NEW YORK
 HALL OF SHAME

If you find our website useful, please consider sending us a contribution!!!
PCWG, 1114 Brandt Drive, Tallahassee FL 32308

Albany County Jail
Albany, New York
Prison Health Services (formerly run by Correctional Medical Services)
December 15, 2009 Times-Union
When Kelly Mayo was arrested for drug possession on a Saturday afternoon in May 2006, she was only supposed to spend a weekend in the Albany county jail. Instead, two days later, a guard found her hanging by a sheet twisted into a makeshift rope. "I didn't want to be in jail, so I tried to hang myself to get out of jail," Mayo said, according to transcripts of a deposition later gave. Her father, Joseph Mayo, 89, is suing the Albany County Correctional Facility and Correctional Medical Services, a private company that runs the jail's health unit, for unspecified damages on her behalf for damages. He claims they should have done more to prevent Kelly Mayo, 46, from attempting suicide and should pay for the 24/7 care she now requires. Both the sheriff's department and the medical company declined to comment on the case for this story. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York in Albany dismissed the case in April, saying the jail took all reasonable precautions. An appeal was heard Friday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan. According to depositions of staff on the ward on May 15, 2006, at 4:30 p.m., a guard walked by and saw Mayo peering through the window in her door. One nurse took a cigarette break, while the other had just finished treating diabetic inmates. At 4:41, the guard found Mayo unconscious. The staff called an ambulance and tried to revive her. They saved her life, but oxygen deprivation destroyed her short-term memory and left her with limited brain function. "They ruined my daughter's life," Joseph Mayo said in a phone interview from his home in Manhattan. "She used to flash around, jolly, helping people. She was always out of breath whenever she came into a room. She would hang around for a while, then she was back in her car, going somewhere else." Kelly Mayo grew up in New Jersey and New York City, but was living with her boyfriend in Albany when she was arrested. She was a part-time stagehand by profession, and a free spirit by temperament, her father said, treading gently around his daughter's years of drug abuse. Now every time he visits his daughter at the Belvedere long-term care home in Albany, he finds her sitting in the corner of her room. "I tell her the same joke every time I call her," her father said. "She laughs every single time. She still has a sense of humor, but her memory is gone." The district court said the Mayo family cannot sue because the jail met standards for suicide risk screening approved by the state Commission of Correction, which oversees local jails. The commission provides a 16-question test about suicide risks for guards to give newly admitted inmates. A prisoner who answers "yes" to eight questions is considered a suicide risk. Mayo answered yes to three of the questions. When she was admitted, Mayo told nurses that she injected heroin and drank a pint of alcohol daily. Staff gave her medication to ease withdrawal symptoms, placed her in a cell next to the nurse's station with only a mattress on the floor, and checked on her every 30 minutes, according to her medical file. But the Mayo family's lawyer, James Monroe of Albany, said the jail should have monitored Mayo constantly or sent her to an outside facility after she began suffering from tremors and hallucinating that she saw gnats around 6:30 a.m. the day she tried to kill herself. The staff knew these symptoms constituted a risk for suicide, Monroe said. "It says so in their own training manual. "They took a chance and Kelly paid the price," he added.

June 23, 2009 Courthouse News
Five workers at a New York prison health clinic were unfairly fired for peacefully picketing in their bid to unionize, the 2nd Circuit ruled, overturning a decision by the National Labor Relations Board. Workers at the Albany County Correctional Facility sought to organize in 2002. The Civil Service Employees Association asked Correctional Medical Services, which operated the facility, to recognize it as the collective-bargaining representative of all clinic employees except doctors, supervisors and one clerical worker. CMS rejected the request. Workers responded by organizing a peaceful demonstration outside the facility. Twenty individuals - including five clinic employees - walked in a circle in front of the facility's main entrance for 40 minutes. The five clinic employees were fired for engaging in an "illegal picket," because the union failed to give the facility proper notice of the picket. The union fired back in October 2002, claiming the firings were illegal. The National Labor Relations Board ruled in May 2007 that the terminations were lawful, and that a health-care employer can fire workers who picket on behalf of a union that failed to give the mandatory 10-day advance notice of picketing. In overturning the decision, the New York-based federal appeals court found that picketing for recognition is an employees' right, and the distinction Congress made between striking and picketing indicates its intent to protect workers from retaliation. "While labor organizations are subject to sanction for either striking or picketing without observing the notice requirement," the three-judge panel wrote, "the statute specifies sanctions for employees who participate in the violation only in the case of strikes and not in the case of picketing." The circuit concluded that Congress showed "no intention to punish individual employees who do not strike but peacefully picket," adding, "it would not be appropriate for us to attribute one."

September 4, 2004
A Bronx woman who delivered a live baby in a jail toilet in 2001 after her premature labor allegedly was ignored for days has filed a federal civil rights claim blaming Albany County officials and a former jail nurse for her son's death.  Ajadyan Venny was at least 5 months pregnant when she was jailed on a drug charge on Aug. 30, 2001, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court Thursday.  The 30-page lawsuit alleges the following chain of events:  The 22-year-old was given a cursory exam and pregnancy test and then left on her own as pain in her abdomen and back spiked over the next 10 days.  A female jail nurse who is employed by Prison Health Services, Inc., told Venny repeatedly that the pain was a normal result of being pregnant in jail, which is a stressful environment.  Venny was supposed to see an obstetrics consultant on Sept. 4, 2001, but her appointment was canceled. Five days later, on Sept. 9, her screams woke the dorm at 5 a.m.  At 6:30 a.m., correction officers told Venny she couldn't get help until the 7 a.m. shift change. By then, she could no longer walk on her own. The nurse told guards she couldn't leave her post.  A concerned correction officer finally radioed his sergeant, who ordered the nurse to see to Venny, who now was sitting on the toilet in her cell and bleeding profusely. But the nurse was ineffective, court papers said: "At approximately 7:15 a.m. nurse Hunt responded to the dorm, bringing with her only a blood pressure cuff to attend the plaintiff, who was in the end stage of labor."  The nurse attempted to console Venny rather than render medical assistance. She told officers at 7:18 a.m. that Venny had miscarried in-utero and ordered an ambulance. It was only after a Colonie EMS workers asked if there was a baby that a guard went back to check the toilet "and found a sac containing a child who had been unattended for a substantial period of time."  Correction officers freed the baby and cut his umbilical cord.  After two days in Albany Medical Center Hospital's neonatal unit, the struggling newborn, Scott Mayo Jr., died at 3 a.m. on Sept. 11.  "This was a full-grown, viable baby," attorney Kevin Luibrand said. "It was not a fetus. She was probably much further along than she thought."  State correction officials later faulted Prison Health Services Inc. for their handling of the situation.  The county did not renew its contract with the company in Feb. 2002, saying it would go with a less expensive provider.  Officials at the jail declined to comment on the lawsuit. Richard Wright, president and CEO of Prison Health Services, also declined to comment.  The Brentwood, Tenn.-based company recently was dismissed from an eight-year contract with the Schenectady County Jail after the death of an inmate.  (Times Union)

Brooklyn
Correctional Services Corporation
October 19, 2004 1010 WINS He's been convicted of theft, reviled by the press and pushed from office in a scandal that came to symbolize lax ethics in Albany . Roger Green is still feeling pretty good. Running all but unopposed for the state Assembly, he's poised to retake the Brooklyn seat he resigned in June after pleading guilty to stealing public money by submitting fake travel vouchers to the state. Green's legal troubles emerged from a probe of free transportation given to lawmakers by Sarasota, Fla.-based Correctional Services Corp. Albany County prosecutors charged Green with stealing from the state by submitting fake travel claims for expenses he never incurred when he was riding the CSC vans. Green filed bogus claims for about 30 trips between Albany and New York , prosecutors said. Green also was among a host of current and former state lawmakers who wrote to state officials supporting extensions of CSC's state contracts for halfway house services. CSC received $25.4 million from the state to provide such services between 1992 and 2000. Green was sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in fines and restitution after admitting to two counts of petty larceny and one count of offering a false instrument. He acknowledges using the CSC vans but said he paid CSC for gas and asked for state reimbursement because he did not understand the state's vague guidelines. But good-government advocates say Green's ethical troubles and impending return to office show a pressing need for reform. "The system is broken," said Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the League of Women Voters of New York State. "The system has not overseen itself at all."

November 17, 2003
ALBANY District Attorney Paul Clyne said yesterday he needs "a few more weeks" to decide if he's going to indict state lawmakers for stealing official travel reimbursements funds.  Clyne told The Post he's still waiting to receive potentially critical documents from Florida-based Correctional Services Corp., the prison-services firm that provided free, roundtrip limo trips to and from the Capitol for lawmakers able to help the company win state contracts.  Investigators believe several of those lawmakers, including Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Roger Green, then billed the state for thousands of dollars in travel reimbursements, even though they incurred no actual costs.  The probe was triggered by former Bronx Democratic Assemblywoman Gloria Davis' guilty plea in January to taking bribes. She also admitted accepting free CSC-provided transportation in exchange for helping the company obtain contracts.  "I would say we'll have the decision within weeks. There are certain records that we're waiting for from the company," Clyne told The Post.  He said he would be able to reach a decision on indictments within 30 days.  Clyne and the state Board of Elections, meanwhile, are also seeking to determine if several lawmakers, including Green, received illegal "in-kind" campaign contributions from CSC. CSC Vice President Jack Brown told the State Lobbying Commission earlier this year that his company regularly provided undisclosed campaign workers and transportation to Green and Brooklyn Assemblyman Daryl Towns during the 2000 campaign season.  (New York Post)

September 15, 2003
THE potentially explosive criminal probe of phony travel vouchers filed by state lawmakers will wrap up in 30 days with a go-ahead for indictments - or the dismissal of the case, The Post has learned.  "I anticipate we will make a decision within the next 30 days to either close the case or go forward with an expanded investigation," Albany County District Attorney Paul Clyne told The Post.  "It's hardly a dead issue," continued Clyne, whose probe began after the corruption conviction earlier this year of former Bronx Democratic Assemblywoman Gloria Davis.  Clyne convened a new grand jury on Wednesday that is expected to begin hearing testimony in the probe.  Legislative sources predicted Clyne would bring several indictments.  Clyne's probe focuses on expenditures by Florida-based Correctional Services Corp., a private prison-services provider, to allegedly influence several state lawmakers from New York City, including the repeated provision of free, chauffeur-driven travel to and from the state capital.  Davis, who pleaded guilty to taking a bribe, said the free travel was part of CSC's effort to win her help in obtaining state contracts.   Brooklyn Democratic Assemblyman Roger Green has also admitted receiving free travel.  Investigators suspect several lawmakers - including Green - billed the state for thousands of dollars in travel mileage costs that were actually provided by CSC, an action Clyne has said would be criminal fraud.  "We've been accumulating records, primarily from CSC, and we've been reviewing reimbursement records provided by the Legislature," said Clyne.  Ominously for lawmakers, Clyne said he's obtained new information "that has not been made public."  Clyne, meanwhile, is also seeking to determine if several lawmakers, including Green, received illegal "in-kind" campaign contributions from CSC in violation of state election law.  CSC Vice President Jack Brown told the state Lobbying Commission earlier this year that his company regularly provided campaign workers and transportation to the 2000 re-election campaigns of Green and another Brooklyn assemblyman, Daryl Towns.  Stay tuned.  (New York Post)

May 21, 2003
One of the major behind-the-scenes players in the city's lucrative homeless-housing business is a director at a scandal-tainted prison-services firm under investigation for allegedly bribing state lawmakers to win contracts, The Post has learned.  Shimmie Horn, a director of Correctional Services Corp., is a major investor in homeless hotels, interests that he inherited from his father, the late Morris Horn, who once ran one of the city's most notorious "welfare hotels" of the 1980s, the Brooklyn Arms.  Horn's lawyer, Ron Torossian, said it's unfair to single out his client because of his role as a member of the board of directors at CSC. CSC is under investigation by the Albany County district attorney and three state agencies that are trying to determine if the private prison firm bribed elected officials to win their help in securing contracts.  ( New York Post)

February 27, 2003
The state's Lobbying Commission fined a private prison company a record $300,000 today for failing to  report free transportation, meals and other gifts it had given to legislators in an effort to keep millions of dollars in state  contracts.  Reams of documents and depositions released by the commission as it announced the fine today painted a picture of a company,  Correctional Services Corporation, that did everything it could to curry favor with more than a dozen elected officials in Brooklyn and the Bronx as it won contracts to provide services to recently released prisoners. The $300,000 fine is the largest that the state has ever imposed on a single company for breaking its lobbying laws.  David M. Grandeau, the executive director of the lobbying commission, said the size of the fine was intended to send a strong  message. "This isn't a game," he said. "If you are going to lobby in this state, you have an obligation to follow the law."  The company, Correction Services Corporation, based in Sarasota , Fla. , gained more than $22 million worth of state contracts in the  1990's, but no longer does any business with the state. The company's president, James F. Slattery, a former New Yorker, denied  any wrongdoing, however. In a prepared statement, he said he took issue with the commission's conclusions but had agreed to the  fine only to "avoid further expense and distraction."  In depositions before the commission, Mr. Slattery and another company official, Jack A. Brown III, tried to cast blame for the  unreported lobbying activities on a former company vice president, Franklin Chris Jackson, who left the company in 2000.  Company expense reports made public today suggest that Mr. Jackson not only provided free transportation to some lawmakers but also wined and dined many others, especially in early 2000. None of these gifts were reported to the lobbying commission as  required by law. At least six of the unreported gifts were worth more than the $75 limit that state law sets on perquisites lobbyists  may give lawmakers, the commission found.   For instance, Roberto Ramirez, a former Bronx assemblyman and county Democratic chairman, received a $113 fruit basket from  the company in March 2000. In the same month, Larry B. Seabrook, a former Bronx assemblyman now in the City Council, got a $202 plane ticket from Washington to New York. Two other lawmakers, who were not named in the documents, received boxes of  chocolates on Valentine's Day that year from the company worth more than $75.  The lobbying activities of the company are under investigation by the district attorneys in Albany and Manhattan , who are looking at  the possibility of bringing criminal charges against company officials and legislators. The lobbying commission has turned over the  records it has collected to those investigators. The State Legislative Ethics Committee and the Board of Elections have also opened inquiries.  In depositions, Mr. Slattery and Mr. Brown said the company rented minivans during the 2000 election and gave them to  Assemblyman Roger Green of Brooklyn and other candidates for use in campaigns.  The company's undisclosed influence peddling came to light after Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, a Bronx Democrat, pleaded guilty  to bribery charges in connection with helping a construction company win a lucrative contract in her district.  As part of a plea bargain, Ms. Davis admitted that she had accepted free rides to and from Albany in vans provided by Correction  Services Corporation. She said she had in return helped the company continue to get state contracts.  Former employees of the company say Mr. Green, an influential legislator who heads the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in the  Assembly, was also given free transportation in a minivan with tinted windows, as well as workers for his political campaigns, free meals and a cellular telephone. The depositions and documents released today, however, establish only that the company provided a rented van for Mr. Green  sometime in December 2000. The two company officials maintained that the van was only provided on one day for election  purposes. One of the company's records, however, refers to one of the rented vans as "Roger minivan" in Mr. Slattery's  handwriting. Another expense report, from August 2000, lists a $30 expense that says: "Roger Green needed van."  Gerald L. Shargel, a lawyer for Mr. Green, said the assemblyman denied the documents released today proved any wrongdoing.  The man at the center of the case, Mr. Jackson, was not deposed because he is gravely ill, according to his lawyer, Gail E. Laser.  Mr. Jackson's expense reports, however, suggest he spent a good deal of time dining with politicians. On Jan. 18, for instance, he  reported having a $170 dinner with State Senator Ada Smith at a Queens restaurant. On Jan. 27, he spent $223 on dinner at a Bronx restaurant with Mr. Ramirez, the county Democratic leader. Mr. Jackson's tab also included a lunch at Sylvia's in Harlem   with H. Carl McCall, the former state comptroller, for $50.  Many of these meals were not necessarily illegal gifts under the state's $75 rule, but failure to report them violated the law.  (New York Times)

February 27, 2003
The state's Lobbying Commission fined a private prison company a record $300,000 today for failing to report free transportation, meals and other gifts it had given to legislators in an effort to keep millions of dollars in state contracts.  Reams of documents and depositions released by the commission as it announced the fine today painted a picture of a company, Correctional Services Corporation, that did everything it could to curry favor with more than a dozen elected officials in Brooklyn and the Bronx as it won contracts to provide services to recently released prisoners. The $300,000 fine is the largest that the state has ever imposed on a single company for breaking its lobbying laws.  David M. Grandeau, the executive director of the lobbying commission, said the size of the fine was intended to send a strong message. "This isn't a game," he said. "If you are going to lobby in this state, you have an obligation to follow the law."  The lobbying activities of the company are under investigation by the district attorneys in Albany and Manhattan, who are looking at the possibility of bringing criminal charges against company officials and legislators. The lobbying commission has turned over the records it has collected to those investigators. The State Legislative Ethics Committee and the Board of Elections have also opened inquiries.  The company's undisclosed influence peddling came to light after Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, a Bronx Democrat, pleaded guilty to bribery charges in connection with helping a construction company win a lucrative contract in her district.  As part of a plea bargain, Ms. Davis admitted that she had accepted free rides to and from Albany in vans provided by Correction Services Corporation. She said she had in return helped the company continue to get state contracts.  ( New York Times)

February 26, 2003
Correctional Services Corporation (Nasdaq:CSCQ - News; the "Company") announced today that it has entered into a final agreement with the New York State Temporary Commission on Lobbying (the "Commission") that concludes the Commission's review of the Company's semi-annual lobbying expenditure reports for the period January 1, 2000 through June 30, 2001. As part of the agreement, the Company has agreed to amend its semi-annual lobbying reports for the period of January 1, 2000 through June 30, 2001 in accordance with the Commission's views and to pay to the Commission a civil penalty for the 3 periods in question of $300,000.The Commission's investigation focused primarily upon alleged lobbying activities of certain former employees of the Company in New York. The Company cooperated fully with the Commission in the course of its investigation and voluntarily provided to the Commission numerous documents, records and testimony to assist the Commission in its investigation.  (Yahoo Finance)

February 21, 2003
Correctional Services Corp. could face a criminal charge for exceeding campaign contribution limits in the 2002 elections, the second time the Florida-based prison services company violated New York 's election law, a state official said Thursday.  Campaign filings for 2002 show CSC gave at least $8,150 to various campaigns, exceeding the $5,000 limit for corporations.  The company may have also provided campaign help that could qualify as in-kind donations, which must also be reported. Documents and testimony provided by CSC to the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying show the company provided staff and vans to various campaigns.  Daghlian said the board is investigating whether it should refer the company's excess contributions to a district attorney. CSC in 1997 also violated the campaign contribution limit, Daghlian said, handing out $6,000 to various candidates including $2,500 to Republican Gov. George Pataki and lesser amounts to several current and former New York City Democratic assemblymen.  A second violation could qualify for a misdemeanor charge, Daghlian said.  The company is also a subject of investigations by the lobbying commission and the Albany County and Manhattan district attorneys, which are looking into free rides and other perks the company provided to legislators.  (Times Union)

February 21, 2003
The state Lobbying Commission has evidence that a private prison firm gave illegal gifts to state lawmakers, a top commission official said yesterday.  After lengthy interviews with executives of Correctional Services Corp., Lobbying Commission Executive Director David Grandeau said the Florida-based firm also improperly filed lobbying reports with the state.  "We feel there's sufficient evidence to bring an action against them for failing to properly report their lobbying expenditures, along with the fact that they made illegal gifts beyond the $75 limit to legislators," Grandeau said.  CSC, which has been under investigation for giving free transportation to lawmakers, can settle the matter by amending its reports and paying a fine or going to a hearing, he said. The maximum fines are $50,000 per inaccurate report and $25,000 for each illegal lobbying expense. (New York Daily News)

