Several years ago, while working at our local Books to Prisoners, I met a volunteer who was formerly a mental health counselor in the local jail in Champaign County, Illinois. This was just after there had been three jail suicides within a six-month period in 2004. She recalled a time when she worked with the "Crisis Team," a nationally-recognized mental health program which for 20 years prevented any suicides at the jail. In response to the three suicides, Sheriff Dan Walsh outsourced mental health services to Health Professionals Ltd. (HPL), a private company based in Peoria, Illinois. Yet this has not stopped suicides and other deaths at the jail.

There is a current debate in Champaign County, where the twin cities of Champaign-Urbana are home to the University of Illinois, about whether to allocate millions of dollars toward a new jail. Sheriff Walsh has frequently cited the large percentage of those with mental illness (as much as 20 percent of the daily population) and argued for the need to expand the jail's mental health facilities. More than just bricks and mortar, this issue demands that we look into quality of services provided by the private company HPL. We have something ...

The language of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is succinct: “[N]o qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.” 42 U.S.C. § 12132.

In Pennsylvania DOC v. Yeskey, 524 U.S. 206 (1998) [PLN, Sept. 1998, p.1], the Supreme Court held that the ADA applies to people in prison. Title II of the ADA defines “public entity” to include “any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government.” 42 U.S.C. § 12131(1)(B). In Yeskey, Justice Scalia wrote, “The text of the ADA provides no basis for distinguishing these programs, services, and activities from those provided by public entities that are not prisons.” Thus, Title II of the ADA extends to prisoners.

DOJ Investigates Pennsylvania Prison

On May 31, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a findings letter that detailed the results of an investigation into the use of solitary confinement on prisoners with serious mental illnesses at the State Correctional Institution at Cresson in Cambria ...

Two lawsuits filed in March 2013 seek compensatory and punitive damages against former prison physician Mark E. Walden, GEO Group, Corizon, wardens Erasmo Bravo and Timothy Hatch, and health administrator Sherry Phillips. The suits allege that numerous prisoners were fondled or received intrusive rectal exams by Dr. Walden, a Corizon employee, at the GEO Group-operated Guadalupe County Correctional Facility in Santa Rosa and New Mexico Detention Facility in Clayton.

Suspicions arose due to a substantial increase in unnecessary, prolonged rectal exams, including some conducted without gloves, and Walden’s refusal to have a nurse or other third party present during the exams. In one case, a prisoner with a knee injury received a rectal exam; in another, a prisoner claimed that Walden penetrated his anus using his entire hand.

A third lawsuit was filed against Dr. Walden, GEO Group, Corizon and various prison officials on July 12, 2013, alleging that Walden had “sexually abused at least 25 victims” by performing unnecessary rectal exams or fondling them. The suits remain pending. See: F.M. v. Walden, U.S.D.C. (D. NM), Case No. 1:13-cv-00264-ACT-RHS; R.J. v. The GEO Group, U.S.D.C. (D. NM), Case No. 1:13-cv-00265-ACT-RHS; H.R. v. The GEO Group, U.S.D.C. (D. NM), Case No. ...

On September 14, 2012, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s class certification and summary judgment orders in a jail conditions case involving the Marion County Correctional Center (MCCC) in Indianapolis, Indiana, also known as the Marion County Jail II, operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).

In 2008, MCCC prisoners were subjected to overcrowded living conditions in which upwards of 150 prisoners were forced to share a single toilet and sink; deprived of food and water for extended periods of time; housed in trash, mold and insect-infested living conditions; and required to reveal confidential medical information in the presence of other prisoners.

MCCC prisoners Alan Kress and Randy Carr filed suit in April 2008 alleging inadequate medical care and inhumane living conditions. The federal district court granted their motion for class certification and named them as class representatives, but dismissed several claims that failed to satisfy class certification requirements. The court subsequently granted CCA’s motion for summary judgment on the remaining claims and dismissed the case in 2011. [See: PLN, May 2012, p.46].

On appeal, the Seventh Circuit first upheld the district court’s finding that the plaintiffs had failed to satisfy the class certification typicality requirement ...

In May, 2003, Prison Health Services (PHS) agreed to pay the family of Candace “Candy” Brown $450,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging inadequate medical care that resulted in Brown’s death.

Brown was arrested in 2000 and taken to New York’s Monroe County Jail. Shortly thereafter, she suffered from heroin withdrawal ...

The California Court of Appeal held in 2008 that Governor Schwarzenegger did not exceed his authority when, after invoking the Emergency Services Act (Gov. Code § 8550 et seq.) to issue a “Prison Overcrowding State of Emergency Proclamation” in October 2006, he directed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to negotiate contracts for the transfer and housing of prisoners in facilities outside of California.

