I hate anyone who makes a profit by incarcerating human beings.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
They Don't Pay Fair Wages
Another quickie here to a story about guards who work for the GEO Group in Texas. At an immigration detention facility in Pearsall, the guards have taken to the streets in protest, demanding they be compensated more for a job in which they risk their life daily. They are picketing because they haven't had a significant raise in 6 years.
Sexual Assaults
Quick link here to an article detailing the repeated sexual assaults suffered by multiple women at the hands of a psychiatrist at a CCA facility. This would be the Hernando County, Florida facility which had to be taken over by the county after 22 years of mismanagement by CCA, who neglected to perform millions of dollars worth of maintenance. Apparently, they also neglected to hire professional staff. Shocking, I know.
Some Bad, Some Good
A fantastic report by Detention Watch Network, a nonprofit that advocates around immigration issues, shone a light on the shady lobbying activities of the largest private prison companies in the country, and how they have contributed to our nation's explosion of immigration detention.
"For years, private prison firms have played a critical role in shaping public policy around immigration detention, pursuing the bottom line at the expense of basic civil rights and tax payer dollars... This report highlights deep corporate investment in the detention business, raising concerns about how the corporate profit-motive is fueling the expansion of the detention system as a whole."
And now for the bit of good news. A federal district judge refuted the claims of the US government that it did not have to disclose information on the prices paid to private prison companies for the operation of immigration detention centers. This is a great decision which will hopefully lead to greater transparency and oversight of an unwieldy and inefficient contracting system that rewards poorly-performing companies.
"For years, private prison firms have played a critical role in shaping public policy around immigration detention, pursuing the bottom line at the expense of basic civil rights and tax payer dollars... This report highlights deep corporate investment in the detention business, raising concerns about how the corporate profit-motive is fueling the expansion of the detention system as a whole."
And now for the bit of good news. A federal district judge refuted the claims of the US government that it did not have to disclose information on the prices paid to private prison companies for the operation of immigration detention centers. This is a great decision which will hopefully lead to greater transparency and oversight of an unwieldy and inefficient contracting system that rewards poorly-performing companies.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Food Issues
I'll let the lead-in sentence from the title link speak for itself:
"The Republican plan to privatize food service in the state prisons will increase the odds of dangerous and costly violence, corrections workers warn."
This is wise advice, and what's also important to note is that privatizing food services, which inevitably leads to the malnourishment of prisoners, is counter-productive in a system that is also required to provide healthcare for its wards.
Prisoners have rioted over poor food service in Kentucky in the past, which is really saying something because it takes awfully deplorable situations to incite prisoners to riot. And a little over a week ago, a hunger strike was started at a CCA prison in Arizona over the food services.
"The Republican plan to privatize food service in the state prisons will increase the odds of dangerous and costly violence, corrections workers warn."
This is wise advice, and what's also important to note is that privatizing food services, which inevitably leads to the malnourishment of prisoners, is counter-productive in a system that is also required to provide healthcare for its wards.
Prisoners have rioted over poor food service in Kentucky in the past, which is really saying something because it takes awfully deplorable situations to incite prisoners to riot. And a little over a week ago, a hunger strike was started at a CCA prison in Arizona over the food services.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
What a Million Bucks Can Buy
A new report from the Institute on Money in State Politics finds that private prison interests spent $1 million to influence Florida's government this past year. This figure only includes campaign and party contributions, and does not include the tens of thousands also spent lobbying the government during the same timeframe. This all came leading up to the Governor's proposal, and Legislature's decision, to privatize the correctional services of 18 counties, the largest single-instance privatization of prisons probably ever.
The GEO Group alone spent more than $820,000 in campaign contributions in the last year. So exactly what did all this money buy for them? “I think the Florida opportunity is several hundreds of millions,” said Brian Evans, GEO Group’s chief financial officer, adding that it will be among “the largest opportunities we’ve ever seen in the history of our industry.”
I am just really sad to see how influential money can be in our government. Unlimited private campaign contributions and our corporate welfare state are simply unacceptable. Florida's government doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone that doesn't feed its insatiable greed.
The GEO Group alone spent more than $820,000 in campaign contributions in the last year. So exactly what did all this money buy for them? “I think the Florida opportunity is several hundreds of millions,” said Brian Evans, GEO Group’s chief financial officer, adding that it will be among “the largest opportunities we’ve ever seen in the history of our industry.”
I am just really sad to see how influential money can be in our government. Unlimited private campaign contributions and our corporate welfare state are simply unacceptable. Florida's government doesn't give a shit about anything or anyone that doesn't feed its insatiable greed.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
CCA and Yesterday's Supreme Court Decision
Yesterday, SCOTUS ruled in Brown v. Plata that California must reduce its prison population by over 30,000 prisoners. Why? Because their system was so severely overcrowded that the medical neglect prisoners were facing amounted to a violation of their 8th Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. That’s some mightily deficient medical care.
