Prisoner Transport
October11, 2010 The Journal
An inmate on the run since he escaped from a private prison transport van last
month in the Spring Mills area was shot dead by authorities in Connecticut
following a pursuit, federal authorities have announced. Deputy U.S. Marshal
Michael Ulrich of the West Virginia Mountain State Fugitive Task Force said
federal authorities were notified Saturday at about 5 p.m. that the fugitive,
36-year-old Albert James Voute III, had stolen a vehicle in Connecticut Friday
and led officers on a pursuit that ended when Voute was shot and killed after he
pulled a gun on an officer. At the time of the incident, Voute's identity was
unknown. After the shooting, authorities found Voute had no identification on
his person and was temporarily declared a John Doe until Connecticut authorities
submitted his fingerprints to obtain a positive identification, Ulrich said. The
manhunt for Voute began Sept. 15 when he escaped from a prisoner van operated by
North Atlantic Extradition Services, a private transportation company hired by
the state of New Jersey to transport Voute from the Big Sandy penitentiary in
Kentucky to Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, N.J. Voute managed to slip out of
his leg shackles after the van pulled over at a Burger King located off of W.Va.
901.September 16, 2010 The Journal
A manhunt continued in Berkeley County as of press time Wednesday night as
police searched for an inmate who escaped from a transport van early Wednesday
morning at the Burger King in Spring Mills. According to a news release, at 3:30
a.m. Wednesday, the West Virginia State Police received a call reporting that an
inmate had escaped. Troopers learned that the inmate had fled on foot from a
prisoner van he was being transported in after the van stopped at the Burger
King restaurant on W.Va. 901 in Spring Mills. The inmate has been identified as
36-year-old Albert Voute, who is described as a white male, 5 feet, 9 inches
tall, weighing 175 pounds with short black hair. The suspect was somehow able to
remove his leg shackles and exit the van, police said. Troopers and Berkeley
County sheriff's deputies utilized K-9s and a Maryland State Police helicopter
to search the area. The manhunt continued as of 10:15 p.m. Wednesday with a
helicopter scanning wooded areas where the inmate might be hiding, while
officers continued looking on the ground. The escaped inmate was being
transported from Kentucky to New Jersey to face an armed robbery charge. He was
being transported by North Atlantic Extradition Services, which is a private
company contracted to transport prisoners, police said. The company's motto is
"extradition you can trust," according to its website. The company was contacted
by The Journal Wednesday seeking comment. A message left with company officials
was not returned as of press time.
ResCare's
Intermediate Care Facilities
ResCare
March 7, 2003
A report released today highlights problems with quality of care at ResCare,
Inc., group homes in West Virginia. The report "Worse Care with ResCare?"
was published by the Service Employees International Union and demonstrates both
qualitatively and quantitatively ResCare's problems with quality of care issues
at its intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded (ICF/MR) in the
state. ResCare's lapses of care highlighted in the report include: *
Instances of insufficient staffing and inadequate supervision, which have
contributed to a risk of injuries or actual injuries, including death in at
least one case. * Falsification of medical records and instances of
medical duties performed by unlicensed staff. * Medication errors that
were not reported to residents' doctors until up to 19 days after the
errors. * "Suspected neglect" that went unreported to Adult
Protective Services until state inspectors discovered records of the
incidents. * Delays in providing medical services. * Inappropriate
diets provided to restricted-diet individuals, leading to several instances of
choking. * A lack of habilitative services, which are designed to lead to a more
independent lifestyle for individuals with disabilities. The report also
documents that ResCare's record of care is worse than other providers in the
state, as measured by data in publicly available state records. For example, *
During annual facility inspections between August 9, 2001, and September 19,
2002: * 53% of ResCare ICF/MR facilities in West Virginia had violations
of active treatment standards. * 47% of ResCare ICF/MR facilities in West
Virginia had violations of health care service standards. * ResCare's rate
of 3.81 violations per facility was 2.26 times the rate at facilities run by
other providers during the same period. * ResCare was the only provider to
fail to meet basic Medicaid Conditions of Participation during this
13-month period. * ResCare was the target of 36 complaints regarding the
care and services it provided between January 1, 2001 and October 28, 2002.
