National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons

Banking On Bondage Private Prisons & Mass Incarceration

2011-11-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

This report has been a project of the ACLU National Prison Project and Center for Justice and was authored by David Shapiro (Staff Attorney, National Prison Project). First and foremost, the author would like to thank Mike Tartaglia (Paralegal, National Prison Project) for his many contributions to the report, and David Fathi (Director, National Prison Project) and Vanita Gupta (ACLU Deputy Legal Director) for their support of the project. Numerous individuals generously reviewed drafts or otherwise contributed their wisdom and insight, including Anjali Abraham, Rachel Bloom, Mike Brickner, Inimai Chettiar, Scott Crichton, Shakyra Diaz, Terence Dougherty, Marjorie Esman, Alex Friedmann, Jennifer Giuttari, Lisa Graybill, Judy Greene, Rachel Jordan, Bob Libal, Victoria Lopez, Will Matthews, Rachel Myers, Nila Natarajan, Stephen Pevar, Daniel Pochoda, Judy Rabinovitz, Chris Rickerd, Tom Stenson, Willa Tracosas, Jennifer Wedekind, Margaret Winter, and Paul Wright.

Judge Stops Florida’s Plan to Privatize 29 State Prisons

2011-10-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

By: Lizette Alvarez
New York Times
The ruling by the judge, Jackie L. Fulford, stops the state’s plan to privatize the prisons, which was expected to begin early next year. Nearly 4,000 correction workers were expected to lose their jobs or be transferred.

States Easing Restrictions Against Ex-Convicts

2010-11-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

By: Kenneth J. Cooper,
America's Wire
States across the country are passing laws intended to make ex-offenders more likely to find jobs and, as a result, less prone to commit crime again. Behind the legislative trend is an unusual combination of budget-conscious officials seeking to trim prison populations and activists opposing “structural discrimination” against applicants with criminal records.

America’s New Slavery: Black Men in Prison

2010-10-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

By: Charlene Muhammad
Final Call
A new American slave trade is booming, warn prison activists, following the release of a report that again outlines outrageous numbers of young Black men in prison and increasing numbers of adults undergoing incarceration. That slave trade is connected to money states spend to keep people locked up, profits made through cheap prison labor and for-profit prisons, excessive charges inmates and families may pay for everything from tube socks to phone calls, and lucrative cross country shipping of inmates to relieve overcrowding and rent cells in faraway states and counties.

Cesar Chavez Shows His Papers; So Does Jan Brewer

2010-09-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

By: Robert Illes
Valley Dems United News Letter
I was going to talk about Cesar Chavez had he lived to see the advent of Arizona’s AB 1070, and its not so thinly veiled demonization of “illegal immigrants”, or those among us who might be, walking around brown like some people do. I would imagine Chavez would have felt compelled to mobilize Latinos in Arizona: rousing them to get out and protest en masse (along with civil liberties allies of all colors, and whoever are the Bobby Kennedys of today), and, just as important, rousing them to vote – also en masse.

What's Costlier Than A Government Run Prison? A Private One

2010-08-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

By: D.M. Levine
FORTUNE
In recent years, the trend toward privatization, both among state governments and at the federal level has been part of an attempt to address serious budget troubles and crisis-level prison overcrowding by outsourcing more and more corrections operations to private companies.
The move has translated into big business for industry leaders like Corrections Corporation of America (CXW), The Geo Group (GEO) and Cornell Companies, Inc. (CRN) (just last week, The Geo Group and Cornell finalized a merger valued at $730 million).

Is Slavery Legal In America?

2010-08-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Clint Richardson
(realitybloger.wordpress.com)
While one might be shocked at the presentation of such a question about such a historically controversial subject, one might also not be worse off to simply read their Constitution of the United States…

Let’s have a look at the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit

2010-08-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

AzBlueMeanie

Blog For Arizona.Com

In February 1991 a major political scandal rocked the state of Arizona as a grand jury charged seven legislators, five lobbyists and five others with felonies including bribery, money laundering and filing false campaign statements. Scandal In Phoenix - TIME:

The product of a 16-month, $1.4 million investigation by the Phoenix police and the Maricopa County attorney's office, the indictment charged the accused with accepting $370,000 from an undercover agent posing as a Las Vegas "gaming consultant" building support for casino gambling. Police say the sting began as an investigation of an illegal gambling network that had attracted the interest of organized crime. "We didn't know at the time how earth shattering it would be," said Phoenix Police Chief Ruben Ortega, "until the evidence began to grow."

