The 270 View

CCA or GEO will not get Florida Prisons!

2012-02-14T22:03:00.002-06:00

BREAKING NEWS......

Florida has just voted 21-19 not to hand over south Florida's state run prisons to a private for-profit company. The full story can be found here. I wonder if CCA and GEO regret all those donations to Florida Governor Rick Scott's Inauguration and campaign now. Apparently donating to a Governor's election fund is not as effective in getting prison business as financing a anti-immigration law through membership in a group like ALEC.

In my opinion if this legislation had passed then those state of Florida correctional officers probably would no longer have a starting salary of $34,000 a year. Instead it would probably drop to the $20,000-$25,000 range that these cut-rate for-profit prisons seem to like to pay. It's also worth noting that these same Florida state Correctional Officers have gone 6 years without a raise. Recently at the Stewart Detention Center employees also had to go several years without raises themselves. Unlike the state of Florida (who is having extreme budgeting problems) CCA was posting profits of millions of dollars and spending millions more buying back stock. Not to mention executive compensation of millions of dollars to the chosen few who lord over all those reduced rate correctional/detention officers from the companies ~~palace~~ corporate headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. From what we heard CCA rewarded as many as sixty (60) of Stewart Detention Centers loyal Detention Officers with termination papers for not passing credit checks after those same officers went years without raises. It's really a no-brainer that employees in one of the poorest counties in Georgia who have gone years without raises would have bad credit. In my opinion that is just a natural consequence of the recession and cut-rate pay with no raises from a shady for-profit company like Corrections Corporation of America. I wonder why CCA could not understand that this would be a problem? Perhaps they should of been honorable and given there loyal staff some notice before exploiting them for years without a raise and then handing them a pink slip. At least in this bill getting defeated Florida state Correctional Officers won't be getting a loyalty bonus like that from CCA or GEO!

All opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

CCA Has An Escape While Leasing Inmate Labor To A Nursing Home

2012-02-08T22:07:00.003-06:00

Originally found here.

Area Civil Rights Museum/Black Culture Center Celebrates First Anniversary This Weekend

2012-02-08T17:31:00.000-06:00

This weekend I will be attending celebration activities for the first Anniversary of the "Dee and Doc Melton Senior Black Culture Center." A ceremony will held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 at Shiloh Baptist Church, located at 2113 Southern Ave. After the ceremony a free dinner will be held at the Neighborhood Community Center on South Central Avenue. If you are free I would encourage you to attend.

The "Dee and Doc Melton Senior Black Cultural Center" was established by Rue’Nette Melton (the daughter) and James “Bob” Washington (son) of the late Daughtry Benjamin “Doc” Melton Sr. and the late Ella Dora Alexander Melton. It’s located at 1006 Doc Melton Sr. Drive in Tifton, GA.

The late Doc Melton was very involved in the struggle for civil rights in Georgia. He paved the way for African American politicians in Tift County when he became the first African American to seek public office in 1966. In a past article by The Tifton Gazette, Melton at age 87 stated that he wasn’t trying to take over the Tift County government. “I just wanted to be a part of it,” Melton was quoted as saying that the election for county commissioner in 1966 brought a lot of black and white people together. “It was really hard, but it opened the way for other blacks,” Melton said at the time.

According to a February 18, 2011 story in the Tifton Gazette, “People lined up at the courthouse to see if he would qualify,” Rue’Nette stated. “He felt compelled to do what he was called to do. He was a visionary and an unselfish man. He was guided by God and continued to go after what he was led to do. He took a stand when no one else would. He believed in equal rights and knew of the injustice going on here and in surrounding towns back then. My mother encouraged him to take the grocery money to qualify for county commissioner.”

In 1967 "Doc" also organized the first NAACP branch in Tift county.

Dee and Doc Melton's legacy now lives on through outreach activities conducted by their children at the museum and cultural center named in their honor. His children are also involved in fighting for civil rights and taking a stand against injustices. I am proud to of met and marched with them both at the recent protest against abuses in the immigration detention system at CCA's Stewart Detention Center in November of 2011. I look forward to seeing them both again this weekend as we celebrate the continuing legacy of their parents as well as there own accomplishments in the local community.

Part 2: An Unanswered Call for Answers

2012-01-28T14:29:00.001-06:00

Below is the actual letter that was sent to Special Agent Lamkin and the Federal Bureau of Investigations seeking answers for the very questionable death of Roberto Martinez Medina. Mr. Medina died while he was in the custody of Corrections Corporation of America at the For-profit Stewart Detention Center. To this day no one from the FBI or Department of Homeland Security has contacted me to investigate this matter or respond to my very serious allegations relating to his untimely death.

Incidentally I still feel "that this issue is much bigger than a blog entry on my humble blog." However I now feel that I'm left with no choice but to release my allegations here to possibly force a government investigation into this matter by airing the actual complaint as well as highlighting this incident that I believe led to the Department of Homeland Security to target myself and my blog for a rather lengthy and detailed investigation. In Part 3 I will focus on media coverage related to my blog and in Part 4 I will focus on the actual investigation that ICE/DHS conducted on me. (Picture is courtesy of Georgia Detention Watch).

Special Agent Lamkin,

Almost two years ago Roberto Medina died at the Stewart Detention Center (SDC) in Lumpkin, GA. This is a private for profit facility operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). It is my belief that CCA and Public Health Services workers have covered up pertinent details of his death and that Mr. Medina had his civil rights violated while in custody. Public Health Services provides medical services at SDC.

I would like to request that your agency look into this incident and resolve the many questions that still exist almost two years after his death. I run a blog that has previously reported on conditions at SDC. I was contacted by a current employee that revealed the following timeline concerning Mr. Medina's death:

2000 Hours (8 PM) - Roberto Medina is alive and lying on his bunk. Detainees report to Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) staff members that Mr. Medina is very sick. The control room operator is asked by another CCA staff member to call medical to get Mr. Medina treatment. Several second shift officers then state that medical already knew and that Mr. Medina was fine. A staff member calls medical on the telephone from the unit anyway. Medical staff tells this staff member that the Public Health Service (PHS) doctor had previously seen Mr. Medina and that he was "okay."

0100 (1 AM) Before 2nd count a CCA staff member calls a "Medical Emergency" over the radio. Instead of coming to the unit (as policy requires) a medical staff member calls the unit on the telephone and asks what the emergency is. PHS were told on the phone that Mr. Medina was "very sick" and "would not respond" to CCA staff members. PHS again asserted that they were not coming to the unit because Mr. Medina had already been seen by medical and that he was fine. After count a different staff member was put into the housing unit with Mr. Medina. This was allegedly because the previous staff member was causing "trouble" by calling medical emergencies and medical staff about Mr. Medina's health status. A staff member alleges that Mr. Medina was deceased at the time of the 0100 count.

The next day staff learned that Mr. Medina had died. Word was sent to at least one staff member by the Sergeant on duty (at the Captains request) that they needed to keep "there mouth shut about stuff that they did not know anything about or that they might loose there job for talking about someones medical condition." Staff members were also reminded that CCA had had them all sign a privacy statement at the time that they were hired.

It is my belief that CCA and PHS violated Mr. Medina's civil rights by not providing him with emergency medical care. Furthermore that CCA and PHS both have attempted to cover-up the incident and that plenty of evidence of this exists if a proper investigation was to be conducted by your agency. Your agency should consider reviewing log book entries, video tape and interviewing staff on duty that day etc.

Mr. Medina was denied medical care over several shifts even though both staff and detainees attempted to get him seen by doctors. I feel that this issue is much bigger than a blog entry on my humble blog and deserves to be looked into in a much more formal manner.

Best Wishes,
Bryan L. Holcomb

Demand Wells Fargo Invest in Jobs Not Cages

2012-01-24T02:11:00.000-06:00

I will not be attending this event due to health problems. However I would like to strongly encourage my readers to participate. If you bank with Wells Fargo in a city other than Atlanta you can still participate by closing your account and letting them know that you are doing so in opposition to there investment practices.

Contact: Everett Howe, ABLE, f22ev@yahoo.com, 404.290.9504
Roger Sikes, Jobs with Justice, Roger@atlantajwj.org, 404.782.0737
Priscilla Padron, Georgia Detention Watch, priscatran@gmail.com, 404.373.7325

Atlanta, Georgia - January 24th, 2012 - National Day of Action Against the Private Prison Industry

Georgia groups join with communities in thirteen other cities across the country at a rally urging Wells Fargo to divest from the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo stock and invest in humanity. The action is at Wells Fargo Downtown, 2 Peachtree Street at 11:30 a.m.

I am outraged that a bank invests in incarcerating fathers and mothers whose only crime is working to improve the lives of their families. That's why we are asking Wells Fargo to divest from CCA and GEO, says Everett Howe, a retired Air Force engineer, who is active in both Georgia Detention Watch and Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE).

We urge Wells Fargo customers to move their accounts and deposit boxes from Wells Fargo, a major investor in Corrections Corporation of America CCA and GEO, said Priscilla Padron of Georgia Detention Watch. Both companies promote, build, manage, and profit from private prisons. Instead, community members should consider opening accounts with local credit unions.

CCA and the GEO Group are the two largest corporations profiting from imprisoning immigrants. By lobbying legislators and contributing to their campaigns, they are the power and brains behind the anti-immigrant laws that are incarcerating community members in states like Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona.

Sponsors of the action include:
Georgia Detention Watch*
Gamaliel organization (ABLE)*
Atlanta Jobs with Justice
Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR)
Occupy Atlanta

*Georgia Detention Watch will lead the rally on behalf of the Atlanta area. Georgia Detention Watch is a coalition of organizations and individuals that advocates alongside immigrants to end the inhumane and unjust detention and law enforcement policies and practices directed against immigrant communities in our state. Our coalition includes activists, community organizers, persons of faith, lawyers, and many more.

*ABLE is a local affiliate of Gamaliel, a grassroots network of non-partisan, faith-based organizations in 18 U.S. states, South Africa and the United Kingdom that organizes to empower ordinary people to effectively participate in the political, environmental, social and economic decisions affecting their lives.

Part 1: Death of an Immigrant

2012-01-16T23:18:00.000-06:00

I'm a little late in posting this due to some health problems I have. This is the first part in a new series of articles on this blog detailing why I believe this blog was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security/Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency. See last weeks blog for more information.

In March of 2009 Roberto Martinez Medina died while being detained at Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) Stewart Detention Center (SDC). Mr. Medina died from what many people believe was a very treatable heart infection. Mr. Medina allegedly was repeatedly denied medical attention for this condition. Many activists and organizations have also pointed to the location of CCA's Stewart Detention Center as being a major factor in his death. With almost 2,000 people being detained at the Stewart Detention Center many people continue to believe that a location closer to major medical service providers should of been chosen for the facility. By locating this facility almost a full hour away from any source of advanced medical care, immigrants being detained there will continue to pay a price. For Mr. Medina that price was his life.

Many months after Mr. Medina's Death this blog began to receive reports of incompetence and indifference among Corrections Corporation of America and Public Health Services employees that we believe led to Mr. Medina being denied medical care. Allegedly the Public Health Services medical staff on duty refused to see Mr. Medina while some of the Corrections Corporation of America staff on duty (who were aware of Mr. Medina's pleas for medical care) displayed an uncaring attitude that ignored Mr. Medina's pain and suffering even as they watched him very slowly die in front of them. It is my personal belief that the repeated denial of medical services while in Corrections Corporation of America's custody at the Stewart Detention Center had an immediate and terminal effect on Mr. Medina's health.

This blog however also wishes to highlight the previously undocumented actions of a few unnamed Corrections Corporation of America staff members who in the face of corporate adversity did the right thing and continued to try and seek medical care for Mr. Medina. Perhaps if the Corrections Corporation of America supervisors on duty and the facilities administration had been more sympathetic to there pleas of needed care then Mr. Medina would still be with us today. It is regretful that these employees can not get the recognition that they deserve for trying to prevent what ultimately became a possibly preventable tragedy. The fear that these employees felt in contacting me in regards to Mr. Medina's death speaks volumes about the environment and corporate culture that Corrections Corporation of America appears to have in place at the Stewart Detention Center.

As a blogger I chose at the time not to write about the allegations I received regarding Mr. Medina's untimely death on this blog. I believed that this issue was much larger than my own blog. I believed that it was far more important to try and get justice for Mr. Medina than to write about it to my blog's own very small readership. So instead of blogging I optimistically contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Atlanta, GA through FBI Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin to make a Civil Rights Complaint in the death of Mr. Medina. I contacted the FBI several times and to this day I have never received any type of reply from the FBI or any other government official or department regarding Mr. Medina's death. It had been my hope that an investigation into Mr. Medina's death would be conducted in order to prevent future situations like this from taking place. I had apparently wrongly believed that someone in the government would care about the death of a detainee who died while in the custody of a for-profit company that the United States government had subcontracted with to detain him.

All opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

In the next part of this series I will release my actual (unanswered) letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (F.B.I.) that outlines what I believe was a conspiracy to cover-up Corrections Corporation of America and Public Health Services negligence in the death of Mr. Medina. It is still my belief that employees of both of these entities denied Mr. Medina basic medical care which led to his death while in Corrections Corporation of America's custody.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

2012-01-16T21:02:00.001-06:00

The United States Government Is Still Monitoring Those Who Stand Against Civil Rights Abuses

2012-01-11T23:07:00.001-06:00

As we get ready to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr's birthday it is very disturbing and ironic to note that Reuters news service has just reported on how the United States government is currently engaged in a "Social Networking/Media Capability program." This program monitors blogs, forums and social networks. According to the Reuters story this has been going on for at least the past 18 months. Some of the blogs being monitored wrote about civil rights issues such as my own blogs detailed postings on the long overdue need for immigration and detention reform.

Many of you are probably aware that Martin Luther King Jr. himself was also investigated by the United States government. The government engaged in serious attempts to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. in response to the progress he was making towards African-American civil rights in this country as well as his speaking out against the Vietnam War. Now I'm not trying to imply that the work of any of these bloggers or news media outlets came even remotely close to the very important and huge contributions that Martin Luther King made to civil rights. I'm just trying to say that all these years later are government still apparently feels the need to investigate and monitor groups that challenge or report on issues like civil rights abuses.

Later today or tomorrow I will write about the Department of Homeland Security investigation into myself that I believe was part of this newly discovered monitoring program. I will also be sharing with you how I believe I came to the attention of this program.

The actual Reuters news story referenced above can be found here.

A Suicide Attempt and Multiple Suicide Threats at CCA's Stewart Detention Center

2012-01-07T01:30:00.000-06:00

"The 270 View" Internet blog has been informed that on Friday the Sixth of January, 2012 a Haitian detainee attempted to hang himself at the Stewart Detention Center. We have also been told that two (2) other detainees threatened suicide. The Stewart Detention Center is a for-profit detention center ran by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) that is located in Lumpkin, GA. The Stewart Detention Center currently has a contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to hold more than 1,800 immigration detainees. "The 270 View" Internet blog directly contacted Stewart Detention Center staff members to attempt to find out the facts regarding these incidents. One CCA staff member told us that they were not at the Detention Center when the suicide attempt was made. We were then transferred to the facilities supervisor on duty (Lieutenant Tompkins) who informed us that he had 'No comment." When asked who we could contact for details regarding this incident or if the facility had a media spokesperson who we could speak with regarding this incident he repeatedly stated 'No Comment." One can only wonder what exactly was going on at this Detention Center today that would apparently lead to multiple suicide threats and at least one rather serious suicide attempt. In our opinion these incidents could very well be a sign of more major problems at the Stewart Detention Center. The CCA ran Stewart Detention Center has previously had a history of unresolved medical problems that led to the death of at least one detainee Roberto Medina-Martinez. We do not belief that "No comment" is a satisfactory answer to are questions or concerns regarding these very troubling and serious incidents at a facility that is paid with tax-payer money. We will provide updates on this situation as we receive them and will be following this situation very closely.

All opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

Part 3: Is CCA America's Leader In Not Holding Wardens Accountable?

2011-12-09T04:25:00.000-06:00

It's Ironic that at almost exactly this same time last year we were discussing bigoted homophobic comments that former Stewart Detention Center Warden Vance Laughlin made about a transgender detainee. Even after this blogs extensive coverage of his many scandals he is still employed with Corrections Corporation of America. Although we have been told that his attempts at climbing the corporate ladder in recent times have been unsuccessful. Apparently Vance like the Warden we are about to discuss has not yet done enough in violating the rights of incarcerated detainees to warrant being terminated by "America's Leader in Partnership Corrections."

Lets get back to Arizona and the more recent events that we have been examining at Corrections Corporations of America's Eloy Detention Center. In reading the complaint filed on behalf of the transgendered detainee who was criminally abused by a Corrections Corporation of America detention officer many things jumped out at us.

Just a few of the many allegations:

* According to documents obtained by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act request since 2007 eight (8) allegations of sexual abuse were documented at the Eloy Detention Center.

* From the beginning of her confinement at the Eloy Detention Center the victim was subjected to repeated verbal abuse and harassment by male detainees and male (Corrections Corporation of America) detention officers who insulted her by calling her “dog,” “faggot,” and “boy." On one occasion, a (Corrections Corporation of America) detention officer told other detainees that they could “have her” if they gave him three soup packets.

* The victim was often inappropriately patted-down by male (Corrections Corporation of America) officers.

* The victim was sexually assaulted twice by males at Eloy Detention Center. The first of these assaults occurred on December 7, 2009, when the victim was sexually assaulted by a Corrections Corporation of America detention officer, Defendant Manford. This assault followed a history of frequent inappropriate behavior and inquiries by Manford about the victim, including questions about her sexuality, whether she had a boyfriend, and whether other inmates had seen her breasts. Manford harassed and assaulted the victim in the course of his employment with Corrections Corporation of America, and utilized the authority conferred upon him by State law as a detention officer at the Eloy Detention Center.

* Even after learning of the sexual assault committed by Manford, Defendants failed to take appropriate action to protect the victim. On April 23, 2010, she was sexually assaulted a second time, this time by a male detainee, Johnny Pereira Vigil (“Vigil”). Like Manford, Vigil assaulted the victim after harassing her for some time prior, including calling her a “faggot,” making inappropriate sexual gestures, following her in and out of her cell and peeking into her cell when she was using the toilet or dressing.

Since August of 2009 Chuck DeRosa has been Warden at the Eloy Detention Center. This would mean that he was Warden of the facility during both of the sexual assaults on the victim. With all of the allegations outlined in the victims complaint I can't help but wonder how he did not know about the discriminatory and inappropriate environment that the victims report talks about being present. It's also worth noting that according to the allegations outlined in the complaint there was a lead up time period before both sexual assaults during which numerous inappropriate and demeaning comments were made. Perhaps if Warden DeRosa had intervened when these signs were allegedly present at the facility he was responsible for then the victim would never of been sexually assaulted on one of or both of the occasions. I personally believe that the allegations the victim made regarding the facilities environment were true. But to a certain extent in examining the Wardens response it is inconsequential. Even if they were untrue or Warden DeRosa was somehow unaware of them it does not change the fact that he was Warden at a detention center where a detainee whose safety and security he was ultimately responsible for was sexually assaulted not once, but twice. This blog strongly feels that as a Warden he should of at the very least ensured that a victim of a previous sexual assault in his facility was not sexually assaulted a second time. I mean really how could you not accept the fact that she was vulnerable to abuse after she had already been sexually abused by one of your own staff members?

With all this going on if Warden Chuck DeRosa had a venue to say something to the entire company and CCA's President and CEO what do you think he would say? Would he ask about more training for his staff on the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)? Perhaps ask about better ways to supervise detainees so that a sexual assault victim is not re-victimized? Nope. Warden Chuck Derosa would actually ask CCA's President & CEO "What's going on with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and how well equipped are we to embark on new opportunities with ICE?" Apparently a little thing like multiple sexual assaults in the facility you run leads one to ask about new opportunities to make (we are assuming) more tax-payer money off of ICE.

I guess to me it's just unacceptable that a detainee could be sexually assaulted again less than five months after she was sexually assaulted the first time. As we read the allegations and facts in this case it seems to us that at the very least Corrections Corporation of America should of terminated Chuck DeRosa as a response to the lack of control he seems to of had over the environment and staff at his facility. To this blog everyday that passes in which Warden DeRosa continues in his present position reflects on just how serious Corrections Corporation of America takes the sexual assault of detainees placed in it's care.

Chuck's biography reads that he was once an electrical worker foreman. The 270 View feels strongly that maybe he should go back to this line of work. In fact we made this little ditty up....

If Warden Chuck had really bad supervision skills and luck, Would Warden Chuck end up back in an electrical company truck?

This blog has decided not to identify the victim of multiple sexual assaults by name. In order to prevent confusion we are referring to her by the gender she has chosen as representing her.

All opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

Part 2: Is Being Transgendered a Crime to Corrections Corporation of America?

2011-12-08T02:04:00.001-06:00

During last months fifth annual "Shut Down the Stewart Detention Center" rally I very briefly spoke about a transgendered detainee at Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) Stewart Detention Center (SDC) who was locked down in the facilities segregated housing unit. When I spoke at the rally I had no idea of the human rights abuses that had also been committed at CCA's Eloy Detention Center against a transgendered immigrant being detained there.

It's interesting to me that both detainees were held in a segregated housing unit setting. In the case of the transgendered detainee being held at the Stewart Detention Center I know for a fact that she was locked down in a segregated housing unit cell for a very prolonged period of time for no offense other than her lifestyle. Let there be no doubt that this happened as I was present and a witness to the events that took place. Knowing what I personally observed as having happened at CCA's Stewart Detention Center I can not help but wonder if this was also to a certain extent the same thing that was going on at CCA's Eloy Detention facility. If this is what is actually going on here then that would mean that Corrections Corporation of America is in effect locking transgendered detainees up in segregated housing unit's for no offense other than leading an alternative lifestyle.

Legally even in Detention facilities and prisons hearings must take place if detainees are deprived of rights and placed in disciplinary confinement for extended periods of time. Usually some sort of rule violation or crime is required to of happened. I'm very much aware of the pattern of abuse in disciplinary and confinement hearings that took place at CCA's Stewart Detention Center. It would be very interesting to see just what basis CCA used to lock these individuals up in the most restrictive and confining of available housing units. Is this yet another example of the abusive disciplinary procedures that are or were in effect at the Stewart Detention Center? Is being transgendered a confinable "crime" or disciplinary offence in CCA ran facilities?

As we discussed in yesterdays post proper supervision of detainees would in effect mean that personal lifestyles would probably not matter to the degree that they apparently did at one (or more) CCA for-profit run Detention Centers. Transgendered individuals in the United States are a very small minority group and yet these individuals manage to have a place in many other government controlled or influenced settings. Some local schools have dealt with transgendered students and as far as i'm aware it's not acceptable for these schools to just lock them away from other students in an in-school detention room. I also can't imagine a US city in current times that would task it's police department with rounding up all the transgender individuals to some sort of local transgendered internment camp. With this in mind I have to ask myself what makes it acceptable for Corrections Corporation of America to apparently behave this way? I guess if CCA is unable to adequately supervise and provide for the safety of transgendered individuals then perhaps it needs to stop taking taxpayer money for detaining them.

All opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

Part 1: Documented Abuse of A Trangendered Detainee in a CCA Prison

2011-12-07T18:52:00.000-06:00

On Monday a lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Transgendered detainee who was the victim of intolerable acts while being held at Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) Eloy Detention Center.

In the worst of the incidents detailed in the lawsuit, Justin Manford a CCA Detention Officer at CCA's Eloy Detention Center, is alleged to of "maliciously forced the transgendered detainee to watch him masturbate into a white Styrofoam cup and then demanded that she ingest his ejaculated semen." Keep in mind that at this point there is absolutely no doubt that unacceptable things happened to this immigrant while she was being detained at CCA's Eloy Detention Center. After all on June 8, 2010 Manford was convicted of the crime of "Attempted Unlawful Sexual Contact" for his victimization of the transgendered detainee in question while he was employed by Corrections Corporation of America.

We have previously reported several times on the record levels of sexual assaults in Corrections Corporation of America's (CCA) for-profit prisons and detention centers. Sadly this trend is continuing. In fact one could quite effectively argue that this is not a trend but is instead a widespread and systemic pattern of sexual assaults and abuse. It is this former CCA employees belief that this is caused by a for-profit corporation that places profits above adequate supervision levels of both detainees and CCA's employees. How else does one explain the sexual activity that seems so prevalent at CCA's detention centers and prisons? How does someone masturbate into a cup on a job site and there is no co-workers around to notice? Could this happen where you work? Is your job site a controlled environment where supervision is the proven key ingredient to stopping most the major problems that could happen? It is my personal belief that this is because CCA has set staffing levels at minimal levels in order to reap higher profits while providing minimal or non-existent supervision to both detainees and employees. Incidents like this are perhaps a consequence of Corrections Corporation of America's own policies and practices that led to the low levels of supervision in the first place.

I am a very unlikely advocate for gay rights, I don't think I have ever known anyone that identified with this type of belief. But to me that's inconsequential. What we are talking about here is basic human rights. I would also argue that the undeniable patterns of sexual abuse we are seeing within Corrections Corporation of America prisons and detention centers is a natural progression of the government turning a blind eye to CCA's proven track record of being a leader in the sexual abuse of detainees and prisoners.

All opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T16:56:00.001-06:00

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.

New Video Release Inspired By Occupy Wallstreet & Occupy Nashville

2011-11-14T22:57:00.000-06:00

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.

Occupy Nashville to Protest CCA Corporate Headquarters

2011-11-13T10:56:00.000-06:00

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.

State of Mississippi Closes A CCA Prison For Charging To Much!

2011-11-11T08:54:00.000-06:00

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!

2011-11-11T08:24:00.000-06:00

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.

Happy Birthday Lady Liberty!

2011-10-31T06:54:00.001-05:00

Friday marked the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. The graphic above is from the fine folks over at CorpWatch.

5th Annual Shut Down the Stewart Detention Center Vigil

2011-10-26T18:08:00.000-05:00

On November 18, 2011 from 10 A.M. until noon the annual "Shut Down the Stewart Detention Center Rally" will be taking place. This is a partnership between several organizations including the SOA Watch that is coordinated and put together by the great folks over at the Georgia Detention Watch.

The 270 View put together a short video to help publicize the event which can be seen above. The vigil is currently looking for former detainees, family members or ex-CCA or ICE employees from the Stewart Detention Center who might be interested in speaking about the abuses they saw taking place there. You can contact Anton Flores directly anton@alternacommunity.com or(706) 302-9661 if you are interested in possibly speaking or need further information.

The song is "Can We Go Home Now" by the immensely talented Shaji.

The 270 View Waves it's Flag! The Death of a Detainee and a Homeland Security Investigation of this Blog!

2011-10-24T14:22:00.000-05:00

Later this week I will be starting a series of articles detailing the death of an immigrant at Correction Corporation of America's (CCA) Stewart Detention Center a few years back and how my blog became involved in attempting to get this issue examined by the Federal Bureau of Investigations for the violation of his civil rights. I will also be discussing the Homeland Security investigation of myself and my blog following the nationwide press that this story received from Cuentame.

This blog believes that there is nothing more patriotic one can do than question government. Is that not one of the very principals the United States were founded on?

ACLU Files Lawsuit for Sexual Assault of Immigrant Women

2011-10-20T12:14:00.000-05:00

originally found here.

Williamson County, Corrections Corporation of America and three Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are being sued by the ACLU of Texas on behalf of three immigrant women who were sexually assaulted while in custody of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

According to a press release, the assaults occurred when Donald Dunn, a guard was transporting the women from the Hutto facility to the airport of bus station in Austin.

