On March 14, 2008, the Supreme Court of Vermont reversed the trial court's granting of summary judgment to Matrix Health Systems in a suit filed by the Vermont Department of Corrections (DOC) alleging breach of a two-year contract to provide prisoner mental health services in the DOC's nine prisons. The disputed part of the contract required Matrix to assign different types of mental health care professionals to each prison, designating the assignments by decimal portions of "full time equivalents" (FTE). The contract stated that the DOC could withhold payment for staff resources designated by site, discipline and FTE that were not provided in accordance with the contract, identifying hourly rates for each position. Initially, the DOC paid Matrix $57,917 per month, raising the rate to $74,835.33 by the time the contract expired on May 31, 2003. In 2004, the State Auditor released a report finding that, over the course of the contract, the DOC had paid Matrix for 8,000 FTE that were not provided. The DOC then filed a breach-of-contract suit against Matrix.

The state trial court granted Matrix's motion for summary judgment, concluding that the contract was unambiguous, imposing "no obligation on Matrix to provide any specific quantity of ...

By Brandon Sample

A Vermont Superior Court passed on resolving whether Prison Health Services (PHS) is subject to Vermont’s Public Records Act (PRA).

David Sleigh submitted a PRA request to PHS for rewards related to payments made to PHS attorneys for defunding two pending cases. One of the suits was by a guard who claimed PHS failed to take appropriate steps to control a dangerous prisoner who injured the guard. The other request related to a case not yet filed over the death of a female prisoner.

PHS objected to the request on the ground that it was not subject to the PRA and that the requested records were exempt from the statute’s coverage.

The court side-stepped resolving whether PHS was subject to the PRA, holding that the requested records fell within a PRA exemption covering documents related to pending litigation.

The court indicated, however, that it would review whether PHS was subject to the PRA if the plaintiff renewed his request for records at the conclusion of the litigation. See: Sleigh v. Prison Health Services, Inc. Docket No. 224-3-10 (Vt. Sup. Ct. 2010)

On July 8, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed and remanded for further proceedings a shareholder action brought against a private prison operator.

Ravenswood Investment Company (RIC), a limited partner to Avalon Correctional Services, sued Avalon alleging that the CEO of Avalon, Donald Smith, had been engaging in impermissible self-dealing to the detriment of Avalon.

At some point during the suit, the parties began to question whether they were completely diverse for diversity of jurisdiction purposes. The district four attempted to save jurisdiction over the matter by allowing the parties to bring three different suits, each based on differing theories.

The Tenth Circuit held this was improper. “There is not authority for the proposition that creating multiple federal actions is a permissible way to cure a jurisdictional defect in a diversity case,” the court wrote.

The judgment of the district court was accordingly reversed and remanded. See: Ravenswood Investment Company v. Avalon Correctional Services, No.10-6190 (10th Cir. 2011).

On October 18, 2010, an Idaho federal court held that prisoners who were subjected to confusing rules and advice from prison officials regarding how to raise grievance issues had adequately exhausted their administrative remedies when they tried to raise those issues in disciplinary proceedings. The court also held that prisoners who joined the lawsuit had timely exhausted their administrative remedies when they completed the exhaustion process after the suit was filed but before joining.

Idaho state prisoner Marlin Riggs filed a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that prison officials at the Idaho Correctional Center (ICC), which is run by private prison firm Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), “failed to protect him from violence and were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs.” Riggs sought monetary, declaratory and injunctive relief.

Later, six other prisoners joined Riggs’ lawsuit based upon assaults that occurred after the case was filed. According to a 2008 study by the Associated Press, ICC had more reported violent assaults than at Idaho’s seven state prisons combined. The joined plaintiffs sought only declaratory and injunctive relief. The prisoners, represented by the ACLU, filed a motion for certification as a class-action suit.

The defendants moved for ...

Two former Pennsylvania state court judges who were accused by federal prosecutors of running a multi-million dollar scheme to send juvenile offenders to privately-run prisons in exchange for bribes have been sentenced.

Former judge Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr., 62, who presided over the juvenile court system in Luzerne County, brought national attention to the “kids for cash” scandal and highlighted what many legal experts say is a dangerous practice in juvenile justice proceedings – children appearing in court and pleading guilty to crimes without representation by attorneys.

Prosecutors alleged that Ciavarella had sentenced thousands of juveniles to be confined in two private detention centers – PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care. He was paid almost $1 million for sending youths as young as ten years old to the facilities, many for first-time or minor offenses. The state of Pennsylvania has since expunged more than 5,000 juvenile criminal records in cases handled by Ciavarella. [See: PLN, June 2010, p.26; Nov. 2009, p.42; May 2009, p.20].

According to Laurence H. Tribe, a constitutional law expert, “It was a terrible lesson. It highlighted the dangers for juveniles who don’t know their rights, haven’t talked to a lawyer, and are urged by ...

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has agreed to a confidential settlement in a negligence suit following an escape from one of the company’s private prisons.

