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!

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 be violating state law and/or the terms of its existing contracts.

If containing costs is a goal, changes to sentencing and community supervision can help to further stabilize Arizona’s prison population and avoid unnecessary expenditures on prison expansion. The significant decline of Arizona’s prison population is attributed in part to legislative and probation policy changes enacted in the past few years that have effectively reduced revocations to prison for technical violations. A bill passed in the 2012 legislative session expanding eligibility for diversion programs has the potential to contribute to a further decline in prison populations. Continuing this trend with additional policy reforms in the upcoming session could render new beds completely unnecessary, while saving taxpayers millions and doing more to protect public safety.

The evidence is clear: For-profit prisons are costly, ineffective, and are not accountable to the citizens and taxpayers of Arizona. To invest millions more in this failed enterprise is throwing good money after bad. We urge you to show strong leadership and stewardship of public funds. Immediately cancel the 2,000-bed prison RFP and do not award a contract for this procurement.

We appreciate your consideration and would be pleased to provide further information.

Sincerely,

Arizona

American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona

American Friends Service Committee, Arizona Office

Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice

Arizona Ecumenical Council

Arizona Prison Watch

Center for Economic Integrity

Citizens to Protect Globe’s Resources

David’s Hope

Justice 4 All

League of Women Voters of Arizona

NAACP, Arizona State Conference

NAACP of Maricopa County

National Organization for Women, Phoenix/Scottsdale

 

State Representative Cecil Ash

House Minority Leader Chad Campbell

State Representative Tom Chabin

State Representative Debbie McCune Davis

Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias

State Representative Ruben Gallego

State Representative SallyAnn Gonzales

State Representative Katie Hobbs

Tucson City Council Member Steve Kozachik

Former Arizona State Representative Phil Lopes

State Senator David Lujan

State Representative Catherine Miranda

State Representative Macario Saldate

Tucson City Council Member Regina Romero

Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild

Senate Minority Leader David Schapira

State Representative Bruce Wheeler

 

Bishop Minerva Carcaño, Resident Bishop of the Phoenix Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church

Billie K. Fidlin, Chair, Public Policy Commission, Arizona Ecumenical Council

Anne Morgan-Roettger, Parish Secretary, The Community of Blessed Sacrament

The Rt. Reverend Kirk Stevan Smith, The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona

Bishop Stephen Talmage, Grand Canyon Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

 

Mark Homan, Pima Community College Professor (Ret.)

Susan Maurer, New Jersey Department of Corrections Commissioner, Ret.

Dr. Doris Marie Provine, ASU Professor

David Wells, ASU Professor

 

National

AdvoCare, Inc.

AFSCME

Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform

Criminon New Life, DC

Enlace

Grassroots Leadership

Human Rights Defense Center

In the Public Interest

Justice Strategies

Private Corrections Working Group

The Sentencing Project

 

Church of Scientology

The Disciples Justice Action Network

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

Presbyterian Criminal Justice Network

Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

State Legislator Chad Campbell (D-14) sent a letter two weeks ago to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne requesting an investigation into the state’s current contracts with private, for-profit prison corporations. The letter relies heavily on the findings in AFSC’s recent report on the for-profit prison industry in Arizona, Private Prisons: The Public’s Problem.

In the letter, Campbell cites alleged violations of:

• State law and individual contract provisions requiring proposed private prisons to demonstrate cost savings to the state
• State law requiring private prisons to provide the same or better quality than state prisons
• Contract provisions requiring private prisons to maintain safety standards and rehabilitate prisoners
• State uniform contract provisions requiring private prisons to provide adequate staffing levels

A more recent Cell Out Arizona investigation revealed that the state has known for some time that its private prisons are not saving money, so it recently repealed a state law requiring the corporations to demonstrate cost savings in their bids for new contracts. The legislature also repealed another section of the same law that requires the state to conduct a Biennial Comparison Review of the quality of the state’s private prisons every two years.

Rep. Campbell is a member of the Joint Committee on Capitol Review. The objectives and major products of the staff of the JCCR are to:

• Review the scope, purpose and cost of projects before releasing appropriations.
• Approve corrections facilities expenditures from the Corrections Fund.