February 18, 2003
A vehicle provided to Assemblyman Roger L. Green for his personal use was a gray Plymouth Voyager minivan with tinted windows, but the perks from a private prison company called Correctional Services Corporation did not end there, according to interviews and records from a federal investigation into the company's operations.  Mr. Green, an influential state legislator in New York , received a driver, a young man named Jorge Avila-Parks, who on many mornings showed up at Mr. Green's home in Brooklyn . There was also the public relations aide for Mr. Green's office, workers for his political campaigns, free meals and a cellphone. All told, the federal investigative records indicate, the package was worth as much as $2,000 a month.  When it came to courting the powerful as it won millions of dollars in state contracts, Correctional Services did not hold back.  And now its political activities have provoked an array of inquiries.  Company records have been turned over to state prosecutors in Albany and Manhattan , executives have been subpoenaed, and the state lobbying commission is determining whether favors for lawmakers were properly disclosed.  Campaign Duty Company employees said that at election time, Correctional Services required many workers at its state and federally financed halfway houses in New York City to become foot soldiers in the campaigns of many politicians, from former Mayor David N. Dinkins to the Rev. Al Sharpton to lawmakers in Washington , Albany and the city. At one Correctional Services halfway house, 17 of the 22 workers were out on the trail early one November, according to federal records.  It might have been familiar duty for some of them: Correctional Services had hired them because they were relatives or friends of United States Representative Edolphus Towns of Brooklyn , State Assemblywoman Carmen E. Arroyo of the Bronx and numerous other officials.  Sometimes, Correctional Services, its executives and its workers just donated directly to campaigns. They gave tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions to Democratic lawmakers from the city, and then, when it seemed that Gov. George E. Pataki might scale back the company's contracts because of a shrinking prison population, they turned their attention to him.  "The higher-ups made it very known that if it wasn't for the political leaders and these political favors that we were doing for them — and if we don't keep them in office — then the company would cease to exist," recalled Richard Ruiz, who worked for the company as a case manager and facility manager from 1992 through 1995, just as it began winning state contracts. "They would say that all the time: that we had to look out for those people, for the politicians."  The federal report includes testimony from workers that the company's president, Mr. Slattery, knew about the favors that Mr. Jackson was providing to politicians, but an Albany lawyer retained by the company, James Featherstonhaugh, said last week that those accounts were inaccurate.  State lobbying commission officials said they have discussed seeking a record fine of more than $250,000 against the company for Mr. Jackson's activities.   Mr. Ramos is quoted as saying that the use of company workers for political favors was covered up by creating what was called a "Community Assistance Project."  "Ramos stated that these payments and benefits were provided to Green so that Esmor would retain the state contracts for halfway housing in New York ," the report says.  State investigators say that among the issues they are exploring is whether Mr. Green and other lawmakers were reimbursed by the state for travel expenses while they were accepting free travel from Correctional Services.  Mr. Jackson's success in building ties to Albany can be measured in letters that more than 25 Democratic state lawmakers sent to the Pataki administration in late 1997 and 1998, praising Correctional Services and requesting that the contracts be continued. Many of the letters, which were similarly worded, indicate that copies were sent to Mr. Jackson.  Around the time that state lawmakers were writing the letters, the company, Mr. Slattery and its workers suddenly began donating heavily in support of Mr. Pataki, sending $12,500 to the Republican State Committee, $10,000 to the Conservative Party and more than $5,000 to the Pataki campaign. Among the contributions were a spate of small donations, ranging from $150 to $300, given in November 1998 in the names of company workers, several of whom said they had not given the money.  "I'm not even politically affiliated," recalled Jose Moreno, a former worker who is listed as having donated $150.  With Mr. Jackson largely out of politics and Correctional Services no longer in business with the state, the story of the company's ties to lawmakers might have faded away had it not been for an unrelated incident.  A Bronx assemblywoman, Gloria Davis, who was so close to Mr. Jackson that he referred to her as "Mom," was charged last year in an unrelated bribery case. In the course of the inquiry, the Manhattan district attorney's office learned that she had repeatedly accepted free transportation from Correctional Services.  Among her drivers was a midlevel Correctional Services personnel manager named Gilbert Jimenez, who said in a recent interview that he drove her between her district and Albany at least 30 times in 1999 alone.  He described how he would be called on the telephone or beeped at all hours to pick up Ms. Davis in a Ford cargo van or a Dodge Caravan minivan used to shuttle prisoners. All the while, Ms. Davis was seeking reimbursement from the state for her travel costs, records show.  Mr. Jimenez, who left the company over a dispute, later became a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the company. That suit was settled out of court.  "Jackson and them — their common phrase was, `We're untouchable,' because of their political connections, because of who they knew," Mr. Jimenez said.  (New York Times)

February 6, 2003
New York 's lobbying commission has determined from an initial review of a private prison company's records that company officials failed to disclose meals and other items used to cultivate ties to state lawmakers, officials said yesterday. As a result, the company is expected to face a sizable fine.  The company, the Correctional Services Corporation, based in Sarasota , Fla. , turned over documents detailing the expenses of a former vice president to the lobbying commission yesterday afternoon. The commission's executive director, David M. Grandeau, said he had just begun examining the records, but it was apparent that there were numerous expenses, especially meals for lawmakers, that had not been reported to the commission.  "There is lots of information, and it is going to take us quite a bit of time to go through it," Mr. Grandeau said. "But it's clear from a brief perusal that their filings in 2000 and 2001 were not accurate and need to be amended."  Correctional Services sought the aid of state lawmakers in the late 1990's when Gov. George E. Pataki tried to cut its contracts to run halfway houses for recently released prison inmates, and the lawmakers were able to help restore the money.  Under the law, companies are required to disclose their lobbying expenses regularly, but Correctional Services never told the commission about the lobbying practices of the former vice president, Franklin Chris Jackson. The company records show that Mr. Jackson treated several lawmakers to more than 100 meals, while also supplying them with transportation between New York City and Albany , according to people who have seen the records.  Among those who received the favors were Assemblyman Roger L. Green of Brooklyn ; former State Senator Larry B. Seabrook of the Bronx , who is now a City Councilman; and former Assemblywoman Gloria Davis of the Bronx , who recently pleaded guilty to bribery in an unrelated case. In addition to transportation to Albany , Mr. Seabrook also received a $200 plane ticket to Washington, the records show.  The lawmakers have declined to comment on Correctional Services.  James D. Featherstonhaugh, a lawyer for Correctional Services, said it was cooperating with the commission, and believed that the documents were responsive to the commission's requests. Asked whether the documents were evidence that the company had violated lobbying laws, Mr. Featherstonhaugh would not comment.  Mr. Jackson has declined to be interviewed by the commission, and it has threatened to subpoena him. His lawyer has told the commission that Mr. Jackson is terminally ill with cancer, and is not able to provide testimony.      (New York Times)

January 31, 2003
A vice president of a private prison company that received millions of dollars in New York State contracts treated a group of legislators to more than 50 meals in recent years, according to people involved in inquiries into the company's activities in Albany.  The company, Correctional Services Corporation, has been gathering documents related to the work of the vice president, Franklin Chris Jackson, who is no longer with the company, and has agreed to turn them over to the state lobbying commission. The commission is examining whether Mr. Jackson was essentially an unregulated lobbyist who wooed state lawmakers without disclosing his lobbying as the law requires law. Manhattan and Albany prosecutors are also conducting their own investigations.  People involved in the inquiry said company records show that Mr. Jackson routinely took a handful of state lawmakers to meals in New York City. The expenses were never detailed in the company's lobbying reports. The names of the lawmakers could not be determined.  Correctional Services sought the aid of Democratic lawmakers from the city in the late 1990's when Gov. George E. Pataki tried to cut its contracts, and the lawmakers successfully urged the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, to restore the money. One focus of the inquiries is the link between lawmakers' efforts on behalf of the company and any favors that the company bestowed.  One lawmaker, Assemblywoman Gloria Davis of the Bronx, admitted in a Manhattan court that she accepted transportation from the company in the late 1990's in return for helping it retain state contracts.  (New York Times)

January 28, 2003
The Albany County district attorney has begun a formal criminal inquiry into the dealings of a private prison company that gained millions in dollars in state work while extending favors to several state lawmakers.  The district attorney Paul A. Clyne, said that his investigation of Correctional Services Corporation had just begun, and that it was impossible to predict its ultimate scope.  "We are going to be looking primarily at C.S.C.; they are at the center of the wheel," Mr. Clyne said.  The company provided a variety of services at halfway houses in the state for prisoners set to be released.  "As far as I am concerned, my investigation could involve 100 legislators or it could involve none," Mr. Clyne said.  (New York Times)

January 26, 2003
A private prison company at the center of state inquiries into influence peddling in Albany has a checkered history in metropolitan New York, having been the subject of two federal investigations.  Prosecutors in Manhattan and the lobbying commission in Albany are looking into whether the company, Correctional Services Corporation, violated any laws in its effort to continue receiving state contracts to run halfway houses for people recently released from prison. The corporation, a national company started by welfare hotel operators in New York City more than a decade ago, garnered more than $22 million in state contracts from 1992 to 2001, but has seen its business with the state fall to nothing in the last two years.  One lawmaker, Assemblywoman Gloria Davis of the Bronx, has admitted in a Manhattan court to accepting free transportation from the company in the late 1990's in return for helping it keep getting state contracts. After Ms.  Davis's admission on Jan. 7, Assemblyman Roger L. Green of Brooklyn told reporters that he, too, had accepted rides to and from Albany in one of the company's vans.  Another area of inquiry is whether the company also provided free cellphones to lawmakers, officials said. In addition, federal authorities say they have an open investigation into allegations the company's employees were forced to work on political campaigns of New York State and City lawmakers during the 1990's.  Whatever the results of the inquiries, the company, formerly called Esmor Correctional Services, has had its share of problems during its decade of work in the state.  In 1995, federal officials canceled its contract for the management of a detainment center in Elizabeth, N.J., after a melee broke out and it came to light that undocumented immigrants had been abused by poorly trained guards.  Throughout the 1990's, federal Justice Department officials compiled evidence that the company's employees were forced to work on Democratic political campaigns in the city, including those of former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, former Mayor David N. Dinkins, Representative Gregory W. Meeks of Brooklyn and Mr. Green, who heads the black and Puerto Rican caucus in the Assembly.  And in 2000, Mr. Jackson was arrested while on vacation in the Dominican Republic on pornography charges. He was later dismissed.  Mr. Jackson, whose associates said he had not been seen in weeks, did not return calls for comment left at his last registered number.  Throughout almost all their dealings, though, the company continued to gain work with the state, and it is clear it operated in Albany as many aggressive contractors do: its officials contributed to legislators, and when the money from the Pataki administration dried up, they enlisted the Assembly's Democratic majority to regain the funds.  Esmor was formed in 1989 by Mr. Slattery and Morris Horn, who had previously been partners in one of the city's most notorious welfare hotels, the Brooklyn Arms. Though they had no experience in operating jails, Mr. Slattery and Mr. Horn won a federal contract to open a halfway house in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and helped win over angry residents and local politicians by hiring William Banks, a close associate of Representative Edolphus Towns, to lobby for them.  Shortly after the fiasco at the Elizabeth detention center, however, Mr. Slattery and his partners changed the name of the corporation and moved its headquarters to Sarasota, Fla. Mr. Jackson remained in New York, overseeing the company's operations here.  The company's lobbying efforts were successful throughout the 1990's. Pataki administration officials say the company received a total of $20.4 million in contracts from the Department of Correctional Services going back to 1992, when Mr. Cuomo was governor. Beginning in 1998, Gov. George E. Pataki began to cut funds for the halfway houses and then phased the money out entirely.  That is when the Assembly's Democratic majority, led by Speaker Sheldon Silver of Manhattan, came to the company's aid, providing $600,000 out of accounts the Assembly controls, known as member items, in 1998, 1999 and 2001.  (The New York Times)

January 24, 2003
A bribery-linked Florida company has been offered a potentially explosive deal by state investigators that requires it to name the names of all lawmakers who received special favors, The Post has learned.  Correctional Services Corp., which gave chauffeur-driven rides, donations and election assistance to numerous public officials, was told by the state Lobbying Commission this week that it could settle an ongoing probe of the allegedly illegal activities by naming the names, and paying a $150,000 fine, said a source familiar with the offer.  The fine would cover three reporting periods when the prison company allegedly violated state law by failing to reveal it was providing chauffeur-driven rides to former Assemblywoman Gloria Davis of the Bronx. Davis Earlier this month pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe from CSC.  It's also possible the commission will subpoena company officials and demand they name, under penalty of perjury, all state officials who received company gifts, the source said.  "CSC has been told they could end the investigation if they completely and truthfully disclose the names of all those who received the gifts, what gifts were involved, how much they were worth, and when were they provided," said the source.  The company did not return calls seeking comment.  The Silver-sponsored  money was earmarked for CSC' prison halfway houses in New York City, where the company also runs facilities for the federal Bureau of Prisons.  (NY Post)

January 23, 2003
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver helped bribery-linked correctional-services company win nearly $2 million in special state funds, The Post learned yesterday.  State budget officials said Silver's budget negotiators insisted on the last-minute addition of the funds - for Florida-based Correctional Services Corp. – to Gov. Pataki's budgets during the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Fiscal years.  The funds were provided to CSC at the same time former Bronx Democratic Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, once a powerful member of Silver's leadership, said she was being bribed by CSC with free, chauffeur-driven transportation.  Brooklyn Assemblyman Roger Green, another Influential Democrat, has also admitted receiving free chauffeur-driven transportation from CSC but insisted it wasn't a bribe.  The Silver-sponsored money was earmarked for CSC's prison halfway houses in New York City, where the company also runs facilities for the federal Bureau of Prisons.  A secret federal report turned over to the Legislature's Ethics Committee last week alleges that CSC, which Has aggressively pursued state and federal contracts, regularly provided campaign workers and other assistance to New York politicians during the 1990s.  The Post reported yesterday that a prominent New York City politician's brother has been on the CSC payroll.  Bronx Democratic City Councilman Larry Seabrook said his brother Oliver has been working CSC but wouldn't say for how long.  (NY Post)

January 22, 2003
Correctional Services Corp., which is ate the center of a mushrooming state probe into its aggressive lobbying tactics, is being sued by four inmates who claim one of its workers sexually assaulted them at a halfway house on Manhattan's East Side.  In a lawsuit brought in Manhattan Federal Court, the women claim that a counselor at Le Marquis Community Correctional Center on E. 31st St. "Lured" them into his office on different occasions in late 1998 and assaulted them.  (New York Daily News)

January 19, 2003
A secret federal report says a close ally of Brooklyn Assemblyman Roger Green steered a scandal-linked company's campaign help to prominent politicians, The Post has learned.  The feds' explosive, 50-page report - some details of which were disclosed in yesterday's Post – quotes several company employees as saying Frank Chris Jackson, until 2000 a senior vice president with Florida-based Correctional Services Corp., ordered them to work on the campaigns of some of New York's best known politicians.  Former Bronx Assemblywoman Gloria Davis pleaded guilty to bribery earlier this month and said free transportation she received from CSC - a national operator of private prisons and halfway houses which regularly seeks state and federal contracts - was given as a bribe.  "Jackson was the key player and was always going to Albany, to political dinners, to events that were taking place," said a source familiar with the report.  State lawmakers say Jaackson was a well known figure in Democratic political circles in the late 1990s and was active in events sponsored by the Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus, which was once chaired by Davis and is now headed by Green.  The report cites a memo from Jackson to James Slattery, CSC's president, saying that then-Assemblyman and now U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) wanted the company to provide "security" at a meeting of the Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus.  Jackson's political activities, and his involvement with CSC, came to an abrupt end in 2000 when he was arrested and imprisoned in the Dominican Republic on charges of sexually abusing children, according to investigators and published accounts.  A law enforcement source said Jackson's current whereabouts are unknown.  The federal report describes the widespread provision of assistance - workers, vans, cars, and petition carriers by CSC and its predecessor company, Esmor Correctional Services, during the 1990s for the campaigns of such well known Democrats as then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, then-Mayor David Dinkins, the Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks of Queens and Green.  The report quotes several company employees as saying they were told they would be fired if they didn't work in political campaigns.  (NY Post)

January 18, 2003
A secret federal report alleges that a half-dozen prominent New York Democrats – including Mario Cuomo, David Dinkins and the Rev. Al Sharpton -- received campaign help from a prison-services company at the center of a growing scandal, The Post has learned.  The feds' bombshell 50-page probe has been turned over to the Legislature's Ethics Committee for further investigation, sources said.  Prepared by investigators for the U.S. Justice Department with the help of the FBI, the report was handed over to the committee on Wednesday, two government sources said.  That's the same day The Post disclosed that Brooklyn Assemblyman Roger Green admitted receiving gifts from a correctional-services company that former Bronx Assemblywoman Gloria Davis admitted had given her bribes.  Davis resigned from the state Legislature earlier this month after pleading guilty to bribery.  The still-secret federal report, completed in the late 1990s, focuses on the role of Florida-based Correctional Services Corp. (CSC) and its Long Island-based predecessor, Esmor Correctional Services, in allegedly providing campaign services to prominent politicians.  Those cited in the report as benefiting from the company's help include Cuomo, Dinkins, Sharpton, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Brooklyn) and Green, sources familiar with the report said.  The report says CSC and Esmor routinely provided politicians and their political organizations with dozens of campaign workers, petition carriers, vans, cars and other assistance over a period of years.  The federal probe began after company employees complained that they were forced to work for the campaigns under threat of being fired, according to the sources.  The report - which was described to The Post by two sources who said they had first-hand knowledge of its contents - contains the accounts of many company employees who charged they were forced to engage in conduct officials believe could be illegal under New York law.  Employees told probers they were ordered to work on campaigns because the company wanted to retain state and federal contracts, the sources said.  Repeated attempts to reach a CSC spokesman have been unsuccessful.  (NY Post)

January 16, 2003
The state Board of Elections has joined the state Lobbying Commission in looking into the activities of a Florida-based company that has been courting New York state lawmakers, an official said yesterday.  Spokesman Lee Daghlian said the board was looking into the apparent over-contribution last year by the Correctional Services Corp. to state legislative candidates.  The company operates two halfway-house-type facilities in New York City, one in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn, for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  The Sarasota, Fla.-based company had already been under investigation by the state Lobbying Commission for allegedly giving free, round-trip van rides between the Bronx and Albany to Assemb. Gloria Davis. She resigned her Assembly seat and pleaded guilty last week in a bribery case.  News of the election board action came as Assemb. Roger Green (D-Brooklyn) admitted that he also received free transportation from Correctional Services Corp. over several years.  Board of Elections records show the company contributed $4,500 to Green's campaign committee as part of the $10,650 it gave to New York politicians last year. Legally, corporations can give only $5,000 annually to all candidates in New York.  Daghlian said the company would be notified about the apparent violation, asked to get the excess contributions back and explain why it happened. The board spokesman said the company had been caught over-contributing in 1997.  A telephone message to the company seeking comment was not returned yesterday. The company had contracts with New York's state prison system that between 1992 and 2000 brought it $25.4 million, according to the state comptroller's office.  (News Day)

January 15, 2003
The State Lobbying Commission has launched a probe of a major national firm linked to the illegal conduct of just-resigned Bronx Assemblywoman Gloria Davis, The Post has learned.  The still-secret probe focuses on two types of possible lawbreaking by Correctional Services Corp. (CSC) of Sarasota, Fla. - one of the nation's biggest providers of privately run prisons and correctional services - which provided free, chauffeur-driven transportation to Davis from her home in The Bronx to the state Capitol and back, a source familiar with the investigation said.  The commission is also expected to seek to determine if other state lawmakers received similar favors from CSC, which could constitute illegal gifts.  The commission is also investigating a powerful lobbying firm, Bolton St. John, which once represented CSC, to find out if it was aware of the free transportation given Davis, an official of the firm told The Post.  Davis, long a powerful member of the Assembly's Democratic majority, resigned last week, a day before pleading guilty to taking $24,000 in bribes from a contractor seeking a state contract and to receiving free transportation from CSC over a four-year period, from mid-1998 to March 2002.  Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said CSC gave Davis the free transportation - which a source said could have been worth tens of thousands of dollars - in exchange for her help in attempting to win state contracts.  Three sets of lobbying reports detailing CSC's efforts to influence state government during 2000 and 2001 failed to disclose the transportation services provided Davis, a source said.  "The company filed three lobbying statements in 2000 and 2001, and they did not include the expenses incurred for providing transportation to Davis," the source noted.  "The company could be fined $50,000 for each of those omissions, as well as $25,000 for the illegal gifts, so the fines could total $225,000.   "In addition, there could be a criminal charge against the company relating to the illegal gifts," the source continued.  Repeated attempts to reach CSC for comment were unsuccessful.  (New York Post)

January 15, 2003
A Brooklyn lawmaker has admitted to receiving free transportation fro the same company that allegedly provided similar services to former Assemblywoman Gloria Davis. Democratic Assemblyman Roger Green told the New York Post in Wednesday's editions that Correctional Services Corp., gave him rides to and from Albany over a period of several years. Prosecutors had accused Davis, a Bronx Democrat, of accepting free round-trip van rides from CSC in exchange for helping it unravel government red tape. Last week, Davis pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to steer deals to favored contractors, while prosecutors also accused her of taking additional bribes in exchange for favors. According to the Post, the company, in filings with the Lobbying Commission, said it lobbied both Green and Davis. CSC of Sarasota, Fla., contributed $4,500 to Green's campaign last year, the newspaper said. The Lobbying Commission is investigating CSC for possible illegal activities. (AP)

Broome County Jail
Broome, New York
Correctional Medical Services
October 27, 2003
A state report issued this month on two inmate suicides at the Broome County Jail last year found fault with medical procedures but said staff security and supervision were performed properly.  The state Commission of Correction, the agency that oversees all of New York's jails, issued its report nearly a year after a 20-year-old asphyxiated himself Oct. 18, 2002, with a shoelace by wrapping it around a window frame in his cell and tying it around his neck.  A murder suspect died in a similar manner on Christmas Eve by asphyxiating himself using a sheet. The two were the first suicides at the jail since it opened in 1996.  Both men had medical issues when they were booked in, the report indicated. Scott Sickles suffered symptoms of heroin withdrawal, but did not receive standard treatment for drug withdrawal from medical staff, the report states.  John Leonard, 37, accused in the mid-December death of his fiancée, took antidepressants to treat his depression. But in the six days between booking and his suicide, Leonard did not receive medication for his mental illness.  Both men shared information about their problems with medical staff, the report indicates. Broome County contracts with Correctional Medical Services Inc. for inmate health care.  Larry S. Fischer, the jail's administrator, declined to discuss specifics of the deaths. Both families have put the county on notice that they plan to sue the county and its officials.  However, jail officials instituted changes recommended by the commission six months before the report was issued.  Changes include the availability of temporary prescriptions for inmates with verified medication needs. CMS now has a contractual obligation to provide that service, Fischer said. In the past, inmates waited 24 hours while CMS obtained medication from a facility in Minnesota.  (Press & Bulletin Sun)

Business Week
Cornell
November 24, 2005 New York Times
Federal prosecutors have charged a former securities broker, David Pajcin, with insider trading related to information the authorities said he gleaned by illegally obtaining advance copies of Business Week and buying stocks that the magazine was covering favorably. Pajcin apparently persuaded an unidentified worker at a printing plant near Milwaukee to steal a copy of Business Week before it was released to the public. The complaint said that Mr. Pajcin bought shares in at least 10 companies from November 2004 to early March; Business Week wrote positively about all of them. Mr. Pajcin bought shares or stock options in companies like TheStreet.com, Cornell Corrections, the SIPEX Corporation, the IMAX Corporation and Arbitron early on the same day that the companies appeared in the magazine's ''Inside Wall Street'' column.

