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Acton, California
Extradition International
January 24, 2000
Three inmates escaped from a private transport company when the private
guards stopped at a mini-mart and left the keys in the ignition. When the
guards weren’t looking, the inmates jumped in the front seat and the CA
Highway Patrol on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash. (Los Angeles
Times, 1/24/00)
Adelanto Community
Correctional Facility
Adelanto City, California
GEO Group
Oct
16, 2020 sbsun.com
Judge
calls government ‘dishonest,’ orders prisoner reduction at Adelanto ICE
detention center
Private
lockup must whittle down detainee population by 38 percent
A
U.S. District Court judge on Thursday, saying he was “concerned with a lack
of candor and honesty,” ordered the federal government to reduce its prisoner
population at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center by more than 38 percent
beginning Monday. Judge Terry J. Hatter ordered ICE to release 50 prisoners a
day beginning Monday until the private prison’s population whittles down from
772 to 475. “The Court has been concerned for some time with the lack of
candor exhibited by the Government and its counsel in this case. Now, the
Court is concerned with straight up dishonesty on the part of the
Government’s counsel,” Hatter wrote in his 15-page order. Hatter’s order is
the latest in a lawsuit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union
against the private prison, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE over
alleged overcrowded conditions at the facility that fail to address proper
social distancing and sanitation guidelines amid the novel coronavirus
pandemic. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that bunk beds are placed
only 2 1/2 to 3 feet apart, four to eight detainees are crammed into
8-by-10-foot cells, detainees share sinks, toilets, counters, and showers,
showers are less than six feet apart, and six to 10 prisoners dine at the
same table during meal periods. “Eight months into the pandemic, over 700
people remain imprisoned for civil immigration violations in an overcrowded
jail where basic protective measures are impossible and dozens fall ill with
COVID-19 each day,” said Jessica Bansal, senior staff attorney at the ACLU
SoCal. “Today’s order confirms that our Constitution does not condone such
basic disregard for human lives and safety.” The private prison, operated by
The Geo Group and the largest immigration detention facility in California,
has long been the target of protests by Latino and Immigrant rights groups,
who allege unsafe conditions and inhumane treatment of detainees. Things came
to a head on June 7, when hundreds of protestors vandalized the prison and
vehicles in its parking lot with rocks, bottles and
spray paint. A week later, a detainee protest inside the prison over the
suspension of telephone, television and newspaper privileges and detainees
being forced to stay in their cells 23 hours a day during a lockdown led to a
skirmish between guards and about 150 prisoners. ICE reported 162 confirmed
cases of COVID-19-infected detainees on Thursday; none has died from the
virus. Hatter noted that while it is rare that the court is presented with
direct evidence of dishonesty, he said the government provided the court with
a “blaring example” of it. And although that “blaring example” involved a
minor technicality surrounding the filing of a trial brief, Hatter said it was
“the straw that broke the Court’s back.” “The Court has started to re-assess
the information the Government has provided it in this case, as well as the
arguments the Government has made. The Court is concerned that the facts and
arguments that it previously perceived to be merely inaccurate or ambiguous
might have been, actually, dishonest or, at best, disingenuous.” In a
statement released Thursday night, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) spokesman Alexx Pons said the agency is
“assessing its options in light of the court’s order to release at least 50
illegal aliens per day from the Adelanto detention facility.” “While ICE
complies with binding court orders, the agency is concerned that this order
could ultimately harm the American people by forcing the release of criminal
aliens into our communities,” Pons said. “As the court’s order would prevent
ICE from transferring the detainees to other facilities where there is
adequate space, ICE will undoubtedly use all tools at its disposal to ensure
that any aliens released under the order are placed under strict reporting
requirements, that may include GPS monitoring.”
Apr
2, 2020 courthousenews.com
Private
Immigration Prison Must Face Forced Labor Class Action
SAN
DIEGO (CN) – Private detention company CoreCivic
must face a novel employment class action by immigrants held at its
facilities in California and nationwide, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in
certifying forced labor claims against the private prison operator. U.S.
District Judge Janis Sammartino found in a 59-page
order that several classes could pursue their class action labor claims
against CoreCivic. Former detainees Sylvester Owino
and Jonathan Gomez sued CoreCivic – formerly known
as Corrections Corporation of America – in 2017, alleging the private prison
operator violated federal and state labor laws by using detainees “to clean,
maintain, and operate” the Otay Mesa Detention
Facility in San Diego while paying detainees between $0.75 and $1.50 a day
for their work. The plaintiffs sought to certify five separate classes. Sammartino certified three of them Wednesday: the
California and National Forced Labor Classes, as well as the California Labor
Law Class on several causes of action including failure to pay minimum wage
or provide wage statements, failure to pay all wages due upon termination and
imposition of unlawful conditions of employment. The certified classes
include immigrant detainees presently held in CoreCivic
facilities. Both the California and National Forced Labor Classes were
certified in their entirety. In doing so, Sammartino
rejected CoreCivic’s argument because both men were
detained in California, they could not represent a nationwide class. “The
court concludes that plaintiffs adequately have established standardized
policies concerning the cleaning of common areas under threat of discipline
across defendant’s non-California facilities,” Sammartino
wrote. But the judge dismissed their claims seeking injunctive or declaratory
relief, finding the two men lack standing because they are unlikely to again
suffer future harms since Owino has been out of custody for four years while
Gomez has been out of ICE custody for six years and neither has been detained
or arrested since. Owino’s detention ended March 9, 2015 while Gomez’s
detention ended on Sept. 18, 2013. Sammartino also
rejected certifying the Basic Necessities Classes for detainees who worked at
CoreCivic facilities and were only allowed to spend
their $1 a day at the detention facilities’ commissary stores. On the
California Labor Law Class, Sammartino found the
former detainees could certify several claims challenging their alleged
misclassification as “volunteers” rather than employees. As to claims
regarding overtime wages, Sammartino found CoreCivic’s own “standard policies” and handbooks
indicate no overtime was ever paid because “compensation was $1.00 per day.”
She also found the plaintiffs had established CoreCivic
employs common “sanitation and discipline policies” where detainees are
required to clean common living areas under threat of discipline. “There is
no indication from the face of the policies that these tasks are to be
performed only by those participating in the [Voluntary Work Program], and
there exists a dispute of fact based on the declarations submitted by staff
of defendant, who testified that the sanitation policies did not require
detainees to clean up after others,” Sammartino
found. Disciplinary guidelines regarding a detainee’s refusal to clean common
areas “can be found in handbooks from other of defendant’s facilities, both
within and outside of California,” Sammartino
noted. Records of when detainees worked – while incomplete – appear to show
the set schedules for various positions held by participants in Volunteer
Work Program, Sammartino pointed out. “This
evidence may allow the trier of fact to determine which participants in the
[Volunteer Work Program] were paid less than the minimum wage—and by how
much— based on the difference between the payment received and the number of
hours per shift for the position,” Sammartino
wrote. Attorneys with Foley & Lardner, representing the class members,
did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. CoreCivic said in a statement its detainees are not
subject to disciplinary action if they choose not to participate in its
Voluntary Work Program. “All of our ICE detention facilities are operated in
full compliance with ICE standards, including federally established payment
of allowances for those detainees who participate in the voluntary work
program,” CoreCivic said. “Detainees are subject to
no disciplinary action whatsoever if they choose not to participate in the
work program, nor are they forced to participate in the work program or
perform the labor reserved for that program. We have worked in close
partnership with ICE for more than 30 years and will continue to provide a
safe and humane environment to those entrusted to our care.” CoreCivic is represented by Arizona law firm Struck Love.
Mar 20, 2019 sbsun.com
Immigrant detainees stage hunger strike
at Adelanto facility About 100 people aren't eating, to raise awareness of
mistreatment
Immigrant detainees at the Adelanto
Detention Facility, a privately run center that has been criticized for
providing inadequate care, are staging a hunger strike to bring attention to
conditions there. Their demands: adequate medical care, an end to what they
describe as abusive treatment, and access to edible, nutritious food. The
hunger strike began in the facility’s west wing on Thursday, March 14, when
some 150 men refused to go to the cafeteria, said Lizbeth Abeln,
immigrant detention coordinator for the Inland Coalition for Immigrant
Justice. That led to a brief lockdown, with detainees kept in their immediate
areas and visits with attorneys and families cancelled. She said some some detainees still were not being allowed visitors as
of March 19. It was unclear how many are still participating in the hunger
strike, but the number is believed to be at least 100, Abeln
said. “They’re trying to highlight the abuses… The guards at GEO are
not respecting their basic human rights,” Abeln
said, referring to GEO Group, Inc., the company that owns and runs the
facility. The immigrant detainees were particularly upset this week because a
young detainee was beaten up by at least one guard and he did not receive
immediate medical treatment, according to Abeln. A
spokeswoman for GEO referred questions to ICE, the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency. Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for ICE, said she could
not reply to the allegation that a teen detainee was injured by a guard
without knowing the names of the people involved. The strike comes on the
heels of reports that blasted the facility for its care – or lack of care –
of people who are in detention while they await for
their cases to be processed in immigration court. (Detention centers like
Adelanto’s house people who crossed into the United States illegally, and
others who arrived legally, many of them seeking asylum. The Adelanto center,
which can house up to 2,000 detainees, has long faced criticism for how it
treats its detainees. Last year, federal investigators found nooses fashioned
from bedsheets in some 20 cells. There was at least one suicide, by hanging,
in 2017, and five other deaths, some due to medical neglect, according to the
Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. A report released earlier this month
by Disability Rights California, a non-profit legal watchdog group, found
that people running Adelanto under report the number of suicide attempts at
the center, and that detainees are subject to “punitive, prison-like
conditions that harm people with disabilities.” The report also found that
Adelanto detainees get inadequate medical and mental health care, and that
guards have used pepper spray on some mentally ill detainees. Last month,
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a separate report that also
described detainees getting inadequate access to medical care, legal counsel
and family visits at Adelanto and other centers in California that house
immigrant detainees. Adelanto is the largest such privately run facility in
the state. A former detainee, Carlos Hidalgo, 51, of North Hollywood, said he
was being held at Adelanto when he led a hunger strike there in 2016. The
goal at the time, he said, was to raise awareness about complaints echoed
this week – better medical care, better treatment, decent food. Immigrant
detainees in Adelanto were treated like criminals, even though they are not
criminal detainees, and often didn’t receive prompt medical treatment, he
said. The food, he added, was sometimes beyond gross: “They gave us ground turkey but we found it infected with maggots.” The outcome
of that three-day hunger strike? Officials locked down the facility and he
was transferred to the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange County, he said. Hidalgo
doesn’t expect much will come out of the current hunger strike either, except
raising awareness. “It ain’t going to get very far. But it’s a good way to
call attention to the situation that everyone turns a blind eye to.”
A
nonprofit slams the Adelanto Detention Facility as posing harm to people with
mental health issues and other disabilities.
A
Nigerian man held last year at Adelanto Detention Center in San Bernardino
was pepper sprayed twice while in custody – once because he wouldn’t stand
up, and a second time as he attempted to hang himself in his cell. “If I say
I am going to hurt myself, why pepper spray me?” said the man identified only
as Ugo. “Why not try to help me?” His story was part of a report on the
treatment of mentally ill detainees at the Adelanto facility issued Tuesday
by Disability Rights California, a non-profit that serves as a legal watchdog
to protect the rights of people with disabilities. The 64-page report, “There
is no safety here,” is one of a several recent investigations that have found
problems at the Adelanto Detention Center and other California facilities
that hold migrant detainees. Last month, California Attorney General Xavier
Becerra issued a report that found immigrant detainees – people who typically
are held for civil, not criminal actions – are treated like prisoners, kept
in their cells up to 22 hours a day, and offered inadequate access to medical
care and legal counsel. Other reports, from different groups, have cited the
facilities for failing to provide adequate services. At least one report last
year noted that at Adelanto, which can hold nearly 2,000 people at any one
time, investigators found nooses made by detainees in as many as 20 cells.
The year-long investigation from Disability Rights California includes these
findings: GEO Group Inc., a private contractor that owns and operates the
Adelanto facility, significantly underreports data on the number of suicide
attempts at the facility, using a definition that is too narrow: “serious
self-harm intended to cause death.” Whereas the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention defines it as “a non-fatal self-directed potentially
injurious behavior” with an intent to die. Adelanto detainees are subjected
to “punitive, prison-like conditions that harm people with disabilities”
that may be violating their constitutional rights. The San Bernardino
County facility has an inadequate mental care and medical care system, which
turns to harsh institutional responses, like solitary-type confinement, to
people facing psychiatric crisis instead of endorsing therapeutic measures. A
spokesperson for the Sacramento-based public relations firm Stutzman Public
Affairs, which represents the GEO Group, said Tuesday that their client
already has addressed concerns in the report. “While we always appreciate the
opportunity to improve processes and procedures, we strongly dispute the
claim that suicide attempts were underreported,” the spokesperson said in an
e-mail. “Furthermore, many of the recommendations outlined in the report were
already in place… In all of the facilities that we
manage on behalf of the federal government, we are deeply committed to
delivering high-quality, culturally responsive services in safe and humane
environments.” Those who find themselves in immigration detention facilities
like Adelanto, which can hold nearly 2,000 people, are somewhere in the immigration
process, either awaiting deportation or a court hearing. Some crossed
into the United States illegally. Some came into the country legally, seeking
asylum. They are considered civil detainees, not criminal inmates. The
report said few detainees, even from third-world countries, are prepared for
the conditions they encounter in the facilities, many of which, like
Adelanto, are privately run. “The punitive, prison-like conditions
disproportionately harm people with mental illness and disabilities.” Since
Donald Trump became president, the number of immigrants detained has
increased. And a growing number of those detainees are asylum seekers, who
say they are fleeing violence and persecution in their homelands: 27 percent
of Adelanto’s population was seeking asylum, according to the report. Among
recent detainees there is growing population of people with mental health
needs and disabilities, a category of asylum seeker that under previous
administrations was a lower priority for detention. The report said that
includes detainees like Sofia, an asylum seeker from Russia who was detained
at Adelanto with her husband in 2017. Visits with her husband were
rare, and her requests to speak with him, or send him a letter, typically
were denied, she told Disability Rights California officials. Although Sofia
told investigators she previously had no history of suicidal thoughts before
detention, after four and a half months at Adelanto she tried to kill
herself. “I was tired of being here, of being detained,” she said. “It was
just too stressful.” Meanwhile, her husband, Aleksei,
said he too became so distraught that he also attempted suicide. But after
stints in a suicide watch cell, which he told investigators were like
“torture,” he told the medical staff that “everything is fine” because he
didn’t want to go back there. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
reported one suicide attempt in 2016, three in 2017 and none in 2018,
according to the report. But the nonprofit, “without conducting
anything close to a comprehensive review of all detainees,” found more. There
was at least one suicide, by hanging, in 2017, and five other deaths, some
due to medical neglect, according to the Inland Coalition for Immigrant
Justice. The report also found that detainees at Adelanto who show signs of
mental illness, or request such services, have only “brief” contacts with
mental health experts, and that the treatments they do receive are not
individualized. The report added that individual and group counseling is
nearly non-existent, and there is little opportunity for detainees to engage
in activities like reading. Mario Perez, who lives in San Bernardino County
and has lived in the United States since he was 5, said he experienced some
of the issues reflected in the report. Perez, 31, was at the Adelanto
facility for six months last year, picked up at his home by immigration
agents while he was under house arrest following a conviction for driving
under the influence. At the time, Perez was taking medication for depression.
But he went the first week at Adelanto without his medication, even though he
asked for it repeatedly. Visits with a psychologist and a psychiatrist
ran about 5 to 10 minutes each time, once a month. “I was able to advocate
for myself,” said Perez, who now works for the Inland Coalition for Immigrant
Justice, assisting people who leave the Adelanto facility. “But if you are
not bilingual, and can’t speak up for yourself, that’s a whole different
issue.” While he didn’t see any nooses mentioned in other reports about
Adelanto, Perez said he heard other detainees and inmates talk often about
wanting to throw themselves down the stairs or jump off a second floor inside
the building. “They would comment: ‘I can’t do do
this anymore. I can’t be here for another day.’”
Feb
3, 2019 vvdailypress.com
NPR sues Adelanto over public records access
ADELANTO — In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, National Public Radio alleged
the city failed to obey the state’s public records law. The suit alleges the
city unlawfully denied NPR reporter Tom Dreisbach
access to public records he sought regarding living conditions at the
Adelanto Detention Center. The lawsuit asks the court to order the city to
release the records. In 2010, Geo Group, one of the two largest private
prison corporations in the United States, purchased the prison located on
Rancho Road from the city for $28 million. It expanded in 2012 and today
reigns as the largest immigration detention center in California. Since 2011,
the city has acted as a pass-through agency in an agreement that allows U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold immigration detainees at the
facility. ICE pays Adelanto for the service, then the city pays GEO Group.
The city collects administrative fees for its part. According to the lawsuit,
Dreisbach requested public records from ICE in
August 2018. He sought information about “emergency grievances” made by
detainees, along with the staff’s responses, plus information on the use of
force, including audio and visual records. ICE denied his requests, telling Dreisbach to contact the detention center directly. In
September 2018, Dreisbach asked for records from
Adelanto, the operator of the detention center listed in the agreement. The
request was made under the California Public Records Act. On Jan. 1, 2018 the
Dignity Not Detention Act became law. It demands any facility detaining “a
noncitizen pursuant to a contract with a city, county, city and county, or a
local law enforcement agency is subject to the California Public Records
Act.” The lawsuit argues this law guarantees Dreisbach
access to the records he requested. The city denied Dreisbach’s
request, saying it did not possess “public records responsive to the request”
because it did not have “actual and constructive possession” of the records,
according to the lawsuit. The law firm representing the city acknowledged NPR
was entitled to records under the California Public Records Act, but from Geo
Group, not the city. In the lawsuit, NPR contends Geo Group possesses the
records, and under the agreement between the parties, the city has
“unfettered access to the records of the detention facility.” The agreement
also requires the city to accurately maintain those records, the lawsuit
said. Dreisbach then requested the records directly
from Geo Group, which denied his requests and directed him back to ICE. “The
contracts between ICE, GEO, and the city all permit the city access to any
and all documents related to detainee custody and care,” the lawsuit said.
“The city therefore has, at a minimum, an interest in and constructive
possession of the records sought by NPR.” Adelanto City Manager Jessie Flores
told the Daily Press that “the City previously provided all documents in its
possession in response to a Public Records Act request received from NPR. The
City received the Writ yesterday and the City Attorney’s office is reviewing
it and will be responding.” In a statement emailed to the Daily Press, Geo
Group contended that it is “obligated to follow contractual requirements,
which provide that information related to the operation of ICE Processing
Centers is under the control of the agency. The public disclosure of this
information is governed by those contractual requirements and applicable
federal laws and regulations. Accordingly, GEO has referred to ICE requests
for information that is under control of the agency.” Lori K. Haley, a U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, said she is unable to
comment on lawsuits.
Dec 24, 2018 newsweek.com
ICE BLOCKS IMMIGRANTS FROM LAWYERS WITH DRACONIAN PHONE RULES IN
CALIFORNIA, ACLU SAYS
An immigration detention center in California has effectively worked to
keep immigrants from contacting lawyers through phone rules, a lawsuit
alleged last week. Advocate groups have said calls for those detained in the
Adelanto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center calls
are prohibitively expensive. And if a detainee is able to scrounge together
money for call, then they calls are recorded and it is required that someone
answer the phone nearly immediately—voicemails are not an option. "Legal
representation is fundamental to ensuring due process for immigrants facing
removal, but when our detained clients can't effectively communicate with us,
our abilities to be effective advocates are compromised," said Meeth Soni, co-legal director
at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, in a statement released by the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California. The lawsuit
detailed allegations of how difficult it can be for a detained immigrant to
reach a lawyer. The suit alleges that an asylum-seeker named Desmond Tenghe has not been allowed to access funds he brought
with and previous earnings from a different detention center were not
transferred to Adelanto. Making just $1 per day working at Adelanto and
denied free calls, the suit alleges, Tenghe has to
spend a week's earnings to make a call and has to hope he reaches a person
immediately. It took him two months to get ahold of his sponsor in Maryland,
the suit alleges. "Over the course of weeks, Plaintiff Tenghe tried to call at least seven different legal
organizations, including Catholic Charities, El Rescate,
and others. Due to Defendants’ “positive acceptance” requirement for
telephone calls, the telephone calls have either disconnected after ringing
once or twice or continued to ring without answer. Plaintiff Tenghe has also attempted to call Catholic Charities to
obtain documents about current country conditions in his country of origin,
but those telephone calls also have not connected because of Defendants’
“positive acceptance” requirement." The GEO Group, a large contractor
for ICE that runs the Adelanto facility, told the Miami New Times they are
simply following procedures. "As a services provider to ICE, GEO plays
no role in establishing immigration law and we comply with the
performance-based standards set by the government," a spokesperson told
the outlet. "We would refer specific questions about these policies [be
addressed] to ICE." The lawsuit from the ACLU of Southern California and
the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School further alleges that
phone call recording policies at detention centers hinders conversations
about legal strategies and that there are just 10 private meeting spaces at
Adelanto for nearly 2,000 detainees. "The U.S. government has placed
arbitrary barriers between immigrant detainees and their lawyers which must
be eliminated if justice is to be served," said Ben Johnson, executive
director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, in the ACLU press
release.
Oct 10, 2018 dailycaller.com
PRIVATE IMMIGRATION DETENTION
CENTER SAYS IT HAS ALREADY FIXED PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED IN WATCHDOG REPORT
GEO Group, the operator of an
immigration detention center in California, says it moved to address problems
identified in a surprise government inspection well before they were detailed
in a report released in early October. The Department of Homeland Security’s
Office of Inspector General found several deficiencies in its May inspection
of the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, including inadequate medical care and
improper use of restricted housing. In a letter to ICE officials, Adelanto’s
warden said the facility took action as soon as the problems were noted and
had corrected the issues by early September. A privately owned immigration
detention center in California says it had fixed problems identified in a
surprise government inspection by early September, nearly a month before the
results of the inspection were released to the public. Inspectors with the
Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG)
conducted an unannounced inspection of the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in
May. The OIG’s findings, which included allegations of inadequate medical
care and inappropriate use of solitary confinement, were published Oct. 2 in
a memo that sparked outrage among immigration activists and civil rights
groups. (RELATED: Watchdog Finds Hanging ‘Nooses,’ Lack Of Medical Care At
ICE Detention Facility). But GEO Group, the owner and operator of the Adelanto
center, disputed some of the problems noted by OIG auditors and said it took
corrective action on others as soon as they were identified. “We take the
findings outlined by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of
Inspector General (OIG) regarding the Adelanto ICE Processing Center very
seriously,” company spokesman Pablo Paez said in a
statement. “While we believe that a number of the findings lacked appropriate
context or were based on incomplete information, we have already taken steps
to remedy areas where our processes fell short of our commitment to
high-quality care.” GEO Group, one of the country’s largest operators of
private prisons and immigration detention centers, bought the Adelanto
facility in 2010 and began housing ICE detainees there the following year.
Today, Adelanto houses about 1,700 detainees, making it the largest
immigration detention facility in California. DHS-OIG’s surprise inspection
of the facility turned up three issues the watchdog said were “significant
threats” to detainee health and safety. Inspectors discovered braided bed
sheets — referred to as “nooses” by staff — hanging in several inmates’
cells, even though detainees had previously used similar sheets in suicide
attempts. Additionally, inspectors determined that detainees were being
prematurely placed in disciplinary segregation before they were found guilty
of a rule violation and were not given “timely and adequate” medical care —
both violations of ICE national detention standards. In some cases, detainees
had to wait years for basic dental care, leading to tooth loss and
“unnecessary extractions,” the OIG report stated. Adelanto managers took
steps to correct the problems immediately after the inspection, according to
a letter from warden James Janecka to ICE officials
obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. In the letter dated Sept. 6, Janecka noted that detainees often used the braided bed
sheets as privacy barriers between cell beds and toilets, but added that he
had instructed staff to remove “any improvised curtains or any other visual
obstructions.” With respect to the improper use of disciplinary segregation
at Adelanto, Janecka conceded that detainees had
been placed in the center’s restricted housing section while their cases were
still in pending status. He said the mistakes were the result of delays in
putting disciplinary records into detainees’ files, leading to confusion
about whether inmates met the threshold for restricted housing. Under a
corrective action plan implemented in May, “timelines will be met, and each
detainee’s status in the disciplinary process will be readily discernible,” Janecka wrote. As for concerns about inadequate medical
and dental care, GEO Group says it is conducting a review with its medical
services subcontractor “to ensure all medical and dental care is provided at
the highest quality and in a timely manner, and to hold accountable those who
are not meeting these expectations.”As of Sept. 6,
there was no longer a backlog for dental cleaning at Adelanto, Janecka said.
Oct
3, 2018 latimes.com
Nooses in cells, rotting teeth — report details harsh conditions at
Adelanto immigration facility
A Nicaraguan man who was detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center
died in March 2017 after he was found hanging in his cell from his bedsheets.
Not long after, two other detainees also used sheets in an attempt to hang
themselves. When federal officials arrived in May of this year for a surprise
inspection of the privately run immigration detention facility, they found
nooses made from bedsheets in 15 of 20 cells. “When we asked two contract
guards who oversaw the housing units why they did not remove the bedsheets,
they echoed it was not a high priority,” officials with the Department of
Homeland Security inspector general’s office wrote in a scathing report made
public Tuesday detailing dangerous conditions found at the facility during
their unannounced visit. The nooses are just one of many problems posing
“significant health and safety risks” identified by federal inspectors at
Adelanto, which can house nearly 2,000 detainees as they await the outcome of
their immigration cases Detainees reported waiting “weeks and months” to see
a doctor, and inspectors met with a dentist who dismissed the necessity of fillings,
and suggested that detainees use string from their socks to floss, the report
said. Inspectors also said they found that detainees were commonly subjected
to disciplinary segregation before being found guilty of violating rules. The
report is the latest from government inspectors to document significant
deficiencies at Adelanto since it opened in 2011. It comes one year after
immigrant advocates raised alarms about conditions at the facility following
the deaths of three detainees in a three-month period in 2017. The Times
reported in August 2017 that there had been at least five attempted suicides
at the facility in less than one year, according to a review of 911 calls.
Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement
that immigration officials take the findings seriously and have “agreed to
conduct a full and immediate review of the center to ensure compliance with
detention standards and expedite necessary corrective actions.” Tens of
thousands of ICE detainees have passed through the Adelanto facility since it
opened seven years ago. It is owned and operated by the GEO Group, which runs
dozens of private prisons and detention centers around the country. Among
those held in the facility are asylum seekers, people caught in immigration
sweeps and those identified by authorities as potentially deportable after
landing in jail. Some detainees arrive at the facility soon after crossing
the border; others after having lived in the U.S. for decades. They can stay
in detention for months, and in some cases years, as their cases are decided.
Pablo Paez, a spokesman for GEO Group, referred
questions about the inspector general's report to ICE. According to the
report, in the months after Osmar Epifanio
Gonzalez-Gadba, 32, of Nicaragua was found hanging
from bedsheets in his cell and later died, ICE compliance reports documented
at least three suicide attempts by hanging at Adelanto, two of which
specifically used bedsheets. Still, when inspectors visited the facility, they
found braided sheets that both staff and detainees referred to as nooses
hanging from the vents in 15 of the approximately 20 male detainee cells that
they visited in four housing units. The guard who escorted the inspectors
began removing the nooses but stopped after realizing how many there were,
the report says. Some detainees said they use the unfurled sheets for
privacy, while others said they used them as clotheslines. One detainee,
however, told inspectors that he had seen “a few attempted suicides using the
braided sheets by the vents.” “The guards laugh at them and call them
‘suicide failures’ once they are back from medical,” the detainee told
officials. Inspectors also found during their visit that all 14 detainees who
were in disciplinary segregation at the time were put there before being
found guilty of a prohibited act or rule violation. And though ICE standards
require face-to-face medical assessments of all detainees in segregation at
least once a day, inspectors observed two doctors in the unit stamping their
name on detainee records outside their cells “without having any contact with
10 of the 14 detainees in disciplinary segregation." The report also
notes that some detainees reported waiting “weeks and months” to see a doctor
and said that appointments were canceled without explanation, with detainees
placed back on the waiting list. From November 2017 to April 2018, detainees
filed 80 medical grievances with the facility for not receiving urgent care,
not being seen for months for persistent health conditions and not receiving
prescribed medication, according to the report. Inspectors also highlighted
serious problems with dental care at the facility, saying detainees are
placed on wait lists for months and, sometimes, years to receive basic care,
“resulting in tooth loss and unnecessary extractions in some cases.” No
detainees have received fillings in the last four years, according to the
report. One detainee reported multiple teeth falling out while waiting more
than two years for cavities to be filled. One dentist at the facility told
inspectors he did not have time to complete cleanings or fillings, according
to the report. “The dentist dismissed the necessity of fillings if patients
commit to brushing and flossing,” the report states. “Floss is only available
through detainee commissary accounts, but the dentist suggested detainees
could use string from their socks to floss if they were dedicated to dental
hygiene.” This is not the first time government inspectors have noted
problems — often related to medical care — at the Adelanto facility. An
annual review in November 2011 found that "medical officials were not
conducting detainee health appraisals within 14 days of arrival,” and nurses
were performing health assessments without proper training or certification.
A 2012 report by ICE's Office of Detention Oversight found that many requests
for medical care were delayed. That report also said the death of detainee
Fernando Dominguez Valdivia in March of that year followed "egregious
errors" by medical staff and that a review found it could have been
prevented. A report on the 2015 death of Raul Ernesto Morales-Ramos, also
prepared by the Office of Detention Oversight, said Adelanto failed to
provide Morales-Ramos with timely and comprehensive medical care, among other
lapses. More recently, the Office of Detention Oversight’s review of
Gonzalez-Gadba’s 2017 suicide also faulted Adelanto
for failing to meet national standards. That report said that in the days
before his death, Gonzalez-Gadba reported he had
been sexually assaulted at Adelanto, but medical staff did not conduct a
medical assessment in response to that allegation. It also said that guards
failed to check on Gonzalez-Gadba, who was being
held in segregated housing, at least every 30 minutes, as required. He was
found hanging in his cell 37 minutes after an officer’s last logged security
round, according to the review. In its report, the inspector general’s office
also noted the medical care deficiencies that were found at Adelanto
following the deaths of detainees and urged immigration officials to fix the
problems. "ICE must take these continuing violations seriously and
address them immediately," the report says. Haley, the ICE spokeswoman,
said a contracted inspection firm is scheduled to inspect Adelanto again this
month. "Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment detainees
arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay," she said. Speaking
about the nooses, she said "ICE recognizes that this can present a dangerous
safety vulnerability and will intensify efforts to address this issue."
Jul 15, 2017 vvdailypress.com
Adelanto Detention Facility barred from expanding for another decade
ADELANTO — The Adelanto Detention Facility will be barred from expansion
for the next decade, thanks to a recent moratorium passed by state
legislators. California’s budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year, which began
July 1, included an action that targets the federal immigration crackdown by
requiring that the state attorney general review each county, local or
private detention facility where noncitizens are being held. The action also
blocks counties and municipalities from signing new contracts or expanding
existing contracts to detain immigrants, according to a report from the Associated
Press. “The bill isn’t shutting down any centers, but it is preventing the
Trump administration from expanding and entrenching immigration detention
centers further,” Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in
Confinement (CIVIC) co-founder/co-executive director Christina Fialho said. The Adelanto Detention Facility, privately
operated by the GEO group, contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) to house federal immigration detainees. According to Fialho, the new bill bars city officials from modifying
their contract with ICE and the GEO group to expand the detention facility
for 10 years. The bill also earmarks $1 million a year for the Attorney
General’s office to monitor immigration detention centers in the state, the first
law in the country that gives a state agency the power to monitor federal
immigration facilities, Fialho said. “Basically,
it’s going to ensure that people in immigration detention are treated
humanely,” Fialho said. CIVIC and other advocacy
groups have regularly called upon ICE and GEO officials to make changes at
the facility, citing detainee deaths and poor conditions, according to a
previous Daily Press report. While ICE officials declined to directly comment
on the bill and CIVIC’s statement, they explained that the agency uses a
variety of facilities — including federal, state, local and contractor-owned
facilities — across the country to house detainees in an effort to curb
costs. The new bill would hinder these efforts while failing to curb immigration
detention, they suggested. “Placing limitations on ICE’s detention options
here in California won’t prevent the agency from detaining immigration
violators,” ICE officials said in a statement. “It will simply mean ICE will
have to transfer individuals encountered in California to detention
facilities outside the state, at a greater distance from their family,
friends, and legal representatives.” ICE officials said the agency seeks to
house detainees within the geographical area of their arrest “whenever
possible” to reduce the need for transfers to other facilities. This, in
turn, leads to lower costs and shorter stays for detainees in ICE custody,
they said.
Jul 6, 2017 kqed.org/news
Hunger Strike at California’s Biggest Immigration Detention Center
Activists say that more than 30 people began a hunger strike at the
Adelanto Detention Facility on Tuesday, seeking better medical care and
release pending their immigration court dates. In the last five years, six
people have died while being detained — three of them since March 27 — at the
San Bernardino County facility, the largest immigration detention center in
California. It can hold about 1,900 detainees and was almost at capacity in
March, according to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Detainees
say this is the fourth hunger strike they’ve conducted at the facility since
June 12. During breakfast that morning nine men, mostly asylum-seekers from
El Salvador, linked arms and refused to return to their cells until they
could speak to guards about their concerns. Guards used pepper spray and
physically removed the men to solitary cells, according to Tristan Call, a
spokesman for the detainees, and ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.
Then they began the hunger strike. “We are not anyone’s toys,” said Isaac
Lopez Castillo, a 27-year-old from El Salvador, in a Facebook video about the
strike. The men filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security’s
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties alleging that they were beaten
and denied medical care and access to their attorneys. GEO Group, the private
prison company that owns and operates the facility, is investigating the
incident, and ICE officials will review that probe, according to Kice. “The claim the men involved in this disturbance were
beaten is a gross and regrettable exaggeration,” wrote Kice
in an email. On June 14, a group of nearly 30 women refused to eat for about
24 hours — asking for medical care, “basic respect” from jail guards, lower
bond rates and to be reunited with their families. Call said that they ended
the strike after many of the women received medical care on June 15. Then, on
June 22, eight of the same men from the June 12 action began a new hunger
strike, after one was deported. Call said that detainees throughout the
facility have refused food periodically since they began striking on June 12.
Kice says that the agency will implement hunger
strike protocols, including medical supervision, if detainees refuse food for
more than 72 hours. While the city of Adelanto holds the contract with ICE to
detain immigrants in the facility, the city also has a contract with GEO
Group to run it. Early last year, GEO Group stopped providing its own medical
care and subcontracted with Correct Care Solutions, keeping on many of the
same staff. ICE’s own investigators found problems at the facility,
including health care delays, poor record keeping and failures to properly
report sexual assaults. In a federal investigation into one of the California
deaths, inspectors noted that the person who died had waited more than a year
to see a specialist, that the high turnover of medical staff led to
inadequate care and that a dearth of laboratory services led to delays in
treatment. Independent medical experts for Human Rights Watch analyzing ICE’s
investigation found that the man probably suffered from symptoms of cancer
for two years. Detainees are also requesting to be released on their own recognizance, on bond or
to receive a monitoring device. Immigrant detainees, including asylum-seekers,
can wait weeks, months and even years for their day in immigration court.
There are currently 326 immigration judges nationwide — and they’re handling
nearly 600,000 pending cases, according to the Department of Justice and data
from Syracuse University’s TRAC research center. Even if the immigration
courts didn’t accept a single additional case, it would take longer than two
years to go through the backlog, according to TRAC. Both ICE and immigration
judges can release people. ICE officers make an initial determination about
whether people should be detained while their immigration cases are pending.
“ICE makes such determinations on an individual basis taking into account all
facets of the person’s situation, including the individual’s immigration history
and criminal record, if applicable. Likewise, the agency also considers an
alien’s family ties, any humanitarian issues that may be involved, and
whether the person is a potential flight risk,” wrote Kice.
Detainees who have been convicted of criminal activity are mandatorily held
in detention. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to rehear a case that
could require immigration courts to conduct bond hearings every six months.
The named plaintiff in the case, Alejandro Rodriguez, spent three years in
ICE detention without a hearing for his release. Court records analyzed by
TRAC showed that at least half — and in some years upward of two-thirds — of
people are held in ICE detention while the DHS begins court proceedings to
deport them. The median immigration bond was set at $8,000 in fiscal year
2016. About one in five people granted bond stayed in detention, presumably
because they can’t afford it. In a statement during the first hunger strike,
the men wrote that they cannot afford bail: “We are from El Salvador,
Honduras, and Guatemala. We ask for your attention, because Adelanto is one
of the prisons which exists for those who are seeking political asylum, and
in reality our records are clean, none of us have
prior criminal records. The bail is set impossibly high, and it’s a
humiliating joke because we are poor, we don’t have that kind of money.”
Jun
13, 2017 motherjones.com
Refugees In a Troubled Private Detention Center Are On Hunger Strike
Update (06/12/17, 10:15PM): On Monday morning, guards at the Adelanto
Detention Facility allegedly attacked nine detainees, all members of a
refugee caravan which arrived at the US-Mexico border in May. On Monday
morning, according to two of the caravan organizers, Tristan Call and Alex Mensing, the group delivered a letter of grievances to
prison officials and demanded a meeting with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE). At that point, say Call and Mensing,
who spoke with the refugees after the incident, guards allegedly beat the
men, “drenched” them in pepper spray, handcuffed them, and placed them in
restrictive housing. It was then, ICE claims, that members of the caravan
announced their hunger strike. “They described their shirts as literally
being soaked with [pepper spray] and were forced to shower in hot water,”
which intensifies the pain, says Mensing. “They
also beat them and bashed them against a wall, knocking a dental crown out of
one of the guy’s mouth.” Call adds, “They said the other prisoners shouted
for the guards to stop but weren’t able to do anything.” In a statement
e-mailed to Mother Jones this evening, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said, “Monday morning nine detainees refused to
return to their assigned beds for the morning count, locked arms, and defied
commands to submit to mechanical restraints. After repeated efforts to avoid
confrontation, a supervisory officer used a one-second burst of pepper spray
to subdue the detainees, who immediately complied and submitted to mechanical
restraints. No officers or detainees were injured.” The facility’s staff has
now begun monitoring the strikers’ food intake. Today, members of a refugee
caravan who are seeking asylum in the United States began a hunger strike at
the Adelanto Detention Facility in Southern California. “We will not eat until
the government responds to our demands and agrees to negotiate,” said Isaac
Lopez Castillo, a 27-year-old from El Salvador who is one of the nine
refugees participating in the hunger strike, in a statement. They are asking
for better food, access to clean water 24 hours a day, and quality medical
care. “None of us have prior criminal records,” they note. Though the hunger
strike reportedly began today at 5:30 in the morning, after speaking with
Adelanto Detention Facility staff, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
spokeswoman Virginia Kice stated that “there are no
detainees at that center who are on a hunger strike.” The members of the
caravan, which arrived at the US-Mexico border in May, are from Guatemala,
Honduras, and El Salvador. They fled their home countries after being
targeted by violent criminal organizations, according to Tristan Call, an
organizer with the Nashville-based immigrant rights group Sureñxs
En Acción. “Most of them
have had one or more family members murdered. A lot of them have had direct
physical attacks that they survived themselves, and they’ve had extensive
death threats,” says Call, who accompanied the caravan in Mexico and is
speaking on behalf of the hunger strikers. Under US and international law,
border agents must admit asylum seekers to evaluate whether they have
“credible fear” of returning to their home country. According to Call, at
least seven of the nine hunger strikers have undergone and passed their
“credible fear” interviews, a major hurdle before they may pursue their
asylum cases outside of detention. Yet the caravan members argue that they
are being treated with “humiliation and discrimination” at Adelanto. In
addition to demanding better food and clean water, they want new
uniforms—specifically, underwear that hasn’t been used by other detainees.
The hunger strikers are complaining about unreasonable bond amounts, which
they say have been set at “impossibly high levels.” At least one detainee’s
bail was set at $20,000, says Call. “If you set a $20,000 bond, and you’re a
refugee from El Salvador coming with nothing, there is zero chance you will
be able to do that. It’s essentially similar to the kind of extortion they
were experiencing from the gangs they just fled from: You flee for your life
from a place where you’re being extorted for tens of thousands of dollars
that you can’t pay, and then you have a similar experience with the US
government.” The detainees are also asking for better access to quality
medical care at Adelanto, which is operated by the GEO Group, the country’s
largest private prison company. So far three immigrants have died at the
facility this year. In a July 2015 letter to ICE and federal inspectors, 29
members of Congress requested an investigation into health and safety
concerns at the facility, writing that “egregious” medical errors had caused
a 2012 death there. Four months after the letter was sent, 400 detainees
began a hunger strike.
Jun 3, 2017 motherjones.com
In 3 Months, 3 Immigrants Have
Died at a Private Detention Center in California
A Honduran immigrant held at a
troubled detention center in California's high desert died Wednesday night
while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Vincente
Caceres-Maradiaga, 46, was receiving treatment for multiple medical
conditions while waiting for an immigration court to decide whether to deport
him, according an ICE statement. He collapsed as he was playing soccer at the
detention facility and died while en route to a
local hospital. Caceres-Maradiaga's death is the latest in a string of
fatalities among detainees held at the Adelanto Detention Facility, which is
operated by the GEO Group, the country's largest private prison company.
Three people held at the facility have died in the last three months,
including Osmar Epifanio Gonzalez-Gadba, a 32-year-old Nicaraguan found hanging in his cell
on March 22, and Sergio Alonso Lopez, a Mexican man who died of internal
bleeding on April 13 after spending more than two months in custody. Since it
opened in 2011, Adelanto has faced accusations of insufficient medical care
and poor conditions. In July 2015, 29 members of Congress sent a letter to
ICE and federal inspectors requesting an investigation into health and safety
concerns at the facility. They cited the 2012 death of Fernando Dominguez at
the facility, saying it was the result of "egregious errors" by the
center's medical staff, who did not give him proper medical examinations or
allow him to receive timely off-site treatment. In November 2015, 400 detainees
began a hunger strike, demanding better medical and dental care along with
other reforms. The federal government guarantees GEO that a minimum of 975
immigrants will be held at the facility and pays $111 per detainee per day.
Yet last year, the city of Adelanto, acting as a middleman between ICE and
GEO, made a deal to extend the company's contract until 2021. The federal
government guarantees GEO that a minimum of 975 immigrants will be held at
the facility and pays $111 per detainee per day, according to California
state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), who has fought to curtail private
immigration detention. After that point, ICE only has to pay $50 per detainee
per day—an incentive to fill more beds. Of California's four privately run
immigration detention centers, three use local governments as intermediaries
between ICE and private prison companies. On Tuesday, the California senate
voted 26-13 to ban such contracts, supporting a bill that could potentially
close Adelanto when its contract runs out in 2021. The Dignity Not Detention
Act, authored by Lara, would prevent local governments from signing or
extending contracts with private prison companies to detain immigrants
starting in 2019. The bill would also require all in-state facilities that
hold ICE detainees, including both private detention centers and public
jails, to meet national standards for detention conditions—empowering state
prosecutors to hold detention center operators accountable for poor
conditions inside their facilities. An identical bill passed last year but
was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. "I have been troubled by recent reports
detailing unsatisfactory conditions and limited access to counsel in private
immigration detention facilities," Brown wrote in his veto message last
September. But he deferred to the Department of Homeland Security, which was
then reviewing its use of for-profit immigration detention. In that review,
the Homeland Security Advisory Council rejected the ongoing use of private
prison companies to detain immigrants, citing the "inferiority of the
private prison model." Yet since President Donald Trump took office, the
federal government has moved to expand private immigration detention, signing
a $110 million deal with GEO in April to build the first new immigration detention
center under Trump. Nine people have died in ICE custody in fiscal year 2017,
which began October 1. Meanwhile, private prison stocks have nearly doubled
in value since Election Day.
Apr 12, 2017 laist.com
Sexual Assault Claims At Private Immigrant Detention Centers Are Rarely
Investigated
A new report shows that sexual assault and harassment claims at immigrant
detention centers are rampant, and that the government has little protocol in
place for investigating—let alone preventing—those claims. On Tuesday, CIVIC
(Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement), a national
advocacy and watchdog group, filed a federal civil rights complaint about
sexual assault and abuse in the immigration detention system across the
country, including at Southern California's Adelanto Detention Facility. The
data was compiled through personal interviews with individuals who'd been
assaulted and harassed in the system, as well as data received through
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and state public record requests.
Tens of thousands of immigrants are detained across the country on any given
night because of something called the "bed mandate," a little-known
congressional directive that requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
to keep an average of 34,000 immigrants in their custody per day. As the
Trump administration ramps up its deportation machine, the population of
America's immigrant detention centers is also likely to grow—a development
that has been seen as a massive boon for the private prison industry that
manages the majority of those detention centers. The quota policy, which has
been in place since 2009, guarantees a steady stream of revenue for those
companies: the warehousing of immigrants costs taxpayers $125 per person, per
day. About 65% of all immigrant detainees are housed in privately-owned
facilities, according to a recent Department of Homeland Security report.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, CIVIC found that a total of
14,693 complaints of sexual and/or physical abuse had been filed against ICE
between January 2010 and July 2016, according to the Office of the Inspector
General (ICE refused to provide information directly to CIVIC, despite their
repeated requests). Forty-four percent of all abuse claims brought against
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were filed against ICE, which is
more than any other DHS agency (Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs
and Border Protection, Border Patrol, Transportation Security Administration,
Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Protective Service,
and the Secret Service also fall under the DHS umbrella). Customs and Border
Protection received the second highest level of complaints, at 31% of the
total (CBP and ICE combined account for more than 75% of all abuse complaints
filed against DHS). Less than 1% of the total complaints of sexual and/or
physical abuse filed against DHS and its agencies during this time period
resulted in OIG investigations. "By not properly investigating each
allegation of sexual assault, our government sends a message that sexual
abuse of immigrants will be tolerated," Christina Fialho,
an attorney and the co-founder/executive director of CIVIC, told LAist. The OIG received at least 1,016 reports of sexual
abuse or assault filed by people in detention between May 28, 2014 and July
12, 2016 alone, according to the report. Only 24 of those complaints were
investigated by the OIG. For 92.6% of the complaints, the inspector general's
office declined to investigate and merely referred the complaint to the
relevant agency (e.g., ICE) without requesting any follow-up. More than 3% of
the cases were closed without even being referred to the relevant agency. In
addition to the 1,016 complaints of sexual abuse/assault reported by people
in detention, there were 402 complaints of “coerced sexual contact,” 196
complaints of “sexual harassment," and 380 complaints of “physical or
sexual abuse” lodged against ICE during this time period, according to CIVIC.
CIVIC's data collection found that, unsurprisingly, the top five worst
immigration detention facilities in terms of sexual assault complaints were
all privately-run prisons. These private facilities not only have far less
oversight than their government-run equivalents, but "the vast majority
of private immigration detention contracts do not include any robust penalty
provisions for failing to meet government standards," according to
Forbes. "By law, [private prison facilities] actually are less transparent,"
Fialho told LAist.
"They're exempt from FOIA and they're also exempt from state public
record requests," she explained, which is part of why it's been so
challenging for the organization to compile their data. The largest immigrant
detention center in California is housed on a barren desert road 90 miles
northeast of Los Angeles. The privately-owned Adelanto Detention Facility is
run, like many other immigrant detention facilities, by GEO Group, the
nation's second largest for-profit prison operator. ICE contracts with the
city of Adelanto for the physical space, and the city of Adelanto contracts
with Geo Group to run the prison. Adelanto, which opened in 2011 and has the
ignominious honor of ranking third on CIVIC's worst offenders list, has a
history of poor conditions and abuses, as well documented at KPCC. In
December 2015, a female detainee at Adelanto was sexually assaulted by
another person in the facility during the night. The offender then tried to
kiss her during the daytime in view of the GEO Group officers. According to
interviews conducted with CIVIC, the woman reported the behavior to GEO Group
and ICE personnel, but received no response. She eventually called 911 from
inside the facility which, according to Fialho, is
part of a troubling pattern of detainees being forced to call 911 to report
abuse from inside the facility after being ignored through other channels.
The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department responded to the call and conducted
an interview with the woman on December 15, 2015. After the questioning was
over, "there was no information provided to her from GEO Group or from
ICE or from the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department," according to Fialho. "It seemed like the case was either closed
without letting [the woman] know, or maybe it's still open, but no one
knows." "The M.O. of the immigration detention system as a whole is
isolating people from information, and it seems like the same thing occurs
when the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department is called as well," Fialho said. The San Bernardino Sheriff's Department
responded to at least five calls concerning alleged rape or sexual battery at
the Adelanto facility between January 2010 to June 2016, according to a
California Public Record Act request filed by CIVIC. The female detainee in
question eventually became so depressed that she attempted suicide. ICE
subsequently transferred her to the Santa Ana City Jail in March 2016. The
recorded complaints are, of course, just the tip of the iceberg. “A lot of
the girls there had problems like this. Most of them don’t even end up
complaining or saying anything about it because they’re scared of
retaliation,” Rosanna Santos, a class representative in CIVIC's complaint who
was sexually harassed by a corrections officer in immigration detention at
Pennsylvania's York County Jail said in a statement. “Since my complaint,
nothing has happened. It is like they want to keep me quiet.” ICE fully
respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion without interference
and does not retaliate in any way against hunger strikers.”
Mar 29, 2017 vocativ.com
ICE Detainee Hangs Himself In
California Jail Cell
A Nicaraguan national being
held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in California died on Tuesday
from injuries he sustained from an attempted suicide six days before, federal
authorities said. Osmar Epifanio Gonzalez-Gadba was found hanging from his neck inside his cell at
the Adelanto Detention Facility on March 22 by an employee doing a routine
evening check, ICE said in a published statement. The 32-year-old was rushed
to a nearby hospital, but died after nearly a week on life support. The
preliminary cause of his death is heart failure caused from the earlier
asphyxiation. Immigration officials said that Gonzalez-Gadba
was in a cell by himself and had exhibited no prior signs of being suicidal.
The Nicaraguan man had been in ICE custody since December 2016, following his
arrest by U.S. Border Patrol agents near San Diego. Homeland Security records
show that he had been previously been deported to Nicaragua in April 2016.
Aside from the pair of immigration-related arrests, Gonzalez-Gadba had no criminal record in the U.S., Virginia Kice, an ICE spokeswoman, told Vocativ.
Gonzalez-Gadba is the fifth detainee to die while
in ICE custody in the last year, the agency said. ICE officials said they
have been unsuccessful in locating Gonzalez-Gadba’s
family members and that he received no visitors while he was in custody. A
representative from the Nicaraguan consulate in Los Angeles was unable to
provide additional details to Vocativ on Wednesday.
Adelanto is a for-profit prison and holds close to 2,000 detainees. Operated
by the GEO group, the nation’s second-largest private prison company, the
detention center has faced accusations by the ACLU and other groups of providing
substandard medical care. A 2015 report by Community Initiatives for Visiting
Immigrants in Confinement claimed that immigrant detainees at Adelanto faced
“extreme abuse.”
Jan 19, 2017 buzzfeed.com
Immigration Officials And Private Prison Company Are Accused Of Denying
Access To Detainees
A court complaint accuses one of the largest private prison corporations
colluding with federal officials to block detainees’ access to attorneys.
Immigration advocates on Wednesday filed a federal complaint accusing one of
the largest private prison companies in the US of preventing detainees from
meeting with attorneys. Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in
Confinement (CIVIC) said GEO Group, which operates the Adelanto Detention
Facility (ADF) in California, frequently violates federal standards regarding
social and legal visits to detainees, and that Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) agents collude to retaliate against certain attorneys. The
complaint was sent to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the
Department of Homeland Security. ICE and GEO Group did not immediately return
requests for comment. Christina Fialho, executive
director of CIVIC, said prison staff are illegally stopping attorneys like
herself from speaking with their clients at ADF, which houses about 1,852
people. “Legal access is crucial,” Fialho told
BuzzFeed News. “We do not and will not accept any curtailment of our rights
now and in the future.” As it is, immigrants in detention facilities and
jails in the US don’t have the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment
because deportation proceedings are considered civil matters. The American
Immigration Council found that just 14% of detained immigrants between 2007
and 2012 had legal representation. Fialho believes
ICE and GEO Group are retaliating against attorneys and volunteers who have
criticized the agency and conditions inside these facilities. Fialho said she was prevented from meeting with her
clients twice after leading vigils outside ADF in 2015. That same year, an
attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA were told by GEO staff that
they were not allowed to conduct visits with clients at ADF who were on
hunger strike because they were “on a list” requiring ICE approval before
they could see visitors. In 2015, CIVIC and the ACLU filed a cease and desist
letter to ICE and GEO Group after attorneys were denied access to people in
detention and visitation programs were shut down. That happened after
visitors raised concerns about sexual abuse and other conditions at different
facilities, according to the letter. Family members, some driving long
distances to the remote ADF in Adelanto, California, reported waiting more
than three hours to see detainees. A woman, whose family drove for three
hours and waited two hours, wasn’t able to see her husband and sons because
she wasn’t notified of their arrival until after visiting hours were over. It
has always been an issue, Fialho said, but since
Donald Trump won the election, attorneys and family members have “witnessed a
disturbing increase in wait times and visitation denials” at ADF. “These
denials may be indicative of an emerging pattern or practice at ADF, and
perhaps even beyond,” the complaint states, noting the same problems at other
facilities. “Having access to legal counsel is going to be super critical as
Trump moves forward with his deportation force,” Fialho
said.
Sep 21,
2016 kqed.org
Governor
Weighs Whether to Bar Some Private Immigration Lockups
First, the
Department of Justice announced it would stop using them, and soon after, the
Department of Homeland Security said it would review whether hundreds of
thousands of immigrants should be detained in private lockups overseen by the
department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division. The state of
California might beat them to the punch. A bill that would bar cities and
counties from contracting with private prisons to hold immigrant detainees is
sitting on the governor’s desk. If Gov. Jerry Brown signs the bill, three
facilities would be impacted by Senate Bill 1289: Adelanto Detention Facility
in San Bernardino County, Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Bakersfield and
Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Holtville, in Imperial County. Together,
the facilities can house around 3,000 people. All three are owned by local
governments, but run by private prison corporations that contract with ICE to
detain immigrants. The bill by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) would also
impose more stringent standards on any remaining immigration centers hosted
by local jurisdictions, including prohibiting segregated housing for LGBT
inmates and requiring access to legal representation, translation services
and medical care, including HIV and AIDS care. Grisel Ruiz, a staff attorney
with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said California has distinguished
itself as a state that welcomes immigrants and should not allow local
governments and corporations to profit off the detention of people waiting to
have their immigration cases resolved. “There’s a huge problem when you
monetize human beings, and in this case you are monetizing exceptionally
vulnerable people,” she said. “Asylum seekers, refugees, people who might
have problems with — English might be their second language, they might have
very little education, most don’t even have attorneys — it really goes
against our values that we have here as a state in California.” The publicly
owned, privately run prisons wouldn’t shut down overnight: If Brown signs the
bill, cities and counties would be barred from entering into new contracts
beginning in 2018. The largest facility, Adelanto, has a contract that runs
through 2021.
Apr
13, 2016 scpr.org
California state measure calls for end to profit-making immigrant detention
contracts
A new state bill aims to stop California cities and counties from
contracting with private prison companies that detain immigrants, but the
effort is generating pushback from one locality. The high-desert prison town
of Adelanto, a city of roughly 32,000, is home to two jails and one immigrant
detention center. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts with
Adelanto for detention space for up to 1,455 immigrants at $112.50 per
detainee, per day. The city, in turn, contracts with The GEO Group, a private
company that runs both the Adelanto Detention Facility and one of the city’s
jails. Adelanto officials sold the building that houses the detention center,
a former state prison, to GEO in 2010. But the city holds the contract for its
operation, and receives a cut of the amount ICE pays for the service. With
the Adelanto facility's daily population averaging roughly 1,200 and based on
the per-diem rate, ICE pays up to about $4 million a month — and more if the
detention center is filled to its 1,940-detainee capacity. But a bill
sponsored by state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) could put an end to
Adelanto's immigrant detention contract. "For far too long, our
immigration system has promoted profits over people," Lara told KPCC.
"The goal is to prohibit these for-profit companies from profiting off
the backs of immigrants." Cities like Adelanto depend on detention space
revenue. In Adelanto, which nearly went bankrupt last year, City Council
member John “Bug” Woodard, a self-described Tea Party Republican, said the
GEO contracts are vital to the city's economy. "I think a good 25
percent of our income comes from those jailhouses," Woodard said.
"GEO is an important part of this community, and any idiot up in Sacramento
that would like us not to do business with them, they’ve got their heads
where the sun don’t shine." Adelanto has been
fighting to stave off bankruptcy in recent years. Last year, Woodard
championed a new revenue source — an ordinance that allows medical marijuana
cultivation in the city. Proponents of Lara's detention bill say it would
affect four local governments in California that work with private detention
contractors, Adelanto included. The bill would only bar local governments
from working with for-profit detention contractors; it would not prohibit
them from contracting detention space directly to ICE, as does the Orange
County Sheriff's Department, for example. Immigration authorities have
increasingly relied on private contractors and local governments for space to
house immigrants awaiting or fighting deportation since the early 2000s, when
the detainee population exploded as a result of tighter immigration policies.
While its scope seems limited, the bill would affect many more
local-government contracts in other ways: a provision of the bill would make
it mandatory for all immigrant detention facilities in California to comply
with federal standards guidelines that are now optional. "Even if
immigrants are in public holding facilities, like say with the sheriff or a
local police station, these rules would have to be adhered to, regardless of
whether they are private or public," Lara said. The bill would also make
it easier for immigrants to sue these detention facilities if they believe
their rights are violated. The threat of lawsuits worries the California
State Sheriffs' Association, which opposes the proposal. So does the
possibility of ICE having to move detainees from private-contract facilities
affected by the bill to those that rent space directly to ICE, as many local
jails do. "Some of that workload could potentially fall on public
facilities that are already fairly overcrowded," said Cory Salzillo, legislative director with the sheriffs' ssociation. The measure requires approval by both houses
of the California Legislature and the governor's signature before it could
take effect. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hear the bill next
week.
Feb 4, 2016 vvdailypress.com
Debate over jail location in Adelanto revived
ADELANTO — A renewed debate over the location of a proposed 1,000-bed
jail could hold up a lucrative deal that one official had trumpeted as
officially erasing the city's deficit. The jail plan by private prison
operator GEO Group Inc. returned to the Planning Commission on Tuesday night
to mull GEO-requested tweaks to the development agreement. But Planning
Commissioner Chris Waggener requested the item be revisited next month. The
terms for the facility were initially approved 3-2 by the City Council in
late October even amid concerns that the jail would be situated just about
1.5 miles from Adelanto High School. On Tuesday, Mayor Rich Kerr revived an
argument he made three months ago in opposition to the plan. "I can
assure you ... there will not be a prison next to the high school," Kerr
said. He had mistakenly believed that the agreement OK'd in October pushed
the jail to a location away from the northeast corner of Holly and Koala
roads, which is also only a half-mile from residential housing. He and
Councilman Charley Glasper shot down the plan at the time. The Commission had
recommended the Council deny the plan because of its proximity to the school,
and Commissioner Joy Jeannette on Tuesday stood firm in that stance. "I
would never vote to have the prison near the high school," she said.
Kerr added that he believed the "Council will not bend" from
forcing GEO to build the jail elsewhere, but the assumption does not
harmonize with last October's vote. Mayor Pro Tem
Jermaine Wright, Councilman Ed Camargo and Councilman John "Bug"
Woodard approved the plan back then, shifting the focus away from the
location and instead toward the extra revenue and police presence provided by
the agreement — even if the jail isn't immediately built. Proposed on 22.16
acres of land, the jail came with the condition that GEO immediately up its
yearly payment to the city from $400,000 to $963,000 and fund one extra San
Bernardino County Sheriff's deputy to patrol the streets, officials said. If
the jail is built, the financial implications grow stronger. The annual
payment will jump to $1.33 million and GEO will fund another deputy. The
company was given two years to pull a permit and afforded five additional years worth of extensions to find a client. If the
company were to back out, the city's revenue stream and GEO-paid deputies
revert to pre-existing levels. In October, Camargo said the deal was
"one way" to increase law enforcement in the city since
"nothing (else) is knocking on the door." Saying that the deal
officially erased the city's deficit, Wright noted that the jail remained at
least 3.5 years from being operational and GEO was agreeable to move it. Yet Waggenger said Tuesday nothing had been formalized to
suggest GEO would switch locations. The company operates three correctional
or immigration complexes in the city: Desert View, Adelanto East and Adelanto
West. Kerr told the Commission he would fight the jail's venue "tooth
and nail." "I'm not going to put a bunch of cons out there to drool
out the freaking window at our young kids," he said. "It's not
going to happen."
Aug
26, 2015 vvdailypress.com
Immigration detainees denied attorney access, groups say
ADELANTO
— Federal immigration officials and Adelanto Detention Facility contractors
over the last two years have blocked detainee access from attorneys and other
visitors who have been critical of operations there or participated in
protests, detainee advocate groups said Tuesday. The groups made their claims
in a letter Monday to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and
Florida-based Geo Group Inc., which operates the Adelanto Detention Facility.
The letter was signed by representatives of American Civil Liberties Union
Foundation of Southern California on behalf of Community Initiatives for
Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) and the Southern Poverty Law
Center, with pro bono support of law firm Sidley Austin LLP. The letter urges
ICE and Geo Group officials to "stop retaliating against visitors who
publicly criticize the U.S. immigration detention system," or prepare to
face legal action. "Over the last two years, the Geo Group and ICE have
established an unlawful pattern and practice of denying attorney access to
clients detained at the facility in retaliation for the attorneys'
participation in lawful, peaceful protests outside of the facility," the
letter reads, "in contravention of the First Amendment's guarantee that
'debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.'"
ICE officials rebutted the claims Tuesday, saying the agency was well aware
of the importance of ensuring detainees' access to legal counsel. "ICE
is in frequent communication with attorneys and other stakeholders regarding
the operation of its detention facilities and is continually making
adjustments in response to feedback and any concerns raised," ICE
spokeswoman Virginia Kice said in a statement.
"Individuals who fail to comply with the visitation standards applicable
to a particular ICE facility may have their visitation privileges suspended.
Likewise, individuals who misrepresent the purpose of their visit to such
facilities may be denied access." An email inquiry sent to Geo Group
officials Tuesday was not immediately answered. On Aug. 6, 2013, attorney and
CIVIC co-executive director Christina Fialho was
reportedly denied access to consult with a prospective client after
participating in a peaceful vigil outside the facility, according to Monday's
letter. After a Geo officer asked her whether she took part in the vigil, she
said she had and then was told her visitation request was denied. After
challenging her denial, Fialho was told by the
officer that she was being denied because she did not have on file a G-28,
which is a notice of appearance as an attorney. But ICE regulations allow for
attorney visits with or without a G-28, the letter said. San Bernardino
County sheriff's deputies arrived soon after to question Fialho
at the request of Geo officers. Fialho was informed
that the Geo officers requested she be removed from the facility or arrested,
according to the letter. ICE officials have said, however, that Fialho and members of CIVIC were involved in activities
that violated ICE detention standards designed to safeguard detainees'
privacy. Officials acknowledged that her visitation privileges were restored
shortly afterward once the issue was resolved. But the letter also details a
reported account from May, when Fialho was again
denied access to consult with existing and prospective clients following a
vigil, despite having confirmed with a deputy three times that the deputy had
advised ICE and Geo officials of the purpose of her visit. "As Ms. Fialho prepared to leave the facility, she encountered
other attorneys whom she knew but who had not participated in the
vigil," the letter reads. "(A)ll of them
had been permitted to visit with clients." She was then told by a Geo
staff member that she could enter the facility should the other CIVIC members
and accompanying families leave the scene. Even after they left, a Geo staff
member shut the door and locked it in Fialho's face
after she attempted multiple times to ask the staff member a question but was
met with resistance and "instructed ... to either enter the building or
leave," the letter said. The confrontation was reportedly caught on
camera. The advocacy groups are demanding ICE and Geo officials confirm in
writing by Sept. 24 that they will cease alleged retaliation and clarify
policies to reflect this vow. Advocacy groups have regularly called upon ICE
and Geo officials to make changes at the facility, citing detainee deaths and
poor conditions. But officials have pushed back against suggestions of
sub-par care, touting the amenities and liberties available to the 1,255
detainees there during a tour earlier this month.
05/19/2015
huffingtonpost.com
GEO
Group Whistleblower Exposes First Amendment Violations, Lack of Officer
Training, and Poor Conditions at the Adelanto Detention Center A former employee of GEO Group - a
corporation that operates the Adelanto Detention Center - claims First
Amendment violations, lack of proper training for GEO Group staff, extreme
work hours, employee intimidation, and overuse of solitary confinement. The
former employee, who asked to remain anonymous, recounted in a recording on
file with CIVIC that two Muslim men were put into solitary confinement for
quietly saying their daily prayers. He attributed these First Amendment
violations to a complete lack of officer training. "They are not trained
for shit," he said. "I had to learn everything on my own. They put
me in a dorm and then they said, 'Alright. Good luck. See you later.'"
He cited overcrowded conditions and a work culture that required guards to do
back-to-back 12- and 16-hour shifts, or risk being fired. Despite the lack of
training and the extreme over-time hours, he claims that he was responsible
for supervising over 100 detainees on his own. According to him, he was
warned, "If you can't handle it, you will lose your job." He stated
that GEO Group is paid a certain amount of money from the federal government,
but then GEO Group is given unbridled discretion to "do whatever the
hell they want." In his view, this is not fair to the guards or the
detainees. The Adelanto Detention Center, in San Bernardino, California, is
owned and operated by GEO Group, which contracts with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) to imprison 1,300 men on any given day. ICE pays
GEO Group up to $111 per person imprisoned at Adelanto each day. GEO Group is
one of the largest private prison corporations in the United States. According
to a compilation of federal figures by CIVIC, GEO Group receives more
taxpayer dollars than any other ICE contractor. GEO Group's revenues climbed
from $1.52 billion in 2013 to $1.69 billion in 2014. Last year, GEO Group
began operating family immigration detention facilities that house juveniles.
Yet, they acknowledge in their most recent annual report that they are unsure
whether they can "minimize the risks and difficulties" involved in
operating juvenile correctional facilities while still "yielding an
attractive profit margin." GEO Group has been the subject of hundreds of
lawsuits, ranging from sexual battery to medical neglect to wrongful death.
In 2011, a U.S. citizen died at a GEO-run immigration detention facility in
England. A jury found that his death was in part due to medical neglect at
the Harmondsworth Removal Centre. A report on Harmondsworth by Her Majesty's
Chief Inspector of Prisons in January 2014 found "shocking cases where a
sense of humanity was lost." These cases included long periods of
solitary confinement - particularly for Muslims - and medical mismanagement.
The U.K.'s Home Office ended its contract with GEO Group that September. Back
in the United States, another GEO Group whistleblower won a wrongful
termination lawsuit, after he divulged illegal activities at a California
facility, including sexual and physical assault, fraud, and mishandled
incident reports. Numerous questions about oversight and accountability have
been left unanswered by GEO Group. A government report found that GEO Group's
medical mismanagement at Adelanto directly led to the death of at least one
detainee, Fernando Dominguez, in March 2012. There also are significant
questions regarding GEO Group's responsibility in last month's death of Raul
Ernesto Morales-Ramos, also at Adelanto. Last week, the ACLU of Southern
California, CIVIC, and eight other legal service providers and human rights
organizations formally voiced concerns about the poor quality of health care
offered at Adelanto. Our letter, sent directly to ICE Director Sarah Saldaña and other government officials, describes
abhorrent accounts of medical negligence and reveals that financial costs
form a basis for medical decisions. For example, GEO Group denied a man
treatment for his severe hip infection because "it was too
expensive." The infection ultimately developed into a life-threatening
condition that required a 6-week hospitalization at an outside hospital not
affiliated with GEO Group. Despite GEO Group's embattled reputation, ICE has
announced plans to expand the available bed space at Adelanto by 640 beds,
and for the first time may house women and LGBTQ individuals at the facility.
According to their annual report, GEO Group expects to generate $21 million
in additional annualized revenue from this expansion. Learn more here and
join advocates, faith leaders, people formerly detained at Adelanto, and
family members of people currently detained on Tuesday, May 19, 2015,
(starting at 11 a.m.) for a vigil and press conference outside of the Adelanto
Detention Center (10400 Rancho Rd, Adelanto, CA).
Feb
28, 2014 vvdailypress.com
SAN
BERNARDINO • Attorneys for Geo Group Inc., which operates an immigration
detention center in Adelanto, were no-shows in court Tuesday as they face a
medical malpractice lawsuit brought forth by the mother of a Mexican national
who died in 2012 of complications from pneumonia. A government report
following the man’s death said “egregious errors” were made by the facility’s
medical staff. Geo Group has denied the claims levied in the suit, court
records show. Fernando Dominguez-Valivia, 58, died
March 4, 2012, nearly three weeks after he was transferred to Victor Valley
Hospital from Adelanto Detention Facility East for treatment, according to
previous reports. With a criminal record including forgery and theft,
Dominguez-Valivia originally came into ADF custody
on Nov. 23, 2011, after he had been detained on unspecified charges in the
Rancho Cucamonga area, immigration officials previously said. A U.S.
Department of Homeland Security oversight committee noted in its inspection
report of the facility in September 2012 that Dominguez-Valivia’s
death was the first for the facility, but also preventable. “The
investigation disclosed several egregious errors committed by medical staff,
including failure to perform proper physical examinations in response to
symptoms and complaints, failure to pursue any records critical to continuity
of care, and failure to facilitate timely and appropriate access to off-site
treatments,” said the report, referencing a Detainee Death Review conducted
sometime after the man’s death. The committee concluded “the detainee’s death
could have been prevented and that the detainee received an unacceptable
level of medical care while detained at ACF,” the report reads. San
Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner spokeswoman Sandy Fatland
confirmed Tuesday that Dominguez-Valivia died
naturally of multiorgan failure due to pneumonia, but the committee also
listed alcoholic liver disease and sepsis as causes of death. On Oct. 15, Geo
Group was served with the lawsuit, which listed several plaintiffs including
Dominguez-Valivia’s mother, Juana Lopez. An attempt
to reach Lopez’s attorney on Tuesday was not immediately successful. An email
address provided on the Geo Group’s website for media inquiries could not
receive emails. According to court records, the case is scheduled to be back
in court March 27.
Dec
23, 2013 The Sun
Carlos
Hidalgo planned to go Christmas tree shopping this past weekend with his two
youngest children, Lovette, 16, and Andrew, 9.
“This year, it will be Andrew’s turn to buy the tree,” Hidalgo said. Last
week, Hidalgo, 46, was bracing himself for not being with his children this
Christmas. Earlier last week he was allowed to post $10,000 bond and is now
living with his parents in North Hollywood. For about eight months, Hidalgo
was an inmate at the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE,
detention facility in Adelanto. In late November, three female community
college students were arrested at the Adelanto facility during a protest that
focused on getting Hidalgo and two other inmates out of the privately run
detention center and back with their families for the holidays. Neidi Dominguez, program manager at the California Youth
Immigrant Justice Alliance, said the protest “was one of many things that led
to a decision” by an immigration court judge to allow Hidalgo to post bail.
“Everything played out the way it did because so many did something to help,”
she said. The other two men that the protest sought to free remained in
custody as the weekend commenced, authorities said. Hidalgo came to the
United States from El Salvador with his parents at age 11, graduated from
Bell Gardens High School in 1985, attended Cerritos College in Norwalk for a
semester, got married and began working as a loan processor for a builder and
later branched out to doing investigations for criminal and bankruptcy
attorneys. He said his detention in Adelanto was the result of an arrest for
cashing a check from someone who owed him money. As it turned out, he said,
the check he attempted to cash was not from an account belonging to the man
who gave it to him. Life in the Adelanto detention facility, run by the
private company Geo Group for ICE, is fraught with disease, he said. “Many
other prisoners have obvious illnesses including AIDS, rashes and funguses,”
he said. But perhaps the biggest concern during detention — and one shared by
other inmates — is the fear that he would be awakened in the middle of the night
and sent back to El Salvador, he said. “This has been very hard on the kids,”
who also feared that their father might suddenly be deported, he said.
Hidalgo, who did volunteer work for other Adelanto detainees, said other
prisoners were crying when he left the facility. “I see their families (in my
mind). This has got to stop,” he said. “These are people trying to make a
life be respected for the bread they earn... .America
is so compassionate around the world. Why isn’t it that way here?”
Nov
27, 2013 vvdailypress.com
ADELANTO
• Three young women were arrested after they locked themselves to a
chain-link fence surrounding the GEO Group Inc. Adelanto Detention Center
during a demonstration on Monday. In May 2011, the GEO Group contracted with
the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through an intergovernmental
service agreement with Adelanto to house federal immigration detainees. San
Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Mitzie Perez, 22, of San Dimas,
Silvia Dianey Murillo, 20, of Riverside and Lizeth
Montiel, 20, of Upland on charges of trespassing and vandalism, sheriff’s
spokeswoman Jodi Miller said. All three women are part of the Inland Empire
Immigrant Youth Coalition, according to Miller. An estimated 50 to 100
protesters gathered to bring attention to the conditions reported inside the
facility including allegations of abuse of detainees, inadequate food and
poor medical care, according to Fernando Romero, spokesman for the Justice
for Immigrants Coalition of Inland Southern California. “We did this action
three days before Thanksgiving on purpose,” Romero said. “The people inside
the facility won’t be going home for the holidays to spend Thanksgiving or
Christmas with their families like you and I will.” The women attached
themselves to the fence surrounding the detention facility using U-lock
bicycle locks which they placed around their necks. “The fire department had
to cut the fence to remove the women,” Miller said. “That’s where the
vandalism charge came from.” No other demonstraters
were arrested, Warden Neil Clark said. “We asked that they (Perez, Murillo
and Montiel) be removed for trespassing,” Clark said. “Other than the three
who chained themselves to the fence, it was a peaceful protest.”
