Bribery Pays Off For Aramark in MI

It looks as though the half a million dollars that Aramark spent on lobbying legislators in Michigan has finally begun to pay off after a plan to privatize the prison food service industry has been passed by MI lawmakers…all in the name of ‘saving money’, of course.


Michigan’s governor has a theory that laying off 300 state workers and handing the food contract over to Aramark (in spite of their long, long list of lawsuits, contract issues and wrongdoings) is going to save their state money. Or so he claims. Odds are that he cares far more about keeping his friendly relations with corporate (re: donating) interests intact than he does about saving the citizens of Michigan any money. After all, why care if a little more $ is spent s’long as its other people’s money being spent, right?

I hope that Michigan lawmakers had the foresight to set some money aside for potential lawsuits from prisoners, not to mention, to cover any cost connected to possible future audits of Aramark’s bookkeeping and (over)billing system as other states have had to do. Findings by the FL legislators audit in 2007 to the end of contractual relations with Aramark and fines totaling more than $864,000 between 2001-08.  Kentucky is looking at spending over $18 million to repair/rebuild after damages from a riot over Aramark food.

Other states have had faced problems with Aramark ranging from breaking state wage laws to public health hazards like rat droppings and maggots found in Aramark kitchens and food. Mind you, Aramark serves more than just the prison population; they service several school districts throughout MI.

Isn’t it disgusting to know that lawmakers are so happy and willing to (A) charge the citizens of their states extra money in order to *Reward* campaign donating corporations contracts and that (B) they don’t even care if they put the health and safety of not only prisoners, but that of the general public, at such unnecessary risk to do so?

Sooner or later hopefully people will start to do their homework and vote for candidates without ties to corporate owners and interests who are nothing more than parasites feeding from the trough of our corrupt political system. Until then…

Condolences to the citizens of MI for Aramark’s advancing take-over of your state institutions and services. Oh, and you might want to find out who feeds your kid at school – and consider sack lunches should the answer be Aramark!

Original Post Here

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

Corrections Corporation of America - The 'Gladiator' Of Rotten Industry in Idaho

How nice to see CCA back in the headlines…yet again. Not surprisingly, they seem to be making headlines for doing what they do best – abusing prisoners, participating in dirty cover-ups and of course, costing us taxpayers a damnable fortune for their sorry ass screw ups and inability to safely house so much as a dog, let alone any human beings.

While the political contributions may be a surprise to some residents of Idaho, they certainly are not anything new to anyone remotely familiar with the companies like CCA that operate these prison-for-profit scams to fleece the states and taxpayers out of their money. They buy the lawmakers of every state they do business in; Idaho is not unique at all. In fact, all they’ve done in Idaho has been to implement the same formula for ‘success’ that they have already used in TN, NM, AZ and every other state they do business in.

This page has numerous resources and links to help the general public educate themselves as to how private prison industry operates in this country and to simplify, they are all linked at the bottom of this article. Before you vote for your next state legislator or leader, isn’t it worth your time to make sure they are not on the payroll of one of these appalling companies who don’t care a damn thing about the safety of the public so long as the CEO’s and shareholders can keep lining their pockets…with our tax dollars!

Excerpts from an outstanding two-part investigative series by KBOI 2News which can be found Here and Here.

"Back in July, 2000, the Idaho Correctional Center opened as the state's first privately run prison. Recently, I.C.C, run by Corrections Corporation of America, has come under fire after a lawsuit filed by the America Civil Liberties Union, alleging misconduct, mismanagement and more.

Last year, officials with the Idaho Department of Correction discovered 10 of 13 drug and alcohol counselors at the prison weren't qualified to provide treatment. A separate medical audit revealed I.C.C. had extensive problems administering medical care, including delays in providing medication. In total C.C.A. was fined more than $141,000 by the state.

But the problems for C.C.A. are not limited to Idaho. We found complaints against C.C.A. in all 19 states they operate, all within the past decade, involving much more than just medical care.

Last year the governor of Kentucky ordered 400 female inmates to be removed from a C.C.A. run prison after allegations of sexual misconduct by male guards. In 2009, C.C.A. settled with 21 former female workers in Colorado who claimed male managers forced them to have sex to keep their jobs. In Florida, a corrections officer pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into a C.C.A. run jail. And in December, C.C.A. settled another lawsuit with the A.C.L.U. in California requiring, in part, the San Diego Correctional Facility hire more nurses.

