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Alabama Department of Corrections
Jun
3, 2021 al.com
Alabama
Gov. Kay Ivey says lease plan for prisons no longer an option
Gov.
Kay Ivey said today she would meet with legislative leaders to look for new
ways to build prisons after a key deadline passed in her plan to lease
privately owned prisons. At an event kicking off her reelection campaign in
Montgomery, the governor said the lease plan is no longer an option. Ivey
signed leases in February for two new men's prisons that a developer team led
by CoreCivic would build in Elmore and Escambia
counties. The Alabama Department of Corrections would lease, staff, and
operate the prisons under the plan, which has been in the works for more than
two years. The developers were responsible for financing the projects by June
1, which is listed as the financial close date on the leases. But three
investment companies backed out of the deal in April and May. Ivey said this
morning the plan expired with the passing of the date. "It is
unfortunate that the comprehensive efforts underway to resolve this issue
have proven so challenging and time-consuming; however, my commitment to
improving prison conditions is unwavering," Ivey said. "To that
end, my team and I will meet with legislative leaders again in the coming
days to review all that we have learned through this process thus far,
including the complexity and depth of the multi-faceted challenge at-hand.
Further, we will examine the options that remain on the table with CoreCivic and Alabama Prison Transformation Partners
(APTP) and explore additional/alternative options to fund the construction
and maintenance of new prison facilities." Alabama Prison Transformation
Partners is a second development team that was planning to build a prison in
Bibb County. Ivey said in February that the lease on that prison was still
under negotiations. "Alabama will not back down from this challenge, nor
will we fail," the governor said. "Anyone who is serious about
these issues understands that replacing our failing prison infrastructure
with safer, more secure facilities that accommodate the rehabilitation of
incarcerated people is essential. It is not a question of if this will
happen, but how. I look forward to continuing to work with my team, our
partners, and legislature leaders to ensure the state takes the necessary
steps to transform our correctional system and protect public safety."
Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, chairman of the House General Fund committee,
said he and others were meeting with Ivey next Wednesday. Clouse said he
expects them to explore a new alternative other than the lease plan. "I
would think we're probably going to have to start from scratch," Clouse
said. The budget chairman said lawmakers could consider a bond issue to build
prisons. He said it's possible the state could use
some of the federal funds coming to Alabama through the American Rescue Plan
to help cover the costs of new prisons or renovations. "It wouldn't be
the entire amount but could help defray some of the expense," Clouse
said. Clouse said the Legislature could take up prisons and use of the
American Rescue Plan money in a special session. The federal money must be
appropriated by lawmakers, just as they passed a bill to allocate funds from
the CARES Act last year. If lawmakers approve a bond issue, Clouse said some
of the costs of repaying the bonds could come from savings realized by
closing some of the older prisons and consolidating some services. Ivey's
plan called for closing as many as 11 of the 13 men's prisons. "I think
it would be basically the same type structure there
of consolidating facilities," Clouse said. "Saving on overtime.
Saving on transportation costs. Saving on health care costs. That type
thing." With a bond issue, Clouse said he would expect new prisons to be
built on property already owned by the ADOC, unlike with the lease plan,
under which the developer teams obtained the property. Sen. Greg Albritton,
R-Atmore, also said the American Rescue Plan money might help with the
prisons. But even if federal guidelines allow that, Albritton said that would
require a showing of political will because there will be many other ideas
about how to use the money. "There's a lot of needs out there," he
said. The ADOC had said it could pay for the leases on the three new prisons
by savings in its operational costs from closing old prisons and more
efficient staffing of new facilities. Albritton said he did not think that
would work. "If you believed that line that it was going to come out of
operational funds, you probably own the Brooklyn Bridge by now,"
Albritton said. So he said he already expected
funding new prisons would be a burden on the General Fund. "So, we
aren't dealing with anything really new here," he said. "We've
still got to improve the facilities. That's going to
take a combination of renovation and construction and we've still got to pay
for it. So, we've got to figure out the best way to
handle that. "Maybe the (federal funds) will be a part of that answer. A
bond will probably be a part of that answer. And revenue growth will be a
part of that answer." State Auditor Jim Zeigler, a critic of Ivey's plan
because of the cost and because the state would not own the prisons after the
30-year leases, pronounced the plan dead and said he would propose a
lower-cost alternative. Zeigler said his plan would include one new
mega-prison, renovations to existing prisons, an audit of the Alabama
Department of Corrections, criminal justice reforms to reduce the prison
population and other steps. "There is not a giant one-step cure-all for
the prison problems," Zeigler said in a press release. "It will
take a series of smaller, commonsense steps. That is what my plan is."
Zeigler tried to block Ivey's plan with a lawsuit
but a judge dismissed the case. What's happened,
what's next in Alabama's plan for new prisons?
May
11, 2021 al.com
Third
investment bank backs out of underwriting financing for new Alabama prisons
A
third investment bank has pulled out of a deal to underwrite the financing of
two privately owned prisons that Alabama would lease and operate. St.
Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp. has withdrawn its involvement in the bond
sale on behalf of CoreCivic, a private prison
company set to build two of Alabama’s three new prisons, Bloomberg reported.
Stifel’s backing out of the deal comes weeks after Barclays and KeyBanc
Capital Markets pulled out of underwriting the bond issue. “Stifel is no
longer engaged with CoreCivic, any conduit or the
State of Alabama regarding the financing of this project,” Joel Jeffrey,
senior vice president for investor relations, said in an email to activists
that called on the investment bank to back away from the deal, Bloomberg
reported. Activists had concerns about investment banks doing business with
for-profit prison companies, which opponents argue cut corners because they
are driven by profits and are understaffed, among other issues. In February,
Ivey announced that she had signed leases on new men’s prisons in Escambia
and Elmore counties. They would be built by a development team led by CoreCivic, a national private prison firm. At that time,
the governor’s office said the “financial close” for the deals would be on
June 1. A third prison is planned for Bibb County. It would be built by a
different development team.
May
9, 2021 wkrg.com
State
Auditor delivers “obituary for the almost-dead prison plan
THEODORE,
Ala. (WKRG) — Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler is known for sometimes
colorful, provocative, or controversial statements. This weekend that
tradition continued with what he describes as an “obituary for the
almost-dead prison plan” in Alabama. Zeigler delivered his “obituary” during
a meeting of the conservative Common Sense Campaign
in Theodore. The speech comes weeks after potential financiers of the multi-billion dollar plan to build new prisons in the state
pulled out of the project. In his remarks, Zeigler called the prison plan a
“boondoggle” or “scheme” adding in his words “The cause of death was
justifiable homicide.” The original plan would have seen the building of
three modern prison facilities, one near Atmore, Al. in Escambia County, and
one in Bibb and in Elmore Counties. It was a deal that has seen harsh
criticism, particularly from members of the legislature and the state
auditor. You can read the full “obituary” below: Obituary for Gov. Ivey’s
$3.6 Billion Prison Lease Plan By State Auditor Jim
Zeigler
The
prison lease plan birthed by Gov. Kay Ivey died in May,
2021. The plan was known by nick names of “Boondoggle” and “Scheme.” Parents
of the plan were: Mother, Kay Ivey. Co-Fathers were Jeff Dunn, Commissioner
of the so-called Department of Corrections, and Jo Bonner, the Governor’s
Chief of Staff and Acting Governor. Both of these
officials were appointed by Gov. Ivey and serve at her pleasure. The cause of
death was justifiable homicide. The plan was killed by the taxpayers of
Alabama, State Auditor Jim Zeigler, citizens living near the proposed prison
sites, and citizen action groups from the right and left. The plan was
hatched behind closed doors in 2019 and 2020. Supporters of the plan did not
involve or inform the Alabama legislature, the taxpayers, or the news media.
Beneficiaries of the plan would have been three private consortiums of
businesses, two of which were identical twins. The primary beneficiary would
have been a Tennessee company named CoreCivic. CoreCivic has a checkered track record in the private
prison business in other states. Google it. Alabama would have contracted
with the private consortiums to construct three privately-owned super-prisons
in Elmore, Bibb and Escambia Counties, Alabama. The state would have leased
the prisons from the contractors for 30 years. State taxpayers would have
paid rent starting at $96 million a year and rising to $108 million a year.
After paying out over $3.6 billion in 30 years, the state would own equity in
the prisons of ZERO. After 30 years and over $3.6 billion, the state would
have nothing to show for it. The same contractors who received the $3.6
billion would own the prisons 100%. The cost of this plan would have been
three times what it should have cost. The state could build its own prisons
using low-cost bonds for about one-third the cost of the Ivey plan. Building
and owning our own prisons is the way the state of Alabama has always built
prisons before Gov. Ivey. The plan required upfront financing of an estimated
$600 million. Alabama-based Regions Bank withdrew its credit line from CoreCivic in January. The two largest underwriters,
Barclays of London and KeyBank of Cleveland, pulled
out of the Ivey plan in April. The one remaining potential investor, Stifle,
has made no decision as to whether to recommend the risky Ivey plan to its
investors. Having no investors would stifle the plan and cause a quick death.
A memorial service was held for the prison plan May 8 at Fowl River Community
Center in south Mobile County. Arrangements were by the Common
Sense Campaign. The obituary was given by Alabama State Auditor Jim
Zeigler.
May 2, 2021 al.com
AG
Steve Marshall asks judge to dismiss Jim Zeigler lawsuit against Ivey’s
prison lease plan
Attorney
General Steve Marshall has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit filed by
State Auditor Jim Zeigler and three others that tries to block Gov. Kay
Ivey’s plan to lease new prisons. In a motion filed Friday, the attorney
general said the lawsuit was based on “strategically timed but legally
meritless claims.” Marshall asked Montgomery County Circuit Judge Greg
Griffin for a prompt hearing because of the timing. The governor signed
30-year leases for two men’s prisons on Feb. 1, and the developer is trying
to obtain financing for the projects. The developer, CoreCivic,
would finance, build and maintain the prisons and
lease them to the state, which would staff and operate them. The prisons
would be in Elmore and Escambia counties. Zeigler filed the lawsuit Tuesday,
along with state Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, Kenny Glasgow of Houston
County, a pastor and prisoner rights advocate, and Leslie Ogburn of Elmore
County, whose property adjoins the site of the prison planned in Elmore
County. They claimed the prison lease plan would violate a prohibition in the
state Constitution on creating debt for the state, among other claims. In the
motion to dismiss, lawyers for the attorney general wrote that the prison
leases will not create a debt within the meaning of the Constitution. They said
the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that leases are not state debt if the
annual payments are approved by the Legislature. They said the Supreme Court
has ruled that the state can enter lease agreements for prisons if they are
year-to-year agreements and do not obligate the state in the future for
current costs. In addition, they pointed out that the lease agreements have
been posted on the governor’s website since Feb. 1, so the plaintiffs could
have sued much sooner. They said the lawsuit, if not resolved immediately,
could disrupt efforts to finance the prisons. Zeigler has called the prisons
a “30-year mistake.” In addition to the Elmore and Escambia county prisons,
Ivey’s plan calls for a third prison in Bibb County. The total lease payments
over 30 years for all three would exceed $3 billion. “Alabama taxpayers would
pay close to $4 billion rent and have nothing to show for it,” Zeigler said
in a press release today. Ivey and the Department of the Corrections have
been working on the plan for more than two years. They say the three new
prisons are the foundation for fixing a system of overcrowded, understaffed,
and dilapidated prisons. The Department of Justice sued the state in
December, alleging the conditions in men’s prisons violate the Constitution
because of inmate-on-inmate violence, excessive use of force by staff, and
failure to provide a safe environment. The three prisons would hold a total
of 10,000 inmates and replace as many as 11 of the 13 men’s prisons operating
now. Critics of the plan say new buildings won’t
address the violence and poor supervision of prisons alleged by the Justice
Department. The lawsuit came on the heels of a setback for Ivey’s plan. Two
of the investment banks withdrew as underwriters for the CoreCivic
prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties. Ivey has said efforts are ongoing to
find a way to finance the prisons, including talks with legislators. The
General Fund budget chairmen in the Alabama House and Senate have said Ivey
should drop the lease plan. They said a bond issue approved by the
Legislature would be a better approach, partly because the state would own
the prisons and could build them on property the Department of Corrections
already owns. The Legislature did not approve prison bond issues proposed by
former Gov. Robert Bentley.
Apr 20, 2021 wisconsinexaminer.com
Alabama
prison throws spotlight on Wisconsin bonding agency
Activists
criticize state group’s role in financing planned privately owned penitentiaries
Update,
Monday, 4/19/2021, 6:10 p.m: The Wisconsin-based
Public Finance Authority announced Monday afternoon it was dropping out of
the Alabama prison transaction after Barclays and KeyBank reported earlier
Monday that they have withdrawn as underwriters for the bond issue. A group
of proposed privately owned prisons in Alabama has drawn scrutiny and
criticism of the little known Wisconsin financing
authority that is raising money for the project. Nearly three dozen activists
and investors have signed an open letter urging banks and investors not to take
part in the project’s bond offering, originally for more than $600 million,
to help finance the building of two new privately owned prisons that would be
leased back to the state of Alabama. Critics of the project in Wisconsin,
meanwhile, are asking state and local government officials to take a stand
against the transaction, and to challenge the Wisconsin-based Public Finance
Authority’s decision to help secure financing for the project. “The PFA and
the state of Wisconsin should have no part of this new golden gulag for the
private prison industry,” says Matt Nelson, the Milwaukee-based national
executive director of Presente.org, an organization of Latinx activists. On
Thursday, as bonds were to go on the market, the lead underwriter postponed
the offering and reduced it by nearly one-third its value. Bloomberg News
reported that Barclays, the United Kingdom bank underwriting the offering,
put off the sale until Monday, April 19, and lowered the dollar amount of
bonds offered to $436.2 million from the original $633.5 million figure in
the offering’s March 31 preliminary statement. Nelson welcomed the
announcement. “Barclays’ decision to delay their municipal bond sale to
finance private prisons in Alabama is a step in the right direction,” he
says. “However, we need them to live up to their commitment to stop financing
private prisons, and along with the PFA, they need to cancel the deal
altogether.” ‘Refuse to purchase…’ The delay and downsizing came a day after
a network of investors and activists announced their campaign to dissuade
potential purchasers of the bonds. Christina Hollenback,
an investment firm partner, organized the campaign, which launched with an
April 12 letter. “We strongly urge banks and investors to refuse to purchase
securities that will be offered on April 15 whose purpose is to perpetuate
mass incarceration,” the letter states. The campaign followed up with a press
announcement Wednesday, April 14. Hollenback chairs
a justice system reform project for Nexus, an organization for young
philanthropists. “As young people, we absolutely are interested in making
sure that our investments are aligned with our values,” she says. “We do not
believe that we should be expanding mass incarceration: It has been a huge
drag on our economy, it’s done enormous — it almost feels like irreparable,
to be honest — harm to Black, brown and indigenous communities. And our
generation is not going to stand for that.” Alabama’s prison system has been
the target of criticism for decades. The U.S. Department of Justice sued the
state in December 2020, accusing the state of violating the 8th Amendment
with unsafe prison conditions, including extensive violence and the excessive
use of force. The lawsuit followed a scathing report on the system in April
2019. In response to the DOJ report and subsequent lawsuit, the Alabama
Department of Corrections and Gov. Kay Ivey have embraced a plan to build
three new prisons to replace a half-dozen or more old ones that house about
half of the state’s 20,000 prisoners. Two of the facilities would be built by
CoreCivic — a private prison operator formerly
called Corrections Corp. of America — which would own the prisons and lease
them back to the state. The project has been billed as replacing dilapidated
and overcrowded prisons with new, modern facilities. Critics argue that
ignores the larger problem that too many people are in prison as well as CoreCivic’s track record. “Right now
Alabama incarcerates people at a 50% higher rate than the rest of the
country,” says Morgan Duckett, a senior at Auburn University and a leader of
Alabama Students Against Prisons, part of a coalition against the project
that includes the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law
Center. Black people account for about one-fourth of the state’s population
but more than half of its prisoners, according to the Prison Policy
Initiative, a national research and advocacy organization. Alabama’s state
auditor, Jim Zeigler, has publicly criticized the plan for adding $88 million
a year to the state’s annual $624 million prison budget, which amounts to
one-fourth of the state’s general fund spending. Over its 30-year life,
Zeigler calculated that the state would wind up paying $2.6 billion or more,
and never own the prisons. Other critics have pegged the price tag as high as
$3.2 billion. “There are no good reasons why we’re jumping into bed with
for-profit corporation CoreCivic—a company with a
record of abuse and mismanagement,” Zeigler wrote in an op-ed article
criticizing the governor’s plan. Over the objections, Alabama has gone ahead
with the project. The bonds authorized by Wisconsin-based PFA are for the two
CoreCivic facilities. As originally structured,
about $215 million of the financing was to be through a private placement,
with the remaining $633 million through taxable bonds authorized by the
Wisconsin-based PFA. With reduction in the bond amount disclosed on Thursday,
Bloomberg News reported, it wasn’t clear whether the
private placement portion of the deal would get a corresponding increase.
With Barclays as the lead underwriter, additional financing support is being
provided by KeyBanc Capital Markets and Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Proceeds
from the sale will go to CoreCivic as the borrower.
PFA entered the project after it was approached by the underwriters,
according to Andy Phillips, a lawyer with the Milwaukee firm von Briesen & Roper who is general counsel to the PFA, in
a written statement to the Wisconsin Examiner. Barclays’ involvement has
compounded criticism of the project. Two years ago, the UK bank said it would
stop financing private prisons. According to the Financial Times, Barclays
has responded that its earlier commitment “remains in place,” and that the
company is financing the prisons on behalf of the state of Alabama, which
will lease and operate them. Hollenback dismisses
that distinction. “Barclays is saying, ‘We’re just working with the state of
Alabama, and the fact that the state of Alabama is working with CoreCivic doesn’t have anything to do with us,’” she says,
paraphrasing the bank’s stance. “Well, no. It absolutely has to do with
Barclays’ investments.” In their April 12 letter, the investors and activists
opposing the project portray it as a financial
risk, charging that while building new prisons with at least 7,000 beds, the
transaction fails to address deferred maintenance and overcrowding in
Alabama’s prison system along with other infrastructure needs. The letter
also warns that investors face “reputational risk”: “By participating in this
deal, investors will be giving their imprimatur to harsh, life-threatening
incarceration and historically incompetent day-to-day management of
prisoners, as well as uplift of a historically horrific actor in CoreCivic and the private prison industry, in general,” the
letter states. Along with groups in Alabama that have organized to try to
stop the project and the investors group seeking to discourage the bond sale,
activists in Wisconsin have begun to challenge the transaction, focusing on
the role of the PFA. The PFA was created in 2010 when lobbyists for national
cities and counties organizations sought “to improve access to funding and
accelerate economic growth,” the Wall Street Journal reported in 2019,
adding: “They chose Wisconsin as the PFA’s headquarters because of the
state’s accommodating laws.” Four counties — Adams, Bayfield, Marathon and Waupaca — along with the city of Lancaster,
created the PFA after the Legislature unanimously passed a state law that
allowed for the creation of the commission. The League of Wisconsin
Municipalities, the Wisconsin Counties Association, the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties are
sponsors of the authority and collect annual payments from the PFA, according
to a 2019 Legislative Fiscal Bureau report. Through 2020, the PFA has been
involved with about 385 bond offerings, according to records posted by the
Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Its cumulative bonding has exceeded $10
billion, most of it on out-of-state projects. “The Public Finance Authority
was created by local governments, for local governments, with the goal of
providing a public-private partnership option for affordable financing of
public benefit projects, at no risk to the taxpayer, across the country,”
says Phillips, the PFA’s lawyer, in his written statement. Projects include
tax-exempt as well as taxable bond financing.
The PFA has also drawn criticism. The 2019 Wall Street Journal article
focused on reports that the authority was associated with an unusual amount
of risky debt. Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin have criticized the
authority for its involvement in out-of-state projects, and federal tax
authorities have charged some of those projects didn’t
qualify for tax-free bonds. With the prison project, Alabama activists have
questioned whether the PFA skirted its own requirements. The PFA website’s
FAQ (frequently asked questions) page includes a statement that federal tax
law as well as the authority’s founding agreement require a public hearing
and approval before the PFA will issue bonds. “That hasn’t happened,” says
Duckett, the Alabama Students Against Prisons leader. Duckett says he spoke
with a county official where one of the prisons is to be built. “He has had
no contact at all about this prison and is staunchly against it.” In his
statement to the Examiner, Phillips says that in using taxable bonds the
project was “not subject to the same public hearing requirements as a
tax-exempt project.” Phillips adds that “the PFA went beyond state or federal
requirements and sought specific approval from the State of Alabama for this
bond deal. The Governor of Alabama provided approval on this project.” Among
the arguments that opponents have made against the project, however, is the
Alabama governor’s unilateral authorization. Organizations fighting the
project are preparing to sue, citing a state law that specifies the
Department of Corrections “cannot go into a lease agreement with a private
entity without consent of the Legislature,” Duckett says. In Wisconsin, Matt
Nelson, the Presente.org director, says he and others have begun contacting
local and state lawmakers and other elected officials to raise concerns about
the prison project and PFA’s involvement. Outreach efforts could extend to
Gov. Tony Evers, activists say. The governor’s 2018 financial disclosure
report includes investments in the PFA; since he took office, however, Evers’
assets have been in a blind trust. Nelson isn’t
opposed to the PFA in concept “to finance projects that benefit economic
stability, that benefit education and infrastructure and health care,” he
says. “A private prison is not what it should be used and leveraged for.”
Apr 19, 2021 alreporter.com
Barclays
pulls out as underwriter for CoreCivic’s Alabama
prison construction deal
Barclays
had come under fire after pledging in 2019 to cut ties with private prison
companies.
Barclays
Capital and another underwriter in a deal with a private prison company to
build and lease two new prisons to Alabama have pulled out of the project
after mounting criticism.
Bloomberg
News first reported Monday that Barclays and KeyBanc Capital Markets both
pulled out as underwriters on the estimated $3 billion prison plan. A
Barclays spokesperson in a statement to APR on Monday wrote that the company
has informed CoreCivic that Barclays was pulling
out. “We have advised our client that we are no longer participating in the
transaction intended to provide financing for correctional
facilities in the State of Alabama. While our objective was to enable
the State to improve its facilities, we recognize that this is a complex and
important issue. In light of the feedback that we
have heard, we will continue to review our policies,” the spokesperson wrote.
CoreCivic spokeswoman Amanda Gilchrist in a
statement to APR on Monday said Alabama is facing a humanitarian crisis “and
we’re proceeding with efforts to help deliver desperately needed, modern
corrections infrastructure to replace dilapidated, aging facilities that
originally were designed with one purpose in mind – to warehouse individuals,
not rehabilitate returning citizens.” “Our partners in Alabama appreciate the
solutions we’re providing to help improve conditions for the incarcerated
people in their care, and they appreciate those in the investor community who
continue to support these critical infrastructure projects,” Gilchrist
continued. “The reckless and irresponsible activists who claim to represent
the interests of incarcerated people are in effect advocating for outdated
facilities, less rehabilitation space and potentially dangerous conditions
for correctional staff and inmates alike.” Barclays was underwriting CoreCivic’s push originally seeking a bond issue to raise
$634 million for Government Real Estate Solutions of Alabama Holdings LLC, a CoreCivic-owned corporation. Last week, CoreCivic tweaked bond amounts in an
effort to attract more investors but struggled to do so. The news
Monday comes after Barclays drew much criticism after making a statement in
2019 that the company would cut ties with businesses that detain immigrants
and run for-profit prisons. Numerous investors and activists signed a
letter last week encouraging investors to steer clear of the deal. “We
strongly urge banks and investors to refuse to purchase securities that will
be offered on April 15th whose purpose is to perpetuate mass incarceration,”
the letter reads. Last week, the American Sustainable Business Council
and Social Venture Circle announced that Barclays’ membership in both groups
had been revoked due to the prison project. “We abhor the hypocrisy
represented here and renounce the continued investment in the broken, unjust
system of incarceration of this country. Thousands of businesses like mine
and those represented by ASBC and SVC stand in opposition to Barclays or any
other private sector company profiting from the injustice of the U.S. prison
system,” said MaryAnne Howland, board chair of the American Sustainable
Business Council, in a press release. Monday’s news also comes after CoreCivic struggled last week to attract enough investors
in the deal. A financial expert told APR that could mean the multi-million dollar project could ultimately have higher
interest rates, which could end up costing the state more. It was unclear how
big an impact CoreCivic’s financing difficulties
will have on the project, but in Alabama the stakes are high. The U.S. Department of Justice in December
filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Alabama and the Alabama
Department of Corrections, alleging violations of inmates’ constitutional
rights to protection from prisoner-on-prisoner violence, sexual abuse and excessive force by prison guards. In
previously released reports, the Justice Department detailed systemic
problems of abuse from guards, corruption, rampant drug use, violence, overcrowding
and understaffing in Alabama’s prisons. The DOJ in those reports
states that while new prison facilities might help in some areas, new
buildings won’t fully address the state’s widespread, deadly problems in its
prisons. Previous attempts by the state Legislature to pass legislation that
would have allowed the state to borrow money to build its own prisons failed.
