CCA Doesn't Want to Pay Taxes

Every once in a while a story comes along that really re-ignites my burning hatred of the private prison industry.  Like this one, describing how CCA is battling the town of Appleton, MN over the value of its prison.  The lower the prison's assessed value, the less CCA will have to pay in taxes on it.  The prison has been closed since 2010, which has cost the city jobs and part of its tax base; at that time, it was valued at $42.9 million.  After appealing that valuation, as CCA has done every single time it's been audited, the facility is now valued at only $14 million, but even that's not low enough for CCA; they want the value to be knocked down to about $10 million, which would even further reduce the taxes it pays to the city.  Meanwhile, over all the times CCA has appealed the valuation, it has already cost the county $2 million directly in legal fees, not to mention the lost tax revenue as they continuously try to undervalue their property.  But here's the real kicker; the most recent reduction in value, still being appealed by CCA who wants it to go even lower, would already raise taxes for the average resident by 20%.

Fuck you, CCA.  Fuck your insensitive, greedy manipulation of the tax code and legal system to maximize the already obscene profits you earn by incarcerating people (quite poorly, I might add).  Fuck you for exploiting towns like Appleton, who rely on your company for valuable revenue.  It's not enough that you dramatically overcharge governments to house prisoners, in facilities constantly face allegations of abuse and neglect; now you've just got to stick it to these poor folks as well?

Fuck you.

Did Ohio's AG Bend the Law to Help Privatization?

That's basically the conclusion of this analysis, which says that Attorney General Mike DeWine's ruling that the Ohio State Police would still be responsible for investigating crimes at the Conneaut prison the state sold to CCA was a politically-motivated, and possibly illegal, action.  Essentially, the author claims that DeWine overruled a couple of career attorneys in his office to hand down his ruling, which facilitated the politically perilous privatization venture -- folks in Conneaut were initially up in arms over the potential the sale had to unduly strain its police resources.

So a governor who hired a former CCA employee as the director of his DOC decided to sell a prison to CCA, then after some of his constituents were rightfully upset and fearful at the ramifications that would have for them, his attorney general bent the law to quell those concerns.  The attorney general happens to be the same guy who rallied federal support to re-open a private prison (with a $129 million contract to CCA) a few years ago that's been at the center of a dispute over back taxes.  Great.

CCA Ordered to Pay $1.3 Million in Taxes

A judge in Youngstown, OH has ordered CCA to pay $1.3 million in taxes that it had disputed paying.

Florida's Love Affair With Private Prisons

Many lawmakers in Florida, home of the GEO Group, are enamored with the idea of prison privatization.  Legislators, mostly Republican, have thrice attempted (and failed) to privatize half the state's prison system within the past two years.  The former speaker of the house, serving time in prison, is still being investigated by the FBI in part for his role in bringing a private prison to the state and attempting to force the closure of multiple state facilities to populate it.  He's also the target of a federal grand jury investigation for his dealings with the GEO Group.

In the towns of Southwest Ranches and Pembroke Pines, residents have been waging war against CCA and ICE, who want to build a huge immigration detention center there.  Upset over the risks of bringing a private prison to town, residents have already faced legal harassment after they have failed to capture the attention or sympathy of their representative, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.  The parties are engaged in a struggle over resources, as CCA is attempting to strong-arm the small towns into providing water and sewer services to the prison.  Pembroke Pines has already had to shell out more than $120,000 in legal fees to battle a detention center that the federal government seems to be forcing on them.

The most recent battle in Florida has arisen over the state's plans to privatize health care for all its prisoners, which I guess was the fall-back option if wholesale privatization failed.  The plan is being challenged by the Nurses' Association, which filed a lawsuit similar to the one that successfully defeated the wholesale privatization; basically saying the state Legislature didn't have the authority to order such a sweeping change to such a huge portion of the state budget without passing a stand-alone bill.  It's estimated that as many as 2,800 jobs and $300 million of the budget could be impacted by the switch, which is also opposed by the union that represents COs.