Dutchess County Jail
New York, New York
Prison Health Services
July 19, 2004
New York state investigators have accused Prison Health Services, the company seeking to renew its contact at the Palm Beach County Jail, of causing the death of a Schenectady, N.Y., inmate suffering from Parkinson's disease.  A scathing report issued last month by the New York Commission on Correction echoed criticism in Palm Beach County that Prison Health Services has withheld care to inmates for added profit. The company is one of five bidding on the county contract.  The New York report details what led to inmate Brian Tetrault's brain basically shutting down after he was denied his prescribed medication for advanced Parkinson's disease by a Prison Health Services medical director at the Schenectady County Jail.  In October 2002, the commission -- a three-member body that evaluates, investigates and oversees correctional facilities in New York -- issued a report on the death of Victoria Smith, who died of cardiac arrest at the Dutchess County Jail in southeast New York after complaining multiple times of chest pains.  In the cases of both Tetrault and Smith, Prison Health Services' main reaction to the commission's inquiries was to get its lawyers involved, Lamy wrote to the company: "You and your colleagues are exclusively focused on protecting the business interests of PHS." The New York deaths evoke similar issues in Palm Beach County. Both inmates were denied medication. Prison Health Services staff concluded Tetrault was faking illness and labeled Smith a drug abuser. Company officials and doctors have cited malingering inmates and drug abuse as reasons for denying medication.  (Palm Beach Post)

September 12, 2003
Some county lawmakers are urging jail officials to reconsider the county's affiliation with Prison Health Services after calling into question the objectivity of an auditing firm that supported the actions of the health care provider in a case that resulted in the death of an inmate at the jail.  Jail officials commissioned the audit, which was conducted by Jacqueline Moore & Associates, after Dutchess County Legislator Mario Johnson questioned jail administrators about their decision to extend the contract with Prison Health Services despite a damning report issued by the state Commission of Correction following the Feb. 16, 2002, death of inmate Victoria Smith.  The state Commission of Correction found the 35-year-old woman's death to be the result of gross negligence by the medical staff employed by the jail under a contract with the private health care provider. Smith died of heart failure while an inmate. She had complained to medical providers several times in the week prior to her death of chest pain and numbness in her left arm. On the day Smith died, a nurse dismissed Smith's complaints as "drug seeking."  County officials were urged by the state to replace that firm, because, state officials said, the company was "holding itself out as a medical care provider while seeming bereft of any quality control."  But auditors with Jacqueline Moore & Associates took strong exception to the state's findings and said the report was "filled with editorial comments and numerous findings that are irrelevant to the inmate's death" and disputed a finding by the state that Smith's death was the result of a systemic failure of the health care provider.  "While it may be reasonable to question some aspects of the medical evaluation and treatment of Ms. Smith, the records reveal that Ms. Smith had timely access to care, that her medical complaints were objectively evaluated and that medical orders were performed as ordered.  That the head of the auditing firm is a founder of Prison Health Services and the ex-wife of the director of the health care company made some lawmakers look at auditing firm's findings with trepidation.  Legislator James Hammond, R-Poughkeepsie/Wappinger, said the relationship between the two companies "reduces my confidence in the objectivity of the report."  He, along with Kristen Jemiolo, D-Poughkeepsie, suggested the county ask local hospitals to provide inmate medical care at the jail.  "We did in the past ask St. Francis and Vassar (hospitals)," said Jail Administrator David Rugar. "None of them were interested. He said that Prison Health Services was the only company to respond to the county's most recent request for proposals to provide health care services at the jail.  Rugar also said Jacqueline Moore & Associates was the only firm to respond to the county's request for proposals to conduct the audit. The company was paid $15,000 for the study.  (Daily Freeman)

Erie County Holding Center
Erie, New York
Community Based Corrections, LLC
March 5, 2005 WGRZ
Campaign finance reports for Legislature Chairman George Holt are prompting more questions about a $3 Million dollar contract proposal for a Louisiana based firm. The issue was first raised last week when Erie County Comptroller Nancy Naples brought up the budget amendment resolution which was part of the December 8th budget. The Legislature was not able to come up with necessary votes to fund that budget. Naples says the measure called for a contract with Community Based Corrections, LLC of New Orleans which would provide an alternative incarceration program. The amendment and the company claims they can save millions of dollars for local government. It specifically said the money to fund the program would come from the budgets of the County Holding Center, Correctional Facility and Probation Department. But Naples says no one really knew much about the firm. Sheriff Patrick Gallivan, who has oversight for the holding center and correctional facility, says he was asked to evaluate the firm by Chairman George Holt but also knew little about it. Channel Two's Claudine Ewing asked Holt last week about the program. Ewing: "Do you have any ties ? Holt: No. Ewing: Do you know the people? Holt: Oh, of course." Ewing also asked: "So they never kicked in any money to pay for your campaign? Holt: My brother was instrumental in helping me at a fundraiser in the area but this company...no involvement at all." Channel Two obtained Holt's campaign disclosure forms from last year. There is a $500 contribution listed from Jimmie Woods at 2500 Joseph Street in Harvey, Louisiana which is a suburb of New Orleans. Channel 2 called the Woods' home in Louisiana. A woman told reporter Ron Plants that she was Jimmie Woods' wife. She also identified her husband as manager of Community Based Corrections and said her husband used 2500 Joseph Street as a business address. The woman said Woods was out for the evening and not available. The Louisiana Secretary of State's website also lists Jimmie M. Woods as the manager of Community Based Corrections LLC. Channel 2 repeatedly tried to reach Chairman Holts but he was not available to speak to us. Channel 2 did speak with campaign treasurer Tyrone Hargrove who said he knew nothing about the contribution and would try to contact Holt. Hargrove said Holt would be available on Thursday.

Lehman Brothers
Park Avenue, NY
April 9, 2002
Shareholders arriving Tuesday morning for Lehman Brothers' annual meeting at its new Park Avenue headquarters were greeted by a gaggle of angry protesters, who planted themselves in front of the building to voice opposition to Lehman's involvement in the financing of private prison companies. Protesters who claimed to represent Prison Moratorium, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and New York University, among other organizations, urged city officials to block Lehman from underwriting bond issues for any New York City agency--unless the firm abandons its role as an underwriter of financings for private prison companies.  Shares of CCA and Cornell rose slightly following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as the market speculated that there might be an increase in government contracts for housing illegal immigrants, but have since declined to the trading levels of last summer. (Investment Dealers Digest)

Manhattan FBI Headquarters
Manhattan, New York
Wackenhut (Group 4)
January 21, 2010 New York Daily News
A Muslim security guard at the Manhattan FBI headquarters claims he's being forced to carry around proof of his religion because he has a beard. Daoud Ibraheem, 72, was granted a religious exception for facial hair when he was hired in 2007 by Wackenhut Services, but says the special treatment has triggered harassment by supervisors. In a $3 million discrimination suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, Ibraheem says he is subjected to daily spot-checks by officers from the Federal Protective Service. They repeatedly insist he must produce a letter written by the imam of his Brooklyn mosque vouching for his faith, the suit says. They also falsely accused Ibraheem of sleeping on the job and ordered him to stay outside a heated guard booth while non-Muslim guards have unlimited access to the shelter in freezing weather, said his lawyer, Tamara Harris. She said Ibraheem fears upcoming terror trials of 9/11 plotters could ramp up the hostility even further. "The anger people harbor against Muslims might be heightened by the proximity of his workplace to Ground Zero, where 9/11 happened," Harris said. The Federal Protective Service, a government agency, and private contractor Wackenhut are jointly responsible for security at 26 Federal Plaza. A lawyer representing both Wackenhut and the Federal Protective Service did not return calls for comment.

Monroe County Jail
Monroe County, NY
Correctional Medical Service (formerly run by Prison Health Services)
December 16, 2009 Democrat and Chronicle
Monroe County and the Sheriff's Office have sued the former medical service provider at its jails, alleging that the company did not provide staffing as promised under a contractual agreement. The county is seeking $2 million, according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 9. The St. Louis, Mo.-based Correctional Medical Services, or CMS, provided medical and mental health services at the county's two correctional facilities from Jan. 1, 2004, through March 31, 2008. The original contract with CMS lasted three years and was then extended by the county. The lawsuit alleges that "CMS failed to provide staffing at the (jail) facilities pursuant to the terms of the contract" and that the staffing shortages existed "throughout its term." The allegations, which CMS officials are challenging, come just more than a month after Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn was re-elected. Sheriff's spokesman John Helfer said the suit's timing was dictated by the county's need to preserve a legal remedy against CMS. The statute of limitations on contractual suits can be six years from the time of an agreement. Helfer said the sheriff and other officials would not comment further because the litigation is pending. For the same reason, officials said, they could not comment on why the contract was extended if there had been problems. CMS officials challenged the allegations. "CMS fully complied with the terms of our contract with Monroe County, and we dispute the assertions made in the lawsuit that has been filed," said CMS spokesman Ken Fields. "CMS provided quality services to the inmate patients at the Monroe County Jail. In fact, during our tenure, the facility achieved re-accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care for the quality of its health care program. "CMS is hopeful that this matter can be resolved amicably," he said. Correctional Medical Services has twice been sued by the families of inmates who died in the Monroe County Jail. In 2004, 16-year-old Javon Leggett hanged himself at the County Jail. The family alleged that the jail gave inadequate mental health treatment to the teenager. The state Commission of Correction, which investigates jail deaths, arrived at a similar conclusion. The commission determined that CMS failed to provide adequately trained mental health providers and recommended that the county review whether the company should be retained. In 2008, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, deciding there was not proof that CMS was responsible for the death. In the second incident, Orlando Samuels, 42, died of apparent cardiac failure at the jail in 2007. His family alleges in a lawsuit filed this year that medical officials ignored Samuels' heart condition. Again, the Commission of Correction also faulted CMS, maintaining that Samuels' wait to see a physician after he was first jailed was excessive. O'Flynn answered in a response that the jail had complied with the "applicable standards of care" with Samuels first meeting with a physician. Mark Valerio, the attorney for the Samuels family, declined to comment. Federal court records show a settlement conference is scheduled for later this month, though the conferences are not uncommon in federal court and not necessarily a sign that a resolution to the litigation is near.

July 6, 2009 Democrat and Chronicle
The family of a Monroe County jail inmate who died in 2007 is suing the Sheriff's Office and the former jail medical services, alleging that jail officials didn't provide him medications he needed for a heart condition. The lawsuit from the family of Orlando Samuels contends that he was denied prescribed medications even when he asked for them; that one physician suggested he be given aspirin after Samuels complained of heart pains (he never was given the aspirin, the suit alleges); and that a defibrillator malfunctioned because of a defective battery after Samuels collapsed with apparent cardiac failure at the jail. A 2008 state Commission of Correction report, obtained through the Freedom of Information Law, also faulted jail officials and Correctional Medical Services Inc. in the death of Samuels, who was 42 when he died on May 5, 2007. The commission provides oversight of conditions in jail and prison facilities. The commission recommended a disciplinary investigation into the actions of a nurse for several lapses, including "failure to complete an initial medical assessment of a known cardiac patient." A letter from Correctional Medical Services officials to the commission says the company did fire the nurse after Samuels' death. A spokesman for Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said the sheriff would not comment on pending litigation. However, in a response to the commission report, O'Flynn defended the actions of jail employees. For instance, the commission criticized jail officials for the fact that Samuels did not see a facility physician from the time he was admitted to the jail until his death nine days later. O'Flynn noted in his response that state regulations say each inmate should be seen by a physician within 14 days of admission, meaning the jail did comply "with the applicable standards of care." Attorney Mark Valerio, who filed the lawsuit for the Samuels' family and fielded questions on their behalf, said jail medical officials clearly erred by not dealing with Samuels' known heart issues. "The main concern is that this was a known heart patient," Valerio said. "He was on heart medication. He was not given those medications the nine days prior to his death. "That should not have happened," he said. According to commission records, Samuels did submit a sick call request and was scheduled for a May 8 visit to the jail physician. The commission said Samuels told a deputy that the date should be fine because he did have possession of "my nitro pills." The lawsuit contends that Samuels was denied other medication he needed to control his heart condition. When Samuels collapsed at the jail the morning of May 5 he could not be revived with a defibrillator "due to the fact that the battery in the device was defective," the lawsuit states. The county no longer contracts with Correctional Medical Service, or CMS, for jail medical care. The letter from CMS officials to the Commission of Correction outlines improvements the company made after Samuels' death while stating that these "subsequent remedial measures" should not be construed as "an admission of negligence or intentional fault."

August 23, 2007 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
A state commission has concluded that a private company gave inadequate mental health treatment to a teenager who hanged himself in Monroe County Jail. A report by the state Commission of Correction stopped short of saying that Correctional Medical Services Inc. of St. Louis, which contracts with the county to provide medical care to jail inmates, was responsible for the death of 16-year-old Javon Leggett on Aug. 29, 2004. But the report charged that: A Correctional Medical Services employee who wasn't trained to deal with high-risk inmates or depressed adolescents was assigned to Leggett after what might have been a previous suicide attempt six weeks before Leggett's death. Leggett wasn't referred for follow-up mental health care or medication even though he was interested in both, and was removed from suicide watch three days after the apparent suicide attempt. The company was at fault for failing to provide properly trained mental health providers and recommended that Monroe County review whether it should continue to retain the company. Despite the report, however, the county renewed its contract with Correctional Medical Services on Jan. 1. The one-year extension was for $7.5 million. The report marks the second time that a state investigation into an inmate death at the jail has sharply criticized private companies for inadequate medical or mental health care. In May 2002, the Commission of Correction said inmate Candace Brown died in September 2000 when she received "grossly and flagrantly inadequate care" from Prison Health Services Inc. after her opiate withdrawal was untreated. Prison Health Services of Brentwood, Tenn., provided care in the jail from 2000 to 2004, when Correctional Medical Services replaced it with a three-year, $17.7 million contract approved by the County Legislature. Prison Health Services agreed to pay $450,000 to Brown's family to settle a lawsuit. The report on Leggett's death, issued in March 2005, was kept private until it was filed earlier this year as part of a lawsuit against the county and Correctional Medical Services by Leggett's mother, Loretta Leggett. Rochester lawyer Van Henri White, who represents Loretta Leggett, said the critical report has prompted him to seek a settlement with the county and the company. "They've refused to talk about settlement," he said. "I've tried everything to convince these people that this is a case that should be settled." A spokesman for the county declined to comment about the case because it involves pending litigation. A spokesman for Correctional Medical Services said he couldn't comment about the case because it involves confidential mental health records. Both the county and the company have filed legal papers seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that they acted properly. In its papers, Correctional Medical Services said its care to Leggett met or exceeded the standard of care and maintained that it's uncertain whether Leggett committed suicide or accidentally hanged himself while attempting to get transferred from the jail to Rochester Psychiatric Center. Leggett was charged in May 2004 with assault and robbery. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 20, 2004, and was expected to receive five years' probation and six months in jail. But a deputy found him dead in his cell, hanging from a sheet tied around his neck, on Aug. 29, 2004. Six weeks earlier — on July 16, 2004 — Leggett was found under his bunk in what was documented in medical records as an attempted hanging. Leggett, who had a sheet around his neck, said he was stressed out but denied a suicide attempt. Correctional Medical Services assigned an employee who had a master's degree in social work — but was unlicensed — to perform a "lethality assessment" of Leggett to determine whether Leggett was in danger of committing suicide. Leggett was watched constantly as a suicide risk until July 22, when the social worker decided Leggett was feeling better. After seeing the social worker again on July 26, Leggett had no more mental health follow-ups, the Commission of Correction said in its report. "Overall, the evolution and treatment afforded Leggett was inadequate," the report said. "There was no referral to a psychiatrist, psychologist and nurse practitioner to evaluate Leggett for medication. There was no treatment plan, no follow-up for release after constant supervision, no monitoring, no medication."

December 3, 2003
A proposed contract to hire Correctional Medical Services Inc. to provide health care at Monroe County jails was approved by a 6-to-1 vote Monday by the County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee.  County Executive Jack Doyle asked legislators to approve a three-year contract for $17.7 million with Correctional Medical Services, which is based in St. Louis and operates in 28 states.  Democratic legislators began Monday’s hearing by raising questions about the company’s record and the wisdom of continuing to put medical care for the jail in the hands of a private company.  “I have some extremely grave concerns about this particular service,” said Legislator Carla Palumbo, D-Rochester.  But after a 1½-hour presentation by county officials and representatives of Correctional Medical Services, Palumbo cast the only dissenting vote.  The proposed contract is also scheduled to be reviewed by the legislature’s Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday and could be voted on by the full legislature next Tuesday.  Maj. John Caceci of the Sheriff’s Office said that the level of care would be much higher than now provided. And Ann V. Mack, regional vice president for Correctional Medical Services, said that there would be an outside monitor to oversee the care provided.  “The bottom line is that we’re going to get more mental health and health care,” said Legislator H. Todd Bullard, D-Rochester.  Questions about Correctional Medical Services were recently raised by the state Commission of Correction, the state’s watchdog for jails and prisons.  Frederick C. Lamy, chairman of the medical review board of the commission, faulted Correctional Medical Services for violations of nursing practice rules, severe understaffing, extraordinary high turnover rates and resistance to oversight scrutiny.  Lamy also said that Correctional Medical Services and other for-profit companies doing similar work could be engaged in the unlawful corporate practice of medicine, nursing and pharmacy in the state. That’s because state law does not authorize such activities.  The state Education Department, which licenses medical professionals, is looking into this matter.  Karen Butler, a lawyer representing Correctional Medical Services, said at Monday’s hearing that the doctors hired by the company are similar to “independent contractors.”  Correctional Medical Services would take the place of Prison Health Services, another private company that was criticized by the Commission of Correction for its care of an inmate who died in the Monroe County Correctional Facility in 2000 after her opiate withdrawal went untreated.  Meanwhile, lawmakers continued to meet in their caucuses Monday as Republican legislators try to come up with a budget proposal for 2004.  Legislators will resume meeting at 6:30 p.m. today.  (Rochester)

November 22, 2003
The company that Monroe County government wants to hire to provide medical services in its jails has come under fire for inadequate care in connection with two inmate suicides in Broome County, says the state commission that oversees jails.  County Executive Jack Doyle has recently asked the County Legislature to approve a three-year, $17.7 million contract with Correctional Medical Services Inc. Lawmakers could vote as early as next month.  The concerns of the New York State Commission of Correction were spelled out in a Sept. 23 letter from Frederick C. Lamy, chairman of the commission’s seven-member Medical Review Board, to the state Education Department, which licenses nurses and doctors. The letter and the Commission of Correction’s two reports of inmate deaths were obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle under the state Freedom of Information Law.  Lamy writes that the commission’s inquiry into “this corporation have revealed numerous and significant quality of care issues, including violations of nursing practice rules, severe understaffing … a resistance to oversight scrutiny and some severely problematic outcomes.”  Lamy also said that Correctional Medical Services could be engaged in the unlawful corporate practice of medicine, nursing and pharmacy in New York.  The commission questions whether Correctional Medical Services, and other for-profit companies doing similar work in jails and prisons, can hire licensed medical professionals to provide services to jail inmates because state law does not authorize such activities.  Correctional Medical Services would be responsible for providing the care that another private company, Prison Health Services of Tennessee, has provided in Monroe County jails. However, Correctional Medical Services would be expected to provide the mental health care at the jails now done by the county.  The care provided by Prison Health Services was sharply criticized by the Commission of Correction in 2001 in its review of the circumstances surrounding the death of inmate Candace Brown. Brown died in September 2000 at the county Correctional Facility after her opiate withdrawal went untreated.  The commission blamed Brown’s death on “grossly and flagrantly inadequate” medical care. This past May, according to court records, a settlement was reached after Brown’s daughter sued Prison Health Services and Monroe County officials. Prison Health Services agreed to pay $450,000 to Brown’s family.  (Democrat and Chronicle)