Ivey’s plan, for CoreCivic to build then lease
prisons back to the state circumvents the need for the state Legislature to
approve the deal. The plan hasn’t been popular with may legislators, concerned over a lack of transparency
and a price tag that continues to rise. “You kind of want to reconsider
where the plans are going if the costs are already moving in the wrong
direction before a shovel hits the ground,” Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa,
told APR last week.
Apr
17, 2021 bloomberg.com
Barclays
Kicked Out of Business Group Over Prison-Bond Work
Barclays
Plc’s membership in the American Sustainable Business Council was terminated
by the advocacy group over the bank’s decision to underwrite a municipal bond
for two Alabama prisons owned by CoreCivic Inc.,
two years after saying it would no longer provide new financing to private
prison companies. The council and partner organization Social Venture Circle,
which combined represent 250,000 businesses to advocate for responsible
practices and policies, announced Thursday they would refund Barclays’
membership dues. Barclays joined the group in 2019. Barclays is the lead
underwriter for the bonds offered through a Wisconsin agency to provide
financing for a limited liability company owned by CoreCivic.
The new prisons will be leased and staffed by Alabama’s corrections
department. Because Barclays isn’t arranging the
financing directly for CoreCivic, the bank has said
that the “commitment we made in 2019 not to finance private prison companies
remains in place.” The bonds are being issued for Government Real Estate
Solutions of Alabama Holdings LLC, an entity that’s
owned by CoreCivic. The bond deal was initially
planned to price on Thursday but has been moved to next week, according to
two pre-marketing wires viewed by Bloomberg. The bank has cut the total par
amount on the publicly offered bonds by about $200 million, the wires show. Barclays
has seen strong demand for a private placement portion, according to a person
familiar with the matter. It’s the first time the
groups have kicked out a member, David Levine, co-founder of the council,
said in an interview. The groups in a statement said they “refuse to
perpetuate mass incarceration, systemic racism, and human rights abuses
through the offering” of the bonds. “This was a big move on our part,” Levine
added. A spokesperson for Barclays declined to comment. Alabama
officials have said the deal with CoreCivic will
help it improve conditions within its prison system. The state was sued by
the U.S. Department of Justice in December 2020 for failing to protect male
prisoners from violence and unsanitary conditions. Kristi Simpson, a spokesperson
for the Alabama Department of Corrections, said in an emailed statement that
the new prisons will help provide a safer environment that will “better
accommodate inmate rehabilitation and improve the quality of life for all
those who live and work in them.” Isaac Graves, interim executive director of
Social Venture Circle, said the group wanted to signal to other financial
service providers that they shouldn’t find a
“creative way” to finance private prison companies -- which is “exactly what
they said they would not do.” While the prisons will be publicly-run, Levine
said that the structure will still advance the prison system and ultimately
profit CoreCivic. “The fact that it is owned by a
private company says it all,” he said.
Apr
6, 2021 altoday.com
Tennessee
contractor forced to go outside U.S. to finance Kay Ivey’s prison lease contracts
British
bank Barclay’s LPC will finance two prison lease contracts signed by Gov. Kay
Ivey, according to Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler. Zeigler says Barclays
agreed to raise $634 million toward the private construction of two prisons,
one in Elmore County and one in Escambia County, Alabama. Ivey signed
contracts Feb. 1 to lease the two prisons for 30 years and is expected to
sign a third contract with a different firm for a prison in Brierfield,
Alabama, in Bibb County. Zeigler, who is a vocal opponent of the prison lease
plan, says promoters of the plan “were forced to go outside the United States
because U.S. banks that do this type lending decided they would no longer
finance the private prison business.”
Two years ago, banking giants Bank of America, JPChase,
and Wells Fargo announced they would no longer finance private prisons
because of problems in the private prison business. Zeigler says the Ivey
prison lease plan is “fatally flawed and is a 30-year mistake.” “State law
limits this type of contract to one year. That means the state will
have to renegotiate the one-year contract 29 times. That is a risky way
to do business,” Zeigler said. “State taxpayers will be on the hook for rent
payments starting at $94 million a year and going up to $106 million a
year. The total rents paid over 30 years will be about $3.6
billion. At the end of that time, the state will own equity in the prisons
of exactly zero. No equity will be built at all. The state would
then have to start over with a new plan to pay for those then 30-year-old
prisons. This is a 30-year mistake,” Zeigler said. Zeigler says the
debt would be to a shell corporation totally owned by Tennessee private
prison operator CoreCivic — Government Real Estate
Solutions of Alabama Holdings LLC. The prisons would be built and maintained
by CoreCivic, but the state of Alabama would pay
the 30 years of rent plus all other expenses – staffing, food, medical,
utilities, and all other expenses. Zeigler says the Alabama Department of
Corrections has “overstepped its authority by agreeing to something that can
be done only by the state legislature.” “The Department of Corrections has
agreed to prioritize the prison lease payments above all other
obligations. Only the state legislature can legally do that.” Zeigler
says he has attorneys looking at the prison lease contracts and is
considering challenging them in court. “The Ivey administration is
moving forward daily with this flawed, costly plan. A court challenge
appears to be the only way to block it,” Zeigler said.
Sep
4, 2020 .timesfreepress.com
Alabama
governor seeks 3 private privately mega prisons, names sites
MONTGOMERY,
Ala. (AP) — Alabama's governor announced plans Thursday to move forward with
state leasing of three privately built mega prisons that would begin
construction next year, in what she described as a step toward overhauling an
understaffed and violence-plagued prison system beset by years of federal
criticism. Gov. Kay Ivey announced the Alabama Department of Corrections
would enter into negotiations with two development teams including Nashville,
Tennessee-based private prison giant CoreCivic and
Alabama Prison Transformation Partners, a group including state-based
construction firm BLHarbert, on developing the
three new prisons. The state would lease the facilities and staff them with
state officers. The governor's office did not disclose the estimated cost but
said "final financial terms" will become publicly available later
this year and construction would begin in 2021. Spokeswoman Gina Maiola said the developers are aware of an
"affordability limit" of $88 million per year. She said the three
mega prisons would collectively house a total of 10,000 male inmates— more
than 3,000 per prison. The state would close, or repurpose, 11 existing
prisons. The Ivey administration has pitched the plan as a smart solution to
Alabama's longstanding prison woes. "The Alabama Prison Program is vital
for the long-term success of our state and communities ... we must rebuild
Alabama's correctional system from the ground up to improve safety for our
state's correctional staff and inmate population, and we must do it
immediately," Ivey said. The governor said the arrangement would end
expensive maintenance costs on aging prisons while providing modern security
systems and safer facilities allowing more room for treatment and education
programs. But the plan has run into criticism from advocacy groups and a
mixed reception from state lawmakers, with some saying the leases will be
costly without addressing systemic problems. Considered one of the most
violent and understaffed systems in the country, the Alabama prison system
has faced a litany of federal criticism. The U.S. Department of Justice said
twice within 18 months that it believes Alabama houses male inmates in
unconstitutional conditions for both a pattern of using excessive force by
officers and excessive inmate-on-inmate violence. U.S. District Judge Myron
Thompson, who ruled the state's treatment of mentally ill prisoners was
"horrendously inadequate " on Wednesday, ordered outside experts to
monitor the state's compliance with his orders to boost staffing and improve
conditions. "The U.S. Department of Justice has already told us twice
that brick and mortar is not the answer to the conditions that the DOJ found
'routinely violate the constitutional rights of prisoners," said a
statement from Alabamians for Fair Justice. The collection of advocacy groups
and individuals added: "Data-driven, humane policy solutions are needed
now. It is time for the State of Alabama to put people over political
interests and corporate profits." Ivey said Thursday that the plan calls
for the local construction giant BLHarbert to build
a prison in Bibb County in west Alabama and CoreCivic
to build prisons in Escambia County in the southern part of the state and
another in Elmore County in central Alabama. Alabama Attorney General Steve
Marshall praised Ivey for "tackling head-on the toughest issue facing
our state, replacing Alabama's aging prisons with modern facilities that will
better serve to rehabilitate the inmate population while also protecting our
communities." Rep. Chris England, a Tuscaloosa Democrat, said the leases
do not make financial sense because they will plunge the state billions of
dollars into debt. "We are going to spend well over two billion dollars
and not own the land, or the facilities or have any control over the facilities,"
England said. State Sen. Cam Ward, a Republican from Alabaster, said he is
comfortable with the cost estimates put forward by the administration but
cautioned it is not the sole solution. "This by itself will not solve
our problems," Ward said. He said the state will have to take over steps to ease federal concerns, including Thompson's
order to overhaul mental health care. A federal judge in 2017 ruled state
mental health care in prisons is "horrendously inadequate" and
ordered improvements in staffing levels and care. The judge on Wednesday said
expert monitors will track the state's compliance. The lease plan bypasses
the typical route of securing legislative approval to borrow money to build
state buildings. Prison construction bills failed in the legislature among
political infighting over which districts would lose existing prisons and
which ones would get the new facilities and the jobs that come with them.
"The legislature, we tried it twice, but we failed cause
everybody got in a political food fight over which prison closed and who got
a new one," Ward said.
May
17, 2020 mynbc15.com
Ivey administration inches forward on plan to lease prisons
MONTGOMERY,
Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s administration inched forward with a plan
to lease three mega-prisons built by private companies as the Department of
Corrections on Friday opened bids from two companies seeking the contracts.
Ivey’s office said they are now in a “confidential proposal evaluation
period.” Alabama Prison Transformation Partners, a partnership of multiple
companies including BL Harbert International, and CoreCivic
were the two companies to submit responses. The governor’s office said the
successful developer team or teams will be announced this summer. Her office
said financial terms will be announced in the fall regarding negotiations.
The Department of Corrections declined an Associated Press request to make
the proposals public, saying that a “confidential evaluation period has
begun.” The prison system said the successful developer team or teams will be
announced this summer and the financial terms will be announced in the fall
regarding negotiations. “The dire need for new prisons becomes more prevalent
and evident with each passing day. It is no secret that our current facilities,
which were constructed decades ago, are structurally failing, no longer can
safely house inmates, and simply cannot provide the critical, 21st-century
programming and rehabilitative services this population desperately needs to
successfully reenter society,” Ivey said in a statement. The signing of a
lease, rather than borrowing the money for construction, would bypass the
need for legislative approval. Some legislators have expressed concern over
the plan in which the Ivey administration would hire private companies to
build the three prisons which would then be leased back to the state and run
by the Department of Corrections. “On prisons we believe the Legislature
should be involved in the process when there is the potential for a
billion-dollar contract that the taxpayers are going to have to pay for,”
said Will Califf, a spokesman for Senate President
Pro Tem Del Marsh said. Alabama lawmakers twice
debated a similar plan, in which the state would build the prisons rather
than lease them, but the measures failed after concerns about closures of
existing prisons in legislators’ districts. Sen. Cam Ward, who had led prison
overhaul efforts in the Alabama Legislature, said it would be cheaper to
borrow money to build the facilities outright, but noted the political
difficulty of getting agreement on closures. The U.S. Justice Department last
year said violent and crowded conditions in Alabama prisons violate the
constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Justice Department
said understaffing and overcrowding were a primary driver of the violence,
but also mentioned the need to improve facility conditions.
Alabama Legislature
Apr
28, 2021 modbee.com
Lawsuit
filed in a bid to block Alabama’s prison lease plan
MONTGOMERY,
ALA. Groups opposed to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey's plan to lease private prisons
filed a lawsuit Tuesday, arguing that the plan is illegal because it did not
get approval from the state legislature among other things. Attorney Kenny
Mendelson, of Montgomery, filed the lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit
Court on behalf of four plaintiffs — Republican State Auditor Jim Zeigler;
Democratic state Rep. John Rogers, of Birmingham; Leslie Ogburn, a homeowner
near the proposed prison site outside Tallassee and prisoner rights activist
Rev. Kenny Glasgow of Dothan. The governor in February agreed to lease two
mammoth prisons as a partial solution to the state’s troubled correction
system. The two 30-year lease agreements are with separate entities of CoreCivic, one of the nation’s largest private prison
companies. The governor’s office is negotiating with another company to build
a third prison in Bibb County. Ivey has said new prisons are a crucial first
step to overhauling the state's troubled and aging prison system and that new
facilities will be safer and enable more training and rehabilitative efforts.
Critics said the $3 billion plan is unnecessarily expensive and does not
address critical issues of training, violence and
understaffing. “This prison plan would be a 30-year mistake,” Zeigler said.
“It would force Alabama taxpayers to pay rents starting at $94 million a year
and going up to $106 million. At the end of 30 years, the state would own
equity in the prisons of zero. No equity. This is a bad business plan.” The
state auditor said the plan does not address problems such as the safety of
staff and other inmates; overcrowding; mental health; suicide; recidivism;
and inadequate job training. "The plan merely throws over $3.6 billion
of taxpayer money at the problems,” Zeigler continued. "It’s not just
that we don’t want these privately owned prisons in our backyard. It’s that
we don’t want these prisons in anyone’s backyard,” Jackson McNeely, a resident
of Brierfield in Bibb County and the founder of Block the Brierfield Prison,
said in a statement. McNeely said. "these mega prisons are
ill-conceived, irresponsible, and do nothing to address the problems that
they allegedly intend to. Gina Maiola, a spokeswoman
for Ivey, said the administration has not seen the lawsuit and could not
comment. Ivey has said the new prisons are the cornerstone to improving the
state's corrections system. “These new, state-of-the-art facilities will
provide safer, more secure correctional environments that better accommodate
inmate rehabilitation, enhance medical and mental health services, and
improve the quality of life for all those who live and work in them,” Ivey
said. The U.S. Department of Justice had sued Alabama in December over prison
conditions, saying the state is failing to protect male prisoners from
inmate-on-inmate violence and excessive force at the hands of prison staff.
Mar
4, 2021 alreporter.com
House
passes bill to create oversight of costly contracts
The
Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would create
an oversight committee tasked with providing a check on costly executive
branch agreements. Members voted unanimously to approve House Bill 392,
introduced by state Rep. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia, which would create the
Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Obligation Transparency that would
review any agreement totaling at least $10 million, or 5 percent of the
agency’s annual appropriation, and if after 45 days from the time the
agreement was submitted there is no objection, the agreement would be
approved, according to the legislation. If the committee disapproves of an
agreement, it will remain suspended until after the end of the next regular
legislative session, when lawmakers would have the opportunity to address
concerns over the agreement, according to the legislation. The
legislation comes as Gov. Kay Ivey’s push to build three new prisons under a
controversial build-lease plan, without input from the state Legislature,
which could cost taxpayers $3.7 billion over the terms of the contracts. Ivey
on Feb. 1 signed 30-year leases for two new prisons to be built by the
private prism company CoreCivic in Escambia and
Elmore counties. The state will operate the prisons while CoreCivic
is to handle maintenance, according to the contracts. Rep. Chris Pringle,
R-Mobile, asked Jones before the vote if the bill is an “overreach of
separation of powers.” Jones said that the bill is not and that “we can’t
tell the executive branch not to sign something.” Jones said his bill would
give time for legislative committees to review and address such agreements.
“I think this is overkill. I understand what you’re doing, and I think your
intentions are noble, but I don’t really see it,” Pringle said. Rep. Mike
Ball, R-Madison, said he supports the bill and explained it would help
broaden transparency. “I love the governor. I think the governor’s doing a
great job, but a lot of times we have to keep in mind the worst
case scenario over there,” Ball said. Ball went on to say that when
things are kept secret “it creates an opportunity for corruption.” Rep. Sam
Jones, D-Mobile, expressed concern that, if the Legislature were to determine
there were problems with an executive branch agreement, there would still be
no avenue for legislators to stop such an agreement. Jones said his bill
would allow the Legislature to have the time to address any such agreement in
two ways. In the first, the general fund budget could be reduced, he said,
and the Legislature could decide to make changes through legislation. Rep.
Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, who’s been a vocal
critic of Ivey’s prison construction plan, expressed support for the bill and
said at the end of the terms of the leases signed by Ivey, the state still
won’t own the prison buildings. “I wish we had this about 12 months ago,”
England said. England discussed a previous bill in a prior legislative
session that he and Jones worked on together that would have closed some
prisons, built others and spent
millions. “What’s interesting about that is the legislative process is
designed to make it difficult to do things like that,” England said, adding
that spending billions of dollars shouldn’t be an
easy thing to do. “It should be hard. It should take years. It should have as
many eyes on it as possible. It should go through oversight,” England said.
House Minority Leader Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Madison, said he’s supportive of Ivey and her decisions, that he
believes the bill could be “borderline undermining the governor” and asked
Jones if the bill could be altered to address only future governors. “This is
where I would fundamentally disagree,” Jones replied. “I do believe that this
governor has spoken many times in the past about transparency and that government
should be transparent to the public, to the citizens of the state. I mean
frankly, that’s one of the reasons why we all respect this governor.” Daniels
said the Legislature moved too slow on the prison matter, and that Ivey “did
what she needed to do.” Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, asked Jones about
a potential emergency situation, which might require
general fund money, and Jones said the Legislature should be able to review
that. Jones said the majority of such emergencies
would be addressed with federal funds, and his bill only addresses executive
branch use of the state’s General Fund budget. Having been approved in the
House, the Senate will take up the bill next.
Jun
23, 2020 alreporter.com
Private prison company vying to build Alabama’s new prisons mulling
strategies amid falling stock prices
Shares for the private prison company bidding to build one or more of
Alabama three new prisons are down more than 50 percent this year, and the
company is reconsidering its business model. Tennessee-based CoreCivic’s shares are down by nearly 51 percent from a
year ago, and down by 250 percent from 2017. The company announced last week
that it had suspended its dividend and is reevaluating how it invests its
money. CoreCivic is one of two entities that Gov.
Kay Ivey’s office announced will move forward in a plan to build three new
prisons at an estimated cost of $900 million then lease the prisons back to
the state. CoreCivic in recent years worked to grow
real estate holdings to take advantage of the company’s change in 2013, from
a traditional corporation to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), which
allows them to save many millions through federal tax exemptions. REIT
structures also require that a company hold a certain amount of real estate in
their portfolios. Owning prisons in Alabama that the company would then lease
back to the state would help CoreCivic meet that
requirement, but now the company is reconsidering its corporate structure,
according to the company’s president and CEO, Damon
Hininger. “While the unprecedented challenges posed
by the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be a priority to ensure the safety of
our staff and individuals in our care, we are also focused on creating
long-term shareholder value and delivering on our company’s purpose. We
believe alternatives to our current corporate structure and capital
allocation strategy may better serve the interests of the Company, our
shareholders, our employees, individuals in our care within our facilities,
and the communities we care so deeply about,” Hininger
said on June 17. “We are a financially strong company. Nevertheless, our debt
and equity securities have been trading at significant discounts to their
historic multiples in recent years and to multiples applied to other real estate
asset classes for many years. We do not believe these trading prices properly reflect our stable cash flow generation or the
value of our real estate,” Hininger continued. “At
the market prices we have experienced for our debt and equity securities,
capital has become increasingly expensive. We are examining whether other
approaches may improve our growth prospects and long-term shareholder
returns, while also improving our credit profile and long-term cost of
capital,” he continued. “Alternative corporate structures could allow the
Company flexibility to allocate the Company’s substantial free cash flow to
the highest returning opportunities which could include debt repayment,
prudent return of capital to shareholders, or funding attractive growth opportunities.
… Additionally, we believe alternative structures could expand opportunities
for the Company to meet other partner needs that cannot be undertaken in our
current structure,” Hininger said. The company said
in a statement that the next step will be to evaluate alternative corporate
structure and capital allocation strategies “to determine the best approach
to maximize long-term shareholder value, while also retaining flexibility for
addressing the needs of our government partners and communities. The
process will include an analysis of potential opportunities to recycle
capital invested in certain leased assets.” Alabama Department of Corrections
Commissioner Jeff Dunn and Gov. Kay Ivey have said closing and consolidating
some of the state’s existing facilities would save the state millions, and
pay the cost of leasing the new prisons from whichever company or companies
are selected to build. CoreCivic and another large
private prison company, Geo Group, have struggled to find financing in recent
years as many U.S. banks have begun severing ties with the private prison
companies. Late last year CoreCivic was seeking a
$250 million loan from the Japanese financial firm Nomura Holdings Inc.,
according to several news accounts. Birmingham-based Regions Bank continued
to provide financing to CoreCivic, however, a
spokeswoman for Regions confirmed for APR in December 2019. The U.S.
Department of Justice detailed systemic problems with violence, sexual
assaults, drugs and corruption in Alabama’s prison system
in a report released in April 2019 in which the department found that Alabama
may be in violation of prisoners’ Constitutional rights. CoreCivic
has eyed land in Elmore County for one of the state’s new prisons. The other
entity still in the running to build one or more of the state’s planned three
new prisons is Alabama Prison Transformation Partners, a group with no
Internet presence, made up of Star America, BL Harbert International, Butler-Cohen, Arrington Watkins Architects and Johnson
Controls, Inc.
Apr 26, 2016 al.com
As Alabama debates $700 million prison plan CEO of private prison company
shows up. Coincidence?
On the eve of a $700 million debate in the Alabama Legislature about
whether to build four new prisons, the president and CEO of the nation's
largest private corrections company was the speaker at Tuesday's Kiwanis Club
of Birmingham meeting. Was it a coincidence that Damon T. Hininger,
president and CEO of Corrections Corporation of America was at Tuesday's
lunch this week? One member of the audience who asked Hininger
a question didn't seem to believe in coincidence. "I assume it's not a
complete coincidence that you are here during a week when there is a $700
million bond issue on the table to build prisons in Alabama?" asked the
questioner of Hininger. Hininger
chucked and only partially sidestepped the question. "Well there is a
lot of conversation, there is no denying it,
a lot of conversation going on involving the governor, the prison
commissioner and the Legislature," said Hininger.
"One clear thing that we want to say over the years is that we think we
can be a part of the solution. There is a lot of debate going on across the
states and in this state about prisons, whether they should be all public or
all private or a combination. But one
thing we say is that we are not a silver bullet. We're not going to say 'we can come in and take over the whole system and be
the cure-all.' "Hininger said governors and
legislators in all the states who wrestle with prison issues have to look at
the challenges they face and what solutions might be best and Hininger said CCA believes it can bring part of the
solution to the table. "At the end of the day if the state of Alabama
finds out that you want to move forward on consolidating facilities...we
think we can be a part of those conversations and be helpful. But again we
are not the silver bullet and we are not the cure-all." Corrections
Corporation of America or CCA is the largest private corrections company in
America. It manages 65 prisons and detention centers that combined hold up to
90,000 inmates. The company has passed the $1.7 billion mark in revenues.