“It’s not just unique to this facility,” says B.S.U. Criminal Science Professor Dr. Michael Blankenship. Blankenship says part of the problem is that private prison companies like C.C.A. exist to make a profit. “If you’re not delivering profits,” say Blankenship, “who’s going to buy your stock?”

We checked into the financial health of C.C.A. A decade ago on February 1st, 2001, their stock was trading at $2.50 a share. Four weeks ago, on February 1st, 2011, it was ten times that amount at $25.09 a share.

But not only does C.C.A. make money. They give money. KBOI 2News obtained a list of candidates receiving money from C.C.A. between 2003 and 2010. At the head of the pack receiving $19,000 is Idaho Governor Butch Otter.

We called C.C.A. to find out why but the company declined our request for an on camera interview. Instead, Spokesman Steve Owen sent a statement that reads in part: “Because C.C.A.’s political contributions reflect the specific laws and limits of individual states, it is difficult to compare our corporate giving to elected officials from different regions of the country.”

The disparity in campaign contribution is even more noteworthy when you consider of the 75,000 inmates C.C.A. supervises nationwide only 2,000 of them are here in Idaho. That’s less than 3%.

But here's why every Idaho taxpayer should care about what happens to Idaho inmates.

If the state of Idaho is dragged into court it takes taxpayer money for a defense, not to mention a judgment.

Originally the A.C.L.U. named Idaho on the lawsuit, right along with C.C.A. in the case. But last June the A.C.L.U. agreed to drop Idaho as a defendant, saving taxpayers the possible expense in this case.

Currently the A.C.L.U. is suing C.C.A. for $155 million dollars, which is equal to the amount of profit the company earned in 2009."

Check out the full story on  KBOI 2News

For More Information on CCA's wrongdoings and legal woes - Click Here

For More Information on Private Prison Industry - Click Here

For Information on CCA stockholders, CEOs and other connections - Click Here

To Find Out Which Lawmakers Are On CCA's payroll - Click Here

For a complete overview of how private prison industry impacts our laws, our freedoms and our way of life - Click Here.

CCA Prison Detainee Count Distorts MS Census

For anyone who might think that there are no connections between our open-border policy and refusal to deport criminal immigrants and corporate and legislative profit motives, examples like this one ought to help explain why our legislators continue this insane push to incarcerate vs. deport the criminals streaming across our borders.

It is no secret that CCA helps write immigration policy and anyone who thinks they don't force an agenda that is in the best interest of their stockholders rather than the best interest of American citizens and communities might want to spend some time doing a bit more research into who is behind the shaping of our national and state legislative actions and policy making.

Corporations like CCA are able to work with our lawmakers for a $50,000 fee paid to The American Legislative Exchange Council - is it any wonder they promote policy that will increase their profit margins and value on Wall Street?

So while they make a fortune, we the taxpayers get to foot the bill for facilities like the $128 million dollar Adams County Correctional Center. The census should reflect the true population, and not be distorted by counting the imported and illegal immigrant status criminals housed in the districts simply to boost corporate and dirty legislative profits.

Excerpts From Natchez Democrat, "Reality of Population Drop Worse" Posted by By Emily Lane

NATCHEZ — The 2010 U.S. Census included a sizable chunk of people as Adams County residents who do not live in these parts by choice.

Approximately 2,000 inmates at the Corrections Corporation of America prison were counted as Adams County residents in the recent census, Adams County Correctional Center Warden Vance Laughlin confirmed.

That means that the county lost approximately 4,000 — approximately 13 percent — of its population in the last decade when excluding prison inmates at the Adams County Correctional Facility from the equation. Adams County’s population decreased to 32,297 in 2010 from 34,340 in 2000, counting the inmates.

The extra boost in census population explains the growth reported in District 5.
Inmates included, District 5 has 23-percent more residents than the average of all of the districts’ populations.

The census also counted 1,878 Hispanics in District 5, compared to an average of 68 Hispanics in Districts 1-4.

