National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons

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.

Arizona May Put State Prisons in Private Hands

2009-10-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

New York Times
Jennifer Steinhauer
One of the newest residents on Arizona's death row, a convicted serial killer named Dale Hausner, poked his head up from his television to look at several visitors strolling by, each of whom wore face masks and vests to protect against the sharp homemade objects that often are propelled from the cells of the condemned. It is a dangerous place to patrol, and Arizona spends $4.7 million each year to house inmates like Mr. Hausner in a super-maximum-security prison. But in a first in the criminal justice world, the state's death row inmates could become the responsibility of a private company.

Former Willacy DA Guerra files lawsuit

2009-10-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Valley Central.Com
By: Sergio Chapa
Former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra has filed a federal law suit against Texas State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. and 28 others. The former district attorney alleges that Lucio and the others used their positions to derail investigation into private prisons in Willacy County.

Crowley County prison operator to pay $1.3 million in settling sex-harassment lawsuit

2009-10-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

The Denver Post
By: Felisa Cardona

Private prison reaches $1.3M settlement with EEOC

2009-10-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Denver
Associated Press

OUR VIEW: Profit prisons die in recession

2009-09-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

Gazette.Com
Colorado Springs, The Gazette
The economic drain of for-profit cages
The prisoner is to a private prison corporation what a broken window is to a glazier: a source of cash. What’s good for the glazier is not good for society. What’s good for the Corrections Corporation of America, the largest prison business in the country, is not good for society. Anyone involved in the criminal justice system should be in the business of reducing crime, and thus the prison population. We must reward government employees for finding ways to reduce recidivism by reforming those prisoners capable of reform. Private prison investors, however, receive no reward unless crime and recidivism flourish. Prudential Securities acknowledged this in a report to investors in the 1990s, when Corrections Corporation of America was growing aggressively: “It takes time to bring inmate population levels up to where they cover costs,” the report sated. “Low occupancy is a drag on profits... company earnings would be strong if CCA succeeded in ramping up population levels in its new facilities at an acceptable rate.”

A Missed Opportunity: Economic Recovery Should Start With the Prisons

2009-09-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

By Zachary Norris,
Books Not Bars Director at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
California is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades, and a 3-judge federal panel just declared that it must reduce the prison population by nearly 50,000 people in order to provide constitutionally adequate medical care. But even with California’s prisons bursting at the seams, prison costs soaring past $10 billion dollars per year, and state coffers completely empty, most California legislators have their heads in the sand or their eyes on the next political prize.

Private prisons wrong answer for budget woes

2009-09-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

East Valley Tribune
Commentary By: Bill Richardson
Two weeks ago, Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law House Bill 2010, which starts the bidding process to turn over Arizona Department of Corrections prisons, including maximum security facilities, to a private corporation in the name of cutting costs and generating revenue. Brewer previously vetoed the private prison bill in July. The private prison industry stands to make lots of money while the state gets some quick cash, but at what cost to us?
The pitch for private prisons is they save money. But according to a Dec. 6, 2007, Tribune commentary titled "Private jails not the answer," by Gerald Sheridan, the sheriff's office's chief of custody, "The National Council on Crime and Delinquency conducted a review of privatization and found the average cost savings was about 1 percent, usually through lower labor costs. Cost benefits of privatization have not materialized to the extent promised. Government bears the burden of administering punishment and this responsibility should not be delegated to a for-profit company."

FBI figures: One drug bust in US every 18 seconds

2009-09-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

THE RAW STORY
By: Stephen C. Webster

America is a nation at war, overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, and at home.

According to the newly released Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Report for 2008 every 18 seconds someone is arrested and charged with violating drug laws. Another striking figure in the report: of the 1,702,537 drug arrests in 2008, 82.3 percent were for simple possession of a contraband substance. Nearly half, 44 percent, were for possession of marijuana.

California Passes Bill Addressing Prisons

2009-09-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK TIMES
By: Solomon Moore

LOS ANGELES — California took a major step toward overhauling its overburdened prisons on Friday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved changes to parole and early-release programs that could reduce the prison population by about 16,000 inmates.