While there are no CCA managed prisons in Alabama, the company operates a
number of prisons that virtually ring Alabama including facilities in
Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Hininger
told the group that his company, which is based in Nashville, has over 30
years of experience operating and managing prisons for governments. Hininger said CCA gives governments greater flexibility
in how to spend corrections dollars and that is a big plus for governments
which are usually struggling to meet a variety of needs with not enough
dollars to meet them. Privatization of prisons has been seen by some as a way
for states to save dollars in operating prisons. But critics have charged
that prison privatization leads to a dangerous decrease in inmate
supervision. Critics charge that lack of supervision has led to increases in
violence and inmate deaths from violence as well as sometimes inadequate
medical emergencies inadequately handled by staff.
April 22, 2010 AP
The Alabama Legislature has given final passage to a bill that clears the way
for the state to buy a private prison in Perry County. The House voted 82-16
to approve the bill that would permit the state to issue $60 million in bonds
to buy the Perry County Correctional Center and to renovate it. The Senate
voted 19-0 to go along with changes made to the bill in the House. The
private prison is located near Uniontown in Perry County in an economically
depressed area. The prison is designed for 750 inmates, but can be expanded
to handle 1,500. The sponsor, Democratic Rep. John Knight of Montgomery, said
the prison is needed because of overcrowding in the state prison system.
April 17, 2010 Gadsden Times
The state is negotiating to buy the privately owned Perry County prison and
is one step away from getting the money to buy it. A bill authorizing a $60
million bond issue on the House calendar and is in position to pass in the
final two days of the 2010 legislative session next week. Sen. Lowell Barron,
D-Fyffe, is sponsoring the bill for the Department of Corrections.
“Corrections is interested because we are so overcrowded,” Barron said.
“They’re interested in buying it as well as expanding it.” Barron’s
sponsorship of the bill for Gov. Bob Riley is not that controversial even
though they have butted heads politically. But an aspect of the bill puts
Barron at odds with previous statements about Riley. He has vociferously and
publicly lambasted Riley for a so-called no-bid $13 million computer system
upgrade contract. He even sponsored bills this session to limit
non-competitive bidding. Barron’s prison bond issue bill strikes out the
original requirement that the prison bond issue be competitively bid. Barron
said he talked to an independent financial expert he trusts who has no ties
to the administration about bidding versus negotiating. “I talked with an
investment bank house and they said it’s not always the best, especially when
it’s not the most favorable conditions,” he said. “It doesn’t square with my
political stand, but on this one time a competitive bid may not be the best.”
Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson didn’t directly respond to Barron’s apparent
about-face. “The bill doesn’t mandate a bid, but Gov. Riley will make sure it
goes through a competitive process if the bill becomes law,” he said in a
Friday e-mail. Richard Harbison is executive vice president of LCS
Corrections Services Inc., which owns the prison near Uniontown. “Let’s just
say we’re talking to the state of Alabama,” Harbison said. The Perry County
prison houses about 500 inmates but is designed to house 750, Harbison said.
He said the facility can be expanded to house up to 1,500 inmates. The state
has about 400 inmates there now, a spokesman said.
September 9, 2007 Huntsville Times
The Alabama Medicaid Agency will get a $3.8 million contract with a
company with a checkered past, but a political cloud may linger over the
transaction. And the state Department of Corrections will get a $233.73
million contract with a St. Louis company that bid $6 million more than the
losing bidder for inmate health care services. Democrats insinuate that
politics may have played a role in ACS Heritage Inc.'s winning the Medicaid
contract even though its bid was $500,000 higher than the next company. And
the firm that won the prison contract, Correctional Medical Services, Inc.,
was represented by former Republican Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, a lobbyist with
close ties to Gov. Bob Riley.
September 7, 2007 Birmingham News
The Legislative Contract Review Committee on Thursday delayed
implementation of a $223 million prison health-care contract after an
official with a company that bid $9 million less questioned the process. The
panel also delayed a $3.7 million Medicaid contract to computerize medical
records after lawmakers questioned the company's performance in other states.
The Contract Review Committee reviews state agency contracts. Committee
members can delay the contracts for 45 days but do not have the power to
cancel them. The Department of Corrections, after taking proposals, selected
Correctional Medical Services Inc. of St. Louis to provide medical care to
Alabama's more than 20,000 inmates. Another company, Wexford Health Sources,
had submitted the low bid that was about $9 million cheaper than Correctional
Medical Services'. Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, and other legislators
asked Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen why the department had not
selected the low bidder. Allen said Correctional Medical Services scored
slightly higher on bid reviews, which take quality of care into account.
"I don't know that Mr. Holmes would go to the cheapest doctor in
town," Allen said after the meeting. Lawmakers also questioned that the
prison staff who reviewed the bids included several former employees of CMS.
Allen said none had worked for the company in at least six years. "I
have full confidence in these people. There was no politics involved in this
selection," Allen said. But Michael Davis, a lawyer representing
Wexford, said company officials wanted to meet with the commissioner before
the contract was finalized. Davis said company officials had questions about
how bidders' scores were determined.
September 5, 2007 Huntsville Times
The state corrections commissioner was questioned by legislators
Wednesday over a $233.73 million contract for health care for Alabama's
nearly 26,000 inmates. Commissioner Richard Allen is seeking approval of a
three-year contract with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services Inc.
CMS would take over a contract now held by Prison Health Services Inc., of
Brentwood, Tenn. Sen. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, a retired physician,
endorsed the CMS contract, which would have two potential one-year renewals. "I
have a keen interest in (prisons), particularly the health care,"
Griffith told the committee. "We're rapidly moving into the baby boomers
going through the prison system just like we're going through it outside the
prison system." Griffith said health care for convicts is a "major,
major cost factor" for the state, but he added that "we're capping
it with this contract and I think it's well thought out." The committee
has the power to delay the contract for 45 days but cannot stop it from being
enacted. Some members of the Joint Legislative Contract Review Committee
questioned Allen about members of his staff who formerly worked for the two
private companies and were involved in the selection process for CMS. A third
company that submitted a proposal, Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources,
was represented by an attorney who said he will ask for an explanation of the
grading process when the committee meets again today. Allen acknowledged that
Wexford's bid was about $6 million lower than CMS. "We evaluated the
contracts very carefully," said Allen. "All the bidders were told
that price would be 40 percent of the score and other things - innovations,
cost savings, those types of things - would be scored 60 percent." Allen
said Wexford scored third. Rep. Blaine Galliher,
R-Gadsden, said he was concerned that Department of Corrections employees who
formerly worked for CMS and PHS were on the team that graded proposals
submitted by the three companies. But Allen defended the process, calling
prison health care "a very narrow specialty." "If you look at
the resumes of these (DOC) people, they have worked for several companies,
not just this company (CMS)," he said. "Nobody in our department
has worked for this company in the last six or seven years. They've also worked
for PHS. They've also worked for about a dozen other companies. They go back
and forth between the companies and state service."
July 12, 2007 All American Patriots
The Alabama Department of Corrections will put 5,763 acres of
unproductive and money-losing properties up for sale, bring state inmates
back from Louisiana prisons and put more inmates to work. Governor Bob Riley
and Corrections Commission Richard Allen said Wednesday that proceeds
generated from the land sales during the coming year will go toward prison
infrastructure improvements and not operating expenses. All property to be
sold will be appraised, advertised and sold through a public process to the
highest bidder. Such a process was used earlier this year when 540 acres of
the Farquhar State Cattle Ranch near Greensboro was sold for more than $1.6
million, which is higher than its appraised value of $1.4 million. The
properties being put up for sale are: 1,851 acres of the 2,215 acres at Red
Eagle Honor Farm in Montgomery The remaining 3,869 acres of the Farquhar
State Cattle Ranch An empty and unused 16,000-square foot building on South
Union Street in Montgomery 32 acres in Wetumpka on Highway 231 North 10 acres
at the old Kilby prison in Montgomery All the properties are either unneeded
or losing money. The Farquhar State Cattle Ranch, for example, has lost
approximately $377,000 during the past two fiscal years and has lost almost
$60,000 in the first six months of the current fiscal year. "These
properties are a financial drain on the taxpayers and aren't needed,"
said Governor Riley. "It makes no sense to hold on to them. We will sell
them, relieve this burden on the taxpayers and use the money for some
long-needed improvements to correctional facilities." The Department of
Corrections expects the sale of the properties will bring in up to $22
million. This is not the first time land owned by the Department of
Corrections has been sold. In addition to the sale earlier this year of 540
acres at the cattle ranch, more than 630 acres of Corrections property was
sold through the bid process in 2003 and 2004 for $3.8 million. Governor
Riley said the sale of idle land would not be limited to the Department of
Corrections, noting that several agencies, including the Department of Mental
Health and Mental Retardation, own properties that may be sold. The
Governor's office is working with state agencies to determine what property
they own is unneeded and could be sold. In addition to selling unneeded
property, the Department of Corrections will terminate its contracts with two
Louisiana-based companies and return approximately 1,300 male and female
inmates from private prisons in Louisiana. All inmates in Louisiana will be
back in Alabama by the end of November. That move is expected to save the
Corrections Department almost $10 million.
April 16, 2007 The Press-Register
Some members of a legislative oversight committee contend that Gov. Bob
Riley's administration broke the law on three no-bid contracts by failing to
submit them to the panel months ago. "If you have got a law, all
departments in the Riley administration have to follow the law," said
state Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, a committee member. "The same law
applied to Don Siegelman that applies to the Riley administration."
During Riley's 2002 campaign for a first term, the Republican blasted
then-Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, for his administration's handling of
no-bid contracts. Ken Wallis, legal advisor to Riley, said recently that the
administration is "absolutely" following state law regarding all
contracts, including the three questioned by some lawmakers. One of the three
was an emergency contract -- for prison health services -- that was used for
four months before the administration submitted the permanent deal to the
committee. Panel members said they learned about the other two contracts
through reporters. The prison contract totaled more than $56 million, while
each of the others was for $60,000 or less.
December 8, 2006 Ledger-Enquirer
Gov. Bob Riley's chief of staff, Toby Roth, is leaving to become a lobbyist
and will be replaced by Riley's senior adviser, Dave Stewart. Roth directed
Riley's campaign for governor in 2002 and then became his chief of staff. His
last day will be Dec. 15, Riley said Friday. Roth will open a Montgomery
office for Capitol Resources, a Jackson, Miss.-based lobbying company whose
principals include two nephews of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The firm
lists many clients, including Beau Rivage Resorts, eBay, Corrections
Corporation of America, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Rolls-Royce North
America, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
January 23, 2006 AP
Proponents of legislation to extend state contracts up to five years say it
could save the state money, but critics, including Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, say
it would allow an outgoing governor to lock in the next administration. The
bill's sponsor, Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, said Monday he hopes to get
the House to pass it Tuesday. The bill would still have to be passed by the
Senate and signed by the governor to become law. Black and Means proposed the
legislation at the request of the Fine Geddie
lobbying firm, which represents many corporations at the Legislature. Ben
Patterson, a member of the firm, said it has several clients interested in
doing business with the state, including Northrop
Grumman. The firm's long list of clients also includes BellSouth, Corrections
Corp. of America, General Electric and Motorola, according to the company's
reports to the State Ethics Commission. They were major fundraisers for Riley
in the 2002 race for governor, with their political action committees
contributing more than $660,000.
March 12, 2003
With Alabama facing court orders to reduce prison overcrowding and a $500
million funding crunch, Gov. Bob Riley is turning to the private sector for
relief. As part of the plan to decrease the population at Tutwiler
Prison for women, the Department of Corrections has proposed transferring
prisoners out-of-state. Privatization -- or contracting state government
services to private businesses is not new -- as state and local officials
nationwide struggle to find ways to make government more efficient and cost
effective in tough financial times. The governor and prison
commissioner Donal Campbell proposed in February to
move approximately 300 state inmates to private out-of-state facilities as
part of a plan to ease overcrowding at Tulwiler.
E.J. "Mac" McArthur, executive director of the Alabama State
Employees Association, doesn't want private industry involved in government
functions. Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, chairman of the House
Government Finance and Appropriations Committee, said he doesn't sense
tremendous interest among legislators in moving in the direction of
privatization of prisons. "I think the coin flips both ways.
Some can point to cost-savings, but there are horror stories in other states
on prison privatization," Knight said. "Alabama prisoners
should be Alabama's responsibility, and we should live up to that
responsibility. McArthur says state employees worked hard to pass a
1999 law that provides for direct and effective control over corrections
institutions in the state in an attempt to head off privatization. The
law also forbids control of corrections institutions by a "nongovernmental
entity" without approval of both the Alabama House and Senate.
McArthur thinks that law would bar private prison construction or operation
in Alabama. It might, but that law did not stop the transfer to
out-of-state facilities after Campbell got an attorney general's opinion that
said it did not apply to such a move. James Barber, deputy director of
the Mississippi Legislative Peer Committee, said privatization may have
peaked and plateaued, based on what colleagues in other states have said.
(Montgomery Advertiser)
March 11, 2003
Legislation to ease the overcrowding crisis at Alabama's prison for women
appears to be on the fast track as lawmakers return today, the first day of
the 2003 regular session in which either house of the Legislature can pass
bills. Finance Director Drayton Nabers last
week told the Senate's General Fund budget writing committee that the $3.6
million would partly be used to transfer the women prisoners to the private
facility. (Montgomery Advertiser)
Baldwin County Jail
Baldwin County, Alabama
Correctional Medical Services, Louisiana Correctional Services, MHM, Naphcare, Prison Health Services, Wexford
Sep 19, 2018 al.com
Federal judge asked to unseal Alabama prison staffing numbers
A lawyer for Alabama's prison system told a federal judge this morning
that the Department of Corrections stopped releasing monthly statistics on
correctional officer staffing levels because the information caused a
security risk in understaffed and crowded prisons. A lawyer representing
mentally ill inmates argued that the public should have access to the
information, partly because the judge cited low staffing levels as a key
cause of what he ruled last year was "horrendously inadequate"
mental health care in prisons. The exchange happened during a hearing before
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in the four-year old lawsuit over mental
health care in state prisons. Lawyers representing the prisoners have asked
Thompson to hold the DOC in contempt for failing to expand mental health staff
in accordance with deadlines set in an order by Thompson. Southern Poverty
Law Center attorney Maria Morris said the plaintiffs have no confidence that
the DOC is doing all it can to meet the staffing mandate and asked Thompson
to find the DOC in contempt and appoint a monitor to oversee the DOC's
progress. Bill Lunsford, an attorney representing the DOC, said the
department is not in contempt but is making "a monumental effort"
to recruit more staff through its contractor, Wexford Health Sources Inc. The
DOC has said it expects to reach the required staffing level by February. The
contempt hearings are expected to continue for several days this week. Ruth Naglich, the DOC's associate commissioner over health
care, was the first witness to testify this morning. Before addressing the
contempt issue specifically, Thompson heard arguments about the plaintiffs'
request to unseal the DOC's quarterly reports to the court on correctional
officer and mental health staffing. Lunsford said the DOC did not object to making
the mental health staffing numbers public. But he said making the
correctional officer staffing levels public posed a safety risk for inmates
and staff because it signaled how many officers were on duty at specific
prisons. "We believe this is an incredibly sensitive security
issue," Lunsford told Thompson. Morris countered that the correctional
officer staffing levels were listed in the DOC's monthly reports, which are
publicly available on the DOC website, from 2000 until June 2017, when Thompson
issued his ruling that mental health care failed to meet constitutional
standards and cited staffing as a reason. "After that it became
sensitive information that no one could see," Morris told Thompson.
"That sounds like embarrassment. It does not sound like security."
Today, Thompson ordered the mental health staffing levels in the quarterly
reports to be made public but did not announce a decision on the correctional
officer staffing information. Thompson asked Lunsford who made the decision
to stop including the correctional officer staffing in the public monthly
reports. The judge also asked if DOC had any documentation of the reasons it
stopped publicly reporting the numbers. Thompson said he was not demanding
answers today but indicated he would issue an order spelling that out.
Thompson said the DOC would have to show strong justification for keeping the
staffing information sealed from the public. This story was corrected at 5:40
p.m. to remove statement that inmates are expected to testify by remote video
during the contempt hearings.
Jan
20, 2018 yellowhammernews.com
Alabama’s new prison health-care provider faces legal scrutiny
The chairman of the Alabama Legislature’s joint oversight committee on
prisons says lawmakers must “have transparent oversight” of a health-care
provider picked to service the state’s prisons that is embroiled in legal
turmoil in Mississippi. The Alabama Department of Corrections recently
selected Wexford Health Services, Inc. to provide medical care in state
prisons. Commissioner Jeff Dunn said in December the Pittsburgh-based company
was chosen “based on a combination of quality of care and overall cost.” The
exact details of the contract must still be ironed out, but
will be in the ballpark of $100 million annually to serve Alabama’s 20,000
state prisoners. The contract calls for a 25 percent boost in staff both for
medical care and mental health, and the Legislature must give final approval.
Wexford is one of a dozen companies that the state of Mississippi has sued
for its alleged involvement in a bribery scheme involving former state prison
commissioner Chris Epps and former legislator Cecil McCrory. Wexford held
Mississippi’s prison health-care contract from 2006 to 2015 and paid
consulting fees to McCrory. A grand jury indicted McCrory and Epps in 2014 on
charges that Epps accepted bribes to steer prison contracts to McCrory. Last
year, Epps received a 20-year prison sentence while McCrory got hit with
eight-and-a-half years in prison. Ward told Yellowhammer News that Dunn told
the prison oversight committee on Wednesday that he and a panel of four
others selected Wexford, one of three companies in the running for the
contract. All three of those companies face legal trouble in other states,
Ward said. “All three companies are being sued in different states for
different reasons,” he said. The prison oversight committee will continue
examining the issue when it meets again in February. “We want to make sure we
have transparent oversight of what’s going on,” Ward said. “Of course, we
can’t force them to pick one company or another, but we have right to get
access to how the decision was made, what’s the process, how much are we
talking about.” “The Mississippi case for Wexford does stand out, and I think
it’s something we have an obligation in the Legislature to ask a lot about
and continue questioning their ability to perform the contract in a good
way,” he added. One of the firms that Wexford beat out was Corizon
Correctional Care Health, the current provider. Alabama now faces a federal
lawsuit alleging its correctional system isn’t
providing adequate mental health care for its inmates. Corizon also faced
scrutiny in New York City, which ended a contract with the firm after it
claimed that Corizon hired doctors and workers with criminal histories.
Corizon issued a statement to Yellowhammer News that said after the company’s
contract with New York City expired in 2015, the new administration chose not
to outsource correctional health care moving forward. “While our company typically
screens its own employees, the New York contract mandated that the city
perform all background checks,” the statement read. “Corizon submitted each
and every applicant for the necessary screening, but an audit later
determined the city granted security clearances without conducting background
checks as the contract required.” “The issues arising in New York had nothing
to do with allegations of kickbacks or bribery. While legal issues arise in
prison health care just as they do in every other medical setting, corruption
is not and should never be considered ‘business as usual’ in our industry,”
the statement continued. Alabama has submitted a plan in the federal suit
that calls for doubling the mental health staff in prisons at an annual
estimated cost of $10 million, with additional money needed for programs.
Prison funding promises to be one of the hottest topics during the 2018
legislative session. Wexford said in a statement it didn’t
know about the misdeeds of Epps or McCrory and was ensnared in Mississippi’s
lawsuit only because it had employed a consultant mentioned in the
investigation, AL.com reported. “We were never accused of doing anything
wrong or inappropriate,” said company marketing director Wendelyn
Pekich.
Dec 16, 2017 decaturdaily.com
Alabama Department of Corrections’ choice for major contract sued in
Mississippi
MONTGOMERY — The company the Alabama Department of Corrections is
negotiating a contract with to handle its health care at 28 prisons was sued
this year by the Mississippi attorney general in connection with a bribery
scandal. ADOC said Thursday that Wexford Health Sources Inc. was one of four
companies that responded to the department’s request for proposals earlier
this year. “The RFP review committee conducted an extensive examination of
each company’s proposal and recommended ADOC to proceed to contract
negotiations with Wexford Health based on a combination of quality of care
and overall cost,” Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn said in a news release
sent late Thursday afternoon. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood in
February filed civil actions accusing 10 individuals and 12 out-of-state
corporations of using alleged “consultants” as conduits to pay bribes and
kickbacks to then-Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris
Epps for the awarding and retention of contracts, The Clarion-Ledger in
Jackson, Miss., reported. Epps was sentenced in May to almost 20 years in
prison and fined $100,000 for running one of the largest and longest criminal
conspiracies in the state's history. Hood said his office was filing civil
RICO lawsuits against all corporate and individual conspirators connected to
the prison bribery scandal involving Epps, The Clarion-Ledger reported. Not
all of those named as defendants in the lawsuits were charged in the Epps
case. Wexford Health later provided a statement on the lawsuit: “… The
attorney general’s action ensnared numerous firms — including Wexford Health
— who had nothing to do with Epps’ activities, but
were simply named because they had at one time engaged consultants who were
mentioned in the federal government’s investigation of Epps. “… Throughout
the federal government’s lengthy and detailed Epps investigation, Wexford
Health cooperated fully with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. We were
never accused of doing anything wrong or inappropriate. …” Sen. Cam Ward,
R-Alabaster, said he’s heard in recent days about the Mississippi lawsuit,
but said the three other companies competing for the contract “also had
knocks against them.” He said large companies that operate in multiple states
are often sued. “(Questions about Wexford) will be on top of the agenda when
we meet next month,” Ward said about the prison oversight committee he
chairs. Because the contract will be massive, “I’m encouraging the DOC to
move slowly,” Ward said. The new health care contract will go into effect
April 1. The potential value of the contract wasn’t
available Thursday evening, but a previous two-year contract with another
company was worth $180 million. The three-year contract will increase current
health care staffing in correctional facilities by
about 25 percent for both medical and mental-health care services, according
to the news release. ADOC expects the contract negotiations will take several
weeks to complete and will conclude by February. Wexford Health is
headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and works in more than a dozen
states, according to ADOC. Wexford's statement also said: “Wexford Health is
proud to have left the MSDOC health care system in far better shape than we
received it from the vendor who preceded us. … Similar to
Alabama, when we started in Mississippi, the agency was facing court
supervision in the form of a health care consent decree. That decree wa s lifted during our tenure, in large part because of
our partnership with the MSDOC."
Dec
10, 2016 correctionsone.com
Officials said inmates are never denied medical care or medication because
of the cost
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The chief psychiatrist for Alabama prisons testified
that inmates are screened for mental illness, given a treatment plan if they
are ill and provided needed medication regardless of cost. Dr. Robert Hunter,
medical director for MHM Alabama, took the witness stand for the third day
today in a federal non-jury trial over the quality of mental health care in
Alabama prisons. Inmates and their advocates claim in the class-action
lawsuit that a failure to provide adequate mental health care violates the
Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Department of
Corrections disputes the allegations. Today was the fourth day of the trial
in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. The case, expected to
last about eight weeks, is moving slower than expected, Thompson told the
lawyers this morning. MHM Alabama, part of MHM Services, has provided mental
health care in prisons under contract with the Department of Corrections
since 2001. The inmates, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and
the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, called MHM's Hunter as a witness.
