Arizona
January 18, 2012
Arizona may undo fix to pension system
Key state lawmakers want to rescind last year's hike in the contribution that more than 200,000 Arizona State Retirement System members make toward their pensions, citing fears of losing a lawsuit over the issue.
House Bill 2264 would return to the previous funding system, under which contributions to the ASRS for public-employee retirements were split 50-50 between employees and their employer...
LINK - AZCentral.com
October 19, 2011
San Joaquin authorities ID suspect in deputy involved shooting
The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department released the identity of the man who was shot and killed by a deputy Tuesday.
Kevin James Jackson, 47, was a parolee-at-large out of Arizona, San Joaquin Sheriff's Department spokesman Les Garcia said. Jackson failed to report to his parole officer after getting out of prison.
Jackson tried to flee from deputies by carjacking a truck. When a deputy tried to stop him by getting hold of the truck, he sped up. Garcia said the deputy fired a shot at the suspect then dropped to the ground...
LINK - News10.net
September 23, 2011
Private prison still having problems 1 year after escapes in Arizona
The Arizona Department of Corrections has toughened its oversight of private prisons since a well-publicized breakout last year and has made other security improvements, but potentially dangerous security lapses in state-run and privately operated facilities remain, auditors reported Friday.
The July 30, 2010 breakout from the medium-security Arizona State Prison in Golden Valley sparked a three-week national manhunt. All three were captured, but authorities said two of the inmates killed an Oklahoma couple in New Mexico while they were on the run...
LINK - TheRepublic.com
September 16, 2011
Private prison issues in Arizona
Whether more private prison beds will be added in Arizona — including perhaps here in the Yuma area — remains uncertain in the wake of a court ruling earlier this week.
Awarding of bids for private companies to build prisons to house thousands of prisoners are pending by the Arizona Department of Corrections. Among the bidders are two companies proposing to build prisons in Yuma County.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) asked a judge early this week to immediately halt awarding of bids pending completion of a study of the effectiveness of private prisons. The judge declined to do so, but did schedule a hearing next week on the issue...
LINK - YumaSun.com
September 12, 2011
Quakers file suit against private prison contracts
A Quaker group filed suit Monday to block the state from awarding any more contracts for private prisons, at least for the time being.
The lawsuit points out the Department of Corrections is supposed to award a contract for 5,000 additional private prison beds as early as the end of the week. Four companies have been chosen as finalists.
GEO Group, whose world headquarters is located in Boca Raton, Fla., has a bid for sites at the Yuma Prison for 2,000 or 3,000 beds. Management and Training Corp., from Centerville, Utah, has a bid for sites in Yuma for 3,000 beds...
LINK - YumaSun.com
September 4, 2011
Prison privatization is hard to swallow
It's hard to find anything positive for Marion in the prison privatization deal announced by the state Thursday.
It is nothing like the deal that was described in the spring.
While we were apprehensive about the selling of state property in the community, we were bolstered by the possibility of opening a closed facility and the likelihood of adding a considerable amount of valuable property to the tax rolls...
LINK - AZCentral.com
September 4, 2011
Arizona prison businesses are big political contributors
Corrections Corp. of America, the country's largest private-prison operator, says it thrives by offering better service at a lower cost than state-run prisons. It's an argument echoed by the three smaller rivals bidding on a 5,000-bed private-prison contract with the state of Arizona.
But when it comes to other ways of winning business, such as employing platoons of lobbyists, doling out campaign contributions and working through political connections, CCA stands head and shoulders above its competitors, in Arizona and across the country...
LINK - AZCentral.com
August 22, 2011
Top 10 Lies Told By Private Prison Corporations at the Arizona Hearings
It’s been a hot summer in Arizona, but there were a lot of private prison corporate executives whose pants were on fire over the past two weeks. On the plus side, our crop yields will set records this year due to the amount of b.s. that we just got showered with.
Over the past two weeks, the Arizona Dept. of Corrections (ADC) conducted public hearings on proposed private prisons in 5 Arizona towns: Eloy, Goodyear, Winslow, San Luis/Yuma, and Coolidge. At each hearing, the ADC gave a presentation on the bidding process, the Corporation gave a (sometimes quite lengthy) presentation on how awesome they think they are, and members of the public got 5 minutes apiece to raise concerns, ask questions, or, in many cases, beg them for jobs...
LINK - TucsonCitizen.com
August 9, 2011
Private prison problems exposed
When Florida inspectors arrived June 13 for a surprise audit of Geo Group Inc.’s South Bay prison in Palm Beach, they couldn’t get anyone to let them in. For 20 minutes, the state inspectors pressed an alert button to signal the prison’s control room, flashed lights at the security cameras, and tried to get the attention of someone – anyone – at the facility. Finally, they gave up and left.
Geo Group, of Boca Raton, Fla., is one of four companies bidding for a contract with the Arizona Department of Corrections to provide up to 5,000 new private-prison beds. Public hearings are being held this week and next to gauge community sentiment. Geo is proposing to build a new prison with 2,000 or 3,000 beds in San Luis, south of Yuma, or a new one with 2,000 to 5,000 beds near the existing Perryville state prison in Goodyear...
