tagged w/ PRIVATE PRISONS
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Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez is a 50 year old legal resident with a mental disability. In 2004 Gomez was detained because of a dispute at a grocery store over a bag of tomatoes.
Guillermo spent 2 years at a private CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) detention facility - the corporation neglected to report his medical condition.
CCA profited close to $90,000 off of Gomez' incarceration, and ensured greater profit by failing to disclose his mental disability effectively leaving Guillermo trapped for 2 years. In 2010 CCA CEO Damon T. Hininger received $3,266,387 in total compensations.
Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez is a 50 year old legal resident with a mental disability. In... more
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Sign petition at immigrantsforsale. org
Roberto Martinez-Medina died in CCA's Stewart Detention Center in Georgia in 2009. Medina had been arrested a month earlier for not having a driver's license.
CCA whistleblower Brian Holcomb spoke with us exclusively to expose how the company repeatedly ignored Medina's pleas for care of his heart ailment while he was imprisoned. Their negligence contributed to Medina's death.
CCA profited off of Medina's incarceration, and ensured a greater profit by denying him critical health care. The inhumane conditions at CCA facilities are directly related to their obsession in cutting costs for profit.
CCA has gone to great lengths to hush Medina's death.Sign petition at immigrantsforsale. org
Roberto Martinez-Medina died in CCA's... more
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The US has more people behind bars than any other country in the world (Image from allisonkilkenny.com)
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With well over two million people in jail, the US has the highest prison population in the world. But some are seeing the inside of a cell because dodgy judges are getting kickbacks from the private sector.
Two Pennsylvania judges have made a killing on juvenile prisons. Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan were convicted of receiving payoffs of more than two million dollars from the developers of several private detention centers.
According to parents, however, the real crime is that these judges sent more than 5,000 children to those very facilities for crimes as small as fighting on a school bus or posting a parody of their teacher on the web.
Sandy Fonzo’s 17-year-old son Edward was a promising student and sportsman when he was arrested at an underage party. Judge Ciavarella locked him up for six months. Shortly after he got out, Edward committed suicide.
“He never looked into the whole picture of the kids,” Sandy Fonzo explains. “He lined them up one by one and he sent them away, shackled them, sent them to places [where] god knows what went on, and then he throws them back. How does a kid deal with that? My son just never recovered from it.”
Ciavarella sent a 12-year-old boy to jail for two years for scratching his mom’s car while joy-riding. He also locked up a teenager for several months over throwing a piece of steak at his mother’s boyfriend.
“I could not believe that I could be sent away for something as stupid as throwing a steak,” the young man said later.
The case of the two Pennsylvania judges being in bed with local private prisons could be just the tip of the iceberg. A recent report revealed America’s largest prison corporations pour hundreds of thousands into the campaigns of governors, state legislators and judges in the hope of advancing their agenda. And it seems to be working.
The number of private prisons in the US is growing rapidly.
“All their money, every penny they get is tax payer dollars they get from the government,” an activist Paul Wright explains. “So, what they do is, they get the money from the government to house prisoners and they turn around and spend some of that money by giving it back to the politicians that pushed the laws and the policies that lead to both more people being incarcerated and more people being incarcerated in private prisons. So, it’s almost money laundering of tax dollars.”
And as the number of prisons increases, so to does the number of prisoners. The US has 2.3 million people behind bars, more than any other country in the world. China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison.
“You’ve seen prison populations pretty consistently, over the last three decades, move up a couple percent a year…and, unfortunately, as a citizen, that’s not the most exciting statistic. However, when you look at it from a business model perspective, for the private operators, it’s clearly good news”, T.C. Robillard, a managing director at Signal Hill investment banking firm, said in his CNBC interview.
The good news for the prison industrial complex turned into a nightmare for thousands of underage victims of the two judges in Pennsylvania.
“There is an incentive in private industry, obviously, to make money, that’s what private industry is for,” Barry Dyller explains. “So, there’s an incentive to have more prisoners and incentive to keep those prisoners incarcerated for longer periods of time. There’s really no incentive for rehabilitation, incentives are reversed.”