Approximately 25 law enforcement officers monitored the protest and informed
the group, in both English and Spanish, that they were trespassing on private
property and they needed to disperse. All of the demonstrators, with
exception of the three women, complied, Miller said. Romero said Perez and
Murillo are undocumented and knew the risk involved in Monday’s
demonstration. “The women are sacrificing their bodies, their livelihood and
exposing themselves to separation from their families to make a point,”
Romero said. “We want to highlight the injustices ... there are a lot of
people who don’t belong there,” Romero said. “There are other solutions to
detention. We want to stop the unjust deportations.” Perez, Murillo and
Montiel were booked at the West Valley Detention Center, Miller said.
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect Wednesday,
though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group Inc. has been
preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads since May. The
643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part of
California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR
spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
officials say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just
doesn’t pencil out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy
Bachman. “The issue with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail
facilities has come up over and over again throughout the years; however,
it’s not something that the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too
costly and there’s just not the funding really even to consider something
like that.” The California State Association of Counties has created a
document outlining potential beds at the former CCFs, but counties statewide
have been hesitant to exercise that option. The Geo Group had operated six of
the nine privately run CCFs that lost their state contracts, according to
CSAC. Five other CCFs were run by local governments. The facilities ranged
from around 100 employees to more than 600, according to Toyama.
October 11, 2011 Daily Press
State water quality control officials unnerved city leaders in January by
calling for a ban on new sewer connections in Adelanto in the name of
protecting public health. State officials had accused the city of violating
orders to bring its treatment plant into compliance, making unauthorized
wastewater discharges and exceeding its storage pond capacity. In March and
again in May, city officials managed to dodge the proposed ban — a move they
say would've halted new development, including a new housing tract by D.R.
Horton, a planned new prison facility by The Geo Group and an expansion to
the county jail. To keep the ban at bay, city officials on Wednesday will try
to convince the Lahontan Region's state water board they've made significant
progress in cleaning up their wastewater act at a meeting in Victorville.
They must prove the Adelanto Public Utilities Authority has sufficient
disposal capacity to handle current and increased wastewater flows.
July 17, 2010 Daily Press
Some 100 city prison employees will be out of a job for at least the next
several months, since the private operator that bought the city-owned prison
for $28 million has yet to land a government contract. The employees of the
Adelanto Community Correctional Facility were officially laid off June 4, but
city officials agreed to pay them through Aug. 4, in hopes that private
prison operator GEO Group, Inc. would land a state or federal contract and
quickly rehire them. In mid-May the inmates at the 650-bed correctional
facility were transferred out, with GEO Group planning to close it and
complete renovations over the summer. Now it’s estimated the renovations will
take four to six months, Adelanto City Manager Jim Hart said. It’s also
unclear when the Florida-based operator will secure a contract for the
prison, on Rancho Road west of Highway 395. “My entire intentions and efforts
were to have it set up so that the employees would be able to transition from
city employment to GEO employment,” Hart said. “Our hope that there wouldn’t
be a gap between when they’re paid and when they get picked up, I think, is
now dwindling because it doesn’t appear that GEO will have the renovations
done in time to get opened.”
Alameda County
Aug 6, 2016 sfgate.com
After deaths, Alameda County replaces jail inmate health
provider
Alameda County will sever ties with its longtime jail
health care contractor after grappling with allegations that the company
provided inadequate care that may have led to inmate deaths. The Alameda
County Board of Supervisors on Friday voted 4-0 to award the three-year, $135
million contract to California Forensic Medical Group instead of Corizon
Health Inc., following a vigorous debate among nurses, former inmates and
representatives from the two companies — both of which are giants in prison
health care. Supervisor Keith Carson abstained from the vote. Corizon and its
various predecessors have run medical services in Dublin’s Santa Rita Jail
and Oakland’s Glenn E. Dyer Detention Facility since 1988; Corizon inherited
the contract after merging with Prison Health Services in 2011. In recent
years the company has come under scrutiny, which heightened when New York
City’s Department of Investigation found that Corizon had hired employees
with criminal histories to work in its Rikers Island Jail complex. In
February, the family of an inmate who died in Santa Rita last year filed a
federal lawsuit against Corizon, claiming his death, from complications with
asthma, could have been prevented easily. But California Forensic Medical
Group is also facing lawsuits over allegedly shoddy care in several counties.
Its chief executive officer, Kip Hallman, says litigation is routine in the
jail health care business because inmates frequently sue over medical issues.
Speaking at the supervisors meeting in Oakland on Friday, Hallman noted that
his company won the county bid “convincingly,” and vowed to boost the jails’
nursing staffs once the new contract takes effect in October. Representatives
of Corizon urged the county to reconsider, arguing that it had failed to
fairly evaluate the proposals. Of the three companies vying for the contract,
California Forensic Medical Group scored the highest, and Corizon came in
last, according to county staff reports. Dr. Harold Orr, chief clinical
officer for Corizon’s Western region, said his company has been unfairly
disparaged by union representatives who were angered when Corizon laid off 67
licensed vocational nurses early this year — a move that Orr said was
required by a recent court settlement. “We deliver complex, multitiered,
comprehensive health care,” Orr said at the meeting Friday. “We have physical
therapists, eye specialists, kidney specialists — even a unique HIV screening
program.” Two former inmates who spoke at the meeting praised Corizon for the
care they had received in jail. “I’ve had cancer and many other things,” said
Todd Pickens. “The health care that I received from Corizon has allowed me to
stand here.” But nurses who spoke at the meeting criticized Corizon for poor
management. “I was here in 2012 when Prison Health Services became Corizon,
and I can tell you it became more and more difficult to deliver high-quality
patient care,” said Maxine Persky, a nurse who has
worked in jails for 18 years. She said the company implemented new technology
that wasted rather than saved time, and that its managers “had never done any
hands-on work in a jail setting.” Persky and other
nurses applauded the supervisors’ decision Friday, and the National Union of
Healthcare Workers, a labor group that represents the nurses, touted
California Forensic Medical Group for promising to increase the jail staffs.
Orr released a statement criticizing the county for what he said was a flawed
bidding process. It said in part, “We’ll have to take a look at our legal
options going forward so that we might be able to continue this partnership
we so value.”
American Corrections Association
Feb
7, 2015 vvdailypress.com
Law
enforcement professionals from across Southern California planned to gather
Saturday in Long Beach to protest the influence of private prison
corporations on the American Corrections Association, according to an ACA
news release. The protest comes after the recent indictment of ACA’s former
president Chris Epps. Epps accepted $1 million in bribes for steering more than
$1 billion in business to private prison companies in Mississippi while he
served as corrections commissioner for the state. According to the
indictment, Epps purchased a beach condominium and had his home mortgage paid
off from these dealings. One of the Mississippi prisons he oversaw, Walnut
Grove Youth Correctional Facility, was operated by Geo Group, the same
for-profit company that operates two correctional facilities in Adelanto. The
American Civil Liberties Union and Southern Poverty Law Center filed a
federal complaint for the poor and “dangerous” conditions inmates incurred
there, which resulted in Geo Group being booted out of operating at least two
Mississippi facilities, according to media reports. “For far too long, the
American Corrections Association has put its creditability on the line for
the benefit of the private prison industry,” said James Baiardi, Chairman of
Corrections U.S.A. “The money trail is clear with the recent indictment of
Chris Epps. It’s time for the ACA to purge this influence and return to its
original mission: the advancement of the corrections profession.”
Correctional officers will gather outside of ACA’s 2015 Winter Conference to
voice their concerns. Following the protest, Corrections U.S.A. will hold a
press conference. The protest was planned for 10 a.m. Saturday at Long Beach
Convention Center, 300 East Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach.
Baker Community Correctional Facility
San Bernardino, California
Cornell
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect
Wednesday, though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group
Inc. has been preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads
since May. The 643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part
of California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR spokeswoman
Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials
say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just doesn’t pencil
out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman. “The issue
with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail facilities has come
up over and over again throughout the years; however, it’s not something that
the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too costly and there’s just
not the funding really even to consider something like that.” The California
State Association of Counties has created a document outlining potential beds
at the former CCFs, but counties statewide have been hesitant to exercise
that option. The Geo Group had operated six of the nine privately run CCFs
that lost their state contracts, according to CSAC. Five other CCFs were run
by local governments. The facilities ranged from around 100 employees to more
than 600, according to Toyama.
November 18, 2009 Desert Dispatch
The Baker Community Correctional Facility is being closed due to a statewide
decrease in low-security inmates. The California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is opting out of its contract to house inmates at the
facility with Cornell Companies, Inc., according to CDCR spokeswoman Terry
Thornton. The CDCR has a $4.9 million contract with Cornell to house inmates
at the Baker facility and roughly half of that will be lost due to the
closure. The contract was set to expire in June, but will end on December 26.
The CDCR’s decision comes as the state has seen a drop of around 2,500
low-security inmates from 2008 to 2009, according to Thornton. The Baker
facility itself is built to hold 262 inmates living in a dorm setting, but
only housed 180 inmates at the end of October. “We’re seeing a demographic
shift in the inmate population,” Thornton said. “We are seeing that the trend
is moving away from a need for low-security facilities. The state needs more
beds for higher-level offenders. It doesn’t make sense to operate the
facilities at low housing levels.” The remaining inmates in Baker will be
transferred to other facilities in the state before the closure, according to
Thornton. The Baker facility currently employs 80 people, according to
Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel. Seigel said the employees may face layoffs,
but Cornell is looking at other uses for the facility that would allow them
to keep their jobs.
October 26, 2009 AP
California officials say a drop in the number of minimum-security inmates
is allowing them to end contracts with the companies that operate three
private prisons. The move will save the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation about $15 million a year. The private prisons in Baker,
Bakersfield and McFarland once housed a total of 822 inmates. Department officials
said today they may seek new proposals to use the prisons for female inmates.
About 2,500 fewer minimum-security inmates are in prison than a year ago. The
department credits a new policy that diverts many parole violators who commit
relatively minor offenses to community programs instead of sending them back
to prison.
July 4, 2008 The Sun
Two private correctional officers were hospitalized Friday after a fracas
at the correctional facility here triggered by unruly inmates, officials
said. About 1 p.m., a correctional officer attempted to handcuff an inmate
who was being disruptive. The inmate resisted, and several other inmates came
to his aid, resulting in a scuffle between the inmates and at least two
correctional officers, said Charles Seigel, spokesman for Cornell
Corrections, the company that operates the minimum-security Baker Community
Correctional Facility. A sheriff's deputy assigned to the Baker station was
called in to assist, and patrolled the perimeter of the prison for about an
hour until the situation simmered down, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers
said. Two correctional officers were taken to a hospital in Las Vegas for
medical care. The severity of their injuries was unclear, although one
appeared to be in need of more care than the other, Seigel said. The officer
who suffered the more serious injuries was reportedly doing OK. "He's
awake. He clearly has some injuries that need to be treated, but he's awake
and OK," Seigel said. A lockdown was implemented after the fracas and an
inventory taken of all inmates. All were accounted for, Seigel said. The
Baker correctional facility, in a dusty outpost between Barstow and the state
line, is a minimum-security facility where inmates are typically transferred
from other prisons to carry out the last 18 months of their sentences before
being paroled, Seigel said.
March 29, 2007 Contra Costa Times
A race-related fight broke out at a minimum-security community prison,
sending four inmates to the hospital with minor injuries, state prison officials
said. The fight at the Baker Community Correctional Facility in San
Bernardino County occurred at 7 p.m. Wednesday and lasted a few minutes, said
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections.
Twelve black and white inmates started brawling in the yard of the all-male
prison and guards rushed to break up the melee. About 80 inmates were in the
yard at the time. Four inmates were taken to the hospital with minor bumps
and bruises. The cause of the fight was under investigation. "They
started to fight. They were told to stop and they did," Thornton said
Thursday. The 12 inmates were later transferred to state prisons, she said.
Baker, with 250 inmates, is operated by Cornell Companies Inc., which provide
services to state governments on a contract basis. The facility is 155 miles
east of Los Angeles.
December 8, 2003
A prison riot that left 17 inmates injured at a private correctional facility
in the Mojave Desert may have been triggered by the arrival of a jailhouse
"snitch" just hours before, a transfer that countered normal safety
protocols, a prison official said Wednesday. A preliminary
investigation suggests the brawl between white inmates and Latino inmates,
broke out after the informant -- who was white -- was attacked in the prison
yard, said Marvin Wiebe, a senior vice president of Houston-based Cornell
Companies Inc., which operates the prison. The disturbance escalated
into a riot because of a policy that bars guards at privately owned prisons
from using force to quell a violent uprising, said Russ Heimerich,
a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections. Unlike guards at
California's 33 state-run prisons, officers at the private lockups are not
permitted to carry weapons. Wiebe said that typically an informant
would not be sent to a private prison, which lacks protective custody
arrangements for such inmates.
(Los Angeles Times)
December 8, 2003
A prison riot that injured 16 inmates appeared to be sparked by racial
tensions, prison officials said Wednesday. The riot at Baker Community
Correctional Facility started around 8 p.m. Tuesday and involved between 30
and 60 white and Hispanic inmates, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the
state Department of Corrections. She said initial reports of a fire in the
prison were incorrect. Four inmates were airlifted to hospitals and 12 were
transported by ambulance for treatment of stab wounds. All but four were
released and taken to the California Institution for Men in Chino. No guards
were injured in the brawl. About 270 inmates were in the prison at the time.
Inmates used sharpened pieces of metal and plastic and broom handles to
assault each other, Thornton said. The prison yard was secured at 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday and the prisoners were locked down. The 288-bed facility is run by
the privately held Cornell Cos. of Houston and handles minimum-security male
offenders under contract with the California Department of Corrections. Baker
is about 160 miles east-northeast of downtown Los Angeles. (AP)
December 4, 2003
Eighteen prisoners were injured when inmates rioted at Baker Community
Correctional Center on Tuesday night. About 100 inmates, many with weapons,
fought and set a small fire in a yard office while others escaped over the
fence of the privately operated prison. Law enforcement officers took back
control at 10:30 p.m. Staff members of Cornell Corrections Inc., which
operates the prison, called 911 at 8:07 p.m. requesting assistance to break
up fights between inmates in the prison yard, according to San Bernardino
County Sheriff's Department dispatchers. Sheriff's deputies were called in
from Baker, Barstow and Chino, as well as a helicopter crew and officers from
the California Highway Patrol, according to sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy
Beavers. Mutual-aid calls also went out to fire protection services from
Newberry Springs, Yermo, Fort Irwin, Adelanto and
the county. Five patients were airlifted to Las Vegas-area hospitals for
treatment and 13 others were taken by ambulance, said Tracey Martinez,
spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department. All of the injured
were prisoners, most suffering stab wounds, she said. There were no immediate
reports of injuries to prison guards. Beavers said the low-security prison
didn't have armed guards for its 262 inmates. (Daily Press)
December 4, 2003
More than 100 inmates were involved in a riot at a private minimum-security
prison, injuring 17, officials said. A small fire was set inside a
building. The majority of victims suffered stab wounds, said Tracey Martinez,
spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Fire Department. County fire
spokesman Bret Raney said 17 were injured overall, with five airlifted to
hospitals for treatment and the others taken by ambulance. There were
no reports of injuries to guards or other authorities who responded to the
rioting shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. The prison yard was secured at
10:30 p.m. and prisoners were locked down, Martinez said. A small blaze
was confined to a container in a guard's shack. The 262-bed facility is
run by the privately held Cornell Companies, of Houston, one of the country's
largest private prison operators. The prison handles minimum-security male
offenders under contract with the California Department of Corrections.
The facility, which opened in 1988, has 52 buildings and was once a housing
complex for Pacific Bell employees and their families. Inmates at the minimum
security prison have bolstered emergency crews that respond to accidents
along Interstate 15, the desert highway that is the quickest route to Las
Vegas from Southern California. Baker is a small, rural community about
160 miles east-northeast of downtown Los Angeles. (AP)
December 16, 2002
A
local developer is embroiled in what's now a class-action lawsuit that claims
hundreds of workers -- many from Bakersfield -- were grossly underpaid during
construction of a prison. An attorney
for the workers claims the Moreland Corporation failed to pay prevailing
wages as it was required to while building a $16 million prison in San Bernardino
County five years ago. Prevailing wages -- essentially union
scale wage rates -- are substantially higher than non-union
wages. About 300 workers, the majority
from Bakersfield, are owed an undetermined amount of money and many don't
even know it, said the plaintiff's attorney Richard Donahoo
of Santa Ana. The plaintiffs are
seeking back wages and damages. Terry
Moreland, chief executive officer of Moreland Corporation, said Donahoo has all the facts wrong. The prison was not a "public
works" project that required prevailing wages to be paid and he didn't
know that was even a possibility until construction was almost finished,
Moreland said.
He
said Moreland Corporation built the prison on its own -- not under contract
with the state or with the state's guarantee it would pay to house inmates
there as it eventually did -- so there was no reason to pay prevailing
wages. Only one contract involving the
prison exists between a Moreland entity and the state and it had nothing to
do with the prison's construction, he said.
Moreland said the California Department of Corrections contracted with
Maranatha Production Company simply to provide services at the prison. Moreland said while he owns a small
percentage of Maranatha, it is separate from Moreland Corporation. Donahoo claims they're one and the same. At issue is construction of the 500-bed,
private Victor Valley Community Correctional Facility completed in 1998.
Moreland Corporation was the general contractor; Moreland Family LLC was the
builder and owns it now. The lawsuit
claims Moreland knew through rulings by the state Department of Industrial
Relations and language in Maranatha's contract with the CDC that the people
building the prison must be paid prevailing wages. It also claims Moreland
withheld that information from subcontractors he hired and that workers were
paid as little as $5.25 an hour when they should have been paid more than $25
per hour. (Bakersfield.com)
June 22, 2002
Embattled emergency response services on Interstate 15 between Newberry
Springs and state line may receive a major boost if the governor signs next
year's California budget. The plan calls for the prison in Baker to
re-open in August. The legislature and the governor's office have
agreed to fund the prison again, but the budget remains unsigned for other
reasons, he said. The Cornell Correctional Facility in Baker is one of
five privately owned community corrections facilities in California that
closed near July 1 after their contracts with the state expired. (The
Desert Dispatch)
June 19, 2002
Closure
of the minimum security prison in Baker at the end of this month comes as a
blow to the small community, but some consequences will be shared by the
entire county. Inmates and staff found out last November that the prison had
been dropped from the state budget for the Department of Corrections, prison
director Brick Tripp said. The last prisoner will be leaving Monday, and the
facility will shut down June 30, the final day of the contract between the
state department and the private prison. The owners of the facility are
seeking alternative tenants, including federal or county prisons, said Ron
Baumgarten, spokesman for Cornell Corrections. The Baker Community
Correctional Facility is one of five private prisons in California scheduled
to close. State officials decided to stop contracting with private entities
to house prisoners because of numerous problems with the system, said Youth
and Adult Correctional Agency Assistant Secretary Steven Green. He cited numerous
lawsuits because of improperly trained staff members and inmates not
receiving all the programs they are entitled to at the state
s 16 private prisons as one reason for the decision to close the
prisons. “The contract prison exercise has been a complete failure as far as
we are concerned,? he said. (Privateer News)
June 19, 2002
Live
Oak's Leo Chesney Center probably will survive the budget ax, says a state
official who Thursday blasted the facility's operator for its
"sleazy" public relations campaign. "It's looking much more
like it's going to stay open," said Stephen Green, assistant secretary
in the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. "This isn't over until the
budget is final. Certainly, the indications are it's going to stay open."
The tentative budget deal to keep Chesney open was hammered out Wednesday.
"Clearly, we're a little better off today than we were two days ago with
the decision made (Wednesday)," said Marvin Wiebe, senior vice president
of Cornell Companies Inc., which runs the Chesney Center under a contract
with the state. "The legislators had some concerns about the lack of
options for women to do their time in Northern California and wanted to see
as many options as possible remain and indicated they were willing to fund
that," Green said. "The legislators had some concerns about the
lack of options for women to do their time in Northern California and wanted
to see as many options as possible remain and indicated they were willing to
fund that," Green said. "When they are willing to fund it, that
makes it a lot easier for us." "This was just one of just
hundreds of government programs that were being looked at to be scaled back
or eliminated," Green said. "This one got more attention because
Cornell made some of the most outrageous lies imaginable and went around the
state accusing us of murder. They behaved in a most unprofessional
manner." Cornell "used the Enron playbook," Green said,
referring to the bankrupt energy trading company. "They're a
Houston-based company, a for-profit concern. They're very interested in
protecting their profits. They don't care who they have to malign to do
it." Green called Cornell's public relations campaign "sleazy. I
don't think it was slick. It bore no relationship to the truth ... "He
said there's a chance the state may put the contract out to bid or have the
Department of Corrections take over management. "We have an option on
the property and therefore control the property," Wiebe said. "The
expectation of the community is that Cornell would operate it as we have for
the last 13 years." If the state took over, it would cost an additional
$1 million for salaries and benefits, he said. (Privateer News)
June 17, 2002
Setting
up a potential showdown between lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis, a legislative
budget committee voted Friday to keep open four private prisons the governor
had slated for closure. Davis had originally proposed shuttering five
prisons, but earlier this week agreed to keep open a women's minimum-security
facility. The budget conference committee does not have the final say,
however. The prisons will likely be a point of negotiation as the budget
moves to the full Assembly and Senate. And Davis can always veto the measure
when the budget hits his desk. The San Francisco Chronicle)
June 14, 2002
After
a brief reprieve, legislative budget writers have voted to close two small
privately operated prisons in Kern County. They are among five
minimum-security community correctional facilities Gov. Gray Davis marked for
elimination in his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. The Kern
County installations are the Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield and another
one in McFarland operated by Wackenhut Corrections. The contracts for all
five of the prisons run out June 30. Under an agreement with the governor,
the budget committee voted late Wednesday to keep open a women's correctional
facility in Northern California but to close the other four. Supporters of
the prisons staged an aggressive lobbying campaign to head off the closures.
(Bakersfield.com)
June 12, 2002
Gov.
Gray Davis, facing pressure from several lawmakers, reversed himself
partially and agreed to permit one of five private prisons to continue
operating, administration officials said Tuesday. At least two dozen women
legislators signed a letter last month urging that Davis keep open the Leo
Chesney Correctional Facility at Live Oak, north of Sacramento. Also in doubt
is whether the contractor, Cornell Co. of Houston, would continue operating
the facility, or whether the contract would be put up for competitive
bidding. The administration, trying to close a $24-billion budget deficit,
had contended that closing the five private prisons would save the state $2.8
million.
May 6, 2002
Cornell Corrections, a Houston company that owns two of the five private
prisons California is planning to close, took its fight to the airwaves this
weekend. The company has spent nearly $70,000 to produce and promote a
30-minute video on the prison closures, which will shutter its facilities in
Live Oak in Sutter County and Baker in eastern San Bernardino County. This
weekend, it paid $10,000 to television stations in Bakersfield, Fresno and
Sacramento to air the video in its entirety. Titled "Blood Money,"
the video accuses Gov. Gray Davis of closing the prisons as a favor to the
state prison guards union, which has contributed heavily to Davis' election
fund. (San Francisco Chronicle)
August 28, 2001
Autopsy planned in inmate's death Sheriff's homicide detectives are
investigating the death of an inmate Sunday at Baker Community Correctional
Facility, coroner's officials said Monday. Jamie Bengtson, 22, of Baker
was found dead in his bunk about 7 a.m., the San Bernardino County Coroner's
Department reported. The death was determined to be suspicious and the
San Bernardino County sheriff's homicide detail was called to
investigate. (The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
Border Patrol
Wackenhut (Group 4)
October 24, 2009 San Diego Union-Tribune
A contract worker for U.S. Customs and Border Protection was sentenced to
18 months in prison yesterday for trying to release an illegal immigrant from
custody in exchange for money. Christopher Saint-Lucero, who had earlier
pleaded guilty to a charge of transporting illegal immigrants for financial
gain, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller. Saint-Lucero
worked as a sergeant for Wackenhut Corp., which contracts with the agency to
transport illegal immigrants to Mexico after they are captured. He worked at
the Border Patrol station in Chula Vista. Prosecutors said that on June 1,
2008, Saint-Lucero tried to release an illegal immigrant who was in agency
custody in exchange for $2,500 in cash.
June 4, 2008 San Diego Union-Tribune
Two Border Patrol contract workers were arrested on suspicion of
conspiring to shuttle illegal immigrants from San Diego to Los Angeles for
$2,500 apiece instead of returning them to Mexico. Christopher Saint Lucero
and Manley Lamont Smith work for Wackenhut Corp., which holds a Border Patrol
contract to escort illegal immigrants to Mexico after they are captured by
agents in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. According to court
documents, Saint Lucero told a colleague that he had been involved in about
10 smuggling attempts. The men were arrested Sunday after Saint Lucero
allegedly escorted a group of illegal immigrants from the Border Patrol's
Chula Vista station to the border in Tijuana. According to a statement of
probable cause, Mexican authorities refused to admit two who identified
themselves as Salvadorans. One was an undercover agent. Authorities say Saint
Lucero then brokered the deal to get the two men to Los Angeles. Smith
allegedly met them at the Border Patrol station in his Wackenhut jeep and
offered to hide them. Saint Lucero and Smith were expected to make an initial
court appearance today, said Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S.
attorney's office in San Diego. The charge against them, conspiracy to
transport illegal immigrants, is a felony.
June 3, 2008 AP
A Border Patrol contractor says 2 of its employees have been arrested for
investigation of releasing illegal immigrants from federal custody. Wackenhut
Corp. says the employees were arrested Sunday in the San Diego area and are
in jail facing felony charges. For about two years, Wackenhut has held a
contract to return illegal immigrants to Mexico after they are captured by
Border Patrol agents. A senior vice president, Marc Shapiro, told The
Associated Press Tuesday that this is the first time Wackenhut employees have
been arrested for allegedly releasing immigrants. He said his company has
returned more 1 million illegal immigrants to Mexico. Shapiro declined to
name the suspects. A Border Patrol spokesman had no immediate comment.
California
City Corrections Center
California City, California
CCA
Aug
21, 2014 tennessean.com
The
nation's largest private prison company, Nashville-based Corrections Corp. of
America, has paid more than $8 million in back wages and benefits to current
and former employees guarding federal inmates at a prison in California City,
officials with the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday. The payments came
after an investigation found that the federal prison subcontractor underpaid
362 employees at the California City Correctional Center under the terms of
its contract, where pay rates are established by law, according to federal
officials. The company disputed the findings and said it had not violated any
laws but was paying its employees under the terms of a pre-existing contract.
"This is about the U.S. Department of Labor wanting to retroactively
apply a wage standard that wasn't part of the original contractual
agreement," company spokesman Jonathan Burns said in a statement.
Officials with the Labor Department, however, said that over a period of
years employees were paid 30 to 40 percent less than they were supposed to be
paid, said Eduardo Huerta, assistant director of the department's wage and
hour division. Many employees recouped more than $30,000 in back pay,
benefits, overtime and holiday pay, officials said, and had worked at the
lesser pay rate for up to five years. The facility houses federal inmates
being detained by the U.S. Marshal and federal immigration authorities, as
well as state inmates. The back wages applied only to CCA employees working
with federal inmates. Corrections Corp. of America will seek a retroactive
cost increase for the contract to absorb the additional wages and benefits,
Burns said. "We greatly value our employees and the important work that
they do to keep our communities safe and secure," he said. The company
also wasn't making the required contributions to health and life insurance
and retirement accounts, Huerta said. The investigation found record-keeping
violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, include inaccurate recording
of breaks, lunches and overall hours worked. "If somebody was supposed
to be making $30 an hour, they were making $20 an hour instead," said
Huerta. "The people that get these federal monies from a federal agency
to get one of these contracts have to abide by the wage rates."
Corrections Corp. of America — the fifth-largest prison system in the nation
— has come under scrutiny before. In Kentucky, it paid $260,000 last week to
settle claims that it denied overtime to shift supervisors and forced them to
work extra hours. In Kansas, CCA and a group of collections officers, case
managers and clerks settled in 2009 in federal court over allegations of
unpaid overtime. CCA agreed to pay a maximum of $7 million but did not
acknowledge fault in the case. Idaho, which had contracted with the company
for its Boise prison, began the process of returning operations of the
facility to state control. The facility was sued and plagued by accusations
of violence, gang activity and understaffing after the private prison
contractor took it over. Corrections Corp. of America operates detention
centers for federal, state and local governments in 20 states in the U.S. and
houses nearly 80,000 inmates at 60 facilities. California City is about 110
miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Aug
19, 2014 nanaimodailynews.com
CALIFORNIA
CITY, Calif. - The nation's largest private prison company has paid more than
$8 million in back wages and benefits to current and former employees at its
federal prison facility in California City. The U.S. Department of Labor said
Tuesday that Corrections Corp. of America paid the money to staff at the
California City Correctional Center after an investigation found it wasn't
paying the rates required of federal contractors. A department official says
in some cases employees were paid 40 per cent less than required by pay rate
regulations established for contractors. The company also wasn't making
required contributions to retirement accounts and health and life insurance.
Many workers will receive more than $30,000. Messages left with the
Nashville, Tennessee-based company spokesmen weren't immediately returned.
June 21, 2010 Bakersfield Californian
California City Correctional Center has notified the state of California that
it may lay off as many as 67 employees. Corrections Corp. of America, the
private prison operator that runs the 2,304-bed facility, could not be
reached for comment Monday. But in a report to financial regulators in
February, the Nashville-based company said a contract to house federal
offenders will not be renewed after it expires at the end of September. The
company said it is "pursuing other opportunities" at the
medium-security California City facility. Total revenues at the facility were
$68.7 million and $67.7 million during the years ended Dec. 31, 2009 and
2008, respectively, according to the filing.
January 13, 2010 AP
Corrections Corp. of America said Wednesday that its contract to manage
federal inmates at a 2,300-bed California prison wasn't renewed and will
expire in September. Meanwhile, the nation's largest prison operator said a
contract to manage a smaller New Mexico facility was renewed. CCA said it
would continue management of California City Correctional Center through
September. The renewed contract with the Cibola County Corrections Center in
Milan, N.M., will go into effect Oct. 1. That deal at the 1,200-bed facility,
has a four-year term with three, two-year renewal options.
July 2, 2009 Ottawa Citizen
The Harper government has denied an Alberta man’s bid for a transfer from
a U.S. jail to a Canadian prison on the grounds that he may one day commit a
crime. Brent James Curtis, 28, is in a privately-run, for-profit prison in
California serving 57 months after pleading guilty to a $1-million U.S. drug
trafficking conspiracy in 2007. It was his first offence and he pleaded
guilty to it right away, saying he was drawn to so-called easy money. He told
his family that he didn’t feel right mounting a defence
because he was guilty. The one-time elite hockey player — benched from any
chance in the NHL after getting hit by a truck — makes an interesting
argument to win a prison transfer, saying not only that he wants to serve the
remainder of his sentence — two years — closer to his family and support
network, but that if he isn’t transferred, he will return home after completing
his U.S. sentence without a criminal record in Canada. The Correctional
Service of Canada has confirmed that if Curtis doesn’t get a transfer and
serves out his term in the U.S., he will return home “a free man” without a
criminal record in the system. But if the Harper government approves the
transfer, which the U.S. administration has already done, Curtis would, in
fact, have a criminal record in the Canadian criminal system. Curtis has also
used the very root of the international prisoner transfer treaty in his
request, notably that it was founded on rehabilitation and reintegration into
the community — something the Harper government has now dismissed. “This is a
tough place. I’m losing everything, every day,” said Curtis, one of a dozen
Canadians in the California private prison, known for its warring Mexican
drug gangs. He has not been afforded any rehabilitation programs or
schooling. “The weird thing about this all is that I am coming home
regardless of getting the transfer. My release date is 2011. If I do not get
the transfer I will have zero rehabilitation and never get fingerprinted by
Canada,” said Curtis, who intends to go back to school upon his return.
“Wouldn’t Peter van Loan (Canada’s public safety minister) want me to receive
supervision on parole and programs to help me re-integrate into Canada?” If
he did get into trouble with the law in Canada, Curtis would be treated as a
first-time offender. “The public safety minister’s tough-on-crime stance
really seems short sighted to me.” Van Loan has signed a rejection letter
saying that because Curtis’s role was a “money man” and “transporter” in the
drug conspiracy, he has “already taken several steps down the road towards
involvement in a criminal organization offence. Given the nature of the applicant’s
acts, I believe that he may, after the transfer, commit a criminal
organization offence.” But according to U.S. authorities, Curtis was not, in
fact, the “money man” — rather a courier for the money man in the Miami
cocaine conspiracy. In a sentencing hearing, U.S. authorities described
Curtis as a “minor participant.” His U.S. lawyer, Marc Seitles,
has worked on several international transfer cases, and says “Of all the
countries, I cannot believe that Canada, a country seemingly known to be more
humane than the United States, won’t let one of its Canadian citizens come
home, especially a bright kid like Brent.” In Calgary hockey circles, Curtis
is known as a former elite player who, despite his career setback, went on to
volunteer as a triple-A coaching assistant to help young athletes get good
enough to make the NHL. In a letter of support filed with a U.S. court for a
sentencing hearing, Jim Finney, a coach for Minor Midget AAA Blackhawks,
wrote about the impact Curtis had as a volunteer coach on the team: “The
passion that Brent showed for each of the kids will stay with them for the
rest of their lives. In a volunteer position such as this one, the rewards
were not financial, but rather emotional. Brent was emotionally invested in
the team, and that was abundantly clear to anyone that saw him.” Donna Cornaccia, the team’s director, said that Curtis has a
“genuineness about him which is imperative when dealing with youth, they have
the ability to see through a false presentation and can quickly identify when
an adult is not being sincere. Brent has had a huge positive impact on many
of these young adults. He has been a confidant and a trustworthy person for
whom these youth can go to if needed … Brent is a compassionate, kind and
considerate individual whom I am proud to know.” Curtis not only had a
reputation as a tough hockey player in Calgary, but made a point of publicly
speaking out against drugs — especially when it came to his sister’s
“druggie” friends. As an athlete, he repeatedly told his sister to stay clear
of drugs. The son of a high school teacher, Curtis became a day trader at the
age of 25, only to find out he wasn’t that good at it. “Unfortunately, I had
trouble earning a living and made the horrible error of trying to make fast,
illegal money,” he said. Through an old friend, Curtis, at 6-foot-2 and 220
pounds, was recruited in 2007 to be the wheelman for the purchaser. He drove
the car to a Miami parking lot, where they met the cocaine dealer who was
actually a police informant. Then, after the purchaser tested a sample of the
buy, the police swooped in and arrested him, along with Curtis. The Alberta
man is one of about 12 Canadians doing time in California City prison, which
houses predominantly Mexican criminals, and since the crackdown on drug
cartels, warring gangs have rioted, according to Curtis and another Canadian
inmate who spoke to the Citizen. The inmates say that in the past three
months, the prison has been locked down a total of 47 days, meaning they
spend about 23 hours a day inside their cells, where they are also fed. The
inmates say all 12 Canadians have written the Canadian government for relief
without success. “We have been in the middle of a Mexican drug cartel war
which has spilled into the prison. We all fear for our safety and if or when
one of us does get hurt, no one can say that we did not warn them,” Curtis
said. Van Loan said he is not at liberty to comment on specific cases.
July 19, 2006 LA Daily News
A Tennessee-based company that operates a prison in California City is
starting environmental studies for an adjoining 550-bed prison in
anticipation of vying for a contract to house state inmates. Corrections
Corporation of America is starting environmental studies examining the
impacts of a 200,000-square-foot prison. Citing sensitivity for a potential
customer and the competitive process, a CCA spokesman said it was too early
to talk about costs of such a facility or staffing. "The state issued a
request for proposals to build and operate a community correctional
facility," said CCA spokesman Steve Owen. "As part of our
preliminary work, we are preparing the environmental studies. It is still
very preliminary to say what the state will ultimately pursue."
January 13, 2003
With
29 years experience in corrections work for both
the government and private sector, Warden Percy Pitzer is looking forward to
hanging his hat Monday in the office of his own consulting company. Pitzer's resignation as warden of the
California City Correctional Center became effective Friday, his last day at
the prison he has stood watch over since June 2000. "I'm leaving on very good terms with
(Corrections Corporation of America)," Pitzer said. "I want to do
something on my own." On Monday,
Warden Charles Gilkey, recently retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons,
begins his stint at the California City Correctional Center. Also on Monday, Pitzer, who spent 25 years
with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and four years with CCA, officially opens
Creative Corrections in Las Vegas (email: createcorrection@aol.com). He plans
to provide consulting services with corrections departments throughout the
West, and establish programs to educate inmates and reduce the cost of
incarceration. (The Bakersfield Californian)
October 10, 2002
In a move hailed as historic by private prison giant Corrections Corporation
of America and representatives of the Mexican government, an agreement was
signed Monday to establish a Mexican high school program at the California
City Correctional Center. (Bakersfield California)
February 7, 2002
A
42-year-old inmate at the California City Corrections Center was in serious
condition Thursday evening at Kern Medical Center after suffering a
stab wound to his neck on Wednesday, officials said. The
private facility since September 2000 has operated on a federal contract
for inmates, he said. About 95 percent of its inmates are
serving sentences for drug and deportation crimes. The prison is operated by
the Corrections Corporation of America, which is based in Nashville,
Tenn. (The Bakersfield Californian)
California Department of Corrections
Oct
10, 2020 kpbs.org/new
California:
Fed judge upholds private prison ban
A
San Diego federal judge largely upheld California's private prison ban in a
ruling stemming from dual lawsuits filed against the state by the Trump
administration and a private prison firm.
U.S.
District Judge Janis Sammartino issued a
preliminary injunction Thursday upholding in most respects Assembly Bill 32,
which took effect Jan. 1 and prohibits the operation of private detention
facilities statewide. By 2028, the law would bar all inmates from being held
at privately owned facilities. The law also prohibits agencies from entering into new contracts for privately owned detention
facilities or renewing existing contracts at currently operating facilities.
The federal government and private prison firm The GEO Group argued that the
law is unconstitutional because it encroaches on the government's operations
to house federal inmates by unlawfully allowing a state government to
regulate federal operations. Additionally, the government has argued that
private facility closures will force the relocation of thousands of inmates
at high cost to taxpayers, with inmates also forced to be incarcerated at
greater distances from their families, especially if they are relocated out
of state. The GEO group alleges that it will lose around $250 million per
year in revenue if forced to close down its
California facilities and could lose more $4 billion in capital investment
and revenue over the next 15 years. Sammartino
ruled that AB 32 is a regulation of private detention contractors rather than
the federal government and its operations and disagreed with plaintiffs'
arguments that AB 32 interfered with congressional objectives to house
detainees in private facilities, except in respect to United States Marshals'
detainees. Sammartino wrote, "Congress clearly
authorized USMS to use private detention facilities in limited circumstances,
such as where the number of USMS detainees in a given district exceeds the
available capacity of federal, state and local facilities." As AB 32
would prevent the use of private facilities when no available space exists in
other facilities, she preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the ban in regards to USMS detainees, but it remains in effect for
the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and ICE. According to court papers, 1,100 USMS
inmates in California are housed in private detention facilities,
representing about 22% of USMS statewide. Among those inmates, many are
housed at San Diego facilities that include the Metropolitan Correction
Center, Western Region Detention Facility and Otay
Mesa Detention Center. The United States and the GEO Group can file amended
complaints within the next three weeks, according to Sammartino's
order.
Sep
12, 2020 desertsun.com
'They
need to be regulated': Bill seeks to hold private prison companies
accountable
A
bill on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk would require the operators of private
prisons and immigration detention centers in California to abide by the
standards outlined in their contracts with the state and federal government.
The Accountability in Detention Act also would provide a forum for legal
challenges in the event of breaches of those standards. The bill, AB 3228,
says that if the operator of a private prison or immigration detention
facility violates the standards, an injured person may sue the company. If
the person's case is successful, the court could order the private operator
to cover his or her attorney's fees. Democratic Assemblymember Rob Bonta and
supporters say the legislation would be a powerful tool to regulate private
prison companies operating in the state. The companies frequently violate the
health and safety terms of their contracts, Bonta and others allege, and
officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t always hold
them accountable. ICE doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but an agency
spokesperson said detention facilities “adhere strictly” to the agency’s
Performance-Based National Detention Standards and “any assertion or claim to
the contrary is baseless and incorrect.” Spokespeople for the private prison
companies, meanwhile, said they prioritize the health and safety of
detainees. The legislation is California legislators' latest attempt to reign
in private prison companies. The bill is necessary, its supporters charge, since the federal government thwarted the state's
effort to phase out the use of private prisons and immigration detention
centers. Newsom signed AB 32 in October 2019. The state law generally
prohibits the private operation of immigration detention facilities in
California beginning in 2020. But two weeks before AB 32 took effect on Jan.
1, ICE officials inked long-term, multi-billion-dollar contracts with the
operators of the state’s four existing detention centers — The GEO Group, CoreCivic and Management & Training Corp. Bonta, who
also authored AB 32, and other legislators have alleged that federal
officials rushed the bidding process for the facilities in an effort to
circumvent the law. Both the federal government and GEO have sued the state,
arguing the ban is unconstitutional. A ruling in the case, which combines the
two suits, is expected imminently. Now, despite the intent of AB 32, the four
detention facilities currently remain open, with one having recently
expanded. GEO has converted a 700-bed prison in the Kern County city of
McFarland into an annex for its immigration detention center in Bakersfield,
the 400-bed Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center, and ICE “currently has
detainees” there, an agency spokesperson said. “They are not supposed to be
here — they are supposed to be phasing out,” Bonta, who represents Alameda, Oakland and San Leandro, said of the private detention
centers. “But to the extent that they are allowed and survive whatever
challenges, they need to be regulated, there needs to be oversight and there
needs to be accountability.” “While they are here, at the very least — and
this is all this bill asks, and it’s powerful in what it does — it says, ‘you
have to discontinue and end immediately the human rights abuses.’” ICE
spokesperson Alexx Abascal
said the health, safety and well-being of immigrant detainees is a "top
priority" for the agency. “Advocacy groups, citizens and politicians who
seek to undermine ICE by propagating misleading information about the agency
only create unnecessary concerns within communities,” he said. Facilities
must adhere to 'clear minimum standards' But detained immigrants, advocates
and attorneys have alleged that private detention centers fail to comply with
the standards agreed to in their contracts. They point to concerns about the the death of a man who was held in medical isolation at
Mesa Verde, even though officials knew he was at high risk for suicide, and
the use of hazardous cleaning products in poorly ventilated areas at the
Adelanto ICE Processing Center, which is also owned by GEO, among other
recent issues. They say the need for the bill is even more urgent amid the
coronavirus pandemic. At least 168 people detained at the Otay
Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, and at least 59 people at Mesa Verde have
tested positive for COVID-19, as of Thursday, according to ICE. Private
prison company CoreCivic owns Otay
Mesa. A detainee looks over a dorm wall in a women's housing unit at the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Adelanto processing Center in Adelanto,
Calif, on Dec. 3, 2019. Government watchdogs have also highlighted ICE's
failure to consistently hold private detention facility operators
accountable. A January 2019 report from the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security's Office of Inspector General found that ICE "does not adequately
hold detention facility contractors accountable for not meeting performance
standards." It said ICE imposed financial penalties on only two
occasions between Oct. 2015 and June 2018, "despite documenting
thousands of instances of the facilities' failures to comply with detention
standards." The bill makes it “super clear” that if “you’re going to run
these businesses in California, you have very clear minimum standards that
you agreed to in your contract,” said Hamid Yazdan Panah, advocacy director for Immigrant Defense Advocates,
which sponsored the bill. “When you violate those standards, it’s basically
negligence.” The bill would be one of the first pieces of legislation
nationwide to give detained immigrants a mechanism to hold private prison companies
accountable, according to Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney with the ACLU
National Prison Project. “This is another very important way to hold these
private prison corporations accountable in an industry that often has very
little attention, very little public scrutiny, and terrible abuses happen
behind closed doors," she said. A half-eaten meal at the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Adelanto processing Center in Adelanto,
Calif, on Dec. 3, 2019. In response, a GEO spokesperson said there have been
no coronavirus-virus related deaths at the Mesa Verde or Adelanto facilities,
while there have been 59 deaths reported in state prisons. “Instead of
embarking on a politically motivated effort to abolish ICE and attacking
government contractors, Assemblymember Bonta should be more concerned about
the healthcare and oversight in California’s government-operated facilities," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
GEO declined to provide the spokesperson's name. CoreCivic
spokesperson Ryan Gustin said all
of the company’s immigration facilities are required to adhere to the
detention standards. “The health and safety of every individual in our care
is a priority we share with our government partners, who hold our facilities
accountable to the highest standards with hundreds of on-site, full-time
staff to monitor our compliance,” he said in a statement. Management &
Training Corp., which owns and operates the Imperial Regional Detention
Center in Calexico, also adheres to the standards, said company spokesperson
Issa Arnita. “MTC’s priority is to provide the men and women in our
facilities with respect, dignity and quality care,” Arnita said in a
statement. “It is the hallmark of our company, and we are committed to this
compassionate approach.” The bill would have have no cost, according to legislative analyses.
Jesse Melgar, Newsom's press secretary, declined to
comment on the legislation.
Jun
26, 2019 sacbee.com
California ends its last out-of-state private prison contract
California
has ended its reliance on out-of-state private prisons, the state’s
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced on Tuesday. Vicky
Waters, a spokeswoman for the department, said the final 33 inmates were
transferred out of a private prison in Arizona, after hundreds more were
redirected to California facilities during the last several months. At its
peak, the La Palma Correctional Facility housed 3,100 inmates who were
sentences for crimes in California, Waters said. California at one point had
contracts with five other out-of-state detention centers. The La Palma site
is managed by CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based company
that oversees private detention facilities for state and federal agencies.
California does not plan to renew the contract, officials from the
corrections department said. California corrections Secretary Ralph Diaz
called the use of out-of-state prisons a “temporary solution” to substantial
overcrowding issues in the mid-2000s. “Due to meaningful prison reforms, we
have been able to bring our inmates back to California and closer to their
families,” Diaz said in a news release. Following complaints of overcrowding,
a special panel of three federal judges ordered California to reduce the
inmate population to within 137.5 percent of the state’s total design
capacity. In a 5-4 decision in 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the
court-mandated population limit. California’s total inmate population now
stands about 125,000 — 135 percent of design capacity. In 2006, at the peak
of overcrowding, California had 173,479 prison inmates. During his inaugural
address, Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to “continue the fight against
over-incarceration and over-crowding in our prisons” and “end the outrage of
private prisons once and for all.”
Jul 6, 2016 motherjones.com
Former Guard Launches Hunger Strike to Protest Private Prison Company
When the Corrections Corporation of America bought two halfway houses in
San Diego for $36 million in 2013, the company seemed committed to
maintaining the status quo. CCA said it hoped guards and other employees at
the facilities, known as "residential reentry" centers, would stay
on. The company also announced that it would continue operating the
facilities under the old owner's name, Corrections Alternatives, due to its "strong
and positive reputation." Yet according to a former guard, CCA's
acquisition led to cutbacks in staff, food, and programming meant to help
inmates reintegrate into the community. "The transition was
ridiculous," says Mark Bartlett, who worked at the Ocean View reentry
facility until he was fired in 2015. "It's turned into a business where
they're cutting corners on everything. Whether it's with cutting staff on
payroll, cutting food, the lack of nutrition, cutting programming."
Bartlett, a 33-year-old who served as an Army prison guard in Afghanistan and
grew up near the San Diego facility, kicked off a hunger strike on Tuesday
evening to protest what he sees as poor conditions at Ocean View. He and a
group of local activists have drawn up a list of demands, complied with the
input of current inmates. Their top demand is that San Diego County (as well
as federal and state agencies) ends its contracts with CCA. Bartlett says he
will not eat until the demands are met. While he was a guard at Ocean View,
Bartlett says he began reporting issues, including forged documentation of
searches and falsified hours spent training guards, to the facility's
director and to CCA's human resources office. He says took a "stress
leave" from his job last August after he found that working in the
prison was triggering his PTSD. When he couldn't set a date to return to
work, he says, the company let him go. Bartlett doesn't have records
documenting the alleged conditions inside Ocean View. He is demanding that
the federal Bureau of Prisons release its audits of the facility, and that
San Diego police and fire departments disclose community complaints about
Ocean View, as well as records of emergency calls there. He is also demanding
official investigations of staffing levels, narcotics use, sanitation, and
medical care at Ocean View. (CCA's spokesman did not respond to a request for
comment.) CCA, the country's second largest private prison operator, leases
the reentry facility at Ocean View, which houses local, state, and federal
inmates. It also owns Boston Avenue, a federal reentry facility in San Diego,
and the Otay Mesa Detention Facility, a 1,500-bed
federal immigration detention center south of the city. Its acquisition of
the Ocean View and Boston Avenue facilities in 2013 was its first foray into
the business of halfway houses. Since then, its investment in the sector has
grown. It currently owns or runs 25 halfway houses with more than 5,000 beds
in six states. Inmates assigned to halfway houses are typically nearing the
end of their sentences. Some are allowed to leave the facility to go work,
while others prepare for employment in training programs and counseling.
Catherine Mendoca, an anti-police brutality
activist who will fast alongside Bartlett, wonders whether CCA's San Diego
facilities are fulfilling their promise to help inmates prepare for freedom.
"If they're getting proper nutrition, if they're getting opportunities
to actually get a job—all of these are actually questionable," Mendoca says. "Is this actual rehabilitation? Or is
this something to profit off the backs of those incarcerated?"
Jun
2, 2015 latimes.com
Prison overseer says inmate medical care lacking in private lockups
Prison
receiver says private operators come up short on inmate care Though
healthcare within the state's 34 prisons continues to improve, problems
persist in contract prisons where the state pays to house its overflow inmate
population. "Little progress has been made in resolving, much less
improving," the care provided to 4,200 inmates in seven contracted
lockups, medical receiver Clark Kelso said in a report filed Monday with the
three federal judges who oversee the state's prison system. Four of the seven
prisons in Kern and San Bernardino counties are owned by the GEO Group; three
are owned by small communities. California also houses more than 8,000
inmates in private prisons outside the state. To save money, Gov. Jerry Brown
wants to move them to the contract prisons within California, a move that
Kelso warned could cause even greater problems providing medical care at
those facilities. The worst problems were at GEO's women's prison in
McFarland, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for
Kelso. The prison holds 231 women who are within a year of release. The state
pays GEO $9 million a year to house the inmates at McFarland. Mr. Kelso is
making so much money with this receivership job that of course he is going to
continue looking for things to study. I bet he'll milk this job for years
more to come. According to Kelso's report, inmates at the GEO prison went
without a physician for a month. The report cites all seven contract prisons
for a "lack of accountability" and failure to employ qualified
physicians to meet their state requirements to have doctors available at
least five days a week. As a result, Kelso said, inmates with health problems
have had to be returned to state-operated prisons for their care. Medical
care at the state's own prisons continue to improve, Kelso's report notes,
and his office is now preparing to return healthcare management to the state,
one prison at a time. The independent Office of Inspector General in April
deemed inmate care at Folsom State Prison adequate, positioning it for final
review by Kelso's office and a return to state control. The state corrections
department provided a brief written response to Kelso's report, saying the
agency was "pleased" the document noted progress in overall
healthcare. The statement said the agency is "working
collaboratively" with Kelso's office "to improve the delivery of
care in the" contract prisons. The GEO Group owns or manages 106 prisons
in the United States and other countries, holding 85,000 inmates. It reported
revenue of $427 million for the first three months of the year. Medical staff
at the McFarland prison referred calls to the Florida-based company's
corporate offices. A spokesman provided a written statement that the
company's prisons "have always strived to provide high-quality medical
services consistent with strict contractual requirements and industry-leading
standards." The company will work with California to "ensure
consistent delivery of quality medical services," the corporate
statement said. The state contract with the GEO Group requires the private
prison operator to provide inmates with "essential health care
services," including basic treatment for illnesses and injuries and
medication, as well as 24-hour access to emergency medical and mental health
care, daily access to nurses, and a primary care provider available at least
five days a week. The contract allows the state to seek damages if the prison
operator does not meet minimum healthcare staffing requirements. The
corrections department will not seek damages, said spokeswoman Deborah
Hoffman. Instead, she said, the agency is asking contract operators to
increase the amount of time doctors and nurses are available, while revising
training and auditing requirements.
Apr
11, 2015 thinkprogress.org
Hundreds of nurses who work for the for-profit prison health care company
Corizon in Alameda County, California are threatening to go on strike if the
company refuses to put enough nurses on duty and give them enough resources
to adequately care for the thousands of men incarcerated there, especially
after inmates have died on the company’s watch. ThinkProgress spoke this week
to one of the jail nurses, who we will identify by the pseudonym Clara
because she fears losing her job. Clara, who works as a Registered Nurse at
the jail, described abysmal conditions including broken or dirty equipment,
rushed procedures and severe understaffing. For example, when inmates are
first booked, nurses examine them and ask them about their full medical
history. Clara said Corizon’s procedures in this phase, designed to save time
and money, puts everyone at risk. “The patients come in right off the street.
They’re often under the influence of drugs. You don’t know what their mental
state is,” she said. “They’ve got three nurses seeing three inmates at once
in one little cramped room, maybe 15 by 15 feet. So there’s no confidentiality.
One inmate is sitting so close he could touch the next one, and we’re asking
them very personal questions, like if they’re HIV positive. HIPAA [privacy]
laws are totally violated there.” In a statement to ThinkProgress, Corizon
asserted they “meet [their] staffing obligations” in Alameda and are “very
proud of the skilled and compassionate staff” who work in these facilities.
“While we are not at liberty to discuss ongoing negotiations, we can assure
you we are working closely with our union partners, and share a common goal
of providing quality healthcare to patients,” the Corizon Health statement
said. Clara explained that Corizon keeps the medical team constantly
short-staffed, so that a single nurse is in charge of more than 20 “acute”
patients at once, all of whom “need to be monitored very closely.” “At any
other hospital, we’d be caring for five at the most, but here it’s sometimes
23 patients and one nurse. It’s unsafe,” she said. “Our inmate population is
getting older and older and we have a lot of people with hypertension and
diabetes, a lot of dental issues, seizure disorders. And, of course, the drug
and alcohol issues that people come in with. Right now we’re so severely
short-staffed that normally we have a pool of people to call if someone calls
off sick, but we’re now using those people as full staff. When someone calls
off sick, we have no pool to call from.” Clara said one consequence of not
having enough nurses on the cell block floor comes every morning with the
distribution of medication. “We’re supposed to give medication to the inmates
by 8 a.m., but sometimes they get them as late as 11 a.m., and inmates aren’t
getting seen in a timely manner.” Many lawsuits against Corizon from across
the country are related to delays in getting proper medication or medical
treatment. Though Clara says she’s never seen any intentional abuse like that
alleged in a recent investigation in Fresno County, California, she said
giving nurses and nurse practitioners the resources they need would make them
better able to care for their inmate patients. The negotiation between
Corizon and the National Union of Healthcare Workers has dragged on for
nearly a year, stuck in disagreements over the high cost of health insurance
for nurses, and low staffing levels leading to unsafe conditions for medical
staff and jail inmates alike. Hanging over the tense situation is a growing
cloud of lawsuits filed against Corizon for abuse, neglect and the wrongful
death of those in their care. The National Union of Healthcare Workers filed
a strike notice last December, but a federal mediator asked for “cooling off
period” to allow both sides to come to the table. Months later, little has
progressed, and nurses are once again circulating a petition in support of a
possible strike. Within the next week, if the members vote in favor, they
will submit the petition to the county sheriff and Board of Supervisors to
alert them of their decision. As of now, the union reports “almost 100
percent support” for a strike. The nurses hopes this
will pressure Corizon to meet their demands. “Nurses never want to strike,
but this is such an extreme situation that they’re willing to that draw
attention to bad provider,” union president Sal Rosselli
told ThinkProgress. “The staffing situation in the jail is in crisis right
now. RNs are responsible for giving medications to more than 100 patients a
day, at a time when Corizon’s profits are unprecedented. It’s time for
Corizon to make less of a profit.”
Jan
21, 2014 latimes.com
SACRAMENTO
-- Labor unions, Hollywood's glitterati, California philanthropists and a
private company profiting from Gov. Jerry Brown's fight over prison crowding
are among 72 top donors who have maxed out on contributions to Brown's
reelection campaign even before he officially runs. Brown's campaign fund
reports receiving two $27,200 checks in early January from the GEO Group,
based in Boca Raton, Fla. The company in September signed contracts with the
state worth $150 million to house 1,400 inmates in two low-security facilities
within California, in Adelanto and in McFarland. That's more than double the
$25,900 that GEO gave to Brown late in the 2010 race, an amount it also gave
to Brown's competitor, Meg Whitman. DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive
Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, Marilyn Katzenberg, together have given
$108,800 toward Brown's 2014 race, heading a list of 10 maxed-out Hollywood
interests that, combined, gave $544,000. Eighteen labor unions have
contributed the limit, together providing almost $980,000. Gambling outlets
are also betting on Brown. Nevada-based Station Casinos, which seeks to open
a casino north of Fresno, gave $54,400 to the governor's war chest as did
martial arts promoter Zuffa. Both companies are
owned by the same brothers. Brown had approved the casino project, but
neighboring tribes oppose it and have put a referendum on the November 2014
ballot to kill the project. Brown continues to be coy about his possible bid
for reelection and has yet to officially announce his plans. However, Brown's
2014 campaign fund has been collecting money since late 2010, according to
reports filed with the Secretary of State.
Jan
15, 2014 latimes.com
SACRAMENTO
-- Gov. Jerry Brown plans to increase California's use of private prison
cells and leases with local jails even if federal judges agree to give the
state more time to meet crowding limits within its own lockups, his budget
documents show. Detailed expenditure records released after Brown announced
the highlights of his proposed budget for 2014-15 show that the governor
expects to increase the use of outside prison contracts. His plan sets aside
nearly $500 million to pay for and administer prison contracts to take nearly
17,700 inmates, increases of $100 million and 4,700 prisoners over the
current year. A little more than half of those prisons are out of state. The
rest are community correctional centers, which could be run by local
governments or private prison operators. The governor's planning documents
show that even with that increase in spending, California prisons would
remain 3,000 inmates over what federal judges say they can safely hold and
still provide adequate healthcare and psychiatric services. The documents do
not show how Brown plans to address further growth of the state's prison
population. Projections released by the corrections department show that by
2019 the state will have 26,000 more inmates than its prisons would be able
to hold under federal crowding caps. That amount is equivalent to the
population of seven of the state's current prisons combined. The state likely
would have to rely on private prisons and other alternative placements to
house those additional prisoners, a practice already in use. The costs of the
governor's planned prison contracts vary, from $26,000-a-year to house a
prisoner out of state, to $30,200 within California — far below the
$62,400-a-year California will spend on those in its own prisons. However, contractors
take only the healthiest inmates, leaving California with the costlier and
higher-risk population. Budget records show California employs one prison
worker for every two inmates, while private prisons outside of the state have
one worker for every 36 inmates.
October
24, 2013
SACRAMENTO
— Gov. Jerry Brown is back on the doorstep of the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking
permission to go ahead with contracts that would send thousands more
California inmates to private prisons out of state. The governor on Thursday
told federal judges in California that he is appealing their order blocking
him from leasing the new beds while the administration is in talks with
inmates' lawyers on long-term solutions to prison crowding. The governor's
lawyers at the same time announced a similar appeal with the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals that would be taken up if the Supreme Court refuses to hear
Brown's case. The governor's filings cite California's recent legislation
approving expansion of private prison contracts, along with continued state
funding of probation programs meant to lower crime rates. Based on that law,
Brown had asked federal judges for an extra three years to end prison
overcrowding. The judges have approved only a two-month delay, until late
February. They also ordered the negotiations with prisoners' lawyers.
"The state is appealing to protect California's right to implement SB
105 [the new law], in the event that California is not granted additional
time to comply with the court-ordered prison population cap,"
corrections spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said in a written statement. Senate
leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said he viewed the governor's appeal
as a "procedural move" to protect his legal options. "It's my
expectation that the administration will continue good faith negotiations to
reach a durable solution as we prioritized" in the legislation,
Steinberg said in an email. Nevertheless, Steinberg renewed his opposition to
more use of private prisons, calling them a "waste of taxpayer resources"
that "fails to address the true reason for continuous overcrowding.
"Tax dollars will be better spent assuring that people who leave jail
and prison have the tools to avoid returning," he said. "That is
the end the state should continue to seek with the court's help." The
Supreme Court earlier this month refused to hear Brown's second appeal of the
prison population cap.
10/15/2013
menafn.com
SACRAMENTO,
Oct 15, 2013 (Menafn - Los Angeles Times -
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Gov. Jerry Brown has
signed another private prison deal to take inmates out of California's
crowded prisons. The arrangement, announced Tuesday morning by Corrections
Corp. of America, requires the state to pay 28.5 million a year for what is
now a federal detention facility in California City. That prison can hold
2,304 inmates. CCA in a statement to stockholders said the three-year
contract requires the Tennessee-based prison operator to pay the first 10
million in needed upgrades to accommodate California's higher-security
inmates. After that, the statement said, California taxpayers will foot the
bill. The deal will cause CCA to incur operating losses at first as it moves
out federal immigration detainees and prisoners held for the U.S. Marshals
Service to make room for the California prisoners who will arrive in
December. In September, California signed a 30-million, three-year contract
with Geo Group for 1,400 prison beds at two facilities within the state.
California is under a federal court order to reduce its prison crowding by
late January, and judges have threatened to order the mass release of
thousands of inmates if the state does not comply. The U.S. Supreme Court on
Tuesday morning announced it would not hear Brown's appeal of that order. At
the same time, the federal judges who imposed the population cap have
temporarily blocked Brown from signing deals to send those inmates to private
prisons outside of the state, and ordered the state to negotiate with
prisoners' lawyers over other possible remedies. California has almost 9,000
prisoners in lockups owned by CCA in three other states.
Aug
23, 2013 Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO
-- Gov. Jerry Brown is negotiating a deal that would staff a private prison
in Kern County with state guards and give California its 35th lockup.
"It's a win-win," said Joe Baumann, finance director for the
California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the state's powerful union for
prison guards. Under the arrangement, the state would lease a medium-security
prison in California City, in the Mojave Desert, owned by Corrections Corp.
of America, and then operate the prison as if it was a state-owned facility.
The prison now houses federal immigration detainees. The proposal to lease
the private prison remains under negotiation. If an agreement is reached, it
would add a 2,300 beds to the state prison system --
a major step in the state's efforts to abide by a federal court order to
reduce prison overcrowding. California is required to remove 9,600 inmates
from its existing 34 prisons by the end of the year. Baumann said it would
provide some 700 to 800 jobs for corrections officers, but most of those
employees would come from other state prisons as the state reduces its
staffing needs there. "It's not a huge net gain," he said. The agreement
also would reduce the state's need to lease prison beds from non-unionized
private prisons. CCA already houses about 9,000 California inmates in its
facilities in Mississippi, Arizona and Oklahoma. "CCA has a really long
history of not properly staffing its prisons, so it’s better for everybody
that we take that facility over," Baumann said. CCA officials were not
immediately available for comment Thursday. Brown has until the end of the
year to shrink the state's prison population, and his administration has
stressed it will try to find enough outside prison beds to meet the court's
targets. The state also is discussing potential lease agreements with private
prison operator Geo Group as well as Alameda County and the Kern County town
of Shafter. The governor has confirmed he will soon ask lawmakers for money
to fund that prison expansion, potentially eating into a hard-won budget
surplus and offsetting a two-year move by Brown to shrink prison spending.
Assembly budget chairwoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) said Thursday she has
not yet seen specifics but expects a proposal from the governor soon. Skinner
said she opposes any long-term expansion of the state prison system. "My
concern would want to make sure it is temporary and not permanent," she
said. There was no immediate response from Brown’s press office or from the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. [For the record,
3:11 p.m. Aug. 22: A previous version of this post said California had
prisoners in private prisons in Arkansas. The correct state is Oklahoma.]
08/06/2013
thereporter.com
SACRAMENTO
(AP) -- California will seek to move thousands of inmates to private prisons
in a last-ditch attempt to avoid releasing violent offenders to ease prison
crowding, the state corrections chief said Monday. The state will take the
step after the U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to delay a lower court
order requiring California to free nearly 10,000 inmates by year's end,
Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard told The Associated Press. Beard said the
state will soon ask a lower federal court to permit the state to house at
least 4,000 inmates in privately operated cells in California and other
states. There are enough additional beds available to avoid most if not all
of the early re-leases that would otherwise occur, he said. The beds are in
two community correctional facilities within California, in private prisons
in other states, and in several county jails with excess capacity, he said.
The state already houses nearly 9,000 inmates in private prisons in other
states. Although it's expensive to do, Beard says it's a better option than
freeing inmates before they complete their full terms. California already
reduced its prison population by more than 46,000 inmates since 2006, the majority
because of a 2-year-old state law that sentences lower-level offenders to
county jails instead of prisons. "We don't have an awful lot of these
low risk, less serious people left in our system and so we're very concerned
about who we might have to release if we go that way," Beard said in a
telephone interview. State officials don't like paying to keep offenders in
out-of-state prisons where they are far from home, yet, "I'd prefer to
do more of that than to early release inmates," he said. Beard said the
lower court would have to give its permission for the state to add more
prison beds as an alternative to other approved options that would lead to
early releases. The alternatives include expanding good-time credits leading
to early release for more than 4,000 inmates and granting early parole to 400
sick and elderly inmates. The state has said it could take those steps along
with other measures, including expanding firefighting camps, opening a new
health care facility in Stockton, and slowing the return of inmates housed in
other states. The options together would be more than enough to meet the
courts' requirement that the state reduce the prison population to about
110,000 inmates, yet each also has financial or public safety complications.
The court would have to waive state law and the state constitution to permit
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to spend money to house the
inmates in private facilities without an appropriation from the Legislature,
Beard said. He said the administration is likely to ask lawmakers to approve
spending the money. Legislative leaders have said they are reluctant to do
so, but Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, told reporters Monday
that lawmakers plan to work with Gov. Jerry Brown on the state's response.
Leaders of both political parties and in both the Assembly and Senate must
discuss with the Democratic governor "what all is possible and what
there is the will to get done," Perez said.
July 12, 2012 Sacramento Bee
With severe overcrowding easing in state lockups, California is winding down
a controversial deal with the nation's biggest private prison operator and
will bring thousands of inmates housed in facilities as far away as
Mississippi back to California within the next few years. Currently, some
9,500 state inmates are serving sentences in prisons in Arizona, Mississippi
and Oklahoma operated by the Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation
of America. As part of a strategic plan announced in April, the state
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will transfer those inmates back
to California facilities by 2016. The return of the first group, 600 inmates
housed in Arizona, will begin "immediately," said Corrections
Secretary Matthew Cate. Another 4,000 prisoners will return to California in
2014. Steve Owen, spokesman for the Corrections Corporation, confirmed the
company agreed to modify its contract to lower the total number of California
inmates housed in out-of-state facilities from 9,588 to 9,038 for this year.
The contract guarantees 90 percent occupancy. The revised contract will
reduce California's fee to the private prison group by $67 million for the
current fiscal year, according to corrections spokeswoman Dana Simas. The
state will save another $14 million in 2012 by cutting staff positions for
the program, which is administered in Sacramento. California is paying the
Corrections Corporation $61 to $72 per prison bed per day, making the
original contract worth more than $280 million for 2012-13, according to the
Legislative Analyst's Office and corrections department figures.
July 5, 2012 Nashville Scene
As the state of California continues to move forward with its plan to
"recall" nearly 9,500 prisoners from out-of-state private
correctional facilities, it appears the process doesn't bode well for
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America's bottom line. According
to an analysis conducted by the Private Corrections Institute, the move
represents a significant loss of revenue for the nation's largest private prison
company. Here's an excerpt from the release, authored by Alex Friedmann,
longtime CCA critic and president of the PCI (emphasis Pith's): CCA failed to
mention that the reduction in contract beds coincided with the California
Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s realignment plan which intends to
phase out all 9,588 out- of-state beds within 4 years. According to a CDCR
report released last April, the realignment plan will “eliminate the use of
all out-of-state contract facilities by 2015-16.” The CDCR report noted that
returning all California prisoners from out-of-state CCA facilities would
“result in a reduction of $318 million” from the state’s general fund. The
report specified that California’s out-of-state prisoner population will be
reduced to 9,038 by 2012-13 – which has already occurred according to CCA’s
recent press release – then to 4,969 by 2013-14; to 1,864 by 2014-15; and to
531 by 2015-16, with a complete phase out by the end of 2016. According to
CCA’s 2011 annual report, California accounted for 13% of the company’s total
revenue last year; thus, the loss of 9,588 contract beds to house California
state prisoners will represent a significant decrease in revenue for the
company. As noted in CCA’s annual report, “The return of the California
inmates to the state of California would have a significant adverse impact on
our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.” This
piggy-backs on a report by Daily Finance that questions the conventional
wisdom of purchasing stock in private prisons, which have historically acted
as dividend-generating machines for those shareholders who can stomach the
nature of CCA's "product." Citing increased media scrutiny and
declining prison populations, the Daily Finance report offers an insight into
the company's potential transformation into a real estate investment trust,
aka REIT. Since REITs are required by law to funnel 90 percent of their
taxable income to investors, it could be now is a good time to take the money
and run far away from an industry facing decline for the first time in its
history. Corrections Corporation of America (NYS: CXW) and GEO Group (NYS:
GEO) hold half of all prison contracts and collectively pulled in $3.3
billion in revenue for fiscal year 2011. In an industry that lives by
economies of scale, CCA enjoys a net profit margin of 9% — nearly double that
of GEO Group. However, both companies have seen decreases in net profit
margins over the last four years, even as revenue has consistently risen.
This is due in large part to decreases in prison occupancy rates. Like for
Superman, less crime means less business for these companies. As public
outcry continues to grow, contracts have already begun to flutter away. More
than a third of CCA's contracts and approximately half of GEO's contracts
expire in 2012, creating even more opportunities for governments to make
their great escape. With no growth and no competitive advantage, it's only a
matter of time until financial markets follow suit. Private prisons make
neither sense nor cents, so make your break today.
June 29, 2012 Marketwatch
CCA (Corrections Corporation of America), the nation's largest partnership
corrections provider to government agencies, announced today that it has
agreed to modify its existing contract with the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to reduce the total number of inmates
CCA houses for California from up to 9,588 to an average daily population of
9,038 for the upcoming fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. CCA currently houses
approximately 9,200 inmates from the state of California. As a result, CCA
expects to begin ramping down the California out-of-state population to align
with the CDCR's new budgeted level beginning in July 2012. The reduction is
expected to be completed by October 1, 2012. The contractual 90% occupancy
guarantee will be adjusted to reflect the lower contract capacity. All other
terms of the contract remain unchanged. The full-year impact of the contract
modification on earnings per share is estimated to be approximately $0.04.
However, at the present time, we are not revising our 2012 guidance, but will
consider this and other factors when we provide updated guidance as part of
our second quarter earnings release in August.
April 23, 2012 Street Insider
Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) is under heavy pressure early
Tuesday which appears to be related to reports that larger customer
California announced major overhaul of its prison system. The state is
seeking to cut billions in spending, cancel construction projects, close one
lockup and bring back 9,500 inmates housed in other states, according to the
LA Times. "It's a massive change," said Matthew Cate, secretary of
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The State of California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation accounted for 13% of Corrections
Corporation of America total revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31,
2011.
April 23, 2012 AP
California prison officials on Monday released a wide-ranging reorganization
plan that calls for halting a $4 billion prison-construction program and
bringing back all inmates held out of state. The master plan outlines the
department's recommendations for ending years of federal court oversight,
overcrowding, poor inmate medical and mental health treatment, and soaring
budgets. It comes at a time when the nation's largest state prison system is
being transformed by ongoing state budget deficits, federal court orders and
a realignment ordered by the governor that shifts its focus to the most
violent and dangerous offenders. The plan was to be discussed later Monday at
a Capitol news conference. The changes are possible because of a state law
that took effect Oct. 1 that shifts lower-level offenders from state prisons
to county jails. That shift is the main consequence of a federal court order
requiring the state to reduce its prison population as a way to improve
inmate medical care. Lowering the inmate population eliminates the need for
$4.1 million in construction projects and will let the state Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation reduce its annual budget by $1.5 billion,
according to the document. The plan calls for returning to state prisons by
2016 about 9,500 inmates who are currently housed in private prisons in other
states. That alone would save the state $318 million a year.