Today, lawyers defending DOC officials cross-examined Hunter. Hunter
described how inmates are evaluated for mental health problems when they
enter the prison system. He said inmates who are identified as mentally ill
receive a treatment plan that can include one-on-one counseling, group
counseling and medication. Hunter said medication is generally prescribed to
inmates when a psychiatrist or nurse practitioner determines their ability to
function is impaired. Hunter said inmates are never denied medication because
of the cost. Bill Lunsford, a lawyer with Maynard Cooper & Gale who is
defending DOC officials, said Hunter's testimony countered the plaintiffs'
claims that cost-cutting is a factor in care. "What Dr. Hunter has
pointed out is that cost is really not a consideration when it comes to
mental health care," Lunsford said. "That when they decide, for
example, which patients receive which medications, that contrary to what's
been publicized, it's just simply not true that cost is being taken into
consideration." The lawsuit alleges that MHM's staff is too small and
lacks the expertise to provide sufficient care, among other claims. SPLC
attorney Maria Morris said some of the documented interactions between mental
health staff and inmates might be more for the purpose of "checking
boxes" than substantive treatment. Morris said a shortage of security
staff, which DOC acknowledges, is a factor in what she said is substandard
care. For example, she said group counseling opportunities are curtailed.
"We'll be putting on evidence of places where group counseling, to the
extent that it's scheduled at all, which is very limited, is cancelled
because there's no custody officer available to provide security,"
Morris said. The plaintiffs had called two inmates as witnesses on Monday.
After Hunter's testimony this afternoon, they called another inmate to
testify. That inmate is expected to return to the stand on Friday morning.
August 20, 2016 splcenter.org/news
SPLC files motion to hold Alabama accountable for inadequate health care
of all state prisoners
The SPLC, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program and the law firm of
Baker Donelson have asked a federal judge to certify its lawsuit against the
Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) as a class action, which would allow
rulings in the case over the inadequate medical and mental health care of 43
prisoners named in the lawsuit to apply to the 25,000 people held in a prison
system that has had one of the highest mortality rates in the country. The
motion for class certification, which argues that the failure to provide
adequate care is a systemic issue affecting all prisoners, was filed last
night. It comes as the lawsuit is set to go to trial Nov. 7. The lawsuit
describes how the medical and mental health needs of prisoners are routinely
ignored in a prison system where dangerous – even life-threatening –
conditions are the norm. Strokes, amputations and
prisoner deaths that may have been prevented with proper care are detailed in
the lawsuit, which was filed in 2014. “No one in Alabama’s prisons was
sentenced to the pain and suffering caused by the state’s utter failure to
provide basic medical care,” said Maria Morris, SPLC senior staff attorney.
“Alabama is endangering the lives of the people it incarcerates and it must
do more to end the inhumane and unconstitutional conditions within its
prisons.” The motion for class certification comes after experts in corrections
management as well as medical and mental health care filed reports in the
case based on repeated tours of ADOC prisons. The reports, which were filed
in July, found that the system, which has the most overcrowded prisons in the
nation – and spends one of the lowest amounts, per inmate, on medical and
mental health care – is still plagued by serious problems. “It is quite
simply a system in a state of perpetual crisis—a fact known and yet
unaddressed by Alabama officials for a considerable period of time,” Eldon
Vail, a corrections expert and former secretary of the Washington State
Department of Corrections, wrote in his report on ADOC prisons. Another
expert found that the prison system “has high rates of mortality,
but fails to adequately review mortality with an aim of reducing
death.” The report by Dr. Michael A. Puisis, a
physician with 30 years of experience in corrections, noted that Corizon
Inc., the ADOC’s medical care provider, reviews prisoner deaths in a manner
that is “ineffective; biased; fails to identify problems; and fails to
recommend solutions to problems evident in patient deaths.” The expert report
also describes the failure of the ADOC to control outbreaks of infectious
diseases to the point that the Alabama Department of Public Health assumed
control of outbreak investigations. It notes that Corizon does not have any
positions dedicated to infection control or quality improvement – “two
essential programs that need to be present in a correctional medical
program.” These findings come after the lawsuit, which was filed more than
two years ago, outlined dangerous and deadly failures by the prison system to
provide adequate medical care: The department has a policy and practice of
not treating hepatitis C. In April 2014, 2,280 prisoners in ADOC custody had
been diagnosed with it, but only seven prisoners were receiving treatment.
Many incarcerated people in Alabama have died of complications from hepatitis
C. A prisoner who had survived prostate cancer had a blood test indicating
his cancer had probably returned, but no follow-up test was given until a
year and a half later. By that time, the cancer had spread to his bones and
was terminal. He died. A prisoner at St. Clair Correctional Facility with a
history of heart problems had a new stent placed in his heart in 2012.
Afterward, he was not given the necessary blood thinners at the prison,
though the doctor had prescribed them. The prisoner’s blood clogged the
stent, requiring emergency open-heart surgery. Severely mentally ill prisoners
are housed in solitary confinement where they receive little or no mental
health treatment. Numerous prisoners have committed suicide in these
dungeon-like cells. “The state’s failure to provide constitutionally adequate
medical and mental health care to prisoners in its custody is part and parcel
of the horrors inflicted by its use of mass incarceration to cage people
rather than attend to their most basic needs,” said Lisa Borden, co-counsel
and director of pro bono programs at Baker Donelson. “This is particularly
true of the many people in Alabama’s prisons who needed mental health
treatment but were incarcerated instead. We regret that a federal lawsuit is
necessary to require the state to uphold its constitutional obligations.”
Earlier this year, the plaintiffs settled a portion of the lawsuit regarding
violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In that settlement, the
ADOC committed to provide services and fair treatment to incarcerated people
with disabilities. The remaining claims in the lawsuit describe how the
prison system’s poor medical services violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on
cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit, which is filed in the U.S.
District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, will go to trial just
before the 2017 regular session of the legislature, which will likely
consider a drastic expansion of state prisons, something the SPLC opposes.
“Alabama’s prison system is in crisis,” said Lisa Graybill, SPLC deputy legal
director. “The state is not going to solve these problems by going on a
spending spree to build new prisons.”
Mar
19, 2016 montgomeryadvertiser.com
Alabama: Partial agreement on fed lawsuit over health care
A partial agreement has been reached in a federal lawsuit filed on behalf
of 25,000 Alabama inmates who attorneys say have been denied medical
treatment. In 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama
Disabilities Advocacy Program filed the 140-page complaint against the
Alabama Department of Corrections, then-ADOC Commissioner Kim Thomas (current
Commissioner Jefferson Dunn has since inherited the suit) and Ruth Naglich, ADOC associate commissioner of health services.
Forty-two prisoners were named as plaintiffs in the suit, though the suit is
still awaiting class action certification. MHM Correctional Services, Inc.
and Corizon Health, Inc, which were contracted by ADOC, are also movants in
the suit. The complaint contains a laundry list of allegations rooted in
ADOC’s “routine and systematic failure” to provide adequate medical care, which
the complaint says has led to the death and severe injury of multiple
inmates. A significant portion of the suit was aimed at ADOC’s noncompliance
with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It states that prisoners with
disabilities are often housed in facilities that do not accommodate them, and
illustrates this by citing an instance when an inmate in a wheelchair had to
maneuver deeper into Kilby Correctional Facility during a 2014 fire to access
a ramp. Defendants have denied most of the allegations, stating in a court
filing that the plaintiffs’ complaint, “reveals inflammatory, self-serving
statements that inaccurately characterize inmates’ medical and mental health
conditions, ... and demonstrate a basic misunderstanding of technical medical
or mental health terminology.” The portion of the suit that addresses solely
disabled inmates is that part that’s initially been
settled. Mapped out in the settlement is an outline for reform with treatment
of disabled inmates - including improved housing, more thorough screening and the implementation of a tracking system.
Full copies of the settlement agreement will be made available to inmates in
all ADOC prison libraries, a court document states. “This agreement is an
important commitment by the Alabama Department of Corrections to address the
discrimination and hardship these prisoners have faced for far too long,”
said Maria Morris, SPLC senior supervising attorney in a press release.
“Prisoners with disabilities must have an opportunity to serve the sentence
they have received – not the sentence they must endure because the state
fails to respect their legal rights.” The agreement is awaiting approval by
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, who will hear oral arguments today for
motions filed regarding this suit. Three of those motions were filed by the
plaintiffs. They ask Thompson to compel the defendants and movants to provide
“ improperly withheld documents” from Corizon,
documents relating to Corizon’s mortality review and documents about
prisoners who were sent to the E.R. or hospital. The remaining elements of
the lawsuit, which claim ADOC’s “indifference to the serious medical needs of
prisoners in their custody” and “failure to provide mental health care” to
inmates, are expected to go to trial Oct. 17.
Jan
28, 2015 al.com
Alabama gave a series of failing marks to the medical provider now at the
center of the lawsuit over inmate care. The Alabama Department of Corrections
has not released those failed internal audits to the public. Instead, an
executive for Corizon, which provides inmate health care to Alabama's 25,100
inmates, talked about the audits at length in a May 2013 deposition obtained
by AL.com. Larry Linton, Corizon's vice-president for operations,
acknowledged the failed audits, but cast doubt on their conclusions. He
called them "contract compliance" documents that do not focus on
patient outcomes. "It really looks bad to a layperson who doesn't
understand all this," Linton said. "And it would seem odd to me
that a company would come in here and never pass an audit and yet still be
here. How is that possible? And I say it's possible
because, in reality, the overall care that's provided is pretty good."
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit against Alabama in
June, alleging that prisoner health care is inadequate and unconstitutional.
It is set to go to trial in 2016. As part of the lawsuit, the ADOC agreed
earlier this month to stop giving inmates in mental health unit access to
razor blades, as they had in the past. Corizon, which signed a three-year
$224 million contract with the state in 2012 after submitting the only bid
for the work, agreed to pay the legal costs for the suit. Twenty-nine health
care audits have been performed at different prisons in the past four years. Timely
and consistent access to services; continuity of care; infection control;
documentation; and other criteria are measured in the audits. To pass an
audit, Corizon must meet 85 percent of standards outlined in the contract.
The ADOC declined to release the audits last month citing pending litigation
after AL.com requested them in September. Legally, there may be no
justification to withhold the records, according to Alabama Press Association
general counsel Dennis Bailey. While state open meetings law does provide an
exemption for pending litigation, state open records law does not. Since
then, the ADOC has not responded to multiple requests from AL.com to cite a
legal exemption that allows them to withhold the reports. An ADOC spokesman
said on Thursday that their legal counsel may have an answer as early as next
week. "A public record does not become protected because of
litigation," Bailey wrote in an e-mail. "If these audits were done
before litigation they are not transformed into secret documents after
litigation is filed." Released in other states, audits have shown
mismanagement and insufficient health on the part of Corizon. In Florida,
audits of Corizon's medical care led the state's department of corrections
secretary, Michael Crews, to assail the firm in a letter to Corizon chief
executive officer Woodrow A. Myers, Jr. The firm had put together a
"corrective action plan" to fix the problems outlined in the audit.
"All too often, we are finding that these corrective action plans are
not being carried out and that the level of care continues to fall below the
contractually required standard," Crews wrote. According to the
Associated Press, an audit last year in Minnesota found that inadequate
communication between prison staff and Corizon doctors during overnight hours
"may have been a contributing factor to inmate deaths." Maria
Morris, Southern Poverty Law Center managing attorney, said her agency has
asked for the audits as well. The ADOC has yet to turn them over. "I
would not think there is any reason for it," Morris said. Morris deposed
Linton as part of a separate federal lawsuit filed by inmate Larry Shepherd
against Corizon and its predecessor firms in April 2012. Shepherd claimed
that the medical care provided to him was cruel and unusual punishment. The
case was dismissed is August 2013. In the deposition, Linton insisted that
the care provided by the company was adequate. He says the prison system takes into account "health outcomes," rather
than just the audit results. "On the other hand, I fully understand the
Department of Corrections' position," Linton said. "They don't tell
us how to practice medicine, just like we don't tell our doctors how to
practice medicine. "They believe that if we do all of these things, that
it leads to a better product for us, and they are right about that. But we
believe looking at outcomes gives us a better handle on it." A Corizon
spokeswoman issued a statement on Thursday that the ADOC audits "focus
on administrative matters that are not designed to assess the quality of
inmate care." "To assess the quality of care, Corizon Health
continually monitors medical outcomes for its patients, based on objective
standards used by the health care industry at large," the statement
said. "We are proud of the results we have achieved. The statement also
said they take the ADOC's compliance reviews seriously and that Corizon is
"proud to have met the established criteria during the current audit
cycle." Asked for a copy of the most current audit, the Corizon declined,
saying that it is up to the ADOC to release. Here are some other highlights
from the deposition: Linton also mentioned how the use of chain gangs at
Limestone prison in the 1990s sabotaged an ADOC attempt to get the National
Commission on Correctional Health Care to accredit the facility.
Subsequently, the agency told the ADOC commissioner that they "wouldn't
be back." "And I think old memories die hard sometimes,"
Linton said. Linton said that Alabama's prison system, with its aging facilities,
could not pass an American Correctional Association accreditation. "They
are just too old, and you can't make the corrections that need to be made
without great expense," Linton said. One of Corizon's predecessor
companies rednegotiated its contract with the ADOC
in 2008 or 2009 for two more years. As part of the deal, Corizon received
less money, Linton said. "... My belief is the quality of care was
improving enough to where our costs were going down, and that was rebated
essentially, through the renegotiation, back to the client," Linton
said. In turn, the questioning attorney responded, "so ADOC said we'll
pay you less because you're providing better care?" "It's more
likely that Corizon said, 'we're willing to negotiate the price down because
the care we're providing is good enough that our costs are reduced, if you'll
give us those two years,'" Linton said.
Aug
17, 2014 al.com
Powerful firm lobbies for Alabama prison health contractor, then defends
company in court Initially hired to politick for inmate health care
provider Corizon, the powerful Alabama firm is now defending the quality of
the company's medical care in federal court. AL.com is examining the ties
between the state's $224 million prison health care contract with Corizon and
it supporters in light of a lawsuit filed against
the state. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the suit in federal court
two months ago that claimed the medical care provided to the state's 25,000
inmates was unconstitutional. Corizon and MHM Health Services, the prison
system's mental healthcare provider, tapped the law firm Maynard, Cooper
& Gale to fight the case at no cost to the state. Maynard Cooper &
Gale employees Linda Maynor and Clay Ryan lobbied for Corizon in 2012, and
2013 and 2014, respectively, Alabama Ethics Commissions reports show. Both
lobbyists are veterans of Alabama politics. Ryan served as special counsel to
Gov. Robert Bentley three years ago, a volunteer position. Maynor, a
volunteer on Bentley's campaign finance committee, earned the designation of "super
ranger" after raising more than $300,000 for President George W. Bush's
2004 re-election campaign, her Maynard Cooper & Gale profile states. In
2003, she was named Alabama Republican of the Year and she served as the
Alabama Republican Party's finance chair. When Maynor worked as a lobbyist
for Corizon in 2012, the firm won a 34-month $224 million contract to provide
health care for the state's 25,000 inmates. It was the only firm to submit a
bid for the work. Corizon and MHM Health Services, the state's inmate mental
health care provider, hired Maynard Cooper & Gale to defend the state
against a lawsuit the Southern Poverty Lawsuit filed against it in June that
claimed the medical care provided to inmates was unconstitutional. A report
the SPLC released in the wake of the lawsuit described gruesome prison
stories about amputated feet and toes, gangrenous testicles treated only with
ice, scabies outbreaks, and staph outbreaks. The Alabama Department of
Corrections, ADOC Commissioner Kim Thomas, and the prison system's top health
care official Ruth Naglich, a former executive at
two of Corizon's predecessor companies, are all named as defendants in the
SPLC lawsuit. AL.com previously reported that two firms that employed Naglich's husband were hired by Corizon to X-ray Alabama
inmates since 2007. State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, vowed to question
prison officials in the upcoming weeks about the quality of Corizon's
healthcare and the X-ray work. The Lobbyists In addition to serving as
Bentley's special counsel, Ryan served as Bentley's transition coordinator,
where he oversaw cabinet hiring and inauguration planning, his Maynard Cooper
& Gale website profile states. He was also counsel for the governor's
emergency relief fund, which was established by Bentley to aid those harmed
by the 2011 tornados, Maynard Cooper & Gale's website shows. Jennifer
Ardis, Bentley's spokeswoman, said Ryan de-registered as a lobbyist when he
volunteered as Bentley's special counsel. Maynor has been active in politics
since 1986 and has managed political campaigns and fundraised for Republicans
at the state and federal levels. Former Gov. Bob Riley selected her to serve
on his Education Spending Commission and Riley also appointed her to serve on
the Alabama Certificate of Needs Board. Maynor also works with members of the
United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. Bentley's
campaign spokeswoman, Rebekah Mason, said Maynor helps raise money for
Bentley "like hundreds of other volunteers who believe in the Governor's
successful record of job creation." Messages for Corizon, Ryan and
Maynor were not returned.
Aug 14, 2014
america.aljazeera.com
Every
year, hundreds of thousands of people across the country who are ticketed for
minor offenses are sentenced to probation managed by private companies,
according to Human Rights Watch. In Alabama, it’s
become a vicious cycle of fines, mounting fees and even jail time. JCS
collects fines for violations like drunk driving, speeding
or driving without a license, all at no cost to taxpayers. The Atlanta-based
company charged Mann an additional monthly fee of $35 and
also dug up old fines that Mann owed from past offenses dating back to
the 1990s, including disorderly conduct, public intoxication and resisting
arrest. “I was a drinker, heavy drinker,” he said. “I was wild.” But Mann was
a sober, married churchgoer when he started making regular payments to the
city – paying down a debt that JCS claimed was almost $9,000. “That's all I
was doing – digging holes, making it deeper and deeper,” he said. “At first,
I felt hopeless that nothing could be done.” Danny Evans, Mann’s attorney,
has filed a class-action lawsuit against JCS, accusing it of illegally
preying on the poor. “They pretend that they're a probation service,” Evans
said. “In fact, they're not certified as state or federal probation officers.
They're not trained as probation officers. What it
provides to the city is a collection service.” Mann said he was jailed for 30
days for non-payment. On another occasion, the Army veteran said JCS told him
that if he didn’t pay $600 by the end of the day the
town would lock him up again. “He looked like he was crying,” said Mann’s
wife, Rita Mann. “It scared me, ‘cause
we didn't have $600. We were barely getting along … making and trying to pay
bills.” Rita Mann was able to borrow the money from her aunt. But she said
the monthly JCS bills were unrelenting, even when her husband was in the
hospital with an infection and she begged the company for a respite. “I was
struggling. I had to go to the hospital every day for my husband,” she said,
her voice quivering. “I almost lost my husband. He likely died. And I
explained that to them and they still didn't care.
It was all about their money.” An 'offender-funded' system Deaundra Bell, from Birmingham, Ala., said his probation
started after police spotted him drinking a beer on a friend’s porch and
ticketed him for public intoxication. “It put pressure on me and my family 'cause I can't provide for them right now,” Bell said.
“And it's really hard to get a job and I have bills to pay.” In Prattville,
Ala., Teresa Halston’s three sons have all struggled to make their JCS
payments. “They mail you notices, saying, ‘You've gotta
pay this amount of money by this date, or we're gonna put you in jail,’” she
said. “They mail you little postcards. I mean, it's
just a bombardment. They're bill collectors.” Hali Woods fell into debt with
JCS when she was only 16. In August 2013, Woods was ticketed for not wearing
a seatbelt. That $25 ticket coupled with court costs ballooned into $300. She
paid that off, but is now back at town hall, saddled with another debt
because her mother can’t afford a new tag for the
family’s only car. In 2012, Judge Hub Harrington temporarily shut down JCS in
an Alabama town, calling the “offender-funded” system a “debtor’s prison.” “I
called it judicially sanctioned extortion racket,” said Harrington, now a
retired circuit court judge. “What happens is it's kind of a shakedown,
because the individuals are told, ‘If you don't bring a payment
I will put you in jail.’” In the 1980s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it
was illegal to lock someone up simply because they can’t
pay a debt, especially if there hasn’t been a hearing to determine economic
status. “There's nothing legal about it, which is the basis of my opinion. In
fact, I think I even wrote something that violations were too egregious and
too numerous to mention in the short space,” Harrington said. “They were
following none of the procedures set out by the constitution, by the State of
Alabama, by the Code of Criminal Procedure.” JCS CEO Robert McMichael
declined America Tonight’s repeated requests for an interview. However, two
years ago, he wrote an op-ed saying, “JCS does not levy fees or fines”
against those who are “ordered by the court.” He added: “JCS does not have
the authority to jail people. Only the judge may do so.” It’s
true that JCS doesn’t directly send people to jail. But that isn’t always clear to the debtor, according to Harrington.
“They use that apparent authority to the utmost to coerce and threaten and
extort the people that they're serving,” he said. Easing the burden Alabama
State Sen. Cam Ward believes private probation companies can serve a useful
purpose. “There's a role for it, because there's a lot of municipalities
[that] have no way in the world of collecting a lot of those fines and fees.
And that's not fair to them,” Ward told America
Tonight. “Privatizing part of it’s fine as long as
there's good, proper government oversight to make sure it's being carried out
properly.” Earlier this year, Ward introduced legislation to better regulate
the industry, including more oversight and training, which failed to pass.
“If I get a $100 fine or citation I should be
required to pay it and there should be a method to collect it,” Ward said.
But Evans, Mann’s attorney, doesn’t believe a
for-profit company belongs in the probation business. “There's nothing that I
can tell you that makes sense about it,” Evans said. “It's a system that's
run amok, that is completely ignorant and has no concept or any consideration
for these constitutional protections.” After eight years on probation – six
years beyond Alabama’s legal limit – and thousands of dollars paid, Elvis
Mann finally won his fight and his fines were dismissed. It’s
a small victory Mann and his lawyer hope to build on through the class-action
suit for the thousands of others caught in the cycle of debt and unable to
dig themselves out. “When they said I'm dismissed that was the happiest day
of my life,” Mann said. “The burden just lifted up off of me.”
Nov
22, 2013 therepublic.com
UNIONTOWN,
Alabama — Large portions of the Perry County Correctional Center are sitting
dark and empty as the state continues to grapple with overcrowding of its
prison system, according to a report Friday by The Anniston Star. The
private, for-profit prison outside Uniontown houses just 30 inmates with 26
people on staff, the newspaper said (http://bit.ly/1jqMpsm
). Alabama once leased hundreds of beds but today all the inmates are
from the federal system. Prison owner LCS Correction Services is trying to
persuade the state to buy the facility or at least bring back prisoners, but
lawmakers say the state can't afford it. "We
just don't have the money," said Rep. Allen Farley, R-McCalla, vice
chairman of the Joint Legislative Prison Committee. More than 25,000 in the
system are currently being housed at facilities built for 13,000, the
newspaper said. State officials say a lack of money was the reason the state
pulled its prisoners out of the C. Alabama housed 449 inmates there at one
point in 2011, according to Department of Corrections statistics. The next
year, there were only seven. This year, none. Department of Corrections
spokesman Brian Corbett said moving inmates to the prison would not save
money, because it doesn't reduce the operating cost
of the prison they're leaving. The overall state prison budget is $389
million. "Our cost to run our prisons is pretty fixed, if you
will," Corbett said. "If you took out 100 inmates and put them in
Perry County, all you're doing is adding a new expense." Meanwhile,
Warden Jim Mullins oversees an eerily quiet Perry County prison. Inmates eat
at a pair of fold-up tables in the corner of a cafeteria built for 250 and
most live in a single 64-man pod in one of the prison's wings. "If you
were here on a day when this was at full capacity, it would be impressive, to
say the least, how smoothly it operates," Mullins said.
10.12.13
annistonstar.com
Deunate Jews wasn't found guilty on the charge that brought him before
Childersburg's municipal court, his lawyers say, but he wound up in jail
anyway. Back in 2008, Jews, a Harpersville
resident, was charged with harassment in Childersburg. According to court
documents, the charge was dismissed – but he racked up $166 in court fees as a result of the trial. Unable to pay the fee, Jews was
placed on probation – paying $45 per month to a private probation company.
Since then, court documents say, he's been in jail
at least four times for failure to pay. His lawyer says the city and the
probation company, Judicial Correction Services, violated Jews' civil rights,
and are running a "debtor's prison." And Jews may not be alone.