All three women were seeking asylum in the United States, fleeing sexual assault and extreme violence in their home countries.

“The fact that these women sought sanctuary in the United States -- only to find abuse at the hands of officials they thought would protect them – is wholly inconsistent with America’s self-proclaimed reputation as a beacon of human rights and protector of human dignity,” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas.

Dunn is accused of assaulting a total of nine women.

Dunn pled guilty to three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful restraint based on his assaults of five women. He has been charged with four additional federal counts of criminal violation of civil rights and is awaiting sentencing on two of them.

The lawsuit alleges that ICE, Williamson County and CCA were deliberately indifferent and willfully blind to the fact that Dunn and other employees regularly violated the rule that detainees not be transported without another escort officer of the same gender present.

“Unfortunately, we believe these complaints are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Mark Whitburn, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “Government records reveal that since 2007, 185 complaints have been made to the Department of Homeland Security about sexual abuse in ICE custody, 56 of which were from facilities in Texas. Immigrants in detention are uniquely vulnerable to abuse, and those holding them in custody know it,” Whitburn added.

Inmates still hospitalized a week after Okla. riot

2011-10-19T09:55:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

Four inmates who were injured in a prison riot at the North Fork Correctional Facility last week remain hospitalized.

Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Mike Machak (MAY'-chak) said Tuesday the prisoners were still being treated at area hospitals. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Ralph Jackson says the inmates are in stable condition.

Forty-six prisoners were hurt during last week's riot at the private prison, which houses inmates from California. Prison medical staff treated 30 inmates and 16 initially were hospitalized.

Machak says officials are still investigating what caused the riot and no disciplinary action has been taken. He said none of the inmates have been returned to California.

The inmates are being housed at the western Oklahoma prison operated by CCA to help ease overcrowding in California.

CCA Rewards Loyal SDC Workers Who Worked Years Without Raises By Firing Them

2011-10-06T12:56:00.000-05:00

Back in May we started a series on Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and how we feel it unfairly compensates workers while making large amounts of money off the US tax payers. This story is another entry in that continuing series.

Over the last two weeks we have heard from several workers at the Stewart Detention Center who are angry. Apparently after going years without raises and a promise of better days ahead there hard work was rewarded with a "sorry we gotta let you go."

From what we hear the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency required CCA staff members to pass a credit report and this led to a very large number of staff members being terminated. With Stewart county being such an economically disadvantaged area it really comes as no surprise that many stewart county residents might have bad credit scores.

It's very ironic to this blog that a company that always seems to pride itself on putting it's facilities in areas of high unemployment and poverty continues to have policies that make hiring the workers in those areas not employable. Yet at the same time it tries to convince poverty stricken communities that it's going to come to town and make everything better. If CCA is such a great neighbor and money making partner then one can only wonder why it has to court towns with dismal economic outlooks in the first place. I'm sure it has nothing to do with taking additional government handouts for increasing employment in low income areas. It's really amazing though that it gets by with playing a shell game by putting facilities in these areas and then hiring so few of the people that were there before the facilities were built. I mean really how can you count jobs given to people who commute from other locations as a local employment benefit?

This blog feels that the reality of the situation is that CCA pays significantly less than the public corrections sector. We feel that much of Corrections Corporation of America's profit comes from short changing workers in both pay and benefits. If ICE is going to hold these workers to the same standard that government employee's are, then wouldn't those employees (And the taxpayers and the communities there facilities are located in) not be better off if they were just employed by ICE in the first place? Apparently when it comes to ICE mandated CCA job requirements at SDC an apples an apple even if it's really a rotten one.

Keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

Teamsters file ethics complaint over prison privatization plans

2011-09-15T14:22:00.000-05:00

Teamsters try to block prison privatization, file ethics complaint against Gov. Rick Scott

originally found here.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida policymakers’ push to privatize a huge part of its prison system has drawn the wrath of the Teamsters, which announced Wednesday that it had filed an ethics compliant against Gov. Rick Scott.

The complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics says Scott’s privatization push is “tainted” because he has accepted cash for his inagurual committee from the two largest companies vying for the contracts, the GEO Group and Corrections Corp. of America.

But the complaint is vague as to how that would violate Florida’s ethics law. Florida’s ethics laws generally preclude state employees from leaving government service and lobbying for entities they worked with on state time, or on contracts they had a part in negotiating as state employees.

“The governor clearly has a conflict of interest with both CCA and GEO bidding to secure contracts for prison management,” said Teamsters International Vice President Ken Wood, who filed the complaint.

“Using either GEO or CCA to manage prisons doesn’t make sense either financially or ethically for the state,” Wood said. “We are urging the ethics commission to take action in this matter and find that the governor violated his responsibilities to the people of the state of Florida.”

Responded Scott spokesman Lane Wright: “There’s no ethics violation here. Between two and three hundred companies and individuals donated to the inauguration fund. And that money went to the Republican Party of Florida … not to Gov. Scott directly. Besides, the prison contract is going to go to the lowest bidder, whoever that is. Gov. Scott has nothing to do with the selection process.”

Scott, a Republican who pledged to cut spending on the nation’s third-largest prison system by one-third during his campaign last year, has had to pull back some of the privatization plans in recent weeks after dismissing his corrections secretary, Ed Buss, over “differences in philosophy and management styles … which made the separation in the best interests of the state.” Scott officials were angry that the department failed to run several high-profile decisions through the governor’s staff.

Florida already has seven privately run prisons, and the new push to privatize in 18 south Florida counties was designed to save $22 million annually. The nation’s two largest private prison companies competing for the business — including Boca Raton-based GEO Group — recently told investors the shift of 29 facilities and 16,000 inmates to private management was an “unprecedented” opportunity.

Over the summer, the Department of Corrections said it is already $25 million in the red on the effort. Those costs come from the comp time, vacation and sick leave the agency would have to pay to some 3,800 workers in those facilities if they lose their jobs, according to internal email that suggests lawmakers were warned the privatization push would come at a cost.

DOC Chief Deputy Secretary Daniel Ronay wrote in a May 13 email that “this amount was NOT taken into consideration by the legislature; even though they were made aware.”

He went on to note in the email to another department executive that “with the additional closing of another facility (yet to be determined) … this payout may just cripple the agency for next FY,” or fiscal year.

Lawmakers have since scoffed at those concerns.

But the Police Benevolent Association, which represents prison corrections officers, has filed a lawsuit to block the privatization.

The PBA, which endorsed Scott’s Democratic opponent Alex Sink in the fall election, said that the Legislature broke the law by inserting the massive privatization plan into the budget, rather than passing as separate legislation. Making substantive changes to state law through the appropriations process is unconstitutional, it argued.

The suit also charges that according to state law, the state could enter into a private prison contract only if it offered substantial savings in the per-diem costs for inmates. But, it says, the state has not yet determined the baseline per-diem cost of the state running these facilities.

Leon County Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford will hear the first part of the case on whether the privatization order is unconstitutional on Sept. 29. The second part, on whether it saves the state money, will be heard on Oct. 25.

Back in the Saddle

2011-09-08T21:38:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the emails and support! As some of you are aware, my wife and I have both had some health problems in the last few weeks. But please be assured that my humble blog is still going strong as I am now once again able to post away! So many new developments and issues to discuss. There will be several exciting posts coming in the next few weeks.

Thanks again to my friends and some of my loyal blog readers for your kind words and support over the last few months!

Reporters Interested In Speaking With Detention Workers

2011-06-22T10:56:00.000-05:00

Over the last few weeks I have received requests from two separate reporters who are both very interested in speaking with staff at the Stewart Detention Center. If you are interested in speaking with them please feel free to contact them directly at:

Meredith Bennett-Smith with PBS FRONTLINE News(916)494-1046 or email at mab267@cornell.edu

Iliana Sosa with Cuentame/Brave New Foundation. Can be reached through email at iliana@bravenewfoundation.org

Federal Prison Director Defects to Private Prison Company

2011-06-06T15:32:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

By James Ridgeway

Fri Jun. 3, 2011 6:12 PM PDT

Less than a month after retiring from his post as Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Harley G. Lappin has been hired to a top positon at the nation's largest private, for-profit prison contractor, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). In a move that has gone virtually unnoticed by the press except on the business pages, Lappin, who had run the BOP since 2003, has been named CCA's Executive VP and Chief Corrections Officer. According to a company press release, his responsibilities will include "the oversight of facility operations, health services, inmate rehabilitation programs, [and] purchasing."

Lappin announced his retirement in March, a few days before making public his arrest, the previous month, on DUI charges in Maryland. In a memo apologizing to BOP employees, Lappin admitted to a "lapse in my judgment...giving rise to potential embarrassment to the agency," but he refused to acknowledge a direct link between his arrest and his retirement. The announcement of his appointment to a leadership position at CCA came just over three weeks after his effective retirement date of May 7.

Taking advantage of two concurrent 30-year trends--toward mass incarceration and toward privatization of government services--CCA has grown to a $1.6 billion company that operates 66 facilities in 20 states, with approximately 90,000 beds. It has become notorious for its poor treatment of prisoners, and for numerous preventable injuries and deaths in its prisons and immigrant detention centers. About 40 percent of CCA's business comes from the federal government, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the Bureau of Prisons. As BOP director, Lappin would have overseen government contracts with CCA worth tens of millions of dollars. CCA spends approximately $1 million annually on lobbying on the federal level alone.

A press release from the invaluable Private Corrections Working Group notes that Lappin's quick trip through the government-to-industry revolving door is hardly unique in the Bureau of Prisons' history: "Lappin joins another former BOP director already employed with CCA, J. Michael Quinlan, who was hired by the company in 1993. He retired as director of the BOP in 1992, several months after settling a lawsuit that accused him of sexually harassing a male BOP employee. While settling the suit, Quinlan denied allegations that he made sexual advances to the employee in a hotel room."

In addition, there's the case of the recently appointed head of the U.S. Marshals Service, Stacia Hylton, who until 2010 was the Federal Detention Trustee. In between serving in these two high-ranking government positions, Hylton worked as a consultant for the GEO Group, the nation's second largest private prison contractor. During Hylton's tenure, the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee gave several contracts to GEO; and the U.S. Marshals Service, like ICE and the BOP, houses federal detainees in privately owned prisons, including some run by GEO.

"Federal ethics rules do not prohibit former high-ranking employees such as Lappin and Hylton from working for private companies, even when those companies contract with the same federal agencies where those former officials were employed," the Private Corrections Working Group points out. "An Executive Order issued by President Obama restricts appointees from taking official actions that directly and substantially affect immediate former clients and employers; however, that ethics rule was not applied to Hylton and it has been waived for over two dozen other federal officials, according to a report by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics."

al-Obeidi Immigration Publicity Stunt Highlights Inequalities in the System

2011-06-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

I want to start out by saying that what happened to al-Obeidi was a very, very despicable thing. I think that she definitely needs asylum from Libya. I am glad she made it out alive.

That said when I was reading this story I could not help but think of the double standard at play here. How many immigrants get a private plane to our country? Why is she coming "to continue her studies" when other immigrants can not do the same due to the failure of the Dream Act being voted into law? The cynical side of me can not help but wonder about how quickly she managed to get permission to enter our country when it takes south americans usually many, many years more. To me this seems like a Washington publicity stunt in which al-Obeidi is being used as a photo-op by the powers that be while our broken immigration system continues to function badly as it always has in recent times. Just imagine though how wonderful it would be for every immigrant if the system could function this quickly when they tried to get temporary citizenship.

New Series On CCA Spending Questions How CCA Can Not Afford To Fairly Compensate Staff

2011-05-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

The United States have developed a new weapon that destroys people but it leaves buildings standing. It's called the stock market." —Jay Leno

This blog has been contacted by Corrections Corporation of America staff members who are upset that they have had to go several years without a raise. With this in mind we have decided to start a new blog series on The 270 View website aimed at showing just how uninterested we feel CCA is in compensating its own prison workers for the work they do.

From what we are told CCA has used the poor national economy as an excuse to not give raises to CCA employees for two to three years now. The idea that CCA could not give raises to any employees is really odd since CCA continues to post profits and not losses.

At the facilities Stewart Detention Center many of the workers drive very far distances to get to the facility. I would imagine that this is true at most of its facilities since a great many of them are located in very small rural areas with a tiny labor pool. With gas approaching $4.00 a gallon and other cost of living indicators going up one could probably very effectively argue that these workers are actually now making much less of an hourly wage than when CCA put this pay freeze in place.

Today we will examine CCA's stock repurchasing plan. A copy of CCA's press release on this can be found here. In short what it says is that today CCA has decided to spend $350 million instead of $250 million to buy back CCA stock. So lets do some math here. On CCA's website it claims 17,000 workers here. Now these numbers are rather large (But not even close to the enormous number of tax dollars being funneled at CCA) but we will still try and work with them for are faithful blog reading public. If I figured right $350,000,000 divided by 17,000 workers equals a spending of $20,588 dollars per CCA employee. I'm not sure what the typical worker makes at CCA but I'm sure that some of them make barely that amount themselves. It is also worth noting that if CCA had just left the plan at the original rate of $250 million then CCA could of spent that extra $100 million it had lying around on employees (At a rate of $5,882 per employee).

CCA might argue that by doing this they are actually helping employees stock be more valuable. But honestly do you think they would prefer this over a raise? After all the companies shareholders would just hold a worthless share of stock if it was not for the employees hard work (As well as those really profitable inmates and detainees that it holds within it's prison walls).

The fact that CCA spends mostly tax payer supplied money made through state, local and national detention/prison contracts at a furious pace is also really ironic when the company continues to sputter like a drunken pirates parrot that somehow the taxpayers are getting a good value for there tax dollars here. Now I am aware that CCA does have other revenue streams too like the over charging of inmate phone calls and high priced inmate commissaries, but the reality is that most of it's funding comes from over charging taxpayers. I mean really how else does it have $350 million dollars lying around?

In this blogs opinion Corrections Corporation of America has found a great way to rob the taxpayers piggy bank but apparently feels that the getaway driver (the workers) are not entitled to a cut of the spoils.

Keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

Four child-porn images allegedly found on ICE chief's home computer

2011-04-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

Four child-porn images allegedly found on ICE chief's home computer

By Jay Weaver

The Miami Herald

Updated: 11:37 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Posted: 6:14 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for South Florida has been placed on paid administrative leave, as federal agents investigate four images of child pornography he allegedly received on his home computer via an AOL e-mail account, according to sources familiar with the probe.

Broward Sheriff's Office and FBI investigators seized Anthony V. Mangione's computer from his Parkland residence Saturday after obtaining a search warrant based on an alert from AOL, Mangione's Internet service provider. Sources said Mangione, 50, who has headed the ICE regional office since 2007, was not believed to have received the pictures in connection with any ICE investigation.

The Justice Department probe could take a while to complete as investigators determine whether Mangione sent, received or distributed illegal digital images of children. "It's going to take some time forensically to examine the computer," a federal law enforcement official said.

AOL, which monitors the distribution of child pornography by its users, alerted a national nonprofit resource center about the images allegedly sent to Mangione's computer in recent weeks, sources said. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children then forwarded the information to a multi-agency task force that investigates child-porn distribution over the Internet.

Investigators issued a subpoena to AOL to find out the identity and computer address of the account user who allegedly received the four images, sources said. The information provided the legal basis for the FBI to obtain the search warrant to enter Mangione's home and seize his computer. Authorities also have seized his computer from ICE's office in west Miami-Dade.

"Internet service providers, including AOL, are required by federal law to report apparent violations of the child pornography laws to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which works with the Department of Justice," said former Miami federal prosecutor Ryan Stumphauzer. In 2007, he won the conviction of a Biscayne Park man for producing and distributing child-porn over the Internet.

"To comply with this obligation, AOL and other Internet service providers use sophisticated software to detect suspected child pornography images based upon their unique digital fingerprints," Stumphauzer said.

During the past decade, ICE has aggressively targeted child pornography, with Mangione frequently speaking out against "predators'' who illegally share images through their computers. ICE also investigates migrant smuggling, illegal weapons exports, terrorism and drug trafficking.

Mangione could not be reached for comment. There are no court records indicating that he has been charged with any crime.

The ICE office in Washington, D.C., declined to comment and referred questions to the Department of Justice. Justice spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined to comment, as did Miami FBI spokesman Mike Leverock.

As special agent in charge of ICE's South Florida office, Mangione often lauded the agency's efforts to fight child pornography in both the cyber and real worlds.

Mangione was planning to retire this summer. He has served his entire 27-year federal career with ICE and its predecessor, the U.S. Customs Service.

Emily Ruiz, 4-year-old American sent to Guatemala by U.S. immigration, reunited with NY family

2011-03-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

BY Mark Morales AND Erica Pearson
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Wednesday, March 30th 2011, 1:40 PM

A 4-year-old girl sent to Guatemala by immigration officials even though she's a U.S. citizen has returned to her parents on Long Island.

Emily Ruiz was reunited with her family almost three weeks after she was sent packing with her grandfather while returning to the U.S. from a vacation.

"We have no words to express the joy it brings us to see, hold and kiss our daughter again," her father, Leonel Ruiz, said Wednesday in a statement.

"We are very happy because we were away from her for so long, without being able to see or hold her."
Wearing her little Dora the Explorer backpack, Emily flew back Tuesday after her family's lawyer flew to Guatemala to retrieve her.

"She's a lovely beautiful child. She never gave us a problem," said the lawyer, David Sperling. "Emily was super happy to see her family.

"It's a happy ending."

Emily, who was born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants, had initially traveled to Guatemala with her grandpa, Luis, to see relatives.

When they came back, officials at Washington's Dulles Airport flagged an illegal entry from the 1990s and detained the grandfather.

By Sperling's account, a border agent gave Emily's dad two choices over the phone: she could be held at juvenile facility in Virginia or go back to Guatemala with her grandfather.

Ruiz maintains he was never told he could come get Emily and was worried she would be given up for adoption, so chose to have her return to Guatemala on March 11.

Customs and Border Protection officials have said that the agency does not deport U.S. citizens and that her parents were told they could pick her up.

Emily's parents ran the risk of being deported themselves if they showed up to get Emily.

Tell I.C.E. Not to Deport U.S. Veteran Who Served in War Zone

2011-03-29T23:36:00.000-05:00

Originally found here along with a petition that you can also sign.

For nine long years Trinidadian native Ramdeo Chankar Singh served in the U.S. Army as a nurse with the rank of sergeant. Singh not only served in Germany but also in war-torn Kosovo. In March 2001, the military granted Singh—an undocumented immigrant—an honorary discharge for his service. But when he applied for naturalization a few years later, the federal government denied his application for citizenship, a slap in the face to a man who’s risked life and limb for the United States. The government reportedly rejected his petition for citizenship because Singh did not “meet the requirements” of the Immigration and Nationality Act provision he’d filed under.

Singh has spent the years since 2004 racking up legal bills in hopes of proving that he should be naturalized—but to no avail. The fact that he arrived in the U.S. at the age of 15 lacking a green card or permanent residency status continues to be an obstacle. Now the husband and father of two U.S.-born children faces deportation.

This is not the way veterans should be repaid for their service. Singh made a sacrifice for this country that many citizens never make. Let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement know that Singh should not be deported.

WWII vet discovers he’s not a U.S. citizen

2011-03-26T00:51:00.000-05:00

Originally found here

By Liz Goodwin

Ninety-five-year-old Leeland Davidson discovered recently that he's not considered a U.S. citizen, despite living nearly 100 years in the country and serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

Davidson, from Centralia, Washington, told KOMO News that he discovered he wasn't a U.S. citizen when he was turned down for an enhanced driver's license he needed for a trip to Canada to visit relatives.

"We always figured because he was born to U.S. parents he's automatically a U.S. citizen," said Davidson's daughter, Rose Schoolcraft.

Davidson was born in British Columbia in 1916, but his parents didn't register the birth with the U.S. government to ensure they knew he was a citizen. He checked up on his citizenship before joining the Navy and was told by an inspector at the U.S. Department of Labor Immigration and Naturalization Service he had nothing to worry about. Now he worries that he won't be able to prove his citizenship, because his parents were born in Iowa before local governments started keeping records of birth certificates in 1880. "I want it squared away before I pass away," he says.

Schoolcraft says they tried to dissuade him from pursuing the matter. Employees at the local passport office scared them, telling her father "If he pursued it, (he could) possibly be deported or [be] at risk of losing Social Security."

"We keep telling him, leave it alone, leave it alone, and he won't, like a dog with a bone," Schoolcraft told the Centralia Chronicle. But Davidson says: "I want to get it done before I die." He also still wants to visit his friends and family in Canada. Sen Patty Murray's office is helping him with his application.

Note: The link above also includes a video interview.

Proposed Texas immigration law contains convenient loophole for ‘the help’

2011-03-04T06:43:00.000-06:00

Originally found here

By Brett Michael Dykes

Texas has long been a hotbed of controversy on immigration issues. And a proposed immigration bill in the Texas state House is sure to raise more than a few eyebrows. The bill would make hiring an "unauthorized alien" a crime punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, unless that is, they are hired to do household chores.

Yes, under the House Bill 2012 introduced by a tea party favorite state Rep. Debbie Riddle -- who's been saying for some time that she'd like to see Texas institute an Arizona-style immigration law -- hiring an undocumented maid, caretaker, lawnworker or any type of houseworker would be allowed. Why? As Texas state Rep. Aaron Pena, also a Republican, told CNN, without the exemption, "a large segment of the Texas population" would wind up in prison if the bill became law.

"When it comes to household employees or yard workers it is extremely common for Texans to hire people who are likely undocumented workers," Pena told the news giant. "It is so common it is overlooked."

Jon English, Rep. Riddle's chief of staff explained that the exemption was an attempt to avoid "stifling the economic engine" in Texas, which today is, somewhat ironically, celebrating its declaring independence from Mexico in 1836.

"Excepting household workers from a anti-immigration laws renders the law impotent and self-contradictory, just like the current U.S. immigration policy, of which it is almost a perfect microcosm," legal ethics writer Jack Marshall wrote on his blog. "It guarantees a measure without integrity that sends a mixed enforcement message and does nothing to stop the long-standing deplorable 'we don't want you but somebody has to do those menial jobs' attitude that has paralyzed our immigration policy for decades."

Rep. Riddle made headlines last year when she claimed unnamed FBI officials had told her that pregnant women from the Middle East were traveling to America as tourists to give birth, and then raising their children to be terrorists who could later enter the U.S. freely as citizens -- so-called "terror babies," a devious offshoot of "anchor babies." She became somewhat infamous on the web when she stumbled repeatedly in a CNN interview about the claims, complaining later that host Anderson Cooper's line of questioning was more intense than she had prepared for.

"They did not tell me you were going to grill me on specific information that I was not ready to give to you tonight," Riddle said when Cooper pressed her for more details. "They did not tell me that, sir."

Will Idaho have more private prisons in the future?

2011-03-03T03:07:00.000-06:00

Originally found here

By Mike Murad

In Part 2 of his exclusive KBOI 2News investigation, Mike Murad tracks C.C.A’s money trail and discovers there’s an Idaho connection at the top of the list.

KUNA, Idaho - Monday night in part one of our special investigation, KBOI 2News showed you why Corrections Corporation of America had been hit with almost $150,000 in medical fines at the Idaho Correctional Center, the private prison it runs south of Boise.

The problems for C.C.A. haven’t been limited to Idaho but tonight we’ll show you which Idaho politician has benefited the most from the private prison company, why C.C.A. might be setting up shop in Idaho for years to come, and who could end up paying the tab in the long run.

On Monday, we told you about serious allegations about substandard medical care at I.C.C. and serious fines because of it for the private company that runs the prison in Kuna.

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.

Dr. Blankenship says he is not a fan of privately managed prisons because of the reality that they exist to make a profit. “I think the idea is terrible,” says Blankenship. “I think if there are some things the state is going to do, like incarcerate and take people’s freedom away, then they should not parcel that out and let someone make a profit out of that.”

But not only does C.C.A. make money. It gives 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 percent.

“The governor has made no secret that he’s in favor of privatization,” says Blankenship. And apparently Governor Otter has been for awhile.

Four years ago, Otter asked lawmakers to begin working on legislation that would have allowed private companies to build and manage prisons from the ground up. So far, lawmakers have shot it down.

But given C.C.A.’s financial backing of Otter, and the governor’s preference toward private prisons, should we assume Idaho will have more privately run facilities in the future? KBOI 2News wanted to ask Governor Otter that question. But for the past two weeks his office has told us that his schedule is too busy to schedule a 15 minute interview.

If money is the only measuring stick, C.C.A. appears to be doing what they claim to do. Save the state of Idaho money.

About 7,500 inmates are currently behind bars in Idaho prisons. It costs Idaho taxpayers about $52 a day per inmate, which amounts to just under $19,000 a year. 2,000 inmates are at I.C.C. The state is paying C.C.A. about $40 a day for each of them, which is less than $15,000 per prisoner per year. The annual difference is almost $9 million dollars.

But Professor Blankenship says it’s not a fair comparison, partly because of who is housed where. Part of the state’s responsibility is the 400 inmates in maximum security and death row. I.C.C. houses only medium and minimum security inmates who are cheaper to oversee.

"You have to cut somewhere in order to make a profit," says Blankenship.

Steve Hernandez has served time at Idaho's state run prisons as well as I.C.C. and says there is a difference, especially when it comes to medical care.

At I.C.C., Hernandez says “If someone got beat up, they'll get stitches but they won't take X-Rays. Let's say someone gets beat and gets their jaw hurt. They don’t X-Ray it. They refuse to X-Ray it,” says Hernandez.

“They'll just patch you up and send you to the hole. And that’s pretty much it.” KBOI 2News asked Hernandez if that was the case at state run facilities as well. “No,” he says. “If you had a problem at the state run facilities they take care of it. They help you out."

Last year's videotaped inmate assault at I.C.C. has gotten a lot of attention. But maybe the most troubling aspect of what's happening at I.C.C. is what's happening after the prison violence.

After the assault that left him with a broken nose and black circles under his eyes, former I.C.C. inmate Mark Snowball documented months of chronic breathing problems and bloody noses. He even started working on a lawsuit in prison, not for money, but for medical care. Snowball says even that didn't get C.C.A.’s attention.

"They just said you'll just have to wait until you're released because you're going to be released soon," said Snowball.

And when Snowball was released in January, 2010, his lawsuit in Ada County's Fourth District Court was thrown out. The state of Idaho and C.C.A. were no longer responsible, because Snowball was no longer an inmate. His medical problems were now his alone.

So what's to stop C.C.A. from withholding medical care long enough for the other 75,000 inmates they manage so the expense is eventually a burden for someone else?

At this point all we can do is ask the question, because we haven't been given any answers.

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.

A C.C.A. spokesman told KBOI 2News the company will agree to an on camera interview after the lawsuit has been addressed.

'The public doesn't know what goes on behind these walls'

2011-03-02T20:48:00.000-06:00

Originally found here

KUNA, Idaho - 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.

For the past two months, KBOI 2News has combed through more than 1,000 pages of documents, including the state's contract with C.C.A. We have also spoken with more than a dozen people trying to learn exactly what's happening inside Idaho's private prison which many believe has become a public problem.

The video from last year is hard to forget. A 30-minute inmate assault at the Idaho Correctional Center in Kuna as guards stand by and watch.

According to the A.C.L.U, the Idaho Correctional Center has more violence than Idaho's eight other prisons combined. But our investigation didn't end there. It was just getting started.

“The public doesn't really know what goes on behind these walls," says former I.C.C. inmate Mark Snowball.

Four years ago, Snowball was an 18-year-old dating a 15-year-old girl. He lived under her parent's roof and says they knew about the relationship he had with their daughter.

