by Lonnie Burton

In October 2016 report by Prison Voice Washington detailed the adverse effects of a takeover of food services in Washington state prisons by Correctional Industries (CI). The report, titled “Correcting Food Policy in Washington Prisons: How the DOC Makes Healthy Food Choices Impossible for Incarcerated People and What Can be Done,” described how shifting prison food services to CI has cost the state millions of dollars – from higher food costs, increased health care expenditures and more prisoner violence stemming from discontent over poor-quality meals.

The report also revealed that the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) was in violation of Executive Order 13-06, signed by Governor Jay Inslee, which mandates that state agencies serve healthy, nutritious food to people in their charge.

The Washington DOC incarcerates over 18,000 prisoners, and the food provided by CI in state prisons “is now unhealthier than it has ever been,” the report found. For example, CI has eliminated all freshly-prepared food and every main course is now “a reheated, highly processed CI product with high amounts of sodium.”

Unprocessed meat is never served. No fresh vegetables are provided, other than carrots and celery. Breakfasts have been eliminated altogether. Even though commonly ...

by Joe Watson

Three prisoners were murdered in a span of 10 months at an Oklahoma facility run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest for-profit prison operator in the country.

The trio of homicides occurred at the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville--one of four Oklahoma state prisons operated by CCA--between October 2014 and August 2015.

Lewis Hamilton, 36, was the most recent of the victims, found stabbed to death at the 1,670 bed Davis prison on August 5. Silas Royal, who is already serving a 25 year sentence for manslaughter, is the main suspect in Hamilton’s murder, according to Oklahoma DOC spokeswoman Terri Watkins.  Hamilton was serving a life sentence for murder.

“We will investigate in full, and then (CCA) will conduct a full investigation,” Watkins said.

In December 2014, Eric Grimm, 28 was also killed at Davis. According to the state medical examiner’s office, Grimm was strangled to death. His cellmate was considered a suspect, but has not yet been charged.

And in October 2014, Tory Czernecki was also strangled to death. The 22 year old was serving a 15 year sentence for first degree rape.  Joshua Wheeler, 25, has since been charged with first degree murder ...

On the heels of a controversy involving its food service vendor, the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) is creating a unit to monitor contract compliance.

As PLN reported, MDOC tossed Aramark Correctional Services as its food service vendor following a  highly publicized failure to perform.  Aramark, who had a three year, $145 million contract, had a history of problems, including maggots in the food, shortages of menu items and staff smuggling drugs or having sex with prisoners.  Trinity Food Services is the current food vendor with a $158.8 million three year contract.

Over the last year, MDOC spent around$250 million on about 185 service contracts.  According to spokesman Chris Gautz, MDOC has around 70 substance abuse contracts, more than a dozen sex offender related contracts, and about a dozen contracts with community service agencies for prisoner re-entry.

Such vendors, as PLN has reported, often fail to provide all the services contracted for, especially when it comes to medical treatment, which MDOC also contracts out.  “We need to better coordinate our monitoring efforts” across all contracts, with uniform standards, and training for staff who do the monitoring,” said MDOC Department Director Heidi Washington. “We have some significant relationships with vendors.”

To ...

by Lonnie Burton

In a settlement of a lawsuit previously mentioned in Prison Legal News, New York City agreed on September 27, 2016, to pay $5.75 million to the mother of a mentally ill Rikers Island prisoner who died on his cell floor in September 2013, naked and covered in feces. The settlement–yet another in a long string of multi-million dollar payouts to families of prisoners who died at Rikers–was the largest ever paid by the city in a prisoner-related lawsuit.

Bradley Ballard’s death was as tragic as it was preventable. At age 39, suffering from schizophrenia and diabetes, Ballard was arrested in June 2013 for a parole violation. He was sent to the psychiatric ward at Bellevue, where he stayed for 38 days before transferring to the mental health unit at Rikers. Soon thereafter, Ballard was placed on lockdown for dancing “inappropriately” in front of a female guard. According to the lawsuit, “not a single nurse, doctor, or other medical or mental health provider entered his cell” during his lockdown.

A week later, after being deprived of his insulin, psychiatric meds, and even running water, Ballard was found dead on his cell floor. Ballard’s genitals had also been ...

by Matt Clarke

On February 11, 2016, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association's (OCSEA) challenge to the statute allowing for the private operation or sale of certain Ohio state prisons. In doing so, the court rejected the union's claim that the statute violated state constitutional prohibitions against combining multiple subjects in a single bill and co-mingling public and private property ownership. It also held that the State Employee Relations Board (SERB) had exclusive jurisdiction in determining whether private prison employees were public employees.