The guards’ union, the California Correctional Peace Officers’ Association (CCPOA), opposed the Governor’s actions because they threatened to give jobs to non-union, out-of-state workers. The CCPOA filed a petition for writ of mandate and sought declaratory as well as injunctive relief, arguing (1) that the Governor did not have the statutory authority to declare a person over-crowding emergency; (2) that the contracts to house prisoners in out-of-state institutions violated the civil service mandate of Article VII of the California Constitution.

The trial court ruled in CCPOA’s favor with respect to both arguments. The Court of Appeal reversed, holding (1) that the Emergency Services Act unambiguously permits the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency based upon conditions in state prisons; and (2) that, because of the conditions underlying the state of emergency, the negotiated ...

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that private prison-management corporations and their employees may be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

“Billy Rosborough is a prisoner of the Bradford State Jail, a Texas prison owned and operated by…Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a private prison-management corporation.”

Rosborough brought a § 1983 action against MTC and guard Chris Shirley, alleging that “Shirley maliciously slammed a door on Rosborough’s fingers, severing two fingertips” and that MTC failed to properly train and supervise Shirley.

“The district court sua sponte dismissed Rosborough’s action on the grounds that Shirley was an employee of MTC rather than…the State of Texas and, therefore, was not acting under color of state law for purposes of suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” The court “did not address MTC’s potential liability for failing to train Shirley.”

The Fifth Circuit reversed, observing that “[t]he Supreme Court…has held that ‘to act “under color” of law does not require that the accused by an officer of the state.’ Addickes v. S.H. Kness & Co., 398 U.S. 144,152…90 S. Ct. 1598 (1970)…Under the Supreme Court’s ‘public function’ test, a private entity acts under color of state law ‘when that entity performs a function ...

The Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) has ended a four-year-long program that provided Jewish and Muslim prisoners with meals that satisfy their religious requirements. Originally, the program was aimed solely at Jewish prisoners.

Costs and fairness were cited as the factors to end the FDOC’s Jewish Dietary Accommodation Program. It was available at only two FDOC prisons, resulting in the 259 prisoners involved to be transferred upon requesting to participate. Another 95 were seeking inclusion when the program ended.

Because FDOC does not provided halal food, many Muslims also participated in the kosher food program. Now, Jewish and Muslim prisoners must now eat a vegan diet to meet their religious requirements. In an attempt to satisfy Muslims, FDOC changed its menu in September 2007 to exclude pork items.

The vegan diet will not satisfy kosher meal requirements unless it is prepared separately from other meals. That is not likely to happen in FDOC’s privatized kitchens. FDOC was already confronted by a lawsuit brought on behalf of Muslim prisoners that faulted FDOC for denying them meals in accord with their religious beliefs. Randall Berg, of the Florida Justice Institute, said he is considering amending that complaint to include Jewish prisoners.

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Before one goes to jail or prison, what one eats is usually taken for granted. After one finds oneself imprisoned, what is presented to eat becomes a huge issue. With the trend towards privatization of prison services and economic pressures upon local and state governments, the concern about a nutritionally adequate diet for prisoners is growing.

Of course, prior to being imprisoned, the choice of what one eats is a matter of taste. When confronted with jail or prison cuisine, there is only the option of eating what is presented or eating from the canteen if one has the funds. Most jails and prisons utilize a rotating menu to plan meals. Some utilize meal planning by what is available at the lowest price.

Over the last decade, jail and prison officials have been turning to private companies to cut the cost of feeding prisoners. Leading the way in obtaining contracts to feed prisoners is Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services, but the privatization of feeding prisoners actually started in Alabama.

Over 80 years ago, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each of the jail’s prisoners. While that law went into effect in 1927, it is still ...

An audit report of the prisoner food service operations of the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) found deficiencies that increase costs to taxpayers. Amongst the recommendations to cure those issues was to privatize those operations.

The June, 2008, report by Michigan’s Office of the Auditor General (Auditor) was based upon on-site and record review at 13 of MDOC’s 51 prisons, which house an average of 51,165 prisoners. MDOC’s prisoner menu follows the Dietary Guidelines for Americans issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

That menu provides male prisoners with an average of 2,900 calories per day and female prisoners an average of 2,600 calories per day. During fiscal year 2006-07, MDOC expended $46.2 million on food purchases and $37.2 million on food service staff wages, resulting in a statewide average prisoner food and labor cost per day of $2.48 and $2.50, respectively.

The Auditor said it reviewed the contract for food services that Florida and Kansas maintain with private vendors. For total food services, those states pay $2.65 and $4.14 per prisoner per day for comparable services that MDOC now pays $4.68 per prisoner per day. It was recommended that MDOC ...