You might have heard that yesterday Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) Director Chuck Ryan claimed there is no such thing as solitary confinement in Arizona prisons.  AFSC and basically the whole entire world disagree.  Here is AFSC’s response in full.  Link to PDF version at the bottom.

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release

June 12, 2013

CONTACT:     Matthew Lowen, 520.869.6392 (cell), mlowen@afsc.org

Caroline Isaacs, 520.256.4146 (cell), cisaacs@afsc.org

Serious Issues with Maximum Security Prisons Unheard by JCCR

(Phoenix, AZ) – The Joint Committee on Capital Review (JCCR) met today to consider the first of five contracts for the construction of 500 new maximum-security prison beds, at a cost to Arizona taxpayers of $50 million.  The contract was unceremoniously approved with little discussion and no opportunity for public comment.  During this hearing, Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) Director Charles Ryan stated that “there are no solitary confinement cells in Arizona prisons” and that the new facilities will also not have any.  This claim demonstrates either a misunderstanding or deliberate obfuscation on Director Ryan’s part of what constitutes solitary confinement.

Solitary confinement is the condition of being held in a cell alone for long periods of time (generally 22-24 hours a day) with limited to no opportunity to leave one’s cell or participate in congregate activities, and these conditions absolutely do exist in Arizona prisons.  When questioned on this point by Sen. Tovar, the Director conceded that ADC policy allows maximum custody inmates up to two hours of out-of-cell time.  Unfortunately for the 2,000 Arizona prisoners held in these facilities, this policy is very loosely followed, as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) of Arizona has well documented.  If the unit is understaffed (as on weekends) or there is a lockdown or other emergency, prisoners may well be in their cells for 24 hours, days at a time.

“Director Ryan saying that ADC’s maximum-security units aren’t solitary confinement is like the CIA claiming waterboarding is not torture,” points out AFSC’s Caroline Isaacs.  She adds, “whatever you want to call them, the conditions in these facilities are harmful to people’s physical and mental health.”

The conditions of long-term isolation have well-documented negative impacts.  These include severe mental illness, high rates of suicide, uncontrollable violence and self-harm, and an inability to successfully reintegrate into non-prison environments.  The ACLU of Arizona has filed a class action lawsuit on this very issue, citing lack of adequate medical and mental health care in ADC facilities, especially the maximum-security units.  AFSC staff argue that the cost of defending against wrongful death and other lawsuits should be figured into the cost of the additional beds.  “How much has the state already spent fending off this class action suit and settling with the families of prisoners who have died or suffered serious injury in these units?” asked Matthew Lowen, AFSC’s Program Coordinator.

Additionally, there is a dramatic over-representation of people of color in the maximum-security units as evidenced by ADC’s own statistics.  For example, while Latinos represent about 30% of Arizona’s population, they are 40.3% of the prison population, and over half (53.16%) of the supermax prison population.  As prisoner classification is an administrative decision, this gross disparity raises concerns about structural bias on the part of ADC.  (See AFSC’s Ethnicity Distribution analysis here.)

Construction of these new beds comes at a time when the prison population in Arizona has not grown for three years and is expected to remain flat for the next two.  ADC claims the need for these new maximum-security beds is due to a lack of appropriate cells for certain “subgroups” of prisoners (i.e. maximum security and those in protective custody).  However, there are indications that ADC may have changed its classification and method of accounting for “violent” prisons in the last few years.  This shift began in 2010, right around the time that the prison population started dropping.  (For a fuller accounting of this issue, visit this link.)

The $50 million contract that the JCCR approved in this morning’s hearing went to DLR Group and JE Dunn for the design and construction of the new units.  Both of these companies have business ties to the for-profit private prison industry and a history of working on projects together for the Corrections Corporation of America, further cementing the ongoing relationship between the state of Arizona and private prison interests.  (For more information on this topic, visit this link.)

For these reasons and more, the AFSC opposes the use of long-term isolation as well as the construction of any new maximum-security prisons.

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AFSC AZ Media Advisory 6.12.13

As Arizona Legislators hurtle themselves – and by proxy all of us Arizonans – toward the terrifying carceral future just as Governor Brewer imagined, by approving a $50 million contract to build 500 new maximum-security prison beds at the Lewis prison complex, AFSC took some time to break down the ethnicity distribution statistics that the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) posts every month on their website.  It turns out that not only are prisons bastions of inequality and racial bias, but the most severe form of incarceration – supermax prisons, solitary confinement, and every other iteration of isolation – is an even greater distillation of incarcerated people of color.  That’s right folks, not only are people of color more likely to end up in prison, but once in an Arizona prison the chances of ending up in long-term isolation are also higher!

AFSC recently completed their analysis here (Racial and Ethnic Disparity in ADC Maximum Security Prisons), complete with colorful charts and shocking statistics.  Here is one juicy tidbit from the report:

 ”The focus on people held in the maximum-security units is important, and the comparison is particularly instructive for the following reason: the decision to place people in these units is an administrative one, and therefore one that is discretionary.  What does it mean that nearly three-quarters of the men subjected to long-term isolation in Arizona prisons are people of color?“

But some of the charts speak for themselves.  Here is the breakdown for male supermax prisoners, compared with Arizona census data, and ADC general population statistics:

Those numbers for the Caucasian population fall so fast you could ride a rollercoaster down them.  It’s even worse when you look at specific Units like Browning Unit, but you’ll have to check out AFSC’s analysis for that one.   Here is the same, but for female prisoners:

Be sure to notice the obscene difference between Arizona’s African American population and the number held in the women’s maximum-security unit, Lumley SMA.

