2 New Wrongful Death Cases in Texas

Both CCA and the GEO Group are facing backlash over the alleged wrongful deaths of prisoners in their care in Texas.  The family of a prisoner at the Central Texas DF has sued the GEO Group for negligence in allowing their son to commit suicide, two days after he was removed from suicide watch.  Then, at the Dawson State Jail in Dallas, a 30-year-old female prisoner less than two months before her anticipated release date.  She apparently died of pneumonia after the medical staff at the facility failed to treat it.  CCA doesn't provide medical care to prisoners at the facility, but leaked internal documents suggests CCA supervisors at the facility failed to follow protocol when they didn't call for medical attention sooner.  The chief of security recommended firing a shift supervisor, but the warden at the facility declined to do so and couldn't identify any need for further training of his COs.

Another Wrongful Death Suit Against CCA

The ACLU of Hawaii has filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of the family of Clifford Medina, a 23-year-old Hawaiian prisoner who was murdered in the Saguaro Correctional Center, a CCA prison in Arizona.  The lawsuit contends that the company's negligence and drive for profit led to Medina's murder by a fellow prisoner.  This murder was one of two in a very short time frame at the facility, and one of a few issues that led the Governor of Hawaii to pledge to return all his prisoners to the islands, including an alleged sexual assault by a staff member at this same prison.

The lawsuit has already been covered by a ton of media outlets, so I won't go into a detailed breakdown.  Suffice it to say, I effing hate CCA.  I'll just give you links

KVOA News in Tucson, AZ
KITV News in Honolulu
Hawaii Reporter
Hawaii News Now
Nashville Scene
Courthouse News Service

Wrongful Death Suit Against ICE

Quick link here to an article about a wrongful death suit that has just been filed by the wife of Roberto Medina-Martinez, who died in a private prison under ICE custody in 2009.  The suit claims that the facility, run by CCA, was negligent in failing to provide adequate medical care for Roberto before he died of an inflammatory heart disease.

PHS Hit With $312,000 verdict

Prison Health Services, a private company that provides "medical care" to prisoners, has just been found negligent in the case of a 41-year-old prisoner who broke his ankle and failed to receive proper medical attention.  They have to pay him $312,000.  It took them 5 days to X-ray his ankle, after which they put it in a cast and placed him in a top-tier bunk, forcing him to climb up and down stairs every day.

Death of Hawaiian Prisoner Sparks Lawsuit

Hawaii contracts with CCA to house some of its prisoners on the mainland, because they don't have room for them in prisons on the islands.  But their relationship has been marked by problem after problem, from the sexual assaults of women in a prison in Kentucky (after they had been moved there following sexual assaults at ANOTHER CCA prison)  and coverups to mistreatment of male prisoners in Arizona.  In light of these issues, and a report of the state's solicitor general that was highly critical of the private prisons housing Hawaiian prisoners the governor has pledged to bring all Hawaiian prisoners home, but has found the process for doing so more difficult than anticipated.

One of the most serious issues that has arisen is the deaths of two young men at the Saguaro prison in Arizona.  After a class of prisoners sued the state and CCA over their mistreatment at the facility, the ACLU of HI has just filed a lawsuit against the state and CCA over the death of Bronson Nunuha, who was murdered at the prison.  The 26-year-old's death is being challenged as preventable; the ACLU of Hawaii claims the state and CCA were both negligent, leading to his wrongful death.  Nunuha was even being held in segregated confinement, where he was separated from the general population, but even that wasn't enough to prevent him from being murdered only months before he was set to be released; only 1 guard was responsible for overseeing about 50 prisoners.  The lawsuit contends that CCA's "unchecked hunger for profits" led the company to cut staffing to such unacceptably low levels as to allow for Nunuha's murder; he was stabbed over 100 times.

Unfortunately for the state, which gives the company $10 million annually to allow its citizens to be murdered, their own officials have faced significant difficulties in trying to extract information from the facility.  The aforementioned report of the Solicitor General noted major obstacles the agency encountered in trying to conduct an investigation of conditions Hawaiian prisoners were housed in.  Maybe it's because CCA doesn't give a shit about the people it houses, and does everything possible to prevent governments from seeing just how poorly their tax dollars are being spent.

Another Preventable Death in a CCA Prison

A 26-year-old young man just died in a CCA Prison in Colorado, after seeking treatment for days for his inability to urinate.  Terrell Griswold was found slumped over on a toilet about 12 hours after a nurse said he "looked fine;" but that was far from the case.  The medical examiner who reviewed circumstances leading to his death said he feels "very strongly that if they (CCA) treated this, he'd still be alive today."

