Private Prison Watch
GEO Group Adds Board Member with Questionable Ethics
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| The GEO Group's newest board member, Christoper C. Wheeler (image via IWB). |
In 2004, Wheeler was arrested for a felony traffic offense of driving with a blood alcohol content of .207%, over two times the legal limit, and getting in a wreck with another car, sending both Wheeler and the other man to the hospital (Delray Beach PD Police Report). His lawyer, Eric Turner, made a public statement downplaying the incident as a misdemeanor and commented that the Florida Bar Association would not get involved unless Wheeler was convicted (Boca Raton News). What is interesting about this is that Wheeler was in fact convicted of the crime, yet his license to practice law was not revoked -- perhaps due to his work with the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida?
Wheeler's DUI case only scratches the surface. He has also been accused of patent and copyright misappropriations, antitrust violations, RICO violations, tortuous interference with business relationships, conflicts of interest, a perjured deposition, giving false and misleading information to the Florida state court and Florida state Bar Association, misappropriation and conversion of funds, breach of fiduciary responsibilities as a director of an Advisory Board, and a breach of attorney-client privileges. The majority of these claims ride on the back of his more widely-known instances of corruption: his involvement with Proskauer Rose in taking a patent idea from a client, Iviewit, and forming their own company, MPEGLA, organized by Christopher Wheeler and other lawyers which set out to profit from the stolen technology. The technology was used to develop digital zooms on cameras, a feature that is available in almost any digital camera around. You can read shareholder documents about the situation here that give an inside view on the fraudulent depositions and scheme to steal the technology. So far, no RICO or fraud charges have been filed against Wheeler or Proskauer Rose.
It seems as though Christopher Wheeler has a sizable amount of enemies from his past dealings. With such a rocky history it is surprising that a corporation like The GEO Group, one that is under constant scrutiny and the public eye, would choose to hire Wheeler. Maybe those days are behind him and he is a changed person -- who am I to judge? All I know is that I will have my eye on this fellow and The GEO Group this year. He has a lot of powerful connections in Florida, the home state of GEO, so I am interested to see what happens with him on the board.
72% of Robstown Prison Guards Hold Temporary License
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| The Coastal Bend Detention Center (LCS Corrections). |
LCS Corrections' facility, the Coastal Bend Detention Center (CBDC) in Robstown, Texas recently underwent and passed two surprise visits in accordance with their "at-risk" status. The facility recently released an inmate because they mistook the identity of the man, who is still at large.
The Caller-Times covered the story of the surprise inspection and fire drill and had this to say:
This insight about the amount of unlicensed guards at CBDC does not seem too surprising for this facility which was plagued with staffing issues in the past. In 2009 the facility had two rounds of layoffs. The first round released 35 facility employees from their jobs in order to compensate for their high rate of vacancy (and thus lower income). Then the facility hired more employees in order to compensate for a large influx of inmates that were supposed to help fill in the deficit at the facility, which resulted in an over-staffing problem and subsequently a second round of layoffs to the tune of 26 employees shortly after the prison failed their inspection and had a new Warden appointed. This facility's history of rapid employee turnover paired with every private prison's drive to profit makes the fact that the facility has 72% of guards still uncertified less shocking. What is shocking, however, is how a facility can even function with such a large percentage of untrained, untested guards.
The Caller-Times covered the story of the surprise inspection and fire drill and had this to say:
The inspection did not reveal any non-compliance issues. But [state inspector] Johnson noted that of 118 officers, 85 were working with temporary state jailer licenses. All must complete training and pass a state-mandated jailer certification course within their first year of employment.A jail commission inspector was back at the facility Friday to conduct a surprise fire drill and to check on the status of training for jailers.
According to the Texas Administrative Code 37.7.255 §255.1, a temporary jailer's license can be issued to someone who applies and pays the fee. The difference between a jailer's license and a temporary jailer's license is that the temporary license "meets all the minimum standards for licensure except for training and testing." Essentially, a temporary jailer's license allows one to act as a jailer for up to a year by applying and paying the fees and without taking any testing or training.
