Auditors confirm company did not comply with medical services contract at Milwaukee County Jail, House of Correction

Source: Don Behm, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 20, 2018

he private company responsible for medical services at the Milwaukee County Jail and House of Correction failed to meet contract staffing requirements during the time that several people died while in custody at the jail, county auditors said Monday in a report.  Armor Correctional Health Services Inc., the Miami-based company hired by the county, provided an average of 89% of its staffing requirements from November 2015 to August 2017, according to county audit director Jennifer Folliard. The company only achieved that level of service by relying on employees brought in from outside employment agencies, the report says. Staffing levels for several key jobs fell below the overall average, with only 83% of registered nurse hours and 85% of mental health staff hours covered, according to the report. … In February, Armor was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with falsifying health care records of inmates at the jail, including Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration while in custody in April 2016. Armor employees allegedly “engaged in a pattern and practice of intentionally falsifying entries in inmate patient health care records,” a criminal complaint says. …

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Sheriff ‘aggressively worked’ to correct problems found in review of Milwaukee County Jail operations
Source: Ashley Luthern, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 5, 2018

An outside review of the Milwaukee County Jail found outdated policies, lengthy waits for inmate medical screenings, widespread use of overtime because of staff shortages and other problems. … Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt asked the National Institute of Corrections to review all operations at the jail in the wake of seven custody deaths over two years. One of those deaths — that of Terrill Thomas who died of dehydration in April 2016 — led to criminal charges being filed against three jail staffers and Armor Correctional Health Services, the private medical contractor at the jail. …

Company Hired to Provide Health Care for Milwaukee Inmates Charged With Falsifying Records
Source: Marti Mikkelson, WVUM, February 21, 2018

The company that cares for inmates at the Milwaukee County Jail is facing criminal charges. Employees allegedly lied about checking on a man who died of dehydration, after water to his cell was shut off. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office on Wednesday charged Armor Correctional Health Care Services with seven misdemeanor counts of intentionally falsifying health records. The company is the latest defendant to face charges in the death of Terrill Thomas,who spent a week without water in his cell as punishment in 2016. …

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Calif. Legislature Approves McCarty Measure to Ban For-Profit Charter Schools – AB 406

Source: Christopher Simmons, California Newswire, August 23, 2018
 
The California State Legislature today approved AB 406 by Calif. Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), which would prohibit for-profit corporations from managing and operating charter schools in the Golden State. This bipartisan measure was approved by the State Senate on a 28 to 7 vote and by the State Assembly on a 49 to 15 vote. … A broad alliance across the state also supported AB 406 including the California Teachers Association, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Association of California School Administrators, the California Labor Federation, the California School Boards Association, the California School Employees Association and the California State PTA. …

Pa.’s student aid agency outsources jobs in hopes of increasing profits – and money for state grants

Source: Jan Murphy, PennLive, August 22, 2018
 
The workforce at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency will soon shrink by 67 positions when the latest outsourcing occurs. The 3,300-employee agency, which administers the program that provides state grants to college students and services federal student loans, has hired El Paso, Texas-based Datamark to take over the responsibility of handling the incoming paper and electronic mail and scanning documents into its computer system, starting Oct. 26. The move is part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to increase its profitability so it can support programs that help Pennsylvania students pay for college. … Attempts on Monday to get a comment from officials from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 13 about the outsourcing were unsuccessful. …

Signs protest Davenport school district’s outsourcing initiative

Source: Linda Cook, Quad-City Times, August 22, 2018
 
Last week, Davenport Schools Superintendent Art Tate floated the idea of outsourcing some services, if the district could save money and maintain or improve the quality of the service. Teaching jobs would not outsourced. Since then, signs saying “Protect Our Kids, No Outsourcing in our Schools” have appeared along West Locust Street and West Central Park Avenue opposing the concept. Union officials were aware of the signs, but said they have not taken an official stance on the issue. Earlene Anderson, the union representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME,) for East Central Iowa, which represents the district’s para-educators, security, custodial and food service-workers, among others, said “everything is still evolving.” …

