The (Un)American Legislative Exchange Council; Prison Profiteers Extraordinaire

It is common knowledge that today in the United States millions of people are incarcerated in detention centers, county jails and prisons. What is not such common knowledge are the deep and insidious ties between those who write our laws and those who profit from them. Connections run to much deeper levels than the majority of Americans are aware of, far beyond what seems to have become acceptable by way of contributions and corruption within our government.

In a very brief nutshell, this is how the US prison system currently operates:

There are two major Corporations that run privately operated prison facilities and detention centers; GEO and CCA. There are other, smaller players but these are the two largest. Both trade on the NYSE and their value is determined by the number of beds they keep filled.

The GEO Group, Inc. was initially founded as a division of The Wackenhut Corporation in 1984 under the name of Wackenhut Corrections (WCC). They have acquired a few other companies along the way and today they operate facilities across the globe including Australia, Africa and the UK. They are the folks that run the ICE Detention Center in CO as well as GITMO.

From GEO’s webpage, “We design, construct, finance and manage jails, state and federal prisons, special-purpose institutions, and immigration and detention centers.”  Their profit? Well, according to their page, “Our revenue at year-end 2007 was $1.024 billion, and net income was $41.845 million.”

CCA founded the private corrections management industry more than 25 years ago, establishing industry standards for future-focused, forward-thinking correctional solutions...or so they say.

From CCA’s webpage, “We manage, design, build and own more than 66 correctional facilities and detention centers from coast to coast, in small cities, metropolitan areas and destinations in between.”

What few people realize is that GEO and CCA are both members of ALEC.

Prison industries pony up cash in governor's race

The New Mexico Governors race seem to have fallen into the hands of the Private Prison corporations. The money that is contributed surely is an honest contribution with no string attached.

These might not be the kinds of sources for campaign cash that candidates like to brag about, but the industries behind them are reliable contributors to politicians in both major parties in New Mexico. And this election year is no different.

In the governor's race, it appears that Republican Susana Martinez has a lock on money from private prison operators.

Gambling interests, including tribes who operate casinos, wagered early on Democrat Diane Denish, the current lieutenant governor. The latest campaign finance reports, however, show some of them are hedging their bets by making late contributions to front-runner Martinez, the district attorney in Las Cruces.

Denish, meanwhile, has smoked her opponent in terms of tobacco industry cash and has chugged more money from the liquor industry.

The corrections industry

The state first began contracting with private prison operators in the 1990s under then Gov. Gary Johnson, a Republican. But the prison industry didn't start pumping real money into New Mexico campaigns until after Democrat Bill Richardson became governor eight years ago.

Richardson became a favorite of the GEO Group, a Florida company formerly known as Wackenhut, which operates three private prisons in New Mexico. The most recent one, in Clayton, came about during Richardson's watch.

GEO gave Richardson $43,750 for his 2006 re-election campaign — as well as another $7,000 for his 2008 presidential run. According to the Institute of Money in State Government, Richardson has received more money from GEO than any other politician nationwide running for a state office since 2003.

The company also been generous with other state politicians, contributing more than $200,000 in recent decades. New Mexico, which has no limits on contributions, is second only to Florida among the states where GEO made political contributions. In fact, four of the top 10 recipients of GEO contributions since 2003 are New Mexico Democrats — including Denish, who has received $11,000 from the company during that period.

This year, however, Republican Martinez is getting the lion's share of GEO cash. The company has given her campaign $33,000 — including a $25,000 check contributed on Oct. 14.