March 30, 2001
Inmate Candace Brown's death has raised questions about the private company Monroe County lawmakers hired two years ago to run the jail's medical operation.  In 1999, county lawmakers approved a three-year, $9 million contract that turned over the jail's medical services to Prison Health Services of  Tennessee.  Until then, county employees had provided most of the services.  Sheriff Andrew Meloni had urged the contract even as jail medical personnel and union leaders warned that the company had a checkered past and would likely rely on less-experienced staff as a way to save money.  A report released yesterday by the state Commission of Correction about Brown's death indicated that the county ought to reconsider whether the private company should continue running the jail's medical operation.  One of the major concerns raised by the prison watchdog commission was that licensed practical nurses were on duty without oversight by registered nurses, who have more training and expertise in emergency situations.  The commission cited the lack of expertise as a reason no one aided Brown who was suffering from heroin withdrawal.  Those who spoke out against privatizing jail medical services two years ago, now say they warned of this possibility.  " We said they would reduce the quality of care.  We were concerned in a cost-cutting effort they would use only  (licensed practical nurses)," said Florence Tripi, regional director of the Civil Service Employees Association, who was Monroe County's CSEA chief in 1999.  Dr. William Morehouse, who had worked part time as a physician at the jail before the private company took over, had also cautioned the county to go slowly on the approval of the contract.  " I thought that (the private company) had cut too much money out of the medical budget, " Morehouse recalled about his 1999 testimony to the County Legislature.  County Legislator Stephanie Aldersley, D- Irondequoit, had called for tabling the contract to investigate the history of the company.  But the Republican-controlled legislature approved the contract by a largely party line vote.  " We thought it was a bad decision at the time and this, sadly, bears that out," Aldersley said yesterday.  Still, the Commission of Correction said it was troubled by the company's inability to detect the questionable disciplinary record of a licensed practical nurse who was on duty.  (Democrat and Chronicle)

Le Marquis Community Correctional Center
New York
Correctional Services Corporation
January 20, 2003
Dismissal denied private prison company in sexual abuse case Four former inmates of a halfway house operated by a private company under contract to the Federal Bureau of Prisons brought this action to recover for injuries after being sexually abused by a company employee. Background: In 1998, Susan Scainetti, Yvette Adorno, Stephanie Womble and Rosemarie Johnson were federal inmates at a community corrections facility In New York City, Le Marquis Community Correctional Center. The facility is owned, operated and maintained by Correctional Services Corporation, under contract with the BOP. Between Nov. 6 and Dec. 28, 1998, Miguel Carriera, an inmate counselor And CSC employee, allegedly lured the individual inmates individually into his office and sexually assaulted them. The assaults were facilitated by the fact that Carriera's office was at the end of a hallway and was isolated by double doors though which no sound could be heard. Within two years after the alleged sexual assaults, the inmates filed claims with the BOP for damages. When no settlement was offered, Scainetti filed suit, and CSC moved to dismiss. Company representatives said the claim was time-barred. Ruling: On its face, the three-year statue of limitations barred Scainetti's claims, since her complaint was filed three years and three days after the date of the alleged assault. However, after filing her complaint, Scainetti received BOP records under a Freedom of Information request that showed she originally complained about The incidents on Dec. 30, 1998. Scainetti had told investigators that Carriera had made numerous sexual advances toward her and others over a period several months. She said the sexual assaults occurred on at least four occasions, "from sometime in October through December 1998." Since the alleged assaults continued through December 1998, at least some - if not all - of the assaults were within the statute of limitations, the court said. The CSC's motion to dismiss was denied. Scainetti, et al., v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, et al., No. Civ. 9970(SHS) (S.D.N.Y. 12/18/02). (Corrections Professional)

December 26, 2002
FORMER INMATES of a community confinement center operated by a private company under contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons brought this action to recover his injuries they suffered when allegedly sexually abused by an employee of that company. The court rejected defendant Correctional Services Corp.'s motion to dismiss, holding that a corporation that runs a correctional center for the federal government cannot invoke the government contractor defense. The court noted that the Second Circuit found that the defense "only shields a government contractor from claims arising out of its actions where the government has exercised its discretion and judgment in approving precise specifications to which the contractor must adhere." The instant court added that a contractor can still be found liable where it exceeded authority given it by the federal government, or "where the federal government's authority was not validly conferred." (New York Law Journal)

New York Department of Education
May 11, 2005 New York Times
State officials have opened an investigation into whether the corporation that provides health care for more than 100,000 inmates each year in New York City jails is violating state law governing medical services. The State Department of Education, which regulates the practice of medicine, is examining the terms of the three-year, $300 million contract renewal the city signed in December with the corporation, Prison Health Services. The inquiry will determine whether the contract complies with a state requirement that for-profit corporations providing medical services be owned and controlled by doctors - a law intended to prevent business considerations, like maximizing profits, from influencing medical decisions. Prison Health executives and the city officials who oversee the company's work say they believe that the contract is in compliance. But state education officials say the matter of who is in charge is a serious one, with grave repercussions for the well-being and survival of inmates, as well as the public health. The investigation, in fact, marks a renewed effort by the Education Department, which first began to look into the Tennessee-based corporation in 2001, after several inmate deaths in upstate jails staffed by Prison Health began to draw stinging criticism from the State Commission of Correction, which monitors jail conditions. The department's investigators concluded then that Prison Health was violating the state law, saying that company executives were ultimately responsible for medical decisions and profiting from medical services. The two agencies asked the state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, to halt the company's operations in New York, but Mr. Spitzer's office has declined to investigate. Now, however, education officials have decided to look into the company's largest contract of scores across the country, providing medical and mental health care at nine city jails on Rikers Island and a 10th in Lower Manhattan. On April 20, Education Department investigators met with three state assemblymen, city health officials and Richard Rifkin, a deputy to Mr. Spitzer, to discuss Prison Health's legal status. The Assembly members at the session were Richard N. Gottfried, chairman of the Assembly's Health Committee; Jeffrion L. Aubry, chairman of the Correction Committee; and Ron Canestrari, chairman of the Higher Education Committee. Assemblyman Canestrari said Prison Health appeared to be in violation of the state law governing for-profit medical services. "My understanding is their structure doesn't comply with the law," he said in an interview last week. "There have been attempts to meet the legal standard, but they have fallen short." But company officials insist doctors are in charge of medical decisions. In New York City, Prison Health says it provides only administrative services to a doctor-run corporation, P. H. S. Medical Services P. C., that directs all medical care at Rikers. But that corporation is run by Dr. Trevor Parks, who is a regional medical director for Prison Health. State education investigators have called Dr. Parks's corporation a sham, and said that when they questioned him, he had only a vague idea of his role in it. Several Prison Health employees at Rikers said in interviews that Dr. Parks recently gathered a group of supervising doctors there and informed them that they were employees of his corporation. Dr. Parks declined to comment yesterday.

New York Legislature
Wackenhut (Group 4)
July 24, 2007 The Chief-Leader
Governor Spitzer has signed into law a bill prohibiting the privatization of security posts in state jails. The measure, which was vetoed four times by former Governor Pataki, bars the state Department of Correctional Services from replacing Correctional Officers with private guards.

December 7, 2005 WWTI
Delays in issuing contracts for guard services continues to raise the security risks for state employees and people visiting state buildings while wasting taxpayer funds. That's according to state Comptroller Alan Hevesi's office. A state comptroller's audit conducted in 2001 and 2002 found that private security companies hired by the State's Office of General Services provided hundreds of unlicensed and unqualified guards to protect state buildings, universities and other facilities. In response, OGS awarded "emergency" contracts for guard services to Burns International Security Services and the Wackenhut Corporation in June 2002. OGS later agreed to rebid security contracts to find permanent security providers. So far, they have not, even as security remains a high-priority issue.

November 30, 2003
For the third straight year, Gov. George Pataki has vetoed a bill that would prohibit privatized prisons in New York state.  While the governor said in a veto message issued Wednesday that "I strongly support" state and local government employees staffing prisons and jails, he argued that the bill has technical flaws and omissions that necessitated his veto.  Among them was uncertainty whether the authors intended the measure to apply to the prison-like facilities for juveniles operated by the state Division for Youth, investigators employed by district attorney's offices or to cell block attendants employed by the city of Buffalo.  Pataki said while the 2003 bill is an improvement over the measures he rejected in 2001 and 2002, "I am constrained to disapprove this bill because it fails to fully address the concerns raised in my prior veto messages."  The bill might also "undermine" legislation Pataki recently signed to prevent privatization of New York City lockups, the governor said.  The union representing most state prison guards, the state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, criticized Pataki for again basing a veto on "legal glitches" he found in the bill. The measure had wide support in the Legislature again this year, the union noted.  "Prison privatization is fraught with threats to public safety," the union said in a statement.  (AP)

Rikers Island
New York, NY
Prison Health Services
September 19, 2008 New York Sun
A former substance abuse counselor at Rikers Island faces felony charges after allegedly attempting to smuggle heroin and cocaine into the prison, Department of Investigation officials announced yesterday. Juan Delarosa, 56, of Brooklyn, was arrested in February at the entrance to Rikers Island with 109 packets of heroin and two bags of cocaine, officials said. According to the DOI, he worked at the prison as a substance abuse counselor through an independent contractor, Prison Health Services. He is being charged with attempted promoting of prison contraband in the first degree, as well as misdemeanor contraband charges. "It's appalling that a person paid to counsel inmates against drug abuse is charged with trying to smuggle heroin and cocaine into the jail, the exact opposite of what he was paid to do," the DOI commissioner, Rose Gill Hearn, said in a statement yesterday.

June 2008 Gotham Gazette
Six months ago, Prison Health Services -- the private, for profit company that manages health care in 10 of the city's 11 jails -- got a raise. The Tennessee-based corporation, which has a virtual monopoly on health care in prisons nationwide, saw its payments increase by more than 10 percent -- a figure that has been adjusted for inflation -- since its previous agreement with the city in 2005. That boost, which city officials attribute to cost of living increases, came despite the company's failure to meet at least 15 percent of its performance standards set by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene between 2006 and 2008. On several occasions, the company has not met one in four of its performance indicators, which range from HIV care to completing intake histories and conducting physical exams, according to quarterly review reports from the department. Because of this performance, the city has fined Prison Health Services for the past three years in a row. While many advocates agree that care on Rikers Island has improved since it was run by a private hospital a decade ago, others say the city's jails still do not provide quality health care. Whether because of a lack of leadership or the challenges of dealing with a transient, often mentally ill, population, quality health care is as isolated from Rikers' inmates as the island itself is from most New Yorkers. The Quality Gap -- Prison Health Services just kicked off its third, three-year contract with the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The price tag: $366 million. As part of that contract, the health department issues quarterly performance review reports, evaluating whether the corporation has substantially met or failed to meet certain health care criteria. The reviews cover care of people who are HIV positive, women's health, asthma care, confidentiality, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and more. The measurements are gleaned from a review of 9,000 records per quarter, said Louise Cohen, deputy commissioner for health care access and improvement at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. These records assess Prison Health's performance through 40 indicators, some of which are analyzed by a random sample. In its last two years of service to the city, the time leading up to the contract renewal, Prison Health Services has continuously failed to meet a handful of city standards -- some more than others. In six of the eight quarters from January 2006 through December 2007, Prison Health Services did not properly follow up on certain HIV treatment testing . Some inmates, Cohen said, received these follow-up tests several days late. For five consecutive quarters, until mid-2007, the corporation did not meet standards for taking inmates' histories when they arrive at Riker's. Some of this can be attributed to skipping elements of the procedure's paperwork, said Cohen. On average, Prison Health complied with the department's intake standards about 61 percent of the time during that period. Now that the department is rolling out an electronic intake system, Cohen said, that process should run more smoothly. The Bloomberg administration requires that every inmate receive an intake physical within 24 hours of arrival on the island . According to the Mayor's Management Report, more than 89,000 intake exams were given in fiscal year 2007 -- that out of approximately 100,000 annual admissions. For three out of four quarters in 2007, Prison Health also did not meet standards for follow-up care for inmates in segregated housing. Cohen said this was due to security concerns in one facility that may have skewed the entire performance results. Due to all of the unmet criteria in 2007, Prison Health was fined $244,000. In 2006, the corporation was fined $299,500 and $249,500 in 2005. While some areas of care are problematic, the company has met criteria in others. For instance, women's care has received nearly a 100 percent compliance rate over the entire two-year period. This care includes cancer screenings, prenatal care and sonograms. Prison Health has also consistently tested for sexually transmitted diseases during an inmate's admission to Rikers. "We're more concerned than anyone in making sure that we have the right quality of care," said Cohen. "We are actually meeting the community standard in many cases and exceeding it in a number of others." A spokesperson for Prison Health Services refused to comment for this story and referred any comment to the city's health department. The Measures In Context -- For all of 2007, according to city health records, Prison Health Services met the standards for documenting suicide watches approximately 95 percent of the time. But, that doesn't mean there were no suicides on Rikers Island. There were three, according to the mayor's management report. This is one indication of how performance standards can miss measuring actually quality of care. Prison Health may receive a mark of 100 percent in some areas where but advocates continue to receive complaints about poor health care. Dale Wilker, a staff attorney at the Prisoners' Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society, said by far the most serious complaint from prisoners who have serious ailments, from HIV to heart conditions or asthma, is failing to have continuous access to needed medication. "The biggest complaints I have heard, not in terms of volume but in terms of seriousness, was medicine people are taking and are required to take are interrupted and not started for a period of time," said Wilker. "Since the city got away from using teaching hospitals and went to providers that are in some way to make money and to serve their stockholders, complaints have become much more frequent and much more serious." According to city records, Prison Health Services has met criteria outlined by the health department for several standards that deal with medication or prescription delivery, including long-term medication for asthmatics, the availability of medication within 24 hours after it is prescribed and the timeliness of medication orders for mental health patients. This is not the only area where anecdotal accounts of care contradict measurements by the city. The most frequent complaint of inmates, according to some advocates, is waiting times to get into one of the island's many clinics. Inmates have told the Gotham Gazette they have waited for hours before receiving care, regardless of their condition. On the other hand, the mayor's management report contends for the past three years inmates have waited about a half hour to receive care. A Quality Measurement -- Some say the department's quality performance reviews, while worthwhile, are not an accurate reflection of the quality of care on Rikers nor do they measure what is most important in providing correctional health care. It is difficult to determine whether the compliance record is a result of one box unchecked on an intake form, some say, or more serious failures by Prison Health Services. "For our purposes, in terms of our role, they are not the best items to be using to assess (whether) the things that we care about are being met," said Hildy Simmons, the chair of the city's Board of Corrections, which oversees the city's correctional system. Considering Prison Health Services' contract was just renewed, advocates contend the system must not be so atrocious that Rikers needs another provider -- as was true during the days of St. Barnabas in the early 1990s. "That suggests to me that things weren't bad enough for the department of health to not want to contract with them at all, or maybe they couldn't find another provider," said Wilker, who would like to see the city contract with university-affiliated hospitals. This is partially true. When the city requested contract bids for some of its independent borough facilities last year, no local, nonprofit hospital bid on it, said city health officials. Like any other city contract, Prison Health Services contract goes through a procurement procedure. This three-year contract was a renewal and was not put out to bid, said Cohen. "We think PHS is performing adequately," said Cohen. "We would love to have a local, nonprofit partner. One just isn't stepping up to the plate." The department does review all of its performance criteria on an annual basis to determine, which indicators to concentrate on. And, said Cohen, in any area the corporation fails, it is required to come up with a correction action plan, which the department continues to monitor.

February 29, 2008 New York Times
A substance abuse counselor assigned to a drug treatment unit at Rikers Island has been charged with selling $100 worth of cocaine to an undercover police officer. The counselor, identified in papers filed in Queens Criminal Court as Juan M. Delarosa, 56, was arrested on Jan. 6 at 19th Avenue and Hazen Street, less than a block from the bridge to the Rikers complex. Mr. Delarosa was pulled over by a detective who searched him and found two bundles labeled “Black Gold” in the pocket of his jacket, the court papers said. The two bundles contained 100 packets of heroin, the papers said. They said the detective also found five loose packets marked “Black Label” in Mr. Delarosa’s jacket and six packets in his wallet, as well as two plastic bags of cocaine in a pants pocket. The court papers said that he and an unidentified accomplice had sold an undercover detective $100 worth of cocaine and some pills in East Elmhurst last Oct. 4. The court papers did not explain why the undercover officer did not take Mr. Delarosa and the other person into custody then, nor did they explain how the initial sale came about. His arrest was reported on Wednesday on the Web site of The Village Voice, villagevoice.com. Mr. Delarosa is charged with two felony counts, criminal possession and criminal sale of a controlled substance. His lawyer, Scott Dufault, did not return a call seeking comment. Mr. Delarosa was employed by Prison Health Services, the Tennessee company that has been providing health care to Rikers inmates since 2001. John Van Mol, a spokesman for Prison Health, said the company has “a strict zero tolerance policy on drugs in the workplace.” He said that Mr. Delarosa had been fired and that Prison Health was cooperating with the authorities.

January 19, 2008 El Diario
David Mercado, a confused and distant seventeen year old, should have been placed under special watch as a potential suicide risk when he was sent to Rikers Island to await trial. Queens Criminal Court Judge Gene López ordered that the teenager be treated as a potential danger to himself, as had been recommended by Mercado’s lawyers. Instead, last month, Mercado was placed with 50 other inmates and had access to sheets and other items that someone labeled a potential suicide risk should not have been exposed to. Less than 24 hours later, Mercado was found dead. He hung himself with a bed sheet. Apparently, the judge’s order and that of Mercado’s attorney did not carry enough weight with the New York City Department of Correction. The Department responds that it had its own medical and psychiatric evaluation performed of Mercado and that he was placed in an appropriate unit. The willful disregard of court warnings by Correction bureaucrats is outrageous. That specially designed sheets to prevent inmates from killing themselves could have, should have, been given to Mercado makes his death more tragic. His death also raises serious questions yet again about the competency of the company contracted by the city to administer medical services to inmates, Prison Health Services (PHS). In 2005, PHS was the subject of an investigative series by the New York Times that found repeated instances of medical care that was flawed or negligent. Mercado’s death is under investigation. Arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old girl, he should have had his day in court, and the red flags that were raised about his mental health should have been heeded. Instead, uncaring treatment by a deaf bureaucracy helped to turn his punishment into a death sentence.

June 27, 2007 North Country Gazette
New York City could better manage its $359.4 million contract with Prison Health Services (PHS) by implementing a number of recommendations made in an audit released by the State Comptroller’s office. PHS is in the final year of a three-year contract to provide medical, dental, mental health, and pharmaceutical services at 10 of the city’s 11 jails, which have an average daily population of about 14,000 inmates. Although the New York City Department of Correction operates the facilities, including nine at Rikers Island, the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) oversees the PHS contract. DOHMH reviews inmate medical files daily to determine whether PHS is delivering services as stipulated in the contract, and reports on PHS’s performance on a quarterly basis. If PHS fails to meet performance benchmarks outlined in the contract, DOHMH can require PHS to put corrective action plans in place and levy fines under the contract’s liquidated damages provisions. In 2005, for example, DOHMH levied fines totaling $250,000, which is about five percent of PHS’s $4.75 million administrative fee for that year. Auditors found that more than 25 percent (10 out of 39 in two quarters, and 12 out of 39 in one quarter) of PHS’s performance benchmarks for delivery of care were not met in consecutive evaluation periods. PHS failed to meet benchmark standards in areas including intake medical history and physical exams, dental services, and provision of some HIV-related services for new inmates. Auditors noted specific problems in the following areas: Performance Evaluation. In a review of the process by which DOHMH evaluates PHS’s performance, auditors found that the agency was accurately assessing the contractor’s work. In about half of the areas where corrective action was needed, auditors found that PHS performance had improved and did meet performance standards. But it sometimes took at least two quarters — six months — for services to improve to the contract benchmark levels. Mental Health Documentation. An initial corrective action plan noted the need for more clinical supervisors, especially on weekends. But performance still did not meet benchmarks and a second corrective action plan noted the same staff needs. Intake History and Physical Examination. After failing to meet performance benchmarks in these areas in the first quarter of 2005, a corrective action plan was put in place. But rather than improving, contract compliance fell in the two subsequent quarters. Quarterly Reports. Auditors pointed out that DOHMH’s quarterly reports on contract compliance are not required to be issued within a specific timeframe, and are usually disseminated two to three months after the end of the quarter. Therefore, there is often a one-quarter delay in identifying where corrective action plans are needed and putting them in place. Auditors recommended that DOHMH take action to expedite issuance of the quarterly reports. Corrective Action Plans. In some cases, corrective action plans may be needed even when benchmarks are met. For instance, in the Medical Follow-up Timeliness area, a compliance rate of 93 percent met the terms of the contract, but auditors noted that rate still meant that the contract requirement was not met in 5,600 instances in a nine-month period. Auditors outlined a number of strategies to improve the overall effectiveness of the contract with PHS, including a review of indicators used and acceptable compliance rates, and working more closely with the Department of Correction on specific details of the contract. The audit made several recommendations that, if implemented, would help the City get better value out of the contract through greater compliance by PHS. These improvements could occur through the balance of this contract, and during subsequent agreements with PHS or other vendors. Among the recommendations: expedite efforts to develop electronic medical records; periodically validate a sample of the Service Delivery Assessment Unit’s daily findings; expedite the development and implementation of corrective action plans; and develop an ongoing process for monitoring the effectiveness of corrective action plans. With an extended or new contract required after Dec. 31, 2007, OSC auditors note that the City should consider negotiating stronger liquidated damages provisions. The audit notes that existing penalties — which accounted for only about 5 percent of PHS’ 2005 administrative fee — may be insufficient as compliance incentives. In its response to the audit, DOHMH agreed with some of the auditors’ findings. DOHMH officials noted that the agency used other standards beyond performance indicators to monitor contract compliance, and that a failure by PHS to meet benchmarks is not an indication that medical care was substandard or that inmates lacked medical services. The complete response is included in the audit

November 8, 2006 New York Post
A dozen HIV counselors at Rikers Island got pink slips yesterday - drawing outrage from union officials. Prison Health Services - the for-profit firm that provides inmate health services for the city - said it was eliminating the positions as part of a restructuring involving the city Department of Health. "Eliminating counselors is tantamount to a death sentence for these inmates," said Jennifer Cunningham, vice president of Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers. The DOH confirmed the job cuts but insisted HIV-related services for inmates will not decline. DOH said 25 other staff members, including doctors, will continue to provide testing and counseling. "While the number of HIV counselors has fallen in the past two years, HIV testing, always with informed consent, has more than doubled," the department said.