LINK - TucsonCitizen.com
July 20, 2011
Private prison “pay-to-play” scandal in Arizona
Much has been made of Governor Brewer’s intimate ties to Corrections Corporation of America. Her Chief of Staff, Paul Senseman, is a former CCA lobbyist, and his wife is currently a lobbyist for the company. Brewer’s campaign manager and senior policy advisor, Chuck Coughlin, runs a consulting firm that also lobbies for CCA in Arizona. Brewer accepted a total of $60,000 in contributions from people associated with CCA for her campaign and the tax increase initiative that she was pushing last year. The scandal made waves after the passage of SB1070, raising questions about CCA’s role in drafting legislation that would potentially provide the company with millions more in contracts for immigrant detention facilities in Arizona...
LINK - TucsonCitizen.com
June 20, 2011
AZ private prison escapee gets 43 years for kidnapping, aggravated asasult, weapons, etc.
An Arizona inmate whose escape sparked a three-week national manhunt last summer was sentenced Friday to 43 years behind bars for breaking out of prison and abducting two truck drivers whose big rig was used as a getaway vehicle.
John McCluskey's sentence came the same day a Mohave County jury found him guilty of escape, kidnapping, aggravated assault and other charges in his July 30 break from the medium-security Arizona State Prison in Golden Valley.
Authorities said McCluskey, a second inmate and their accomplice went on to kill Gary and Linda Haas, of Tecumseh, Okla., who were traveling through New Mexico on their way to an annual camping trip in Colorado...
LINK - AJC.com
June 14, 2011
Trial for private prison escapee to begin this week
The trial for John McCluskey, one of three men who escaped from a (privately-operated) state prison near Kingman last summer, is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday.
McCluskey and Casslyn Welch, who allegedly helped the men flee the medium-security private prison, spent three weeks on the run, becoming two of America's most wanted fugitives.
Authorities say the two along with Tracy Province went on a crime spree that included the hijacking of two truck drivers in Arizona and the murder of a couple in New Mexico...
LINK - KPHO.com
January 19, 2011
More Abuse Reported at Private Prison
"Gov. Neil Abercrombie has promised to bring back all Hawaii inmates serving prison sentences on the mainland because of previous allegations of mistreatment by guards at Saguaro,"according to the Jan. 14 newspaper report.
Eighteen Hawaiian inmates sued CCA in December 2010, claiming that guards stripped, beat, kicked and threatened to kill them, banged their heads on tables while they were handcuffed, and that "the warden himself" threatened their families. Those inmates claim that CCA "deliberately destroyed and failed to preserve evidence of their wrongdoing, including videotapes," and "deliberately falsified reports."
Hawaii's governor also cited a December 2010 "riot" at another CCA prison in Arizona, Red Rock Correctional Center, which holds about 50 Hawaiian prisoners. The Saguaro prison holds about 1,800 Hawaiians...
LINK - CourthouseNews.com
November 4, 2010
Meeting on private prisons canceled
KINGMAN - A public meeting to hear comments about the privatization of Arizona’s prison system originally scheduled for Monday has been canceled.
The meeting to be held in Kingman depended on participation by Mohave County elected officials. The meeting was to discuss efforts to privatize the state prison system, American Friends Service Committee spokeswoman Caroline Isaacs said.
Most of the county’s elected officials, including the county supervisors; the city councils of Kingman, Bullhead City and Lake Havasu; Arizona State Reps. Doris Goodale and Nancy McClain; and state Sen. Ron Gould did not respond. The rest of them said they had prior commitments, Isaacs said...
LINK - MohaveDailyNews.com
November 2, 2010
Private prisons helped draft Arizona immigration law?
Many voters today will be motivated by anger at politicians, whether it's over too much spending or not enough jobs. They should be just as worried about the things they don't see -- the unknown forces influencing decisions at all levels of government.
National Public Radio's investigative report last week about the origins of Arizona's immigration law, Senate Bill 1070, is one example. It turns out that border security wasn't the only, or perhaps even the major, reason it passed. During a December meeting in Washington at which the law was written, representatives of the Corrections Corporation of America -- the largest private prison company in the nation -- were in the room with Russell Pearce, the bill's chief sponsor...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
October 4, 2010
Bus carrying 24 maximum-security inmates crashes
A prison bus carrying 24 maximum-security inmates from Arizona to Mississippi has been involved in an accident, but authorities say there are no major injuries.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials say the Corrections Corporation of America bus rear-ended a work truck on Interstate 10 in Tucson around 5 a.m. Wednesday.
The Arizona Daily Star says the bus was transporting the inmates from a privately run prison in Eloy to a prison in Mississippi...
LINK - KTAR.com
October 4, 2010
Lawsuit alleges Florence prison operator allowed sexual harassment
A federal agency filed a lawsuit last week alleging a private company that operates prisons in Florence sexually harassed and retaliated against female employees.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's lawsuit against GEO Group Inc. alleged the company and some male managers supervising correctional officers fostered a "sexual and sex-based hostile work environment" at two Florence prisons that allowed harassment and retaliation against female employees.
GEO Group, which operates Arizona State Prison-Florence and Central Arizona Correctional Facility in Florence, declined to comment on the EEOC lawsuit...
LINK - AZCentral.com
September 23, 2010
Suspect in escape threw guns into Arizona prison, report says
A woman charged with helping three dangerous inmates escape from a northwest Arizona prison tossed handguns into the prison along with wire-cutting tools, according to a report released Monday.
A 46-page state Department of Corrections investigative report states Casslyn Welch provided the tools the three needed to cut through a perimeter fence to make their July 30 getaway.