The so-called cash-for-kids case in Pennsylvania showed just how backwards the incentives can be, and raised the question: with judges interested in sending people away for longer terms and keeping their benefactors’ private prisons full, what justice can one count on?
http://rt.com/news/us-people-private-two/The US has more people behind bars than any other country in the world (Image from... more
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Here is another example of the private sector literally enslaving Americans and profiting on our tax dollars.
Over the last several decades, the nation’s prison population has tripled and annual prison spending increased by over $40 billion dollars. State and federal budgets are pushed to the limits as they work to fund existing prisons and jails. To further complicate matters, the high numbers of offenders who recidivate, or return to jail, burden an already crowded system. It seems that no one – inmates, prison officials – is “winning.” No one, that is, except for the private corporations that now run many of the country’s prisons.
For the most part, the nation’s prisons fall under the guidance of both the federal and state governments. However, more and more states are allowing private contractors to step in and build and manage prisons. Supporters of prison privatization say the practice takes the heavy burden of prison facility management off of the government, freeing up money and streamlining prison operations.
But, how accountable are these contractors? Is protecting their bottom line more important that properly protecting and rehabilitating the prisoners? If you’re familiar with recent incidents at Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Jackson, Miss., you might be inclined to think that to private contractors who run prisons, profit trumps all.
Walnut Grove houses young men, 90 percent of whom are African American, between the ages of 13 and 22. The facility is run by GEO Group, the nation’s second largest provider of private correctional facility management services. The company is being sued by dozens of family members of inmates who say the corporation failed to provide adequate security in the prison.
The families allege that the prison forces the young men to live in sub-standard conditions, where they are subject to excessive force from staff and are sexually preyed upon by other inmates and staff. One of the most startling stories to come from the families is that of 21-year-old Mike McIntosh II. A 2010 riot at the prison left McIntosh, a former athlete, so severely brain damaged that he struggles with short-term memory and has lost some function in his right leg and arm. If you think that the violence at Walnut Grove cannot be avoided because the institution is full of heinous, violent criminals, consider this: of the 1,200 young men incarcerated there, more than two-thirds are jailed for nonviolent offenses.
Only a thorough investigation will uncover exactly what’s going on at Walnut Grove but, based on the facts we have so far, it’s easy to see that the prison has failed to provide the staff needed to keep these young men safe. And, if they can’t keep them safe, they surely won’t be able to rehabilitate them. Many of those incarcerated don’t have a high school education: their job prospects and hope for the future were grim, so they turned to crime to escape poverty. If they aren’t given the tools they need while in prison, namely an education and counseling, they are more likely to return.
These private contractors are making money by incarcerating young people, many of whom would be better served by being sentenced to intensive drug counseling and being properly educated. If the government can’t handle the challenge managing prisons presents, it needs to set guidelines that holds private management firms accountable for the inmate’s safety and their rehabilitation.
It is disgusting that this issue does not get any coverage in the main stream media.Here is another example of the private sector literally enslaving Americans and... more
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Human rights groups around the country participated in a National Day of Action yesterday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration Customs and Enforcement's (ICE) 2009 detention reform announcement. Activists called for an end to the human rights abuses in detention centers, the restoration of due process in the enforcement of immigration laws, and the implementation of cost saving alternatives.
Marking the first anniversary of the Obama Administration's announced intent to reform the immigration detention system, today's actions are part of the "Dignity, Not Detention: Preserving Human Rights and Restoring Justice" campaign led by the Detention Watch Network.
Year One Report Card, a joint report released today by human rights groups, reveals that many who are detained still suffer egregious human rights violations while in custody. Immigrants continue to be jailed for months or even years under substandard conditions. Mistreatment by guards, grossly deficient medical care, use of solitary confinement, and limited access to family and counsel remain persistent problems.
Last year, ICE promised to move away from the sprawling network of jails and prisons it uses to detain immigrants toward a less punitive model and take concrete steps to improve conditions of confinement for the nearly 400,000 people detained each year. But according to the report, the agency's reform agenda has been compromised by a growing detention population, internal opposition to reform by local ICE officials, and the expansion of ICE enforcement programs like 287(g), Secure Communities, and the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) that rely on local law enforcement agencies to channel more and more immigrants into the detention system.
