Cashing in on Crime
AFSCME corrections workers campaign to defeat unsafe, high-cost prisons.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Charging that for-profit prisons threaten public and worker safety and rip off taxpayers, the 100,000-member AFSCME Corrections United (ACU) has launched a nationwide campaign to urge legislators to keep prisons in public hands and to educate the public on the dangers of private prisons.
"We are taking the facts to our legislators and to the public," says Sgt. Gary Lonzo, president of Wisconsin Council 24 and chair of the ACU Advisory Committee. "The facts are on our side."
Members of the ACU Advisory Committee addressed reporters at a May 6, Washington, D.C., press conference to kick off the nationwide campaign. Similar events were scheduled in dozens of locations around the country. At the press conference, ACU released a report showing that for-profit prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut, which together own some 75 percent of this country’s for-profit prison beds, skimp on training, salaries, benefits and staffing — resulting in an inexperienced staff spread thin. A dangerous situation for workers, inmates and the community, say corrections workers.
"As in any profession, it takes time to learn to do your job well," Corrections Officer Curt Pinault of AFSCME Local 600 (Minnesota Council 6) told reporters. Pinault, like the other corrections workers who spoke with the press that day, serves on the ACU Advisory Commit-tee. "With high turnover, for-profit companies are constantly dealing with people who have no experience with inmates. And the low pay means they’re having a hard time finding qualified candidates. The combination means there’s a much greater chance of escalating an innocuous situation into something life-threatening."
No surprise, then, that research shows that for-profit prisons have a high number of incidents of violence, riots and inmate escapes.
"We are dedicated professionals," Corrections Officer Rich Abrahamson, president of New York Council 82, told reporters. "Our bottom line is the safety of the community, the workers and the inmates. The bottom line for these private companies is profit. And that means they’re cutting some dangerous corners."
FOOTING THE BILL. Who pays for this corner-cutting? Too often, the taxpayers.
For-profit prisons come into communities promising huge savings for taxpayers, but independent research shows no evidence that these savings ever materialize.
"For-profit prison companies talk about taxpayer savings and economic growth," Corrections Counselor Tina Turner-Morfitt, first vice president of Oregon Council 75, told reporters. "But their salaries aren’t enough to make a living — and when high turnover and poor management result in riots or escapes, it’s taxpayers who pick up the bill for repairing the facilities or capturing the inmates."
Yet CCA, which owns more than half of the for-profit inmate beds in this country, has had its overall performance rated in the top 20 percent of all stocks over the last 10 years. These profits are coming from the pockets of taxpayers.
AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee told the press, "For-profit prisons promise cost-savings, but what they deliver is cost-shifting. For-profit prisons are making crime pay, and taxpayers are paying the price."
Legislators and communities across the country seem to agree. In April, after a long battle in the state legislature, the lieutenant governor of Tennessee withdrew a bill to turn over up to 70 percent of the state’s prison system to a for-profit company. His reason: Key members of the state senate opposed the bill, saying they were skeptical that it would save much money.
