California Department of Corrections
January 23, 2010 California Progressive Report
This is Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, Chairman of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. The Accountability Committee was created last year to investigate California state government programs and agencies to help improve program performance, find efficiencies and save taxpayers' money. This week the Committee investigated a $600-million contract the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation entered into with a private prison company without conducting a competitive bidding process. A key goal of the Committee is to ensure that state government conducts its business in a transparent manner, and does everything it can to ensure that taxpayers are getting the best deal possible. In this case, the Governor's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed both of those goals. Due to overcrowding in our state prisons, Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the corrections system in 2006. Based on that declaration of emergency, his Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation contracted with a private prison company to begin sending some of California inmates to out-of-state facilities to help alleviate the overcrowding problem. The Committee found no fault with the Department's initial effort to sign a $23 million contract. Three years later, however, that contract has been amended multiple times and is now valued at more than $600 million. At no time during this period has the Department conducted a formal, competitive bidding process to ensure the state is getting the best deal it could. No one - not the Department, not the governor, not the Legislature or the public - has any idea if another company or another state could have provided adequate prison beds at a better price. During a period when the state's budget deficit is leading to teacher layoffs and the elimination of important health programs, this careless use of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars is simply unacceptable. Members of the Assembly Committee on Accountability questioned administration officials at an oversight hearing just this week, and concluded that the Corrections Department must do better in the future to ensure that it encourages competition and gets the best price it can for out-of-state prison beds. On a bi-partisan basis, Committee members pledged to reject an expansion of this program without competitive bidding. The Committee will continue to provide much-needed oversight of state government to ensure precious tax dollars are being spent as wisely as possible. This has been Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, Chairman of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. Thank you for listening.

October 26, 2009 AP
California officials say a drop in the number of minimum-security inmates is allowing them to end contracts with the companies that operate three private prisons. The move will save the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation about $15 million a year. The private prisons in Baker, Bakersfield and McFarland once housed a total of 822 inmates. Department officials said today they may seek new proposals to use the prisons for female inmates. About 2,500 fewer minimum-security inmates are in prison than a year ago. The department credits a new policy that diverts many parole violators who commit relatively minor offenses to community programs instead of sending them back to prison.

November 10, 2008 Fresno Bee
A private prison company that has been lobbying the Schwarzenegger administration and is a campaign contributor to the governor's causes has made a bid to operate an overhauled inmate medical system, a move that could conflict with court-ordered reforms, according to a document obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The offer by The GEO Group Inc. of Florida caught the court-appointed receiver overseeing reform of California's inmate health care system by surprise. In the five-page internal memo obtained by the AP, the receiver's chief of staff repeatedly makes it clear that he believes the bid was solicited by the Schwarzenegger administration and questions the administration's motives. Chief of staff John Hagar writes that The GEO Group has spent more than $300,000 lobbying the governor's office and Legislature since January. Campaign records on file with the secretary of state's office show the company also made a $50,000 contribution last month to the campaign for Proposition 11, the redistricting initiative on the November ballot backed by Schwarzenegger. "The solicitation is all the more troublesome because the Federal Court has taken responsibility away from the Secretary of Corrections concerning the delivery of medical services," Hagar wrote in the memo to court receiver Clark Kelso. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page denied the administration solicited GEO's bid. She said Hagar may be concerned about the overture by a private firm because "the receiver can't defend his $8 billion boondoggle." That's the amount the court receiver says he needs to build medical facilities for 10,000 inmates. Page said the GEO Group approached the administration but was referred to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said company officials met last month with Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate, who referred them to the receiver's office. "There was no discussion beyond that because of the obvious, I guess: We don't run the prison medical system," Hidalgo said. "All we did was refer them to the receiver's office." Schwarzenegger's political spokeswoman, Julie Soderlund, denied any connection between the governor's policy decisions and the contribution to Proposition 11, which is leading in the vote tally but remains too close to call. Officials with The GEO Group and its lobbyists did not return telephone messages Monday. Hagar said the company has submitted a proposal and said it will meet later this week with Kelso, the court-appointed receiver. He wrote that the bid from GEO could be a way to undermine the reform efforts overseen by the federal courts. That's because the company's bid to run inmate medical services could be less expensive than the state-run medical centers proposed by the receiver's office. "We should be careful that the governor's office does not use the GEO proposal as a diversion, attempting to argue to the public that it is more cost effective, when in fact it will not address the constitutional problem at issue and it may violate California law," Hagar wrote. "The governor's office may use GEO as an attempt to derail our construction program in the public arena." The actual bid could not be obtained Monday, and it was not immediately known whether the company offered a cost estimate. Hagar wrote that GEO is proposing "a generic prison" that "will prove woefully inadequate concerning the day-to-day requirements" of inmate care. Kelso, who is engaged in a court battle with the administration, declined to comment. His reform program is intended to remedy prison medical care that has been ruled unconstitutional because of negligence and malfeasance. In recent years, the receiver's office has boosted pay for doctors and nurses and hired dozens of medical staff members in an attempt to improve conditions. It's not clear how the federal judge in San Francisco would receive a proposal to private inmate medical care, considering the history of poor treatment. The system had been blamed for killing an inmate a week through incompetence. Privatizing those functions also may run afoul of state law because it would take work from state prison guards and other government employees. "The GEO Group has a dismal record of both safety and care and treatment, even worse than the Department of Corrections," said Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents most prison guards.

June 5, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was within his rights to declare a state of emergency at California's overcrowded prisons in 2006 and begin transferring inmates out of state, an appeals court ruled Wednesday over the objections of the prison guards union. The ruling by the state Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento overturned a judge's decision and was welcomed by Schwarzenegger, who is separately defending the state against lawsuits by inmates seeking to reduce the overall prison population and improve the prisons' health care system. A federal judge has transferred control of prison health care in California to a court-appointed manager after ruling that the system violated constitutional standards. There are nearly 160,000 inmates in the 33 state prisons, which were designed to hold about 83,000. The state is planning construction that will expand the capacity of state prisons and county jails by 53,000. A referee appointed by a federal court panel has proposed measures to reduce the prison population by 27,000 over four years, to 133,000. The measures would include alternatives to prison for some parole violators and felons facing short sentences. Wednesday's ruling "comes at a critical juncture in our prison reform efforts," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I am pleased that their decision allows out-of-state transfers to continue while our comprehensive reforms to reduce overcrowding are fully implemented." Laurie Hepler, a lawyer for the prison guards' union and another prison employee union that challenged the inmate transfers, said her clients disagreed with the ruling and would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger issued the order in October 2006 after a special legislative session on prison overcrowding fizzled, with Democrats seeking changes in sentencing laws and Republicans calling for prison expansion. As the inmate population continued to climb, 16,000 prisoners occupied bunks in prison gyms and other temporary quarters. Schwarzenegger has said as many as 8,000 inmates could be shipped out of state. So far, nearly 3,900 prisoners have been transferred to out-of-state prisons run by private companies under contracts with California. The transfers have continued despite a ruling in April 2007 by a Sacramento County judge that Schwarzenegger had acted illegally. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian agreed with the unions that state law allows a governor to issue an emergency order only when local officials need state help in responding to a disaster, and that the use of private prison employees violated civil service laws. The appeals court had put Ohanesian's ruling on hold while the state appealed. In its ruling Wednesday, the court said the governor can issue orders to respond to emergencies in state institutions that may endanger residents. In this case, the court said, the lack of space in state prisons was causing overcrowding in local jails, forcing counties to release some inmates who might commit more crimes. Overcrowding also increased the risk of diseases that could spread outside the prisons and had led to local water pollution from sewage spills caused by overtaxed prison wastewater systems, the court said. The court also said California's civil service rules allow the state to employ private contractors when public employees are not available to meet urgent needs. The planned expansion of state prisons will take years to complete, and the prison system will need five years to eliminate staffing shortages, the court said. "California cannot build or retrofit the prisons needed overnight, no matter how much money it invests to solve the problem," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said in the 3-0 ruling. The only available lockups are in other states and are staffed by private employees, he said.

August 18, 2007 Sacramento Bee
California corrections officials have begun sending hundreds of foreign national inmates against their will to a private prison in Mississippi as part of a stepped-up, out-of-state transfer plan. The first two flights of prisoners to the Tallahatchie County Detention Facility in Tutwiler, Miss., have taken place without incident, officials said, in spite of fears expressed by the California correctional officers union that the forced transfers would be met with inmate violence. "Many of the inmates had never been on a plane before in their lives," said Scott Kernan, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's chief deputy secretary for adult operations. "They were a little scared. But once they got on the flight, they were fine." Some 200 foreign national inmates, mostly from Mexico, were shipped to the Mississippi prison on flights July 20 and July 27, a state prison spokesman said. A total of 597 inmates -- including 397 volunteers -- have now been sent to private prisons in Mississippi, Arizona and Tennessee. Kernan said the state hopes to move 5,000 prisoners to out-of-state institutions by June 30 to help relieve overcrowding in California. "We have a very aggressive schedule that will include trips of approximately 120 inmates every couple of weeks," Kernan said. Some 173,000 inmates in the state are being housed in space designed for about half that many, with federal judges now considering a motion to place a population cap on the system that could result in early releases for tens of thousands of prisoners. Francisco Estrada, a lobbyist for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the transfers of the foreign nationals raise a host of potentially problematic legal issues for the corrections agency. If the inmates are legal residents, the transfers figure to separate them from their families and immigration attorneys, and "that's wrong," Estrada said. They also create a prospect for racial targeting on the part of prison officials. "We need to be very careful," Estrada said, adding that he will be discussing the issue with Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund attorneys. Foreign nationals being transferred under the out-of-state program are all subject to holds "or potential holds" placed on them by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said corrections spokesman Bill Sessa. They include both legal and illegal residents, he said. No inmates "with demonstrated family ties" are being transferred for now, Sessa said. Nor are any being moved "if they're in the middle of legal proceedings," including immigration matters, Sessa said. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association in February won a ruling in Sacramento Superior Court stopping the transfer program. The union claimed the program violated state civil service protections guaranteed under the California Constitution. The ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. CCPOA leaders also voiced opposition to the transfers during the debate over the recently enacted $7.9 billion prison construction plan, which included legislative approval for moving 8,000 inmates out of state. Union officials said the involuntary transfers would put officers in danger from resisting inmates. CCPOA spokesman Ryan Sherman said Friday that the union is "very grateful" that no officers have been injured in extracting the prisoners from their cells. "We're hopeful that will continue as the governor continues to do these unconstitutional transfers," Sherman said. Sherman characterized the Tallahatchie County prison in Mississippi, operated by the Correctional Corp. of America, as one of "the most troubled" in the country. He based his assessment on newspaper articles detailing assorted disturbances at the prison dating back to 2003. "Private prisons lower the bar for the entire profession by providing extremely limited training and remarkably poor compensation and benefits," Sherman said. "They're in it to make a buck. Public safety is nowhere on their priority list." CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant said her company "is extremely proud of the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility" and that private prisons are no more dangerous than those operated by the state.

July 23, 2007 Fresno Bee
Two federal judges on Monday ordered creation of a special panel to recommend ways to relieve California's overcrowded prisons, a move that could lead to the capping of the inmate population or the early release of some prisoners. In doing so, the judges rejected the main solution set forth by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to address a crisis that has been building for decades. Last spring, they agreed to an ambitious $7.8 billion program to build 53,000 new prison and jail cells. The judges said that plan, submitted to the courts in June, will only make matters worse for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state can't hire enough guards and medical professionals to provide proper care and oversight for the inmates it has now, let alone the thousands more who might be added through the building program. "From all that presently appears, new beds will not alleviate this problem but will aggravate it," U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento wrote. Schwarzenegger said he will appeal the judges' decision to create the three-judge panel.

June 4. 2007 LA Times
Two appointees whom Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent to fix California's dysfunctional prison healthcare system pushed a $26-million, no-bid contract for outside medical services while contract reviewers steadfastly maintained it was overpriced and illegal, records and interviews show. But instead of providing a strong step toward reforming the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's $1.8-billion medical system, the handling of this relatively small contract erupted into a fight that forced out the two appointees and highlights what critics say are systemic contracting breakdowns that helped bloat healthcare costs at the state's 33 prisons. The contract for a pilot program at two Southern California prisons was supposed to be a model for improving the care of inmates who need to see specialists — one of the major failings that led a federal judge to seize control of prison healthcare and appoint a receiver last year to oversee it. However, John Hagar, chief of staff for receiver Robert Sillen, said, "This is a classic example of the department looking at a problem and jumping to a solution that, in fact, does not work and increases costs unnecessarily…. "It appears there were outside influences," he said. "It was not being done at the urging of the contract staff who usually negotiate the contract. They were saying 'No.' " After hiring a private prison industry lobbyist, a Florida company successfully submitted a proposal for the three-year pilot program. Although the contract was not finalized, corrections officials last summer gave the company permission to start working and bill the state. After finding out about the deal, Hagar swiftly froze the contract process before Christmas and later halted payments. The appointees who arranged the contract soon resigned. The state inspector general launched a conflict-of-interest investigation of one who held stock in a company listed as a subcontractor. And now the contractor wants the state to repay $2.6 million for inmate medical expenses that company officials say they incurred. This ugly contract dispute has been a distraction in the first year of a long-overdue effort to improve inmate medical treatment, said Don Specter, director of the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit whose lawsuit on behalf of the state's 175,000 prisoners prompted U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to take over prison healthcare in 2005. The contract uproar centered on Medical Development International, a $100 million-a-year business that arranges medical appointments, handles billing, and contracts with doctors and hospitals to serve inmates. It was founded in 1992 by a father and son, Richard and Ted Willich. MDI has grown into one of the largest medical providers for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, having won contracts at 27 facilities. That work led California lawmakers to invite a company official to testify at a 2004 hearing into skyrocketing prison healthcare costs in the state. About two years ago, MDI officials hired Mark Nobili, a Sacramento lobbyist whose clients included a private prison operator. To date, records show that MDI has paid Nobili at least $170,000. MDI representatives learned that the point people for new prison contracts were Peter Farber-Szekrenyi and Darc Keller — both longtime medical administrators appointed by Schwarzenegger in late 2005 to help reform healthcare. In March 2006, MDI submitted a proposal to deliver up to $26 million in services at the state prisons in Tehachapi and Lancaster, where backlogs for outside medical appointments were acute. Among the providers MDI listed was Mobile Medical International Corp., which supplies surgical and diagnostic facilities in big tractor-trailer trucks. Keller recently had served as a senior vice president at Mobile Medical and, according to his economic interest statement, he owned $10,000 to $100,000 in the company's stock. As MDI was preparing its California proposal, company Vice President Ted Willich said he learned that Keller once had worked at Mobile Medical, so he asked Keller to call the firm because MDI was having trouble contacting it about potential work on a federal contract. However, Willich denied that Keller encouraged MDI to use Mobile Medical for the California pilot program. "To me, it is ridiculous," he said of the inspector general's probe. "There is a whole lot of nothing there." Keller said that, although he called Mobile Medical to help out MDI, he was unaware that his former employer was being lined up as a subcontractor until Mobile Medical later appeared in MDI's proposal. Keller said that he had moved to liquidate his stock in Mobile Medical shortly after his appointment and that the sale was completed Aug. 8 — a few weeks before MDI began work on the project. "There is no conflict because there is no enrichment," he said. "No one got money…. We never did have a [final] contract." Although MDI ultimately did not use Mobile Medical, Keller's participation in the contracting process may have violated the state Political Reform Act, said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "The violation could be that he participated in a decision where he had a financial interest: the stock he owned," Stern said. Violations are punishable by a fine or jail term. The state Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces the conflict-of-interest law, would neither confirm nor deny that it was conducting an investigation. The inspector general's office, an independent corrections oversight agency, declined to comment. The MDI contract mess unfolded as the state controller issued an audit report in early August outlining waste and abuse in medical contracting at prisons. On Aug. 31, Farber-Szekrenyi requested issuance of a $26-million contract to MDI, then the company began work. Farber-Szekrenyi "gave us the green light," said Willich of MDI. "We were given assurances by Darc [Keller] and Peter that we would be paid, and we were told to do the work." To become final, the contract required approvals by contracting and legal staff at corrections as well as attorneys at the state Department of General Services. But interviews and corrections department e-mails reviewed by the receiver's office show that contracting staff raised objections, such as whether the contract should have been competitively bid, whether MDI needed a medical license and whether the rates were too high. When MDI complained about the delays, Hagar said, Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller repeatedly urged the employees to move the contract ahead. "Nobody leaned on them to approve a contract; we asked them the status of the contract," Farber-Szekrenyi said, adding that he told the contractor to start work without a contract because there was an emergency, with hundreds of medical appointments backlogged. Concerned about delays with the contract last fall, Farber-Szekrenyi said he gave MDI and a corrections attorney a couple of weeks to resolve the medical licensing issue — and it was. Meanwhile, employees who process medical contracts were placed under the receiver. A short time later, Hagar learned from one of them that Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller were implementing a pilot program without competitive bidding — and that contracting staff thought the price was exorbitant and that the work required a medical license. Hagar stopped the contract and later asked the inspector general to investigate. Although the receiver said he had been unaware of the pilot program, Farber-Szekrenyi said he personally informed Sillen about it. Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller said that earlier this year they were forced to resign by the governor's office, which declined to comment. Though MDI said it saved the state money and had dramatically reduced backlogs for appointments at the two prisons, Hagar said his investigators found healthcare still in crisis there. Tehachapi Warden Joe Sullivan, who served as interim warden at Lancaster early this year, said MDI had inmates scheduled for appointments but they had not all been seen by doctors. "In my view, they were doing an excellent job," he said. The receiver's office now is developing its own contracts with providers. And MDI is threatening to sue if necessary to recoup $2.6 million not reimbursed by the state. MDI's Willich said the company apparently was caught in a fight between two gubernatorial appointees and a powerful court-appointed receiver. "We were the meat in the sandwich," he said.

June 2, 2007 Sacramento Bee
State corrections officials resumed transferring inmates to out-of-state prisons Friday, moving 38 convicts by bus to Arizona. The transfers had been placed on hold since November, when two public employee unions convinced a Sacramento judge that sending inmates out of state violated California's civil service laws. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian's ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal to the 3rd District Court of Appeal by the Schwarzenegger administration. Oral arguments have yet to be scheduled. Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said state officials "believe we have statutory authority" to go ahead with more transfers, and he suggested that if the administration lost its appeal, it would not pose a major problem. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Unger said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger obtained legislative approval in the recently enacted Assembly Bill 900 prison construction and rehabilitation package to transfer up to 8,000 inmates, involuntarily if it comes to that. Only inmates volunteering for the out-of-state placement were transferred Friday, however. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is planning to transfer as many as 400 inmates a month to help ease overcrowding, with 18,000 inmates now living in gyms, dayrooms and other spaces not designed to house them. "Temporary out-of-state inmate transfers will provide immediate relief to California's prison system while the rest of the governor's comprehensive reforms are implemented," Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in a prepared statement. Tilton said the transfers "will also give us breathing room" to try to pick up the system's rehabilitation effort and also to help improve its medical delivery system, which a San Francisco federal judge has declared unconstitutional. Friday's transfers to the Florence Detention Center in Arizona increased to 218 the number of California inmates being housed in the prison, which is owned and operated by the Correctional Corporation of America. Another 76 state prisoners have been transferred to the West Tennessee Detention Facility, another CCA-owned prison not far from Memphis. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 were the unions filing the suit last fall that temporarily blocked the transfers. CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran said Friday that even though the most recent transfers involved only inmates who the department said wanted to go out of state, the decision to move out prisoners who don't want to go "is absolutely one of the most dangerous things this administration has utilized." Corcoran said the prison system has been "marketing these (out-of-state) institutions much like cruise ships," yet still has fallen short of obtaining anywhere near the 19,000 inmates the corrections agency initially said were interested in the transfers. "Very quickly, they're going to have to move them involuntarily, then we'll see what happens from there," Corcoran said. Union leaders have said they expect inmates who don't want to be transferred out of state to wage intense struggles to keep from being removed from their cells.

April 6, 2007 Sacramento Bee
The Schwarzenegger administration sought Thursday to block a court ruling that the governor's program transferring inmates out of state is "unlawful." In the meantime, the administration is taking the ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal. Ohanesian ruled against the administration on Feb. 20, but the official order blocking the order wasn't entered until Monday. The state filed its appeal on Tuesday, and on Thursday filed the stay order on Ohanesian's ruling until the appeal is heard. In a statement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said his office is prepared to "fight to preserve our emergency efforts to address the prison overcrowding crisis." He said the out-of-state transfers, in which hundreds of prisoners already have been moved to private prisons in Arizona and Tennessee, are "imperative to relieve the pressure on our overburdened prison system and improve safety for correctional officers, staff and inmates." Ohanesian's ruling agreed with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 that the transfers violated the state's civil service protection laws. Her ruling also said the governor overstepped his authority by issuing an emergency proclamation on the prison overcrowding because the issue remains within the state's ability to control. Moreover, the judge's ruling said, no local authorities asked the state for assistance. The challenge to the governor's authority to declare an emergency created "wider implications" that his appeal will seek to address, Schwarzenegger said in his statement. "It jeopardizes my executive authority to maintain the public's safety, the lives and property of our citizens," Schwarzenegger said. " CCPOA attorney Gregg Adam said the administration is setting itself up for potentially larger problems if it goes ahead with the transfers. He said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is just about out of inmates who have volunteered for the transfers and that future movements in all likelihood will involve prisoners who don't want to go. As a result, Adam predicted that inmates rights attorneys and other groups will sue the state and push the matter from the state courts into the federal system. "It's reckless for the state to carry on with the transfers (given) the ruling," Adam said. "To continue to send inmates out of state will trigger a ton of litigation, and the administration is going to have more than a couple of disgruntled labor unions to deal with."

February 8, 2007 LA Times
Attorneys for two California prisoners on Wednesday asked a federal court to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from forcibly transferring convicts to private lockups in other states. The challenge comes less than a week after the governor ordered the mandatory moves to relieve overcrowding, which he said had reached crisis levels in most of the state's 33 prisons. Close to 400 California inmates already have transferred voluntarily to private prisons in Tennessee and Arizona under a program that began in November. Schwarzenegger authorized the mandatory moves because so few convicts had agreed to go. In papers filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Los Angeles civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman asked for an order barring the forced transfers of inmates David Diaz and Paul Blumberg — and others in similar circumstances. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel issued an order instructing the Schwarzenegger administration to file a response before a hearing Feb. 20. The order also said the court had been assured Diaz and Blumberg would not be forcibly transferred before then. Diaz is incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison, in the San Joaquin Valley, for attempted murder and related charges. Blumberg was sentenced to life for attempted murder and is housed at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe. Both men have filed habeas corpus appeals in federal court, and Yagman argues that because those are pending, the inmates may not be transferred out of state. The mandatory transfers also would violate their constitutional right to due process, he said.

December 31, 2006 AP
California no longer plans to transfer more than 1,200 of its inmates to an Indiana state prison, an official said. Trina Randall, New Castle Correctional Facility's public information officer, on Thursday confirmed to The Courier-Times that the deal had fallen through. The plan was thwarted because of a lawsuit against California over the possible transfer, and a lack of inmates willing to volunteer to make the cross-country move. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in October a contract between California and Florida-based GEO Group Inc., the company Indiana hired to operate the New Castle prison. He said 1,260 inmates would be transferred to Indiana in a deal that was to have created 200 Indiana jobs. The deal was part of plans to alleviate prison overcrowding in California, and the Indiana prison was to be paid $63 per day to house each of that state's inmates, with $15 of that going to state government. Daniels had said the state would make about $6.2 million in each of the next two years. The medium-security prison in New Castle, 40 miles east of Indianapolis, has a capacity of 2,416 but has only 1,068 inmates. But a news release earlier this week from the Indiana Department of Correction termed the transfer as "not likely." It said that the DOC was working with another state on an agreement similar to the California deal. "We are in the process of reviewing a proposal from that jurisdiction," said DOC Commissioner David Donahue.

December 2, 2006 The Sacramento Bee
California's prison health czar awarded a pharmacy management services contract two months ago "in blatant violation of California law, state competitive bidding requirements and fundamental principles of fair dealing," a losing bidder charged in papers filed this week in San Francisco federal court. In asking U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to set aside the contract, attorneys for Public Health Service Bureau, LLC, said in their motion filed Monday that prison health care receiver Robert Sillen awarded the contract to Maxor National Pharmacy Services Corp. "in such a way as to create the appearance of collusion and 'cronyism' between himself and Maxor." The motion represents the first legal challenge to the sweeping authority Henderson granted Sillen when he created the receivership earlier this year to oversee and overhaul the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's troubled $1.5 billion prison health care system. Sillen's appointment earlier this year followed Henderson's May 2005 ruling that medical delivery services in the prison system violated constitutional standards. The judge found that the system's shoddy health care was responsible for as many as 34 unnecessary inmate deaths and that the prison system was incapable of stopping the carnage on its own. But in going after prison pharmacy services, Sillen let Maxor tailor the management bid to its own liking, kept the Request for Proposal secret, "refused to answer questions from qualified bidders and ultimately awarded the contract to the one bidder that had the inside track all along," the Oakland-based Public Health group's motion read. "To ratify a public contract awarded in such a manner flies in the face ... of public contract law declared by the Legislature to protect the taxpayers from fraud, corruption and carelessness," it added. Attorneys for Public Health said the contract was worth between $80 million and $100 million. John Ward, the chief executive officer of the Amarillo, Texas-based Maxor, said the contract was worth less than that, but he refused to identify its value. Ward referred questions on the size of the contract to Sillen's California Prison Health Care Receivership Corp., whose spokeswoman, Rachael Kagan, said she didn't know what it was worth and that the people who did weren't in the office Friday. Kagan declined to comment on the motion, saying her office was in the process of reviewing it. Kagan said she didn't know if the contract had been "fully awarded" or officially signed yet. A Jan. 22 hearing has been tentatively scheduled in San Francisco to hear the motion. In creating the receiver's office, Henderson, in his Feb. 14 order, said the appointee "shall make all reasonable efforts" to do the job "in a manner consistent with California state laws, regulations and contracts." The judge also empowered the receiver to seek and obtain court authority to suspend state contracting requirements if they impede his efforts to fix the health care system. On Nov. 16, Sillen jolted the Capitol with his testimony at the Little Hoover Commission where he said he was prepared to have federal marshals put the bite on the state treasury to pay for California's prison health care if that's what it took to get the system on track. He also threatened to waive state laws and civil service protections and seek contempt-of-court citations against prison system officials who tried to impede him. "We're on our way," Sillen told the commission. Long plagued by high vacancy rates and inefficiencies that have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs per year, the prison system's pharmacy services were one of Sillen's first targets once he took his post. The receiver's office put out the bid for the pharmacy management contract on Aug. 18 to correct what Sillen's office characterized as "particularly grave problems" in the prisons' drug delivery system. The Request for Proposal said the scope of the contract called for a contractor that could implement a "road map" previously outlined in an audit the receiver commissioned Maxor to conduct. On Oct. 20, the contract was awarded -- "not surprisingly," according to the motion -- to Maxor. Key to the "road map," the Public Health Service Bureau's court papers said, was Maxor's recommendation that the prison system administer drugs to inmates out of a "central fill" distribution system, which the Texas company already had up and running in its own state. Ward, the Maxor CEO, denied that his company tailored the audit's "road map" to its own specifications. "We had no way of knowing it would go any further than our recommendation," Ward said. The CEO said his firm has "absolutely not" had any pre-existing relationship with Sillen. Public Health Service Bureau's court papers said the award amounted to "misconduct" on the receiver's part because the bid wasn't published in any newspapers or in the State Contracts Register as required by state law. The motion said the Oakland group didn't find out about the contract until eight days after the bid went out. When the Public Health outfit sent questions to the receiver's office for details on the contract, Sillen never responded, the motion said. "That tells me he didn't want to see any responsive bids because he wanted to issue it to Maxor -- isn't it obvious?" Alton Burkhalter, the attorney for the Public Health Service Bureau, said in an interview. The Public Health Service Bureau is a "pharmacy benefits administrator and information management company," according to its Web site. The firm already administers the state's $250 million AIDS Drug Assistance Program. "We don't think this was a fair contract," said Public Health's president and CEO, Eric Flowers. "We don't think it's fair for the people of California, and we don't think it's an effective solution for the prisoners." Maxor identifies itself in press releases as "a leading expert in correctional health care," with a current and past client list that includes the Texas prison system, for which it re-engineered pharmacy services when the agency was under federal court supervision. Other listed clients include the Denver County Jail and the Colorado Department of Corrections.

November 22, 2006 AP
A state judge decided Wednesday to let California send 2,260 inmates to Indiana and four other states to relieve prison crowding, though she said the transfers may be illegal. Two state employee unions "are reasonably likely" to win their lawsuit against the state next year, but can't prove they are suffering enough immediate irreparable harm to justify a preliminary injunction in the meantime, ruled Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian. Any damages the unions suffer are more than offset by the "extreme peril" created by keeping more than 173,000 inmates in space designed for fewer than 100,000, Ohanesian said.

November 2, 2006 KESP
A Sacramento County judge today rejected state employee unions' attempt to temporarily block California's plans to move more than two thousand inmates to other states. But Judge Patrick Marlette set another hearing for later this month. The judge says that will give the unions another chance to argue that Governor Schwarzenegger is violating the state Constitution by shipping the inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee this month to relieve crowding in the nation's largest state prison system. The unions say Schwarzenegger is illegally sidestepping the state's civil service system and the usual contracting procedures. Schwarzenegger's attorney says the move is needed to relieve dangerous conditions and the possibility that a judge could order the early release of inmates.

October 31, 2006  Sacramento Bee
Two major public employee unions Monday filed a lawsuit to block the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from transferring more than 2,000 inmates to private prisons in other states. Representatives of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 filed the suit in Sacramento Superior Court. It seeks to stop the transfers on grounds that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger overstepped his legal authority in seeking the moves based on prison overcrowding. Although California has used private prisons for years within its own boundaries, CCPOA Vice President Chuck Alexander said the in-state facilities received approval from the Legislature while the out-of-state plan has not. "I think that's the fundamental difference," Alexander said at a press conference at CCPOA headquarters in West Sacramento. Representatives of the CCPOA and SEIU were joined at the press conference by state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-East Los Angeles, and officials from other labor and community groups. Romero said that private incarceration is "an abdication of the will of the people" and "an abdication of responsibility" on the part of the state.

October 28, 2006 The Star Press
Talking about how inmates re-enter society after serving time in prison is a touchy subject here, as residents worry about the 1,260 California inmates who are headed to the New Castle Correctional Facility. So, when Indiana Department of Correction Commissioner J. David Donahue came to New Castle on Friday for a town hall meeting to talk about the road to re-entry, he knew he'd have to address public concerns about the issue. Donahue, appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005 as the leader of the DOC, said questions about where and how those California inmates will be released are among the most-frequently asked. And though the deal should bring with it no expense to local taxpayers, Donahue did acknowledge there are some instances when the county has "certain inherent responsibilities" because the prison is located there. That likely means that in the event an inmate is charged with a crime while behind bars, Henry County Prosecutor Kit Crane's expenses would remain the county's responsibility. That's not the answer Henry County officials wanted, as Henry County Councilman Richard Bouslog hoped the county could recoup its court expenses. Bouslog was among the many elected officials in the crowd of the old circuit courtroom inside the courthouse Friday afternoon. Members of the county council and board of commissioners, as well as candidates for political office, made up the majority of the 50-person crowd.

October 21, 2006  Sacramento Bee
The first transfers of California inmates to private, out-of-state prisons are scheduled to take place next month under two no-bid contracts the overstuffed Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed Friday. Under the deals worked out with the GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America, the state will move 2,260 inmates out of its jampacked prisons over the next 120 days to private institutions in Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Corrections officials say the separate deals will help stem its emergency overcrowding crisis, but union officials opposed to the transfers contend they will undermine public accountability and shift responsibility for the tough business of prison administration to profit-driven corporate boardrooms. Newspaper reports compiled on a Web site run by the Private Corrections Institute in Florida paint a different picture of the CCA prisons, however. The stories cited riots and inmate drug dealing at Diamondback, more violence and drug issues at Florence, inmate complaints over phone rates at North Fork and the unexplained death of a prisoner at West Tennessee.

October 6, 2006 Courier Journal
Up to 1,200 medium-security prisoners from California will be housed in the state's underused New Castle Correctional Facility, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced yesterday. Daniels said the deal he struck with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will result in a $6.2 million profit for Indiana. Indiana officials initiated the negotiations, which took four or five months, after reading about California's prison-crowding crisis, Daniels said. GEO Group, the private company that runs the prison in east-central Indiana, will hire 200 additional workers to oversee the new prisoners. "We saw an opportunity and contacted California officials several months ago," Daniels said. "We look at every way we can to be creative and businesslike, and this is a win for everyone."

October 6, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A California prison overcrowding emergency declaration could speed up that state’s contract negotiations with GEO Group, which owns the Lake County prison. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Bill Sessa said the agency is continuing to talk with three private prison companies, one of which is GEO, to negotiate contracts to move prisoners to out-of-state facilities. “We’re going to continue contract negotiations with three companies and whoever else jumps in,” Sessa said. Officials from GEO said they are continuing talks with California. “We’re looking forward to working with the state,” said Pablo Paez, director of corporate communications at GEO. “We’re working with them and we look forward to work through the process.” GEO has available beds at three facilities, including the Lake County site, Paez said, noting that California officials have visited the facility sites. Paez said he has no specific timeline for contract talks, but added that the state-of-emergency declaration demonstrates “they have an immediate need to send up to 5,000 inmates out of state.”

October 6, 2006 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent declaration of an emergency in state prisons will mean two new possibilities for inmates at the California Institution for Men and other prisons: doing time at private prisons and doing time in other states. Special Section: Criminal Neglect Schwarzenegger's proclamation makes it possible for California to contract for prison beds with private operators in other states - a proposal the governor had sought earlier this year but was rebuffed by the Legislature. "Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," he said Wednesday. But experts questioned the wisdom of the move, noting that placing prisoners in out-of-state facilities has in the past led to violence. "There's been lots of problems with inmates being shipped out, in particular if they're put into a facility with multijurisdictional inmates," said Ken Kopczynski, of the Florida-based Private Corrections Institute. "California inmates are under California law. If they have Oklahoma inmates, or Texas inmates, they all have to be handled separately." Disparity in treatment of prisoners from several states was one cause identified in a 2004 riot where inmates alternately smashed, flooded and torched a private institution in Colorado, Kopczynski noted. In that incident, prisoners from different states -Colorado, Washington and Wyoming - felt they were being treated unfairly, since each state paid different wages for inmate labor. Other problems can arise when inmates from different states get together to form their own gangs, or when the distance from their families and support networks is too great, making rehabilitation less likely. Kopczynski also said the private corrections industry has racked up a less-than-stellar record in the past, mostly due to cost-saving efforts such as using low-wage guards and cutting corners on security.

October 5, 2006 The Press-Enterprise
The governor's emergency order to transfer California inmates to other states to ease crowding sent private-prison stocks soaring Thursday while provoking the ire of Democratic legislators, corrections officers and inmate advocacy groups. The state is poised this month to sign deals with private prison operators to house California inmates in states such as Indiana. The plan would send 2,200 inmates to other states almost immediately. Campaign Money: It has already stirred the frustration of state legislators, who shot down a similar proposal during a special session on prison crowding in August. Amid accusations of cronyism and conflicts of interest, Gov. Schwarzenegger's campaign announced Thursday that he has returned $32,000 in campaign donations to a private prison slated to benefit from his proposal. "The Governor has a strict policy against accepting contributions from persons or entities doing business with the state or seeking to do business with the state and in which he or his office might be negotiating the terms of such state contracts," wrote his attorney in a letter to The Geo Group. The Geo Group is a Florida-based private prison firm, and one of three firms currently negotiating with the state for three- to five-year, no-bid contracts to house inmates out of state. Democrat's Response: It reeks of "pay to play," said Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. "What it demonstrates is that the governor can't resolve this crisis. He doesn't have the political will, and he doesn't have the stomach for it." Romero questioned the constitutionality of forced transfers and suggested the state concentrate on programs to reduce California's 70 percent recidivism rate.

September 10, 2006 Sacramento Bee
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate them. Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said the agency can administratively transfer inmates out of state if they volunteer for the move and if the contracts with out-of-state operators do not exceed a year. Longer term deals, Hidalgo said, would require legislative approval. "If there's a willing inmate and a vendor, we can do this on our own right now," Hidalgo said. One major private prison company, the GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., has expressed interest in housing California inmates at its facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Louisiana. GEO currently operates four private prisons in California. It also contributed $22,300 to Schwarzenegger on Aug. 25, in the last week of the legislative session, when lawmakers declined to act on proposals designed to ease prison overcrowding in California. One bill would have required inmate approval for out-of-state transfers. In legislative hearings, GEO expressed support for an involuntary transfer plan. Altogether, GEO has contributed $90,300 to Schwarzenegger going back to 2003.

September 7, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A deal that might have supplied California inmates to the former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility in Lake County could be in jeopardy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) proposed sending inmates to out-of-state facilities — potentially including the Lake County prison — without getting the inmates’ permission. However, the future of the proposal is unclear. The California Assembly refused to vote on the measure despite the California Senate passing a bill allowing the transfers only with the inmate’s permission, which is current California law. The California legislature, a part-time legislature, left session for the year Friday without approving Schwarzenegger’s four-bill package. The bills faced opposition by Republicans in the Assembly as well as the corrections officer union and garnered only lukewarm support from Democrats. In addition, Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger also faces a challenge from Democrat Phil Angelides in the November election. The Baldwin area facility was mentioned as a possible recipient of California inmates, and officials from California reportedly visited the site earlier this summer. Pablo Paez, communications director for GEO Group which owns the Lake County prison, said he had “nothing new to report” with regard to any deal to house inmates there. Paez said GEO has been in contact with California and with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding possibly renting bed space at the facility a few miles north of Baldwin. Refusing to name where else GEO is seeking rentals, Paez said “the company remains active in marketing our facility.”

September 13, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
A company that wanted to reopen a private prison in Bakersfield under a no-bid contract had a clear conflict of interest because it had hired two recent retirees from the Department of Corrections, the state auditor said Tuesday. But the auditor concluded there was no conflict of interest by another company that was awarded a no-bid contract to operate a prison in McFarland, even though it had put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance director on the board of a subsidiary. Those were the key points in a report by Auditor Elaine Howle's office that was ordered by lawmakers upset about the handling of the department's decision to reopen the two facilities that had been shut down barely a year before. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, requested the audit in January because she said the contract for the McFarland facility "smells bad." That contract was awarded to GEO Group Inc., the same firm that had operated it for years before it was shut down. The contract drew fire because the real estate trust that owns the facility and leases it to GEO put former state budget chief Donna Arduin on its board of directors shortly before it was offered the contract late last year. The audit report said that did not involve a conflict of interest because GEO has a 10-year lease on the property from the subsidiary that began long before Arduin joined the company and before the state decided to reopen the facility. Besides, it noted, GEO was the only possible operator because its subsidiary owned the facility. But the department's handling of a contract to reopen the Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield came in for sharp criticism by the auditor. The bidder, Massachusetts-based CiviGenics Inc., did not disclose the fact it had hired two former high-level department officials, at least one of whom contacted the department about the contract. They had both retired from the department less than a year before. State law bars top officials from being involved with state contracts for at least a year after they leave state service.

September 13, 2005 AP
California's prison population is at a record high, officials said Tuesday, as the state auditor panned the corrections system's last attempt to deal with sudden crowding. The news comes as the state auditor reported that two former high-ranking state corrections employees may have violated conflict of interest laws when they contacted their former colleagues as the state was opening two private prisons. One contract was later rescinded in part because of the conflict allegations. The department wasted an undetermined amount of money on the aborted project before it had permission from the Department of General Services, auditors found. Two high-level department retirees had gone to work for private prison operator CiviGenics Inc. and worked with their former colleagues on the contract within a year after leaving state government, in possible violation of conflict of interest laws, auditors found. They faulted the Marlborough, Mass.-based contractor for not disclosing the employees' background, and the department for not requiring disclosure. Auditors decided there was no conflict of interest by a former state Department of Finance director who went to work for the second prison contractor, GEO Group Inc.