January 31, 2006 New York Times
The deputy commissioner responsible for the city health department's Medicaid and jail health care programs resigned last Friday after only seven months on the job. His resignation is the latest of several recent departures and reassignments of doctors and administrators who supervised jail medical and mental health services, including the resignation this month of the assistant commissioner who oversaw the jail health program's daily operation. The deputy commissioner, Dr. Arthur N. Gualtieri, 65, left for "undisclosed personal reasons," and did not want to be interviewed, said Sandra Mullin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He is being replaced by an associate commissioner, Louise Cohen, in charge of a departmental program to improve cancer and H.I.V. screening in city hospitals, Ms. Mullin said. But the relatively sudden departure of Dr. Gualtieri — a well-regarded physician and administrator who gave up his $168,774-a-year city post with less than two weeks' notice — has created the perception among inmate advocates and jail clinicians that inmate health services, a complex array of programs that Dr. Frieden has called a priority, are suffering from a lack of leadership. Managing a jail health care program as complex as New York City's is a daunting task for any administrator, one that the city's Tennessee-based medical contractor, Prison Health Services, has often made more difficult, city officials say, since taking over the contract in 2001. With varying degrees of success, city health officials have repeatedly prodded the company to improve its care, particularly for mentally ill and suicidal inmates, six of whom hung themselves during a six-month period in 2003. At the moment, only one of the top two jobs in charge of the health department's jail health care program is filled, and not by a doctor, leaving no one with much experience dealing with inmates' medical problems to monitor Prison Health Services. Recent turnover further down the ranks of the correctional health services unit has only deepened a sense that something is amiss, jail workers say. For instance, Dr. Maria Gbur, the medical director, was hired two months ago, after her predecessor, Dr. Donald Kern, left the job last June after only a year. And the psychiatrist who now runs the unit's mental health program, a crucial post in a city bureaucracy responsible for thousands of mentally ill inmates, was hired just three months ago.

January 27, 2006 New York Times
The Tennessee company that provides health care to city inmates failed to meet one-fourth of its contractual performance standards for a third consecutive quarter last year, city records show. The latest review, completed this month, prompted city health officials to withhold $71,000 in payments to the company, the largest quarterly penalty for poor jail care since 2001. In the third quarter of 2005, the company, Prison Health Services, did not meet medical or mental health standards in 10 of 39 areas, including those covering H.I.V. treatment, mental health care and suicide watch, records show. Six of the 10 clinical standards that the company failed to meet, such as quickly administering drugs to H.I.V.-positive inmates and completing evaluations of mentally ill inmates, have been graded as failing by health department monitors for three consecutive quarters, records show. In response to the continual failing marks, the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which awarded the company a new $300 million, three-year contract in January 2005, raised the financial penalties it imposed on Prison Health by about a third compared with the first and second quarters of 2005. The company was fined $55,000 the first quarter and $52,500 the second. The city's quarterly measurement system has been criticized by some experts in performance measurements who have said it is flawed and unusually lenient.

January 12, 2006 New York Times
The psychiatrist in charge of monitoring medical care in city jails is resigning next week, after only six months on the job. The psychiatrist, Dr. Bruce David, an assistant commissioner in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, is leaving his $166,514-a-year job on Jan. 20 for one with the Nassau County Correctional Facility, where he will direct mental health services, said Sandra Mullin, a spokeswoman. Ms. Mullin said he took the new job because he missed working directly with patients. Dr. David joined the department in January 2004 as its director of jail mental health care, after five years at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, a maximum-security hospital on Wards Island, as director of clinical services. In June, Dr. David, 44, was made director of correctional health services, a unit with a staff of 200 responsible for monitoring the performance of the city jails' medical contractor, Prison Health Services Inc., in 9 jails on Rikers Island and a 10th jail in Lower Manhattan. In the past two years, the monitoring unit issued quarterly report cards that repeatedly gave Prison Health Services a failing grade in several areas including treating diabetes, mental illnesses and acute medical problems. But medical-audit experts also criticized the unit for being too lenient, for bending its own rules for measuring the company's performance and for forgiving clinical mistakes that did not cause significant harm to inmates. It is currently being audited by the state comptroller's office.

December 26, 2005 New York Times
During the five years that a profit-making company, Prison Health Services, has provided medical care in New York City's jails, city health officials have assured the public that they were closely monitoring its work. The centerpiece of that oversight is a quarterly report card that scores the company's performance on all manner of care, a level of scrutiny that the city says is unusually rigorous. And during those years, while state investigators have faulted Prison Health for a rash of inmate suicides in New York, as well as deaths in jails upstate, city health officials have regularly given the company failing grades in many areas, including critical matters like treating diabetes, mental illnesses and acute medical problems. Despite the disturbing reports, city officials say that they have seen improvement, and that they have made their standards even tougher. But a close examination of how the city evaluates Prison Health's work reveals a process that often appears to be slapdash, subjective and lenient. Several experts in health care auditing, as well as doctors and nurses who work in the jails for the city and the company, question whether the report cards provide anything approaching an accurate picture of the medical services that cost New York taxpayers more than $100 million a year. Officials of the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene have repeatedly bent their own rules for measuring the company's performance, forgiving flaws that do not cause significant harm to inmates - and saving the company thousands of dollars in city penalties. The department bases its report card on a review of inmates' medical charts, but lets Prison Health pull the charts itself - a practice that has allowed company employees to fix errors or omissions before city auditors could see the files, said two Prison Health clinicians and three health department employees involved in the process. Now the monitors themselves are being monitored. The state comptroller is auditing how the health department renewed its contract with Prison Health and how it oversees the work, an official in the comptroller's office said this week. "The audit began because the quality of the care has been a source of concern for a number of years," the official said. It beefed up the quarterly report card, setting standards in 39 areas of care; if the company failed to meet any standard 95 percent of the time, it would pay a penalty - usually $2,500 to $5,000 for each failing score. Those penalties could double if the company failed to meet the same standard twice in a row. The two reports issued since then have given Prison Health a total of 22 failing grades, and penalized the company $107,000. Those reports, health officials say, are part of a comprehensive auditing effort that has six auditors in city jails every day reviewing inmates' medical charts. "If there's a core value to the health department currently," Dr. Frieden said during a public meeting in October, "it's that we base our decisions on data." But some of that data is meaningless, because Prison Health employees are able to review it and change it, said four people who work at Rikers - two Prison Health senior clinicians and two auditors who work for the health department's monitoring unit, Correctional Health Services. Those employees were granted anonymity because they said they would be punished for speaking to a reporter. Every day, the health department gives the company a list of patients' charts it wants to review, a common practice in health care auditing. But sometimes, one auditor said, company doctors and supervisors go through the charts, correcting errors and filling in missing information, before handing them over. The auditor said that in one jail, the only way she could keep a physician's assistant from altering charts was to arrive at work first, at 5:30 a.m. Some of the changes the company has made - like adding a signature or checking a box that had been overlooked - are minor, the city auditors said, though such omissions could lead to a failing grade. But sometimes, they said, company supervisors have filled in answers to important questions, like whether the inmate has H.I.V. or a mental illness. "They'll just sit there and check 'no' to everything," without knowing whether the answers are true, said one auditor. But one city auditor said that the alterations were common, and that this year, after a mentally ill inmate died in the prison ward at NYU Downtown Hospital, a Prison Health doctor and mental-health workers went through the inmate's medical records, checking for missing information to fill in. In another incident, in 2003, that auditor said, a Prison Health doctor used correction fluid - a conspicuous violation of basic medical procedure, because chart notes must be crossed out, never erased - to change the date when he reviewed an inmate's abnormal lab test result. The change made it seem as if he had done the review within 24 hours, as required, the auditor said. The auditor said that complaints to health department supervisors had no effect. "It's so totally frustrating how they bend the rules," she said. Even when all the numbers are in, and the audit is completed, the scores are open to revision. Prison Health is allowed to produce what is known as "loose paper," patient information that was missing from the charts during the audit, but later found. Some auditing experts say that is a generally accepted practice in health care reviews. But the two city auditors said that Prison Health had sometimes misrepresented its work by turning in documents that it created after the audit. The company denied this. And even after all that data is assembled and auditors determine the scores, the medical director of Correctional Health Services allows the company to argue in its defense, and sometimes changes the scores if Prison Health makes its case that a particular failing did not harm patients. At least 19 times since 2001, the medical director has excused enough deficiencies in Prison Health's work that a failing score became a passing one, documents show. For example, inmates are supposed to receive a physical examination within four hours after being admitted to Rikers; but the medical director has repeatedly decided to overlook the timing - the whole point of the standard. But one health department manager familiar with the auditing process said the agency was trying to make Prison Health Services look good, because it chose the company. "If P.H.S. looks bad," he said, "we look bad." Indeed, some serious medical lapses have occurred without the city detecting them, said one Prison Health doctor. In April, he said, nurses performed kidney dialysis on inmates for several weeks without a doctor present, as is required. The health department said it was aware of only one incident, in which a nurse dialyzed a patient with a doctor present but without a current order to do so. The nurse was disciplined, the department said. But the incident was not mentioned on the report card for that quarter, and Prison Health was not penalized.

November 22, 2005 New York Times
State officials have reached a preliminary conclusion that New York City's $300 million contract for medical care at Rikers Island is illegal because it violates a state law regulating profit-making medical companies, according to the State Commission of Correction. New York law requires that corporations providing medical services for profit be owned and controlled by doctors, to prevent business considerations from influencing medical decisions. Prison Health Services, the Tennessee company that has been delivering care since 2001 to the 100,000 inmates who pass through Rikers Island every year, is not run by doctors. Officials with the State Commission of Correction, which oversees health standards in New York's prisons and jails, said state investigators informed them in August that they had tentatively determined that the city's multimillion-dollar arrangement with Prison Health was improper. State officials familiar with the city's contract with Prison Health have said that it appeared to violate the state law because it makes doctors at Rikers answerable to Prison Health executives in Tennessee. Prison Health hires all doctors at Rikers. The implications for the city of any formal decision that Prison Health's contract violates the law remain unclear. Last year, the company was among four companies that bid for the city jail health care contract, and all four were profit-making corporations. Lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled State Assembly have said a finding of illegality would require the city to address the state's concerns. Though city health officials have always maintained that the contract is legal, the State Commission of Correction said that investigators with the Education Department informed city officials late last summer that the contract was not legal.

August 25, 2005 New York Daily News
The family of a suicidal man who hanged himself at Rikers Island is suing the city for $45 million, claiming officials ignored signs that he was suicidal. David Pennington, 27, was found July 18, 2004, dangling from a bedsheet tied to his cell-door window at Rikers, where he had been jailed on burglary charges. The suit also names Public Health Services, the Tennessee-based firm that provides health care at the prison. Pennington had a longtime mental illness when he entered Rikers in June 2004, according to the suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court this week. He spiraled into a new depression in Rikers and told a social worker that he had tried to kill himself in the past and that his dad had died by hanging himself in prison, the suit says. He saw staffers three more times over two days, but no one put him on suicide watch or moved him to special housing for mentally ill inmates. Instead, he was sent back to the general prison population, the suit says.

June 10, 2005 New York Times
A recent evaluation of the company in charge of inmate health care at Rikers Island, coming months after it was awarded a new $300 million contract, has found that it has failed to meet a number of the most basic treatment goals. City records showed that the company, Prison Health Services Inc., did not meet standards on practices ranging from H.I.V. and diabetes therapy to the timely distribution of medication to adequately conducting mental health evaluations. The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which oversees the company's work at Rikers Island and at a jail in Lower Manhattan, found that during the first quarter of 2005, Prison Health failed to earn a passing grade on 12 of 39 performance standards the city sets for treating jail inmates. Some of the problems, like incomplete medical records or slipshod evaluations of mentally ill inmates, have been evident since 2004 but have not been corrected, according to health department reports. Other problems identified in the department's review, involving things as serious as the oversight of inmates who have been placed on suicide watch, are more recent or had not been evaluated by city health auditors in the past. As a result, the city is withholding $55,000 in payments to the company, the largest penalty for poor performance it has incurred since 2001, the first year of its work in New York City adult jails.

May 11, 2005 New York Times
State officials have opened an investigation into whether the corporation that provides health care for more than 100,000 inmates each year in New York City jails is violating state law governing medical services. The State Department of Education, which regulates the practice of medicine, is examining the terms of the three-year, $300 million contract renewal the city signed in December with the corporation, Prison Health Services. The inquiry will determine whether the contract complies with a state requirement that for-profit corporations providing medical services be owned and controlled by doctors - a law intended to prevent business considerations, like maximizing profits, from influencing medical decisions. Prison Health executives and the city officials who oversee the company's work say they believe that the contract is in compliance. But state education officials say the matter of who is in charge is a serious one, with grave repercussions for the well-being and survival of inmates, as well as the public health. The investigation, in fact, marks a renewed effort by the Education Department, which first began to look into the Tennessee-based corporation in 2001, after several inmate deaths in upstate jails staffed by Prison Health began to draw stinging criticism from the State Commission of Correction, which monitors jail conditions. The department's investigators concluded then that Prison Health was violating the state law, saying that company executives were ultimately responsible for medical decisions and profiting from medical services. The two agencies asked the state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, to halt the company's operations in New York, but Mr. Spitzer's office has declined to investigate. Now, however, education officials have decided to look into the company's largest contract of scores across the country, providing medical and mental health care at nine city jails on Rikers Island and a 10th in Lower Manhattan. On April 20, Education Department investigators met with three state assemblymen, city health officials and Richard Rifkin, a deputy to Mr. Spitzer, to discuss Prison Health's legal status. The Assembly members at the session were Richard N. Gottfried, chairman of the Assembly's Health Committee; Jeffrion L. Aubry, chairman of the Correction Committee; and Ron Canestrari, chairman of the Higher Education Committee. Assemblyman Canestrari said Prison Health appeared to be in violation of the state law governing for-profit medical services. "My understanding is their structure doesn't comply with the law," he said in an interview last week. "There have been attempts to meet the legal standard, but they have fallen short." But company officials insist doctors are in charge of medical decisions. In New York City, Prison Health says it provides only administrative services to a doctor-run corporation, P. H. S. Medical Services P. C., that directs all medical care at Rikers. But that corporation is run by Dr. Trevor Parks, who is a regional medical director for Prison Health. State education investigators have called Dr. Parks's corporation a sham, and said that when they questioned him, he had only a vague idea of his role in it. Several Prison Health employees at Rikers said in interviews that Dr. Parks recently gathered a group of supervising doctors there and informed them that they were employees of his corporation. Dr. Parks declined to comment yesterday.

April 4, 2005 New York Times
It was 2:50 p.m. on July 18, 2004, when David Pennington, a 27-year-old small-time thief in jail on a third-degree burglary charge, was sent from a clinic back to his cell at Rikers Island 's largest jail. During the previous three days, jail doctors had received ample evidence showing that Mr. Pennington should not be left alone. Two days earlier, according to investigators, he had told a social worker at Rikers about two attempts to kill himself, about his psychiatric hospitalizations, about his father, who had killed himself in prison. Near the end, Mr. Pennington, increasingly agitated, had even told a jail doctor that he was hearing voices and was thinking again of killing himself. Still, Mr. Pennington was sent back from a Rikers mental health clinic to what is called the jail's general population - Cell 26 in Quad 14 - without any special instructions to correction officers or medical staff to keep a close eye on him. In fact, state investigators later discovered, Mr. Pennington was returned to his cell after a jail psychiatrist, despite being alerted by another doctor, chose not to examine him. Six and a half hours later, jail officers heard a commotion outside Cell 26. Inmates were gathered around the locked cell door, yelling for help. The officers rushed over to find Mr. Pennington slumped against the door, hanging from a bedsheet tied to the door's small window. He was brain dead, and three days later, at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens , his family had him removed from life support. In the view of state investigators, Mr. Pennington was another casualty of the sometimes deadly mistakes made by the Tennessee company hired to provide health care at Rikers, and to thereby tackle the problem of the growing number of mentally ill inmates who populate the jail, a sprawling complex in the East River . Over the past four years, in a series of increasingly urgent reports, the New York State Commission of Correction has excoriated the company, Prison Health Services, for mistakes in the care of 23 inmates who died in city and upstate jails. The commission, which is appointed by the governor to oversee jail and prison standards, has repeatedly condemned Prison Health for flouting state medical standards, hiring poorly qualified doctors and nurses and failing to properly treat several of its sickest patients, who eventually committed suicide - the leading cause of death in American jails. In its report on Mr. Pennington, made available to the public last week, the commission issued some of its harshest criticism of the company, calling its care of Mr. Pennington "flagrantly inadequate," and again asserting that the company was practicing in the state in violation of the law because executives in Tennessee, and not doctors at Rikers Island, were ultimately in charge of dispensing care. In a letter accompanying the report, the commission also criticized the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which monitors Prison Health's work at Rikers, for excusing the company's errors and for what it said is the company's continuing improper operations in the state. "This deliberate refusal to provide treatment to patient with active suicidal ideation who was directly referred by another physician constitutes professional medical misconduct on the part of the psychiatrist and flagrantly inadequate mental health care by PHS, Inc.," the state report said. Prison Health Services fired the psychiatrist three months later, for reasons that a company spokeswoman said were unrelated to Mr. Pennington's death.

March 25, 2005 New York Times
A 25-year-old inmate hanged himself in a jail cell on Rikers Island last Friday, a Correction Department spokesman said yesterday. The suicide is the second in the city jail system this year and the fifth in the last 12 months. The inmate, Charon Watkins, had been assigned to what is known at Rikers as the punitive segregation unit, a set of cells meant to hold the most troubled or disruptive prisoners at the jail complex. He hanged himself with a torn bed sheet that he had tied to a sink faucet in his cell at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center , said Thomas Antenen, the Correction Department spokesman. Indeed, since 2001, investigators responsible for monitoring jails in the state have become increasingly critical of mistakes at Rikers in overseeing and treating mentally ill inmates, some of whom later killed themselves in their cells. Several state reports repeatedly urged city and Correction Department officials to follow state-issued regulations devised to reduce inmate suicides, and to punish inappropriate medical and mental health care that might have contributed to jail deaths. After six suicides in the first half of 2003, investigators from the New York State Commission of Correction, a panel appointed by the governor to review every inmate death, saved some harsh criticism for Prison Health Services, the publicly held profit-making company that has been paid hundreds of millions of dollars since 2001 to provide medical and mental care at the city's jails.

June 15, 2001
Medical treatment given to 13, 500 city inmates is not improving as quickly as city officials had hoped when they hired a Tennessee-based, for-profit company six months ago to revamp medical and mental health services at Rikers Island, officials on an oversight board said yesterday.  The death this week of a 37-year-old inmate who had to wait an hour and 10 minutes before an ambulance was called has only heightened broader concerns about the performance of the company, Prison Health Services.  Members of the Board of Correction, a citizens' committee appointed by the mayor and the City Council to monitor treatment of inmates, discussed several incidents yesterday at their monthly meeting, including the escape of a prisoner on Wednesday, the suicide of an inmate on May 22, a recent accidental gun discharge by a correction officer and a fight between two captains at the Brooklyn House of Detention. They also discussed the death on Tuesday of Anthony Rizzo of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the third inmate to die this year after being attacked by another prisoner.  ( The New York Times)

Schenectady County Jail
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady Family Health Services (former run by Prison Health Services)
December 31, 2005 The Times Union
A federal judge has dramatically reduced the $782,988 award a jury gave a former jail inmate who claimed his heart attack was improperly treated by officials at the Schenectady and Schoharie county jails and by the medical company hired to handle prisoner medical care at the Schenectady facility. U.S. District Judge Donald E. Walter set aside $632,988 in punitive damages that a jury in July awarded to Byron Lake, now 59 years old. Lake claimed his caregivers and the jails violated his civil rights by delaying his access to medical care while he was incarcerated six years ago. In his ruling signed Thursday, Walter deferred to the jury's "inference" that Schenectady County and EMSA Government Services, which has since been purchased by Prison Health Service, acted with deliberate indifference to Lake's medical needs. But the judge found that none of the defendants acted with "malicious or callous indifference to Lake's medical needs," and he overturned the award for punitive damages. Walter upheld the jury's award of $150,000 in compensatory damages and legal fees to Lake. Lake's attorney said it was too soon to say whether there will be an appeal.

August 9, 2005 WNYT
The Schenectady County Sheriff released a report on his own jail Tuesday after the death of an inmate last week. Sheriff Harry Buffardi gave a copy of his report to NewsChannel 13 because he felt it was his duty as a public official and as a member of law enforcement. Last Wednesday the inmate was transported from the jail to Ellis Hospital where she was pronounced dead.  She had undergone open heart surgery at Ellis a few days earlier, but the sheriff maintains it was the treatment at the jail by the contracted medical provider that was the problem. Thirty-nine-year-old Laura Woolsey was being held at the Schenectady County Correctional Facility since last September on manslaughter charges. The sheriff's report maintains that at 7:45 a.m. on Aug. 3, Woolsey began presenting cardiac problems and a member of his corrections staff notified the on-call nurse with the jail's contracted medical provider, Schenectady Family Health Services. Twenty minutes later that nurse was re-notified that the patient appeared to be worsening.  A second nurse then administered medication. By 10:20 p.m. Woolsey went into total cardiac arrest.  Paramedics with the Schenectady Fire Department responded, but were instructed by SFHS staff to not perform chest compressions because of her recent surgery. The surgeon who performed the open heart procedure later told a sheriff's investigator that decision was contrary to sound medical emergency procedures. The sheriff says his department signed on with SFHS within the last year after not renewing a contract with the previous medical provider following an inmate death there in 2001.

