"a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions"-Judge

[RandomGuy]

The march to privatization of things that should be done by the government, on the theory that the private sector will ALWAYS do it better continues.

Sacrificed on the altar this time are the mentally ill.

Private gains, public pains


In June 2011 staff at the South Florida State Hospital began to worry Luis Santana, who'd long battled mental illness, had slipped into another psychotic episode, writing in reports that Santana was "pacing, restless, repeatedly flushing the toilet." Some hours later hospital staff put Santana, pumped with six powerful psychiatric meds, into a hot bath.

Staff later discovered Santana's dead body in the scalding water, the skin "sloughing" off his face. That's according to an investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families last year into Santana's and two other questionable deaths at the 335-bed facility operated by the GEO Care, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the private prison corporation GEO Group.

This summer, just as the Associated Press first reported on the three gruesome deaths at GEO's South Florida psychiatric hospital, GEO was ramping up efforts to take over management of a similar facility in Texas. In a quiet, largely overlooked budget rider last session the Legislature told Texas Department of State Health Services to seek bids from private companies to run one of Texas' public psychiatric hospitals — the caveat being the company could somehow run the facility at 10 percent below what Texas currently spends, all while managing to eke out a profit.

Only GEO responded to the bid, and according to those with knowledge of the proposal GEO has its eyes on the Kerrville State Hospital, where courts every year send hundreds of incarcerated criminal defendants declared incompetent and unable to participate in their own defense, so-called "forensic commitments."

As DSHS reviews GEO's proposal — the agency's set to deliver its findings and recommendation to the Governor's office and the Legislative Budget Board this month — advocates, government watchdogs, and mental health care providers bemoan the prospect of turning Kerrville over to GEO.


...

Still this year a Justice Department investigation into GEO's Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi concluded GEO officials turned a blind eye to sexual misconduct by staff with young inmates while also ignoring medical needs and suicidal behavior. In April a federal judge wrote the youth prison "has allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate, the sum of which places the offenders at substantial ongoing risk." GEO didn't attempt to renew its Walnut Grove facility contract or two others at Mississippi jails.

Watchdog groups worry GEO will continue to work its political connections to score another contract here. Stephen Anfinson, who headed the Kerrville facility until 2011, began working for GEO shortly after leaving the facility to oversee GEO's psych hospitals. Government watchdog groups like Public Citizen have complained Anfinson's insider knowledge of the facility gives GEO unfair advantage.

With the state currently spending about $27 million to run the Kerrville hospital each year, a contract for GEO could be lucrative. The 202-bed facility is almost always at capacity thanks to the mentally ill defenders that clog our criminal justice system. Meanwhile, many doubt GEO could maintain Kerrville's standard of care while spending 10 percent less and make a profit without cutting corners. "We already have the lowest-cost mental health care system here in Texas," said Leon Evans, president and CEO of the Center for Health Care Services in San Antonio. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Texas spends less per capita on mental health care funding than any other state.


You probably should read the rest of the article, but it isn't for the squeamish.

http://prod-admin1.scranton.atex.cniweb.net:8080/preview/www/2.2349/2.2255/2.2224/1.1378691

Private prisons and mental health facilities lack accountability and transparency.

This is the cost of allowing right-wing ideologues to set public policy without holding them to providing data to support their assertions, IMO.

We go along with this stuff, because it sounds good to pay less in taxes, but never quite want to think what human costs are incurred when we squeeze the edges for savings on care for the vulnerable.

[boutons_deux]

Same privatized re-entry facilities for ex-convicts in NJ.

As Escapees Stream Out, a Penal Business Thrives

A company with deep ties to Gov. Chris Christie dominates New Jersey’s system of large halfway houses. There has been little state oversight, despite widespread problems, The New York Times found.

At the heart of the system is a company with deep connections to politicians of both parties, most notably Gov. Chris Christie.

Many of these halfway houses are as big as prisons, with several hundred beds, and bear little resemblance to the neighborhood halfway houses of the past, where small groups of low-level offenders were sent to straighten up.

New Jersey officials have called these large facilities an innovative example of privatization and have promoted the approach all the way to the Obama White House.

Yet with little oversight, the state’s halfway houses have mutated into a shadow corrections network, where drugs, gang activity and violence, including sexual assaults, often go unchecked, according to a 10-month investigation by The New York Times.

Perhaps the most unsettling sign of the chaos within is inmates’ ease in getting out.

Since 2005, roughly 5,100 inmates have escaped from the state’s privately run halfway houses, including at least 1,300 in the 29 months since Governor Christie took office, according to an analysis by The Times.

