CCA Private Prison Management held in serious contempt!

This is a story many here ought to find smiles from. I know CCA and it's seeming business plan to incarcerate as much of a nation as they can manage...at xx dollars per occupied cell .... has many a person around here up in arms when the subject comes up. That is with good reason, too. As this story shows, CCA management probably need to live IN their own prisons for a bit of time to fully appreciate the experience of....Gladiator School.

U.S. District Judge David Carter made the ruling against the Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America in a scathing 24-page ruling issued Monday. In it, Carter took the company to task for lying about staffing levels and warned that he would make the fines as big as needed to force CCA's compliance with a settlement agreement it reached two years ago with Idaho inmates and the American Civil Liberties Union.

"If a prospective fine leads to $2.4 million in penalties, CCA has no one to blame but itself," Carter wrote.

This Judge is downright pissed off on this case and you'll see why in the details for it. They didn't just fudge things a bit. They fabricated work shifts and workers entirely. Many Many thousands of hours worth! They did it chronically, and with gusto. Even a Judge has some real limits ...and this one found his.

Oh, that reference to Gladiator School? That isn't just some tired old term borrowed from a Joseph Wambaugh book. The specific prison this story is about has ACTUALLY been called that for it's extreme levels of in-house violence and pure predatory environment.

The contempt finding stems from a case that began in 2010 when the ACLU sued on behalf of inmates at the prison south of Boise, contending that the facility was so violent that prisoners called it "Gladiator School" and that understaffing and mismanagement contributed to the problem.

The way they say that, you might even get the idea things had been made past tense.. Lol... Not likely. This is how mad the Judge is....

From now on, any mandatory post left unstaffed for more than 12 hours in a month will bring fines of $100 an hour, Carter wrote. He warned that he would raise the fine to $500 an hour — or higher — if things don't change.

The judge also rejected CCA's contention that the former warden and other company officials didn't know about the understaffing, saying that they had been warned of the staffing problems multiple times and at the very least failed to check it out.

Source: Courthouse News (Emphasis By Me)

Now that is what I call a contempt citation with teeth. After reading the whole thing over, that sort of fine would likely run these turkey's enough to build whole new prisons with if they don't get their act together and get that done 'Smartly', as our British friends may describe it.

So as much as it's true to say CCA is a company deserving of contempt......we can now add the fact that they ARE, literally, IN contempt for running a brutal facility that sounds to have done a lot more harm to all it touched than any form of good.

Gosh dude! Great Topic to shed light upon.

This story is SICKENING..

I swear to you, as a former "fed"...

there is NO HONOR is wearing a badge/R E D C O A T..

NONE WITH A SHRED of integrity would do such.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Again we see a state (or state assisted) monopoly of violence. Could you, American entrepreneur/investor, open your own private prison, incarcerate your fellow citizens and have the state defend you?

The judge did not close the facility, he decided to take a cut of its profit.

Strictly speaking, we have laws against false imprisonment. If this is a private for profit prison, how is that any different from slavery?

reply to post by greencmp


Actually? Give me about 50 million to work with and I'd love to build as well as run a prison. I'd look toward Northern Europe, not France and England, for an example of how best to do it. That is....places to really HELP people ..and not dungeons to forget they exist until it's time to let them back out, as monsters in many cases. Monsters they never were and never had to become.

I think we ought to have two very very distinct and VERY different levels of prison in our nation. The system in place now for the lifers, repeat violent offenders and sexual predators. Then a whole new level that, again, is modeled more on the Scandinavian concept of prison for those we don't intend to just throw away like an old beer can.

Right now it seems, everyone is thrown away equally....from murderers to bumbling thieves or other non-violent things.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Greetings- | was a cop in Ca. before being medically retired in 2004. | started my career after watching a "L.A. Flush" (4 clubs and 1 King). In the med.-lg. multi ethnic, multi cultural community that | worked | saw first hand what it is You type.

This "process" started w/the "mandatory minimum sentencing" and because the Zig Zag Man™ has a tattoo of Me on His shoulder, the only "pinch" | ever made for cannabis ('marijuana' is a Gov't. issued "name/tag") was because the (S) was stealing electricity from PG&E™

S&F the whole prison for profit might have started out with a grand theme but there are to many cases of kick-backs to judges for imprisonment for teens and so called criminals that it makes one wonder; "What to heck is going on"!. It just seems anymore if corruption or ineptitude can exist....It exist.
You being the well read furry one (that you are) I know I do not have to quote the disgusting prison statistics of incarceration we have in this country. An to make matters worse, it seems some of the really violent people who need to stay in prison are released once again to prey on the unsuspecting folks...There are better systems but hey man that ain't American so it can't be good... Also not enough money for the establishment to go around, No?

imho,

there are some crimes where the society paid the price originally by the heinous act.

