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Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility
South Burlington
Prison Health Services
December 29, 2007 Rutland Herald
The proposed settlement in a wrongful death suit against the state has been sealed. Earlier this month, attorneys for the estate of the late Robert Nichols of Brandon filed a motion to seal an order for the distribution of settlement proceeds and related documents. The papers will remain sealed at least until Rutland Superior Court holds a hearing on the motion, according to a court clerk. Robert "Bones" Nichols, a meat cutter who worked at his family's slaughterhouse, died in 2005 at age 44 while at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. He was undergoing a severe case of heroin withdrawal and a later report by a statewide advocacy group said his death could have been prevented. His widow, Eva Nichols, filed a lawsuit in 2006 against the state and against Prison Health Services, Inc., a company contracted to provide medical services in the Vermont prison system shortly before Nichols died. Eva Nichols was acting as administrator of her husband's estate. The lawsuit sought unspecified damages. The documents were sealed because of a confidentiality agreement between the plaintiff and Prison Health Services that is part of the proposed settlement. Attorney Devin McLaughlin, who represents the plaintiff, could not be reached for comment Friday. Samuel Hoar, the attorney for Prison Health Services, said that the motion was necessary because wrongful death suits require a court order on the distribution of settlement money and the parties cannot just mutually dismiss the case like in other types of lawsuits.

September 13, 2007 Rutland Herald
A settlement has been reached in a civil lawsuit against the state filed by the family of a Brandon man who died in a South Burlington jail while suffering from severe heroin withdrawal, according to court records. Paperwork indicating that the lawsuit brought on behalf of the estate of the late Robert Nichols has been resolved was filed last week in Rutland Superior Court. The documents do not state a dollar amount of the settlement, only that a resolution of the case was reached following a mediation session involving the parties. Attorneys in the case said since formal paperwork regarding the settlement hasn't yet been filed in court as of Wednesday, they could not disclose details of the resolution. "Unfortunately I can't really comment at this point in time because it hasn't been finalized," Assistant State Attorney David Groff, said. "When that happens there will be a stipulation of the parties and I'll be able to comment at that time." Peter Langrock, a Middlebury attorney representing the Nichols' family, said he could not yet talk about the settlement amount either. "I can tell you that we settled and at this point it's for an undisclosed sum," Langrock said. The lawsuit was filed in October 2006 on the behalf of Nichols' estate, which is administered by his wife, Eva Nichols. Nichols died in February 2005 while in the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. The lawsuit named the state of Vermont as a defendant as well as Prison Health Services, a company that had been contracted to provide medical services in Vermont's prisons shortly before Nichols' death. The lawsuit sought unspecified damages. According to court records, Nichols, 44, was arrested Feb. 3, 2005, on federal firearms charges and the next morning he was taken to the South Burlington jail before being taken to federal court. However, he was deemed too ill to go before a judge and later that night, he saw a nurse from Prison Health Services, the lawsuit said. "This was approximately 16 hours after first arriving at the facility with obvious withdrawal symptoms. Mr. Nichols was not seen by a doctor or referred to an outside facility," according to the lawsuit. "Rather, he was returned to his cell after apparent administration of some medication. He was not sent to a medical bed or facility." Nichols told the nurse that he had vomited three times and had a fever and tremors. Fifteen-minute checks were ordered. In the response to the lawsuit, the state acknowledged that not all the checks were done properly. "The state admits that Mr. Nichols was placed on 15-minute checks, but was not observed on a continuous, uninterrupted basis," the response stated. "The state further admits that some checks did not comply with the standards and practices demanded by the state." Nichols was found dead just before 6 a.m. the next morning. In June 2005, Vermont Protection & Advocacy issued a report stating that Nichols' death at the jail could have been prevented if the staff had provided better medical care. The advocacy group stated corrections officials knew Nichols was sick when he arrived at the jail, but did not properly monitor his condition. "Had they taken a more active role in assuring he was receiving adequate medical care and follow up, this tragedy may have been avoided," the advocacy group's report stated.

October 9, 2006 Rutland Herald
The family of a Brandon man, who died in a jail more than a year ago, is suing the state, claiming that while he was suffering from severe heroin withdrawal, he failed to get necessary medical care while behind bars. The lawsuit was filed last week in Rutland Superior Court on behalf of the late Robert Nichols' estate, which is administered by his wife, Eva Nichols. Robert Nichols died Feb. 5, 2005, while in the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. The lawsuit names as defendants not only the state of Vermont, but Prison Health Services, a company that had been contracted to provide medical services in the Vermont's prisons shortly before Nichols' death. The lawsuit alleges proper procedures were not followed for Nichols, an inmate experiencing withdrawal symptoms from the use of heroin at the time of his incarceration. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. According to the lawsuit, Nichols was arrested on Feb. 3, 2005, on federal firearms charges, and on Feb. 4 at about 3:30 a.m., agents from the federal Department of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms brought Nichols to the South Burlington jail, where he was lodged as a federal detainee. "Mr. Nichols reported that he was suffering from heroin withdrawal, and that he had ingested eighty (80) bags of heroin within three days of being incarcerated," the lawsuit stated. "He was not given immediate medical attention." At about 9 a.m. on Feb. 4, Nichols was transported to federal court in Burlington, but because of the severity of his withdrawal symptoms, he could not appear before the judge and was taken back to the South Burlington jail around 1:30 p.m., according to the lawsuit. "Again, Mr. Nichols received no immediate medical treatment," the lawsuit stated. "The U.S. Marshals reported the severity of Mr. Nichols' symptoms to (the South Burlington jail)." The first medical treatment Nichols received at the jail was more than five hours later, at about 7:15 p.m. of Feb. 4, when he was seen by a nurse from Prison Health Services, the lawsuit stated. "This was approximately 16 hours after first arriving at the facility with obvious withdrawal symptoms. Mr. Nichols was not seen by a doctor or referred to an outside facility," according to the lawsuit. "Rather, he was returned to his cell after apparent administration of some medication. He was not sent to a medical bed or facility." Nichols had reported to the nurse that he had vomited three times that evening and had a fever and tremors, the lawsuit stated. Fifteen-minute checks were ordered on Nichols, who had been returned to a cell. "However, these checks were either not conducted in whole or in part or were so cursory a fashion as to not constitute meaningful observation," and Nichols continued to vomit in his cell, the lawsuit stated. The next morning, at 5:54 a.m., when a correctional officer opened the cell door to bring in breakfast, Nichols was found dead, and he appeared to have been deceased for about an hour. The lawsuit stated that state Department of Corrections employees, as well as employees of Prison Health Services, violated Nichols' rights "by their deliberate indifference to Mr. Nichols' serious medical needs, as they knew of and disregarded excessive risk to Mr. Nichols though gross incompetence and grossly inadequate treatment and supervision." In June 2005, a statewide advocacy group issued a report looking into Nichols' death. The report stated that Nichols' death could have been avoided if he had received better medical care. Vermont Protection & Advocacy reported that the state Department of Corrections knew Nichols had been sick when he came into the jail, but did not properly monitor him.

August 11, 2006 Burlington Free Press
The parents of an inmate who committed suicide in his cell in 2004 have sued the state Corrections Department, alleging that prison workers knew their son was thinking of killing himself but did not act to prevent his death. Ryan Rodriguez, 24, was found hanging in his cell Oct. 19, 2004 at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. He died at Fletcher Allen Health Care four days later after his parents had him removed from life support. Court documents show he had been in jail for 15 months awaiting trial on charges he mistreated a toddler he was caring for at a Burlington motel. Rodriguez, from New Mexico, was visiting friends in Burlington at the time of his arrest. Rodriguez's death occurred six months after an independent study examined seven inmate deaths in an 18-month stretch, including two by suicide. The study found evidence the Corrections Department had mishandled inmates with mental health issues. "We had no idea Ryan was being treated so badly," Ryan Rodriguez's mother, Carol, said during a telephone interview last week from Tucson, Ariz., where she and her husband, Joe Rodriguez, live. "When Joe got there after Ryan's suicide, one of the guards told him to seek legal help. He said, 'This has happened previously here.'" The Rodriguezes allege in their lawsuit that four times during their son's 15 months in jail awaiting trial, he told Corrections officers he was thinking of hurting or killing himself but was never referred to mental health workers for help. The case, filed in federal court in Burlington, lists as defendants the Corrections Department, three of its employees and Correctional Medical Services, the department's medical care contractor at the time.

June 23, 2005 Rutland Herald
An advocacy group claims the death of a prison inmate suffering from heroin withdrawal could have been prevented if staff had provided better medical care. Vermont Protection & Advocacy said Friday that the Corrections Department knew Robert Nichols was sick when he arrived at jail but failed to adequately monitor his condition. "Had they taken a more active role in assuring he was receiving adequate medical care and follow- up this tragedy may have been avoided," Vermont Protection & Advocacy said in its report released Friday.  The advocacy group claims procedures were not followed for inmates experiencing drug withdrawal symptoms or undergoing detoxification.     The records show Nichols was seen by a nurse 14 hours after he lodged at the prison when Corrections policy require that inmates who are suffering from drug withdrawal be reported to medical staff for evaluation, the report said.  The report also questioned whether prison guards checked on Nichols throughout the night. The report also raises concerns about Prison Health Services, who was contracted to provide medical services in the state's prisons a week before Nichols' death.  Among the recommendations, the report advises the state to monitor the care provided by Prison Health Services and makes sure staff follow policies and are trained to recognize behaviors that are potentially life threatening. The group also recommends that the Corrections Department provide an apology and financial settlement to Nichols' family.  Nichols death follows a spate of seven inmate deaths, including two suicides, over an 18-month period that ended in late 2003. An outside investigation concluded that state actions and policies were partly to blame for the deaths of some of the seven people who have died in state custody.