What these two charts and the rest of AFSC’s analysis demonstrates is a pretty damning indictment of ADC classification policies resulting in gross over-representation by incarcerated people of color in their maximum-security prisons.  And this is hot on the heels of AFSC’s blistering critique of the classification inflation as reported earlier this week.  The arsenal of obvious reasons why Arizona’s maximum security prisons are a big fat fail for the state is getting bigger by the day it seems.

On March 30, 2010, the Arizona Prosecuting Attorney’s Advisory Council (APAAC) released a report entitled “Prisoners in Arizona, A Profile of the Inmate Population.”  APAAC and numerous high-profile prosecutors have portrayed the report as providing definitive empirical data regarding inmates in Arizona prisons.  The report makes the shocking assertion that “the vast majority of current inmates are violent or repeat offenders (94.2%).” It then goes on to credit Arizona’s extremely high incarceration rate (6^th highest in the nation) with the recent drop in crime rates.

A closer look reveals that the report contains serious methodological flaws and faulty logic that misinforms the public and elected officials, rather than contributing to a high-level dialogue on this important subject. Chief among them are:

1. These numbers are based on combining the numbers of those with repeat offenses—many of which are not violent offenses—with those with violent offenses in order to reach that shocking statistic. The fact that petty criminals and drug addicts have a number of arrests and convictions on their records does not make these low-level offenders dangerous—it merely indicates that our system has failed to rehabilitate or address the root of their criminal behavior. Consequently, this category treats those with homicide priors the same as those convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia.
2. APAAC’s report artificially inflates the number of people it classifies as “dangerous, violent, or sexual offenders” by including juvenile offenses. This goes against all common sentencing, court, and correctional practice. In many states, juvenile records are permanently sealed when the individual turns 18.
3. In addition, the classification of a “dangerous offender” includes any offense where there was an injury.  Hence, this includes situations where the injuries were unintentional and unrelated to the underlying crime.  For example, if a police officer sprained his finger while arresting a defendant for forgery, that defendant would be classified as a “violent offender” under this Report, lumped into the same category as an individual who was convicted of premeditated murder.
4. The Report also places great emphasis on sex offenses. This category, however, includes individuals who were never charged with a sex offense.  For example, if an intake officer at DOC speculates that a defendant forged a check so he could buy pornography, that individual could be considered to have the requisite underlying “sexual involvement “ or “sexual motivation” to be labeled a sex offender under the criteria of this Report.

For a complete debunking of the APAAC report, check out the report,  Throwing Away the Key, from Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice (AACJ).

As if the misinformation in the report weren’t concerning enough, it appears that shortly after its release, the Department of Corrections changed the way it calculates and reports the number of “violent” inmates in its monthly “Corrections at a Glance,” a publication that gives a “monthly snapshot” of the prison population, including demographics, county of commitment, intakes and releases, and what offenses prisoners are serving time for.

The influence of private prison industry in Arizona is well documented.  Even though they will be publicly run, the companies slated to design and build a proposed 500 new maximum-security prison bed – to the tune of $50 million of public funds – have ties to the private for-profit prison industry that are all too obvious.

Both JE Dunn and DLR Group, the construction and architecture firms contracted for this prison expansion, have worked on recent projects for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), including CCA’s La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy Arizona.  JE Dunn’s contract bid packet even included a letter of recommendation from CCA regarding the construction of the La Palma Correctional Center:

Clearly, CCA’s influence still carries some weight in this state.

Incidentally, Buddy Johns is now the CEO of CGL, an affiliate of Hunt and competition for JE Dunn. Burn!

There’s probably no need to remind our readers of CCA’s ties to the Governor’s office (but we will anyway). As Beau Hodai first reported for In These Times, Brewer’s former Chief of Staff Paul Senseman lobbied for CCA in Arizona both before and after his stint on the 7^th Floor. And her “advisor” Chuck Coughlin runs a consulting firm that also lobbies for CCA.

And as Phoenix New Times has reported, the corporation has donated major cash-ola to Brewer’s re-election campaign and her pet project of 2010, Prop 100 (sales tax increase).

“In all, seven executives with the Tennessee-based private prisons giant Corrections Corporation of America contributed $980 for the governor’s start-up fund with Arizona’s clean elections system. A warden for one of CCA’s Arizona prisons gave $100. A CCA shareholder gave $140.

Lobbyists listed with the state of Arizona as having CCA as a client gave another $560, for a total of $1,780. In addition, CCA has contributed a whopping $10,000 to the campaign for Prop 100, the one cent sales tax heavily promoted by Brewer…The success of Prop 100 is considered by many to be the linchpin for a Brewer victory in November.”

It just so happens that CCA got a contract to house up to 2,000 Arizona prisoners, starting in 2014. So, no conflict of interest there.

Here’s another similarity between JE Dunn and CCA: They don’t like to pay for things. One requirement of the RFP is to include a 5-year history of settled litigation and arbitration against the company. The list includes seven “pending matters” and 38 settled suits. One recurring theme was the phrase “filed suit against JE Dunn to collect amounts the plaintiff contended it was owed.” There were also a couple claims of “unjust enrichment.” There were 19 such suits between 2007 and 2012, exactly half of those reported in the bid documents.

Buyer beware.