Uncertified, greenhorn jailers are going to be cheaper to hire because they lack the necessary experience that would warrant higher pay, as opposed to a more seasoned veteran guard. Paying guards less in salaries means higher profits -- it's just simple business tactics, however, poor public policy tactics. With so many inexperienced guards in one facility it is no surprise that an inmate could walk out of a facility without falsifying their identity. However, this situation is still an improvement upon when the facility failed its inspection on 17 counts of misconduct. One of those violations entailed 24 guards not having a jailer's license at all -- temporary or permanent -- simply hired hands without any training or authority.
This situation is also dangerous because it holds the County liable for the actions of the jailers who are acting under the color of the law. The Dallas Morning News states, "If an inmate is injured in an encounter with a rookie guard, for example, the county could be held liable for failing to properly train the guard." The longer the facility goes without training these guards, the longer Nueces County is liable for the actions of ill-prepared prison guards. These types of hidden costs of private prisons are often overlooked when governmental agents construct new private prisons and expect them to be "no cost solutions" to their prison system woes.
The CBDC was deemed "at-risk" and will remain so for 90 days after its designation in late December of last year. I would expect more inspections to come and I will relay the information here as I find it.
Grayson County Discusses Hale-Mills Proposal
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| Image via (Hale-Mills). |
- Upgrade the existing facility and electronic control systems to bring the facility into compliance with the State Jail Commission for an estimated cost of $4.5 million dollars.
- To include option one and reconfigure the sallyport, intake and processing areas by adding onto the back of the building at a cost of $9.2- $9.75 million dollars.
- To include options one and two and the expansion within the city block to add 337 additional beds to the existing 239 beds for a total of 576 beds at a cost of $18.5 to $19.25 million dollars.
It appears that option three is the choice most likely to be presented in the form of a bond vote to Grayson County citizens, according to a report by local Sherman news. Let's hope that if this option does go to a vote it will be more comprehensive than their last attempt and that it will not leave room for a private operator. We will keep you informed of any official decisions made by Grayson County commissioners.
Book Review - "Merchandizing Prisoners" by Byron Eugene Price
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Price spends the first part of the work outlining the debate and the merits to the premises of each side of the issue. As a philosophy major, I also found the references to Rousseau to be entirely helpful in understanding his point about legitimacy in punishment. "Cost is not the concern of those who draw on the spirit of Locke, Rousseau, and Hume; for them, punishment is an inherently public function. To remain valid and ethically meaningful, punishment must remain within the government...[this] is the only way punishment remains legitimate." Rousseau argued that only the punishment of the State was a legitimate punishment as that is one of the rights implicit in a State's sovereignty, thus in no way should a private entity take this sovereign right for fear of a private sovereignty which would then challenge the State. But Price adeptly recognizes that despite the warnings of scholars, some states are more worried about making their budget function than contracting away their sovereignty. He examines how cost-analysis studies are often misleading and both sides of the argument can skew the numbers to state that their side is the cheaper option. Another poignant moment in his explanation of the arguments was his statement, "the for-profit sector claims that competition is an economic advantage...This argument rests on the belief that for-profit operators, knowing they could be replaced if they fail to deliver, have motivation to provide quality service. The assumption is that the system has an abundant supply of competitors; however, this is definitely not the case in the for-profit corrections industry because, as stated, two companies own the majority of the private prisons."
After introducing the two sides of the argument, Price continues by explaining why he is against private prisons through the use of charts and graphs and other documented scholarly sources. One of the things I enjoyed the most about this work was the extensive bibliography that was used to research for this book. Not only does it give the reader a huge resource of other similar works to explore once Dr. Price's work as intrigued them to do so, but it also gives the skeptics a way to verify almost every claim in the book.
There are many instances throughout the book that were as captivating as the opening portion of the book that detailed the argument in a very concise and coherent manner. However, in the hope that you will read the work for yourself, I do not want to give away the many treasures I found throughout this book. I plan on keeping Merchandizing Prisoners on my bookshelf for years to come as it will remain a very useful resource for another ten years or more to come. I strongly encourage everyone to buy a copy for themselves, no matter if you are an expert or a novice with the history of prison privatization, as I guarantee you will learn many new facts and rationales for why exactly states privatize their prisons and why they should not.
You can buy this book in hardback from Barnes & Noble or Greenwood Publishing.
More January Woes for CCA
It appears that CCA has encountered more January contractual woes with Arizona's announcement to phase out the housing of their out-of-state inmates as of March 9th. This announcement comes during a time of budget crisis within the state. There has been talk of Arizona wanting to lease out nine of their ten prisons to private companies in an attempt to reduce cost. Ending out-of-state prisoner housing is another way to reduce expenditures on their prison system, since as of today there has not been an official bid to buy any of their nine prisons up for auction.
