin said.
March 15, 2009 Natchez Democrat
Last week, as most of the Adams County Supervisors were in town taking care
of county business, one supervisor was in the nation’s capital taking
county business to a whole other level. Supervisor Darryl Grennell was in
Washington D.C. for the National Association of Counties’ Legislative
Conference, and in the midst of lectures and meetings Grennell was able to
meet with some of the nation’s higher-ups to talk county business. On
Monday, Grennell was able to meet with U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran to discuss
several issues pertinent to Adams County. “I think it was a very productive
meeting,” Grennell said. “He was very receptive.” Grennell said while no
formal actions came from the meeting, he was glad to have had the
opportunity to make Cochran aware of what’s going on in Adams County.
Grennell said he and Cochran were able to discuss the repair projects at
Marblestone Alley and West Stiers Lane, acquisition of federal stimulus
money for road repairs in the county and the new Corrections Corporation of
America prison. “Basically he said he’d make some phone calls on the
county’s behalf,” Grennell said. “It went well.” While work on the
Marblestone Alley and West Stiers projects isn’t new, Grennell said he was
grateful to have had a chance to talk about stimulus funding and the CCA
prison. The county hasn’t gotten any firm commitments on stimulus funding
and the prison is currently without prisoners since it has not secured any
contracts that would provide inmates. “Hopefully this can get the ball
rolling,” Grennell said. Supervisor Mike Lazarus said he hopes the county
will be able to see positive results from Grennell’s visit. “It’s always
good to have connections,” Lazarus said. “It’s big. It keeps our name at
the top of the list when projects come up. It’s very helpful for us.”
January 8, 2009 Natchez Democrat
On Dec. 1 Corrections Corporation of America completed construction at its
new prison on U.S. 84, but the facility is without prisoners. Warden Vance
Laughlin said the facility looks great. The halls are quiet, the beds are
empty and there aren’t any guards on duty. And that won’t change anytime
soon. Laughlin said he’s not expecting any inmates until at least June. The
hold up comes from a missing, but crucial, federal contract. Once in place,
it’s the contract that will fill the jail with the all-important prisoners.
The contract, which was originally expected to be in place by Oct. 1, is
“delayed indefinitely,” Laughlin said. Laughlin said he’s hoping it will be
in place by the first quarter of this year. But once the contract is in
place it will be at least 120 days before the prison sees its first inmate.
That 120-day period will be used for hiring and training guards and other
employees. And there’s no clear answer on exactly what’s stalling the
contract. Laughlin said he thinks the general economic slow-down has had an
impact on the contract. Additionally, the money to be used for the contract
has not been finalized. CCA marketing director Steve Owen said he
attributes some of the delay to administrative changes as high up as the
White House. Owen said those changes have an impact on Congress, which
ultimately controls the budget for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. And
Congress has yet to finalize the bureau’s 2009 budget. “Government
contracts can move slowly,” Owen said. “Sometimes these things can just
drag out.” But the slow pace of progress isn’t reason for concern, Owen
said. Owen said he’s confident the federal contract will come through — but
if it doesn’t there are other options. “Still our focus is on what we
pitched the facility for,” he said of CCA’s intent to pursue a federal
contract. Both Laughlin and Owen said if the federal contract fails, the
prison can, and will, pursue other contracts.
November 3, 2008 Natchez Democrat
If country music songs are to be believed, prison cells are the
loneliest places to be, but being warden of a prison with no prisoners
isn’t much fun either. Vance Laughlin, warden of the new Adams County
Correctional Facility, told members of the Rotary Club of Natchez that he’s
got plenty of time on his hands in the next couple of months. Just call if
you need a hand with anything, he told the crowd, joking, at least a
little. Laughlin said Wednesday that a delay in granting a federal prison
contract means the new facility is vacant for just a little while longer.
Originally, Corrections Corporation of America, the owner of the private
prison, expected the contract would be announced Oct. 1, Laughlin said, but
now it looks like it will be in the first quarter of 2009. Originally, CCA
had announced they would start accepting job applications in October, but
Laughlin said the delay in the contract has delayed the need for hiring
just a bit longer. “We’re (still) coming,” Laughlin said. “Once we start
hiring, it’s going to be very, very visible … lots of big ads … just give
us some time.” The time is no problem, Laughlin said, in fact he said he’s
looking at it as a positive factor. “From my perspective, as warden, it gives
me another two to three months to get things set up,” he said. Construction
on the $140 million, 2,500-bed facility is expected to be complete by Dec.
1, he said. But even if CCA receives the much-anticipated contract to house
illegal immigrant prisoners — ones who will likely be deported after their
sentences are served — the first prisoner would not report to the facility
until 120 days after the contract is awarded. But, Laughlin said, CCA would
begin screening applicants the very next day after the contract is awarded.
“We’re very hopeful for this contract, but we could not get it,” he said.
“If so, we have a plan B and we have a plan C. “The (Federal) Bureau (of
Prisons) is a very important customer so they get first shot,” he said.
April 21, 2008 AP
Gov. Haley Barbour has signed into law a bill that gives a privately
owned jail in Natchez the authority to house federal and state inmates. The
Adams County Correctional Center is currently under construction and is
slated to be completed in December 2008. Barbour said signing "this
legislation is appropriate as the state continues to find alternative
housing solutions for our growing inmate population." Governor. The
correctional facility is located on more than 140 acres in southwest Mississippi
near Natchez. It is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of
America.
August 1, 2007 Clarion Ledger
A 1,668-bed private prison being built in Adams County secured the final
$500,000 in matching funds today to extend the Natchez sewer lines to the
site. The Delta Regional Authority will provide that money for the
Corrections Corporation of America prison, which is scheduled to be
completed by the end of 2008. Funding for the sewer project will accelerate
completion of the project, which is expected to create approximately 300
jobs. The funding was announced today in a joint news release from Sens.
Thad Cochran and Trent Lott, Gov. Haley Barbour and 3rd District U.S. Chip
Pickering. "Southwest Mississippi is an important part of our state
and this new facility will help create economic confidence in the area by
generating hundreds of new jobs," Cochran said in the news release.
Lott noted in the news release that the sewer project has an additional
benefit. "Anytime you expand or upgrade water or waste water service,
it is a well-placed, long-term investment in the community that can promote
new residential and commercial growth," he said.
June 12, 2007 Natchez Democrat
The board of aldermen agreed on a more binding agreement between the
city and county governments regarding water and sewer services to a private
prison Tuesday. Walter Brown, who represents the private prison company CCA
and the city waterworks, asked the aldermen to sign an interlocal
agreement. The agreement would spell out more specific responsibilities of
the parties involved, Brown said. The city and county are applying for
grants to fund the water and sewer infrastructure to the proposed prison
near Cranfield. An interlocal agreement would help secure those grant
monies, Brown said. The project will still require no city or county
taxpayer money, he said. The interlocal agreement would simply say, “We’re
doing our part of the project, and they’re doing theirs,” Brown said.
Because CCA wants to meet the GO Zone deadline to benefit from financial
incentives, time was short, Brown said. “CCA still wants to take the deed
by July 1,” Brown said. “We’re really under the gun to meet their
timeline.” Some of the parties involved, such as Adams County Water
Association and the county have asked for changes to the original draft of
the agreement, he said, so he did not have the final document at Tuesday’s
meeting. That didn’t sit well with Alderman James “Ricky” Gray. “It’s kind
of unusual for me to sit up here and vote for something I haven’t seen and the
city attorney hasn’t read over,” Gray said. “I like to read over something
before I vote and sign it.” Since time was of the essence, Alderman Jake
Middleton suggested the board give the mayor and board attorney
authorization to review the document before they signed it. “I don’t think
they’re going to sign off on something that’s not beneficial,” Middleton
said. Brown said he would be happy to get copies of the draft to anyone
interested. The board voted authority to the mayor to sign the agreement.
May 3, 2007 Natchez Democrat
The new prison needs $4 million in water and sewer infrastructure, but if
all goes as planned, the county and city won’t have to shell out a penny of
their own. If plans fall through, the money may come out of taxes the
company would be paying to the county. Adams County Water Association plans
to provide the water, and Natchez Water Works will provide the sewer for
the Corrections Corporation of America private prison near Cranfield.
However, they need the money for things like labor, pipes and a water tank.
So the city and county are looking to get money through grants that private
CCA can’t get. The county board of supervisors approved the project Tuesday
and asked the Southwest Mississippi Development District to hunt for grants
and loans. Such grants could come from several places, including federal
funds and the Delta Regional Authority, attorney Walter Brown said.
Hopefully, the grants won’t require matching funds, said Brown, who
represents CCA locally and Natchez Water Works. “A 10 percent match is
normally required, but we’ve asked for it to be waived,” Brown said. “If
not, we’ll figure out how to handle it. Most logical would be a tax
increment financing bond.” Such a bond would use the company’s future taxes
to pay off the debt. That way, the county isn’t losing any money it
currently has, Brown said. Previously, CCA and county representatives said
no city or county money would be required if the prison located in Adams
County. That worries Supervisor Henry Watts. “Full disclosure is always my
concern — full disclosure on the front end, letting the supervisors know,”
Watts said. “Give us a good idea what kind of money the taxpayers of Adams
County are having to put up, not only on the prison but on any proposal.”
Tuesday’s supervisors meeting was the first time Watts said he had heard
the county might need to play a role in the prison project. “It was the
first time I’d heard we were actually going to have to put up money,” Watts
said. “Am I scared of that? No. But right now, we have no idea how much
money we’d have to put up.”
Bartlett
State Jail, Bartlett, Texas
April
30, 2011 Killeen Daily Herald
The largest private corporation operating prisons in the U.S. is suing the
city of Bartlett after the city threatened last week to shut off the water
supply to a state jail the company operates. Corrections Corporation of
America Inc. (CCA) was granted a temporary injunction Thursday, preventing
Bartlett from cutting off water and sewer to the 1,049-bed Bartlett State
Jail. CCA alleges the city has severely over-billed the company because of
a faulty water meter. Since December, CCA has disputed the amount the city
has charged for use of its water supply. According to court filings, CCA
believes Bartlett charged the company for 44 percent more water than was
actually used at the jail. The disputed water bills amount to $213,237. CCA
claims it requested hearings with city officials each time it disputed a
bill, but was rebuffed. The company also submitted checks to the city for
water usage CCA is not disputing; however, the city has not cashed those
checks. In the summer of 2010, jail officials became suspicious that the
jail's water and sewer bills were excessive, court documents state. CCA
hired two experts to examine water usage at the Bartlett State Jail. One
expert confirmed the suspicions of CCA officials by examining the jail's
water tank. The expert, Sutton G. Page, found that over a 24-hour period,
the city's water meter showed the jail used 68,595 gallons more than the
amount he measured. A second expert, an engineer named William Johansen,
examined the city's water meter. In an affidavit filed with the court,
Johansen states that the water meter is not working properly. The jail's
low-flow meter was inoperable, so Johansen measured it as 100 percent
inaccurate. The high-flow meter made a measurement error between 14.4
percent and 95 percent, Johansen stated. "It is my opinion that the
meters at the Bartlett, Texas, State Jail do not function properly and
cannot reliably account for the amount of water flowing through the
meters," he stated in court documents. According to Bartlett's city
charter, city officials must accept CCA's account of the water bills. The
charter places a time limit on water disputes. If city officials do not
meet with a water customer or respond to their complaints about a disputed
bill within a certain timeframe, the city is automatically determined at
fault. CCA claims city officials never attempted to meet with jail
officials regarding disputed bills. City officials could not be reached for
comment.
January 7, 2010 AP
A boil water notice has been issued for Bartlett where a shortage has
led to using an emergency well and portable toilets for a state jail. The
1,049-bed Bartlett State Jail ordered portable restrooms and 5,000 bottles
of water after briefly losing city service. Steve Owen with Corrections
Corp. of America says employees Wednesday occasionally shut off water so an
onsite tower could refill. Water levels in the city's two elevated storage
tanks have been declining. Officials suspect a pump malfunction. A backup
well, which failed an assessment less than two years ago, was brought
online this week after passing a bacterial test. Mayor Arthur White did not
immediately return a message Thursday from The Associated Press.
February 25, 2009 FOX 7
A former corrections employee, armed with a gun, had a central Texas
jail on full alert this morning. A swat team was called out to the Bartlett
State Jail around 11:00 Tuesday for a hostage situation. The standoff ended
early Wednesday morning, when a former employee of this jail was taken into
custody. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice tells
us the woman confronted a current employee in the parking lot late last
night. Another employee came out to see what was going on, and the former
employee pulled out a gun and took the two men hostage, forcing them back
into the jail. That brought out the swat team and DPS, and the jail was
locked down. The hostages were in the jail's visitation area and were able
to escape. At that point, this was a standoff between the woman with the
gun and the law enforcement officers outside. By 1:25 this morning, the
TDCJ spokesperson tells us the woman was taken into custody and taken to
the Williamson county jail in Georgetown. This is a state jail under the
authority of t-d-c-j, but it's run by a private company called corrections
corporation of America. The woman accused of taking two employees hostages
here is a former employee, who stopped working here about a year ago.
Kyndall Dwight James, 22, who escaped
from the Bartlett State Jail in 2000, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of
escape, a second-degree felony, and unlawful use of a motor vehicle, a
state jail felony. James was sentenced to 20 years in prison. David Lee
Sanders, a second Bartlett inmate accused of escaping with James, will
stand trial today. (The Statesman, January 8, 2002)
Two convicted felons escape after breaking into the maintenance shop and
stealing a cutting tool to cut through the 12-foot perimeter fence. They
were caught the next day after a high speed car chase that ended with the
escapees' stolen truck tires being shot out. (Austin American-Statesman,
August 29, 2000)
Bay
County Correctional Facility, Panama City, Florida
December
1, 2010 The Times
Joseph Mixon, the man responsible for igniting the Nov. 2008 fire that
destroyed the Apalachicola State Bank building downtown, has died.
According to a media statement issued Monday by the Corrections Corporation
of America, Mixon, an inmate at the Bay Correctional Facility in Panama
City, was pronounced dead by emergency medical technicians at 2:19 p.m. on
Nov. 24. “At this time the death appears to be of unnatural causes and does
not appear to involve foul play,” read the statement. Bay County Medical
Examiner Dr. Michael Hunter has the task of determining the cause of death.
“Corrections Corporation of America is working in full cooperation with
local and state law enforcement officials as they investigate,” the
statement read.
May 7, 2009 News Herald
Corrections Corporation of America is cutting 52 positions from the Bay
Correctional Facility, officials said Thursday. "While some of these
positions are currently vacant, there are 29 employees who will be affected
by this staff restructuring," Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA management
said in a news release. The layoffs primarily will affect instructors and
counselors at the facility but also will impact some correctional officers
and support staff, officials said. The cuts are expected to take place May
24. Prison officials added they are assessing which programs will be axed
because of the layoffs. Officials said safety at the medium-security prison
will not be affected by the cuts. "This reduction in force is a
painful but necessary action in response to the state's ongoing fiscal
challenges and the budgetary actions taken to date," Warden Bill
Spivey said in a news release. "We will work closely with our affected
employees who wish to continue their careers with CCA to identify transfer
opportunities at one of the company's other 63 facilities operated
nationwide. "It is our sincere hope that the economic health of the
state will improve such that these employees and the important programs and
services they provide can be restored," Spivey said.
April 2, 2009 News-Herald
A prison corrections officer was arrested Thursday after she allegedly
smuggled contraband in to an inmate she had established a relationship
with. Sonja Ann Powell, of Bonifay, was arrested on charges of smuggling
contraband into a correctional facility, according to Bay County Sheriff's
Office officials. Authorities said Powell, 35, a corrections officer at the
privately run Bay Correctional Facility, reportedly smuggled a cell phone
to Francis Marshall and Frank Gomez, two inmates at Bay Correctional
Facility. Officials said investigators discovered information indicating
Powell and Marshall had become involved. "Messages that we were able
to get from them would indicate they had a very strong friendship with an
emotional attachment," Bay County Spokeswoman Ruth Corley said.
Officials said Marshall and Gomez are members of a gang called the Latin
Mafia and used the cell phone to talk with a former guard at the
institution and a woman with whom Gomez had established a relationship. The
phone was allegedly used to send nude photos of the inmates and to receive
nude photos of others. Officials said Marshall will face an additional
charge of possession of contraband in a state correctional facility. Gomez
will face two counts of the same charge.
November 25, 2008 WMBB TV13
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen announces the arrest of a prison guard,
Kennedy Eugene Patterson, B/M, 08/14/1970, of 734 Redwood Avenue, Panama
City; FL. Patterson was employed by Corrections Corporation of America.
Investigators arrested Patterson today for Trafficking in Hydrocodone and
Attempted Introduction of Contraband in a Correctional Facility. Also
arrested was Patterson’s girlfriend, Latisha Lanetta Ward, B/F, 06/04/1979,
607 East 7th Street, Panama City, FL. Investigators received information
from a CCA staff member that Patterson was involved in smuggling contraband
into the prison to inmates. Investigators out of the Special Investigations
Division were working in an undercover capacity. Along with an informant,
they were able to set up a meeting with Patterson where he agreed to
smuggle several ounces of Marijuana into an inmate along with Hydrocodone
for an exchange of $800.00. Patterson and Ward were booked into the Bay
County Jail today and will make first appearance on the charges tomorrow.
November 15, 2008 Courier-Journal
A judge has ordered McDonald's Corp. to pay $2.4 million in attorney fees
and costs to Louise Ogborn, the Bullitt County woman who last year won a $6.1
million verdict in her strip-search hoax lawsuit against the company.
Citing Ogborn's lawyers' "incredible success," Senior Judge Tom
McDonald approved fees of $934,325 for the lead trial lawyer, Ann
Oldfather, and $311,250 to Kirsten Daniel, her co-counsel, as well as
$25,000 in sanctions against McDonald's for misconduct in the litigation.
Daniel said yesterday that she and Oldfather were ecstatic about the award.
"We got everything we asked for," she said. Margaret Keane, a
partner at Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, which defended the restaurant
company, declined to comment, and a spokesman for McDonald's didn't respond
to a request for comment. The fees were awarded to Ogborn on top of the
October 2007 verdict, under a provision of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act
designed to promote vigorous advocacy for plaintiffs. She now can use that
money to satisfy all or some of what she owes to her lawyers under their
employment contracts. Specifics about those contracts have not been made
public. McDonald's had vigorously protested the fee request, saying
Ogborn's lawyers couldn't have possibly worked the hours they claimed. But
Judge McDonald, who oversaw the trial in Bullitt Circuit Court, said that
if the plaintiff's lawyers worked long hours, it was because the company
forced them to, by fiercely contesting every motion and delving so deeply
into Ogborn's private life. "McDonald's should not be heard to
complain now that the plaintiff's counsel worked too hard, when, to a large
degree, those decisions were driven by McDonald's," the judge said.
Oldfather has said that McDonald's disclosed that it spent about $3.6
million on fees defending itself. The judge also rejected the company's
motion to stipulate that a portion of the fees and costs be paid by the person
who made the hoax calls, noting that the jury did not return a verdict
against him. Ogborn, a teenager who worked for $6.35 an hour at McDonald's
Mount Washington store, was detained, stripped and sexually assaulted on
April 9, 2004, at the behest of a caller who pretended he was a police
officer and accused her of stealing a customer's purse. She sued the
company, saying it failed to protect her, though company officials knew of
dozens of similar episodes at its stores and other fast-food restaurants.
After a four-week trial, a Bullitt Circuit Court jury returned a verdict
that included $5 million in punitive damages. McDonald's has appealed, and
the case is pending at the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Keane argued for the
company that Ogborn's lawyers achieved only limited success at trial
because they had asked the jury for $100 million in damages. But Judge
McDonald said "the jury placed the blame squarely at McDonald's
corporate feet," and that the $1 million awarded to Ogborn in
compensatory damages was five times higher than a Bullitt County jury had
ever returned in a similar case. The judge also said that if Oldfather
hadn't asked for $100 million, "who can say that without that large an
amount the jury may not have ended up where it did?" The court's order
included $212,000 to two lawyers who formerly worked with Oldfather -- Lea
Player and Doug Morris -- and $173,000 to Bill Boone and Steve Yater, two
lawyers who originally filed the suit but were later fired by Ogborn.
McDonald also ordered the fast-food company to reimburse Ogborn's lawyers
for $495,000 in expenses. The sensational hoax case captured national
attention. Stripped of her clothes and able to cover herself only with a
store apron, Ogborn was forced to spend hours in the restaurant office, as
a security camera recorded her humiliation. Ogborn was detained by an
assistant manager, Donna Jean Summers, who said a man claiming to be a
police officer had called and accused an employee resembling Ogborn of
theft. Summers subsequently called her then-fiancé, Walter Wes Nix Jr., who
sexually abused Ogborn at the caller's direction. McDonald's claimed it
bore no responsibility for what happened to Ogborn and that the blame lay
with others, including the caller, Nix, Summers and Ogborn herself. She was
one of dozens of victims of a hoax caller who over more than a decade duped
managers at as many as 160 fast-food restaurants and other stores into
strip-searching and sexually humiliating employees. Many of those workers
sued their employers, but Ogborn's suit was the first whose case went to
trial. Nix was later convicted of sexual abuse and other crimes and
sentenced to five years in prison. Summers entered an Alford plea to
misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment, meaning she asserted her innocence while
acknowledging there was enough evidence to convict her. She was placed on
probation. Summers joined in Ogborn's suit against McDonald's, saying she
was tarnished with a criminal conviction because the company had failed to
warn her and other employees about the hoax calls. The jury awarded Summers
$1.1 million. The caller was never brought to justice. A Bullitt County
jury in 2006 acquitted David R. Stewart, a former private prison guard from
the Florida panhandle, in the case. He'd been charged with impersonating an
officer and soliciting sexual abuse for calling the Mount Washington store.
Law enforcement officers said at the time that they suspected him of making
the other calls as well.
November 1, 2006 AP
Prosecutors couldn’t convince a central Kentucky jury to convict a Bay
County man accused of making a hoax phone call that lasted 3½ hours and
ended in a bizarre sexual assault of a teenage McDonald’s worker. The jury
on Tuesday acquitted David R. Stewart, 38, of Fountain, on charges of
impersonating a police officer, soliciting sodomy and soliciting sexual
abuse relating to a phone call made to the Mount Washington, Ky.,
restaurant in which former employees testified that the caller told them to
conduct a strip-search of a worker in April 2004. Steve Romines, Stewart’s
lawyer, said the jury’s verdict showed the weakness of the prosecution’s
case. “There are a lot of questions unanswered in this case,” he said. “The
only thing I knew for sure was my client didn’t do it.”
October 31, 2006 Courier-Journal
Bullitt County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Mann implored jurors
Tuesday to “follow the evidence” and convict a Florida man charged with
being the mastermind behind an elaborate hoax that led to a McDonald’s
worker being strip-searched and sexually humiliated. “It’s so obvious,”
Mann told jurors in his closing arguments this morning. “There is more than
enough evidence to find the defendant guilty.” An hour earlier, defense
attorney Steve Romines said his client, David R. Stewart, was the “fall
guy” for a botched police investigation. “They came to a conclusion then
went about looking for facts to support it,” said Romines, who also told
jurors that there was more evidence that this hoax was itself a “scam.”
“There’s not even proof beyond a reasonable doubt that this is real,” he
said. Stewart is accused of calling the restaurant on April 9, 2004, and
directing an assistant manager to search and detain Louise Ogborn, who the
caller said was accused of stealing a purse. During a 3½ ordeal after that,
Ogborn was sexually abused by the manager’s then-fiancé, who later pled
guilty but said he’d been acting on the orders of a caller posing as an
officer. Stewart, charged with impersonating a police officer and
soliciting sodomy, faces up to 15 years in prison on the two felony
charges.
October 22, 2006 News Herald
The 19-year-old woman stripped naked in front of her boss in the manager’s
room at the Winn-Dixie on 23rd Street more than three years ago because a
voice on the phone said so. The teenager posed. She exposed. She did
jumping jacks nude. For nearly two hours, a man who said he was a police
officer orchestrated her humiliation over the phone. The voice told the
girl’s boss, assistant manager James Marvin Pate, that she stole a purse.
Police believe the man on the phone was David R. Stewart, of Fountain, said
Sgt. Kevin Miller, of the Panama City Police Department. Authorities said
Stewart, 39, made dozens of calls like this across the country for several
years. The phone hoaxes sparked lawsuits against restaurant franchisees and
chains like McDonald’s, Burger King and Applebee’s. Stewart’s first trial
is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Mount Washington, Ky. In the Kentucky
case, Stewart is accused of calling a McDonald’s on April 9, 2004, and
posing as a police officer. Police said he told McDonald’s assistant
manager Donna Summers a story similar to what the voice told the manager at
the Panama City Winn-Dixie: He said a teenage female employee, Louise
Ogborn, had stolen a purse and that she needed to be strip-searched.
Summers and her ex-boyfriend, Walter Nix Jr., strip-searched Ogborn for
about four hours, police said. Nix also had Ogborn perform sexual acts on
him — all at the request of the caller. Mount Washington authorities
charged Stewart with three counts of solicitation to commit sexual abuse,
first degree; solicitation to commit sodomy, first degree; impersonating a
police officer; and solicitation unlawful imprisonment, second degree.
Incidents since the ’90s: Authorities said Stewart has peppered the country
with calls dating back to the mid-1990s, mostly to chain restaurants.
Usually, the man calls, identifies himself as a police officer, and says a
female employee has drugs or has stolen something and must be
strip-searched. In Panama City, the nightmare for a 19-year-old cashier
began on July 12, 2003, at Winn-Dixie, when a fellow employee told her to
report to the manager’s office, according to a PCPD incident report.
According to the police report, which blacked out the name of the victim,
what happened next lasted nearly two hours: Assistant manager Pate, 39, was
waiting and handed her the phone. On the line was a man who said he was
Officer Tim Peterson with the Panama City Police Department. The voice said
she stole a purse and gave her two choices: Either strip naked in front of
Pate or be brought down to the jail, where she’d be strip-searched in front
of a lot more people. The voice also said Pate had the authority to keep
her there and strip-search her, while the voice verified everything over
the phone. The cashier agreed. Pate told her what to take off, and she
complied out of fear of being taken to jail. She placed each item of
clothing in a plastic bag. Pate described the cashier’s naked body in
intimate detail to the voice on the phone, according to the police report.
The voice commanded the cashier to pose in various positions that exposed
her breasts, anal and vaginal areas to Pate. Toward the end of the woman’s
ordeal, grocery manager Thomas Moton, 49, entered the office looking for a
a key to unload a truck at the store’s rear dock. When he entered, the
cashier was doing jumping jacks, and Pate had the receiver to his ear.
“Pate said the boss is on the phone,” Moton said. “I thought the store
manager was on the phone.” Moton said he thought something wasn’t right. He
wanted to get the other assistant manager, but Pate said the voice on the
phone told him to stay. The cashier went through several poses, Moton said.
“She was bending over, sitting in a chair and doing jumping jacks,” he
said. When the woman finally was allowed to leave, she put her clothes on
and rushed out the door. Moton mentioned to Pate that “if this ain’t what
it’s supposed to be, then you are out of here.” A short time later, police
tore into the parking lot and hauled off Pate in handcuffs. Police charged
Pate with lewd and lascivious behavior and false imprisonment. The charges
eventually were dropped, Miller said. Moton said he never saw the cashier
again after that night. “I didn’t even want to look her in face,” he said. “It
was so embarrassing.” Police track the caller: The caller contacted several
Wendy’s restaurants on Feb. 20, 2004, in the West Bridgewater, Mass., area,
said Detective Sgt. Victor Flaherty of the West Bridgewater Police
Department. West Bridge water is a suburb of Boston. “We had four incidents
in one night,” Flaherty said. “Some conversations lasted more than an hour
and a half.” Like the others, calls involved strip-searches of female
employees, Flaherty said. By this time, however, the trail was leading back
to Stewart, authorities said. After a story appeared in a restaurant
industry magazine about what happened in West Bridgewater, Flaherty was
flooded with calls from police agencies across the country. Detective Buddy
Stump of the Mount Washington Police Department called Flaherty. Stump was
looking for help tracing the call to the McDonald’s where Ogborn was
strip-searched. Flaherty traced the calls made to West Bridgewater back to
the Panama City area. He called the Panama City Police Department and asked
for help, Miller said. Andrea McKenzie, a former detective with the PCPD
and now an investigator with the state attorney’s office, helped link
Stewart to the calls. McKenzie said she fielded calls from police agencies
all over the country. “It was kind of shocking,” she said. “People said the
phone number was coming from the Panama City area.” When the investigation
uncovered that some of the calls were made using a phone card, authorities
got the break they needed. “Nothing in this world is untraceable, if you
put the time into it,” Flaherty said. McKenzie tracked the date and time of
when the phone cards were bought to the Wal-Mart on 23rd Street. She pulled
security video. On the video was a man wearing a uniform from the local
jail run by Corrections Corporation of America, McKenzie said. Stewart was
identified as the jail guard shown on the video, authorities said, and
police brought him to the PCPD to be interrogated by Flaherty, who flew in
from Massachusetts. When police arrested Stewart, they found numerous
police magazines and applications to police departments, Miller said. “This
guy wanted to be a cop in the worst way,” Flaherty said. Stewart’s
attorney, Steve Romines, said there is no way his client could have been
the voice on the phone. “To talk someone into this — it is someone more
eloquent than David (Stewart),” Romines said. “He’s not dumb, but this was
very sophisticated.” Flaherty disagreed with Romines’ assessment. “I’ve
been doing this for 20 years, and there is no doubt in my mind” that
Stewart did it, Flaherty said. Authorities eventually extradited Stewart in
the fall 2004 from Bay County to Mount Washington to stand trial. Panama
City police didn’t go after Stewart because they couldn’t link him to the
call to the Winn-Dixie, Miller said. Other states, meanwhile, are awaiting
the outcome of the Kentucky trial before pursuing legal action against
Stewart, Flaherty said. “Oregon is still interested in him,” Flaherty said.
“In Massachusetts, I consider it a rape by him.”
August 25, 2006 The Courier-Journal
Nearly half of Bullitt County residents think that David Stewart is
guilty of masterminding the telephone hoax at the Mount Washington
McDonald’s in which a teenage employee was strip-searched and sexually
humiliated in April 2004, according to survey conducted to support
Stewart’s motion to move his trial. But Bullitt Circuit Judge Thomas Waller
indicated Friday he will deny the motion and try to empanel an impartial
jury on Oct. 24, when the case is set for trial. Stewart is charged with
impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy for allegedly calling
the restaurant and pretending to be a police officer investigating a theft.
As a result of the call, employee Louise Ogborn, then 18, was forced to
take off her clothes and sodomize a man that Stewart allegedly asked to
watch her. Stewart’s lawyer, Steve Romines, asked for a change of venue,
citing numerous newspaper and TV stories that have mentioned Stewart is
suspected of making calls to as many as 70 other restaurants and stores in
30 states. He hasn’t been charged in any of those incidents, and Romines
said evidence concerning them would be inadmissible at Stewart’s trial.
Stewart, a former corrections officer at a private prison near Panama City,
Fla., attended a hearing before Waller yesterday but did not speak in
court. Romines declined to let him answer questions from reporters.
June 17, 2006 AP
Detective Buddy Stump couldn't believe the story being told. A teenage
worker at the local McDonald's had been strip-searched and sexually
assaulted by co-workers. The co-workers said a policeman called the
restaurant, described the girl and directed them about what to do.
"I'm thinking, 'They told you to do what?'" said Stump, one of 16
police officers in Mount Washington and the department's only detective.
The investigation that grew from that night would lead to a plea by a
former employee of McDonald's, and the arrest of a Florida man on charges
of impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy. The trial of David
R. Stewart, 38, of Florida, was previously scheduled to begin this week but
has been postponed to Sept. 5. In handwritten court filings, Stewart denies
being the hoax caller. He is free on $50,000 cash bond. Mailings to the
Bullitt Circuit Court indicate he is still living in Florida. "I had
nothing to do with any of this," Stewart said. "I did not do
this." A judge has ordered the attorneys involved in the case not to
discuss it publicly before the trial. Stump and other investigators in
states from Maine to Wyoming to Arizona say they believe their
investigation stopped a cruel and bizarre series of hoaxes. Private
investigator R.A. Dawson of Rapid City, S.D., who investigated a similar
incident, said he had found 70 other cases resembling the one in Kentucky.
"The M-O's were all similar," Dawson said. "And, they seemed
to get increasingly worse." In court filings, McDonald's has denied
any wrongdoing, but has declined to comment on the case, citing a pending
civil case.
February 2, 2006 Courier-Journal
The Bullitt County man who claimed he thought he was following a police
officer’s orders when he sexually humiliated a teenaged McDonald’s worker
in April 2004 pleaded guilty this morning to sexual abuse, sexual
misconduct and unlawful imprisonment. A charge of sodomy, which could have
sent Walter W. Nix Jr., to prison for 20 years, was dropped as part of a
plea bargain to which he agreed to a five-year prison term. Nix, who will
be formally sentenced on March 15, agreed not to seek probation at
sentencing, and Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Mann agreed to take no
position on shock probation, which could be granted later. Nix is the first
person to be convicted in the 2004 hoax at the Mount Washington McDonald’s
in which Louise Ogborn, a $6.35 hour counter worker, was strip-searched and
sexually humiliated for nearly four hours after a man pretending to be a
police officer called the store and said he was investigating the theft of
a purse from a customer. Nix, 43, was scheduled to be tried today before
Bullitt Circuit Judge Tom Waller. The judge asked Ogborn if she supported
the plea bargain and if so why. She said she did because it will require
Nix to serve time in prison, to register as a sex offender and to testify
against David N. Stewart, the alleged perpetrator of the hoax. Stewart, a
former private prison guard from Fountain, Fla., is scheduled to be tried
April 18 on charges of impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy
for allegedly making the hoax call. Law enforcement officials have said
they suspect Stewart was behind at least 69 other hoaxes at businesses in
32 states from 1995 through 2004. He has been charged only in Bullitt
County, and has pleaded not guilty.
November 17, 2005 In-Forum News
The suspected mastermind behind strip searches of employees at chain
restaurants and stores nationwide - including one at a north Fargo Burger
King - faces felony charges in Kentucky for a hoax there. Authorities
arrested David Richard Stewart of Panama City, Fla., after tracking a call
from a Wal-Mart to Kentucky, where an18-year-old McDonald's employee was
sexually abused last year when an assistant manager followed directions
from a caller. Court papers state Stewart, 38, posed as "Officer
Scott" when calling the McDonald's in Mount Washington. He convinced
the assistant manager to strip-search the woman, who Scott said was
suspected of stealing. The call resembles one made to the Fargo Burger King
on 19th Avenue North in January 1999. The caller, posing as
"Lieutenant Scott," convinced then-night manager Jason Allan
Krein to strip-search a 17-year-old female employee in his office. Krein
later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, and served 30
days in jail. In Kentucky, the assistant manager and her boyfriend also
face charges for the McDonald's strip search. The assistant manager faces
an unlawful imprisonment charge while her boyfriend faces sexual abuse and
sodomy crimes. Authorities charged Stewart with impersonating a police
officer and soliciting each of the other crimes. The suspects all pleaded
not guilty and face trials next month. "It was a horrible, horrible
ordeal that this young lady had to go through," said Walt Sholar, the
Bullitt County, Ky., attorney handling one of the cases. Nationwide, Sholar
said there are about 70 cases similar to the ones in Kentucky and Fargo.
Dozens of police departments have contacted Mount Washington authorities
convinced they arrested their suspect. "I have no doubt in my mind
that he's been the one behind all of them," Mount Washington Police
Detective Buddy Stump said. "For the sake of the rest of the country,
I hope and pray that it is." Stump broke the case open after the city
told him to find the caller. "We realized how many people have been
affected across the United States," he said. "I thought it was my
duty." With help from detectives in Massachusetts and Florida, Stump
zeroed in on a surveillance video at one of Panama City's three Wal-Marts.
Once they had the guy's image, they tracked Stewart to a private prison
company where he worked. Stewart remains free on bond until his trial.
Calls to a phone listing for David Stewart in Panama City went unanswered.
In January 1999, a man called six Fargo businesses- two Burger Kings, three
Taco Bells and Payless Shoe Store - in an attempt to convince managers to
strip-search female employees. At the north Fargo Burger King, Krein went
along with the caller's demands, undressing the employee and touching her
legs to describe them to the caller. At Krein's court hearing, East Central
District Judge Georgia Dawson said "it's just not conceivable"
for Krein to think the search was proper. Fargo attorney Adam Hamm, a
prosecutor then, told Dawson the girl was traumatized for months. "Of
all the cases I prosecuted, this was one of the cases that burned itself
into my memory," Hamm said. "I have always wondered if I made the
right decision in charging Jason Krein with the charge." Hamm said he
prepared a more serious charge against Krein but balked at filing it
because of how state law defines sexual contact. "I knew I could prove
the misdemeanor and at some level he had to be held responsible," Hamm
said. After the Fargo strip search, the girl and her parents sued Burger
King, owned by RED Inc. in Grand Forks, N.D. The case was settled in
mediation, according to those familiar with the case. Details of the
settlement are not public. Krein moved to Wisconsin and could not be
reached for comment. Fargo Lt. Tod Dahle recalls the Burger King search
because police tracked one call to a Florida pay phone and the caller posed
as a Fargo officer. After the incident, Fargo police received reports of
similar incidents in Grand Forks, Devils Lake, N.D., Watertown, S.D., and
Virginia and Wisconsin. "Ever since that happened, I probably got a
call about that case every three months," he said. "Of course,
I'd learn it happened somewhere else." With Stewart's arrest, Dahle
said Fargo police will ask prosecutors to review the case to determine if
charges can be filed against Stewart. "I think to some degree, the
people (managers) wanted to participate," Dahle said. "I don't
think we'll ever know how many times this guy (Stewart) was told no."
November 3, 2005 Courier-Journal
The Bullitt County man who claimed a hoax caller duped him into
sexually humiliating a teenage McDonald's employee at the restaurant last
year apologized to his victim yesterday and said he was ashamed of what he
did. "I had no intention of hurting anyone," Walter W. Nix Jr.,
43, said in Bullitt Circuit Court to Louise Ogborn, whom he forced to sodomize
him in April 2004. Nix has said he was following the orders of the caller,
who he thought was a police officer. But Judge Tom Waller refused to accept
a deal in which Nix had offered to plead guilty to a reduced charge of
sexual misconduct and unlawful imprisonment in exchange for a sentence of
one year's probation. Waller let Nix withdraw his plea and set his trial on
charges of sodomy and assault for Dec. 13. That's the same day that David
N. Stewart, a former private prison guard from Fountain, Fla., is scheduled
to stand trial on charges of impersonating a police officer and soliciting
sodomy for allegedly perpetrating the hoax during a call to the Mount
Washington restaurant. Law enforcement officials have said they suspect
Stewart was behind at least 69 other hoaxes pulled off at other businesses
in 32 states from 1995 through last year. He has been charged only in
Bullitt County and pleaded not guilty there.
November 2, 2005 Courier-Journal
Bullitt Circuit Judge Tom Waller this morning rejected a plea agreement for
a man who admitted sexually humiliating a teenager who was strip-searched
last year at the Mount Washington McDonald's where she worked. Walter Nix
Jr., 43, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful imprisonment and sexual
misconduct as part of a plea bargain that would have given him one year
probation. The deal fell through after Louise Ogborn, 19, who was forced to
sodomize Nix as part of telephone hoax at the store on April 9, 2004,
objected to portions that allowed Nix to deny wrongdoing and to avoid
registering as a sex offender. Judge Waller set Nix's case for Dec. 13.
Ogborn was detained for nearly four hours in the hoax, which was one of 70
perpetrated in 32 states from 1995 through last year. A private prison
guard, David N. Stewart, of Fountain, Fla., was charged in July 2004 with
impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy in the Mount
Washington case. He has pleaded not guilty and is set for trial Dec. 13.
November 2, 2005 Courier-Journal
A teenager who was strip-searched in April 2004 at the Mount Washington
McDonald's where she worked is objecting to terms of the plea bargain
struck for the man who admitted sexually humiliating her. As part of the
agreement, Walter Nix Jr., 43, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful
imprisonment and sexual misconduct, and was to be sentenced today in
Bullitt Circuit Court to one year's probation under those charges. But
Louise Ogborn, 19, who was forced to sodomize Nix as part of telephone hoax
at the store on April 9, 2004, objects to portions of the deal that allowed
him to deny wrongdoing and to avoid registering as a sex offender,
according to lawyers for both sides. "The deal will not go
through," said William C. Boone Jr., Ogborn's co-counsel. Nix's lawyer,
Kathleen Schmidt, said she will ask Judge Tom Waller to enforce the plea
agreement today. If he doesn't, Nix will have the option of withdrawing his
plea and going to trial, or accepting an agreement with harsher terms. Nix
had been charged with sodomy and assault, which carry penalties of up to 20
years in prison. Nix has claimed he was duped into humiliating Ogborn by a
man who called the McDonald's pretending to be a police officer
investigating a theft. Nix was engaged at the time to the store's assistant
manager, Donna Jean Summers, who, at the behest of the caller, had taken
away Ogborn's clothes before calling Nix in to help watch the teen. Nix has
said the man on the phone ordered him to direct Ogborn to do exercises in
the nude and perform oral sex on him. He said he also slapped her several
times on the buttocks at the direction of the caller. Ogborn was detained
for nearly four hours in the hoax, which was one of 70 perpetrated in 32
states from 1995 through last year. A private prison guard, David N.
Stewart, of Fountain, Fla., was charged in July 2004 with impersonating a
police officer and soliciting sodomy in the Mount Washington case. He has
pleaded not guilty and is set for trial Dec. 13. ABC Primetime is scheduled
to broadcast a segment Nov. 10 about the Mount Washington case, according
to Yater, who said Ogborn was interviewed for it last week by a producer
and reporter John Quinones.
October 11, 2005 Courier-Journal
A Bullitt County man who claimed he was duped into sexually humiliating a
teenage McDonald's worker last year by a man impersonating a police officer
pleaded guilty yesterday to a felony charge of unlawful imprisonment. In a
plea bargain approved by his victim, Walter Nix Jr., 43, will get probation
after agreeing to a one-year term for the felony and for sexual misconduct,
a misdemeanor. He originally was charged with sodomy and assault, for which
he could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bullitt Circuit Judge
Tom Waller tentatively accepted the plea pending formal approval of it by
victim Louise Ogborn at Nix's sentencing, set for Nov. 2. Nix was engaged
at the time to the store's assistant manager, Donna Jean Summers, who asked
him to come watch Ogborn. A man who phoned the store pretending to be a
police officer accused Ogborn of theft and ordered her strip-searched.
According to police and court records, Nix said he thought he was following
an officer's orders when he directed Ogborn, who was detained four hours in
the restaurant's office, to do exercises in the nude and perform oral sex
on him. He also slapped her several times on her buttocks, at the direction
of the caller, the records show. The incident was the focus of a
Courier-Journal story Sunday that noted that the strip-search was among at
least 70 performed at fast-food restaurants and other businesses from 1995
through 2004 at the direction of a caller who claimed he was investigating
crimes. Ogborn agreed to be identified by name in the newspaper. A private
prison guard, David N. Stewart, of Fountain, Fla., was charged in July 2004
with impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy in the Mount
Washington case. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is set for Dec.
13. Summers is charged with unlawful imprisonment, a misdemeanor, and her
trial is scheduled for Dec. 7. She also has pleaded not guilty. Ogborn's
co-counsel, William C. Boone Jr., said his client approved the deal because
"she wants somebody to say they are sorry and for somebody to say she
did nothing wrong," both of which he said Nix has promised to say at
sentencing. "She is tired of McDonald's blaming her for what
happened," Boone said. In a lawsuit, Ogborn has alleged that the
company failed to warn employees at the Mount Washington store about prior
strip-search hoaxes at other restaurants around the country. McDonald's has
said in court papers and through its lawyer that Ogborn was in part
responsible because she failed to realize the caller wasn't a real officer.
Nix and Summers were among at least 13 people across the United States
charged with crimes for executing searches for the caller. Seven have been
convicted of various crimes. Stewart so far has only been charged in the
Bullitt County incident.
November 11, 2004 Arizona Republic
A teenage girl who was strip-searched by the manager of a Taco Bell earlier
this year has filed suit against the restaurant chain. The lawsuit alleges
Taco Bell officials were aware of a string of prank calls to fast-food
restaurants across the country where a caller persuaded employees to do strip
searches, but did not adequately update franchises. In the March incident
at 17230 E. Shea Blvd., a male caller claiming to be a Scottsdale police
officer persuaded the Taco Bell manager to body search the girl, a patron,
in a back room. According to the suit, Taco Bell knew of incidents at
restaurants in Wyoming in 2004, Alaska in 2003 and Georgia in 2002 and
issued warnings to franchises, though not enough was done to educate
employees.
July 29, 2004 Nation's Restaurant News
One of the most bizarre and longest-running con games in foodservice may
have ended with the arrest of a prison guard who was charged with duping
scores of restaurant managers over the phone into strip-searching their
employees. The Panama City Police Department was holding David Stewart,
a 38-year-old corrections officer, under a governor's warrant, a kind of
fugitive warrant, until his bid to fight extradition to Mount Washington,
Ky., was exhausted. Stewart, a father of five and a former auxilary
policeman, worked for the Bay County State Facility, a privately run prison
operated by the Corrections Corp. of America. better know as the CCA.
Police in Mount Washington--a bedroom community of 13,000 residents seven
miles from Louisville--were seeking to interrogate Stewart in connection
with an April 9 incident in which a man posing as a cop called a local
McDonald's and convinced a manager to strip-search a young female cashier.
Stewart faces a $ 500,000 bond once he is in the custody of Mount
Washington authorities. Investigators used phone records,
calling-card numbers and security surveillance cameras in a Wal-Mart
outside Panama City where the calling cards had been purchased in order to
link Stewart to the assault. Mount Washington is only one of nearly
73 police departments in 30 or more states whose Burger Kings, McDonald's,
Taco Bells, KFCs, Applebee's, Hooters, Wendy's, Perkins and dozens of other
restaurants were victimized by similar ruses. In almost all cases the
restaurants were located in small towns. As the story first was
reported in Nation's Restaurant News in March, police nationwide had been
looking for a man who posed as a cop or a senior executive of a restaurant
company. He had persuaded as many as 73 unit managers of major brands to
strip-search young staffers in bogus hunts for stolen valuables. The
perpetrator listened in over the phone while the managers were coaxed into
giving detailed descriptions of the hapless victims' underwear and body
parts. The crime had gone largely unreported for years, possibly as far
back as 1995, because the victims and their employers were too embarrassed
to report it to authorities, once they realized they had been duped. Even
when they did report it, most small-town police departments didn't know how
to investigate the con, so police tended to file the reports away under
"miscellaneous" and the cases died. Particularly anxious to
interrogate Stewart are detectives of the police departments of four
Massachusetts towns--West Bridgewater, Abington, Whitman and Wareham--where
single Wendy's restaurants were victimized on the same day this year, Feb
19. One civil lawsuit has come out of those cases against Dublin,
Ohio-based Wendy's International Inc. The four towns pooled their
resources and appointed detective sergeant Victor Flaherty of West
Bridgewater to lead a task force to find the perpetrator. Wendy's financed
the task force's expenses for travel, phone record recalls and
overtime. Flaherty waded through hours of security video footage of
calling-card purchases from the Wal-Mart store until he and other
investigators linked a customer to cards used in the Wendy's incidents in
February and an incident at a Kentucky McDonald's in April. In one
tape a man wearing a Corrections Corp. of America uniform purchased a calling
card used in the February assault in Massachusetts, but other security
footage identified the same man in civilian clothing purchasing a card used
in the April con in Kentucky. Flaherty first showed prison
administrators the tape of the man in civilian clothes, and they
immediately recognized him. The clincher occurred when they were shown the
other tape of the suspect wearing his uniform. Supervisors were certain
that the man was one of theirs.
A 26-year-old corrections officer stabbed
two sisters — including one who is pregnant — with a butcher knife early
Saturday during an argument over a man, authorities reported. Investigators
charged Cachetta Ann Barnes with two counts of aggravated assault after the
altercation at 4 a.m. at 1013 Spring Ave. An arrest affidavit said Barnes
stabbed 19-year-old Tikila Walker on the left arm. Tiffany Walker, Tikila’s
24-year-old sister, heard a commotion near the door and went to Tikila’s
aid, the affidavit said. "She started calling my house around 3 in the
morning threatening us," Tiffany Walker told The News Herald Saturday
afternoon. Authorities said Barnes is a corrections officer at the Bay
Correctional Facility on Bayline Drive, a private prison run by Corrections
Corporation of America. CCA officials did not immediately return phone
messages. (News Herald, January 11, 2004)
Bay
County Jail and Annex, Panama City, Florida
October
28, 2011 News-Herald
The jail has long been finished and the initial contractor fired, but Bay
County only recently received final judgment on a lawsuit that alleged
favoritism and arbitrary behavior in awarding the jail contract in 2006.
Circuit court Judge Hentz McClellan issued a final judgment Oct. 18 in
favor of Bay County and against Emerald Correctional Management, a
Louisiana corporation that lost a bid for jail construction and operations.
Emerald Correctional filed the suit after the county entered negotiations
with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) on a $117 million contract
for the construction of the Star Avenue jail, which ultimately was awarded
to CCA for the design, construction and six years of operation of the jail,
sally port and court holding. The final judgment awards Bay County $167,761
in lawyer fees. William C. Henry, of Burke Blue, Hutchison, Walters and
Smith, who represented Bay County in the suit, said county staff spent two
months analyzing and comparing the proposals and matching them with their
proposal request. “This RFP (request for proposal) was very complicated
because it was very big,” Henry said. “There were upgrades [in CCA’s
proposal] that weren’t asked for in the RFP, but later county staff said,
‘Yeah, that’s a really good idea.’ ” To give commissioners an
“apples-to-apples” comparison, the proposals were manipulated in a “fair
and rational manner,” Henry said, and CCA was a better deal. Commissioner
Mike Thomas said the allegations of favoritism were preposterous from the
beginning because the commission did not want to give the contract to CCA,
who was managing the old jail at the time. “There had been a lot of
complaints about the way inmates and their families were being treated,” he
said. “Once we got everything done, they (CCA) were the better deal.” In
the end, CCA couldn’t do the project for the price it said and left the
project, and operations were turned over to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office
in 2008. “The main thing is we have a good product out there now,” he said.
The judge awarding lawyers’ fees “takes some of the sting out” of the
litigation, Thomas said, but the time could have been better spent. The
judge’s ruling was issued as a final order, but Henry said Emerald
Management still has the right to appeal the decision, which attorney Obed
Dorceus said he would be discussing with his client. “All these zombies,
even though they are deader than dead, they still find a way to come out of
the grave and eat people,” he said.
July 14, 2010 News-Herald
A federal jury determined Wednesday that there was no racial discrimination
against a black corrections officer who was not allowed to interview when
the Bay County Sheriff’s Office took over the jail in October 2008. Patrick
Lane, a guard with Corrections Corporation of America, sued the sheriff’s
office because he was not interviewed for a job when the agency took over.
Lane had been working at the jail while CCA was in charge. He currently
works for CCA at another facility. Sheriff Frank McKeithen testified that
he did not know Lane’s race when he prevented him from interviewing, just
his criminal background. “I am very humbled and appreciative with the
verdict, but I’m not sure anybody won today. The outcome of the verdict
cannot erase all the nasty accusations made against me and the Bay County
Sheriff’s Office,” McKeithen wrote in a statement to The News Herald. “It
cannot take away the humiliation suffered by the witnesses both for and
against me. But this is how our system works and why we have courts and
juries.” Lane’s attorney, Marie Mattox, has been trying to prove that there
was a double standard during the hiring, in which black officers with
criminal records had a more difficult time getting a job than white
officers.
July 13, 2010 News-Herald
Bay County Jail Warden Rick Anglin testified at a racial discrimination
trial Tuesday that he and Sheriff Frank McKeithen hired both black and white
officers with criminal records as they rushed to staff the jail in October
2008. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office had only a few months to take over
the jail after Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) decided to pull
out, Anglin said, adding that he, McKeithen and other supervisors used the
time to wade through hundreds of applications and install county-owned
equipment into the facility. “It was quite a monumental task,” Anglin said.
“It was seven days a week and a lot of sleepless nights.” Patrick Lane, a
guard with CCA, is suing the sheriff’s office because he was not
interviewed for a job when the agency took over the jail. Lane had been
working at the jail and for CCA until the takeover. His attorney, Marie
Mattox, has been trying to prove there was a double standard during the
hiring, in which black officers with criminal records had a tougher time
getting a job than white officers. However, Anglin testified Tuesday that
he hired both black and white officers who had criminal charges such as passing
worthless checks and battery. In most of those cases, the charges were
decades old and had been dropped. On the day the sheriff’s office took
over, there were 34 black officers and 92 white officers, Anglin said. The
jail also has two black shift supervisors out of a total of four. When the
command staff at the jail is not present, the shift supervisors are in
charge of the entire facility, Anglin said. McKeithen testified Monday that
he prevented Lane from interviewing because of his criminal history, not
because of his race. In 2001, Lane was charged with conspiracy to commit
attempted murder for his alleged involvement in a non-fatal shooting in
Franklin County. According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The
News Herald through a public records request, Lane was arrested by the
Apalachicola Police Department the night of the shooting because he was
driving two of the alleged shooters mere minutes after the incident took
place. He eventually was charged in the case, but the charge ultimately was
dropped. Although he was not hired at the jail, Lane currently works for
CCA at another of the company’s facilities. On Tuesday, Mattox called
several other black employees who were not hired by the Sheriff’s office
and several white employees who were either hired or offered jobs at the
jail. All of the employees involved had criminal histories. Two women were
fired by CCA and charged criminally because they allegedly falsified their
time records. However, CCA eventually dropped the matter and the women got
their jobs back. McKeithen and Anglin still declined to hire them. Anglin
testified the evidence in the case seemed clear that the women had somehow
clocked in for 12- and 16-hour days without coming to work. The women also
are suing the sheriff’s office for racial discrimination. Mattox also
called Jeffery Langford, a former CCA employee who now works for Florida’s
Department of Corrections. Langford, who is black, had been offered a job
with the sheriff’s office. However, shortly before the takeover, Langford
and two other black officers were involved in a physical altercation with
inmates. On the day the sheriff’s office took over, Langford was escorted
off the premises and told he would be called, he said. No one ever called
him and he found a job with the Department of Corrections, he said. “I was
looking forward to working for the sheriff’s office, but it just didn’t
work out,” Langford said. Robert Wayne Evans, the attorney representing the
sheriff’s office, pointed out the problem was not just that Langford and
the other guards used force on inmates; they also failed to report the
incident. Langford said his CCA supervisor told him not to worry about the
altercation. That was not good enough, Anglin testified, adding that
officers in similar situations who do not notify supervisors and fill out
the proper paperwork are fired automatically. “You have to report that
immediately,” Anglin said. “As bad as I hated it, I didn’t have any
choice.”
July 12, 2010 The News-Herald
Sheriff Frank McKeithen testified Monday in a racial discrimination
trial filed on behalf of a black corrections officer. The officer, Patrick
Lane, has accused McKeithen of failing to hire him even though he was
qualified for the job. In court documents, McKeithen argued that his reasons
for not hiring Lane were simple: In 2001, Lane was charged with conspiracy
to commit attempted murder for his alleged involvement in a non-fatal
shooting in Franklin County. Lane countered in subsequent documents that
the charge ultimately was dropped and that some white officers have been
hired even though they pleaded guilty to other criminal charges, including
battery, receiving stolen property and passing worthless checks. One
applicant who was hired had been accused of lewd and lascivious battery on
a child and pleaded guilty to battery, the documents stated. McKeithen also
hired a former guard at the Bay County Boot Camp to work at CCA, which ran
the Bay County Jail until the sheriff’s office took control in fall 2008.
The guard, Charles Enfinger, had been charged with aggravated manslaughter
of a child in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. That case went
to a jury, which found Enfinger, six other guards and a nurse not guilty.
During his testimony Monday, McKeithen said that in October 2008, as the
sheriff’s office was preparing to take over the jail, he personally waded
through about 300 applications. Most of those applications came from
current CCA employees. McKeithen said that when he hired for the sheriff’s
office he rejected anyone with a criminal history and was shocked to find
out CCA employed many people with “felony backgrounds.” “I had never seen
that before,” McKeithen said.
May 14, 2010 AP
An appeal court says three nurses held hostage by inmates cannot sue a
privately run jail because they are covered by workers compensation. The
ruling Friday by the 1st District Court of Appeal upheld a judge's
dismissal of a lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America, Bay
County and the Bay County Sheriff's Office. One nurse and two inmates were
shot by police to end a 12-hour standoff in 2004 at the Bay County Jail in
Panama City. All three survived. Workers compensation pays for job-related
injuries and prohibits suits against employers. The appeal court ruled that
exceptions for negligence by co-workers or an employer with knowledge of a
hazard based on a prior accident or explicit warning did not apply.
March 11, 2010 WJHG
Hernando County commissioners are considering dropping Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA) and turning their jail over to the county
sheriff. They've been consulting Bay County officials about a similar
transition that took place here in the fall of 2008. According to published
reports, CCA criticized Bay County for terminating their contract, telling
Hernando County officials they could have saved Bay County $3 million this
year if they had still been running the facility. But, Bay County
commissioners are now reminding everyone that it was CCA that terminated
the contract, claiming they couldn't abide by the financial terms of that
agreement. They also say sheriff Frank McKeithen has done a better job of
running the jail, and has done it cheaper than CCA. Bay County commissioner
Mike Thomas said, "In 2009, the sheriff's budget, entire budget, with
insurance, building payments, power, everything, was $1.3 million cheaper
than it was in 2008 under CCA's operation." Thomas says the county
commission hasn't received nearly as many jail complaints since McKeithen
took over from CCA.
March 3, 2010 Hernando Today
About two years ago, Bay County commissioners realized they had reached
a crossroads with the operator of their jail. They had been receiving
negative publicity in the press over contraband being smuggled into the
jail and there were problems with personnel, said County Commissioner Jerry
Girvin. On top of that, the operator, Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA) asked for more money, he said. So the county commissioners of this
Panhandle community rejected CCA's contract renewal bid and asked their sheriff
whether he would be interested in taking over operations. Bay County
Sheriff Frank McKeithen said he'd look into it. He did and about six months
later, in October 2008, he offered to take over the reins of the jail.
"(McKeithen) said, 'You want me to run it, I'll run it,'" Girvin
remembers. "He's done an excellent job ever since." That
scenario, with a few variations, is about to be played out in Hernando
County. Sheriff Richard Nugent announced Tuesday his office can provide a
better and more efficient service while reducing the county's cost of
operating the jail. The sheriff will make a presentation to county
commissioners at their meeting next Tuesday. As with Bay County,
commissioners here had broached the topic twice last year, especially when
the board went through somewhat contentious contract renegotiations with
CCA. "We wanted to see if there were any other options out there that
could save us money," Hernando County Commissioner John Druzbick said.
"There are other counties that are doing it. Now how they are doing it
and whether it is saving them money is what we are wanting to know."
Girvin has some advice for his Hernando County counterparts: "Go for
it." "Nobody likes to run a jail," Girvin said. "But if
you have to run one, it's better to have a local elected sheriff do
it." Stabins: Sounds good on paper -- Hernando County Commissioner
Jeff Stabins, after asking for a day to think about the sheriff's proposal,
said he is open to Nugent's idea, especially because the jail falls
somewhat under his purview. "His agency would be more involved in the
supervision and the ramifications of how many inmates are there and the
costs," Stabins said. "So on paper, it makes sense."
Stabins' concern is that the sheriff is asking for the full amount of what
the county has budgeted for jail operations this year: $11.2 million. But
Nugent said Friday he will need that much because of anticipated upfront
costs of taking over CCA's operations. "There are so many unknowns and
so many variables at play," Nugent said. When McKeithen took over jail
operations there, county commissioners gave his department about $1 million
more than what they had contracted with CCA — knowing that the first year
the sheriff might have to deal with hiring new people and purchasing equipment.
The same scenario applies in Hernando County, Nugent said. Because CCA is a
private entity, it is not open with operations, he said. That company owns
everything from the toilet paper to the video-monitoring equipment, he
said. "(McKeithen) didn't know what he was walking into, nor do
we," Nugent said. Ultimately, McKeithen ended up returning close to $2
million to the Bay County general fund after the first year of operations,
and Nugent said it is his "gut feeling" he will be able to return
money as well. Hernando County's current jail contract does not guarantee a
fixed cost for the operation of the jail, as an increase in inmates would
increase the cost to the county. With his department operating the jail, an
increase in the number of inmates will not increase the cost to the county,
Nugent said. 'Best move we ever made' -- The Bay County jail has about 900
inmates, compared to 520 in Hernando. Located in the Florida Panhandle, Bay
County has a population of about 163,500 people, compared to about 172,000
in Hernando County. Bay County Commissioner Mike Nelson echoed his
colleague Girvin's comments that CCA was not running as tight a ship as the
board wanted. "They just didn't seem to be interested in listening to
us," Nelson said. So after roughly 25 years, the board decided they
wanted out of the contract. "We talked to the sheriff; he made a
proposal," Nelson said. "It was the best move we ever made. It's
been like night and day. I haven't had a phone call on the jail in the two
years since he took over." McKeithen kept about 150 of CCA's employees
and placed them on the sheriff's payroll, while others found jobs in other
company sites. "The first year he was budgeting high because he didn't
know what he would run into with his expenses," Nelson said. And even
though the board started him off with a $17 million budget, about $1
million more than it would have given CCA, Nelson believes it was well
worth it — especially considering he returned $2 million.
September 17, 2009 News-Herald
After more than three years, a correctional company’s lawsuit against Bay
County finally may go to trial. The First District Court of Appeal upheld a
circuit judge’s opinion this week, denying Shreveport, La.-based Emerald
Corrections’ motion for summary judgment against Bay County, and clearing
the path for trial. “We’d like some finality on this case,” county attorney
W.C. Henry said Thursday. The lawsuit, originally filed in February 2006,
alleges that the county commission, and thus the county, broke state law in
how it awarded the construction and operations contract for the expansion
of the county jail. Then-Circuit Court Judge Glenn Hess dismissed all the
complaints in May 2006, but the appeals court ruled Hess improperly
dismissed two of the complaints. Emerald attorney Obed Dorceus refiled suit
against the county in circuit court. He made a motion for summary judgment,
which Circuit Judge Hentz McClellan denied in June and the appeals court
upheld Tuesday. Emerald’s complaints stem from it submitting the lowest bidder
when the request for proposal went out for the county jail expansion and
operations project in late 2005. Tennessee-based CCA, which operated the
jail at the time, was the only other bidder. But after asking for
clarification on parts of their proposals, the commission gave the job to
CCA despite a slightly larger price tag ($36.4 million to $35.4 million),
because they felt the overall package offered by CCA was superior. Henry
drew an analogy comparing the choice to the decision to buy a sports utility
vehicle, with Emerald’s offer being a “bottom-line SUV” and CCA’s being a
“Cadillac that cost a little more.” Dorceus was looking for an injunction
in his appeal, something McClellan ruled cannot happen, since the jail is
built, and CCA no longer operates it; the Bay County Sheriff’s Office does.
“That’s patently absurd,” Henry said of the appeal. “An injunction is to
prevent damage. ... What is the court going to do, say to the county to
tear down the jail and start over again?” Dorceus said Thursday he was not
surprised by the decision and plans to appeal again if the bench trial, yet
to be scheduled, doesn’t go his way. “My client spent a lot of money
pursuing this contract. We would be OK if the county followed the law,”
Dorceus said. The county has turned down two settlement requests by
Emerald, one for $13.2 million offered in June 2007, and a more reserved
$514,000 offer in September 2007. At this point the lawsuit boils down to
legal fees, with the loser paying the fees of the winner. Henry has billed
out more than $80,000 for the case. He is confident the county will not
have to pay. “Were going to win. There’s no question about that, and we’ve
felt that way from the beginning,” he said.
June 2, 2009 News-Herald
Three nurses who were held hostage at the Bay County jail in 2004 are
asking Florida's First District Court of Appeals to overturn a local judge
and find against Bay County and Corrections Corporation of America. The
plaintiffs, Amie Hunt, Glenda Baker and Kathleen Baucum, are claiming that Nashville-based
CCA should be held liable for the actions of Officer James Clayton Hall.
Hall was breaking CCA rules by allowing more than one inmate out of his
cell at a time, according to a final judgment written by Circuit Judge
Hentz McClellan. McClellan ruled that Hall was concealing this activity
from other employees and his supervisors. "There is no evidence here
that CCA knew of the dangerous situation created by Hall based on prior
similar incidents or on explicit warnings of Hall's actions," McClellan
wrote in March. He added that the nurses are only eligible for monetary
claims from CCA and the County under Florida's Workman's Comp statutes. The
case is now being reviewed by Florida's First District Court of Appeals.
Hall, Hunt, Baker and Baucum were held hostage for 11 hours by four
inmates. During negotiations all of the hostages except for Hunt were
released in exchange for pizza and a cell phone. The Sheriff's Office's
tactical team stormed into the third floor of the old Bay County Jail and freed
Hunt. However, Hunt was shot three times by deputies in the Sept. 6, 2004
incident. She filed suit for loss of earnings, pain and suffering and
medical expenses incurred. The bullets entered her hip, back and left leg,
damaging bones and vital organs. She survived but had to undergo physical
rehabilitation. The other nurses were not physically injured in the
incident. Three of the four men involved in the takeover, Kevin Nix, James
Norton and Matthew Coffin were convicted of false imprisonment. Nix, Norton
and Coffin were acquitted of more serious charges in the incident, but
still sentenced to 15 years in prison for their roles. The fourth, alleged
ringleader Kevin Winslett, plead guilty to grand theft auto, resisting an
officer with violence, assault on a corrections officer, three counts of
false imprisonment and six counts of battery on corrections officers. He
was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2007. H. Lawrence Perry, the
attorney for Baucum, Baker and Hunt, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.
CCA and County officials declined to comment because the matter is facing
an appeal.
January 29, 2009 News Herald
A prison employee believed to be romantically involved with an inmate was
arrested Thursday on charges of introducing contraband into a correctional
facility, officials said. Tina L. Ortiz, 35, of Chipley is accused of
bringing a cellular phone into Bay Correctional Facility with the intention
of giving it to an inmate, according to a Bay County Sheriff's Office
release. Ortiz was working at Bay Correctional Facility, a prison operated
by Corrections Corporation of America, as a mental health specialist
assistant, Bay County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ruth Corley said.
"She was not one of our employees," Corley said. Ortiz became a
suspect when prison authorities found a cellular phone when an inmate was
moved. An investigation to discover the phone's ownership suggested she and
an inmate may have been romantically involved, Corely said.
"Investigators discovered messages between the two that revealed their
relationship was romantic in nature," Corley said. Bay County
Sheriff's Officials were brought into the investigation Wednesday, Corley
said, and it was determined Ortiz had brought the phone into the facility.
Ortiz was arrested and later admitted to the crime, Corley said. "She
has given us a full confession," Corley said.
January 23, 2009 News-Herald
Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet found enough evidence in Anthony
Davis' case to allow it to go forward, despite Davis exposing some weaknesses
in the evidence. Davis, 40, is charged with two counts each of bribing
public servants and introducing contraband into a penal facility. He's
accused of paying two corrections workers at the Bay County Jail to smuggle
cigarettes, marijuana, prescription pills, nude photos and a cell phone to
him. All four charges against Davis are third-degree felonies carrying a
penalty of up to five years in prison each. Davis appeared before
Overstreet on Thursday for a preliminary adversarial hearing in which the
evidence against him was laid out for the judge to decide if it established
probable cause in the case. Prosecutor Pat Faucheux brought three sheriff's
investigators to the stand and Davis called the two former corrections
workers, Angela Childs and Shannon Copeland. Copeland refused to testify,
however, evoking her right against self incrimination because she has
pending charges. Childs, who has resolved her case, told Overstreet that
she brought Davis a total of five packs of cigarettes during their arrangement
and received money in return. Childs said the money came to her through
Western Union in a check that was not made out to her and was not sent
directly by Davis. Investigators said they only have testimonial evidence
that Davis organized payments to Copeland and Childs through another party.
When Childs was arrested, she was carrying a cell phone and prescription
Xanax in a bottle. She testified that both items were hers. Investigators
said Copeland began a sexual relationship with Davis the day Childs was
arrested. The affair was discovered when jail officials tapped into an
intercom system and overheard an "explicit" conversation between
Copeland and Davis. When she was arrested, investigators said, she was
carrying nude photos of herself, a sexual device and an MP-3 player. More
nude photos of Copeland were allegedly found in Davis' cell. Davis, who
acted as his own lawyer in this hearing, argued that Childs, at the time of
the alleged transactions, was an employee of Corrections Corporation of America
Inc., which was operating the jail at that time. Davis said Childs was a
corporate employee, not a public servant as described in the charge. He
also argued that the items seized from Copeland and Childs were their items
and there was no direct connection between him and the money. Davis said
when he was arrested he was not in possession of cigarettes, drugs or a
phone. Overstreet, however, ruled that there was probable cause to go
forward and scheduled Davis for another court date March 17.
December 15, 2008 News-Herald
A detention officer accused of sneaking drugs and nude photographs of
herself into Bay County Jail was arrested Sunday, Bay Sheriff's Office
officials said. Shannon Nicole Copeland, of 1613 Fairy Ave., was met at the
jail by Sheriff Frank McKeithen and jail administrator Rick Anglin as she
began her shift Sunday. A search of her person revealed a CD of nude
photographs of herself and several printed nude images, according to a Bay
County Sheriff's Office release. A search of an inmate's cell uncovered
additional nude photos of Copeland, 23, who told investigators she engaged
in sexual misconduct with the inmate and had brought him marijuana, the
release said. Copeland, a control room operator who had been entrusted with
the movements of inmates, was a former employee of Corrections Corporation
of America, or CCA, and had been retained by the jail as an uncertified
detention specialist after the transition.
November 5, 2008 News Herald
A Bay County Jail correctional officer was arrested Wednesday morning and
accused of smuggling contraband into the detention facility, authorities
said. Angela Lavonne Chiles, 41, of 9304 Kelly Circle, Youngstown, was
beginning her shift at 6 a.m. when she was found to be in possession of
about 17 alprazolam pills, which are available only by prescription,
according to a Bay County Sheriff's Office release. Investigators learned
Chiles had been introducing other contraband into the jail, including
tobacco products that were being sold among inmates for $30 to $50 per
pack, the release said. Chiles, who was terminated immediately, was taken
to the Bay County Jail and booked on charges of introduction of contraband
into a detention facility and unlawful compensation for official behavior,
the release said. Jail Warden Rick Anglin said Wednesday's arrest was a
positive signal the Sheriff's Office intends to improve security and run
the jail with professionalism. "It (the arrest) is a sign that the
Sheriff's Office isn't gonna tolerate this kind of stuff," Anglin said.
"You can't allow this kind of thing to occur; it jeopardizes the
safety of inmates and the detention officers." Anglin said
Correctional Corporation of America hired Chiles in April 2008, and she was
rehired when the Bay Sheriff's Office assumed responsibility of the jail
Oct. 9.
October 9, 2008 WJHB TV7
The Bay County Sheriff's Office now has a new duty on its list. After
almost 25 years of a privately run jail, the sheriff's office is back in charge.
The official takeover of jail operations from Corrections Corporation of
America is happening right now at 6:00. It's been a been almost five months
from the time CCA decided they wouldn't run the jail till the sheriff's
office has taken over today, and Sheriff McKeithen says his men and women
have been working day and night to be prepared.
September 18, 2008 News-Herald
Even if it means her job, Kathy Baucum won't be a hostage again.
Baucum, 50, a local nurse, said she was fired Wednesday by Corrections
Corporations of America from the Bay County Jail because she refused to put
herself in a dangerous situation. Baucum knows dangerous situations all too
well; in September 2004 she was held as a hostage during a 12-hour siege in
the CCA-run jail in downtown Panama City. Last week, the jail's warden, Joe
Ponte, issued a memo ordering all nurses to enter the jail's pods with the
inmates and hand out medicine, Baucum said. Under the new rule, Baucum and
other nurses would bring a cart full of controlled substances into the
pods, a room filled with anywhere from 60 to more than 120 inmates, and the
nurse and cart would be escorted by one guard, she said. A single guard
standing between a nurse, a cart full of drugs, and dozens of inmates would
almost certainly lead to another hostage situation or worse, Baucum said.
"No one knows it until they lived it," Baucum said. During the
2004 incident, the inmates went for drugs first, she said. They snorted
over-the-counter medication when they could not get to controlled
substances, she added. For about a week, Baucum and several other nurses
did not comply with the order, she said. On Wednesday night, the nurses
were told they had to follow the memo and enter the pods. Baucum said she
refused and was fired. Other nurses there do not agree with the rule either
but cannot afford to lose their jobs, Baucum said. When she complained to a
supervisor, Baucum said she was told the 2004 hostage crisis was a
"one-time thing." "If it can happen once, it can happen
again," Baucum said. Ponte said Baucum has not been fired. Instead,
she was sent home for one night and he has tried to contact her Thursday.
"I'd like Kathy to come in and talk to see if we can alleviate her
concerns so she can come back to work," Ponte said. "She's a good
nurse." However, the current plan for delivering medication is
"not that unusual," Ponte said. He pointed out the guard and the
nurses were watched at all times by another guard outside the pod. Ponte
said it was a change for some of the nurses, but it was done this way
successfully in several other jails. Ponte said Baucum did not try to talk
to him or make an appointment with him before Wednesday's incident.
"If they (employees) have an issue or problem, I'm always available to
talk to them," he said. Baucum was sent home for the night because she
was refusing to do her job and the inmates needed to get their medication,
Ponte said. "I have a responsibility for the care and the custody of
these inmates," he added. "After that, we could talk at any length
about any concerns." Baucum said there is no doubt she was fired
Wednesday night. Her badge was taken away from her, she was told to return
all CCA property and she was escorted from the building, she said. She said
she was told her termination paperwork would be filled out in the morning
and she should not return to the jail. There are two other options that
could be used instead of entering the pod, Baucum said. One is to
administer the pills through a feed flap at the bottom of a door. "According
to the warden, it is not humane to do it through a feed flap," Baucum
said. The other would be to use a nurse's station attached to the pods and
keeps the nurses separated from the inmates by a window. After the annex
was built, the nurses were told the station was "just for show,"
Baucum said. Those options won't work, Ponte said. The nurse's station ties
up a hallway too long, forcing jail operations to stop while the pills are
distributed, Ponte said. And inmates cannot talk with the nurse through the
feeding slot without shouting and being overheard by other inmates, he
added. Legally, inmates must be able to talk to a caregiver without others
hearing the conversation, Ponte said. Baucum now is looking for another
job, but she said getting fired was worth it if it means the warden
reverses his decision and the other nurses are safe. "I'm doing this
for the other nurses that are there," Baucum said. "I don't want
anybody else's safety jeopardized."
September 16, 2008 News-Herald
In preparation for taking control of the Bay County Jail once Corrections
Corp. of America leaves the facility next month, the Bay County Commission
received an update on the process from the Bay County Sheriff's Office
Tuesday. "Are we encountering any glitches that were unforeseen?"
asked Commission Chairman Jerry Girvin. Maj. J.B. Holloway of the sheriff's
department reported there were "some minor things," but that the
changing of the guard should go off without a hitch. "We made an
informal step into this kind of anticipating problems," Holloway told
the board, adding that questions regarding equipment inventory and other
minor issues had arisen. Holloway said the sheriff's office had already
spent $252,735 toward the transition effort. He requested an additional
$172,000 to purchase existing equipment from CCA. The sheriff's office is
still in the process of determining exactly what equipment will be bought
from the company. "They're trying to sell us some stuff that we think
is obsolete," Holloway said. He also reported that his office was
"up to speed" on hiring employees for the jail. He said about 300
applicants had been interviewed thus far, and 25 positions remained
unfilled.
September 3, 2008 News-Herald
Accused killer Ahmad Smith's jury selection started an hour late Tuesday
because Bay County Jail officials transported him late and lost his court
clothes. Circuit Judge Don T. Sirmons reacted by putting jail Warden Joe
Ponte and his officers on notice that if it happens again, he will find
them in contempt of court. A finding of contempt of court by a judge can
result in a short jail term or fine. Smith, 29, is charged with
first-degree felony murder, robbery with a firearm and burglary of a
dwelling with a firearm. He is accused of participating with Jay Broxton
and Eric Harden in a robbery of James Edwards Jr.'s Shadow Bay Drive home
on Oct. 3, 2006. Edwards was shot to death when he fought back. Broxton and
Harden were convicted, based largely on Smith's testimony in court against
both men, and sentenced to life in prison. Smith had worked out a plea to a
prison sentence of less than life in exchange for his trial testimony, but
in March, when the state would go no lower than 20 years, Smith refused to
plead guilty and insisted on going to trial. Smith's attorney indicated Tuesday
that Smith might not take the stand. Apparel problem -- Prosecutor Shalla
Phelps and defense attorney Jean Marie Downing spent most of Tuesday
finding 12 deliberating jurors and two alternates to hear the evidence. The
trial is expected to go all week. The day started with Downing scrambling
to find suitable clothing for her client. The courts have ruled jail
uniforms might be prejudicial and defendants have a right to dress in
street clothes for trial. Downing told Sirmons that her assistant had dropped
off clothing to the jail Friday, but jail officials could not immediately
locate the clothes Tuesday morning. Eventually, the Public Defender's
Office loaned Smith a button-up shirt and slacks until his suit arrived
from the jail. The jail is going through two transitions, having recently
moved all inmates from the downtown jail to what was the annex in Bayou
George. Operation of the jail also is moving, from Corrections Corporation
of America to the Bay County Sheriff's Office in October. Deputy Public
Defender Walter Smith said he had to fight for clothing from the jail on a
prior occasion for another defendant, asking at that time that jail
officials be held in contempt of court. For these kinds of emergencies, the
office has a small supply of slacks, shirts and ties to loan to defendants.