It seems simple to explain part of this love affair, the GEO Group and CCA have contributed huge sums of money to Florida legislators, with most of that going to Republicans.  During the last election cycle, the industry donated nearly $1 million to campaigns, with more than 80% of that coming from the GEO Group.  GEO has already given more than $100,000 to Governor Scott for the upcoming election.

But just looking at the campaign contributions fails to reveal the whole story.  Governor Scott's closest advisor and de facto gatekeeper, Steve McNamara, is a man with so much political influence he's been called the state's "Shadow Governor."  He also happens to be close personal friends with Jim Eaton, head lobbyist for the GEO Group, which might help explain why Scott decided to can the head of the Department of Corrections for challenging the privatization scheme.  After news came out that McNamara had been using his influence to advance himself and his friends politically and financially, he was forced to resign.  Jim Eaton, by the way, also happens to be the head lobbyist for Wexford, one of the companies in the running for the state healthcare contract.  So McNamara's influence is likely to last well beyond his tenure as "Shadow Governor."

Immigration Detention Center Struggling Financially

Just a quick link here to an article about the Irwin detention center in Georgia, run by a small private prison company called Municipal Corrections, LLC.  The company owes more than $1.5 million in back taxes (about 1/3 of the entire county's budget) and the facility has defaulted on tax-exempt bond payments that were used to finance its construction.  The local community is nervous about the potential loss of nearly 200 jobs, but this is the risk you run when you rely on a private prison for economic stimulus.

Gambling the Future on Immigration Detention

Another quickie here - I just wanted to drop a link to this excellent article from The Nation, which discusses the Irwin County Detention Center, an immigration detention center in Georgia.  The story is an excellent discussion of the broken immigration detention system in this country and how over-reliance on incarceration as economic stimulus is a foolhardy venture.

Sad End to a Sad Story

Just wanted to give a quick update to a story that's fallen a bit by the wayside; the still vacant private prison in Hardin, Montana.  After being constructed on speculation by Corplan Corrections, the facility sat vacant for years after Corplan failed to help the town secure a contract to fill it.  Various proposals came up for the facility, including using it for a reality TV show, but it remained empty for years, eventually costing Hardin nearly $10,000 per month in utilities just to keep it from falling apart.  A career con man tried to purchase the facility through a company known as the American Private Police Force, but that deal fell through as well.  The director of the group that purchased the facility lost his job after it defaulted on its bond payments.

Now it turns out the facility will likely be returned to the bondholders who financed it.  Basically, this would allow for the city to get the facility and its maintenance off its hands (and budget, for that matter), and the bondholders would be able to pursue contracts to fill it.  But given the track record of failure, I think that's not likely to happen.

UPDATE: It's now official: the jail, valued at $26 million, has been returned to the bondholders.

Small Town Vs. Giant Private Prison Corporation

Battle in Florida Rages On

Just a quick update here on the ongoing battle in Southwest Ranches / Pembroke Pines, FL, where residents are working to opposed a planned ICE detention center.  As more and more residents voiced their opposition to the plan, Pembroke Pines' council announced it was cancelling a contract that would have provided utility services to the site, which they hoped would effectively kill the measure.  But the corporate behemoth that is CCA decided to sue the town to try to force it to provide utilities.  Not intimidated by CCA's lawsuit, the town has counter-sued the company, asking a judge to halt construction until a court can determine whether the town will be required to provide utilities.  Unfortunately, SWR's council is still pushing hard for the prison, believing the lies CCA has been pushing about the economic benefits of bringing a prison to town, along with CCA and ICE.  So it looks like this battle is far from over.

CCA Looking to Buy a County Jail

Recently, CCA has been looking to purchase and operate existing government-run prisons, dedicating up to $250 million towards that venture.  One of the places that plan might already be coming to fruition is Hall County, GA, which just passed a resolution allowing CCA to purchase a jail it currently leases to hold immigration detainees.  The decision caught city council members off-guard, because the county commission hadn't exactly been forthcoming with the information before it signed the deal. 