The Joint Committee on Capital Review (JCCR) will review the request for $50 million to build 500 more maximum-security beds this Wednesday, June 12^th, at 9:00 am. The JCCR has the option to give the proposal an “unfavorable review.”

Chair: Sen. Don Shooter dshooter@azleg.gov ; (602) 926-4139

Vice-Chair: Rep. John Kavanagh, jkavanagh@azleg.gov; (602) 926-5170

In this final installment marking the 30th Anniversary of Corrections Corporation of America, we bring you a list of the bodies left in the wake of CCA’s relentless pursuit of profits.

Compiled by our friend and colleague, Alex Friedman of Prison Legal News and the Human Rights Defense Center, here are the deaths in custody (prisoners) and in the line of duty (staff) in CCA facilities from 1987 to the present. These names are the most vivid testament to the fact that 30 years of imprisoning people for money is nothing to celebrate.

As of May 20, 2013

Note: This is an incomplete list; many more prisoners have died while in CCA custody, and this list includes only those deaths that have been reported by the news media or cited in government reports, court records and reports by non-governmental organizations.

Prisoners

Rosalind Bradford, 1987, Silverdale, medical

Alton Manning, 1995, HM Prison Blakenhurst (UK), death while being restrained

John Cowley, 1996, HM Prison Blakenhurst (UK), suicide

Michael Cephus, 1997, Youngstown, medical

William Christian, 1997, HCCF, homicide

Charles Edward Guffey, 1997, Tulsa Jail (DavidL.MossCriminalJusticeCenter), medical

Reginald Edmonds, 1998, HCCF, suicide

Ralph Carpenter, 1998, South Central Corr. Facility (SCCF), medical

Corey Smith, 1998, West TN Detention Facility, homicide

Stanley R. Rice, 1998, Youngstown, medical

Perry Clay, 1998, Youngstown, medical

Bill Hambly, 1998, Torrance County Jail, homicide

Gregory Allen Pope Sr., 1998, Tulsa Jail, medical

Bryson Chisley, 1998, Youngstown, homicide

Derrick David, 1998, Youngstown, homicide

Paula Richardson, 1998, MWCC (Australia), suicide

Geronimo Gonzales-Quintanilla, 1998, Torrance County Detention Facility, medical (after being restrained)

Donnell Reed, 1999, Correctional Treatment Facility (DC), during escape attempt

James Lebron Hurt, 1999, Silverdale Detention Facility, suicide

Merlin Lee Foster, 2000, Tulsa Jail, medical

Cory Adam Morris, 2000, Tulsa Jail, suicide

Leonia Sanchez Arriaga, 2000, Tulsa Jail, medical (head injury after assault)