"It's not just Childersburg," said attorney Daniel Evans, one of
the lawyers representing Jews and three other plaintiffs in a suit against
Childersburg and the probation company. "JCS has offices all over the
state." The Childersburg lawsuit is part of a mounting backlash against
the use of private probation companies in Alabama. Dozens of cash-strapped
Alabama cities have hired private companies to make sure people pay fines
imposed for small offenses – an arrangement that often costs the city
nothing, while improving the rate of collection on city fines. Critics say
the system blurs the line between guilt and innocence, turning small offenses
into major financial obligations landing people in jail for traffic
violations or other small offenses simply because they're
too poor to pay. A matter of resources: Private probation isn't new in Alabama's municipal courts. As early as 1997,
cities were petitioning the Alabama attorney general's office for permission
to contract with private companies to monitor people found guilty of
violating city ordinances. For cities, private probation can solve a
long-standing problem. Municipal courts handle minor offenses such as
misdemeanors or traffic violations, and punishment is typically through
fines. But collection rates on fines are often low, and cities don't have the personnel to chase down everyone who hasn't
paid. "It's primarily a matter of resources," said Lori Lein, attorney for the Alabama League of Municipalities.
Companies such as Judicial Correction Services step in with a low-cost – or
no-cost – solution. If an offender in a municipal court doesn't
have cash on hand to pay a fine after being found guilty, that offender can
be placed on supervised probation. The offender will pay a fee to a private
probation company, typically $35 per month, and will report to the probation
company regularly until the fine and court fees are paid down. On its
website, JCS says it offers its services to cities for free, with probation
paid for by the offenders themselves. "It's a more efficient way to
collect fees," said Anniston Municipal Judge James Sims. Anniston and
Jacksonville both use JCS as a private probation contractor. According to its
website, JCS operates in more than 180 court systems throughout Alabama,
Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. The site lists 38
cities in Alabama where the company currently operates. Officials from JCS wouldn't talk to The Star about the growth of the private
probation industry, or the services it provides – largely because of the
company's current legal battles. "We've got some litigation going on in
the state, and I can't talk to you," said Brad Bickham, a vice president
at Correctional Healthcare Companies, which owns JCS. Calls to local offices
of JCS were directed through the company’s headquarters to Bickham. In court
motions, both JCS and Childersburg say they deny Jews’ allegations, but
without offering details. Both say they’re denying
the claims because they’re “without sufficient information to admit or deny.”
'Disgraceful' Last year, a Shelby County judge effectively shut down the
municipal court in the town of Harpersville, where
four plaintiffs said they'd been jailed for not
paying fines and probation fees, even though they were indigent. Circuit
Judge Hub Harrington issued a scathing opinion against the city and JCS,
calling the city's probation system "debtor's prison" and a
"judicially sanctioned extortion racket." Among other things,
Harrington took the city and JCS to task for saddling defendants – who were
on probation because they were unable to pay fines – with probation fees that
exceeded the original fine. Harrington cited the example of a defendant who
pays off a $200 fine in $50-per-month payments. With $35 per month going to
probation fees, the defendant would pay off the debt in 14 months, at a cost
of $700. People who couldn't pay those increased
costs, Harrington's opinion said, were incarcerated "with no valid court
order or adjudication." "Most distressing is that these abuses have
been perpetrated by what is supposed to be a court of law," he wrote.
"Disgraceful." Keeping the lights on: Harrington intervened
in Harpersville's municipal court, ordering city
officials to send any jail sentences to him for review. Harpersville
Mayor Theoangelo Perkins says the city has since
closed its municipal court. "We send them to Shelby County now," he
said. Birmingham lawyer Lisa Borden said Harpersville
is just the tip of the iceberg. Borden provided The Star with a list of 66
cities in Alabama that she says use JCS for private probation, along with 21
Alabama cities that use other private probation services. All of them, she
said, are ripe for abuse. "These are civil rights cases, in my
opinion," said Borden, who directs pro bono efforts for Birmingham law
firm Baker Donelson. Borden said one of her clients, a single mother, wound
up homeless after fines and fees from a traffic violations
put her in arrears with a probation company and landed her in jail. "She
had to choose between making the payments and keeping the lights on,"
Borden said. "She chose to keep the lights on." Borden said she's troubled by the fact that private probation is even
called probation. Probation is usually given in lieu of jail time, she noted,
and most private probationers haven't been sentenced
to jail – they just haven't been able to pay their fine. She also takes
exception to probation companies' practice of calling their employees
"probation officers." They aren't sworn
law officers with arrest powers, she notes. The first casualty:P
Daniel Evans, the lawyer who is suing Childersburg, says the switch to
private probation was a tragic mistake. "It's a problem of poorly
educated public officials who think you could farm out an essential
government service to a private entity," he said. "It's very
short-sighted, and the first casualty is the rights of the people." In
addition to Deunate Jews, Evans is representing
Vincent resident Gina Kay Ray and Sylacauga residents Timothy Fugatt and Kristy Fugatt. All
were jailed after failing to pay fines and court costs on expired-tag or
expired-license charges, according to documents they filed with the court.
All say they're indigent, according to court
documents. Childersburg Mayor B.J. Meeks declined comment on the matter,
saying he couldn't talk while the case is still in
litigation. The city's lawyer in the case, Daniel Pickett, also declined
comment. While JCS is silent on the lawsuits now, the company has commented
on its methods in the past. In extended comments to The Daily Home of
Talladega last year, JCS spokesman Kevin Egan said the company gets
defendants to comply with court orders 70 to 80 percent of the time, compared
to about 30 percent for unsupervised probation systems. He said 18 to 19
percent of probationers get waivers on fees because they're
indigent. “And we can, and frequently do, give waivers,” he told the Daily
Home. “If they get paid up in a couple of weeks, or if the court finds them
indigent or they are indigent for the purpose of our supervision fees, or
even if they have cases in other jurisdictions where we’re already managing
them, we don’t collect anything.” 'I'll be… patient' In Jacksonville,
where JCS also does private probation, lawyer William J. Miller says there's no evidence of the kind of abuses alleged in Harpersville or Childersburg. "I haven't seen any of
that," said Miller, the public defender for Jacksonville's municipal
courts. Miller said he doesn't like to see clients,
many of whom are poor, come away with fees on top of the fines they're
charged. Still, he said, the city has to do
something if people don't pay fines when they're assessed. "The only other
option is for them to go to jail," he said. Jacksonville Municipal Judge
Joseph Maloney said he takes precautions to make sure private probation doesn't violate defendants' rights. He said he drew up a
four-page questionnaire to help the court determine if clients are too poor
to pay. He said he tells offenders to make sure they make all their
appointments with their probation officer. That way, if they later say they're unable to pay, he has evidence that they're
willing to comply with court orders. "I tell them that I'll be extremely
patient with you if you work with me," he said. Like Borden, Maloney
said private probation isn't technically probation,
since it's usually not preceded by a jail sentence. Sims, the Anniston
municipal judge, said he doesn't jail people who
can't afford to pay fines. He said he makes it clear, up front, to defendants
that they can't be jailed if they can't pay. He said
he also assigns community service to those who can't
pay. "I'm not interested in being part of a front page
story about the horrors of private probation," he said. "That's not
happening here." Anniston mayor Vaughn Stewart, himself a former judge
for the city, declined comment on the matter, saying he would defer to the
current judges. 'Free-for-all' "The abuses in Harpersville
are pretty well documented," said state Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster.
"We need some sort of oversight to make sure these things don't
happen." Ward proposed a bill earlier this year that would have set up a
County and Municipal Probation Advisory Council to oversee the private
probation industry. The council – which would be composed largely of judges,
with one probation company representative on the board – would be able to set
standards for who can be a private probation officer and would be able to
impose rules on the industry, including regulation of fees. The bill would
also require that private probation officers have no past felony convictions.
"It's a free-for-all right now," Ward said of the industry. Ward's
bill made it through the Senate, but failed in the
House. And one of its most vocal opponents was Lisa Borden, the Birmingham
lawyer and private-probation critic. "It was horrific," Borden
said. "It contained nothing to help poor people." Borden said the
bill didn't require probation companies to set up
any mechanism to determine whether probationers are too poor to pay. It also
contained wording that would have allowed private probation to expand into
district courts. "She made some pretty good points," Ward said. He
said he would likely bring the bill back in 2014, possibly with new wording
to address the issue of indigent offenders. He defended wording that allowed
private probation in district courts. "They could do that already if
they wanted to," he said. "I'm just trying to provide some
rules." Borden isn't waiting for the state to
regulate. She said she's working with other lawyers
to show them how to sue private probation companies and the cities that use
them. She said her own work in the field has been done pro bono, but other
lawyers could collect attorney fees in private-probation cases, if they win.
"My goal is to create a cottage industry of lawyers who will bring these
cases on behalf of indigent people," she said.
September 24, 2009 Huntsville Times
The mother of an inmate who died a few days after entering a state prison was
awarded $750,000 in a wrongful death lawsuit against prison officials and a
mental health provider. The money was awarded to Mary Barksdale, the mother
of Farron Barksdale, 32, of Athens who died Aug.
20, 2007, after he was found unconscious in his Kilby Prison cell. "We
reached what we believed to be a fair settlement in light of what we knew of
the troubling circumstances surrounding Mr. Barksdale's demise while in state
custody," Sarah Geraghty, senior attorney for the Atlanta-based Southern
Center for Human Rights, said Wednesday. "Some facts surrounding the
death, however, remain a mystery to this day due to the department's policy
against releasing records on deaths in custody." Jake Watson, a
Huntsville attorney who also represented Mary Barksdale, said Wednesday,
"In light of all the circumstances, I think that was the best
settlement." The state Department of Corrections was not a defendant in
the case. According to the settlement agreement filed in U.S. District Court
in Montgomery, former Kilby Warden Arnold Holt was ordered to pay $300,000 to
the settlement, Dr. Joseph McGinn of MHM Correctional Services in Vienna,
Va., was to contribute $370,000, and Dr. Arnold Holt of Prison Health Services
of Brentwood, Tenn., was to pay $80,000. MHM provides mental health services
for the Department of Corrections. The suit alleged that Barksdale, who
suffered from schizophrenia, died because of "the deliberate
indifference, medical neglect and negligence" of the prison staff.
September 23, 2009 Huntsville Times
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of an inmate who died just 12
days after entering prison has been settled with the state Department of
Corrections, her lawyers said Tuesday. Though the terms were not disclosed,
the settlement was also confirmed by state prison Commissioner Richard Allen.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery on behalf of Mary
Barksdale, the mother of Farron Barksdale, 32, of
Athens, who died Aug. 20, 2007, after he was found unconscious in his Kilby
Prison cell. Barksdale, who pleaded guilty to capital murder in the shooting
death of two Athens police officers, had been transferred to the prison just
three days earlier to begin serving a sentence of life without parole. Mary
Barksdale, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, was represented by
Sarah Geraghty, an attorney for the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human
Rights, and Huntsville attorney Jake Watson. Geraghty and Watson confirmed that
Mary Barksdale was awarded a cash settlement, but they would not disclose the
amount. The defendants in the suit were former Kilby Warden Arnold Hold, Drs.
Michael Robbins and Joseph McGinn, two unnamed
correctional officers, an unnamed medical worker and Vienna, Va., based MHM
Correctional Services. MHM provides mental health services for the Department
of Corrections. The suit alleged that Barksdale, who suffered from
schizophrenia, died because of "the deliberate indifference, medical
neglect and negligence" of the prison staff. "Mr. Barksdale was
medicated with an unusually large dose of psychotropic medications that made
his body unable to withstand high temperatures, confined to an isolation cell
with a medically dangerous degree of heat and left there without adequate
monitoring," the complaint said. "He fell into a coma and
died." The complaint said Barksdale was not placed in Kilby's mental
health unit, which is air-conditioned. On the day he was found unresponsive
in his cell, the temperature in Montgomery was 106 degrees. Kilby is located
just east of Montgomery. On that day, the complaint said, correctional
officers found Barksdale in a coma, "snoring and moaning," with a
temperature of 103.1 degrees. He was taken to the hospital but never regained
consciousness after eight days. An autopsy said he died of pneumonia and
complications from hypothermia and a blood-clotting problem, and that bruises
on his upper body and hip did not contribute to his death. A state prison
inmate later wrote in an Oct. 24, 2008, letter to Montgomery County Circuit
Judge Eugene Reese that Barksdale was severely beaten by four prison guards.
Allen asked the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and the Department of
Corrections' Department of Investigations and Intelligence to reopen the
investigation into Barksdale's death, but the results of that probe have
never been released. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that the
Department of Corrections must comply with the state's Open Records law and
make records available on crimes committed within prisons. The Southern
Center for Human Rights had sued over that issue. Despite the high court's
5-0 ruling, Allen said Friday state attorneys may ask for a rehearing.
June 8, 2009 Tuscaloosa News
Alabama's prison commissioner says the state will remove about 250 inmates
from the private prison where two men recently escaped amid a string of
security failures. However, Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen said
Monday that money - not the threat of additional escapes - was behind the
decision. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Allen said his
agency can't afford to continue housing 250 inmates
at the Perry County Detention Center. An executive at LCS Corrections Inc.,
which runs the prison, said he knew of the state's plan. He said the company
was told the state could place twice as many inmates at the private prison
next year if lawmakers approve funding.
November 11, 2008 Huntsville Times
New allegations in a federal lawsuit accuse the state of punishing a retired Army
colonel for being a whistleblower" because he reported mistreatment of
inmates at Limestone Correctional Facility. Dr. Larry Camp, a dentist, and
Sabrina Martindale, a dental technician, both from Huntsville, were fired in
early 2004 after they complained about the "delivery of unnecessarily
brutal and painful dentistry" on inmates by Dr. Michael West, their
supervisor. The two are seeking compensatory and punitive damages from
Correctional Medical Services Inc.; state prison Commissioner Richard Allen;
Ruth Naglich, the Corrections Department's
associate commissioner of health services; and Laura Ferrell, the
department's medical systems administrator. The updated complaint accused Naglich of slander and CMS of negligence. Allen, who was
not commissioner when Camp and Martindale complained of the mistreatment of
inmates, declined to comment on the case Monday. Corrections Department
spokesman Brian Corbett said the agency would have no comment, but its legal
department believes the accusations will be proven false. According to the
complaint, the mistreatment included the reuse of unsterilized equipment
between inmate-patients. David Long-Daniels, an Atlanta attorney representing
Camp and Martindale, said West's practices were especially dangerous because
many inmates at Limestone have HIV and/or hepatitis. West "liked one
instrument in particular," Long-Daniels said Monday. "He would use
it in extracting teeth. He would use it before the anesthesia had time to
take effect, and if an inmate cried out he would
tell him he had to get out of the chair." At the time, West was director
of dental services for the state Department of Corrections under the agency's
health services contracts with Prison Health Services Inc. of Brentwood,
Tenn., and NaphCare Inc. of Birmingham. Camp
reported West's conduct to Prison Health Services while Martindale reported
it to the state Board of Dental Examiners. Ferrell, who was Prison Health
Services' regional vice president and now works for the Corrections
Department, fired Camp less than a month later. Ferrell, whose husband, Jerry
Ferrell, is the longtime warden at the Foundation Correctional Facility in
Atmore, also fired Martindale, according to the complaint. The state Dental
Board sanctioned West on May 5, 2005, for his failure to comply with
recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
Recommended Infection-Control Practices for Dentistry. According to the
complaint, Ferrell testified on West's behalf at that hearing. After a new
$228 million prison health contract was awarded to St. Louis-based CMS last
October, both Camp and Martindale reapplied for their old jobs at Limestone.
According to the complaint, Camp interviewed with CMS for a staff dentist
position at Limestone on Oct. 12, 2007. CMS' dental recruiter told the
Corrections Department had to approve all contracts, but he "indicated
that this was a mere formality and that he had approved his (Camp's)
hire." Camp said he was later told that the Corrections Department had
denied his application. Martindale was rehired for her job in October 2007
but told she would start once Camp began treating prisoners. A week after her
hiring, she was informed by Limestone that neither she not
Camp would be working at there and CMS employees "were told not to ask
any questions." Ken Fields, a spokesman for CMS, called the lawsuit
"frivolous and not based on the facts." "We look forward to
addressing these assertions based on the facts in court," he said.
"We can tell you that we recruit health care professionals based on
their ability to deliver quality services in the corrections
environment." The Corrections Department declined to comment on West's
whereabouts, and Fields said CMS does not comment on personnel matters.
September 9, 2007 Huntsville Times
The Alabama Medicaid Agency will get a $3.8 million contract with a
company with a checkered past, but a political cloud may linger over the
transaction. And the state Department of Corrections will get a $233.73
million contract with a St. Louis company that bid $6 million more than the
losing bidder for inmate health care services. Democrats insinuate that
politics may have played a role in ACS Heritage Inc.'s winning the Medicaid
contract even though its bid was $500,000 higher than the next company. And the
firm that won the prison contract, Correctional Medical Services, Inc., was
represented by former Republican Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, a lobbyist with close
ties to Gov. Bob Riley.
September 7, 2007 Birmingham News
The Legislative Contract Review Committee on Thursday delayed
implementation of a $223 million prison health-care contract after an
official with a company that bid $9 million less questioned the process. The
panel also delayed a $3.7 million Medicaid contract to computerize medical
records after lawmakers questioned the company's performance in other states.
The Contract Review Committee reviews state agency contracts. Committee
members can delay the contracts for 45 days but do not have the power to
cancel them. The Department of Corrections, after taking proposals, selected
Correctional Medical Services Inc. of St. Louis to provide medical care to
Alabama's more than 20,000 inmates. Another company, Wexford Health Sources,
had submitted the low bid that was about $9 million cheaper than Correctional
Medical Services'. Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, and other legislators
asked Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen why the department had not
selected the low bidder. Allen said Correctional Medical Services scored
slightly higher on bid reviews, which take quality of care into account.
"I don't know that Mr. Holmes would go to the cheapest doctor in
town," Allen said after the meeting. Lawmakers also questioned that the
prison staff who reviewed the bids included several former employees of CMS.
Allen said none had worked for the company in at least six years. "I
have full confidence in these people. There was no politics involved in this
selection," Allen said. But Michael Davis, a lawyer representing
Wexford, said company officials wanted to meet with the commissioner before
the contract was finalized. Davis said company officials had questions about
how bidders' scores were determined.
September 6, 2007 Huntsville Times
The state corrections commissioner was questioned by legislators
Wednesday over a $233.73 million contract for health care for Alabama's
nearly 26,000 inmates. Commissioner Richard Allen is seeking approval of a
three-year contract with St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services Inc.
CMS would take over a contract now held by Prison Health Services Inc., of
Brentwood, Tenn. Sen. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, a retired physician,
endorsed the CMS contract, which would have two potential one-year renewals.
"I have a keen interest in (prisons), particularly the health care,"
Griffith told the committee. "We're rapidly moving into the baby boomers
going through the prison system just like we're going through it outside the
prison system." Griffith said health care for convicts is a "major,
major cost factor" for the state, but he added that "we're capping
it with this contract and I think it's well thought
out." The committee has the power to delay the contract for 45 days but
cannot stop it from being enacted. Some members of the Joint Legislative
Contract Review Committee questioned Allen about members of his staff who
formerly worked for the two private companies and were involved in the
selection process for CMS. A third company that submitted a proposal,
Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources, was represented by an attorney who said
he will ask for an explanation of the grading process when the committee
meets again today. Allen acknowledged that Wexford's bid was about $6 million
lower than CMS. "We evaluated the contracts very carefully," said
Allen. "All the bidders were told that price would be 40 percent of the
score and other things - innovations, cost savings, those types of things -
would be scored 60 percent." Allen said Wexford scored third. Rep.
Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden, said he was concerned
that Department of Corrections employees who formerly worked for CMS and PHS
were on the team that graded proposals submitted by the three companies. But
Allen defended the process, calling prison health care "a very narrow
specialty." "If you look at the resumes of these (DOC) people, they
have worked for several companies, not just this company (CMS)," he
said. "Nobody in our department has worked for this company in the last
six or seven years. They've also worked for PHS. They've also worked for about a dozen other companies. They
go back and forth between the companies and state service."
August 29, 2007 The Huntsville Times
The Alabama Department of Corrections said Tuesday that it will transfer 134
male inmates from a private Louisiana prison to the Limestone Correctional
Facility as part of a cost-cutting measure. Prisons Commissioner Richard
Allen said the transfer is the first of several required to return more than
1,100 Alabama convicts who are housed out of state. "In an attempt to
save taxpayer dollars and eliminate our budget shortfall, we plan to return
all out-of-state inmates to Alabama by year's end," Allen said in a
prepared statement. "This move will allow us to save an estimated $10
million annually on rented bed space." Prior to Tuesday's transfer, 294
male inmates were housed at the West Carroll Detention Center in Epps, La.,
at a cost of $26.75 per inmate, per day. Alabama inmates are also kept at the
J.B. Evans Correctional Facility, South Louisiana Correctional Center and
Perry County Detention Center, all owned and operated by Lafayette, La.-based
LCS Corrections Services.
August 17, 2007 Tennessean
America Service Group Inc. said Thursday that its Prison Health Services
subsidiary would lose its contract with the Alabama Department of
Corrections. The contract expires on Oct. 31. PHS provides medical services
to inmates. Brentwood-based America Service Group said it would update its
fourth-quarter earnings estimate later. It had projected revenues from a
renewed contract of $12.3 million in the three months ending Dec. 31.
July 12, 2007 All American Patriots
The Alabama Department of Corrections will put 5,763 acres of
unproductive and money-losing properties up for sale, bring state inmates
back from Louisiana prisons and put more inmates to work. Governor Bob Riley
and Corrections Commission Richard Allen said Wednesday that proceeds
generated from the land sales during the coming year will go toward prison
infrastructure improvements and not operating expenses. All property to be
sold will be appraised, advertised and sold through
a public process to the highest bidder. Such a process was used earlier this
year when 540 acres of the Farquhar State Cattle Ranch near Greensboro was
sold for more than $1.6 million, which is higher than its appraised value of
$1.4 million. The properties being put up for sale are: 1,851 acres of the
2,215 acres at Red Eagle Honor Farm in Montgomery The remaining 3,869 acres
of the Farquhar State Cattle Ranch An empty and unused 16,000-square foot
building on South Union Street in Montgomery 32 acres in Wetumpka on Highway
231 North 10 acres at the old Kilby prison in Montgomery All the properties
are either unneeded or losing money. The Farquhar State Cattle Ranch, for
example, has lost approximately $377,000 during the past two fiscal years and
has lost almost $60,000 in the first six months of the current fiscal year.
"These properties are a financial drain on the taxpayers and aren't
needed," said Governor Riley. "It makes no sense to hold on to
them. We will sell them, relieve this burden on the taxpayers and use the
money for some long-needed improvements to correctional
facilities." The Department of Corrections expects the sale of
the properties will bring in up to $22 million. This is not the first time land owned by the Department of Corrections has
been sold. In addition to the sale earlier this year of 540 acres at the
cattle ranch, more than 630 acres of Corrections property was sold through
the bid process in 2003 and 2004 for $3.8 million. Governor Riley said the
sale of idle land would not be limited to the Department of Corrections,
noting that several agencies, including the Department of Mental Health and
Mental Retardation, own properties that may be sold. The Governor's office is
working with state agencies to determine what property they own is unneeded
and could be sold. In addition to selling unneeded property, the Department
of Corrections will terminate its contracts with two Louisiana-based
companies and return approximately 1,300 male and female inmates from private
prisons in Louisiana. All inmates in Louisiana will be back in Alabama by the
end of November. That move is expected to save the Corrections Department
almost $10 million.
April 16, 2007 The Press-Register
Some members of a legislative oversight committee contend that Gov. Bob
Riley's administration broke the law on three no-bid contracts by failing to
submit them to the panel months ago. "If you have got a law, all
departments in the Riley administration have to follow the law," said state
Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, a committee member. "The same law
applied to Don Siegelman that applies to the Riley administration."
