Shining a light on Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) Stewart Detention Center
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving! The 270 View staff is currently enjoying the holidays and hopes you are doing the same.
Next week we will be returning and posting updates on the recent protest at Stewart. Warm greetings go out to all the great people we met last week at the rally as well as the new readers we picked up from attending and speaking at it. Thanks again to the Georgia Detention Watch for continuing to demand immigration & detention reform!
We are also overdue in writing about the recent homeland security investigation of this blog that was carried out with your tax dollars! We will be highlighting this in the next few weeks and appologize for the delay.
Monday, November 14, 2011
New Video Release Inspired By Occupy Wallstreet & Occupy Nashville
Inspired by the Occupy Wallstreet movement and specifically today's protest of Corrections Corporation of America's corporate headquarters by Occupy Nashville we made this little video to show the 270 View's support of the Occupy Movement.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Occupy Nashville to Protest CCA Corporate Headquarters
The Occupy Nashville movement plans to protest outside the corporate headquarters of Corrections Corporation of America in Green Hills at 4 p.m. Monday. The group is protesting “corporate greed and influence.” CCA is the nation’s largest owner and operator of private prisons.
Today (11/13/11) Alex Friedman also spoke to Occupy Nashville protesters about Corrections Corporation of America. Alex Friedmann is the associate editor of Prison Legal News, president of the Private Corrections Institute (PCI), and is considered a national expert on private prisons. Ken Kopczynski, A PCI representative spoke at the "Shut Down the Stewart Detention Center" Rally two years ago in Lumpkin, GA.
Friday, November 11, 2011
State of Mississippi Closes A CCA Prison For Charging To Much!
Did Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) greed just catch up with it and cost it a prison contract? Or is this just even more evidence that CCA is NOT cheaper than the state when it comes to running prisons?
Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps says a privately run prison in Leflore County will close in January. Epps and CCA officials say plans are to cease operations of the 1,172-bed Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood, Mississippi on Jan. 15, 2012. Epps says the law requires private prisons to operate facilities more cost effectively than the state and CCA couldn't do that.
No surprise that CCA's press release reads something totally different and not that "CCA is not cheaper than a state run prison." I'm guessing this will not show up in any of it's self paid for prison safety or cost analysis studies or in any of it's endless marketing materials and campaigns.
CCA apparently also ran a 125 bed county jail out of the facility for the local county. This is one of the ways that CCA gets local counties to support it. My understanding is that at one time this was an option on the table in Stewart County with the Stewart Detention Center/Stewart County deal. It's worth noting that the community of Greenwood Mississippi appears to now have only about 2 months to figure out what to do with it's county jail inmates! It's sad and pathetic that CCA continues to parrot it's support of local communities, how it saves the tax payers money and all it's other corporate dogma while in truth it leaves a trail of neglected prisons and prisoners in it's wake. Just ask the good folks at the Hernando County Jail about the leaky and trashed facility CCA left it with. The reality is I think at this point we all know how CCA does it cheaper while running off with the taxpayers money!
The 270 View can't help but wonder how a company like Corrections Corporation of America that repeatedly says it's better than state and local governments can keep claiming it cares about the safety of communities where it has prisons in when it repeatedly seems to put those same communities at risk. CCA acts like a spoiled child running away with its ball when someone tells it no or stands up to it for running sub par prisons while over charging the local taxpayers. It's worth noting that this is not the first time CCA has put a local community at risk by saying you have very little time to figure out what to do with your prisoners because the parties over and we are leaving town! Perhaps communities that do business with CCA should be paying closer attention to how it behaves when it looses contracts.
The 270 View Joins The Fight In Alabama!
The 270 View was proud to be a part of this action. We are listed under Regional, State & Local Organizations. The actual letter to Secretary Janet Napolitano can be found here.
Coalition of Civil and Human Rights Groups Urge Department of Homeland Security To Say No to Alabama’s Unconstitutional Immigration Law
Contact: Keith Rushing, Rights Working Group, 202.591.3305, 202.557.4291 krushing@rightsworkinggroup.org
November 8, 2011, Washington D.C. – Today, a diverse group of more than 300 civil rights, immigrant rights, faith and human rights organizations, including Rights Working Group came together to demand that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) take immediate action to address the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Alabama because of HB 56, the state immigration law that took effect in September. HB 56 is the harshest anti-immigrant law in the nation and the inherent discriminatory nature of this legislation recalls the days of Jim Crow. As a result of HB 56, Latino children fear attending schools, families are unable to access municipal services such as clean water or library cards, and law enforcement is required to demand papers from anyone they suspect is undocumented.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, these groups demanded that DHS take all actions necessary to ensure that no one arrested or profiled under HB 56 is detained or deported by DHS, consistent with the Justice Department's position that key provisions of HB 56 are unconstitutional. Specifically, DHS should immediately suspend ICE ACCESS programs in Alabama, which require DHS to engage in partnerships with Alabama law enforcement agencies who will be engaged in discriminatory police practices while enforcing the “papers please” provisions of the law. The groups also urged DHS to promote and enforce its own guidance which limits state action in immigration matters, as well as exercise favorable discretion in any case that arises from enforcement of Alabama’s HB 56. The Department of Justice is currently challenging the constitutionality of Alabama’s law. However, the effectiveness of HB 56 hinges on the cooperation of DHS, as the law envisions DHS detaining and deporting non-citizens caught in its dragnet.
