Another Riot in a CCA facility

Last week, a CCA prison in Woodville, MS became the site of the latest private prison riot.  At least 23 prisoners were injured in the disturbance to the point where they required medical attention.  Fights raged for nearly an hour before the prison staff got the facility back under control.

Assaulting a Malnourished and Restrained Man

CCA is being sued by the family of Michael Minnick, a Tennessee man who was killed by Sheriff's deputies while in restraints.  After being arrested for failing to appear in court for a suspended drivers' license hearing, Minnick was taken into custody and turned over to CCA.  Some time later, he was admitted to the hospital for loss of muscle mass and extreme dehydration.  While in the hospital and handcuffed, he was beaten so severely by the guards that he fell into a coma.  The hospital was able to revive him temporarily, but Mr. Minnick died a few hours later

TYT's Coverage of the Riot in Mississippi

Riots Causing Concern

The recent riots (or "disturbances," in industry parlance) at CCA prisons in Georgia and Mississippi have raised the concern of advocates in other states looking to privatize prisons.  The teamsters union down in Florida is urging state lawmakers to consider CCA's poor management of the facilities when it inevitably takes up the now annually-recurring massive privatization effort.  Information about the cause of the riot has been slow to trickle out of the facility in Mississippi, but it looks at least preliminarily like my intuition was correct.  Prisoners claim they routinely suffer abuse at the hands of guards, and that the medical care, food, and programming at the facility, which houses immigrants in the US illegally, were woefully insufficient. Even the Nashville Business Journal picked up on the story, albeit it to discuss how CCA can save face.

2 Riots in CCA Facilities

Two weeks ago, prisoners rioted at a CCA prison in Georgia, resulting in the prison being put on lockdown.  There's not much more information available on that

But a second riot occurred at another CCA prison, this one in Mississippi, and what has come out so far isn't pretty; 200-300 prisoners were said to be involved in the disturbance, and at least one guard has died.  A handful of staff and inmates were injured at the immigration detention facility.  The situation lasted for hours, with prisoners taking moire than a dozen staff hostage.  Which makes sense, because a former employee said the staff-to-inmate ratio was dangerously low, so much so that he left his job there.  Sixteen staff members had to be transported to a hospital due to injuries.  Prison riots are a relatively rare occurrence; this one even more so because of the facility's population.  It houses immigrants charged with illegal re-entry, not many of whom have criminal convictions beyond that.  So this isn't a population that necessarily lends itself to violence and rioting; I imagine they are upset with the living conditions in the facility, though no word has yet come out about what incited it.

Thankfully, the company is already coming under fire for its poor management by a Mississippi Congressman, and the riot is being investigated by the FBI.

The guard who died was 24-year-old Catlin Carithers.

More on the Riot in Oklahoma

A pretty serious riot took place at a private prison in Sayre, Oklahoma last year, in which 46 prisoners were injured and many needed to be transported to a hospital.  CCA operates the prison, and has been very cagey with the information that has come out about it, which would not have been possible if this were a government-operated facility.  Finally, a report has come out about the riot; 2,700 pages' worth, detailing how officials at the prison allowed for racially fueled violence to get so out of hand that 19 people are now being charged with Oklahoma's equivalent of attempted murder (leave it to Oklahoma to have no law against attempted murder)

New Lawsuit from Gladiator School

Another prisoner from the Idaho Correctional Center has filed a lawsuit against CCA over the abhorrent levels of violence the facility just can't seem to control.  Jacob Clevenger, who was beaten senseless inside the prison in August 2010, claims CCA "has allowed and even fostered systemic conditions of brutality, peril, and injuriousness at the ICC."  This is the same prison that was sued by the ACLU over violence so severe and persistent that the facility was called "gladiator school" by the residents.  That lawsuit settled out of court, but the settlement did not preclude prisoners from filing individual cases against CCA.  Clevenger claims in his suit that CCA officials knowingly put him at risk by housing him with known gang members; shortly thereafter he was assaulted, resulting in a broken tooth, fractured eye socket, and partially torn ear.  I'll go so far as to say that when someone's injuries sound like the aftermath of a fight with Mike Tyson, the violence is pretty severe.