The report also reveals that escapee John McCluskey borrowed a prohibited cell phone that another inmate used for "drug dealing" to speak with Welch minutes before she parked near the prison and walked to the fence to facilitate the breakout, according to fellow escapee Tracy Province...
LINK - LVRJ.com
September 7, 2010
Arizona prison escape, killings prompt lawsuit
The first legal action in the Arizona prison breakout that led to the killing of two campers has been filed against the state and the operator of the private prison.
Vivian Haas, the mother of murder victim Gary Haas, filed a $10 million claim against Arizona and a wrongful death lawsuit against Management Training Corp., the company that operates the private prison near Kingman where three fugitives escaped on July 30.
The notice of claim is a required precursor to a lawsuit...
LINK - AZCentral.com
September 4, 2010
Third Hawaii inmate faces death penalty in Arizona
A third Hawaii inmate serving time in an Arizona prison faces the death penalty after allegedly killing a fellow inmate during an argument in June.
Mahina Uli Silva, 21, was indicted by a Pinal County grand jury yesterday for allegedly strangling his cellmate from Hawaii, Clifford Medina, 23, on June 8. Medina was found unresponsive in the cell he shared with Silva at Saguarao Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz.
Clayton Frank, director of the state Department of Public Safety, said his office was informed of the indictment yesterday...
LINK - StarAdvertiser.com
August 29, 2010
Escape slows prison privatization
The recent escape at a for-profit prison in Kingman has slowed Arizona's rush toward privatizing corrections.
Even one of the Legislature's top supporters of private prisons, Rep. John Kavanagh, says the existing state-run complexes should remain public, not be turned private, as the state has tried to do.
But the fallout from the escape, during which two prisoners are accused of killing an Oklahoma couple, is so far limited enough that supporters imagine continued expansion by prison companies in Arizona...
LINK - AZStarNet.com
August 10, 2010
State must take a hard look at prison issues
Arizonans want two questions answered: How did three violent inmates break out of a privately run prison? And what can prevent it from happening again?
On Monday, 10 days after the escape, authorities captured murderer Tracy Province in Wyoming. They'd caught Daniel Renwick, convicted of second-degree murder, on Aug. 1 in Colorado.
But John McCluskey and his alleged accomplice, Casslyn Welch, are still on the lam, desperate and dangerous...
LINK - AZCentral.com
August 10, 2010
Arpaio: “I am against private prisons”
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he won't second guess what happened in the escape of three inmates from a medium-security prison in Kingman.
"I don't know all the details. It's sad. I hope they catch these guys."
But Arpaio said he had something to say about private prisons...
LINK - KTAR.com
August 9, 2010
Orchestrated Escape Raises Concerns about Private Prisons
Questions surround the escape of three violent convicts from a prison in Kingman, casting a shadow on Arizona's relationship with the private prison industry.
Officials are reviewing security measures at private prison facilities, and are looking into the future of private prisons in our state.
"My concern about this has been the manner in which the facility was operated. I do not believe that the physical plant itself from which these inmates escaped was the issue, it is the performance of the staff that concerned me," says Chuck Ryan, Arizona Department of Corrections Director...
LINK - MyFoxPhoenix.com
August 3, 2010
Arizona cons’ private prison escape raises many questions
...While the manhunt continues, officials with the county, the Arizona Department of Corrections, and Management and Training Corp., the Utah-based company that operates the facility, are studying how the men penetrated several layers of security.
Unarmed prison officials sounded the alarm about 9 p.m. after Province, McCluskey and Renwick missed their head count, Johnson said. An hour passed before the Mohave County Sheriff's Office was notified that the men somehow had made their way through locked doors and avoided surveillance cameras, ground and fence sensors, guard towers and roving ground patrols before cutting a hole in fencing near a dormitory.
Officials are now investigating whether the escapees had inside help...
LINK - AZCentral.com
March 23, 2010
Arizona inmates out of Walsenburg CCA prison
All Arizona inmates formerly held at the Huerfano County Correctional Center have been transferred out of the facility, clearing the way for the closure of the prison early next month, corrections officials said Monday.
Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates the facility, announced in January that it will close the prison in April.
Officials at the private prison company said Monday the prison officially will close April 2.
Steve Owen, director of communications for Nashville-headquartered CCA, said by 2 p.m. the inmates were in custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections...
LINK - Chieftain.com
February 19, 2010
Hawaii inmate killed in Arizona prison
Authorities have started an investigation into the killing yesterday of a Hawaii inmate at Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, where about 1,900 Hawaii inmates are currently housed.
Clayton Frank, state Department of Public Safety director, identified the inmate who was killed as Bronson Nunuha, 26. He was incarcerated on three counts of burglary in the second degree, and was going to be maxing out on his sentence on Oct. 31, 2010, Frank said.
Frank said Nunuha had been at the facility for about four years...
LINK - HonoluluAdvertiser.com
December 14, 2009
Privatizing prisons by American Police Beat
If you're a corrections officer or a deputy assigned to a jail in Arizona, you might want to start looking for a new job. Arizona is slated to become the first state to completely privatize its correctional system. And we're not just talking county lock-ups like Joe Arpaio's world-famous tent city - even the super-max facilities housing the worst of the worst just might end up being staffed and run by for-profit companies like Corrections Corporation of America and Wackenhut.
