Corrections
March 6, 2010
Aramark sues private prison firm over payments
Saying it is owed $7.3 million, Aramark Corp., the Philadelphia food-services provider, has sued a New Jersey operator of correctional facilities.
In the suit, Aramark contends Community Education Centers Inc., of West Caldwell, N.J., has been in default on bills since at least June 2008. Locally, Aramark services Community Education Centers facilities in Philadelphia, Delaware County, Reading, and Trenton.
Aramark's lawsuit, filed Feb. 18 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, said Community Education Centers was overdue on $5.2 million of the total, and it requested that a judgment, including interest, costs, and attorney's fees, be entered in its favor...
LINK - Philly.com
March 6, 2010
Delaware: Good bye CMS
Twenty-four companies have submitted bids to provide health care services at Delaware's prisons
Four of them are from Delaware, and many critics of the current health care provider, St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services, say a local contractor is needed to help lift the Department of Correction from under the federal scrutiny it's been under for almost four years.
"The good news is that the deplorable tenure and administration of [Correctional Medical Services] will come to an end," said the Rev. Christopher Bullock, senior pastor of New Canaan Baptist Church and co-founder of the Delaware Coalition for Prison Reform and Justice. "Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a new day for Delaware corrections..."
LINK - DelawareOnline.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 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
October 19, 2009
Soccer ball filled with drugs, cell phones thrown over CA prison fence
A parolee was arrested Saturday morning near the Claremont Correctional Center in Coalinga after he allegedly threw a soccer ball full of drugs and cell phones over the prison fence.
Correctional staff members had received a tip about the scheme beforehand and notified the Coalinga Police Department, which called the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
Detectives went to the prison, which is operated by the city of Coalinga, and watched as a man threw a ball into the prison compound…
LINK - FresnoBee.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
June 8, 2009
Report points to prison security failures
A government inquiry into the most recent fatal assault of a federal correctional officer details multiple security breakdowns and underscores a fear among federal officials who say inmates have grown increasingly violent in their dealings with prison staff.
Jose Rivera's June 20 killing, captured by surveillance cameras inside the high security U.S. Penitentiary Atwater in California, provides a chilling view into the U.S. prison system where weapons are plentiful and some violent inmates are allowed to "sleep off" bouts of drunkenness fueled by homemade cocktails, according to a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) report obtained by USA TODAY.
During the attack, Rivera, a 22-year-old Iraq war veteran, struggled for his life while a locked door blocked several of his colleagues from responding…
LINK - USAToday.com
May 29, 2009
States are expanding videoconferencing in prisons
Faced with the high costs of transporting and escorting sick inmates to the doctor, states are expanding their use of videoconferencing to provide health consultations to prisoners without resorting to costly — and sometimes dangerous — off-site trips. And the concept is growing beyond medical care.
Illinois is considering joining at least 26 other states that use telemedicine to help sick prisoners get advice from doctors, said Derek Schnapp, a spokesman with the state Department of Corrections. State prison officials recently met with their counterparts from Texas, which has been using telemedicine for years and is considered a national leader, to discuss whether it should be introduced in Illinois.
Elsewhere, videoconferencing in prisons and jails is replacing inmates' in-person trips to the courtroom or parole board, and even the way family members visit…
LINK - Richmond TimesDispatch.com
May 26, 2009
TIME Magazine: Prison Cell-Phone Use a Growing Problem
Drugs and weapons aren't the only contraband in prisons these days. The latest underground currency among inmates is an item most of us consider harmless: the cell phone. And so far, prison officials are fighting a losing battle to keep inmates from obtaining cell phones and using them to communicate with people both inside and outside prison walls.
In California, home to the country's largest state prison system, more than 2,800 cell phones were confiscated from inmates last year, double the number seized in 2007. But the problem isn't limited to California. State and federal prisons across the country are grappling with what officials say is an epidemic of cell-phone use among inmates…
LINK - Time.com (TIME Magazine)
January 27, 2009
Former inmate sues San Joaquin County over sack lunch
A former inmate at San Joaquin County Jail has claimed in a lawsuit that jail officials denied him his rights as a Muslim to practice his religion, U.S. District Court records show.
Kifa Muhammad claimed in his case that Muslims were not allowed to keep a sack lunch in their cell during the holy Ramadan holiday. Muslims fast during daylight hours during Ramadan. He apparently wanted to keep the sack lunch to eat after sunset, in keeping with traditional practices.
Jail personnel gave them breakfast before dawn and dinner after sunset, according to Kristen Hegge, the county's chief deputy county counsel. The Board of Supervisors is expected today to settle the case for $500…
LINK - LodiNews.com
December 27, 2008
A state-by-state look at juvenile justice cuts
A look at how some states are handling juvenile justice programs:
California: Cuts are limited by a court order.
Connecticut: Delayed opening a small group home and spending $1.2 million to hire 50 juvenile probation officers, five judges and other support staff.