January 2, 2004
Two of Kern County's private prisons are officially shut down, after the state pulled funding and moved all the inmates.  Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield, and the McFarland Community Correctional Facility in McFarland were finishing closing down Wednesday after losing state funding. One other private prison in Riverside County was also closed.  Former Gov. Gray Davis wanted to shut down the prisons last year, but the Legislature was against the closures. Davis officials had said that the closures would save $400,000 the first year and $900,000 every year after.  But McFarland's city administrator said the closure of the prison will mean lost jobs and a drop in revenue for the city.  The prison industry is one of the city's largest employers, said Anthony B. Lopez, interim McFarland city administrator.  "That (losing jobs) in itself is a detriment," Lopez said.  The water and sewer service that was provided by the city for prison use is also a major revenue source, Lopez said. The city stands to lose $260,000 a year, he said.  The city plans to negotiate reopening the facility and maybe housing federal inmates at the facility "hopefully in the very near future," Lopez said.  More than 100 full and part-time employees will lose their jobs at Mesa Verde which run by Alternative Programs Inc.,, said Gary White, the company's president.  White said the closures were more to appease the state prison guards' union than to save money for the state.  State officials have consistently denied that, saying it was a purely budgetary decision to close the prisons.  Officials with the union, officially called the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.  But the CCPOA has made no secret of its opposition to private prisons. Union officials insist it is due to a belief that prisons should be publicly owned, not run for profit at taxpayers' expense, not anger that they are non-union.  The closed McFarland prison was operated by the former Wackenhut Corrections Corp., and now the GEO Group Inc. The company runs two other prisons in McFarland that will remain open.  The closed prisons housed more than 500 inmates combined. Displaced inmates have been moved to various locations across the state, said California Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Heimrich said.  (Bakersfield Californian)

California Legislature
January 25, 2010 KCRA
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger floated an unusual suggestion Monday on how to cut the state's bloated prison costs with a private venture -- build a private prison in Mexico. "We pay them to build a prison down in Mexico and then we have those undocumented immigrants be down there in a prison and with their prison guards and all this," Schwarzenegger told a gathering of the Sacramento Press Club. "It will halve the costs to build the prisons and halve the costs to run the prisons." The governor's remark came amid alarm from law enforcement and crime victim groups about a new program meant to thin the state's prison population through early release.

January 23, 2010 California Progressive Report
This is Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, Chairman of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. The Accountability Committee was created last year to investigate California state government programs and agencies to help improve program performance, find efficiencies and save taxpayers' money. This week the Committee investigated a $600-million contract the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation entered into with a private prison company without conducting a competitive bidding process. A key goal of the Committee is to ensure that state government conducts its business in a transparent manner, and does everything it can to ensure that taxpayers are getting the best deal possible. In this case, the Governor's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed both of those goals. Due to overcrowding in our state prisons, Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the corrections system in 2006. Based on that declaration of emergency, his Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation contracted with a private prison company to begin sending some of California inmates to out-of-state facilities to help alleviate the overcrowding problem. The Committee found no fault with the Department's initial effort to sign a $23 million contract. Three years later, however, that contract has been amended multiple times and is now valued at more than $600 million. At no time during this period has the Department conducted a formal, competitive bidding process to ensure the state is getting the best deal it could. No one - not the Department, not the governor, not the Legislature or the public - has any idea if another company or another state could have provided adequate prison beds at a better price. During a period when the state's budget deficit is leading to teacher layoffs and the elimination of important health programs, this careless use of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars is simply unacceptable. Members of the Assembly Committee on Accountability questioned administration officials at an oversight hearing just this week, and concluded that the Corrections Department must do better in the future to ensure that it encourages competition and gets the best price it can for out-of-state prison beds. On a bi-partisan basis, Committee members pledged to reject an expansion of this program without competitive bidding. The Committee will continue to provide much-needed oversight of state government to ensure precious tax dollars are being spent as wisely as possible. This has been Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, Chairman of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. Thank you for listening.

November 24, 2009 Los Angeles Daily Journal
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inked a deal in October to ship 2,336 additional inmates to out-of-state facilities run by a private prison company, bringing the total number of California prisoners held by the firm since 2006 to roughly 10,500. The contract extension, worth $54.4 million a year, came six months after the company, Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of America, donated $100,000 to Budget Reform Now, a group spearheaded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that sought to pass six budget-related propositions, none having anything to do with private prisons. Because of an emergency proclamation regarding prison overcrowding issued by Schwarzenegger in 2006, the contract extension does not require legislative approval, though lawmakers can still kill it if they don't approve the spending when they re-convene in January. Rachel Arrezola, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said the contract extension was not related to the donation. "The Governor had nothing to do with it," she wrote in an e-mail. She said the corrections department alone made the decision. Corrections officials have said they increased the number of inmates exported to private prisons because of crowding in California's 33 prisons. A three-judge panel in August ordered officials to reduce the prison population by about 40,000. The agency was closed Friday under a cost-saving furlough and spokesmen did not return messages and e-mails for comment regarding the donation but had said earlier in the week that it was a necessary step to reduce crowding. Corrections Corp. also denied the donation was tied to the contract extension, which brings the total value of its California contract to more than $224 million a year. "We are politically active and make contributions to Democrats and Republicans alike all over the country, as do all companies of our size and reach," said Louise Grant, vice president of communications at Corrections Corp. Corrections Corp. donated $234,500 in 2007-08, and $38,900 so far this year, to several members of the California Legislature and the state Democratic and Republican parties, according to its filings with the Secretary of State. The firm has also reported spending about $45,000 for each of the last three quarters on lobbyists in California. "It's certainly no accident that this company made this contribution and then got awarded the contract extension," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies. "But I'm convinced there was no quid pro quo here." Rather, Stern said handing out donations merely gives corporations more and easier access to politicians. California pays Corrections Corp. $63 a day to house 7,911 inmates in its facilities in Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi. At about the time of the donation, the company reported that it had instituted a hiring freeze and was considering freezing executive salaries and other cost-cutting measures. It had postponed a plan to build a prison in Tennessee. A number of expected contracts were on hold; others never came through. In August, Alaska announced that it would go with a competitor. Minnesota is also pulling back inmates, the company has reported. According to its SEC filings, many of Correction Corp.'s facilities had 100 or more empty beds on Nov. 1, bringing the number of vacancies above 8,800. In December, 765 Alaskan inmates will be removed from the company's Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona, according to the filings. With the contract expansion, California inmates will be filling those beds, plus others in other facilities. In addition to the daily rate, the contract calls for the state to reimburse medical expenses in excess of $2,500. Neither the original contract with Corrections Corp., nor a subsequent extension that increased the number of inmates to a maximum of about 8,000, have been vetted by the Legislature. Schwarzenegger's 2006 emergency order allows the corrections department to circumvent legislative approval. That first contract was one of two awarded by the state to house up to 2,260 inmates in private facilities. The other contractor was GEO Group Inc., of Florida, which had managed some low-level California prisons on a contract since 1995. Geo Group - formerly Wackenhut - had made $68,000 in campaign contributions to various Schwarzenegger political committees in fiscal year 2005-06, before the contract was awarded. After a major riot and fire occurred at the private prison where the California inmates were slated to go, California rescinded its contract with GEO Group. The company still manages a low-security prison in Adalanto and three in McFarland. One of the McFarland facilities will close in two months, according to corrections officials.

November 10, 2008 Fresno Bee
A private prison company that has been lobbying the Schwarzenegger administration and is a campaign contributor to the governor's causes has made a bid to operate an overhauled inmate medical system, a move that could conflict with court-ordered reforms, according to a document obtained Monday by The Associated Press. The offer by The GEO Group Inc. of Florida caught the court-appointed receiver overseeing reform of California's inmate health care system by surprise. In the five-page internal memo obtained by the AP, the receiver's chief of staff repeatedly makes it clear that he believes the bid was solicited by the Schwarzenegger administration and questions the administration's motives. Chief of staff John Hagar writes that The GEO Group has spent more than $300,000 lobbying the governor's office and Legislature since January. Campaign records on file with the secretary of state's office show the company also made a $50,000 contribution last month to the campaign for Proposition 11, the redistricting initiative on the November ballot backed by Schwarzenegger. "The solicitation is all the more troublesome because the Federal Court has taken responsibility away from the Secretary of Corrections concerning the delivery of medical services," Hagar wrote in the memo to court receiver Clark Kelso. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page denied the administration solicited GEO's bid. She said Hagar may be concerned about the overture by a private firm because "the receiver can't defend his $8 billion boondoggle." That's the amount the court receiver says he needs to build medical facilities for 10,000 inmates. Page said the GEO Group approached the administration but was referred to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said company officials met last month with Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate, who referred them to the receiver's office. "There was no discussion beyond that because of the obvious, I guess: We don't run the prison medical system," Hidalgo said. "All we did was refer them to the receiver's office." Schwarzenegger's political spokeswoman, Julie Soderlund, denied any connection between the governor's policy decisions and the contribution to Proposition 11, which is leading in the vote tally but remains too close to call. Officials with The GEO Group and its lobbyists did not return telephone messages Monday. Hagar said the company has submitted a proposal and said it will meet later this week with Kelso, the court-appointed receiver. He wrote that the bid from GEO could be a way to undermine the reform efforts overseen by the federal courts. That's because the company's bid to run inmate medical services could be less expensive than the state-run medical centers proposed by the receiver's office. "We should be careful that the governor's office does not use the GEO proposal as a diversion, attempting to argue to the public that it is more cost effective, when in fact it will not address the constitutional problem at issue and it may violate California law," Hagar wrote. "The governor's office may use GEO as an attempt to derail our construction program in the public arena." The actual bid could not be obtained Monday, and it was not immediately known whether the company offered a cost estimate. Hagar wrote that GEO is proposing "a generic prison" that "will prove woefully inadequate concerning the day-to-day requirements" of inmate care. Kelso, who is engaged in a court battle with the administration, declined to comment. His reform program is intended to remedy prison medical care that has been ruled unconstitutional because of negligence and malfeasance. In recent years, the receiver's office has boosted pay for doctors and nurses and hired dozens of medical staff members in an attempt to improve conditions. It's not clear how the federal judge in San Francisco would receive a proposal to private inmate medical care, considering the history of poor treatment. The system had been blamed for killing an inmate a week through incompetence. Privatizing those functions also may run afoul of state law because it would take work from state prison guards and other government employees. "The GEO Group has a dismal record of both safety and care and treatment, even worse than the Department of Corrections," said Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents most prison guards.

October 5, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle
They're not dueling initiatives. But a pair of anti-crime measures on the Nov. 4 state ballot could hardly be more different in their approach to improving California's criminal justice system. Proposition 5 would divert more drug addicts and nonviolent offenders from prison to rehabilitation programs. Proposition 6 would set aside money for anti-crime agencies and put more convicts - gang members in particular - behind bars. One would shrink the prison system, the other make it bigger. ... Spending boost -- Prop. 6, the other measure, would require the state to spend at least $965 million a year on programs for police and probation departments, prosecutors, jails and juvenile lockups. That's a $365 million increase from current spending, a figure likely to rise to $500 million within a few years, the legislative analyst said. Penalties would increase for some crimes, particularly offenses that are gang-related. Civil injunctions restricting the movement of alleged gang members - like those that San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has pursued in recent years - would become easier to obtain. "It's a response to the growing gang problem, which is affecting all parts of California," said Prop. 6 supporter Scott Thorpe, who leads the California District Attorneys Association. Macallair said Prop. 6 would worsen the crisis in prisons and noted that law enforcement contractors had donated to the Prop. 6 campaign, including Corrections Corporation of America, which builds and manages prisons.

June 5, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was within his rights to declare a state of emergency at California's overcrowded prisons in 2006 and begin transferring inmates out of state, an appeals court ruled Wednesday over the objections of the prison guards union. The ruling by the state Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento overturned a judge's decision and was welcomed by Schwarzenegger, who is separately defending the state against lawsuits by inmates seeking to reduce the overall prison population and improve the prisons' health care system. A federal judge has transferred control of prison health care in California to a court-appointed manager after ruling that the system violated constitutional standards. There are nearly 160,000 inmates in the 33 state prisons, which were designed to hold about 83,000. The state is planning construction that will expand the capacity of state prisons and county jails by 53,000. A referee appointed by a federal court panel has proposed measures to reduce the prison population by 27,000 over four years, to 133,000. The measures would include alternatives to prison for some parole violators and felons facing short sentences. Wednesday's ruling "comes at a critical juncture in our prison reform efforts," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I am pleased that their decision allows out-of-state transfers to continue while our comprehensive reforms to reduce overcrowding are fully implemented." Laurie Hepler, a lawyer for the prison guards' union and another prison employee union that challenged the inmate transfers, said her clients disagreed with the ruling and would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger issued the order in October 2006 after a special legislative session on prison overcrowding fizzled, with Democrats seeking changes in sentencing laws and Republicans calling for prison expansion. As the inmate population continued to climb, 16,000 prisoners occupied bunks in prison gyms and other temporary quarters. Schwarzenegger has said as many as 8,000 inmates could be shipped out of state. So far, nearly 3,900 prisoners have been transferred to out-of-state prisons run by private companies under contracts with California. The transfers have continued despite a ruling in April 2007 by a Sacramento County judge that Schwarzenegger had acted illegally. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian agreed with the unions that state law allows a governor to issue an emergency order only when local officials need state help in responding to a disaster, and that the use of private prison employees violated civil service laws. The appeals court had put Ohanesian's ruling on hold while the state appealed. In its ruling Wednesday, the court said the governor can issue orders to respond to emergencies in state institutions that may endanger residents. In this case, the court said, the lack of space in state prisons was causing overcrowding in local jails, forcing counties to release some inmates who might commit more crimes. Overcrowding also increased the risk of diseases that could spread outside the prisons and had led to local water pollution from sewage spills caused by overtaxed prison wastewater systems, the court said. The court also said California's civil service rules allow the state to employ private contractors when public employees are not available to meet urgent needs. The planned expansion of state prisons will take years to complete, and the prison system will need five years to eliminate staffing shortages, the court said. "California cannot build or retrofit the prisons needed overnight, no matter how much money it invests to solve the problem," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said in the 3-0 ruling. The only available lockups are in other states and are staffed by private employees, he said.

March 21, 2008 The California Majority Report
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who railed against special interests during his recall campaign and has since shattered all fundraising efforts -- has quietly been padding his campaign accounts with hundreds of thousands of dollars during the past few weeks. In the last week, Schwarzenegger has added five- and six-figure donations from health care interests, pharmaceutical companies, homebuilders, and private prison companies -- just as he begins reviewing legislation being passed in the legislature reviewing those industries. For example, he has received $25,000 from Pacific West Pharmacy, $5,000 from the Corrections Corporation of America, and $25,000 from General Motors Corporation. The funds have been funneled to this "California Dream Team" account, one of several the governor has to raise campaign cash. It should be noted, however, that Schwarzenegger cannot run for re-election. Fascinating that Schwarzenegger can shake down the wealthy and contributions from millions in campaign money but rules out Democratic proposals to tax these very same interests to pay their fair share for our kids education.

March 9, 2008 Sacramento Bee
As far as the inmates are concerned, it's fine if California pays tens of millions of dollars more to their private-prison captors. They like the relaxed atmosphere in the private sector, not to mention the satellite TV that on a recent Friday flashed plenty of poolside bikini action from a Spanish-language soap opera. "You're relaxed here," said Don Chandler, 43, of West Sacramento, who was propped up on his bunk at Golden State Modified Community Correctional Facility while finishing up a stint for violating parole on an underlying domestic-violence conviction. "You're comfortable. You can enjoy yourself here." Although California has been contracting with private correctional facilities for 22 years to cope with overcrowding, saving money in the process, costs are about to go up. This year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state corrections agency is proposing a five-year, $67 million increase to one company, GEO Group Inc. The proposal would bump up the daily rate the state pays per inmate by 50 percent, which the company says it needs to increase the minimum pay of its officers from $10 an hour to $14.70. It is a deal that will require approval from the Legislature and one that figures to attract an added level of scrutiny. State Sen. Mike Machado, chairman of the budget subcommittee that oversees prison spending, promised a "tough look" when he examines the proposed deal for the GEO Group, especially in light of the remaining $8 billion budget deficit projected through June 2009. "Any proposal to spend money with this type of deficit raises serious questions," the Linden Democrat said. Corrections officials say private prisons are crucial to finding more space to house inmates, while critics in the public employee unions castigate them for lower pay scales that they say attract a less-than-professional work force. Private prisons generally house lower-risk, healthier inmates in the final 18 months of their terms. It's a class of prisoner that costs less to incarcerate than the dangerous, the sick and the long-term who require added expenses for things such as security and medical care. On a recent visit to the Golden State facility, 25 miles north of Bakersfield, inmates lauded the prison for its easier feel, which they said contrasts sharply with the oppressive environment of state institutions marked by overcrowding, violence and control. "Right here is love, compared to where I've been," said inmate William Cook, 27, of Newark, who previously walked the yards at San Quentin, Pleasant Valley and Lancaster. "Here you get all the football games, you get movies every day. It's real easy to do your time here. You don't have to worry about nothing – no politics right here." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said the satellite TV cost is "minimal" and characterized it as a "privilege" that makes inmates want to behave. "It enhances the security and the safety of the facility," Paez said. Two veteran GEO officers, Tim Harrison and Melissa Barrientos, said in interviews that they like their jobs and the company that employs them, even though they have topped out on the firm's pay scales at $15.70 an hour. The hourly base for a top-scale state correctional officer is $35. "We know we work in a private institution," said Harrison, an 11-year employee. "The state has received training in firearms and batons, and we're not allowed to possess those things because we don't have the training." Harrison and Barrientos said they work about 20 hours of overtime a week. They said they get good health benefits and a 401(k), but no pensions. "Some people are embarrassed to admit they work here, because of all the stuff that was said about this place" by former employees, Barrientos said. "It's not that bad. It's a good place." Even though she likes working for GEO, Barrientos disclosed she is taking a test to become a state correctional officer. GEO officials support that, and Golden State Warden Chris Strickland sees his prison as "a great steppingstone." UC Berkeley Labor Center Chairman Ken Jacobs said there should be no surprise in the company's relatively modest salary scales. "That's how they make their profits," said Jacobs, whose research focuses on public employment and living wages, among other topics. "Labor is one of the places where people tend to squeeze." On the non-custody side, teachers in the GEO prisons start out at $18.15 an hour, according to the company. The rate is substantially below most starting categories in the state prisons. Eric Beltran, 31, who teaches a computer class, has been in his current job for about two years, working his way up from the kitchen. His qualifications for the computer job, he said, include working with computers when he was in the motor pool in the Marines and a "couple courses" he took in his one year at Bakersfield College. "I want to keep climbing the ladder," Beltran said. Fewer than 100 Golden State inmates currently are enrolled in educational or vocational classes. GEO officials said they hope to increase that number to 250 inmates with the new contract. Mike Poulson, 48, a drug offender from San Diego, slapped dominoes with fellow inmates – including some of other races, a rare sight in state prisons – and said he likes the GEO prison, compared with sardine cans he's been in such as Solano and Chino. He just wishes the place had more rehab programs, or more job opportunities – such as working in the kitchen – which he said are lacking at Golden State. "I don't like to sit around doing nothing," Poulson said. GEO's deal would apply to three of the five prisons it owns in the state – Golden State, Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility, also located in McFarland, and Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility in Adelanto, San Bernardino County. The proposed increase comes as Schwarzenegger seeks to grant early releases over the next two years to 22,000 prisoners. Scott Kernan, the prison agency's chief of adult operations, said the proposed contract increase will be canceled if the releases go through. Corrections officials say the raise is long overdue, that GEO had been operating below market value until the state increased its daily, per-inmate rate from $40 to $60 in December. "I know some people's sensibilities are bruised, but I think it's a reasonable rate increase, and it's going to be for five years into the future," Kernan said. GEO Western Region Vice President Ed Brown defended the contract. According to the company, the deal reflects the increase in minimum officer pay from $10 to $14.70 an hour; added costs for food, health care and utilities; the tab for buying the prisons it formerly leased; and a GEO promise to ramp up inmate rehabilitation. "This was an opportunity for a clean sheet of paper, rebid, with practical figures based on 2007 dollars," Brown said. "It's in my opinion reasonable in all respects." Together, the three facilities house about 1,800 of the 5,600 inmates in the state's 13 community prisons – seven private, six owned by cities. GEO is the second-largest private prison company in the United States, behind Correctional Corp. of America. It contributed $68,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in 2003 and 2005. Its chief executive officer, George C. Zoley, made $3.7 million last year, not counting stock options, according to Salary.com. GEO's profits jumped 25 percent last year to $41 million on revenue of $1 billion, according to its 2007 annual report. The company's $60-a-day rate per inmate compares with the $118 the state pays on average to accommodate an inmate in one of its own prisons every day; the $77 it pays counties to house state prisoners; and the $63 it pays on its out-of-state contracts. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association voiced strident opposition to the deal. Union spokesman Ryan Sherman called it "corporate welfare." "If GEO is complaining they need extra money to pay their staff more, that's a joke," Sherman said. "If GEO wants to pay them $15 (to start), they can do that right now."

July 23, 2007 Fresno Bee
Two federal judges on Monday ordered creation of a special panel to recommend ways to relieve California's overcrowded prisons, a move that could lead to the capping of the inmate population or the early release of some prisoners. In doing so, the judges rejected the main solution set forth by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to address a crisis that has been building for decades. Last spring, they agreed to an ambitious $7.8 billion program to build 53,000 new prison and jail cells. The judges said that plan, submitted to the courts in June, will only make matters worse for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state can't hire enough guards and medical professionals to provide proper care and oversight for the inmates it has now, let alone the thousands more who might be added through the building program. "From all that presently appears, new beds will not alleviate this problem but will aggravate it," U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento wrote. Schwarzenegger said he will appeal the judges' decision to create the three-judge panel.

June 14, 2007 NBC 11
A no-show at a Thursday hearing fueled the controversy over moving prisoners across state lines against their will, NBC11 reported. The state committee on prison operations was ready to ask tough questions of the private company set to transfer inmates out of California during a hearing Thursday. However, the Corrections Corporation of America representative was a no-show. "Here we have a $56 million contract, and it guarantees them payment whether we have one prisoner or 1,000 prisoners -- and it's a guaranteed contract," Assemblyman Todd Spitzer said. "And they can't send one official to California to answer questions of the legislators?" California has already sent 400 inmates to private prisons in Tennessee and Arizona. Those inmates were volunteers. A video used as a recruitment tool encourages prisoners to volunteer to move to less crowded facilities out of state. The Department of Corrections created the video, which tells inmates they will have bigger cells, dozens of cable channels and all night parties if they move to a prison in Tennessee. Under the prison reform package signed last month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California will soon begin sending up to 8,000 prisoners out of state -- whether they like it or not -- prompting concerns about potential riots. Bill Sessa of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said there's no safety concern whatsoever. "We move hundreds of thousands of inmates a year against their will," Sessa said. "Moving them to a prison in another state is really no different." Not everyone is enthused about sending prisoners out of state to ease prison overcrowding. Critics said there is a better way to go. Matt Gray of Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety said that the 20,000 foreign national inmates in prisons on "our dime, California's dime," could be transferred into federal custody and begin the deportation process back to their country so Californians would no longer have to pay to keep them housed. Prison authorities said undocumented immigrants would be among the first inmates screened for involuntary transfers. The Corrections Corporation of America told NBC11 it didn't show up because of a scheduling conflict and because it did not receive enough advance notice.

June 2, 2007 Sacramento Bee
State corrections officials resumed transferring inmates to out-of-state prisons Friday, moving 38 convicts by bus to Arizona. The transfers had been placed on hold since November, when two public employee unions convinced a Sacramento judge that sending inmates out of state violated California's civil service laws. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian's ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal to the 3rd District Court of Appeal by the Schwarzenegger administration. Oral arguments have yet to be scheduled. Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said state officials "believe we have statutory authority" to go ahead with more transfers, and he suggested that if the administration lost its appeal, it would not pose a major problem. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Unger said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger obtained legislative approval in the recently enacted Assembly Bill 900 prison construction and rehabilitation package to transfer up to 8,000 inmates, involuntarily if it comes to that. Only inmates volunteering for the out-of-state placement were transferred Friday, however. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is planning to transfer as many as 400 inmates a month to help ease overcrowding, with 18,000 inmates now living in gyms, dayrooms and other spaces not designed to house them. "Temporary out-of-state inmate transfers will provide immediate relief to California's prison system while the rest of the governor's comprehensive reforms are implemented," Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in a prepared statement. Tilton said the transfers "will also give us breathing room" to try to pick up the system's rehabilitation effort and also to help improve its medical delivery system, which a San Francisco federal judge has declared unconstitutional. Friday's transfers to the Florence Detention Center in Arizona increased to 218 the number of California inmates being housed in the prison, which is owned and operated by the Correctional Corporation of America. Another 76 state prisoners have been transferred to the West Tennessee Detention Facility, another CCA-owned prison not far from Memphis. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 were the unions filing the suit last fall that temporarily blocked the transfers. CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran said Friday that even though the most recent transfers involved only inmates who the department said wanted to go out of state, the decision to move out prisoners who don't want to go "is absolutely one of the most dangerous things this administration has utilized." Corcoran said the prison system has been "marketing these (out-of-state) institutions much like cruise ships," yet still has fallen short of obtaining anywhere near the 19,000 inmates the corrections agency initially said were interested in the transfers. "Very quickly, they're going to have to move them involuntarily, then we'll see what happens from there," Corcoran said. Union leaders have said they expect inmates who don't want to be transferred out of state to wage intense struggles to keep from being removed from their cells.

May 24, 2007 California Aggie
A state appellate court gave the go-ahead for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to resume transferring inmates from overcrowded state prisons into out-of-state, privately run correctional facilities earlier this week. The decision came as deliberation over a lawsuit filed by the prison guard's union to end the transfer practice carries on. The May 21 announcement by the court will allow the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to prepare the transfer of up to 300 inmates in June, according to CDCR spokesperson Bill Sessa. Sessa said that by the end of the year, 5,000 prisoners are expected to be shipped out of state, and by March 2009, the number of inmates will reach 8,000. "We think it gives us an opportunity to put some breaking room into the prison system," Sessa said. The governor's plan to send prisoners out of state to alleviate overcrowding in the California state prison system was originally proposed in late 2006 by eliciting prisoners to voluntarily move into correctional facilities managed by the Corrections Corporation of America, located in Tennessee and Arizona. Only 360 inmates opted to relocate to the privately run prisons, prompting Schwarzenegger to make the transfers for selected prisoners mandatory in February 2007. The move brought about a lawsuit filed by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association to block the practice, calling it an unconstitutional and desperate attempt at solving prolonged prison overcrowding. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled in favor of the CCPOA in a Feb. 20 decision, saying the governor inappropriately used his powers to declare that the crowded state prison system was in a state of emergency. The Schwarzenegger administration appealed the judge's ruling and was granted a temporary stay - allowing the transfers to resume. The CCPOA disapproved of this week's decision by the appellate court, saying prison guards will be at higher risk for assaults when forcing inmates who are unwilling to transfer into the out-of-state prisons. "All [the inmates] have to do if they don't want to get transferred is assault the staff," said Ryan Sherman of the CCPOA. "And now they're disqualified from going." Sherman said the governor is resorting to transferring inmates because of the lack of a short-term plan to solve the prison overcrowding problem. He said shipping inmates out of state is inconsistent with recommendations from Schwarzenegger's own staff to establish community-based correctional facilities. "His own experts said that the best chance rehabilitation occurs when the inmates are in their communities," Sherman said.

April 6, 2007 Sacramento Bee
The Schwarzenegger administration sought Thursday to block a court ruling that the governor's program transferring inmates out of state is "unlawful." In the meantime, the administration is taking the ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal. Ohanesian ruled against the administration on Feb. 20, but the official order blocking the order wasn't entered until Monday. The state filed its appeal on Tuesday, and on Thursday filed the stay order on Ohanesian's ruling until the appeal is heard. In a statement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said his office is prepared to "fight to preserve our emergency efforts to address the prison overcrowding crisis." He said the out-of-state transfers, in which hundreds of prisoners already have been moved to private prisons in Arizona and Tennessee, are "imperative to relieve the pressure on our overburdened prison system and improve safety for correctional officers, staff and inmates." Ohanesian's ruling agreed with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 that the transfers violated the state's civil service protection laws. Her ruling also said the governor overstepped his authority by issuing an emergency proclamation on the prison overcrowding because the issue remains within the state's ability to control. Moreover, the judge's ruling said, no local authorities asked the state for assistance. The challenge to the governor's authority to declare an emergency created "wider implications" that his appeal will seek to address, Schwarzenegger said in his statement. "It jeopardizes my executive authority to maintain the public's safety, the lives and property of our citizens," Schwarzenegger said. " CCPOA attorney Gregg Adam said the administration is setting itself up for potentially larger problems if it goes ahead with the transfers. He said the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is just about out of inmates who have volunteered for the transfers and that future movements in all likelihood will involve prisoners who don't want to go. As a result, Adam predicted that inmates rights attorneys and other groups will sue the state and push the matter from the state courts into the federal system. "It's reckless for the state to carry on with the transfers (given) the ruling," Adam said. "To continue to send inmates out of state will trigger a ton of litigation, and the administration is going to have more than a couple of disgruntled labor unions to deal with."

February 21, 2007 AP
Private prison operator Corrections Corp. of America shares dropped Wednesday morning after a judge ruled California could not transfer thousands of prisoners out of state. In October, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency because of prison overcrowding and ordered that as many as 5,000 prisoners be sent to private prisons around the country. But the prison guard union sued, and Tuesday Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian said the situation was not an emergency, and the order violated the state Constitution, which bans jobs normally done by state workers from being done by a private company. She gave the state until June to reduce overcrowding in its prisons - rather than work with CCA. Banc of America Securities analyst T.C. Robillard said the ruling was not unexpected and would be appealed, though it does create a brief psychological barrier for CCA and, thus, an opportunity for investors. "We continue to be buyers of the stock and would use any near-term weakness as a buying opportunity," he said. Corrections Corp. shares gave up $1.02, or 1.9 percent, to $52.35 on the New York Stock Exchange.

February 20, 2007 Sacramento Bee
A Sacramento judge Tuesday blocked California corrections officials from transferring inmates to out of state, ruling that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's declaration of a prison overcrowding emergency was "unlawful" and that the movement of the prisoners violates the state's civil service principles. Schwarzenegger vowed to appeal the decision issued by Superior Court Judge Gail D. Ohanesian and the state attorney general's office has said it will seek a stay of the ruling. More than 400 inmates already have been transferred to private, out-of-state prisons on contracts that Ohanesian has enjoined. In her five-page ruling, Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger's declaration violated the state's Emergency Services Act because the prison overcrowding is a statewide issue rather than a local disaster that would require a response from state government. "The emergency here is not within the control of any single county or city in California," Ohanesian wrote. "This is so not because of the magnitude of the crisis. It is because control of the state prisons is exclusively within the purview of state government and not local government. The intent of the Emergency Services Act is not to give the governor extraordinary powers to act without legislative approval in matters such as this that are ordinarily and entirely within the control of state government." Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger made a "good faith attempt" to resolve the crisis in which 172,000 inmates are living in space designed for about half that many but that he acted "in excess of his authority" in proclaiming the emergency. She said the state's arguments that the transfers did not violate constitutional civil service protections were "unavailing" because the lack of employee services were never cited as a reason for the transfers. The suit was brought by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union Local 1000.

February 16, 2007 Contra Costa Times
Overcrowding is fueling violence inside California's prisons and creating an atmosphere primed for a major riot, a state attorney said Friday during court arguments over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to send prisoners to other states. As an example, Deputy Attorney General Vickie Whitney cited a Dec. 30 brawl by hundreds of inmates at the California Institution for Men in Chino that injured more than 50 inmates. "It's because of very crowded situations, and it's a miracle that something more dangerous hasn't occurred that's going to imperil not only correctional officers but inmates and the public," Whitney told reporters after the court hearing. Severe overcrowding prompted Schwarzenegger to declare an emergency in October and order thousands of inmates to be transferred to private prisons in other states. Two state employee unions, including the one representing prison guards, challenged the order on two points. They said it violates the Emergency Powers Act and a provision in the state Constitution that prohibits using private companies for jobs usually performed by state workers. Union attorney Gregg Adams said state law reserves emergency declarations for unforeseen disasters that overwhelm local authorities. It should not be used to address predictable situations such as crowding in prisons, he said. "It makes no sense to me that an illegality can be justified by a danger to the public," he said. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger's declaration might have overstepped state law but delayed a decision in the case. The judge said she will consider whether the public safety threat outweighs any harm to the unions.

February 8, 2007 LA Times
Attorneys for two California prisoners on Wednesday asked a federal court to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from forcibly transferring convicts to private lockups in other states. The challenge comes less than a week after the governor ordered the mandatory moves to relieve overcrowding, which he said had reached crisis levels in most of the state's 33 prisons. Close to 400 California inmates already have transferred voluntarily to private prisons in Tennessee and Arizona under a program that began in November. Schwarzenegger authorized the mandatory moves because so few convicts had agreed to go. In papers filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Los Angeles civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman asked for an order barring the forced transfers of inmates David Diaz and Paul Blumberg — and others in similar circumstances. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel issued an order instructing the Schwarzenegger administration to file a response before a hearing Feb. 20. The order also said the court had been assured Diaz and Blumberg would not be forcibly transferred before then. Diaz is incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison, in the San Joaquin Valley, for attempted murder and related charges. Blumberg was sentenced to life for attempted murder and is housed at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe. Both men have filed habeas corpus appeals in federal court, and Yagman argues that because those are pending, the inmates may not be transferred out of state. The mandatory transfers also would violate their constitutional right to due process, he said.

December 31, 2006 AP
California no longer plans to transfer more than 1,200 of its inmates to an Indiana state prison, an official said. Trina Randall, New Castle Correctional Facility's public information officer, on Thursday confirmed to The Courier-Times that the deal had fallen through. The plan was thwarted because of a lawsuit against California over the possible transfer, and a lack of inmates willing to volunteer to make the cross-country move. Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in October a contract between California and Florida-based GEO Group Inc., the company Indiana hired to operate the New Castle prison. He said 1,260 inmates would be transferred to Indiana in a deal that was to have created 200 Indiana jobs. The deal was part of plans to alleviate prison overcrowding in California, and the Indiana prison was to be paid $63 per day to house each of that state's inmates, with $15 of that going to state government. Daniels had said the state would make about $6.2 million in each of the next two years. The medium-security prison in New Castle, 40 miles east of Indianapolis, has a capacity of 2,416 but has only 1,068 inmates. But a news release earlier this week from the Indiana Department of Correction termed the transfer as "not likely." It said that the DOC was working with another state on an agreement similar to the California deal. "We are in the process of reviewing a proposal from that jurisdiction," said DOC Commissioner David Donahue.

November 22, 2006 AP
A state judge decided Wednesday to let California send 2,260 inmates to Indiana and four other states to relieve prison crowding, though she said the transfers may be illegal. Two state employee unions "are reasonably likely" to win their lawsuit against the state next year, but can't prove they are suffering enough immediate irreparable harm to justify a preliminary injunction in the meantime, ruled Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian. Any damages the unions suffer are more than offset by the "extreme peril" created by keeping more than 173,000 inmates in space designed for fewer than 100,000, Ohanesian said.

November 2, 2006 KESP
A Sacramento County judge today rejected state employee unions' attempt to temporarily block California's plans to move more than two thousand inmates to other states. But Judge Patrick Marlette set another hearing for later this month. The judge says that will give the unions another chance to argue that Governor Schwarzenegger is violating the state Constitution by shipping the inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee this month to relieve crowding in the nation's largest state prison system. The unions say Schwarzenegger is illegally sidestepping the state's civil service system and the usual contracting procedures. Schwarzenegger's attorney says the move is needed to relieve dangerous conditions and the possibility that a judge could order the early release of inmates.

October 29, 2006 Robinson County Times
Beginning in November, Corrections Corporation of America will begin receiving up to 1,000 medium-security inmates from the California prison system at its correctional facilities in Tennessee, Arizona and Oklahoma. The contract is worth $22.9 million to the Nashville-based prison builder and operator. The state of California considers it both a bargain — $63 instead of the $90 per prisoner per day it would cost to keep inmates in their state system — and a necessity. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an emergency in order to speed up no-bid contracts with CCA and Geo Group Inc. of Florida, another private prison operator. California has 172,000 inmates crowded into space designed for 100,000. Adverse reaction began in California, where the prison workers' unions complained it's cheaper to farm out the convicts only because the private firms are allowed to pick the inmates they want — meaning those with fewer discipline and medical problems. The CCA contract is quite advantageous to the state of California, as well. The inmates will be housed at a CCA facility in Tennessee for three years with the possibility of two-year extensions. This is intended to allow California lawmakers time to decide whether to add more cells, more programs to trim the prison population; or do nothing. In Tennessee, the focus is on how an influx of out-of-state convicts will interact with current inmates, and whether the new inmates, if any were to escape, would behave more ruthlessly in a state that is not their own. But perhaps the greatest concern echoes past discussions on this page about who is accountable when a state's prisons are run by a private company. Since the state of Tennessee is ultimately responsible for the safety of its residents, it's critical that government officials scrutinize such a large transfer of criminals who did not pass through Tennessee's legal system. Corporate boardroom decision-makers should not take precedence over state correctional experts when safety is involved.

October 27, 2006 Contra Costa Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to relieve overcrowding in state prisons by sending thousands of inmates to private, out-of-state prisons hit an unexpected snag Thursday when a legal opinion suggested the idea may violate the California constitution. The opinion by the state's nonpartisan Legislative Counsel could trigger a lawsuit by the state's powerful prison guards union, which opposes Schwarzenegger's proposal and is upset with him over its stalled bid for a new contract. "Private profit is the wrong reason to make decisions about someone's liberty," said Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. Jimenez added that the union was already assessing whether to file a lawsuit, even before the legal opinion. California crams about 173,000 inmates into its 33 prisons, roughly double the number the facilities were meant to house. Thousands sleep in triple bunks or gymnasiums, and officials say space is so tight that there isn't enough room to provide basic rehabilitation programs. Exporting inmates is one piece of Schwarzenegger's prison strategy. Earlier this month he signed contracts with two private prison companies to send 2,260 inmates to out-of-state facilities. The state expects to begin moving them next month, and ultimately the governor hopes to send 5,000 inmates out of state, to both private and public prisons. The opinion released Thursday was written by attorneys for the Legislative Counsel, the nonpartisan agency that advises the state Legislature. They concluded that in order for the state to contract with private entities to provide services, officials must show that the services "cannot be performed adequately, competently, or satisfactorily by state civil service employees." The attorneys cautioned, however, that they interpreted the law generally and did not specifically evaluate Schwarzenegger's proposal. Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who opposes Schwarzenegger's private prison plan, asked the counsel to provide a legal opinion. Administration officials said Thursday afternoon they needed more time to digest the opinion before commenting. But one corrections official said that severe overcrowding combined with thousands of prison guard vacancies justify the private prison contracts. "This is not an action we took lightly," said Oscar Hidalgo, an assistant secretary for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. If 5,000 inmates don't volunteer to move out of state, administration officials have said they will try to force some prisoners to go. Illegal immigrants and prisoners scheduled to eventually be paroled in other states would be at the top of the list for involuntary transfers, which would almost certainly trigger a legal challenge. Paying private companies to house California inmates is not a new idea. Some 2,800 inmates currently reside in privately run facilities in California, Hidalgo said, and the state has been housing inmates in those prisons since the 1980s. "It's stood the test of time," Hidalgo said. But Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the prison guard union, said no one has ever challenged it in court. That may change soon.

October 26, 2006
A nonpartisan legal opinion requested by Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) has confirmed that state contracts with private prison companies are unconstitutional. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced last week that his Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) signed two contracts for over $153 million to temporarily provide 2,260 beds for California inmates in other states. The contracts, with The GEO Group Inc. headquartered in Florida and the Corrections Corporation of America headquartered in Tennessee, follow the Governor’s October 4 declaration of a state of emergency in California’s overcrowded prison system. In response to a request by Senator Romero, the Legislative Counsel issued a seven-page legal opinion declaring “the state would violate Section 1 of Article VII of the California Constitution by contracting with private entities for security and public safety services traditionally performed by [public employees of] the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.” “This legal opinion confirms what I have long believed: that we should not support prisons for profit,” said Romero, who serves on the Senate Public Safety Committee and chairs the Senate Select Committee on California’s Correctional System. “California has a prison overcrowding crisis, and we cannot privatize our way out of it. This legal opinion brings the responsibility back on us and reaffirms my call for real reforms that reduce overcrowding while ensuring public safety. If the Governor wants to call a special session of the Legislature, he should focus on breaking the cycle of recidivism with parole reforms and effective rehabilitation programs. “Public prisons are morally and fiscally accountable to the taxpayers of California. Private prisons are accountable to their shareholders, with a binding obligation to maximize profits. If the Governor goes through with these private prison contracts, he risks exposing the state to costly civil lawsuits. California can’t afford this mistake. I call on the Governor to do what is ethical and constitutional and withdraw these contracts immediately.” A hard copy of the Legislative Counsel opinion is available via fax. Details of the Administration’s October 19 contracts are athttp://www.cdcr.ca.gov/communications/press20061020.html .

