Prison Overcrowding
February 4, 2010
Federal Corrections Reports
Find and read reports regarding Federal Corrections; ranging in subject from Capitol Punishment, to Family, Leadership, to Technology and much more...
March 24, 2008
Riverside County Bracing for Larger Early Inmate Release Count
Riverside County's two top cops — District Attorney Rod Pacheco and Sheriff Stanley Sniff — are already talking about the overwhelming problems they'll be facing. The orignal number of released prisoners was listed at 22,000.
"I've spoken personally to Secretary James Tilton, who is in charge, and his representation is that the first phase is 22,000," Pacheco explained. "The second phase is an additional 24,000 with an ultimate goal of 65,000 prisoners released."
It could appear that Desert Hot Springs is the city that can't catch a break. It has the most parolees of any desert city, and they'll get the large portion of the thousands expected to return to Riverside County…
LINK - KESQ.com
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)
March 18, 2008
Opinion: “Prisoners are like corn…” (Colorado)
Prisoners are a lot like corn. Like corn, prisoners are a commodity government pays for. That's why Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter wants more prisons, right away. Caught in a public-private entanglement, he serves a ravenous beast that feeds on criminal flesh and gets hungrier by the day. The state needs the beast; the beast needs the state.
When the Bush administration created massive subsidies for private enterprise to make fuel out of crops, the ethanol industry built plants and demanded corn. No corn, no government checks. As a result, we have a nation awash in corn - more corn than anyone ever dreamed we could need. Thousands of farmers, who once produced a variety of foods consumers wanted and needed, now produce only corn. Loads and loads of excess corn that serve no purpose other than satiating an artificial venture which will never stand on its own because it serves no genuine need.
Likewise, when states began paying private enterprise to house prisoners in the 1980s, a new industry built prisons and demanded flesh. No prisoners, no government check. The inmate population grew by leaps and bounds, a surplus generated by the war on drugs and bizarre new sentencing laws that keep non-violent offenders in prison for years. Today, more than one in 100 Americans live behind bars and the United States has more prisoners than any country in the world. Attach government checks to corn, and corn will be grown to fill an artificial demand. Attach government checks to prisoners, and the system will deliver them in droves…
LINK - Gazette.com (The Colorado Springs Gazette)
March 17, 2008
Woodland in line for ‘re-entry’ prison
Resulting influx of state funds would help Yolo with its jail expansion.
Yolo County has positioned itself to receive potentially millions in state money for jail expansion by agreeing to locate a new "re-entry" prison for inmates ticketed for home.
Undersheriff Tom Lopez confirmed Friday that Yolo County has agreed to host a 150-bed re-entry facility for prisoners in the final months of their sentences at its jail campus on Gibson Road in Woodland.
The agreement gives Yolo County a big boost in its application for jail expansion money under last year's Assembly Bill 900, the state's plan to add 46,000 beds to California's prisons and jails. The bill initially had sought a 53,000-bed expansion.
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
March 12, 2008
Colorado: Lawmakers told the state needs more prisons
The Colorado Department of Corrections on Tuesday outlined a massive five-year, $800 million plan to add state prisons, including expanding the Trinidad prison and building a mega-facility somewhere else in the state.
DOC Executive Director Ari Zavaras said that despite aggressive efforts to reduce recidivism, an increase in parolees and any changes in sentencing requirements the Legislature might approve, Colorado still will need more prison beds as soon as it can get them. Zavaras, who was DOC director when former Gov. Bill Owens put the kibosh on state prison construction in 2000 in favor of contracting with private companies, said he warned lawmakers then not to allow the private/state prison ratio to surpass 20 percent.
As of this year, it's reached 22 percent, and without any new state beds coming online, will hit 40 percent by 2012, he said.
LINK - Chieftain.com (The Pueblo Chieftain)
March 5, 2008
Tuolumne County “Gets in Bed” with CDCR for Re-entry Facility
By a unanimous 5-0 vote this morning the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors approved CAO Craig Pedro's recommendation that it is premature to move forward with a jail construction project at this time.
However, for the purpose of ensuring that the county would still be considered for all future state grant funding cycles, Pedro recommended that the county prepare and submit an application for AB 900 funding (the maximum allowable amount for a rural county is $30 million)…
LINK - MyMotherLode.com
February 28, 2008
Locals oppose private prison for women in Fresno
Opponents of the proposal fell generally into three categories. Many of the neighbors in the vicinity of the project did not want the facility located at the Hacienda because they were concerned about the impact the project would have on the area. […] People making this argument, which was heard several times at the hearing, said that the Addams Neighborhood has enough problems - "we don't need a prison to add to an already difficult situation."