Kentucky: Nixed a boot camp-style program developed by the National Guard.
Florida: Cut three privately run programs for youth as well as department travel and hiring and did not replace employees who left…
LINK - AP.Google.com (The Associated Press)
December 24, 2008
O.C. plans 60 more layoffs amid protests
Faced with a gaping budget deficit, Orange County officials disclosed plans Tuesday to lay off nearly 60 Probation Department employees and to start releasing some juvenile criminal suspects rather than holding them in juvenile hall.
Word of the cutbacks came the same day that 1,000 angry workers stormed the Orange County Hall of Administration to protest previously announced plans to lay off 210 social services employees.
The social services cuts stem from a steep reduction in state funding that county officials said left them with no option but to eliminate jobs. In addition to the layoffs, the county has disclosed plans to require 4,000 social services employees to take two weeks off without pay next year….
LINK - LATimes.com (The Los Angeles Times)
November 24, 2008
Cell phones hard to find on death row
If you think smuggled cell phones in Texas prisons are easy to track down, think again, say officials involved in the seemingly endless search.
In recent months, phones been found tied inside plastic bags and buried in a jar of peanut butter. And secreted inside the tiny vent atop a shower stall. And hidden in a hollowed-out spot in the binding of a law book. Even stuffed inside a sock, pushed way up out of view inside a narrow crack in a concrete wall.
And, in at least two cases, they have been found in a plastic sack inside someone's rectum…
LINK - Statesman.com (The Austin American Statesman)
October 29, 2008
Carlson makes first appearance in court on escape charge
"We want the folks that are going to be handling him to know that he has tried to escape," Peters said.
Sergei Carlson appears on interactive television Wednesday in Cass County District Court for his arraignment on escape attempt charges.The charges also were filed to show others they will be held accountable for their actions while in custody.
"Correctional officers have to put up with a certain amount of misbehavior, but this really crossed the line," she said. "And we want people to know, people in the detention center and people at the penitentiary, to know that if they cross that line they're going to be appearing in front of a judge on new charges because that's just not some-thing we're going to tolerate…"
LINK - In-Forum.com
October 12, 2008
D.A. issues warning about budget cuts, federal lawsuit
Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco criticized public safety budget cuts, the state Legislature and the federal lawsuit over inmate health care that threatens to release prisoners early in a keynote address to a law enforcement association on Friday.
Pacheco — who served as a deputy district attorney in the 1980s and a state assemblyman before taking the helm in 2007 — addressed his remarks at the annual California Statewide Law Enforcement Association' s conference in Cathedral City…
LINK - MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun)
September 24, 2008
New warden coming to troubled Atwater prison
The Bureau of Prisons will bring a new warden to a federal institution beset by a rash of inmate stabbings that followed the murder of a corrections officer in June.
The warden of a high-security prison in Kentucky, Hector Rios Jr. of the USP Big Sandy, will become U.S. Penitentiary Atwater's fourth warden since it opened in 2001.
The Bureau announced Tuesday that Atwater warden Dennis Smith will be transferred to a medium-security prison in Illinois…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
August 31, 2008
The pink mile: women on death row
Not everyone can handle it. For those who work in a prison, there are two lives: inside and outside. Once they put the uniform on and go through the gate, they are in an alternate universe. Here they must be able to navigate a psychological and emotional labyrinth, inure themselves to being suckered, and sublimate instincts to react. Mental stamina is as crucial as physical strength.
We know very little about what the job is like: the pressures, the cycle of emotions, what they experience on the inside and the impact it has on the outside. SCI Muncy in Pennsylvania is the only correctional facility in the US with a "death row" for women that agreed to allow me inside. Correctional facilities and officers have nothing to gain from opening up. One of the most salient features of the job is anonymity. Officers make sure the inmates know as little about their personal lives as possible. They need to remain unknown. It's safer for them and for their families.
The perception of corrections officers as callous and hard-nosed is bolstered by the Hollywood myth of the sadistic guard and the constant atmosphere of repressed violence. Yet it becomes apparent that mental strength is not the only facet women officers require. Compassion, too, is very much on display. There is understanding, a recognition that the female inmates they work with have made mistakes and bad choices…
LINK - TimesOnline.co.uk
August 13, 2008
Pennsylvania: State Representative Frets Over Pen’s Staff
A recent visit to the U.S. Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg raised his concern for the well-being of prison workers, U.S. Rep. Chris Carney said, and reinforced his belief that the federal government needs to spend more to reduce the inmate-to-staff ratio.
"While state facilities like Texas, California, Florida and Michigan have staff inmate ratios at 3.33 to 1," Carney said in a statement, "the Federal Bureau of Prisons has a 4.92 to 1 ratio, the highest-ever during modern times and up from 3.57 to 1 a decade ago.
