(Update) Pimps for Private Prisons and Profit

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

September 16 was to be the day that the Department of Corrections (DOC) awarded a contract to one of four bidders to build 5,000 new private prison beds in Arizona, despite the DOC never having complied with Arizona law requiring it to conduct a cost-benefit study.

The American Friends Service Committee filed a lawsuit and requested a temporary restraining order against the Department of Corrections, which was was denied. As I said at the time, "This matter is now in litigation and the judicious course to follow would be to delay the bid process until the court has had the opportunity to rule on the merits of the case. This does not appear to be what the pimps for private prisons and profit intend to do, however." (Update) Pimps For Private Prisons and Profit .

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports today DOC extends bidding timeframe, works to complete neglected cost-study:

The Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) has extended for a month the bidding timeframe for private prisons that would house 5,000 inmates as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ponders whether to shut down the process.

According to Oct. 7 letters sent to the four companies that are bidding to build prisons at five possible sites, DOC had to ask for the extension because it was evaluating bids and they are only valid until Oct. 22 under the request for proposal.

Department spokesman Barrett Marson said a lawsuit seeking to stop the procurement process had nothing to do with the bidding extension.

* * *

On Oct. 14, Judge Arthur Anderson heard oral arguments on a Quaker group’s request to stop the procurement process until after a required biennial cost-benefit analysis comparing private and state-run prisons is completed.

According to a transcript of the proceeding, the state argued that the cost-study has no bearing on the procurement process because the department chooses contracts based on information the vendors provide.

Arizona law requires the department to conduct the study every two years, but it has never been done. Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan said the department is working on the study and it should be complete no later than January.

American Friends Service Committee, a social action arm of the Quaker faith, argued that the department has created a public safety issue by not complying with the law, citing security failures at a private prison in Kingman where inmates escaped in July 2010. One of the escapees now stands accused of murdering an Oklahoma couple before he was captured.

Vince Rabago, a 2010 Democratic candidate for attorney general, said in court that the study would have given the state a “baseline set of knowledge” that could have been used to prevent the escape and raised questions of whether private prisons save tax dollars.

Anderson did not say when he would make a ruling.

Complete the cost-benefit study. Comply with Arizona law. Allow the court to render a decision on the merits of this case. Act in good faith. Private prison companies are not entitled to receive any economic benefit — the RFP can be cancelled. Public safety comes first.

House Minority Leader Chad Campbell has been out front in trying to stop the bidding process before the cost-benefit study has been completed. I expect we will be hearing more from him on this issue.