Lee Adjustment Center
Beattyville, Kentucky
CCA
November 15, 2005 WCAX
Vermont's prisons are already full and now there's word they're about to be swamped. Corrections officials project Vermont's prison population will skyrocket at least 20% within five years, and that's sparking a debate over where to put all these convicts. But state lawmakers have rejected building new prisons in Vermont, so the Corrections Commissioner says the primary solution to overcrowding will be to send more inmates to do time in prisons located in Kentucky and Tennessee. State leaders will be looking at a number of options to out-of-state placement during the legislative session next year. However, the out-of-state placements have one additional factor that is very appealing to many: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA )-- a private, for-profit prison company -- charges Vermont $20,000 per inmate, per year to jail them in Kentucky and Tennessee. Meanwhile, the cost of jailing convicts in Vermont is $40,000 per year per inmate, 100% more. The difference is that CCA provides no counseling educational, or rehabilitation programs. The cost-per-inmate in Vermont includes many services and counseling, plus probation, parole, furlough, and other early release programs.

November 30, 2004 Lexington Herald Leader
Shortly after a riot erupted at a Lee County private prison in September, the state's top corrections official praised Corrections Corporation of America for its quick response to restoring order at the facility. Now, though, Corrections Commissioner John D. Rees, a former CCA vice president, has recommended that the state fine his old employer $10,000 for failing to have a sufficient number of trained officers to respond to the disturbance. On the night the riot broke out, just seven such officers were available instead of the 20 that were needed. That was just one of numerous problems at the Lee Adjustment Center described in a state report released last week. These included the failure of containment fences, restricted recreation time, restricted access to the inmate canteen, the suspension of such programs as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, lack of educational programs, mass punishments for minor offenses, the state's failure to monitor the prison and the seemingly ever-present lack of communication (in this instance attributed to the "strict management style" of former Warden Randy Eckman). All things considered, a $10,000 fine seems a bit small, which may be why a CCA spokeswoman quickly said that the company would pay it. But what puzzles us even more than the amount of the recommended fine is that the riot itself and the report on the problems that caused it apparently have not dampened one bit the zeal within Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration for privatizing the operation of a $91 million prison the state just finished building. The contracting process for that 961-bed Elliott County facility is moving right along as if the Sept. 14 riot that cost a warden his job and resulted in indictments against 23 inmates had never occurred and the problems that led to the violence and destruction at the private prison never existed. Go figure.

November 24, 2004 Courier-Journal
The company that owns the Beattyville prison where inmates rioted Sept. 14 should be fined $10,000 for failing to have enough properly trained officers to respond to the uprising, state officials said in a letter released yesterday. A state report also released yesterday said the riot grew larger than most inmates had intended and "was created by a lack of communication up and down the chain of command and too many changes within a short period of time." It's the first time the state has sought to fine a private prison operator, including the Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and runs the 800-inmate Lee Adjustment Center. In a Nov. 22 letter, state Corrections Commissioner John D. Rees asked Finance Secretary Robbie Rudolph to fine CCA for failing to adequately organize, equip, train and maintain 20 response team members. Only seven were available that evening, the report said. The department did not release CCA's response to the Oct. 4 report. Chickering refused to provide it yesterday, saying CCA believes the response should come from Kentucky officials. She also said the company would not immediately comment on the state's findings. The report found 16 problems at the prison, including: CCA built fences to control prisoner movement after an influx of Vermont prisoners. But inmates could "peel up" the bottom of the fences and sneak under them. There were mass punishments, including removal of pool tables after inmates allegedly gambled at them. Some Vermont inmates should have been in maximum custody prisons. Staff members were not prepared for the many others who are sex offenders, have a history of behavior problems and are on psychotropic drugs. Several programs were suspended, including Parenting, Anger Management, Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous. The report confirms many of the concerns previously cited by inmates, prisoner advocates and Kentucky and Vermont prison officials.

November 23, 2004 Courier-Journal
The first visible sign of a recent riot at the Lee Adjustment Center was when inmates targeted the wooden guard tower, using large concrete ashtrays to break its legs. With a guard still inside, inmates began pulling the tower apart, using the wood to batter the maintenance building, where ladders, wire cutters and axes were stored, according to inmate interviews and an official account of the Sept. 14 riot. The six-page Sept. 27 report, obtained by The Courier-Journal under the state's open-records law, does not conclude what caused the riot or make recommendations, but it confirms much of what inmates said about the riot in interviews with the newspaper. The Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and runs the prison, and Kentucky and Vermont prison officials are investigating the riot. A Kentucky official said the findings are expected to be released this week. According to the report, prepared by a Lee shift supervisor, CCA guards quelled the 7:25 p.m. uprising in a little more than two hours. By then, inmates had burned the administration building, ripped out electrical wiring, raided the commissary and caused other damage to the 800-inmate prison. "The inmates literally had control of this place, the inner compound," Adam Corliss, an inmate imprisoned for murder, said in an interview. He said he ran to the window of his housing unit when he heard the commotion. "There was no staff visible anywhere, and that's what surprised me the most, and I'd say a lot of other residents here," said Corliss, 30, of Springfield, Vt. "CCA is in a business to maximize profit," said inmate Tim Wells, 25, of Louisville, who is serving time for robbery. "Inmates are learning about this, and they're furious." Meanwhile, inside the maintenance building, prisoners Matthew Bennett and James Davis said their goal was protecting their civilian supervisor, Kris Goldey. Bennett and Davis decided to protect Goldey and the prison's equipment stockpile by closing the door to the equipment room and arming themselves with lead pipes, they said. The report confirmed that Goldey was in the room. Twenty riot squad members were supposed to have been on call under state policy, Rees has said. But that night, Lee spokesman Ron King said, only nine were available immediately, with three on duty and six others showing up at various times.

November 20, 2004 Courier-Journal
Twenty-three inmates, including seven from Kentucky, were indicted by a grand jury yesterday on charges of taking part in a riot that extensively damaged a privately operated prison in Lee County. The inmates at the Lee Adjustment Center were charged with first-degree riot and being a persistent felony offender. Sixteen of the inmates who were indicted are from Vermont. During the Sept. 14 riot, inmates burned the administration building and severely damaged a housing unit by ripping out electrical wires and plumbing, officials said. The company has not said how much the damage cost to repair. The riot occurred after an influx of Vermont inmates at the Lee prison. Vermont Corrections Commissioner Steve Gold has said that Vermont inmates had complained about limited recreational time, smaller portions and less variety of food, and a disciplinary crackdown that wasn't adequately explained to staff or inmates. But the Kentucky and Vermont departments didn't have on-site monitors at the prison to listen to inmate grievances and to observe prison conditions. After the riot, CCA replaced the warden, Randy Eckman, and the company later fired him.

November 2, 2004 Times Argus
A Vermont inmate being housed in Kentucky received minor injuries when a fight broke out early Friday morning among 10 prisoners, including four from Vermont.  The prisoner, whose name was not released by Vermont officials or the company that runs the prison, was taken to an area hospital and had stitches put in his face and was returned to prison. An inmate from Kentucky was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher and had stitches put in his head at an area hospital and was released.

October 28, 2004 Times Argus
For the first time since last month's prison riot, Vermont inmates being housed in a private facility in Kentucky on Wednesday gave their home state lawmakers first-hand accounts of conditions that led to the uprising. "I find it very difficult to live in the dorm situation. Bathrooms are set up inhumanely with no privacy. I can't sleep, the floor shakes,'' said Dennis Chandler, one of four prisoners who addressed the Corrections Oversight Committee by telephone from the Lee Adjustment Center in Beattyville, Ky. "Different corrections officers have different rules. Officers make up the rules as they please,'' said Scott Amidon, another inmate. Corrections Commissioner Steven Gold and Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, the committee chairman, said they will continue to work to improve conditions at the prison, including making sure that prison officials are more responsive and inmates have better education opportunities. The riot began around 7:15 p.m. on Sept. 14 when some of the inmates in the recreation yard tore down the guard tower and used the wood to break into the commissary. At Wednesday's hearing in Montpelier, inmate David Rivers said officials at the Kentucky prison frequently bring up false charges against inmates as a way of punishing prisoners they think are troublesome. The charges often result in the inmates being placed in solitary confinement for extended periods. "This was one of the many straws that broke the camel's back before the riot. Improvements are slow in coming,'' he said. He added that "… the education offered is poor and classes are sometimes turned over to the smartest inmate and the teachers do not teach.''

October 27, 2004 WKYT
A Lee County grand jury is expected to consider criminal charges today against 26 inmates accused of starting a riot at a private prison last month. The grand jury is to hear evidence on charges of arson, criminal mischief, inciting to riot, and assault. Of the 26 inmates facing charges, 15 are from Vermont and eleven are from Kentucky.

October 12, 2004 WCAX
A Kentucky grand jury will consider criminal charges against 15 Vermont inmates believed to have helped start a prison riot last month. Police say some of the charges will be misdemeanors and some will be felonies. The September 14th riot involved more than 100 inmates and resulted in extensive damage to the Lee Adjustment Center run by Corrections Corporation of America in Beattyville, Kentucky.