Some inmates left through the back, side or emergency doors of halfway houses, or through smoking areas, state records show. Others placed dummies in their beds as decoys, or fled while being returned to prison for violating halfway houses’ rules. Many had permission to go on work-release programs but then did not return.

While these halfway houses often resemble traditional correctional institutions, they have much less security. There are no correction officers, and workers are not allowed to restrain inmates who try to leave or to locate those who do not come back from work release, the most common form of escape. The halfway houses’ only recourse is to alert the authorities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/nyregion/in-new-jersey-halfway-houses-escapees-stream-out-as-a-penal-business-thrives.html?pagewanted=all

As with all for-profit companies, the basic capitalistic premise: the shittiest possible product for the highest possible price.

[Winehole23]

http://www.mentalhealth4inmates.org/docudepot/T%20R%20%20et%20al%20%20v%20%20SCDC%20final%20orde r%20and%20judgment%20for%20Plaintiffs%20%28Richlan d%29%2001-08-14.pdf

[Winehole23]

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/08/3137621/incarcerated-death-mentally-abused-neglected-humiliated-south-carolinas-prisons/

[boutons_deux]

more abuse of prisoners

Boys in Custody and the Women Who Abuse Them

The Justice Department released its second report (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/709100-svjfry12-emb-052813) last month (http://www.propublica.org/article/rape-and-other-sexual-violence-prevalent-in-juvenile-justice-system), and this time researchers surveyed more than 8,700 juveniles housed in 326 facilities across the country. In all, the facilities house more than 18,000 juveniles, representing about one quarter of the nation’s total number of youngsters living in detention centers.

Drawing on their sample, Justice Department researchers estimate that 1,390 juveniles in the facilities they examined have experienced sex abuse at the hands of the staff supervising them, a rate of nearly 8 percent (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/709100-svjfry12-emb-052813#document/p4). Twenty percent who said they were victimized by staff said it happened on more than 10 occasions (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/709100-svjfry12-emb-052813#document/p24). Nine out of 10 victims were males (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/709100-svjfry12-emb-052813#document/p23) abused by female staff.

Nearly two-thirds (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/709100-svjfry12-emb-052813#document/p25) of the abused youngsters said that the officials lured them into sexual relationships by giving them special treatment, treating them like a favorite, giving gifts and pictures.

Twenty-one percent said staff gave them drugs or alcohol (http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/709100-svjfry12-emb-052813#document/p24) in exchange for sex.

http://www.propublica.org/article/boys-in-custody-and-the-women-who-abuse-them

[angrydude]

It's almost like the government shouldn't support them with tax breaks, subsidies, and laws that incarcerate more and more people which makes running private prisons profitable.

Oh wait, they only do that because the local governments are broke (because of their savy business acumen no doubt) and there's resistance to using tax payer money to build more prisons.

It's almost like the government itself has been creating the conditions which allows these things to thrive and doesn't give two shits about proper oversight. win win from its point of view.

When you subsidize something you get more of it. Kinda obvious. The government clearly wants more people in prison. Land of the FREE!

Sorry, I forgot America is fascist now. Hell, lets lump this problem in with all other forms of privatization and blame free market capitalism. This is a clear indication of a market failure. The free market is so cruel. The government should step in and intervene to fix this terrible problem it totally didn't cause. That's where we're going with this isn't it?

Better yet we should take all of the generic rich white businessman who's lust for profits is causing this and throw him in the jail he was running because we all know its all his fault. .

[RandomGuy]

It's almost like the government shouldn't support them with tax breaks, subsidies, and laws that incarcerate more and more people which makes running private prisons profitable.

Oh wait, they only do that because the local governments are broke (because of their savy business acumen no doubt) and there's resistance to using tax payer money to build more prisons.

It's almost like the government itself has been creating the conditions which allows these things to thrive and doesn't give two shits about proper oversight. win win from its point of view.

When you subsidize something you get more of it. Kinda obvious. The government clearly wants more people in prison. Land of the FREE!

Sorry, I forgot America is fascist now. Hell, lets lump this problem in with all other forms of privatization and blame free market capitalism. This is a clear indication of a market failure. The free market is so cruel. The government should step in and intervene to fix this terrible problem it totally didn't cause. That's where we're going with this isn't it?

Better yet we should take all of the generic rich white businessman who's lust for profits is causing this and throw him in the jail he was running because we all know its all his fault. .

I think you have the crux of the problem right there.

Some things are better done by private enterprise, some by the government. One has to be very, very careful about how you structure incentives and put some solid thinking into what those incentives will encourage.