Arizona spends $4.7 million each year to house inmates who are serial killers, rapists, gang-bangers and every other bad guy and gal you can think of. To many state legislators the idea of privatizing corrections is too good to pass up. Who wouldn't want to save $5 million bucks and turn the complicated process of administering death sentences to private companies?…
LINK - APBWeb.com (American Police Beat)
November 23, 2009
No Escape from Debt by Selling Jails
Here's an idea: sell off our prisons to the highest bidders, reap a pile of short-term cash to inflate near-empty state coffers, then lease back the prisons for 20 years at a cost to the state that far exceeds the original purchase price paid by the companies.
While we're at it, let's completely privatise medical and mental health services - and mandate that bidders come in with lower per prisoner cost estimates than those currently paid out by the state. And, to cap it off, privatise the day-to-day operations of all the prisons, including supermaxes and death row sites, and, in an incentive to cut corners, split the savings 50-50 between the state and the private companies doing the administering.
Conservative fantasy? Alas, no. This is the set of kooky proposals recently embraced by legislatures in a near-insolvent Arizona, looking to trim dollars from their state budget…
LINK - CommonDreams.org (Originally published in The Guardian UK)
November 8, 2009
Private-prison plan for state shows scant sign of progress
Arizona's plan to turn over its prisons to private companies in exchange for a $100 million upfront payment is having trouble getting off the drawing board, with the plan behind schedule and prison operators showing little interest.
The privatization effort is required under a law enacted last summer as lawmakers struggled to close a huge budget shortfall. It directs the state to award a contract to one or more private companies to run an unspecified number of prisons for $100 million.
It emerged as Republican lawmakers cast about for alternatives to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's proposal to increase the sales tax to avoid deep cuts…
LINK - AZStarNet.com
September 27, 2009
State prison contract changes hands
After 15 years of managing Alaska prisoners housed out-of-state, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has lost its contract to Cornell Corrections.
Cornell's will charge the state about $19,446,000 a year to house 900 prisoners, while CCA's plan would have cost $18,724,000 — $722,000 less a year.
Either way the state will realize savings over the $20,669,000 it now pays through a contract with CCA…
LINK - AlaskaDispatch.com
September 17, 2009
Opinion: “Private prisons wrong answer for budget woes”
On Sept. 17, 2007, two murderers from Washington state escaped from a private prison in Florence where they were serving time. They reportedly jumped a guard, hopped the fence and were gone.
A for-profit private maximum security prison could soon be coming to a community near you.
Two weeks ago, Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law House Bill 2010, which starts the bidding process to turn over Arizona Department of Corrections prisons, including maximum security facilities, to a private corporation in the name of cutting costs and generating revenue. Brewer previously vetoed the private prison bill in July. The private prison industry stands to make lots of money while the state gets some quick cash, but at what cost to us?…
LINK - EastValleyTribune.com
June 15, 2009
Private-prison plan in Arizona raises concerns
The prospect of Arizona selling off its state prisons for a cash influx might bode well for the budget, but it comes with "grave concerns" from the director of the Department of Corrections, according to a letter Charles Ryan sent to Gov. Jan Brewer earlier this month.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, was part of the budget plan approved last week. Lawmakers have yet to send the bills to Brewer.
Senate Bill 1028 would allow private vendors to operate one or more of the Arizona State Prison complexes, with a 50-year contract to run the prisons and an upfront payment of $100 million…
LINK - AZCentral.com
April 24, 2009
To Save Money, States Turn to Furloughs
Licenses for same-sex marriages were supposed to be issued in Iowa starting this Friday. But because of a crimped state budget, court employees will be on mandatory furlough that day and the courts will be closed. Gay couples cannot start filing for their licenses until Monday.
As they try to cope with gaping budget deficits, at least 15 states from every region — like Alabama and Georgia in the South; Arizona, California and Washington in the West; and Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York in the Northeast — are in various stages of considering or carrying out furloughs.
"This may very well be the most widespread use, or consideration of use, at least since the emergence of the post-World War II economic boom," Robert Bruno, professor of labor relations at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said of furloughs…
LINK - NYTimes.com
March 24, 2009
More than 700 Arizona inmates headed to Walsenburg prison
Huerfano County Correctional Center will soon transfer all of its Colorado inmates to other state facilities to make room for nearly 752 Arizona inmates, corrections officials said Monday.
According to Allan Cramer, public information officer at the Corrections Corporation of America-run facility, Colorado inmates will be moved from Huerfano to three of the organization's other facilities in Colorado.
"We are going to take the little more than 600 inmates that we have here and put them in facilities in Crowley, Bent and Kit Carson counties. We will then backfill the Colorado inmates with Arizona inmates," Cramer said…
LINK - Chieftain.com
October 2, 2008
Arizona: Corrections officer dies on a scene of wildfire fought by prison crew
A corrections officer working with an inmate hotshot crew died Oct. 1, shortly after the crew began working to contain a fire near Lake Havasu City, according the Arizona Department of Corrections.
The officer, Douglas Falconer, 46, apparently died of natural causes, the agency said in a statement released Oct. 2. No more details were available.
"Officers and inmates alike responded immediately, and emergency medical assistance made every effort to revive Officer Falconer," according to the statement…
LINK - AZCapitolTimes.com
August 12, 2008
Folsom Prison Inmate Taken into Federal Custody on Charges of Prosituting Minors Interstate
A man charged with federal violations including sexual trafficking of children and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, was taken into federal custody today by agents with the FBI, announced Salvador Hernandez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.
