Mississippi Pays $6 Million For Empty Prison Bunks

by Matthew T. Clarke


In a highly politicized move, the Mississippi Legislature passed a budget paying Wackenhut Corporation (WC) and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) millions of dollars for unneeded private prison bunks, despite Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove's attempts to prevent it. At issue is how to house Mississippi's 19,000 plus state prisoners.


Faced with $1.4 million in federal court ordered fines due to overcrowding, Mississippi contracted with private companies to build and run five private prisons in Marshall, Leflore, and Wilkinson Counties, Meridian and Walnut Grove.


In 2001, amid criticism that new prisons were increasingly bring viewed by local officials as a tool for economic development, Musgrove vetoed efforts to build even more private prisons. However, the Legislature overrode Musgrove's veto, appropriating $6 million more than was needed to run the private and regional prisons. Subsequently, a report by a legislative watchdog lowered the number of prisoners required for private and regional prisons to break even. This led critics to accuse the government of paying for "ghost prisoners" as a form of corporate welfare [PLN, Nov. `01].


In 2002, state spending on prisons and lack of spending on education and Medicare ...

No Right to Renounce Citizenship - U.S. Not "at War"

Judge Bernice B. Donald of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee has denied habeas corpus relief to a Wisconsin prisoner seeking to renounce his citizenship and be deported to another country. In so doing, Judge Donald deflated a popular prison myth about state sovereignty.


James T. Koos is a Wisconsin prisoner housed under contract in a Tennessee prison run by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Koos sought release through habeas corpus arguing that by transferring him out of state, Wisconsin had surrendered its authority over him. Further, Koos filed motions demanding that he be permitted to renounce his citizenship under 8 U.S.C. §1481(a)(5) (renunciation before a U.S. consular officer in a foreign country) or 8 U.S.C. §1481(a)(6) (written renunciation to U.S. Attorney General when the U.S. is at war).


The court discussed in detail what it termed "a popular myth among prisoners that a state's authority over a prisoner ends at the state's geographical border." As the court noted, "the myth appears to have sprung from a few cases early [last] century...." As the court explained, each of those cases turned on peculiar facts. ...

Although described as a troubled kid, 16-year old Chad Franza didn't deserve to die they way he did. Only 24 days after entering a juvenile boot camp in Bartow, Florida, the teenager was found dead after hanging himself with his boot laces in 1998. Now Franza's parents have agreed to ...

The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated and remanded a New Jersey U.S. District Court's award of summary judgment against, and denial of appointment of counsel to, a pro se prisoner plaintiff.


Jeffrey Montgomery, a New Jersey State prisoner now incarcerated at Riverfront State Prison, filed suit against Correctional Medical Services (CMS) and several administrators of the East Jersey State Prison under 42 U.S.C. §1983, alleging violations of his Eighth Amendment rights by deliberate indifference to a serious medical need. Montgomery is HIV positive and has serious heart problems. All of his complaints arose while he-was incarcerated at East Jersey State Prison.


In March 1996, Montgomery was scheduled for cardiac catheterization to be performed in May. This order was given by a cardiologist who examined Montgomery after he complained of chest pains. At that time, Montgomery was also on antiviral medication for HIV. In April 1996, CMS took over management of all New Jersey prison medical care. CMS admittedly lost all of Montgomery's medical records during the takeover. Because of the lost records, Montgomery's cardiac catheterization was not performed, and CMS discontinued his anti-HIV medication for ten months.


Montgomery tried repeatedly to get his medical records replaced, HIV ...

Youth Services International (YSI), a company already under fire for a multitude of problems, including contract violations, financial mismanagement, prisoner mistreatment and prisoner deaths, was again in the news this past September. YSI, a subsidiary of Corrections Services Corporation, operates juvenile prisons, including boot-camp-style facilities, in a number of states. ...

In accordance with a July 29, 2002 ruling by U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman, as many as 700 former guards who worked at private prisons in Kentucky operated by U.S. Corrections Corp. could share in settlement of $14 million or more. In her 49 page opinion, Coffman held that ...