California has been facing a crisis in its prison system for decades, as the sentencing reforms that came as a result of the War on Drugs and other initiatives have steered an ever-increasing segment of the populace into prison. Arguably most impactful in this regard is California’s “Three Strikes” laws, which mandate a life sentence for anyone convicted of a third felony charge, whether that charge be for murder or larceny, rape or possession of a controlled substance. California’s prison population has grown dramatically under this legislation.
“Three Strikes” laws were initially devised in, and then promoted by members of, a conservative legislation front group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a nonprofit group that brings the leaders of the biggest companies in the country together with state legislators in an open forum where model legislation is developed. These state legislators then return with model legislation in hand to their state Assemblies, often to see the bills passed. This really shouldn’t be legal, because nonprofits aren’t supposed to develop model legislation, but since nearly 2/3 of state Republican legislators are members, a blind eye is conveniently turned to this fact.
ALEC is essentially a pay-to-play organization; the more a company pays in membership fees, conference fees, etc., the more influence they can expect to have on the model legislation that’s developed. During the 90’s, CCA paid more than $20,000 per year for a seat on the steering committee of ALEC’s Criminal Justice taskforce, in which the 3-strikes law was developed.
To the joy of hard-line criminal justice advocates everywhere, 3-strikes laws passed with much fanfare in California and elsewhere, though they have had the largest direct impact on a prison population in the Golden State. CCA had direct influence over the drafting, and final approval of the model, of this law. CCA also began operations in California in the 90s, and have since developed a strong relationship with the state government through campaign donations and lobbying. Such a strong relationship in fact that, as California’s population spiraled out of control, CCA increased their contract with the state by more than 3,000%, with practically no public bidding process. So CCA pretty much wrote the law that has had the single largest impact on California’s growing prison population. The very same law they have greatly benefited from as their market share in the state increased 30-fold.
New/Old Governor Jerry Brown has proposed to redistribute many of the state’s prisoners to county jails, primarily nonviolent ones. But this is not a solution; all it does is shift the onus of California’s over-reliance on incarceration to smaller jurisdictions and excuse the state of its responsibility to be accountable for the people it has locked up. Other proposals include the option of shipping prisoners to private facilities in other states, or building even more private prisons. These aren’t solutions either.
The right thing to do would be to reverse 3-strikes, provide for compassionate release of older prisoners with major health problems, and reform technical parole violations. Essentially, begin to wean California off its addiction to incarceration as a primary means of punishment/social control. But I guess that would be just too logical.
California has been facing a crisis in its prison system for decades, as the sentencing reforms that came as a result of the War on Drugs and other initiatives have steered an ever-increasing segment of the populace into prison. Arguably most impactful in this regard is California’s “Three Strikes” laws, which mandate a life sentence for anyone convicted of a third felony charge, whether that charge be for murder or larceny, rape or possession of a controlled substance. California’s prison population has grown dramatically under this legislation.
“Three Strikes” laws were initially devised in, and then promoted by members of, a conservative legislation front group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a nonprofit group that brings the leaders of the biggest companies in the country together with state legislators in an open forum where model legislation is developed. These state legislators then return with model legislation in hand to their state Assemblies, often to see the bills passed. This really shouldn’t be legal, because nonprofits aren’t supposed to develop model legislation, but since nearly 2/3 of state Republican legislators are members, a blind eye is conveniently turned to this fact.
ALEC is essentially a pay-to-play organization; the more a company pays in membership fees, conference fees, etc., the more influence they can expect to have on the model legislation that’s developed. During the 90’s, CCA paid more than $20,000 per year for a seat on the steering committee of ALEC’s Criminal Justice taskforce, in which the 3-strikes law was developed.
To the joy of hard-line criminal justice advocates everywhere, 3-strikes laws passed with much fanfare in California and elsewhere, though they have had the largest direct impact on a prison population in the Golden State. CCA had direct influence over the drafting, and final approval of the model, of this law. CCA also began operations in California in the 90s, and have since developed a strong relationship with the state government through campaign donations and lobbying. Such a strong relationship in fact that, as California’s population spiraled out of control, CCA increased their contract with the state by more than 3,000%, with practically no public bidding process. So CCA pretty much wrote the law that has had the single largest impact on California’s growing prison population. The very same law they have greatly benefited from as their market share in the state increased 30-fold.
New/Old Governor Jerry Brown has proposed to redistribute many of the state’s prisoners to county jails, primarily nonviolent ones. But this is not a solution; all it does is shift the onus of California’s over-reliance on incarceration to smaller jurisdictions and excuse the state of its responsibility to be accountable for the people it has locked up. Other proposals include the option of shipping prisoners to private facilities in other states, or building even more private prisons. These aren’t solutions either.
The right thing to do would be to reverse 3-strikes, provide for compassionate release of older prisoners with major health problems, and reform technical parole violations. Essentially, begin to wean California off its addiction to incarceration as a primary means of punishment/social control. But I guess that would be just too logical.
Monday, May 23, 2011
I've Been Saying This for Years...
An excellent article in the New York Times from last week discusses how private prisons have failed to deliver on their promises of cost-savings in Arizona. In fact, "privately operated prisons can cost more to operate than state-run prisons — even though they often steer clear of the sickest, costliest inmates."