During Riley's 2002 campaign for a first term, the Republican blasted
then-Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, for his administration's handling of
no-bid contracts. Ken Wallis, legal advisor to Riley, said recently that the
administration is "absolutely" following state law regarding all
contracts, including the three questioned by some lawmakers. One of the three
was an emergency contract -- for prison health services -- that was used for
four months before the administration submitted the permanent deal to the
committee. Panel members said they learned about the other two contracts
through reporters. The prison contract totaled more than $56 million, while
each of the others was for $60,000 or less.
July 27, 2006 AP
About 320 female Alabama prisoners being housed in Louisiana are being
moved to another prison in that state but one closer to Alabama. The women
inmates had been housed at a private prison at Basile in southwest Louisiana.
They are being moved to J.B. Evans Correctional Center in Newellton,
La., which is on the Louisiana-Mississippi line about 60 miles west of
Jackson. The move brings the inmates about two and a-half hours closer to the
Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, prisons commissioner Richard
Allen said Thursday. It also reduces travel time for corrections officers.
The Alabama Department of Corrections has a contract with LCS Correctional
Services to house the inmates to help reduce overcrowded conditions at
Tutwiler. The J.B. Evans Correctional Center opened in 1994 and is a medium
security facility with the capacity of holding 440 inmates. Allen said it
will be used exclusively for the Alabama women prisoners. More than 600 male
inmates are also housed in private facilities in Louisiana because of
overcrowded conditions in Alabama prisons.
March 2, 2006 Birmingham News
In the recent letter "Partnerships can ease overcrowding," the
executive director of the Association of Private Correctional and Treatment
Organizations resorts to smoke and mirrors in promoting privatization as the
answer to Alabama's overcrowded prisons. He relies on dubious studies, some
of which were paid for by his boss - the for-profit private prison industry.
The Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations advocates
nothing more than a throwback to the convict lease system of the late 1800s,
which was ended in the early 1900s. Privatization has resulted in a "race
to the bottom." You get what you pay for, folks. For more information
about this industry, visit our Web site: www.PrivateCI.org. We don't make this stuff up. Ken Kopczynski,
Executive director, Private Corrections Institute
February 22, 2006 Pickens Herald
The Pickens County Commission in a press briefing last Tuesday after their
regular meeting questioned the state’s motives in housing several hundred
prisoners in Louisiana when they could easily house them at the Pickens
County Jail at a cheaper rate. County Attorney Buddy Kirk addressed the
Herald with four of the five commissioners present (Commissioners Earnest
Summerville, William Latham, Willie Colvin and Ted Ezelle
were present; Tony Junkin was absent) about the
matter after the Commission became aware that the state had moved 140 male
prisoners from the Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent, Ala. to a private
prison over 300 miles away in Pine Prairie, La. The Commission has contacted
the Alabama County Commission Association about the matter, said Kirk, to ask
for their help in approaching state officials about this curious action.
Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama state prison system, told the
Associated Press last Monday that the state plans to move 500 inmates from
the Bibb County facility to the Pine Prairie Correctional Center in central
Louisiana, a private prison operated by LCS Corrections Services Inc. The
sticking point for the Pickens County Commission is that not only is the
state having to carry the expense of transporting the prisoners to another
state but are willing to pay $29.50 a day per inmate to house them there. The
state only pays counties $1.75 per day to house state prisoners in county
jails. “It doesn’t seem right to the Commission,” said Kirk, who noted that
the state will virtually drive right by Pickens County from Bibb County to
travel 300 miles to Louisiana. Furthermore, Kirk said if a prisoner has to meet with his attorney, it is a general rule that
the state will have to pay that attorney’s expenses if the prisoner is housed
far away.
February 23, 2006 Montgomery
Advertiser
The fact that incoming prison commissioner Richard Allen, who takes over next
week, has no previous experience in corrections has been widely noted. Given
Allen's demonstrated abilities throughout a distinguished career, there is no
reason Alabamians should be concerned about that. In fact, the fresh
perspective he will bring to the Department of Corrections is likely to be an
asset. Allen surely will be attuned to apparent conflicts of interest such as
the one involving a prison health care monitor. In that case, the Birmingham
News reported this week, a nurse hired by the department to monitor health
care delivered under a contract with an outside provider came directly from
that provider. One day he was working for the provider, and the next day he
was being paid to monitor the work of that provider. That was a dubious arrangement in itself, but the situation was made even
more questionable when the nurse resigned his monitor's job with DOC after
working only a few weeks to return to his former employer. He has since
rescinded the resignation and remains with DOC. This is an unacceptable
situation that cannot engender any confidence in the proper delivery of
health care to inmates or the proper oversight of health care delivery by the
prison system. In order to have any credibility, a
monitor cannot have such ties to the operator being monitored. Allen will
have a stack of problems on his desk when he walks in for his first day as
commissioner on Wednesday, foremost among them the chronic overcrowding of
the prison system. As he wrestles with that daunting challenge, however, he
also must take a newcomer's clear-eyed look at issues such as too-close
connections between the department and outside contractors.
February 18, 2006 Birmingham News
A nurse hired by the state prison system last month to monitor its
medical contract had until then worked for the company he was hired to keep tabs
on. After a few weeks on the job, nurse Brandon Kinard resigned from the
state to return to Prison Health Services, then rescinded his resignation
Friday. Despite earlier plans to go back to the company, Kinard will remain a
regional clinical manager with the Department of Corrections assigned to make
sure PHS does an adequate job, prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said. The
state pays Kinard a $59,000 annual salary. He is one of several regional
managers who oversee quality control, protocols and contract compliance,
specifically DOC's $143 million contract with PHS, a Tennessee-based company
that has come under scrutiny in several states on allegations of placing
economic interests above patient care. Kinard's boss at DOC, Associate
Commissioner Ruth Naglich, ultimately is in charge of making sure the company lives up to its
contract. She also has ties to PHS, where she was vice president for sales
and marketing before taking the state job. Kinard's employment falls within a
gray area of state ethics law, officials say. Attorneys who represent
prisoners treated by PHS say it's a conflict of
interest even though it may be legal. "I don't know if it violates any
state laws. But effective monitoring of a private company by the state
Department of Corrections needs to be done by people who are independent of
the medical company and independent of the DOC, and this is ..... something that would seem to prevent effective
monitoring," said Joshua Lipman, an attorney with the Southern Center
for Human Rights. Previous state monitoring efforts have resulted in DOC's
withholding payments to PHS because the company failed to fulfill minimal
contract staffing levels. The state withheld $1.2 million last year when
monitors found the provider did not have enough doctors, nurses, administrators and support staff in the prisons, and later
withheld $580,000 as a performance penalty. Kinard first worked for PHS at
Hamilton Aged and Infirm. He worked both as a director of nursing and in an
administrative position, making decisions about patient health care. He'd been with the company since November 2003, when PHS
received the Alabama contract. He also had worked in prison medicine with
companies that previously contracted with the state. Kinard began his job at
DOC the first week in January. In early February, he submitted his
resignation, effective Feb. 24, to return to PHS. A day after The News
contacted PHS about the situation, Kinard rescinded his resignation, staying
with the DOC job. Alabama ethics law prevents state employees from
immediately accepting jobs at companies they audited, investigated
or regulated for the state, said Hugh Evans, general counsel at the Alabama
Ethics Commission. There has not been a ruling on whether that includes
returning to jobs they came from. "Under the ethics law, if you are
involved in auditing, investigating or regulating a private entity, that
would include monitoring or awarding a contract to a private entity, you
can't go to work for them for two years," Evans said. However, he said,
"The issue is somewhat muddied, if that person is returning to the
status quo. It could be a cause for concern."
February 16, 2006
Montgomery Advertiser
How willing would you be to do business with a company with a record of
legal problems, even if it was the low bidder? Most Alabamians, we'd wager, would have some reservations about that -- and
Alabamians certainly should have reservations about their state sending
prison inmates to a private prison. For years, the Advertiser has expressed
serious concerns about the use of private prisons. Nothing reported from the
ones involved in state contracts has eased those concerns. The Birmingham
News reported this week that the Department of Corrections has begun
transferring male inmates to a private prison in Pine Prairie, La. The prison
is operated by Louisiana Corrections Service, which also operates a facility
in Basile, La., where Alabama has housed about 300 female inmates since 2003.
The reason for using these facilities is the chronic overcrowding of Alabama's
prison system, which is the subject of constant litigation. The transfer of
male inmates -- eventually about 500 of them -- is an effort to ease the
backlog in county jails of state inmates who haven't
been sent to state prisons because there is no space for them. The
overcrowding problem is at present intractable, given Alabama's sentencing
structure and its decades of failing to address the shortcomings of a system
now bulging with almost twice as many inmates as its facilities were designed
to handle. LCS will house the male inmates for $29.50 per day per inmate, but
how much of a bargain is that? There are important issues inherent in any
private prison operation. This is not someone's hobby; this is a for-profit
enterprise. That's fine in most pursuits; in fact,
it is the core of the American economy. But incarceration is a solemn
obligation of the state. Depriving individuals of liberty is serious business
and the state, even though justified in doing so, has an undeniable
responsibility to those individuals. A for-profit prison has financial
considerations that a state facility does not. It has profit expectations
from its investors, and these could all too easily lead to dangerous
corner-cutting that compromises the safety of inmates and potentially the
public as well. Unlike the state, a private prison operator has no stake in
the rehabilitation of inmates vs. the mere warehousing of them. Add to those
concerns -- inherent in any private prison operation -- the legal troubles at
LSC facilities and it is easy to see why Alabamians should be uncomfortable
with this arrangement. Last week, the News reported, a former supervisor at
Pine Prairie was convicted of rights violations and witness tampering in the
beating of an inmate. Earlier, four guards at the Basile facility were
indicted on sexual abuse charges. Problems can occur at state prisons, of
course, but there the state has direct authority to act, to set employment
standards and to otherwise control the addressing of problems. That is
largely lost when private prisons are used. The private prison issue is not
going to fade away. LCS is working with officials in Perry County to open a
private prison there. The facility, located outside Uniontown, will be ready
in a few months. The Department of Corrections says there is no agreement for
it to place prisoners there, but clearly there will be great political
pressure to do so. This is a poor approach to prison issues. A far better one
is broad reform of Alabama's sentencing structure, which now sends to prison
far too many people who could serve their sentences in community-based
corrections facilities with drug treatment programs and work opportunities --
without presenting a significant threat to the safety of the populace.
Funneling non-violent offenders into prisons is always costly and seldom
productive. Absent this kind of reform of the current system, inherently
unsound practices such as the use of private prisons will continue -- not
because they are better, but because they are cheaper.
February 16, 2006 Ledger-Enquirer
Tough on crime, or on taxpayers. Last week, Alabama's prison commissioner
went over the wall. And who could blame Commissioner Donal
Campbell for resigning? He had been given the literally impossible task of
operating an Alabama prison system with too many inmates and not nearly
enough money. Not only is he set up for failure, but he is also set up to go
to jail himself for not obeying court orders to relieve crowding. Of course,
he can't build prisons out of his own pocket, and the
Alabama legislature isn't about to spend precious tax dollars on inmates, so
what could the commissioner do but throw up his hands and walk away? "I
wouldn't want that job," said Lynda Flynt, executive director of the
Alabama Sentencing Commission. She knows what she's
talking about, having worked closely with Campbell to alleviate crowding.
Knowing they're going to have a problem filling a
position that includes perks such as being party to a lawsuit, state
officials are finally scrambling to do something. On Monday, the state
announced that it is going to send 500 state inmates to a private prison in
Louisiana. The private prison company there already houses more than 300
Alabama inmates. At $29.50 a day per inmate, that's
going to cost Alabama taxpayers about $24,000 a day. That's
Alabama tax money that's flowing into the Louisiana economy. If Alabama would
build the prisons it needs (or consider sentencing reforms that might ease
the stress on the system) some of that cash might stay home. Or some of it
might be sent to Alabama counties that are picking up a huge tab for housing
state prisoners. As of last December, there were about 100 state inmates
being housed in Russell, Lee and Chambers County
jails. It costs counties about $30 a day to house a state prisoner, but the
state pays the counties about $1.75 a day. So
housing those prisoners costs East Alabama taxpayers more than a million
dollars a year, while the state is sending more than $8 million a year to
Louisiana private prisons. If the Alabama legislature is going to insist that
this many people be in prison, then the lawmakers have the moral
responsibility to see that there is space to house the inmates. If you're going to be tough on crime, then you're going to
have to be tough enough to pay the piper. -- Michael Owen, for the editorial
board
February 13, 2006
AP
A total of 140 medium-security male prisoners were transferred Sunday night
from Alabama to a private correctional facility in Louisiana, the first of
500 to be moved in the latest attempt to ease overcrowded cellblocks. The
prisoners were transferred from Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent to Pine
Prairie Correctional Center in Pine Prairie, La., in an
effort to make room for state inmates who are in county jails in
violation of an Alabama court order. State prisons spokesman Brian Corbett
said Monday the state entered into an emergency
contract with LCS Corrections Services Inc. to send up to 500 inmates to the
central Louisiana facility. The Department of Corrections currently houses 311
female prisoners at an LCS facility in Basile, La. Prisons Commissioner Donal Campbell announced Friday that he had resigned,
effective Feb. 28. He had pushed for increased state funding for prisons and
recently said there was no money in Gov. Bob Riley's budget proposal to pay
for the use of private prisons, an alternative he supported.
July 16, 2005 AP
A court-appointed monitor warns that erratic treatment of HIV-positive
inmates in an Alabama prison could develop into treatment-resistant
AIDS. A new report by Dr. Joseph Bick issued that warning. It came a
year after the state Department of Corrections agreed to improve medical
treatment for the HIV-positive prisoners. Bick documented four types of
"sub-optimal" HIV treatment at Limestone Correctional Facility,
where more than 200 HIV-positive inmates are housed. A California expert in
prison medicine, Bick was appointed by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Ott to
visit Limestone four times a year and evaluate whether the state and its
medical contractor provided dozens of improvements required in a lawsuit
settlement. Although state officials promised in the settlement last
year to hire an HIV specialist for the men, there has not been one during
much of the year, leading to erratic treatment. Tennessee-based Prison
Health Services, the private company that oversees care in Alabama prisons,
says many of the problems Bick found were related to that position's being
vacant. "It's difficult to recruit a highly qualified HIV
specialist, especially to a rural area," the company said in a statement
Friday. Two specialists PHS previously hired left the job within weeks
or months. Bick warned that the mistakes in previous care could have
irreversibly harmed patients. During his week-long visit in late May,
Bick found: substitute doctors who mixed drugs that were not supposed to be
used together; patients with rising viral loads who had not been seen for
treatment changes or whose failing regimens were changed only one drug at a
time; and doctors who made treatment changes without telling the
patient. Bick's reports have noted some improvements
but he has continued to focus on the inability of keeping doctors and of
keeping critical positions filled. "Due to the fragile nature of
this medical program, I recommend that every effort be made to retain
physicians once they are hired," Bick wrote in the new report.
Besides the HIV population, Limestone houses 1,800 other prisoners and has
one physician and one nurse practitioner to provide their care as well as
care for 135 work-release prisoners in Decatur. Bick called this "by all
measures ... inadequate" and recommended three full-time
physicians. PHS has hired several doctors over the last year, including
HIV specialists, who have not stayed long. The company also said that
negative press coverage has frustrated its efforts to hire a specialist.
June 3, 2005 Decatur Daily
With its magnifying glass focused on inmate health expenses, a
legislative committee came up with as many questions as answers Thursday for
the spiraling medical costs for state prisoners. High hospital costs for ill
inmates, concerns about the company that provides on-site medical services at
state prisons and a prison population that is close to double capacity all
complicate the challenge for the Department of Corrections. The committee
questioned, but approved, two contracts for medically related inmate care. In a $60,000
part-time contract, Cullman internist Dr. George Lyrene
will review all deaths at state prisons and give court testimony related to
the deaths for $1,100 to $1,250 per day. In a
second contract, the state will pay Rebecca Jones, a registered nurse from
Wetumpka, up to $40,000 for inmate-specific diabetes education and meal
monitoring at state prisons. Committee members also questioned the
performance and expenses of Prison Health Services, the Tennessee company
that currently has the contract to provide medical care for inmates.
"The provider has major, major problems, and there are deep concerns
among members of the committee about them," Morrison said after the
meeting. Morrison said Corrections Commissioner Donal
Campbell and Naglich are working to solve the
problems. Morrison said some of the health costs are the result of actions
before the time the Tennessee company took over inmate care in Alabama.
"We are still in lawsuits related to the previous provider,"
Morrison said. "With some things, we can only go as fast as the courts
allow."
May 26, 2005 AP
Seeking to save money, the Department of Corrections has signed a contract to
send inmates with chronic illnesses to a South Carolina hospital specializing
in treating prisoners. Alabama prison system officials announced Thursday the
inmates would be sent to Columbia Care Center ,
rather than to regular community hospitals in the state. The hospital in
Columbia, S.C. , currently has space to treat up to
50 Alabama inmates who need long-term care, such as chemotherapy, radiation
therapy or kidney dialysis, but the number to be sent initially has not been
determined. There is no set cost for the contract - DOC pays Just Care as the
hospital's services are needed. Department officials said the prisons are not
equipped to treat inmates who need certain specialized treatments for highly
advanced cancers, diabetes and other chronic diseases.
Those limitations force the DOC's health care provider, Prison Health
Services, to refer the inmates to outside hospitals for repeated treatments,
said DOC spokesman Brian Corbett. In fiscal year 2004, the prison system had
to pay $9.4 million for treatments that fell outside PHS's responsibility,
officials said. The DOC has refused to pay $1.2 million to PHS, saying the
company has not provided enough doctors and nurses at the prisons. That issue
is under mediation, but is unrelated to the decision
to team up with Just Care, Corbett said.
May 5, 2005 Birmingham News
Alabama's prison medical provider is losing $1.2 million from the state
because it has not provided enough doctors and nurses to state prisons.
Prison Health Services has not fulfilled minimal contract requirements that
call for a certain number of doctors, nurses, administrators
and support staff. The company is not being fined, Department of Corrections
spokesman Brian Corbett said, but DOC will not have to pay $1.2 million of
its contract. The department hired PHS in November 2003. The company's
three-year, $143 million contract could see more reductions if the medical
staff does not increase. Tennessee-based Prison Health Services also has come
under fire in recent months by physicians who are monitoring two prisons
under federal court settlements. A lawsuit alleging inadequate medical care
is pending at a third prison, the Hamilton Aged and Infirm facility, where
the oldest, sickest men are housed. Dr. Michael Puisis,
court monitor at Tutwiler Prison for Women, said in a March report that
prison medical staff provided poor or incomplete care to three inmates who
died last year. He suggested that negligence might have led to two of those
deaths. The third, a suicide, was likely the result of inadequate care by
mental health workers, who are employed by a different company. Two deaths
since then are still under investigation. Still, attorneys for the Limestone
inmates have asked the federal courts to hold the state in contempt for
failing to abide by the conditions of the settlement. Last year, the state
agreed to dozens of improvements, centering on added medical staff and more
humane housing conditions. Doctors keep leaving, some after claiming PHS did
not allow them the flexibility and resources to practice medicine as they
want to do. "There are just as many complaints raised after the
settlement as before," said Gretchen Rohr, an attorney with the
Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, who represents Alabama
prisons in both cases.
April 26, 2005 Mobile Register
Scott Allen Winingear spent less than two months in
the Baldwin County jail last year before administrators concluded they were
not equipped to control the diabetic inmate's blood sugar, according to
federal court testimony. So concerned was the nursing staff about Winingear's condition, that officials had him transferred
to Mobile County Metro Jail, which has 24-hour medical services on staff,
Baldwin jail personnel testified. But in about three months at Metro Jail,
the 31-year-old Indiana man's blood sugar readings actually
got worse, according to the federal court testimony earlier this year.
The case marks another criticism of the Metro Jail system that has come under
attack in recent years and echoes findings of a nutritional consultant who
reported last week that the jail does not appear to be preparing different
meals for diabetics and other inmates with special needs. According to
testimony at the sentencing hearing, Winingear's
problems at Mobile County Metro Jail stemmed from a switch to a cheaper form
of insulin and a diet that was not conducive to controlling his diabetes.
Testimony at the hearing indicated that the jails in Baldwin and Mobile
treated Winingear differently. At Metro Jail, Winingear testified, he received the same meals everyone
else did. He said the diet consisted of high-carbohydrate foods like
spaghetti and white bread, along with sugar-laden items like fruit cocktail
and Kool-Aid. Unsweetened alternatives were not available, he said. Winingear testified that his parents put money in his
jail account but that administrators deducted those funds to pay for his
medical care. As a result, he testified, he was unable to supplement his
meals by purchasing snacks from the jail store. Winingear
contended in his testimony that the jail gave him Novolin 70/30, a cheaper
mix of Humulin-R and Humulin-L that he said was not as effective. A former
nurse at Metro Jail, who asked not to be identified out of fear she might
face professional reprisals, said the jail switched insulins in the fall. She
also said nurses often did not test diabetic inmates' blood sugar levels
frequently enough. "The nurses were pushed so hard that there hardly was
a time in the day when we were not so far behind," she said. The nurse
said administrators also showed little flexibility in making sure diabetics
were regularly monitored. "If they were at a religious service or
something else when blood sugars were tested, the unwritten policy was they
would do without," she said. Correctional Medical Services, a St. Louis
company that has provided health services to Metro Jail inmates since July
could not immediately offer a response. In testimony at Winingear's
sentencing hearing, an administrator with the firm acknowledged that a nurse
at one time was late making rounds to check blood sugar levels and administer
insulin. Carla Wasden, the jail's health services
administrator, testified that it was possible the nurse was late more than
once.
April 25, 2005 Anniston Star
Historically, Alabama has never placed a high priority on the care of its
inmates. Like many states, Alabama is often in a locking-up mood when it
comes to wrongdoers. We don’t mind building prisons
and then filling them up. Once these men and women are behind bars, though, it’s out of sight, out of mind. Like a lot of states,
Alabama also outsources the medical care of inmates in an
effort to cut costs. The problems associated with the hiring out of
health care for prisoners are becoming more obvious by the day. It’s beyond
debate — or at least it should be — that prisoners
should not be denied proper medical treatment. To do otherwise would be
cruelly inhumane and a violation of the human rights of inmates. In 2003
following reports of deaths and various abuses, Alabama dropped its contract
with Naphcare, a company specializing in treating
prisoners. The state replaced the firm with Prison Health Services, a
Nashville-based company. That decision is looking like a mistake. Last month,
The New York Times reported that New York officials are blaming the deaths of
more than 20 inmates on PHS’ lax policies. Closer to home, the Birmingham
News recently reported on the deaths of two Alabama inmates under the care of
Prison Health Services. Independent observers as well as the families of
Tutwiler Prison for Women inmates Teresa Morris, who died March 6, and Edna
Britt, who died March 23, point to Prison Health Services shortcomings.
Morris, who was a diabetic, was allegedly taken off her insulin. And
advocates are questioning the circumstances surrounding the death Britt, who
had recently been treated for cancer. At Donaldson, Tutwiler and Limestone
prisons, the complaints center on denial of medicines and a gross shortage of
medical personnel. Previous challenges on behalf of prisoners have put these
three facilities under heightened scrutiny. Dr. Joseph Bick is a physician
assigned to observe conditions at Limestone, where inmates with HIV are
housed. He has written, “Interviews with patients, chart reviews and feedback
from physicians support the concern that patients are not consistently given
the medications that have been ordered for them for serious life-threatening
conditions.”
The Department of Corrections can outsource all it wants, but in the end,
state inmates are the responsibility of the state. It’s
time to start asking hard questions.