According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Aaron Pierre Brown, 28, of Hayward, California, controlled a prostitution operation in which he victimized minor females… The complaint charges Brown with Title 18 U.S.Code Section 1591 ( a )( 1 ), sex trafficking of minors by force, fraud, and coercion; and 2423( a ), transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
…Brown was arrested at Folsom Prison this morning, where he was serving a sentence for a recent parole violation. Brown was afforded an initial appearance before a federal magistrate in U.S. District Court in Sacramento this afternoon and was detained. Brown waived his right to be tried in Sacramento and it is anticipated that he will be transported to Los Angeles to face prosecution.
LINK - Media-Newswire.com
June 21, 2008
CCA denies minimum wage charge
Representatives of Corrections Corporation of America denied accusations employees at a federal detention center in Pahrump will be paid minimum wage and the facility will overburden local emergency services…
…Stephen L. Holbo, a retired lieutenant with 30 years experience in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, charged CCA operates prisons at a much reduced cost, adding, "Mostly that reduced cost is due to paying correctional officers minimum wage, much below the cost of a more highly-trained and continually trained government correctional officer."
The federal detention center is expected to employ 200 to 250 individuals with an annual operating budget of $25 million to $40 million. Assistant Federal Detention Trustee Scott Stermer told a small crowd at the Bob Ruud Community Center during a public hearing in June 2007 the contractor chosen will be required to pay at least $17.45 per hour to the lowest paid detention officers…
LINK - PahrumpValleyTimes.com
April 29, 2008
Privatization Update: April 29th
California Privatization
Maranatha
April 23 - A Bakersfield businessman lost one part of a two-year legal battle with California prison officials recently when a state appellate court affirmed a lower court's rulings and ordered him to pay the state's legal fees. CDCR wrote a letter accusing Terry Moreland, a developer who previously ran a private prison in San Bernardino County, through his company Maranatha Corrections of misappropriating more than $1 million worth of phone call funds. The letter was released to the media and Moreland sued the department for libel and defamation, saying the published accusations hurt his reputation and business. Moreland's attorney, George Harris, said the appellate court's decision only affects one aspect of the case: whether the state defamed his client. The basic case alleging that the state breached it contract, Harris said, will continue at the trial court level. Moreland now owes the state more than $71,000 in legal cost for the original case and the appeal. The state lawyers invoked a statute meant to protect free speech of state government executives and others in issues of public interest. The statute can require people who sue for defamation to pay legal fees if they lose. The dispute over the phone call revenue cost Moreland the $8.1 million annual contract for his 500-bed Victor Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility, in Adelanto. Moreland resisted the state's push to audit the phone funds to see how they were being spent. He then sold the facility in 2005. Whether the state had claim to the phone money wasn't addressed by the trial or appellate courts, nor was it decided by a November 2004 report by the state Office of Inspector General. The inspector general found Maranatha and affiliates collected $1.6 million worth of the inmate phone money between 1997 and 2004. Deciding who got to keep the money was outside the scope of its investigation, the report said, but inspectors advised corrections officials to be more specific in future contracts.
Corrections Corporation of America
April 21 - Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has signed into law a bill that gives a privately owned jail the authority to house federal and state inmates. The Adams County Correctional Center is currently under construction and is slated to be completed in December 2008. Barbour said signing "this legislation is appropriate as the state continues to find alternative housing solutions for our growing inmate population." The correctional facility is owned and operated by CCA.
April 23 - Metro Nashville's correctional facilities have had a rough few months: In February, an inmate with an escape record broke out of the Metro Detention Facility through air vents. In January, a mentally ill inmate at the same jail was found not to have left his cell for recreation, a shower or medical treatment, in nine months. After a jail worker complained to the Metro Public Health Department, the inmate was forced to come out for a shower and a mental evaluation. In the same month, another inmate at Metro Detention was charged in the beating death of his cellmate in the high-security segregation unit. Earlier this month,
Warden Brian Garner was removed and "awaiting reassignment" by CCA, which operates the jail. What is going on in CCA facilities?
April 25 - State Rep. Mike Turner is questioning Tennessee Department of Corrections Commissioner George Little about the spate of questionable practices and incidents that have landed CCA in the news. Tennessee contracts with CCA to run their prisons and jails. Turner mentioned the Time magazine story that alleges CCA counsel Gus Puryear allegedly whitewashed incident reports on escapes and unnatural deaths, so as not to alarm the company's clients. Turner also cites a news article on an inmate at an CCA-run correctional Facility who went nine months without a shower, as well as the recent Nashville Scene article that reported how guards at that same facility falsely claimed a jail-cell surveillance camera wasn't working, just one day after an inmate was found in her cell with a broken skull.
April 25 - Specimens tested have confirmed norovirus, known as the "winter vomiting disease", as the cause of an outbreak at a private Eloy Detention Center owned by CCA. Pinal County, Arizona is reporting that more than 300 detainees have become ill with symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Pinal County Public health and Environmental health officials are working with detention center staff to manage the spread of the infection. The virus is spread through fecal-oral contact and is usually cleared up in one to three days.
