Recently in Corrections Category

Source: By Jeff Waters, Democrat (FL), May 04, 2009 11:26

 

The move to privatize Suwannee Correctional Institution has been abandoned, according to SCI Warden Jim Witt.  The measure was written into the proposed state budget by the Florida Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee. Budget conference committee members gave up on the measure during negotiations Sunday night, according to legislative reports.

Source: James F. Blumstein, Mark A. Cohen, Suman Seth, Vanderbilt Law and Economics Research Paper No. 03-16; Vanderbilt Public Law Research Paper No. 03-05, December 2007


Abstract:     
This paper examines the role of privatization on the cost of government-provided services. We examine data on the cost of housing public and private prisoners from all 50 states over the time period 1996-2004, and find that the existence of private prisons in a state reduces the growth in per prisoner expenditures by public prisons by a statistically significant amount. In 2004, the average Department of Corrections expenditures in states without private prisoners was approximately $493 million. Our findings suggest that if the "average" state in that group were to introduce the use of private prisons, the potential savings for one year in Department of Corrections expenditures for public prisons could be approximately $13 to $15 million for that particular hypothetical state. These savings on public prisons would be in addition to any direct savings from the use of private prisons by itself. 

Source: By Matt Pulle, Texas Watchdog, Monday, April 27th, 2009

 

Two state lawmakers from South Texas have financial ties to a private prison firm that runs facilities for the Texas state prison system -- at a time when lawmakers are debating sweeping new measures to clamp down on corrections companies. 

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and state Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, have financial links to the GEO Group, a Florida-based firm that runs 19 correctional facilities in Texas, including nine under contract for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Source: By Jennifer Learn-Andes, Times Leader (PA), February 20, 2009

The union representing employees who were laid off when former Luzerne County president Judge Michael Conahan closed the county-owned juvenile detention center in 2002 have sent a letter to county officials demanding to be "made whole."

The letter to county commissioners and new President Judge Chester Muroski was written by David Antle, district director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represented the 16 full-time child care workers who lost their jobs.


...... Antle said the "privatization" of detention has cost county residents millions of dollars and "resulted in unimaginable harm."

Source: Democracy Now, February 17, 2009


An unprecedented case of judicial corruption is unfolding in Pennsylvania. Several hundred families have filed a class-action lawsuit against two former judges who have pleaded guilty to taking bribes in return for placing youths in privately owned jails. Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are said to have received $2.6 million for ensuring juvenile suspects were jailed in prisons operated by the companies PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care. 

Source: BY MATT WICKENHEISER,  Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel (ME) 02/12/2009


AUGUSTA -- Proposals to move some prison inmates out of state and close prison units would have a negative impact on local communities, corrections department employees told lawmakers Wednesday.

 ........ The governor's budget includes a proposal for the Maine Department of Corrections to send 118 inmates to a private prison run by the Corrections Corp. of America in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Source: The Associated Press (TX), Wednesday, February 4, 2009


PECOS, Texas - Law enforcement officers and equipment on Tuesday moved in and out of a federal prison heavily damaged by inmate rioting over the weekend.

The company that runs the Reeves County Detention Center says Saturday's riot, the second in two months, left the facility unable to resume normal operations.

A group of eight to 10 officers wearing what appeared to be SWAT gear entered the compound about 1:30 p.m. They emerged about 25 minutes later, then re-entered.

GEO Group Inc. said in a statement that inmates in two of the center's three units remain under staff view. The company said inmates remain "cooperative and compliant" and no serious injuries were reported.

Source:By Eric Dexheimer, Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX),Sunday, January 25, 2009

 

First in an occasional series on the privatization trend  in state government.

Over the years, Texas legislators have ordered state agencies to hire private firms to build and maintain the state's roads, operate its parks, oversee its prisons, sign up its welfare recipients and develop its information technology systems, among other things.  Each time the government signs another deal with these companies to take over jobs it has traditionally performed itself, politicians promise it will save tax dollars by bringing the efficiencies of the private sector to the cumbersome bureaucracies of government.  So how much money has outsourcing actually saved Texans?  No one knows.

......At the same time, the U.S. Department of Justice's recent report [titled: U.S. Department of Justice Statewide CRIPA Investigation of the Texas State Schools and Centers] of ongoing abuse and neglect at the state's institutions for people with mental retardation was seen by some as proof of government's systemic incompetence -- a key argument for privatization.

Related editorial:EDITORIAL: Contracts should serve public, not private sector

American Statesman (TX),Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A new series of occasional but in-depth stories about how the state of Texas contracts with private firms or individuals to perform services for the public began in the Austin American-Statesman on Sunday, and it immediately laid out an important problem: No one can document that such contracts have benefited the public, even as the state appears to rely more than ever on them.

 

 

Source: WHO TV (IA)  Jan 23, 2009 09:51 AM

Iowa's governor and state Democrats have proposed leasing the state's lottery, to help cover a $700 million shortfall in the budget.  Republicans are arguing it's a short term solution that would hurt the state in the end. 

Source: klewtv.com,  01/16/2009

IDAHO - The Idaho Department of Correction is trying to free up 12-percent of their budget, at the request of Governor Otter.

Department Director Brent Reinke said that could mean privatizing the prison in Orofino. But at the Idaho Correctional Institute, privatization isn't a popular subject for many.