Wednesday, October 28, 2009

What is going on with food recently?

Prisoners in Michigan City, IN have begun to protest the food they're being served by Aramark, saying it's insufficient and gross. So naturally the entire prison is on lockdown. And over in Tennessee, an inmate was ordered to be moved from the prison he was at because he had lost too much weight from a lack of nutrition (http://www.wsmv.com/news/21442692/detail.html). I guess when you try to feed people for $1 at a time it doesn't quite give them the nutrition they need. Are you listening, Sheriff Joe?

Monday, October 26, 2009

They're Branching Out

Arizona wants to privatize ALL its correctional facilities, including death row. Never mind that no private company currently houses or has any experience in housing DR inmates, or that private prisons are probably either just as expensive or even more expensive that public facilities. But CCA expects to submit a proposal to take over a number of public beds, including the death row fellows. Stay tuned as this is sure to turn into a cluster**** of fun for Arizona.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Why I Hate GEO: They deny medical care to epileptics

This is a great article on immigration detention, as viewed through the lens of the Pecos riots last January, drawing a parallel between private prison construction and the factors that led to our economy collapsing. For a great in-depth expose on the Pecos riots, check out Tom Barry's piece from the Boston review at:
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/143462/a_death_in_texas_casts_cold_light_on_america

Thursday, October 22, 2009

They refuse to pay prevailing wages to folks building their facilities

So the construction workers have gone on strike at the site of a CCA facility in Nevada. This facility at Pahrump has had all sorts of problems from the moment it was proposed. I imagine it will continue to provide ammo for years to come.

Why I hate Aramark today

Aramark, the food service provider for the state of Kentucky is literally starving the inmates it serves. The approval rating for their food service at one prison (Northpoint CC) was a 2.6 out of a possible 10. The prisoners rioted at this facility back in August and told multiple sources they did so because the food was inadequate and not very clean. Aramark of course denies this and just claims the prisoners have ulterior motives for trashing their company. That's right Aramark; prisoners in Kentucky are just out to get you. Or could it simply be, as one prisoner put it "(They) would not like to be hungry ALL THE TIME" (emphasis added).

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Debunking the Savings Myth

Pirvate prisons are more expensive than public facilities. Well, at least in Oklahoma they are. A recent study found that housing prisoners at a private prison, reagrdless of security level, is more expensive per day than housing them at a public facility, or very comparable. Now that this cat's out of the bag, I wonder what CCA and GEO will rely upon to claim they're still relevant and needed.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Lobbying Against Oversight

This is a few months old, granted, but certainly worth your time, I promise. Matt Pulle of Texas Watchdog did a great investigative piece on how the GEO groups has been successful in lobbying against enhanced oversight and public records laws conformity in the Texas legislature. This is especially bad because Texas readily admits it doesn't collect data on private prison operations.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Last one, I promise

Just wanted to post a link to Newsweek's story on the Hardin case. It's actually really good

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Former CCA employees awarded $1.3 million in suit

the terms of a settlement between CCA and some former employees has been finalized. A few women who worked at the Crowley County CF in CO were sexually assaulted by their superiors. I wrote about this before (these are the same women who were forced to take dangerous shift assignments when they spoke out against the harassment/assault). They won $1.3 million. The only bad thing is that this was a settlement, which means CCA doesn't admit liability or fault in the decision. Otherwise, it's good to see some justice served.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Interesting Development in the Hardin Case

It turns out the drama with the APPF and Hardin Jail wasn’t the first time the town had been duped in the private prison market. The facility was built by a company called Corpland Corrections, which appears to be little more than a fraud perpetrated on small communities in dire need of economic stimulus. In one instance, four of the people involved in the awarding of a contract to the company were convicted in a corruption probe. The company comes in to build prisons but rarely if ever fulfills its promises of providing long-term revenue for a town or county (because they don’t operate the prisons or secure a contract for someone else to do so). I’ve seen a few stories on this in the past few days, and I don’t think this is the last we’ll hear about the company.

More here:
http://newmexicoindependent.com/39009/private-prison-developer-behind-montana-fiasco-involved-in-construction-of-nm-private-prisons

LCS has cleaned up its act, maybe.

LCS Correctional Services has worked on improving conditions at a facility that failed inspection on 17 points about a month ago, in preparation for an upcoming inspection. Among the issues they failed in compliance checks on were training for guards and checking for contraband. Hopefully they can begin to run it as only a substandard prison, instead of an abysmal one.

The deal is dead

APPF has backed out of its agreement to run the Hardin jail, giving some BS reasoning. but the fact remains that we won't have a private army in Montana.

Also, they released the contract drawn up between APPF and the TRA, which would have made APPF Hardin's own private police force. that could have been catastrophic:
http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_fe7d193c-b48f-11de-8209-001cc4c002e0.html

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Really? I would have never thought....

