Private Prison Companies Not Forthcoming About Immigration Detainee Deaths

by Matt Clarke

The private prison industry has benefited from a recent influx of contracts from the federal government to incarcerate immigration detainees. Such contracts are more lucrative than those for imprisoning state prisoners. However, questions have been raised about the quality of medical care provided to immigration detainees, and neither the federal government nor private prison contractors have been forthcoming about details related to the deaths of 66 detainees between January 2004 and November 2007.

There wouldn’t even be a public list of immigration prisoner deaths had Congress not demanded one from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Congress became involved after relatives of deceased detainees complained about the lack of information they were given about the deaths, and how they had not been told their relatives were sick or in the hospital.

One example was the death of Boubacar Bah, 52, a native of Guinea who had a successful New York business creating handmade clothes. Bah had overstayed his tourist visa. He returned to Guinea to visit his family; while he was abroad his application for a green card was denied, revoking his permission to reenter the country. He was ...

Report Criticizes Conditions in U.S. Immigrant Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington

by David M. Reutter

Conditions at the federal immigration center in Tacoma, Washington, are substandard and not in compliance with national standards, “much less international human rights law.” The is the conclusion drawn by a 65-page report issued by the Seattle University School of Law International Human Rights Clinic in collaboration with One America, an immigrant rights group.

The report examines conditions at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma. It is located on the Tacoma Tideflats, a former toxic waste dump site. Originally open with 500 beds in 2004, it now has 1,000 beds with plans to add another 500. The facility is operated by the GEO Group, who is paid $95 per day per detainee.

While officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) say the report is “filled with inaccuracies and vague allegations,” the conditions are similar to other reports on conditions operated by GEO. Moreover, the report was compiled from interviews with 46 people: 41 detainees, a family member, and four attorneys representing detainees. The investigation also made two tours of NWDC, followed by a question and answer session with ICE and GEO officials. ...

The Supreme Court of Alaska held that state prisoners incarcerated at a private prison in Arizona can enforce portions of the contract between the Alaska Department of Corrections (DOC) and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) that incorporate provisions of Smith v. Cleary, 24 P.3d 1245 (Alaska 2001) [PLN, June 2003, p.26], the seminal case that set forth the duty that Alaska owes to its prisoners.

Gus Rathke, an Alaskan prisoner, was incarcerated at a private prison in Florence, Arizona run by CCA pursuant to the CCA/DOC contract when he received a disciplinary infraction after failing a drug test. He was given 30 days in isolation, prevented from having a paying job for 90 days, and removed from CCA’s substance abuse program. He consistently denied using drugs and requested retesting.

After Rathke was released from punitive segregation he filed a grievance over the drug test. His urine sample had tested positive for THC metabolites using a 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) cutoff point, the Arizona standard. The standard for Alaskan prisoners, as set forth in Cleary and the CCA/DOC contract, is 50 ng/ml. Rathke’s urine sample was retested at 50 ng/ml and he passed. The grievance officer recommended that the disciplinary ...

By Michael E. Deutsch and Jan Susler [The authors, lawyers with the People’s Law Office in Chicago, have a long history of work on behalf of prisoner rights and political prisoners]


In 1969 there were less than 300,000 people in federal and state prisons and county jails in the U.S.---about 160 people for each 100,000 of population. Thirty-five years later there are over 2,000,000 people incarcerated in American prisons and jails, 100,000 children in juvenile jails and another 4,000,000 under parole or probation supervision, increasing the ratio to about 645 people per 100,000. The draconian laws and policies which brought about this huge increase in the numbers of people under the thumb of the criminal justice system have specifically targeted people of color.
African-Americans, who are 13% of the population as a whole now make up more than 50% of the prison population, up from 30%; Latino prisoners count for an additional 17%. A Black person is seven times more likely to go to prison than a white person. Indeed, as a study by the Sentencing Project revealed, almost one-third of Black men between the ages of 20 and 29 will be under some form of criminal justice supervision---prison, jail, ...

When Dorothy Dian Palinchik was booked into Florida’s Pinellas County Jail (PCJ) on February 13, 2008 for stealing a $9.00 Philly cheesesteak sandwich from a grocery store, she was seemingly healthy. Two weeks later she died of pneumonia and an antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

Palinchik’s family suspects she caught Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) shortly after arriving at the jail. Within a week after being booked, Palinchik, 42, was placed in PCJ’s medical wing.