Most of the 2,567 beds at CCA are filled with inmates from Central and South America. An exact breakdown of the prison’s census count was not available by press time.

CCA has a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to house 2,567 criminal alien offenders in Adams County Correctional Center. 

The offenders are low-security illegal immigrants who committed offenses in the United States and will be returned to their country of origin after completing their sentences.

Stacy Vidal, a public information officer for the U.S. Census Bureau, said each state is responsible for its own rules and processes for how they use census data to draw district lines.

Read The Full Story on The Natchez Democrat

California Governor Brown's Budget Cuts Private Prison Spending

This year's California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation budget assumes $410 million paid to for profit private prisons for housing California inmates. Next year the expenditure would drop to $224 million.

Out-of-state private prison costs, the most expensive line item in the CDCR contracted facilities budget, would go from $272 million in the current year to $148 million in 2011-12.

Click here to see details of the CDCR budget.

Read the complete article Here

The CA (Private)(Political) Prisoner Shuffle

Does anyone really find it surprising that the Governator is making good on debts owed on his way out the door? Private prisons played a huge part in putting him in office, of course he is agreeing to shipping prisoners willy-nilly around the country for no practical or fiscally responsible reason.

In 2009, Corrections Corp. of America contributed $100,000 to Budget Reform Now, the committee organized to campaign for six state budget-related measures supported by Schwarzenegger on a special election ballot in May. Six months later their contract extension worth $54 million a year to house prisoners out of state was approved by CDCR. I'd call that a rather nice return on their investment, wouldn't you?

Corrections Corp. donated $234,500 in 2007-08, and $38,900 that same year, to several members of the California Legislature and the state Democratic and Republican parties, according to its filings with the Secretary of State.The firm also reported spending about $45,000 for each of the three prior quarters on lobbyists in California.

How safe do you imagine it is to transport busloads of prisoners across several states? Am I the only one who thinks that shipping dangerous felons around might just increase the risk for escape or mayhem? Oh, but wait, GEOGroup/Wackenthut also operates a prison transport system - so for the price of a bloated, no bid contract paid for courtesy of hard working tax payers, they'll be more than happy to ensure safe shipping of prisoners nationwide!

We just aren't supposed to take notice of the fact that in a 2006 it was reported that of California’s seven private facilities, (labeled community correctional facilities), the GEO Group operates four of those, housing over 1,800 inmates. GEO Group has donated thousands of dollars in political contributions. GEO/Wackenhut Corrections gave $34,900 to California committees during the 2002-2004 election cycle. 

How astonishing then when, "In 2005, GEO Group, Inc. was tentatively awarded a $20 million contract to operate a San Joaquin Valley correctional facility," stated the Institute's report. 

"Wackenhut gave two Schwarzenegger committees a total of $58,000 in the latter part of 2003, including $36,800 to his committee supporting the recall of then-Governor Gray Davis. According to the (San Jose) Mercury News, GEO gave another $10,000 to a third Schwarzenegger committee."

Excerpts from today's SFGate -
"When California first signed contracts to ship prisoners over state lines four years ago, it began with 2,260 inmates at a cost of $51 million annually. Now, it is set to pay the companies $330 million a year to house 15,424 prisoners, and spend a total of $365 million once administrative costs are factored in. 

The latest deal will ship 5,800 inmates to private prisons across state lines, bringing the total to more than 15,000. The transfers will begin in May under a contract that runs through June 2013 - nearly halfway through the term of Gov.-elect Jerry Brown.
Critics of moving prisoners to out-of-state facilities say it does little to relieve the underlying problems that have caused crowded conditions and questioned the timing of the new, no-bid contracts with two private companies. One of the companies houses nearly 10,000 California prisoners.

"This is the governor doing what he wants to in the last minutes of his administration," said state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. "It is a way he can, on his watch, knock another 5,000 from the official numbers." 

Private Prison Lobbying Pays Off For CCA (And Others) In AZ

*Gasp* Oh my! How totally shocking! Brewer has numerous ties and connections to, uhm..who was that again, exactly? Oh! That's right, silly me! The private prison corporations like CCA. Having a prison industry lobbyist on your staff would certainly have no bearing whatsoever on decision like handing contracts to private prisons now would it? To be precise, her prison connections according to State lobbying records show two of her top advisers — her spokesman Paul Senseman and her campaign manager Chuck Coughlin — are former lobbyists for private prison companies.