"It happens 50 percent of the time, and I'm not exaggerating,"
Walter Smith said of the clothes issue. "I always bring clothes to the
jail on the Friday afternoon before trial. That way they only have two days
to lose them." He said other jails in the state are far more
accommodating when it comes to inmate court clothing. "Every time the
issue comes up, CCA acts like it's never been raised before," Smith
said. Ponte did not return a phone message Tuesday seeking comment.
August 25, 2008 WMBB News 13
The new Bay County Jail is now housing around 900 prisoners, but a problem
finding permanent staff is causing the Sheriff’s Office to expand the
search. The Bay County Sheriff’s department has been searching for staff for
the new jail. The current staff members are employed by the Corrections
Corporation of America. So far, the sheriff’s office has only recommended
around 190 for hire out of around 270 applicants. On October 9th, the Bay
County Sheriff’s Office will take over the facility and many of the current
CCA staff will become BCSO employees.
July 15, 2008 WJHG
The board voted to enact the Bay County Jail transition agreement
between the Bay County Sheriff's Office, the County Commission, and
Corrections Corporation of America. The agreement is the next step in the
sheriff's takeover of the county jail. Back on June 17 the board voted
unanimously for Sheriff Frank McKeithen and the sheriff's office to run the
jail when CCA leaves in October, but before they take over they want to
make sure they have a smooth transition. The sheriff’s office will work
with CCA to go over operation procedures. They will also begin the process
of interviewing and training staff to be correctional officers. Jerry
Girvin of the County Commission said, "We'll start with the very
senior folks and then work down to the deputy warden, the captains, and
lieutenants and whatnot. They will shadow the current operations so that
when we take over officially in October, or when the sheriff does it won't
be walking in blind, they would have spent time with the current staff and
they'll know where the keys are, where the doors are, and how things
work." The agreement goes into effect immediately. The sheriff is set
to officially take over on October 1.
June 19, 2008 News-Herald
A Corrections Corporation of America officer was arrested Thursday and
charged with three counts of sexual battery, police said. Robert C. Heller,
27, of Parker, was a CCA employee assigned to the Bay County Jail,
Detective Aaron Wilson with the Parker Police Department said. No further
information was available Thursday night.
June 17, 2008 News-Herald
It is going to cost more, but Bay County commissioners expect to get
their money's worth out of Sheriff Frank McKeithen when he takes over
operations of the county's jail facility in October. Commissioners passed
an ordinance Tuesday placing McKeithen at the helm when current operator
Corrections Corporation of America leaves in the fall. He officially will
take over Oct. 9. There was little discussion on the matter at the
commission meeting. Most of the talking took place weeks ago. In May, when
Tennessee-based CCA cited financial hardship and announced it would be
leaving, Commission Chairman Jerry Girvin described more of an opportunity
than crisis. The county had been critical of the company for several
incidents through the years, including hostage standoffs, smuggled
contraband and sex scandals. "While we're not totally delighted with
the concept, it's now in our lap and we'll deal with it," Girvin said
at the time. "Really, in most of the counties in Florida, the sheriff
does run the jail." McKeithen told the board June 3 that the Bay
County Sheriff's Office could operate the facility for $17,855,216 a year.
That is about $7 more per inmate, per day than CCA's price, which McKeithen
said is because county employees require more pay and benefits. Also, Bay
County spokeswoman Valerie Lovett said peripheral details, such as who
would provide food and health services at the facility, still are being
worked out. Such costs would be above and beyond the sheriff's estimate.
Commissioners stressed Tuesday that CCA should be held accountable to their
agreement to construct the current expansion project at the U.S. 231 jail
annex. "We need to hold the money until we're sure they have fulfilled
all their responsibilities," said Commissioner George Gainer. County
Attorney Terrell Arline said such things are being handled. The county, he
said, also will be requesting CCA further explain its exit. "One of
our intentions is to have them explain, in writing, how they were not able
to fulfill their obligations," Arline said.
June 8, 2008 News-Herald
Originally, Sheriff Frank McKeithen was reluctant to run Bay County's
jail system. But in an interview last week, McKeithen was armed with ideas
and plans for changes at the local jail. McKeithen stressed, however, that
he does not have the job yet. The Bay County Commission will meet June 17
and is expected to vote on McKeithen's proposal to run the jail, taking
over the job from the private Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA.
During their last meeting, commissioners supported the idea. "It's not
going to be easy," McKeithen said. "Every day will be a work in
progress. We can't get complacent." If commissioners approve him for
the job, McKeithen would send every jail employee an information packet
that will let them know where they stand, he said. Nearly 300 people work
at two local jail facilities, one downtown and the other at the jail annex near
Bayou George, which is being expanded and eventually will replace the
downtown facility. "We're not going to leave them hanging,"
McKeithen said. "Everybody there will have an opportunity to retain
their jobs." As long as current employees are properly qualified, they
most likely would keep their jobs, McKeithen added. However, every employee
also would have to fill out an application and go through the application
process, he said. "I have confidence in the people that are there, and
they are going to be there," McKeithen said. He said it was too early
too say how employees at the jail would be structured and managed, but he
did talk about the need to streamline the two organizations. Jail employees
would be part of the "family" that makes up the Sheriff's Office,
McKeithen said. In his budget, McKeithen has approved a raise for the
starting salary of jail employees from about $26,000 a year to $30,000 a
year. New ideas -- The sheriff has several new ideas about how things
should be run. To start, he said, jail officials would implement an inmate
management system that would give corrections officials a "better
handle on these prisoners." McKeithen mentioned that in the past, some
inmates were kept in jail past their release dates. In November, nine
inmates were released from the jail before their release dates and had to
return. McKeithen said the new inmate management system would work closely
with courthouse officials to ensure these kinds of incidents don't happen.
McKeithen also said he wants a Web site that would let the public know
inmate status, visiting hours and other important information. The sheriff
also expressed concern for the treatment of inmates' relatives. "We
want to better train our staff in customer service," McKeithen said.
Parents, siblings and others who visit an inmate must be treated with
courtesy and respect, he added. "It's already a stressful visit,"
McKeithen said. "A county jail is accountable to the citizens of that
county." Work-release programs and other possibilities also were on
McKeithen's mind last week. These things, done right, could "save the
taxpayer money," he said. The money -- Last month, Nashville-based
CCA, which has run Bay County's jail operations for more than 20 years,
told county officials they were leaving town. Although they had signed a
contract, CCA officials said could not run the jail for the planned cost of
$43.34 per inmate, per day and were leaving the county Oct. 1. According to
information provided by Bay County officials, Charlotte County pays $76.29
per inmate per day. Indian River County pays $75 per inmate per day, while
Santa Rosa pays $49 per inmate per day. McKeithen's proposal breaks down to
$50.79 per inmate, per day, for a total of $17.9 million. McKeithen asked
Rick Anglin, Bay County's liaison to CCA and contract monitor, to
investigate the needs and come up with his budget proposal. Much of
Anglin's job involved overseeing CCA and ensuring the company followed its
contract. The sheriff said it was important to have someone outside the Sheriff's
Office do the initial budget. Anglin investigated CCA's budget and the
budgets of several jails across the state before writing the new budget, he
said. Anglin and McKeithen estimate they would pay $13.5 million for
salaries and benefits; $1.3 for medical supplies, pharmacy needs and
hospital services; $115,000 for mental health services; $956,230 for food
services; and $53,160 for uniforms, security equipment and ammo. McKeithen
pointed out the food contract breaks down to 93 cents per meal. "There's
no fat built into that budget," Anglin said. New jail -- If McKeithen
takes over Oct. 1, he would inherit the jail facilities at the U.S. 231
annex site, which eventually will serve as the area's only jail. Good
riddance, he said. "That is a monster," he said of the downtown
jail, adding that many of the safety and security problems jail officials
have dealt with over the years were caused by the dilapidated building. But
when CCA leaves, it also might take with it computers, desks and other
equipment the company purchased. The county would have to replace that,
McKeithen said. The furnishings and equipment in the new buildings will
stay, McKeithen said. "It does appear to be a state-of-the-art
facility," he added. That facility is part of a residential neighborhood,
something McKeithen is taking into account. Inmates will only be released
from the U.S. 231 site if they have a ride or a cab. If they do not, they
will be taken to the courthouse and released from an office there,
McKeithen said. This will keep former inmates from walking through a
residential neighborhood and place them closer to Bay County's bus station,
rescue mission and other services they might need, he added. Though he
might have been reluctant at first, McKeithen seemed to be looking forward
to the new situation. "I'm to the point were I'm ready for the
challenge," he said. "I want this to be the best jail in the
state of Florida."
June 6, 2008 News-Herald
If it's true that you get what you pay for, then Bay County should receive
moderately better operation of its jail with Sheriff Frank McKeithen in
charge. County commissioners indicated Tuesday that they plan to hire the
Sheriff's Office to run the jail and replace Corrections Corporation of
America, a Tennessee-based company that has contracted to do the job for
the last 23 years. CCA informed the county last month that it was seeking a
divorce, citing irreconcilable financial differences: Officials said they
couldn't provide adequate service for what the county was paying them. Enter
McKeithen, who previously had expressed a willingness to assume
responsibility for the jail but told commissioners up front that it would
cost them more. Tuesday, he laid out the numbers: Whereas CCA had been
charging the county $46.18 per inmate per day (which was scheduled to drop
to $43.34 when the new jail annex opens this fall), the Sheriff's Office
said it would charge $50.79 - or about $18 million a year, $3 million more
than CCA. Saving money was costing the county numerous headaches. Under
CCA's direction, the jail had experienced several embarrassing - and
sometimes dangerous - incidents in recent years, often resulting from staff
failures. How much of that was due to low salaries and how much to CCA's
training and oversight? We should find out the answer soon enough. Either
way, the jail needed a fresh start. The question is, should the county have
spent more time looking elsewhere before settling on the sheriff? Why not
re-bid the contract and see if it could get a better deal for taxpayers?
The answer is that it probably would have been a waste of time. First of
all, there aren't that many companies that run jails. Indeed, the last time
the county bid the work, only one other company competed with CCA. Out of
Florida's 67 counties, only three - Bay, Citrus and Hernando - contract out
their jail operations, and Bay has by far the cheapest per diem rate. Eight
county jails are run by county commissions, and the remaining 56 are
operated by the sheriffs. According to Bay County staff research, most of
the counties with inmate populations comparable to Bay's pay a higher per
diem than McKeithen's estimate. One advantage to turning the jail over to
the sheriff is that if issues arise, the county can deal directly with a
local official it knows well, instead of some corporate bureaucracy.
Furthermore, that official is elected, which means he has to answer to the
public for the jail's performance. Commissioners still must keep a close
eye on the bottom line, and that means watching out for unintended expenses
that might crop up that would significantly boost McKeithen's per diem
estimate. For instance, according to the terms of the CCA contract, any
equipment purchased after 2006 belongs to CCA. If the company takes that
stuff with it when it leaves, how much will it cost to replace it?
McKeithen says it might take a year to determine exactly what it will cost
to run the jail. He deserves an opportunity to demonstrate it will be money
well spent.
June 3, 2008 News-Herald
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen informed county officials Tuesday he
could take over jail operations for just less than $18 million a year.
"I haven't sugar-coated these numbers; these are real," McKeithen
told county commissioners during their regular meeting. "With all due
respect, this will be my only proposal. I'm not going to compete with
anyone." The cost estimate, breaking down to $50.79 per inmate, per
day, is higher than the current $46.18 charged by Corrections Corporation
of America. The company is walking away from the jail in October, shy of a
contract-stipulated drop to $43.34 upon the completion of the jail
expansion project at the annex property off U.S. 231. McKeithen said the
higher quote primarily was because county employees require a more
competitive salary and benefits. "It's a little higher rate,"
conceded Bay County Commission Chairman Jerry Girvin, "but let's face
it; a lot of the problems have been because of the salary." The board
was unanimously receptive to the sheriff's projections. Legal counsel,
however, advised that a formal ordinance declaring such would need to be
written up for the June 17 county meeting and approved. "I think what
we're saying, sheriff ... you'll have a new hat to wear," Girvin said.
McKeithen stressed his numbers were only estimates. The per diem rate also
assumes a minimum of 963 jail beds is filled. "It would take a year to
realize exactly what it's going to cost out there," he said. Officials
have budgeted $16.8 million in jail costs for the 2008 fiscal year, which
ends Sept. 30, according to Bay County spokeswoman Valerie Lovett. Of that
amount, $16.2 million would be paid to CCA to cover the per diem expenses;
the other $600,000 would cover costs, such as building maintenance, that
are not in CCA's contract, Lovett said. Had CCA continued its contract
another year at the lower per diem rate, the county would have paid $15.2
million to CCA for Fiscal Year 2009, and the overall cost would have been
$15.8 million. Commissioner Bill Dozier said the sheriff's numbers seemed
right, as opposed to CCA's $43. When alerting the county to their planned
departure, company officials cited inadequate finances. "This is
realistic," Dozier said. "That was unrealistic." If the
ordinance is approved at the commission's next meeting, McKeithen will not
take over the facility until CCA's October exit.
June 3, 2008 WMBB
Running the Bay County jail is not the most glamorous of jobs, but
Sheriff Frank McKeithen has offered to take on the task to the delight of
the Bay County Commission. At Tuesday's regular Commission meeting
McKeithen made clear that he could not garuntee there would be no problems
under his watch. "I'm not going to tell you there will never be a
hostage situation or jail break or issues in jail but I will tell you that
there will be far less than what CCA has had to deal with in that facility
downtown," said McKeithen. Last month Bay County expressed
disappointment that Corrections Corporation of America would not run the
new jail at a rate of $43 a day per prisoner, but Tuesday they said McKeithen's
offer of $50 per prisoner a day was reasonable. "We have looked at
jails all over the state of Florida and the typical per day jail rate is
$54 to $64 throughout the state," said Chairman Jerry Girvin. The
Sheriff estimates that the total budget for the year will be around $17.8
million- that's an increase of one million after CCA leaves- and McKeithen
says that money is largely due to raises for personnel. "There is a
possibility that if this amount of money is given that we may have money
left over. There's a possibility that we may have to ask you for more
money," McKeithen said. Commissioners say choosing the Sheriff over
another private contractor is the most preferable of options. "This is
not a knee jerk reaction. This is something that everyone of us has taken
time with, everyone of us, the sheriff, and our staff," said
Commissioner Mike Thomas. County Attorneys will draft an ordinance in the
coming weeks to be considered in a public hearing at it's next meeting on
June 17th.
May 27, 2008 News-Herald
Bay County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously rejected an offer by
Emerald Correctional Management to drop its lawsuit against the county in
exchange for the keys to its jails. The offer was passed on to the board by
County Attorney Terrel Arline. "Can we laugh first?" asked
Commissioner Mike Thomas. Emerald Correctional Management filed suit
against the county in 2006, claiming the bidding process for the
construction of the new jail off U.S. 231 was flawed. Arline said he
recommended the offer be rejected, but was obligated to inform the
commission about what was being put on the table. "Would ‘Hell no' be
appropriate?" Commissioner George Gainer said. "I was gonna use
those terms," Arline replied, "but I bit my tongue."
Although Emerald Correctional was the original low bidder on the project,
after some bid clarifications, the job was awarded to the only other
responding party, Corrections Corporation of America. The Tennessee-based
CCA currently is constructing the new county jail but recently notified the
county it would be pulling out of its contract Oct. 1 because of financial
concerns. Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen is researching how much it
would cost his office to take over the facility. He has told commissioners
it would be more than what CCA is charging: $46.18 per inmate, per day.
Upon completion of the new jail expansion, the rate was expected to drop to
about $43. Commissioners approved an agreement Tuesday with Tyndall Air
Force Base to house Air Force pre-trial detainees at the current Bay County
Jail. Thomas stipulated that any per-inmate costs agreement would need to
jibe with future decisions regarding management of the jail once CCA
departs.
May 21, 2008 News-Herald
A Bay County Jail captain has been placed on administrative leave after a
weekend traffic crash. Capt. Stacy C. Blakeney, 36, was driving an
estimated 80 mph in a 35 mph zone on Beach Drive when he rolled his vehicle
late Sun-day, according to a Panama City Police Department crash report.
Police said Blakeney was driving west near Buena Vista Boule-vard about
11:30 p.m., and his vehicle drifted off the road. His 2003 Chevrolet struck
a power pole and began to spin. The vehicle crossed the front yard of a
home, crashed through a row of shrubs, hit two trees and flipped, landing
on its top in the next yard. Blakeney was not seriously injured, police
reported. Police estimated damage to the vehicle at $15,000, to the power
pole at $3,000 and to landscaping at $2,000. Criminal charges are pending
the results of a blood-alcohol test, police reported. Joe Ponte, warden of
the Bay County Jail, said Blakeney declined to speak to supervisors about
the circumstances of the crash. With criminal charges pending, he cannot be
com-pelled to make a statement, Ponte said. Blakeney works at the downtown
jail, according to Ponte.
May 14, 2008 News-Herald
It takes millions of dollars a year to run the Bay County jail but now
that Corrections Corporation of America is leaving town, the County
Commission worries it could cost a tremendous amount more. Bay County went
to a lot of effort to try to save money on the construction on a $40
million facility including a lawsuit from a company bidding on the project.
In the end the County went with Corrections Corporation of America.
"The fact that they designed it around their ability to run it, that
was supposed to be a savings for everybody," said Commissioner George
Gainer on Wednesday. At Tuesday's County Commission meeting, Commissioners
announced that CCA planned to leave the new jail in October. CCA and the
County signed a 6 year contract in 2006. The terms of the contract say the
company would be responsible for building the new jail to be completed by
August. After the jail was complete, the County's rate per prisoner per day
was supposed to drop from $46 dollars to $43 a day in 2009. "My
problem is they're not sticking around long enough for Bay County to
realize if the design is one that is going to save us money. If it's what
we paid for," said Gainer. While the County has a number of options
for running the new facility, Gainer says he thinks each one would be more
expensive than CCA. He hopes the commission will address his concerns at a
workshop on Friday. "This whole process was entered into because of
the savings on the per diem. I think we're paying $43 a day now and if
we've got to pay $56 at this facility- I think that $13 a day is the basis
of a tremendous lawsuit back against CCA," said Gainer. CCA's official
reason for leaving the county was that wages and benefits for staff could not
be covered with the rate worked out with Bay County. County Commissioners
will weigh three options at a special workshop Friday including running the
jail themselves as a County Department, asking Sheriff Frank McKeithen to
step in, or hiring another private contractor to run the jail.
May 13, 2008 News-Herald
Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, let the county know late
Monday that it would be abandoning its local operations in 150 days, or Oct.
1. “Where our path will take us, we don’t know,” Bay County Commission
Chairman Jerry Girvin said of the question left in CCA’s wake. “It’s been a
long-term relationship, but it’s probably one that’s run its course, and
it’s time to go separate directions.” During the commission’s meeting
Tuesday, the board briefly discussed the last-minute news before scheduling
a workshop for 2 p.m. Friday at Panama City City Hall to further explore
the county’s options. Girvin said the two most probable options would be to
either run the jail as a county department or turn operations over to the
Bay County Sheriff’s Office. “Really, in most of the counties in Florida,
the sheriff does run the jail,” Girvin said Tuesday afternoon. CCA, which
has operated the area’s jails for more than 20 years, cited financial
concerns as the reason for pulling out of Bay County. Spokeswoman Louise
Grant said the Tennessee-based company could not continue to pay the
competitive wages needed to “retain the brightest and the best staff.”
Locally, CCA employs almost 290 people. Warden Joe Ponte said the average
jail employee makes about $28,000. CCA entered into a new contract with Bay
County in 2006 that stipulated a per-inmate rate of $46.18 per day. Last
year, the company was paid $15.8 million. The six-year contract also called
for the company to expand on the facilities at the U.S. 231 annex site,
which will serve as the area’s only jail once the downtown location is
closed. County officials said the work should be complete before CCA’s
October departure. Ponte said his staff has been made aware of the
situation. “As it starts to sink in, people are asking questions: ‘Who’s
going to run it?’” Ponte said. “We don’t have any answers to that stuff.”
The possibility of running local jails is not a new concept to the Bay
County Sheriff’s Office. Department officials have suspected this day might
arrive and have assessed if such a venture would be a viable option. “We’ve
heard these rumors here, lately,” Major J.B. Holloway said of CCA’s exit,
sounding confident about Sheriff Frank McKeithen’s prospects of running
such an operation. “The sheriff has run a jail on a small scale,” Holloway
said, referring to his boss’s stint heading up a Gulf County facility when
McKeithen was the sheriff there. “I feel certain he could do it here.”
Regardless of what Bay County officials decide to do when CCA leaves, Ponte
hopes the people currently staffing the facilities will be included in the
plans. “This is a jail, it’s going to be run as a jail, and they’re going
to need people to run it,” he said, adding that CCA also is offering to
relocate some employees to other prison operations but that “a lot of
people don’t want to move.” Holloway said it would be “premature” to
discuss possible costs of running Bay County’s operations, but the
Sheriff’s Office previously stated it might not be able to match CCA’s
price. Girvin hinted the county might be open to paying more. That would
depend on many things,” Girvin said. “How much more? What kind of bang are
we getting for our buck?” CCA problems -- At times, officials have
indicated CCA’s bang for the buck has not been sufficient. Since first
beginning work in Bay County in October 1985, the private correctional
company has weathered a number of storms that caused local officials
concern. Last November, CCA released nine inmates early by accident. In
June 2007, an inmate fashioned a plastic utensil into a lock-pick and
briefly broke out of his cell. In 2005, a CCA nurse was fired after an
inmate gave birth inside the jail annex four hours after complaining of
labor pains. Another nurse, as well as a supervisor, was fired for having
sex with an inmate. In 2004, a nurse was shot in a hostage standoff after
inmates escaped from their cells. CCA said such instances were not a factor
in the decision to leave town. “No, operations did not play a role in this
at all,” said Grant, stressing CCA’s financial concerns. “Nothing else
played into that.” Recently, county officials have made strong statements
directed at CCA in regard to the company’s mishaps. “They’re going to run
it right, or we’ll get somebody who will run it right,” said County
Commissioner Mike Nelson, following the accidental inmate release last
fall. Girvin said that although CCA’s notice was not expected, it is an
issue county officials are ready to address. “While we’re not totally
delighted with the concept,” Girvin said, “it’s now in our lap and we’ll
deal with it.”
May 13, 2008 WJHG
Corrections Corporation of America, C-C-A, the private company which
has operated the Bay County Jail since 1985, says it has had enough and is
cancelling its contract effect October first. C-C-A made the disclosure in
a letter to the Bay County Commission revealed this morning. Reason for the
termination was not disclosed. The company said it was exercising its 150
day option spelled out in it 2006 contract with Bay County. The county
commission has scheduled a special meeting for Friday7 afternoon to discuss
several options, two of which include having the Sheriff take back operations
of the jail, or the commission operating the jail itself. Would the Sheriff
be interested? A spokesman for Sheriff Frank McKeithen said this morning he
would not have any comment on the C-C-A issue until he meets with the
county commission Friday. Meanwhile, work continues on the building of the
new Bay County jail in Bayou George. CCA will finish building it before its
contract expires.
November 21, 2007 News Herald
Bay County commissioners sent a clear message Tuesday to Corrections
Corporation of America: Shape up or ship out, and pay $140,000. “We need to
go aggressively at them,” Commissioner Mike Nelson said. “We’re gonna have
to get it across to the folks up in Tennessee that we take this very
seriously.” Nashville-based CCA runs the Bay County Jail and Jail Annex. On
Nov. 1, the company mistakenly released nine inmates early from a substance
abuse program. All the inmates voluntarily returned within a week. A county
report released Nov. 13 listed a number of chinks in CCA’s armor.
Primarily, the report cited poor judgment on the part of jail staff as the
biggest reason for the oversight. “This is a jail, and it needs to be run
like one,” Nelson said. “It shouldn’t have happened; I don’t want it to
ever happen again.” In addition to corrective measures, such as notifying
the county within 30 minutes of an incident and creating new booking and
classification procedures, commissioners also are fining CCA $140,000 for
the inmates’ release. The contract with the corporation stipulates
financial penalties may be levied in such cases, and will be taken out of
the county’s monthly payments to CCA. The agenda for Tuesday’s County
Commission meeting did not list the jail issue. It came up during the
commissioner comments section of the meeting. No one from CCA spoke during
the meeting. The company is conducting its own investigation into the
inmates’ release. County officials signed a six-year contract in May 2006
for CCA to run the facility and build a $39.7 million annex. As a condition
of that contract, the county may break the relationship within 90 days
without cause, or within 30 days with cause. “When we were redoing our
contract we said, ‘new ballgame,’” Commission Chairman Jerry Girvin noted.
Nelson said CCA’s frequent lapses might merit exploring other options.
“What concerns me is what else is going on out there that we don’t know
about,” Nelson said. “I don’t want to see the county get into the jail
business … but the sheriff may have to.” Girvin directed county staff to
begin considering other options. He advised that such a consideration would
be in its infancy, and staffers should “not go 24/7 on it” in the hopes CCA
will begin tightening up its operation.
November 20, 2007 WJHG
Bay County wants to fine the Corrections Corporation of America $140,000
for mistakenly releasing 10 inmates from the Bay County Jail earlier this
month. The fine stems from an incident that happened on November 1. CCA
worker released ten inmates enrolled in a drug rehab program, before they'd
completed their sentences. All of the inmates surrendered after CCA
discovered the mistake and notified them. A review by the county contract
monitor cited poor staff judgment, broad booking procedures, inadequate
staffing, and a seven-hour delay between the time the incident occurred and
the time it the contract monitor was notified. County commissioners say the
penalty is justified because the release violated the contract the county
has with CCA to operate the county jail system. The contract provides for
the fine, based on the $1.4 million monthly amount the county pays CCA to
house inmates. The fine is one percent of the monthly invoice, for each
inmate released. Commissioners say the incident is unacceptable. Mike
Nelson, Bay County Commissioner, "What I'm really upset about is there
was a seven hour delay before anyone at our place was ever notified, and
what concerns me even more is what else is going on our there that we don't
even know about?" Commissioner Nelson says the county will have to
watch CCA closer in the future. The board discussed other options including
the termination of CCA's contract, but did not take any action.
November 14, 2007 News-Herald
Someone with Corrections Corporation of America should have noticed nine
inmates were being freed early from the Bay County Jail on Nov. 1,
according to a county report released Tuesday. “That kind of carelessness
is something we can’t have,” said Bay County Commissioner Mike Nelson. “I
mean, they’re running a jail.” Employees of the Tennessee-based company
that operates the jail and jail annex for the county mistakenly released
the inmates who were part of the facility’s Lifeline Substance Abuse
Program. All nine inmates voluntarily returned within a week. Warden Joseph
Ponte said last week that CCA staff members mistakenly released the
individuals because their graduation certificates were printed early by a
staff member and misinterpreted by other staff members. The documents had
the correct release date for the inmates, but staff members overlooked it,
Ponte said. The county report found there were numerous times at which CCA
employees should have caught the mistake. At the very least, suspicions
should have been raised when the inmates themselves voiced concern, the
report stated. “Apparently, the staff they were telling thought it was
someone else’s responsibility,” said Rick Anglin, the county’s contract
monitor who interviewed CCA staff and inmates while preparing the report.
Anglin said if he had to pick one reason for the mishap, it would be
staffing. Three key staffers in the classification department were absent
the day of the incident. Another CCA shortfall mentioned in the report
concerned a seven-hour delay between the realization something had gone
wrong and notification of the county. Nelson said Ponte has yet to call the
county manager to discuss the matter. The report lists several corrective
actions to be taken. Primarily, the county liaison must be made aware of an
“unusual incident” within 30 minutes. New, clearly defined booking and
classification procedures also are called for. The county’s contract allows
for financial penalties when such an incident occurs. Nelson said county
attorneys are pursuing that course. CCA began its own investigation into
the matter the day it happened, Ponte said. That investigation should wrap
up within two weeks. Nelson said the incident has shown the county needs to
keep a closer watch over the corrections company. “We’re gonna have to
tighten up on them,” the commissioner said. “They’re gonna run it right, or
we’ll get somebody that will run it right.”
November 5, 2007 WMBB TV13
An investigation is underway at the Bay County Jail Annex after an incident
that Chairman Commissioner Mike Nelson calls inexcusable. Nine inmate's
were released from the jail prior to the completion of their count-ordered
drug program and then told to come back. Thursday evening, The Bay County
Jail Annex released nine inmate's in the facilities lifeline substance
abuse program, which is a 120 day program. All nine offenders, five males,
and four females were being housed for misdemeanors charges and were
expected to complete the program within the next few weeks. Eight of the
offenders voluntarily returned to the program. The ninth offender, whose
residence is out of the state, is in the process of being notified.
"The county is going to put every effort to find out how this happened
and make sure it never happens again," said Nelson. Warden Ponte said
the mistake happened when inmate’s completion certificates were printed
early. "I apologize, this shouldn't have happened. We are doing
everything we can to prevent this from happening in the future," said
Ponte. The Bay County Jail is managed by Corrections Corporation of America
and hope to have the investigation completed in the next couple weeks.
September 27, 2007 News-Herald
Emerald Correctional Management LLC has taken a step back from the $13.2
million it sought from Bay County — a considerable step. The Louisiana
company, which argues it was slighted during the bidding process in 2005
for the county’s jail expansion project, now is seeking $514,050 to settle
a lawsuit. Obed Dorceus, attorney for Emerald Correctional, said the
reduction doesn’t reflect a loss of resolve. “My client wanted to make sure
the county knew he was willing to compromise,” Dorceus said. “But we still
believe in the case.” The county has not accepted the settlement offer.
Instead, it is requesting Emerald Correctional pay $35,000 in legal fees
and drop the case. W.C. Henry, who represents the county, called the
original $13.2 million “ridiculous, absurd; you’ve got to be kidding me.”
The most recent offer is “still blatantly absurd.” Emerald first brought
suit against the county in 2006. The company claimed the county’s bidding
process was tainted. Only two companies responded to the call for bids on
the project; Emerald’s came in a few million dollars below Tennessee-based
CCA. CCA, however, was awarded the job after both companies were asked to
clarify their bids. The company had a 20-year history working with the
county. The contract Bay County awarded CCA was for six years and more than
$36 million, and covers the demolition of the downtown jail, the expansion
of the jail annex and management of the completed facility. Ground has been
broken on the annex, with an expected completion date of May 2008. Emerald
sued the county, alleging it didn’t adhere to bidding rules. Bay County
Circuit Judge Glenn Hess dismissed the six-pronged complaint. In May, an
appellate court overturned two of Hess’ dismissals. Henry said the entire
case has stalled to some degree because Emerald has not filed a new
complaint after withdrawing the initial suit and focusing on the two
remaining issues. “We’ve kind of been working in limbo,” Henry said. “Right
now, there is no complaint. It’s kind of weird; this is very strange.”
Dorceus said he plans to file a new complaint soon. Depositions are planned
for Oct. 10. Several county employees, as well as Commissioner Mike Thomas,
will be deposed via video. Henry said the $35,000 legal fees offer is good
until Monday. He said it would spare everyone the costs of a courtroom.
“We’re gonna win, and we’re gonna win big in the end,” he said. “If they
see the light and realize they’re going to lose, we could save the costs.”
August 21, 2007 News-Herald
Seven suspected illegal immigrants were arrested Tuesday at a county work
site. Bay County sheriff’s deputies made the arrests Tuesday at the county
courthouse. The men were employed by BCL Contractors to work on the new
sally port project, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release. Deputies
said they checked the employment records of the workers and found the men
had used stolen Social Security numbers. Each of the workers was charged
with criminal use of personal identification information. The arrests could
be a problem for county officials. The Bay County Commission unanimously
passed a resolution in March that would allow commissioners to break
contracts with companies that hired illegal workers. The resolution
provided the option of banning those companies from seeking county
contracts for at least a year. County spokeswoman Valerie Lovett said
Tuesday evening that the suspected illegals were working on a project
overseen by CCA, the company that runs the county jail. “At this point, we
don’t have the details,” Lovett said. “We will be having a conversation
with CCA to find out what happened.”
June 21, 2007 News Herald
Bay County Jail officials still are trying to figure out how a murder
suspect escaped from his cell Monday night. Hermon Harmon, who faces the
death penalty if convicted of murder in the February shooting death of Jeff
Gillman, picked the lock on the door of his maximum security cell at the
Bay County Jail Annex on Nehi Road, using shaved plastic eating utensils,
according to an arrest affidavit. Plastic utensils were found in Harmon’s
cell, but Warden Joe Ponte said that is normal. “We give them (inmates)
plastic utensils with every meal,” he said. Ponte said jail maintenance
workers took the lock apart Tuesday and said it was working fine. Ponte asked
the lock’s manufacture, Brinks Lock Company, to send someone to examine the
lock. “We want to make sure we didn’t miss anything,” he said, “and to make
sure the locks are working properly.” An internal investigation is ongoing,
and Ponte said it should be completed early next week. After Harmon was
captured Monday night, officials checked the other locks in the segregation
pod at the annex. Only one lock was found to be defective, and it has been
fixed, Ponte said. Ponte began his term as warden in January, and he said
that prior to his arrival, the locks had a tendency to be broken easily. If
the inmates slammed the door shut when the bolt was extended, it would
damage the internal lock mechanism, Ponte said. Inmates also could stuff
anything in their cell into the locks and that could short out the
electronics, allowing the cell door to open.
June 19, 2007 WMBB TV
In a closed executive session Tuesday, Emerald Correctional Management
asked for $13m. Emerald says the county violated its own bidding process by
awarding the new county jail contract to Corrections Corporation of
America. Shortly after the February bid award, Emerald filed suit but the
case was dismissed. Emerald appealed the decision and won the right for the
case to be reviewed again. Bay County Commission Chairman Mike Nelson said
earlier the Commission would likely not approve the settlement. Emerald has
threatened to sue if they aren't granted the $13m.
June 20, 2007 News Herald
A man charged with murder broke out of his maximum-security cell Monday
night, using plastic eating utensils to pick the lock, according to an
arrest affidavit. Herman Harmon, 45, escaped about 9 p.m. from cell number
8 in a maximum-security pod at the Bay County Jail Annex on Nehi Road, said
Warden Joe Ponte. It’s not clear how Harmon, who is charged with
first-degree murder in the Feb. 26 shooting death of Jeff Gillman, picked
the lock on his cell. He faces additional charges after officers eventually
apprehended him. Ponte said the cell’s lock was working properly and an
internal investigation is under way. Ponte said he isn’t sure how Harmon
got out of his cell and didn’t want to speculate until the investigation is
completed. Once out of his cell, Harmon entered the common area of the
jail, then left the pod through a sliding metal door, which might have been
open, Ponte said. The warden said he’s also heard a few versions from
inmates and corrections officers on how Harmon got out of the pod. The pod
doors have a defect that allows them to be opened if someone forcibly
pushes it, but it makes a lot of noise. The warden said that all the pod
doors are due to be replaced. Outside of the pod, Harmon accessed a small,
open post, where he grabbed correctional officer Beverly Brennen by the
neck and demanded her portable radio, the affidavit stated. Brennen and
Harmon wrestled briefly and Brennen was able to call for help, Ponte said.
Harmon eventually got the radio and tried to have the control section open
the door leading to the exercise yard, but it was too late. A responding
officer captured Harmon in the hallway just outside of his pod, Ponte said.
Harmon has been charged with battery on a correctional officer, attempted
escape, depriving an officer with means of communication and possession of
contraband in a detention facility, according to court records. Judge
Thomas F. Welch ordered Harmon held on an $85,000 bond. Officers found a
garrote, which was made out of string, Ponte said. But Ponte doubted the
garrote was intended to hurt someone. “It was found in his cell,” he said.
“So if he wanted to do harm, he would have taken it with him.”
June 15, 2007 WMBB TV
Next Tuesday the Bay County Commission will hold an Executive Session
to consider a lawsuit settlement. Emerald Correctional Management, Inc.
filed suit against the County after they say the County unfairly awarded a
contract for the new jail to Corrections Corporation of America. Emerald
Correctional says CCA was allowed to adjust their bid after it had already
been submitted. Now Emerald Correctional is making an offer to settle for
more than $13 million in damages.
June 6, 2007 News Herald
Unsuccessful jail expansion bidder Emerald Correctional Management Inc. has
offered to settle its lawsuit against Bay County for $13.2 million. The
County Commission will meet in executive session June 19 to consider the
offer. County officials hinted Tuesday they were not inclined to pay any
money to the company, which alleges that the county violated state law and
the terms of its own request for proposals when it awarded a jail expansion
and operations contract to Corrections Corporation of America in February
last year. “Why should we pay them anything when we followed the law?”
Commissioner Bill Dozier said. Steve Afeman, executive vice president of
the Shreveport, La.-based Emerald Correctional Management, said Tuesday
$12.7 million is being sought in damages — money the company would have
realized had it been awarded the six-year contract. The remaining amount
pertains to time and money invested in preparing for the project, including
legal fees. The County Commission opened bidding for a new jail contract in
June 2005, which called for expanding the jail annex on Nehi Road, tearing
down the downtown Bay County Jail and constructing new holding cells
connected to the Bay County Courthouse. Only Emerald and Tennessee-based
CCA responded, with Emerald bidding at $31.8 million and CCA at $38.8
million. Both companies were asked to clarify parts of their proposals, and
the county determined that Emerald’s price would be $35.4 million and CCA’s
would be $36.4 million. CCA had been operating Bay County’s jails for more
than 20 years, and that longevity coupled with a satisfactory performance
weighed on commissioners’ decision to go with CCA. Circuit Court Judge
Glenn Hess in May last year threw out all six of Emerald’s complaints
against the county. Last month, the First District Court of Appeal ruled
that Hess improperly dismissed two of six complaints and directed him to
reconsider them.
May 7, 2007 WMBB TV
An appeals court opinion could lead to a challenge for the Bay County
Commission. Back in June 2005, Bay County Commissioners opened bidding for
a contract to expand the Bay County Jail. Two companies entered bids. They
were Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, and Emerald Correction
Management, with Emerald entering the lower bid. Both companies were asked
to clarify certain points of their proposals, resulting in a reduction of
cost for CCA. The Commission then entered into contract negotiations with
CCA in December 2005. Emerald filed a letter in January 2006, formally
protesting the negotiations. The County Manager denied the protest, based
on a recommendation from the county purchasing agent. In February 2006,
Emerald filed a six count complaint. All six counts were dismissed. The
opinion from the District Court of Appeals, First District, agrees with
four of the dismissals, but raises objections to two. One count challenges
the county's decision to all CCA to estimate construction cost that may later
inflate. The other count relates to the county allowing CCA to make certain
changes to portion of their proposal. The opinion now leaves an opening for
Emerald to motion for a rehearing on those counts.
January 17, 2007 News Herald
The final defendant in a 2004 jail standoff was cleared Tuesday for
trial. Kevin Winslett appeared before Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet for
a hearing to determine if Winslett is mentally competent for trial.
Winslett had been at a state mental hospital since December 2005, but
doctors cleared him a month ago to return to Bay County. Tuesday’s hearing,
which is required by law, was little more than a formality because
Winslett’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Doug White, acknowledged he
had no evidence to dispute the recent findings. Bay County Sheriff’s Office
investigators said Winslett, Kevin Nix, James Norton and Matthew Coffin
took over the fourth floor of the Bay County Jail on Sept. 5 and 6, 2004,
and held jail nurses hostage. The standoff ended when deputies stormed the
floor and shot one of the men and a nurse.
January 5, 2007 News-Herald
The state Supreme Court is weighing whether the property a prison sits on
in Bay County is exempt from taxation. Bay County Property Appraiser Rick
Barnett said the court heard the case Thursday. In 2006, the First District
Court of Appeal ruled the land could not be taxed, upholding a decision by
Circuit Court Judge DeDee Costello. She ruled the prison property is leased
through a state department, making it ineligible for property tax. Because
the issue is one being debated across the state, the appeals court moved
the question to the state’s highest court. Corrections Corporation of
America, the company that runs the county jail, owes about $2.2 million in
back taxes, Barnett said.
November 21, 2006 News-Herald
A former jail nurse shot during a hostage situation in 2004 sued
Corrections Corporation of America, Bay County and the Bay County Sheriff’s
Office on Monday. Ann Marie “Amie” Hunt filed suit for loss of earnings,
pain and suffering and medical expenses incurred after Sheriff’s Office
deputies shot her three times Sept. 6, 2004, when firing at four inmates
who had taken control of the Bay County Jail’s fourth floor. The bullets
entered her hip, back and left leg, damaging bones and vital organs.
According to the lawsuit, she has been in physical rehabilitation since the
shooting. “On or about September 6, 2004, several inmates took advantage of
known flaws in the security of the Bay County Jail and upon seizing the
opportunity of those security flaws, the inmates took control over the jail
and intentionally took control over the plaintiff Amie Hunt,” attorney H.
Lawrence Perry wrote in the complaint. Perry said Corrections Corporation
of America, the jail’s Tennessee-based corporate owner, Sheriff’s Office
and county, failed to maintain the electrical door locking system. The
takeover began when one of the inmates got out of a cell that did not lock
properly and freed the others, according to witness testimony at a criminal
trial in this case. Three of the four men involved in the takeover, Kevin
Nix, James Norton and Matthew Coffin were convicted of false imprisonment.
The fourth, alleged ringleader Kevin Winslett, has not been tried because
of mental problems that have kept him in the state mental hospital. Nix,
Norton and Coffin were acquitted of more serious charges in the incident,
but still sentenced to 15 years in prison for their roles. Perry wrote in
the lawsuit that the county, corporation and Sheriff’s Office were served
with notices of intent to sue in January, but had not responded. He was
unavailable for comment at his office Monday afternoon. Sheriff’s Office
spokeswoman Ruth Sasser said Sheriff Frank McKeithen had not received the
lawsuit and could not comment. Hunt testified on Sept. 8, 2005, in the
trial of Norton, Nix and Coffin. “At the very beginning,” she said,
choosing her words carefully, “they were a little nutty. They just wanted
to find a way out. They were as polite as they could be for the situation we
were in.” Then, she said, the inmates broke into the drug storage lockers
and began ingesting narcotics. “They started getting high and that lasted
for several hours,” Hunt said. “Then they started coming down.” She said
the situation was made worse by another dorm of inmates that, while
secured, were still breaking windows and going crazy after getting into a
medication cart. Hunt said Nix told her that those inmates wanted her and
the two other female nurses, but he would protect them. As the night progressed,
she said, Nix became agitated with nurse Glenda Baker’s praying. Another
nurse, Kathy Baucum, said Baker was constantly praying and also “speaking
in tongues.” When it came time to offer a hostage in return for pizza and
cigarettes, Nix insisted Baker go because she was “freaking him out,” Hunt
said. Then Baucum developed a migraine headache and she was soon exchanged
for more pizza and cigarettes. Another hostage, James Hall, had been the
first to be released. That left Hunt alone with the inmates. The standoff
ended, she said, when she was brought before a barred gate at the end of a
hall. Nix, she said, was standing behind her with a scalpel to her throat.
“I don’t know who shot me,” she said. “He was just a figure, a person
standing there, then boom. I looked down and I got shot. Then boom and I
got shot again.” One bullet shattered her knee, an injury that
incapacitated her for months. But Hunt was able to walk into court and take
the witness stand with the help of a cane.
August 18, 2006 News Herald
An administrative law judge has recommended clearing a former county
attorney, former county manager and current assistant county manager of
alleged ethics violations. Judge Harry Hooper heard arguments in the case
in June against Assistant County Manager Bob Majka, former County Attorney
Nevin Zimmerman and former County Manager Jon Mantay. The central question
was whether the men violated ethics laws regarding gifts after they took a
February 2000 trip to view a Corrections Corporation of America jail in
Tennessee and a publicly run facility in Arizona. Other county officials
were present. CCA, based in Tennessee, paid for the airfare and lodging of
the three men and two former county commissioners. Zimmerman said during
the June 15 hearing that it was reasonable and beneficial to taxpayers for
a third party, such as CCA, to pay for “fact-finding” trips that county
officials take. CCA has operated Bay County’s jails for 20 years, and the
county was negotiating a new contract with the company at the time of the
trip. That parallel drew the ire of the Florida Police Benevolent
Association, which initiated the ethics complaints in July 2003 and
referred the case to the Florida Ethics Commission. The commission in
September 2004 found probable cause that Mantay, Zimmerman and Majka may
have violated gift laws. In his recommended order, though, Hooper ruled the
gifts were not directed to the three men but to the county, so they were
not required to report the gifts. The attorneys for either party can file
“exceptions” to the recommendation within 15 days, and the Ethics
Commission will review those submissions along with Hooper’s finding before
entering a final order. Ethics Commission attorney Linzie Bogan said
Thursday that he likely would file a response for the commission to
consider. “How I’ll respond will depend on how the judge laid out his
order,” he said, explaining that he just received the order and had not
looked over all of it yet. “I would hope the commission would be open to
persuasion on this issue,” he said. “I still feel there are violations.”
July 20, 2006 News Herald
At least two residents who live near the Bay County Jail Annex on Nehi
Road object to a proposed zoning and land-use change for adjacent property
to allow jail expansion. Shelley and David Hickman, of Nehi Road, stated in
a letter to county officials that they believe approving a zoning change
from agriculture-timberland to public institutional for 14.2 acres will
create a wave of construction of other “institutional” facilities in the
area. The Planning Commission will vote on the items today at its regular
meeting, and the County Commission, which has final say, will consider that
recommendation when it takes up the issue in a couple of weeks. “As I see
it, it would mean that there would have to be lawyer offices to aid
inmates, and also do not forget about the need for bail bond facilities and
halfway houses and shelters and other types of businesses that ‘feed off’
the ‘institution,’” the Hickmans wrote. In an interview, Shelley Hickman
also said she thinks it is a moot point to consider the zoning and land-use
changes now when the county already has awarded a contract to Corrections
Corporation of America for construction at the annex. CCA officials have
said they hope to break ground by December. Martin Jacobson, planning and
zoning division manager, said the CCA-led construction and zoning and
land-use changes are “independent of each other.” County staff is rec-
ommending the switch to public institutional for the 14.2 acres, he said,
with the condition that use of the property is limited to jail operations.
The Florida Department of Community Affairs has to review the proposed
land-use change, as it does with any property greater than 10 acres.
June 20, 2006 News Herald
On an average day, the Bay County Jail in downtown Panama City is 100 to
150 inmates above capacity. The 30-year-old facility’s design provides
additional daily headaches for jail staff, inmates and defense attorneys.
“There’s a lot of wasted space and there’s not enough space,” explained
Assistant Warden Richard Thore. There are not enough holding cells, so
interview rooms have been converted for backup use. Interviews are
conducted wherever there is room. There is one small room for booking and
taking fingerprints, which slows the inmate admitting process. And from the
jail’s central command post, guards cannot see all of the 12-cell pods.
They must be viewed individually, which necessitates several jail guards
instead of one. “Everything that should be easy becomes difficult and
time-consuming,” including preparing meals in a kitchen not large enough or
designed to accommodate 400 inmates, Thore said. The kitchen is situated on
the second floor of the six-floor building, so employees have to take extra
time to pick up food on a loading dock and transfer it to the second floor.
New facility. Overcrowding has persisted at both jails for at least the
past 10 years, according to county inmate counts. There are 410 beds at the
jail annex on Nehi Road, but there are about 500 inmates there. Both jails
— operated for the past 20 years by Corrections Corporation of America —
now keep inmates of all security classifications, said Jennifer Taylor,
CCA’s senior director of business development. In January, Panama City Beach
attorney Jeremy Early documented problems he saw at the jail for his boss,
Public Defender Herman Laramore. Assistant Public Defender Susan Rogers
said she forwarded Early’s memo to county officials. One issue Early
identified was lack of space for female inmates, who are held long-term
only at the annex on Nehi Road. In a memo on Jan. 25, Early stated that he
saw at least 20 women in a holding cell at the main jail who had either
pleaded out at first appearance or had been released on their own recognizance
a day or two prior. Early said Judge Elijah Smiley told him to record their
names. “As I started taking their names, a CCA guard came in and removed
some of the women before I could get all their names … I personally heard
one of the CCA guards tell (am inmate) she was being held because CCA had
lost her paperwork.”
June 19, 2006 News Herald
About half of the Bay County jail system’s correctional officers left in
2004 and 28 percent quit last year, making effective and safe operations
tough to achieve, county officials say. High turnover has been a primary
concern of Commissioner Jerry Girvin, a retired captain with the Bay County
Sheriff’s Office, which ran the jail until the county awarded the original
Corrections Corporation of America contract in 1985. Girvin said the
constant hiring of new guards unfamiliar with Bay County’s jails
jeopardizes security. “An experienced correctional officer can sense the
need and circumvent a situation from occurring or minimize the effect,” he
said. Jason Bradley Sims, a 30-year-old who recently was detained at the
main jail on Harmon Avenue for violating his probation for a battery
charge, said fighting among inmates is frequent, partly because there
aren’t enough guards. “I’ve been in at least a dozen fights in the last two
years,” said Sims, who has spent the majority of his life locked up in Bay
County jails and in correctional institutions elsewhere in the state.
Assistant Warden Richard Thore said understaffing is not leading to more
inmates beating one another. “They’re going to fight whether guards are
there or not,” he said. For an attorney representing an inmate at first
appearance, new correctional guards are sometimes a source of frustration
for mistakes made or delays in bringing inmates to the hearings. Occasionally,
Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith said, guards show up with the wrong
inmate because of similarities in names. Frequent turnover of jail guards,
he said, contributes to complications in the first appearance process.
“They always have new people coming in,” he said of CCA. New jail guards
and the company they work for are not solely responsible for difficulties
during a first appearance, he added. “It’s not all CCA’s fault. It’s the
warrants division; it’s correctional guards calling in sick. …” Turnover
problems locally also rise to the top. The past two wardens of the Bay
County Jail have stayed on the job only six and eight months, respectively.
Kevin Watson took the post in December 2004, relieving Denny Durbin, who
was warden for 19 years. Watson requested a transfer in August 2005, citing
personal reasons. Mark Henry came in as the replacement, but he departed in
March, also citing personal reasons. Durbin is back as the interim warden
until a new warden is found. Former wardens could not be reached for
comment, but Jennifer Taylor, senior director of business development for
CCA, said Watson is still with the company in Indianapolis. Her explanation
for Henry’s departure was that the job “was a lot more demanding than he
thought going into it.” Some of the reasons for the difficulty in drawing
people into corrections work also account for the frequent departures.
Starting salary currently for guards at Bay County’s jails is $27,296, and
some of them decide several months or a year into the job that they can’t
continue to support themselves or their families with that pay, Thore said.
Quitting after a few months or a year on the job, Durbin said, is not
always a symptom of dissatisfaction with the employer; it may have more to
do with the general evolution of their careers. “Corrections officers are
very mobile and want to try new things,” he said, noting that many former
Bay County guards have ventured to Washington Correctional Institute in
Washington County and other state-operated prisons. Thore said he believes
that the appeal of working for state prisons, which pay more and are
continually being built as Florida’s inmate population grows, is the main
culprit of local turnover. “The state has given (jail guards) at least two
raises in the last year-and-a-half, and that makes it extra difficult for
us to compete,” he said. There are young people looking for their first job
who pick a jail guard position for lack of decisiveness, Thore said. “The
reality of the job hits when we’re booking 16,000 inmates a year.
Sometimes, that creates a little turnover.” Of the 48 correctional guards
in 2005 whose employment at Bay County’s jails was severed, 21 were
voluntary and involved no misconduct. But jail guards testing positive for
drug use, having unprofessional relationships with inmates and smuggling
contraband into the jail also were to blame for high turnover. The guards
committing these and other offenses — which totaled nine — were fired in
2005 for violating state moral character standards or violating CCA and
county policies, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement
records. Ken Kopczynski, a legislative affairs assistant for of the Florida
Police Benevolent Association and vocal CCA opponent, called Bay County’s
turnover outrageous. “How can you properly run a facility when half of the
people don’t have any experience” at that facility? said Kopczynksi, who is
also executive director of Private Corrections Institute Inc., an
organization that opposes privately run correctional facilities. While the
turnover rate at Bay County’s jails is high, it is tame compared to the
departures at some other CCA facilities in Florida. Hernando County jails,
for instance, had a turnover rate of 82 percent in 2003, 75 percent in 2004
and 69 percent in 2005. Other CCA-run facilities in Florida had the
following turnover rates in 2005: Gadsden Correctional Institution, 48
percent; Lake City Correctional Facility in Columbia County, 57 percent;
and Citrus County Detention Facility, 28 percent. Turnover at Bay
Correctional Institute, the CCA-operated state prison on Bayline Drive off
U.S. 231, was 19 percent. In 2004, turnover was 36.7 percent. Taylor said
the company’s jail staff is “down some everywhere” at its 63 U.S.
facilities, but it is not at a critical point. “If it was at a critical
point, we’d pull people in from other facilities. “It’s hard to find people
to work in a jail,” she added. “We have to do extra things to attract
employees and keep them there.” The company recently started posting help wanted
messages on billboards in various locations, including Bay County, Taylor
said. One on Tyndall Parkway aimed at military men and women reads: “From
Camouflage to Corrections.” “We’ve found that people coming out of the
military make very good correctional officers,” she said. Targeting
military personnel is not a new focus of CCA’s, but there has been a
stronger emphasis on attaining that demographic in the past year, she
added. CCA also has been filling some vacancies in Bay County with
part-time correctional officers, said CCA spokesman Steve Owen. Until it
gets closer to full staff, the company is operating with mandatory overtime
for all correctional guards, Thore said. Thore said 10 to 15 more guards
are needed to be at normal levels. Currently, about 30 non-certified
officers and 147 certified officers man the two county jails. While jail
guard pay is mid-range compared to what guards at other Florida CCA
facilities make, it’s far from the six digit incomes corporate bigwigs
bring home. The highest-paid executive for CCA, John Ferguson, has a 2006
salary of $700,000 plus a $677,727 bonus, according to filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. But Owen defended the salaries for jail
guards as competitive, especially since about two months ago the company
started paying people attending the three month certification school the
salary of uncertified officers. Certified jail-guard pay at the Bay County
jail and annex has risen almost $2,000 in the past two years, up from
$25,475 in 2004. Jackson County Correctional Facility, which is
county-operated, has not approved a higher pay grade for its new certified
guards since 2004; the salary stands at $23,947. The $20,500 salary at
Gadsden County Jail hasn’t changed since 2003. The sheriff’s office there
runs the facility. Escambia County currently offers certified correctional
guards $30,400 at its two detention facilities, and Franklin County Jail
jumped its pay by $3,000 over last year and is now $27,500. The sheriff’s
offices in all three counties run the jails. CCA-run Hernando County Jail
upped its pay for certified guards this year from $28,000 to $32,000.
June 16, 2006 News Herald
Former Bay County Manager Jon Mantay joined a former county attorney and
the current assistant county manager Thursday in defending themselves
against an ethics complaint before an administrative law judge in Panama
City. Two attorneys representing Mantay, former County Attorney Nevin
Zimmerman and Assistant County Attorney Bob Majka sparred with an attorney
for the Florida Commission on Ethics over the legality of a February 2000
trip the three men took to view a Corrections Corporation of America jail
facility in Tennessee and a publicly run facility in Arizona. CCA, based in
Tennessee, paid for the airfare and lodging of the three men and two former
county commissioners. CCA has operated Bay County’s jails for 20 years, and
the county was negotiating a new contract with the company during the time
of the trip. The Florida Police Benevolent Association initiated the ethics
complaints in July 2003, and the ethics commission in September 2004 found
probable cause that Mantay, Zimmerman and Majka may have violated gift
laws. Much of the attention during Thursday’s hearing before Judge Harry
Hooper focused on Zimmerman and his declaration to county officials that
the trip and payment arrangements were legal. Zimmerman said it was
reasonable and beneficial to taxpayers for a third party, such as CCA, to
pay for “fact-finding” trips that county officials take. “That (logic) is
reflected in our ordinances and regulations — to have developers pay for
permitting based on the time it takes county staff to process the permits,”
he said. The Bay County officials that went to Tennessee and Arizona, he
said, needed to see in person how other facilities were handling
overcrowding and recidivism, which are problems here. There is local
precedent for allowing a company to pay for such trips, Zimmerman said. In
1997, several county officials traveled to Vancouver, Canada, and Long
Island, N.Y., to view facilities now run by Montenay Bay LLC. Westinghouse
Corp., which wanted another company to run the Bay County waste-to energy
incinerator, paid for that trip. Ethics commission attorney Linzie Bogan
challenged Zimmerman’s interpretation of Florida statutes on gift laws, and
he tried to discredit Zimmerman for not reviewing ethics cases between 1997
and 2000 related to acceptance of gifts. “It’s not a gift if it’s an
expense related to your employment,” Zimmerman said. Bogan insisted the
definition of gift was clear, but Hooper said the entire statute governing
acceptance of gifts (112.312) is not clear to him. “First you have to
determine if it was to their benefit. … Do people benefit from looking at a
bunch of prisoners?” Hooper said. Majka said during his testimony that he
was unaware CCA paid for his airfare for the trip until records were being
collected at county offices three years later in connection to the ethics
complaint. But he said he learned the company paid for his lodging while at
the hotel. In 2000, Majka was the emergency services chief and shared
responsibility with other officials in jail oversight. Hooper said not
knowing CCA paid for the trip does not produce a “complete defense” for
Majka. The ethics commission, however, dropped the allegations against
former County Commissioners Carol Atkinson and Danny Sparks because they
had no knowledge CCA covered the expenses. Sparks and former County
Commissioner Richard Stewart have admitted and paid fines for violating
gift laws by accepting a round of golf paid by county financial adviser
Gary Askers. Majka faces the same allegation, but his attorney, Albert
Gimbel, said Thursday that he didn’t know how Majka would plead to that
issue. Majka declined to comment. After Hooper has had sufficient time to
review the facts of the case, he will issue a recommended finding for the
ethics commission to consider. Tallahassee attorney Gary Early,
representing the Bay County officials, said it would be at least two months
for Hooper has a recommendation.
May 23, 2006 News-Herald
Bay Medical Center is seeking payment for the treatment of four
patients who were either furloughed from the Bay County Jail or booked
after their stay. County and Bay Medical will meet at the hospital
Wednesday to discuss the cases that date back as far as 2000. The meeting
was scheduled after a circuit judge — at the county’s request — ordered
that the hospital and the county attempt to resolve the conflict over
payments out of court. Bay Medical filed several lawsuits seeking payment
from the county in 2003. The lawsuits later were consolidated. Hospital CEO
Steve Johnson requested Wednesday’s meeting in a letter May 2 to County
Manager Edwin Smith. When prisoners have no means of paying for hospital
treatment, Florida law places responsibility on the county where the
patient was arrested. “We believe that the county cannot avoid its
responsibility by obtaining temporary medical furloughs or by dropping
arrestees off at the hospital before booking them into jail,” Johnson wrote
in his letter to Smith. County correctional program manager Roger Hagen
said the county pays about $350,000 in medical bills for inmates each year.
Payment issues between hospitals and local governments are common, he said.
“The judge is issuing an order. It’s legal. There’s no question about it,”
Hagen said. “We’re trying to minimize the exposure to the county, but just
to have them all the sudden not be under the jurisdiction of the county,
now is that playing by the rules? It is playing by the legal rules, but it
does create an exposure for Bay Medical.” When very sick individuals are
jailed for minor crimes, Hagen said he has encouraged CCA employees to ask
judges to consider their release. However, Hagen said he was unaware until
Johnson raised the issue that prisoners were being released with a
requirement that they return to the jail after treatment. The jail is run
under contract by Corrections Corporation of America, but the county pays
for patient treatment outside of the jail. However, a new contract starting
in October puts the first $10,000 in medical bills per inmate on CCA’s tab.
“When the new contract goes into effect, CCA is going to have the exposure
up to $10,000,” Hagen said. “I’m sure they’re going to be highly motivated
to encourage the judge to reduce those costs. Whether the judge goes along
with it, I don’t know.”
May 2, 2006 WJHG
A lawsuit challenging the awarding of a contract to build and operate a new
Bay County Jail has been dismissed. Circuit Judge Glen Hess tossed out the
suit filed by Emerald Corrections against the Bay County Commission and
Corrections Corporation of America. The dismissal Monday clears the way for
the county and CCA to continue planning to build a new county jail adjacent
to the jail annex in Bayou George. Emerald had challenged the awarding of
the contract for the project to CCA saying it wasn't the lowest and best
bidder. It’s the second time Judge Hess dismissed the Emerald Corrections
lawsuit.
April 26, 2006 News Herald
Circuit Court Judge Glenn Hess heard arguments Monday in Bay County’s
motion to dismiss a correctional company’s lawsuit accusing the county of
wrongdoing in awarding a contract to Corrections Corporation of America for
jail construction and operation. Hess did not immediately rule on the
motion and offered no comments during the hourlong hearing. He said he
might make a decision this week. County attorney William C. Henry and
counsel for CCA used their time to try to discredit Emerald Correctional
Management LLC’s six-count complaint. Their dominant argument was that the
county acted within its “legislative, discretionary role” in reviewing and
ranking both companies’ responses to the county’s request for proposals, or
RFPs, to build a new jail. Emerald has alleged that Bay County violated
Florida procurement laws, Sunshine Laws and the RFP terms. On Monday, Henry
said Emerald failed to provide certain facts and meet specific criteria in
order to make a request for injunctive relief to prevent CCA from receiving
the contract. Addressing Emerald’s allegation that the county violated
Sunshine laws, Henry said the plaintiff was not a citizen of Florida and
therefore lacked standing to make that claim. Emerald’s attorney, Obed
Dorceus of Tallahassee, told Hess that “courts must liberally construe”
Florida law to determine whether Emerald has standing to claim there were
Sunshine law violations as an individual rather than on behalf of the
public’s interest. The county wants a 150,000-square-foot addition to the
existing jail annex on Nehi Road, creating 680 new beds in addition to the
existing 410. The RFP also called for the downtown Bay County Jail to be
demolished and for construction of new holding cells connected to the Bay
County Courthouse. Emerald, based in Shreveport, La., proposed a price of
$31.8 million to complete the project, while CCA’s price was $38.8 million.
After the bids were unsealed, the county clarified the figures to take into
account differences in each firm’s proposals. In the end, the county
determined that Emerald’s price is $35.4 million and CCA’s is $36.4
million. Dorceus has claimed that the county simply amended the figures to
suit Tennessee-based CCA, which holds a contract to operate the county’s
jails through October. But Henry defended the county’s handling of the jail
RFP, saying that local ordinance “gives a great deal of discretion to deal
with the procurement process.” CCA attorney Cliff Higby’s main point to
Hess during the hearing was that as long as “reasonable people could
disagree” on whether CCA or Emerald had the best proposal, the courts
should not intervene. In February, Hess denied Emerald’s request for an
emergency injunction to prevent the county from signing a contract with
CCA. Neither the contract for construction nor operations and maintenance
have been signed, however.
April 8, 2006 News Herald
Bay Medical Center’s CEO wants the county and local municipalities to
take on greater responsibility for criminals and police suspects who are
treated at the hospital. Steve Johnson has requested a meeting with Bay
County Sheriff Frank McKeithen and Panama City Police Chief John Van Etten
to discuss the matter. In a letter addressed to McKeithen and Van Etten on
March 27, Johnson complains that the law enforcement agencies are waiting
until injured or sick suspects are discharged from the hospital to arrest
them, leaving the hospital responsible for charges when patients have no
health coverage. Also, Johnson writes, prisoners are being released from
the Bay County Jail for hospital treatment and picked up by authorities
after discharge. “I really don’t see how Bay Medical can continue to fund
this practice,” Johnson said in the letter, which also was sent to the Bay
County and Panama City commissions, Panama City Mayor Lauren DeGeorge and
the hospital’s board of trustees. Johnson said he plans to schedule the
meeting next week. In the event of injury or illness at the time of or
during an arrest, Florida laws puts responsibility for medical payment
first with the patient, then with the county or municipality where the
person was arrested in the event that the individual does not have medical
coverage. Roger Hagen, the county’s correctional program manager, said
Johnson’s concerns are not unique to Bay County. “It’s an ongoing dilemma —
who’s going to pay for this kind of care,” Hagen said. The same issues
Johnson is complaining of are among the reasons that Gulf Coast Medical
Center, the county’s private hospital, raised rates for prisoners about a
year ago, said Wes Fountain, Gulf Coast’s chief financial officer. “They,
being the county or the Sheriff’s Office, don’t take ownership of these
patients at certain points,” Fountain said. “Some patients, they would have
financial responsibility for.” “And a lot of patients, they would not have
responsibility for and it was unclear to us a lot of time which ones were
it. That was the problem — just kind of understanding it.” An agreement was
signed June 21 making non-profit Bay Medical Center, the larger or the
county’s two hospitals, the primary provider for county prisoners. Gulf
Coast served the same role before the hospital raised charges. Knowing what
had happened with Gulf Coast, Hagen said of Bay Medical, “They knew the
risk of what they were walking into.” Under the agreement with Bay Medical,
hospitalized inmates are treated at a discounted daily rate of $1,248 with
special rates for some services like cardiac care, Hagen said. Addressing
the complaint that prisoners are being released from custody and dumped on
the hospital, Hagen said he did not know of any instances in which
prisoners were released for hospital care and taken back into custody for
the same charges after their hospital discharge. However, in some cases,
Hagen said prisoners who need hospital care are evaluated to determine
whether they really need to be in jail. For example, Hagen said, if a
prisoner were taken to the hospital with chest pains, the case might be
reviewed and if that individual were in jail for a light offense, such as
being intoxicated in a right of way, jailers might request that a judge
release the individual from custody. “It’s got to be a minor situation
before a judge would go ahead and do something like that,” Hagen said. Bay
County is finalizing a new contract with jail operator Corrections
Corporation of America, and Hagen suggested some of the issues between the
county and the hospital might be resolved when that contract goes into
effect in October. The county has been picking up all medical costs outside
the jail, but the new contract requires that CCA pay the first $10,000 in
charges per inmate. Johnson said there have been informal talks about the
hospital’s concerns, but he decided those talks were getting nowhere after
reading comments made by local law enforcement representatives in a March
21 News Herald article. The article was about a local man who was shot by
police during a drug investigation. He faced charges from the Sheriff’s
Office and the Panama City Police Department and was arrested upon release
from the hospital. Explaining why the man was not arrested before his
release, Panama City Police Sgt. Kevin Miller told The News Herald, “If we
were to arrest him, he would be in our custody, therefore our
responsibility.” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ruth Sasser said, “We don’t
usually arrest people while they’re in the hospital and when the
appropriate time came we arrested him.” Johnson described the comments as a
blatant description of the practices he is concerned with. McKeithen
declined comment on the issue Friday. “I’m sure all of these issues will be
addressed at the meeting,” Sasser said. Van Etten was unavailable for
comment.
March 22, 2006 News Herald
It's time again to put the "Help Wanted" sign out in front of
the Bay County Jail after the facility experienced another sudden departure
of its warden. Mark Henry resigned as jail warden Tuesday, said Steve Owen,
a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, the private company
that operates the jail for Bay County. Owen said the resignation was
effective immediately and that former Warden Denny Durbin will serve as the
interim warden until a replacement is found. Owen said Henry did not
provide a written resignation but told CCA officials he was leaving the
company for "personal reasons." The former Jackson County Jail
warden's departure comes six months after he took over the jail in wake of
the transfer of then-Warden Kevin Watson. In August, Watson was granted a
request for a transfer. He also cited "personal reasons" as the
basis for his request. Watson's request came the same day CCA confirmed the
termination of then-Assistant Warden John Rochefort for violating CCA
policies. Watson had taken over as Bay County Jail's warden in December
2004, replacing Durbin - who had served as the jail's warden since 1987.
Owen said county officials have been notified of Henry's abrupt
resignation. Attempts to contact Henry and Roger Hagen, the county's
contract monitor, were unsuccessful Tuesday. The Bay County Jail and CCA's
contract with the county have been the subject of increased scrutiny since
Durbin's final year at the helm. In September 2004, a CCA nurse was shot by
police during a hostage standoff between officers and inmates who broke out
of their cells thanks in part to mistakes by jail staff and faulty locks.
Last year at the jail, an attempted escape by an accused cop killer was
foiled after jail and police officials discovered the suspect had saw
blades smuggled into his cell. Also, CCA fired a jail supervisor and a
nurse after learning the nurse was reportedly having sex with an inmate. In
November, a nurse was fired and another nurse reprimanded after a pregnant
inmate delivered a premature baby inside the Bay County Jail Annex four
hours after the woman complained of labor pains. CCA currently faces a
civil suit from a fellow jail management company that claims it was cheated
when the county renewed its contract with CCA in February.
March 8, 2006 News Herald
An accused cop killer and a man suspected of leading a 2004 jail floor
takeover face additional charges after attacking a jail guard on Tuesday,
according to a news release. Authorities charged Robert James Bailey, 23,
and Kevin Bradley Winslett, 35, with battery on a corrections officer
stemming from separate incidents at the Bay County Jail Annex. According to
the Bay County Sheriff’s Office: On Tuesday morning, a jail maintenance
worker was placing plastic shields around Winslett’s cell to prevent him
from throwing liquids at guards. Winslett threatened to throw urine at the
worker before tossing an unknown liquid and forcing guards to remove him
from his cell. During a struggle, Winslett kicked a shield into the guard’s
face — splitting the guard’s lip. A few hours later, Bailey threw an
unknown liquid at maintenance workers who were putting shielding around his
cell. The same jail guard who was reportedly injured by Winslett went into
the cell and was confronted by Bailey, who was armed with a homemade shiv
crafted out of a toothbrush and barbed wire. Bailey cut the guard’s head
before being disarmed and restrained. Investigators are not sure how Bailey
obtained the barbed wire.
February 25, 2006 News Herald
Circuit Judge Glenn Hess cleared the way Friday for the county to sign
a contract with Corrections Corporation of America for the construction and
maintenance of a new jail. Hess denied a request from Emerald Correctional
Management for an emergency injunction to prevent the county from sealing
the deal. Emerald’s lawyer, Obed Dorceus of Tallahassee, told Hess that the
county violated state law and its own procedures in awarding CCA the jail
contract over Emerald. Dorceus said Emerald’s proposal for the jail project
was $5 million less than CCA’s. But, he said, after the proposals were
unsealed, the county asked for clarification and allowed CCA to modify its
proposal. Then, Dorceus said, the county approved the revised proposal and
agreed to a contract. “They just waited to resolve it in a manner that
benefited CCA,” he said. The County Commission voted Tuesday to sign the
six-year contract with CCA. Its attorney advised that the board did not
need to wait until a judge ruled on Emerald’s request. Emerald proposed a
price of $31.8 million to complete the project while CCA’s price was $38.8
million. After the clarification process, the county determined that
Emerald’s price actually will be $35.4 million and CCA’s $36.4 million.
Emerald also is seeking damages and ultimately to have the county’s
decision reversed. Dorceus said he feels confident that at the end of a
trial in this matter the judge would “direct the board to award the contract
to (Emerald).” The county’s attorney, William Henry, argued that this was a
request for proposal, not a bid, and the county made it clear throughout
the process that it had the right to reject any proposal. He said CCA’s
proposal was closer to what the county wanted. The bid process has more
legal restrictions than a request for proposals. Essentially, when the
county asks for a bid on a project it knows what it wants done, how it
wants it done and what materials are to be used, then puts out a request for
companies to offer their cheapest price to do the work. By law, the county
is required to accept the lowest bid. Requests for proposals are used when
the county wants a project done but does not know how to do it. It then
asks companies for a game plan as well as cost projections. When those come
in, the county then negotiates with the companies to try to get the best
price and contracts with the most favorable. The county is not required to
accept the lowest price in a request for proposal. Hess said it was that
flexibility in the request for proposal that saved the deal with CCA. “The
language of this makes it very clear that the county didn’t have to accept
or do anything but look at the paperwork and say, ‘This is all very nice,’”
he said. Dorceus said both processes require the county to adhere to
policies and give fair treatment to the companies involved. Roger Hagen,
who oversees the jail contract for the county, testified that neither
Emerald nor CCA provided an exact response to the request for proposal, so
county staff requested both companies to clarify their plans. After seeing
the proposals in better detail, Hagen said county staff members scored the
plans and CCA was viewed as the better prospect. He said neither company
was allowed to alter its proposal during the clarification process. Hagen
said the county’s proposal was four-part: design and build an extension at
the annex on Nehi Road; operate the new facility; demolish the old downtown
jail; and finance the project. Emerald, he said, proposed a separate
building next to the annex but not connected to it. That would mean
separate kitchens, laundries, staff and check-in procedures. Hagen said
that would make for a cheaper construction plan, but more expensive
operational costs in the long run. He said the county specifically asked
for an addition to the annex to keep operational costs down and CCA’s
proposal was closer to what the county envisioned. Hagen said CCA also had
more experience than Emerald in operating a jail. Hagen acknowledged that
CCA had no experience in jail operations before it was awarded its first
contract with Bay County 20 years ago. Dorceus pointed out that CCA’s
proposal did not fix a price to the final project, but left in an option to
renegotiate the price if material costs are higher due to post-Hurricane
Katrina construction projects. The jail project goes into design phase as
soon as the contract is signed. Construction is slated to begin in July.
CCA’s current jail contract would have expired in October.
February 22, 2006 News Herald
Corrections Corporation of America will continue its tenure as Bay County
jail operator, although a new contract which the County Commission approved
Tuesday allows for a quick, cost-free termination. At its regular meeting
in Panama City Hall, the board voted 4-1 to enter into a six-year contract
with the Tennessee based CCA, plus a two-year contract for constructing an
expansion to the jail annex on Nehi Road and other related projects. Bob
Majka, assistant county manager, told commissioners that construction costs
dropped from $41.5 million to $39.7 million through “value engineering,”
such as using a chain-link fence versus concrete to serve as a yard
barricade. Majka and the rest of county staff accepted mostly praise for
their work, although two commissioners said staff should have produced an
estimate for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office to run the jail. Commissioners
George Gainer and Jerry Girvin said they wanted to see what it would cost
the county to run the jail, and Gainer had the harshest words for Majka for
not having that information. “I’m a little put out with staff because you
didn’t do what you said you would do,” said Gainer, who voted against the
motion to bestow CCA with the contract. But Majka said there was no instruction
from commissioners to get that figure. According to Thomas, Sheriff Frank
McKeithen has told him that his department could run the jail but probably
not for less money than any private firm could. One resident, Tom Misskerg,
told commissioners they “need to take a harder look at jail operations”
before awarding a contract. Later, he addressed the board again to ask
about potential consequences if another jail construction firm wins its
lawsuit against the county over its RFP process. Emerald Correctional
Management LLC — the only other firm to bid for the project — has alleged
that the county violated state procurement laws and Sunshine Laws when
considering proposals. County attorney Mike Burke would not divulge details
about the situation, but assured the board: “We wouldn’t have let you go
ahead with this contract if we thought there was a problem.”
February 17, 2006 News Herald
Youth, stupidity and blind love were not enough to keep accused cop killer
Robert Bailey’s girlfriend from a prison sentence on Thursday. But
admitting her guilt may have saved Andrea Guenette seven extra years behind
bars. Circuit Judge Glenn Hess sentenced Guenette, 22, of Wisconsin, to
three years in prison after she pleaded guilty to introducing contraband to
the Bay County Jail and conspiring to commit escape. She could have
received a 10-year sentence. Guenette gave hacksaw blades to a jail trusty
who gave them to Bailey. Bailey, 23, is accused of shooting to death Panama
City Beach Police Sgt. Kevin Kight during a traffic stop last year and
faces the death penalty if he’s convicted as charged of first-degree
murder.
February 10, 2006 News Herald
Bay County officials on Thursday rejected all of Emerald Correctional
Management’s claims in a lawsuit that the bidding process for a jail
expansion project was improper and illegal. Meanwhile, the company’s
attorney, Obed Dorceus of Tallahassee, said he will ask Judge Glenn Hess to
expedite a hearing for a temporary injunction against the county to halt
its negotiations with Corrections Corporation of America. “We’re concerned
that if the county proceeds with a flawed (selection) process, we may not
be able to get some of the remedies we’re asking for,” Dorceus said. The
most important objective for Emerald, Dorceus said, is to receive the
contract to design and build a Bay County correctional facility. In the
lawsuit, Emerald states that the county permitted CCA to modify its
proposal after all proposals were opened, violating state law. The county
said in a letter to Dorceus that it never asked for a fixed price in the
RFP and that “both firms were asked to clarify their proposals to allow the
board to conduct due diligence and select a firm with whom to begin
negotiations.”
January 20, 2006 News Herald
In a strip cell at the Bay County Jail Annex, on suicide watch next to an
inmate with a penchant for beating up cellmates, Sweatt wanted out in the
worst way. He made a ruckus, yelled for guards, even broke a toilet seat to
no avail. Shoeless and clad in a jail gown, the 49-year-old crawled onto a
mat on the floor to sleep. He awoke to a severe stomping and, later, brain
swelling — all thanks to a “questionable assignment” and drastic
overcrowding, according to an incident review obtained by The News Herald.
The incident underscores a consistent theme — too many prisoners and too
few places to put them — hashed over by county officials and Corrections
Corporation of America, the private company paid $16.3 million this year to
run facilities downtown and near Nehi Road. A report compiled by Bay
County’s contract monitor and released this week indicates that guards and
supervisors violated no procedures during the late December incident that
landed Sweatt in the hospital and his alleged attacker back in court. In
fact, the incident report places blame on a single issue: overcrowding.
“The questionable assignment of Sweatt to a cell occupied by (Orlando
Marcus Holly) was necessitated by overcrowding in D Dorm,” wrote Roger
Hagen, the county’s pointman with CCA. One cell, Hagen reported, was out of
commission because of a broken toilet and guards felt it best to house
Holly and Sweatt in a cell near an observation desk. Holly was accused of a
similar assault two weeks later and forced officials to rethink his daily
handling. Guards now move Holly in full restraint — including a belly chain
and leg restraints — and the 25-year-old is housed alone in a cell.