"The BoP would have to hire an additional 9,000 employees just to get back to the 3.57 level," said Carney, D-10 of Dimock. "Bureau facilities are currently 37 percent overcrowded, and at some facilities, that number is as high as 76 percent…"
LINK - DailyItem.com
August 13, 2008
Inmates Angry After Nevada Bans Typewriters in Jail
Nevada prison officials have confiscated hundreds of portable typewriters from inmates who have used them for decades to tap out legal briefs to appeal their convictions, arguing parts of the machines could be converted into weapons.
The Department of Corrections cited two incidents of violence in recently changing the policy — one when an inmate died and another when a guard was threatened.
Inmates have filed a growing pile of lawsuits protesting the new rule, saying officials are using the security argument as an excuse to try to slow their legal complaints about overcrowded prisons and difficult living conditions…
LINK - FoxNews.com
August 7, 2008
President’s Message: July/Aug PeaceKeeper Issue
As CCPOA prepares for the upcoming convention, your leadership uses the opportunity to take a look around and see where we stand, see where the organization is headed, to take stock of what roadblocks lie in our way, and to come together to figure out the best way to approach it all.
Generally speaking, we're currently at a rough spot in the road. The lack of a contract - or any good-faith negotiations, for that matter - hasn't done much for the morale of our members around the state. We fully recognize that.
In addition, the state's budget-less condition, which could very well be remedied by the time most of you read these words, put another politically-charged kink in the armor when Gov. Schwarzenegger signed an executive order to, in effect, balance the budget on the backs of the state's hardworking citizens. It's not the first time he's tried to throw his state employees to the wolves, and it might not be his last.
It's long past time that CDCR and the Schwarzenegger administration gave up their adversarial attitudes and started looking at its correctional peace officers as the valued resource they are.
Until they do, we'll keep moving forward with our members in mind. We've had to navigate around rough spots before, and we've had to reevaluate our objectives along the way. We're convinced that CCPOA's new set of goals, which were introduced in these pages in the last issue of Peacekeeper, will help us continue our unparalleled membership representation, and to keep the organization on track as we maintain our spirit of teamwork and our commitment to the profession.
Now is the time to focus on the future.
At CCPOA, we value the voices of our members. Their interests are our interests; their concerns are our concerns. Our mission statement has always been simple and straightforward: to enhance and protect the profession for those who choose corrections. At CCPOA we are all about going forward. We are about growth, not change.
Our enemies come out of nowhere and from all sides now as never before in the 150 year history of corrections. Defending the profession and protecting our members - from combative inmates as well as from unsupportive management - will always be our top priorities.
For now, take care and have a safe shift.
At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past.
- Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian Nobel laureate
August 6, 2008
Texas: County jail to house outside inmates soon
Despite an assortment of snags and holdups, Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor remains optimistic that the newly-expanded Anderson County Jail may resume housing out-of-county inmates by the end of the month.
For several months now, county officials have been waiting on completion of work on the fire alarm system in the old section of the jail.
Now that that work has been finished, however, a new problem has arisen, according to the sheriff…
LINK - PalestineHerald.com
July 8, 2008
Michigan: Budget Cuts to Corrections Accelerate Path to Tragedy
Last week the State Legislature passed the Department of Corrections Budget with approximately $50M in cuts. These cuts will come in many forms however the one that sounds the greatest alarm — for officers, prisoners, and the community at large — is a reduction in staff to a prison system already strained by short-staffing and rife with violence.
"The Department's plans to eliminate two positions per facility statewide will put another hole in the 'wall' we form when we walk those blocks every day," states Michigan Corrections Organization President Tom Tylutki who represents the state's corrections and forensic security officers. There are almost 1,000 fewer corrections officers on the job today than 6 years ago with the same number of inmates. And during that time, the level of security threats, injuries and critical incidents has steadily climbed. "How can you continue to eat away at the single most important role in a prison in light of these trends and continue to believe it is safe?"…
LINK - SunHerald.com
June 29, 2008
Opinion: “We need to plan for that day the cell door opens”
It is as important to provide re-entry programming for incarcerated individuals as it is to offer rehabilitative services to them while imprisoned, especially for youth offenders.
Juvenile delinquency is a major pipeline to the adult prison system, which is already bursting at the seams. The truth is that very few people in prison stay there forever.
It is in our best interest to invest in helping those who pay their debt to society, whether juveniles or adults, find their way back and assist them in pursuing successful living. The reality for persons returning to society from incarceration is that most must come back to the environment they were in when they got into trouble…
LINK - CommercialAppeal.com Tennessee
June 27, 2008
County OKs inmate health deal
The renewal of a contract to provide medical services to inmates in the county jail led to far-reaching discussion at the June 24 Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors meeting.
In the end, the county's contract for fiscal year 2008-09 with California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., a Monterey-based private health care provider that specifically deals with correctional facilities, was approved, but not without criticism about the way the state funds local needs. The base figure of the contract is $785,856, with the county bearing any medical costs above $15,000 per inmate "per incident."