A state commission studying privatization will likely recommend privatizing Arizona's parks and prisons as a way to help ease the state's budget deficit when it releases its full report in December.

KPHOChannel5

"This is one way to economize in a way that will cause the least amount of pain to the public," said Glenn Hamer, a member of Arizona's Commission on Privatization and Efficiency.
Gov. Jan Brewer created the commission to help Arizona save money.The state is currently facing a more than $1 billion budget deficit."This is 101 for good government to look for ways that you can save taxpayer dollars," said Hamer, who is also the president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Hamer said most of the commission's recommendations will be kept secret until the report is released, but he expects the report to recommend privatizing Arizona's state parks and privatizing more state prisons."Privatizing prisons is a still good deal for this state," said Hamer.The issue of privatizing prisons is controversial in Arizona.

Opponents -

"I think that's a horrible idea," said state representative Chad Campbell, D-District 14. "We should not be looking at privatizing more prisons. People escaped; people were killed and it was due to privatizing a very important government function without any accountability."
Campbell also said the commission's recommendations could result in thousands of state employees losing their jobs."I think we need to very cautious about how we about privatizing anything," he said. 

Full Story on KPHO

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

Settlement Reached In Escapee Lawsuit Againt CCA

This woman did not have to suffer through this. This corporation should not be allowed to make a 'confidential settlement' and sweep this under the rug. How much did they pay to cover up the fact that they consistently fail to train their underpaid employees? Why do we not have the right to know?

Woman seized by escapee ends suit 
Hilliard couple's settlement with prison company halts jury trial

By John Futty 

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A woman who was held hostage by an escaped inmate at a Hilliard business in 2007 settled her lawsuit with a private-prison company and two guards yesterday after a week of testimony in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Karen Zappitelli and her husband, John, reached a confidential settlement with Corrections Corporation of America and the guards as the final witness for the couple was waiting to take the stand in the morning, said Rex Elliott, one of the couple's attorneys.

Full Story

Lawsuit Alleges Barbaric Conditions and Abuse Of Teens

Once again, a fine example of what our tax dollars are buying. How many children must we pay to damage? In our eagerness to provide a 'safe world' we have gone overboard on how harshly we punish children for petty, non-violent crimes. To allow our government to turn over the care of our children over to corporations who profit from 'punishing' them is not only morally reprehensible, it is waste of our tax dollars. 

Mandatory sentencing laws have removed all common sense from our juvenile justice system and the end result is that we are allowing corporations to breed more violent offenders to release back into society. The earlier a child is thrown in to detention, the higher the odds they will reoffend. When we allow children and teens to suffer abuse, the corporations responsible for the abuse (and hence, creating angry, violent young adults) to create 'repeat customers' for life and guarantee their profits. 

We need to bring back some common sense in this country and a good place to start would be helping our children and put an end to aiding corporations from over-punishing them for profit.

The Dispatch 

Lawsuit: 'Barbaric' conditions at Miss. youth correctional facility
The Associated Press
November 16, 2010 2:01:00 PM 

Excerpt - "The suit, which seeks class action status, names the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, the GEO Group, Inc., which is contracted to operate the facility; Health Assurance, LLC; Walter Tripp, the facility's warden; Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps and Mississippi Education Superintendent Tom Burnham.

GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla., and the agency officials declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday.

The complaint details allegations of inmates stripped naked and held in isolation weeks at a time; sick inmates denied proper health care and prison guards who were complicit in inmate fights that resulted in stab wounds and severe beatings, including one that left an inmate with permanent brain damage.

The suit also claimed handcuffed youth were kicked and punched by guards, while others secured in their cells were sprayed with chemical restraints.

The facility, which opened in 2001, is located in Leake County and houses some 1,200 inmates aged 13-22. More than half of the inmates are incarcerated for committing nonviolent offenses, the complaint states.

The complaint states that courts often require youth sentenced to the facility to complete their education while incarcerated, but most youth are denied access to basic education.

The suit said under staffing at the prison is one of the main problems, and cited reports from the Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review and the MDOC Corrections Auditor that have also raised concerns about the issue.

