That Sucking Sound You Hear
The private prisons are going down the drain — undertrained, understaffed, undermanaged, undersecure, and now they’re just going under," Pres. Gerald W. McEntee told hundreds of COs attending AFSCME Corrections United’s (ACU) Fifth National Congress in Minneapolis last August.
Fighting prison privatization has become the hallmark of ACU’s existence in the last decade. The organization has used a vigorous legislative campaign to protect public facilities from privatization and to prevent lawmakers from constructing new for-profit compounds. In addition, ACU has helped pass laws that ban or regulate private prisons in several states and that prohibit corrections department officials from transferring inmates to private lockups across state lines.
Corrections Corporation of America, Wackenhut Corrections Corporation and other companies that specialize in operating private prisons are reeling from the backlash. Executives are being forced to sell facilities because they have been mismanaged — or local politicians have wised up and discovered that private prisons come with hidden costs. Some companies are on the verge of bankruptcy.
"Sisters and Brothers, the privateers are dying a timely death," said McEntee, whose words drew a standing ovation. "We will keep working together until the very last private prison is wiped out."
Two years ago, ACU took the lead and organized the Congressional Corrections Officers Caucus, a 45-person council of members of the U.S. House of Representatives whose goal is to improve the corrections profession. ACU is also a member of the Corrections and Criminal Justice Coalition.
McEntee warned that there is more work to be done. "Today in our prisons, we have a hidden crisis: not hidden from us, but from most of the public. And as long as the overcrowding, gang violence, lack of adequate security and lack of safety measures continue — as long as the public won’t really look at the problems — this crisis will grow. We in corrections cannot handle it alone."
The ACU Congress welcomed newcomers to the union family: COs from Puerto Rico, Kentucky and Missouri, locations where AFSCME has successfully pressed politicians to lift the legal barriers to collective bargaining. The union gave that priority at its first-ever organizing convention in Los Angeles last September. McEntee emphasized that "organizing isn’t just about growing bigger; it’s about growing stronger — stronger so we can fight the evils of privatization."
The organizing tempo is increasing among COs. Dozens of them have traveled to the union’s prime organizing areas to talk to workers about the benefits of union representation.
Crystal Nagle, the wife of Daniel Nagle, appeared at the ACU convention and was presented with a memorial plaque in his honor. CO3 Nagle, the father of three, was murdered two years ago while on duty at a Texas prison. As president of Local 3890 (Council 7), he championed union causes and openly criticized the state’s poorly managed prison system.
In a moving tribute, McEntee told Nagle’s widow: "We can never make right the terrible wrong that has been done, but we want you to know that your husband is an example of valor and decency that will help light the way for other corrections officers and employees."
Crystal Nagle’s message to the officers was simple and heartfelt: "Be safe, and don’t forget to tell your family that you love them whenever you go to work, because you don’t know if you’ll ever see them again."