Why should society continue to pay for decades?

= rape children.. death. parents have list of methods to choose from.
= beat and rob little old ladies .. death.. on the spot. don't think twice.
= white collar crimes in excess of 1 million dollars, or where loyal workers are shafted .. XXX penalty possible -- all victims gather at the stadium, release the CEO at center field, and let karma do its thing.

727Sky
S&F the whole prison for profit might have started out with a grand theme but there are to many cases of kick-backs to judges for imprisonment for teens and so called criminals that it makes one wonder; "What to heck is going on"!. It just seems anymore if corruption or ineptitude can exist....It exist.
You being the well read furry one (that you are) I know I do not have to quote the disgusting prison statistics of incarceration we have in this country. An to makes matters worse, it seems some of the really violent people who need to stay in prison are released once again to prey on unsuspecting folks...There are better systems but hey man that ain't American so it can't be good... Also not enough money for the establishment to go around, No?

Once you take this into perspective..

IS THIS A SURPRISE?

on.aol.com...

reply to post by HanzHenry


I can't back ya on the death part. Not a bit...and I don't mean to open any side debate into the Death Penalty as a moral or ethical thing. Nothing about fairness or equity of how it's applied. It's a very practical matter on this level.

If you give the Death Penalty for anything outside the taking of another life ..or a very few things outside that (like Treason, for example), then you are doing little more than making the murder of witnesses a "freebie". If molesting a child, for example, brings death just as surely as killing the child too? How many will do both and wouldn't otherwise, for the radical escalation in crime it otherwise represents?

Now...if citizens happen to catch it in progress? (in progress being the key words) then self defense laws come into play and .. well... some states specifically list sexual assault as meeting the standard of deadly force in defense of self or others. So be it.... Just not a State sentence. That's where I think we start losing witnesses too.

Incarceration in the United States of America is one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation, or both for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world. At year-end 2009, it was 743 adults incarcerated per 100,000 population.[5][7][8][9][10] According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 2,266,800 adults were incarcerated in U.S. federal and state prisons, and county jails at year-end 2011 – about 0.7% of adults in the U.S. resident population.[7] Additionally, 4,814,200 adults at year-end 2011 were on probation or on parole.[11] In total, 6,977,700 adults were under correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail, or prison) in 2011 – about 2.9% of adults in the U.S. resident population.[11] In addition, there were 70,792 juveniles in juvenile detention in 2010.[12] Although debtor's prisons no longer exist in the United States, residents of some U.S. states can still be incarcerated for debt as of 2011.[13][14]

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Thanks Wrabbit. Glad someone has the balls to take on CCA. The more I have researched this on my own.. The more it is obvious that this is indeed modern slavery. The plantation has been replaced by prisons. The fact these are for profit institutions is beyond disturbing. The US has the highest percentage of its population in jail of any society on Earth. Further... The makeup of the inmates is heavily skewed to minorities making up the vast majority of the prison population.

On January 1, 2008 more than 1 in 100 adults in the United States were in prison or jail.[15][16] In 2008 approximately one in every 31 adults (7.3 million) in the United States was behind bars, or being monitored (probation and parole). In 2008 the breakdown for adults under correctional control was as follows: one out of 18 men, one in 89 women, one in 11 African-Americans (9.2 percent), one in 27 Latinos (3.7 percent), and one in 45 Caucasians (2.2 percent). Crime rates have declined by about 25 percent from 1988-2008.[17] In recent decades the U.S. has experienced a surge in its prison population, quadrupling since 1980, partially as a result of mandatory sentencing that came about during the "war on drugs." Violent crime and property crime have declined since the early 1990s.[18]

en.wikipedia.org...

