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.

Prisoners

Rosalind Bradford, 1987, Silverdale, medical

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

William Christian, 1997, HCCF, homicide

Michael Cephus, 1997, Youngstown, medical

Bill Hambly, 1998, Torrance County Jail, homicide

Derrick David, 1998, Youngstown, homicide

Paula Richardson, 1998, MWCC (Australia), suicide

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

Reginald Edmonds, 1998, HCCF, suicide

Ralph Carpenter, 1998, SCCF, medical

Stanley R. Rice, 1998, Youngstown, medical

Perry Clay, 1998, Youngstown, medical

Corey Smith, 1998, West TN Detention Facility, homicide

Bryson Chisley, 1998, Youngstown, homicide

Donnell Reed, 1999, CTF in DC, fell during escape attempt

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)

Tom Harris, 2001, SCCC, homicide

Jeffrey Buller, 2001, Kit Carson, medical

Shane M. Spencer, 2001, Tulsa Jail, medical

Conrado Mestas Ochoa, 2001, Eden Detention Center

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

Chad Littles, 2002, Bay County Jail, homicide

Antonio Lewis Franklin, 2002, Citrus County Jail, medical

Justin Sturgis, 2002, Bay County Jail. medical

Laren Sims Jordan, 2002, Hernando County Jail, suicide

Jonathan Magbie, 2004, CTF in DC, medical

Estelle Richardson, 2004, MDF, homicide

William Henry Cantor, 2004, Bay County Jail, suicide

Sondria Allen, 2004, Tulsa Jail, unknown

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

Stacy Allan Tolbert, 2004, BayCounty Jail. Medical

Scott Ray Dickens, 2004, Tulsa Jail, suicide

Michael Andrew Jones, 2004, Tulsa Jail, suicide

Maria Solis-Perez, 2004, Houston Processing Center, medical

Jose Lopez-Lara, 2004, Eloy Detention Center, medical

Walter Alvarez-Esquivel, 2005 Laredo Processing Center, medical

Reinaldo Prado-Arencilia, 2005, Houston Processing Center, medical

Juan Salazar-Gomez, 2005, Eloy Detention Center, suicide

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

Maya Nand, 2005, Eloy Detention Center, medical

Daniel Ray Warren, 2005, Hernando County Jail, suicide

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

Felipe Gonzalez, 2005, Tulsa Jail, suicide

Elias Lopez, 2005, Eloy Detention Center, medical

Emma Nobles, 2005, Gadsden Correctional Facility, medical

Sarah Ah Mau, 2005, Otter Creek, medical

Jose Lopez-Gregario, 2006, Eloy Detention Center, suicide

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

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

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

Jose Lopez-Gregorio, 2006, Eloy Detention Center, suicide

Mario Francisco Chavez-Torres, 2006, Eloy Detention Center, medical

Truoc Tran, 2006, Hernando County Jail, suicide

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

Anthony David Bowman, 2007, SCCC, medical

Boubacar Bah, 2007, ElizabethDetentionCenter, medical

Felix Franklin Rodriguez-Torres, 2007, Eloy Detention Center, medical

Edward Duritsky, 2007, Hernando County Jail, medical

Latasha Dorean Glover, 2007, Otter Creek, medical

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

Anthony Kelly, 2007, West Tennessee Detention Facility, medical

Gregory Cole, 2008, Bradshaw State Jail, suicide

David Drashner, 2008, Northfork Corr. Facility, homicide

Terry Wayne Battle, 2008, MDF, medical

Gerald Townsend, 2008, MDF, homicide

Joseph Alexie, 2008, Red Rock, medical

Ashleigh Shae Parks, 2008, Dawson State Jail, medical

Stephanie Rhaney, 2008, Gadsden Correctional Facility, unknown

Beverly Ford Murphy, 2008, Otter Creek, medical

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

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

Roberto Medina-Martinez, 2009, Stewart Detention Center, medical

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

Thomas Detric Adderson, 2009, Willacy Unit, medical

William Williams, 2009, MDF, suicide

Bronson Nunuha, 2010, Saguaro, homicide

Clifford Medina, 2010, Saguaro, homicide

Joseph Mixon, 2010, Bay Correctional Facility, unknown

Eddie Moore, 2010, Leflore County Jail, Medical

Pam Weatherby, 2010, Dawson State Jail, medical

Terrell Griswold, 2010, Bent County Correctional Facility, medical

Clifford Medina, 2010, Saguaro Correctional Center, homicide

Andres Valdez, 2011, Kit Carson (transport van accident)

Pablo Gracida-Conte, 2011, Eloy Detention Center, suicide

Miguel Hernandez, 2011, NorthGeorgiaDetentionCenter, medical

Shebaa Green, 2012, Dawson State Jail, medical

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

Elsa Guadalupe Gonzales, 2013, Eloy Detention Center, suicide

Jorge Garcia Mejia, 2013, Eloy Detention Center, suicide

Demond Flowers, April 2013, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, homicide

Jorge Garcia-Mejia, 2013, Eloy Detention Center

Elsa Guadalupe-Gonzales, 2013, Eloy Detention Center

Babies that have died: Meredith Manning, Countess Clemons, Gracie Miller

Staff

Delbert Steed, January 2002 – counselor at HardemanCounty, homicide

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

Catlin Carithers, May 2012 – guard at AdamsCountyCorrectionalCenter, homicide

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

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.”