In February 2012, a federal jury in New Mexico awarded $3.38 million to three female prisoners who were raped by Anthony Townes, a guard at the Camino Nuevo Women’s Correctional Facility, which was operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Townes, who had previously pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the women, was sentenced to 16 years in prison. [See: PLN, April 2012, p.1; Jan. 2010, p.50].

The verdict was entered in a lawsuit brought by prisoners Heather Spurlock, Nina Carrera and Sophia Carrasco against CCA, Townes and former warden Barbara Wagner. The suit was filed in 2009, one year after the Camino Nuevo prison closed.

Evidence presented by the plaintiffs highlighted the egregious nature of Townes’ misconduct; he would remove prisoners from their cells and take them to an area of the facility where he knew he “would not be recorded or observed by surveillance cameras,” then raped and sexually assaulted them repeatedly.

The district court had ruled before trial that Townes was liable for violating the plaintiffs’ Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and it was up to the jury to determine damages as well as liability for ...

Corizon Health and for-profit prison firm Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) have settled a lawsuit over the solitary confinement of a then-70-year-old prisoner following an alleged false positive drug test caused by Zantac, a heartburn medication.

Carol Lester, a former New Mexico state prisoner and a grandmother, filed a federal civil rights action after she was placed in solitary confinement for over a month at the New Mexico Woman’s Correctional Facility operated by CCA (now known as CoreCivic). Medical care at the prison was provided by Corizon.

Lester suffered from several serious ailments, including bipolar disorder, thyroid cancer and hypertension. While incarcerated she received several medications, including Zantac. After she lost consciousness in a sally port, prison medical staff told her she might have a life-threatening heart condition; however, she was not taken to a hospital or scheduled to see a cardiologist.

Lester and her family became concerned and began to advocate for better medical treatment for her and other prisoners. Lester also encouraged other prisoners to complain about inadequate health care, which allegedly angered prison officials.

As a result of those advocacy efforts, a delegation of state lawmakers visited the facility and spoke with Lester and other prisoners regarding ...

On February 20, 2015, an uprising occurred at the Willacy County Correctional Center (WCCC), a private prison located in Raymondville, Texas that was operated by Utah-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC). The facility primarily housed criminal immigrant prisoners for the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The riot lasted two days, during which at least three of the ten Kevlar dome tents that comprised the prison suffered fire damage, resulting in the closure of the facility. It was one of the most significant prison riots in recent years.

WCCC was one of an archipelago of 13 privately-operated “Criminal Alien Requirement” (CAR) prisons scattered across the U.S. that hold non-citizens convicted of federal crimes such as illegal entry or re-entry into the country and, in some cases, drug offenses. [See this issue’s cover story.]

CAR prisons were built because “Operation Streamline,” a program designed to speed up the prosecution of undocumented immigrants, introduced by the federal government in the mid-2000s, resulted in over 90,000 immigration prosecutions in 2013 alone, overwhelming the BOP’s capacity. Approximately 24,000 prisoners are held in CAR facilities nationwide; the 2,834 who were housed at WCCC were so tightly packed in the Kevlar tents that their feet could touch ...

The 2016 elections are only a few weeks old and many people seem surprised that Donald Trump was elected president. What this means for prisoners at this point is a bit early to say, more so when juxtaposed against what might have happened had Hillary Clinton been elected.

In any event, the repressive apparatus of the modern American police state has long been in place. Obama’s administration has deported more immigrants than any other in U.S. history – around 2.5 million between 2009 and 2015. We already have over 800 miles of border wall separating the U.S. and Mexico, so presumably Trump will merely build upon the wall built by his predecessors; he isn’t starting anything new. With approximately 2.3 million prisoners held in abysmal and barbaric conditions nationally, we will see if Trump will reduce or boost those numbers. But neither candidate said anything about improving conditions for prisoners.

Clinton stated she would work to eliminate for-profit prisons, despite taking campaign donations from private prison firms and her husband’s bail-out that saved the private prison industry in 1999. The stock of private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic (previously Corrections Corporation of America) had plummeted in August after the ...

The former medical director of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh County Prison (LCP) was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to numerous schemes to defraud the government.

Dennis Erik Fluck Von Kiel was employed as LCP’s medical director from March 1989 until August 2013. He was working for private contractor PrimeCare Medical, Inc. at the time of his termination.

On January 12, 2015, Von Kiel pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, five counts of failure to file tax returns, one count of wire fraud and aiding and abetting wire fraud, one count of perjury in a bankruptcy proceeding, one count of financial aid fraud and aiding and abetting financial aid fraud, and two counts of mail fraud.

Beginning in 2001, Von Kiel had engaged in a series of illegal schemes designed to help him evade creditors, including those for federal student loans. He proclaimed to be under a “vow of poverty” and a “minister” of a church called the International Academy of Lymphology. He claimed he had no taxable income, as his employer deposited his payroll checks into bank accounts for the church.