October 1, 2004 Times Argus
As many as 15 Vermont inmates could be indicted by a Kentucky grand jury later this month for crimes relating to their involvement in instigating a riot at their prison. Corrections Commissioner Steven Gold said employees of his department who are in Kentucky have worked to ensure that there is no retaliation against the Vermont inmates by CCA employees. Gold has said any Vermont prisoners convicted of instigating the riot would be moved to a more secure CCA facility in Arizona.

September 29, 2004 Courier Journal
Kentucky and Vermont did not have inspectors on site at the Lee Adjustment Center in the months before inmates rioted at the privately run prison. While it is not required by law, Kentucky Corrections Commissioner John D. Rees said the state wants an inspector to work at the prison to make sure the Corrections Corporation of America runs it properly. "For a month it wasn't addressed. Should it have been? Probably yes," said Rees, adding that an inspector has since been reassigned there. House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, who is fighting a state plan to privatize a new Elliott County prison, said the Corrections Department didn't follow the law by not immediately replacing Glenn Hance. "That is a very, very serious oversight by the Corrections Department," Adkins said. Steve Gold, Vermont's corrections commissioner, said his state was sending inspectors to Lee every month. "We clearly have to pay closer attention on an ongoing basis and have someone there who is monitoring the contract and serving as an ombudsman, if you will, or caseworker, for the inmates," Gold said. "There just is no substitute for having a monitor on staff every day, walking around with a clipboard, noticing what's happening and what's not happening, listening to the staff, listening to the prisoners," said Judy Greene, who runs Justice Strategies, a New York-based nonprofit criminal justice research group. "With private contracts, the key is oversight and monitoring. You have to hold their feet to the fire," said Doug Sapp, the former Kentucky corrections commissioner who signed the original contract with CCA in 1999 and retired a year later.

September 25, 2004 Times Argus
At least one state employee will be assigned to the prison in Kentucky to ensure that Vermont's prisoners there are treated properly and to avoid a repeat of conditions that prompted last week's riot, Corrections Commissioner Steven Gold told lawmakers on Friday. "The people in Kentucky were not always responsive to the complaints raised by our inmates before the riot." He told lawmakers that prisoner complaints centered on smaller and lower-quality food portions, lack of access to recreational activities and inadequate visiting hours. Committee members also received a copy of a letter in which Vermont inmate Scott Bressette described conditions that drove the inmates to violence. "They ain't feeding us hardly anything. I'm starving so bad that my stomach's starting to eat away at my backbone," Bressette wrote to his fiancée Katherine Jenkins two days after the riot. He described the riot as "one of the most insane things I've ever witnessed in my entire life! Inmates chasing guards with 2X4s breaking everything in sight…It was so hostile that the S.W.A.T. team of guards came in, launching tear gas, armed with shotguns." Gold added that prison conditions before the riot were largely the result of policies implemented by the former warden of the facility, Randy Eckman, who was removed from the position last Saturday and had not yet been reassigned. Gold said Eckman often punished inmates excessively for minor infractions and did not communicate effectively with inmates and prison employees. Sen. James Leddy, D-Chittenden, said the riot shows what can happen when there is a "rogue warden whose actions are only known about after the riot."

September 25, 2004 WCAX
Vermont Corrections Department officials are continuing to work on a plan to build a second prison work camp to help ease prison overcrowding. Corrections Commissioner Steve Gold says Governor James Douglas is interested in hearing the options for adding a work camp. And Gold says his department is planning to conduct a full investigation into a September 14th riot at a private Kentucky prison that houses about 400 Vermonters. Gold says he wants to have an employee stationed at the Kentucky jail and that the jail's operator, Corrections Corporation of America, is willing to pay most of the cost.

September 23, 2004 Snitch
As a lawyer for the Alliance for Prison Justice in Vermont, Barry Kade is quite interested in last week's fracas at the Lee Adjustment Center, a privately run prison in Beattyville, Ky. About nine inmates could face criminal charges for instigating the Sept. 14 "disturbance," according to a statement from the Corrections Corp. of America, which runs Lee. Kade has a different opinion of what transpired. "Let's call it an uprising," he said, "not a disturbance." Kade is assisting another Vermont lawyer, Thomas Costello, in a lawsuit against the Marion Adjustment Center, a minimum-security facility in St. Mary, Ky. The suit alleges that a security guard sexually assaulted inmates during a strip search. And while he hasn't decided whether he'll sue CCA, Kade indicated that the thought has crossed his mind, based on complaints he's received from Vermont prisoners about poor treatment. CCA has come under fire from prisoner rights groups in past years for unfair treatment of inmates, inadequate training of its guards and for mixing inmates who require different levels of supervision. When asked to describe CCA's response to inmate concerns, Kade said, "I haven't seen any response other than stonewalling."

September 24, 2004 WCAX
Vermont Corrections Commissioner Steve Gold says he recommended that the warden at a private Kentucky prison be removed from his job. Former warden Randy Eckman, who has not been blamed for the incident, has been transferred to another job. He says inmates were angry over policies instituted by the prison warden.

September 21, 2004 Rutland Herald
The warden of a private Kentucky prison that was the scene of a riot last week was replaced Monday, the latest fallout from an uprising in which nearly two dozen Vermont inmates took part. According to Vermont Corrections Commissioner Steven Gold, the number of inmates involved in last Tuesday's riot could be 23, about six times more than originally thought. He said that "a much larger group has been identified" by the jail's operator, Corrections Corp. of America, which last week said only four Vermont inmates were involved in the riot. Randy Stovall, who until last week was warden at one of the company's other prisons, took over for Randy Eckman, who had been warden at Lee for about a year, according to CCA spokeswoman Louise Chickering. Eckman's management style apparently contributed to unrest among some of the 400 Vermont inmates who are housed in the rural prison in eastern Kentucky, according to Matthew Valerio, the Vermont defender general. "The apparent cause of the riot was a somewhat arbitrary and restrictive change in the rules and privileges at the facility," Valerio said Monday. "These included changes in and reductions in use of the commissary, changes in food quality and increased punishment for minor infractions. That really ratcheted up the tension at the facility." "As of right now, these people have been in a lockdown state for almost a week, haven't had a hot meal in about a week, and, if that doesn't get resolved very quickly, we will ask that changes be made."

September  21, 2004 WCAX
The prison in Kentucky where a riot involving Vermont inmates took place has a new warden. Corrections Corporation of America says it has replaced the warden who was in charge during the uprising. Randy Stovall will take over as top official at the prison immediately. Prison officials say the riot followed a dramatic increase in inmates and cutbacks in privileges such as free time outdoors.

September 17, 2004 AP
A doubling of the population with prisoners from 1,000 miles away, cuts in privileges and reduced time to visit with friends and family are some of the reasons observers cite for a riot at the privately run Lee Adjustment Center this week. Barry Kade, a Vermont lawyer and a member of the Alliance for Prison Justice, an advocacy group that works to improve conditions for Vermont inmates, said he has received an increasing number of complaints from Vermont inmates sent to Kentucky this year to relieve prison crowding in Vermont. Of the nine inmates who officials said started the fires, five were from Kentucky and four from Vermont. "Usually when there's a prison riot it occurs after months or years of intolerable conditions," Kade said. Ray Flum, director of inmate classification for the Vermont Department of Corrections, said the state has been sending prisoners to publicly run prisons out of state for a number of years. But its contract with Corrections Corporation is its first with a private corporation. "Are we surprised that something like this happened and we're involved in it? Yes we are," Flum said. "In the six or seven years we've been doing business like this out of state it's the first time this has happened."  Corrections Corporation also experienced riots in July at prisons it runs in Colorado and Mississippi - both of which house out-of-state inmates. Chickering said the company doesn't believe adding prisoners from another state was the cause of the uprisings. "I think this latest uprising fits into this general pattern of unhappiness by prisoners who have been transported out of state," said Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News, a Vermont-based magazine about the prison industry. Vermont inmates at Beattyville complained to Kade that visits from friends and family - who must drive about 1,000 miles to Kentucky - were cut to two hours a week. Free time on the yard was cut and some inmates alleged they were mistreated through physical abuse or by being put into isolation without having committed any violation, he said.

September 16, 2004 Herald Leader
The riot Tuesday that scorched a private prison in Lee County didn't burn the state Corrections Department's desire to privatize its new prison in Elliott County, officials said yesterday. Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration still expects to solicit bids from companies interested in managing the 961-bed Little Sandy Correctional Complex, set to open in January, said corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb. And Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates the damaged Lee County prison, still expects to submit a bid. Rather than hurting CCA's chances during the bidding, the riot actually could be a plus, Lamb said. The Corrections Department -- led by John Rees, a former CCA vice president -- is impressed by the company's swift reaction to the violence, she said. "To say they're pleased with how CCA responded is a little odd when most of the responders were local and state police, who quickly took control of the situation," said House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook. Adkins and other lawmakers have urged the Republican administration to open the $92 million prison under state control. Nationally, critics of CCA and other prison companies say the firms suffer from higher employee turnover rates than public prisons because of chronic understaffing and lower wages. That results in an inexperienced work force, they maintain. Also, to maximize profits, prison companies often skimp on food, health care and educational programs, which can lead to inmate unrest, critics say.

September 17, 2004 Times Argus
Four Vermont inmates helped to instigate an uprising and set a fire that toppled a guard tower and caused extensive damage to a private prison in Kentucky, officials said Wednesday. Some of the 25 to 150 inmates in the recreation yard tore down the guard tower and used the wood to break into the commissary. Officials said they then threw food and tobacco to other prisoners and set fires that damaged one of the housing units and the building where the kitchen is located. Earlier this year, at the request of Vermont officials, CCA moved 195 Vermont prisoners from the Marion Adjustment Center in Kentucky to the Lee facility because inmates complained about inadequate about inadequate library, dining and recreational facilities. The Marion prison had also come under scrutiny when two Vermont inmates were returned to the state after accusing a guard there of sexually assaulting them. The guard has since been fired and no Vermont inmates remain in that facility.