October 2006  Duke Magazine
The governor of Florida combines the savvy of a seasoned politician with a sense of humor that would better befit a junior-high student. No one comes through Jeb Bush's office in Tallahassee without getting at least a gentle ribbing; the man likes to joke around. But when he talks about Donna Arduin, his tone changes, his eyebrows settle, and he begins to celebrate his state and the fiscal health he wholeheartedly attributes to his former budget manager. "What state improved to a triple-A bond rating during these tough times? What state ran an $8.6-billion surplus? She's the budget king." Arduin so effectively revamped Florida's budget, Bush says, that she made it possible for him to make good on almost all his campaign promises, cut taxes, and build a surplus, all despite an economy that continued to lean on tourism even after 9/11 made Americans reluctant to travel. On Tuesday morning at 5:00, Arduin's mind is already moving at 100 miles an hour. As if today's presentation wasn't enough pressure, she sits on the board of Centracore Properties Trust (CPT), a $200-million company that's just entered crisis mode. The company leases correctional facilities to operators like the GEO Group Inc., which issued a statement yesterday that it did not plan to renew its lease with CPT. Investors interpreted the announcement as a vote of no-confidence, and, by the closing bell, CPT shares had taken an 11 percent hit. Arduin's pretty sure she knows what's going on: GEO is trying to sink CPT's stock price so it can gobble up enough shares to take over the company. By 8:00, she's in the Mercedes, whirring south, downloading e-mail and answering calls, simultaneously tweaking today's presentation and coordinating CPT's next move. She gets on the phone with Jeannie Woodford, California's director of state prisons. "I wanted to see if you were interested ..." Arduin leads without a drop of desperation. The plan is to persuade California to lease the prisons directly from CPT, cut out GEO, and "announce it now," to pump the stock back up before GEO can afford to buy a controlling share. There's already been a lot of movement on the stock, and it's fallen steadily from $28. By day's end, shares will be trading at $19.

October 6, 2006 Courier Journal
Up to 1,200 medium-security prisoners from California will be housed in the state's underused New Castle Correctional Facility, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced yesterday. Daniels said the deal he struck with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will result in a $6.2 million profit for Indiana. Indiana officials initiated the negotiations, which took four or five months, after reading about California's prison-crowding crisis, Daniels said. GEO Group, the private company that runs the prison in east-central Indiana, will hire 200 additional workers to oversee the new prisoners. "We saw an opportunity and contacted California officials several months ago," Daniels said. "We look at every way we can to be creative and businesslike, and this is a win for everyone."

October 6, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A California prison overcrowding emergency declaration could speed up that state’s contract negotiations with GEO Group, which owns the Lake County prison. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Bill Sessa said the agency is continuing to talk with three private prison companies, one of which is GEO, to negotiate contracts to move prisoners to out-of-state facilities. “We’re going to continue contract negotiations with three companies and whoever else jumps in,” Sessa said. Officials from GEO said they are continuing talks with California. “We’re looking forward to working with the state,” said Pablo Paez, director of corporate communications at GEO. “We’re working with them and we look forward to work through the process.” GEO has available beds at three facilities, including the Lake County site, Paez said, noting that California officials have visited the facility sites. Paez said he has no specific timeline for contract talks, but added that the state-of-emergency declaration demonstrates “they have an immediate need to send up to 5,000 inmates out of state.”

October 6, 2006 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent declaration of an emergency in state prisons will mean two new possibilities for inmates at the California Institution for Men and other prisons: doing time at private prisons and doing time in other states. Special Section: Criminal Neglect Schwarzenegger's proclamation makes it possible for California to contract for prison beds with private operators in other states - a proposal the governor had sought earlier this year but was rebuffed by the Legislature. "Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," he said Wednesday. But experts questioned the wisdom of the move, noting that placing prisoners in out-of-state facilities has in the past led to violence. "There's been lots of problems with inmates being shipped out, in particular if they're put into a facility with multijurisdictional inmates," said Ken Kopczynski, of the Florida-based Private Corrections Institute. "California inmates are under California law. If they have Oklahoma inmates, or Texas inmates, they all have to be handled separately." Disparity in treatment of prisoners from several states was one cause identified in a 2004 riot where inmates alternately smashed, flooded and torched a private institution in Colorado, Kopczynski noted. In that incident, prisoners from different states -Colorado, Washington and Wyoming - felt they were being treated unfairly, since each state paid different wages for inmate labor. Other problems can arise when inmates from different states get together to form their own gangs, or when the distance from their families and support networks is too great, making rehabilitation less likely. Kopczynski also said the private corrections industry has racked up a less-than-stellar record in the past, mostly due to cost-saving efforts such as using low-wage guards and cutting corners on security.

October 5, 2006 The Press-Enterprise
The governor's emergency order to transfer California inmates to other states to ease crowding sent private-prison stocks soaring Thursday while provoking the ire of Democratic legislators, corrections officers and inmate advocacy groups. The state is poised this month to sign deals with private prison operators to house California inmates in states such as Indiana. The plan would send 2,200 inmates to other states almost immediately. Campaign Money: It has already stirred the frustration of state legislators, who shot down a similar proposal during a special session on prison crowding in August. Amid accusations of cronyism and conflicts of interest, Gov. Schwarzenegger's campaign announced Thursday that he has returned $32,000 in campaign donations to a private prison slated to benefit from his proposal. "The Governor has a strict policy against accepting contributions from persons or entities doing business with the state or seeking to do business with the state and in which he or his office might be negotiating the terms of such state contracts," wrote his attorney in a letter to The Geo Group. The Geo Group is a Florida-based private prison firm, and one of three firms currently negotiating with the state for three- to five-year, no-bid contracts to house inmates out of state. Democrat's Response: It reeks of "pay to play," said Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. "What it demonstrates is that the governor can't resolve this crisis. He doesn't have the political will, and he doesn't have the stomach for it." Romero questioned the constitutionality of forced transfers and suggested the state concentrate on programs to reduce California's 70 percent recidivism rate.

September 11, 2006 LA Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was not inspecting the orange crop when he slipped out of the state for a quick trip to Florida, and he wasn't eyeing a new set of wheels when he visited with car dealers. Nor was he parched when he bellied up to liquor dealers in Lake Tahoe, or craving a burger when he chatted with Jack-in-the-Box owners. Rather, he was gobbling up campaign money at each stop. As legislators were approving more than 1,000 bills in August, Schwarzenegger was crossing the state, and the country, soliciting campaign cash. Now, as he decides whether to sign those bills into law or nix them with a veto, he will be cashing checks from scores of contributors whose interests intersect with legislation. In his quest to be reelected, Schwarzenegger is raising money from all manner of businesses: restaurants, insurance companies, banks, financial services providers, construction and real estate interests, farmers, energy producers and car dealers. All have business before the state. On the last weekend in August, as legislators prepared for their final sprint before adjourning for the year, Schwarzenegger traveled to Florida for a fundraiser organized by his brother-in-law, Anthony Shriver. The event was at the home of a major donor to Republican candidates and causes, Randal Perkins, and generated about $500,000. Perkins' firm, Ashbritt Environmental, does cleanup after natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. According to Perkins' lobbyist, Ronald L. Book, Ashbritt has no state contracts in California. However, several donors who gave at the fundraiser do have business here. Geo Group, a Florida firm that operates private prisons, has long sought more business in California. Geo's Sacramento lobbyists worked to shape the governor's prison overhaul package, which failed in the Legislature on the final day of its session. The package might have increased the number of California inmates housed by private firms.

September 10, 2006 Sacramento Bee
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate them. Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said the agency can administratively transfer inmates out of state if they volunteer for the move and if the contracts with out-of-state operators do not exceed a year. Longer term deals, Hidalgo said, would require legislative approval. "If there's a willing inmate and a vendor, we can do this on our own right now," Hidalgo said. One major private prison company, the GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., has expressed interest in housing California inmates at its facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Louisiana. GEO currently operates four private prisons in California. It also contributed $22,300 to Schwarzenegger on Aug. 25, in the last week of the legislative session, when lawmakers declined to act on proposals designed to ease prison overcrowding in California. One bill would have required inmate approval for out-of-state transfers. In legislative hearings, GEO expressed support for an involuntary transfer plan. Altogether, GEO has contributed $90,300 to Schwarzenegger going back to 2003.

September 7, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A deal that might have supplied California inmates to the former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility in Lake County could be in jeopardy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) proposed sending inmates to out-of-state facilities — potentially including the Lake County prison — without getting the inmates’ permission. However, the future of the proposal is unclear. The California Assembly refused to vote on the measure despite the California Senate passing a bill allowing the transfers only with the inmate’s permission, which is current California law. The California legislature, a part-time legislature, left session for the year Friday without approving Schwarzenegger’s four-bill package. The bills faced opposition by Republicans in the Assembly as well as the corrections officer union and garnered only lukewarm support from Democrats. In addition, Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger also faces a challenge from Democrat Phil Angelides in the November election. The Baldwin area facility was mentioned as a possible recipient of California inmates, and officials from California reportedly visited the site earlier this summer. Pablo Paez, communications director for GEO Group which owns the Lake County prison, said he had “nothing new to report” with regard to any deal to house inmates there. Paez said GEO has been in contact with California and with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding possibly renting bed space at the facility a few miles north of Baldwin. Refusing to name where else GEO is seeking rentals, Paez said “the company remains active in marketing our facility.”

July 25, 2006 Ludington Daily News
The Baldwin prison could reopen if the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the owners of the prison, GEO Group, can reach a deal. “GEO and California (corrections) officials are in the preliminary stages of exchanging information and determining if there is mutual interest to continue discussions,” said Peter Wills, legislative assistant to State Rep. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart. GEO acknowledged the company is engaged in talks with California about the Baldwin facility. “We’ve had discussions with California for quite a while,” said Pablo Paez, director of communications at GEO Group. “The state has issued a request for information (about available facilities) to send criminal aliens out of state. We’re responding with the information that we have approximately 500 beds available in Michigan.” Paez said California was one of a number of agencies the company has contacted about renting beds at the Baldwin facility, but he refused to name the agencies, stating that the discussions are ongoing. Bill must pass for facility to house out-of-state inmates That legislation, House Bill 5800, would allow GEO to use the facility for uses other than Michigan prisoners. Currently, state law mandates MYCF can only be used to house Michigan youth offenders. Hansen’s bill would allow GEO to house detainees or inmates from other local, state, or federal agencies. HB 5800 passed the House June 15 and the Senate Judiciary Committee June 22 and could go before the full Senate Wednesday. “We’re back in session on Wednesday, and we’re going to try to get it through,” said John Lazet, chief of staff for Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Our goal is Wednesday.” Both Gov. Granholm and the DOC are supportive of the bill. Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, opposes the bill because she disagrees with private prison operations and because the bill would allow other state agencies to ship prisoners out of state. “I don’t agree with (any state) transporting prisoners over state lines,” Brater said. “I’m not going to support importing prisoners to Michigan.”

January 15, 2006 Sacramento Bee
Driven by a rising inmate population, prison spending in California is scheduled to exceed $8 billion this year. But the real intrigue in the state's 2006-07 corrections budget is in what it's proposing for the near- and long-term future. Spelled out in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's summary on the spending plan is a proposal "to pursue authority to secure additional inmate capacity through contracts with other providers." The wording is fleshed out in the actual budget bill, which calls for a virtual doubling in the number of private prison beds in California, from the current 8,500 to an estimated 17,000 over the next two years. "I think this proposal means that the governor is taking a pretty courageous stand for good public policy," said Mark Nobili, a lobbyist for Cornell Companies, a private prison firm that currently operates two correctional facilities on contract with the state and is likely take up the administration's invitation to bid this year on some of the upcoming contracts. CCPOA President Mike Jimenez said it is "a pipe dream" for the state to think it can get by building only two new prisons over the next ten years. He said Schwarzenegger's jail-and-private prisons proposals are "payback to us" for taking him on during the special election last year. "Clearly this is a shot back at us for opposing him as well as his reforms that never materialized," Jimenez said.

January 21, 2005 LA Times
The Schwarzenegger administration has quietly moved to reopen two private prisons a year after mothballing them — and after a company that stands to profit retained consultants close to the governor and his inner circle. The administration has decided to reopen two facilities, one of which is a 224-bed prison in the Central Valley town of McFarland. A Florida company ran the McFarland facility for 15 years until Dec. 31, 2003, when the state moved its last prisoners out. Rather than abandon California, the company, the GEO Group Inc., retained a top Schwarzenegger campaign official and a lobby firm that has close ties to the Republican's administration to restore the company's standing in California. A company that is a spinoff of GEO and owns the prison at McFarland placed Donna Arduin on its board of trustees in October, 10 days after she left her job as Schwarzenegger's director of the Department of Finance, which oversees all state spending. "This was an administration that said they weren't going to be influenced by special interests," said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union that represents state prison guards and opposes private lockups. The state is obligated to pay GEO $3.5 million to operate the prison in 2005, under terms of a one-year, no-bid contract approved earlier this month. "The Department of Finance had to be in the midst" of any negotiations on the prison contracts, said state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the committees that have jurisdiction over the state's prison system. "This is absolutely amazing; talk about revolving doors." Romero and Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk), her counterpart in the lower house, said they were irritated that the administration did not inform legislators that it was reopening private prisons. "It is beyond quiet. I think it has been deceptive," Romero said. Schwarzenegger administration officials say they have not formulated an overall privatization policy. Rather, confronted by an immediate need for beds, officials awarded the contract to GEO and were preparing to make final a contract with a second company, Civigenics, without soliciting bids from other companies. Civigenics stands to receive $5.7 million from the state in the coming year to operate the 340-bed Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield. Soon after taking office, Schwarzenegger clashed with the union on a variety of issues. GEO, meanwhile, gave $58,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in October and November 2003, as the state was making final plans to close the company's prison at McFarland. Executives at Correctional Properties and GEO in Florida did not return calls from The Times this week. But in a 2003 interview, a top GEO executive said: "We want to do everything we can to preserve our business base in California." One step was to hire the Flanigan Law Firm to influence Schwarzenegger's inner circle of advisors — something it is well-positioned to do. The firm consists of four brothers who were close to Wilson and his administration. Several former Wilson aides are high-ranking Schwarzenegger administration members. According to public reports filed with the secretary of state, GEO has paid Flanigan $37,500 for its services. GEO also retained Joe Rodota, a former Wilson aide who was policy director for the Schwarzenegger recall campaign. His role was to provide strategic advice and develop a long-term strategy for GEO's reentry into the private prison business in California, company representatives in Sacramento said.  

February 13, 2004
Even before setting up a commission to study prison closings, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is planning to shut down two privately run facilities supporters say are among the most cost-effective in the state.  Critics of the plan to close the minimum-security prisons suggest that the Department of Corrections is advancing the agenda of one of the state's most politically powerful labor groups.  ``We know the prison guard union has done as much as they can to get rid of private facilities,'' said state Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Nevada City, whose district includes one of the facilities slated to close. ``There's got to be something political in this. It doesn't make economic sense.''  The Department of Corrections plans to close the small prisons, including the state's only minimum-security facility exclusively for women, when their contracts expire June 30, according to an internal department memorandum obtained by the Mercury News.  After June 30, the state ``has no legal authority to pay any expenditure related'' to the correctional facilities at Live Oak, 60 miles north of Sacramento, and in San Bernardino County, according to the Jan. 29 memo, signed by Suzan L. Hubbard, deputy director of the institutions division.  The memo casts doubt on the impartiality of the proposed closings commission and whether it will push to shut other private facilities where the California Correctional Peace Officers Association doesn't represent workers.  The union, which could not be reached for comment, has come under fire in recent weeks as lawmakers have examined the Department of Corrections and questioned whether the labor group unduly influences policy-setting.  The planned closing also clouds the future of private prisons at a time when the corrections system has been engulfed in controversy over its skyrocketing budget and treatment of inmates at state-run lockups.  Tip Kindel, a deputy secretary to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's corrections chief, said ``the union had nothing to do with it whatsoever.'' While he described the closing plan as ``premature,'' a prison system representative offered a seemingly contradictory statement that the move made economic sense.  In his proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, Schwarzenegger said his administration would create a commission ``that would proactively evaluate and recommend future closures'' because the number of inmates, now around 160,000, is expected to drop. Schwarzenegger has yet to name any members to his commission on closings.  Both of the private facilities -- Leo Chesney, the prison for women at Live Oak, and a prison for men at Baker in Southern California -- previously have been targeted for closing but have escaped the budget knife. Both facilities are run by Houston-based Cornell Corrections and employ officers who are not members of the prison-guard union.  At Chesney, 190 women who have less than 18 months left on their sentences are able to take classes to prepare them for life on the outside. At the 262-inmate Baker facility east of Los Angeles, prisoners are taught basic rescue skills and help provide emergency services for a barren stretch of desert roadway.  The contracts, which expire later this year, for the two facilities are worth $7.1 million annually.  Two years ago, a legislative analysis of a plan to close private facilities could not determine whether such a move would save money, partly because a comparison of per-inmate costs is difficult.  The per-inmate cost at state prisons runs between $22,000 and $50,000, depending on the type of facility, according to figures compiled by a state Senate committee.  Mark Nobili, a Cornell lobbyist, said his firm's costs are considerably lower, between $16,000 and almost $19,000 per inmate.  The use of private prisons to save money increased during the 1980s and 1990s under Republican Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson.  Officials of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association have praised past efforts to scrap private prisons.  Nobili contended the ``union wanted them closed, so the department moved to close them. That's how this works.'' But, he quickly added, he doesn't believe that the proposal was approved by Schwarzenegger's advisers and predicted that the governor would reverse course.  ``I don't think this administration will close these facilities once they're reviewed,'' he said. ``You can't cut your best and cheapest prison beds.''  Bob Martinez, assistant communications chief for the department, said the number of less-violent prisoners is declining, so the state doesn't need the private facilities and can accommodate the inmates in state-run institutions. So, the idea of renewing the contracts is ``not cost-effective,'' he said.  Aanestad plans to urge Schwarzenegger to keep open the prison inside his district at the postage-stamp-sized town of Live Oak. ``Just keep the doors closed,'' he quickly added.  (Mercury News)

November 26, 2003
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rejects donations from the state prison guards union, accepted $53,000 last week from a corporation that operates private prisons and has clashed with the union over private lockups. The money came as the state prepared to close a 224-bed Wackenhut Corrections Corp. facility Dec. 31 in the Central Valley town of McFarland. Wackenhut made the donation after its president read a news report in which Schwarzenegger voiced support for prison privatization, the executive said. The firm also gave $5,000 to Schwarzenegger's recall campaign. The $58,000 amounts to the largest contribution the company has given to any California politician. In a telephone interview, Wayne H. Calabrese, president of Wackenhut, based in Boca Raton, Fla., said Schwarzenegger did not solicit the contribution and might know nothing about the company and its dealings in California. "We have a large investment in California, in infrastructure and our employees," Calabrese said. "We want to do everything we can to preserve our business base in California." Last year, in a move fought by Wackenhut and other prison companies, former Gov. Gray Davis canceled state contracts with three private prisons — to save money, he said. The California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. had pushed for the closure. The union has long opposed private prisons and was one of Davis' biggest benefactors, giving him $1.4 million during his first term. "We were frustrated with the previous administration," Calabrese said. "We thought we should support a candidate and governor who has articulated support for public-private partnerships." The company gave to Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign and to a separate fund he established to support the recall of Davis, a top company executive said. Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto, asked whether the donations would affect the administration's decision on the Wackenhut contract, said, "Of course not." The contract won't "rise to the level of the governor's consideration," he said. Corporations operate nine private facilities in California that house 3,000 minimum-security inmates, although three of the lockups are slated to close next month. Wackenhut has four, including the one in McFarland. Payments from the facility represent less than 1% of Wackenhut's revenue. Whether or not the state continues to send inmates to McFarland, the company is obligated to make $5 million in lease payments, according to a recent Wackenhut filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company holds out hope that it can reverse the decision to close the facility. The firm's Florida lobbyist, David L. Ericks, is close to Schwarzenegger's finance director, Donna Arduin, who was Florida's budget director before coming to Sacramento. Ericks was in Sacramento last week when the governor was sworn in. He could not be reached Tuesday for comment Schwarzenegger spokesman H.D. Palmer said California's Department of Finance would have no role in deciding whether to extend Wackenhut's contract. "We don't do line approval," he said. "That is handled by agencies." Palmer said Ericks' relationship with Arduin would have "zero" impact on such a decision. "He is a registered lobbyist in the state of Florida," Palmer said. "He is not registered in California." The governor has raised more than $1.2 million since the Oct. 7 recall election and plans fund-raisers starting next week to repay $4.5 million in bank loans he took out to help finance his campaign. Schwarzenegger has a policy of refusing campaign donations from public employee unions, including that of the guards. He has said he does not want to take donations from such unions because he must negotiate pay and other labor issues with them. "It sounds to me that Wackenhut is doing exactly what they accuse us of doing — getting involved in 'pay to play,' " said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the guards union. "Wackenhut is a savvy corporate entity," he added. "They have great influence in other states. I'm sure they are bringing that playbook to California." Corcoran said he doubted that Schwarzenegger would be influenced by the donations: "Ultimately, he will do the right thing for public safety." Corcoran said the union opposed private prisons because "corrections is a public function and should not be sold to the lowest bidder." Advocates of private prisons have said that the union opposes their efforts because it fears that they could reduce the need for state-employed prison officers.  (Privateer News)

California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency
January 5, 2004
When the experiment began in the 1980s, it promised to reshape the way America housed its prisoners. The concept was simple: Shift some inmates into the hands of private industry.  Critics argued that the sensitive job of imprisonment should not be shared with for-profit companies. But advocates promised lower costs, and states — faced with swelling inmate populations — needed beds, fast.  Texas, Florida and the federal government signed on with gusto. In California, however, the growth of private lockups has been stifled by resistance from the powerful prison guards union.  Now comes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican said to favor privatization. With his election, private prison operators found hope of expanding their reach in the state's $5-billion-a-year penal system — the largest in the nation.  So far, the prospects look bleak. Of the state's 49 prisons and community correctional facilities, only nine are private, each of them a minimum security unit. And three of them will close by month's end, their contracts terminated by former Gov. Gray Davis. Their demise will cut the number of California convicts in private cells to 2,457 — a tiny fraction of the total inmate count of 160,000.  Operators of the three facilities — in Eagle Mountain in Riverside County and Bakersfield and McFarland in Kern County — have spent the waning days of December in a flurry of negotiations with the new administration, hoping to win reprieves. Eagle Mountain residents even sent a personal plea for the prison — futilely, it now seems — to Schwarzenegger, who worked there a decade ago while filming "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."  "I understand we are small potatoes in the California state budget," said Al Murphy, vice president of corrections for Management & Training Corp., the Utah firm that runs the 438-bed Eagle Mountain prison. Had Schwarzenegger had more time, Murphy said, the firm believes he "would have recognized the value privatized corrections can have in this state."  Officials at the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, which oversees corrections, confirmed that the three prisons would close as scheduled. What the future holds for the six other private lockups, they said, is unclear.  "These facilities were mostly opened at a time when we had severe overcrowding," said Tip Kindel, assistant secretary of the agency. "Some of those needs they've served just aren't there anymore."  The private prisons' fight for survival has been complicated by two recent riots. The first, at Eagle Mountain on Oct. 25, raged for 90 minutes and left two inmates dead. The second, at a Cornell Cos. Inc. prison in Baker on Dec. 2, sent four inmates to a hospital, one with multiple stab wounds.  (LA Times)

Calipatria, California
GEO Group
December 30, 2005 Imperial Valley Press
The prospect of placing a privately owned and operated prison here has stirred some local unions and created controversy in the community. Though no official steps have been taken, a Calipatria City Council public hearing on the subject sparked vivid discussion Tuesday night. The Geo Group, Inc. - a private company based in Boca Raton, Fla., that operates more than 50 private correctional facilities nationally - may propose a new prison in Calipatria, pending a request for proposals from the state Department of Corrections. The request is expected to come because of a need for more prisons in California. "State prisons are overcrowded," said Ken Fortier, a representative from Geo. In an information packet presented to the City Council, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association cites several instances where the Geo Group had problems with operation of its facilities. "What they do is lower the standards of the corrections profession," said CCPOA representative Ryan Sherman. "They are responsible to their corporations while state facilities are responsible to the public." Sherman said employees of private prisons do not receive proper training to deal with serious felons. Another issue raised is how the availability of more jobs will affect the community. With an already high unemployment rate in the county and the need for increased revenue and property taxes, the private prison could prove a valuable financial resource. Sherman said Calipatria State Prison has a shortage of people to fill its positions and a new prison would cut into the pool of much-needed employees. "We have a couple hundred vacancies, and triple the pay," he said. "I don't see where Geo is going to get the people they need." On the flip side, training to become a guard at the private facility would involve less time than at the state prison, which would be of benefit to those seeking more immediate position. Yet some think less training creates a more dangerous situation of unprepared employees.

Canteen Corrections
March 13, 2003
It tastes like toilet water. It can make you severely ill. And now it's alleged to have caused a Kern County detentions officer to quit his job.  It's called jailhouse pruno. The alcoholic drink is secretly made by inmates looking for a quick buzz while behind bars. As with liquor sold on the outside, drinking the jailhouse brew can make people belligerent and violent.  A Kern County detentions officer has filed a lawsuit against a jail food service company after he was severely injured in a drunken brawl that broke out after inmates at the county's Lerdo Jail made the brew from the food served there.   Jeffrey Reynolds, 35, is suing Canteen Corrections, a company contracted to provide food service for inmates, alleging that the firm provided the raw materials to make the booze. Those materials included fruit and snacks such as popcorn and candy bars. He said the company should be monitored when distributing the food.  He is also suing several inmates who participated in the fracas.  Reynolds, who filed the suit in February, said his injuries were so severe that he's been unable to return to work.  (The Bakersfield Californian)

Canteen of Fresno
Fresno, California
Aramark
March 10, 2003
Fresno County Sheriff Richard Pierce and a cadre of his captains control a charitable foundation that solicits contributions from businesses that provide major services to the county jail, which the sheriff runs.  In one case, The Sheriff's Foundation for Public Safety received $50,000 in contributions from Canteen of Fresno, which contracts with Fresno County to sell snack foods, shaving items and writing materials to jail inmates.  Experts in fund raising and public policy say companies with government contracts cannot help but feel pressure to give money to a charity run by a government official who has influence in awarding their contracts. The Fresno County Board of Supervisors makes final contract decisions, but the sheriff recommends contractors for his department.  The sheriff said he has received no complaints from companies that contributed after being asked to give: "I believe they're doing this willingly and with good conscience, knowing that we're going to put that money to good use in this community."  Has Pierce made visits to businesses or individuals? "Never have, that I recall," he said.  But some of his top staff members have. One of them, Capt. Douglas Papagni, helps oversee the jail. He spends 10% to 15% of his work time on foundation business and also serves on the foundation's board of directors.  Papagni said he solicited contributions from Canteen of Fresno and Aramark Correctional Services Inc., which provides meals to nearly 2,900 inmates in the county jail. Papagni said he does not make solicitation pitches during meetings about a company's county contract.  Richard Kriegbaum, however, sees problems with law enforcement pitches at any time. Kriegbaum, former president of Fresno Pacific University, a Christian college, is president of United Way of Fresno County. He also has consulted for 25 years with the governing boards of nonprofit organizations.  Kriegbaum said sheriff's officers seeking contributions from county contractors has, "as the biblical expression says, 'the appearance of evil.' "  He added: "It could feel like law enforcement is asking for protection money or they are expecting a gift out of the company in some unspoken quid pro quo for a contract."   Two other corporate donors have direct ties to the county jail. T-Netics, which operates an inmate phone service in the jail, donated $2,500. Aramark contributed $6,500.  The Sheriff's Department has budgeted $3.9 million this fiscal year to pay Aramark for inmate meals. The company provides food service at more than 400 jails and prisons nationwide.  Pierce, 58, has been Fresno County sheriff since January 1999. A 36-year veteran of the department, he was first elected in 1998. Pierce ran without opposition in the June 2 primary election and the Nov. 3 general election that year. Some of the businesses that donated to his election campaign would later become donors to the foundation.  Canteen of Fresno is one of them.  (The Fresno Bee)

Center Point Center
San Diego, California
Center Point
January 12, 2010 CSUN University News
The Fourth District Court of Appeal has revived a lawsuit against the state and the operators of a correctional facility which contracted with the state to house female prisoners with young children based on the alleged failure to provide medical care to an inmate’s two-month-old baby. In its Monday decision, Div. One held that the state and Center Point Inc. were not immune from claims that Denisha Lawson’s daughter Esperanza sustained physical injury from a delay in receiving treatment for a respiratory infection and the mother’s resultant emotional distress. Lawson had been placed in a 40-bed correctional facility in San Diego run by Center Point while pregnant, and gave birth prematurely to Esperanza in March 2007. Esperanza allegedly began suffering from “green discharge, labored breathing and an increasingly more ashen complexion” in late April and ceased breathing on at least three occasions. Lawson claimed that she had asked personnel at the facility to obtain treatment for her daughter for more than a week before an employee took the infant to the hospital. As a result of the delay in obtaining medical care, Esperanza allegedly suffered “hypoxia, double pneumonia requiring double intubation, cardiac arrest, scarring and injury to both lungs, causing permanent injury which will cause future medical problems.” Causes of Action -- Lawson and Esperanza, by and through her guardian ad litem, subsequently filed suit, asserting causes of action for failing to furnish medical care to a prisoner, negligence, emotional distress and false imprisonment against the state, Center Point and several of their employees. It also alleged violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by the facility. The state filed a demurrer as to every claim and Center Point demurred to each cause of action except the false imprisonment claim. San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Styn sustained the state’s demurrer to except for false imprisonment and sustained Center Point’s demurrer except for the Sec. 1983 claim. Writing for the appellate court, Justice Joan Irion explained that public entities cannot be held liable for injuries to a prisoner unless an employee, acting within the scope of his employment, fails to provide medical care to a prisoner and has reason to know that need for medical care is immediate. Not a Prisoner -- She reasoned that Esperanza was not a prisoner since she only resided in the Center Point facility because her mother was housed there, not because she was the subject of any legal restraint. However, Irion posited that the child was “in the same situation of dependence and vulnerability as a prisoner” since her mother was confined to the Center Point facility and was unable to take her to a hospital for treatment and so she was “solely dependent on personnel at the facility to obtain the medical care that she required.” In such a situation, the justice said a special relationship arose that created a duty on the part of jailers at the facility to protect Esperanza from harm by obtaining needed medical care. No Direct Claim --  Irion concluded that the complaint adequately pleaded a cause of action for negligence against the state for the alleged acts and omissions of its employees. But she said that the complaint did not state a direct claim against the state since it failed to identify any mandatory statutory duty which the state itself had breached. As for Center Point, Irion said that governmental immunity does not apply to private entities working under contract for the state and thus the facility and its employees were not shielded from liability. Justices James A. McIntyre and Cynthia Aaron joined Irion in her decision directing the trial court to vacate its order and issue new orders overruling the state’s demurrer to Esperanza’s negligence cause of action against the state and Center Point, as well as Lawson’s negligence and emotional distress claims against the facility. The case is Lawson v. Superior Court (Center Point, Inc.), 10 S.O.S. 126.

Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility
McFarland, California
GEO Group
October 26, 2004 Business Wire
Fitch Ratings lowers the rating on McFarland, CA's $1.4 million certificates of participation (COPS), 2001 sewer system financing project, to 'B' from 'BBB-'. Fitch also places the 2001 COPs on Rating Watch Negative. Of additional concern is the December 2003 closing of one of three prisons operated by the GEO Group Inc. In 2001, the prisons accounted for over 40% of sewer system revenues. Subsequently, in August 2004, the city approved a change in the remaining prison's conditional use permit allowing an additional 150 inmates at each facility as requested by the California Department of Corrections. Because wastewater fees are assessed on a per inmate basis, the nine month period of reduced inmate capacity represents a significant revenue loss.

Chula Vista
California
Extradition International
March 27, 2000
A convicted murderer and a convicted robber overpowered a private guard, stole his gun and then stole a gun from the other guard who was sleeping in the transport van. The murderer was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The Nevada inmates were being transported to other states. (San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/27/00)

Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility
Adelanto, California
GEO Group
January 19, 2009 Daily Press
A private prison is on a “modified program” after it was placed on lockdown over the weekend following a riot that involved about 100 inmates, officials said on Tuesday. The riot took place around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Desert View Community Correctional Facility in the 10400 block of Rancho Road in Adelanto, prompting officials to place the medium-security facility on lockdown, according to Paul Verke, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “The facility is currently on modified program,” Verke said Tuesday. “It’s not fully back to normal operations, but it’s not on lockdown any more.” During the riot, some inmates were injured, according to authorities, although the number of those hurt was not released. Verke did confirm that none of the injuries were life-threatening. No staff members were hurt or required medical attention, he said. Officials are investigating the disturbance. In February, 22 of the facility’s inmates were sent to local hospitals during a riot.

February 24, 2008 Daily Press
A riot at the Desert Valley Corrections facility on Saturday in Adelanto sent 21 inmates to local hospitals and one critically injured inmate had to be airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, according to officials on Sunday. At about 4 p.m. on Saturday, a call went out to American Medical Response who in turn contacted the San Bernardino County Fire Department who responded to the call with assistance from the Victorville Fire Department, according to Otto Schramm spokesperson for the county fire department. “We had a multi-casualty response with three engine companies, about 10 ambulances, a battalion chief and the helicopter,” said Schramm who added that the approximate 20 fire personnel remained on the scene until about 10 p.m. when correctional officers secured the prison. AMR units then returned to the prison at approximately 11:40 p.m. to transport four more inmates with minor injuries to area hospitals, according to Craig Ledesma, AMR supervisor. “After evaluations by prison staff, it was determined four more inmates needed to be transported and required medical attention,” said Ledesma. No prison employees were injured in the incident, according to reports. The nature of the injuries and the identities of the inmates were not released. When rescue personnel arrived at the medium-security federal prison, the riot was still in progress, said Schramm. Personnel treated the injured parties in a safe and secure location within the prison, said Ledesma. “We all worked together as a team to make sure all of the patients were transported where they needed to go,” said Ledesma. It is still unclear what started the trouble. Officials from the privately-run prison had no comment on the situation.

February 24, 2008 LA Times
Nineteen people were injured Saturday in a riot at the Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility in Adelanto, authorities said. San Bernadino County Fire Department officials said one victim suffered serious injuries and needed to be airlifted to a hospital. The others suffered minor injuries and also were taken to area hospitals, said Tim Franke, a fire dispatch supervisor. Franke, who could not specify whether the injured were all inmates, said units arrived at the prison at 4 p.m. in response to a riot in progress. He said firefighters stayed at the facility for six hours as correctional officers secured the prison and identified the injured. Desert View officials could not be reached for comment. A 2006 annual report by Boca Raton, Fla.-based The GEO Group, which owned the facility at the time, described Desert View as a medium-security prison with 643 inmates.

November 7, 2005 CDCR Daily Report
The following event was reported as occurring 10/28/05, according to a CDCR "daily report" dated Friday, 10/29/05. Yesterday at 1218 hours, inmates in the A3 dorm at Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility (a private contracted CCF operated by the Geo Group, Inc.) got in a fight. Hispanic inmates rushed the black inmates believing they were the ones that informed the assistant facility director of the presence of weapons. The initial assessment was that 33 Hispanics and 15 Blacks were involved. The CDCR lieutenant used pepper spray to quell this incident. All inmates were removed from A3 dorm and isolated pending housing decisions. The dorm was placed on lock-down status. One inmate suffered a head injury caused by a blow from a lock in a sock. He was taken by ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital from treatment. He received three staples and his prognosis is good. The inmate was returned to custody this morning and taken to CSP Los Angeles County. One other black inmate sustained a laceration above his eye which required a butterfly suture. Other inmates sustained minor injuries consistent with fighting. No staff was injured. Preliminary information indicates that once the assistant facility director entered the A3 dorm, he went directly to a Hispanic inmate's locker, pulled out a weapon and left the dorm. Subsequently, seven more inmate weapons were found. Arrangements for transportation of the identified participants were made. The Transportation Unit confirmed that 13 blacks were transferred to California State Prison-Los Angeles County and 29 Hispanic inmates were transported early this morning to Chuckawalla Valley State Prison. Additional off-duty contract and uniformed custody CDCR staff have been called in. This staffing level will remain through the weekend. Inmates will not be allowed back into A3 dorm until it has been thoroughly searched. Tensions are still high at the facility and it will remain on lockdown until further notice.

November 14, 2004 Daily Press
A privately run, medium-security prison will get up to 200 additional inmates after the City Council voted to overturn a decision by the Planning Commission. There are 550 inmates in eight separate dorms holding up to 71 prisoners each at the Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility on Rancho Road. After listening to their request, the City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to overturn an Oct. 5 planning commission decision to keep the jail from expanding. The increase would force the prison to convert many of its beds to bunk beds, Rauschl said, adding 18 of the double beds to each of the bays. The Planning Commission cited safety as its main concern when it denied the prison's request to expand. In October the planning commission heard the prison's request, but did not approve of the increase. "The Planning Commission expressed concerns that the facility was not physically suited for such an increase," according to the City Council agenda. "Adding inmates would increase the security risk to the community and to the surrounding residential areas. Other concerns were overcrowding, number of guards to inmate ratio, internal operations, and impacts to dining, recreation and bathroom facilities."

Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility
Eagle Mountain, California
Cornell, Management and Training Corporation
March 21, 2007 The Press-Enterprise
Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, reiterated her opposition Wednesday to reopening a private prison at Eagle Mountain, a remote community in Riverside County. The 500-bed facility closed in 2003 shortly after a riot that killed two inmates and injured dozens. This week, Senate Republicans proposed reopening the prison as part of their plan this week to reduce prison crowding. Garcia, whose district includes Eagle Mountain, said she will only support using the prison as a minimum-security facility staffed by state correctional officers. "I want to be clear and direct -- I am adamantly opposed and will fight any effort to reopen a private prison at Eagle Mountain under any conditions," Garcia wrote in a letter sent Wednesday to Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary James Tilton.

September 14, 2006 The Press-Enterprise
A Houston-based corrections company hopes to reopen a 500-bed lockup in Eagle Mountain, three years after lawmakers closed the privately operated prison. Riverside County officials confirmed Thursday that they've received a proposal from Cornell Cos. for a 150,000-square-foot correctional facility in the remote community near Joshua Tree National Park. Cornell Cos. officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment this week. The company's Web site says it operates 79 correctional facilities in 17 states, including California. Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the state has asked contractors to submit their plans for operating 8,500 prison beds for men and women. Information about the bidders and their proposals is confidential until the state awards the contracts Nov. 17, Thornton said. Plans submitted to Riverside County call for $27 million in new construction at the Eagle Mountain site and say the project would create 150 jobs. County Supervisor Roy Wilson, whose district includes Eagle Mountain, said officials have promised to fast-track Cornell's proposal to help it meet strict state deadlines, if the company receives the contract. But Wilson said he expects the project to be vetted before the county Planning Commission before coming to the Board of Supervisors for consideration. "They need some kind of economic development out there," Wilson said. "It's a ghost town. It's in dire straits." Five people live in Eagle Mountain. Mary Zeiler, resident of Eagle Mountain for 36 years, said she was sorry to see the minimum-security prison closed in 2003 when state lawmakers cut funding for the prison run by Utah-based Management & Training Corp. Two months before its closure, the prison, a converted supermarket, fell under scrutiny when two inmates were killed and seven inmates were injured in a riot. Kay Hazen, spokeswoman for Kaiser Ventures, said she had not seen Cornell's proposal but that Kaiser welcomes any opportunity to use the prison as a solution to the state's shortage of prison beds. Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, said she would like to see the state house inmates there but not under a private contractor. "I am not supportive of any private prisons," Garcia said.

July 12, 2005
Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone on Tuesday challenged the sheriff to come up with a better plan than his own for relieving the county's overcrowded jails. Stone's challenge came during his barbed exchange with Riverside County Undersheriff Neil Lingle, in which Stone defended his idea of converting a defunct Eagle Mountain prison into a county jail for $10.8 million. Eagle Mountain resident Larry Charpied said he worked at the prison prior to its closure and experienced several riots there, some of which resulted in multiple inmates' deaths. The Eagle Mountain prison closed in 2003 when its private operator lost state funding. "It was not safe and that's why the state closed it," Charpied said.

November 29, 2004 Desert Sun
What was the result of the preliminary hearing for the eight men accused of killing two fellow inmates during a race riot at the Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility in October 2003? All eight men were held to answer charges in the deaths of Master Hampton, 36, and Rodman Wallace, 39, both of Los Angeles County, Nov. 1 after a preliminary hearing which stretched over a three-week period, according to Riverside County court records. If the defendants are convicted, they face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The eight were charged after the 2003 prison riot during which several inmates were injured. One of the injured inmates was Asian and the others, along with Hampton and Wallace, were African-American. Their alleged attackers were Hispanic and Caucasian inmates, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Department reports. The prison, which was operated by the Utah Based Management and Training Corporation, has since been closed due to budget cuts.

October 15, 2004 Desert Sun
A preliminary hearing got under way this week in what could be the biggest single murder case in California history in terms of the number of defendants. Eight men are charged with murder in the deaths of two fellow inmates at the former Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility during a race riot a year ago. The eight were charged after the October 2003 prison riot during which several inmates were injured. The prison was closed two months later due to budget cuts, said Margot Bach, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman. Eagle Mountain was operated by the Utah-based Management and Training Corporation. Several of the defense attorneys contend the deaths could have been avoided. "Nobody from MTC was authorized to use force or weapons," said Arnold Lieman, Mayfield’s attorney. A Department of Corrections officer had a key to the prison’s weapons arsenal but worked days and was gone when the riot broke out, Lieman said.