Half, or 18, of these complaints were validated by state authorities. In
contrast, other providers were the target of only two validated complaints
during this period. ResCare's rate of validated complaints per facility was 3.81
times that of other providers. (Service Employees International Union)
TransCor
America
West Virginia
August 15, 2003
Three prisoners who were trapped in a van after it was hijacked in 2001 by a
fellow prisoner have filed a lawsuit against the van's transport company and two
of the company's former employees. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday on
behalf of Frederick Furlong, Michael Wolf and David Adams by Morgantown lawyer
Jennifer McGinley in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg. In September 2001
Christopher Paul Savage overpowered two transport officers at a Clarksburg gas
station after faking an illness. He then used the van he and other prisoners
were being transported in to escape. Savage later abandoned the van and
ran away on foot. He was arrested almost two months afterward in Georgia.
The lawsuit alleges the transport drivers' negligence led to Savage's escape and
the prisoners' kidnapping - during which, the prisoners were denied proper food,
drink and bathroom breaks and were deprived of medication. The lawsuit
alleges Nashville, Tenn.-based TransCor America, Inc. already knew of training
and supervision problems among its drivers. (AP)
Wheeling Jesuit University
Sodexho
May 23, 2002
Statement
on Wheeling Jesuit University's
Relationship with Sodexho
by
Rev. George F. Lundy, S.J., Ph.D.
nUniversity
President
During the late fall of 2000, the question was raised by the Wheeling Jesuit
University student organization JAPOT (Justice and
Peace in Our Times) whether the University could continue its business
partnership with its campus food service provider,
Sodexho,
without incurring complicity in the prison-industrial complex. To
research the issues in question, and to advise me as to a just course for
Wheeling Jesuit University, I
appointed a
campus-wide committee in the fall of 2001 under the leadership of the Rector
of the Jesuit Community and my Senior Advisor
for Social Justice, Fr. Joseph R. Hacala, S.J. Comprised of faculty,
administrators, students and Sodexho management, the
group worked in concert with an external researcher, as well as with labor
leaders, prison advocates and others, including a
variety of Sodexho personnel. I asked the Committee to focus especially on
the degree of Sodexho's openness about the extent
of its prison-related activities, on the human rights implications of
operating prisons for profit, and
Sodexho's level of
understanding of and compliance with the Catholic labor tradition.
An
interim report submitted to me by the Committee at mid-year confirmed
both the complexity and the utmost seriousness of
the
issues involved. After
much study and prayerful reflection, I
have concluded that Wheeling
Jesuit University cannot continue with Sodexho as a
major business partner without incurring some complicity in what is now a
global prison-industrial complex. My reasons are as
follows:
1)
The eight-fold increase in the number of people held in prisons and jails
in the United States
over
the past thirty years is a national disgrace. The
use of prisons as a preferred
response to non-violent
crime is poor stewardship of resources, and
is a preferential option
against the poor.
2)
Through their corporate contributions to the American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC),
corporations in which Sodexho had a significant share of ownership
helped shaped the laws
under which ever more Americans spend ever more time in prison. The
American Legislative
Exchange Council is an organization founded in 1973 to support
conservative legislators and
conservative legislation. It prepares "model" bills which are then
introduced in state
legislatures throughout the nation. The Council claims credit for the
enactment of "Truth in
Sentencing" (inmates must serve 85% of their sentence) laws in 25
states, "Habitual
Offender/Three Strikes" (life in prison for a third violent felony)
laws in 11 states, and Private
Corrections Facilities laws in 4 states. Representatives from the
corporate sector co-chair the
task forces that develop ALEC's model legislation. The Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA) long held a co-chair position on the Criminal
Justice Task Force.