Idaho Should Rethink Its Relationship with Private Prisons

It turns out private prisons might cost more to operate than government ones in Idaho, according to a report from the Associated Press.  The thing is, Idaho hasn't bothered to find out; the state has never conducted a cost comparison study despite elected officials' claims that the industry saves it money.  The AP's study attempted to compare costs at public and private prisons, but ran into the common obstacles facing researchers who try to compare costs.  Namely, the per diem paid by the state doesn't account for oversight of the industry, CCA has a clause in its contract with the state that bars any prisoners with serious medical issues (thus placing a heavier financial burden on the state), and the private facility is much newer than state prisons (resulting in lower operating costs).

So the Board of Corrections has not yet allocated funds for a comparison, but a new board member says he's willing to do so, and even went so far as to say he was "on the verge of calling [contracting with CCA] a failed experiment."  He would seem to be correct in making such a claim - the state's history with privatization is far from pretty.  For starters, it failed to ever conduct a cost comparison before privatizing in the late 90s, against the recommendation of a consultant hired to help with the transition.  It brought CCA in to run the Idaho Correctional Center, which became the target of a multiple of lawsuits alleging civil rights abuses and an FBI investigation.  Conditions became so bad that it was called "gladiator school" by the prisoners housed there, who would routinely suffer severe physical assaults while staff failed to intervene, sometimes even watching the beatings.  A class action lawsuit about the violence at ICC was settled out of court late last year, but details on that are unavailable because the judge sealed the settlement.

The time has come for Idaho to evaluate its relationship with CCA and privatization, as its prisons are currently operating at or near capacity and the state will likely need to open a new facility within the next few years to handle the anticipated rise in the population.  Particularly because the state legislature just allocated $29.8 million to the private prison fund for this coming year, a 3% increase over the last budget (that again won't take into account the administrative costs of overseeing the prison).  This was the only item on the budget that didn't pass unanimously, possibly because it's about a million extra dollars going to CCA; 3 representatives voted against it.  Since private prisons have been found to cost as much or more than government ones in basically every study not funded by the industry, and given its track record of failing to properly operate prisons both in Idaho and elsewhere, the state should think long and hard about the 30 million taxpayer dollars it's giving CCA to operate a prison that just a few short years ago had more violent assaults than all other state prisons combined.

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.

After the Revolving Door Stops Turning

A really interesting story came out of New Mexico last week that really speaks to the great benefit the industry enjoys in having former (and potentially future) employees working in government.  I have often complained of the political and contractual favoritism shown to the industry by former employees, but this one really struck me.

The new Secretary of Corrections has decided to finally start holding the GEO Group accountable for its terrible mismanagement of its facilities in the state, fining the company more than $1 million for failing to maintain  adequate staffing levels, which obviously presents a huge risk of violence.  This is the first time the state has really held any private prison company accountable for failing to meet contractual obligations.  The former Secretary, who had previously worked for the GEO Group, repeatedly declined to fine the industry for known failures to comply, saving the GEO Group nearly $20 million worth of fines in the process.  And it seems like the new Secretary is serious about holding GEO Group and CCA accountable for the millions of taxpayer dollars they get in contracts; he says he wants to review staffing levels at private prisons every single month.

And the fines could not have come at a more appropriate time.  Because a prisoner in a GEO Group facility in Clayton, New Mexico, was just beaten to within an inch of his life and is now on life support following the vicious assault.

PS - that former secretary of corrections, Joe Williams, who declined to fine the GEO Group nearly $20 million, landed himself a nice, cushy gig with, who else, the effing GEO Group.  He's the director of US operations, a position that I'm willing to bet pays a pretty decent salary.

Who Benefits from Private Prisons?

Finally getting around to linking up an NPR story I previously just tweeted.  Following on the heels of some recent reports of the political influence and financial motivations of the private prison industry from the likes of the ACLU and Justice Policy Institute, among others, NPR looked into the beneficiaries of private prisons.

Their findings may shock you:

• Private prison companies take in billions in revenue from taxpayer dollars
• Private prison companies don't share cost-savings with those taxpayers, so the amount they save by cutting on staff, security, etc. becomes profit (read: "corporate welfare") for the companies
• Claims of economic benefits by the industry are dubious at best
• Prisoners face higher risks of assaults and violence inside private prisons.