As I said in the OP, you have to have data and evidence to make good decisions. Taking something on faith is a poor way to go about anything.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

It's almost like the government shouldn't support them with tax breaks, subsidies, and laws that incarcerate more and more people which makes running private prisons profitable.

Oh wait, they only do that because the local governments are broke (because of their savy business acumen no doubt) and there's resistance to using tax payer money to build more prisons.

It's almost like the government itself has been creating the conditions which allows these things to thrive and doesn't give two shits about proper oversight. win win from its point of view.

When you subsidize something you get more of it. Kinda obvious. The government clearly wants more people in prison. Land of the FREE!

Sorry, I forgot America is fascist now. Hell, lets lump this problem in with all other forms of privatization and blame free market capitalism. This is a clear indication of a market failure. The free market is so cruel. The government should step in and intervene to fix this terrible problem it totally didn't cause. That's where we're going with this isn't it?

Better yet we should take all of the generic rich white businessman who's lust for profits is causing this and throw him in the jail he was running because we all know its all his fault. .

lol this nonsensical rant because you have no response to the fact private prisons are a libertarian utopia gone wrong

[resistanze]

lol this nonsensical rant because you have no response to the fact private prisons are a libertarian utopia gone wrong

Molesting the prisoners is the punishment! you see!

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Molesting the prisoners is the punishment! you see!

:cry but ma private prisons are an example of big government! The government is too BIG, and that's why it's controlled by private sector lobbyists! A weak, less powerful government is a lot harder to corrupt! :cry

[RandomGuy]

A weak, less powerful government is a lot harder to corrupt! :cry

Tell that to Columbia, or any other troubled narco-state. Or, for that matter, any resource laden developing country.

Fail.

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Tell that to Columbia, or any other troubled narco-state. Or, for that matter, any resource laden developing country.

Fail.

jesus christ, was my sarcasm not totally obvious?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

jesus christ, was my sarcasm not totally obvious?

You really should use the blue font, mang. When people are passionate about things, they tend to bull on ahead unless its explicit.

[RandomGuy]

jesus christ, was my sarcasm not totally obvious?

Sorry man, written words lack a lot of subtext.

No, it was not obvious, to me at least.

[ElNono]

Tell that to Columbia, or any other troubled narco-state. Or, for that matter, any resource laden developing country.

Fail.

It's Colombia...

[boutons_deux]

Guards May Be Responsible for Half of Prison Sexual Assaults


A new Justice Department study (http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4881) shows that allegations of sex abuse in the nation’s prisons and jails are increasing — with correctional officers responsible for half of it — but prosecution is still extremely rare.

The report, released today by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, takes data collected by correctional administrators representing all of the nation’s federal and state prisons as well as many county jails. It shows that administrators logged more than 8,000 reports of abuse to their overseers each year between 2009 and 2011, up 11 percent from the department’s previous report (http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2204), which covered 2007 and 2008.

It’s not clear whether the increase is the result of better reporting or represents an actual rise in the number of incidents.

Allen Beck, the Justice Department statistician who authored the reports, told ProPublica that abuse allegations might be increasing because of growing awareness of the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act.

“It’s a matter of speculation, but certainly there’s been a considerable effort to inform staff about the dangers of sexual misconduct, so we could be seeing the impact of that,” said Beck.

The survey also shows a growing proportion of the allegations have been dismissed by prison officials as “unfounded” or “unsubstantiated.” Only about 10 percent are substantiated by an investigation.

But even in the rare cases where there is enough evidence to prove that sexual abuse occurred, and that a correctional officer is responsible for it, the perpetrator rarely faces prosecution. While most prison staff shown to be involved in sexual misconduct lost their jobs, fewer than half were referred for prosecution, and only 1 percent ultimately got convicted.

http://www.propublica.org/article/guards-may-be-responsible-for-half-of-prison-sexual-assaults?utm_source=et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter

[The Reckoning]

Tell that to Columbia, or any other troubled narco-state. Or, for that matter, any resource laden developing country.

Fail.


Colombia?

[boutons_deux]

How Private Probation Companies Make Money From the Those They Trap in the Justice System


Governments still award services to companies with moneyed interest in jailing ever more people.

The judge ordered that she be put on probation. But instead of county probation, Conner was assigned a private probation company supposed to mimic normal court probabation: meet with her once a month through a probation officer, collect payments and confirm her work and address. In the end, the company sapped Conner of well over the original amount of the fine, and even dangled an arrest warrant over her head when it erroneously claimed she had missed a payment.

