.Arizona private prisons slammed by report

News

Bob Ortega - Feb. 15, 2012 10:10 PM

The Republic
azcentral.com

Arizona's private prisons are not cost-effective for taxpayers and are more difficult to monitor than state prisons, according to a new report by a prison watchdog group that is calling for a moratorium on any new private prisons in the state. The report examined the five prisons that have contracts to house Arizona prisoners and six private prisons that house federal detainees or inmates from other states, including California and Hawaii.

'Republic' special report: The Price of Prisons

Based on public-information requests and other data, the report by the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that works on criminal-justice reform, concluded that: Arizona paid $10 million more for private prison beds between 2008 and 2010 than it would have for equivalent state beds. Arizona's pending plan to contract for another 2,000 private-prison beds would cost taxpayers at least $38.7 million a year, at least $6 million a year more than incarcerating those inmates in state prisons. Plans to add 500 more maximum-security beds in state prisons would add almost $10 million a year to the bill. The report questioned whether those beds are needed, since the state's prison population has declined over the past two years by more than 900 inmates, to 39,854 as of Wednesday. In the past three years, private prisons in Arizona have experienced at least 28 riots and more than 200 other "disturbances" involving as many as 50 prisoners. Many of these incidents had not previously been reported to the public. State law doesn't require the six private prisons that hold federal detainees and prisoners from other states to inform state or local authorities in the event of an escape, a riot or other disturbance, or a death in custody. The American Friends Service Committee called for requiring all private prisons to disclose the same information as state prisons.

The report criticized a recent biennial study by the Arizona Department of Corrections that found that the quality and cost of private prisons compared favorably with those of state prisons. The committee noted that the Corrections Department study didn't include data about scores of security flaws found at some prisons after three inmates escaped in 2010 from the private Kingman prison; that the study didn't look at recidivism rates, deaths in custody, suicides or homicides; and that it downplayed the fact that private prisons had consistently higher turnover and staff vacancy rates and higher levels of inmate disciplinary reports.

Corrections officials previously had said inexperienced staff may have been a factor in the escapes from Kingman and in the inability of staff there to control the prison yard during a riot in May 2010. Dante Gordon, a former inmate at Kingman, said that guards there stood by and did nothing as more than 80 White inmates attacked and beat 25 Black inmates during that riot. The report pointed out that reports every year since 2005 by the Corrections Department, along with others by the state's auditor general, concluded that private-prison beds on average have been more expensive; but that the most recent Corrections Department study changed the way it calculated expenses to include a "range" that it termed comparable.

The report also noted that lawmakers exempted two private prisons -- the Central Arizona Correctional Facility, run by GEO Group Inc., and the Cerbat unit at the Kingman prison, operated by Management and Training Corp. -- from state laws requiring private prisons to provide an equivalent or higher level of quality than the state. "The state has deliberately obscured information that would cast private prisons in a negative light," wrote Caroline Isaacs, the author of the report and the Friends Committee program director in Tucson. Corrections Department spokesman Bill Lamoreaux said the director, Charles Ryan, had not had sufficient time to review the report to reply to the issues raised.

"This is stale information peddled by familiar critics," said Steve Owen, spokesman for Corrections Corp. of America, which operates the six private prisons that are not under state jurisdiction. Many of the riots and disturbances took place at those six prisons, according to data the Friends Committee reported it had been provided by correctional officials from California, Washington and Hawaii. The committee also gleaned information from lawsuits filed against CCA by Hawaiian inmates. Without responding to specific issues raised by the report, Owen said, "the safety and security of our facilities is of critical importance to us, and we take seriously the lives of the inmates and detainees entrusted to our care." In response to questions during a press conference at the state Capitol on Wednesday, Isaacs said it had been difficult to obtain information about prison operations.