Authorities reported that Sweatt had asked to be moved from Holly’s cell
but was rebuffed because the dorm and other high-security cells already
were full. The men bickered throughout the day, officials said, and at 1:45
p.m., Holly laid into his cellmate with a flurry of punches and kicks. The
beating was so bad that Sweatt remained in critical condition for more than
two weeks and suffered brain swelling, inner cranial bleeding and a
shattered orbital bone. Police waited 10 days to charge Holly because they
feared Sweatt would die.
January 14, 2006 News Herald
Emerald Correctional Management LLC has accused the Bay County
Commission of breaking state laws in its decision to pursue negotiations
with another firm for jail construction projects. The process the County
Commission went through in accepting and evaluating the request for
proposals, or RFP, was “arbitrary, capricious and illegal,” states
Emerald’s petition, filed last week with the county. The county wants a
150,000-square-foot jail addition to the existing jail annex on Nehi Road,
creating 680 new beds in addition to the existing 410. The RFP also called
for the downtown Bay County Jail to be demolished and for construction of
new holding cells connected to the Bay County Courthouse. Shreveport,
La.-based Emerald had said it could build the addition for $31.8 million
and Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, priced it
at $38.8 million. The county chose to enter negotiations with CCA. In a
formal notice of protest filed Jan. 6, Emerald alleged that Bay County
violated Florida procurement laws, Sunshine Laws and the RFP terms. The
company requests the county “forward the protest to the Division of
Administrative Hearings for a fair determination of the issue at hand.”
Emerald further labeled CCA, the company currently operating Bay County’s
jails, as “non-qualified, non-responsible and non-responsive.” After taking
into account project features that were either missing from the RFP or
added but not asked for, the county determined Emerald’s design-and-build
cost would be $35.4 million rather than $31.8 million, and CCA’s would be
$36.4 million instead of $38.8 million. County staff said that with
construction and fixed operational cost for six years, it would cost $117.1
million to stick with Emerald and $114 million with CCA.
January 11, 2006 News Herald
Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith said Tuesday that he has a better
chance of keeping accused cop killer Robert Bailey off death row by being a
witness in the case instead of being Bailey’s lawyer. Smith withdrew from
the case and told Circuit Judge Glenn Hess that he expects to be a witness
when the court has a hearing to determine Bailey’s mental condition. Smith
said he also will look outside the county for a lawyer and put together the
paperwork necessary for Bailey’s new attorney to ask for a change of venue.
Smith said he wants the case handled by a Tallahassee lawyer and decided by
a Leon County jury. A change of venue could move Bailey out of the Bay
County Jail Annex where he has been since August. Smith said Bailey’s
treatment at the jail has aggravated Bailey’s existing mental problems.
“His condition has deteriorated since he’s been in solitary confinement,”
Smith said. “I think his mental state is a direct result of the condition
he’s kept in.” Smith said Bailey is isolated in a small cell with a light
burning 24 hours a day, making it difficult to sleep. The toilet in
Bailey’s small cell would not flush for three months, and a jailer had to
empty it manually during that time. “A Fortune 500 company like Corrections
Corporation of America can’t fix a toilet?” Smith said, referring to the
jail’s corporate owner. “I know what’s going on, and it’s unconscionable.
They’re being punitive.” Bailey complained about the toilet the last time
he was in court and Hess ordered it repaired. Bailey’s last words to the
judge Tuesday were about that issue. “Thanks for fixing my toi …,” Bailey,
who appeared at the hearing by closed-circuit television, said. The last
word was cut off when the connection was cut. Bailey’s mail is intercepted
and his phone calls are monitored. He is not allowed visitors or contact
with other inmates, Smith said. Bailey rarely is allowed to shower and is
almost always shackled and handcuffed, Smith said. “This is not because I
like Robert Bailey and I think he’s a sweet guy,” Smith said of his outrage
over Bailey’s treatment. “It’s because he’s not being afforded his basic
constitutional rights.” The jail’s treatment of Bailey, Smith said, has
made it more difficult to give Bailey a fair trial because it has impacted
his mental state. Smith said Bailey understands the legal process, but he’s
now more likely to act out in an inappropriate, even aggressive, manner in
court.
January 3, 2006 News Herald
Orlando Marcus Holly waited until the lights were off and his 49-year-old
cellmate was asleep before Holly began kicking him, a Bay County Sheriff's Office
investigator said Monday. Investigator Mitch Pitts also said Holly, 25,
probably would have killed Robert Sweatt if not for the swift reactions of
guards at the Bay County Jail Annex. Sweatt's teeth were kicked out, his
orbital bone was shattered and he had inner cranial bleeding. Sweatt was
rushed to Bay Medical Center and is recovering in surgical intensive care,
Pitts said. Court records show that Holly was charged with battery three
times in 2005, including a count of battery on an inmate. The day before
the alleged attack on Sweatt, a judge sentenced Holly to more than a year
in prison after Holly admitted to probation violations.
January 2, 2006 News Herald
Police charged a 25-yearold inmate with severely beating a cellmate 10 days
after two guards witnessed the attack in a dormitory at the Bay County Jail
annex, according to arrest documents. Investigators accused Orlando Marcus
Holly of aggravated battery on a detainee more than a week after the
alleged beating. It was so severe that the 49-yearold cellmate remained in
critical condition in surgical intensive care on Sunday. According to an
arrest affidavit, Robert Sweatt was sleeping on a floor mat Dec. 20 when
Holly began stomping on his face, kicking out Sweatt's teeth, shattering
his orbital bone and causing inner cranial bleeding. Sweatt was rushed to
Bay Medical Center. Two Bay County Jail guards witnessed the attacks,
police reported. It is unclear when Bay County Sheriff's Office
investigators were notified of the attack, and officials from the Bay
County Jail and the Sheriff's Office could not be reached Sunday. Court
records show that Holly was charged with battery three times in 2005,
including a count of battery on an inmate. The day before the alleged
attack on Sweatt, a judge sentenced him to more than a year in prison after
Holly admitted to probation violations.
December 31, 2005 News Herald
Emerald Correctional Management LLC is formally protesting Bay County's
decision to negotiate with another firm for new jail construction. Steve
Afeman, Emerald's executive vice president, said Friday that his company
would formally send to Bay County a Notice of Protest for choosing on Dec.
20 to negotiate with Corrections Corporation of America to build an
addition to the jail annex on Nehi Road and related projects. Emerald has
requested from the county every document and piece of information relevant
to the RFP, or Request for Proposals. The move has confused Bay County
officials and the Tennessee-based CCA because no bidder has been awarded a
contract. Roger Hagen, contract monitor for the county, said Friday that he
had not received the Notice of Protest from Emerald. Earlier this month,
county staff produced an analysis that reflected the variations in both
firms' proposals. Neither firm adhered precisely to what was asked for in
the RFP, said county spokeswoman Catherine Zehner, so adjustments were made
to "try to level the playing field." Afeman said it appears that
"CCA has adjusted their bid after looking at our" proposal. Hagen
and CCA deny that such action occurred.
December 30, 2005 News Herald
Emerald Correctional Management LLC still wants the contract for Bay
County's jail projects and has requested extensive documents related to the
county's decision to negotiate with another firm. Steve Afeman, Emerald's
executive vice president, said Tuesday that his company wasn't yet formally
protesting how the county handled the request for proposals, or RFPs.
"We're still looking at the comparison for how they formulated their
bid structure," he said. "We want to leave our options open until
… we feel everything was reported accurately." Afeman is referring to
the county staff's interpretation of Emerald's and Corrections Corporation
of America's RFP responses. As early as today, the Shreveport, La.-based
Emerald may decide whether to file a Notice of Protest of the RFP, Afeman
said. But Emerald's Tallahassee attorney, Obed Dorceus, said in an e-mail
message late last week to county officials that a "formal written
protest will be filed within the time required by law." The attorney
further asks the county to suspend activity regarding the RFP until the
dispute is resolved.
December 21, 2005 News Herald
Bay County plans to stick with Corrections Corporation of America to run its
jails and build the jail annex addition. At Tuesday's County Commission
meeting at Panama City City Hall, the board voted unanimously to instruct
county staff to negotiate a contract with CCA. The county still reserves
the option to pull out if it does not like the final price CCA delivers for
the project. If a compromise cannot be reached, Commissioner George Gainer
said the board will consider building and operating jail facilities itself.
Besides the jail annex addition on Nehi Road, the county wants the downtown
Bay County Jail demolished and new holding cells connected to the Bay
County Courthouse. Besides Tennessee-based CCA, the only firm that
responded to the request for proposals, or RFP, was Emerald Correctional
Management in Shreveport, La. For the entire scope of services, Emerald
listed its price as $35.4 million. CCA estimated a cost of $41.5 million.
Gainer said he was not comfortable with CCA's price estimate, and he is
concerned because the expanded jail annex could be at or over capacity
several years after its expected opening in spring 2008. "This does
not meet our needs," he said. "A lot needs to take place with the
negotiating team for this to move forward." "We need to think
long and hard" about the contract, he added. "It's going to
affect everyone in Bay County for 50 years." Budget Officer Mary
Dayton said that if CCA funded the design and construction of the jail
annex addition with its 8-percent interest rate over 25 years, the interest
alone would total $56.7 million. She said the county could get an interest
rate of 4.5 to 4.7 percent, and over 25 years, that would total $32.6
million in interest. Commissioner Mike Thomas asked county staff to analyze
what debt payments would be if the county tried to pay for the project in
18 to 20 years.
December 16, 2005 News Herald
Emerald Correctional Management LLC says its method for financing jail
expansion will help save the county at least $20 million compared to
Corrections Corporation of America's payment option. But after meetings with
Emerald's staff, at least two County commissioners believe it is better for
the county to finance the project itself because the county has a lower
bond rating than either company could obtain. "That's not going to be
there," Commissioner Mike Thomas said of Emerald's financing plan.
"We can save money doing a bond ourselves," he said, indicating
that the county's bond rating is around 4.5 percent and if either company
funds the project, their bond rating would be 7- to 8-percent. CCA proposes
to fund the expansion itself at a projected cost of $334,476 per month for
25 years, totaling around $100 million. With private bond placement, as
Emerald suggests, the total debt over 18 years would be around $80 million,
or $350,000 per month, said Glenn Hedert, chief operations officer for the
Shreveport, La.-based company. In a letter this week to Commission Chairman
Mike Nelson, CCA stated that Emerald did not adhere to project
specifications in the county's request for proposals, or RFP, and that is
why its plan costs less. "If they were compliant with the RFP, their
proposal would've cost as much as what we projected," said Jennifer
Taylor, senior director of business development for Tennessee-based CCA.
Nelson said Thursday he received the 18-page letter at his office, Mike
Nelson & Associates, but that he threw it away without reading all of
it. "They've already had their say," Nelson said, referring to
Emerald's and CCA's presentations to the commission on Dec. 6. "If
Emerald sends me anything, it's going to get tossed, too."
November 19, 2005 News Herald
Corrections Corporation of America fired a Bay County Jail Annex nurse for
the way she handled an inmate's complaint of labor pains, according to her
termination letter. Joan Elliot, 48, of Panama City, refused to acknowledge
wrongdoing in the events that lead up to Jennifer Bozeman, 26, giving birth
to a premature baby in the infirmary more than four hours after reporting
labor pains to jail guards, according to CCA records. Bozeman was in jail
at the time for failing to pay a $500 child support fine. CCA reprimanded
nurse Melissa Blalock, 36, for her role in the incident on Nov. 7,
according to CCA records. The names and positions of the employees
receiving disciplinary action were released to The News Herald in
accordance with the state Sunshine Law, but only after a written request to
the Tennessee based company's corporate headquarters and Bay County Jail
Warden Mark Henry denied access to the employees' personnel files.
According to CCA records, Elliot was terminated on Tuesday after CCA
officials determined the nurse failed to follow CCA sick call policy.
Specifically, Elliot failed to "accommodate unscheduled
inmates/residents with conditions that require immediate attention,
including acute illness and injuries," according to her termination
letter. During a follow-up discussion regarding the jail birth, Elliot told
Henry she had done nothing wrong and would not do anything differently if
the same situation arose again, according to CCA reports. Elliot told CCA
officials she was dealing with several medical calls at the time, including
a seizure, two guards bitten by an inmate and several inmates waiting in
the infirmary while Bozeman complained of pains. Jail officials issued a
written reprimand to Blalock, but did not terminate her. They said Blalock
failed to keep Bozeman in a "stable position/location" until the
inmate could be transferred to the hospital. Blalock should not have
allowed the expectant mother to walk in the unit, climb up and down from the
examination table or sit on a bench in the waiting area, according to CCA
reports.
November 16, 2005 News Herald
One employee has been fired and another reprimanded after an investigation
into a birth at the Bay County Jail annex revealed a series of missteps -
from a nurse who ignored cries for help to a supervisor unaware of the
labor - that preceded a delivery in the infirmary. Jail officials would not
reveal the names or positions of the employees who received disciplinary
action, and a Sunshine Law request made Tuesday afternoon was not
immediately answered. Florida's public records statutes routinely cover
discipline reports of public employees, including jail guards and nurses.
"I can only talk in general terms," Warden Mark Henry said Tuesday
afternoon. "We have to be cognizant of other people's rights. These
two employees have been disciplined and it has become part of their
official records. But that is proprietary information kept by the
company." Jennifer Bozeman said she complained of labor pains for more
than four hours before she was taken to the infirmary and seen by a nurse.
Bozeman said fellow inmates helped her through the ordeal, nursing her
while jail staff ignored her pleas for help. Bozeman's daughter, Crystal,
was born just before 7 a.m. and was airlifted to Gainesville's Shands
Hospital. The baby remained there on Tuesday, where she is being treated
for birth defects. Bozeman was jailed Sept. 10 for failing to pay a $500
child support fine, although the fine was paid late Monday night by a
friend. While the names and positions of the disciplined employees have not
been released, CCA officials did divulge a 32-page report that documented
mistakes and policy violations the night of Bozeman's labor. Among them:
Nurse Joan Elliott was informed of the labor pains at about 2:30 a.m., and
told guards to have Bozeman fill out a "sick call," a written
documentation of an inmate's illness. The slip was not given to medical
staff until 4:30 a.m. When a female guard handed the slip to Elliott, the
nurse said "it could wait." Elliott, in a written statement,
indicates that on Monday night she dealt with several medical calls,
including: a seizure, two guards who had been bitten and scratched, an
inmate with scratches, and a number of inmates waiting in the infirmary.
Elliott later retrieved sick calls and treated at least two other sick
patients before she received word from guards that Bozeman was having
"stomach pains." It was not until 6 a.m., Elliott wrote, that a
guard told the infirmary nurses that Bozeman was in labor. Capt. Richard
Bouchard, who worked the overnight shift, responded at least eight times to
the dorm where Bozeman was held and was never notified by a pair of guards
that there was a pregnant inmate complaining of labor pains. Bouchard also
said "nor was there any documentation in the post log book that the
(labor pains were) addressed." By the time Bouchard was notified,
Bozeman already had been escorted to the medical unit. Jail personnel
waited more than 25 minutes to call an ambulance after a nurse determined
Bozeman was indeed in labor. The child was born before officials contacted
paramedics to take her to Bay Medical Center. At about 6:05 a.m., a guard
told nurse Melissa Blalock, who was starting her shift, that Bozeman was in
labor, and Blalock ordered the woman to be brought to the infirmary.
Blalock and Elliott then checked Bozeman for delivery symptoms and
determined at 6:30 a.m. that she was in labor. Bozeman was sitting in an
infirmary restroom when Blalock assisted her to an exam table, although
Bozeman was sent back to a waiting room and Elliott ended her shift. At
about 6:55 a.m., Bozeman screamed for help and the child was delivered
before Blalock could remove Bozeman's pants. Blalock removed the umbilical
cord from around the child's neck, ordered a guard to call 9-1-1 and helped
cover the child in blankets. Paramedics arrived at the jail at 7:15 a.m.
and the child was taken to the hospital at 7:20 a.m. - nearly five hours
after Bozeman first told guards she was in labor.
November 15, 2005 News Herald
She was in labor for more than four hours, crying in a crowded dorm room,
bent and writhing on a bunk, crooked with pain and sweat and gritted teeth,
pleading for help. When help finally came, so too did her child. The 26-year-old
woman who gave birth in the Bay County Jail annex said Monday that guards
and nurses repeatedly ignored her pleas for medical attention, allowing her
to struggle for four hours - using inmates as nursemaids - before the baby
was born in the infirmary. While jail officials have hedged against the
release of information related to a personnel investigation, Jennifer
Bozeman offered sharp criticism of the annex and its medical staff, saying
Monday that officials failed both mother and child. "They just ignored
me," Bozeman said in an interview with The News Herald. "They
should have gotten me to the hospital. I kept telling them: 'It hurts, I'm
in labor.' They didn't do anything. It was just handled wrong. I'm still
hurt by it. I'm still having flashbacks." Bozeman's account was
confirmed by two female inmates who stood by her throughout the labor, as
both women said that it took more than four hours before the expectant
mother was transferred to a medical pod at the Nehi Road annex. The inmates
both issued stinging rebukes of the jail staff, calling the situation
untenable but believable. In fact, Charla Meadows, 33, said medical
attention is hard to come by at the facility - if it comes at all.
"It's crazy in here," said Meadows, being held on a cocaine
charge. "Jennifer told them at about 2 o'clock that she was hurting
bad. I mean, you could see her all bent over. One of the guards asked me if
could get her some ice, so I did. I just had to stay with her. She started
hurting worse and worse, and nobody would do anything to help her."
According to all three women, the incident unraveled like this: Bozeman
first told an officer that she may be in labor shortly after 2 a.m. The
officer asked Meadows to deliver some ice, and later allowed Bozeman to
take a warm shower. As the pain progressed, Meadows continued to ask for
medical help. An officer tried unsuccessfully to contact the overnight
nurse, and at about 4 a.m. guards told Bozeman to fill out a "sick
call." The "sick call" is a form used to notify personnel of
medical problems, although Bozeman said the form went unheeded for an
additional two hours. During that period, another inmate - Tris Souza, 43 -
sat with Bozeman, massaging her back and rubbing her forehead. As the pain
reached its zenith, Souza began pounding on a cell window, pleading for
help. "We were just trying to get their attention," said Souza,
also being held on drug charges. "She just kept getting worse and
worse, and I was like: 'When are y'all going to help her?' They just kept
ignoring us. That's not so uncommon in here, though. "I've seen things
that are totally unbelievable. They think ibuprofen will cure
anything." About 6 a.m. - with a shift change - the daytime nurse
ordered guards to have Bozeman delivered to the infirmary. Once there,
Bozeman said medical personnel diagnosed her condition as kidney stones and
allowed her to wait in a chair. The baby, Crystal, was born within minutes.
"I had to catch my own baby," Bozeman said. "It fell out
into her pants," Meadows added. Officials from Corrections Corporation
of America, the private, Tennessee-based company hired to run a pair of
facilities in Bay County, have hesitated to release details of an internal
evaluation. Warden Mark Henry cited medical privacy laws last week and declined
to release information, although he did note that the annex was at full
staff during the incident. Roger Hagen, the county's jail contract monitor,
said he is awaiting information from CCA, and said the timeframe between
Bozeman's first complaint and the birth appears to be a key factor in the
evaluation. "That's my concern," Hagen said Monday. "There
is, however, some question of whether the midnight nurse had competing
priorities. The length of time it took the nurse to see her is a concern,
but I'm waiting to see what this person was up against. Were there other
things going on that prevented (the nurse) from seeing (Bozeman)?"
Bozeman's delivery came about two months early, and the child remained in a
neonatal care unit at Gainesville's Shands Hospital on Monday. The baby was
born with birth defects, Bozeman said, and the family is concerned about
her health. Bozeman has been jailed since Sept. 10 for failing to pay a
$500 fine related to a previous adoption. Since then, county taxpayers have
paid nearly $3,000 - or about $45 per day - to keep Bozeman behind bars.
"I'm still so upset," she said. "I'm still so hurt by it. It
was just handled wrong. They should have gotten me to the hospital."
November 11, 2005 News Herald
Jennifer Bozeman owes the state of Florida $500. She never paid, got sent
to jail, birthed a baby in the infirmary, and now Bay County taxpayers are
footing the bill - to the tune of about $2,730 so far. And she has not been
charged with a crime. By holding Bozeman in jail, taxpayers have vastly
outspent her debt to the state Department of Revenue regarding a child
support fee for a previously adopted child. The county pays about $44 per
day per prisoner. The new mom has been in jail for 62 days and has 28 to
go. If she stays in jail the full 90 days, it will cost taxpayers about
$3,960. That does not include her hospital costs, which the county could be
billed for. Bozeman, 26, was back Thursday at the Bay County Jail annex,
where she gave birth early Monday to a 5-pound, 8-ounce daughter in an
infirmary. The birth is the subject of a personnel investigation into
several questions, including, according to the county's jail manager and
the Bozeman's mother: How long did officials wait to give Bozeman medical
treatment? In a brief phone interview earlier this week, Bozeman said she
told a jail guard that she was suffering the pangs of labor just after 2
a.m. Bozeman's mother, Doris Ayers, said the baby was born between 7 p.m.
and 7:30 p.m. Officials from Corrections Corporation of America, the
private, Tennessee-based company that was paid $14 million in 2005 to run
two Bay County facilities, have repeatedly hedged against releasing
documents related to the birth. Warden Mark Henry said Thursday he could
not speak to specifics of the case, citing medical privacy issues that
hinder the release of Bozeman's information. Bozeman could not be reached
in jail Thursday for a waiver. The News Herald has requested documents
related to staff levels and medical procedures the morning that Bozeman
gave birth. "At this point," Henry said, "there isn't a
whole lot I can tell you. I wish I could, but I can't do it without
violating her rights. Even as an inmate, people still enjoy rights and
privileges that I would not want to violate." One of those rights, Ayers
said, would be a proper birth. "It's just absurd," she said,
"that it happened like this. No one should have to catch their own
baby."
November 9, 2005 News Herald
The last of four men accused of taking hostages last year in a jail
standoff will not go to trial next week as planned. Instead, Kevin Winslett
will be evaluated for his mental competency to stand trial. Bay County
Sheriff's Office investigators said Winslett, 33, Kevin Nix, James Norton
and Matthew Coffin took over the fourth floor of the Bay County Jail on
Sept. 5 and 6, 2004, and held jail nurses hostage in a police standoff. The
standoff ended when deputies shot one of the men and a nurse.
November 9, 2005 News Herald
Bay County Jail officials have launched a "full-fledged
investigation" of personnel at the Nehi Road annex after a pregnant
prisoner repeatedly called for medical attention hours before she gave
birth in the infirmary early Monday morning, according to the county's jail
liaison. Conflicting reports have emerged about the birth of a 5-pound,
8-ounce baby girl named "Crystal," who was born at least one
month premature and was expected to be taken Tuesday to a neonatal facility
at Shands Hospital in Gainesville. The baby's mother, Jennifer Bozeman, was
recovering Tuesday afternoon at Bay Medical Center, where she was under
watch by authorities and was expected to return soon to jail. "I don't
know what happened really," Bozeman said. "I went into labor
early Monday and I told one of the (corrections officers), but they didn't
really do anything. They were supposed to get me down to the infirmary, but
they didn't." According to Bozeman's mother, Doris Ayers, jail
officials have been evasive, releasing scant information about Jennifer,
the baby or the birth. Ayers said the birth announcement came from the lips
of a fellow prisoner during a mysterious phone call early Monday morning.
"(The warden) is not saying a whole lot," Ayers said Tuesday.
"You know, they actually told (Bozeman) that she had a kidney stone.
That's what they said was bothering her. … She told them she was having
labor pains, and she told me that by the time somebody came to get her, she
had to catch the baby. "That's exactly what she told me - that she
actually had to catch her own baby." Officials offered a slightly
different account, although Roger Hagen, who monitors the county's contract
with the private company hired to run the downtown jail and Nehi Road
annex, said Tuesday that early indications show a procedural breakdown
among personnel. "That's my understanding," Hagen said.
"There is an indication that there were some problems in the way it
was handled. The warden is conducting a full-fledged investigation. Right
now, he's doing a personnel evaluation to find out what happened."
Henry is the third Bay County Jail warden in 22 months, and was hired in
September by Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America, the
private company that holds a contract to run three county facilities.
Henry, who last worked at the Jackson County Jail and spent nearly 30 years
in the federal prison system, took over after the former warden quit and an
assistant warden was fired.
October 1, 2005 News Herald
A man convicted of DUI manslaughter and an accused killer face additional
criminal charges after attacking guards at the Bay County Jail on Friday,
according to court records. William Deshonn Jones, 25, and Lashod Marquis
Black, 21, each face a charge of battery on a corrections officer following
separate incidents at the county's main jail. According to court records, at
about noon, Jones became upset at a jail guard and threw two trays of food
at the guard's chest. Jones' outburst came a little over an hour after a
guard accused Black of grabbing her arm during a cell inspection, according
to court records.
September 21, 2005 News Herald
Kevin Winslett should be ready for a new trial in November. Winslett, the
accused ringleader of a takeover of the Bay County Jail last September,
went to trial in August with his three co-defendants, but his case was
declared a mistrial. Co-defendants Kevin Nix, Matthew Coffin and James
Norton were convicted of false imprisonment and sentenced to 15 years in
prison. They went to trial on the same charges that Winslett faces, but
were acquitted of the most serious charges against them.
September 20, 2005 New-Herald
Lucrative contracts to operators of Bay County facilities and a $5 million
increase in funds for blighted communities contribute to the county’s
budget increase for fiscal year 2006. Operating costs for the two
county-owned jails is projected to rise $2 million, to $16.3 million for FY
2006. That’s despite a decrease in the inmate population from about 1,100
last year to 900 currently, according to Roger Hagen, Bay County
correctional program manager. Usually, there are 3 percent to 4 percent
more inmates each year. There are fewer inmates now because those nabbed by
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials no longer are being housed in
the Jail Annex. The operations cost per prisoner is expected to be $45.35
in FY 2006, about $1 more than it is now, said County Budget Officer Mary
Dayton. Corrections Corporation of America runs the jails, but its contract
expires next year. The county is looking to cut back on the amount it pays
the contractor, whomever is selected. Emerald Correctional Management
Corporation, based in Shreveport, La., also is bidding to operate the jail.
“I feel like the CCA contract has been far too lucrative,” Gainer said. “If
we don’t have a bid that’s much lower, then the county ought to consider
running it by ourselves.”
September 13, 2005 News Herald
For the third time in 22 months, the Bay County Jail has a new warden.
Corrections Corporation of America officials have hired Jackson County’s
corrections chief to run the beleaguered Panama City Jail after the former
warden quit and an assistant warden was fired less than a month ago. Mark
A. Henry, who last worked at the Jackson County Jail and spent nearly 30
years in the federal prison system, is expected to start next week,
according to Bay County’s jail contract monitor. Roger Hagen, who acts as a liaison between
Bay County commissioners and the private company hired to run three local
facilities, said commissioners signed off on the hire after CCA officials
tabbed Henry sometime last week. The hire came shortly after
the dismissal of Assistant Warden John Rochefort for violating an
undisclosed company policy and Warden Kevin Watson asked for a transfer for
“personal reasons,” CCA officials said in mid-August. The company declined
to give the exact reason Rochefort was fired, nor would they say in what
capacity Watson would be retained. CCA officials did not return phone calls
Tuesday.
September 12, 2005 News Herald
Strategy is a part of any trial. But when four men accused of taking
hostages in a police standoff at the Bay County Jail were preparing to go
to trial together, strategies were everywhere. The Bay County Sheriff’s
Office had a plan to keep the four from attempting anything in the
courthouse like what they were accused of doing at the jail. Prosecutors
had their reasons for trying all four together, despite the security risks.
And the four defense attorneys had the job of devising an attack that would
work for their individual client, but not hurt the other three. Coffin’s lawyer, Nancy Jones Gaglio, said
there was an agreement going into trial that their clients would not try to
blame each other for the takeover. Gaglio was able to address
issues about jail conditions. “Judge allowed me to go there a little bit,”
she said Wednesday. “But part of my defense was it was just a chaotic place
and (jail operator Corrections Corporation of America) certainly wasn’t
taking care of and running the place properly. I was trying to show that
what happened was a direct result of CCA’s negligent maintenance.”
September 7, 2005 News Herald
Kevin Nix and Kathy Baucum share the same nightmare. Nix is one of
three men convicted of falsely holding three jail nurses, including Baucum,
against their will in a September 2004 takeover of the third floor of the
Bay County Jail. The inmates were convicted last week of false
imprisonment. On Tuesday, Circuit
Judge Michael Overstreet sentenced Nix, 29, and co-defendants Matthew
Coffin, 20, and James Norton, 32, to 15 years in prison each, to begin
after their current prison sentences expire. That basically means that
Norton will spend the next 16 years in prison, Nix 28 years, and Coffin 24.
September 2, 2005 News Herald
Three Bay County Jail inmates who held nurses prisoner last September
during a jail takeover were acquitted Thursday of the most serious charges
against them. Jurors acquitted Kevin Nix, James Norton and Matthew Coffin
of kidnapping, aggravated assault and escape. Instead, they each were
convicted of three counts of false imprisonment. In addition, Nix was convicted
of attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and Norton of simple
assault. The three were facing up to life in prison on the kidnapping
charges, but could now see greatly reduced time. False imprisonment is a
third-degree felony punishable by five years in prison. Specifically, Nix, 29, Norton, 32, and
Coffin, 20, were convicted of illegally holding jail nurses Glenda Baker,
Kathy Baucum and Amie Hunt against their wills during a 12-hour standoff
with deputies Sept. 5 and 6. They were acquitted of any charges involving
former jail guard James Hall, who was kept in a cell for two hours before
being released in exchange for pizzas and cigarettes.
September 1, 2005 News Herald
A September standoff at the Bay County Jail ended in gunshots, but testimony
in the case ended on Wednesday without the smoking gun. Circuit Judge
Michael Overstreet ruled that testimony about gunshots from a hostage
negotiator and SWAT team that wounded an inmate and a hostage were
irrelevant to the charges against Matthew Coffin, Kevin Nix and James
Norton. The three men began trial this week on charges of kidnapping,
escape and aggravated assault. They are accused of participating in a
takeover of the jail’s third floor on Sept. 5 and 6 and face life in prison
if convicted as charged. Ann Marie “Amie” Hunt told jurors that the
takeover went from a kind of “nutty” situation to a dangerous one as the
night progressed. “At the very
beginning,” she said, choosing her words carefully, “they were a little
nutty. They just wanted to find a way out. They were as polite as they
could be for the situation we were in.” Then, Hunt said, the inmates broke
into the drug storage lockers and began ingesting narcotics. As the night
progressed, she said, Nix became agitated with nurse Glenda Baker’s
praying. Another nurse, Kathy Baucum, said Baker was constantly praying and
also “speaking in tongues.” When it came time to offer a hostage in return
for pizza and cigarettes, Nix insisted Baker go because she was “freaking
him out,” Hunt said. Hunt said an inmate told her she might end up as
“collateral damage” when officers stormed the jail. The standoff ended,
Hunt said, when she was brought before a barred gate at the end of a hall.
Nix, she said, was standing behind her with a scalpel to her throat. “I
don’t know who shot me,” she said. “He was just a figure, a person standing
there, then, boom. I looked down, and I got shot. Then, boom, and I got
shot again.” One bullet shattered
her knee, an injury that incapacitated her for months. Hunt was able to
walk into court and take the witness stand with the help of a cane.
August 27, 2005 News Herald
Kevin Winslett got a mistrial. Kevin Nix stuck a pen up his nose. The first
day of trial for four men accused of taking hostages in a jail standoff in
September got off to an interesting start Tuesday. Testimony in the trial
of the remaining three defendants will resume today. Winslett, Nix, James
Norton and Matthew Coffin began trial on charges of kidnapping, aggravated
assault and escape. They are accused of holding four people hostage during
an attempted escape Sept. 5 and 6 at the Bay County Jail. The standoff
ended with gunfire that wounded two of the men and a jail nurse. All four
face up to life in prison if convicted as charged. The first prosecution
witness Tuesday was James Hall, a former jail guard and one of the four
allegedly held hostage. He said he was the only guard working the jail’s
third floor the night of Sept. 5, with 80 inmates to watch. Hall said he
opened a cell during “pill call,” when medications are dispensed, to check
on an inmate who did not respond to him. Hall said while he was in the
cell, he was hit twice from behind and knocked to the ground. Initially in
his testimony, Hall said it was Norton who hit him. Hall changed that later
and said he did not know who hit him, only that Norton was the closest to
him when he looked up from the ground. Hall said he first told jail
administrators that he had been knocked unconscious and during that time
his keys and radio were taken. Months later, when being interviewed by the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement, he changed that, saying he was not
unconscious but told jail officials that to try to save his job. Hall also
said inmates ripped his uniform shirt before releasing him to make it look
like he had put up a struggle. Hall was fired from the jail for several
policy violations stemming from the incident on the third floor. Former
jail nurse Glenda Baker told jurors she was working her first full day at
the jail on Sept. 5. Baker said she never actually was threatened during
the incident but felt threatened. “You said you felt like you couldn’t
leave,” Chris Patterson said to Baker during cross-examination. “Did you
ever ask?” Baker thought about it for a minute and said, “I don’t remember.”
Prosecutors decided to try the four together, a rare strategy, that made
for extraordinary security as well as legal complications. Tuesday morning
began with prosecutor Quentin Broxton’s opening statement. He described the
takeover as an elaborate escape attempt that backfired. Winslett’s
attorney, Doug White, then began to lay out his defense for jurors. He said
this would be a case of perspective in which jurors may have a hard time
understanding the thinking of those behind bars. “If we’ve never been
jailed, can we still understand the context of a prisoner?” White asked.
“Can a deaf person appreciate a classic symphony?” Fellow defense attorney
Nancy Jones told jurors in her opening statement that conditions at the
jail were “horrible” and “horrendous.” “Conditions in that jail were so bad
they made one’s toes curl,” she said. White said the four men’s actions on
Sept. 5 were to bring attention to jail conditions, but were not well
thought out. “These four young men acted out in ways that were not
brilliant,” he said. “They were not smart. And in some cases, they were
downright dumb.” White then said that Winslett’s conception of reality also
may be skewed by a diagnosed mental disorder. Prosecutor Bill Lewis
objected. The defense lawyers, prosecutors and Circuit Judge Michael
Overstreet left the room to discuss the objection. A part of White’s
defense was that Winslett has a “mental defect” that would affect his
ability to form the necessary intent to have committed the crimes. White
denied that it was an insanity defense and refrained from calling it a
“mental health” defense. Lewis argued that any mental health defense
requires a notice to the prosecution that would give the state an
opportunity to prepare witnesses and have the defendant evaluated. White
argued that a notice was required only if he was pursuing an insanity
defense. Overstreet found that a notice was required in this case and
prevented White from pursuing that aspect of his defense. White asked for —
and Overstreet granted him — a mistrial so White can file his notice and
prepare for another trial. While the lawyers and judge were out of the room
discussing Winslett’s case, Nix, who was one of the defendants sitting
closest to the jury, started playing with a blue Sharpie felt-tip pen. He
took off the cap, sniffed the tip, put the tip in his mouth and chewed on
it, then spit a piece of it onto the table. He then put the tip up his
nose. When Nix’s lawyer, Mike Hunter, returned to the courtroom, he found
Nix with blue lines on his nose, lips and hands. Hunter asked for a
continuance, saying he needed to have his client evaluated for his mental
competency to continue. Hunter said Nix told him that in times of stress,
fear or anger Nix “loses time” or blanks out. Hunter said Nix did not know
what he had done in court. Overstreet asked two psychologists to interview
Nix from noon to 2:30 p.m. to give their best assessment of his mental
ability to continue with the trial. Nix then was found competent to
proceed. “Putting a pen up your nose isn’t really consistent with a mental
disorder,” Dr. David Smith told Overstreet.
August 18, 2005 News Herald
Less than eight months after taking over as warden, the head of the Bay
County Jail has resigned, according to a Corrections Corporation of America
spokesman Wednesday. Kevin Watson submitted a letter to CCA officials
Tuesday requesting a demotion and transfer for “personal reasons,” said
Steve Owens, spokesman for the Nashville-based company contracted by the
county to manage the downtown jail and annex. Watson’s resignation came the
same day CCA fired John Rochefort from his position as an assistant warden
for violating CCA policies, Owens said. Owens and Jennifer Taylor, CCA’s
senior director for business development, said Watson’s decision to step
down and Rochefort’s termination are not related. Taylor said Watson flew
to Nashville on Tuesday to deliver a letter to CCA officials requesting the
change of position. CCA has not determined what position Watson will fill
with the company and he has taken an indefinite leave of absence, she said.
Roger Hagen, the contract monitor for Bay County, said Wednesday that
Rochefort was terminated for “performancerelated issues.” Hagen said he was
aware Watson had requested vacation time and may not return as warden. Both
facilities have been subject to increased scrutiny in recent weeks because
of a foiled escape attempt by a suspected cop killer from the downtown jail
and a sex scandal at the annex involving a prison guard, a nurse and an
inmate.
August 11, 2005 WNYT
A man awaiting trial on charges stemming from the September hostage-taking
at the Bay County Jail faces new charges after guards said he tried to
smuggle a razor blade into the jail. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office
charged 32-year-old James Richard Norton with introduction of contraband
into a detention facility Wednesday.
August 10, 2005 News Herald
Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigators and jail officials are trying to
determine how an accused cop killer came within a few days of escaping from
the sixth floor of the county’s downtown jail. Robert Bailey, 23, of
Milwaukee, Wis., is accused of attempted escape and introduction of
contraband to a detention facility after jail guards and Sheriff’s Office
investigators searched his cell Monday evening and found hacksaw blades and
evidence that Bailey was trying to cut his way out of the cell’s windows,
according to a Sheriff’s Office report. The search of Bailey’s jail cell
came after U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents contacted the
Sheriff’s Office on Monday afternoon to report they had learned during an
investigation that Bailey was planning a jailbreak, said Capt. Jimmy
Stanford, head of the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation
Division. After pulling Bailey from
his cell, located in a maximum security pod on the jail’s sixth floor,
investigators said they discovered about seven hacksaw blades in the
toilet, hidden under Bailey’s bed and stashed in a cutout and patched
section of the ceiling. Investigators also reported finding bolts sliced in
metal grates covering windows and cuts in a metal divider between the two
windows. The grates placed over the 6-inch-wide Plexiglas windows are
bolted into the window frame at the bottom and top. The top bolts had not
been sawed through, investigators said. With Bailey remaining behind bars,
investigators and jail officials are turning their attention to how the
inmate was able to obtain the hacksaw blades and how his planned escape
attempt went unnoticed, Stanford said. Because Bailey’s status as a “high-risk” inmate prevented him
from having direct contact with visitors, investigators have not ruled out
that a guard or fellow inmate may have supplied Bailey with the hacksaw
blades, Stanford said.
July 20, 2005 News Herald
Four men accused of taking hostages in a Bay County Jail standoff last year
have been scheduled for trial the last week of August. It is
unlikely, however, that the four will be tried together. James
Norton, Kevin Winslett, Matthew Coffin and Kevin Nix are accused of holding
nurses hostage during a jail standoff Sept. 5 and 6. All four are facing
kidnapping charges that could land them in prison for life.
July 18, 2005 News Herald
A married jail nurse was arrested late Saturday and accused of having sex
with a female inmate on an examining table in the Bay County Jail annex,
leading to a felony count that was vehemently denied Sunday by the man's
wife. Authorities charged Christopher Michael Byrd, 33, with sexual
misconduct between a detention facility employee and an inmate, a third-degree
felony that could land the licensed practicing nurse in jail for five
years. According to a Bay County Sheriff's Office arrest affidavit: Byrd
asked a guard to release a female inmate to the medical unit sometime
Saturday night. Byrd told the guard that he had permission from a
supervisor to allow the inmate to walk to the medical pod without a runner.
In jail lingo, a "runner" is an escort generally used to
accompany inmates between units in a facility. Once the woman arrived in
the medical unit, Byrd told her to go to an examination room. Inside, they
began canoodling before the woman dropped her pants and the pair had sex on
a table. It is unclear how authorities discovered the alleged intercourse.
The charge against Byrd is part of a state law passed four years ago.
Legislators passed in 2001 the "Protection Against Sexual Violence in
Florida Jails and Prisons Act" as a measure to prevent misconduct
between jailers and inmates in detention facilities. The act contains a
provision that says consent cannot be used as a defense during prosecution.
June 16, 2005 AP
A state investigation has confirmed that a Bay County Jail inmate committed
suicide in a shower room and found no evidence officials or other prisoners
knew he planned to kill himself. A summary of the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement investigation into the April 5 death of James T. Sly Jr., 35,
of nearby Springfield, was released Wednesday. Sly was found hanging by a
bedsheet from a shower head. The summary does not address whether guards
followed proper procedures before the death. A May report from Bay County's
jail contract monitor alleged that a jailer included Sly in midnight head
count without actually seeing him, assuming the inmate was there because
water could be heard running in the shower. Company officials said they are
waiting to review the full state investigation report before commenting on
county allegation or the guard's status.
May 20, 2005 News Herald
Corrections Corporation of America officials remain silent about a report
issued by the county’s jail program manager stating a corrections officer
did not properly account for an inmate later found dead from an apparent
suicide. However, the family of James T. Sly Jr. has not stopped demanding
answers from the company contracted to oversee the Bay County Jail. They
want to know why the 35-year-old jail inmate was able to hang himself while
under the control of CCA. According to a recently released report by Bay
County’s contract monitor, Roger Hagen, a jail guard identified as J.
Harris "counted" James Sly as part of a midnight shift head count
without seeing the inmate. The report states the guard "assumed"
James Sly was in the shower because the shower water was running. Harris
failed to follow CCA’s policy that requires guards to only count an inmate
after seeing the person’s "living, breathing flesh," according to
Hagen. Hagen’s report conflicts with previous statements made by the jail’s
warden, Kevin Watson, who in April told The News Herald that a preliminary
investigation suggested that no CCA policies or procedures were violated
concerning James Sly’s death. Watson also said no CCA employees had been
reprimanded because of the incident. In his report, Hagen called on CCA to "take appropriate
disciplinary action" against the officer and "provide special
training for all officers" on the counting procedures. On
Thursday, Watson declined to comment further on James Sly’s death pending
the outcome of the FDLE investigation. He also declined to comment on
Harris’ status with CCA. A report from the FDLE is expected to be completed
within the next two weeks.
May 17, 2005 News Herald
The correctional officer responsible for checking on inmate James T. Sly
during the early morning shift on April 5 was supposed to see him "in
the flesh." He did not, and that night Sly apparently hanged himself
in the inmate showers. The death is still being investigated by the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement. However, an incident review by Roger Hagen,
Bay County’s correctional program manager, found that the Corrections
Corporation of America policies were not followed on the night Sly died.
The fact Officer J. Harris did not physically see Sly when he was doing
rounds is a violation of CCA’s policy "Count Principles and Procedures,"
Hagen says in the report, which was forwarded to the County Commission May
10. That finding counters Warden Kevin Watson’s preliminary investigation
last month, which suggested that all CCA policies or procedures were
followed on the night Sly died.
April 22, 2005 News-Herald
The Florida Ethics Commission found former Bay County commissioner
Danny Sparks in violation of a gifts law Thursday. On terms he agreed to,
he will pay a $1,000 civil penalty and admit fault. Kerrie Stillman,
assistant to the executive director of the Ethics Commission, said that an
attorney for Sparks met with an Ethics Commission advocate and they both
approved a settlement agreement. This includes paying $1,000 "with
public censure and reprimand." The ethics board will submit a final
order of the case to the governor’s office on Tuesday. Gov. Jeb Bush will
review it and issue an executive order stating the findings. He has the
authority to impose the fine, Stillman said. Sparks, contacted at home
Thursday, said he was unaware of any settlement or ruling regarding his
case. He said he wouldn’t comment on it, anyway. Sparks is accused of
breaching Florida ethics law during a trip he and other county officials
took in February 2000 to Tennessee to visit a jail run by Corrections
Corporation of America, which also operates Bay County’s jail and annex. He
participated with others in a round of golf — valued at $240 per person —
paid for by county financial adviser Gary Akers. Florida ethics laws
prohibit public officials and employees from accepting any gift worth $100
or more from a lobbyist. In July 2003, the Florida Police Benevolent
Association filed complaints with the Ethics Commission against Sparks and
two other former county commissioners, Carol Atkinson and Richard Stewart,
as well as former county manager Jon Mantay, former county attorney Nevin
Zimmerman, and Bob Majka, county emergency services director. Public
hearings on the charges would have been held if Sparks didn’t settle his
case. His ethics violation admission frees the county from paying his
attorney fees, said Commission Chairman George Gainer. In March, the County
Commission agreed to pay for the fees of all parties being investigated for
ethics complaints if they were eventually exonerated. Sparks’ case is the
only to be resolved to date.
April 13, 2005 News Herald
A week after apparently hanging himself in a Bay County Jail shower, James
T. Sly was laid to rest Tuesday in a Panama City cemetery. Special agents
with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have not released the
results of their investigation into the death of the 35-year-old
Springfield man, said FDLE spokeswoman Lisa Lagergren. Sly, a father of six
children, was found dead in a fifth-floor shower room early April 5 by
corrections officers, according to jail officials. Jail officials said
because of Sly’s suicidal tendencies at the time of his arrest, he was
placed in an observation unit of the jail and interviewed at least five
times by a mental health counselor. Jail officials said counselors in February
approved Sly’s move into a general population pod where he continued to
receive treatment. Jail officials said Sly did not display signs that he
wanted to hurt himself and guards had no reason to believe something was
wrong when Sly requested to take a shower at about 2 a.m. on April 5.
April 9, 2005 News-Herald
A Bay County Jail corrections officer faces battery charges following an
investigation into a fight between the guard and an inmate earlier this
week. Corrections Corporation of America fired Grant Cox, 35, of
Panama City on Friday following an internal investigation of a Wednesday
evening melee involving Cox and 19-year-old Skylar Jones, said Warden Kevin
Watson. The incident occurred moments after a jury announced it could not
reach a verdict in Jones’ attempted first-degree murder trial. Watson said
Cox violated Tennessee-based CCA’s policy by striking Jones during a
"verbal altercation" in the jail’s elevator. Watson said Cox
allowed the inmate to "push his buttons." "That was
certainly not the right thing to do," Watson said. Jones said the two
men exchanged profanities in the elevator and said the argument became so
heated that Cox grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground. He
would not provide details on the argument. "He put his knee into my chest and said he was going
to" hurt me, Jones said. Jones said he was not handcuffed at the time.
Jones said Cox got off of him when the elevator doors opened but rushed at
him as Jones started walking out of the elevator. Jones said the guard
knocked him into the trash can. Three other CCA guards noticed the fight
and rushed to assist Cox, Jones said. After his termination, Cox was cited
on the misdemeanor charge and released without posting bond.
April 5, 2005 News-Herald
About three months after police thwarted a Springfield man’s attempt to
kill himself on the DuPont Bridge, the 35-year-old was found dead inside
the Bay County Jail on Tuesday morning. Jail officials said James T. Sly
hanged himself at about 2:40 a.m. in the shower room of his fifth floor
housing unit. Because of the attempt to kill himself in January, Sly
originally was placed in an observation unit of the jail and interviewed at
least five times by a mental heath counselor, Thore said. About a month later,
Sly was allowed to move into a general population pod on the fifth floor of
the downtown jail and continued to receive treatment, Thore said. At about
2 a.m. on Tuesday, guards conducting a head count listed Sly as being in
the housing unit’s shower area, Thore said. When guards returned about 30
minutes later to conduct another count, Sly’s cellmate said Sly still was
in the shower, Thore said.
March 14, 2005 News-Herald
You can turn a Styrofoam cup inside out and still drink from it. Several
years ago, an inmate at the Bay County Jail asked then-corrections officer
Kevin Watson if he was aware of this interesting fact. "I said
something like I didn’t think he could do it, but he took that cup he had
and carefully worked it with his hands until it was turned inside
out," Watson said. Having successfully completed the task, the inmate
asked Watson: "Do you know what the moral of this story is?"
"What’s that?" Watson responded. I have nothing but time,"
the inmate said. That is just one of many lessons Watson said he has used
to guide him through 18 years in corrections and his first three months as
the Bay County Jail’s warden. "He was right," Watson said of the
inmate’s message. "These guys have nothing but time." During a
recent interview with The News Herald, Watson explained how he has wasted
little time making his mark on the aging facility and a staff trying to
recover from repeated criticism by the press and the community. The newest
warden for Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America’s Bay County
facility has literally "cleaned house" since taking over the
reigns from former Warden Denny Durbin.
March 2, 2005 News Herald
Bay County will reimburse former county officials for attorney’s fees paid
to defend themselves against investigations of ethics violations. On
Tuesday, the Bay County Commission voted 5-0 in favor of reimbursing five
people: former Commissioners Carol Atkinson, Richard Stewart and Danny
Sparks; former County Manager Jon Mantay; and former County Attorney Nevin
Zimmerman. Commission Chairman George Gainer emphasized that the
board will reimburse only the fees that pertain to the officials’ defense
of taking a trip to Nashville, Tenn., in February 2000 to tour a jail
operated by Corrections Corporation of America. The reimbursements also are
contingent on the former county officials’ exoneration. During the
trip, at least one of the county officials, former Commissioner Danny
Sparks, played a $240 round of golf paid for by county financial adviser
Gary Akers. CCA paid for county officials’ flights to Nashville,
which The Florida Commission on Ethics found problem- atic because the
county should have footed the initial expense for the trip, said county
attorney Mike Burke. It would have been permissible, he said, for the county
to collect reimbursement from CCA afterward. Bay County was
negotiating a contract renewal with CCA at the time. The Florida Police
Benevolent Association, a union representing police and correctional
officers, filed the ethics complaints. The golf game was not part of
PBA’s original complaint. Instead, the complaint was limited to allegations
that CCA paid the officials’ travel, lodging and meal expenses for the
trip. Florida law prohibits public officials from accepting any gift
with a value of more than $100 from a "lobbyist." In August 2004,
Atkinson was cleared of the charges, so her $1,085 in legal expenses is
guaranteed reimbursement. Burke said she proved that she was unaware CCA,
not the county, was paying for the Nashville trip.
February 24, 2005 News Herald
Bay County Jail officials ordered last weekend the installation of
exterior, sliding-bolt locks on transport van doors to prevent escape
attempts by inmates, said the jail’s warden. The new locks come after an inmate broke out of a Corrections
Corporation of America transport van Friday afternoon, resulting in an
18-hour manhunt. On Friday, 18-year-old Jeremy D. Aultman of Panama City Beach
manipulated the CCA van’s door-locking mechanism through the interior
paneling, CCA officials said. Aultman then escaped from the van that was
transporting 13 inmates to the Bay County Jail Annex, CCA officials
said. Along with new locks,
maintenance crews placed a steel plate over the interior passenger-door
panels of the transport van that Aultman escaped from, Watson said. Watson said steel plates already were in
place on other CCA vans. Watson on Tuesday defended the actions
of his transport driver, who prisoners said failed to notice Aultman trying
to escape and then ran from the vehicle to catch Aultman, according to
police reports. Watson said Tyndal
followed CCA policies and has not been disciplined.
Tyndal climbed out of the van to chase Aultman but gave up and returned to
the van, according to the reports. Though none of the 12 remaining inmates
joined Aultman in trying to flee, some reported to police that they had
ample opportunity. Inmate Ryan Meadows and Stanford W. Ferguson sat behind
Aultman during the transport from the main jail to Bayou George, according
to CCA incident reports. "Tyndal jumped out of the van, leaving his
door and our door wide open — keys still in the van," Meadows stated
in the incident report. Ferguson concurred Meadows’ report that Tyndal
chased Aultman without securing the van’s doors. Meadows added that when Tyndal came back to
the van, the guard took the inmates on a "high-speed" chase
through the nearby residential area called The Cove. Friday’s escape
attempt occurred about five months after four inmates at the main jail
escaped from their cells and held CCA employees hostage. A faulty cell door
lock received part of the blame for allowing the uprising, according to a
state investigation.
February 24, 2005 News Herald
Former Bay County Commissioner Danny Sparks has entered into a "joint
stipulation" with an advocate for the Florida Commission on Ethics in
which Sparks admits he violated state law when he accepted a $240 round of
golf paid for by the county’s financial adviser. The Ethics
Commission must approve the stipulation, which it will consider at its April
21 meeting. The Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union
representing police and correctional officers, filed ethics complaints
against Sparks and five other former and current county officials in July
2003. The complaints targeted a February 2000 trip the officials took to
Tennessee to visit a jail operated by Corrections Corporation of America,
which also operates Bay County’s jail and jail annex. As a second leg of
the trip, the officials traveled to Arizona to view a publicly run jail.
Bay County was negotiating a contract renewal with CCA at the time.
The PBA also filed complaints, each with multiple allegations, against
former Commissioners Carol Atkinson and Richard Stewart, former County
Manager Jon Mantay, former county attorney Nevin Zimmerman, and county
Emergency Services Chief Bob Majka. The Ethics Commission issued
probable-cause findings against all but Atkinson. All allegations against
her were dismissed. Spark’s stipulation with the commission advocate
includes a recommendation that he be fined $1,000 and that he be publicly
censured and reprimanded. The public censure and reprimand would occur as
part of an executive order by the governor. The $240 golf game, which was
played during the trip, was paid for by Gary Akers, a financial consultant
that assists the county with bond issues. Florida law prohibits public
officials from accepting any gift with a value of more than $100 from a
"lobbyist." Ken Kopczynski, PBA’s legislative assistant, said
Ethics Commission investigators found out about the golf game as part of
their review of the PBA’s complaint. The Ethics Commission dismissed
allegations against Sparks related to CCA’s paying his travel expenses. The
commission based the dismissal on its determination that Sparks was not
aware that CCA was paying for the trip. The dismissal of the allegations
against former Commissioner Atkinson was based on the same determination.
In its probable cause findings issued in September, the Ethics Commission
found: That Majka, Mantay and Zimmerman may have violated state gift laws
by allowing CCA to pay their travel expenses. That Majka and Stewart, in
addition to Sparks, may have violated gift laws by accepting rounds of golf
from Akers. The commission dismissed the most serious allegations — that the
officials accepted the gifts with knowledge that they were intended to
influence future votes or decisions. Kopczynski said Wednesday that he
believes the stipulation with Sparks is "reasonable." But he
noted that allegations related to CCA would not be addressed until the
other officials enter into stipulations or settlements or take their cases
to hearing. Kopczynski’s organization, the Police Benevolent Association,
opposes privately operated prisons and jails.
February 22, 2005 News Herald
Will Rogers famously said that if you find yourself in a hole, the first
thing to do is stop digging. Corrections Corporation of America would do
well to heed his advice. Last summer’s takeover and hostage situation
brought scrutiny to CCA, the following investigations and News Herald
reports exposed gaps in security. CCA went into damage control mode. Now
that Bay County is talking about building an expansion to the existing jail
annex for maximum-security inmates, nearby residents are worried — and
rightly so ("Jail plans hit home," Feb. 21). Even as Ryan Burr
was writing the story about residents’ fears, an inmate escaped from a van
transporting prisoners to the facility from downtown. Residents raise these
kinds of fears any time a new prison or jail is planned. "Not in my
back yard" is a common refrain no matter how safe a facility is. Most
of them are, in fact, safe as can be and the fears turn out to be all hype.
This time, though, residents do have something to be worried about: a
corporation which has, time and time again, proven itself to be incompetent
and possibly dangerous to its prisoners and workers. According to the state
of Florida, 109 prisoners escaped from the Florida Department of
Corrections in the fiscal year beginning July 2003. But almost every single
one came from a work release program — in other words, they only had to
walk away. Inmates who escape these programs are non-violent and pose
little threat to the communities around them. Only three actually escaped
from the custody of correctional facilities. Since September, five
prisoners have escaped their cells at CCA facilities in Bay County — more
than other correctional facilities in the entire previous year in the
entire state of Florida. That’s not the kind of record that inspires
confidence. It’s more important for the county to ensure that CCA
establishes a normal level of security than it is to build new facilities
or shuffle prisoners from one jail to another. CCA is steadily losing the
trust of Bay County citizens by failing again and again to meet security
requirements. If CCA didn’t learn its lesson from the events of September,
it’s unlikely that one more escape will drive the point home. First things
first: Bay County needs to follow through on its plan to accept bids for
the jail contract and decide who could do the job best — even if that means
giving CCA the boot. A maximum-security jail doesn’t need to be a dangerous
place for nearby residents. Normal jails don’t have escapes every year, or
even every few years. It’s only because of CCA’s lax security that
residents have to worry. Once the jails have a real measure of security, a
maximum-security jail near residences might make sense. Until then, the
NIMBY folks have a point — with CCA in charge, no one would want a jail in
their back yard.
February 21, 2005 News Herald
When Dana Knight awoke one morning in 1997 to find bloody handprints on a
rented U-Haul truck and the driver’s window busted out, she didn’t have to
think long about possible culprits. Living near the Bay County Jail Annex
on Nehi Road, she understands there is a risk of escapees coming onto her
property. That is what happened in July 1997. Four inmates — three with
previous charges of murder or attempted murder — broke out of the jail
annex. When one of them could not jumpstart Knight’s U-Haul, the group went
to another residence and stole a vehicle, Knight said. Within about two
days, all of the inmates were apprehended. Knight and her husband, Dan,
have two children, ages 6 and 11. The couple used to live near the main Bay
County Jail in downtown Panama City, which keeps the most serious criminals
in maximum security. "I don’t think the CCA (Corrections Corporation
of America) has done their job," she said, referencing an inmate
takeover on Sept. 5 and 6 at the downtown jail. Four men were arrested in
that incident and face kidnapping charges. CCA operates both facilities.
February 20, 2005 News Herald
A 23-year-old Bay County Jail inmate faces a charge of introducing
contraband into a corrections facility after he told a guard he was hiding
money in his rectum, according to a jail investigation report. Chris Eckman of Panama City informed a jail
guard Friday evening of a $100 bill hidden in his body, according to the
report. The report does not explain the reason Eckman possessed the
cash. Eckman is awaiting trial on charges of smuggling drugs into the jail
, according to court records. Eckman was convicted of burglary and grand
theft in 2001 and placed on probation, according to court records. In 2002,
he was arrested for violating probation and in 2004 was found possessing
methamphetamine and Ecstasy inside the jail , according to court records.
February 20, 2005 News Herald
Police captured and returned to jail a Panama
City Beach man
on Saturday, a day after he escaped from a transport van. Panama
City police found Jeremy D. Aultman, 18, at about 7
a.m., walking through a residential area about a block from where he
escaped, according to police reports. Aultman became the subject of a manhunt Friday afternoon when
he unlocked the transport van’s door from the inside and ran from the
vehicle as it waited on a traffic signal. Thore said Aultman was en route
to the Bay County Jail Annex in Bayou George with 12 other inmates when he
escaped. Thore said Correction Corporation of America
, the Tennessee company that manages the
jail for Bay
County , continues to
investigate the incident.
February
19, 2005 News Herald
A Panama City Beach teen remained on the run Friday night
after escaping from a Bay County Jail transport van Friday afternoon, a
jail official said. Assistant Warden Richard Thore said police continued to
search for accused felon Jeremy Daniel Aultman, 18, of 229 E. Lakeshore
Drive. Thore said the search began at about 1:30 p.m. after a Corrections
Corporation of America transport van driver reported that an inmate escaped
from the van. The CCA driver was transporting 13 inmates from the downtown
jail to the CCA jail annex in Bayou George, he said. CCA manages the jail ,
the jail annex and the Bay Correctional Facility. The CCA van was stopped
at the intersection of U.S. Business 98 and Cove Boulevard, when Aultman
tripped a locking mechanism, pulled the van door open and fled south, Thore
said. The 12 other inmates remained in the van, he said.
February 5, 2005 News Herald
Police arrested a Bay County Jail corrections officer on multiple drug
charges while on his way to work Friday afternoon, according to a Bay
County Sheriff’s Office news release. Jamie Bishop, 29, of the 5200 block
of State 22A, faces charges of selling cocaine, possession of cocaine,
possession of steroids, possession of Xanax, possession of drug
paraphernalia and sale of a controlled substance, according to the news
release. Bishop was taken to the Bay County Jail and held pending bond.
January 24, 2005 News Herald
Former jail nurse Ann Marie "Amie" Hunt was a bundle of emotions
Friday as she talked about the night she almost died during an inmate
standoff at the Bay County Jail. Hunt was shot three times the morning of
Sept. 6 after a 12-hour standoff between four inmates and Bay County
deputies. Bullets entered her hip, back and left leg, damaging bones and
vital organs. Hunt, who was unable to stop herself from crying through much
of the interview and showed flashes of deep anger, said she has hired a
lawyer to explore the incident, the way it was handled and how it has been
investigated by the different agencies involved. She declined to go
into too much detail about the night of Sept. 5 and morning of Sept. 6, but
did say she never felt like her life was in danger during the
standoff. Investigators said four hostages gained control of a
third-floor holding cell, including the nurses’ station and prescription
drug cabinet. Through the standoff, the inmates released all the hostages
but Hunt. Her husband, James
Hunt, is still employed by Corrections Corporation of America, the jail’s
owner. He said he’s on the payroll but is allowed to stay home and care for
his wife.
January 1, 2005 News Herald
On the evening of Sept. 5, four inmates at the Bay County Jail broke free
from their third-floor cells, subdued a guard and took four people hostage.
The standoff ended 12 hours later in a hail of gunfire that injured a
hostage and two inmates. Three months later, the incident continues
to brew. A guard has been fired and the warden replaced while three
deputies who opened fire have been cleared by prosecutors and
investigators. But many questions remain: Did jail supervisors fail to fix
broken door locks? Did a guard fail to secure the inmates’ cells? Does the
county need to rethink its relationship with Corrections Corporation of
America, the Tennessee company hired to run the jail and annex? The
Bay County Commission could answer the last question in the coming year, as
it decides whether to put the jail operations contract — which CCA has held
for nearly 20 years — out for bid.
December 30, 2004 News Herald
Like anything else, a jail is as secure as its weakest link. And as Anthony
Cormier’s Wednesday article "County report addresses issues in jail
incident" described the findings of Bay County’s contract monitor, any
weak link can become the weakest under the right circumstance. Therefore,
contract monitor Roger Hagen’s report on the September hostage incident
should not be reviewed as just another attempt to get to the bottom of the
inmate takeover. Investigative authorities have done that, tracing the
immediate spark to an apparently manipulable guard whom Corrections
Corporation of America has since dismissed. To some extent, CCA preempted
Hagen’s report by also reassigning the jail warden. Clearly, too much was
amiss to blame just a wayward guard. Supervisors rarely checked duty logs,
Hagen found. And when they did, it apparently wasn’t to look for weak links
— a broken key and a missing flashlight repeatedly were documented, for
example, to no avail. CCA should correct notated security related
maintenance issues within 24 hours, Hagen said, reasonably. The new
warden’s biggest challenge will be to persuade jail staff that CCA really
wants to start doing things right. Alas, from Hagen’s report, that’s a tall
order. Hagen depicted a culture in which employees feared retaliation by
management if they made supervisors "aware of any problems, staff
errors or performance deficiencies." In other words, the culture
outside the cells seemed little different from the culture that prevailed
behind bars. We agree with Hagen that CCA needs to refute what he calls a
"correctional code of silence." Do it by calling employees together,
or in writing, but do it. If employees don’t believe that CCA means
business, their business becomes to create even more weak links, not fix
them.
December 30, 2004 News Herald
A man who says he was in the Bay County Jail in September when four other
inmates took hostages on the third floor has sued the jail’s corporate
owner in federal court. Richard Lewis Bell Sr. of Ellenwood, Ga., filed
suit Nov. 8 against Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America
seeking $100,000 for reckless endangerment, "cruel and harsh
treatment," "mental stress," failing to maintain a maximum
security area, and failing to comply with the state "no smoking"
law. Bell stated in a handwritten complaint that he went through
"living hell" during and after a Sept. 5 takeover of the third
floor. He stated that after deputies stormed the cellblock and shot two
alleged hostage-takers and a nurse, the jail’s guards "went total
nuts." Bell wrote that he and other inmates who were not involved in
the takeover were thrown to the floor and grabbed by the hair. He stated
that in the days that followed, two-man cells were filled with four inmates
each, and the inmates were fed once every 24 hours.
December 29, 2004 News Herald
Bay County Jail managers were not regularly reviewing duty and maintenance
logs in the weeks before September’s inmate takeover and failed to address
issues — including a faulty cell door — that precipitated the standoff,
according to a county review obtained by The News Herald. An Unusual
Incident Review, completed last week by Bay County’s jail contract monitor,
Roger Hagen, offers a chronology of the takeover and 10 corrective actions
for Corrections Corporation of America supervisors. Among the
recommendations are disciplinary action for a third-floor guard — who two
weeks ago was fired — and a more thorough review by managers of daily logs
compiled by jail staff.
In the county’s review, Hagen found that Officer James Hall was "less
than truthful with law enforcement" when he recanted portions of his
story during interviews with police. Hall repeatedly told
Sheriff’s Office investigators that he was scared to work on the third
floor of the downtown facility and acknowledged violating numerous CCA
policies because he knew supervisors rarely checked duty logs. Hagen’s
review seems to second that notion. "When reviewing this
documentation, for a 2-4 week time period prior to the incident,"
Hagen wrote, "it was apparent that managers or supervisors are either
not regularly reviewing the logs or if they are, they are not addressing
the issues they document. As an example, a broken key and a missing
flashlight were repetitively documented by different shift floor officers
in the third floor post duty log for the entire time frame I
reviewed." The logs show a history of maintenance problems on the
third floor, including reports of broken locks that went unfixed at least
two weeks before the takeover, according to a November examination by The
News Herald. State agents confirmed the newspaper’s examination in an
Florida Department of Law Enforcement report, in which guards, nurses and
inmates all claimed that the door to cell C-1 easily could be defeated. Perhaps a more pressing issue cited in the
review is a "correctional code of silence," which keeps staff
from reporting problems for fear of retribution. "Most of the staff I
had discussions with," he wrote, "were concerned about being
identified if they shared issues or concerns with me."
December 19, 2004 News Herald
The Tennessee company that operates the Bay County Jail fired a corrections
officer Friday, three months after inmates held him hostage during a
12-hour standoff with police. Corrections Corporation of America terminated
James C. Hall of Lynn Haven for violations of CCA policy, according to
Kevin Watson, Bay County Jail warden. Watson declined to comment on specific violations Hall
committed. He confirmed that Hall’s violations were related to the escape
of inmates from their cells in September. Hall, 26, had been on
administrative leave since Sept. 6 pending police and CCA investigations
into the jail break that resulted in four inmates escaping from their cells
and taking Hall and three nurses hostage. According to an Florida
Department of Law Enforcement report on the hostage-taking incident, Hall
admitted during an interview with law enforcement agents that he allowed
inmates to shut themselves into their cells and falsified shift logs
relating to inmates’ time in the jail’s third-floor day room. The inmates,
nurses and Hall told investigators that inmates were able to escape from
their cells because of faulty locks on cell doors, something they said was
common knowledge in the jail, according to the FDLE report. Inmates also
told investigators they decided to start the incident because of inhumane
living conditions at the jail, including insufficient medical care,
physical and mental abuse by guards and low-quality food, according to the
FDLE report.
December 16, 2004 News-Herald
The Tennessee company that runs the Bay County Jail is "switching out
wardens" less than a week after the release of a state report
detailing personnel failures and maintenance problems that spurred
September’s inmate takeover. Despite the timing, Corrections Corporation of
America officials insist that the move — current Warden Denny Durbin is
out; longtime CCA administrator Kevin Watson is in — has nothing to do with
the 12-hour siege and torrent of scrutiny that followed. The Sept. 5 standoff, which ended in gunfire
on the third floor of the downtown facility, left one hostage and two
inmates with bullet wounds. But the FDLE also confirmed a News
Herald investigation of equipment failures on the jail’s third floor, where
shift logs and maintenance records show a history of broken locks in the
segregation unit. One of the accused inmates slipped from one of the cells
at the start of the takeover, and FDLE interviews indicate that the
maintenance problems were repeatedly reported to jail supervisors. One of
the hostages told agents, according to an interview transcript, that Durbin
and security chief Chuck Bellows were aware of the broken locks before the
takeover. Also, the lone guard working on the third floor told
investigators that he routinely falsified shift logs, broke company policy
regarding the number of inmates allowed out of their cells and allowed
prisoners to lock their own cells the night of the siege.
December 9, 2004 News-Herald
So, it all started months before, with a jail cell lock that didn’t work.
It ended, of course, when a Sheriff’s Office SWAT team terminated with bullets
a tense 12-hour hostage standoff. In between, from May to September, the
broken lock repeatedly was brought to Corrections Corporation of America’s
attention by guards and other jail personnel. It repeatedly got fixed but
never for very long. It apparently didn’t work for almost two weeks before
the Sept. 5 blowup. The last guard who brought it to CCA’s attention did so
indirectly, by being knocked to the floor by inmates leaving the cellblock
to raise havoc. The ensuing bloody confrontation involving inmates,
hostages and SWAT team sharpshooters was unusual by any corrections
measure. The broken lock wasn’t, at least not at the Bay County Jail. The News Herald’s Anthony Cormier has
written, and on Tuesday the release of a Florida Department of Law Enforcement
report confirmed, that jail staff reported the broken lock at least five
times. The easily opened cell was common knowledge around the jail. It does indicate that CCA was not concerned
about oversight. Bay County has a stunningly ineffective full-time corrections
program manager on county staff (he complains he gets no respect from CCA).
The Sheriff’s Office, the jail’s best customer, has no say in managing what
goes on inside. County commissioners
think only about cost.
December 9, 2004 News-Herald
A guard failed to secure cell doors that he allowed inmates to shut
themselves the night of a 12-hour siege at the Bay County Jail, according
to interview transcripts obtained by The News Herald. Officer James Hall
acknowledged to detectives that he falsified shift logs related to inmates’
time in a third-floor day room and said he made a "mistake" in
allowing three of the four accused hostagetakers out of their cells in the
hours before the Sept. 5 standoff, the transcripts show. Hall, 26, also
admitted lying to Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents about the
severity of a blow to his head during the takeover, according to an
interview conducted more than a month after the incident. In a Nov. 22
interview with a Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigator, Hall said he did
not secure a lock box —which ensures all the cell doors are locked — and
told inmates to close cell doors themselves. According to the transcript:
Hall had allowed four inmates — including suspected hostage-takers James
Norton, Kevin Winslett and Kevin Nix — to mingle in a day room earlier in
the day. Corrections Corporation of America policy maintains that only one
inmate at a time be allowed to enter the segregation unit’s day room. Hall
said he normally allowed more than one inmate into the day room, and often
falsified shift logs to show that only one prisoner was in the room
recreation area. The guard knew that this was a policy violation, but said
that he knew he wouldn’t be disciplined because supervisors "hardly
ever check the logs." Despite indications that the doors may not have
been closed, Hall and others — including inmates and nurses — maintain that
Norton escaped from his cell because a door lock was broken. Maintenance
records show that the lock to Norton’s cell, 3C-1, repeatedly malfunctioned
and had not been fixed in two weeks before the takeover. Nix, Nurse
Kathleen Baucum and Norton’s cellmate each told FDLE agents that Norton’s
door did not lock, and jail staff repeatedly told supervisors of the
problem. A 750-page FDLE report, released this week, indicates that the
equipment malfunction triggered the breakout. "It’s a well-known
fact," Baucum told investigators. "It’s been put in writing by me
… it’s been put in writing by my supervisor … and by another nurse and by
(Chief of Security Chuck) Bellows himself." In an interview with FDLE agents, Norton
accused Hall of being "in on" the escape plan and said Hall had
only one request for the inmates: "Just don’t hurt me." Hall
strongly denied the allegation that he knew of the inmates’ plan, saying he
lied during his initial interview because he wanted to keep his job. Hall
said he was "scared" to work on the third floor and believed that
a second officer should be assigned to the pod during each shift. "The
way the jail is run," Hall told investigators, "the way it was
run when I was there scares me, it doesn’t feel safe ever."
December 8, 2004 News-Herald
The use of deadly force by police during a jail uprising and hostage
situation in September that left two prisoners and a hostage injured was
necessary, State Attorney Jim Appleman has determined. In a letter sent to
the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Monday, Appleman stated his
office had reviewed the FDLE’s investigative report of the incident and
determined that officers’ gunfire was justified, including a SWAT team
member’s shot that injured a hostage. The standoff began at about 8 p.m. on
Sept. 5, when officers from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office’s hostage
negotiation and SWAT teams responded to a report of a hostage situation at
the Bay County Jail, managed by Corrections Corporation of America.
According to the FDLE report, during an attempt to escape, inmates Kevin
Winslett, Kevin Nix, Matthew Coffin and James Norton had jumped a CCA
corrections officer and three nurses working on the third floor of the jail
and were holding them hostage. During the 12-hour standoff, the hostage
negotiation team was able to free the corrections officer and two nurses
before one of the inmates, Kevin Nix, threatened to kill the remaining
nurse, Ann Marie "Amy" Hunt, according to the report. Lead
negotiator Jimmy Stanford, who was conducting face-to-face negotiations
with the inmates, saw Nix with his arms around Hunt with a scalpel to her
neck and a syringe to her stomach, according to the report. At that time,
convinced the "situation was getting worse," Stanford said
Tuesday, he pulled a pistol and fired at Nix’s legs. SWAT team members Lt.
Rad Nelson and Sgt. Tony Bruening were hiding in a room near the hostages
and the inmates when they heard the shots, according to the report. They
came out of the room and fired toward the inmates. One of the rounds from
Bruening’s gun hit Hunt in her left hip and came to rest in her kidney,
according to the report. Hunt was struck three times, including in her
lower leg and the small of her back, according to the FDLE report. Nix
suffered a gunshot wound to the front of his left calf, and Norton was shot
once in the in the front lower left leg, according to the report.
December 8, 2004 News-Herald
It was common knowledge, an open secret that everybody — guards, nurses,
inmates and supervisors — was in on. Florida Department of Law Enforcement
documents confirmed Tuesday that a broken lock triggered September’s inmate
takeover at the Bay County Jail, allowing one prisoner to escape from his
cell and ambush the lone guard on the third floor of the downtown facility.
The FDLE file supports a recent News Herald investigation, which revealed
two weeks ago that jail staff reported five times in the 60 days prior to
the takeover that third-floor locks were broken or had malfunctioned.
According to maintenance records, work orders and shift logs, jail
personnel requested maintenance work for a door lock to Cell 3C-1. The
first request was made on May 23; the final request came on Aug. 23, when a
guard wrote that the door again needed to be fixed. But the work order was
returned without a signature and remarks include: "need to fix door …
officer did not have time." It was this broken lock, the FDLE case
file shows, that allowed inmate James Norton to escape at the beginning of
the 12-hour siege. Norton slipped out of his cell, then struck officer
James Hall in the back of the head, stole his keys and freed four other
inmates. FDLE interviews
with guards, nurses and inmates indicate that jail supervisors were aware
of the equipment problems, although officials from the private company
hired to run the jail have declined comment on the matter. Hall,
the officer who was slugged in the head with a padlock wrapped inside a
sock, told investigators that the third-floor locks long had been a
problem, according to an FDLE transcript. In a meeting with The News Herald
last week, CCA President John Ferguson said Hall had been placed on
administrative leave since the incident. "Cell 1 does not lock,"
Hall told the agents. "Everybody knows it. We have put in a request to
get it fixed. Maintenance says that they have fixed it, but they can still
roll right out of it."
December 1, 2004 News-Herald
It was an ambush. A corrections
officer on the third floor of the Bay County Jail was tricked by an inmate
"playing possum" and struck in the back of the head with a
padlock or bar of soap wrapped in a sock, according to CCA officials who
laid bare Tuesday the chronology of events that precipitated September’s
standoff at the downtown facility. CCA President John Ferguson acknowledged that the incident on
Sept. 5 was a watershed moment for the Bay County Jail and may have sullied
CCA’s public reputation. A controversial afteraction report,
compiled by an outside law firm to gauge CCA’s liability, sparked the
disconnect and left both sides wondering how to mend a relationship
fractured by the takeover.
Last month, CCA officials delivered to the county’s contract monitor a ream
of documents requested four days after the incident. The News Herald also
requested and obtained those records, which showed a history of broken
locks and equipment problems on the third floor of the jail, where the
takeover occurred. According to Turner: At about 9 p.m. on Sept. 5, a third-floor
corrections officer approached an inmate in a segregation unit about a dose
of medicine. When the inmate didn’t respond, the officer entered the cell
and tried to awaken him. The inmate, Turner said, was "playing
possum" and setting the stage for a pre-planned escape attempt. With
the officer in the cell, another inmate sneaked behind and swung at the
officer’s head with an improvised weapon — likely a bar of soap or padlock
wrapped in a sock and wielded like a mace. The officer radioed for help and
the shift captain raced to the third floor, slamming shut a riot gate and
shutting down elevators to keep the inmates from getting off that floor.
With their escape foiled, the inmates rushed across the hall to a nurse’s
station — where an examination of maintenance records shows at least one
instance of broken locks in the 60 days preceding the takeover. At least one CCA staffer has been placed
on administrative leave since Sept. 6, although officials refused to identify
the employee or the employee’s position. In a letter to Bay County’s jail
contract monitor, a CCA attorney wrote that any employee who failed to
follow company policy has been "counseled, retrained, reassigned or
disciplined, as appropriate." It is unclear how many employees this
applies to, and CCA officials said they could not immediately release that
information.
November 22, 2004 News Herald
The medical pod and segregation wing of the Bay County Jail were plagued by
broken and jammed door locks in the weeks leading up to September’s inmate
takeover, according to maintenance requests and work orders obtained by The
News Herald. There is plenty of smoke but no smoking gun in a ream of
documents released by Corrections Corporation of America, the Tennessee
company tasked with an internal investigation of policies, procedures and
possible failures that contributed to the 12-hour standoff on Sept. 5.