Conner was lucky. She knew someone at the Southern Center for Human Rights who helped her escape the trap the correctional corporation tried to put her in. Yet for hundreds of thousands of others on probation through a private company, the experience routinely entails prolonged harassment, indebtedness and even imprisonment—and sometimes all with the blessing of a judge.

To be ensnared in America’s system of mass incarceration is to be in prison, on parole, or on probation. In 2012 1 in every 35 American adults (http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus12.pdf) was trapped in the criminal justice system.

The surging number of people whose lives necessitate constant surveillance and management has exploded the coffers of state and federal budgets, and rather than reform heavy-handed laws to ease this burden on public funds, elected leaders have contracted incarceration services out to companies with a moneyed interest in jailing more Americans.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/how-private-probation-companies-make-money-americans-they-trap-criminal-justice?akid=11448.187590.5yRcJE&rd=1&src=newsletter951969&t=7#

[RandomGuy]

How Private Probation Companies Make Money From the Those They Trap in the Justice System


Governments still award services to companies with moneyed interest in jailing ever more people.

The judge ordered that she be put on probation. But instead of county probation, Conner was assigned a private probation company supposed to mimic normal court probabation: meet with her once a month through a probation officer, collect payments and confirm her work and address. In the end, the company sapped Conner of well over the original amount of the fine, and even dangled an arrest warrant over her head when it erroneously claimed she had missed a payment.

Conner was lucky. She knew someone at the Southern Center for Human Rights who helped her escape the trap the correctional corporation tried to put her in. Yet for hundreds of thousands of others on probation through a private company, the experience routinely entails prolonged harassment, indebtedness and even imprisonment—and sometimes all with the blessing of a judge.

To be ensnared in America’s system of mass incarceration is to be in prison, on parole, or on probation. In 2012 1 in every 35 American adults (http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus12.pdf) was trapped in the criminal justice system.

The surging number of people whose lives necessitate constant surveillance and management has exploded the coffers of state and federal budgets, and rather than reform heavy-handed laws to ease this burden on public funds, elected leaders have contracted incarceration services out to companies with a moneyed interest in jailing more Americans.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/how-private-probation-companies-make-money-americans-they-trap-criminal-justice?akid=11448.187590.5yRcJE&rd=1&src=newsletter951969&t=7#

This is fairly representative of the unintended consequences of "free market" principles applied to things that the free market should have nothing to do with, and the corrosive effect of moneyed interests on our political system.

You should find some recent peices on the bail bond industry.

We are becoming a nation of slaves, but it will not be to the government as the right seems to fear most, it will be to private interests.

[RandomGuy]

It's Colombia...

Ah. Apalogies.


;)

Stoopid english phonetics.

[boutons_deux]

This is fairly representative of the unintended consequences of "free market" principles applied to things that the free market should have nothing to do with, and the corrosive effect of moneyed interests on our political system.

You should find some recent peices on the bail bond industry.

We are becoming a nation of slaves, but it will not be to the government as the right seems to fear most, it will be to private interests.

the Fox watching ignorant right-wingers fear/hate "govt", but they don't realize that govt has been captured, is controlled by corporations the right-wingers falsely adore a "free market". Repugs know exactly WTF is going on, and how they + Fox + VRWC keep their ignorant, stupid base ignorant and stupid enough to keep them voting Repug.

USA is already a rentier capitalism nation, has been a long time, and it's getting worse.

[boutons_deux]

Alabama Looked The Other Way As Prison Staff Habitually Raped Women, Demanded Sexual Favors, DOJ Finds (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/28/3211551/horrifying-sex-crimes-alabama-womens-prison/)

For the past two decades, female inmates in Alabama’s Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women have been subjected to atrocious acts of sexual abuse – and the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) did nothing about it.

A Department of Justice report (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/January/14-crt-061.html) has found that the state’s rampant abuse (http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/documents/tutwiler_findings_1-17-14.pdf) violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and calls on Gov. Robert Bentley (R) to make immediate changes or face a lawsuit.

“Tutwiler has a history of unabated staff-on-prisoner sexual abuse and harassment,” the report said. “The women at Tutwiler universally fear for their safety. They live in a sexualized
environment with repeated and open sexual behavior…”

After interviewing “administrative staff, security staff, medical and mental health staff, facilities” and reviewing internal policies and instructional content, the DOJ concluded that the maximum-security facility grossly violates prisoners’ rights, by inflicting physical and mental harm. Staff members habitually rape and sodomize inmates, women are also called derogatory names, and are often watched while they shower or dress. In many cases, women provide sexual favors in order to escape punishment. Staff members also withhold privileges and personal items, including clothing and hygiene products, unless the inmates perform sexual acts. For instance:

…Officer B solicits and receives oral sex from prisoners in exchange for gifts or new uniforms and underwear. He has a reputation for being aggressive and threatening, and one prisoner described him as a “sexual predator.” In 2012 and 2013, several women reported that he touches prisoners inappropriately, licks his lips at them, and watches them shower at the Tutwiler Annex.


