Federal
March 13, 2012
Union for Federal Prison Officers Strongly Opposes Prison Privatization Initiative
The Council of Prison Locals (CPL) of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) today denounced a privatization plan by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) that would weaken prison security, jeopardize community safety and encourage states to take on additional debt.
CCA Chief Corrections Officer and former Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Harley Lappin recently sent a letter to officials in 48 states announcing what the company is calling a "corrections investment initiative," in which CCA is offering to purchase and operate state prisons under the following conditions: The facility to be sold must have at least 1,000 beds, is filled to at least 90 percent capacity and the state agrees to pay CCA to operate the facility for a minimum of 20 years...
LINK - SacBee.com
February 4, 2010
Federal, State, and Local Government Links
Find useful links to Local, State, and Federal Government agencies including a list of State Department of Corrections by State.
January 16, 2010
$40 million tab for undocumented prisoners in Monterey County
It costs California taxpayers $40 million annually to house inmates in Monterey County prisons who are in the country illegally or whose immigration status is in question.
Getting more federal money to pay the cost of incarcerating such prisoners has been on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda since he raised the issue with the Bush administration several years ago. Now he's turned up the volume a notch, asking this month for $880 million in federal money for undocumented inmates, part of his effort to bridge a $20 billion California budget deficit.
At the Salinas Valley State Prison and the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, 757 inmates are subject to existing or potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds, according to data from the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
May 11, 2009
O.C. may lose millions for jailing illegal immigrants
President Barack Obama's plan to redirect federal funds to the southwest border could mean Orange County stands to lose nearly $6.5 million in funds to house illegal immigrants with criminal convictions – while the state could lose $110 million.
Local and state officials have joined members of Congress who are up in arms about Obama's announcement last week to kill a program that has provided about half a billion dollars in federal funds to states and local municipalities for the incarceration of illegal immigrants with criminal records.
"We expect that we are going to have to fight a battle that we are too familiar with fighting," said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state's Department of Finance…
LINK - OCRegister.com
March 9, 2009
Fighting Back community program gets federal aid
"Congressman Miller realizes the important role Fighting Back plays in improving Vallejo's quality of life by reducing crime through neighborhood revitalization, working with youth at risk, running the family resource centers and the parolee reintegration program," said Kathy Hoffman, a Fighting Back board member and Miller's field representative.
The 19-year-old nonprofit organization deals with issues as diverse as neighborhood revitalization to rehabilitating parolees.
The funding will benefit Fighting Back's Solano County Mentoring Collaborative, Families and Schools Together (FAST) and its Youth Partnership…
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
February 24, 2008
Privately run jail faces new complaint
A privately run immigration jail in Otay Mesa that is already the subject of two lawsuits is under fire again for allegedly mistreating female detainees, then retaliating when they complained to lawyers. One of the women has filed a formal complaint with the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, saying she suffered verbal and physical abuse and poor medical care during her three-week detention this month.
The allegations come about one year after a federal lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego alleging severe overcrowding and unsafe conditions at the jail, known as the San Diego Correctional Facility…
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
February 21, 2008
Van Tran wants state to check immigration status of prisoners
Assemblyman Van Tran has introduced a bill that would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations to verify the immigration status of any new prisoner taken into state custody.
The bill, which would require correctional officers to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and federal law, is aimed at reducing the state costs Tran sees related to the state's influx of illegal immigration. A Vietnamese immigrant himself, Tran says prison costs could be cut tremendously by deporting, instead of detaining, such criminals…
LINK - DailyPilot.com
December 27, 2007
Documentary condemns Nashville’s Corrections Corporation of America for role in “largest trend of fa
In an era of family-dividing deportations, the immigration arm of the U.S. government has arranged for Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America ("CCA") to house immigrant families together, but where and how the families are placed has been framed by some as a moral and human rights crisis…
LINK - HispanicNashville.com
May 11, 2007
MOU Letter “Seriousness to Reach an Agreement”
By Peter Hecht
Bee Capitol Bureau
-- After a year of failed negotiations with one of California's most powerful public employee unions, state officials said Thursday they will seek outside mediation to resolve a contract dispute for the state's 31,000 correctional officers.