Private Prison Industry Had Heavy Hand in Drafting and Passing Arizona’s S.B. 1070

2010-08-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

Peter Phillips
The Daily Censored: World News,
An investigative report released this month by In These Times details how Arizona’s anti-immigrant S.B. 1070 law not only promises dramatic financial benefits for the private prison industry, but that lobbyists and administrators working for private prison corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group, played substantial parts in drafting and ensuring the passage of the bill.

Racially Biased SAT Speaks to a Broken Education System

2010-07-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

The Black Commentator
Posted IN LA Progressive
By: David A. Love
Although the SAT is a big problem facing American education that needs addressing, it is not the only problem. Rather, it is merely the tip of the iceberg. After all, many young people are not even in a position to take an SAT test or go to college. The cradle-to-prison pipeline in poorer and disproportionately black and brown communities provides children with a poor excuse for an education in crumbling, crappy, sub-par schools. They are programmed for a life with few options other than to go behind bars. The communities that provide the prisoners are predictable: North Philly, East New York, East L.A., Chicago’s South Side. In Brooklyn, some blocks in predominantly black neighborhoods are known as “million-dollar blocks”: the state pays $1 million or more to imprison residents of that block. At a cost of $30,000 per prisoner, that’s at least 33 prisoners per block. In 2003, there were 35 such blocks in Brooklyn, and even a $5 million block—at least 167 prisoners from a single city block.

Privatization's False Promise

2010-06-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

Kentucky.Com
Open Editorial
Here we go again. Another gubernatorial administration is falling for the old privatization con game, the one that offers comparable public services — maybe even better — at lower costs. This time, the plan is to put all 18 state park golf courses and food services at seven resort park lodges in the hands of private vendors.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Wants to Outsource California's Prison System

2010-01-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

The L Magazine
The Measure
By: Robert Tumas

Pa. prosecutor won't retry dozens of tainted cases

2010-01-27T01:56:00.000-08:00

By: Michael Rubinkam
The Associated Press

Wilkes Barre, PA. A northeastern Pennsylvania prosecutor has dropped her effort to retry as many as 46 youths who appeared before a judge charged in a corruption scandal, bringing an end to a legal saga that involved an estimated 5,000 tainted juvenile convictions.
The agreement between defense lawyers and Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll means that none of the thousands of youths who appeared before disgraced former judge Mark Ciavella Jr. between 2003 and 2008 will face retrial, and all will have their juvenile records wiped clean.

Freedom Forum CEO Tied to For-Profit Prisons

2010-01-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

By: Beau Hodai
Charles Overby has a foot planted firmly in two very different worlds. In one, he is a champion of the free press. In the other, he is part of a group at the helm of a corporation that has worked hard to limit freedom of information and the ability of the press to inform the public. In one world, Overby is chief executive officer of the Freedom Forum, a foundation created by former USA Today publisher Al Neuharth, and its Newseum-located on Pennsylvania Avenue, blocks from the Smithsonian and the Capitol, and which literally has the First Amendment etched onto its 75-foot marble edifice. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning editor and reporter, former vice president of news and communications for Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper chain, and former management committee member of both Gannett and its flagshi paper USA Today.

What Overby's Freedom Forum biography does not disclose is that since 20o1, he's been a director of the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) This omission is easy to understand when you juxtapose the Freedom Forum's guiding principles- "free speech, free press and free spirit" -against CCA'S recent actions and attitudes toward the press and freedom of information.
CCA, the nations's largest private jailer (holding more than 70,000 prisoners in over 60 facilities, and taking in $1.6 billion in revenue for 2008) spent millions of dollars from 2007 to 2009 successfully lobbying against two bills: the Public Safety Act of 2007 (which would outlaw private prisons) and the Private Prison Information Act of 2007. As no hearing was ever held on the Public Safety Act, it's likely that the bulk of these resources went to suppress the PPIA.

Schwarzenegger's budget plan puts unions in the cross-hairs

2010-01-25T10:47:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times
By Shane Goldmacher
Reporting From Sacramento
His proposal to privatize prisons, curtail teachers' seniority protections and reduce the number of in home care workers would be major blows to powerful labor interests. They're girding for a fight.