Altogether, 36 percent of all staff members were involved in some form of sexual abuse, creating a “toxic environment.” Of 223 letters from prisoners, 25 percent of them described sexual misconduct, and 55 percent mentioned “vile and degrading language directed at prisoners.” Nevertheless inmates are hesitant to report the systemic abuse because of backlash for filing complaints. In cases when women did speak up, they “were placed in segregation with limited or no access to a telephone, visitors, or programs for an extended time period,” forced to undergo polygraph tests to determine if they were lying, and “verbally harassed” by staff members.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/28/3211551/horrifying-sex-crimes-alabama-womens-prison/

[RandomGuy]

Speaking of conservative policy failures...

[boutons_deux]

here's another way how privatization works:

Millions Spent Lobbying By Private Prison Corporations To Keep A Quota Of Arrested Immigrants, Report Says (http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/04/16/3647407/immigrant-detention-private-prison-11-million-lobbying/)

Private prison corporations spent $11 million over six years to lobby Congress to keep immigrants in detention centers, a new report (http://grassrootsleadership.org/blog/2015/04/key-takeaways-new-report-private-prison-payoff-immigrant-detention-quota) released Wednesday found. The Grassroots Leadership report, Payoff: How Congress Ensures Private Prison Profit with an Immigrant Detention Quota (http://grassrootsleadership.org/reports/payoff-how-congress-ensures-private-prison-profit-immigrant-detention-quota#1), found that lobbying efforts of the two largest private prison corporations have made them the main beneficiaries of aggressive immigration detention policies. For-profit family detention centers have come under scrutiny in recent times as migrant women renewed (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/14/detention-center-hunger-strike_n_7064532.html) a hunger strike (http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/04/05/3642880/karnes-hunger-strike/) this week in Texas, demanding that they be released on bond with their children.

Since 2007 (http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/apr/06/us-government-holding-fewer-immigrants-detention/), Congress has approved federal funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to detain at least 33,400 people (increased to 34,000 in 2014) per day in detention facilities.

Provisions in this budget have long been referred to as an “immigrant detention quota” and “bed mandate” on the rationale that they require a certain number of immigrants be detained at any given time.

Last year, about 33,000 immigrants (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1698218-ice-detainee-populatin-by-fiscal-year.html) were held on a daily basis. “Defenders of the bed mandate say it remains a useful tool to compel ICE to devote the maximum amount of resources to catching and deporting illegal migrants and foreign-born legal residents who commit crimes, including dangerous gang members, rapists and other violent felons,” the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/controversial-quota-drives-immigration-detention-boom/2013/10/13/09bb689e-214c-11e3-ad1a-1a919f2ed890_story.html)reported in 2013. A record number of immigrants have been kept in detention, but the majority are not violent offenders.

When ICE released more than 2,000 detainees (http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/apr/06/us-government-holding-fewer-immigrants-detention/) in 2013 to save money, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas wrote a letter to then ICE director John Morton (http://homeland.house.gov/press-release/chairman-mccaul-demands-answers-ice-detainee-releases) stating that ICE was “in clear violation of statute” for not maintaining all 34,000 bed spaces with immigrant detainees. Morton indicated that a continuing resolution funded ICE to “maintain an average daily population of approximately 34,000 individuals (http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/04/16/3647407/immigrant-detention-private-prison-11-million-lobbying/yearly).”

But DHS Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson (http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/03/12/3391911/jeh-johnson-bed-mandate-quota/) insisted during a House Appropriations Committee hearing last year that the quota wasn’t mandatory and that ICE should only “maintain the capability” for 34,000 beds, some of which “might be empty at any given time.”

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) contended at the time that the DHS should fill all the beds and enforcement officials do not have the authority to use discretion because they must “enforce the law as it is written.”

In a possible sign that Johnson’s statement may signal a change (http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/apr/06/us-government-holding-fewer-immigrants-detention/) in the interpretation of the statute, the daily detainee population for the first five months of 2015 dropped to around 26,000.

http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/04/16/3647407/immigrant-detention-private-prison-11-million-lobbying/

:lol Go Repugs, shovel taxpayer $Bs to for-profit corporations! :lol

[boutons_deux]

We know how the police deal with mentally ill: they beat the fuck out them, tase them, and shoot them.

American Civilization is "civilized"? :lol