CCA

Private Prison Inmates in Nashville Forced to Make Products Prison Employees Later Sell at Flea Market

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I’ve written several articles over the years about private prisons and how barbaric, stupid and unethical they are. In case you missed it the first time around, here’s an excerpt from 2013’s A Deep Look into the Shady World of the Private Prison Industry:

Private prisons are antithetical to a free people. Of all the functions a civilized society should relegate to the public sector, it’s abundantly clear incarceration should be at the very top of the list. Jailing individuals is a public cost that a society takes on in order to ensure there are consequences to breaking certain rules that have been deemed dangerous to the happiness and quality of life within a given population. However, the end goal of any civilized culture must be to try to keep these cost as low possible. This should  be achieved by having as few people as possible incarcerated, which is most optimally achieved by reducing incidents of criminality within the population. Given incarceration is an undesirable (albeit necessary) part of any society, the idea is certainly not to incentivize increased incarceration by making it extremely profitable. This is a perverse incentive, and one that is strongly encouraged by the private prison industry to the detriment of society.

The largest private prison company in America is Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA. In their Nashville facility, called Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility, prisoners apparently were being forced to make products without pay, which were later sold for profit by prison employees at a local farmers market. Unbelievable.

From ABC News:

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Inmates at San Francisco Jail Forced Into Gladiatorial Combat as Sheriff’s Deputies Placed Wagers

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At just 150 pounds, it was hardly fair to pit Ricardo Palikiko Garcia against an opponent well over twice his size. But Garcia had to fight him — or else he’d allegedly face torture. 

Like the gladiators of old, Garcia and others were forced into pugilistic matches, local authorities said. Four sheriff’s deputies then placed bets on their bouts.

“Deputy’s betting against me and forcing me to fight and if I don’t fight, then he’s basically telling me that he was going to beat me up, cuff me, Tase me all at once,” Garcia said in an audio recording.

Investigators fear the fights may have gone on for a while. For Garcia, there was a lead-up. Deputies forced him to do pushups to train for fights.

– From the CNN article: Inmates Forced Like Gladiators to Fight as Deputies Took Bets

You know something’s just not right in your culture when you see a headline about prisoners engaging in gladiatorial combat while incarcerated, and the first thing that comes to your mind is, “this reminds me of a similar story from last year.”

Indeed, all it took was a quick search and I uncovered an article I wrote last March ago titled, FBI Launches Investigation into a Private Prison So Violent it is Called “Gladiator School,” which noted that:

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FBI Launches Investigation into a Private Prison So Violent it is Called “Gladiator School”

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In what is one of the most disturbing private prison stories you’ll ever hear, a facility in Idaho run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in under investigation by the FBI due to claims it was so violent inmates called it “Gladiator School.” So how does a prison transform into such a place? Apparently, CCA was so eager to cut costs that it chose to understaff the facility and hand over control to prison gangs.

I’ve covered private prisons on many occasions in the past, including this CCA facility in particular. I think private prisons are one of the worst ideas possible in a democratic society. I suggest you read some of my prior articles:

A Deep Look into the Shady World of the Private Prison Industry

Idaho Dumps Private Prison Company Due to “Violence, Understaffing and Over-billing”

America in 2013: Florida Football Stadium Named After a Private Prison Company

America in 2013: For-Profit Prisons Get Favorable Tax Breaks

Now from the AP:

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The FBI has launched an investigation of the Corrections Corporation of America over the company’s running of an Idaho prison with a reputation so violent that inmates dubbed it “Gladiator School.”

The Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA has operated Idaho’s largest prison for more than a decade, but last year, CCA officials acknowledged it had understaffed the Idaho Correctional Center by thousands of hours in violation of the state contract. CCA also said employees falsified reports to cover up the vacancies. The announcement came after an Associated Press investigation showed CCA sometimes listed guards as working 48 hours straight to meet minimum staffing requirements.

“The FBI is investigating CCA and looking at whether various federal fraud statutes were violated and possibly other federal statutes connected with the fraud,” Olson said. “They will be working in close consultation with our office. Beyond that I can’t comment.”

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Idaho Dumps Private Prison Company Due to “Violence, Understaffing and Over-billing”

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Regular readers know that I think the concept of “private prisons” is one of the worst ideas a society can possibly embrace.  While I am a small government person who strongly believes in decentralization and doing things at the local level, incarceration is something that should never, ever be driven by the profit motive. Particularly not in a country which already has 5% of the world’s population, yet 25% of the world’s prison population.  From the Idaho Statesman:

BOISE, IDAHO — Idaho prison leaders are looking for a new company to run the state’s largest prison after Corrections Corporation of America admitted to understaffing and overbilling for its work operating the Idaho Correctional Center.

The three-member Board of Correction made the decision during a meeting Tuesday evening, opting not to let an automatic two-year extension of CCA’s $29.9 million contract kick in when the current contract expires on June 30, 2014.

The Idaho Correctional Center has a been rife with problems for the past several years, with inmates bringing multiple federal lawsuits alleging rampant violence, a policy of understaffing and a practice of guards ceding too much control to prison gangs. The ACLU of Idaho sued in 2010 on behalf of inmates who said the CCA-run facility was so violent that inmates called it “Gladiator School;” that lawsuit resulted in a settlement in which CCA promised to make widespread management and staffing changes. In 2011 the company reached a financial settlement with one inmate, Hanni Elabed, who was beaten by a fellow inmate until he suffered brain damage while several guards watched.

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America in 2013: For-Profit Prisons Get Favorable Tax Breaks

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Here’s a great idea.  At a time when the debt of the country is exploding exponentially and we are running budget deficits that would be the envy of any banana republic, let’s give favorable tax treatment to for-profit prison companies.  This is a growth industry that we should all support, who cares that these United States has 5% of the World’s Population, yet 25% of its Prisoners.  May as well try to improve on that; just imagine how high we could get the prison population if we actually put a banker in jail?  From Forbes:

In early January 2013, both Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group – the nation’s two largest private prison companies that control a combined 75 percent of the for-profit prison market in the United States – announced that they had each completed preliminary plans to convert their corporate structure to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

REITs are designed for companies that primarily invest in and generate revenue from real estate holdings, such as hotel chains; like other publicly-held corporations they trade on the stock market. There are special tax advantages for REITs, which generally pay no income tax. They also must distribute at least 90 percent of their income to shareholders in the form of dividends.

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