by David M. Reutter

The corporate philosophy of cutting corners to enhance profits is catching up with Aramark Correctional Services, causing the company to lose prison and jail food service contracts and putting other contracts in jeopardy. Aramark has discontinued its contract with Florida’s entire prison system, while the company recently lost contracts in several other states as well as overseas.

In 2002, the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) was pushed into privatizing its food service at the behest of former Governor Jeb Bush, who forced many state agencies into privatization with disastrous results.

The first week after the FDOC’s privatized food service went into effect, there were improvements. The initial meal trays were well-prepared with sufficient servings. Shortly thereafter, however, Aramark moved to cash in on the contract’s lucrative provisions.

Not only did the FDOC contract provide Aramark with prisoner slave labor to perform all kitchen-related duties except supervision, it contained an incentive to cut every possible corner to increase the company’s profit margin. Aramark had no qualms about doing just that, and provided its managers with incentive bonuses for coming in under budget.

The contract’s golden egg was a provision that paid Aramark according to the FDOC’s prison ...

Hawaii prison officials said Tuesday that all of the state’s 168 female inmates at a privately run Kentucky prison will be removed by the end of September because of charges of sexual abuse by guards. Forty inmates were returned to Hawaii on Aug. 17.

This month, officials from the Hawaii Department of Public Safety traveled to Kentucky to investigate accusations that inmates at the prison, the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, including seven from Hawaii, had been sexually assaulted by the prison staff.

Otter Creek is run by the Corrections Corporation of America and is one of a spate of private, for-profit prisons, mainly in the South, that have been the focus of investigations over issues like abusive conditions and wrongful deaths. Because Eastern Kentucky is one of the poorest rural regions in the country, the prison was welcomed by local residents desperate for jobs.

Hawaii sent inmates to Kentucky to save money. Housing an inmate at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua, Hawaii, costs $86 a day, compared with $58.46 a day at the Kentucky prison, not including air travel.

Hawaii investigators found that at least five corrections officials at the prison, including a chaplain, had been ...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a Michigan federal district court’s decision that denied a group of jail guards qualified immunity in a case in which a prisoner died after complaining of chest pain and breathing problems. Also, the Court dismissed the appeal of the nurses involved, holding they are not entitled to assert a qualified immunity defense as employees of a for-profit health care provider.

Charles Kevin Jones was prisoner in the Macomb County Jail, serving a 35-day sentence for failure to pay child support. On his 27th day, Jones began experiencing tightness in his chest and shortness of breath. Jones notified a guard and was taken to medical. That evening Jones was treated for asthma and returned to his cell 3 times before medical personnel decided to keep him in the infirmary. About 3 hours later, the doctor ordered that Jones be taken to a hospital and in less than 2 hours he was pronounced dead.

Deborah Harrison, personal representative of Jones’s estate, filed a wrongful death lawsuit claiming deliberate indifference by the 9 guards and nurses involved. All of the guards and nurses filed for summary judgment based on a qualified immunity defense, but the ...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Illinois held that New Mexico Department of Corrections (NMDOC) officials cannot be sued in Illinois due to lack of personal jurisdiction.

Jimmy Kinslow, an NMDOC prisoner, was transferred in 1995 to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) in accordance with the Interstate Corrections Compact (ICC). In 2000, Kinslow was diagnosed with advanced liver disease caused by Hepatitis C. Halfway through the 12-month chemotherapy treatment, the NMDOC medical director decided it would be more ecumenical to treat Kinslow in New Mexico. NMDOC and IDOC then worked hand in hand to arrange Kinslow’s transfer back to New Mexico. In October 2004, TransCor America, LLS (TransCor) transferred Kinslow, taking 6 days on a trip that could be made in 24 hours. During the trip, Kinslow’s medications were to be kept cold, measured, mixed and administered according to specific medical instructions. None of the instructions were followed and Kinslow was even made to inject himself with the medications as TransCor did not have any medical personnel on hand. TransCor refused to seek medical attention after Kinslow showed signs of severe adverse reactions to the medication. Because Kinslow’s medications were improperly administered, his chemotherapy treatments failed and NMDOC ...

Investigative Research re American Private Police Force Organization (APF)
by
Alex Friedmann
Associate Editor, Prison Legal News
Vice President, Private Corrections Institute

Prison Legal News and the Private Corrections Institute have been closely following the situation in Hardin, Montana related to the Two Rivers Prison and a recent proposal by the “American Private Police Force Organization” to operate the facility and build a law enforcement training center in Hardin. Our research on this issue is summarized below and was shared with the Associated Press, which broke the story on Sept. 30, 2009, concurrent with an investigation by the Billings Gazette.