January 25, 2012 The Capitol Morning
Report
California's enormous budget problem is making it difficult for the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to comply with the court-ordered
reduction in its prison population, Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate told
80 Sacramento Press Club luncheon guests Tuesday. But, said Cate, "It's
getting done." Cate said the inmate population is 200 percent over
capacity, and the goal is to reduce that to 137.5 percent. The major effort
now --called Realignment-- is aimed at moving less violent inmates into
county facilities. But the state budget problem is getting in the way. Cate
said some counties want remuneration from the state for their added costs,
and the state doesn't have the money. "There are 58 counties and each
has their own way of doing business. But if we can get to the point where we
have space to move prisoners, we can operate more efficiently. Right now, if
we want to move a prisoner with a less violent history into a facility with
similar histories, often there are no available beds." One consequence
of overcrowding is more overtime for prison staff, and that increase costs,
Cate said, but the realignment program is reducing overtime needs and thus
reducing costs. Asked about the Correction Department's treatment of juvenile
offenders, Cate said the governor "had expressed concern that we were
investing in education, elementary and secondary and the college level, and
part of having a leaner, meaner prison system means that we have the ability
to spend money on such programs." Another questioner queried Cate on the
state program of shipping inmates to prisons in other states. He responded
that the department is following the governor's request to end the program
because, he said, "People in Arizona, Mississippi and North Carolina are
earning a living dealing with these offenders when those jobs could be here.
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect
Wednesday, though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group
Inc. has been preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads
since May. The 643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part
of California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR spokeswoman
Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials
say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just doesn’t pencil
out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman. “The issue
with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail facilities has come
up over and over again throughout the years; however, it’s not something that
the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too costly and there’s just
not the funding really even to consider something like that.” The California
State Association of Counties has created a document outlining potential beds
at the former CCFs, but counties statewide have been hesitant to exercise
that option. The Geo Group had operated six of the nine privately run CCFs
that lost their state contracts, according to CSAC. Five other CCFs were run
by local governments. The facilities ranged from around 100 employees to more
than 600, according to Toyama.
May 29, 2011 Fog City Journal
On May 23, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Plata, affirmed lower
court rulings that ordered California to reduce its prison population to
137.5 percent, or to 109,805 from 143,436 prisoners within two years.
(California’s prisons are designed to house a population of just under 80,000.)
The decision was based on evidence that prisoners were being deprived of
basic medical care caused by overcrowding. The Court noted, for example, that
there were high vacancy rates for medical care (20 percent for surgeons) and
medical health care (54.1 percent for psychiatrists). And the state had not
budgeted for sufficient staff and, even if vacant staff positions were
filled, there is not enough space for them. The Supreme Court ruled that the
state had violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which
prohibits the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishments.” Governor Jerry
Brown’s response to prison overcrowding is to shift low-risk inmates from
state-run prisons to counties as set forth in Assembly Bill 109 signed into
law last month. But, of course, the legislature and counties must find the
money to move inmates to county facilities, many of which are already
overcrowded, to comply with the Supreme Court decision without putting
criminals back on the street. AB 109 will be at best a short-term solution to
California’s overcrowded prison system. Why is the prison system overcrowded?
California’s tough-on-crime policies have led to the passage of hundreds of
laws that increased prison terms. One of the most significant was the 1977 policy
mandating that every prisoner leaving the system get paroled resulting in
thousands of ex-convicts being sent back to jail each year for minor parole
violations. Last year’s change in parole laws, which allows some non-violent
offenders to avoid parole and others to avoid getting sent back to jail for
minor violations, was a step in the right direction. In 1994, California
passed the three-strikes law, which requires those convicted of any three
felonies be sentenced to 25 years to life. There is also a two-strike
provision, as well, which requires hose convicted of a second felony to
receive a doubled sentence. As the 25-year-to-life inmates increase,
California will be housing a disproportionate share of elderly inmates.
California has a 70 percent recidivism rate. What is needed is a support
network for inmates reentering society. Unfortunately, rehabilitation and
drug treatment are severely underfunded. In 2000, Proposition 36 was passed
by the voters that permanently changed state law to allow qualifying
defendants convicted of non-violent drug possession offenses to receive a
probationary sentence in lieu of incarceration. As a condition of probation
defendants are required to participate in and complete a licensed and/or
certified community drug treatment program. If the defendant fails to
complete this program or violates any other term or condition of their
probation, then probation can be revoked and the defendant may be required to
serve an additional sentence which may include incarceration. Proposition 36
is not retroactive, meaning that defendants who had to attend unlicensed drug
rehabs prior to Prop 36 are not afforded the opportunity to have their cases
reheard in court. One UCLA study found that convicted drug users had become
more likely to be arrested on new drug charges since the proposition took
effect. AB 900, passed in 2000, provides authorization to build up to 40,000
state prison beds and up to 13,000 local jail beds in two phases. Assemblyman
Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, the chairman of a state Assembly committee overseeing
the state’s prison construction efforts remarked about AB 900: “The
department is a shambles. They couldn’t build their way out of a paper bag.
Everyone has a reason to be skeptical. Everyone is holding their breath, hoping
that this time they’re successful.” Clearly, AB 900 was not the answer to
prison reform. Otherwise, California would not have been a defendant in Brown
v. Plata. Prison overcrowding has been a problem for years but the California
legislature has lacked the political will to implement necessary reforms.
Will California be forced to turn to private, for-profit prisons to help
solve its overcrowding prison problem? Many believe that government programs
— social security for example — would run more efficiently and cheaply by the
private sector. This may or may not be true. However, recent research by the
Arizona Department of Corrections indicates that this is not necessarily so
for private, for-profit prisons. This research based on Arizona’s own facts and
figures shows that privately-operated prisons can cost more than state-run
prisons, even though they often do not accept the sickest, costliest inmates.
Arizona law stipulates that private prisons must create “cost savings,” but
the research shows that inmates in private prisons cost as much as $1,600
more per year, while many cost about the same as they do in state-run
prisons. Similarly, a University of Utah team reviewed years of research and
concluded in a 2007 report that “cost savings from privatizing prisons are
not guaranteed and appear minimal.” For many years, private prisons have been
a hot issue in California. While Texas and Florida have embraced
privatization as a supplement to state-run institutions, California has
resisted. In 2002, former Governor Gray Davis ended California’s experiment
with privately operated prisons, fulfilling his promise to the California
Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCOA) that spent $2.3 million to
help elect him to his first term. Davis’ budget proposed closing five of
California’s nine private prisons almost immediately and phasing out the rest
as their operating contracts expire. He cited budget concerns, saying that
the state could save about $5 million by closing the minimum-security
facilities. Prisons run by private companies was finally discontinued in 2007
after continued lobbying by the CCOA. California does use private, for-profit
facilities for community corrections facilities (seven are in operation
today) and various contracted services, including education, vocational
training, and substance abuse treatment. Private prisons are making a subtle
comeback in California. For example, as the prisons’ population swelled to an
all-time high in 2006, former Governor.Arnold
Schwarzenegger declared a public safety emergency and then used his emergency
powers to begin transferring more than 10,000 inmates to private prisons in
other states. California now contracts with for-profit private prison
companies to house up to 10,468 inmates in out-of-state facilities. Shortly
after Schwarzenegger’s declaration of a public safety emergency, the Reason
Foundation, a Los Angeles-based libertarian think-tank that promotes the
privatization of government services, and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Association issued the so called “Reason-HJTA Report,” which advocated
sending 25,000 California inmates to out-of-state for-profit prisons,
claiming that would save the state up to $1.8 billion over a five-year
period. The Report purports to offer a solution to California’s prison
overcrowding crisis. The cost savings touted in this Report were severely
criticized by the Private Corrections Institute, a non-profit citizen
watchdog group that opposes prison privatization: “The joint Reason-HJTA
report is based on sources that are so plagued with conflicts of interest
that the results would be laughable if they weren’t masquerading as credible
research.” I believe that California will turn to private, for-profit prisons
as the long-term solution to prison overcrowding and not necessarily for any
purported cost savings, but because California may have no other choice.
California cannot build new prisons and/or remodel/expand existing prisons
fast enough to keep up with new inmates. Lacking the political will,
California will likely take the easy way out by shipping the prisoners to
private prisons.
April 11, 2011 Michigan Messenger
Budget problems and changing priorities in California threaten to derail
plans to send thousands of inmates to the GEO Group’s private prison in
Baldwin. Last year California’s overcrowded prison system agreed to pay The
GEO Group $60 million a year to house 2,580 inmates at the company’s North
Lake Correctional Facility starting in May. But now California is struggling
to close a $15.4 billion deficit and the new Democratic Governor Jerry Brown
has signed a bill that would reduce the state prison population by
transferring prisoners with short sentences into county jails where they
could gradually reintegrate into their communities. The bill, however, won’t
take effect until a mechanism for funding the program is established and with
budget negotiations stalled in the legislature, it’s unclear how or when that
will happen. “We are in a very volatile situation with the budget and legal
authority to send inmate out of state is in question,” California Dept. of
Corrections and Rehabilitation Undersecretary Scott Hernan said in an
interview Friday. Hernan said that at this point the dept. is still planning
to begin sending 130 inmates a month to Baldwin by plane starting next month,
and hopes to be able to continue plans with GEO. Ryan Sherman is spokesman
for the California Correctional Peace Officer Association, which represents
state corrections officers and opposes plans to ship inmates out of state.
“This is a California state department,” he said. “Should they really be
trying to send taxpayer dollars and jobs to another state in the middle of a
budget crunch?” California is also waiting on delivery of an opinion in a
U.S. Supreme Court case that could influence how the state needs to deal with
overcrowding issues, he said. This Spring the court is expected to announce it’s opinion in Plata v. Schwarzenegger, a case that
examines the legality of a court order that California reduce its prison
population in order to address unconstitutional conditions (inadequate
medical care) in the corrections system. If the Supreme Court determines that
California must reduce its prison population then outsourcing prisoners might
be one way to comply with that mandate, Sherman said, though it would be an
expensive way to do it. No matter the outcome of the ruling, he said, it may
not be wise to begin the process of moving prisoners when a decision is
imminent. In Baldwin, training for employees at the prison was delayed last week
but the GEO Group refused to give details about the status of plans for the
California inmates. The company has said that the deal with California will
lead to 500 jobs at the facility by 2014. Joe Baumann is correctional officer
at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, about 60 miles east of Los
Angeles and secretary for the group Corrections USA. “I believe there is a
very high likelihood that [California inmates] will not go to Michigan,” he
said. “A couple county jails — Orange, LA and Fresno — have sizable units
empty for budget reasons,” he said. “They’ve got units that are there
mothballed. It’s not enough to make a significant dent in prison crowding but
it is enough to absorb the inmates that would have gone to Baldwin. LA County
has got about 1500 empty beds.” “This puts GEO in a situation where they are
fighting counties for money.” The uncertainty around the deal with California
is the latest in a series of problems for The GEO Group’s Michigan property.
The North Lake Correctional Facility was built as a 500 bed maximum security
youth facility but was shut down in 2005 after the state ended its contract
with the company amid lawsuits alleging abuse. In 2009 GEO expanded the
prison to 1,725 beds in expectation of winning a federal contract to house
immigrant detainees but those plans were stopped last year after the federal
Bureau of Prisons canceled its request for more space for criminal aliens.
February 10, 2011 Bakersfield
Californian
Two Kern County community correctional facilities that were supposed to
reopen this month and house hundreds of low-level female inmates will remain
closed. The contract awarded last year to The GEO Group to operate the
facilities was pulled because of the state's budget woes, California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Cassandra Hockenson said Thursday. It costs about twice as much to
keep an inmate in a smaller facility compared to a larger one, she said.
"It just didn't pencil out and this administration, obviously very
concerned about the budget and the cost of reducing the budget deficit, had
the programs scrapped," Hockenson said. The
McFarland Community Correctional Facility had been slated to reopen Feb. 14
and house 250 inmates. The Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility --
located in Bakersfield -- had been scheduled for a Feb. 7 reopening and was
supposed to house 400 inmates. Exact figures on how much the facilities would
have cost the state weren't immediately available. GEO Group spokesman Pablo
E. Paez was not immediately available for comment.
November 30, 2010 San Francisco
Chronicle
California, under pressure to reduce the number of inmates in its crowded
prisons, has steadily increased the number of convicts it sends to private
institutions outside the state since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began the
program in 2006. The latest deal will ship another 5,800 inmates to private
prisons across state lines, bringing the total to more than 15,000. The
transfers will begin in May under a contract that runs through June 2013 -
nearly halfway through the term of Gov.-elect Jerry Brown. California has a
prison population of about 164,000 people, but its corrections facilities are
only equipped to house around 100,000. The state is under court order to
reduce the inmate population by 40,000 though state officials are challenging
the order, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case today.
Critics of moving prisoners to out-of-state facilities say it does little to
relieve the underlying problems that have caused crowded conditions and
questioned the timing of the new, no-bid contracts with two private
companies. One of the companies houses nearly 10,000 California prisoners.
"This is the governor doing what he wants to in the last minutes of his
administration," said state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. "It is
a way he can, on his watch, knock another 5,000 from the official
numbers." When California first signed contracts to ship prisoners over
state lines four years ago, it began with 2,260 inmates at a cost of $51
million annually. Now, it is set to pay the companies
$360 million a year to house 15,424 prisoners, and spend more than $636
million annually once administrative costs are factored in. The prisons
remain woefully crowded: There are 8,200 inmates in
"nontraditional" beds such as the gymnasium at San Quentin State
Prison. Prison officials hope that, with the new agreements and other
efforts, the number could drop to zero. "This has always been viewed as
a temporary remedy while we await other fixes, including legislative reform
and building additional (prison) capacity," said Scott Kernan, undersecretary for operations at the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Consult next governor Critics
of California's private prison deals, however, question the timing of the new
contracts and whether the state should be using private lockups at all. Don
Specter of the Prison Law Office, which filed the crowding lawsuit against
the state, said Brown "should be consulted on this important policy
development before any long-term decisions are made." It was unclear
whether the governor-elect weighed in on the new contracts. A spokesman for
Brown declined comment. Kernan, however, said that
while the "timing might seem unusual," the state has been in the
process of negotiating the new contracts for months. About half of the new
inmates - 2,580 - will go to a Michigan facility owned by GEO Group Inc.,
which signed a new contract with the state earlier this month. The other half
are to go to prisons in Colorado and Minnesota, though the state is still
negotiating with the owner of those facilities, Corrections Corp. of America.
The corrections company already houses 9,941 California inmates and is the
nation's largest private prison company. Corrections Corp. of America also
was the subject of a recent National Public Radio investigation that alleged
that it and other prison companies helped draft and pass a controversial
Arizona immigration bill approved earlier this year - a law that could
increase inmate population numbers and therefore benefit the private prison
industry's bottom line. Corrections Corp. of America denies any involvement,
saying in a written statement that the company had "absolutely no
involvement whatsoever in drafting or writing the legislation." Alarming
practice Still, critics argue that the very practice of making profit-driven
companies part of the criminal justice system is alarming. "If you can
get over the civil libertarian issue and morality of putting people in prison
for profit ... you end up with a market that needs to be fed, which is pretty
scary," said Ken Kopczynski, executive
director of the national Private Corrections Working Group, which advocates
against the private prison industry. State lawmakers have also raised
questions about safety at the private facilities. According to the Assembly
Accountability and Administrative Review Committee, which held a hearing on
the out-of-state transfer program in January, California prison officials
temporarily stationed a staff member at a Mississippi facility, "due to
several incidents there including the death of an asthmatic prisoner in 2007
and an incident in October 2009 that left two correctional officers
hospitalized, including one with 22 stab wounds." Kernan
said a person is no longer stationed full time at the prison, but that teams
of state employees travel to all of the facilities almost weekly to monitor
conditions. State emergency In 2006, Schwarzenegger issued an emergency
proclamation stating that immediate action was needed to prevent "death
and harm caused by severe overcrowding." By declaring a state emergency,
the governor was able to waive a law that prohibits sending inmates out of
state without their consent. The first, three-year contract with Corrections
Corp. of America to house about 2,200 inmates was announced just 16 days
after the proclamation was signed. At first, state officials said they would
only be sending volunteer prisoners over state lines, but within months
announced they would begin involuntary out-of-state transfers. Since then,
California has systematically increased the number of inmates incarcerated in
private facilities. The state employs 199 people at a cost of $276 million a
year to oversee the program. Lawmakers approved some out-of-state transfers
under AB900, a bill passed in 2007 to provide $7.7 billion in prison
construction funds to add 53,000 prison and jail beds around the state. The
measure also allowed a limited number of out-of-state transfers without an
inmate's consent through July 1, 2011. Since 2007, however, the Legislature
has not commented on the program, except in informational oversight hearings
and as part of the state budget. Kernan
characterized the program as "cost neutral," and stressed that the
ultimate goal is to tackle crowding. Sen. Leno said it might "look
good" to reduce the inmate population, but there are other factors the
government should be considering, such as how to decrease the state's 70
percent recidivism rate. Specter and Leno are also concerned about shipping
inmates away from their families and friends. "One documented way to
reduce recidivism is with the presence of a supportive family," Leno
said. "Sending prisoners across country is what we shouldn't be doing if
we want successful re-entry programs." Kernan,
however, said that even inmates who remain in California are unlikely to be
close to the communities where they will eventually be released.
January 23, 2010 California
Progressive Report
This is Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, Chairman of the Assembly
Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. The Accountability
Committee was created last year to investigate California state government
programs and agencies to help improve program performance, find efficiencies
and save taxpayers' money. This week the Committee investigated a
$600-million contract the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
entered into with a private prison company without conducting a competitive
bidding process. A key goal of the Committee is to ensure that state
government conducts its business in a transparent manner, and does everything
it can to ensure that taxpayers are getting the best deal possible. In this
case, the Governor's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed both
of those goals. Due to overcrowding in our state prisons, Governor
Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the corrections system in
2006. Based on that declaration of emergency, his Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation contracted with a private prison company to begin sending
some of California inmates to out-of-state facilities to help alleviate the
overcrowding problem. The Committee found no fault with the Department's
initial effort to sign a $23 million contract. Three years later, however,
that contract has been amended multiple times and is now valued at more than
$600 million. At no time during this period has the Department conducted a
formal, competitive bidding process to ensure the state is getting the best
deal it could. No one - not the Department, not the governor, not the
Legislature or the public - has any idea if another company or another state
could have provided adequate prison beds at a better price. During a period
when the state's budget deficit is leading to teacher layoffs and the
elimination of important health programs, this careless use of hundreds of
millions of taxpayer dollars is simply unacceptable. Members of the Assembly
Committee on Accountability questioned administration officials at an
oversight hearing just this week, and concluded that the Corrections
Department must do better in the future to ensure that it encourages
competition and gets the best price it can for out-of-state prison beds. On a
bi-partisan basis, Committee members pledged to reject an expansion of this
program without competitive bidding. The Committee will continue to provide
much-needed oversight of state government to ensure precious tax dollars are
being spent as wisely as possible. This has been Assemblymember Hector De La
Torre, Chairman of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review
Committee. Thank you for listening.
October 26, 2009 AP
California officials say a drop in the number of minimum-security inmates
is allowing them to end contracts with the companies that operate three private
prisons. The move will save the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
about $15 million a year. The private prisons in Baker, Bakersfield and
McFarland once housed a total of 822 inmates. Department officials said today
they may seek new proposals to use the prisons for female inmates. About
2,500 fewer minimum-security inmates are in prison than a year ago. The
department credits a new policy that diverts many parole violators who commit
relatively minor offenses to community programs instead of sending them back
to prison.
November 10, 2008 Fresno Bee
A private prison company that has been lobbying the Schwarzenegger
administration and is a campaign contributor to the governor's causes has
made a bid to operate an overhauled inmate medical system, a move that could
conflict with court-ordered reforms, according to a document obtained Monday
by The Associated Press. The offer by The GEO Group Inc. of Florida caught
the court-appointed receiver overseeing reform of California's inmate health
care system by surprise. In the five-page internal memo obtained by the AP,
the receiver's chief of staff repeatedly makes it clear that he believes the
bid was solicited by the Schwarzenegger administration and questions the
administration's motives. Chief of staff John Hagar writes that The GEO Group
has spent more than $300,000 lobbying the governor's office and Legislature
since January. Campaign records on file with the secretary of state's office
show the company also made a $50,000 contribution last month to the campaign
for Proposition 11, the redistricting initiative on the November ballot
backed by Schwarzenegger. "The solicitation is all the more troublesome
because the Federal Court has taken responsibility away from the Secretary of
Corrections concerning the delivery of medical services," Hagar wrote in
the memo to court receiver Clark Kelso. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page
denied the administration solicited GEO's bid. She said Hagar may be
concerned about the overture by a private firm because "the receiver
can't defend his $8 billion boondoggle." That's the amount the court
receiver says he needs to build medical facilities for 10,000 inmates. Page
said the GEO Group approached the administration but was referred to the
state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Corrections spokesman
Oscar Hidalgo said company officials met last month with Corrections
Secretary Matthew Cate, who referred them to the receiver's office.
"There was no discussion beyond that because of the obvious, I guess: We
don't run the prison medical system," Hidalgo said. "All we did was
refer them to the receiver's office." Schwarzenegger's political
spokeswoman, Julie Soderlund, denied any connection
between the governor's policy decisions and the contribution to Proposition
11, which is leading in the vote tally but remains too close to call.
Officials with The GEO Group and its lobbyists did not return telephone
messages Monday. Hagar said the company has submitted a proposal and said it
will meet later this week with Kelso, the court-appointed receiver. He wrote
that the bid from GEO could be a way to undermine the reform efforts overseen
by the federal courts. That's because the company's bid to run inmate medical
services could be less expensive than the state-run medical centers proposed
by the receiver's office. "We should be careful that the governor's
office does not use the GEO proposal as a diversion, attempting to argue to
the public that it is more cost effective, when in fact it will not address the
constitutional problem at issue and it may violate California law,"
Hagar wrote. "The governor's office may use GEO as an attempt to derail
our construction program in the public arena." The actual bid could not
be obtained Monday, and it was not immediately known whether the company
offered a cost estimate. Hagar wrote that GEO is proposing "a generic
prison" that "will prove woefully inadequate concerning the
day-to-day requirements" of inmate care. Kelso, who is engaged in a
court battle with the administration, declined to comment. His reform program
is intended to remedy prison medical care that has been ruled
unconstitutional because of negligence and malfeasance. In recent years, the
receiver's office has boosted pay for doctors and nurses and hired dozens of
medical staff members in an attempt to improve conditions. It's not clear how
the federal judge in San Francisco would receive a proposal to private inmate
medical care, considering the history of poor treatment. The system had been
blamed for killing an inmate a week through incompetence. Privatizing those
functions also may run afoul of state law because it would take work from
state prison guards and other government employees. "The GEO Group has a
dismal record of both safety and care and treatment, even worse than the
Department of Corrections," said Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents most
prison guards.
June 5, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was within his rights to declare a state of
emergency at California's overcrowded prisons in 2006 and begin transferring
inmates out of state, an appeals court ruled Wednesday over the objections of
the prison guards union. The ruling by the state Third District Court of
Appeal in Sacramento overturned a judge's decision and was welcomed by
Schwarzenegger, who is separately defending the state against lawsuits by
inmates seeking to reduce the overall prison population and improve the
prisons' health care system. A federal judge has transferred control of
prison health care in California to a court-appointed manager after ruling
that the system violated constitutional standards. There are nearly 160,000
inmates in the 33 state prisons, which were designed to hold about 83,000.
The state is planning construction that will expand the capacity of state
prisons and county jails by 53,000. A referee appointed by a federal court
panel has proposed measures to reduce the prison population by 27,000 over
four years, to 133,000. The measures would include alternatives to prison for
some parole violators and felons facing short sentences. Wednesday's ruling
"comes at a critical juncture in our prison reform efforts,"
Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I am pleased that their decision
allows out-of-state transfers to continue while our comprehensive reforms to
reduce overcrowding are fully implemented." Laurie Hepler, a lawyer for
the prison guards' union and another prison employee union that challenged
the inmate transfers, said her clients disagreed with the ruling and would
appeal to the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger issued the order in October
2006 after a special legislative session on prison overcrowding fizzled, with
Democrats seeking changes in sentencing laws and Republicans calling for
prison expansion. As the inmate population continued to climb, 16,000
prisoners occupied bunks in prison gyms and other temporary quarters.
Schwarzenegger has said as many as 8,000 inmates could be shipped out of
state. So far, nearly 3,900 prisoners have been transferred to out-of-state
prisons run by private companies under contracts with California. The
transfers have continued despite a ruling in April 2007 by a Sacramento
County judge that Schwarzenegger had acted illegally. Superior Court Judge
Gail Ohanesian agreed with the unions that state
law allows a governor to issue an emergency order only when local officials
need state help in responding to a disaster, and that the use of private
prison employees violated civil service laws. The appeals court had put Ohanesian's ruling on hold while the state appealed. In
its ruling Wednesday, the court said the governor can issue orders to respond
to emergencies in state institutions that may endanger residents. In this
case, the court said, the lack of space in state prisons was causing
overcrowding in local jails, forcing counties to release some inmates who
might commit more crimes. Overcrowding also increased the risk of diseases
that could spread outside the prisons and had led to local water pollution
from sewage spills caused by overtaxed prison wastewater systems, the court
said. The court also said California's civil service rules allow the state to
employ private contractors when public employees are not available to meet
urgent needs. The planned expansion of state prisons will take years to
complete, and the prison system will need five years to eliminate staffing
shortages, the court said. "California cannot build or retrofit the
prisons needed overnight, no matter how much money it invests to solve the
problem," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said in the 3-0 ruling. The
only available lockups are in other states and are staffed by private
employees, he said.
August 18, 2007 Sacramento Bee
California corrections officials have begun sending hundreds of foreign
national inmates against their will to a private prison in Mississippi as
part of a stepped-up, out-of-state transfer plan. The first two flights of
prisoners to the Tallahatchie County Detention Facility in Tutwiler, Miss.,
have taken place without incident, officials said, in spite of fears
expressed by the California correctional officers union that the forced
transfers would be met with inmate violence. "Many of the inmates had
never been on a plane before in their lives," said Scott Kernan, the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation's chief deputy secretary for adult operations. "They were
a little scared. But once they got on the flight, they were fine." Some
200 foreign national inmates, mostly from Mexico, were shipped to the
Mississippi prison on flights July 20 and July 27, a state prison spokesman
said. A total of 597 inmates -- including 397 volunteers -- have now been
sent to private prisons in Mississippi, Arizona and Tennessee. Kernan said the state hopes to move 5,000 prisoners to
out-of-state institutions by June 30 to help relieve overcrowding in
California. "We have a very aggressive schedule that will include trips
of approximately 120 inmates every couple of weeks," Kernan
said. Some 173,000 inmates in the state are being housed in space designed
for about half that many, with federal judges now considering a motion to
place a population cap on the system that could result in early releases for
tens of thousands of prisoners. Francisco Estrada, a lobbyist for the Mexican
American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the transfers of the foreign
nationals raise a host of potentially problematic legal issues for the
corrections agency. If the inmates are legal residents, the transfers figure to
separate them from their families and immigration attorneys, and "that's
wrong," Estrada said. They also create a prospect for racial targeting
on the part of prison officials. "We need to be very careful,"
Estrada said, adding that he will be discussing the issue with Mexican
American Legal Defense and Education Fund attorneys. Foreign nationals being
transferred under the out-of-state program are all subject to holds "or
potential holds" placed on them by Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
said corrections spokesman Bill Sessa. They include both legal and illegal
residents, he said. No inmates "with demonstrated family ties" are
being transferred for now, Sessa said. Nor are any being moved "if
they're in the middle of legal proceedings," including immigration
matters, Sessa said. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association
in February won a ruling in Sacramento Superior Court stopping the transfer
program. The union claimed the program violated state civil service
protections guaranteed under the California Constitution. The ruling has
since been stayed pending an appeal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. CCPOA
leaders also voiced opposition to the transfers during the debate over the
recently enacted $7.9 billion prison construction plan, which included
legislative approval for moving 8,000 inmates out of state. Union officials
said the involuntary transfers would put officers in danger from resisting
inmates. CCPOA spokesman Ryan Sherman said Friday that the union is
"very grateful" that no officers have been injured in extracting
the prisoners from their cells. "We're hopeful that will continue as the
governor continues to do these unconstitutional transfers," Sherman
said. Sherman characterized the Tallahatchie County prison in Mississippi, operated
by the Correctional Corp. of America, as one of "the most troubled"
in the country. He based his assessment on newspaper articles detailing
assorted disturbances at the prison dating back to 2003. "Private
prisons lower the bar for the entire profession by providing extremely
limited training and remarkably poor compensation and benefits," Sherman
said. "They're in it to make a buck. Public safety is nowhere on their
priority list." CCA spokeswoman Louise Grant said her company "is
extremely proud of the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility" and
that private prisons are no more dangerous than those operated by the state.
July 23, 2007 Fresno Bee
Two federal judges on Monday ordered creation of a special panel to
recommend ways to relieve California's overcrowded prisons, a move that could
lead to the capping of the inmate population or the early release of some
prisoners. In doing so, the judges rejected the main solution set forth by
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to address a crisis that has
been building for decades. Last spring, they agreed to an ambitious $7.8
billion program to build 53,000 new prison and jail cells. The judges said
that plan, submitted to the courts in June, will only make matters worse for
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state can't
hire enough guards and medical professionals to provide proper care and
oversight for the inmates it has now, let alone the thousands more who might
be added through the building program. "From all that presently appears,
new beds will not alleviate this problem but will aggravate it," U.S.
District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento
wrote. Schwarzenegger said he will appeal the judges' decision to create the
three-judge panel.
June 4. 2007 LA Times
Two appointees whom Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent to fix California's
dysfunctional prison healthcare system pushed a $26-million, no-bid contract
for outside medical services while contract reviewers steadfastly maintained
it was overpriced and illegal, records and interviews show. But instead of
providing a strong step toward reforming the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation's $1.8-billion medical system, the handling of
this relatively small contract erupted into a fight that forced out the two
appointees and highlights what critics say are systemic contracting
breakdowns that helped bloat healthcare costs at the state's 33 prisons. The
contract for a pilot program at two Southern California prisons was supposed
to be a model for improving the care of inmates who need to see specialists —
one of the major failings that led a federal judge to seize control of prison
healthcare and appoint a receiver last year to oversee it. However, John
Hagar, chief of staff for receiver Robert Sillen,
said, "This is a classic example of the department looking at a problem
and jumping to a solution that, in fact, does not work and increases costs
unnecessarily…. "It appears there were outside influences," he
said. "It was not being done at the urging of the contract staff who
usually negotiate the contract. They were saying 'No.' " After hiring a
private prison industry lobbyist, a Florida company successfully submitted a
proposal for the three-year pilot program. Although the contract was not finalized,
corrections officials last summer gave the company permission to start
working and bill the state. After finding out about the deal, Hagar swiftly
froze the contract process before Christmas and later halted payments. The
appointees who arranged the contract soon resigned. The state inspector
general launched a conflict-of-interest investigation of one who held stock
in a company listed as a subcontractor. And now the contractor wants the
state to repay $2.6 million for inmate medical expenses that company
officials say they incurred. This ugly contract dispute has been a
distraction in the first year of a long-overdue effort to improve inmate
medical treatment, said Don Specter, director of the Prison Law Office, a
nonprofit whose lawsuit on behalf of the state's 175,000 prisoners prompted
U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to take
over prison healthcare in 2005. The contract uproar centered on Medical
Development International, a $100 million-a-year business that arranges
medical appointments, handles billing, and contracts with doctors and
hospitals to serve inmates. It was founded in 1992 by a father and son,
Richard and Ted Willich. MDI has grown into one of
the largest medical providers for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, having won
contracts at 27 facilities. That work led California lawmakers to invite a
company official to testify at a 2004 hearing into skyrocketing prison
healthcare costs in the state. About two years ago, MDI officials hired Mark
Nobili, a Sacramento lobbyist whose clients included a private prison
operator. To date, records show that MDI has paid Nobili at least $170,000.
MDI representatives learned that the point people for new prison contracts
were Peter Farber-Szekrenyi and Darc
Keller — both longtime medical administrators appointed by Schwarzenegger in
late 2005 to help reform healthcare. In March 2006, MDI submitted a proposal
to deliver up to $26 million in services at the state prisons in Tehachapi
and Lancaster, where backlogs for outside medical appointments were acute.
Among the providers MDI listed was Mobile Medical International Corp., which
supplies surgical and diagnostic facilities in big tractor-trailer trucks.
Keller recently had served as a senior vice president at Mobile Medical and,
according to his economic interest statement, he owned $10,000 to $100,000 in
the company's stock. As MDI was preparing its California proposal, company
Vice President Ted Willich said he learned that
Keller once had worked at Mobile Medical, so he asked Keller to call the firm
because MDI was having trouble contacting it about potential work on a
federal contract. However, Willich denied that
Keller encouraged MDI to use Mobile Medical for the California pilot program.
"To me, it is ridiculous," he said of the inspector general's
probe. "There is a whole lot of nothing there." Keller said that,
although he called Mobile Medical to help out MDI, he was unaware that his
former employer was being lined up as a subcontractor until Mobile Medical
later appeared in MDI's proposal. Keller said that he had moved to liquidate
his stock in Mobile Medical shortly after his appointment and that the sale
was completed Aug. 8 — a few weeks before MDI began work on the project.
"There is no conflict because there is no enrichment," he said.
"No one got money…. We never did have a [final] contract." Although
MDI ultimately did not use Mobile Medical, Keller's participation in the
contracting process may have violated the state Political Reform Act, said
Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los
Angeles. "The violation could be that he participated in a decision
where he had a financial interest: the stock he owned," Stern said.
Violations are punishable by a fine or jail term. The state Fair Political
Practices Commission, which enforces the conflict-of-interest law, would
neither confirm nor deny that it was conducting an investigation. The
inspector general's office, an independent corrections oversight agency,
declined to comment. The MDI contract mess unfolded as the state controller
issued an audit report in early August outlining waste and abuse in medical
contracting at prisons. On Aug. 31, Farber-Szekrenyi
requested issuance of a $26-million contract to MDI, then the company began
work. Farber-Szekrenyi "gave us the green
light," said Willich of MDI. "We were
given assurances by Darc [Keller] and Peter that we
would be paid, and we were told to do the work." To become final, the
contract required approvals by contracting and legal staff at corrections as well
as attorneys at the state Department of General Services. But interviews and
corrections department e-mails reviewed by the receiver's office show that
contracting staff raised objections, such as whether the contract should have
been competitively bid, whether MDI needed a medical license and whether the
rates were too high. When MDI complained about the delays, Hagar said,
Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller repeatedly urged the
employees to move the contract ahead. "Nobody leaned on them to approve
a contract; we asked them the status of the contract," Farber-Szekrenyi said, adding that he told the contractor to
start work without a contract because there was an emergency, with hundreds
of medical appointments backlogged. Concerned about delays with the contract
last fall, Farber-Szekrenyi said he gave MDI and a
corrections attorney a couple of weeks to resolve the medical licensing issue
— and it was. Meanwhile, employees who process medical contracts were placed
under the receiver. A short time later, Hagar learned from one of them that
Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller were implementing a
pilot program without competitive bidding — and that contracting staff
thought the price was exorbitant and that the work required a medical
license. Hagar stopped the contract and later asked the inspector general to
investigate. Although the receiver said he had been unaware of the pilot
program, Farber-Szekrenyi said he personally
informed Sillen about it. Farber-Szekrenyi and Keller said that earlier this year they
were forced to resign by the governor's office, which declined to comment.
Though MDI said it saved the state money and had dramatically reduced
backlogs for appointments at the two prisons, Hagar said his investigators
found healthcare still in crisis there. Tehachapi Warden Joe Sullivan, who
served as interim warden at Lancaster early this year, said MDI had inmates
scheduled for appointments but they had not all been seen by doctors.
"In my view, they were doing an excellent job," he said. The
receiver's office now is developing its own contracts with providers. And MDI
is threatening to sue if necessary to recoup $2.6 million not reimbursed by
the state. MDI's Willich said the company
apparently was caught in a fight between two gubernatorial appointees and a
powerful court-appointed receiver. "We were the meat in the
sandwich," he said.
June 2, 2007 Sacramento Bee
State corrections officials resumed transferring inmates to out-of-state
prisons Friday, moving 38 convicts by bus to Arizona. The transfers had been
placed on hold since November, when two public employee unions convinced a
Sacramento judge that sending inmates out of state violated California's
civil service laws. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian's
ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal to the 3rd District Court of
Appeal by the Schwarzenegger administration. Oral arguments have yet to be
scheduled. Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said state officials
"believe we have statutory authority" to go ahead with more
transfers, and he suggested that if the administration lost its appeal, it
would not pose a major problem. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to
it," Unger said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger obtained legislative
approval in the recently enacted Assembly Bill 900 prison construction and rehabilitation
package to transfer up to 8,000 inmates, involuntarily if it comes to that.
Only inmates volunteering for the out-of-state placement were transferred
Friday, however. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
is planning to transfer as many as 400 inmates a month to help ease
overcrowding, with 18,000 inmates now living in gyms, dayrooms and other
spaces not designed to house them. "Temporary out-of-state inmate
transfers will provide immediate relief to California's prison system while
the rest of the governor's comprehensive reforms are implemented,"
Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in a prepared statement. Tilton said
the transfers "will also give us breathing room" to try to pick up
the system's rehabilitation effort and also to help improve its medical
delivery system, which a San Francisco federal judge has declared
unconstitutional. Friday's transfers to the Florence Detention Center in
Arizona increased to 218 the number of California inmates being housed in the
prison, which is owned and operated by the Correctional Corporation of
America. Another 76 state prisoners have been transferred to the West
Tennessee Detention Facility, another CCA-owned prison not far from Memphis.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees
International Union Local 1000 were the unions filing the suit last fall that
temporarily blocked the transfers. CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran said Friday
that even though the most recent transfers involved only inmates who the
department said wanted to go out of state, the decision to move out prisoners
who don't want to go "is absolutely one of the most dangerous things
this administration has utilized." Corcoran said the prison system has
been "marketing these (out-of-state) institutions much like cruise
ships," yet still has fallen short of obtaining anywhere near the 19,000
inmates the corrections agency initially said were interested in the
transfers. "Very quickly, they're going to have to move them involuntarily,
then we'll see what happens from there," Corcoran said. Union leaders
have said they expect inmates who don't want to be transferred out of state
to wage intense struggles to keep from being removed from their cells.
April 6, 2007 Sacramento Bee
The Schwarzenegger administration sought Thursday to block a court ruling
that the governor's program transferring inmates out of state is
"unlawful." In the meantime, the administration is taking the
ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian
to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal. Ohanesian
ruled against the administration on Feb. 20, but the official order blocking
the order wasn't entered until Monday. The state filed its appeal on Tuesday,
and on Thursday filed the stay order on Ohanesian's
ruling until the appeal is heard. In a statement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
said his office is prepared to "fight to preserve our emergency efforts
to address the prison overcrowding crisis." He said the out-of-state
transfers, in which hundreds of prisoners already have been moved to private
prisons in Arizona and Tennessee, are "imperative to relieve the
pressure on our overburdened prison system and improve safety for
correctional officers, staff and inmates." Ohanesian's
ruling agreed with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and
Service Employees International Union Local 1000 that the transfers violated
the state's civil service protection laws. Her ruling also said the governor
overstepped his authority by issuing an emergency proclamation on the prison
overcrowding because the issue remains within the state's ability to control.
Moreover, the judge's ruling said, no local authorities asked the state for
assistance. The challenge to the governor's authority to declare an emergency
created "wider implications" that his appeal will seek to address,
Schwarzenegger said in his statement. "It jeopardizes my executive
authority to maintain the public's safety, the lives and property of our
citizens," Schwarzenegger said. " CCPOA attorney Gregg Adam said
the administration is setting itself up for potentially larger problems if it
goes ahead with the transfers. He said the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation is just about out of inmates who have
volunteered for the transfers and that future movements in all likelihood
will involve prisoners who don't want to go. As a result, Adam predicted that
inmates rights attorneys and other groups will sue
the state and push the matter from the state courts into the federal system.
"It's reckless for the state to carry on with the transfers (given) the
ruling," Adam said. "To continue to send inmates out of state will
trigger a ton of litigation, and the administration is going to have more
than a couple of disgruntled labor unions to deal with."
February 8, 2007 LA Times
Attorneys for two California prisoners on Wednesday asked a federal court
to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from forcibly transferring convicts to
private lockups in other states. The challenge comes less than a week after
the governor ordered the mandatory moves to relieve overcrowding, which he
said had reached crisis levels in most of the state's 33 prisons. Close to
400 California inmates already have transferred voluntarily to private
prisons in Tennessee and Arizona under a program that began in November.
Schwarzenegger authorized the mandatory moves because so few convicts had
agreed to go. In papers filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Los
Angeles civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman asked for an order barring the
forced transfers of inmates David Diaz and Paul Blumberg — and others in
similar circumstances. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel issued an order
instructing the Schwarzenegger administration to file a response before a
hearing Feb. 20. The order also said the court had been assured Diaz and
Blumberg would not be forcibly transferred before then. Diaz is incarcerated
at Corcoran State Prison, in the San Joaquin Valley, for attempted murder and
related charges. Blumberg was sentenced to life for attempted murder and is
housed at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in
Blythe. Both men have filed habeas corpus appeals in federal court, and
Yagman argues that because those are pending, the inmates may not be
transferred out of state. The mandatory transfers also would violate their
constitutional right to due process, he said.
December 31, 2006 AP
California no longer plans to transfer more than 1,200 of its inmates to
an Indiana state prison, an official said. Trina Randall, New Castle
Correctional Facility's public information officer, on Thursday confirmed to
The Courier-Times that the deal had fallen through. The plan was thwarted
because of a lawsuit against California over the possible transfer, and a
lack of inmates willing to volunteer to make the cross-country move. Gov.
Mitch Daniels announced in October a contract between California and
Florida-based GEO Group Inc., the company Indiana hired to operate the New
Castle prison. He said 1,260 inmates would be transferred to Indiana in a
deal that was to have created 200 Indiana jobs. The deal was part of plans to
alleviate prison overcrowding in California, and the Indiana prison was to be
paid $63 per day to house each of that state's inmates, with $15 of that
going to state government. Daniels had said the state would make about $6.2
million in each of the next two years. The medium-security prison in New
Castle, 40 miles east of Indianapolis, has a capacity of 2,416 but has only
1,068 inmates. But a news release earlier this week from the Indiana Department
of Correction termed the transfer as "not likely." It said that the
DOC was working with another state on an agreement similar to the California
deal. "We are in the process of reviewing a proposal from that
jurisdiction," said DOC Commissioner David Donahue.
December 2, 2006 The Sacramento Bee
California's prison health czar awarded a pharmacy management services
contract two months ago "in blatant violation of California law, state
competitive bidding requirements and fundamental principles of fair
dealing," a losing bidder charged in papers filed this week in San
Francisco federal court. In asking U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to set aside the contract, attorneys
for Public Health Service Bureau, LLC, said in their motion filed Monday that
prison health care receiver Robert Sillen awarded
the contract to Maxor National Pharmacy Services
Corp. "in such a way as to create the appearance of collusion and
'cronyism' between himself and Maxor." The
motion represents the first legal challenge to the sweeping authority
Henderson granted Sillen when he created the
receivership earlier this year to oversee and overhaul the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation's troubled $1.5 billion prison health care
system. Sillen's appointment earlier this year
followed Henderson's May 2005 ruling that medical delivery services in the
prison system violated constitutional standards. The judge found that the
system's shoddy health care was responsible for as many as 34 unnecessary
inmate deaths and that the prison system was incapable of stopping the
carnage on its own. But in going after prison pharmacy services, Sillen let Maxor tailor the
management bid to its own liking, kept the Request for Proposal secret,
"refused to answer questions from qualified bidders and ultimately
awarded the contract to the one bidder that had the inside track all
along," the Oakland-based Public Health group's motion read. "To
ratify a public contract awarded in such a manner flies in the face ... of
public contract law declared by the Legislature to protect the taxpayers from
fraud, corruption and carelessness," it added. Attorneys for Public
Health said the contract was worth between $80 million and $100 million. John
Ward, the chief executive officer of the Amarillo, Texas-based Maxor, said the contract was worth less than that, but he
refused to identify its value. Ward referred questions on the size of the
contract to Sillen's California Prison Health Care
Receivership Corp., whose spokeswoman, Rachael Kagan, said she didn't know
what it was worth and that the people who did weren't in the office Friday.
Kagan declined to comment on the motion, saying her office was in the process
of reviewing it. Kagan said she didn't know if the contract had been
"fully awarded" or officially signed yet. A Jan. 22 hearing has
been tentatively scheduled in San Francisco to hear the motion. In creating
the receiver's office, Henderson, in his Feb. 14 order, said the appointee
"shall make all reasonable efforts" to do the job "in a manner
consistent with California state laws, regulations and contracts." The
judge also empowered the receiver to seek and obtain court authority to
suspend state contracting requirements if they impede his efforts to fix the
health care system. On Nov. 16, Sillen jolted the
Capitol with his testimony at the Little Hoover Commission where he said he
was prepared to have federal marshals put the bite on the state treasury to
pay for California's prison health care if that's what it took to get the
system on track. He also threatened to waive state laws and civil service
protections and seek contempt-of-court citations against prison system
officials who tried to impede him. "We're on our way," Sillen told the commission. Long plagued by high vacancy
rates and inefficiencies that have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars
in unnecessary costs per year, the prison system's pharmacy services were one
of Sillen's first targets once he took his post.
The receiver's office put out the bid for the pharmacy management contract on
Aug. 18 to correct what Sillen's office
characterized as "particularly grave problems" in the prisons' drug
delivery system. The Request for Proposal said the scope of the contract
called for a contractor that could implement a "road map" previously
outlined in an audit the receiver commissioned Maxor
to conduct. On Oct. 20, the contract was awarded -- "not
surprisingly," according to the motion -- to Maxor.
Key to the "road map," the Public Health Service Bureau's court
papers said, was Maxor's recommendation that the
prison system administer drugs to inmates out of a "central fill"
distribution system, which the Texas company already had up and running in
its own state. Ward, the Maxor CEO, denied that his
company tailored the audit's "road map" to its own specifications.
"We had no way of knowing it would go any further than our
recommendation," Ward said. The CEO said his firm has "absolutely
not" had any pre-existing relationship with Sillen.
Public Health Service Bureau's court papers said the award amounted to
"misconduct" on the receiver's part because the bid wasn't
published in any newspapers or in the State Contracts Register as required by
state law. The motion said the Oakland group didn't find out about the
contract until eight days after the bid went out. When the Public Health
outfit sent questions to the receiver's office for details on the contract, Sillen never responded, the motion said. "That tells
me he didn't want to see any responsive bids because he wanted to issue it to
Maxor -- isn't it obvious?" Alton Burkhalter,
the attorney for the Public Health Service Bureau, said in an interview. The
Public Health Service Bureau is a "pharmacy benefits administrator and
information management company," according to its Web site. The firm
already administers the state's $250 million AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
"We don't think this was a fair contract," said Public Health's
president and CEO, Eric Flowers. "We don't think it's fair for the
people of California, and we don't think it's an effective solution for the
prisoners." Maxor identifies itself in press
releases as "a leading expert in correctional health care," with a
current and past client list that includes the Texas prison system, for which
it re-engineered pharmacy services when the agency was under federal court
supervision. Other listed clients include the Denver County Jail and the
Colorado Department of Corrections.
November 22, 2006 AP
A state judge decided Wednesday to let California send 2,260 inmates to
Indiana and four other states to relieve prison crowding, though she said the
transfers may be illegal. Two state employee unions "are reasonably
likely" to win their lawsuit against the state next year, but can't
prove they are suffering enough immediate irreparable harm to justify a
preliminary injunction in the meantime, ruled Sacramento Superior Court Judge
Gail Ohanesian. Any damages the unions suffer are
more than offset by the "extreme peril" created by keeping more
than 173,000 inmates in space designed for fewer than 100,000, Ohanesian said.
November 2, 2006 KESP
A Sacramento County judge today rejected state employee unions' attempt to
temporarily block California's plans to move more than two thousand inmates
to other states. But Judge Patrick Marlette set another hearing for later
this month. The judge says that will give the unions another chance to argue
that Governor Schwarzenegger is violating the state Constitution by shipping
the inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee this
month to relieve crowding in the nation's largest state prison system. The
unions say Schwarzenegger is illegally sidestepping the state's civil service
system and the usual contracting procedures. Schwarzenegger's attorney says
the move is needed to relieve dangerous conditions and the possibility that a
judge could order the early release of inmates.
October 31, 2006 Sacramento
Bee
Two major public employee unions Monday filed a lawsuit to block the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from transferring
more than 2,000 inmates to private prisons in other states. Representatives
of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and the Service
Employees International Union Local 1000 filed the suit in Sacramento
Superior Court. It seeks to stop the transfers on grounds that Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger overstepped his legal authority in seeking the moves based on
prison overcrowding. Although California has used private prisons for years
within its own boundaries, CCPOA Vice President Chuck Alexander said the
in-state facilities received approval from the Legislature while the
out-of-state plan has not. "I think that's the fundamental
difference," Alexander said at a press conference at CCPOA headquarters
in West Sacramento. Representatives of the CCPOA and SEIU were joined at the
press conference by state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-East Los Angeles, and
officials from other labor and community groups. Romero said that private
incarceration is "an abdication of the will of the people" and
"an abdication of responsibility" on the part of the state.
October 28, 2006 The Star Press
Talking about how inmates re-enter society after serving time in prison is a
touchy subject here, as residents worry about the 1,260 California inmates
who are headed to the New Castle Correctional Facility. So, when Indiana
Department of Correction Commissioner J. David Donahue came to New Castle on
Friday for a town hall meeting to talk about the road to re-entry, he knew
he'd have to address public concerns about the issue. Donahue, appointed by
Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005 as the leader of the DOC, said questions about
where and how those California inmates will be released are among the
most-frequently asked. And though the deal should bring with it no expense to
local taxpayers, Donahue did acknowledge there are some instances when the
county has "certain inherent responsibilities" because the prison
is located there. That likely means that in the event an inmate is charged
with a crime while behind bars, Henry County Prosecutor Kit Crane's expenses
would remain the county's responsibility. That's not the answer Henry County
officials wanted, as Henry County Councilman Richard Bouslog
hoped the county could recoup its court expenses. Bouslog
was among the many elected officials in the crowd of the old circuit
courtroom inside the courthouse Friday afternoon. Members of the county
council and board of commissioners, as well as candidates for political
office, made up the majority of the 50-person crowd.
October 21, 2006 Sacramento
Bee
The first transfers of California inmates to private, out-of-state
prisons are scheduled to take place next month under two no-bid contracts the
overstuffed Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed Friday. Under
the deals worked out with the GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of
America, the state will move 2,260 inmates out of its jampacked prisons over
the next 120 days to private institutions in Indiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and
Tennessee. Corrections officials say the separate deals will help stem its
emergency overcrowding crisis, but union officials opposed to the transfers
contend they will undermine public accountability and shift responsibility
for the tough business of prison administration to profit-driven corporate
boardrooms. Newspaper reports compiled on a Web site run by the Private
Corrections Institute in Florida paint a different picture of the CCA
prisons, however. The stories cited riots and inmate drug dealing at
Diamondback, more violence and drug issues at Florence, inmate complaints
over phone rates at North Fork and the unexplained death of a prisoner at
West Tennessee.
October 6, 2006 Courier Journal
Up to 1,200 medium-security prisoners from California will be housed in
the state's underused New Castle Correctional Facility, Gov. Mitch Daniels
announced yesterday. Daniels said the deal he struck with California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger will result in a $6.2 million profit for Indiana.
Indiana officials initiated the negotiations, which took four or five months,
after reading about California's prison-crowding crisis, Daniels said. GEO
Group, the private company that runs the prison in east-central Indiana, will
hire 200 additional workers to oversee the new prisoners. "We saw an
opportunity and contacted California officials several months ago,"
Daniels said. "We look at every way we can to be creative and
businesslike, and this is a win for everyone."
October 6, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A California prison overcrowding emergency declaration could speed up
that state’s contract negotiations with GEO Group, which owns the Lake County
prison. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman
Bill Sessa said the agency is continuing to talk with three private prison
companies, one of which is GEO, to negotiate contracts to move prisoners to
out-of-state facilities. “We’re going to continue contract negotiations with
three companies and whoever else jumps in,” Sessa said. Officials from GEO
said they are continuing talks with California. “We’re looking forward to
working with the state,” said Pablo Paez, director
of corporate communications at GEO. “We’re working with them and we look
forward to work through the process.” GEO has available beds at three
facilities, including the Lake County site, Paez
said, noting that California officials have visited the facility sites. Paez said he has no specific timeline for contract talks,
but added that the state-of-emergency declaration demonstrates “they have an
immediate need to send up to 5,000 inmates out of state.”
October 6, 2006 Inland Valley Daily
Bulletin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent declaration of an emergency in state
prisons will mean two new possibilities for inmates at the California
Institution for Men and other prisons: doing time at private prisons and
doing time in other states. Special Section: Criminal Neglect
Schwarzenegger's proclamation makes it possible for California to contract
for prison beds with private operators in other states - a proposal the
governor had sought earlier this year but was rebuffed by the Legislature.
"Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act
immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," he said Wednesday.
But experts questioned the wisdom of the move, noting that placing prisoners
in out-of-state facilities has in the past led to violence. "There's
been lots of problems with inmates being shipped out, in particular if
they're put into a facility with multijurisdictional inmates," said Ken Kopczynski, of the Florida-based Private Corrections
Institute. "California inmates are under California law. If they have
Oklahoma inmates, or Texas inmates, they all have to be handled
separately." Disparity in treatment of prisoners from several states was
one cause identified in a 2004 riot where inmates alternately smashed,
flooded and torched a private institution in Colorado, Kopczynski
noted. In that incident, prisoners from different states -Colorado,
Washington and Wyoming - felt they were being treated unfairly, since each
state paid different wages for inmate labor. Other problems can arise when
inmates from different states get together to form their own gangs, or when
the distance from their families and support networks is too great, making
rehabilitation less likely. Kopczynski also said
the private corrections industry has racked up a less-than-stellar record in
the past, mostly due to cost-saving efforts such as using low-wage guards and
cutting corners on security.
October 5, 2006 The Press-Enterprise
The governor's emergency order to transfer California inmates to other
states to ease crowding sent private-prison stocks soaring Thursday while
provoking the ire of Democratic legislators, corrections officers and inmate
advocacy groups. The state is poised this month to sign deals with private
prison operators to house California inmates in states such as Indiana. The
plan would send 2,200 inmates to other states almost immediately. Campaign
Money: It has already stirred the frustration of state legislators, who shot
down a similar proposal during a special session on prison crowding in
August. Amid accusations of cronyism and conflicts of interest, Gov.
Schwarzenegger's campaign announced Thursday that he has returned $32,000 in
campaign donations to a private prison slated to benefit from his proposal.
"The Governor has a strict policy against accepting contributions from
persons or entities doing business with the state or seeking to do business
with the state and in which he or his office might be negotiating the terms
of such state contracts," wrote his attorney in a letter to The Geo
Group. The Geo Group is a Florida-based private prison firm, and one of three
firms currently negotiating with the state for three- to five-year, no-bid
contracts to house inmates out of state. Democrat's Response: It reeks of
"pay to play," said Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los
Angeles. "What it demonstrates is that the governor can't resolve this
crisis. He doesn't have the political will, and he doesn't have the stomach
for it." Romero questioned the constitutionality of forced transfers and
suggested the state concentrate on programs to reduce California's 70 percent
recidivism rate.
September 10, 2006 Sacramento Bee
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate
survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time
out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the
years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate
them. Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said the agency can administratively
transfer inmates out of state if they volunteer for the move and if the
contracts with out-of-state operators do not exceed a year. Longer term
deals, Hidalgo said, would require legislative approval. "If there's a
willing inmate and a vendor, we can do this on our own right now,"
Hidalgo said. One major private prison company, the GEO Group of Boca Raton,
Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., has expressed interest
in housing California inmates at its facilities in Michigan, Indiana and
Louisiana. GEO currently operates four private prisons in California. It also
contributed $22,300 to Schwarzenegger on Aug. 25, in the last week of the
legislative session, when lawmakers declined to act on proposals designed to
ease prison overcrowding in California. One bill would have required inmate
approval for out-of-state transfers. In legislative hearings, GEO expressed
support for an involuntary transfer plan. Altogether, GEO has contributed $90,300
to Schwarzenegger going back to 2003.
September 7, 2006 Ludington Daily
News
A deal that might have supplied California inmates to the former Michigan
Youth Correctional Facility in Lake County could be in jeopardy. Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and the California’s Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) proposed sending inmates to out-of-state facilities —
potentially including the Lake County prison — without getting the inmates’
permission. However, the future of the proposal is unclear. The California
Assembly refused to vote on the measure despite the California Senate passing
a bill allowing the transfers only with the inmate’s permission, which is
current California law. The California legislature, a part-time legislature,
left session for the year Friday without approving Schwarzenegger’s four-bill
package. The bills faced opposition by Republicans in the Assembly as well as
the corrections officer union and garnered only lukewarm support from
Democrats. In addition, Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger also faces a challenge
from Democrat Phil Angelides in the November election. The Baldwin area
facility was mentioned as a possible recipient of California inmates, and
officials from California reportedly visited the site earlier this summer.
Pablo Paez, communications director for GEO Group
which owns the Lake County prison, said he had “nothing new to report” with
regard to any deal to house inmates there. Paez
said GEO has been in contact with California and with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement regarding possibly renting bed space at the facility a
few miles north of Baldwin. Refusing to name where else GEO is seeking
rentals, Paez said “the company remains active in
marketing our facility.”
September 13, 2005 Bakersfield
Californian
A company that wanted to reopen a private prison in Bakersfield under a
no-bid contract had a clear conflict of interest because it had hired two
recent retirees from the Department of Corrections, the state auditor said
Tuesday. But the auditor concluded there was no conflict of interest by
another company that was awarded a no-bid contract to operate a prison in
McFarland, even though it had put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance
director on the board of a subsidiary. Those were the key points in a report
by Auditor Elaine Howle's office that was ordered
by lawmakers upset about the handling of the department's decision to reopen
the two facilities that had been shut down barely a year before. State Sen.
Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, requested the audit in January because she said
the contract for the McFarland facility "smells bad." That contract
was awarded to GEO Group Inc., the same firm that had operated it for years
before it was shut down. The contract drew fire because the real estate trust
that owns the facility and leases it to GEO put former state budget chief
Donna Arduin on its board of directors shortly
before it was offered the contract late last year. The audit report said that
did not involve a conflict of interest because GEO has a 10-year lease on the
property from the subsidiary that began long before Arduin
joined the company and before the state decided to reopen the facility.
Besides, it noted, GEO was the only possible operator because its subsidiary
owned the facility. But the department's handling of a contract to reopen the
Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in
Bakersfield came in for sharp criticism by the auditor. The bidder,
Massachusetts-based CiviGenics Inc., did not
disclose the fact it had hired two former high-level department officials, at
least one of whom contacted the department about the contract. They had both
retired from the department less than a year before. State law bars top
officials from being involved with state contracts for at least a year after
they leave state service.
September 13, 2005 AP
California's
prison population is at a record high, officials said Tuesday, as the state
auditor panned the corrections system's last attempt to deal with sudden
crowding. The news comes as
the state auditor reported that two former high-ranking state corrections
employees may have violated conflict of interest laws when they contacted
their former colleagues as the state was opening two private prisons. One
contract was later rescinded in part because of the conflict allegations. The
department wasted an undetermined amount of money on the aborted project
before it had permission from the Department of General Services, auditors
found. Two high-level department retirees had gone to work for private prison
operator CiviGenics Inc. and worked with their
former colleagues on the contract within a year after leaving state
government, in possible violation of conflict of interest laws, auditors
found. They faulted the Marlborough, Mass.-based contractor for not
disclosing the employees' background, and the department for not requiring
disclosure. Auditors decided there was no conflict of interest by a former
state Department of Finance director who went to work for the second prison
contractor, GEO Group Inc.
January 2, 2004
Two of Kern County's private prisons are officially shut down, after
the state pulled funding and moved all the inmates. Mesa Verde
Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield, and
the McFarland Community Correctional Facility in McFarland were finishing
closing down Wednesday after losing state funding. One other private prison
in Riverside County was also closed. Former Gov. Gray Davis wanted to
shut down the prisons last year, but the Legislature was against the
closures. Davis officials had said that the closures would save $400,000 the
first year and $900,000 every year after. But McFarland's city
administrator said the closure of the prison will mean lost jobs and a drop
in revenue for the city. The prison industry is one of the city's
largest employers, said Anthony B. Lopez, interim McFarland city
administrator. "That (losing jobs) in itself is a detriment,"
Lopez said. The water and sewer service that was provided by the city
for prison use is also a major revenue source, Lopez said. The city stands to
lose $260,000 a year, he said. The city plans to negotiate reopening
the facility and maybe housing federal inmates at the facility
"hopefully in the very near future," Lopez said. More than
100 full and part-time employees will lose their jobs at Mesa Verde which run
by Alternative Programs Inc.,, said Gary White, the
company's president. White said the closures were more to appease the
state prison guards' union than to save money for the state. State
officials have consistently denied that, saying it was a purely budgetary
decision to close the prisons. Officials with the union, officially
called the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, could not be
reached for comment Wednesday. But the CCPOA has made no secret of its
opposition to private prisons. Union officials insist it is due to a belief
that prisons should be publicly owned, not run for profit at taxpayers'
expense, not anger that they are non-union. The closed McFarland prison
was operated by the former Wackenhut Corrections Corp., and now the GEO Group
Inc. The company runs two other prisons in McFarland that will remain
open. The closed prisons housed more than 500 inmates combined.
Displaced inmates have been moved to various locations across the state, said
California Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Heimrich
said. (Bakersfield Californian)
California Department of Justice
Nov 5, 2019
einnews.com
Assault and
discrimination trial starts Nov. 4 over guard’s claims against private prison
operator GEO Group
SAN BERNARDINO,
CALIF., USA, October 29, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Private prison company
GEO Group goes on trial Nov. 4 for alleged assault, racial discrimination,
sexual harassment and retaliation against an African American corrections
officer. The illegal activity started on Ashly Broussard’s first day of work,
and a lieutenant and others increasingly harassed her and even tried to run
her over with a car — causing a miscarriage, according to her lawsuit. Trial
is set for 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 4, in Dept. S-26 at San Bernardino Superior
Court, 247 W. Third St., San Bernardino. “This is one of the most horrifying
cases that I’ve ever seen of a company’s managers targeting and harassing a
female employee,” said Raymond Babaian, founding
partner of Valiant Law, who represents the plaintiff. “The racist remarks
started on Day One, then included sexual harassment and quickly escalated
over the next few months — especially after the victim complained to human
resources at GEO Group.” According to the lawsuit, a black inmate spat on
Broussard on her first day of work inside the prison. She immediately told a
supervisor, Lieutenant Laurel Withers, who pulled the inmate into an office
where Broussard had been directed to write a report about the incident.
“Withers began to aggressively cuss at the detainee and began a pattern of
referring to African American detainees as ‘black mother----ers’ and ‘n-----s’,” according to the complaint. Shocked,
Broussard shook her head in disbelief. Withers immediately confronted her and
demanded to know if she had “a problem,” according to the complaint. Then,
after pointing out that the room had no surveillance camera, he encouraged
her to take revenge on the prisoner for spitting on her. “What do you want to
do about it? I’ll turn around,” he said, according to the complaint. In the
following days, other supervisors showed Broussard areas of the prison
without cameras where she could assault detainees, the complaint states. A
few weeks later, Withers allegedly exposed himself to her when the two were
alone in an area near a bathroom. He continued to make sexually suggestive
comments and lewd gestures, and created and maintained a hostile work
environment, according to the complaint. Three months later, Broussard was
walking through the prison parking lot when she noticed a car speeding
towards her. Afraid for her life, she ran out of the way and found shelter
behind parked cars. Withers was driving the speeding car, according to the
complaint. A prison surveillance video of the incident has since disappeared.
Other prison staff also threatened Broussard, calling her a snitch and a rat
after she filed a report against Withers, the complaint says. The harassment,
hostile work environment and assault, “had a significant impact on her health
and well being during her pregnancy,” and she was
constantly denied proper rest breaks, the complaint states. One day during
her shift, Broussard experienced immense pain, cramping and bleeding. She
asked for permission to leave work early to seek urgent medical help; she was
not only denied, but forced to work an additional
six hours without a break, the complaint states. When Broussard finally got
to a doctor, she learned she had suffered a miscarriage. When she took leave
following the miscarriage, GEO fired her. Broussard is suing Geo Group and
Withers for assault, sexual assault, sexual harassment, discrimination,
creating a hostile work environment and retaliation, among other causes. “Ashly
suffered greatly through a continuous onslaught of harassment,
discrimination, and threats, including a very real attempt to cause her
bodily harm. The GEO Group and its managers bear responsibility for the loss
of her unborn child. She hopes this trial will help bring an end to these
kinds of illegal treatment of women prison guards, and
show that no agency is exempt from the law,” Babaian
said. The case number is CIVDS1722295. Valiant Law of Ontario, Calif.,
represents various individuals and entities in all aspects of employment
claims, including harassment and discrimination, and wage and hour class
actions in state and federal courts, with more than a decade of legal
practice in Southern California, including the Inland Empire, Los Angeles,
Orange County, Riverside, San Diego County, as well as Las Vegas
Jun 21, 2017 asianjournal.com
Lawmakers announce state Justice Dept. to review conditions of immigration
detention facilities
SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Attorney General
Xavier Becerra announced recently that the California Department of Justice
will begin reviewing the conditions under which immigrants are civilly
detained in California while they await immigration hearings. The California
Department of Justice will assess the conditions of confinement and due
process concerns of immigrants detained in private, city, and county
facilities. A California budget bill passed on June 15 calls for the
Department of Justice to deliver a report on conditions by March 2019, with
ongoing reviews until 2027. The budget action will also block city and county
jails from entering into new contracts or expanding existing contracts. This
limit will go into effect June 15, 2017, when Governor Jerry Brown signs it
into law. “America is a nation of immigrants, and whether you arrived
recently or have lived here for generations, you deserve to be treated fairly
under our Constitution and laws,” said Lara. “If the federal government won’t
ensure the safety and humane treatment of people held in detention in
California, we must do that job and stand up for human rights.” California
holds the second largest number of individuals civilly detained for
immigration purposes, after Texas. The number of people arrested under
immigration laws increased 38 percent in the first 100 days of the Trump
Administration, thousands of whose only offense was being undocumented. “We
need a clear understanding of the conditions of detention facilities housing
civil immigration detainees,” said Becerra. “California is once again setting
a precedent for others to follow. As chief law enforcement officer, it is my
duty to uphold the law. I will always protect the basic rights of all
Californians, including immigrants.” Three people have died in the privately
operated Adelanto Detention Facility since March, and a report by the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inspector general found conditions
in an Orange County jail that violated national detention standards and posed
serious health risks, including solitary confinement of low-risk detainees
and rotten meat. The Legislature is working to combat the problem on several
fronts. Senator Lara is the author of Senate Bill 29, which would stop
California cities from profiting from contracts with private detention facilities
and allow the Department of Justice and local prosecutors to take legal
action to enforce ICE detention standards, in addition to the review approved
today. SB 29 was approved by the Senate and is scheduled for a hearing in the
Assembly Committee on the Judiciary. “Now that the Trump administration is
seeking to drastically expand immigration detention, immigrants in California
need immediate relief,” said Grisel Ruiz, staff attorney at the Immigrant
Legal Rights Center, a co-sponsor of SB 29. “The budget action boldly
responds by preventing the immigration detention machine in California from
growing and by casting a watchful eye of oversight on all detention
facilities across the state. Our state’s leaders have sent a clear message to
Washington, D.C. that California chooses to lead with dignity, not
detention.” The detention review provision included in the budget was
proposed by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Alameda) during a budget subcommittee
meeting. “The budget vote sends a very loud and clear message that we will
not allow the Trump administration to operate with impunity behind locked
doors,” said Christina Fialho, a California-based
attorney and the co-founder/executive director of Community Initiatives for
Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), a co-sponsor of SB 29.
“California detains the most immigrants after Texas, and about a quarter of
all people in immigration detention pass through California detention
facilities each year. What we do here in California has a direct effect on the
national immigration detention context. We hope that this bill inspires
others states to follow.” Immigrant detention is governed by ICE, which has
proposed to expand civil immigrant detention in local jails and private
prisons.
California Legislature
Private
prison company’s growth went hand-in-hand with political influence:
Jon Collins September 26, 2011 Minnesota Independent
PRIVATE PRISON GROUP USES
UNREGISTERED LOBBYISTS WHILE GIVING MONEY TO SHERIFF GORE
Apr
27, 2022 abcnews.go.com
New hearing ordered over California ban on private prisons
SAN
FRANCISCO, Calif. -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday agreed to reconsider
a ruling that rejected the state's first-in-the-nation ban on for-profit
private prisons and immigration detention facilities. The 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals ordered a new hearing before an 11-judge panel, the San
Francisco Chronicle reported. Last October, a three-judge appellate panel
kept in place a key piece of the world's largest detention system for
immigrants - despite a 2019 state law aimed at phasing out privately-run
immigration jails in California by 2028. The law was passed as one of
numerous efforts by California Democrats to limit the state's cooperation
with the federal government on immigration enforcement under the Trump
administration. However, the appellate panel ruled 2-1 that the state law
interferes with the federal government's authority. Tuesday's decision set
aside that ruling and ordered a new hearing before a larger panel that will
include Chief Judge Mary Murguia. Murguia cast the dissenting vote last year. She said the
law was prompted by reports of "substandard conditions, inadequate
medical care, sexual assaults and deaths in for-profit facilities." Murguia was appointed by President Barack Obama while the
other two members of the appellate panel were appointed by President Donald
Trump. The administration of Democratic President Joe Biden also has opposed
the law on constitutional grounds, although Biden signed an executive order
last year to end the government's use of such prisons in the future.
Nov 18, 2021 sacbee.com
California
defends private prison ban in petition to federal appeals court
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday announced the state filed
a petition to repeal a federal appeals court decision to block a law that
would end the state’s use of private, for-profit detention facilities. The
petition comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last
month, in a split 2-1 decision, blocked the law known as Assembly Bill 32.
That law was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 to phase out the operation
of private, for-profit prisons in the state by 2028. “The record is clear:
For-profit, private prisons and detention facilities that treat people like
commodities pose an unacceptable risk to the health and welfare of
Californians. AB 32 puts people over profits. It is a law of general
applicability that recognizes the federal government’s own documented
concerns over these facilities,” said Bonta, who authored AB 32. “California
will continue to press forward to ensure the dignity and rights of everyone
in our state are protected. We respectfully ask the 9th Circuit to let us
make our case.” TOP VIDEOS × In the federal appeals court’s ruling, judges
wrote that California cannot interfere with the federal government’s ability
to handle immigration policy. “California can enact laws that it believes are
best for its people,” according to the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 9th Circuit. “But California cannot intrude into the realm of the
federal government’s exclusive powers to detain undocumented and other
removable immigrants if the state law conflicts with federal law and violates
the intergovernmental immunity doctrine.” The ruling also allows the federal
agents to hold immigrants in private, for-profit detention centers. In 2020,
the Trump administration and The Geo Group, Inc., which operates private
detention centers in the state, sued California to halt the law. The Biden
administration has since supported the lawsuit, claiming the law interferes
with federal immigration officials’ capacity to enforce immigration laws. “We
know that the Trump administration of the Biden administration couldn’t be
more different,” Bonta said. “We have many examples already since the Biden
administration took over that show that they’re more willing to and able to
partner with California. We haven’t reached an agreement on this issue at
this point in time, but I’m hopeful that we can engage on this issue.” Bonta
has also been a vocal opponent against the practice of transferring
immigrants from prisons to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention
centers. This week, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit
against Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, claiming his office unlawfully
transferred immigrants from jails to federal immigration agents.
Oct 6, 2021 fresnobee.com
Court
thwarts California's private prison ban. What does it mean for immigration
facilities?
The
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a split decision on Tuesday curtailed a
California law that would have banned private detention centers in the state,
ruling that the legislation should not go into effect because it impedes on
the federal government's ability to enforce immigration policy. Prior to the
federal appeals court's decision, private immigration detention centers in
the state - including at least two in Kern County that are owned and operated
by The GEO Group - would have had to close when the prison companies'
contracts expired. The ruling means U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
can continue using for-profit detention centers in California to hold
immigrants until they are released or deported. The court's ruling is the
latest chapter in a two-year saga over AB 32, which would have phased out the
use of private prisons and immigration detention facilities by 2028. A U.S.
District Court judge largely upheld the law in October 2020, a year after the
bill was signed into law. But in the decision issued Tuesday, two judges on
the appeals panel appointed by President Donald Trump - Judge Kenneth K. Lee
and Judge Bridget Bade - reversed the district court's opinion and directed
it to block the law. The state overstepped its jurisdiction by "doing
more than just exercising its traditional police powers," wrote Lee in
the majority opinion. "California has not historically regulated the
conditions of detainees in federal custody, and in particular those housed in
immigration detention centers," Lee wrote. "In short, AB 32 did not
regulate a field which the states had traditionally occupied." The sole
dissenter, Judge Mary Murguia, argued that the law
mentioned "nothing about immigration" nor the federal government.
She said it was within California's powers to regulate the health and safety
of immigrants held in detention facilities. "There was no justification
for treating AB 32 as a regulation of immigration rather than one of health
and safety," wrote Murgia, who was appointed
by President Barack Obama. CALIFORNIA VOWS TO FIGHT COURT'S DECISION ON
PRIVATE PRISON BAN Attorney General Rob Bonta authored the first-of-its-kind
measure when he was a state legislator representing Alameda, Oakland and San Leandro, in response to reports that the
private companies running the detention centers subjected immigrants to
substandard conditions, abusive treatment and inadequate medical care.