September 16, 2004 AP
A privately operated prison in eastern Kentucky was under a security clamp and inmates were doubled up in cells, a day after prisoners torched three buildings during an uprising. The medium-security Lee Adjustment Center at Beattyville was on "lockdown" Wednesday following a disturbance that erupted as inmates milled around a recreation yard Tuesday night. Ken Kopczynski of Private Corrections Institute Inc., a group opposed to private prisons, said such prisons are understaffed and have high turnover, leading to inexperienced guards. "What that does is it leads to more abuse and more safety-related issues because they don't know what's going on," Kopczynski said. He said locking up people hundreds of miles from families - such as the Vermont inmates - "doesn't help the situation." Vermont inmates have been housed at the Kentucky prison since this year to help ease overcrowding in Vermont facilities.

September 16, 2004 Herald-Leader
It started when nine prisoners tried to tear down a wooden guard tower in the outside recreation yard of the Lee Adjustment Center, officials said yesterday. What followed Tuesday night was a three-hour riot in which inmates set fires and threw rocks before being subdued by special prison response teams armed with nightsticks, plastic handcuffs and pepper spray. By the time the smoke cleared and the sun rose yesterday, the medium-security private prison was left with a heavily damaged administration building and a housing unit where no one will be able to live for a while at least. But Barry Kade of the Vermont Alliance for Prison Justice said he had been receiving e-mails and phone calls for several weeks from prisoners complaining of mistreatment. Kade said he has been getting complaints about unprofessional conduct by guards, bullying, and inmates being put in isolation without being charged with an infraction. Steve Gold, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections, said a team from his state will interview inmates about security and conditions at the prison. Gold, the Vermont corrections official, said his agency had concerns, including lack of space, when prisoners were held at CCA's Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary's. He said there was also an incident there in which a prison officer was fired after alleged improper sexual contact with two Vermont inmates.

September 15, 2004 Herald-Leader
Inmates took partial control of a prison in Beattyville last night, starting fires and claiming that they had taken at least one hostage before state police regained control. "There was a period of time that a small group of guards was separated from other folks inside. Ultimately, it turned out it was not a hostage situation," Miller said. The Lee Adjustment Center is owned by Corrections Corporation of America. It is a minimum security prison with 800 inmates. About half from Kentucky and half from Vermont. Beattyville police Chief Steve Mays was at the prison while inmates still had partial control. "This was quite a sight when we got here," Mays said about midnight. "Smoke was rolling, people were yelling, prisoners were throwing big rocks over the fence. But it has quieted down now." Fires set to two housing units had been extinguished by 10:50 p.m., but the administration building was still smoldering, Lamb said. Mays said that the guard shack and the administration building were heavily damaged by the fire, and that the cafeteria was also damaged.

September 14, 2004 WKYT
Order is back after hundreds of inmates created a disturbance at an Eastern Kentucky prison. Officials say the prisoners started a number of fires that took hours to get under control.  About 8:00PM Tuesday, inmates got out of control and set the administration building on fire. Police responded by the dozens on ground and in the air to keep prisoners from escaping. After nearly four hours, the fire was put out and the inmates were contained in the facility's recreation yard.

A Vermont inmate sent out of state to serve his sentence was hospitalized with pneumonia three weeks ago without anyone from the state or the prison telling the inmate's family that he was sick, officials acknowledge. 
Francis Joseph, an inmate at the Lee Adjustment Center in Kentucky, was admitted to the hospital several weeks ago suffering from pneumonia.   Lillian Joseph, the inmate's ex-wife, said the hospital called her three weeks ago to tell her about Joseph's condition. The news was a shock because her family wasn't aware that he was sick.  Corrections Corp. Of America, a private company, runs the Lee Adjustment Center. According to a policy between the Vermont Corrections Department and CCA, the Josephs should have been notified by the prison about the illness.  (The Champlain Channel, August 4, 2004)

Marion Adjustment Center
St. Mary, Kentucky
CCA
November 15, 2005 WCAX
Vermont's prisons are already full and now there's word they're about to be swamped. Corrections officials project Vermont's prison population will skyrocket at least 20% within five years, and that's sparking a debate over where to put all these convicts. But state lawmakers have rejected building new prisons in Vermont, so the Corrections Commissioner says the primary solution to overcrowding will be to send more inmates to do time in prisons located in Kentucky and Tennessee. State leaders will be looking at a number of options to out-of-state placement during the legislative session next year. However, the out-of-state placements have one additional factor that is very appealing to many: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA )-- a private, for-profit prison company -- charges Vermont $20,000 per inmate, per year to jail them in Kentucky and Tennessee. Meanwhile, the cost of jailing convicts in Vermont is $40,000 per year per inmate, 100% more. The difference is that CCA provides no counseling educational, or rehabilitation programs. The cost-per-inmate in Vermont includes many services and counseling, plus probation, parole, furlough, and other early release programs.

February 17, 2005 Lebanon Enterprise
A settlement has been made between Corrections Corporation of America and a Vermont man who claims a former Marion Adjustment Center guard sexually assaulted him during incarceration there. A separate lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America was filed recently by another Vermont inmate that was being housed at MAC. A third inmate from Vermont who spent time at MAC is expected to file a similar suit against CCA. The man who struck the recent CCA settlement was transferred to Marion Adjustment Center because of overcrowding in Vermont prisons. He received a confidential sum of money as part of the out-of-court settlement, his attorney Thomas Costello, of Brattleboro, Vt. said. The guard, Joe Becks, was arrested on charges of sexual abuse and official misconduct recently. He was fired from the prison in May 2004. In a complaint Costello submitted to the U.S. District Court prior to the settlement, the attorney named CCA and two of its supervisory employees - Marion Adjustment Center Warden Caroline Mudd and Unit Manager Ralph Clifton - as defendants. Costello argued that CCA was culpable because it knew that Becks was "a sexual predator" before Becks allegedly abused a 20-year-old inmate on April 12. According to Costello's complaint, Mudd and Clifton's response to official inmate complaints made before April 12 were insufficient. Another inmate complained in late March that Becks was targeting him for sex, court documents state. On May, 4, 2004, a report filed by independent Quality Assurance Manager Mitchell Brandenburg, who was brought in to investigate Becks, raised more questions about CCA's management. Brandenburg stated that in an interview, Mudd told him that she suspected Becks was involved in passing underwear to an inmate and said that in March, Becks failed to report an incident of two inmates having sex. The second lawsuit on behalf of a Vermont inmate transferred to Kentucky was filed against CCA last month in Addison County Superior Court by Attorney Devin McLaughlin of Middlebury. McLaughlin said his case alleges that CCA enabled Becks to assault his client. Costello said he is finalizing a complaint for a separate case against CCA on behalf of a third Vermont inmate who was allegedly assaulted by Becks April 12 and 29.

February 10, 2005 Reformer
A settlement has been made between a Kentucky prison manager and a Vermont man who claims a guard sexually assaulted him during incarceration there. A separate lawsuit against prison manager, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), was filed recently by another Vermont inmate from the same prison, Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary's, Ky. A third inmate from Vermont who spent time at Marion is expected to file similar suit against CCA. The man who struck the recent CCA settlement was transferred to Kentucky because of overcrowding in Vermont prisons. He received a confidential sum of money as part of the out-of-court settlement, his attorney Thomas Costello, of Brattleboro, said. The guard, Joe Becks was arrested on charges of sexual abuse and official misconduct last week, according to the Nelson County Sheriff's Department. In a complaint Costello submitted to the U.S. District Court prior to the settlement, the attorney named CCA and two of its supervisory employees -- Marion Adjustment Center Warden Caroline Mudd, and Unit Manager Ralph Clifton -- as defendants. Costello argued that CCA was culpable because it knew that Becks was "a sexual predator" before Becks allegedly abused a 20-year-old inmate on April 12, 2004. According to Costello's complaint, Mudd and Clifton's response to official inmate complaints made before April 12 were insufficient. One inmate grievance form, dated March 30, 2004, states, "I'm fearing for my life and for my safety here knowing that (Officer Becks) can open my cell, handcuff me and rape me." The statement goes on to allege that Becks had been groping inmates and making them walk around in the nude. Another inmate complained in late March that Becks was targeting him for sex, court documents state. The second lawsuit on behalf of a Vermont inmate transferred to Kentucky was filed against CCA last month in Addison County Superior Court by Attorney Devin McLaughlin of Middlebury. McLaughlin said his case alleges that CCA enabled Becks to assault his client. Costello said he is finalizing a complaint for a separate case against CCA on behalf of a third Vermont inmate who was allegedly assaulted by Becks on April 12 and 29. According to a sworn deposition that Costello took from a Kentucky state trooper, Becks admitted to police that he had sexual contact with Costello's second client on two occasions.

February 10, 2005 AP
A murder convict who escaped from a Kentucky prison and had eluded police since 1990 was caught in Texas. Ralph Robert Annis was arrested Wednesday in Corpus Christi weeks after the Lexington Herald-Leader began questioning state officials about their failure to close the case, the paper reported. Annis was convicted in 1979 of strangling his girlfriend's 10-month-old baby, Melanie Kaye Gifford, in Cynthiana. Two months before a scheduled parole hearing, he fled while on a furlough from the Marion Adjustment Center.