CCA president, Damon Hininger, had this to say about the recent decision by Arizona to stop housing their inmates out-of-state: "Although, we are disappointed with the proposed budget's indication to eliminate utilization of out-of-state prison capacity, we understand our partner's fiscal concerns in a very difficult budgetary environment and will work with them to ensure a smooth transition back into the Arizona state system" (Pueblo Chieftain).
This move by Arizona would mean that the state is not renewing the contracts of CCA's Huerfano County Correctional Center in Colorado as well as the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Oklahoma. The two contracts end March 8th and May 1st, respectively (Marketwire). These contract cancellations mark the third of their kind so far this month, following suit behind the Bureau of Prisons' ending CCA service to the California City Correctional Facility.
If these sort of cancellations continue much longer, the next ten years do not look so bright for CCA. Below I show what this month, extrapolated over the next decade, would do to CCA revenues.
| - $553 million | for the contract cancellation of the California City Facility |
| + $306.5 million | for the renewal of the Cibola county contract |
| - $565 million | for the cancellation of both Huerfano and Diamondback |
| - $811.5 M | total lost this month in contracts over the next 10 years |
This large loss of revenue over the next decade might explain the drop in the company's stock, placing them at the position they were in the first part of September of last year (Yahoo! Finance). As of now, the company's stock has fallen $4.53 since the markets opened for the new year.
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| Image via Costore |
Not only does this mean a drop in revenue for CCA, it also means a large loss of jobs for those employed Huerfano County Correctional Center. The facility will close until further notice, meaning 188 people are out of their jobs come April in an unfriendly job market (Pueblo Chieftain).
So what does all this mean for Arizona? With this incoming influx of inmates, it will likely increase demand on their current auction of 90% of their prison system. With more beds able to be filled in-state, it would mean more money is available to bidders from per-diem rates -- the largest source of income for prison companies. Sure, before companies could buy one of Arizona's facilities, but without enough inmates to fill them to capacity (since they had some out of state), who would want to buy them? This being said, if CCA takes over a few or all of Arizona's facilities up for auction, there stands a good chance that this loss of $811.5 million over the next decade will reverse itself -- although it will take some large dollar dealings to turn the tides. The budgetary situation with Arizona continues to intrigue me and I will continue to follow the developments and relay them back here.
Hidden Deaths of Detained Immigrants: The Story of Boubacar Bah
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Below are the videos, part 1 and 2, of the Democracy Now! report that goes into much further detail.
The New Year Brings New Negotiations, Downsizing
We are about halfway into January of the new year and there have already been a few significant internal actions taken across the board of prison vendors. I will review these moves, both awards and retractions.
The Bureau of Prisons endorsed CCA to continue operating the Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan, New Mexico. This facility houses 1,204 adult male immigrant offenders. Additionally, CCA's contract to operate the 2,304-bed California City Correctional Center was dropped. These contract moves are in regards to the BOP's "Criminal Alien Requirement 10," which states that both of these facilities shall be operated by private vendors which must meet the BOP standards of detention. CCA president, Damon Hininger, had this to say about the moves: "We are pleased to continue our partnership with the Federal Bureau of Prisons at our Cibola County Corrections Center, and are obviously very disappointed that our California City Correctional Center was not selected for the continued management of BOP inmates. The BOP is a long-standing valued partner of ours and we will work with them to ensure a smooth transition out of our California City facility" (CNN). Hininger then continued to claim that the decision to revoke the California contract was due to "federal wage determination costs," rather than to their performance -- the same reason everyone gives when they lose a contract.
The LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana has reported that they will cut their staff by 22% from 244 employees to 191. Additionally, this reduction in staff size will reduce the amount of immigrants held in the facility, from 1,160 to 576 (Jena Times). The GEO Group attributed this downsizing to "the economy" and claimed it would be a short-lived problem. There is no word yet as to how this will affect ICE.
Additionally, The BOP has endorsed Cornell Companies to house 2,507 immigrant detainees at their D. Ray James facility in Folkston, GA. The contract is effective October 2010, and prior to this time, Cornell Companies expects to spend up to $10 million to prepare for this influx of inmates (CNN).