Following Tuesday's ruling, Bonta issued a statement asserting that the state
was "committed to protecting the health and safety of all people" and
would "fight" the decision. "Prisons and detention centers
shouldn't be places of profit," he said. "We will continue the
fight to ensure the dignities and rights of everyone in California are
protected. While the road ahead may feel a little longer today, our work continues and we will keep pushing forward." Jordan
Wells, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California who argued in
support of the law before the Ninth Circuit in June, said he supported the
state's position. "We do not agree with the majority opinion and will
continue to support California's position, should the state seek further
review," Wells said in a statement to The Bee. "We do not agree
with the majority opinion and will continue to support California's position,
should the state seek further review. Congress has not authorized ICE to
contract with prison companies for the detention of immigrants. IMMIGRANT
ADVOCATES CALL COURT'S DECISION 'DISAPPOINTING' The ruling comes as the
number of immigrants in ICE detention has increased under the Biden
Administration, concerning advocates who said in a statement issued Tuesday
that the "systematically abusive centers" will continue to
"put lives at risk." "In this painful moment, we demand that
the Biden administration and Congress take immediate action to repair the
harm wrought today," said the Dignity not Detention Coalition, a group
of several detention reform advocate organizations. "The long record of
medical neglect and systemic abuses plaguing detention - and the
anti-Blackness and racism deeply embedded in the system - must not be swept
under the rug." Hamid Yazdan Panah, the advocacy director for Immigrant Defense
Advocates, pushed back against many of the claims in the majority opinion,
calling the ruling "disappointing" for including a "stunning
distortion of facts." "While today's decision is disappointing, the
legal battle over the constitutionality of AB 32 is far from over, with
appeals or rehearing requests a possibility," Yazdan
Panah said in a statement. "The fight
continues." Less than a month before the law was set to go into effect,
ICE in December of 2019 renewed contracts with The GEO Group and other
private prison companies to keep the detention centers open. The GEO Group
and the Trump Administration filed lawsuits shortly afterwards. The suits,
which were combined, carried over into the Biden Administration. At a hearing
in June, attorneys representing the federal government and the Florida-based
company urged the appeals court to strike down the measure, which they called
"extreme." The GEO Group had not yet responded to The Bee's
requests for comment. The state could now decide to appeal the decision to a
larger panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit or take the case to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Jul 17, 2020 courthousenews.com
Judge
Considers Blocking California Private Prison Ban
SAN
DIEGO (CN) — Calling a pair of lawsuits brought by private prison operator
GEO Group and the federal government challenging the constitutionality of
California’s private prison ban “fascinating and complex,” a federal judge
Thursday suggested she was unlikely to rule the ban discriminates against the
federal government or its contractors. U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino held a marathon 3-hour virtual court hearing
Thursday attended by over 100 people anxious to know whether the judge will
uphold California’s historic legislation, AB 32. Signed by Governor Gavin
Newsom last October, the law bars the renewal of detention facility contracts
with private operators, including private immigration detention facilities
operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic. In a virtual
press conference prior to Thursday’s court hearing, immigration advocates
called AB 32 a “public health solution” necessary to prevent the spread of
Covid-19 and other diseases in overcrowded private prisons, a 2016 Justice
Department report found failed to provide medical care to inmates. Charles
Joseph, an immigrant from Fiji who was detained at the Mesa Verde detention
facility in Bakersfield, California and recently released, said in the 11
months he was detained he never saw a janitor come into his dorm. Detainees
were offered to be paid $1 a day for cleaning, Joseph noted, another private
prison practice being challenged in a separate class action lawsuit also
being overseen by Sammartino. The Justice
Department argued in its lawsuit filed earlier this year AB 32 discriminates
against the government because carve-outs written into the law apply only to
state contracts. Likewise, GEO Group argued in an earlier lawsuit the law
cannot supersede the federal government’s authority to carry out “detention
responsibilities.” Due to their overlapping goals, Sammartino
– a George W. Bush nominee – consolidated the two cases Thursday. At the
outset of the court hearing, Sammartino read her
tentative order indicating she was unlikely to find AB 32 unfairly
discriminates against the federal government or its contractors, though she
did note the law was likely preempted regarding privately run facilities for
the U.S. Marshals Service. Sammartino asked GEO
Group attorney Charles Cooper of Cooper & Kirk whether the Contract
Dispute Act governed the case, which Cooper denied, pointing out the case
doesn’t concern a dispute between the federal government and its contractor
but California’s interference in the execution of the contract. Sammartino asked why a full copy of the contract between
GEO Group and the federal government wasn’t provided to the court, as the
contract likely has a provision regarding how contract disputes are to be
handled. Michael Kirk, also representing GEO Group, said they were trying to
“minimize” the court’s exhibit volume but agreed to submit the contract in
its entirety for Sammartino’s review. When it came
time for California to defend its law, Deputy Attorney General Gabrielle Boutin
could not say what penalties the federal government or its contractors could
face for violating California’s private prison ban, only suggesting civil
enforcement would likely be utilized. Boutin did agree the law does not apply
to contractors who operate facilities that are federally owned but wouldn’t
go as far as stipulating the law could not apply to Bureau of Prisons
residential reentry facilities. While Boutin couldn’t answer many of Sammartino’s pointed questions about the current status
of private detention facilities and how the state is likely to enforce its
law, she did address congressional intent in allowing private companies to
contract with the federal government regarding detention services. Boutin
said those allowable services were limited mainly to construction of
facilities, not the running and operation of them. “Did Congress intend for
[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and other agencies to use private
contractors to detain individuals? When we talk about the options Congress gave
the agencies, we have to look at the statute,”
Boutin said. “Using a private operator is not one of those options, that
option is not there, there is not a situation here where there is a clear and
manifest intent to provide that option,” she added. But Cooper argued the
“impact would not have mattered” regarding AB 32’s regulation of private
contractors, rather than the federal government, because, “This prohibition,
even though it focuses on the person operating the facility, is nonetheless
focusing on the federal function, the government function.” “The federal
contractor stands in the same shoes as if the federal government was doing
it,” Cooper added. Kirk disputed “there’s simply no way that Congress did not
intend to permit ICE to use private contractors,” noting last fiscal year
over 13,000 detainees were held in privately run facilities. “The clear
conflict here is Congress said ICE is to decide whether private detention
facilities are to be used and AB 32 takes that decision away from Congress,” Kirk
added. Justice Department attorney Stephen Ehrlich also argued against the
California statute. The matter was taken under submission and a written order
will be issued.
Jan 25, 2020 cbs8.com
Trump
administration sues CA in San Diego fed court over private prison ban
The
suit names California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Xavier Becerra
as defendants.
SAN
DIEGO — The federal government filed a lawsuit against the state of
California Friday in San Diego federal court over the state's recently
enacted law banning the operation of private detention facilities, alleging
Assembly Bill 32 is unconstitutional and hampers government operations to
house federal inmates. The suit names California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and
Attorney General Xavier Becerra as defendants, and calls for a federal judge
to declare AB 32 invalid due to a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the
U.S. Constitution and bar the state from enforcing it. "California, of
course, is free to decide that it will no longer use private detention
facilities for its state prisoners and detainees. But it cannot dictate that
choice for the federal government, especially in a manner that discriminates
against the federal government and those with whom it contracts," the
lawsuit states. A similar lawsuit was filed in San Diego federal court last
month by the GEO Group, Inc., a Florida-based corporation that owns and
operates private prisons, jail and detention facilities across the country,
including the Western Region Detention Center in downtown San Diego. The
government's lawsuit states that the U.S. Marshals Service houses 1,100 of
its 5,000 Californian inmates in private detention facilities, all of which
are in the San Diego area.
Oct 12, 2019 ijpr.org
California Bans Private Prisons And Immigrant Detention Centers
California is moving
to end the practice of allowing private companies to capitalize on mass
incarceration. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law Friday that bans
private, for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers in the state. The
decision comes amid growing consensus around the need to end private
incarceration in the U.S. “It’s really important to pass this bill because it
protects the health, safety and welfare of Californians,” says Rob Bonta, the
California assemblyman who wrote the bill. “And we know from study after
study that in for-profit private prisons and detention centers, Californians
are getting hurt.” Several Democratic presidential candidates have also
responded to calls to close private prisons, which federal and state
governments grew to rely on as a result of tough-on-crime initiatives in the
1980s and 1990s, according to The Sentencing Project. Today, 8% of people
imprisoned in the U.S. are housed in private prisons, though 21 states don’t
house any inmates in private prisons. The California bill will move to close
three privately run prisons in the state, which house nearly 1,400 inmates,
when their contracts with the state expire in four years, according to
Reuters. “[Private prison companies]
are chasing the almighty dollar,” Bonta says. “They’re not investing in the
Californians in their detention centers. In fact, they’re doing the opposite.
They’re divesting.” Bonta and other supporters of the bill say that
for-profit prisons are only looking to maximize profits at the expense of
inmate safety. “The data is indisputable,” Bonta says. “It shows that they
have less access to health care, higher levels of escape, higher levels of
recidivism, lower staffing, less training for staff, higher numbers of assaults
on staff. People have died in these facilities.” The private prisons that
would be impacted are run by GEO Group and CoreCivic,
two of the largest private prison companies in the country. The companies say
private prisons are necessary in order to house a ballooning number of
inmates. But Bonta says that California is prepared to house all of its inmates without private prisons. In fact,
following decades of growth, the percentage of people in American prisons is
the lowest it’s been in 20 years. The decline is in part due to criminal
justice reform measures at the federal and state level, Bonta says.
California will also not renew its contract with private detention centers
that hold immigrants. This amounts to four private facilities that hold nearly
4,000 detainees. Critics say that after closing the California detention
centers, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement will simply move those
inmates to other facilities out of state. Bonta says that’s just one
possibility. “With less capacity, maybe
they detain less individuals and decide they don’t need to do it,” he says.
“Maybe they build their own facilities in California and also maybe they do
move individuals out of state, and that’s why I think it’s important that
other states act as California has acted.”
Mar 14, 2019 ai-cio.com
CalPERS Says No to Legislation Forcing
It to Divest from Private Prisons
The pension plan’s stance also means it won’t likely voluntarily divest
from GEO Group and CoreCivic. Investment officials
of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) are opposing
state legislation that would require the pension plan to divest of its stock
in private prison companies. The opposition has broader implications. Agenda
material for the system’s investment committee meeting on March 18 details
that not only are the officials opposed to being forced to divest, they also
likely don’t plan to voluntarily divest holdings in two American private
prison companies, GEO Group and CoreCivic. The two
companies have been thrust into the spotlight because of President Trump’s
immigrant crackdown. They have housed not only immigrants in their
facilities, but entire families in two correctional facilities in the San
Antonio, Texas, area—one run by GEO Group and the other by CoreCivic. It’s doubtful that the CalPERS investment
committee would choose to overrule investment officials. Investment committee
members have generally been philosophically opposed to increasing
divestments, which includes tobacco companies, companies that do business in
Iran and Sudan, and thermal coal companies. The stance of CalPERS Chief
Investment Officer Ben Meng and other system investment officials puts the
largest US pension system at odds with some of its large peers, including the
California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), the New York City
Employees’ Retirement System, and the New York State Common Pension Fund, all
which have divested from the two private prison companies. The state
legislation by Democratic Assemblyman Ron Bonta of Oakland requires CalPERS
to divest of stock or bonds in private prison companies on or before July 1,
2020. CalSTRS is also included in the bill as being required to divest, but
the system’s investment committee voted to sell its stock in the two prison
companies in November 2018, making the issue moot. The agenda material for
the CalPERS March 18 investment committee meeting says that “as a California
state agency, CalPERS is sensitive to public policy issues, but recognizes
that our primary duty and obligation is to our members. “Divestment almost
invariably harms investment performance by compromising investment strategies
and increasing transaction costs,” the agenda materials say. It goes on to
say that there is considerable evidence that divesting is an ineffective
strategy for achieving social or political goals. “This is because the usual
consequence is often a transfer of ownership of divested assets from one
investor to another. Investors that divest lose their ability as shareowners
to influence a company to act responsibly.” CalPERS says in the agenda
material that it owns approximately $10 million in stock in GEO Group and CoreCivic. The pension system said it holds both
companies in its passively managed stock portfolios that are designed to
track their benchmarks with as little deviation as possible. “Divestment
represents an active deviation from our benchmarks that, in CalPERS’
experience, has harmed investment performance over time in most cases,” the
agenda material says. CalPERS general investment consultant, Wilshire
Associates, has estimated that all CalPERS divestments from the first quarter
of 2001 through June 30, 2018, have resulted in a 0.7% loss for the $351.1
billion pension system. The pension plan also estimates that if it sold the private
prison companies’ stock, it would lose $175,000, which reflects brokerage
fees and the market impact of divesting from these companies and reinvesting
in new securities. CalPERS’s view of the financial damage it would incur from
divestment sharply contrasts to the views of CalSTRS investment officials.
Their review late last year said removing the private prison companies from
the CalSTRS portfolio does “not pose a significant risk or benefit to the
portfolio because they are so small relative to the US equity and fixed
income allocations.” CalSTRS had around $12 million invested in CoreCivic and GEO Group, $2 million more than CalPERS.
CalPERS had announced back in December that it was engaging the management of
GEO Group and CoreCivic. The agenda material does
not state the result of the engagement. Bonta had told CIO that the bill he
introduced in December came after the Trump administration’s policies earlier
this year that resulted in the detention of thousands of children in two
facilities run by GEO Group and CoreCivic. “These
companies are not only facilitating the Trump administration’s political
agenda, but profiting from the cruel, zero-tolerance immigration policies
that have torn innocent children from their families,” Bonta said. “This is inhumane
and not in line with California’s values.”
Feb 5, 2019 mercurynews.com
Is California closer to closing private prisons with Newsom at helm?
California Democrats think 2019 is their best chance yet to accomplish a
long-held liberal goal: shuttering the state’s private prisons. Gov. Gavin
Newsom vowed in his inaugural address “to end the outrage that is private
prisons,” and now state lawmakers are mounting a renewed effort to turn that
applause line into reality. They’re painting the move as an act of resistance
against one of the Trump administration’s most important corporate partners.
But with California’s corrections system still far over capacity, some state
leaders are questioning how far they can go in casting aside the private
prison industry. The state’s use of private prisons jumped after a federal
court ordered officials to reduce perilous overcrowding in 2009, when inmates
were crammed into gymnasium bunk-beds and the suicide rate was nearly double
the national average. The prison population has dropped precipitously since
then, but California currently has more than 4,000 inmates in private
facilities, about half in-state and half in Arizona, costing the state
millions of dollars a year. The two companies holding California inmates — CoreCivic and GEO Group, the largest firms in the
industry — both have faced numerous lawsuits over the years accusing them of
poor medical care and treatment of inmates. Democrats are now pushing
Assembly Bill 32, which would block California from approving contracts with
the prison companies starting in January 2020 and force the state to remove
all inmates from private prisons by 2028. “It’s inconsistent with our values
to be putting inmates in prisons where the incentive is to minimize
investments and maximize profits for shareholders,” said Assemblyman Rob
Bonta, D-Oakland, one of the bill’s authors. Newsom’s office declined to
comment on the bill. The state corrections department noted that it has
already reduced its reliance on private prisons — including ending the use of
several other out-of-state facilities — and plans to pull inmates out of the
last Arizona prison later this year. If Newsom backs the effort, it would
show a different approach from his predecessor. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a
more limited bill in 2017 that would have ended the state’s use of
out-of-state private prisons, arguing that while he supported its intent, the
corrections department “needs to maintain maximum flexibility in the short
term” due to the court mandate. As of last week, California’s public prisons
held 117,195 inmates — 130.6 percent of the capacity they were designed to
house. Under the court order, the state cannot exceed 137.5 percent of
capacity, and adding in the 4,004 inmates currently held in private prisons
would raise the level to 134.8 percent. Private prison supporters argue that
would be worryingly close to the court-ordered cap. “Not everyone wants to
hear this, but (the private prisons) did a really good job of providing us
with the capacity we needed,” said Scott Kernan,
the former state corrections department chief who retired last year and is
currently a member of GEO Group’s board of directors. He described the
facilities as “a necessary and integral part of how we managed our
population” over the last decade. But he noted that the facilities had become
less important as the state’s prison population has declined — down from a
peak of more than 173,000 inmates in 2006. The companies — which have donated
generously to California politicians of both parties — argued that the bill
would undermine the state’s progress. “We’ve been providing safe, secure
housing and life-changing re-entry programming for inmates that had faced
extreme overcrowding,” said Rodney King, a CoreCivic
spokesman. California is one of the top revenue-producing states for both
companies. In July 2018, the state renewed contracts for four prisons with
the GEO Group. Those contracts, which last through June 2023, will cost the
state a total of $306 million. The two private prison companies were major
donors to Trump’s inauguration committee, and GEO Group also gave to his
campaign and a pro-Trump Super PAC. They also are integral partners for the
president’s immigration policies, with both running ICE detention centers
around the country, including in California, which would not be impacted by
the bill. While the Obama administration moved to stop using private prisons
for federal inmates in 2016, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed
that directive. In the third quarter of 2018, CoreCivic’s
drop in revenue from declining numbers of California inmates was more than
made up for by a spike in funds from the federal government, according to the
company’s earnings report. The private prison firms’ involvement in the Trump
administration’s immigrant detention has only inflamed opposition to them in
California. “We’re enriching companies that are taking our children,” said
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, another of the bill’s co-authors.
“Who wants our state money to encourage that?” (Both companies hold immigrant
families, including children, in some of their facilities, but not minors who
have been separated from their parents.The bill
would not apply to privately run halfway houses around the state, or a Kern
County facility that’s owned by CoreCivic but
leased and operated by the state. Another bill sponsored by Bonta and
Gonzalez, AB33, would order the state public employees retirement system to
divest from private prison companies. The state teachers’ retirement system
divested last year. Advocates are especially intent on closing La Palma
Correctional Center, a squat private prison surrounded by miles of scrubby
desert in Eloy, Arizona, which holds both California inmates and ICE
detainees. La Palma overused solitary confinement, provided insufficient
services and had numerous security issues, according to a 2010 state
inspector general report. Its remote location also makes it difficult for
many California families to visit. Martinez resident Annie Santiago visited
her husband, Kenneth, who was convicted of robbery, every week when he was at
Mule Creek prison in Amador County, she said. But after he was transferred to
La Palma, the more than 12-hour journey made it impossible for her and their
three children to see him more than once or twice a year. “When they told me
they were going to move my husband so far away, my heart broke,” said
Santiago, 59. “I was begging for my husband to come back.”
Jan 8, 2019 psmag.com
In his inaugural address, Governor Gavin Newsom vowed to tackle
homelessness, criminal justice reform, and inequality.
In his inaugural address on Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom
pledged that the state would continue to serve as a bulwark to the Trump
administration. "What we do today is even more consequential, because of
what's happening in our country," Newsom said from the stage in
Sacramento. "People's lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the
air we breathe—they all hang in the balance. The country is watching us. The
world is waiting on us. The future depends on us. And we will seize this
moment." The progressive governor reiterated several of his most
ambitious campaign pledges, vowing to provide more support for parents,
address the crisis of homelessness that's plagued the state, and build off of
the previous administration's efforts to reform the justice system. Here's a
Pacific Standard reading list on the issues that dominated Newsom's opening
remarks.
ON HOMELESSNESS
Newsom said that California is facing "a homeless epidemic that should
keep all of us up at night." The state's homeless population reached
134,000 in 2017. On the campaign trail, Newsom pledged to create a
cabinet-level position dedicated to solving the homelessness crisis—the first
position of its kind—which will focus on regional solutions. He also set the
ambitious goal of 3.5 million new housing units by 2025 to combat the state's
chronic lack of affordable housing. In 2017, Rachel Nuwer
wrote for Pacific Standard about the rapidly increasing proportion of elderly
homeless people in the United States, and the unique challenges of serving an
aging homeless population. Last year, Jack Denton reported from Skid Row in
Los Angeles, where the homeless population is facing police abuse and
property seizures—despite judicial rulings that should protect them. Despite
claims by affordable housing advocates, the California Legislative Analyst's
Office, and representatives of the building industry that a state
environmental law has stymied housing development in California, a study
covered by Candace Butera found that local development regulations, rather
than statewide environmental protections, may shoulder more of the blame for
the state's housing crisis.
ON PRIVATE PRISONS
"We will end the outrage that is private prisons in the state of
California once and for all," Newsom said. Some 6,600 California inmates
are currently held in private prisons. The governor also supports plans to
end cash bail in the state. In 2017, just after President Donald Trump's
Department of Justice reversed the Obama administration's efforts to phase
out private prisons, Jared Keller gathered two dozen data points to explain
the nation's reliance on private prisons. Rick Paulus chronicled the history
of private prisons in the U.S., from the first contract issued by Kentucky to
an entrepreneur named Joel Scott for $1,000 to CoreCivic,
the private prison and detention center giant that has $1 billion in
contracts for housing prisoners and immigration detainees. Last year,
Elizabeth King wrote about all the ways the cash bail system discriminates
against poor and minority communities, and efforts across the country to
dismantle the predatory system.
ON PARENTING
Newsom included several plugs for parents of young children in his
inaugural address, and, over the weekend, the New York Times reported that
the governor's office has bold plans to increase paid parental leave in the
state from six weeks to six months. In 2015, Maya Dusenberry
wrote about how America trails behind other developed nations on its parental
leave policies, and all the ways in which the lack of support harms working
mothers and exacerbates inequality. Last year, Dwyer Gunn compared several
leading paid family leave proposals under consideration at the federal level.
Tom Jacobs reported on a study that shows how paid family leave can encourage
breastfeeding, and all the subsequent health and cognitive benefits the
practice confers to infants and their mothers.
Dec 28, 2018 ai-cio.com
The review could lead to divestment of CoreCivic
and The GEO Group.
The chairman of the investment committee of the California Public
Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) says investment officials are engaging
management of two private prison companies, CoreCivic
and The GEO Group, as well as defense contractor General Dynamics. Henry
Jones’ comments come as a California state legislator, Democratic Assemblyman
Rob Bonta, has introduced legislation that would force CalPERS to divest from
the two prison companies. The companies have been the subject of controversy
because of their housing of children and their families caught up in the
Trump administration immigration crackdown. Other major pension systems,
including the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), The New
York State Common Fund, and The New York City pension systems, have divested
from CoreCivic and The GEO Group. General Dynamics,
whose holdings have not been sold off by the other pension systems, does not
house prisoners but does provide case management services for youth detained
under the Trump administration policies. Advocates want CalPERS to pressure
General Dynamics to stop its contracts with the federal government, but
generally have not called for outright divestment. Jones made his comments
about engaging CoreCivic and The GEO Group at
CalPERS’s Dec. 17 investment committee meeting, following speeches by
individuals and representatives of several groups supporting divestment. “We
appreciate your concerns,” Jones said, noting that CalPERS staff was engaging
the companies on issues raised by the speakers and is continuing to follow up
on developments in accordance with fund policy. Under the rules of the
largest US pension plan, CalPERS must engage companies over its policies
before the investment committee can take a formal vote on divestment. One of
those speaking on Dec. 17, Emily Claire Godman, the founder and director of
Educators for Migrant Justice, said she understood that CalPERS has
historically resisted shareholder demands for divestment, arguing that a
voice at the table is the best way to change corporate conduct. “This
argument doesn’t hold for companies like CoreCivic
and The GEO Group, whose for-profit prison model, where the companies have a
financial incentive to incarcerate as many people as possible, is inherently
incompatible with the concept of corporate social responsibility,” she said.
“No amount of pressure from investors can persuade a company to abandon its
business model.” Goldman presented the investment committee a petition singed by 240 CalPERS members calling for divestment of
the two companies. “This level of divestment makes it more difficult for
these migrant abuse companies to underwrite debt, access capital, and lobby
for contracts and pro-incarceration anti-immigrant policies,” she said.
Another speaker, Mya Dosch, an assistant professor
at Sacramento State University and a CalPERS member, expressed concern about
Cibola County Correction Center in New Mexico run by CoreCivic,
which has a unit housing transgender women. Dosch
cited the case of a transgender woman, Roxana Hernandez, who died from
complications of HIV, pneumonia, and dehydration at a hospital in May after
being detained at the correctional facility. Hernandez was at the CoreCivic facility for 12 hours before being transferred
to a hospital after her medical condition became known. “We take the health
and well-being of those entrusted to our care very seriously,” he said. “Whenever there is a death in custody, CoreCivic immediately notifies our government partners
and all appropriate authorities with oversight responsibility. We cooperate
fully with those investigations.” He also said CoreCivic
was committed to providing a safe environment for transgender detainees. “Our
ICE-contracted facilities are contractually required and held accountable to
federal Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS), which include
guidelines for the safe and appropriate accommodation of transgender
detainees,” he said. Hernandez was part of a caravan of migrants from Central
America seeking asylum in the US in May. She was detained by US Immigration
and Customs Enforcement officials at the San Ysidro Port of Entry between San
Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich,
and Sen. Kamala Harris of California, have sent a letter to border and
immigration officials asking for an investigation into the circumstances
leading to Hernandez’s death. Immigration officials say Hernandez wasn’t
abused while in custody. “I do not want to invest in this,” said Dosch of the two private prison companies. “I do not want my retirement tied to those
corporations whose profit from the suffering of women of color and the most
vulnerable among us. It is not a sound investment, either.” Both private
prison companies insist they do not make policies regarding the housing of
immigrant detainees but provide services under their contracts with the
federal government. The private prison companies also contract with state and
local authorities, including the state of California, to hold prisoners
because of overcapacity issues in state and local prisons. If CalPERS chooses
not to divest from the two private prison companies, officials of the pension
system would likely have to make their case in the state legislature at a
public hearing. Bonta’s bill to divest from CoreCivic
and The GEO Group will begin to be considered by state lawmakers after the
state legislature reconvenes on Jan. 7. The bill came after the Trump
administration’s immigration detention policies earlier this year shined the
spotlight on CoreCivic and The GEO Group. Each
company runs a facility housing adults and children detained in the
immigration crackdown, as well as facilities housing adult detainees. CalPERS
has around $12 million in holdings in the two companies, not major for such a
large pension plan, but divesture by the biggest US pension system would
shine more attention on issues surrounding the private prison corporations
and their for-profit model. Bonta’s bill also calls for CalSTRS to divest
from the two private prison companies, but the CalSTRS investment committee
already approved divestment in an emotional 6-5 vote last month.
Feb 17, 2018 lasentinel.net
Assemblymember Thurmond Introduces Legislation To Fund Early Education
Programs By Taxing Private Prisons
Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond), introduced a bill that
implements a tax on private prisons that operate in California. The tax
revenue generated by the bill will fund preschool and after-school programs.
Among other benefits to participants, these programs are known to lower the
likelihood of incarceration. “Every
child deserves an opportunity at a high-quality education,” said Thurmond.
“Students who have access to early education and after-school programs show
higher test scores and increased engagement in school. This bill will invest
in programs that promote educational equity.” Current active contracts
between private prisons and the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation
total over $200 million. The proposed corrections budget this year alone
totals $12 billion. In comparison, the state spends relatively little on
programs known to prevent incarceration. Studies show that access to
high-quality preschool programs results in a 20% lower likelihood of
incarceration. Preschool attendance has also been shown to be a key indicator
for attending college and results in higher lifetime income earnings compared
to those who did not attend preschool. Effective after-school programs bring
a wide range of benefits to youth, families, and communities. After-school
programs have been proven to enhance academic performance, promote physical
health, and provide a safe and structured environment for the children of
working parents. This bill supplements existing prison population reduction
efforts by focusing on reducing contact with the criminal justice system in
the first instance. By providing high-quality early educational
opportunities, this bill addresses the school-to-prison pipeline.
Dec 10, 2016 therecorder.com
California: Court reverses bad Wackenhut (G4S) ruling
SAN FRANCISCO — A California state appellate court on Monday reversed a
decision by a trial judge that smashed a long-running wage-and-hour class
action against security contractor The Wackenhut Corp., ruling that the judge
overstretched the U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 decision in Wal-Mart Stores v.
Dukes. The decision is a loss for the employment law defense bar generally,
but is especially a blow for Theodore Boutrous Jr.,
the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner who argued Wal-Mart and was brought
in by Wackenhut in 2011 to wield the then-fresh high court decision in its
own case ahead of trial. Second District Court of Appeal Justice Norman
Epstein, writing for a panel also joined by Justices Thomas Willhite Jr. and
Nora Manella, said the lower court was wrong to agree with Wackenhut's
lawyers that Wal-Mart effectively prohibited the use of statistical sampling
in establishing class-wide liability. "[T]he use of statistical sampling
in this case is distinguishable from the method rejected by the Supreme Court
in Wal-Mart because, in that case, the plaintiffs proposed to use
representative evidence as a means of overcoming the absence of a common
policy," Epstein wrote. The justice added that "here, the results
of the statistical sampling … served as a manageability tool—an alternative
to burdensome production." He also said that in a ruling subsequent to
Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo, the U.S.
Supreme Court had made clear that sampling is permissible. The case centers
on claims that Wackenhut, a global security contractor now owned by British
company G4S, failed to give security guards in California off-duty meal and
rest breaks, and also did not provide them with adequate wage statements, as
required by state law. In order to establish class liability for the meal
break claim in particular, the plaintiffs' attorneys proposed to sample 1,200
of the at least 13,500 security guards in the class period to determine which
had signed agreements to take their meal break while still on duty. The
sample found that depending on the year, the percentage of employees with
valid agreements ranged between 0 and 88 percent. Wackenhut initially agreed
to that plan because it did not want to have to dig through its records and
produce documents for all of the employees covered by the class period, which
stretches back to 2001, and trial court judge William Highberger
certified the proposed class in 2010. But the company changed tack after the
Wal-Mart decision and sought class decertification, which it won in 2012.
"This is a fairly definitive statement as to the limitations of Wal-Mart
with respect to class action jurisprudence in the state of California,"
Jason Marsili, a partner at Posner & Rosen who
argued the case on appeal for the plaintiffs, said of the appellate court's
ruling on Monday. Marsili said the decision should
shift the law on the issue of sampling back in favor of plaintiffs after a
decision by the California Supreme Court 2014 in Duran v. U.S. Bank, which
held that a class must be decertified if individual issues are later shown to
predominate. Boutrous, meanwhile, hinted that he
would try to take the case up to the state's highest court. "The trial
court was right to decertify this class," Boutrous
said in a statement. "The Court of Appeal misinterpreted the U.S.
Supreme Court's decision in the Wal-Mart case and its ruling raises several
important issues under state and federal law about class actions and
employment law that warrant review by the California Supreme Court."
Dec 7, 2016 endisolation.org
California Introduces Bill to End For-Profit Immigration Detention in 2017
Under Trump’s Impending Expansion of Immigration Detention, Senator Lara
Re-Introduces Dignity Not Detention Act to End For-Profit Immigration
Detention in California. Today, as part of a broader #Fight4CA legislative
package, Senator Lara (D-Bell Gardens) re-introduced the Dignity Not
Detention Act, co-sponsored by Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants
in Confinement (CIVIC) and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC). This bill is in line with the Department of
Homeland Security’s vote on December 1 to phase out the use of private
contracting in its immigration detention operations. The Dignity Not Detention
Act directly addresses the findings of Homeland Security’s recent
investigation of for-profit facilities.
Homeland Security found the mistreatment of immigrants in confinement
to be systemic and especially stark in for-profit facilities. And DHS voted to shift away from for-profit
facilities. In effect, the Dignity Not
Detention Act will prohibit local cities and counties from entering into new
contracts with private, for-profit companies to operate immigration detention
facilities in California. It also will
require all detention facilities to uphold national humane treatment
standards. This bill is especially timely during the transition to the
incoming Trump administration. President-elect Trump has promised to expand
the United States’ immigration enforcement apparatus as part of his
initiative in his first 100 days to target 2-3 million immigrants he has
inaccurately labelled “criminals.” “Now more than ever, we must safeguard
human rights in immigration detention,” said Christina Fialho,
a California attorney and the co-executive director of CIVIC. “We are confident that the legislature and
the Governor will make dignity not detention the law of the land this coming
year.” ICE currently contracts with private companies to run immigration
detention facilities. People in
detention include undocumented people, asylum-seekers, long-time green card
holders, and others who are awaiting their immigration hearings. In California, there are 10 immigration
detention facilities. Four are
privately-run and hold approximately 85 percent of detained immigrants
statewide. Approximately 100,000
people were detained in California’s detention facilities last year, that is
about a quarter of the total detained immigrant population nationwide. There have been consistent reports of human
rights abuses in detention facilities, including physical and sexual abuse,
poor access to healthcare, little access to legal counsel, and overuse of
solitary confinement, and even death. LGBTQ immigrants have reported facing
discrimination, harassment, and abuse due to their sexual orientation. In
many of these instances, even the Department of Homeland Security has found
these deaths were preventable. Tragically, the incidents often go unaddressed
and victims have no recourse. Private, for-profit immigration detention
facilities present a host of problems. The facilities are not subject to the
Freedom of Information Act and operate with little to no oversight. Many also
operate under contract incentives where they are guaranteed a minimum number
of immigrants in their facility at all times, ensuring their billion-dollar
profits. Currently, ICE has a set of Performance-Based National Detention
Standards in place, but they lack any real enforcement mechanism. The Dignity
Not Detention Act would be the first state-level bill to codify these
standards into law, and provide redress for immigrants whose rights have been
violated. Individuals who have been detained speak out in support of the
Dignity Not Detention Act: “Immigration detention in the United States has
become a financial market where people’s lives are being treated as
profit. This bill is a clear step in
the right direction,” said Sylvester Owino, an asylum seeker from Kenya who
spent 9 years in immigration detention, primarily in California. “While in
detention, my religious freedoms were often violated. As a Muslim, my religion calls me to prayer
at certain times of the day. Many
times, officers forced me to choose between having breakfast or lunch and
practicing my faith. I would always
choose prayer, but this meant that many days I went hungry,” said Mohammed
Kamal Deen Ilias, an
asylum seeker from Ghana, who was detained at Adelanto Detention Facility
from April 17, 2015, to February 5, 2016. “Taking your dignity and pride is
one thing, but taking away your dreams, what’s after that? In immigration detention, you feel
helpless. You feel impotent to the
system. You don’t know what’s going to
happen next. Psychologically, you
start deteriorating,” said Carlos Hidalgo, a father and grandfather of U.S.
citizens, who was held at Adelanto Detention Facility for over a year. “In
the beginning, the Department of Homeland Security sent me together with my
daughter to James Musick Facility. After two weeks, DHS separated me from my
daughter. I was sent to the CCA facility in San Diego and then to the GEO
facility in Adelanto. They didn’t tell me about my rights and made arbitrary
decisions. They put me into
segregation, abused and tortured me and compromised my physical integrity to
a point that I was in need of a wheelchair,” said Petra Albrecht, a mother
originally from Germany who was held in immigration detention for over 1
year.
Sep 23, 2016 tricountysentry.com
Correa Blasts Nguyen for Hiring Scandal-Plagued Private Jail Operator
Santa Ana, CA – Following newspaper reports by the Orange County
Register, former State Senator Lou Correa slams Congressional candidate Bao
Nguyen for inviting disgraced jail operator GEO Group into Garden Grove. On
June 23, 2015, Mayor Bao Nguyen gave $1.6 million to the GEO Group to run the
city’s jail. That same day, 35 leading Democrats in the U.S. House of
Representatives, including Latino leader Rep. Raül
Grijalva and civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis, wrote the Department of
Homeland Security expressing grave concern for the deplorable treatment and
sexual abuse of LBGT detainees by the GEO Group in its ICE detainee
facilities. The GEO Group has been under investigation almost continually
since 2001, resulting in over $42 million in fines and damages. “As a member
of both the LBGT and immigrant community, Bao’s willingness to work with GEO
is unforgivable. The very fact that leading Democrats saw fit to write the
Department of Homeland Security the same day as the Garden Grove vote, shows
how out of touch Mayor Nguyen is. Either he cannot be trusted to research a
critical vote, or worse, he did and did not care about what he found,” Correa
stated. “While Democrats were standing together to fight against the GEO
Group, Mayor Bao Nguyen invited them into his city. If he is willing to
sellout his own city, there is no telling what he will do to his constituents
in Congress,” Correa added. The GEO Group is the second largest private
prison corporation in the United States and is one of the largest operators
of the notorious ICE Detention facilities, responsible for atrocious living
conditions, splitting up families, and mentally and sexually abusing LBGT
detainees. They run 96 facilities and have been plagued with dozens of
accusations of abusive employees, medical negligence, and numerous wrongful
death lawsuits over the past 15 years.
Sep 21,
2016 kqed.org
Governor
Weighs Whether to Bar Some Private Immigration Lockups
First,
the Department of Justice announced it would stop using them, and soon after,
the Department of Homeland Security said it would review whether hundreds of
thousands of immigrants should be detained in private lockups overseen by the
department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division. The state of
California might beat them to the punch. A bill that would bar cities and
counties from contracting with private prisons to hold immigrant detainees is
sitting on the governor’s desk. If Gov. Jerry Brown signs the bill, three
facilities would be impacted by Senate Bill 1289: Adelanto Detention Facility
in San Bernardino County, Mesa Verde Detention Facility in Bakersfield and
Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Holtville, in Imperial County.
Together, the facilities can house around 3,000 people. All three are owned
by local governments, but run by private prison corporations that contract
with ICE to detain immigrants. The bill by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens)
would also impose more stringent standards on any remaining immigration
centers hosted by local jurisdictions, including prohibiting segregated
housing for LGBT inmates and requiring access to legal representation,
translation services and medical care, including HIV and AIDS care. Grisel
Ruiz, a staff attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said
California has distinguished itself as a state that welcomes immigrants and
should not allow local governments and corporations to profit off the
detention of people waiting to have their immigration cases resolved.
“There’s a huge problem when you monetize human beings, and in this case you
are monetizing exceptionally vulnerable people,” she said. “Asylum seekers,
refugees, people who might have problems with — English might be their second
language, they might have very little education, most don’t even have
attorneys — it really goes against our values that we have here as a state in
California.” The publicly owned, privately run prisons wouldn’t shut down
overnight: If Brown signs the bill, cities and counties would be barred from
entering into new contracts beginning in 2018. The largest facility,
Adelanto, has a contract that runs through 2021.
Aug 26, 2016 citylab.com
California Pushes to End Private-Prison Management of Immigrant Detention
Centers
Last year, Raúl Ernesto Morales-Ramos, an undocumented Salvadoran
immigrant, died of intestinal cancer while in the custody of U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement at the Adelanto Detention Center in Southern
California. The center is operated by the private prison company GEO Group,
whose medical care provider failed to diagnose or treat Morales-Ramos’ cancer
until authorities noticed his “unusual bleeding,” according to the Los
Angeles Times. He was taken to a hospital and died three days later. Ramos’ seemingly preventable death provoked
outrage among immigrant-rights activists in California. Now, a week after the
U.S. Justice Department announced that it is phasing out contracting with
private prison companies, California is looking to follow its lead by ending
the operation of detention centers for suspected undocumented immigrants
statewide by private prison companies. On Tuesday, the California State
Assembly passed the Dignity not Detention Act, which would ban cities and
counties from contracting out the management of these detention centers to
private prison companies. The bill now returns to the state Senate, where it
was initially approved, and will, if passed, go on to Governor Jerry Brown’s
office for signature or veto. The bill would also require localities holding
undocumented immigrants on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security’s
Immigration and Customs Enforcement to adhere to ICE’s best-practice
standards. This portion of the law is designed to ensure that those in
custody have access to medication and legal counsel, and allow them to sue
centers for violations of these standards. The proposed legislation would
affect thousands of undocumented immigrant families across California.
According to the Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in
Confinement, 62 percent of all beds in these centers nationwide are operated
by for-profit companies. And in California, this proportion is even more
pronounced, with 85 percent of all detainees (roughly 3,700 people) stuck in
just four privately run detention facilities, according to the LA Weekly.
Privately operated detention centers can be major cash cows for cities and
counties. ICE contracts with municipalities to hold undocumented non-citizens
on its behalf; they, in turn, outsource detention-center operations to
private prison companies, whose cost-cutting measures—such as cheap food and
scaled-back health care provisions—bring in more municipal revenue. In a
public letter opposing the state bill, Adelanto city council member John R.
Woodard estimated that the city could lose up to $35 million per year in
revenue were its contract with GEO group to end. The bill’s original sponsor,
Ricardo Lara, a Democrat and state senator from Southeast Los Angeles,
believes that cost is worth it. “The Dignity not Detention Act takes a stand
against the mass incarceration of immigrants in detention facilities and
inhumane immigration detention conditions,” said Lara to the Los Angeles
Times in April. “Our state and local governments should not be complicit in
this awful practice of profiting off of human suffering.”
July 10, 2013 latimes.com
Though he has no money in the state budget yet to
follow through, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a three-year deal with a private
prison contractor that allows the state to continue keeping more than 8,200
inmates out of state. The contract extension with Corrections Corp. of
America was announced Wednesday. It gives Brown the latitude to continue his
previously announced plans to stop sending inmates out of state by 2016, or
change his mind and use those private prisons to absorb at least some of the
overflow from the state's crowded prisons. "The plan was always to
continue the contract with CCA through 2016," corrections spokesman
Jeffrey Callison said. Brown is under pressure from
federal courts to reduce the number of inmates in the state's 33 prisons by
about 9,600 inmates, releasing them early if need be. The governor is
appealing that order before the U.S. Supreme Court, but in the meantime,
continues to follow the current order. On Wednesday, that meant providing the
judges with a list of state laws and regulations that would have to be waived
in order to begin prison releases. Brown's lawyers on Wednesday asked the
judges for "clarification" on whether the governor can spend money
without approval of the Legislature, and whether the state can create or
expand parole programs also without legislative approval. In a June order, a
panel of three federal judges said it was waiving all laws that blocked early
releases. Brown's lawyers asked for confirmation. "Defendants construe
the June 20 order as providing the necessary authorization for defendants to
implement all aspects of the amended court-ordered plan. If defendants are
mistaken, they request clarification of the court’s June 20 order," they
wrote in a request sent to the court Wednesday.
July 12, 2012 Sacramento Bee
With severe overcrowding easing in state lockups, California is winding down a
controversial deal with the nation's biggest private prison operator and will
bring thousands of inmates housed in facilities as far away as Mississippi
back to California within the next few years. Currently, some 9,500 state
inmates are serving sentences in prisons in Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma
operated by the Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America. As
part of a strategic plan announced in April, the state Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation will transfer those inmates back to California
facilities by 2016. The return of the first group, 600 inmates housed in
Arizona, will begin "immediately," said Corrections Secretary
Matthew Cate. Another 4,000 prisoners will return to California in 2014.
Steve Owen, spokesman for the Corrections Corporation, confirmed the company
agreed to modify its contract to lower the total number of California inmates
housed in out-of-state facilities from 9,588 to 9,038 for this year. The
contract guarantees 90 percent occupancy. The revised contract will reduce
California's fee to the private prison group by $67 million for the current
fiscal year, according to corrections spokeswoman Dana Simas. The state will
save another $14 million in 2012 by cutting staff positions for the program,
which is administered in Sacramento. California is paying the Corrections
Corporation $61 to $72 per prison bed per day, making the original contract
worth more than $280 million for 2012-13, according to the Legislative
Analyst's Office and corrections department figures.
January 25, 2012 The Capitol Morning
Report
California's enormous budget problem is making it difficult for the Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation to comply with the court-ordered reduction
in its prison population, Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate told 80
Sacramento Press Club luncheon guests Tuesday. But, said Cate, "It's
getting done." Cate said the inmate population is 200 percent over
capacity, and the goal is to reduce that to 137.5 percent. The major effort
now --called Realignment-- is aimed at moving less violent inmates into
county facilities. But the state budget problem is getting in the way. Cate
said some counties want remuneration from the state for their added costs,
and the state doesn't have the money. "There are 58 counties and each
has their own way of doing business. But if we can get to the point where we
have space to move prisoners, we can operate more efficiently. Right now, if
we want to move a prisoner with a less violent history into a facility with
similar histories, often there are no available beds." One consequence
of overcrowding is more overtime for prison staff, and that increase costs,
Cate said, but the realignment program is reducing overtime needs and thus
reducing costs. Asked about the Correction Department's treatment of juvenile
offenders, Cate said the governor "had expressed concern that we were
investing in education, elementary and secondary and the college level, and
part of having a leaner, meaner prison system means that we have the ability
to spend money on such programs." Another questioner queried Cate on the
state program of shipping inmates to prisons in other states. He responded
that the department is following the governor's request to end the program
because, he said, "People in Arizona, Mississippi and North Carolina are
earning a living dealing with these offenders when those jobs could be here.
April 11, 2011 Michigan Messenger
Budget problems and changing priorities in California threaten to derail
plans to send thousands of inmates to the GEO Group’s private prison in
Baldwin. Last year California’s overcrowded prison system agreed to pay The
GEO Group $60 million a year to house 2,580 inmates at the company’s North
Lake Correctional Facility starting in May. But now California is struggling
to close a $15.4 billion deficit and the new Democratic Governor Jerry Brown
has signed a bill that would reduce the state prison population by
transferring prisoners with short sentences into county jails where they
could gradually reintegrate into their communities. The bill, however, won’t
take effect until a mechanism for funding the program is established and with
budget negotiations stalled in the legislature, it’s unclear how or when that
will happen. “We are in a very volatile situation with the budget and legal
authority to send inmate out of state is in question,” California Dept. of
Corrections and Rehabilitation Undersecretary Scott Hernan said in an
interview Friday. Hernan said that at this point the dept. is still planning
to begin sending 130 inmates a month to Baldwin by plane starting next month,
and hopes to be able to continue plans with GEO. Ryan Sherman is spokesman
for the California Correctional Peace Officer Association, which represents
state corrections officers and opposes plans to ship inmates out of state.
“This is a California state department,” he said. “Should they really be
trying to send taxpayer dollars and jobs to another state in the middle of a
budget crunch?” California is also waiting on delivery of an opinion in a
U.S. Supreme Court case that could influence how the state needs to deal with
overcrowding issues, he said. This Spring the court is expected to announce it’s opinion in Plata v. Schwarzenegger, a case that
examines the legality of a court order that California reduce its prison
population in order to address unconstitutional conditions (inadequate
medical care) in the corrections system. If the Supreme Court determines that
California must reduce its prison population then outsourcing prisoners might
be one way to comply with that mandate, Sherman said, though it would be an
expensive way to do it. No matter the outcome of the ruling, he said, it may
not be wise to begin the process of moving prisoners when a decision is
imminent. In Baldwin, training for employees at the prison was delayed last
week but the GEO Group refused to give details about the status of plans for
the California inmates. The company has said that the deal with California
will lead to 500 jobs at the facility by 2014. Joe Baumann is correctional
officer at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, about 60 miles east
of Los Angeles and secretary for the group Corrections USA. “I believe there
is a very high likelihood that [California inmates] will not go to Michigan,”
he said. “A couple county jails — Orange, LA and Fresno — have sizable units
empty for budget reasons,” he said. “They’ve got units that are there
mothballed. It’s not enough to make a significant dent in prison crowding but
it is enough to absorb the inmates that would have gone to Baldwin. LA County
has got about 1500 empty beds.” “This puts GEO in a situation where they are
fighting counties for money.” The uncertainty around the deal with California
is the latest in a series of problems for The GEO Group’s Michigan property.
The North Lake Correctional Facility was built as a 500 bed maximum security
youth facility but was shut down in 2005 after the state ended its contract
with the company amid lawsuits alleging abuse. In 2009 GEO expanded the
prison to 1,725 beds in expectation of winning a federal contract to house
immigrant detainees but those plans were stopped last year after the federal
Bureau of Prisons canceled its request for more space for criminal aliens.
February 10, 2011 Bakersfield
Californian
Two Kern County community correctional facilities that were supposed to
reopen this month and house hundreds of low-level female inmates will remain
closed. The contract awarded last year to The GEO Group to operate the
facilities was pulled because of the state's budget woes, California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Cassandra Hockenson said Thursday. It costs about twice as much to
keep an inmate in a smaller facility compared to a larger one, she said.
"It just didn't pencil out and this administration, obviously very
concerned about the budget and the cost of reducing the budget deficit, had
the programs scrapped," Hockenson said. The
McFarland Community Correctional Facility had been slated to reopen Feb. 14
and house 250 inmates. The Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility --
located in Bakersfield -- had been scheduled for a Feb. 7 reopening and was
supposed to house 400 inmates. Exact figures on how much the facilities would
have cost the state weren't immediately available. GEO Group spokesman Pablo
E. Paez was not immediately available for comment.
November 30, 2010 San Francisco
Chronicle
California, under pressure to reduce the number of inmates in its crowded
prisons, has steadily increased the number of convicts it sends to private
institutions outside the state since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began the
program in 2006. The latest deal will ship another 5,800 inmates to private
prisons across state lines, bringing the total to more than 15,000. The
transfers will begin in May under a contract that runs through June 2013 -
nearly halfway through the term of Gov.-elect Jerry Brown. California has a
prison population of about 164,000 people, but its corrections facilities are
only equipped to house around 100,000. The state is under court order to
reduce the inmate population by 40,000 though state officials are challenging
the order, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case today.
Critics of moving prisoners to out-of-state facilities say it does little to
relieve the underlying problems that have caused crowded conditions and
questioned the timing of the new, no-bid contracts with two private
companies. One of the companies houses nearly 10,000 California prisoners.
"This is the governor doing what he wants to in the last minutes of his
administration," said state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. "It is
a way he can, on his watch, knock another 5,000 from the official
numbers." When California first signed contracts to ship prisoners over
state lines four years ago, it began with 2,260 inmates at a cost of $51
million annually. Now, it is set to pay the companies
$360 million a year to house 15,424 prisoners, and spend more than $636
million annually once administrative costs are factored in. The prisons
remain woefully crowded: There are 8,200 inmates in
"nontraditional" beds such as the gymnasium at San Quentin State
Prison. Prison officials hope that, with the new agreements and other
efforts, the number could drop to zero. "This has always been viewed as
a temporary remedy while we await other fixes, including legislative reform
and building additional (prison) capacity," said Scott Kernan, undersecretary for operations at the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Consult next governor Critics
of California's private prison deals, however, question the timing of the new
contracts and whether the state should be using private lockups at all. Don
Specter of the Prison Law Office, which filed the crowding lawsuit against
the state, said Brown "should be consulted on this important policy
development before any long-term decisions are made." It was unclear whether
the governor-elect weighed in on the new contracts. A spokesman for Brown
declined comment. Kernan, however, said that while
the "timing might seem unusual," the state has been in the process
of negotiating the new contracts for months. About half of the new inmates -
2,580 - will go to a Michigan facility owned by GEO Group Inc., which signed
a new contract with the state earlier this month. The other half are to go to
prisons in Colorado and Minnesota, though the state is still negotiating with
the owner of those facilities, Corrections Corp. of America. The corrections
company already houses 9,941 California inmates and is the nation's largest
private prison company. Corrections Corp. of America also was the subject of
a recent National Public Radio investigation that alleged that it and other
prison companies helped draft and pass a controversial Arizona immigration
bill approved earlier this year - a law that could increase inmate population
numbers and therefore benefit the private prison industry's bottom line.
Corrections Corp. of America denies any involvement, saying in a written
statement that the company had "absolutely no involvement whatsoever in
drafting or writing the legislation." Alarming practice Still, critics
argue that the very practice of making profit-driven companies part of the
criminal justice system is alarming. "If you can get over the civil
libertarian issue and morality of putting people in prison for profit ... you
end up with a market that needs to be fed, which is pretty scary," said
Ken Kopczynski, executive director of the national
Private Corrections Working Group, which advocates against the private prison
industry. State lawmakers have also raised questions about safety at the
private facilities. According to the Assembly Accountability and
Administrative Review Committee, which held a hearing on the out-of-state
transfer program in January, California prison officials temporarily
stationed a staff member at a Mississippi facility, "due to several
incidents there including the death of an asthmatic prisoner in 2007 and an
incident in October 2009 that left two correctional officers hospitalized,
including one with 22 stab wounds." Kernan
said a person is no longer stationed full time at the prison, but that teams
of state employees travel to all of the facilities almost weekly to monitor
conditions. State emergency In 2006, Schwarzenegger issued an emergency
proclamation stating that immediate action was needed to prevent "death
and harm caused by severe overcrowding." By declaring a state emergency,
the governor was able to waive a law that prohibits sending inmates out of
state without their consent. The first, three-year contract with Corrections
Corp. of America to house about 2,200 inmates was announced just 16 days
after the proclamation was signed. At first, state officials said they would
only be sending volunteer prisoners over state lines, but within months
announced they would begin involuntary out-of-state transfers. Since then,
California has systematically increased the number of inmates incarcerated in
private facilities. The state employs 199 people at a cost of $276 million a
year to oversee the program. Lawmakers approved some out-of-state transfers
under AB900, a bill passed in 2007 to provide $7.7 billion in prison
construction funds to add 53,000 prison and jail beds around the state. The
measure also allowed a limited number of out-of-state transfers without an
inmate's consent through July 1, 2011. Since 2007, however, the Legislature
has not commented on the program, except in informational oversight hearings
and as part of the state budget. Kernan
characterized the program as "cost neutral," and stressed that the
ultimate goal is to tackle crowding. Sen. Leno said it might "look
good" to reduce the inmate population, but there are other factors the
government should be considering, such as how to decrease the state's 70
percent recidivism rate. Specter and Leno are also concerned about shipping
inmates away from their families and friends. "One documented way to
reduce recidivism is with the presence of a supportive family," Leno
said. "Sending prisoners across country is what we shouldn't be doing if
we want successful re-entry programs." Kernan,
however, said that even inmates who remain in California are unlikely to be
close to the communities where they will eventually be released.
August 31, 2010 AP
An out-of-state company that contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to
Capitol politicians – has secured an exclusive contract with the State – worth
nearly $700 million. Critics say this deal is a prime example of pay-to-play
politics at the Capitol – and it involves California prisoners – who have
become a very valuable commodity for Corrections Corporation of America – a
private prison operator based in Tennessee. California's prisons are costing
taxpayers roughly $8 billion a year. (Proposed 2010-11 Corrections Budget |
Proposed 2010-11 California Budget) Overcrowding is so extreme, the Courts
have threatened to order the release of up 40 thousand prisoners. Governor
Schwarzenegger declared an emergency four years ago, paving the way for ten
thousand inmates to be shipped to Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma. But a
$23 million contract to send prisoners out of state – has now mushroomed into
a nearly $700 million deal for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).
"When you look at a contribution pattern like you see here, it's really
a classic case of pay-to-play politics," said Derek Cressman,
Regional Director of State Operations for Common Cause, a government watchdog
group. Campaign finance records show the Tennessee firm gave $100,000 to
Governor Schwarzenegger's ballot measure last year for budget reform. And
this year, the same company donated $10,000 to the Meg Whitman for Governor
campaign, and $25,000 more to the California Republican Party. Corrections
Corporation of America also contributed $5,000 to the Jerry Brown for
Governor campaign and more than $17,000 to the California Democratic Party.
CCA also gave thousands of dollars to State lawmakers – Democrats and
Republicans – most of them incumbents – a total of more than a quarter of a
million dollars to elected officials. CCA also spent nearly $300,000 to lobby
the Governor's Office, the Legislature and prison officials about the out-of-state
prisoner programs. CCA netted a multi-million dollar contract that critics
say was no coincidence. "The fact that they're putting money in really
looks like they're greasing the skids to get a lot more money out,"
Derek Cressman of Common Cause told CBS 13. CCA
declined our interview request – but sent a statement saying in part,
"…we are no different than – and in fact, play a much smaller role in
this arena – than many individual Californians, special interest groups and
businesses." But the CCA contract has now been amended several times,
resulting in today's nearly $700 million price tag. "And so we had a
hearing along these lines and found that there was no competitive
bidding," said Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, chair of the Assembly
Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review. The South Gate
Democrat told CBS 13 that other firms – and other states – were very
interested in housing California's prisoners. The Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation said two vendors did bid for the initial contract – but
one dropped out. "CCA was the only one that had the cell capacity with
the perimeter security and the programming necessary to take care of the
offenders in the way that California takes care of them," said Scott Kernan, Undersecretary of Operations for the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The CCA contract expires next
year – and there's a call at the Capitol for more transparency. Assemblyman
De La Torre told CBS 13, "It has to look like all other competitive
bidding processes so that the taxpayer will know that they're getting the
best deal when we're sending prisoners out of state." Are taxpayers in
fact getting the best bang for the buck? "We have no idea," De La
Torre said.
April 27, 2010 Mercury News
How's this for border insecurity? In another swipe at Arizona and its strict
new anti-immigration rules, California Senate leader Darrell Steinberg on
Tuesday asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to "deliver an unequivocal
message" of disgust by tearing up the state's contracts with Arizona
businesses and government agencies. Arizona's new law, which allows police to
demand identification from anyone reasonably believed to be an undocumented
immigrant, has spawned a maelstrom of emotions since its approval last week —
from quiet applause from those who support the crackdown to protests and
boycott shouts, including San Francisco's move Tuesday to ban city workers
from traveling to the state on official business. Steinberg, in a withering
letter to the governor, called the new rules "unconscionable" and a
recipe for "racial profiling." Noting energy agreements with
Arizona as well as deals to send the state California's overflow prisoners,
he urged Schwarzenegger to take action. "The state of California should
not be using taxpayer dollars to support such a policy," the Sacramento
Democrat wrote. The move may largely wind up symbolic. Severing many of the
contracts may not be legally possible, although Steinberg also has called for
a ban on new contracts. In a quick compilation provided Tuesday, the
Department of General Services found deals with 73 Arizona entities worth
$10.3 million. But officials said that doesn't include all contracts,
including those held by Caltrans, state universities or the prison system, so
the real number may be much larger. The state has a $700 million contract
with a private prison firm that houses California inmates in several
out-of-state prisons, including three in Arizona.
April 22, 2010 LA Times
A company that operates private prisons – and which is hoping to pluck
inmates out of California’s overcrowded lockups and into its for-profit
prisons – has donated $1,000 each to 10 state lawmakers, Republicans and
Democrats alike, in recent days. Private prisons could be a hot-button issue
during this summer’s budget talks. In January, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
proposed a constitutional amendment to require the state to spend more on
universities than keeping inmates behind bars. Privatizing prisons is one way
to do that, the governor has said. Schwarzenegger, whose ballot measure
efforts last year received $100,000 from the Corrections Corp. of America,
has been supportive of sending inmates to private prisons. More than 8,000
state inmates are already housed in the company’s out-of-state lockups, with
the governor’s proposed budget funding more than 10,000 private prison beds,
according to the Department of Finance. The Tennessee-based company spent
more than $175,000 on campaign contributions in 2009. It gave $15,000 to the
California Republican Party and $7,500 to the California Democratic Party.
Every state legislator – and there are four of them – running to be
California’s next attorney general has received at least $1,000 from the
prisons operator. Among the recent recipients of $1,000 in Corrections Corp.
of America largess: • Assembly: Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), Jose Solorio
(D-Santa Ana), Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) and Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego).
• State Senate: Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles), Leland Yee (D-San Francisco),
Gloria Negrete-McLeod (D-Chino) and Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark). Two of the
attorney general hopefuls, Assemblymen Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and Pedro Nava
(D-Santa Barbara), also received $1,000 donations.
January 25, 2010 KCRA
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger floated an unusual suggestion Monday on how to cut
the state's bloated prison costs with a private venture -- build a private
prison in Mexico. "We pay them to build a prison down in Mexico and then
we have those undocumented immigrants be down there in a prison and with
their prison guards and all this," Schwarzenegger told a gathering of
the Sacramento Press Club. "It will halve the costs to build the prisons
and halve the costs to run the prisons." The governor's remark came amid
alarm from law enforcement and crime victim groups about a new program meant
to thin the state's prison population through early release.
January 23, 2010 California
Progressive Report
This is Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, Chairman of the Assembly
Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. The Accountability
Committee was created last year to investigate California state government
programs and agencies to help improve program performance, find efficiencies
and save taxpayers' money. This week the Committee investigated a $600-million
contract the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation entered into with a
private prison company without conducting a competitive bidding process. A
key goal of the Committee is to ensure that state government conducts its
business in a transparent manner, and does everything it can to ensure that
taxpayers are getting the best deal possible. In this case, the Governor's
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation failed both of those goals. Due
to overcrowding in our state prisons, Governor Schwarzenegger declared a
state of emergency in the corrections system in 2006. Based on that
declaration of emergency, his Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
contracted with a private prison company to begin sending some of California
inmates to out-of-state facilities to help alleviate the overcrowding
problem. The Committee found no fault with the Department's initial effort to
sign a $23 million contract. Three years later, however, that contract has
been amended multiple times and is now valued at more than $600 million. At
no time during this period has the Department conducted a formal, competitive
bidding process to ensure the state is getting the best deal it could. No one
- not the Department, not the governor, not the Legislature or the public -
has any idea if another company or another state could have provided adequate
prison beds at a better price. During a period when the state's budget
deficit is leading to teacher layoffs and the elimination of important health
programs, this careless use of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars is
simply unacceptable. Members of the Assembly Committee on Accountability
questioned administration officials at an oversight hearing just this week,
and concluded that the Corrections Department must do better in the future to
ensure that it encourages competition and gets the best price it can for
out-of-state prison beds. On a bi-partisan basis, Committee members pledged
to reject an expansion of this program without competitive bidding. The
Committee will continue to provide much-needed oversight of state government
to ensure precious tax dollars are being spent as wisely as possible. This
has been Assemblymember Hector De La Torre, Chairman of the Assembly
Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. Thank you for listening.
November 24, 2009 Los Angeles Daily
Journal
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inked a deal in
October to ship 2,336 additional inmates to out-of-state facilities run by a
private prison company, bringing the total number of California prisoners
held by the firm since 2006 to roughly 10,500. The contract extension, worth
$54.4 million a year, came six months after the company, Nashville-based
Corrections Corp. of America, donated $100,000 to Budget Reform Now, a group
spearheaded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that sought to pass six
budget-related propositions, none having anything to do with private prisons.
Because of an emergency proclamation regarding prison overcrowding issued by
Schwarzenegger in 2006, the contract extension does not require legislative
approval, though lawmakers can still kill it if they don't approve the
spending when they re-convene in January. Rachel Arrezola,
a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said the contract extension was not related
to the donation. "The Governor had nothing to do with it," she
wrote in an e-mail. She said the corrections department alone made the
decision. Corrections officials have said they increased the number of
inmates exported to private prisons because of crowding in California's 33
prisons. A three-judge panel in August ordered officials to reduce the prison
population by about 40,000. The agency was closed Friday under a cost-saving
furlough and spokesmen did not return messages and e-mails for comment regarding
the donation but had said earlier in the week that it was a necessary step to
reduce crowding. Corrections Corp. also denied the donation was tied to the
contract extension, which brings the total value of its California contract
to more than $224 million a year. "We are politically active and make
contributions to Democrats and Republicans alike all over the country, as do
all companies of our size and reach," said Louise Grant, vice president
of communications at Corrections Corp. Corrections Corp. donated $234,500 in
2007-08, and $38,900 so far this year, to several members of the California
Legislature and the state Democratic and Republican parties, according to its
filings with the Secretary of State. The firm has also reported spending
about $45,000 for each of the last three quarters on lobbyists in California.
"It's certainly no accident that this company made this contribution and
then got awarded the contract extension," said Bob Stern, president of
the Center for Governmental Studies. "But I'm convinced there was no
quid pro quo here." Rather, Stern said handing out donations merely
gives corporations more and easier access to politicians. California pays
Corrections Corp. $63 a day to house 7,911 inmates in its facilities in
Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi. At about the time of the donation, the
company reported that it had instituted a hiring freeze and was considering
freezing executive salaries and other cost-cutting measures. It had postponed
a plan to build a prison in Tennessee. A number of expected contracts were on
hold; others never came through. In August, Alaska announced that it would go
with a competitor. Minnesota is also pulling back inmates, the company has
reported. According to its SEC filings, many of Correction Corp.'s facilities
had 100 or more empty beds on Nov. 1, bringing the number of vacancies above
8,800. In December, 765 Alaskan inmates will be removed from the company's
Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona, according to the filings. With the
contract expansion, California inmates will be filling those beds, plus
others in other facilities. In addition to the daily rate, the contract calls
for the state to reimburse medical expenses in excess of $2,500. Neither the
original contract with Corrections Corp., nor a subsequent extension that
increased the number of inmates to a maximum of about 8,000, have been vetted
by the Legislature. Schwarzenegger's 2006 emergency order allows the
corrections department to circumvent legislative approval. That first
contract was one of two awarded by the state to house up to 2,260 inmates in
private facilities. The other contractor was GEO Group Inc., of Florida,
which had managed some low-level California prisons on a contract since 1995.
Geo Group - formerly Wackenhut - had made $68,000 in campaign contributions
to various Schwarzenegger political committees in fiscal year 2005-06, before
the contract was awarded. After a major riot and fire occurred at the private
prison where the California inmates were slated to go, California rescinded
its contract with GEO Group. The company still manages a low-security prison
in Adalanto and three in McFarland. One of the
McFarland facilities will close in two months, according to corrections
officials.
November 10, 2008 Fresno Bee
A private prison company that has been lobbying the Schwarzenegger
administration and is a campaign contributor to the governor's causes has
made a bid to operate an overhauled inmate medical system, a move that could
conflict with court-ordered reforms, according to a document obtained Monday
by The Associated Press. The offer by The GEO Group Inc. of Florida caught
the court-appointed receiver overseeing reform of California's inmate health
care system by surprise. In the five-page internal memo obtained by the AP,
the receiver's chief of staff repeatedly makes it clear that he believes the
bid was solicited by the Schwarzenegger administration and questions the
administration's motives. Chief of staff John Hagar writes that The GEO Group
has spent more than $300,000 lobbying the governor's office and Legislature
since January. Campaign records on file with the secretary of state's office
show the company also made a $50,000 contribution last month to the campaign
for Proposition 11, the redistricting initiative on the November ballot
backed by Schwarzenegger. "The solicitation is all the more troublesome
because the Federal Court has taken responsibility away from the Secretary of
Corrections concerning the delivery of medical services," Hagar wrote in
the memo to court receiver Clark Kelso. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page
denied the administration solicited GEO's bid. She said Hagar may be
concerned about the overture by a private firm because "the receiver
can't defend his $8 billion boondoggle." That's the amount the court
receiver says he needs to build medical facilities for 10,000 inmates. Page
said the GEO Group approached the administration but was referred to the
state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Corrections spokesman
Oscar Hidalgo said company officials met last month with Corrections
Secretary Matthew Cate, who referred them to the receiver's office.
"There was no discussion beyond that because of the obvious, I guess: We
don't run the prison medical system," Hidalgo said. "All we did was
refer them to the receiver's office." Schwarzenegger's political
spokeswoman, Julie Soderlund, denied any connection
between the governor's policy decisions and the contribution to Proposition
11, which is leading in the vote tally but remains too close to call.
Officials with The GEO Group and its lobbyists did not return telephone
messages Monday. Hagar said the company has submitted a proposal and said it
will meet later this week with Kelso, the court-appointed receiver. He wrote
that the bid from GEO could be a way to undermine the reform efforts overseen
by the federal courts. That's because the company's bid to run inmate medical
services could be less expensive than the state-run medical centers proposed
by the receiver's office. "We should be careful that the governor's
office does not use the GEO proposal as a diversion, attempting to argue to
the public that it is more cost effective, when in fact it will not address
the constitutional problem at issue and it may violate California law,"
Hagar wrote. "The governor's office may use GEO as an attempt to derail
our construction program in the public arena." The actual bid could not
be obtained Monday, and it was not immediately known whether the company
offered a cost estimate. Hagar wrote that GEO is proposing "a generic
prison" that "will prove woefully inadequate concerning the
day-to-day requirements" of inmate care. Kelso, who is engaged in a
court battle with the administration, declined to comment. His reform program
is intended to remedy prison medical care that has been ruled
unconstitutional because of negligence and malfeasance. In recent years, the
receiver's office has boosted pay for doctors and nurses and hired dozens of
medical staff members in an attempt to improve conditions. It's not clear how
the federal judge in San Francisco would receive a proposal to private inmate
medical care, considering the history of poor treatment. The system had been
blamed for killing an inmate a week through incompetence. Privatizing those
functions also may run afoul of state law because it would take work from
state prison guards and other government employees. "The GEO Group has a
dismal record of both safety and care and treatment, even worse than the
Department of Corrections," said Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents most
prison guards.
October 5, 2008 San Francisco
Chronicle
They're not dueling initiatives. But a pair of anti-crime measures on the
Nov. 4 state ballot could hardly be more different in their approach to
improving California's criminal justice system. Proposition 5 would divert
more drug addicts and nonviolent offenders from prison to rehabilitation
programs. Proposition 6 would set aside money for anti-crime agencies and put
more convicts - gang members in particular - behind bars. One would shrink
the prison system, the other make it bigger. ... Spending boost -- Prop. 6,
the other measure, would require the state to spend at least $965 million a
year on programs for police and probation departments, prosecutors, jails and
juvenile lockups. That's a $365 million increase from current spending, a
figure likely to rise to $500 million within a few years, the legislative
analyst said. Penalties would increase for some crimes, particularly offenses
that are gang-related. Civil injunctions restricting the movement of alleged
gang members - like those that San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has
pursued in recent years - would become easier to obtain. "It's a response
to the growing gang problem, which is affecting all parts of
California," said Prop. 6 supporter Scott Thorpe, who leads the
California District Attorneys Association. Macallair
said Prop. 6 would worsen the crisis in prisons and noted that law enforcement
contractors had donated to the Prop. 6 campaign, including Corrections
Corporation of America, which builds and manages prisons.
June 5, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was within his rights to declare a state of
emergency at California's overcrowded prisons in 2006 and begin transferring
inmates out of state, an appeals court ruled Wednesday over the objections of
the prison guards union. The ruling by the state Third District Court of
Appeal in Sacramento overturned a judge's decision and was welcomed by
Schwarzenegger, who is separately defending the state against lawsuits by
inmates seeking to reduce the overall prison population and improve the
prisons' health care system. A federal judge has transferred control of
prison health care in California to a court-appointed manager after ruling
that the system violated constitutional standards. There are nearly 160,000
inmates in the 33 state prisons, which were designed to hold about 83,000.
The state is planning construction that will expand the capacity of state
prisons and county jails by 53,000. A referee appointed by a federal court
panel has proposed measures to reduce the prison population by 27,000 over
four years, to 133,000. The measures would include alternatives to prison for
some parole violators and felons facing short sentences. Wednesday's ruling
"comes at a critical juncture in our prison reform efforts,"
Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I am pleased that their decision
allows out-of-state transfers to continue while our comprehensive reforms to
reduce overcrowding are fully implemented." Laurie Hepler, a lawyer for
the prison guards' union and another prison employee union that challenged
the inmate transfers, said her clients disagreed with the ruling and would
appeal to the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger issued the order in October
2006 after a special legislative session on prison overcrowding fizzled, with
Democrats seeking changes in sentencing laws and Republicans calling for
prison expansion. As the inmate population continued to climb, 16,000
prisoners occupied bunks in prison gyms and other temporary quarters.
Schwarzenegger has said as many as 8,000 inmates could be shipped out of
state. So far, nearly 3,900 prisoners have been transferred to out-of-state
prisons run by private companies under contracts with California. The
transfers have continued despite a ruling in April 2007 by a Sacramento
County judge that Schwarzenegger had acted illegally. Superior Court Judge
Gail Ohanesian agreed with the unions that state
law allows a governor to issue an emergency order only when local officials
need state help in responding to a disaster, and that the use of private
prison employees violated civil service laws. The appeals court had put Ohanesian's ruling on hold while the state appealed. In
its ruling Wednesday, the court said the governor can issue orders to respond
to emergencies in state institutions that may endanger residents. In this
case, the court said, the lack of space in state prisons was causing
overcrowding in local jails, forcing counties to release some inmates who
might commit more crimes. Overcrowding also increased the risk of diseases
that could spread outside the prisons and had led to local water pollution
from sewage spills caused by overtaxed prison wastewater systems, the court
said. The court also said California's civil service rules allow the state to
employ private contractors when public employees are not available to meet
urgent needs. The planned expansion of state prisons will take years to
complete, and the prison system will need five years to eliminate staffing
shortages, the court said. "California cannot build or retrofit the
prisons needed overnight, no matter how much money it invests to solve the
problem," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said in the 3-0 ruling. The
only available lockups are in other states and are staffed by private
employees, he said.
March 21, 2008 The California
Majority Report
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who railed against special interests
during his recall campaign and has since shattered all fundraising efforts --
has quietly been padding his campaign accounts with hundreds of thousands of
dollars during the past few weeks. In the last week, Schwarzenegger has added
five- and six-figure donations from health care interests, pharmaceutical
companies, homebuilders, and private prison companies -- just as he begins
reviewing legislation being passed in the legislature reviewing those
industries. For example, he has received $25,000 from Pacific West Pharmacy,
$5,000 from the Corrections Corporation of America, and $25,000 from General
Motors Corporation. The funds have been funneled to this "California
Dream Team" account, one of several the governor has to raise campaign
cash. It should be noted, however, that Schwarzenegger cannot run for
re-election. Fascinating that Schwarzenegger can shake down the wealthy and
contributions from millions in campaign money but rules out Democratic
proposals to tax these very same interests to pay their fair share for our kids education.