Michael Schrecongost, 2000, Kit Carson, overdose

Marvin Borjas Diaz-Perez, 2001, West Tennessee Detention Facility, medical

Shane M. Spencer, 2001, Tulsa Jail, medical

Tom Harris, 2001, SCCC, homicide

Conrado Mestas Ochoa, 2001, EdenDetentionCenter, unknown

Jeffrey Buller, 2001, Kit Carson, medical

Calvin Lamy, 2001, Torrance Co. Detention Facility, suicide

Iulai Amani, 2001, FlorenceCorr.Center, medical

Antonio Lewis Franklin, 2002, Citrus County Jail, medical

Laren Sims Jordan, 2002, Hernando County Jail, suicide

Chad Littles, 2002, Bay County Jail, homicide

Justin Sturgis, 2002, Bay County Jail, medical

Benjamin David Brown, 2002, Correctional Treatment Facility (DC), medical

Estelle Richardson, 2004, MDF, homicide

Kevin Scott, 2004, ShelbyTrainingCenter, suicide

Sondria Allen, 2004, Tulsa Jail, accident

Scott Ray Dickens, 2002, Tulsa Jail, suicide

Michael Andrew Jones, 2004, Tulsa Jail, suicide

Jonathan Magbie, 2004, Correctional Treatment Facility (DC), medical

William Henry Cantor, 2004, Bay County Jail, suicide

Stacy Allan Tolbert, 2004, Bay County Jail, medical

Maria Solis-Perez, 2004, HoustonProcessingCenter, medical

Jose Lopez-Lara, 2004, EloyDetentionCenter, medical

James L, Kirk, Jr., 2004, WCF, suicide

Sarah Ah Mau, 2005, Otter Creek, medical

James T. Sly, 2005, Bay County Jail, suicide

Adam Gene Lippert, 2005, Cimarron Corr. Facility, homicide

Maya Nand, 2005, EloyDetentionCenter, medical

Felipe Gonzalez, 2005, Tulsa Jail, suicide

Elias Lopez, 2005, EloyDetentionCenter, medical

Emma Nobles, 2005, Gadsden Correctional Facility, medical

Daniel Ray Warren, 2005, Hernando County Jail, suicide

Walter Alvarez-Esquivel, 2005, LaredoProcessingCenter, medical

Reinaldo Prado-Arencilia, 2005, HoustonProcessingCenter, medical

Juan Salazar-Gomez, 2005, EloyDetentionCenter, suicide

Jose Lopez-Gregorio, 2006, EloyDetentionCenter, suicide

Mario Francisco Chavez-Torres, 2006, EloyDetentionCenter, medical

Geoffrey M. Conley, 2006, Hernando County Jail, suicide

Jose Lopez-Gregario, 2006, EloyDetentionCenter, suicide

John T. Wells, 2006, Hernando County Jail, medical

Truoc Tran, 2006, Hernando County Jail, suicide

Brian Keith Allen, 2006, Marion County Jail II (IN), medical

Charles Repass, 2006, Marion County Jail II (IN), medical

Anthony Kelly, 2007, West Tennessee Detention Facility, medical

Latasha Lorean Glover, 2007, Otter Creek, medical

Edward Duritsky, 2007, Hernando County Jail, medical

Felix Franklin Rodriguez-Torres, 2007, EloyDetentionCenter, medical

Anthony David Bowman, 2007, SCCC, medical

Boubacar Bah, 2007, ElizabethDetentionCenter, medical

Rusty Hightower, 2007, Red Rock, unknown/found unresponsive in cell

Emmanuel Owusu, 2008, EloyDetentionCenter, medical

David Drashner, 2008, Northfork Corr. Facility, homicide

Joseph Alexie, 2008, Red Rock, medical

Robert Washington, 2008, Tallahatchie Co. Corr. Facility, medical

Terry Wayne Battle, 2008, MDF, medical

Gerald Townsend, 2008, MDF, homicide

Gregory Cole, 2008, Bradshaw State Jail, suicide

Ashleigh Shae Parks, 2008, Dawson State Jail, medical

Stephanie Rhaney, 2008, Gadsden Correctional Facility, unknown

Beverly Ford Murphy, 2008, Otter Creek, medical

Leonard Odom, 2009, Wheeler County Corr. Facility, unknown

Thomas Detric Adderson, 2009, Willacy Unit, medical

William Williams, 2009, MDF, suicide

Geoffrey A. Scheid, 2009, Bent County Correctional Facility, suicide

Roberto Medina-Martinez, 2009, StewartDetentionCenter, medical

Joseph Curtis, 2009, during transport by TransCor, heatstroke

Alan Young, 2009, West TN Detention Facility, suicide

Pam Weatherby, 2010, Dawson State Jail, medical

Bronson Nunuha, 2010, Saguaro, homicide

Clifford Medina, 2010, Saguaro, homicide

Terrell Griswold, 2010, Bent County Correctional Facility, medical

Joseph Mixon, 2010, Bay Correctional Facility, unknown

Eddie Moore, 2010, Leflore County Jail, medical

Andres Valdez, 2011, Kit Carson, transport van accident

Pablo Gracida-Conte, 2011, EloyDetentionCenter, medical

Miguel Hernandez, 2011, NorthGeorgiaDetentionCenter, medical

Derek Criddle, 2011, Delta Corr. Facility, homicide

Shebaa Green, 2012, Dawson State Jail, medical

Michael A. Nelson, 2012, Lake Erie Corr. Institution, overdose

Demond Flowers, 2013, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, homicide

Jorge Garcia-Mejia, 2013, EloyDetentionCenter, suicide

Elsa Guadalupe-Gonzales, 2013, EloyDetentionCenter, suicide

Dustin Henning, 2013, HCCF, unknown

Raequayah Shropshire, 2013, Silverdale Detention Facility, medical

Babies

Babies that have died after being born to the following prisoners in CCA custody:

Meredith Manning, 2004, Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility (Elisha Edward Manning)

Countess Clemons, 2010, Silverdale Detention Facility (Roland Clemons)

Autumn Miller, 2012, Dawson State Jail (Gracie Miller)

Staff

Delbert Steed, January 2002, Hardeman Co. Corr. Facility (HCCF), homicide

Catlin Carithers, May 2012, AdamsCountyCorrectionalCenter, homicide

Grace Cortez, Dec. 2011, Kit Carson Corr. Facility, preventable van accident

Carla Meade, Jan. 2008, Otter Creek, suicide in the warden’s office

AFSC, along with our friends at Grassroots Leadership and the Public Safety and Justice Campaign, is participating in a week of coordinated actions to mark the 30th Anniversary of Corrections Corporation of America. We believe that 30 years of profiting from incarceration is nothing to celebrate.

As part of these coordinated actions, we’ve put together a little video birthday card for CCA. Check it out:

Birthday message to CCA

Today, at 4:00 at the Federal Court Building at Congress and Granada in downtown Tucson, we will be holding a demonstration and press conference featuring speakers from national and local organizations. We even got CCA a birthday pinata!

And stay tuned for Part III of the CCA Dirty Thirty series…

This year, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is celebrating 30 years of profiting from incarceration. CCA was one of the pioneers in for-profit prison management, and today is the world’s largest private prison company.

A publicly-traded company, in 2010, CCA saw record revenue of $1.67 billion, up $46 million from 2009.

Here in Arizona, CCA operates 6 facilities, holding prisoners from Arizona, California, Vermont, and Hawaii as well as federal prisoners. CCA is one of the main beneficiaries of harsh immigrant enforcement and detention policies, such as Operation Streamline. And recently CCA was awarded its first contract to run an Arizona state prison. The first 1,000 beds are set to come online in 2014.

Next week, at its shareholder meeting in Nashville, TN, CCA will be toasting itself with lavish parties hosting rich investors and well-connected lobbyists.

Meanwhile, people around the country say, 30 years of abuse, mismanagement, and political influence peddling is nothing to celebrate.

There will be protests to accompany the shareholder meeting in Nashville, as well as solidarity actions in Washington DC, Ohio, and and here in Tucson, where the AFSC is organizing a rally and press conference on Monday, May 13^th from 4:00-5:00pm at the aptly-named DeConcini Federal Courthouse, 405 W. Congress.

