32 Deaths at CCA-operated Immigration Detention Facilities Include at Least 7 Suicides

by Alex Friedmann

On June 17, 2015, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, requesting an investigation into recent deaths at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. The facility, which houses detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is operated by Corrections Corporation of America – the nation’s largest for-profit prison company.

            One of the deaths, that of José de Jesús Deniz-Sahagún, 31, a Mexican national, was ruled a suicide by the Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office. Deniz-Sahagún died on May 20, 2015 due to asphyxiation; a sock was found lodged in his throat. The day before his death he was reportedly examined by mental health staff at the CCA facility for “delusional thoughts and behaviors,” according to the autopsy report.

            “Eloy Detention Center is in the business of detaining people for profit, but that does not exempt them from upholding the law,” Rep. Grijalva said in a statement. “Where transgressions occur, accountability must follow.”

            Approximately 200 detainees at the Eloy facility staged a hunger strike over the weekend of June 13-14. According to Puente Movement, an immigrant advocacy ...

No State Medical Privilege in § 1983 Actions; CCA Compelled to Provide Discovery

by Mark Wilson

A Tennessee federal court refused to “recognize the state peer review privilege” in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, and compelled Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to provide information relating to any audits or investigations of a CCA-operated facility.

G. Michael Luhowiak brought federal suit on behalf of the estate of Roland Lebron Clemons, the infant child of former prisoner Countess Clemons, alleging that the defendants’ deliberate indifference and several CCA policies, practices and customs caused his death. Clemons also sued for inadequate medical care she received at the CCA-operated Silverdale Detention Facility in Chattanooga. The cases were consolidated.

Plaintiffs sought discovery of information and materials relating to “any audits or investigations (that) were conducted by the Defendants or any government agencies,” “certain details of those audits or investigations,” and “all documents and things with respect to any such audits or investigations.” Plaintiffs also sought “any documentation of any deficiency notices received by the Defendants from any contract monitors and/or governmental agencies regarding the operations of CCA.”

CCA resisted discovery, claiming that the requested materials are privileged under Tennessee’s “medical peer review privilege.” Plaintiffs ...

Model Immigrant Detention Center Dehumanizing and Wasteful

Americans for Immigrant Justice (AI Justice) released a report that details the stories of persons detained at the Broward Transition Center (BTC) to exhibit how that facility needlessly detains immigrants in inhumane conditions, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars annually and treating “non-criminal and low risk” immigrants like “animals.”

BTC is operated by the GEO Group under a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). The facility has 700 beds and costs taxpayers more than $40 million annually. On average, it costs $164 daily to house a detainee.

Conditions at BTC came to the attention of lawmakers and the public last year after two illegal immigrants brought to U.S. as children turned themselves into BTC. When it was learned they were working with outside elements to expose the inhuman conditions and policy violations at BTC, they were promptly released.

The 71 page report states that BTC detains people who, by ICE’s own definition, should be eligible for prosecutorial discretion. “They include pregnant and nursing mothers, primary caregivers of minor children, U.S. Military Veterans, victims of domestic violence and other serious crimes, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival eligible youth, individuals without criminal ...

Texas, Amidst Budget Crisis, May Not Renew Some Private Prison Contracts

By Matt Clarke

John Whitmire, D-Houston, the chairman of the state Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee wants to cut the cost of incarcerating Texas prisoners and "all options are on the table," including ending the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's leasing of 2,100 beds at the Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility and 2,200 beds at the Dawson State Jail in Dallas. Both prisons are operated by the Corrections Corporation of American and their use cost TDCJ $80 million a year. Whitmire asserts that, with 10,800 empty beds in TDCJ, it is foolish to rent private prison space.

"It would seem wise to get out of the private-lease beds as the contracts come up for renewal," said Whitmire.

Brad Livingston, TDCJ's executive director, disagrees with the number of open beds in the prison system. Testifying before the committee, he said that it was closer to 4,600 beds because TDCJ policy requires that four percent of the beds in the system be left vacant to allow prison managers flexibility to run the system properly.

"We have an operational capacity of 96 percent of our total capacity to provide the ability to separate ...

$20,000 Settlement in CCA’s Failure to Treat Tennessee Prisoner’s Ankle Injury

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $20,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging It failed to provide proper medical care for a prisoner at the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility.

Marcie Thomas Warrick was arrested on January 22, 2003, as a ...

CCA Pays $6,000 Settlement in Dangerous Conditions Causing Tennessee Prisoner’s Slip and Fall

Corrections Corporation of America paid $6,184.71 to settle a claim brought by Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility prisoner James A. Reese, who alleged negligence for CCA’s improper housing of him and failure to provide safe conditions.

Reese was ...

CCA Pays $400,000 in Suicide Death of Tennessee Juvenile

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $400,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a juvenile who committed suicide at the Shelby Training Center in Tennessee.

The complaint alleged that prisoner Alex E. Bass was known to ...

CCA Pays $120,000 in Stabbing Death of Tennessee Prison Counselor

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $120,000 to settle a lawsuit in the stabbing death of one of its employees, Delbert Steed, at Hardeman County Correctional Facility in Tennessee.

Steed was a Corrections Counselor who entered a pod on January ...

CCA Pays $4,500 for Failure to Treat Tennessee Juvenile Detainee’s Eye Injury

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $4,500 to settle an Eighth Amendment claim brought by a juvenile held at its Silverdale Detention Facilities in Tennessee.

The juvenile, Paul D. Lavender, was injured on January 9, 2003, while assigned ...