Even as the governor prepared to sign the legislation into law, the United States Supreme Court rejected his appeal of a federal court order to draft a plan by next Friday to reduce the prison population by 43,000 inmates within two years.

“The application for stay presented to Justice Kennedy and by him referred to the court is denied,” the terse rejection said.

The governor said he would continue to appeal future rulings of the three-judge panel that ordered the state to draft a prison plan. The panel has found that overcrowding is the main reason California has failed to provide a constitutional level of health care to prisoners.

Private Prisons keep On Growing

2009-09-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

By: Matt kelley
Change.Org /Criminal Justice
The GEO Group, America’s second-largest private prison operator, announced yesterday that it had acquired a smaller prison operator, Just Care Inc., and raised its expected profits for the year ahead. It’s good to see that at least somebody likes the way our criminal justice is going. GEO incarcerates 60,000 people around the world, and it's showing no signs of slowing. And GEO’s not the only one expanding as quickly as possible to profit off our crowded prisons. An analyst at Seeking Alpha recently looked at the stock of Corrections Corporation of America (the biggest in the U.S.), and found the company growing like gangbusters and its financial outlook extremely strong, writing (apparently with a straight face) that CCA is “uniquely positioned to offer governments an efficient incarceration solution.” I was glad to see some commentors on the site let the author have it. The comments come from both sides, however, and they’re worth a read for a glimpse at how both sides (at an investment website) view the morality of private prisons.

Former Private Prison Worker Charged With Rape

2009-09-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

By: Dori Hjalmarson
Lexington Herald-Leader
A former employee of a privately run prison in Floyd County was indicted Tuesday for allegedly raping a female inmate. A Floyd County grand jury indicted Charles Prater, whose age was not known, on a felony charge of first- degree rape, officials said. Prater was fired June 23 after management at the Otter Creek Correctional Center found out about the accusations against him, said Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen.

Assembly’s Prison Effort Incomplete

2009-09-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

By: David Dayen
California Progress Report
Sacramento politicians are still in between the "denial" and "bargaining" stage in reacting to their immoral and unconstitutional handling of the prison crisis.

The official response from Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg came in a written statement: "The Assembly took a good first step today but it's not a complete package. In the coming weeks, I look forward to working with (Assembly) Speaker Karen Bass and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on further reforms that will strengthen our criminal justice system."

The key phrase in that statement: "In the coming weeks." This one's not going to go away anytime soon.

The main reason is that the Assembly bill costs $233 million more to the overall budget than the Senate's, and that money simply does not exist. It'll eventually come out of the hides of other programs if allowed to let stand. And the Assembly Republicans and Democrats who help up the bill can then explain why it was necessary to keep terminally ill blind people in jail at the expense of children's health care or some other social program.

Corrections Budget Cuts Take Effect In Colorado

2009-09-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

P. SOLOMON BANDA, Associated Press Writer
Colorado & Denver News
The cuts that took effect Tuesday call for the release of 3,500 of the 23,000 inmates over two years, saving the state about $45 million, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said. An additional 2,600 parolees, or 21 percent of those currently on parole, will be released from intense supervision. Prisoners eligible for early release are those within six months of their mandatory release date. Those eligible for early parole release must have served at least half of their supervised term. "Predominantly, it's nonviolent offenders," Adams County Attorney Don Quick, a member of the commission, said about the types of inmates considered for early release. No staff members are being cut. Money will be saved by reducing the number of inmates sent to private prisons, Sanguinetti said.

Grassroots Leadership Releases Updated Resource Packet

2009-09-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

PRIVATE PRISON WATCH
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Grayson County Commissioners and County Judge Drue Bynum hope building a for-profit jail that is larger than the county needs will generate revenue. They hope to house inmates from other jurisdictions and collect a per-diem rate. That formula has failed in other Texas towns. In Littlefield, Texas, officials have not been able to fill a small jail they financed and constructed without a public vote. Last week, Littlefield’s bond rating was downgraded to junk status by a credit ratings firm, and the city has had to dip into its water and sewer fund to finance its debt obligation on the facility. “The Littlefield experience shows that these private prison ventures are really risky for taxpayers,” said Andrew Strong, a researcher who helped develop the guide. “That’s just one reason they should get the chance to vote.”