OK I lied.  None of this is shocking in the least.

UK's Dubious Privatization Experience

Though I rarely touch on international private prison news, two recent stories from our friends across the pond caught my attention recently.  The first is an article from The Guardian discussing the proposed privatization of nine prisons in England, which the author concludes would work out very well for any corporation that wins the contract but not so well for prisoners who end up housed in a private facility.  Research cited by the author has shown that private prisons present a much higher risk to the safety of prisoners, staff, and the general public.  Private prisons in the UK has seen some of the same problems as the industry experiences here in the US; "green" staff, with little training and a high rate of turnover, which results in higher levels of violence and decreased security.  Likewise, the industry falls victim to the profit motive, as private prison operators continually cut costs at the expense of prisoner rehabilitation and care.

England is facing a crisis of incarceration similar to, but on a much smaller scale than our own, driven by things like mandatory minimum sentences and 3-strikes laws, which has prompted lawmakers to seek ways to cut the prison population or at least make it more manageable.  Unfortunately, they seem to be taking a page out of our manual in dealing with the crisis, focusing more on increasing capacity by outsourcing services to private companies than on smart and efficient legislative and policy initiatives designed to reduce the prison population.

The second is an article that uncovers an "eye-watering scandal;" namely, that the competitive bidding process currently underway to operate 5 facilities is rigged in favor of the private companies.  Stipulations were introduced by the government late into the process that rendered bids from public entities non-competitive, and the private industry has basically been handed a cakewalk of a bidding process.  It's a clear handout to the industry, and as the assistant secretary general of the probation union said, "Prison Privatisation is no longer based on efficiency, it's now ideological."

They're Run By Super Classy People

Sometimes this stuff is just too easy.  Grady Sims, the former warden of a halfway house run by the GEO Group in Walnut Grove, MS, has been charged with sexually assaulting a prisoner under his watch, then attempting to cover up the incident.  This should not be confused with the juvenile prison in Walnut Grove, also run by the GEO Group, which is the target of a wide-ranging lawsuit by the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center alleging, among other things, rampant violence and neglect of serious medical and mental health care needs.

But he didn't stop there.  Mr. Sims, who was also the mayor of this small town for decades, used the town's taxpayers' money to perform maintenance on the private prison.  In fact, he used over $30,000 worth of their money to perform labor on the facility.  Because apparently the GEO Group, which already takes in literally billions of dollars every year in taxpayer money as revenue, tens if not hundreds of millions of which ends up as profit, couldn't perform that labor themselves.

CCA's Revolving Door Continues to Turn

CCA's influence in Idaho just got a boost, thanks to the departure of the Governor's long-time aide to a lobbying firm.  After working for four years as the top aide to Governor Otter, Jason Kreizenbeck is leaving the administration to take a job with one of the largest lobbying firms in the state, led by former Senator Skip Smyser.  Smyser's firm represents, among other clients, CCA, whose failure to adequately operate the Idaho Correctional Center resulted in a huge lawsuit against the company for violence so pervasive it was called "Gladiator School" by the prisoners housed there.

Update on Oklahoma Riot

Thankfully, it does not appear as though anyone was killed in the riot at the CCA prison in Sayre, Oklahoma earlier this week.  However, 46 people were injured, and many needed to be transported off-site for medical attention at a hospital.  3 men are still listed in critical condition.

The prison suffered "extensive damage" in the riot among prisoners who had been shipped in from California, which has nearly 10,000 prisoners serving their sentences in states other than California.  8 prisoners remain in the hospital (including the aforementioned 3 in critical condition), and the prison is on an indefinite lockdown for the foreseeable future.

More Coverage of "Gladiator School"

Just wanted to alert you all to two new articles detailing the catastrophe that was/is the Idaho Correctional Center, informally called the "Gladiator School" by prisoners housed there due to its extreme levels of violence. The ACLU recently settled a lawsuit with CCA for an undisclosed sum.

The first article details how the prison remains the most violent prison in the state of Idaho, even after the lawsuit.