April 17, 2005 Birmingham News
By the time Teresa Morris died, her legs were so badly swollen that the
prison shackles dug into them. A 53-year-old diabetic serving time for
domestic violence at Tutwiler Prison for Women, Morris spent the hours before
her March 6 death shackled in a hospital bed in Montgomery. Prison officials
say she died of natural causes. Morris's family believes the prison medical
staff, employees of private contractor Prison Health Services, provided
inadequate care for her diabetes. They say she was taken off her insulin
shots, for reasons the family does not understand. Her death is the latest in
a series of red flags suggesting that Prison Health Services is not providing
sufficient quality medical care to many Alabama prisoners, according to
interviews with prisoners' attorneys, former PHS employees and reports from
independent physicians who monitor care at some of Alabama's prisons. "I
can't say whether or not she was given insulin," said Ben Purser, the
company's vice president for ethics and chief compliance officer. "It
was an expected death; that is about the best thing I can say to you." Morris's death
certificate says she died from diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver and Hepatitis
C. But she was not being treated for the last two, Freeman said. Last November, Dr. Michael Puisis,
court monitor for the Tutwiler medical settlement, visited the prison and
reviewed treatment records for several prisoners. Of Morris's care, he wrote:
"She was seen every three months, but not by a doctor. ... Liver
function tests were abnormal but not investigated. An incomplete physical
examination was done." Even after the legal settlements mandating better
care at Tutwiler and Limestone, there have been severe shortages of doctors
and nurses at the prisons. Nearly a year later, critical reports by court
monitors continue to come out of both places. "These records reflect
thousands of doses of medications ordered by physicians that have either not
been given, or have been given without being documented," Dr. Joseph
Bick, monitor in the Limestone case, wrote after visiting the HIV Unit in
February. "Interviews with patients, chart reviews and feedback from
physicians support the concern that patients are not consistently given the
medications that have been ordered for them for serious life-threatening
conditions." What was even more disturbing, the doctor wrote, was that
Prison Health Services provided documents showing that nurses had recently been
trained on this issue. It
was Bick's third visit to the prison. Each was followed by a report showing
the state was out of compliance with several key medical provisions of the
2004 settlement. A constant failing at Limestone is
doctor and nurse shortages. The prison, with 2,200 people, has become a
revolving door for physicians. One physician left in late 2004. Another, Dr.
Valda Chijide, an infectious disease specialist,
was placed on administrative leave after writing her superiors about
constrictions placed on her that made it impossible to do her job. She
resigned in February. Prison Health Services then brought in a doctor from a
temporary agency, but by early April she, too, decided not to return, PHS'
Purser said. During
vacancies, Dr. Will Mosier, Prison Health Services' Montgomery-based medical
director, fills in at Limestone and other prisons when needed. There are
provisions in the company's contract for the state to deduct payment to the
company if its staff numbers are down, and the Corrections Department
monitors staffing levels on a regular basis, Corbett said. How much money the
state is owed for empty positions is under debate, he said.
December 17, 2004 Corrections
Professional
Private prison employees' terror claim survived dismissal. Case name: Bullin et al.,v.
Correctional Medical Services Inc., No. 2030573 (Ala. Civ. App. 11/19/04).
Ruling: Because private prison employees claimed they suffered mental anguish
as a result of their employer's failure to properly
implement policies to protect them from the prison population, their claim
was not covered under the Alabama Workers' Compensation Act. Accordingly,
their claim survived dismissal and will proceed. Summary: In August 2002,
Jamie Bullin, Lisa Johnson
and Tabitha Manuel brought a civil action against Correctional Medical
Services Inc., three individuals employed by the Alabama Department of
Corrections, and several fictitiously named defendants in the Baldwin Circuit
Court. The employees collectively alleged that CMS had negligently failed to
formulate policies for the protection of the employees from the wrongful
conduct of the prison population. The employees said they had been terrorized
and caused to suffer severe and continuing mental anguish and emotional
distress as a proximate result of CMS' omissions. The Baldwin Circuit Court
transferred the cause to the Montgomery Circuit Court, and CMS filed a motion
for summary judgment. CMS alleged that the employees' exclusive remedy was a
claim under the Alabama Workers' Compensation Act. The employees contended
that their claim alleged purely psychological injuries, therefore the claim
was outside the scope of the act's exclusivity provisions. The trial court
granted CMS' summary-judgment motion, and the employees appealed. The Alabama
Court of Civil Appeals held that the employees' claim against CMS was not
barred by exclusivity provisions of Workers' Compensation Act because the
employees' injuries were purely psychological in nature. The
"injury" the employees complained of expressly included mental
injuries that had neither been produced nor proximately caused by physical
injury to body. The decision of the lower court was reversed and remanded.
February 9, 2004
A $500,000 tab for unused slots in a private out-of-state prison is a bitter
pill for taxpayers of Alabama to swallow. Particularly with prisons here
crammed with nearly twice as many inmates as they were built to house and
with state government in a severe financial bind. Prison officials must
not only review how the state came to agree to pay for beds that are going
unused as state inmates are returned from the Mississippi prison, but to make
sure any future prison contracts don't come with hidden surprises.
(Al.com)
February 5, 2004
The Alabama Department of Corrections will pay a private prison company at
least $500,000 for empty prison space in Mississippi. That's
because the state's contract with the Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation
of America requires Alabama to pay rent for 1,345 beds through March 11. The
state has opted to bring most of the prisoners home early, but still must pay
the $27.50 per diem cost. Alabama prison officials say the unused beds
are a necessity, and the result of the state's chronic underfunding and
overcrowding of prisons. Now that bed space has been freed up at state
prisons, the department is sending inmates home a few at a time, but the
contract requires the state to continue paying for 95 percent of the full
occupancy rate. Corrections employees began returning inmates Jan. 19.
By the end of this week, they expect to return 379. Unused beds for that
group alone will cost $340,000 for 35 days. More men will be returning every
week until March 12, leaving empty beds that will push the total to at least
$500,000. "There's no way you could keep them over there until the
last day of the contract and bring them back all at once," said Brian
Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections. "It's
physically impossible to move 1,416 inmates in one day." State
officials signed the emergency contract with CCA last June. Alabama's prison
population had hit an all-time high of 28,440, and the Department of
Corrections was facing pressure from lawsuits related to prison conditions
and the backlog of state inmates in county jails. "We did what we
had to do out of an emergency situation. And yes,
unfortunately, it cost money," Corbett said. "It would be
wiser in the long run and cheaper in the long run if you would properly fund
corrections up front, as opposed to trying to correct your emergency
situations on the back end," Corbett said. State got bargain:
A spokesman for CCA said Alabama got a bargain in its per diem rate.
Elsewhere, private prison companies have charged states more than $50 per
inmate per day. CCA's Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in
Tutwiler, Miss., sat empty last summer. The company quickly staffed it for
the Alabama contract, and federal law requires CCA to give those employees a
60-day notice before termination, said CCA spokesman Steve Owen.
"There had to be some guarantees for us to hire, ramp up and staff that
institution for the duration of that contract," Owen said.
Increased parole and community corrections programs have freed up space in
Alabama prisons. The prison population was down to 27,344 in December
2003. The Department of Corrections is also shifting work release and minimum security inmates, primarily from Montgomery and
from the Elmore Correctional Facility, to make room for the men returning
from Mississippi. Many minimum security inmates will
transfer to vacant work release beds. 980 backlogged:
Prior to sending the prisoners to Mississippi, 980 state inmates were
backlogged in county jails for more than 30 days - the crux of a lawsuit
against the Department of Corrections. A year later, in part because of the
Mississippi contract, no state prisoners have been housed in counties more
than 30 days, Corbett said. The contract possibly saved money by
halting additional costly litigation or federal intervention, he said.
"We averted a crisis situation last summer, but by no means are we out
of the woods," Corbett said. State prisons continue to
operate at 185 percent of capacity. (AL.com)
January 10, 2004
The state prison system plans to continue with its new health service contracts
for inmates even though a legislative committee wouldn't
approve the deals. On Thursday, members of the Legislature's Contract
Revenue Committee said the deals were too expensive and were reached without
open bidding. Prison system spokesman Brian Corbett said the contracts
have already been implemented and will continue in effect.
"Nothing is going to change," he said. "We still have 100
percent coverage." Committee members objected to a $143 million
contract with Prison Health Services of Brentwood, Tenn., to provide medical
care for Alabama's inmates for three years; a $29 million contract for MHM
Correctional Services Inc. of Vienna, Va., to provide mental health care for
three years; and a $90,000 contract with Correctional Medical Management of
Nashville, Tenn., to monitor the work for three months. Normally, state
agencies submit contracts to the Legislature's Contract Review Committee
before they take effect. If the committee objects to them, the committee can
delay them for 45 days, but the state agency can implement them after that
time pass. (AP)
January 9, 2004
A legislative committee blocked three contracts with companies for medical
care in Alabama prisons, saying the deals were too expensive and were reached
without open bidding. The move could leave more than 27,000 inmates
temporarily without health care. Prison system officials have defended
the contracts, valued at a combined $172.3 million. Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell warned that delaying them could land the
state in trouble with federal courts, which are already reviewing prison
conditions. (AP)
January 6, 2004
The 1,424 male Alabama inmates being housed in a private prison in
Mississippi should be returned to Alabama within 90 days, state Corrections
Commissioner Donal Campbell said Tuesday.
Alabama transferred the inmates last summer to a prison run by Corrections
Corporation of America, the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in
Tutwiler, Miss., to ease the overcrowding in Alabama's prisons and county jails.
(AP)
October 14, 2003
With his $1.2 billion tax plan rejected, Gov. Bob Riley plans to release
5000-6000 non-violent, Alabama inmates this fiscal year due to budget cuts.
After 54 of 67 Alabama counties rejected the governor’s tax plan on September
9, the state government was left on its own to find a way to alleviate the
state’s over-crowded prisons without the additional funds and a state budget
deficit of $675 million. In his state of the state address on
March 4, 2003, Gov. Riley predicted a state deficit of at least $500 million
in 2004. His solution was to cut the General Fund Budget by 20 percent. He
also predicted a need of $125 million more in 2004 for the Alabama State
Corrections budget. An estimated 27,000 inmates inhabit prisons
that were designed to hold only 12,000. The release of non-violent inmates
has not been the first step to alleviate the problem of over-crowded prisons
in Alabama. In July of this year the Corrections Corporation of America, for
the first time in its history, agreed to aid the Alabama Department of
Corrections by relocating 1,400 male, medium-security prisoners to the
Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, Miss. However, the
relocation was always intended as a temporary solution to the problem. Now,
Gov. Riley has introduced the Pardons and Paroles Bill. This bill expands the
Pardons and Parole Board from three members to seven members and will divide
it into two separate boards. This will hopefully give the parole boards a
chance to hear more cases and release 200 inmates per week as opposed to the
75 to 80 which are released a week now. The intention is that the release of
non-violent inmates will leave room for more dangerous criminals that would
be more of a danger to society. The inmates released will be those
convicted of possession and distribution of drugs, felony DUI and theft of
property. Alabama is not the first state to enact of releasing non-violent
inmates. In December of 2002, Gov. Paul Patton of Kentucky’s plan to avoid
his state’s own $6 million budget deficit released hundreds of Kentucky
inmates. They were non-violent prisoners as well. University of Alabama
criminal justice professor Dr. Robert Sigler who is an expert on prison
systems agrees with the idea to release non-violent inmates. “Right now we’re at a point where we’re putting a lot of people
in prison who we really don’t need to; its not a
good use of our money. It doesn’t increase our safety,” he said. Dr.
Sigler also gave his opinion on the experience of released inmates in
general, not just the proposed to be released inmates. “Almost all
people, if they get a little bit of help at home, will make that adjustment
back. Prison is a pretty bad place,” Dr. Sigler said. (Dateline
Alabama)
September 13, 2003
State prison officials, already contemplating the early release of 20 per
cent of the inmate population to shave costs, now face a new problem: The
price for providing adequate health care to the remaining prisoners may rise
by tens of millions of dollars next year. The increased costs became
apparent as the state received bids on a new health care contract, a contract
that prison officials say is better designed to comply with court orders and
recent lawsuits. The state, along with the current health care provider
-- Birmingham-based NaphCare Inc. -- has been named
in lawsuits for allegedly neglecting to provide adequate care for Alabama
inmates during the last three years. An Atlanta-based human rights
group recently sued the state, alleging that the deaths of 38 HIV-infected
inmates during a four-year period at Limestone Correctional Facility could
have been prevented with proper care. Gov. Bob Riley has proposed
adding about $16 million to the Department of Corrections' $234 million
annual budget. "When you underfund something for decades, and this
agency sees a population explosion of more than 1,000 inmates per year, you
can't put a $16 million Band-Aid on it and think it's going to solve all of
our problems," said Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Department of Corrections.
Prison officials say some of that money could help pay for the new health
care contract. But much of the increase is expected to be eaten by the
additional costs of housing prisoners out-of-state, a move made this year to
comply with a court order to relieve severe overcrowding in state
prisons. State prison officials say they have no choice but to revise
the requirements in the health care contract. Corbett said Friday that
even if the Department can pay nearly double what it did during the last
three-year term, that amount won't be nearly enough
to provide all the health care services the department would like. Bids
for the next three-year contract were submitted last week, the lowest nearly
double that of the previous three-year term. The contract is scheduled to be
awarded Oct. 6, Corbett said, after the Legislature approves the new state
budget. Seven different companies, including NaphCare,
offered bids ranging from $150 million to more than $200 million for medical anor mental health services for the three-year
period. The previous three-year contract with NaphCare
cost the state nearly $90 million. NaphCare's
current bid is among the lowest, at nearly $155 million -- though NaphCare leaders said they could negotiate a less
demanding contract for less money. While NaphCare
and the state do not openly criticize or blame the other for any negligence,
each has a different perspective on how a new contract and an increase in
funds would affect inmate care. Corbett said the revised contract would
give the state more control over care -- something lacking during the
previous three years. "The problem is not so much with NaphCare but with the contract itself," Corbett
said. "The contract was not in the best interest of the state, because
it was not specific enough. Staffing levels, administrative policy, standards
of care, pool overages ... were not specific enough
to give the department as much control as we desired." In the old
contract, Corbett said, NaphCare "determined
all administrative policies regarding delivery of the health care. Therefore,
they did not have to respond to requests as far as developing treatment
protocols and procedures." NaphCare
spokesman David Davis said that an increase in spending on inmate care was
not the answer to improving inmate health. "It's not that more
money means better health," Davis said. "It has to do with
facilities, operations, health care, everything coming together.
"Any health care provider is limited by the facilities, the environment
and the stipulations of the contract," Davis said. He would not
elaborate on what specifically could be improved at Alabama prisons. NaphCare maintains that it did not fail to do its duty as
laid out in the contract during its three-year term. (Al.com)
August 14, 2003
The quality and quantity of medical care for prison inmates is among state
services hanging in the balance in the Sept. 9 referendum on Gov. Bob Riley's
tax proposals. Prison Commissioner Donal
Campbell has notified more than 300 medical services vendors that they have
until Sept. 10 - the day after the vote - to file written proposals for
providing medical services for inmates during the next three years. If
the tax plan fails, "We're all going to have to go back and revisit our
budgets and see where we cut and where we don't cut," said Deputy
Commissioner Terrence Jones. Jones, whose duties include overseeing
inmate medical care, said the detailed 73-page request for proposals being
sent to medical service vendors across the nation proposes more services and
controls in some areas than the present contract with Birmingham-based NaphCare Inc. Unlike the present contract, the proposed
new contract would allow the state to withhold money due to be paid to the
company if required services are not provided, or to deduct the costs of
bringing services up to standards, Jones said. The proposed contract
also would require more dental services for inmates and more inmate health
education and training, and it would provide for termination of the contract
for failure to secure or maintain personnel described in the contract, Jones
said. Campbell notified NaphCare on May 2
that its $29.5 million-per-year contract with the state would be canceled in
90 days, or about the first of August, but he has extended the contract on a
month-by-month basis until a new contract is signed. Campbell told
members of the state Legislature's prison oversight committee several weeks
ago that he can't sign a new medical services contract until he gets a budget
for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, and that won't happen until after the
referendum. Jones wouldn't say Tuesday how
many of the more than 300 vendors invited to submit proposals have done so or
have expressed interest in doing so. NaphCare,
whose services have been criticized by Chicago consultants Jacqueline Moore
and Associates and which has been named as a defendant in inmate lawsuits, is
among those vying for the new contract. "Our hope is to continue
to provide Alabama inmates health care as we do across the country,"
said NaphCar spokesman David Davis. "NaphCare is committed in providing quality and affordable
health care to the Alabama inmate population in accordance with the
stipulations in the contract with the Alabama Department of
Corrections." NaphCare filed suit
against Moore and Associates last month, contending that their audit reports
contained "numerous inaccurate and unsubstantiated statements and
conclusions" that have damaged the company's reputation. (Al.com)
July 16, 2003
Alabama prison Commissioner Donal Campbell is quick
to say that sending inmates to private, out-of-state prisons to ease
overcrowding is only a temporary fix. Until, he says, more space is available
in Alabama's prison system. Campbell is correct in taking that stance.
Indeed, paying to house up to 300 female and 1,400 male inmates in private lock-ups makes sense only in the short term. Long term, it's a loser, even at the bargain-basement rate of $27.50
per day per inmate (about $10,000 a year). That's
because the state can't afford to watch its prison population grow at the
current rate. The inmates kept in Mississippi and Louisiana are farther
from their families (some of them mothers separated
from their children) making visitations more of a hardship. Plus, for
the $27.50 per day, the inmates don't have access to
the programs they need to help them reintegrate into society, such as drug
treatment, job training and education. And don't
think for a moment that the price the state pays now when the private prisons
are new with ample space will be the same years from now when space even in
private lockups might be scarce. Private prisons are no bargain for
Alabama.
June 23, 2003
Alabama might have to pay more to house 309 women inmates at a Louisiana
private prison because of higher-than-expected medical costs, owners of the
prison said. "The medical issue is more than we anticipated,"
Patrick LeBlanc, owner of LCS Corrections Services, told The Birmingham News
for a Saturday story. Alabama pays LCS $22.85 per inmate per day to
house women transferred from the crowded Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka to the
private prison in Basile, La. That rate was approved earlier this month
by the Legislature's Contract Review Committee and is less than the initial
$24 daily rate agreed upon in April when Alabama began sending women to the
LCS lockup. Since then, LCS officials have realized Alabama's inmates
require more medical attention than Louisiana prisoners housed at Basile,
LeBlanc said. About 20 to 25 of every 150 Louisiana inmates require
prescription medication, he said. The Alabama prisoners' prescription needs
are more than double that. Alabama prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said
the state and LCS have not yet agreed upon a rate adjustment or any other
compromise. He said the Corrections Department chose which prisoners were
sent out of state based on low security risk, not medical problems.
Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell this week
asked LCS for proposals on the cost of enhanced medical care. "He
did ask them to put together something from a cost-analysis standpoint to
determine, if things weren't being met or handled correctly, what would it
take to make sure they were," Corbett said. Inmate Linda Faye
Knight was sent to Basile on June 12. She's still
waiting for blood-pressure medicine she's taken for the last 15 years, said
her sister, Victoria White of Birmingham. "She saw a nurse, but
the nurse told her the medicine was not there," White said. Her
46-year-old sister is up for parole July 8 on a manslaughter conviction.
(AP)
June 11, 2003
The Legislature's Contract Review Committee gave formal approval Thursday to
a plan to send women prisoners to a private prison in Louisiana. The
Alabama Department of Corrections transferred 140 women prisoners in April to
the South Louisiana Correctional Center in Basile, La., to relieve
overcrowding at Tutwiler Prison for women in Wetumpka. The state is under a
federal court order to reduce the population at the women's prison.
Prison Commissioner Donal Campbell has promised U.S.
District Judge Myron Thompson that the number of inmates at Tutwiler would be
reduced from 1,000 to 750 by June 30. Campbell originally made the
transfers under an emergency contract, which did not have to be approved by
the Legislative committee. The committee approved a one-year contract
Thursday without comment, allowing the prison system to house up to 300
inmates at the Louisiana prison for up to a year. The contract with LCS
Correctional Services Inc. calls for the state to pay $24 a day per inmate to
house the prisoners in Louisiana. (AP)
April 2, 2003
A Senate appropriation bill that will pay for efforts to reduce crowding in
Alabama prisons won final passage in the House on Tuesday. The bill
will give the Department of Corrections $2.7 million in emergency funding to
reduce overcrowding at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women to comply with a
federal court order to reduce the prison population. That money would be used
to move female inmates to out-of-state prisons, probably in Louisiana.
Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, sponsored similar legislation in the House.
He wants women to be moved out of Alabama only as a last resort. Lucia
Penland, director of the Alabama Prison Project, a prison advocacy
organization, said prisoners who maintain close relationships with their
families return to prison less often than those who do not. "If
they are two states away, that will not be possible," she said.
(Montgomery Advertiser)
March 15, 2003
The Birmingham company that holds the $30-million-a-year contract for
providing medical treatment in Alabama prisons faces tough questions about
cost overruns and the quality of its care. The pressure on NaphCare Inc. comes from Donal
Campbell, Gov. Bob Riley's appointee as commissioner of the Department of
Corrections. Campbell has had to ask the Legislature for $6.9 million
to cover extra prison health care costs, even as his legal staff scrambles to
defend lawsuits alleging that medical treatment of Alabama inmates is so bad
as to amount to cruel and unusual punishment, forbidden by the U.S.
Constitution. Campbell recently met with NaphCare
officials, wanting explanations for both the overruns and an outside
monitor's reports that tend to substantiate inmates' complaints about lax
care. In 2000, prison health care in Alabama was provided by
Correctional Medical Services of St. Louis, for roughly $26 million a year.
But CMS had been working on a series of contract extensions, and because of
rising costs and a growing inmate population wanted a new contract for more
money. The Department of Corrections invited CMS and other companies to
bid on the work, and offers ranged from $38 million
to $46 million. At that point, finance officials in the administration
of Gov. Don Siegelman bypassed the DOC legal staff and hired the Mobile law
firm Miller, Hamilton, Snider & Odom. But critics immediately
questioned whether any company could make a profit and provide adequate
medical care to 27,000 inmates for such a sum. Indeed, while the $30 million
contract may seem large, it solidified Alabama's position as the state that
spends the least per inmate on health care. Florida -- whose prisons, unlike
Alabama's, are accredited by a national correctional health care board --
spends three times as much per inmate. "The average state spends
about $2,500 to $3,000 per inmate, and Alabama's spending a little over
$1,000," said Ron Shanksy of Chicago,
co-founder of the Society of Correctional Physicians. "You're off the
charts." Even before the state contract was signed in early 2001,
Jefferson County officials were complaining publicly about NaphCare's performance in county jails in Birmingham and
Bessemer. Last year, Jefferson, Morgan and Madison
counties all parted ways with NaphCare, finding new
jail health care providers amid complaints by inmates, family members and
jail officials. Last year also saw a rush of litigation against NaphCare and the state Department of Corrections,
alleging inadequate medical care for Alabama prisoners. The Southern Center
for Human Rights, an Atlanta based nonprofit legal group, sued on behalf of
inmates at Tutwiler Prison for Women. A wrongful death suit was
recently filed against NaphCare and DOC in
Montgomery County Circuit Court. The charge there is negligence in the sudden
death of a 29-year-old Tutwiler inmate, Pamela Brown, in 2001. In all
these suits, NaphCare and DOC are co-defendants.