Records indicate that a series of equipment problems on the third floor of
the Bay County Jail precipitated the uprising, which ended when negotiators
stormed the medical pod and shot one hostage and two inmates. A CCA liaison
met Friday morning with Roger Hagen, the county’s jail point man, to hand
over records requested four days after the incident. The News Herald also
filed public record requests for the documents. Hagen and CCA engaged for
more than two months in a muted battle over the records, publicly
squabbling over an "after-action report" and a dearth of
communication during the internal probe. Hagen said Friday he expected to
review the materials over the weekend before reporting back to the Bay
County Commission, which soon is expected to seek bidders on the contract
to run the downtown jail and Nehi Road annex. A News Herald examination of the paperwork reveals no
definitive evidence suggesting how the inmates escaped their cells,
although shift logs and maintenance requests show a history of equipment
problems on the floor where the four accused inmates were being held.
According to jail records:
At least five times in the 60 days prior to the takeover, CCA personnel
requested maintenance work for a door lock to Cell 3C-1.In interviews
following the standoff, authorities suggested Norton set off the takeover
by escaping from his cell, 3C-1, and beating a guard in the medical pod.
One of the hostages, Glenda Baker, told The News Herald that she was
distributing medicine on the third floor when the lights suddenly went off
and one of the locks failed. Baker said one of the inmates released the
others and overtook the floor’s lone guard, and negotiators contend that
the inmates used a padlock to seal the faulty door from police. Perhaps the
most controversial element of CCA’s investigation is the "after-action
report," a compilation of liabilities put together for the company by
an outside law firm. Jennifer Taylor, CCA’s senior director of business
development, said Friday that there was some confusion about the legal
probe, which resulted not in a tangible report but informal guidelines for
the company to follow. CCA employees who failed to follow company policy in
connection with the incident have been "counseled, retrained,
reassigned or disciplined, as appropriate." It is unclear how many
employees this applies to, and CCA officials said they could not
immediately release that information.
November 20, 2004 News Herald
Bay County and the company hired to run its jail met Friday to make amends
for two months of quiet bickering, with each side making concessions to the
other in the fight for information about September’s hostage taking and
standoff at the Bay County Jail. A Corrections Corporation of America liaison was in Panama
City on Friday for a discussion with Roger Hagen, the county’s jail point
man. Hagen previously said he was frustrated by CCA’s slow response to the
request, which was made four days after the takeover.
November 14, 2004 News Herald
Everybody wants to know what happened — and CCA refuses to say. Bay County officials trying to determine
the root of September’s inmate takeover at the Bay County Jail have run
into a corporate-size roadblock and are now trying to pry vital information
from the tight-lipped, $141-million company that operates the county’s
downtown facility. Corrections
Corporation of America was blamed last week for a lack of cooperation
during the aftermath of the hostage-taking and standoff that landed a nurse
and two prisoners in the hospital. County leaders criticized the company
for operating in secret and failing to consult with local administrators on
the outcome of a controversial after-action report. The report is supposed to detail how four
inmates got free from their cells, obtained weapons, took hostages and kept
the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at bay for 12 hours. Roger Hagen, the county’s correctional
program manager, said CCA has kept him in the dark during its investigation
and has not consulted with him. Commissioners Jerry Girvin and Cornel Brock
said they were not aware of any communication between the county and the
company — despite contrary claims by CCA. "We’ve been in contact with
Bay County throughout this process," said Louise Chickering, a
marketing executive at the company’s Nashville, Tenn., headquarters.
"We are keeping them up to date." "They are? Well, who are
they talking to?" Hagen asked last week. "It’s not me. You’d
think by now they would have been in contact with someone." Said
Girvin: "It sounds very confusing to me, on their part. On CCA’s
part." The disconnect was triggered by an incident summary and review
that Chickering said was completed more than two weeks ago. But last week,
Chickering hedged against that claim, saying that only "the
investigation is complete but the report is not." Several groups,
including The News Herald, have filed formal requests to review the report,
but a CCA attorney said the after-action report never will become a public
record. That’s because the
investigation was performed by a private law firm hired by CCA, legal
counsel Gus Puryear said Thursday. The law firm, Puryear said, was brought
in to protect the company from liability. For Brock and Hagen,
CCA’s reluctance to share information is troubling. The county recently
recouped $1.25 million from the company in return for a contract extension
through September 2005.
To dissuade the county from bidding out the contract to operate the jail —
which commissioners ultimately decided to do — CCA offered to reduce Bay’s
bill by $83,333 a month from June 1 through May 31, 2005. CCA also paid the
county a lump sum of $250,000 on Oct. 1. The company also has been
besieged by bad public relations, as CCA struggled with riots, takeovers
and a homicide in the last four months. In a two-week period in July,
inmates nearly overtook facilities in Colorado and Mississippi. That followed
a July 7 homicide in Nashville and a smaller uprising in Oklahoma. A
Colorado Department of Corrections report indicated that understaffing led
to a slow response to a disturbance at the Crowley County Correctional
Institution — where inmates beat cellmates and set fires across the
facility. That the company has not been forthcoming during its
investigation of the Bay County Jail is disconcerting, Hagen said. While he
has remained in touch with local CCA administrators, Hagen said his
dealings with the corporate office have been uneasy at best. Like others,
Hagen has tried for weeks to keep abreast of the company’s critical
incident review. But getting his hands on the after-action report has
proved impossible. "I don’t know if I can get a copy," Hagen said,
"and its contents have never been discussed." Brock, who leaves office Tuesday, said the
problem may lie with the County Commission and its staff, which has never
shown the "enthusiasm" necessary to keep tabs on the jail.
November 9, 2004 News Herald
A state investigation into September’s inmate takeover and police shootings
at the Bay County Jail is complete and likely will be turned in to the
State Attorney’s Office today. In its review of the incident, the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement focused solely on the shootings of a jail nurse and two inmates
accused of barricading themselves inside a third-floor medical wing. In
addition to FDLE and Sheriff’s Office documents, CCA spokeswoman Louise
Chickering said jail administrators completed an after-action report about
two weeks ago. Chickering also said the company had been in contact with
Bay County officials about its findings. A CCA attorney later denied a News
Herald public record request to review that report. Panama City lawyer Cliff Higby said the
report had not yet been finished. And Roger Hagen, Bay County’s
correctional program manager, said the Nashville-based company had not
spoken with local officials regarding the after-action report. "I
don’t know who in the world they’ve been talking to," Hagen said two
weeks ago. "But they haven’t been talking to me."
November 3, 2004 News Herald
One of four men charged in a September jailhouse kidnapping pleaded Tuesday
to the charges that had him in the Bay County Jail initially. Matthew Coffin, 18, pleaded no contest to
escape, robbery with a weapon and attempted robbery with a weapon. Coffin
is one of four men accused of taking hostages in a jailhouse standoff Sept.
5. The standoff ended when sheriff’s deputies stormed a third-floor holding
cell and shot a suspect and the hostage.
October 9, 2004 News Herald
The company that manages the Bay County Jail has completed an internal
investigation into a September hostage taking at the facility. Louise Chickering, a spokeswoman for the Nashville-based
Corrections Corporation of America, said company investigators have
finished an "after action report" assessing the incident.
"We have completed the report and are keeping the county up to date on
all our processes and getting as much feedback as possible,"
Chickering said. The report is not available for public inspection,
Chickering said. On Sept. 5, police
said four jail prisoners barricaded themselves with four CCA nurses on the
third floor of the jail. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is
expected to complete a "fact-finding" report by the end of
October, said Lisa Lagergren, spokeswoman for the FDLE.
October 6, 2004 News Herald
Police are awaiting the autopsy report for a 22-year-old Springfield man
before closing the investigation into his suspected self-inflicted death at
the Bay County Jail during Hurricane Ivan. Bay County Sheriff’s Office
Investigator John Sumerall said it appears that William Henry Cantor hanged
himself from his jail cell bunk with a bedsheet Sept. 15. He said Cantor
died alone in a jail cell located in a section of the jail used
specifically for inmates who request to be isolated from other inmates.
September 26, 2004 News Herald
An inmate disappeared from the Bay County Jail in downtown Panama City at
about 8 p.m. Friday and remained on the lam Saturday night. "We’re
working some leads. As of yet they have proven to be fruitless," said
Lt. Dave Delaney with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. "We are
actively looking for him."
September 12, 2004 News Herald
I will not second-guess the command decision to utilize deadly force when
SWAT members stormed the Bay County jail. I will let an objective and
comprehensive afteraction investigation review those facts. There are,
however, several initial items which warrant complete review. As a retired
associate warden with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (22½ years), I’ve had
some experience in these matters. First, was there a clear chain of
command? Who was "calling the shots" regarding the negotiations —
Bay County Officials or Corrections Corporation of America’s warden of the
site? Second, was there a public information officer designated to speak on
all matters to the media? Negotiators usually never speak to the media
during negotiations as Sheriff Frank McKeithen did. Third, I read where a
door would not lock and the staff panic-button alarm system malfunctioned.
These issues are inexcusable. Security conditions (cell locking mechanisms,
staff emergency equipment, etc.) must be checked each shift — daily — and
when found inoperative fixed immediately, or replaced with functioning
equipment. Fourthly, how could inmates access controlled medications?
Facilities are required to have these items safely secured (behind a grille
in a safe) and available for immediate disposal through a chute in event of
an emergency. Finally, who’s overseeing CCA’s compliance with contractual
requirements, correctional personnel and jail standards, and regulations?
Many important issues must be addressed through an objective post-incident investigation
team. Accountability for incompetence must be made. By Fred Apple. The
writer, who helped run federal prisons in Minnesota, now is retired and
lives in Panama City.
September 9, 2004 News Herald
He missed. He just missed. Bay County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jimmy Stanford
was aiming for the inmate’s leg, aiming to end a 12-hour standoff that had
quickly dissolved, that had been calm and controlled but soon spiraled into
a violent, drug-laced nightmare. There he was Monday morning, on the third floor
of the Bay County Jail, trying to quash a rebellion and earn freedom for
the final hostage. He saw the nurse, a scalpel to her throat and a
hypodermic needle at her chest, the inmate standing behind her.
September 9, 2004 News Herald
The Florida Ethics Commission on Wednesday issued probable-cause findings
on two former Bay County commissioners, a former county attorney, a former
county manager and a current county employee on charges related to a 2000
trip to Nashville, Tenn. The Ethics Commission’s findings are related to a
February 2000 trip the county officials took to Tennessee to visit a jail
operated by Corrections Corporation of America, which also operates Bay
County’s jail and annex. Bay County was negotiating a contract renewal with
CCA at the time of the trip. In July
2003, the Florida Police Benevolent Association filed complaints with the
Ethics Commission against former County Commissioners Carol Atkinson, Danny
Sparks and Richard Stewart, former County Manager Jon Mantay, former county
attorney Nevin Zimmerman, and Bob Majka, then and still the county’s
emergency services director. The Ethics Commission dismissed all complaints
against Atkinson because she believed the county was paying for the trip,
according to the Ethics Commission’s report.
September 8, 2004 News Herald
The wisdom of the bloody end Sheriff Frank McKeithen ordered to a weekend
hostage standoff at Bay County Jail will be thoroughly weighed under more
tranquil circumstances, as it should. Given the criminal history of four
inmates who took hostages and threatened to take lives, though, the sheriff
for 11 hours lived with the knowledge that these were not just boys acting
up. It appears that all four should have been in a betterguarded state
penitentiary or institution; one may be a mental case. The
hostage-takers’ grievances deserve attention, not from sympathy for their
diet or sloppy medication management, but as a more sober-minded look at
the county’s repeated inability to properly monitor or control what goes on
inside the jail or to properly address complaints raised by inmates over
and over, year after year. CCA also is constantly pressured to do
everything more cheaply.
September 8, 2004 Tallahassee Democrat
A sheriff's negotiator won the release of three employees before a SWAT
team stormed the Bay County Jail when inmates threatened to torture and
kill their remaining hostage, a nurse who then was accidentally shot,
authorities said Tuesday. The nurse suffered gunshot wounds in the back and
leg Monday and remained hospitalized in stable condition, said sheriff's
spokeswoman Ruth Sasser. Inmates had taken over the six-story jail's
third-floor infirmary, and one of them was holding a scalpel to the nurse's
neck when the SWAT team and armed jailers ended an 11-hour standoff that
began about 9 p.m. Sunday, Sasser said. The hostages - three female nurses
and a male guard - worked for Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections
Corporation of America, which operates the jail under contract with the
county. Licensed practical nurse Glenda Baker, however, told The News
Herald of Panama City that she was one of the hostages released during the
night. The lights had gone off and a door to the floor's cells failed to
lock before the incident occurred, Baker said. One inmate then released
others and four hostage-takers overpowered the only guard on the floor.
Then a panic button failed, she said. A television anchor said she had
received a telephone call Sunday night from someone claiming to be holding
hostages at the jail. The caller said he was upset about health hazards
there.
September 8, 2004 News Herald
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continued its investigation on
Tuesday into the Bay County Sheriff’s Office’s response to a Bay County
Jail hostage situation that ended in gunfire early Monday morning. Four
jail inmates were charged in the hostagetaking, which ended when Bay County
SWAT team members stormed the third-floor area where the men had barricaded
themselves with four hostages. A CCA nurse and two inmates were injured by gunfire when the
SWAT team moved in.
September 6, 2004 AP
A SWAT team stormed
the Bay County Jail on Monday to end an 11-hour hostage standoff, injuring
one hostage and three inmates, authorities said. An undetermined number of
other employees were freed. The injured hostage, a nurse, suffered a leg
wound and was undergoing surgery at a hospital, and her injury did not
appear to be life-threatening.
July 22, 2004 Times News
A jail melee that left three prisoners injured this week was motivated by
"racial prejudice," according to arrest affidavits filed
Wednesday at the Bay County Courthouse. Six men attacked two men
"en masse," using their fists and a makeshift weapon — a padlock
stuffed in a sock — during a quarrel Monday at the Bay County Jail,
authorities reported. One of the alleged attackers also turned on a third
man who tried to quell the fisticuffs, police said. Five of the
prisoners were charged with two counts of felony battery on a detainee.
They are: Tyree C. Cleveland, 22; Danny D. Dorsey, 19; Shawn C. Ponds, 28;
Demar J. Davis, 19; and Derrick M. Bell, 19. Johnny L. Brown, 23, was
charged with three counts of felony battery, accused of shoving the man who
tried to break up the fight into a metal bunk. An official from Corrections
Corporation of America, which runs the Bay County Jail and its annex on
Nehi Road, said the fight occurred on the fifth floor of the downtown
Panama City facility. Spokeswoman Mary Hughes said two guards were on duty
at the time and called for backup when the melee began. The injuries were
minor, Hughes said, and the alleged victims were treated at the jail.
Arrest affidavits said the suspected attackers had been calling two of the
victims a racial epithet the week before the incident and made the men
complete their daily work assignments. The alleged attackers also used the
epithet during the beating, the affidavits said. "We were not
aware of that," Hughes said. "The chief was told that by the (Bay
County) Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating it."
May 18, 2004, News Herald
A suspected thief died after a two-day stay at the Bay County Jail and
annex, and investigators probing the incident have not determined why the
42-year-old suffered seizure-like conditions shortly before his death. Stacy Allan Tolbert was frothing at the
nose and mouth Monday afternoon in an observation cell at the Nehi Road
annex when a fellow prisoner cried for help, and jail staff called an
ambulance to the facility. Documents show two different court dates -- Sunday and Monday
-- and both indicate he should have been released on his own recognizance.
March 23, 2004, The Ledger
The last two of six Bay County Jail inmates charged in the beating death of
a fellow inmate pleaded guilty and were sentenced Monday. Investigators
said Chad Littles, 18, was beaten to death in October 2002 because others
thought he was an informant for the guards, The News Herald reported.
Littles' mother has sued Corrections Corporation of America Inc., which
operates the jail, claiming it did not protect her son. That lawsuit hasn't
been resolved.
February 26, 2004, News Herald
One Bay County Jail inmate received 10 years in prison and another received
five years after pleading no contest to charges stemming from the beating
and stomping death of another inmate. Jeremiah Samuel Hinsey, 22, received
10 years for manslaughter and Carlos King, 32, five years for aggravated
assault in the 2002 death of Chad Littles, 18, at the jail's annex outside
Panama City.
October 14, 2003, News Herald
Circuit Judge Don T. Sirmons followed the agreed upon sentence in Ronald
Lawson’s plea deal Monday and gave him five years in prison for his role in
the beating death of a Bay County Jail inmate last year. Lawson, who was
originally charged with second degree murder in the death of Chad Littles,
18, pleaded no contest to felony battery several months ago.
July 15, 2003, News Herald
A union that represents law enforcement and correctional officers said
Monday that it had filed ethics complaints against three former Bay County
commissioners, a former county manager, a former county attorney and the
county’s chief of emergency services. The Florida Police Benevolent
Association said its complaints stemmed from a February 2000 trip the
officials took to Tennessee to visit a jail operated by Corrections
Corporation of America, which also operates Bay County’s jail and annex.
Ken Kopczynski, PBA’s legislative assistant, said the union has
documentation that CCA paid for the trip, including airfare, hotel rooms
and meals. At the time, CCA and the county were negotiating the renewal of
the contract for Bay County jail operations. "It is very questionable
since they were in the middle of contract negotiations (with CCA,)"
Kopczynski said. Kopczynski said PBA began looking into Atkinson after she
began chairing the privatization commission last year. As part of that
research, he said, "we came across this trip."
April 3, 2003, News Herald
Corrections Corporation of America has pledged to work with the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement to address discrepancies in computerized arrest
information for inmates at the Bay County Jail. In January, the FDLE
reviewed CCA’s computerized arrest records against 288 booking reports.
FDLE found a "high percentage" of discrepancies, ranging from
incorrect or misspelled names to incorrect charges. A number of the
discrepancies occurred because arresting officers failed to enter proper
Florida Statute numbers to identify criminal charges.
A man who used his little brother's name
to avoid being booked into the Bay County Jail Sunday remained at large
Monday after escaping out an unguarded back door at the Bay County Jail.
(The News Herald, December 17, 2002)
Correctional officers at the Bay County Jail released the wrong woman
Tuesday when a female inmate assumed the identity of a sleeping woman who
was in the same holding cell for detoxification. While the intoxicated
woman was sleeping in the cell, Robbie Levingston, 29, answered for her,
signed for her belongings and walked out of the jail, said Bay County
Sheriff's Lt. J. D. Nolin. (The News Herald, December 6, 2002)
Six inmates at the Bay County Correctional Facility Annex on Nehi Road were
charged Sunday with the beating death overnight of Chad Littles, 18, of
Panama City. Littles was serving time for failure to pay a fine –possession
of less than 20 grams of marijuana, resisting an officer without
violence/violation of probation on an original charge of burglary of a
structure. Littles was killed after an altercation in the B dorm of the
minimum security annex, where about 80 inmates are housed. The fight began
after a routine shakedown yielded an instrument for applying tattoos. After
guards let the inmates back into their cell pod, at least four of the
defendants allegedly confronted Littles at the rear of the dorm and began
to beat him. Littles was able to get away temporarily and was trying to
summon guards when King blocked his way and, according to witnesses,
enticed the same inmates to "finish him." At that time, DeRossutt
came up behind Littles and pulled his feet out from under him, causing his
head to strike the concrete floor with full force, knocking him
unconscious. Witnesses said Najair, Burks, Hinsey and Lawson then began to
kick or hit Littles while he was lying on the floor. Guards arrived and
summoned the on-duty nurse for CCA. The nurse then called EMS to transport
Littles to Bay Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. (News Herald,
October 7, 2002)
While grand jurors found no criminal liability in the death of a Bay County
Jail inmate, their presentment found there were "serious
deficiencies" on the part of jail personnel "which led, or
contributed to the death of Justin Sturgis." CCA representatives said
Sturgis caused his own death. However, the medical protocols the jail had
in place were inadequate and weren't followed anyway, according to the
presentment. "Correctional personnel failed to demonstrate adequate
health training in responding to the level of distress evidenced by Justin
Sturgis," the jury's presentment stated. In addition, policies that
require a "system of structured inquiry and observation" to an
inmate's medical condition were not adhered to. Grand jurors also
recommended that the Bay County Commission look into the matter to see if
it merits termination of the county's contract with CCA. (Panama City News
Herald, August 19, 2002)
The parents of Justin Sturgis have filed a notice that they intend to sue
the Bay County Jail and perhaps Bay Medical Center for failing to properly
care for Sturgis when he became fatally ill in a jail holding cell on Feb.
15. Doctors believe that Sturgis, 21, died of malignant hyperthermia, a
rare reaction to the street drug Ecstasy. Attorney Wes Pittman said he will
file suit against Corrections Corporation of America on behalf of the
Sturgis family. CCA is the private company contracted by Bay County to
manage the jail. "These parents do not want anyone else to suffer the
grief they are experiencing right now," Pittman said. "Their motivation
is to try and prevent this from happening to someone else. "If the
allegations made by other prisoners are correct, we are certainly looking
at CCA for violations of certain civil rights afforded to inmates as well
as being extraordinarily negligent." (The News Herald, February 27,
2002)
A man who worked at the Bay County Jail as a nurse said Wednesday that he
quit last year because he felt pressure from correctional officers not to
do his job and feared that an inmate eventually would die. "And it
happened," Jerry Militich told The News Herald. "I knew it was
going to happen, and I couldn't handle it. So I left. When I saw the paper,
I had to call." Militich was referring to a story about the death of
20-year-old Justin Sturgis early Friday. The specific pressure he said he
felt was to avoid sending sick inmates to the hospital. Corrections
Corporation of America, which runs the jail under contract with Bay County,
must pay to transport prisoners to the hospital and pay for the medication
that inmates receive. Militich said he worked for CCA for about a year
during 2000 and 2001. He said Wednesday that some of the medical practices
at the jail while he was there upset him. (The News Herald, February 21,
2002)
Allegations that Bay County Jail guards mocked an ill DUI suspect - who
later went into convulsions and died Friday morning - come as no surprise
to local defense attorneys and a former correctional officer who worked at
the jail for three years. Inmates have said that guards did little to help
20-year-old Justin Sturgis, who reportedly told one correctional officer he
had taken 10 Ecstasy pills. No one called for an ambulance until he went
into cardiac arrest. Criminal defense attorneys, meanwhile, said some of
their clients have complained for years about the way some Corrections
Corporation of America employees have treated them. (News Herald, February
19, 2002)
A man accused of escaping from jail officials last month to avoid prison
could have received a harsher sentence Monday, but will still be behind
bars until he's almost 50. According to police, Collier walked out of the
Bay County Courthouse law library and escaped from two jail guards.
Investigators said he asked the guards if he could use the restroom and
they allowed him to go unescorted. The guards, both Corrections Corporation
of America employees, have been released by the company. (News Herald, July
10, 2001)
A man with an extensive criminal history, and facing another 30 years in
prison, walked out of the Bay County Courthouse on Thursday with a little
help from some friends. Tracy Lashawn Collier, 35, was recaptured near a
relative's house in Callaway Thursday evening. While at the law library, he
asked the guards if he could use the restroom and was allowed to go in
alone, the Bay County Sheriff's Office said. When he didn't return after a
period of time, the guards checked on him and discovered he was gone. (The
News Herald, June 09, 2001)
An inmate awaiting trial on domestic violence, document forgery and
attempted escape charges hanged himself in his cell at the privately
operated Bay County Jail. Sheriff's deputies said John Alvin Leggett, 38,
used a bed sheet for a noose. His body was discovered Wednesday during a
bed check. (Naples Daily News, April 21, 2001)
Bent
County Correctional Facility, Bent County, Colorado
Terrell
Griswold: Mother questions inmate's "natural" death in private
prison: Westword By Alan Prendergast, January 6, 2012. On
October 28, 2010, a 26-year-old inmate named Terrell Griswold was found
slumped over and unresponsive in his cell in the Bent County Correctional
Facility, a private prison in southeastern Colorado.
September 12, 2012 AP
The mother of a man who died in a private prison claims that officials
failed to provide adequate medical care. Twenty-six-year-old Terrell
Griswold died in October 2010 after being found not breathing in his cell.
He was incarcerated at the Bent County Correctional Facility near Las
Animas, Colo., which is operated by Corrections Corporation of America. A
lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court by Lagalia Afola of Kansas
City, Mo., alleges that officials failed to treat her son for an obstructed
urinary tract. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages. Griswold was
serving five years for a felony burglary conviction. In a statement, CCA
says the company is committed to providing inmates appropriate access to
medical care and couldn't comment on individual inmates because of medical
privacy laws.
July 9, 2012 Bent County Democrat
Bent County Commissioners met on June 27 and heard an encouraging report
from Bent County Correctional Facility, a private prison prison run by
Corrections Corporation of America. Even though 18 staff have been recently
laid off, population of the prison has increased to 1,388 which is almost
300 more prisoners in prison population. Commissioner Bill Long said he
felt that Gov. Hickenlooper and the state recognize the falling economy and
past damage to Bent County by the closing of Fort Lyon and are striving to
push for CCA to be operating at a higher population level. CCA
administration also feels the prison can be operated safely with this
reduction in staff. Long said that after the Crowley County prison riot six
years ago, the private prisons were required to increase staffing within
their prisons. But over this same time frame, the per diem per prisoner had
not increased a significant amount, but costs to operate the prison have
risen and this reduction in staff will help run the prison more
economically but still within a safe range. Long said he has been to the
state capitol many times and Bent has also hired a lobbyist to work for
Bent County and he feels the state leaders have heard this message.
June 15, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Still reeling from the Colorado Department of Corrections’ closing of Fort
Lyon prison, residents here got word of more prison layoffs, this time at
the private Bent County Correctional Facility. According to Steve Owen,
public affairs officer with the Corrections Corporation of America, the
company laid off 18 employees at its Bent County Correctional Facility and
another 36 employees at the Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney
Springs. "Our top priority is assisting our affected employees through
this transition. All of them are being offered the opportunity to transfer
to other CCA facilities and we hope that they choose that option,"
Owen said. Bent County Commissioner Lynden Gill said he had heard
“rumblings” about layoffs at the CCA-operated Bent County Correctional Facility.
April 4, 2012 The Chieftain
A report last week that Corrections Corporation of America needs a subsidy
from the state or it will start shedding jobs has caught the attention of
officials in Bent and Crowley counties. Las Animas is home to the Bent County
Correctional Facility, the city's largest employer at 280 employees. Las
Animas County Commissioner Bill Long said Tuesday that if CCA decided to
cut jobs or shut down the prison it would cripple the county. "It
would be an absolute disaster for Bent County," Long said. "To
first lose the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, which used to be our
largest employer, and then possibly this, it just can't be described as
anything other than awful." Long said that in addition to the
correctional facility being the county's largest employer, it also is its
largest taxpayer at around $400,000 annually. He added that the prison
purchases its utilities from the city of Las Animas and has a monthly bill
around $80,000. Long said he and his fellow commissioners are getting word
from the state that no facilities are going to be shut down but that staff
reductions are certainly possible."We're unhappy that this is even
being proposed," he said. Olney Springs, which is home to the Crowley
County Correctional Facility that also is operated by the CCA, is another
correctional facility at risk of losing jobs.
March 29, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in
Southeastern Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent
closure of a state-run prison. Savings from the pending closure of another
state-run prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the
for-profit ventures. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County
Correctional Facility in Las Animas, has notified the state that it needs a
subsidy or it will start shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of
Staff Roxane White said Wednesday. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure
something out they will be in a situation where they have to close a
prison,” she said. Similar threats loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center
in Burlington, which also is operated by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain
Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs, operated by Community Education
Centers Inc., according to White. “At both the CCA facilities and Cheyenne
Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are empty,” she said. “They are
looking at the need to make staffing reductions.” White confirmed that diverting
the estimated $4.5 million in savings the state expects to realize next
year from the pending closure of Colorado State Penitentiary II in Canon
City is one option, but she doubts that would be enough to satisfy the
private prison companies. “It’s not enough to cover it,” she said. “In this
case, we need in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to $15 million to keep
the (private) prisons all operational.” Ideally, White said, any action by
the private prison companies could be postponed while the state conducts a
thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison population,
whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can best manage
its resources in light of the findings.
February 3, 2012 Denver Post
Inmate Terrell Griswold's inability to urinate was never treated and
ultimately led to his death, a medical investigator says. "I feel very
strongly that if they treated this, he'd still be alive today," said
Shawn Parcells, a medical investigator and forensic pathologist assistant
from Kansas City, Mo., who was hired by Griswold's mother to review
circumstances leading to his death. Griswold, 26, was serving a three-year
sentence for theft at Bent County Correctional Facility. He was found
slumped over a toilet 12 hours after a nurse said he looked fine on Oct.
28, 2010, said Griswold's mother, Lagalia Afola of Kansas City. "This
is so rare," Afola said. "For a young man to die of a urinary
blockage is unheard of. My son should not be dead." The prison is run
by Corrections Corporation of America, a private company. "We take the
medical care of inmates in our custody seriously," CCA spokesman Steve
Owen said in a written response. He could not comment about Griswold's case
because of confidentiality issues, he said. "But we do refer you to
the cause of death in the public record." The El Paso County coroner's
office determined that the cause of death was cardiac hypertrophy,
hypertension, obstructive uropathy and hereditary cardiac hypertrophy. The
coroner, Dr. Robert C. Bux, characterized Griswold's urinary condition as a
cause of death secondary to hypertension and an enlarged heart. However, he
added that the blockage could have caused hypertension and contributed to
an enlarged heart. Parcells said he believes Griswold's cause of death
should have been listed as "complications of obstructive
uropathy." A nodule on Griswold's prostatic urethra accounted for his
urine retention and severe kidney problems, Parcells wrote. It also caused
high blood pressure. He had been seen repeatedly by medical staff at the
prison for recurring bladder-related symptoms, including abdominal pain and
an inability to urinate. Griswold received medicines that didn't address
his condition and never got a thorough examination by a urologist, Parcells
said. "In the end, his body was not able to adjust to the increasing
amounts of waste products in his system and the heart had increasing loads
of 'fluid retention' it had to deal with," he wrote. "Terrell was
in metabolic disarray and an imbalance of electrolytes. This would explain
the sudden death." Afola said her son played basketball nearly every
day. She said in the last week of his life, he was sleeping a lot and
complaining of intense abdominal pain. Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said Griswold came to the prison with a
long history of neurological and urological issues. She said the state will
conduct a mortality review of the case. "CCA is committed to providing
inmates appropriate access to medical care and is held to high standards,"
Owen said. Afola said her son died about three months before he was to be
released from prison. "He was just ignored," she said.
November 14, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
A state inmate being held at Bent Correctional Facility reportedly
committed suicide Nov. 1. According to Colorado Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti, the inmate was identified as Geoffrey A.
Scheid, 58. Cause of death was listed as asphyxiation by suffocation,
according to Warden Brigham Sloan. Scheid was serving a 19-year sentence on
second-degree assault and sexual assault on a child by a person in a
position of trust convictions out of Adams County, Sanguinetti said. The
Bent prison is a private medium-security prison operated by Corrections
Corporation of America.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400
eligible for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in
prison housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be
released. But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share
of the proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley,
Bent and Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the
private facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If
they do what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is
5,000 to 6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty
virtually every private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates,"
Long said. "I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for
Bent County and Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley
County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County
Correctional Facility in Las Animas are key parts of their local economies
with more than 200 employees at each facility, Long said. "We receive
property tax, telephone revenue and other benefits from the
facilities," Long said. Long explained that the Huerfano County
Correctional Facility in Walsenburg and the Kit Carson Correctional
Facility in Burlington also will be hurt if the reduction occurs. Currently
the Huerfano facility is full of inmates from Arizona, but Long said that
when Arizona gets its inmate situation straightened out, the inmates will
be taken back to that state. "That would be another facility that was
built primarily for Colorado inmates that would also be emptied," Long
said.
May 15, 2009 Lamar Ledger
An escaped male convict, from Bent County Correctional Facility in Las
Animas, led authorities on a high speed chase through Bent County early
Wednesday afternoon. The convict, who is being identified as a 52 year-old
white male, appears to have escaped while working at a recycling center
said Las Animas Police Chief Don Trujillo. The convict appears to have
secured regular street clothing after escaping from supervision. At approximately
12:55 p.m. he is believed to have attempted to car jack a vehicle from in
front of the Family Dollar store. The escapee is believed to have fled
southbound down Bent Avenue. The Police chief said the victim was able to
thwart the attack. “Within five to ten minutes of that incident, we had a
report of a stolen vehicle from the car wash,” said Trujillo. The car wash
is located in the 300 block of Second Street. A 1996 Chysler Concorde
appears to have been stolen while the vehicle’s owner was washing the floor
mats said Trujillo. The suspect is believed to have then fled eastbound on
Highway 50 out of town. The police chief said when officers were unable to
locate the suspect in the area around the vehicle theft, they moved the
search east until the vehicle was spotted. The ensuing chase along Highway
50 reached speeds of over 100 miles per hour said Trujillo. The chase drew
to an end near County Road 34 when two of the tires on the stolen vehicle
went flat. The suspect was then apprehended by a Las Animas police officer
said Trujillo. Assisting in the pursuit and apprehension of the suspect
were the Colorado State Patrol, the Bent County Sheriff’s Office and the
State Parks Department. Following the arrest, the suspect was treated by
EMTs on scene. Police Chief Trujillo said charges are currently pending for
the suspect. Trujillo said the notice of an escaped convict was not given
to the department until after the suspect was in custody and the officers
were attempting to ascertain the suspect’s identity. The Bent County
Correctional Facility is a privately owned, all male, medium security,
1,466 bed facility located on the eastern edge of the town of Las Animas.
The facility is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, a Tennessee
based company. Phone calls to the warden of the facility were not returned
Wednesday. Officials at both the Las Animas School District administration
and the Las Animas High School said they were not notified of the escaped
inmate by the facility until after the suspect’s apprehension. None of the
schools in the district were placed on lock down.
August 18, 2004
A former prison inmate in Las Animas alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday the
prison staff transported him on the floor of a van and did not give him
prescribed pain medication and proper care after surgery for a hernia.
Cornelius Jackson sued Corrections Corporation of America, the operator of
the state prison, in U.S. District Court for allegedly causing him severe
pain and bleeding. Five staff members of the private prison, the Bent
County Correctional Facility, also are defendants. Jackson said he was
operated on at a Denver hospital on Oct. 8. He claims the staff, contrary
to his doctor's instructions, did not give him prescribed pain medication
for 13 hours after he was released from the hospital. The lawsuit alleges
that the staff disobeyed the doctor's instructions to take Jackson to a
Colorado Department of Corrections institution that had appropriate medical
facilities for post-operative care. The lawsuit claims "cost-cutting
in the medical department has recently been a central focus and a major
concern for CCA." (Pueblo Chieftain)
August 1, 1999
A 24-year-old inmate escaped from the private prison. Officials believe he
may have stowed away on a trash truck. He is still at large. Earlier in the
month, another inmate who was working at the regional recycling center
escaped after hot-wiring a prison van. (Denver Post)
B.M. Moore
Correctional Center, Overton, Texas
November
24, 2005 Disability Compliance Bulletin
A corrections officer sued her former employer, Corrections Corp. of
America, claiming it failed to accommodate her disability after a
work-related vehicular accident. (Cole v. Corrections Corp. of America, No.
05-cv-00411 (E.D. Texas complaint filed 10/31/05).) The case was originally
filed in the District Court of Rusk County, Texas, where it was case number
2005-450. The lawsuit, which alleges violations of Title I of the ADA and
Texas state law, seeks back pay, compensation for emotional pain, inconvenience
and mental anguish, court costs and attorney's fees. Cole, a corrections
office at the B.M. Moore Correctional Center in Overton, Texas, was injured
in a vehicular accident during the scope of her employment. The accident,
which occurred in July 2004, left her with wrist, back, hip and leg
injuries. The complaint charges that over the next year, Cole was
repeatedly discriminated against on the basis of her disability, and
classified in a manner that would deprive her of opportunities for
advancement.
Bradshaw State Jail, Henderson, Texas
June 16, 2009 Tyler Morning Telegraph
A prison guard at the Bradshaw State Jail has been arrested after it was
alleged she performed sexual acts on a male prisoner and gave him money. Rusk
County Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Bob Richardson arraigned Hether
Nicole Bargsley, 32, last Friday on the charges of violations of civil
rights of a person in custody by sexual contact and prohibitive substance
in a correctional facility. According to court documents, Bargsley
allegedly performed a sexual act with a male Bradshaw State Jail inmate on
April 25 in a doorway to one of the prison's dormitories. As the
investigation continued, Bargsley told officials she did in fact perform
the sex act and added she also had given the inmate $200 in currency at
different times. The court documents state the offender involved has
corroborated Bargsley's story. The violation of civil rights is a state
jail felony and the prohibitive substance charge is a third-degree felony.
Richardson set the woman's bonds at $7,500 and $10,000 respectively. Steve
Owen, a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the
private facility, said Bargsley was hired as a guard on Sept. 22, 2008, and
was terminated June 11. Owen said he could not discuss the specifics of the
case citing an ongoing investigation.
January 23, 2008 Longview News-Journal
An inmate at Bradshaw State Jail in Henderson was found dead in his
cell this past week, a Texas Department of Corrections spokesman said.
Gregory Cole, 30, was discovered hanging by a bed sheet from the light
fixture in his cell at about 11 a.m. Jan. 15, said Jason Clark. Jail
personnel performed emergency care on Cole, and he was taken to a hospital.
He was pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m. In June 2006, Cole was sentenced to 10
years in state jail for possession and intent to deliver a controlled
substance in McLennan County, Clark said. The spokesman did not know where
Cole lived. Clark said investigators with the attorney general's office
were notified of the death. He said the attorney general's office always is
notified when an inmate dies. A call to the AG's office was not returned
Tuesday.
Bullitt County MacDonald's, Mount Washington,
Kentucky
November 15, 2008 Courier-Journal
A judge has ordered McDonald's Corp. to pay $2.4 million in attorney fees
and costs to Louise Ogborn, the Bullitt County woman who last year won a
$6.1 million verdict in her strip-search hoax lawsuit against the company.
Citing Ogborn's lawyers' "incredible success," Senior Judge Tom
McDonald approved fees of $934,325 for the lead trial lawyer, Ann
Oldfather, and $311,250 to Kirsten Daniel, her co-counsel, as well as
$25,000 in sanctions against McDonald's for misconduct in the litigation.
Daniel said yesterday that she and Oldfather were ecstatic about the award.
"We got everything we asked for," she said. Margaret Keane, a
partner at Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, which defended the restaurant
company, declined to comment, and a spokesman for McDonald's didn't respond
to a request for comment. The fees were awarded to Ogborn on top of the
October 2007 verdict, under a provision of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act
designed to promote vigorous advocacy for plaintiffs. She now can use that
money to satisfy all or some of what she owes to her lawyers under their
employment contracts. Specifics about those contracts have not been made
public. McDonald's had vigorously protested the fee request, saying
Ogborn's lawyers couldn't have possibly worked the hours they claimed. But
Judge McDonald, who oversaw the trial in Bullitt Circuit Court, said that
if the plaintiff's lawyers worked long hours, it was because the company
forced them to, by fiercely contesting every motion and delving so deeply
into Ogborn's private life. "McDonald's should not be heard to
complain now that the plaintiff's counsel worked too hard, when, to a large
degree, those decisions were driven by McDonald's," the judge said.
Oldfather has said that McDonald's disclosed that it spent about $3.6
million on fees defending itself. The judge also rejected the company's
motion to stipulate that a portion of the fees and costs be paid by the
person who made the hoax calls, noting that the jury did not return a
verdict against him. Ogborn, a teenager who worked for $6.35 an hour at
McDonald's Mount Washington store, was detained, stripped and sexually
assaulted on April 9, 2004, at the behest of a caller who pretended he was
a police officer and accused her of stealing a customer's purse. She sued
the company, saying it failed to protect her, though company officials knew
of dozens of similar episodes at its stores and other fast-food
restaurants. After a four-week trial, a Bullitt Circuit Court jury returned
a verdict that included $5 million in punitive damages. McDonald's has
appealed, and the case is pending at the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Keane
argued for the company that Ogborn's lawyers achieved only limited success
at trial because they had asked the jury for $100 million in damages. But Judge
McDonald said "the jury placed the blame squarely at McDonald's
corporate feet," and that the $1 million awarded to Ogborn in
compensatory damages was five times higher than a Bullitt County jury had
ever returned in a similar case. The judge also said that if Oldfather
hadn't asked for $100 million, "who can say that without that large an
amount the jury may not have ended up where it did?" The court's order
included $212,000 to two lawyers who formerly worked with Oldfather -- Lea
Player and Doug Morris -- and $173,000 to Bill Boone and Steve Yater, two
lawyers who originally filed the suit but were later fired by Ogborn.
McDonald also ordered the fast-food company to reimburse Ogborn's lawyers
for $495,000 in expenses. The sensational hoax case captured national
attention. Stripped of her clothes and able to cover herself only with a
store apron, Ogborn was forced to spend hours in the restaurant office, as
a security camera recorded her humiliation. Ogborn was detained by an
assistant manager, Donna Jean Summers, who said a man claiming to be a
police officer had called and accused an employee resembling Ogborn of
theft. Summers subsequently called her then-fiancé, Walter Wes Nix Jr., who
sexually abused Ogborn at the caller's direction. McDonald's claimed it
bore no responsibility for what happened to Ogborn and that the blame lay
with others, including the caller, Nix, Summers and Ogborn herself. She was
one of dozens of victims of a hoax caller who over more than a decade duped
managers at as many as 160 fast-food restaurants and other stores into
strip-searching and sexually humiliating employees. Many of those workers
sued their employers, but Ogborn's suit was the first whose case went to
trial. Nix was later convicted of sexual abuse and other crimes and
sentenced to five years in prison. Summers entered an Alford plea to
misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment, meaning she asserted her innocence while
acknowledging there was enough evidence to convict her. She was placed on
probation. Summers joined in Ogborn's suit against McDonald's, saying she
was tarnished with a criminal conviction because the company had failed to
warn her and other employees about the hoax calls. The jury awarded Summers
$1.1 million. The caller was never brought to justice. A Bullitt County
jury in 2006 acquitted David R. Stewart, a former private prison guard from
the Florida panhandle, in the case. He'd been charged with impersonating an
officer and soliciting sexual abuse for calling the Mount Washington store.
Law enforcement officers said at the time that they suspected him of making
the other calls as well.
November 1, 2006 AP
Prosecutors couldn’t convince a central Kentucky jury to convict a Bay
County man accused of making a hoax phone call that lasted 3½ hours and
ended in a bizarre sexual assault of a teenage McDonald’s worker. The jury
on Tuesday acquitted David R. Stewart, 38, of Fountain, on charges of
impersonating a police officer, soliciting sodomy and soliciting sexual
abuse relating to a phone call made to the Mount Washington, Ky.,
restaurant in which former employees testified that the caller told them to
conduct a strip-search of a worker in April 2004. Steve Romines, Stewart’s
lawyer, said the jury’s verdict showed the weakness of the prosecution’s
case. “There are a lot of questions unanswered in this case,” he said. “The
only thing I knew for sure was my client didn’t do it.”
October 31, 2006 Courier-Journal
Bullitt County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Mann implored jurors
Tuesday to “follow the evidence” and convict a Florida man charged with
being the mastermind behind an elaborate hoax that led to a McDonald’s
worker being strip-searched and sexually humiliated. “It’s so obvious,”
Mann told jurors in his closing arguments this morning. “There is more than
enough evidence to find the defendant guilty.” An hour earlier, defense
attorney Steve Romines said his client, David R. Stewart, was the “fall
guy” for a botched police investigation. “They came to a conclusion then
went about looking for facts to support it,” said Romines, who also told
jurors that there was more evidence that this hoax was itself a “scam.”
“There’s not even proof beyond a reasonable doubt that this is real,” he
said. Stewart is accused of calling the restaurant on April 9, 2004, and
directing an assistant manager to search and detain Louise Ogborn, who the
caller said was accused of stealing a purse. During a 3½ ordeal after that,
Ogborn was sexually abused by the manager’s then-fiancé, who later pled
guilty but said he’d been acting on the orders of a caller posing as an
officer. Stewart, charged with impersonating a police officer and
soliciting sodomy, faces up to 15 years in prison on the two felony
charges.
October 22, 2006 News Herald
The 19-year-old woman stripped naked in front of her boss in the manager’s
room at the Winn-Dixie on 23rd Street more than three years ago because a
voice on the phone said so. The teenager posed. She exposed. She did
jumping jacks nude. For nearly two hours, a man who said he was a police
officer orchestrated her humiliation over the phone. The voice told the
girl’s boss, assistant manager James Marvin Pate, that she stole a purse.
Police believe the man on the phone was David R. Stewart, of Fountain, said
Sgt. Kevin Miller, of the Panama City Police Department. Authorities said
Stewart, 39, made dozens of calls like this across the country for several
years. The phone hoaxes sparked lawsuits against restaurant franchisees and
chains like McDonald’s, Burger King and Applebee’s. Stewart’s first trial
is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Mount Washington, Ky. In the Kentucky
case, Stewart is accused of calling a McDonald’s on April 9, 2004, and
posing as a police officer. Police said he told McDonald’s assistant
manager Donna Summers a story similar to what the voice told the manager at
the Panama City Winn-Dixie: He said a teenage female employee, Louise
Ogborn, had stolen a purse and that she needed to be strip-searched.
Summers and her ex-boyfriend, Walter Nix Jr., strip-searched Ogborn for
about four hours, police said. Nix also had Ogborn perform sexual acts on
him — all at the request of the caller. Mount Washington authorities
charged Stewart with three counts of solicitation to commit sexual abuse,
first degree; solicitation to commit sodomy, first degree; impersonating a
police officer; and solicitation unlawful imprisonment, second degree.
Incidents since the ’90s: Authorities said Stewart has peppered the country
with calls dating back to the mid-1990s, mostly to chain restaurants.
Usually, the man calls, identifies himself as a police officer, and says a
female employee has drugs or has stolen something and must be
strip-searched. In Panama City, the nightmare for a 19-year-old cashier
began on July 12, 2003, at Winn-Dixie, when a fellow employee told her to
report to the manager’s office, according to a PCPD incident report.
According to the police report, which blacked out the name of the victim,
what happened next lasted nearly two hours: Assistant manager Pate, 39, was
waiting and handed her the phone. On the line was a man who said he was
Officer Tim Peterson with the Panama City Police Department. The voice said
she stole a purse and gave her two choices: Either strip naked in front of
Pate or be brought down to the jail, where she’d be strip-searched in front
of a lot more people. The voice also said Pate had the authority to keep
her there and strip-search her, while the voice verified everything over
the phone. The cashier agreed. Pate told her what to take off, and she
complied out of fear of being taken to jail. She placed each item of
clothing in a plastic bag. Pate described the cashier’s naked body in
intimate detail to the voice on the phone, according to the police report.
The voice commanded the cashier to pose in various positions that exposed
her breasts, anal and vaginal areas to Pate. Toward the end of the woman’s
ordeal, grocery manager Thomas Moton, 49, entered the office looking for a
a key to unload a truck at the store’s rear dock. When he entered, the
cashier was doing jumping jacks, and Pate had the receiver to his ear.
“Pate said the boss is on the phone,” Moton said. “I thought the store
manager was on the phone.” Moton said he thought something wasn’t right. He
wanted to get the other assistant manager, but Pate said the voice on the
phone told him to stay. The cashier went through several poses, Moton said.
“She was bending over, sitting in a chair and doing jumping jacks,” he
said. When the woman finally was allowed to leave, she put her clothes on
and rushed out the door. Moton mentioned to Pate that “if this ain’t what
it’s supposed to be, then you are out of here.” A short time later, police
tore into the parking lot and hauled off Pate in handcuffs. Police charged
Pate with lewd and lascivious behavior and false imprisonment. The charges
eventually were dropped, Miller said. Moton said he never saw the cashier
again after that night. “I didn’t even want to look her in face,” he said.
“It was so embarrassing.” Police track the caller: The caller contacted
several Wendy’s restaurants on Feb. 20, 2004, in the West Bridgewater,
Mass., area, said Detective Sgt. Victor Flaherty of the West Bridgewater
Police Department. West Bridge water is a suburb of Boston. “We had four
incidents in one night,” Flaherty said. “Some conversations lasted more
than an hour and a half.” Like the others, calls involved strip-searches of
female employees, Flaherty said. By this time, however, the trail was
leading back to Stewart, authorities said. After a story appeared in a
restaurant industry magazine about what happened in West Bridgewater,
Flaherty was flooded with calls from police agencies across the country.
Detective Buddy Stump of the Mount Washington Police Department called
Flaherty. Stump was looking for help tracing the call to the McDonald’s
where Ogborn was strip-searched. Flaherty traced the calls made to West
Bridgewater back to the Panama City area. He called the Panama City Police
Department and asked for help, Miller said. Andrea McKenzie, a former
detective with the PCPD and now an investigator with the state attorney’s
office, helped link Stewart to the calls. McKenzie said she fielded calls
from police agencies all over the country. “It was kind of shocking,” she
said. “People said the phone number was coming from the Panama City area.”
When the investigation uncovered that some of the calls were made using a
phone card, authorities got the break they needed. “Nothing in this world
is untraceable, if you put the time into it,” Flaherty said. McKenzie
tracked the date and time of when the phone cards were bought to the
Wal-Mart on 23rd Street. She pulled security video. On the video was a man
wearing a uniform from the local jail run by Corrections Corporation of
America, McKenzie said. Stewart was identified as the jail guard shown on the
video, authorities said, and police brought him to the PCPD to be
interrogated by Flaherty, who flew in from Massachusetts. When police
arrested Stewart, they found numerous police magazines and applications to
police departments, Miller said. “This guy wanted to be a cop in the worst
way,” Flaherty said. Stewart’s attorney, Steve Romines, said there is no
way his client could have been the voice on the phone. “To talk someone
into this — it is someone more eloquent than David (Stewart),” Romines
said. “He’s not dumb, but this was very sophisticated.” Flaherty disagreed
with Romines’ assessment. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and there is
no doubt in my mind” that Stewart did it, Flaherty said. Authorities
eventually extradited Stewart in the fall 2004 from Bay County to Mount
Washington to stand trial. Panama City police didn’t go after Stewart
because they couldn’t link him to the call to the Winn-Dixie, Miller said.
Other states, meanwhile, are awaiting the outcome of the Kentucky trial
before pursuing legal action against Stewart, Flaherty said. “Oregon is
still interested in him,” Flaherty said. “In Massachusetts, I consider it a
rape by him.”
August 25, 2006 The Courier-Journal
Nearly half of Bullitt County residents think that David Stewart is guilty
of masterminding the telephone hoax at the Mount Washington McDonald’s in
which a teenage employee was strip-searched and sexually humiliated in
April 2004, according to survey conducted to support Stewart’s motion to
move his trial. But Bullitt Circuit Judge Thomas Waller indicated Friday he
will deny the motion and try to empanel an impartial jury on Oct. 24, when
the case is set for trial. Stewart is charged with impersonating a police
officer and soliciting sodomy for allegedly calling the restaurant and
pretending to be a police officer investigating a theft. As a result of the
call, employee Louise Ogborn, then 18, was forced to take off her clothes
and sodomize a man that Stewart allegedly asked to watch her. Stewart’s
lawyer, Steve Romines, asked for a change of venue, citing numerous
newspaper and TV stories that have mentioned Stewart is suspected of making
calls to as many as 70 other restaurants and stores in 30 states. He hasn’t
been charged in any of those incidents, and Romines said evidence
concerning them would be inadmissible at Stewart’s trial. Stewart, a former
corrections officer at a private prison near Panama City, Fla., attended a
hearing before Waller yesterday but did not speak in court. Romines
declined to let him answer questions from reporters.
June 17, 2006 AP
Detective Buddy Stump couldn't believe the story being told. A teenage
worker at the local McDonald's had been strip-searched and sexually
assaulted by co-workers. The co-workers said a policeman called the
restaurant, described the girl and directed them about what to do.
"I'm thinking, 'They told you to do what?'" said Stump, one of 16
police officers in Mount Washington and the department's only detective.
The investigation that grew from that night would lead to a plea by a
former employee of McDonald's, and the arrest of a Florida man on charges
of impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy. The trial of David
R. Stewart, 38, of Florida, was previously scheduled to begin this week but
has been postponed to Sept. 5. In handwritten court filings, Stewart denies
being the hoax caller. He is free on $50,000 cash bond. Mailings to the
Bullitt Circuit Court indicate he is still living in Florida. "I had
nothing to do with any of this," Stewart said. "I did not do this."
A judge has ordered the attorneys involved in the case not to discuss it
publicly before the trial. Stump and other investigators in states from
Maine to Wyoming to Arizona say they believe their investigation stopped a
cruel and bizarre series of hoaxes. Private investigator R.A. Dawson of
Rapid City, S.D., who investigated a similar incident, said he had found 70
other cases resembling the one in Kentucky. "The M-O's were all
similar," Dawson said. "And, they seemed to get increasingly
worse." In court filings, McDonald's has denied any wrongdoing, but
has declined to comment on the case, citing a pending civil case.
February 22, 2006 Courier-Journal
The assistant manager who led the April 2004 strip-search of a teenager at
a Bullitt County McDonald's received probation yesterday after the victim
said she thought the manager was duped and was herself a victim. Over the
prosecutor's objection, Donna Jean Summers was placed on one year's
probation by Bullitt District Court Judge Rebecca Ward. The county
attorney's office had asked that Summers be jailed for a year. Summers
entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment, meaning she
maintained her innocence while acknowledging there was enough evidence to
convict her. Ward said a jury, which was scheduled to hear the case today,
probably would have convicted Summers and recommended that she be
incarcerated. But the judge said she accepted victim Louise Ogborn's
recommendation for leniency to spare Ogborn from testifying, saying
"she's already gone though a lot." Summers detained Ogborn, then
18, and took away her clothes after a man pretending to be a police officer
called the Mount Washington fast-food restaurant and said an employee
resembling Ogborn had taken a customer's purse. Despite the disposition,
Summers left the courthouse in tears, saying she still holds McDonald's
responsible for failing to warn employees of strip-search hoaxes at its
other restaurants. She has said she never would have detained Ogborn had
she known of previous hoaxes. Ward said she was imposing probation in part
because Ogborn still must testify against the man charged with making the
phone call, David N. Stewart, a former private prison guard from Fountain,
Fla. Stewart is scheduled to be tried April 18 in Bullitt County on charges
of impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy. Law-enforcement
officials have said they suspect Stewart was behind at least 69 other
hoaxes at businesses in 32 states from 1995 through 2004. He has been
charged only in Bullitt County and has pleaded not guilty. Ogborn was
detained for nearly four hours and was slapped on the buttocks, humiliated
and forced to sodomize Summers' then-fiancé, Walter Nix Jr. Nix pleaded
guilty Feb. 2 to sexual abuse, sexual misconduct and unlawful imprisonment
and agreed to a five-year prison sentence. Summers called off their
engagement after she reviewed a store surveillance video showing what Nix
did to Ogborn. Nix also said he was following the orders of a man he
thought was a police officer.
February 2, 2006 Courier-Journal
The Bullitt County man who claimed he thought he was following a police
officer’s orders when he sexually humiliated a teenaged McDonald’s worker
in April 2004 pleaded guilty this morning to sexual abuse, sexual
misconduct and unlawful imprisonment. A charge of sodomy, which could have
sent Walter W. Nix Jr., to prison for 20 years, was dropped as part of a
plea bargain to which he agreed to a five-year prison term. Nix, who will
be formally sentenced on March 15, agreed not to seek probation at
sentencing, and Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Mann agreed to take no
position on shock probation, which could be granted later. Nix is the first
person to be convicted in the 2004 hoax at the Mount Washington McDonald’s
in which Louise Ogborn, a $6.35 hour counter worker, was strip-searched and
sexually humiliated for nearly four hours after a man pretending to be a
police officer called the store and said he was investigating the theft of
a purse from a customer. Nix, 43, was scheduled to be tried today before
Bullitt Circuit Judge Tom Waller. The judge asked Ogborn if she supported
the plea bargain and if so why. She said she did because it will require
Nix to serve time in prison, to register as a sex offender and to testify
against David N. Stewart, the alleged perpetrator of the hoax. Stewart, a
former private prison guard from Fountain, Fla., is scheduled to be tried
April 18 on charges of impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy
for allegedly making the hoax call. Law enforcement officials have said
they suspect Stewart was behind at least 69 other hoaxes at businesses in
32 states from 1995 through 2004. He has been charged only in Bullitt
County, and has pleaded not guilty.
December 7, 2005 Courier-Journal
The trials of the three people charged in connection with the sexual
humiliation of a teenage McDonald's employee in Bullitt County during a
hoax last year have been postponed: David N. Stewart, 38, of Fountain,
Fla., who was scheduled to stand trial Dec. 13 in Bullitt Circuit Court on
charges of impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy, now will
be tried on April 18. Walter W. Nix, 43, who also was scheduled for trial
Dec. 13 on charges of sodomy and assault, has been rescheduled for trial
Feb. 1. Donna Jean Summers, 51, who is charged with unlawful imprisonment,
a misdemeanor, and was to be tried today, is set for trial Feb. 22. All
three have pleaded not guilty. Stewart is accused of calling the Mount
Washington restaurant on April 9, 2004, and, while pretending to be a
police officer investigating a theft, inducing Summers, a McDonald's
assistant manager, to strip-search Louise Ogborn, then 18. Summers later
called Nix, her fiance at the time, to the store to watch Ogborn. Nix has
admitted in court that he forced Ogborn to sodomize him and engage in
humiliating exercises, but he has said he was following the orders of the
caller, who he thought was a police officer. Summers, who was fired, also
has said that she was following orders, and that McDonald's is at fault for
having failed to alert employees about similar hoaxes at stores. Stewart, a
former private prison guard, is suspected by law enforcement officers of
pulling similar hoaxes at 69 other businesses from 1995 through last year,
but so far he has been charged only in Bullitt County.
November 3, 2005 Courier-Journal
The Bullitt County man who claimed a hoax caller duped him into
sexually humiliating a teenage McDonald's employee at the restaurant last
year apologized to his victim yesterday and said he was ashamed of what he
did "I had no intention of hurting anyone," Walter W. Nix Jr.,
43, said in Bullitt Circuit Court to Louise Ogborn, whom he forced to
sodomize him in April 2004. Nix has said he was following the orders of the
caller, who he thought was a police officer. But Judge Tom Waller refused
to accept a deal in which Nix had offered to plead guilty to a reduced
charge of sexual misconduct and unlawful imprisonment in exchange for a
sentence of one year's probation. Waller let Nix withdraw his plea and set
his trial on charges of sodomy and assault for Dec. 13. That's the same day
that David N. Stewart, a former private prison guard from Fountain, Fla.,
is scheduled to stand trial on charges of impersonating a police officer
and soliciting sodomy for allegedly perpetrating the hoax during a call to
the Mount Washington restaurant. Law enforcement officials have said they
suspect Stewart was behind at least 69 other hoaxes pulled off at other
businesses in 32 states from 1995 through last year. He has been charged
only in Bullitt County and pleaded not guilty there.
November 2, 2005 Courier-Journal
Bullitt Circuit Judge Tom Waller this morning rejected a plea agreement for
a man who admitted sexually humiliating a teenager who was strip-searched last
year at the Mount Washington McDonald's where she worked. Walter Nix Jr.,
43, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful imprisonment and sexual
misconduct as part of a plea bargain that would have given him one year
probation. The deal fell through after Louise Ogborn, 19, who was forced to
sodomize Nix as part of telephone hoax at the store on April 9, 2004,
objected to portions that allowed Nix to deny wrongdoing and to avoid
registering as a sex offender. Judge Waller set Nix's case for Dec. 13.
Ogborn was detained for nearly four hours in the hoax, which was one of 70
perpetrated in 32 states from 1995 through last year. A private prison
guard, David N. Stewart, of Fountain, Fla., was charged in July 2004 with
impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy in the Mount
Washington case. He has pleaded not guilty and is set for trial Dec. 13.
November 2, 2005 Courier-Journal
A teenager who was strip-searched in April 2004 at the Mount Washington
McDonald's where she worked is objecting to terms of the plea bargain
struck for the man who admitted sexually humiliating her. As part of the
agreement, Walter Nix Jr., 43, pleaded guilty last month to unlawful
imprisonment and sexual misconduct, and was to be sentenced today in
Bullitt Circuit Court to one year's probation under those charges. But
Louise Ogborn, 19, who was forced to sodomize Nix as part of telephone hoax
at the store on April 9, 2004, objects to portions of the deal that allowed
him to deny wrongdoing and to avoid registering as a sex offender,
according to lawyers for both sides. "The deal will not go
through," said William C. Boone Jr., Ogborn's co-counsel. Nix's
lawyer, Kathleen Schmidt, said she will ask Judge Tom Waller to enforce the
plea agreement today. If he doesn't, Nix will have the option of
withdrawing his plea and going to trial, or accepting an agreement with
harsher terms. Nix had been charged with sodomy and assault, which carry
penalties of up to 20 years in prison. Nix has claimed he was duped into
humiliating Ogborn by a man who called the McDonald's pretending to be a
police officer investigating a theft. Nix was engaged at the time to the
store's assistant manager, Donna Jean Summers, who, at the behest of the
caller, had taken away Ogborn's clothes before calling Nix in to help watch
the teen. Nix has said the man on the phone ordered him to direct Ogborn to
do exercises in the nude and perform oral sex on him. He said he also
slapped her several times on the buttocks at the direction of the caller.
Ogborn was detained for nearly four hours in the hoax, which was one of 70
perpetrated in 32 states from 1995 through last year. A private prison
guard, David N. Stewart, of Fountain, Fla., was charged in July 2004 with
impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy in the Mount
Washington case. He has pleaded not guilty and is set for trial Dec. 13.
ABC Primetime is scheduled to broadcast a segment Nov. 10 about the Mount
Washington case, according to Yater, who said Ogborn was interviewed for it
last week by a producer and reporter John Quinones.
October 11, 2005 Courier-Journal
A Bullitt County man who claimed he was duped into sexually humiliating a
teenage McDonald's worker last year by a man impersonating a police officer
pleaded guilty yesterday to a felony charge of unlawful imprisonment. In a
plea bargain approved by his victim, Walter Nix Jr., 43, will get probation
after agreeing to a one-year term for the felony and for sexual misconduct,
a misdemeanor. He originally was charged with sodomy and assault, for which
he could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bullitt Circuit Judge
Tom Waller tentatively accepted the plea pending formal approval of it by
victim Louise Ogborn at Nix's sentencing, set for Nov. 2. Nix was engaged
at the time to the store's assistant manager, Donna Jean Summers, who asked
him to come watch Ogborn. A man who phoned the store pretending to be a
police officer accused Ogborn of theft and ordered her strip-searched.
According to police and court records, Nix said he thought he was following
an officer's orders when he directed Ogborn, who was detained four hours in
the restaurant's office, to do exercises in the nude and perform oral sex
on him. He also slapped her several times on her buttocks, at the direction
of the caller, the records show. The incident was the focus of a
Courier-Journal story Sunday that noted that the strip-search was among at
least 70 performed at fast-food restaurants and other businesses from 1995
through 2004 at the direction of a caller who claimed he was investigating
crimes. Ogborn agreed to be identified by name in the newspaper. A private
prison guard, David N. Stewart, of Fountain, Fla., was charged in July 2004
with impersonating a police officer and soliciting sodomy in the Mount
Washington case. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is set for Dec.
13. Summers is charged with unlawful imprisonment, a misdemeanor, and her
trial is scheduled for Dec. 7. She also has pleaded not guilty. Ogborn's
co-counsel, William C. Boone Jr., said his client approved the deal because
"she wants somebody to say they are sorry and for somebody to say she
did nothing wrong," both of which he said Nix has promised to say at
sentencing. "She is tired of McDonald's blaming her for what
happened," Boone said. In a lawsuit, Ogborn has alleged that the
company failed to warn employees at the Mount Washington store about prior
strip-search hoaxes at other restaurants around the country. McDonald's has
said in court papers and through its lawyer that Ogborn was in part
responsible because she failed to realize the caller wasn't a real officer.
Nix and Summers were among at least 13 people across the United States
charged with crimes for executing searches for the caller. Seven have been
convicted of various crimes. Stewart so far has only been charged in the
Bullitt County incident.
California City
Corrections Center, California City,
California
June
21, 2010 Bakersfield Californian
California City Correctional Center has notified the state of California
that it may lay off as many as 67 employees. Corrections Corp. of America,
the private prison operator that runs the 2,304-bed facility, could not be
reached for comment Monday. But in a report to financial regulators in
February, the Nashville-based company said a contract to house federal
offenders will not be renewed after it expires at the end of September. The
company said it is "pursuing other opportunities" at the
medium-security California City facility. Total revenues at the facility
were $68.7 million and $67.7 million during the years ended Dec. 31, 2009
and 2008, respectively, according to the filing.
January 13, 2010 AP
Corrections Corp. of America said Wednesday that its contract to manage
federal inmates at a 2,300-bed California prison wasn't renewed and will
expire in September. Meanwhile, the nation's largest prison operator said a
contract to manage a smaller New Mexico facility was renewed. CCA said it
would continue management of California City Correctional Center through
September. The renewed contract with the Cibola County Corrections Center
in Milan, N.M., will go into effect Oct. 1. That deal at the 1,200-bed
facility, has a four-year term with three, two-year renewal options.
July 2, 2009 Ottawa Citizen
The Harper government has denied an Alberta man’s bid for a transfer from a
U.S. jail to a Canadian prison on the grounds that he may one day commit a
crime. Brent James Curtis, 28, is in a privately-run, for-profit prison in
California serving 57 months after pleading guilty to a $1-million U.S.
drug trafficking conspiracy in 2007. It was his first offence and he
pleaded guilty to it right away, saying he was drawn to so-called easy
money. He told his family that he didn’t feel right mounting a defence because
he was guilty. The one-time elite hockey player — benched from any chance
in the NHL after getting hit by a truck — makes an interesting argument to
win a prison transfer, saying not only that he wants to serve the remainder
of his sentence — two years — closer to his family and support network, but
that if he isn’t transferred, he will return home after completing his U.S.
sentence without a criminal record in Canada. The Correctional Service of
Canada has confirmed that if Curtis doesn’t get a transfer and serves out
his term in the U.S., he will return home “a free man” without a criminal
record in the system. But if the Harper government approves the transfer,
which the U.S. administration has already done, Curtis would, in fact, have
a criminal record in the Canadian criminal system. Curtis has also used the
very root of the international prisoner transfer treaty in his request,
notably that it was founded on rehabilitation and reintegration into the
community — something the Harper government has now dismissed. “This is a
tough place. I’m losing everything, every day,” said Curtis, one of a dozen
Canadians in the California private prison, known for its warring Mexican
drug gangs. He has not been afforded any rehabilitation programs or
schooling. “The weird thing about this all is that I am coming home
regardless of getting the transfer. My release date is 2011. If I do not
get the transfer I will have zero rehabilitation and never get
fingerprinted by Canada,” said Curtis, who intends to go back to school
upon his return. “Wouldn’t Peter van Loan (Canada’s public safety minister)
want me to receive supervision on parole and programs to help me
re-integrate into Canada?” If he did get into trouble with the law in
Canada, Curtis would be treated as a first-time offender. “The public
safety minister’s tough-on-crime stance really seems short sighted to me.”
Van Loan has signed a rejection letter saying that because Curtis’s role
was a “money man” and “transporter” in the drug conspiracy, he has “already
taken several steps down the road towards involvement in a criminal
organization offence. Given the nature of the applicant’s acts, I believe
that he may, after the transfer, commit a criminal organization offence.”
But according to U.S. authorities, Curtis was not, in fact, the “money man”
— rather a courier for the money man in the Miami cocaine conspiracy. In a
sentencing hearing, U.S. authorities described Curtis as a “minor
participant.” His U.S. lawyer, Marc Seitles, has worked on several
international transfer cases, and says “Of all the countries, I cannot
believe that Canada, a country seemingly known to be more humane than the
United States, won’t let one of its Canadian citizens come home, especially
a bright kid like Brent.” In Calgary hockey circles, Curtis is known as a
former elite player who, despite his career setback, went on to volunteer
as a triple-A coaching assistant to help young athletes get good enough to
make the NHL. In a letter of support filed with a U.S. court for a
sentencing hearing, Jim Finney, a coach for Minor Midget AAA Blackhawks,
wrote about the impact Curtis had as a volunteer coach on the team: “The
passion that Brent showed for each of the kids will stay with them for the
rest of their lives. In a volunteer position such as this one, the rewards
were not financial, but rather emotional. Brent was emotionally invested in
the team, and that was abundantly clear to anyone that saw him.” Donna
Cornaccia, the team’s director, said that Curtis has a “genuineness about
him which is imperative when dealing with youth, they have the ability to
see through a false presentation and can quickly identify when an adult is
not being sincere. Brent has had a huge positive impact on many of these
young adults. He has been a confidant and a trustworthy person for whom
these youth can go to if needed … Brent is a compassionate, kind and
considerate individual whom I am proud to know.” Curtis not only had a
reputation as a tough hockey player in Calgary, but made a point of
publicly speaking out against drugs — especially when it came to his
sister’s “druggie” friends. As an athlete, he repeatedly told his sister to
stay clear of drugs. The son of a high school teacher, Curtis became a day
trader at the age of 25, only to find out he wasn’t that good at it.
“Unfortunately, I had trouble earning a living and made the horrible error
of trying to make fast, illegal money,” he said. Through an old friend,
Curtis, at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, was recruited in 2007 to be the
wheelman for the purchaser. He drove the car to a Miami parking lot, where
they met the cocaine dealer who was actually a police informant. Then,
after the purchaser tested a sample of the buy, the police swooped in and
arrested him, along with Curtis. The Alberta man is one of about 12
Canadians doing time in California City prison, which houses predominantly
Mexican criminals, and since the crackdown on drug cartels, warring gangs
have rioted, according to Curtis and another Canadian inmate who spoke to
the Citizen. The inmates say that in the past three months, the prison has
been locked down a total of 47 days, meaning they spend about 23 hours a
day inside their cells, where they are also fed. The inmates say all 12
Canadians have written the Canadian government for relief without success.
“We have been in the middle of a Mexican drug cartel war which has spilled
into the prison. We all fear for our safety and if or when one of us does
get hurt, no one can say that we did not warn them,” Curtis said. Van Loan
said he is not at liberty to comment on specific cases.
July 19, 2006 LA Daily News
A Tennessee-based company that operates a prison in California City is
starting environmental studies for an adjoining 550-bed prison in
anticipation of vying for a contract to house state inmates. Corrections
Corporation of America is starting environmental studies examining the
impacts of a 200,000-square-foot prison. Citing sensitivity for a potential
customer and the competitive process, a CCA spokesman said it was too early
to talk about costs of such a facility or staffing. "The state issued
a request for proposals to build and operate a community correctional
facility," said CCA spokesman Steve Owen. "As part of our
preliminary work, we are preparing the environmental studies. It is still very
preliminary to say what the state will ultimately pursue."
January 13, 2003
With 29 years experience in corrections work for both the government and
private sector, Warden Percy Pitzer is looking forward to hanging his hat
Monday in the office of his own consulting company. Pitzer's
resignation as warden of the California City Correctional Center became
effective Friday, his last day at the prison he has stood watch over since
June 2000. "I'm leaving on very good terms with (Corrections
Corporation of America)," Pitzer said. "I want to do something on
my own." On Monday, Warden Charles Gilkey, recently retired from
the Federal Bureau of Prisons, begins his stint at the California City
Correctional Center. Also on Monday, Pitzer, who spent 25 years with
the Federal Bureau of Prisons and four years with CCA, officially opens
Creative Corrections in Las Vegas (email: createcorrection@aol.com). He
plans to provide consulting services with corrections departments
throughout the West, and establish programs to educate inmates and reduce
the cost of incarceration. (The Bakersfield Californian)
October 10, 2002
In a move hailed as historic by private prison giant Corrections
Corporation of America and representatives of the Mexican government, an
agreement was signed Monday to establish a Mexican high school program at
the California City Correctional Center. (Bakersfield California)
February 7, 2002
A 42-year-old inmate at the California City Corrections Center was in
serious condition Thursday evening at Kern Medical Center after suffering a
stab wound to his neck on Wednesday, officials said. The private
facility since September 2000 has operated on a federal contract for
inmates, he said. About 95 percent of its inmates are serving sentences for
drug and deportation crimes. The prison is operated by the Corrections
Corporation of America, which is based in Nashville, Tenn. (The
Bakersfield Californian)
Camino Nuevo Women's Prison, Albuquerque, New Mexico
February
17, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
A federal jury Thursday ordered over $3 million in damages to three former
inmates raped by a prison guard at Camino Nuevo Women’s Correctional
Facility in 2007. The intertwined state and federal claims, coupled with
questions about who must pay the compensatory and punitive damages,
however, are certain to engender more litigation – probably from both
sides. Jurors heard over a week of testimony before U.S. District Judge
William P. Johnson before they were charged with rendering a verdict late
Wednesday. It took the jury a day to work through the 10-page verdict form
with over 30 questions relating to victims Heather Spurlock, Nina Carrera
and Sophia Carrasco, and two sets of defendants. They included former guard
Anthony Townes, who is serving a 16-year state prison sentence for criminal
sexual penetration and false imprisonment, his then-employer Corrections
Corporation of America and Barbara Wagner, the warden of Camino Nuevo at
the time. The court had ruled before trial that Townes was liable for
violating the constitutional rights of the inmates to be free from cruel
and unusual punishment. But he left it to the jury to decide if CCA and
Wagner were liable for negligent supervision – the jury said yes – and
whether they also had violated the inmates’ rights by discouraging inmate
complaints – the jury said no. Jurors awarded $100,000 in compensatory
damages each to Spurlock and Carrera, and $125,000 to Carrasco. They
ordered CCA to pay $5,000 in punitive damages to Spurlock and $50,000 in
punitive damages to Carrasco.
February 16, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
A federal jury on Thursday returned a verdict awarding compensatory damages
of $100,000 to two victims and $125,000 to a third raped by former
Corrections Corporation of America officer Anthony Townes, now serving a
16-year prison sentence for the criminal sexual penetration of four women.
The jury also awarded each plaintiff in the lawsuit $1 million in punitive
damages against Townes — awards are certain to face additional litigation.
The jury found CCA and Barbara Wagner, the then-warden at the Camino Nuevo
Women’s Correctional Facility, had not violated the constitutional rights
of the women but ordered some punitive damages against them based on other
conduct. The rapes occurred while the women were inmates at the facility in
2007.
February 9, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
Victims of sexual assault by a corrections officer at an Albuquerque
contract prison facility for women told a jury Wednesday that they didn’t
report the incidents because they didn’t think they would be believed. They
also said they thought making waves would inevitably bring retaliation in
the form of lost good time, recreational time or tossed prison cells.
Heather Spurlock, 39, now working as a medical receptionist, and Sophia
Carrasco, 47, who cleans rooms at a resort hotel, were inmates at the
Corrections Corporation of America-run Camino Nuevo facility in 2007. In a
situation where it was an inmate’s word against a corrections officer, they
said they were confident they would come out on the losing end. Camino
Nuevo, they said, was run with intense discipline, little tolerance and few
rehabilitative programs, even though it was presumably a minimum-security
lockup and a halfway step on their way to release from incarceration. Both
said the women’s prison at Grants had been congenial and supportive, in
contrast to Camino Nuevo, where they spent hours picking up rocks and
demolishing “anything green” during outdoor work details and frequent
periods of lockdown in their cells. The sexual assaults by Anthony Townes
occurred over a six-month period to Spurlock and once in the early morning
hours to Carrasco. Townes is serving an 18-year criminal sentence for his
state conviction in Bernalillo County for the rapes of four female inmates,
three of whom are involved in the civil lawsuit against him, CCA and its
then-warden. The trial began Monday in Albuquerque before U.S. District
Judge William P. Johnson.
February 8, 2012 Albuquerque Journal
A female inmate raped by a prison guard in 2007 testified Tuesday about
conditions at the newly opened Camino Nuevo facility in Albuquerque where
she had been moved from the women’s prison in Grants. Heather Spurlock
Jackson, 39, was the first witness at the civil trial in U.S. District
Court brought against the guard, Anthony Townes, now serving an 18-year
prison sentence for raping her and three other women. Other defendants are
the prison operator, Corrections Corporation of America, and then-warden
Barbara Wagner. Spurlock, Sophia Carrasco and Nina Carrera allege federal
civil rights violations because they say inmate complaints were
discouraged. They also contend that CCA and Wagner were negligent in hiring
and in supervision of the contract facility. Spurlock described a setting
that was harsher and less organized than the women’s facility in Grants
where she had spent the previous five years without write-ups. She said
Grants was strict but that it had programs — she had earned two associate’s
degrees through a distance learning program while there — and staff who recognized
the humanity of the residents. Spurlock and the other 200 or so inmates
moved to Camino Nuevo hadn’t volunteered for the transfer but seemed to
have been picked at random, she said. They were loaded onto buses and taken
to the old Bernalillo County jail in Downtown Albuquerque because Camino
Nuevo wasn’t ready. They stayed there for three months before being taken
to the new facility, which still seemed unready to receive them. There were
no programs, no handbook and only a minimal briefing before the women were
locked down in their cells. Spurlock will testify starting today about the
rape, but her attorney, Nicole Moss, said Townes “raped, stalked,
threatened and terrorized” inmates at the facility and that his behavior
went unchecked without anyone intervening. U.S. District Judge William P.
Johnson already has determined liability for Townes. The question for the
jury of eight will be the amount of damages attributable to him and whether
and how much damages the company and the warden should be responsible for.
