by David M. Reutter

Florida’s Correctional Medical Authority (CMA) declared a health care emergency at the Florida Women’s Reception Center (FWRC).  The crisis at FWRC is just another red flag since Florida officials privatized it in 2013.

CMA conducted an audit of FWRC between September 15-17, 2015.  The number and seriousness of the deficiencies “could not be properly addressed with the standard corrective action plan process due to the lack of organizational structures apparent at this institution and an emergency notification was utilized," states the October 12 report.

“The [s]urveyors had difficulty getting the needed records for review.  When received, the records were disorganized, with necessary documentation frequently misfiled or missing altogether."

FWRC held 958 prisoners during the audit, and 558 of them were in a chronic are clinic that requires assessment every six months.  Another 119 require assessment every three months.   Several areas of physical health care were found to be deficient in their treatment.

Among them were “multiple examples” where prisoners were evaluated and treated less frequently than required by their assigned medical grade.  The surveyors found numerous instances of “delays in care were noted in consultation, follow-up for diagnostic services, the review of abnormal labs, and prescription ...

by Derek Gilna

Although most of the discussion in the past several months has been the continuing decrease in the number of prisoners in the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to slightly more than 200,000, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) actually confines more than twice as many,  approximately 400,000 individuals each year. The evidence shows that much of the pressure to maintain high

The two powerhouse private prison operators, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group, spend millions of dollars every year to lobby local, state, and federal correctional decision-makers, which has undeniably led to steadily increasing revenues for both organizations.

In the period from 2004 and 2014, CCA and GEO spent  $18 million and $4 million, respectively with $8.7 million and $1.3 million to lobby members of Congress. Most of this money found its way into the coffers of Congressmen who would later vote on Department of Homeland Security appropriations.

These appropriations bills contain language that almost guarantees the profits of the private prison operator,  mandating in 2010 that DHS "maintain a (daily) level of not less than 33,400 detention beds." This "bed mandate" or "bed quota" has since increased to 34,000. It is no surprise ...

by Christopher Zoukis

Following demands from the Afrikan Black Coalition (ABC), the University of California has agreed to terminate $475 million worth of contracts with Wells Fargo Bank. According to a press release from ABC, the terminated contracts include a $25 million commercial paper contract, a $150 million interest rate contract and a $300 million line of credit.

ABC began lobbying the University of California system to divest its assets from Wells Fargo after determining that the bank finances CoreCivic and GEO Group, the nation’s two largest private prison companies. ABC also alleged that Wells Fargo engaged in unfair lending practices in minority communities.

“Wells Fargo is the syndicating agent for CoreCivic’s (formerly Corrections Corporation of America) $900 million line of credit, a trustee for the GEO Group’s $300 million corporate debt, and are notorious for grossly discriminatory and predatory lending practices targeting Black and brown communities, evidenced by many related lawsuits and settlements,” the advocacy group wrote in a press release.

University of California representative Ricardo Vasquez and Wells Fargo representative Ruben Pulido confirmed the divestment, with Pulido noting that the bank has supported the UC system for decades and “[stands] ready to provide that ... support in the ...

In October 31, 2017, CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest for-profit prison company, announced via a press release that it was launching an initiative to advocate for policies designed to reduce recidivism.

Those policies include “ban the box” initiatives to help ex-offenders obtain employment, more funding for reentry programs, social impact bond programs and “reduced legal barriers to make it easier and less risky for companies to hire former inmates.”

Additionally, the company said it would “make support for reentry policies one of the criteria considered by its political giving committee when determining financial support for candidates for office.” CoreCivic self-reported $781,800 in political donations and $1.5 million in lobbying expenses in 2015; it has not yet released data for 2016.

CoreCivic executives lauded the initiative, which stemmed from commitments made by the company in 2014 to encourage rehabilitation and reduce recidivism.

“A lot of folks would assume that we have a view that the status quo is fine, and that’s just not our view,” remarked CoreCivic executive vice president Tony Grande. “We want to be a part of the solution.”

However, PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann, who served six years at a CCA-operated ...

by Christopher Zoukis

Four guards at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island were placed on administrative leave after a prisoner escaped on New Years Eve 2016. James Morales, 35, scaled the backboard of a basketball goal in the facility’s recreation yard, cut through a fence using a homemade tool and descended an exterior wall on a bed sheet, according to Warden Daniel Martin.

The prison’s board of directors quickly launched an investigation.

“We want to know: Were the procedures and policies in place on that day followed without exception?” asked board chairman Luke Gallant. “If they were, what were the holes and where are the holes that allowed this escape?”