The GEO Group
April 24 - A riot one year ago at the New Castle Correctional Facility cost The GEO Group more than $1.1 million in police protection, repairs and improvements. Though the taxpayers of Indiana dodged this bullet, they are not out of the woods quite yet. What remains to be is the cost of ongoing legal proceedings in Henry County, where 28 inmates are charged with dozens of felony and misdemeanor crimes. Seven of the men have pleaded guilty and their cases now are complete, but 21 others are holding jury trials, and they could rack up significant costs for taxpayers. Taxpayers are already paying for the defendants' attorneys, depositions, and in at least two cases, private investigators. The April 24, 2007 riot at New Castle quickly became national news as television helicopters flew above the prison recreation yard and showed images of the melee live. Inmates burned mattresses and threw beds and other furnishings out of the windows of the housing units. Police stormed the perimeter and used tear gas to
secure the facility. Two prison guard were injured and treated at the local hospital. The riot was led by Arizona inmates, the first of whom were moved across the country a month earlier as the Arizona Department of Corrections tried to ease its overcrowded prisons by filling unused beds in Indiana. Gov. Mitch Daniels looked to the deal with Arizona as a cash cow, but it never fully developed, since Arizona called off all transfers days before the riot. Arizona's exodus from New Castle now has begun. The
first 120 inmates were flown back to their home state last week, and those transfers will continue during the next couple of months. What's left is for Arizona, Indiana, The GEO Group and Henry County Prosecutor Kit Crane to work out an agreement on how, and where, to house Arizona offenders who still face riot-related charges. New Castle remains the state's only
privatized prison.
Wackenhut
April 26 - Leaders of the Metro Public Transportation Agency in Missouri announced that Wackenhut couldn't deliver enough trained security guards to meet deadlines in a MetroLink security contract. Metro has decided to part ways. "It was around the availability of personnel," Transit agency President Robert Baer said. "Training of personnel. The certification. Licensing of personnel." Securias Security Services will finish the three-year contract and has already assumed responsibility.
April 21, 2008
Alaska won’t have to stop sending certain inmates to Arizona prisons
A bill in the Arizona state Legislature that would have stopped Alaska and other states from sending certain inmates to Arizona prisons is dead. "We'll still be able to take your prisoners, and they'll be returned to you when their time is up," said state Sen. Robert Blendu, who proposed the bill along with Gov. Janet Napolitano.
As written, the bill would have barred Alaska and other states from sending inmates convicted of sex crimes and the most serious classes of felonies, such as murder, to private prisons in Arizona. Blendu said that won't happen.
"I didn't move it forward," he said…
LINK - ADN.com (Anchorage Daily News)
April 16, 2008
120 Arizona inmates leave New Castle prison
Arizona's exit from Indiana prison cells has begun, as the first 120 Arizona inmates were shipped out of the New Castle Correctional Facility on Tuesday.
The departure of Arizona inmates comes as the prison achieves occupancy for the first time in its six-year history. Supt. Jeff Wrigley said the prison filled all 2,436 of its beds for the first time last month.
Both are significant developments…
LINK - TheStarPress.com
April 16, 2008
A Setback for Privatization
Privatization has met one insurmountable hurdle down the road at the New Castle Correctional Facility, where Arizona inmates have essentially exercised veto authority over being housed so far from home. The Indiana Department of Correction's prisoner-housing contract with Arizona has ended and, two major lockdown disturbances later, will not be renewed.
On the same February day that the private company that operates the New Castle prison was announcing that inmates would be returned to Arizona in April, the company was reporting to stockholders its fourth quarter and annual gains for 2007. Boca Raton, Fla.-based Geo Group Inc. said it had fourth-quarter earnings of $11.5 million and annual earnings for 2007 of $41.3 million.
The consequences of the inmates' return could reach well beyond the company's profit-loss future, raising questions about the future of the New Castle facility in particular and prison privatization in general…
LINK - Pal-Item.com (Palladium-Item - Richmond, Indiana)
April 8, 2008
Privatization Update: April 8, 2008
Privatization Update
March 31-April 6, 2008
Correctional Medical Services
April 1 - New Jersey has canceled its $85 million annual contract with CMS that has provided medical, dental and pharmaceutical services to state prisoners since New Jersey privatized its inmate health care system in 1996. The state Treasury Department notified CMS that it planned to replace it with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. CMS, whose contract expired, had sought a 4.73% increase to cover costs associated with caring for the 27,600 inmates in state prisons and an additional 14,000 inmates being held in county facilities until a state cell is available. The move ends a contentious 11-year relationship with CMS that was launched during the-Gov. Whitman's push to privatize government services. It comes months after the state auditor and the state inspector general issued separate reports critical of the company. Treasury spokesman Tom Vinz said the state believes the new arrangement will "improve both the bottom line as well as services."
April 5 - Fifteen current and former inmates at Young Correctional Institution filed a federal lawsuit alleging their medical care while behind bars was not only negligent but amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. In at least one incident in 2006, a CMS nurse used the same needle on multiple inmates, perhaps all 15, to draw blood and inject medicine, exposing all to blood-borne diseases including hepatitis C and possibly HIV/AIDS. At least three allege they have contracted hepatitis and possibly other illnesses since that incident.