Snowball says when he split up with his girlfriend, and while he was being investigated for another charge that was eventually dropped, investigators learned of his prior relationship.

Snowball pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with a minor and was sentenced to two years in prison.

He was sent to I.C.C. in Kuna.

In March 2008, Snowball says he was assaulted in his cell, when someone punched him repeatedly in the face.

Snowball says he suffered a broken nose that was gushing blood, and still has chronic problems that exist almost three years later. “I’m still going through those injuries, sinus pain, congestion, bloody noses daily," says Snowball.

After the attack, he filed multiple grievance forms asking to have X-rays on his nose. He was denied. He asked to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. Again he was denied. At one point months later, still complaining of the lingering effects, he was even charged $5 for a medical visit when a nurse said his problem wasn't chronic.

Eventually, Snowball started the process of filing a lawsuit against the state of Idaho.

Meanwhile, C.C.A. is facing its own lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. The A.C.L.U. has documented almost two dozen current or former I.C.C. inmates, many with stories similar to Snowballs'.

KBOI 2News requested an interview with the A.C.L.U., but C.C.A. has filed a gag order in the case. As a result, the A.C.L.U declined our interview request.

Nevertheless, we got a copy of the 81-page lawsuit against C.C.A. It tells the story of 23 inmates who all say they sustained serious injuries from assaults at I.C.C., including inmate beatings that split the area above the eye "to the bone, kicks to the face, broken ribs, inmates knocked unconscious, teeth broke, slashed face, eyes swelled shut, blood coming from ear."

In the lawsuit, the A.C.L.U. even cites a former I.C.C. correctional officer who says it took "two hours to clean the pools of blood" in one case.

But the inmate assaults may not be the most troubling part of the story.

The A.C.L.U. maintains the inmates who were beaten never received proper medical care at I.C.C. In case after case, “no X-rays were taken" after the assaults to determine "whether any bones were broken."

But the A.C.L.U. isn't the only one concerned about what may be happening at I.C.C. So is the state of Idaho.

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.

"I remember standing there with my superior and he went ‘can't help ya, sorry,'" says former I.C.C. correctional officer Tedi Hernandez.

Hernandez worked at I.C.C. in 2008. She says she heard stories of medical care being denied, including X-rays. But she also says daily prescribed medication often didn't make it to inmates on schedule - if at all. That’s what the medical audit of I.C.C. by state officials also concluded.

"I know that blood pressure pills like anti psychotic and some really important ones for my safety - those they ran out every once in a while,” says Hernandez. “Some people went days, other people went weeks. It all depended. They just didn't have their medications."

After just one year on the job, Hernandez quit from what she calls a lack of professionalism.

KBOI 2News wanted to hear what C.C.A. had to say about the allegations about their partnership with Idaho, but they declined to comment.

But the partnership today seems less stable than a decade ago, considering the state’s almost $150,000 in fines for medical related infractions.

Why would C.C.A. cut corners on medical care, even when they were racking up extensive penalties?

On Tuesday, KBOI 2News follows the money where we’ll look into C.C.A’s bottom line, but we’ll also pass along where the company spends its money.

And you might be interested to know which Idaho politician is number one in the country when it comes to financial backing from Corrections Corporation of America, and what that could mean for the future of private prisons in Idaho.

Arizona may require hospitals to check citizenship

2011-02-14T20:44:00.000-06:00

Originally found here.

By MICHELLE PRICE, Associated Press Michelle Price, Associated Press –

PHOENIX – Republican lawmakers want to widen Arizona's illegal immigration crackdown with a proposal to require hospitals to check on whether patients are in the country legally, causing outrage among medical professionals who fear becoming de facto immigration agents under the law.

The medical industry ripped the bill Monday as it was scheduled for a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Doctors envisioned scenarios in which immigrants with contagious diseases such as tuberculosis would stay home from the clinic or hospital and put themselves and the public at a grave health risk.

"This is making us into a police state that will try to catch people when they are sick," said George Pauk, a retired doctor with an organization called Physicians for a National Health Program. "Do we want to stop sick people from coming in for health care?"

Arizona is the first Legislature to take up such a measure amid a national push in conservative states to crack down on illegal immigration, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Arizona lawmakers ignited the debate a year ago when they passed a bill that required local police, while enforcing other laws, to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. A judge later put that provision on hold.

The discussion about the bill comes just days after an illegal immigrant in Texas with a banana-size tumor in her spine said she was ousted from her hospital because of her immigration status. She later found another hospital to get treatment.

Supporters say the hospital bill is necessary tool to fight illegal immigration at a time when hospitals lose tens of millions of dollars treating illegal immigrants in emergency rooms.

Senate President Russell Pearce, a Mesa Republican who was chief sponsor of last year's immigration law, says the hospitals bill is part of a broader effort to crack down on illegal immigration. The hospitals bill wouldn't bar people from getting care, but it would put the onus on hospitals to "do due diligence," Pearce said. "We're going to enforce our laws without apology."

Added Pearce: "It's the law. It's a felony to (aid and) abet. We're going to enforce the law without apology."

Other sponsors of the bill did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Discussion of the bill in the committee was put on hold late Monday until a later date.

The legislation, known as Senate Bill 1405, would require hospitals, when admitting nonemergency cases, to confirm that a person seeking care is a U.S. citizen or in the country legally. In emergency cases where the patient isn't here legally, the hospital would be required to call immigration authorities after the treatment is done. Hospitals in non-emergency situations would also be required to contact federal immigration authorities, but they would have more apparent discretion about whether to treat illegal immigrants.

Opponents say the bill could pose serious health risks to those here legally and illegally. They believe the threat of deportation would keep some people from seeking health care for everything from emergency situations to measures such as vaccinations, potentially leading to preventable deaths. They also said it would increase hospitals' already-strained workload.

"You are now turning medical professionals into full-time INS agents," said Democratic state Sen. Steve Gallardo, speaking at a news conference Monday. "Doctors that should be working to help treat ill patients are now turning into ICE agents."

Nicole Russell is the mother of a 3-year-old daughter named Kira, and she could not envision what it would be like for a parent to decide whether or not to take their child to the hospital for fear of being reported to the authorities.

"I can't imagine putting the health care of my daughter in the hands of politicians," she said.

John Vanek - He is from Chicago and he has Powerful Friends

2011-02-11T11:38:00.000-06:00

This blog has never bowed to intimidation. In this particular instance I feel that the best way to deal with it is to publicly document what I am taking as a threat.

Recently we received an email from John Vanek who we have previously blogged about. In the course of his email Mr. Vanek felt the need to make what this writer took as a veiled threat as well as what he called a "warning." The highlight of his email was the ending where he wrote "Remember I am from Chicago and I do have powerful friends."

I am assuming that he is trying to imply that he has criminal connections from Chicago but I suppose that it could also mean that he knows Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, the janitor at the former Wax Trax record label or a slew of other "powerful" people from Chicago (It would be great if it was a former Wax Trax artist like KMFDM! Käpt'n K let's talk!). It has been this writers experience that people who feel the need to mention "powerful friends" are often trying to compensate for there own lack of power or some other perceived shortcoming. I personally feel that having to rub someones nose in your supposed "powerful friends" is the equivalent of grade school kids shouting at each other whose daddy is the toughest.

In the interest of fairness I will extend a one time offer to Mr. Vanek. If Mr. Vanek can do so in a civil way I will allow him to use my humble blog as a venue to debate my prior story and print his own version of why he was terminated or resigned from the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency at the Stewart Detention Center.

Keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

Don't Get Your Honey Where You Get Your Money

2011-02-01T05:37:00.000-06:00

We received another interesting tip over the weekend...

Many of you might remember a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Supervisor at the Stewart Detention Center named John Vanek. John Vanek was in charge of ICE's enforcement and contract obligations of the National Detention Standards. He's the guy that should of been raising concerns about issues like the alleged burnt out light bulbs in detainees cells that went unreplaced for several months. From what we hear John Vanek was forced to retire by ICE. A source alleges that this was because of a very inappropriate and personal relationship he was in with another employee. This female was 30 years younger than Mr. Vanek and had been employed by both CCA and ICE. This female employee had worked for Vance Laughlin (at SDC) with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and then been hired by Mr. Vanek and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency (also at SDC). Allegedly this female employee was fired/forced to resign last week. From what we hear Mr. Vanek has now been hired by Warden Vance Laughlin at CCA's Adams County facility in Natchez, MS.

This whole incident seems highly unethical and yet again seems to demonstrate well the inability of the government to effectively manage a private detention center when there own contract manager allegedly engages in activity like this. Not to mention the fact that when you screw up with one organization and get caught the other one quite often seems to then just hire you. Apparently this type of behavior is not a problem when it comes to employment with CCA the self declared "leader" in privatised corrections. But then again we have also reported on similar incidents that Vance Laughlin himself has allegedly engaged in previously. Maybe birds of a feather are just flocking together....

How does that old phrase go, it's not who you know it's who you.....

Keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

Leave A Light On

2011-01-30T03:24:00.000-06:00

From what we hear the maintenance crews at Corrections Corporation of America's Stewart Detention Center are going to be really busy this week. A source from the Detention Centers alleges that the maintenance supervisor would not previously order parts for housing units because he did not want to break his CCA mandated budget. From what we have heard more than 50 cells have been without lights for close to 3 months now. Counting detainees in the dark must be a real challenge. It's a good thing those bulbs finally came in this week. I am sure that ICE is doing such a great job in monitoring this contract that something like this just could not be going on. Just don't pay any attention to all the work orders for burned out light bulbs or all those maintenance crews running around on the facilities surveillance cameras replacing them...

I tell you what, next time your multi-million dollar profit making company decides that light bulbs are not in the budget for three months just drop me an email. I will see if I can put together a bake sale in the Stewart Detention Center parking lot to buy them for you.

Perhaps Warden Swinton just needs to get Tom Bodett to join his maintenance team...

Please keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

"Absolutely CCA does not cut corners to save costs." Surely they would not lie.....

Vance Laughlin Update

2011-01-29T23:35:00.001-06:00

We have had a few people mention the fact that Vance Laughlin allegedly went to the hospital Christmas week. Rumour has it for a heart attack. We have received one or two comments that this blogs "Twelve days of Vance Laughlin" Christmas coverage may have led to his medical problems.

After some debate we have decided to publicly reply to this situation. To be brutally honest this blog does not track or even care about Vance Laughlin's health status. We will leave any medical problems of his up to others to confirm or deny. This blog only cares about reporting on his rather shoddy leadership history of poor choices and very bad decisions.

That said, this blog does not accept any responsibility for any health problems he allegedly has. For the record I would like to remind everyone that I gave Vance Laughlin the opportunity to resign prior to reporting any allegations regarding his activities. Perhaps that is an option he should of pursued.

Additionally this blog accepts no responsibility for any of his alleged health problems caused by The 270 View reporting any actions that he allegedly chose to make. If Vance Laughlin (or his employer Corrections Corporation of America) had made better choices perhaps he would not have to worry about this humble blog reporting any embarrassing facts about him or his bad leadership decisions.

We do however wish Vance Laughlin a speedy recovery. The 270 View would not wish a heart attack upon anyone, not even Vance Laughlin.....

Please keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

One Vance Laughlin (Allegedly) Having An Inappropriate Relationship With An Employee

2010-12-25T23:15:00.001-06:00

Employees from CCA's Adams County Correctional Facility alleged to this blog that Vance Laughlin was or is having a very inappropriate relationship with a member of his staff who works under him. This employee is also allegedly paid in a higher pay grade than they should be. Adams County Correctional Facility staff alleged to this blog that this was possibly some sort of "Quid Pro Quo" action for the alleged CCA staff member being in the relationship with Vance Laughlin.

Before printing this allegation this blog attempted to contact Corrections Corporation of America but they continue to block this blogs email (along with blocking this blogs address from CCA computers). I guess Corrections Corporation of America does not like or care for what we have to say that's critical of them. Possibly the truth just hurts.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Two Vance Laughlins Not Prosecuting A Staff Member Who Physically Abused A Detainee!

2010-12-24T14:51:00.001-06:00

On November 30, 2010 Correction's Corporation of America's own sad little blog posted an entry condemning the Associated Press for releasing footage of an inmate in a CCA facility being attacked to the point that he ended up in a coma while CCA's officers apparently sat on the sidelines and watched the attack without attempting to help the inmate. Even worse than that allegedly the staff members put the inmate in that specific housing unit to allow the inmates to attack him.

CCA some how thinks that they can take the high road on this incident and claim a variety of reasons why they can not talk about the incident. Yet they then proceed to somehow try to spin it into a PR win for CCA.

Well we here at the 270 View are going to call BULLSHIT on this one. In CCA's story they state the following:

"In regard to the incident, CCA management and staff at the Idaho Correctional Center cooperated fully with the Ada County Sheriff's office and Ada County Prosecuting Attorney's office to ensure that inmate James Haver was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is CCA's understanding that Haver plead guilty to both aggravated battery and to committing battery with the intent to promote gang activity, and was sentenced to serve an additional 17 years in prison for his crime. It is also our understanding that CCA's security system video recording of the attack was key to the state's successful prosecution."

they go on to say:

"CCA is committed to safety and security for the community, our employees and the inmates in our care. Every day CCA's dedicated family of nearly 17,000 corrections professionals - including more than 350 in Idaho - face personal risk while fulfilling this commitment. As Mr. Haver's wanton attack illustrates, correctional and medical personnel must often respond to render aid in dangerous situations, not knowing the extent of the risk they may face when they do. Our hard working employees receive a high standard of training and supervision in order to comply with all state and federal standards with respect to the care, custody and control of the inmates and detainees housed in CCA facilities and to ensure reasonable efforts are made to protect the safety and security of the public, CCA employees and inmates housed in our facilities."

Whats ironic to this blog is that at the Stewart Detention Center under Warden Vance Laughlin leadership a correctional officer physically assaulted a detainee in the cafeteria and nothing really happened at all. This officer was caught on camera and filmed conducting the abusive attack on the detainee. It is this blogs understanding that the officer resigned or was fired but that he was not prosecuted for abusing the detainee. I guess sadly that CCA staff members physically abusing a detainee in an ICE facility does not warrant prosecution from Corrections Corporation of America in the same way that an inmate on inmate attack does.

One can only wonder why this attack was not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. What is known is that CCA and ICE officials viewed the footage of the attack. This blog wonders if Stewart County law enforcement officers were ever allowed to see the footage or received any reports on the attack it is not believed that they were given the chance to investigate the incident. This blog wonders if Vance Laughlin or CCA took these actions in order to attempt to conceal the violation of the detainees rights from the public or detention monitoring groups.

While CCA might have attempted to bury this incident by possibly not reporting it I am sure that one day the true details will come to light. Maybe one day a reporter or a detention monitoring group filing out a few freedom of information requests will turn up a disciplinary action on the employee or an incident report on the abusive attack on the detainee.

This blog again calls for an investigation into the activities that took place under Vance Laughlin's rather poor leadership of the Stewart Detention Center. This blog believes that the string of leadership failures he was responsible for along with the abuse of detainees and failure of CCA staff to comply with mandatory ICE detention standards clearly show that neither Vance Laughlin or Corrections Corporation of America are fit to run taxpayer paid for detention centers like the Stewart Detention Center. This blog continues to wonder how a company like CCA continued to employ Vance Laughlin as a Warden knowing about incidents like the one discussed here today.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Three Vance Laughlins Allowing HR Departments To Abuse Staff

2010-12-23T22:34:00.001-06:00

We have heard allegations that Vance Laughlins HR Department in Natchez is a mess. Oddly this to seems like a common theme with Vance. At the Stewart Detention Center Vance's HR department was causing employees all kind of grief. This allegedly lead to staff members vandalising the HR Managers car because they were so fed up. Vance Laughlin then had to assign Managers assigned parking spots just to get his HR Manager a spot on camera because of all the alleged vandalism to her car.

Speaking personally I know how inefficient and vindictive the HR Manager at the Stewart Detention Center was. Vance Laughlin received numerous complaints and seemed to do absolutely nothing to resolve them. This was a HR Manager that would loose your checks, short your paycheck and even pay you for less hours than the Warden had signed off on weekly time sheets. It seemed like the HR Manager would do whatever she felt like to cause staff members grief on more than one occasion. It could take days or weeks to get your back pay. I know for a fact that this went on even at the holidays and if you complained it would even take longer. Vance Laughlin would repeatedly tell you that you would be getting your back pay in a day or two but it would never show up. On at least one occassion his boss at the corporate office was asked about the missing back pay that Vance had allegedly talked to him about getting fixed, but he was not even aware of the problem. Apparently at times Vance Laughlin was less than honest in trying to fix things like employees missing pay.

Adams County Correctional Facility employees from Natchez County, Mississippi have contacted this blog to allege that the same time of activities are going on at ACCF. It's a shame that CCA corporate staff seems to have such a sorry history of addressing concerns like this. I wish these employees luck but sadly I can not see either Vance Laughlin or CCA corporate staff addressing them. These types of personal abuses of power seem acceptable in the CCA working world. These issues could easily be addressed if CCA corporate staff would allow workers to contact them directly through an 800 number. But by making them go through a facility HR department and facilities Warden it allows a culture of abuse to possibly take shape with little to no chance of workers getting there HR issues resolved.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Four Vance Laughlin's Chasing After Unattended Guns

2010-12-22T23:18:00.001-06:00

While Vance Laughlin was Warden of the Stewart Detention Center a gun was left unattended within reach of a detainee who was taken to the local hospital in Richland, GA for medical care. It is my understanding that it was left within arms reach of a detainee and that the staff member had sat it down and then left the area. It is my understanding that a Corrections Corporation of America guard received a disciplinary write-up for this.

A few weeks later a second gun was left unattended leaning against the sally port gate/fence area overnight. While Vance could probably not be blamed for the first instance what was remarkable about the second one was that Vance Laughlin implemented a cover-up plan to try and prevent Corrections Corporation of America corporate staff from hearing about it. Vance Laughlin directly told senior managers and assistant wardens not to report the second instance because he would probably get fired.

Corrections Corporation of America and ICE were both previously made aware of this. Yet somehow Corrections Corporation of America keeps a Warden in a leadership position over employees and inmates/detainees even though he engages in deliberate activities to cover-up incidents that should of been reported. It makes this blog wonder what else is going on that CCA or Vance Laughlin might not be reporting.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Five Vance Laughlins Yelling "Three Strikes and Somehow I'm Not Out!"

2010-12-21T19:00:00.001-06:00

As we continue to examine the epic failure that was the Stewart Detention Center under Vance Laughlins leadership we will examine yet another failed audit.

In December of 2008 the Georgia Detention Watch conducted an independent review of the Stewart Detention Facility using ICE guidelines as a basis. While they did not have the same access as the first two groups, they did turn up many of the same issues. Taken together all three of the audits seem to paint a remarkably similar picture of a facility in which ICE contract mandated requirements (ICE Detention Standards) were not being met. It seems like the facility, ICE and CCA failed to take any of these results seriously and failed to make many if any corrective action's based off of the findings leading to a third group making several of the same observations. One can only wonder what it takes for Corrections Corporation of America to fire a Warden or ICE to actually enforce contract requirements with a private for-profit contracted company like Corrections Corporation of America.

The Georgia Detention Watch groups report can be found here.

Riot At A CCA Facility In Texas

2010-12-21T18:54:00.000-06:00

Originally found here

December 21, 2010

Two inmates hurt in CCA disturbance

By Christin Coyne
Mineral Wells Index

PALO PINTO COUNTY — Two inmates reportedly received minor injuries during a disturbance Friday night at the Corrections Corporation of America Pre-Parole Transfer Facility but facility personnel were able to gain control of the inmates within a short time.

“At about 8:45 p.m. Friday evening, approximately 30 offenders refused to go to their assigned housing locations on the north side [of the facility],” facility manager Maria White said.

The inmates reportedly encouraged others to join them, according to White.

“With minimal use of chemical agents, supervisors maintained control of the unit and quelled the incident within an hour,” White said. “At no time was public safety threatened as the incident was quickly contained by staff.”

Two of the 48 inmates believed to be involved received minor injuries, were transported to the hospital for treatment and released back to the facility.

No staff was injured.

Local law enforcement personnel were contacted according to standard procedure, White said.

Mineral Wells police, Palo Pinto County sheriff’s deputies and Department of Public Safety officers, responded to a call of a riot at the facility around 9:30 p.m and maintained a perimeter until about 11 p.m. but was not asked to intervene.

“CCA would like to extend our sincere thanks to the local law enforcement agencies for their quick response,” White said.

Contact Index staff writer Christin Coyne at (940) 325-4465, ext. 3428, or ccoyne@mineralwellsindex.com.

Six Vance Laughlins Ordering ICE Not To Observe A Riot At The Stewart Detention Center

2010-12-20T22:50:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we wrote about a very, very disturbing audit in which Vance Laughlin was found by the Department of Homeland Security/Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency to be running (In our opinion) such a sad and pathetic facility that ICE had to take the unusual step of declaring the audit a "practice" audit, thus concealing the sorry state of the Stewart Detention Center.

Today we will address the tension level of this facility and the way in which the immigration detainees (in my opinion) chose to show their dissatisfaction with Vance Laughlin's leadership, Corrections Corporation of America and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency.

During the final exit meeting in which ICE staff members were revealing the pathetic audit findings the facility lost control over several housing units as the detainees caused a serious disturbance that appeared to of possibly been planned to correspond with the ICE audit. Corrections Corporation of America removed there guards from the effected housing units and the detainees caused minor facility damage and minor physical altercations as they attempted to get there dissatisfaction across.

What followed was a situation that would have been comical in a keystone cops sort of way if it was not for the physical well being of CCA employees and the detainees that was at stake.

Some of the ICE staff who were giving the final audit meeting then walked out of the meeting room and went down to the area of the riot to observe what was happening. What followed was a very surreal situation in which Vance Laughlin told the ICE auditors to exit the area where they were observing the riot. Unbelievably these ICE staff members then actually left the area! One can only wonder how CCA can maintain a contract with ICE after they give orders removing ICE employees from being able to observe a riot in a facility that they are paying to operate! In my opinion, it is pathetic that tax payer money is going to fund a facility in which ICE would accept that they do not have the right to observe any actions taking place in it!

Vance Laughlin then sat in his chair in his Wardens office in Administration and repeatedly ordered his Chief of Security over the radio to "breech" the area that inmates were in control of. Vance's Chief of Security continued to ask for permission to use force. Eventually CCA staff entered the affected housing units after Vance got his Chief to understand that he was ordering him to use force against the detainees if necessary. I believe chemical agents were also used.

After the facility was back under CCA's control, Vance Laughlin then asserted that what happened was because of the detainees dissatisfaction with ICE staff not meeting with them regularly as they should of been. It is this blogs opinion that this was not entirely true and that while that may of been one of the detainees issues, there were actually many more issues they had with both CCA and ICE. In this blogs opinion, it is very ironic that previously ICE would attempt to cover-up a bad audits findings by declaring it a "practice audit" (In effect helping Vance to save a then quickly fading career in corrections) but that Vance Laughlin would be so quick to throw ICE under the bus as the only reason for a riot.

Regardless of why the detainees were angry it continues to amaze me that a audit could be declared a "practice audit" and that ICE employees would willingly submit to CCA authority and leave an area of a facility that they are paying a private for-profit company to run when it is their detainees involved in the riot. It is this blogs belief that this issue was covered up and never investigated properly. Issues like this lead me to believe that a government inquiry should be conducted at the congressional level into possible contract violations that have taken place at private detention facilities like the Stewart Detention Center and whether ICE management of facilities like the Stewart Detention Center is appropriate.

Oddly this incident also does not appear to be listed by CCA here.

This blog again wonders how an individual can still be employed as a Warden with this kind of track record! It again calls on Corrections Corporation of America and the Bureau of Prisons to examine his operations and past record to determine if he really is qualified to lead any institution. Personally, This blog does not feel that Vance Laughlin is qualified to be the Assistant Manager over French Fries at a Burger Barn.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Seven Vance Laughlins Failing A ICE Audit

2010-12-19T19:05:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we discussed one of Corrections Corporation of America's corporate conducted operational audits of Warden Vance Laughlin. Today we will discuss an audit that the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted under his leadership at the Stewart Detention Center. The Department of Homeland Security/Immigrations and Customs Enforcement contract with Stewart County, Georgia and CCA to run the Stewart Detention Center. It is my understanding that CCA now houses over 50% of the total number of immigrants that are being detained by ICE in contracted for-profit facilities.

ICE Audits are designed to monitor a facilities operations through measurable criteria. They can also be used as a way to monitor how well a private company is running a ICE contracted facility. The standards that Vance Laughlin and the Stewart Detention Center were measured under can be found here.

On this occasion ICE brought in an audit team that found the Stewart Detention Center under Vance Laughlins leadership to be so troubled that it refused to complete the audit as scheduled. In my opinion this was because the Stewart Detention Center had performed so sub-par that ICE was afraid to actually document it's official findings. ICE audit staff took the step of declaring that the audit was a "practice" audit. However this was done only after it had started the audit and began to find very serious and disturbing answers to the questions and observations it was making during it's official auditing process.

One can only wonder what is actually going on inside of ICE's privatised for-profit facilities. If what ICE did at the Stewart Detention Center on this occasion is a common practice then how can people trust it's monitoring of any privatised facilities? By engaging in a conspiracy to cover-up and hide the results of it's own findings ICE is showing a serious lack of credibility in it's ability to monitor privatised facilities. To this writer, ICE also seems to be purposefully creating a deceitful situation in which the American public is being conned into believing that ICE contracted facilities are being ran much better and safer than they actually are.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Eight Vance Laughlins Setting A CCA Record For Failure

2010-12-18T21:37:00.000-06:00

Vance Laughlin's part time hobby seems to be parroting how great Corrections Corporation of America is. One only has to search his name or read a few stories on the companies internal propaganda website to realise this. CCA's frequent use of Vance Laughlin in company news stories seems to directly contradict his work history with the company. This blog believes it speaks volumes that CCA would choose to highlight one of CCA's wardens who possibly could be considered one of the worst Wardens that CCA has ever hired. Perhaps it is Vance Laughlin's ability to say the right thing to corporate public relations departments that has led to him still having a career with CCA. For a company that professes to having such high ideals it seems strangely odd that they would present any quotes and/or videos from Warden Laughlin in public relations or news stories.

Today this blog will examine Vance Laughlin's record at the Stewart Detention Center on one occasion in a way that we believe will undeniably show his lack of leadership skills and his total inability to correctly run a facility or to be held truly accountable by Corrections Corporation of America.

A very large part of Corrections Corporation of America's way of evaluating a facilities operational performance relies on an annual audit performed by it's corporate Facility Support Center. This audit usually lasts for several days and monitors a facilities policies and actual practices in performing it's daily activities. Corrections Corporation of America claims that these audits allow it to better hold facility staff accountable for adherence to policies and procedures guiding facility operations. This story however will cast serious doubt over whether Corrections Corporation of America holds a Warden like Vance laughlin accountable after it performs an internal Quality Assurance audit.

After an internal audit by CCA's corporate Facility Support Center Vance Laughlin held a meeting in the facilities detainee/inmate dining room and revealed to several hundred of the facilities employees that the Stewart Detention Center had done so badly that it had set a company wide record for the lowest internal audit score ever at a CCA facility in the companies entire history of over twenty-five years.

On a separate occasion Vance Laughlins attitude was much different. Vance revealed that he really did not care about the low audit score because part of his annual CCA performance bonus as a CCA Warden required the facility to improve it's Facility Support Center audit score. Vance Laughlin revealed that now he could always receive this part of his bonus by slowly raising the bar year to year. He very flippantly stated that "It's harder work to improve a high score." This blog believes that on several occasions Warden Vance Laughlin seemed to spend more time worrying about his yearly bonus than his facilities actual performance.

