More Blows to Privateers
After four months of intense public pressure by AFSCME Local 1733 in Tennessee, the Memphis mayor and Shelby County sheriff backed off from privatizing the county jail and corrections unit, saving some 1,500 jobs. The surprise move is a major blow to Corrections Corporation of America. The top privatizer of prisons, CCA had proposed managing these facilities for $200 million a year plus cash incentives worth at least $30 million per facility.
The rejection also delivers a stunning setback to the 13-member county commission, which has been pushing for privatized management of the prison population. One commissioner — who spearheaded the county’s study of privatization — has been accused of failing to disclose receiving a $12,000 contribution from CCA during his 2002 campaign for office.
“We’re waging this battle in order to save 1,500 corrections positions,” says Dorothy Crook, director of Local 1733, which represents COs and deputy jailers. “We’re also concerned about the safety of our neighborhoods.” Adds Moses Haynes, a CO and chapter chair for the local’s corrections unit. “Once these private companies take over, they are going to start shipping in prisoners from other states. Bringing these inmates into privatized jails poses greater risks to public safety.”
With the help of the Grassroots Leadership coalition, the local picketed commission hearings and bombarded each commissioner with petitions signed by concerned citizens, ministers and students.
CCA recently suffered another setback in Tennessee: Dickson County had negotiated with CCA in 2004 for the company to build and operate a 300-inmate facility. But the commissioners opposed it. County management then tried to get around it by proposing a measure that would have allowed voters to decide if the county jail should be privatized. The commissioners blocked that, too.
CCA CRACK DOWN. In Colorado, state auditors declared last year that private prisons have been riddled with problems that allowed some sex offenders out early, contributed to a riot and may have led to two inmate deaths because prison doctors twice changed prescriptions without first examining the patients. CCA runs four of the state’s private prisons. As reported by the Rocky Mountain News, the auditors also alleged that operators of five private prisons broke state-contract provisions concerning deficient security, hiring, health care and even food. Moreover, the audit criticized staffing levels in private prisons as inferior to those in their public counterparts.
Lowell Ferrel, an ACU member and vice president of Council 76, welcomed the report and urged legislators to crack down on prison operators. In response, state officials pledged stricter oversight, starting with new financial penalties for private companies if they fail to satisfy contracts requirements. The state senate also killed a bill that would have increased the per diem rate for CCA in Colorado. Instead, the state’s per-inmate payment to private prisons dropped 4 percent from 2000 to 2004.
Another prison bill that would have benefited privateers recently failed in the Utah state legislature, where it earned the vigorous opposition of the Citizens Education Project and the Utah Department of Corrections. According to Patty Rich, of AFSCME Local 1004, CEP and the department publicly exposed the failures of privately run prisons.
‘WE CAN DO BETTER.’ There’s still more bad news for privateers. Last year, Connecticut gave up on a plan to have a private company run a drug treatment and vocational training facility for female inmates. “We are absolutely thrilled that it remains under our control, and that our skilled people are going to run that pre-release facility,” says Wayne Meyers, former president of Local 1565 (Council 4), which has 2,500 members. “It was the beginning of privatization, and I think we can do it better and cheaper on an even playing field.” Concerns were raised about CCA’s lobbying efforts and its campaign contributions to former Gov. John Rowland (R), who championed privatization. (Rowland was forced to resign due to revelations that he had accepted gifts from companies and individuals that do business with the state. Council 4 and other unions mounted an effective campaign not only to end Rowland’s career but to get a state law passed banning privatization for up to four years.)
