Privatization

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Did CCA Try to Cover Up the Inmate Protest at Youngstown’s Private Prison?

Update: WYTV reports “State Representative Bob Hagan said he is calling for a full review of the facility by the Ohio Corrections Institute Inspection Committee after he was denied access Wednesday to the prison to meet with inmates to hear their grievances.”

When I first read that CCA’s private prison in Youngstown, Ohio was on lockdown last night, the few news outlets that reported the story had specifically deemed the situation there a ‘riot.’ I chose WYTV’s report, though, because it contained one interesting detail: the family of one of the prisoners had been told they were refusing to return to their cells to protest poor food quality and mistreatment by guards at the facility.

Today we have confirmation from Ohio State Representative Robert Hagan that what happened at the Northeast Ohio Correction Center (NEOCC) yesterday was, in fact, not a riot. It was an act of resistance, and it ended overnight with prisoners peacefully returning to their cells.

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CCA’s Private Immigrant Prison in Ohio on Lockdown After Protests Over Prison Conditions

There was a prisoner protest at CCA’s private immigrant prison in Youngstown, Ohio today. WYTV reports that, “a woman who identified herself as the aunt of an inmate at the prison told WKBN that her nephew and fellow inmates were protesting the prison’s food and the way the guards treat them.”

NEOCC is on lock-down and there are “Between 20 and 30 prisoners […] in the recreation area and the Warden is talking with them to try and end the situation.”

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Study Finds Hispanics Disproportionately Incarcerated in Private Prisons

A new study out of Oregon State University found that hispanics are disproportionately incarcerated at state and federal private prisons. And that’s not counting federal facilities contracted to house immigrant prisoners.

The combined population of hispanic and african american inmates in private prisons was also found to be 4% higher than that of public institutions, which researchers called ‘significant.’

They were, however, unable to confirm the source of this racial disparity, but speculated that “private firms may prefer healthier inmates, which tend to be young, non-white inmates; or the assignments may be tied to prisoners’ gang affiliations.”

However:

The disparity in prison placement is not linked to higher overall incarceration rates of Hispanics. It appears to stem from the process in which inmates are assigned to a correctional facility, Burkhardt said. How those decisions are made is unclear; they typically are handled by prison administrators. The research indicates there is a racial pattern to inmate assignment at correctional facilities, which also could raise legal concerns for corrections officials, he said.

I’ll throw my own speculation into the mix: governments under contract to meet occupancy quotas may prefer to send private prisons inmates with longer sentences to avoid having to deal with turnover. Even if you don’t factor for their rate of incarceration, hispanics and african americans still serve prison terms 4-5 months longer than whites on average.

Whatever you do, just don’t tell any of this to white people. A different, also-depressing study from Stanford found that if you’re white and, let’s say, reading posts like this one on racial disparities in incarceration, you might not be moved to support reform. In fact, if you’re white, this information might actually bolster your support for the policies that create such disparity in the first place.

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Statewide Protests Today to Shut Down GEO Group’s New Private Prison for Women in Mcfarland, California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHAT: Rally to demand closure of new women’s prison in McFarland,

WHERE: McFarland Park, 100 Frontage Rd, McFarland,

WHEN: Thursday, July 31st, 5pm

Contact: Debbie Reyes, California Prison Moratorium Project, 559-367-6020

Misty Rojo, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, 510-213-0522

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Incarcerated Women in California Pen Open Letter Against GEO Group’s New Private Prison

In April, The Bakersfield Californian reported that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) signed a contract with private prison company GEO Group to re-open and operate a women’s facility in Mcfarland, California.

GEO Group will own and operate the 260-bed facility and is expected to make around $9 million per year at full occupancy. Unfortunately, due to the lack of public access to private prison contracts, most of the details are unknown.

This week, a group of ten female prisoners from the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) and the California Institution for Women (CIW) have written an open letter calling on “California state legislators to direct CDCR to cancel the contract with GEO and implement existing release programs instead of opening a new prison!”

The women write that they are being “shuffled around without regard for our well-being or our human rights” due to overcrowding. They note that CCWF’s facility is currently operating at 185% capacity, and as a result, prisoners’ access to critical services such as food and healthcare have declined.

They are concerned, however, that this move by the state will not positively impact its mass incarceration problem, and women transferred to GEO Group’s new facility might not see their treatment improve.

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Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform Fights to Bring Out-of-State Inmates Home From Private Prisons

Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform’s Suzi Wizowaty joined VT Dept. of Corrections Commissioner Andy Pallito for an excellent talk on Vermont Public Radio about the use of out-of-state prison transfers to reduce prison overcrowding, and the impact it has on inmates, their communities and mass incarceration.

Vermont currently sends over 500 prisoners to private facilities run by Corrections Corp. of America as far away as Kentucky (approx. 765 miles away) and Arizona (approx. 2,162 miles away). But the evidence suggests that these transfers can be devastating to prisoners, who experience further isolation and find it more difficult to maintain meaningful contact with their communities.

Some might rightfully ask that, if advocates oppose a state’s plans to send prisoners elsewhere to reduce overcrowding, does that mean we need to build more prisons at home? Where will all those prisoners be ‘kept?’ Wizowaty avoids this trap and makes clear she does not advocate new facilities. Indeed, the solution to overcrowding is not to send prisoners out of state or build more prisons, but to focus on means of actually reducing the number of people the state imprisons, returning them society. But under this policy of exile, prisoners, families and communities lose, and the prison industrial complex wins.

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Idaho Officials: Missing Inmate Medical Records and $100k Drug Shortage Plagues Private Prison Transition

Idaho Correctional Center

Earlier this year, the AP reported that the Idaho Department of Corrections would retake control of the state’s largest prison from Corrections Corporation of America amid a “decade of mismanagement and other problems at the facility.” That transition is now underway. Today, the Associated Press published new complaints by state officials who say CCA’s poor planning and lack of medical care for inmates has produced ‘challenges,’ offering another possible glimpse into how private prisons cut costs and put inmates’ lives at risk. According to the AP:

Another problem was missing medical records and evidence that some inmates with chronic illnesses weren’t getting the regular medical care they needed, Evans said. The department has asked Corizon to go through the inmates’ records to determine what needs to be done to treat them, he said.

Officials also said the state had to pay for $100,000 worth of drugs to be overnighted after CCA left without a promised 8-day supply of medication. What is truly remarkable here is that CCA tried to defend itself by saying its estimates for the monthly cost of medication were lower than what the IDOC said they needed for just 8 days:

“CCA conducted an inventory with Corizon and determined that there was an adequate supply of medication available at the time of transition,” Owen wrote. “What’s more, CCA’s average monthly cost for medication at the facility was below $100,000, so IDOC’s figure for what we assume are identical medications is far in excess of what an eight-day supply would cost.”

To reiterate, CCA’s estimate of what it would cost to provide inmates with the drugs they need for an entire month was less than what state officials deemed was necessary for ONLY 8 days — so necessary in fact that they paid to have the drugs overnighted to the facility. Furthermore, if CCA is to be believed, it’s worth noting that their figures are derived from consultation with another contractor in the prison industry, Corizon, which itself has a record of prison healthcare mismanagement. The AP’s original report, which prompted an investigation and the state’s take-over of the prison, indicates that the Idaho Corrections Center earned the nickname “gladiator school” under CCA’s management for its high levels of violence. According to that report, prison officials denied inmates medical treatment as a way of covering up the assaults. Once the ICC is back under the state’s control, the prison will no longer be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests. If these reports from state officials are true, CCA clearly should have never been exempt in the first place.