"The fact that this information is so difficult to obtain should give Arizona taxpayers pause about the lack of transparency and lack of accountability of private prisons," she said. Her group is calling for legislation to require stricter state oversight and reporting requirements for private prisons operating in Arizona. House Minority Leader Rep. Chad Campbell, D-Phoenix, said he has introduced six bills calling for better oversight and reporting, though he doesn't expect any of his bills to get a hearing

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/02/15/20120215arizona-private-prisons-slammed-by-report.htmlRead more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/02/15/20120215arizona-private-prisons-slammed-by-report.html#ixzz1maYAEHH0

Severe Mentally ill persons and the Law

I sent this to 82 Arizona Legislators asking for their help in looking at the laws on the books ~~

It should be obvious by now that the schemes invented in the past regarding the preventive detention and incarceration of the mentally ill persons has been a failure. The question posed is “what should the law do about the severely mentally ill and their growing numbers inside our prisons? I suppose the first question that must be posed is "are the mentally ill persons deserving or justified being put in jails or prisons because they are different. The second question posed would be to define different and eliminate them from those who are “normal”.

Can we justify because they are different whether or not they are suitable for, or even deserving of punitive attitudes or should their illness allow them some leniency and offer them treatment rather than incarceration. I suppose we can qualify that statement with the offenses committed and go from there.  Having a mental illness does not make a psychopath. In fact, evidence suggests with medical attention and treatment, a mentally ill person just becomes another individual with a special need and able to demonstrate good coping and functioning skills creating a “normal” picture but in reality he or she remains to be a person with disabilities. Is there evidence to illustrate those persons with high dissocial personalities are injurious or pose a disease to society?

Taking the case of a person with schizophrenia we know that their coping and functionality is well maintained when medicated but when the interference or psychosis develops for reasons such as lack of treatment / intervention or compliance with medication, it results in a rapid and unpredictable deterioration of the individual’s level of mental functioning with implied significant changes.  So is there an agreement that persons described to be mentally ill are disturbed individuals who commit crimes and other anti-social behaviors when off their medication and lacking intervention for their disabilities? Does this make them psychopaths or “normal” when medicated and coping? How should the law look at this and what choices are there within the law to determine how to handle such cases under the rules of the police and the courts?

In the end, we can determine that a person with such a disability is a disturbed personality who is capable of committing violent or anti social acts? If so, then we must consider them to be “evil” and wrongdoers as many are called these days. Thus the stigma that there is such a thing as malevolence inside these kind of people; people who are mentally sick and considered to be “mad and bad” with crime as the ultimate outcome of such a personality.  So how can we respond to them and treat them with fairness and justice as the law has been designed. How do we make them equal and give them the opportunities to remain out of jails, prisons and avoid incarcerating them as their risk to commit a crime or anti social act is so high? How can such a person be governed by law and what considerations should we give them?

The bottom line appears to be simple as we all agree that people who are concerned that the laws of human dignity and liberty should be governed by a sound moral framework we know that our conscious thinking and decision making comes from the brain. Now, with personality defects included, we must determine if those who experience personality & severe mental disorders must also be held at the same level of accountability or standard of making wise or good choices in their lives. Is this fair? Can we judge someone’ actions based on not having the same mental capabilities as “normal” people? Yes, they have the freedom of autonomy and the ability to make their own decisions but when their brain is out of balance, are their choices acceptable or criminal? If medical intervention is inappropriate how tolerant should society be of violence, and individuals who without their prescribed medication, appear to have an inclination to behave violent?

There is a need for better laws regarding the disposition regarding rule for the mentally ill. There must be change in the perception, the treatment and the sentencing of persons who suffer a brain disability and do not have the same mental capability as others. Do we cure them against their will or punish them and imprison them? The questions are many but the fact remains, we need to continue to work on changing the way we treat our mentally ill persons and their relationship with the law. We need to avoid such misunderstandings of law and punishment for the mentally ill balancing the criminal proceedings between guilty or guilty by insanity. We must ensure that the public remains safe while avoiding misunderstandings between individuals who are mentally ill and not punish them beyond natural limits that would harm them rather than offer them their humanity and dignity at the least.

Such decisions are left to legislators and the legislator must be a good kind hearted individual who values individual freedoms and at the same time, realizes that such treatment to help the mentally ill although a sacrifice to many is very expensive and exceeds the costs of government’s willingness to provide today. The value attached to humans has been determined by one’s financial cost of the matter and not the value of life itself.

