Corrections Corporation of America

2 Comments Posted on All Posts, Privatization

CCA’s $8 Million Overtime Settlement Highlights Problems Facing Private Prison Employees

The Department of Labor has ordered private prison giant Corrections Corporation of America to pay $8 million in back wages and benefits to employees at its California City Corrections Center (CCCC) — a federal detention center in California City, CA.

CCA agreed to make the payment — in which many employees will see as much as $30,000 in restitution — but disputed allegations that it had broken the law or violated an agreement with the government and its employees. This comes on the heels of a $260,000 settlement in Kentucky over denied overtime for shift supervisors, and CCA denied any wrongdoing there, too.

Employee mistreatment is but a drop in the ocean of private prison abuse, and this settlement is just one example of what happens at for-profit institutions across the country. CCA’s payout-and-denial, however, begs the question: do private prison corporations care about their workers? Continue reading →

Posted on All Posts, Privatization

Vermont Spent $50,000 This Year Sending Prison Officials to Visit Inmates in Private Facilities Out-of-State

It turns out that transferring prisoners to private institutions in other states doesn’t just enrich the industry and interfere with rehabilitation.

Vermont’s Burlington Free Press reports that private transfers — a policy meant to save the state money and reduce prison overcrowding — are costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars a year so corrections staff can attempt to do their jobs from 3,000 miles away. Continue reading →

Posted on All Posts

CCA Rep. to Meet with Youngstown Mayor McNally over Prison Demonstration

A representative from CCA will meet with Mayor McNally on Friday to discuss the protest and “the prison’s obligation to the city when there is trouble at the facility.” There has been very little information available on the details of the protest, how the facility handled it and what exactly the ‘resolution’ entailed. WKBN has more:

1 Comment Posted on All Posts

CCA Settles Overtime Lawsuit in Kentucky; Pays $260,000 to Shift Supervisors

Before we begin, let me say I love Prison Legal News. They have excellent news reporting AND tireless, intelligent activism that undermines the secrecy surrounding the prison industrial complex.

You can imagine my delight when I came across this report that PLN got a US District judge to unseal a $260,000 settlement between CCA and a group of shift supervisors in Kentucky who were denied overtime, arguing it was in the public interest.

The details are as follows:

Corrections Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tennessee, paid the money in November to end a lawsuit brought by 25 employees of the now-shuttered Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary’s, Kentucky. The former employees took $129,000 of the settlement. Plaintiff’s attorneys received $131,000.

The group claimed in a 2012 lawsuit that CCA denied them overtime after forcing them to work extra hours. CCA has denied the allegations.

Of the 25 people receiving payouts from the settlement, two got $10,300 checks, one got $10,800 and the rest amounts ranging from $1,200 to $9,100. As part of the settlement, CCA denied any wrongdoing.

The report also goes on to say that “Kentucky officials estimated the state saved $1.5 million to $2.5 million per year by not renewing the contract,” which is a powerful strike against the oft-repeated argument that prison privatization saves states money.

What’s most important here is we have evidence of a legal challenge against CCA that substantiates other reports of understaffing/overworking at private facilities. Forcing fewer staff to work longer hours without paying them overtime is one of the ways for-profit prisons cut costs and maximize profits, but the consequences are often high levels violence, inadequate food and health services, and squalid living conditions for inmates.

We also now have another instance on the record where a US District judge has agreed to unseal a private prison’s settlement in the public interest, which should help other journalists and advocates do the same.

While these issues may continue to plague staff and inmates, the unsealing of this settlement constitutes a significant chip in the armor of secrecy that surrounds private prisons.

1 Comment Posted on All Posts, Immigrant Detention, Privatization

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.

Continue reading →

2 Comments Posted on All Posts, Immigrant Detention, Privatization

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.”

Continue reading →

9,910 Comments Posted on All Posts, Immigrant Detention, Privatization

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.

Continue reading →