Rep. Campbell asserts that he and other members of the JCCR cannot achieve these objectives without the data provided by the Biennial Comparison Reports.  He states in the letter,

“Recent investigations have uncovered troubling evidence that state-contracted private prisons are not providing cost savings to the state and are not providing the same or better level of quality services.  Therefore, it is necessary and prudent for the Attorney General to conduct an investigation in order to provide lawmakers with the information they need to make decisions about prison expenditures.”

The situation is particularly urgent because the state of Arizona is poised to award a new contract for 2,000 more medium-security prison beds to a for-profit prison corporation. The legislature has mandated that the contract be signed by September 1st. The legislature appropriated $16 million for the prison in FY 2015.

Both Managment and Training Corporation (MTC) and GEO Group are bidding on the proposed prison. Both currently operate state prisons and would therefore be the subjects of the investigation. In addition, Corrections Corporation of America, Emerald Corrections, and LaSalle have also submitted proposals.

Arizona Department of Corrections Director Chuck Ryan was asked about the investigation last night at a public hearing for one of these prison proposals, submitted by Corrections Corporation of America for the town of Eloy. When asked whether he would suspend the procurement to await the results of the Attorney General’s investigation, he stated flatly, “no.” When asked if he would confirm, on the record, that the Department was willing to give a multi-million dollar contract to a corporation that may be violating state law and/or the terms of its current contract, he replied that he would need to consult an attorney before responding.

In Part I, we revealed that state officials have known for some time that proposed for-profit prisons will not save the state money. We referred to a state law, now partially repealed, that requires for-profit prison corporations to demonstrate cost savings during the competitive bidding process before a contract is awarded.

But once they’re built, the law does not provide any penalty for failure to actually save the state money. So in essence, the for-profit prison corporations can promise us the moon, but there’s nothing to ensure that they will deliver on those promises.

And indeed, they haven’t. Cost comparison studies have consistently shown that Arizona is losing money on private prisons—an average of $3.5 million per year, according to an AFSC analysis.

The cost of a private prison contract is calculated through the “per-diem payment.” This is the amount that Arizona agrees to pay the corporation to house one prisoner for one day. But contracts with for-profit prison operators are renegotiated or amended regularly, often annually. And those per-diem rates invariably increase.

An analysis of the state’s three oldest private prison contracts, (1) With GEO Group for Florence West, (2) With GEO Group for Phoenix West, and (3) with Management and Training Corporation (MTC) for Marana Community Correctional Treatment Facility, shows that the per diem rates for regular (non-emergency) beds in these facilities increased an average of 13.9% since the contracts were awarded, as demonstrated in the chart below. 

These records, obtained through a public records request, also show that these contracts were more recently amended to promise 100% occupancy of these private prisons.

Beginning in 2008 with Phoenix West, the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) began working out new agreements in which the corporations agreed to a lower per-diem payment for ‘emergency beds’ (intended to temporarily absorb system overflow), from an average of $30.46 to $10.00 for Florence West and Phoenix West and from $25.10 to $12.60 for Marana.

In exchange for this concession, Arizona agreed to a guaranteed 100% occupancy for all the beds in all three facilities, including the much more expensive “rated beds.” The average per diem rate for these beds is $49.07.

In the cases of the two GEO prisons (Phoenix and Florence West), a 2010 amendment later lowered the guaranteed occupancy for the emergency beds to 95%, but left in place the 100% occupancy rate for the more expensive rated beds.

Amendment 14 for Marana (signed on June 6, 2011) has an additional, more interesting provision. The documents refer to a “dispute” between the Department of Corrections and for-profit operator MTC as to whether or not the 5-year contract renewal was done in a timely manner (ADC says yes, MTC apparently said no). The negotiated settlement of this dispute consolidates 450 rated beds with 50 emergency beds into a total of 500 rated beds. These 500 beds will carry a guaranteed occupancy of 100% at a rate of $49.03 per prisoner, per day.