March 5, 2004
Fourteen men charged in an allegedly racially motivated prison riot that killed two men in the Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility in October made their first court appearance in the case Wednesday.  Judge B. J. Bjork set a March 17 arraignment date for the men whose charges range from murder to assault.  All 14 were arrested on warrants Tuesday.  Three of the men -- David Olivares, Peter Morales and Jason Hernandez --are charged with two counts of murder each by the Riverside County District Attorney’s office, reported Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Taylor of the Central Homicide Unit.  Anthony Rimoldi, Eric Lewis, Byron Mayfield, Jose Rodriguez and Hector Careyo were each charged with one count of murder, he said.  Those eight also face special allegations that the crimes were race related.  Six others who participated in the melee at the now closed Desert Center facility about 30 miles east of Indio were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon along with an allegation for committing the offense while housed in state prison.  The men were charged after a four-month investigation conducted by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in which more than 500 interviews were conducted, Taylor said.  During the investigation into the riot, which killed two and injured six African-American inmates and injured one Asian inmate, officials learned the incident was race related.  (The Desert Sun)

March 4, 2004
Eight inmates at a privately run prison were charged with murder Wednesday in an October riot that left two convicts dead, officials said.  The four-month probe of Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility by Riverside County sheriff's investigators and the district attorney's office also resulted in six additional inmates being charged with assault with a deadly weapon.  "The evidence will show the defendants' behavior was animalistic, primitive and racially motivated," said Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Ulli McNulty, who is handling the case. "The crime scene they left behind was death and devastation."  The 90-minute fight involving 150 inmates pitted a group of Hispanic and white inmates against a group of black prisoners. They fought with barbecue skewers, meat cleavers, table and chair legs, and two-by-fours. Others fought with mop and broom handles.  (AP)

January 5, 2004
The Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility, which used to house more than 430 minimum-security prisoners, is one of three private prisons forced to shut down as part of a decision by the Davis administration and the state legislature.  The private prison on Wednesday ended its 15-year run as the Chuckwalla Valley's biggest employer.  The empty facility, which was run by Centerville, Utah-based Management & Training Corp., is owned by Kaiser Ventures, the former steel and iron ore mining company that also owns the town of Eagle Mountain and land around it.  "This is it," prison security chief Clay Lambert said by phone.  "It's kind of sad. The people who lived and worked here are realizing now that it's like breaking up a big family almost."  Most of the employees and their families lived in the town of Eagle Mountain, a community created by Kaiser when it operated its mine here until the early 1980s. The town had been boarded up for several years before the prison opened.  The families now living in housing subsidized by MTC and Kaiser have to be out by Jan. 15, said Jan Roberts, who manages Kaiser's mine reclamation project. "We can't operate the town on an individual base without a cluster of people."  (Press Enterprise)

January 5, 2004
A company-owned mining town that died once in the early ’80s will become a ghost town again today when the sole employer -- a private prison -- closes its doors for good.  "It’s sad to see Eagle Mountain go into a ghost town twice," said Michael Keegan, facilities foreman for Kaiser Ventures Inc.  The industrial giant built Eagle Mountain in 1944 to house miners and their families.  When the iron mines closed nearly 40 years later, the town’s church, store and 337 company homes were left to a slow decay.  "A lot of people come back to reminisce, they bring their grandchildren, and they’re sad to see how things have become," Keegan said.  When the private Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility opened in 1988, portions of the town gasped back to life.  Kaiser Ventures made some of Eagle Mountain’s homes inhabitable for prison workers and their families. Under a contract with the prison’s operator, Management & Training Corporation, families paid as little as $145 a month for a three-bedroom home. Utah-based MTC provides about 16,000 prison beds nationwide.  While some prison employees found the isolated location to be a sort of hell, others fell in love with the desolate desert and its silence. The closest supermarket is about 60 miles away.  "I love it here. It’s a nice place for your kids. There is peace and quiet and at night you can see every star," said correctional officer Lisa Reynolds. She will hang up her uniform today after nearly 13 years at the prison. Reynolds is moving with some of her friends and family to Redding, but says she will miss Eagle Mountain.  "I guess this pretty much puts a lid on it," she said, stepping through the empty prison barracks. Prison employees have 15 days to evacuate their homes. Keegan, who works for Kaiser overseeing infrastructure for the community, estimated it will take 90 days to fully shut down the Eagle Mountain community. Then he, too, will be out of a job.  A kindergarten through eighth-grade school will remain open at least until June for the 20 or so children whose families live in the outskirts of Eagle Mountain.  Without this major employer in the area, the school, the only school in the Desert Center Unified School District, will likely have to lock its doors.  If the school closes, students remaining in the district will likely have to be bused to the Palo Verde Valley, which means a three-hour round trip for the K-8 students.  Whether or not the hard scrabble mining-turned-prison town will get a third crack at life remains to be seen.  Los Angeles County might eventually fill in the 1,500-foot-deep mining craters with its trash if it can work through the technical and environmental challenges.  But as of Tuesday there were no takers for the bleak rows of boarded-up houses, a secondhand prison and broken-down roads with red winter weeds pushing stubbornly through the cracks.  Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson said he is hopeful the old prison might be used for a drug rehabilitation center or something similar.  "It’s a crying shame. That private prison could handle prisoners more cost-effectively than the state," Wilson said of the prison’s closure. At the prison -- a converted strip mall with free-standing buildings circumscribed with razor wire -- prison employees and a handful of inmates worked to clear out boxes of records, furniture and prison supplies. Bitterness over the closure was tangible Tuesday.  "We had been holding out hope, even up to today, but it does not look good," said Clay Lambert, chief of security at Eagle Mountain for 15 years.  All of the minimum-security prison’s 432 inmates were either shipped to state-run prisons or paroled to community-based programs. Some of the 98 employees will go to work for other out-of-state prisons operated by MTC.  Many in Eagle Mountain blame pressure from the powerful California Correctional Peace Officer’s Association union for the closure of the facility, the only private-run prison in the state where inmates have died. Two men were killed when racial tensions broke out into a riot in October, in a situation Lambert called "extremely unfortunate."  Two other privately operated prisons in California also will be closed today in Baker and Mesa Verde. Those three prisons and two others -- Live Oak’s Leo Chesney women’s prison and Wackenhut’s McFarland Community Correctional Facility -- were targeted by the state Department of Corrections and former Gov. Gray Davis for closure back in 2001. The Davis administration proposed closing the five privately operated prisons as a budget-cutting move to save $5 million from the state’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit.  The move to close the prisons fell apart shortly before they were then scheduled to close on June 30, 2002.  Jan Roberts, director of Eagle Mountain Operations for Kaiser Ventures, said she was surprised at the prison’s closure, despite its long struggle to stay open.  "I have a deep, profound disappointment," said Roberts. She has been in Sacramento several times over the past three months lobbying for Eagle Mountain’s survival.  "I am working every day to find a use for our facility and town site," she said.  Roberts said she is outraged the state would close down a prison that costs $38 a day less per prisoner than state-run facilities. Each prisoner in state facilities costs taxpayers an average of $28,000 a year.  Prisoners at Eagle Mountain were employed by Kaiser as day laborers at minimum wage to perform work in the community. Some of that money was returned to victims’ assistance programs and 20 percent to the state to cover their room and board.  "We are getting a double whammy," Roberts said.  While Tip Kindel could not deny the union has been pressuring the state to close private operations like Eagle Mountain, the acting assistant secretary for external affairs of the California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency said union pressure was not the deciding factor in its closure.  Most of the prisoners in Eagle Mountain were minimum-risk parole violators serving short-term sentences, Kindel said.  Many, he said, would be better served in community programs that cost the state about $2,100 a year, near their family support systems and jobs.  "The Department of Corrections is trying to assist parolees to success. We want to find community-based ways of taking care of them in a way that does not jeopardize the community," Kindel said.  Facilities like Eagle Mountain could be operated for less, Kindel said, because they did not take in ill, or high-risk inmates with greater needs and demands.  As residents prepared Tuesday to turn out the lights on Eagle Mountain, however, there was a weariness with the bureaucracy they believed was forcing them from their homes and jobs.  "What town?" asked correctional officer Ruben Hirst, when talking about the future of Eagle Mountain. "This prison was the only thing that kept this area alive."  (The Desert Sun)

November 30, 2003
The gas station is shuttered and the old savings and loan long gone. The movie house is dark, too. Some folks – driving through the quiet community – no longer bother braking at stop signs.  There's not much life left in Eagle Mountain, a former mining camp deep in the Riverside County desert.  In a few weeks, the tumbleweeds may claim it for good.  At the end of December, state corrections authorities plan to shut off funding for the community's last remaining industry – a privately managed prison.  And that, locals say, will mean the end of this once-vibrant company town.  "It just makes me want to sit down and cry," says longtime resident Connie Ottinger.  The facility is among three private prisons in California due to close Dec. 31 as part of what former Gov. Gray Davis and legislators portrayed as a cost-cutting move.  Officials with the California Department of Corrections say fewer low-security prisons – including a wave of private facilities that opened in the late 1980s – are needed because of a steady decline in non-violent offenders statewide.  The Eagle Mountain facility, which houses 240 men, is run by Utah-based Management & Training Corp. under contract with California officials.  Many around town believe the closure demonstrates the political muscle of the state prison guards union – the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. The association has long opposed privately run, nonunion prisons.  Jeannette "Jan" Roberts of Kaiser Ventures, which owns the community, notes that privately managed prisons cost less to operate per inmate than public facilities.  "It does not make economic sense to close this prison and close this town," says Roberts, operations director with Kaiser and a longtime Eagle Mountain resident. "We shouldn't let the union rule this state."  Hoping for an 11th-hour reprieve, Roberts and others are trying to persuade Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to keep the prison afloat. The rookie politician filmed one of his action flicks – "Terminator 2: 3D" – in Eagle Mountain about a decade ago.  "GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: PLEASE SAVE OUR SCHOOL AND TOWN," reads a sign on the edge of the community.  But with the closure weeks away, folks here figure they may have little more than a fool's hope.  "All of our best efforts may not be enough," Roberts says.  The town has faced extinction before.  In 1983, Kaiser Ventures shut down an iron mine that had been in operation since World War II. Hundreds of miners left town, forcing the closure of a movie house, gas station and other businesses.  The prison opened five years later during a statewide crackdown on crime.  Today, about 350 people reside in the remote community, renting houses provided by Kaiser. Most work at the prison.  Eagle Mountain is roughly 125 miles northeast of San Diego.  Savings to state  Terry Thornton, a state Department of Corrections spokeswoman, says the closure of Eagle Mountain, along with two private jails in central California, will save the state nearly $900,000 over the next four years.  She dismissed concerns that the closure is part of a power play by the guards' association, while a union official called the idea "utterly ridiculous."  Lance Corcoran, a spokesman with the guards' association, says allowing a private corporation to house state inmates only benefits the business, not the public.  "The commitment of private business is to the bottom line, to a corporate board of directors," Corcoran says. "Public safety should not go to the lowest bidders."  According to state corrections officials, the cost of housing an inmate in a privately managed prison is $17,000 a year, compared to $28,000 in a state facility.  But Corcoran and others say the cost gap isn't as wide as it appears. Unlike state prisons, private facilities are not required to fund the cost of transferring prisoners and other key expenses.  Dozens of Eagle Mountain inmates were transferred out in October following a jailhouse riot that left two convicts dead. The violent incident is under investigation.  The riot is believed to be the first of its kind at a privately managed prison in California.  Folks around Eagle Mountain call the riot unfortunate, but hope state officials don't see it as another excuse to close the prison down.  Tears fall  Ottinger, 45, has lived in the area 35 years and is secretary at Eagle Mountain School, a K-through-8 campus. She remembers when the iron mine shut down and tears up at the prospect of the prison closure.  "I can't stand the idea of that happening again," she says.  She believes Eagle Mountain was an ideal place to grow up. Neighbors looked out for neighbors. Kids biked around town and few worried for their safety. Weekends were for barbecues.  "People ask me why I would stay in a place like this. And I say you don't know what it was like growing up here."  The school, which has about 50 students, has enough state funds to stay open for the rest of the academic year.  Kaiser has proposed converting part of the old mine into a landfill, giving the community another lease on life. But the proposal has been slowed by environmental challenges.  Carl Stuart, a spokesman with Management & Training Corp., said his business has proposed the creation of a drug rehabilitation center at Eagle Mountain.  In the meantime, his company is in discussions with the governor's office to save the prison. "We haven't given up hope," he says.  Roberts tries to stay upbeat too, but knows the days may be numbered. Some prison employees are moving out. Others have stopped watering their yards.  "I've been the eternal optimist," she says. "But it's very difficult to remain optimistic."  (The San-Diego Union-Tribune)

October 29, 2003
More than 130 inmates have been transferred out of a privately run state prison in eastern Riverside County after a weekend riot there left two convicts dead and tensions at the low-security lockup unusually high. State corrections officials said a melee Saturday night at the prison in Eagle Mountain involved about 150 inmates and raged for 90 minutes before a warning shot fired into the ground by an off-duty correctional officer quelled the fighting.  The deaths were the first violence-related fatalities at any of the nine California prisons run by private corporations under contract with the state, a corrections official said.  The victims, both from Los Angeles County, died after being stabbed and bludgeoned by other inmates, according to early reports. They were identified as Rodman Wallace, 39, serving two years for burglary, and Master Hampton, 34, serving a 16-month term for a drug offense.  Four other inmates wounded in the riot were taken by helicopter to hospitals for treatment, and 50 prisoners had less serious injuries and were cared for on site. No staff members were hurt.  Dozens of Riverside County sheriff's deputies and officers from the two state prisons in Blythe were called in to help end the melee, which broke out in a recreation room while inmates were watching the World Series — and spread quickly.  Because guards at private prisons do not carry any weapons — not even pepper spray — they were forced, according to protocol, to retreat from the fighting until additional officers arrived. After the brawling stopped, witnesses described a scene of widespread destruction, from broken windows to torn fencing and smashed furniture.  "I walked onto the yard when it was over, and it looked like Beirut," said Lt. Warren Montgomery, one of those who traveled 60 miles from Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe to assist.  Montgomery said inmates attacked one another with knives and meat cleavers seized from the kitchen, as well as table and chair legs and mop handles — "anything they could get their hands on."  He said the fight was predominantly between African American and Latino inmates, and that prisoners of both ethnic groups, as well as some Asian and white inmates involved in the fighting, were moved to other prisons to prevent a recurrence.  The brawling caused about $15,000 in property damage, but nothing severe enough to force the closure of the prison, its operators said.  Nevertheless, the riot is likely to rekindle debate over the use of private institutions to incarcerate some of the state's low-risk prisoners. Eagle Mountain and the eight other privately run community correctional facilities house about 3,600 inmates in all, mostly drug offenders, burglars, parole violators and other nonviolent criminals.  The powerful state prison guards union has long opposed private lockups, over which it has no jurisdiction. Union leaders have argued that "prisons for profit" are less secure and that their staffs are not adequately trained.  In a move described as a money-saving step, the state plans to close three of the private prisons in the coming year. Eagle Mountain is one of them, scheduled for closure Dec. 31.  A spokesman for the Utah-based company that operates Eagle Mountain and 15 prisons in other states defended the 438-bed facility, noting that these were the first deaths since it began operating in 1988.  Management & Training Corp. spokesman Carl Stuart said that although the cause of the melee was not yet known, tensions at the normally quiet facility had been surging in the last six weeks. During that period, he said, the Department of Corrections transferred out about 200 inmates with longer sentences and brought in a group scheduled to be paroled before the end of the year.  (La Times)

October 28, 2003
Two men were killed and seven others were injured during a riot at Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility.  The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the riot occurred shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday night.  Deputies reported that one man died at the prison and the other man died at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio.  The other injured inmates were taken to JFK, Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs and Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, according to the sheriff’s department.  Deputies said the riot started with an altercation between a group of white and Hispanic inmates who reportedly attacked a group of black inmates at the facility.  The names of the two dead men have not been release pending notification of their families. Autopsies have been scheduled for this week on the bodies of the two inmates who were killed.  Sheriff’s Department Central Homicide Unit is investigating the case with help from deputies in the Blythe, Indio and Palm Desert sheriff’s stations.  Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility is a private prison that houses male prisoners for the state of California.  (The Desert Sun)

June 3, 2002
Eagle Mountain, named for the rose-colored peaks on its northern edge, fears it is on the brink of disappearing. Founded in 1947 as an outpost to mine iron ore, the town managed to outlast the mine by converting old miners' dormitories into a state prison in 1988. But now the Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility is one of five prisons scheduled to close at the end of June, signaling not only the possible end of this windswept desert community of 300 residents, but also the waning of a national boom in prison building. After decades of growth, state prisons have become a prime target of cutbacks. The reasons: the national drop in crime, state budget shortfalls, the easing of some strict prison policies, and changing public opinion about how to handle criminals, particularly those convicted of drug-related offenses. Nationally, $1 of every $14 in states' general funds is spent on corrections, according to Vincent Schiraldi, president of the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington-based organization that advocates reducing incarceration rates. So-called three-strikes laws, requiring violent offenders convicted of a third felony to be held for 25 years to life without parole, also being reconsidered. Throughout the nation, states are finding ways to reduce the inmate population. (The Bradenton)

April 25, 2002
Eastern Riverside County residents pleaded with lawmakers Wednesday not to shut down Eagle Mountain's sole industry, a private prison.  "This community will close," warned Jeanette "Jan" Roberts of Desert Center.  A Senate budget panel voted 2-0 to keep open the Eagle Mountain prison, another in Baker in San Bernardino County and three in the Central Valley.  But the powerful state prison guards' union and Gov. Davis want the five private lockups shut down after June 30, when their contracts with the state expire.  Craig Brown, a lobbyist for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents guards who work at state prisons, said the nine private prisons mask their true cost by shipping chronically ill inmates back to the state Corrections Department for care.  (The Press-Enterprise)

December 3, 2001
There is the "possibility" that the Department of Corrections could reduce or pull on funding for the 438-bed Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility.  The stated reason is fiscal belt-tightening.  (The Press Enterprise)

El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, California
Group 4
April 3, 2007 Union-Tribune
A City Heights man accused of using his security guard badge to lure victims and then rape them was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison. Robert James Purdy, 42, pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to rape under color of authority and kidnapping charges involving two teenage girls. He agreed to the 12-year prison term in February under the terms of a plea bargain. Purdy was accused of a dozen felonies corresponding to three attacks in September and November in Normal Heights, Southcrest and North Park. Prosecutors said Purdy, a Wackenhut security employee, got the girls into his car by showing his badge and then demanded sex. He was arrested at his home on Nov. 9.

February 1, 2007 10 NEWS
A security guard who used his badge to lure young girls into his car and then forced them to have sex pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of rape under the color of authority and one count of kidnapping. Under the plea deal, Robert James Purdy, 42, will receive a 12-year prison sentence. He must also register as a sex offender and has agreed to give up all property seized by police, including his Ford Escort, according to prosecutors. The defendant, who will be formally sentenced on April 2 by Judge Stephanie Sontag, would have faced more than 40 years behind bars if convicted of a dozen felony charges, including sodomy and false imprisonment by violence. Purdy, of City Heights, pleaded guilty to raping two 15-year-old girls last Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. One of the victims was moved from one location to another, according to the plea agreement. Deputy District Attorney Evan Kirvin said Purdy was an employee of Wackenhut Corp. when he used his badge to lure the victims into his car. The victims were in an area known for prostitution when they were victimized, but it was not established that either actually worked as prostitutes, Kirvin said. Purdy was tracked down and arrested after an officer recalled putting a citation on a vehicle that fit the description given by one of the victims.

November 21, 2006 North County Times
A City Heights man accused of using his position as a security guard to lure young girls into his car, where he allegedly forced them into sex, pleaded not guilty today to 12 felony counts, including rape and kidnapping. Deputy District Attorney Evan Kirvin said Robert James Purdy, 41, is charged with raping two girls under the age of 16 on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. Kirvin said there may be additional alleged victims, which could lead to more charges. Anyone who thinks they may have been victimized by Purdy should call San Diego police, the prosecutor said. Judge David Szumowski set bail at $500,000 and scheduled a readiness conference for Jan. 11. Purdy, a Wackenhut Corp. employee, allegedly used his security guard's badge to persuade women and girls to get into his car, where he forced them into sex acts. The alleged victims "were in areas known for prostitution when they were victimized," San Diego police public information officer Monica Munoz said. Kirvin, who would not comment on whether the alleged victims were prostitutes, said at least one girl was moved from one location to another. The defendant was tracked down and arrested Nov. 9 after an officer recalled putting a citation on a vehicle that fit the description given by one of the alleged victims. As charged, Purdy faces more than 17 years in prison if convicted.

November 11, 2006 KFMB
A suspected serial rapist is behind bars Saturday morning, being held on $325,000 bail. Police have identified the suspect as Robert James Purdy. Authorities say the 41-year-old man is a security guard who works for Wackenhut Security Services. He’s a man who officers say used his badge and his fake cop talk to target women working the streets along El Cajon Boulevard. Investigators tell News 8 that so far they know of four rape victims. All are prostitutes and two are minors.

Fresno County Jail
Fresno, California
Aramark
September 23, 2008 Fresno Bee
Fresno County is looking for a new vendor to supply food to jail inmates. Aramark Correctional Services notified the county that it is terminating its contract and will stop providing meals to the jail Nov. 20. A company spokeswoman said the contract is no longer profitable because of rising food costs. Spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said the cost to purchase food has tripled. Last November, board members signed off on a five-year, $30.2 million deal with Aramark. The deal lowered the per-meal cost, from $1.24 to $1.12, and required Aramark to pay utility costs associated with use of the county's central kitchen. The company recently tried to increase its profits by proposing a program called "Fresh Food for Inmates" that would allow inmates to purchase a special hot meal once a week. Inmates would have been able to purchase items such as cheeseburgers, nachos, chili cheese fries and burritos. But Board Chairman Henry Perea called the proposal "ridiculous." "It's insane to even be considering such a program," he said. "I can't tell you how much this upsets me." County supervisors said they would allow other companies to bid on the contract. Aramark said it's interested in rebidding, but county officials said they want to see whether they can exclude the company from the process. Aramark also provides meals to the juvenile detention facility and the county's psychiatric units. County supervisors indicated that they may look for separate vendors to supply food to those areas. Supervisor Bob Waterston also wants the county to consider having inmates cook and prepare their own meals.

Fresno County Juvenile Hall
Fresno, California
Aramark
June 28, 2006 KFSN
An investigation is underway into a troubling discovery at Fresno County's juvenile hall, where a rodent head was found inside a dinner meal. The current juvenile hall in southeast Fresno has been plagued with concerns about overcrowding and other unsafe conditions. A new $142 million facility is set to open south of Fresno to take its place. Juvenile hall officials are confirming a rodent head was found in a meal served there. They are investigating just how the foreign object got into the dinner meal served to a young offender. Chief Probation Officer Linda Penner tells Action News, "It looked to be like a small mouse head between bread that was served to a minor at the facility." Environmental health officials are investigating how the rodent head may have gotten into a dinner meal served on Sunday, June 18th. Meals are prepared at the Fresno County central kitchen by a company named Aramark. The county memo sent to employees says, "There have been no similar allegations from the jail facilities ... and the county regularly inspects the operation to ensure proper handling of food."

Glenn Dyer Jail
Oakland, California
Prison Health Services
March 9, 2010 Oakland Tribune
Nearly 140 health care workers at both jails in Alameda County took to the picket lines Tuesday to protest six months of stalled contract negotiations and what they call unfair labor practices. The workers, members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, approved the one-day strike last month after working more than two months without a contract and making minimal headway on a new one with Tennessee-based Prison Health Services. That company has a contract with Alameda County to provide health care staff, such as nurses and medical record technicians, to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the North County Jail in Oakland. "This is to show we mean business and we're not going to give in," said Kim Tovar, a medical records technician at North County Jail. Tovar and about two dozen others protested outside North County Jail while a much larger procession marched in front of the county's largest jail, Santa Rita Jail. Although workers called for a one-day strike, rumors swirled Tuesday that Prison Health Services was expected to lock out the workers for a week starting at 6 a.m. today. Prison Health Services officials would not comment Tuesday but did issue a statement Friday that said, "PHS regrets SEIU's decision to walk out and remains committed to negotiate a fair, reasonable and competitive contract" and said it would "ensure patient care is uninterrupted." Temporary workers did replace union workers at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said no problems at either facility had been reported. A memo from the company to staff was circulated last week saying the union workers would not be allowed back to work until March 16 or until a new contract was signed — whichever happened first. "I think it's dirty," Tovar said of the potential lockout. "I think it's low." Carrie Singleton, a licensed vocational nurse at North County Jail, said that if the company locks out workers, workers still must stand their ground. "If they do it, they do it," Singleton said. "We have to make a commitment to fight." The main sticking point in negotiations, according to the union, is what they see as a huge increase in health care costs employees must pick up. According to Blaire Behrens, a nurse at North County Jail for 19 years and member of the union's negotiating team, any proposed wage increase is more than eaten up by the 30 percent health care cost increase.

February 25, 2010 Oakland Tribune
Health care workers at both jails in the Alameda County have agreed to strike as early as next month if negotiations for a new contract remain stalled. About 140 workers — members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West — have voted to strike if their representatives cannot come to a settlement with Tennessee-based Prison Health Services. That company has a contract with Alameda County to provide health care staff and workers — such as nurses and medical record technicians — to both Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility in Oakland. The current plan by the health care workers union is to hold a one-day strike March 9, according to Blaire Behrens, a nurse at Glenn Dyer jail for 19 years and member of the union's negotiating team. There are two bargaining sessions scheduled for next week. "It would certainly be better if both sides could come to an agreement," Behrens said. "It would be better for management, the inmates and the workers. "We work in a very difficult environment," Behrens continued. "But it's a job we want to do. We don't want to strike." Behrens said the main sticking point is what the union sees as a huge increase in health care costs employees must pick up. She said even though Prison Health Services is offering 3 percent wage increases, those are more than offset by the 30 percent health care cost increase. Starting nurses at the facilities make approximately $40.50 an hour. Behrens said the union has been negotiating with management for nearly six months with little movement. The current contract expired in December. The union has sought the help of both county supervisors and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to help break the stalemate. Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said if the union members do strike, it will be up to Prison Health Services to provide the county with replacement workers. Prison Health Services did not return multiple requests for comment.

February 6, 2007 The Daily-Californian
The medical center at a county jail that some say has poor medical care will hire additional personnel this year following the jail’s settlement of negotiations with the health care providers’ union. The health contractors said the conditions before the agreement led to potentially unsafe conditions for the 4,000 inmates in Santa Rita Jail, the primary jail facility for Alameda County. The facility’s safety has been questioned by inmates’ relatives in the last several years. In 2006, eight Santa Rita Jail inmates died. Most recent was the death of Berkeley resident and inmate Cedrick Pinkney’s, suspected to be related to longstanding health issues. Jail officials said Pinkney’s death was not due to medical negligence. That mortality rate is lower than both that of the general population and that in jails and prisons nationwide, said Bill Wilson, the jail’s health services administrator Regardless of the circumstances of those deaths, health care workers at Santa Rita Jail said the new agreement will mitigate what they considered to be unsafe levels of staffing. “It’s an excellent agreement for both the jail and the nurses as well,” Wilson said. The agreement, which officials expect to finalize next week, is the product of a settlement reached in December between Prison Health Services, the firm contracted by Alameda County to provide care to the inmates, and the union representing the jail’s 120 health care workers. Union officials said the health workers were ill-equipped to respond to the inmates’ medical needs. “There were many days when the staffing levels were as low as 50 percent of the staffing levels that Prison Health Services had committed to provide in their contract,” said Dana Simon, spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers-West. “Absolutely, it was affecting the basic care.” Understaffing put inmates with chronic conditions in particular danger, Simon said, because they cannot administer their own medicine. “There were many days when they just cancelled pill call in particular houses,” Simon said. But Prison Health Services representatives denied this claim.

January 5, 2007 Inside Bay Area
Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker is probing accusations that severe understaffing of medical personnel at two Alameda County jails is endangering their safety and inmates' health. The inquiry by Lai-Bitker, the board's Health Committee chairwoman, came in response to complaints by Prison Health Services workers that staffing was 30 to 50 percent below contract requirements from August to December. Nurses were forced to work overtime, and inmates' access to medical care was denied because too few nurses were available, according to Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers-West, the union that represents about 120 of the employees. "We are constantly plagued with understaffing in the Santa Rita jail," a registered nurse and union member said in a statement provided by the union on condition of anonymity. "We are all tired." Prison Health Services has contracted with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office since 1989. The company's current $51 million three-year contract, which serves about 4,000 inmates at Santa Rita jail in Pleasanton and Glenn E. Dyer jail in Oakland, expires in June.

December 20, 2006 Mercury News
Health care workers at two Alameda County jails late Monday night withdrew notice of a planned two-day strike that would have begun Tuesday, as negotiations continued to address staffing issues, according to a jail administrator. Leaders of the union that represents about 120 nurses, physicians and other health workers at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the Glenn E. Dyer jail in Oakland called the strike early Monday after a bargaining session failed to produce a new contract. But by evening, they called off the plan because of progress in contract talks. The workers are employed by Prison Health Services Inc., a Tennessee-based firm that staffs more than 300 prisons and jails nationwide, including the two in Alameda County. "We're continuing to negotiate with the union this evening, and we're optimistic that we'll come up with a collective bargaining agreement," said Bill Wilson, administrator for the Alameda County jails. The workers claim the agency's failure to recruit and hire enough workers has endangered the health of inmates, said Dana Simon, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers-West. Workers and their supporters had planned to picket outside the jails in Dublin and Oakland beginning at 6 a.m. and return to work at 6 a.m. Thursday.

December 5, 2006 CBS 5
Healthcare workers negotiating a new contract with a firm that provides health services at two jails in Alameda County were threatening to give formal notice of a strike on Wednesday if talks failed to deliver an agreement tonight. Employees represented by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers-West are seeking a new contract with Prison Health Services, Inc., a Tennessee-based firm that serves Santa Rita and Glenn Dyer jails in Alameda County, among hundreds of other correctional facilities across the country. Union representatives and healthcare professionals allege the jails have a shortage of healthcare workers causing detrimental conditions for the patients they serve. A nurse working at Santa Rita Jail, Donna Chatman, said a recent example of substandard care she heard of was "that an inmate with a colostomy bag was not seen for days to get his bag changed because the nurse had to many patients to take care of. So he used a Pepsi bottle for a colostomy bag until he could see a nurse. That is what is happening in our jails." David Wolf, a spokesman for Prison Health Services, said he had no information on that allegation, or another alleged by a healthcare worker, in which an inmate with an infected foot saw his condition worsen due to lack of rudimentary care. Wolf said short staffing in the healthcare profession is common, but no more so at the Santa Rita Jail than anywhere else. "We are proud of the hard work that these nurses and the rest of the staff provide for the inmates," said Wolf. Union spokeswoman Dana Simon said that in addition to desiring a greater salary increase, "The main issue here is PHS is staffing the jails with 50 percent of the required number of healthcare workers as is required per the contract they submitted to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office." However, Santa Rita jail administrative Captain Wilkinson denied these allegations. "PHS is not violating their contract and they are providing adequate staffing when they are dealing with a shortage of nurses."

November 10, 2006 PR News Wire
Healthcare workers at Alameda County's Santa Rita jail in Pleasanton and Glenn Dyer jail in Oakland announced today that they will give formal strike notice to their employer, Prison Health Services (PHS), on December 2, if a new contract agreement is not reached. The caregivers are represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and include RN's, LVNs, certified nursing assistants, technicians, and clerical workers. The workers point to wages that are 35% to 40% below area averages, resulting in dramatic understaffing. They consider the low staffing levels to be so serious that the facilities are no longer safe for the caregivers or the inmates/patients they care for. Workers also highlight the fact that under the contract with the Sheriff's Department, PHS is paid a rate based on specific staffing levels, but on most days reaches only about half those levels. "Staffing at half the level that is required by the contract between the Alameda County Sheriff's Department and Prison Health Services is not only unsafe for the caregivers and the patients, but PHS is also breaking its commitments to taxpayers and the Sheriff's Department," said SEIU UHW President Sal Rosselli. PHS, a Tennessee-based for-profit corporation, was the subject of a three- part New York Times expose in February, 2005 for practices harmful to the well-being of patients/inmates, issues similar to those cited by the healthcare workers in Alameda County. Access the entire article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/nyregion/27jail.html?ex=1163307600&en=339 a81 097e61fe2c&ei=5070 SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, with more than 130,000 members, is the largest and most powerful healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare worker, including nursing, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high quality healthcare for all.

Leo Chesney
Live Oak, California
Cornell
May 23, 2008 Appeal-Democrat
A Linda man convicted of having sex with a female inmate when he was a corrections officer in Live Oak was sentenced Friday to 120 days in jail. The lawyer for Mark Stephen Susoeff called the crime "stupid." Sutter County Judge Chris Chandler said it was "beyond stupid. It's disgusting." Susoeff, 45, who worked at the Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility, received oral sex in January 2007 from an inmate near her locker in the early morning at the facility, according to Susoeff's probation report. Chandler said Susoeff's actions undermine "every bit of legitimacy that the system has." "You're going to have make amends for the institution that you have let down," said Chandler. Texas-based Cornell Companies contracts with the California Department of Corrections to house about female offenders in the minimum-security facility. "We feel strongly that any improper conduct should be punished," said Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel. Cornell hires people who have work experience but are new to corrections, Seigel said. The $10-an-hour pay Susoeff is said to have received is in the range of entry-level compensation, Seigel said. Susoeff worked from 1993-2006 as a custodian for the Yuba County Superintendent of Schools and was paid $16 an hour, the probation report said. Defense attorney Donald Wahlberg said Susoeff, who also was placed on three years probation, needs help with an alcohol problem. Susoeff's probation requirements include his completing alcohol counseling. For the past 15 years, the Linda resident has consumed a case of beer on weekends and four to five beers after work, according to the probation report. "Maybe if I quit drinking beer, I'll quit smoking, too," Susoeff said in the report. Susoeff provided cigarettes and a Bic lighter to a female inmate who had witnessed his receiving oral sex, the probation report said. He supplied the contraband in exchange for her silence, according to the report. The probation report also detailed Susoeff's actions in March 2007 with another inmate with whom he is said to have had oral sex and intercourse. Susoeff initially denied allegations that he had sex with inmates and said he was angered by rumors from inmates at the facility. In an April 29 interview at the county Probation Department, Susoeff admitted to the first sexual encounter with the female inmate but denied sex with the second inmate in March 2007. He said family problems and a stressful job left him "out of it." "I didn't have a brain left," Susoeff stated. He said he plans to move to the state of Washington but that his house here isn't selling. "It's been one hit after another," Susoeff said in the probation interview. "You can only take so many hits and now my wall of defense is gone."

November 17, 2007 Appeal-Democrat
A male correctional officer of the Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility for women in Live Oak was arrested on suspicion of having sex with an inmate, a Sutter County prosecutor said Friday. Mark Steven Susoeff, 45, of the 1700 block of Deborah Lane, East Linda, was arrested at 1 p.m. Thursday at his residence and booked into Yuba County Jail, where bail was set at $15,000. He was no longer being held Friday. Susoeff was arrested after an investigation by the Internal Affairs Division of the California Department of Corrections, said Sutter County Assistant District Attorney Fred Schroeder. The minimum security facility is owned and operated by a private firm, Cornell Companies Inc. of Houston, Tex., but overseen by the state. Susoeff allegedly had sex with the inmate, who was not named, on two occasions, once in January and once in March. Leo Chesney Director Paula Ford said she could not comment and referred questions to Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel. Seigel said the company and state officials began investigating after the inmate reported the incidents. Susoeff was then placed on administrative leave, he said. Like other employees, Susoeff underwent a background check before being hired, said Seigel. “We believe they’re good but you can’t prevent everything like this,” he said. Seigel declined to say how long Susoeff worked at the facility.

June 19, 2002
Live Oak's Leo Chesney Center probably will survive the budget ax, says a state official who Thursday blasted the facility's operator for its "sleazy" public relations campaign. "It's looking much more like it's going to stay open," said Stephen Green, assistant secretary in the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. "This isn't over until the budget is final. Certainly, the indications are it's going to stay open." The tentative budget deal to keep Chesney open was hammered out Wednesday. "Clearly, we're a little better off today than we were two days ago with the decision made (Wednesday)," said Marvin Wiebe, senior vice president of Cornell Companies Inc., which runs the Chesney Center under a contract with the state. "The legislators had some concerns about the lack of options for women to do their time in Northern California and wanted to see as many options as possible remain and indicated they were willing to fund that," Green said. "The legislators had some concerns about the lack of options for women to do their time in Northern California and wanted to see as many options as possible remain and indicated they were willing to fund that," Green said. "When they are willing to fund it, that makes it a lot easier for us."  "This was just one of just hundreds of government programs that were being looked at to be scaled back or eliminated," Green said. "This one got more attention because Cornell made some of the most outrageous lies imaginable and went around the state accusing us of murder. They behaved in a most unprofessional manner." Cornell "used the Enron playbook," Green said, referring to the bankrupt energy trading company. "They're a Houston-based company, a for-profit concern. They're very interested in protecting their profits. They don't care who they have to malign to do it." Green called Cornell's public relations campaign "sleazy. I don't think it was slick. It bore no relationship to the truth ... "He said there's a chance the state may put the contract out to bid or have the Department of Corrections take over management. "We have an option on the property and therefore control the property," Wiebe said. "The expectation of the community is that Cornell would operate it as we have for the last 13 years." If the state took over, it would cost an additional $1 million for salaries and benefits, he said. (Privateer News)

June 12, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis, facing pressure from several lawmakers, reversed himself partially and agreed to permit one of five private prisons to continue operating, administration officials said Tuesday. At least two dozen women legislators signed a letter last month urging that Davis keep open the Leo Chesney Correctional Facility at Live Oak, north of Sacramento. Also in doubt is whether the contractor, Cornell Co. of Houston, would continue operating the facility, or whether the contract would be put up for competitive bidding. The administration, trying to close a $24-billion budget deficit, had contended that closing the five private prisons would save the state $2.8 million.