The decision to sell the facility is looking like a really good deal for CCA as details emerge.  CCA is buying the jail for about $1.5 million less than what the property has been valued at, probably because it hasn't been able to maintain the prisoner population it anticipated when it initially signed the lease (owning the facility would mean they'd pay far less in the long run to keep it open).  And this isn't the only shady prison-purchasing deal going down in the Peach State.  Over in Valdosta, a private landowner is set to sell a different prison to CCA, and will earn a return of nearly 100% on his investment in just five years, far above the rate of 18% the county had earned in the previous 10 years that it owned the land.  How's that for southern hospitality?

Banking on Bondage

Video from a Congressional Briefing last Thursday on private prisons and mass incarceration.  It's long, but incredibly informative.

Coming Out of the Shadows

ICE and CCA have been working in near-complete secrecy in designing an immigration detention center that would be placed in Crete, IL.  As residents began to discover the plan, which was already in motion given the tentative approval of the construction worked out by CCA and ICE, they grew increasingly concerned over the possibility of a prison coming to town.  Now, after public outcry has continued to grow, ICE officials have finally agreed to hold a meeting with residents to discuss the proposed facility.  Two Congressmen from the state have convinced ICE to hold the hearing, where residents will be able to voice their concerns directly to ICE.  The meeting will be held sometime in late March or early April; I encourage anyone who lives in or near Crete to go tell ICE you don't want a prison in your town.

They Sue To Keep Expanding

The private prison industry's business model is predicated on constant expansion of facility space and bed capacity.  The industry is able to generate such tremendous profits by continuously expanding their capacity and taking on more and more prisoners.  But what happens when a town doesn't want a private prison to expand its capacity?  If you're the GEO Group, you threaten to sue the town to force them to allow you to house more prisoners.

I shit you not.

GEO has threatened to sue El Monte, California, after the town denied its request to expand its existing halfway house.  The town's representatives were only following the wishes of its residents, who are adamantly opposed to the expansion.  But the greedy corporate steamroller that is the gluttonous GEO Group wouldn't let pesky things like public and official opposition stand in their way.  So they're bullying the small town by threatening to sue it, which could have set the town back more than $100,000 in legal fees (in addition to the $45,000 they've already spent in litigation against the company).  Of course, a spokesman for the company says the motive isn't to generate profits, but to serve its client (the federal BOP), despite the fact that their client never requested the effing beds in the first place.

CCA Gets off Really Easy in Hernando County, FL

Florida, as you know if you've heard anything about private prisons in the past month, is in the midst of a huge, subversive campaign to force private prisons on its residents, despite widespread opposition.  The state should take a look at the situation in Hernando County for an example of the things that can all go terribly wrong when a prison is privatized.

After operating the local jail there for 22 years, CCA was found to have ignored myriad maintenance issues totaling millions of dollars.  The sheriff took over the facility after CCA bailed on the contract rather than repair the facility, which they had been operating since it opened.  After taking over the facility, he saved local taxpayers more than a million dollars in operating costs in the first year, even after taking into account all the maintenance that needed to be done.

So after the government assumed responsibility for its jail and trimmed its expenses by more than a million dollars, there was still the issue of back-pay that the county had withheld from CCA to cover the maintenance they had consistently failed to perform.  The dispute was over $1.8 million worth of payments; CCA sued the county to try to recoup the money they shouldn't have gotten in the first place.  Unfortunately for Hernando County, CCA's well-paid attorneys did their job quite effectively, and CCA has been ordered to pay only $100,000 of the money owed to the county.  In other words, 5%.  And, even more unfortunately, this precludes the county from releasing an accounting of just how CCA could have let millions of dollars worth of maintenance needs go unchecked.  But, according to the editorial board at the Tampa Bay Times, "ending the privatization of the jail will produce long-term dividends for the citizens of Hernando County."