Supervisor Mark Thornton prompted the discussion. He said it was "illogical" that much of the funding for inmates' medical needs, comes from "realignment dollars" from vehicle license fees. Thornton said money from the license fees should not go to fund things like inmate medical costs because they are unrelated to automobiles…
LINK - UnionDemocrat.com
June 25, 2008
Deputies come out in force against proposal to privatize the jail
Uniformed county officers filled the seats and lined the walls of the small McLennan County Commissioners Court room Tuesday. They turned out in force to let commissioners know they are staunchly against privatizing the county jail on State Highway 6.
The county is weighing several options to stem overcrowding in its jail under pressure from state regulators. Building a new, larger jail on Highway 6 and privatizing its management is one idea on the table.
Officer Ricky Armstrong, one of roughly 60 officers at the meeting, listed his concerns, including public safety. County officers have had to respond to trouble at the privately run downtown jail before, he said. If the State Highway 6 jail also gets privatized, who will be there to step in and help the downtown jail when things get out of hand again, he asked….
LINK - WacoTrib.com (The Waco Tribune)
June 21, 2008
Prison boss opposes release of ailing ex-Manson follower
California's director of adult prisons is recommending against "compassionate release" for a terminally ill former Manson family member, a spokeswoman said.
Suzan Hubbard, director of the Division of Adult Institutions, decided that Susan Atkins' request should not be sent to the sentencing court for consideration, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Hubbard's recommendation is advisory and will not necessarily prevent Atkins' release.
The court — not the department or the state Board of Parole Hearings — has the final say on whether Atkins should be released, Thornton said. "They're the only ones legally who can recall the sentence," she added…
LINK - CNN.com
June 16, 2008
Overtime policies push 100 sheriff’s officers over $150,000
Over the past decade, Orange County officials transformed the post of sheriff's deputy into a six-figure job based on the belief that overtime was cheaper than hiring new officers. The department's reliance on overtime enabled most of its sworn officers to earn more than $100,000 in 2007. More than 100 earned over $150,000.
That cost $41.7 million in overtime, on top of the $318 million the county spent on deputy salaries, health insurance and retirement benefits. The overall budget and salaries have doubled since 1997, but overtime expenditures have tripled.
Acting Sheriff Jack Anderson defended the spending, saying overtime is 9 percent cheaper than hiring additional deputies and paying their salary and retirement. The department says overtime saved it $9.7 million last year…
LINK - OCRegister.com (The Orange County Register)
June 16, 2008
New Mexico: GEO Group says pact terminates June 30
GEO Group Inc., which provides residential and correctional services, said Monday its contract with the State of New Mexico, Department of Health to manage the Fort Bayard Medical Center will end June 30.
The contract generated about $3.5 million in annual operating revenues for GEO. The company said the contract's discontinuation won't hurt GEO's financial performance or affect prior guidance…
LINK - Money.CNN.com
June 15, 2008
Riverside County Sheriff’s Department pushes to increase its ranks
The hiring campaign involves a series of tasks that must be completed by different county agencies — each pressed with tight schedules — so that the new employees can be in place when the county opens a new, 1,200-bed hub jail in 2012. Some of the new workers also will be assigned to the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, which will be expanded by almost 600 beds in late 2009 or early 2010.
Even if construction is completed on time and Coz can pull off the planned $12 million expansion of the Ben Clark center, it still might be difficult to find enough qualified candidates…
LINK - PE.com (Press Enterprise)
June 13, 2008
Santee officials say report on larger jail is flawed
City officials yesterday accused the county of failing to thoroughly analyze and mitigate the effects of a larger Las Colinas jail in a draft environmental report released in April.
That report should be significantly revised and re-released to the public, Santee officials said in a letter to the county. "There's a lot more work to be done," Santee City Manager Keith Till said.
Santee residents and officials have been staunchly opposed to a county proposal to replace the 810-bed jail in the center of the city with a bigger jail. Las Colinas, a worn-down, 1960s-era facility, has been on the county's list for replacement for years. It is the only all-female jail in the county…
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
June 11, 2008
Opinion: “Getting more out of Texas prisons”
When it comes to the criminal justice system, Texans get what they pay for. Funding is largely based on volume — as Texas' prison population has quadrupled during the last two decades, the cost to taxpayers has risen proportionally.
Although warehousing works to the extent that inmates cannot commit another crime while in prison, 99 percent of inmates ultimately will be released — usually while still in their prime criminal years. Many of the same offenders are recycled through the system; 60 percent of Texas prison intakes are revoked probationers and parolees. The three-year re-incarceration rate of released Texas inmates has hovered around 30 percent during the past decade.