This blog is well aware that Vance was talked to by CCA corporate staff on several occasions about his low performance. Vance Laughlin also was sent to other facilities for retraining and had other CCA facilities send employees to the Stewart Detention Center to retrain him. It is this blogs view that the taxpayers are being short changed by having tax money awarded to a private for-profit prison company that employee's a Warden with a record like Vance Laughlins. Should'nt a company like Corrections Corporation of America perform better after over twenty five years of operations and not worse? If Corrections Corporation of America truly believes that it's internal Quality Assurance audit process holds people accountable how can it justify not having fired the Warden of a facility that set a company wide record for failure after a twenty-five year time period?

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Nine Vance Laughlins Breaking Labor Laws to use Illegal Immigrants to Build a CCA Facility

2010-12-17T16:08:00.001-06:00

What is two three letter words for hypocrisy? CCA & ICE

On December 15, 2010 Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and Georgia Department of Corrections commissioner Brian Owens, as well as local leaders and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) corporate officials held a groundbreaking in Millen Georgia for CCA's newest prison the Jenkins Correctional Center.

Today the 270 View Internet blog (the270view.blogspot.com) would like to bring to the publics attention violations of several United States laws by Corrections Corporation of America at the Stewart Detention Center (SDC) while current CCA/Adams County Correctional Center Warden Vance Laughlin was SDC's Warden. During this time period Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials discovered that illegal immigrant labor was being used by Corrections Corporation of America to build the facilities intake and court house additions to the Stewart Detention Center. This was well after ICE and CCA had opened the facility and several hundred detainees were housed at it. Apparently ICE contracted with a company who used illegal immigrants to build a court house in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement held hearings to deport other illegal immigrants.

One can honestly say that CCA not only profits off of ICE paying it to house undocumented workers but also evidently saves money on constructing it's facilities by using undocumented workers to build them. The use of undocumented workers in construction is unfortunately a way in which companies like Corrections Corporation of America can exploit illegal immigrants hired into construction jobs in order to lower costs by not paying required coverages like workers compensation or insurance and also by paying individuals a wage often many times lower than the government mandated minimum wage. These workers also often do not have taxes taken out of there paychecks since they are being employed illegally. It is not known if this happened on this construction project. But if this were true in this case then CCA would be profiting off of detention contracts paid for by the United States tax payers while in return not paying taxes for work that undocumented workers performed building parts of the Stewart Detention Center.

The discovery that Corrections Corporation of America was using undocumented workers only came about after ICE staff checked the identification of construction workers who had been entering the facilities secure perimeter for months and discovered that the CCA contracted companies construction employee's were in the United States as illegally as the detainees that CCA was being paid by ICE to detain inside the Stewart Detention Center. Over the course of constructing the facility hundreds of ICE agents had walked by the undocumented workers. ICE felt the need to verify the legality of the construction work force only after Fort Benning (less than an hour North of SDC) had been raided by ICE and had several of it's construction workers rounded up in January of 2007 on immigration violations. Ironically it is are understanding that the illegal immigrant construction workers detained at Fort Benning were later held by ICE and CCA at the Stewart Detention Center.

Following the Fort Benning raid local ICE and CCA officials quickly came up with a system in which construction workers at the Stewart Detention Center had to show identification cards to enter the facility to work. The illegal immigrants who lacked the required identification were told to not come back to the job site. They were never charged or detained at the work site most likely because of the embarrassment it would cause both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Corrections Corporation of America. However under exactly the same conditions ICE was happy to embarrass the United States Military for using undocumented workers on construction projects at Fort Benning. It is my understanding that both ICE guidelines and CCA policies require the showing of identification upon entering detention facilities. Yet for several months this procedure was not followed by Corrections Corporation of America at the Stewart Detention Center which allowed CCA to use undocumented workers in constructing it's facility.

Corrections Corporation of America regularly boasts of how it saves taxpayer money. This incident seems to show just one of the negative ways in which Corrections Corporation of America engages in saving money and increasing profits. CCA claims to hire local labor yet these undocumented workers in this case were brought in from another state. The use of undocumented workers in constructing CCA prisons could possibly be seen as taking the same local jobs that CCA claims to create when it talks a town like Millen, GA into the many benefits of cooperating with them in building a new prison or detention center.

Stewart Detention Center is the largest detention center for undocumented workers in the United States. It is a for profit facility that ICE contracts with Stewart County, GA and Corrections Corporation of America. It is located in Lumpkin, GA. Corrections Corporation of America is the nation’s largest provider of for profit corrections. Corrections Corporation of America is also the largest private company that ICE contracts with to house undocumented workers awaiting court hearings and/or deportment.

The 270 View Internet blog was started as a place for people who are concerned about Corrections Corporation of America to share their views. Since September of 2008 it has highlighted unfavorable conditions and illegal practices taking place at Corrections Corporation of America facilities like the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin,GA. Members of the media or public can contact The 270 View at the270view@gmail.com.

Ten Vance Laughlins Sneaking Contraband

2010-12-16T22:07:00.001-06:00

Vance Laughlin seems to have a comprehension problem. From what we hear he allegedly does not seem to understand that a "Tobacco Free Facility" includes chewing tobacco. At Stewart Detention Center both Vance and his Assistant Warden Charlie Peterson used dip daily. They both seemed to always be carrying a can or cup to spit in, which presents quite the professional image. Not to mention that this violated CCA corporate policies on tobacco free facilities. Behavior like this is just another example of how Vance thinks he is above having to follow rules and can do as he likes. It also shows the problems that CCA has day in and day out in managing facilities when individuals like Vance, who maybe don't deserve the trust and responsibility that CCA places in them, continue to do as they want with little or no repercussions from a corporation that fails to manage them effectively or hold them accountable.

From what we understand Vance continues to act as he wants and just recently got into an argument with a CCA security staff member who found him in possession of contraband in his current facilities lobby. Some people just never get it. Hey Vance, when you dodge the rules and requirements that everyone else has to follow it speaks volumes about your own character and eventually it will catch up with you.

In a news story found here Vance Laughlin stated:

“Through our own investigation with our criminal investigation team on site and the assistance of her actual shift supervisor, she was caught red handed with contraband,” Laughlin said. “She was suspended and shortly after that she resigned.”

Further investigation of the case is being handled by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Laughlin said

Hmmmmm.... As we reported above (allegedly) Vance Laughlin was also caught "red handed" but it seems like he handled his own situation much differently. If Vance Laughlin did allegedly bring contraband into his own facility then it probably should of also been forwarded to the Adams County Sheriff's office for possible charges of introduction of Contraband into a correctional facility.

We have requested that the Federal Bureau of Prisons investigate the alleged smuggling of contraband into the Adams County Correctional Facility by Warden Vance Laughlin.

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Eleven Homophobic Vance Laughlin's Making Hateful Comments

2010-12-15T22:11:00.001-06:00

“Here, everyone gets a fair shake,” says Warden Vance Laughlin of Stewart Detention Center

During Warden Vance Laughlin's very brief and extremely troubled time at Correction Corporation of America's Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia Vance gave a well known immigration reform advocate a tour of the facility. This advocate Vance Laughlin knew had previously organized a protest against the facility and CCA. During this tour of SDC, Vance decided to make homophobic and insulting remarks making fun of a transgendered detainee being detained at the facility to the advocate. Regardless of what Vance Laughlin thinks about transgendered individuals one can only wonder how ignorant and dumb one has to be to make comments mocking this detainee to a very well known advocate for immigration reform and detainee rights.

It's hard to imagine that a company as big as CCA can not manage to get across to it's employees to shut the hell up about making statements this dumb to people when they are leading facility tours. One would also think that CCA would do a much better job of screening Warden applicants to make sure they do not hold discriminatory beliefs like this against detainees or employees who they have been directly placed by CCA in a leadership role over. Instead CCA apparently has an individual like Vance Laughlin selecting it's future Wardens and facility leadership.

Previously Vance Laughlin was also known to of made insulting and homophobic comments about a previous husband of his current wife (while he was assigned to SDC) who Vance alleged had been gay. I am not sure why the alleged sexual orientation of his wife's previous husband affected him but for some reason he felt the need to comment on it in a very graphic and explicit way.

This blog wants CCA to know that it will continue to highlight any alleged hate speech that CCA Warden Vance Laughlin makes. CCA should be aware that by leaving an individual with discriminatory beliefs in a leadership role over detainees, prisoners and employees after it has been brought to CCA's attention, CCA could very well find itself accepting liability for potentially harmful future situations.

I guess Vance Laughlin must of dozed off when they were giving training on the CCA Way corporate dogma and discussing "Respect." I have seen small kids that had school teachers pin notes to them so they did not lose them. Perhaps Vance could staple the CCA Way to his sleeve so that everytime he looked at his sleeve he could be reminded to respect his employees, prisoners and detainees.... even the transgendered ones that he apparently wants to mock and laugh at...

All opinions and allegations expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own decision.

Twelve Vance Laughlins Illegally Discharging Firearms On Prison Grounds...

2010-12-14T21:59:00.001-06:00

The 270 View has heard a rumor that on the afternoon of Wednesday November, 10 2010 Warden Laughlin allegedly shot a nice 10 point Buck about a hundred yards from the facility on Corrections Corporation of America property. We hear that Vance started the day off by calling the perimeter driver and stating that he would be on the firing range sighting in his rifle, and ended the evening just before dark calling back and saying that "Since it is hunting season now, I'm going to be back on the property getting my stand out of the woods." This call allegedly came in about 3 minutes after a single shot rang out about 50 yards on the other side of the firing range. We have heard that Warden Laughlin was previously told that he could not hunt the property, even with a bow which begs the question of why there was a hunting stand in the woods in the first place. If this is true it would directly show the integrity and character of facility leader Warden Vance Laughlin.

A previous quote from Vance Laughlin found here:

"We started with the interview and hiring process by looking for people who reflected the CCA Way," Laughlin says. "We had to work harder to hire staff, but we couldn't bend and hire people who didn't fit the CCA Way mold. We placed such a high value on integrity, respect, trust and loyalty, and I think that's the reason why the staff is operating at such a high level today."

To further refine his staff, Laughlin emphasized the principle of accountability. "Staff knew what our expectations were, and if they didn't live up to them, we would take steps to correct that with the disciplinary process," he says.

So I guess if this allegation is true it leaves Vance in a really bad position. Vance would have not only of violated policies and procedures but he would have done it in a very open and callous way showing the facilities employees that he could do what he wanted and was exempt from the rules and regulations that they had to follow. So this would now leave him with a very hard decision to make, since this allegation is now seeing the light of day and apparently several employees are aware of his actions he can now either confess to his alleged unacceptable behavior and accept some accountability for his actions or Vance can continue to show staff that he is above the law by not taking ownership over his alleged actions (if they are true). If he continues to deny it he just may find himself in a credibility war with Adams County Correctional Facility employees. I'm willing to bet that if they got asked about Vance's alleged behavior then they just might hold to the CCA Ways guiding principals and submit a statement on a hunting incident or two on facility grounds....

Perhaps Brian Collins just needs to go ahead and talk to Vance about Integrity and accountability....

The 270 View will be forwarding these allegations to the Bureau of Prisons.

Unusual methods helped ICE break deportation record, e-mails and interviews show

2010-12-07T22:50:00.000-06:00

Originally found here

By Andrew Becker

Center for Investigative Reporting

Monday, December 6, 2010; 12:08 AM

For much of this year, the Obama administration touted its tougher-than-ever approach to immigration enforcement, culminating in a record number of deportations.

But in reaching 392,862 deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement included more than 19,000 immigrants who had exited the previous fiscal year, according to agency statistics. ICE also ran a Mexican repatriation program five weeks longer than ever before, allowing the agency to count at least 6,500 exits that, without the program, would normally have been tallied by the U.S. Border Patrol.

When ICE officials realized in the final weeks of the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, that the agency still was in jeopardy of falling short of last year's mark, it scrambled to reach the goal. Officials quietly directed immigration officers to bypass backlogged immigration courts and time-consuming deportation hearings whenever possible, internal e-mails and interviews show.

Instead, officials told immigration officers to encourage eligible foreign nationals to accept a quick pass to their countries without a negative mark on their immigration record, ICE employees said.

The option, known as voluntary return, may have allowed hundreds of immigrants - who typically would have gone before an immigration judge to contest deportation for offenses such as drunken driving, domestic violence and misdemeanor assault - to leave the country. A voluntary return doesn't bar a foreigner from applying for legal residence or traveling to the United States in the future.

Once the agency closed the books for fiscal 2010 and the record was broken, agents say they were told to stop widely offering the voluntary return option and revert to business as usual.

Without these efforts and the more than 25,000 deportations that came with them, the agency would not have topped last year's record level of 389,834, current and former ICE employees and officials said.

The Obama administration was intent on doing so even as it came under attack by some Republicans for not being tough enough on immigration enforcement and by some Democrats for failing to deliver on promises of comprehensive immigration reform.

"It's not unusual for any administration to get the numbers they need by reaching into their bag of tricks to boost figures," said Neil Clark, who retired as the Seattle field office director in late June, adding that in the 12 years he spent in management he saw the Bush and Clinton administrations do similar things.

But at a news conference Oct. 6, ICE Director John T. Morton said that no unusual practices were used to break the previous year's mark.

"When the secretary tells you that the numbers are at an all-time high, that's straight, on the merits, no cooking of the books," Morton said, referring to his boss, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "It's what happened."

ICE declined to make any officials available for interviews. In selected responses to e-mailed questions, spokesman Brian P. Hale wrote that the agency did nothing different from previous years but did not deny that ICE had focused on voluntary returns when it faced a shortfall weeks before the fiscal year ended. Rather, field offices were reminded of the voluntary return option, he said.

"ICE offered eligible aliens . . . the opportunity to accept voluntary return," Hale said. "The decision to accept VR [voluntary return] was the aliens'."

Those efforts did not appear to result in a spike in voluntary returns. Statistics provided by ICE show that voluntary returns peaked at 8,960 in June, before dipping and then leveling off in the last two months of the fiscal year. A total of 64,876 immigrants were voluntarily returned to their home countries in 2010.

Chris Crane, president of the American Federation of Government Employees National Council 118, the union that represents ICE immigration agents and officers, said offering voluntary return was not common practice for the agency. The union has been at odds with Morton over what it calls lax enforcement and gave him a no-confidence vote in June.

"It's breaking the rules to break the record," Crane said. "You don't change the way you do business to meet some quota. Morton said we don't do quotas. But that's what this is."

New accounting

On Oct. 1 - the start of fiscal 2011 - Robin F. Baker, an acting ICE assistant director, cheered field directors on to the finish line in an e-mail obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

"We are just 1061 shy of 390,000. However, we still get to count closed cases through Monday, October 4th so . . . keep having your folks concentrate on closing those cases," Baker wrote.

Starting in 2009, ICE began to shut its books for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 in the first few days of October. Any deportations that take place in one fiscal year but are confirmed after Oct. 5 are added to the next fiscal year's statistics.

Based on the new accounting approach, the agency counted 19,422 removals from 2009 in the 2010 statistics. In 2010 itself, 373,440 other people were deported.

Current and former ICE employees also point to an expanded U.S.-Mexico partnership as another way the agency increased overall deportation numbers.

Known as the Mexican Interior Repatriation Program, the bilateral effort between the U.S. and Mexican governments focuses on reducing the deaths of migrants attempting to cross the border during the scorching Arizona summer. Mexicans caught by Border Patrol agents in the Sonoran Desert region and southern Arizona are turned over to ICE agents, who carry out the removals to Mexico.

In a February memo, James M. Chaparro, ICE's head of enforcement and removal operations, called on field directors to "maximize" participation in the program, which he outlined as one of the ways to increase removals and "move us into position to meet or exceed the fiscal year goals."

Since its launch in 2004, the program had never started earlier than July 7. This year, the first flight full of Mexicans departed June 1. By starting in June, ICE tallied 6,527 returns that in the past would have been handled - and counted - by the U.S. Border Patrol. Overall, a record 23,384 Mexicans between June and September accepted flights back to Mexico City, and then a bus ticket to their home town, at a cost of almost $15 million.

ICE spokesman Hale said the agency started the program early because of available funds and a timely agreement between the United States and Mexico. He acknowledged that some of the immigrants removed through the program were caught or detained hundreds of miles from Arizona.

"Select individuals from west Texas were offered an opportunity to volunteer for safe return to their place of origin in the interior of Mexico," Hale said.

He also confirmed that Mexican nationals detained near Seattle - possibly as many as 500 immigrants, according to one local officer - were also included on the flights.

A year-end scramble

The surge to break the deportation record in the final weeks of the fiscal year consumed the agency, said a high-ranking immigration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

"They had everyone burning the candle at both ends to reach 390,000," the official said. "They were basically saying anything you can do to increase the overall removal number, that's what you should do - over everything else."

lIn the Seattle area, immigration officers were instructed to give the voluntary return option to immigrants who did not face mandatory detention and didn't have attorneys.

lIn the Atlanta area, ICE officers were told to persuade immigrants who had already asked to see an immigration judge to instead voluntarily leave the country.

lIn Chicago, officers were told to stop releasing eligible immigrants and monitoring them with electronic ankle bracelets, which might spur more to accept voluntary removals, according to a Sept. 22 e-mail.

"Due to our increase in funding for detention for the remainder of the fiscal year, do not release anyone on an order of recognizance at this time," James McPeek, an assistant field office director in Chicago, wrote in the e-mail to employees. "Another option is to offer a VR [voluntary return] and keep in custody - this will increase our removal numbers for the fiscal year."

An ICE employee in Louisiana, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, estimated that over a two-week period at least 100 to 150 Mexican nationals, some of whom had multiple drunken driving convictions, had their court cases reassigned as voluntary return, which was not common practice. ICE agents elsewhere reported similar numbers.

Several ICE employees said, however, that once the fiscal year ended, their offices reverted to infrequently offering the return option. In the Pacific Northwest, some employees received an e-mail stating just that.

"Effective immediately: do not offer V/Rs [voluntary returns] to aliens who have been convicted of or are pending DUI," ICE supervisor Elizabeth Godfrey wrote Oct. 4.

ICE's goal for 2011 is to remove 404,000 immigrants.

Andrew Becker is a reporter for the Center for Investigative Reporting. He can be reached at abecker@cironline.org. CIR is a nonprofit news organization based in Berkeley, Calif., dedicated to producing investigative journalism. Its stories have appeared frequently in The Washington Post and other newspapers.

Coming Next Week: 12 Straight Days of Allegations About Vance Laughlin!

2010-12-06T21:26:00.000-06:00

In the past week we have heard from several different employees at the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Mississippi and several of the allegations we have been forwarded sound very familiar to ones we have heard before. These allegations of misconduct all revolve around the facilities Warden Vance Laughlin. Readers of this blog will likely recognize that name as the name of a former warden of Stewart Detention Center.

Starting in about a week we will be running a blog every day or so concerning past and present allegations about Vance Laughlin and the facilities he is or has been the Warden of. We will also be contacting the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Correctional Programs Division in Central Office who provide oversight for privately-operated facilities as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General as necessary with copies of the allegations that we blog about.

The conversations I have had this last week with Adams County Correctional Facility present and former employees have been very informative. Adams County employees should feel free to keep contacting me with your concerns.

We know that Warden Laughlin is under a lot of stress and we hate to add to it. In the interest of fairness I will not print these blogs if Vance chooses to resign from CCA and send this humble blog a copy of his letter of resignation. Please keep in mind that all opinions expressed here are just that. Please cross check anything you read before forming your own opinion.

FBI investigates CCA-run Idaho prison

2010-12-02T02:47:00.000-06:00

In a frame grab from video obtained by The Associated Press, an inmate attacks fellow inmate Hanni Elabed at the privately-run Idaho Correctional Center just south of Boise, Idaho. Elabed suffered brain damage and persistent short-term memory loss after he was beaten by inmate James Haver while multiple guards watched at the Idaho prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America. (AP Photo)

Photo found here

BY REBECCA BOONE • ASSOCIATED PRESS • DECEMBER 1, 2010

Originally found here

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho prison officials say they are cooperating with federal investigators looking into possible criminal misconduct on the part of guards and staff at a prison run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America.

Wendy Olson, the U.S. Attorney in Idaho, confirmed Tuesday the Department of Justice has been investigating the conduct of prison staff at the Idaho Correctional Center and their role in the high rate of inmate-on-inmate violence at a facility known by inmates as "Gladiator School." Olson said FBI agents are focusing on whether ICC staffers have violated the civil rights of inmates at the prison, operated by the CCA under a contract with the state.

Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke said Tuesday his agency is concerned about the safety of ICC inmates and holding prison staff accountable for conduct that threatens the welfare of inmates. "Safety and accountability are at the core of IDOC's mission," Reinke said in a statement. "That is not limited to the safety of staff and the accountability of offenders. We also expect offenders to be safe while incarcerated and correctional professionals to be held accountable when necessary."

Olson confirmed the FBI inquiry Tuesday after The Associated Press published a story and surveillance video of an attack on former ICC inmate Hanni Elabed. In January, Elabed was assaulted moments after prison staff reassigned him to a cellblock with inmates he previously identified as being involved in peddling contraband with a staffer. The January 2010 assault left him with brain damage and prompted his medical release from the prison.

Another Death at a CCA Facility

2010-12-02T02:43:00.000-06:00

Inmate Mixon dies in Bay County

Originaly found here
By David Adlerstein

Joseph Mixon, the man responsible for igniting the Nov. 2008 fire that destroyed the Apalachicola State Bank building downtown, has died.

According to a media statement issued Monday by the Corrections Corporation of America, Mixon, an inmate at the Bay Correctional Facility in Panama City, was pronounced dead by emergency medical technicians at 2:19 p.m. on Nov. 24.

“At this time the death appears to be of unnatural causes and does not appear to involve foul play,” read the statement.
Bay County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Hunter has the task of determining the cause of death. “Corrections Corporation of America is working in full cooperation with local and state law enforcement officials as they investigate,” the statement read.

Mixon arrived in April at the 985-bed Bay Correctional, which houses male inmates for the Florida Department of Corrections and has been managed by CCA since 1995 under a contract with the Florida Department of Management Services. CCA is the nation’s largest owner and operator of government-contracted correctional and detention facilities, operating 65 facilities, including 44 company-owned facilities, with approximately 87,000 beds, in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Mixon, 45, of Apalachicola, was sentenced on May 11, 2009 by Circuit Judge James Hankinson to three years in state prison after being convicted on charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle and criminal mischief with property damage.

The convictions came as a result of Mixon’s actions during the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 15, 2008 when he rammed a 2007 Peterbilt truck he took without permission from Ward and Sons Seafood Company into the side of the bank building.

In addition to Apalachicola firefighters, crews responded from St. George Island, Carrabelle and Eastpoint, bringing with them eight trucks, including two ladder trucks that enabled better access to the flames engulfing the second story. The firefighters finished dousing the flames around 10 a.m. that morning, but the building would be later razed. The new bank on the site at Market Street and Avenue E, now owned by Centennial Bank, is in the process of construction.

Mixon spent several of his early adult years in state prison. He was sentenced to nine years in Oct. 1985, at the age of 20, for three felonies - burglary of an unoccupied structure, armed robbery and arson.

After his release in Dec. 1991, Mixon moved to Escambia County, where in Oct. 1995 he was convicted for selling marijuana and sentenced to three years. He was incarcerated until Nov. 1997.

Brewer Linked To Private Prisons Housing Illegal Immigrants

2010-09-02T15:32:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

Brewer Linked To Private Prisons Housing Illegal Immigrants - Phoenix News Story - KPHO Phoenix

Brewer Linked To Private Prisons Housing Illegal Immigrants
New Questions Raised About Lobbyist Advice
Morgan Loew, CBS 5 Investigative Reporter

POSTED: 10:03 pm MST August 31, 2010
UPDATED: 11:58 am MST September 2, 2010

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Gov. Jan Brewer’s campaign chairman and policy adviser is also a lobbyist for the largest private prison company in the country.

Chuck Coughlin is one of two people in the Brewer administration with ties to Corrections Corporation of America. The other administration member is communications director Paul Senseman, a former CCA lobbyist. His wife still lobbies for the company.

According to campaign finance records, CCA executives and employees contributed more than $1,000 to the governor’s re-election campaign. The company’s political action committee and its lobbyists contributed another $60,000 to Brewer’s top legislative priority, Proposition 100, a sales tax to help avoid budget cuts to education.

Caroline Isaacs from the American Friends Service Committee, which advocates for social justice issues, said the money is evidence of influence the company has on the governor.

Isaacs said private prison companies have been buying influence in Arizona politics for years. The number of private prisons and jails operating across the state shows the result of that influence, he said. Currently, there are at least 12 for-profit prison, jail and detention facilities in Arizona.

Isaacs said the state has something else that attracts these companies.

“The other Holy Grail, if you will, of private prison construction is immigrant detention,” Isaacs said.

Corrections Corporation of America holds the contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to lock up illegal immigrants picked up in Arizona. Tough immigration laws such as Arizona's SB 1070 could send thousands of new bodies its way, and millions of dollars.

Coughlin told CBS 5 News and other media outlets that there is no connection between Brewer and illegal immigrants arrested by local law enforcement.

Coughlin appeared on KAET TV’s “Horizon” two weeks ago. “When somebody gets arrested, they go to jail. There are no private jails. Those are public jails. ICE has said they are not taking prisoners arrested under that, so there would be no transport into the state prison system when this happens,” he told the host of “Horizon.”

But ICE’s spokesman in Phoenix told CBS 5 News the agency gets most of its detainees from local law enforcement. Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show Arizona agencies turned over 23,000 illegal immigrants to ICE over the past three years. Hundreds of them ended in up CCA facilities.

“Anyone who is a serious criminal or is a flight risk is more than likely going to end up in detention here in Arizona,” said Vinnie Picard from ICE.

CBS 5 News invited Coughlin to explain what he told the governor about the effects of SB 1070 on CCA, but after weeks of negotiating through e-mail, Coughlin backed out of an on-camera interview.

He sent CBS 5 News e-mail from CCA, which stated: “CCA has neither directly, nor indirectly attempted to influence immigration policy, including SB 1070, and absolutely did not engage anyone in the Governor’s Office on signature of that bill.”

People such as Isaacs, who study the private prison industry, said they don’t buy it.

“My reaction to that statement is then why did they give them all that money?” she said.

Coughlin’s company has canceled all of the governor’s campaign advertising on CBS 5 News.

Hernando commission withholds payment to CCA

2010-09-01T20:42:00.000-05:00

This story can be found here.

Hernando commission withholds payment to jail contractor

By Barbara Behrendt, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, September 1, 2010

BROOKSVILLE — With the cost and responsibility for repairs at the Hernando County Jail still up in the air, the County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to hold on to $1.86 million billed by Corrections Corporation of America.

Lisa Hammond, the purchasing consultant for the clerk of the circuit court, recommended the action, citing a provision in the jail contract that spells out a process for disputed payments. Last week, the county notified CCA that the commission would consider withholding payment of the company's July and August invoices and placing them in a third-party escrow account on Tuesday.

But CCA officials balked. In a letter dated Monday, Natasha Metcalf of CCA, the private company that operated the jail for the past two decades, stated that the contract "does not provide for the withholding of payment in the manner you are proposing.''

She added that she hoped that County Administrator David Hamilton would not recommend withholding payments and asked Hamilton to send to CCA detailed invoices for $34,000 worth of jail repairs for which the county believes CCA is responsible so far.