Sincerely submitted,

Carl ToersBijns

Florida Resists Private Prison Takeover ~~

Corporate Takeover of Florida Prisons Denied


by Mike Hall, Feb 15, 2012


A scheme to privatize Florida’s prisons failed (19-21) in the state Senate yesterday after a huge public outcry led by Florida working families, community and civil rights groups. The plan was backed by extremist Gov. Rick Scott (R), private prison companies and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), one of the key players in the drive to privatize prisons throughout the nation.

The corporate takeover would have cost 3,800 workers their jobs, and Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams says it would have “devastated small communities, working families’ economic stability and safety.”

The privatization bill was one of the largest efforts so far to give private corporations control of a state’s prison system. It would have turned over control of 27 state prisons and work camps in 18 south Florida counties to the GEO Group—formerly Wackenhut Corrections.

GEO is a major sponsor of ALEC, The Nation reported in August. ALEC has led the charge to privatize prisons by writing model legislation for its right-wing state legislature members to push in their states.

ALEC has also worked to pass state laws to create private for-profit prisons, a boon to two of its major corporate sponsors: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group, the largest private prison firms in the country. An In These Times investigation last summer revealed that ALEC arranged secret meetings between Arizona’s state legislators and CCA to draft what became S.B. 1070, Arizona’s notorious immigration law, to keep CCA prisons flush with immigrant detainees. ALEC has proven expertly capable of devising endless ways to help private corporations benefit from the country’s massive prison population.



Click here for the full report.



http://blog.aflcio.org/2012/02/15/corporate-takeover-of-florida-prisons-denied/

Private Prisons offering to buy Public Prisons ~~

I am writing to brief you in advance about a new program - the CCA corrections investment



Initiative - that we plan to begin discussing with you and other key decision-makers in the State of

Oklahoma in the coming weeks. In short, CCA is earmarking $250 million for purchasing and

managing government-owned corrections facilities. The program is a new opportunity for federal,

state or local governments that are considering the benefits of partnership corrections.

As you know, CCA has built upon a three-decade reputation of private-sector excellence by

constructing and managing new corrections facilities for our government partners and by entering

into management contracts for operations at existing facilities. We're proud to consistently deliver

safe and efficient operations and high quality educational and rehabilitation programming for

inmates and detainees under our care.


Our decision to earmark funds for the purchase and management of existing government facilities

follows our success last year in Ohio with the groundbreaking acquisition of the 1,798-bed Lake Erie

Correctional Facility in Conneaut. On Jan. 1, 2012, we assumed ownership and management

responsibility in a transition described by all parties as seamless. This transfer culminated a process

that, according to state officials, generated more than $72.7 million in proceeds for Ohio taxpayers,

about $50 million of which was allocated for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and

Correction. Estimated annual savings in corrections operations are placed at $3 million.

At the same time, CCA is enhancing efficiencies and modernizing the systems of the Lake Erie

facility. We're also pleased that over 93% of the facility's staff were retained by CCA and will

continue working at the facility. Ultimately, Ohio will enjoy the full economic development benefits

of a public-private partnership that accompanies a CCA-owned facility, including the payment of

property and sales taxes, potential for further job growth, and vitality to the local economy.

We want to build on that success and provide our existing or prospective government partners with

access to the same opportunity as they manage challenging corrections budgets. Interested parties

would execute the sale to CCA and enter into a long-term management contract of 20 years or

more.

Physical requirements for facilities that would be eligible for purchase by the fund would include:

• A minimum rated occupancy of 1,000 beds;

• A structure age of no more than 25 years;

• A designation that the structure is suitable for immediate occupation or is already

occupied by an inmate population; and

• An assurance by the agency partner that the agency has sufficient inmate

population to maintain a minimum 90 percent occupancy rate over the term of the

contract.

CCA has worked very hard to develop the most innovative and well-respected public-private

partnerships within our field, which enables us to offer this opportunity to current or potential

partners and the taxpayers they serve. We're proud that with this program CCA has enhanced its

ability to meet our government partners' needs through any combination of construction,

acquisition and daily management. We believe this comes at a timeiy and helpful juncture and

hope you will share our belief in the benefits of the purchase-and-manage model.