Leaders from the Texas Capitol to European houses of parliament are increasingly recognizing that reducing recidivism is crucial to controlling future incarceration costs and the incalculable human costs to victims and communities from criminal activity. This realization inspired a 111-page manifesto released in March by England's Conservative Party, titled Prisons with a Purpose: Our Sentencing and Rehabilitation Revolution to Break the Cycle of Crime…
LINK - Star-Telegram.com
June 11, 2008
Costs soar for new death row at San Quentin
Ground has not yet been broken on a new death row proposed at San Quentin State Prison, but the projected cost of the project has soared by nearly 80% for a compound that could be full only three years after it opens, according to a critical audit released Tuesday.
If the facility is built as now envisioned, some condemned inmates would have to reside in cells with others rather than be imprisoned separately as they are now, State Auditor Elaine M. Howle reported.
Howle's audit details the delays and changes to the $220-million plan that state lawmakers authorized five years ago to house 656 male inmates facing the death penalty. Those prisoners are now scattered across several antiquated, rundown buildings without modern security feature…
LINK - LATimes.com (The Los Angeles Times)
June 1, 2008
Can New York Break Its Incarceration Habit?
It's an experiment that has arguably run its course.
In the last 20 years, states across the country have quadrupled their spending on jails and prisons from $11 billion in 1987 to $44 billion last year, while imprisoning 2.3 million individuals – or one in 100 American adults, according to a report released by the Pew Center on the States. While some criminologists give incarceration partial credit for cutting crime in the 1990s, many argue that these public safety benefits are evaporating and that money for jails would be better spent in other areas such as health care and education…
LINK - GothamGazette.com
May 23, 2008
Six Pelican Bay officers awarded Bronze Stars
Six employees at Pelican Bay State Prison were honored last week by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for life-saving actions.
The awards were presented by CDCR Secretary James Tilton at a ceremony in Sacramento. Nearly 100 corrections employees received awards that ranged from the Medal of Valor to Unit Citations.
Correctional Sergeants Gregory Gordon and Kathy Ohland, and Correctional Officers Will Baptista, Joseph Ross, Pamela Russell and Donald Thomas were all awarded the Bronze Star medal…
LINK - The Daily Triplicate
May 22, 2008
Companies Cashing in on People’s Prison Stripes?
Many small towns have come to depend on prisons for jobs, but are private prisons taking advantage of the incarcerated to turn a profit?
Or are correctional systems offering much-needed services to those behind bars?
For more, Farai Chideya talks with Louise Grant — vice president of marketing and communications for the Corrections Corporation of America — and Rose Braz, campaign director of Critical Resistance, an organization opposed to the expansion of prisons…
LINK - NPR.org (Audio Report & Interview)
May 10, 2008
End of watch
VISALIA — Several hundred local dignitaries, community members and uniformed Tulare County peace officers gathered Wednesday morning at the base of the Peace Officer Monument near the Tulare County Sheriff's Department Headquarter's to honor the memory of 23 Tulare County Sheriff's department officers, California Highway Patrol officers, National Park officer and city police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.
"We come together collectively to pay tribute to the Tulare County Law Enforcement Officers who have been lost in the line of duty," said Captain Dahl Cleek, Tulare County Sheriff Department. "There is not a day that goes by that we don't remember those officers who paid the ultimate sacrifice. We admire them and are grateful for their service and the service of all who wear the badge."
The emotional start to the memorial included a TC Sheriff's Department Aero Squadron flyover, the presenting of a floral wreath by TCSO correctional deputies, Chris and Joseph Landin, and the Posting of Colors, with Selma Police Department Officer Barry Putnam playing "Taps" on bagpipes as the flag was lowered to half staff…
LINK - RecorderOnline.com
May 9, 2008
California picks 12 counties to share $750 million in jail funds
Twelve California counties, including Yolo, are in line to receive a combined $750 million in jail construction funds under recommendations released Thursday by the state Corrections Standards Authority.
To qualify for the jail money authorized by lawmakers last year, the counties had to agree to site new "re-entry" prisons designed to improve rehabilitation programs and smooth short-term inmates' transition home.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 900, contained the jail money to stanch the early releases of tens of thousands of offenders every year from the overcrowded county systems, many of which are operating under court-ordered prisoner population caps…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
May 9, 2008
County just misses cut for women’s jail funding; status of re-rentry facility in Paso unknown
San Luis Obispo County lost out on a $25.1 million grant that county officials had hoped to use for a new women's jail.
The state Correctional Standards Authority on Thursday preliminarily doled out $650 million in grants to eight counties of similar or larger size. San Luis Obispo County was ninth on the list.
The announcement is a blow to the women's jail project, which has been a focus of Sheriff Pat Hedges because the current jail is too small. County officials said the $30 million to $40 million project likely will be put on hold…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
May 8, 2008
County gets $100 million to expand jail by 790 beds
Kern County has been tentatively awarded a $100 million state grant to construct 790 beds in a new jail building at Lerdo Jail.
