Texas Prison Bid'ness

To round out 2012, Texas Prison Bid'ness is highlighting the top private prison stories of the year, based on stories covered by our blog.  Our number five story is the growth in the national movement against private prisons and subsequent victories.   

Private Prison Story #5 - Momentum Grows Against Private Prisons Nationally

2012 saw the movement against for-profit private prisons grow dramatically across the United States.  In perhaps one of the biggest victory for anti-privatization activists, the Florida legislature rejected what was considered a "slam-dunk" proposal to privatize 29 prisons.  Similar mass privatization proposals were defeated in Louisiana and have thus far been staved off New Hampshire and Michigan.  What's more, immigrant detention centers proposed by Corrections Corporation of America outside of Miami and Chicago were both defeated with help from anti-privatization activists, immigrant rights organizations, and community groups.   

The year also saw increased activity from faith and community organizations calling for divestment from for-profit private prisons corporations.  A national prison divestment campaign, coordianted by worker organization Enlace, gained momentum.  In January, the United Methodist Church announced it would divest from the private prison industry and a screen against future investments in private prisons.  The Presbyterian Church USA followed suit by passing a resolution encouraging its members and congregations to divest from the private prisons.

Finally, pressure on board members of private prison corporations ramped up, as seen in this flash mob action against Corrections Corporation of America board member and former Senator Dennis DeConcini:

To round out 2012, Texas Prison Bid'ness is highlighting the top private prison stories of the year, based on stories covered on our blog.  Our number six story of the year is the Ballad of Liberty County.

 TPB Big Story #6 - Liberty County Debates Ending Private Prison Contract 

Earlier this year, we brought you the Ballad of Liberty County. With the goal of lowering the operating costs of the Liberty County Jail, 253rd District Court Judge Chap B. Cain initiated a plan to reduce the number of non-violent individuals housed in the jail.  The plan was successful, reducing the number of non-violent offenders in the jail dramatically.  

As we wrote back in March - 75th District Court Judge Mark Morefield, who supports the inmate reduction plan, stated: “’One (private prison) bid said that if the inmate population goes below 200, the cost per inmate goes from $63 to $68 per day. If we work really hard to decrease the inmate population, the cost will go up to $70 per day, … [t]hey are taking all the incentive out of it.’” 

Unfortunately, in April, the county renewed its contract with CEC for two years, though it is continuing to study the issue of de-privatization.  In October, a study by Texas A&M researcher Lynn Greenwood for Liberty County found that de-privatization of the Liberty County Jail would help the county to manage its jail costs as it continues efforts to reduce the population in its jail. According to a story in the Liberty County Vindicator: 

"The county instituted a bond supervision program and successfully reduced the jail population, “undermined by the increased cost of housing inmates”, says Greenwood. The current management company, Correctional Education Centers (CEC) increased their per person per day (PPPD) with lower jail population. In Tuesday’s court meeting, commissioners approved a payment for September 2012 to CEC for $333,972, a cost of $72 PPPD. The study determined the appropriate PPPD cost for Liberty County should be $43.70."

We will keep you posted on developments to this story in 2013.

For the last few months, Texas Prison Bid’ness has been in the process of making available private prison contracts in the state of Texas.  To find a contract, visit our map, where you can search by operating company and contracting agency or explore geographically; underneath the map you can choose to see a list of the facilities operated by a company.  

You can also use the search function on the left of our page to look for a specific facility. available contracts and other official documents for each of the private prison facilities in ourstate.   Through Texas public information laws, we’ve been able to compile contracts from nearly every state and county facility; thanks to our allies, we also have access to a number of federal contracts.  We will continue to update the site as more contracts come in.

Audits and evaluations available for some facilities, such as the Dawson State Jail.  Larger files, like the contract for Reeves County Detention Complex, are split into two parts.  Many federal facilities are under multiple agreements between a county, a federal agency, and a company; check out Newton County Correctional Facility and IAH (Polk) Secure Adult Detention Facility for some examples.