Please feel free to call or contact me directly at (615) 263-3001 if you have any questions,

comments or interest. I would be delighted to hear from you.  Meanwhile, please accept my best wishes for a great 2012.

Letter was found at:
,http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/ccaletter.pdf

Enhancing Correctional Officer Training & Education

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrxZ1NmM0Gs

Commonalities ~ suicides by incarcerated veterans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBrKGMnS91I&feature=plcp&context=C3d17fe2UDOEgsToPDskIJMbzdVfgFbLvDnpoEkZ5W

Managing cultural diversity inside prisons

By Carl ToersBijns, retired correctional specialist

Only the ill-advised person would not admit that cultures, no matter whether acceptable [to their own existence] or on a course of collision with others, shape the identities of political principles and practices within our correctional systems.

It would also take a foolish person to say that culture does not shape our uniqueness, creativity, vision and personal development in the course of sound prison management.

Today, more so than ever, we have to respect and manage our cultural diversity in order to complete those tasks, duties and responsibilities assigned to us. If left out of the picture it creates more conflicts between ethnical, political or other human related concerns thus destabilizing and hindering the progress of sound correctional practices and compliance with all laws within such a domain or setting.

Cultural diversity should be shared with cultural sensitivity training related to people issues such as team building, working and coping with difficult people and addressing the special needs of others [that includes staff, the public and the prison population] that may require specific knowledge and training related to healthcare [including the mentally ill], disability assistance or food related issues.  The training should include a focus on the avoidance of using stereotypes or stigmas and assumptions and maintained with the strictest professionals standards imposed in such training environments.

These concerns will quickly eliminate obstacles that often leads to stress and frustration as well as misunderstandings if they are not addressed appropriately. One should identify and work in close collaboration with others to address staff’s ability to adapt or overcome these needs to working effectively with others different from their own.  Cultural diversity is pushed by the constant influence and influx of an international migration of people from dissimilar parts of the world, different races and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Traditionally, we try to face each challenge logically and take the time to learn more about other people’s customs, beliefs, traditions and customs before imposing or integrating our own to stabilize the workforce and the workplace.

This task is a serious concern for many agencies both nationally and internationally. The constant struggles, conflicts, negative encounters can be diminished or avoided through opening your eyes to see the big picture and find the root of each cultural belief so that there is a more satisfaction intellectually & emotionally, and accomplishing the moral means to embrace its existence.

Corrections and law enforcement share an international focus group and shares its ideas, theories and concepts willingly with many so that a satisfactorily level of understanding and compliance is development world-wide. Thus in this area of concern, we have the greatest interest in managing cultural diversity effectively and according to all applicable laws written to fulfill such statutory duties while we continue to incarcerate human beings for violating our laws.

Making this a priority within a correctional setting must be mandated by those at the top. We must recognize there are no longer those traditional borders that in the past have divided us geographically along with foreign language barriers.In order to build cohesiveness and unity within an organizational concept, these barriers must be removed and allow operational concerns to work seamless and without borders or territorial disputes.

Executive staff and managers have the responsibility to address this difficulty of globalized cultural diversity and set a priority on breaking down these barriers and allow free flow of ideas and creativity to intensify their workforce into one group focused on bringing success within their span of control and grasp this responsibility with intensity bringing with them the seeds, the resolutions and the answers to ending this conflict, tension and stress among all that work there and make the job as well as the workplace more sustainable than ever before.

CEO’s and upper as well as middle executive staff should incorporate conceptions of cultural diversity in order to improve the harmony and spirit of the workplace. However, the development and implementation of such training is not sufficient to meet this challenge of change in our world. This concept must be delivered with the intensity it deserves and with the credibility desired to improve work conditions everywhere.  This challenge should also include a history lessons of the past as well as the future for it can enhance the cultural heritage and competitiveness of those who work there while maintaining a respectful and dignified identification stressing cultural sensitivity and purpose.