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Orange Signs Popping Up Around Davenport
Source: Angie Sharp, WQAD, May 1, 2013

It’s a community campaign that is growing every day. Bright orange signs are popping up in front yards across the Davenport Community School District, reading “Protect Our Kids. No Outsourcing In Our Schools.” The signs are part of an effort to stop the District from outsourcing jobs such as custodians, nurses, security staff, maintenance crews, and more. The District’s Resource Allocation Committee, which looks at ways the District can reduce spending and save money, has recommended the possibility of conducting outsourcing studies…

Davenport school board hones in on $3.2 million in budget cuts
Source: Tara Becker, Quad-City Times, March 26, 2013

…To address the uncertainty in state funding, the district’s Resource Allocation Committee recommended that the district cut $3.25 million per year for the next five years to make sure the budget stays in the black. The committee, which is made up of 25 representatives of the school district and the community, recommended several budget reductions and other areas of study. One such recommendation by the committee is to outsource nursing, janitorial and other positions. The board has not yet to direct Tate to do a study on the issue….

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Messenger: Cost to start down runway of airport privatization in St. Louis? More than $800,000 per month.

Source: Tony Messenger, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 17, 2018

There’s a new payday loan outfit in town, and it’s taking up residence in St. Louis City Hall. It’s called the Bank of Rex. Borrowers beware: The costs of taking a loan from this bank are significant. They are outlined in a series of documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch in a Sunshine Law request that show how much consultants who are working under the control of a nonprofit called Grow Missouri will be paid as they advise the city on whether to privatize operations at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

The costs are steep, up to $800,000 per month or more for the one to two years it might take to make a recommendation on the airport’s future. If that happens, those monthly costs will be paid by city taxpayers out of the proceeds of what is effectively a risky auction of the city’s top asset. …

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St. Louis aldermen call for transparency as city considers privatization of Lambert
Source: Celeste Bott, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 19, 2018

A committee tasked with picking a team of consultants to advise the city on whether to privatize St. Louis Lambert International Airport has met several times but has yet to choose advisers to lead the process. There were 11 submissions for consulting services, Deputy Mayor for Development Linda Martinez told the Post-Dispatch. Only three covered all services sought in the city’s request for proposals, she said, and the others only covered part of the services. The identity of the winning bidder won’t be revealed until a contract is agreed upon. … No vote was taken when the committee met Wednesday. Instead, much of the session was devoted to providing information to several city aldermen, amid growing concern from members of the board that the process, which was greenlighted by the Federal Aviation Administration in April, hasn’t been transparent. … Critics have questioned the need for privatizing Lambert, citing its recent growth, including a 10 percent spike in passengers in 2016, and a strong credit rating. … The effort to explore the benefits and risks of privatization has been a slow one. …

Lambert director has mixed feelings on privatization, pushes Congress on higher fees
Source: Adam Aton, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 23, 2017

The director of St. Louis Lambert International Airport said Thursday she’s keeping an open mind about a proposal to privatize its management. Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge also said she has reservations about the shift’s potential to steer more money from the airport to the city. Mayor Francis Slay traveled to Washington this week to ask for St. Louis’ inclusion in a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program to study leasing airport operations to a private business. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger and Lyda Krewson, the Democratic nominee for mayor, have said the idea deserves examination, and political mega-donor Rex Sinquefield has made a six-figure commitment to help pay for the application. The FAA could decide this month whether to include Lambert in the program, starting a decision-making process that could take at least a year. If the change were made, the city still would own the airport and land while a private company leases it. … The city draws about $6 million annually from the airport, and a public-private partnership could bring an “immediate” infusion of more funds, according to the city. … Congress is considering how infrastructure projects might fit into the FAA’s reauthorization legislation. …