Corrections Corporation of America
March 31 - Hawaii lawmakers have tentatively approved a bill ordering an audit of two CCA facilities in the wake of national media accounts alleging that the huge private prison company misrepresented statistical data to make it appear that CCA facilities had fewer violent acts and other problems than was actually the case. Hawaii pays CCA more than $50 million a year to house more than 2,000 men and women convicts in CCA prisons in Arizona and Kentucky. Senate Bill 2342 calls for the State Auditor to conduct performance audits of two of the three Mainland prisons that house Hawaii inmates, including reviews of food, medical, drug treatment, vocational and other services provided to Hawaii inmates. The audit also would scrutinize the way the state Department of Public Safety oversees the private prisons and enforces the terms of the state's contract with CCA. According to the bill, there has never been an audit of the private Mainland prisons that Hawaii has contracted with to house the state's inmates, despite the fact that deaths and serious injuries have occurred at several of the contract prisons on the Mainland. Time Magazine interviewed former CCA senior quality assurance manager Ronald T. Jones, who said CCA General Counsel Gus Puryear IV ordered staff to classify violent incidents such as inmate disturbances, escapes and sexual assaults as if they were less serious events to make the company performance appear to be better than it was. Jones said more detailed reports about the prison incidents were prepared for internal CCA use, and were not released to clients. CCA denied the allegations, which Time published as Puryear is being considered for a post as a federal judge.
April 2 - Five inmates at the privately run Marion County Jail II in Indiana filed a class-action lawsuit based on claims of improper medical treatment and access to medication, unsafe and inhumane conditions, and a broken grievance process. The suit names Corrections Corporation of America and Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson, who oversees CCA's contract to run the jail. The medium-security jail, which houses 1,043 inmates, serves as an auxillary to the county-run Marion County Jail. Attorney Paul Ogden also filed a suit against CCA in January on claims of dangerous work conditions and racial discrimination against several black nurses. That suit also raised concerns about the handling of medications for inmates, with some given incorrect medication and some denied prescription drugs.
Cornell
March 31 - More than eight months after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 600 detainees from an Albuquerque, New Mexico jail, they say they won't house immigrants there again. The federal immigration agency says it has enough space elsewhere for detainees arrested. ICE was housing hundreds of detainees awaiting deportation at the Regional Correctional Center. That facility faced allegations by immigrant lawyers and criticism by a federal judge of sub-par conditions. Complaints included sweltering heat inside, frozen food and poor medical attention. After the agency yanked all of its inmates last summer, an ICE official said he had 'serious doubts' about the ability of Cornell to provide a safe environment for detainees. Cornell officials say they've worked hard to improve the facility and meet ICE's requirements. The company will continue looking for other customers for the 993-bed facility, which it leases from Bernalillo County. The U.S. Marshals Office currently houses detainees at the jail.
April 3 - Eight immigrant teenagers held at a facility for unaccompanied minors filed a federal lawsuit claiming they were abused and denied access to attorneys. The teens from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Cuba were being held at the San Antonio facility run by Cornell under a contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Undocumented minors caught by authorities in the U.S. fall under the care of ORR while their immigration cases are decided. Susan Watson, an attorney for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, said the teens were beaten and subjected to other excessive force in violation of their constitutional rights. At least one teen was knocked unconscious, but complaints to facility administrators were ignored, according to the lawsuit. The allegations raised by the immigrant teens were not the first against Cornell. Arkansas fired Cornell from the operation of a juvenile facility in November 2006 after finding employees inappropriately injected youth with anti-psychotic medication to control behavior. An in September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 600 detainees from an Albuquerque, New Mexico facility (this incident is addressed in the March 31 Cornell entry), citing failure to maintain safety, health and well-being standards there.
The GEO Group
April 1 - Texas officials want to know how a convicted felon escaped from a GEO Group owned jail. No one noticed he was gone for a full day, even though an eyewitness to the escape immediately told two GEO guards. The women who witnessed the escape said she was taken aback by the guard's lack of urgency. "He never asked me if he was white, Hispanic, African American. I described the clothing," she said. "All he asked was, 'Was he wearing tennis shoes?'" The Lone Star Fugitive Task Force was notified the following day of the escape and launched a massive manhunt for Esequiel Pena. Pena was being held in an 8-story level room at the GEO Group Holding Jail when he escaped. It is believed Pena squeezed through a fence and then made his way to a fire escape and disappeared. A concerned citizen spotted Pena at an apartment complex and called the Boerne Police Department. Pena was arrested without incident at the apartment complex.
Prison Health Services
April 3 - A registered nurse with the city prison system has been charged in a hit-and-run accident that killed a 15-year-old girl. Michelle Johnson, 40, was charged with manslaughter, homicide by vehicle and related offenses. Johnson, who has worked for PHS since 2006, struck Mary Otto. Otto had been walking on a median when Johnson allegedly ran a red light, hit Otto and kept driving. The teen was transported to an area hospital, but she died shortly after arriving. The next day, witnesses led police to a 2006 Toyota Sequoia, with considerable front-end damage, parked in the prison parking lot. Police seized the vehicle and later tied it to Johnson, who is not the owner of the vehicle. Johnson was suspended from her job.
March 20, 2008
Opinion: “Stop importing murderers and sex offenders into Arizona!”
On September 17, 2006, two Washington state inmates - each serving more than fifty years for murder - escaped from a private prison in Florence. One inmate was captured within hours by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office; the other made it all the way to Washington State before he was caught almost a month later.
It wasn't luck. It took these two murderers less than an hour to defeat the prison's physical plant and administration. They made it from their cells to the street without detection. The prison they ran from is operated by the Correctional Corporation of America (CCA), a private company that has repeatedly failed to detect and deter escapes. Today, there are a total of eleven private prisons in Arizona. Six of them take all of their prisoners from out of state.
