Hawai'i Prison Watch: More details on CCA prisoner abuses.

Just got the link on the following article with more details of the suit from Caroline Isaacs (CIsaacs@afsc.org), Program Manager at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Tucson, which has done extensive work in AZ around private prisons. Especially if you're in Hawai'i wondering about what's going on here, contact her. She's much more up on CCA than I am.

Any AZ communities considering a new CCA prison in their town: think again. It may not give your kids the dream jobs you think it will.

American Friends Service Committee
Arizona Area Program
103 N. Park Ave., Suite 111
Tucson, AZ 85719
520.623.9141 p
520.623.5901 f

www.afsc.org/az

----------------Great national source: Courthouse News--------------

Arizona: Brutality at CCA

http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/12/15/32607.htm

Brutality at a Private Prison

Courthouse News

December 15, 2010

Last Update: 9:05 AM PT

By PURNA NEMANI

HONOLULU (CN) - Guards at a privately run prison in Arizona stripped, beat and kicked inmates and threatened to kill them, banged their heads on tables while they were handcuffed, and "the warden himself" joined in threatening their families, 18 inmates say in state court. Then the Corrections Corporation of America and its employees, who run the prison, "deliberately destroyed and failed to preserve evidence of their wrongdoing, including videotapes," and "deliberately falsified reports," according to the complaint.

The beatings and death threats came at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Ariz., to which Hawaii sent its prisoners to be held by CCA, the nation's largest private prison company.

The inmates say CCA guards beat them to retaliate for a July 26 fight or "disturbance" in which "a lieutenant or other employee of CCA was injured."

The guards beat the plaintiffs to coerce "statements" from them, and "when plaintiffs wrote brief statements, defendants demanded that plaintiffs disclose more, and then engaged in the acts alleged herein [in] an effort to coerce further statements," the complaint states.

"Plaintiffs were beaten and assaulted, including by having their heads banged on tables while they were stripped to their underwear and while their hands were handcuffed behind their backs.

"Plaintiffs were stripped of nearly all of their clothing while being beaten, questioned, and humiliated.

"Plaintiffs were threatened with harm to themselves and their families, including through such statements as:

"a. 'We have your emergency contact information;'

"b. 'We know who your family is and where they live and we are going to harm them;'

"c. 'We are going to kill you;'

"d. 'We will continue to beat you and the only way to stop that is to commit suicide;'

"e. 'We will send you to hell;'

"f. 'We will stick something up your ass.'

"Inmates were required to get on their knees with their hands handcuffed behind their back, whereupon they were beaten by multiple officers employed by defendants.

"Inmates were kicked while on the ground. ...

"Inmates were denied prompt medical treatment for their injuries in an effort to conceal what had happened.

"Inmates were told that if they did not provide written statements, their beatings would continue.

"Beatings in fact continued for those who refused to provide statements.

"In an effort to conceal what was happening, defendants violated their own policy that a handheld camera would be used to film inmates whenever they were being handled by the SORT team.

"As a result [of] duress, force, and threats of force, some of the plaintiffs provide statements in the hope of ending their beatings.

"Inmates were told that if they told anyone what had happened, they would be killed or beaten further.

"CCA personnel, including the warden himself, threatened parents of some inmates, including with longer incarceration."

The inmates also sued Hawaii, which sent them to the prison. They say: "During many of the occurrences alleged above, defendant State of Hawaii had on site its contract monitor, John Ioane, who had actual knowledge and personally was aware of some of the above occurrences, and yet acquiesced in and permitted them to continue."

The inmates demand a protective injunction and punitive damages from CCA, Hawaii and Ioane, for assault and battery, cruel and unusual punishment, coercion and retaliation.

They are represented by Michael Jay Green and John Rapp of Honolulu.

No Private Prisons

**Please excuse cross postings.**

EXTREMELY Urgent Action Alert!!!

TELL THE GOVERNOR TO SAY “NO!” TO PRIVATIZING ARIZONA’S PRISONS.

The state legislature just sent Governor Brewer the exact same lousy budget deal she vetoed in the regular session.  Once again, this budget could privatize ALL state prison complexes, as well as medical care and food services to prisoners.  This includes the state’s only women’s facility and may extend to maximum and supermaximum security units, including death row. 

The Governor has until September 5^th to make her decision.  She needs to hear from YOU!

If this proposal goes through, it will be Arizona’s largest ever relinquishment of state control over a core government function to the for-profit sector.  No private prison corporation has ever attempted to run an entire state’s prison complexes.  Very few manage high security prisoners, and only in small numbers.  This is a risky, unproven strategy that gambles with public safety in the name of questionable returns.