What’s more, this agreement was applied retroactively to October 6, 2010, effectively erasing all but three months of the reduced emergency bed per diem in the previous amendment (from July 2010). It also guaranteed that Arizona would continue to pay about three times as much for the emergency beds. In essence, ADC is handing over four years’ worth of extra money to keep MTC happy.

How much money? In the July 2010 contract amendment for the facility, the state had bargained the emergency beds down to a $12.60 per diem. Now they will be paying $49.03 per diem for the same beds. Which means that MTC is raking in an extra $36.43 per prisoner, per day. Multiply by 50 such beds, and MTC will make additional profits of $664,847.50 per year– a total of $2,659,390 through the remainder of the contract, which expires in October of 2013. Not bad!

Allow us to pause here to remember that MTC is the corporation whose negligence led to the horrific escapes from the Kingman prison in the summer of 2010, resulting in the murder of a couple vacationing in New Mexico. Yeah, that MTC.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it appears that Arizona is looking to cut MTC loose, at least from managing the Marana prison (they still manage two units at Kingman, for which they have a guaranteed occupancy rate of 97%). The final component of this contract amendment is an agreement that Arizona will buy the Marana prison back from MTC in October of 2013 for the tidy sum of $150,000. You can insert your own jokes about ‘short sales’ here.

Documents recently obtained by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) show that the state of Arizona deliberately circumvented and ultimately repealed a state law requiring private for-profit prison corporations to demonstrate cost savings in their bids on new prison contracts. These records reveal that the state was aware that existing private prison contracts were not saving the state money–despite state laws requiring private prison contractors to deliver such savings.

One such statute, ARS 41-1609.01 (G), previously stated:

“A proposal shall not be accepted unless the proposal offers cost savings to this state.  Cost savings shall be determined based upon the standard cost comparison model for privatization established by the Director.”

In response to a public records request, the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) has confirmed that the “standard cost comparison model” referred to in the statute is the Department of Corrections Operating Per Capita Cost Report (Per Capita Cost Report).

For the past six years, these reports have consistently found that private prisons are not saving the state money, and in many cases, the private beds cost more than equivalent public beds. In fact, an AFSC analysis of ADC Per Capita Cost Reports revealed that between 2008-2010, Arizona overpaid for its private prison beds by $10 million.

Therefore, it would be impossible for a for-profit prison corporation to claim that its proposed prison would save the state money using this data as the basis of the assessment.  But instead of holding the for-profit prison corporations accountable or changing course, the Arizona State Legislature simply began circumventing the law.

The two most recent private prison contracts that have been awarded in Arizona— 1,000 additional beds at Geo Group-operated Central Arizona Correctional Facility (in 2003), and 2,000 additional beds at Management and Training Corporation (MTC)-operated Kingman Cerbat Unit (in 2007)—were deliberately exempted from the both the cost savings and quality review requirements.

The Department of Corrections itself provides the evidence:

“Laws 2003, 2nd Special Session, Chapter 5, Section 15, which authorized the one thousand beds awarded to Central Arizona Correctional Facility (GEO), stated that “Notwithstanding section 41-1609.01, subsections G and K and section 41- 1609.02, subsection B, Arizona Revised Statutes, the director of the department of corrections shall negotiate contracts or amendments to existing contracts for the construction of a total of 1,000 new private prison beds not previously authorized by the legislature, as soon as practicable…”

Similarly, Laws 2007, 1st Regular Session, Chapter 261, Section 8, which authorized the two thousand private beds awarded by contract to ASP-Kingman (MTC) – Cerbat Unit, stated that “…notwithstanding section 41-1609.01, subsections G and K and section 41-1609.02, subsection B, Arizona Revised Statutes, the department of administration shall reissue the revised request for proposals to contract for two thousand private prison beds.”

That one quaint little word, “notwithstanding,” means that the state legislature gave a green light to new private prison contracts without any accountability or expectation that they save money, run safe prisons, or provide a quality of service to the taxpayers footing the bill.

Rather than having to go to the trouble of inserting this exemption into the authorization language of future for-profit prison contracts, the state legislature recently decided to eliminate the cost savings requirement law altogether.

