CCA Slammed with huge attorneys' fees order

After exposing horrendous abuse and deceptive tactics regarding compliance with a settlement agreement at a CCA-run prison in Idaho, CCA has just been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees. The judge ordered CCA to pay the attorneys representing the prisoners substantially more than the minimum permitted by law, because of their "extraordinary performance yielding extraordinary results." 

ALEC Rock

I'm a little late in posting this video about ALEC, but, enjoy!

New Hampshire Bans Private Prisons

Inside the Private Prison Industry

Today is CCA's 30th Anniversary

I apologize for falling silent for the past few months.  Life caught up with me.  Anyway, don't think I've stopped hating on private prisons - far from it.  I just haven't really had the time to write.

But I can't let a day like today go by without some mention.  Today, CCA turns 30.  That means for three decades we as a nation (beginning with Tennessee (thanks a lot, Tennessee)) have been bullishly pursuing a failed experiment in which we turn over society's most vulnerable members to private companies, who systematically fail to live up to their contractual standards, let alone any notion of human decency, in how they operate their facilities.  In the process, millions of lives have been impacted, with all but a very few exceptions (the corporate brass) being worse for the wear.

We've sold our morality to the lowest bidder, repeatedly, to the tune of BILLIONS of taxpayer (i.e. my and your) dollars every year.  Meanwhile, these companies earn hundreds of millions of dollars (again, our money) in profit annually. But even THAT wasn't enough, because now CCA and the GEO Group are reincorporating as something called Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), which, in a nutshell, is a legal maneuver that will allow them to largely avoid paying taxes.

So CCA, GEO Group, MTC, and everyone else who takes my money to abuse and mistreat people, on the thirtieth anniversary of your despicable existence, here's a heart-felt

Fuck You.

from me to you.

And The Intrusion Continues...

CCA officers were used to help in a surprise drug sweep of Arizona public school students. There are so many things wrong with this situation, I couldn't possibly do it justice the way Beau Hodai has over at PRWatch. I especially like his history on how CCA influenced the introduction of "tough on crime" legislation through ALEC, which also helped pass stricter sentences for those convicted of drug offenses in school zones (how conveeeeenient), among other wondrous contributions to our nation having the largest criminal justice system probably in human history.

Haha @ DL Hughley

I normally watch the Daily Show, but I missed this interview wit DL Hughley where the subject turned to private prisons:

GEO Group Acquires Another Company

Looks like the GEO Group wasn't satisfied with its previous expansion, when it purchased the third-largest company in the country, Cornell, which significantly increased its capacity.  They just acquired another company, called Municipal Corrections Finance, L.P., which adds another 10,000 beds across 11 facilities to its total capacity

The Union Report - Private Prison Special

NH Still Considering Privatization

New Hampshire's legislature and governor have been looking to privatize much, if not all, of the state's prison system for the past few months. The state submitted a request for proposals in April, and in May announced a new proposal to send all male prisoners to private facilities.

Apparently not content with just considering prison privatization proposals, New Hampshire wants to partially privatize the process of figuring out the bids.  The state expects the process to take about 2.5 months and is seeking technical assistance to sort through the plethora of information they'll receive responsive to the request for proposals.  The consultant, the only one who bid, was just awarded a contract for nearly $175,000.  The state had actually asked 3 other companies to bid, but they all declined.  A spokesperson for one of the companies that turned down the state said they did so because they didn't want to be involved in a process where "the job would go to the lowest bidder."  I'm sure this in no way could lead to a conflict of interest or poor decision-making by the state.

CCA and MTC appear to be at the forefront of the cash grab; CCA is looking into 3 sites, and MTC seems pretty competitive in the bidding process.  Folks in New Hampshire are becoming a little frustrated with the process and its lack of transparency; an agency within the executive branch has the authority to award the contract with little to no public discussion of the potential risks and ramifications.  This is especially troubling given the industry's propensity to not save money and have higher rates of incidents like assaults, escapes, and other security issues.

FL's Healthcare Privatization Stalled

Just a quick link to give everyone an update on the healthcare privatization fight in Florida, which is currently stalled in court.  Lawmakers there are really just infatuated with privatization.

Serco Sucks, Too

Just a quick follow up on some of the news coming out of New Zealand regarding its Mt. Eden prison, which is run by Serco, probably the largest non-US based private prison operator in the world.  The prison and the company have come under tremendous scrutiny in recent months for its poor operation of the facility.  It was recently discovered that the company failed to meet at least 40% of the targets in its contract with the government.  As more information came out, it was determined that the company failed to meet at least half of its performance goals; and that among its management issues in the past year were wrongful releases and detentions, and an escape.  Less than 1/3 of the prisoners had a classification plan within the target time frame; the contract targeted a rate of 90%.

So it's not just in the US that private companies epically fail to meet their contractual obligations to run prisons.  I suppose that should make me feel better, but it doesn't.