August 2008

Yet another Idaho prisoner has committed suicide in a GEO Group prison in Texas, according to an article in the Times-News ("Inmate suicide could be second for prison program" August 21),

The state's Virtual Prison Program is only a year old and the Monday death of inmate Randall McCullough, 37, could be the second suicide involving the initiative outside of Idaho.

Idaho prison officials said Wednesday they're still investigating if McCullough committed suicide at a private contracted facility in Texas - Bill Clayton Detention Center run by the GEO Group Inc. - which is holding 371 inmates each at $51 per day under a contract that expires in July 2009.

The Virtual Prison Program started in July 2007, but the state started putting inmates in non-state owned facilities in October 2005, said Idaho Department of Correction Spokesman Jeff Ray.

Six state inmates have committed suicide since July 2006, not including McCullough, Ray said.

This death follows the tragic death of Scot Noble Payne a year ago at GEO's Dickens County Correctional Center. After Noble Payne's suicide, a subsequent investigation revealed squalid conditions and the Idaho Department of Corrections Health Director called the prison the worst facility he'd ever seen. Incredibly, and against our advice, Idaho didn't bring its prisoners back home, it moved them to other GEO prisons in the state.

Corrections Corporation of America has launched The CCA 360.com a website for the corporation to respond to critics. You'd think that a leading corporation in a billion dollar industry such as private prisons would be able to come up with something more catchy than "The CCA 360" for a website, but apparently not. The website is a response to ongoing criticism of the private prison industry generally and CCA's operations more specifically. According to a front-page post by CEO John Ferguson:

For people seeking the unfiltered, full 360-degree view of CCA, we have created this Web site - TheCCA360.com. This site provides greater detail about news coverage of CCA, including the publicized tragic death of an inmate in a CCA facility, and viewpoints we’ve shared with our customers and employees.

The website apparently was developted to take on criticism of the company's operations by non-governmental organizations and activists though Texas Prison Bid'ness has not yet made the company's hit-list! Our friend Alex Friedmann, the former CCA prisoner whose efforts seem to have de-railed the federal judicial nomination of former CCA chief counsel Gus Puryear has. The website also addresses critics of CCA's T. Don Hutto family detention center claiming, as ICE has in the past, that improvements at Hutto had nothing to do with public protests, a litigation settlement, or widespread media scrutiny.

Our pal Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast posted last week a roundup of grassroots campaigns against private prison sitings. According to Scott:

It's surprising how many acrimonious local debates are going on right now in Texas over jail and prison privatization.

Scott also highlights the grassroots strategies employed by a private prison opposition group in Nacogdoches, Citizens Opposed to the Prison Site (COPS). The community organization is calling for citizens to move their money out of local banks and to boycott the businesses of public officials that are supporting the private prison construction.

Scott goes on to offer additional analysis regarding private prison debate in Nueces County and why the construction of a new prison has a complicated history.

The grassroots actions taking place in Nueces and McClennan Counties are some of the most interesting in the state. The opposition of local citizens to private prison construction proves that this issue continues to resonate with folks in all communities throughout the state and that incarceration policy impacts us all.

Just over a week after McLennan County voted not to privatize their existing jail and only two days after the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas asked for an investigation into suspicious dealings between the county and private prison company CEC/CiviGenics, the McLennan County Commissioners Court has voted to authorize a new 871-bed jail to be operated by CEC/CiviGenics. According to the Waco Trib blog,

A split McLennan County commissioners court voted Wednesday to renew its contract with Community Education Centers of New Jersey to operate the downtown McLennan County Detention Center and authorized CEC to finance, build and operate a new 871-bed jail adjacent to the one on State Highway 6.

With Commissioners Lester Gibson and Joe Mashek voting against the proposal, County Judge Jim Lewis and Commissioners Ray Meadows and Wendall Crunk voted during a budget work session Wednesday to allow the private company to build the new jail at no cost to the taxpayers.

Commissioners recessed their regular Tuesday morning meeting instead of adjourning it, which allowed them to take action at Wednesday’s session.

The fact that this decision was reached in a special session, outside the watchful eye of the law enforcement officers that have opposed privatization, against the advice of the local paper, and with a split Commission will not make this decision any more popular. I have a feeling this isn't the last we've hear on the McLennan County private jail fight.