March 9, 2008 Sacramento Bee
As far as the inmates are concerned, it's fine if California pays tens of
millions of dollars more to their private-prison captors. They like the
relaxed atmosphere in the private sector, not to mention the satellite TV
that on a recent Friday flashed plenty of poolside bikini action from a
Spanish-language soap opera. "You're relaxed here," said Don
Chandler, 43, of West Sacramento, who was propped up on his bunk at Golden
State Modified Community Correctional Facility while finishing up a stint for
violating parole on an underlying domestic-violence conviction. "You're
comfortable. You can enjoy yourself here." Although California has been
contracting with private correctional facilities for 22 years to cope with
overcrowding, saving money in the process, costs are about to go up. This
year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state corrections agency is proposing a
five-year, $67 million increase to one company, GEO Group Inc. The proposal
would bump up the daily rate the state pays per inmate by 50 percent, which
the company says it needs to increase the minimum pay of its officers from
$10 an hour to $14.70. It is a deal that will require approval from the
Legislature and one that figures to attract an added level of scrutiny. State
Sen. Mike Machado, chairman of the budget subcommittee that oversees prison
spending, promised a "tough look" when he examines the proposed
deal for the GEO Group, especially in light of the remaining $8 billion
budget deficit projected through June 2009. "Any proposal to spend money
with this type of deficit raises serious questions," the Linden Democrat
said. Corrections officials say private prisons are crucial to finding more
space to house inmates, while critics in the public employee unions castigate
them for lower pay scales that they say attract a less-than-professional work
force. Private prisons generally house lower-risk, healthier inmates in the
final 18 months of their terms. It's a class of prisoner that costs less to
incarcerate than the dangerous, the sick and the long-term who require added
expenses for things such as security and medical care. On a recent visit to
the Golden State facility, 25 miles north of Bakersfield, inmates lauded the
prison for its easier feel, which they said contrasts sharply with the
oppressive environment of state institutions marked by overcrowding, violence
and control. "Right here is love, compared to where I've been,"
said inmate William Cook, 27, of Newark, who previously walked the yards at
San Quentin, Pleasant Valley and Lancaster. "Here you get all the
football games, you get movies every day. It's real easy to do your time
here. You don't have to worry about nothing – no politics right here."
GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said the satellite TV cost
is "minimal" and characterized it as a "privilege" that
makes inmates want to behave. "It enhances the security and the safety
of the facility," Paez said. Two veteran GEO
officers, Tim Harrison and Melissa Barrientos, said in interviews that they
like their jobs and the company that employs them, even though they have
topped out on the firm's pay scales at $15.70 an hour. The hourly base for a
top-scale state correctional officer is $35. "We know we work in a
private institution," said Harrison, an 11-year employee. "The
state has received training in firearms and batons, and we're not allowed to
possess those things because we don't have the training." Harrison and
Barrientos said they work about 20 hours of overtime a week. They said they
get good health benefits and a 401(k), but no pensions. "Some people are
embarrassed to admit they work here, because of all the stuff that was said
about this place" by former employees, Barrientos said. "It's not
that bad. It's a good place." Even though she likes working for GEO,
Barrientos disclosed she is taking a test to become a state correctional
officer. GEO officials support that, and Golden State Warden Chris Strickland
sees his prison as "a great steppingstone." UC Berkeley Labor
Center Chairman Ken Jacobs said there should be no surprise in the company's
relatively modest salary scales. "That's how they make their
profits," said Jacobs, whose research focuses on public employment and
living wages, among other topics. "Labor is one of the places where
people tend to squeeze." On the non-custody side, teachers in the GEO
prisons start out at $18.15 an hour, according to the company. The rate is
substantially below most starting categories in the state prisons. Eric
Beltran, 31, who teaches a computer class, has been in his current job for
about two years, working his way up from the kitchen. His qualifications for
the computer job, he said, include working with computers when he was in the
motor pool in the Marines and a "couple courses" he took in his one
year at Bakersfield College. "I want to keep climbing the ladder,"
Beltran said. Fewer than 100 Golden State inmates currently are enrolled in
educational or vocational classes. GEO officials said they hope to increase
that number to 250 inmates with the new contract. Mike Poulson, 48, a drug
offender from San Diego, slapped dominoes with fellow inmates – including
some of other races, a rare sight in state prisons – and said he likes the
GEO prison, compared with sardine cans he's been in such as Solano and Chino.
He just wishes the place had more rehab programs, or more job opportunities –
such as working in the kitchen – which he said are lacking at Golden State.
"I don't like to sit around doing nothing," Poulson said. GEO's
deal would apply to three of the five prisons it owns in the state – Golden
State, Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility, also located
in McFarland, and Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility in
Adelanto, San Bernardino County. The proposed increase comes as
Schwarzenegger seeks to grant early releases over the next two years to
22,000 prisoners. Scott Kernan, the prison agency's
chief of adult operations, said the proposed contract increase will be
canceled if the releases go through. Corrections officials say the raise is
long overdue, that GEO had been operating below market value until the state
increased its daily, per-inmate rate from $40 to $60 in December. "I
know some people's sensibilities are bruised, but I think it's a reasonable rate
increase, and it's going to be for five years into the future," Kernan said. GEO Western Region Vice President Ed Brown
defended the contract. According to the company, the deal reflects the
increase in minimum officer pay from $10 to $14.70 an hour; added costs for
food, health care and utilities; the tab for buying the prisons it formerly
leased; and a GEO promise to ramp up inmate rehabilitation. "This was an
opportunity for a clean sheet of paper, rebid, with practical figures based
on 2007 dollars," Brown said. "It's in my opinion reasonable in all
respects." Together, the three facilities house about 1,800 of the 5,600
inmates in the state's 13 community prisons – seven private, six owned by
cities. GEO is the second-largest private prison company in the United
States, behind Correctional Corp. of America. It contributed $68,000 to
Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in 2003 and 2005. Its chief executive
officer, George C. Zoley, made $3.7 million last
year, not counting stock options, according to Salary.com. GEO's profits
jumped 25 percent last year to $41 million on revenue of $1 billion,
according to its 2007 annual report. The company's $60-a-day rate per inmate
compares with the $118 the state pays on average to accommodate an inmate in
one of its own prisons every day; the $77 it pays counties to house state
prisoners; and the $63 it pays on its out-of-state contracts. The California
Correctional Peace Officers Association voiced strident opposition to the
deal. Union spokesman Ryan Sherman called it "corporate welfare."
"If GEO is complaining they need extra money to pay their staff more,
that's a joke," Sherman said. "If GEO wants to pay them $15 (to
start), they can do that right now."
July 23, 2007 Fresno Bee
Two federal judges on Monday ordered creation of a special panel to
recommend ways to relieve California's overcrowded prisons, a move that could
lead to the capping of the inmate population or the early release of some
prisoners. In doing so, the judges rejected the main solution set forth by
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to address a crisis that has
been building for decades. Last spring, they agreed to an ambitious $7.8
billion program to build 53,000 new prison and jail cells. The judges said
that plan, submitted to the courts in June, will only make matters worse for
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state can't
hire enough guards and medical professionals to provide proper care and
oversight for the inmates it has now, let alone the thousands more who might
be added through the building program. "From all that presently appears,
new beds will not alleviate this problem but will aggravate it," U.S.
District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento
wrote. Schwarzenegger said he will appeal the judges' decision to create the
three-judge panel.
June 14, 2007 NBC 11
A no-show at a Thursday hearing fueled the controversy over moving
prisoners across state lines against their will, NBC11 reported. The state
committee on prison operations was ready to ask tough questions of the
private company set to transfer inmates out of California during a hearing
Thursday. However, the Corrections Corporation of America representative was
a no-show. "Here we have a $56 million contract, and it guarantees them
payment whether we have one prisoner or 1,000 prisoners -- and it's a
guaranteed contract," Assemblyman Todd Spitzer said. "And they
can't send one official to California to answer questions of the
legislators?" California has already sent 400 inmates to private prisons
in Tennessee and Arizona. Those inmates were volunteers. A video used as a
recruitment tool encourages prisoners to volunteer to move to less crowded
facilities out of state. The Department of Corrections created the video,
which tells inmates they will have bigger cells, dozens of cable channels and
all night parties if they move to a prison in Tennessee. Under the prison
reform package signed last month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California
will soon begin sending up to 8,000 prisoners out of state -- whether they
like it or not -- prompting concerns about potential riots. Bill Sessa of the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said there's no
safety concern whatsoever. "We move hundreds of thousands of inmates a
year against their will," Sessa said. "Moving them to a prison in
another state is really no different." Not everyone is enthused about
sending prisoners out of state to ease prison overcrowding. Critics said
there is a better way to go. Matt Gray of Taxpayers for Improving Public
Safety said that the 20,000 foreign national inmates in prisons on "our
dime, California's dime," could be transferred into federal custody and
begin the deportation process back to their country so Californians would no
longer have to pay to keep them housed. Prison authorities said undocumented
immigrants would be among the first inmates screened for involuntary
transfers. The Corrections Corporation of America told NBC11 it didn't show
up because of a scheduling conflict and because it did not receive enough
advance notice.
June 2, 2007 Sacramento Bee
State corrections officials resumed transferring inmates to out-of-state
prisons Friday, moving 38 convicts by bus to Arizona. The transfers had been
placed on hold since November, when two public employee unions convinced a
Sacramento judge that sending inmates out of state violated California's
civil service laws. Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian's
ruling has since been stayed pending an appeal to the 3rd District Court of
Appeal by the Schwarzenegger administration. Oral arguments have yet to be
scheduled. Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said state officials
"believe we have statutory authority" to go ahead with more
transfers, and he suggested that if the administration lost its appeal, it
would not pose a major problem. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to
it," Unger said. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger obtained legislative
approval in the recently enacted Assembly Bill 900 prison construction and
rehabilitation package to transfer up to 8,000 inmates, involuntarily if it
comes to that. Only inmates volunteering for the out-of-state placement were
transferred Friday, however. The California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation is planning to transfer as many as 400 inmates a month to help
ease overcrowding, with 18,000 inmates now living in gyms, dayrooms and other
spaces not designed to house them. "Temporary out-of-state inmate
transfers will provide immediate relief to California's prison system while
the rest of the governor's comprehensive reforms are implemented,"
Corrections Secretary Jim Tilton said in a prepared statement. Tilton said
the transfers "will also give us breathing room" to try to pick up
the system's rehabilitation effort and also to help improve its medical
delivery system, which a San Francisco federal judge has declared
unconstitutional. Friday's transfers to the Florence Detention Center in
Arizona increased to 218 the number of California inmates being housed in the
prison, which is owned and operated by the Correctional Corporation of
America. Another 76 state prisoners have been transferred to the West
Tennessee Detention Facility, another CCA-owned prison not far from Memphis.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Service Employees
International Union Local 1000 were the unions filing the suit last fall that
temporarily blocked the transfers. CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran said Friday
that even though the most recent transfers involved only inmates who the
department said wanted to go out of state, the decision to move out prisoners
who don't want to go "is absolutely one of the most dangerous things
this administration has utilized." Corcoran said the prison system has
been "marketing these (out-of-state) institutions much like cruise
ships," yet still has fallen short of obtaining anywhere near the 19,000
inmates the corrections agency initially said were interested in the
transfers. "Very quickly, they're going to have to move them
involuntarily, then we'll see what happens from there," Corcoran said.
Union leaders have said they expect inmates who don't want to be transferred
out of state to wage intense struggles to keep from being removed from their
cells.
May 24, 2007 California Aggie
A state appellate court gave the go-ahead for Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger to resume transferring inmates from overcrowded state prisons
into out-of-state, privately run correctional facilities earlier this week.
The decision came as deliberation over a lawsuit filed by the prison guard's union
to end the transfer practice carries on. The May 21 announcement by the court
will allow the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to
prepare the transfer of up to 300 inmates in June, according to CDCR
spokesperson Bill Sessa. Sessa said that by the end of the year, 5,000
prisoners are expected to be shipped out of state, and by March 2009, the
number of inmates will reach 8,000. "We think it gives us an opportunity
to put some breaking room into the prison system," Sessa said. The governor's
plan to send prisoners out of state to alleviate overcrowding in the
California state prison system was originally proposed in late 2006 by
eliciting prisoners to voluntarily move into correctional facilities managed
by the Corrections Corporation of America, located in Tennessee and Arizona.
Only 360 inmates opted to relocate to the privately run prisons, prompting
Schwarzenegger to make the transfers for selected prisoners mandatory in
February 2007. The move brought about a lawsuit filed by the California
Correctional Peace Officers Association to block the practice, calling it an
unconstitutional and desperate attempt at solving prolonged prison
overcrowding. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian
ruled in favor of the CCPOA in a Feb. 20 decision, saying the governor
inappropriately used his powers to declare that the crowded state prison
system was in a state of emergency. The Schwarzenegger administration
appealed the judge's ruling and was granted a temporary stay - allowing the
transfers to resume. The CCPOA disapproved of this week's decision by the
appellate court, saying prison guards will be at higher risk for assaults
when forcing inmates who are unwilling to transfer into the out-of-state
prisons. "All [the inmates] have to do if they don't want to get
transferred is assault the staff," said Ryan Sherman of the CCPOA.
"And now they're disqualified from going." Sherman said the
governor is resorting to transferring inmates because of the lack of a
short-term plan to solve the prison overcrowding problem. He said shipping
inmates out of state is inconsistent with recommendations from
Schwarzenegger's own staff to establish community-based correctional
facilities. "His own experts said that the best chance rehabilitation
occurs when the inmates are in their communities," Sherman said.
April 6, 2007 Sacramento Bee
The Schwarzenegger administration sought Thursday to block a court ruling
that the governor's program transferring inmates out of state is
"unlawful." In the meantime, the administration is taking the
ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian
to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal. Ohanesian
ruled against the administration on Feb. 20, but the official order blocking
the order wasn't entered until Monday. The state filed its appeal on Tuesday,
and on Thursday filed the stay order on Ohanesian's
ruling until the appeal is heard. In a statement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
said his office is prepared to "fight to preserve our emergency efforts
to address the prison overcrowding crisis." He said the out-of-state
transfers, in which hundreds of prisoners already have been moved to private
prisons in Arizona and Tennessee, are "imperative to relieve the
pressure on our overburdened prison system and improve safety for
correctional officers, staff and inmates." Ohanesian's
ruling agreed with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and
Service Employees International Union Local 1000 that the transfers violated
the state's civil service protection laws. Her ruling also said the governor
overstepped his authority by issuing an emergency proclamation on the prison
overcrowding because the issue remains within the state's ability to control.
Moreover, the judge's ruling said, no local authorities asked the state for
assistance. The challenge to the governor's authority to declare an emergency
created "wider implications" that his appeal will seek to address,
Schwarzenegger said in his statement. "It jeopardizes my executive
authority to maintain the public's safety, the lives and property of our
citizens," Schwarzenegger said. " CCPOA attorney Gregg Adam said
the administration is setting itself up for potentially larger problems if it
goes ahead with the transfers. He said the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation is just about out of inmates who have
volunteered for the transfers and that future movements in all likelihood
will involve prisoners who don't want to go. As a result, Adam predicted that
inmates rights attorneys and other groups will sue
the state and push the matter from the state courts into the federal system.
"It's reckless for the state to carry on with the transfers (given) the
ruling," Adam said. "To continue to send inmates out of state will
trigger a ton of litigation, and the administration is going to have more
than a couple of disgruntled labor unions to deal with."
February 21, 2007 AP
Private prison operator Corrections Corp. of America shares dropped
Wednesday morning after a judge ruled California could not transfer thousands
of prisoners out of state. In October, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a
state of emergency because of prison overcrowding and ordered that as many as
5,000 prisoners be sent to private prisons around the country. But the prison
guard union sued, and Tuesday Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian
said the situation was not an emergency, and the order violated the state
Constitution, which bans jobs normally done by state workers from being done
by a private company. She gave the state until June to reduce overcrowding in
its prisons - rather than work with CCA. Banc of America Securities analyst
T.C. Robillard said the ruling was not unexpected and would be appealed,
though it does create a brief psychological barrier for CCA and, thus, an
opportunity for investors. "We continue to be buyers of the stock and
would use any near-term weakness as a buying opportunity," he said.
Corrections Corp. shares gave up $1.02, or 1.9 percent, to $52.35 on the New
York Stock Exchange.
February 20, 2007 Sacramento Bee
A Sacramento judge Tuesday blocked California corrections officials from
transferring inmates to out of state, ruling that Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's declaration of a prison overcrowding emergency was
"unlawful" and that the movement of the prisoners violates the
state's civil service principles. Schwarzenegger vowed to appeal the decision
issued by Superior Court Judge Gail D. Ohanesian
and the state attorney general's office has said it will seek a stay of the
ruling. More than 400 inmates already have been transferred to private,
out-of-state prisons on contracts that Ohanesian
has enjoined. In her five-page ruling, Ohanesian
said Schwarzenegger's declaration violated the state's Emergency Services Act
because the prison overcrowding is a statewide issue rather than a local
disaster that would require a response from state government. "The
emergency here is not within the control of any single county or city in
California," Ohanesian wrote. "This is so
not because of the magnitude of the crisis. It is because control of the
state prisons is exclusively within the purview of state government and not
local government. The intent of the Emergency Services Act is not to give the
governor extraordinary powers to act without legislative approval in matters
such as this that are ordinarily and entirely within the control of state
government." Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger
made a "good faith attempt" to resolve the crisis in which 172,000
inmates are living in space designed for about half that many but that he
acted "in excess of his authority" in proclaiming the emergency.
She said the state's arguments that the transfers did not violate
constitutional civil service protections were "unavailing" because
the lack of employee services were never cited as a
reason for the transfers. The suit was brought by the California Correctional
Peace Officers Association and the Service Employees International Union
Local 1000.
February 16, 2007 Contra Costa Times
Overcrowding is fueling violence inside California's prisons and creating
an atmosphere primed for a major riot, a state attorney said Friday during
court arguments over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to send prisoners
to other states. As an example, Deputy Attorney General Vickie Whitney cited a
Dec. 30 brawl by hundreds of inmates at the California Institution for Men in
Chino that injured more than 50 inmates. "It's because of very crowded
situations, and it's a miracle that something more dangerous hasn't occurred
that's going to imperil not only correctional officers but inmates and the
public," Whitney told reporters after the court hearing. Severe
overcrowding prompted Schwarzenegger to declare an emergency in October and
order thousands of inmates to be transferred to private prisons in other
states. Two state employee unions, including the one representing prison
guards, challenged the order on two points. They said it violates the
Emergency Powers Act and a provision in the state Constitution that prohibits
using private companies for jobs usually performed by state workers. Union
attorney Gregg Adams said state law reserves emergency declarations for
unforeseen disasters that overwhelm local authorities. It should not be used
to address predictable situations such as crowding in prisons, he said.
"It makes no sense to me that an illegality can be justified by a danger
to the public," he said. Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian said Schwarzenegger's declaration might have
overstepped state law but delayed a decision in the case. The judge said she
will consider whether the public safety threat outweighs any harm to the
unions.
February 8, 2007 LA Times
Attorneys for two California prisoners on Wednesday asked a federal court
to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from forcibly transferring convicts to
private lockups in other states. The challenge comes less than a week after
the governor ordered the mandatory moves to relieve overcrowding, which he
said had reached crisis levels in most of the state's 33 prisons. Close to
400 California inmates already have transferred voluntarily to private
prisons in Tennessee and Arizona under a program that began in November.
Schwarzenegger authorized the mandatory moves because so few convicts had
agreed to go. In papers filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Los
Angeles civil rights lawyer Stephen Yagman asked for an order barring the
forced transfers of inmates David Diaz and Paul Blumberg — and others in
similar circumstances. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel issued an order instructing
the Schwarzenegger administration to file a response before a hearing Feb.
20. The order also said the court had been assured Diaz and Blumberg would
not be forcibly transferred before then. Diaz is incarcerated at Corcoran
State Prison, in the San Joaquin Valley, for attempted murder and related
charges. Blumberg was sentenced to life for attempted murder and is housed at
Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe. Both men
have filed habeas corpus appeals in federal court, and Yagman argues that
because those are pending, the inmates may not be transferred out of state.
The mandatory transfers also would violate their constitutional right to due
process, he said.
December 31, 2006 AP
California no longer plans to transfer more than 1,200 of its inmates to
an Indiana state prison, an official said. Trina Randall, New Castle
Correctional Facility's public information officer, on Thursday confirmed to
The Courier-Times that the deal had fallen through. The plan was thwarted
because of a lawsuit against California over the possible transfer, and a
lack of inmates willing to volunteer to make the cross-country move. Gov.
Mitch Daniels announced in October a contract between California and
Florida-based GEO Group Inc., the company Indiana hired to operate the New
Castle prison. He said 1,260 inmates would be transferred to Indiana in a
deal that was to have created 200 Indiana jobs. The deal was part of plans to
alleviate prison overcrowding in California, and the Indiana prison was to be
paid $63 per day to house each of that state's inmates, with $15 of that
going to state government. Daniels had said the state would make about $6.2
million in each of the next two years. The medium-security prison in New
Castle, 40 miles east of Indianapolis, has a capacity of 2,416 but has only
1,068 inmates. But a news release earlier this week from the Indiana
Department of Correction termed the transfer as "not likely." It
said that the DOC was working with another state on an agreement similar to
the California deal. "We are in the process of reviewing a proposal from
that jurisdiction," said DOC Commissioner David Donahue.
November 22, 2006 AP
A state judge decided Wednesday to let California send 2,260 inmates to
Indiana and four other states to relieve prison crowding, though she said the
transfers may be illegal. Two state employee unions "are reasonably
likely" to win their lawsuit against the state next year, but can't
prove they are suffering enough immediate irreparable harm to justify a
preliminary injunction in the meantime, ruled Sacramento Superior Court Judge
Gail Ohanesian. Any damages the unions suffer are
more than offset by the "extreme peril" created by keeping more
than 173,000 inmates in space designed for fewer than 100,000, Ohanesian said.
November 2, 2006 KESP
A Sacramento County judge today rejected state employee unions' attempt to
temporarily block California's plans to move more than two thousand inmates
to other states. But Judge Patrick Marlette set another hearing for later
this month. The judge says that will give the unions another chance to argue
that Governor Schwarzenegger is violating the state Constitution by shipping
the inmates to private prisons in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee
this month to relieve crowding in the nation's largest state prison system.
The unions say Schwarzenegger is illegally sidestepping the state's civil
service system and the usual contracting procedures. Schwarzenegger's
attorney says the move is needed to relieve dangerous conditions and the
possibility that a judge could order the early release of inmates.
October 29, 2006 Robinson County
Times
Beginning in November, Corrections Corporation of America will begin
receiving up to 1,000 medium-security inmates from the California prison
system at its correctional facilities in Tennessee, Arizona and Oklahoma. The
contract is worth $22.9 million to the Nashville-based prison builder and
operator. The state of California considers it both a bargain — $63 instead
of the $90 per prisoner per day it would cost to keep inmates in their state
system — and a necessity. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared an
emergency in order to speed up no-bid contracts with CCA and Geo Group Inc.
of Florida, another private prison operator. California has 172,000 inmates
crowded into space designed for 100,000. Adverse reaction began in
California, where the prison workers' unions complained it's cheaper to farm
out the convicts only because the private firms are allowed to pick the
inmates they want — meaning those with fewer discipline and medical problems.
The CCA contract is quite advantageous to the state of California, as well.
The inmates will be housed at a CCA facility in Tennessee for three years
with the possibility of two-year extensions. This is intended to allow
California lawmakers time to decide whether to add more cells, more programs
to trim the prison population; or do nothing. In Tennessee, the focus is on
how an influx of out-of-state convicts will interact with current inmates,
and whether the new inmates, if any were to escape, would behave more
ruthlessly in a state that is not their own. But perhaps the greatest concern
echoes past discussions on this page about who is accountable when a state's
prisons are run by a private company. Since the state of Tennessee is
ultimately responsible for the safety of its residents, it's critical that
government officials scrutinize such a large transfer of criminals who did
not pass through Tennessee's legal system. Corporate boardroom decision-makers
should not take precedence over state correctional experts when safety is
involved.
October 27, 2006 Contra Costa Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to relieve overcrowding in state
prisons by sending thousands of inmates to private, out-of-state prisons hit
an unexpected snag Thursday when a legal opinion suggested the idea may
violate the California constitution. The opinion by the state's nonpartisan
Legislative Counsel could trigger a lawsuit by the state's powerful prison
guards union, which opposes Schwarzenegger's proposal and is upset with him
over its stalled bid for a new contract. "Private profit is the wrong
reason to make decisions about someone's liberty," said Mike Jimenez,
president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. Jimenez
added that the union was already assessing whether to file a lawsuit, even
before the legal opinion. California crams about 173,000 inmates into its 33
prisons, roughly double the number the facilities were meant to house.
Thousands sleep in triple bunks or gymnasiums, and officials say space is so
tight that there isn't enough room to provide basic rehabilitation programs.
Exporting inmates is one piece of Schwarzenegger's prison strategy. Earlier
this month he signed contracts with two private prison companies to send
2,260 inmates to out-of-state facilities. The state expects to begin moving
them next month, and ultimately the governor hopes to send 5,000 inmates out
of state, to both private and public prisons. The opinion released Thursday was
written by attorneys for the Legislative Counsel, the nonpartisan agency that
advises the state Legislature. They concluded that in order for the state to
contract with private entities to provide services, officials must show that
the services "cannot be performed adequately, competently, or
satisfactorily by state civil service employees." The attorneys
cautioned, however, that they interpreted the law generally and did not
specifically evaluate Schwarzenegger's proposal. Senate Majority Leader
Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who opposes Schwarzenegger's private prison
plan, asked the counsel to provide a legal opinion. Administration officials
said Thursday afternoon they needed more time to digest the opinion before
commenting. But one corrections official said that severe overcrowding
combined with thousands of prison guard vacancies justify the private prison
contracts. "This is not an action we took lightly," said Oscar
Hidalgo, an assistant secretary for the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation. If 5,000 inmates don't volunteer to move out of state,
administration officials have said they will try to force some prisoners to
go. Illegal immigrants and prisoners scheduled to eventually be paroled in
other states would be at the top of the list for involuntary transfers, which
would almost certainly trigger a legal challenge. Paying private companies to
house California inmates is not a new idea. Some 2,800 inmates currently
reside in privately run facilities in California, Hidalgo said, and the state
has been housing inmates in those prisons since the 1980s. "It's stood
the test of time," Hidalgo said. But Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the
prison guard union, said no one has ever challenged it in court. That may
change soon.
October 26, 2006
A nonpartisan legal opinion requested by Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero
(D-Los Angeles) has confirmed that state contracts with private prison
companies are unconstitutional. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced last
week that his Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) signed two
contracts for over $153 million to temporarily provide 2,260 beds for
California inmates in other states. The contracts, with The GEO Group Inc.
headquartered in Florida and the Corrections Corporation of America
headquartered in Tennessee, follow the Governor’s October 4 declaration of a
state of emergency in California’s overcrowded prison system. In response to
a request by Senator Romero, the Legislative Counsel issued a seven-page
legal opinion declaring “the state would violate Section 1 of Article VII of
the California Constitution by contracting with private entities for security
and public safety services traditionally performed by [public employees of]
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.” “This legal opinion
confirms what I have long believed: that we should not support prisons for
profit,” said Romero, who serves on the Senate Public Safety Committee and
chairs the Senate Select Committee on California’s Correctional System.
“California has a prison overcrowding crisis, and we cannot privatize our way
out of it. This legal opinion brings the responsibility back on us and
reaffirms my call for real reforms that reduce overcrowding while ensuring
public safety. If the Governor wants to call a special session of the
Legislature, he should focus on breaking the cycle of recidivism with parole
reforms and effective rehabilitation programs. “Public prisons are morally
and fiscally accountable to the taxpayers of California. Private prisons are
accountable to their shareholders, with a binding obligation to maximize
profits. If the Governor goes through with these private prison contracts, he
risks exposing the state to costly civil lawsuits. California can’t afford
this mistake. I call on the Governor to do what is ethical and constitutional
and withdraw these contracts immediately.” A hard copy of the Legislative
Counsel opinion is available via fax. Details of the Administration’s October
19 contracts are athttp://www.cdcr.ca.gov/communications/press20061020.html
.
October 2006 Duke
Magazine
The governor of Florida combines the savvy of a seasoned politician with
a sense of humor that would better befit a junior-high student. No one comes
through Jeb Bush's office in Tallahassee without getting at least a gentle
ribbing; the man likes to joke around. But when he talks about Donna Arduin, his tone changes, his eyebrows settle, and he
begins to celebrate his state and the fiscal health he wholeheartedly
attributes to his former budget manager. "What state improved to a
triple-A bond rating during these tough times? What state ran an $8.6-billion
surplus? She's the budget king." Arduin so
effectively revamped Florida's budget, Bush says, that she made it possible
for him to make good on almost all his campaign promises, cut taxes, and
build a surplus, all despite an economy that continued to lean on tourism
even after 9/11 made Americans reluctant to travel. On Tuesday morning at
5:00, Arduin's mind is already moving at 100 miles
an hour. As if today's presentation wasn't enough pressure, she sits on the
board of Centracore Properties Trust (CPT), a
$200-million company that's just entered crisis mode. The company leases
correctional facilities to operators like the GEO Group Inc., which issued a
statement yesterday that it did not plan to renew its lease with CPT.
Investors interpreted the announcement as a vote of no-confidence, and, by
the closing bell, CPT shares had taken an 11 percent hit. Arduin's
pretty sure she knows what's going on: GEO is trying to sink CPT's stock
price so it can gobble up enough shares to take over the company. By 8:00,
she's in the Mercedes, whirring south, downloading e-mail and answering
calls, simultaneously tweaking today's presentation and coordinating CPT's
next move. She gets on the phone with Jeannie Woodford, California's director
of state prisons. "I wanted to see if you were interested ..." Arduin leads without a drop of desperation. The plan is
to persuade California to lease the prisons directly from CPT, cut out GEO,
and "announce it now," to pump the stock back up before GEO can
afford to buy a controlling share. There's already been a lot of movement on
the stock, and it's fallen steadily from $28. By day's end, shares will be
trading at $19.
October 6, 2006 Courier Journal
Up to 1,200 medium-security prisoners from California will be housed in
the state's underused New Castle Correctional Facility, Gov. Mitch Daniels
announced yesterday. Daniels said the deal he struck with California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger will result in a $6.2 million profit for Indiana.
Indiana officials initiated the negotiations, which took four or five months,
after reading about California's prison-crowding crisis, Daniels said. GEO
Group, the private company that runs the prison in east-central Indiana, will
hire 200 additional workers to oversee the new prisoners. "We saw an
opportunity and contacted California officials several months ago,"
Daniels said. "We look at every way we can to be creative and
businesslike, and this is a win for everyone."
October 6, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A California prison overcrowding emergency declaration could speed up
that state’s contract negotiations with GEO Group, which owns the Lake County
prison. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman
Bill Sessa said the agency is continuing to talk with three private prison
companies, one of which is GEO, to negotiate contracts to move prisoners to
out-of-state facilities. “We’re going to continue contract negotiations with
three companies and whoever else jumps in,” Sessa said. Officials from GEO
said they are continuing talks with California. “We’re looking forward to
working with the state,” said Pablo Paez, director
of corporate communications at GEO. “We’re working with them and we look
forward to work through the process.” GEO has available beds at three
facilities, including the Lake County site, Paez
said, noting that California officials have visited the facility sites. Paez said he has no specific timeline for contract talks,
but added that the state-of-emergency declaration demonstrates “they have an
immediate need to send up to 5,000 inmates out of state.”
October 6, 2006 Inland Valley Daily
Bulletin
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent declaration of an emergency in state
prisons will mean two new possibilities for inmates at the California
Institution for Men and other prisons: doing time at private prisons and
doing time in other states. Special Section: Criminal Neglect
Schwarzenegger's proclamation makes it possible for California to contract
for prison beds with private operators in other states - a proposal the
governor had sought earlier this year but was rebuffed by the Legislature.
"Our prisons are now beyond maximum capacity, and we must act
immediately and aggressively to resolve this issue," he said Wednesday.
But experts questioned the wisdom of the move, noting that placing prisoners
in out-of-state facilities has in the past led to violence. "There's
been lots of problems with inmates being shipped out, in particular if
they're put into a facility with multijurisdictional inmates," said Ken Kopczynski, of the Florida-based Private Corrections
Institute. "California inmates are under California law. If they have
Oklahoma inmates, or Texas inmates, they all have to be handled
separately." Disparity in treatment of prisoners from several states was
one cause identified in a 2004 riot where inmates alternately smashed,
flooded and torched a private institution in Colorado, Kopczynski
noted. In that incident, prisoners from different states -Colorado,
Washington and Wyoming - felt they were being treated unfairly, since each
state paid different wages for inmate labor. Other problems can arise when
inmates from different states get together to form their own gangs, or when
the distance from their families and support networks is too great, making
rehabilitation less likely. Kopczynski also said
the private corrections industry has racked up a less-than-stellar record in
the past, mostly due to cost-saving efforts such as using low-wage guards and
cutting corners on security.
October 5, 2006 The Press-Enterprise
The governor's emergency order to transfer California inmates to other
states to ease crowding sent private-prison stocks soaring Thursday while
provoking the ire of Democratic legislators, corrections officers and inmate
advocacy groups. The state is poised this month to sign deals with private
prison operators to house California inmates in states such as Indiana. The
plan would send 2,200 inmates to other states almost immediately. Campaign
Money: It has already stirred the frustration of state legislators, who shot
down a similar proposal during a special session on prison crowding in
August. Amid accusations of cronyism and conflicts of interest, Gov. Schwarzenegger's
campaign announced Thursday that he has returned $32,000 in campaign
donations to a private prison slated to benefit from his proposal. "The
Governor has a strict policy against accepting contributions from persons or
entities doing business with the state or seeking to do business with the
state and in which he or his office might be negotiating the terms of such
state contracts," wrote his attorney in a letter to The Geo Group. The
Geo Group is a Florida-based private prison firm, and one of three firms
currently negotiating with the state for three- to five-year, no-bid
contracts to house inmates out of state. Democrat's Response: It reeks of
"pay to play," said Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los
Angeles. "What it demonstrates is that the governor can't resolve this
crisis. He doesn't have the political will, and he doesn't have the stomach
for it." Romero questioned the constitutionality of forced transfers and
suggested the state concentrate on programs to reduce California's 70 percent
recidivism rate.
September 11, 2006 LA Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was not inspecting the orange crop when he slipped
out of the state for a quick trip to Florida, and he wasn't eyeing a new set
of wheels when he visited with car dealers. Nor was he parched when he
bellied up to liquor dealers in Lake Tahoe, or craving a burger when he
chatted with Jack-in-the-Box owners. Rather, he was gobbling up campaign
money at each stop. As legislators were approving more than 1,000 bills in
August, Schwarzenegger was crossing the state, and the country, soliciting
campaign cash. Now, as he decides whether to sign those bills into law or nix
them with a veto, he will be cashing checks from scores of contributors whose
interests intersect with legislation. In his quest to be reelected,
Schwarzenegger is raising money from all manner of businesses: restaurants,
insurance companies, banks, financial services providers, construction and
real estate interests, farmers, energy producers and car dealers. All have
business before the state. On the last weekend in August, as legislators
prepared for their final sprint before adjourning for the year,
Schwarzenegger traveled to Florida for a fundraiser organized by his
brother-in-law, Anthony Shriver. The event was at the home of a major donor
to Republican candidates and causes, Randal Perkins, and generated about
$500,000. Perkins' firm, Ashbritt Environmental, does cleanup after natural
disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. According to Perkins' lobbyist,
Ronald L. Book, Ashbritt has no state contracts in California. However,
several donors who gave at the fundraiser do have business here. Geo Group, a
Florida firm that operates private prisons, has long sought more business in
California. Geo's Sacramento lobbyists worked to shape the governor's prison
overhaul package, which failed in the Legislature on the final day of its
session. The package might have increased the number of California inmates
housed by private firms.
September 10, 2006 Sacramento Bee
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate
survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time
out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the
years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate
them. Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said the agency can administratively
transfer inmates out of state if they volunteer for the move and if the
contracts with out-of-state operators do not exceed a year. Longer term
deals, Hidalgo said, would require legislative approval. "If there's a
willing inmate and a vendor, we can do this on our own right now,"
Hidalgo said. One major private prison company, the GEO Group of Boca Raton,
Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., has expressed interest
in housing California inmates at its facilities in Michigan, Indiana and
Louisiana. GEO currently operates four private prisons in California. It also
contributed $22,300 to Schwarzenegger on Aug. 25, in the last week of the
legislative session, when lawmakers declined to act on proposals designed to
ease prison overcrowding in California. One bill would have required inmate
approval for out-of-state transfers. In legislative hearings, GEO expressed
support for an involuntary transfer plan. Altogether, GEO has contributed
$90,300 to Schwarzenegger going back to 2003.
September 7, 2006 Ludington Daily
News
A deal that might have supplied California inmates to the former Michigan
Youth Correctional Facility in Lake County could be in jeopardy. Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and the California’s Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) proposed sending inmates to out-of-state facilities —
potentially including the Lake County prison — without getting the inmates’
permission. However, the future of the proposal is unclear. The California
Assembly refused to vote on the measure despite the California Senate passing
a bill allowing the transfers only with the inmate’s permission, which is
current California law. The California legislature, a part-time legislature,
left session for the year Friday without approving Schwarzenegger’s four-bill
package. The bills faced opposition by Republicans in the Assembly as well as
the corrections officer union and garnered only lukewarm support from
Democrats. In addition, Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger also faces a challenge
from Democrat Phil Angelides in the November election. The Baldwin area
facility was mentioned as a possible recipient of California inmates, and
officials from California reportedly visited the site earlier this summer.
Pablo Paez, communications director for GEO Group
which owns the Lake County prison, said he had “nothing new to report” with
regard to any deal to house inmates there. Paez
said GEO has been in contact with California and with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement regarding possibly renting bed space at the facility a
few miles north of Baldwin. Refusing to name where else GEO is seeking
rentals, Paez said “the company remains active in
marketing our facility.”
July 25, 2006 Ludington Daily News
The Baldwin prison could reopen if the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the owners of the prison, GEO
Group, can reach a deal. “GEO and California (corrections) officials are in
the preliminary stages of exchanging information and determining if there is
mutual interest to continue discussions,” said Peter Wills, legislative
assistant to State Rep. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart. GEO
acknowledged the company is engaged in talks with California about the
Baldwin facility. “We’ve had discussions with California for quite a while,”
said Pablo Paez, director of communications at GEO
Group. “The state has issued a request for information (about available
facilities) to send criminal aliens out of state. We’re responding with the
information that we have approximately 500 beds available in Michigan.” Paez said California was one of a number of agencies the
company has contacted about renting beds at the Baldwin facility, but he
refused to name the agencies, stating that the discussions are ongoing. Bill
must pass for facility to house out-of-state inmates That legislation, House
Bill 5800, would allow GEO to use the facility for uses other than Michigan
prisoners. Currently, state law mandates MYCF can only be used to house
Michigan youth offenders. Hansen’s bill would allow GEO to house detainees or
inmates from other local, state, or federal agencies. HB 5800 passed the
House June 15 and the Senate Judiciary Committee June 22 and could go before
the full Senate Wednesday. “We’re back in session on Wednesday, and we’re
going to try to get it through,” said John Lazet,
chief of staff for Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, the chair of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. “Our goal is Wednesday.” Both Gov. Granholm and the DOC
are supportive of the bill. Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann
Arbor, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, opposes the bill because
she disagrees with private prison operations and because the bill would allow
other state agencies to ship prisoners out of state. “I don’t agree with (any
state) transporting prisoners over state lines,” Brater
said. “I’m not going to support importing prisoners to Michigan.”
January 15, 2006 Sacramento Bee
Driven by a rising inmate population, prison spending in California is
scheduled to exceed $8 billion this year. But the real intrigue in the
state's 2006-07 corrections budget is in what it's proposing for the near-
and long-term future. Spelled out in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's summary on
the spending plan is a proposal "to pursue authority to secure
additional inmate capacity through contracts with other providers." The
wording is fleshed out in the actual budget bill, which calls for a virtual
doubling in the number of private prison beds in California, from the current
8,500 to an estimated 17,000 over the next two years. "I think this
proposal means that the governor is taking a pretty courageous stand for good
public policy," said Mark Nobili, a lobbyist for Cornell Companies, a
private prison firm that currently operates two correctional facilities on
contract with the state and is likely take up the administration's invitation
to bid this year on some of the upcoming contracts. CCPOA President Mike
Jimenez said it is "a pipe dream" for the state to think it can get
by building only two new prisons over the next ten years. He said
Schwarzenegger's jail-and-private prisons proposals are "payback to
us" for taking him on during the special election last year.
"Clearly this is a shot back at us for opposing him as well as his
reforms that never materialized," Jimenez said.
January 21, 2005 LA Times
The Schwarzenegger administration has quietly moved to reopen two private
prisons a year after mothballing them — and after a company that stands to
profit retained consultants close to the governor and his inner circle. The
administration has decided to reopen two facilities, one of which is a
224-bed prison in the Central Valley town of McFarland. A Florida company ran
the McFarland facility for 15 years until Dec. 31, 2003, when the state moved
its last prisoners out. Rather than abandon California, the company, the GEO
Group Inc., retained a top Schwarzenegger campaign official and a lobby firm
that has close ties to the Republican's administration to restore the
company's standing in California. A company that is a spinoff of GEO and owns
the prison at McFarland placed Donna Arduin on its
board of trustees in October, 10 days after she left her job as
Schwarzenegger's director of the Department of Finance, which oversees all
state spending. "This was an administration that said they weren't going
to be influenced by special interests," said Lance Corcoran, executive
vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union
that represents state prison guards and opposes private lockups. The state is
obligated to pay GEO $3.5 million to operate the prison in 2005, under terms
of a one-year, no-bid contract approved earlier this month. "The
Department of Finance had to be in the midst" of any negotiations on the
prison contracts, said state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman
of the committees that have jurisdiction over the state's prison system.
"This is absolutely amazing; talk about revolving doors." Romero
and Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk), her counterpart in the lower
house, said they were irritated that the administration did not inform
legislators that it was reopening private prisons. "It is beyond quiet.
I think it has been deceptive," Romero said. Schwarzenegger administration
officials say they have not formulated an overall privatization policy.
Rather, confronted by an immediate need for beds, officials awarded the
contract to GEO and were preparing to make final a contract with a second
company, Civigenics, without soliciting bids from
other companies. Civigenics stands to receive $5.7
million from the state in the coming year to operate the 340-bed Mesa Verde
facility in Bakersfield. Soon after taking office,
Schwarzenegger clashed with the union on a variety of issues. GEO, meanwhile,
gave $58,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees in October and November
2003, as the state was making final plans to close the company's prison at
McFarland. Executives at
Correctional Properties and GEO in Florida did not return calls from The
Times this week. But in a 2003 interview, a top GEO executive said: "We
want to do everything we can to preserve our business base in
California." One step was to hire the Flanigan Law Firm to influence
Schwarzenegger's inner circle of advisors — something it is well-positioned
to do. The firm consists of four brothers who were close to Wilson and his
administration. Several former Wilson aides are high-ranking Schwarzenegger
administration members. According to public reports filed with the secretary
of state, GEO has paid Flanigan $37,500 for its services. GEO also retained
Joe Rodota, a former Wilson aide who was policy
director for the Schwarzenegger recall campaign. His role was to provide strategic
advice and develop a long-term strategy for GEO's reentry into the private
prison business in California, company representatives in Sacramento said.
February 13, 2004
Even before setting up a commission to study prison closings, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's administration is planning to shut down two privately run
facilities supporters say are among the most cost-effective in the
state. Critics of the plan to close the minimum-security prisons
suggest that the Department of Corrections is advancing the agenda of one of
the state's most politically powerful labor groups. ``We know the
prison guard union has done as much as they can to get rid of private
facilities,'' said state Sen. Sam Aanestad,
R-Nevada City, whose district includes one of the facilities slated to close.
``There's got to be something political in this. It doesn't make economic
sense.'' The Department of Corrections plans to close the small
prisons, including the state's only minimum-security facility exclusively for
women, when their contracts expire June 30, according to an internal
department memorandum obtained by the Mercury News. After June 30, the
state ``has no legal authority to pay any expenditure related'' to the
correctional facilities at Live Oak, 60 miles north of Sacramento, and in San
Bernardino County, according to the Jan. 29 memo, signed by Suzan L. Hubbard,
deputy director of the institutions division. The memo casts doubt on
the impartiality of the proposed closings commission and whether it will push
to shut other private facilities where the California Correctional Peace
Officers Association doesn't represent workers. The union, which could
not be reached for comment, has come under fire in recent weeks as lawmakers
have examined the Department of Corrections and questioned whether the labor
group unduly influences policy-setting. The planned closing also clouds
the future of private prisons at a time when the corrections system has been
engulfed in controversy over its skyrocketing budget and treatment of inmates
at state-run lockups. Tip Kindel, a deputy
secretary to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's corrections chief, said ``the union
had nothing to do with it whatsoever.'' While he described the closing plan
as ``premature,'' a prison system representative offered a seemingly
contradictory statement that the move made economic sense. In his
proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1, Schwarzenegger said his
administration would create a commission ``that would proactively evaluate
and recommend future closures'' because the number of inmates, now around
160,000, is expected to drop. Schwarzenegger has yet to name any members to
his commission on closings. Both of the private facilities -- Leo
Chesney, the prison for women at Live Oak, and a prison for men at Baker in
Southern California -- previously have been targeted for closing but have
escaped the budget knife. Both facilities are run by Houston-based Cornell
Corrections and employ officers who are not members of the prison-guard
union. At Chesney, 190 women who have less than 18 months left on their
sentences are able to take classes to prepare them for life on the outside.
At the 262-inmate Baker facility east of Los Angeles, prisoners are taught
basic rescue skills and help provide emergency services for a barren stretch
of desert roadway. The contracts, which expire later this year, for the
two facilities are worth $7.1 million annually. Two years ago, a
legislative analysis of a plan to close private facilities could not determine
whether such a move would save money, partly because a comparison of
per-inmate costs is difficult. The per-inmate cost at state prisons
runs between $22,000 and $50,000, depending on the type of facility,
according to figures compiled by a state Senate committee. Mark Nobili,
a Cornell lobbyist, said his firm's costs are considerably lower, between
$16,000 and almost $19,000 per inmate. The use of private prisons to
save money increased during the 1980s and 1990s under Republican Govs. George
Deukmejian and Pete Wilson. Officials of the California Correctional
Peace Officers Association have praised past efforts to scrap private
prisons. Nobili contended the ``union wanted them closed, so the
department moved to close them. That's how this works.'' But, he quickly
added, he doesn't believe that the proposal was approved by Schwarzenegger's
advisers and predicted that the governor would reverse course. ``I
don't think this administration will close these facilities once they're
reviewed,'' he said. ``You can't cut your best and cheapest prison
beds.'' Bob Martinez, assistant communications chief for the
department, said the number of less-violent prisoners is declining, so the
state doesn't need the private facilities and can accommodate the inmates in
state-run institutions. So, the idea of renewing the contracts is ``not
cost-effective,'' he said. Aanestad plans to
urge Schwarzenegger to keep open the prison inside his district at the
postage-stamp-sized town of Live Oak. ``Just keep the doors closed,'' he quickly
added. (Mercury News)
November 26, 2003
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rejects donations from the state prison
guards union, accepted $53,000 last week from a corporation that operates
private prisons and has clashed with the union over private lockups. The
money came as the state prepared to close a 224-bed Wackenhut Corrections
Corp. facility Dec. 31 in the Central Valley town of McFarland. Wackenhut
made the donation after its president read a news report in which
Schwarzenegger voiced support for prison privatization, the executive said.
The firm also gave $5,000 to Schwarzenegger's recall campaign. The $58,000
amounts to the largest contribution the company has given to any California
politician. In a telephone interview, Wayne H. Calabrese, president of
Wackenhut, based in Boca Raton, Fla., said Schwarzenegger did not solicit the
contribution and might know nothing about the company and its dealings in
California. "We have a large investment in California, in infrastructure
and our employees," Calabrese said. "We want to do everything we
can to preserve our business base in California." Last year, in a move
fought by Wackenhut and other prison companies, former Gov. Gray Davis
canceled state contracts with three private prisons — to save money, he said.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Assn. had pushed for the closure.
The union has long opposed private prisons and was one of Davis' biggest
benefactors, giving him $1.4 million during his first term. "We were
frustrated with the previous administration," Calabrese said. "We
thought we should support a candidate and governor who has articulated
support for public-private partnerships." The company gave to
Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign and to a separate fund he established
to support the recall of Davis, a top company executive said. Schwarzenegger
spokesman Vince Sollitto, asked whether the
donations would affect the administration's decision on the Wackenhut
contract, said, "Of course not." The contract won't "rise to
the level of the governor's consideration," he said. Corporations
operate nine private facilities in California that house 3,000
minimum-security inmates, although three of the lockups are slated to close
next month. Wackenhut has four, including the one in McFarland. Payments from
the facility represent less than 1% of Wackenhut's revenue. Whether or not
the state continues to send inmates to McFarland, the company is obligated to
make $5 million in lease payments, according to a recent Wackenhut filing
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company holds out hope that
it can reverse the decision to close the facility. The firm's Florida
lobbyist, David L. Ericks, is close to Schwarzenegger's finance director,
Donna Arduin, who was Florida's budget director before
coming to Sacramento. Ericks was in Sacramento last week when the governor
was sworn in. He could not be reached Tuesday for comment Schwarzenegger
spokesman H.D. Palmer said California's Department of Finance would have no
role in deciding whether to extend Wackenhut's contract. "We don't do
line approval," he said. "That is handled by agencies." Palmer
said Ericks' relationship with Arduin would have
"zero" impact on such a decision. "He is a registered lobbyist
in the state of Florida," Palmer said. "He is not registered in
California." The governor has raised more than $1.2 million since the
Oct. 7 recall election and plans fund-raisers starting next week to repay
$4.5 million in bank loans he took out to help finance his campaign. Schwarzenegger
has a policy of refusing campaign donations from public employee unions,
including that of the guards. He has said he does not want to take donations
from such unions because he must negotiate pay and other labor issues with
them. "It sounds to me that Wackenhut is doing exactly what they accuse
us of doing — getting involved in 'pay to play,' " said Lance Corcoran,
executive vice president of the guards union.
"Wackenhut is a savvy corporate entity," he added. "They have
great influence in other states. I'm sure they are bringing that playbook to
California." Corcoran said he doubted that Schwarzenegger would be
influenced by the donations: "Ultimately, he will do the right thing for
public safety." Corcoran said the union opposed private prisons because
"corrections is a public function and should not be sold to the lowest
bidder." Advocates of private prisons have said that the union opposes
their efforts because it fears that they could reduce the need for
state-employed prison officers. (Privateer News)
California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency
January 5, 2004
When the experiment began in the 1980s, it promised to reshape the way
America housed its prisoners. The concept was simple: Shift some inmates into
the hands of private industry. Critics argued that the sensitive job of
imprisonment should not be shared with for-profit companies. But advocates
promised lower costs, and states — faced with swelling inmate populations —
needed beds, fast. Texas, Florida and the federal government signed on
with gusto. In California, however, the growth of private lockups has been
stifled by resistance from the powerful prison guards union. Now comes
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican said to favor privatization. With
his election, private prison operators found hope of expanding their reach in
the state's $5-billion-a-year penal system — the largest in the nation.
So far, the prospects look bleak. Of the state's 49 prisons and community
correctional facilities, only nine are private, each of them a minimum
security unit. And three of them will close by month's end, their contracts
terminated by former Gov. Gray Davis. Their demise will cut the number of
California convicts in private cells to 2,457 — a tiny fraction of the total
inmate count of 160,000. Operators of the three facilities — in Eagle
Mountain in Riverside County and Bakersfield and McFarland in Kern County —
have spent the waning days of December in a flurry of negotiations with the
new administration, hoping to win reprieves. Eagle Mountain residents even
sent a personal plea for the prison — futilely, it now seems — to
Schwarzenegger, who worked there a decade ago while filming "Terminator
2: Judgment Day." "I understand we are small potatoes in the
California state budget," said Al Murphy, vice president of corrections
for Management & Training Corp., the Utah firm that runs the 438-bed
Eagle Mountain prison. Had Schwarzenegger had more time, Murphy said, the
firm believes he "would have recognized the value privatized corrections
can have in this state." Officials at the Youth and Adult
Correctional Agency, which oversees corrections, confirmed that the three
prisons would close as scheduled. What the future holds for the six other
private lockups, they said, is unclear. "These facilities were
mostly opened at a time when we had severe overcrowding," said Tip Kindel, assistant secretary of the agency. "Some of
those needs they've served just aren't there anymore." The private
prisons' fight for survival has been complicated by two recent riots. The
first, at Eagle Mountain on Oct. 25, raged for 90 minutes and left two
inmates dead. The second, at a Cornell Cos. Inc. prison in Baker on Dec. 2,
sent four inmates to a hospital, one with multiple stab wounds. (LA
Times)
Calipatria, California
GEO Group
December 30, 2005 Imperial Valley Press
The prospect of placing a privately owned and operated prison here has
stirred some local unions and created controversy in the community. Though no
official steps have been taken, a Calipatria City
Council public hearing on the subject sparked vivid discussion Tuesday night.
The Geo Group, Inc. - a private company based in Boca Raton, Fla., that
operates more than 50 private correctional facilities nationally - may
propose a new prison in Calipatria, pending a
request for proposals from the state Department of Corrections. The request
is expected to come because of a need for more prisons in California.
"State prisons are overcrowded," said Ken Fortier, a representative
from Geo. In an information packet presented to the City Council, the
California Correctional Peace Officers Association cites several instances
where the Geo Group had problems with operation of its facilities. "What
they do is lower the standards of the corrections profession," said
CCPOA representative Ryan Sherman. "They are responsible to their
corporations while state facilities are responsible to the public."
Sherman said employees of private prisons do not receive proper training to
deal with serious felons. Another issue raised is how the availability of
more jobs will affect the community. With an already high unemployment rate
in the county and the need for increased revenue and property taxes, the
private prison could prove a valuable financial resource. Sherman said Calipatria State Prison has a shortage of people to fill
its positions and a new prison would cut into the pool of much-needed
employees. "We have a couple hundred vacancies, and triple the
pay," he said. "I don't see where Geo is going to get the people they
need." On the flip side, training to become a guard at the private
facility would involve less time than at the state prison, which would be of
benefit to those seeking more immediate position. Yet some think less
training creates a more dangerous situation of unprepared employees.
CalSTRS, California Teacher’s Union
Nov 9, 2018 pionline.com
CalSTRS to divest from private prison companies CoreCivic,
GEO Group
CalSTRS' investment committee Wednesday approved the divestiture within
six months of its investments in private prison operating companies CoreCivic and GEO Group. The $229.2 billion California
State Teachers' Retirement System, West Sacramento, began a study in July
about whether to keep investments in private prisons due to the increased
risk to CalSTRS' portfolio. Christopher J. Ailman,
CalSTRS' chief investment officer, said at the time that the increase in risk
was with respect to violations of human rights by private prisons that are
now being used to house immigrants and children of immigrants who have been
separated from their parents. CalSTRS heightened engagement with CoreCivic and GEO Group regarding their business
practices, which included "visits to various detention facilities and
face to face meetings with senior management concerning operational processes
and risk management efforts," a CalSTRS news release said. As of Nov. 6,
CalSTRS' combined holdings in the two companies in its global equities and
fixed-income portfolios was $12.1 million. CalSTRS picks new corporate
governance chiefCalSTRS puts $5 billion to work in
first half of 2018CalSTRS reveals 2017 portfolios costs "The board
conducted a review of the staff research. We agreed that the engagement
efforts were thorough and listened to our expert investment consultants.
Based on all the information and advice we were provided, the board decided
to divest according to the policy criteria," said Harry M. Keiley, chairman of the investment committee, in the news
release. Mr. Ailman, in a memo to the investment
committee, addressed members' concerns regarding General Dynamics Corp. and
United Rentals: "Staff has engaged General Dynamics and determined they
only provide case management services and training not physical detention,
which is a de minimis portion of the company's revenue. United Rentals has
been alleged to support the administration's detention polices by providing
equipment for temporary detention facilities. Staff has been unable to
confirm the company's involvement, and it would be a de minimis portion of
the company's revenue." The risk factors to which CalSTRS' staff
referred in the pension fund's environmental, social and governance policy
included "respect for human rights," Mr. Ailman
wrote in the memo. "While staff has been informed by both companies that
they were not directly involved in the separation of the family, they did
provide capacity for the detention of the parents," Mr. Ailman wrote. "The companies do not have control
over which detainees are sent to their facility or nor do they have knowledge
on arrival if the detainees have children that had been turned over to (the
Department of Homeland Security). While neither Geo Group nor CoreCivic have facilities to house unaccompanied minors,
both have a facility to house detained families." "These two
facilities operate outside San Antonio, Texas, (and) are designed to keep
children with one of their parents," Mr. Ailman
write. "As part of staff's research, staff and senior leadership toured
both facilities. Staff confirmed that in both facilities detainees are open
to roam the grounds, the living units were not locked, and there was no razor
wire or weapons carried by staff (ICE and other law enforcement agents at the
facility could carry their firearms on parts of the grounds). These detention
facilities would not violate the CalSTRS respect for human rights; however
staff has not nor is able to trace every family affected by these firms.
While staff was not able to obtain evidence that these companies violate the
respect for human rights, private prisons do add capacity, and help
facilitate a system, that may be viewed as violating the risk factor."
Other ESG policy risk factors affected included respect for civil liberties
and respect for political rights. In a statement emailed by a spokesman for
GEO Group, the company said: "We believe this decision was based on a
deliberate and politically motivated mischaracterization of our role as a
long-standing service provider to the government. Our company has never
played a role in policies related to the separation of families, and we have
never provided any services for that purpose. We are disappointed that
misguided, partisan politics were able to jeopardize the retirement security
of California's educators." Amanda S. Gilchrist, CoreCivic
spokeswoman, said in an email: "With this disappointing and purely
political decision, a group representing educators has voted against a
company that passionately believes in educating those who need it most.
Hundreds of CalSTRS members' fellow educators work in our correctional
facilities every day to help prepare inmates for success after prison."
Canteen Corrections
March 13, 2003
It tastes like toilet water. It can
make you severely ill. And now it's alleged to have caused a Kern County
detentions officer to quit his job. It's called jailhouse pruno. The alcoholic drink is secretly made by inmates
looking for a quick buzz while behind bars. As with liquor sold on the
outside, drinking the jailhouse brew can make people belligerent and
violent. A Kern County detentions officer has filed a lawsuit against a
jail food service company after he was severely injured in a drunken brawl
that broke out after inmates at the county's Lerdo
Jail made the brew from the food served there. Jeffrey Reynolds,
35, is suing Canteen Corrections, a company contracted to provide food
service for inmates, alleging that the firm provided the raw materials to
make the booze. Those materials included fruit and snacks such as popcorn and
candy bars. He said the company should be monitored when distributing the food.
He is also suing several inmates who participated in the fracas.
Reynolds, who filed the suit in February, said his injuries were so severe
that he's been unable to return to work. (The Bakersfield Californian)
Canteen of Fresno
Fresno, California
Aramark
March 10, 2003
Fresno County Sheriff Richard Pierce and a cadre of his captains control a
charitable foundation that solicits contributions from businesses that
provide major services to the county jail, which the sheriff runs. In
one case, The Sheriff's Foundation for Public Safety received $50,000 in
contributions from Canteen of Fresno, which contracts with Fresno County to
sell snack foods, shaving items and writing materials to jail inmates.
Experts in fund raising and public policy say companies with government
contracts cannot help but feel pressure to give money to a charity run by a
government official who has influence in awarding their contracts. The Fresno
County Board of Supervisors makes final contract decisions, but the sheriff
recommends contractors for his department. The sheriff said he has
received no complaints from companies that contributed after being asked to
give: "I believe they're doing this willingly and with good conscience,
knowing that we're going to put that money to good use in this
community." Has Pierce made visits to businesses or individuals?
"Never have, that I recall," he said. But some of his top
staff members have. One of them, Capt. Douglas Papagni,
helps oversee the jail. He spends 10% to 15% of his work time on foundation
business and also serves on the foundation's board of directors. Papagni said he solicited contributions from Canteen of
Fresno and Aramark Correctional Services Inc., which provides meals to nearly
2,900 inmates in the county jail. Papagni said he
does not make solicitation pitches during meetings about a company's county
contract. Richard Kriegbaum, however, sees
problems with law enforcement pitches at any time. Kriegbaum,
former president of Fresno Pacific University, a Christian college, is
president of United Way of Fresno County. He also has consulted for 25 years
with the governing boards of nonprofit organizations. Kriegbaum said sheriff's officers seeking contributions
from county contractors has, "as the biblical expression says, 'the
appearance of evil.' " He added: "It could feel like law
enforcement is asking for protection money or they are expecting a gift out
of the company in some unspoken quid pro quo for a
contract." Two other corporate donors have direct ties to
the county jail. T-Netics, which operates an inmate
phone service in the jail, donated $2,500. Aramark contributed $6,500.
The Sheriff's Department has budgeted $3.9 million this fiscal year to pay
Aramark for inmate meals. The company provides food service at more than 400
jails and prisons nationwide. Pierce, 58, has been Fresno County
sheriff since January 1999. A 36-year veteran of the department, he was first
elected in 1998. Pierce ran without opposition in the June 2 primary election
and the Nov. 3 general election that year. Some of the businesses that
donated to his election campaign would later become donors to the
foundation. Canteen of Fresno is one of them. (The Fresno Bee)
Center Point Center
San Diego, California
Center Point
January 12, 2010 CSUN University News
The Fourth District Court of Appeal has revived a lawsuit against the state
and the operators of a correctional facility which contracted with the state
to house female prisoners with young children based on the alleged failure to
provide medical care to an inmate’s two-month-old baby. In its Monday
decision, Div. One held that the state and Center Point Inc. were not immune from claims that Denisha Lawson’s
daughter Esperanza sustained physical injury from a delay in receiving
treatment for a respiratory infection and the mother’s resultant emotional
distress. Lawson had been placed in a 40-bed correctional facility in San
Diego run by Center Point while pregnant, and gave birth prematurely to
Esperanza in March 2007. Esperanza allegedly began suffering from “green
discharge, labored breathing and an increasingly more ashen complexion” in
late April and ceased breathing on at least three occasions. Lawson claimed
that she had asked personnel at the facility to obtain treatment for her daughter
for more than a week before an employee took the infant to the hospital. As a
result of the delay in obtaining medical care, Esperanza allegedly suffered
“hypoxia, double pneumonia requiring double intubation, cardiac arrest,
scarring and injury to both lungs, causing permanent injury which will cause
future medical problems.” Causes of Action -- Lawson and Esperanza, by and
through her guardian ad litem, subsequently filed suit, asserting causes of
action for failing to furnish medical care to a prisoner, negligence,
emotional distress and false imprisonment against the state, Center Point and
several of their employees. It also alleged violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by
the facility. The state filed a demurrer as to every claim and Center Point
demurred to each cause of action except the false imprisonment claim. San
Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Styn sustained
the state’s demurrer to except for false imprisonment and sustained Center
Point’s demurrer except for the Sec. 1983 claim. Writing for the appellate
court, Justice Joan Irion explained that public entities cannot be held
liable for injuries to a prisoner unless an employee, acting within the scope
of his employment, fails to provide medical care to a prisoner and has reason
to know that need for medical care is immediate. Not a Prisoner -- She
reasoned that Esperanza was not a prisoner since she only resided in the
Center Point facility because her mother was housed there, not because she
was the subject of any legal restraint. However, Irion posited that the child
was “in the same situation of dependence and vulnerability as a prisoner”
since her mother was confined to the Center Point facility and was unable to
take her to a hospital for treatment and so she was “solely dependent on personnel
at the facility to obtain the medical care that she required.” In such a
situation, the justice said a special relationship arose that created a duty
on the part of jailers at the facility to protect Esperanza from harm by
obtaining needed medical care. No Direct Claim --
Irion concluded that the complaint adequately pleaded a cause of
action for negligence against the state for the alleged acts and omissions of
its employees. But she said that the complaint did not state a direct claim
against the state since it failed to identify any mandatory statutory duty
which the state itself had breached. As for Center Point, Irion said that
governmental immunity does not apply to private entities working under
contract for the state and thus the facility and its employees were not
shielded from liability. Justices James A. McIntyre and Cynthia Aaron joined
Irion in her decision directing the trial court to vacate its order and issue
new orders overruling the state’s demurrer to Esperanza’s negligence cause of
action against the state and Center Point, as well as Lawson’s negligence and
emotional distress claims against the facility. The case is Lawson v.
Superior Court (Center Point, Inc.), 10 S.O.S. 126.
Central Valley Modified Community Correctional
Facility
McFarland, California
Aug
12, 2020 kget.com
Judge
temporarily blocks prison company’s plan to expand its immigration detention
in Kern County
SAN
FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGET) — A federal judge on Tuesday granted a preliminary
injunction temporarily blocking a private prison company from a massive
expansion of its immigration detention in Kern County. The ruling by U.S.
District Judge Troy L. Nunley stops, for now, proposed modifications to
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities for use by
the GEO Group, which entered into a contract in December with U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate immigration detention
facilities at the Central Valley and Golden State correctional facilities.
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Freedom for Immigrants filed a
lawsuit arguing, in part, that the city of McFarland violated state law by
failing to provide at least 180 days’ notice before executing a permit for an
immigration detention facility and by failing to hold two open meetings for
public comment. They said the city council held only one meeting before
approving the proposed modifications. GEO and the city have argued that, in
addition to the single city council meeting, the planning commission held two
meetings regarding the proposed modifications, so it more than fulfilled its
requirements. But Nunley found there were “serious questions” as to whether
the planning commission and the city council were each required to hold two
public meetings under state civil code. Among other issues raised by the
petitioners, the court previously agreed that preventing detainee transfers
was an effective method of reducing unnecessary risks of contracting
COVID-19. In Tuesday’s ruling, Nunley disagreed with the argument put forth
by the city and GEO that the harm from detainee transfers was “too
speculative to warrant an injunction.” Nunley wrote, “COVID-19 poses a
concrete threat to the public health, especially in the context of detention
facilities and detainee transfers.” He found it likely there would be
irreparable harm if the modifications took place and detainees were
transferred to the facilities. GEO said in court documents it would lose
$79.6 million per year with an injunction in effect, and
would have to eliminate at least 420 jobs. The city said it’s relying on GEO
revenue to account for between 10 to 20 percent of its annual budget. The
judge, however, found “the need to avoid the preventable risk of severe
illness and death that is likely to result from detainee transfers far outweighs
GEO and the city’s financial concerns.” No modifications can be made to the
facilities until the case is heard in court. The date of the next hearing is
pending. The GEO Group is the second-largest employer in McFarland. The
company already operates Mesa Verde detention center in Bakersfield with 400
beds, and it wanted to add more than a thousand in McFarland.
Jul
13, 2019 bakersfield.com
CDCR
to stop using 700-bed private prison in McFarland
A
700-bed detention facility in McFarland will close following a decision by
Gov. Gavin Newsom to phase out the state’s use of private prisons. The
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced on Friday
that the organization intends to stop using the Central Valley Modified
Community Correctional Facility at the end of September. “As CDCR’s inmate
population has steadily declined, the department has also reduced its
reliance on the use of contract facilities,” a CDCR spokesperson said in a
statement. “Last month, CDCR exited its remaining out-of-state facility in
Arizona. CDCR will house the inmates in existing state prisons,
and reassign staff accordingly.” In 2013, CDCR entered into a
five-year lease agreement with the private prison company, Geo Group Inc. as a way to ease the overcrowding state prison system.
Currently, there are 641 inmates at the facility, according to CDCR. Geo,
which also operates the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield for
the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency, said it was proud of
the services provided by the employees of McFarland facility. “We have always
strived to be part of the solution, helping meet California’s recidivism
reduction goals,” a Geo spokesperson said in a statement. “We are pleased to
have been able to provide cost-effective solutions for California’s taxpayers
when the state’s prison system faced capacity constraints.” Terms of the
lease were not reported at the time of the agreement. At the time, an
estimated 145 correctional and administrative officers were expected to be
hired to staff the prison. “We are thankful for the dedication of our
employees who have faithfully served this mission at the Central Valley
facility, and we are committed to assisting them in this time of professional
transition,” Geo said. It is unclear where the inmates of the prison will be
sent. CDCR does not discuss inmate movement, the spokesperson said. Geo
operates at least two other private prisons in McFarland, the Golden State
Modified Community Correctional Facility and the McFarland Female Community
Reentry Facility. “We recognize that the state’s needs have changed and are
committed to a smooth operational transition, which underscores the inherent
flexibility for the state to be able to rely on private sector service
providers,” Geo said.
GEO Group
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect
Wednesday, though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group
Inc. has been preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads
since May. The 643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part
of California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR
spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
officials say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just
doesn’t pencil out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy
Bachman. “The issue with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail
facilities has come up over and over again throughout the years; however,
it’s not something that the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too
costly and there’s just not the funding really even to consider something
like that.” The California State Association of Counties has created a
document outlining potential beds at the former CCFs, but counties statewide
have been hesitant to exercise that option. The Geo Group had operated six of
the nine privately run CCFs that lost their state contracts, according to
CSAC. Five other CCFs were run by local governments. The facilities ranged
from around 100 employees to more than 600, according to Toyama.
July 11, 2011 Business Wire
The GEO Group ("GEO") announced today that the State of California
has decided to implement its Criminal Justice Realignment Plan (the
"Realignment Plan"), which is expected to delegate tens of thousands
of low level state offenders to local county jurisdictions in California
effective October 1, 2011. As a result of the implementation of the
Realignment Plan, the State of California has decided to discontinue
contracts with Community Correctional Facilities which currently house low
level state offenders across the state. This decision will impact three GEO
facilities: the company-leased 305-bed Leo Chesney Community Correctional
Facility, the company-owned 643-bed Desert View Modified Community Correctional
Facility, and the company-owned 625-bed Central Valley Modified Community
Correctional Facility. GEO has received written notice from the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation regarding the cancellation of
GEO's agreements for the housing of low level state offenders at these three
facilities effective as of September 30, 2011, November 30, 2011 and November
30, 2011, respectively. GEO is in the process of actively marketing these
facilities to local county agencies in California. Given that most local
county jurisdictions in California are presently operating at or above their
correctional capacity, GEO is hopeful that it will be able to market these
facilities to local county agencies for the housing of low level offenders who
will be the responsibility of local county jurisdictions. If GEO is unable to
secure alternative customers for these three facilities, GEO estimates that
the combined annualized negative earnings per share impact of the
cancellations would be approximately $0.10-0.13, including carrying costs
while the facilities are idle. The combined annualized revenues for these
three facilities were approximately $33-$35 million.
October 26, 2004 Business Wire
Fitch
Ratings lowers the rating on McFarland, CA's $1.4 million certificates of
participation (COPS), 2001 sewer system financing project, to 'B' from
'BBB-'. Fitch also places the 2001 COPs on Rating Watch Negative. Of
additional concern is the December 2003 closing of one of three prisons
operated by the GEO Group Inc. In 2001, the prisons accounted for over 40% of
sewer system revenues. Subsequently, in August 2004, the city approved a
change in the remaining prison's conditional use permit allowing an
additional 150 inmates at each facility as requested by the California
Department of Corrections. Because wastewater fees are assessed on a per
inmate basis, the nine month period of reduced inmate capacity represents a
significant revenue loss.
September 7, 2004 Californian
A three-year overtime wage and benefit court battle pitting employees
against a private prison company is finally nearing an end. A settlement
agreement is set to be finalized Sept. 27 between about 2,700 current and
former employees and Wackenhut Corrections Corp., now The GEO Group Inc. The
workers, both guards and support personnel, claimed the company did not pay
overtime and made them work off the clock without pay. They also claimed they
were not given proper rest and meal breaks. The employees worked at six private
prisons in California, four of which are in Kern County. The Kern prisons
include the McFarland Community Correctional Facility, Central Valley
Modified Community Correctional Facility, and Golden State Modified Community
Correctional Facility, all in McFarland, and the Taft Correctional
Institution. The total amount of the settlement is about $10 million in cash
and non-cash benefits.
Chula
Vista
California
Extradition International
March 27, 2000
A convicted murderer and a convicted robber overpowered a private guard,
stole his gun and then stole a gun from the other guard who was sleeping in
the transport van. The murderer was serving a life sentence without the
possibility of parole. The Nevada inmates were being transported to other states.
(San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/27/00)
Cornell Oakland Center
Oakland, California
GEO Group (bought Cornell)
November 19, 2010 AP
A former correctional officer has pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a
federal inmate at a privately run halfway house. Thirty-nine-year-old Basean George of San Leandro entered the plea Thursday to
one count of sexual abuse of an inmate as part of a deal with prosecutors.
George admitted to a month-long sexual relationship in 2008 with a female
inmate under his watch at the Cornell Oakland Center. The center is a halfway
house under contract with the government that houses federal inmates nearing
the end of their sentences. George faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in
prison and a fine of $250,000 when he's sentenced Feb. 2.
Corecivic
Mar
28, 2020 news.bloomberglaw.com
California:
Corecivic must pay $3.2 M to employees
Employees
alleged California wage, breaks violations. More than 1,000 employees will
split roughly $2 million. CoreCivic, the nation’s
second-largest private prison company, must pay $3.2 million to resolve wage
and breaks claims brought by more than 1,000 corrections officers in
California. The class members will net about $2 million and are expected to
receive about $2,000 to $3,000 each. The total amount represents about 19% of
their potential recovery. The revised settlement received preliminary
approval on Thursday from Judge Dale Drozd of the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The court denied
a previous proposed deal in September 2018, citing concerns over its
reasonableness. This version adds nearly $600,000 to the total.
Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility
Adelanto, California
GEO Group
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect
Wednesday, though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group
Inc. has been preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads
since May. The 643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part
of California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR
spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
officials say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just
doesn’t pencil out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy
Bachman. “The issue with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail
facilities has come up over and over again throughout the years; however,
it’s not something that the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too
costly and there’s just not the funding really even to consider something
like that.” The California State Association of Counties has created a
document outlining potential beds at the former CCFs, but counties statewide
have been hesitant to exercise that option. The Geo Group had operated six of
the nine privately run CCFs that lost their state contracts, according to
CSAC. Five other CCFs were run by local governments. The facilities ranged
from around 100 employees to more than 600, according to Toyama.
July 11, 2011 Business Wire
The GEO Group ("GEO") announced today that the State of California
has decided to implement its Criminal Justice Realignment Plan (the
"Realignment Plan"), which is expected to delegate tens of
thousands of low level state offenders to local county jurisdictions in
California effective October 1, 2011. As a result of the implementation of the
Realignment Plan, the State of California has decided to discontinue
contracts with Community Correctional Facilities which currently house low
level state offenders across the state. This decision will impact three GEO
facilities: the company-leased 305-bed Leo Chesney Community Correctional
Facility, the company-owned 643-bed Desert View Modified Community
Correctional Facility, and the company-owned 625-bed Central Valley Modified
Community Correctional Facility. GEO has received written notice from the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation regarding the
cancellation of GEO's agreements for the housing of low level state offenders
at these three facilities effective as of September 30, 2011, November 30,
2011 and November 30, 2011, respectively. GEO is in the process of actively
marketing these facilities to local county agencies in California. Given that
most local county jurisdictions in California are presently operating at or
above their correctional capacity, GEO is hopeful that it will be able to
market these facilities to local county agencies for the housing of low level
offenders who will be the responsibility of local county jurisdictions. If
GEO is unable to secure alternative customers for these three facilities, GEO
estimates that the combined annualized negative earnings per share impact of
the cancellations would be approximately $0.10-0.13, including carrying costs
while the facilities are idle. The combined annualized revenues for these
three facilities were approximately $33-$35 million.
January 19, 2009 Daily Press
A private prison is on a “modified program” after it was placed on lockdown
over the weekend following a riot that involved about 100 inmates, officials
said on Tuesday. The riot took place around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Desert
View Community Correctional Facility in the 10400 block of Rancho Road in
Adelanto, prompting officials to place the medium-security facility on
lockdown, according to Paul Verke, spokesman for
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “The facility is
currently on modified program,” Verke said Tuesday.
“It’s not fully back to normal operations, but it’s not on lockdown any more.” During the riot, some inmates were injured,
according to authorities, although the number of those hurt was not released.
Verke did confirm that none of the injuries were
life-threatening. No staff members were hurt or required medical attention,
he said. Officials are investigating the disturbance. In February, 22 of the
facility’s inmates were sent to local hospitals during a riot.
February 24, 2008 Daily Press
A riot at the Desert Valley Corrections facility on Saturday in Adelanto
sent 21 inmates to local hospitals and one critically injured inmate had to
be airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, according to officials on
Sunday. At about 4 p.m. on Saturday, a call went out to American Medical
Response who in turn contacted the San Bernardino County Fire Department who
responded to the call with assistance from the Victorville Fire Department,
according to Otto Schramm spokesperson for the county fire department. “We
had a multi-casualty response with three engine companies, about 10
ambulances, a battalion chief and the helicopter,” said Schramm who added
that the approximate 20 fire personnel remained on the scene until about 10
p.m. when correctional officers secured the prison. AMR units then returned
to the prison at approximately 11:40 p.m. to transport four more inmates with
minor injuries to area hospitals, according to Craig Ledesma, AMR supervisor.
“After evaluations by prison staff, it was determined four more inmates
needed to be transported and required medical attention,” said Ledesma. No
prison employees were injured in the incident, according to reports. The
nature of the injuries and the identities of the inmates were not released.
When rescue personnel arrived at the medium-security federal prison, the riot
was still in progress, said Schramm. Personnel treated the injured parties in
a safe and secure location within the prison, said Ledesma. “We all worked
together as a team to make sure all of the patients were transported where
they needed to go,” said Ledesma. It is still unclear what started the
trouble. Officials from the privately-run prison had no comment on the
situation.
February 24, 2008 LA Times
Nineteen people were injured Saturday in a riot at the Desert View Modified
Community Correctional Facility in Adelanto, authorities said. San Bernadino
County Fire Department officials said one victim suffered serious injuries
and needed to be airlifted to a hospital. The others suffered minor injuries
and also were taken to area hospitals, said Tim Franke, a fire dispatch
supervisor. Franke, who could not specify whether the injured were all
inmates, said units arrived at the prison at 4 p.m. in response to a riot in
progress. He said firefighters stayed at the facility for six hours as
correctional officers secured the prison and identified the injured. Desert
View officials could not be reached for comment. A 2006 annual report by Boca
Raton, Fla.-based The GEO Group, which owned the facility at the time,
described Desert View as a medium-security prison with 643 inmates.
November 7, 2005 CDCR Daily Report
The following event was reported as occurring 10/28/05, according to a CDCR
"daily report" dated Friday, 10/29/05. Yesterday at 1218 hours,
inmates in the A3 dorm at Desert View Modified Community Correctional
Facility (a private contracted CCF operated by the Geo Group, Inc.) got in a
fight. Hispanic inmates rushed the black inmates believing they were the ones
that informed the assistant facility director of the presence of weapons. The
initial assessment was that 33 Hispanics and 15 Blacks were involved. The
CDCR lieutenant used pepper spray to quell this incident. All inmates were
removed from A3 dorm and isolated pending housing decisions. The dorm was
placed on lock-down status. One inmate suffered a head injury caused by a
blow from a lock in a sock. He was taken by ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital
from treatment. He received three staples and his prognosis is good. The
inmate was returned to custody this morning and taken to CSP Los Angeles
County. One other black inmate sustained a laceration above his eye which
required a butterfly suture. Other inmates sustained minor injuries
consistent with fighting. No staff was injured. Preliminary information
indicates that once the assistant facility director entered the A3 dorm, he
went directly to a Hispanic inmate's locker, pulled out a weapon and left the
dorm. Subsequently, seven more inmate weapons were found. Arrangements for
transportation of the identified participants were made. The Transportation
Unit confirmed that 13 blacks were transferred to California State Prison-Los
Angeles County and 29 Hispanic inmates were transported early this morning to
Chuckawalla Valley State Prison. Additional
off-duty contract and uniformed custody CDCR staff have been called in. This
staffing level will remain through the weekend. Inmates will not be allowed
back into A3 dorm until it has been thoroughly searched. Tensions are still
high at the facility and it will remain on lockdown until further notice.
November 14, 2004 Daily Press
A privately run, medium-security prison will get up to 200 additional inmates
after the City Council voted to overturn a decision by the Planning
Commission. There are 550 inmates in eight separate dorms
holding up to 71 prisoners each at the Desert View Modified Community
Correctional Facility on Rancho Road. After listening to their request, the
City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to overturn an Oct. 5 planning
commission decision to keep the jail from expanding. The increase would force the prison to
convert many of its beds to bunk beds, Rauschl
said, adding 18 of the double beds to each of the bays. The Planning
Commission cited safety as its main concern when it denied the prison's
request to expand. In October the planning commission heard the prison's
request, but did not approve of the increase. "The Planning Commission
expressed concerns that the facility was not physically suited for such an
increase," according to the City Council agenda. "Adding inmates
would increase the security risk to the community and to the surrounding
residential areas. Other concerns were overcrowding, number of guards to
inmate ratio, internal operations, and impacts to dining, recreation and
bathroom facilities."
Eagle
Mountain Community Correctional Facility
Eagle Mountain, California
GEO Group (formerly Cornell, Management and Training Corporation)
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect Wednesday,
though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group Inc. has been
preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads since May. The
643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part of
California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR
spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
officials say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just
doesn’t pencil out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman.
“The issue with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail
facilities has come up over and over again throughout the years; however,
it’s not something that the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too
costly and there’s just not the funding really even to consider something
like that.” The California State Association of Counties has created a
document outlining potential beds at the former CCFs, but counties statewide
have been hesitant to exercise that option. The Geo Group had operated six of
the nine privately run CCFs that lost their state contracts, according to
CSAC. Five other CCFs were run by local governments. The facilities ranged
from around 100 employees to more than 600, according to Toyama.
March 21, 2007 The Press-Enterprise
Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, reiterated her opposition
Wednesday to reopening a private prison at Eagle Mountain, a remote community
in Riverside County. The 500-bed facility closed in 2003 shortly after a riot
that killed two inmates and injured dozens. This week, Senate Republicans
proposed reopening the prison as part of their plan this week to reduce
prison crowding. Garcia, whose district includes Eagle Mountain, said she
will only support using the prison as a minimum-security facility staffed by
state correctional officers. "I want to be clear and direct -- I am
adamantly opposed and will fight any effort to reopen a private prison at
Eagle Mountain under any conditions," Garcia wrote in a letter sent
Wednesday to Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary James Tilton.
September 14, 2006 The Press-Enterprise
A Houston-based corrections company hopes to reopen a 500-bed lockup in Eagle
Mountain, three years after lawmakers closed the privately operated prison.
Riverside County officials confirmed Thursday that they've received a
proposal from Cornell Cos. for a 150,000-square-foot correctional facility in
the remote community near Joshua Tree National Park. Cornell Cos. officials
did not return telephone calls seeking comment this week. The company's Web
site says it operates 79 correctional facilities in 17 states, including
California. Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the state has asked contractors to
submit their plans for operating 8,500 prison beds for men and women.
Information about the bidders and their proposals is confidential until the
state awards the contracts Nov. 17, Thornton said. Plans submitted to
Riverside County call for $27 million in new construction at the Eagle
Mountain site and say the project would create 150 jobs. County Supervisor
Roy Wilson, whose district includes Eagle Mountain, said officials have
promised to fast-track Cornell's proposal to help it meet strict state
deadlines, if the company receives the contract. But Wilson said he expects
the project to be vetted before the county Planning Commission before coming
to the Board of Supervisors for consideration. "They need some kind of
economic development out there," Wilson said. "It's a ghost town.
It's in dire straits." Five people live in Eagle Mountain. Mary Zeiler, resident of Eagle Mountain for 36 years, said she
was sorry to see the minimum-security prison closed in 2003 when state
lawmakers cut funding for the prison run by Utah-based Management &
Training Corp. Two months before its closure, the prison, a converted
supermarket, fell under scrutiny when two inmates were killed and seven
inmates were injured in a riot. Kay Hazen, spokeswoman for Kaiser Ventures,
said she had not seen Cornell's proposal but that Kaiser welcomes any
opportunity to use the prison as a solution to the state's shortage of prison
beds. Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, said she would like to
see the state house inmates there but not under a private contractor. "I
am not supportive of any private prisons," Garcia said.
July 12, 2005
Riverside
County Supervisor Jeff Stone on Tuesday challenged the sheriff to come up
with a better plan than his own for relieving the county's overcrowded jails.
Stone's challenge came during his barbed exchange with Riverside County
Undersheriff Neil Lingle, in which Stone defended
his idea of converting a defunct Eagle Mountain prison into a county jail for
$10.8 million. Eagle Mountain resident Larry Charpied
said he worked at the prison prior to its closure and experienced several
riots there, some of which resulted in multiple inmates' deaths. The Eagle
Mountain prison closed in 2003 when its private operator lost state funding.
"It was not safe and that's why the state closed it," Charpied said.
November 29, 2004 Desert Sun
What was the result of the preliminary hearing for the eight men accused of
killing two fellow inmates during a race riot at the Eagle Mountain
Correctional Facility in October 2003? All eight men were held to answer
charges in the deaths of Master Hampton, 36, and Rodman Wallace, 39, both of
Los Angeles County, Nov. 1 after a preliminary hearing which stretched over a
three-week period, according to Riverside County court records. If the defendants are convicted, they
face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The eight were charged after the 2003 prison riot during which several
inmates were injured. One of the injured inmates was Asian and the others,
along with Hampton and Wallace, were African-American. Their alleged
attackers were Hispanic and Caucasian inmates, according to Riverside County
Sheriff’s Department reports. The prison, which was operated by the
Utah Based Management and Training Corporation, has since been closed due to
budget cuts.
October 15, 2004 Desert Sun
A preliminary hearing got under way this week in what could be the biggest
single murder case in California history in terms of the number of
defendants. Eight men are charged with murder in the deaths of two fellow
inmates at the former Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility during a race riot
a year ago. The eight were charged after the October 2003
prison riot during which several inmates were injured. The prison was closed two months later
due to budget cuts, said Margot Bach, a Department of Corrections
spokeswoman. Eagle Mountain was operated by the Utah-based Management and
Training Corporation. Several of the defense attorneys contend the deaths
could have been avoided. "Nobody from MTC was authorized to use force or
weapons," said Arnold Lieman, Mayfield’s
attorney. A Department of Corrections officer had a key to
the prison’s weapons arsenal but worked days and was gone when the riot broke
out, Lieman said.
March 5, 2004
Fourteen men charged in an allegedly racially motivated prison riot that
killed two men in the Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility in October made
their first court appearance in the case Wednesday. Judge B. J. Bjork
set a March 17 arraignment date for the men whose charges range from murder
to assault. All 14 were arrested on warrants Tuesday. Three of
the men -- David Olivares, Peter Morales and Jason Hernandez --are charged
with two counts of murder each by the Riverside County District Attorney’s
office, reported Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Taylor of the Central
Homicide Unit. Anthony Rimoldi, Eric Lewis,
Byron Mayfield, Jose Rodriguez and Hector Careyo
were each charged with one count of murder, he said. Those eight also
face special allegations that the crimes were race related. Six others
who participated in the melee at the now closed Desert Center facility about
30 miles east of Indio were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly
weapon along with an allegation for committing the offense while housed in
state prison. The men were charged after a four-month investigation
conducted by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in which more than 500
interviews were conducted, Taylor said. During the investigation into
the riot, which killed two and injured six African-American inmates and
injured one Asian inmate, officials learned the incident was race related.
(The Desert Sun)
March 4, 2004
Eight inmates at a privately run prison were charged with murder Wednesday in
an October riot that left two convicts dead, officials said. The
four-month probe of Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility by
Riverside County sheriff's investigators and the district attorney's office
also resulted in six additional inmates being charged with assault with a
deadly weapon. "The evidence will show the defendants' behavior
was animalistic, primitive and racially motivated," said Riverside
County Deputy District Attorney Ulli McNulty, who
is handling the case. "The crime scene they left behind was death and
devastation." The 90-minute fight involving 150 inmates pitted a
group of Hispanic and white inmates against a group of black prisoners. They
fought with barbecue skewers, meat cleavers, table and chair legs, and
two-by-fours. Others fought with mop and broom handles. (AP)
January 5, 2004
The Eagle Mountain Community Correctional Facility, which used to house more
than 430 minimum-security prisoners, is one of three private prisons forced
to shut down as part of a decision by the Davis administration and the state
legislature. The private prison on Wednesday ended its 15-year run as
the Chuckwalla Valley's biggest employer. The empty facility, which was
run by Centerville, Utah-based Management & Training Corp., is owned by
Kaiser Ventures, the former steel and iron ore mining company that also owns
the town of Eagle Mountain and land around it. "This is it,"
prison security chief Clay Lambert said by phone. "It's kind of
sad. The people who lived and worked here are realizing now that it's like
breaking up a big family almost." Most of the employees and their
families lived in the town of Eagle Mountain, a community created by Kaiser
when it operated its mine here until the early 1980s. The town had been
boarded up for several years before the prison opened. The families now
living in housing subsidized by MTC and Kaiser have to be out by Jan. 15,
said Jan Roberts, who manages Kaiser's mine reclamation project. "We
can't operate the town on an individual base without a cluster of
people." (Press Enterprise)
January 5, 2004
A company-owned mining town that died once in the early ’80s will become a
ghost town again today when the sole employer -- a private prison -- closes
its doors for good. "It’s sad to see Eagle Mountain go into a
ghost town twice," said Michael Keegan, facilities foreman for Kaiser
Ventures Inc. The industrial giant built Eagle Mountain in 1944 to house
miners and their families. When the iron mines closed nearly 40 years
later, the town’s church, store and 337 company homes were left to a slow
decay. "A lot of people come back to reminisce, they bring their
grandchildren, and they’re sad to see how things have become," Keegan
said. When the private Eagle Mountain Correctional Facility opened in
1988, portions of the town gasped back to life. Kaiser Ventures made
some of Eagle Mountain’s homes inhabitable for prison workers and their
families. Under a contract with the prison’s operator, Management &
Training Corporation, families paid as little as $145 a month for a
three-bedroom home. Utah-based MTC provides about 16,000 prison beds
nationwide. While some prison employees found the isolated location to
be a sort of hell, others fell in love with the desolate desert and its
silence. The closest supermarket is about 60 miles away. "I love
it here. It’s a nice place for your kids. There is peace and quiet and at
night you can see every star," said correctional officer Lisa Reynolds.
She will hang up her uniform today after nearly 13 years at the prison.
Reynolds is moving with some of her friends and family to Redding, but says
she will miss Eagle Mountain. "I guess this pretty much puts a lid
on it," she said, stepping through the empty prison barracks. Prison
employees have 15 days to evacuate their homes. Keegan, who works for Kaiser
overseeing infrastructure for the community, estimated it will take 90 days
to fully shut down the Eagle Mountain community. Then he, too, will be out of
a job. A kindergarten through eighth-grade school will remain open at
least until June for the 20 or so children whose families live in the
outskirts of Eagle Mountain. Without this major employer in the area,
the school, the only school in the Desert Center Unified School District,
will likely have to lock its doors. If the school closes, students
remaining in the district will likely have to be bused to the Palo Verde
Valley, which means a three-hour round trip for the K-8 students.
Whether or not the hard scrabble mining-turned-prison town will get a third
crack at life remains to be seen. Los Angeles County might eventually
fill in the 1,500-foot-deep mining craters with its trash if it can work through
the technical and environmental challenges. But as of Tuesday there
were no takers for the bleak rows of boarded-up houses, a secondhand prison
and broken-down roads with red winter weeds pushing stubbornly through the
cracks. Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson said he is hopeful the
old prison might be used for a drug rehabilitation center or something
similar. "It’s a crying shame. That private prison could handle
prisoners more cost-effectively than the state," Wilson said of the
prison’s closure. At the prison -- a converted strip mall with free-standing
buildings circumscribed with razor wire -- prison employees and a handful of
inmates worked to clear out boxes of records, furniture and prison supplies.
Bitterness over the closure was tangible Tuesday. "We had been
holding out hope, even up to today, but it does not look good," said
Clay Lambert, chief of security at Eagle Mountain for 15 years. All of
the minimum-security prison’s 432 inmates were either shipped to state-run prisons
or paroled to community-based programs. Some of the 98 employees will go to
work for other out-of-state prisons operated by MTC. Many in Eagle
Mountain blame pressure from the powerful California Correctional Peace Officer’s Association union for the closure of the facility,
the only private-run prison in the state where inmates have died. Two men
were killed when racial tensions broke out into a riot in October, in a
situation Lambert called "extremely unfortunate." Two other
privately operated prisons in California also will be closed today in Baker
and Mesa Verde. Those three prisons and two others -- Live Oak’s Leo Chesney
women’s prison and Wackenhut’s McFarland Community Correctional Facility --
were targeted by the state Department of Corrections and former Gov. Gray
Davis for closure back in 2001. The Davis administration proposed closing the
five privately operated prisons as a budget-cutting move to save $5 million
from the state’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit. The move to close
the prisons fell apart shortly before they were then scheduled to close on
June 30, 2002. Jan Roberts, director of Eagle Mountain Operations for
Kaiser Ventures, said she was surprised at the prison’s closure, despite its
long struggle to stay open. "I have a deep, profound disappointment,"
said Roberts. She has been in Sacramento several times over the past three
months lobbying for Eagle Mountain’s survival. "I am working every
day to find a use for our facility and town site," she said.
Roberts said she is outraged the state would close down a prison that costs
$38 a day less per prisoner than state-run facilities. Each prisoner in state
facilities costs taxpayers an average of $28,000 a year. Prisoners at
Eagle Mountain were employed by Kaiser as day laborers at minimum wage to
perform work in the community. Some of that money was returned to victims’
assistance programs and 20 percent to the state to cover their room and
board. "We are getting a double whammy," Roberts said.
While Tip Kindel could not deny the union has been
pressuring the state to close private operations like Eagle Mountain, the
acting assistant secretary for external affairs of the California Youth and
Adult Correctional Agency said union pressure was not the deciding factor in
its closure. Most of the prisoners in Eagle Mountain were minimum-risk
parole violators serving short-term sentences, Kindel
said. Many, he said, would be better served in community programs that
cost the state about $2,100 a year, near their family support systems and
jobs. "The Department of Corrections is trying to assist parolees
to success. We want to find community-based ways of taking care of them in a
way that does not jeopardize the community," Kindel
said. Facilities like Eagle Mountain could be operated for less, Kindel said, because they did not take in ill, or
high-risk inmates with greater needs and demands. As residents prepared
Tuesday to turn out the lights on Eagle Mountain, however, there was a
weariness with the bureaucracy they believed was forcing them from their
homes and jobs. "What town?" asked correctional officer Ruben
Hirst, when talking about the future of Eagle Mountain. "This prison was
the only thing that kept this area alive." (The Desert Sun)
November 30, 2003
The gas station is shuttered and the old savings and loan long gone. The
movie house is dark, too. Some folks – driving through the quiet community –
no longer bother braking at stop signs. There's not much life left in
Eagle Mountain, a former mining camp deep in the Riverside County
desert. In a few weeks, the tumbleweeds may claim it for good. At
the end of December, state corrections authorities plan to shut off funding
for the community's last remaining industry – a privately managed prison.
And that, locals say, will mean the end of this once-vibrant company
town. "It just makes me want to sit down and cry," says
longtime resident Connie Ottinger. The
facility is among three private prisons in California due to close Dec. 31 as
part of what former Gov. Gray Davis and legislators portrayed as a
cost-cutting move. Officials with the California Department of
Corrections say fewer low-security prisons – including a wave of private
facilities that opened in the late 1980s – are needed because of a steady
decline in non-violent offenders statewide. The Eagle Mountain
facility, which houses 240 men, is run by Utah-based Management &
Training Corp. under contract with California officials. Many around
town believe the closure demonstrates the political muscle of the state
prison guards union – the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.
The association has long opposed privately run, nonunion prisons.
Jeannette "Jan" Roberts of Kaiser Ventures, which owns the
community, notes that privately managed prisons cost less to operate per
inmate than public facilities. "It does not make economic sense to
close this prison and close this town," says Roberts, operations
director with Kaiser and a longtime Eagle Mountain resident. "We
shouldn't let the union rule this state." Hoping for an 11th-hour
reprieve, Roberts and others are trying to persuade Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers to keep the prison afloat. The rookie
politician filmed one of his action flicks – "Terminator 2: 3D" –
in Eagle Mountain about a decade ago. "GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
PLEASE SAVE OUR SCHOOL AND TOWN," reads a sign on the edge of the
community. But with the closure weeks away, folks here figure they may
have little more than a fool's hope. "All of our best efforts may
not be enough," Roberts says. The town has faced extinction
before. In 1983, Kaiser Ventures shut down an iron mine that had been
in operation since World War II. Hundreds of miners left town, forcing the
closure of a movie house, gas station and other businesses. The prison
opened five years later during a statewide crackdown on crime. Today,
about 350 people reside in the remote community, renting houses provided by
Kaiser. Most work at the prison. Eagle Mountain is roughly 125 miles
northeast of San Diego. Savings to state Terry Thornton, a state
Department of Corrections spokeswoman, says the closure of Eagle Mountain,
along with two private jails in central California, will save the state
nearly $900,000 over the next four years. She dismissed concerns that
the closure is part of a power play by the guards' association, while a union
official called the idea "utterly ridiculous." Lance
Corcoran, a spokesman with the guards' association, says allowing a private
corporation to house state inmates only benefits the business, not the
public. "The commitment of private business is to the bottom line,
to a corporate board of directors," Corcoran says. "Public safety
should not go to the lowest bidders." According to state
corrections officials, the cost of housing an inmate in a privately managed
prison is $17,000 a year, compared to $28,000 in a state facility. But
Corcoran and others say the cost gap isn't as wide as it appears. Unlike
state prisons, private facilities are not required to fund the cost of
transferring prisoners and other key expenses. Dozens of Eagle Mountain
inmates were transferred out in October following a jailhouse riot that left
two convicts dead. The violent incident is under investigation. The
riot is believed to be the first of its kind at a privately managed prison in
California. Folks around Eagle Mountain call the riot unfortunate, but
hope state officials don't see it as another excuse to close the prison
down. Tears fall Ottinger,
45, has lived in the area 35 years and is secretary at Eagle Mountain School,
a K-through-8 campus. She remembers when the iron mine shut down and tears up
at the prospect of the prison closure. "I can't stand the idea of
that happening again," she says. She believes Eagle Mountain was
an ideal place to grow up. Neighbors looked out for neighbors. Kids biked
around town and few worried for their safety. Weekends were for
barbecues. "People ask me why I would stay in a place like this.
And I say you don't know what it was like growing up here." The
school, which has about 50 students, has enough state funds to stay open for
the rest of the academic year. Kaiser has proposed converting part of
the old mine into a landfill, giving the community another lease on life. But
the proposal has been slowed by environmental challenges. Carl Stuart,
a spokesman with Management & Training Corp., said his business has
proposed the creation of a drug rehabilitation center at Eagle
Mountain. In the meantime, his company is in discussions with the
governor's office to save the prison. "We haven't given up hope,"
he says. Roberts tries to stay upbeat too, but knows the days may be
numbered. Some prison employees are moving out. Others have stopped watering
their yards. "I've been the eternal optimist," she says.
"But it's very difficult to remain optimistic." (The
San-Diego Union-Tribune)
October 29, 2003
More than 130 inmates have been transferred out of a privately run state
prison in eastern Riverside County after a weekend riot there left two
convicts dead and tensions at the low-security lockup unusually high. State
corrections officials said a melee Saturday night at the prison in Eagle
Mountain involved about 150 inmates and raged for 90 minutes before a warning
shot fired into the ground by an off-duty correctional officer quelled the
fighting. The deaths were the first violence-related fatalities at any
of the nine California prisons run by private corporations under contract
with the state, a corrections official said. The victims, both from Los
Angeles County, died after being stabbed and bludgeoned by other inmates,
according to early reports. They were identified as Rodman Wallace, 39,
serving two years for burglary, and Master Hampton, 34, serving a 16-month
term for a drug offense. Four other inmates wounded in the riot were
taken by helicopter to hospitals for treatment, and 50 prisoners had less
serious injuries and were cared for on site. No staff members were
hurt. Dozens of Riverside County sheriff's deputies and officers from
the two state prisons in Blythe were called in to help end the melee, which
broke out in a recreation room while inmates were watching the World Series —
and spread quickly. Because guards at private prisons do not carry any
weapons — not even pepper spray — they were forced, according to protocol, to
retreat from the fighting until additional officers arrived. After the
brawling stopped, witnesses described a scene of widespread destruction, from
broken windows to torn fencing and smashed furniture. "I walked
onto the yard when it was over, and it looked like Beirut," said Lt.
Warren Montgomery, one of those who traveled 60 miles from Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe to
assist. Montgomery said inmates attacked one another with knives and meat
cleavers seized from the kitchen, as well as table and chair legs and mop
handles — "anything they could get their hands on." He said
the fight was predominantly between African American and Latino inmates, and
that prisoners of both ethnic groups, as well as some Asian and white inmates
involved in the fighting, were moved to other prisons to prevent a
recurrence. The brawling caused about $15,000 in property damage, but
nothing severe enough to force the closure of the prison, its operators said.
Nevertheless, the riot is likely to rekindle debate over the use of private
institutions to incarcerate some of the state's low-risk prisoners. Eagle
Mountain and the eight other privately run community correctional facilities
house about 3,600 inmates in all, mostly drug offenders, burglars, parole
violators and other nonviolent criminals. The powerful state prison
guards union has long opposed private lockups, over which it has no
jurisdiction. Union leaders have argued that "prisons for profit"
are less secure and that their staffs are not adequately trained. In a
move described as a money-saving step, the state plans to close three of the
private prisons in the coming year. Eagle Mountain is one of them, scheduled
for closure Dec. 31. A spokesman for the Utah-based company that
operates Eagle Mountain and 15 prisons in other states defended the 438-bed
facility, noting that these were the first deaths since it began operating in
1988. Management & Training Corp. spokesman Carl Stuart said that
although the cause of the melee was not yet known, tensions at the normally
quiet facility had been surging in the last six weeks. During that period, he
said, the Department of Corrections transferred out about 200 inmates with
longer sentences and brought in a group scheduled to be paroled before the
end of the year. (La Times)
October 28, 2003
Two men were killed and seven others were injured during a riot at Eagle
Mountain Community Correctional Facility. The Riverside County
Sheriff’s Department said Sunday that the riot occurred shortly before 7 p.m.
Saturday night. Deputies reported that one man died at the prison and
the other man died at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio. The
other injured inmates were taken to JFK, Desert Regional Medical Center in
Palm Springs and Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, according to the
sheriff’s department. Deputies said the riot started with an
altercation between a group of white and Hispanic inmates who reportedly
attacked a group of black inmates at the facility. The names of the two
dead men have not been release pending notification
of their families. Autopsies have been scheduled for this week on the bodies
of the two inmates who were killed. Sheriff’s Department Central
Homicide Unit is investigating the case with help from deputies in the
Blythe, Indio and Palm Desert sheriff’s stations. Eagle Mountain
Community Correctional Facility is a private prison that houses male
prisoners for the state of California. (The Desert Sun)
June 3, 2002
Eagle
Mountain, named for the rose-colored peaks on its northern edge, fears it is
on the brink of disappearing. Founded in 1947 as an outpost to mine iron ore,
the town managed to outlast the mine by converting old miners' dormitories
into a state prison in 1988. But now the Eagle Mountain Community
Correctional Facility is one of five prisons scheduled to close at the end of
June, signaling not only the possible end of this windswept desert community
of 300 residents, but also the waning of a national boom in prison building.
After decades of growth, state prisons have become a prime target of
cutbacks. The reasons: the national drop in crime, state budget shortfalls,
the easing of some strict prison policies, and changing public opinion about
how to handle criminals, particularly those convicted of drug-related
offenses. Nationally, $1 of every $14 in states' general funds is spent on
corrections, according to Vincent Schiraldi, president of the Justice Policy
Institute, a Washington-based organization that advocates reducing
incarceration rates. So-called three-strikes laws, requiring violent
offenders convicted of a third felony to be held for 25 years to life without
parole, also being reconsidered. Throughout the nation, states are finding
ways to reduce the inmate population. (The Bradenton)
April 25, 2002
Eastern Riverside County residents pleaded with lawmakers Wednesday not to
shut down Eagle Mountain's sole industry, a private prison. "This
community will close," warned Jeanette "Jan" Roberts of Desert
Center. A Senate budget panel voted 2-0 to keep open the Eagle Mountain
prison, another in Baker in San Bernardino County and three in the Central
Valley. But the powerful state prison guards' union and Gov. Davis want
the five private lockups shut down after June 30, when their contracts with
the state expire. Craig Brown, a lobbyist for the California
Correctional Peace Officers Association, which represents guards who work at
state prisons, said the nine private prisons mask their true cost by shipping
chronically ill inmates back to the state Corrections Department for
care. (The Press-Enterprise)
December 3, 2001
There is the "possibility" that the Department of Corrections could
reduce or pull on funding for the 438-bed Eagle Mountain Community Correctional
Facility. The stated reason is fiscal belt-tightening. (The Press
Enterprise)
El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, California
Group 4
April 3, 2007 Union-Tribune
A City Heights man accused of using his security guard badge to lure victims
and then rape them was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison. Robert
James Purdy, 42, pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to rape under
color of authority and kidnapping charges involving two teenage girls. He
agreed to the 12-year prison term in February under the terms of a plea
bargain. Purdy was accused of a dozen felonies corresponding to three attacks
in September and November in Normal Heights, Southcrest
and North Park. Prosecutors said Purdy, a Wackenhut security employee, got
the girls into his car by showing his badge and then demanded sex. He was
arrested at his home on Nov. 9.
February 1, 2007 10 NEWS
A security guard who used his badge to lure young girls into his car and
then forced them to have sex pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of rape
under the color of authority and one count of kidnapping. Under the plea
deal, Robert James Purdy, 42, will receive a 12-year prison sentence. He must
also register as a sex offender and has agreed to give up all property seized
by police, including his Ford Escort, according to prosecutors. The
defendant, who will be formally sentenced on April 2 by Judge Stephanie
Sontag, would have faced more than 40 years behind bars if convicted of a
dozen felony charges, including sodomy and false imprisonment by violence.
Purdy, of City Heights, pleaded guilty to raping two 15-year-old girls last
Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. One of the victims was moved from one location to another,
according to the plea agreement. Deputy District Attorney Evan Kirvin said Purdy was an employee of Wackenhut Corp. when
he used his badge to lure the victims into his car. The victims were in an
area known for prostitution when they were victimized, but it was not
established that either actually worked as prostitutes, Kirvin
said. Purdy was tracked down and arrested after an officer recalled putting a
citation on a vehicle that fit the description given by one of the victims.
November 21, 2006 North County Times
A City Heights man accused of using his position as a security guard to
lure young girls into his car, where he allegedly forced them into sex,
pleaded not guilty today to 12 felony counts, including rape and kidnapping.
Deputy District Attorney Evan Kirvin said Robert
James Purdy, 41, is charged with raping two girls under the age of 16 on Nov.
7 and Nov. 8. Kirvin said there may be additional
alleged victims, which could lead to more charges. Anyone who thinks they may
have been victimized by Purdy should call San Diego police, the prosecutor
said. Judge David Szumowski set bail at $500,000
and scheduled a readiness conference for Jan. 11. Purdy, a Wackenhut Corp.
employee, allegedly used his security guard's badge to persuade women and
girls to get into his car, where he forced them into sex acts. The alleged
victims "were in areas known for prostitution when they were
victimized," San Diego police public information officer Monica Munoz
said. Kirvin, who would not comment on whether the
alleged victims were prostitutes, said at least one girl was moved from one
location to another. The defendant was tracked down and arrested Nov. 9 after
an officer recalled putting a citation on a vehicle that fit the description
given by one of the alleged victims. As charged, Purdy faces more than 17
years in prison if convicted.
November 11, 2006 KFMB
A suspected serial rapist is behind bars Saturday morning, being held on
$325,000 bail. Police have identified the suspect as Robert James Purdy.
Authorities say the 41-year-old man is a security guard who works for
Wackenhut Security Services. He’s a man who officers say used his badge and
his fake cop talk to target women working the streets along El Cajon
Boulevard. Investigators tell News 8 that so far they know of four rape
victims. All are prostitutes and two are minors.
El Monte Center
El Monte, California
GEO Group
February 1, 2012 San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Despite backlash from residents, the City Council tonight gave a halfway
house operator the green light to allow 15 more federal pre-release inmates
to move into the Ramona Boulevard facility, under pre-negotiated conditions.
The decision followed a public hearing that was held over the course of two
meetings, in which community members argued that the addition would
negatively affect the city's image. The expansion request was denied by both
the Planning Commission and City Council in 2010. The City Council's denial
spurred former operator Cornell Companies, which has since been acquired by
GEO Group, to launch a lawsuit against the city. If councilmembers didn't
approve the request, GEO Group planned to proceed with litigation.
January 5, 2012 Whittier Daily News
Operators of a halfway house will come before the City Council again to ask
it reconsider a proposal that would allow 15 more pre-release inmates to move
into its facility at 11750 Ramona Blvd. Last year, council members backed the
Planning Commission's 3-2 decision to reject the request, which would have
increased the number of residents at the facility from 61 to 76. The move
prompted the operator, Cornell Companies, to file a lawsuit. If council
members don't reconsider their position after a public hearing Tuesday, the
litigation will proceed, according to Isabel Birrueta,
an attorney representing El Monte. "It will go up to the Superior Court
again, and the Superior Court will decide whether to request that the city
review it again or it will decide that Cornell's writ of mandate has no
merit," she said. Those who oppose the expansion have voiced concerns
that the addition of more pre- release inmates from federal correctional facilities
could hurt property values and negatively affect El Monte's image. Councilman
B. Bart Patel originally voted against the proposal while he served on the
city's Planning Commission. "I think the community is concerned because
whether it was one bed, two beds or 15 beds, the community feels where does
it stop?" he said. The home helps both male and female inmates
transition from prison life back into society. If approved, the proposal
wouldn't increase the square- footage of the building, but it would allow 15
more residents. Representatives from the company, which has since been
acquired by the GEO Group, have said they needed to take in more residents in
order to respond to requests by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. According to
the Megan's Law website, there are no sex offenders residing at the home.
Fresno County Jail
Fresno, California
Aramark
Sep 22, 2018 norcalrecord.com
Nurses formerly employed by Corizon Health allege they were not paid
lawful wages
FRESNO – Several nurses previously employed by a health care company
allege they are owed unpaid wages. Bruce Morrelli,
Jose Rojas, et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly
situated, filed a complaint on Sept. 5 in the Fresno County Superior Court
against Corizon Health Inc. and Does 1-25 alleging that they violated the
California labor code and the business and professional code. According to
the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that they were damaged by the defendant
during their employment because of violation of labor codes. The plaintiffs
hold Corizon Health Inc. and Does 1-25 responsible because the defendants
allegedly failed to pay lawful minimum and overtime wages, failed to provide
off-duty meal and rest breaks, failed to provide accurate wage statements and
failed to pay all wages due and owing at termination of employment. The
plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek unpaid minimum and overtime
wages, with interest, attorney's fees, costs, expenses and such other just
and proper relief. They are represented by Daniel F. Kopfman
and Lawrence M. Artenian of Wagner, Jones, Kopfman & Artenian LLP in
Fresno. Fresno County Superior Court case number 18CECG03296
Jul 28, 2018 independent.com
California: All better after Corizon leaves
The number of grievances filed by inmates at County Jail because of the
medical treatment they’ve received has dropped dramatically in the past year
while the number of inmates seeking medical treatment has gone significantly
up. Accounting for this dramatic turnaround is a combination of factors: The
jail has a new medical treatment provider — CFMG
(California Forensic Medical Group) — which is now
entering its second year. In addition, the Sheriff’s Office is entering its
second year of operating a more formalized grievance process, run by a 32-year
veteran of jailhouse operations, Lt. Mark Mahurin, who has won major praise
by mental-health activists who in the past were among the jail’s most
relentless critics. “It’s really quite remarkable,” said Suzanne Riordan of
Families Act!, which has watchdogged mental-health
care at the jail for more than 10 years. “We call Mark or Lt. Shawn Lammer
with a complaint, and they’re inside the jail cell almost immediately
checking it out. We still have problems. They just get resolved a lot faster
now.” Families Act! helped get the new grievance program started a few years
ago when they released a dossier of medical horror stories from the jail. In
the first three months of 2018, the jail received a total of 477 grievances,
of which 87 were related to dental care, mental health, medications, or
general medical care. In the first three months of the prior year, there were
520 total complaints, of which 138 related to health-care concerns. In the
first quarter of 2018, 2,244 inmates sought medical treatment; the first
quarter of the prior year, the number was 1,852. In 2018, all 87 grievances
were resolved in an average of 3.8 days. The prior year, it took 5.6 days for
resolution to be achieved. Last year, 15 cases required some form of
follow-up before they were settled, and three went to appeal. This year, no
cases required any follow-up, and none were appealed. Resolution, however,
doesn’t necessarily mean the complaint was settled to the liking of the
inmate; it means the complaints were investigated and a determination was
made. Resolution could mean getting painkillers to an inmate experiencing
chronic dental issues or scheduling an appointment with a gynecologist for an
inmate complaining of an ovarian cyst. In another case, it could mean denying
hormones to an inmate undergoing a gender change because there’s no history
of the inmate receiving such a prescription. Mahurin said once the county
supervisors gave the boot to the jail’s prior health-care contractor — Corizon — the
opportunities for improvement abounded. Corizon’s response to complaints,
Mahurin said, were too often “too vague and too general.” Corizon
professionals cited medical confidentiality rules for divulging so little
information, frustrating inmates, advocates, and jail custodial staff trying
to get answers. Once CFMG took over, Mahurin said the county changed to a
grievance procedure, asking inmates to sign confidentiality waivers so that
health-care providers could no longer hide behind vague generalities. “It
used to be, ‘We’ll look into it,’” Mahurin recounted. “Now we’ll get, ‘You’re
right, that should never have happened, and we’re dealing with it.’” Mahurin
praised several ideas proposed by task-force members. Thanks to Esther Lim of
the ACLU Southern California Jails Project, he said, the jail website now
allows inmates’ relatives to provide pertinent information to the health-care
workers in the jail. Many inmates, especially those experiencing mental
illness, are less than forthcoming or accurate about their conditions and the
medications they need. Likewise, he gave credit to Families Act! for posting
a volunteer-run informational table in front of County Jail every weekend to
help inmates’ family members navigate what can be a confounding and
intimidating system. Information gleaned by those volunteers, he said, has
formed the basis of grievances in addition to the ones submitted by inmates
themselves. In 2017, volunteers processed 33 grievances; this year it was 15.
Oct 11, 2017 fresnobee.com
The inmate needed a wheelchair to get around. Doctor
accused of taking it away
The California Medical Board has accused a doctor who
provided care at the Fresno County Jail with repeated negligent acts,
including denying a wheelchair to an inmate who could not walk. The medical
board investigation found Dr. Michelle A. Thomas negligent in the care of
five patients she saw at the jail in 2014 and 2015. If the accusations are
upheld, the board could reprimand Thomas, place her on probation or revoke
her medical license. In one case, Thomas is accused of deciding that an
inmate could use a walker instead of a wheelchair. The board said she ordered
the chair removed on July 25, 2014, before a physical therapy examination had
been done to determine if the inmate could walk using a walker, and before he
had been given instructions on how to transition from a wheelchair to a
walker. The wheelchair was removed on Aug. 27, 2014, the board said, and the
inmate was not able to get around with the walker. He fell when he was taken
from his cell for an appointment to have his eyeglasses repaired, the board
said. The inmate filed a grievance with the jail, requesting the return of
his wheelchair, the board said. A camera was installed in his cell to observe
whether he could walk, and after about a week, the wheelchair was returned to
the inmate, the board said. The medical board identified the patient only
with his initials, D.T., but federal court records show a Daniel Trebas has filed a lawsuit for damages he alleges he
suffered in the jail, including injuries caused by the removal of a
wheelchair. The lawsuit is against Thomas; Corizon Healthcare, her employer
at the time; Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims; Sgt. Betty Moreno; and the
Fresno County Sheriff’s Office. Trebas’ lawyer,
Walter Riley of Oakland, confirmed his client is the D.T. in the medical
board accusation. The accusations made by the medical board will be part of
his lawsuit, Riley said. The alleged removal of the wheelchair cited by the
medical board occurred about a month after Fresno County, under fire in 2013
over the health care for inmates and the target of a federal lawsuit, turned
jail medical services over to Corizon, a Tennessee-based inmate medical
services company. The county had been accused of improperly diagnosing and
meeting medical and psychiatric needs of jail inmates, which was chronicled
in August 2013 by The Fresno Bee in its “Locked in Terror” watchdog report.
David Pomaville, director of the Fresno County
Department of Public Health, said he could not comment about the medical
board’s investigation, but Thomas has not provided services at the jail or at
the county’s juvenile justice campus since May 2015. Thomas, reached by
telephone, said she continues to work for Corizon. She referred questions
about the medical board accusation to her lawyer, Matt Grigg of Walnut Creek,
California. Grigg said in an email that he could not discuss the allegations
due to the pending legal proceeding and patient privacy rights. But Grigg
said: “We do anticipate Dr. Thomas will be fully exonerated.” Corizon
spokeswoman Martha Harbin said Thomas is not an employee, but has signed an
agreement with the company as an independent contractor to do work on an
as-needed basis. In August, at the time of the agreement, a review of the
National Physician Database reported no actions against her license, Harbin
said. Harbin said Corizon cannot comment on the specific board findings, but
will monitor the case. However, she said: “We provide health care services to
an extremely litigious patient population and as such find it necessary to
review litigation, grievances or complaints on a case-by-case basis.” Corizon
also is confident Thomas will be exonerated, she said. According to medical
board records, Thomas graduated from the University of California at Davis
School of Medicine in 1995. The medical board accusation against Thomas also
includes alleged negligence in the care of a patient identified only as K.C.,
who could not swallow food or water and who had a gastric feeding tube that
allowed him to be fed liquids directly into his stomach. According to the
accusation, the tract on the inmate’s feeding tube split and contents of his
stomach spilled out. The inmate vomited and was in pain, the board said. A
nurse told Thomas about the opening in the tube and Thomas told the nurse
that the tube should be taped shut, the board said. The nurse taped the
opening and told another nurse to use a catheter to change the tube. The
right size catheter could not be found and the tube was not replaced. An
on-call doctor had the inmate taken to a hospital to have the tube replaced,
the board said. Thomas’ order to have the nurse to attempt to change the tube
was an extreme departure from the standard of care, the board said. Three of
the patients Thomas saw in the jail were women who were pregnant. In one
case, the medical board said a nurse practitioner noted that an inmate,
identified as C.S., had a history of high-risk pregnancy and blood clots.
Thomas did not see the inmate when she was seen for the first time in the jail
on March 24, 2015, and instead the inmate was seen by a nurse practitioner.
The inmate was referred to an obstetrician outside of the jail, and the nurse
practitioner continued to follow the inmate until she was released on May 20,
2015. The nurse practitioner made medication orders, ordered laboratory test
and gave other care. Thomas did not sign any notes or orders, the board said.
A nurse practitioner needs additional obstetric training or needs to be a
nurse-midwife to provide care to a pregnant patient, the board said. And a
high-risk patient should be under the care of an obstetric specialist after
12 weeks gestation. The board said the inmate was 14 weeks pregnant when she
was first seen at the jail.Another inmate was six
weeks pregnant when she was jailed on Oct. 24, 2014. The inmate had
Rh-negative blood and problems can occur in pregnancy when a mother’s blood
is Rh-negative and the baby has Rh- positive blood. An immunoglobulin
injection at 28-weeks can prevent problems. In the inmate’s case, the board
said when Thomas ordered the immunoglobulin she did not give an exact date
for the shot to be given and she did not know the exact weeks of the
pregnancy. In the case of a third pregnant inmate, there was a note saying
the inmate had syphilis and had completed four injections for treatment.
However, there was no lab report showing a positive test for syphilis and no
note regarding the shots, the board said. In addition to gross negligence and
repeated negligent acts, the board said Thomas is subject to disciplinary
action for having inadequate and inaccurate medical records.
Jul 16, 2017 abc30.com
A jailhouse lawsuit could cost millions for taxpayers in a couple Valley
counties. (KFSN)
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- UPDATE: Corizon Health representatives on
Wednesday sent Action News evidence of a second vote by registered nurses in
which they chose to accept the alternative workweek. Unlike the documents
Action News uncovered related to the August 2014 vote in which they rejected
working three 12-hour days, the November 2014 vote was not filed with the
Department of Industrial Relations under Corizon's name, but in the name of
its attorneys, Littler Mendelson. In the second vote, 70% of the jail's RNs
voted to accept the alternative workweek, which is above the two-thirds
threshold required under state law to exempt the workers from overtime laws.
The company also says it indemnifies Fresno County in case it gets sued. The
plaintiff's attorney says he's not sure the vote was proper since it was only
about 60 days after the rejection vote. He adds that he can't find any vote
allowing the alternative workweek in Tulare County, and there are other
issues with payment by Corizon, so the lawsuit will move forward. A jailhouse
lawsuit could cost millions for taxpayers in a couple Valley counties.
Registered nurses say the health care contractor is breaking state laws.
Corizon Health took over as health care providers at the Fresno County jail
in 2014 and they do the same thing in Tulare County. A new lawsuit says they're
cheating nurses out of overtime pay and they know they're doing it. Inside
the Fresno County jail, about three dozen registered nurses tend to the
inmates' medical needs. Some of them say they've been getting ripped off for
the last few years, but not by accused criminals wearing jail uniforms.
"What we've learned is that the registered nurses are working well
beyond eight hours in a day and they're not receiving overtime as required by
California law," said plaintiffs' attorney Joshua Richtel of Tuttle
& McCloskey. Richtel filed what could become a class action lawsuit
against Corizon Health, the company in charge of health care in the jail. It
claims RNs are forced to work 12-hour shifts, three days a week. State law
says anything over eight should be paid as overtime, with some exceptions --
like if two-thirds of the workers chose an alternative workweek. But Action
News uncovered public records showing Corizon held an election in 2014, and
the RNs rejected 12-hour work days. Three years later, nurses say they still
work long days and get no OT pay. Corizon's online job postings in Fresno
County and Tulare County even describe jobs with 12-hour shifts. "It's
pretty blatantly disregarding the election and blatantly disregarding the
will of the employees and under state law the employees have to agree to
12-hour days," said legal analyst Tony Capozzi.
Capozzi says if Corizon's been ignoring the law for
years and in as many as four counties, as the lawsuit claims, it could be
facing penalties of between $6 million to $8 million-- and the counties
themselves could be on the hook as well. "If there's some kind of
requirement of that supervision that they should've been watching over
Corizon to make sure they were following the state law, the county may be liable,
not only for part of it, but for all of this," he said. As it stands,
the lawsuit does not name any county as a defendant. The Fresno County
administrative officer, Jean Rousseau, told us the county "has no
comment at this time." As for Corizon, director of external affairs
Martha Harbin sent us this statement late Tuesday: "Because a lawsuit
has been filed, we unfortunately are unable to comment in detail on the
litigation except to say that we strongly believe our employment policies
meet the letter and spirit of California law and we intend to vigorously
defend ourselves against this frivolous lawsuit."
Mar 28, 2015 abc30.com/news
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno County jail inmate is claiming abuse at the
hands of a jail doctor, and sheriff's detectives are looking into whether the
new medical contractor tried to cover it up. Daniel Trebas
hasn't had an easy time in the Fresno County jail. The convicted sex offender
has served his punishment, plus about 15 extra years after he was deemed
mentally disordered. And after seven years in a wheelchair, he says a doctor
ordered it taken away as retaliation for his previous complaints against her.
Jail staff overrode the doctor's order and gave it back after 37 days, and
then a detective started digging into whether his rights were violated. What
he found, according to a search warrant Action News uncovered, was a man who
was a victim of dependent care abuse whose medical records had been falsified
and altered. "Was there fraud in covering up the fact that a wheelchair
was taken away?" said ABC30 legal analyst Tony Capozzi.
"And if it was taken away, was it for medical reasons or was it for some
kind of punishment or retribution?" Capozzi
says a cover-up could be as bad as the original crime, forcing prosecutors to
file felony charges. But he says the case could be hard to prove. Although
the detective says jail administrators acknowledge the records appear to be
altered, tracking down who did it could be hard. And then there's Trebas. "The problem in this case may be the inmate
himself," Capozzi said. "If he's at
Atascadero [State Hospital] he may have some issues himself in whether or not
he is accurately seeing the facts here in a very objective manner."
State regulators have no record of any prior administrative actions against
the doctor. She works for Corizon Health, which took over jail medical
services not even four months before on a contract worth as much as $100
million. The deal was supposed to clean up inmate medical care and save the
county money, but it may not last long. "I'm sure there's something in
the contract that says if there's any kind of criminal acts or any kind of
fraud, the county has the right to rescind the contract," Capozzi said. "That may happen." The sheriff's
office told us they couldn't comment on the case beyond what we already found
in the warrant because it's an ongoing investigation. Corizon spokesman
Stuart Ramsey told us : ""Out of respect
for patient confidentiality, we are not able to discuss details of the care
provided to any individual or actions taken in any individual case. What we
can say is that, as a physician-led company, our top priority is providing
the highest-quality care to our patients. This is both our ethical
responsibility and the core of our business."
September 23, 2008 Fresno Bee
Fresno County is looking for a new vendor to supply food to jail inmates.
Aramark Correctional Services notified the county that it is terminating its
contract and will stop providing meals to the jail Nov. 20. A company spokeswoman
said the contract is no longer profitable because of rising food costs.
Spokeswoman Sarah Jarvis said the cost to purchase food has tripled. Last
November, board members signed off on a five-year, $30.2 million deal with
Aramark. The deal lowered the per-meal cost, from $1.24 to $1.12, and
required Aramark to pay utility costs associated with use of the county's
central kitchen. The company recently tried to increase its profits by
proposing a program called "Fresh Food for Inmates" that would allow
inmates to purchase a special hot meal once a week. Inmates would have been
able to purchase items such as cheeseburgers, nachos, chili cheese fries and
burritos. But Board Chairman Henry Perea called the
proposal "ridiculous." "It's insane to even be considering
such a program," he said. "I can't tell you how much this upsets
me." County supervisors said they would allow other companies to bid on
the contract. Aramark said it's interested in rebidding, but county officials
said they want to see whether they can exclude the company from the process.
Aramark also provides meals to the juvenile detention facility and the
county's psychiatric units. County supervisors indicated that they may look
for separate vendors to supply food to those areas. Supervisor Bob Waterston
also wants the county to consider having inmates cook and prepare their own
meals.
Fresno County Juvenile Hall
Fresno, California
Aramark
June 28, 2006 KFSN
An investigation is underway into a troubling discovery at Fresno
County's juvenile hall, where a rodent head was found inside a dinner meal.
The current juvenile hall in southeast Fresno has been plagued with concerns
about overcrowding and other unsafe conditions. A new $142 million facility
is set to open south of Fresno to take its place. Juvenile hall officials are
confirming a rodent head was found in a meal served there. They are
investigating just how the foreign object got into the dinner meal served to
a young offender. Chief Probation Officer Linda Penner tells Action News, "It
looked to be like a small mouse head between bread that was served to a minor
at the facility." Environmental health officials are investigating how
the rodent head may have gotten into a dinner meal served on Sunday, June
18th. Meals are prepared at the Fresno County central kitchen by a company
named Aramark. The county memo sent to employees says, "There have been
no similar allegations from the jail facilities ... and the county regularly
inspects the operation to ensure proper handling of food."
Glenn Dyer Jail
Oakland, California
Prison Health Services
March 10, 2010 AP
Health care workers at both jails in Alameda County were locked out
Wednesday, a day after they staged a one-day strike to protest stagnant
contract negotiations. "It's just another intimidation tactic,"
said Maxine Persky, a nurse for 10 years at Santa
Rita Jail in Dublin who was told she would not be allowed back to work until
next week after showing up at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. "How is this
bargaining in good faith?" Nearly 140 health care workers — members of
the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West —
held a one-day strike Tuesday at both Santa Rita Jail and the North County
Jail in Oakland after working more than two months without a contract and
making minimal headway on a new one with Tennessee-based Prison Health
Services. That company has a contract with Alameda County to provide both
jails with health care staff and workers, such as nurses and medical record
technicians. On Wednesday, Prison Health Services released another statement,
saying it "will continue to fulfill its contract with the county and to
maintain patient care through the use of temporary replacement employees
through 6 a.m. March 16 or until we reach a settlement with the union,
whichever comes first." Persky said the union
and management are set to meet again today to try to work out a new contract,
but in the meantime are concerned about the inmates. "We're concerned
for them," Persky said.
March 9, 2010 Oakland Tribune
Nearly 140 health care workers at both jails in Alameda County took to
the picket lines Tuesday to protest six months of stalled contract
negotiations and what they call unfair labor practices. The workers, members
of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West,
approved the one-day strike last month after working more than two months
without a contract and making minimal headway on a new one with
Tennessee-based Prison Health Services. That company has a contract with
Alameda County to provide health care staff, such as nurses and medical
record technicians, to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the North County Jail in
Oakland. "This is to show we mean business and we're not going to give
in," said Kim Tovar, a medical records technician at North County Jail.
Tovar and about two dozen others protested outside North County Jail while a
much larger procession marched in front of the county's largest jail, Santa
Rita Jail. Although workers called for a one-day strike, rumors swirled
Tuesday that Prison Health Services was expected to lock out the workers for
a week starting at 6 a.m. today. Prison Health Services officials would not
comment Tuesday but did issue a statement Friday that said, "PHS regrets
SEIU's decision to walk out and remains committed to negotiate a fair,
reasonable and competitive contract" and said it would "ensure
patient care is uninterrupted." Temporary workers did replace union
workers at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Sheriff's
Office, said no problems at either facility had been reported. A memo from
the company to staff was circulated last week saying the union workers would
not be allowed back to work until March 16 or until a new contract was signed
— whichever happened first. "I think it's dirty," Tovar said of the
potential lockout. "I think it's low." Carrie Singleton, a licensed
vocational nurse at North County Jail, said that if the company locks out
workers, workers still must stand their ground. "If they do it, they do
it," Singleton said. "We have to make a commitment to fight."
The main sticking point in negotiations, according to the union, is what they
see as a huge increase in health care costs employees must pick up. According
to Blaire Behrens, a nurse at North County Jail for 19 years and member of
the union's negotiating team, any proposed wage increase is more than eaten
up by the 30 percent health care cost increase.
February 25, 2010 Oakland Tribune
Health care workers at both jails in the Alameda County have agreed to
strike as early as next month if negotiations for a new contract remain
stalled. About 140 workers — members of the Service Employees International
Union-United Healthcare Workers West — have voted to strike if their
representatives cannot come to a settlement with Tennessee-based Prison
Health Services. That company has a contract with Alameda County to provide
health care staff and workers — such as nurses and medical record technicians
— to both Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility in
Oakland. The current plan by the health care workers union is to hold a
one-day strike March 9, according to Blaire Behrens, a nurse at Glenn Dyer
jail for 19 years and member of the union's negotiating team. There are two
bargaining sessions scheduled for next week. "It would certainly be
better if both sides could come to an agreement," Behrens said. "It
would be better for management, the inmates and the workers. "We work in
a very difficult environment," Behrens continued. "But it's a job
we want to do. We don't want to strike." Behrens said the main sticking
point is what the union sees as a huge increase in health care costs employees
must pick up. She said even though Prison Health Services is offering 3
percent wage increases, those are more than offset by the 30 percent health
care cost increase. Starting nurses at the facilities make approximately
$40.50 an hour. Behrens said the union has been negotiating with management
for nearly six months with little movement. The current contract expired in
December. The union has sought the help of both county supervisors and the
Alameda County Sheriff's Office to help break the stalemate. Sgt. J.D.
Nelson, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said if the union members do
strike, it will be up to Prison Health Services to provide the county with
replacement workers. Prison Health Services did not return multiple requests
for comment.
February 6, 2007 The Daily-Californian
The medical center at a county jail that some say has poor medical care will
hire additional personnel this year following the jail’s settlement of
negotiations with the health care providers’ union. The health contractors
said the conditions before the agreement led to potentially unsafe conditions
for the 4,000 inmates in Santa Rita Jail, the primary jail facility for
Alameda County. The facility’s safety has been questioned by inmates’
relatives in the last several years. In 2006, eight Santa Rita Jail inmates
died. Most recent was the death of Berkeley resident and inmate Cedrick
Pinkney’s, suspected to be related to longstanding health issues. Jail
officials said Pinkney’s death was not due to medical negligence. That
mortality rate is lower than both that of the general population and that in
jails and prisons nationwide, said Bill Wilson, the jail’s health services
administrator Regardless of the circumstances of those deaths, health care
workers at Santa Rita Jail said the new agreement will mitigate what they
considered to be unsafe levels of staffing. “It’s an excellent agreement for
both the jail and the nurses as well,” Wilson said. The agreement, which
officials expect to finalize next week, is the product of a settlement
reached in December between Prison Health Services, the firm contracted by
Alameda County to provide care to the inmates, and the union representing the
jail’s 120 health care workers. Union officials said the health workers were
ill-equipped to respond to the inmates’ medical needs. “There were many days
when the staffing levels were as low as 50 percent of the staffing levels
that Prison Health Services had committed to provide in their contract,” said
Dana Simon, spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union-United
Health Care Workers-West. “Absolutely, it was affecting the basic care.”
Understaffing put inmates with chronic conditions in particular danger, Simon
said, because they cannot administer their own medicine. “There were many
days when they just cancelled pill call in particular houses,” Simon said.
But Prison Health Services representatives denied this claim.
January 5, 2007 Inside Bay Area
Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker is
probing accusations that severe understaffing of medical personnel at two
Alameda County jails is endangering their safety and inmates' health. The
inquiry by Lai-Bitker, the board's Health Committee
chairwoman, came in response to complaints by Prison Health Services workers
that staffing was 30 to 50 percent below contract requirements from August to
December. Nurses were forced to work overtime, and inmates' access to medical
care was denied because too few nurses were available, according to Service
Employees International Union-United Health Care Workers-West, the union that
represents about 120 of the employees. "We are constantly plagued with
understaffing in the Santa Rita jail," a registered nurse and union
member said in a statement provided by the union on condition of anonymity.
"We are all tired." Prison Health Services has contracted with the
Alameda County Sheriff's Office since 1989. The company's current $51 million
three-year contract, which serves about 4,000 inmates at Santa Rita jail in
Pleasanton and Glenn E. Dyer jail in Oakland, expires in June.
December 20, 2006 Mercury News
Health care workers at two Alameda County jails late Monday night withdrew
notice of a planned two-day strike that would have begun Tuesday, as
negotiations continued to address staffing issues, according to a jail
administrator. Leaders of the union that represents about 120 nurses,
physicians and other health workers at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the
Glenn E. Dyer jail in Oakland called the strike early Monday after a
bargaining session failed to produce a new contract. But by evening, they
called off the plan because of progress in contract talks. The workers are
employed by Prison Health Services Inc., a Tennessee-based firm that staffs
more than 300 prisons and jails nationwide, including the two in Alameda County.
"We're continuing to negotiate with the union this evening, and we're
optimistic that we'll come up with a collective bargaining agreement,"
said Bill Wilson, administrator for the Alameda County jails. The workers
claim the agency's failure to recruit and hire enough workers has endangered
the health of inmates, said Dana Simon, a spokesman for Service Employees
International Union-United Healthcare Workers-West. Workers and their
supporters had planned to picket outside the jails in Dublin and Oakland beginning
at 6 a.m. and return to work at 6 a.m. Thursday.
December 5, 2006 CBS 5
Healthcare workers negotiating a new contract with a firm that provides
health services at two jails in Alameda County were threatening to give
formal notice of a strike on Wednesday if talks failed to deliver an
agreement tonight. Employees represented by Service Employees International
Union-United Healthcare Workers-West are seeking a new contract with Prison
Health Services, Inc., a Tennessee-based firm that serves Santa Rita and
Glenn Dyer jails in Alameda County, among hundreds of other correctional
facilities across the country. Union representatives and healthcare
professionals allege the jails have a shortage of healthcare workers causing
detrimental conditions for the patients they serve. A nurse working at Santa
Rita Jail, Donna Chatman, said a recent example of substandard care she heard
of was "that an inmate with a colostomy bag was not seen for days to get
his bag changed because the nurse had to many patients to take care of. So he
used a Pepsi bottle for a colostomy bag until he could see a nurse. That is
what is happening in our jails." David Wolf, a spokesman for Prison
Health Services, said he had no information on that allegation, or another
alleged by a healthcare worker, in which an inmate with an infected foot saw
his condition worsen due to lack of rudimentary care. Wolf said short
staffing in the healthcare profession is common, but no more so at the Santa
Rita Jail than anywhere else. "We are proud of the hard work that these
nurses and the rest of the staff provide for the inmates," said Wolf.
Union spokeswoman Dana Simon said that in addition to desiring a greater
salary increase, "The main issue here is PHS is staffing the jails with
50 percent of the required number of healthcare workers as is required per
the contract they submitted to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office."
However, Santa Rita jail administrative Captain Wilkinson denied these
allegations. "PHS is not violating their contract and they are providing
adequate staffing when they are dealing with a shortage of nurses."
November 10, 2006 PR News Wire
Healthcare workers at Alameda County's Santa Rita jail in Pleasanton and
Glenn Dyer jail in Oakland announced today that they will give formal strike
notice to their employer, Prison Health Services (PHS), on December 2, if a
new contract agreement is not reached. The caregivers are represented by SEIU
United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) and include RN's, LVNs, certified
nursing assistants, technicians, and clerical workers. The workers point to
wages that are 35% to 40% below area averages, resulting in dramatic
understaffing. They consider the low staffing levels to be so serious that
the facilities are no longer safe for the caregivers or the inmates/patients
they care for. Workers also highlight the fact that under the contract with
the Sheriff's Department, PHS is paid a rate based on specific staffing
levels, but on most days reaches only about half those levels. "Staffing
at half the level that is required by the contract between the Alameda County
Sheriff's Department and Prison Health Services is not only unsafe for the
caregivers and the patients, but PHS is also breaking its commitments to
taxpayers and the Sheriff's Department," said SEIU UHW President Sal Rosselli. PHS, a Tennessee-based for-profit corporation,
was the subject of a three- part New York Times expose in February, 2005 for
practices harmful to the well-being of patients/inmates, issues similar to
those cited by the healthcare workers in Alameda County. Access the entire
article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/nyregion/27jail.html?ex=1163307600&en=339
a81 097e61fe2c&ei=5070 SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, with more
than 130,000 members, is the largest and most powerful healthcare union in
the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare worker, including
nursing, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is
to achieve high quality healthcare for all.
Imperial Regional Detention Facility
Jan 29, 2022
sandiegouniontribune.com
Immigration detainees
say there's contaminated air, water at Imperial Regional Detention Facility
A group of
immigration detainees at Imperial Regional Detention Facility have filed a
complaint about conditions there, saying that toxic air, contaminated water and mold growth are causing health problems among
those in custody. Supported by several immigrant-rights organizations, the
nine detainees sent an official complaint to the Department of Homeland
Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on Tuesday detailing
their experiences and calling for an investigation. The complaint also calls
for an end to the contract between Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the
agency responsible for immigration detention, and Management and Training
Corporation, the private prison company that owns and operates the facility.
"Sometimes the odors are unbearable, especially when we are supposed to
be eating dinner. I feel like they are doing it on purpose," Ramon
Dominguez Gonzalez told advocates in December, according to the complaint.
"This is a form of torture." Juan Carlos Sanchez Rivera told an
advocacy group that operates a detention hotline that the inside of the
facility smelled "like a sewer." Five of the detainees asked to
remain anonymous in the complaint because they feared retaliation. The
complaint says that detainees have tried submitting written grievances to
staff at the facility but that nothing has been done to address the issue. As
with other types of detention facilities, long-term immigration custody has
certain requirements and standards to follow. The complaint says that
conditions at Imperial Regional Detention Facility violate those standards.
ICE's San Diego office, which is responsible for overseeing conditions at the
facility, pointed to corrective actions taken after an Office of the
Inspector General reviewed the facility in December 2020 as evidence that it
is working to ensure compliance with detention standards. "ICE remains
committed to continually enhancing civil detention operations to promote a
safe and secure environment for detainees and staff," said Marcus
Johnson, spokesman for the San Diego office. Management and Training
Corporation did not respond to a request for comment. The area's air quality
has been an issue for years. The American Lung Association has called out the
county's high ozone and particle pollution in reports. "While
communities across Imperial Valley are affected by the toxic and odorous air,
individuals detained at Imperial are uniquely forced to breathe this air
while caged in cells that have little to no air filtration," the
complaint alleges. The complaint says that a detainee reported dirt coating
the air conditioning vents, that there is brown dirt in a radius of 20
centimeters around the vent. "Dirt all around it - dirt, dirt, dirt.
They haven't cleaned this, since I don't know when," the complaint
quotes detainee Donald Varela Fernandez as saying. "You see particles in
the air as well, dirty air. In general, not just beside the vent. There are
people who have problems with respiration, for the same reason
. bloody noses, due to the air conditioning." Another detainee
complained in a written grievance to the facility's administrator that the
"high interior building walls are sheeted with dust, and the residue of
dust covers every light fixture and object inside this building."
Multiple detainees reported respiratory problems because of the air quality.
In its December 2020 review, the Office of the Inspector General for DHS
called on ICE to address conditions at the facility, including "mold,
rust, and peeling paint in showers in detainee housing areas." ICE told
the inspector general that the issue in the showers had been addressed,
including photographs in its response to that report in which the showers
appear cleaner. However, detainees in the new complaint say that the mold was
not actually addressed and has continued to grow since then. The complaint
says that the mold was covered up with paint and quickly reappeared.
Detainees also shared their experiences with skin problems, hives and vision issues that they believe stem from
contaminated water at the facility. A previous complaint to the Civil Rights
and Civil Liberties office in July 2021 alleged that the water had visible
contamination and tasted like bleach.
Dec 25, 2020 sandiegoreader.com
ICE’s private prison in Calexico draws auditor’s ire
“Medical checks
insufficient to ensure proper detainee care”
A Calexico detention
center run for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by a controversial
Utah contractor has received a blistering review from the Department of
Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, which found that inmates
"were held in administrative segregation for prolonged periods of 22 to
23 hours a day, including two detainees who had been held in isolation for
more than 300 days." "We also determined that parts of the facility
were in poor condition, medical checks were insufficient to ensure proper
detainee care, medical grievances and responses were not properly documented,
and ICE communication with detainees was limited." “Until ICE takes
corrective action to address these violations of detention standards, the
facility will be unable to ensure an environment that protects the health,
safety, and rights of detainees.” The December 18 report, based on a surprise
inspection by auditors to the Calexico facility in February, targets ICE's
Imperial Regional Detention Facility, operated by Management and Training
Corporation for the San Diego branch of ICE's Enforcement and Removal
Operations office. "At the time of our visit, [the Imperial Regional
Detention Facility] housed 626 ICE detainees with a facility capacity of 704
detainees. The detainee population then comprised 559 males, 63 females, and
4 transgender individuals." Regarding costs, "ICE paid MTC $155.65
per day for each detainee held at [Imperial Regional Detention
Facility]," per the document. "During our visit, we inspected IRDF
facilities, including detainee housing units, food service areas, medical
care areas, and recreation and religious areas." According to the
report, "Medical staff regularly conducted medical checks during
detainee sleeping hours and spent only 10 to 15 minutes completing the checks
and documenting visits to 20 or more detainees. Facility officials cited
registered nurse staffing shortages as the reason for the short visits.
"The facility staffing plan shows there should be nine full-time nurses
and one part-time nurse, but there were only six full-time nurses on staff,
covering three shifts. By not thoroughly and appropriately conducting medical
checks, IRDF staff are not able to adequately identify and address mental
health or other medical concerns affecting segregated detainees."
Regarding a bevy of substandard physical conditions at the facility, the
audit says, "we observed mold, rust, and peeling paint in showers in
detainee housing areas." Standard issue jail garments and shoes were
"ill-fitting, stained, and damaged," and “detainees told us they
had complained of torn and deteriorating mattresses, but the facility had not
replaced them." "In the food preparation and storage areas we found
expired frozen tortillas and turkey bologna, and moldy zucchini." According
to the report, ICE management has agreed to a list of six operational changes
proposed by the Inspector General's office to improve conditions at the jail.
A December 11 account published by USA Today reported that Mississippi
officials "failed to enforce contractual penalties that punish short
staffing" at a state prison operated by Management and Training
Corporation. "Instead, they continued to pay MTC the salaries of absent
employees, aka ghost workers." A company spokesman “attributed staff shortages
to low pay resulting from a state law that requires private prisons to cost
10 percent less to operate than public facilities, as well as the small labor
pools near the rural prisons.” During the latest federal election cycle the
MTC PAC made a total of $94,000 in campaign contributions, divided 50-50
among Democratic and Republican lawmakers, according to the website
OpenSecrets.org.
Leo Chesney
Live Oak, California
GEO Group (bought out Cornell)
July 11, 2011 Business Wire
The GEO Group ("GEO") announced today that the State of California
has decided to implement its Criminal Justice Realignment Plan (the
"Realignment Plan"), which is expected to delegate tens of
thousands of low level state offenders to local county jurisdictions in
California effective October 1, 2011. As a result of the implementation of
the Realignment Plan, the State of California has decided to discontinue
contracts with Community Correctional Facilities which currently house low
level state offenders across the state. This decision will impact three GEO
facilities: the company-leased 305-bed Leo Chesney Community Correctional
Facility, the company-owned 643-bed Desert View Modified Community
Correctional Facility, and the company-owned 625-bed Central Valley Modified
Community Correctional Facility. GEO has received written notice from the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation regarding the
cancellation of GEO's agreements for the housing of low level state offenders
at these three facilities effective as of September 30, 2011, November 30,
2011 and November 30, 2011, respectively. GEO is in the process of actively
marketing these facilities to local county agencies in California. Given that
most local county jurisdictions in California are presently operating at or
above their correctional capacity, GEO is hopeful that it will be able to
market these facilities to local county agencies for the housing of low level
offenders who will be the responsibility of local county jurisdictions. If
GEO is unable to secure alternative customers for these three facilities, GEO
estimates that the combined annualized negative earnings per share impact of
the cancellations would be approximately $0.10-0.13, including carrying costs
while the facilities are idle. The combined annualized revenues for these
three facilities were approximately $33-$35 million.
July 10, 2011 Appeal-Democrat
The Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility for women will close Sept. 30
when the state contract with a Florida-based corporation ends, says a
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman.
"There is no appropriation in the state budget to continue funding that
contract," Ralph Jackson said Friday. Live Oak City Manager Jim Goodwin
said the loss of the community's largest private employer will be
significant: Sixty-five full-time employees along with 12 part-time workers.
A decade ago, an effort to close such facilities spurred communities to rally
in a successful effort to keep them open, Goodwin said, although he
acknowledged state finances are now much different. "It's a different
time — a different budget climate," he said.