June 8, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis' plans to close five private prisons, including two in Kern County, by next week have been halted as the Legislature's budget negotiators debate whether some or all of the facilities should remain open. Negotiators are split on the prisons' future, with the Assembly voting to close them and the Senate voting to restore $2.8 million to Gov. Gray Davis' budget to keep them operating. More than half the private prisons' 1,400 inmates have been paroled, sent to firefighting camps or transferred to prisons operated by the state Department of Corrections, he said. The plan had been to move the remaining inmates, staff and equipment by June 15. Contracts of all five of the facilities expire June 30 and the Department of Corrections does not want to renew them. All of the 340 inmates once housed at the Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility in Bakersfield have been moved or paroled, said Durwood Sigrest, head of the firm that operates the facility. Sigrest said the staff of 80 has been trimmed down to about 20 and staffers are waiting to hear about the next move in the stalled closure plan. A few inmates remain at the facility operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. in McFarland, said a spokesman for the corrections department. The delay creates staffing problems for Cornell Cos. Inc., which operates the Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility for Women in Live Oak, north of Sacramento, and the Baker Community Correctional Facility east of Los Angeles, said company spokesman Don Fields. The Chesney center has laid off employees anticipating the closure, while the Baker facility plans to shut down its inmate-staffed fire and rescue team as of midnight Sunday. (Bakersfield.com)

Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Wackenhut/Group 4
June 26, 2007 PR Newswire
The City of Los Angeles is launching an investigation into security contractor Wackenhut Corporation/G4S' compliance with the city's Responsible Contractor Policy, a probe that could result in debarment from city contracts for five years. Prior to the investigation, Wackenhut had more than US$5 million annually in contracts with the City of Los Angeles to guard at least two dozen buildings and public places including Los Angeles City Hall East; Mount Lee -- the home of the famous Hollywood sign; the Ed Davis Training Facility, which is the newest and most elaborate LAPD training facility; other parks, performing arts centers, and the Watts and Van Nuys city halls. In addition to launching the investigation, Los Angeles did not select Wackenhut for future city work worth up to an estimated US$20 million over three years. Wackenhut Corporation formerly had the largest piece of this city account. They were first selected in 2004 for a three-year contract along with four other contractors for the Los Angeles security work. In its Notice of Investigation, the Los Angeles City Bureau of Contract Administration (BCA) determined, "after researching [a] complaint (regarding [Wackenhut's] contractor responsibility status) that the issues raised are valid." Accordingly, Wackenhut "[has] been placed under investigation for violations of [the Contractor Responsibility Ordinance] of Los Angeles." Under the Responsible Contractor Program (RCP), the City determines whether the prospective contractor is one that has the necessary quality, fitness and capacity to perform the work set forth in the contract. Irresponsible contractors with poor performance of other contracts; failure to comply with relevant laws and regulations; and shoddy record of business integrity are not eligible for city contracts for up to five years according to the Los Angeles Administrative Code Section 10.40.2(a), Ordinance No. #17367. In March 2007, U.S. Congresswoman Diane Watson co-chaired a public hearing where she heard current and former Wackenhut employees testify to the company's long record of workplace discrimination, labor violations, and management incompetence. In response to charges of racial discrimination by Wackenhut within the Department of Energy's elite anti-terrorist Protective Force, Congresswoman Watson declared, "I'm appalled that we have contractors here with Federal government contracts being paid by taxpayers' dollars ..... practicing the behavior of the 1950's and the 1960's." California Assembly member Mervyn Dymally (D-52) and California Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-26) also co-chaired the Commission on Wackenhut and Security Standards that included Los Angeles City Council member Wendy Greuel and Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor, California State University, Long Beach and National Chairman of the Organization US. The Los Angeles Commission on Wackenhut and Security Standards, a group of prominent religious, community leaders and trade unionists, conducted the hearing. In addition to the hearing, the group sent a letter to Los Angeles' head of the Bureau of Contract Administration, John L. Reamer, expressing their concerns about the company's "well documented record of racism, discrimination and poor security that appears to violate the City of Los Angeles' Responsible Contractor Policy." The March 28, 2007 letter was signed by Rev. Eric P. Lee, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles and Rev. Dr. Lewis E. Logan II, senior Pastor of the Bethel A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles BCA received evidence that Wackenhut Corporation's answers on the contractor responsibility questionnaire in January 2007 were less than truthful. With respect to early termination of contracts within the past five years, Wackenhut failed to mention losing contracts at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant (August 2006), Indian Point #2 Nuclear Power Plant (2003), and Utah Transit Authority (2002). In addition, Wackenhut's contract to guard Dept. of Homeland Security Headquarters and Army Bases was not renewed. As for recent employment litigation brought by workers, Wackenhut overlooked a number of race discrimination and civil rights cases, including an US$80,000 settlement in a sexual harassment case. Wackenhut also failed to mention governmental investigations for violating laws and rules including investigation leading to the loss of the Dayton Transit contract in Ohio. Problems and failures there included missing incident reports, sleeping on the job, concerns about officers' qualifications, lack of supervision, and unprofessional conduct. As for current investigations of false claim(s) and material misrepresentation(s), Wackenhut neglected to tell the City of Los Angeles about a fraud suit for services allegedly not performed on the Miami-Dade County Transit contract and the County's Juvenile Assessment Center. An ongoing investigation by the NBC affiliate in Miami on parts of a preliminary Miami-Dade county audit revealed that "Wackenhut owes taxpayers up to US$12.1 million for what it calls 'questioned hours' and 'questioned billings'" in addition to various other contract violations. The company also omitted an ongoing investigation by the Department of Energy's Inspector General of falsification of training records. After the hearing, the coalition presented additional materials to the city in the period of the last several months. While Wackenhut had been the incumbent choice for more years of work, the city recently decided not to choose the company for new work. This is in addition to beginning the investigative probe toward potential debarment. Faith Culbreath, president of SEIU Local 2006, which represents security officers at other companies in the Los Angeles area said, "Security workers want to be accountable to the community they serve. That means working for companies that do the right thing by their workers and by the citizens of Los Angeles. Wackenhut abused the public trust and the trust and safety of its workforce."

Los Angeles County Jails
Los Angeles, California
Canteen Services
April 30, 2007 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
The corporation that runs the inmate stores at Los Angeles County's jails underpaid the county nearly $650,000 in profits while wining and dining Sheriff's Department employees, auditors said Monday. Compass Group USA Inc., which does business as Canteen Services, improperly spent $640,213 from 1999 to 2005 that should have instead been spent on inmate services, says a report by Auditor-Controller Tyler McCauley. The expenses included travel costs for Compass employees, meals and entertainment, along with $169,465 for "client hospitality," McCauley wrote. The same audit also questioned why Compass contributed $304,291 to the sheriff's Youth Foundation, a crime-prevention program designed to reduce recidivism; and paid $147,233 to the Sheriff's Department for retirement parties, golf tournaments and the Baker-to-Vegas relay, an annual long-distance run in which Sheriff Lee Baca and other law-enforcement officials participate. The audit drew immediate criticism from taxpayer advocates, who questioned whether sheriff's employees are complying with the county's Political Reform Act. "Somebody in the Sheriff's Department should know better than to receive all these goodies and perks," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "It seems like $170,000 is a lot of gifts, a lot of client hospitality." Melinda Bird, senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized both the sheriff's department and its contractor. "The inmates in the jail are quite literally captive consumers," she said. "They have no way other than through Compass to get a pad of paper or a bag of chips. "Now within that framework, we find it a sad commentary that a vendor would claim that contributions to sheriff's sporting events or free dinners to deputies are necessary expenses." Officials at the $8.4 billion company, a prominent food-management company that has a facility in Canoga Park, issued a response saying some of the money had been spent for meals and other events with sheriff's officials, but couldn't say specifically who had been entertained. "They don't know who was dined," Stern said. "And the question is, was it top sheriff's people? "My assumption is it probably was top people in the Sheriff's Department, the people who make the decisions. Was the sheriff involved? Were any of his top deputies involved?" Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department will review the audit and discipline employees, if warranted. "If there is something being pointed out where we need to review our policies, we will certainly act accordingly," he said. But McCauley said that without records detailing which sheriff's officials had been entertained, auditors could not determine compliance with the Political Reform Act. That requires county employees to disclose gifts of more than $50 and limits gifts that may be accepted from any one source up to $360 a year. The county's contract with Compass requires the contractor to share a percentage of its profits on the sale of snacks, beverages, personal-care products, over-the-counter medications, stationery, cosmetics and clothing. That money provides some of the revenue for the Inmate Welfare Fund, which is designed to be used only for inmate services. However a grand jury report issued in 2000 found that sheriff's officials had used it for "pet projects" and other expenses. At the time, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky accused the Sheriff's Department of using it as a "slush fund," and demanded the money be used for inmates' medical and mental-health needs. In their response, Compass officials also disagreed with some of the findings, and noted that the company had not previously charged the county for certain overhead costs. As a result, the company contends it doesn't owe the county anything.

McFarland Community CF
McFarland, California
GEO Group
October 26, 2009 AP
California officials say a drop in the number of minimum-security inmates is allowing them to end contracts with the companies that operate three private prisons. The move will save the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation about $15 million a year. The private prisons in Baker, Bakersfield and McFarland once housed a total of 822 inmates. Department officials said today they may seek new proposals to use the prisons for female inmates. About 2,500 fewer minimum-security inmates are in prison than a year ago. The department credits a new policy that diverts many parole violators who commit relatively minor offenses to community programs instead of sending them back to prison.

September 13, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
A company that wanted to reopen a private prison in Bakersfield under a no-bid contract had a clear conflict of interest because it had hired two recent retirees from the Department of Corrections, the state auditor said Tuesday. But the auditor concluded there was no conflict of interest by another company that was awarded a no-bid contract to operate a prison in McFarland, even though it had put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance director on the board of a subsidiary. Those were the key points in a report by Auditor Elaine Howle's office that was ordered by lawmakers upset about the handling of the department's decision to reopen the two facilities that had been shut down barely a year before. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, requested the audit in January because she said the contract for the McFarland facility "smells bad." That contract was awarded to GEO Group Inc., the same firm that had operated it for years before it was shut down. The contract drew fire because the real estate trust that owns the facility and leases it to GEO put former state budget chief Donna Arduin on its board of directors shortly before it was offered the contract late last year. The audit report said that did not involve a conflict of interest because GEO has a 10-year lease on the property from the subsidiary that began long before Arduin joined the company and before the state decided to reopen the facility. Besides, it noted, GEO was the only possible operator because its subsidiary owned the facility. But the department's handling of a contract to reopen the Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield came in for sharp criticism by the auditor. The bidder, Massachusetts-based CiviGenics Inc., did not disclose the fact it had hired two former high-level department officials, at least one of whom contacted the department about the contract. They had both retired from the department less than a year before. State law bars top officials from being involved with state contracts for at least a year after they leave state service.

August 6, 2005 Mercury News
Less than two months after giving $10,000 to an initiative campaign committee tied to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a well-connected private prison company was tentatively awarded a $20 million contract by the state of California to operate a San Joaquin Valley correctional facility. Altogether over the past two years, GEO Group has donated $68,000 to various Schwarzenegger committees, according to campaign reports. Officials with the state prison system insist there is no tie between the donations and the contract, which is part of a broader strategy to use less-expensive private beds to relieve severe overcrowding in the 33 state-run prisons. Todd Slosek, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said GEO was actually the only bidder for the 200-bed facility in McFarland, between Fresno and Bakersfield. Perhaps for good reason. GEO had operated the prison at McFarland for a decade -- before the state terminated its contract in December 2003 as there was a push to phase out use of these community correctional facilities. Its contract canceled, GEO brought in a well-connected lobbying firm with ties to the new Schwarzenegger administration. They also hired a consultant who had worked in the Schwarzenegger campaign. GEO continues to lease the property from a spinoff company, Correctional Properties Trust. Last November, the trust named Donna Arduin, Schwarzenegger's former finance director, to its board. Six months later, during a Florida fundraising sweep in May, the GEO Group donated $10,000 to a Schwarzenegger campaign committee. At the time, Schwarzenegger attended three fundraisers in two days, all hosted by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Arduin -- who was also Bush's former budget chief -- attended the Miami fundraiser at the invitation of Bush's team, but she did not contribute to Schwarzenegger's California Recovery Team. She became a board member for the trust shortly after she left the Schwarzenegger administration to return to her home in Florida. She said she played no role in California's contract with the GEO Group. The GEO Group and Correctional Properties Trust are ``absolutely separate'' businesses, Arduin said, so she has no conflict of interest. And, because the GEO Group's lease with the trust runs through 2008, GEO would have continued making payments to the trust regardless of whether it got the California contract. ``I don't have anything to do with GEO,'' she said Friday. ``We don't go to state governments on their behalf. That's their business. I found out yesterday, through my company, that their lease had been extended.'' Schwarzenegger critics complain that the agreement appears to be an example of how the celebrity governor, who assailed Gov. Gray Davis' aggressive fundraising, seems to be mimicking his disgraced predecessor. ``The nexus is particularly troubling because it's an initiative campaign committee that is ostensibly controlled by the governor and, within a short time, a decision is made that benefits that donor,'' said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause.

February 4, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration this week abruptly canceled a no-bid contract it was set to award to a private prison company that employs two former high-ranking state corrections officials. After pursuing a deal with the company for several months, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections said the department decided Wednesday that it was no longer interested in finalizing a $5.7 million contract that would have reopened the Mesa Verde Community Corrections Facility in Bakersfield. The contract would have been with a Massachusetts-based company called CiviGenics, which recently hired two retired Department of Corrections officials. The company and administration insist the two hires had nothing to do with the company nearly getting the contract. On Wednesday, The Chronicle requested information about the contract, including communications between corrections officials and the company. Todd Slosek, a corrections spokesman, said the decision to shelve the deal was made late Wednesday after the department decided it didn't need extra beds after all. The aborted deal is one of two the administration had been advancing to pay private prison companies to run previously shuttered facilities and help alleviate overcrowding at state prisons. The state has finalized a contract with GEO Group Inc. to reopen a prison in McFarland (Kern County). In both cases, the administration chose not to allow other interested companies to bid for the jobs, a typical procedure used to ensure that taxpayers get the best deal. Instead, prison officials said they were facing emergency overcrowding and needed to strike quick deals with the two firms without going through the lengthy bidding process. Both contracts have come under fire, however, because both companies have hired people with ties to the corrections department or Schwarzenegger's administration. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, called for a state audit of the deals last week after the Los Angeles Times reported that Schwarzenegger's former finance director, Donna Arduin, was appointed to the board of directors of a trust that owns the facility that GEO Group plans to use. CiviGenics employs Michael Pickett, a former warden and deputy director for health services at the Department of Corrections, and David Tristan, a former deputy director of operations for the department. "The revolving door is spinning so fast it's now hit the department in the rear end,'' Romero said in an interview Thursday. CiviGenics CEO Roy Ross was formerly director of administration for the Shriver Center, a biomedical research center founded by California first lady Maria Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. A spokeswoman for the first lady said Maria Shriver had no knowledge of the contract.

January 25, 2005 LA Times
State Sen. Gloria Romero on Monday called on the Bureau of State Audits to investigate the Schwarzenegger administration's decision to reopen two private prisons, one of which employed a consultant and lobbyists close to the governor's inner circle. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger awarded a no-bid $3.5-million contract to a Florida firm to reopen a 244-bed private lockup in the Central Valley this month, a year after his administration closed the facility. The firm, the GEO Group Inc., hired former Schwarzenegger associates in 2004 to lobby the administration for the business. Correctional Properties Trust, the company that owns the prison and leases it to GEO, appointed Schwarzenegger's former finance director, Donna Arduin, to its board 10 days after she left the state payroll. The Department of Finance oversees all state spending. Romero, a Los Angeles Democrat, said in a statement Monday that such arrangements add to the "perception that state government is a revolving door."

January 22, 2005 Press Telegram
The prison guard's union is predictably infuriated with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to reopen two private, nonunion prisons that were shut down during the Davis administration. But the union does make a good point when it comes to Donna Arduin. Arduin, Schwarzenegger's former director of finance, now sits on the board of trustees for a company that stands to profit from the reopening of one of the private prisons. The union has an agenda behind its criticism, of course, but the ethics of the argument are sound. Arduin insists she was not a party to any decisions involving prisons. Still, the appearance of a conflict exists. Arduin joined the board just 10 days after leaving the Schwarzenegger administration, and one of the company's chief goals was to lobby the state to reopen the prison. Whether or not an actual conflict exists, or merely the appearance, it isn't right for a former top official to go to work for a private company that is awarded a lucrative state contract. It raises ethical questions, hands ammunition to Schwarzenegger's critics, and has the potential to undermine his reform efforts.

January 21, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has quietly taken steps to reopen two privately run prisons in Kern County -- with no-bid contracts -- that were shut down as a cost-saving move barely a year ago. But the move sparked angry outbursts from critics who questioned the prison population figures and said lobbying by former administration insiders persuaded the governor to reopen at least one of the facilities. A Bakersfield man who ran one of the closed prisons sharply criticized the department for taking the facility away from his firm, which had an exemplary record, and giving it to a competitor without taking bids. "That's why I suspect there was some kind of deal somewhere," said Gary White, vice president of the firm that formerly operated the low-security Mesa Verde community correctional facility on Golden State Avenue. "I don't know if it was part of a deal or what. We're trying to find out now." Within days, The Department of Corrections expects to sign a contract that will pay $5.7 million to a Massachusetts-based company, Civigenics, to run the 350-bed Mesa Verde for a year. The other facility being reopened is a similar low-security community correctional facility in McFarland. The department earlier this month signed a $3.5 million no-bid contract with GEO Group Inc. to reopen the facility and run it for one year. The decision raised eyebrows Friday after it was learned that Donna Arduin, who resigned late last year as Schwarzenegger's finance director, has since joined the board of a GEO spinoff firm that actually owns the McFarland facilities, Correctional Properties Trust. GEO, based in Boca Raton, Fla., operates prisons across the country and makes lease payments to its spinoff, Correctional Properties Trust, according to the Los Angeles Times. GEO announced that Arduin joined the Correctional Properties board in October, 10 days after she left her job as Schwarzenegger's budget chief to return to Florida and open an economic consulting firm. GEO also donated $53,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign fund in November 2003. Neither Arduin nor officials of GEO Group could be reached for comment Friday. But others voiced deep skepticism about the move. "This is something that I believe truly crosses the line of integrity and ethics," said state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who heads legislative committees that oversee the prison system. "Donna Arduin was the finance director," Romero said. "To have her, 10 days after she leaves office, go on this board, which it's later revealed has state money directed their way, is very troubling."  

January 21, 2005 LA Times
The Schwarzenegger administration has quietly moved to reopen two private prisons a year after mothballing them — and after a company that stands to profit retained consultants close to the governor and his inner circle. The administration has decided to reopen two facilities, one of which is a 224-bed prison in the Central Valley town of McFarland. A Florida company ran the McFarland facility for 15 years until Dec. 31, 2003, when the state moved its last prisoners out. Rather than abandon California, the company, the GEO Group Inc., retained a top Schwarzenegger campaign official and a lobby firm that has close ties to the Republican's administration to restore the company's standing in California. A company that is a spinoff of GEO and owns the prison at McFarland placed Donna Arduin on its board of trustees in October, 10 days after she left her job as Schwarzenegger's director of the Department of Finance, which oversees all state spending. "This was an administration that said they weren't going to be influenced by special interests," said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union that represents state prison guards and opposes private lockups. The state is obligated to pay GEO $3.5 million to operate the prison in 2005, under terms of a one-year, no-bid contract approved earlier this month. "The Department of Finance had to be in the midst" of any negotiations on the prison contracts, said state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the committees that have jurisdiction over the state's prison system. "This is absolutely amazing; talk about revolving doors." Romero and Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk), her counterpart in the lower house, said they were irritated that the administration did not inform legislators that it was reopening private prisons. "It is beyond quiet. I think it has been deceptive," Romero said. Schwarzenegger administration officials say they have not formulated an overall privatization policy. Rather, confronted by an immediate need for beds, officials awarded the contract to GEO and were preparing to make final a contract with a second company, Civigenics, without soliciting bids from other companies. Civigenics stands to receive $5.7 million from the state in the coming year to operate the 340-bed Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield. Soon after taking office, Schwarzenegger clashed with the union on a variety of issues. GEO, meanwhile, gave $58,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in October and November 2003, as the state was making final plans to close the company's prison at McFarland. Executives at Correctional Properties and GEO in Florida did not return calls from The Times this week. But in a 2003 interview, a top GEO executive said: "We want to do everything we can to preserve our business base in California." One step was to hire the Flanigan Law Firm to influence Schwarzenegger's inner circle of advisors — something it is well-positioned to do. The firm consists of four brothers who were close to Wilson and his administration. Several former Wilson aides are high-ranking Schwarzenegger administration members. According to public reports filed with the secretary of state, GEO has paid Flanigan $37,500 for its services. GEO also retained Joe Rodota, a former Wilson aide who was policy director for the Schwarzenegger recall campaign. His role was to provide strategic advice and develop a long-term strategy for GEO's reentry into the private prison business in California, company representatives in Sacramento said.  

October 26, 2004 Business Wire
Fitch Ratings lowers the rating on McFarland, CA's $1.4 million certificates of participation (COPS), 2001 sewer system financing project, to 'B' from 'BBB-'. Fitch also places the 2001 COPs on Rating Watch Negative. Of additional concern is the December 2003 closing of one of three prisons operated by the GEO Group Inc. In 2001, the prisons accounted for over 40% of sewer system revenues. Subsequently, in August 2004, the city approved a change in the remaining prison's conditional use permit allowing an additional 150 inmates at each facility as requested by the California Department of Corrections. Because wastewater fees are assessed on a per inmate basis, the nine month period of reduced inmate capacity represents a significant revenue loss.

Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility
Bakersfield, CA
CiviGenics
October 26, 2009 AP
California officials say a drop in the number of minimum-security inmates is allowing them to end contracts with the companies that operate three private prisons. The move will save the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation about $15 million a year. The private prisons in Baker, Bakersfield and McFarland once housed a total of 822 inmates. Department officials said today they may seek new proposals to use the prisons for female inmates. About 2,500 fewer minimum-security inmates are in prison than a year ago. The department credits a new policy that diverts many parole violators who commit relatively minor offenses to community programs instead of sending them back to prison.

September 13, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
A company that wanted to reopen a private prison in Bakersfield under a no-bid contract had a clear conflict of interest because it had hired two recent retirees from the Department of Corrections, the state auditor said Tuesday. But the auditor concluded there was no conflict of interest by another company that was awarded a no-bid contract to operate a prison in McFarland, even though it had put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance director on the board of a subsidiary. Those were the key points in a report by Auditor Elaine Howle's office that was ordered by lawmakers upset about the handling of the department's decision to reopen the two facilities that had been shut down barely a year before. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, requested the audit in January because she said the contract for the McFarland facility "smells bad." That contract was awarded to GEO Group Inc., the same firm that had operated it for years before it was shut down. The contract drew fire because the real estate trust that owns the facility and leases it to GEO put former state budget chief Donna Arduin on its board of directors shortly before it was offered the contract late last year. The audit report said that did not involve a conflict of interest because GEO has a 10-year lease on the property from the subsidiary that began long before Arduin joined the company and before the state decided to reopen the facility. Besides, it noted, GEO was the only possible operator because its subsidiary owned the facility. But the department's handling of a contract to reopen the Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield came in for sharp criticism by the auditor. The bidder, Massachusetts-based CiviGenics Inc., did not disclose the fact it had hired two former high-level department officials, at least one of whom contacted the department about the contract. They had both retired from the department less than a year before. State law bars top officials from being involved with state contracts for at least a year after they leave state service.

September 13, 2005 AP
California's prison population is at a record high, officials said Tuesday, as the state auditor panned the corrections system's last attempt to deal with sudden crowding. The news comes as the state auditor reported that two former high-ranking state corrections employees may have violated conflict of interest laws when they contacted their former colleagues as the state was opening two private prisons. One contract was later rescinded in part because of the conflict allegations. The department wasted an undetermined amount of money on the aborted project before it had permission from the Department of General Services, auditors found. Two high-level department retirees had gone to work for private prison operator CiviGenics Inc. and worked with their former colleagues on the contract within a year after leaving state government, in possible violation of conflict of interest laws, auditors found. They faulted the Marlborough, Mass.-based contractor for not disclosing the employees' background, and the department for not requiring disclosure. Auditors decided there was no conflict of interest by a former state Department of Finance director who went to work for the second prison contractor, GEO Group Inc.

February 25, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
SACRAMENTO -- The fate of the now-closed Mesa Verde prison facility on Union Avenue in Bakersfield -- mired in a bureaucratic limbo for the last three years -- has taken another strange turn.  A Massachusetts firm that was almost awarded a one-year no-bid contract to reopen the facility earlier this year has been disqualified from bidding to run the minimum-security prison for at least five years.  State prison officials said the company, CiviGenics, has a conflict of interest because it has two former Department of Corrections officials on its payroll.  However, the state is preparing to award a contract to run a similar prison in McFarland to a Florida company that has Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance director, Donna Arduin, on one of its boards of directors. The firm, Geo Group Inc., is already operating the McFarland institution on a temporary contract.  CiviGenics has officially protested its disqualification, a move that may require a hearing and could presage a lawsuit.  A spokeswoman for state prison officials said the two situations are different. Having former department officials advise a company on its dealings with the department can give it an unfair advantage. But the spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, said Arduin is different, even though she was responsible for the department's entire budget until she resigned last October.  "Donna Arduin is not a former member of the department," Thornton said. "I can't comment on Donna Arduin."  The saga began more than three years ago when the administration of former Gov. Gray Davis began closing privately run prisons as their contracts ran out.  At the time, corrections officials said they did not need so many minimum-security prison beds. But critics charged that the move was influenced primarily by the state prison guards' union. It is opposed to nonunion private prisons and was one of Davis' biggest campaign contributors.  Mesa Verde was shut down for nearly a year, but then reopened when the Legislature gave the prisons a reprieve.  Nevertheless, it and several others were closed at the end of 2003, including the McFarland facility.  Before a year had passed, in the fall of 2004, the Schwarzenegger administration quietly moved to reopen two of the prisons -- Mesa Verde and the McFarland property -- using no-bid, one-year contracts.  Officials said the prison population was climbing again and they needed the beds.  The Mesa Verde contract was offered to the Massachusetts-based CiviGenics, a bitter disappointment to Gary White of Bakersfield, president of the little company that had run it for more than a decade.  But by January of this year, prison officials were being hammered by critics who questioned the decision to offer the McFarland operation to GEO Group because it had put Arduin on the board of a spinoff company that owns the land and buildings. GEO, a successor to Wackenhut Corrections Corp., had operated the facility for years, along with two other prisons in McFarland, which had not been closed. GEO had also hired influential lobbyists and consultants who were close to current officials in the the Schwarzenegger administration.  Lawmakers ordered an audit of the way the department handled the reopenings. It is due for completion later this summer.  Amid the criticism, the Department of Corrections did an about-face -- not on McFarland, but on Mesa Verde. Officials withdrew the offer to CiviGenics. They said at the time that they had found enough beds elsewhere and didn't need to reopen Mesa Verde after all.  About the same time, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that CiviGenics had retained two retired Department of Corrections officials as consultants -- Michael Pickett and David Tristan. Tristan is a former deputy director of operations for the department.  Department officials told the Chronicle that had nothing to do with the fact that it had almost awarded the contract to CiviGenics.  But it had everything to do with CiviGenics' disqualification when the department subsequently called for competitive bids to run five of the closed prisons.  "They have a conflict of interest," Thornton said.  That left Cornell Corrections Inc. as the apparent low bidder to run Mesa Verde, she said.  GEO Group was the only bidder on the McFarland facility, apparently because it owns the property.

February 4, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration this week abruptly canceled a no-bid contract it was set to award to a private prison company that employs two former high-ranking state corrections officials. After pursuing a deal with the company for several months, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections said the department decided Wednesday that it was no longer interested in finalizing a $5.7 million contract that would have reopened the Mesa Verde Community Corrections Facility in Bakersfield. The contract would have been with a Massachusetts-based company called CiviGenics, which recently hired two retired Department of Corrections officials. The company and administration insist the two hires had nothing to do with the company nearly getting the contract. On Wednesday, The Chronicle requested information about the contract, including communications between corrections officials and the company. Todd Slosek, a corrections spokesman, said the decision to shelve the deal was made late Wednesday after the department decided it didn't need extra beds after all. The aborted deal is one of two the administration had been advancing to pay private prison companies to run previously shuttered facilities and help alleviate overcrowding at state prisons. The state has finalized a contract with GEO Group Inc. to reopen a prison in McFarland (Kern County). In both cases, the administration chose not to allow other interested companies to bid for the jobs, a typical procedure used to ensure that taxpayers get the best deal. Instead, prison officials said they were facing emergency overcrowding and needed to strike quick deals with the two firms without going through the lengthy bidding process. Both contracts have come under fire, however, because both companies have hired people with ties to the corrections department or Schwarzenegger's administration. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, called for a state audit of the deals last week after the Los Angeles Times reported that Schwarzenegger's former finance director, Donna Arduin, was appointed to the board of directors of a trust that owns the facility that GEO Group plans to use. CiviGenics employs Michael Pickett, a former warden and deputy director for health services at the Department of Corrections, and David Tristan, a former deputy director of operations for the department. "The revolving door is spinning so fast it's now hit the department in the rear end,'' Romero said in an interview Thursday. CiviGenics CEO Roy Ross was formerly director of administration for the Shriver Center, a biomedical research center founded by California first lady Maria Shriver's mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. A spokeswoman for the first lady said Maria Shriver had no knowledge of the contract.

January 31, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
While California's prison population continues to grow, a minimum-security correctional facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield has sat empty for more than a year. Stripped to the bare walls, its closure in late 2003 was actually the second time it had been shut down in the last three years. The minimum-security Mesa Verde Community Correctional Center will probably reopen in a month or two. But it won't be run by the small Bakersfield company that administered it for most of the last 15 years. Instead, it will be operated by a much larger company headquartered in Massachusetts. At least some of the prison's former employees may get their jobs back, but the switch in operators has left the owner of the local company baffled and bitter. "I can't understand why they would do that," said Gary White, head of the Bakersfield outfit, Alternative Programs Inc. Officials of the Department of Corrections say they offered a no-bid one-year contract to API first, but White turned it down. White said it would have been impossible to meet the terms outlined by the department. He said he thought the officials were just staking out an initial negotiating position. "I thought we would have some discussions and negotiations," White said. The next thing he heard, he said, the proposed contract had been offered to the Massachusetts firm, CiviGenics, which accepted it. Reopening the McFarland prison has generated more controversy statewide than Mesa Verde. Romero and other critics say it "smells bad" because the company that owns it placed Schwarzenegger's former finance director, Donna Arduin, on its board in October, just as the state was about to reopen the facility. No such charges have been leveled at CiviGenics, which is seeking the no-bid contract for Mesa Verde. However, White says he is suspicious that "some kind of deal" was made because he believes the state's original offer to him was not serious. He said his main objection was that the department, which contacted him first in mid-October, wanted the facility activated by Dec. 1. "That would have allowed just 27 working days to reactivate it," he said. "When we reopened it in 2002, it took 40 working days. That's why I knew it couldn't be done." It could not be determined whether the department insisted on the same Dec. 1 activation date. But officials say it is clear they wanted the prison open by Jan. 1 at the latest, and it has not been opened yet. In fact, CiviGenics and the department have not yet signed a contract. Thornton said there has been a delay in that because the original proposal for a $5.7 million no-bid contract with CiviGenics did not include money for the beds and other equipment that had been stripped out a year ago.

January 21, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has quietly taken steps to reopen two privately run prisons in Kern County -- with no-bid contracts -- that were shut down as a cost-saving move barely a year ago. But the move sparked angry outbursts from critics who questioned the prison population figures and said lobbying by former administration insiders persuaded the governor to reopen at least one of the facilities. A Bakersfield man who ran one of the closed prisons sharply criticized the department for taking the facility away from his firm, which had an exemplary record, and giving it to a competitor without taking bids. "That's why I suspect there was some kind of deal somewhere," said Gary White, vice president of the firm that formerly operated the low-security Mesa Verde community correctional facility on Golden State Avenue. "I don't know if it was part of a deal or what. We're trying to find out now." Within days, The Department of Corrections expects to sign a contract that will pay $5.7 million to a Massachusetts-based company, Civigenics, to run the 350-bed Mesa Verde for a year. The other facility being reopened is a similar low-security community correctional facility in McFarland. The department earlier this month signed a $3.5 million no-bid contract with GEO Group Inc. to reopen the facility and run it for one year. The decision raised eyebrows Friday after it was learned that Donna Arduin, who resigned late last year as Schwarzenegger's finance director, has since joined the board of a GEO spinoff firm that actually owns the McFarland facilities, Correctional Properties Trust. GEO, based in Boca Raton, Fla., operates prisons across the country and makes lease payments to its spinoff, Correctional Properties Trust, according to the Los Angeles Times. GEO announced that Arduin joined the Correctional Properties board in October, 10 days after she left her job as Schwarzenegger's budget chief to return to Florida and open an economic consulting firm. GEO also donated $53,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign fund in November 2003. Neither Arduin nor officials of GEO Group could be reached for comment Friday. But others voiced deep skepticism about the move. "This is something that I believe truly crosses the line of integrity and ethics," said state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who heads legislative committees that oversee the prison system. "Donna Arduin was the finance director," Romero said. "To have her, 10 days after she leaves office, go on this board, which it's later revealed has state money directed their way, is very troubling."  

January 21, 2005 LA Times
The Schwarzenegger administration has quietly moved to reopen two private prisons a year after mothballing them — and after a company that stands to profit retained consultants close to the governor and his inner circle. The administration has decided to reopen two facilities, one of which is a 224-bed prison in the Central Valley town of McFarland. A Florida company ran the McFarland facility for 15 years until Dec. 31, 2003, when the state moved its last prisoners out. Rather than abandon California, the company, the GEO Group Inc., retained a top Schwarzenegger campaign official and a lobby firm that has close ties to the Republican's administration to restore the company's standing in California. A company that is a spinoff of GEO and owns the prison at McFarland placed Donna Arduin on its board of trustees in October, 10 days after she left her job as Schwarzenegger's director of the Department of Finance, which oversees all state spending. "This was an administration that said they weren't going to be influenced by special interests," said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union that represents state prison guards and opposes private lockups. The state is obligated to pay GEO $3.5 million to operate the prison in 2005, under terms of a one-year, no-bid contract approved earlier this month. "The Department of Finance had to be in the midst" of any negotiations on the prison contracts, said state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the committees that have jurisdiction over the state's prison system. "This is absolutely amazing; talk about revolving doors." Romero and Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk), her counterpart in the lower house, said they were irritated that the administration did not inform legislators that it was reopening private prisons. "It is beyond quiet. I think it has been deceptive," Romero said. Schwarzenegger administration officials say they have not formulated an overall privatization policy. Rather, confronted by an immediate need for beds, officials awarded the contract to GEO and were preparing to make final a contract with a second company, Civigenics, without soliciting bids from other companies. Civigenics stands to receive $5.7 million from the state in the coming year to operate the 340-bed Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield. Soon after taking office, Schwarzenegger clashed with the union on a variety of issues. GEO, meanwhile, gave $58,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in October and November 2003, as the state was making final plans to close the company's prison at McFarland. Executives at Correctional Properties and GEO in Florida did not return calls from The Times this week. But in a 2003 interview, a top GEO executive said: "We want to do everything we can to preserve our business base in California." One step was to hire the Flanigan Law Firm to influence Schwarzenegger's inner circle of advisors — something it is well-positioned to do. The firm consists of four brothers who were close to Wilson and his administration. Several former Wilson aides are high-ranking Schwarzenegger administration members. According to public reports filed with the secretary of state, GEO has paid Flanigan $37,500 for its services. GEO also retained Joe Rodota, a former Wilson aide who was policy director for the Schwarzenegger recall campaign. His role was to provide strategic advice and develop a long-term strategy for GEO's reentry into the private prison business in California, company representatives in Sacramento said.  

August 31, 2002
Just two months after the state hauled away 52 truckloads of state-owned equipment and transferred local inmates to other prisons, Bakersfield's Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility is gearing up to reopen. This year has been a roller-coaster ride for operators of the private, minimum-security prison located just five blocks from downtown Bakersfield. And the ride's not over yet. First it was out; then it was back; then it was out again as budget committees, legislators and lobbyists wrangled over the fate of Mesa Verde and four other privately operated prisons in California. Eventually, state funding was officially cut, and by mid-June, the last inmate was transferred. "The Department of Corrections started taking all the equipment -- kitchen, beds, office, everything," said Durwood Sigrest, president of the company that operates Mesa Verde. Most of the prison's 74 full-time employees and a dozen or so part-time employees were put out of work by the closure. Gov. Davis said the prisons should be closed to help reduce the state's multi-billion dollar budget deficit. But critics -- including Sigrest -- say that real pressure to close the private prisons was coming from the state correctional officers union, which frowns on non-union prisons that don't offer the level of pay and benefits that state prisons offer. (Bakersfield Californian)

December, 1999
On December 12, one inmate escaped from the private prison in Bakersfield. (Offender Information Services Branch, CA Dept. of Corrections, 2000)

June, 1999
One inmate escaped from the private prison in Bakersfield on June 6, 1999. (Offender Information Services Branch, CA Dept. of Corrections, 2000)

Michigan Youth Center Facility
Baldwin, Michigan
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
September 11, 2006 LA Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was not inspecting the orange crop when he slipped out of the state for a quick trip to Florida, and he wasn't eyeing a new set of wheels when he visited with car dealers. Nor was he parched when he bellied up to liquor dealers in Lake Tahoe, or craving a burger when he chatted with Jack-in-the-Box owners. Rather, he was gobbling up campaign money at each stop. As legislators were approving more than 1,000 bills in August, Schwarzenegger was crossing the state, and the country, soliciting campaign cash. Now, as he decides whether to sign those bills into law or nix them with a veto, he will be cashing checks from scores of contributors whose interests intersect with legislation. In his quest to be reelected, Schwarzenegger is raising money from all manner of businesses: restaurants, insurance companies, banks, financial services providers, construction and real estate interests, farmers, energy producers and car dealers. All have business before the state. On the last weekend in August, as legislators prepared for their final sprint before adjourning for the year, Schwarzenegger traveled to Florida for a fundraiser organized by his brother-in-law, Anthony Shriver. The event was at the home of a major donor to Republican candidates and causes, Randal Perkins, and generated about $500,000. Perkins' firm, Ashbritt Environmental, does cleanup after natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. According to Perkins' lobbyist, Ronald L. Book, Ashbritt has no state contracts in California. However, several donors who gave at the fundraiser do have business here. Geo Group, a Florida firm that operates private prisons, has long sought more business in California. Geo's Sacramento lobbyists worked to shape the governor's prison overhaul package, which failed in the Legislature on the final day of its session. The package might have increased the number of California inmates housed by private firms.

September 10, 2006 Sacramento Bee
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate them. Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said the agency can administratively transfer inmates out of state if they volunteer for the move and if the contracts with out-of-state operators do not exceed a year. Longer term deals, Hidalgo said, would require legislative approval. "If there's a willing inmate and a vendor, we can do this on our own right now," Hidalgo said. One major private prison company, the GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., has expressed interest in housing California inmates at its facilities in Michigan, Indiana and Louisiana. GEO currently operates four private prisons in California. It also contributed $22,300 to Schwarzenegger on Aug. 25, in the last week of the legislative session, when lawmakers declined to act on proposals designed to ease prison overcrowding in California. One bill would have required inmate approval for out-of-state transfers. In legislative hearings, GEO expressed support for an involuntary transfer plan. Altogether, GEO has contributed $90,300 to Schwarzenegger going back to 2003.

September 7, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A deal that might have supplied California inmates to the former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility in Lake County could be in jeopardy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) proposed sending inmates to out-of-state facilities — potentially including the Lake County prison — without getting the inmates’ permission. However, the future of the proposal is unclear. The California Assembly refused to vote on the measure despite the California Senate passing a bill allowing the transfers only with the inmate’s permission, which is current California law. The California legislature, a part-time legislature, left session for the year Friday without approving Schwarzenegger’s four-bill package. The bills faced opposition by Republicans in the Assembly as well as the corrections officer union and garnered only lukewarm support from Democrats. In addition, Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger also faces a challenge from Democrat Phil Angelides in the November election. The Baldwin area facility was mentioned as a possible recipient of California inmates, and officials from California reportedly visited the site earlier this summer. Pablo Paez, communications director for GEO Group which owns the Lake County prison, said he had “nothing new to report” with regard to any deal to house inmates there. Paez said GEO has been in contact with California and with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding possibly renting bed space at the facility a few miles north of Baldwin. Refusing to name where else GEO is seeking rentals, Paez said “the company remains active in marketing our facility.”

August 2, 2006 Cadillac News
The fate of Lake County's youth prison could be in the hands of the California Legislature. California's Department of Corrections is considering a proposal that would allow the state to export illegal immigrants to the former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility near Baldwin. A CDC official met with a representative of the GEO Group and Lake County Sheriff Bob Hilts Monday in Baldwin to discuss a possible arrangement to fill the 550-bed maximum-security prison. “It's one proposal we're looking at,” said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for CDC. “We have historic levels of overpopulation.” Thornton reported 16,000 of the state's inmates are housed in alternative situations, many of those triple-bunked. “If we do nothing, we'll run out of beds in a year,” she said. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called a special session of legislature to address overcrowding and other prison system issues. The session begins Monday. A series of proposals, including one involving use of the Baldwin facility, will be under consideration by the state's lawmakers, according to Thornton. California is one of several entities facility owners the GEO Group is in negotiation with to enable it to reopen the six-year-old $37 million prison. Gov. Jennifer Granholm closed the facility last October when she withdrew its funding, Before GEO is able to reopen the prison, it must gain legal rights to enter into contracts with the State of California, or other states, federal or local agencies. The State Corrections Code only allows its use as a youth correctional facility under contract with the State. Michigan legislators have shown strong bipartisan support for a bill that would permit GEO to import out-of-state detainees or inmates and contract with other agencies. The House passed the legislation 83 to 20. The Senate approved the bill 36 to 1, said Peter Wills, spokesperson for State Rep. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart. While Granholm had vetoed a version of the bill in May that would have mandated state use of the prison in overcrowding conditions, she has indicated support for the “concept” of the legislation, Wills said. But the bill continues to draw opposition. Rep. Kathy Angerer, D-Dundee, and Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, added amendments that would prevent import of inmates. “It will be taken up on Aug. 9. We're working with House leadership to work with members who offered the amendments to see if they would rescind,” Wills said. “We're confident the bill is still a good one.” Even given the authority for filling the prison with a new inmate population, GEO's problems won't end. Before closing, the facility employed 200 workers. “GEO's going to have to do an intensive search for employees,” said Hilts. The bottom line is that operations must be cost effective “Everybody that has visited is interested,” Hilts said. “The question is if they can make a deal. Its always monetary.”

Monterey County Jail
Monterey, California
Aramark
January 11, 2006 The Salinas Californian
Illness has spread at the Monterey County Jail, leaving about 75 inmates with diarrhea and stomach cramping in what the county Health Department says might be a food-borne outbreak. Reports of sickness at the jail infirmary started Sunday, and by Monday morning, 20 inmates had complained of diarrhea and bloody stool, the jail announced. As of Monday night, 75 cases had been reported, the Sheriff's Office said. "We can be pretty confident that it's a food-borne illness," said John Ramirez, assistant director of environmental health at the Monterey County Health Department. The jail had another outbreak in June, when at least 112 inmates complained of flu-like symptoms including nausea, diarrhea and high fever. Investigators determined that infection began after some inmates hoarded food to make tamales that later became spoiled, Liebersbach said. As of now, it appears the illness might have started with a chicken dish that was improperly cooked, he said. The jail's Philadelphia-based food provider, Aramark, did not return calls on the incident.