Another Riot

Very quickly, I just wanted to call attention to a riot that took place in a GEO-Group operated jail in Australia, which has experienced many of the same troubles in privatizing prisons that we have.  Some of the younger prisoners in the jail have taken officials hostage, revolting over conditions at the facility.  30 prisoners are involved in the crisis, which apparently could have been prevented had GEO not cut back on costs for maintenance and staff.  In fact, conditions are so dismal at this jail that the prisoners rioted, in part, in order to try to get new toothbrushes.  For Christ's sake, GEO, you can't give them toothbrushes?  That would dig too deep into your bottom line?  Maybe some of your CEO's millions of dollars in annual compensation could have gone to providing these poor kids with a shred of decent treatment.  Oh no, I guess all that money is needed for you to live in absurd luxury and purchase multi-million dollar homes.

Questionable Track Record

Happy MLK Day!  To start this week a little late, I want to begin with a quick link to an article that evaluates the record of the GEO Group as they attempt to secure a contract to house mentally ill criminals in North Carolina.  With a population as vulnerable for abuse as the mentally ill, NC should really take a hard look at this for-profit company with a history of cost-cutting and negligence.  In fact, the company's care has been called "atrocious" by one expert who has studied their operations for years.  As you'll see in the article, and if you have ever read anything on here before, that's a very accurate statement.

Death By Negligence

Another quick link here, this one to the story of a preventable death that took place inside a CCA prison in Colorado in October of 2010.  A 26-year-old man died of an enlarged heart, a condition that would have been treatable if the medical staff at the facility had not ignored his requests for help.  In fact, the young man had attempted to be seen by medical staff daily over the two weeks preceding his death, but was ignored.  The prison told his mother his death was "natural."  As in "we naturally let him die."

This is why I hate CCA.

Judge Keeps Settlement Secret

Last year, the ACLU reached a settlement with CCA over its deplorable operation (or lack thereof) of the Idaho Correctional Center, which was so plagued with violence and assaults that it had been dubbed "gladiator school" by the prisoners.  The lawsuit had sought up to $150 million in damages, but a settlement was reached that was likely substantially lower (and which allowed CCA to avoid admitting responsibility).  After the settlement, the AP petitioned the court to have the settlement documents de-classified, so that the public could get an idea of the terms of the agreement.  Such a move could have given the public a better understanding of just how shitty this CCA prison was, and still is; in fact, it was still the most violent prison in the state, even after the lawsuit settled!

But apparently the judge doesn't want the people of Idaho to have any real oversight of the private prison that's taking millions of taxpayer dollars every year to provide such substandard treatment, because he refused to unseal the settlement.  His basic reasoning was that he feared releasing the documents could discourage a company like CCA from seeking settlements in the future.  Which would be GREAT, because then they could actually have to take some responsibility for the thousands of instances of abuse and negligence that have taken place in the prisons they're paid billions of dollars to operate.

The Story That Just Won't Go Away

I don't want to re-hash everything I've written about the absurd privatization push / corporate handout happening in Florida.  You can find plenty of material on it by just looking back.  I want to take a minute though to try to update the situation, again, as well as possible.  So I won't go into a long rant about anything here, I'll just give you some quick bullet points.  And just FYI, none of this even deals with the brewing situation in Southwest Ranches, where CCA is forcing an immigration detention center down the throat of a very angry populace.

• Florida is also trying to privatize healthcare for its entire prison system (in addition to privatizing half the prisons).  The bidding process has drawn a lot of scrutiny and generated many questions, so much so that the state had to push back the date for the bids to be submitted. It will probably go through though, unfortunately.  In a related story, North Carolina is foolishly looking to do the same thing.
• The executive director of the union representing COs in the state wrote an excellent opinion piece urging the state Senate to find some other way to save money, considering the questions surrounding the claim that the venture will save $22 million.
• The editorial board of the Palm Beach Post came out with an excellent piece questioning Gov. Scott's motives in pushing the privatization, given the $1 million donated by the industry leading up to the last election and questions regarding the proposed cost savings.
• A great piece from the Miami Herald discussing how special interests are dominating the discussion of privatization, and how the state needs to focus on alternatives to incarceration since they already have an enormous prison population.
• Also, the state should really consider the company it's about the get in bed with, as a GEO Group guard appears to have been extremely negligent in permitting a prisoner to commit suicide.
• Finally, I couldn't help but link to this absurd example of poor journalism, as the editorial board at the Daytona Beach News-Journal claims privatization offers "Major Savings."  The argument is based on practically nothing but the long-ago dismissed notion that if private prisons fail to offer savings, they won't get contracts (they actually just lobby harder and still get them).  The real icing on the cake comes when the author(s) admit that the state previously lost tens of millions of dollars in a privatization venture, but make no mention of how a similar problem could be avoided this time around.  Really, this is one of the absolute dumbest things I've ever seen an editorial board write.

