Wasted Honor -

Carl R. ToersBijns is the author of the Wasted Honor Trilogy [Wasted Honor I,II and Gorilla Justice] and his newest book From the Womb to the Tomb, the Tony Lester Story, which is a reflection of his life and his experiences as a correctional officer and a correctional administrator retiring with the rank of deputy warden in the New Mexico and Arizona correctional systems.

Carl also wrote a book on his combat experience in the Kindle book titled - Combat Medic - Men with destiny - A red cross of Valor -

Carl is considered by many a rogue expert in the field of prison security systems since leaving the profession. Carl has been involved in the design of many pilot programs related to mental health treatment, security threat groups, suicide prevention, and maximum custody operational plans including double bunking max inmates and enhancing security for staff. He invites you to read his books so you can understand and grasp the cultural and political implications and influences of these prisons. He deals with the emotions, the stress and anxiety as well as the realities faced working inside a prison. He deals with the occupational risks while elaborating on the psychological impact of both prison worker and prisoner.

His most recent book, Gorilla Justice, is an un-edited raw fictional version of realistic prison experiences and events through the eyes of an anecdotal translation of the inmate’s plight and suffering while enduring the harsh and toxic prison environment including solitary confinement.

Carl has been interviewed by numerous news stations and newspapers in Phoenix regarding the escape from the Kingman prison and other high profile media cases related to wrongful deaths and suicides inside prisons. His insights have been solicited by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and various other legal firms representing solitary confinement cases in California and Arizona. He is currently working on the STG Step Down program at Pelican Bay and has offered his own experience insights with the Center of Constitutional Rights lawyers and interns to establish a core program at the SHU units. He has personally corresponded and written with SHU prisoners to assess the living conditions and how it impacts their long term placement inside these type of units that are similar to those in Arizona Florence Eyman special management unit where Carl was a unit deputy warden for almost two years before his promotion to Deputy Warden of Operations in Safford and Eyman.

He is a strong advocate for the mentally ill and is a board member of David's Hope Inc. a non-profit advocacy group in Phoenix and also serves as a senior advisor for Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council in Chino, California As a subject matter expert and corrections consultant, Carl has provided interviews and spoken on national and international radio talk shows e.g. BBC CBC Lou Show & TV shows as well as the Associated Press.

I use sarcasm, satire, parodies and other means to make you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
































































































































Saturday, August 4, 2012

Part II, Arizona for Profit Prison Politics

Cell-Out Arizona - Prisons, Privatization, and Politics

Cell-Out Arizona Exclusive, Part II: Arizona For-Profit Prison Costs Rose14%; Now Guarantee 100% Occupancy

by on Aug. 03, 2012, under AFSC, Arizona, Arizona Department of Corrections, Corrections Corporation of America, GEO Group, Management and Training Corporation, private prison, Privatization
In Part I, we revealed that state officials have known for some time that proposed for-profit prisons will not save the state money. We referred to a state law, now partially repealed, that requires for-profit prison corporations to demonstrate cost savings during the competitive bidding process before a contract is awarded.
But once they’re built, the law does not provide any penalty for failure to actually save the state money. So in essence, the for-profit prison corporations can promise us the moon, but there’s nothing to ensure that they will deliver on those promises.
And indeed, they haven’t. Cost comparison studies have consistently shown that Arizona is losing money on private prisons—an average of $3.5 million per year, according to an AFSC analysis.
The cost of a private prison contract is calculated through the “per-diem payment.” This is the amount that Arizona agrees to pay the corporation to house one prisoner for one day. But contracts with for-profit prison operators are renegotiated or amended regularly, often annually. And those per-diem rates invariably increase.
An analysis of the state’s three oldest private prison contracts, (1) With GEO Group for Florence West, (2) With GEO Group for Phoenix West, and (3) with Management and Training Corporation (MTC) for Marana Community Correctional Treatment Facility, shows that the per diem rates for regular (non-emergency) beds in these facilities increased an average of 13.9% since the contracts were awarded, as demonstrated in the chart below.


Facility/UnitInitial Per DiemCurrent Per DiemIncrease, in DollarsPercent Increase
Phoenix West$43.77$49.28$7.4917.9%
Florence West, DUI$49.55$55.79$6.2412.6%
Florence West, RTC$39.95$44.98$5.0312.5%
Marana$43.54$49.03$5.4912.6%
AVERAGE INCREASE$6.0613.9%

These records, obtained through a public records request, also show that these contracts were more recently amended to promise 100% occupancy of these private prisons.
Beginning in 2008 with Phoenix West, the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) began working out new agreements in which the corporations agreed to a lower per-diem payment for ‘emergency beds’ (intended to temporarily absorb system overflow), from an average of $30.46 to $10.00 for Florence West and Phoenix West and from $25.10 to $12.60 for Marana.
In exchange for this concession, Arizona agreed to a guaranteed 100% occupancy for all the beds in all three facilities, including the much more expensive “rated beds.” The average per diem rate for these beds is $49.07.
In the cases of the two GEO prisons (Phoenix and Florence West), a 2010 amendment later lowered the guaranteed occupancy for the emergency beds to 95%, but left in place the 100% occupancy rate for the more expensive rated beds.
Amendment 14 for Marana (signed on June 6, 2011) has an additional, more interesting provision. The documents refer to a “dispute” between the Department of Corrections and for-profit operator MTC as to whether or not the 5-year contract renewal was done in a timely manner (ADC says yes, MTC apparently said no). The negotiated settlement of this dispute consolidates 450 rated beds with 50 emergency beds into a total of 500 rated beds. These 500 beds will carry a guaranteed occupancy of 100% at a rate of $49.03 per prisoner, per day.
What’s more, this agreement was applied retroactively to October 6, 2010, effectively erasing all but three months of the reduced emergency bed per diem in the previous amendment (from July 2010). It also guaranteed that Arizona would continue to pay about three times as much for the emergency beds. In essence, ADC is handing over four years’ worth of extra money to keep MTC happy.
How much money? In the July 2010 contract amendment for the facility, the state had bargained the emergency beds down to a $12.60 per diem. Now they will be paying $49.03 per diem for the same beds. Which means that MTC is raking in an extra $36.43 per prisoner, per day. Multiply by 50 such beds, and MTC will make additional profits of $664,847.50 per year– a total of $2,659,390 through the remainder of the contract, which expires in October of 2013. Not bad!
Allow us to pause here to remember that MTC is the corporation whose negligence led to the horrific escapes from the Kingman prison in the summer of 2010, resulting in the murder of a couple vacationing in New Mexico. Yeah, that MTC.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it appears that Arizona is looking to cut MTC loose, at least from managing the Marana prison (they still manage two units at Kingman, for which they have a guaranteed occupancy rate of 97%). The final component of this contract amendment is an agreement that Arizona will buy the Marana prison back from MTC in October of 2013 for the tidy sum of $150,000. You can insert your own jokes about ‘short sales’ here.

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