In the 2012 legislative session, the Criminal Justice Budget Reconciliation Act (CJBRA) repealed the sentence in the statute referring to the standard cost comparison model.

But they didn’t stop there.  The bill also repealed a requirement for the state to conduct a quality comparison assessment of public and private prisons.

This statute was the basis of a 2011 lawsuit filed by AFSC seeking to halt the award of a contract for 5,000 new for-profit private prison beds.  AFSC argued that the statute had been on the books since the late 1980’s, but that the statutorily-required assessment had never been completed. While the lawsuit was dismissed on a technical issue of ‘standing,’ the Department of Corrections was compelled to release the first-ever Biennial Comparison Review and cancel the 5,000-bed procurement.

Such a significant concession was deeply embarrassing for the Governor and the Department of Corrections.  The negative press generated by the lawsuit, on top of the scandal generated by the escapes from the Kingman private prison in 2010, amounted to a public relations nightmare.  And the delays and eventual cancellation of the RFP had to be infuriating for the prison corporations, who are investing serious money in their bids for a contract in Arizona.  The removal of the statute was not only necessary to prevent such hiccups in the future, it was also a demonstration of the power of these corporations and state government actors.  The message:  We’re not just above the law, we make the law.

In repealing these requirements, the state legislature has all but admitted that it simply does not care if private prisons are safe, saving money, or providing a quality service. This has only added to the growing pile of evidence that elected officials in Arizona are beholden to the for-profit prison industry. Over the past few years, it has been widely reported that for-profit prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, and Management and Training Corporation (MTC) pour millions of dollars into lobbying and campaign contributions annually in order to secure contracts at the state and federal level.

Several of the key players in the Arizona budget process have accepted contributions from lobbyists, political action committees (PACs) and other individuals/entities associated with for-profit prison corporations. For example:

• Governor Brewer’s campaign manager and top advisor, Chuck Coughlin. Coughlin runs Highground Consulting, which lobbies for CCA in Arizona.
• Paul Senseman, a CCA lobbyist, is also the “spokesman” for Brewer’s PAC
• John Kavanagh, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has accepted numerous campaign contributions from lobbyists associated with the for-profit prison industry.  Kavanagh was instrumental in the passage of the 2012 CJBRA.
• House Speaker Andy Tobin has raked in thousands of dollars from lobbyists and others associated with three of the for-profit prison corporations currently bidding on contracts in Arizona. This includes donations from the CEO’s of both GEO Group and GEO Care, as well as the MTC PAC.

Suspecting that the “invisible hand of the market” was behind the effort to remove the cost and quality assessment requirements, muckraking journalist extraordinaire, Beau Hodai, sent a public records request to Kavanagh’s office seeking documents related to the drafting and passage of the budget bill.  [Mr. Hodai, you may recall, was responsible for first revealing the links between CCA and the Governor’s office in relationship to SB1070 for In These Times.]

In response, Hodai received a two-paragraph letter, denying access to records relating to the bill and invoking “legislative privilege.” Because, after all, what good will it do to remove all accountability from the for-profit prison industry if snooping reporters can uncover records relating to influence working behind the scenes through public records law?

The timing of the repeal coincides with plans to award a new contract for 1,000 more for-profit prison beds. The contract for these beds is expected to be signed by September 1, 2012. Funding for the beds was approved in the same budget that removed the accountability provisions.  Many have questioned the wisdom of building prisons we don’t need (the state’s prison population is decreasing) and can’t afford.  After all, the state is barely beginning to come back from a crippling budget deficit.  And where was Arizona supposed to find the funds for a massive prison expansion, anyway?

Soon after the budget passed, the answer was revealed:  The legislature planned to pay for new prison beds by sweeping $50 million from a housing trust containing money from a settlement the federal government negotiated with big banks in the wake of the mortgage crisis.  The monetary aid was intended for states to assist people impacted by foreclosures.  So, essentially the legislature planned to pay for overpriced prisons we don’t need by stealing the money from victims of the housing crisis.  Classy.

On May 24, 2012, The Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest and the William E Morris Institute for Justice filed a lawsuit on behalf of distressed homeowners to prevent the transfer.