As part of the lead-up to this event, we at Cell-Out Arizona offer our readers a three-part retrospective of CCA’s Dirty 30: Thirty Reasons to Kick CCA Out of Arizona. Enjoy!

CCA’s Dirty Thirty, Part I: The All-Arizona Edition

30. CCA Pays to Play in AZ.

CCA employs Highground Public Affairs Consultants whose president is Governor Jan Brewer’s top political advisor Chuck Coughin. Governor Brewer’s former spokesman, Paul Senseman, was previously employed by CCA, then returned to his lobbying job after leaving the Governor’s office. His wife is currently employed as a lobbyist for the corporation (‘Ties that Bind’ In These Times 6/21/10).

CCA has given money to Governor Brewers past campaigns such as Prop.100 and stands to benefit greatly from SB1070. As more undocumented people are turned over to ICE it is likely that they will be sent to one of CCA’s three detention facilities in Arizona (‘Governor Brewer’s CCA Ties Burn Like Neon’ Phoenix New Times 7/29/10).

And let’s not forget former Senator Dennis DeConcini, a member of the Arizona Board of Regents (which oversees state universities) who also sits on CCA’s Board of Directors. Despite his claims of being a friend to the immigrant community, DeConcini owns upwards of 8,700 shares in CCA or roughly $222,268. Dennis has come under fire from community groups pointing out his own hypocrisy as well as the conflict of interest posed by the competition for state funds between prisons and universities.

29. CCA Greases Palms in Pinal County

CCA pays the Pinal county government based on the number of inmates in one of its prisons in Pinal, as part of an agreement to operate in the county. Last year that amounted to roughly $1.4 million, according to county budget documents. The payments increase as more beds are filled — under the agreement, the county receives two dollars per day for each inmate held in the facility.

The money in part funds the county sheriff’s office, whose enforcement actions have influence over the size of the prisoner population: Under an agreement with the federal government, the office acts as an enforcement agent on immigration law, arresting violators and referring them to federal authorities, who make the ultimate decision on detention. (“Private Prisons Profit From Immigration Crackdown,” Huffington Post, 6/7/12).

28. CCA Guards Participate in Drug Raids on Public High Schools

Guards from Corrections Corporation of America recently assisted local and state law enforcement in two drug raids on public high schools. CCA operates a total of six prisons and detention centers in Pinal County, where the schools are located.

According to an article by Beau Hodai in PR Watch, it was not the first time CCA guards were used in this way, despite the fact that CCA staff are not considered ‘peace officers’ and have no training or certification to allow them to participate in law enforcement activities in Arizona.

After the first incident raised a huge public outcry, the corporation issued a statement that read:

“Our company strives to be a good community partner, and it was in that spirit that local staff responded to the request. Decisions like this are usually made at the facility level. CCA has since reviewed this practice and decided that facilities can no longer provide this type of assistance, for reasons such as liability. Unfortunately, many of the communities where we operate lack these types of resources, but we think this is the appropriate corporate level policy. We’ll continue to support our communities in many other ways.”

However, just a few months later, CCA guards just participated in ANOTHER drug raid on a high school in Pinal County, even after they publicly announced they would not do this. This time, astonishingly, they called it a “teaching lockdown.” After the first report of the raid surfaced, the website quickly removed CCA from the list of participating agencies.

27. More Immigrant Deaths at CCA’s Eloy Detention Center

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently investigating two suicides that occurred in the space of three days at the Eloy Detention Center.

CCA’s Eloy Detention Center, which houses immigrant detainees, had the most deaths of any immigration detention center in the country. According to the ACLU, nine deaths have taken place in Eloy Detention Center–most were caused by inadequate or delayed medical attention (‘Lost and Ignored’ Tucson Weekly 2/11/10).

26. Who’s the Criminal?

A CCA employee pled guilty to drug charges in April 2010 for attempting to give prison inmates cocaine at the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence (‘Arizona corrections officer caught buying cocaine for inmate’ ABC15 4/21/10).

25. Dead-End Jobs

While correctional officers working for state prisons receive $18-$20 an hour, CCA employees are paid less to do the same job, earning only $10-$12 an hour. CCA employees also receive 240 less hours of training than those employed by ADOC (‘CCA criticized by union, praised by Florence officials’ The Daily Currier 12/18/09)

24. What a Riot!

A prison employee suffered a broken nose and cheekbones as well as eye socket damage during a 30 inmate brawl over an Xbox owned by an inmate at Saguaro Correctional Center (‘Prison Employee seriously injured’ KITV4 7/30/10)

23. Deaths in Custody

A prisoner in CCA’s Saguaro Correctional Center strangled his cellmate while the prison was in lockdown in June 2010. Saguaro houses Hawaiian prisoners in Arizona and was also the site of the stabbing death by two inmates who now face the death penalty in Arizona although Hawaii has no death penalty. Prisoners claim the prison is ‘greatly understaffed.’ (‘HI inmates complain about CCA’ Hawaii News Now 6/17/10).

22. Widespread Prisoner Abuse

A lawsuit filed on behalf of Hawaiian prisoners in CCA’s Saguaro Correctional Center argued that officers stripped and beat prisoners, in some cases hitting their heads against tables while their hands were cuffed behind their backs.  Officers and even the warden threatened the prisoners and their families.  The officials then destroyed the evidence of the beatings, including videotapes, and faslified reports.  An additional suit was filed claiming that beatings and threats have continued in retaliation for prisoners filing the suit (“Private Prison Beatings Continue, Men Say,” Courthouse News, 7/27/11).

