tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post3806679486408521886..comments2024-03-15T05:45:01.402-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Geo lobby pressure inspires Senate hearing on private prisons: What should they discuss?Gritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-27904044739682753952007-10-12T23:57:00.000-05:002007-10-12T23:57:00.000-05:00Abuse, corruption and deaths in for-profit prisons...Abuse, corruption and deaths in for-profit prisons shouldn't surprise anyone and especially not in a prison run by GEO Group. Coke County is only unrepresentative in terms of the media attention it has drawn. Look at their history in Ault and Pueblo Colorado, in Baldwin, Michigan, in Jena, Louisiana, in New Mexico to get some sense of their chronic abuse of the public trust. <BR/><BR/>Idaho had ample warnings for ten years that it had failed to monitor its exported prisoners to Texas and Louisiana, but chose to ignore them. That state failed the public, their taxpayers and the prisoners they sent through their continuing malfeasance. <BR/><BR/>Do you think GEO cares? CEO George Zoley was paid $2.67 million last year and exercised $1.7 million more in stock awards. He purchased an $8.95 million house. This May he got a stock award of about $3 million more. COO Wayne Calabrese made 2.75 million in pay and exercised stock awards in 2006.<BR/><BR/>On April 24th Arizona inmates in a GEO-operated Indiana prison rioted where the bulk of the guards were making $8 an hour.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-62508574327719306532007-10-11T17:40:00.000-05:002007-10-11T17:40:00.000-05:00The new administration is more of a problem than a...The new administration is more of a problem than a solution.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-75344347377590195732007-10-11T16:16:00.000-05:002007-10-11T16:16:00.000-05:00Great post and updates. Since the legislature rece...Great post and updates. Since the legislature recessed, Grits has been my primary source of information about the TYC saga. Jerry Madden and company keep turning over stones and finding more mess. But there is a solution, and I believe they are getting there- slowly but surely.Eddie G. Griffinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13283895629656619113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-6397387774539800472007-10-10T21:05:00.000-05:002007-10-10T21:05:00.000-05:00They should discuss why staff at their facility lo...They should discuss why staff at their facility locked youth in cells for days at a time for a period of months. Cells with no toilets, sporadic access to the restroom, irregular food and water.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-36552781587888497902007-10-10T17:44:00.000-05:002007-10-10T17:44:00.000-05:00Just a point of clarification, Bill: Friday's hea...Just a point of clarification, Bill: <BR/><BR/>Friday's hearing is not a Whitmire-Madden show. It's just a Whitmire show. The hearing on Friday is of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee (chaired by Whitmire), not the Joint Select Committee on the Operations and Management of the TYC, which Madden and Whitmire co-chair. <BR/><BR/>The committee Madden chairs, the House Corrections Committee, will also be holding a hearing on 10/17 to discuss the implementation of SB 103 (sans any senatorial influence). <BR/><BR/>AND, today the Joint Committee posted a hearing for 10/29. <BR/><BR/>It will be interesting to see how the dynamics in House Corrections will differ from that of Senate CJ or the Joint Committee.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-58940104922371201432007-10-10T15:36:00.000-05:002007-10-10T15:36:00.000-05:00One step forwardFour Steps BackwardsOne step forward<BR/><BR/><BR/>Four Steps BackwardsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-39294277766508106262007-10-10T15:34:00.000-05:002007-10-10T15:34:00.000-05:00Male TYC inmates moved to girls facility http://ww...Male TYC inmates moved to girls facility <BR/><BR/>http://www.statesman.com/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-29593258441079143262007-10-10T10:33:00.000-05:002007-10-10T10:33:00.000-05:00Bill, you might remember back in the late 90s when...Bill, you might remember back in the late 90s when Cornell simply walked out on a juvenile contract in Georgia because it was no longer profitable. They low-balled the bid and the state bit. You're right, the track record just doesn't belong to GEO, alone.tttthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12920590524803977044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-1821306051169748382007-10-10T10:27:00.000-05:002007-10-10T10:27:00.000-05:00"Unless a private prison houses county jail prison..."Unless a private prison houses county jail prisoners, there's no regulatory entity overseeing them in Texas....."<BR/><BR/>The following self-report on the Texas Jail Commission is helpful in understanding their mission:<BR/><BR/>http://www.sunset.state.tx.us/81streports/cojs/ser.pdf<BR/><BR/>Through a MOU with TDCJ, the TCJS has been hands-off regarding private prisons holding TDCJ inmates. The TCJS only regulates private prisons holding out-of-state inmates, county jails, and municipal jails operated by private contractors. TYC doesn't come into play that I can see.<BR/><BR/>The TCJS has a miniscule budget of about $1 million. This is ridiculous. I can count the number of inspectors on one hand and that's just for 250+ county jails and private prisons they now regulate. If they assume more responsibility in inspecting with an added feature of monitoring, their budget is going to have to be greatly increased.tttthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12920590524803977044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-7913841754668657482007-10-10T09:30:00.000-05:002007-10-10T09:30:00.000-05:00Someone should demand that TYC actually make an af...Someone should demand that TYC actually make an affirmative case for private facilities.<BR/><BR/>Let's see:<BR/><BR/>1. Despite claims to the contrary, they are more expensive.<BR/><BR/>2. Staff get paid less and receive fewer benefits.<BR/><BR/>3. Youth are more likely to be abused or suffer abusive conditions because of inadequate oversight.<BR/><BR/>4. A private company is first and foremost accountable to the bottom line, to its stockholders if its traded publicly, and not to the public or the youth. This is a basic conflict of interest.<BR/><BR/>5. Contrary to their self-presentation, private facilities do NOT encourage innovation. The sure thing is far more reliable when the bottom line matters first.<BR/><BR/>The historical record of privately run youth facilities is littered with Coke Counties, dating all the way back to the 1970s.<BR/><BR/>If the Whitmire-Madden committee gets one thing right, this would be a good one: put a halt, indefinitely, on further contract facilities and do some kind of an impact study on their effectiveness versus publicly run facilities.<BR/><BR/>Bill BushAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-80090468829124570122007-10-10T09:23:00.000-05:002007-10-10T09:23:00.000-05:00Said it before and will say it again. As bad as th...Said it before and will say it again. As bad as the State of Texas does with handling of Social Services it still manages to do a better job than most private contractors. Especially when there is a for profit motive in human services. <BR/><BR/>Private agencies only do a better job when a person can afford the service... However, the service providers often cow tow to those they provide service to!<BR/><BR/>Can't imagine this working well in corretions! While different, just look at how well the rich and famous do in celebrity rehabs!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-24501095591507719362007-10-10T08:08:00.000-05:002007-10-10T08:08:00.000-05:00Unfortunately, Whitmire and the rest of the Legisl...Unfortunately, Whitmire and the rest of the Legislature are part of the problem, and they have no interest in fixing the problem correctly or legally.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com