"Under a complete reservation of the rights and remedies available under the contract, at law and in equity, CCA remains willing to work through any outstanding maintenance issues cooperatively with the county,'' Metcalf wrote. "We can be available to meet with you to discuss these issues at your convenience."

But the commission wanted a much better picture of what was wrong with the facility before releasing the money.

The county is in the process of assessing the quantity and seriousness of problems with the jail facility. CCA vacated operation of the jail last Thursday, and Sheriff Richard Nugent assumed responsibility for running it.

It was Nugent who brought the deteriorating condition of the facility to the commissioners' attention in April, and since that time various investigations have been conducted inside the building. Problems with water infiltration, rusty doors, frozen hinges, an improperly sloped roof and floor surfaces, and a variety of other issues have been identified.

Last month, the county agreed to hire HDR Engineering Inc. to provide a proposal for the jail upgrade at a cost of $239,000. The firm is expected to produce a report in about 40 days, Hammond told commissioners.

With payment to CCA tied into the conclusion of that report, Commissioner Jim Adkins urged Hammond to have the firm work as quickly as possible. Hammond said she would talk to officials from HDR when she meets with them Thursday, and she agreed that the county doesn't want to hold on to CCA's money any longer than it has to.

County Attorney Garth Coller urged commissioners to limit their discussion about the issue because the county could land in litigation.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1434.

[Last modified: Aug 31, 2010 06:16 PM]

CCA Detention Officer Admits Groping Women

2010-08-23T03:41:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

Detention officer admits groping women
Hutto immigration facility employee faces charges

Updated: Friday, 20 Aug 2010, 6:45 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 19 Aug 2010, 5:24 PM CDT

Jarrod Wise
Jackie Vega

TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) - A former employee of a federal immigration detention center has been arrested after police say he admitted to groping several women he was supposed to be transporting to the airport after being released on bond.

Donald Charles Dunn, 30, a resident supervisor at the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor and employee of Correction Corporation of America, told officers that on these trips, "he told the women he was going to 'frisk' them and then inappropriately touched their breasts, crotch and buttocks," according to a news release by the Williamson County Sheriff's Office.

"Mr. Dunn advised that he didn’t do this for safety concerns but as self gratification," the release said. "Mr. Dunn indicated to Detectives that he had done this to numerous other women while performing his duties as a transport officer."

Dunn told officers he had done this with several women, while he was transporting them late at night, and would stop at several locations in Williamson and Travis counties to abuse them on the way to Austin Bergstrom International Airport.

The women were being given the rides to the airport and bus stations as a courtesy while they were out on bond, awaiting immigration hearings.

"So, I'm sick of the lack of oversight that got us here and I am disgusted with the continued failure to adequately manage this facility," said Lisa Grabill with the Texas ACLU.

The first report came on May 11, 2010 , when Austin police told Williamson County Sheriff's deputies that a woman had alerted an airport official that she had been abused on the way to the airport from the facility in Taylor. That's when detectives met with Dunn and listened to his description of groping "numerous women" while doing his duties as a transport officer.

"The only reason we know about this is that one of these women said to an airport transportation person, this isn't supposed to happen in this country is it? And the fact that question even has to be asked is what I find so devastating about this situation," said Graybill.

Graybill has been following the problems and criticism the facility has had since they opened in 2006.

"Opposite sex transport officers are not supposed to be alone with detainees, and that happened not once, not twice, but apparently as many as 10 times leaving these women vulnerable to abuse," she said.

"A large scale investigation into the current locations of other possible victims began immediately after Mr. Dunn’s interview," the news release said. "Detectives from Williamson County and Immigration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Office of Professional Responsibility/San Antonio) set out to make contact with several of the possible victims, who had located across the country since bonding out of the facility.

"Mr. Dunn was subsequently terminated from his contract employment with Correction Corporation of America when the allegation was first reported to authorities."

The investigation revealed that all of the possible victims of Mr. Dunn had been released on bond from the facility and were being transported to the Austin-Bergstrom Airport or bus station when the attacks occurred.

It was during these "courtesy transports" that Dunn would stop at different locations in the areas of both Travis and Williamson County.

Three women said they'd been inappropriately touched.Two of those victims said they were taken against their will to a location near a convenience store, during which one woman said she thought she'd either be killed or raped.

"Several (other) women who were interviewed denied any contact with Mr. Dunn," the statement read. "Some of those advised that they were transported in the daylight hours and or it was raining. Several women could not be located for questioning because of out of date addresses with Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

Dunn was arrested on Thursday around 5 p.m. in Austin and was jailed on $35,000 bond. He faces three counts of official oppression and two counts of unlawful restraint.

The investigation is still ongoing at this time. Anyone having information about a victim or Mr. Dunn’s crimes is encouraged to call the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office at 512-943-1300 or the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

According to the news release:

The T. Don Hutto facility opened in May, 2006 as a family residential facility housing families while they awaited their immigration hearings or decisions The facility changed over to housing females in a separate area of the facility in February, 2008 and in September, 2009 the entire facility began housing only females. The facility is operated under an Immigration and Customs Intergovernmental Service Agreement with Williamson County. Williamson County contracts with Corrections Corporation of America for the facility's day-to-day operation. A new agreement with Williamson County became effective February 1, 2010. The facility employees 169 Correction Corporation of America Staff, 30 U.S. Immigration and Customs

CCA decides to throw out Max Security Prisoners in Oklahoma for more profitable ICE detainees

2010-08-22T22:20:00.000-05:00

"We've openly been marketing our empty prisons," Steve Owen said. "There is a demand and a need for prison services." Apparently by empty beds he also means beds that have Oklahoma minimum and maximum security prisoners sleeping in them.

It appears that CCA is now dumping prisoners back onto states in order to sign more lucrative (PROFITABLE!) contracts with the federal government. Looks like Oklahoma taxpayers are going to lose millions and have to scramble to find beds for these prisoners. Or maybe just let a bunch of convicts loose on the good citizens in Oklahoma if no beds are available. I would imagine that on top of a higher per diem rate CCA will also be laying off workers from these three prisons. ICE prisons typically do not have education staff or other program staff. Additionally the medical departments are often run by the federal government. Looks like lots of CCA employees could also possibly be losing jobs as CCA makes itself even more profit at the expense of Oklahoma citizens who welcomed the company to there communities! I hope Valdosta is paying attention. CCA is no ones friend.

Originally found here.

Federal contract could displace more than 2,000 Oklahoma prisoners
Corrections Corporation of America officials alerted Oklahoma corrections authorities in July of their intent to offer the Federal Bureau of Prisons space at three prisons in the state.

BY VALLERY BROWN Oklahoman
1st Published: August 22, 2010

More than 2,000 state inmates could be displaced from private prisons if a federal contract to house criminal illegal immigrants is awarded here. The move could cost the state Corrections Department and Oklahoma taxpayers millions of dollars.

Corrections Corporation of America officials told state corrections authorities in July they intended to offer three Oklahoma-based prisons to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. They are: Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville and the empty Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga.

"There shouldn't be any surprise when something like this happens," said Justin Jones, state Corrections Department director. "Their product is the incarceration of criminals and it's a for-profit business."

If the contract is awarded, it could affect the placement of 1,800 medium security prisoners at Cimarron and Davis, and 360 maximum-security inmates at Davis, corrections officials said.

The department is operating with a more than $40 million budget deficit.

Federal officials would use the private prisons to house low-security male inmates, primarily criminal illegal immigrants who are Mexican citizens with one year or less to serve.

The business of incarceration

Federal contracts typically pay between $60 and $65 daily per prisoner, Jones said.

Oklahoma has one of the lowest reimbursement rates in the country. They range from about $42 for minimum security inmates to about $57 for maximum security.

If the prisoners are moved, that could mean an increase of as much as $15 per prisoner, Jones said.

Corrections Corporation of America spokesman Steve Owen wouldn't comment on rates discussed with the Federal Bureau of Prisons for the contract.

Offers are being accepted from companies in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arizona and Texas, and would require 3,000 beds, according to a bid request from the bureau.

Bids are competitive, often based on geographic needs, Owen said.

Earnings increase

Corrections Corporation of America earlier this month reported their second-quarter earnings had increased nearly two percent in 2010 to $419.4 million from $412 million in 2009. The increase was fueled by a jump in inmate populations and a boost from new contracts with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It notes the opening of a center in Mississippi to house about 2,500 illegal immigrants convicted of crimes and awaiting deportation.

"We've openly been marketing our empty prisons," Owen said. "There is a demand and a need for prison services."

Corrections Corporation of America is the largest for-profit prison company in the U.S. It currently houses about 75,000 individuals in more than 60 prisons and detention centers in the country, according to information on the company website. It partners with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, states and municipalities.

In 2009 financial statements, competitor GEO Group officials reported, "We believe that this federal initiative to target, detain, and deport criminal aliens throughout the country will continue to drive the need for immigration detention beds over the next several years."

GEO Group recently bought Cornell Cos., operator of Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton. The company has offered use of the prison for federal inmates as well.

This month, officials at the prison announced they would be laying off nearly 300 employees and sending more than 1,700 inmates back to Arizona. No Oklahoma prisoners are housed there.

Even county jails are responding to the need for federal bed space.

Tulsa County officials entered into an agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in 2007. Garvin County also has an agreement with the agency to house and transport federal detainees.

Displaced inmates and jobs

Jones said if the bid by Corrections Corporation of America is accepted, the most challenging task would be finding room for the nearly 360 maximum-security prisoners being held at Davis.

There are not enough open maximum-security beds in the state to keep them there, he said. This might result in prisoners being shipped out of state — the first time it's happened since the mid-1990s.

"Obviously this would be a huge burden to families of those prisoners," he said. "It would also probably cost us more."

At the same time state officials worry about prison beds, the question looms about how Oklahoma jobs will be affected.

The possibility of jobs returning to the Watonga area is a bright spot. More than 300 Corrections Corporation of America employees lost their jobs when the Diamondback prison closed there in May. More than 2,000 inmates were returned to Arizona.

It was the largest employer in the area. Owen said company officials are anxious to get the prison running again.

He said he's not sure how employment would be affected at Davis and Cimarron if the bid is accepted.

In 2007, nearly 200 Cornell employees at the Great Plains Correctional Center in Hinton lost work after the state Corrections Department and the company failed to come to an agreement about reimbursement rates. The company then negotiated a contract for Arizona inmates.

This Land Is (D) Representative Bobby Bright's Land - This Land Is Not Your Land

2010-08-08T19:48:00.000-05:00

First off I want to say that I wanted to like Representative Bobby Bright but I just could not. He is a likable enough person when you meet him, he just seems to have no true convictions. Or at least no stance that he has not carefully crafted a fall back position on. Mr. Bright dodges responsibility and questions like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix. He is a geriatric superhero with a superhuman "attempt to dodge" ability. He always seems to have prepared an out.

Mr. Bright said that he votes what his constituents believe and not necessarily what he himself believes. He is a Democrat but no one seems to of told him exactly what a Democrat is or how one should vote. As a Republican I have lost a lot of faith in my own party in the last few years but whether or not I agree with them on every issue I at least understand what the typical Republican is likely to feel about an issue and I agree with them on more issues than I disagree. Mr. Bright on the other hand seems to vote against his party on almost every "big issue." He is an enigma hidden within a riddle.

Friday I met Mr. Bright in Dothan at his Immigration Town Hall meeting. I knew the day was going to be "taxing" based on all the "I Heart Sarah Palin" stickers I passed in the parking lot. This was my first run in with a large group of Tea Party type people. I was actually surprised that while I do not agree with there ideology (and surely not that Sarah Palin is the best female Republican contender for a national office) the tea party folks were in general a likable enough crowd. They were not nearly as angry as I have seen them portrayed in the media. It was no surprise that not many of them agreed with any of my thoughts but they were all certainly respectful of my right to express my beliefs. Only one of them caused a scene and that was when he got up at almost the end of the presentation and stormed out saying it was 4 PM and he had to go (Maybe he was just a really big Glenn Beck fan).

Mr. Bright and several of the tea party people repeatedly spoke of the Constitution and the danger that immigration was posing to it. Are they not aware that the Constitution was itself written, ratified and amended by immigrants and the direct descendants of immigrants to the US? In fact one could argue that the Constitution itself in a twisted way encouraged immigration. The issue of slavery was too controversial to be resolved during the Philadelphia Convention. As a result, the original Constitution contained four provisions tacitly allowing slavery to continue for the next 20 years. In fact Section 9 of Article I allowed the continued "importation" of such persons, Section 2 of Article IV prohibited the provision of assistance to escaping persons and required their return if successful and Section 2 of Article I defined other persons as "three-fifths" of a person for calculations of each state's official population for representation and federal taxation.Article V prohibited any amendments or legislation changing the provision regarding slave importation until 1808, thereby giving the States then existing 20 years to resolve this issue. The fact that this was not done in fact led to the Civil War.

I also want to say that Dothan is a very odd place to be having a Town Hall meeting on Immigration. According to Wikipedia in 2007 Dothan had 65,447 people living in it. Of these 1.32% are Hispanic or Latino. Bobby Bright and many of the people in the audience spoke of Dothan as if it was being swarmed by illegals like they were mapquest.com'ing a trip from the US Border directly to Dothan. It was also sad to hear Dothan City Commissioner John Craig saying, "We’re being asked on the commission what we're doing about the people that are already here. What are we doing to get rid of them and once they're taking jobs and running our hospital bills up.” I think in Dothan many more poor people are probably stiffing the hospitals with unpaid bills than illegals.

Mr. Bright showed the very small crowd (60-80 people tops) a slide presentation that amounted to him smiling on the border, standing with various ICE & Border Patrol officials and a photo of him touring a contract detention facility in El Paso, Texas. It was like sitting through your neighbors very bad vacation slide show with way to much smiling going on. If it was a theme park then I don't think Bobby Bright made it farther than "Fantasyland." This was a Utopian vision of the US border where everything was pretty much working except for the horde of illegals lining up to run across the border to "destroy are way of life." Mr. Bright also thought that an already overworked US military should some how be used to secure the borders. I guess Mr. Bright is not really aware of the intense events going on in Iraq and Afghanistan that are consuming so much of the armed forces time (Wait a minute I think I saw a bunch of pictures of him in Baghdad on his website!).

Mr. Bright stated that he "totally agreed" with the recent law the State of Arizona had passed on immigration. But most disturbing of all was how he continually throughout his thirty minute or so speech on Immigration referred to illegals as "them" and "those people." Talk like this reminded me of Alabama's own Civil Rights history. Perhaps a politician from Montgomery, Alabama could be more careful or sensitive with the words he uses. To me the words possibly hinted at his own mindset and what he might really be thinking.

I originally came to this meeting without planning to speak. However after hearing all that was said and the continual "them" and "those people" I knew that I needed to say something. I briefly spoke to the crowd about my grandmother immigrating to this country from England by way of Bermuda and how this country was founded and built on the backs of immigrant labor. On how fear was being used and how that was not the reality of the situation. I discussed what I thought about a politician using expressions like "Them" and "those people." I spoke of my own employment in a Immigration Detention Center. I spoke about how illegal immigrant labor was used at places like Fort Benning and also even used to build parts of the Stewart Detention Center that houses illegals awaiting detention/deportation hearings. I spoke on how ICE declared an audit a "practice audit" after the Stewart Detention Center failed it very, very badly. I also spoke on the high number of sexual assaults in Immigration Detention Centers. Finally thinking about Roberto Martinez Medina who died at the Stewart Detention Center I spoke of the more than 100 deaths in Detention Centers in the last few years.

Bobby Bright responded by stating "If a person comes in to our country and does what we ask them to do, and they are legal, I don't think there is a person in this room that would not do what they could to help that person get a job," Bright said. "The problem we have here is this: We are entitled to run this nation in the way we have set it up to run. Immigrants should give us the decency to do what we say must be done to be a legal citizen in this nation."

Mr. Bright still does not get it. We can not build a border wall high enough to keep everyone out as long as we silently encourage illegal immigrants to work here. It is a very mixed message we are sending. Employers are rarely held responsible for hiring illegal immigrants. Many American businesses could not succeed without the cheap foreign supplied labor. Americans are more than happy to buy low priced goods that are only possible through the exploitation of illegal immigrants living in the United States. Families that are torn apart by ICE and immigration policies will most likely come back together, even if it means crossing an invisible border or one of the border walls that Bobby Bright made a political photo opportunity out of. The reasonable thing would probably be to come up with a fair path to citizenship based on an immigrants contributions to are country but I think many of the illegals here don't even want that. Many of them would just settle for a chance to live and work here without the fear they now must live under.

I will put it in terms that even Mr. Bright can understand, only by granting more legal options and/or work visa's for "those people" to work here can the immigration issue be fixed.

CCA docked $2,600 a day for using unqualified counselors

2010-06-04T03:55:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

Idaho imposes fines for contract violation

By Getahn Ward • THE TENNESSEAN • June 2, 2010

Corrections Corporation of America has been fined more than $47,200 and counting for not having qualified drug and alcohol counselors at a prison that it manages in Idaho.

The $2,600-a-day tab will continue to run until the Nashville-based prison operator addresses the problem by getting staff members accredited or by hiring more qualified people, said Jeffrey Ray, a spokesman for the Idaho Department of Correction.

The department for whom CCA operates the 2,080-bed Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise imposed the damages after CCA had failed by May 13 to meet certain requirements for counselors under its contract.

As many as 10 of 13 addiction treatment counselors didn't meet terms of the contract, according to the department's notice to CCA sent a month and a half ago. "Those folks are supposed to have certain accreditations, meet certain standards, and they don't," Ray said. "As a result, the department is applying a provision in the contract under which you can seek damages."

The penalties come after separate medical audits of the Idaho Correctional Center earlier this year found various other issues. Those included sloppy record-keeping, delays in providing medications and a lack of follow-up when inmates were returned to the prison after hospitalizations, Ray said.

In a statement, CCA said it would continue efforts to recruit qualified and credentialed professionals.

"We are confident that these efforts will result in our company being in
compliance in the near term with a fully credentialed therapeutic community staff, as local qualified professionals seek employment opportunities," CCA said.

The Nashville-based prison operator added that it's working to resolve issues raised in the recent medical audits at the Idaho Correctional Center, adding those issues are separate from the drug counseling complaints and aren't at a critical phase. Idaho corrections officials said they're concerned that shortcomings in the drug and alcohol program could increase costs for the state and result in prisoners having to stay in jail longer.

Getahn Ward can be reached at 615-726-5968 or at gward@tennessean.com. This story includes material from The Associated Press.

Why Are Workers in Lumpkin Not Getting $25 an Hour?

2010-04-10T10:22:00.000-05:00

We first wrote about this some time back. It is very interesting that CCA is paying over $25 an hour for an ICE facility in Las Vegas and so much less to people in Lumpkin. Most likely it's because of all the Vegas competition. But at the same time what does that say about the exploitation of the workers in Lumpkin and the profit being taken out of SDC? Are you really worth so much less? If I worked at Stewart I would probably get together with my fellow Correctional Officers and demand a raise. Maybe if CCA paid a living wage then it's facilities would have less abuse claims do to a higher caliber of employee that could be attracted by paying more. But I think we all know that it's probably not really about the worker or prisoner... nope it's most likely about the PROFIT. CCA's contract probably sets the pay rate at $25+ an hour. Which is a sign that all of these communities begging for a facility could really be doing a lot better also if they reexamined there contracts with CCA. I hope Lumpkin is listening. With all the poverty in Stewart County they could definitely hold CCA more accountable and to a higher standard than they are. After all it is Stewart County that ICE pays not CCA. Seems like CCA's bag man (Stewart County) could be doing much better. Maybe even $25+ an hour better for it's citizens that work at this hell hole.

CCA will hold job fair on 28th
By MARK WAITE

Originally found here.

Corrections Corporation of America will begin accepting job applications on the Internet for the Nevada Southern Detention Center April 28, according to CCA Vice-President of Marketing Louise Grant.

A job fair will be held in Pahrump for prospective applicants interesting in working at the federal detention center from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., April 30 and May 1, at Great Basin College, 550 E. Calvada Blvd., Grant said.

Job seekers won't be able to submit hard copies of applications at the job fair, but they can use computers at Great Basin College and get assistance in filling out the online application, which is the only way CCA will accept applications.

The Web site for applications online is www.ccajob.com.

Company representatives will be available at the two-day event to answer questions about the application process and outline criteria for getting a job. Job seekers will also be able to get information about CCA, the company benefits package and promotional opportunities, Grant said.

A career information day Jan. 20 attracted a packed house of 300 prospective applicants at each of two sessions held at the Pahrump Nugget.

Applicants will have 180 computers available to use at Great Basin College, Bill Verbeck, the director of the Pahrump Great Basin College campus, said.

He added, "Talking to CCA, we expect more people than we're going to be able to accommodate in two days."

Great Basin College and Career Connections announced a series of job readiness workshops to prepare local residents for the CCA career fair.

Sessions will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on three Fridays, -- April 9, 16 and 23.

There will also be one session from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturdays, April 10, 17 and 24.

The workshops will help applicants create their resume, apply for jobs at the facility online, give tips to job seekers for the interview and advice on how to dress, as well as managing their money. A vigorous credit check is conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service; applicants must have a good credit history.

The workshops will be held at the Great Basin College-Career Connections Center, 1541 E. Basin Ave. The phone number to call is 537-2323.

"We want our folks in the valley as qualified as they can be. These online applications are tricky," Verbeck said.

People who want to sign up for the workshops must be registered with Career Connections, he said.

CCA expects to employ 231 people at the detention center. About 150 of those employees will be correctional officers, who will be paid a federal prevailing wage of over $25 per hour.

CCA will have a booth at the annual Biz Expo sponsored by the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce from noon to 7 p.m., Friday, April 23, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 24, at the Pahrump Nugget Events Center.

CCA said its participation is part of the national company's Diversity Business Inclusion Program, through which CCA will subcontract with local businesses classified as "diverse," such as those owned by minorities, women and veterans for the Nevada Southern Detention Center, Grant said.

The expo is a chance for thousands of Pahrump attendees to learn about the company and is also a networking venue for new and existing businesses, she said.

"CCA recognizes the importance of including diverse businesses in our procurement practices," said Dawn Williams, CCA manager of Diversity Business Development out of CCA's Nashville, Tenn., headquarters. "By creating sound business relationships, we strengthen economic development and enhance viability for diverse businesses in Pahrump Valley. Our commitment encourages job creation and strengthens purchasing power of those within the community."

The $80 million detention center is scheduled to be completed in July. As of early March, Grant said roofing work was 95 percent complete; interior work like drywall, ceiling grid installation and painting were well under way; perimeter fencing was more than half completed; and the general contractor was receiving bunks and tables.

CCA expects to begin receiving the first prisoners in October. The facility will have a capacity of holding 1,072 inmates awaiting trial in federal court or deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

CCA: Yes, We Do Let Inmates Order Pizza (Delivery Not DiGiornos)

2010-04-01T21:25:00.001-05:00

A new low even for CCA. Apparantly CCA lets the prisoners at the county jail it runs in Hernando county have pizzas delivered. Crime might not pay (unless your CCA) but you sure can eat good if your locked up by them.

Originally found here.

BROOKSVILLE — As operators of the Hernando County Jail talked on Wednesday to visitors about how sincerely they work to help those behind bars, the proof sat just one room over.

There, a handful of male inmates took part in a discussion with their Alcoholics Anonymous group, one of dozens of programs from anger management to GED preparation to faith-based programs offered at the jail.

Officials from jail operator Corrections Corporation of America who were leading the tour, and the public relations push for the visiting media and county officials, accentuated the positives.

Facing the possible end to its 22-year contract to run the jail, CCA pulled out all the stops on Wednesday to make sure county leaders had their side of the story before deciding the jail's future.

Ever since Hernando Sheriff Richard Nugent announced weeks ago that he was interested in taking over the jail, saying he could run it cheaper and better, jail Warden Russell Washburn has gotten plenty of questions about the operation.

For example, some have questioned the jail's "pizza program'' in which inmates can have pizzas delivered to the jail. Washburn explained the inmates pay extra for the pizza, with a portion of the money helping local charities.

Addressing other so-called "myths'' about his company's operation, Washburn said he and others at CCA were "a little shocked'' when they heard of Nugent's interest in the jail, since he has always been adamantly opposed to taking on the responsibility.

"I absolutely believe today that CCA continues to be the best option for Hernando County and Hernando County taxpayers,'' Washburn said. Pointing to the company's 25-plus years of running prisons and jails, he said, "Experience is worth its weight in gold.''

County, CCA and sheriff's officials are expected to meet today to talk about jail operations. The commission is set to take up the issue again on April 13.

Washburn acknowledged that there have been high and low points along the way but that this would be true of any jail or prison. "At the end of the day, it's about how we make things better,'' he said.

The warden touted the hard work of the facility's staff but also the 154 volunteers at the jail. He spoke about 72 programs offered to inmates and the 2,000 hours volunteers have given.

Nugent has repeatedly said that he would not keep inmates longer than they needed to be in jail, unlike CCA which he said may delay releases until after they have been behind bars at least six hours. That means the company collects a full day's compensation.

Washburn said last year, CCA processed 1,390 inmates in less than six hours and 667 juveniles who cannot be kept for more than six hours, saving Hernando County $73,670.

Sometimes, he said, there might be a delay because jail personnel must be sure that the person they are about to release can be released. By contract with the county, if the jail improperly releases inmates, they can be assessed tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

"We have to make sure that all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed,'' he said.

Washburn also emphasized that, despite community sentiment that the facility has incarcerated more people to make more money, "we have absolutely no arrest authority'' and "no control'' of how many inmates are arrested and sentenced to the facility.

He also stressed to the group that the facility is staffed largely with 116 sworn officers, those who must complete rigorous training in order to be a correctional officer.

Washburn, others on his staff and from CCA's corporate office in Nashville, detailed the jail's suicide prevention program, the accreditation process for a proficient jail operation and its use of a data system collecting and analyzing incident reports to reduce jail incidents ranging from bringing in contraband to assaults.

In a packet of information given to visitors, Washburn also detailed the many community organizations his company contributes to, the volume purchasing CCA uses to save money as it operates more than 600 correctional facilities, and how it absorbs capital equipment purchases, building maintenance and utility costs.

"I'm convinced that CCA remains the best choice as manager of the Hernando County Jail, operating safely for the community, inmates and saving hardworking taxpayers' dollars,'' he said.

Visitors on the tour learned about booking procedures and fingerprinting, visited the pods where inmates are housed, and toured laundry, food preparation and the medical area of the facility where two special cells are designed for inmates who may be suicidal.

On Wednesday, there were 529 inmates in the facility, well below the capacity of 876. Some were working mopping in the hallways. Others were helping with the laundry. In the kitchen, a company that provides food services for all CCA facilities was washing up after lunch.

In the dry storage were huge bags of sugar cookie mix and rice, parsley flakes by the box and stacks of all kinds of spices. The food, officials said, is largely made by scratch and sent to the inmates' pods to eat, since the facility has no cafeteria.

Assistant Warden Orlando Rodriguez told visitors about how he frequently drops by the pods because it is impossible to know what was going on in the jail without doing that.

Meanwhile, inmates milled around, some watching the visitors. Two inmates at the picnic-style tables focused on the chess game in front of them.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1434.

Report says Metro is lax on CCA

2010-03-18T20:45:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

Contact Jaime Sarrio at 615-726-5964 or jsarrio@tennessean.com.

Metro Nashville officials don't properly penalize Corrections Corporation of America for apparent contract violations in running the city's jail, claims a new report released Tuesday by a Tennessee-based watchdog group.