May 23, 2011 Appeal-Democrat
The director of the Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility for women
has said the Live Oak site may be closed, Jim Goodwin, city manager of Live
Oak, said Monday. Director Paula Ford referred questions Monday about the
status of the facility to Florida-based GEO Group Inc., which has a contract
with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to operate
the facility. Pablo E. Paez, vice president of
corporate relations, said in an email that he would not comment on the status
of the Live Oak facility that opened in 1989. Ralph Jackson, a spokesman for
the state department of corrections, said Monday that no decision has been
made about Leo Chesney's fate. "We don't know," Jackson said. Live
Oak Mayor Gary Baland has heard accounts that the
facility will close as the state faces its financial crisis but he said that
the city has no official word about its status. "I haven't seen anything
in writing yet," Baland said. "We have to
see if this is really going to happen. "The women's prison is an icon
here in the city," the mayor added. He said of its possible closing
that, "I just don't think that's a good thing to do." City manager
Goodwin said that the community of Live Oak rallied in 2002 when state
spending cuts threatened to close the facility and that he expects residents
will do so again if the site is planned to shut down. "Leo Chesney is
really considered a valued community asset," Goodwin said. The privately
run minimum security facility for women is one of the largest employers in
Live Oak, he said. Paez in an email said the site
has 305 beds but added that "as a matter of policy, our company does not
disclose facility-level occupancy or staffing information."
May 23, 2008 Appeal-Democrat
A Linda man convicted of having sex with a female inmate when he was a
corrections officer in Live Oak was sentenced Friday to 120 days in jail. The
lawyer for Mark Stephen Susoeff called the crime
"stupid." Sutter County Judge Chris Chandler said it was
"beyond stupid. It's disgusting." Susoeff,
45, who worked at the Leo Chesney Community Correctional Facility, received
oral sex in January 2007 from an inmate near her locker in the early morning
at the facility, according to Susoeff's probation
report. Chandler said Susoeff's actions undermine
"every bit of legitimacy that the system has." "You're going
to have make amends for the institution that you have let down," said
Chandler. Texas-based Cornell Companies contracts with the California
Department of Corrections to house about female offenders in the
minimum-security facility. "We feel strongly that any improper conduct
should be punished," said Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel. Cornell
hires people who have work experience but are new to corrections, Seigel
said. The $10-an-hour pay Susoeff is said to have
received is in the range of entry-level compensation, Seigel said. Susoeff worked from 1993-2006 as a custodian for the Yuba
County Superintendent of Schools and was paid $16 an hour, the probation
report said. Defense attorney Donald Wahlberg said Susoeff,
who also was placed on three years probation, needs
help with an alcohol problem. Susoeff's probation
requirements include his completing alcohol counseling. For the past 15
years, the Linda resident has consumed a case of beer on weekends and four to
five beers after work, according to the probation report. "Maybe if I
quit drinking beer, I'll quit smoking, too," Susoeff
said in the report. Susoeff provided cigarettes and
a Bic lighter to a female inmate who had witnessed his receiving oral sex,
the probation report said. He supplied the contraband in exchange for her
silence, according to the report. The probation report also detailed Susoeff's actions in March 2007 with another inmate with
whom he is said to have had oral sex and intercourse. Susoeff
initially denied allegations that he had sex with inmates and said he was
angered by rumors from inmates at the facility. In an April 29 interview at
the county Probation Department, Susoeff admitted
to the first sexual encounter with the female inmate but denied sex with the
second inmate in March 2007. He said family problems and a stressful job left
him "out of it." "I didn't have a brain left," Susoeff stated. He said he plans to move to the state of
Washington but that his house here isn't selling. "It's been one hit
after another," Susoeff said in the probation
interview. "You can only take so many hits and now my wall of defense is
gone."
November 17, 2007 Appeal-Democrat
A male correctional officer of the Leo Chesney Community Correctional
Facility for women in Live Oak was arrested on suspicion of having sex with
an inmate, a Sutter County prosecutor said Friday. Mark Steven Susoeff, 45, of the 1700 block of Deborah Lane, East
Linda, was arrested at 1 p.m. Thursday at his residence and booked into Yuba
County Jail, where bail was set at $15,000. He was no longer being held
Friday. Susoeff was arrested after an investigation
by the Internal Affairs Division of the California Department of Corrections,
said Sutter County Assistant District Attorney Fred Schroeder. The minimum
security facility is owned and operated by a private firm, Cornell Companies
Inc. of Houston, Tex., but overseen by the state. Susoeff
allegedly had sex with the inmate, who was not named, on two occasions, once
in January and once in March. Leo Chesney Director Paula Ford said she could
not comment and referred questions to Cornell spokesman Charles Seigel. Seigel
said the company and state officials began investigating after the inmate
reported the incidents. Susoeff was then placed on
administrative leave, he said. Like other employees, Susoeff
underwent a background check before being hired, said Seigel. “We believe
they’re good but you can’t prevent everything like this,” he said. Seigel
declined to say how long Susoeff worked at the
facility.
June 19, 2002
Live
Oak's Leo Chesney Center probably will survive the budget ax, says a state
official who Thursday blasted the facility's operator for its
"sleazy" public relations campaign. "It's looking much more
like it's going to stay open," said Stephen Green, assistant secretary
in the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency. "This isn't over until the
budget is final. Certainly, the indications are it's going to stay
open." The tentative budget deal to keep Chesney open was hammered out
Wednesday. "Clearly, we're a little better off today than we were two
days ago with the decision made (Wednesday)," said Marvin Wiebe, senior
vice president of Cornell Companies Inc., which runs the Chesney Center under
a contract with the state. "The legislators had some concerns about the
lack of options for women to do their time in Northern California and wanted
to see as many options as possible remain and indicated they were willing to
fund that," Green said. "The legislators had some concerns about
the lack of options for women to do their time in Northern California and
wanted to see as many options as possible remain and indicated they were
willing to fund that," Green said. "When they are willing to fund
it, that makes it a lot easier for us." "This was just one of
just hundreds of government programs that were being looked at to be scaled
back or eliminated," Green said. "This one got more attention
because Cornell made some of the most outrageous lies imaginable and went
around the state accusing us of murder. They behaved in a most unprofessional
manner." Cornell "used the Enron playbook," Green said, referring
to the bankrupt energy trading company. "They're a Houston-based
company, a for-profit concern. They're very interested in protecting their
profits. They don't care who they have to malign to do it." Green called
Cornell's public relations campaign "sleazy. I don't think it was slick.
It bore no relationship to the truth ... "He said there's a chance the
state may put the contract out to bid or have the Department of Corrections
take over management. "We have an option on the property and therefore
control the property," Wiebe said. "The expectation of the
community is that Cornell would operate it as we have for the last 13
years." If the state took over, it would cost an additional $1 million
for salaries and benefits, he said. (Privateer News)
June 12, 2002
Gov.
Gray Davis, facing pressure from several lawmakers, reversed himself
partially and agreed to permit one of five private prisons to continue
operating, administration officials said Tuesday. At least two dozen women
legislators signed a letter last month urging that Davis keep open the Leo
Chesney Correctional Facility at Live Oak, north of Sacramento. Also in doubt
is whether the contractor, Cornell Co. of Houston, would continue operating
the facility, or whether the contract would be put up for competitive bidding.
The administration, trying to close a $24-billion budget deficit, had
contended that closing the five private prisons would save the state $2.8
million.
June 8, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis' plans to close five private prisons, including two in Kern
County, by next week have been halted as the Legislature's budget negotiators
debate whether some or all of the facilities should remain open. Negotiators
are split on the prisons' future, with the Assembly voting to close them and
the Senate voting to restore $2.8 million to Gov. Gray Davis' budget to keep
them operating. More than half the private prisons' 1,400 inmates have been
paroled, sent to firefighting camps or transferred to prisons operated by the
state Department of Corrections, he said. The plan had been to move the
remaining inmates, staff and equipment by June 15. Contracts of all five of
the facilities expire June 30 and the Department of Corrections does not want
to renew them. All of the 340 inmates once housed at the Mesa Verde Community
Correctional Facility in Bakersfield have been moved or paroled, said Durwood Sigrest, head of the
firm that operates the facility. Sigrest said the
staff of 80 has been trimmed down to about 20 and staffers are waiting to
hear about the next move in the stalled closure plan. A few inmates remain at
the facility operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. in McFarland, said a
spokesman for the corrections department. The delay creates staffing problems
for Cornell Cos. Inc., which operates the Leo Chesney Community Correctional
Facility for Women in Live Oak, north of Sacramento, and the Baker Community
Correctional Facility east of Los Angeles, said company spokesman Don Fields.
The Chesney center has laid off employees anticipating the closure, while the
Baker facility plans to shut down its inmate-staffed fire and rescue team as
of midnight Sunday. (Bakersfield.com)
Los
Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Wackenhut/Group 4
Oct
27, 2020 mynewsla.com
L.A. City Attorney Drafts Law to Ban Private Prisons; Public Hearing Nov.
12
The
City Attorney’s Office Monday released a draft ordinance to prohibit the
operation and construction of private prisons in Los Angeles, after a
proposal was put forward by Councilman Herb Wesson last year. The ordinance
would also ban the operation and establishment of privately owned detention
facilities that hold unaccompanied immigrant minors. “Profiting off of
locking people up will not fly in Los Angeles,” Wesson said last year when he
introduced his motion. “This industry is an equal partner in the Trump
administration’s cruel treatment of immigrant children and families, and the
mass incarceration of communities of color. We call on every city and county
to join us in preventing this kind of activity from operating within their
borders.” The ordinance is slated to be adopted quickly, as Wesson stated
that the effects on detainees at privately owned prisons and unaccompanied
minor immigrant detention facilities was “well documented” in a temporary
ordinance the council passed earlier this year. That temporary ordinance,
which put a stop to the operation and establishment of the immigrant
detention facilities, is set to expire in February. According to the
Department of City Planning, staff will be available during scheduled virtual
office hours to answer questions and will also host a public hearing at 5:30
p.m. Nov. 12 to receive public comments, which they will incorporate into the
staff recommendation report to the City Planning Commission in December.
June 26, 2007 PR Newswire
The City of Los Angeles is launching an investigation into security
contractor Wackenhut Corporation/G4S' compliance with the city's Responsible
Contractor Policy, a probe that could result in debarment from city contracts
for five years. Prior to the investigation, Wackenhut had more than US$5
million annually in contracts with the City of Los Angeles to guard at least
two dozen buildings and public places including Los Angeles City Hall East;
Mount Lee -- the home of the famous Hollywood sign; the Ed Davis Training
Facility, which is the newest and most elaborate LAPD training facility;
other parks, performing arts centers, and the Watts and Van Nuys city halls.
In addition to launching the investigation, Los Angeles did not select
Wackenhut for future city work worth up to an estimated US$20 million over
three years. Wackenhut Corporation formerly had the largest piece of this
city account. They were first selected in 2004 for a three-year contract
along with four other contractors for the Los Angeles security work. In its
Notice of Investigation, the Los Angeles City Bureau of Contract
Administration (BCA) determined, "after researching [a] complaint
(regarding [Wackenhut's] contractor responsibility status) that the issues
raised are valid." Accordingly, Wackenhut "[has] been placed under
investigation for violations of [the Contractor Responsibility Ordinance] of
Los Angeles." Under the Responsible Contractor Program (RCP), the City
determines whether the prospective contractor is one that has the necessary
quality, fitness and capacity to perform the work set forth in the contract.
Irresponsible contractors with poor performance of other contracts; failure
to comply with relevant laws and regulations; and shoddy record of business
integrity are not eligible for city contracts for up to five years according
to the Los Angeles Administrative Code Section 10.40.2(a), Ordinance No.
#17367. In March 2007, U.S. Congresswoman Diane Watson co-chaired a public
hearing where she heard current and former Wackenhut employees testify to the
company's long record of workplace discrimination, labor violations, and
management incompetence. In response to charges of racial discrimination by
Wackenhut within the Department of Energy's elite anti-terrorist Protective
Force, Congresswoman Watson declared, "I'm appalled that we have
contractors here with Federal government contracts being paid by taxpayers'
dollars ..... practicing the behavior of the 1950's and the 1960's."
California Assembly member Mervyn Dymally (D-52) and California Senator Mark
Ridley-Thomas (D-26) also co-chaired the Commission on Wackenhut and Security
Standards that included Los Angeles City Council member Wendy Greuel and Dr.
Maulana Karenga, Professor, California State University, Long Beach and
National Chairman of the Organization US. The Los Angeles Commission on
Wackenhut and Security Standards, a group of prominent religious, community
leaders and trade unionists, conducted the hearing. In addition to the
hearing, the group sent a letter to Los Angeles' head of the Bureau of
Contract Administration, John L. Reamer, expressing their concerns about the
company's "well documented record of racism, discrimination and poor
security that appears to violate the City of Los Angeles' Responsible
Contractor Policy." The March 28, 2007 letter was signed by Rev. Eric P.
Lee, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of
Greater Los Angeles and Rev. Dr. Lewis E. Logan II, senior Pastor of the
Bethel A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles BCA received evidence
that Wackenhut Corporation's answers on the contractor responsibility
questionnaire in January 2007 were less than truthful. With respect to early
termination of contracts within the past five years, Wackenhut failed to
mention losing contracts at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant (August 2006), Indian
Point #2 Nuclear Power Plant (2003), and Utah Transit Authority (2002). In
addition, Wackenhut's contract to guard Dept. of Homeland Security
Headquarters and Army Bases was not renewed. As for recent employment
litigation brought by workers, Wackenhut overlooked a number of race
discrimination and civil rights cases, including an US$80,000 settlement in a
sexual harassment case. Wackenhut also failed to mention governmental
investigations for violating laws and rules including investigation leading
to the loss of the Dayton Transit contract in Ohio. Problems and failures
there included missing incident reports, sleeping on the job, concerns about
officers' qualifications, lack of supervision, and unprofessional conduct. As
for current investigations of false claim(s) and material
misrepresentation(s), Wackenhut neglected to tell the City of Los Angeles
about a fraud suit for services allegedly not performed on the Miami-Dade
County Transit contract and the County's Juvenile Assessment Center. An
ongoing investigation by the NBC affiliate in Miami on parts of a preliminary
Miami-Dade county audit revealed that "Wackenhut owes taxpayers up to
US$12.1 million for what it calls 'questioned hours' and 'questioned
billings'" in addition to various other contract violations. The company
also omitted an ongoing investigation by the Department of Energy's Inspector
General of falsification of training records. After the hearing, the
coalition presented additional materials to the city in the period of the
last several months. While Wackenhut had been the incumbent choice for more
years of work, the city recently decided not to choose the company for new
work. This is in addition to beginning the investigative probe toward
potential debarment. Faith Culbreath, president of SEIU Local 2006, which
represents security officers at other companies in the Los Angeles area said,
"Security workers want to be accountable to the community they serve.
That means working for companies that do the right thing by their workers and
by the citizens of Los Angeles. Wackenhut abused the public trust and the
trust and safety of its workforce."
Los
Angeles County Jails
Los Angeles, California
Canteen Services
April 30, 2007 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
The corporation that runs the inmate stores at Los Angeles County's jails
underpaid the county nearly $650,000 in profits while wining and dining
Sheriff's Department employees, auditors said Monday. Compass Group USA Inc.,
which does business as Canteen Services, improperly spent $640,213 from 1999
to 2005 that should have instead been spent on inmate services, says a report
by Auditor-Controller Tyler McCauley. The expenses included travel costs for
Compass employees, meals and entertainment, along with $169,465 for
"client hospitality," McCauley wrote. The same audit also
questioned why Compass contributed $304,291 to the sheriff's Youth
Foundation, a crime-prevention program designed to reduce recidivism; and
paid $147,233 to the Sheriff's Department for retirement parties, golf
tournaments and the Baker-to-Vegas relay, an annual long-distance run in
which Sheriff Lee Baca and other law-enforcement officials participate. The
audit drew immediate criticism from taxpayer advocates, who questioned
whether sheriff's employees are complying with the county's Political Reform
Act. "Somebody in the Sheriff's Department should know better than to
receive all these goodies and perks," said Bob Stern, president of the
Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "It seems like $170,000
is a lot of gifts, a lot of client hospitality." Melinda Bird, senior
counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized both the sheriff's
department and its contractor. "The inmates in the jail are quite literally
captive consumers," she said. "They have no way other than through
Compass to get a pad of paper or a bag of chips. "Now within that
framework, we find it a sad commentary that a vendor would claim that
contributions to sheriff's sporting events or free dinners to deputies are
necessary expenses." Officials at the $8.4 billion company, a prominent
food-management company that has a facility in Canoga Park, issued a response
saying some of the money had been spent for meals and other events with sheriff's
officials, but couldn't say specifically who had been entertained. "They
don't know who was dined," Stern said. "And the question is, was it
top sheriff's people? "My assumption is it probably was top people in
the Sheriff's Department, the people who make the decisions. Was the sheriff
involved? Were any of his top deputies involved?" Sheriff's spokesman
Steve Whitmore said the department will review the audit and discipline
employees, if warranted. "If there is something being pointed out where
we need to review our policies, we will certainly act accordingly," he
said. But McCauley said that without records detailing which sheriff's
officials had been entertained, auditors could not determine compliance with
the Political Reform Act. That requires county employees to disclose gifts of
more than $50 and limits gifts that may be accepted from any one source up to
$360 a year. The county's contract with Compass requires the contractor to
share a percentage of its profits on the sale of snacks, beverages, personal-care
products, over-the-counter medications, stationery, cosmetics and clothing.
That money provides some of the revenue for the Inmate Welfare Fund, which is
designed to be used only for inmate services. However a grand jury report
issued in 2000 found that sheriff's officials had used it for "pet
projects" and other expenses. At the time, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky
accused the Sheriff's Department of using it as a "slush fund," and
demanded the money be used for inmates' medical and mental-health needs. In
their response, Compass officials also disagreed with some of the findings,
and noted that the company had not previously charged the county for certain
overhead costs. As a result, the company contends it doesn't owe the county
anything.
McFarland Community CF
McFarland, California
GEO Group
Aug
22, 2020 kget.com
GEO
Group to layoff nearly 100 employees from McFarland Female Reentry Facility
BAKERSFIELD,
Calif. (KGET) — GEO Secure Services says it will layoff
about 100 employees from a women’s facility it operates in McFarland after
the state ended its contract with the prison operator. The GEO Group said it
will layoff 97 employees from its McFarland Female
Reentry Facility located at 104 Taylor St. In a letter to the county, the
company says it will need to conduct the layoffs after the state’s
“unexpected early termination of its contract with GEO Group Inc.” The GEO
Group is the second largest employer in McFarland and operates the Mesa Verde
Detention Center in Bakersfield. 17 News has reached out to the City of
McFarland for comment. Layoffs will be completed by Sept. 30, the company
said.
Apr
24, 2020 bakersfield.com
McFarland
City Council grants appeal, allows immigrant detention centers in city
Facing
an economic crisis, the McFarland City Council voted to allow a private
prison company to convert two state prisons into detention centers for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a virtual meeting Thursday. In two 4-0
votes, with Councilman Stephen McFarland recusing himself due to a conflict
of interest, the council voted to allow the immigrant detention centers. The
issue has generated fierce debate in the city. Interim City Manager Larry Penell laid out the city’s position early in the meeting.
He said the the detention centers would generate
$500,000 in mitigation fees and $50,000 in direct support to police and fire
support. With the city in dire financial straits, he said McFarland could
hardly afford to lose $36 million in local payroll and $500,000 in property
taxes. He urgently recommended the city adopt the proposition. “Let’s allow
these out-of-town protesters to return to their communities while we accept
to save ours,” he said, referring to the individuals and groups who have
opposed the facilities. The private prison company, GEO Group Inc., had
submitted two proposals for permit changes for the Golden State Modified
Community Correctional Facility and the Central Valley Modified Community
Correctional Facility, which had been used by the California Department of
Correction and Rehabilitation for state inmates. GEO proposed to convert both
700-bed facilities into annexes of the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in
Bakersfield, which it also operates for ICE. The McFarland Planning
Commission initially denied GEO’s proposals. After a large showing of
protesters attended a meeting in February, a pair of tie votes by the
commission doomed the effort. However, GEO appealed the Planning Commission’s
decision directly to the City Council, bringing the issue before the
governing body on Thursday. GEO Vice President David Venturella
spoke in support of the company during the meeting. He said GEO would support
the community with the two facilities, not only through taxes and usage fees,
but also by providing 420 jobs locally. He also promised a $1,000 scholarship
to all graduating seniors in the city moving on to college or vocational
school from the moment the detention centers opened through the duration of
their 15-year federal contract. Multiple advocate organizations and residents
opposed the detention centers, saying GEO and ICE’s values did not match the
Latino-majority community of McFarland, and residents would grow more fearful
— potentially to the point of leaving — if ICE expanded into the city. The
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California sent a
letter to city officials, saying an April 9 council meeting in which the
public could not attend in person violated the First Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution, and they anticipated further violations during Thursday’s
meeting. Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Freedom For
Immigrants also sent a joint letter to McFarland officials, claiming public
notice requirements had not been met in violation of state law. The groups
said the state requires cities to wait 180 days after first posting public
notice about potential use changes for buildings by private corporations
before acting on the proposed change. The letter says McFarland first posted
notice in January, well short of the 180 day
requirement. “GEO officials have justified their presence in the McFarland
community largely on economic grounds,” Freedom For
Immigrants Policy Monitor Cynthia Galaz wrote in
prepared comments for the meeting. “GEO promises jobs and economic stimulus. But in reality, GEO only delivers bad, underpaid jobs and
fails to deliver on its promises for community investment.” In addition, the
groups claimed the City Council was required to hold two public meetings
before approving the permits. Although the Planning Commission held two meetings,
the groups said the City Council needed to hold two additional meetings as
well. Both letters brought up the possibility of litigation if the city
failed to their demands, raising the prospect of a protracted legal fight.
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect
Wednesday, though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group
Inc. has been preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads
since May. The 643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part
of California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR
spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
officials say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just
doesn’t pencil out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy
Bachman. “The issue with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail
facilities has come up over and over again throughout the years; however,
it’s not something that the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too
costly and there’s just not the funding really even to consider something
like that.” The California State Association of Counties has created a
document outlining potential beds at the former CCFs, but counties statewide
have been hesitant to exercise that option. The Geo Group had operated six of
the nine privately run CCFs that lost their state contracts, according to
CSAC. Five other CCFs were run by local governments. The facilities ranged
from around 100 employees to more than 600, according to Toyama.
February 10, 2011 Bakersfield Californian
Two Kern County community correctional facilities that were supposed to
reopen this month and house hundreds of low-level female inmates will remain
closed. The contract awarded last year to The GEO Group to operate the
facilities was pulled because of the state's budget woes, California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Cassandra Hockenson said Thursday. It costs about twice as much to
keep an inmate in a smaller facility compared to a larger one, she said.
"It just didn't pencil out and this administration, obviously very
concerned about the budget and the cost of reducing the budget deficit, had
the programs scrapped," Hockenson said. The
McFarland Community Correctional Facility had been slated to reopen Feb. 14
and house 250 inmates. The Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility --
located in Bakersfield -- had been scheduled for a Feb. 7 reopening and was
supposed to house 400 inmates. Exact figures on how much the facilities would
have cost the state weren't immediately available. GEO Group spokesman Pablo
E. Paez was not immediately available for comment.
October 26, 2009 AP
California officials say a drop in the number of minimum-security inmates
is allowing them to end contracts with the companies that operate three
private prisons. The move will save the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation about $15 million a year. The private prisons in Baker,
Bakersfield and McFarland once housed a total of 822 inmates. Department
officials said today they may seek new proposals to use the prisons for
female inmates. About 2,500 fewer minimum-security inmates are in prison than
a year ago. The department credits a new policy that diverts many parole
violators who commit relatively minor offenses to community programs instead
of sending them back to prison.
September 13, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
A company that wanted to reopen a private prison in Bakersfield under a
no-bid contract had a clear conflict of interest because it had hired two
recent retirees from the Department of Corrections, the state auditor said
Tuesday. But the auditor concluded there was no conflict of interest by
another company that was awarded a no-bid contract to operate a prison in
McFarland, even though it had put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance
director on the board of a subsidiary. Those were the key points in a report
by Auditor Elaine Howle's office that was ordered
by lawmakers upset about the handling of the department's decision to reopen
the two facilities that had been shut down barely a year before. State Sen.
Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, requested the audit in January because she said
the contract for the McFarland facility "smells bad." That contract
was awarded to GEO Group Inc., the same firm that had operated it for years
before it was shut down. The contract drew fire because the real estate trust
that owns the facility and leases it to GEO put former state budget chief
Donna Arduin on its board of directors shortly
before it was offered the contract late last year. The audit report said that
did not involve a conflict of interest because GEO has a 10-year lease on the
property from the subsidiary that began long before Arduin
joined the company and before the state decided to reopen the facility.
Besides, it noted, GEO was the only possible operator because its subsidiary
owned the facility. But the department's handling of a contract to reopen the
Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in
Bakersfield came in for sharp criticism by the auditor. The bidder,
Massachusetts-based CiviGenics Inc., did not
disclose the fact it had hired two former high-level department officials, at
least one of whom contacted the department about the contract. They had both
retired from the department less than a year before. State law bars top officials
from being involved with state contracts for at least a year after they leave
state service.
August 6, 2005 Mercury News
Less than two months after giving $10,000 to an initiative campaign committee
tied to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a well-connected private prison company
was tentatively awarded a $20 million contract by the state of California to
operate a San Joaquin Valley correctional facility. Altogether over the past
two years, GEO Group has donated $68,000 to various Schwarzenegger
committees, according to campaign reports. Officials with the state prison
system insist there is no tie between the donations and the contract, which
is part of a broader strategy to use less-expensive private beds to relieve
severe overcrowding in the 33 state-run prisons. Todd Slosek,
a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said GEO
was actually the only bidder for the 200-bed facility in McFarland, between
Fresno and Bakersfield. Perhaps for good reason. GEO had operated the prison
at McFarland for a decade -- before the state terminated its contract in
December 2003 as there was a push to phase out use of these community
correctional facilities. Its contract canceled, GEO brought in a
well-connected lobbying firm with ties to the new Schwarzenegger
administration. They also hired a consultant who had worked in the
Schwarzenegger campaign. GEO continues to lease the property from a spinoff
company, Correctional Properties Trust. Last November, the trust named Donna Arduin, Schwarzenegger's former finance director, to its
board. Six months later, during a Florida fundraising sweep in May, the GEO
Group donated $10,000 to a Schwarzenegger campaign committee. At the time,
Schwarzenegger attended three fundraisers in two days, all hosted by Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush. Arduin -- who was also Bush's former
budget chief -- attended the Miami fundraiser at the invitation of Bush's
team, but she did not contribute to Schwarzenegger's California Recovery
Team. She became a board member for the trust shortly after she left the
Schwarzenegger administration to return to her home in Florida. She said she
played no role in California's contract with the GEO Group. The GEO Group and
Correctional Properties Trust are ``absolutely separate'' businesses, Arduin said, so she has no conflict of interest. And,
because the GEO Group's lease with the trust runs through 2008, GEO would
have continued making payments to the trust regardless of whether it got the
California contract. ``I don't have anything to do with GEO,'' she said
Friday. ``We don't go to state governments on their behalf. That's their
business. I found out yesterday, through my company, that their lease had
been extended.'' Schwarzenegger critics complain that the agreement appears
to be an example of how the celebrity governor, who assailed Gov. Gray Davis'
aggressive fundraising, seems to be mimicking his disgraced predecessor.
``The nexus is particularly troubling because it's an initiative campaign
committee that is ostensibly controlled by the governor and, within a short
time, a decision is made that benefits that donor,'' said Kathay
Feng, executive director of California Common Cause.
February 4, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration this week abruptly canceled a
no-bid contract it was set to award to a private prison company that employs
two former high-ranking state corrections officials. After pursuing a deal
with the company for several months, a spokesman for the state Department of
Corrections said the department decided Wednesday that it was no longer
interested in finalizing a $5.7 million contract that would have reopened the
Mesa Verde Community Corrections Facility in Bakersfield. The contract would
have been with a Massachusetts-based company called CiviGenics,
which recently hired two retired Department of Corrections officials. The
company and administration insist the two hires had nothing to do with the
company nearly getting the contract. On Wednesday, The Chronicle requested
information about the contract, including communications between corrections
officials and the company. Todd Slosek, a
corrections spokesman, said the decision to shelve the deal was made late
Wednesday after the department decided it didn't need extra beds after all.
The aborted deal is one of two the administration had been advancing to pay
private prison companies to run previously shuttered facilities and help
alleviate overcrowding at state prisons. The state has finalized a contract
with GEO Group Inc. to reopen a prison in McFarland (Kern County). In both
cases, the administration chose not to allow other interested companies to
bid for the jobs, a typical procedure used to ensure that taxpayers get the
best deal. Instead, prison officials said they were facing emergency
overcrowding and needed to strike quick deals with the two firms without
going through the lengthy bidding process. Both contracts have come under
fire, however, because both companies have hired people with ties to the
corrections department or Schwarzenegger's administration. State Sen. Gloria
Romero, D-Los Angeles, called for a state audit of the deals last week after
the Los Angeles Times reported that Schwarzenegger's former finance director,
Donna Arduin, was appointed to the board of
directors of a trust that owns the facility that GEO Group plans to use. CiviGenics employs Michael Pickett, a former warden and
deputy director for health services at the Department of Corrections, and
David Tristan, a former deputy director of operations for the department.
"The revolving door is spinning so fast it's now hit the department in
the rear end,'' Romero said in an interview Thursday. CiviGenics
CEO Roy Ross was formerly director of administration for the Shriver Center,
a biomedical research center founded by California first lady Maria Shriver's
mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. A spokeswoman for the first lady said Maria
Shriver had no knowledge of the contract.
January 25, 2005 LA Times
State Sen. Gloria Romero on Monday called on the Bureau of State Audits to
investigate the Schwarzenegger administration's decision to reopen two
private prisons, one of which employed a consultant and lobbyists close to
the governor's inner circle. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger awarded a no-bid
$3.5-million contract to a Florida firm to reopen a 244-bed private lockup in
the Central Valley this month, a year after his administration closed the
facility. The firm, the GEO Group Inc., hired former Schwarzenegger
associates in 2004 to lobby the administration for the business. Correctional
Properties Trust, the company that owns the prison and leases it to GEO,
appointed Schwarzenegger's former finance director, Donna Arduin,
to its board 10 days after she left the state payroll. The Department of
Finance oversees all state spending. Romero, a Los Angeles Democrat, said in
a statement Monday that such arrangements add to the "perception that
state government is a revolving door."
January 22, 2005 Press Telegram
The prison guard's union is predictably infuriated with Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's decision to reopen two private, nonunion prisons that were
shut down during the Davis administration. But the union does make a good
point when it comes to Donna Arduin. Arduin, Schwarzenegger's former director of finance, now
sits on the board of trustees for a company that stands to profit from the
reopening of one of the private prisons. The union has an agenda behind its
criticism, of course, but the ethics of the argument are sound. Arduin insists she was not a party to any decisions
involving prisons. Still, the appearance of a conflict exists. Arduin joined the board just 10 days after leaving the
Schwarzenegger administration, and one of the company's chief goals was to
lobby the state to reopen the prison. Whether or not an actual conflict
exists, or merely the appearance, it isn't right for a former top official to
go to work for a private company that is awarded a lucrative state contract.
It raises ethical questions, hands ammunition to Schwarzenegger's critics,
and has the potential to undermine his reform efforts.
January 21, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has quietly taken steps to
reopen two privately run prisons in Kern County -- with no-bid contracts --
that were shut down as a cost-saving move barely a year ago. But the move
sparked angry outbursts from critics who questioned the prison population
figures and said lobbying by former administration insiders persuaded the
governor to reopen at least one of the facilities. A Bakersfield man who ran
one of the closed prisons sharply criticized the department for taking the
facility away from his firm, which had an exemplary record, and giving it to
a competitor without taking bids. "That's why I suspect there was some
kind of deal somewhere," said Gary White, vice president of the firm
that formerly operated the low-security Mesa Verde community correctional
facility on Golden State Avenue. "I don't know if it was part of a deal
or what. We're trying to find out now." Within days, The Department of
Corrections expects to sign a contract that will pay $5.7 million to a
Massachusetts-based company, Civigenics, to run the
350-bed Mesa Verde for a year. The other facility being reopened is a similar
low-security community correctional facility in McFarland. The department
earlier this month signed a $3.5 million no-bid contract with GEO
Group Inc. to reopen the facility and run it for one year. The decision raised eyebrows Friday
after it was learned that Donna Arduin, who
resigned late last year as Schwarzenegger's finance director, has since
joined the board of a GEO spinoff firm that actually owns the McFarland
facilities, Correctional Properties Trust. GEO, based in Boca Raton, Fla.,
operates prisons across the country and makes lease payments to its spinoff, Correctional
Properties Trust, according to the Los Angeles Times. GEO announced that Arduin joined the Correctional Properties board in
October, 10 days after she left her job as Schwarzenegger's budget chief to
return to Florida and open an economic consulting firm. GEO also donated
$53,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign fund in November 2003. Neither Arduin nor officials of GEO Group could be reached for
comment Friday. But others voiced deep skepticism about the move. "This
is something that I believe truly crosses the line of integrity and
ethics," said state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, who heads
legislative committees that oversee the prison system. "Donna Arduin was the finance director," Romero said.
"To have her, 10 days after she leaves office, go on this board, which
it's later revealed has state money directed their way, is very troubling."
January 21, 2005 LA Times
The Schwarzenegger administration has quietly moved to reopen two private
prisons a year after mothballing them — and after a company that stands to
profit retained consultants close to the governor and his inner circle. The
administration has decided to reopen two facilities, one of which is a
224-bed prison in the Central Valley town of McFarland. A Florida company ran
the McFarland facility for 15 years until Dec. 31, 2003, when the state moved
its last prisoners out. Rather than abandon California, the company, the GEO
Group Inc., retained a top Schwarzenegger campaign official and a lobby firm
that has close ties to the Republican's administration to restore the
company's standing in California. A company that is a spinoff of GEO and owns
the prison at McFarland placed Donna Arduin on its
board of trustees in October, 10 days after she left her job as
Schwarzenegger's director of the Department of Finance, which oversees all
state spending. "This was an administration that said they weren't going
to be influenced by special interests," said Lance Corcoran, executive
vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union
that represents state prison guards and opposes private lockups. The state is
obligated to pay GEO $3.5 million to operate the prison in 2005, under terms
of a one-year, no-bid contract approved earlier this month. "The
Department of Finance had to be in the midst" of any negotiations on the
prison contracts, said state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman
of the committees that have jurisdiction over the state's prison system.
"This is absolutely amazing; talk about revolving doors." Romero
and Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk), her counterpart in the lower
house, said they were irritated that the administration did not inform
legislators that it was reopening private prisons. "It is beyond quiet.
I think it has been deceptive," Romero said. Schwarzenegger
administration officials say they have not formulated an overall
privatization policy. Rather, confronted by an immediate need for beds,
officials awarded the contract to GEO and were preparing to make final a
contract with a second company, Civigenics, without
soliciting bids from other companies. Civigenics
stands to receive $5.7 million from the state in the coming year to operate
the 340-bed Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield. Soon
after taking office, Schwarzenegger clashed with the union on a variety of
issues. GEO, meanwhile, gave $58,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees
in October and November 2003, as the state was making final plans to close
the company's prison at McFarland. Executives at Correctional Properties and GEO in Florida did not
return calls from The Times this week. But in a 2003 interview, a top GEO
executive said: "We want to do everything we can to preserve our
business base in California." One step was to hire the Flanigan Law Firm
to influence Schwarzenegger's inner circle of advisors — something it is
well-positioned to do. The firm consists of four brothers who were close to
Wilson and his administration. Several former Wilson aides are high-ranking
Schwarzenegger administration members. According to public reports filed with
the secretary of state, GEO has paid Flanigan $37,500 for its services. GEO
also retained Joe Rodota, a former Wilson aide who
was policy director for the Schwarzenegger recall campaign. His role was to
provide strategic advice and develop a long-term strategy for GEO's reentry
into the private prison business in California, company representatives in
Sacramento said.
October 26, 2004 Business Wire
Fitch
Ratings lowers the rating on McFarland, CA's $1.4 million certificates of
participation (COPS), 2001 sewer system financing project, to 'B' from
'BBB-'. Fitch also places the 2001 COPs on Rating Watch Negative. Of
additional concern is the December 2003 closing of one of three prisons
operated by the GEO Group Inc. In 2001, the prisons accounted for over 40% of
sewer system revenues. Subsequently, in August 2004, the city approved a
change in the remaining prison's conditional use permit allowing an
additional 150 inmates at each facility as requested by the California Department
of Corrections. Because wastewater fees are assessed on a per inmate basis,
the nine month period of reduced inmate capacity represents a significant
revenue loss.
Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility
Bakersfield, CA
GEO Group (formerly run by CiviGenics)
Feb
1, 2022 reuters.com
ICE settles claims over COVID spread at California detention
(Reuters)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and private prison operator GEO
Group Inc have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming they failed
to take steps to address the COVID-19 pandemic at two California immigrant
detention centers. ICE and GEO agreed to maintain population caps, regularly
test detainees and require staff to be vaccinated at
the Yuba County Jail and GEO-operated Mesa Verde Detention Center, according
to a filing in San Francisco federal court on Friday. They denied wrongdoing
in the lawsuit, which was brought in 2020 by the American Civil Liberties
Union and other groups on behalf of 10 detainees. A judge must approve the settlement,
which also would require ICE to pay $4.1 million in legal fees to the
plaintiffs. The plaintiffs claimed ICE and GEO violated their constitutional
rights by holding them in cramped facilities and failing to heed guidance on
social distancing, cleaning and isolation of
symptomatic people. The proposed settlement incorporates many temporary terms
imposed by U.S. District Judge Vincent Chhabria in
San Francisco during the litigation, and sets a high
bar for the government to re-detain any of the 400 people released from the
facilities by the judge. The two facilities currently house 62 people. Martin
Schenker of Cooley, who represents the detainees who sued, said in a
statement that the settlement "is a victory for the rights of detained
people and the rule of law. It holds ICE and its private-prison contractor
accountable for their conduct." ICE and Florida-based GEO Group did not
immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday. The case is Zepeda
Rivas v. Jennings, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California, No. 3:20-cv-02731.
For the plaintiffs: Martin Schenker of Cooley; William Freeman of the
American Civil Liberties Union; Bree Bernwanger of
the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area
For
ICE: Jeffrey
Robins and Adrienne Zack of the U.S. Department of Justice
For
GEO Group: Susan
Coleman of Burke Williams & Sorensen
Aug
20, 2021 bakersfield.com
McFarland pursuing agreement with U.S. Marshals to keep private prison in
San Diego open
The
city of McFarland is pursuing an agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service
that would keep a 770-bed private prison in downtown San Diego from closing.
The financially-strapped city would earn $500,000
through the agreement. In return, the Marshals Service would be able to hold
detainees at the site past Sept. 30, when its contract with operator GEO
Group Inc. is set to expire. In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the McFarland
City Council voted to pursue the project. The vote puts McFarland once again
in the middle of a nationwide debate over private prisons and immigrant
detention. The city is used to being in the middle of the political
firestorm. It was instrumental in allowing the Mesa Verde ICE Processing
Center in Bakersfield to open. The facility recently opened two
"annexes" in McFarland, which were converted from two private
prisons that had previously held state inmates. All three facilities are run
by GEO. The company claims its San Diego site, the Western Region Detention
Facility, does not hold immigrants accused of entering the country illegally.
However, community advocates say some immigrants have been held at the
location, and they worry more could be detained there if it is allowed to
remain open. "GEO has been pretty effective in keeping it under the
radar, almost nonexistent," said Adriana Jasso, a program coordinator
with advocacy organization American Friends Service Committee. "For us
to find out, it took a lot of asking and searching." She said her
brother was held at Western Region for an immigration violation for three
months before he was deported to Mexico. "It was devastating, but it's
consistent with what we see," she said. "I think it's because they
have done such a good job of keeping it unnoticeable that there is not enough
pushback from the general population yet." Without the agreement with
McFarland, or potentially another municipality, Western Region is at risk of
closure. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in January barring the
Department of Justice from renewing contracts with private detention
facilities. As a bureau of the DOJ, the Marshals Service is unable to renew
its contract with GEO, which will expire in little over a month. However, the
Marshals Service can indirectly contract with GEO through a municipality, in
an arrangement known as an intergovernmental agreement. McFarland previously
held an intergovernmental agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, which allowed the agency to operate Mesa Verde in Bakersfield.
The city canceled the agreement in 2018 after an investigation by the
California State Auditor and Attorney General found multiple deficiencies and
a lack of oversight at Mesa Verde. The Auditor's Office said in a report that
McFarland and other cities had failed to properly oversee the detention
facilities they administered. GEO was the subject of fierce criticism last
year after more than half of its detainees at Mesa Verde tested positive for
coronavirus. ICE later directly contracted with ICE to keep Mesa Verde open.
The company is also suing Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state of California to
overturn a state law that prohibits private prisons in the state. "As
the California State Auditor has found, the federal government has entered
into similar contracts with municipalities in California, including
McFarland, for the sole apparent reason of evading federal procurement
laws," American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California Policy
Advocate Rosa Lopez wrote in an email to The Californian. "This kind of
contracting arrangement serves no legitimate governmental purpose." In a
phone interview, she said the new proposal caught the ACLU off guard, and
they were still trying to understand what it could mean. Officials from both
the city of McFarland and San Diego did not respond to multiple requests for
comment. A representative for the U.S. Marshals also did not answer questions
about a potential intergovernmental agreement. Although GEO did not respond
to questions from The Californian, Senior Vice President David Venturella told the McFarland City Council on Wednesday
the U.S. Marshals had "run out of options." "They do desire to
keep the facility operational," he said. "It supports a very
critical federal law enforcement mission in southern California." In the
past, McFarland has come under fire for its relationship with GEO. Last year,
the city's Planning Commission initially denied a permit application from GEO
that would allow the company to convert the two state prisons in the city
into immigrant detention facilities. However, the council overturned the
denial despite hundreds of community members protesting the decision. Any
agreement with McFarland would ultimately have to be approved by the White
House, giving some advocates hope this effort will ultimately fail. Still,
GEO must first secure the agreement with McFarland before it can think about
Washington D.C. "We just want to set expectations," Venturella told the council, "that
this is just the beginning of the process."
Dec
4, 2020 businessinsider.com
Judge
denounces conduct at for-profit ICE detention facility, accuses official of
lying to cover up 'deliberate indifference' to the lives of immigrants during
pandemic
US
officials and their partners in the for-profit prison industry intentionally
failed to protect immigrants detained at a facility in Northern California
from COVID-19, "appalling" behavior that led to a "severe and
prolonged outbreak" of the coronavirus, according to a federal judge. In
an order released Thursday, Judge Vince Chhabria of
the US District Court for the Nothern District of
California sided with a group of immigrant plaintiffs, backed by the American
Liberties Union, who charged that officials at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing
Center, privately run by The GEO Group, were grossly negligent in their
approach to the pandemic. Indeed, Chhabria wrote,
they "showed a deliberate indifference to the safety of the
detainees." And they were dishonest about it, she said. For example,
Alexander Pham, an officer with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement with
responsibility for the Mesa Verde facility, earlier testified to the court
that all new arrivals were being subject to a 14-day quarantine "when no
such quarantine existed," Chhabria wrote.
Officials also "deliberately avoided testing detainees and staff for
fear that the results would require them to take expensive and logistically
challenging safety measures," the judge said. That inaction led to a
crisis over the summer: at one point, over half of the facility's 103
detainees were infected with the coronavirus, "an outbreak that ICE and
GEO made no meaningful effort to prevent and were totally unprepared to
respond to." It has been an "abominable performance," Chhabria added. Neither ICE nor GEO immediately responded
to a request for comment. According to ICE, there have been over 7,500
confirmed cases of COVID-19 among detained immigrants since the start of the
pandemic, including 59 cases among detainees at the Mesa Verde facility; a
third of the staff members there have also contracted the disease, including
15 in the past two weeks. The judge's ruling upholds a previous order
requiring ICE and GEO to carry out weekly testing of staff and detainees at
Mesa Verde, which is located in Bakersfield,
California. It also requires facility staff to segregate detainees who have
tested positive in separate dorms. Immigrants who are detained there do not
think that is enough. "We don't feel safe," Williams Mattias Rauda, detained since November 2018, told the ACLU.
"We all are afraid we will die here." Bree Bernwanger,
an attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco,
argues that the behavior documented by Judge Chhabria
should be a lesson to President-elect Joe Biden and his team. "ICE has
both refused to keep people safe and repeatedly misrepresented its
actions," Bernwanger said. "The new
administration should take heed of the court's observation that ICE and GEO
have lost the right to be trusted."
Jul
17, 2020 kvpr.org
Judge
Halts McFarland And GEO Group From Filling New
Detention Center
On
Tuesday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order against
McFarland and the company GEO barring them from populating a new detention
center. The order comes after a lawsuit highlighted misconduct. In April, the
McFarland City Council voted to turn two empty state prisons into for-profit
detention centers run by the GEO group. The council’s decision violated state
laws according to Grisel Ruiz, the supervising attorney for the lawsuit. “A
law that we have in California basically says that if there is a permit of
this type that’s being considered, there needs to be 180 days
notice,” Ruiz said. “And there also needs to be two public hearings
where community testimony is taken and heard.” The McFarland City Council did
not provide adequate notice for the meetings according to Alex Gonzalez from
the community organization Faith in the Valley. Even so, Gonzalez said those
who were able to attend the meetings via Zoom experienced several technical
difficulties. “Like the last vote, they capped the Zoom calls at 100
people,” he said. “Also, a lot of folks that wanted to provide public comment
and were connected, a lot of those folks were dropped from the call including
myself.” According to Ruiz, the judge who granted the temporary restraining
order found the lawsuit raised serious questions regarding the city council’s
actions as well as safety concerns surrounding COVID-19 if people were to be
transferred to the facility.
Jul 15, 2020 bakersfield.com
Federal
judge issues temporary restraining order against GEO and city of McFarland
over immigrant detention centers
A
federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the city of
McFarland and the private prison company GEO Group Inc., blocking the use of
two state prisons as immigrant detention facilities. On Tuesday, U.S.
District Judge Troy Nunley, of the Eastern District of California, granted
the request of Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Freedom for Immigrants,
two advocacy organizations that sued the city of McFarland and GEO Group over
their plan to convert the Golden State Modified Community Correctional
Facility and the Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility into
annexes of the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. In the
lawsuit, the two organizations say the city of McFarland improperly approved
permit changes that would allow the conversion of the detention facilities,
and that transferring detainees into the facilities would put them at risk of
contracting coronavirus. The McFarland Planning Commission, which is also
included in the lawsuit, first rejected GEO’s proposal to modify the
facility’s permits in February. However, the decision was overturned on
appeal by the City Council in late April. The City Council’s vote allowed GEO
Group to begin the transfer of detainees into the two former state prisons as
early as Wednesday, although it's unclear if the company planned to do so.
GEO Group and interim McFarland City Manager Janet Davis didn't immediately
respond to a request for comment. The two 700-bed facilities will allow GEO
Group to dramatically expand the capacity of Mesa Verde, which houses a
maximum of 400 individuals. Lawyers for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center
and Freedom For Immigrants argue in the lawsuit both
the McFarland City Council and Planning Commission violated aspects of state
law put into place in 2018 with the Dignity Not Detention Act. The lawyers
said the city failed to wait 180 days before executing GEO Group’s proposal
in violation of the law, and limited public access to meetings in which the
proposal was discussed. In addition, the lawyers cited the ongoing spread of
COVID-19 within Kern County and the state as a reason for the judge to block
the transfer of detainees. McFarland and GEO Group must respond to the court
within seven days of the ruling.
Oct
5, 2019 therip.com
Jose
Bello speaks out about his time in ICE detention
Bakersfield
College student and activist Jose Bello visited campus to share his story of
detention and arrests by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with an
eager classroom. Bello, a pre-law student and business major, was first
detained by ICE in May of 2018. Just
hours after his arrest, BC students and faculty rallied around him in
support. Representatives from M.E.Ch.A
(Movimiento Estudiantil
Chicanx de Atlan), LUPE (Latinos Unidos Por Educacion), and the Student Government Association
protested his arrest outside of the Mesa Verde detention center in
Bakersfield. Though Bello made bail with the help of his fellow community
members, he was arrested and detained by ICE again in May less than two days
after reading a poem at a local Truth Act Forum, an event that requires law
enforcement to release data regarding ICE collaborations. Bello garnered
national attention for his poem and subsequent arrest. He made headlines once
more after being bailed out of Mesa Verde by two NFL players, Josh Norman and
Demario Davis. Since his release, Bello has returned to BC and continued his
work as an activist, including sharing his story with fellow classmates. Bello
described his detention to Professor (BLANK)’s class in vivid detail, calling
the Mesa Verde detention center unsanitary and corrupt. According to Bello,
detainees had to purchase sanitary items and if they could not afford it,
they went without items such as toothpaste and soap. He added that the lack
of hygiene lead to an outbreak of disease during his detention. “It was
really sad to see,” Bello said. “It’s inhumane. That doesn’t happen in places
like county jails.” Bello is currently working with organizations to combat
the spread of private prisons and detention centers, including Bakersfield’s
own Mesa Verde. “These centers aren’t state or county entities
so they don’t have to be transparent in their treatment [of detainees].”
Since his detention in a private facility, Bello has taken it upon himself to
increase awareness about private prisons and detention centers, hoping that
Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign AB32, a bill that would ban private detention
centers, into law. Though Bello feels he has been changed by both of his
stints in Mesa Verde, he remains hopeful that he will become a lawyer and
continue as an advocate for social justice.
Mar 9, 2019 .latimes.com
Immigrant detention center in
Bakersfield, thought to be set to close, will stay open
An immigration detention facility in Bakersfield that was expected to
close later this month will remain open for another year, according to a
federal contract made public this week. On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement cited “unusual and compelling urgency” in a notice explaining its
justification for keeping open the 400-bed Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center.
The $19.4-million contract allows private prison company GEO Group Inc. to
continue running the facility through March 2020. The Florida-based
corporation, which runs 12 other immigrant detention facilities throughout
the country, operates Mesa Verde under a subcontract with the nearby city of
McFarland. The city voted to end that contract in December
and it expires March 18. Immigrant rights advocates said that ICE had kept
them in the dark about the fate of immigrants being held there. Before the
Mesa Verde contract was extended, advocates had worried that detainees there
would be transferred far away from family and legal resources. Mesa Verde is
one of eight detention centers in California and — after two Bay Area jails
ended their contracts with ICE last year — the only one located between Yolo
County and San Bernardino County. “Private prison companies are shielded from
so much scrutiny,” said Liz Martinez of Freedom for Immigrants, one of 75
groups that signed a letter last month calling on ICE to explain what would
happen to Mesa Verde. “That’s why it’s important to bring attention to this.”
Before opening a detention facility, federal law requires ICE to conduct a
competitive public bidding process before awarding a contract to a company
interested in managing the daily operations. But most ICE facilities operate
the way Mesa Verde has, under intergovernmental service agreements. Critics contend
that using local governments as middlemen allows ICE to circumvent the
lengthy public bidding process in order to quickly expand bed space, and to
avoid responsibility in the event of any abuse or harm to detainees,
including fatalities. A pair of California laws passed in 2017 block the
expansion of immigrant detention facilities in the state by prohibiting local
governments from establishing new contracts with for-profit companies and ICE, or expanding existing ones. One of the laws also
requires the state attorney general to monitor existing detention facilities.
According to a report last month by the California state auditor, the city of
McFarland transferred $50 million (between $16 and $17 million a year) in
payments from ICE to GEO Group since the facility, a former jail, reopened in
January 2015 as a detention center. In return, GEO Group paid the city a
yearly fee of about $35,000. Mesa Verde is 26 miles from McFarland. It’s not
the only city to oversee detention facility operations from afar: Last year,
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that Eloy,
Ariz., was paid $438,000 a year by the private prison company CoreCivic to manage the 2,400-bed South Texas Family
Residential Center — which is 930 miles away in Dilley, Texas. In 2016, ICE’s
Office of Detention Oversight found Mesa Verde to be compliant with just four
of 16 standards and found deficiencies in areas including sexual assault
prevention, use of force, food service and medical care. McFarland’s city manager
told the state auditor that he was unaware of that report. And when the
California Department of Justice visited the facility last year, it appeared
that the only programming available to detainees was an intermittent art
therapy class offered by a volunteer organization. The city did not respond
to requests for comment. But the Bakersfield Californian reported in December
that the McFarland City Council had voted in closed session to pull out of
the contract, and that it would take 90 days for the withdrawal to go into
effect. City leaders provided no reasoning behind the decision. Mayor Manuel
Cantu Jr. told the paper that “GEO is a wonderful and amicable company that
continues to operate in our city and is committed to supporting our
community.” The news website Capital & Main obtained public records
showing that McFarland appeared unprepared for the scrutiny from the state
attorney general and auditor. In a September 2018 closed-door City Council
meeting, City Manager John Wooner said he had none
of the records the state requested. Wooner then
advised the council to “threaten GEO with termination of the ICE contract if
it didn’t raise the city’s fee to a quarter of a million dollars,” the
website reported. The council voted 3 to 2 to accept the plan, but a
spokesman for GEO Group denied that the city asked for a higher fee. GEO
Group referred a request for comment to ICE. The agency said it is currently
in the “pre-solicitation phase” of the competitive bidding process. “Without
continued use of the facility, ICE would be required to relocate almost 400
detainees to facilities farther away from their families and attorneys,” said
ICE spokesman Richard Rocha. In the contract notice this week, ICE said Mesa
Verde is an integral hub, a mile from the Bakersfield ICE office and 10 miles
from the nearest airport and hospital. The agency said that relocating
detainees — some with serious medical conditions — could “result in serious
injury to the detainees as well as incur an unnecessary serious financial
burden to cover the cost of relocating such a large population.” Immigrant
rights advocates expressed skepticism about that explanation. “It really adds
insult to injury when they used the medical conditions of those individuals
who are in detention as a basis [for the contract] when they know themselves
they could release those individuals if they actually cared about their
medical conditions,” said Hamid Yazdan Panah, regional director of the Northern California Rapid
Response and Immigrant Defense Network. “It really points to the fact that
this agency continues to bend the law as it sees fit.” But Steven Schooner, a
government procurement law professor at George Washington University, said
that it takes time to plan, draft, advertise and execute a competitive federal
contract and that awarding such a contract in less than three months would
have been unusual. He said the agency could access several “streamlined
alternatives” to a “full and open” competition, especially based on urgency,
that would make that timeline long enough. But going that route could open
ICE up to criticism. “Without making excuses for them, it sounds like ICE is
damned if it does, damned if it doesn't,” he said.
Jan 16, 2019
kvpr.org
Could A State Law Block A Kern County Detention Facility From Operating?
Cars whiz by on Golden State Avenue near downtown Bakersfield as people
shuffle in and out of a tan-colored building. It's surrounded by a high wall
with fencing and barbed wire. Three tall flagpoles loom above the perfectly
cut grass -- there’s the U.S flag, the state flag, and one with the blue and
green GEO Group logo. GEO is a private company that contracts with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate this building, the Mesa Verde
Detention Facility. It's been operated by the GEO Group since 2015. “We have
400 stories here and these men and women have thousands of loved ones who are
affected by what’s happening here every day,” says Eddy Laine, a volunteer at
Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants, or KWESI. “These are
the stories that need to be told.” Laine comes to Mesa Verde often to talk
with detainees. He’s gotten to know several people here, including a man he
visited over a 14-month period who then got deported. Laine says his primary
concern is what happens to them inside the facility. But, what’s going to
happen to Mesa Verde is unclear. The GEO Group also has an agreement with the
City of McFarland to operate in Bakersfield, but in an email, the McFarland
City Manager, John Wooner, confirmed the city
council voted in closed session to withdraw from that agreement. Wooner says the city sent a notice to the GEO Group in
December and it will take 90 days to go into effect. ICE also has an
intergovernmental agreement, or IGA, with the City of McFarland to operate in
Bakersfield. Under federal law, ICE must have a contract with a public agency
if it wants to operate in a county or a city and work with a provider, in
this case, the GEO Group. To continue operating, ICE would need to find
another local agency to work with. But, a state law that went into effect
last year makes this more complicated. They’re going to have to abide by
SB-29, or the Dignity Not Detention Act, says Ivy Cargile, an assistant
political science professor at California State University, Bakersfield. “The
idea behind SB-29 is really to end all of these private detention centers,”
she says. SB-29 makes it so any for-profit detention facility, like Mesa
Verde, cannot go into new contracts with cities, counties or local law
enforcement. “As we know, California has been on the forefront stopping the
Trump Administration in doing whatever they want to do, particularly when it
comes to the issue of immigration,” Cargile says. “This bill was a response
to Donald Trump.” The facilities that had contracts with local agencies
before Jan.1, 2018 are still able to operate, but they can’t amend or extend
the contracts they had. So the question is: What happens to Mesa Verde after
90 days? “It’s easy to say that, ‘Well the GEO Group is done, ICE is done.
They’re not going to operate here anymore,’ Cargile says. “However, I don’t
think they’re going to give up that easily given that they’ve been buying
land right around Mesa Verde.” That land includes the El Morocco Motel and
the Bakersfield Dome, which has been demolished in spite of protests to
preserve the concert venue. According to the Bakersfield Californian
newspaper, the GEO Group says it has no plans of expanding, but wants to
create a buffer around the facility for safety concerns. The GEO Group did
not respond to Valley Public Radio’s request for comment. Meanwhile, ICE says
it is unable to respond to the media during the government shutdown. Nathan
Allen, the warden at Mesa Verde, says he won’t answer specific questions
about what happens when the 90 days are up. But he did say there is
“opportunity” to have a contract that doesn't go through a public agency.
Cargile says her “assumption” is that somewhere in SB-29 there’s a loophole.
She can only guess what that might be. No one has tried to fight the
legislation yet. “They’re going to have to scrutinize the law or the verbiage
of the actual bill in order to be able to find those loopholes,” Cargile
says. Mesa Verde’s existence could be up to the Kern County Board of
Supervisors, according to Cargile. She says it has the authority to uphold
SB-29. The director of communications for Kern County, Megan Person, says the
board hasn’t discussed this. She also says ICE has not contacted the county
or the sheriff’s department regarding Mesa Verde. David Stabenfeldt,
a local pastor, says many people don’t even know Mesa Verde exists. He’s
raised his concerns about the facility at a Bakersfield City Council meeting.
“It was amazing the response afterward,” Stabenfeldt
says. “People came up to me and said, ‘I didn’t realize that was here. We
didn’t know it was here.’ One of the reasons why we’re willing to speak up,
is we want light to be shown so that people can make a decision about how we
feel about having a detention center here.” He says people in the community
need to be aware of what goes on inside Mesa Verde. “We then need to ask the
question, ‘How are we going to be treating those who are in detention?’” he
says. For Stabenfeldt, that’s as important a
question as whether Mesa Verde will remain open.
Dec 30, 2018 bakersfield.com
New law could lead to closure of Mesa Verde, but outcome remains unknown
after decision by McFarland to end agreement with ICE
A new law may result in the closure of the Mesa Verde ICE Processing
Facility in Bakersfield, although experts say the federal immigration agency
could find a workaround to keep the detention center open. State lawmakers
passed the Dignity Not Detention Act in 2017, which prevents cities and
counties from entering into contracts with federal agencies or private
corporations for the purpose of housing noncitizens in detention. “This law
was pretty groundbreaking,” said Liz Martinez ,
director of communications for Freedom for Immigrants, a nonprofit
organization that advocated for the bill. “It stops any sort of local
governments in being complicit in the creation of new contracts.” That could
be bad news for ICE, which houses immigrants in Mesa Verde through a complex
network of agreements that could now be in jeopardy due to the new law. ICE
entered into a contract, known as an intergovernmental service agreement,
with the city of McFarland in 2015 to use the detention facility located in
Bakersfield. “They are very, very common,” said Susan Long, co-director of
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, known as TRAC, an organization at
Syracuse University that tracks immigration statistics across the United
States. “It turns out that this is a source of revenue that some counties and
cities rely on.” Since 2015, ICE has paid McFarland about $35,000 a year, and
in return, McFarland has contracted Geo Group Inc., a private prison company,
to detain immigrants for ICE. All was going well until the McFarland City
Council voted in closed session about three months ago to pull out of the
agreement, providing no explanation for their decision. The decision will take effect near the end
of March, and it appears to put ICE on a collision course with the Dignity
Not Detention Act. The new law seems to prevent the federal agency from
partnering with the county or any city in California to keep Mesa Verde open.
“It definitely changes the future of the facility,” Martinez said. Neither
ICE nor Geo returned requests for comment. The law also prevents immigrant
detention centers that have contracts with cities and counties from
expanding, which is potentially important in Bakersfield. Geo recently
purchased and demolished the Bakersfield Dome, which was next to its facility
on Golden State Avenue. Since the purchase, rumors have swirled that the
company plans to use the land for additional detainee housing. Geo has denied
the rumors, and the law seems to indicate they could not expand even if they
wanted to. But despite the new law, many wonder how it will apply in the Mesa
Verde case. “It would be unfortunate, but not out of character, for these
private prison companies to circumvent state laws,” Martinez said. Long said
ICE could directly contract with a private prison company like Geo to run a
detention facility, potentially allowing Mesa Verde to stay open. Mesa Verde
is one of 10 detention facilities used by ICE in California, according to
ICE’s website. It houses 300 men and 100 women in various stages of the
immigration legal process. Some in the facility are in the process of
applying for asylum, although not all, volunteers who visit Mesa Verde say.
If Mesa Verde closed, the detainees would most likely be housed in a
different facility elsewhere in the state, potentially farther away from
family, friends, lawyers and the site of their legal proceedings.
November 26, 2011 The Daily Press
The state has canceled its contract with the privately operated Desert
View Modified Community Correctional Facility, putting about 150 workers out
of a job. Desert View's contract termination officially takes effect
Wednesday, though prison employees told the Daily Press that The Geo Group
Inc. has been preparing to deactivate the prison at Rancho and Aster roads
since May. The 643-bed medium-security prison is shuttering its doors as part
of California’s realignment plan, which responds to federal orders to reduce
state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for tens of thousands of
low-level offenders to county governments. To help deal with the new influx
of inmates under local supervision, the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation is encouraging counties to enter into their own contracts
with more than a dozen former CCFs. The CCFs had generally housed inmates
with sentences shorter than 18 months, parole violators and offenders with
scheduled release dates — the same types of nonviolent, non-sexual or
non-serious offenders now serving out sentences in county jails instead of
state prisons. “We hope that counties contract with these facilities to save
jobs and ease inmate housing concerns that many counties may have,” CDCR
spokeswoman Dana Toyama said. But San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department
officials say they’re not planning to privatize jail beds. The math just
doesn’t pencil out, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cindy
Bachman. “The issue with taking advantage of private prisons or private jail
facilities has come up over and over again throughout the years; however,
it’s not something that the county is considering,” Bachman said. “It’s too
costly and there’s just not the funding really even to consider something
like that.” The California State Association of Counties has created a
document outlining potential beds at the former CCFs, but counties statewide have
been hesitant to exercise that option. The Geo Group had operated six of the
nine privately run CCFs that lost their state contracts, according to CSAC.
Five other CCFs were run by local governments. The facilities ranged from
around 100 employees to more than 600, according to Toyama.
February 10, 2011 Bakersfield Californian
Two Kern County community correctional facilities that were supposed to
reopen this month and house hundreds of low-level female inmates will remain
closed. The contract awarded last year to The GEO Group to operate the
facilities was pulled because of the state's budget woes, California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Cassandra Hockenson said Thursday. It costs about twice as much to
keep an inmate in a smaller facility compared to a larger one, she said.
"It just didn't pencil out and this administration, obviously very
concerned about the budget and the cost of reducing the budget deficit, had
the programs scrapped," Hockenson said. The
McFarland Community Correctional Facility had been slated to reopen Feb. 14
and house 250 inmates. The Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility --
located in Bakersfield -- had been scheduled for a Feb. 7 reopening and was
supposed to house 400 inmates. Exact figures on how much the facilities would
have cost the state weren't immediately available. GEO Group spokesman Pablo
E. Paez was not immediately available for comment.
October 26, 2009 AP
California officials say a drop in the number of minimum-security inmates
is allowing them to end contracts with the companies that operate three
private prisons. The move will save the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation about $15 million a year. The private prisons in Baker,
Bakersfield and McFarland once housed a total of 822 inmates. Department
officials said today they may seek new proposals to use the prisons for
female inmates. About 2,500 fewer minimum-security inmates are in prison than
a year ago. The department credits a new policy that diverts many parole
violators who commit relatively minor offenses to community programs instead
of sending them back to prison.
September 13, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
A company that wanted to reopen a private prison in Bakersfield under a
no-bid contract had a clear conflict of interest because it had hired two
recent retirees from the Department of Corrections, the state auditor said
Tuesday. But the auditor concluded there was no conflict of interest by
another company that was awarded a no-bid contract to operate a prison in McFarland,
even though it had put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance director
on the board of a subsidiary. Those were the key points in a report by
Auditor Elaine Howle's office that was ordered by
lawmakers upset about the handling of the department's decision to reopen the
two facilities that had been shut down barely a year before. State Sen.
Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, requested the audit in January because she said
the contract for the McFarland facility "smells bad." That contract
was awarded to GEO Group Inc., the same firm that had operated it for years
before it was shut down. The contract drew fire because the real estate trust
that owns the facility and leases it to GEO put former state budget chief
Donna Arduin on its board of directors shortly
before it was offered the contract late last year. The audit report said that
did not involve a conflict of interest because GEO has a 10-year lease on the
property from the subsidiary that began long before Arduin
joined the company and before the state decided to reopen the facility.
Besides, it noted, GEO was the only possible operator because its subsidiary
owned the facility. But the department's handling of a contract to reopen the
Mesa Verde Community Correctional Facility on Golden State Avenue in
Bakersfield came in for sharp criticism by the auditor. The bidder,
Massachusetts-based CiviGenics Inc., did not
disclose the fact it had hired two former high-level department officials, at
least one of whom contacted the department about the contract. They had both
retired from the department less than a year before. State law bars top
officials from being involved with state contracts for at least a year after
they leave state service.
September 13,
2005 AP
California's prison
population is at a record high, officials said Tuesday, as the state auditor
panned the corrections system's last attempt to deal with sudden crowding. The news comes as the state auditor reported that two former
high-ranking state corrections employees may have violated conflict of
interest laws when they contacted their former colleagues as the state was
opening two private prisons. One contract was later rescinded in part because
of the conflict allegations. The department wasted an undetermined amount of
money on the aborted project before it had permission from the Department of
General Services, auditors found. Two high-level department retirees had gone
to work for private prison operator CiviGenics Inc.
and worked with their former colleagues on the contract within a year after
leaving state government, in possible violation of conflict of interest laws,
auditors found. They faulted the Marlborough, Mass.-based contractor for not
disclosing the employees' background, and the department for not requiring
disclosure. Auditors decided there was no conflict of interest by a former
state Department of Finance director who went to work for the second prison
contractor, GEO Group Inc.
February 25, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
SACRAMENTO -- The fate of the now-closed Mesa Verde prison facility on Union
Avenue in Bakersfield -- mired in a bureaucratic limbo for the last three
years -- has taken another strange turn. A Massachusetts firm that was
almost awarded a one-year no-bid contract to reopen the facility earlier this
year has been disqualified from bidding to run the minimum-security prison
for at least five years. State prison officials said the company, CiviGenics, has a conflict of interest because it has two
former Department of Corrections officials on its payroll. However, the
state is preparing to award a contract to run a similar prison in McFarland
to a Florida company that has Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former finance
director, Donna Arduin, on one of its boards of
directors. The firm, Geo Group Inc., is already operating the McFarland
institution on a temporary contract. CiviGenics
has officially protested its disqualification, a move that may require a
hearing and could presage a lawsuit. A spokeswoman for state prison officials
said the two situations are different. Having former department officials
advise a company on its dealings with the department can give it an unfair
advantage. But the spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, said Arduin
is different, even though she was responsible for the department's entire
budget until she resigned last October. "Donna Arduin
is not a former member of the department," Thornton said. "I can't
comment on Donna Arduin." The saga began
more than three years ago when the administration of former Gov. Gray Davis
began closing privately run prisons as their contracts ran out. At the
time, corrections officials said they did not need so many minimum-security
prison beds. But critics charged that the move was influenced primarily by
the state prison guards' union. It is opposed to nonunion private prisons and
was one of Davis' biggest campaign contributors. Mesa Verde was shut
down for nearly a year, but then reopened when the Legislature gave the
prisons a reprieve. Nevertheless, it and several others were closed at
the end of 2003, including the McFarland facility. Before a year had
passed, in the fall of 2004, the Schwarzenegger administration quietly moved
to reopen two of the prisons -- Mesa Verde and the McFarland property --
using no-bid, one-year contracts. Officials said the prison population
was climbing again and they needed the beds. The Mesa Verde contract
was offered to the Massachusetts-based CiviGenics,
a bitter disappointment to Gary White of Bakersfield, president of the little
company that had run it for more than a decade. But by January of this
year, prison officials were being hammered by critics who questioned the
decision to offer the McFarland operation to GEO Group because it had put Arduin on the board of a spinoff company that owns the
land and buildings. GEO, a successor to Wackenhut Corrections Corp., had
operated the facility for years, along with two other prisons in McFarland,
which had not been closed. GEO had also hired influential lobbyists and
consultants who were close to current officials in the the
Schwarzenegger administration. Lawmakers ordered an audit of the way
the department handled the reopenings. It is due
for completion later this summer. Amid the criticism, the Department of
Corrections did an about-face -- not on McFarland, but on Mesa Verde.
Officials withdrew the offer to CiviGenics. They
said at the time that they had found enough beds elsewhere and didn't need to
reopen Mesa Verde after all. About the same time, the San Francisco
Chronicle reported that CiviGenics had retained two
retired Department of Corrections officials as consultants -- Michael Pickett
and David Tristan. Tristan is a former deputy director of operations for the
department. Department officials told the Chronicle that had nothing to
do with the fact that it had almost awarded the contract to CiviGenics. But it had everything to do with CiviGenics' disqualification when the department
subsequently called for competitive bids to run five of the closed
prisons. "They have a conflict of interest," Thornton
said. That left Cornell Corrections Inc. as the apparent low bidder to
run Mesa Verde, she said. GEO Group was the only bidder on the
McFarland facility, apparently because it owns the property.
February 4, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration this week abruptly canceled a
no-bid contract it was set to award to a private prison company that employs
two former high-ranking state corrections officials. After pursuing a deal
with the company for several months, a spokesman for the state Department of
Corrections said the department decided Wednesday that it was no longer
interested in finalizing a $5.7 million contract that would have reopened the
Mesa Verde Community Corrections Facility in Bakersfield. The contract would
have been with a Massachusetts-based company called CiviGenics,
which recently hired two retired Department of Corrections officials. The
company and administration insist the two hires had nothing to do with the
company nearly getting the contract. On Wednesday, The Chronicle requested
information about the contract, including communications between corrections
officials and the company. Todd Slosek, a
corrections spokesman, said the decision to shelve the deal was made late
Wednesday after the department decided it didn't need extra beds after all.
The aborted deal is one of two the administration had been advancing to pay
private prison companies to run previously shuttered facilities and help
alleviate overcrowding at state prisons. The state has finalized a contract
with GEO Group Inc. to reopen a prison in McFarland (Kern County). In both
cases, the administration chose not to allow other interested companies to
bid for the jobs, a typical procedure used to ensure that taxpayers get the
best deal. Instead, prison officials said they were facing emergency
overcrowding and needed to strike quick deals with the two firms without
going through the lengthy bidding process. Both contracts have come under
fire, however, because both companies have hired people with ties to the
corrections department or Schwarzenegger's administration. State Sen. Gloria
Romero, D-Los Angeles, called for a state audit of the deals last week after
the Los Angeles Times reported that Schwarzenegger's former finance director,
Donna Arduin, was appointed to the board of
directors of a trust that owns the facility that GEO Group plans to use. CiviGenics employs Michael Pickett, a former warden and
deputy director for health services at the Department of Corrections, and
David Tristan, a former deputy director of operations for the department.
"The revolving door is spinning so fast it's now hit the department in
the rear end,'' Romero said in an interview Thursday. CiviGenics
CEO Roy Ross was formerly director of administration for the Shriver Center,
a biomedical research center founded by California first lady Maria Shriver's
mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. A spokeswoman for the first lady said Maria
Shriver had no knowledge of the contract.
January 31, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
While California's prison population continues to grow, a
minimum-security correctional facility on Golden State Avenue in Bakersfield
has sat empty for more than a year. Stripped to the bare walls, its closure
in late 2003 was actually the second time it had been shut down in the last
three years. The minimum-security Mesa Verde Community Correctional Center
will probably reopen in a month or two. But it won't be run by the small
Bakersfield company that administered it for most of the last 15 years.
Instead, it will be operated by a much larger company headquartered in
Massachusetts. At least some of the prison's former employees may get their
jobs back, but the switch in operators has left the owner of the local
company baffled and bitter. "I can't understand why they would do
that," said Gary White, head of the Bakersfield outfit, Alternative
Programs Inc. Officials of the Department of Corrections say they offered a
no-bid one-year contract to API first, but White turned it down. White said
it would have been impossible to meet the terms outlined by the department.
