What's Hot Archive
Deal reached for new state prison State corrections officials and a court-appointed overseer of prison healthcare have agreed to build a new 1,733-bed facility for sick and mentally ill inmates at an estimated cost of $1.1 billion. The deal, announced today, appears to end a long-running standoff between state officials and the receiver, J. Clark Kelso, who was appointed by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson to improve medical care for inmates. 2009 AFSCME Public Safety Congress The second joint congress of corrections employees and law enforcement officers will be held on November 13-15 in Las Vegas, NV. For more information, a registration/housing form and a "save the date" flyer, download this PDF. ACU News Fall 2009 Read about VMOs organizing in Colorado, the status of public safety collective bargaining legislation, and get the latest on cutbacks in the Fall issue of AFSCME Corrections United News. AFSCME Local 2968: Fighting the Good Fight AFSCME Corrections Officer Jeff Arsenault and Local 2968 were singled out recently by the Maine AFL-CIO for their efforts to win passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. What Will The Budget Crisis Ultimately Mean? With more than one in every one hundred adult Americans in jail or prison, the cost to state governments is nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government. The recession creates competition for money spent in the criminal justice system. Staffing levels are being reduced, programs are impacted, and staff training is limited.  Connecticut: Appropriations Committee Approves NP-4 Corrections Arbitration Award Council 4 won a major victory Jan. 30 in advancing a much deserved pay raise for state correction employees. The General Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 34-14 to table the correction employee arbitrated award resolution, effectively passing it at this stage of the process. If the State Senate and House do not reject the award (by a two thirds margin) by the end of the day on February 13, it will become law. Texas: GEO riot finally under control A riot at a Texas detention center was ended Sunday. One prison building was heavily damaged, and about 700 inmates were going to spend the night in tents, authorities said. The disturbance began Saturday at the Reeves County Detention Center near Pecos in west Texas, and hundreds of inmates continued rioting overnight in the second such incident at the facility in less than two months...The prison is a 2,400-bed, low-security facility, operated by Geo Group Inc. It houses federal prisoners as well as inmates from other states. Corrections funds vanish in Madoff scandal The $50 billion Ponzi scheme that Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff is accused of orchestrating has stunned many state corrections officials — and not simply because of the magnitude of the alleged crime. Among the funds lost in the scandal, it has emerged, were millions of dollars earmarked for corrections-related projects in the states, ranging from post-conviction DNA testing for inmates in Texas to housing assistance for ex-convicts in Kansas... Lawsuit on Pontiac prison closure 'indefinitely postponed' One of a handful of lawsuits over the proposed closure of Pontiac Correctional Center has been “indefinitely postponed” because the legal battle over the prison’s fate has moved to other fronts. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and its allies sued top state and Department of Corrections officials in September. The plaintiffs argued the state cannot close the prison because the 2008-09 state budget contains money for the prison. “Either side could revisit the case if they wish, but all of the parties involved agreed to postpone it indefinitely,” said AFSCME Council 31 spokesman Anders Lindall. Protecting Public Safety During a Budget Crisis: Managing Corrections The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices held the first in a series of webcasts on strategies aimed at maintaining public safety while reducing corrections expenditures. The current economic crisis is forcing governors to take dramatic steps to balance state budgets in nearly all categories by laying off employees, cutting services, reducing overtime, and eliminating capital expenditures. While making across-the-board budget cuts presents many difficult decisions, the challenges associated with making deep cuts to corrections is particularly daunting considering the potential for disastrous public safety outcomes. This webcast provided an overview of how state corrections leaders are responding to this important and complex issue and will feature a panel of experts  Hundreds Rally to Save Illinois Prison Council 31 members and supporters of Pontiac Correctional Center marched on the Capitol in Springfield to demand that Gov. Rod Blagojevich stop a plan by the Illinois Department of Corrections to shutter the maximum-security prison. Legislation, lawsuits seek to shine light on private prisons A bill before Congress would extend the Freedom of Information Act to require private prisons contracted by the federal government to release records under the same standards as federal prisons. The Private Prison Information Act of 2007 (H.R. 1889), introduced by Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa., would require private prisons and other correctional facilities under contract with federal agencies to house federal prisoners to make their records accessible under the same FOIA requirements that govern federal prisons. New law regulates private prisons in Colorado Under a new law approved by the Colorado Legislature and signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, the Colorado Dept. of Corrections will be able to withhold inmate per diem money if a private prison doesn't comply with conditions of its contract.The measure, detailed in HB1363, allows the DOC to negotiate as part of its annual contracts with private prison companies what per diem rate it will pay, and how much extra it can give up to a maximum rate set by the Legislature each year.Currently, that rate is $52.69 per inmate a day, but is set to increase 4.25 percent next year, bringing that per diem to $54.90 a day. Prisons for Profit Source: PBS