21. Unsafe Facilities

The Inspector General for the State of California (which houses prisoners in CCA’s Red Rock, LaPalma, and Florence Correctional Center in Arizona) slammed CCA for serious security flaws and improper treatment of inmates.  Inspectors found faulty alarms and malfunctioning security cameras, prisoners evading metal detectors, and discovered that CCA was not checking the arrest records of employees or screening out those with gang affiliations  (“Prison firm optimistic about Arizona bid despite incidents,” The Arizona Republic, 8/8/11).

Stay tuned for Parts II and III of CCA’s Dirty Thirty!

Tony Lester committed suicide while in ADC custody

Last Friday, 2/22/13, Channel 12 News KPNX in Phoenix, AZ reported on the two-year death of Tony Lester, a prisoner in the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) who bled to death from self-inflicted cuts as ADC staff looked on.  Reporter, Wendy Halloran fought for two years to bring this tragic story to light.  ADC Director Ryan tried to stop the damning video from being shown at all.

What the video shows is unconscionable and must be confronted.  People who are in prison deserve better care and attention than this.  Being in prison should not mean a the end to mental health care or quick, adequate emergency response.  Please watch the six minute video below.  We strongly encourage people to send notes of support for this type of critical investigative journalism to connect@ad.gannett.com so that it is made known that the public expects continued attention to these all-too-common tragedies behind bars.

Secret video reveals corrections officers watched inmate bleed to death

On Wednesday, January 30^th, the Department of Corrections abruptly announced that it had severed its contract with Wexford Health Sources Inc. and had already reached an agreement with Corizon, Inc. of Brentwood, Tenn., to become the health care provider for all state-run prisons as of March 4.

Reportedly, the divorce was initiated by Wexford, which claims it’s “performance was hindered by state monitors and a lack of cooperation by corrections.” The company was also testy about the fact that ADC had threatened it with a $10,000 fine for failure to fix staffing problems, properly distribute medication, and communicate problems to the state. Not to mention the fact that one of their “nurses” managed to expose 103 inmates to Hepatitis C because she apparently didn’t know that you can’t stick a dirty needle back into a bottle of insulin you plan to give to other people.

Is Wexford at all apologetic for all this? Not in the slightest. And they don’t have to be. They know that there’s another state legislature somewhere that, like ours, is naïve enough to believe that privatization of prisons and prison medical care will save them money. Why put up with Arizona’s pesky monitors and pay fines when you screw up when you can go somewhere where everybody’s willing to look the other way for the promise of saving a few bucks?

After all, it’s not like ADC didn’t know Wexford’s dismal track record when they hired them. Bob Ortega reported in the Arizona Republic that:

• Wexford opted not to renew a contract with Clark County, Wash., that expired at the beginning of 2010 after an independent audit concluded that “Wexford has systematically failed to comply” with its contract and had failed to provide adequate staffing, properly licensed staff, and adequate and timely medical service.
• In Mississippi, a 2007 audit was harshly critical of both the company and state corrections officials for failing to provide timely, adequate medical care. It also found that Mississippi’s Department of Corrections failed to collect $931,310 in fines its chief medical officer recommended against Wexford after the company charged the state for more staff members than it actually provided.
• Wexford has also faced fines for similar problems in numerous other states, including a $12,500 fine by New Mexico’s Department of Corrections in 2006; a $106,000 fine by Ohio’s Correction Department in 2009; $50,000 by Chesapeake, Va., in 2006 for staffing shortages; three fines totaling $273,000 by Florida’s Department of Corrections in 2005 for what it described as “service-delivery issues that were resolved” before the contract’s end; and a $68,000 fine by the Broward Sheriff’s Office in Florida in 2003 for delays in providing medical services.

And now ADC would have us believe that Corizon will do better. Did anybody bother to do the due diligence on these guys?

A little background: Corizon was created after the merger of two other huge for-profit prison health care corporations—PHS Corrections and Correctional Medical Services (CMS). Prior to the merger, PHS had 57 contracts in 150 jails across 19 states, serving about 165,000 prisoners. CMS served 250,000 in 19 states. When the two merged, Corizon became the largest prison health care provider in the country, operating in 400 correctional facilities in 31 states. Now, about 400,000 prisoners are subject to Corizon’s “care.”

A quick internet search of just the last three years of articles on the corporation’s misdeeds yielded enough evidence of medical neglect, wrongful death lawsuits, financial shenanigans, and outright abuse to give any rational person pause. Here’s a brief rundown:

A wrongful death and malpractice lawsuit was filed in St. Louis last year over the death of a jail inmate from complications of a heart problem. The suit alleges that the prisoner collapsed and died an hour after a doctor instructed jail staff to send him to a hospital immediately. Records show that a Corizon nurse believed that the prisoner’s episodes were ‘staged,’ and point to numerous instances of doctor’s orders not being consistently followed. (“Suit blames St. Louis medical care in inmate’s death,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, 5/24/12).