JANET NAPOLITANO REJECTS CALLS TO SEVER TIES WITH DEFENSE CONTRACTOR

Source: Ethan Coston, The Triton, August 22, 2018
 
UC President Janet Napolitano has announced that the UC system will not sever ties with General Dynamics Information Technology—a defense contractor that works with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—despite requests from labor unions and the UC Student Association (UCSA). On June 8, UC-AFT—the labor union that represents UC faculty and librarians—sent a letter to Napolitano calling on her to end the UC system’s contracts with defense contractor General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), which administers the UC system’s Analytical Writing Placement Exam to prospective UC students. … UCSA and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299, the largest labor union in the UC system, released letters supporting UC-AFT’s message. …

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Labor leaders demand UC end contracts with ICE-collaborating businesses
Source: Mani Sandhu, Daily Californian, August 13, 2018
 
UC labor leaders are demanding that the UC system end contracts with businesses that work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, in response to President Donald Trump’s policy of separating immigrant families at the border.  The UC paid more than $200 million during 2011-15 through contracts with 25 businesses — including AT&T, Maxim Healthcare Services, Time Warner Cable and General Dynamics Information Technology, or GDIT — that also provide services for ICE, according to a document from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, or AFSCME Local 3299, the UC’s largest employee union.  “To add insult to injury, not only are they outsourcing our jobs, they’re outsourcing our jobs to the people who are behind Trump’s zero tolerance policy,” said AFSCME Local 3299 spokesperson John de los Angeles. “We want UC to stand up for the communities that they’re exploiting.”

Students, unions demand UC divest from ICE-related companies
Source: Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, August 10, 2018
 
In reaction to President Trump’s policy of separating families at the border, students and labor leaders at the University of California are urging UC President Janet Napolitano to sever contracts with dozens of companies doing business with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.  UC labor leaders say they’ve found 25 companies — from uniform suppliers to weapons manufacturers — that do hundreds of millions of dollars of business with the university, and with ICE.  “We want UC to remove resources that are critical to ICE’s enforcement of zero tolerance and take a stand for” immigrants and people of color, said John de los Angeles, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME Local 3299, which represents thousands of workers across UC campuses and medical centers. …

A NJ Pension Fund Bets on CoreCivic and GEO Group

Source: Max Siegelbaum, Documented, August 16, 2018

As state pension funds pull back from companies that profit from immigration detention, one New Jersey fund has sunk nearly a million dollars into the industry. According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the NJ State Employees’ Deferred Compensation Plan purchased 18,000 shares of CoreCivic stock and 20,000 shares of Geo Group stock. The total investment was $964,000, a small portion of the entire fund, worth $559 million. According to SEC filings, the shares were purchased sometime between June 30 and Aug. 2, around the height of the “zero tolerance” policy period. Geo Group runs Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark and CoreCivic runs Elizabeth Detention Center, a low slung building in Elizabeth that houses about 300 detainees and an immigration court.

… In 2017, New York City became the first municipality to divest from the private prison industry. … Other cities and states have followed in removing public retirement funds from private prison stock. Philadelphia sold $1.2 million last October. Nashville, Tenn., has also moved to sell its holdings. Other cities like Cincinnati, Ohio, Portland, Ore. and Minneapolis have either divested or moved towards it. Universities like Columbia, Princeton and Stanford have active student divestment movements. …

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Editorial: UC should divest from companies linked with immigration crisis 
Source: Daily Bruin, August 19, 2018

President Donald Trump’s turbulent administration hit rock bottom following revelations that the federal government was separating families of asylum-seekers at the border. Among the list of offenses: caging children, coercing non-English speakers into signing esoteric forms and traumatizing minors seeking a place in this country. Californians have been crying foul ever since. The most prominent display of disdain has come from workers, who have called on state institutions to cut investments in companies linked to border detentions. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, a union representing University of California workers, called on the University in July to divest from contractors linked with the detention of immigrants at the border. And California teachers wrote a letter to administrators of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System earlier that month, demanding it divest from private prison companies and organizations involved in immigrant detention. …

Chicago teachers plan to divest private prison companies
Source: Meaghan Kilroy, Pensions & Investments, August 17, 2018
 
