By Matthew Clarke

On January 30, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had arrested twelve guards and a cook who were employed by private prison company Community Education Centers (CEC) at the Ector County Correctional Center (ECCC) in Odessa, Texas. The ECCC holds about 235 prisoners and is being operated by CEC under contract with the United States Marshals Service (USMS).

The indictments are against Valerie Ann Arenivas, 22, Ashley Dawn Clark, 29, Jazmine Desiree Cruz, 19, Barbara Jean Garrett, 52, Jennifer Amida Lopez, 25, Jonathon Wayne Meza, 29, Nancy Torres Morales, 36, Gabriel Angel Navarette, 23, Dennis Earl Newsome, 63, Jovanna Marie Olivarez, 21, Charlette Smith, 46, Jessica Lucia Smith, 33, and Matthew Ryan Williams, 26. Each is charged individually with one count of accepting a bribe. Each faces up to 15 years in prison and up to a quarter-million dollar fine. The indictments specifically charge a violation of U.S.C. § 201(b)(2)(C) and state that the contract with the USMS conferred on the CEC employees the status of "public official” making accepting the bribe and smuggling a breach of official duties.

The indictments were initially sealed, but were unsealed after the arrests were made. They allege ...

In February 2013, the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued its second ruling in a long-running lawsuit filed under the state's Public Records Act against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit private prison company. The Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the lower court, holding that CCA must produce documents that it had refused to disclose, plus pay attorney fees and costs.

The suit was filed by PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann. In 2007, CCA had denied Friedmann's request for records related to litigation filed against CCA and for reports or audits that found contract violations by the company, among other documents. The Chancery Court ruled in Friedmann's favor on July 29, 2008, finding that CCA was the functional equivalent of a government agency and ordering the company to produce the requested records. [See: PLN, Oct. 2008, p.24].

CCA appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed in September 2009, noting, "With all due respect to CCA, this Court is at a loss as to how operating a prison could be considered anything less than a governmental function." The appellate court narrowed the lower court's ruling by exempting one CCA-run Tennessee prison (the South Central Correctional Center), finding ...

The Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) is moving forward with a legislative mandate to privatize its entire medical system. Whether the plan is implemented, however, may depend on the outcome of a lawsuit filed by prison health care workers challenging the FDOC's outsourcing of medical services for prisoners.

During its 2011 session, the Florida legislature approved a budget provision that authorized the privatization of 29 south Florida prisons. A challenge by the union that represented FDOC employees at the time, the Florida Police Benevolent Association, resulted in the Leon County Circuit Court ruling that the provision was unconstitutional. [See: PLN, April 2012, p.38; Feb. 2012, p.1]. While that issue generated considerable media attention, overlooked until now has been the state's plan to privatize the FDOC's entire medical care system.

That system serves Florida's 101,000 prisoners at an annual cost of around $400 million. The privatization plan seeks to save at least 7% annually. Contracts that the FDOC approved in April 2012 exceeded that amount, with anticipated savings of 11% in 2012 and 13% in 2013 from what the agency spent in 2009-2010, which is the benchmark set by the legislature. The winning contract bids were the two lowest-cost proposals.

Under ...

In April 2013, two professors at Temple University in Philadelphia released a study, titled "Cost Analysis of Public and Contractor Operated Prisons," that alleged financial savings through prison privatization and equal or better performance by private prison companies.

According to an April 29, 2013 press release issued by Temple University, the study lauding the benefits of prison privatization was funded by "members of the private corrections industry." However, the research study itself, produced by Temple's Center for Competitive Government, did not disclose that it was funded by private prison firms – including CCA, the GEO Group and MTC.

Further, the authors of the study, Professors Simon Hakim and Erwin A. Blackstone, submitted editorials regarding the results of their research that were published by newspapers in Oklahoma, Maine, Florida and Kentucky. Three of those four editorials likewise did not mention their study's private prison funding source.

Nor did Professors Hakim and Blackstone disclose that they have a predisposition to favor the private sector, as they both have previously advocated for privatization of government services, including privatizing certain police functions.

"Any published or publicly released research should identify all sources of funding in support of that research," said Prof. Edward L. Queen, ...

A mediation agreement between Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Hernando County, Florida has resolved a dispute over $1.86 million after CCA and the county ended their contract for operation of the Hernando County Detention Center (HCDC), which CCA had managed for 22 years.

When the county declined to renew ...

TransCor America, LLC, a for-profit prisoner transportation company and subsidiary of Corrections Corporation of America, may be held liable for punitive damages if it is found responsible for the death of a prisoner who died while being transported in a TransCor van.

