Source: Indianapolis Star, May 3, 2007

Our position: Riot raises questions, but answers are few pending an investigation.

Last week’s New Castle prison riot occurred as the debate rages over Gov. Mitch Daniels’ government reform efforts. That makes getting to the heart of the matter even more crucial. If the administration didn’t exercise proper oversight over the privatization of the prison, other deals, including the handoff of the state’s welfare operations to IBM struck last October, will be under even more scrutiny.

The director of Arizona’s Department of Corrections, concerned that just 37 officers were supervising 630 of its prisoners, attempted to halt transfers from its prisons to New Castle just days before the incident occurred.

Another red flag was raised by reports of employees at the prison itself, who say that GEO deployed non-trained staffers to serve as guards.