August 8, 2005 The Empire Journal
The state Commission on Corrections is investigating the death of an inmate at Schenectady County Jail and the head nurse on duty on the time of the death has been banned from the jail, according to Schenectady County Sheriff Harry Buffardi. Laura Woolsey, 39, who was awaiting sentencing on second degree murder charges after admitting the stabbing death of her boyfriend James Flomer, was found unresponsive in her cell Wednesday. According to an announcement by Buffardi, head nurse Loraine Walker allegedly told paramedics from the Schenectady Fire Department who responded to the emergency call at the jail not to do chest compressions on Woolsey in an effort to save her life. Buffardi said that “she gave direction under orders of the doctor that she (Woolsey) couldn’t receive chest compressions and that’s not true.  He never gave such an order” Walker is reportedly employed by Schenectady Family Health Services which is under contract with the county to provide medical services at the jail.  The agency is reportedly conducting its own investigation of the incident. The jail has no infirmary.  Schenectady Family Health became the jail’s medical provider last year after ending its contract with Prison Health Services. In mid-July, a federal court jury awarded $782,988 to Bryan Lake, 59, who sued Prison Health Services, Schenectady and Schoharie Counties for negligence in not treating him for a heart attack which went undiagnosed for several days in August, 1998, leaving Lake disabled. In 2004, the state said the jail and Prison Health Services were found negligent in their treatment of Brian Tetrault, 44, who died at the jail in 2001 after PHS failed to give him the medication his needed for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. State investigators called PHS actions “medically reckless” and “flagrantly inadequate”.

July 18, 2005 Times Union
A federal court jury has awarded $782,988 to a former jail inmate who sued Prison Health Services and Schenectady and Schoharie counties for failing to properly treat a heart attack that left him disabled.  Prison Health Service was ordered to pay $632,988 in punitive damages for their treatment of now 59-year-old Byron Lake, who claimed his caregivers and the governments violated his constitutional rights by delaying for days his access to medical care while he was an inmate at the two jails in August 1998. At the time of the incident, Schenectady County's medical service was provided by EMSA Government Services Inc., a firm PHS bought in January 1999.  After a four-day trial in front of visiting U.S. District Court Judge Donald E. Walter, the jury held PHS and the two counties liable for compensatory damages of $150,000 and punitive damages of $632,988.  It was the latest controversy for PHS, which lost its contract with Schenectady County two years ago after another prisoner in the company's care died in treatment state investigators called "medically reckless" and "flagrantly inadequate."  The verdict puts an epitaph on Schenectady County's troubled history with PHS, which has come under withering criticism in other parts of the country for inadequate health care.  The county severed its longtime relationship with PHS in 2004 after the death of another inmate treated at the jail by the Brentwood, Tenn.-based company. Brian Tetrault, 44, died Nov. 20, 2001, several days after jail doctors stopped giving him medication he needed to control Parkinson's disease, according to a report released by the state Commission of Correction.  Tetrault's condition deteriorated steadily over the course of his 10-day incarceration after the medical staff accused him of faking his sickness. Tetrault died of withdrawal, state officials said.  The county later hired Schenectady Family Health Services to run the jail's medical facility.

February 9, 2005 Times Union
Schenectady County has been dropped from a lawsuit filed by the family of a prisoner who died in custody after he was allegedly denied medication to control his Parkinson's disease, said County Attorney Christopher Gardner. Attorneys familiar with the case said the family of the prisoner, Brian Tetrault, and Prison Health Services Inc., which operated the jail's medical services at the time, are negotiating a settlement. Tetrault, 44, died on Nov. 20, 2001, 10 days after being booked for allegedly violating a protection order. The lawsuit, filed by Tetrault's family, contended the inmate was not given medication for his diseases and began having medical problems. He was transferred to Ellis Hospital on Nov. 17 and died three days later. The state Commission of Correction issued a scathing report last July that detailed Tetrault's death, blaming "medically reckless" and "flagrantly inadequate" care by Prison Health Services. The report blasted the jail's head doctor, W.J. "Duke" DuFresne, for altering Tetrault's drug regimen. The state called Tetrault's death "physician-induced." Last year, the county severed its contract with Prison Health and brought in a local medical firm. 

July 2, 2004
"Medically reckless" and "flagrantly inadequate" care by a company hired to provide medical services at the county jail killed a prisoner suffering with Parkinson's disease, according to the state Commission of Correction. A 10-page report on the death of Brian Tetrault's on Nov. 20, 2001, paints a grim picture of the 44-year-old Niskayuna man's final days as he slowly died from withdrawal caused by the refusal of prison doctors to give him the medication that controlled his condition.  The report blasts the jail's head doctor, W. J. "Duke" DuFresne, and his employer, Brentwood, Tenn.-based Prison Health Services Inc., for drastically altering the drug regimen upon which Tetrault relied.  Tetrault's condition deteriorated steadily over the course of his 10-day incarceration after the jail's medical staff accused him of faking his sickness. He spent five days in the jail before the staff realized the severity of his condition and had him admitted to Ellis Hospital, according to the report released Wednesday.  "Mr. Tetrault died from the flagrantly bad medical care afforded him by PHS Inc. and its employees at the Schenectady County jail. His death was physician-induced," Commissioner Frederick C. Lamy wrote in a June 23 letter to the Prison Health Services' Albany attorney, Robin Bartlett Phelan. "This patient had been successfully managed by Albany Medical Center for 10 years. He lasted five days in the Schenectady County Jail under your client's care," the letter stated.  The state commission also accused jail officials of falsifying records to make it appear that Tetrault had been released from their custody before he died in order to evade state reporting requirements, an issue the commission asked District Attorney Robert M. Carney to investigate.  (Times Union)

Shea Stadium
New York
Aramark
May 7, 2007 AP
The New York Mets fan whose back was broken by an apparently drunken 300-pound man who fell on her at Shea Stadium during the team's home opener has filed a lawsuit because of her injuries. Ellen Massey, 58, says in court papers that on April 9 she was in the second row of the right field upper deck near a "visibly intoxicated" man who was "acting in a rowdy, boisterous and dangerous manner for a long period of time." Around 3:30 p.m., court papers say, the man, who has not been found or identified, "in an intoxicated condition fell upon plaintiff causing her to sustain severe personal injuries." Massey's lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, said Monday that the fall by the drunk, who was described as a blond 300-pounder, cracked several of the woman's vertebrae. "He got up and left," apparently uninjured, Kaufman said. "We have information that one of the security people might have spoken to him and let him leave." Two emergency medical technicians sitting directly in front of Massey gave her first aid and comforted her until an ambulance arrived, Kaufman said. Massey underwent surgery for spinal injuries at Jacobi Medical Center and was hospitalized there for about two weeks, Kaufman said. Doctors put rods and screws in her back and will have to operate on her again, he said. Massey was at the game with two adult nephews when the incident occurred between the sixth and seventh innings, with the Mets behind 5-3. The home team went on the beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-5. Massey, a Manhattan lawyer, named Sterling Mets L.P., owner of the baseball team; Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp., the beer vendor; the Service Employees International Union Local 177, whose members are security guards at Shea Stadium, and "John Doe," the unidentified man who fell on her, as defendants. Massey's court papers say that Sterling Mets had a duty to provide reasonable safety for stadium patrons, that Aramark should not have sold alcohol to spectators who appeared to be already drunk and that the union employees should have prevented unruly behavior. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, seeks unspecified money damages for Massey's injuries. The Mets issued a statement about the lawsuit saying, "We believe the claim has no merit." Aramark said it was reviewing the complaint. "We continue to work closely with the Mets and stadium security personnel in investigating this incident," spokeswoman Kristine Grow said.

The Tombs (New York City Jail)
New York, New York
Prison Health Services
January 9, 2009 Village Voice
In 2007, the Voice detailed the death of Oswald Livermore in the city jail known as "the tombs." Livermore died from acute alcohol withdrawal with delirium tremens on May 11 of that year. His family alleged misconduct by guards and medical personnel in connection with the death. Now, the top state agency charged with monitoring jails and prisons has finally issued a detailed report on the incident. Obtained through a Freedom of Information request, the heavily redacted state Commission on Correction report finds that Livermore's death may have been prevented if medical officials in the jails had simply diagnosed the condition and treated it. Medical care in the jails is supplied by Prison Health Services, a private contractor. And according to the commission, they dropped the ball. Commission investigators found that Livermore's condition was not only untreated, but unrecognized--even though his paranoid ramblings and thrashing in his cell were both clear indications that something was seriously wrong. "The conclusions in the report track the allegations in the federal lawsuit, that they failed to comply with their own protocol," says Jonathan Chasen, a Legal Aid lawyer representing Livermore's widow. Specifically, when he was brought into the jail, Livermore reported that he was a heavy drinker. But the person examining him failed to follow a city requirement that a special form be added to his file, the report says. In addition, the medical staffer failed to evaluate him for alcohol withdrawal symptoms--another violation of city rules. Livermore started behaving erratically less than 24 hours after his arrival in the system. At 10 p.m. on May 10, a guard referred him to mental health. While waiting in a holding area, he was anxious, crying, sweating, disoriented and paranoid. A captain ordered him to the medical clinic. What happened there has been redacted, but for some reason, he was ordered back to his cell three hours later. That was a huge mistake. In the cell, Livermore began hitting and kicking the walls and making paranoid statements, the report says. An officer brought him out of his cell, where Livermore promptly ran down a staircase and fell heavily. Then, he began saying that the police were coming to get him, and they wanted to operate on his penis. An officer and an inmate tried to hold him still. He jumped up and ran to the other end of the unit. Two officers forced him to his knees and handcuffed him. What happened after that is redacted. The commission asked the Health Department to investigate the actions of two PHS medical employees, and come up with a way to improve communication in the medical operation at the jails. We called the Department of Correction for comment, but have yet to hear back.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Entergy Nuclear Northeast
Wackenhut
September 22, 2002
Florida-based Wackenhut Corp. provides security services at 28 nuclear plants across the country, but the plant we're most interested in is the "safe, secure and vital" one on the Hudson River known as Indian Point.  They're certainly red with embarrassment over at Wackenhut, though.  Since Sept.11, the "professional nuclear security officers" have been wondering what on earth happened to a certain 9mm Glock semiautomatic handgun that disappeared from a safe and vital lock box.  This is Barney Fife's territory.  Well, at least the Wackenhut guys did'nt leave the gun on the roof of a car, or in Aunt Bea's picnic basket.  Nor, thank God, did they leave it on a control panel inside the plant.  That would be beyond Barney Fife and into the cartoon realm of the incomparably incompetent Homer Simpson.  Larry Gottlieb, the director of communications of Energy Nuclear Northeast, the mega-nuke firm that owns Indian Point, went to great pains yesterday to explain that the gun was not in a "controlled area" when it seemingly walked away eight days ago.Gottlieb held out the possibility that the gun was'nt actually taken at all, but was mistakenly left out of the shipment.  Try this one on for size:  Maybe the Glock had a defective part, a missing spring or something, and you know, maybe somebody shipped it back to the manufacturer and forgot to mention it to a supervisor.  C'mon Larry.  Let's just say it's a good thing they did'nt lose a bazooka, OK?  Riverkeeper, the environmental group that has been strenuously lobbying for the closing of Indian Point, has had a field day with the Glock caper, saying that it can be added to a growing list of security lapses at the plant. Earlier this week, the organization sent out a press release headlined, "Six Days Later, Indian Point Nuclear Plant Owners Still Cannot Find Semiautomatic Weapon."  The release included a misleading statement from Alex Matthissen, Riverkeeper's executive director.  "How can Governor Pataki, Senators Schumer and Clinton expect New Yorkers to feel safe when we live mere miles from a terrorist target which is being 'guarded' by characters right out of an episode of 'The Simpsons,' " Matthissen said.  The statement is misleading because we've already established that the missing gun is a Code Barney mishap, and not a Code Homer, which is a dumber infraction.  Remember last March when a Wackenhut guard got canned after he pulled a gun on another guard as a joke? Now that was a Code Homer. D'oh!  Anyway, shame on you, Alex.  Talk about bad timing. Last week, Entergy sent out a propagandistic mass mailing of its own, quoting James Kallstrom ("Mr. Robust"), the Homeland Security guy who conducted a two-month study of Indian Point.  "This is an extremely safe place," Kallstrom said.  Safe, secure and vital. OK, fine.  But maybe they ought to bring Kallstrom back to find that gun.  (Journal News)

September 14, 2002
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating the disappearance of a semiautomatic handgun from the Indian point 2 power plant, officials said yesterday.  Officials learned that the gun was missing during an inventory check Wednesday, said Jim Steets, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns Indian Point.  The gun belongs to the Wackenhut security firm that patrols Indian Point 2.  The NRC yesterday sent an inspector to the plant to investigate weapons security there.  Wackenhut provides security at several Entergy nuclear plants in the U.S.  In February, a Wackenhut guard, Michael Dahlia, pulled a gun on a colleague, apparently as a joke.  He was charged by state police with second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor.  Wackenhut fired Dahlia and a supervisor, Thomas Jason, for failing to report the incident as required by the NRC.  (Journal News)

Varick Street Detention Facility
Manhattan, New York
Ahtna Technical Services Inc.
November 2, 2009 New York Times
A startling petition arrived at the New York City Bar Association in October 2008, signed by 100 men, all locked up without criminal charges in the middle of Manhattan. In vivid if flawed English, it described cramped, filthy quarters where dire medical needs were ignored and hungry prisoners were put to work for $1 a day. The petitioners were among 250 detainees imprisoned in an immigration jail that few New Yorkers know exists. Above a post office, on the fourth floor of a federal office building in Greenwich Village, the Varick Street Detention Facility takes in 11,000 men a year, most of them longtime New Yorkers facing deportation without a lawyer. Galvanized by the petition, the bar association sent volunteers into the jail to offer legal counsel to detainees — a strategy the Obama administration has embraced as it tries to fix the entire detention system. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement considers the access to legal services at Varick Street as a good model,” said Sean Smith, a spokesman for Janet Napolitano, secretary of homeland security, who oversees immigration enforcement. But the lawyers doing the work have reached a different conclusion, after finding that most detainees with a legal claim to stay in the United States are routinely transferred to more remote jails before they can be helped. The lawyers say their effort has laid bare the fundamental unfairness of a system where immigrant detainees, unlike criminal defendants, can be held without legal representation and moved from state to state without notice. In a report to be issued on Monday, the association’s City Bar Justice Center is calling for all immigrant detainees to be provided with counsel. And an article to be published this month in The Fordham Law Review treats the Varick jail as a case study in the systemic barriers to legal representation. The new focus on Varick highlights the conflict between two forces: the administration’s plans to revamp detention, and current policies that feed the flow of detainees through the system as it is now. A disjointed mix of county jails and privately run prisons, where mistreatment and medical neglect have been widely documented, the detention network churns roughly 400,000 detainees through 32,000 beds each year. “Any attempt to get support or services for them is stymied because you don’t know where they’re going to end up,” said Lynn M. Kelly, the director of the Justice Center. When she asked that the lawyers’ letters of legal advice be forwarded to detainees who had been transferred from Varick, she said the warden balked, saying he had to consider the financial interests of his private shareholders: 1,200 members of a central Alaskan tribe whose dividends are linked to Varick’s profits under a $79 million, three-year federal contract. Federal officials would not discuss their transfer policies, but asked for patience as they try to make the detention system more humane and cost-effective. “We inherited an inadequate detention system from the previous administration that does not meet ICE’s current priorities or needs,” said Matthew Chandler, a Homeland Security spokesman. Officials say they are committed to a complete overhaul, including less-penal detention centers with better access to lawyers. The volunteer lawyers and the petition’s author, an ailing refugee from torture in Romania who spent eight months inside Varick, say many problems persist there, though the added scrutiny has led to improvements. Detainees who want a Gideon Bible no longer have to pay the commissary $7. Immigration officials are more responsive when a lawyer complains that a detainee in pain is not getting treatment. But most detainees do not have a lawyer, and the few who do include men who have fallen prey to incompetent or fraudulent practitioners. Recurrent complaints include frigid temperatures, mildew and meals that leave detainees hungry and willing to clean for $1 a day to pay for commissary food. That wage is specified in the contract with the Alaskan company, which budgeted 23,000 days of such work the first year, and collects a daily rate of $227.68 for each detainee. The Alaska connection is one of the stranger twists in the jail’s fitful history. Opened as a federal immigration detention center in 1984, Varick became chronically overcrowded after 1998, when new laws mandated the detention of all noncitizens who had ever committed a crime on a list of deportable offenses, expanded to include misdemeanors like drug possession. A Dominican man there died of untreated pneumonia in 1999 — the first reported death in the nationwide detention system, which now counts 106 since October 2003. The Varick facility, which is on the corner of Houston Street, fell short of national detention standards adopted in 2000, because it lacks any outdoor recreation space. But under a grandfather clause, it was allowed to remain open until 9/11, when the terror attack, blocks away, forced its evacuation. For years, it was shuttered. It quietly reopened in February 2008, operated by Ahtna Technical Services Inc., a subsidiary of Ahtna Inc. — still with no access to fresh air. As an Alaska Native corporation, Ahtna has won numerous federal contracts without having to compete with other companies; last year it paid its tribal shareholders about $500 each in dividends. It hires a Texas subcontractor to supply guards and transportation, along with the shackles and belly chains routinely used on detainees being moved in or out. Varick’s population includes illegal immigrants, asylum-seekers and legal immigrants who face deportation because they have past criminal convictions. Almost half of those screened by the volunteer lawyers have already been in detention for four to six months, according to the bar association report, and nearly 40 percent have legal grounds to contest deportation. A few, the report says, have a possible claim to citizenship, which would make their detention unlawful. But the volunteers, including lawyers from 16 corporate firms, say they can offer only rudimentary legal triage to a handful of detainees a week. The Department of Justice is asking Congress for money to expand the law project, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement invites Washington officials to visit the weekly triage sessions. The agency allowed a reporter to observe a session, but not to tour the jail. On a recent Thursday, only 11 of 35 detainees who had signed up made it into one of five glassed-in booths where they could consult with pairs of legal volunteers. One, a 25-year-old Mexican, had been delivering food for an Italian restaurant on Madison Avenue until his detention. After a week in Varick, the government had not served him with a “notice to appear” telling why he was detained and setting the date and place where he would be heard by an immigration judge. Volunteers were researching his case a week later when he was transferred to Atlanta. It could just as easily have been Louisiana or Texas, far from any free legal help, said Maria Navarro, a Legal Aid lawyer who supervises the volunteers. Even in cities, she said, lawyers are reluctant to represent detainees who may be suddenly moved far away. Another 25-year-old, who had come to New York as a legal immigrant from Belize at age 2, told lawyers he had worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken to support his 5-year-old daughter, a citizen, when his sickle-cell anemia permitted. After a standing huddle, the lawyers told him that because his notice listed old convictions for possession of marijuana, he was ineligible for release on bond or with an electronic monitoring bracelet. A Haitian, who had served time for at least one drug-related offense, had a lawyer but wanted a second opinion after being held in Varick for 16 months. He described himself as a barber, interpreter and legal resident of Brooklyn for 23 years. “It is double jeopardy,” he protested, nursing a swollen jaw with teeth missing. “I become a diabetic here, because of anxiety, stress and suicidal conditions.” Yet a detainee from the former Soviet Union praised the jail. “Varick is heaven” compared with some county jails in New Jersey (Bergen and Monmouth) and Florida, he said, citing abuse by anti-immigrant guards. A century-long line of Supreme Court decisions holds that immigration detention is not a punishment or deprivation of liberty, and does not require legal counsel for fundamental fairness. But Daniel I. Miller, 39, the Romanian whose petition reached the bar association, said his own case showed how high the stakes can be. Mr. Miller, a chef, fled his native land in 1994 after the secret police mutilated him for advocating gay rights. In New York, he had already been paroled for a criminal conviction — for signing his partner’s name on a contract — when immigration authorities detained him. To no avail, records show, his lawyer and an outraged doctor at St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan urged his release from Varick for treatment of tumors on his liver. Instead, he was transferred in April to the Orange County Jail in Goshen, N.Y., where he said he also circulated a petition. The authorities there accused him of trying to start a riot and sent him to segregation with a murder defendant. “These people have no rules, that’s the main problem,” Mr. Miller said, speaking from the Midtown office where he is starting an organic catering business. He credits his lawyer, Howard Brill, for that turnaround: On Sept. 2, after almost a year in custody, an immigration judge granted him the right to stay in the United States.