NOW, May 9, 2008. Corporations are running many Americans prisons, but will they put profits before prisoners? A grim new statistic: One in every hundred Americans is now locked behind bars. As the prison population grows faster than the government can build prisons, private companies see an opportunity for profit. Waupun correctional officer earns national recognition Correctional Sergeant Dan Meehan of the Waupun Correctional Institution has been named the national Correctional Officer of the Year by AFSCME International in Washington, D.C. Meehan has been employed as a correctional officer for more than two decades. During his tenure, the Waupun man has mentored hundreds of young officers beginning their career in the dangerous but rewarding field of corrections...As president of AFSCME Council 18 at WCI, Meehan has helped to negotiate his membership through a historic state budget battle this year. ... Nationwide, AFSCME represents 67,000 corrections officers and 23,000 corrections employees. Tennessee: Murderer “accidentally” released from CCA prison An inmate convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison has been released, but it wasn't on purpose. Edgar Bailey Jr., 35, of Alpharetta, Ga., is on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Top 10 Most Wanted List after a clerical error allowed Bailey to leave the Wayne County facility where he was being held, said Dorinda Carter, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction. Carter said Bailey was "inadvertently released" from South Central Correctional Facility, a Corrections Corporation of America prison in Clifton, Tenn., on April 22. Authorities were notified of his absence on Thursday. A Call to Action on Wisconsin's "John Doe" Law Under Wisconsin's "John Doe" law, anyone who believes a crime has been committed may go to a judge to ask for an investigation of the complaint. Inmates have discovered that they can use this law to harass correctional officers...The failure of Republicans and Democrats to deliver bipartisan compromise on John Doe reform up to this point could result in more John Doe complaints filed against correctional staff. The three AFSCME councils in Wisconsin are putting pressure on legislators to deliver a bill that fixes the John Doe statute.
In a recent related action, AFSCME Council 40 convention delegates passed the hat and donated $790 to help defray significant legal expenses incurred by state correctional officers falsely accused of abuse under the "John Doe" law. Scrutiny for a Bush Judicial Nominee Political connections, though, may not be enough to get Gus Puryear IV a lifetime post as a federal district judge in Tennessee. Puryear recently confronted tough questions about his conduct, experience and potential conflicts of interest from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which must approve him before a full Senate vote. Now, a former CCA manager tells TIME that Puryear oversaw a reporting system in which accounts of major, sometimes violent prison disturbances and other significant events were often masked or minimized in accounts provided to government agencies with oversight over prison contracts. Also see MTV video on Puryear: http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF0098A11400170098DC7C/ Everyone agrees: Chaotic youth prison needs help ... The home to 294 of Ohio's oldest and worst juvenile offenders is out of control amid violent assaults, gang activity and a shortage of guards, critics suggest. The numbers last year -- 316 youth-on-youth assaults and 188 youth-on-staff assaults -- escalated by a third from 2006. ... Outnumbered, overworked and undertrained juvenile-correctional officers are afraid of the "boys." Half of those confined are adults doing time for violent crime...The unionized juvenile-correctional officers, represented by the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, think they are being made scapegoats and are beginning to suffer from administrators' "hands-off" policy toward youth. State tries to hold back files of guards More than 18 months after Corrections Officer David McGuinn was fatally stabbed, corrupt activities behind the walls of a Jessup prison that led veteran officers to call it the "House of Corruption" are complicating the state's efforts to send two inmates to the death chamber for the crime...Patrick Moran, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 92, said the union's members don't like corruption any more than administrators. "No one has an interest in seeing that type of person in the workplace," Moran said. State runs out of money to fix prison vehicles The state prison system has apparently run out of money to make routine repairs to its fleet of vehicles....Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, said not repairing vehicles could create safety problems for prison workers. "Here we have another example of the department not having funds to pay for maintenance of their vehicles," Lindall. States adopt Missouri youth justice model As states grapple with spiraling prison costs and reports of abuse in juvenile lock-ups, many are trying to recreate a successful Missouri program that boasts one of the lowest repeat-offender rates in the country....In the last three years, lawmakers and other officials from at least 30 states have visited the Missouri facilities, and several are taking steps to adopt the system. Governor wants to open long-shuttered prison Gov. Rod Blagojevich has proposed the state begin opening the maximum security wing of Thomson Correctional Center, which has gone mostly unused since being built in 2001. The long-awaited opening could be coming while the state plans to close part of the maximum-security prison in Stateville at Joliet... A spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said Illinois prisons are already overcrowded, so the idea of closing part of one down could cause a problem. AFSCME Opposes Nomination of Gus Puryear AFSCME Letter Opposing the nomination of Gustavus A. Puryear IV for federal judgeship in a U.S. District Court in Tennessee. Mr. Puryear has been the general counsel since 2001 for Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit private prison company.
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