The Supreme Court of Alaska sustained a lower court's ruling which provisionally allowed Alaska prisoners to be transferred to an Arizona prison, required the Arizona facility to comply with Alaska's prison overcrowding settlement agreement, and found the Alaska prisoners' challenge to the process of selecting individuals for transfer to Arizona to be moot.


In 1981, Alaska prisoners filed a class-action lawsuit complaining of overcrowding and prison conditions in general. In 1990, the parties executed a settlement agreement and designated a superior court judge to have continuing jurisdiction over alleged violations.


Thereafter, Alaska's prison population grew beyond allowable limits and the state contracted with Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to house Alaska's overflow prisoners in a CCA-owned facility in Arizona. CCA's facility purportedly met American Correctional Association's standards but fell short of incorporating the rights and benefits secured by the 1990 settlement agreement.


Michael Cleary, acting for all Alaska prisoners, challenged the constitutionality of the selection-transfer process and asked the trial court to enjoin the transfer of prisoners to Arizona. The court found that the selection process met constitutional muster and denied Cleary's motions for injunctions, but it ordered that the transfers would be subject to the Arizona prison's compliance with ...

Federal Legal Standards For Prison Medical Care

by Dan Manville


The State is required to provide adequate medical care to those it confines.1 In this time of shrinking budgets, many prison systems have turned to contracting with private health care providers to meet their legal obligations. Some states have turned most of their health care services over to private companies such as Correctional Medical Services, Inc. (CMS), even though CMS's record for providing health care is dismal.2 In Michigan, since CMS has taken control of providing medical care to Michigan's prisoners, the complaints that the author and others have received pertaining to medical care have increased significantly. This article discusses the federal legal standard for providing medical care, what level of care will and will not violate this Federal standard, how private companies or their staff may be liable, and the impact the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) has on that Federal standard.


A. Eighth Amendment - Deliberate Indifference Standard


Under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution3, prison officials are required to provide prisoners with "reasonably adequate" medical care.4 Courts have defined adequate medical care as "services at a level reasonably commensurate with modern medical science and of ...

On October 28, 2002, Corrections Corp. of America, (CCA) settled its 1997 federal taxes after an audit by the Internal Revenue Service for the sum of $54 million. The IRS challenged the validity of the tax deductions that the former Prison Realty, a real estate investment trust (REIT) had claimed in 1997 tax return. This subsidiary of CCA's was formed in 1997 for the sole purpose of creating corporate tax advantages [See: "CCA Sells Self; Wackenhut Creates REIT," PLN Aug. `98.]


This merger between Prison Realty and CCA was disassembled in 2000 after continually plummeting stock prices because of concerns of a potential conflict of interest by the cooperative association of Prison Realty and CCA. Both companies were located in the same Nashville office and shared the same corporate personal on the board of both companies. This allowed CCA to lease their prison back to themselves with a much more profitable tax break [See: "Prison Realty/CCA Verges on Bankruptcy," PLN July `00.]


CCA expects no effect on its real estate investment trust status, and they foresee an increase in the company's accumulated earnings and profits for 2002. CCA went on to say that they do not expect this settlement to ...

The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded in part a North Dakota Federal District Court's dismissal of a state prisoner's claim that he was denied treatment for hepatitis C.


Dale J. Burke is a prisoner of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (NDDCR). Burke has hepatitis C. He sued NDDCR and its health care provider, Medcenter One, under 42 U.S.C. §1983 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §12101, alleging that NDDCR and Medcenter One completely denied him treatment for hepatitis C.


The district court, screening the complaint prior to service of process as required by 28 U.S.C. §1915A, dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim for relief. The district court did not consider Burke's amended complaint. Burke appealed, abandoning his ADA claims on appeal.


The appeals court held that Burke stated a claim for relief. "Mr. Burke alleged more than a disagreement over the proper course of treatment for his hepatitis C: he alleged that he was denied treatment entirely" and that the basis for the denial of treatment was his prior lawsuits against the NDDCR medical director. Burke's suit should have been allowed to proceed against NDDCR and ...