In 2012, Corizon paid the city of Philadelphia a $1.8 million fine after an investigation found the company was using a sham female-owned subcontractor to falsely claim it was meeting city requirements for participation by firms owned by women or people of color. A rival company owned by a woman claimed that it submitted a bid that was $3.5 million per year less than Corizon’s. Despite the fine, Corizon retained its right to bid on contracts and is up for renewal. Meanwhile, the city has paid out at least $1 million since 1995 to settle lawsuits over negligent medical care.. (“With contract out to bid, prison health care questioned,” Philadelphia Daily News, 8/28/12 and “City questioned over prison health care firm,” Philadelphia Daily News, 1/10/13).

A federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Corrections was filed last year after an inmate with a history of seizures was denied emergency care by a Corizon nurse who overrode doctors’ orders for an ambulance. Within an hour, the man suffered irreversible brain damage that led to his death. Records indicate that Corizon’s “rationed care philosophy” is at the root of many such problems. For example, no Corizon doctors work after 4pm or on weekends. Nurses employed by the state department of corrections end their shifts at 10:30pm, leaving the prisons without medical staff overnight. Under Corizon’s contract, there is just one on-call doctor to serve the entire state prison system, and this doctor cannot access the medical files because the health services units are shut down overnight. (“Prisoner dies after denial of care,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7/9/12).

Washington County, OR ordered an audit of Corizon’s jail health services after the county went $171,000 over its almost $4.6 million budget in FY 2011-12. Cost overruns were reportedly common over the past six years. However, the county ran into “legal roadblocks” in obtaining the needed documents from Corizon. The company’s lack of transparency prompted the county to amend its contract with Corizon in 2012 in order to ensure that the county will have access to financial records and other documents, as well as the ability to perform site reviews. (“Long-delayed Washington County audit of jail health services points to contract problems, new auditing approach,” The Oregonian, 8/20/12).

In 2011, Corizon was fined nearly $400,000 by the state of Idaho for failing to meet some of the most basic health care requirements outlined by the state. Among the problems listed were the fact that one women’s prison had gone without an OB/GYN for two years and another maximum security prison had no staff psychologies for at least 8 months. These lapses were in violation of Idaho’s contract, which requires that vacant positions be filled within 60 days. The Director of the Department of Corrections indicated that the steep fines were the only way to ensure that the corporation comply with its contract requirements. “They’re bottom-line driven,” he remarked. (“Idaho fines prison health care company $382K,” Associated Press, 6/5/11).

Then, in 2012, A Federal report on the Idaho State Correctional Institution charged that prison care under Corizon “amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.” The court-ordered report, part of decades of litigation by Idaho inmates, was released publicly even though the state had argued to keep the report sealed. The report states that Idaho Department authorities are “deliberately indifferent to the serious health care needs of their charges,” says corrections medical expert Dr. Marc Stern, who was appointed by the court to review Idaho prison care. According to the report, Corizon failed 23 of 33 audit categories in 2010 – and despite feedback and follow-up – failed 26 of 33 categories in 2011. (“Federal court unseals report on prison health care,” KIVI News, 3/19/12). You can read the full report here.

Here’s the take-home message to taxpayers: Privatization of anything in a corrections context will always result in fraud, waste, abuse, and neglect.

That’s because the profit motive is directly at odds with the purpose of correctional institutions. There will always be a perverse incentive not to rehabilitate, not to treat, and to prioritize the bottom line over public safety. Because it is in the corporation’s financial interest to keep prisoners coming back. And, if they get sick or even die, the worst your company will face will be a series of fines. Even if the state cancels the contract, there are always some schmucks in some other state or some other town, who want to believe the myth that you can have mass incarceration on the cheap and who really don’t give a damn what happens to incarcerated people.

Noted privatization expert Alex Friedmann, Associate Editor of Prison Legal News, said it best:

“If you take all the bad parts of the HMO [Health Maintenance Organization] and put it in a monopoly situation, then you have the private prison medical care industry…But prisoners can’t go to another clinic, can’t pick a plan.”

As the August 31st deadline for award of a new private prison contract draws near, there’s been a healthy public debate as to the justification (or lack thereof) of the state’s plan for up to 2,000 more medium security prison beds.

Last week, Tucson Citizen Editor Mark Evans asked the $17 million question: “Private prisons are not saving us money–so why do we still have them?”

Then, Craig Harris of the Arizona Republic put out an excellent and comprehensive analysis of the facts–prison population is down, private prisons cost more–contrasted with the bogus rationale touted by Department of Corrections Director Chuck Ryan to justify their plans to go ahead with the contracts anyway. All you Psychology Majors out there can use this for your term papers on “cognitive dissonance.”

Even Linda Ronstadt took a shot at the for-profit prison industry on CNN’s Situation Room Friday. In a scathing rebuke of Gov. Brewer’s stance on immigration, Ronstadt connected the dots for viewers on the influence of the for-profit prison industry, which manages immigrant detention centers as well as prisons. Ronstadt stated, “…let’s look at the money for a minute. What Arizona is spending an awful lot of money on is private prisons. And Chuck Coughlin and Paul [Senseman]…are two of her top advisers. They are both lobbyists for the Correction Corporation of America, which is the biggest — one of the prison giants, private prison giants in the country.” At this point she was cut off by the host. Go figure.

Finally, a broad coalition of over 50 state and national leaders and organizations sent a letter to Governor Brewer today asking her to halt plans for a new for-profit prison contract. The list of over 50 leaders and organizations includes several Arizona elected officials—both Democrat and Republican—from the state, county and city levels of government. Also signed on to the letter are Arizona groups such as the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women’s Phoenix/Scottsdale chapter, and the Center for Economic Integrity.