He said he thought the officials were just staking out an initial negotiating
position. "I thought we would have some discussions and
negotiations," White said. The next thing he heard, he said, the
proposed contract had been offered to the Massachusetts firm, CiviGenics, which accepted it. Reopening the McFarland prison has
generated more controversy statewide than Mesa Verde. Romero and other
critics say it "smells bad" because the company that owns it placed
Schwarzenegger's former finance director, Donna Arduin,
on its board in October, just as the state was about to reopen the facility.
No such charges have been leveled at CiviGenics,
which is seeking the no-bid contract for Mesa Verde. However, White says he
is suspicious that "some kind of deal" was made because he believes
the state's original offer to him was not serious. He said his main objection
was that the department, which contacted him first in mid-October, wanted the
facility activated by Dec. 1. "That would have allowed just 27
working days to reactivate it," he said. "When we reopened it in
2002, it took 40 working days. That's why I knew it couldn't be done." It could not be determined whether the
department insisted on the same Dec. 1 activation date. But officials say it
is clear they wanted the prison open by Jan. 1 at the latest, and it has not
been opened yet. In fact, CiviGenics and the
department have not yet signed a contract. Thornton said there has been a
delay in that because the original proposal for a $5.7 million no-bid
contract with CiviGenics did not include money for
the beds and other equipment that had been stripped out a year ago.
January 21, 2005 Bakersfield Californian
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has quietly taken steps to
reopen two privately run prisons in Kern County -- with no-bid contracts --
that were shut down as a cost-saving move barely a year ago. But the move
sparked angry outbursts from critics who questioned the prison population
figures and said lobbying by former administration insiders persuaded the
governor to reopen at least one of the facilities. A Bakersfield man who ran
one of the closed prisons sharply criticized the department for taking the facility
away from his firm, which had an exemplary record, and giving it to a
competitor without taking bids. "That's why I suspect there was some
kind of deal somewhere," said Gary White, vice president of the firm
that formerly operated the low-security Mesa Verde community correctional
facility on Golden State Avenue. "I don't know if it was part of a deal
or what. We're trying to find out now." Within days, The Department of
Corrections expects to sign a contract that will pay $5.7 million to a
Massachusetts-based company, Civigenics, to run the
350-bed Mesa Verde for a year. The other facility being reopened is a similar
low-security community correctional facility in McFarland. The department
earlier this month signed a $3.5 million no-bid contract with GEO
Group Inc. to reopen the facility and run it for one year. The decision raised eyebrows Friday
after it was learned that Donna Arduin, who
resigned late last year as Schwarzenegger's finance director, has since
joined the board of a GEO spinoff firm that actually owns the McFarland
facilities, Correctional Properties Trust. GEO, based in Boca Raton, Fla.,
operates prisons across the country and makes lease payments to its spinoff,
Correctional Properties Trust, according to the Los Angeles Times. GEO
announced that Arduin joined the Correctional
Properties board in October, 10 days after she left her job as
Schwarzenegger's budget chief to return to Florida and open an economic
consulting firm. GEO also donated $53,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign fund
in November 2003. Neither Arduin nor officials of
GEO Group could be reached for comment Friday. But others voiced deep
skepticism about the move. "This is something that I believe truly
crosses the line of integrity and ethics," said state Sen. Gloria Romero,
D-Los Angeles, who heads legislative committees that oversee the prison
system. "Donna Arduin was the finance
director," Romero said. "To have her, 10 days after she leaves
office, go on this board, which it's later revealed has state money directed
their way, is very troubling."
January 21, 2005 LA Times
The Schwarzenegger administration has quietly moved to reopen two private
prisons a year after mothballing them — and after a company that stands to
profit retained consultants close to the governor and his inner circle. The
administration has decided to reopen two facilities, one of which is a
224-bed prison in the Central Valley town of McFarland. A Florida company ran
the McFarland facility for 15 years until Dec. 31, 2003, when the state moved
its last prisoners out. Rather than abandon California, the company, the GEO
Group Inc., retained a top Schwarzenegger campaign official and a lobby firm
that has close ties to the Republican's administration to restore the
company's standing in California. A company that is a spinoff of GEO and owns
the prison at McFarland placed Donna Arduin on its
board of trustees in October, 10 days after she left her job as
Schwarzenegger's director of the Department of Finance, which oversees all
state spending. "This was an administration that said they weren't going
to be influenced by special interests," said Lance Corcoran, executive
vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., the union
that represents state prison guards and opposes private lockups. The state is
obligated to pay GEO $3.5 million to operate the prison in 2005, under terms
of a one-year, no-bid contract approved earlier this month. "The
Department of Finance had to be in the midst" of any negotiations on the
prison contracts, said state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman
of the committees that have jurisdiction over the state's prison system.
"This is absolutely amazing; talk about revolving doors." Romero
and Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk), her counterpart in the lower
house, said they were irritated that the administration did not inform
legislators that it was reopening private prisons. "It is beyond quiet.
I think it has been deceptive," Romero said. Schwarzenegger
administration officials say they have not formulated an overall
privatization policy. Rather, confronted by an immediate need for beds,
officials awarded the contract to GEO and were preparing to make final a
contract with a second company, Civigenics, without
soliciting bids from other companies. Civigenics
stands to receive $5.7 million from the state in the coming year to operate
the 340-bed Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield. Soon
after taking office, Schwarzenegger clashed with the union on a variety of
issues. GEO, meanwhile, gave $58,000 to Schwarzenegger's campaign committees
in October and November 2003, as the state was making final plans to close
the company's prison at McFarland. Executives at Correctional Properties and GEO in Florida did not
return calls from The Times this week. But in a 2003 interview, a top GEO
executive said: "We want to do everything we can to preserve our
business base in California." One step was to hire the Flanigan Law Firm
to influence Schwarzenegger's inner circle of advisors — something it is
well-positioned to do. The firm consists of four brothers who were close to
Wilson and his administration. Several former Wilson aides are high-ranking
Schwarzenegger administration members. According to public reports filed with
the secretary of state, GEO has paid Flanigan $37,500 for its services. GEO
also retained Joe Rodota, a former Wilson aide who
was policy director for the Schwarzenegger recall campaign. His role was to
provide strategic advice and develop a long-term strategy for GEO's reentry
into the private prison business in California, company representatives in
Sacramento said.
August 31, 2002
Just two months after the state hauled away 52 truckloads of state-owned
equipment and transferred local inmates to other prisons, Bakersfield's Mesa
Verde Community Correctional Facility is gearing up to reopen. This year has
been a roller-coaster ride for operators of the private, minimum-security
prison located just five blocks from downtown Bakersfield. And the ride's not
over yet. First it was out; then it was back; then it was out again as budget
committees, legislators and lobbyists wrangled over the fate of Mesa Verde
and four other privately operated prisons in California. Eventually, state
funding was officially cut, and by mid-June, the last inmate was transferred.
"The Department of Corrections started taking all the equipment --
kitchen, beds, office, everything," said Durwood
Sigrest, president of the company that operates
Mesa Verde. Most of the prison's 74 full-time employees and a dozen or so
part-time employees were put out of work by the closure. Gov. Davis said the
prisons should be closed to help reduce the state's multi-billion dollar
budget deficit. But critics -- including Sigrest --
say that real pressure to close the private prisons was coming from the state
correctional officers union, which frowns on non-union prisons that don't
offer the level of pay and benefits that state prisons offer. (Bakersfield
Californian)
December, 1999
On December 12, one inmate escaped from the private prison in Bakersfield.
(Offender Information Services Branch, CA Dept. of Corrections, 2000)
June, 1999
One inmate escaped from the private prison in Bakersfield on June 6, 1999.
(Offender Information Services Branch, CA Dept. of Corrections, 2000)
Michigan Youth Center Facility (AKA North Lake CF)
Baldwin, Michigan
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
September 7, 2011 Ludington Daily News
California’s changing plans for its inmates will cost about 144 jobs in Lake
County as The GEO Group prepares to transport the 270 Californian prisoners
who are currently there back west. Paul Griffith, executive director of
Michigan Works! West Central, said the inmates are Californian prisoners who
were previously housed in Arizona, so he is not sure where they will
ultimately be sent when they leave Michigan. Griffith said about 161 people
are currently working at GEO’s Lake County prison, which is named the North
Lake Correctional Facility and is located near Baldwin in Webber Township.
“They will be keeping 17 key positions on understanding they want to keep a
turnkey operation when they serve a new customer,” he said. That leaves 144
employees who will be laid off Oct. 3.
September 6, 2011 9&10 News
The North Lake Correctional Facility just re-opened in May after lying vacant
for years. Now it is set to close once again. Today, more than 170 employees
were handed their pink slips as the prison's owner, GEO Group, decided not to
renew its contract with North Lake. The 270 inmates will begin to be
relocated before October 2nd when the current contract ends while Baldwin is
left with their hands empty. About 17 employees will be kept on hand for
maintenance in case the prison agrees to a new contract in the next few
months.
April 11, 2011 Michigan Messenger
Budget problems and changing priorities in California threaten to derail
plans to send thousands of inmates to the GEO Group’s private prison in
Baldwin. Last year California’s overcrowded prison system agreed to pay The
GEO Group $60 million a year to house 2,580 inmates at the company’s North
Lake Correctional Facility starting in May. But now California is struggling
to close a $15.4 billion deficit and the new Democratic Governor Jerry Brown
has signed a bill that would reduce the state prison population by
transferring prisoners with short sentences into county jails where they
could gradually reintegrate into their communities. The bill, however, won’t
take effect until a mechanism for funding the program is established and with
budget negotiations stalled in the legislature, it’s unclear how or when that
will happen. “We are in a very volatile situation with the budget and legal
authority to send inmate out of state is in question,” California Dept. of
Corrections and Rehabilitation Undersecretary Scott Hernan said in an
interview Friday. Hernan said that at this point the dept. is still planning
to begin sending 130 inmates a month to Baldwin by plane starting next month,
and hopes to be able to continue plans with GEO. Ryan Sherman is spokesman
for the California Correctional Peace Officer Association, which represents
state corrections officers and opposes plans to ship inmates out of state.
“This is a California state department,” he said. “Should they really be
trying to send taxpayer dollars and jobs to another state in the middle of a
budget crunch?” California is also waiting on delivery of an opinion in a
U.S. Supreme Court case that could influence how the state needs to deal with
overcrowding issues, he said. This Spring the court is expected to announce it’s opinion in Plata v. Schwarzenegger, a case that
examines the legality of a court order that California reduce its prison
population in order to address unconstitutional conditions (inadequate
medical care) in the corrections system. If the Supreme Court determines that
California must reduce its prison population then outsourcing prisoners might
be one way to comply with that mandate, Sherman said, though it would be an
expensive way to do it. No matter the outcome of the ruling, he said, it may
not be wise to begin the process of moving prisoners when a decision is
imminent. In Baldwin, training for employees at the prison was delayed last
week but the GEO Group refused to give details about the status of plans for
the California inmates. The company has said that the deal with California
will lead to 500 jobs at the facility by 2014. Joe Baumann is correctional
officer at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, about 60 miles east
of Los Angeles and secretary for the group Corrections USA. “I believe there
is a very high likelihood that [California inmates] will not go to Michigan,”
he said. “A couple county jails — Orange, LA and Fresno — have sizable units
empty for budget reasons,” he said. “They’ve got units that are there
mothballed. It’s not enough to make a significant dent in prison crowding but
it is enough to absorb the inmates that would have gone to Baldwin. LA County
has got about 1500 empty beds.” “This puts GEO in a situation where they are
fighting counties for money.” The uncertainty around the deal with California
is the latest in a series of problems for The GEO Group’s Michigan property.
The North Lake Correctional Facility was built as a 500 bed maximum security
youth facility but was shut down in 2005 after the state ended its contract
with the company amid lawsuits alleging abuse. In 2009 GEO expanded the
prison to 1,725 beds in expectation of winning a federal contract to house
immigrant detainees but those plans were stopped last year after the federal
Bureau of Prisons canceled its request for more space for criminal aliens.
April 4, 2011 Grand Rapids Press
The GEO Group, the corporation that plans to house California prisoners
in the former “punk” prison, told village officials on Monday that it still
plans to open May 1. The township contacted the company after rumors started
floating around town, Village President Doug Bolles
said. He said Kevin Thiel, the public-works superintendent, contacted GEO
Group and was assured the company had not changed its plans. “He said,
‘Everything’s still a go,’” Bolles said. A man who
was hired to work at the former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility said he
was supposed to attend orientation on Monday. But a GEO representative called
on Friday, and told him not to show up because prisoners would not arrive on
the scheduled date, said the man, who did not want to be identified. He hoped
the delay was just a last-minute glitch because he and others need jobs. The
re-opening of the prison, which closed in 2005, is expected to employ 500
people by 2014. The GEO Group, which owns the facility, signed a
$60-million-a-year contract with California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation to house up to 2,580 inmates from 2011 to 2014. Now known as
the North Lake Correctional Facility, it is undergoing a $60 million
renovation. Bolles said he has monitored
California’s budget problems. He hoped that Jerry Brown’s election as
governor after Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped down would not affect the deal.
GEO Group did not respond to telephone messages or email by The Press seeking
comment.
February 22, 2007 Ludington Daily News
Officials in Lake County had hoped to contract with out-of-state agencies to
house prisoners in the Webber Township facility, but that plan may have hit a
snag this week. The California Superior Court ruled Tuesday that Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s shipment of inmates without their permission to out-of-state
prisons was not legal, according to reports in the Sacramento Bee and Los
Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Times reported Ohanesian’s
ruling invalidated the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation’s contracts with GEO and CCA because Schwarzenegger’s
declaration was not valid. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled Schwarzenegger’s declaration of a prison
overcrowding emergency was “unlawful” after the California corrections
officer union filed a lawsuit challenging the declaration and
Schwarzenegger’s plan to ease overcrowding by sending inmates to out-of-state
prisons. Schwarzenegger proposed shipping inmates out of state to alleviate
overpopulation within the California prison system, which stands at nearly
200 percent of capacity. The GEO Group, the Boca Raton, Fla. based company who
owns the Lake County prison, had contracted with California to house inmates
at one of the company’s facilities in Indiana. California has moved 360
prisoners to private facilities in Tennessee and Arizona owned by the
Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America. Officials from California
visited Lake County for a tour of the former Michigan Youth Correctional
Facility, but have not contracted to use the shuttered 450-bed prison.
October 6, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A California prison overcrowding emergency declaration could speed up
that state’s contract negotiations with GEO Group, which owns the Lake County
prison. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman
Bill Sessa said the agency is continuing to talk with three private prison
companies, one of which is GEO, to negotiate contracts to move prisoners to
out-of-state facilities. “We’re going to continue contract negotiations with
three companies and whoever else jumps in,” Sessa said. Officials from GEO
said they are continuing talks with California. “We’re looking forward to
working with the state,” said Pablo Paez, director
of corporate communications at GEO. “We’re working with them and we look
forward to work through the process.” GEO has available beds at three facilities,
including the Lake County site, Paez said, noting
that California officials have visited the facility sites. Paez said he has no specific timeline for contract talks,
but added that the state-of-emergency declaration demonstrates “they have an
immediate need to send up to 5,000 inmates out of state.”
September 27, 2006 Ludington Daily News
Rumors abound in Lake County about a timeline for the GEO Group prison to
reopen. County officials believe it’s only a matter of time before the
company signs a contract, possibly with the state of California, to house
inmates in the closed facility, which closed nearly a year ago when Gov.
Jennifer Granholm vetoed funding the state’s contract with the company. Bill
Cole, of Custer, a maintenance worker at the former youth prison, said he
hasn’t heard anything for sure, but the signs are looking positive. “We are
starting to prepare the facility in the event something should happen,” Cole
said, noting GEO initiated the work. “They called and talked to me and said we’re
not there, we’ve not signed a contract. GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said work at the facility in the last couple of days
is in preparation for an official visit from an undisclosed agency.
September 11, 2006 LA Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was not inspecting the orange crop when he slipped
out of the state for a quick trip to Florida, and he wasn't eyeing a new set
of wheels when he visited with car dealers. Nor was he parched when he
bellied up to liquor dealers in Lake Tahoe, or craving a burger when he
chatted with Jack-in-the-Box owners. Rather, he was gobbling up campaign
money at each stop. As legislators were approving more than 1,000 bills in
August, Schwarzenegger was crossing the state, and the country, soliciting
campaign cash. Now, as he decides whether to sign those bills into law or nix
them with a veto, he will be cashing checks from scores of contributors whose
interests intersect with legislation. In his quest to be reelected,
Schwarzenegger is raising money from all manner of businesses: restaurants,
insurance companies, banks, financial services providers, construction and
real estate interests, farmers, energy producers and car dealers. All have
business before the state. On the last weekend in August, as legislators
prepared for their final sprint before adjourning for the year,
Schwarzenegger traveled to Florida for a fundraiser organized by his
brother-in-law, Anthony Shriver. The event was at the home of a major donor
to Republican candidates and causes, Randal Perkins, and generated about
$500,000. Perkins' firm, Ashbritt Environmental, does cleanup after natural
disasters, including Hurricane Katrina. According to Perkins' lobbyist,
Ronald L. Book, Ashbritt has no state contracts in California. However,
several donors who gave at the fundraiser do have business here. Geo Group, a
Florida firm that operates private prisons, has long sought more business in
California. Geo's Sacramento lobbyists worked to shape the governor's prison
overhaul package, which failed in the Legislature on the final day of its
session. The package might have increased the number of California inmates
housed by private firms.
September 10, 2006 Sacramento Bee
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is conducting an inmate
survey to see how many prisoners might be interested in serving their time
out of state -- and a Florida company that has contributed $90,000 over the
years to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says it would be happy to accommodate
them. Department spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said the agency can administratively
transfer inmates out of state if they volunteer for the move and if the
contracts with out-of-state operators do not exceed a year. Longer term
deals, Hidalgo said, would require legislative approval. "If there's a
willing inmate and a vendor, we can do this on our own right now,"
Hidalgo said. One major private prison company, the GEO Group of Boca Raton,
Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corp., has expressed interest
in housing California inmates at its facilities in Michigan, Indiana and
Louisiana. GEO currently operates four private prisons in California. It also
contributed $22,300 to Schwarzenegger on Aug. 25, in the last week of the
legislative session, when lawmakers declined to act on proposals designed to
ease prison overcrowding in California. One bill would have required inmate
approval for out-of-state transfers. In legislative hearings, GEO expressed
support for an involuntary transfer plan. Altogether, GEO has contributed
$90,300 to Schwarzenegger going back to 2003.
September 7, 2006 Ludington Daily News
A deal that might have supplied California inmates to the former Michigan
Youth Correctional Facility in Lake County could be in jeopardy. Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and the California’s Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) proposed sending inmates to out-of-state facilities —
potentially including the Lake County prison — without getting the inmates’
permission. However, the future of the proposal is unclear. The California
Assembly refused to vote on the measure despite the California Senate passing
a bill allowing the transfers only with the inmate’s permission, which is
current California law. The California legislature, a part-time legislature,
left session for the year Friday without approving Schwarzenegger’s four-bill
package. The bills faced opposition by Republicans in the Assembly as well as
the corrections officer union and garnered only lukewarm support from
Democrats. In addition, Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger also faces a challenge
from Democrat Phil Angelides in the November election. The Baldwin area
facility was mentioned as a possible recipient of California inmates, and
officials from California reportedly visited the site earlier this summer.
Pablo Paez, communications director for GEO Group
which owns the Lake County prison, said he had “nothing new to report” with
regard to any deal to house inmates there. Paez
said GEO has been in contact with California and with U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement regarding possibly renting bed space at the facility a
few miles north of Baldwin. Refusing to name where else GEO is seeking
rentals, Paez said “the company remains active in
marketing our facility.”
August 2, 2006 Cadillac News
The fate of Lake County's youth prison could be in the hands of the
California Legislature. California's Department of Corrections is considering
a proposal that would allow the state to export illegal immigrants to the
former Michigan Youth Correctional Facility near Baldwin. A CDC official met
with a representative of the GEO Group and Lake County Sheriff Bob Hilts
Monday in Baldwin to discuss a possible arrangement to fill the 550-bed
maximum-security prison. “It's one proposal we're looking at,” said Terry
Thornton, spokeswoman for CDC. “We have historic levels of overpopulation.”
Thornton reported 16,000 of the state's inmates are housed in alternative
situations, many of those triple-bunked. “If we do nothing, we'll run out of
beds in a year,” she said. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called a
special session of legislature to address overcrowding and other prison
system issues. The session begins Monday. A series of proposals, including
one involving use of the Baldwin facility, will be under consideration by the
state's lawmakers, according to Thornton. California is one of several
entities facility owners the GEO Group is in negotiation with to enable it to
reopen the six-year-old $37 million prison. Gov. Jennifer Granholm closed the
facility last October when she withdrew its funding, Before GEO is able to
reopen the prison, it must gain legal rights to enter into contracts with the
State of California, or other states, federal or local agencies. The State
Corrections Code only allows its use as a youth correctional facility under
contract with the State. Michigan legislators have shown strong bipartisan
support for a bill that would permit GEO to import out-of-state detainees or
inmates and contract with other agencies. The House passed the legislation 83
to 20. The Senate approved the bill 36 to 1, said Peter Wills, spokesperson
for State Rep. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart. While Granholm
had vetoed a version of the bill in May that would have mandated state use of
the prison in overcrowding conditions, she has indicated support for the
“concept” of the legislation, Wills said. But the bill continues to draw
opposition. Rep. Kathy Angerer, D-Dundee, and Rep.
Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, added amendments that would prevent import of
inmates. “It will be taken up on Aug. 9. We're working with House leadership
to work with members who offered the amendments to see if they would
rescind,” Wills said. “We're confident the bill is still a good one.” Even
given the authority for filling the prison with a new inmate population,
GEO's problems won't end. Before closing, the facility employed 200 workers.
“GEO's going to have to do an intensive search for employees,” said Hilts.
The bottom line is that operations must be cost effective “Everybody that has
visited is interested,” Hilts said. “The question is if they can make a deal.
Its always monetary.”
Montebello City Jail
Jul 4, 2017 latimes.com
Montebello jail official arrested in fatal shooting of his children's
mother at custody exchange
An administrator at the Montebello Police Department’s jail has been
arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting the mother of his two children and
wounding another man in South Whittier during a child custody exchange,
authorities said Sunday. Efrem Ruben Lozoya, 38,
turned himself in to police shortly after the shooting 11:07 a.m. Saturday
and was booked on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, Los Angeles
County sheriff’s officials said. Nereida Villanueva, 33, died at the scene of
the shooting on the 13900 block of Coteau Drive in the unincorporated
community of South Whittier, said Rudy Molano, an
investigator with the county coroner's office. Lozoya
and Villanueva were “involved in a child exchange” when Lozoya
shot her and the male victim “for unknown reasons,” Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Rouzan said. Lozoya and
Villanueva were estranged and have two children together, ages 7 and 9, Rouzan said. The children were not injured and it was
“unclear if the children witnessed any portions of this crime,” he said. When
sheriff’s deputies arrived they found that Villanueva and the male victim had
both been shot at least once in the upper torso. Villanueva was pronounced
dead at the scene. The male victim was transported to the hospital. His
condition is unknown and his identity has not been released. Lozoya was arrested 5 p.m. Saturday and booked at the
Norwalk sheriff’s station. He is being held at Men’s Central Jail and his
bail is set at $2 million, according to sheriff’s booking records. Sheriff’s
officials said Lozoya is employed by a contractor
that provides jail services to the Montebello Police Department. The
Montebello City Jail is operated by the GEO Group Inc., a private
correctional firm, under the oversight of the police department, according to
the city’s website. It has a 20-bed capacity.
Past media reports and a 2015 audit of the facility available at the GEO
Group’s website identify Lozoya as the jail’s
administrator. The city’s jail referred inquiries to a Montebello Police
Department watch commander, who declined to comment and referred all
questions to the county Sheriff’s Department.
Monterey County Jail
Monterey, California
Aramark
May 10, 2014 montereycountyweekly.com
An independent assessment of medical services at the
Monterey County Jail rips into the practices of the jail and California
Forensic Medical Group (CFMG), the state’s largest private correctional
health care provider. The jail’s health services program, including staffing,
clinic space and clinical care, is “inadequate,” concludes Dr. Mike Puisis, a correctional medical expert, in a 72-page
report. Puisis toured the jail for his evaluation
last October. The report is one of several expert reports released in late
April as part of a lawsuit against the Monterey County Jail and CFMG for poor
health conditions, overcrowding and other alleged deficiencies. CFMG is
contracted to provide medical and mental health services. The medical team, Puisis writes, is understaffed by at least 40 percent.
There are 23 full-time equivalent positions, but the staff is so bare-bones
there are problems if an employee takes a day off. One registered nurse must
regularly evaluate all new inmates in jail custody, evaluate sick-call
requests, evaluate inmates in isolation cells and sometimes supervise the
licensed vocational nurses. “This is not possible for a single RN to perform
in an eight-hour day,” he writes. The doctor also determined that many
medical evaluations were either not performed appropriately, or not happening
at all. Chronic illnesses are “significantly under-identified,” he reports.
Another factor is the layout and structure of the jail itself. “I was told
that none of the clinical space was originally constructed for its intended
purpose,” Puisis writes. “This results in design
features that are mostly not appropriate for clinical care.” The clinic is
cramped, and doctors often evaluate patients in a chair. If an examination
table is needed, patients are moved to another room, which discourages proper
exams, Puisis finds. The clinic examination areas
were not hygienic, and the doctor saw no standardization of equipment and
supplies. But the jail’s health care provider is defensive. “There’s a lack
of foundation as to what [Puisis] says,” CFMG
attorney Peter Bertling says. “CFMG has been in the
Monterey County Jail for almost 35 years. Their program has been approved and
developed by consultants with the Institute of Medical Quality.” Bertling contends Puisis’
staffing concerns are inaccurate. “[He] did not adequately or appropriately
evaluate the staffing ratio or understand the staffing patterns because he
did not ask the right questions,” he says. An expansion of the jail is
expected to be completed in 2018.
January 11, 2006 The Salinas Californian
Illness has spread at the Monterey County Jail, leaving about 75 inmates with
diarrhea and stomach cramping in what the county Health Department says might
be a food-borne outbreak. Reports of sickness at the jail infirmary started
Sunday, and by Monday morning, 20 inmates had complained of diarrhea and
bloody stool, the jail announced. As of Monday night, 75 cases had been
reported, the Sheriff's Office said. "We can be pretty confident that
it's a food-borne illness," said John Ramirez, assistant director of
environmental health at the Monterey County Health Department. The jail had
another outbreak in June, when at least 112 inmates complained of flu-like
symptoms including nausea, diarrhea and high fever. Investigators determined
that infection began after some inmates hoarded food to make tamales that
later became spoiled, Liebersbach said. As of now,
it appears the illness might have started with a chicken dish that was
improperly cooked, he said. The jail's Philadelphia-based food provider,
Aramark, did not return calls on the incident.
North Fork Correctional Facility
Sayre, Oklahoma
CCA
July 31, 2012 Tulsa World
What's happening in the southwestern Oklahoma town of Sayre is a cautionary
tale about community reliance on private prisons. Sayre began enjoying an
economic boost several years ago when the North Fork Correctional Facility,
owned by Corrections Corporation of America, received more than 2,000 inmates
from California. The city enjoyed increased revenue - about $1.3 million
annually to the town of 4,000. Business activity increased and employment
soared. But now, California is withdrawing its inmates. The inmates were sent
to Sayre in the first place because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
ordered California to reduce its enormous prison population. There's
confusion about how many of the more than 400 jobs linked to the private
prison in Sayre will be lost. There are also questions about a riot in
October, which injured 46 inmates and resulted in at least 20 charges for
violent offenses. Prosecution of these cases has put a strain on the Beckham
County district attorney's office. Private prisons offer a pressure valve for
state prisons that are at capacity. But in some ways states become the
"prisoners" of private prisons. When those companies raise rates,
states must come up with extra money. If a crime program - the Justice
Reinvestment Initiative - pays off in the next few years, more nonviolent
inmates could be handled in the community, thus negating the need for more
prisons or contracting with private prisons. If it had to do it over, Sayre
probably would not turn down the economic boost of at least $1.3 million
annually, nor those 400 extra jobs. But now that economic windfall is headed
out of town - at least for the time-being. Take note: The state has other
private prisons, which it relies upon heavily. Should it?
July 26, 2012 NPR
When California ran out of space to house its growing inmate population, it
turned to Corrections Corporation of America, which owns private prisons in
16 states, including Oklahoma. Now there are more than 2,000 Californians
locked up at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre. The arrangement
wasn’t supposed to cost Oklahoma anything, but a recent riot at North Fork is
changing that. Forty-six inmates were injured before CCA guards were able to
restore order in the October 2011 riot. The company isn’t saying what caused
the riot, but prosecutors say some of the California inmates who started it
committed crimes in Oklahoma, and will have to face justice here. That task
falls to Beckham County District Attorney Dennis Smith’s office. “Now, this
riot will create substantial costs to us,” Smith says. “A lot of that is
going to depend on how many cases we actually file. It’s already added a
strain. So, for me to be able to expound exactly how much it costs — there
are so many factors that go into that. How many people are prosecuted? How
many are convicted? How many are actually going to serve time.” Smith
oversees a five-county district, and his office is still dealing with job
cuts resulting from the state budget crisis. Resources are thin, and the
possibility of having to prosecute up to 20 riot-related violent crimes won’t
help matters. “D.U.I.s, shoplifting, burglary, we see that kind of stuff,”
Smith says. “Conversely, you get into cases that we don’t deal with a lot.
One of those is prison cases.” Charges are expected to be filed within weeks,
but prosecution is only part of the cost to the state. “When we prosecute
someone, say it’s for assaulting a guard or assaulting a fellow inmate, and
we assign them some length of sentence, they’re not going to serve it in CCA.
They’ve suddenly become the property of the Oklahoma Department of
Corrections when it’s time to serve their sentence. That’s an additional cost
to the citizens, taxpayers of Oklahoma,” Smith says.
July 17, 2012 Oklahoman
Prisoners doing time at the North Fork Correctional Facility in western
Oklahoma soon will be headed home to California. All of the inmates
incarcerated at the privately owned facility are from the Golden State, which
has been sending prisoners to Oklahoma for years to ease overcrowding. The
prison, with a capacity to house more than 2,000 inmates, was built in the
late 1990s by Corrections Corporation of America. All of the California
prisoners are expected to be gone by the end of 2013. If the prison shuts
down — as it did in 2003 amid a phone call billing dispute with Wisconsin
inmates — it means the loss of Sayre's largest employer. Terry Thornton, a
spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
said the state of California currently has 9,300 inmates doing time out of
the state. At its peak, there were 10,400, she said. “This is going to happen
by attrition,” Thornton said. “So, as of now, we will stop transporting
inmates to out-of-state prisons.” Thornton said the removal of the inmates
has nothing to do with a riot that erupted at North Fork in October, leaving
dozens of inmates injured.
July 13, 2012 AP
The California Department of Corrections plans to withdraw its inmates out of
a private Oklahoma prison where a brawl took place last year. California corrections
spokeswoman Dana Simas told radio station KECO Friday that all 2,323 inmates
are scheduled to be removed from the North Fork Correctional Facility in
Sayre by December 2013. The prison is operated by Nashville, Tenn.-based
Corrections Corporation of America. At least 46 inmates received medical
treatment after prisoners fought at the facility in October. One inmate was
stabbed, but no staff members or law enforcement officers were injured.
Company officials told the station it's too early to tell whether any of the
400 jobs at the facility will be affected. If there are reductions, officials
will first leave vacant positions unfilled before cutting the staff.
May 4, 2012 Oklahoman
An October riot at a private prison in Sayre that left dozens of inmates
injured has yielded a 2,700-page report and could lead to several new felony
cases being filed in Beckham County. Mike Machak, a
spokesman for the private North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, said 19
inmates involved in the Oct. 11 riot could face “attempted murder” charges,
although such a crime doesn't exist in Oklahoma. The riot, which is still
somewhat shrouded in mystery, left 46 prisoners injured. Sixteen of those
were injured badly enough to be taken to local hospitals. Three prisoners were
in critical condition, prison officials said shortly after the melee.
Corrections Corporation of America, the company that runs North Fork, is
based in Tennessee and has prisons sprinkled across the country. In a
prepared statement to The Oklahoman, Machak said
that “violence between security threat groups is a challenge for every prison
system,” although he didn't answer questions about which prison gangs were
involved in the riot. All of the prisoners housed at North Fork are from
California, which began transferring inmates out of state in 2007 to ease
overcrowding. Dennis Smith, district attorney for Beckham County, said he has
an experienced prosecutor analyzing the massive report submitted by the
prison company but hesitated to confirm that 19 inmates would be charged with
serious violent felonies related to the riot. He said the prosecutor also has
spent considerable time viewing video footage of the riot during the course
of the lengthy investigation. “First of all, we don't even have ‘attempted murder'
in Oklahoma ... we have similar charges but not ‘attempted murder' like his
statement says,” Smith said. “I believe that charges will be filed, but we
have to go through each one and make sure they can be prosecuted.” Smith, who
is the district attorney for five counties in western Oklahoma, said his
offices are short-staffed and he didn't know when charges would be filed.
“It's a lot of information to look at — 2,700 pages is a lot,” Smith said.
“My biggest murder case was something like 500 pages, if that tells you
anything.” In addition to California prisoners, Machak
said inmates from Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Vermont
have been housed at the prison over the past 12 years. Lawsuit offers look
inside -- A lawsuit filed in federal court by a California inmate being
housed at the North Fork Correctional Facility could shed some light on what
happened during the October riot. Melvin Fisher filed the lawsuit against the
prison's warden, a guard and a California prison system administrator, court
documents show. According to the lawsuit, Fisher, who is black, is claiming
that the warden of the prison didn't afford him adequate protection by
allowing large groups of Sureno gang members to
populate the prison. The inmate claims these Hispanic gang members are
“troublemakers” and outnumber blacks five to one at North Fork. Fisher claims
he broke his nose during the Oct. 11 riot when he and three other black
inmates were attacked in a gym by dozens of Sureno
gang members. Fisher said the guard named in the lawsuit held the door
leading out of the gym closed with her foot, causing him to run into it and
break his nose. “We started yelling through the door for her to let us out,”
Fisher wrote in the lawsuit. “Finally, she let the door go after the response
team instructed her to do so and come to their safety net.” A California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation administrator also is named in
the lawsuit because she allowed “Northern Mexicans” to be transferred out of
North Fork and be replaced by Sureno gang members.
“They both knew that by increasing the numbers of Sureno
Mexicans, (it) would give them power over other races of inmates,” Fisher
wrote. “They both knew that it was an excessive risk of a riot happening.”
January 14, 2012 Oklahoman
A lack of charges filed against inmates involved in an Oct. 11 riot at the
North Fork Correctional Facility highlights an ongoing issue between private
prisons and authorities, a local prosecutor said. More than three months after
the riot, private prison officials have yet to release details about what
exactly caused the melee. The nature of the injuries suffered by dozens of
inmates also remains a mystery. “When you're dealing with a private entity
like that, you're kind of at their mercy,” Beckham County District Attorney
Dennis Smith said. “We keep being told that they're going to present charges,
but they're just taking time to do it.” Mike Machak,
a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, said the company had
nothing to report as of Wednesday and “any criminal charges brought against
inmates would be managed by the Beckham County district attorney office.” Machak said “there are no arbitrary time frames” for
wrapping up the investigation and that sharing details of the inquiry “could
pose a risk to both inmates and staff.” “Any disclosure of information must
be weighed against that important consideration,” he said. Smith acknowledged
the challenges of investigating a prison riot, including having to deal with
uncooperative witnesses, and said he'd rather “them get it right than do it
fast.” “It has been a while,” he said. “But again, there's not a whole lot we
can do.” Prison houses out-of-staters -- The riot at the private prison in
Sayre, which houses more than 2,000 prisoners from California, sent 16
inmates to the hospital with injuries and required the assistance of local
law enforcement agencies to quell the melee. Ralph Jackson, public
information officer with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
said weapons found at the scene were “weapons of opportunity,” including mops
and broom handles. Shortly after the riot broke out, Beckham County Sheriff
Scott Jay said it was the worst one he'd seen at the medium-security prison.
December 10, 2011 Oklahoman
Nearly a month after a riot that injured inmates at a private prison in
western Oklahoma, prison officials say they do not have a cause that they can
release. They will say that 16 of the inmates who were hospitalized after the
riot have since been released, but they won't say what types of injuries they
suffered in the Oct. 11 melee. Mike Machak,
spokesman for Corrections Corp. of America, said it's too early to release
details on the riot at the North Fork Correctional Facility. “While we are not
aware of any criminal charges that have been filed, we do know that the Sayre
Police Department's investigation is ongoing,” Machak
said. “To that end, we do not want to release details that might undermine
those ongoing efforts.” Sayre Police Chief Ronnie Harrold said he has yet to
receive anything from the prison regarding the riot. He said he thinks
something is close to happening, but that the prison corporation has “been
giving us the runaround.” “It's coming close to the point where we would expect
for them to turn it over to us,” Harrold said. “At some point, if they want
charges filed, they'll have to turn it over to us.” Prison spokeswoman
Michelle Deherrera said the riot erupted just
before noon, and the help of local law enforcement agencies was required to
subdue the prisoners. In addition to the 16 inmates who required
hospitalization, another 30 were treated at a medical facility at the prison,
she said. Deherrera said no prison staff members or
assisting law enforcement officers were injured. The more than 2,000
prisoners held at the private prison are from California. Machak
said inmates from Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Vermont
have been housed at the prison over the past 12 years.
October 18, 2011 AP
Four inmates who were injured in a prison riot at the North Fork Correctional
Facility last week remain hospitalized. Corrections Corporation of America
spokesman Mike Machak (MAY'-chak)
said Tuesday the prisoners were still being treated at area hospitals. Machak said he couldn't elaborate on the inmates' medical
conditions. A total of 46 inmates were hurt during the riot between prisoners
from California. Thirty were treated by prison medical staff and 16 initially
were hospitalized. Machak said an investigation
into the cause of the riot is still under way and no disciplinary action has
been taken. He also said none of the inmates have been returned to
California.
October 12, 2011 KFOR TV
There were no deaths, no escapes and no staff members hurt. But there was
certainly a lot of stress and fear in Beckham County when a prison riot broke
out there Tuesday afternoon. Uncontrolled fights all over the grounds left 46
prisoners injured. Many of them had to be taken to the hospital and at last
check, three were still listed in critical condition Wednesday night. North
Fork Correctional Facility is a private prison housing only male inmates from
California. While covering the the riot Tuesday,
KFOR discovered a lot of people are weary of the setup there. Local law
enforcement and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections only steps in in a
time of crisis. They really have no control over the facility. Now the
fighting is over and the prisoners are locked away in their cells. The
investigation into what exactly caused the riot will go on for days just like
the talk in town. Laurie Fairless lives in Sayre. She said, "I just
don't like the prison out there. Never will." She's been against the
medium security private prison for some time. She said, "It's scary
because you are out in the country and stuff so, you know, you never know
somebody might go up to your house and break into your house or whatever.
They could do something to you." Beth Mullen just moved into town. She
faces her fear of the correctional facility with humor. She said, "You
never know. They might escape and something might happen. I have nieces and
nephews and a little sister so it kind of scares me, but my uncle has a gun
so it's all good." Then there's Nathan Courtney. He lives only a mile
from the facility and said it doesn't bother him. Courtney says, "I
don't care either way. It's jobs for the people who work out there."
We've learned the warden invited the Beckham County Sheriff out to look at
the extensive damage to the prison grounds. Sheriff Scott Jay said he hopes
to do that in the next few days. A spokesman with the owner of the prison,
the Corrections Corporation of America said, "While working on
recruitment and retention, all mandatory posts necessary for security are
filled."
October 12, 2011 CNN
A total of 46 inmates were injured during a prison riot at the North Fork
Correctional Facility in western Oklahoma, but there were no fatalities,
prison officials said Wednesday. Multiple fights had broken out in the
2,500-bed facility on Tuesday, but order was restored and the facility was
completely locked down, according to a statement by Corrections Corporation
of America, which runs the prison. As of Wednesday there were no reports of
staff injuries, CCA said. Regarding the injuries, 16 inmates were transported
to facilities outside the prison for treatment, including one who has already
returned to the facility. Another 30 inmates were treated on-site by medical
staff, CCA said. While the riot was taking place, a morgue was set up in a
tent outside the prison, though there were no fatalities. Aerial video of the
scene from CNN affiliate KOCO showed armed officials holding prisoners at
gunpoint.
October 12, 2011 Oklahoman
Beckham County Sheriff Scott Jay said Tuesday's riot at the North Fork
Correctional Facility is the worst he has heard about since the private
prison opened in 1999. When he arrived at the scene, Jay said. “We saw mass
fighting all over the yard.” Sixteen inmates were taken to area hospitals to
be treated for injuries, according to a statement released about 8 p.m. by
the operator of the private prison, Corrections Corp. of America. One had
been returned to the prison by evening. The statement also said that 30
inmates were treated at the facility. No staff injuries were reported, the statement
said. Prison spokeswoman Michelle Deherrera said
the riot broke out about 11:45 a.m. at the medium-security facility that
houses inmates from California. Officers contained riot -- Jay said he saw
weapons in use by the brawling inmates, but he couldn't identify what they
were. Knowing prison culture, Jay said, he would speculate they were homemade
weapons. Smaller incidents have happened at the prison, Jay said, but he was
only aware of one other time when local law officers were called in to help. Officers
from the Beckham County Sheriff's Department, and the Sayre and Elk City
Police Department, as well as the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, helped contain the
riot. Ambulance crews from nearby towns such as Elk City and Erick provided
medical care. At 5 p.m., after as many as a dozen patients had been taken to
the hospital, seven ambulances remained lined up outside the gates. Jay said
at least 11 ground ambulance runs were made from the prison. Midwest City
Police Chief Brandon Clabes said at least two injured
prisoners were taken by medical helicopter to Midwest Regional Medical
Center. Midwest City police were asked to provide security until prison
employees arrived, Clabes said. Inmates also were
airlifted to OU Medical Center, a spokesman said, but he referred further
questions to corrections authorities. “Right now, we don't know if this was
racially motivated, or they had a beef with the facility or what,” Jay said. Deherrera did not release any information about a
possible reason for the riot. Sayre police escorted ambulances to the Sayre
hospital, and Elk City police provided security for ambulances that took
injured inmates to the hospital in Elk City, Sayre Police Chief Eddie Holland
said. “We'll be here as long as it takes,” Holland said about 4 p.m. “Right
now, the whole place is a crime scene.” Relatives concerned -- Relatives of
prison employees, gathered at the county barn about two miles away shortly
after the riot broke out, spent the afternoon pacing and waiting for their
cellphones to ring. A Beckham County dispatcher said local law officers and
ambulance crews were called about 11:50 a.m. to assist in the riot at 1605 E
Main St. Bill Barrett, spokesman for Great Plains Regional Medical Center in
Elk City, said multiple patients were taken to that hospital. Deherrera said public safety was never threatened. She
did not say how long it took the staff to contain the riot. Dale Denwalt, a reporter for the Daily Elk Citian, said a
sheriff's deputy provided details about the riot to the waiting relatives. A
source inside the prison said 530 people are employed there but did not
release numbers on how many were at work when the riot broke out. Louis
Thompson, 20, of Elk City, said his mother, Cherie, is a correctional officer
with CCA. He said he heard about the riot from his sister and was pacing
across the street from the prison throughout the afternoon, worrying about
his mother's safety. “She said they had a couple of small riots, but nothing
very big,” Thompson said. “She said she could feel something was about to
happen, and it did. I just hope she's all right.”
October 11, 2011 AP
Widespread fighting broke out at an Oklahoma prison Tuesday between black and
Hispanic California inmates, sending at least 21 inmates to the infirmary or
hospitals before police and prison guards were able to restore order,
authorities said. The fighting began shortly before noon at the North Fork
Corrections Facility, a privately run medium-security prison in Sayre that
houses 2,381 inmates from California. Greg Williams, an official with the
Oklahoma Department of Corrections, told The Associated Press that the
fighting appeared to have been between black and Hispanic inmates, but he
didn't know if it was gang-related. No staff members or law enforcement
officers were hurt, but 14 inmates were treated at the prison infirmary and
seven others were taken to a hospital, Williams said. At least one inmate had
been stabbed, he said.
October 11, 2011 Tulsa World
Law enforcement agencies responded Tuesday to a disturbance at the North Fork
Correctional Facility in Sayre, officials said. The private prison is run by
Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America and houses offenders from
California. At 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, prison staff responded to multiple inmate
fights in various areas of the facility, according to Steve Owen, CCA senior
director of public affairs. By 3:30 p.m., the fighting had ceased, Owen said.
"Facility management and staff are in the process of systematically
going through every area of the facility to secure inmates in those areas and
to identify inmates requiring medical treatment for injuries," he said.
Multiple inmates were being treated at the prison for various injuries. Five
inmates had been taken to area hospitals for further treatment, Owen said. No
staff were reported injured; no one was taken hostage; and no offenders
escaped, Owen said. As a precautionary measure, the facility's special
operations response team was activated, along with additional teams and
support staff from other CCA facilities. The facility was placed on lock
down, Owen said. "More information is pending further investigation and
will be released as it becomes available," he said. Joyce Jackson,
Oklahoma Department of Corrections communications director, said she had little
information about the situation. "Basically, there is supposed to be a
disturbance with approximately 80 to 90 Hispanic offenders and they have
barricaded themselves in the dining area," she said. Local law
enforcement had secured the perimeter of the facility, said Greg Williams,
Department of Corrections administrator of field operations. Capt. Chris
West, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, said his agency had been
contacted for assistance. Officials from the Sayre Police Department and Beckham
County Sheriff's did not respond to requests for comment. The facility is
medium security and houses males. It has 2,500 beds.
Orange Cove
Orange Cove, CA
CCA
June 19, 2001
It's not likely Orange Cove will get the federal prison that it's competing
against Mendota for, but that won't stop Mayor Victor Lopez. He's
courting private prison builders just in case. Lopez is convinced that
a prison would mean salvation for one of California's poorest cities,
bringing high-paying jobs, more tax dollars and spin-off development.
Many of the would-be prison's neighbors are equally convinced it will be the
city's ruination, draining water from its lifeblood industry, agriculture,
putting more high-speed commuters on two-lane roads and scaring off potential
development with higher crime. Orange Cove's leaders would do well to
look to places such as Avenal, Delano or Corcoran that still are struggling
with soaring unemployment despite the prisons they host. The San
Joaquin Valley, with its plethora of struggling rural towns, has become a
prison mecca with no real measurable benefits. A 1990 state study of
Avenal found that there was little financial boost from the state lockup
because prison employees were willing to commute long distances rather than
relocate to a city they deemed too small, isolated and without
amenities. Avenal's 16% unemployment rate is the same as before the
prison was built. Orange Cove might find itself in the same
position. ( The Fresno Bee)
Orange County District Attorney
Jan
31, 2014 blogs.ocweekly.com
When
investigating custody-related deaths, the Orange County District Attorney's
(OCDA) office only looks at the question of criminal culpability. It leaves
civil liability alone. The distinction comes into play with the agency's
latest clearance in Garden Grove, a city that contracts with The GEO Group, a
controversial and lawsuit ridden private for-profit prison firm. Joel Duran
came under GEO's watch on August 18, 2012 when cuffed by Garden Grove police
officer James Franks for resisting arrest. Duran was pronounced dead by a
doctor nearly two-and-a-half hours later at a nearby hospital. The OCDA
reports that Franks took the 25-year-old to the Garden Grove Police
Department (GGPD) that night with GEO Group correctional/detention officers
Camden Drake, Russell Driscoll and Toby Andazola on
staff. Drake searched Duran when he noticed something in his mouth. A number
of chewed meth baggies were removed though the man denied swallowing any
narcotics when asked. Detention officer Driscoll later transferred him to a
cell with no drinking fountain or toilet. Duran started sweating and asking
for water. Officer Andazola thought he might be
under the influence, but when asked again, Duran denied ingesting any meth.
The GEO Group officers took him at his word and continued processing. Less
than an hour after his arrest, Duran's behavior deteriorated further during
booking as he sweated heavily and became increasing edgy. Drake left the jail
to alert officer Franks and other Garden Grove police of the potential
medical situation at hand. Paramedics arrived to the scene taking Duran to
Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center. By that time, his heart raced out of
control at a pace of 190 beats per minute. He soon went into cardiac arrest.
Life saving measures failed and Duran died an hour after being admitted. The
autopsy notes meth overdose as the cause of death. "At no time did any
GGPD officer, staff, contractor or other individual under the supervision of
GGPD act with malice toward Duran," writes the OCDA in its legal
analysis. The agency found no cause for criminal negligence either, clearing
all involved in the matter. The OCDA report can be read in its entirety
online.
Orange County Jail
Orange County, California
Correctional Medical Services
August 17, 2010 Voice of OC
Another "no-confidence" vote is making the rounds among the staff
at the Orange County Correctional Medical Services division, which provides
primary and specialty medical care for thousands of inmates across the
county's jail system. This is the same division that has triggered a series
of grand jury reports in recent years along with a critical look last year
from the county performance auditor after two controversial deaths. Both
inquiries into the Correction Medical Services division found problems with
equipment, staffing and communication from managers. And a year later, the
union representing medical workers at the jails says things have gotten
worse. The no-confidence vote hovers at 96 percent, officials disclosed this
week. Staffers are experiencing historic low morale, union officials argue in
official letters sent to the Health Care Agency this summer. Doctors won't
take the job, and nurses are being left alone in the field and are confronted
nightly with needlessly dangerous situations. County officials, including CEO
Tom Mauk, acknowledge communication problems but
question the veracity of the 96 percent no-confidence vote. In general, they
say, the union is misrepresenting the problems facing nurses and doctors in
the jails. Officials point to a low death rate compared to other jail systems
in the United States. However, a 2009 performance audit did find that the
county has paid out over $1.2 million in recent years to defend 55 claims and
lawsuits stemming from problems with jail medical care. Union officials say
county leaders are flirting with disaster. "There currently are no
regular, full-time physicians employed in CMS [Correctional Medical
Services]. Two part-time contract physicians serve the approximately 5,000
inmate patients at the jails," wrote Lisa Major, assistant general
manager at the Orange County Employees Association, in a May 13 letter to
Heath Care Agency Director David Riley. "This alarming attrition rate
creates a hazardous situation not only for the patients and patient safety
but also for the nursing staff," Major wrote. The no-confidence petition
circulated among the jail medical staff -- the second petition since 2007 --
directly takes aim at the Health Care Agency leadership for failing to address
staffing shortages and failing to provide inclusive leadership. "The
perception persists that licenses are threatened due to the likelihood of
errors as a result of the demands placed upon existing personnel to maintain
a high level of care with limited access to physicians and other clinicians
for support, direction and assistance." A 2009 performance audit at the
jail found that many of the problems facing medical staff are longstanding
and have potential for significant problems. "Since the 2002 state budget
deficit, which resulted in significant program reductions, CMS [Correctional
Medical Services] has had difficulty fulfilling its mission in an efficient
and effective manner," concluded the report.
Orange County Sheriff's Office
November 5, 2008 AP A millionaire businessman who helped bring a case against
a former Southern California sheriff testified Wednesday that the lawman
promised lucrative deals and full access to his department in exchange for
help laundering campaign donations. Don Haidl
testified he met former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona
in March 1998 and agreed to help the then-underdog launder tens of thousands
of dollars in campaign contributions. Haidl, who
struck a plea deal with prosecutors, said Carona
promised even before he was elected to repay Haidl
by funneling him attractive side deals, like a business for private jails
that would relieve overcrowding at the county facilities. The county would
pay the private facilities per bed, per day to take overflow inmates.
"We talked about a get-out-of-jail free card, we talked about owning the
Sheriff's Department," Haidl said. "We
talked about ... how much money could be made out of the Sheriff's Department
and that there would be 1,800 guns and 5,000 employees at my disposal."
Other witnesses have testified that the private jails scheme never came to
fruition. Prosecutors, however, allege that over several years the three-term
sheriff, his mistress, his wife and a close group of friends did accept
hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the
power of his office.
Otay Mesa Detention Facility
Mar 9, 2022 sandiegouniontribune.com/
California:
Allegations of mistreatment by Corecivic
psychologist
Advocacy groups are
asking the state of California to take away a psychologist's license to
practice after a dozen people held in immigration custody at Otay Mesa Detention Center complained that she mistreated
them in ways that led to the deterioration of their mental health. In an
advance copy of a complaint obtained by the Union-Tribune, filed with the
California Board of Psychology on Tuesday, 12 men said that Dr. Hyrsso Fernbach spoke to them
in a hateful and mocking way, dismissed their concerns and accused them of
making up symptoms. Several people named in the complaint contemplated or
attempted suicide after trying to get treatment from Fernbach,
the document says. Some of the men said that they requested to see someone
else for their mental health care but were told that Fernbach
was the only psychologist at the detention center. Prior to working at the
facility, Fernbach was accused of demonstrating
hostility toward patients during a court martial of an Army sergeant who shot
and killed several servicemembers in Iraq in 2009, days after seeing her for
the mental health conditions he was experiencing. Dr. Jim Recht,
a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who reviewed one man's medical
records from Otay Mesa Detention Center, including Fernbach's clinical notes, called the care he received
"outrageously inadequate." "The consequences of this kind of
substandard professional care can be serious and can be dangerous," Recht said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the
agency responsible for immigration detention, did not respond to a request
for comment. CoreCivic, the private prison company
in charge of Otay Mesa Detention Center, has been
responsible for medical care at the facility since September 2020. Ryan Gustin, spokesman for CoreCivic,
said the facility has a psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health registered
nurse and a mental health specialist. "It would be wholly inaccurate to
state or imply that our psychologist is the only mental health professional
at OMDC who is working to address the mental health needs for those in our
care," Gustin said. Gustin
said CoreCivic hasn't found any issues with Fernbach's approach or documentation. "We have the
utmost confidence that Dr. Fernbach is providing
high-quality mental health care," Gustin said.
Messages sent to a cell phone number believed to belong to Fernbach were not returned. The California Board of
Psychology said that there are no previous disciplinary actions against her.
The board did not answer questions about whether it has received prior
complaints about Fernbach. The complaint - signed
by nine organizations including SOLACE (Souls Offering Loving And Compassionate Ears) and Freedom for Immigrants - notes
that this is not the first time that someone has told ICE and CoreCivic about concerns with Fernbach's
treatment of her patients. Three of the organizations - SOLACE, Civil Rights
Education and Enforcement Center and Freedom for Immigrants - each filed
complaints in 2021 with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil
Rights and Civil Liberties on behalf of people held at Otay
Mesa Detention Center who were seeing Fernbach for
conditions including schizophrenia, PTSD, anxiety
and depression.
Dismissed symptoms
Otay Mesa Detention Center holds people in immigration
custody while they wait for their court cases if ICE decides that they are a
flight risk or dangerous. Some at the facility are asylum seekers who came to
the border to request protection. Others are undocumented immigrants who are
trying to stay in the country. Still others have green cards and are fighting
to keep them after criminal convictions. Among them, trauma symptoms are
common, especially for asylum seekers. Less common but still present are more
severe diagnoses like schizophrenia. As with other medical concerns, people
in custody at the facility can sign up for sick call to be seen and treated
by the detention center's medical staff. But at Otay
Mesa, according to the men in the complaint, signing up for mental health
care meant seeing a psychologist who ignored evidence of their symptoms and
accused them of faking conditions in order to get
better treatment in court. The first time Junior Jerome told someone about
the voices he'd heard in his head for decades, he was in custody at Otay Mesa Detention Center. Born in the Bahamas to
Haitian parents, he'd come to the United States as a child. His parents were
busy with work, and mental health conversations were not normal or
comfortable in their culture. "I didn't have no one to talk to about my
mental health issues," Jerome recalled. "The voice would tell me nobody
loved me. I feel like nobody did love me. I didn't know what to do." He
spent most of his life suffering silently, using alcohol and drugs to try to
quiet the intensity of his symptoms. That was how he ended up in prison after
pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to
distribute cocaine, putting him at risk of losing his green card. His
attorney, Lillian Boctor, who previously
specialized in immigration cases for detainees with severe mental health
conditions, asked him during a visit if he was hearing voices. Yes, he told
her. She suggested that he try to get help, and he eventually found himself
in front of Fernbach. "She
told me there's nothing wrong with me. The only thing she asked was when's my
next court date," Jerome recalled. "She told me personally she's
not going to give me mental health medicine at all." Fernbach's
notes from that visit in February 2021, obtained by the Union-Tribune, do not
mention Jerome's concern about hearing voices. She wrote that he "has
difficulty with sleep." She also noted that he said he had a history of
mental health concerns, but she dismissed that, writing that when he went
through intake he didn't report any such history.
While Fernbach, as a psychologist, wouldn't have
been able to prescribe the medication that Jerome needed, she could have
referred him to a psychiatrist who would've determined what, if any, medicine
to give him. In a March appointment, Jerome told Fernbach
about the nightmares that woke him up frequently. Fernbach
dismissed that concern as well. "His descriptions are vague and do not
conform to an expected presentation and pattern of actual nightmare,"
she wrote after their visit. That, Recht said after
reviewing Jerome's file, was a clinical error. "That's either an
intentional error made by the psychologist or it's an error based on the
psychologist's ignorance because any competent psychiatric professional knows
that nightmares vary extremely widely," Recht
said. "There is no 'actual' or 'standard' presentation of a nightmare
and certainly vagueness does not rule out nightmares when considering
trauma-related symptoms."
Prejudiced against
patients?
Recht also noticed a tone in Fernbach's
documentation that concerned him. She sounded prejudiced and biased against
Jerome, he said. In her notes from a March visit, she wrote that,
"[Jerome] was incarcerated for an aggravated felony." An aggravated
felony is an immigration legal term that refers to certain crimes that
Congress decided should bar immigrants from most means of staying in the
United States. "It struck me as objectively irrelevant," Recht said of this part of Fernbach's
note. "It was not relevant to the patient's presenting complaints. It
was not relevant to their current clinical condition. Taken together with the
other errors and omissions that I saw, it suggested that there was prejudice
against this patient on the part of this clinician." Gustin,
the CoreCivic spokesman, said suggesting that Fernbach was more concerned with her patients'
immigration cases than mental conditions was "false" and
"inflammatory." "When mental health professionals evaluate
whether an individual has a diagnosable mental, behavioral or emotional
disorder, they are tasked with making an overall assessment of the individual
and documenting their findings," Gustin said.
"To the uninformed, these assessments and their related documentation
can include items that might be construed as being outside the scope of their
role." The Union-Tribune found that Fernbach
frequently referred to Jerome as "detainee" rather than
"patient" in her clinical notes. "The first time in my life I
asked for help, they wouldn't help me, and the voices in my head said, 'I
told you nobody loves you, and nobody cares for you,'" Jerome said. He
ended up in solitary confinement and on suicide watch. Other men shared
similar stories in the complaint about the way Fernbach
spoke with them. One man said in the complaint that Fernbach
questioned him with hostility when he went to see her for flashbacks from
trauma he'd experienced. She accused him of trying to get access to an
attorney because of his mental health condition. Because of a class-action
lawsuit known as the Franco case, people with severe mental health concerns
are the only ones who are given government-appointed attorneys in immigration
court. The man noted that he already had an attorney and just wanted some
help with the symptoms he was experiencing. Another man told the
organizations that put together the complaint that Fernbach
was abrasive with him when he went to her for PTSD symptoms. "When I
asked how I could deal with some of the intense post-traumatic stress
disorder symptoms that I was experiencing, I was told to 'just suck it up'
and 'stop complaining;' that 'I was lucky to even be here;' and that 'I
should be happy with that,'" the complaint quotes him as saying.
A history of
hostility
A similar pattern of
mistreatment was alleged back in 2009 when Fernbach
worked as an Army Reserve psychologist in Iraq. She criticized the nurse who
helped her for being "too nice" to patients, the nurse, identified
in news reports as Capt. Blaine Ropson, testified
in a court martial. "She felt I needed to be a little sterner. And I
think her comment was, 'I'm going to show you how we should be doing
this,'" Ropson is quoted in the Los Angeles
Times as saying. The court martial was to determine the fate of John Russell,
who was a sergeant in the Army at the time, after he killed five fellow
service members at a combat stress clinic. The defense argued that poor
mental health treatment had caused Russell's mind to deteriorate to the point
that he committed the murders. Ropson testified
that Fernbach questioned Russell a few days before
in a "pretty hostile and aggressive" manner. "I felt very
uncomfortable," Ropson said, according to the
Los Angeles Times. Russell was sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
Extreme example
Several clinicians
told the Union-Tribune they believe Fernbach's behavior
is part of a larger systemic issue in prisons and detention centers. "We
see this also in the criminal justice system," said Sonya Gabrielian, a psychiatrist and mentor with Physicians for
Human Rights. "There is a real sort of lack of training of individuals
with regards to interaction with people with psychotic disorders and
appropriate times to seek consultation for individuals with serious mental
illness." Jerome's attorney Lillian Boctor
said she's seen systemic mistreatment of detainees throughout her career. To
her, Fernbach was an extreme example. Boctor repeatedly raised concerns about the mental health
care Jerome was receiving with the immigration judge in his case, who put in
place certain safeguard measures to help him through the court proceedings
given his condition. The judge said it wasn't the first time the issue had
been brought up in court, Boctor said. ICE decided
to release Jerome on a bond after repeatedly denying his requests to get out
as someone at high risk for severe effects of the COVID-19 virus. Out of
custody, he's been able to get the care - and medication - that he needed. He
is working and able to visit with his daughter. The voices have quieted, he
said, but he's worried about the people still held inside Otay
Mesa. "How many people with mental health issues in that facility are
not getting treated right?" Jerome said. "I thought a psychologist
is somebody you could come to for help, and you could talk with them about
your problems. What she's doing is not helping us - she's destroying
us."
Apr 28, 20221
fox2now.com
California migrant
detention center called out for ‘years of abuse and misconduct’
SAN DIEGO (Border
Report) — The American Civil Liberties Union has come out with a report that
is critical of the Otay Mesa Detention Center,
which houses hundreds of detainees, mostly immigrants awaiting trial, sent
here by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the report, the
ACLU found systematic problems at the facility, and it’s calling for an “end
to oppressive, unnecessary, and inhumane systems of incarceration –
especially facilities run by private, for-profit corporations.” “It’s a
compilation of reports that have emerged over the years of abuse and
misconduct at the Otay Mesa Detention Center,” said
Monika Langarica, an attorney with the ACLU. “It
chronicles this repeated pattern of abuse at the facility including lack of
medical care, safety, physical abuse, overuse of solitary confinement
targeting advocates and people who speak out about conditions.” Langarica said one of the biggest problems is the
treatment of migrants who have not been convicted of anything but are forced
to wait for long periods of time in custody. “People can be detained for
months and for years without knowing when they will be released to their
support system or to rejoin their families,” she said. “So
you’re going to face all these abuses and on top of that you don’t know for
how long it will be.” The ACLU’s report is also very critical of the way the
facility handled the COVID-19 virus within the facility. CoreCivic,
the private company that runs the OMDC, said the report is driven by the
ACLU’s desire to end the private prison system, denying the findings and calling them “specious and sensationalized
allegations contained in the ACLU brief.” “These allegations are designed to
exert political pressure rather than to serve as an objective description of
the affirmative, proactive measures that OMDC has undertaken for over a year
to address this unprecedented pandemic,” CoreCivic
said in a statement. When it came to allegations about the pandemic, CoreCivic said: “COVID-19 has created extraordinary
challenges for every detention system in America – public and private. At the
same time, the state of California on the whole has
experienced some of the highest number of COVID-19 cases across the country.
We have worked together closely with our government partners and state health
officials to respond to this unprecedented situation appropriately,
thoroughly and with care for the well-being of those entrusted to us and our
communities. We believe this is why conditions at
OMDC have stabilized, yet we remain vigilant. On allegations of abuse, CoreCivic said its ICE-contracted facilities are
contractually required and held accountable to federal Performance-Based
National Detention Standards (PBNDS), which include guidelines for the safe
and appropriate accommodation of all detainees. CoreCivic
added that anyone can report an allegation or suspected incident of sexual
abuse or harassment, including detainees, staff or third parties. “We don’t
cut corners on care, staff or training, which meets, and in many cases
exceeds, our government partners’ standards,” CoreCivis
said.
Mar 12, 2021
law360.com
CoreCivic Must Face Lawsuit Over Unsafe Conditions
A San Diego judge
ruled on Wednesday that private prison operator CoreCivic
will have to face the bulk of a lawsuit brought by a former employee, finding
that the conditions inside a detention facility could support her claim for
constructive termination.Margarita Smith's
allegation that CoreCivic failed to provide a safe
and hygienic working environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes the
very "public policy" concern central to a constructive dismissal
claim, Southern District of California Judge M. James Lorenz said.
"Here, Plaintiff is pursuing a claim based on Defendant's alleged
failure to adequately protect against COVID-19 in the detention center,"
Judge Lorenz wrote. "That type of wrongful constructive termination claim
is at least viable at the pleading stage." In March 2020, Smith resigned
from CoreCivic, where she was working as an
immigration detention officer at the San Diego-based Otay
Mesa Detention Center. She has several underlying respiratory conditions —
such as asthma and, at the time, pneumonia — and argued that her resignation
was prompted by CoreCivic's failure to implement
basic COVID-19 protocols for staff and immigrant detainees. Her April 2020
lawsuit alleged that the company did not implement social distancing, prohibited
employees from wearing masks and crowded hundreds of detainees together in
the same room. CoreCivic moved to dismiss her
lawsuit, countering primarily that her wrongful constructive termination
claims were not related to a specific public policy imperative. Judge Lorenz
disagreed, writing that a failure to provide a safe working environment would
indeed contravene public policy and provide the basis for a constructive
dismissal claim. The company further argued that despite the public policy
analysis, Smith had not shown that the conditions were so bad that
resignation was the only alternative. But Judge Lorenz noted that given CoreCivic's alleged failure to observe basic safety
protocols, Smith's claim was plausible. Judge Lorenz, however, did agree to
toss two of Smith's claims related to negligence and intentional infliction
of emotional distress. He concurred with CoreCivic
that the appropriate venue for those allegations was a workers' compensation
claim, due to California's workers' compensation exclusivity rule. Two other
former employees, Erica Brooks and Gregory Arnold, are also suing CoreCivic over its COVID-19 practices at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Each of their suits has
survived similar motions to dismiss on comparable grounds. "The clients
were subjected to an unreasonable and dangerous work environment. We look
forward to moving forward with the case on its merits. The defenses raised to
the claims of wrongful constructive termination were lame and properly
rejected by the court," Smith's attorney Joshua Gruendberg
told Law360 on Thursday. CoreCivic did not return a
request for comment. Margarita Smith is represented by Joshua Gruenberg and
Colette Menaldino of the Law Office of Joshua D.
Gruenberg. CoreCivic of Tennessee LLC is represented
by Paul Gleason of Gleason & Favarote LLP. The
case is Smith v. CoreCivic of Tennessee LLC et al.,
case number 3:20-cv-00808, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of California.
Dec 21, 2020
sandiegouniontribune.com
Wrongful death lawsuit
filed by family of first person to die from COVID-19 in immigration custody
The family of Carlos
Ernesto Escobar Mejia, who died in immigration custody after contracting the
coronavirus during an outbreak at Otay Mesa
Detention Center, has sued the federal government as well as the private
prison company in charge of the facility. Escobar Mejia was the first person
to die in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of
COVID-19. Eight in total have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of California by Escobar Mejia’s
three siblings, alleges negligence, deliberate indifference to serious health
and safety needs and wrongful death. The complaint argues that officials held
Escobar Mejia in conditions that they “knew would expose him to a deadly
disease.” “CoreCivic deprived him of adequate
personal protective equipment, proper social distance, and appropriate
treatment, all with the knowledge and participation of ICE and its
officials,” the complaint says. “His death did not have to happen.” ICE, the
agency responsible for immigration detention, and CoreCivic,
the private prison company that owns and operates , said that they do not comment on
pending litigation. CoreCivic referred
back to its statement at the time of Escobar Mejia’s death. “We extend
our heartfelt sympathy to this individual’s loved ones,” the company said at
the time. Both ICE and CoreCivic have defended
themselves against criticism from detainees, attorneys and even some CoreCivic staff about their handling of an outbreak at
the facility in the spring that infected more than 200 detainees and inmates
and left Escobar Mejia dead. They’ve said that they followed guidelines from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention throughout the pandemic.
Escobar Mejia, who died shortly before his 58th birthday, was at high risk
for severe COVID-19 symptoms because he was diabetic, and he had high blood
pressure and heart problems. He had already lost his right foot due to complications
from diabetes. He had lived in the United States for about 40 years after
fleeing the civil war in El Salvador with his family. Unlike his siblings,
who are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, he hadn’t managed
to get a green card because of some trouble he got into when he was younger
and hanging with the “wrong crowd,” according to an immigration attorney who
previously worked on his case. He had been taken into custody at Otay Mesa Detention Center in January 2020 after being
arrested by Border Patrol while riding in a friend’s car near Campo. He
already had a pending immigration case since 2012 in Los Angeles, where he
lived with his sister, that had a hearing coming up in October. ICE decided
to keep him in custody and move his case down to the court at Otay Mesa. On April 15, an immigration judge denied him
bond, calling him a flight risk. For much of the spring, Otay
Mesa Detention Center had the highest number of COVID-19 cases of any
immigration detention facility in the country. The lawsuit calls out a list
of issues that it says contributed to the death of Escobar Mejia including
overcrowding at the facility and a delay in reducing its population after the
pandemic began, staff not being trained in infectious disease management,
detainees being given used rags to clean their housing units, soap shortages
in the first months of the pandemic, initial prohibitions on staff wearing
masks and no social distancing. The lawsuit also faults the federal
government for the decision not to immediately take Escobar Mejia to a
hospital when he became symptomatic around April 17. Instead, he was given
ibuprofen, the lawsuit says. The kitchen at the facility, normally staffed by
detainees, shut down as the outbreak spread inside the facility. That meant
that Escobar Mejia was given sandwiches for three meals a day as his body
tried to fight the virus. On April 24, about a week after he began to show
symptoms, Escobar Mejia was taken to a hospital and put on a ventilator. “By
the time defendant transported him to the hospital, Mr. Escobar was gasping
for air and dying,” the lawsuit says. “He received a blood transfusion
but he had already been too weakened by the virus.” After Escobar Mejia’s
death, detainees close to him “tacked letters to his door, apologies to his
sister Rosa for failing her brother. Inside the room, his dried vomit still
caked the floor,” the lawsuit says. The only contact Escobar Mejia’s siblings
received after his death, the lawsuit says, was from the funeral home
demanding $1,700 to cremate their brother. The lawsuit calls for a jury trial
to determine how much money might be owed to the family if the siblings are
successful with the claim.
Oct 5, 2020
ktla.com/new
Otay Mesa detainees say shift of medical services to
private prison company complicates care
After spending the
first part of the pandemic in the spotlight for a large COVID-19 outbreak at Otay Mesa Detention Center, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement has contracted out medical care at the facility to the private
prison company that owns and operates it. Detainees interviewed by the San
Diego Union-Tribune say the medical care, which they and their advocates
already had criticized , has grown even worse under the private operator CoreCivic than it was under ICE. Detainees complain of
missed and late medications, multiple-day waits for medical attention and a
lack of transfer of records that left staff in the dark about what treatment
individual detainees were supposed to be receiving. It has also meant that
those who had been approved for specialty care, such as oncology and
orthopedics, would have to begin the lengthy process anew. “The first couple
of days, it was chaos,” said Guillermo Alvarez Mendoza, a detainee with
diabetes, hypertension and chronic back pain. “If
you were getting your blood sugar checked two or three times a day, it was
midnight before they came for the first blood-sugar check.”
JUNE 16, 2020
latimes.com
Those held at Otay Mesa Detention Center can no
longer call a group of activists who help them with money for food and phone
calls and listen to their concerns about conditions inside. CoreCivic, the private prison company that runs the
facility, recently blocked calls to phone numbers belonging to Otay Mesa Detention Resistance, an organization that was
instrumental in helping detainees share their experiences with journalists
and others as the nation’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak among immigration
detainees spread at the facility. CoreCivic
confirmed via email that it told the company that operates the phone lines to
block the numbers. “We took this action at the direction of our government
partner,” said Amanda Gilchrist, spokeswoman for CoreCivic,
referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She directed further
inquiry to ICE. “ICE has temporarily blocked detainee calls at Otay Mesa Detention Center to a specific San Diego-area
phone number after detainee calls to this number resulted in detainees
exhibiting highly disruptive behavior, threatening the health and security of
other detainees and employees at the facility,” the agency said in a
statement early Tuesday. “ICE takes very seriously the safety and well-being
of those in our care and will take all necessary steps in order to ensure the
continued safety of both detainees and staff.” It was not immediately clear
to what behavior or incidents the statement referred. Otay
Mesa Detention Center, located in south San Diego, holds ICE detainees who
are waiting for immigration court hearings or to be deported. It also holds
inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service who are waiting for trials or
sentencing in federal criminal cases. Cristina Malo, part of the Otay Mesa Detention Resistance phone team, said being
able to call people on the outside gives detainees
hope, “in a place that’s very hopeless sometimes.” She said that by having
access to her group’s phone lines, detainees are less isolated from the rest
of the world and can speak up if their rights are violated. “It’s about
holding people accountable to make sure that the detainees are still treated
humanely,” Malo said. Alex Mensing of Pueblo Sin
Fronteras, a group that works closely with Otay
Mesa Detention Resistance to support detainees, said his phone number was
also blocked. He was able to verify this by calling Telmate,
the company that operates the phone lines detainees pay to use. Telmate declined to comment on the record. The phone team
for Otay Mesa Detention Resistance usually receives
call |