If these prisons are privatized and the state abdicates its authority, this will place over 11,000 additional prisoners in the hands of for-profit corporations that have chronic histories of wasteful expenditures, contractual failures and public endangerment.

Why Arizona should SAY NO to for-profit prisons:
1.  Privatizing an entire state’s prisons would be a reckless experiment that gambles with public safety. 

No private for-profit prison corporation has ever attempted to run an entire state’s facilities.  Even Tennessee, the home state of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), refused the corporation’s bid to take over that state’s prisons.  These companies have no track record to prove that they can safely manage all the various security levels and special needs of prisoners in Arizona.  Do we really want our state to be a guinea pig for a national experiment?

Every for-profit prison corporation that would compete for these contracts has a history of serious problems, ranging from financial mismanagement, abuse scandals, riots and disturbances, and patterns of violence and abuse.  The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) found a significantly higher rate of prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in private prisons (66% more) than in public prisons.  Inmate-on-staff assaults were 49% higher in the for-profits.
For specific information regarding lawsuits, incidents, and poor management of prison facilities for each of the major corporations doing business in or with the state of Arizona for, please see the attached “Rap Sheets”or go to:  http://www.privateci.org/.
This risky, unproven strategy could prove to be a disaster for Arizona. 
2.  Private, for-profit prisons are no bargain.

Every credible, independent cost comparison study ever conducted has found that analyses of purported cost savings of private prisons in legitimate apples-to-apples comparisons, conclusively demonstrate that the for-profits cost about the same or in some cases are more expensive.

Maximus, an independent, reputable research firm, studied Arizona's prisons in 2006. It determined taxpayers were spending an estimated $1,526,289 MORE annually on two privately run prisons.

Counties and states often pick up the tab for things that private prison companies don’t provide, like mental health and medical care.  And when there are riots or escapes, it is local law enforcement that has to put out the fires, send in SWAT teams, and track down escaped prisoners—at taxpayer expense.

Giving one private corporation a monopoly over Arizona facilities gives them little incentive to cut costs.  What’s more, the proposal vetoed by Governor Brewer actually proposed to split any cost savings between the state and the private operator!  Once they take over the entire state system, the corporation would have Arizona over a barrel if the company decided to raise its rates. 

These are out of state, for-profit, publicly traded corporations that are concerned only with their bottom line, not what’s best for the people of Arizona. 

3.  Privatizing Arizona’s prisons means lower wages for prison staff, in the middle of a huge recession.

One of the ways private prison corporations cut costs is by cutting corners—primarily on staff pay and training.  Public safety is one of the few remaining employment sectors in Arizona, and privatizing these jobs would be a huge economic blow to the thousands of men and women who work in these facilities. 

That’s why the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association (the state’s prison guards union) rallied at the State Capitol Monday, July 13, to show their opposition to legislative efforts to privatize the state's prisons. Corrections officers were joined by AZCOPS leaders and union activists from CWA and AFL-CIO. 

None of the corporations in the running for these contracts is based in the state of Arizona, so all the dollars spent on administrative costs would flow out of the state into the pockets of out-of-state corporate CEO’s.

4.  Arizona legislators, including several members of the Republican leadership that brokered this deal, are in the pocket of the private prison industry.

All the major private prison corporations have numerous, highly paid lobbyists working day and night to influence our elected officials. 

These lobbyists and other private prison interests gave $77,267 to Arizona candidates during the 2002 and 2004 election cycles.  Republicans received nearly 90% of industry contributions. 

Is it any wonder that some of the biggest beneficiaries of these contributions are now the ones leading the charge to privatize Arizona’s prisons?:

RECIPIENT                                          2002                              2004
Sen. Russell Pearce (R-18)                            $880                                       $2,400
Sen. Robert Burns (R-9)                                $1,735                                    $736
Sen. Robert Waring (R-7)                              $650                                       $1,595
Sen. Thayer Verschoor (R-22)                       $0                                            $1,130
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-22)                                 $0                                            $675
Sen. Jack Harper (R-4)                                   $0                                            $625

Keep in mind, Arizona’s contribution limits are among the lowest in the country, at $270 per legislative candidate per election in 2002 and $280 in 2004.  Unfortunately, no comparable statistics were available for the 2006 or 2008 elections. 

Source:  The Institute on Money in State Politics, “Policy Lock-Down:  Prison Interests Court Political Players.”  April, 2006. http://www.privateci.org/private_pics/follow.pdf

What YOU can do….