We are posting the letter in its entirety here, along with the full list of signatories:

State and National Groups Oppose Plan for 2,000 More For-Profit Prison Beds in Arizona

August 28, 2012

Dear Governor Brewer and Director Ryan,

We write as organizations and individuals, both in Arizona and nationally, to oppose Arizona’s planned expansion of its for-profit prison beds. We urge you to immediately cancel the 2,000-bed prison RFP and do not award a contract for this procurement. These beds are unnecessary and costly, and the corporations bidding for the contract all have histories of mismanagement, abuse, and safety problems—including several incidents in Arizona prisons already under contract.

Firstly, Arizona does not need more prison beds, private or otherwise. The state prison population is dropping, and this decrease is projected to continue.[1] Furthermore, crime rates are down and thus investing $17 million in a new facility is a poor use of the state’s limited resources, particularly considering the crippling cuts to vital services of the last few years.

Years of study by the Arizona Department of Corrections reveal that for-profit prisons are a bad bargain for state taxpayers. These studies have shown that, even though the corporate vendors promised the facilities would save the state money, in fact Arizona is overpaying for its private prisons. A recent investigation showed that many private prisons are more expensive than their state-operated counterparts. This study estimates that Arizona taxpayers are wasting $3.5 million per year on for-profit beds.[2]

All five of the prison corporations under consideration have spotty records of poor management, violence and disturbances, chronic understaffing of facilities, safety lapses, and other problems. Perhaps most notable is Management and Training Corporation (MTC), which manages the Kingman state prison where three prisoners escaped in 2010, leading authorities on a two-week, multi-state manhunt culminating in the murder of a couple vacationing in New Mexico. Investigations after the incident revealed that the alarms in the facility had been malfunctioning for over a year, but were never fixed.[3]

After the escapes from Kingman, the Arizona Department of Corrections conducted security audits of its other private prisons. At the three GEO prisons – Florence West, Phoenix West and the Central Arizona Correctional Facility – inspectors found such issues as inmates having access to a control panel that could open emergency exits; an alarm system that did not ring properly when doors were opened or left ajar; and that staff didn’t carry out such basic security practices as searching commissary trucks and drivers.[4] Similar problems were uncovered at MTC’s other Arizona facility in Marana, where inspectors also found that the swamp coolers were not working (in August), making it hotter inside the prison than outside.[5]

Three additional corporations that do not currently have contracts with the state of Arizona have also submitted proposals: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), Emerald Corrections, and LaSalle. Corrections Corporation of America operates 6 prisons located in Arizona that import prisoners from other states and the federal government, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A national investigation revealed that the company’s Eloy Detention Center had the highest number of immigrant detainee deaths of any ICE facility.[6] The Inspector General for the State of California (which houses prisoners in CCA’s Red Rock, La Palma, and Florence Correctional Center in Arizona) slammed CCA in 2010 for serious security flaws and improper treatment of inmates.  Inspectors found faulty alarms and malfunctioning security cameras, prisoners evading metal detectors, and discovered that CCA was not checking the arrest records of employees or screening out those with gang affiliations.[7]

Emerald’s only facility in Arizona is an immigrant detention center in San Luis. LaSalle currently operates prisons only in Texas and Louisiana.  Both companies have had issues in other states where they operate. For a full accounting of the problems in all five corporations’ prisons, please see the attached “Rap Sheets,” drawn from published news accounts.

In their efforts to reduce operational costs, private prison managers often focus cost-containment strategies on personnel and training, the two most expensive aspects of incarceration. Privately managed prisons generally minimize costs by reducing labor expenditures, including providing a lower level of salaries, staff benefits, and professional training. Consequently, there are higher employee turnover rates in private prisons than in publicly operated facilities.

This trend is reflected in Arizona’s existing private prisons. The Department of Corrections’ Biennial Comparison Review found that, across the board, all five of the state’s privately managed facilities had higher staff turnover and vacancy rates than publicly managed facilities, and guards frequently scored lower on core competency tests. GEO Group’s Phoenix West facility had a 61% turnover rate in 2011 and MTC’s Marana prison had a turnover rate of 56.8% that same year.[8] Deficiencies in personnel and programming among private prison facilities can compromise correctional operations, including basic safety and security. Undertrained and inexperienced guards may not be prepared to handle serious incidents. Security audits revealed that at the time of the escapes from MTC’s Kingman prison, 80% of the staff were new or newly promoted.[9]

There is ample evidence to suggest that for-profit prison corporations are not accountable to the citizens and taxpayers of Arizona. As private companies, they are not subject to the same transparency requirements or checks and balances as the Department of Corrections, despite the fact that they are performing the same functions and are paid with taxpayer dollars. The public has very little information about these facilities, or a voice in how they are run.

And as a result of the corrections budget bill passed last session, the Department of Corrections is no longer required to conduct a biennial comparison review of the cost and quality of these facilities, removing the last shred of public oversight over for-profit prisons and leaving lawmakers with little information on which to base budgetary decisions.

This action recently prompted Arizona State Legislator Chad Campbell to call on Arizona’s Attorney General to initiate an investigation into possible violations of state law and/or contract provisions requiring private prisons to save money and provide the same or better quality of service as the Department of Corrections. Given the Department’s own cost studies showing that for-profit prisons are more expensive and recent investigations into safety lapses, staff vacancies, and poor quality of service, there is substantial basis for such an investigation. It would be unwise for Arizona to award a contract to a corporation that may later be found to