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.

From the Inside

Really quick, I want to just turn your attention to an excellent article that came out today regarding a riot at the North Fork CF, a CCA facility in Oklahoma.  This article was written by a prisoner from California who had been transferred to the prison and experienced the riot first-hand.  It's called "Riot at North Fork: Private Prison Exchanges Security for Profits," and it's a great read.

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.

Political Donations and Cronyism in NJ

I just wanted to provide a quick update on the ongoing situation in NJ, where a contract to build and operate an immigration detention center was basically handed to a company with strong political ties in the state.  I've covered this a bit in the past (here and here), but basically, the state set up the bidding process in such a way that only one company, a subsidiary of CEC, would be able to secure the contract.

An immigration advocacy group has just released a report detailing the political influence that helped CEC's subsidiary win the contract.  It's a rather short report, but a nice case study of how political relationships cultivated by private industry can severely restrict public oversight and accountability. 

CCA Costs More in Kentucky

Ron Herrington, who runs the Henderson County Jail in Kentucky, was really looking forward to the new year.  The state released 31 prisoners from his facility as part of a larger reduction in the state's incarcerated population on January 3.  The state is releasing prisoners as a way to save money; it will instead focus more on improving rehabilitation, especially for low-risk offenders who are not well-served by spending time behind bars.  But Mr. Herrington seemed even more excited due to the fact that the state's 2 contracts with CCA expired at the end of the year.  Because, he said, "[CCA] has two private prisons in Kentucky that hold many prisoners who could be housed in qualified county jails...for substantially lower cost."

Methodists Divest from Private Prisons

Quick link here.  The United Methodist Church has just divested itself of its investments in private prison companies, including CCA and the GEO Group.  The resolution they just passed declares that the Church will no longer include in its investment portfolio any company that derives at least 10% of its earnings from the owning or operation of a private prison.  This is a huge victory for the Divestment Campaign, and hopefully will be the start of a mass migration away from investing in the immorality of private incarceration.

Private Prisons & Wall Street Fuel Immigrant Detention and AZ Copycat Laws

The Fight Continues in Arizona

I just wanted to give a quick update on the lawsuit challenging Arizona's rush to privatize its prison system, as the state had submitted a Request for Proposals (RFP) to build 5,000 new private beds.  The AFSC in Arizona sued the state because for the past 2 decades the state has had private prisons, it has failed to conduct a single cost evaluation, which is required by law, to see if the private facilities actually save any money.

An initial review found that private prisons can cost up to $5 per prisoner, per day more for the state than its own prisons; further reviews seem to support the notion that private prisons simply don't offer any cost-savings at all for the state.  However, the lawsuit AFSC has against the state was dismissed on a technicality, and the state continued to proceed with its RFP (more on that in the near future).

Report Exposes Private Prison Lobbying

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.

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.

Making Prisons Private