The Corrections Standards Authority, a division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, made a preliminary award to Kern County, said department Press Secretary Seth Unger Thursday afternoon.
The funding comes from Assembly Bill 900, approved in 2007. Unger said Kern's petition in the competitive bid for funding got the third highest mark in the state…
LINK - TradingMarkets.com
May 5, 2008
National Correctional Officers Week: TDCJ to honor staff and fallen officers
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice will hold a special memorial service Monday to honor its correctional staff and remember all those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
The formal, military-style memorial ceremony, which will bring TDCJ officials, employees, dignitaries, guests and the general public to the Texas Prison Museum on state Highway 75 North, will begin at 11:30 a.m.
Held in conjunction with National Correctional Officers Week, the service will include a special tribute to Wynne Unit Officer Susan Canfield, who was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 24, 2007…
LINK - ItemOnline.com (The Huntsville Item Online)
April 21, 2008
The Few, the Proud - the Convicted?!?
New Data Show Military Has Recruited More Serious Ex-Offenders Than Previously Known; Pentagon List Reveals Reliance on Sexual Offenders, Kidnappers, Arsonists
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., April 21 (AScribe Newswire) — New information released today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee shows that in 2006 and 2007 Americans who were convicted of serious crimes including sexual offences, manslaughter, "terrorist threats including bomb threats", burglary, kidnapping or abduction, aggravated assault and sexual assault were allowed into the military under moral waivers granted by the services.
According to the data given to the committee by the Department of Defense, the Army allowed the most waivers in 2006 and 2007. During this period, moral or felony waivers were given to 3 soldiers who had been convicted of manslaughter. One soldier was allowed in following a kidnapping or abduction conviction, 11 were convicted of arson, 142 convicted of burglary, 3 who were convicted of indecent acts or liberties with a child, 7 who were convicted of rape, sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, incest or other sex crimes and 3 who were convicted of terrorist threats including bomb threats.
In the Marines and Navy, waivers were granted for similar offenses…
LINK - AScribe.org (Newswire)
April 21, 2008
Court rejects appeals by 11 death row inmates
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday followed up on its ruling last week upholding the commonly used lethal injection method of execution and rejected appeals by 11 death row inmates in seven states.
The ruling cleared the way for a resumption of executions that had been halted for nearly seven months while the justices considered a constitutional challenge to the three-drug cocktail used in the executions.
The ruling means more than a dozen death row inmates likely will get early execution dates. Officials in the leading death penalty states, like Texas, Virginia and Florida, said they planned to schedule executions that previously had been on hold…
LINK - Reuters.com
April 16, 2008
Supreme Court upholds use of lethal injections
The Supreme Court upheld the most common method of lethal injections executions Wednesday, clearing the way for states to resume executions that have been on hold for nearly 7 months.
The justices, by a 7-2 vote, turned back a constitutional challenge to the procedures in place in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. Similar methods are used by roughly three dozen states.
The governor of Virginia lifted his state's moratorium on executions two hours after the high court issued its ruling…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
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 18, 2008
Washington Staff Assault Task Force sues inmate for alleged attack
An inmate at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla is being sued for a "vicious assault" on a corrections officer at the prison in December. A civil lawsuit was filed in Walla Walla County Superior Court against Christopher R. McBain by the Washington Staff Assault Task Force.
The suit was filed on behalf of Mark Abbott, 42, a 14-year veteran at the state prison. The suit against an inmate is believed to be the first of its kind in the state. The goal of the nonprofit task force is to hold inmates accountable for their actions while providing support to officers who get assaulted.
"Just because inmates are in prison doesn't mean that their criminal activity stops," said the task force's director, Keith Rapp, who spent 17 years at the penitentiary and was a captain of the corrections officers and a crisis hostage negotiator…
LINK - Tri-CityHerald.com
See also: Correctional Officer files complaint against judge - March 15, 2008 (CDCR, california, correctional officers, lawsuit, assault)
March 13, 2008
Editorial: “More prisoners, more guards”
Staggering figures from the recently-released Pew Center on the States' Public Safety Performance Project show one in every 99.1 adults in the United States is incarcerated, amounting to more than 2.3 million people behind bars. Higher incarceration rates are not likely because of an increase in crime or a general rise population. Rather, the report concludes, there are more prisoners because of tougher enforcement efforts and longer sentences. Are federal and state budgets in sync with the rising incarceration rates?
Many agencies have been unable to hire enough guards and prison staff to meet demand. The evidence rests in the fact that over the last 20 years, there are proportionally fewer prison guards and personnel monitoring the burgeoning population of lawbreakers. Policy-makers should understand that more prisoners means more guards are needed.
LINK - WashingtonTimes.com
March 13, 2008
Must Read: “Machado grills analyst on prison budget”
State Sen. Mike Machado laid it on pretty thick today in questioning a representative of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about the administration's budget proposals on prisons.