February 8, 2005 AP
A former guard at a private prison in Kentucky has been arrested on charges that he sexually abused two inmates transferred from Vermont. Joel Becks, who was formerly an officer at the Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary's, Ky., was arrested on charges of sexual abuse and official misconduct on Jan. 26, according to the Nelson County Sheriff's Department. A civil lawsuit against the prison manager, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), was filed by one of the alleged victims in June 2004. Because of overcrowding in Vermont prisons, the Department of Corrections has a contract with the CCA to send approximately 700 prisoners to Kentucky and Arizona. Brattleboro-based Attorney Thomas Costello, who represents the plaintiff, alleges his client was assaulted by Becks on April 12 and April 29. The fact that Becks was arrested on criminal charges bodes well for the pending civil case, Costello said. "I wouldn't say it's a state thing," Costello said. "These kids weren't abused because they're (from) out of state. It comes down to improper supervision for ... Becks."

October 28, 2004 Lebanon Enterprise
Corrections Corporation of America denies claims that it discriminated against former Marion Adjustment Center employee Desmond O. Spalding who filed a lawsuit against the corporation in September. Spalding, an African-American male, claims that during his employment as a recreational coordinator at MAC, he was subjected to derogatory comments regarding his race from supervisory employees and fellow personnel. According to the lawsuit, Spalding has suffered a loss of earnings, emotional distress and continues to incur expenses for the cost of the lawsuit and attorney fees. He is demanding compensatory damages, punitive damages, incidental and consequential damages, attorney fees and a trial by jury.

September 22, 2004 Lebanon Enterprise
A former Marion Adjustment Center employee has filed a lawsuit against the prison's owner and operator, Corrections Corporation of America, claiming that he was discriminated against because of his race. Desmond O. Spalding, an African-American male, claims that, during his employment as a recreational coordinator at MAC, he was subjected to derogatory comments regarding his race from supervisory employees and fellow personnel. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Marion Circuit Clerk's office Thursday, states that he was employed from Nov. 15, 2002 to Sept. 16, 2003. According to the lawsuit, on or about Sept. 16, 2003, the car that Spalding borrowed to drive to work was the subject of a random search. During the search, a fifth of Heaven Hill whiskey, a knife and approximately 25 rounds of ammunition were found in the trunk and the glove compartment. As a result of the discovery of the items, Spalding was forced to resign from his position or be fired, the lawsuit states. Following his resignation, CCA "maliciously" swore out a warrant against him accusing him of knowingly introducing contraband into MAC, according to the lawsuit. Although CCA has a policy that prohibits the possession of those items, Spalding is claiming that CCA selectively enforced this policy in a racially discriminatory manner. He claims that several white employees had violated the same policy in the past and were not asked to resign and were not fired. According to the lawsuit, CCA's alleged reason for discharging him was "merely a pretext to cover the actual discrimination against him." As a result of CCA obtaining a warrant for his arrest, Spalding was indicted. According to the lawsuit, the indictment was dismissed in court and Spalding claims that CCA should have known that there was lack of probable cause for the proceeding. Because of the proceeding, he has suffered damage to his reputation and his ability to get a job, the lawsuit states.

Corrections Commissioner Steve Gold said Tuesday he's satisfied with an investigation into allegations of sexual assault by two Vermont inmates at a private Kentucky prison, and said the state will continue to house prisoners there.  Since the investigation, Corrections Corporation of America has added a guard to the segregation unit where the alleged assault took place so that more than one guard is on duty at a time, the report by the company said.  The investigation was launched after one Vermont inmate reported that he had been sexually assaulted by prison guard Joel Becks, who was fired May 3 by Corrections Corporation of America.  The initial investigation turned up another Vermont inmate who said he was sexually assaulted by the same guard, Gold said.  An investigation showed that the guard entered the first inmate's cell on April 29. About four hours later, the inmate told prison officials that he had been sexually assaulted, the report said.  (AP, May 26, 2004)

Two Vermont inmates who said they were sexually assaulted by a guard at a Kentucky prison are being returned home. One of the prisoners reported that he had been sexually assaulted by the guard on April 29th. An investigation into that incident revealed that another inmate from Vermont said he'd been assaulted by the same guard. (WRGB, May 13, 2004)

Additional sexual assault claims have surfaced against a guard in the private Kentucky prison that is holding 233 Vermont inmates, officials said.  Kentucky authorities are now investigating allegations that a guard suspected of sexually assaulting one Vermont inmate was involved in sexual acts with inmates earlier this year.  "We have received allegations that additional things happened that preceded the incident that occurred last Thursday," Vermont Corrections Commissioner Steven Gold said Wednesday. "This information has been turned over to authorities down there."  Gold said that Ray Flum, an aide he dispatched to the Marion Adjustment Facility in St. Mary, Ky., over the weekend, interviewed two alleged victims of sexual assault, one of whom was involved in both last week's incident and the earlier one.  The guard was fired Monday by the prison's operator, Corrections Corporation of America .  Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen would not comment on the new allegation pending the outcome of his company's investigation into the guard's conduct.  "Our investigation is ongoing," Owen said. "We're not in a position to elaborate on what our findings and conclusions might be. We need to wait for that process to complete itself."  The Kentucky State Police are conducting a criminal investigation of the incidents.  Gold said he chose not to disclose his knowledge of the earlier alleged assaults earlier because, unlike last week's incident, the assault went unreported for several weeks and therefore did not seem as credible.  (Boston Globe, May 6, 2004)

A guard involved in the alleged sexual assault of a Vermont inmate in his cell at a Kentucky prison has been fired, said an official for the privately operated prison.  (AP, May 5, 2004)

A guard involved in the alleged sexual assault of a Vermont inmate in his cell at a Kentucky prison has been fired, said an official for the privately operated prison.  "The employee was terminated for a policy violation," Steve Owen of Corrections Corporation of America said Monday.  Owen said a second guard placed on administrative leave after the incident Thursday night was allowed to return to work Monday after it was determined he had not violated any prison rules.  Vermont Corrections Commissioner Stephen Gold said Monday that the inmate was inside a segregated detention unit at the Marion, Ky., facility when a video surveillance camera recorded a guard entering the man's cell and leaving 10 minutes later.  Gold also acknowledged his department has been discussing conditions at the Marion jail with the Corrections Corporation of America. Inmates and advocates have complained the 233 Vermont prisoners at Marion are bunched in too small a space, with meals served in hallways and little room for exercise.  (Boston.com, May 4, 2004)

A Vermont inmate reported that he was sexually assaulted by an officer at a Kentucky prison this week, the Corrections Department said yesterday.  The man is at the Marion Facility, Commissioner Steve Gold said. Ray Flum, a director at the Vermont Corrections Department, was to travel to Kentucky this weekend to meet with the inmate and with police and corrections officials in that state. If the situation calls for it, the inmate will be returned to Vermont, Gold said.  The company that runs the prison, Corrections Corporation of America, investigated the complaint and then put two officers on leave, Gold said. Kentucky State Police were also investigating, he said.  Vermont has more than 350 inmates housed in prisons in other states because its prisons are full. Almost all of them are in Kentucky; 233 of them are at the Marion facility, Gold said.  (AP, May 1, 2004)

Vermont Department of Corrections
ACA, CCA, Correctional Medical Services, MHM Correctional Services, Prison Health Services
July 17, 2007 AP
An advocacy group says an inmate who died while incarcerated did not get the medical attention he needed. Michael Estabrook, 37, was an inmate at the state prison in Springfield for drunken driving when he died March 7, 2006 of heart failure at Fletcher Allen Health Care. Vermont Protection & Advocacy, a federally funded nonprofit agency that helps people with disabilities, released a report Friday saying that the state ignored Estabrook's requests for a medical furlough, didn't respond properly to his condition, ran out of his medications and placed a do-not-resuscitate order in his file. Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann disagrees with the findings. "Mr. Estabrook was a young man with many health issues, including severe heart disease which ended his life," Hofmann wrote in response to the group's report. Despite his poor health, Estabrook drank heavily, smoked marijuana, abused prescription drugs and missed doctor's appointments before and in between his prison terms, Hofmann said. Access to medical care in prison may have extended rather than shortened his life, Hofmann said. Estabrook was serving a three- to seven-year sentenced for drunken driving and driving without a license when he suffered acute renal failure in 2004 and was released on a medical furlough. Estabrook was arrested and imprisoned in April 2005 for missing a hearing. He sought a medical furlough but was denied. "We think there was good reason for him to get a medical furlough," said Ed Paquin, executive director of Vermont Protection & Advocacy. "I don't know what interest is served for a person like this to be incarcerated," he said of Estabrook, who had trouble walking, reported swollen ankles and shortness of breath. Hofmann said in 2005 Estabrook's condition was no longer deemed terminal and he believed Estabrook was a possible danger if released because he had been convicted six times of drunken driving. "My philosophy is that I will not furlough someone like that who even has the remotest chance of getting behind the wheel of a car," Hofmann said. "This guy was given a chance in 2004 that I wouldn't have given him and he blew it." Medications should be available in prison and the medical contractor was fined $36,000 for one contract year for failing to meet that mandate, Hofmann said. But records show Estabrook often refused his medications, more times than when the drugs were not available, Hofmann said.

