Recently in Corrections Category

Source: By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Thursday, April 20, 2006

The fate of Beaver County's push to privatize the county jail now rests in the hands of Marc Winters, an arbiter from Butler County. Beaver County officials and jail guards testified before a three-member arbitration panel April 12 and last Thursday, making their cases for alternative versions of how the Beaver County Jail should be run. ...... The corrections officers union, working without a contract since Jan. 1, made a counterproposal, but it could not match the savings promised by CiviGenics. The union filed for arbitration after the county signed the CiviGenics contract.

Source: By Kathleen Chapman, Palm Beach Post (FL), Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Palm Beach County's juvenile detention center could be turned over to a private company under a proposal in the Florida House of Representatives. If lawmakers approve the plan this session, the state would need to look for a private contractor that could cut costs at the facility by at least $100,000 a year. Some state representatives say they hope a privatized program here will become a model for other detention centers statewide. But many local leaders oppose the legislation, saying previous attempts to privatize programs for children have been disastrous.

Source: By Kevin Dayton, Honolulu Advertiser (HI), Tuesday, April 11, 2006

A former Colorado prison guard has pleaded guilty to a felony charge after two Hawai'i women alleged he threatened them for sex. Russell E. Rollison, 32, is facing a sentence of up to three years in prison after pleading guilty March 28 to menacing with a real or simulated weapon, according to Morgan County District Court records. He worked at the Brush Correctional Facility in northeastern Colorado where the Hawai'i inmates were held, and was originally charged with two counts of felony sexual conduct in a penal institution. ...... Breiner said he intends to sue Rollison, Hawai'i, Colorado and prison owner GRW Corp. on behalf of the two inmates. Six other female prisoners from Colorado and Wyoming accused staff at Brush of sexual misconduct early last year.

Source: Tennessean, March 12, 2006

A group representing state employees vowed to try to kill proposed legislation to remove a layer of oversight for a private prison contractor in Tennessee. Zoyle Jones, president of the Tennessee State Employee Association, said yesterday that the bill is a step toward "widespread prison privatization" in the state. The bill advanced by a Senate committee Tuesday would eliminate a mid-contract comparison of a prison run by Corrections Corporation of America with two run by the state Department of Corrections.

Source: AIMEE GREEN, Oregonian, Thursday, March 23, 2006

..... In fall, the Clackamas County Jail convened a committee to look at the possibility of saving hundreds of thousands of dollars by contracting out its food service to a private company, like many jails and prisons across the country. But after months of study, committee members decided that contracting out for food service didn't turn out to be all it was cracked up to be, Howard said. Private companies have much higher employee turnover, said Al Jacobs, food services coordinator for the jail. Jail officials worry that such turnover might increase the likelihood of contraband being smuggled into the jail -- everything from drugs to weapons -- and require more background checks for hiring staff.

Source: By Christian Bottorff, Lansing State Journal, March 19, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a former Lansing woman who died of massive head injuries in a solitary confinement jail cell has been settled. The family of Estelle Richardson sought $60 million in the federal lawsuit that accused Corrections Corp. of America, which runs the Metro Detention Facility, and four guards who struggled with her the day before she was found dead.

Source: Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press (FL), March 12, 2006

Four former inmates of the Citrus County Detention Facility filed a federal lawsuit against the private company that runs the jail, alleging two former officers put human waste in their food and drinks. The inmates were subject to cruel punishment, torture and battery in 2004, when they were forced to eat the contaminated food, claims the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Tampa. A spokesman for Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America said company officials took immediate action once they heard about the incident. ..... The lawsuit said correction officers Kevin Hessler and Alexander Diaz "intentionally and repeatedly fed the plaintiffs urine and fecal matter, even after the plaintiffs protested and resisted" because the food tasted and smelled bad. .... Charles Mulligan, a former supervisor employed by Corrections Corp. of America, said one of the corrections officers acknowledged putting human waste in an inmate's drinking jug, according to transcripts of a telephone hearing with the Office of Employment Appeals in Tallahassee on Feb. 16, 2005.

Source: By Tina Moore, Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), Tue, Mar. 14, 2006

..... Six inmates have died from unnatural causes since 2001 at Delaware County's George W. Hill Correctional Center in Thornton. Operated by the GEO Group, it is the only privately run adult jail in the state. In addition to Atkinson's death, two prisoners committed suicide, another was killed by a fellow inmate, and the fourth died of an overdose of heroin smuggled into the jail. A fifth died in 2005 of head and neck injuries after repeatedly throwing himself against his cell door, county officials said.

Source: Associated Press (MT), Feb 28, 2006

HELENA Attorney General Mike McGrath says the state does not need to undergo privatization review, before awarding a contract for a privately run methamphetamine treatment prison. The M-E-A--M-F-T, a union representing many state employees, argued the meth facility duplicates drug treatment programs already administered by the state, and is subject to a review for privatizing those services. The Department of Corrections argued the treatment prison is a new program, was not replacing services already offered, and thus was not subject to the review.

Source: By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News (CO), March 6, 2006

Eighteen months ago, inmates rioted at a private prison in Crowley County, setting fires, smashing everything in two cell houses and seriously damaging another three. More than 100 officers were needed to stop the violence, which injured 13. A state investigation blamed the riot on mismanagement by Corrections Corp. of America, the prison's owner. The company had 33 guards overseeing 1,122 inmates when the riot began. The state Department of Corrections tightened its contract with CCA to require more and better trained staff. Now, the company has a major advantage in bidding for 2,250 new private prison beds that Colorado urgently needs for its soaring number of convicts.