"You have given us a very incomplete proposal," Machado, D-Linden, told Department of Finance principal program analyst Jennifer Osborn at a budget subcommittee hearing on prison spending. "It's very hard for us to believe the governor is serious about this proposal."
Machado focused his questioning on Schwarzenegger's proposal to grant early releases to 22,000 inmates at the same time it's trying to expand prison capacity by 53,000 beds. Osborn, for the most part, was at a loss for words and wound up leaving the hearing in tears.
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
March 10, 2008
Schwarzenegger’s New CDCR Appointees
Marisela Montes, 54, of Gold River, has been appointed deputy director of the division of adult institutions for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Since 2007, she has been senior adviser to the Division of Adult Institutions for CDCR. From 2006 to 2007, Montes was chief deputy secretary of Adult Programs at CDCR. She previously served as deputy director for administration at the Department of Transportation from 1999 to 2006 and chief of correctional planning and research at CDCR from 1998 to 1999. Montes held various positions within CDCR from 1984 to 1999, including deputy director of the Parole and Community Services Division and associate warden at California State Prison, Solano. Prior to that, she held positions at the Department of Social Services from 1981 to 1984 and State Personnel Board 1980 to 1981. Montes began her career in state service as a postsecondary education specialist at the California Postsecondary Education Commission in 1977. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $142,428. Montes is registered decline-to-state.
Kimberly Petersen, 45, of Modesto, has been appointed community program manager for the Northern California Re-Entry Facility in Stockton for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Since 2007, she has been a professor of victimology at California State University, Stanislaus. From 1999 to 2007, Petersen was executive director of the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation and, from 1996 to 1999, was a teacher at Joshua Cowell Elementary School in the Manteca Unified School District. From 1991 to 1995, she was recreation director for the Livermore Valley Tennis Club, and from 1987 to 1991, was a teacher and athletic director at Our Savior Lutheran School. Prior to that, Petersen was a teacher at Zion Lutheran School from 1986 to 1987. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $87,048. Petersen is a Republican.
March 7, 2008
Bush’s plan to cut payments protested
The next time a San Diego sheriff's deputy arrests a man who tries to steal a car, hauls him to a county detention center, starts asking questions and discovers he's in the country illegally, here's what will happen:
The tax-supported district attorney's and public defender's offices will handle his case, a tax-supported judge will preside if it goes to trial, he'll spend an average three weeks in the local jail at $100 each day, a state prison could house him for years at $121 a day, and tax-funded probation officers will follow his progress. Only after that will he be deported.
For years, the White House and border communities such as San Diego have argued over who should pay for all this. As a group of border states yesterday unveiled a report on the costs of incarcerating illegal immigrants linked to crimes, President Bush is again trying to eliminate all federal reimbursement for the task.
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com
March 7, 2008
State correctional center inmates moved to ease overcrowding
Inmates at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City began moving into a 240-bed modular housing unit Monday as part of the state's efforts to ease crowding in the bulging prison population.
The move coincides with the release of an unprecedented national report last week from the Pew Center on the States showing that one out of every 99.1 American adults is in jail or prison, the highest ratio of any country in the world.
"We're at capacity and more," said Greg Smith, a planning specialist with the state Department of Corrections. "We've had to utilize some public areas such as classrooms and foyers (within prisons) for housing. We are very much looking forward to the new buildings."
LINK - News.RGJ.com (Douglas Times)
March 5, 2008
Medical czar: Fixing prison health system won’t come cheap
The state's new prison medical czar said Wednesday it's going to be expensive to provide constitutional care to California inmates and that he will not shy away from fighting to obtain the resources he needs to fix the system.
Receiver J. Clark Kelso did not put a price tag on his fix-it plan during his talk at an issues forum sponsored by the state correctional officers union, his first public appearance since taking over the job six weeks ago.
Kelso said he expects that negotiations with legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration will be "difficult" amid the current budget crisis, but added, "I have to be able to work in the context of existing political conditions."
LINK - SacBee.com (Sacramento Bee)
March 4, 2008
Future of El Paso de Robles: State Proposes 1,000-inmate Prison
The former boys school in Paso Robles could become a 1,000- inmate prison after it closes in July, state prisons officials announced Monday. That new option joins two alternatives that have circulated since the closure was announced Jan. 3.
The other proposals call for a state re-entry prison with about 200 inmates and a firefighting camp. The property could house one or two of the proposed facilities, or have all three, state officials said.
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
March 4, 2008
Tulare County: “Officials ask for gang unit”
"I think [the new unit is] crucial," Williams said. "I think we have to apply whatever resources we can [to gang problems]."
Also in the works is a plan to train a dozen correctional deputies at Tulare County jails to become gang experts who would monitor the activities of inmates with gang ties — the majority inmates. They would gather intelligence for gang officers and identify "shot-callers" — inmates directing gang crimes from the jails.