Daniel P. Struck, a Phoenix lawyer defending CCA and Wagner, told the jury
in his opening statement that the women had numerous opportunities to
report the sexual assaults but did not, including through a tip line that
went to the state Corrections Department. “It wasn’t fear (of retribution)
that kept them from reporting,” he said. Spurlock, serving a 16-year term
for embezzling $16,000 from a nonprofit, was involved in a voluntary
relationship with Townes, he said, and there was an effort to conceal it.
October 11, 2011 Albuquerque Journal
Onetime prison guard Anthony Townes is now about two years into an 18-year
state prison sentence after he admitted raping four women at Camino Nuevo
Women’s Correctional Facility in 2007. The civil lawsuit filed by some of
the women, however, still is months away from being resolved. Trial in the
2009 case filed by Heather Spurlock and two other former inmates at the
detention facility was to have begun this month. Several postponements were
requested by the defendants including Townes, former warden Barbara Wagner
and the Corrections Corporation of America, the private contractor that
operated the prison at the time. Camino Nuevo in 2007 was run as an adult
prison and was taking overflow from the women’s prison in Grants. It is now
a juvenile detention center operated by the state Children, Youth and
Families Department. A primary reason for the latest trial delay was the
late disclosure of two additional women who claimed sexual abuse by Townes
but who are not involved in the civil lawsuit. The defense said it needed
more time to interview those witnesses before trial. Attorneys for the
victims said their anticipated testimony about “the traumatic, invasive and
highly personal experience of sexual assault” is only made worse by having
to repeatedly prepare for trial. CCA was well aware of the additional
sexual assault victims, anyway, they said. U.S. District Judge William P.
Johnson, who has now set a firm trial date of Feb. 6, previously ruled
Townes civilly liable for the rapes. He has dismissed some claims against
CCA. Among questions for the jury will be whether Townes’ assaults can be
legally charged to CCA negligence or deliberate indifference in operating
the facility, principally over what the victims contend was a custom of
discouraging inmate complaints against staff. The women’s lawyers will try
to give the jury a picture of what happened during the incidents, as well
as the context in which each assault took place and how CCA responded.
Plaintiffs’ expert Manuel D. Romero said in a report he believes CCA “did
not provide a safe and secure living environment for (women) in the Camino
Nuevo facility.” He said the fact that “such horrific crimes” could be
undetected for several months shows there are “systemic failures within the
facility.” He said in a report there was a “clear lack of accountability
over Mr. Townes and his movement within the prison.” Plaintiffs’ attorneys
may also seek to place Townes’ assaults in the broader context of
underreporting of prison problems. Documents in the court file include
excerpts from testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in 2008
about a former CCA manager-turned-whistleblower who said the company
maintained dual sets of quality assurance reports. The versions sent to
government contracting agencies reportedly failed to include “zero
tolerance” events including riots, escapes, unnatural deaths and sexual
assaults at company-run facilities. CCA has said in court documents that it
put Townes on leave and required him to surrender his badge.
November 20, 2009 KRQE
A judge sentenced a former correction officer who raped four female inmates
to 18 years in prison after emotional pleas from his victims. "I knew
him as a monster, a liar a man who thought because of his position he was
wanted by all but could do as he pleased," one of the victims said.
Anthony Townes pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and false
imprisonment. The rapes occurred between January and August of 2007 at
Camino Nuevo, which is a privately run lockup for female state prison
inmates. Despite the guilty plea, Townes denies hit committed the crimes.
He told the judge Friday that the only reason he pleaded guilty was to
avoid a longer prison term. He said the women are lying. "There is no
fear factor. I would never threaten anyone else's kids. I have a
grandmother, mother a girlfriend, a sister and 4-year-old daughter, so
therefore I would not do that to any woman because no woman deserves
that," Townes said. Townes faced 36 years in prison if he was
convicted by a jury.
October 12, 2007 The Review
A former Alliance man who is accused of sexually assaulting inmates at
the women's prison that employed him may be facing life in prison. Bond was
set at $500,000, cash only, by Bernalillo County Judge Sandra Engle for
Anthony Shay Townes, 33, of Albuquerque, N.M. Townes, a member of Alliance
High School's 1993 graduating class and a football standout for the
Aviators during his senior year, is charged with four counts of criminal
sexual penetration, a second degree felony; four counts of sexual contact,
a fourth-degree felony; and four counts of kidnapping. According to
Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department Detective Lorraine Montoya, Townes
faces up to 33 years in prison (or life) on each second-degree felony
charge. According to the affidavit submitted by investigators, Townes is
accused of raping and sexually assaulting four female inmates at the Camino
Nuevo Correctional Center, a private minimum security prison where he was
employed between February and August. Montoya said investigators are still
awaiting tests on DNA evidence that would link Townes to the attacks in
this ongoing investigation. Victims testified that Townes snuck inmates out
of their pods at night and out of view of security cameras to avoid
detection by his supervisors.
October 11, 2007 Albuquerque Journal
Before Anthony Townes started working at Nuevo Camino in July 2006, he went
through a school offered by the Corrections Corporation of America,
according to the company's Web site. He was also trained on where all of
the cameras were positioned. Three CCA prisons are accredited by the
American Correctional Association. Camino Nuevo had yet to receive its
accreditation. The prison is supposed to go through an ACA audit next month.
ACA officials told the Journal on Wednesday that there are no standards
regulating where cameras should be placed and how much of a prison should
be monitored. CCA's spokesman Steve Owen said his company would wait to
review camera placement after the sheriff's office finished its
investigation. But "I don't think there is a correctional facility in
the country that has every area of a prison covered by a camera," he
said. "Cameras are one of many things you utilize to maintain safety and
security in a facility."
October 10, 2007 Albuquerque Tribune
A male prison guard is in jail on charges he raped four female inmates in
the privately run Camino Nuevo women's prison in Albuquerque. Corrections
Officer Anthony Shay Townes, 33, was arrested Tuesday by Bernalillo County
sheriff's investigators. According to a criminal complaint: A teacher
working in the women's prison in early August overheard a conversation
between inmates about one of them having DNA evidence to prove some sort of
relationship. With more digging, the teacher and her supervisors learned
the inmate was discussing having had a sexual encounter with a corrections
officer. One of the inmates told the supervisor that the corrections
officer was Townes. Townes was immediately placed in a position without
inmate contact, then placed on leave a day later. He is currently on unpaid
leave, prison officials said. Townes is at the Metropolitan Detention
Center with bail set at $500,000 cash-only. Sheriff's deputies were called
to the prison on 4050 Edith Blvd. N.E., the former maximum security
juvenile facility, on Aug. 14 to start an investigation into the
allegations. On Aug. 18, they were called back again, this time because
another inmate told supervisors that Townes had raped her earlier that week.
Two more inmates also told investigators Townes had attacked them. Their
similar reports to detectives include being taken to an area in the
facility out of view of cameras and being assaulted by Townes. One inmate
said she was attacked several times beginning in February. Another inmate
reported being taken out of her cell at 2:30 a.m., an unusual time to leave
her cell but ". . . when a C.O. tells you to do something, you just do
it," she told detectives, according to the complaint. That woman told
detectives she saw Townes sneaking other women out of their cells at night.
Prison spokesman Steve Owen said Townes was hired in October 2006, shortly
after the prison opened. Owen said that as the first of the allegations
surfaced against Townes, he was immediately placed on leave and authorities
were immediately notified.
Central
Arizona Detention Center, Florence, Arizona
January
28, 2011 Star-Advertiser
The Abercrombie administration is starting to make good on the governor's promise
to bring all state prison inmates incarcerated on the mainland back to
Hawaii.The state returned 243 inmates from Arizona last week and sent back
just 96 to take their place. Of the 243 returning inmates, 54 are getting
paroled, 28 are about to complete their prison terms and three are back for
court hearings. When Gov. Neil Abercrombie promised swift action last month
to bring back all Hawaii inmates serving time in mainland prisons, state
Senate Public Safety Chairman Will Espero was not expecting action so soon.
"I was pleasantly surprised," he said. Espero said he learned of
the returning inmates yesterday from state Public Safety Director Jodie
Maesaka-Hirata. He said the state conducts prison transfers quarterly, but
it usually sends at least the same number of prisoners to the mainland as
it returns. He applauded Abercrombie's plan to bring back all Hawaii
inmates. "If we're going to spend $60 million a year to house inmates,
I'd rather spend it here in Hawaii than on the mainland," Espero said.
The state returned 152 inmates to Hawaii on Jan. 19, sent 96 to Arizona on
Jan. 20 and returned an additional 91 last Friday. The transfers leave
1,759 Hawaii inmates in Arizona: 1,705 in Saguaro Correctional Center, 51
in Red Rock Correctional Center, two in Florence State Prison and one in
Central Arizona Detention Center. Central Arizona, in Florence, and Saguaro
and Red Rock, both in Eloy, are private prisons operated by Corrections
Corp. of America, which houses Hawaii inmates under contract with the
state. Abercrombie made his promise after 18 Hawaii inmates at Saguaro sued
CCA, the state and the state's contract monitor. The inmates claim they
were beaten and assaulted and their families threatened by prison guards.
The Public Safety Department sent a team to examine practices at Saguaro
last year after two Hawaii inmates died in February and June. The state
returned all but one of the 169 women serving time in a CCA prison in
Kentucky in 2009 after the inmates reported widespread sexual abuse by guards
and prison employees. The Abercrombie administration is starting to
make good on the governor's promise to bring all state prison inmates
incarcerated on the mainland back to Hawaii.
November 25, 2010 Florence Reminder
Contract talks between Corrections Corporation of America and the union
continued Monday in Chandler, but the business agent for the local said he
wasn’t very optimistic for a breakthrough in negotiations that started in
May. “I think [CCA is] going through the motions. The bottom line is they
don’t want the union here,” Robert Inman said. A company spokesman in
Nashville disagreed, saying the company is working in good faith toward an
amicable solution. At issue is a new three-year contract for employees at
CCA’s Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence. The majority of CADC
detention officers, approximately 350 in all, don’t belong to the Security,
Police & Fire Professionals of America Local 825. Just over 100 do
belong. The union is seeking a 4 percent raise in each of the next three
years, which Inman said is what local U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) employees received in their new contract. Union members
have said CCA is offering 10 cents an hour. CCA spokesman Steve Owen
declined to discuss specific dollar amounts “out of respect for the
negotiating process.” But he said CCA does have a proposal in front of the
union that offers a raise and “preserves outstanding benefits.” But Inman
said even with the raise the union is seeking, CADC employees would still
earn considerably less than they would at ICE. “Twenty-two bucks [an hour
at CADC] is not bad, but up the street [at ICE] it’s 26, 27 and 28.” He
said a regular ICE detention officer earns about $26.87 per hour, while
transportation officers and armed guards earn about a dollar more. Inman
said the union would also like to secure CADC employees some bereavement
leave, which they have at ICE. Owen said CADC and ICE don’t house exactly
the same inmates. He said CADC does have ICE detainees, but there are other
partners too. “I wouldn’t call it identical” to the local ICE facility, he
said. He said CADC also holds inmates for the U.S. Marshal Service and the
Pascua Yaqui tribe. Inman said CCA can simply pass on the costs of the new
contract to the federal government. It submits the contract to the U.S.
Department of Labor for approval. If the wages are too high, the government
takes the union to a “variance hearing.” But Owen said it’s “not as simple
as passing along an increase to the government. “... Our governmental partners
are working under increasingly-tight budgets,” Owen said. “... We’ve seen
contracts pulled and jobs lost because it was advantageous for the
government to relocate where wages are lower.” He said CCA had a U.S.
Bureau of Prisons contract in California, but when it was up for renewal,
the government opted for a less-expensive contract in Georgia, even though
“they were highly complimentary of our facility.” Inman said he isn’t
worried the union is seeking a wage that will put the facility in jeopardy.
“I’ve been doing this 15-16 years. If we’re too high, the government will
take us to a variance hearing. That’s why we try to stay on the parameter
of not pricing ourselves out of business. “... We don’t want to price
ourselves out of a job. Our goals are good working conditions, a good
living for your family, getting your kids an education, taking your kids on
a vacation every year and making a halfway-decent dollar.” Owen said CADC
already pays a wage above what the federal government sets, yet is still
offering a raise. “We’re making decisions that won’t hurt our ability to do
business, and hurt our employees by the loss of jobs. ... The company is
not going to agree to demands that don’t make good sense.” Owen said the
union has barred two-thirds of represented employees from voting on the
contract; Inman agreed that nonmembers don’t have a vote. CCA had proposed
a federal mediator to help negotiations progress, but the union backed out
of that meeting, Owen said. Inman replied that the mediator was scheduled
to be present Monday.
April 21, 2010 ABC 15
A former Arizona correctional officer pleaded guilty this week to
attempting to give a prison inmate drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Juan Nunez, 41, of Coolidge, admitted he attempted to provide the inmate
with cocaine while he worked at the Corrections Corporation of America
Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence. On November 6, 2008, Nunez
met with an undercover FBI Special Agent in a parking lot in Tucson,
according to a news release. During the meeting in the agent's car, Nunez
reportedly took half an ounce of cocaine and $1,600 in cash as payment for
delivering the drugs to the inmate. Nunez was arrested without incident
after he got out of the car, according to authorities.
January 13, 2009 Press Release
A report released today by the Southwest Institute for Research on
Women and the Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program describes harsh
conditions of confinement for the roughly three hundred women housed in
immigration detention facilities in Arizona. The report, Unseen Prisoners:
A Report on Women in Immigration Detention Facilities in Arizona, is based
on over a year of research, including over 40 interviews with detainees,
their family members, attorneys, and service providers. “Few people realize
that we are locking up huge numbers of immigrants every day and holding
them for months and in some cases years at a time. They are not being
punished for a crime, and yet they are held in facilities that are
identical to, and often double as, prisons or jails,” said Nina Rabin, the
lead researcher and author of the report. “Women immigration detainees in
particular are an invisible population. We hope this report will raise
awareness about women locked up just an hour away from here in conditions
that would shock most Americans. We also hope to raise awareness about the
U.S. citizen children separated from their mothers right now because of
immigration detention.” The report provides detailed information about
day-to-day life in the three facilities that house women immigration
detainees in Arizona: Central Arizona Detention Center, Pinal County Jail,
and Eloy Detention Center. Rabin and several University of Arizona law students
conducted interviews and extensive background research for the report over
a twelve month period between August 2007 and August 2008. Rabin described
the study’s participants: “In our small sample size of detainees who agreed
to participate in this research study, we encountered pregnant and nursing
mothers, domestic violence victims, low-wage workers swept up in worksite
raids, and asylum-seekers fleeing persecution and sexual violence.” The
federal agency in charge of the detention and removal of immigrants,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), contracts for two of the
facilities to be run by the private prison company the Corrections
Corporation of America. In the case of Pinal County Jail, ICE contracts
with the county. ICE permitted the researchers access to two of the three
facilities, but declined requests to interview ICE representatives or
facility personnel for the report. Rabin met with ICE representatives in
December to discuss the report’s findings and recommendations. Key findings
of the report include: • Family separation: The majority of women
interviewed were separated from at least one U.S. citizen child under the
age of 10 and were transferred to Arizona from out of state. As a result,
they were hundreds or at times thousands of miles away from their families
and communities during their time in detention. • Severe penal conditions
for women who are not serving criminal sentences: Women described
conditions of confinement that are in many cases more restrictive than in
county jails or prisons, including limited access to recreation, a complete
absence of programming or activities, frugal provision of food and other
supplies, and the routine use of strip searches and shackling during
transport. • Aggressive government prosecution and detention of women who
pose no security threat or flight risk: Attorneys reported that ICE
routinely appeals decisions to release pregnant women on bond; rejects or
does not respond to applications for humanitarian parole of victims of
domestic violence, refugees, or women with serious health conditions; and
refuses to reduce bonds for families unable to pay. • Inadequate medical
care: Women reported inadequate gynecological and obstetrical care, long
waits for medical attention, and dismissive responses to medical requests.
The report contains detailed recommendations for Congress, the Department
of Homeland Security, ICE, and the individual facilities researched.
Recommendations range from broad policy changes, including the need for
increased consideration of the impact of immigration detention on families,
to specific facility-level concerns, such as the lack of outdoor recreation
in Pinal County Jail. The report will be available beginning on January 13,
2009, at http://www.law.arizona.edu/depts/clinics/ilc//UnseenPrisoners.pdf.
For more information, please contact Nina Rabin at (520) 621-9206 or
rabin@email.arizona.edu.
December 19, 2008 West Central Tribune
Andrew Gordon Lemcke, 34, formerly of Appleton, appeared Friday
afternoon before District Judge David Mennis in Benson to face a Swift
County grand jury’s indictments on first-degree, premeditated murder and
second-degree, intentional murder in the Sept. 12, 2004, shooting death of
his wife, Nichole Riley-Lemcke, 26. Lemcke’s family was able to post
$10,000 bail for him by late afternoon and allow for his conditional
release, according to his attorney, Brian Wojtalewicz of Appleton.
Minnesota Assistant Attorney General William Klump asked the court to set
bail at $1 million, but Judge Mennis offered Lemcke two options. He could
post a $100,000 bond or $10,000 cash and be released on conditions that
require he not leave the state without the court’s approval. Or, he could
post $1 million bond or $100,000 cash bail and be released without
conditions. In asking for $1 million bail, Klump argued that Lemcke
represented a flight risk due to his connections in Arizona and the
possibility of fleeing into Mexico, as well as the seriousness of the
charges against him. A first-degree murder conviction carries the
possibility of life in prison, while a second-degree murder conviction
could result in a 40-year sentence. Wojtalewicz called the $1 million bail
request “absurd.’’ He said Lemcke desperately wanted to be reunited with
his 5-year-old daughter and poses no risk. He told the court that Lemcke
was returning from Scout camp with his daughter and was only one hour from
the Mexican border when Wojtalewicz called him on Nov. 16 to tell him that
a grand jury had indicted him on murder. Within two hours of the phone
call, Lemcke had arranged for his daughter’s care and turned himself in to
the sheriff in Pinal County, Ariz., according to Wojtalewicz. He also
pointed out for the court that a Swift County grand jury had heard
testimony in the case in April 2005 and had returned no bill of indictment.
Lemcke has been working for the past two years as a corrections officer
with Corrections Corporation of America in Florence, Ariz., owns a home
there, and has not represented a threat to others or a flight risk, Wojtalewicz
said.
November 19, 2008 West Central Tribune
A Swift County grand jury has issued indictments for first- and
second-degree murder against Andrew Gordon Lemcke, 34, in the shooting of
his wife Nichole Riley-Lemcke in their Appleton home on Sept. 12, 2004. The
indictments against Lemcke were issued Monday and are now filed with the
Minnesota courts, according to the trial court public access system. The
court file lists charges of first-degree murder – premeditated and
second-degree murder – with intent not premeditated for an offense alleged
to have been committed. The grand jury had been convened last week and is
believed to have heard testimony Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before
issuing the indictment on Monday. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office
declined comment on Tuesday. Spokesman Ben Wogsland said there was “nothing
of a public nature’’ that he could address. Swift County Attorney Robin
Finke was in court and could not be reached Tuesday afternoon. Previously,
the county attorney said that grand jury proceedings are secret and that
his office could not comment in any respect unless or until a defendant is
presented with charges in district court. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office
in Florence, Ariz., took Lemcke into custody under a governor’s warrant on
Nov. 16, according to its Web site. Lemcke has been living in Florence,
Ariz., where he has been employed as a correctional officer with the
Corrections Corporation of America facility, according to information
obtained during an earlier civil lawsuit filed against him by his late
wife’s family. Nichole Riley-Lemcke, 26, a mother of three, was shot in the
Appleton home she shared with Andrew Lemcke during the early morning hours
of Sept. 12, 2004. Lemcke described the shooting as accidental in a letter
to the editor published after the incident.
November 7, 2008 Lawfuel
Juan Nunez, 39, of Coolidge, Ariz., was arrested by the FBI yesterday
and charged today with Attempted Provision of a Prohibited Object to an
Inmate and Possession of Cocaine With Intent to Distribute. Nunez is
employed as a corrections officer by Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA) and currently works at CCA’s Central Arizona Detention Center located
in Florence, Ariz. The CCA facility houses federal inmates per a contract with
the federal government. The criminal complaint alleges that since October
30, 2008, Nunez has been negotiating with an inmate to bring cocaine into
the facility from an outside source on the inmate’s behalf. On November 6,
2008, Nunez met with an undercover FBI agent acting as the outside source.
During the meeting, Nunez accepted a ½ ounce of cocaine for the inmate and
a $1,600 payment for agreeing to smuggle the cocaine into the facility.
Nunez was arrested immediately after he took possession of the cocaine and
money. At his initial appearance today in federal court in Phoenix, Nunez
was held over for a detention hearing set for Monday, November 10th at 3:45
p.m. A conviction for Attempted Provision of a Prohibited Object to an
Inmate in this case carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal
prison, a $250,000 fine or both; and a conviction for Possession of Cocaine
With Intent to Distribute in this case carries a maximum penalty of 20
years in federal prison, a $1,000,000 fine or both. In determining an
actual sentence, the judge ultimately assigned to this case will consult
the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing
ranges. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining
a sentence. A criminal complaint is simply the method by which a person is
charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An
individual is presumed innocent until competent evidence is presented to a
jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
February 23, 2007 The Arizona Republic
The parent company of the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence has
agreed to pay more than $400,000 to settle findings of hiring
discrimination. U.S. Department of Labor investigators said the privately
run prison's selection process disproportionately rejected non-Hispanic job
applicants who applied to be correctional officers during a two-year period
that ended in March 2005. The prison has agreed to pay 464 former
applicants an equal share of $438,626, or $945.32 each, which includes back
pay and interest. The prison will also hire 16 previously rejected
applicants. The Corrections Corporation of America, which manages the
prison, said the settlement doesn't mean it violated federal affirmative
action law. "Although we continue to disagree with the position taken
by (the Labor Department), we have agreed to take certain steps to resolve
this matter," a company statement said. The investigation was the
result of routine audits that the Labor Department conducts with companies
contracting with the federal government. "We'll go in and we'll look
at the job applicant pool for more than one position, and we look at who
applied for the jobs and who was hired," spokeswoman Deanne Amaden
said. "In this case, what we found was a high disproportionate number
of Hispanics were being hired. The result was that the non-Hispanics were
not getting that job opportunity." Corrections Corporation of America
has also agreed to immediately stop discriminatory practices and undergo
self-monitoring measures to ensure legal hiring practices, according to the
Labor Department.
November 11, 2006 Arizona Daily Star
A lockdown at the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence has
suspended visitation as authorities conduct a routine search for contraband,
said Gilbert Carmona, assistant warden. "This is a yearly
shakedown," he said Friday, but declined to say if anything has been
found. The detention center has about 3,000 inmates, Carmona said. The
lockdown is expected to last about a week, he said. Visitation will be
resumed when the lockdown is lifted, he added. The privately-run facility
is owned by Corrections Corporation of America.
September 29, 2005 Casa Grande Valley News
Several employees at Central Arizona Detention Center used their mid- day
break last Thursday to have a piece of cake and congratulate a colleague on
his birthday. Harry J. Larson celebrated his 80th birthday while on the job
as a correctional officer. CADC Warden Bruno Stolc presented a plaque to
Larson, who has been with the private prison in Florence since June 2001.
The warden recalled in front of about 25 people assembled, how Larson
recently helped pull an aggressive inmate off another officer. "So Mr.
Larson is not just filling a spot. Mr. Larson is a correctional officer,
and we're dang proud to have him," Stolc said. Warden Stolc said while
Larson is the oldest CADC employee, he is not the oldest employee in CCA.
Frank Deloria, an officer at the company's Eden, Texas, prison is 83. The
company also has a part- time registered nurse who is 87, Stolc said.
December 7, 2004 Metropolitan News-Enterprise
A federal magistrate judge in Arizona should have appointed a lawyer to
represent an incarcerated immigrant suing a private jailer over his
treatment, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. It was an abuse of discretion not to name counsel under
28 U.S.C. Sec. 1915(e)(1) for Emmanuel Senyo Agyeman in his civil rights
suit, Senior Judge John T. Noonan said. He was held at a variety of correctional
facilities, included one operated by a private contractor, Corrections
Corporation of America. In his lawsuit, he contended he was shackled, bound
and beaten by CCA employees while being transported for medical treatment
in 1998. After a trial at which he represented himself, a jury rejected his
claims. The Ninth Circuit appointed a lawyer to represented him in his
appeal and yesterday vacated the judgment resulting from the trial.
Agyeman, Noonan explained, was under the misconception that he could
proceed against the individual CCA corrections officers under 42 U.S.C.
Sec. 1983 as if they were state employees, while in fact their liability
could only be predicated on Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents,
403 U.S. 388 (1971). The corporation itself, however, could not be
subjected to liability under Bivens, as Agyeman sought to do, Noonan said;
instead, Agyeman should have sued the United States under the Federal Tort
Claims Act and sought to join CCA as a defendant. The plaintiff never
succeeded in gaining access to the federal regulations which, on appeal,
CCA argued governed his treatment at the time of the alleged incident,
Noonan added. Without gaining access to the federal prison regulations,
Agyeman could not establish that the treatment he alleged that he received
was or was not contrary to what was required by the United States as to
noncriminal detainees. Without a lawyer, Agyeman not only did not think of
obtaining this information but did not advance any coherent theory for
subjecting Corrections Corporation to liability.” In addition to
ascertaining a viable basis for liability, a lawyer might have been able to
exploit the “anomaly of incarcerating a person on noncriminal charges and
confining him for seven years,” Noonan suggested. He elaborated: “Such
incarceration may be a cruel necessity of our immigration policy; but if it
must be done, the greatest care must be observed in not treating the
innocent like a dangerous criminal. Is there any warrant for shackling the
feet and binding the chest of an innocent detainee? It requires legal skill
to frame this issue and distinguish Agyeman’s case from that of the
ordinary transferee—.”
Cibola
County Correctional Center, Cibola, New Mexico
03/27/2013 kob.com
About 250 inmates at the private
Cibola County Correctional Center were reportedly being
"non-compliant" to guard’s orders and gathered in the prison’s
recreation yard for several hours Wednesday. The Cibola County undersheriff
tells KOB the inmates are "being peaceful." The unrest began at
about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and was continuing at least through 2 p.m.
Wednesday afternoon. Law enforcement called to set up outside the scene
include New Mexico State Police, Grants Police, Milan Police and the Cibola
County Sheriff’s Department, as well as guards from other prisons. The
Cibola County Correctional Center is all-male, minimum-security facility
with 1129 beds run by the Corrections Corporation of America. KOB has a
crew on the way – stay with us for details.
03/27/2013 kob.com
About 250 inmates at the private
Cibola County Correctional Center were reportedly being
"non-compliant" to guard’s orders and gathered in the prison’s
recreation yard for several hours Wednesday. The Cibola County undersheriff
tells KOB the inmates are "being peaceful." The unrest began at
about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and was continuing at least through 2 p.m.
Wednesday afternoon. Law enforcement called to set up outside the scene
include New Mexico State Police, Grants Police, Milan Police and the Cibola
County Sheriff’s Department, as well as guards from other prisons. The
Cibola County Correctional Center is all-male, minimum-security facility
with 1129 beds run by the Corrections Corporation of America. KOB has a
crew on the way – stay with us for details.
Dec 30, 2012 cibolabeacon.com
CIBOLA COUNTY – A three-year tax dispute was settled in less than 10 hours,
according to Cibola County Commission Chairman Eddie Michael. Recently,
Chairman Michael, along with an attorney for Risk Management, met with
representatives from the Correction Corporations of America (CCA) in
Albuquerque to settle a three-year-old property tax dispute. CCA is
contracted to manage the Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan and the
New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants. The Milan men’s prison has
nearly 1,500 inmates while the Grants women’s prison has slightly more than
500. Apparently, CCA was disputing the amount they have been charged in
property taxes since 2010. Their property tax had gone from a taxable value
of $52 million in 2009 to $78 million in 2011, Michael said to the Beacon
last week. CCA was disputing their taxable value for 2010, 2011 and 2012.
“In today’s economy, I don’t know how property tax can be raised so high,”
Michael said in regard to the hike. He did note that in 2010, the state had
mandated the county to raise property taxes 15 percent because they hadn’t
raised taxes in several years. “Besides that, I don’t understand why there
would be such a big increase,” Michael said. After eight hours of
negotiations, Michael and CCA, in a handwritten agreement, settled on a
taxable value increase of $2.4 million, from $52 million to $54.4 million,
for the Milan prison, and, from just more than $26 million to $28 million
for the Grants prison. “Ultimately, CCA and the county felt $54 and $28
million were fair,” Michael explained. “I asked the rest of the
commissioners, in closed session on Dec. 12, for approval on the deal. On
Monday, Dec. 17, they voted unanimously to support it. Following the
settlement, the county will receive $2.7 million in tax revenue from CCA
for years 2010, 2011 and 2012. “This will hike our cash reserves to
approximately $8 million,” said Michael. “We had been working on this for
two years. We finally got the chance to sit down and get the deal done, and
now we move on. “It was my job to work the deal, ultimately, it is the
commissioners’ decision to support it or not. Thankfully they did.”
According to Michael, as of late last week, the deal was still based on the
handwritten agreement. However, Michael said he expected everything to
become official by the end of this week. The Beacon was unable to reach CCA
officials for comment yesterday because their corporate offices are closed
on weekends.
September 19, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company is
not entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house inmates
for the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of America
had sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes, claiming it was allowed
a deduction for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with the
Department of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The Court of
Appeals concluded Tuesday there was no lease of real property. "The
fact that CCA had the right to fill up any extra space with inmates from
other jurisdictions coupled with the governmental entities' paying based on
the number of inmates housed, makes these agreements look more like those
between 'hotels, motels, rooming houses, and other facilities' and 'lodgers
or occupants' than leases for real property," the court said in an
opinion written by Judge Michael Bustamante. The company built and owns
prisons used by the state and other governments: the New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility in Grants, the Cibola County Correctional Center near
Milan and the Torrance County Detention Facility at Estancia. In 2002, the
company filed for a refund of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January
1999 to October 2002. A state district court in Santa Fe ruled against the
company in 2005.
September 18, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company
isn't entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house
inmates for the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of
America had sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes. The company
claimed a deduction for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with
the Department of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The court
ruled today that there was no lease of real property. In 2002, the company
filed for a refund of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January 1999 to
October 2002. In its appeal, the company dropped some claims but didn't
specify the amount of refund it was seeking. CCA operates a prison at
Grants that houses state female inmates. It also has a prison in Torrance
County and contracts with the Bureau of Prisons to hold federal inmates
near Milan in Cibola County.
August 30, 2007 Cibola Beacon
The Beacon recently received several calls from residents concerned about
the safety of the community because of the staff shortage in the areas
prisons. All three prisons, Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in
Grants, Cibola County Corrections Center (AKA Four C's) in Milan and the
New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility, also in Grants, are currently in
need of correctional officers. Four C's in Milan is the most needful of
officers. Currently, it is 38 officers short. The facility has a total of
159 CO positions, therefore it is now understaffed by 24 percent. “First,
there is absolutely no risk to be concerned about,” Warden Walt Wells said
on Wednesday. “We continually analyze the staff to be sure we have the
adequate staff to protect our inmates, employees and the community. We'll
never let it fall to the level to where there is a risk.” According to
Warden Allan Cooper at the Grants women's facility, Americans Corrections
Association says the ratio of inmate to corrections officer should be about
580 inmates to 76 staff, about 65 of the latter being correctional officers.
“The public will never be at risk,” said Cooper. Cooper's Administrative
Assistant, Lisa Riley, said they have to fill all the posts no matter what.
“If it costs us lots of overtime, that doesn't matter,” Riley said. “We
have our requirements that have to met by the state.”
July 4, 2006 Cibola Beacon
Cibola County Undersheriff Johnny Valdez announced Friday that
marijuana was recently found at two local prisons. CCSO Deputy Mike Oelcher
and Deputy Dog Ashe found a small amount of marijuana in an inmate’s bunk
at the Cibola County Detention Center and behind a pay phone typically used
by inmates in the common area of a pod last Tuesday. Burnt residue weighing
.2 grams found in an inmate’s bunk will not result in charges, he
explained. Even the district attorney did not want to press charges even
though bringing drugs into a prison, regardless of amount is a third-degree
felony, according to CCSO officials. No one will be charged for the
marijuana found behind the pay phone either. “It’s a common area and they
can’t charge any one with it,” said Undersheriff Valdez. CCSO arrested
Corrections Corporation of American Women’s Correctional Facility inmate
Stephanie de Santiago, 22, of Roswell, for possession of marijuana at the
facility a week ago Monday. The drug was found during a routine search of
the inmate after she spent time with a visitor. The marijuana tested
positive with a test kit at the prison, which allows probable cause for the
arrest, said CCSO spokesman Lt. Harry Hall. Lt. Hall said the street value
for the marijuana is not known at this time, but the district attorney’s
office will prosecute Santiago and possible charges are pending against the
visitor who brought the drug into the facility.
A teacher at Cibola County Corrections
Center has been charged with criminal sexual penetration for allegedly
having sex with an inmate in a prison office. Ortega, who taught federal
inmates at the privately run center was having sex with an inmate May 20
when the prison's chief of security walked in on the couple, court
documents said. (The Associated Press, July 5, 2002)
An inmate protest at a privately-operated
prison was a result of concern about food and, for some prisoners, taxes,
authorities said. The protest, in which more than 600 inmates refused to
leave the exercise yard and go inside the Cibola County Correctional
Facility, lasted about 12 hours Monday. Inmates were unhappy with food
served, and with having to pay gross-receipts taxes on items purchased in
the prison's commissary, state police Capt. Glenn Thomas said. (KOAT/Daily
News, April 24, 2001)
Cimarron
Correctional Facility, Cushing, Oklahoma
May 11, 2013
www.newson6.com
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico's corrections
secretary says he is canceling a $9.1 million program under which the U.S.
territory had sent hundreds of inmates to a prison in Oklahoma. Jose Negron
Fernandez says the island has enough space and money to absorb the inmates
and the last of them are returning Saturday. Puerto Rico's previous
administration had signed the agreement with Corrections Corporation of
America to send as many as 480 male inmates to the Cimarron prison in
Cushing, Oklahoma. The island of 3.7 million people currently has more than
12,000 inmates, with an overall capacity for nearly 14,000 prisoners.
Mar 6, 2013 tulsaworld.com
A private prison operator
declined to call a four-hour Sunday disturbance at Cushing prison a riot,
even though inmates smashed windows, breached security doors and were
pepper sprayed after fashioning weapons from destroyed property, records
show. In a written statement, Corrections Corporation of America
characterized Sunday's incident at the Cimarron Correctional Facility
as "inmates being disruptive in one of the housing units." The
company emphasized in its statement that there were no reported inmate or
staff injuries and "minimal property damage." "Facility
management and staff isolated the inmates involved and the situation was
resolved," CCA spokesman Mike Machak said in an email to the Tulsa World.
He called it a "disruptive event" that involved a single housing
unit, which holds prisoners on behalf of the Puerto Rican government that
CCA supervises under a contract. No Oklahoma inmates under the authority of
the Department of Corrections were involved, officials said. The Cushing
prison has 1,720 beds, with about one-third reserved for the Puerto Rican
prisoners. DOC holds about 18,000 inmates at all security levels and about
5,000 inmates are held in private prisons in the state, records show.
Through an Open Records Act request, the Tulsa World obtained emails and
incident reports showing the incident began sometime around 1 p.m. Sunday.
It took guards nearly five hours before all offenders were secured and
returned to their cells, records show. An email from the facility's DOC
contract monitor described the aftermath and damage and said the incident
had all the elements "of a major disturbance." According to a
prison incident report, the disturbance started as a dispute between the
Puerto Rican inmates and staff after several inmates refused to go on
lockdown for the 2 p.m. inmate count unless they spoke to the unit manager
or an assistant warden. A captain entered the unit and noticed that
offenders from all three pods were "congested against the glass
windows and pod doors," the report states. Around 2 p.m., the inmates
breached a door on the unit, and all staff members were removed from the
unit. "The offenders breached in the rotunda area and began breaking
property and equipment located in the rotunda and on the pods," the
report states. The inmates smashed windows, broke locks and electrical
equipment, destroyed computers and telephones and knocked holes in walls,
records show. "Inmates had fashioned weapons out of destroyed property
and were throwing items at staff as they entered the pod," the report
states. "Bean bag rounds and pepper balls were used to gain compliance
and protect staff." The inmates were secured in their cells by 5:41
p.m., according to the report. During the disturbance, the Cushing Police
Department and Payne County Sheriff's Office were notified and provided
"outside perimeter support," Machak said. "The incident is
under review at this time, and that review will determine appropriate
disciplinary actions, including referral for criminal charges regarding the
destruction of property," he said. Inmates destroyed desks, computers,
printers, telephones, televisions and microwaves, a Playstation unit and
video games, according to an email obtained by the World. The records did
not contain a cost estimate of the damage. The contract monitor, a DOC
employee, wrote in an email that the entire unit had the odor "of OC
(pepper) spray and chemical gas lingering in the air, causing staff and
this monitor to use tear gas mask to enter unit." Staff were using
fans to settle the chemical gas dust and pull in fresh air, he said. The
Puerto Rican offenders will remain on lockdown status until further notice,
officials said. Last year, DOC officials proposed an amendment to state law
governing operations of private prisons housing out-of-state inmates. The
amendment would have forced companies housing such inmates in Oklahoma to
provide information if requested by DOC on riots, escapes or serious
incidents. DOC would have been able to fine companies that did not comply,
under the proposal. Currently, CCA and other private prison operators are
required to provide information to DOC on incidents involving Oklahoma
inmates but not those from other jurisdictions. A Senate bill proposing the
change authored by Sen. Don Barrington, R-Lawton, passed a vote of the
public safety committee, but the measure has since been pulled, his staff
said. The change was proposed in response to a December 2011 prison riot at
CCA's North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, where 46 inmates were
injured and scant information about the riot was released by the company.
Cimarron Correctional Facility, Capacity: 1,720 General population,
Oklahoma beds: 900, Oklahoma restrictive housing: 40, Puerto Rico beds:
480, Puerto Rico restrictive housing: 120, Medical unit: 7, Beds Not In
Use: 120, Contractor per diem: $44.03
January 10, 2013 Associated Press
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Two Puerto Rican prison officials on their way to
a private prison in Oklahoma to pick up at least one inmate were killed
Thursday in a head-on collision in northern Oklahoma, authorities said.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph said the crash occurred
about 5 a.m. on Oklahoma 177 between Stillwater and Perkins when a vehicle
driven by Michell Maria Anastasia, 49, of Perkins, crossed the center line
of the highway and collided with the van carrying four Puerto Rican
officials. Anastasia and Mayra Ramirez, 54, and Eliezer Colon Claussells,
both of Puerto Rico, all died as a result of the collision, the patrol said.
Two passengers in the van were taken to a Stillwater hospital in serious
condition with head and other injuries, according to the patrol. Randolph
said witnesses told troopers that Anastasia's vehicle appeared to be
speeding when it crossed the center line into the southbound lane and
crashed into the van. The van was headed to the Cimarron Prison Facility in
Cushing, which is owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation
of America. The prison houses medium- and minimum-security inmates, including
about 400 Puerto Rican inmates, through a contract with the Puerto Rico
Department of Corrections, company spokesman Steve Owen said. "This
was an extradition team from Puerto Rico," Owen said. "Whenever
an inmate is ready to be released, discharged, paroled or whatever, Puerto
Rico sends a team to pick them up." "This team was en route to
the facility when the accident occurred," he said. The prison also
houses inmates from Oklahoma under a contract with the state. Cushing is
about 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.
August 22, 2012 KUSH
Two inmates at the Cimarron Correctional Facility have been ordered to
appear in court Aug. 30 on charges of attacking a guard at the private
prison in Cushing. Prosecutor Mike Kulling told KUSH that the inmates are being
held in the Cimarron Correctional Facility for Puerto Rico and that he does
not yet have information on their crimes or sentences. The prisoners,
Miguel Cabrera Quiara, 33, and Rafmar De Leon Santana, 25, have been
charged together with pushing and hitting a guard on July 23. The guard
reported the alleged assault the following day to the Cushing Police
Department, according to an affidavit by Cushing Police Detective Adam
Harp. The guard said that he was "walking around giving laundry bags
to each inmate," and that when he opened a cell door, "inmate
Rafmar pushed the cell door into his chest," the affidavit alleged.
The guard said that "both Miguel and Rafmar came out of their cell and
started to push him," the affidavit alleged. The guard said "that
he tried to run away towards the first floor and that both inmates chased
him and began assaulting him," the affidavit alleged.
July 7, 2011 KUSH
A convicted double murderer who has been serving two life prison terms
without the possibility of parole since 1991 has been ordered to appear in
court July 11 on a charge of punching a guard in the face at Cimarron
Correctional Facility in Cushing. If convicted of assault and battery on a
private prison employee, Bennie Dwight Jones, 39, could receive a maximum penalty
of an additional two-year prison term and a $1,000 fine, court records
show.
May 3, 2011 KUSH
A former guard at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing was
ordered Monday to stand trial on a charge of bringing two cell phones and several
pouches of tobacco into secure areas of the private prison in Cushing.
Danny James Galbreath, 24, of Broken Arrow, waived his right Monday to a
preliminary hearing on the felony count of bringing cell phones into the
prison -- which are considered contraband in a penal facility. Galbreath
remains free on $15,000 bail pending his arraignment in district court on
May 27 on the two-count charge including the misdemeanor count of bringing
tobacco into the prison -- which is also considered contraband. Galbreath
was arrested at the prison shortly after noon on Jan. 5, by Cushing Police
Officer Carson Watts, who was sent there on a report of an employee
bringing contraband into the prison, court records show. Prison Chief of
Security Donald Steer told the Cushing officer that an inmate had provided
information that Galbreath "has been bringing cellular phones and
tobacco into the facility," Watts wrote in an affidavit. "Chief
Steer then showed me a written statement completed by Corrections Officer
Galbreath admitting to bringing in the contraband," Watts alleged in
his affidavit. "I asked Corrections Officer Galbreath what he has
brought into the prison. He told me two cellular phones and several pouches
of tobacco," Watts alleged in his affidavit. "Corrections Officer
Galbreath told me that he received $100 per phone and $50 per pouch of
tobacco," Watts alleged in his affidavit. "I asked Corrections
Officer Galbreath how he got paid to bring in the contraband, and he told
me that he had to meet an inmate's mother at her residence and she gave him
the money," Watts alleged in his affidavit. "Corrections Officer
Galbreath continued to say that he would then take the money, and use a
portion of the money to purchase a $20 cell phone or the tobacco," the
affidavit alleged. Galbreath said he got the phones inside the prison by
taping them to the inside of his forearm, the affidavit alleged.
"Corrections Officer Galbreath said that when the metal detectors
would go off, the officer would pat-search him, but would not search the
underside of his forearm," the affidavit alleged. "I asked how he
got the tobacco into the prison and he said that he would put the tobacco
into bags of chips when he walked into the prison," the officer
alleged in his affidavit.
February 7, 2011 KUSH
A teenage visitor to the private prison in Cushing who admitted smuggling
marijuana into the Cimarron Correctional Facility on Valentine's Day of
last year has been placed on two years' probation. Yesenia Ochoa, 19, must
pay a $500 fine, $100 to the victims' compensation fund, $50 to the
District Attorney's Drug Fund and $150 for a state crime bureau laboratory
fee. She must perform 50 hours of community service by July 21. If the
Oklahoma City teen successfully completes her probation, she will not have
a criminal record for bringing marijuana into the Cushing prison, since she
was given a deferred sentence on Jan. 21. She was arrested by Cushing
Police Officer Carson Watts on Feb. 14, 2010, at about 11 a.m., an hour
after he and Cushing Police Officer Bill McCarty were sent to the Cimarron
Correctional Facility, court records show. "Captain Christian (of the
prison staff) told me that a visitor, Yesenia Ochoa, was seen passing
something to an inmate, Roy Smith, while in the visitation room and when
the inmate was asked what the object was, he replied 'marijuana,' Watts
wrote in an affidavit. "Yesenia told me, 'I brought some stuff in.' I
asked Yesenia if she knew what the 'stuff' was, and she said 'no,' Watts
wrote in his affidavit. "Yesenia told me that she is always getting
calls from different people wanting her to do things for them and for Roy.
"Yesenia told me that about a month ago, she had received a call from
a man that wanted her to take an item to Roy. I asked Yesenia if she knew who
the man was and she said, 'no.' "I asked Yesenia how she got the item
into the prison and she told me that she had it inside the front of her
pants. "Yesenia said that once she got to the visitation room, she
unzipped the front of her pants, took the object out, and passed it to
Roy," the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
January 11, 2011 KUSH
A Broken Arrow man was charged today with bringing two cell phones and
several pouches of tobacco into secure areas of the Cimarron Correctional
Facility in Cushing on Jan. 5. Danny James Galbreath, 24, was released on
$15,000 bond Friday following his arrest in the case investigated by
Cushing police, a jail spokesman said. He was ordered to return to court on
Jan. 13 with an attorney for arraignment on the two-count charge.
December 11, 2010 KUSH
A former case manager at the Cimarron Correctional Facility was placed on
two years' probation Friday for bringing cell phones, which are considered contraband,
into the private prison in Cushing. Tamara D. Davidson, 52, had pleaded
guilty to the felony charge, which carries a maximum penalty of a five-year
prison term and $1,000 fine. Since she was given a deferred sentence,
Davidson will not have a criminal record if she completes probation. As
part of a plea bargain approved in court Friday by Associate District Judge
Stephen Kistler, Davidson was ordered to obtain full-time employment, take
a life skills course, pay a $250 fine, and perform 50 hours of community
service within six months. Cushing prison investigator Joe Sebenick told
Cushing police on April 23 that on April 21, "case manager Tamara
Davidson attempted to come through the lobby into the facility with three
cell phones," Cushing Police Detective Adam Harp wrote in an
affidavit. "During the screen process (at the prison), the front desk
employee suspected an unusual object being viewed in the x-ray machine.
"It was later discovered that Davidson was attempting to introduce contraband,
three cell phones into the facility for three inmates," the affidavit
said. "Investigator Sebenick interviewed Davidson who admitted to
attempting to introduce the contraband, three cell phones to three
different inmates. "The cell phones were inside the Subway sandwich at
the time she was attempting to get it through security. "Davidson told
Investigator Sebenick that she is having financial difficulties, and this
was the first attempt on her part to have tried to introduce contraband
into the facility," the affidavit said. When the Cushing police
detective interviewed Davidson by phone on April 23, "Davidson
admitted that she attempted to get three cell phones into the prison by
placing the phones in a Subway sandwich. "Davidson said that she was going
to give the phones to three inmates for a total of $300. Davidson said that
she was given $100 for one of the cell phones by an inmate and used the
rest to buy diapers, etc. "Davidson said that she wanted to make more
money because her house payment and insurance went up and needed to pay
bills," the affidavit said.
October 11, 2010 KUSH
A Cimarron Correctional Facility visitor pleaded guilty Friday to bringing
marijuana and tobacco into the Cushing private prison to an inmate on his
birthday. Lisa Victoria Frazier, 31, of Ada, had been jailed for three
weeks after being arrested on a bench warrant for failing to appear in
court in June. She was freed on a personal recognizance bond Friday by
Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler, who ordered her to return to court
on Dec. 10 for sentencing. She was originally arrested by Cushing Police
Officer Carson Watts in March for delivering marijuana and contraband to
inmate Notice Burns, Cushing Police Detective Adam Harp wrote in an
affidavit. Burns, who has a long criminal history, is serving 15 years in
prison for drug distribution, drug possession, endeavoring to distribute
drugs and bringing contraband in jail, all in 2007 in Pontotoc County,
records show. In Payne County, Burns admitted that he possessed marijuana in
the Cushing prison on March 28, for which he received a five-year prison
term concurrent to his Pontotoc County sentences on June 18. When Frazier
was interviewed by prison Investigator Joe Sebenick and the Cushing police
detective the day after her arrest, she admitted "she has been
delivering narcotics and contraband into the prison every weekend for the
past six months," the affidavit said. Regarding the March 28 incident,
"Frazier admitted to Officer Watts that she brought the marijuana and
tobacco wrapped in black electrical tape and gave it to inmate Burns during
visitation," the affidavit said. "Frazier admitted to Officer
Watts that inmate Burns asked her to get the items from Oklahoma City and
deliver them to him at the prison," the affidavit said.
August 22, 2010 The Oklahoman
More than 2,000 state inmates could be displaced from private prisons if a
federal contract to house criminal illegal immigrants is awarded here. The
move could cost the state Corrections Department and Oklahoma taxpayers millions
of dollars. Corrections Corporation of America officials told state
corrections authorities in July they intended to offer three Oklahoma-based
prisons to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They are: Cimarron Correctional
Facility in Cushing, Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville and the
empty Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga. "There shouldn't
be any surprise when something like this happens," said Justin Jones,
state Corrections Department director. "Their product is the
incarceration of criminals and it's a for-profit business." If the
contract is awarded, it could affect the placement of 1,800 medium security
prisoners at Cimarron and Davis, and 360 maximum-security inmates at Davis,
corrections officials said. The department is operating with a more than
$40 million budget deficit. Federal officials would use the private prisons
to house low-security male inmates, primarily criminal illegal immigrants
who are Mexican citizens with one year or less to serve. The business of
incarceration -- Federal contracts typically pay between $60 and $65 daily
per prisoner, Jones said. Oklahoma has one of the lowest reimbursement
rates in the country. They range from about $42 for minimum security
inmates to about $57 for maximum security. If the prisoners are moved, that
could mean an increase of as much as $15 per prisoner, Jones said.
Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen wouldn't comment on
rates discussed with the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the contract. Offers
are being accepted from companies in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona and
Texas, and would require 3,000 beds, according to a bid request from the
bureau. Bids are competitive, often based on geographic needs, Owen said.
Earnings increase -- Corrections Corporation of America earlier this month
reported their second-quarter earnings had increased nearly two percent in
2010 to $419.4 million from $412 million in 2009. The increase was fueled
by a jump in inmate populations and a boost from new contracts with the
Federal Bureau of Prisons. It notes the opening of a center in Mississippi
to house about 2,500 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and awaiting
deportation. "We've openly been marketing our empty prisons,"
Owen said. "There is a demand and a need for prison services."
Corrections Corporation of America is the largest for-profit prison company
in the U.S. It currently houses about 75,000 individuals in more than 60
prisons and detention centers in the country, according to information on
the company website. It partners with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the
U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, states and
municipalities. In 2009 financial statements, competitor GEO Group
officials reported, "We believe that this federal initiative to target,
detain, and deport criminal aliens throughout the country will continue to
drive the need for immigration detention beds over the next several
years." GEO Group recently bought Cornell Cos., operator of Great
Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton. The company has offered use of the
prison for federal inmates as well. This month, officials at the prison
announced they would be laying off nearly 300 employees and sending more
than 1,700 inmates back to Arizona. No Oklahoma prisoners are housed there.
Even county jails are responding to the need for federal bed space. Tulsa
County officials entered into an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement in 2007. Garvin County also has an agreement with the
agency to house and transport federal detainees. Displaced inmates and jobs
-- Jones said if the bid by Corrections Corporation of America is accepted,
the most challenging task would be finding room for the nearly 360
maximum-security prisoners being held at Davis. There are not enough open
maximum-security beds in the state to keep them there, he said. This might
result in prisoners being shipped out of state -- the first time it's
happened since the mid-1990s. "Obviously this would be a huge burden
to families of those prisoners," he said. "It would also probably
cost us more." At the same time state officials worry about prison
beds, the question looms about how Oklahoma jobs will be affected. The
possibility of jobs returning to the Watonga area is a bright spot. More
than 300 Corrections Corporation of America employees lost their jobs when
the Diamondback prison closed there in May. More than 2,000 inmates were
returned to Arizona. It was the largest employer in the area. Owen said
company officials are anxious to get the prison running again. He said he's
not sure how employment would be affected at Davis and Cimarron if the bid
is accepted. In 2007, nearly 200 Cornell employees at the Great Plains
Correctional Center in Hinton lost work after the state Corrections
Department and the company failed to come to an agreement about
reimbursement rates. The company then negotiated a contract for Arizona
inmates.
August 13, 2010 Oklahoman
A Muskogee federal court jury Thursday found that a private prisons
operator violated the employment rights of a shift supervisor by
terminating his job when he was deployed to Iraq as a combat adviser.
Jurors recommended that Corrections Corporation of America be ordered to
pay veteran Dennis Weems, of Terlton, about $53,000 for violating his
employment rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment
Rights Act, an attorney in the case said. The federal act prohibits
employers from denying initial employment, re-employment, retention in
employment, promotion or any benefit of employment to a member of the
military on the basis of his or her military service. Weems contended in
the lawsuit that Corrections Corporation of America discriminated not only
against him, but also against other members of the uniformed services who
were called to active duty. About the case -- Tulsa attorney Daniel
Sullivan, who represented Corrections Corporation of America, strongly
denied his client makes it a practice to discriminate against military
employees, saying the corporation has been recognized by G.I. Jobs as one
of the "Top 100 Military Friendly Employers" in the country. In
Weems' case, however, Sullivan acknowledges mistakes were made. Sullivan
said the human resources person at CCA's Cimarron Correctional Facility in
Cushing had left and the person performing those duties sent letters
containing improper statements to Weems on two occasions. The first letter,
dated Sept. 8, 2008, stated the employer had processed paperwork indicating
that Weems had "voluntarily resigned ... based on the fact that you
have been deployed on military leave for a period that extends beyond 30
days." Sullivan said Weems was terminated from the payroll system to
accommodate his military service but should not have been told that he was
considered to have voluntarily resigned. "It was an error,"
Sullivan said. "Unfortunately, as in a lot of cases, when one error is
made it seems to get compounded." In this case, the compounding
occurred when Weems returned from his military service and sought his job
back, the attorney indicated. Sullivan said Corrections Corporation offered
to reinstate Weems in his previous position with full pay, but attached an
acceptance letter sent to all new hires stating that he would be an
"at will employee" who could be "terminated, with or without
cause, at any time at the discretion of either the company or myself."
Other allegations -- Sullivan said Weems should not have been sent that
attachment because of his military service. Weems had been deployed more
than 180 days, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment
Rights Act has a provision that states because of that service, he could
only be fired for cause the first year after his return, Sullivan said. In
his lawsuit, Weems contended he wasn't the only military employee of
Corrections Corporation of America who was discriminated against. He said
one employee who had been earning $14 an hour before being deployed to Iraq
was required to begin his employment anew at a rate of $8.50 an hour after
his return. In another case, Weems said his CCA supervisor ordered him to
convince another employee who received deployment orders to accept a
part-time position before leaving so he could be put in a part-time job
upon his return. Weems said he "refused to become a part of the
scheme."
January 20, 2010 KUSH
A former inmate in Cushing's private prison was charged Friday with
repeatedly stabbing another inmate in the Cimarron Correctional Facility
with a home-made knife on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Defendant Andy
Quintana, 26, has been transferred to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in
McAlester where he is serving an 8-year prison term he was given four years
ago for drug trafficking in Oklahoma County in 2002, state Department of
Corrections records show. If convicted of his Payne County charge of assault
and battery with a dangerous weapon after a former felony conviction,
Quintana could be given an additional 10-year prison term, according to the
charge filed Friday. His alleged victim, Jose Gomez Jr., 29, who remains in
the Cushing prison, is currently serving two concurrent five-year prison
terms for escape from a penal institution and drug possession, both in 2006
in Tulsa County, DOC records show.
October 10, 2009 KUSH
An inmate in Cushing's private prison -- who was sent to the lockup in
Payne County after being convicted of escaping from another prison -- was
charged Wednesday with possessing marijuana while incarcerated in the
Cimarron Correctional Facility on Sept. 26. Robert Lee Brown, 24, could
receive as much as a 20-year prison term and a $10,000 fine if convicted of
possessing the illegal drug in the Cushing prison, court records show.
Brown arrived at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in February 2008 to
serve a two-year sentence for escaping from the Department of Corrections
in Osage County, DOC records show.
October 6, 2009 KUSH
An inmate in Cushing's private prison has been ordered to stand trial on a
charge of assault and battery on a guard at the Cimarron Correctional
Facility. Christopher A. Cardwell, 23, Monday waived his right to a
preliminary hearing on an accusation that he punched Correctional Officer
Craig Sharp in the face numerous times on May 22. Cardwell, who is
6'5" and weighs 200 pounds, could be given as much as five more years
in prison if convicted of the felony charge on which he is due to be
arraigned in trial court on Oct. 16. Cushing Police Officer Adam Harp wrote
in an affidavit, "I asked inmate Cardwell if Sharp had disrespected
him or provoked him and he said no that he was just doing his job.
"Inmate Cardwell said that he was sorry for assaulting Sharp and that
Sharp had never been disrespectful towards him in the past." The
inmate said that on May 22 at about 6:45 p.m. "Sharp approached them
in the Alpha South Unit dayroom and told them to lock up -- meaning to
return to their cells. "Inmate Cardwell said that lately it has been
rough on him due to him not being able to receive letters from his girl and
other situations. "Inmate Cardwell said that he felt that the
recreational time was not enough and did not want to lock up. Inmate
Cardwell said that he told Sharp that he was not going to lock up.
"Inmate Cardwell said that Sharp looked down towards his duty belt as
to grab hardcuffs and that he hit him in the face no less than four times
nor more than ten. "Inmate Cardwell said that he knew that the first
three punches hit Sharp in the face area," the affidavit alleged. The
incident was reported at the Cushing Police Department by Sharp on May 29,
a week after it occurred, court records show. "Sharp said that he asked
inmate Cardwell to lock down, meaning to go back to his cell. Sharp said
that inmate Cardwell told him that he did not want to lock down -- that he
needs to ship, meaning that he was afraid to go back to general population.
"Sharp said that after inmate Cardwell made the comment that he hit
him two to three times with a closed fist in the face area. "Sharp
said that inmate Cardwell continued to hit him, but that he had blocked his
punches. "Sharp said that he was able to get help and eventually
control inmate Cardwell. "Sharp said that his glasses broke due to
inmate Cardwell assaulting him. "I asked Sharp if he sufferred any
injuries from the assault and he said no," Harp wrote in his
affidavit.
April 30, 2009 KUSH
A Stillwater Man has been with smuggling marijuana into the Cimarron
Correctional Facility in Cushing. Jerome Wendell Williams, 25, was formally
charged April 29th by the Payne County District Attorney's office with
bringing contraband into a penal institution. If convicted, Williams faces up
to five years in prison and a fine of up to 1000 dollars. According to
court documents, Williams was employed by the prison.
December 16, 2008 Tulsa World
Taking a tougher approach, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has
withheld more than $589,000 in payments to private prison operators in the
past year because of staffing shortages. Cimarron Correctional Facility in
Cushing has had five payments of $40,000 or more withheld since December
for failing to fill vacancies within 45 days, including several positions
in the medical field. In April, the state withheld $59,191 in payments
because 19 positions remained unfilled within 45 days. Among them was a
clinical supervisor slot that DOC officials said had been open for 457
days. The Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville also has had about
$76,000 in payments withheld since August because of staffing incidents.
Both facilities are owned by Corrections Corporation of America, based in
Nashville. A company official says it has had difficulty filling medical
positions because of a nationwide shortage. In addition to the money it has
already withheld, the DOC has another $50,000 in fines pending for
November. The DOC has withheld payments to private prisons in 28 instances
since last December for failing to fill positions in a timely manner. The
department's decision to penalize private prisons financially for contract
violations stems from a recommendation made in a performance audit of the
Department of Corrections requested last year by the Oklahoma Legislature.
"The audit felt like we were giving too many warnings to private
prisons and that we needed to start doing more liquidated damages,"
DOC Director Justin Jones said last week. An official with the Oklahoma
Public Employees Association, which sought information on the fines, said
the organization is concerned whether private prison contractors are
actually fixing the problems, or simply paying the fines. Mark Beutler,
director of communications, said Monday that OPEA is sponsoring legislation
in the upcoming legislative session that will make contractors more
transparent. "We believe contractors should be held more accountable
in reporting violations and also in the ways they are spending taxpayers'
money," Beutler said. Calling the shortage of medical personnel a
problem for prisons, Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve
Owen said the company is making a good faith effort to fill its medical
services vacancies as quickly as possible. Until the positions are filled,
Owen said the facilities will hire part-time employees or pay overtime to
prevent a drop-off in services. "This is hitting us in the wallet, but
it's not costing the taxpayer," Owen said. The state has about 4,540
inmates housed in three private prisons in the state. In addition to the
CCA facilities in Cushing and Holdenville, the third private prison that
contracts with DOC is the Lawton Correctional Facility. The Lawton facility
has had about $23,000 in fines since last December, including about $10,000
that is pending for November. The facility is owned by the GEO Group Inc.
of Boca Raton, Fla. The performance audit, which was released Dec. 31,
2007, said the enforcement of liquidated damages provisions in the state's
contract with private prisons was extremely rare and time-consuming.
"DOC's process is somewhat cumbersome in that it requires multiple
levels of consideration by executive staffs," the audit report said.
It called DOC's failure to use liquidated damages effectively "a
serious problem with DOC's management process" that has eroded the
credibility of the contract monitoring system. In the past, DOC has used
more informal sanctions in response to contract breaches, which sometimes
resulted in adjustments in a facility's population level. "As system
crowding worsens, however, the flexibility to reduce population in response
to problems diminishes significantly," the audit reported.
March 4, 2008 KUSH
A visitor at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing has been placed
on five years' probation for possessing marijuana and money at the private
prison -- both of which are considered illegal contraband in a penal
institution. Melissa Shalone Simien, 39, of Tulsa, had pleaded guilty to
the felony charge, which was filed after a drug detection dog at the prison
alerted on her, court records show. In accordance with a plea bargain
Friday, she was given a five-year deferred sentence and ordered to pay a
$500 fine, a $50 contribution to the District Attorney's Drug Fund and $150
for a state crime bureau laboratory fee, court records show. She was also
ordered by Associate District Judge Robert Murphy Jr. to perform 150 hours
of community service within a year and complete a drug and alcohol
evaluation, as well as any required follow-up, court records show. Simien
was arrested on July 9, 2005, at the Cushing prison where she had gone to
visit inmate Darrius Payne, then serving an eight-year sentence from Tulsa
County for drug possession with intent to distribute, state DOC records
show. He also had served time for robbery, burglary and escape, DOC records
show.
December 29, 2007 KUSH
A visitor at the Cimarron Correctional Facility, who admitted in court
documents that she had marijuana and money at the private prison in
Cushing, has a plea bargain to receive probation at her Jan. 25 sentencing
for possessing contraband in a penal institution. Melissa Shalone Simien,
39, of Tulsa, told authorities, "I drove someone's car to Cushing
Correctional Center to visit a friend," whom she had dated before he
went to prison, according to court documents. Although she pleaded guilty
in September to Associate District Judge Robert Murphy Jr., Simien
complained in a background report compiled by the state Department of
Corrections in November, "For two years and four months, I have been
going back and forth to court, for something that I didn't do."
Simien's plea bargain calls for her to receive a five-year deferred
sentence, pay a $500 fine, contribute $50 to the District Attorney's Drug
Fund, pay $150 to the state crime bureau laboratory for a drug analysis,
and perform 150 hours of community service, court records show. Simien
admitted in the background report that she was convicted in Louisiana of
food stamp frand and receiving welfare assistance by fraud in 1996, for
which she said she paid restitution. She was arrested on July 9, 2005, at
the Cushing prison where she had gone to visit inmate Darrius Payne, then
serving an eight-year sentence from Tulsa County for drug possession with
intent to distribute, state DOC records show. He also had served time for
robbery, burglary, escape and failure to comply with a personal
recognizance bond, DOC records show.
May 9, 2007 Cushing Daily Citizen
The mother of an inmate in Cushing's private prison has been placed on
probation for three years for smuggling the drug Valium into the Cimarron
Correctional Facility during a visit on Labor Day. While she was visiting
her son, Donna Maxine Kirby, 47, was watched on a video monitor by
correctional officers in the prison, an affidavit by Correctional Officer
Berl Stinson said. At her sentencing, Donna Kirby was also fined $500,
ordered to contribute $50 to the District Attorney's Drug Fund, assessed a
$150 fee for a state crime bureau laboratory test and told to complete
cognitive behavior training, court records show. Her husband, Charles
Oliver Kirby Jr., 60, who had the drug in his right sock, was charged with
his wife as a co-defendant with smuggling contraband into a penal
institution. Charles Kirby was placed on probation for three years, fined
$500, ordered to contribute $50 to the DA's Drug Fund, assessed a $150 fee
for a state crime bureau laboratory test, told to complete a drug and
alcohol evaluation, as well as any follow-up, and ordered to perform 50
hours of community service, and continue mental health treatment. The
Kirbys were sentenced by Payne County Associate District Judge Robert
Murphy Jr. on April 27 in accordance with their plea bargains. They had
pleaded guilty in February. The Kirbys were arrested last September on
warrants and released from jail after posting $5,000 bond each on the
felony charge, which carries a maximum five-year prison term and $1,000
fine on conviction. "Donna Kirby apologized for bringing the item of
contraband into the prison and stated that her reason for doing so was the
fact that her inmate son had been threatened by other inmates if he did not
provide them with contraband," the affidavit said.
August 11, 2006 KTEN
An Oklahoma judge is refusing to dismiss charges against eight black
inmates in connection with a fatal Cushing prison riot. The inmates claim
they were selectively prosecuted based on race because no white inmates
were charged. But a Payne County judge says no evidence was presented to
support their claim. About 40 black inmates allegedly beat about 20 white
inmates with baseball bats and horseshoes in a recreation area at the
Cimarron Correctional Facility in March 2005. Adam Gene Lippert of
Davenport, a member of a white prison gang, was slain and 20 inmates were
injured. Inmate Eric M. Johnson, a convicted killer from Tulsa County, is
charged with first-degree murder. Others were charged with participating in
the riot.
June 6, 2006 Cushing Daily Citizen
A convicted murderer pleaded guilty Tuesday to stabbing an inmate at the
Cimarron Correctional Facility, about three weeks after a
racially-motivated riot at the Cushing private prison that left one inmate
dead and 15 injured. David Jovann Davis, 25, was given a 20-year prison
term concurrent with a life sentence he is serving on a 1998 conviction for
first-degree murder in Muskogee County. Payne County District Attorney Rob
Hudson said that Davis accepted a plea bargain Tuesday rather than go to
trial this month on the assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charge
in the Cushing prison stabbing. "We believe this conviction will keep
him from ever being eligible for parole. We expect that he will die in
prison," Hudson said. Davis was charged with stabbing inmate Jeremy
Deeter, 29, three times in the neck with a homemade knife in a dayroom
"right in front of guard witnesses," on April 15, 2005,
prosecutor Tom Lee said.
April 25, 2006 Cushing Daily Citizen
A Cushing woman has been charged with possession of marijuana at the
Cimarron Correctional Facility while she was working at the private prison
in Cushing as a guard. Niki L. Ventris, 27, was arrested by Cushing Police
Officer Adam Harp after a drug dog hit on her vehicle in the prison parking
lot on April 8, an affidavit said. Ventris, who was released from jail
after posting $5,000 bond, pleaded not guilty at her arraignment April 10.
She is due to return to court May 8 when she can ask for a preliminary
hearing on the felony charge.
December 28, 2005 Cushing Daily Citizen
A visitor to Cushing's private prison who was arrested after a drug dog hit
on her hands during a narcotics checkpoint inside the facility has been
placed on probation for five years. Suzanne Putnam, 41, will not have a
criminal record if she successfully completes probation, since she was
given a deferred sentence as part of a plea bargain Dec. 23. Putnam
admitted carrying the prescription drugs, Xanax and Diazepam, into the
Cimarron Correctional Facility on Nov. 22, 2004, when she also had
marijuana and drug paraphernalia in her car, according to her guilty plea.
December 2, 2005 KOTV
An update on a riot at a private prison in Cushing earlier this year, where
one inmate was killed. The riot was caught on tape and one inmate has been
charged with murder. The judge has now set a trial date. Eric Johnson is
accused of killing Adam Lippert in the Cimarron Correction facility in
Cushing. The riot in question happened back in March and was caught on a
prison surveillance camera. The riot occurred in the recreation area of the
prison. Adam Lippert was fatally stabbed during this riot and the defense
attorney says this video will show that his client was several yards away
from Lippert during the brawl.
August 18, 2005 Oklahoman
The Cushing prison is in lockdown and an inmate who was stabbed Tuesday
morning still is in a hospital, a prison spokeswoman said Wednesday. The
two inmates accused of attacking him have been moved to segregated housing,
said Linda Hurst, warden’s assistant at the Cimarron Correctional Facility.
Although two inmates are accused in the stabbing, Hurst wouldn’t say whether
the victim suffered multiple stab wounds.
August 17, 2005 KOTV
For the third time this year, an inmate has been stabbed at the same
Oklahoma prison. It happened at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in
Cushing. It's a private prison, which remains on lockdown following the
stabbing on Tuesday. Officials say the inmate was stabbed in the chest and
abdomen, but his injuries are not life-threatening. Two people are in
isolation and a weapon was confiscated after the stabbing.
August 10, 2005 Oklahoman
Four inmates accused of participating in a prison riot in which an inmate
was killed were ordered Tuesday to stand trial in Payne County District
Court. Payne County Special Judge Phillip Corley found probable cause that
Cedric D. Poore, 31; Eugene Gutierrez, 33; Shawn P. Byrd, 32; and Jason J.
Williamson, 22, participated in the March 22 riot at Cimarron Correctional
Facility that left inmate Adam Lippert dead from stab wounds. The four men
have been charged with participating in a riot that resulted in a death.
July
13, 2005 Oklahoman
Two of seven inmates charged in connection with a riot at the Cimarron
Correctional Facility in Cushing will stand trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Eric M. Johnson will go to trial for first-degree murder, according to the
Payne County District Attorney's office. Cedars More will be tried for
participating in a riot that resulted in death. He originally was charged
with first-degree murder, but prosecutors amended it. Adam Lippert, 32, was
stabbed to death March 22 during the Cimarron riot.
June 20, 2005 The Association Press
State & Local Wire
A drug-smuggling ring that
provided inmates at a private prison with marijuana, methamphetamine,
cocaine and heroine will be the focus of a multi-county grand jury
investigation that begins Tuesday. Officials have tracked more than
$200,000 coming from 14 states used to buy the drugs for inmates at the
Lawton Correctional Facility, said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. At least 100 inmates
are suspected customers. Inmates and their families organized the
shipments and a guard suspected of helping run the operation brought the
drugs from Oklahoma City, according to court records. Former
correctional officer Michael McClain is accused of being the main
supplier. "He could get whatever they wanted as long as they
paid," Woodward said. McClain resigned in February, said Pablo
Paez, a spokesman for Geo Group Inc., which owns the private prison. The
prison houses about 1,900 medium- and minimum-security inmates. About one
in five were convicted of drug crimes. Inmate Darrin Brewer, 38, told
investigators he was facilitating drug deals while incarcerated in Lawton,
Tim Coppick, an investigator with the Department of Corrections, wrote in a
warrant filed in Oklahoma County. Brewer is on parole after serving time
for trafficking and delivering narcotics. Brewer said he orchestrated
the operation by using a cell phone McClain smuggled into the prison.
Inmates are not allowed to have cell phones. Investigators uncovered
a similar scheme last year at the Cimarron Correctional Facility, a private
prison in Cushing. That prison is owned by Corrections Corporation of
America. Five people, including a guard, were charged.June
4, 2005 Stillwater News Press
A seventh man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of
a prison inmate during a riot at the Cimarron Correctional Facility.
Prosecutors this week charged Mark Anthony Ford, 30, in the March 22 murder
of Adam Lippert after law enforcement officers identified him while
reviewing videotapes of the riot, according to an affidavit written by
Cushing Police Officer Curtis Booher. Lippert, 32, died as a result of stab
wounds sustained during the riot, according to Booher's affidavit. Lippert
was stabbed in the face, scalp, chest, abdomen, shoulder, elbow, arm and
trunk, according to the affidavit.
April 23, 2005 Tulsa World
A convicted Tulsa County murderer who was serving a life sentence at
Cushing's Cimarron Correctional Facility made repeated stabbing motions
toward an inmate who was slain in a March 22 melee at the private prison,
court documents allege. Eric M. Johnson, 31, one of six inmates who are
charged with first-degree murder, was identified from a videotape of the
incident as fighting with the inmate who was killed, according to an
affidavit by state Department of Corrections investigator Tim Coppick.
"The riot only lasted a few minutes, but when the mayhem was over,
Lippert had been beaten and fatally stabbed, and more than a dozen other
inmates were seriously injured," Payne County District Attorney Rob
Hudson said in a news release. "This became an issue between whites
and blacks. It is gang-related," Hudson said in a telephone interview
about the melee in a recreational area at the prison, which is owned and
operated by Corrections Corporation of America. Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown said Friday that a number of
knives, bats and horseshoes were confiscated.
April 22, 2005 Oklahoman
First-degree murder charges were filed Thursday against six inmates
involved in a race-related prison riot last month that left one inmate dead
and 13 others injured. Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson said he
anticipates the death penalty will be sought against some of the men. He
said as many as 20 more men could be charged with lesser crimes, including
assault and battery with a deadly weapon. As many as 65 prisoners in two
gangs fought March 22 in a recreational area of the privately operated
Cimarron Correctional Facility. One inmate, Adam Lippert, 32, was fatally
stabbed during the riot in which inmates used aluminum bats, horseshoes and
homemade weapons. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman
Jessica Brown said about 40 black inmates attacked about 15 white inmates.
Eric Marquel Johnson, 31, who already is serving a life sentence for
murder, was identified as the man who stabbed Lippert, Brown said.
March 30, 2005 Tulsa World
The longest lockdown in the history of Cimarron Correctional Facility
moved into its second week Tuesday as an investigation continued into last
week's gang-related brawl that left one inmate dead and 15 injured. More
than 100 prisoners have been interviewed by Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation agents, who for the past week have spent every day, including
Easter, at the private prison, said OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown. The
investigation is expected to take several weeks, she said. The fight is
believed to have involved about 60 inmates, some using aluminum bats, horseshoes
and homemade weapons, as they fought in an outdoor part of the gymnasium on
March 22. "The problematic thing is the sheer magnitude of it, the
number of people involved, who was culpable; identification will be an
issue," Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson said.
March 24, 2005 Tulsa World
An inmate who was killed in what might have been a gang-related brawl
Tuesday at the Cimarron Correctional Facility was tattooed with symbols of the
Aryan Brotherhood, a white-supremacist prison gang. Prison spokeswoman
Linda Hurst said Wednesday that she would not comment on what sparked the
fight or whether it was racially motivated while the investigation into the
incident is ongoing. The slain inmate was identified as Adam Gene Lippert,
32, of Davenport, who had been in the private prison since Dec. 2 on a
10-year sentence for conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine in Lincoln
County. About 100 prisoners were in the gymnasium when the brawl began
about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman
Jessica Brown said. Hurst said she did not know how many prisoners were
involved in the fights, but she estimated the number at "between 40
and 60." It took about 10 minutes for the staff to bring the situation
under control, she said. Brown said she did not have any information on the
cause of Lippert's death or the injuries he suffered. "All I know is
baseball bats were used" in the brawl, she said. No arrests had been
made, Brown said. Hurst said eight inmates including Lippert, and not six
as reported earlier, were taken to hospitals in Cushing, Stillwater and
Tulsa, and that eight other inmates whose injuries were "not as
significant" were treated in the prison's medical unit.
March 24, 2005 Oklahoman
Investigators said Wednesday at least 100 inmates may have been involved in
the Cimarron Correctional Facility prison riot that left one dead and 13
others injured. One inmate is in critical condition and another is in serious
condition after gang members attacked each other Tuesday with metal
softball bats. An attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of
Oklahoma said the organization is investigating the role of the guards in
the prison. No guards were injured. "It's made me really concerned
what's going on there," ACLU staff attorney Tina Izadi said. The fight
at the private prison broke out between gangs at an outdoor recreation area
about 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, and was under control within 10 minutes, prison
spokeswoman Linda Hurst said. Hurst said the prisoners broke into the
recreation room where softball bats are stored. She said she didn't know
how the bats were taken because the area is supposed to be secure.
Authorities are using surveillance videotape to investigate.
March 23, 2005 Oklahoman
One inmate was killed and five others were injured, one critically,
when gang members, some armed with bats, rioted Tuesday afternoon at the
Cimarron Correctional Facility, officials said. The fight at the private
prison in Cushing broke out between two gangs using an outdoor recreation
area about 1:20 p.m., and was under control quickly, prison spokeswoman
Linda Hurst said. "Initial indications are that it was gang-related,
with an undetermined number of inmates using recreation equipment located
in the gym as weapons to assault another group of inmates," Hurst
said. Softball bats were used as weapons, she said, although she did not
know what was used to kill the inmate. Jessica Brown, spokeswoman for the
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said, "As far as we know, it
was a bat that was used." Inmates normally get bats by checking them
out at the gym, Hurst said, but she did not know whether they were checked
out in this instance. The Cushing facility is accredited by the American
Correctional Association.
February 4, 2005 Cushing Daily News
A visitor who is accused of carrying controlled drugs into Cushing's
private prison is due in court Monday when she can ask for a preliminary
hearing on the felony charge. Suzanne Putnam, 40, could receive as much as
a five-year prison term and $1,000 fine if convicted of carrying contraband
into the Cimarron Correctional Facility. Putnam, of Oklahoma City, is
accused of bringing the drugs, Xanax and Diazepam, into the Cushing prison
during a visit on Nov. 22, 2004, court records show. The drugs are used as
muscle relaxers, Cushing Police Sgt. Jack Ford said Tuesday. Putnam also is
also alleged to have had marijuana and drug paraphernalia in her possession
on the same day. If convicted of those misdemeanors, she could receive as
much as two years' incarceration and a $2,000 fine.