Protecting Against Losses

Quick one here.  In Liberty County, Texas, officials have been working to reduce the population at the county jail, run by CEC.  That's a great thing; that means less people will be incarcerated, and the county can save money and focus on people truly deserving of being behind bars at the same time.  If only CEC hadn't structured the contract so that they get more money per prisoner when the population drops.  So as the population decreases, CEC earns more money per prisoner, and the county loses out on potential savings.  As a county judge said, "They [CEC] are taking all the incentive out of [releasing prisoners]."

Bankrupted By Private Prisons

The town of Littlefield, Texas found out that private prisons aren't all they're cracked up to be, in the newest video from the Prison Divestment Campaign.

Updates on Hernando County, FL and Conneaut, Ohio

Two quick links stories here, to update two recent examples of private prisons failing to provide cost-effective services.

First, let's look at Hernando County, Florida, which had contracted with CCA for over 20 years to manage its jail.  After an inspection by the Sheriff uncovered a litany of neglected maintenance issues requiring millions of dollars worth of repairs, CCA bailed on the contract rather than fix the facility they had let fall into disrepair.  The sheriff's office then took over operations of the jail, and quickly realized they could operate the facility cheaper than CCA had, with higher-quality staff, even after performing the maintenance CCA had failed to do.  In fact, the jail for the first time passed an inspection as a "Model Jail" for the state of Florida, and by taking over operations, the sheriff's office has saved Hernando County taxpayers more than a millions dollars in just one year.

Then there's Conneaut, Ohio, an innocent bystander in Governor Kasich's rush to privatize his state's prison system.  Conneaut is the home of the Lake Erie CF, which was purchased by CCA last year.  After CCA purchased the prison, the local police department learned that it would now be responsible for responding to emergencies or disturbances at the facility, which the state police had done when it was owned by the state.  A small town like Conneaut does not have the resources to staff a police department capable of responding to something like a prison riot, so they were rightfully pissed off.  Thankfully, the state's attorney general appears to be a reasonable guy, because he just released a ruling that the state would still be the primary law enforcement authority for the prison.  Which is a good thing, because emergencies seem to happen more often at privately owned and operated prisons.

GEO/Cornell Sues to Get More Beds

Many private prisons start off as relatively small facilities, with bed counts varying depending on the custody level(s).  They then grow from there; the industry tends to basically plant a seed with a community by starting with a moderately-sized facility, then expanding that facility to bring more and more beds online (because they need to continuously grow their population to continue to generate profits (because they can't actually turn a profit on the prisoners they house)).  Many communities then wind up with prisons much larger and much more unwieldy than they had originally anticipated.  In California, such a situation is playing out in the context of a GEO-operated halfway house.  The local council rejected GEO's request to expand the facility's capacity, because the community had not intended to have a facility larger than its current one.  So the GEO Group, upstanding corporate citizen that it is, is suing the town to force it to allow them to build more beds.

MTC Finally Forced to Remit Payment

Just a quick update here on a story I covered a while ago.  MTC, which runs the private prison in Arizona from which 3 men escaped in 2010 among other facilities, has been fighting over back-pay due to its employees.  For years, it had been paying guards at a Texas Immigration Detention Center $8-9 per hour, while they were supposed to be paying them nearly $15 per hour.

After a lengthy battle, the US Dept. of Labor has forced MTC to pay up.  To the tune of $21 million.  If you were curious as to how private prisons can generate a profit, look no further than this example.  Staffing is the most expensive part of any prison's budget, and MTC is not the only company that shortchanges its staff to boost profits for its executives.  Private prison or otherwise.

A Familiar Tune

Residents in Crete, Illinois, are finding themselves in a situation quite similar to the hubbub taking place in Southwest Ranches, Florida.  CCA has proposed an immigration detention center in town, which is especially troubling considering a report was just released that recommended closing such facilities due to numerous human rights violations.  Residents feel the facility is being forced on them; "Village residents have not been asked for their input on this issue," said a local resident. The board president couldn't even provide any details on the project, because CCA has not exactly been forthcoming with information regarding the proposed construction.