Money for that program would come from the sheriff's department's existing budget, a supervisors report states.
LINK - VisaliaTimesDelta.com
February 29, 2008
Debra Dexter: First black female warden at Ironwood
Celebrating Black History Month
By Jaclyn RandallDebra Dexter, 47, was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the first black female warden at Ironwood State Prison on Nov. 2, 2007.
Since her appointment, she has set precedence by making Ironwood a real community institution.
Through various inmate rehabilitation programs at the facility, things have really been improved for Blythe.
LINK - BlytheCANews.com (Palo Verde Valley Times)
February 29, 2008
Nevada: Prison crowding targeted in state
Inmates at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City will begin moving into a 240-bed modular housing unit Monday as part of the state's efforts to ease crowding in the bulging prison population, officials said Thursday.
The move coincides with the release of an unprecedented national report from the Pew Center on the States showing that one out of every 99.1 American adults is in jail or prison, the highest ratio of any country in the world. "We're at capacity and more," said Greg Smith, a planning specialist with the state Department of Corrections. "We've had to utilize some public areas such as classrooms and foyers (within prisons) for housing. We are very much looking forward to the new buildings."
Nevada's penal system, a $296 million annual institution, is designed to handle 12,753 inmates, Smith said. It currently holds 12,959, or roughly one of every 200 state residents, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Nevada Department of Corrections.
LINK - RGJ.com (Reno Gazette-Journal)
February 29, 2008
Feature Article: The Prison-Industrial Complex
Correctional officials see danger in prison overcrowding. Others see opportunity. The nearly two million Americans behind bars—the majority of them nonviolent offenders—mean jobs for depressed regions and windfalls for profiteers.
In the hills east of Sacramento, California, Folsom State Prison stands beside a man-made lake, surrounded by granite walls built by inmate laborers. The gun towers have peaked roofs and Gothic stonework that give the prison the appearance of a medieval fortress, ominous and forbidding. For more than a century Folsom and San Quentin were the end of the line in California's penal system; they were the state's only maximum-security penitentiaries. During the early 1980s, as California's inmate population began to climb, Folsom became dangerously overcrowded. Fights between inmates ended in stabbings six or seven times a week. The poor sight lines within the old cellblocks put correctional officers at enormous risk. From 1984 to 1994 California built eight new maximum-security (Level 4) facilities. The bullet holes in the ceilings of Folsom's cellblocks, left by warning shots, are the last traces of the prison's violent years.
LINK - TheAtlantic.com
February 28, 2008
For Corrections, Next Year’s Layoffs May Be Steep
The proposed staff reductions of 5,854 "personnel years" for the 2008-09 fiscal year that begins July 1 are contingent on legislative approval of the governor's plan to release of 22,000 inmates statewide. The prisoner-release order - which applies to releases of "nonserious, nonviolent, and non sexual offenders" is still pending in legislature.
"To achieve the budget projections, there needs to be a significant reduction in staff," said Seth Unger, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). "We believe that many of these savings would be achieved by eliminating vacant positions and offering early retirements."
LINK - CapitolWeekly.net
February 28, 2008
One in 100 American Adults in Jail or Prison: Report
A new report finds that for the first time, more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison. At the start of 2008, 2, 319,258 adults were in American prisons or jails, or one in every 99.1, according to a report released by the Pew Center on the States' Public Safety Performance Project.
Pew researchers worked on the report with the collaboration of correctional authorities and other prison researchers. They also obtained data from U.S. justice and census reports. Last year, states spent more than $49 billion on corrections, up from $11 billion 20 years earlier, the report stated. While spending grew, the national recidivism rate is virtually unchanged.
LINK - IBTimes.com (International Business Times)
December 27, 2007
Editorial: “Early release of prisoners has to be considered.”
With California facing a $3.3 billion deficit in the current fiscal year and a $14 billion deficit the year after, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should be looking at all possible options for bringing spending in line with revenues, and visa versa…
LINK - SacBee.com
December 24, 2007
Shasta County, Residents Weigh Options for Rehabilitation
Neighbors say the rehabilitation complex under discussion for Shasta County might work in the county's outskirts, but that it doesn't fit within Redding city limits. "Do we want to be known as a prison town, like Susanville?" Cerro Lane resident Meurig Davies said. "I don't think so…"
LINK - Redding.com
December 21, 2007
Early Release Plan Draws Bipartisan Opposition
A Democratic legislative leader and a firebrand Republican promised tough going Friday for a proposal circulating in the Schwarzenegger administration to cut the prison population by 28,000 over the next two years. Assembly Public Safety Committee chair Jose Solorio, D-Santa Ana, said early releases are "DOA" with the Republicans in his chamber and that Democrats will range from questioning the plan to outright opposing it…
LINK - SacBee.com