January 24, 2005 Cushing Daily News
A convicted murderer who is serving a life sentence in Cushing's private
prison was given five more years Friday after pleading guilty to having a
$100 bill in the Cimarron Correctional Facility. Possession of money by an
inmate is considered contraband and carries a sentence of five to 20 years
on conviction, according to the felony charge. Melvin T. Perry, 53, had a
folded $100 bill between the sole and upper part of his left shoe on Aug.
30 when he was searched as he left the visiting area at Cimarron
Correctional Facility, an affidavit by Cushing prison investigator Curt
Booher said. His wife, Gracie Lee Perry, 58, of Spencer, allegedly admitted
to authorities that she brought the money into the prison in her left front
pocket and then slid it across the table to him during her visit, the
affidavit said.
February 20, 2004
State agents are looking for a man they suspect of funneling drugs into a
private prison in Cushing, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics said
Thursday. Agents executed a search warrant at the Forest Park home of
Loy Eugene Driver, 33. Driver was not there, but agents found 2 pounds of
marijuana, a pound of rock cocaine, $10,000 cash and several weapons. The
drugs have a street value of about $8,300. Mark Woodward, bureau
spokesman, said Driver has been supplying drugs to Cimarron Correctional
Facility. Driver's record includes convictions for second-degree
murder, eluding a police officer and possession of a controlled substance,
state corrections records show. The bureau said Driver was released
from prison in 2001. Records show he is under state supervision.
Woodward said Driver was involved in a drive-by shooting that resulted in a
death. The bureau states that since Driver's release, he's been
charged with two counts of drug possession, possession of a firearm after a
felony conviction and eluding police. The investigation began last fall.
Cimarron Correctional Facility officials' inquiry led to the arrest of
Steven Zoope Williams, 27. Williams was a correctional officer
and is accused of making a deal to bring methamphetamine to an inmate. He
was charged in January with one count of trafficking illegal drugs and two
counts of using a telephone to facilitate the commission of a felony.
Drug activity isn't uncommon in prisons, corrections department spokesman
Jerry Massie said. Many inmates were drug users before their
incarceration. "That's why we emphasize interdiction,"
Massie said. "People are always trying to get drugs into the
system." (Oklahoman)
January 31, 2004
A correctional officer has been accused of making a deal to deliver
methamphetamines to an inmate at the private Cushing prison where he
worked. Steven Zoope Williams, 27, of Cushing was charged Thursday in
Oklahoma County District Court with one count of trafficking in illegal
drugs and two counts of using a telephone to facilitate the commission of a
felony. Williams was arrested Oct. 1 after an Oklahoma State Bureau
of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control agent delivered about five ounces
of methamphetamines to him, a court affidavit states. (Oklahoman)
January 6, 2004
Prisoners at a northern Oklahoma prison were locked in their cells after
they beefed about a new, low fat "heart-healthy" menu by
boycotting the cafeteria, officials say. The prisoners remained
locked up over the weekend at the Cimarron Correctional Facility, a
privately run prison, because they objected to meals that take ground beef
out of some dishes and replace it with lower fat ground turkey, said Linda
Hurst, the prison's programs manager, on Tuesday. "As a
precautionary measure, we locked them down to investigate if there was
anything more serious than a boycott," Hurst said. Hurst said
the situation at the prison was not volatile and prisoners returned to the
cafeteria on Monday The typical dinner menu may include turkey
meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy and peas. "The meatloaf is where the
heart-healthy diet comes in," she said. Hurst said the new menus
have been used for a few months in order to reduce the fat in prisoners'
diets. Some of the inmates said they would rather not eat than take another
bite of turkey loaf. The Cimarron Correctional Facility, with
about 900 inmates, is operated by the Corrections Corporation of
America. A spokesman for the Oklahoma prison system said it has no
plans to introduce heart-healthy meals for its prisons state-wide.
(Yahoo.com)
May 6, 2003
An inmate who was being held in a private prison in Cushing was ordered
Monday to stand trial on a charge of attacking a guard at the Cimarron
Corrections Facility last year. Because of his criminal record,
Jerome Shaun McCoy, 35, could receive as much as a life prison sentence if
he is convicted of assault and battery on an employee of a private prison
contractor, according to prosecutor Jack Bowyer. (Tulsa World)
August 29, 2002
Two former inmates at
Cushing's private prison were arraigned Wednesday on charges of assaulting
two female Cimarron Correctional Facility guards in separate attacks.
Both alleged assaults occurred last winter, but charges were not filed
until last week, court records show. In an incident two months earlier at the Cushing prison
operated by Corrections Corporation of America, inmate Joe Lopez Jr., 29,
who is serving 10 years for second-degree burglary, was charged with
assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for an alleged Dec. 27
razor-blade attack on corrections Officer Brenda Hadix. (Tulsa World)
August 23, 2002
STILLWATER -- A convicted
sex offender who was severely beaten in Cushing's private prison does not
want to testify against his alleged assailant, a convicted killer,
prosecutor Tom Lee said Thursday. The assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
case was dismissed since the victim "had no desire to prosecute nor to
testify" at a preliminary hearing Wednesday against the inmate accused
in the attack, Lee said. After the Aug. 17, 2001, attack in the Cushing prison operated
by Corrections Corporation of America, Perosi was moved to the Diamondback
Correctional Facility in Watonga, another private prison operated by CCA,
corrections officials said. (Tulsa World)
August 1, 2002
A Payne County jury
deliberated for nine hours before convicting an inmate of possessing
marijuana at Cushing's private Cimarron Correctional Facility in November.
The jury Wednesday
recommended a five-year prison term, the minimum possible, for Thomas Kye
Thompson, 25, who served as his own lawyer at the three-day trial.
The jury also recommended
a $2 fine for Thompson for possession of drug paraphernalia, a piece of
paper that allegedly contained a small amount of marijuana.
(Oklahoman)
May 11, 2002
A former youth leader at
the River of Life Church north of Perkins was given 10 concurrent 20-year
prison terms Friday for repeatedly sexually abusing two girls who attended
the church. Rex Jason Sumner, 31, of
Perkins, who was the church's youth leader for about a year until his
arrest in December, had pleaded guilty to all 10 sexual abuse counts before
District Judge Donald Worthington. River of Life Church members had
strongly supported Sumner a year ago when he received seven years'
probation from Associate District Judge Robert Murphy Jr. for marijuana
delivery in Payne County. In court Friday, Worthington revoked that probation and handed
Sumner a concurrent seven-year prison term for smuggling a pound of
marijuana into Cushing's private prison while he worked there as a
corrections officer two years ago. (Tulsa World)
Citrus
County Detention Center, Lecanto, Florida
June
16, 2008 ABC Action News
An Inverness attorney plans to sue the company the runs Citrus county's
jail, claiming employees are treating inmates like human toilets. Attorney
Greg Jones has called a news conference today to announce his suit against
"Corrections Corporation of America and their employees regarding the
urination and defecation in the food of a former inmate at the Citrus
County Detention Facility located in Lecanto, Florida." The jail is
not run by the Citrus County sheriff, but by a private company. The
attorney did not return phone calls to ABCActionNews.com requesting
information on whether this is an isolated incident or whether other
inmates may be involved.
March 6, 2008 Bay News 9
A former guard is to blame after inmate James Coursey was allowed to
walk out of the Citrus County Detention Facility, according to corrections
officials. "Violation of policy and procedure," said Corrections
Corporation of America spokesperson Julia Swart. "She knew the policy;
she knew the procedure." Corrections Corporation of America is the
private company that runs the Citrus County Detention Facility. They fired
the guard because of mistakes the company said she made. According to CCA
the guard allowed Coursey outside into a garbage port, and then allowed
Coursey past the sally port gate to remove pallets. That's when Coursey
made his move down the road. Swart said policy only allows sentenced
misdemeanor inmates outside the fence. "Less risk with someone who is
sentenced doing a minimal amount of jail time," Swart said. But the
mistake by one guard cost the corrections company thousands. CCA has cut a
check for $58,144.92 to cover the costs of the escape. Among the
highlights, nearly $48,000 to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office for
personnel and equipment costs and a little over $100 for food from the
Homosassa Auxillary. CCA is also going to pay for the medical bills of
Michael Mokszycki's, who was attacked by Coursey. "He was like a wild
man," Mokszycki said. "Those eyes were a nightmare." As for
Coursey, he's still awaiting trial in the Citrus County Detention Facility.
A new camera has been installed near the sally port and the gates are in
the middle of being retro-fitted so they can only be opened from a control
room. Coursey had been in jail on grand theft and burglary charges.
January 14, 2008 St Petersburg Times
An escaped Citrus County prisoner attacked a homeowner with a hammer Sunday
morning and continued to elude a 100-member search team after nightfall.
James Coursey, 49, was being held on burglary and theft charges when he
escaped from the Citrus County Detention Facility about 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Throughout the weekend, Citrus County sheriff's deputies searched a 2-mile
wide area near Leisure Acres, a subdivision near the jail complex off of
County Road 491. They found no trace of Coursey. A homeowner identified
only as a Leisure Acres resident found Coursey in his shed at 10:40 a.m.
Sunday. Startled, Coursey grabbed a hammer and hit the man on the head
before fleeing. The man suffered minor wounds and was not hospitalized.
Citrus County sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Yates said Coursey fled
southward on foot, still armed with the hammer. More than 100 officers were
called in to help with the search. They included members of Citrus County
sheriff's aviation unit aboard helicopters, K-9 deputies, bloodhounds from
the Florida Department of Corrections and personnel from the Florida
Highway Patrol and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Citrus County Detention Facility spokeswoman Julia Swart said Coursey,
jailed on charges of grand theft and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling,
was in the Trusty Program and was assigned to work indoors and outdoors at
the 760-bed facility. Yates said that the search was pared back as darkness
approached, but authorities would continue looking throughout the night.
"We want to find this guy and put the community at ease," Yates
said.
January 12, 2008 AP
Authorities searched Saturday for an inmate who escaped from a
detention facility in Citrus County. James Coursey, 49, fled the Citrus
County Detention Facility on foot Friday afternoon, sheriff's officials
said. After the escape, schools in the Lecanto area were locked down and
deputies stopped cars on roads to search for Coursey, with no success,
officials said. Deputies continued their search Saturday for Coursey, who
was arrested in February on a warrant for grand theft. While jailed,
Coursey was charged with unarmed burglary of unoccupied structures. By
Saturday evening, the intensive ground search had been scaled down.
"We searched grid by grid and he was not there," Citrus County
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Heather Yates said of the 2-mile radius around
the prison. Some officers will continue searching, but the focus will now
be on talking to Coursey's family members and following leads that come in
to the sheriff's office, Yates said.
July 21, 2007 Citrus Chronicle
Maria Puzino didn’t expect country club conditions during a recent two-week
stay in the Citrus County Detention Facility. But the 46-year-old Inverness
woman didn’t expect the treatment she said she received. Puzino, jailed on
charges of violating probation, said corrections workers withheld her
anti-depressant medication, openly discussed her medical condition with
others and repeatedly harassed her. She said she spent four days on suicide
watch because she wasn’t given her medication. During one of those nights,
she said, a corrections officer gave her specific instructions as to the
best way to kill herself. Puzino detailed the allegations in a letter to
the Nashville, Tenn.-based headquarters of Corrections Corp. of America,
the company that operates the detention facility for Citrus County. CCA is
investigating the complaints, company spokeswoman Julia Swart said. “We
take these allegations seriously they are being thoroughly investigated,”
Swart said in a statement. “After the investigation is complete the
findings will be immediately communicated with our customer.” The
“customer,” she said, is the Citrus County government. Swart declined
further comment. Charles Poliseno, Citrus County’s director of public
safety, said he met with CCA officials Wednesday and concluded that nothing
wrong occurred.
June 16, 2007 Ocala Star-Banner
Marion County Sheriff's Office brass say they can continue to staff and
operate the county jail more cheaply than a contracted private firm. At the
request of the County Commission, department officials recently checked
with nearby Hernando and Citrus counties. They both contract with a
national firm, Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, to run their
jails. In a letter to County Commission Chairman Stan McClain, sheriff's
Maj. Paul Laxton said that, at the rate CCA charges Citrus County, the cost
to run the Marion jail would go from about $25.2 million to $38.3 million.
Laxton wrote that the figure did not reflect the cost for off-site medical
expenses for inmates. The county commissions in Hernando and Citrus
counties pay for that as an additional cost, while the Marion Sheriff's
Office includes it in the budget. That cost was $1.356 million in 2005-06,
Laxton wrote. "We are the lowest cost-per-day jail in any of the
counties I know of in Central Florida," Sheriff Ed Dean said. McClain
said there is not a push on the County Commission to privatize the jail. He
said commissioners asked for the cost comparison during a recent planning
discussion as they looked for ways to trim the county budget as property
tax reform loomed. "We had heard other counties were privatizing, but
we didn't know what their cost was," he said. McClain said that, as
far as he is concerned, the cost comparison ended that discussion.
January 11, 2007 Citrus County Chronicle
A civil rights law firm will take over a federal lawsuit accusing
guards at the Citrus County Detention Facility of contaminating former
inmates’ food with human waste. Inverness attorneys Bill Grant and Bo
Samargya had been representing five former inmates in the lawsuit, filed
March 10, 2006, in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
However, Grant said Wednesday he will hand the case over to a law firm that
specializes in civil rights lawsuits. He said the “depth” of the case has
forced him to get another firm involved. Grant did not name the law firm,
which he said has offices in Tampa and Orlando, and that he planned to hand
the case over soon. “It’s a document-intensive and time-intensive
situation,” he said, adding his law firm is handling a murder trial in
Pennsylvania in March, another one in February, a “major” civil trial in
the summer and other cases. “It’s often so busy here that to do that one
right, we’d have to shut down and do nothing but that case for a month.”
The nine-count lawsuit accuses corrections officers at the county jail in
Lecanto of urinating and defecating into the food and drink of inmates.
Former inmates Javon Walker, Jeffrey Young, Gregory Platt, Larry Robbins
and Matthew Pavlisin were named as plaintiffs in the initial lawsuit. The
inmates accuse former guards of violating their civil rights, including
accusations of torture and cruel punishment. In 2004, all were housed at
one point in the jail’s segregation unit, a wing that houses inmates
considered to be a safety risk. Corrections Corporation of America, the
private Tennessee-based company that operates the jail, is also named in
the lawsuit. It’s accused of negligent hiring and supervision, with Grant
previously saying the corporation didn’t properly investigate the
accusations. Two guards and a supervisor were fired before the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement and Citrus County Sheriff’s Office started an
investigation March 21. Before the investigation began, former guard Kevin
Hessler admitted to urinating in an inmate’s juice jug, according to
documents. The FDLE investigation is still ongoing with interviews of
witnesses taking place, spokeswoman Trena Reddick said earlier this week.
December 30, 2006 St Petersburg Times
How did a jail trusty manage to slip away from a work detail this week,
elude a manhunt and get all the way to the east coast? He called his
girlfriend. She drove over and picked him up. They headed out of town.
That’s what Santana Schiedenhelm told investigators after they got caught
Thursday. Her boyfriend wasn’t talking. The escape method, which
authorities reported Friday, was one of the last mysteries left about this
case. Jose Felix Malagon-Cervantes, 25, faces a charge of escaping while in
transport or working on roads, a second-degree felony. An inmate at the
Citrus County jail, Malagon-Cervantes worked as a trusty at the Kensington
Fire Station just off State Road 44 and west of Inverness. Trusties are
nonviolent, misdemeanor offenders who are permitted to work outside the jail,
earning as many as 10 days off a sentence each month. Corrections
Corporation of America, a private company that runs the jail, decides which
inmates are considered trustworthy enough to work outside its gates.
December 29, 2006 St Petersburg Times
Authorities captured the escaped Citrus County inmate at 5 p.m.
Thursday, more than 100 miles from the Kensington Fire Station where he
walked off a work detail the day before. Jose Felix Malagon-Cervantes, 25,
faces a charge of escaping while in transport or working on roads, a
second-degree felony. He was found in Holly Hill, north of Daytona Beach.
Also arrested was his 20-year-old girlfriend, Santana Schiedenhelm, who was
charged on an unrelated count of filing false information to law
enforcement.
December 28, 2006 St Petersburg Times
A Citrus County inmate trusted to work outside the barbed wire walls of
the jail remained on the lam Wednesday night after he walked off a job at a
fire station earlier in the day. Authorities launched an aggressive manhunt
for Jose Felix Malagon-Cervantes, 25, in the nearby Withlacoochee State
Forest using helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and canine units but called
it off at 6 p.m. as darkness fell. The search will not resume today because
the inmate is not considered dangerous, said sheriff's spokeswoman Gail
Tierney. He will likely face an escape charge if he turns up.
Malagon-Cervantes was labeled a trusty, a designation awarded to nonviolent
offenders who are permitted to work outside the jail. Trusties can earn up
to 10 days off a sentence each month. Malagon-Cervantes was arrested in
August for violating his drug offender probation. His arrest record
includes charges of drug possession and larceny, according to the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement. He was last seen working at the Kensington
Fire Station in central Citrus County when he told his supervisor, a
fire-rescue maintenance official, that he wasn't feeling well. The
official, who is trained in inmate supervision, allowed him to lay down in
one of the service vehicles, said Patty Jefferson, assistant fire chief.
When the unnamed official went to check on him "a short time
later," Malagon-Cervantes was gone, Jefferson said.
July 23, 2006 St Petersburg Times
He's been the warden of the Citrus County Detention Facility for five
years, and now Carlos Melendez is getting a promotion. Corrections
Corporation of America, the private company that runs the jail, is
promoting Melendez to a managing director position on the business
management team. It's not clear where he'll work once the promotion goes
through, but it won't be in Citrus County. Officials say it's unknown when
a replacement will be found. Until then, Melendez remains in charge of the
jail. The process for finding Melendez's replacement will begin with CCA,
officials said. According to Charles Poliseno, the director of the county's
public safety department, after the company picks a candidate, local
officials - possibly Poliseno or Assistant County Administrator Tom Dick -
will interview that person and present a recommendation to the County
Commission. Commissioners will make the final call, Poliseno said. CCA
spokesman Steve Owen said the company is gathering and evaluating
candidates. "We generally don't want to put a strict time line on this
because we want to ensure we're making the best decisions possible,"
Owen said. Melendez has presided over the jail since March 2001. Earlier
this year, inmates said guards had been putting human waste in their food,
and several CCA employees were fired. Melendez previously has said that the
inmates never complained of health problems and that the only evidence came
from one of the terminated guard's statements.
April 16, 2006 St Petersburg Times
In 2003, county commissioners voted unanimously for an $11-million
expansion of the Hernando County Jail. But before they cast their votes,
Commissioner Robert Schenck had one question about the cost: "I was
wondering if before we moved ahead you could do a cost analysis of what it
would cost for (Corrections Corporation of America) to build that and then
subsequently lease it back to the county and what it would cost us on our
bond payments with interest and see how close we are with the
numbers," Schenck inquired. The county's purchasing director, Jim
Gantt, said that wasn't an option. CCA doesn't pay for expansions; it only
pays to build new facilities, he explained. And besides, having CCA finance
the expansion would be more expensive because private companies cannot
borrow as cheaply as government, Gantt said. Citrus County had different
ideas. Last fall, the Citrus County Commission voted to let CCA pay for the
entire expansion of its jail. The county will not pay a cent as long as it
continues its day-to-day operational contract with CCA for the next 20
years. "We found that it actually saves us from having to go out and
borrow the money and have to construct the facility ourselves," Citrus
Commissioner Vicki Phillips said. Fellow Commissioner Joyce Valentino said
the benefit was obvious: "We don't have to use the taxpayers' tax
dollars." How could neighboring counties get such different deals?
According to Gantt, CCA never offered to pay for Hernando's expansion. CCA
spokesman Steven Owen could not explain why, except to say that CCA doesn't
take a "cookie cutter approach" to writing contracts. "Why
we didn't offer that instead of this really isn't relevant," he said.
The last time Hernando's contract came up for renewal, at an April 11,
2000, commission meeting, Commissioner Bobbi Mills said she preferred to
renegotiate rather than rebid, as did Commissioner Pat Novy. They both said
that significant research had been done to convince them that there was no
reason to put the contract out to bid - that they could tell how CCA
stacked up to its competitors without bidding. Commissioner Chris Kingsley
also voted in favor of renegotiation rather than rebidding. "I can't
remember the exact reason why," Kingsley said recently. "I would
agree that on most circumstances, you would go out for bid just like we did
for waste hauling. I guess maybe we assumed at the time that the
competitors couldn't have beaten the services we had." Only three
commissioners voted on the contract extension. Commissioners Nancy Robinson
and Paul Sullivan were asked by the county attorney to recuse themselves
because Robinson's daughter and Sullivan's wife were working at the
Hernando jail. More than half of the officers at the Hernando jail are
uncertified, working on "temporary employment authorization"
status, which allows them to serve as guards while they go to school for
the state certification. Hernando warden Don Stewart, who took over in
February, said he planned to increase the number of certified officers at
the jail. He said the high percentage of uncertified officers was a result
of the hiring binge needed to keep up with the jail's recent expansion.
However, records show that as far back as March 2000, 41 percent of the
jail's guards were uncertified. Stewart said that he was proud of his staff
and that the distinction between certified and uncertified officers wasn't
important. "Are we in violation of any state statutes?" he asked.
But a recent inquiry by the State Attorney's Office found that the large
number of uncertified officers was "without question a contributing
factor to the problems experienced by the (Hernando) jail." Retired
Hernando Sheriff Thomas Mylander, who ran the jail before CCA took it over
in the late 1980s, also criticized the heavy reliance on uncertified
officers. "That's totally unacceptable," he said. "The
county is paying for a service the individuals said they could run
correctly for that amount. . . . I've never heard of any place that had
half their employees uncertified."
April 4, 2006 Citrus County Chronicle
A recent lawsuit filed by four former Citrus County Correctional
Facility inmates alleging prisoner abuse has placed Corrections Corporation
of America (CCA), which operates the facility, in the public spotlight. The
lawsuit contends that at least two corrections officers urinated and
defecated in inmates food and drink several times in late 2004. While CCA
has acknowledged that one corrections officer admitted to spiking inmate
juice with human urine on two occasions, it rebukes the claim of systemic
torture and abuse by the plaintiffs lawyers as pure fabrication and without
merit. Whether the claim of systemic torture and abuse being investigated
by the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement proves to have merit
or not, the mere admission that bodily waste was placed in the juice of
inmates resurrects nagging questions about contracting out jail oversight
to a for-profit company. The privatization of corrections wrongly entrusts
that responsibility to the financial expectations of investors. With
government ultimately responsible for both the inmates and the publics
welfare, corrections operations must be publicly open and accountable.
While privatized government services are subject to Florida's open-records
laws, there's a greater tendency for private companies to distance
themselves from public accountability. In the short term, county government
needs to provide more aggressive oversight of CCA. Accordingly, it may want
to consider the example of Hernando County, which last week appointed a
former law enforcement officer to monitor CCA's operation of its correctional
facility full time. In the long term, county government should seriously
weigh its core responsibility for corrections against any promised
privatization savings. For when it comes to the corrections bottom line,
privatization is socially and ethically unacceptable.
March 24, 2006 St Petersburg Times
County Commissioner Vicki Phillips said she has "lost trust"
in County Administrator Richard Wesch over his handling of the allegations
of abuse at the Citrus County jail. "When you lose trust in your
administrator and you lose the confidence in the administrator that he's
providing you with all the complete information that you need on issues, I
can't do my job and serve the people of Citrus County," she said in an
interview Thursday afternoon. "So something has to change."
Phillips' remarks came after she sent a memo to Wesch asking who in county
government had been notified of the firing of two corrections officers and
a supervisor at the facility after allegations surfaced that guards had urinated
in inmates' drinks. Phillips said county commissioners were not notified of
the allegations until a federal lawsuit was filed by two local lawyers on
behalf of four men who say they suffered medical problems because of the
contamination. Two other commissioners, Joyce Valentino and Chairman Gary
Bartell, have also expressed concern at Wesch's handling of the matter.
Wesch did not return a message left on his cell phone Thursday afternoon.
In the March 10 lawsuit, Javon Walker, Jeffrey Young, Larry Robbins and
Greg Platt alleged that at least two corrections officers urinated and
defecated in their food and drink several times in late 2004. Three former
employees at the Citrus jail - corrections officers Kevin Hessler and
Alexander Diaz, as well as a supervisor, Charles Mulligan - were fired in
connection with the drink accusations. On March 20, Wesch responded to
Phillips' questions in a memo. He told her that the private corrections
company that runs the jail, the Corrections Corporation of America, had notified
the county's contract monitor of the allegations. No further action was
taken by the county, Wesch wrote, because "there was no reason for us
to suspect that this was more than an alleged, unsubstantiated isolated
report." That's not a good enough answer, Phillips said. In the memo,
Wesch did not say whether he knew about the allegations. Phillips wants to
know if he knew. She wants to know if he told any of the other
commissioners and, if not, why.
March 23, 2006 St Petersburg Times
The president and chief executive of the private company that runs the
Citrus County jail has accused a local law firm of using media coverage to
push for a larger lawsuit settlement. In a March 16 letter to County
Administrator Richard Wesch, Corrections Corporation of America CEO John D.
Ferguson said it was "not appropriate" to defend itself through
news conferences and media statements. He accused Inverness lawyers Bill
Grant and Bo Samargya of using the news media to pressure the company,
calling the lawyers' actions "overt efforts to influence a larger
settlement outcome or award through media coverage." Grant called the
statement "asinine." "(CCA's) all over the place," he
said. "I just like sitting around watching them squirm. I can't believe
it." The news of the latest barb between CCA and the lawyers came on
the day Grant announced a fifth plaintiff in a federal suit against the
company. Matthew Pavlisin, who was a teen when he was held at the facility
on charges of armed burglary and theft, was abused at the jail, Grant said.
March 10, Grant and Samargya filed a federal suit against CCA, claiming
that four inmates had been forced to drink liquid contaminated with human
urine and eat food that contained fecal matter. Javon Walker, Jeffrey
Young, Larry Robbins and Greg Platt claim that at least two corrections
officers urinated and defecated in their food and drink several times at
the jail in 2004. Grant plans to file an amended complaint, naming Pavlisin
and others, in coming weeks. "(CCA) can cast whatever aspersions they
want," Grant said. "The outcome of this is going to be decided in
a federal courthouse." Grant will also file a wrongful termination
suit on behalf of Charles Mulligan, a supervisor at the facility fired in
connection with the drink accusations, he said. Two former employees at the
Citrus jail, correctional officers Kevin Hessler and Alexander Diaz, were
also fired because of the accusations. Since the lawsuit was filed, both
sides have talked with news reporters about the allegations. Grant says the
company knew about the contamination and failed to do anything, including
providing medical testing, for the inmates. CCA representatives have
questioned Grant's motives, suggesting he's demanding large amounts of
money from the company. In the letter to Wesch, CCA also called the claims
of torture and abuse "pure fabrication." Grant said he doesn't
buy it. "I guess p---ing and p---ing in someone's food is not abuse or
torture. ... We've been saying the same thing over time. We're not the ones
scrambling about like a cockroach when the light comes on," he said.
March 22, 2006 St Petersburg Times
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will lead an investigation
into allegations of wrongdoing at the Citrus County jail. Sheriff's
spokeswoman Gail Tierney said the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation will also assist as needed. The decision to
start an investigation came after officials from the Sheriff's Office, the
FDLE, the FBI and the State Attorney's Office discussed allegations of
inmate abuse Tuesday afternoon. Sheriff Jeff Dawsy asked for the FDLE's
assistance "to avoid any conflict of interest," Tierney said,
because the Sheriff's Office has such close ties with the jail. Once the
investigation is completed, Tierney said, authorities will submit findings
to the State Attorney's Office for review. "We will absolutely be
cooperating fully with that investigation," said Steve Owen, a
spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, the private contractor
that runs the jail. He declined to comment further on the allegations or
the investigation. Earlier this month four inmates filed a federal lawsuit
against CCA. Javon Walker, Jeffrey Young, Larry Robbins and Greg Platt
alleged that at least two corrections officers urinated and defecated in
their food and drink several times in late 2004. Three former jail
employees - corrections officers Kevin Hessler and Alexander Diaz as well
as a supervisor, Charles Mulligan - were fired in connection with the drink
accusations. In a meeting with reporters last week, a company spokesman
said that if any incident occurred, it was not indicative of a larger
problem at the facility. Attorney Bill Grant, who is representing the
inmates, said Tuesday that he was excited to learn of the FDLE investigation.
"The taxpayers of Citrus County are finally going to find out what
happened at their local county jail," he said. "CCA's been doing
nothing but doublespeak. Well, the doublespeak is over."
March 21, 2006 St Petersburg Times
County commissioners said they weren't notified when allegations of
inmate abuse at the Citrus County jail surfaced in 2004. Now they want to
know why. "I definitely would have liked to have known about it, only
because I'm responsible back to the citizens," County Commission
Chairman Gary Bartell said. "When the issue did come up, I would have
liked to have known there was an ongoing investigation." Bartell was
not the only commissioner concerned about why the board wasn't notified of
the allegations. In a memo Wednesday to County Administrator Richard Wesch,
Commissioner Vicki Phillips requested answers to the who, how and when of
the situation. "If the county was notified in December 2004, why was
this information not relayed to me and the other commissioners?"
Phillips said. "Or was it relayed to other commissioners?" The
commissioners' concerns came more than a week after four inmates filed a
federal lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America, a private
contractor that runs the county jail. Javon Walker, Jeffrey Young, Larry
Robbins and Greg Platt alleged that at least two corrections officers
urinated and defecated in their food and drink several times in late 2004.
Three former employees at the Citrus jail - corrections officers Kevin
Hessler and Alexander Diaz as well as a supervisor, Charles Mulligan - were
fired in connection with the drink accusations. A company spokesman met
with reporters and county officials last week, saying that if any incident
occurred, it was not indicative of a larger problem at the facility.
Representatives from the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,
the State Attorney's Office and the Citrus County Sheriff's Office were set
to meet this afternoon at the sheriff's headquarters in Inverness, said
sheriff's spokeswoman Gail Tierney. Tierney said the officials will meet to
determine whether to investigate and which agency would handle it.
Corrections Corporation of America has said that it told the county about
the allegations. On Monday, spokesman Steve Owen said the company told
public safety director Charles Poliseno about the accusations. Poliseno
didn't return a message left at his office, but county spokeswoman Jessica
Lambert confirmed that Poliseno was notified of the alleged incident in
December 2004. "He was notified an incident had occurred, an
investigation was taking place and personnel action would be taken,"
she said. The county is searching for documents from that time to see how
and when that notification took place. Poliseno remembered speaking with
someone from the jail about the allegations, Lambert said, but he wasn't
sure if he ever had anything in writing. Typically, if a public safety
director has information for the commissioners, it first goes through the
county administrator, Lambert said. The county administrator did not return
a message left at his office, but an office representative said Wesch
planned to release a memo on the subject today. Whatever happened in 2004,
Bartell said he wished that he would have known about the accusations
before the lawsuit was filed. When accusations of problems at the Hernando
County Jail - which is also run by Corrections Corporation of America -
came to light recently, Bartell sent a memo to Wesch, trying to ensure that
the Citrus jail didn't have any problems. The memo was passed on to the
company, Bartell said. "CCA wrote a letter back assuring there were no
problems out here at the Citrus County facility," he said. Bartell
said he was later told that the commissioners weren't notified because county
staffers thought the problem was resolved. "I really don't know all
the circumstances yet, but it's very obvious that it wasn't over,"
Bartell said. "I know they're strictly allegations, but it's obvious
that there's a problem that spread wider than just those guards and the
inmates ... the proper way to have handled it was to have notified
us."
March 14, 2006 Bay News 9
The controversy surrounds if the commission was aware of the abuse at
the facility. The operators of the CCA detention facility accused of abuse
and torture are promising to fight the charges, even as the list of victims
grows and the county demands answers. For the first time, the Citrus County
Commission has learned about a federal civil lawsuit as attorney Bill Grant
shared information with Bay News 9 and our partner, the Citrus County
Chronicle. "Over a year ago we came to learn that several inmates were
being abused and tortured by being forced to consume bodily waste of
another," Grant told the commission Tuesday. "They couldn't go and
say 'No, I want something else to eat' or 'No, I want something else to
drink.' They were housed in a segregation unit, isolated by the very men
and women that tortured them." The question being posed is: were
Citrus County commissioners aware? Grant said he has evidence pointing to a
possible coverup, that when three guards linked to the alleged abuse were
fired in December of 2004, the county wasn't told why they were being
fired. "We are making a formal request of the commission to
investigate CCA (Corrections Corporation of America), either by staff or by
independent investigation, and to conduct a hearing into this matter,"
Grant said. A spokesperson for the county commission said they were
notified by CCA that guards were being fired. But they are unsure if a
reason was given. Grant talked about the expanding suit. During a press
conference that followed the commission meeting, Grant said the suit is
growing. "We will be adding multiple plaintiffs or multiple victims to
our lawsuit, who are boys under the age of 18," he said. Grant said
the problems at the Citrus County Detention Facility are ongoing. The
county commission agreed during its meeting to investigate the matter
further.
March 11, 2006 Citrus Chronicle
Four former inmates of the Citrus County Detention facility in Lecanto
are suing the private company that runs the facility and two former
corrections officers, saying their food was tampered with. In a nine-count
federal lawsuit filed Friday afternoon, the inmates say they were forced to
eat food that contained bodily waste from at least two guards at the jail.
The lawsuit claims the inmates' civil rights were violated, including
accusations of torture, by being forced to eat the tainted food. "They
couldn't go and say, 'I want something else to eat, I want something else
to drink.' They couldn't go use the telephone, they can't scream for
help," said Bill Grant, the attorney who filed the lawsuit.
"Because their assailants were the same ones charged for their
protection, and they violated that in the most obscene and disgusting
way." The complaint was electronically filed with the U.S. District
Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. At their Inverness
office, Grant and his partner, Bo Samargya, said there will likely be more
victims named in the case, and they are seeking punitive damages.
"They had been getting very sick," Grant said of inmates eating
the food. The lawsuit accuses former corrections officers Kevin Hessler and
Alexander Diaz of urinating and defecating in food and drink given to Javon
Walker, Jeffrey Young, Larry Robbins and Greg Platt, all former inmates
housed in the jail's segregation unit. The unit — separate from other
inmates — is for those considered a safety risk to themselves or staff. The
lawsuit says the incidents occurred on several occasions between Nov. 1 and
Dec. 31, 2004. The complaint accuses the former guards of cruel punishment,
torture and battery. Corrections Corporation of America, the jail's
operator, is also named in the lawsuit and is charged with negligent
hiring. The lawsuit says CCA was aware of the accusations but allowed the
guards to continue working in the segregation unit. The lawsuit centers on
a Feb. 16, 2005, telephone hearing between a former jail employee and the
Office of Employment Appeals in Tallahassee. Charles Mulligan, a former
supervisor at the facility, was fired Dec 3, 2004, for a "violation of
company policies and procedures," according to a termination notice.
At the hearing, Carlos Melendez, the jail's warden, said Mulligan was fired
after a subordinate told him he put human waste in an inmate's juice jug,
and that Mulligan didn't report it. Melendez testified Mulligan and the
subordinate, who he identified as Hessler, were fired. He also said he
learned Diaz acknowledged doing the same thing, though he denied it when
confronted by Melendez. Grant, who was at the hearing representing
Mulligan, asked if Melendez notified law enforcement or asked to have the
incidents investigated. "No we have not," Melendez replied,
according to a hearing transcript. Meanwhile, Grant is asking for an
investigation into the jail, and points at other incidents in surrounding
counties at CCA-operated jails, including suicides. Samargya said charges
should be filed in this case. "These are crimes," he said.
"If the inmate would have done something like this to the (Corrections
Officer), he would have been arrested. A report would have been made."
Several agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Attorney and State Attorney's
office, were notified, Grant said. He believes the inmates deserve "a
battery of tests," because they could have been exposed to disease.
Grant said many had complained their food had a bad taste and odor, and
they suffered vomiting, stomach cramps and nausea. The lawsuit says the inmates
suffered "injury, pain and emotional distress." Grant also said
at least one inmate has been "fairly sick" since. He said he and
Samargya will not agree to any settlement in the case, and want the lawsuit
to be heard by a jury. Along with using Mulligan as a witness in the case,
Grant also expects other guards to be named later in the lawsuit, some who,
he says, still work at the jail. "Let's start an investigation, and
let's get these people out, that are doing this, out of jail," he said.
"Or put them back in it, only this time, in orange."
September 20, 2005 Citrus Times
Citrus County commissioners this week were too quick to jump on the
"build it and we'll fill it" bandwagon at the county jail. The
board agreed to double the size of the jail in Lecanto and passed on the
chance to explore several relevant issues. Their focus on Tuesday seemed to
be only on the bottom-line question of who will pay for the construction.
With the company that operates the jail under county contract, Corrections
Corporation of America, agreeing to pay for the renovations and expansion,
the commissioners quickly moved on. The agency reported in June that Citrus
County experienced a 5.6 percent drop in its overall crime rate and 7.5
percent reduction in the violent crime rate in 2004. This mirrored a
statewide trend that has seen serious crime in Florida fall for 13
consecutive years. The crime rate in Florida, in fact, is at its lowest in
34 years. However, the commissioners should have asked for some explanation
for why Citrus needs to double the size of its jail if crime is falling.
Part of that answer may be in the arrangement that the county has with CCA.
Citrus taxpayers give CCA $52.64 to house an inmate for one day, a figure
that will rise under the newly approved 10-year contract to $54.74. The
extra space in the jail is used to house federal prisoners for the U.S.
Marshals Service at a higher rate. Having extra room for these expensive
inmates translates into more money for the for-profit company. While it is
true that CCA will pick up the costs of the $18.5-million jail expansion
and renovation, there will be indirect costs to the local taxpayers beyond
the additional $2 a day they will pay to house each inmate. Traffic to the
facility will increase, for example, leading to more strain on already
congested roadways. Judicial and law enforcement costs will rise as well.
The most troubling oversight, however, was the lack of any discussion about
alternatives to incarceration.
October 29, 2004 St Petersburg Times
A former Citrus County jail inmate has filed suit against the Corrections
Corporation of America - the private company that runs the jail - and a
jail-contracted doctor, claiming the doctor and company were negligent in
caring for him. Martin T. Cahill, 42, names Dr. C. Billiston Clarke and the
Corrections Corporation of America, known as CCA, as defendants in a
medical malpractice suit, according to court documents. Cahill alleges that
Clarke, a doctor who works under contract with CCA, didn't give Cahill
proper care when Cahill suffered severe heart problems. While in jail from
Oct. 10, 2002, to March 4, 2003, Cahill suffered several medical problems,
including cardiac failure that required emergency medical treatment,
according to the suit. Cahill was admitted to the emergency room at Citrus
Memorial Hospital on March 4, 2003. He was hooked to a ventilator. The next
day he was formally released from jail. Cahill then was transported to an
Ocala hospital, where he rang up a medical bill of $152,973. This is not the
first suit filed in regard to Cahill's health problems while in jail. On
June 27, 2003, Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala filed suit against
Citrus County and CCA regarding Cahill's medical bills. The suit alleged
the county deliberately released Cahill from jail so it could avoid paying
for Cahill's medical expenses. Under state law, the county government is
required to pay medical expenses for inmates if the inmate, the inmate's
family or an insurance provider cannot afford to pay. The Tampa law firm
handling the suit for the county said the hospital failed to show Cahill
was an inmate when he was admitted to the hospital. CCA said no agreement
existed between CCA and the hospital to pay Cahill's bills. That suit has
not been resolved.
Claudette Mills understands. There are
laws and regulations, all well-intentioned, that are designed to keep a
person's health information private. But that understanding didn't provide
much comfort this past weekend, when she and her family were worried about
her mother. Miss Mills, 30, of Hernando, received a telephone call Saturday
afternoon from an inmate at the Citrus County jail. The caller, who was the
cellmate of Miss Mills' mother, had disturbing news: Your mother has fallen
ill. Linda Butts, 53, apparently was having health problems related to her
kidneys and liver; she had experienced such troubles in the past. Butts is
serving an 11-month sentence for violating the requirements of a probation
term she was serving for a drunken driving case. Miss Mills said she called
the jail and didn't get much information, only that her mother was
receiving medical attention on the premises. Then she received another call
Sunday evening from her mother's cellmate. This time the news was even
worse: Your mother is being taken to Citrus Memorial Hospital. Miss Mills
said she called the jail, which confirmed that her mother was being taken
to the hospital. It didn't provide any other information. Miss Mills went
to the hospital, but the guard assigned to her mother's room wouldn't allow
a visit. On Monday, jail officials allowed a one-hour visit. And on
Wednesday, after her condition improved, Butts was taken back to the jail.
"All weekend we went through hell ... wondering what was wrong with
her," Miss Mills said during a telephone interview Thursday. Worrying
along with her was her fiancé, Richie Smith, and her two sons, ages 7 and
9. Julia Swart is a spokeswoman for Corrections Corporation of America, the
private company that operates the jail on the county's behalf. She said
jail policy is to contact an inmate's relative in such cases only if the
medical problem is life-threatening, or if such contact is requested by
medical professionals or the hospital. (St. Petersburg Times, December 15,
2003)
The story was supposed to go like this: James Utsey, charged in the
December 2000 fatal shooting of his mother, was to be tried in a Hernando
County courtroom beginning Aug. 18. The trial was expected to last a week.
If a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, prosecutors were seeking
the death penalty. If not, he could have been a free man. Things didn't go
quite that smoothly. Plans snagged somewhere along Utsey's transfer from
the Citrus County jail to the jail in Hernando County. His prescribed
psychotropic medication didn't make the journey, meaning he didn't take the
pills for about four days. The trial was postponed. Circuit Judge Ric A.
Howard was mad. Now, presumably to make amends for the delay, the private
company that runs the county's jail has agreed to cover the county's tab
for the remainder of Utsey's stay at the facility. In a brief memo dated
Aug. 20, jail warden Carlos Melendez informed Public Safety director
Charles Poliseno that Corrections Corporation of America will cover the
county's bill for Utsey from Aug. 19 until whenever the trial begins. (St.
Petersburg Times, August 29, 2003)
Citrus County has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by an
Ocala hospital regarding the medical bill of a former jail inmate. The suit
alleges that the county deliberately released the inmate, Martin Cahill,
from jail to avoid paying for the services he would receive at Munroe
Regional Medical Center. In March, Cahill was in the Citrus County jail
awaiting disposition of a criminal case. He faced charges of making false
911 calls, resisting arrest and threatening police officers and
firefighters. Court records show a judge released Cahill from custody on
March 5 at the request of the State Attorney's Office and his attorney, Roy
Stevenson, an assistant public defender. That was one day after he was
taken from the jail to Citrus Memorial Hospital, but one day before he
would be taken from Citrus Memorial to Munroe for more extensive care.
Cahill's bill at Munroe: $152,973. State law says county government must pay
for inmates' medical care if, as is usually the case, the inmate cannot
afford to do so. But Patrick Burson, a Tampa attorney representing the
county in this case, argued in an Aug. 4 motion that Munroe Regional has
failed to show that Cahill was an inmate when he was admitted March 6.
Munroe "does not have standing to pursue unpaid medical bills incurred
by Martin Cahill," wrote Burson, an attorney with the law firm Fowler,
White, Boggs and Banker. (St. Petersburg Times, August 18, 2003)
An inmate close to death is released just before he racks up an expensive
hospital bill. The hospital sues for payment. Hundreds of inmates come in
and out of the Citrus County jail each year. Some are awaiting trial.
Others are serving sentences. Every now and then an inmate will become so
seriously ill that he requires medical care beyond what the jail staff can
provide. The law says county government must pay for the care if, as is
usually the case, the inmate cannot afford to do so. This practice is at
the heart of a lawsuit that an Ocala hospital filed against Citrus County
this summer. The county says it isn't liable for a $150,000 plus medical
bill that Martin Cahill accrued because Cahill was released from custody
one day before entering the Ocala hospital. That hospital, Munroe Regional
Medical Center, says Citrus swiftly arranged for Cahill's release to avoid
being stuck with the big bill. (St. Petersburg Times, August 4, 2003
)
The Sheriff's Office and jail authorities
are interviewing people to find out what happened to Antonio Lewis
Franklin. Theman who dies suddenly at the Citrus County jail Tuesday had
his first recorded run-in with the law at age 17, around the time he
dropped out of Citrus High School. An autopsy was being performed Wednesday
to determine a cause of death for Franklin, who was rushed to Citrus
Memorial Hospital Tuesday after an inmate reported him unconscious. The
31-year-old Inverness resident was pronounced dead at 4:10 p.m. Jail warden
Carlos Melendez said he is also conducting an internal investigation action
to determine whether his staff followed proper procedures. Melendez said
Franklin, like all inmates, was examined by the jail's nurse after he was
admitted. The nurse checked his heart rate and blood pressure and found
nothing abnormal, he said. (St. Petersburg Times, August 22, 2002)
Inmates will continue to labor outside the jail despite two escapes from
work details in a week, a county official said Tuesday. But the jail will
take steps to prevent more escapes by ordering new, highly visible striped
uniforms for inmate work crews and beefing up training for county employees
who supervise inmates, said Charles Poliseno, the county's director of
public safety. Poliseno, however, convened an emergency meeting with county
and jail officials Monday afternoon after the escape of Joseph John
Messina, 36, who ran away from a group of inmates picking up litter in
Central Ridge Park in Holder. Messina had been captured by Marion County
sheriff's officials about 11 a.m. Monday. Messina's attempt at freedom came
only a week after Robert Charles Gordon had walked off a work detail at the
Fire Services Center. (St. Petersburg Times, November 28, 2001)
The private company that runs the Citrus County Detention Facility fired
Warden David Eads on Wednesday, sending away the jail's fourth warden in
less than six years. CCA gave no specific reasons to the county or the
Citrus Times for firing Eads, citing only a desire to change the
management. Sheriff Jeff Dawsy was not available for comment Friday, but he
has expressed concern in the past about the turnover at the jail. In a
letter written last May when Eads became warden, Dawsy called the turnover
rate "excessive" and "unacceptable." "Not only
does it create an unstable environment for staff and inmates alike, it also
results in undue changes in management styles. Standard operating
procedures are subject to change, not to mention security methodologies. In
short, there is at least the potential for endangering the public's safety
unnecessarily." (St. Petersburg Times, March 24, 2001)
Cleveland
Pre-Release Center, Cleveland, Texas
Corrections Corporation of America is pulling out of the pre-release prison
here, citing a disagreement with the local school board over money owed in
lieu of taxes. CCA served officials notice this week to the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice that it will no longer manage the Cleveland
Pre-Release Center in Liberty County after Dec. 31, said company
spokesperson Laurie Shanblum. "It is the result of a difference of opinion
between CCA and the Cleveland Independent School District regarding the
annual amount of money to be paid in lieu of taxes to the school
district." (Houston Chronicle, Sept. 3, 1998)
Coffee County Correctional
Facility,
Nicholls, Georgia
May 10, 2012 AP
Corrections officials have placed parts of a south Georgia prison under
lockdown after a fight involving several inmates. Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Gwendolyn Hogan says authorities locked down parts of Coffee
County Correctional Facility after a fight on Saturday left several inmates
hospitalized. She says the inmates received non-life threatening injuries
and were returned to the facility the same day after being treated at local
hospitals. Hogan would not immediately say how many inmates were involved.
A spokeswoman for the Corrections Corporation of America, the private firm
that runs the prison, did not return calls and emails seeking comment. The
prison is a medium-security facility with 2,628 beds.
Colorado Department of Corrections
February 14, 2013 chieftain.com
A Pueblo West physician has
received a letter of admonition from the Colorado Medical Board following
the Oct. 28, 2010, death of an inmate at Bent County Correctional Facility
in Las Animas. In a letter obtained by The Pueblo Chieftain from the
Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, a medical board panel issued
the admonition to Dr. David Oba on Dec. 6 in connection with his treatment
of Terrell Griswold, 25, an inmate at the private Corrections Corporation
of America-run prison. The letter said Griswold had a history of urinary
problems and poorly controlled hypertension. Griswold had complained of
difficulty passing urine for the previous two months when he first was
treated by Oba in December 2009. After examining Griswold, Oba prescribed a
30-day course of antibiotics. Eight months later, Griswold went to see
nursing staff at the prison on the evening of Oct. 22, 2010, complaining of
abdominal pain, diarrhea, dizziness, tingling in his extremities and a
feeling that his throat was closing. He also reported an odd smell in his
nose similar to ammonia, according to the letter.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400
eligible for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in
prison housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be
released. But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share
of the proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley,
Bent and Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the
private facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If
they do what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is
5,000 to 6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty
virtually every private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates,"
Long said. "I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for
Bent County and Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley
County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County
Correctional Facility in Las Animas are key parts of their local economies
with more than 200 employees at each facility, Long said. "We receive
property tax, telephone revenue and other benefits from the
facilities," Long said. Long explained that the Huerfano County
Correctional Facility in Walsenburg and the Kit Carson Correctional
Facility in Burlington also will be hurt if the reduction occurs. Currently
the Huerfano facility is full of inmates from Arizona, but Long said that
when Arizona gets its inmate situation straightened out, the inmates will
be taken back to that state. "That would be another facility that was
built primarily for Colorado inmates that would also be emptied," Long
said.
October 13, 2006 Summit Daily News
Six private prisons in the state were fined about $131,000 for failing
to staff mandatory positions, the Colorado Department of Corrections said.
It was the second time such penalties were levied since a riot broke out in
2004 at the Crowley County Correctional Facility and an audit exposed
staffing problems at the prisons. The department released documents this
week showing the six prisons had 1,071 vacant positions from February to
May. The Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington received the largest
fine of $83,103 for having 567 positions open. It was docked in $103,743
previously after it left 701 jobs vacant from November to January. The
center is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, which also runs
the Crowley County Correctional Facility. Alison Morgan, the department's
head of private prison monitoring, said some places have difficulty finding
and retaining workers, especially in remote areas.
August 23, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
Two political groups are fighting over Rep. Buffie McFadyen, but it isn't
for love nor money. In one corner is a political organization created by
GOP Gov. Bill Owens and financed by several well-heeled Republicans called
The Trailhead Group. In the other is a similarly well-financed Democratic
group called Clear Peak Colorado, which was created for the sole purpose of
countering anything the GOP group says. While Trailhead is accusing the
two-term Democrat from Pueblo West of using her office to enrich herself,
something it has been saying in a slew of recent radio ads in Canon City
and Pueblo, the Democratic group says it is the other way around. That
Trailhead wants to unseat McFadyen so its contributors can continue to
receive lucrative private prison contracts. McFadyen, who has been highly
outspoken in her opposition of private prisons, is running for her third
term in office this fall against GOP challenger Jeff Shaw, a Pueblo
attorney. "It's very clear that these prison building and management
companies are using the Trailhead Group as a vehicle to attack
Representative McFadyen for her opposition to private prison building initiatives,"
said Clear Peak director Tim Knaus. "These prison industry corporate
donors to the Trailhead Group have millions of dollars riding on a GOP
victory and they'll stop at nothing to protect their bottom line."
Both groups are known as 527 organizations, so called because of the IRS
tax code governing similar political advocacy groups.
July 31, 2006 The Gazette
Colorado prison officials, faced with unparalleled crowding, are poised
to embark on the state’s largest private-prison expansion in years. By the
time three companies build medium-security prisons for 3,776 inmates by the
middle of 2008, one in three Colorado inmates will be housed in forprofit
facilities. Despite the state’s growing reliance on private prisons,
Department of Corrections officials still have deep concerns about the
projects, and numerous issues remain that could derail them — including two
companies’ insistence their cells be filled before those in state-run
prisons. “I don’t believe they’re cheaper in general,” said state Rep.
Buffie McFadyen, a Pueblo Democrat and opponent of private prisons. “As
long as you have stockholders wanting more bodies and cells, there’s no
incentive for that company to reduce the number of people in prison.” “They
(private-prison firms) kind of know they’ve got us over the barrel,” said
Dave Schouweiler, purchasing manager for the DOC. “If we don’t use them,
we’ve got to ship people out of state.” Corrections Corporation of America
was awarded contracts for 720-bed expansions at its prisons in Las Animas
and Burlington. At the Kit Carson Correctional Facility, the company’s
original proposal called for employing just 59 guards, later revised to 64,
for an expanded inmate population of 1,562, a ratio of 1 to 24. Similarly,
at the Bent County Correctional Facility, the company proposed to have 61
guards — later increased to 66 — for an expanded population of 1,457, a
ratio of 1 to 22. The officer-to-inmate ratio in the state prison system is
1 to 4.6, according to the DOC. It isn’t the first time staffing at a CCA
prison in Colorado has been a concern. In 2004, a riot broke out at the
company’s Crowley County Correctional Facility, and an audit put much of
the blame on low staffing levels. CCA signed new contracts with the DOC,
allowing officials to issue fines for staffing deficiencies. CCA was
recently fined $103,743 for leaving 701 mandatory shifts vacant from Nov. 1
to Jan. 10 at the Kit Carson prison, Morgan said. The company was fined
$23,000 for 157 unfilled shifts at the Crowley County prison and $2,651 for
18 vacancies at the Bent County prison. Private prisons pay less than state
prisons, and critics say most have high turnover. Another point of
contention: CCA and GEO demand to have first claim to every person
sentenced to state prison. It’s a condition Schouweiler said DOC officials
are not comfortable granting. But the fact the companies made it a
condition of their proposals — at least so far — shows how the climate has
changed since the 1990s. “To a large extent, we can’t dictate to them like
we did in the ’90s,” he said. “They would like to see us in crisis when
they open their doors.”
June 28, 2006 Denver Post
A Democratic state lawmaker raised safety and competitive concerns
about two companies selected by the state Tuesday to build additional
prison space to house more than 2,200 male prisoners. Rep. Buffie McFadyen
of Pueblo West said The GEO Group Inc. has not built the 500-bed Pueblo
facility it promised three years ago. She also questioned whether GEO had
an unfair bidding advantage on the new 1,504-bed facility it was selected
to build in Ault. The company hired Nolin Renfrow, the former state
director of prisons, to help it bid on the project after Renfrow left the
department, she said. Renfrow worked for corrections when the request for
bids was made public. Neither Renfrow nor a representative of GEO could be
reached Tuesday evening for comment. Katherine Sanguinetti, a spokeswoman
for the department, said she didn't know the factors that went into
selecting GEO. And, she said, "I personally know that the DOC staff
that were rating those bids have had no contact with (Renfrow) to keep it
objective." Earlier this month, McFadyen asked lawmakers to audit the
bidding process. She also questioned why the Corrections Corporation of
America was selected to expand the Bent County Correctional Facility near
Las Animas by 720 beds. CCA owns and operates the Crowley County
Correctional Facility where a riot broke out in 2004. McFadyen said she was
concerned that the company has still not replaced the porcelain fixtures in
its facilities after broken porcelain was used as a weapon during the riot.
June 28, 2006 Journal-Advocate
All bets are off for a private prison in Sterling that would have brought
400 to 500 jobs and a $23 million payroll. Late Tuesday the Colorado
Department of Corrections purchasing office awarded a bid for proposals to
provide private prison correctional services and accommodations for up to
2,250 additional male inmates to both the GEO Group, Inc. and the
Corrections Corporation of America. Both awards are conditional and subject
to contract negotiations. The GEO Group, Inc., which included a 2,250-bed
facility-security adult male private prison in Sterling in its proposal to
the state, will build a new 1,504 bed facility in Ault, a town about 12
miles from Greeley, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections
purchasing office's Web site. CCA will expand the existing facilities of
the Kit Carson Correctional Center near Burlington and the Bent County
Correctional Facility near Las Animas by 720 beds each. The GEO Group, Inc.
- the second-largest private prison facility company in the world, with
prisons across the globe - was considering the Sterling area as the possible
site for a medium-security adult male private prison with 2,250 beds,
according to Logan County Economic Development Executive Director Brett
Challenger. The company would have offered 400 to 500 jobs and a $23
million payroll. There would be no out-of-pocket expense to the city where
the prison is constructed. The city would provide water and sewer,
Challenger said. But Frank Smith, a member of the nonprofit
anti-private-prison group Private Corrections Institute, said while many
towns have looked to private prisons as economic development strategies,
they do not have the same effect as state-run prisons. "There is an
order of magnitude difference between public and dangerous and economically
draining private prisons. I've found the latter paying as little as $6.45
an hour," Smith said. The Journal-Advocate attempted to contact the
GEO Group for information by phone on June 2, June 15, June 22, twice on
June 23 and June 27 but was unsuccessful. Attempts to contact GEO by e-mail
June 21, June 22 and June 24 were also unsuccessful. Smith, a retired
volunteer, worked in criminal justice for decades, including with
ex-offender populations and program management within public prisons. He's
visited a number of for-profit prison in various states and is considered
to be the Midwest's leading authority on private prisons and perhaps one of
the dozen top experts in the world. He said he's suspicious of the GEO
Group's claim to offer $14.42 an hour or $30,000 annually. "The
proposed prison payroll, I'd guess, is wildly inflated. That's one way the
operators sell these boondoggles. The for-profits hire bottom-of-the-barrel
staff, usually pay terrible wages. A New Mexico guard working for GEO was
making $7.95 an hour," Smith said. "They pay as little as they
can. These guys will do whatever they can to get in business. But what they
say and what they do are very different. It's not a contract. Once they
open the doors they can do anything they want," Smith said. Tom Nipp,
mayor of New Castle, Ind., said the GEO-owned prison outside the New Castle
area has been beneficial to his town. "The truth of the matter is at
this point there are more jobs, I believe, than we had before. There are
more inmates, which means there is more work for local people. We have not
had any negative results," Nipp said. Nipp said city leaders were
initially told the company pay scale and benefits would not be as high so
the guards would not be as motivated and the city would not be as secure.
But he said that's not been the case. "At this point we have seen
nothing like this," Nipp said. Nipp said he's noticed only two
differences between now and before GEO moved in: There are more employees
in New Castle, more local jobs and the GEO has provided a partnership with
the community. "To the city of New Castle at this point and time it
has been a positive experience," Nipp said. According to the Colorado
Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, the number of state prisoners in
Colorado has increased more than 500 percent since 1980. The group claims
the state of Colorado has turned to private, for-profit prisons in an
attempt to save money, hoping that privatization will provide money-saving
efficiencies in prison construction and operation. The group claims data
from Colorado and nationwide show the performance of private prisons has
been troubled with poor inmate programs, security problems and fiscal woes.
According to Cheryl Ahumada of the DOC's Office of Public Affairs, the
bidder awarded the project may conduct public meetings in conjunction with
municipal and county officials. "It is up to the company and
jurisdiction. It is not a DOC function," Ahumada said in an e-mail.
Jennifer Klein can be reached at 522-1990, Ext. 237 or by e-mail at
jklein@journal-advocate.com John Mangalonzo can be reached at 522-1990,
Ext. 235 or by e-mail at: jmangalonzo@journal-advocate.com
June 25, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
The state has levied fines of $126,000 for short-staffing at two
private prisons run by Corrections Corp. of America, which just won a
contract to incarcerate 720 more Colorado prisoners. The new inmates will
go to a different CCA prison in Las Animas, which had only minor staffing
violations during inspections last winter. The fines are the first in
Colorado. The penalties were recommended by a searing state auditor's
report on the private prisons last year. The audit was prompted by a riot
at the CCA prison in Crowley County in 2004. An inquiry found that CCA's
staff-to-inmate ratio was one-seventh of a state prison's at the time. Only
33 uniformed officers were guarding 1,122 inmates. Staffing has improved
since the fines were levied, said Alison Morgan, the state's supervisor of
private prisons. CCA's Kit Carson County prison in Burlington, near the
Colorado- Kansas state line, was fined $103,743 for leaving 701 required
shifts empty in a 10-week period from Nov. 1 to Jan. 10, records show.
That's about 10 people short per day over three shifts. The missing staff
members were largely guards in various locations. On five shifts, the
supervisor was missing, and on 44 shifts, there was no assistant
supervisor. The fines could have been much higher. The state waived nearly
$46,000 of penalties for October 2005 at the Kit Carson prison, saying it
was unfair to enforce the contract only a few days after it was signed in
September. Documents say state officials complained that in November, there
were 435 cases in which employees did not sign out, making it impossible
for state inspectors to know if the short-staffing had been even worse.
CCA's Crowley County prison in Olney Springs was fined nearly $23,000 for
leaving 157 shifts open in the same period. It, too, was given a reprieve
for October's fines, which would have been $18,000.
March 6, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
Eighteen months ago, inmates rioted at a private prison in Crowley
County, setting fires, smashing everything in two cell houses and seriously
damaging another three. More than 100 officers were needed to stop the
violence, which injured 13. A state investigation blamed the riot on
mismanagement by Corrections Corp. of America, the prison's owner. The
company had 33 guards overseeing 1,122 inmates when the riot began. The
state Department of Corrections tightened its contract with CCA to require
more and better trained staff. Now, the company has a major advantage in
bidding for 2,250 new private prison beds that Colorado urgently needs for
its soaring number of convicts. Although several companies have expressed
interest in the work, CCA already has the land and the necessary zoning.
That could make it the only bidder capable of meeting the state's demand
that the first 750 beds open in less than two years. Meanwhile, the
Department of Corrections is unclear on whether it can consider the riot in
evaluating bids. At first, department spokesman Walt Ahrens said it cannot.
"Procurement rules do not allow the department to negatively evaluate
a new proposal from CCA because of a past riot at a CCA facility," he
said in an e-mail. Later, the department pointed to the bid document, which
says that evaluators will consider information about the bidder's past
performance, but only if the bidder brings it up in its proposal. Still
later, the department said it can request further information on such
incidents "as long as the bidders are treated essentially the same."
Finally, it said, "We are not going to speculate on what may happen.
The process has just begun." But awarding the contract to CCA would
make Colorado even more reliant on the company, a critic says. CCA
"has a track record at Crowley that would make anybody question
whether they are competent to run a prison," said Christie Donner, of
the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, which opposes all private
prisons. In Colorado, a state investigation issued a blistering report
after the riot at CCA's 1,800-bed Crowley County Correctional Center in
Olney Springs in 2004. The report said that CCA's staff-to-inmate ratio was
one-seventh of a state prison's and that management ignored signs of
trouble. A new contract between Colorado and CCA requires more staff,
better training, increased medical care and better food. A state audit also
found fault with the state Department of Corrections, citing insufficient
inspections and a practice of keeping dangerous inmates at a
medium-security private prison, in violation of state law. Dave Schouweiler
of the Corrections Department said it would be convenient to have a private
lockup adjacent to a state prison. But state prisons pay about 50 percent
better and it would be difficult for a private prison to compete for staff,
he said. Though CCA has an advantage of speed and cost efficiencies of
existing facilities, it's not the only potential bidder. George Killinger
of Cornell Cos., which houses 18,000 inmates nationwide, noted that the
state's proposal calls for 750 beds each opening in February 2008, August
2008 and August 2009. He said that allows the possibility of building one
large prison with a cost-effective central administration, instead of
several smaller ones. Other prospective bidders include Emerald Correctional
Management, of Shreveport, La.; the Geo Group Inc., based in Boca Raton,
Fla., which is ready to start construction on a 500-bed, specialized
preparole prison in Pueblo; GRW Corp., which runs a private women's prison
in Brush; Larry Small and Associates, of Hattiesburg, Miss., which is
pushing a patented design that allows guards to see all prisoners at all
times; and Management and Training Corp.
November 12, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
The nation's largest private prison operator has agreed to state-mandated
reforms at its four Colorado prisons 14 months after a riot tore through
its Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. Corrections
Corp. of America, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., signed new contracts
with the Colorado Department of Corrections in September that address a
host of problems uncovered in the wake of a riot by some 300 inmates on
July 20, 2004. Similar contract requirements and state oversight also will
apply to two other non-CCA private prisons in Brush and Colorado Springs to
ensure consistency. Those prisons house more than 500 inmates. The new
contract requires increased staffing levels at CCA facilities, better staff
training and emergency preparedness, increased medical and mental health
services for inmates, improved food standards, and state takeover of inmate
financial accounts. While some of those issues were not considered direct
causes of the 2004 riot, all have been cited as trouble spots that may have
fed the discontent that finally erupted into violence and destruction at
the Crowley County facility. During the riot, inmates ransacked two
cellhouses and prison offices, destroyed furniture, smashed doors and
windows, and set dozens of fires, one of which burned down the prison
greenhouse. Two inmates were seriously injured and several received minor
injuries. The Department of Corrections found afterward that the Crowley
prison had only 33 uniformed officers supervising 1,122 inmates and that
some officers had been on the job two days or less. When inmates began
damaging property, the small force of officers withdrew from the yard and
cellhouses, and the riot quickly grew. Staff size and training were central
concerns in the DOC report issued two months after the riot. But a
Legislative Audit Committee report last April found other unequal
conditions between state and private prisons that could breed future riots.
But the staffing shortage seen as a major problem in the Crowley riot
remains a difficult problem for CCA. The company has agreed to maintain
staff sizes closer to those at comparable state-run medium-security prisons
and to train officers to state standards. But a gap remains between the
salaries of state and private prison staff members that has led to high
employee turnover. The state's post-riot report found the average monthly
salary for private prison officers was about two-thirds that of state
officers. CCA has raised salaries every year despite decreases in
Colorado's compensation rate since 2003 because of state budget cuts, Owen
said. He did not disclose current CCA salaries. "It is a challenge in
trying to make salaries competitive with what is paid by the state,"
Owen said.
October 13, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has dramatically improved its
oversight of private prisons in the state, prisons officials told lawmakers
last week. In giving the Legislative Audit Committee an update on changes
it has made in how it manages the state's five private prisons, DOC
director of prison operations Nolin Renfrow told lawmakers that all is
well. That audit he was referring to was a scathing report released in June
that criticized the department for being lax in its oversight of private
prisons and ignoring problems with them for years. Prompted by a riot at
the Crowley County Correction Facility in Olney Springs last year, the
audit said DOC knew or should have known about numerous problems concerning
the operations of the prisons but did little to nothing to correct them.
The state audit said the department diverted DOC workers whose job was to
monitor private prisons to other duties, and failed to enforce operations
rules and regulations. And in those instances when the department's private
prison monitoring units did discover problems, the department failed to
follow up to ensure that corrections were made, the audit said. Four of
those facilities are operated by the same Nashville-based company,
Corrections Corporation of American. In additional to the Crowley County
facility, CCA also operates private prisons in Bent, Huerfano and Kit
Carson counties. A fifth private facility that houses female inmates is
located in Brush. It is owned by the Brentwood, Tenn.-based GRW
Corporation.
October 7, 2005 The Gazette
Private prisons in Colorado could face cash penalties for failing to meet
minimum safety standards under new contracts negotiated by the Department
of Corrections in the wake of a stinging audit. In June, an audit of
Colorado's private prisons, which house about 2,800 of Colorado's 18,000
prisoners, found numerous problems, including inadequate staffing levels,
unlicensed medical clinics, employees with criminal backgrounds and poor
food services. Thursday, corrections officials gave state lawmakers an
update on their response to the audit. For instance, private prisons will
be fined if staffing levels do not meet minimum standards or if the meals
they feed prisoners are not up to par. "I'm not sure the liquidated
damages have enough hammer to them," said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver.
Corrections officials said they need time to see if the new penalty system
works.
June 26, 2005
This we know: • More
prisoners exist in Colorado than there are cells in the state’s prisons. •
No new prisons are under construction. • No money is available to build new
prisons even if the state wanted to. Thus, Colorado is stuck with using
private prisons whose operators contract with the state to incarcerate
prisoners who won’t fit in the state-run system. It stands to reason that
because incarceration is part of the judicial system and an essential
function of government, the state should do all that it can to make sure
all parts of the system — including private prisons — work according to the
law. Colorado’s Department of Corrections has done a horrible job of
monitoring the five-unit private prison system and has violated state law
in the process. So says an audit of the private prison system conducted
after a riot at the Crowley facility. The scathing audit left little cover
for the DOC. The agency simply blew it. While required by law to monitor
the private prison system, the DOC failed to reasonably do its job. In
fact, the Legislature provided additional funding for staff so that
monitoring could occur, but the DOC diverted those employees to other
functions. The DOC knew about problems but ignored them, said the audit
report. Inmates judged to be high security risks were sent to private
prisons in violation of the law. Mental health treatment was not offered as
required to those needing it. Medical centers at private prisons are not
certified. Inadequate background checks were conducted on private prison
employees. Sex offenders were given earned time off for treatment that they
didn’t attend. It would be far better for Colorado to own and operate all
of its prisons itself to assure better accountability. But the decision
made several years ago for financial reasons to contract with private
prison operators can’t be easily undone. The DOC must do a better job of
overseeing the contracts, and the Legislature should consider a gradual
process of bringing private prisons back into the public fold. In the
future, if the state continues to struggle with having the capital funds to
build new prisons, it should give more consideration to the idea of letting
private entities build prisons and lease them back to the state to operate.
June 14, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has been lax in its oversight of
private prisons, and has ignored known problems for years, according to a
scathing state audit released Monday. Prompted by a riot at a private
prison in Crowley County last year, the audit said DOC's inability to
properly manage the five private facilities operating in the state led to
numerous inmate problems, and could spark more. The audit said that the
department knew about specific problems with how private prisons were being
operated, but did little to nothing to correct them. And when the DOC did
point out violations to private facilities, it failed to ensure that they
were corrected, the audit said. "Noted violations by the private
prisons are not being addressed by the department, and have been allowed to
continue unresolved," the audit stated. "Furthermore, the
department has not instituted a systemic follow-up process to ensure that
its recommendations are follow by the private prisons or that documented
violations are corrected." The audit found that the DOC used employees
whose jobs were to monitor private prisons do other work, failed to enforce
rules and regulations on how they are to operate, and was shoddy in how it
monitored private facilities. Nolin Renfrow, director of prison operations
for DOC, admitted that the department has made mistakes in its oversight of
private prisons, but chalked it up to inexperience. "We have over 150
years experience running our own prisons, but only five dealing with
private facilities," Renfrow said following the audit report.
"We're learning as we go." Currently, there are five private
prisons operating in the state, four of which are owned by the same
national private prison firm: Corrections Corp. of America based in
Nashville, Tenn. CCA operates facilities in Bent, Huerfano, Crowley and Kit
Carson counties. A fifth private facility, which houses females, is located
in Brush. It is operated by GRW Corporation based in Brentwood, Tenn. Steve
Owen, CCA spokesman, said that while the audit was not about his company
per se, CCA takes its role in working with DOC seriously and will help the
department address concerns raised in the report. Still, Owen said the
audit was a little too general to help the company address specific
concerns. "We're a partner to the Department of Corrections and we
view ourselves as apart of the system," Owen said. "The
conclusions and the observations were so general for the most part, it's
hard to specifically identify what specific things apply to our direct
operations. The report doesn't lend itself to identifying specific things
to specific facilities." One part of the report, for example, says
that a mental health providers were not meeting with seriously mental ill
inmates, but didn't say at which facility. Another section of the report,
however, says that the medical staff at the Bent County Correctional
Facility in Las Animas administered two medications to an inmate that led
to his death. Another death occurred at a different private facility in Kit
Carson County when an inmate's medication was changed. Both are operated by
CCA. "We identified two cases where physicians changed the inmates'
medications without examining them," the audit said. "Department
clinical and administrative records indicate that medication changes made
by private prison staff potentially contributed to the death of these
inmates." Owen said he knew nothing about those deaths, and questioned
whether they occurred at CCA facilities. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo
West and an outspoken critic of private prisons, said the audit supports
what she's been saying all along, that they have no place in Colorado.
"These for-profit prisons would have a hard time passing even the beginning
of the Boy Scouts of America oath: 'On my honor I will do my best,' "
McFadyen said. "It's clear that the for-profit prison industry has no
desire to follow their contracts, and it is costing taxpayers money every
day. This year, the state could've spent $ 1.1 million on heath care, job
creation or tourism. Instead, we had to spend that money to watch over
private prison facilities that aren't doing their jobs and putting the
public safety at risk." McFadyen was referring to additional money the
Legislature gave to the DOC to add positions to its private prison
monitoring unit. The audit said that the department has 15 monitoring unit
positions, but that only four were actually going to the prisons.
Additionally, one of those positions, for a unit operations manager, has
been vacant for three years. Yet, the DOC asked the Legislature for five
new private prison investigators and two additional monitoring unit
workers. Renfrow said that cuts to the department's overall budget in
recent years forced it to use some of those workers for other duties. The
audit said that the monitoring units that did visit facilities missed
numerous required inspections and filed incomplete reports. Auditors were
particularly alarmed that the units failed to conduct the security and
emergency activation drills it was suppose to, particularly one at the
Crowley County facility at which a riot occurred last summer. "Of
particular concern, we noted that the monitoring unit had never conducted
an emergency activation drill at the one private prison that experienced a
riot in July 2004, and only produced monitoring reports for one-third of
the targeted weekly inspections at this facility during fiscal year
2004," the audit said. "Additionally, we identified several
weekly inspection reports and security audits that appeared to copy the
findings from prior inspection reports, changing only the date and time of
the audit work performed," the audit said. "Department management
does not review these reports, so management was not aware that the reports
contained errors."
June 14, 2005 Colorado Springs Gazette
Two Colorado inmates died last year because their prescription
medications were changed by unlicensed medical clinics in private prisons,
according to a stinging audit that charged the state with lax oversight of
an out-of-control private prison system. The Colorado Department of
Corrections houses about 2,800 of its 18,000 inmates in six private
prisons. Five are in Colorado, and one is in Missouri. It cost taxpayers
$53 million in 2004. An audit of those prisons released Monday found
numerous problems: inadequate staffing levels, unlicensed medical clinics,
employees with criminal backgrounds, poor food services and more. The audit
laid much of the fault with the state corrections officials, saying the
state did a shabby job of monitoring and enforcing standards in private
prisons. The state’s private prison monitoring unit has been plagued by job
vacancies and only spends a fraction of the time it should at the prisons
evaluating conditions and addressing problems, the audit found. “I think,
from our audit perspective, we identified substantial compliance issues,”
said Cindi Stetson, the deputy state auditor who managed the project. For
instance, the audit found that private prison monitors filed reports that
were copies of old documents that merely had a new date. Top level managers
reportedly didn’t review private prison reports anyway. Additionally, not
all the people assigned to monitor private prisons were doing that. Fifteen
employees were allocated to that unit, but four were assigned to other
duties and the key unit manager job was left vacant for three years.
Corrections officials said they have not done a good job regulating private
prisons but insisted they are taking steps to fix the problem. “We’ve taken
the recommendations very seriously,” said Nolin Renfrow, director of
prisons. “We feel confident we are headed in the right direction.” Renfrow
said staffing has been beefed up in the office and that computers will
track compliance reports. Additionally, he said top executives will pay
closer attention to private prisons. As to the specific problems, DOC
officials say they are tightening the contracts with private prison
providers to force them to take care of the issues. Many of those new
contracts take effect July 1. New stipulations will require private prisons
have a licensed medical clinic. That’s a response to one of the main
findings in the audit. “None of the clinics in Colorado’s five private
prisons are licensed,” said auditor John Conley. “Since the clinics are not
licensed, they are not monitoring them and are not aware of any deaths or
problems at private prisons.” Nine deaths at private prisons last year were
not reported to the Colorado Department of Health, as they should have
been, the auditors said. So there was no investigation. The auditors said
seven of the deaths were from natural causes, but two were linked to
medical complications after prison operators changed prescription drugs. No
other details were provided. The findings outraged lawmakers. “Obviously,
they have been having a free-for-all in practicing medicine the way they
wish for a long time,” said Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood. “We are paying a
lot of money to these private prisons for health care, and we need to get a
better product than we are getting.” The audit found problems in many
private prison practices, including their hiring standards, the nutritional
value of their food and their staffing levels. The audit didn’t specify
which private prisons were having the most problems. But four of the five
prisons in Colorado are owned and run by the Tennessee-based Correction
Corporation of America. Company officials said they are reviewing the audit
and promised more efficiency and accountability. “We certainly would
embrace that goal and have been working and will continue to work with our
customer, the Department of Corrections, to enhance both of those,” said
Steven Owen, a spokesman for the firm. A 500-bed, privately run prison
under construction on East Las Vegas Street near the El Paso County
Criminal Justice Center is scheduled to open in August. The medium security
facility will be operated by New Jersey-based Community Education Centers.
The prison, called the Cheyenne Mountain Pre-release Center, will house
parole violators and inmates making the transition into society or to
community corrections after serving state prison sentences. Its purpose is
to reduce recidivism by giving inmates about 180 days of vocational
training, drug and alcohol counseling, adult education classes and other
last-minute lessons they can apply outside prison. Joe Ortiz, executive
director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, said part of his
agency’s problem is funding. “When we talk about medical, we talk about food,
we talk about programs . . . that always comes with a price tag,” he said.
“That’s not to say the department hasn’t been remiss in some areas, but it
is a difficult mission, and it is difficult to provide all of these
services given the current budget conditions.” The department’s budget was
cut during the recession but has seen much of that funding restored in the
past two years. The approved budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year, which
starts July 1, is $589.2 million, a 6 percent increase. Lawmakers say they
will take a hard look at the issues surrounding private prisons. “It’s
clear that the for-profit prison industry has no desire to follow their
contracts, and it is costing taxpayers money every day,” said Rep. Liane
“Buffie” McFadyen, D-Pueblo West. KEY FINDINGS - None of the clinics at
private prisons are licensed with the state. At least two inmates who were
treated in those clinics died last year when their prescriptions were
changed. Those deaths were not reported to state officials. - Inmates with
serious mental illnesses were not seen by mental health staff in a timely
manner. - Private prisons are serving meals that do not meet the state’s
dietary standards. - The DOC doesn’t review staffing patterns at private
prisons as part of their contracts. - Some private prison employees have
questionable backgrounds, including some who have been convicted of violent
crimes. In some instances, private prison employees begin working before a
background check is completed. - Private prisons are not properly deducting
court-ordered inmate restitution and child support. - The Department of
Corrections office charged with monitoring private prisons was understaffed
and didn’t get the job done. - Dangerous inmates were sent to some private
prisons even though state law stipulates private prisons should only house
medium security prisoners and lower.