The report from Tennesseans for Improving Public Accountability says the Nashville-based company potentially violated its contract in the way it handled an inmate's suicide and an escape, among other incidents. Metro imposed no fines and withheld no payments as a result of these incidents, the report says, which calls on Metro to revise its contract to allow those measures and get tougher on CCA.

"When prisoners are treated in a less-than-humane manner, that reflects badly on not just the organization doing the immediate treatment, but also on the people that are paying them," said Toni Hall, volunteer director of the group. "If you hire someone to do a job for you and they do it badly, you want to have a contract that allows you to do something about that."

Metro's sheriff says many of the concerns raised in the report have been addressed. CCA hired a new warden, and staff from the health department are working inside the jail rather than reviewing situations from afar.

Metro government first contracted with CCA in January 1992 to run the 1,092-bed jail, which is mostly used for prisoners serving one- to six-year sentences.
This report is the latest in a series of hits against the private prison provider.
Last week, CCA was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union over claims an Idaho jail operated by the company is so violent, inmates call it "gladiator school." Last year, the company was sued by a Metro police officer shot by a man who escaped from a CCA facility and by a group of 23 female inmates who claim they were raped at a Kentucky prison.

Sheriff: Changes made

The report highlights several high-profile incidents at the Metro jail as examples of contract violations.

In the death of Terry Battle, an inmate who died from pneumonia, the report suggests that CCA violated its contract by not providing up-to-standard medical treatment to prevent the death. In the case of William Williams, an inmate who hung himself in November, the report alleges the company did not offer the appropriate psychiatric care. Williams killed himself two hours after being treated for a slit on his wrist, which he said was from a fall.

Metro Sheriff Daron Hall said CCA and the city have made changes to improve the care of Metro's prisoners. The sheriff's department is also now reviewing all "use-of-force cases," he said.

"We need to look and see what's been going on last 12 months and what's working," he said of the report's recommendations to add additional outside staff. "I think we need to evaluate how the monitoring is going now — as far as I can tell, it's improved dramatically."

Inmate Ricky Escue, who is serving a six-year sentence for DUI, said he hasn't seen a big improvement in the conditions. His biggest complaint is the inconsistency from officer to officer.

"Every officer has different rules and guidelines," he said. "You never know whether you're breaking a rule or not."

A CCA spokesman e-mailed The Tennessean a response to the report, saying that Metro has always held the company to a high standard of performance and questioning the watchdog group's motives.

"The selective use of salacious excerpts from past news articles, unsubstantiated individual accounts, and other partial information on which to base its claims should cause readers to question the merits," CCA spokesman Steven Owen said.
Tennesseans for Improving Public Accountability's director said she would not reveal the authors of the report out of fear of retaliation. She said one is a Metro employee, one is a state employee, one has a relative working at CCA and one is a former CCA employee.

Longtime CCA critic Alex Friedmann, a former prisoner who now works with the Private Corrections Institute, a nonprofit that opposes for-profit prisons, confirmed that he provided some research and information for the report.

A Child Who Needs Your Help

2010-03-17T03:25:00.000-05:00

I am asking all of my blog readers to please consider supporting this young child. The actual Ebay auction is found here.

Originally found here.

By Jade Bulecza

HAHIRA, GA (WALB) – Nine-year-old Malkolm Poyer will undergo open heart surgery next week. And he's come up with a unique way to help pay the medical bills.

Little Malkolm Poyer is selling copies of a story he wrote on EBay. It's a Buy It Now item, and more than 200 of them have sold so far.

He just found out Friday he will have to have open heart surgery March 24. His heart condition he's been taking medication for has gotten worse.

"If he does anything he could have a heart attack and they said it can't wait," said his mother, Jennifer Poyer. He was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or 'Sudden Death Disease' at birth.

"The septum is thicker than it should be, and it takes up space the blood needs," said Ms. Poyer.

Normal stress tests are zero. "He just had a stress test that was 183. They usually do surgery between 10 and 90 so that's pretty significant," said Ms. Poyer.

You may recognize Malkolm's dad. He's the volleyball coach at Valdosta State University and also has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. "It's in my family but by the grace of God I've been able to live a normal life physically without any medication or seeing any doctors," said Sia Soyer.

He's glad doctors could notice Malkolm's condition early on. Malkolm suggested putting a story he wrote in school on EBay to raise money for the surgery and since then, interest has spring boarded.

Since Friday, $2,500 has been raised. "It almost took a life of it's own, the support from friends, from people we don't know, it's just been incredible," said Sia Soyer.

"For all those people that bought the stories, I want to thank them for donating and praying for me," said Malkolm.

The recovery process will take awhile after the surgery but Malkolm hopes he'll be able to participate in activities he couldn't before.

"I'm really excited because I'll be able to actually win races with my friends, and actually be able to keep up," said Malkolm.

The story is going for $10.00 on EBay.

CCA Says "We Lost Another Contract"

2010-03-17T01:13:00.000-05:00

Originally found here.

Mar 16, 2010 08:30 ET

CCA Announces Receipt of Previously Anticipated Arizona Notification Not to Renew Contract at Diamondback Correctional FacilityNASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - March 16, 2010) - CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) (NYSE: CXW), the nation's largest partnership corrections provider to government agencies, announced today that it has received notification from the Arizona Department of Corrections of its election not to renew its contract at CCA's 2,160-bed Diamondback Correctional Facility in Oklahoma, which is scheduled to expire on May 1, 2010. Arizona expects to begin transferring offenders from the Diamondback facility beginning in May 2010 and expects to complete the transfer in June 2010. As a result of this notification, CCA intends to idle the Diamondback facility shortly thereafter, but will continue marketing the facility to other customers.

In January, CCA reported that Arizona budget proposals would phase-out the out-of-state private prisons, and the risk that CCA could lose the opportunity to house offenders from Arizona at its Huerfano and Diamondback facilities during 2010. Later in January we announced that we received notification from Arizona of its election not to renew its contract at CCA's Huerfano facility and that we would idle the Huerfano facility in late March 2010. CCA's 2010 guidance, made at the time of its year-end earnings release, included the anticipated loss of the Arizona contract at the Diamondback facility.

CCA Security Failure in Nations Capitol!

2010-03-13T13:46:00.000-06:00

Escaped DC Inmate Headed Back to Jail

Originally found here.

D.C. police located an inmate who escaped while being transported to Greater Southeast Hospital.

The Corrections Corporation of America says 28-year-old Terrence Moore fled when he arrived at the southeast D.C. hospital around 9 a.m. Thursday.

The company said after officers opened the vehicle doors, Moore escaped and jumped into a burgundy colored Cadillac and got away with an unknown driver.

Police scoured the area and went to previous addresses and addresses of Moore's friends.

Moore was found just after 7 p.m. near Wheeler Road and 10th Place in Southeast and was arrested without incident.

Officials are investigating how Moore was able to remove his restraints.

The CCA runs the Correctional Treatment Facility where Moore, who is from Washington, was a pretrial inmate facing charges of assault with intent to kill. The facility was under lockdown.

CCA condones beatings, lawsuit says

2010-03-12T22:03:00.000-06:00

Idaho prison staff accused of denying medical treatment

originally found here.

A federal lawsuit claims that Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America is running an Idaho prison that is so violent it is known as "gladiator school" by inmates.

The American Civil Liberties Union says CCA should have to pay all of its 2009 net profits — $155 million — in punitive damages.

Idaho prison officials also were named in the suit filed by the ACLU on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boise.

The suit adds to the considerable controversies CCA has faced since its founding in 1983. Last year, it was sued by a Metro officer who was shot by an escapee from a CCA facility; berated for leaving a mentally ill inmate in his Metro jail cell without a bath for 9 months; and sued by 23 female inmates who claim they were raped at a Kentucky prison.

In 2006 CCA settled a suit over the death of a Nashville woman who was left in solitary confinement with massive head injuries. Charges against four guards accused of beating the woman were dropped.

Opponents argue that CCA, the nation's largest private prison operator, uses its political influence to stifle those who say prisons should not be in private hands. It recently lost an attempt to keep all its prison records private when the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that CCA acts as a public entity in operating public prisons.

The latest lawsuit claims that Idaho's only private prison is extraordinarily violent, with guards deliberately exposing inmates to brutal beatings from other prisoners as a management tool.

The group contends the prison then denies injured inmates medical care to save money and hide the extent of injuries.

Steve Owen, Corrections Corporation of America's director of public affairs, said the company would respond to the lawsuit through court filings. He said state officials have unfettered access to the prison and provide strong oversight at the facility, including daily on-site monitoring.

"For the past decade, CCA has safely and securely managed the Idaho Corrections Center on behalf of our government partner, the Idaho Department of Corrections," Owen said in a prepared statement.

"Our hardworking, professional staff and management team are held accountable to high standards by our government partner, to include those of the American Correctional Association — the highest professional standards in the country for correctional management."

Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. Stephen Pevar, senior attorney for the ACLU, said he has sued at least 100 jails and prisons, but none came close to the level of violence at Idaho Correctional Center.

"Our country should be ashamed to send human beings to that facility," he said.

Suit asks for $155M

The ACLU is asking for class-action status and $155 million in punitive damages — the entire net profit reported by the company in 2009.

The ACLU said the money should go to lead plaintiff Marlin Riggs, who sustained permanent facial deformities and other medical problems after he was savagely beaten in his cell.

Guards use violence to control prisoner behavior, forcing inmates to "snitch" on other inmates under the threat of moving them to the most violent sections of the prison, ACLU-Idaho Executive Director Monica Hopkins said.

Hopkins said inmates will be beaten by fellow inmates if they become known as snitches. If they refuse to give up names, the guards will have them beaten anyway, she said.

"It doesn't do us any good as a society to put people in there where they have to turn to other gangs and become gang members to protect themselves," Hopkins said. "The thing is, there's a constitutional duty to protect prisoners from violence at the hands of other prisoners."

The lawsuit also refers to an investigation by The Associated Press based on public records requests that found the level of violence at the prison was three times higher than at other Idaho prisons, and that Idaho Department of Correction officials believed violence was also dramatically underreported by Corrections Corporation of America and inmates.

At the time of that report, Steven Conry, CCA's vice president of facility operations, maintained the prison was safe and well-run.

The Idaho Correctional Center houses about 2,000 prisoners. The ACLU contends it is understaffed, with sometimes only two guards on duty to control prison wings with as many as 350 inmates.

Prisoners say aid denied

The ACLU lawsuit details the inmate-on-inmate attacks of about two dozen men, all of whom said they told guards they were in danger of being assaulted, had been assaulted or needed medical care after an assault.

In all the cases, the ACLU contends the men were summarily denied help.
Riggs, the lead plaintiff in the case, claimed members of a violent gang on his cell block told him in May 2008 that he'd be beaten unless he started paying "rent" to the gang.

He said in the lawsuit that he told correctional officers about the threat and begged to be transferred to another cell block but the guards refused. That same day, Riggs says, he was beaten by inmates, knocked down and kicked repeatedly in the face and torso. Blood was spattered on the ceiling of Riggs' cell and pooled on the floor, the ACLU said.

Guards eventually took Riggs to an infirmary where a doctor told him his nose was broken and tried to reset it. However, the doctor refused to take X-rays and ignored several other broken bones in his face, the lawsuit claims.

Riggs was denied medical care for six months before being taken to an ear, nose and throat specialist who said he needed immediate surgery, according to the lawsuit. He ended up with a plate in his cheek and a permanent dent on the side of his face, and he still suffers from blurry vision, headaches, pain, discomfort and mental trauma, Hopkins said.

CCA has paid out millions of dollars to settle dozens of individual lawsuits brought by inmates, family members of prisoners and employees.

Bay County Disputes CCA Claims Over Jail

2010-03-12T21:59:00.000-06:00

Originally found here.

Bay County officials are disputing some facts the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has been spreading around the state regarding their old contract to operate the Bay County jail.

Email Address: news@wjhg.com

Hernando County commissioners are considering dropping Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and turning their jail over to the county sheriff.

They've been consulting Bay County officials about a similar transition that took place here in the fall of 2008.

According to published reports, CCA criticized Bay County for terminating their contract, telling Hernando County officials they could have saved Bay County $3 million this year if they had still been running the facility.

But, Bay County commissioners are now reminding everyone that it was CCA that terminated the contract, claiming they couldn't abide by the financial terms of that agreement.

They also say sheriff Frank McKeithen has done a better job of running the jail, and has done it cheaper than CCA.

Bay County commissioner Mike Thomas said, "In 2009, the sheriff's budget, entire budget, with insurance, building payments, power, everything, was $1.3 million cheaper than it was in 2008 under CCA's operation."

Thomas says the county commission hasn't received nearly as many jail complaints since McKeithen took over from CCA.

Today in Atlanta: Silent Vigil to mark Anniversary of Roberto Martinez Medina’s Death

2010-03-11T21:15:00.000-06:00

March 11, 2010 Detention Watch Network

via Georgia Detention Watch:

Newly obtained records show lack of transparency in ICE’s investigation and inconsistency in ICE’s account pertaining to Roberto Martinez Medina’s death

Vigil marks second in the Dignity Not Detention Campaign

Atlanta, Georgia – A silent vigil at 3:00 p.m. March 11 in front of the ICE office in Atlanta at 180 Spring Street S.W. marks the 1-year anniversary of the death of Roberto Martinez Medina who was detained in ICE custody at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Mr. Medina, aged 39, was diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle which is usually caused by a viral infection and normally treatable, according to records of the St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The records also noted that Mr. Medina had experienced symptoms three days before being rushed to the hospital on March 10, 2009, when his condition rapidly deteriorated.

“Roberto Martinez Medina and I would be the same age if he were still alive today,” reflected Anton Flores-Maisonet of Georgia Detention Watch on the passing of a 39-year-old immigrant from Mexico.

“One year has passed since the death of Roberto Martinez Medina and ICE has yet to set the record straight,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, the ACLU of Georgia National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project Director. “The question still remains: Why did Roberto Martinez Medina die of a treatable heart infection?”

Newly Obtained Information Reveals ICE Investigation into Martinez’ Death not Transparent

New records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union from ICE related to the death of Roberto Martinez Medina highlight the lack of transparency in the ICE investigation. The investigation into Mr. Medina’s death was apparently referred to ICE’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; however, the results of that investigation are unclear. An on-site review of Medina’s death by ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility was apparently scheduled for April 6, 2009; yet there is no indication that this review actually took place.

Perplexing Inconsistencies

Records show many inconsistencies in the accounts by ICE’s representative, the hospital records, and a report by the Division of Immigration Health Services about when Mr. Martinez started complaining of chest pain and other ailments. The most perplexing disconnect in these accounts is the acknowledgment by Assistant Field Office Director for ICE Detention and Removal Operations, Michael Webster, to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation last year that Mr. Medina had experienced chest pain for three days prior to his death, even though Webster reported that Medina “did not voice the complaint.” Newly-obtained records point to a report by the Division of Immigration Health Services stating that Mr. Martinez Medina ran a fever for three days before March 10, 2009. This is in contrast to the official ICE narrative obtained through the ACLU Freedom of Information Act request which states that Mr. Martinez Medina did not complain of chest pain or other ailments prior to March 10, 2009.

Records Reveal that Roberto Martinez Medina Complained of Health Problems Possibly Related to Lapses in Hygiene Standards

The newly-obtained documents also indicate that Medina made sick calls prior to March 10, 2009 for itchy eyes and foot fungus. These complaints are consistent with the information Georgia Detention Watch members obtained through interviews with detainees at the Stewart Detention Center where many complained of infections and rashes.

In April 2009, Georgia Detention Watch released a report on detention conditions at the Stewart Detention Center that pointed out the poor medical treatment given to detainees as well as hygiene standards. The report was based on interviews with sixteen detainees during a humanitarian visitation in December 2008. Using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Performance-Based National Detention Standards to gauge conditions at Stewart, the report made specific recommendations in several areas, including medical care standards, food services standards, disciplinary system standards, personal hygiene standards, and staff training.

In spite of several requests by members of Georgia Detention Watch and partner organizations to meet with ICE to discuss the findings of the report, ICE has yet to respond.

Immigration Detention Centers in Georgia

Georgia has three immigration detention centers, including two which are run by the Corrections Corporations of America, the country’s largest private prison corporation. With a capacity of 1700+, the Stewart Detention Center based in rural southwest Georgia is the largest corporate-run immigration detention center in the country.

The recently opened North Georgia Detention Center also operated by CCA is located in Gainesville and has a capacity of 500.

Silent Vigil for Dignity Not Detention

The silent vigil sponsored by Georgia Detention Watch remembers the death of Roberto Martinez Medina, as well as the more than 100 other detainees who have perished in ICE custody since October 2003, and stresses the focus of another vigil held two weeks ago in Gainesville, Georgia where more than 50 people congregated to protest the recently opened North Georgia Detention Center and to join in the national launch the campaign: Dignity Not Detention: Preserving Human Rights and Restoring Justice.

Through taking part in the campaign, Georgia Detention Watch and partner organizations call for an end to contracts with the Corrections Corporation of America for the operation of the North Georgia Detention Center and the Stewart Detention Center due to CCA’s deadly track record and lack of adherence to ICE’s own standards. Georgia Detention Watch also calls on the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to:

Institute binding standards for treatment of immigrant detainees that correspond to international human rights norms.
Utilize community-based and humane alternatives to detention.
End detainee transfers away from loved ones and communities of support.
End local enforcement programs that are contributing to the growth of the immigration detention system.
###

Georgia Detention Watch is a coalition of organizations and individuals that advocates alongside immigrants to end the inhumane and unjust detention and law enforcement policies and practices directed against immigrant communities in our state. Our coalition includes activists, community organizers, persons of faith, lawyers, and many more.

Member organizations of Georgia Detention Watch include: the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, American Immigration Lawyers Association Atlanta Chapter, Amnesty International-Southern Region, Amnesty International -Atlanta local group 75, Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE), Coalición De Líderes Latinos (CLILA), Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR), Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition, Immigrant Justice Project- Southern Poverty Law Center, International Action Center, Open Door Community, Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA), and others

Sheriff seeks to sever ties with CCA

2010-03-10T21:46:00.000-06:00

Originally found here

Nugent says he can run jails more efficiently

Updated: Tuesday, 09 Mar 2010, 5:40 PM EST
Published : Tuesday, 09 Mar 2010, 3:35 PM EST

SPRING HILL - It may say "Hernando County Jail," but the county lock-up in Spring Hill is actually run by a private company, the Corrections Corporation of America.

Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent told county commissioners Tuesday it's time for CCA to go.

"We hear a lot of complaints about the jail, we transfer all those to the county and we never hear about them being resolved, because it's not a public institution," Nugent said.

He told commissioners if he assumes control of the jail it would be better for inmates and taxpayers. Nugent said while he supported the idea of a private company running the jail in years past, times have changed.

"In ten years, my budget has grown by 80 percent, CCA's budget has increased by 190 percent," he said.

The sheriff conceded, however, he can only estimate the actual cost savings. That's because CCA is a private company that is reluctant to make its business records public.

"If I was a private company, I would want to hold that close to the vest also, but when you're a public entity, those are all open for disclosure," Nugent said.

Ending the agreement that's been in place for 22 years may have consequences, CCA warned commissioners. Tommy Alsup, CCA's director of partnership relations said

"...we came in good faith in the fall, negotiated a contract. We felt like we want to live up to our obligations of the contract. We felt like the county should live up to the contract also," said Tommy Alsup, CCA's director of partnership relations.

Tony Grande, another CCA executive, told commissioners it would actually cost Bay County $3 million more to run its jail if it terminated their contract with the company. That was enough to make one commissioner nervous.

"We've got look at the fiscal realities," said commissioner Jeff Stabins. "I don't know what the final answer is but I would really hate to see this contract severed by either side today."

The contract was not terminated, but despite Stabins' concern, the county asked both the sheriff and CCA to submit proposals to continue running the jail by next month.

Will incarceration bubble burst if Corrections Corporation of America leaves Hernando jail?

2010-03-08T20:00:00.000-06:00

This story can be found here.

By Dan DeWitt, Times Columnist
In Print: Friday, March 5, 2010

We all know that when the real estate bubble burst a few years ago, it cost us all. When the incarceration bubble bursts — as may be happening — it should save us money.

Because it's sure been expensive to blow it up.

In 1988, when Hernando County hired Corrections Corporation of America to run its jail, it paid the company $1.7 million to house 160 inmates; in recent years, the number of inmates, averaged over the course of a year, crested at 591 a day in 2007, and the annual cost of running the jail is now $11.4 million.

Sure, Hernando County's overall population has almost doubled in that time, and inflation did its usual dirty work. But the main reason for the increased costs here and across the country is that we are locking up a higher percentage of our residents.

"In the past decade, we've more than doubled our jail population, and consequently costs have gone up,'' said county purchasing director Jim Gantt.

What else has changed?

Well, 22 years ago, privatization seemed a new and promising approach to handling a growing inmate population at a reasonable cost.

Now, a lot of people think private jails and prisons waste taxpayer money, not save it. And I'm not just talking about union-funded activists. I'm talking about one of Hernando's most middle-of-the-road politicians, Sheriff Richard Nugent.

"The difference between us doing it and CCA doing it is, we don't have to carry the corporate load,'' said Nugent, who this week said he wants his department to reassume control of the jail.

"We don't have to support all the staff (at company headquarters) in Nashville. We don't have to show a profit margin for shareholders.''

CCA has a reputation for cutting costs to the bone, so I'm not sure Nugent really can save much money.

But we'd come out ahead even if he just keeps the costs level. The guards would be better paid and better qualified, judging from CCA's historic pay rates and turnover levels. And all the money spent on the jail would stay in the county.

Nugent has talked about a lot of potential savings. One big one is that, unlike CCA, he has a motivation to cut the jail population.

Big picture, the growth of CCA, from its founding in 1983 to a company that today supervises facilities with 80,000 beds, has coincided with the explosion of the nation's prison population.

The company isn't the main cause of this increase, of course. Twenty years ago, as crime rates climbed and prisons were filled to bursting, even violent criminals in Florida could get credit for three years of their sentence for every year they served. People had a right to be mad, and to demand longer sentences and to elect tougher judges.

But also consider this: CCA has contributed millions of dollars to the campaigns of politicians who backed longer sentences, said Ken Kopczynski, executive director of Private Corrections Working Group, who is one of those aforementioned union-funded activists.

And remember those laws that required prisoners to serve 85 percent of their sentences or, for many repeat offenders, a lifetime behind bars?

They were written by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Counsel at a time when CCA was helping steer its criminal justice policy, said Byron Price, author of Merchandising Prisons, a book about the private corrections industry.

This advocacy makes sense. The more people who are behind bars, the more CCA profits.

Locally, Nugent says, the company likes to stretch the booking of inmates out to at least six hours, even if money is available for bail. CCA also has no motivation to explore alternatives to jail time, such as ankle bracelets that could allow the Sheriff's Office to track the movement of people charged with nonviolent crimes.

There would seem to be plenty of candidates for such a program.

A county study showed that in April of last year, 48 percent of the inmates were in jail for probation violations. Another 30 percent were in for traffic offenses (not including driving under the influence) or for either possessing or selling marijuana.

Counties and states are looking to cut inmate populations to save money all over the country, said Steve Owen, a CCA spokesman, but that doesn't mean the idea of private corrections is a thing of the past. CCA is growing fast in some states, including California, where he expects CCA will supervise about 10,000 prison beds before the end of the year.

But the Private Corrections Working Group issued a statement in February stating that CCA had lost 7,594 beds in the previous 16 months, including the termination of its long-standing contract to run the Bay County jail in the Florida Panhandle.

If Hernando follows Bay's lead, it could leave Citrus as the only county in the state with a CCA-run jail.

You can almost hear the air going out of the bubble.

[Last modified: Mar 04, 2010 08:40 PM]

The 270 View Update

2010-01-18T10:27:00.001-06:00

We have had some computer problems. Next week we should be back to posting regularly again. I will most likely be unable to answer emails for the remainder of this week.

In the mean time I want to thank Anton Flores with Alterna for forwarding this video link to us from a very recent New York Times/ACLU investigation. Everyone should be aware of this situation. It details the death of a detainee in ICE and CCA's custody at CCA's Elisabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. We have talked about this sad little operation of CCA's on the blog before and it was also discussed at the SOA Watch during the panel that I spoke at hosted by the Georgia Detention Watch. CCA's Elisabeth Detention Center is a warehouse turned into a detention center. I can not think of a more inappropriate or insulting place to put detainees. In my opinion it is a pathetic use of tax payers money. How is it that ICE can not afford to build appropriate facilities that reflect the civil (AND NOT CRIMINAL) holding of detainees? Why do we continue to spend tax dollars paying companies to profit off of holding detainees? It seems obvious (to me at least) that every dime of profit (which equals millions of dollars a year) is a waste of tax payer money. To make matters even worse companies like CCA can not even manage to run a decent facility and keep the detainees that the tax payers are entrusting them with alive (Which incidentally often results in lawsuits that cost us tax payers even more money).

The bodies are piling up in CCA and ICE facilities and yet the American people mostly remain ignorant of what is going on within are own borders at there facilities. I encourage all of this blogs readers to forward a link of this video to their friends and families. I have been asked a time or two why I care about the current immigration situation in America. Well to people like me it is unfortunately the regularity of incidents exactly like this that make us care.

the video can be found here.

PRISON PROPOSAL: CCA criticized by union, praised by Florence officials

2009-12-29T13:29:00.000-06:00

Originally found here.

By Ken Hedler, The Daily Courier

Corrections Corporation of America and other operators of private prisons have drawn fire from public employees unions for allegedly paying lower wages and straining public services in communities.

However, CCA also earned kudos from a police detective and town government official in Florence, where the company operates two prisons.

CCA pays correctional officers only $10 to $12 an hour while correctional officers in Arizona state prisons earn $18 to $20 an hour, said Chuck Foy, executive director of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association. The Phoenix-based union has about 3,500 members.

CCA officials could not be reached for comment.

Barrett Marson, a public information officer for the Arizona Department of Corrections, said he does not know the pay scales in private prisons. However, he said starting pay for correctional officers at state prisons is in the mid-$30,000 range.

Private prisons "also put a strain on law enforcement (and) local prosecutors because the private prison folks cannot investigate crimes," Foy said.

However, Florence has a "pretty low crime rate" despite being home to 10 prisons or jails, said Jess Knudson, public information officer for the town. He added Florence has more inmates at 17,000 than residents at 10,000.

"We like to acknowledge our police force," Knudson said. He added the Pinal County Sheriff's Office is based in Florence because it is the county seat.

Florence Police Detective Walt Hunter commented, "I can't remember the last time I responded to CCA." He has been on the job six years.

"We definitely have a good working relationship with CCA," Hunter said. "First of all, we work a lot in cooperative efforts. We assist them with investigations."

He continued, "These guys have always been very cooperative, very professional. There is nothing I can say bad about them."

Foy faults private prisons for allegedly hiring correctional officers with less training than their public-sector counterparts. He said the Department of Corrections requires 360 hours of training, compared with 120 hours for CCA.

CCA's website states all new full-time security employees receive a minimum of 120 hours of training during their first year of employment. Courses cover cultural diversity, defensive tactics, emergency procedures, firearms training, hostage situations, radio communications and other subject matters.

Private prisons also are exempt from public records laws, Foy said.

Marson said the exemption applies because they are privately owned.

He said he does not know how many private prisons operate in the state because they do not have to report to the Department of Corrections.

Escapee from CCA prison captured in Georgia

2009-12-29T13:16:00.000-06:00

This story can be found here.

A prisoner who escaped from a Clinton, Tenn., prison has been captured in Georgia.