Chicago Public School Teachers’ Pension & Retirement Fund added private prison companies and businesses that operate immigration child detention centers to its list of prohibited investments, said Angela Miller-May, chief investment officer of the $9.8 billion pension fund, in an email. At its Thursday board meeting, the pension fund board directed investment staff to instruct the fund’s investment managers to “prudently liquidate public market holdings in (these) companies as soon as reasonably practical and in accordance with the managers’ fiduciary duties,” Ms. Miller-May wrote. The pension fund estimates it has approximately $548,000 invested in these companies. …

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Massena Hospital & Town Take Step Toward Privatization

Source: WWNY, August 21, 2018

Massena Memorial Hospital and the town of Massena have made a step toward privatizing the institution. Right now, the town owns Massena Memorial, but officials from both entities want to transfer ownership to a private, nonprofit organization. Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy said in a statement Monday that there was an agreement in principle on a plan to transfer the hospital’s assets from the town to a private entity that would run the institution. …

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Interim hospital chief executive officer says privatization her main focus
Source: Bob Beckstead, Watertown Daily Times, July 26, 2018

The interim chief executive officer at Massena Memorial Hospital says that, during the two months for which she is contracted, the focus will continue to be on a process that was first discussed in 2013 — privatization of the hospital. “My priorities right now are to continue to work with the town and hospital board to become a 501(c)(3) and complete the affiliation,” Ann Gilpin said during this week’s Massena Memorial Hospital Board of Managers meeting. Monday was Ms. Gilpin’s first Board of Managers meeting since she was named interim chief executive officer in June following the sudden resignation of former Chief Executive Officer Robert G. Wolleben. Her contract calls for her to serve as interim chief executive officer for up to two months, at a rate of $40,000 per month.

With CEO’s resignation, Massena council will push hospital to privatization, affiliation
Source: Bob Beckstead, Watertown Daily Times, June 19, 2018
 
With Monday night’s surprise resignation of Massena Memorial Hospital’s CEO, town officials will seek a contract with another hospital to run Massena Memorial Hospital and complete the privatization work already underway. Ann Gilpin was hired as interim chief executive officer following Monday’s immediate resignation by Robert G. Wolleben, but it will be a temporary position, Town Supervisor Steven D. O’Shaughnessy said. … Last month, Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne, D-Theresa, introduced a bill that would move the hospital into a public benefit corporation rather than privatizing, which would shift financial responsibility away from the town while keeping the hospital from going private. But Mr. O’Shaughnessy said that was off the table. …

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Multnomah County launches investigation into mental health complaints

Source: Keaton Thomas, KATU News, August 16th, 2018

Thanks to a whistleblower and report from the Oregon Health Authority, Multnomah County officials are launching an investigation into how they review mental health complaints from the Unity Center for Behavioral Health. … Multnomah County is the local mental health authority. All complaints of abuse or neglect in the mental health system are directed to it. Last week, county leaders ordered an audit of the complaints reported to the Mental Health and Addiction Services Division. … Issues surrounding Unity Health go back to its beginning, according to Greg Monaco. … “When I started going [to Unity] I was just hearing horror stories from staff,” he said. Monaco says he heard about patients who didn’t know they were kept against their will. He heard about injuries to staff. He heard about employees at Unity who were worried about their safety because of understaffing. … Reports from earlier in the year by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Oregon Health Authority back up Monaco’s claims. In March OSHA cited Unity Health for four violations. It found Unity had not properly handled and investigated injuries to staff members on the job. Last month, a report from the Oregon Health Authority looked into patient safety. It “uncovered several issues that jeopardized patient safety.” …

Foster family has troubling history

Source: Elise Kaplan, Albuquerque Journal, August 18, 2018

The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department has revoked the license of a not-for-profit that places high-risk children with foster families after discovering the business continued to house young girls with a family that was accused multiple times of sexual abuse and misconduct spanning nearly two decades. In the past few months, CYFD investigators found that since 2000 at least eight girls, ranging in age from 6 to 16, had accused the foster father of some sort of sexual misconduct. And, investigators say, Familyworks had been aware of the allegations and continued to contract with the family. … Law enforcement agencies are now investigating both the foster family and the not-for-profit Familyworks. …