Our Voice Just Got Louder
ACU has expanded its anti-private prison crusade by allying with a diverse group that opposes for-profit prisons.
One purpose of the emerging coalition is to develop a legislative agenda aimed at devising policies that will impede the progress of cash-starved privateers like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. Another aim is to update activists on organizing campaigns, lobbying efforts and media-outreach programs that are being conducted across the nation.
Joshua Miller, a labor economist with AFSCME, says the coalition is results oriented — in effect, a foundation marked by continuous training and constant follow-through on very important issues. In its first meeting, the group targeted Puerto Rico and 24 states — including Ohio, Arizona, Nebraska and Florida — where the private-prison movement is struggling to gain a foothold. The coalition plans to blitz the legislatures in those states with anti-private prison measures.
The Corrections Criminal and Justice Coalition (CCJC), the Public Safety and Justice Coalition (PSJC) and the Florida Police Benevolent Association — groups that AFSCME has ties to — sponsored an anti-prison privatization conference in Orlando, Fla. The event brought together a broad range of other interest groups from the religious, student and law enforcement communities.
Miller says it was interesting to see big, burly, all-about-business COs swapping ideas and information with youthful and radically attired college students, and numerous other types in between. While they may not agree on all the issues, he says the participants all share the same goal: putting an end to for-profit prisons.
This grassroots endeavor builds on other major efforts made by ACU and allied groups. In May 2000, on Capitol Hill, AFSCME teamed with CCJC to lead an anti-prison-privatization forum sponsored by the Congressional Corrections Officers Caucus. In September 2000, members from the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/ AFSCME Local 11 and PSJC stormed into Nashville, Tenn., to protest a special shareholders meeting convened by CCA (ACU newsletter, Winter 2001).