They Deny Treatment to HIV+ Prisoners

A man incarcerated in Georgia, has lost 61 pounds since April because the prisons he has been in have continuously denied him treatment for his HIV.  He has spent time in the GEO-Group operated D. Ray James CF, and currently resides in a private prison operated by a company called Croft Medical Enterprises.  So even the smaller companies are adept at skimping on medical care to maximize profits.

Interesting Logic

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case in which a prisoner at a GEO Group facility had both his elbows broken, and was then forced into shackles, and denied medical attention and assistance for days. He wants to sue the officers who subjected him to this torturous abuse.

The GEO guards have used some interesting logic in their defense. They claim "that prisoner lawsuits over alleged constitutional violations are 'already inundating the federal courts.' The appeals court’s 'dramatic expansion of liability, combined with the increasing prevalence of private prison contractors, will only ensure that such litigation increases,' the employees argued.

So basically what they're saying is, there are a ton of lawsuits against private prison guards because of all the abuse they inflict upon prisoners, so you shouldn't allow prisoners to sue because it's taking too much court resources to process these claims. Maybe you shouldn't FUCKING ABUSE PEOPLE SO BADLY IT VIOLATES THE CONSTITUTION. How about that?

We have a judicial system for this very type of occurence. We have a judicial system that allows for people who have been abused or wronged to find some redress for their suffering; in fact, that's its primary purpose. To claim that giving people justice is too burdensome is blasphemous, inexcusable bullshit.

Cutting Corners

CCA operated the jail in Hernando County, Florida, for about 22 years, from the time it was opened. Last year, Sheriff Richard Nugent took over operations of the jail from CCA, because his department could run it cheaper and more humanely. Once that process was initiated, Nugent inspected the jail to see what he was getting himself into.

Nugent's inspection uncovered myriad maintenance issues at the jail. CCA had been negligent in maintaining common areas, the kitchen, heating and ventilation systems, and security systems. Nugent estimated the facility had fallen into such disrepair over CCA's tenure that it would require nearly $2 million just to account for CCA's decades of negligence.

After some back-and-forth fighting, the county decided to withhold its final 2 payments to CCA (which CCA tried suing them for) to put towards the repairs. The county commission then granted another million dollars for repairs, bringing the total amount the county has had to put into maintenance at its jail to $3 million.

It turns out that even this wasn't enough. A consultant just notified the commission that "the needs at the facility are far greater than the money allotted." In fact, the jail has deteriorated so much "a facility that should have lasted 75 years might only make it to 25."

I often remark that governments that contract with private prison companies get what they pay for. In this case, Hernando County may not have even been that lucky.

A Poor Investment

I often gripe about how poor the quality of medical care is at private prisons. These facilities are notoriously understaffed and hired less-qualified individuals than government facilities, which in the medical arena translates to substandard care. What makes this phenomenon even worse is that private prisons often are able to essentially "cherry-pick" their populations per the contracts they sign. What I mean is that private prisons sign contracts to house primarily low- and medium-security level offenders, and often take only younger, healthier prisoners than the average.

State systems tend to have prisoners who are older, who have chronic illnesses, and who generally cost more to house and care for. So I was kind of surprised to learn that a lot of pregnant prisoners from marion County, Indiana were being housed in a private jail. The care at this particular facility was so delporable that one young woman died after suffering an emergency and never receiving medical attention.

Thankfully, this spurred some action from the Marion County Sheriff, the government official technically in charge of the contract with CEC, the company that runs the jail. Sheriff John Layton "pulled all pregnant inmates into the Marion County Jail; increased county supervision and control over Liberty Hall and the privately run Marion County Jail II; and ordered external evaluations of the facilities to be conducted by former sheriffs Frank Anderson and Jack Cottey."

It's a shame that it took the death of a 27-year-old woman to encourage an evaluation of care at the jail. CEC is the same company who runs a jail in Delaware County, PA that has wrongly released at least 6 prisoners over the past year due to poor record-keeping (or so they say).

So for as much as proponents of privatization love the "cost-savings" provided by the industry, in this case, as in many others, those savings come at a very real and often incalculable cost of human suffering.

Perverse Legal Tactics

Correctional Medical Services (CMS) is a private, for-profit healthcare provider that works in prisons and jails across the country. They sometimes provide services under contract to private prisons, sometimes to state governments looking to outsource medical care. But regardless of their contractual situation, one thing is clear; to say the service they provide is substandard simply would not do the situation justice.

As with all private, for-profit entities involved in the criminal justice system, profit trumps all, especially concerns for prisoners' health. Among the horror stories coming out of just the state of New Mexico, "One inmate allegedly died from preventable complications of a perforated ulcer—after begging for treatment for six days. Another lost all vision in his eye after medical staff allegedly neglected to dispense the antibiotics outside doctors had prescribed for his infection. One inmate had to have his big toe amputated after doctors allegedly misdiagnosed a common staph infection as gout and treated it with over-the-counter painkillers."