Von Kiel also lied at a bankruptcy proceeding, filed a fraudulent ...

by Spencer Woodman, The Intercept

During much of her three years awaiting trial in New York’s Rikers Island jail, Candie Hailey was locked in a solitary confinement cell ventilated by a mold-covered air duct. The purpose of the vent was, of course, to pump fresh air into her 6-by-10-foot concrete room, but the mold infestation instead added to an array of hazards and discomforts that made her life unbearable at Rikers, where she made multiple attempts at suicide. “There was big, dark, gray, blackish mildew around the air vent and that’s where the air was coming from,” Hailey told me. “It’s what I was inhaling – it smelled like death.”

Hailey, who says she developed persisting asthma as a result of mold exposure, described overall conditions at Rikers that were so punishing not even the guards – who spent only a fraction of their time in the building – could withstand them. Hailey says that one officer implored her to complain to authorities about the conditions, as the employee feared she would be punished for doing so herself.

“‘Please call 311 or somebody,’” Hailey recalled a guard telling her. “That’s how bad it was.”

Hailey’s and her guards’ experiences are not ...

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest for-profit prison firm in the United States, and the subject of a recent scathing Mother Jones undercover investigative report that detailed numerous deficiencies at a Louisiana prison operated by the company, effectively found itself “pink-slipped” by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ announced in August 2016 that it plans to eliminate its use of privately-operated facilities to house federal prisoners, which sparked a sharp decline in CCA’s stock price. [See: PLN, Sept. 2016, p.28; Aug. 2016, p.54].

That was a serious setback for a company that has bragged about its profitability for decades and touted its ability to “save money” by operating detention facilities for less than what the government spends. Following the DOJ’s decision to phase out private prisons, the resulting 40% drop in CCA’s market value put it into full survival mode.

One of CCA’s first remedial moves, announced on October 29, 2016, was to change its name to “CoreCivic.” However, no matter what it’s called, the company’s business model remains the same – to make money by not spending enough to provide safe, secure facilities and adequate medical care for prisoners.

Marketers call this “rebranding” but it ...

Another victory in the fight against debtors’ prisons was achieved with the grant of an injunction by a Tennessee federal district court. The preliminary injunction, issued in a class-action lawsuit in December 2015, prohibits a private probation company from jailing probationers because they are unable to pay fees related to their supervision.

The suit “addresses one aspect of the growing privatization of the criminal justice system,” the court wrote. Rutherford County contracted with Pathways Community Corrections, previously known as Providence Community Corrections (PCC), which operates in 45 states, to provide misdemeanor probation services.

The payment of “all required supervision fees, court fines, and court costs” is a rule of probation, and a probationer who is unable to make payments is technically in violation of his or her supervision conditions. Other conditions, such as community service work, drug tests and various offense-related classes, may also be required and incur fees.

PCC charged probationers $45 a month for simply being on probation plus $20 for each drug test, which could be administered at a PCC employee’s whim. It also charged set-up fees, community service fees and even a “picture fee.” Those required to participate in trash removal as community service work had ...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment to Southern Health Partners, Inc. (SHP) in a civil rights action alleging the company failed to train and supervise its nurses at Kentucky’s Hopkins County Detention Center (HCDC), which violated a deceased prisoner’s constitutional right to adequate medical care.

The lawsuit involved the death of Tyler Butler, 25, just three days after he was booked into HCDC on April 8, 2010 pursuant to a court order. A deputy did not want to admit him due to his sickly appearance and reported MRSA infection. SHP nurse Candace Moss, who was scheduled to change shifts in 30 minutes, was asked to make a decision on booking Butler.

Moss was shown various infections on Butler’s body, legs and groin areas. She instructed deputies to admit him, and had him placed on 72-hour detoxification for drug use and medical watch for the staph infection. Other than having his blood pressure checked three times and receiving five pills unrelated to his MRSA infection, Butler received no medical care before he was found unresponsive in his cell on April 11, 2010. An autopsy concluded his death was caused by sudden cardiac arrhythmia due to ...

The Ohio Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a prisoner’s habeas corpus petition seeking immediate release from a private prison.

Ohio state prisoner Maurice Freeman was confined at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution, a private prison owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America. [See: PLN, Nov. 2014, p.44].

Freeman filed a habeas corpus petition in state court, alleging that his confinement at Lake Erie was illegal because he was being held by a private company rather than the State of Ohio. He argued that he was expressly ordered to serve a prison term at a state institution, and therefore sought immediate release from the CCA-run Lake Erie facility.

The trial court dismissed Freeman’s habeas petition, finding that he failed to allege sufficient facts to support a claim that he was entitled to immediate release.

The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed. “As a general proposition, a writ of habeas corpus can be issued only when the petitioner has demonstrated that he is entitled to be released immediately,” the Court observed. “Unless a prisoner can prove that he has completed his maximum sentence, his entitlement to immediate release can only be established by showing that the sentencing court ...