(Update) Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Republic completes its series of investigative reports on private prisons in Arizona today.

On Tuesday, the Republic looked at Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, FL. Record an issue for company bidding on Ariz. prisons contract (excerpt):

Geo Group, of Boca Raton, Fla., is one of four companies bidding for a contract with the Arizona Department of Corrections to provide up to 5,000 new private-prison beds. Public hearings are being held this week and next to gauge community sentiment. Geo is proposing to build a new prison with 2,000 or 3,000 beds in San Luis, south of Yuma, or a new one with 2,000 to 5,000 beds near the existing Perryville state prison in Goodyear.

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Arizona corrections officials will review Geo's track record – both in Arizona, where it operates three state contract prisons, and elsewhere – as part of assessing all the bids before the state awards a contract or contracts in September.

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At least 27 escapes have been reported from Geo facilities over the past seven years, including one in Texas last October that led to a murder. Seven inmates have escaped from Geo facilities in Texas and Illinois in four incidents over the past 11 months. Geo declined repeated requests for comment on the escapes or any of the issues raised in this story.

In Arizona, Geo has had one recent escape. In May 2006, Christopher Breiland broke out of its Florence West prison; he was recaptured 10 days later.

Spun off from Wackenhut Corp. in 2003, Geo operates 53 prisons, jails and detention centers as part of a larger operation with 78,000 beds in 116 facilities in the United States and three other countries. Geo also recently acquired a company that uses ankle-bracelet tracking devices to monitor 60,000 probationers and parolees. Analysts expect the company to report about $1.61 billion in revenue this year.

On Wednesday, the Republic looked at LaSalle Southwest Corrections, of Ruston, LA. La. firm says prison escapes led to changes (excerpt):

LaSalle is owned by the families of [Billie] McConnell and his brother-in-law, Pat Temple. The partners started out running a family business building schools, fire stations and nursing homes. In 1995, the company won a bid to build a prison in Alexandria, La., which led to additional contracts and the decision to run as well as build prisons. The company's 12 prisons have a capacity of 8,100 inmates. By comparison, the three other companies bidding on the Arizona contracts are three to 10 times as large.

McConnell said LaSalle felt that 1,000 beds "would be in our comfort zone." The company has sent representatives to Winslow several times, said Mayor Robin Boyd.

"Overall, we have a positive reaction," Boyd said. "With the economy the way it is, any opportunity for jobs is welcome."

Winslow's city manager proposed a resolution supporting LaSalle, and the City Council was expected to vote on the matter Tuesday.

On Thursday, the Republic looked at Management & Training Corp., of Centerville, UT, responsible for the escape from its Kingman prison last year that resulted in a manhunt and the murder of a couple in New Mexico. 2010 escape at Kingman an issue for MTC's bid (excerpt):

Critics express astonishment that, less than a year after two of the Kingman escapees allegedly murdered an Oklahoma couple, MTC is a finalist for a contract to provide up to 5,000 more private-prison beds to Arizona's Department of Corrections. They point to a broader record of problems at MTC facilities as showing a company that doesn't learn from its mistakes.

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MTC is bidding to provide a 3,000-bed facility in San Luis, south of Yuma, or a 3,000- or 5,000-bed facility in Coolidge. Public hearings will be held in those communities next week, part of a series of hearings the Arizona Department of Corrections is holding on proposals by MTC and three other bidders: Corrections Corp. of America, Geo Group Inc. and LaSalle Southwest Corrections. The department wants to add 5,000 prison beds and has requested bids from private prison companies. A decision is expected by mid-September.

Local leaders in San Luis and Coolidge have welcomed MTC's bid.

"The (Kingman) escape was a bad one, and we all recognize that," Coolidge Mayor Thomas Shope said, "but we don't really have any concern about it. We feel like now they're probably the safest because of what they've had to go back and do." Then, too, said Shope, "we have about 19 percent unemployment here. . . . We hear this would bring from 400 to 800 jobs, which would be great."

Rep. Russ Jones, R-Yuma, said "the jobs are nothing to be scoffed at."

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Recent audits of MTC's other Arizona prison, the minimum-security Marana facility, suggest operational problems.

In August 2010, as part of a security review of all Arizona prisons following the Kingman escapes, state inspectors visiting Marana found broken security cameras, swamp coolers out of commission, insecure doors and windows on housing units, inadequate perimeter lighting, and broken control-room panels that failed to alert staff when inmates opened exterior doors. The inspectors noted that several staffers, including the chief of security, "acknowledged these indicator lights have been down for several months" and that managers said they hadn't been fixed "due to fiscal reasons."

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"These guys have a long record of problems," said Frank Smith, a representative of the Private Corrections Working Group, which opposes prison privatization and has ties to unions representing corrections workers. In particular, he pointed to staffing issues as a possible factor in riots, prisoner-care issues and other problems.

The time, date and location of public hearings are here. Public hearings on prison plans.

Mari Herreras at the Tucson Weekly adds this pertinent post today. Arizona: Prison Inc. | The Range:

Public hearings on four private, for-profit prisons continue tonight… The next public hearing is in Winslow, tonight, 6-8 pm at the Winslow High School Performing Arts Center, 600 E. Cherry St. The San Luis public hearing includes both proposals and it will be Tuesday, Aug. 16, 6-10 pm at the San Luis City Council Chambers, 1090 East Union St. The last hearing is Thursday, Aug. 18th, 6-8 pm at the Coolidge City Council Chambers, 911 S. Arizona Blvd.

American Friends Services Committee has been organizing carpools to each hearing and getting the information out there that private prisons, well, just aren't the best choice despite the fact that Gov. Jan Brewer and company are all about privatization.

Besides getting in touch with AFSC about carpooling, which you can do here, a must read website that offers some of the most comprehensive information on Arizona's private prison industry is Cell-Out Arizona, a Tucson Citizen blog the AFSC maintains and includes detailed investigations the group has done lately and over the years on issues surrounding private prison corporations.

The latest is on the growing connections between the governor's office and the private prison industry that you can read here.

From Cell-Out: 

But Brewer is hardly the only powerful politician in Arizona with ties to this influential industry. A Cell-Out Arizona investigation has revealed that John Kavanagh (R-8), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has accepted numerous campaign contributions from lobbyists and others associated with Geo Group, the nation’s second largest private prison company and one of the bidders for a contract to build and manage 5,000 new prison beds in Arizona.  

Now we know why Kavanagh is such a staunch supporter of private prisons. He appeared last week on Phoenix Channel 8’s public affairs program, Horizon, debating the issue with Rep. Cecil Ash.

In the 2010 election cycle, Kavanagh accepted at least 6 donations from lobbyists associated with Geo Group. According to Beau Hodai’s investigation for In These Times …