So you may be wondering how a company seemingly incapable of providing medical care continues to find work in our nation's prisons and jails. You're not alone. It turns out they have a very effective, and very perverse, legal strategy that has helped insulate the company from nay major damage from lawsuits. CMS has developed a reputation for being a "bad corporate citizen." Not only are they continuously under scrutiny for failing to live up to their contractual obligations, CMS is also the frequent target of lawsuits filed by prisoners who have been neglected or otherwise denied medical care.

Essentially, CMS' legal strategy boils down to prolonging litigation as much as possible to force the prisoners who sue them to capitulate. The longer a trial goes on, the more legal fees prisoners, who are often extremely poor or destitute to begin with, rack up. As legal fees compound, prisoners are incapable of paying attorneys to continue with the suit, and the case is eventually dropped. CMS doesn't even settle; they just draw out the lawsuit for so long with bogus tactics and ridiculous fights over minutiae that plaintiffs, who have been victimized by CMS's greedy business practices, literally run out of money.

So not only is CMS victimizing prisoners, and not only do they, like other private companies in the criminal justice system, continue to get contracts despite poor performance; they shield themselves from retribution. They take advantage of poor people, literally kill them, and pervert any semblance of justice. But possibly the worst part about this is that it protects CMS from the unavoidable public scrutiny of multiple lawsuits. By essentially sweeping these major violations of human rights under the rug, CMS protects itself from being viewed by the public as a company incapable of providing even a modicum of healthcare, which is exactly what it is.

It's despicable. Unfortunately, however, it's a common practice in the private, for-profit world (prison and otherwise). Look at what BP's doing. They started by intentionally under-reporting the spill to limit the amount of fines they'd have to pay. BP then drug its feet on paying out claims filed by Gulf residents whose livelihoods were destroyed. Most recently, they sought a court order to dismiss the majority of those suits. There is no accountability among the businesses in this country. They lie, cheat, and steal, then use the tremendous profits they've reaped to hire lawyers who insulate them from having to provide compensation for the horrors they wreak on our world.

Unacceptable

In July 2008, Michael Crespin died at a private prison in New Mexico after intentionally being denied medical care for months by a private medical contractor, Wexford Health Sources. He had a diganosis of colon cancer upon entering the facility, but was deprived from contact with medical personnel, and "Wexford essentially lost track of Mr. Crespin for treatment purposes." This sort of intentional neglect is all too common among private prison operators and private, for-profit companies that provide "medical services" to prisoners.

After a few nurses and doctors who had seen Mr. Crespin were finally able to convince the cheapskates at Wexford to provide the surgery he needed to live, another tumor was found, for which he was again denied medical treatment. 'I couldn't come out of my unit,' he told Journal investigative reporter Mike Gallager. 'I had no access to anyone.'" After repeatedly missing critical appointments, He eventually had the surgery, but the lawsuit said it was "only after investigative reporters had commenced review of Mr. Crespin's case and multiple other and serious instances of Wexford's deliberate indifference in providing medical services."

Thankfully, New Mexico terminated its contract with Wexford last year. But this case should serve as a reminder that privatizing things like medical service isn't always such a great idea. It's terribly sad to think of all the poor souls being denied medical treatment because private companies are able to exploit such an unsympathetic population. This goes on literally all the time at private prisons, to varying degrees, and it often results in very serious long-term health effects for thousands of prisoners, or, their untimely death. But what gets me most of all about this, is that, as part of the settlement, Wexford was able to officially deny any wrongdoing, so they essentially paid this family hush money.

Hawaiian Prisoners Sue CCA

18 Hawaiian prisoners housed in a CCA facility in Arizona are suing the company following ongoing patterns of abuse at the facility. Among the allegations are that "'The guards are banging their heads on tables, threatening them, beating them, kicking them, punching them,' In written statements the inmates have sent to Rapp, they say they have been forced to stand in the cold in their underwear, kicked while they are on the ground, and denied the opportunity to change their clothes for days." And on top of the repeated assaults and abuses, CCA guards intentionally falsified documents and tried to cover up the evidence of their wrongdoing.

This is the same facility where 2 Hawaiian men in their 20s died this past year of suspicious causes. Clearly, CCA is having some difficulty keeping the Hawaiian prisoners housed safely, as they seem to do with just about all their prisoners.

Inexcusable

The GEO Group is being sued by the family of a 20-years-young diabetic man who died at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in 2007.  Dennis Earl Homes was only incarcerated in this facility for 5 months, during which time he lost 30 pounds due to being denied medical treatment for his diabetes, leading to his death.