U.S. District Court Judge James F. Holderman, Chief Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, wrote in a March 29, 2012 ruling that while federal prisoner Joseph Curtis, 66, had died during a trip from a prison in Kansas to a facility in Indiana, actions taken by TransCor staff at the company's headquarters in Tennessee made the application of that state's punitive damages statute appropriate.

According to the district court's recitation of facts in the case, on June 23, 2009, a TransCor van with a non-working air conditioner in the prisoners' compartment picked up Curtis at USP Leavenworth and took him and several other prisoners on a circuitous route through Kansas, Missouri and into Illinois before heading to USP Terre Haute in Indiana.

Curtis, who was serving a 60-month sentence for possession of child pornography, died in the unairconditioned TransCor van due to heatstroke. The outside temperature on the day he died reached 95 degrees; records do not ...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court's dismissal of a prisoner's lawsuit alleging discrimination based on his sexual orientation.

Ricky Davis, a gay, insulin-dependent diabetic Michigan state prisoner, was screened, medically cleared and hired by an off-site public-works program.

He was the only openly gay participant in the program, and contended that work crew supervisors treated him differently than other prisoners due to his sexual orientation. Guards "did not want to strip search him because he was a homosexual and ... they would make 'under the breath' remarks when selected to do so." The guards also ridiculed, belittled and "ma[d]e a spectacle" of him.

Other insulin-dependent diabetics participated in the public-works program, and supervisors were given honey packets to remedy problems related to low blood sugar.

When Davis complained of low blood sugar on December 2, 2009, a guard refused to directly hand him a honey packet due to "animus toward or discomfort with him as an openly gay man." The guard instead had another prisoner give Davis the packet.

Davis was fine after consuming the honey, but supervisors ordered him to see a nurse. His blood sugar levels were normal and the nurse determined "that ...

After the state of New Hampshire hired a consulting group last year to help evaluate bid proposals for the "construction, operation and potential privatization" of the state's entire prison system, it was determined that all of the bids "had deficiencies from an operational standpoint," according to a report issued by New Hampshire's Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Administrative Services (DAS). The report further found that the proposals were "non-compliant with meeting the Department of Corrections' legal obligations."

By April 2012, New Hampshire officials had received bids from four companies to build and/or operate a facility to house male prisoners and a "hybrid" prison that would hold both male and female offenders. The bidders included Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, Management & Training Corp. (MTC) and the relatively unknown NH Hunt Justice Group LLC – a partnership between LaSalle Corrections, Hunt Companies and several other firms.

To evaluate the detailed and voluminous bid proposals, state officials organized three evaluation teams made up of staff from the DOC and DAS. Additionally, in July 2012 the state paid $171,000 to hire an "independent consultant" – MGT of America, Inc. – to assist with the review by evaluating the "operational ...

In a lawsuit filed in state court on May 1, 2013, Prison Legal News, represented by the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), alleges that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is concealing information about CCA-run correctional facilities by failing to respond to a public records request.

To obtain information about CCA's operations in Texas, PLN submitted a records request to the company on March 1, 2013 pursuant to the state's Public Information Act, requesting a number of documents related to CCA's contracts with state and local Texas government agencies, injunctions issued against CCA in Texas, and settlements and verdicts in legal actions involving CCA in Texas. The company did not respond to the records request.

"Privately operated prisons and jails are notorious for their abhorrent conditions," PLN stated in its complaint. "Although they perform a government function, they are driven by a profit model that cuts costs for the benefit of shareholders and to the detriment of basic services, security, and oversight. Prison Legal News seeks to enforce its rights under the Public Information Act to investigate details about these facilities in Texas."

The lawsuit filing was tied to CCA's lack of transparency with respect to the Dawson State Jail, where ...

When a Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) facility warden failed to establish a discriminatory practice, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the summary judgment dismissing the Title VII claims.

After being promoted to warden at a new CCA facility: Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona in 1999, Jose F. Luna had the responsibilities of hiring/training employees; establishing security and operational procedures; and setting up medical, food, commissary, and laundry service and delivery. In addition, he was responsible for maintaining the facility’s contract with Alaska and Hawaii, which supplied the prisoners.

In spite of being burdened with having to open the facility ahead of schedule, inadequate security staff and medical personnel, no weapons for guards, water and sewage problems, CCA's performance evaluation showed Luna went from "exceeding requirement" to "meeting requirements." Not only did a Hawaiian customer representative file a formal complaint for inadequate staffing and security issues, but he threatened to sue CCA if the conditions at Red Rock did not improve. Three months later, the Hawaiian rep filed a second complaint on issues stemming from staff shortage.

Alaska's representative expressed displeasure over the contract performance and Red Rock and sent a "contract monitor" for observation on a ...