Taxpayers pay the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority $14 million each year to operate the prison, according to the complaint. The suit alleges that in many parts of the prison only one guard is assigned to a zone, which could hold as many as 60 inmates.

"It has a strong financial incentive to imprison as many youth as possible on the cheap," Bedi said."

Full Article On The Dispatch

More GEO Group Complaints and Wrongdoings

Bidding Up GEO Group and ICE Contract

This couldn't possibly have anything to do with all of GEO Group's pending ICE contracts or the appointment of a GEO Group lobbyist to head up the US Marshall's Service which awards contracts for privately run detention facilities now could it? Nah...I'm sure there are no backroom deals going on and that the timing of this is just pure coincidence...
From Benzinga

Posted on 11/10/10 at 1:58pm by Chip Brian
Geo Group is in SmarTrend's Security industry and this industry is currently in an Uptrend according to our research. We are monitoring many other stocks on the move within this industry.
SmarTrend currently has shares of Geo Group in an Uptrend and issued the Uptrend alert on June 17, 2010 at $21.57. The stock has risen 16.9% since the Uptrend alert was issued.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/10/11/c599265/investors-bid-up-shares-of-geo-group-up-1-geo#ixzz15O89nsLj

Geo Group's Pending ICE Contracts

Now that GEO Group has succeeded in putting one of their spokesmen/puppeteers in place as head of the US Marshall's Service, they have a stronger chance of winning the *bid* for this contract...and many others as well. Small communities everywhere should be aware and not fall for the ruse of corrections for profit as a money saving endeavor. Communities who have fallen for it have paid a pretty hefty price in many cases.

From
By Beth Brelje

Pocono Record Writer

November 15, 2010 

GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut, wants to build and operate the detention center in Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County. The operator says the center would house 2,250 illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. The project, the company says, would provide 350 construction jobs and 500 permanent jobs.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced an interest in securing additional detention space in the Northeast, said ICE spokesman Mark Medvesky. Ideally, a detention system would reduce transfers and house people near the site of their apprehension, and close to legal services and hospitals.

"Counties, along with private companies with whom they may choose to partner, are drafting concept papers for ICE's consideration. These concept papers, developed by local jurisdictions, are not binding on ICE," Medvesky said in an e-mail to the Pocono Record. "No sites for the northeastern U.S. have been selected and no intergovernmental service agreements have been awarded."

Story Continues -

What if GEO Group doesn't get a contract from ICE, or decides to leave after the center is built?

"In Littlefield, Texas, the municipality had to dip into reserves to cover payments for about $1.2 million in bonds and other debt used to finance the Bill Clayton Detention Center," Smart Money magazine reported in September. "The bonds were issued in 2000, but the expected revenue stream evaporated when, after a prisoner suicide in 2008, the 310-bed private prison lost its contract to house out-of-state inmates. In 2009, GEO Group ended its operating agreement with the detention center, leaving it unoccupied."

In Pueblo, Colo., GEO Group initially promised to fund the building of a private prison for 500 state inmates and later demanded repeated changes in the deal. GEO wanted government financing and changed the size of the proposed prison.

"GEO demanded more money. It wanted either more money per inmate, or a revenue guarantee that amounted to $1 billion over 30 years for two prisons," according to a 2006 report by the Rocky Mountain News."

For more information about the impact of the proposed facility and for more background on GEO Group Read Full Article

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.

Private Prison Not Commenting on Accidental Shooting

Nice. Wonder how much the settlement or lawsuit for this little 'accident' will cost? Why are they not being forced to cooperate with any authorities while this matter is investigated? One might think they are trying to cover something up with such a closed door policy by GEO Group.

Our tax dollars pay for these prisons to operate; any lawsuit against them will ultimately cost us. Why not hold them accountable for what amounts to unnecessary and wasteful spending that could have been prevented if their officers were better trained, better paid and not asked to work double shifts due to being understaffed?

A prison without adequate staff is a dangerous risk to the community around it. Re: The Escape of prisoners from a private AZ facility managed by MTC of Utah who murdered two people while free. How safe are the people around Big Spring, I wonder?