In
1999, when
Sodexho had about 10% ownership of CCA, CCA made ALEC's President's
list for
contributions to its States and Nation Policy Summit. Sodexho Marriot,
then about half owned
by Sodexho, also sponsored the conference.
Some of these laws, such
as the "three strikes"
statutes, have been criticized by the U.S. Catholic Bishops as
inappropriate.
3)
Sodexho is expanding its global prison operations at a rapid pace.
Additionally,
I have concluded, from documents I have reviewed, that
Sodexho's posture towards collective bargaining leaves
much to be desired from the perspective of the Catholic labor tradition.
(NWOM-News)
West Virginia Legislature
September 14, 2011 AP
West Virginia is facing an inmate crowding crisis, but building a new prison may
not be the answer, state Supreme Court administrator Steve Canterbury told
lawmakers Tuesday. Addressing a House-Senate subcommittee wrestling with the
problem, Canterbury cited his years as head of the West Virginia Regional Jail
and Correctional Facility Authority. "When the state commits to spending $100 to
$200 million — and this will be closer to $200 million, mark my words — for
building a prison, it takes a political life of its own," Canterbury said.
Groups representing contractors and construction unions will each lobby hard to
get the work, Canterbury said. Local economic development agencies will jockey
for the new prison's location. Canterbury said someone shot up his car while the
jail agency debated where to build. He kept one of the bullets as a souvenir.
The private prison industry, meanwhile, will press West Virginia to change its
stringent legal standards that have so far kept their facilities out of the
state. Canterbury said that industry is why the conservative American
Legislative Exchange Council helped write Arizona's tough new immigration law.
"They sensed that this is a growth opportunity," he told lawmakers, while also
saying that the industry "will lobby pretty hard for more customers. And how do
they get more customers? Enhancing penalties, and jailing more people." West
Virginia should instead revisit its criminal penalties, as Texas has done in
recent years, and find better ways to spend that $200 million, Canterbury said.
Those alternatives include a statewide work-release program for nonviolent
offenders. Wheeling and Morgantown are among the state's larger communities
without work-release, he said.
July 17, 2006 Daily Mail
Tucked into a proposed rule clarifying how the state's jails are funded is a
provision that would open the door for the state to accept inmates from outside
its borders. But chronic overcrowding in the state's 10 regional jails makes
this importation a long shot. John King, operations director for the state
Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, said officials are keeping
options open should the state Division of Corrections increase bed space in its
prisons enough to eliminate the overcrowding. Bills to strengthen the
corrections commissioner's control over private prison construction and
operations have languished in the last two legislative sessions. The bills add
language to enable laws already on the books that permit private prisons in the
state.
July 11, 2006 Charlotte Gazette
The state of West Virginia is considering a proposal by one of the world’s
largest private prison companies to run its two mental hospitals. The proposal
was made by Florida-based GEO Group, formerly known as The Wackenhut Corp.,
which manages more than 42,000 prison beds in the United States. Increasingly,
the company is getting into the psychiatric hospital business. Its subsidiary,
GEO Care, operates three mental institutions for the state of Florida and a
state-run nursing home in New Mexico. GEO Care made two separate pitches to West
Virginia officials, according to John Bianconi, commissioner of the state Bureau
for Health and Health Facilities. Bianconi said he plans to tour a GEO Care
facility in Florida this week. He is already in Orlando for a convention and
several of his colleagues also are taking the tour. “We are looking at options
for better ways of doing things,” Bianconi said. “But we are far from making any
decisions.” The privatization proposal was discussed in a draft report from a
state consultant that is studying the state’s mental health system. The Gazette
obtained the draft document last week. As one of its recommendations, Public
Consulting Group said the state should “explore privatization of state
facilities.” Bianconi said the recommendation refers only to the state’s two
mental hospitals, the 150-bed William R. Sharpe Hospital in Weston and the
90-bed Mildred Mitchell-Bateman Hospital in Huntington. Other state long-term
care facilities, such as Lakin and Pinecrest hospitals, have not been part of
the discussions with GEO Care, he said.
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