"What the Year One Report Card shows is that the steps the Obama Administration has taken this year are not enough to bring about meaningful changes in the lives of immigrants," said Emily Tucker, Policy and Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network. "Until ICE limits detention to only those rare cases where it has been shown necessary to ensure public safety, the human rights crisis in the U.S. immigration detention and deportation system will persist."
Participants in the National Day of Action called for the restoration of human rights within the detention system, and an end to programs that indiscriminately channel immigrants into the detention and deportation system. Coordinated educational actions occurred across the country in cities including Austin, TX, Freehold, NJ, Minneapolis, MN, Seattle, WA and Trenton, NJ.
To view the Year One Report Card please visit: http://www.allvoices.com/s/event-6953888/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5kZXRlbnRpb253YXRjaG5ldHdvcmsub3JnLw==
To learn more about the Dignity Not Detention Campaign please visit: http://detentionwatchnetwork.org
and http://www.grassrootsleadership.org
This is a zgraphix production.
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
http://zgraphix.orgHuman rights groups around the country participated in a National Day of Action... more
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Reports reveal that private prison corporations with interests and operations in Arizona stand to benefit and profit greatly as a result of immigration laws like SB1070. And, that isn’t altogether surprising because these same reports are indicating these corporations played a role in influencing the law, which is proof that border politics and the private prison businesses are tied.
Progressive news magazine, In These Times, reported on State Sen. Russell Pearce’s (R-Mesa) involvement in the passage of the Arizona immigration law and his ties to private prison corporations. The report explains how Pearce submitted a version of the legislation to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)," an organization which he and 35 other Arizona legislators belong," a "full month and a half before SB1070 was introduced to the Arizona Senate and nearly two months before its counterpart was first read in the House."
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, ALEC bills itself as "the nation’s largest bipartisan, individual membership association of state legislators" and as a public-private legislative partnership. As such, ALEC claims as members more than 2,000 state lawmakers (one-third of the nation’s total legislators) and more than 200 corporations and special-interest groups.
The organization’s current corporate roster includes the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA, the nation’s largest private jailer), the Geo Group (the nation’s second largest private jailer), Sodexho Marriott (the nation’s leading food services provider to private correctional institutions), the Koch Foundation, Exxon Mobil, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Boeing, Wal-Mart and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, to name just a few.
Rachel Maddow covered ties between private prison corporations in Arizona and Arizona’s lawmakers on her show Thursday night:
"Last year, Arizona state officials moved legislation to try to privatize the whole state prison system. Arizona planned to "seek bids from private companies for nine of the state’s 10 prison complexes." It was the first effort by a state to put its entire prison system under private control.
Great news for the private prison companies, right? Great news, in particular, for Corrections Corporation of America, which is the single largest private prison company in the country. CCA already runs six detention facilities in Arizona. They hold prisoners from other states at their facilities in Arizona. They also hold the federal contract to hold federal detainees in the state.
So, you know what would be awesome for a company like that? You know what would be awesome? What would be really awesome for the shareholders and everybody if the state of Arizona started producing a whole lot more federal detainees — people detain on federal issues, federal issues like, I don’t know, say, immigration violations.
Read the rest at the above link.Reports reveal that private prison corporations with interests and operations in... more
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An investigative report released this month by In These Times details how Arizona’s anti-immigrant S.B. 1070 law not only promises dramatic financial benefits for the private prison industry, but that lobbyists and administrators working for private prison corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group, played substantial parts in drafting and ensuring the passage of the bill.
Connections
In spite of claims to the contrary by Arizona Senator Russell Pearce’s (R-Mesa), records indicate that the legislator submitted a draft version of his S.B. 1070 bill for revisions to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a legislative consulting firm made up of elected officials and business leaders.An investigative report released this month by In These Times details how... more
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Gee, I wonder if Greta Van Susteren will ask Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer about this the next time she comes on her show fear mongering about Arizona's illegal immigration problem? Seems she has some advisers that have lobbying ties to the private prison industry. Color me not shocked. From KPHO-5, Phoenix, AZ:
Hotel Owners: Ariz. Politicians Scaring Tourists - Private Prisons Might Gain From New Immigration Law:
Between the economy and boycotts related to Arizona’s tough new immigration law, SB 1070, tourism in the state is down 10 percent.
They said state politicians are not helping matters. Just flip on cable news, and you’re likely to see an anchor or reporter talking about an invasion at the border, or headless bodies in the desert, or a rash of kidnappings.