On April 2, 2007, prisoner Billy Jack Fitzmorris, held at the CCA-run Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, was taken to a hospital in Youngstown after he suffered a head injury.

Fitzmorris used toe nail clippers to cut plastic flex cuffs used to restrain him to a hospital bed. He then overpowered a CCA guard, stole a car, robbed two banks and broke into an accounting business where he took an employee, Karen Zappitelli, hostage. He eventually released Zappitelli and surrendered to authorities after the police brought him a pizza. Zappitelli sued CCA, arguing that the company was negligent in allowing Fitzmorris to escape.

Zappitelli claimed that she suffered anxiety, sleeping problems and nightmares as a result of the hostage-taking incident, which lasted three hours, and was now afraid of being alone.

In the middle of a jury trial in state court, after 16 witnesses had testified, CCA agreed to settle the suit on confidential terms.

Zappitelli’s attorney, Rex Elliot, with the Columbus law firm of Cooper & 
Elliott LLC, said the settlement would allow Zappitelli and ...

On July 20, 2010, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part a district court’s denial of summary judgment to prison officials on the medical claims of two Arkansas state prisoners.

Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADOC) prisoner Mack Langford, who is in his eighties, “suffers from a variety of physical maladies and shows signs of mild mental retardation and dementia.”

In April 2003, Langford’s repeated complaints of severe stomach pain, vomiting blood and other symptoms were dismissed as “gas” and “treated” with antacid tablets. After he was found unconscious, Langford was hospitalized and “doctors discovered a problem with [his] gallbladder, ... and found cysts in both his kidneys.” After he was released from the hospital he continued to experience back and stomach pain.

“Starting in November 2004, Langford was examined at least sixteen times by Dr. Nnamdi Ifediora, an employee or contractor of Correctional Medical Services, Inc. (‘CMS’), the company that provides medical services in Arkansas prisons. Dr. Ifediora ... referred Langford to specialists, from whom he sought diagnostic recommendations.”

In August 2005, imaging tests “revealed a possible mass in one of Langford’s kidneys and cysts in both kidneys.” Langford again complained of stomach pain on November 28, 2005 ...

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that alleged deficiencies in health care at the San Diego Correctional Facility (SDCF) in Otay Mesa, California has been settled, according to a December 16, 2010 press release issued by the ACLU.

The suit named as defendants the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as well as officials and employees of ICE and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the private company managing SDCF.

Originally filed in 2007 by the ACLU, the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, and the law firm of Cooley LLP, the lawsuit alleged that detainees at SDCF were routinely subjected to long delays before receiving treatment, denied necessary medication for chronic illnesses and refused essential referrals prescribed by medical staff.

According to the ACLU, “the lawsuit specifically cited the cases of 11 detainees, including several whose bipolar disorders and depression went untreated, a man who was forced to wait more than eight months for eye surgery and nearly suffered permanent disfigurement, and detainees who never received medical attention despite suffering from a variety of maladies including Type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, abscessed and broken teeth, and severe ...

A $3,000 campaign contribution from private prison firm GEO Group has put a spotlight on a county councilman in Pennsylvania. The contribution was made only days after Ron Angle, president of the Northampton County Council, urged his colleagues to explore a proposal from GEO in October 2010.

GEO Group proposed that Northampton County seek a contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to house immigration detainees. The detention contract would be farmed out to GEO.

Angle and other supporters of the project touted it as a way to bring jobs to the area and increase tax revenue for the Bangor Area School District without adding new students. GEO’s donation to Angle came after the County Council authorized County Executive John Stoffa to act quickly in exploring the company’s proposal.

“They didn’t buy any influence,” Angle said of the contribution from GEO’s political action committee. “They bought my disinfluence.” Angle said he spent $650 of GEO Group’s donation to poll residents about their opinion on building the detention center on a 128-acre site in their community.

Local residents did not see a GEO-run facility as being a good neighbor. Based on that response, Angle urged the County Council in ...

We have been experimenting with prison privatization in the U.S. now for over twenty-five years. The privatization idea originated out of a notion that the private sector, with its competition-driven efficiency and innovation, could operate prisons of higher quality and lower cost than the public sector. Create a market for incarceration services, the argument ran, and the market will work its magic, improving prison conditions and rehabilitative outcomes while saving the taxpayers millions of dollars. That market has effectively been created over the past quarter century and we have now arrived at a place where prison privatization has been studied extensively and evaluated rigorously.

Although hyperbole continues to propel prison privatization policy along, research findings are incontrovertible: even in the best private prisons, quality of prisoner care is no better than in public prisons and the cost advantage of privatization, which initially accounted for minimal savings, is steadily eroding as the private prison industry matures.
The big promises of prison privatization – less cost, higher quality – have simply not materialized. Despite these disappointing results, prison privatization advocacy maintains traction in diverse jurisdictions as policymakers from Ohio to Florida and from Maine to California seek expedient solutions to budget shortfalls ...