LINK - ZWire.com (Casa Grande Valley News)
February 25, 2008
Hawaii inmates on lockdown in AZ private prison
Hawai'i inmates at the Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona have been locked down for 10 days during a top-to-bottom shakedown of the prison prompted by two recent drug overdoses of Alaska inmates, according to the Hawai'i Department of Public Safety. About 65 Hawai'i inmates are housed at the private prison, but are kept separate from the Alaska prisoners, said Public Safety Deputy Director Tommy Johnson.
Teams provided by prison owner Corrections Corporation of America used drug dogs as part of the search of all staff, program, recreational, medical, kitchen and living areas. Investigators discovered three grams of black tar heroin and a list detailing prices within the prison for cigarettes, marijuana and other drugs, Johnson said.
LINK - HonoluluAdvertiser.com
February 24, 2008
Arizona: Prison to more than double capacity
If Management & Training Corporation builds it, the inmates will come. The Utah-based company was awarded a contract by the State Procurement Office to add 2,000 minimum-security inmates to their Kingman prison. Senior Procurement Specialist Alicia Bewsey said MTC was awarded the contract from the Arizona Department of Corrections on Feb. 15. They were competing against two other companies: Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group. With a current inmate population of around 1,400, the expansion will more than double the size of the location on the Interstate 40 industrial corridor. MTC will have half of the 2,000 beds filled by August 2009, Bewsey said…
LINK - KingmanDailyMiner.com
February 18, 2008
Low-risk inmates could be returned to Hawaii
A new report says that about 150 low-risk Hawaii inmates held in mainland prisons could be returned to the islands.
Hawaii pays more than 50 million (M) dollars a year to house more than 2,000 state prison inmates in privately run correctional facilities in Arizona and Kentucky. The prisons are run by Corrections Corporation of America…
LINK - www.kpua.net
February 8, 2008
Opinion: Keeping Prisons in Line
"If you change the rules of the game midstream, we are going to resist it because we invested based on current rules," a senior vice president for Corrections Corp. of America, which runs five prisons in the state, told The Arizona Republic. That statement substantiates one of the prime criticisms of private prisons: That they're more interested in protecting what they have "invested" in than they are in the public good…
LINK - TucsonCitizen.com
February 4, 2008
Arizona: Supervisors Shelve Ruling on Proposed Private Prison
County Manager Ron Walker reminded the dozens of speakers that Monday's agenda items dealt with land use issues and not about the track record of the prison's potential builder and manager Corrections Corporation of America. At previous meetings, several speakers questioned CCA's record including the number of escapes, assaults and riots at CCA's other prisons located in other states. Like at previous meetings, most of the speakers spoke out Monday against the prison. The key issue is the amount of water the prison would use. The prison could use up to 300,000 gallons a day or 150 gallons per inmate per day. Others spoke of the threat to the rural lifestyle of the area…
LINK - MohaveDailyNews.com
February 1, 2008
Arizona: New Rules Urged for Private Prisons
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to tighten up rules for the state's growing private-prison industry, which is virtually unregulated by the state. A legislative proposal drafted by the Governor's Office and introduced by Republican Sen. Robert Blendu of Litchfield Park would bar private prisons from importing murderers, rapists and some other dangerous or seriously ill felons to Arizona. It would also require the companies to share security and inmate information with state officials. "It is a matter of public safety," said Dennis Burke, Napolitano's chief of staff. "(Other states) are exporting their worst criminals to Arizona, and we can't even know what they are doing and what steps they are taking to protect Arizonans…"
LINK - AZCentral.com
January 25, 2008
New Castle Prison Put on Lockdown
An Indiana state prison that was the site of a riot last year involving inmates from Arizona was locked down after three guards were treated for minor injuries in a fight with prisoners. At least some of the inmates involved in the fight were from Arizona, said Nolberto Machiche, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections. The state sends inmates to the Indiana prison as part of a deal between the states…
LINK - IndyStar.com
January 24, 2008
CDCR Assoc Director Attends CCA’s “Community Day” in Eloy, Arizona
Right now, there are positions all over the charts that are open, from nurses and healthcare professionals, to maintenance at the La Palma facility. It will open in phases, with its first phase slated to open in June. All positions should be filled before the first inmates arrive in July or late August. Correctional officers are needed. Inexperienced officers start off at $16.50 an hour, and training begins in March…
LINK - ZWire.com
January 19, 2008
Arizona: Napolitano proposes sending 10000 felons from prisons to county jails
More than 10,000 felons who serve time each year in state prisons could instead serve out their sentences in county jails under a plan proposed by Gov. Janet Napolitano. The move, part of Napolitano's strategy to close a budget shortfall that she pegs at nearly $1.3 billion next year, would save the state about $60 million and help to alleviate some crowding in the prison system. But the change would mean more inmates and, thus, higher costs for cash-strapped counties, especially Maricopa County…
LINK - AZCentral.com
January 6, 2008
Arizona Board May Postpone Private Prison Near Dolan Springs
The residents of Dolan Springs and Corrections Corporation of America might have to wait another month to see if the Board of Supervisors approves a medium security prison in the area. The prison is listed on the Board's agenda for Monday at the County Administration Building…
LINK - KingmanDailyMiner.com
December 2, 2007
Arizona Residents Sound Concerns About Private Prisons
More than 100 residents of Dolan Springs squeezed into the Dolan Springs Community Hall Thursday and voiced their opinions on a private prison proposed for the area. The vast majority of those attending the meeting were opposed to the prison, only a handful voiced support for the project…
LINK - KingmanDailyMiner.com