“This law requires law enforcement to make snap judgments about a person’s immigration status based on their appearance, inevitably resulting in widespread racial profiling. Under the design of this law, victims of unconstitutional police practices would be picked up and deported by DHS. DHS should not be playing this role and should act decisively in refusing to collaborate with Alabama in these discriminatory enforcement actions,” said Margaret Huang, the executive director of Rights Working Group.
“DHS, under Secretary Napolitano’s leadership, should stand firm with the Justice Department against Alabama’s HB 56, a law that promotes racial profiling and other human rights abuses of all Alabama residents,” said Huang.
ACLU Legislative Counsel Joanne Lin called on Napolitano to be more explicit about how DHS will respond to HB 56.
"Sec. Napolitano has testified that DHS will not assist in implementing HB 56, but has not explained what this means,” Lin said. “Six weeks after HB 56 went into effect, civil rights groups in Alabama and around the country are still waiting to hear whether DHS is doing anything differently in Alabama today. DHS cannot continue its normal operations in Alabama without aiding in the enforcement of a state law that the Justice Department has challenged as unconstitutional. The Obama administration must take all necessary actions to ensure that DHS does not detain or deport anyone whose civil rights have been violated under HB 56."
Formed in the aftermath of 9/11, Rights Working Group is a coalition of more than 300 community-based, grassroots and national organizations working to restore civil liberties and human rights protections for all people living in the U.S.
Coalition of Civil and Human Rights Groups Urge Department of Homeland Security To Say No to Alabama’s Unconstitutional Immigration Law
Contact: Keith Rushing, Rights Working Group, 202.591.3305, 202.557.4291 krushing@rightsworkinggroup.org
November 8, 2011, Washington D.C. – Today, a diverse group of more than 300 civil rights, immigrant rights, faith and human rights organizations, including Rights Working Group came together to demand that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) take immediate action to address the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding in Alabama because of HB 56, the state immigration law that took effect in September. HB 56 is the harshest anti-immigrant law in the nation and the inherent discriminatory nature of this legislation recalls the days of Jim Crow. As a result of HB 56, Latino children fear attending schools, families are unable to access municipal services such as clean water or library cards, and law enforcement is required to demand papers from anyone they suspect is undocumented.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, these groups demanded that DHS take all actions necessary to ensure that no one arrested or profiled under HB 56 is detained or deported by DHS, consistent with the Justice Department's position that key provisions of HB 56 are unconstitutional. Specifically, DHS should immediately suspend ICE ACCESS programs in Alabama, which require DHS to engage in partnerships with Alabama law enforcement agencies who will be engaged in discriminatory police practices while enforcing the “papers please” provisions of the law. The groups also urged DHS to promote and enforce its own guidance which limits state action in immigration matters, as well as exercise favorable discretion in any case that arises from enforcement of Alabama’s HB 56. The Department of Justice is currently challenging the constitutionality of Alabama’s law. However, the effectiveness of HB 56 hinges on the cooperation of DHS, as the law envisions DHS detaining and deporting non-citizens caught in its dragnet.
“This law requires law enforcement to make snap judgments about a person’s immigration status based on their appearance, inevitably resulting in widespread racial profiling. Under the design of this law, victims of unconstitutional police practices would be picked up and deported by DHS. DHS should not be playing this role and should act decisively in refusing to collaborate with Alabama in these discriminatory enforcement actions,” said Margaret Huang, the executive director of Rights Working Group.
“DHS, under Secretary Napolitano’s leadership, should stand firm with the Justice Department against Alabama’s HB 56, a law that promotes racial profiling and other human rights abuses of all Alabama residents,” said Huang.
ACLU Legislative Counsel Joanne Lin called on Napolitano to be more explicit about how DHS will respond to HB 56.
"Sec. Napolitano has testified that DHS will not assist in implementing HB 56, but has not explained what this means,” Lin said. “Six weeks after HB 56 went into effect, civil rights groups in Alabama and around the country are still waiting to hear whether DHS is doing anything differently in Alabama today. DHS cannot continue its normal operations in Alabama without aiding in the enforcement of a state law that the Justice Department has challenged as unconstitutional. The Obama administration must take all necessary actions to ensure that DHS does not detain or deport anyone whose civil rights have been violated under HB 56."
Formed in the aftermath of 9/11, Rights Working Group is a coalition of more than 300 community-based, grassroots and national organizations working to restore civil liberties and human rights protections for all people living in the U.S.
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