Another group of opponents argued that opening a privately run prison in the middle of Fresno was not a good way to resolve the over crowding problems at the State Correctional Facilities in California. They presented a petition, signed by thousands of women inmates, saying that they do not want a facility like the one being proposed to be approved.
The third argument against accepting the proposal was more of a procedural argument. Several people, including an appearance by Fresno County Board of Supervisor member Phil Larson, complained that insufficient notice was given to neighbors to discuss this important issue. Most of the people making this argument wanted to have more time before a decision was made…
LINK - IndyBay.org
February 25, 2008
Idaho Governor Dumps Private Prison Plan
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter has abandoned legislation to completely privatize Idaho's new prisons, relenting to lawmakers who weren't ready to let somebody else take control the state's correctional facilities.
Otter said today that Idaho still needs a prison, but that he'll accept an arrangement in which the state owns the building and contracts with a private company to operate it. That's similar to the existing arrangement at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise.
LINK - Forbes.com
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
February 20, 2008
Shasta County: Re-entry site rejected
Consideration of a state re-entry facility in Shasta County for rehabilitating prison inmates and reducing repeat offenders died quickly Tuesday, with the county Board of Supervisors voting 5-0 against it.
Several residents who attended Tuesday's morning and afternoon board meetings called the re-entry facility a prison in disguise. Others likened the state's plan to a biting rattlesnake or a Trojan horse. Most agreed that by any name or appearance, it wasn't to be trusted. "Making it look like a Marriott doesn't make it a Marriott," said resident Dan Freitag…
LINK - Redding.com
February 20, 2008
Assemblyman Bill Maze: “Summary parole is a bad budget idea.”
Protecting citizens from those who seek to do harm is not only a legitimate role of government, it's the primary role. As an elected member of the State Assembly, I have a bird's eye view of how the Legislature works and can attest that oftentimes, we miss the mark.
As a case in point, I am deeply troubled that our public safety could be threatened under a dangerous plan proposed by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that would create a new category of prisoner release called "summary parole." Under this plan, parolees would no longer be supervised or tracked by parole officers, nor could they be sent back to prison for violating the terms of their parole, such as abusing drugs or obtaining deadly weapons…
LINK - VisaliaTimesDelta.com
February 20, 2008
Van Tran: “Keep watch on paroled felons”
Like food and shelter, being safe from crime is a basic necessity. All the opportunity, happiness and prosperity in the world is meaningless if you can't take a walk in your neighborhood or feel safe at home. Public safety has always been my top priority in Sacramento. I've strongly supported protections like Jessica's Law, Megan's Law and Three Strikes, to keep criminals locked up where they belong and protect Orange County families.
But under a dangerous proposal by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to create a new category of parole called "summary parole," our safety could be at risk. Under the proposal, felons convicted of any number of serious crimes would no longer be supervised by law enforcement while they are on parole…
LINK - OCRegister.com
February 19, 2008
Prison Beds, Rehab Delayed
The state corrections agency still hasn't broken ground on new prison bed space, and its plan to redirect the lives of its inmates has come under criticism. Lawmakers say they are frustrated by the delays and wonder if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants the federal courts, instead of him, to grant early releases to tens of thousands of inmates to relieve prison overcrowding.
At issue is the rollout of Assembly Bill 900, the state's $7.9 billion plan enacted last May to repair California's faltering prison system. Corrections officials say the plan to add 53,000 beds to the system and tie most of them to new rehabilitation programs is running late, but still working…
LINK - SacBee.com
February 19, 2008
Opinion: “Fear is a poor reason to reject re-entry facility”
Under a law passed last year, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation plans to build "secure re-entry facilities" around California as part of a push to improve inmate rehabilitation. The idea is to take convicts approaching the end of their prison terms and offer focused programs - from counseling to job assistance - to help them live a straight life on the outside.