Private Prison Concerns

2009-08-31T23:24:00.000-07:00

NEWS OK.COM
By: State Representative Richard Morrissette
POINT OF VIEW: PREVENTION SHOULD BE PRIORITY
I have several concerns with private prisons. First, they are in the business of profiting from other people’s misery and their motive is not to find alternatives to incarceration but to lock up more people. But the fundamental problem I have with privatization is based in the law.

California State Assembly Approves Prison Legislation

2009-08-31T22:59:00.000-07:00

By: Solomon Moore
NEW YORK TIMES
LOS ANGELES — The California State Assembly narrowly passed legislation on Monday to reduce the state prison population by 27,000 inmates and the state corrections budget by about $1 billion. After several hours of debate in Sacramento, the bill passed 41 to 35, without any Republican support and only about half of the Democratic majority.

Legislators ask Beshear to end private prison contract

2009-08-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

Courier-Journal.Com
By: Stephenie Steitzer
FRANKFORT, Ky. — House Speaker Greg Stumbo and eight other legislators sent letters Friday to Gov. Steve Beshear asking him to end the state's contract at a private women's prison in Eastern Kentucky that has been plagued by allegations of sexual assaults by corrections officers.

America’s jailed youth: tortured and abandoned

2009-08-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

TRUE/SLANT
By: Allison Kilkenny
Unreported
While Americans rightfully demand justice for the horrendous acts of torture at Guantanamo many prisoners here at home are victims of America’s overburdened incarceration system. Youth are the most vulnerable prisoners in our overcrowded and understaffed jails. A report by the United States Department of Justice highlights abuses at four juvenile residential centers and raises the possibility of a federal takeover of the state’s entire youth prison system. The investigation found that excessive physical force was routinely used to discipline children at several juvenile prisons in New York, resulting in broken bones, shattered teeth, concussions and dozens of other serious injuries over a period of less than two years.

Hawaii to Remove Inmates Over Abuse Charges

2009-08-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

New York times
By Ian Urbina
Hawaii prison officials said Tuesday that all of the state’s 168 female inmates at a privately run Kentucky prison will be removed by the end of September because of charges of sexual abuse by guards. Forty inmates were returned to Hawaii on Aug. 17. This month, officials from the Hawaii Department of Public Safety traveled to Kentucky to investigate accusations that inmates at the prison, the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, including seven from Hawaii, had been sexually assaulted by the prison staff.

California Is Failing the Prison Test

2009-08-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

New York Times
Opinion
The California Legislature has failed several times to change backward sentencing and parole policies that keep the state’s prisons dangerously overcrowded with too many minor offenders sent to jail for too long. These failures, which have driven up corrections costs by about 50 percent in less than a decade, came home to roost earlier this month, when a federal court ordered the state to cut the prison population significantly. Days later, an ominous riot broke out in the men's prison in Chino. The time for ducking this issue has clearly passed, but a reform plan approved by the State Senate after being championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in danger of being gutted in the Assembly. Democratic lawmakers who should know better are running scared of the prison guards’ union and of being labeled “soft on crime.”

Legislature to vote on sweeping prison reforms

2009-08-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

By: Mike Zapler
MERCURY NEWS.COM
Sacramento - Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are poised as soon as today to enact a package of far-reaching prison reforms that would allow some prisoners to serve the last 12 months of their sentences under house arrest, reclassify some property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and create a new sentencing commission to examine how sentencing laws contribute to prison overcrowding.

Tennessee appeals court rules that public records laws apply to CCA

2009-08-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

By Kate Howard • THE TENNESSEAN
Prisons run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America perform a government function and must follow public records laws, the Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled. The prison giant appealed the ruling issued last year by Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman, who ruled that the corporation was the functional equivalent of government and that its administrators must turn over all records requested by prison reform advocate Alex Friedmann.