Greg Sherman
CBS 7 News
November 10, 2010

Officials at Geo Group are still not formally commenting on how or why an inmate was accidentally shot at one of their Big Spring prisons.


CBS 7 contacted Geo Group's corporate office in Florida but a representative said they could not comment on administrative matters.


CBS 7 also contacted the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington D.C. but as of this report did not have a full report from Geo Group on exactly what happened.


A prisoner was accidentally shot in the arm by a 12 gauge weapon Tuesday morning at the Flightline Facility.


He was transported to Scenic Mountain Medical Center with minor injuries, released, and is back at the prison.

Prison Corporation Looking to Take Advantage of Small PA Community

Folks in PA had best be aware of GEO Group. They are slick salesmen, always promising jobs to help the community but never making small communities aware that prisons do not help at all, but rather, only cause harm. Who will take their kids to vacation anywhere near a town with a prison? Care to stay at a Holiday Inn next door to a detention center? Build a school nearby? Start up a small local business?

Truth is that in community after community across the US, GEO Group has done nothing but kill industry and cause harm to local residents. The jobs they bring in are not for everyone and force residents to settle for working a job in which they risk their lives everyday while receiving minimal training, little protection and are often forced to work multiple shifts because the company is too cheap to hire enough staff to cover all shifts. They don't like to pay benefits so why hire more than just the bare minimum to keep a facility running?

Then of course, there is the issue of lawsuits - of which GEO Group has plenty racked up. Abuses, escapes, murders...gosh, what community wouldn't want such a wonderful employer in their midst?

Finally, citizens should realize that at any time, GEO Group can choose to not renew their contract and then the township will be forced to either purchase the facility from GEO (at a hefty mark up price), be forced to allow another prison corporation like CCA (you know, the guys responsible for letting convicts escape from an AZ facility who then went on to murder a couple on vacation in NM) or at the very least, get stuck with a huge empty eyesore in their town that no one has use for.

From an article in The Morning Call -

Calabrese, the vice chairman and president of Florida's GEO Group, gave a 45-minute presentation Wednesday night about his company's idea for an inmate detention center just south of the Portland Industrial Park in Upper Mount Bethel Township.

Now, take note of the doublespeak in this next paragraph where first he states they aren't actually housing criminals - in spite of the fact that anyone who enters this country ILLEGALLY is technically a CRIMINAL. 

Calabrese stressed that the inmates — the facility would hold 2,250 — would not be serving time because of crimes they committed but because they're illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. However, the majority of them will have committed felonies and already served time in a prison, Calabrese said.

Slick, isn't he? More from the article - 

On the flip side, Calabrese said the detention center would create 500 jobs, many of them paying $35,000 to $40,000 a year with benefits included. On top of that, Calabrese said, the community would benefit from construction and supply expenses and tax revenue paid by GEO. Annual operation would call for about $37 million worth of labor, goods and services.

He fails to mention that GEO will demand huge tax breaks from the county and state so revenue from taxes generated will not come from them. The $37 million in labor, goods and services will be supplied by other corporations like Aramark and will not come from within the state or local community and therefore, provides zero benefits for residents.

The article ends with -

Before the facility could come to Upper Mount Bethel, Northampton County must have a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take on the responsibility to detain people in the United States illegally. After being contacted by GEO, Northampton County Council voted Oct. 21 to allow Executive John Stoffa to begin talks about a contract, which the county could then subcontract to the GEO Group or another company.
The county could risk violating competitive bidding laws if it appears the company was chosen without a public selection process, or without proof that the county can't find anyone else to provide the service.

In plain English, that means that GEO is looking to build a facility BEFORE there is a need and BEFORE they've won any contract with ICE. They are building a facility where the need for one DOES NOT EXIST. End result will be that the residents will be housing criminals shipped in from across the country and who will do nothing more than contaminate their community. I hope the people of this township stick to their resolve and kick GEO Group officials clean out of their county - or better yet, out of their state entirely.

Purchasing Access: Examining the GEO Group's Texas Political Expenditures

National Public Radio recently ran a story about how private prison companies helped write Arizona's controversial statute (currently being litigated in federal court) requiring local police to arrest and detain illegal immigrants. Private prison companies' interest in immigration law should come as little surprise for Grits readers: Nearly five years ago I wrote that the potential for expanded detention of illegal immigrants appeared virtually "limitless,"and this blog has long lamented the extra costs to county jails from such policies.

