I hate anyone who makes a profit by incarcerating human beings.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
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
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I read that story, it says that the poor man was beaten to death by Sheriff's Deputies. Did you read that article? It says that CCA was named in the suit, along with 16 other individuals and agencies, but it very specifically attributes the violence to county Deputies, not CCA employees. As a matter of fact, CCA wasn't mentioned anywhere else in the story besides in the list of agencies being sued. I can't believe that no one else noticed that after it's been up there this long. Does anyone else read this blog besides me? Hello?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I just checked it again, the man was beaten to death by Davidson County Sheriffs Deputies, you know, the good guys with the fancy background checks and all the high speed training (as well as the qualified immunity, government funded legal counsel and overwhelming public support when confronted with charges of excessive force), who are supposedly the ONLY ONES who can do corrections right. Tighten up your shot group man, your pointing out the flaws of the people you're supposed to be supporting. By the way, the hospital who brought the guy back to life after he was beaten to death by the Sheriffs was also named in the suit, so I'm guessing it doesn't take much to get named in the lawsuit. Maybe the guy was beaten to death by Sheriffs Deputies while wearing a CCA issued uniform, and that's how CCA's name got thrown in there.
ReplyDeleteyou're right - and I apologize for the misstatement. He was not killed by CCA guards. He was however extremely dehydrated and apparently malnourished when he made it to the hospital, which is more than likely CCA's fault, since they had him in their custody. That's likely why they are being sued.
Deletehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47713809/ns/local_news-nashville_tn/t/davidson-co-sheriffs-report-indicates-no-fault-mans-death/#.T9IyCsUYPrQ
ReplyDelete"Right after the arrest, Minick was taken to Nashville General Hospital for treatment of dehydration."
According to this story (from a reputable news source, MSNBC) he was taken from the scene of his arrest directly to the hospital. It doesn't sound like he was ever at a CCA, and certainly if at a CCA he wasn't there long enough to get malnourished or dehydrated as a result of CCA's mistreatment. It sounds like he was malnourished as a result of being out in the woods high on bath salts (as the story states).
I think you may have gotten this one completely wrong. You should post a retraction.
CCA is being charged in the case for deliberate indifference and failure to protect Mr. Minick from harm. As a pretrial detainee, CCA is responsible for his treatment because they manage the Metro-Davidson CF, which houses pretrial detainees for Nashville's government. They failed to protect him from being beaten to death. No, CCA is not the most culpable party in this lawsuit, but in the company's official capacity, it failed to protect him from harm. Which is part of its job - if the company wants to perform an inherently governmental function, it shouldn't be surprised when they're asked to be as responsible as the government.
DeleteThere's still no mention of Minick ever being in CCA custody. Normally, before a jail will take custody of an inmate, that inmate has to be medically cleared. This usually happens at the jail, but in cases where it's obvious an individual needs medical attention, that individual goes directly to a provider to be stabilized before booking. That's what seems to have happened in this instance.
ReplyDeleteHere's what happened. You read that CCA was named in a lawsuit involving an inmate who was dehydrated and malnourished and was beaten to death and jumped to the conclusion (without reading the story) that CCA employees beat the man to death. When I pointed out that this wasn't true and wasn't even being alleged, you retreated to the position that CCA must've been responsible for the man being malnourished and dehydrated, which is clearly not the case, so you retreated again to saying that CCA failed to protect the inmate. It's pretty obvious that CCA, as a non-governmental, non-law enforcement company really couldn't have protected the guy from being beaten to death by the police. There's no mention of any employee from CCA even being present in the hospital. So now You've gone all the way from saying that CCA beat this man to death to saying that they should've been able to somehow protect him from GOVERNMENT agents who caused his death before CCA ever even took custody of him. What was CCA supposed to do, send non-sworn civilian employees down to the hospital to fight the Deputies who beat this man to death?
Just admit it, in your zeal to accuse CCA of wrongdoing, you completely botched this one.
I predict that CCA will not be found to have played a role in this man's death, and I also predict that you won't link to that story.