So, to recap, private prisons are a waste of money and everybody knows it. But because the corporations pour millions into lobbying and campaign donations, Arizona politicians have adjusted state law to “look the other way”– thus paving the way for future contracts unencumbered by pesky accountability measures and ensuring that the state budget will continue to bleed millions into corrections at the expense of education, health care and social services.

Tune in next week for Part Deux, in which we reveal that the per diem rates for the state’s three oldest private prisons have increased an average of 14 % over 5 years and were recently renegotiated to guarantee 100% occupancy.

Yesterday, the state legislature approved a compromise budget they negotiated with the Governor. 

The budget agreement would:

• Fund 500 state-run maximum security prison beds we don’t need
• Fund 1,000 private prison beds we don’t need
• Pay for these prison beds by stealing $50 million from a mortgage settlement that was intended to provide relief for victims of the foreclosure crisis
• Remove the requirement to study the quality and cost of public vs. private prisons

In his defense of her “don’t bother me with the facts” decision, spokesman Matt Benson said the Governor believes the cost comparison and quality review is, “of little utility to us.”  Our Governor has just publicly stated that she has no use for facts if the facts stand in the way of her corporate backers’ agenda.

There could be no clearer proof that the legislature is putting the interests of their private prison pals ahead of kids, victims of the housing crisis, and the 99%. 

Consider the following: 

House Speaker Andy Tobin took in $5,990 in campaign contributions from individuals or groups associated with 6 different private prison corporations in 2009-2010 alone.  Keep in mind, the maximum individual contribution in Arizona in 2010 was $410 (this year it went up to $430).  The biggest spender was clearly GEO Group, whose lobbyists made 16 contributions worth $3,860.  He also got a hefty donation (the maximum allowed) by the MTC Political Action Committee.  MTC, you may recall, was responsible for the most spectacular prison break in recent memory, resulting in a two week multistate manhunt and the deaths of two people.   

John Kavanagh, Chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee (which basically drafts the budget), is also on the take.  In the 2010 election cycle, he took in campaign donations from six different individuals associated with private prison lobbying firms, most of them representing GEO Group.  For more information, see our previous post on Kavanagh’s private prison “appropriations.” 

And then there’s our Governor, who has distinguished the state of Arizona in so many ways, including her famous “senior moment” during a televised debate, wagging her bony finger at the President of the United States, and being the puppet of the private prison industry.  As Beau Hodai reported for In These Times, the Governor’s campaign manager is Chuck Coughlin, whose consulting firm Highground lobbies for Corrections Corporation of America.  Her previous Chief of Staff was Paul Senseman, himself a lobbyist for CCA before and after his stint in the Governor’s office.  His wife is also a CCA lobbyist, and was actively lobbying for them while her husband was working for the Gov.  The Arizona Republic has reported on the gobs of cash that CCA threw at the Governor and her pet projects during the 2010 election cycle.

Once you know who’s actually running the state government, it helps to explain the completely irrational behavior of the people who are supposed to be in charge.  Why else would they choose to build prisons we don’t need instead of helping to restore funding for critical state functions that people depend on, like education, health care, and social services?

The Department of Corrections, State Auditor General, and even the Governor have admitted that our prison population is declining.  In 2010 and 2011 we saw the lowest growth rates on record, and the trend is projected to continue.  In other words, we don’t need more prisons.  But private prison corporations need more contracts in order to pay their CEO’s, keep their shareholders happy, fund their lobbyists martinis, and reward their government stooges with fat campaign contributions.

Only catch is, our teeny-tiny surplus doesn’t quite cover the $60 million price tag for more prisons.  Solution?:  Steal the money from victims of the mortgage crisis!  That’s right, the legislature is going to raid the money from the mortgage settlement and put it in the General Fund to pay for prison beds, even though the money is supposed to be used for “state foreclosure prevention programs, Attorney General Office costs and fees, and to remediate the effects of the foreclosure and housing crisis in Arizona.” 