January 11, 2007 Burlington Free Press
Inmates at Vermont's nine prisons will continue to receive health care from a Tennessee medical services provider -- but at a cost to the state that's projected to be $3.6 million more per year than the firm was paid in the past. Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann said Wednesday his department reluctantly had reached tentative agreement on a new contract with Prison Health Services Inc., pending the outcome of deliberations on final contract language. Prison Health Services beat out two competitors for the contract. The state hastily had to put the contract out to bid in November after Prison Health Services abruptly opted out of a $26 million, three-year contract it had with the department, complaining it was losing too much money to justify continuing its work in the state. "I'm very frustrated that this has taken the course it did," Hofmann said Wednesday, "but I think we got the best arrangement we could for the state of Vermont." Hofmann said the new contract will cover the next two years. Unlike the one it replaces, the deal contains a "cost-plus" provision that means the state will cover additional prisoner health care costs if they are unavoidable. "We have to provide health care for offenders," Hofmann said. "If the costs go up, I don't see any other option." Hofmann said the contract will include incentives to encourage Prison Health Services to keep down costs. He also said he is considering having prisoners share in the cost of health care by making minimal co-payments for services, as most health care users do. "The vast majority of corrections systems in the country have some kind of co-pay," Hofmann said. "It cuts down on the casual use of medical services and conditions people in the system to have some participation in health care decisions." Hoffmann said he was irritated that Prison Health Services had forced the state to re-bid the contract, but suspected the company had underestimated the costs of providing health care to prisoners in a small, rural state like Vermont.

November 14, 2006 Burlington Free Press
Vermont prisons are looking for a new medical services provider for the second time in three years following a decision by Prison Health Services Inc. to opt out of its contract with the state. Robert Hofmann, state Corrections Department commissioner, said Monday the Tennessee-based Prison Health Services notified him Oct. 30 that it would stop providing care to the state's 1,700 in-state inmates at the end of January. "Obviously, we're disappointed and a little bit surprised," Hofmann said of the company's decision. "There were some bumps in the road at the start of their contract but, really, over the past 12 months, they had been doing a very good job." The company's top three officials in Vermont resigned their posts just 10 months after it began operations in Vermont and the firm, along with the state, was sued last month by the family of an inmate who died from heroin withdrawal symptoms in 2005. Prison Health Services won the three-year, $26 million contract to provide health care to inmates at the state's nine prisons in early 2005. The previous contractor, Correctional Medical Services Inc., had come under fire for $700,000 in billing mistakes, including $144,547 for services that company employees never provided. Susan Morgenstern, a spokeswoman for Prison Health Services, said Monday that the company decided to opt out of the contract at the end of the second year because it was losing too much money. "The cost of providing health care to inmates has risen beyond the contract's ability to cover that cost," Morgenstern said in a statement released by the company. "Prison Health Services will never compromise the quality of our patient care because of financial reasons." According to a company Web site, Prison Health Services lost $1 million on its Vermont contract in the third quarter of 2006 alone, a figure that Hofmann disputed. Morgenstern said the staffing costs were an issue for the company in Vermont.

November 10, 2006 Vermont Guardian
Recent news that one of the nation’s largest prison health care providers, Prison Health Services (PHS), is backing out of its three-year contract with Vermont should be a wake-up call to the Douglas administration. Under pressure two years ago to improve the care it delivered to inmates, because the provider’s poor care at the time was linked to several deaths, Douglas et al took the lowest bidder. Now, that lowest bidder finds that it can’t make money off the contract and lost $1 million in the past three months, and it’s facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties for not properly staffing many of the prisons. A similar scenario occurred in Florida this year, too. Less than a year ago, PHS was the low bidder on a 10-year, $645 million contract. But, it was losing money — about $1.3 million in the past financial quarter — and facing fines of more than $700,000. So, what did it do? It backed out of the contract and then bid on the new contract. And, it won, adding more than $60 million to the original price tag. And, they got the award without having to pay the penalties from the last contract, and even though they were not the lowest bidder (they were second lowest). Vermont officials should be wary of any gamesmanship from PHS to simply try and win the contract by making too low a bid, and then trying to extort money from us later on. If nothing else, this should also send a clear signal that the old adage, “You get what you pay for,” holds true for prison contracts.

November 3, 2006 Vermont Guardian
After losing more than $1 million in three months, the out-of-state company in charge of providing medical services to Vermont’s nearly 1,700 inmates has told corrections officials it wants out of its three-year contract. The state and Prison Health Services have been at the bargaining table for the past four months, but hit an impasse Monday, company officials said, and gave the state three months notice that it would not finish the last year of its contract. “As state corrections departments and county officials in charge of jails around the country know, the cost of providing healthcare – particularly nursing services — continues to rise,” said Susan Morganstern, a PHS spokeswoman. “We have chosen to give notice of termination to the Vermont Department of Corrections because the cost of providing healthcare to inmates has risen beyond the contract’s ability to cover that cost. Prison Health Services will never compromise the quality of our patient care because of financial reasons.” Morganstern said the contract talks between the state and PHS were collegial, but the two sides could not come to an agreement. In a report filed Oct. 31 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, PHS’ parent company — America Service Group, Inc. of Brentwood, TN — characterized the talks this way: “Throughout the last four months, the Company engaged in comprehensive, good faith discussions with this client in order to reach a mutually beneficial solution to this contract's financial underperformance.” America Service Group is one of the larger providers of prison health care in the U.S. Despite the $1 million loss in Vermont, the company reported nearly $500 million in revenues this year as of Sept. 30, but a loss of roughly $551,000. Corrections Commissioner Rob Hofmann said PHS approached the state about four months ago in an attempt to negotiate down some of the penalties it was being levied by the state, and receive higher reimbursement for services mainly due to high labor costs. At the time, Hofmann said he informed lawmakers, including the legislative Corrections Oversight Committee, and other state officials about the negotiations. “I think they were losing money because their bid was possibly too aggressive, but most importantly they were running into Vermont’s tight labor market, especially in terms of finding medical staff,” Hofmann said. This meant the company had to pay higher wages to attract staff, coupled with the already difficult problem of getting people to work inside a prison. Also, at the time of the negotiations, Hofmann said the state had levied substantial penalties against PHS because they had not met all contract requirements. For example, in some cases the contract called for the company to have a registered nurse on a shift, but instead used a licensed practical nurse. Hofmann said the penalties were in the “high hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Some of those the state was willing to negotiate down, but others it wasn’t. The department's previous contractor — Correctional Medical Services — was criticized by legislators, inmate advocates and family members for not providing adequate medical treatment to inmates. In some cases, independent investigations found that a lack of medical and mental health care resulted in inmate deaths.

August 11, 2006 Burlington Free Press
The parents of an inmate who committed suicide in his cell in 2004 have sued the state Corrections Department, alleging that prison workers knew their son was thinking of killing himself but did not act to prevent his death. Ryan Rodriguez, 24, was found hanging in his cell Oct. 19, 2004 at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington. He died at Fletcher Allen Health Care four days later after his parents had him removed from life support. Court documents show he had been in jail for 15 months awaiting trial on charges he mistreated a toddler he was caring for at a Burlington motel. Rodriguez, from New Mexico, was visiting friends in Burlington at the time of his arrest. Rodriguez's death occurred six months after an independent study examined seven inmate deaths in an 18-month stretch, including two by suicide. The study found evidence the Corrections Department had mishandled inmates with mental health issues. "We had no idea Ryan was being treated so badly," Ryan Rodriguez's mother, Carol, said during a telephone interview last week from Tucson, Ariz., where she and her husband, Joe Rodriguez, live. "When Joe got there after Ryan's suicide, one of the guards told him to seek legal help. He said, 'This has happened previously here.'" The Rodriguezes allege in their lawsuit that four times during their son's 15 months in jail awaiting trial, he told Corrections officers he was thinking of hurting or killing himself but was never referred to mental health workers for help. The case, filed in federal court in Burlington, lists as defendants the Corrections Department, three of its employees and Correctional Medical Services, the department's medical care contractor at the time.

December 5, 2005 WCAX
Three top officials have resigned from the private company that provides health care services in Vermont's prisons. Neither state Corrections Department officials or the company, Prison Health Services, Inc., would say what led the officials to resign. "There is not going to be a disruption of care," said Prison Health spokeswoman Susan Morgenstern. The resignations were submitted by regional administrator Nancy Lawrence, senior program manager Nancy Elmer and nursing director Kelly McGeachin. Morgenstern wouldn't say if the women were forced to resign. "We can't discuss confidential personnel matters," Morgenstern said. Meanwhile, the Vermont Corrections Department is suing the company that used to provide mental health care in the state's prisons. The state claims Matrix Health Systems overcharged the Corrections Department by more than $500,000 between 2000 and 2003.

November 15, 2005 WCAX
Vermont's prisons are already full and now there's word they're about to be swamped. Corrections officials project Vermont's prison population will skyrocket at least 20% within five years, and that's sparking a debate over where to put all these convicts. But state lawmakers have rejected building new prisons in Vermont, so the Corrections Commissioner says the primary solution to overcrowding will be to send more inmates to do time in prisons located in Kentucky and Tennessee. State leaders will be looking at a number of options to out-of-state placement during the legislative session next year. However, the out-of-state placements have one additional factor that is very appealing to many: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA )-- a private, for-profit prison company -- charges Vermont $20,000 per inmate, per year to jail them in Kentucky and Tennessee. Meanwhile, the cost of jailing convicts in Vermont is $40,000 per year per inmate, 100% more. The difference is that CCA provides no counseling educational, or rehabilitation programs. The cost-per-inmate in Vermont includes many services and counseling, plus probation, parole, furlough, and other early release programs.