During this election cycle, Arizona politicians have touted the potential danger of illegal immigration. Gov. Jan Brewer is one of the loudest voices.
She has made several statements to the national media, the validity of which CBS 5 Investigates could not confirm. The governor told one media outlet that almost all illegal immigrants are bringing drugs across the border. U.S. Border Patrol officials said that statement is false.
Brewer also said law enforcement officials have found decapitated bodies in the desert. Calls to all of Arizona’s border county medical examiners revealed no decapitated bodies have been reported to them.
A look at data from the FBI shows crime in Arizona is actually down. Murders in Phoenix have dropped by 50 percent since 2003. The violent crime rate across the state has dropped every year since at least 2004. Even the number of illegal border crossers is down. Border Patrol numbers show they are arresting half as many illegal immigrants as they did in 2004. [...]
In the meantime, a CBS 5 investigation revealed that there is one business that could gain from the implementation of SB 1070 and similar immigration measures. The private prison industry houses illegal immigrant detainees for the federal government. Those companies could gain contracts with state and local agencies to house illegal immigrants arrested for state violations.
Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, holds the federal contract to house detainees in Arizona. The company bills $11 million per month. CBS 5 Investigates has learned that two of Brewer’s top advisers have connections to CCA.
Paul Senseman is the governor’s deputy chief of staff. He is also a former lobbyist for CCA. His wife is listed as a current lobbyist for the company.
Chuck Coughlin is one of the governor’s policy advisers and her campaign chairman. Coughlin’s company, HighGround Public Affairs Consultants, currently lobbies for CCA.
CCA issued the following statement to CBS 5 Investigates:
“CCA, unequivocally, did not at any time lobby - nor did we have any outside consultants lobby - anyone in Arizona on the immigration law. Nor are we proposing to house detainee immigrants as a result of SB 1070. We currently have no contracts with the State or any counties. CCA very proudly does have a presence in Arizona, as we own and operate 6 correctional facilities, employing more than 2,500 Arizona residents. These contracts are with other state and federal jurisdictions.”
Meanwhile, at Rancho de la Osa, Richard and Veronica Schultz said they don’t know much about the motives behind the politicians making alarming statements about the border. Read on...Gee, I wonder if Greta Van Susteren will ask Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer about this the... more
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Britain's private prisons are performing worse than those run by the state, according to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act
Private prisons in England and Wales now account for 11 per cent of the prison population, holding around 9,100 prisoners. England and Wales have the most privatised prison system in Europe. Australia has 17 per cent of its prisoners held in private prisons and the US has 7.2 per cent. A Prison Service spokesperson said: "To claim that there is a difference in performance between public and private prisons based on these statistics is entirely misleading. It is also disingenuous to try to compare the average rating of the 122 publicly run prisons with the 11 privately run prisons.
A report published today claims that the Government could save £1bn a year if petty criminals with drug problems were given comunity based sentences. Make Justice Work, the criminal Justice charity, says that diverting one offender from custody to residential drug treatment would save the tax-payer approximately £200,000 over the lifetime of the offender.
It is morally right for a government to pay private companies to keep their criminals so that the companies can make a profit?
These prison workers are our very own chinese workers, albeit somewhat better treated, but still working 30 hour weeks for a few pound, maximising even more profit for the companies who lease out their work for peanuts to other companies such as virgin who pay a small price to have inmates pack their headphones among others.
You might want to check out serco, who run a lot of private prisons, and essentially run a large part of the world with their stakes in every angle of public service.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serco
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/private-prisons-performing-worse-than-staterun-jails-1722936.htmlBritain's private prisons are performing worse than those run by the state,... more
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PRIVATE PRISONS ARE BACK...
Outlawed at the beginning of the 20th Century, private corporations are once again owning and operating prisons for profit. A controversial issue which dates back to the days that followed the Emancipation Proclamation, CORRECTIONS examines its re-appearance today amidst globalization and the most awesome growth of prisons in all of modern history, painting a complex portrait of what many are calling the "prison industrial complex."
CLICK FOR FULL ATRICLE....PRIVATE PRISONS ARE BACK...
Outlawed at the beginning of the 20th Century, private... more
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