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

GEOGroup Buys Electronic Monitoring Service

Prison operator Geo Group Inc (GEO.N) said it agreed to buy privately-held electronic monitoring service provider B.I. Inc for $415 million in cash.
Geo sees the acquisition, expected to add about $115 million to its revenue in 2011, to have a neutral impact on its 2011 pro forma earnings and to add to its pro forma earnings from 2012.
Lenders including BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Chase have provided $425 million of committed financing to finance the deal, the company said in a statement.
Geo Group forecast pro forma earnings of $1.55-$1.65 a share and revenues of $1.62-$1.64 billion for 2011.
It also backed its earnings outlook for the fourth quarter of 2010. [ID:nASA01ADG]
In April, the company, which has been growing through acquisitions, bought rival Cornell Cos CRN.N for about $374 million in cash. [ID:nSGE63I0HN]
Shares of Boca Raton, Florida-based Geo Group closed at $25.09 on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Renju Jose in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
Reuters

CCA & GEO Group Propose More ICE Detention Facilities

Once again I have to ask why we are wasting our money housing immigrants instead of spending the money sensibly to stem the tide at the border? Why can we not deport the ones already here in an expedient manner instead of forcing citizens to bear the cost of housing them while deportation cases drag on for months and years? This is what we are putting our great-grandchildren in debt to pay for?? Outrageous!

By Beth Brelje

Pocono Record Writer

December 07, 2010

A well-developed plan for a massive Pike County federal detention center is one of three finalists being considered by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to county Commissioner Harry Forbes.

Two other proposed locations — in York County, Pa., and Essex County, N.J. — are being considered for the 2,256-bed center to house illegal immigrants, Forbes said. The winning location may be announced in the next two weeks.

A similar proposal by a different prison provider, GEO Group, to place such a center in Northampton County was recently scrapped.

In Pike County, officials are partnering with Corrections Corporation of America, a large national private prison provider. CCA and Pike officials presented plans to federal authorities on Oct. 22, Forbes said.

Between 450 and 600 jobs would be created locally if the detention center is placed in Pike. Immigration officials would transfer an additional 200 workers to the Pike facility, according to Forbes.

CCA-drawn indoor and outdoor renderings show the proposed facility would dwarf the existing Pike County Correctional Facility on a bordering lot. The detention center would be at the corner of Route 739 and Pike County Boulevard in Blooming Grove Township.

Nationally, CCA houses approximately 75,000 offenders and detainees in more than 60 facilities, with a total bed capacity of more than 80,000, according to its website. The company, which is more than 25 years old, partners with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as states and local municipalities.

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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

GEO Group, CCA Net Out-of-State Contracts for California Inmates

Any wonder CA is broke? Private prisons cost tax payers an average of 33% MORE than what it costs for states to run their own prisons. All that extra money is going towards profit for corporations and there is NO justification for it. Do you like spending all that extra cash on housing offenders who aren't being rehabilitated? Does it give you a warm fuzzy feeling to know that lawmakers are awarding contracts to corporate cronies who don't give a damn about the safety of the general public? 

Private prisons are notorious for abuses against prisoners and before you say, "Oh boo hoo! Who cares if prisoners get abused?" stop and consider that the long term effects of abuse of prisoners results in ever angrier and more criminalized people being released back to the free world where they can then wreak havoc on your neighborhood. There is no point in creating more hardened criminals, no point in allowing our tax money to go towards corporate profits while the corporations don't care if anyone is ever rehabilitated - in fact, doesn't it work to their advantage to create more people who will commit more crimes, increase the odds of ex-cons reoffending...just so they can keep more beds full and charge the states more money to house prisoners?

Conservatives are not generally known for wanting to reform our prisons but anyone who has an interest in stopping the waste of our tax dollars, anyone who is against paying more and more and more money just to house 'the scum of the earth' really should wake up and realize that their hard earned money is being siphoned out of state coffers and into the pockets of corporations who ultimately make our country more dangerous. 

***

Correctional News

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation awarded GEO Group Inc. the contract for nearly 2,600 additional beds in out-of-state facilities, according to the CDCR. Also getting play from California is Corrections Corp. of America, with an offer in the works from CDCR to take on additional beds that are not currently under contract. The total of new beds in the new contracts could surpass 5,000, according to reports.

Nearly 2,600 California inmates contracted to GEO Group will be transferred to the company’s North Lake Correctional Facility in Michigan, according to a company statement. GEO Group expects revenues from the transfers to generate $60 million in annualized

CA Renews Contract With CCA

Is it any wonder California is not only broke, but spending a fortune to maintain their overcrowded prison population? Nothing will change so long as your state officials keep sleeping with gold digging whores like Corrections Corporation of America. Or should I say, Connections Corporation of America? 

Only political connections keep corporations like CCA in business - no one in their right mind can actually look at the track record of this company and think otherwise...

To view a list of wrongdoings, lawsuits against CCA and other dirty cover-ups, click here.
For a list of other private prison malfeasance in California, click here.

Press Release from CCA

NASHVILLE, TN, Nov 05, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) /quotes/comstock/13*!cxw/quotes/nls/cxw (CXW 26.25, +0.03, +0.11%) , America's leader in partnership corrections, announced today that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has renewed its contract with CCA to manage up to 9,588 California inmates at four of the five CCA facilities currently housing California inmates (the Contract Extension). The CDCR also notified CCA of its Intent to Award an additional contract to manage up to 3,256 offenders at CCA's Crowley County Correctional Facility in Colorado and CCA's Prairie Correctional Facility in Minnesota (the Intent to Award). Between the Contract Extension and the Intent to Award, CCA expects to have the opportunity to house a total of up to 12,844 inmates for the CDCR in six facilities. CCA currently has a contract to house up to 10,468 California inmates.

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. 

This Is The Company That's Desperate To Keep Marijuana Illegal In California

Joe Weisenthal

The latest polls don't look good. After looking like it might pass earlier in the election cycle, California's historic Prop 19 -- which would legalize Marijuana -- is now trailing.

But it's not over yet, and there are important business implications.

We've already told you some of the ways to make money from the coming legalization of pot (Tobacco names like RJ Reynolds would probably capitalize well).

But what if the measure goes down?

Check out Corrections Corp of America -- the biggest owner of private prisons.

As Mike Riggs at The Daily Caller notes, CCA has given money to Democratic candidate Dianne Feinstein, who inexplicably and appallingly opposes Prop 19. Because the legalization of weed result in a lot fewer arrests (not just for pot, but also for real crimes that deserve incarceration), this company has a lot to lose.

Last year, hedge funder Bill Ackman presented a bull case for this company, arguing that a huge boom in this area was imminent..

Click here to see the presentation >

Read more: Business Insider