October 19, 2005 Rutland Herald
The Indiana resident starts work Nov. 7 as the Springfield prison's new superintendent. Ashburn started working at the sheriff's office in his Maryland hometown while still in high school. He became department sheriff and helped to open a county jail and a state prison. He later worked as an instructor at the Maryland Police and Corrections Training Academy. Robert Kupec, facilities executive for the Vermont Department of Corrections, said he was particularly impressed with Ashburn's experience setting standards and accreditation with the American Correctional Association. Ashburn also worked for Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison management company, for seven years. He was CCA's warden at Marion County Jail, a 1,000-bed prison in Indianapolis, Ind., two years ago and has served as senior director of customer relations and business development at CCA's corporate office. Ashburn's connection with the private company raised flags for Kurt Staudter, chairman of the town's Community Liaison Committee. "I don't have any respect for CCA as a company," he said. CCA came under criticism after a riot last September at its 800-inmate Lee Adjustment Center in Kentucky. Half of those inmates were Vermont prisoners, some of whom were involved in the riot. The riot incident, which occurred after Ashburn worked for CCA, put a spotlight on Vermont's policy of sending large numbers of prisoners out of state. The Corrections Department sent a staffer to the Lee Adjustment Center to monitor the treatment of Vermont inmates there. CCA agreed to pay a $10,000 fine for failing to adequately organize, equip, train the staffers whose job was to respond to the riot. When the Springfield prison was built two years ago, Howard Dean promised the committee that as long as he was governor, the state's prison system would not be privatized. Staudter said privatization has become a constant concern.

October 13, 2005 Rutland Herald
The state will likely hire a Virginia company to provide mental health care to inmates of the state's prisons. For several years, Dr. Paul Cotton has been doing that job, although his company has come under criticism in a state auditor's report by prisoners' rights advocates and the state employee's union. The Department of Corrections is negotiating with winning bidder MHM Correctional Services Inc. of Vienna, Va. If the state and the company can reach a final agreement, MHM is tentatively scheduled to take over in February. The contract will likely be for two years or more. After a 2004 audit by then-state auditor Elizabeth Ready - which found that Cotton's company had billed for services that were not provided - the company returned $143,000 in a settlement with the state.

March 21, 2005 Corrections.com
Providing quality healthcare and lowering costs are challenges that drive many corrections agencies towards private companies.  But once the contract is signed and the deal is done, departments can't turn a blind eye to what's going on in their facilities; they need to manage those contracts with private service providers to ensure that they are getting what they bargained for. Vermont learned this lesson the hard way when seven inmate deaths in a year's time prompted the DOC and the State Auditor's Office to take a closer look at healthcare, among other things, at the state's correctional facilities.  Both the Auditor's Report and the report ordered by the Vermont Agency of Human Services found that the DOC needed to step up its contract oversight. Chief among those contracts that required better monitoring was the department's arrangement with Correctional Medical Services (CMS), the state's inmate healthcare provider.  According to the Auditor's Report, the state suffered financially from ineffective monitoring of the CMS contract and had no real way to evaluate the quality of the services the company was providing to inmates. Since the reports were released last year, the Vermont DOC has committed to improving the way it does business with private contractors.  The agency believes it took a step in the right direction in early 2005 when it entered into a contractual agreement with a new healthcare provider, Prison Health Services (PHS).

December 9, 2004 Rutland Herald
A Burlington-based mental health company will return $143,000 to the state for contracted services to prison inmates the state claims it did not provide.  Corrections Commissioner Steven Gold told a panel of lawmakers Wednesday that the state reached a settlement under which Paul Cotton would return the money.  Cotton's firm last spring was the subject of a scathing report by State Auditor Elizabeth Ready, who charged that the Corrections Department paid the contractor a lump sum in advance and then the company never delivered the services.  "We had an auditor go in and audit the timekeeping," Gold told the Mental Health Oversight Committee.  Ready issued her report in the wake of six inmate deaths within an 18-month period. Assistant Attorney General Bill Griffin said the financial settlement did not address any claims of harm to inmates. Prisoners or their families must address any such issues through the court system, he said. Cotton's firm continues to provide mental health services to Vermont's 1,600 inmates and has a contract with a maximum value of $5.1 million.

November 11, 2004 Times Argus
The company recently awarded a $26 million contract to provide health care to Vermont inmates has been the subject of more than 1,000 prisoner lawsuits and complaints from officials of states where it has done business.  The details of Vermont's contract with Prison Health Services are still being worked out, according to Deputy Corrections Commissioner Sister Janice Ryan, who said they will "address the concerns raised by Vermont inmates and advocates,'' but declined to elaborate. Prison Health Services, which beat out four other companies for the three-year contract to provide health care to Vermont inmates that is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 1, is a Tennessee-based firm that provides services to about 235,000 prisoners nationwide. Medical treatment in Vermont prisons has been problematic. In May, state auditor Elizabeth Ready criticized the Department of Corrections for not adequately monitoring the delivery of health care by Correctional Medical Services (CMS), which is under contract to provide health care through January. Ready also criticized CMS for billing Vermont for services that were never provided. At least one other state that has used Prison Health Services was disappointed with its performance. Maine declined to renew its contract with the company because of "performance problems'' said Maine Corrections Department spokeswoman Denise Lord. An outside audit of the company's work there found numerous problems, including insufficient review of patient charts, inadequate provisions for patient privacy and insufficient peer review of physician performance.

August 23, 2004
The company providing mental health care services at Vermont prisons is still engaging in improper billing practices, a top Corrections Department official said.  Tom Powell, clinical services director for the Corrections Department, said in a July 1 letter to the Burlington-based Paul Cotton corporation, that the company was miscategorizing which employees worked what hours.  (Rutland Herald)

July 29, 2004
Laura Ziegler, advocate on mental health and inmate rights, made the suggestion at the start of a public hearing Wednesday sponsored by the Department of Corrections. The department is about to solicit bidders to provide medical care at the state's prison facilities and asked for comments on the guidelines it plans to send out to potential contractors.  Barry Kade of Alliance for Prison Justice told corrections officials that inmates certainly have opinions about the medical care they receive now. He's been making monthly visits to Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport for seven years. "The most consistent complaint I've heard is about medical care."  Although the department planned to close the public comment period by Monday, Tom Powell, clinical program director, agreed with Ziegler's suggestion. He promised to provide copies of the guidelines to inmates, invite their comments and allow extra time for their responses.  The state would like to begin advertising for a new medical care provider by the end of August, with bids due Oct. 1. The winning bidder would take over medical care in the prisons by Feb. 1.  Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis provides health services and could submit a bid to continue. The state, however, has drawn up new requirements for the services _ such as providing an ombudsman to settle disputes between care providers and inmates.  Theresa McAvinney, a registered nurse who recently left the clinic at the prison in Newport, said at Wednesday's hearing that she saw a gap between the kind of care required on paper and the kind of care delivered. "I had to intervene in many cases of men who were neglected," she said.  Other nurses who work at prisons raised labor issues that they said ought to be addressed in a contract with the next medical provider.  Deb Moore, a registered nurse practitioner at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, urged officials to require in-depth orientation about security issues for all new health workers. "Nobody trained me," said Moore, who has worked at the South Burlington jail for two years.  Job training and orientation would help retain nurses, Moore said. Turnover is a significant problem at the Chittenden jail.  (Channel 3 News)

July 29, 2004
The Department of Corrections has scheduled hearings for the public to comment about the health services that should be offered to inmates at the state's prisons.  Corrections Commissioner Steve Gold says this is the first time the department has held public hearings before seeking bids for a health care contract. One hearing was to take place Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel in South Burlington. A second is scheduled for Thursday at the Holiday Inn Express in Springfield.  The state contracts with Correctional Medical Services to provide health services at state prisons. The contract runs out this year but has been extended to February.  Health services in the prisons cost the state $7 million a year. Gold expects the cost to increase by 10 percent or more under the next contract.  A rash of inmate deaths has put the health care system at the state's prisons under scrutiny over the past year. In one case investigators concluded that prison officials failed to respond promptly and adequately to an inmate's repeated pleas for medical care. His condition became so serious he couldn't recover.  (Wcax.com)

May 26, 2004
The state has paid more than $800,000 for prison medical services it did not receive and was routinely overbilled by several contractors, according to a report released Tuesday by state auditor Elizabeth Ready. She blamed the problems on inadequate management practices.  The report alleges that Correctional Medical Services, the St. Louis firm that has a $23.9 million contract to provide medical and dental services to Vermont inmates, billed the state for full health care coverage even when it provided insufficient staffing. The report also charges that the firm double billed the department for drug costs that were reimbursed.  Since Ready began the audit, CMS has already credited Vermont for $100,000 for missed staff hours and the contractor for mental health services has credited the state for $60,000.  Ready began her audit in February, in the wake of complaints by inmates, lawmakers, prisoner rights advocates and the Vermont State Employees Association after the deaths of six inmates and one person on furlough during an 18-month period. The audit issued Tuesday also concluded that the Department of Corrections did not adequately monitor the costs of mental health drugs prescribed by psychiatrists and provided by CMS, nor did department officials require CMS to provide financial reports on a timely basis as required in the contract.  Ready's report reiterated her previous complaints to Gold about crowded conditions and inadequate eating facilities at CCA's Marion Adjustment Center in St, Mary, Ky.  CCA has made changes to address those concerns and Gold said he is 
satisfied with the company's response.  The report also said that the Department of Corrections failed to receive penalties for services not delivered under the $7 million worth of contracts for treatment services signed since 2000.  (Rutland Herald)