Wackenhut Detention Center (AKA Queens Private Correctional Facility)
Queens, New York
GEO Group (Formerly Wackenhut Corrections)
July 7, 2009 New York Post
Three prison guards were convicted today of obstructing justice after they beat an inmate who complimented a female guard for her looks. Supervisor Marvin Wells and two other guards were found guilty of staging a cover-up in a split verdict by a Brooklyn federal jury that cleared Wells of using excessive force. The female guard, Krystal Mack, was found not guilty of the conspiracy. During the trial, convicted heroin smuggler Rex Eguridu said the attack occurred after he ran into Mack, 32, at the Queens Private Correctional Facility on April 17, 2007 and told her, "Hello, baby. You look beautiful today." Eguridu said another guard hauled him into a shower room, where Wells ordered the prisoner to strip off his clothes and repeatedly punched his chest and throat. "He said if I ever called an officer 'baby' in his department again he's going to kill me," Eguridu testified last month as he wiped tears from his eyes. After the beating, Wells, 46, forced Eguridu to apologize directly to Mack. The jury rejected prosecutors' claims that Wells violated the inmate's civil rights by beating him. But the panel found that the supervisor and two other guards made false statements to authorities and doctoring reports after Eguridu complained. The jury could not agree on whether Mack tampered with a witness.

June 25, 2009 New York Daily Times
A former inmate at a Queens jail used by the feds testified Wednesday that an innocent remark he made to a female guard - "Hello, baby, you look beautiful today" - led to his brutal beatdown by her enraged supervisor. Rex Eguridu took the stand in Brooklyn Federal Court against Lt. Marvin Wells, charged with using excessive force and covering up the attack. Eguridu, 28, was working the laundry detail at the Queens Private Correctional Facility in Jamaica, on April 17, 2007, when he made the comment to female guard Krystal Mack. The Nigerian national, who was being held on heroin smuggling charges, was marched by Wells into the bathroom shower and ordered to strip naked. Wells allegedly punched him three times in the chest and neck. After the beating, Wells ordered the inmate to kneel in front of Mack and apologize. "[Wells] said if I ever call an officer 'baby' again ... he's going to kill me," Egurido testified. He received an $80,000 settlement from the GEO Group, which operates the jail under a contract with the U.S. Marshal's Service.

November 24, 2008 North Country Gazette
An indictment was unsealed this morning in Brooklyn federal court charging three former correctional officers of the Queens Private Correctional Facility, now known as the Queens Private Detention Facility. Marvin Wells, Stephen Rhodes and Kirby Gray, and a current QPCF officer Krystal Mack have been charged with excessive force and obstruction of justice stemming from the assault of a federal inmate in April 2007. The QPCF is a prison owned and operated by The GEO Group, Inc. which houses federal inmates pursuant to a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. As alleged in the indictment and other court filings, the charges stem from an assault committed by Wells, 46, against a pretrial detainee at the QPCF on April 17, 2007. During the assault, which was allegedly in retaliation for the inmate purportedly making a comment to Mack, 32, about her appearance, Wells, the tour commander of the day as well as one of the highest-ranking officers at the QPCF, together with Rhodes, 36, and Gray, 47, brought the victim to a shower room, where Wells ordered the victim to remove his clothes. Wells allegedly repeatedly hit the victim in the neck, causing the inmate’s head to slam against the wall. Prosecutors said Wells then ordered the victim to apologize to Mack and allegedly threatened to kill him if he reported the assault. The assault was brought to the attention of QPCF authorities after inmates in the victim’s dorm demanded that he receive medical treatment. Subsequently Wells, Rhodes and Mack allegedly conspired to cover up the incident and attempted to prevent two other QPCF officers, both of whom reported to Wells, from reporting the assault to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General. In addition, Wells, Rhodes and Gray allegedly made false statements to law enforcement authorities in an effort to obstruct the government’s investigation.

November 20, 2008 NBC New York
Four prison guards were arrested and charged Thursday with beating an inmate in a shower room after the inmate had hurled insults at a female corrections officer. Federal investigators said the officers then tried to cover up the attack on the pretrial inmate when other officers tried to report the incident. Marvin Wells, Stephen Rhodes and Kirby Gray are facing charges in connection with the alleged attack. The female officer, Kirby Mack, was also charged. They work at the Queens Private Correctional Facility, a private jail contracted by the federal government to hold inmates. Investigators said the unidentified inmate was dragged, stripped and then hit in the neck repeatedly as his head slammed against the wall. The inmate was then forced to kneel and apologize to officer Mack for the comments about her appearance, prosecutors said. The officers then threatened to kill the prisoner if he ever reported the incident, according to a court filing. The incident happened in April 2007. With his head swelling from the impact, other inmates demanded he receive medical attention for his injuries. Investigators said when questioned, the officers filed false reports claiming the attack never happened. The defendants were expected to be arraigned in federal court late Thursday. A spokesman for the private prison company did no immediately return a call for comment. U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said, "This prosecution affirms our strong commitment to protecting the constitutional rights of individuals not to be subjected to unjustified and excessive force by officers whose duty it is to uphold the law." If convicted on the excessive force and obstruction of justice counts, the officers could face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

October 25, 2007 Queens Chronicle
Holding homemade signs and chanting “GEO must go,” a small group of Springfield Gardens residents protested early Saturday morning the upcoming contract renewal of a prison they feel is too close to home. The Queens Private Correctional Facility at 182-22 150 Ave., has been on the minds of many residents in the area, as news spread throughout the community that the facility’s contract may be extended in December for another 20 years. “This is not the kind of building we want in our backyard,” said Jason Hillard, community liaison for Congressman Gregory Meeks. Taking to the streets in protest, a group of about 20 residents marched from 147th Avenue and Springfield Boulevard to the prison, chanting loudly on their way. Michael Duncan, chief of staff for Councilman James Sanders, led the march and expressed his disgust for the facility’s deception of the community. The prison displays only subtle indications of its purpose. Many residents have passed the building and never given it a second thought. “You see this building? They have no sign on the door,” Duncan said to the marchers. “What kind of prisoners are they bringing into our community?” The correctional facility, formerly Wackenhut Detention Center, has housed detainees apprehended by the U.S. Marshals since 2005. It is managed by the GEO Group, a Florida-based corporation that builds and manages prisons worldwide. Information on the GEO website indicates the prison held 229 detainees as of August 2006. The building was a converted warehouse, opening as a prison in 1997 for illegal immigrants. Currently, it houses federal offenders awaiting trial for drug or weapons charges, along with other federal crimes. Some residents were just learning that a prison sat so close to their homes. Many were surprised by the appearance of the facility, which uses plastic coverings on the windows, instead of bars. “It’s something that is new to me, but given the sense of the facility, I don’t think it belongs here. It should be relocated,” said Sally Davidson of Rosedale. Some residents want to eliminate it in favor of something the community needs. “We’re trying to get other companies to bid for the building, so that the building can be used for a community center or something more productive,” Duncan said. Ophelia Gross, a longtime resident of Springfield Gardens, was also in favor of a community center. “I was mostly concerned about the children because they have no space. All they do is leave bodies in the street. This is dangerous because we only have a glass wall between us and our backyards,” she said. Duncan, who organized a march last month, has no plans to stop his protests, saying residents need to take to the streets more frequently now. Sanders has organized a community meeting for Tuesday, Oct. 30 at JHS 231, 145-00 Springfield Blvd., Springfield Gardens at 7 p.m., to further address concerns. “They tried to put this institution in Howard Beach, they wouldn’t have it. We need to be vigilant,” Duncan said.

December 13, 2006 New York Daily News
Springfield Gardens homeowners frustrated by the presence of a controversial federal prison in their neighborhood will have to wait a few more months, at least, for relief, a local politician has learned. Federal officials have informed City Councilman James Sanders Jr. that they won't make a determination on the fate of the Queens Private Correctional Facility until March at the earliest. That's when the U.S. Marshals Service is expected to decide whether or not to renew its contract with The Geo Group, a private firm that manages the prison. Sanders (D-Laurelton), who has led his constituents in protests against the facility, has appealed in writing to several federal agencies in an attempt to have the prison moved from what was once an industrial building on 150th Ave. A spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said the agency reviewed a letter it received from Sanders and forwarded on to another federal agency for review. The spokesman would not comment further or elaborate on the forwarding of the letter. As recently as October, Sanders asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to order the shutdown of the detention center, which is situated just blocks from a residential enclave. Sanders also asked the DHS to examine allegations of inmate abuse at the privately run facility, which is located on an industrial stretch of 150th Ave. "My job, since they [prisoners] are in my district, is to see them as constituents - they are here. We will not stand by for the mistreatment of anyone," said Sanders. Walter McCaffrey, a spokesman for The Geo Group, said that the charges are untrue.

November 16, 2006 Queens Chronicle
With cries of “Educate, don’t incarcerate,” dozens of Springfield Gardens residents marched from Springfield Park to the Queens Private Correctional Facility on Saturday, calling for the prison to be shut down. Protesters, led by Councilman James Sanders (D Laurelton), have repeatedly marched the same route to the small, windowless prison at 182 22 150th Ave. for almost a year. The prison is run by Boca Raton, Fla. based GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut), which is the second largest private prison corporation in the world. Along the way in this extended battle over the prison, accusations have flown back and forth about the main parties involved: GEO Group, Sanders, Congressman Gregory Meeks (D St. Albans), and even the neighbors who participate in the periodic rallies. Sanders, who, as a city legislator would have little sway over the prison’s federal contract, has been repeatedly accused of organizing the rallies as a means of pursuing Meeks’ congressional seat. “It’s the same people who come every time,” said GEO spokesman Martin McLaughlin, who described the rallies as politically motivated and stale. “This is not a new thing. As long as you papers keep covering Sanders, he’ll keep going out and protesting. He’ll keep having a good time getting in the paper.” Sanders bristled at the accusations, describing his involvement as one of moral and community obligation. “How long are they going to run around with that one?” he asked of GEO. “They accused me of running for office last year. Well, November has come and gone, but they’re still saying the same thing.” Sanders added: “I refuse to believe that people can’t do things without having ulterior motives. We can do things just because they’re right.” Sanders said the protests were targeted mainly at the federal government, and that frequent protests were necessary to ensure that both GEO and the U.S. Marshals Service—which holds the contract—know that the community continues to be dissatisfied. He added that the fact that GEO was not able to expand the prison last April showed that mobilizations were effective. Meeks, who as the congressman representing the area is in the best position to negotiate with GEO and the marshals about the contract, has also come under fire. “This is my sixth march, and I haven’t seen (Meeks), he hasn’t been to any of these,” said resident Joann McCants, flanked by her four children. “He should be here.” Meeks’ spokesman Brian Simon said that the congressman’s schedule was too full to attend the protests, but emphasized that the rallies are important. “It really strengthens the congressman’s voice when the rallies continue,” he said. Simon also strongly denied allegations that Meeks was not working hard enough to shut down the prison after receiving a $1,000 campaign contribution from GEO last year. “That was an unsolicited contribution to the congressman,” Simon said. “That has not influenced the congressman’s position on this issue … he’s still against the prison, and he has never wavered from his position (against GEO): ‘I don’t want you here.’”

October 4, 2006 New York Daily News
A Queens politician has called on the U.S. head of Homeland Security to order the shutdown of a federal detention center located just blocks away from a residential southeast Queens neighborhood. Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, asking the agency to close the Springfield Gardens jail in the wake of complaints from area homeowners leery of living so close to federal prisoners. Sanders also wants the DHS to check into allegations of inmate abuse at the privately run facility, which is located on an industrial stretch of 150th Ave. "I am requesting an intervention from your department on behalf of [Council] District 31," Sanders wrote. "I am insisting on an investigation to be conducted into these allegations as well as the closing of the prison." A statement from the Homeland Security Department said that, upon receipt of the councilman's letter, they would review his request before conducting any investigation. The Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. manages the Queens Private Correctional Facility under a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. The Geo Group has managed the facility since 1995, when it was called the Wackenhut Immigration Detention Center and housed illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. The Wackenhut operations moved to Elizabeth, N.J. in 2004; when the Geo Group took over, the agreement changed from an immigration contract to a U.S. Marshals Service contract.

August 24, 2006 Queens Chronicle
Two dozen angry Springfield Gardens residents protested a controversial private prison in their neighborhood Saturday, seven weeks after company executives extended a federal contract to house the facility in the area for another year. Councilman James Sanders led about 25 locals on a march from Springfield Park to the Queens Private Correctional Facility at 182 22 150th Ave., where 200 mid level detainees—many of them convicted drug offenders—are awaiting sentencing. At the prison, protesters marched around the building while community leaders spoke out against the proximity to residences, a school and a women’s shelter. “If a prisoner escapes, he’s a 60 second sprint from our backyards,” Sanders said. “There are plenty of other prisons within driving distance of a courthouse in this city, so this is clearly optional for the federal system. But we can’t just opt out.” Saturday’s protest marked the second time in a year that residents have joined publicly with local leaders to demand a shutdown of the facility. In January, three times as many protesters marched against the prison after elected officials learned that the international prison management company overseeing the site, Boca Raton, Fla. based GEO Group, had bought a neighboring warehouse and planned to expand the center’s capacity by 170 detainees. Prior to that, few in the community were even aware that GEO Group had converted the center into a federal prison in July 2005.Previously, the center had served for 11 years as a temporary detention facility for undocumented immigrants apprehended at nearby Kennedy airport.

July 6, 2006 Queens Chronicle
The controversial prison in Springfield Gardens will remain open at least one more year. The federal Department of Justice executed the option on its contract with the private corporation that owns the facility on 150th Avenue. The prison, which houses about 200 low to mid level federal inmates awaiting trial or sentencing, will remain open through at least June 30, 2007. The contract renewal had been a target of community activists and local politicians seeking to shut the facility down. “This is going to be a long, drag out fight,” said Congressman Gregory Meeks in an interview in June. “We’re in this for the long haul. I’m going to continue to fight with (the Bush) administration.” Meeks and City Councilman James Sanders have led the public fight against the prison, while Meeks has met with Department of Justice officials and executives from the GEO Group, the Boca Raton, Fla. based corporation that owns the facility. GEO contributed $1,000 to Meeks’ re election campaign shortly before the prison became public knowledge in late 2005. GEO initially signed a contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in 1996 to house undocumented immigrants nabbed at nearby Kennedy Airport. The U.S. Marshals took over the facility, which is within blocks of homes and a school, from the immigration agency in July 2005. The change in inmates became public in December 2005 when GEO attempted to buy an adjacent warehouse to expand the prison’s capacity. The expansion efforts were halted after the public outcry. —Christopher Henderson

June 22, 2006 Queens Chronicle
Congressman Gregory Meeks (D St. Albans) accepted a campaign contribution in late 2005 from the corporation that owns a controversial private federal prison in Springfield Gardens. Although Meeks has stated publicly that he opposes the prison and wants it shut down, he accepted a $1,000 donation from the Boca Raton, Fla. based Geo Group Inc.’s political action committee on Nov. 21, 2005. Meeks said the donation was unsolicited, adding that the Queens Chronicle’s inquiry was the first he had heard of the contribution. “If I can’t be bought by the hundreds of thousands given to me by labor, I certainly won’t be swayed by $1,000 from Geo,” said the congressman, referring to his vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, despite the opposition of many labor unions that are among his largest contributors. The Geo Group did not return calls for comment. Meeks said he still wants the prison—known as the Queens Private Correctional Facility—closed, but lamented that Geo Group’s contract with the U.S. Marshals Service will likely be renewed at the end of this month. “We’re in this for the long haul and I will continue to fight with (the Bush) administration,” he said.

May 24, 2006 Times Ledger
U.S. Rep. Greg Meeks held a Town Hall meeting in Springfield Gardens Monday, where much of the conversation focused on the status of a federal prison that has quietly taken root amidst warehouses and trucking businesses at 182-22 150th Ave., not far from the site of the meeting. Meeks took a few minutes to criticize President George W. Bush's proposed 2007 budget, which he said would adversely effect low and middle income New Yorkers, of whom a disproportionate number are minorities. Meeks said it was unconscionable for Bush to propose making tax cuts permanent while also cutting key job training, education and health care programs. "Anyone in this room making over $300,000, you want this budget," Meeks said, as many of the estimated 75 residents, scoffed. "It's a bad budget." Meeks spent most of the evening updating residents on the status of a federal detention center in Springfield Gardens. The prison's owners, The Geo Group Inc., based in Florida, want to expand the facility from 215 to about 370 beds -- a proposal that Meeks has vowed to stop. Meeks said that federal officials have told him the expansion is on hold. Meeks, though, said that Geo clearly wants to expand and he plans to remain vigilant.

April 6, 2006 Queens Chronicle
Congressman Gregory Meeks says elected officials will have a difficult time forcing the closure of a private prison in Springfield Gardens. After studying the contract between the federal Department of Justice and the owners of a private prison in Springfield Gardens, elected officials said it will be difficult to cancel the agreement and shut the facility down. Congressman Gregory Meeks (D St. Albans), who hosted a meeting with civic leaders and elected representatives last weekend, said the community will need to take other measures to shutter the prison on 150th Avenue that has riled neighbors because of its proximity to residences and a school. “We did not see anything in the contract that we could utilize,” Meeks said. He added that since the contract is part of the Department of Justice’s overall budget instead of a line item, he cannot cancel the contract legislatively. Councilman James Sanders, who attended the meeting along with state Sen. Ada Smith and a representative from Assemblywoman Michele Titus’ office, agreed with the congressman’s assessment. “There is no glaring contractual error, but the contract can be revoked without cause,” Sanders said. The contract between the Department of Justice through the U.S. Marshals Service and GEO Group, Inc., the Boca Raton, Fla based prison management corporation that owns the 200 bed detention center, runs through June but there is an option to extend to March 2007. “This is a year to year renewal,” Meeks said. “We need to refortify our efforts so that we make sure we know what is going on.”

March 2, 2006 Queens Chronicle
Congressman Gregory Meeks took aim at a local prison and the federal budget at a town hall meeting on Monday night. Meeks, who represents most of Southeast and Eastern Queens in Washington, called President George W. Bush’s budget “reckless” and the prison in Springfield Gardens “a problem.” “I’m not for any (prison) facility remaining in this community,” Meeks said of the detention center at 182-22 150th Ave. “We can’t continue to be dumped upon and taken advantage of.” Meeks told the audience of about 70 people that he and other local elected officials met with the U.S. Marshals, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Detention Trustee last week to discuss the facility. The privately owned prison, known as the Queens Private Correctional Facility, holds about 200 federal inmates awaiting trial or sentencing. The inmates are so-called “low- to medium- risk.” The marshals informed Meeks that this designation means the prisoners do not have a history of violence or escape. The inmates’ current charge is not considered when designating them low- to medium-risk. The facility is located in the warehouse district near Kennedy Airport, within walking distance of residences and a school. GEO Group, Inc., the owners of the prison, bought an adjacent warehouse in December with plans to double the prison’s capacity. Meeks said the federal officials told him they will not support the expansion project. “Fighting the expansion is key because the size that it is now does not allow them to make the money they want to make,” he said.

February 9, 2006 Queens Chronicle
City Councilman James Sanders Jr. cancelled a meeting last week between local politicians and federal officials to discuss a controversial private prison in Springfield Gardens because Congressman Gregory Meeks asked that it not go forward without his presence. Sanders had invited officials from the U.S. Marshals and the Department of Homeland Security to meet with elected officials at his office in Laurelton last Wednesday evening. The marshals currently house about 200 prisoners at the Queens Private Correctional Facility on 150th Avenue. Both Meeks and Sanders have urged the marshals to cancel their contract with the building’s owners, Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group, Inc. Meeks could not attend Sanders’ meeting because he was in legislative session in Washington, D.C. Several state office holders were also unable to attend Sanders’ meeting. Immigration and Customs Enforcement moved out of the facility in July to a facility in Elizabeth, N.J. GEO Group and U.S. Marshals officials have said previously that the prisoners do not pose a danger to the surrounding community. Sanders is concerned about GEO’s involvement in the discussions with Meeks and the marshals. “There is still a possibility that GEO could find another client. Or suppose Meeks comes up with another deal. Only community vigilance will make sure this goes where we need it to go,” he said. Sanders will host a community meeting about the prison this Thursday at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Rosedale. The prison first became news when elected officials learned of GEO Group’s plans to expand the facility. The international prison management company bought the warehouse next to its current facility and intends to double the prison’s capacity. Sanders said he has stopped the expansion, but GEO Group spokesman Martin McLaughlin said the expansion is still going forward. McLaughlin added that the company plans to meet with Meeks, but a date has not been set. U.S. Marshals officials would not comment on the contract with GEO Group and referred questions to the Department of Federal Detention Trustee, which negotiated the contract. Federal Detention Trustee officials did not return calls for comment.

January 26, 2006 Queens Chronicle
City Councilman James Sanders, Jr. (D-Laurleton) announced this week that the expansion plans for a private prison in Springfield Gardens have been halted, but a spokesman for the company that owns the prison said the expansion will go ahead as scheduled. Sanders said an official announcement will come next week after he and other elected officials meet with The U.S. Marshals Sevice, which holds a contract with the prison at 182-22 150th Ave. “We were called upon to deal with life and death issues,” Sanders said. “By the grace of God, we have prevailed this time.” The Marshals house 200 federal prisoners at Queens Private Correctional Facility. Until last July, the facility, which is owned by GEO Group, Inc., held immigration detainees caught at nearby Kennedy Airport. In December, GEO Group, an international prison management company, bought the warehouse next to the prison and announced plans to increase its capacity by 170 inmates. GEO spokesman Marty McLaughlin said the company still intends to go ahead with those expansion plans. Local officials and community groups have fought against the prison over the past month after the expansion and the change to federal prisoners became well-known. Sanders led a march on the prison on Martin Luther King’s birthday last week. At an earlier town hall meeting, residents raised concerns about the prison’s proximity to their homes and PS 52 on 146th Terrace.