June 14, 2005 Denver Post
Privately owned prisons in Colorado fall far short of minimum safety
and medical standards, possibly resulting in the deaths of two inmates and
the early release of a sex offender, according to an audit released Monday.
Part of the problem, the report from the state auditor's office said, is
lax state oversight of the private prisons, which collected $53 million to
house 2,800 inmates in 2004. The audit's key findings: Nine inmates died
between January 2001 and September 2004. Two of those deaths may have been
caused by physicians who changed medications without physically examining
the inmates. A sexual offender was released from prison three months early
because officials awarded him credits for treatment sessions he didn't
attend. None of the five private
prisons in Colorado have licensed medical clinics. Four private-prison
employees had previous convictions for motor-vehicle theft, assault,
criminal mischief and harassment. Staffing levels are lower at private
prisons than at state institutions, with the worst ratio at the Crowley
County prison, where inmates rioted last year. Steve Owen, spokesman for
Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, which operates
four of the five private prisons in Colorado, declined to comment on the
audit, saying he had not yet read it. But he said his company meets the
standards set by a national trade association for private prisons. "We
are doing our part to help the state be good stewards of the taxpayers'
dollar," said Owen. Last year, the prison company settled a
lawsuit brought by Tamara Schlitters, the mother of Jeffrey Buller, a
26-year-old inmate who died 27 hours before he was to be released from the
company's prison in Kit Carson County in 2001. Buller suffered from a
hereditary condition that caused his breathing passages to swell. Despite
his pleas, the company wouldn't spend $35 on the medicine he needed during
his final 10 days in the prison, according to the lawsuit. Instead, he was
switched to another drug. James Gillies, the lawyer for Schlitters, said
the case was "heartbreaking" because Schlitters was planning a
welcome-home party for her only son. Instead, the guests attended a
funeral. Buller was in prison for a sexual encounter with an underage
teenage girl. The Department of Corrections acknowledged the shortcomings
and promised to fix them. Joe Ortiz, executive director of the department,
said tight state budgets have contributed to some of the problems. "It
is difficult to provide all of these services, given the current budget
condition the state is in," Ortiz said. "Sometimes you want
platinum treatment when you're paying for copper fare." The audit tied
many of the problems to lax oversight by the Department of Corrections.
Since 2002, department officials knew they were failing to enforce a
contract requirement that private prisons operate licensed medical clinics.
None of the five private prisons in Colorado are licensed by the state
Department of Public Health and Environment, the audit said. Lawmakers on
the Legislative Audit Committee chided state corrections officials for
failing to enforce the rules in the contracts. "Two departments have
dropped the ball," said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver. "I don't
understand why this has been let go so long." Ortiz said that hiring
medical professionals in rural communities is difficult - and even more
complicated for prison operators. Still, he acknowledged the problem.
"We were lax in our supervision of medical staff," he said. Staff
writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or
mcouch@denverpost.com.
June 14, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Colorado's private prisons are riddled with problems that allowed some sex
offenders out early, contributed to a riot, and may have led to two inmate
deaths, a state audit declared Monday. And state officials failed to
monitor the prisons effectively, auditors said in a report to a legislative
committee. The report alleges that operators of five private prisons broke
provisions of their contracts with the state through deficient security,
hiring, health care and even food. Prison doctors twice changed
prescriptions for inmates without examining the patients first, auditors said.
Both men died, possibly as a result. And doctors often delayed required
services for mentally ill prisoners, the report said. Auditors also
criticized the state Department of Corrections, which runs its own prisons
and regulates private companies that manage lockups in Colorado. They said
state prison officials placed violent inmates in the private facilities,
violating the law. State monitors didn't find, ignored or didn't follow up
on prison problems. Inspectors didn't work as much or as long as they were
supposed to; some simply copied old oversight reports and slapped new dates
on them. About 2,800 of the state's 18,000 prisoners are in private
facilities. The state paid more than $53 million in the 2004-05 fiscal year
to house them. Prison officials estimate it would cost more than $200
million - $75,000 a bed - to build enough public prisons. The state
auditor's office studied private prison conditions and the state's
oversight of them from September 2004 to March. Its report frustrated
several legislators. "I don't understand . . . why this has been let
go so long," said Rep. Fran Colemen, D-Denver. Added Sen. Deanna
Hanna, D-Lakewood, "We need to get a better product than we're
getting." Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, a leading critic of
private prisons, said legislators need to crack down on prison operators
and perhaps shake up the corrections department. State officials pledged
stricter oversight, starting with new financial penalties for prison
contractors if they fail to meet future contracts. Corrections department
officials also said they didn't have enough staff to enforce contracts and
the law - a claim the audit disputed - and suggested that decreased state
support and corporate pressures led to problems in private prisons. The
state's per-inmate payments to private prisons dropped 4 percent from 2000
to 2004. Joe Ortiz, executive director of the corrections department, asked
reporters Monday to think like private-prison wardens, operating under
budgets and under fire from Wall Street, as they try to provide inmate
services such as health care. "Do you think they're going to go
overboard?" he asked. Alison Morgan, DOC spokeswoman, later said the
audit "clearly brought to light some significant failures on our
part" but didn't reflect private prison monitors' hard work.
Corrections Corp. of America, which runs four of Colorado's private
prisons, "will do all we can to answer and address the concerns raised
in the report," spokesman Steve Owen said. Some lawmakers defended
private prisons. Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, asked whether
problems in private facilities are any worse than in public prisons. Rep.
Al White, R-Winter Park, said private prisons play "a significant
role" in Colorado corrections. "By and large, they're doing a
good job," White said, "and we can't live without them." The
audit caps a bad year for private prisons in Colorado. Several employees of
a women's prison in Brush were charged this winter with having sex with
inmates; investigations revealed the prison hired some workers with
criminal records. Inmates rioted at the Crowley County Correctional
Facility in July 2004. An October audit spanked the prison operator,
Corrections Corp. of America, for employing an inexperienced and
undermanned staff at the time of the riot. Monday's audit also criticized
staffing levels in private prisons as inferior to those in public prisons.
Among its other findings: • The corrections department didn't force prison
operators to act after doctors changed two inmates' prescriptions without
examining them first. Both patients died, and investigators concluded staff
errors contributed to at least one death. Corrections department officials
also didn't require prison clinics to obtain state licenses, as mandated by
law. And they didn't inspect any clinics from May 2003 to December 2004. •
Corrections officials illegally sent 79 inmates classified as posing more
than "medium" risks in danger and violence to private facilities
in 2004. State law says the most violent prisoners must be housed in
state-run facilities. • Private prisons routinely deviate from the state's
"master menu" for inmates, often because they run out of food on
the list. That can jeopardize prison security. It's a contract violation
that state officials recognized in 2003 but did nothing about. •
Three-quarters of mentally ill inmates who arrive in private prisons don't
get an initial appointment with a mental-health practitioner within a
state-mandated time frame. • Private prisons sometimes shaved time from the
sentences of sex offenders who did not complete treatment programs. Such
programs are supposed to be mandatory for sentence reduction. • Four of
about 300 prison workers had "questionable backgrounds." A fifth
never was subjected to a background check. A check of prison visitors also
found some with criminal convictions that should have disqualified them
from visiting prisoners. • State monitors were "inadequate and
ineffective" in their oversight of private prisons. Inspectors missed
assigned visits to facilities, stayed about half as long as required and,
auditors said, sometimes filed reports identical to those of previous
weeks. Auditors noted that legislators increased the monitoring unit's
budget by 40 percent from 2003 to 2005 and questioned its staffing allocation.
They said monitors showed no written evidence of following up on contract
concerns with prison operators. Corrections officials defended their
staffing and pledged to assign more monitors in the future. They also
agreed to each of the auditors' 16 recommendations for improvement. They
promised to insert stricter enforcement clauses into new contracts,
including the right to dock money from private operators if performance
isn't met. Officials said they'd changed management in the monitoring division
but wouldn't say if any employees were disciplined over the report's
allegations. A second audit released Monday also criticized corrections
officials for poor contract oversight. The audit looked at inmate health
care services provided by private doctors. It said the state could have
saved $2.5 million over the course of a year by regulating provider rates
differently, and said the corrections department provides "minimal
oversight" of contractor performance. CCA's prison record • November
1998: CCA opens the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington. Nine
months later, the prison is investigated over allegations of drug smuggling
and charges that up to 15 female employees were having sex with prisoners.
In 2003 the prison is sued in federal court after an inmate dies the night
before his scheduled release after allegedly being denied prescription
medicine. • July 1998: Six inmates escape from CCA's Northeast Ohio
Correctional Center in Youngstown. According to the University of
Wisconsin, at least 79 inmates escaped from CCA prisons from 1995 to 1998.
• November 2000: Seven guards from the federal penitentiary in Florence are
indicted on 55 counts of using beatings, bribes and torture to control
inmates. • July 2003: The state renews CCA's Kit Carson contract and pays
the company more money to run the Florence prison. • July 2004: Two weeks
after the beating death of a female inmate in a CCA facility in Nashville,
two riots break out in CCA prisons in Colorado and Mississippi. A
Department of Corrections report finds that the Colorado prison was not
fully staffed at the time of the riot and that some employees had been on
the job only a couple of days. • January 2004: The Tulsa World reports a
400 percent increase in prisoner deaths in an Oklahoma prison since CCA
took over operations. tankersleyj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5219
The state Department of Corrections will
accept no more out-of-state prisoners at Colorado's four private prisons
while an investigation unravels the cause of a riot at one of them, an
agency spokeswoman said Tuesday. (Rocky Mountain News, July 28, 2004)
A riot that injured more than a dozen
inmates and caused millions of dollars in damage to a prison run by a
Tennessee company last week prompted the state to temporarily stop
accepting out-of-state inmates, an official says. (AP, July 27, 2004)
Legislative budget writers happily gave
their blessings Monday to a $2.3 million supplemental appropriation to lock
up 121 problem inmates at a private prison in Mississippi. Lawmakers
on the Joint Budget Committee said shipping the gang-related inmates out of
Colorado may save the state money in the long run. State corrections
officials already have transferred the inmates, who they suspect were
behind a recent surge in prison disturbances. Some originally went to a
private prison near San Antonio, Texas, until that facility said it didn't
want them. The cost, at $51 per inmate per day, is $1.44 per inmate
per day higher than the rate for private prisons in Colorado. But budget
analyst Karl Spiecker told lawmakers there were no other alternatives.
Spiecker said, however, there could be problems outside of difficulties in
family visits. Because of the distance involved, it will be more difficult
for the state to monitor the private prison. Corrections indicated it will
send one or two staff to the facilities a couple of times each month.
(Rocky Mountain News, June 22, 2004)
Colorado Legislature
March 11, 2013 kunc.org
The private prison company
Corrections Corp. of America shuttered the Huerfano County Correctional
Facility in 2010. The prison, in Walsenburg in southeastern Colorado, was
the town's second largest employer
Colorado’s governor and
legislature quietly agreed last year to pay millions to a private prison
company for cells the state would not need. Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen,
who headed the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee at the time, said the
deal was negotiated in the governor’s office. She and other legislators
agreed with the plan because it delayed the threatened closure of private
prisons by Corrections Corp. of America. That would have resulted in
devastating job losses in several rural Colorado communities where the
jails are located. Officials knew the number of inmates had been declining
in Colorado since 2009, and five state and private prisons already have
closed. Projections now show that in the near future, two to 10 more state
and private prisons could close, depending on the size of the facilities
chosen. In the end, officials decided to wait until after a study is
completed this June, with recommendations on which ones would be most
efficient to shut down. The deal to keep sending inmates to private prisons
wasted at least $2 million in state tax money, says Christie Donner,
executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
"The whole idea around private prisons was that they were overflow,
that we would only use them to the extent that we needed them," The
total could be far more. The state already has 1,000 empty beds in various
state prisons and that number is rising by nearly 100 a month. That
includes 300 beds in cellblocks shut temporarily until the study is
completed. Officials need some beds open for flexibility, but won’t say how
many. The deal gave CCA a written promise of 3,300 prisoners, at $20,000
each, for the fiscal year that ends this June. Details were hashed out a
year ago during meetings between the governor’s office, CCA and its
Colorado lobbyist, Mike Feeley. Eric Brown, spokesman for Gov. John
Hickenlooper, said, “The General Assembly and the governor agreed to have a
year where no other communities were affected by a prison closure” due to
uncertainty about the number of prisoners and the impact of closing other
prisons last year. CCA said in an email that the agreement with state
officials was part of its “flexibility to manage their changing needs.” CCA
also pointed out that it provides 600 jobs in the Eastern Plains towns of
Olney Springs, Burlington and Las Animas. Department of Corrections
director Tom Clements added, “I think it’s worth the time and investment to
do the analysis.” With the recent closure of Colorado State Penitentiary
II, Colorado has now has 21 state prisons and four private prisons.
Colorado currently has 20 state-owned prisons. Another four are privately
owned, including the three CCA facilities for minimum-to-medium-security
inmates from Colorado and other states. “The whole idea around private
prisons was that they were overflow, that we would only use them to the
extent that we needed them,” Donner said. Donner was critical of the deal,
which she noted was “negotiated behind closed doors.” “There was no
[public] hearing on this whatsoever,” said the longtime activist. “I didn’t
even find out about it until way after the fact, when all of a sudden I
started to see the number of people in the private prisons start to
increase. And I thought, ‘That’s odd…’ “Somebody just made a comment that
they had given a 3,300 bed guarantee to Corrections Corporation of America,
and I was stunned.” The state’s Joint Budget Committee staff confirmed
there was no announced hearing on the decision. The secrecy is also backed
by a lack of documentation of any of the discussions that occurred between
Hickenlooper’s staff, CCA and legislators. The governor’s office responded
to two Colorado Open Records Act requests seeking details about the deal
without providing a single record of the negotiations, or how the
3,300-prisoner figure was reached. Asked how the governor justified making
such an important and expensive decision in secret, Hickenlooper’s
spokesman responded, “There is no way for the governor to send funds to a
private company as a result of a backroom meeting,” because the legislature
makes all funding decisions. Office calendars for the governor, his chief
of staff Roxane White and his budget director Henry Sobanet show a meeting
with CCA executives and lobbyist Feeley in the governor’s offices in the
morning of March 28, 2012. That afternoon, the budget committee began an
unannounced discussion of the possible shutdown of CCA’s prison in
Burlington, if Colorado continued to reduce inmates there. State Sen. Kent
Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, said he worked with the governor’s office to
contract for the prison closure study, modeled on a military base closure
report. It is being conducted by a contractor, without a personal stake.
“We don’t want to close a prison while the study is being done,” he said at
the meeting that day. The next morning, the Pueblo Chieftain quoted chief
of staff White saying CCA had threatened to cut jobs and shut a prison if
it didn’t receive help. The prison in Burlington was only half-full. “CCA
has said that if we don’t figure something out, they will be in a situation
where they have to close a prison,” she was quoted as saying. “We need in
the neighborhood of $10 million to $15 million to keep the private prisons
all operational.” Feeley, a former legislator and a Democratic powerbroker
in Colorado, denied any threat to shut a prison. But he did note that
everyone knew CCA had mothballed its prison in Walsenburg in 2010 for lack
of inmates. “CCA really feels we’re in a partnership with the state,” which
compromised on a figure that shared the pain of reduced inmates, he said.
The budget committee effectively signed off on the deal when it later
budgeted the extra CCA funds. The legislature then approved the budget
containing the payment. Because the number of inmates in Colorado is
dropping even faster than projected, the deal is costing more than
expected. Legislators thought the inmate population would drop anywhere
from 160 to 1,256 by this June. Instead, the total fell by far more – 1,700
by February. The current population of 20,140 is close to where legislators
thought the state would be two and a half years from now. Colorado has
fewer prisoners largely because the crime rate has dropped by a third in a
decade. The state also changed its sentencing structure, and has allowed
prisoners to earn more time off for good behavior.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400
eligible for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in
prison housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be
released. But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share
of the proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley,
Bent and Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the
private facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If
they do what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is
5,000 to 6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty
virtually every private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates,"
Long said. "I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for
Bent County and Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County Correctional
Facility in Las Animas are key parts of their local economies with more
than 200 employees at each facility, Long said. "We receive property
tax, telephone revenue and other benefits from the facilities," Long
said. Long explained that the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in
Walsenburg and the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington also will
be hurt if the reduction occurs. Currently the Huerfano facility is full of
inmates from Arizona, but Long said that when Arizona gets its inmate
situation straightened out, the inmates will be taken back to that state.
"That would be another facility that was built primarily for Colorado
inmates that would also be emptied," Long said.
August 21, 2009 Denver Post
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to cut the state budget through inmate releases
could reduce Colorado's prison population by 1,000 in a year and
immediately save $19 million. It will also almost certainly accelerate the
commission of new crimes, and could force layoffs from a privately run
prison, experts said. Ritter's plan calls for trimming parole supervision
for some inmates already out of prison, and releasing some non-sex-offender
inmates early and placing them on parole. A total of 5,700 inmates or
parolees could see their status change as a result of Ritter's cut. A
Metropolitan State College of Denver professor says it's unavoidable that a
large number of those prisoners or parolees will commit new crimes.
"The recidivism rate in Colorado is between 40 and 60 percent within
five years, depending on types of crimes," Metro State criminal
justice professor Joseph Sandoval said. "I do think that the risk of
release is that some will go on a crime spree and there may be a smaller
amount that commit crimes that are heinous." Each of the inmates who
will be released early is someone who was within six months of getting out
anyway. So, if the inmates follow historical patterns, the early release is
more likely to accelerate the commission of new crimes rather than actually
increase the crime rate over time, Sandoval said. Still, Denver Police
Chief Gerry Whitman said the mass release of prisoners across the state is
of "great concern." Private prisons wary -- There is also concern
about the plan's impact on privately run prisons. Colorado's prison system
is a mixture of state-run and privately run facilities. The private prisons
make a profit largely based on efficiency, and they need full beds to get
fully paid. The largest of those companies working in Colorado, Corrections
Corporation of America, is already fretting that reducing the prison
population too far would be bad for the company's bottom line. "We're
hoping it doesn't put us in a position where our operations are not viable,"
said Steve Owen, spokesman for Tennessee-based CCA, which runs Crowley
County Correctional Facility, Bent County Correctional Facility and Kit
Carson Correctional Facility. Katherine Sanguinetti, spokes woman for the
Colorado Department of Corrections, said the early prison releases will
save $61 million over three years. Although there will be population
decreases at all Colorado's prisons, the private prisons will be hit
hardest because empty beds at state-run prisons will be filled by prisoners
transferred from the private prisons. She said safety is DOC's top
priority.
February 20, 2009 Grand Junction Sentinel
Gov. Bill Ritter has commuted the death sentence of the Rifle
Correctional Center. Ritter and the Colorado Department of Corrections
reversed a decision to close the minimum-security facility after state Sen.
Al White, R-Hayden, pushed to keep it open. “That’s awesome. That’s great.
That is great,” said Mike Morgan, who is chief of the Rifle Fire Protection
District and one of many Garfield County residents who had spoken out
against the proposed closure. Morgan had been particularly concerned over
the prospective loss of an inmate wildland firefighting team. The state
Department of Corrections had proposed closing the 192-bed facility as one
way of helping deal with Colorado’s fiscal shortfall. White said the
decision to keep the prison open followed negotiations with the governor’s
office and state Department of Corrections. Before that, he said, he had to
persuade fellow members of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to
support keeping the prison open. “I’m just glad that we’re able to
accomplish what I think is a laudable goal,” he said. He said it made no
sense to close the prison when the state is sure to need more prison beds.
He worries that Colorado could end up at the mercy of whatever rates
private prisons might charge.
March 11, 2008 The Daily Sentinel
State lawmakers have approved of a compromise to increase the per diem
rate Colorado pays its largest private prison company, Corrections
Corporation of America, after a battle between the state and the company
this year. Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, said the Joint Budget Committee agreed
to boost the amount of money the state pays the firm per prisoner per day
from $52.69 to $54.27 — a 3 percent increase — as a gesture of “good faith”
between the state and the private company. “If we don’t have all the money
they want, let’s give them a good-faith offer, and have some negotiation
(over the Huerfano County) facility,” White said. During negotiations this
year between Corrections Corporation of America and the state, the company
threatened to stop holding Colorado prisoners in the 752-bed prison to stay
profitable. According to committee reports, the company requested a 4.25
percent funding increase, but staff had recommended a 1.5 percent increase
— the same rate increase lawmakers planned to give to all other private
companies the state has contracts with. Mike Feeley, a lobbyist for
Corrections Corporation of America, could not be reached for comment
Tuesday. The Joint Budget Committee’s vote came despite a warning from
legislative staff that a rate increase for the prison company alone could
set a bad precedent. “It’s a slippery slope when every provider gets a
different rate,” said Patrick Brodhead, an analyst for the budget panel. He
said granting Corrections Corporation of America’s request could encourage
other private companies paid by the state to demand higher reimbursement
rates. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said she plans, at the very
least, to fight the private prison company’s rate hike when the state
budget goes before the full House. “Why are they getting 3 percent when
most providers to the state are getting a 1.5 percent increase?” McFadyen
said.
February 6, 2008 Pueblo Chieftain
A private prison company is threatening to move all Colorado inmates
out of one of its facilities if it doesn't get an increase in what the
state pays to house them. Corrections Corporation of America, which
operates four of the state's five private prisons, including three in
Southern Colorado, is demanding that the Colorado Legislature give it a 5
percent hike in the per diem it receives to house about 4,000 state
inmates, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said Tuesday. Buescher,
chairman of the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee, said the
Tennessee-based company is using its weight to try to force more money out
of the state. "We've got a negotiating disadvantage," he said.
"The choice we've got to make is to give them a provider rate increase
that is three times what we're giving to all other providers, or to build
hundreds of millions of dollars in additional prisons. We don't have that
hundreds of millions of dollars, and they know it. The decisions that have
been made over the last 12 years (in using private prisons) have put us in
a very difficult negotiating position." Steve Owen, spokesman for the
Nashville company, said CCA is simply trying to do what's best for its
business. He said the company agreed to a lower per diem rate in 2001 when
the state was suffering from a major budget shortfall. Since then, however,
the state hasn't made up the difference. "We were basically asked to
help with the burden of trying to ease some of those (budget) constraints,
which we did," Owen said. "So, there's nothing Draconian at work
here in terms at what has been presented to the state. We're just honestly
trying to put options out there to help preserve this partnership with
Colorado so we can continue to provide the services to the state and keep
our folks employed out there." In 2001, the state had been paying CCA
a $53.33 per diem. That amount was lowered to less than $50 and has since
risen to $52.69, still far less than what it would be receiving after seven
years of inflation and cost increases. Now the company is asking for $55.32
per inmate a day. "We've actually had a real dollar decrease,"
Owen said. "That's compounded with another issue that the state has
underutilized beds that we've made available. Between those two things, it
makes for a difficult situation on a financially viable business
operation." Currently, the company - which operates private prisons in
Bent, Huerfano, Crowley and Kit Carson counties - has about 460 open beds,
and that doesn't count the 1,440 more that are expected to become available
later this year because of expansions of the Bent and Kit Carson
facilities, Owen said. Owen said that if the state can't pony up more
money, his company would consider consolidating all Colorado prisoners in
three of its facilities. The fourth facility, which has not been
determined, would be used for inmates from the federal prison system or
other states, some of which pay anywhere from $10 to $15 a day more than
Colorado. Still, some lawmakers said they didn't like the idea of the company
demanding a 5 percent hike at a time when the state can only afford to give
other private providers, from health care to human services, less than 1
percent. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West and a longtime critic of
private prisons, said the state should call CCA's bluff and give them no
increase. "I don't like doing business when we're being held hostage,
and that's exactly what this is," McFadyen said. "We saw it
coming. We had a past governor (Bill Owens) who brought us private prisons
without a bid process, now we're dealing with it. If they don't want to
work with us, we don't have to play ball with them."
January 28, 2008 Colorado Confidential
In just two months, two executives of the nation's largest prison
business gave $2,400 to various campaigns in Colorado, nearly triple the
total amount contributed a year before. According to records from the
Secretary of State's office, high- ranking officials with Tennessee-based
Corrections Corporation of America went on a spending spree during the last
two months of 2007, contributing money to the candidate committees of seven
state legislators, usually in $400 increments, the highest legal amount.
State campaign finance records show that Marsha Wedell, wife of CCA board
member Henri Wedell and a listed vice president at the company, gave $1,400
to the campaigns of Reps. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood; Mary Hodge, D-Brighton;
Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield; and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker.
May's committee received $200, while the rest were given $400 contributions
-- the maximum allowed by law. Josh Brown, a senior director at CCA who
handles business relations in Colorado, gave a total of $1000 to the
committees of Reps. David Balmer, R-Centennial; Michael Garcia, D-Aurora;
and Nancy Spence, R- Centennial, according to SOS documents. What makes the
spending surge unique is not the monetary amounts given to state lawmakers,
but the sheer increase in spending from last year by CCA. State records
show that CCA board member Henri Wedell gave $400 in November 2006 to the
campaign of House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D- Denver, while CCA gave a
business contribution of $500 to the Colorado Leadership Fund, a Republican
political committee, during the same month. The company didn't contribute
again until the end of 2007, when executives gave nearly triple the $900
amount contributed at the same time in 2006. CCA operates four detention
facilities in Colorado. Earlier in the month, the company demanded a 5
percent increase in the daily rate the state pays to hold inmates and
threatened to stop housing prisoners.
January 15, 2008 The Daily Sentinel
A private prison company is threatening to stop housing additional
Colorado inmates unless it receives more state funds, an act one state
lawmaker called “extortion.” Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said
Corrections Corporation of America has demanded a substantial increase in
the daily rate the state pays private prisons to hold inmates. “They said
that if we don’t essentially do a 5 percent increase over each of the next
five years, they will work at closing at least one of their prisons to
Colorado prisoners and start bringing in out-of- state prisoners,” Buescher
said. Corrections Corporation of America prisons in Burlington, Las Animas,
Olney Springs, Walsenburg and Sayre, Okla., house 4,048 Colorado inmates,
according to Katherine Sanguinetti, spokeswoman for the Department of
Corrections. Those prisoners account for more than 20 percent of the
state’s more than 19,000 prison inmates, according to agency statistics.
Steve Owen, spokesman for the Tennessee-based company, said Corrections
Corporation of America requested the rate increase to keep its Colorado
prisons operating at cost. “We’re trying to keep our operations in Colorado
financially viable looking to the long term,” Owen said. “It’s been a very
good partnership.” Owen declined to comment on the company’s dealings with
state lawmakers. He said Corrections Corporation of America is merely
trying to negotiate a reimbursement rate in line with prison companies’
pre-recession funding levels. Following Colorado’s 2002 and 2003 recession,
the state dropped its per-inmate, per-day private prison reimbursement rate
from a high of $54.66 in fiscal year 2001-2002 to $49.56 in fiscal year
2004-2005. Since then, the reimbursement rate has grown incrementally to
$52.69. Ari Zavaras, director of the Colorado Department of Corrections,
was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, said he
understands the Corrections Corporation of America’s financial situation,
but its threat to start “winnowing” Colorado inmates out of its facilities
in favor of more lucrative out-of-state prisoners is insidious. “I do feel
there is some level of extortion involved here,” White said. Buescher, who
heads the state’s Joint Budget Committee, said Corrections Corporation of
America’s responsibility for such a high percentage of the state’s inmates
gives it a troubling level of influence over the state. “When you use
private prisons, you become hostage to their setting the rate,” Buescher
said. “And we always knew that this issue was out there.” White said if
Corrections Corporation of America moves ahead with its plans, the state
could find itself scrambling to either cram more inmates into its already
overstuffed 22 public prisons, send prisoners outside Colorado or build a
new public prison. “We need to find beds for our prisoners,” White said,
“and if we lose all of the (Corrections Corporation of America) beds, we’re
in trouble.” According to a Joint Budget Committee staff report, Colorado
will need 5,100 new prison beds over the next five years. White said
building thousands of new public prison beds, without private prisons to
help bridge the bedding gap, could run a tab of nearly $1 billion. Rep.
Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said another short-term solution could be to
encourage more community-based sentences for nonviolent felons. Community
corrections programs, he said, are more cost-effective than prisons. Pommer
suggested during a Tuesday hearing the state could condemn and take over
one of Corrections Corporation of America’s facilities, but said it would
not be preferable. He said for the time being, Colorado will have to rely
on private- prison beds. “We should have never let this situation get to
the way it is,” Pommer said.
March 7, 2007 Denver Post
The nation's largest private-prison company said Tuesday it has helped
the state avoid $646 million in construction costs over the past decade.
Executives from Corrections Corporation of America, which houses about 20
percent of all inmates sent to prison in Colorado, added that they pay $40
million per year to 900 employees in the state. The company disclosed the
financial data during a special hearing by state lawmakers into the costs
and benefits of relying on privately owned prisons. While the company
touted its economic impact, opponents of private prisons talked about the
human cost. Tracy Masuga, whose son was moved from a Colorado-based prison
to a CCA facility in Oklahoma in December, said she can no longer visit her
son every other week, as she has for the past six years. "We won't be
able to see him very often," said Masuga, who choked back tears as she
began her testimony, noting that it now costs at least $300 per trip to see
her son. As a result of overcrowding in Colorado, hundreds of prisoners are
being transferred to facilities in Oklahoma. Masuga said she found out that
her son had been moved on the day he was sent to Oklahoma. Ryan Sherman,
president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said
private prison operators cut corners to increase profits for their
shareholders. He said such practices endanger workers and could result in
higher rates of repeat offenses by released inmates. "There's nothing
but problems if you are putting profits first," Sherman said. Rep.
Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, said private-prison operators pay lower salaries
than state-run prisons, partly because the companies base their salaries on
incomes in depressed rural areas. "It seems like that's contributing
to the pay disparity," Carroll said. Josh Brown, senior director of
customer relations for CCA, said his company's starting pay for a
correctional officer in Colorado is $24,000 to $26,000 per year. The state
Department of Corrections pays $32,000 annually. Brown said his company
turns over 30 percent to 40 percent of its Colorado workforce a year.
August 24, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
If Colorado took a best-value approach to contracts rather than a low-bid
approach, it could save the state millions of dollars in mediocre work that
has to be redone, union representatives said Monday. "Using the
low-bid process, the winning company has little incentive to do more than
marginal work," Gerard Waites, a Washington, D.C., lawyer whose firm
represents construction-trades unions, told members of the Interim
Committee to Study the State Procurement Process. The committee was formed
because of dissatisfaction with end products delivered by private vendors,
such as the one that put together the Colorado Benefits Management System,
the state's new $200 million system for delivering welfare benefits. Some
committee members also are skeptical about whether Colorado's private
prisons truly are saving money, when the cost of paying overtime to state
employees to quell riots is considered.
June
20, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
The company that runs most of Colorado's much-criticized private prisons
showered state lawmakers with campaign cash over the last five years.
Corrections Corp. of America and several of its executives gave at least
$43,000 to legislative and gubernatorial candidates, as well as state
political parties, campaign-finance records show. The company's
beneficiaries include Gov. Bill Owens; Interim State Treasurer Mark
Hillman, who recently resigned his post as Senate minority leader; the
former Senate president; two members of the legislature's budget committee,
including the chairman; and the House speaker pro tem. A government
watchdog group said that CCA's cash still could have been enough to garner
influence resulting in lax oversight from the state, as auditors described
in a report last week. Pete Maysmith, of Colorado Common Cause, an
advocacy group that has pushed for campaign-finance limits, sees a link
between the company's donations and the state's oversight problems.
"Let's not pretend otherwise," he said. "They give
large campaign contributions both to win contracts in the state and, one
would also presume, to have as much free rein as possible."
Other private prison companies that don't hold Colorado contracts donated
nearly $15,000 to state candidates this decade, records show. Records
show no donations from the only company besides CCA to run a Colorado
private prison, GRW Corp. of Tennessee. The company split its
Colorado donations among political parties. It gave $17,250 to Democrats,
including $750 to members of the Joint Budget Committee, $200 to Speaker
Pro Tem Cheri Jahn and $15,000 to a party campaign committee shortly before
the 2002 election. It gave Republicans $25,750, including $12,000 to party
committees and $500 each to former Senate President John Andrews and former
House Speaker Lola Spradley.
Columbia Training Center, Columbia, South
Carolina
A federal grand jury Friday awarded more than $3 million to a Charleston
teenager who was hog-tied, maced and thrown against a wall by Corrections
Corporation of America guards three years ago. The verdict could open the
door for 21 other teens who have filled lawsuits against the
Tennessee-based CCA. The teens claim that guards at a privately run
juvenile prison that CCA operated in Columbia assaulted and improperly
punished them. "It's a case where a corporation had a policy of using
abuse." said Gaston Fairey, the teens lawyer. The jury decided
Thursday that CCA had a corporate policy of using excessive force to
control teens sent to its facility on Farrow Road in Northeast Richland.
They awarded Pacetti, now 18, $125,000 in "actual damages,"
compensating him for his pain suffering. Cooper acknowledged in court that
the company made "big mistakes," but added, "CCA is not an
evil empire." The state decided not to renew the contract after the
first year. (Tennessean, Dec. 16, 2000)
Connecticut Legislature
A group of lawmakers and the union representing prison guards alleged
Tuesday that the governor's effort to fund more out-of-state placement of
inmates is a veiled attempt to steer a contract to a private prison company
being represented by one of his longtime friends. The group raised concerns
Tuesday hours before the expected approval of a budget implementation bill
submitted by the Office of Policy and Management at the request of Gov.
John Rowland. The bill authorizes the out-of-state transfer of 1,000
additional inmates. The critics say the contract is in the bag for
Corrections Corp. of America because the firm is being represented in
Connecticut by Rowland's former chief of staff David O'Leary. The company
has been paying O'Leary $4,500 a month plus expenses since January 2003 to
lobby on its behalf, state records show. State Rep. Michael Lawlor observed
that the state prison population is on the decline and the state does not
need to transfer inmates. He said the possibility of giving Corrections
Corp. of America a contract bears troubling similarities to the efforts
that resulted in the Tomasso Group winning a contract to build the
controversial juvenile training school in Middletown. Lawlor, who is a
member of the legislative committee investigating whether Rowland should be
impeached for taking gifts from state contractors and employees, said the
governor should not be allowed to repeat history. (Courant, May 12, 2004)
A private prison company from Tennessee has told the
Department of Correction it plans to bid on housing up to 2,500 prisoners
in its facilities. Connecticut must find a place to put 500 prisoners
by October, after Virginia officials canceled a contract to house the
state's inmates this week. Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections
Corporation of America has submitted a letter of intent to Connecticut,
said company spokesman Steve Owen. He would not reveal any proposed
details. "We certainly are interested and will be submitting a
proposal," Owen said. The state Department of Correction confirmed
it received letters of intent but would not say which providers had
expressed interest. Private providers and states have until May 3 to submit
proposals. Corrections Corporation of America is the nation's largest
private prison operator, holding 55,000 inmates in 64 facilities in 20
states. Company officials said last year their Youngstown, Ohio, facility
would be ideal for Connecticut inmates, but Owen said Friday they could be
placed in any of the company's 6,800 available beds. The company also
has hired a former a former chief of staff to Gov. John G. Rowland, David
O'Leary, to lobby for the company in Connecticut. Rowland is currently
enmeshed in a federal investigation into possible bid-rigging in the
administration, and a House committee is considering whether to recommend
impeachment. "We are not concerned," Owen said. "He is
being retained because of his ability to be kept up to speed with the
decision making, like all of our lobbyists around the states. That is why
we retain the individual." Connecticut had been looking for a
private or other state provider since the legislature last year authorized
out-of-state placements for 2,500 prisoners. Virginia has said it
will not accept Connecticut prisoners past Oct. 22, but it will be flexible
in allowing Connecticut to get its inmates out of the state. Marc
Ryan, Rowland's budget chief, said the state would not discuss anything
with providers until after the closing date for the proposals. He also said
the state was not leaning toward any particular provider, and was
considering entering into multiple contracts. A preliminary survey of
the private prison industry showed Connecticut could get rates as low as
$10 per prisoner per day, Ryan said. In Connecticut, it costs roughly $80 a
day to house prisoners, he said. The Virginia contract's demise is
giving some lawmakers that prison crowding reforms will move through the
legislature. The proposals include building up community based
programs and releasing prisoners more quickly when they become eligible for
parole. They would also fund the state's jail re-interview program, which
assesses whether inmates awaiting sentencing can be released into the
community. "We need a long-term solution to this problem, and
it's got to be a Connecticut solution. Not one that's going to be canceled
with six months' notice," said Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, chair
of the legislature's Judiciary Committee. The proposed reforms do not
eliminate the state's ability to send inmates to other states. But backers
argue that the reforms will reduce the population enough so that it won't
even be a discussion. "I don't think it's a problem at all
creating that room in our system, so we can accept people coming
back," said Rep. William Dyson, D-New Haven. Barbara Fair, an
activist with People Against Injustice and the mother of an inmate who was
sent to Virginia, said she doubted there would be any substantial
change. "As long as they're trying to fill up cells somewhere
else, that's what they're going to do," she said. (AP, February
28, 2004)
The next batch of inmates that
Connecticut prison officials send out of state is likely to end up in a
private prison in Ohio. Correction Commissioner Theresa Lantz told
legislators this week that her department has issued a request for
proposals seeking a provider with enough beds to hold all the inmates
-which could number more than 2,000. But she said Corrections Corp. of
America, which operates the Ohio facility, might be the only provider able
to accommodate that many. Lantz assured lawmakers that like
Connecticut, many other states are turning to private prisons to address
their overcrowding issues. "Thirty-one states contract with
private prisons, so it is not a unique phenomenon," said Lantz.
"And I'm not saying that because I am trying to sell you on private
prisons." She told members of the legislature's judiciary and
appropriations committees during a joint hearing that she needs to find
housing for inmates because the state's contract to house inmates in
Virginia expires in 2005. She said the state's prison system does not have
the capacity to absorb the 500 inmates currently housed there, even though
the state's inmate population has significantly dropped since last
year. As of January 2004, the state's inmate population was 18,523,
including 554 inmates being held for the federal authorities. Last year,
the figure stood at 19,216, including 368 federal detainees. John
Ferguson, Corrections Corp. of America's chief executive, was quoted in the
Tennessean newspaper in October claiming that his company's dormant
facility in Youngstown, Ohio, which has 2,016 empty beds, would be an ideal
site for Connecticut inmates. The company has roughly 6,800 empty beds in
its 64 prisons around the country. His comments were in response to
the legislature's approval last year of the governor's plan to send 2,000
more inmates out of state. Ferguson's firm is being represented in
Connecticut by Gov. John Rowland's former chief of staff David O'Leary. The
company has been paying O'Leary $4,500 a month plus expenses since January
of last year. Corrections Corp. is the only prison provider with a lobbyist
in the state. Officials with the company said they were looking to
break into the Connecticut market and approached O'Leary after learning
that he was one of the most effective lobbyists in the state, said Steve
Owen, the company's director of marketing and communications.
"It is common for [the company] to retain lobbyists in both states
where we currently do business and states where we may be able to do
business," said Owen. "This allows us to monitor ongoing public
policy discussions in corrections. Additionally, lobbyists provide an
avenue by which the company can inform and educate decision-makers on the
merits of our industry generally and our company specifically."
Officials with the union that represents the state's correction officers
said signs that the state is leaning toward a private provider concern
them. They say the decision will eventually cost the state more than it
saves. They say instead of sending inmates out of state, the
legislature should be pursuing measures that reduce the state's prison
population. "Council 4 and the corrections employees we
represent have consistently and publicly supported viable alternatives to the
management of the inmate population, such as diversion for first-time drug
offenders and the mentally ill," said Thomas Sellas, a member of the
union's executive board. "We have also strongly advocated making
better use of existing Department of Correction resources. It makes no
sense to send prisoners out of state when there are open beds right here in
Connecticut." (Courant, February 23, 2004)
Following are highlights of three budget-related bills the Connecticut
General Assembly plans to vote on Saturday. The information is from drafts
of the bills. Allow the Department of Correction to send an 2,000
more inmates to out-of-state public or private prisons. (AP, August
19, 2003)
Correctional
Treatment Facility, Washington, DC
Feb. 4, 2013 Washington City
Paper
As if being imprisoned wasn't
bad enough, a new lawsuit from a former Washington inmate alleges there's
another threat lurking in Washington's correctional facilities: the
showers. Robert Morris was imprisoned at the Correctional Treatment
Facility, a building located next to the D.C. Jail that's run by the
private Corrections Corporation of America, on Sept. 20, 2012. When he got
in the shower, he alleged got a surprise: According to his lawsuit, the
temperature spiked. "There was a sudden, very rapid, and quite extreme
temperature change and it burned him in the genital area," says
Geoffrey D. Allen, Morris's attorney. The lawsuit alleges that Corrections
Corporation of America employees already knew about the showers' tendency
to shoot out scalding water, which Allen likens to the changes in
temperature when multiple showers in one house are turned on, but much
worse. In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court in January, Morris sued the
Corrections Corporation of America for $1 million for the injuries he suffered
in the shower. The company declined to comment on the case, saying in a
statement that inmate safety at the CTF is a top priority. Allen, who
wasn't sure what his client was imprisoned for, says Morris didn't suffer
permanent damage from the shower's alleged burst on his most sensitive
areas. "It was certainly uncomfortable, as you can imagine,"
Allen says.
September 20, 2012 The Washington Times
Corrections officers working at a D.C. jail facility worry about their
safety on a daily basis due to a lack of adequate staffing after recent
layoffs, employees testified Thursday at a D.C. Council hearing on the
facility’s management. Corrections Corporation of America has run the
District’s Correctional Treatment Facility since it took over operations
from the District in 1997, but workers said problems that include faulty
radios, inadequate staffing and high levels of contraband found inside the
jail have been exacerbated since 77 employees — approximately one-third of
the workforce — were laid off in April. “They are putting us in danger as
well as the inmates,” said Dana Bushrod, a corrections officer of 10 years
and leader with the union that represents employees at the facility. Ms.
Bushrod went on to describe how units at the medium security facility, which
is run separately from the higher security D.C. Jail that is still overseen
by the District, are now commonly staffed with one corrections officer when
they should be overseen by two or three officers. “We have a mental health
unit that should have three staff members but have had one,” Ms. Bushrod
said. “We have had an incident where an officer was attacked because she
was by herself and a mental health patient attacked her and another mental
health inmate had to help her.” Faulty radios and telephones also often
leave officers without a way to communicate with staff in other units, she
said. “It’s pretty shocking, and the public should be very worried about
some of these instances,” said John Rosser, chairman of the Fraternal Order
of Police Corrections Labor Committee that represents officers at the jail.
No representative from CCA attended the hearing before the council’s
Committee on the Judiciary on Thursday morning or could be reached for
comment. D.C. Council chairman Phil Mendelson, who oversaw the hearing,
said that despite CCA’s absence from the hearing he believes officials are
listening to their concern. “The value of this hearing is it gives employes
a way on the record to voice their concerns,” said Mr. Mendelson, at-large
Democrat, adding that a number of the concerns mentioned had been raised
before. “Now the whole world is watching, so the views are out on the
table.” Several who attended the hearing spoke out against a continuation
of CCA’s contract with the District to oversee operations at the facility.
The contract is in force until 2017, according to information provided by
Department of Corrections officials. “The FOP union strongly opposed
privatizing in the 1990s and nothing has happened in the intervening years
to convince us we were wrong,” Mr. Rosser said. “Profit has no place being
in the equation. Making money on the incarceration of citizens is ugly
business.” Others also raised concern about current conditions inside the
jail. A representative from the American Civil Liberties Union of the
Nation’s Capital spoke about two deaf inmates who were not provided sign
language interpreters. Advocates said some inmates were subject to inhumane
treatment, as they were not let outside for months or their pleas for
medical attention were ignored. Corrections officers also expressed
frustration that management provides written warning of contraband searches
before they are conducted, giving inmates time to dispose of or hide
weapons or other illegal items before the sweeps.
July 23, 2010 WTOP
Former correctional officer Quincy Hayes was sentenced Friday to 12 months
and one day in prison for accepting bribes. At his guilty plea on March 18,
2010, Hayes, 32, of Alexandria admitted that he accepted a $300 cash
payment from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for agreeing to smuggle an
iPod into the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) for an inmate. Hayes
also admitted to having smuggled cigarettes into the CTF, located in the
District, for another inmate in exchange for a $100 bribe. Hayes will also
undergo a two-year period of supervised release following the prison
sentence, where he will perform 100 hours of community service. The CTF is
operated by the Corrections Corporation of America under contract with the
District of Columbia Department of Corrections.
May 27, 2010 Washington Post
Jail is supposed to be no frills, a place where the only the basic
amenities of food, clothing and shelter exist. But according to
prosecutors, one D.C. jail officer helped an inmate get some creature comforts
-- a cell phone, an iPod, and even a charger for the devices. Thomas Ford,
35, of the District, was sentenced Thursday to 12 months and one day in
prison on a charge of bribery of a public official, the U.S. Attorney's
Office for the District announced. Ford admitted in February that he
accepted cash payments in exchange for agreeing to smuggle cell phones, an
iPod and a charger to a cooperating inmate in the Correctional Treatment
Facility, which is operated by the Corrections Corporation of America under
contract with the D. C. Department of Corrections. The FBI launched an
undercover sting in 2008, after getting a tip that corrections officers
were smuggling contraband to inmates. U.S. Attorney Ron Machen said in a
statement that as a law enforcement officer, Ford abused the public trust,
and he pledged, "“whenever anyone violates the public trust and breaks
the law, we will prosecute them vigorously.”
March 11, 2010 AP
D.C. police are searching for an inmate who escaped while being transported
to United Medical Center for treatment. The Corrections Corporation of
America says 28-year-old Terrence Moore fled when he arrived at the
southeast D.C. hospital around 9 a.m. Thursday. The company says after
officers opened the vehicle doors, Moore escaped and jumped into a burgundy
colored Cadillac and got away with an unknown driver. Officials are
investigating how Moore was able to remove his restraints. The CCA runs the
Correctional Treatment Facility where Moore, who is from Washington, was a
pretrial inmate facing charges of assault with intent to kill. The facility
is under lockdown.
February 23, 2010 Courthouse News
Two former inmates of a Corrections Corporation of America prison say CCA
employees preyed on them sexually and banished them to solitary lockdown
when they complained. One woman claims a CCA guard paid her "sugar
daddy" on the outside, then demanded, and received, sex in prison.
Jessica Rubio and Serbennia Chase filed separate, $20 million federal
lawsuits against the private prison contractor, alleging civil rights
violations at the company's Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) at the
District of Columbia Jail. Rubio, who was arrested and sentenced in 2008
for sexual solicitation, says CTF employee "Sgt. Powell" paid her
for sex four times when he should have been helping her "turn her life
around." Rubio says that in an effort to go straight rather then
spending "the rest of her life going in and out of prison," she
signed up for a private counseling session with Powell, who ran a group
session called "Life Without a Crutch." Rubio says she thought
Powell was "uniquely qualified to assist her in dealing with her
problems and counsel her on how to become a law abiding and productive
member of society." During a private session, she says she told Powell
she was a prostitute and drug addict. She said she worked as a prostitute
because of a "love of money," and because there was no other job
at which she could make "$1,200 to $1,800 a day." After the
session, Rubio says, Powell paid $50 to her "sugar daddy" to have
sex with her. Rubio says that despite the "receipt" for her
services, she did not think Powell would "use her to satisfy his
sexual urges because she went to him to turn her life around, not to
facilitate the life she had on the streets." She says Powell took her
to the prison's "satellite kitchen" four times and had sex with
her, each time paying her "sugar daddy" beforehand. Afterward,
Rubio says, "She felt cheap, used and abused." "It reminded
her of the life she had on the street, that she wanted to put behind her,
but it had apparently followed her to CTF," the lawsuit states. After
she told investigators about Powell's actions and agreed to testify to a
grand jury, Rubio says she was denied phone calls and other privileges, and
eventually was moved to another prison, where her attorney had trouble
visiting her. She was kept in solitary and kept on near-constant lockdown,
she says. In the other complaint, Chase, who was arrested in 2008 for
aggravated assault, says she was sexually harassed at least three times by
a "Lt. Harris" while incarcerated at CTF. On a number of
occasions Harris escorted her to meetings with her attorney. Two times he
grabbed her buttocks or her vagina and said, "I'll see you
later," according to the complaint. Another time he cornered her in a
stairway, grabbed her vagina and said, "When are you going to let me
put this dick in you?" Chase says. Chase adds that the 5th District
Police Precinct violated her privacy when it videotaped her undressing in
an interrogation room. She says the police then circulated a video of her
without underwear "exposing her vagina and buttocks." She says
she found out about the video when detectives sent a copy to her lawyer.
She says she was "shocked, embarrassed and felt shame that her
attorneys and other people saw her naked body." After she reported the
harassment, Chase says she was transferred to a jail more than 2 hours away
and kept in a solitary cell on 24-hour lockdown. Both women sued the
District of Columbia, the Office of the Attorney General, and Corrections
Corporation of America for civil rights violations. Chase also sued for
invasion of privacy. They both seek a jury trial, $10 million in
compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. Both are represented
by Wendell Robinson. Officials at the Correctional Treatment Facility did
not return a phone call requesting comment.
December 2, 2009 Washington Post
Two D.C. corrections officers and a Maryland woman were arrested
Tuesday on federal bribery charges on suspicion of accepting cash to
smuggle cellphones and iPods to inmates in the District's jail complex. The
officers, Thomas Ford, 35, and Quincy Hayes, 32, have been placed on
administrative leave and were released on personal recognizance after a brief
hearing in the District's federal court. They are officers at the
District's Correction Treatment Facility (CTF), which is run by the
Corrections Corporation of America. Renee Braxton, 44, a security guard at
a museum, was also released on personal recognizance, court records show.
Authorities said that an inmate approached the FBI in October 2008 to
report that guards were smuggling contraband into the facility. An
undercover FBI employee, pretending to be the brother of an inmate, met
with Braxton and Ford in 2008 and early this year and gave them several
hundred dollars to smuggle a phone, an iPod and a charger to inmates at the
CTF. Ford passed the items to the inmates, the FBI said. Hayes is accused
of accepting a $300 bribe payment in June 2009 to smuggle in an iPod to a
CTF inmate, the FBI said in court papers.
September 28, 2009 Washington Examiner
A D.C. Jail sergeant has been suspended while corrections officials probe
allegations that he had sex with an inmate after paying for it through her
pimp, according to officials and court documents. The investigation has
also led to the forced leave of two other corrections officers, one of whom
was later fired over an unrelated issue, officials said. The three were
removed from the D.C. Jail property, "after allegations of
inappropriate behavior arose with an inmate," according to Walter
Fulton, facility program manager at the Correctional Treatment Center.
Authorities said they would not further discuss the allegations because of
an ongoing law enforcement investigation, but some details were outlined in
a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court this month. Jessica Rubio, 32, who
described herself in court documents as a prostitute with a drug problem,
was an inmate at the Correctional Treatment Facility, which is an annex of
the D.C. Jail. She was in custody on a prostitution charge. She charged in
her lawsuit that she had sex with correctional counselor Sgt. Aundra Powell
after he paid $50 to her "Sugar Daddy" for her to satisfy his
sexual urges. She claims Powell paid for her sexual services on four
occasions. The sexual encounters began last year when Rubio received a
receipt for the promised sex from her pimp and showed it to Powell after a
group counseling session, she charged in the suit. "I see you received
it," Powell replied, according to the lawsuit. Rubio's attorney,
Wendell Robinson, said he did not know what form the receipt was in and
would not comment further than what was in the lawsuit. In order to have
sex with Rubio, the lawsuit alleges, Powell removed Rubio from her jail
cell during the 2 p.m. "quiet time" and had her follow him to a
satellite kitchen. Powell walked her to a window and told her to look
outside while he put on a condom and had sex with her, according to the
lawsuit. Rubio was released after serving her time, but was rearrested in
April and convicted for prostitution in June 2009. It was then, she said,
that Department of Corrections detectives questioned her about what
happened between her and Powell. Rubio has since been transferred to the
Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford, Va. Walter Fulton, facility program
manager at the Correctional Treatment Center, said Powell and two
lieutenants were placed on paid leave as soon as the allegations surfaced.
Jail detectives are investigating, he said. Powell and a substance abuse
counselor remain on administrative leave. Lt. Ricardo Rich, an assistant
shift supervisor, was fired in June for unrelated reasons, Fulton said. The
Correctional Treatment Facility, at 19th and E streets Southeast, is
managed by the Corrections Corp. of America and is staffed by employees of
the District.
December 3, 2008 Washington Post
The mother of a quadriplegic inmate who died in 2004 after suffering
breathing problems at the D.C. jail has reached financial settlements with
the District government and his care providers, her attorneys disclosed
yesterday. The settlements were reached in the controversial death of
Jonathan Magbie, a 27-year-old Maryland man who was paralyzed from the neck
down and used a mouth-operated wheelchair. Magbie died four days into a
10-day jail sentence for possessing marijuana, which he said he used to
ease the discomfort caused by his disability. The jail infirmary, where he
was housed for several days, wasn't equipped with the ventilator he needed
to breathe at night. His death sparked several government investigations,
which exposed major lapses in Magbie's care at the D.C. jail and Greater
Southeast Hospital. Attorneys for his mother, Mary R. Scott, declined to
provide details of the financial settlement, which she reached with the
city, private contractors and the insurance company that covered doctors at
the hospital. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Scott,
called the settlement "substantial" in a news release. As part of
the settlement, the District government changed the way officials screen
and handle inmates with medical problems and disabilities, Scott's
attorneys said. "The family's concern was to make certain that, to the
extent anyone can prevent it, that this terrible type of event never
happens again," said Elizabeth Alexander, an ACLU lawyer who
represented Scott. "A series of people dealt with this young man, and
every single place where something could go wrong, it did go wrong."
Scott declined to comment through her attorneys. She filed a federal
lawsuit in 2005 that accused the District government, Greater Southeast,
three contractors and more than a dozen corrections officers, doctors and
nurses of negligence in Magbie's death. A spokeswoman from the D.C.
government said she could not comment until looking into the matter.
Greater Southeast is under new ownership and has been renamed United
Medical Center. A spokeswoman for Corrections Corporation of America, which
runs a portion of the D.C. jail where Magbie was held, declined to comment.
Representatives of two other contractors did not return phone messages
seeking comment. Magbie's ordeal began Sept. 20, 2004, when D.C. Superior
Court Judge Judith E. Retchin sentenced him to jail after he pleaded guilty
to possessing marijuana. D.C. police found a gun and marijuana in Magbie's
pockets in April 2003 after stopping a vehicle driven by a cousin of his.
Magbie admitted buying the marijuana, records show. Magbie's mother was
furious that the judge did not give her son probation, the typical
punishment for first-time offenders. Magbie, paralyzed since being hit by a
drunk driver at age 4, had no criminal record. Retchin told a judicial
commission that she sentenced Magbie to jail because he said he would
continue to smoke marijuana to alleviate his pain. She also told the
commission that she was unaware that he needed a ventilator to breathe at
night. The commission cleared Retchin of wrongdoing. Because of his
condition, Magbie was supposed to be housed in the jail's infirmary,
according to an investigation by the D.C. inspector general. Magbie was
taken to a hospital for "respiratory distress" and returned to
the jail infirmary, which didn't have a ventilator, the report said. Jail
doctors did not perform a follow-up examination and did not always conduct
daily rounds to check on patients, including Magbie, the report said.
Magbie ate and drank very little during the next few days, the report
stated. On Sept. 24, 2004, he was having respiratory problems, and
paramedics were called, the report said. They found him to be
"unresponsive and very sweaty," and his undergarment was
"saturated with urine," the report said. Paramedics told
investigators that the trip to the hospital was delayed by about 30 minutes
because the jail staff would not allow them to leave without the proper
paperwork and without a blood sugar test, the report said. At the hospital,
Magbie was "acutely ill," according to the report. He died that
night.
February 15, 2008 Washington City Paper
With so many millions of dollars walking out the door in Jimmy Choos, etc.,
courtesy of the tax scandal, you’d figure D.C. Gov would be totally into
recovering millions of other dollars it’s rightfully owed by the
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). You’d figure that. But you’d be
wrong. In a classic case of buck-passing between the Office of Property
Management (OPM) and the Department of Corrections (DOC), the utility bill
for steam used to heat the Correctional Treatment Facility—located right
next to the D.C. Jail and privately operated by the Nashville-based CCA—has
gone unpaid for years. What’s owed is up for negotiation. Last March,
former OPM director Lars Etzkorn (who has since lost his job over that
unfortunate police department relocation fiasco) testified before the
Council that OPM was “collecting monies owed.” To wit: “For example, last
month OPM presented to the Department of Corrections the analysis for it to
recover $5.7 million from the Corrections Corporation of America…” OPM didn’t
take over collecting the money, mind you, it presented an analysis of how
to collect the money. And this was after At-Large Councilmember Phil
Mendelson figured out in the 2006 budget process that DOC was actually
being billed for the steam rather than being paid for it. A year after OPM
was informed of that, a year after Etzkorn’s testimony throwing around
“$5.7 million,” none of the money has been collected. And $5.7 million
could be way underselling it. To be fair to the CCA, the folks in Nashville
didn’t know how much steam they were using in D.C. until OPM installed a
meter last March; a bill didn’t even go out until a few months later, in
June. According to the bill, the meter shows that in six months—from June
to December of 2007—the Correctional Treatment Facility used more than
$450,000 in steam. When you do the math, and take into account that the
CCA, according to its lease, has been responsible for paying utilities on
the facility since 1997…. well that’s somewhere around $10 million to $11 million
in danger of—poof!—evaporating. The DOC, by nature of its relationship with
the the jail, the next-door Correctional Treatment Facility, and the CCA,
has been the agency ostensibly in charge of the lease with the CCA. But—and
you’ll have to try and follow this alphabet soup—the DOC thinks it’s the
OPM’s job to get the CCA on board. Beverly Young, spokesperson for DOC,
e-mailed that succinct response to me this week: “The Department of
Corrections is not responsible for the collections. The matter is ultimately
an issue between OPM and CCA.” Mendelson agrees. The DOC, he says, never
should have been in charge of the lease in the first place. “The only
agency that should administer a lease is OPM,” he says, and further: “They
(OPM) screwed around last year with invoicing and not getting
payment….They’re very slow to act and we're talking about millions of
public dollars.” At a hearing last Friday, OPM’s interim director Robin-Eve
Jasper (after being jousted by Vincent Gray) faced Mendelson on this front:
Mendo: “We should get answers without having to think of every angle to ask
the question. So I get the bills, but it turns out we’re not getting the
payment…” Jasper: “I’m going to have to get back to you. We are billing
currently, but the first bill didn’t go out that long ago…and I don’t
believe it was as high as $11 million….I will get back to you with a
detailed response.” Mendo: “What I was last told at our last hearing on
this was that the Office of Property Management was talking to the
Department of Corrections. I’m not sure why that makes sense. Why doesn’t
the OPM talk to CCA or to the CFO’s office?” Jasper: “I can’t answer that
question…I can’t answer why we were in discussion with the DOC rather than
sending out a demand note and just proceeding on that basis.” Mendo: “When
you get back to me, can you also go into what was going on prior to June
2007?” Jasper: “Yes, I believe we’re trying to establish a baseline of a
full year at this point and…establish prior payments.” Mendo: “I’ve yet to
receive any evidence that anyone has talked to CCA, so this would all be a
surprise to them when we send them a bill. That would kind of help, I
think, to talk to them.” Hey, it’s a start. OPM’s spokesman, Bill Rice, did
not return three phone calls. Stay tuned!
December 14, 2006 Washington Post
Two former female inmates at the D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility
sued the District and jail officials last week, claiming that male guards
took them to isolated parts of the jail and raped them. The women are suing
under the anonymous names Jane Doe and Jane Roe. They say the District and
Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), the private contractor the city hired
to run the jail, are responsible for the alleged rapes because of their
failure to supervise and train guards and properly investigate allegations
of sexual misconduct. The suit is also filed against the two jail guards
whom the women allege raped them: Elry McKnight and John Gant. The two
women are alleging violations of their civil rights, emotional distress and
battery, and are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Doe, a Maryland
woman in her late 30s, alleges that McKnight raped her twice in April 2002
in a staff bathroom -- first while escorting her alone to her cell as she
returned from a court hearing, and next when he pretended that he needed to
take her to obtain a new identification badge. She was serving time for
selling heroin. Roe, a D.C. resident, alleges that Gant forced her to
perform oral sex on him in a jail broom closet in December 2003. Roe said
Gant was able to easily separate her from others by asking a female
corrections officer to let him speak with Roe privately in the hallway.
Roe, who was serving time on drug possession charges, was released in
January 2004. Doe, who has seven children and three grandchildren whom she
hasn't told about the incident, said in an interview that she struggled
over whether to sue the city. She said she worried about having to come
forward and revisit an episode that has caused her panic attacks ever since,
but decided to do so because her initial complaint was ignored. In the
lawsuit, she alleges that she called 911 twice to get a police officer to
come to the jail, but no one came. "It's like they want to hide
everything that happened," Doe said. "If you hide something, it
will happen to a lot of people." Beverly Young, a spokeswoman for the
D.C. Department of Corrections, said the city agency and its personnel
cannot comment on pending litigation. A spokesman for CCA said the company
was not aware of the suit and could not comment. The suit claims that the
corrections department and CCA treated the two women poorly in
investigating their claims. Doe was taken to see CTF Warden Fred Figueroa,
and McKnight was eventually suspended with pay during an investigation,
according to the suit. Doe was given no information about the investigation
for three months, until she complained in June 2002 to her sentencing judge
that she had been raped in the detention facility, the suit alleges. The
suit also alleges that McKnight eventually was fired for smuggling
contraband to inmates. "I couldn't believe they [paid] no mind to me.
They thought I was going to be deported," said Doe, who grew up in the
Dominican Republic but is a U.S. citizen. "They just didn't care. They
thought I was a criminal. " Doe said she has stayed away from drugs
since her release and is trying to get a job as a construction apprentice.
She said she knows she was guilty of her crime and had to pay by doing
time. "I'm not mad that I was put in jail. But I was so shocked. I
didn't know you had to give them sex, too," she said. Roe was not
available to be interviewed, but her part of the suit claims that Gant told
her she had to do what he said or he could use his power in the records
office to lengthen her stay in jail. CTF officers offered to put Roe in a
kind of solitary confinement when she asked for protection from Gant, the
suit says, but he ultimately resigned from CCA rather than give a statement
regarding the alleged rape. Deborah M. Golden, a lawyer with Washington
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, who is a lead attorney on the suit,
said the District and CCA had a duty to set up procedures to reduce the
risk that inmates at the CTF would be sexually harassed or raped and to
take substantive action when inmates made rape allegations. Golden, who is
working on the case with pro bono counsel Thomas C. Hill, a partner at the
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm, said the women's claims weren't
treated with the seriousness they deserved. "You can't train someone
not to be a rapist," Golden said. "But you can set up procedures
whereby lone women can't be taken out of their cells by a lone officer. You
can stop officers from taking advantage of people who are incarcerated. You
can train people to be alert to signs of trauma in the population."
The legal team said it hopes to get top-level officials to take action to
address sexual exploitation, a problem that has long plagued jails and
prisons around the country. "Neither woman disputes their crime,"
Golden said. "But that doesn't mean rape was part of their
sentence."
June 9, 2006 Washington Blade
Two transgender women said they plan to file a discrimination complaint
against the District’s Department of Corrections after officials at the
D.C. Jail refused to allow them to visit inmates because of their personal
appearance. Gigi Thomas, a client advocate for the local group HIPS, which
provides services to local sex workers, and Tiffany Everlasting, a HIPS
volunteer, said jail officials told them they could not enter the jail
because they wore women’s clothes but lacked identification classifying
them as biological females. The two women said they appeared separately and
at different times on May 30 at the visitor’s reception desk of the
Correctional Treatment Facility at 19th and D streets, S.E. The facility,
known as the CTF, is operated privately under a Department of Corrections
contract with the Corrections Corporation of America, a firm that operates
prisons throughout the country. An official with the D.C. Office of Human
Rights said the action by the jail appears to violate the city’s Human
Rights Act, which bans discrimination against transgender people. The act
covers city government agencies as well as the private sector, including
private employers. Walter Fulton, program manager at the command center for
the Correctional Treatment Facility, said the facility has a dress code
policy that prevented “cross-dressers” from being admitted as visitors. He
said the policy, which was under review, was based on concerns about how
jail employees could conduct a “pat down” search of a transgender person as
part of routine searches of all jail visitors. He said the searches were
aimed at preventing visitors from bringing contraband, including illegal drugs,
into city correctional facilities. “It’s likely that accommodations will be
made to allow cross dressers to visit,” he said. Guard convicted of sexual
assault. The refusal by CTF officials to allow Thomas and Everlasting
visitation rights came less than three months after a D.C. Superior Court
jury convicted a guard at the same facility of sexually assaulting a
transgender inmate. Court records show that Robert Ali White, 37, was
convicted of a single count of first-degree sexual abuse of a ward for allegedly
forcing a transgender inmate to perform oral sex on him in December 2004.
He was scheduled for sentencing on July 21. D.C. police arrested White on
Dec. 29, 2004, at the CTF facility after an inmate reported that the
corrections officer allegedly forced the inmate to engage in a sexual act
with him, according to court records.
One inmate was killed and a second was
wounded in separate stabbings over the weekend at the D.C. jail, just days
after another detainee was slain in a similar attack, corrections officials
and prisoner advocates said yesterday. The inmate-on-inmate attacks took
place over a 70-hour period in different cellblocks. Officials with the
D.C. Department of Corrections said they put the jail on an indefinite
lockdown after the latest incident Saturday, restricting movements and
activities of inmates, while D.C. police and the agency's internal affairs
unit investigate. The violence raised new concerns among jail watchdogs
about whether the detention center can operate safely above a court-ordered
population cap of 1,674 that was lifted in June after 17 years. Yesterday's
inmate count was 2,369. (Washington Post, December 18, 2002)
Four corrections officers at a privately run annex to the D.C. jail have
been indicted on charges that they smuggled drugs, pagers and cash to
inmates in exchange for bribes offered by undercover FBI agents,
prosecutors said yesterday. Three of the four were employees of the
Corrections Corp. of America, which runs the Correctional Treatment
Facility in Southeast Washington under a contract with the city, when they
allegedly took the bribes. The fourth, whom prosecutors described as a
former CCA employee at the facility, allegedly served as a go-between for
one of the others in his dealings with an FBI agent posing as an inmate's
girlfriend. (The Washington Post, November 8, 2002)
Six former D.C. corrections officers pleaded guilty this week to federal
bribery charges after an FBI sting operation in which they accepted money
in return for smuggling cash and pagers to inmates, prosecutors announced
yesterday. The six men were indicted in U.S. District Court last month on
charges that they brought cash and pagers to inmates at the District's
Correctional Treatment Facility after accepting hundreds of dollars from a
man who said he was acting on behalf of inmates. The man turned out to be
an undercover FBI agent, prosecutors said. (The Washington Post, June 29,
2001)
A convicted killer, confined to a wheelchair cut through the bars on the
window of his eighth-floor cell, tied bedsheets into a rope and climbed out
of the prison undetected. The sheets unraveled and he plunged to the
pavement below. An unidentified woman picked him up and took him to a
nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead an hour later. (The Washington
Post, March 16, 1999)
Corrections
Corporation of America, Nashville, Tennessee
Mitt Romney's
Undisclosed Relationship With Private Prisons: August 24, 2012
By karoli, Crooks & Liars. CCA's REIT and Romney.
Immigrants prove big business for prison companies:
August 2, 2012 By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ and GARANCE BURKE Associated Press.
Must read on immigration $$$.
Correctional Corporation of America Accreditation
Report Misses Stark Reality: August 1, 2012, Truth Out.
Headline says it all.
Prisons, Privatization, Patronage: by Paul
Krugman, The New York Times, June 22, 2012. Over the past few days,
The New York Times has published several terrifying reports about New
Jersey's system of halfway houses - privately run adjuncts to the regular
system of prisons.
Private Prison, Public Problem: June 6,
2012, Jackson Free Press. Excellent piece on how the Adams County CF
(MS) prison was built and its and CCA's operations.
An
activist fights to make CCA more transparent — by joining the ranks of its
stockholders: May 17, 2012, Nashville Scene, by Jonathan
Meador. Piece on Alex Friedmann's efforts to get rape resolution passed by
CCA.
How the
private detention industry courted Crete: May 16, 2012, by
Siddhartha Mahanta, American Independent. Exposé on how CCA works
small communities
Ex-Con Shareholder Goes After World's Biggest Prison
Corporation: May 10, 2012, Mother Jones piece on
Alex Friedmann's shareholder's resolution on rape.
Attack
of the Prison People: March 27, 2012, NYTimes columnist
Paul Krugman won't be intimidated.
Luna
v. CCA: March 16, 2012. Former CCA warden sues over firing.
While he lost his case, the case provides an inside look at how poorly run
Red Rock is.
State gets tougher on private prisons - Operators
face fine as leniency disappears under Martinez administration:
March 1, 2012, Trip Jennings, The New Mexican: Damning expose on how
former DOC Secretary and former Wackenhut warden cost state millions of
dollars in un-collected fines against for-profits.
HOW
CCA ABUSES PRISONERS, MANIPULATES THE PUBLIC AND DESTROYS COMMUNITIES:
January 2012, 37 pages. Report by Corazón de Tucson into CCA.
Incident Rates at CCA-run Prisons Higher than at
Public Prisons in Tennessee: October 18, 2011, Private
Corrections Institute. According to an analysis of incidents involving assaults
and disturbances at publicly-operated and privately-managed prisons in
Tennessee from January 2009 to June 2011, incident rates were consistently
higher at the state’s three private prisons.
Bombshell in Conneaut: City police will be burdened
with investigating prison crime: October 11, 2011, MARK
TODD The Star Beacon. SURPRISE: CCA deal not so good for locals.
Arizona prison businesses are big political
contributors: Bob Ortega - September 4, 2011, The
Arizona Republic. Ortega connects the dots between the for-profits, the
money, and legislators.
Flush
With Prison Industry Dollars, Rick Perry Pushed Privatized Prisoner Care:
September 1, 2011, Tim Murphy, Mother Jones. Gov Perry's cozy
relationship with the for-profits.
Hernando
County's takeover of jail brings year of sweeping changes, by John Woodrow Cox and Barbara Behrendt, St Petersburg
Times, August 28, 2011. This is a MUST read on CCA.
Top Ten
Industry Lies: Cell Out Arizona, August 22, 2011
Prison
firm optimistic about Arizona bid despite incidents: August 8,
2011, Bob Ortega, The Arizona Republic. Exposé on CCA
New
lobbyists in Ohio have strong Republican ties: July 04, 2011 By
Mark Naymik, The Plain Dealer
Business Week A Boom Behind Bars, March
17, 2011 Another great expose.
CCA's Idaho Correctional Center beating video:
November 30, 2010, 3:36 min: Damning video piece.
Wall Street and the Criminalization of Immigration:
October 6, 2010, 5 pages. Details profit making off immigration by the
private prison vendors.
Part 2: NPR expose on for-profits and
immigration law Shaping
State Laws With Little Scrutiny
Part 1: NPR expose on for-profits and immigration law Prison Economics Help Drive
Ariz. Immigration Law
More from Rachel Maddow http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#38965161
Rachel Maddow stays on it http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#38700092
Rachel Maddow kicks butt http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/38685023#38685023
AZ
Gov Brewer avoids questions about CCA and her administration: July
23, 2010, 5:01 min: Very funny watching Governor Brewer running away from
hard questions regarding her staff's relationships with CCA.
CCA
Pays Over $22,000 to American Correctional Association to Claim “Stamp of
Approval” at Five Private Prisons
Behind
the Bars | Kentucky had gaps in monitoring troubled Otter Creek prison July
5, 2010
Behind
the Bars | Experts question benefits of private prisons July 5, 2010
Behind the Bars | Prison faced regular
complaints about medical care July 5, 2010
Behind
the Bars | Secretary Carla Meade's suicide raised questions July 5, 2010
How
The Recession Hurts Private Prisons Nancy Cook, Newsweek June 30, 2010
Freedom
Forum CEO Tied to For-Profit Prisons An advocate for--and against--freedom
of information
May 19, 2013 www.tulsaworld.com
OKLAHOMA CITY - Private prison
interests have given nearly $200,000 in campaign dollars and gifts to 79 of
the 149 members of the state Legislature since 2004, a Tulsa World analysis
shows. From a meal valued at $3.87 for one lawmaker to $22,500 toward T.W.
Shannon's Speaker's Ball, private prison and halfway house influence has
become well entrenched at the state Capitol. As the state's prison
population has climbed, so has spending on private prisons, which was
nearly $73 million last fiscal year, up from slightly more than $57 million
in fiscal year 2004. Halfway-house expenditures were nearly $14 million in
fiscal year 2012, up slightly from more than $12 million in fiscal year
2004. Since 2004, lobbyists, private prison and halfway house employees have
given $375,425 to 165 elected officials and candidates for office. The
contributions and gifts come from lobbyists and others affiliated with
Avalon Correctional Services, The GEO Group Inc. and Corrections
Corporation of America. All three have operations in the state. The
lobbyists' representation is not limited to one private prison or halfway
house company. They have contracts to represent dozens of far-ranging
interests. House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, is the top recipient of
private prison-linked dollars. Shannon has received $34,950. The sum
includes $22,500 donated by three private prison companies to fund the 2013
Speaker's Ball. People make donations to the speaker's campaign because of
his ideals, not to buy a spot for theirs, said Joe Griffin, a Shannon
spokesman. "This office makes decisions based on what is best for
Oklahoma," Griffin said. Gov. Mary Fallin ranks No. 2 in private
prison dollars. Private prison interests, which include employees,
political action committees and lobbyists employed by the companies, have
donated $33,608 to her campaigns. "Campaign donations do not affect
the way Gov. Fallin makes policy decisions, period," said Alex Weintz,
a Fallin spokesman. Because she ran a large statewide campaign, it is not surprising
that she has large amounts of contributions from any particular group of
donors, he said. Senate Appropriations Chairman Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, is
the top recipient of private prison and halfway house dollars in the Senate
and No. 3 recipient among elected officials overall. Jolley has reported
receipts totaling $30,450 toward his campaigns. Jolley said employees of
Avalon live in his district, which could account for his ranking. Jolley
said people are going to believe what they want about politicians and donations.
"But my vote is not for sale," Jolley said. "It never has
been. It never will be." State Treasurer Ken Miller received the bulk
of his contributions in his current position but collected $2,250 as a
member of the Oklahoma House. Political action committees representing CCA
and The GEO Group also have donated nearly $100,000 since 2004 to
candidates. In 2012, private prison interests donated nearly $50,000 to
campaigns. Private prison interests donated $72,900 to 2010 campaigns,
records show. In 2008 and 2006, private prison interests donated a
respective $72,900 and $71,395 to political campaigns. Republicans, who
control houses of the Legislature and all elected state offices, have
received about 83 percent of the contributions from private prisons since
2004. Since 2010, The GEO Group and Avalon Correctional Services both
reported gifts to various lawmakers and legislative staff. Most of the
gifts were given while the Legislature was in session. Cooper
"Brett" Robinson, a lobbyist on behalf of Geo Group, paid for
$865.71 in meals and a "movie night" for lawmakers and their
spouses during 2010 and 2011. His clients range from Bank of Oklahoma to
the City of Oklahoma City, according to a filing with the Oklahoma Ethics
Commission. Tammie Kilpatrick, a lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of
America who has also worked for Avalon, reported paying for meals valued at
$235 for legislative staff and one lawmaker over 2010 and 2011. She works
for one of the larger if not the largest lobbying firms in the state, with
dozens of clients. Private prison lobbyists reported no gifts to lawmakers
in 2012. Reports for the first half of 2013 won't be due until later. Steve
Owen, a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, said lobbyists
who work for the company do not make donations on the company's behalf. The
company has four private prisons in the state, two of which are under
contract with Oklahoma. Another one houses California inmates. The fourth
is not operational. "Lobbyists represent dozens of clients," Owen
said. "To attribute whatever contributions lobbyists make to a
specific client, I don't know. Unless there is some evidence and
information that support that the two are connected, I don't know how
anyone can make that claim." Corrections Corporation of America
supports candidates who are generally supportive of public-private
partnerships, Owen said. "A big part of what we are doing is educating
elected officials and policymakers on the merits of public-private
partnerships," Owen said. Brian Costello, Avalon president and chief
operating officer, said his company ended its lobbying contract because it
could no longer afford it. The company, which has halfway houses, has a lot
of empty beds not being used by the Department of Corrections, he said, adding
that reimbursement rates have been frozen. "I guess my point would be
that it is clear we are not buying any influence but support candidates
that provide good government to the state," Costello said. The GEO
Group declined a request for a phone interview but issued a statement
saying it provided significant savings to the state and quality services.
"Our company participates in the political process, as do other
organizations including private corporations and organized labor
organizations, through lobbyist representation and political
contributions," part of the statement said. Sen. Constance Johnson,
D-Forest Park, has been a longtime, largely unsuccessful advocate for
sentencing reform and opponent of longer sentences and additional penalties.
"I am shocked but not surprised," Johnson said of the donations.
"My take is that what I have noticed about how the policies are
flowing, pro-private prisons, pro-enhanced felonies, the thing I stand up
and argue about all the time. Follow the money. This whole notion of
special interests having undue influence on the legislative process, this
is proof."