Stephen Allen Hester, 26, was discovered missing on Saturday during a headcount at the Corrections Corporation of America-managed prison. He was serving an eight-year sentence for an aggravated robbery conviction in Memphis.

He was caught in Franklin County, Georgia in the car he stole from a woman he abducted at a market. She was let go unharmed in Tennessee.

Law enforcement agents used spike strips on Highway 328 after a cross-county high-speed chase to catch Hester.

Is CCA Really Recession Resistant?

2009-12-14T16:23:00.000-06:00

We came across this little gem of a press release last week. It's interesting that Corrections Corporation of America still claims it is in a recession-resistant field and yet it's losing prison beds and having to renegotiate lower rates with cash starved states who have contracted with CCA.

If I was a small town (like Lumpkin, GA) that has become dependent upon CCA's cash to possibly subsidize there own very small budgets then I would be really worried about the 2 months or so notice that it appears that Appleton, Minnesota (population 2,871) just received that the open sign just got flipped to closed. While the CCA drafted press release below is probably accurate in stating that "The closure of the Prairie facility is not expected to have a material impact on CCA's financial results" I am sure that the closure of this facility will result in lots of financial hardship for the local area. Not to mention all of those soon to be out of work recession-resistant CCA jobs that will no doubt be flooding the local job market. I'd say that Prarie Correctional Facilities "Career Information Line" will not be doing much good in Appleton for quite some time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec 04, 2009 08:30 ET

Corrections Corporation of America to Cease Operations at Prairie Correctional Facility

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - December 4, 2009) - Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) ("CCA"), the nation's largest provider of corrections management services to government agencies, announced today its intention to cease operations at the CCA-owned and operated Prairie Correctional Facility located in Appleton, Minnesota. The 1,600-bed facility will officially cease operations on or about February 1, 2010.

During 2009, the Prairie facility has housed offenders from the states of Minnesota and Washington. However, due to excess capacity in the states' systems, both states have been reducing the populations held at Prairie. The facility currently houses about 200 offenders from the state of Minnesota. The state of Washington has removed all of its offenders from the Prairie facility, but maintains a population of approximately 125 inmates in two CCA-owned facilities in Arizona. The closure of the Prairie facility is not expected to have a material impact on CCA's financial results.

Damon Hininger, President and CEO of CCA commented, "It is CCA's strong desire to continue every effort to market the facility to another government partner, which we believe provides a viable option for our partners needing significant capacity. We are committed to finding the right opportunity that will allow us to re-open Prairie, so we can continue to offer meaningful careers to our dedicated staff, and promote economic vitality to the Appleton community."

Mr. Hininger continued, "We are disappointed to make the decision to close the Prairie Correctional Facility. Unfortunately, without an inmate population large enough to significantly utilize the facility, maintaining operations at the Prairie facility isn't economically viable. I would like to thank our outstanding and dedicated staff who have done an exceptional job, and we look forward to resuming operations at the facility at some point in the future."

About CCA

CCA is the nation's largest owner and operator of privatized correctional and detention facilities and one of the largest prison operators in the United States, behind only the federal government and three states. We currently operate 65 facilities, including 44 company-owned facilities, with a total design capacity of approximately 87,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia. We specialize in owning, operating and managing prisons and other correctional facilities and providing inmate residential and prisoner transportation services for governmental agencies. In addition to providing the fundamental residential services relating to inmates, our facilities offer a variety of rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, religious services, life skills and employment training and substance abuse treatment. These services are intended to reduce recidivism and to prepare inmates for their successful re-entry into society upon their release. We also provide health care (including medical, dental and psychiatric services), food services and work and recreational programs.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements as to our beliefs and expectations of the outcome of future events that are forward-looking statements as defined within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties associated with: (i) general economic and market conditions, including the impact governmental budgets can have on our per diem rates and occupancy; (ii) fluctuations in our operating results because of, among other things, changes in occupancy levels, competition, increases in cost of operations, fluctuations in interest rates and risks of operations; (iii) our ability to obtain and maintain correctional facility management contracts, including as a result of sufficient governmental appropriations and as a result of inmate disturbances; (iv) changes in the privatization of the corrections and detention industry, the public acceptance of our services, the timing of the opening of and demand for new prison facilities and the commencement of new management contracts; (v) risks associated with judicial challenges regarding the transfer of California inmates to out of state private correctional facilities; and (vi) increases in costs to construct or expand correctional facilities that exceed original estimates, or the inability to complete such projects on schedule as a result of various factors, many of which are beyond our control, such as weather, labor conditions and material shortages, resulting in increased construction costs. Other factors that could cause operating and financial results to differ are described in the filings made from time to time by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CCA takes no responsibility for updating the information contained in this press release following the date hereof to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof or the occurrence of unanticipated events or for any changes or modifications made to this press release.

Contact:
Karin Demler
Investor Relations
615-263-3005

CCA Reaches A New Low

2009-12-13T06:17:00.000-06:00

It is very sad that CCA, a company that profits off of tax payer money, can seek to financially ruin what appears to be a poor woman who evidently is getting by off of her husbands disability check. This seems like a new low even for Corrections Corporation of America. If you live in a community that has a CCA prison or detention center then you should really be asking yourself if they truly are the good neighbor they claim to be. If your community one day decides they are not such a good neighbor then I wonder if you to will be the victim of this type of ridiculous and in my opinion over zealous retaliation for having the nerve to oppose them. Seems like taxpayers (who are footing the bill) should not be the victim of what looks like a scorched earth policy from an extremely rich company that they sought to oppose.

This story can be found here.

CCA and Nye County press for court costs

By MARK WAITE
Pahrump Valley Times

The litany of lawsuits filed by the Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community and Chairman Donna Cox could come with a hefty price tag.

Corrections Corporation of America and Nye County have both filed claims against CCSC for court costs totaling over $7,500 in the wake of the unsuccessful federal suit brought against them in an attempt to block the federal detention center project.

U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson dismissed the case Sept. 30. A suit by CCSC against the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee is still proceeding in U.S. District Court. There is also a newly-filed case in state court against Nye County over alleged Open Meetings Act violations (see related story above).

CCA submitted a bill for $4,446.66 that included $3,996 for printed transcripts by the court reporter.

Nye County submitted a bill of $3,098.65 for court reporters for transcripts.

Much of the transcript costs involved depositions by Donna Cox, chairman of Concerned Citizens. The county bill also includes a 226-page deposition of Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo, for $650.15.

The CCSC attorney, Nancy Lord, filed a motion asking the court to review the request for court costs as inappropriate.

"The objection here is to the taxation of these costs to these plaintiffs, who everyone involves known [sic] are without funds, have paid their attorney by passing the hat at meetings," the motion reads.

The motion adds: "CCA is a multi-million dollar corporation who could afford to pay nearly $7 million for land before its deal was final and Nye County is a county government. The $7,000 in costs will mean little to either of them, but it [sic] the taxing of costs will devastate plaintiff Cox."

The motion claims the recovery of costs is an attempt to frighten CCSC into giving up its case against the federal detention trustee.

"Donna Cox has neither income nor assets and both defendants are well aware of this," the motion said. "She stated that the organization keeps its money in a paper bag at the home of Ms. Stern and that it is never more than $100. Counsel is paid her very discounted fees by passing the hat at some of the meetings," Lord's motion said.

There is no mention of recovering legal fees. The motion claims that while the CCA attorney was paid by the hour and Nye County legal counsel was on a salary, Lord was working nearly pro bono, or for free.

Lord makes mention of a 9th Circuit Court case that district courts should consider the financial resources of the plaintiffs in awarding fees to a prevailing defendant.

"In this case the costs are more than this plaintiff could ever hope to pay and will only result in an uncollectible judgment on her credit report. In contrast, the awards of a few thousand dollars will mean nothing to the wealth of CCA and Nye County except a mean-spirited victory," the CCSC motion said.

In a letter to CCA attorneys, Lord said Cox lives on her husband's disability which can't be the subject of a lien. Lord claims CCSC members Christina Stern and Jeff Wiest weren't listed as plaintiffs during a scheduling conference and shouldn't be subject to paying court costs. She also attempts to resolve Judith Holmgren from paying court costs.

CCSC doesn't object to the fact the defendants spent those costs. But the motion claims, "The costs incurred in this case were the direct result of defendant CCA's deliberate efforts to increase the amount of time spent on collateral matters, lengthy objections during plaintiff's deposition of Sheriff DeMeo and the like."

The motion criticizes CCA attorney Paul Shpirt for running up the clock on the court reporters time during the depositions. Costs for depositions should be split between both parties, Lord's motion said, adding both Nye County and CCA could have shared copies of depositions.

CCSC held a good faith belief there was desert tortoise habitat on the proposed site, the motion said, the basis for the federal case, which alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act.

The suit wasn't frivolous, CCSC claims. If Nye County allowed the plaintiffs the chance to redress their grievances against the detention center by public objection, there would be no need for litigation. Lord refers to CCSC as "a rag tag citizens' rights group."

The motion also makes reference to the request for a change of venue in the case against the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee by CCSC, which claims the Nevada federal bench had a great need for the federal detention center in Pahrump, which would no longer require attorneys to travel as far as Safford, Ariz., to meet with their clients.

In their opposition, CCA attorneys said the time for the concerned citizens group to file objections court costs lapsed Oct. 23.

The response by CCA said the concerned citizens group cited the court's inefficiency as the reason costs had to be incurred as well as attacks against the defendant's litigation strategies. But an objection to the costs must be grounded on clerical or calculation error, CCA said.

"Nowhere in plaintiff's motion is there an argument that the costs are inaccurate or miscalculated," CCA said.

Nye County's opposing motion makes the same point.

Accusations the entire Nevada federal bench is biased, based on a declaration by Frank Smith of the Private Corrections Institute, an anti-prison privatization group, are baseless and have no factual support, CCA claims.

"Plaintiffs' argument appears to be that because this court did not rule on plaintiff's numerous frivolous motions to correct a multitude of mistakes made in their pleadings and complaints in an expedited fashion, it contributed to the costs of the litigation," the CCA response said.

At the same time, CCA points out a contradiction by the Concerned Citizens who go on to claim the depositions and discovery will aid them in their subsequent case.

Neither Cox nor CCSC filed for pauper status with the court, CCA said. "In fact, in her deposition, Donna Cox testified she owned a new truck and a large motor home."

The company requests the court disregard the claims by CCSC until a debtor's examination is scheduled by the court, at which time assets owned or controlled by the plaintiffs can be identified to satisfy the judgment. Lord threatened to seek sanctions against the CCA attorney if there is a debtor's exam.

Nye County claims Lord intended to mislead the federal court by being intentionally ambiguous about whose interests she represented. She asserted in a hearing on discovery that CCSC had no members, the county said.

"Nonetheless," the county said, "several persons have put themselves out in the public as members of this association and parties to this litigation on their own weekly television show."

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Is this the CCA Way? Integrity, Respect & Trust... etc. Is this what they mean? Should we "Respect" them for things like this or "Trust" them for acting like this? How do the actions written about in the story above make them "The Best" or even a "Leader" like they claim. Seems like they need to "apply themselves a little bit better." The 270 View would like to encourage them to do the right thing here and not try and financially ruin a woman who disagreed with them.

Happy Thanksgiving from the View

2009-11-25T11:27:00.000-06:00

This Thanksgiving when I sit down with my family for dinner I will be thinking about the first Thanksgiving in America. How we were the immigrants then and the kindness and welcoming attitude that many of our ancestors had in sitting down to break bread and share a meal. Whether they were my distant pilgrim ancestors or my wife's distant Native American ancestors. I would encourage everyone to think about the current state of immigration in America and ask themselves if the same sense of inclusion and friendship is still present in are homes. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Friday CCA Protest

2009-11-22T18:37:00.000-06:00

This story can be found here

Powerful Immigrant Rights Rally at Stewart Detention Center Calls Attention to Deadly Human Rights Abuses

Report back from Stewart Detention Center Protest: Social Justice Activists Processed from Lumpkin Square to Remote Immigrant Prison to Call Attention to Deadly Human Rights Abuses

Lumpkin, GA -- Social justice and immigrant rights activists processed from Lumpkin Town Square to the Stewart Detention Center this Friday morning to call attention to the abuses perpetrated at this commercial prison which in the last year have killed one prisoner and injured many. Prisoners continue participating in hunger strikes demanding better conditions, and local human rights organization Georgia Detention Watch organizes in solidarity with their calls for justice.

protest in a powerful and emotional vigil, survivors of detention centers, family members of those imprisoned and human rights activists gathered to listen to those families torn apart by raids and forced detention, including the family of one detainee whose three children went in to visit him following the vigil.

Many immigrants to the United States are victims of U.S.-sponsored military training and atrocities in Latin America. “In our fight to close the SOA, we continue to work towards a world that is free of suffering and violence” said SOA Watch organizer Jake Dacks, one of the speakers at the prison vigil.

Dacks continued, “We recognize the SOA as a part of the same racist system of violence and domination that operates US immigration policy. We ally ourselves with victims and survivors of state violence and their families in our effort to create a better world.”

The Stewart Detention Center, a temporary detention center for folks who are locked up while awaiting immigration status or deportation. ICE works with the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to operate this remote prison.

One of the participants spoke about her father, who had been deported after living in the United States for more than 20 years, most of her life. "The man that I used to have dinner with, and just shared time with, is now the man I can only speak on the phone with," she said.

Activists brought some puppets down to Friday's rally from the warehouse in Columbus, GA, where they are being built for the annual Vigil to Close the School of the Americas this Saturday and Sunday.

The action at the Stewart prison follows two previous vigils, several humanitarian visitations, and release of a report by Georgia Detention Watch which documented violations of immigration detention standards at the Stewart Detention Center. More than 100 immigrants have died in ICE custody in the last six years alone.

"Roberto Martinez Medina and I would be the same age if he were still alive today," reflected Anton Flores-Maisonet of Alterna and Georgia Detention Watch on the passing of a 39-year-old immigrant from Mexico detained at Stewart, who died of a heart infection on March 11, 2009. To date, many questions about the circumstances surrounding his death remain unanswered. "This death at CCA's Stewart Detention Center and the allegations that the center fails to provide basic medical care to detainees should be of great concern to the County whose name it bears," Flores-Maisonet observed.

Among the speakers at Friday's vigil was Bryan Holcomb, a former high-level manager from CCA. He gave an exposé on the depth of irregularities at CCA-run detention centers and prisons, including high sexual-assault rates.

Those gathered marched in a solemn funeral procession for almost two miles to the Stewart Detention Center. The march included a coffin, carried by shrouded pallbearers, memorializing Roberto Martinez Medina.

The entrance to the Stewart prison was blocked by three large buses, preventing anyone from seeing or entering the facility and largely preventing any of those detained from seeing the protest outside. Protesters challenged this by waving the large puppet and directing some of their songs and speeches to the prisoners in hopes that they could be heard.

At the close of the vigil a few hours later, people walked over to the gates, placing signs solemnly down and left in silence, many continuing on to Columbus, GA, where they will join the mass mobilization to shut down the School of the Americas this weekend.

Azadeh Shahshahani, ACLU of Georgia National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project Director and Chair of Georgia Detention Watch, sees the vigil and funeral procession as the local reflection of a time in which “significant concerns are being raised nationally about the inhumane treatment of immigrants at detention centers and the unnecessary detention of many immigrants in the first place, often for prolonged periods and without being afforded basic due process.”

Herbert Abdul, a former immigrant detainee, also spoke at the rally. Mr. Abdul was detained for months at the Atlanta City Detention Center and the Etowah County Detention Center.

Other speakers at the rally included: Silky Shah, Organizing and Outreach Coordinator with the Detention Watch Network; Samuel Brooke, Attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center Immigrant Justice Project; as well as Flores and Shahshahani.

Located in rural Southwest Georgia, the Stewart Detention Center detains over 1,750 men, primarily from Latin America. Stewart is run by the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, the country's largest private prison corporation.

An April 2009 report by Georgia Detention Watch on conditions at Stewart documented violations of ICE’s own detention standards at the facility. The report charged that food and medicine are withheld as punishment and that solitary confinement is routinely imposed without a disciplinary hearing.

The organizations sponsoring Friday's vigil included:

American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia
American Friends Service Committee
Amnesty Atlanta
Center for Constitutional Rights
Coalicion de Lideres Latinos-CLILA
Detention Watch Network
Georgia Detention Watch
Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights
International Action Center
Nipponzan Myohoji Atlanta Dojo
Rights Working Group
School of the Americas Watch
Southern Poverty Law Center Immigrant Justice Project
Texans United for Families

Stewart Detention Center Protest

2009-11-18T10:02:00.000-06:00

I will be speaking at a rally in Lumpkin, GA this Friday and also at a workshop on Saturday in Columbus, GA. The workshop is called "Unjust and Unwarranted: The Reality of Immigration Detention in Georgia." The workshop will be in Room 213 of the Columbus Convention Center and is sponsored by and part of the annual SOA Watch events. Details on the Rally can be found in the press release below.

Human Rights Groups Muster Forces in a Vigil, Rally, and Funeral Procession Aimed at Drawing Attention to Violations at the Stewart Detention Center

Press conference and vigil will be Friday, November 20th, at 10:00 a.m., in
Lumpkin town square

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

CONTACT:

Anton Flores-Maisonet, Alterna, 706-302-9661, Anton@alternacommunity.com

Azadeh Shahshahani, ACLU of Georgia, 404-574-0851, ashahshahani@acluga.org

Atlanta – Georgia Detention Watch today announces a vigil, co-sponsored by
several local and national human rights organizations, aimed at focusing
attention on the treatment afforded to immigrants detained at the CCA-run
Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin. The vigil is expected to draw hundreds
from across the United States, including individuals directly impacted by
inhumane immigration detention policies and practices. The action follows
two previous vigils, several humanitarian visitations, and release of a
report by Georgia Detention Watch which documented violations of immigration
detention standards at the Stewart Detention Center.

"Roberto Martinez Medina and I would be the same age if he were still alive
today," reflected Anton Flores-Maisonet of Alterna and Georgia Detention
Watch on the passing of a 39-year-old immigrant from Mexico detained at
Stewart, who died of a heart infection on March 11, 2009. To date, many
questions about the circumstances surrounding his death remain unanswered.
"This death at CCA's Stewart Detention Center and the allegations that the
center fails to provide basic medical care to detainees should be of great
concern to the County whose name it bears," Flores-Maisonet observed.

A silent funeral march from Lumpkin Town Square to the Stewart Detention
Center will memorialize the death of Roberto Martinez Medina and pay tribute
to the more than 100 other immigrants nationwide who have died in
immigration detention since October 2003

Azadeh Shahshahani, ACLU of Georgia National Security/Immigrants' Rights
Project Director and Chair of Georgia Detention Watch, sees the vigil and
funeral procession as the local reflection of a time in which "significant
concerns are being raised nationally about the inhumane treatment of
immigrants at detention centers and the unnecessary detention of many
immigrants in the first place, often for prolonged periods and without being
afforded basic due process."

Rally on the Square

Bryan Holcomb, a former high-level manager at Corrections Corporation of
America which owns and operates Stewart Detention Center, is the key speaker
for the rally on the Square in Lumpkin. He will provide an exposé on the
depth of irregularities at CCA-run detention centers and prisons, including
high sexual-assault rates. Such abuses led in part to the federal
government's ending the incarceration of children at CCA's T. Don Hutto
prison in Texas.

Herbert Abdul, a former immigrant detainee, will also speak at the rally.
Mr. Abdul was detained for months at the Atlanta City Detention Center and
the Etowah County Detention Center.

Other speakers at the rally will include: Silky Shah, Organizing and
Outreach Coordinator with the Detention Watch Network; Samuel Brooke,
Attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center Immigrant Justice Project; as
well as Flores and Shahshahani.

About the Stewart Detention Center

Located in rural Southwest Georgia, the Stewart Detention Center detains
over 1,750 men, primarily from Latin America. Stewart is run by the
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, the country's largest
private prison corporation.

Conditions at Stewart: Substandard and Inhumane

An April 2009 report by Georgia Detention Watch on conditions at Stewart
documented violations of ICE's own detention standards at the facility. The
report charged that food and medicine are withheld as punishment and that
solitary confinement is routinely imposed without a disciplinary hearing.

The organizations sponsoring Friday's vigil include:

American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia

American Friends Service Committee

Amnesty Atlanta

Center for Constitutional Rights

Coalicion de Lideres Latinos-CLILA

Detention Watch Network

Georgia Detention Watch

Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights

International Action Center

Nipponzan Myohoji Atlanta Dojo

Rights Working Group

School of the Americas Watch

Southern Poverty Law Center Immigrant Justice Project

Texans United for Families

Georgia Detention Watch is a coalition of organizations and individuals that
advocates alongside immigrants to end the inhumane and unjust detention and
law enforcement policies and practices directed against immigrant
communities in our state. Our coalition includes activists, community
organizers, persons of faith, lawyers, and many more.

For more on Georgia Detention Watch, visit our website:
http://www.georgiadetentionwatch.com/

Azadeh N. Shahshahani

National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project Director

American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia

1900 The Exchange SE, Suite 425

Atlanta, GA 30339

770-303-8111

A New Web Series on CCA and the Media

2009-11-17T15:03:00.000-06:00

The video embedded above is not an advertisement. It's inspiration for a new series of postings. Next week the 270 View is starting a short series of articles revealing some of the many tricks that Corrections Corporation of America employs to manipulate the media and public perception of CCA.

Just remember not to ask anything that would paint them in a negative light.....

A True American Hero

2009-11-10T23:04:00.000-06:00

I think the story of Major Libardo Eduardo Caraveo is fascinating. The story below sums it up nicely for a Blog such as mine but if you Google him you can find out much more. His contributions were endless and the time he spent in helping others will pay dividends to us all for many years to come even though he has unfortunately passed on. Major Caraveo gave back in many ways whether it was working with bilingual special-needs students at Tucson-area schools, working with federal prisoners or working with soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress. His road was probably not the most profitable path he could of taken. Many of the lives he influenced were people that probably otherwise might of gone unnoticed and unhelped. But I think that he understood that people matter. He came to this country as a teenager from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico barely speaking any English and yet he led a very successful life. He seems to be the definition of a self made man. His life was unfortunately cut short in the recent Fort Hood shooting tragedy. To me it's just another example of how immigrants can and have contributed to our great nation. The 270 View applauds Major Libardo Eduardo Caraveo for all of his contributions to our great country and salutes him this Veterans day as a true American Hero.

The below story was originally found here

By WSJ Staff

Thirteen people were killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on soldiers at the Fort Hood Army base, including Maj. Libardo Caraveo. Here is a short profile:

Maj. Libardo Caraveo, a 52-year-old psychologist, was preparing for his first deployment into a combat zone with a support unit that helped soldiers deal with the stresses of war. He arrived at Fort Hood on Wednesday to finish up paperwork before heading for Afghanistan, his son Eduardo, 31, said by phone from Tucson, Arizona.

“He was somebody to look up to, somebody to admire,” Eduardo Caraveo said. “He was a true self-made man, very driven, very hard-working.”

Maj. Caraveo Va., had arrived in the U.S. from Mexico speaking little English as a teenager, his son said. The major put himself through school and eventually earned a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.

He had worked as a teacher and at the Federal Bureau of Prisons and had a private practice in Woodbridge, Va. He’d been in the National Guard for ten years, and had spent one year at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

As a member of the 467th Combat Stress Control Detachment, he would have been responsible for dealing with battlefield trauma in Afghanistan.

His son Eduardo said they hadn’t spoken much about the details of his father’s deployment, adding, “I didn’t even know the actual date.”

CCA Settles Sexual Harassment & Correctional Officer Raped by CCA Employee After She Complained

2009-10-14T18:50:00.000-05:00

Crowley County prison operator to pay $1.3 million in settling sex-harassment lawsuit

Originally found here

A private prison operator will pay $1.3 million to settle complaints from 21 female employees who claimed they suffered harassment from male supervisors and colleagues ranging from sexually explicit comments to rape.

A female officer complained a male co-worker sexually harassed her and that after she complained, she was reassigned to an isolated location of the medium-security Crowley County Correctional Facility where she was raped by the man she complained about, according to the federal lawsuit.

The suit, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also accused a chief of security at the prison of forcing a female correctional officer to have sex with him so she could keep her job.

Female employees also accused their male counterparts of openly viewing pornography and making demeaning sexual jokes about them.

The EEOC sued Corrections Corporation of America and Dominion Correctional Services on behalf of the female employees in 2006.

Although a settlement was reached, the defendants did not admit liability. Dominion is no longer operating prisons and the company could not be reached for comment.

"CCA settled the claim to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainties of continued litigation and trial," said a statement issued by that company.

CCA assumed control of the prison in January 2003 from Dominion and claims that a "substantial number" of the more serious allegations occurred under Dominion's operation.

"Of the 21 individuals alleging discriminatory conduct, eight were never CCA employees, but were employed solely by Dominion," the statement said. "Moreover, although seven of the 21 individuals were employed by both CCA and Dominion, the majority of their claims also related to events that allegedly occurred before CCA began operating the facility."

EEOC attorney Rita Byrnes Kittle said some of the employees accused of sexual harassment over the years have resigned, but some are still working at the prison.

Guadalupe Gonzales, the 39-year-old former employee accused of rape in 2002, was convicted in 2005 of felony sexual assault. He was sentenced to four years of probation and is registered as a sex offender.

As part of the settlement agreement, Dominion cannot operate a prison in Colorado for three years. CCA must have sexual harassment training conducted by an outside expert for the next three years and have a toll-free number available for employees to call to report sexual harassment.

Some of the women who lost their jobs because of the harassment will get them back and will also get letters of apology.

The settlement comes four months after a federal judge imposed a $1.3 million judgment against a former Colorado correctional officer who sexually abused a female inmate at the state women's complex in Denver.

Legal Resident Being Held by CCA & ICE at Stewart Detention Center

2009-08-20T11:40:00.000-05:00

Written by The 270 View
August 20, 2009

Carlos Aranda was living the American dream. He is married, with a two year old child and a house in Atlanta, Georgia. His hard work has paid off and he was just recently promoted at work. Family members describe him as a good person and a hard working American who had immigrated here from Mexico for a better life. His parents and all of his other relatives also live in the United States.

On August 6, 2009 Carlos Aranda was asked to come into his probation officers office due to a paperwork problem. What Carlos Aranda did not know is that Immigration agents were waiting to take him into custody. Mr. Aranda had been on probation for a crime that he had committed in 2000 at the age of 17. He currently has no bond due to a paperwork error that allegedly was made by Douglas County law enforcement.

Mr. Aranda is not here illegally. His family states that he has a valid drivers licence, passport and social security card . He was granted residency in 1994. His residency in the United States was renewed by the United States government on January 15, 2009 and was approved until 2019. He was honest about his minor criminal record with immigration. They say that he has done things the right way and that he has paid taxes for fifteen years.

For the last two weeks Mr. Aranda has been locked up and possibly will face deportation in the near future. He is currently held at Correction Corporation of America's for profit Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. During his time at the Stewart Detention Center family members have stated that Mr. Aranda has had to deal with deplorable conditions and a very unsanitary environment. They allege that soap and other hygiene items are not readily available and that their relative has been placed in a housing unit with violent offenders who have threatened him on more than one occasion. They also state that he has become sick since being placed in the facility. Mr. Aranda has allegedly also had to endure several hours of heat outdoors with no available drinking water followed by several days without being allowed outside again. Family members are very worried about the isolation he faces in a facility located so far away from people who desperately wish to be able to at least visit with him on a regular basis. They are also concerned by the bad attitudes that they state CCA employee's have shown them during Carlos Aranda's detention at the Stewart Detention facility. The physical distance from any available legal representation and the remote location of the detention center also poses a significant problem to him being able to regularly access the legal resources and legal professionals that he urgently needs to speak with about his case.

