Private Prison Information Act Reintroduced in Congress with PLN’s Help

On December 10, 2014, U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) reintroduced the Private Prison Information Act (PPIA) in Congress. The bill, HR 5838, requires non-federal correctional and detention facilities that house federal prisoners to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), by making certain records available to the public.

Currently, private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group are not required to comply with FOIA requests even when they operate facilities that hold federal prisoners through contracts with federal agencies, and are paid with public funds. This includes privately-operated immigration detention centers.

PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann and Christopher Petrella, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, have worked closely with Rep. Jackson Lee’s staff over the past two years to reintroduce the PPIA, and helped draft the legislation. [See: PLN, Feb. 2013, p.14].

Various versions of the PPIA have been introduced since 2005; however, private prison firms and their supporters have lobbied against the bills. For example, CCA’s federal lobbying disclosure statements have specifically referenced lobbying related to the PPIA.

Friedmann and Petrella argue that because private prison companies rely almost entirely on ...

GEO Group Rescinds $6 Million Donation to Name Stadium at Florida University

by David M. Reutter

A student-led coalition against naming the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) football stadium after private prison firm GEO Group claimed victory in April 2013, when the company withdrew its $6 million donation to the school for stadium naming rights following a high-profile opposition campaign.

“We won!” enthused a statement from the Stop Owlcatraz Coalition, a group composed of students, faculty and community members that was formed to fight GEO’s attempt to name the football stadium after the company. The coalition took its name from the FAU Owls, the school’s mascot.

“We’d like to thank everyone who signed our petition as well as all other allies and supporters who helped make our victory possible,” the statement continued.

In the aftermath of the controversy, FAU President Mary Jane Saunders resigned her position on May 14, 2013, although university officials said her contract guaranteed her a position at the school at 80% of her former salary. She is now employed as a professor in the university’s College of Science.

Saunders wrote in her resignation letter that “there is no doubt the recent controversies have been significant and distracting ...

Private Prison Companies Reject Resolutions to Fund Rehabilitative, Reentry Programs

On December 23, 2014, GEO Group, the nation’s second-largest for-profit prison firm, demonstrated it was a “grinch” by objecting to a shareholder resolution that would require the company to spend just 5% of its net income “on programs and services designed to reduce recidivism rates for offenders” in GEO-run correctional facilities. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) filed an objection to a similar resolution in January 2015.

The resolutions were submitted by PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann, who also serves as associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC). An activist shareholder, Friedmann owns a small amount of stock in both CCA and GEO Group; in the 1990s he served six years at a CCA-operated facility prior to his release in 1999.

“As a former prisoner, I know firsthand the importance of providing rehabilitative programs and reentry services,” Friedmann stated. “I also know firsthand the incentive of private prisons to cut costs – including expenses associated with rehabilitative programs – in order to increase profit margins.”

Citing data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the resolutions note that “Recidivism rates for prisoners released from correctional facilities are extremely high, with ...

Eighth Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Prisoner’s ADA/RA Claims

by Mark Wilson

The Eighth Circuit has reversed in part the dismissal of a Missouri prisoner’s claims related to accommodation of his disabilities.

In 2004, Missouri Department of Corrections (MDOC) prisoner Robert Dinkins began suffering blackouts, weakness and difficulty walking. The prison system’s health care provider, Correctional Medical Services (CMS), failed to properly diagnose or treat him for six months. As a result he did not receive medication that would have slowed the progression of his condition, pernicious anemia. By April 2006, Dinkins was paralyzed from the waist down.

As late as 2010, his condition continued to deteriorate. Rather than assigning him to a Transitional Care Unit, prison officials placed Dinkins in administrative segregation without a wheelchair or handicap access. As a result, he was forced to crawl and eat meals off the floor.

Dinkins requested that prison officials accommodate his disability by providing “someone to push his wheelchair, a handicapped-accessible cell, medically prescribed physical therapy, preventative treatment, examination by an outside specialist, wheelchair accessories, and exemption from activities requiring exposure to cold.” All of his requests were denied, causing him “to miss meals, fall several times in his cell, be placed ...

Five Deaths in Eleven Months at California Jail Spark Grand Jury Probe

A Santa Cruz County, California grand jury investigation concluded that a multitude of breakdowns contributed to the deaths of five jail detainees over an 11-month period between August 2012 and July 2013.