The state hopes to ease prison overcrowding by cutting the extraordinary number of ex-cons who end up back behind bars. But if successful, the re-entry program would benefit local communities because those freed inmates would be committing fewer crimes…
LINK - Redding.com
February 14, 2008
Sheriff Unveils Plan for New Jail, Expanded Prevention Program
History, like politics, makes for strange bedfellows. When Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown took his plans to relieve chronic overcrowding at the county jail to the Board of Supervisors this past Tuesday, he was responding to a chain of events set in motion 27 years ago by a convicted hitman named Dennis Boyd Miller. It was Miller — sentenced to life in prison for killing a high-profile Santa Barbara sculptor, his business partner, and his lover — who first filed a lawsuit charging that Santa Barbara's county jail was so overcrowded that it violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Although Miller's lawsuit was first filed in 1981, it's been amended several times since then, and today remains very much alive. Superior Court Judge Brian Hill — the fifth jurist to wrestle with the problem — has repeatedly threatened to find Santa Barbara County in contempt of court if Sheriff Brown doesn't make big changes at the jail. And soon.
LINK - Independent.com
February 11, 2008
Connecticut: “One Empty Prison Wing”
State officials are courting trouble if they don't do something soon to alleviate prison crowding. The prison population is expected to top a record 20,000 any day now. Thirteen of the state's 18 prisons and jails have more inmates than beds. The official estimate of the overflow of inmates sleeping on gymnasium floors and cafeterias is 649 and rising. […] Connecticut is not the only state struggling with prison crowding. In California, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently proposed early releases for more than 22,000 inmates in a move to cut the prison budget by $1.1 billion. Opening the emergency wing at Cheshire would buy time for Connecticut to come up with its own solutions…
LINK - Courant.com
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 7, 2008
JBC Chief Urges Prison Expansions
Colorado should begin serious talks about expanding some of its state-owned prisons, the head of the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee said Tuesday. Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, is upset that private prison companies operating in the state incarcerate about 20 percent of all state inmates. He says with one company running four of the five private prisons here, they have too great a negotiating position and can dictate terms to the Legislature…
LINK - Chieftain.com
February 6, 2008
Colorado: Private Prisons Demand 5% Increase
A private prison company is threatening to move all Colorado inmates out of one of its facilities if it doesn't get an increase in what the state pays to house them. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates four of the state's five private prisons, including three in Southern Colorado, is demanding that the Colorado Legislature give it a 5 percent hike in the per diem it receives to house about 4,000 state inmates, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said Tuesday…
LINK - Chieftain.com
February 6, 2008
Idaho: Taking Care of Thine Own Convicted
Darrington said that private prisons are easy to sell politically, but carry some baggage: Idaho could become host to hundreds of out-of-state prisoners and their families. A public prison is a hard sell-someone has to pay for it-but leaves the state more in control, he reasoned… But there are more than two sides here […] For instance, an Associated Press story carried by papers across the world recounted the following dire testimony: "Try to comfort my mum too and try to get her to see that I am truly happy again," wrote Idaho inmate Scott Payne before taking his own life in a private prison in Texas last year…
LINK - BoiseWeekly.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 4, 2008
Maine: Jail Consolidation Work Sessions Open
Committee work sessions got under way in earnest at the Maine State House on Monday on a still-developing new plan to integrate the county jail network with the state prison system. As outlined thus far, a new board appointed by the governor would oversee an integrated system of county jails and state prisons. The board would look at budgets and expenditure trends. The state would be expected to pick up debt service burdening counties now…
LINK - WMTW.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 31, 2008
Who Would be Eligible for Early Release Under the Governor’s Plan?
Last year, I was proud to work in a bipartisan manner to co-author the prison reforms contained in AB 900. We dedicated $7.7 billion to build 53,000 new prison beds to reduce overcrowding, took steps to improve inmate health care and overhauled rehabilitation programs to give inmates the opportunity to become productive members of the community upon release. Setting aside partisan differences, we worked together to keep Californians safe. But all of our good work could disappear overnight under a troubling new plan proposed in the Governor's budget. Citing California's $14.5 billion deficit, the Department of Corrections has proposed the early release of more than 22,000 felons and the reduction of the parole population by 18,500 parolees. This plan would have a chilling impact on public safety in our state…
LINK - Flashreport.org
January 28, 2008
CCA Tries to Soften Colorado Legislators to Rate Increases w/ Campaign $$$
In just two months, two executives of the nation's largest prison business gave $2,400 to various campaigns in Colorado, nearly triple the total amount contributed a year before. According to records from the Secretary of State's office, high-ranking officials with Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America went on a spending spree during the last two months of 2007, contributing money to the candidate committees of seven state legislators, usually in $400 increments, the highest legal amount…
LINK - ColoradoConfidential.com
January 24, 2008
Idaho Governor Backs Private Prison Plan
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter Wednesday began selling a plan to lawmakers to let prison companies own and operate for-profit lockups in Idaho, arguing it's better for corporations to pay upfront costs of housing a growing inmate population than it is for the state to sell bonds for such projects, like it's done in the past. Currently, Idaho law prevents corporations from building for-profit prisons here…
LINK - Forbes.com
January 24, 2008
3 D.C. Region Jails Vexed by Crowding
"Every move in this building is a chess game," he said. "I won't say it's unsafe, because it's not. But we are at a breaking point." Three of the nine Maryland county jails in the Washington region are filled beyond capacity, a problem several officials attribute to tighter county budgets and a rapid increase in inmates, especially women and convicts younger than 18…
LINK - WashingtonPost.com
January 24, 2008
Opinion: “What might happen if state doesn’t raise taxes?”