Her family claims that she repeatedly asked for medical care. Although Palinchik had a fever of 101.5 that raged for five days, she was only given one Motrin and one Sudafed. While some may wonder at such inadequate treatment, this is only one of numerous failures perpetuated by Correctional Medical Service (CMS), the jail’s private health care provider. [See, e.g., PLN, Aug. 2002, p.1; May 2007, p.1].

After ten days at PCJ, Palinchik was sent to a local hospital. Doctors determined she had pneumonia and MRSA, and put her in a drug-induced coma in an attempt to save her life. The aggressive MRSA infection had already blackened her hands and feet; the doctors were considering amputating all her limbs. Just six days after she arrived at the hospital, ...

Former PHS Doctor Arrested on Drug Charges

In July 2008, former Prison Health Services (PHS) employee John N. Mubang, 57, was arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for prescribing drugs for monetary gain and trafficking in controlled substances.

The six-month investigation that led to the four felony counts against Mubang stemmed from citizen complaints. Mubang had previously served as the medical director of the Hillsborough County Jail, where PHS was the jail’s medical provider. He had also worked for PHS’s competitor, Correctional Medical Services.

Mubang had a private practice of 1,000 patients in internal and ambulatory medicine. Since 2006, four of his patients have died from overdoses or interactions between drugs that he prescribed, which included oxycodone, hydrocodone and Xanax.

Mubang was asked to resign or be fired by PHS in 2006, according to depositions taken in a lawsuit against PHS filed by a prisoner whose newborn baby died in the Hillsborough County Jail. PHS settled that suit for $1.25 million. [See: PLN, Oct. 2007, p.32].
More recently, for the past two years Mubang had been contracted to provide medical services at the CCA-operated Citrus County Jail in Lecanto, Florida.

Sources: Tampa Tribune, www.baynews9.com

$885,437.24 Award for CMS Massachusetts Jail Nurse Barred for Reporting Prisoner Abuse

A Massachusetts federal court awarded $885,437.24 in compensatory damages, punitive damages, costs, attorney fees and electronic litigation support fees to a Correctional Medical Services (CMS) nurse who was barred from the Suffolk County jail because she reported allegations ...

Florida Sheriff Sued for Awarding No-Bid ?Health Care Contract, Receiving Gifts

Prison Health Services (PHS) has sued the sheriff of Sarasota County, Florida for awarding the jail’s health care contract to rival Armor Correctional Health Services without taking competitive bids. The lawsuit also alleges that Sheriff Bill Balkwill received gifts from Armor in the time period leading up to the no-bid contract award.

One of those gifts had a specific correlation to the contract negotiations. Doyle Moore, Armor’s chief executive officer, took Sheriff Balkwill on a fishing trip on Lake Okeechobee. He rented two boats with guides and plenty of bait. Balkwill caught a one-and-a-half pound bass, and Moore footed the $748 bill with a credit card.

When Balkwill returned to his office the following Monday he e-mailed Moore, stating, “Had a great time! Give a call when you’re ready to talk about the contract and what you can do.” Between 2006 and 2007, Armor also treated Balkwill to hundreds of dollars in meals and other perks, according to records discovered by PHS lawyers. Moore is no longer an Armor executive; he stepped down after it was revealed that he had a criminal record for tax evasion.

Under Florida law, ...

by John E. Dannenberg

Prison Health Services, Inc. (PHS) was granted a three-year, $366 million no-bid contract renewal to provide medical and mental health care services for New York City’s Rikers Island Jail, notwithstanding the company’s checkered record during its last three-year contract, which resulted in $793,000 in fines for non-performance. The contract renewal amounted to a 10% raise for PHS when adjusted for inflation.

As a result, the 100,000 prisoners admitted to Rikers Island each year can expect more of the same substandard medical care, since PHS has a long history of exacting its profits at the expense of prisoners’ health. [See, e.g.: PLN, Nov. 2006, p.1].

Quarterly audits of PHS’s performance, which revealed an average 15% non-compliance rate, were made by New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) based on a review of 9,000 case files. Principal areas that were reviewed included HIV, asthma, sexually transmitted diseases and women’s healthcare issues.

In six of the eight most recent quarters, PHS continuously failed to meet some health care standards, most notably follow-up on HIV treatment and testing. For five of the quarters, PHS failed to meet standards for taking intake prisoners’ medical histories; the compliance rate ...

$1,100,000 Settlement in Juvenile Prisoner Suicide in Union County, New Jersey

On November 15, 2007, Union County settled a lawsuit over the suicide death of a juvenile prisoner at the 42-year-old Union County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The county agreed to pay $780,000 in damages plus ...