Top recipients of private prison
donations, 2004 to present
Speaker T.W. Shannon (R)
$34,950*
Gov. Mary Fallin (R) $33,608
Sen. Clark Jolley (R) $30,450
Treasurer Ken Miller (R)
$15,000
Insurance Comm. John Doak
(R) $12,639
Sen. Rob Johnson (R)
$10,200
Sen. Don Barrington (R)
$9,650
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb (R)
$8,750
Rep. Todd Thomsen (R)
$8,200
Sen. Dan Newberry (R)
$7,750
*Includes $22,500 for Speaker's
Ball
May 19, 2013 www.icirr.org
Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Joins Illinois Congressional Delegation Against the Corrections Corporation
of America’s Proposed For-Profit Immigration Prison in Joliet. Community
Leaders and Clergy Call on Joliet Mayor Giarrante to end negotiations with
Corrections Corporations of America. Will County board members, Joliet City
Council members wee joined by leaders from the faith, business and
community to denounce the proposed for-profit prison by the Corrections Corporation
of America (CCA) in Joliet and delivered 4,000 petitions to Joliet
officials asking them to end negotiations with CCA. “I call upon the
mayor and council to recall their own immigrant roots and stand with us in
opposing this immigrant prison,” said Tom Garlitz of the Diocese of Joliet.
He noted that Presence St. Joseph Medical Center and the University of St.
Francis also joined with the Diocese in opposition to the center.
The group applauded the letters
that Attorney General Lisa Madigan and 7 members of the Illinois
Congressional Delegation submitted to Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano opposing CCA’s private, for-profit immigration
prisons in Illinois. “Published reports indicate that the private,
for-profit entity, Corrections Corporation of America, Inc., which is
currently seeking to build and operate a Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) detention center in Will County, Illinois, has a record of violence
at its facilities, including DHS detention facilities…Based on these
concerns, I would respectfully request that you reject CCA's proposal to
operate a detention center in lllinois,” said Attorney General Lisa Madigan
in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
CCA, a multi-billion dollar corporation, has a long, well-documented
history of cutting costs, underpaying and under-training staff, and
fighting unions. These practices have created poor morale, high
turnover, and personnel who are ill prepared to handling their responsibilities
and prone to violence and abuse. Additionally, CCA also has a long and sad
history of neglect, abuse, and mistreatment. At least 24 immigrant
detainees have died in CCA facilities, many from lack of medical care for
conditions that could have been treated. CCA has faced multiple
lawsuits regarding these and other abuses, including allegations that in
one Idaho prison it ran a “gladiator school” that used “Hunger Games”-like
violence and intimidation to control the inmates. Last year, CCA attempted
to build a similar prison in Crete but due to community opposition the
Village of Crete voted unanimously to end discussions with Immigration and
Customs (ICE) and CCA. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and
Refugee Rights is a statewide coalition of more than 130 organizations
dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and
equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of
our diverse society. For more information, visit www.icirr.org.
May 16, 2013 www.oregonlive.com
BOISE, Idaho — The warden of the
privately run Idaho Correctional Center has quit a month after the company
acknowledged that his employees falsified thousands of hours of staffing
records during much of 2012. Timothy Wengler, who works for Corrections
Corporation of America, lasted just three years as warden of the prison
south of Boise. His last day will be May 31, according to the Nashville,
Tenn.-based company that has a contract to run the prison. Wengler had been
thinking about resigning for a year and his departure was a personal
decision, said Steve Owen, a CCA spokesman. "The search for a
replacement is underway with the goal of having a successor in place for a
brief transition period before Warden Wengler's departure," Owen said.
When he was hired, Wengler was supposed to help ease problems at the
prison. He arrived in Idaho in 2010 to replace a warden the company had
removed after the American Civil Liberties Union sued over claims of inmate-on-inmate
violence. The lawsuit was settled in 2011, with CCA agreeing to numerous
changes in the way it runs Idaho's largest prison, which has more than
2,000 inmates. In April, CCA acknowledged Wengler's administration had
falsified close to 5,000 hours of staffing records during seven months in
2012, Idaho officials said the move obscured staffing deficiencies that
violated the company's contract. The total cost of the falsified time
sheets for Idaho taxpayers hasn't been released. Owen pledged his company would
punish employees found to have falsified records. He didn't say if Wengler
was reprimanded for the misrepresentations that occurred on his watch. Owen
said Wengler was retiring after 17 years at the company. Alex Friedmann,
president of the Private Corrections Institute that opposes the
privatization of facilities such as the one in Idaho, said it's impossible
to know if Wengler is resigning or was forced out. "It was his
responsibility to know what was going on," Friedmann said.
"Typically, what CCA does is, they shuffle their wardens. Hopefully,
the new warden will be less problematic — or less incompetent." The
company's annual $29 million contract with Idaho expires in June 2014 but
could be renewed another two years. Idaho Department of Correction spokesman
Jeff Ray said the tab for the fictional staffing remains the subject of a
state investigation. "We have not accepted any payment from"
Corrections Corporation of America, Ray said, adding the state prison
agency will work with the company to ensure a smooth transition between
leadership at ICC. "Warden Wengler's departure is a personnel matter
that is between him and CCA," Ray said. "It did not involve the
Idaho Department of Correction."
May 12, 2013 www.gosanangelo.com
AUSTIN — Texas Senate and House
budget negotiators have tentatively agreed to close two privately run state
prisons. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice would decide which two prisons
to shutter under the Friday’s agreement, the Austin American-Statesman
reported. The Senate, in its state budget plan, had targeted a 2,100-bed
transfer facility in Mineral Wells and a 2,200-bed state jail in Dallas for
closure. The House, in its plan, had allocated funding for each. Under new
wording in the budget bills, legislators agreed to cut $97 million from the
criminal justice budget. That’s the amount it costs to run the Dawson State
Jail in Dallas and the Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility, although
the budget bill won’t specifically name those two lockups. The conflicting
budget proposals and feuding lawmakers in both chambers had endangered the
entire state criminal justice budget. The newspaper, without naming them,
said legislative leaders are in agreement on closing Dawson, but that
Mineral Wells representatives are pushing to keep their facility open,
saying it would harm the economy in the city about 75 miles west of Dallas.
State Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice
Committee, has campaigned to close the two units for more than two years.
They are both operated by the Corrections Corp. of America under a contract
with the state. Whitmire contends that the state already has 12,000 unused
prison beds and the two aren’t needed. Brad Livingston, executive director
of the Department of Criminal Justice, wrote Whitmire earlier this month
that the design of Mineral Wells, built as a military barracks and not a
prison, made it a top candidate for closing. The design causes security and
safety code considerations, Livingston said. Its location adjacent to a
park, college and private land also contributes to security concerns, he
said. Prison records show frequent instances of contraband drugs and
cellphones tossed over the prison fence. It opened in 1989 at a time when
Texas prisons were under federal court control because of crowding and was
intended as a holding site for parolees heading out. Livingston says his
agency has been planning to not renew its contract for Mineral Wells after
it expires in August.
May 7, 2013 www.statesman.com
In voting to reauthorize the operations
of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas House on Saturday
approved an amendment that could forestall the controversial closure of a
private prison in Mineral Wells. With more than 12,000 empty prison beds,
Senate and House leaders have been pushing to close at least two prisons —
but have run into opposition from local interests. The amendment by state
Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, and Jim Keffer, R-Eastland,specifies that
the prison system’s governing board is to close privately run prisons based
on their cost to operate — meaning that the most-costly ones will be the
first on the cutting block. Prison officials earlier said the Mineral Wells
Pre-Parole Transfer Facility is among the least-costly to operate. The move
sets up a showdown between the House and the Senate over which two prisons
should be closed. The Senate budget bill specifies that Mineral Wells and
the Dawson State Jail in Dallas are to be closed. Both are privately run,
by Corrections Corporation of America. The House version of the budget
leaves the decision on closures to prison officials. House leaders have for
days been working on a way to keep Mineral Wells open, citing local support
for the lockup and the devastating effect its closure could have on the
local economy. During the debate, House Corrections Committee Chairman Tan
Parker, R-Denton, said the intention of the House in approving the bill “is
to be fiscally responsible.” “I believe it is very important that we close
at least two facilities, if not more,” he said. “Our desire is to take at
least $90 million out of the budget.” That savings would be used to help
pay for pay raises for state troopers and correctional officers, among
other employees. “At the end of the day, the (prison) units that cost the most
will be closed,” Parker said. Dawson is among the most expensive privately
run lockups, so it will likely still be targeted for closure. Prison
officials could not immediately say which other private prison might be on
the list, under the House-passed bill. Another amendment that could have
possibly justified the purchase of an empty 1,100-bed lockup in Jones
County for $19.5 million, by ramping up placements of drug-abusers in a
special treatment program, was withdrawn and was not voted upon. With a budget
of more than $3 billion a year and more than 45,000 employees and 151,000
convicts under its supervision, the criminal justice agency is among the
state’s most important public functions.
Apr 14, 2013 staradvertiser.com
The
American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii claims the state Department of
Public Safety is illegally withholding public records that attorneys
representing families in wrongful prison death lawsuits have paid thousands
of dollars to receive. The ACLU of Hawaii filed a lawsuit Thursday, saying
that a California law firm has paid more than $5,300 in fees but the state
hasn't released a single document. The firm — Rosen, Bien, Galvan &
Grunfeld LLP — wants access to documents concerning the state's oversight
of private mainland prisons where inmates from Hawaii are being held
because of a lack of space in aging Hawaii facilities. Among the requested
records are documents concerning gang activity and segregation in the
Arizona prison where two Hawaii men were killed. Clifford Medina was strangled
and Bronson Nunuha was stabbed in 2010 while at Saguaro Correctional
Center. Their families say the deaths would have been prevented if the
state didn't ship prisoners to a mainland facility that neglects them. The
families' lawsuits are in the discovery phase. The ACLU's lawsuit details
an attorney for the families making repeated requests for the documents and
allowing for numerous extensions since September. At one point the state
tells the attorney that lawyers for Corrections Corporation of America,
which operates the prison, instructed the Public Safety Department not to
produce any government records, in violation of state law, according to the
complaint. The firm paid $5,327.50 in fees and costs the department
required to produce the requested records. But instead of releasing any
documents, the department has "responded with empty promises to
produce some government records at some undetermined point in the future,
along with vague, unsubstantiated objections to producing broad categories
of government records," the complaint states. Public Safety spokeswoman
Toni Schwartz said in a statement Friday, "We were served the lawsuit
and it is being reviewed. We have been advised by our deputy attorney
general to refrain from commenting on the case since it is pending
litigation." Daniel Gluck, senior staff attorney for ACLU of Hawaii,
said, "Hawaii's open records law is expansive and clear; agencies have
an obligation to respond to requests for records in a thorough and
timely manner. We have done all we can to resolve this matter outside the
courts, but when the state ignores its obligations under the law, we have
to step in."
March 21, 2013 sun-sentinel.com
PEMBROKE PINES — City officials
and residents who opposed an immigration detention center breathed a sigh
of relief this week. A judge ruled out the federal court case filed by
Corrections Corporation of America against the city, essentially moving the
issue back to state court. "They thought they had a case and they
don't," said Commissioner Jay Schwartz. Now the city can focus on its
state lawsuit against CCA that will determine if the city is legally
required to provide water and sewer services to that area, the city's legal
counsel said. The battle over that land, located in Southwest Ranches, goes
back nearly two years when the site became the front runner for a $75
million, 1,500-bed immigration center. Last June, ICE officials announced
they were scrapping plans to build the center in Southwest Ranches. The
town and CCA blame that on Pines' decision not to provide water and sewer
to the site, which they say the city is legally required to provide. But
Pines disagrees. City officials voted to refuse water and sewer to the site
last March and shortly after filed a state court case to determine if it is
obligated to provide those services. "We are unsure of what our rights
are," said Schwartz. "So on advice of counsel, it was recommended
we file a declaratory action." But the next day, CCA filed its lawsuit
in federal court delaying the state case. "We had to spend money to
defend ourselves which is an absolute waste of resources," said
Schwartz. U.S. District Judge William Zloch made note of CCA's hasty
federal lawsuit in the court order and said that the issue should be
handled in state court. Zloch also said that arguing the same issue in both
federal and state court is a waste of judicial resources and could result
in different, inconsistent rulings. CCA's attorney, Leonard Samuels, would
not comment on the case Thursday. Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches
residents who publicly opposed the site said they were
"delighted" with the ruling. "As we've said all along, [it]
is not needed and is an immense waste of taxpayer money," said a news
release sent out by the residents. On top of this case, Pembroke Pines also
faces a lawsuit from the town of Southwest Ranches that claims Pines
breached its contract with the town concerning the development of a civil
detention facility. On Tuesday, Pines argued that the judge dismiss the
case. The judge has yet to make a decision.
March 21, 2013 nashvillepost.com
The Securities and Exchange
Commission has ruled in favor of Corrections Corp. of America on the
company’s request to exclude a shareholder resolution regarding its planned
REIT conversion from its proxy materials in advance of the company’s annual
meeting in May. The resolution was filed by CCA shareholder Alex Friedmann,
president of the Private Corrections Institute, a non-profit organization
that bills itself as a watchdog to the private prison industry. It would
have required CCA’s board of directors to issue a report to stockholders
addressing issues related to REIT conversion. Earlier this year,
Nashville-based CCA said the REIT conversion (see related story here) will lower
the company's taxes and require it to pay out 90 percent of its profits as
dividends. As part of the move, the company said it will pay a special
dividend to distribute previously accumulated profits. Friedmann’s request
asked for disclosure of disadvantages to stockholders and/or advantages to
the company when CCA makes REIT dividend distributions in the form of stock
rather than cash. Friedmann also wanted CCA (Ticker: CXW) to disclose to
shareholders tax implications of REITs and to explain REIT-related
decisions in light of the company’s previous REIT conversion in 1999, which
was later reversed. The previous REIT conversion was followed by
shareholder lawsuits, a plunge in stock prices and a 1-for-10 reverse stock
split to prevent it from being delisted from the NYSE. "Should CCA’s
REIT conversion turn out badly, as did the company’s first attempt to
become a REIT, the company and its board cannot claim they were unaware
that they should have fully informed shareholders about CCA’s history with
respect to REITs," Friedmann said in a press release.
Mar 12, 2013 dallasnews.com
Just weeks ago the Texas
Observer branded the Jesse R. Dawson State Jail on the banks of the Trinity
River near downtown Dallas as “Texas’ worst state jail,” citing, among other
things, poor conditions and inadequate medical treatment that “in a few
cases led to deaths.” Among them: Autumn Miller’s premature baby, a girl
named Gracie born after just 26 weeks of gestation. Autumn told
KTVT-Channel 11 in July that guards at the privately operated jail, which
is owned by Corrections Corporation of America, refused her cries for
medical attention. She says the guards gave her a menstrual pad and locked
her in a cell. She says they told her she just had to go to the bathroom.
As a result, Miller says in a lawsuit filed Friday in Dallas federal court,
on June 14, 2012, “She looked down and watched, in horror, as she delivered
baby Gracie into the toilet.” The infant lived for four days and died in
her mother’s arms. “Within an hour of Gracie’s death,” says the suit, “CCA
employees took Autumn back to Dawson.” Autumn, who was sent to Dawson State
Jail in February 2012 to serve one year for violating probation on a
drug-possession charge, and her attorneys, Paula Sweeney of Dallas and Suzanne
Kaplan of Austin, are claiming negligence and cruel and unusual punishment
in the suit filed last week. The complaint follows in full below. The suit
alleges CCA guards did nothing to help Miller, before or after she gave
birth to her baby; she claims it took guards 15 minutes just to find the
key to get into her cell, and that “several CCA employees came into the
holding cell while Gracie lay there helpless next to her bleeding mother.”
She alleges one guard videotaped the whole ordeal. Finally at the hospital,
says the suit, Autumn — a nonviolent offender — “was still handcuffed and
shackled” when allowed to visit with her baby. “As a result of Defendants’
deliberate indifference to their serious medical needs, failure to follow
the existing telemedicine policy, failure to adequately supervise and train
its employees to follow the telemedicine policy, and to supervise and train
its officers and agents to act in an emergency,” says the suit, “Autumn is
traumatized and Gracie is dead.” The suit was filed just days after a
coalition of state and national groups issued “Dawson State Jail: The Case
for Closure,” which mentions Gracie’s death while making the case that the
jail’s an unsafe place. State legislators have also begun to push for the
jail’s closure, insisting it just isn’t needed with a dwindling state jail
population. And the city of Dallas wants the jail closed in order to
develop the property along the Trinity River.
Mar 11, 2013
kcentv.com
(CNN) -- Big tech
firms and private prisons represent two industries vigorously lobbying to
influence the scope of legislation aimed at overhauling U.S. immigration
policy, a political priority in Washington. Microsoft, Facebook, and Intel
want lawmakers to support increasing the number of visas available to highly
skilled workers, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive
Politics, which tracks the influence of money in politics. Others, like
Corrections Corporation of America, which builds detention facilities to
house illegal immigrants, have contributed heavily to the campaigns of
lawmakers who take tough stances on the issue. In all, 359 lobbying clients
pressed their positions on immigration reform to officials at nearly every
level of government, including the White House, Congress and the Homeland
Security Department, according to the analysis for 2012. The figure is up
from the 317 clients lobbying on immigration from the previous year. It is
difficult to track exactly how much each spends on lobbying an issue,
campaign finance experts say. However, tracking the number of times
something specific is mentioned on disclosure reports indicates its
importance to a company or industry. "They're not spending this money
just willy-nilly. They have a goal and they're trying to achieve that goal
legislatively," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for
Common Sense, a watchdog group. "You have to be sure they're writing
the legislation for the right reasons and not just trying to benefit one
particular company," Ellis said. President Barack Obama underscored
the need for comprehensive immigration reform earlier this year stressing
the need to better enforce related laws, provide a path to citizenship for
the more than 11 million undocumented workers already in the country and
reform the legal immigration system. The so-called "Gang of
Eight" in the Senate and a similar bipartisan group in the House are
working on crafting a reform framework leading up to what could be one of
the year's biggest legislative showdowns. "The reason immigration is
on the table now is the outcome of the last election," said Judith
Gans, manager of the immigration policy program at the University of
Arizona. "No political party likes to lose and the Republican party
realized that their unfriendly stance toward immigrants was creating a
coalition in the Democratic Party." The upcoming legislative battle
will create winners and losers, and businesses are doing everything they
can to ensure they can influence the outcome. "We will see Congress
make it easier for that high-skilled, cutting-edged talent to come to the
U.S. But if they don't address the channels for low skilled workers to come
to the U.S., illegal immigration will continue," Gans said.
Feb 9, 2013 statesman.com
Senate budget writers warned the
leaders of Texas’ criminal justice agencies Thursday to stop paying for
thousands of empty beds at state-owned lockups and shift that money to
other, more pressing needs. The directive came as new statistics revealed
that the 111 state prisons might have as many as 10,000 empty bunks and
hundreds more at the six state-owned lockups for teenagers, even as the
state pays $123 million a year to lease beds from private corrections
companies. “We’re spending millions of dollars to maintain bricks and
mortar we don’t need,” said state Senate Criminal Justice Committee
Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, expressing irritation that the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Juvenile Justice Department
between them are seeking about $400 million in budget increases — even as
the number of offenders in both agencies declines. “We’ve got to quit, once
and for all, running these facilities just because they’re there for
economic development purposes,” Whitmire said. “We need to use taxpayers’
money to fight crime, on the public safety priorities of this state, rather
than just on bricks and mortar that in some cases we don’t need.”
Adult-corrections chief Brad Livingston and juvenile-justice chief Mike
Griffiths told the committee they are looking for budget efficiencies, though
they gave no specifics. Whitmire wanted specifics, asking why the state
continues to lease thousands of prison beds from private prison companies
when state bunks sit empty. On Thursday, Livingston said the adult system
held just under 151,000 prisoners, down from nearly 157,000 two years ago.
Whitmire wants to close the 2,100-bed Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer
Facility and the 2,200-bed Dawson State Jail in Dallas, both operated under
contract by Corrections Corporation of America. “It would seem wise to get
out of the private-lease beds as the contracts come up for renewal,”
Whitmire said, insisting that as many as 10,000 state beds are empty.
Livingston put that number closer to 4,600, saying all the empty beds can’t
be filled because prison officials need the ability to properly manage
convicts. “But there are other beds we don’t need either,” the senator
said, noting that 400 boot-camp beds in state prisons now hold only 30
convicts. Whitmire said he is filing legislation to shutter that program. Still,
Livingston argued that his agency needs a boost beyond the
$3-billion-a-year budget it had already requested. The agency needs, among
other things, to repair existing prisons, hire more parole officers, buy
computers, hire 100 employees to help prisoners successfully reintegrate
into society, and replace old vehicles, including 20-year-old prison buses
with more than 600,000 miles on them and trucks with more than a million
miles. State Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, questioned why Texas
continues to incarcerate about 6,400 illegal immigrants convicted of state
crimes who could be turned over to federal authorities for deportation.
Livingston said the state recoups a small share of the cost, $12 million,
from the federal government. Griffiths said he needs more money to hire
additional guards, provide more treatment and diversion programs for youth
offenders, repair existing lockups and add more SWAT teams to deal with
violent youths. Noting that the juvenile-justice agency had about 1,100
offenders in lockups on Thursday — “about the size of a junior high school
here in Austin” — Whitmire said the agency should close some lockups and
consolidate offenders at the remaining ones. Most juvenile lockups are
operating at far less than their capacity, some less than half full.
EMPTY JUVENILE BEDS: At a glance
Lockup/ Capacity/ Population
Corsicana Residential Treatment
Center/ 198/82
Evins Regional Juvenile Center/
240/ 144
Gainesville State School/340/258
Giddings State School/376/252
McLennan County State Juvenile
Correctional Facility/352/288
Ron Jackson State Juvenile
Correctional Center/338/95
Totals: 1,492/831 (The remaining
offenders are housed in halfway houses)
Sources: Texas Juvenile Justice
Department daily population summary report for Thursday, Texas Youth
Commission Facility Overview (2007).
February
05, 2013 By The Associated Press
BOISE — The The Idaho State Police has launched an investigation into
staffing levels at the state's largest private prison after state officials
said they found discrepancies in the prison's monthly reports. The
Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America has run the Idaho
Correctional Center under a contract with the state for a decade. The
contract details the way CCA must run the prison. The minimum staffing
requirements have also been spelled out in a legal settlement that CCA
reached with the American Civil Liberties Union-Idaho after inmates sued in
federal court. Correction Director Brent Reinke told the Idaho Board of
Correction Tuesday morning he asked the state police to investigate because
the department found "potential anomalies" during an audit. The
department didn't begin taking a deeper look until recently, around the
time The Associated Press filed public records requests for shift logs at
the prison. CCA's spokesman Steve Owen said in an email that his company is
also investigating the issue and working with state officials as the
department takes a closer look at the staffing records. He said the safety
of staff, inmates and the community is CCA's top priority. "It is
premature and speculative to draw conclusions before all of the facts have
been gathered, and to do so at this point would undermine the investigation
that is taking place. If our efforts uncover inconsistencies, we will take
swift action to rectify any issues," Owen wrote. Guards working long
shifts, record show CCA's monthly staffing reports to the state obtained by
the AP through a public records request appeared to show guards who were
listed as working 24, 36 and 48 hours straight without time off. Though
CCA's contract with Idaho doesn't limit the number of hours a guard can
work in a row, correction officials said that it would be unwise for a
guard to work a 36- or 48-hour shift. The department doesn't have the
staffing or expertise needed to do the investigation on its own, said
Reinke. "We need some outside assistance on what we think we've
found," Reinke told the board members, though he didn't offer any
details. Reinke said he's had three visits already with the head of the
Idaho State Police and written the agency a letter formally requesting the
investigation. "The contract requires specific staffing levels to
ensure the safe operation of the 2060-bed prison," Reinke wrote in a
letter given to Idaho State Police Lt. Col. Ralph Powell on Monday.
"This letter seeks an independent party to investigate and audit these
records to determine the extent of the problem and any potential violation
of state law." Powell has already agreed to investigate, Reinke said.
"He considers this an issue now under investigation. We are working
through our staff with his staff to be able to transfer documents
off," Reinke said. "The Idaho State Police will take it to the
next level as far as that's concerned." Reports filed by the state correction
agency's own contract monitors and obtained by The AP show that the
contractor monitors spotted problems such as double-posting — having one
guard work two separate posts at the same time — and vacant security posts
at least a year ago, but the department didn't begin taking a deeper look
until recently, around the same time the AP filed public records requests
for shift logs at the prison. Reinke said he knows the timing looks odd,
but the department recognized it needed to more closely monitor staffing
levels after putting together its new manual for state contract monitors.
The 67-page manual, which took more than a year of research, planning and
writing, was finalized in December. Reinke, the department's Bureau of
Contract Services Deputy Chief Pat Donaldson and Deputy Warden of Virtual
Prisons Tim Higgins told the AP during a conference call last week that
they couldn't explain some of the inconsistencies in the monthly staffing
reports and that they were looking deeper into the matter and asking CCA
for additional documentation, including payroll records. "We don't
know what we're looking at here," Reinke said about CCA's staffing
reports. "That's why we're trying to get more information." Terms
of contract Reinke said the staffing reports represented CCA's assurance to
the department that the contractually required positions were being
properly filled. CCA's contract with the state requires the company to keep
55 different security positions staffed during the 12-hour day shift, and
49 positions staff during the 12-hour night shift. The number of required
positions used to be slightly less — until September 2011, when CCA made a
number of management and operational changes at the prison in order to
settle a lawsuit brought by inmates who contended that violence and
mismanagement were rampant at the facility. The state contract does limit
the total number of hours a guard can work in any two-week pay period to
112 hours or less. CCA is required to give the state a monthly overtime
report showing the total number of hours its employees work each pay
period. But the department apparently never tried to reconcile the two
types of documents, nor did they closely monitor the staffing reports. An
AP analysis of the documents for 2012 found several instances of
inconsistencies between the staffing logs and the overtime reports. For
instance, during a pay period spanning late April and early May of 2012,
CCA reported on its overtime report that one guard worked 111 hours — just
under the 112 maximum. But the staff report for the same period shows that
guard working about 123 hours. Another guard was listed as working 112
hours on the overtime report during the same pay period, compared to the
nearly 130 hours that the guard worked according to the staff report. Also
during that pay period, one guard was listed on the staffing report as
working two separate 36-hour shifts, and a total of nearly 140 hours in a
two-week span. The overtime report, however, showed that the same guard was
only paid for 112 hours of work. A May 2012 report by Department of
Correction investigators also cited staffing problems at the prison. The
report was part of an investigation into an incident in which members of
one inmate gang attacked another group, stabbing and beating them. "Staffing
of the unit needs to be consistent," the investigators wrote. "In
reviewing the schedule it appeared that staff were double-posted." The
investigators interviewed the CCA employees who were working at the time of
the attack, according to the documents. CCA's unit manager, Norma
Rodriguez, told investigators that the prison unit was short one of the
mandatory correctional officers, although she added that other CCA
employees told her that a CCA counselor had filled that spot, according to
the documents. Monitoring a private prison is a complicated process and the
department looks at several operational issues, not just staffing, Reinke
said. He also noted that the department's monitoring process has grown
increasingly stringent over the past decade. "It's a learning
process," Reinke said.
Dec 18, 2012 By Lindsey Reiser
CASA GRANDE, AZ (CBS5) - Drug sweeps on high school campuses happen, but a
recent sweep in the halls of a Casa Grande High School has some people concerned
- all because of who was called in to help out. Employees with a
for-profit private prison company that runs several prisons right here in
Arizona went with police on this sweep. They're not peace officer
certified, which is where some take issue. "I think there are
liability issues, I think there are safety concerns," said Caroline
Isaacs with the American Friends Service Committee. Rewind to October, when
the principal of Vista Grande High School in Casa Grande said the school
was in lockdown for one hour while dogs searched the classrooms one by one.
The people handling those dogs were employees of the Corrections
Corporation of America, or CCA, a for-profit prison company. "Your
company's profits are based on putting more and more people in prison, it
creates a perverse incentive to continue to expand that market,"
Isaacs said. She believes there's a conflict of interest with the non-peace
officer certified CCA employees assisting officers with peace officer work.
The principal of Vista Grande tells us: "I don't know anything about
CCA or who they are. When I asked Casa Grande Police about this
situation I was informed they used a variety of agencies from across Pinal
County." And a spokesman from CCA sent us a statement said: "Local
CCA staff provided specially trained dogs in response to a specific request
from local law enforcement officials. These dogs were accompanied by their
trained handlers for the sole purpose of ensuring they behaved
appropriately. These handlers did not perform peace officer duties, so POST
is not applicable. We encourage you to contact the POST executive director
for further clarification. "Our company strives to be a good community
partner, and it was in that spirit that local staff responded to the
request. Decisions like this are usually made at the facility level. CCA
has since reviewed this practice and decided that facilities can no longer
provide this type of assistance, for reasons such as liability.
Unfortunately, many of the communities where we operate lack these types of
resources, but we think this is the appropriate corporate level policy.
We'll continue to support our communities in many other ways." After
the sweep, three kids were arrested; two students had marijuana with them
and one had it in her car. A parent we talked to said if the sweeps get
drugs off campus, it doesn't matter to her who's conducting them. "I
think if you're not supposed to do something, you're not supposed to do it,
and if you're doing it, it doesn't matter who catches you," said Penny
Casey. We reached out to the school district as well as Casa Grande police
but have yet to hear back from them.
12/30/2012 By ANDREW KNITTLE Tulsa World
MIDWEST CITY - California corrections officials knew a private
prison company was housing a convicted murderer, rapist and two other
felons at a Midwest City nursing home, but contend they had no "role
in approving or objecting to this facility," a department spokeswoman
said Friday. Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the state agency is in "constant
communication" with Corrections Corporation of America, the private
company that has thousands of inmates from the Golden State under its
purview. Documents available on the state Health Department's website
reveal the California inmates were housed at Buena Vista Care and
Rehabilitation Center from Oct. 19, 2011, to Nov. 15, 2011, although
Thornton said they were there even longer. The inmates, severely injured
during an Oct. 11, 2011, riot at North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre,
were shackled and chained to their beds, not far from the typical residents
one would find in any nursing facility. Armed guards, reportedly as many as
three at a time, watched over the prisoners at all times, the Health
Department report states. Thornton said Buena Vista fit the prisoners'
needs. "This is a skilled nursing facility that also provides
rehabilitative services," she said. "It was selected because it
met the treatment and rehabilitative needs of these inmates. It also
satisfied security concerns." Thornton said the convicts housed at
Buena Vista have since been transferred out of Oklahoma. She said one is in
a private prison in Arizona while the other three are back in California. "The
four inmates had all suffered severe head injuries," she said.
"They could not be transferred back to California or anywhere else,
for that matter, until their conditions had improved." California
began transferring inmates out of state years ago to ease overcrowding, but
the nation's most populous state is now in the process of bringing those
prisoners back home. The inmates currently being housed at North Fork are
expected to be gone by the end of 2013, Thornton said. Buena Vista was
fined $168,000 for taking in the inmates - an arrangement that
placed 120-plus residents in "immediate jeopardy," the Health
Department report shows. Dorya Huser, chief of long-term care for the
state's Protective Health Services division, said the inmates' stay at
Buena Vista Care and Rehabilitation Center is "completely shocking ...
and I've been doing this awhile." Huser said it's the first time
she's heard of such a thing. "To put felons in a nursing home is just
appalling," she said. "They had been convicted of extremely serious
crimes, and that in itself would make them a danger to other
residents." Huser said the realization that four dangerous felons had
lived at the nursing home came during a routine inspection in March.
"We went in there to do a regular survey and came upon this,"
Huser said. "Everybody was puzzled as to how on earth this
happened." Huser said residents of the facility were "very
much impacted" by the presence of the inmates. "The prisoners
were taken through the facility at times, and the residents saw them during
that time," she said. "It was very unsettling for them. Try and
imagine that."
November 27, 2012 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The state Court of Appeals is again taking up a public
records case involving a private prison company and a magazine that
advocates for inmate rights. Attorneys for Nashville-based Corrections
Corporation of America and the magazine Prison Legal News are to make
arguments to the court Tuesday. The case began after editor Alex Friedmann
in 2007 sought records from the prison operator regarding legal
settlements, judgments and complaints against the company. After the
appeals court upheld a ruling that found CCA is subject to the state open
records law because as an operator of prisons it is equivalent to a government
agency, the company turned over some documents. CCA has continued to resist
turning over other records sought by the magazine, saying the legal
settlements were confidential.
October 15, 2012|By Heather Carney, Sun Sentinel
PEMBROKE PINES — — A lawsuit filed by Southwest Ranches seeking at least
$15,000 in damages from Pembroke Pines is intensifying an already deep feud
between the two neighbors. The town wants compensation after Pembroke Pines
stopped providing it with fire emergency services and interfered with its
ultimately unsuccessful efforts to land a federal immigration detention
center. "It's unfortunate that Pines refused to honor its
commitments," said town attorney Kevin Markow. "Pines knew what
it had agreed to do." Pembroke Pines attorney Sam Goren said the city
will vigorously defend itself against the suit, which was filed Thursday.
According to the lawsuit, Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches agreed in
2005 that the city would not interfere with the development of a jail
facility on 24 acres in the town owned by Corrections Corporation of
America. The agreement also covered issues such as roads and traffic
between the town and the city. In June 2011, Pembroke Pines also agreed to
provide emergency fire services to the town at a cost of $2.5 million a
year. But the Pembroke Pines commission ended the agreement involving the
jail in December 2011 and ended the fire services agreement in March 2012.
Outraged residents had urged the city to oppose the detention center for
fear their property values would fall and crime rates would rise.
Ultimately, federal authorities decided not to build a detention center in
Southwest Ranches, but it is unclear if the decision was a result of the
controversy between Pembroke Pines and the town. It was a financial loss to
Southwest Ranches not to "have another taxpayer making good use of the
land," Markow said. The center was estimated to generate around $2
million a year for the town. Markow said Southwest Ranches will sue for at
least $15,000, which is the monetary threshold needed to file in circuit
court. He said the town will likely seek more. Pembroke Pines has already
spent in excess of $280,000 in attorney fees to defend against a lawsuit
filed by Corrections Corporation of America. The town's lawsuit states many
of the Pines commissioners openly opposed the center. Commissioner Iris
Siple said, "I am dead set against a facility" and Mayor Frank
Ortis urged "that the government find alternatives to [that] parcel
for its detention needs," according to the lawsuit. The disagreements
between Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches go back to when the town first
incorporated in 2000, said Ortis. The town erected gates blocking through
roads for Pines residents. The first set came down in 2005 but the town put
up three new gates earlier this year. "We have tried negotiations to
make things better but apparently it hasn't worked out," Ortis said.
September 12, 2012 AP
The mother of a man who died in a private prison claims that officials
failed to provide adequate medical care. Twenty-six-year-old Terrell
Griswold died in October 2010 after being found not breathing in his cell.
He was incarcerated at the Bent County Correctional Facility near Las
Animas, Colo., which is operated by Corrections Corporation of America. A
lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court by Lagalia Afola of Kansas
City, Mo., alleges that officials failed to treat her son for an obstructed
urinary tract. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages. Griswold was
serving five years for a felony burglary conviction. In a statement, CCA
says the company is committed to providing inmates appropriate access to
medical care and couldn't comment on individual inmates because of medical
privacy laws.
August 31, 2012 Arizona Republic
The state Department of Corrections on Friday evening awarded a
multimillion-dollar private-prison contract to Corrections Corporation of
America, which has employed lobbyists close to Gov Jan. Brewer in its
effort to win the bid. CCA, of Nashville, will operate a 1,000-bed
medium-security private prison in Eloy, with the option to run another
1,000 beds if the inmate population for serious offenders increases. CCA, a
publicly held company that reported $162.5million in profits last year, was
one of five bidders for the contract. The firm is politically connected to
Brewer, who has pushed for the prison expansion. Until mid-July, CCA
employed Chuck Coughlin, an influential lobbyist who is a close friend and
an adviser to Brewer. And, state lobbying records show CCA also employs
Policy Development Group, a lobbying firm that includes Paul Senseman,
Brewer's former spokesman. "If you place two of your lobbyists at the
right and left hand of the governor of the state and she has the final say
and oversight of the Department of Corrections, I would say that's a pretty
smart business strategy," said Caroline Isaacs of the American Friends
Service Committee, a Quaker group and opponent of Arizona's private-prison
expansion. Steve Owen, a CCA spokesman, said the company won the bid
through a rigorous procurement process, and he credited the support of Eloy
and others in Pinal County for helping CCA win.
August 21, 2012 PR Web
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), America’s leader in partnership
corrections, is proud to announce that Kim White has joined the team as the
new managing director of Inmate Programs. With more than 30 years of
industry experience, White will bring fresh and innovative ideas to both
the company and the field of inmate rehabilitation and reentry programming.
“Ms. White has a strong passion for helping inmates build better lives and
creating programs that will contribute to their development,” said Harley
G. Lappin, CCA’s Chief Corrections Officer. “This passion will be reflected
in her work at CCA and we are excited to see her impact on the department.”
White will be overseeing CCA’s Inmate Programming department, which offers
recidivism-reducing programs and helps prepare inmates for a successful
life upon release. The department develops and offers a variety of
rehabilitation programs and resources across CCA's system of more than 60
correctional and detention facilities nationwide. Programs address the
unique needs of the inmate population, including addictions treatment,
education courses, vocational trades and faith-based programs. White most
recently served as assistant director of the Human Resources Management
Division for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). She began her career as a
correctional officer and over the years has ascended the ranks including
nearly seven years as a Regional Director. Her interests in the corrections
industry stems from a course she completed in college on correctional
institutions, which led to an internship with the BOP. White also holds a
degree from Kent State University and completed Harvard University’s
Executive Education Program for senior managers in government.
August 19, 2012 Union Leader
Three out-of-state companies vying to build a new men’s prison in New
Hampshire have paid more than $130,000 in lobbyist fees to three Concord
firms to win support for their proposal, according to state records.
Corrections Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tenn., outpaced its
rivals, providing more than $101,000 to the Rath, Young and Pignatelli law
firm since 2011, according to a New Hampshire Sunday News review of
lobbyist income and expense reports. “Generally speaking, because
governments are our partners, we obviously educate through government
relations,” CCA spokesman Mike Machak said in an email. “It’s how we
transparently share information about the services and solutions we provide
and make sure we’re up to date on any specific needs they may have.” The
law firm, which includes a section devoted to government relations,
reported it spent all $101,729.85 it collected in lobbying fees from CCA
since 2011. State law requires lobbyists to submit certain financial
information regarding its clients. According to paperwork lobbyists must
submit to the Secretary of State’s Office, lobbyists are required to report
all fees “that are related, directly or indirectly, to lobbying, including
fees for services such as public advocacy, government relations, or public
relations services including research, monitoring legislation, and related
legal work.” David Collins, director of government relations at the Concord
law firm, deferred questions to CCA, which declined to talk specifically
about its lobbying efforts in New Hampshire. William McGonagle, the state’s
assistant corrections commissioner, said he’s aware of the lobbyists, but
said the process for reviewing proposals is private at this point. “They’re
out there,” McGonagle said. “I know they’re out there talking with
legislators and the like.” The Legislature would need to approve funding
any new prison received, he said. Fran Wendelboe, a former legislator and
current registered lobbyist not involved in the prison proposals, said
lobbyists can prove to be powerful forces. “On many occasions, they write
the ... legislation,” Wendelboe said. “The lobbyists are considered the
expert or who they represent are considered the experts.” Four companies
submitted proposals — some topping $100 million — to build the prison. Some
call for a privately run prison while others allow for the state to run it.
Three state evaluation teams are privately reviewing the proposals. A
recommendation is expected to reach the governor’s office and the state
departments of corrections and administrative services in October,
McGonagle said. Bruce Berke, a lobbyist with the Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group
that represents Management & Training Corp., confirmed the receipt of
$24,000 in fees, but referred further questions to his client. Issa Arnita,
director of communications for the Centerville, Utah-based company, said in
an email: “At times we hire lobbyists to educate various groups on the
benefits of public/private partnerships in corrections. “We are
participating in the competitive bid process, and we look forward to a
decision by the state of New Hampshire,” Issa wrote. Berke’s firm on its
website says its lobbyists “utilize their knowledge of the legislative and
regulatory process and their long-term, trusted relationships with decision
makers to achieve their clients’ goals.” Management & Training Corp.’s
proposal included building a prison on Hackett Hill in Manchester. A third
firm, The GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., paid at least $10,000 to Dennehy
& Bouley. Lobbyist Jim Bouley couldn’t be reached for comment, but GEO
Group spokesman Pablo Paez said in an email: “Since the procurement in New
Hampshire is ongoing, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment on our
proposal or the process. “Our company participates in the political process
in states across the country, including New Hampshire, . . . as do a
variety of organizations, including private corporations and organized
labor organizations, through lobbyist representation and contributions to
political candidates and parties who support different public policy
viewpoints.” One company, NH Hunt Justice Group, has not hired any
lobbyists. “We don’t see a need to lobby,” said Buddy Johns, president of
CGL, an affiliate of the Hunt Companies, a Texas construction firm. Hunt
Companies and LaSalle Corrections, a prison operator also based in Texas,
have formed the NH Hunt Justice Group, which lists its home office in El
Paso, Texas. He said the procurement process appeared straight forward.
“Some people use outside services to make their point,” Johns said in a
phone interview from Mexico. “I think we believe we’re the experts in what
we do, and we’re best to make that point.” Johns has said his company
proposed building a new prison next to the existing men’s prison in
Concord. LaSalle Corrections, based in Texas, would manage the prison if
the state didn’t. CCA, which declined to discuss its specific lobbying
efforts in New Hampshire, met earlier this year with Lancaster community
leaders to let them know they were one of at least three communities being
considered to host a possible prison costing $100 million to $120 million.
Northumberland and Hinsdale were the others, according to Lancaster’s town
manager. McGonagle said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the Legislature forms
a committee to study the state prisons. If the governor and Executive
Council approved a contract, the Legislature would need to weigh in on the
financial implication on the state budget, he said. Wendelboe said lobbying
money in general could be spent on research, campaign donations or hosting
events for legislators. McGonagle said he has talked with lobbyists about
general issues.
July 31, 2012 Sun-Sentinel
Southwest Ranches officials blame Pembroke Pines for losing out on the
chance to be home to one of the biggest federal immigration centers in the
country. And now they're gearing up to sue their much bigger neighbor to
the tune of $2 million a year. "It's David vs. Goliath," Town
Attorney Keith Poliakoff said Tuesday during a mediation session led by H.
Mark Purdy, a retired circuit judge. "They are coming in with guns
loaded and we have our slingshot." The mediation, held Tuesday at a
charter school in Pembroke Pines, failed to budge either side. Southwest
Ranches officials accuse Pembroke Pines of breach of contract for reneging
on an agreement not to "interfere" with efforts to bring a
detention center to the site; and for going back on a promise to provide
water and sewer service to Corrections Corporation of America, the private
prison builder that owns the land previously slated for the detention
center. Pembroke Pines officials deny any breach of contract and say they had
nothing to do with federal officials' change of heart. On June 15, ICE
officials announced they were scrapping plans to build the project in
Southwest Ranches. They declined to say why. "They [ICE] don't want
controversy," Southwest Ranches Mayor Jeff Nelson said. "They
don't want to read about this in the newspaper." Had the detention
center come to town, Southwest Ranches was to have been paid $1.6 million a
year plus $350,000 in annual property taxes, Poliakoff said. In March,
Pembroke Pines commissioners agreed to sue CCA to find out whether the city
was legally obligated to provide water to the site. The next day, CCA sued
Pembroke Pines in federal court. In May, Pembroke Pines commissioners said
they had questions about whether the city had enough water to accommodate
the project, City Attorney Sam Goren said.
July 25, 2012 KRQE
An audit of prison records begun last week has found a inmate at the
women's prison in Grants who was supposed to be released last November. State
Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel said the statewide audit of the
approximately 6,600 inmate records began at the New Mexico Women's
Correctional Facility. "Our standards, evaluation, and findings must
remain transparent if we are to remain aware what is expected of our
service," Marcantel said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
"This finding represents our commitment (of) vigorously looking at
yourself." The nearly nine-month delay in releasing of Shera Winings
was blamed on an employee of Corrections Corporation of America, which
operates the prison. Winings, who had been held on a probation violation
since October 2009, was released on Saturday.
July 12, 2012 Sacramento Bee
With severe overcrowding easing in state lockups, California is winding
down a controversial deal with the nation's biggest private prison operator
and will bring thousands of inmates housed in facilities as far away as
Mississippi back to California within the next few years. Currently, some
9,500 state inmates are serving sentences in prisons in Arizona,
Mississippi and Oklahoma operated by the Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections
Corporation of America. As part of a strategic plan announced in April, the
state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will transfer those
inmates back to California facilities by 2016. The return of the first
group, 600 inmates housed in Arizona, will begin "immediately,"
said Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate. Another 4,000 prisoners will
return to California in 2014. Steve Owen, spokesman for the Corrections
Corporation, confirmed the company agreed to modify its contract to lower
the total number of California inmates housed in out-of-state facilities
from 9,588 to 9,038 for this year. The contract guarantees 90 percent
occupancy. The revised contract will reduce California's fee to the private
prison group by $67 million for the current fiscal year, according to
corrections spokeswoman Dana Simas. The state will save another $14 million
in 2012 by cutting staff positions for the program, which is administered
in Sacramento. California is paying the Corrections Corporation $61 to $72
per prison bed per day, making the original contract worth more than $280
million for 2012-13, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office and corrections
department figures.
July 11, 2012 AP
Leflore County's Board of Supervisors has been told it could cost more than
$3.1 million to fully repair the Leflore County Jail. The estimate
presented to the board this week is considerably more than the $1 million
the county has earmarked for the work out of proceeds from a $4 million
bond issue. Two plans that leave out some fixes at the jail would cost $1.4
million and $1.9 million, according to The Greenwood Commonwealth. Sheriff
Ricky Banks, jail consultant Ed Hargett and architect G.G. Ferguson
explained the projections to the board Monday. Hargett recommended the
least expensive option. He said it would provide the "bare
minimum" of what is needed for accreditation by the American
Correctional Association. Hargett called the three plans a Cadillac, a
Chevrolet and a Pinto. Banks, who preferred the term "Model T"
for the final plan, declined to say Monday which plan he recommended when
asked by Supervisor Anjuan Brown. "We can live with whatever y'all
vote for," the sheriff said. Leflore County took over operation of its
jail from Corrections Corporation of America in February. One of the
reasons cited for leaving by the private prison operator — which also ran
the adjacent and now-closed state prison — was the anticipated high cost of
repairs. Initial estimates by Hargett had been about $1 million, far less
than even the lowest cost plan presented Monday.
July 5, 2012 Nashville Scene
As the state of California continues to move forward with its plan to
"recall" nearly 9,500 prisoners from out-of-state private
correctional facilities, it appears the process doesn't bode well for
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America's bottom line. According
to an analysis conducted by the Private Corrections Institute, the move
represents a significant loss of revenue for the nation's largest private
prison company. Here's an excerpt from the release, authored by Alex
Friedmann, longtime CCA critic and president of the PCI (emphasis Pith's):
CCA failed to mention that the reduction in contract beds coincided with
the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s realignment plan
which intends to phase out all 9,588 out- of-state beds within 4 years.
According to a CDCR report released last April, the realignment plan will
“eliminate the use of all out-of-state contract facilities by 2015-16.” The
CDCR report noted that returning all California prisoners from out-of-state
CCA facilities would “result in a reduction of $318 million” from the
state’s general fund. The report specified that California’s out-of-state
prisoner population will be reduced to 9,038 by 2012-13 – which has already
occurred according to CCA’s recent press release – then to 4,969 by
2013-14; to 1,864 by 2014-15; and to 531 by 2015-16, with a complete phase
out by the end of 2016. According to CCA’s 2011 annual report, California
accounted for 13% of the company’s total revenue last year; thus, the loss
of 9,588 contract beds to house California state prisoners will represent a
significant decrease in revenue for the company. As noted in CCA’s annual
report, “The return of the California inmates to the state of California
would have a significant adverse impact on our financial position, results
of operations, and cash flows.” This piggy-backs on a report by Daily
Finance that questions the conventional wisdom of purchasing stock in
private prisons, which have historically acted as dividend-generating
machines for those shareholders who can stomach the nature of CCA's
"product." Citing increased media scrutiny and declining prison
populations, the Daily Finance report offers an insight into the company's
potential transformation into a real estate investment trust, aka REIT.
Since REITs are required by law to funnel 90 percent of their taxable income
to investors, it could be now is a good time to take the money and run far
away from an industry facing decline for the first time in its history.
Corrections Corporation of America (NYS: CXW) and GEO Group (NYS: GEO) hold
half of all prison contracts and collectively pulled in $3.3 billion in
revenue for fiscal year 2011. In an industry that lives by economies of
scale, CCA enjoys a net profit margin of 9% — nearly double that of GEO
Group. However, both companies have seen decreases in net profit margins
over the last four years, even as revenue has consistently risen. This is
due in large part to decreases in prison occupancy rates. Like for
Superman, less crime means less business for these companies. As public
outcry continues to grow, contracts have already begun to flutter away.
More than a third of CCA's contracts and approximately half of GEO's
contracts expire in 2012, creating even more opportunities for governments
to make their great escape. With no growth and no competitive advantage,
it's only a matter of time until financial markets follow suit. Private
prisons make neither sense nor cents, so make your break today.
June 29, 2012 Marketwatch
CCA (Corrections Corporation of America), the nation's largest partnership
corrections provider to government agencies, announced today that it has
agreed to modify its existing contract with the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to reduce the total number of inmates
CCA houses for California from up to 9,588 to an average daily population
of 9,038 for the upcoming fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. CCA currently
houses approximately 9,200 inmates from the state of California. As a
result, CCA expects to begin ramping down the California out-of-state
population to align with the CDCR's new budgeted level beginning in July
2012. The reduction is expected to be completed by October 1, 2012. The
contractual 90% occupancy guarantee will be adjusted to reflect the lower
contract capacity. All other terms of the contract remain unchanged. The
full-year impact of the contract modification on earnings per share is
estimated to be approximately $0.04. However, at the present time, we are
not revising our 2012 guidance, but will consider this and other factors
when we provide updated guidance as part of our second quarter earnings
release in August.
June 15, 2012 Miami-Herald
Federal government officials have abandoned plans to build an immigrant
detention center in Southwest Ranches, authorities announced late Friday,
bringing to a close a year-long fight by local residents and others opposed
to the facility. The announcement from U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agency, which would have staffed the detention center, was
terse and offered little explanation for the decision. “ICE has reevaluated
its need for an additional detention facility in South Florida and has
decided that it will no longer pursue a facility in the Town of Southwest
Ranches,’’ read a written statement sent by Nestor Yglesias, an ICE
spokesman in Miami. “We are examining our options for additional detention
space in the region and will make the appropriate notifications when a
decision about the way forward has been made.” Torres declined to say if
the agency is considering other South Florida locations for a detention
center, or if ICE has decided that it has enough beds in the region. For
more than a year, ICE has said the Southwest Ranches location was at the
top of its list to build one of the nation’s largest facilities to hold
immigrant detainees. The proposed plan included at least 1,500 beds and
500,000-square-feet of space. Corrections Corporation of America, the
private prison contractor vying to bring the detention center to Southwest
Ranches, issued a written response through Steve Owen, a company spokesman:
“One of the greatest values we offer our government partners is the
flexibility to meet their changing circumstances,’’ Owen’s statement read.
“We understand ICE’s decision not to proceed with a civil detention
facility. We are grateful for ICE’s tentative selection of our site and
Southwest Ranches’ interest in partnering with CCA.’’
June 7, 2012 The Vindicator
Remember when the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Youngstown’s North
Side was being mothballed because it lost its contracts to house prisoners
from Washington, D.C.? The warden at the time, Brian Gardner, issued this
appeal to city council: “We feel confident in asking your help in obtaining
contracts in an effort to keep 500 plus jobs in the Valley. We are not
asking for maximum security inmates here.” That was in May of 2001. The
prison closed, but then reopened in 2004 after the U.S. Bureau of Prisons
awarded a contract to Corrections Corporation of America of Nashville, the
parent company of NOCC. How did that contract come about? Certainly not
because CCA had a magic wand or had the political muscle to flex in
Washington. Here’s what we said in an editorial published Dec. 26, 2004:
“Two years ago, Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine urged the U.S. government to buy the
then mothballed private prison on Hubbard Road in Youngstown because of the
growing need for housing federal inmates. Officials of the Bureau of
Prisons weren’t enthusiastic. Congress had authorized the construction of
12 new facilities, and that’s what the bureaucrats in Washington seemed to
want. “But DeWine, a member of the Senate Appropriations and Judiciary
committees, would not take ‘no’ for an answer. He rallied local officials,
including U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and Youngstown Mayor George
M. McKelvey, opened lines of communications with executives of Corrections
Corporation of America … and established a relationship with the
decision-makers in the bureau of prisons.” In December 2004, DeWine
announced that the bureau of prisons had awarded a contract to CCA resulting
in 1,195 male prisoners classified as low security being assigned to
Youngstown. Most of the inmates are designated “criminal aliens” because
they entered the country illegally and committed some type of federal
crime. DeWine is now Ohio’s attorney general. CCA was to be paid $129
million over the four-year term and was given three two-year options. Why
bring up the past? Because the private prison operator seems to have
forgotten what this region did to help it reopen the facility. That’s the
only explanation we can come up with for CCA’s rejection of a $1 per
prisoner tax imposed by city council in 2009. The company went to court
challenging the constitutionality of the tax. Court ruling -- Recently,
Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge R. Scott Krichbaum ruled that the city
did not violate the U.S. or Ohio constitutions or the city’s home rule
charter. But that isn’t the end of it. CCA intends to appeal, which is the
company’s right. However, we would remind the executives in Nashville that
when they needed this region’s help in reopening the private prison, there
was no hesitation. The support for the facility has been unwavering. It is
also worth noting that when Mahoning County had a contract to house federal
prisoners, it subcontracted with NOCC. The county was paid $3 per prisoner
by Corrections Corporation of America. Youngstown is only asking for $1 a
prisoner, and for the 2 years since the tax was imposed, the tab is $1.3
million. That’s a pittance compared to what CCA is earning through its
contract with the federal government.
June 2, 2012 Miami-Herald
The legal bill for Pembroke Pines to take a stand against a proposed
federal detention center in neighboring Southwest Ranches is $122,000 since
September, and growing. At least three different law firms are working on
the city’s behalf to oppose the planned U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement holding facility, and collectively their attorneys have logged
dozens of hours in meetings, performing legal research, and reviewing and
preparing documents. But attorneys fees, at a rate of $185 to $225 per
hour, are just a fraction of the city’s potential liabilities. Pembroke
Pines could be on the hook for much more — potentially millions — if the
city does not prevail in a federal lawsuit filed by Corrections Corporation
of America, the private prison contractor bidding to bring the federal
detention center to Southwest Ranches. CCA filed the lawsuit in March, one
day after Pembroke Pines commissioners voted to cancel a contract to
provide fire-rescue, emergency medical, water and sewer services to the
facility, which would be one of the nation’s largest with at least 1,500
beds and 500,000-square-feet of space. That same night the commission also
voted to hire Orlando attorney Usher L. Brown to file a lawsuit against CCA
in state court seeking a declaratory judgment, or a judge’s ruling, that
would resolve the question of whether Pembroke Pines is legally required to
provide water and sewer service to the proposed detention center. But CCA
beat the city to the punch. The next morning, the company filed a lawsuit
against Pembroke Pines in federal court — preempting the city’s lawsuit,
and rendering it moot until the outcome of the federal case. CCA’s lawsuit
asks a judge to order Pembroke Pines to cease attempts to block the
proposed detention center, and to provide water and sewer service to the
facility. The lawsuit also asks that Pembroke Pines pay CCA for any profits
the company loses as a result of the city’s efforts to block the facility
from being built.
May 26, 2012 The Vindicator
A judge ruled the city didn’t violate any laws when it enacted a $1
per-prisoner, per-day tax on private prisons. The decision means
Corrections Corporation of America owes the city about $1.3 million for
federal prisoners at its Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard
Road. But the company will appeal, said Steve Owen, its spokesman. “We’re
disappointed with the ruling, and we do intend to pursue all of our
procedural avenues, including filing an appeal,” he said. Judge R. Scott
Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled Tuesday for summary
judgment in favor of the city. “We’ve made it through the process, and
[CCA] is 2 1/2 years behind on payments,” said city Law Director Anthony
Farris. “We think this is a fair fee imposed, and it should be paid. We’re
looking for all of the back money, but we’re willing to listen to what else
they have to say.” As a way to generate more income at a time when the
city’s government was facing serious financial challenges, city council
approved legislation in November 2009, effective Dec. 1 of that year,
taxing private prisons in Youngstown $1 a day for each convict it houses.
Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, the private prison owned by CCA, is the
only facility that falls into that category. The prison, which has a
contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, houses about 1,500 illegal aliens
convicted of felonies. In January 2010, Corrections Corporation of America,
a for-profit company based in Nashville, Tenn., filed a lawsuit contending
the city ordinance violates the U.S. and Ohio constitutions and the city
charter. In his eight-page decision, the judge said the city law doesn’t
violate the federal or state constitutions, or the city charter.
May 23, 2012 Hawaii Reporter
The family of another Hawaii prison inmate murdered in his has sued the
state and private prison operator Corrections Corporation of America.
Clifford Medina, 23, was strangled in 2010 by cellmate Mahinauli Silva in a
segregation cell at Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona. The lawsuit,
filed by the ACLU and a Mainland lawfirm in state court, accused the state
Department of Public Safety and CCA of “deliberate indifference” and “gross
negligence” in their oversight and operation of the Saguaro facility. CCA
is under contract to house more than 1,000 male Hawaii prison inmates at
Saguaro in Eloy, Arizona. Steve Owen, spokesman for CCA, said the company
had not yet seen the lawsuit. “CCA’s top priority is the safety and
security of our facilities, employees and the inmates entrusted to our
care. We take all allegations seriously and act swiftly if our standards
have not been met,” Owen said in an emailed statement. Toni Schwartz,
public information officer at the Department of Public Safety, said, “We
have been advised not to speak about pending litigation until the Deputy
Attorney General assigned to the case has had some time to look it over.”
The lawsuit said Medina lived “a short and troubled life.” Diagnosed as
mildly mentally retarded and developmentally disabled, Medina spent his
teenage years in foster care and “various institutions for the mentally
disabled,” the suit said. He was easily influenced by others and lacked
“social awareness needed to escape from trouble created by poorly chosen
companions,” the family’s lawsuit said. Court and law enforcement records
show that Medina committed a series of felony and misdemeanor offenses,
including burglary, shoplifting, trespassing and bail jumping, on the Big
Island from 2006 to 2008. While on probation in 2009, Medina was convicted
in Honolulu Circuit Court of assaulting a law enforcement officer. His
probation was revoked and he was sentenced to a five-year prison term. In
prison, the lawsuit said, Medina “was the victim of systematic failures to
protect prisoners with developmental disabilities.” Inmates “with mental
retardation are vulnerable to being manipulated and victimized by other
inmates” and are preyed upon by prison gangs, the suit said. “CCA records
allege that at the time of his death Medina was considered a 'recruit' for
the dominant gang at SCC,” the suit said. Medina was housed in a special
section of Saguaro that segregated inmates from the general population,
sharing a cell with Mahinauli Silva, described in the suit as “a reluctant
member of the dominant Hawaii prison gang.” Silva "told CCA officials
… that they should move Medina to another cell because he would instigate a
fight and beat up Medina if he remained in their shared cell,” the
plaintiffs alleged in the suit. On the morning of June 8, 2010, Silva and
Medina argued, then engaged in a physical altercation which ended when
Silva killed Medina with a “guillotine choke hold,” the plaintiffs charged.
Four months before Medina’s death, another Hawaii inmate at Saguaro,
Bronson Nunuha, was murdered in another incident of gang violence there.
Nunuha's family filed their own lawsuit against the state and CCA earlier
this year. That suit is pending in federal court. Two Hawaii inmates, Miti
Maugaotega Jr. and Micah Kanahele, were convicted of first-degree murder in
Nunuha's death and are facing the death penalty in Arizona. Silva pleaded
guilty to second-degree murder of Medina and prosecutors did not seek the
death penalty in his case.
May 14, 2012 The Town Talk
A group of shift supervisors at a private prison in central Kentucky has
sued Corrections Corporation of America, alleging the company forced them
to work extra hours and denied them overtime. The six current and former
CCA employees at the Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary's who filed suit
also said the Nashville, Tenn.-based private prison giant denied them meal
and rest breaks, and required employees to attend training sessions without
pay. Attorney Tom Miller of Lexington told The Associated Press that the
lawsuit may also affect employees of two other CCA prisons in Kentucky —
the Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville and Otter Creek Correctional
Center in Wheelwright. "This is a for-profit company," Miller
said. "The way you maximize profits is to reduce expenses." The
group is seeking unspecified damages and a temporary injunction forcing CCA
to compensate employees who work more than 40 hours a week. Miller said any
damages could cover employees dating back to 2007. "We believe the
statute of limitations extends five years," Miller said. CCA spokesman
Mike Machak said Monday that the company had not seen the lawsuit and
couldn't address the specific allegations. "Overall, we are committed
to ensuring that our employees are fairly compensated, and we strive to
provide lasting career opportunities for those professionals who chose to
work with our company," Machak said. The shift supervisors and
assistant supervisors claim they do uncompensated work before and after
regular shift hours, including traveling between minimum- and medium-security
units at the 825-inmate prison in central Kentucky, staying on post while
waiting for a replacement officer to arrive and attending training sessions
on regular days off. CCA classifies the shift supervisors and assistant
supervisors as "exempt" from overtime pay under the Fair Labor
Standards Act. The act has rules covering which employees qualify for
overtime, based in part on salary, how many people the supervisor oversees
and the duties included in the supervisor's job description and whether
management duties are part of the job. Miller said CCA has misclassified
the employees as exempt from overtime rules and wants a judge to restore
the meal and rest periods required by law. The lawsuit is similar to a suit
filed in federal court in Kansas that sought to certify a class of
assistant shift supervisors at CCA's 65 facilities in 19 states. In that
case, assistant shift supervisors alleged that CCA misclassified them as
exempt from overtime pay. The two sides have filed a notice of settlement in
court, but the details of the agreement are not due to a judge until
Friday. CCA and a group of collections officers, case managers and clerks
also settled a suit concerning overtime in 2009, also in federal court in
Kansas. In that case, CCA agreed to pay a maximum of $7 million, but did
not acknowledge fault in the case.
May 10, 2012 Tennessean
The debate over private prisons spilled into Corrections Corporation of
America’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, with critics urging
greater transparency by the Nashville-based prison owner and operator. The
company rebuffed the parallel efforts, one led by the American Civil
Liberties Union and the other by an activist shareholder. Stockholders
rejected a proposal that would have required CCA to file twice-annual
reports on the number of rapes and sexual assaults occurring within its
facilities, and show steps the company was taking to combat the problem.
The proposal was filed by Alex Friedmann, a former prisoner who now leads
the Private Corrections Institute, an advocacy group that opposes prison
privatization. He served part of a 10-year sentence in the 1990s for
attempted murder and armed robbery in a CCA prison in Clifton, Tenn. The
company fought the proposal, asking the Securities and Exchange Commission
to kill it. The company argued it already planned to make such information
available annually and that Friedmann’s proposal was part of a personal
vendetta. The SEC declined to strike the resolution, so the company
included a lengthy rebuttal in proxy materials urging shareholders to vote
against it. CCA prefers to wait until industry-wide reporting standards are
set, spokesman Steve Owen said. “Our company is deeply committed to the
prevention of inmate sexual abuse, and we take a forward-looking, best-practice
approach to ensuring prisoner safety in this critical area,” Owen said.
Also, the ACLU delivered a letter to CCA asking Damon Hininger, the
company’s chief executive officer, to a public debate on the merits of
privatizing prisons. “We believe that the taxpayers who finance private
prisons; the families whose mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters are
incarcerated in these facilities; and the communities where for-profit
prisons are situated deserve more than sound bites,” the ACLU’s letter to Hininger
reads. “They deserve a full, fair and public examination of for-profit
incarceration.” The letter was the latest salvo in the group’s broader push
against for-profit prisons. It released a report last year that said CCA
and other private prison companies used extensive lobbying, large campaign
contributions and information-control methods to win more prison contracts
without any real benefits to the public.
May 2, 2012 Local 10
Without debate or public comment, council members from the town of Davie
agreed to provide fire service to Southwest Ranches, where an immigration
prison is set to be built. Neighboring Pembroke Pines ended its agreement
with Southwest Ranches in March after a months-long feud over the prison.
Critics have argued that the facility, to be built by Corrections
Corporation of America, will lower property values and cause a spike in
crime. On Wednesday, several CCA opponents sat in town council chambers and
were prepared to speak. Shortly before 7 p.m., Mayor Judy Paul and other council
members approved the $2.4 million fire agreement after placing the issue on
their consent agenda. By doing so, the fire agreement was passed without
debate or public remarks. The town of Southwest Ranches will take up the
issue Thursday night at 7 p.m.
April 27, 2012 Nashville Post
The two most prominent firms advising investors on how to vote their shares
have issued different recommendations on a call for Corrections Corp. of
America to step up its reporting of sexual abuse at its facilities. Activist
Alex Friedman wants Nashville-based CCA to report twice annually on its
efforts to prevent sexual abuse. The company says it is doing what it needs
to now and is waiting on final reporting standards from the Department of
Justice. In a letter to shareholders, CCA General Counsel Steve Groom
outlines the company's reasoning and says advisory firm Glass Lewis agrees
with its opposition to Friedman's proposal. ISS, on the other hand, has
told shareholders to side with Friedman.
April 24, 2012 Seven Days
An editor at the Brattleboro-based Prison Legal News (PLN) is using his
position as a Corrections Corporation of America shareholder to shine a
light on a pervasive problem: sexual assault in America's private,
for-profit prisons. Alex Friedmann has brought a shareholder resolution to
the board of CCA with the goal of forcing the nation's largest owner and
operator of for-profit prisons to release statistics on how often sexual
assaults occur within its walls and what efforts it's making to reduce
their incidence. CCA owns and operates more than 60 facilities in 19
states, with capacity of more than 85,000 beds, according to its website.
The Vermont Department of Corrections currently houses 470 inmates in two
out-of-state CCA prisons: the Lee Adjustment Center, in Beattyville,
Kentucky; and the Florence Correctional Center, in Florence, Arizona. Prior
to joining PLN, Friedmann served 10 years of a 20-year sentence — including
six years in a CCA prison in Clifton, Tennessee — for armed robbery,
assault, attempt to commit murder and attempted aggravated robbery, all
crimes he committed in the late 1980s and early '90s. He is also president
of the Private Corrections Institute, a Tallahassee, Florida-based
nonprofit watchdog group that opposes private prisons. "So, I have an
obvious bias in this regard," admits Friedmann, who is 42. In the
years since his release, Friedmann has worked to reform the private prison
industry. Several years ago, Friedmann bought a single share of CCA stock
so he could attend CCA shareholder meetings. Today, he owns 191 shares,
enough to permit him to introduce his first shareholder initiative. The
proxy measure, which comes up for a vote on May 10 at CCA's shareholder
meeting in Nashville, would require the company to issue twice-a-year reports
on its efforts to reduce prisoner rape and sexual abuse within its
facilities, and include statistical data on those incidents. Reached by
phone from Nashville, Tenn., this week, Friedmann emphasizes that he never
personally experienced or witnessed rape while in prison, though he heard
plenty of rumors and talk over the years. "It's one of those taboo
topics in prison," he says. "You don’t sit around discussing how
many people got raped the other night." How common is rape and sexual
abuse in public prisons versus private ones? According to Friedmann, the
only study that compared the two found that private prisons actually have a
lower incidence of sexual abuse than state prisons, but a higher incidence
than federal prisons. That said, other research indicates that sex crimes
are a bigger problem in the private prison industry than is normally
reported. As Friedmann explains, there are two types of data on the
pervasiveness of sexual assault behind bars: surveys of inmates that ask
whether they've been sexually assaulted and if so by whom, how often, etc.
The second set of data is reported by state and federal correctional
authorities themselves. As Friedmann points out, official stats on reported
rapes that occur behind bars are similar to crime reports in free world.
Obviously, not all crimes are reported to authorities, especially in
prison. Friedmann goes on to explain that one 2008 U.S. Bureau of Justice
report found that the highest incidence of sexual abuse nationally occurred
in a private CCA prison: the Torrance County Correctional Facility, in
Estancia, N.M., where the rate of sexual victimization was four times the
average of the 282 jails the government surveyed. Friedmann's policy brief
in support of his shareholder measure highlights several lawsuits brought
against CCA for failure to address rape and sexual misconduct in its
facilities. "My resolution with CCA is simply to recognize that this
is a problem in the industry, particularly the private prison industry, and
to address it," Friedmann says. For obvious reasons, Friedmann puts
the likelihood of his resolution passing at "exceedingly slim."
Although he'll introduce the motion at next month's shareholder meeting,
the move will be largely pro forma, as most shareholders will have already
voted beforehand. Based on his research, the vast majority of shareholders
(78 percent) are large investment firms, institutional investors and public
employee retirement funds. Friedmann says he's been contacting any CCA
stockholders that own more than 200,000 shares in an effort to get them to
vote yes on his measure. How's he done so far? Generally, institutional
investors don't reveal their stance on shareholder initiatives, Friedmann
points out. In fact, companies with such large holdings typically don't
even vote their own proxies but farm those decisions out to proxy-voting
services. Friedmann says that only one company has agreed to a conference
call with him to discuss his anti-rape measure with its analyst.
"Unfortunately, that company is not based in the United States,"
he laments, "which gives you an idea of the U.S corporate mindset when
it comes to public policy issues like this. It's simply not on their radar.
They just don’t care." Indeed, the CCA board of directors attempted to
block Friedmann's efforts by filing an objection with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission. But with the help of pro bono lawyers, Friedman
fought the board and in February, got the SEC to rule in his favor. Still,
the CCA board of directors has unanimously recommended that shareholders
vote against this resolution. In its opposition statement, the board argues
that it is already undertaking efforts to reduce the incidence of rape and
sexual abuse, making the measure unnecessary. "CCA takes a 'zero
tolerance' approach to prisoner sexual abuse," the company writes in a
four-page response to Friedmann's shareholder initiative. "Since the
creation of proposed national standards to eliminate prison sexual
assaults, CCA has taken a leadership position on this important public
policy issue. Even though the proposed standards have not yet been mandated
and remain under consideration by the Department of Justice, CCA has
proactively adopted – and in some cases exceeded - many of the national
PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) standards and best practices." That
said, Friedmann's measure has garnered support from more than a dozen
national organizations, including the National Center for Domestic and
Sexual Violence, the National Organization for Women, the National Lawyers
Guild and the Human Rights Defense Center. Interestingly, Friedmann notes
that CCA's stock has "gone through the roof recently," putting
the value of his CCA holdings at more than $4000. He says he plans to
donate any proceeds from the eventual sale of his stock to organizations
that address human rights abuses behind bars.
April 23, 2012 Street Insider
Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) is under heavy pressure
early Tuesday which appears to be related to reports that larger customer
California announced major overhaul of its prison system. The state is
seeking to cut billions in spending, cancel construction projects, close
one lockup and bring back 9,500 inmates housed in other states, according
to the LA Times. "It's a massive change," said Matthew Cate,
secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The State of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
accounted for 13% of Corrections Corporation of America total revenue for
the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011.
April 4, 2012 The Chieftain
A report last week that Corrections Corporation of America needs a subsidy
from the state or it will start shedding jobs has caught the attention of
officials in Bent and Crowley counties. Las Animas is home to the Bent
County Correctional Facility, the city's largest employer at 280 employees.
Las Animas County Commissioner Bill Long said Tuesday that if CCA decided
to cut jobs or shut down the prison it would cripple the county. "It
would be an absolute disaster for Bent County," Long said. "To
first lose the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, which used to be our
largest employer, and then possibly this, it just can't be described as
anything other than awful." Long said that in addition to the correctional
facility being the county's largest employer, it also is its largest
taxpayer at around $400,000 annually. He added that the prison purchases
its utilities from the city of Las Animas and has a monthly bill around
$80,000. Long said he and his fellow commissioners are getting word from
the state that no facilities are going to be shut down but that staff
reductions are certainly possible."We're unhappy that this is even
being proposed," he said. Olney Springs, which is home to the Crowley
County Correctional Facility that also is operated by the CCA, is another
correctional facility at risk of losing jobs.
March 29, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in
Southeastern Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent
closure of a state-run prison. Savings from the pending closure of another
state-run prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the
for-profit ventures. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County
Correctional Facility in Las Animas, has notified the state that it needs a
subsidy or it will start shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of
Staff Roxane White said Wednesday. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure
something out they will be in a situation where they have to close a
prison,” she said. Similar threats loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center
in Burlington, which also is operated by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain
Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs, operated by Community Education
Centers Inc., according to White. “At both the CCA facilities and Cheyenne
Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are empty,” she said. “They are
looking at the need to make staffing reductions.” White confirmed that
diverting the estimated $4.5 million in savings the state expects to
realize next year from the pending closure of Colorado State Penitentiary
II in Canon City is one option, but she doubts that would be enough to
satisfy the private prison companies. “It’s not enough to cover it,” she
said. “In this case, we need in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to $15
million to keep the (private) prisons all operational.” Ideally, White
said, any action by the private prison companies could be postponed while the
state conducts a thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison
population, whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can
best manage its resources in light of the findings.
March 27, 2012 AP
The widow of a Mexican citizen who died while in immigration custody in
south Georgia has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the federal
government. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit Tuesday on
behalf of Sara Hernandez-Gonzalez. Roberto Medina-Martinez died in March 2009
after having been held for about a month at a U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement facility. An autopsy showed he died of myocarditis, an
inflammatory heart disease. The lawsuit alleges the medical staff at the
Stewart Detention Center, which is operated by Corrections Corporation of
America, the same company that runs a similar facility in Gainesville, was
negligent and didn't provide proper medical care to Medina-Martinez. It
seeks $1 million in damages for his wife.
March 26, 2012 Courthouse News
Guards at a private prison instigated - and watched - a gang fight that
left him brutally beaten and unconscious, says a man who claims that
Corrections Corporation of America guards "foster" brutality
between inmates, and conceal injuries in the prison's "in-house"
medical center. Jacob Clevenger sued Corrections Corporation of America,
CCA Western Properties, and Philip Valdez, warden of the CCA's Idaho
Correctional Center, in Federal Court. Nashville-based Corrections
Corporation of America is the largest private corrections company in the
country, managing 60 prisons with a total of 90,000 beds. Clevenger, who
claims he was beaten senseless in the prison, claims CCA "has allowed
and even fostered systemic conditions of brutality, peril and injuriousness
at the ICC." Clevenger was an inmate at the Idaho Correctional Center
(ICC) in Kuna, Idaho, a state prison that is owned and managed by CCA.
Clevenger claims he was taken from his cell on Aug. 10, 2010 and placed in
another area of the prison where rival gang members were housed. When the
door to his new cell was opened that evening, Clevenger said, he thought
guards were bringing him a mattress for his bunk. But he was attacked and
beaten. "Around 8 p.m., Mr. Clevenger's cell door mechanically opened,"
the complaint states. "Cell doors at ICC were opened mechanically by
the officer in the control center. Mr. Clevenger assumed that ICC guards
were delivering the mattresses and stepped out of the cell to accommodate
them. Suddenly, Mr. Clevenger saw prisoners running towards him. He froze.
Seconds later, a number of prisoners, including known gang members, began
attacking him. "Mr. Clevenger suffered significant physical and
emotional injuries, including, but not limited to, being punched and kicked
so many times in the head that he had lumps everywhere, and receiving a
broken front tooth, a fractured eye socket, and a partially torn ear. After
a few minutes of being beaten, Mr. Clevenger lost consciousness. A few
hours later, Mr. Clevenger was taken to St. Alphonsus Hospital's emergency
room. "Defendant CCA's staff knew that by placing Mr. Clevenger in a
setting with rival gang members he was at great physical risk of attack.
Prior to the August 10 assault, Mr. Clevenger submitted concern forms
expressing his fear for his safety on a number of occasions, although these
forms were never returned. Prior to the attack, CCA began moving other
known gang members into the same housing unit in which Mr. Clevenger lived.
"Indeed, CCA officials are aware of the substantial danger of assault
that gang members such as Mr. Clevenger face from rival gang members, and
have a policy of keeping rival gang members separated. "Mr. Clevenger
does not know for certain why his assailants assaulted him. But one thing
is clear: The guards who allowed this brutal attack exhibited deliberate
indifference to Mr. Clevenger's health and welfare. "Jacob Clevenger's
injuries are permanent and progressive. He continues to suffer physical and
mental trauma. "Previous to Mr. Clevenger's brutal assault, there had
been numerous similar assaults." Clevenger claims that ICC warden
Philip Valdez has refused to hire enough correctional officers, to
adequately train the ones he does hire, and failed to pursue
"reasonable policies of personnel discipline and retraining in cases
where correctional officers have contributed to or facilitated inmate
violence or injury." He claims that correctional officers at ICC
"have acted, and feel empowered to act, with impunity when they
deliberately disregard or derogate inmate safety." He claims there is
a "code of silence" by which "staff are conspicuously not
encouraged to report prisoner or personnel misconduct, and are furthermore
not provided adequate training in how to do so". The complaint
continues: "Defendants CCA and Valdez have operated the ICC's 'in
house' medical unit so as to purposefully conceal the incidence and extent
of inmate injuries suffered as a result of the facility's recurrent
violence.
March 22, 2012 Sun-Sentinel
Facing a lawsuit that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the city
of Pembroke Pines has in turn sued the Corrections Corporation of America
as the fight continues over whether CCA will build a federal illegal
immigrant detention center on land it owns that borders Pembroke Pines.
Pembroke Pines' lawsuit asks a judge to halt development of the
controversial detention center, which could be the largest in the nation,
until the sticky legal question of whether Pembroke Pines is obligated to
provide water and sewer services to the CCA land is resolved. Pembroke
Pines resident Ryann Greenburg said she is not surprised that water and
sewer services have become the city's greatest weapon against the detention
center. She is helping to lead a grass-roots charge against C |