The NPR story inspired me this a.m. to look more closely at private prisons' political influence in Texas, and I plan to follow up with additional, related posts in the coming weeks. A 2006 public policy report (pdf) from the Institute on Money in State Politics identified Texas pols as the second largest recipient of private prison political spending after Florida.

The three big players in Texas' market are the GEO Group, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and a company called Management and Training Corporation (MTC) out of Utah. Of the three, only the GEO Group operates a state-level PAC in Texas. CCA and MTC's contributions appear to come mainly from individuals associated with the company, which are a bit more time consuming to track, so let's start with the Geo Group.

I went through the contribution reports for the Texas Geo Group Inc. PAC for this last election cycle and compiled a list of all Texas House and Senate members who both a) received contributions from GEO in 2009 and/or 2010 and b) won their elections and will be in the Legislature next year. Read the list, with totals combined from multiple reports on Grits For Breakfast

Our Taxe Dollars Hard At Work -Toxic Metals Tied to Work in Prisons

Nice. Our taxes pay to create long term health problems so in the future, we can spend even more tax money on medical treatment. Meanwhile, corporate/government entities pocket profits coming and going. How is this helping REHABILITATE anyone? Why are we forced to pay out of our hard earned money to fund this crap and these programs that DO NOT benefit either society or the prisoners we have to house.

 Excerpt from the NY TIMES...

“We have said all along that prisoners should not be managing toxic waste, and the federal government should never allow the export of such wastes to developing countries,” said Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, a group that advocates for rigorous standards for recycling electronic waste.

“Now we are finding out that not only did the federal government continue to allow it,” Mr. Puckett said, “they were doing it themselves and may still be doing it to this day.”
The recycling work is overseen by Unicor, a unit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that employs inmates to manufacture items like furniture and license plates. Since 1997, it has accepted contracts for recycling computer monitors, televisions, printers and other electronic waste. 

CCA Announces Third Quarter 2010 Blood Earnings, er... Financial Report...

NASHVILLE, TN, Nov 03, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- CCA /quotes/comstock/13*!cxw/quotes/nls/cxw (CXW 26.39, -0.32, -1.20%) (the "Company" or "Corrections Corporation of America"), America's leader in partnership corrections and the nation's largest provider of corrections management services to government agencies, announced today its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2010.
Financial Review - Third Quarter 2010 Compared with Third Quarter 2009

    -- Total revenues up 2.8% to $427.2 million from $415.4 million
    -- Operating income up 10.7% to $85.2 million from $76.9 million
    -- Adjusted Diluted EPS up 15.2% to $0.38 from $0.33
    -- Adjusted Funds From Operations Per Diluted Share up 6.8% to
       $0.63 from $0.59
    -- EBITDA increased 9.1% to $111.5 million from $102.2 million

For the third quarter of 2010, CCA generated net income of $42.0 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, compared with net income of $45.3 million, or $0.39 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2009.
Total management revenue for the third quarter of 2010 increased 2.7% to $425.3 million from $414.2 million during the prior year period, primarily driven by a 2.9% increase in average daily inmate populations. Management revenue from our federal partners increased 12.6% to $186.3 million generated during the third quarter of 2010, compared with $165.5 million generated during the third quarter of 2009. The increase in federal revenue was primarily driven by an increase in populations from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at our Adams County Correctional Center which commenced operations during the third quarter of 2009 and from the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) at facilities located primarily in the southwestern region of the country. Management revenue from our state partners decreased to $210.7 million during the third quarter of 2010 compared with $218.3 million during the same period in 2009. State revenues were impacted by declines in inmate populations from the states of Arizona, Alaska, Washington and Minnesota, partially offset by an increase in inmate populations from the states of California and Georgia. 

ALEC IN ARIZONA

From The Tucson Citizen
You might have heard some news about the NPR story connecting SB1070 and the private prison industry though ALEC. Here's the story in full. It's worth your time to listen and to read:



Here's the follow-up story about the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is a disturbing story of unregulated influence pedaling of it's own, even without the SB1070 connection:

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.