Any questions or concerns can be forwarded to my email box at toersbijnsc@yahoo.com

Thank you

Get Involved ~~~ HB 2522 is set for a hearing !!

Hearing HB2522 minimum maximum sentencing in MAPS committee


ARIZONA TAXPAYERS ~~ CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADVOCATES ~~ READ THIS OUT LOUD ~~




Should you wish to speak to the bill when it is heard:

• you will have to arrive early so that you can register at the kiosk (if you have not previously done so)

• create a user name and password

• then sign in to speak to the bill.

• One cannot speak to the committee without being registered.


There are two kiosks on the ground floor of the House where one can register. If you do not desire to speak, you can still register and indicate at the kiosk whether you support the bill or not, and why.

HB2522 is the bill that pertains to pertains to minimum and maximum sentencing, and broadens the discretion of judges so that they can administer sentences that are appropriate to the circumstances.

Here is the description of this bill from the previous email you received:

• As many of you know, one of the policies driving our high incarceration rate is mandatory sentencing — laws that remove a judge’s ability to hand down an appropriate sentence, and instead obligate a one-size-fits-all approach.

• The current prescriptive sentencing provisions have led to many unduly harsh and lengthy sentences which are an affront to what is fair and just.

• The purpose of this bill is to simplify the sentencing statutes by eliminating the strict intermediate prescriptive categories of sentencing, leaving the “mitigating” category as the minimum sentence, and leaving the “aggravated” category as the maximum sentence. This would broaden the range of of sentencing options available to the judges and give them a "safety valve," so that they could more appropriately fit the sentence to the severity of the crime instead of being cornered by a technicality that results in a breach of justice.

• It is important to note that this modification would NOT stop judges from applying the more severe mandatory or prescriptive provisions where appropriate,

This welcome opportunity will happen on Wednesday.

Rep Ash's sentencing bill HB2522 has been calendared on the MAPS committee agenda for Wednesday morning at the House of Representatives at 8:00 a.m., in House Hearing Room 3. The agenda for the MAPS is attached.

War Veterans with PTSD going to Prisons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJmJVqDWE5M


http://www.youtube.com/v/SJmJVqDWE5M

Ex-LA jail commander says he warned of abuse at Central Jail in LA

Monday, February 06, 2012

Did Sheriff Lee Baca ignore these warnings of a retired veteran who knew of the truth and allow deliberate indifferences to continue inside his Central Jail in Los Angeles?? The truth will be revealed and then ~~~~~ he's got some explaining to do...

                                            #########                                       

Robert Olmsted, a 32-year sheriff's veteran who was the top jail commander when he retired in 2010, says he warned Sheriff Lee Baca and other managers that excessive force by deputies against inmates was a common problem at the jail.  Olmsted says he's the target of a rigged Sheriff's Department internal investigation designed to shield top brass from blame in jailhouse excessive force probes.  He also told them he was concerned about deputies forming aggressive cliques.

According to Olmsted, the sheriff knew about excessive force when he was telling everyone he hadn't been told about it. "Did he know from my standpoint? Yes, but nobody up and down the chain wanted to do anything about it," Olmsted said.  Baca this year started an investigation into why complaints were blocked, if they were.

"None of this needed to occur," Olmsted said. "It didn't need to occur if we had good, solid leadership that would be able to take on the captain at Men's Central Jail at the time. This is supervisory cowardice."

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says the sheriff asked for the investigation and denies there is going to be a whitewash.  http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8533784According to Whitmore, the investigation into whether roadblocks are put up anytime there is a complaint is close to being completed.

City News Service contributed to this report.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8533784#########

Fox Cancels another show not compatible with their views

Does Ron Paul speak the truth on many political issues still taboo on the Washington Hill??

YOU BET HE DOES ~~ AGREE OR DISAGREE, HE HAS BALLS!!!!

RT Video: Why Fox Cancelled Freedom Watch


http://www.dailypaul.com/213312/rt-video-why-fox-cancelled-freedom-w-wayne-roothttp://www.dailypaul.com/213312/rt-video-why-fox-cancelled-freedom-w-wayne-root