Turns out Michael Hilton has already been convicted of stealing from the government before.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

More on the APPF/Hilton Scam

If you want to read more about the APPF scam and how the supposed director of the jail was nearly duped by shady McHilton, go to the article.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Even more fallout

Just read this. Michael Hilton is a fraud, APPF is a HUGE SCAM, and Hardin should run away from this as fast as its legs can carry it. Seriously Hardin, get out before you realize ole dick and his blackwater cronies have taken over your town. I'm begging you

More fallout from Hardin Jail / APPF

The director of the agency who granted the contract to APPF to run the Hardin jail has just resigned, after being placed on paid leave for two months. While there's no specific word on why he resigned, I'll go out on a limb and say the council wasn't too happy with his giving that contract to the shadesters at APPF. Call me crazy

HI Inmates Can't Catch a Break

A Hawaiian inmate who was housed at the Otter Creek CF in Kentucky is suing the state (KY) and CCA for sexual assault suffered while she was incarcerated. I've reported on Otter Creek before, but didn't realize until I read this that the women (female HI inmates) were moved there after they had been sexually assaulted at a private prison in CO. Maybe Hawaii should stop sending its female prisoners to private facilities in other states? Maybe?

Whoo Hooo!

The Hardin Jail project has been put on hold! The scammers at APPF apparently won't be moving in after all. But another interesting fact was revealed; the man who was supposed to be the jail's director was NEVER EVEN OFFERED THE JOB. I don't think anything APPF has ever said about this jail project has been the truth. None of it. Nice try, cheney.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Michael Hilton's day in court

Well, another day in court for the multiple-time felon. Michael Hilton, the head of APF/APPF, has been called into court in California over an outstanding judgment in a fraud lawsuit

Much more on these con artists

So over the weekend, APF's attorney and "Major" resigned,
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/ap/63295072.html#

APF was outed for illegally claiming to provide police/investigative services,
http://www.prisonplanet.com/apf-license-we-dont-need-no-stinking-license.html

their spokeswoman, a former local newspaper reporter they (APF) pilfered away because she was reporting on them, broke down during a press conference because company officials up and left town, leaving her to deal with the mess,
http://m.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_f311dee6-afbe-11de-8149-001cc4c03286.html

And a state senator harshly criticized not only APF but the whole idea of privatizing police and corrections,
http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/guest/article_3a09b912-afcf-11de-ba0d-001cc4c03286.html

(Title link goes to APF's absurd website. I suggest you take the time to poke around it; who couldn't use a good laugh on Monday morning?)

Friday, October 2, 2009

Illicit, Unauthorized Proposals

In another interesting twist, the Two Rivers Authority, the agency responsible for APPF's contract to run the Hardin, MT jail, apparently stepped outside its jurisdiction by offering to permit APPF to function as Hardin's own private police force. The administrator of TRA has been placed on administrative leave over the contract negotiations.

But the only board member who commented, Tim Murphy, said he doesn't care about the criminal history of APPF's leader or all the problems that have come to light over the past few days, only that the company makes its lease payments on time. As with all private prisons, it just comes down to the bottom line: the almighty dollar. Mr. Murphy is a jerk who doesn't care that his town is about to be overrun by a private police force. Way to look out for the people of Hardin.

APF's leader, and entire company, is a FRAUD

Montana's AG has launched an investigation into the leader of APF, Michael Hilton, who is a convicted felon with a history of fraud that uses at least 17 known aliases. He has requested proof that the company works with the federal government and evidence to support the claim that they "have operations in all 50 states." He is also seeking the contract between APF and the agency responsible for the jail, a contract that would give APF millions of dollars to run the jail for more than ten years.

Oh, and Mr. Hilton goes by the title "Captain" even though no record of his military service could be found and he even admits it doesn't refer to an actual rank. And he has more than a million bucks in outstanding civil judgments against him. Certainly a stand-up guy that is more than qualified to have control over other human lives.

I've heard rumblings from comments on the Huff Post and elsewhere that APF is somehow tied to Xe (the new name for Blackwater). It wouldn't surprise me in the least, knowing the kind of shady criminal ole Dick is.

Justice for Harassed Former Employees

I wrote a short while ago about women at a CCA facility (Crowley County CF in Olney Springs, CO) who were sexually harassed. When they complained about the sexual harassment they were intentionally given dangerous shifts/assignments. Well, those ladies just won a $1.3 million against CCA and the former operator of the prison, Dominion Correctional Services. The 21 women will receive between $7,500 and $155,000 each. Good for them

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Thank you, PLN

Prison Legal News has done some wonderful investigative work into American Police Force, finding a whole slew of questionable claims (Aside from the fact that their front man is a convicted felon. Yep.) Among them:

They claim the US government is their biggest customer, but there are no records of the government contracting with them

They claim to be headquartered in DC, but a records search showed they weren't registered. When the address was investigated, it was found to not actually be a physical address. They have sinced stopped claiming this.

They claim they've been operating for years, but were only incorporated March of this year, and their website launched May of this year.

Oh, and the guy who awarded them the contract has been placed on administrative leave. but the company wants to hire his wife.

This just gets weirder and weirder every day. Stay tuned for more

It Gets Better

So this "American Private Police Force" I wrote about a little while ago, who is taking over a jail in Hardin, MT seems SUPER creepy. Please read this article on their organization, which no one seems to know where it came from, how it got its claimed expertise, or how it's being funded to operate this jail. While there are some tenuous conspiracy theories, the company does seem rather sketch. When they arrived in Hardin, they had decals on their truck claiming they were the "City of Hardin Police Department." (Hardin has no police department) But they claimed it was only a gesture of goodwill. RIGHT.