The second continues to discuss the violence and then tries to figure out what lessons can be learned from the experience.  My two cents: don't privatize prisons.  I know, you're shocked.

Good Luck, AP

Honestly - I'm not being sarcastic here.  The AP has requested the settlement in the recent case the ACLU and Marlin Riggs won against CCA in Idaho be unsealed.  The case alleged violence at the facility was so pervasive that it was called "Gladiator School," and that the prison intentionally denied medical care to assaulted prisoners in order to cover up the extent of the violence.  The AP says the case raises profound questions of public concern, which I certainly agree with.  So, I wish you the best of luck in getting that settlement unsealed; I'd love to see what it says, and how much CCA had to pay.

"Gladiator School" Lawsuit Settles

The lawsuit the ACLU had against CCA for its poor operation of the Idaho Correctional Center, commonly referred to as "Gladiator School" by its residents, has settled, after being combined with a separate suit that had been filed by a prisoner.  Violence levels at the facility were so severe that the ACLU had sought more than $150 million in damages, CCA's annual profit (yes, as in the amount of taxpayer dollars they saved as profit by cutting services and medical care).  Staff routinely ignored prisoners' requests to protect them from violence, and in many cases intentionally placed vulnerable prisoners in high-risk situations in which they knew they'd be assaulted.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, and CCA avoided admitting liability for the actions of its staff.  Because they pay good money to effective, if completely crooked, attorneys.

Ongoing Abuse

Hawaiian prisoners continue to report extreme violence and abuse at the Saguaro Correctional Facility, a CCA joint, in Arizona.  Thousands of Hawaiian prisoners are housed by CCA on the mainland, despite Governor Abercrombie's promise to bring them all home.  In the private hellholes, they have been repeatedly subject to sexual assault and harassment, violence, and even murder.  The Solicitor General of the state even released a scathing report on the questionable tactics CCA engages in to manipulate cost projections and scam the state into thinking it's saving money by having prisoners at their facility.

In a complaint just filed in Honolulu, Hawaiian prisoners are suing CCA and the state of Hawaii for subjecting them to the brutal conditions at Saguaro.  The complaint details some of the problems these men face, saying

    "Plaintiffs were stripped of nearly all of their clothing while being beaten, questioned, and humiliated.

     "Plaintiffs were threatened with harm to themselves and their families, including through such statements as:

     "a. 'We have your emergency contact information;'

     "b. 'We know who your family is and where they live and we are going to harm them;'

     "c. 'We are going to kill you;'

     "d. 'We will continue to beat you and the only way to stop that is to commit suicide;'

     "e. 'We will send you to hell;'

     "f. 'We will stick something up your ass.'

     "g. 'We will smash all the bones in your face.'"

I really hope this finally catches the Governor's attention and that he realizes sending prisoners to private facilities is a disgraceful and inhumane way to back out of the state's responsibility to house its prisoners.

Straight From the Horse's Mouth

Ohio is currently in the process of trying to sell 5 state prisons to private operators to raise money during the recession.  As I reported on before, the deal isn't nearly as beneficial for the state and its taxpayers as it was initially said to be.  So any hopes Ohio's taxpayers have of saving money on corrections through privatization should be tempered, especially because private prisons have often been found to not even save any significant amount of money in operations, compared to government-run prisons.

So private prisons don't save money.  Private prisons also consistently have higher rates of escapes, assaults, and violence at their facilities, and they cut corners in every area of operations.  So really the state of Ohio should listen to CCA spokesman Steve Owen, who says "If we don't operate safe, secure facilities, and we don't provide the cost savings that are expected, there's no reason for government to continue to partner with our industry."  I couldn't have said it better myself.

I think Ohio should heed his words, especially in light of the state's turbulent history with private prisons.  In addition to one of the biggest lawsuits to slam the industry during the 90's, the result of a riot at a Youngstown prison operated by CCA, the state has had numerous escapes and murders at other private prisons.  And in a rather blatant handout to the industry, the state of Ohio is even going to pay to help train the guards at the private prisons.  On the one hand, this is good because guards at private prisons rarely if ever receive as much training as they need, but this is something that should really be paid for by the companies who buy the prisons and want to assume responsibility for operating them.