Four of the deaths occurred after the county contracted with the for-profit California Forensic Medical Group (CFMG) to provide health care at the jail as a money-saving measure, but the grand jury panel found the company only partly to blame for circumstances surrounding the deaths. The panel noted in a report released in May 2014 that in several cases, jail guards were just as much or more at fault.

On August 25, 2012, Christy Sanders, 27, died of a massive infection between her lungs and ribs which, according to the Sheriff Coroner’s Office, “had been developing over a period of weeks.” Her lungs reportedly collapsed due to a build-up of pus as a result of the infection; she also had hepatitis C and had repeatedly complained of difficulty breathing. The grand jury said the local hospital at first misdiagnosed Sanders and later corrected the diagnosis, but failed to inform the jail.

Medical staff at the jail ...

Former Minnesota Prisoner’s Inadequate Health Care Suit Settled for $275,000

by Matt Clarke

In July 2011, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) settled a lawsuit brought by a former state prisoner over allegedly inadequate medical attention after he suffered a severe reaction to a medication given to him while he ...

CMC Nurse Arrested for Having Sex with Syracuse Jail Prisoner

Beth A. Ours, 37, a Correctional Medical Care (CMC) nurse who worked at the Justice Center jail in Syracuse, New York, was arrested on December 4, 2012, and charged with third-degree felony sexual act for allegedly performing oral sex on a 39-year-old male prisoner in April 2012.

Ours met the man when he reported to the jail's medical unit due to health issues.

"When we first met we would smile at each other and she was very friendly," said the man's written statement. During subsequent encounters, Ours allegedly began rubbing her body close to him and even asked him to kiss her on one occasion. The relationship allegedly advanced to the point that Ours was regularly performing oral sex on him prior to his release on May 21, 2012.

Ours allegedly gave him her phone number, asking him to call her and visit her North Syracuse home. He told investigators that she lived with two other jail employees and he had visited her there and smoked crack with her "a few times." He also said that she asked him to sell one of her TVs one time when they were ...

GEO Group Agrees to End Sexual Harassment; Pays $140,000 Settlement and Implements New Policies

The nation’s second-largest for profit prison company, the GEO Group, agreed to pay $140,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought on behalf of two women who worked at an Arizona prison. The three-year consent decree ...

Tennessee Dumps Corizon for Higher Bidder on Prison Health Care Contract

The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) has awarded its prisoner health care contract to Centurion, a company formed when MHM Services and Centene Corp. merged. TDOC’s current prisoner health care provider has filed a protest, arguing it not only submitted a cheaper bid, but that Centurion lacks the requisite experience to bid.

Corizon, a company created by the merger of Prison Health Services and Correctional Medical Services (CMS), has held TDOC’s $29 million prisoner health care contract since 2012. It also has the mental health care contract for TDOC prisoners.

When TDOC put out a request for proposal for its prisoner health care contract, only Corizon and Centurion submitted bids. Corizon’s bid was around $226 million while Centurion’s was about $241 million. Despite the higher bid, Centurion won the contract that runs to 2015.

Corizon promptly filed a protest. TDOC required five years’ experience in its request for proposals. “If you look back at all of the information that was provided…there are no bases in the record to support a finding that Centurion meets the minimum experience requirement,” argued Corizon attorney Jim Miller.

At a hearing, TDOC dismissed that ...

North Carolina DOC Medical Overpayments Exceed 10% of Total Bills

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Division of Corrections (DOC), is in need of the services of a professional recovery audit firm, an audit by the state’s Auditor concluded. The audit uncovered more than $105,000 in overpayments on just 10 bills submitted by eight hospitals for prisoner health care.

The audit covered the period from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012. During that period, DOC paid 893 hospital claims worth more than $14 million. The audit focused on the 10 largest claims worth about $1 million. It was found that DOC had overpaid approximately $105,700 on those claims, representing an overpayment of 10.6 percent.

The overpayments occurred because of separate billings that are normally part of a larger service, charges for services provided with no clear patient benefit, and duplicate charges. The DOC did not realize or suspect the claims included excessive billing, so it paid the bills.

“The [DOC] did not previously identify these or other over-billings because it does not perform externally focused recovery audits of hospital charges,” states the report. This contrasts with state law, which requires DOC to explore medical cost containment methods. Large ...