(Update) Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Quaker prison-watchdog group American Friends Service Committee, whose lawsuit seeking to block any private prison contract until the Department of Corrections actually complies with state law and produces a cost-benefit analysis (expected in January) was dismissed in Maricopa County Superior Court last month, on Friday filed an appeal and a fresh request for an injunction. Arizona private-prison contract targeted by watchdog:

[The] injunction would block any contract until Corrections completes required studies comparing the performance of its existing private-prison contracts to state prisons.

Judge Arthur Anderson dismissed the initial suit on the ground that the Tucson office of the American Friends Service Committee lacked standing to sue the state. The committee noted the dismissal didn't address substantive issues raised by the suit, which alleges that the state is in violation of its own laws, which require that any private-prison contracts save the state money and that the state conduct biannual studies comparing the operations of private and state prisons.

The department has never conducted these studies, which are supposed to analyze costs, the security and safety of each prison, how inmates are managed, inmate discipline, programs, staff training, administration, and other factors. The suit and the appeal charge that without these studies, the state can't say whether private prisons are more cost-effective than state facilities. The department didn't immediately reply to requests for comment.

This week, the department asked the four bidders to extend their bids to Dec. 22.

Here is the press release from the American Friends Service Committee:

Phoenix:  The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) filed notice today announcing its intention to appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit to halt award of contracts for 5,000 new for-profit prison beds in Arizona.  AFSC is also asking the Court for an injunction to ensure that the contracts are not awarded while the appeal is pending.

The Quaker group initially filed suit on September 12 in Maricopa County Superior Court to prevent the Department of Corrections from awarding any contracts for new private prisons until the state completes a statutorily-required review of the performance of existing for-profit prisons Arizona.  While the judge denied the group’s request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the Department from awarding contracts before the case could be heard, he later ordered corrections officials to give notice before signing  any new contracts. 

AFSC’s Arizona program director Caroline Isaacs said that the group still has faith that the court will ultimately rule in their favor and affirm that the State of Arizona should not award millions of dollars in new contracts to the prison corporations until comparison studies can prove that the facilities are safe and are providing adequate services.  “We simply cannot accept that there is no accountability for these corporations, even when their mismanagement results in loss of life,” she said.

She noted that the dismissal of the initial suit hinged only on the issue of whether the plaintiffs had standing to bring the suit, not the substantive issues they raised about the failures of for-profit prisons in Arizona. 

Vince Rabago, a former state prosecutor and candidate for Arizona Attorney General, joined the case last month in representing the plaintiffs challenging the new private prison bids.

Rabago, a former Assistant Arizona Attorney General, is an adjunct professor on crime and public policy at the University of Arizona. "We are hopeful that the court allows the case to go forward and we will vigorously fight the state's effort to dismiss the case on procedural standing grounds. Given the obvious public safety issues and impact on taxpayers, the parties should have a hearing on the merits of the State violating its own laws for more than two decades."