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:
Protests and activism
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.
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.”
Maggots Are The Only Ones Eating Well at Prisons Served By Aramark
The Columbus Dispatch reported yesterday that maggots were found in prisoners’ food once again at the Ohio Reformatory for Women at Marysville during a pre-meal inspection. Last week, 1,000 prisoners at the facility dumped their meals to protest the abysmal quality of food provided by the private contractor Aramark.
Corrections departments in Michigan and Ohio have fined Aramark approximately $570,000 this year for unsanitary food conditions and supply shortages at multiple prisons. There have been 9 documented cases of maggot-ridden food in Ohio alone, and Aramark is facing similar complaints in other states like Florida, New Jersey, California and Kentucky.
Thanks can be paid, in part or whole, to Governor John Kasich, who has cut 2,318 unionized corrections jobs (including food service workers) in the past three years in favor of a privatization scheme. Aramark’s contract has saved the state $13.3 million so far.
At the end of July, Aramark was given an ultimatum that they could lose their contract if they didn’t rectify the situation. The company has been allowed to continue serving prisoners despite multiple new discoveries of fly larvae in their food and the health risks that involves. The governor is reluctant to cancel the contract because $13.3 million is apparently worth more to the state than feeding its prisoners.
Aramark is not saving the state money because it is an exceptionally efficient manager of prisoners’ food. They are spending just $3.61 a day to feed each prisoner — just over $1 a meal. Prisoners are losing as much as 20 pounds when Aramark is in the kitchen. Ohio is saving money by starving prisoners.
Aramark’s $110 million, 2-year contract to serve Ohio prisons is just one of many the company has with thousands of other prisons, colleges, universities, schools, office buildings, sports arenas and more. They even own the popular online food ordering service Seamless.com.
Is $272,000 in fines really big enough of a penalty to make them change, or is it merely an internalized ‘cost of doing business?’ Even $570k does not seem like it will do much injury to the company. It’s just a bit larger than the CEO’s signing bonus.
If it’s too expensive to feed all of the prisoners a proper meal, maybe we have too many people behind bars.
Statewide Protests Today to Shut Down GEO Group’s New Private Prison for Women in Mcfarland, California
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