Public still waiting for ex-county judges’ court date

2010-01-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

TimesLeader.Com
By: Terrie Morgan-Besecker
Law & Order Reporter
Laurene Transue is looking forward to the day when former Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan appear in court to face charges related to the juvenile justice scandal that ensnared her daughter and thousands of other youths.

Children Drop Out And Into Prison Industrial Complex

2010-01-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

Black Star News
New Yorks Leading Investigative Newspaper
By: Marian Wright Edelman
Youths who drop out of school represent a colossal loss to our communities and nation. And many dropouts are condemned to the social and economic fringes of our society and live less fulfilled lives than their peers who graduate from high school. Today, more than half of all young adult dropouts are jobless. And dropouts are at greater risk of being incarcerated and having poorer physical and mental health than those who graduate.

Acts of cruelty to immigrants

2010-01-15T06:50:00.000-08:00

Analysis By: Eric Ruder
A New York Times Investigation that has uncovered horrific abuses of immigrant detainees in privately run U.S. detention centers.
Boubacar Bah, a 52 year old Guinean tailor living in New York, received permission from immigration authorities to travel outside the U.S. in the Spring of 2006 while his immigration case was pending, and for the first time in nearly a decade, he was able to visit his family. A year later, Bah died in custody of U.S. immigration authorities at a privately run immigrant detention center in Elizabeth, N.J.
Bah is one of more than 107 immigrants who have died in such detention centers since October 2003.

State considers private prisons

2010-01-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

San Bernadino Sun
By: Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Changes could be expected to California's prisons in 2010 as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger aims to reduce prison costs. Schwarzenegger's proposal to allow private prisons to compete with public prisons could add billions of dollars to the general fund a year, he said. That money could then be funneled into the education system.
Although official plans have yet to be decided, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been looking into various models to adhere to the governor's goals.

Crime does pay in New Jersey with exploitation of inmates

2010-01-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

Commentary By: Joe Amato
Since we were old enough to understand right from wrong we were all taught a very important life lesson, which is that "crime doesn't pay" but for some very cunning and self serving people who have formed an unholy bond between government and the private prison industry, the premise that crime doesn't pay has been lost in a sea of profit driven politics and corporate greed.

The big move: Prisoners return

2009-12-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

By: Joan Barron
Casper Star Tribune
Wyoming began sending inmates to out-of-state prisons in 1997 because of overcrowding. Beginning next month the state will start the process of bringing back about 270 inmates to Wyoming correctional facilities. "We believe it is our responsibility to do everything we can to get these inmates home so they can see their families more often....it's part of their case plan to reconnect with their families. Their greatest prediction of success is going to be their reintegration back into the community."

Jail site creates concerns in Camco

2009-12-21T14:02:00.000-08:00

By: George Mast
Courier Post Online.Com
Camden -- A battle is brewing in Camden on two fronts as Camden County officials move forward with their plans to hire a private firm to build and manage a new jail.

No Escape From Debt by Selling Jails

2009-11-23T07:58:00.000-08:00

guardian.co.uk
By: Sasha Abramsky
Arizona's plan to sell prisons to the highest bidder is a leap back in time for correctional thinking, and a recipe for fiscal disaster.
Here's an idea: sell off our prisons to the highest bidders, reap a pile of short term cash to inflate near-emoty 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.

Shipping Prisoners Out of Sight

2009-11-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

By: Matt Kelley
Change.Org
More bad news from California's prisons: the state has inked a deal with the Corrections Corporation of America to ship another 2,336 to private facilities outside of the state. California is making an enormous mistake by shipping prisoners far from their families and support networks and replacing them in crowded prisons with new bodies. Cowardly politicians are afraid to make sensible moves on sentencing and parole because they're afraid of the soft-on-crime label, and the public either follows the tough-on-crime propaganda or fails to give the issue serious thought. The result: prisoners remain invisible, prisons remain overcrowded and the system stays in crisis.

Immigrant Jail Tests U.S. View of Legal Access

2009-11-03T03:04:00.000-08:00

New York Times
By: Nina Bernstein
A startling petition arrived at a New York City Bar Association in October 2008. Signed by 100 men, all locked up without criminal charges in the middle of Manhattan. The little-known detention center in Greenwich Village,on the fourth floor, reopened last year. Daniel Miller, a former detainee at the Varick Street Center, complained of abuses there. "These people have no rules," he said. In vivid if flawed English, it described cramped, filthy quarters where dire medical needs were ignored and hungry prisoners were put to work for $1 dollar a day.