Additionally

In 2007, the United States topped the list of countries by incarceration rate. A map of U.S. states by incarceration rate under state and federal jurisdiction, but excluding jail inmates, per 100,000 population in 2008.[1] A graph of the incarceration rate under state and federal jurisdiction per 100,000 population 1925-2008 (omits local jail inmates). The male incarceration rate (top line) is 15 times the female rate (bottom line). The incarceration rate in the United States of America is the highest in the world today. As of 2009, the incarceration rate was 743 per 100,000 of national population (0.743%).[2] In comparison, Russia had the second highest, at 577 per 100,000, Canada was 123rd in the world at 117 per 100,000, and China had 120 per 100,000.[2] While Americans represent about 5 percent of the world's population, nearly one-quarter of the entire world's inmates have been incarcerated in the United States in recent years.[3] Imprisonment of America's 2.3 million prisoners, costing $24,000 per inmate per year, and $5.1 billion in new prison construction, consumes $60.3 billion in budget expenditures.

en.wikipedia.org...

•••••Racial makeup of prison system.•••••

Hispanic and Latino Americans comprise 16.3% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority.[24] Black Americans are the largest racial minority, comprising nearly 13% of the population.[25] The White, non-Hispanic or Latino population comprises 66% of the nation's total.[24] According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) non-Hispanic blacks accounted for 39.4% of the total prison and jail population in 2009.[26] According to the 2010 census of the US Census Bureau blacks (including Hispanic blacks) comprised 13.6% of the US population.[27][28][29] Hispanics (of all races) were 20.6% of the total jail and prison population in 2009.[26] Hispanics comprised 16.3% of the US population according to the 2010 US census.[27][30] The Northeast has the highest incarceration rates of Hispanics in the nation.[31] Connecticut has the highest Hispanic-to-White ratio with 6.6 Hispanic males for every white male. The national average Hispanic-to-White ratio is 1.8. Other states with high Hispanic-to-White ratios include Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York.[32] The Hispanic community is not monolithic, and thus there are variations, even with incarceration rates. Among the Hispanic community, Puerto Ricans have the highest incarceration rate, and are up to six times more likely to be incarcerated than whites, and may explain the higher incarceration rates for Hispanics in the Northeast region.[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] Illegal immigrants, usually Mexican nationals, also make up a substantial number of Hispanics incarcerated.[42][43][44] In 2010 black non-Hispanic males were incarcerated at the rate of 4,347 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents of the same race and gender. White males were incarcerated at the rate of 678 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents. Hispanic males were incarcerated at the rate of 1,755 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents.[45][46] For female rates see the table below.

en.wikipedia.org...


••••••Criticism of Private Prisons•••••

A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the cost-savings promised by private prisons “have simply not materialized.”[25] Some research has concluded that for-profit prisons cost more than public prisons.[26] Furthermore, cost estimates from privatization advocates may be misleading, because private facilities often refuse to accept inmates that cost the most to house. A 2001 study concluded that a pattern of sending less expensive inmates to privately run facilities artificially inflated cost savings.[27] A 2005 study found that Arizona’s public facilities were seven times more likely to house violent offenders and three times more likely to house those convicted of more serious offenses.[28] A 2011 report by the American Civil Liberties Union point out that private prisons are more costly, more violent and less accountable than public prisons, and are actually a major contributor to increased mass incarceration.[29] This is most apparent in Louisiana, which has the highest incarceration rate in the world and houses the majority of its inmates in for-profit facilities.[30] Evidence suggests that lower staff levels and training at private facilities may lead to increases in incidences of violence and escapes. A nationwide study found that assaults on guards by inmates were 49 percent more frequent in private prisons than in government-run prisons. The same study revealed that assaults on fellow inmates were 65 percent more frequent in private prisons.[31] CCA and The GEO Group have been major contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington, D.C. based public policy organization that develops model legislation that advances free-market principles such as privatization. Under their Criminal Justice Task Force, ALEC has developed model bills which State legislators can then consult when proposing “tough on crime” initiatives including “Truth in Sentencing” and “Three Strikes” laws. By funding and participating in ALEC’s Criminal Justice Task Forces, critics argue, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences.[32] According to a 2010 report by NPR, ALEC arranged meetings between the Corrections Corporation of America and Arizona’s state legislators such as Russell Pearce at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. to write Arizona SB 1070, which would keep CCA's immigrant detention centers stuffed with detainees.[33] CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, including, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law[34] in Kansas in 2006. In 2012, The CCA sent a letter to 48 states offering to buy public prisons in exchange for a promise to keep the prisons at 90% occupancy for 20 years.[35] The legal system may also be manipulated more directly: in the Kids for cash scandal, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company which runs juvenile facilities, was found guilty of paying two judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons for such crimes as trespassing in vacant buildings and stealing DVDs from Wal-Mart.[36][37][38]