January 19, 2006 Queens Chronicle
Dozens of determined Springfield Gardens residents demanded answers from the owners of a private prison at two events this week. First, elected officials and neighbors questioned George Zoley, chairman and CEO of the GEO Group, Inc. and other company executives for almost two hours at a town hall meeting at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Springfield Gardens last Wednesday. Then on Monday, City Councilman James Sanders led about 75 locals on a march from Springfield Park to the controversial pre-detention facility at 182-22 150th Ave. Once at the site, they marched around the building seven times in a reference to the biblical story of Jericho. Residents voiced vehement opposition to the change in the prison’s population, its expansion plans, and its proximity to residences and a school. “There is no environmental justice in this neighborhood,” said Barbara Brown of the Springfield/Rosedale Community Action Association, at the town hall meeting. “Things like this (prison) can be dumped here. You wouldn’t put this in your neighborhood.” Zoley and his staff delivered a short presentation at the start of the meeting, but then sat in silence as one resident after another took to the microphone. Mike LaValle of Springfield Gardens went so far as to hand Zoley a piece of paper with a Middle Village address on it asking that the CEO consider it as an alternative site. Zoley conceded that his company did not reach out to the community quickly enough about the changes at the facility. “I thank you for the opportunity to speak with you. I regret that we haven’t spoken earlier,” he said. He went on to say that the decision to place the facility in the warehouse district near JFK was made with community input when it first opened 11 years ago. “My memory is clear. There was a discussion at that time as to where to put the facility. The airport was discussed and (the Port Authority) said absolutely not. The present location is what was agreed to and it was done in a public forum.” State Senator Malcolm Smith, who sat next to Zoley, disagreed with the CEO’s recollection of events. “Ten years ago I was running the office of Congressman Floyd Flake when you came here. We clearly stated that you had no support for that project. You back-doored the process.” Joining Smith in denouncing the prison were state Senator Ada Smith, Assemblywoman Michelle Titus, Brian Simon of Congressman Gregory Meeks’ office, and Councilman James Sanders. Sanders, who organized both the town hall and Monday’s protest, raised concerns about the prison’s proximity to residents and the facility’s possible expansion. “What will prevent ‘Fort Springfield’ from spreading? What is to prevent you from buying three buildings later on or from changing your mission again? Who is to say you won’t bring hardened criminals there?” Zoley stated that the facility has not had an escape as long as it had been open. The facility houses “low risk” inmates, such as drug offenders, according to GEO Group and U.S. Marshals officials. Brown, who protested against GEO Group in 1989, when it opened a previous immigration facility on 226th Street, disputed Zoley’s contention. She pointed out that five detainees escaped from the old facility in 1990. Three escapees were never caught. In 1994, after continued protests by locals, the company, then known as the Wackenhut Corporation, moved the center to its present location. “They would not go into white communities and just do this. Everything that is negative comes to Southeast Queens,” Brown said, adding that the facility’s detainees staged hunger strikes in 1999, 2003 and 2004. Sanders said that he and the other elected officials plan to march again while developing a legal strategy aimed at forcing the prison out of the neighborhood. He said the politicians have met with the Center For Constitutional Rights, a litigation group that is working on the domestic-spying issue. “If GEO Group cannot convince us that its (facility) is safe, we need to shut it down,” he said.

January 18, 2006 New York Daily News
There's bad news about a Springfield Gardens jail for federal detainees, says a local elected official - and then there's worse news. City Councilman James Sanders says nearby residents may not have been aware that 182-22 150th Ave. houses about 200 federal prisoners awaiting trial, or that the private company that runs the facility has acquired an adjacent property so that it can expand inmate capacity to 370. However, as if that wasn't enough, Sanders (D-L-Laurelton) said a neighboring property owner told him that the jail's proprietors have offered to buy still more nearby buildings. "We are certainly seeing in my district the literal rise of the prison industrial complex. Our worst fears seem to be confirmed," said Sanders, who led 75 protesters on a march to the facility Monday. The Geo Group Inc., manages the jail under a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. The nondescript building, fitted with outdoor security cameras, is located in an industrial area just blocks away from homes, a school and shelters for women and families of domestic violence. Sanders said he hopes the Geo Group is being truthful about its growth plans. Even so, he plans to convene local leaders and elected officials this week to further discuss the issue, with an eye toward meeting with Geo officials next week. "Before you know it, we'll become the headquarters for federal prisoners," said Borough President Helen Marshall. "We didn't know about this proposed expansion. This is not something that belongs near a residential community."

January 15, 2006 NY1
Some Queens residents gathered at a town hall meeting Wednesday night to fight to shut down a federal prison that they say popped up in their neighborhood without notice. NY1's Ruschell Boone was there and filed the following report. Denise Brooks says she was shocked to find out there's a federal prison in her neighborhood, and that it's been there for six months. "I feel outraged," says Brooks. "We knew nothing about this; this is the first time I've heard of any of this." Brooks was not the only one in the dark, so were the Rosedale residents who crowded into a town hall meeting Wednesday night. They say they should have been notified. "We will not stand by idle and allow you and your prison industry to come into our neighborhood and destroy our community," says resident Derrick Warmington. The building where the prison is located is a former detention center. For ten years, it housed illegal immigrants awaiting deportation, but a change was made in June when the GEO Group, the private company that runs it, won a federal contract with the U.S. Marshals service to house low and mid-level federal prisoners. Many are drug offenders and gang members awaiting trial or sentencing; inmates are held no longer than 6 months. Residents at the meeting also discovered that there are plans in the works to expand this facility next year so that an additional 177 inmates can be held here. "We've been in Rosedale for 48 years, so we've been here a long time, seen many changes, and this is one change we don't need," says a resident. Many are now wondering how the federal government was able to open a prison in their back yard without notifying them.

January 12, 2006 Queens Journal
A federal detention facility in Springfield Gardens plans to increase its capacity by nearly 200 inmates within the next six months. Geo Group, Inc., the owner of the Queens Private Correctional Facility at 182-22 150th Ave., plans to upgrade an adjacent building and add up to 170 new prisoners to the pre-detention facility’s population, according to a company spokesman. The expansion is not popular with local officials. Congressman Gregory Meeks and City Councilman James Sanders oppose the plan because of the facility’s proximity to local residents. Meeks has lobbied the federal Department of Justice to cut off the funding for the contract that the U.S. Marshals hold with Geo Group to house inmates at the facility. The contract is up in June, about the same time the expansion is due to be completed. “I’m not in support of that facility being used by the U.S. Marshals,” Meeks said. “The prisoners are substantially different than the detainees that were held there before.” The prison houses 200 “low to mid-level” inmates in a building within walking distance of a residential neighborhood. Until six months ago, the facility, which is indistinguishable from the warehouses that surround it, held undocumented immigrants detained at nearby JFK airport. In July 2005, Geo Group, an international private prison management company based in Boca Raton, Fla., signed a contract with the Marshals. Sanders toured the prison on Monday and said he “saw a secure facility.” He expressed concerns, however, about the proposed expansion as a possible first step toward creating a much larger facility. “How do we know this isn’t a mushrooming problem? How do we know they are not building Fort Springfield Gardens? (Geo Group) may say ‘We got away with this one (expansion), why not buy five or six more warehouses?’ The more dangerous prisoners you have, the more money you get. It is a lot easier to break out of Fort Springfield than it is from Attica.” Meeks said he did not find out about the switch from immigrant detainees to federal offenders until November, four months after the change was made. “I found out when the U.S. Marshals called someone in my office asking for support for the expansion. I said, ‘Expansion? I didn’t even know you were there.’” Meeks refused the request and instead wrote the Justice Department requesting that funding for the contract be discontinued. Sanders blasted Geo Group for issuing a press release about the change, but not meeting with local officials and community members. “The press release was insufficient. It was not what I would call a good faith effort to alert the community.”

January 10, 2006 New York Daily News
Some Springfield Gardens residents who were surprised to learn that the nondescript building at 150th Ave. and 182nd St. is a federal prison are now worried that there are plans to expand it. An emergency town hall meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night to address neighborhood concerns about the facility. Located at 182-22 150th Ave., it is fitted with outdoor security cameras, can house 200 prisoners and - although located in an industrial area near Kennedy Airport - is just blocks away from a residential neighborhood. "I didn't know about that jail," said Thelma Grey, who has lived on 147th Ave. - not far from the prison - for the past 11 years. "A prison ... that sounds strange to me." The building was formerly the Wackenhut Immigration Detention Center, which housed illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. It now confines federal prisoners awaiting trial and is controlled by the Geo Group Inc., a privately run correctional and detention management company.

July 13, 2005 NY Daily News
From noncriminal visa violators to federal lawbreakers: a detention facility in Springfield Gardens that used to hold illegal immigrants is changing hands and will now hold prisoners for the U.S. Marshals Service, the company operating the jail has announced.  The GEO Group, a private correctional management firm, said last week it will continue to run the penitentiary at 182-22 150th Ave., but for a different agency with a different set of inmates.  "We have made a significant investment in enhancements and upgrades to the facility in order to better meet the security needs of the U.S. Marshals Service," George Zoley, CEO of the Florida-based GEO Group, said in a statement.

June 2, 2005 Queens Chronicle
The Wackenhut Detention Center in Springfield Gardens will close next month because of high detainee costs. The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Queens Detention Center in Springfield Gardens, commonly referred to as the Wackenhut Detention Center, will close next month, as the federal government looks to ship its detainees upstate and to New Jersey. Detainees will now be sent to county jails in Batavia, New York and Elizabeth, New Jersey, where it costs $53 per night to house each person. It costs $225 per night at Wackenhut. USICE is moving to these facilities because Wackenhut does not allow them to hold people accused of crimes, and the Batavia and Elizabeth facilities will allow the government to hold all detainees in one place whether they are accused of crimes or not. Activists with Human Rights First, a human rights watchdog group that is working to better the conditions of detainees in the United States, applauded the move because of Wackenhut’s low release rate. Heidi Altman, a program associate with the group, said that Wackenhut is also inappropriately jail-like despite the fact that detainees there are not charged with any crimes. “There’s very little access to outdoor recreation. The only time they get to move around, they are in a closed room, with an open but grated ceiling.” But she said that’s typical of many detention facilities, including the Elizabeth, New Jersey building that will serve as the new detention center for those seeking asylum at Kennedy Airport. “It’s hard to say that one of them is worse when all of them have such inhumane conditions.” One immigrant’s harrowing story is recounted in Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan’s tapestry of Queens, “Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, Neighbors, Aliens in a New America.” They chronicled the journey of a man named Bovic, who left civil war in Zaire only to spend over two years at Wackenhut before being released. Bovic spent $2,500 to flee Zaire and arrived in a cargo plane at Kennedy Airport, where he requested asylum. A judge ruled in October of 1997 that he would be able to apply for asylum, but during the next two years the government tried to deport him three times only to be thwarted by his otherwise chronically absent lawyer. Bovic described the facility to the authors. “That first day, they took me ... to a fully-bedded dormitory with all men who are there in orange uniforms. I thought, surely this is a mistake. In a field of 40 beds, one of them is mine. To my right is the desk of the security officer. To the left, three toilets. No door to give you privacy. The showers, the toilets, the telephone booths, even the prayer station ... must be seen by the security official who sits with his eyes on you ... “What else is in this Wackenhut universe? A Ping-Pong table. A TV with some chairs around. A small, maybe three-by-three square meter room that they call a library, but I have to find another word for that room because most books people needed were not found there.” He also describes the “worst-quality” food and concludes, “Of all that I have been through, my time at Wackenhut prison is the darkest period in my life.” Bovic was eventually released but was unable to join his child and wife. She had moved in with another man in Canada, she said, because Bovic had been detained too long.

May 25, 2005 Newsday
A controversial immigrant detention center near Kennedy Airport will be closed at the end of next month to save money, a federal official said Wednesday. Known as the Wackenhut Detention Center, the converted warehouse in Springfield Gardens is a windowless holding area that can house up to 200 asylum seekers at a time. A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said each person costs $225 a day to detain there, compared with an average of $53 in county jails in Batavia, N.Y., and Elizabeth, N.J., where the immigrants will be sent instead. The spokesman, Manny Van Pelt, said the Queens center also lacks the capability to detain immigrants convicted of crimes here, and "we want to be able to detain more criminal aliens." Advocates for immigrants are only too happy to see the closing of Wackenhut, which is the former name of the private company that runs it. "It has had a long history of problems over the years," said Eleanor Acer, director of the asylum project at Human Rights First, which represents people who flee to the United States from other nations. "This particular facility was notorious for not releasing asylum seekers even when they met the parole criteria -- and it had among the lowest release rates in the country," Acer said.

March 9, 2005 Newsday
Immigration advocates called yesterday for a more humane system of detaining people seeking political asylum, saying applicants often languish in harsh conditions for years while their cases are mired in bureaucracy. Speaking at a conference at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, the advocates pointed to Wackenhut Detention Center next to Kennedy Airport. At the center, they said, about 200 detainees share large, windowless dormitories where they eat, sleep, shower and wait. It's not uncommon for them to spend six years there while their applications are being processed. "In many ways it's inhumane," said Sister Dolores Castellano, a volunteer who visits detainees at the center. "No air. No exercise. Just being locked up in a room 23 hours a day." Department of Homeland Security officials could not be reached yesterday for comment. They have said they do the best they can to provide detainees with suitable quarters. Wackenhut was the site of a hunger strike by dozens of detainees in 2003 that lasted several days. Yesterday's event brought together about 75 people including immigration lawyers, volunteers who work with political asylum applicants and Molloy professors and students. The program included a play about the plight of people seeking political asylum performed by Sara Kahn, an actress and immigrant rights worker in New Jersey.

August 29, 2004
The hunger strike is over. But the plight of the more than 200 human beings imprisoned in a privately run Queens immigration jail is now out in public.  And many people are outraged by the unfairness and arbitrariness of the situation.  The striking inmates, all detained for alleged immigration violations, were not making any outrageous demands. They simply wanted humane treatment and due process.  But after guards threw some of them in solitary confinement and threatened them with immediate deportation, the 175 male inmates who began the strike on Aug. 16 at the Queens Detention Center (formerly the Wackenhut Detention Center) ended it four days later.  Calling this Queens jail a little gulag is no metaphor.  "The authorities also tried unsuccessfully to force prisoners to sign documents," said Bobby Khan of the Coney Island Avenue Project in a press release. "The nature of those documents remains unclear."  The right to humane treatment, a lawyer and due process, appropriate medical care and food, to have their cases reviewed and immediate release and family reunification - those are the fair demands of the Queens Detention Center detainees. And they should not have to resort to another strike to get what is rightfully theirs.  (NY Daily News)

August 19, 2004
 There is a little gulag in New York City. And it is nothing to be proud of. Its name is the Wackenhut Detention Center, and more than 200 human beings - men and women - languish ignored within its walls. Yet most New Yorkers have never heard about it. The situation of the people inside the privately run immigration maximum-security jail is so hopeless that on Monday, 175 of the imprisoned men resorted to a desperate measure: They went on a hunger strike. "Nobody is eating," said Makham Singh in a telephone interview. An immigrant from India in his 30s, Singh has a wife and two children who are American citizens. He has been in Wackenhut for six months. The Wackenhut prison is a converted warehouse building with no windows in the middle of a warehouse district in Springfield Gardens, Queens. "Yet they are locked up 23 hours per day, and several have been there a year or more," said Bobby Khan, a member of the Coney Island Avenue Project, a group based in the Pakistani community in Brooklyn that advocates for the rights of imprisoned immigrants. "The food is insufficient and inadequate, and even though some of the detainees have heart conditions or suffer from diabetes and ulcers, medical care is practically nonexistent." (NY Daily News)

August 16, 2004
Thousands of Palestinian prisoners have entered the second day of a hunger strike to protest conditions in Israeli jails. Meanwhile in New York 200 immigrant detainees are staging a one-day hunger strike at the Wackenhut Detention Center in Queens. The detainees are demanding the government review their case and for the immediate release of non-criminal detainees. According to a press release issued by Khan (Bobby Khan, of the Coney Island Avenue Project): "None of the prisoners currently being held at Wackenhut Detention Center have any terrorism related or other criminal charges against them. Yet, they are locked for 23 hours per day and several have been there for close to a year or more. These detainees were picked up in the aftermath of 9.11 and have been held without criminal charge or due process, and in some cases, without access to a lawyer or access to appropriate food and medical healthcare. Several of the detainees are married to US citizens." (Pacifica.org)

October 25, 2003
Before leaving Nigeria two years ago, he was a university student studying science. But after repeated threats from gang members who targeted the school's students, the 23-year-old fled to America, hoping for political asylum and the chance to begin anew.  Now, the young man is one of scores of asylum-seekers being held in the Wackenhut Detention Center near Kennedy Airport who are on a hunger strike, according to Marie Viola, 59, an Upper East Side resident who is acting as his advocate through a Riverside Church group.  About 180 men in the detention center have refused to eat since Wednesday morning, advocates reported.  "We have heard that all of the men at the facility have been engaging in a hunger strike to protest the length of their detention and jail-like conditions," Eleanor Acer, asylum program director at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said Friday.  The 200-bed facility, a former cargo warehouse, is privately owned by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. and operated under a contract with the federal Department of Homeland Security. It holds immigrants while their asylum applications are processed by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which sometimes takes years.  No one in the detention center, which also houses a small number of women, is charged with or suspected of a crime, Acer said. It was unclear Friday if the female detainees also were participating in the hunger strike.  Members of Sojourners Ministry, a Riverside Church volunteer group, visit detainees every week. They say Wackenhut may not be a prison, but that detainees are treated much like prisoners - known by ID numbers, made to wear uniforms and sometimes handcuffed.  "The conditions are pretty grim," said Tom Weise, 36, of Battery Park City, a volunteer for two years. He described the immigrants as living in six large dormitories in the 60,000-square-foot facility, with no windows, no heating and no privacy. Even the toilets and showers are exposed, Weise said.  The unpleasant conditions and legal limbo have taken their toll on the detainees' morale, Weise believes. Volunteers interviewed Friday said they did not know who is leading the strike or how it was organized, but the detainees appear determined.  (News Day)

June 5, 2001
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service is holding 851 foreigners who, according to INS computer records, have been in detention for three or more years without conviction, reports said Tuesday.  Thavarajah, a 38-year old farmer, is one of those prisoners who have been jailed without a conviction.  He says he was beaten and jailed during civil turmoil in his native country of Sri Lanka, was hoping to reunite with family members in Canada when his plane stopped in New York nearly four years ago.  INS officers apprehended him on that day in May 1997, and Thavarajah has been locked in an American jail ever since.  "The only thing this person has done is not have a visa to enter the U.S.," said Deborah Greitzer, a Buffalo, N.Y., lawyer who is working on his case.  "And the reason he didn't have a visa was because he was fleeing his homeland."  Thavarajah has been held at a detention center operated by Wackenhut Corp. in New York.  Prisoners there, according to reports, are not allowed to be outdoors.  (Dallas Morning News)

June 23, 2000
Eric Deravin, an INS facility officer, received a letter from the agency stating that his clearance to work at the facility was revoked. The contract operator of Wackenhut appealed the action, but to no avail. INS officials were reacting to an altercation that took place between Deravin and a detainee on March 1, 1998. The INS has the right to grant or revoke employment clearance to Wackenhut employees  working at INS facilities and other contractors. Deravin did not learn of the disposition of the Wackenhut appeal until March 13, 2000. He filed a suit against the company April 13, 2000 for age and race discrimination. The complaint was dismissed by the District Court, Southern District of New York. (S.D.N.Y.)

Oct. 18, 2000
Immigration officers at John F. Kennedy International Airport violated the rights of a Jamaican-born college student by shackling and strip-searching him, then detaining him for more than 40 hours. The ACLU says Richard Riley, of Syracuse University, spent his first night in INS custody chained to a narrow bench. He allegedly was paraded, in shackles, through the airport when he was taken to the Wackenhut Detention Facility in Queens the next day. There, he was strip-searched for the third time. Finally, the lawsuit says, he was allowed to call a lawyer. The incident was the result of INS officials' belief that Riley was carrying false immigration papers, which were filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. (USA Today)

York County Prison
York County, New York
Prison Health Services
December 7, 2005 York Daily Record
A woman whose son, Michael Herman, 19, committed suicide in a solitary-confinement cell at York County Prison on Jan. 6, 2004, has filed a wrongful death and discrimination lawsuit in federal court. The lawsuit, filed by Deborah Herman, 418 Jennifer Drive, New Cumberland, claims her son did not receive appropriate medical care and treatment for his mental illness. The lawsuit was filed against prison warden Thomas Hogan, corrections officers Jorge Alvarez and John Darymon, Prison Health Services, and two licensed practical nurses who work for Prison Health Services, a Tennessee firm that has a contract to provide health services at the prison. Herman said in the lawsuit that her son had a history of mental illness, including bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and had made multiple attempts to commit suicide. According to the lawsuit, despite a judge's instructions and Michael Herman's statements to prison officials and the two nurses, no attempt was made to ascertain his medication history or take any precautions in recognition of his risk for suicide. The lawsuit said his attorney had asked that Herman not be placed in the general prison population because of his condition, appearance and size, which made him vulnerable to attacks by other inmates. On Jan. 5 and 6, 2004, Herman was assaulted by another inmate, the lawsuit said, and was placed in administrative custody in a solitary-confinement cell pending a hearing. The lawsuit said Herman remained alone and unchecked in his cell for an extended period of time and that he tried to commit suicide twice, once unsuccessfully with his shoelaces and once successfully with bedsheets. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and calls for unspecified general and compensatory damages against all defendants, exemplary damages against Prison Health Services, attorney fees and costs.