Contact Governor Brewer TODAY and tell them to SAY NO TO PRISONS FOR PROFIT!

Governor Jan Brewer

602.542.4331 or 800.253.0883 ph, 602.542.1381 fax.  Make a comment online at:  http://azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp
 

If you can blind copy us, we will have a better idea how effective this initiative is.  If you receive responses, even boiler-plate ones, please forward those to us, if possible.

Thanks for all your continuing assistance.  Together we can stop this!

Caroline Isaacs

Program Director,

American Friends Service Committee

Arizona Area Program

103 N. Park Ave., Suite 111

Tucson, AZ  85719

520.623.9141 p/520.623.5901 f

www.afsc.org/az

Director Ryan Replies

Director Ryan sent me a very polite, sincere reply to my letter this evening, inviting me to make an appointment next week to discuss my concerns with him, and to perhaps tour one of the prisons. I must say I received this with considerable relief; I would much rather establish a relationship with dialogue, and appreciate that he was able to look past my antagonizing tone to attempt a connection. I wasn't sure if he would bother to do so. In fact, a part of me expected two shady looking fellows in suits and sunglasses to show up at my door accusing me of stalking the man and conspiring to do all sorts of benign things that have been criminalized since, well, actually since Clinton's reign.

So, for his willingness to first meet and talk, I am grateful.

I don't think I have any illusions that I might turn Director Ryan into an abolitionist, nor do I think he expects to change my fundamental orientation towards the mechanisms of crime and punishment in today's society. But there are things I don't understand about how prisons operate - and how prison administrators see their role - which could be useful insight to have, since my ignorance certainly doesn't help me. And it may be reassuring to him that for the most part he - personally - is not my target, per se. He may represent the department and be responsible for certain kinds of reforms, but I do not expect him to transform society in such a way as to make incarceration less and less necessary. That's really the job of the rest of us.

Still, I do have a wish list, which I outlined in my letter to him below. Even abolitionists sometimes support reforms - so long as they don't just serve to strengthen the prison industrial complex. Only some of it involves policies which I believe he may be in a position to implement, or at least influence. And I would be quite curious to know what his wish list is. If there is a place in which they overlap, then we will have the benefit of common ground.

Anyone with concerns you'd like me to give voice to, please email me, and I will try to raise them. Most of my attention has been directed on the women's prison, of course, but it has not escaped me that some of the men have been brawling and killing themselves of late, which I know has been terribly troubling to families and loved ones.

The full range of (non-violent) direct actions I've been considering and discussing with friends to bring attention to the number of deaths in custody and the continued - albeit modified - use of those cages are still on the table. I'm sure Director Ryan has a few options at his disposal as well, if we get too obnoxious to ignore. Still - as much as I truly enjoy good guerilla theater and clever protest - demonstrations are but one tactic, appropriate to a given time and place. I believe it will be most important to engage the community - non-confrontationally - in the kinds of tasks that can lead to changes in the way we run our schools, in how we define and respond to "crime", in the changing roles we want our police to play, and in how restorative justice and reconciliation looks at the local level - especially when it comes to the difficult issue of violence. There is so much work to be done, and if Marcia's death has accomplished nothing else, it has introduced people to each other who are willing to do it.

I don't expect that we will put Director Ryan out of a job anytime soon. I do hope he will take up the cause of expanding compassionate release for the critically ill, elderly and dying prisoners who pose no risk to society, so they might take their last breaths as free beings able to hold family in their arms. That would be assuming that Arizona is willing to make the investment in their care in the community instead of behind bars. I would also hope he'd use his influence and knowledge to dispel legislative and judicial delusions that long sentences in hell actually produce better citizens. Some good people emerge from prison not because of prison but despite it. Fundamentally it is a traumatic, oppressive, disturbing experience for most.

I also hope he will create more indoor space for prisoners to wait and recreate by working on the legislature to depopulate the prisons - not build more or just ship some folks out. Those cages are really unacceptable. And I would like to see an environment of greater transparency, one in which an independent evaluation team - like researchers with the university or advocates with the American Friends Service Committee - can go in and talk confidentially with prisoners and staff about concerns they may have.

In the meantime, perhaps this fall would be a good time for a big prison abolition conference at ASU's School of Justice and Social Inquiry (or whatever it's called by then). Anyone, near or far, who is interested in participating in or organizing that can shoot me an email - we'll need to get to work on it pretty soon.

Thanks again, Director Ryan, for extending your time and energy to offer to meet with me, knowing I may yet have more difficult questions to ask, and that there will likely be plenty of places we disagree. I hope you end up feeling that extending yourself it was worth it.