And by the way, I noticed that you changed the text of your blog to reflect that Minick was beaten to death by Sheriffs Deputies. You also changed the text of your blog to state that Minick, "was taken into custody and turned over to CCA." There's no mention of him being turned over to CCA. Your amended text also says, "Some time later, he was admitted to the hospital for loss of muscle mass and extreme dehydration." According to the story, Minick was taken directly from the scene of the arrest to the hospital. You're really doing your cause and your blog a disservice by making up facts to suit your agenda instead of just telling the story like it is, posting a retraction and moving on.
ReplyDeleteyou're right; I changed the text of the story in the interest of accuracy. It's not inaccurate to say that some time later he was admitted to the hospital. All things considered, I think you're right, I was overzealous in bashing CCA in this instance, and I have since posted a retraction. There are plenty of things CCA does wrong that I can complain about, and there was no need or excuse for me to go out of my way to do it here. As I indicated in the retraction, I too think CCA's role in this was negligible at best and they certainly do not seem to be at direct fault. I said CCA was responsible as an agent of the government, performing an inherently governmental function. They are even less at fault here than the city of Nashville and its sheriff's department, but I wanted to make the point that when a company assumes governmental responsibility, it ought to be held accountable in the same way a government is. I agree the company was basically powerless to stop this, the same as the sheriff himself would have been, since neither were on-site during the altercation.
DeleteThis is where training takes over and you should never accept a prisoner with injuries when brought in by law Enforcement. There are some decent employees who try and do a decent job working for the private sector, but there are many questionable practices, shortcuts, and poor management decisions made. Profits motivate the private sector, and some politicans are responsible for showcasing private prisons as saving tax payers money when in reality they do not. They are anti-union, and they don't pay a very decent wage which undermines the profession. Corrections is a dangerous buisness and is not a job for everyone no matter what companies like CCA claim! joe_justice@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteIf you read the story, CCA DID NOT accept this inmate. The inmate was taken directly from the scene to the hospital for dehydration. At the hospital, he suffered a brutal beating at the hands of the highly screened, highly trained, highly regarded and VERY highly paid (but completely unprofitable) government employees who are always quick to remind people that only THEY can be trusted to do this important work. THAT'S what happened if you read the article. CCA killed exactly ZERO people that day, and we know for sure that the county killed at least one. If there were any "...questionable practices, shortcuts, and poor management decisions made" they were made by your darn near flawless guv'mint sanctioned heroes, okay? I'm betting that neither the author of this blog nor joe_justice have any exposure to corrections, other than maybe a summer internship at the federal building following around some Marshal and listening to him or her tell exaggerated stories and eating it all up. You act as if government employees descend from heaven on a staircase of clouds with golden railings, while private sector employees fall off of a sewage pumping truck in front of a private correctional facility and have uniforms slapped on them if they're able to hobble up to the front gate. I'm here to tell you as someone whose seen both sides for over a decade that it's basically about the same caliber of individuals on both sides of the coin, but the lucky ones who get hired at the government jobs are usually the ones who've got friends and family already working in the agencies where they apply. Lastly, there are PLENTY of people who start on the public side who "defect" to the private side because believe it or not, in some areas private facilities pay more per hour than public agencies. That's also why probably more than half of the wardens and other individuals who call the shots at private facilities come to the private side after they retire from the same public agencies that you're always singing the praises of. I'm sorry that these FACTS (go check cca.com/facilities and read the bios of the wardens at each facility if you don't believe me) don't marry up with your prejudices, but they just happen to be...facts!
DeleteThere is nevertheless absolutely no reference to Minick actually becoming within CCA custody of the children. Usually, prior to the prison will require custody of the children of the inmate, which inmate needs to be clinically removed. This particular generally occurs in the prison, however where it is apparent a person requirements medical assistance, that each will go straight to the supplier to become stable prior to reserving. That is exactly what has occurred in cases like this.
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I Have worked for both sides. I worked for the Florida Dept of Corrections for a year and a half, The Arizona Department of Corrections for 7 years. I have been with CCA here in Arizona for 16 years.. The pay is better than any agency in our area and better than anyplace I have ever worked. The training is as good or better than the DOC and i have seen a lot more crooked and questionable practices in the public sector.. Answering to shareholders is a good thing. Government is most allways shady!!
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