An article published today in the New York Times has revealed to the world what you heard here first:  Private prisons are not saving us money.  The article cites Arizona research that shows that, overall, we’re losing money on our private prisons.

Yet, the Department of Corrections is preparing to award lucrative contracts to for-profit prison companies to build and run 5,000 new private prison beds.

Arizona’s Auditor General estimates this expansion will cost us over $640 million by 2017.  Yet our prison population only grew by only 65 inmates in 2010.

This year, our corrections budget is over $1 billion, consuming 11% of the state general fund.  In these difficult economic times, when the Governor and Legislature are making devastating cuts to health care, education, and social services, it is absolutely outrageous that we would waste scarce tax dollars on private prisons that generate no savings.

Other states, which formerly had sentencing laws similar to those now in effect in Arizona, enacted sentencing reforms between 1999 and 2010. States saw reductions in prison populations while violent and other crime rates fell significantly. Annual savings in these states are estimated at as much as $80 million annually.

If the Governor really wants to make us safer and balance the budget, she should support the efforts of Representative Ash and others to reform Arizona’s harsh sentencing laws.

OK, nobody’s pretending that Arizona State Legislators listen to NPR.  But if they did, they might learn that they are about to make a $65 million mistake in awarding contracts for 5,000 more private prison beds in Arizona.  

The reports both focus on the exploits of the GEO Group, the nation’s second largest private prison company and one of the bidders for a lucrative new contract here in Arizona.  Sadly, these problems are not limited to one corporation—there are similar examples on the rap sheets of every for-profit prison operator.  That’s because they all have the same problem:  They are in the business of making money first, and they will always prioritize profits over protecting the public or rehabilitating prisoners.

A two-part expose aired last month lays out two of the inherent risks in handing over corrections to for-profit corporations:

1.  The profit motive trumps rehabilitation
2. Small towns can get left holding the bag for empty prisons when the prison corporations go after more lucrative contracts

The first installment, “Town Relies on Troubled Youth Prison for Profit,” details how a small town became so financially dependent on the Walnut Grove juvenile prison that elected officials, monitors, and other government actors have repeatedly turned a blind eye to rampant abuses against incarcerated youth.  NPR found that the prison is paying the town $15,000 in lieu of taxes, paying $4,500/month to the Correctional Authority, and even “reimbursing” the salary of the corrections employee whose job is to monitor how the prison is run.

Who’s going to let a little sexual abuse, drug trafficking, or medical neglect in comparison get in the way of such a cash cow?  

In the second part of the expose (the amusingly alliterative, “Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns in Trouble”), NPR reveals how a small rural town was left on the verge of bankruptcy after GEO Group pulled out of a contract to run their detention center.  To avoid defaulting on the loan they took out to build the prison, the city has “raised property taxes, increased water and sewer fees, laid off workers and held off on buying a new police car.” 

Citizens of towns like Globe, Eloy, Sahuarita, and Benson would do well to study this report.  The story and even the actors may be uncomfortably familiar.  Here’s how it goes:

1.  A guy by the name of James Parkey comes to your town representing a company named Corplan
2. He makes a sales pitch to your Mayor and Council promising a brand-spanking new prison for immigrants, or state inmates, or inmates from another state that won’t cost you a cent to build.  The private operator will finance, construct, and operate the prison and pay off the costs with the money generated by the contracts they get to put inmates in the facility 
3. Your town elders, desperate for jobs and economic development sign on the dotted line
4. Everything is swell until you can’t find any inmates
5. The town is left scrambling to keep from defaulting on the bonds for the prison; the town’s credit rating is down graded making it hard for the town to borrow money for new schools or hospitals;  and drastic measures are taken like raising taxes, laying off workers, and putting off other important projects or purchases

Think it can’t happen here?  Prisoners aren’t as easy to come by as they once were.  Crime is down, and many cash-strapped states turn to sentencing reform to reduce prison populations and save money. 

In some cases, horrendous abuses and lawsuits against the prison corporations have led states to cancel contracts.  This is the case in Hawaii:  That state’s Governor has pledged to pull their prisoners out of a CCA prison in Eloy, Arizona after abuses and deaths in that company’s Saguaro Detention Center came to light.  CCA is currently the largest employer in Pinal County, and is most likely one of the bidders on those 5,000 new beds.     

It’s pretty clear that our state legislators are not listening to the warning signs.  Maybe it was those steak dinners that CCA paid for at the ALEC meeting or the donation checks they got during the last election cycle.  So, that means it’s up to the voters and taxpayers to get the facts and make our voices heard.  Private prisons aren’t good economic development.  They’re a short-sighted boondoggle that could leave our children on the hook for our leader’s poor decisions.

On November 17th a legislative committee led by Rep. Cecil Ash gathered to discuss options for sentencing reforms, and to hear a report and recommendations by the Auditor General.

Despite testimony heard by the legislative committee, and the best practices of numerous other states, Senator Ron Gould, the new Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vowed that he will block any sentencing reform bill that comes before his committee:

“That’s something that will never be heard in the Judiciary Committee this year,” Gould said. “Citizens would be aghast if they heard we reduced penalties because of budget-related issues.” (“Gould jeopardizes sentencing reform; says he won’t hear bills,” Arizona Guardian, 11/15/10) 

Obviously, Sen. Gould has not been paying attention:  Sentencing reform is about basic fairness, public safety, AND a balanced budget.   Arizona is way out of step on this issue.  Our penalties are some of the harshest in the nation, our incarceration rate is the 6^th highest, and our prisons are overcrowded.  Apparently all this is news to Sen. Gould, who said he hadn’t read the auditor general’s report, which was released Oct. 1.” (Associated Press) 

And, in case Sen. Gould hasn’t noticed, our state is deeply in the red and making cuts to many critical state agencies.  The bloated corrections budget was about $1 billion this year, eating up 11% of the state’s General Fund.  Why should Corrections be spared cuts while education, healthcare, and social services get slashed? 

 Does Gould want to deny organ transplants to poor people just so we can keep nonviolent offenders in prison?  Now that’s something that should make citizens aghast.

Please call, email, or fax the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Ron Gould, and tell him to give sentencing bills a fair hearing.

rgould@azleg.gov

Toll-free phone number to reach any state representative or senator:  1-800-352-8404. Press #3 for the Senate.  Then just ask the operator to connect you to the office of the person you want to talk to.

Tell Him Arizona Needs Sentencing Reform Because:

• Arizona has the highest incarceration rate of western states. Our prisons are overcrowded, creating dangerous conditions for prisoners and staff. 
• Arizona should spend what little money it has on interventions that reduce crime, are cost effective, and increase public safety.  Despite our high incarceration rate, Arizona has one of the highest crime rates in the country and a recidivism rate that is an embarrassment.  It’s time to try something new.
• Many other states have enacted research-based sentencing reforms that save millions and IMPROVE public safety by reducing recidivism.
• Arizona taxpayers cannot afford to keep expanding our prison system.  We spent $1 billion on corrections this year.  Corrections eat up 11% of our general fund.  Meanwhile, our state budget crisis is forcing school closures, massive cuts to healthcare and social services, and job losses at the county and state level.