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APF’s Michael Hilton Involved in Fraud Case; Has Criminal Record

According to court records, APF front man Michael Hilton was named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles, CA in 2000 that included ten counts of fraud and conspiracy. The case resulted in a $1.4 million judgment against the defendants, including $339,950 against Hilton. In an unpublished ruling, the California Court of Appeals noted that “Hilton is a convicted felon.” One of Hilton’s co-defendants, Ivano Stamegna, also was identified in the court ruling as a convicted felon. Stamegna accused Hilton of using another defendant in the ...

Attorney Withdraws from American Private Police Force

Hardin, MT – On September 30, Prison Legal News (PLN), a non-profit monthly publication that reports on criminal justice-related issues, provided background research to the Associated Press and other media agencies regarding the American Private Police Force Organization (APF), which has offered to operate an empty prison in Hardin, Montana.

In conjunction with the Private Corrections Institute, Prison Legal News had linked Michael Hilton, APF’s representative, with a 2000 fraud and conspiracy lawsuit in California in which the court noted that Hilton had a criminal record. That case was Bentley v. Carella. The connection was made after PLN associate editor Alex Friedmann tracked down parties involved in the civil suit who positively identified APF’s Hilton from photos in news articles. This information and related research was provided to the Associated Press, which broke the story on September 30, concurrently with a separate investigation by the Billings Gazette.

PLN’s research included details about Maziar Mafi, the Santa Ana, California-based attorney representing APF. Mr. Mafi contacted PLN today to thank PLN for pointing out a discrepancy
on his website related to his track record in the appellate courts, and stated that the discrepancy will be ...

by David M. Reutter

Florida’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) has issued a report that finds that oversight of the state’s private prisons has strengthened under the Department of Management Services (DMS) but significant weakness still abounds.

The Florida Legislature authorized private prisons in 1989. When the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) had not contracted for any privatization by 1993, the Legislature established the Correctional Privatization Commission to realize the savings that are ballyhooed by privatization advocates. As PLN previously reported, the Commission’s first executive director was fined and fired for ethics violations and the second imprisoned for embezzlement of state funds.

That prompted the legislature to abolish the Commission and place responsibility for private prison contracting and oversight under the charge of DMS. Of the 19 states to have private prisons, only Florida places administrative responsibility for private prisons outside of its prison agency or a prison commission overseeing both public and private prison systems.

As of October 1, 2008, Florida’s six private prisons housed 7,725 of the state’s 99,048 prisoners at an approximate annual cost of $133 million. By Florida law, private prisons must save 7% of the cost of operating a comparable state ...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s suit for failure to prosecute. The appellate court found the severe sanction of dismissal was not justified.

Illinois prisoner Amilcar Gabriel sustained second- and third-degree burns while working in the kitchen at the Big Muddy ...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a Wisconsin prisoner who sued for injuries under 42 U.S.C. §1983 that occurred while at a Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) facility is bound by the statute of limitations of the state where the prison is located. Prisoner Norman L. Malone, a “surplus” Wisconsin prisoner sent to a CCA prison in Oklahoma, was injured by CCA guards during a disturbance started by other prisoners in April 2003.

Malone alleged the guards used gas and bodily force on him despite knowing he was not one of the troublemakers. In 2007, Malone filed suit in a Wisconsin federal district court for his injuries. That Court dismissed the claim as barred by the statute of limitations. Malone appealed.

The Seventh Circuit said that neither 42 U.S.C. § 1983 not its companion 42 U.S.C. § 1988 contains a statute of limitations. The Supreme Court, however, has concluded that federal courts must use the periods of limitations adopted by the states for personal injury suits. In this case, the relevant period is six years in Wisconsin and two years in Oklahoma.

Malone’s case presented a novel situation for the court to determine, as there was no ...

U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Janice Ellington has allowed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action to move beyond screening. The action, brought by a former Nueces County Jail prisoner, alleges that jail officials were deliberately indifferent in providing the prisoner with psychiatric and pain medications.

Joe Hernandez brought suit against jail officials and its contract medical provider after Hernandez’s requests for psychiatric and pain medications were ignored. Hernandez had a significant history of psychiatric problems and cervical degenerative disc disease which required pain management.

Taking Hernandez’s allegations as true, the court held that Hernandez stated a claim at deliberate indifference “to his health and well-being.” See: Hernandez v. Spohn Memorial Hospital, USDC, S.D. Tex., No. C-08-110 (April 30, 2008).