Orange Cove
Orange Cove, CA
CCA
June 19, 2001
It's not likely Orange Cove will get the federal prison that it's competing against Mendota for, but that won't stop Mayor Victor Lopez.  He's courting private prison builders just in case.  Lopez is convinced that a prison would mean salvation for one of California's poorest cities, bringing high-paying jobs, more tax dollars and spin-off development.  Many of the would-be prison's neighbors are equally convinced it will be the city's ruination, draining water from its lifeblood industry, agriculture, putting more high-speed commuters on two-lane roads and scaring off potential development with higher crime.  Orange Cove's leaders would do well to look to places such as Avenal, Delano or Corcoran that still are struggling with soaring unemployment despite the prisons they host.  The San Joaquin Valley, with its plethora of struggling rural towns, has become a prison mecca with no real measurable benefits.  A 1990 state study of Avenal found that there was little financial boost from the state lockup because prison employees were willing to commute long distances rather than relocate to a city they deemed too small, isolated and without amenities.  Avenal's 16% unemployment rate is the same as before the prison was built.  Orange Cove might find itself in the same position.  ( The Fresno Bee)

Orange County Sheriff's Office
November 5, 2008 AP A millionaire businessman who helped bring a case against a former Southern California sheriff testified Wednesday that the lawman promised lucrative deals and full access to his department in exchange for help laundering campaign donations. Don Haidl testified he met former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona in March 1998 and agreed to help the then-underdog launder tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. Haidl, who struck a plea deal with prosecutors, said Carona promised even before he was elected to repay Haidl by funneling him attractive side deals, like a business for private jails that would relieve overcrowding at the county facilities. The county would pay the private facilities per bed, per day to take overflow inmates. "We talked about a get-out-of-jail free card, we talked about owning the Sheriff's Department," Haidl said. "We talked about ... how much money could be made out of the Sheriff's Department and that there would be 1,800 guns and 5,000 employees at my disposal." Other witnesses have testified that the private jails scheme never came to fruition. Prosecutors, however, allege that over several years the three-term sheriff, his mistress, his wife and a close group of friends did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the power of his office.

Park Place
Irvine, California
Sodexho
August 19, 2002 MJ's Expresso, which has been serving coffee from a cart in the lobby of Park Place in Irvine, Calif., for more than 12 years, has been given the boot. MJ's is literally a mom-and-pop business. Owners Jim and Karen Gattis named the cart for their daughter, Maggie Jean. The lease can be terminated with 30 days' notice. And on July 9, that's what Sodexho, the Washington, D.C.-based food concessionaire for the office building, did. Then on Aug. 2, the Gattises were told to get out immediately. The change is part of Sodexho's bid for a new food contract at Park Place, Aun said. Although acknowledging the company never formally polled Park Place tenants, "we survey people all the time, and they want more choices: bottled water, smoothies, premade salads and sandwiches." Karen Gattis said she and her husband have pleaded for years to widen their selection but could only sell what Sodexho specifically allowed. "We would love to sell smoothies. We even offered to sell their food after the cafeteria closed at 2 p.m.," she said. "They've treated us poorly for several years. They stopped selling us ice. They raised the coffee prices in the cafeteria, then called a meeting to accuse us of undercutting their prices. We've never changed our prices. We've always charged $1 for a 12-ounce coffee." (The Orange County Register)

Prisoner Transport
US Extradition
June 18, 2009 Santa Barbara Independent
Authorities believe two men working for a contracted prisoner transportation company forced a female inmate to perform sexual acts on them, while returning her to Santa Barbara County Jail in October of last year. According to court records, Roland Ygelsias, 29, is facing a felony count of forcible copulation, a violent and serious felony. Prosecutors allege he forced a female inmate to give him oral sex during a trip transporting prisoners throughout California, while in a van with seven inmates in it, both male and female. Ygelsias, along with 28-year-old Miguel Jacobo, is also facing a misdemeanor count of sexual activity in a detention facility with a consenting adult who is confined. The two worked for U.S. Extradition Services, a company that contracted with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department to transport inmates among prisons and jails. Ygelsias picked up the victim and one other prisoner at Chowchilla State Prison, according to a report from Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Detective Michael Scherbarth. From there, the van traveled to Jacobo’s sister’s residence to pick up Jacobo. The woman told Scherbarth that not long after, Jacobo was looking at her and smiling, while Ygelsias made comments about her sitting on his lap, which made her feel uncomfortable. Along the way, more stops were made and more inmates picked up. After Ygelsias drove for awhile, according to the victim, he said he wanted to take a nap, and sat next to her in the first bench-row of the van. Then he said he wanted to switch sides, and he lifted her up onto and over his lap, according to Scherbarth’s report. “Ygelsias then began to tug at her gown and proceeded to tell her he was a federal agent and that he could do things to her,” Scherbarth wrote, saying the man then unzipped his pants and felt the woman’s leg. He then allegedly pushed her head down onto his lap and pulled on her hair, “violent in his actions,” and told her, “You’re going to catch this all in your mouth.” The woman told authorities the man’s penis went into her mouth, he ejaculated, and she had to spit the fluid into her gown. “Every time she tried to lift her head up off of his penis he would grab her hair and pull her head down violently,” Scherbarth said in his report. This all occurred during the drive somewhere near San Diego, she claimed. Ygelsias’s version of events, as told to detectives who interviewed him, was that he took four Ambien sleeping pills to fall asleep. “He remembered waking up at one point and the victim was performing oral sex on him,” Scherbarth wrote. The defendant explained that he wasn’t able to do anything about it, or even completely wake up, because of the pills. He told the detectives he was “embarrassed, ashamed, and scared of what had happened.” Contrary to the victim’s claims, he said he never exposed himself and never touched the victim. However, a Sheriff’s detective pointed out that it would have been difficult for the woman to undo Ygelsias’s pants herself, because he was wearing his duty belt at the time. The alleged victim said that although nobody talked about what had happened, she believed everyone knew. But most of the witnesses either couldn’t be tracked down by detectives, or reported that they didn’t see anything. A couple of witnesses said they did see the victim’s head go down into Ygelsias’s lap, but didn’t witness any sexual interaction. They and TK said the contact appeared consensual. Jacobo told detectives he heard about Ygelsias and the victim after the fact, from one of the inmates. Jocobo denied that he himself had any physical contact with the woman, who claimed he made her masturbate him. Jacobo claimed he drove the entire time while Ygelsias, whom he had never worked with prior to this trip, slept. Another agent reportedly told detectives that he knew Jacobo was “easily manipulated and he very well could have ‘got caught up in the moment,’ seen Ygelsias get a blow job, and think to himself that he could do the same thing.” The agent said Jacobo told him he got a “hand job” from the victim, but after being confronted by the agent, said he was just joking. The victim told Scherbarth she consented to Ygelsias touching her legs and penetrating her vagina with his fingers, but that she was not okay with the oral sex and that he forced her to do that. Ygelsias and Jacobo were relatively new employees, having worked for U.S. Extradition Services for less than six months. Ygelsias was fired after the incident, while Jacobo resigned in the face of termination, according to Bill Brees, director of marketing and operations support for the company. “It’s not the type of publicity you want to see when you’re providing a service,” Brees said. “It has a negative effect on everyone.” It is company policy that agents, who are usually armed, not ride in the back of the van. It’s not cost-effective for law enforcement agencies to transport inmates, so companies like U.S. Extradition Services are contracted to do the work. The Sheriff’s Department dropped U.S. Extradition, and now works with another company, Court Services Transport, according to department spokesperson Drew Sugars. The department primarily uses the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Statewide Transport at a rate of 68 cents a mile. If that service is unavailable, or can’t meet a deadline for pickup, the Sheriff contracts with Court Services Transport at a cost of 95 cents a mile. Ygelsias’s attorney didn’t return a call seeking comment, and The Independent’s efforts to locate Ygelsias for comment were unsuccessful. Jacobo, after initially returning The Independent's phone calls, could not be reached for comment. Senior deputy district attorney Joyce Dudley, who is prosecuting the case, didn't have any comment on the case except to say the preliminary hearing was set to begin June 26.

Rancho Cordova
Rancho Cordova, California
Wackenhut (Group 4)
September 13, 2007 Sacramento Bee
As part of an ongoing anti-theft campaign, the Rancho Cordova Police Department baited a trap. They left a popular video game console on the back seat of a car in the parking lot of the Mather Field light-rail station. Monday night at 10:30 p.m., the bait was taken. Using "sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment," hidden in the game console, officers took up the chase. They didn't have far to look. The trail led a short distance away -- to the small building used by the station's security guards. Rancho Cordova Detective Sgt. Pete James said officers confronted the two guards on duty and found the game console stashed inside a trash bag in a file cabinet. The guards, Ashneel Kumar, 18, of North Highlands and Daniil Shevchuk, 19, of Sacramento, admitted breaking into the vehicle and stealing the game system, James said. Both are in custody on three felony charges related to the theft and break-in, according to jail records. The two were employed by the Wackenhut Corp., which provides security at some light-rail facilities, said Sacramento Regional Transit District Deputy General Manager Mike Wiley. A manager at Wackenhut's Sacramento office refused to comment on the incident. Wiley said it is his understanding that Kumar and Shevchuk are no longer employed by Wackenhut. RT and Wackenhut will investigate whether any past thefts were related to the guards, Wiley said.

Redlands Police Department
Redlands, California
Wackenhut (Group 4)
January 5, 2010 Redlands Daily Facts
A man escaped police custody Tuesday afternoon after he was arrested that morning on suspicion of attempted burglary. Police held Kevin Lamont Holmes, 21, for much of Tuesday before he escaped around 3:30 p.m., said city spokesman Carl Baker. Police hold many recently-arrested suspects at the Police Annex, 30 Cajon St. A Wackenhut custody officer was preparing to move Holmes to county jail when he slipped out of leg shackles, overpowered the officer and ran out the front door of the annex, officials said. "He had (hand)cuffs and leg shackles on," Baker said. "He managed, somehow, to get out of the leg shackles."

February 28, 2008 San Bernardino County Sun
A lawsuit filed by a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted while in police custody was settled earlier this month. Dayle Lewis, 45, of Redlands and her attorney have agreed to settle a suit she filed in 2005 alleging that she was sexually assaulted by a man while in custody. The city of Redlands has agreed to pay $22,500 as part of the settlement, according to city documents. Dayle Lewis will also get another $22,500 from The Wackenhut Corp., a security firm that the Redlands Police Department contracts with to run its jail, according to Tony Jones, Lewis' husband, who has knowledge of the suit. "I just hope no other female will have to go through this," Lewis said. "Because my family had to go through the hurt. I live with that every day." In court documents, Lewis alleged she was arrested on Oct. 29, 2005, on suspicion of burglary and placed in the booking area. While there, officers brought in Jose Inez Garcia Jr. Lewis claims the man appeared to be under the influence. At some point during the process, the Wackenhut security officer monitoring them left, she said. "What appears to have happened is that the Wackenhut officer was a few feet away," said Carl Baker, Redlands police spokesman. "But it was for a very short period of time. They were together in a booking area which is visible to the hallway." As soon as the officer heard a problem arise, he immediately stepped in, Baker said. The Police Department did not find that a sexual assault was committed, he said. A video camera was running in the booking area at the time but malfunctioned, Baker said. The cameras have since been updated, but the change had nothing to do with the suit or the incident, Baker said. For lack of evidence, no charges were filed against Garcia, according to district attorney's officials. Lewis decided to come forward with her story because she said she felt she did not get justice. We didn't get justice at all," she said. "I wanted (Garcia) to go to jail, for one. And for the officers to admit they're wrong and apologize. "But they didn't."

February 27, 2008 The Press-Enterprise
A woman's allegations of sexual assault by a male prisoner while being booked into Redlands Police Department's jail have prompted police and city officials to analyze booking procedures and re-emphasize training. The city also has spent nearly $90,000 to install a new digital surveillance system to monitor its booking room. It replaces older surveillance equipment that wasn't working properly at the time of the alleged incident, said Carl Baker, Redlands Police Department spokesman. Redlands resident Dayle Lewis, 45, claims she was sexually assaulted in a booking area on Oct. 29, 2005, after being arrested for investigation of burglary and theft. Lewis pleaded guilty to the crimes but sued the city for negligence and failing to follow established procedures in the summer of 2006. In December 2007, she agreed to a $22,500 out-of-court settlement. As a practice, The Press-Enterprise does not name people who have told authorities they are victims of sexual assault. The newspaper is publishing Lewis' name at her request. Court records show Lewis' alleged assailant, Jose Inez Garcia, then 37, was arrested Oct. 29, 2005, on suspicion of driving under the influence and hit and run. After Lewis complained that she had been attacked, Redlands police officers arrested Garcia, who was still in custody, for investigation of misdemeanor sexual battery. Garcia pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and hit- and-run charges in May 2006. He was not charged with sexual battery because of lack of evidence, said Susan Mickey, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County district attorney's office. Lewis struggled to hold back tears when describing the incident, which she said has affected her self-esteem, marriage and family. The ordeal has caused her four children, ages 7 to 17, to lash out and question the justice system, she said. "It had a big effect on my kids, that their mom had to go through this," Lewis said. "I'm hurting at the same time, because I know it could have been prevented if I wouldn't have been there." Lewis said she still has nightmares. The city of Redlands has not acknowledged that the sexual assault took place, nor has it admitted any liability, according to settlement documents that describe the $22,500 payment as a compromise in response to "a doubtful and disputed claim." Nonetheless, the incident prompted city officials to study procedures relating to those brief and relatively rare instances when male and female prisoners are together awaiting a holding cell, Baker said. "We can't put a prisoner into a cell until they've been searched and their property has been taken care of," he said. "There are circumstances in which (male and female prisoners) are going to be together. Is it common for that to happen? No." In the incident involving Lewis, an employee with the private security firm Wackenhut Corp. was standing several away but briefly took his eyes off her and the male prisoner, Baker said.

San Diego Correctional Facility
Otay Mesa, California
CCA
March 3, 2010 New York Times
When the Obama administration vowed to overhaul immigration detention last year, its promise of more humane treatment and accountability was spurred in part by the harrowing treatment of two detainees who died in the Bush years. In one case, captured by security cameras in 2008, a Chinese computer engineer was dragged from a Rhode Island immigration jail and mocked by guards as he screamed in pain from undiagnosed cancer and a broken spine. In the other, a Salvadoran detainee held for two years in a California detention center was denied a biopsy for a painful penile lesion, though government doctors suspected the cancer that eventually required amputation of his penis. But on Wednesday, the administration argued in federal court that the government had no liability for neglect or abuse by private contractors running the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I., where the computer engineer was held. And in oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday, federal lawyers maintained that government doctors responsible for the Salvadoran’s care in detention were immune from being personally sued for medical negligence. In both cases, the arguments were made against lawsuits brought by the families of the men who died, Hiu Lui Ng, 34, and Francisco Castaneda, 36. In the Ng case, the government sought to be dropped as a defendant, and in the other, it tried to sharply limit potential monetary damages. But critics of the sprawling immigration detention system, which relies mainly on privately run jails to hold noncitizens facing deportation, said those arguments had broader and more disturbing implications. “The government’s positions both in Castaneda and in the Ng case fly in the face of the stated commitment to overhauling the immigration detention system and bringing to it more transparency and accountability,” said Vanita Gupta, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed an amicus brief in the Castaneda case and through its Rhode Island affiliate supported the lawsuit brought by Mr. Ng’s widow, Lin Li Qu, and two children, all United States citizens who live in New York. “Real reform wouldn’t be about pointing the finger elsewhere,” Ms. Gupta said. “It would be about promulgating legally binding standards and making individualized determinations about whether someone like Ng needs to be detained in the first place.” Brian P. Hale, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reiterated the agency’s commitment to an overhaul. “This administration takes any allegation of inadequate medical care or ill treatment seriously and will not accept or tolerate any willful misconduct,” he wrote. “We have taken important initial steps to change this system and are committed to finishing the job.” Oral arguments in the Ng case, in Federal District Court in Providence, centered on the federal agency’s role in ordering that the gravely ill man be taken in shackles to a federal office in Hartford and returned the same day to the Wyatt detention center. For that trip, Mr. Ng was dragged from his cell. The government’s lawyer, Helene Kazanjian, argued that it was “completely unfair” to expect an agency “that has no contact with the detainee on a regular basis,” to know that Mr. Ng was in dire condition. But Fidelma L. Fitzpatrick, arguing the other side, pointed out that the agency had been repeatedly notified that Mr. Ng was in terrible pain and unable to walk, and that he had been denied a wheelchair and outside medical care by the detention center, run for profit by a municipal corporation in Central Falls. “The U.S. government cannot just hire someone and then close the file,” Ms. Fitzpatrick said. “The government must take responsibility for the actions of ICE.” Judge William E. Smith said he would rule later, but his questions took up the plaintiffs’ theme. “If you know about the severity of the detainee’s condition, isn’t there an obligation to give him special treatment, to put him on an ambulance?” he asked. Ms. Kazanjian contended that when the agency learned how sick Mr. Ng was, it sent him to the hospital where he died six days later. But the judge corrected her. “I ordered him hospitalized,” he said, referring to his unusual intervention at a habeas corpus hearing the day after the Hartford trip. “I don’t think ICE can take credit for that.” In the Castaneda case, the government has admitted to medical negligence, and a federal judge has said “the word ‘cruel’ is an understatement” for the treatment described in the lawsuit. But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court seemed receptive to the government’s argument that Public Health Service doctors were immune from suit under a 1970 federal law. A government lawyer argued that that immunity reflected “a balance of evils,” adding, “Congress has decided that it would rather protect the P.H.S., make sure that causes of action and liability aren’t hanging over the heads of P.H,S. officers, even if that means some individuals don’t get recovery against certain specific P.H.S. personnel.” Lawyers representing Mr. Castaneda’s teenage daughter have said a ruling for the government would preclude a jury trial in the case and cap any damages at $250,000, which they called insufficient deterrence to the negligence that has been widely documented.

October 1, 2009 Union-Tribune
A lawsuit filed by a now-deceased man over inappropriate medical care while he was in the custody of U.S. immigration officials in San Diego is set to go before the U.S. Supreme Court. Francisco Castañeda, an immigrant from El Salvador, died in February 2008 after a battle with penile cancer. Castañeda had sought medical care for symptoms while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a contract detention facility in San Diego, and later at an agency facility in the Los Angeles area. Castañeda, who had been in the United States since age 10, had landed in detention after a short drug-related sentence in state prison triggered deportation proceedings. He filed suit against the government and various individual federal medical officials and providers in November 2007, alleging he was denied appropriate medical attention for a painful lesion on his penis for almost a year, though various doctors within the detention system recommended a biopsy. Upon his release from detention in February 2007, Castañeda sought medical attention on his own and was confirmed to have penile cancer, requiring the amputation of his penis. He died a year later at his home in the Los Angeles area at age 36. Allegations in the lawsuit included medical negligence and violation of Castañeda's constitutional rights. Shortly after Castañeda's death, family members were substituted as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Last spring, the federal government acknowledged that there had been medical negligence. However, “we are saying this is not a medical negligence case solely,” said Conal Doyle, an attorney representing Castañeda's family. “This is also a deliberate indifference case, deliberately refusing this guy medical care, which is a constitutional violation.” The federal government has argued that a federal statute makes a lawsuit against the government, not against individual defendants, the only remedy. However, in October, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal officials could be sued for violating Castañeda's constitutional rights. The case is now moving to the Supreme Court after the defendants appealed to the high court. Doyle said the case could be heard as early as January. Castañeda's situation was cited in a 2007 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against the federal government and Corrections Corp. of America, the contractor operating the San Diego facility, in which several detainees alleged shoddy medical care. Castañeda was not a plaintiff in that case. Since then, the federal government has announced plans to overhaul its massive immigrant detention system, which houses more than 32,000 people on average daily around the nation. “As part of a major detention reform, ICE is committed to improved detainee health care, which includes hiring a medical expert to provide an independent review of medical complaints and denials of requests for medical services,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. Mack said she could not comment on pending litigation. The immigration enforcement agency is no longer named separately as a defendant in the case, but remains a defendant as part of the federal government, Doyle said.

January 15, 2009 InjuryBoard.com
The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Oct. 2 that federal officials can be sued for violating the constitutional rights of an immigration detainee who had his penis amputated and later died from penile cancer that was left untreated and undiagnosed while in detention. This case is typical of the cutting-edge public interest law firm, Public Justice, does for the American people. Francisco Castaneda -- Public Justice, the national public interest law firm, filed a lawsuit last October against the U.S. government, several federal and California state officials, and a California physician, alleging medical neglect and violations of Francisco Castaneda’s due process and equal protection rights under the Fifth Amendment. The Oct. 2 ruling applies to the federal Public Health Service (PHS) officials who were named in the lawsuit and sought immunity under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The government had argued that a federal statute makes a lawsuit against the United States the exclusive remedy for illegal actions by the government doctors and other officials, but the appellate court unanimously ruled that federal officials cannot violate the Constitution and avoid accountability. In a sharp rebuke of the defendants’ claim, the appellate court described former detainee Francisco Castaneda’s ordeal as a “Kafkaesque nightmare” stemming from not only the government’s “alleged deliberate indifference, but also from Castaneda’s state-imposed helplessness in the face of that indifference.” Read the full story and learn about the great work of Public Justice the cutting edge public interest law firm for the people. Read the Ninth Circuit Court ruling at: http://www.publicjustice.net/briefs/Castaneda_NinthCircuitOpinion_100208.pdf

June 25, 2008 Press Release
The American Civil Liberties Union today sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for refusing to turn over thousands of public documents in their possession detailing the deaths of immigration detainees held in U.S. custody. The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, comes after repeated rejections by DHS officials of requests by the ACLU for critical information about the deaths of dozens of people in immigration detention. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring DHS to expedite the processing of the document request and conduct a reasonable search of the records in its possession in an effort to fully comply with the ACLU’s requests. “We know that the medical care provided in many immigration detention centers is grossly inadequate and has resulted in unnecessary suffering and death,” said Elizabeth Alexander, Director of the ACLU National Prison Project. “DHS must not be allowed to keep information about in-custody deaths secret. It is imperative that ICE be held publicly accountable when it fails to provide the health care mandated by the U.S. Constitution.” Deficient medical care is believed to be a leading cause of death in immigration detention, and is the number one complaint the ACLU has received from ICE detainees. The ACLU filed a lawsuit last year against the San Diego Correctional Facility (SDCF), an ICE facility run by Corrections Corporations of America, Inc. (CCA), the country’s largest for-profit correctional services provider. In its lawsuit, the ACLU challenges flawed medical care policies and the denial of needed treatment by ICE and the Division of Immigration Health Services which has led to excruciating suffering and even death of numerous detainees at SDCF. In its Freedom of Information Act request submitted to DHS last year, the ACLU requested information about whether ICE – or any independent monitoring agency – adequately tracks deaths of immigration detainees, who are often housed in county jails around the country alongside criminal detainees, or in one of numerous immigration detention facilities managed by private prison companies. Past OIG reports to Congress have contained only vague and sporadic references to investigations into these deaths, and provide little useful information that would ensure the public that meaningful investigations are conducted into each death and that steps are being taken to guarantee that detainees receive necessary medical services before it is too late. “Unless ICE exhibits full transparency by releasing all of the information that we have requested, we are left little choice but to believe that it has something to hide,” Alexander said. Attorneys on the case include Tom Jawetz of the ACLU National Prison Project, Judy Rabinovitz of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, New York-based attorneys Natalie N. Kuehler and Benjamin R. Walker and Washington-based attorneys Margaret K. Pfeiffer and Lee Ann Anderson McCall. A copy of the ACLU lawsuit filed today can be found online at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/35774lgl20080625.html A copy of the original FOIA request filed by the ACLU can be found online at: www.aclu.org/immigrants/detention/30260res20070627.html Additional information about the ACLU National Prison Project can be found online at: www.aclu.org/prison/index.html

June 5, 2008 San Diego Union-Tribune
A class-action lawsuit alleging chronic overcrowding at an immigration jail in Otay Mesa was settled yesterday. The lawsuit said the overcrowding at the facility, run by Corrections Corp. of America for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, subjected immigration violators to health and safety risks. It also alleged the conditions violated due-process rights under the Constitution. Before the suit was filed in January 2007, the jail was so overcrowded it was “triple celling” hundreds of detainees, the suit alleged. That involved putting three people into cells designed for two, with the third sleeping on the cell floor in a plastic shell or “boat.” The facility housed 1,000 people at one point. After the suit was filed, federal authorities moved out more than 100 inmates, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the facility now holds no more than 700 people. The settlement agreement requires that detainee populations not exceed specified limits for the next three years. Corrections Corp. of America will have to show it is within the caps three times between now and January. If the requirements are met, the suit will be dropped. The settlement agreement is subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw. A spokesman for Corrections Corp. of America directed requests for comment to the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A spokeswoman for ICE said the agency has not admitted fault. “The parties agree by settling the case that there is no admission of wrongdoing, and ICE maintains that the agency houses its immigration detainee population, including those at the San Diego CCA facility, in a safe and secure environment that is in compliance with its national detention standards,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the agency in San Diego. David Blair-Loy, legal director for the ACLU in San Diego, said the lawsuit achieved the goal of stopping poor conditions for immigration detainees. “The population was at a very high level before we appeared in the case,” Blair-Loy said. “And after we appeared they reduced it and then maintained that for a year and a half.”

June 1, 2008 Chicago Tribune
Yanira Castaneda weeps at the empty space in her living room where she spent a year caring for her brother, who died last February at 36, a loss for which she blames the U.S. government. Francisco Castaneda had been in a federal immigrant detention center because he was an illegal immigrant with a drug conviction. During his 10-month stay, his signs of cancer went untreated until the facility made him a free, but sick, man. He died a year later. "If they do a crime, they should do their time, but take care of them," said a tearful Yanira Castaneda, 35, whose family in the Los Angeles area is continuing her brother's lawsuit against the government. "I think my brother could have been saved." His death is part of a growing body count linked to the nation's beefed-up detention system, alarming lawmakers and emerging as the newest Immigration controversy in a spate of Capitol hearings and media exposés. Federal Immigration officials say critics are exaggerating the problems. In the case of Castaneda, who fled El Salvador's civil war at age 10 with his family, the U.S. government in April admitted negligence. After federal authorities released him last year with signs of penile cancer, doctors had to amputate that organ in February 2007. But it was too late. Since 2003, when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was created, 83 deaths reportedly have been linked to detention sites run by ICE or by private contractors and local governments, including one detainee with coronary artery disease in a Chicago detention center and a suicide in McHenry County Jail. ICE said last month that it counted 71 deaths since 2004, but no public reporting requirements exist. Infrastructure expanded -- Unable to resolve what to do with the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, Congress authorized ICE to build a vast detention infrastructure that now holds more than 300,000 detainees a year. The expansion, to 32,000 beds from 19,444 in 2004, has been fueled by recent crackdowns such as the end of the "catch-and-release" of unauthorized immigrants, experts say. "No bureaucracy can respond quickly to the sort of dramatic change that the country has seen with Immigration enforcement and detention over the last decade or so," said Louis DeSipio, associate professor at the University of California at Irvine. As the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE "was ramping up quickly and wanted to show or impress Congress that it was responding rapidly, but it didn't respond to these other needs" such as medical care, DeSipio said. Last month, legislation was introduced to mandate health-care standards — now voluntary—in the more than 300 ICE detention facilities. It also would require all deaths be reported to Congress. But ICE officials contend that "detainees' health care is equal to or better than that provided to U.S. citizens in custody," according to statements in response to news reports. The death rate for detained immigrants is "dramatically lower" than that of U.S. prisons and jails, federal officials say. The 2005 rate was 6.8 deaths per 100,000 in ICE facilities compared with 540.5 per 100,000 in U.S. prisons and jails, according to the agency. Its 2007 death rate dropped to 3.5 per 100,000, officials said. "ICE is committed to providing all detainees in our care with humane and safe detention environments and ensuring that adequate medical services are available," said spokesman Richard Rocha. Last year the government spent almost $100 million on detainee health care, double the amount from five years ago, and did 184,448 medical screenings, with many detainees receiving health care for the first time, Rocha said. But Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), chairwoman of a subcommittee looking at detention medical care, contended that ICE failed to fix its health system even after hearings last October. "If [ICE officials] say they meet these standards, they are not to be relied on. I'm often disappointed that what they say is true turns out not to be correct," said Lofgren, who asserted that some detainees died because staffers withheld required medicine. She said some medical procedures recommended by physicians have to be reviewed in Washington by "a non-physician who's never seen the patient." "The policies themselves foster poor medical care," she said. "No matter where you are on the spectrum of Immigration reform, you got people in custody. You can't kill them." Tom Jawetz, an attorney for the ACLU's National Prison Project, said the ICE figures don't include ill individuals who die after being deported or released. Lawsuits filed -- In the wake of the detention buildup, Jawetz began filing class-action lawsuits against ICE last year, including one alleging overcrowding and another for deficient health care at the same 800-bed facility in Otay Mesa, Calif. That center is operated by the private Corrections Corporation of America, which is seeking a second facility with 3,000 beds there for an as-yet undisclosed use. In court documents, Francisco Castaneda alleged ICE released him "presumably" to avoid the cost of cancer treatment. "I can tell you that Castaneda is a perfect example of why the [death] numbers are skewed," said Castaneda's lawyer, Conal Doyle. Human-rights advocate Homer Venters said ICE's figure of one out of every three detainees having pre-existing chronic conditions shows the agency needs a model for chronic health care, not just acute care. Detainees' average stay of 37.5 days makes comparisons to U.S. prisons' death rates "unduly rosy," according to Venters and Allen Keller, a physician and the director of New York University's School of Medicine Center for Health and Human Rights. To improve care, the federal agency has recruited non-governmental groups and experts to rewrite detention standards, and has hired two firms to inspect how centers are managed. "While a single death of an ICE detainee is a serious matter," ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said, "we strive to maintain safe, secure and humane detention conditions and to ensure that all detainees receive quality health care."

May 11, 2008 Washington Post
At the agency in Washington responsible for foreign detainees' medical care, internal documents reveal a tendency to conceal the truth by withholding complete medical records or by offering misleading public explanations. But e-mail exchanges speak for themselves in the death of Francisco Castaneda. Castaneda's family had fled the civil war in El Salvador when he was 10 years old, but his mother died of cancer before she could obtain legal status for her children. Castaneda began working at 17 and eventually got involved with drugs. After living for nearly a quarter-century in Los Angeles, he was being deported after serving a four-month sentence for drug possession. In March 2006, immigration officers took him into custody. Medical staff members suspected that Castaneda, then 34, had penile cancer. A lesion on his penis was bleeding and oozing. The staff sought approval for a biopsy, but the Division of Immigration Health Services, or DIHS, headquarters in Washington denied the procedure for 10 months. Along the way, as he fought deportation, Castaneda filed several grievances. "I am in a considerable amount of pain and I am in desperate need of medical attention," he wrote in June. "I feel that I am entitled to a healthy life." In July, David Lusche, a physician assistant at the Otay Mesa facility in California, where Castaneda was being held, realized that his grievances were still pending and that an audit of the compound's medical files was approaching. At 2:26 a.m. July 28, he e-mailed a colleague, asking him to retrieve a handwritten grievance from Castaneda that Lusche had left in a drawer in an examining room. "We need to write something different, or make some amendment, on the Grievance for Francisco Castaneda," Lusche wrote. ". . . Your response starts, 'Grievance not resolved.' Those words are going to attract all kinds of attention during an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Jail Standards audit. . . . Could you somehow 'patch up' that Grievance with an amendment then put it in my box. I just want to avoid problems when the Auditors show up." Anthony Walker, a physician assistant at Otay Mesa, responded at 10:10 a.m. the next day: "But it is true, unfortunately, this is a case where his grievance is correct and I don't blame the detainee." After pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, a biopsy was finally scheduled for early February 2007. But immigration officials suddenly released Castaneda from custody days before the surgery, sparing the agency the cost. When the DIHS medical director, Timothy T. Shack, was asked to review the case, he concluded: "I looked over about 200 pages of medical records for this case. In my opinion, the care provided to this detainee was, and is, timely and appropriate." One week later after the review, UCLA doctors gave Castaneda a diagnosis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma. On Valentine's Day, surgeons amputated his penis. In October, after rounds of chemotherapy, he testified before a congressional panel looking into detainee medical care. "I am a 35-year-old man without a penis with my life on the line," he said. "I have a young daughter, Vanessa, who is only 14. She is here with me today because she wanted to support me -- and because I wanted her to see her father do something for the greater good, so that she will have that memory of me. The thought that her pain -- and mine -- could have been avoided almost makes this too much to bear." On Feb. 16, 2008, Castaneda died. U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson denied a government request to dismiss the lawsuit brought on Castaneda's behalf. In his March 11 ruling, the judge said lawyers had "submitted powerful evidence that Defendants knew Castaneda needed a biopsy to rule out cancer, falsely stated that his doctors called the biopsy 'elective,' and let him suffer in extreme pain for almost one year while telling him to be 'patient' and treating him with Ibuprofen, antihistamines, and extra pairs of boxer shorts." Pregerson added: "Defendants' own records bespeak of conduct that transcends negligence by miles. It bespeaks of conduct that, if true, should be taught to every law student as conduct for which the moniker 'cruel' is inadequate."

May 11, 2008 Washington Post
Yusif Osman was a U.S. legal resident from Ghana and had been living in Los Angeles for five years. After a companion carrying false ID landed him in immigration detention, Osman was facing deportation on smuggling charges, an allegation he denied. While at an immigration detention center outside San Diego, he died suddenly. His story highlights the poor care some immigrants have received in the scores of immigration facilities across the United States. Near midnight on a California spring night, armed guards escorted Yusif Osman into an immigration prison ringed by concertina wire at the end of a winding, isolated road. During the intake screening, a part-time nurse began a computerized medical file on Osman, a routine procedure for any person entering the vast prison network the government has built for foreign detainees across the country. But the nurse pushed a button and mistakenly closed file #077-987-986 and marked it "completed" -- even though it had no medical information in it. Three months later, at 2 in the morning on June 27, 2006, the native of Ghana collapsed in Cell 206 at the Otay Mesa immigrant detention center outside San Diego. His cellmate hit the intercom button, yelling to guards that Osman was on the floor suffering from chest pains. A guard peered through the window into the dim cell and saw the detainee on the ground, but did not go in. Instead, he called a clinic nurse to find out whether Osman had any medical problems. When the nurse opened the file and found it blank, she decided there was no emergency and said Osman needed to fill out a sick call request. The guard went on a lunch break. The cellmate yelled again. Another guard came by, looked in and called the nurse. This time she wanted Osman brought to the clinic. Forty minutes passed before guards brought a wheelchair to his cell. By then it was too late: Osman was barely alive when paramedics reached him. He soon died. His body, clothed only in dark pants and socks, was left on a breezeway for two hours, an airway tube sticking out of his mouth. Osman was 34. The next day, an autopsy determined that he had died because his heart had suddenly stopped, confidential medical records show. Two physicians who reviewed his case for The Washington Post said he might have lived had he received timely treatment, perhaps as basic as an aspirin. Privately, Otay Mesa's medical staff also knew his care was deficient. On Page 3 of an internal review of his death is this question: Did patient receive appropriate and adequate health care consistent with community standards during his/her detention ...? Otay Mesa's medical director, Esther Hui, checked "No." Osman's death is a single tragedy in a larger story of life, death and often shabby medical care within an unseen network of special prisons for foreign detainees across the country. Some 33,000 people are crammed into these overcrowded compounds on a given day, waiting to be deported or for a judge to let them stay here. The medical neglect they endure is part of the hidden human cost of increasingly strict policies in the post-Sept. 11 United States and a lack of preparation for the impact of those policies. The detainees have less access to lawyers than convicted murderers in maximum-security prisons and some have fewer comforts than al-Qaeda terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But they are not terrorists. Most are working-class men and women or indigent laborers who made mistakes that seem to pose no threat to national security: a Salvadoran who bought drugs in his 20th year of poverty in Los Angeles; a U.S. legal U.S. resident from Mexico who took $50 for driving two undocumented day laborers into a border city. Or they are waiting for political asylum from danger in their own countries: a Somalian without a valid visa trying to prove she would be killed had she remained in her village; a journalist who fled Congo out of fear for his life, worked as a limousine driver and fathered six American children, but never was able to get the asylum he sought. The most vulnerable detainees, the physically sick and the mentally ill, are sometimes denied the proper treatment to which they are entitled by law and regulation. They are locked in a world of slow care, poor care and no care, with panic and coverups among employees watching it happen, according to a Post investigation. The investigation found a hidden world of flawed medical judgments, faulty administrative practices, neglectful guards, ill-trained technicians, sloppy record-keeping, lost medical files and dangerous staff shortages. It is also a world increasingly run by high-priced private contractors. There is evidence that infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and chicken pox, are spreading inside the centers. Federal officials who oversee immigration detention said last week that they are "committed to ensuring the safety and well-being" of everyone in their custody. Some 83 detainees have died in, or soon after, custody during the past five years. The deaths are the loudest alarms about a system teetering on collapse. Actions taken -- or not taken -- by medical staff members may have contributed to 30 of those deaths, according to confidential internal reviews and the opinions of medical experts who reviewed some death files for The Post. According to an analysis by The Post, most of the people who died were young. Thirty-two of the detainees were younger than 40, and only six were 70 or older. The deaths took place at dozens of sites across the country. The most at one location was six at the San Pedro compound near Los Angeles. Immigration officials told congressional staffers in October that the facility at San Pedro was closed to renovate the fire-suppression system and replace the hot-water boiler. But internal documents and interviews reveal unsafe conditions that forced the agency to relocate all 404 detainees that month. An audit found 53 incidents of medication errors. A riot in August pushed federal officials to decrease the dangerously high number of detainees, many of them difficult mental health cases, and caused many health workers to quit. Finally, the facility lost its accreditation. The full dimensions of the massive crisis in detainee medical care are revealed in thousands of pages of government documents obtained by The Post. They include autopsy and medical records, investigative reports, notes, internal e-mails, and memorandums. These documents, along with interviews with current and former immigration medical officials and staff members, illuminate the underside of the hasty governmental reorganization that took place in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The terrorist strikes catapulted immigration to a national security concern for the first time since World War II, when 120,000 Japanese residents and their American relatives were locked away in desolate internment camps. After Sept. 11, the Bush administration transferred responsibility for border security and deportation to the new Department of Homeland Security, which gave it to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- a reconfiguration of the decades-old Immigration and Naturalization Service -- in 2003, the year the Post used as the starting point for counting detainee deaths. Each year since, the number of detainees picked up for deportation or waiting behind bars for political asylum has skyrocketed, increasing by 65 percent since July 2005. Government professionals provide health care at 23 facilities, which house roughly half of the 33,000 detainees. Seven of those sites are owned by private prison companies. Last year, the government also housed detainees in 279 local and county jails. To handle the influx of detainees, ICE added 6,300 beds in 2006 and an additional 4,200 since then. They too are nearly full. These way stations between life in and outside the United States are mostly out of sight: in deserts and industrial warehouse districts, in sequestered valleys next to other prisons, or near noisy airports. Some compounds never allow detainees outdoor recreation; others let them out onto tiny dirt patches once or twice a week. Detainees are not guaranteed free legal representation, and only about one in 10 has an attorney. When lawyers get involved, they often have difficulty prying medical information out of the bureaucracy -- or even finding clients, who are routinely moved without notice. The burden of health care for this crush of human lives falls on an obscure federal agency that lacks the political clout and bureaucratic rigor to do its job well. The Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS), housed in a private office building at 13th and L streets NW several blocks from ICE headquarters, had a budget last year of $61 million. ICE spent an additional $28 million last year on outside medical care for detainees. Medical spending has not kept pace with the growth in population. Since 2001, the number of detainees over the course of each year has more than tripled to 311,000, according to ICE and the Government Accountability Office. Meanwhile, spending for the DIHS and outside care has not quite doubled, ICE figures show. ICE's conflicting population and budget numbers make the trends difficult to determine. The agency is responsible for managing and monitoring detainee medical care, about half of which is provided by U.S. Public Health Service professionals and the rest by contracted medical staff. When doctors and nurses at the immigration compounds believe that detainees need more than the most basic treatment, they have to fax a request to the Washington office, where four nurses, working 9 to 4, East Coast time, five days a week, make the decisions. A proud Statue of Liberty replica stands just beyond the glass doors of DIHS headquarters to remind visitors of the Public Health Service's historical role in screening and treating European immigrants arriving at Ellis Island at the turn of the last century. The mission is accompanied at times by a sense of panic and complicity. Many documents obtained by The Post make clear that the people in charge know that the system is in trouble and that piecemeal fixes are not enough. "The onus is on us if it hits the fan," one official complained during a high-level headquarters meeting about staff shortages late last summer, according to records of the conversation. "We're going to be responsible if something happens, because it's well documented that we know there's a problem, that the problem is severe." "We are putting ourselves and our patients at risk," another official said. Doctors express concerns about violating medical ethics and fear lawsuits. In July, Esther Hui at Otay Mesa sent a memo to DIHS medical director Timothy T. Shack, saying her colleagues were worried that they might be sued because of the substandard care they were giving detainees. The agency's mission of "keeping the detainee medically ready for deportation" often conflicts with the standards of care in the wider medical community, Hui wrote. "I know in my gut that I am exposing myself to the US legal standard of care argument. ... Do we need to get personal liability insurance?" Nurses who work on the front lines see the problems up close. "Dogs get better care in the dog pound," said Catherine Rouse, a contract nurse at an Arizona detention center who quit after two months last year because she saw what she regarded as "scary medicine" in the prison: patients taken off medications they needed and nurses doing tasks they were not qualified to do. In a statement responding to questions raised by The Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials pointed out that the federal government spent nearly $100 million in fiscal 2007 on medical care for immigration detainees. About one in four immigrants in the detainee population has a chronic health condition, the statement said. "Among ICE's highest priorities is to ensure safe, humane conditions of confinement for those in our custody," the statement said. "We make every effort to enforce all existing standards and, whenever possible, to improve upon them. When we find standards that are not being met, we take immediate action to correct deficiencies and when we believe that the deficiencies cannot be corrected, we relocate our detainees to other facilities." By their calculations, officials said, the mortality rate among detainees has declined since 2004 to a level that is lower than that in U.S. jails and prisons. The deaths, the statement said, "highlight the tremendous responsibility and potential liability the government faces in providing medical care to a population that often did not have access to adequate health care before coming into our custody." To this end, the agency recently increased its inspections of facilities and is in the process of creating an inspection group at headquarters to review serious incidents, including deaths or allegations that standards are not being met. ICE declined to comment on specific cases, citing internal policies on patient privacy or pending litigation.