In 2011 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 153 (H.B. 153) the Ohio General Assembly appropriated funds to operate the state government and its programs. A section of the bill dealt with the operation, management and sale of state prisons. H.S. 153, R.C. 9.06(A)(1). In relevant part, it allowed government officials to contract for the operation, management and sale of five specific prisons.

Management and Training Corporation (MTC) and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) took advantage of the provision. MTC contracted to operate and manage North Central Correctional Institution. As PLN previously reported, CCA contracted to purchase, operate and manage Lake Erie Correctional Facility.

OCSEA, which represents numerous former employees of the two prisons, filed a ...

by David M. Reutter

Florida is moving to privatize all of its state-run juvenile detention centers. The move comes despite allegations of abuse at two of the state’s private juvenile detention centers.

“These programs offer unique services and facilities that should be maintained. We are therefore committed to an orderly transition from public to private operation for the benefit of our employees and the youth in our care,” said DJJ Secretary Wansley Walters.

Questions abound about whether the DJJ’s quality-assurance system can guarantee the public is receiving what it pays for and whether youths are cared and treated for in a humane manner. State officials have acted to douse the fire of unconstitutional conditions by closing three youth facilities that became the focus of scrutiny of their operations.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division conducted an investigation in 2010 of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys and the Jackson Juvenile Offender Center. Shortly after the investigation began, the DJJ closed both facilities.

That move, however, did not stop the DOJ from issuing a December 2011 report that was highly critical about not only the state’s operation of those facilities, but its oversight of them. 

“The constitutional ...

by Christopher Zoukis

The federal Bureau of Prisons agreed via stipulation to pay the attorney's fees and costs of the plaintiff who sued to stop construction of a private prison in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.

The suit, filed in May 1999 by Citizens Advisory Committee on Private Prisons (CACPP), alleged that the Bureau of Prisons violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-4327, by failing to properly consider the environmental consequences of building a private prison in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. More specifically, CACPP alleged that the Bureau of Prisons did not prepare an environmental assessment prior to agreeing to a contract on the proposed new facility, as is required by federal law.

The contract in question, between the Bureau of Prisons and Cornell Corrections Inc., called for construction of a prison to hold 1,000 inmates on a 197 acre site consisting of previously stripped mine land. The contract had a $342,699,498.00 price tag.

As a result of the lawsuit, the Bureau of Prisons temporarily halted all work on the facility and prepared an environmental assessment. Not surprisingly, the Bureau concluded that the construction of the new prison would not have a significant effect on the local environment.

Despite ...

The Supreme Court of Oklahoma affirmed a trial court’s ruling granting summary judgment to Armor Correctional Health Services for the award of payment for medical services provided to Oklahoma prisoners and detainees. The court retained the appeal so that it could address the public interest issue concerning services mandated by the Oklahoma Constitution.

Armor, a Florida based contractor, entered an agreement with the Board of Commissioners of Oklahoma County to provide medical services for the county’s prisoners and detainees from January 2014 through June 2015. After Armor had fulfilled its obligations, the county refused to make its payments. Armor was forced to file a lawsuit seeking the payment of medical services already provided.

The county admitted it had entered an agreement, and it had failed to pay over $3 million dollars of that bill. It argued that no judgment could be entered because Armor had failed to prove availability of funds to pay the bill. Such proof was required by 62 O.S. 2001 §§3621 and 3632, which govern claims involving government contracts. Armor argued that judgment was proper based on the evidence presented in its summary judgment materials. It also argued that the suit was not based on “indebtedness”, as governed ...

by Christopher Zoukis

James Dimora, 61, was a Cuyahoga County, Ohio commissioner when he was indicted on federal racketeering and corruption charges in April 2012. While awaiting trial at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, operated by Corrections Corporation of America (now known as CoreCivic), Dimora was involved in a slip and fall accident and suffered injuries. He sued CCA, the facility and the federal Bureau of Prisons for negligence, premises liability and emotional distress.

During the pendency of the litigation, Dimora was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in federal prison.

The Northeast Ohio Correctional Center and the Bureau of Prisons were dismissed from Dimora’s lawsuit, and CCA moved for summary judgment. The company argued that Dimora had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, that the water he slipped on was “open and obvious,” and that their actions were not extreme or outrageous.

The federal district court made short work of the argument that the case should be dismissed because Dimora did not exhaust his administrative remedies. There was a major flaw with CCA’s position: they had neglected to plead failure of exhaustion as a defense to the suit, so the court did not consider it.

The district court also ...

by Christopher Zoukis

A captain at the Coastal Bend Detention Center in Texas was awarded $283,549 in damages against the private prison company LCS Corrections Services, Inc. on May 21, 2013.

Captain William O. Soto alleged in his lawsuit that he assisted a female co-worker with filing a sexual harassment ...