Private prisons essentially cherry-pick their prisoners. They take primarily low-level, nonviolent offenders, who cost less to house and maintain. They take mostly younger guys, and force the state to take older prisoners, who are more prone to costly health problems. They also rarely house high-security inmates.
In addition to all this, they cut corners on maintenance, have a horrible track record of denying medical care, and use significantly less staff than government-run institutions (staff costs being among the most expensive components of a prison's budget). They pay and train their staff less, and offer less benefits, which results in their staff being by and large less qualified and professional than you'd find in a government prisons.
Yet even after all of this, they still don't save a significant amount of money, and can even cost more to operate than a government-run facility. This study is just the latest of numerous reports that have all found essentially the same thing, going back nearly a decade. But our country's inability to enact effective sentencing and parole/probation reform to reduce our over-reliance on incarceration has caused governments to continue to perform this failed experiment with privatization. Hopefully, the decision that came down today in Plata v. Schwarzenneger will demonstrate that we cannot just continue to expand our prison population indefinitely.
Private prisons essentially cherry-pick their prisoners. They take primarily low-level, nonviolent offenders, who cost less to house and maintain. They take mostly younger guys, and force the state to take older prisoners, who are more prone to costly health problems. They also rarely house high-security inmates.
In addition to all this, they cut corners on maintenance, have a horrible track record of denying medical care, and use significantly less staff than government-run institutions (staff costs being among the most expensive components of a prison's budget). They pay and train their staff less, and offer less benefits, which results in their staff being by and large less qualified and professional than you'd find in a government prisons.
Yet even after all of this, they still don't save a significant amount of money, and can even cost more to operate than a government-run facility. This study is just the latest of numerous reports that have all found essentially the same thing, going back nearly a decade. But our country's inability to enact effective sentencing and parole/probation reform to reduce our over-reliance on incarceration has caused governments to continue to perform this failed experiment with privatization. Hopefully, the decision that came down today in Plata v. Schwarzenneger will demonstrate that we cannot just continue to expand our prison population indefinitely.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Australian Prison "Out of Control"
In possibly only the second edition of our international series, this morning's link goes to a story about private prisons in Australia. Well, one in particular, run by Serco, one of the major international private prison firms.
This particular prison, Villawood, reports a "critical incident" every two days. These can include "assaults, bomb threats, chemical and biological threats, death, sexual assaults, riots, escape, hunger strikes, damage to facilities or protests." So one of those every two days. Which is great.
I guess America isn't the only country that can have a completely f***ed up prison system.
This particular prison, Villawood, reports a "critical incident" every two days. These can include "assaults, bomb threats, chemical and biological threats, death, sexual assaults, riots, escape, hunger strikes, damage to facilities or protests." So one of those every two days. Which is great.
I guess America isn't the only country that can have a completely f***ed up prison system.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
"Made to Break Your Soul and Handicap You"
Those are the words used by Pedro Guzman to describe the treatment he received at the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, run by CCA. Guzman, who's been in this country for 23 years and has a wife and son who are both citizens, was forced into Stewart for over a year and a half on a supposed immigration violation (he was later granted a green card). He described some of the hellacious treatment prisoners receive, amounting to a constant screaming match between COs and the immigrants housed there. He said, "The treatment you get is like you’re an animal. I have two dogs, and I treat my dogs much better than the detainees are treated in there."
Wrongful Deaths
Two more quickies here. The title link goes to an article describing the "gross negligence" of a private healthcare provider, PHS, which led to the wrongful death of an immgration detainee in Massachusetts.
And here's a link to a story from Texas about a 45-year-old woman from Texas serving a 1-year drug conviction who died from, what else, gross medical neglect in a CCA prison
And here's a link to a story from Texas about a 45-year-old woman from Texas serving a 1-year drug conviction who died from, what else, gross medical neglect in a CCA prison
Message to Florida's Governor
I'll keep it brief here with just an excerpt from a message the Florida Police Benevolent Association (the CO union in Florida) has asked state legislators to send to Governor Scott in response to his proposal to privatize much of the state prison system:
"Please veto the budget because it allows the additional privatization of state corrections institutions. This will not save the taxpayers of Florida a dime and it will risk public safety. If you allow this, you are hurting public safety while sending a very bad message — big corporate dollars and influence are more important than the government protecting the public or spending taxpayers' money wisely.
"Further, leave payouts to state correctional officers will cost the state approximately $32 million, thus erasing the supposed $11 million savings expected this year from privatization. Therefore, it will cost the taxpayers $21 million this year so big corporations doing business with the state can make a profit."
"Please veto the budget because it allows the additional privatization of state corrections institutions. This will not save the taxpayers of Florida a dime and it will risk public safety. If you allow this, you are hurting public safety while sending a very bad message — big corporate dollars and influence are more important than the government protecting the public or spending taxpayers' money wisely.
"Further, leave payouts to state correctional officers will cost the state approximately $32 million, thus erasing the supposed $11 million savings expected this year from privatization. Therefore, it will cost the taxpayers $21 million this year so big corporations doing business with the state can make a profit."
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