A week ago, when the Legislature's nonpartisan budget analyst presented her first-blush review of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed 2008-09 state budget, she praised the administration for using realistic economic assumptions, but with this grim warning: "The economy might be weaker than previously thought." In the eight days since, the California employment report for December was issued, showing a half-percent increase in the jobless rate and indicating a sharper downturn than anticipated. And then financial markets around the world went into a tailspin…
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
January 23, 2008
Commentary: “Playing Cuttlefish with the State Budget”
Everything else can be suspended by the same vote that adopts the budget - including every statute on the books. Even most constitutional mandates provide for their own suspension. […] Similarly, the state Legislature can force virtually any contract back to the bargaining table by refusing to fund it fully in the annual budget act. When Sen. Jackie Speier and I proposed doing so in 2004 in an attempt to bring state prison guard salaries under control, Schwarzenegger opposed it. Now, four years later, the governor proposes releasing 22,000 dangerous felons…
LINK - The-Signal.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 13, 2008
Mississippi: California to Move 1,300 More Inmates
More than 1,300 California prisoners already are in a private prison in Mississippi. About 1,300 more could be on the way to the same facility. More inmates are expected to be transferred to the Tallahatchie County Correctional Center in Tutwiler, a maximum-security prison operated by Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America. Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps has said his office will send a monitor to make sure security classifications are correctly followed for the inmates. "The 2.9 million citizens of Mississippi can be assured that safety will be maintained for California inmates," Epps said. In October, CCA announced a new contract with California to house up to 7,772 of its inmates…
LINK - ClarionLedger.com
January 11, 2008
Florida: New Graceville Prison
The GEO Group, a private prison management company, will buy 51.6 acres of land in the Graceville Industrial Park with an eye toward construction of a new prison or work camp there. The $153,180 purchase was approved Friday in a special session of the Jackson County Commission, a partner in the West Jackson County Development Authority. The Geo Group already manages a new 1,500-bed prison in the industrial park and is currently working to expand that facility to hold another 385 inmates…
LINK - WMBB.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
January 3, 2008
Opinion: “Time for Prison Reform”
A showdown is in the air, and it appears that 2008 will be the year California's dysfunctional prison system is reformed - come hell or high water. It's not the best of scenarios. It would have been preferable that our governor or legislators corralled the beast, but even concerted efforts fell flat. While the governor did manage to put through a $7.9 billion bond that would create 53,000 new prison and jail beds, and even set aside some money for rehabilitation, it appears that Assembly Bill 900, approved in April 2007, was too little, too late…
LINK - TheReporter.com
December 28, 2007
55 Idaho inmates sidetracked during move from Texas prison
Fifty-five Idaho inmates who were moved out of a troubled Texas prison on Thursday have been forced by a contract delay to make a temporary stop before going to their final destination, a lockup near the Mexican border. More than 500 Idaho prisoners are in Texas and Oklahoma due to overcrowding at home…
LINK - Chron.com
December 26, 2007
2008 Looms as Year of Reckoning on California’s Prison Crowding
The crisis-fueled momentum that produced a nearly $8 billion prison-spending plan earlier this year has lost some of its steam, leaving the state vulnerable to federal judges ordering an early release of inmates. California has fallen behind in its race to relieve the overcrowded conditions in its state prisons by adding thousands of cells, and time is running out to produce results…
LINK - SFGate.com
December 9, 2007
Sentencing Laws a Key Reason for Prison Overcrowding
When California adopted its criminal sentencing code 30 years ago, a state appeals court marveled that it was virtually incomprehensible, comparing it to income tax forms and insurance policies…
LINK - ChicoER.com