May 11, 2008 Washington Post
Neil Sampson, who ran the DIHS as interim director most of last year, left that job with serious questions about the government's commitment. Sampson said in an interview that ICE treated detainee health care "as an afterthought," reflecting what he called a failure of leadership and management at the Homeland Security Department. "They do not have a clear idea or philosophy of their approach to health care [for detainees]," he said. "It's a system failure, not a failure of individuals." A new director for health services arrived six months ago, following a stretch when the agency was run first by Sampson and then by a second interim director. The new boss is LaMont W. Flanagan, who brought with him the credential of having been fired in 2003 by the state of Maryland for bad management and spending practices supervising detention and pretrial services. An audit found that Flanagan had signed off on payments of $145,000 for employee entertainment and other ill-advised expenditures. His reputation was such that the District of Columbia would not hire him for a juvenile-justice position. "Another death that needs to be added to the roster," Diane Aker, the DIHS chief health administrator, tapped out in an e-mail to a records clerk at headquarters on Aug. 14, 2007. Juan Guevara-Lorano, 21, was dead. Guevara, an unemployed legal U.S. resident with a young son, was arrested in El Paso for driving illegal border-crossers farther into the city. He was paid $50. An entry-level emergency medical technician, with barely any training, had done Guevara's intake screening and physical assessment at the Otero County immigration compound in New Mexico. Under DIHS rules, those tasks are supposed to be done by a nurse. After two difficult months in detention, Guevara had decided not to appeal his case. He would go back to Mexico with his family. But on Aug. 4, he came down with a splitting headache, what he called a nine on a pain scale of 10, his medical records show. The rookie medical technician prescribed Tylenol and referred Guevara to the compound's physician "due to severity of headache ... and dizziness," according to medical records. But Guevara never saw a doctor. Eight days after the first incident, he vomited in his cell. The same junior technician came to help but was unable to insert a nasal airway tube. Guevara was taken to a hospital, where doctors determined an aneurism in his brain had burst. His wife, pregnant at the time with their second child, recalled that she rushed to the hospital but ICE guards would not let her inside, until the Mexican Consulate interceded. Guevara's mother waited five hours before they let her in. By then he was brain-dead. "My son is not coming back," sobbed Ana Celia Lozano months later, sitting in Guevara's small mobile home as her grandson played on the floor. "I want to know how he lived and died, nothing more." What appears to be the most incriminating document in Guevara's case has been partially blacked out. Still, what is left shows that he did not receive adequate care. "The detainee was not seen or evaluated by an RN, midlevel or physician. . . . At the time of the incident on 8/12/2007, the detainee was seen and examined by EMTs." Each immigration facility is allotted a different number of positions, and a shortage of doctors and nurses is not unusual at centers across the country. Records from February show that about 30 percent of all DIHS positions in the field were unfilled. ICE officials said last week that the current vacancy rate is 21 percent. Concern about the vacancies is voiced repeatedly at clinical directors' meetings. "How do we state our concerns so that we can be heard? . . . this is a CRITICAL condition. . . . We have bitten off more than we can chew," a physician wrote in the minutes of one meeting last summer. In some prisons, the staffing shortages are acute. The Willacy County detention center in South Texas -- the largest compound, with 2,018 detainees -- has no clinical director, no pharmacist and only a part-time psychiatrist. Nearly 50 percent of the nursing positions were unfilled at the 1,500-detainee Eloy, Ariz., prison in February. At the newly opened 744-bed Jena., La., compound, nurses run the place. It has no clinical director, no staff physician, no psychiatrist and no professional dental staff. Last August, Sampson, who was then DIHS interim director, warned his superiors at ICE that critical personnel shortages were making it impossible to staff the Jena facility adequately. In a vociferous e-mail to Gary Mead, the ICE deputy director in charge of detention centers, he wrote: "With the Jena request we have been re-examining our capabilities to meet health care needs at a new site when we are facing critical staffing shortages at most every other DIHS site. While we developed, executed and achieved major successes in our recruitment efforts we have been unable to meet the demand." The slow ICE security-clearance process forced many job applicants to go elsewhere, Sampson wrote. Of the 312 people who applied for new positions over the past year, 200 withdrew, he wrote, because they found other jobs during the 250 days it took ICE, on average, to conduct the required background investigations. Last week, ICE officials said the average wait had decreased recently to 37 days. These shortages have burdened the remaining staff. In July 2007, a year after Osman's death in Otay Mesa, medical director Hui strongly complained to headquarters about workload stress. "The level of burnout . . . is high and rising," she wrote in an e-mail. "I know that I have been averaging approximately 2-6 hrs of overtime daily for the past 2 months. I will no longer be able to sustain this pace and will be decreasing the number of hours that I work overtime. This being said, more will be left undone because we simply do NOT have the staff." The overcrowding has created a petri dish for the spread of diseases. One mission of the Public Health Service is to detect infectious diseases and contain them before they spread, but last summer, the gigantic Willacy center was hit by a chicken pox outbreak. The illness spread because the facility did not have enough available isolation rooms and its large pods share recycled air, but also because security officers "lack education about the disease and keep moving around detainees from different units without taking into consideration if the unit has been isolated due to heavy exposure," noted the DIHS's top specialist on infectious diseases, Carlos Duchesne. The staff was forced to vaccinate the entire population in mid-July. In one 2007 death, memos and confidential notes show how medical staff missed an infectious disease, meningitis, in their midst. Victor Alfonso Arellano, 23, a transgender Mexican detainee with AIDS, died in custody at the San Pedro center. The first three pages of Duchesne's internal review of the death leave the impression that Arellano's care was proper. But the last page, under the heading "Off the record observations and recommendations," takes a decidedly critical tone: "The clinical staff at all levels fails to recognize early signs and symptoms of meningitis. . . . Pt was evaluated multiple times and an effort to rule out those infections was not even mentioned." Arellano was given a "completely useless" antibiotic, Duchesne wrote. Lab work that should have been performed immediately took 22 days because San Pedro's clinical director had ordered staff members to withhold lab work for new detainees until they had been in detention there "for more than 30 days," a violation of agency rules. "I am sure that there must be a reason why this was mandated but that practice is particularly dangerous with chronic care cases and specially is particularly dangerous with . . . HIV/AIDS patients," Duchesne wrote. "Labs for AIDS patients . . . must be performed ASAP to know their immune status and where you are standing in reference to disease control and meds." Given the frequency with which ICE moves people within the detention network, keeping track of detainees is critical to stopping the spread of infectious illnesses. The purchase of an electronic records system named CaseTrakker in 2004 was supposed to help. But according to internal documents and interviews, CaseTrakker is so riddled with problems that facilities often revert to handwritten records. A study at one site found that it took one-third more time to use CaseTrakker than to use paper. Thousands of patient files are missing. Recorded data often cannot be retrieved. Day-long outages are common. When detainees are transferred from one facility to another, their records, if they follow them, are often misleading. Some show medications with no medical diagnoses, or "lots of diagnoses but no meds," according to Elizabeth Fleming, a former clinical director at one compound in Arizona. After Yusif Osman's death and the discovery of the problem with his computerized records, the DIHS ordered a review of all charts at the Otay Mesa center. During the review, auditors also found that 260 physical exams were never completed as required. The nurse responsible for the error in Osman's case was reprimanded, but the computer problem was not fixed. The CaseTrakker system "has failed and must be replaced," Sampson, the DIHS interim director, wrote to his ICE supervisors in August. In January 2008, medical director Shack told colleagues that CaseTrakker "is more of a liability than the use of paper medical record system," according to the minutes of a meeting. It "puts patients at risk." ICE officials said last week that they are not satisfied with CaseTrakker and are working to replace it. Along with being at the mercy of computer glitches, detainees suffer from human errors that deny or delay their care. And with few advocates on the outside, they are left alone to plead their cases in the most desperate ways, in hand-scribbled notes to doctors they rarely see. "I need medicine for pain. All my bones hurt. Thank you," wrote Mexico native Roberto Ledesma Guerrero, 72, three weeks before he died inside the Otay Mesa compound. Delays persist throughout the system. In January, the detention center in Pearsall, Tex., an hour from San Antonio, had a backlog of 2,097 appointments. Luis Dubegel-Paez, a 60-year-old Cuban, had filled out many sick call requests before he died on March 14. Detained at the Rolling Plains Detention Facility in the West Texas town of Haskell, he wrote on New Year's Day: "need to see doctor for Heart medication; and having chest pains for the past three days. Can't stand pain." Ten days later he went to the clinic and became upset when he wasn't seen. He slugged the window, yelled, pointed at his wristwatch. He was escorted back to his cell. Another of his sick call requests said: "Need to see a doctor. I have a lot of symptoms of sickness ... as soon as possible!" The next was more urgent: "I have a emergency to see the doctor about my heart problems ... for the last couple days and I been getting dizzy a lot." The next day, Dubegel-Paez collapsed and died. His medical records do not show that he ever saw a doctor for his chest pains.

May 4, 2008 San Diego Union Tribune
Issac Kigondu Kiniti, a Kenyan detained since 2004, was photographed last year as the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging overcrowding at the CCA facility. As immigration laws have become tougher, the federal government has found itself with a logistical challenge: where to house a population that has swollen to more than 30,000 detainees. The solution? Turn them over to the private sector. Detention contracts have helped turn once-ailing private prison companies into a multibillion-dollar growth industry with record revenues, healthy stock prices and ambitious expansion plans. One of them, Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, has applied to build a nearly 3,000-bed prison in Otay Mesa, where it now runs a facility holding up to 700 detainees awaiting deportation or decisions on their immigration cases. The company is the nation's largest private prison operator. On average, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement saves more than $31 per day, per person, by using a contract detention facility rather than an agency-run one. For ICE, it's a way to save potentially hundreds of millions of dollars a year while having ready access to more beds. In the past year, ICE and its contractors have come under fire for alleged mistreatment of immigrants. In San Diego last year, the American Civil Liberties Union twice sued the agency and CCA. One lawsuit alleged overcrowding at the Otay Mesa facility, with three detainees housed in cells designed for two. The other alleged inadequate medical care, with detainees complaining of being denied treatment or waiting months for it. The pending lawsuits contend that immigration detainees, who are being held for violations of civil law, must be held in conditions better than those for criminal violators; anything worse amounts to punitive confinement without due process, a constitutional violation. Both ICE and the company, which is based in Nashville, Tenn., have said there was no wrongdoing. A 2006 federal investigation of five facilities used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement – an agency-run center, three San Diego County jails and the CCA facility in Otay Mesa – found flaws with all. Last fall, an ICE-run detention center in San Pedro, near Los Angeles, closed for repairs a few months after losing its prison accreditation. “The problems are not by any stretch of the imagination limited to private companies,” said Michele Deitch, a prisons expert with the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. “But I think you are going to see more problems there, and less oversight of these facilities.” On the rise -- While private prisons have contracts with other federal agencies and with states to house their inmates, business from immigration authorities has risen steadily. The number of people held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has jumped 36 percent since 2005, when the agency held a daily average of 19,718 detainees, who include illegal immigrants, asylum seekers and legal U.S. residents facing deportation. By the end of 2007, that number had grown to 30,881. At the end of last year, 13 percent of ICE detainees were held in agency facilities. Seventeen percent were in private facilities that contract directly with ICE; 21 percent were in facilities contracted from local governments, usually with the county acting as middleman for a private company. An additional 46 percent were in county jails, where ICE rents beds, and a handful in other facilities, including rented federal prison space. Many of these jails and prisons, while under government jurisdiction, also are privately operated. In the past three years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has more than tripled what it spends on detention. Its annual appropriation for custody has grown to $1.6 billion this year from $504 million in 2005. The White House has requested funding for 1,000 more beds by Sept. 30. The immigration agency has no plans to build any more of its own detention centers, of which there are eight in the nation, including one in El Centro. Officials say it's easier to contract the beds. “It just provides us with a quicker way to provide detention space,” said Gary Mead, acting director of ICE detention and removal operations in Washington, D.C. The savings are substantial: According to ICE, it cost $87.99 per day on average in fiscal year 2007 to hold someone at a contract detention facility, while it cost roughly $119.28 a day to house a person at an ICE-run facility. Detention increased after 1996, when legislative changes made it easier to deport immigrants residing here legally who had been convicted and served a prison sentence, and made detention mandatory as they awaited deportation. Then the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred, and the federal government intensified its focus on border security. In 2003, there came a new emphasis on tracking down people who had missed an immigration hearing or ignored a deportation order. In fiscal year 2007, ICE fugitive teams made more than 30,000 arrests. Detentions expanded again after late 2005, when the Bush administration called for an end to the practice of “catch and release” for non-Mexican illegal immigrants who were being released with a notice to appear in court. Most Mexican nationals are quickly repatriated at the border. Plastic 'boats' -- Until early last year, the 10-year-old San Diego Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, built and operated by Corrections Corporation of America, held up to 1,000 detainees. In June 2006, the company lost 200 beds when the lease on part of the county-owned property expired. Yet according to CCA's 2006 financial report, the population of detainees wasn't reduced “as we had the ability to consolidate inmates.” The following January, in its lawsuit, the ACLU cited the per-person fees paid by ICE to the contractor as an incentive for putting three people in a two-man cell. The third slept on the floor in a plastic cot referred to as a “boat.” Lead plaintiff Isaac Kigondu Kiniti, a Kenyan detainee in ICE custody since 2004, said his head was so close to the toilet when he slept on the floor that he was showered with urine when cellmates used it. Kiniti criticized the contractor. “Because they are a for-profit company, they will give you only the bare minimum of things to increase their profits,” said Kiniti, a former student-visa holder, appealing a deportation order stemming from a drug conviction. ICE has since set the facility's maximum capacity at 700. CCA, which like its competitors touts its cost-effectiveness, says there is no skimping at detainees' expense. “We do not cut corners,” said Louise Grant, a spokeswoman. “Safety and security is our highest priority. We are extremely committed to offering strong programming for offenders in our care, as well as the highest medical care.” Grant said costs are reduced by using efficient construction methods. While wages vary depending on the contract, she said, staff salaries frequently reflect the local cost of living. Many private prisons, like public ones, are in low-cost rural areas. Grant said almost 90 percent of the company's facilities abide by the voluntary standards of the American Correctional Association, which includes public and private prisons. However, according to the overcrowding lawsuit, the association's standards for “adult local detention facilities” call for cells housing more than one person to provide 25 square feet of unencumbered space per occupant. At Otay Mesa, when there were three detainees per cell with the cot on the floor, it amounted to no more than 15 square feet for all three, the complaint reads. Oversight concerns -- Critics of prison privatization cite oversight as perhaps one of the biggest concerns when private companies perform public incarceration duties. According to ICE, 71 people have died in the agency's custody since the beginning of 2004. Of these, 57 were in contract facilities that ranged from private detention centers to county jails, raising questions about whether a lack of government oversight played a part. Three people have died at Otay Mesa since 2003, including Yusif Osman, 34, a Ghanian man who died in his cell in 2006 after complaining of chest pain. According to the county medical examiner's report, it took personnel more than an hour to call 911 after Osman's cellmate began asking for help. The report claims that Osman was seen on his knees, and that a medical supervisor, upon finding no medical history on him, “informed the control officer to have Mr. Osman file a request to seek medical assistance.” In the ACLU medical-care lawsuit, plaintiffs complained about delays in getting treatment and prescription refills. One plaintiff is a diabetic man whose requests for care for a small injury to his foot were delayed so long that he developed gangrene. Also cited is the case of Francisco Castañeda, a detainee who had to wait several months to see an off-site oncologist for what turned out to be penile cancer. Castañeda sued the federal government a few months before his death in February. His family has continued the lawsuit. The government recently acknowledged that there was medical negligence, one of the allegations made. Health care at Otay Mesa is provided by the federal government, which according to the ACLU complaint took over health services from Corrections Corporation of America in 2002 after finding the company's health program deficient. However, because company guards are the first to hear requests for medical care, “that does not mean that CCA is off the hook entirely,” said David Blair-Loy, legal director of the ACLU in San Diego. “They may be interfering with access to treatment,” Blair-Loy said. “And they may or may not have a direct financial incentive to prevent people from getting treatment.” There is no way to know, he said, because the public cannot obtain government contract information from private companies. CCA's Grant, whose company earned nearly $1.5 billion last year, said that if the quality of CCA's service to inmates was not meeting expectations, the federal agency would cancel its contracts. In February 2007, the month after the overcrowding lawsuit, Immigration and Customs Enforcement created a new detention-inspection task force charged with responding to complaints at all facilities where it houses detainees.
 

February 24, 2008 Union-Tribune
A privately run immigration jail in Otay Mesa that is already the subject of two lawsuits is under fire again for allegedly mistreating female detainees, then retaliating when they complained to lawyers. One of the women has filed a formal complaint with the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, saying she suffered verbal and physical abuse and poor medical care during her three-week detention this month. The allegations come about one year after a federal lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego alleging severe overcrowding and unsafe conditions at the jail, known as the San Diego Correctional Facility. A second lawsuit alleging poor medical treatment was filed by the ACLU in June. Both are pending in federal court. The latest allegation arose when lawyers for the ACLU interviewed 18 women at the jail Feb. 11. All complained about various degrees of mistreatment or poor conditions, such as backed-up toilets, freezing cells without adequate blankets or clothing, and waits of up to two weeks to get medical attention. One woman complained that her breast implant ruptured and was leaking, but that she was given only ibuprofen by the medical staff, said Andrea Guerrero of the ACLU. The day after the interviews, the women who had spoken to the lawyers were retaliated against, Guerrero said. The section of the jail they lived in was put on lockdown, their cells were searched and they were questioned by guards, she said. “Everything we are hearing out of that facility is alarming,” Guerrero said. “We are very concerned and we are currently assessing how we might proceed.” The jail, about 4½ miles north of the border and adjacent to a county jail, houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees caught illegally entering the country, asylum seekers and those challenging deportation orders. The facility is run by a company called Corrections Corporation of America under a contract with the government. A spokesman for the company, citing the government investigation, declined to comment. Martina Romero, 34, was held at the jail for nearly three weeks after being caught by the Border Patrol illegally entering the country Feb. 1. Romero said she complained about difficulty getting medical treatment for a back injury, and the treatment of other female detainees by guards. But she said that when she or other women asked to file a formal grievance with jail authorities, guards discouraged them from doing so and threatened to put them in segregation cells. After Romero was released Wednesday, her lawyer, Karla Kraus, filed the complaint with the Homeland Security inspector general. “I think the government doesn't really know the conditions and what is going on down there,” Romero said during an interview in Kraus' office Thursday. Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Romero's allegations are under investigation. She said some of Romero's complaints “appear to be blatantly untrue,” but that she could not be more specific because of the investigation. A maximum of 700 immigration detainees can be held at the jail. Mack said the daily population there ranges from 615 to 670. The overcrowding lawsuit, filed in January 2007, said the jail at times housed three people in cells designed for two, and that the population sometimes swelled to 1,000. The lawsuit over medical care, filed in June, alleged that detainees have to wait too long for treatment, do not get the medications they need, and receive substandard dental and mental-health care.

July 11, 2007 Government Executive Magazine
In a recent review of federal facilities used to detain suspected illegal immigrants, the Government Accountability Office found a lack of telephone access to be a pervasive problem, potentially preventing detainees from contacting legal counsel, their countries' consulates or complaint hotlines. The GAO review included visits to 23 detention centers housing immigrants awaiting adjudication or deportation. The watchdog agency observed the centers -- run by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency within the Homeland Security Department -- for compliance with nonbinding national detention standards. Of the 23 facilities GAO reviewed, 17 had telephone systems allowing detainees to make free phone calls seeking assistance. In 16 of these 17 facilities, however, GAO found systemic problems hindering phone access. Issues ranged from inaccurate or outdated numbers posted by the phones to technical problems preventing completion of calls, the report (GAO-07-875) stated. The review found instances where the centers fell short of standards in other areas, such as medical care, use of force and food services, but said these instances did not necessarily indicate a larger pattern of noncompliance. "While it is true that the only pervasive problem we identified related to the telephone system -- a problem later confirmed by ICE's testing -- we cannot state that the other deficiencies we identified in our visits were isolated," said Richard Stana, director of homeland security and justice issues at GAO, in the report. GAO recommended that ICE regularly update the posted numbers for legal services, consulates and reporting violations of detainee treatment standards and test phone systems to ensure that they are in working order. In a response to a draft of the report, Steven Pecinovsky, director of the Homeland Security Department's GAO/Office of the Inspector General Liaison Office, said ICE concurred with its recommendations and had taken immediate steps to implement them. In particular, ICE has started random testing to ensure the phones can access the necessary numbers. While GAO did not find evidence of widespread disregard for national detention standards, there have been recent calls for more oversight of immigrant detention facilities and codification of standards. According to the American Bar Association's Commission on Immigration, the fact that the standards are not codified means "their violation does not confer a cause of action in court." On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union called on Congress to codify the standards, expressing concern over the causes of death for the 62 immigrants who have died in ICE custody since 2004. GAO's report cited several instances of noncompliance in the standards for medical care, but almost all were a failure to complete the routine physical exams required for all detainees. The only other issue cited was the failure of one detention center to have a first aid kit available. The ACLU argued there are far more serious medical failures occurring in immigrant detention centers. "Inadequate medical care has led to unnecessary suffering and death," the ACLU said in a statement. "In addition, there is no mechanism in place for reporting deaths in immigration detention to any oversight body, including the [Office of the Inspector General] and, therefore, there are no routine investigations into deaths in ICE custody."

June 22, 2007 San Diego Union Tribune
A lawsuit over conditions at an Otay Mesa immigration jail can continue, a federal judge ruled yesterday in rejecting a government plea to dismiss the case. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw's ruling means the case filed on behalf of several immigration detainees, alleging that their constitutional rights were violated because of severe overcrowding at the facility, will move forward. The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges that conditions were dangerously overcrowded because three detainees were often housed in cells designed for two people. The facility is operated by the private Corrections Corporation of America under a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Since the case was filed, two of the detainees named in the lawsuit have been deported and another has been transferred to a facility in El Centro. The government argued that the case should be dismissed because the three no longer are in the facility and don't have a valid claim. In court papers, ICE lawyers argued that the case was moot for the remaining two plaintiffs because detainees are no longer housed three to a cell, and daily jail populations have been well below capacity. Steps to lower the jail population were taken just days after the the ACLU filed its suit. The facility houses asylum seekers and people charged with immigration violations who are awaiting resolution of their cases. Sabraw agreed that the claims of the two deported detainees are no longer valid but said the detainee now in El Centro still has an interest in the case because he remains in ICE custody and could be sent back to Otay Mesa. The government has not made strong enough assurances that it would never allow overcrowding in the future at Otay Mesa, Sabraw said. Moreover, ICE has not acknowledged that overcrowding was a problem or that it violated the detainees' constitutional rights. Under the law, both of those conditions would have to be met for the case to be dismissed, the judge ruled. The ACLU is seeking to turn the case into a class action lawsuit on behalf of all detainees. Hearings on that issue are scheduled for later in the summer.

June 13, 2007 AP
The American Civil Liberties Union sued federal authorities Wednesday to force improvements at a large detention facility for immigrants facing deportation, alleging grossly inadequate medical care. The lawsuit said detainees at the San Diego Correctional Facility have been routinely subjected to long waits before treatment, denied services and refused medication for chronic illnesses — sometimes with deadly consequences. It seeks class action status. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Diego, comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement faces heightened scrutiny from some civil liberties and immigration advocates for how it manages its 15 jails, including the one in San Diego. Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE, declined comment on the lawsuit, citing the agency's practice of not discussing ongoing litigation. The suit, which names 11 detainees as plaintiffs, detailed several examples in which it said authorities violated their constitutional rights while in federal custody. A Ghanian man, Yusif Osman, died of a heart condition in June 2006 after officers waited more than an hour to call 911 as his cellmate pleaded for help, according to the suit. Medical staff earlier determined Osman's chest pains did not merit treatment and that he probably just ate too much, the suit said. Another detainee, Francisco Castaneda, suffered pain and bleeding during his time at the jail in 2006, the suit said. He was diagnosed with cancer after his release in February and has undergone three rounds of chemotherapy. The suit said mental health and dental care at the San Diego jail was "systematically inadequate" and vision care was almost nonexistent. The facility is managed under contract by the Corrections Corporation of America Inc., which is named in the lawsuit along with ICE director Julie Myers and other Homeland Security officials.

January 24, 2007 Union-Tribune
Immigration detainees at an Otay Mesa facility live in overcrowded and unsafe conditions that threaten their overall health and are unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Hundreds of detainees are crammed three to a cell in cramped cells built for two, according to the suit. “They are basically stuffing people like sardines in these tiny cells,” said David Blair-Loy, legal director for the local ACLU. “This isn't just saying, we're a little cramped in here. This is systematic, long-term outrageous overcrowding.” The ACLU asked to join in a lawsuit previously filed in San Diego's federal court, contending that people being held for immigration violations ... which are violations of civil and not criminal laws ... are constitutionally entitled to better conditions than criminal defendants. It names officials with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as well as the Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that operates prisons for governments around the country. The ACLU wants the suit to be designated as a class action. That would make it one of the first in the country that demands better treatment for a large group of immigration violators based on their status as civil detainees. “The main motivation here is to change the system,” he said. “It's not about making money but trying to cure the inhumane conditions down there.” If successful, the lawsuit could have wide-ranging effects on the conditions of confinement for the thousands of people held in immigration centers around the country. The complaint focuses on an immigration facility run by CCA under a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security known as ICE. About 1,000 people are detained in the facility, Many are asylum seekers who are trying to stay in the country because they fear persecution or worse if returned to their home country. Some have been waiting months or years for their immigration status to be resolved in the courts, which have a huge backlog of cases awaiting review. Among the chief complaints in the suit is the practice of putting three detainees in 12-foot by 6-foot cells built for two. About two-thirds of detainees are housed that way. The suit contends others have to sleep in beds on the floor of the common room because of overcrowding. Courts have held that people being detained under civil law violations have to be held in conditions that are superior to people held under criminal laws, Blair-Loy said. “The government has a higher obligation to them,” he said. “They can't be held to conditions that amount to punishment.” He said doing so is a violation of the due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. The same facility was the subject of an audit released last week by investigators with the department who examined conditions at five facilities around the country. Some violations of health and safety rules were noted at the Otay Mesa facility. But the audit did not mention what the ACLU said is severe overcrowding, nor other poor conditions and abuses the ACLU outlined in its suit. Blair-Loy said the audit, which did not discuss at all the triple-celling of inmates, was no more than a “whitewash.” The overcrowding has led to increased tensions in the facility and conflicts between the guards and the detainees. The suit said that in September a group of detainees who wanted to speak to ICE officials about the triple-celling were “abruptly tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed” by guards. The lawsuit picks up on a legal cause that began with a lawsuit originally filed in May 2005 by Isaac Kigondu Kiniti. He is a Kenyan man who was arrested in May 2004 for immigration violations and has been at the Otay Mesa facility since November of that year. Kiniti is awaiting a ruling on whether he will have to return to Kenya. He is resisting going back, claiming that he would subjected to persecution and torture. His lawsuit, which he filed himself, made similar allegations of overcrowding at the facility. The suit also lists four other plaintiffs, including one woman, who are also being held at the detention center.

January 17, 2007 Union-Tribune
An immigration detention facility on Otay Mesa was the site of three of the four “most egregious” allegations of physical and sexual abuse found in a Department of Homeland Security audit of five such centers nationwide. The Otay Mesa facility, operated by the private Corrections Corporation of America under a contract with the federal government, was also found deficient in several other areas relating to detainee care and treatment. The audit conducted by Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General was released yesterday, and its conclusions about the Otay Mesa facility were called disturbing by the executive director of the San Diego & Imperial Counties ACLU. “The CCA facility sticks out like a sore thumb in this report, and deserves close scrutiny,” said Kevin Keenan of the ACLU. Auditors reviewed files and interviewed some detainees in compiling the report at the five facilities across the country. It assessed compliance with standards regarding health care, environmental health and safety, general conditions and reporting of abuse. A statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is in charge of the facilities, said the report only looked at a small sample of complaints from five of 325 such facilities nationwide. It defended its inspections and cautioned that the authors of the audit said it should not be applied to all facilities. Auditors said the Otay Mesa facility, which has beds for 1,232 detainees, did not properly give inmates an initial medical screening when they arrived. The report also said the facility did not follow standards for monitoring detainees on suicide watch and hunger strikes. Records for two detainees on suicide watch did not show they were being checked every 15 minutes as required, and three detainees who were on a hunger strike were not properly weighed before they stopped eating or did not have their vital signs monitored every 24 hours. Auditors said they received numerous complaints from detainees about abuse. But three instances in San Diego – a sexual assault of a detainee by a guard, an invasive search and a detainee who was toppled out of his wheelchair by a guard – were among the four “most egregious allegations received,” the report said. The guard accused of the rape was fired, the report said. The outcome of the other two cases was unclear from the report. In all, auditors spent 10 weeks at the CCA facility. The Homeland Security Department has agreed to make some changes and is studying other recommendations made by auditors, according to the report. Joe Easterling, the warden at the CCA facility, said he had not read the report and declined to comment.

January 18, 2005 San Diego Union Tribune
A female inmate at a Department of Homeland Security detention facility in Otay Mesa has filed a lawsuit against the company that operates it under contract, alleging that a correctional officer employed by the company raped her twice. The 32-year-old woman is a native of Mexico and a longtime San Diego resident who, according to her attorney, was awaiting a permanent resident card. She claims in a federal lawsuit against the Corrections Corporation of America that one of its employees, Louis Johnson, sexually assaulted her on Dec. 15 and Dec. 16. The complaint also alleges that after each incident, he warned her not to say anything and "threatened her with severe consequences" if she did. According to the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the detention facility, inmates made four complaints involving sexual misconduct in 2004, including this one. Bureau spokeswoman Lauren Mack said that one complaint involved an employee of the agency and three involved CCA contract employees. Only one, the most recent, alleges sexual assault. The rest allege harassment, she said, and remain under investigation. In addition, a male inmate at the detention facility sued a CCA employee in 2003, alleging the employee had forced him to perform oral sex. The case was not criminally prosecuted, but a settlement was reached, according to San Diego attorney Timothy Irving. Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and the FBI are conducting a criminal investigation into the recent allegations, according to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the woman's attorney, Stephen Waldman. The negligence allegations, which include negligent supervision and hiring, are aimed at CCA, attorney Waldman said. "Caution should have been taken," he said. "It is completely outrageous that a male officer was able to take this lady into an unsupervised room."

Santa Rita Jail
Pleasanton, California
Prison Health Services
March 9, 2010 Oakland Tribune
Nearly 140 health care workers at both jails in Alameda County took to the picket lines Tuesday to protest six months of stalled contract negotiations and what they call unfair labor practices. The workers, members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, approved the one-day strike last month after working more than two months without a contract and making minimal headway on a new one with Tennessee-based Prison Health Services. That company has a contract with Alameda County to provide health care staff, such as nurses and medical record technicians, to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the North County Jail in Oakland. "This is to show we mean business and we're not going to give in," said Kim Tovar, a medical records technician at North County Jail. Tovar and about two dozen others protested outside North County Jail while a much larger procession marched in front of the county's largest jail, Santa Rita Jail. Although workers called for a one-day strike, rumors swirled Tuesday that Prison Health Services was expected to lock out the workers for a week starting at 6 a.m. today. Prison Health Services officials would not comment Tuesday but did issue a statement Friday that said, "PHS regrets SEIU's decision to walk out and remains committed to negotiate a fair, reasonable and competitive contract" and said it would "ensure patient care is uninterrupted." Temporary workers did replace union workers at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said no problems at either facility had been reported. A memo from the company to staff was circulated last week saying the union workers would not be allowed back to work until March 16 or until a new contract was signed — whichever happened first. "I think it's dirty," Tovar said of the potential lockout. "I think it's low." Carrie Singleton, a licensed vocational nurse at North County Jail, said that if the company locks out workers, workers still must stand their ground. "If they do it, they do it," Singleton said. "We have to make a commitment to fight." The main sticking point in negotiations, according to the union, is what they see as a huge increase in health care costs employees must pick up. According to Blaire Behrens, a nurse at North County Jail for 19 years and member of the union's negotiating team, any proposed wage increase is more than eaten up by the 30 percent health care cost increase.

February 25, 2010 Oakland Tribune
Health care workers at both jails in the Alameda County have agreed to strike as early as next month if negotiations for a new contract remain stalled. About 140 workers — members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West — have voted to strike if their representatives cannot come to a settlement with Tennessee-based Prison Health Services. That company has a contract with Alameda County to provide health care staff and workers — such as nurses and medical record technicians — to both Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility in Oakland. The current plan by the health care workers union is to hold a one-day strike March 9, according to Blaire Behrens, a nurse at Glenn Dyer jail for 19 years and member of the union's negotiating team. There are two bargaining sessions scheduled for next week. "It would certainly be better if both sides could come to an agreement," Behrens said. "It would be better for management, the inmates and the workers. "We work in a very difficult environment," Behrens continued. "But it's a job we want to do. We don't want to strike." Behrens said the main sticking point is what the union sees as a huge increase in health care costs employees must pick up. She said even though Prison Health Services is offering 3 percent wage increases, those are more than offset by the 30 percent health care cost increase. Starting nurses at the facilities make approximately $40.50 an hour. Behrens said the union has been negotiating with management for nearly six months with little movement. The current contract expired in December. The union has sought the help of both county supervisors and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to help break the stalemate. Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said if the union members do strike, it will be up to Prison Health Services to provide the county with replacement workers. Prison Health Services did not return multiple requests for comment.

September 11, 2007 Inside Bay Area
The children of a Newark man who died while in custody at the Santa Rita county jail in Dublin are suing the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and others for wrongful death and negligence. Michael Decoite, 42, died Sept. 1, 2006, after he was taken to an area hospital. "The jail sentence became a death sentence," Fremont attorney James Perley wrote in the lawsuit. Decoite's family filed a claim with the county in February for $10 million. The claim was rejected a month later. Both the claim and lawsuit allege the medical care he received at the jail — the sixth largest county jail in the country — led to his death. The suit seeks unspecified damages for wrongful death, negligence, negligent training, hiring and retention of employees and civil rights violations. Perley said Monday the target is still $10 million. Decoite died from internal bleeding and several other serious medical conditions that went untreated, according to the suit filed against Alameda County, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, Santa Rita jail and Prison Health Services, a private Tennessee firm that provides health care for the jail's 4,000 inmates. Also named in the suit as defendants are former Sheriff Charles Plummer, a jail official and several Prison Health Services doctors. The plaintiffs are Decoite's adult son, Michael, and three minor children: Alicia, Jacob and Ronnie. "I'm hoping treatment for inmates at Santa Rita and other jails will get better because of these lawsuits," Perley said Monday. Perley said he doesn't want Decoite's family speaking with reporters until after the suit is served on the defendants in the next few days. Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Nelson said Monday he was not aware of the lawsuit. Decoite had been at Santa Rita since March 31, 2004, on misdemeanor charges of driving without a license, driving under the influence and resisting arrest, according to court records. He had from hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver and a history of seizures caused by alcohol and drug abuse. He also had end-stage liver disease and several other medical conditions, according to the lawsuit. According to the suit, he was denied medical attention the entire time he was in custody. At the time of his incarceration, Decoite had the medication that he needed, but that was taken away and he did not receive medication "for some time," according to the suit. In the few days leading up to his death, his pleas for care were met with indifference, the suit says. On Aug. 31, 2006, a nurse was summoned to see Decoite because he was complaining of abdominal cramping, vomiting and sweating. He said he had also vomited blood. "Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a medical emergency and unless properly treated, can often result in death," Perley said in the suit. Perley said, however, Decoite's vital signs were not checked until the next morning. He was then taken to the hospital, where he died.

February 26, 2007 Inside Bay Area
The family of a Newark man who died last year at Santa Rita county jail has filed a $10 million claim, alleging medical care he received in the Dublin facility led to his death in September. Michael Decoite, 42, died from internal bleeding, which blocked his ability to breathe, according to the claim against Alameda County, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, Santa Rita county jail and Prison Health Services. The private Nashville, Tenn.-based company provides health care for the jail's 4,000 inmates. It is difficult to discuss pending litigation, especially without knowing the specific details of the case, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. "We try to provide the best medical care we can," Nelson said, adding that inmates are an at-risk population with a lot of medical needs. Decoite, who had been at Santa Rita since March 31, 2004, on misdemeanor charges, suffered from hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver. He also had a history of seizures caused by alcohol and drug abuse, and suffered from end-stage liver disease and several other medical conditions, according to a sheriff's report. The claim alleges that in the days before he died, Decoite was ignored by deputies when he complained of stomach pain and called desperately for medical help. Decoite "bled to death slowly while calling for medical help," according to the claim. He died at Valley Care hospital in Pleasanton, where he was taken after staff found him barely responsive in the jail's infirmary, according to a report issued by the sheriff's office. He was pronounced dead about 9:45 a.m. Sept. 1. Decoite's family was unaware of his death until a fellow inmate phoned, his mother, Virginia Decoite, said at the time. No explicit policy exists on emergency notification for adult inmates. An emergency contact will not always be notified if an inmate is hospitalized because of the inmate's right to privacy and security issues, sheriff's spokesman Jim Knudsen said. Decoite had been arrested on suspicion of driving without a license, failing to obey inspection, driving under the influence and resisting arrest, according to court records. His release dates were repeatedly extended, from 2005 to April 2008, records showed. He had lived in Newark since he was 14. It is the second claim recently filed alleging that substandard care led to the death of an inmate at the facility. The other claim involves Johnny Tribble, a Santa Rita inmate who died in February of bronchial pneumonia, according to a report by the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau. The Hayward man requested medical attention as many as five times before he was seen by medical staff, court documents showed. By the time Tribble was found in his cell, rigor mortis had set in, despite state and federal laws that require jail staff to check on inmates regularly, according to court documents.

February 6, 2007 The Daily-Californian
The medical center at a county jail that some say has poor medical care will hire additional personnel this year following the jail’s settlement of negotiations with the health care providers’ union. The health contractors said the conditions before the agreement led to potentially unsafe conditions for the 4,000 inmates in Santa Rita Jail, the primary jail facility for Alameda County. The facility’s safety has been questioned by inmates’ relatives in the last several years. In 2006, eight Santa Rita Jail inmates died. Most recent was the death of Berkeley resident and inmate Cedrick Pinkney’s, suspected to be related to longstanding health issues. Jail officials said Pinkney’s death was not due to medical negligence. That mortality rate is lower than both that of the general population and that in jails and prisons nationwide, said Bill Wilson, the jail’s health services administrator Regardless of the circumstances of those deaths, health care workers at Santa Rita Jail said the new agreement will mitigate what they considered to be unsafe levels of staffing. “It’s an excellent agreement for both the jail and the nurses as well,” Wilson said. The agreement, which officials expect to finalize next week, is the product of a settlement reached in December between Prison Health Services, the firm contracted by Alameda County to provide care to the inmates, and the union representing the jail’s 120 health care workers. Union officials said the health workers were ill-equipped to respond to the inmates’ medical needs. “There were many days when the staffing levels were as low as 50 percent of the staffing levels that Prison Health Services had committed to provide in their contract,” said Dana Simon, spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers-West. “Absolutely, it was affecting the basic care.” Understaffing put inmates with chronic conditions in particular danger, Simon said, because they cannot administer their own medicine. “There were many days when they just cancelled pill call in particular houses,” Simon said. But Prison Health Services representatives denied this claim.