Since his detention things have not been easy on his family. Carlos Aranda's wife, Margaret Williams, states that she is currently seeing a doctor for anxiety and emotional stress that she is under from the whole situation. The family is on the verge of losing everything that they have worked hard for. Carlos Aranda's two year old son just wants to know "Where is my daddy." For Carlos Aranda and his family the American dream has just become a nightmare.

The 270 View Internet blog hopes that by highlighting his current case the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency will quickly release Carlos Aranda so that he can rejoin his family before they suffer even more hardship. Mr. Aranda's job is currently being held by his employer but without a timely release he will be joining the ranks of the recession unemployed and his family will be facing an even worse situation. Carlos Aranda's family states that he has never missed a probation appointment and is not a flight risk. Keeping him behind bars in a possibly unsafe environment and away from his family is just wrong. Carlos Aranda is a legal American resident. At the very least he deserves to be given bond while his citizenship problems are addressed.

Obama: Immigration bill this year

2009-08-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

The full article can be found here.

By Carol E. Lee

Under fire from immigration reform supporters who say he’s not moving fast enough, President Barack Obama said Monday he expects to have a draft immigration bill in Congress by year’s end — but that lawmakers wouldn’t begin to seriously debate the issue until next year.

He acknowledged that the fight for comprehensive reform would be difficult, saying, “Am I going to be able to snap my fingers and get this done? No. . . . There are going to be demagogues out there who try to suggest that any form of pathway for legalization for those who are already in the United States is unacceptable.”

Obama also predicted that Congress would pass his health reform bill later this year when more “sensible and reasoned arguments will emerge” — a clear reference to the increasingly heated attacks being leveled against his overhaul plan by opponents.

Obama brushed back a suggestion from a New York Times reporter that the “blows” he’s suffering in the health-care debate would weaken him too much to take on another massive legislative fight on immigration reform heading into the 2010 midterm elections.

“I anticipate we'll do just fine” in the midterms, Obama said. “And I think when all is said on health care reform, the American people are going to be glad that we acted to change an unsustainable system so that more people have coverage.”

On immigration, he added, “Those are fights that I'd have to have if my poll numbers are at 70 or if my poll numbers are at 40. That's just the nature of the U.S. immigration debate. But ultimately I think the American people want fairness.”

Immigration reform supporters have grown increasingly vocal in criticizing what some see as foot-dragging by Obama on the contentious issue — which President George W. Bush tried in his second term, only to see it fail and cause deep divisions within his own party. Obama’s comments Monday amounted to a firmer timetable than he has set down in the past and came at the end of a summit with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts here.

He spoke in similar terms about immigration and health reform, calling both a national imperative required to fix an unsustainable system. “We have a broken immigration system. Nobody denies it,” Obama said.

CCA Loses Contract With Alaska

2009-08-08T14:10:00.000-05:00

CCA's bad week got even worse. This can be found here.

Corrections Corporation of America Announces Loss of Contract with the State of Alaska

Nashville, Tenn., August 7, 2009 - Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) (CCA), the nation's largest provider of corrections management services to government agencies, announced today that it has been notified by the Alaska Department of Corrections that it was not selected in Alaska's competitive solicitation to house up to 1,000 inmates from the state of Alaska. CCA currently houses approximately 765 Alaskan inmates at its 1,596-bed Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona. CCA currently expects that Alaska will begin transferring their inmate population out of the Red Rock facility beginning in December of 2009. The loss of these inmates does not affect CCA's recently announced 2009 earnings per share guidance.

CCA will begin marketing the available beds at the Red Rock facility to other state and federal customers. CCA also currently houses 650 inmates from the states of California, Washington and Hawaii at the Red Rock facility.

"We are very disappointed to have not been selected by the Alaska Department of Corrections, a long standing customer of ours. We will work closely with the Alaska Department of Corrections to ensure a smooth transition out of the Red Rock facility," said Damon Hininger, President and Chief Operating Officer. "Although at the present moment, we do not have another customer lined up to fill the vacant beds, these beds are located in a market that is very attractive to a variety of state and federal customers. CCA currently owns 12,180 beds in the state of Arizona, which are fully occupied, including the 765 beds currently utilized by the state of Alaska."

CCA Continues to have a bad week

2009-08-07T14:04:00.000-05:00

A former CCA prisoner continues to be victorious over CCA. Many of you are familiar with Alex Friedmann, the associate editor of the monthly publication Prison Legal News. Mr. Friedman previously ran a very impressive media campaign that successfully blocked former President Bush's nomination of Gustavus A. Puryear from a lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Puryear had previously joined CCA as the firms general counsel in January 2001. While at CCA, Purveyor had also been a Commissioner on the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission (Sadly I think all of my blogs readers know how good CCA's statistics on Prison Rape are). During his time on the CCA's payroll Mr. Puryear was also a member of an elitist country club that was alleged to be excluding certain minority groups from membership. The full story can be found here.

Today's victory against CCA goes back to when Mr. Friedman had sent a letter to CCA in April 2007 asking for information on settlements, judgments and complaints against the company. CCA had refused to turn over the information, claiming it wasn't subject to the open records law. Today the Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled that private prison company Corrections Corporation of America is subject to Tennessee's open records law. The full story can be found here.

CCA Puts A Mirror on Natchez Community (And us all)

2009-08-06T16:35:00.000-05:00

As SDC's former Warden Vance Laughlin gets ready to open up yet another detention center for CCA it seems that predjudice and fear are coming out yet again. The comments (on the local story linked below) about the detention center receiving it's first immigrant prisoners say a lot about all of us. I believe that you could find the same fears and predjudice almost anywhere in this country and that these views are not only known in Natchez, Mississippi. Whether you are for or aginst for profit incarceration and the immigration debate in whole, Natchez (like the rest of the country) has many people who can be both respectful and intelligent in making observations but Natchez also has it's share of people that cling to ignorant prejudices that we humans can't seem to entirely break free from. If nothing else then I hope the immigration debate will bring about an end to these human short comings and allow us to all become better people whether we support or oppose for profit prisons and current immigration policies.

Welcome to the Immigration Debate Natchez.

The NatchezDemocrat.com story and comments can be found here.

Bad News For CCA - Detention System Overhaul?

2009-08-06T15:07:00.000-05:00

Federal employees to again run detention centers
By The Associated Press

This story can be found here.

Thursday, August 6, 2009 9:40 AM CDT
E-mail Story Printer-friendly
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Homeland Security Department intends to put federal employees in charge of monitoring the treatment of detainees in the country's largest immigration detention facilities, two years after the government turned that job over to a private company.

The Obama administration plans to place 23 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at the largest detention facilities to supervise how the detention centers are managed, according to people briefed on the plan. Private contractors have been used since 2007, when they were hired to ensure impartial inspections. Before that, federal employees did the job.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement planned to announce details of the detention policy changes in a conference call with reporters Thursday.

While ICE is calling the switch to federal monitors and other changes to the detention system "major reforms," this, like the Obama administration's plan to enforce immigration law at the workplace, is not an overhaul. The new detention center plan includes a tweaking of past policies and some new positions.

The government has been criticized for its treatment of immigration detainees, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has made detention policies a top priority for her department.

ICE, which is part of Homeland Security, intends to hire a medical expert to review the health care protocols for the detention centers and give an independent review of medical complaints, according to the people briefed on the plan. They spoke only on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement explained some of the plan to immigration advocates in a conference call Wednesday evening. ICE said it plans to turn a detention center in Texas for parents and their children into a women's facility and no longer place families there, said a person who was on the call. A separate facility in Pennsylvania will continue housing families.

Shortly after Napolitano became secretary, she named Dora Schriro to advise her on detentions and arrests. Schriro headed Arizona's corrections department when Napolitano was governor of the state.

As part of its plan, the department will create another new position to be filled by Schriro: director of the Office of Detention Policy and Planning.

Detention has grown in recent years, with the federal government holding more than 32,000 detainees each day. Over the last four years, the budget for keeping immigrants in custody has nearly doubled to $1.7 billion, according to ICE.

Several bills were filed last week by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to revamp the immigration detention system. The bills call for setting minimum detention standards and for the homeland security secretary to enforce laws on treatment of detainees.

Report is critical of immigration detention centers

2009-08-01T02:39:00.000-05:00

This article was originally found here.
The full report the story refers to can be found here.

By Stephen Gurr
sgurr@gainesvilletimes.com

UPDATED July 31, 2009 11:09 p.m.

Attorney David Kennedy says clients of his who have been held in immigration detention centers in South Georgia and eastern Alabama routinely are denied fundamental rights.

"I have had clients who have had no access to phones for extended periods of time. I have had clients being questioned and induced into signing things they did not understand," said Kennedy, a Gainesville immigration lawyer.

"I have had clients complain they were stuck in their cells for 23 hours a day. There’s definitely a problem with immigration detention in this country."

On the eve of a new immigration detention center opening in
Gainesville, a report issued this week by National Immigration Law Center appears to validate Kennedy’s complaints.

The report, based on confidential Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents obtained in litigation, alleges there are pervasive problems throughout the country’s immigration detention facilities, many of which are operated by private contractors.

Detainees are routinely denied visitation with family members, access to legal materials and regular recreation, according to the report. Many never get an explanation of their rights while being detained, the report claims.

"The conditions are much more harsh than they ought to be," said the report’s co-author, Ranjana Natarajan. "This is a civil detention, and these folks are being treated like hardened criminals."

The Corrections Corporation of America could begin boarding immigration detainees at its new North Georgia Detention Center on Main Street as soon as next week. The site of the old county jail adjoining the Hall County Sheriff’s office underwent $4 million in renovations and is being leased from Hall County for $2 million a year. CCA operates the detention center through an agreement with ICE and the county.

This week, ICE officials did not deny the allegations contained in the report, vowing to continue to improve conditions. But Department of Homeland Security officials recently decided against creating uniform detention center standards that the National Immigration Law Center wants. ICE is supposed to conduct yearly evaluations of every detention center, but has no enforceable, binding legal rules on how inmates are treated, according to the report.

"It creates a lot of gray area," Natarajan said. "Because (detention centers) are not expected to follow the rules, they’re all over the map."

ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said agency officials "feel the NILC put together a very thoughtful report, and we will carefully review and take seriously this report, as we would any report. We are committed to continuously improving our immigration detention system."

Gonzalez noted that within 10 days of taking office, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano ordered all immigration enforcement policies to undergo a review, "including detention." In February, Napolitano appointed former Arizona Department of Corrections director Dora Schriro as a special advisor for detention and removal.

"Her position was created to focus exclusively on the significant growth in detention and detainment in the last few years," Gonzalez said.

On any given day, ICE holds about 33,000 immigration detainees in facilities across the country, and supervises another 17,000 people facing deportation through electronic monitoring and other means. The National Immigration Law Center estimates that in 2008 about 220,000 people were held in detention centers prior to deportation. The typical stay is 30 to 90 days.

The Gainesville facility operated by CCA is expected to hold about 500 low- and medium-security immigration detainees, many of them from North Carolina.

CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant referred questions on this week’s report to ICE officials, but noted that "CCA does adhere in every one of our ICE detention facilities to the detention standards set by our customer."

The company also has ICE officials on site for detainee access, Grant said.

This week’s report prompted two U.S. senators to call for a change to the system.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Thursday introduced the "Strong Standards Act," a proposed bill that would set minimum detention standards and require the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that laws concerning the treatment of detainees are enforced.

"These legislative initiatives will help reinforce what our great country has always stood for: liberty, the rule of law and basic human rights," Menendez said in a statement.

To Kennedy, anything would be an improvement.

"If we’re comparing these (detention centers) to their Turkish counterparts, they’re pretty good," Kennedy said. "But by U.S. standards, they’re pretty poor."

CCA is a 3 letter word for RAPE

2009-08-01T01:33:00.000-05:00

Please take the time to read the story posted below. It's beyond outrageous that CCA actually has the audacity to state that a female inmate "never filed a formal grievance about the rape and therefore the civil lawsuit she filed July 2 should be dismissed." CCA claims it has zero tolerance for these types of incidents. At this point at least 23 women are now claiming that they were raped while at this pathetic privatly run for profit facility. We previously posted a story on this facility here. This is a situation that should have never happened. The extremely high rate of sexual assaults at CCA prisons is a pretty well known fact. The US Department of Justice has compiled statistics that show just how pathetic CCA prisons can be when it comes to sexual assaults.

CCA claims to save taxpayers money but at what cost. I wonder what the emotional toll will be on these women and how it will affect them as they return to their past lives after completing their sentences. I wonder about the emotional toll on these women's families who may be hearing that there mother, wife, sister or daughter is being sexually assaulted while they are several states away and probably feel defenseless in being able to help them. I also can't help but wonder if the citizens in Hawaii will really be saving anything at all after the $50 million CCA gets a year plus the cost of settling what I am sure will be a huge number of inmate filed lawsuits on all of the alleged sexual assaults taking place in Wheelwright, Ky.

This article can be found here.

Prison company asks judge to dismiss prisoner rape suit

By Beth Musgrave - bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

A private prison company has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit of a Kentucky woman who says she was raped while a prisoner at Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright.

The facility, run by Corrections Corporation of America, is at the center of investigations by Kentucky and Hawaii into allegations of repeated sexual assaults. The inquiries were prompted in part by the reported rape of a Hawaiian woman at the prison in June.

CCA has contracts with both states to house prisoners at Wheelwright.

In documents filed this week in federal court in Pikeville, CCA says the Kentucky woman never filed a formal grievance about the rape and therefore the civil lawsuit she filed July 2 should be dismissed.

The Herald-Leader does not generally identify people who allege sexual abuse.

The woman is suing the company, several of its officials and the Kentucky Department of Corrections for failing to prevent the rape.

Kevin Younce, a former prison guard, was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor, for the July 3, 2008 sexual assault of the woman in Floyd County. A bench warrant is outstanding for his arrest, according to court records. He moved to North Carolina before he was convicted.

The case of the woman from Hawaii is scheduled to be presented to the Floyd County grand jury next month, said Kentucky State Police Trooper Mike Goble.

Kentucky prison officials are investigating alleged sexual assaults at Otter Creek going back to 2006, said Lisa Lamb, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Corrections.

"These include allegations or incidents that were previously reported," she said. "We are reviewing every allegation regardless of the disposition."

Otter Creek houses 430 Kentucky inmates, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections.

Lamb said she could not comment on the lawsuit brought by the Kentucky woman because the department has not seen it yet.

CCA said in a statement Thursday that it is cooperating with the investigations.

"CCA has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate contact between staff and inmates and takes any such allegations seriously," said Steve Owen, a spokesman for the company, which is headquartered in Nashville. "We will support full prosecution under the law for any criminal activity detected."

The Kentucky woman, who has been moved to another facility, is suing for unspecified damages. She said that Younce woke her up, pulled her out of her cell and demanded sex. He took her into a staff bathroom where the assault occurred, court documents say.

She was later taken to the Pikeville Medical Center, where she was examined for evidence of rape, and Kentucky State Police were called.

Younce was convicted in absentia on Oct. 7, 2008, fined $500 and sentenced to one year in jail.

The federal lawsuit alleges that CCA knew of repeated sexual assault or harassment by prison staff at Wheelwright but did not do anything about it. Floyd County court records show that other prison guards have been charged with sexual assault of prisoners, including the former chaplain.
In court documents filed this week, CCA argues that the Kentucky woman never reported the sexual assault to the prison. After the July 3 rape, she filed nine grievances, but none of them involved sexual assault or Younce, the company's lawyers say.

The lawsuit should be dismissed, the company says, because, under the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, prisoners have to exhaust all administrative remedies before filing a claim in federal court.

The woman was convicted in May 2007 in Jefferson County for receiving stolen property, fraudulent use of a credit card and other charges, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections Web site. It's not clear when she will be released.

Her attorney could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

CCA Apparently Shorts Employees Checks for Profit

2009-07-30T22:04:00.000-05:00

PRESS RELEASE

Prison Legal News – For Immediate Release

July 29, 2009

PLN INTERVENES IN LAWSUIT AGAINST CORRECTIONS CORP. OF AMERICA TO UNSEAL CLASS ACTION WAGE/HOUR SETTLEMENT

Nashville, TN – On July 27, 2009, Prison Legal News, a monthly publication that reports on criminal justice-related issues, filed a motion to intervene in a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), a private prison company based in Nashville.

The suit, brought in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas under the Fair Labor Standards Act, affects all CCA employees who worked in specified job positions from December 2005 to February 2009. The suit alleges that CCA failed to compensate its employees for pre-shift and post-shift work, including roll call, obtaining weapons and equipment, attending meetings and job assignment briefings, and completing paperwork. CCA employees were not paid for these work-related activities, which they were required to perform as part of their job duties.

The class action suit was settled on February 12, 2009; however, the settlement was sealed by the court upon motion by the parties. Thus, the exact terms of the settlement are unknown, including the maximum monetary amount that CCA will have to pay.

Prison Legal News (PLN) moved to intervene in the suit for the sole purpose of unsealing the settlement agreement. As a matter of public policy, documents filed in federal court should be open to inspection by the public. This is particularly true for CCA, since almost all of CCA’s income is derived from taxpayer funds through government contracts.

Further, private prison firms, including CCA, often claim they can save money. Since about 80% of prison operating expenses are related to staffing costs, it is noteworthy and newsworthy that CCA apparently “saved” money by failing to pay its employees the wages to which they were entitled, in violation of federal labor laws. The settlement would reveal details regarding how CCA “saved” money by shorting its own staff members.

“By unsealing the settlement in this case, PLN can publicly report the terms under which CCA agreed to settle class action claims accusing the company of violating labor laws and failing to pay its employees their full wages,” stated PLN associate editor Alex Friedmann. “The public has a right to know how its tax dollars are being spent when government agencies contract with for-profit companies like CCA to operate prisons and jails, especially when such companies are accused of violating the law to increase their profit margins.”

The class action suit against CCA is Barnwell, et al. v. Corrections Corp. of America, U.S.D.C. (D. Kan.), Case No. 2:08-CV-02151-JWL-DJW. PLN is represented in its motion to intervene by Stephen Douglas Bonney, Chief Counsel and Legal Director of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri. Other than its motion to intervene, PLN has no part in this lawsuit.

Prison Legal News (PLN), founded in 1990 and based in Seattle, Washington, is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human rights in U.S. detention facilities. PLN publishes a monthly magazine that includes reports, reviews and analysis of court rulings and news related to prisoners' rights and criminal justice issues. PLN has almost 7,000 subscribers nationwide and operates a website (www.prisonlegalnews.org) that includes a comprehensive database of prison and jail-related articles, news reports, court rulings, verdicts, settlements and related documents. PLN is a project of the Human Rights Defense Center.

CCA Staff Allegedly Sexually Assault Inmates In KY

2009-07-07T06:50:00.000-05:00

We have previously discussed the record setting number of sexual assaults at CCA facilities.

This article can be found here.

2 Hawaii female inmates allege sex assaults at Kentucky prison
Accusations not first at Otter Creek facility in Kentucky

By Mary Vorsino
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two female inmates from Hawaii allege they were sexually assaulted by one or more corrections officers at a Kentucky prison, and police are investigating one of the incidents.

Honolulu attorney Myles Breiner said he is representing the two women, who allege the sexual assaults occurred while they were in isolation in a medical unit at the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky.

One of the assaults was reported June 23 and allegedly involved a male corrections officer, Kentucky police said. The other incident, earlier this year, also allegedly involved a male corrections officer at the same prison, Breiner said.

Kentucky state police spokesman Mike Goble said last week that no arrests have been made in the June 23 case. He added that forensic tests have been conducted and that other evidence has been collected.

An October 2007 report of another sexual assault of a Hawai'i female inmate at Otter Creek by a corrections officer led to his firing.

There are 165 Hawai'i women at Otter Creek, a private prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America. In an e-mailed statement, spokesman Steven Owen said, "CCA has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of sexual misconduct and takes any such allegations very seriously."

He said the company is "in the process of thoroughly reviewing" the allegations, adding that "any public discussion" of the allegations before the completion of an investigation "would be premature and inappropriate."

Tommy Johnson, deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety, said investigations are under way at the prison in two separate incidents. He would not say whether those incidents are sex assaults, but confirmed that one stems from something that was reported June 23.

"At this point, they're just allegations," Johnson said.

Other incidents

The investigations come more than a year after Otter Creek officials said they would change their procedures following a sex assault case involving a Hawai'i inmate and corrections officer. In the October 2007 incident, the inmate alleged the corrections officer came to her room and demanded she perform sex acts.

The officer was fired, and subsequently convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense.

Johnson told that inmate's relatives in a September 2008 letter that after the incident Corrections Corporation of America immediately changed its operating procedures at Otter Creek to require "whenever possible, a female correctional officer is paired with a male correctional officer in the housing dorms/units."

The state renewed its $3.6 million annual contract to house Hawai'i inmates at Otter Creek in November. Johnson said the contract is set to expire in October.

Allegations of sexual misconduct involving corrections workers and Hawai'i inmates have surfaced before in other private prisons, including in Oklahoma in 2000 and Colorado in 2005. Those allegations were followed by the felony conviction of a corrections officer in Colorado and inmate lawsuits in both states.

Otter Creek Correctional Center, a 656-bed prison that houses minimum- and medium-security men and women, was also under scrutiny last year after a secretary got a .22-caliber pistol through the facility's security system, including a metal detector, and then committed suicide in the warden's office.

Here vs. there

Lawmakers and advocates for the inmates say the new sex assault allegations raise questions about the safety of the women at Otter Creek and the procedures in place to prevent assaults. The allegations could also reignite a debate about whether the state should be shipping female inmates to the Mainland at all.

State Sen. Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, said, "We've always had issues with the women being so far away." Espero added that he believes the women should return.

"There's no reason why we can't begin to bring some of them back," he said.

The state pays about $50 million annually to CCA to house some 2,000 male and female inmates in Mainland prisons because there isn't enough room for them in Hawai'i. All female inmates are at Otter Creek.

The practice of exporting women has been criticized because many of them have children and advocates say long separations can cause irreparable harm to families. Espero said the Hawai'i women on the Mainland should instead be housed at the Federal Detention Center near Honolulu International Airport.

In December, the state Public Safety Department said in a report to the Legislature that holding 164 female inmates at the Federal Detention Center would cost about $84 a day each. That's $5 million a year — about $1.6 million more than the cost of keeping them at Otter Creek. The report said the detention center has enough space for the female inmates now housed on the Mainland, but they could be held at the facility for no longer than three years because the center isn't set up for longer stays.

Johnson added that the annual costs of holding the women at Otter Creek is about half of the cost of keeping them in state facilities in Hawai'i. The report also pointed out that about 64 percent of women at Otter Creek had, as of October 2008, five or more years to go before they complete their sentences or are eligible for parole.

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Calif. looks to immigrant inmates to save costs

2009-06-19T14:42:00.000-05:00

The original story can be found here.

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – With California slipping into a financial sinkhole, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to save more than $180 million by cutting short the sentences of thousands of immigrants in the state's prisons and turning them over to federal authorities for deportation.

The idea faces certain hurdles — for one thing, commuting some sentences will require court approval — and immigration authorities warn that a mass release of inmates from California and other states could swamp the federal system, which is already at capacity.

But Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page said: "Every dollar not spent to house an undocumented immigrant inmate is a dollar that can be spent on health care services and education and other important programs to Californians. These inmates are the federal government's responsibility and California taxpayers shouldn't be paying the bill."

In recent years, other states have struck agreements with federal authorities to deport some inmates before their sentences were up, but those releases were done on a much smaller scale than what California is proposing.

The state's plan would involve as many as 19,000 inmates. Those among them who committed sex offenses or violent crimes would not be eligible for early release, Page said Friday.

Nearly 65,000 immigrants — most of them in the U.S. illegally — are serving time in the U.S. for state crimes.

Once immigrants have done their time in state prison, the federal government takes custody of most of them and begins deportation proceedings against them, either because they are illegal immigrants or because they committed crimes while in the U.S. legally.

The government reimburses states for some of the expenses involved in imprisoning immigrants, but states say the money is not nearly enough to cover their costs.

Schwarzenegger is proposing to commute the sentences of thousands of immigrants and transfer them to federal custody over the next 12 months to help close a state budget gap projected at more than $24 billion.

The savings would be a pittance for California — just $182 million if all 19,000 inmates now being held for immigration authorities were released — but Schwarzenegger is looking to save every dime he can. He already has proposed eliminating health care for poor children.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the 33,000 federal detention cells across the country already are full, and immigration judges could be overloaded if the number of deportation cases balloons.

California Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said that to avoid overwhelming the federal system, the state would keep its inmates behind bars until their deportation hearings were over and their appeals exhausted. In that way, they could be deported almost immediately after being turned over to federal authorities.

Since more than 70 percent of California's immigrant inmates are from Mexico, deporting them would typically involve putting them on a bus.

Officials in other states, including Oregon and Washington, are considering similar moves.

"The fiscal realities that Florida and California and other states are facing will probably put great pressure on trying to reduce the prison population," said Michael Ramage, general counsel for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "Why should the state be saddled with the expense of having to provide a place for these people to be incarcerated while they wait to be deported?"

Most of these released inmates are unlikely to serve additional time once they are home. That is one reason governors of some states are not about to follow Schwarzenegger's example.

"That's just not happening here in Texas," said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

Officials with the Mexican consulate in Sacramento expressed concern that thousands of ex-convicts could be deported to Mexico.

"In the event that this happens, we will make sure that it takes place in an orderly and safe manner, and that the rights of all deportees, regardless of their migratory status, are observed and respected unconditionally," Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez said.

Schwarzenegger can single-handedly commute the sentences of 3,200 of them who were convicted of nonviolent, non-sexual offenses. Releasing more serious and repeat offenders early requires approval from the state Supreme Court.

For weeks, the Schwarzenegger administration left open the possibility that violent and sex offenders could be released too. But on Friday, in response to inquiries from The Associated Press, Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman said the governor has ruled that out.

Schwarzenegger's proposal was prompted in part by President Barack Obama's May budget proposal to end the $400 million program that pays states and counties for holding illegal immigrants behind bars — a program that California officials say reimburses only about 12 percent of the state's costs.

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said the Obama administration wants to divert the money to border security and immigration enforcement.

Minuteman Group Has Previously Supported CCA/SDC

2009-06-17T14:06:00.000-05:00

Some of you might recall that the minuteman group had formed a counter protest against protesters at the Stewart Detention Center not to long ago. I believe the Minutemen who were protesting at the Stewart Detention Center in support of ICE and CCA were out of Atlanta.

The group linked to the shooting in Prima Arizona has since taken there website off the web. This chapter of the group no longer wishes to acknowledge Forde's role as the group's leader or Bush's as its operations director. The page can be found here. I can not say that I am terribly surprised that an extremist group that has been known to accept support from white supremacist hate groups would be involved in a shooting.

The Minutemen American Defense members apparently went to this families house and killed the woman's husband and child. A 911 call exists in which these extremists can be heard firing shots while stating "shut your fucking mouth" repeatedly. Luckily one of her children was not home at the time of the premeditated murders. During the course of the shooting she was able to return fire and apparently shot one of them in the calf according to Clarence Dupnik, Pima Counties Sheriff. Sheriff Dupnik has stated that three individuals are now in custody. At least two of them are apparently affiliated with the Minuteman group.

Sheriff Dupnik is no stranger to immigration controversy himself. Recently he stated that immigration checks during school enrollment would eliminate some of the area's "social woes" and would also help border security. This suggestion did not go over very well with local school boards and state legislators.