Private Prison Bribes Beginning to Pay Off in FL

GEOGroup's bribes to FL legislators is obviously beginning to pay off for them...

"The Florida Legislature’s push to privatize many more prisons, its most far-reaching cost-cutting plan in years, could open a lucrative door to politically connected vendors who stand to profit.

Senate and House budgets require the state to privatize prisons in South Florida, home to one-fifth of the statewide inmate population of 101,000. The region is the home of the GEO Group, the nation’s second-largest private prison operator, which currently runs two private prisons, including the largest private lockup, the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Milton.

GEO also operates five state psychiatric hospitals, including South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines, which got its long-sought accreditation after GEO’s takeover.

The Boca Raton company, a reliable contributor to the Republican party, employs more than 2,000 people and a stable of 16 Capitol lobbyists. It donated $25,000 to Gov. Rick Scott’s inaugural celebration in January. A top transition budget adviser to Scott, Donna Arduin, is a former trustee of a GEO real estate company, Correctional Properties Trust. The company’s healthcare subsidiary, GEO Care, is led by Jorge Dominicis, a familiar figure in the Capitol from years of lobbying for the sugar industry."

Read more: Miami Herald

Corporations Being Paid To Abuse Our Children

Another fine example of private prison cost cutting for profit. How many more children will be hurt before we realize the price of turning them over to corporations for curing is far too high and lives are needlessly being ruined.


"Among the named defendants in the lawsuit, filed on behalf of all the teenagers and young men in the facility, are the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority and the Geo Group, Inc., the second largest private prison company in the country. The facility houses youth between the ages of 13 and 22 who have been tried and convicted as adults.

“The Mississippi legislature established WGYCF with the hope that the young men housed there would be provided a second chance,” said Sheila Bedi, Deputy Legal Director of the SPLC. “Unfortunately, private prison companies prioritized their profits over the well being of Mississippi’s youth. As a result, the young men imprisoned in this facility endure unspeakable abuses at a tremendous cost to Mississippi’s taxpayers.”

The lawsuit describes a facility well known for its culture of violence and corruption –a culture that is perpetuated by WGYCF’s incompetent management. Some prison staff exploit youth by selling drugs inside the facility. Other staff members abuse their power by engaging in sexual relationships with the youth in their care.  Many youth have suffered serious and permanent physical injuries as a result of the WGYCF’s deficient security policies and violent staff members. Youth who are handcuffed and defenseless are kicked, punched and beaten all over their bodies. Youth secure in their cells are blinded with chemical restraints.

The private entities that operate WGYCF are paid based on the number of youth housed at WGYCF, which was constructed with over $41 million of taxpayer funding and opened its doors in 2001. Since then, the Mississippi legislature has tripled the size of the facility, leading to significantly increased profits for Geo Group"

Full Story on SPLC

Former CCA Guards Slam Prison, Culture of Violence

Another round of lawsuits for CCA. They must keep their in-house legal council working around the clock trying to clean up the messes that their cost and corner cutting operations continually make.

Hopefully the public will wake up and see what a rip-off private prisons are. Do you really, really want the people getting paid - with your tax money - cutting corners on staffing and security at a prison in your community? Prisons that operate for profit encourage these practices all the while not caring about the overall cost to communities. It pays for them to cut staff; to leave you, the public, open to higher risk because every dime they cut from their operating costs is used to line the pockets of overpaid CEOs.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Three former employees at Idaho's only private prison say staff routinely failed to protect inmates, and in some cases put inmates in situations knowing they'd be beaten by others.
The statements from the former Idaho Correctional Center guards are in affidavits filed in a federal lawsuit against the prison's operator, Corrections Corporation of America.
The lawsuit was filed against CCA last year by inmate Marlin Riggs, who was badly beaten in his cell.
The three former employees claim the prison is understaffed, and steeped in a culture of laziness and lack of concern for inmate welfare.
They say staff at the prison, referred to as "Gladiator School," frequently assigned inmates to cell blocks knowing they'd likely be beaten.
CCA has denied the allegations in the lawsuit and is asking a judge to dismiss it.