January 5, 2007 Inside Bay Area
Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker is probing accusations that severe understaffing of medical personnel at two Alameda County jails is endangering their safety and inmates' health. The inquiry by Lai-Bitker, the board's Health Committee chairwoman, came in response to complaints by Prison Health Services workers that staffing was 30 to 50 percent below contract requirements from August to December. Nurses were forced to work overtime, and inmates' access to medical care was denied because too few nurses were available, according to Service Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers-West, the union that represents about 120 of the employees. "We are constantly plagued with understaffing in the Santa Rita jail," a registered nurse and union member said in a statement provided by the union on condition of anonymity. "We are all tired." Prison Health Services has contracted with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office since 1989. The company's current $51 million three-year contract, which serves about 4,000 inmates at Santa Rita jail in Pleasanton and Glenn E. Dyer jail in Oakland, expires in June.

December 20, 2006 Mercury News
Health care workers at two Alameda County jails late Monday night withdrew notice of a planned two-day strike that would have begun Tuesday, as negotiations continued to address staffing issues, according to a jail administrator. Leaders of the union that represents about 120 nurses, physicians and other health workers at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the Glenn E. Dyer jail in Oakland called the strike early Monday after a bargaining session failed to produce a new contract. But by evening, they called off the plan because of progress in contract talks. The workers are employed by Prison Health Services Inc., a Tennessee-based firm that staffs more than 300 prisons and jails nationwide, including the two in Alameda County. "We're continuing to negotiate with the union this evening, and we're optimistic that we'll come up with a collective bargaining agreement," said Bill Wilson, administrator for the Alameda County jails. The workers claim the agency's failure to recruit and hire enough workers has endangered the health of inmates, said Dana Simon, a spokesman for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers-West. Workers and their supporters had planned to picket outside the jails in Dublin and Oakland beginning at 6 a.m. and return to work at 6 a.m. Thursday.

December 5, 2006 CBS 5
Healthcare workers negotiating a new contract with a firm that provides health services at two jails in Alameda County were threatening to give formal notice of a strike on Wednesday if talks failed to deliver an agreement tonight. Employees represented by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers-West are seeking a new contract with Prison Health Services, Inc., a Tennessee-based firm that serves Santa Rita and Glenn Dyer jails in Alameda County, among hundreds of other correctional facilities across the country. Union representatives and healthcare professionals allege the jails have a shortage of healthcare workers causing detrimental conditions for the patients they serve. A nurse working at Santa Rita Jail, Donna Chatman, said a recent example of substandard care she heard of was "that an inmate with a colostomy bag was not seen for days to get his bag changed because the nurse had to many patients to take care of. So he used a Pepsi bottle for a colostomy bag until he could see a nurse. That is what is happening in our jails." David Wolf, a spokesman for Prison Health Services, said he had no information on that allegation, or another alleged by a healthcare worker, in which an inmate with an infected foot saw his condition worsen due to lack of rudimentary care. Wolf said short staffing in the healthcare profession is common, but no more so at the Santa Rita Jail than anywhere else. "We are proud of the hard work that these nurses and the rest of the staff provide for the inmates," said Wolf. Union spokeswoman Dana Simon said that in addition to desiring a greater salary increase, "The main issue here is PHS is staffing the jails with 50 percent of the required number of healthcare workers as is required per the contract they submitted to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office." However, Santa Rita jail administrative Captain Wilkinson denied these allegations. "PHS is not violating their contract and they are providing adequate staffing when they are dealing with a shortage of nurses."

November 10, 2006 PR News Wire
Healthcare workers at Alameda County's Santa Rita jail in Pleasanton and Glenn Dyer jail in Oakland announced today that they will give formal strike notice to their employer, Prison Health Services (PHS), on December 2, if a new contract agreement is not reached. The caregivers are represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and include RN's, LVNs, certified nursing assistants, technicians, and clerical workers. The workers point to wages that are 35% to 40% below area averages, resulting in dramatic understaffing. They consider the low staffing levels to be so serious that the facilities are no longer safe for the caregivers or the inmates/patients they care for. Workers also highlight the fact that under the contract with the Sheriff's Department, PHS is paid a rate based on specific staffing levels, but on most days reaches only about half those levels. "Staffing at half the level that is required by the contract between the Alameda County Sheriff's Department and Prison Health Services is not only unsafe for the caregivers and the patients, but PHS is also breaking its commitments to taxpayers and the Sheriff's Department," said SEIU UHW President Sal Rosselli. PHS, a Tennessee-based for-profit corporation, was the subject of a three- part New York Times expose in February, 2005 for practices harmful to the well-being of patients/inmates, issues similar to those cited by the healthcare workers in Alameda County. Access the entire article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/nyregion/27jail.html?ex=1163307600&en=339 a81 097e61fe2c&ei=5070 SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, with more than 130,000 members, is the largest and most powerful healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare worker, including nursing, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high quality healthcare for all.

Seal Beach City Jail
Seal Beach City, California
Cornell Corrections (formerly Correctional Systems Inc.)
June 28, 2007 Orange County Register
A city jail that once housed up to 30 inmates has been effectively shut down, ending 13 years of operation under a management company whose former employees have in recent years been accused of stealing from jail inmates and conspiring with a former inmate to murder a Newport Beach couple. Seal Beach city officials have stopped short of saying the contract with Texas-based Correctional Systems Inc. was terminated because of problems with the company's employees, including a former jailer who is awaiting trial on conspiracy murder charges and three other jailers charged with stealing an inmate's Sony PlayStation and forging documents to cover up the crime. "We dismissed the vendor for a failure to produce a profit," said Seal Beach police Chief Jeffrey Kirkpatrick, explaining that the for-profit jail in the city's police station on Seal Beach Boulevard was losing money. "We had to share a loss, and that was not tenable." The Seal Beach jail, which Kirkpatrick said was costing the police department "thousands of dollars" a year to keep open, housed pay-to-stay prisoners for $70 a night as well as federal prisoners. The 30-bed jail was effectively shut down June 15, although individuals arrested by Seal Beach police still can be booked and held there for short periods of time. Under management by Correctional Systems, the Seal Beach jail in recent years also racked up numerous violations during inspections by state regulators more than any other city jail in Orange County, state records show. "It's embarrassing for the police department," said Seal Beach Mayor John Larson. "Even though it was a contractor running it for the city, we get blamed for everything." Perhaps the most notorious Correctional Systems employee was Seal Beach jailer Alonso Machain, who allegedly conspired with an inmate he met in jail to steal a $440,000 yacht in November 2004 and kill the Newport Beach couple who owned it. Machain, who was arrested a few months after the couple mysteriously disappeared, was charged with two counts of murder. Machain and the former inmate, Skylar Deleon, pleaded not guilty in court and remain in custody awaiting trial. The complex murder case actually involves another, earlier alleged slaying by Deleon while he was serving time in Seal Beach. In December 2003, Deleon, who was allowed out of the jail during the day on a work furlough program, allegedly killed a man named Jon Jarvi after conning him out of about $50,000. Authorities say Deleon drove Jarvi to Mexico, slashed his throat and dumped him on a highway. Deleon returned late to the Seal Beach jail that night, and it was Machain who allegedly allowed him inside. After Deleon's release in April 2004, he and Machain pretended to be interested in buying Thomas and Jackie Hawks' $440,000 yacht docked in Newport Beach, authorities say. The couple unknowingly took Deleon and Machain on test drives, and in November 2004, the men allegedly overpowered the couple at sea, forced them to sign over the yacht, killed them and weighed down their bodies with an anchor before tossing them overboard. About two years later, in an unrelated incident, three Seal Beach jailers were implicated in the alleged theft of an inmate's Sony PlayStation. After stealing the video game player last year, they created a false receipt indicating the inmate's mother had received the PlayStation and destroyed the original receipt, prosecutors said. Victor Calzada of Stanton, Fred Madrigal of West Covina and Michael Navarro of Bellflower, all in their 20s at the time, pleaded not guilty; their pretrial hearing is scheduled for July 6. Despite the bad publicity for the jail, city officials maintain that terminating the contract with Correctional Systems was a financial one. After the company began losing money on the jail, Seal Beach police proposed changing the contract to a tenant-landlord business model so the police department would not have to share in the jail company's losses. Correctional Systems declined the offer, police said. The company also was given two consecutive six-month probationary periods to improve its financial performance, according to police. The 12-month period would have ended June 30. Correctional Systems declined to comment, except to say that pulling out was a mutual decision. "Despite good-faith negotiations, we weren't able to reach agreements on the terms," said spokeswoman Christine Parker. Because Seal Beach police planned in advance for the closure of the jail and had stopped accepting longer-term inmates, only about three inmates had to be transferred to other jails, said Doug Shur, police department liaison for the jail. Seal Beach jail violations: The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation cited the Seal Beach city jail for 15 violations in 2004 and six violations in 2006. The 2006 violations were: No written policy for maintaining records for in-custody injuries *No written policy for reviewing in-custody deaths *No written policy to ensure inmates who are kept in sobering cells for more than six hours are evaluated by medical staff  *No written policy for an inmate to file or resolve a grievance *Some cells lacking the required 25-square-foot space for work-related use *Insufficient space and furnishings to meet personal needs The 2004 violations were: *Documentation unavailable to show jailers had required supervisory training *Documentation unavailable to show jailers had required continuing professional training *Female employees not always available to assist female inmates in emergencies *Inconsistencies between written policy and practice *No written policy to segregate inmates suspected of an infectious disease *No written policy to identify, segregate and/or treat inmates with a mental disorder *No written policy to segregate inmates prone to escape, disruptive behavior or harm by other inmates *Improper policies to control and oversee inmates' mail correspondence *Inconsistent policy for inmates scheduled to be disciplined. The jail also was independently cited by Orange County health officials for problems with minimum diet standards, menu selection, kitchen sanitation and pharmaceutical management, bringing the total number of violations for 2004 to 15.

August 20, 2005 News-Herald
The defendants in the murder of former Mentor woman Jackie Hawks and her husband, Tom, face charges in another murder plot, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office in California. Skylar DeLeon, 26, and his wife, Jennifer, 24, along with Skylar DeLeon's cousin, Michael William Lewis Jr., 24, of Arizona, face charges in connection with the death of 45-year-old John Jarvi in December, according to a statement released Friday by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. Skylar DeLeon is accused of murdering Jarvi, and Jennifer DeLeon and Lewis are accused of helping him conceal the murder, the statement says. All three were charged Thursday, court records state. Investigators accuse Skylar of stealing $50,000 from Jarvi, whom he met in 2003 while the men were on a work furlough program at a private jail in Seal Beach, Calif., the statement says. Prosecutors say that at the time, Skylar was unemployed and supporting his pregnant wife, and the two were heavily in debt.

August 30, 2001
Two fired guards were indicted Wednesday for allegedly orchestrating a fight between two inmates at the Seal Beach City Jail, prompting the city to review its ties to the private company that operates the facility.  The former guards, who worked for Correctional Systems Inc. before being fired, are accused by a federal grand jury of arranging and concealing an attack on a drunken inmate who was singing boisterously in the jail's detoxification cell.  According to the U.S. attorney's office, one of the officers allegedly goaded the attacker before escorting him into the detoxification cell for the beating.  The second guard allegedly helped cover up the incident, which left 28-year-old Arrow Stowers of Huntington Beach badly bruised and bloodied.  The motive for the June 21 attack, prosecutors said, was to quiet down Stowers.  CSI's management of the jail has been an issue in the past, including lawsuits saying guards did not properly respond to the medical problems of two inmates who died there.  The company came under scrutiny in 1996 after an inmate at the Seal Beach jail said his fellow inmates regularly smoked marijuana and drank alcohol in view of guards.  Those allegations prompted police and company officials to search the facility, but no drugs or alcohol were discovered.  Other cities that have contracted with CSI have reported problems.  Hawthorne police canceled their pact with CSI last year after 18 months and retook control of the jail.  "The biggest issue with CSI was they didn't have sufficient guards to handle our jail... They would have them work as long as 18 hours, so the guards were unhappy and we were unhappy," said Hawthorne Police Capt. Richard Prentice.  "But we didn't have any problems like this; never did we have any indication they were abusive to prisoners."  In addition, the company has been hit with two wrongful-death lawsuits since 1999 related to the two inmate deaths at the Seal Beach jail.  The company was accused in each case of failing to protect inmates admitted with medical problems.  One lawsuit was settled and the other is pending, said attorney Timothy Ryan, who represented family members in both cases.  (Los Angeles Times)

Sentencing Concept
San Luis Obispo, California
Cornell Corporation
April 19, 2008 Tribune News
A San Luis Obispo business that abruptly announced it was closing at the end of the month temporarily left local criminal justice officials scrambling to keep juveniles electronically monitored and community work service and youth offender programs running. But on Friday, officials said they secured a business to run two of the programs while still searching for someone to electronically monitor youths released from Juvenile Hall. The San Luis Obispo office of Sentencing Concepts plans to shut down permanently April 30 after about 12 years of running criminal justice programs in the county, according to Wendy Martinez, the company’s regional director. “We had a last-minute notice that we were closing,” Martinez said Tuesday about the notice from its parent company, Cornell Companies Inc. in Texas. “We’ve made profit, just not enough profit to keep our people happy. We had a deadline by which we needed to make X amount of dollars … and the deadline came and went.” Sentencing Concepts was told to close its San Luis Obispo office, which employs two people. Its Santa Maria location will close June 30. The short notice left the county Probation Department and the District Attorney’s Office in precarious positions, scouting out a business to take over the services or leave offenders without programs. Former San Luis Obispo County Probation Officer Bill Pucciarelli said Friday he plans to pick up the Young Adults Deferred Judgment Program and the community work service program. A new vendor is still needed for the electronic monitoring program, which Sentencing Concepts will operate until July 1 from its Santa Maria office. Assistant Chief Probation Officer Jim Salio said Thursday he is confident a replacement will be found before then.

Taft, California
Cornell
August 4, 2006 Midway Driller
Too many questions about the city's future and a prospective prison facility operator's past prompted the Taft City Council to unanimously turn down a request to endorse a bid to open another community correctional facility. The Cornell Companies asked the city to write a letter endorsing their plan to open CCFs next to the existing deferral prison on Cadet Road on city-owned land and sell the land if it is successful in its bid. The major issue was ensuring adequate infrastructure to allow the city to expand. The council wants to make sure that the wastewater treatment plant that currently serves the federal Taft Correctional Institution and would serve the new private facility if it is built would have adequate room to expand to handle anticipated residential growth on the east side of Taft. In addition, several of the councilmen had questions about The Cornell Companies reputation. Cornell officials first met with individual councilmen in late spring to discuss their proposal privately, they came to the council on July 18 to ask the city to write a letter to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The council held a special meeting a week ago to consider that request, then tabled action for a week to get public input. “I'd hate to sell the city short be selling this land,” Craig Noble said. “I think we need to pull back and think on this before we go ahead.” Mayor Cliff Thompson said the people he talked to overwhelmingly supported a new prison, but he too had concerns - both about the wastewater issue and things he had found out about Cornell in the past week. “”I have some issues with what kind of company they are.” Noble said an internet search of Cornell alerted him to hisses with a facility Cornell operated in New Mexico that led to lawsuits and the city of Santa Fe hiring an attorney to work full time on problems with Cornell. He also wondered why Cornell came in with the last -minute request to have the city write the letter, and then also say they needed more land than they first asked for. Noble said that brings Cornell's credibility into question and I'd hate to give any letter of recommendation to a company like that. Thompson said Cornell officially had lied to him about the wages they paid. He said he was told Cornell would pay $10 to $14 per hour, but later found out they would only pay $8 to $10 per hour. Cornell officials didn't attend Tuesday's meeting.

Taft Correctional Institution
Taft, California
MTC (formerly run by GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
June 13, 2009 Anchorage Daily-News
Former Rep. Vic Kohring says he still supports private prisons even as his enthusiasm clashes with his own observations from inside one, where he said equipment went unrepaired, meals lacked fresh produce and prisoner welfare appeared to take a back seat to saving money. "That's the downside of the private-run facility," said Kohring, two days after he left the privately run Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, Calif. "There was a certain amount of indifference there." Kohring spent about 10 months at the low-security camp at Taft following his conviction on federal corruption charges in 2007. He and former House Speaker Pete Kott were freed last week while they argue that their bribery convictions should be overturned because prosecutors failed to give them favorable evidence uncovered by the FBI. Their first court hearing will be Wednesday, though it will mainly deal with their conditions for release, not the substance of their arguments. Kott was held in a prison camp owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons at Sheridan, Ore. Kott hasn't responded to interview requests. Kohring was in the process of transferring from Taft to Sheridan when release orders were issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge John Sedwick of Anchorage. On Friday, after reporting to probation officers in Anchorage, Kohring spoke extensively with a reporter about his year inside the federal corrections system. Taft is a federally owned facility in the California desert. It opened in 1997 as a demonstration project to test how private companies could operate a federal prison. Wackenhut Corrections and Geo Group Inc. held contracts there. In 2007, Management & Training Corp., a privately held company based in Centerville, Utah, took over operations under a four-year, $144 million contract. "It seemed pretty apparent they were cutting -- they were trying to be ultra-efficient, cutting back as much as they could," Kohring said. "If things would break down, they'd stay broken down for a long time -- exercise equipment, telephones." Meals were loaded with carbohydrates, "too many processed foods, not enough fresh produce," he said. "There was a lot of complaints that the food there wasn't up to par, at least not in comparison to, say, Sheridan." Kohring also said that medical care was inadequate. "I witnessed some pretty bad injuries when I was in Taft there. Guys falling over, one guy broke his femur, another broke his hip, one guy was punched in the face and he had glass embedded in his eye and it took him about a day before they finally took him to the doctor, at Bakersfield, in the hospital. It was horrid." His own pre-existing back and neck injury, from a car accident, got him neither sympathy nor care, he said. "My back didn't get any kind of attention at all, other than ibuprofen. I was told by the director of medical to shut up ... They said no to everything." He was warned that if he kept complaining, he'd wind up cleaning the kitchen, he said. Carl Stuart, communication director for Management & Training Corp., said Saturday that his company does what's required under its federal contracts. Bureau of Prisons officials regularly inspect its operations, and some contract prisons have full-time, on-site government monitors, though he didn't know if that was the case in Taft.

October 10, 2006  Taft Midway Driller
Another inmate walked away from the minimum security camp outside the Taft Correctional Institution. Jose Felix, a 35-year-old man serving an 11-year sentence for drug dealing turned up missing when prison official conducted an inmate count at 10:50 p.m., prison officials said. Felix, also known as Jose Zepeda Feliz is a naturalized United States Citizen born in Mexico. The GEO Group, which operates the facility under contract to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, immediately notified all local law enforcement agencies as well as state and federal agencies, after the escape was discovered. Felix is the fifth inmate to walk away from the prison camp in recent weeks. Four inmates escaped over the weekend in early September.

September 30, 2006 Bakersfield Californian
Gossip flies around the day spa so furiously some days that Monet Burke, a Taft aesthetician, hardly blinks anymore when she hears it. But one morning last week a morsel of news hit Burke right where she lives. Literally. In midfacial, a customer who works at the Taft Federal Institution made a passing reference to the Sept. 17 escape of four men from the privately managed prison. "What do you mean?" Burke interjected. "From the walk-away camp?" Yep. Again. Burke and her husband, Joe, care more about prison escapes than most because they live just a few hundred yards away from the Taft facility's minimum-security camp -- close enough, if the wind is right, to hear the inmates' hip-hop and Mexican norteño music. Eight years ago, the Burkes say, Taft prison officials promised them they'd be among the first to be notified if inmates ever escaped. And here they were, hearing about an escape from the camp 31/2 days after the fact. "We were upset," Monet Burke said. "We have three little kids." The oversight might seem a little more palatable if prison officials were at least notifying local law enforcement in a timely manner. But that hasn't always been the case -- even though the federal Bureau of Prisons says TCI officials are supposed to notify the Taft Police Department immediately and various other agencies "normally within an hour" as soon as they realize there's been an escape. As noted in this column previously, they're not always as prompt as they should be. "We used to be 19th on their notification list and we are technically first responders," Taft Police Chief Bert Pumphrey said. "At least it's better now than it was." You mean it used to be worse, Chief? Well, yes. About three years ago, Taft police officers spotted an unsavory-looking character walking the streets at 3 a.m. They stopped him, questioned him -- he said he was looking for a phone booth -- and eventually turned him loose. Two hours later, the same officers saw the same man flag down a taxi. He asked the driver for a ride to Santa Monica, an hour and a half away, and, deal negotiated, off they went. Almost 40 minutes later, the Taft police got a call: An inmate had escaped from the Taft prison, and his description matched that of the man officers had already detained and released. The cops called the local taxi company. Call the driver, the police dispatcher said, and let him know the man in his back seat is an escaped convict. The driver stopped at a truck stop in Lebec, where prison officials were waiting. The escapee had walked away from the prison's minimum-security camp the previous afternoon. Yes, it had taken prison officials about 12 hours to reach the "first responders." All of this seemed to be news to Pablo E. Paez, director of corporate relations for the GEO Group Inc., the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company that has managed the Taft prison since it opened in 1997. Wackenhut Corp. ran the facility until a few years ago, when its prison management and security divisions spun off into separate companies, leaving a new entity known as the GEO Group to run the Taft prison. "We are constantly reviewing our policies," Paez said. "We're a 'lessons learned' kind of company." Now would be a good time to resume class. GEO's 10-year contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons, due to expire next summer, is up for renewal. During that time the prison's minimum-security camp has had no fewer than 45 escapes. The walled portion of the prison has had one, in 2004. Some in Taft say they've heard the facility will be repurposed as an illegal-immigration detention facility. Paez, who referred questions on that subject to the Bureau of Prisons, would say only that the principals were "revisiting the mission of the facility." But prison bureau spokesman Mike Truman said the federal agency has no plans to turn over control of the prison to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, formerly known as the INS. Taft police and others in the westside community said they believe Wackenhut/GEO originally decreed that the only prisoners eligible for the low-security camp would be those with six months or less remaining on their sentences. If true, it would raise a whole new set of questions about the four men who escaped Sept. 17 -- three drug dealers and a convicted money launderer who had as much as eight years left to serve. But Truman said he could find no evidence that short-timers were ever considered the only inmates eligible for the camp. Maybe such a policy is worth considering as the Bureau of Prisons prepares to negotiate its next 10-year agreement. An inmate with six months left on his sentence would seem more likely to be patient and play by the rules. An inmate with eight years to go, and little holding him back but a bed check every three hours, would seem more likely to take off -- and he'd have a substantially stronger motive to avoid capture, a fact locals should bear in mind. Many Taft folk shrug at mention of the prison, however. Heck, it provides jobs. But that attitude is hardly universal. "We had an older gentleman living next door to us, and he was petrified of that prison," said Betty Lewis, whose front yard faces the prison. "We tried to explain to him these people weren't the worst of them. But I've always said they could become dangerous, and telling us about them when they escape is just common courtesy." Paez said the GEO Group will likely re-evaluate the way it interacts with the Taft community. Notifying the public following the most recent escape, he said, "could have been done more promptly." So, does this count as a "lesson learned"? Only if the company actually acts on the lesson. If not, it's just a lesson ignored. Again. Robert Price's column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and audio versions are posted at bakersfield.com. Reach him at rprice@bakersfield.com or 395-7399.

September 19, 2006 Bakersfield Californian
Don't pick up any hitchhikers on Highway 119. Keep your eyes open for denim-clad loiterers hanging around Taft car washes and convenience stores. Try to remember that O.T.'s Cookhouse does not offer valet parking. Four men escaped from federal prison in Taft Sunday morning and they're apparently still at large. This is my warning, not law enforcement's. Law enforcement doesn't seem particularly concerned about whether you're aware of the situation. That's the impression I got Sunday afternoon after hearing about an escape from the Taft Correctional Institution's satellite camp. I heard the alert on the police scanner and jotted down the names and descriptions of the escapees. (It's so considerate of drug dealers to get those distinctive tattoos.) I called the Kern County Sheriff's Department to see if someone could provide additional information -- perhaps some photos that we could immediately post on our Web site, so that Taft residents could attach some names to the faces lurking in their rhododendrons. "Not ours," said the sheriff's watch commander, perhaps touchy about the subject of escapes in view of Lerdo Jail's new leave-if-you're-bored policy. I called the Taft Police Department. "We're not authorized to release that information," the dispatcher said. "Call the prison." So I did. "You'll have to call back Monday," a correctional officer told me. "Sorry." Sorry is the right word. Here in the prison capital of California, we've got seven state or federal prisons (nine if you include the state prisons in nearby Coalinga and Corcoran), plus at least five community correctional facilities and two county jails, plus numerous holding cells and juvenile detention facilities. And there is apparently little coordination among the various responsible agencies. Several seemed downright blasé about it. None of the four escapees are convicted murderers. Maybe that has something to do with the widespread indifference. But these guys -- convicted money launderer Miguel Chavez and drug dealers Fernando Medrano-Aguirre, Charles Gonzales and Ramon Ruiz (who sports a "Grim Reaper" tattoo) -- have between five and eight years yet to serve. Add the additional years that would be tacked on for escape and you have some powerful motivation to avoid capture. That in itself should contribute to the public safety concern. Nobody that I talked to seemed overly bothered. "They're probably back in Mexico," said one prison employee. Maybe. Or maybe they're catching up on their recreational reading down at the bus station: One recent local escapee was apprehended on a Greyhound bus in Humboldt County. Not every escapee has a limo waiting around the corner. Officials at the Taft Correctional Institution, privately managed by the GEO Group Inc., said information about the escape had to first be cleared at the corporate level before it could be released to the public. And nobody was available to do so until Monday, more than 24 hours after the inmates were reported missing. Local law enforcement apparently accepts that absurd and dangerous policy. A Taft prison official said the facility was obligated to notify local media, as well as the U.S. Marshal's office and FBI. But the FBI's Bakersfield office appears not to have been notified until Monday around 2 p.m. -- shortly after I called the prison asking if officials ever planned on sharing specifics about the escape. Russell York, assistant chief of the U.S. Marshal's office in Fresno, wasn't certain precisely when his office was notified, but he conceded that the public, via the media, needs to know about these things promptly. "That's one of the biggest things, notifying the public," he said. "That's usually where you get your leads." Mike Truman of the federal Bureau of Prisons said institutions are required to notify the local media quickly when there's an escape from an "inside," or walled prison. The rules are less clear for a walk-away escape from a less-than-maximum facility like the Taft satellite camp. I can help rectify that uncertainty: Err on the side of caution. Get the word out. Develop a plan of cooperation for local law enforcement agencies that includes prompt public notification in the event of a jail or prison escape. And tell the corporate bosses of privately managed federal prisons how they must conform to policy, not vice versa. Robert Price's column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and audio versions are posted at bakersfield.com. Reach him at rprice@bakersfield.com or 395-7399.

September 18, 2006 Bakersfield Californian
Four federal inmates escaped from Taft Correctional Institution Sunday morning, apparently by simply walking away from the facility's fenceless minimum-security satellite camp, according to a news release from the prison. Late Monday, more than 24 hours after the escape, the GEO Group Inc., which runs the privately operated prison together with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, still had not released mug shots of the inmates to the public or the media, citing bureaucratic red tape. The Kern County Sheriff's Department, its Taft substation and the Taft Police Department could not confirm receipt of photos either, and said that even if they had received them, they could not release them to the media. Only the correctional institution's officers could release those photos, they said. However, "Notifications to law enforcement agencies were made and they were also provided with photos," said Pam Jones, who is employed by the GEO Group as the acting executive assistant and public information officer for Taft Correctional Institution. "But there was nobody here to release a press statement (Sunday)." Jones said any press release has to be approved by "the Bureau of Prisons and GEO Corporate."

September 7, 2004 Californian
A three-year overtime wage and benefit court battle pitting employees against a private prison company is finally nearing an end. A settlement agreement is set to be finalized Sept. 27 between about 2,700 current and former employees and Wackenhut Corrections Corp., now The GEO Group Inc. The workers, both guards and support personnel, claimed the company did not pay overtime and made them work off the clock without pay. They also claimed they were not given proper rest and meal breaks. The employees worked at six private prisons in California, four of which are in Kern County. The Kern prisons include the McFarland Community Correctional Facility, Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility, and Golden State Modified Community Correctional Facility, all in McFarland, and the Taft Correctional Institution. The total amount of the settlement is about $10 million in cash and non-cash benefits.

August 31, 2004
A Kern County Superior Court judge has tentatively approved a settlement in a class action lawsuit that accused Wackenhut Corrections of requiring employees at the Taft Correctional Institution east of Taft to work unpaid overtime.  An attorney representing the plaintiffs said the settlement could result in up to $1 million being paid to current and former employees.  The award will be split between approximately 1,600 current and former employees. Some employees will receive cash awards, while others will get non-cash considerations such as paid days off.  Some employees could receive as much as $6,500.  The suit, filed in December of 2001, started with 10 named plaintiffs but later became a class-action suit that could include hundreds more employees at TCI and other prison facilities that were operated by Wackenhut Corrections.  Wackenhut was recently purchased by the GEO Group.  Bakersfield Attorney Phillip Ganong represented the plaintiffs in the suit.  He said Wackenhut had a corporate policy of refusing to pay overtime.  "We began investigating and found what we thought was a potential labor law violation - people working and not being paid," Ganong said. Ganong said there was a pattern of violation, ranging from employees being misclassified as supervisors so they would be ineligible for overtime and employees being required to work overtime while off the clock.  (Taft Midaway Driller)

August 27, 2004
A federal jury has awarded a former employee at the Taft Correctional Institution more than $600,000 after he sued Wackenhut Corrections for wrongful termination.  John Elliot charged that two wardens at the TCI retaliated against him for a series of memos and letters he wrote charging that the federal prison was unsafe for both inmates and guards.  Elliot, a retired United States Army sergeant, went to work at TCI shortly after it opened in 1997. He was suspended in 1999 and filed the suit in 2000.  At one point, a judge threw the case out of court, issuing a summary judgment in favor of Wackenhut, but an appellate court overruled that decision and ordered the trial to proceed.  His attorney, Phillip Ganong, said he was first suspended then fired for writing memos to Wackenhut Corrections officials, then to elected officials and the media to bring attention to what Elliot felt were unsafe conditions at the federal prison.  The jury ruled that Elliot's complaints were protected under federal laws governing "whistleblowers" that call attention to unsafe or illegal business practices, Ganong said.  The Elliot case led indirectly to another suit against Wackenhut, a class-action suit over overtime pay for employees at TCI and other facilities.  (Taft Midway Driller)

June 14, 2002 
After a brief reprieve, legislative budget writers have voted to close two small privately operated prisons in Kern County. They are among five minimum-security community correctional facilities Gov. Gray Davis marked for elimination in his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. The Kern County installations are the Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield and another one in McFarland operated by Wackenhut Corrections. The contracts for all five of the prisons run out June 30. Under an agreement with the governor, the budget committee voted late Wednesday to keep open a women's correctional facility in Northern California but to close the other four. Supporters of the prisons staged an aggressive lobbying campaign to head off the closures. (Bakersfield.com)

June 8, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis' plans to close five private prisons, including two in Kern County, by next week have been halted as the Legislature's budget negotiators debate whether some or all of the facilities should remain open. Negotiators are split on the prisons' future, with the Assembly voting to close them and the Senate voting to restore $2.8 million to Gov. Gray Davis' budget to keep them operating. More than half the private prisons' 1,400 inmates have been paroled, sent to firefighting camps or transferred to prisons operated by the state Department of Corrections, he said. The plan had been to move the remaining inmates, staff and equipment by June 15. Contracts of all five of the facilities expire June 30 and the Department of Corrections does not want to renew them. All of the 340 inmates once housed at the Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility in Bakersfield have been moved or paroled, said Durwood Sigrest, head of the firm that operates the facility. Sigrest said the staff of 80 has been trimmed down to about 20 and staffers are waiting to hear about the next move in the stalled closure plan. A few inmates remain at the facility operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. in McFarland, said a spokesman for the corrections department. The delay creates staffing problems for Cornell Cos. Inc., which operates the Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility for Women in Live Oak, north of Sacramento, and the Baker Community Correctional Facility east of Los Angeles, said company spokesman Don Fields. The Chesney center has laid off employees anticipating the closure, while the Baker facility plans to shut down its inmate-staffed fire and rescue team as of midnight Sunday. (Bakersfield.com)

June 3, 2002 A prisoner's respectful letter to a federal judge finally led to his release - more than two years after the judge had ordered him set free because his conviction had been overturned. Reynaldo Tovar-Valdivia, now 42, was arrested by Kansas City police in April 1998 and charged with possessing methamphetamines with intent to distribute. Tovar-Valdivia asked to serve his sentence in California, and was sent to Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, Calif. He appealed his conviction on grounds that he'd been searched illegally, and won. Consequently, U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs of Kansas City signed an order for Tovar-Valdivia's release in January 2000. But somehow, the release never happened, and Tovar-Valdivia remained behind bars. Terry Craig, executive assistant at the private prison, said Monday that  he could not release any information on the case unless a written request was  received. He wrote a letter in March of this year to Judge Sachs, including pages from the October 1999 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which told the judge to order the prisoner's release. After Sachs received the letter, he issued a new order citing his previous release order, and Tovar-Valdivia was finally freed on April 4. (The Associated Press State and Local Wire)

March 31, 2002
Attorneys for a group of current and former Wackenhut Corporation workers want to expand an overtime-pay lawsuit against the private prison company to hundreds of workers. The company, which runs several Kern County prisons, has made employees work overtime without paying them for it, a lawsuit alleges. Attorneys estimate that group could number between 800 and 2,400 people, said plaintiff's attorney Philip Ganong. Wackenhut misclassified some of its workers, telling them they didn't qualify for overtime because they are paid on a salary basis, rather than hourly, Ganong said. But he said companies cannot just call someone a manager and then deny overtime pay. The law allows such a designation only for workers who perform supervisory duties more than half the time, Ganong said. (The Bakersfield Californian)

November 26, 2001
Almost the entire prison population at Taft Correctional Institution was locked down Monday morning after inmates refused to report to work. Officials said all 1,868 low-security inmates refused to go to work Monday morning at the privately run federal prison. Every inmate is required to have a job and typically reports for work early in the morning. Jobs range from working in the kitchen to tending the prison grounds. When the inmates refused to leave their dormitories at roughly 7 a.m., prison officials locked down everything except an adjacent minimum-security camp. The lockdown will remain in effect until investigators determine the cause of the work stoppage, said prison spokesman Terry Craig. "We're still trying to gather information on what is going on," he said. While Monday's work stoppage was nonviolent, prison wide protests are not something to be taken lightly, according to Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. "A work stoppage or food strike can be real serious," she said. "They can sometimes go from very peaceful to violent." Monday's lockdown is the second at the Taft prison in as many months. On Oct. 20 the prison was shut down for several days after two fights broke out between black and Hispanic inmates. The fight was initially limited to just three inmates inside a dormitory but eventually spread to the prison's main compound. Two inmates suffered moderate injuries in the fights. (Californian)

August 11, 2001
A former guard at the privately run federal prison camp at Taft is suing for more than $100,000 following her acquittal on charges that she had sexual relations with an inmate. Tammy L. Isbell filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Fresno against Wackenhut Corrections Corp., which operates the Taft Correctional Institution, a federal facility. A federal court jury in March found Isbell innocent of misdemeanor charges that she performed oral sex on inmate Baltazar Magana in a darkened conference room at the prison camp two years ago. Isbell, at first suspended without pay, later was terminated after a court hearing and then accused of a criminal violation. The civil lawsuit, filed Thursday, says that during the evidentiary hearing in November 1999 she was told that if she was found innocent of the charges she would be reinstated with back pay. She is accusing the corporation of violating her civil rights. (The Fresno Bee)

March 29, 2001
A federal court jury took less than 90 minutes Friday to find as former federal correctional officer innocent of misdemeanor charges that she had sexual relations with an inmate. Isbell, 42, was accused of performing oral sex of inmate Baltzer Magna in a darkened conference room at the Taft Prison on Aug. 12, 1999. In her closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Virna L. Santos had told the jury it was undisputed that Magna was in an area with Isbell that was off-limits to inmates and on a floor in which she was the only guard on duty. Isbell also attempted to block a supervisor's entry into the room when she had done something wrong. Isbell resigned her job after the alleged incident. (The Fresno Bee)

March 22, 2001
A former federal correctional officer at the Wackenhut run Taft Prison Camp is on trial in federal court in Fresno on misdemeanor criminal charges that she engaged in a sexual act with an inmate. The guard, Tammy L. Isbell, 42, is accused of performing oral sex on inmate Baltazar Magana in a darkened conference room at the prison camp. Most of the testimony Wednesday came from Rickey Benson, a former sergeant of Isbell's, who said he discovered her with Magana in the conference room, an area off-limits to inmates. (Fresno Bee, March 22, 2001)

November 16, 1999
Federal inmates broke windows, televisions, and tables in a disturbance that centered on food services. Damage was estimated at between $50,000 and $60,000. The staff used gas, non-lethal bullets, and grenades to control about 800 inmates who had refused to return to their housing units.

September 6, 1999
A Federal inmate was able to escape the secure facility by altering his appearance and walking out of the institutions with visitors following visitation.

Tallahatchie Correctional Facility, Tutwiler, Mississippi
October 28, 2009 Clarksdale Press Register
The state of California have sent corrections investigators to Tutwiler Prison following an inmate attack that injured two guards. One of the injured guards at the private facility, Norris Holly, is a former two-term Friars Point Alderman. The incident occurred Thursday during breakfast in the dining hall at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, which is run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America. Corrections officials say several inmates from California, who had been transferred to the prison, attacked the staff. According to sources, Norris is being treated for 22 puncture wounds and a collapsed lung. An unidentified Lieutenant was treated for injuries to his eye and jaw and released. No inmates were injured. The facility is on lockdown. The incident is under investigation. CDCR’s strike team will support Correctional Corporation of America staff in its investigation and review, help identify inmates who participated in the incident, conduct threat assessments and interviews, and evaluate housing placement.

October 22, 2009 AP
The state of California is sending corrections investigators to a private prison in the Mississippi Delta where inmates attacked and injured two guards. The incident occurred Thursday during breakfast in the dining hall at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, which is run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America. Corrections officials say several inmates from California, who had been transferred to the prison, attacked the staff. Two CCA officers were injured and one remained hospitalized Thursday. Staff used a chemical spray to break up the attack. The facility is on lockdown. The California officers will help CCA investigate.

May 23, 2008 Sacramento Bee
California's prison medical czar will investigate the so-called "long-term viability" of a private prison company's contract with the state because of problems at one of the firm's out-of-state facilities. In a letter to the Corrections Corporation of America, receiver J. Clark Kelso's top aide cited the death of one California inmate and delayed health care for another at the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Miss. Chief of staff John Hagar's letter said the receiver's office will send an oversight team to Mississippi on Monday. It is investigating the death April 23 of Robert Washington and what the letter called "delays in the delivery of medical care" to another inmate, identified as Frederick Gusta. Hagar's letter, dated Wednesday, said the receiver's office plans to meet soon in Sacramento with company officials and that the session "will include a discussion of ..... the long-term viability of the contract between the California Department of Corrections and CCA." "Everything is on the table," receiver's spokesman Luis Patino said Thursday about the contract. The private prison company houses 3,904 California inmates in six prisons located in Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arizona. The company's two contracts are costing the state $115 million in the current fiscal year. California corrections officials say the out-of-state program is vital to relieving pressure on the state's system as inmates are jammed into 33 prisons at twice their designed capacity. Corrections spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said Thursday it would be "premature to react" to Hagar's letter "until there's an investigation complete." Hidalgo said the state considers the transfer program a "great success" that has allowed California to move inmates out of triple-bunked gymnasiums. Two public employee unions have sued the state in Sacramento Superior Court to block the transfers on grounds they violated the employees' civil service protections. The unions prevailed. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration appealed the lower court's rulings. A hearing on the appeal is set for Tuesday in Sacramento. Inmate Washington, 41, died of cardiac arrest after being stricken by an asthma attack, according to Coahoma County, Miss., chief medical examiner and investigator Scotty Meredith. Washington was serving seven years for vehicle theft. Meredith said it was his opinion that the medical care at the Tallahatchie County prison was "excellent" but that it took a private ambulance company 35 minutes to respond to the asthma attack. Washington was taken from the prison to a Coahoma County hospital 12 miles away, in the northwest Mississippi Delta region, about 75 miles south of Memphis, Tenn. "I don't think anything was wrong (at the prison), but I wasn't there," Meredith said in an interview. No details were available on Gusta's case, except that he com