February 22, 2004
State Auditor Elizabeth Ready is looking into how the state awards and monitors contracts for prisoner care in response to six inmate deaths and concerns about prisoners' mental and physical health.  "We have gotten a lot of complaints from prisoner advocates and letters from prisoners," she said Friday. "Some people have told us that conditions have been allowed to fester until they became chronic. We want to see what is causing some of the problems and if the state is getting its money's worth."  The audit will focus on about $50 million in Correction Department contracts for out-of-state prisoner housing, and medical, mental health and substance abuse services at the state's prisons for medical care, mental health and substance abuse and sex offender and Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, R-Essex-Orleans, chairman of the Senate Institutions Committee, requested an audit in December. He said the deaths "suggest a breakdown in services, policies, or both."  Corrections Commissioner Steve Gold said Friday that he welcomes the audit and predicted it would find the department's practices to be sound. However, he added that budget cuts imposed by the Legislature in the past several years had forced his agency to reduce the number of staff assigned to monitor quality assurance.  Six deaths occurred over an 18-month period, including two suicides. The most recent suicide was in October, when inmate James Quigley hanged himself at the St. Albans prison.  Quigley, who was serving a life sentence for murder, had been in solitary confinement for 118 days after being transferred to St. Albans from the Newport jail.  An independent examination by a disabilities rights group found that systematic failures at two prisons led to the suicide of Lawrence Bessette Jr. in May 2003.  Montpelier lawyer Michael Marks and former New Hampshire Attorney General Philip McLaughlin, who are conducting the investigation of conditions in the state prison system at the request of Gov. James Douglas, have said they are paying considerable attention to physical and mental health treatment and the way prisoners' complaints are handled.  They said they expect to complete their investigation by March 15.  Illuzzi has introduced legislation to cancel a $5 million contract with a private firm for providing prisoner mental health services.  Illuzzi also said he may reintroduce legislation to have state employees monitor the contract at all prison sites. That measure has passed the Senate in previous years but was killed in a House-Senate conference committee.  (Boston.com)

August 14, 2003
Vermont inmates being held at a Virginia prison are likely to be moved to another state this fall.  Private companies in Kentucky, Texas and Louisiana have offered to charge less to house the prisoners, Vermont Corrections Department officials said.   Defender General Matthew Valerio said his office has advocated for keeping Vermont prisoners in Vermont prisons.  He said the move to a private prison could be problematic.  Private prisons are run for profit and he worries that prisoners' services might suffer so the companies can make a profit.  (AP)

July 1, 2002
The Department of Corrections is taking bids from other states on housing its out-of-state prisoners, which means the inmates now in Virginia could be sent elsewhere.  The opens up the contract to either private or public jails.  "If we can't get  a better price, that's always in our best interest, as long as we don't sacrifice the quality of our programs for it," said Andrew Pallito, management executive for the department.  The possible use of private jails puts the state in a new arena.  Private jails tend to be less expensive than public ones, Pallito said.  The Corrections Department never looked to private jails in the past because the department did not have the legal ability to house prisoners in private facilities, Perry said.  The Legislature changed the rule to broaden the search when it ordered the department to put the contract out to bid.  Defender General Matthew Valerio said it's too soon to tell whether the bidding process will make life worse or better for the out-of-state prisoners.  He also has reservations about private prisons, which are for for profit.  "If it's a matter of making money, a private entity is going to cut cost," Valerio said.  "A public entity is going to figure out some way to provide the appropriate services after they cut costs to whatever reasonable extent they can."  (The Associated Press State and Local Wire)

Vermont Legislature
CCA
March 16, 2007 Vermont Guardian
Gov. Jim Douglas’ third inaugural celebration raised $47,000 from some of the state’s top contractors, and corporations. The money raised will benefit the Vermont Military Family Emergency Assistance Fund, and the collected several hundred pounds of food for the Vermont Foodbank. The events top two sponsors, who donated $5,000 apiece, were Electronic Data Systems, which handles Medicaid payments for the state, and Pike Industries, Inc., a paving contractor. “Choosing a charity to receive the proceeds of the ball is always a challenge. There are many capable organizations and worthy causes in Vermont,” Douglas said. “Dorothy and I decided the proceeds should again go to military families in Vermont who are struggling to make ends meet. These families are making extraordinary sacrifices on our behalf and this is another way for us to show them that Vermont will always stand by them.” Douglas’ first inaugural ball raised thousands of dollars for alcohol and drug rehabilitation and prevention programs of the United Ways of Vermont and collected non-perishable food for the Vermont Foodbank. The second inaugural celebration, in January of 2005, raised $27,000 for the family assistance fund and, like this year, collected more than 700 pounds of food for the Vermont Foodbank. The Vermont Military Family Emergency Assistance Fund, Inc. non-profit group created solely to provide emergency financial assistance to service members and their families. It is for the benefit of any Vermont service member and their families that live in Vermont as well as service members who live outside the state but belong to a Vermont unit. Sponsors at the $2,500 level were: AT&T; Barr Laboratories; Blue Cross Blue Shield; Casella Waste Systems; CIGNA; Corrections Corporation of America; Goodrich Corporation; Green Mountain Power; and, Kimbell, Sherman, Ellis.

August 25, 2006 AP
Gov. Jim Douglas has nearly three times as big a war chest as challenger Scudder Parker as they head into the fall campaign, campaign finance reports filed Friday show. Douglas' donors included a range of business people -- some who do business with the state -- and longtime Republican stalwarts. They include former GOP U.S. Senate candidate Jack McMullen, who gave $200; and Corrections Corporation of America, owner of a private Kentucky prison where Vermont inmates rioted two years ago. The company gave $2,000.

February 1, 2006 Burlington Free Press
Let's say, for discussion's sake, that Judge Edward Cashman deserves the outrage that greeted his initial sentence of a man who sexually abused a little girl. He's not alone. How about bad journalism, and we won't even get into the awful nationwide cable coverage, less because catching Bill O'Reilly in error is insufficiently challenging for a grownup than because most cable news doesn't do journalism; it does anger enhancement. We'll stick to local ineptitude. This hullabaloo began Jan. 4 when Brian Joyce of WCAX-TV (Channel 3) began his report by saying, "a Vermont judge handed out a 60-day jail sentence to a man who raped a little girl ... The judge said he no longer believes in punishment ... ." But it was a 60-day-to- 10-years-with-lifetime-supervision sentence. And Cashman never said he "no longer believes in punishment." He said punishment "is not enough." That's not an inconsequential difference. Then there are all those legislators insisting on 25-year minimum sentences for child sex abusers while ignoring the $40,000 a year it costs to keep someone in prison, possibly requiring a tax increase they would be loath to support. They deserve some outrage. So do reporters who don't challenge them. And why has no one examined the possibility that vested interests are exploiting this uproar? Whether putting more people in prison for longer terms is good for society is debatable. That it is good for Corrections Corporation of America is not. CCA is earning some $9 million from the state this year to house 450 of our convicts in its private pokeys in Kentucky and Tennessee. The more people we sentence for longer terms, the better for CCA, which employs eight registered lobbyists in Montpelier. If those lobbyists are not exploiting this story to drum up more business for their client, they aren't doing their job. If reporters are not inquiring into the connection, they're not doing theirs. According to public documents, this Tennessee-based company contributes to Vermont candidates for Legislature and governor. Its motives probably transcend civic virtue. The company gives a bit to Democrats, but more to Republicans, including Douglas. Not according to public document -- though shouldn't it be? And isn't this something about which to get outraged? CCA also coughed up money for the Douglas inauguration bashes in 2003 and 2005.

October 19, 2005 Rutland Herald
The Indiana resident starts work Nov. 7 as the Springfield prison's new superintendent. Ashburn started working at the sheriff's office in his Maryland hometown while still in high school. He became department sheriff and helped to open a county jail and a state prison. He later worked as an instructor at the Maryland Police and Corrections Training Academy. Robert Kupec, facilities executive for the Vermont Department of Corrections, said he was particularly impressed with Ashburn's experience setting standards and accreditation with the American Correctional Association. Ashburn also worked for Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison management company, for seven years. He was CCA's warden at Marion County Jail, a 1,000-bed prison in Indianapolis, Ind., two years ago and has served as senior director of customer relations and business development at CCA's corporate office. Ashburn's connection with the private company raised flags for Kurt Staudter, chairman of the town's Community Liaison Committee. "I don't have any respect for CCA as a company," he said. CCA came under criticism after a riot last September at its 800-inmate Lee Adjustment Center in Kentucky. Half of those inmates were Vermont prisoners, some of whom were involved in the riot. The riot incident, which occurred after Ashburn worked for CCA, put a spotlight on Vermont's policy of sending large numbers of prisoners out of state. The Corrections Department sent a staffer to the Lee Adjustment Center to monitor the treatment of Vermont inmates there. CCA agreed to pay a $10,000 fine for failing to adequately organize, equip, train the staffers whose job was to respond to the riot. When the Springfield prison was built two years ago, Howard Dean promised the committee that as long as he was governor, the state's prison system would not be privatized. Staudter said privatization has become a constant concern.

January 14, 2005 Reformer
Vermont Gov. James Douglas held his inaugural ball last Saturday at Norwich University's Plumley Armory. Corporations also pitched in to cover the cost of the event, such as Anheuser-Busch, Casella Waste Systems, Stowe Mountain Resort, Central Vermont Public Service, Green Mountain Power, Corrections Corporation of America, National Life of Vermont and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. A certain amount of influence-buying is to be expected at a political event.