I suppose this applies if you consider one of the “effects of the foreclosure and housing crisis” is that the lobbyists for homebuilders have less cash to spend on legislators than the private prison lobbyists.  Plus, more jobs for the prison construction firms and people who lost their homes can get ‘three hots and a cot’ in a private prison! 

See, it all makes perfect sense once you understand where their priorities truly lie.

This week The Nation features an editorial focused on the folly of private prisons in our infamous state of Arizona.  Sasha Abramsky, who has written extensively on criminal justice and prison privatization issues, exposes the hypocrisy of our legislators:  They say they want to save money and keep the public safe, but when faced with overwhelming evidence that our private prisons do neither of these things, their response is to eliminate the evidence.  Once again, Arizona is a national embarrassment and an example of wasteful and capricious government hubris.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“One might think that, faced with evidence that the state isn’t getting enough bang for its buck, Arizona legislators would rethink their commitment to putting ever more prisoners into private facilities. Instead, in a move Orwellian even by the gutter standards of Arizona politics, they’ve simply tried to bar the state from collecting the evidence. On February 27 the legislature proposed a budget bill eliminating the requirement for a cost and quality review of private prison contracts. According to the AFSC, “The move would ensure that the public would have no way of knowing whether the state’s private prisons are saving money, rehabilitating prisoners, or ensuring public safety.”

That’s right, the state legislature has just said, “We don’t care.”  They don’t care if these prisons are safe and they don’t care if they are wasting millions of dollars of your money.  BUT YOU SHOULD CARE.

Recent reports have revealed that private prisons in Arizona cost more overall than equivalent state-operated prison units.   Safety inspection data has revealed widespread safety problems, including malfunctioning cameras and alarms—the same kinds of problems that led to the escapes from Kingman in 2010.  The people of this state simply can’t afford the legislature’s willful ignorance on this issue.

Besides, why wouldn’t they want to know if private prisons are actually saving money?

Why wouldn’t they want to know if these facilities are safe?

Why wouldn’t they want to know if people are being rehabilitated?

We sincerely hope that the voters and taxpayers of Arizona will let the legislators who drafted this “Don’t Bother Me with the Facts” Budget know how they feel about it.

In an unprecedented move, the American Friends Service Committee has filed a protest with the State Procurement Office over the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the Department of Corrections for 2,000 private, for-profit prison beds.

The AFSC was joined by the NAACP of Maricopa County in filing the protest.

The protest letter, sent to the Department of Corrections’ Chief Procurement Officer as well as the head of the Arizona State Procurement Office, argues that the state of Arizona does not need and cannot afford more prison beds, and that the existing prison contracts violate state statutes requiring  private prisons to cost less and provide the same or better quality of service as state prisons.

 The groups cite Arizona Department of Corrections cost studies that show that some private prisons are more expensive than equivalent state units.  They also point to a host of security inspections, Auditor General Investigations, and other published data that reveal that private prisons have inferior safety standards, including faulty alarms.

The group also argues that the private, for-profit prison corporations are in violation of their contracts with Arizona.  They specifically cite Uniform Contract Terms and Conditions that require the private prisons have adequate staffing levels. 

The state has fined both Management and Training Corporation (which operates prisons in Kingman and Marana) and GEO Group (which runs Florence West, Phoenix West, and the Central Arizona Correctional Facility) for failing to fill staff vacancies quickly enough.  The state’s Biennial Comparison Review, completed in December of 2011, also showed that all the state-contracted private prisons have high staff vacancy and turnover rates. 

The current prison contract terms also specifically cite recidivism rates as an “outcome measure,” yet none of the private, for-profit prison corporations even measure recidivism. 

Caroline Isaacs, the Director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Arizona office, says that the group’s research clearly shows that private prisons are not making good on the promises they made to state taxpayers.  “They do not save money, they are not safe, and they are not rehabilitating prisoners.  If those were the justifications for privatization, it’s clear this experiment has been a failure.”  She cites a 100-page report on private prisons in Arizona the group released in February. 

The groups are asking the State Procurement Office to immediately halt the prison RFP process while the SPO Administrator reviews the protest.  They then have requested that the state formally and permanently cancel the RFP and award no contracts for new private prisons.