Kentucky Governor Moves Female Inmates to State Prison
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| Otter Creek Correctional Center (CCA). |
Kentucky's investigation into the matter resulted in a few precautionary measures put in place at the facility in order to keep this from happening. Roger Alford of the Associated Press explained further:"The (Kentucky) governor's actions validate what we were saying all along," Hawai'i Senate Public Safety Committee chairman Will Espero said yesterday. He added, "It is difficult to have a group of inmates on the Mainland and monitor them."
Some two dozen female inmates who were at Otter Creek, including at least seven Hawai'i inmates, have made allegations of sexual abuse against Otter Creek guards and other employees. Some of those allegations were made as far back as 2006.
In July 2009, Kentucky corrections officials opened an investigation into the prison, after being notified of a letter sent from a Hawai'i inmate to her mother that identified 19 Kentucky and Hawai'i women making allegations of sexual abuse.
That investigation, completed in September, found that Otter Creek failed to report to authorities several incidents of sexual misconduct between workers and inmates back to 2007, including a handful of instances that resulted in the firing of employees.
For the state, who is the client in this business deal, to have to step in and recommend solutions to problems and even deal with staffing priorities shows just how incompetent companies can be at running a corrections facility. By transferring the female inmates into a state prison, Kentucky is taking out the middle-man in this deal and caring for the abused women themselves, instead of issuing demands to CCA in order to solve the problem that originated with the company itself. At least 6 different employees at the facility have been charged with sex crimes involving inmates at the facility, and a 7th case is on the way to a Kentucky grand jury in February (Kentucky Courier-Journal). Maybe it's just me, but seven different cases of sexual abuse is more than "a few bad apples."State investigators had made a series of demands to protect women inmates at Otter Creek, including basic strategies like assigning female guards to supervise sleeping quarters, hiring a female security chief, and shuffling staffing so that at least 40 percent of the work force is female.
Beshear said finding enough women willing to work as corrections officers at Otter Creek had been difficult.
...Company spokesman Steve Owen previously said that his company had taken steps to prevent sexual assaults in the prison. Those steps, he said, included installing video cameras to deter sexual misconduct and to help investigators determine the validity of future allegations.
Owen had said "the rogue actions of a few bad apples" led to an unfair characterizations of Otter Creek employees.
This is not the end of the Otter Creek facility, however. With the moving out of the female inmates comes a moving in of male inmates from another Kentucky jail to Otter Creek. Why, after this performance, the state of Kentucky would continue to want anything to do with CCA or the Otter Creek facility is beyond me. Kentucky should follow the lead of Hawai'i, and remove their inmates (male or female), entirely, before something like this happens again.
Family Plans to Sue The GEO Group for Wrongful Death
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| Protesters gather with 9 coffins representing the 9 dead at RCDC (TPB). |
The riots that followed Galindo's death were our second most important story of 2009 on Texas Prison Bid'Ness, and you can read more about it there. I will relay anything I learn about the status of this lawsuit as more develops.
PPW Referenced in Arizona Capitol Times
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| 12/14 Issue of the Arizona Capitol Times, featuring Private Prison Watch. |
Andrew Strong, who runs the Texas-based private-prison watchdog Web site Private Prison Watch, said ceding operation of the state’s most dangerous inmates to private companies is bad public policy.
“States owe it to their general public to follow through with the punishment that is administered instead of avoiding the responsibility altogether and placing it in the hands of less-qualified personnel
because of a faulty budget plan,” he said. “The blanket selling off of one of the state’s highest responsibilities is not only cowardly but a slap in the face to anyone who pays taxes in Arizona..."...The magnitude of the privatization also presents problems for prison companies, said Strong, who runs a Web site that monitors private prisons. And it will be difficult to make money from the facilities because it costs a lot of money to incarcerate high-risk and maximum-security inmates.
“Private prison corporations, much like any other corporation, have an unyielding desire to make money,” Strong said.
He said private prisons tend to hire inexperienced guards because they are less expensive, which makes the firms better suited to manage facilities with lower-risk inmates. Many private prisons nationwide house such low-security inmates as drug offenders and drunk drivers.
“I am confident that there are no existing private prison companies that could provide sufficient security measures to house death row inmates,” Strong said.
My thanks to Jim Small for reading the blog and for spending his time writing about the issue of widespread jail privatization in his state.
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