Morales, a former Army Reservist, was charged with breaking into an Army Reserve building in 2015 and stealing military firearms. Following his escape a manhunt involving local, state and federal authorities ultimately led to his recapture on January 5, 2017. He has since been charged with “escape from custody of the attorney general,” an offense that carries a potential five-year prison term.

According to minutes from a meeting of the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation (CFDFC) in late 2016, the facility had been operating at ...

by Matt Clarke

On February 21, 2017, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in an en banc ruling, held that Correctional Medical Services, Inc. (now known as Corizon Health) may be held liable for deciding not to centrally coordinate medical services for prisoners.

Prior to his incarceration, Indiana state prisoner Nicholas Glisson suffered from several serious medical issues. Most importantly, his larynx and parts of his pharynx and mandible, as well as 13 teeth, had been surgically removed due to laryngeal cancer, and he had a feeding tube and a permanent stoma (an opening in his throat), plus a tracheostomy tube. His neck could not support his head and, without a neck brace, his breathing was impaired. He also required a voice prosthesis to speak.

Despite those medical conditions, Glisson was able to live independently, clean and suction his stoma, use his feeding tube, and swallow food most of the time. He took care of his own hygiene, helped with household chores, and provided care for his grandmother and terminally-ill brother.

A friend, who was acting as a police informant, convinced Glisson to give him some of his prescription pain medication; as a result, Glisson was arrested and convicted of ...

by David M. Reutter

A $2.1 million settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit alleging the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) and Corizon, the department’s former private medical provider, denied hernia operations to prisoners to save money. 

Groin hernias are very common; it is estimated that the prevalence of ...

by Candice Bernd, Truthout

In April 2017, the Northwest Washington again made headlines after more than 100 immigrant detainees launched a hunger strike to protest the conditions inside the for-profit immigration jail.

The demands reflected many of the concerns originally raised by detainees when they went on strike in 2014: abuse from guards, maggoty food, inadequate access to medical care and exorbitant commissary prices, to name a few. The detainees were also protesting the fact that they were running the prison’s basic services for wages of just $1 a day, some reportedly receiving only a bag of chips in exchange for waxing the prison’s floors.n April 2017, the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington again made headlines after more than 100 immigrant detainees launched a hunger strike to protest the conditions inside the for-profit immigration jail.

Conditions at the immigration jail have drawn in local climate activists and other allies, who, in 2015, blockaded three exits where buses and vans usually carry out detainees for deportation. The activists’ interest in the jail is not only grounded in concerns about basic human rights – it’s also about environmental justice.

The 1,500-bed immigration jail, operated by the private prison giant GEO Group, ...

by Spencer Woodman, reprinted with permission from The Intercept

In June, officials at a privately run Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in rural Georgia sentenced an immigrant detainee to a month in solitary confinement to punish him for encouraging fellow detainees to stop working in protest of low wages at the facility. Three days after the detainee shouted “no work, no pay” in a facility kitchen, according to ICE records, “the detainee was found guilty of encouraging others to participate in a work stoppage and was sentenced to 30 days of disciplinary segregation.”

Immigrants confined in ICE facilities often work for only $1 per day, but the immigration agency’s guidelines state that all such work must be voluntary. Earlier this year, a federal judge cleared the way for a class-action lawsuit originally brought by nine ICE detainees alleging that ICE contractor the GEO Group had profited off forced labor in violation of federal anti-slavery laws.

In the case of the Georgia facility, ICE’s records obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request simply list “work stoppage” as the reason for using solitary confinement to punish the immigrant detainee, who is originally from Haiti.

In response to questions from The ...

by Joe Watson

An Internal Revenue Service audit of tax-free bonds used to develop an immigrant detention facility in New Mexico was closed once the bonds were converted to taxable status.

Otero County issued $62.3 million in tax-free revenue bonds in 2007 to finance the construction of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in Chaparral, New Mexico. The facility is operated by a private company, Utah-based Management & Training Corp.

Over the past several years, the IRS has been conducting similar audits at local jails that contract to house prisoners for the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) or ICE. Under the tax code, the federal government is considered a private party, and private parties do not qualify for tax-free status. USMS and ICE officials have signed contracts with jails nationwide to house detainees in state and local bond-financed facilities, leading to tax disputes between the bond issuers and the IRS. [See: PLN, Sept. 2015, p.18].

According to the Bond Buyer, a trade publication, “the tax code classifies a bond as a private activity bond (PAB) if more than 10% of the proceeds are used for a private party and more than 10% of debt service payments are made or ...