One of the lawyers representing NaphCare is Giles
Perkins. That has raised eyebrows in the legal community because Perkins, a
former state Democratic Party official, is employed by the firm Miller,
Hamilton, Snider & Odom and helped run the state prison health care
contract negotiations won by NaphCare. But
reports by Jacqueline Moore & Associates, a Chicago consulting firm hired
by the DOC to monitor NaphCare's performance, tend
to back up some complaints voiced by Alabama inmates. Perhaps most
alarming was her assertion that the death rate among HIV inmates at Limestone
was twice that of the national rate for such inmates. At several
institutions, she found high turnover and staff vacancies among medical
personnel. In her August 2000 review of Staton
Correctional Facility, which provides medical care for nearly 4,000 inmates
at four central Alabama prisons, she found that the sole physician had
recently quit and six nursing slots were
unfilled. In an interview, Harrison described Moore's reports as
"inaccurate," and went on to suggest she tried to steer Jefferson
County's jail medical care contract from NaphCare
to Prison Health Services, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based company she co-founded
and for which her ex-husband still works. She dismissed Harrison's
charge that she was trying to help PHS. "I left that company in
1990," Moore said. "My ex-husband and I don't speak." A
former NaphCare dentist, Elcid
Burkett, said medicine was hard to come by for health care professionals
working in Alabama prisons. "I was buying my own peroxide," he
said. NaphCare is no worse or better than its
predecessor CMS, according to Sam Eichold, a Mobile
physician who serves on a prison medical oversight committee. He thinks the
companies have done about as well as anyone can expect, given what Alabama
pays per inmate. "They cut corners," said Eichold,
whose committee has expressed its own concerns to DOC. "That's how they
make their profit." (Mobile Register)
February 7, 2003
MONTGOMERY Medical consultants hired to review health-care services in Alabama
prisons have reported what a lawyer for inmates calls
"serious deficiencies." The
audit reports released Thursday were ordered last year by the Siegelman
administration to monitor health care services provided to prison inmates by NaphCare, a Birmingham-based health management
contractor. Former Prison Commissioner
Mike Haley and former Gov. Don Siegelman refused repeated requests last year
to release the reports, conducted at eight Alabama
prisons between May and August.
"This is totally consistent with what the prisoners have been
telling us, that they have to wait for weeks for dental services, for things
such as abscesses which are so painful that some of the women are pulling
their own teeth," said Tamara Serwer of the Southern Center for Human
Rights, which is representing inmates in a pending federal lawsuit.
"These are serious deficiencies in health care services for Alabama
prison inmates." (Al.com)
January 27, 2003
Gov. Bob Riley on Wednesday selected the former head of the Tennessee prison
system to lead Alabama's troubled Department of Corrections. Donal Campbell, 51, takes over a prison system under
court orders to reduce overcrowding in its women's prison and to find more
space for its male inmates. Campbell said Alabama's problems are
nothing new to him because Tennessee's prisons dealt with the same issues in
the late 1980s and early 1990s. Tennessee uses private prisons to house
about 4,500 of its 18,000 inmates - something Campbell and Riley said they
plan to consider in Alabama, which has never used private prisons.
Campbell said he's not in favor of privatizing
existing prisons but would consider privately run prisons to provide new
space for inmates. (Huntsville Times)
Donaldson Prison
Jefferson County
Prison Health Services
March 18, 2005 Birmingham News
The administrator over health care at Donaldson Correctional Facility was
fired for failing to improve medical care at the beleaguered lockup, but not
before issuing repeated warnings about inadequate staff. Stephanie Lawson, a
registered nurse employed by the private contractor Prison Health Services,
said she was especially frustrated that no full-time physician was assigned
to the western Jefferson County prison, which houses about 1,625 men. "I
was terminated for lack of progress at the site, and it's an impossible site
to manage with the staff that PHS has allocated for health care," Lawson
said. "It's just wrong." "It really did kind of all tie
in," she said. "How can I be expected in 10 months to turn this
place around when there is not even adequate security?" She spoke highly
of the officers but said they often were tired. A few men sought care in the
health unit for chest pains or headaches. "A body can only take so
much," Lawson said. Lawson's staffing complaints are similar to those
raised by Dr. Valda Chijide, the former HIV doctor
at Limestone Prison. Chijide resigned earlier this
year after sending PHS several memos detailing inadequate support and
staffing at the north Alabama prison. Lawson's firing leaves Donaldson minus
experienced staff in the two top posts, overseeing the prison and the health
care unit.
March 18, 2005 WHNT19
A fired medical administrator said Donaldson Prison in Jefferson County needs
a full-time doctor before medical care improves at the overcrowded facility.
Stephanie Lawson was fired in early March, the same week Warden Stephen
Bullard was placed on administrative leave after writing a memo about
inadequate staffing and poor conditions. Corrections officials said Bullard
was placed on leave because of health problems associated with his job.
Lawson was employed by the private contractor Prison Health Services. She
said she was fired for lack of improvements in medical care at the prison.
Lawson made the comments in an interview with the Birmingham News. P-H-S has
declined to comment on Lawson's termination or replacement. Her staffing
complaints are similar to those raised by another physician at Limestone
Prison. Doctor Valda Chijide resigned earlier this
year after sending P-H-S several memos detailing inadequate support and
staffing at the prison.
Limestone
Correctional Facility
Limestone County, Alabama
Prison Health Services (formerly run by MHM, NaphCare)
December 1, 2009 Huntsville Times
State prison officials today released a 795-page report showing Farron Barksdale, who killed two police officers, died
from hypothermia after being heavily medicated with anti-psychotic drugs.
Barksdale, 32, of Athens, sentenced to life without parole after pleading
guilty to capital murder in the shooting deaths of two Athens police
officers, died Aug. 20, 2007, after he was found unconscious in his prison
cell. After he was rushed to a Montgomery hospital, it was discovered he had
several large, fresh-looking, bruises around his waist, arms, legs, elbows
and knees. But Sarah Geraghty, senior attorney for the Southern Center for
Human Rights in Atlanta, said questions still remain about how Barksdale
received such extensive bruising. The report said Barksdale was given several
different drugs that could cause bruising. And they noted the special seat
belts used to transport Barksdale from the Limestone County Jail to the Kilby
Correctional Facility could also have been responsible for some of the
bruises. When a private ambulance company was summoned to take Barkdale to the hospital after he collapsed, according to
the report, paramedic Angela Anderson said she "found patient lying on treatment
table by himself with distressed respirations, unresponsive; no medical
personnel in room; saw bruises on his body on abdominal and pelvic area;
noted they were unusual for size and location . . . "Patient had no
oxygen therapy being (administered and) there was no medical personnel in the
room (with) the patient the entire time while on scene only DOC personnel.
Patient had several bruises throughout body major-sized bruises noted
anterior on lower abdomen/pelvic area measuring in comparison to a salad
plate covering most of the area from hip joint area to umbilicus. "Color
of bruises indicate newly sustained. Patient also had bruising to both
forearms posterior area in same color as ones noted to abdomen/pelvic
area." In addition, Heath Bruner, an EMT, was quoted in the report as
noting "massive" bruising on both sides of pelvis. He also noted
there were no nurses present in the room with Barksdale at Kilby. Barksdale's
mother, Mary, earlier this year won $750,000 in a wrongful death lawsuit
against former Kilby Warden Arnold Holt, Dr. Joseph McGinn of MHM
Correctional Services in Vienna, Va., and Dr. Arnold Holt of Prison Health
Services of Brentwood, Tenn. Ken Williams, general counsel for the
Corrections Department, said Tuesday that McGinn was responsible for
prescribing the drugs to Barksdale and leaving him in an unairconditioned
cell rather than transferring him to an air-conditioned mental health unit.
August 1, 2005 New York Times
If there was ever a prison that needed help, it was Limestone Correctional
Facility. Even within the troubled Alabama penal system, this state compound
near Huntsville was notorious for cruel punishment and medical neglect. In
one drafty, rat-infested warehouse once reserved for chain gangs, the state
quarantined its male prisoners with H.I.V. and AIDS, until the extraordinary
death toll - 36 inmates from 1999 to 2002 - moved inmates to sue and the
government to promise change. Alabama's solution was to fire the local
company in charge of medical care and hire Prison Health Services, the
nation's largest commercial provider of health care behind bars. Prison
Health's solution was to recruit Dr. Valda M. Chijide,
an infectious-disease specialist who arrived last November with a lofty
title: statewide coordinator of inmate H.I.V. care. She was an unlikely
candidate for the job in one sense, having never stepped inside a prison. But
it did not take her long to conclude that the chaos was continuing, and that
much of the problem was Prison Health itself. Though the company had promised
the help of other doctors, she said, she was left alone to care for not only
the 230 men in the H.I.V. unit, but the 1,800 other prisoners, too. Nurses
were so poorly trained, Dr. Chijide said, that they
neglected to hand out life-sustaining drugs or gave the wrong ones. Medical
charts were a mess, she said, and often it was impossible to find such basic
items as a thermometer, or even soap. Dr. Chijide
lasted barely three months. After she complained in writing, Prison Health
suspended her for reasons it would not disclose, and she quit. Her short,
frantic stint - battling for drugs, hospitalizations and extra food for
skeletal inmates, she said - was not unusual in the world of Prison Health
Services, which has had a turbulent record in many of the 33 states where it
has provided jail or prison medicine. But her story, a rare firsthand account
of a doctor in charge of a prison's health care, offers an intimate glimpse
of the company's work at a moment when the need for change could not have been
more pressing, and the spotlight on Prison Health could hardly have been more
intense. Limestone is not the only hitch in Prison Health's effort to
transform a penal backwater. Two hundred miles south, at the state's Julia
Tutwiler Prison for Women, another federal monitor reported that Prison
Health lacked any "organized and structured medical program," and
deplored the care given two inmates who died last year. There is, of course,
a higher authority that Prison Health must answer to: the state official
charged with making sure it lives up to its contract. That person is Ruth Naglich, who as associate commissioner of the Alabama
Corrections Department is supposed to review the company's work. Three years
ago, Ms. Naglich was a Prison Health executive, vice
president for sales and marketing, at the company's headquarters outside
Nashville.
May 6, 2005 Birmingham News
Prison Health Services has been under the gun, and rightly so, for the
way it's provided medical care to Alabama inmates. The Tennessee-based
company was hired to improve health care in Alabama prisons, which had been
sued over services provided by a previous contractor. But the care in prisons
remains unacceptable. A recurring theme is a shortage of doctors, nurses and
other staff to tend to the inmates, with predictable consequences. At best,
the care has been inadequate. At worst, it may have been downright deadly.
The state of Alabama, which has the ultimate responsibility (and liability)
for what happens to prisoners in its custody, has every reason to demand
better from Prison Health Services. And withholding part of the company's
payment is an appropriate place to start. The state is reducing the company's
$143 million contract by $1.2 million for staffing shortages, and may cut
more if staffing levels aren't increased. Why not? The state is paying Prison
Health Services to provide a certain number of professionals and support
staff to administer inmates' health care. If the company is not meeting the
requirements of the contract, it should not expect to be paid as if it were.
Besides, what's really at stake here is bigger than money. Too many inmates
are not receiving proper care for chronic conditions, and some are dying
unnecessarily as a result, according to doctors who monitor prison health
care for the courts. At the Tutwiler women's prison, the monitor found that
three inmates who died last year received poor or incomplete care, and two of
them may have died as a result. At Limestone Correctional Facility, which
houses HIV-positive inmates, the monitor found prisoners weren't getting
crucial medication and that a required HIV specialist was not on staff. It's
true that turnover has been a big problem. Prison Health Services has had
problems retaining doctors and other health care workers; some have left
complaining they didn't have the resources to do their jobs. But the bottom
line is that the company agreed to provide a certain level of services, and
it has been failing to do so. At the very least, the state should adjust the
payments to Prison Health Services accordingly. So the company is losing
dollars. Inmates are losing their lives.
May 5, 2005 Birmingham News
Alabama's prison medical provider is losing $1.2 million from the state
because it has not provided enough doctors and nurses to state prisons.
Prison Health Services has not fulfilled minimal contract requirements that
call for a certain number of doctors, nurses, administrators and support
staff. The company is not being fined, Department of Corrections spokesman
Brian Corbett said, but DOC will not have to pay $1.2 million of its
contract. The department hired PHS in November 2003. The company's three-year,
$143 million contract could see more reductions if the medical staff does not
increase. Tennessee-based Prison Health Services also has come under fire in
recent months by physicians who are monitoring two prisons under federal
court settlements. A lawsuit alleging inadequate medical care is pending at a
third prison, the Hamilton Aged and Infirm facility, where the oldest,
sickest men are housed. Dr. Michael Puisis, court
monitor at Tutwiler Prison for Women, said in a March report that prison
medical staff provided poor or incomplete care to three inmates who died last
year. He suggested that negligence might have led to two of those deaths. The
third, a suicide, was likely the result of inadequate care by mental health
workers, who are employed by a different company. Two deaths since then are
still under investigation. Still, attorneys for the Limestone inmates have
asked the federal courts to hold the state in contempt for failing to abide
by the conditions of the settlement. Last year, the state agreed to dozens of
improvements, centering on added medical staff and more humane housing
conditions. Doctors keep leaving, some after claiming PHS did not allow them
the flexibility and resources to practice medicine as they want to do.
"There are just as many complaints raised after the settlement as
before," said Gretchen Rohr, an attorney with the Atlanta-based Southern
Center for Human Rights, who represents Alabama prisons in both cases.
April 29, 2005 Tuscaloosa News
Recent complaints by HIV inmates over medical attention at Limestone
prison are "misleading and inaccurate," attorneys for the prison
system and its health provider said in asking a federal judge to dismiss a
contempt motion. The attorneys' filing says the state Department of Corrections
and Prison Healthcare Services have taken adequate steps to comply with a
settlement over housing and medical care for some 240 HIV inmates at the
state prison in Limestone County. The document was in response to a complaint
filed last week by inmate attorneys at the Atlanta-based Southern Center for
Human Rights. The complaint said the prison system and health provider have
yet to show they are carrying out any plan to correct "extensive
noncompliant acts." Southern Center attorney Gretchen Rohr said the plaintiffs
have asked U.S. District Court Judge Karon Bowdre in Birmingham to hold the
state in contempt of court for failing to follow the April 2004 settlement.
Though DOC and PHS concede that they don't have a permanent HIV specialist as
required by the settlement, they "have worked tirelessly to retain"
one, according to the court filing. They said several candidates have lost
interest in the position after learning about the highly publicized
complaints of the plaintiffs. The post opened after Dr. Valda Chijidi resigned earlier this year. He had sent PHS
several memos detailing inadequate support and staffing at the north Alabama
prison. The plaintiffs allege that inmates still
have to provide emergency care to other inmates because an adequate nursing
staff is not available - a claim denied by the prison and PHS. Rohr said she
appreciates the efforts to improve conditions at Limestone, but remains
skeptical about the plan actually being implemented. "For a long time
we've been hearing that they have a plan and voluntarily are taking action.
Not to rain on your parade, but we've heard it before," she said.
February 19, 2005 WPMI
Attorneys for 240 HIV-positive prisoners at Limestone Correctional Facility
have accused prison officials of violating an agreement to improve their
medical care. The north Alabama prison has no specialist for them and has
constant gaps in medication, the attorneys claim in a contempt motion filed Thursday
in U.S. District Court. The attorneys have asked U.S. District Court Judge
Karon Bowdre in Birmingham to hold the state in contempt of court for failing
to follow the April 2004 settlement in a lawsuit over inmate housing and
medical care. Department of Corrections attorney Kim Thomas said Friday she
couldn't comment on the motion until she has read it. According to the
motion, two physicians, hired in the last eight months as part of the
settlement, recently resigned. One of the doctor's memos detailed dozens of
medical shortcomings, including a rat in the exam room and chaotic
record-keeping. Dr. Valda Chijide wrote of being
unable to care for patients because of disorganization in the medical unit
and because prison staff has overruled her medical decisions. Once she walked
in on a heart patient with chest pains who was trying to give himself
nitroglycerin because no nurse was in sight, she wrote. "The law of
diminishing returns sets in after riding on a skeletal staff and scanty
resources for so long," Chijide wrote in a
Jan. 25 letter to supervisors at Prison Health Services, the private prison
medical company that Alabama contracts with to provide medical care at all
state prisons. Now, one physician handles care for more than 2,200 prisoners,
including the HIV Unit. A PHS supervisor in Montgomery also has been filling
in, Keldie said. "The state is ultimately the
one who is responsible for the medical care and the state should be forcing
PHS to implement the settlement agreement that we've reached," said
Joshua Lipman, a Southern Center for Human Rights attorney. "What
they've done so far is pretty appalling."
May 25, 2004
A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit against the state Department of
Corrections and its former medical provider, claiming HIV-positive inmates at
Limestone Correctional Facility were not given adequate health care.
The settlement, reached after several months of negotiations mediated by
Magistrate Judge John Ott, was filed in the federal district court in
Birmingham on Friday. The terms of the settlement, set to be signed at
a hearing Wednesday, were not disclosed. David Lipman, attorney
for the four HIV-positive inmates named as plaintiffs in the suit, has
argued that prison medical provider NaphCare Inc.
did not adequately treat the inmates and ultimately hastened some inmate
deaths in 2002. The Department of Corrections has since changed medical
providers. (Gainesville Sun)
March 19, 2004
Some of the sickest men in Alabama prisons live in drafty cells in a building
with broken windows. They must stand in line in the middle of the night for
their pills. And several have died prematurely because of gaps in medical
care, according to a report released Thursday as part of a lawsuit against
the prison system. Dr. Stephen Tabet, an infectious
disease specialist from Seattle, first documented the harsh conditions at
Limestone prison's HIV unit last year. When he returned for a follow-up
visit, he found few improvements. "More strongly than ever, I feel
the Limestone Correctional Facility is in dire need of outside intervention
and oversight," Tabet wrote after his Feb. 23
visit to the prison, where all of Alabama's male HIV-positive inmates, about
250 men, are housed. "Patients continue to die because of the failure of
the medical system," he wrote. The Department of Corrections
strongly disagrees with the report's conclusions, a spokesman said.
"It is important to note that this report is written by a trial witness,
hired by plaintiff lawyers," said DOC spokesman Brian Corbett. Tabet has been reviewing HIV Unit medical care for the
Southern Center for Human Rights, an Atlanta-based law firm representing
HIV-infected prisoners in a class-action lawsuit against the state. His
August 2003 report documented conditions leading to 39 deaths since 1999.
Thursday's follow-up looks at five new deaths in five months. One
patient dropped a third of his weight in five months, to 110 pounds, before
dying in February. A doctor prescribed a high protein supplement for
35-year-old Gerald Lewis, but the kitchen wouldn't provide it. Another
man arrived at Limestone with active tuberculosis, but his medical records
from another prison did not follow. Alfred Thomas, 42, was placed with all
the other HIV patients, potentially exposing them to the disease. No one at
Limestone knew about his TB until an autopsy following his October
death. Prisoner Nathan Sullivan began suffering with low oxygen levels
a week before he died. "I am so sick, I can't even walk," he told a
nurse who made notes in his files. "Inmate crying, praying to God to
deliver him from his illness. Achy head to toe, nausea, headache, diarrhea
after taking meds," she wrote. Sullivan was suffocating, and died
at a Huntsville hospital. Ambulance personnel initially refused to take him
from the prison because of his oxygen level, according to the specialist's
report. One of Tabet's gravest concerns is
lack of critical medication and middle-of-the-night pill call. "The pill
line is a disaster," he wrote. Many medications were not on hand, and
patients were sent away without them, Tabet
wrote. Not all bad news: There have been some improvements
since Tabet's first report. Before, the HIV
inmates lived in a crowded, converted warehouse. Currently, they live in
cells in another building. But some of the windows are broken and covered
with plastic or blankets. The doctor called the situation "unbearable
for these immune-compromised patients." The prison added a
part-time physician to its previous staffing of one physician, but staffing remains
below the National Commission on Correctional Health Care guideline of
110-physician hours per week for a prison with 2,200 inmates. Since Tabet's first visit, DOC has switched medical contractors
and spends more money on prisoners' care systemwide. The department
hired Tennessee-based Prison Health Services for medical care and Mental
Health Management Services for mental health care in November. The 3-year
contracts are worth $172 million. Previously, Birmingham-based Naphcare held the contract which costs the state $135
million over three years. Prison Health Services officials issued a
written response to the report, but declined to answer questions.
Company Vice President Larry Pomeroy described the medical care as
appropriate and high quality. "All clinical and operation policies
implemented by PHS within the ADOC system, including the Limestone facility,
are in compliance with national standards of health care delivery as
established by the National Commission of Correctional Health Care," Pomeroy
wrote. Corbett at DOC said, "... we are in the process of
addressing the complaints and resolving the issues in compliance with
national health care standards as established by the National Commission of
Correctional Health Care." Alabama's prisoner health care costs
remain the lowest in the country. The state spends about $5.50 per prisoner
per day. The national average is $7.38. Despite the new contract, much
of the Limestone medical staff has not changed since before the lawsuit was
filed, said Gretchen Rohr, an attorney with the Southern Center for Human
Rights. "It's key they somehow show us that the new contract has been
properly implemented," Rohr said. "We have not seen any evidence of
this implementation." The trial in the Limestone case has been
scheduled to begin May 17 before U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre.
(Al.com)
August 29, 2003
A health care contractor blasted for allegedly inadequate care of
HIV-infected patients at Limestone Correctional Facility plans to bid for
another statewide contract with the Department of Corrections on Sept.
10. A 125-page report released Wednesday by Dr. Stephen Tabet, hired by plaintiffs in a lawsuit, said poor
medical care and inadequate facilities caused or accelerated many HIV-related
deaths at the Capshaw prison. A spokesman for the contractor providing
the Capshaw prison's health care, Birmingham-based NaphCare
Inc., said his company is complying with all department requirements, but NaphCare's $29.5 million contract with the state,
covering all state prisons, dictates staffing levels. The Limestone
prison houses 2,260 prisoners, about 200 with HIV. NaphCare
spokesman David Davis said his company has handled the DOC's health care only
since March 2001. He said there have been only 14 HIV-related deaths at
Capshaw since . Tabet
discussed 38 deaths in his report, but many occurred before 2001.
"Dr. Tabet's engaged by, employed by, and I
suspect wants to be employed again by, the plaintiff," Davis said.
"Obviously the plaintiff does not understand the contract that NaphCare operates under with the DOC, Davis said.
DOC Commissioner Donal Campbell notified NaphCare of his intent to terminate its contract shortly
after Gov. Bob Riley appointed him to the post. Davis said NaphCare will submit a bid higher than its current
charges because of more stringent DOC requirements. (Decatur Daily)
Mobile
County Metro Jail
Mobile, Alabama
Correctional Medical Services
January 28, 2006 Mobile Register
A woman who was jailed in Mobile last year went into a diabetic shock and
nearly died because officers and medical staff denied her proper medication
and ignored her problems, a federal lawsuit claims. The suit, filed last
month in U.S. District Court, seeks unspecified damages from Mobile County
Sheriff Jack Tillman, Warden Mike Haley, the private company that provides
medical services and several employees of the firm and the jail. Lawyers for
the Mobile County Sheriff's Office and Correctional Medical Services denied
the allegations in written responses filed in court this month. Lofton, 33,
was booked into the jail Feb. 23 on a charge of driving on a revoked license.
The insulin-dependent diabetic was not evaluated until 10 hours later,
according to the complaint. The lawsuit states that Lofton told medical personnel
that she takes two shots of insulin every day, but staffers did not provide
her with any insulin until 4 p.m. the following day. At that time, according
to the suit, medical staffers at the jail gave her insulin from a bottle
given to all diabetic detainees.
March 5, 2005 Mobile Register
A federal prisoner who was being held at Mobile County Metro Jail tried to
commit suicide shortly after officials took away his anti-depression
medication, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court. Sean Gaston
Atwood's lawyer asked a federal judge in December to transfer the man to a
federal medical facility. The motion, which Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade granted Dec. 9, states that Atwood tried to hang
himself less than a month after his arrest Oct. 27 for escaping from the
custody of U.S. marshals. Atwood had been prescribed a drug called seroquel by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, but Metro Jail
staff took it away amid concerns that other inmates had abused the
medication, according to the motion. Assistant Federal Defender Lyn Hillman
said jail staff indicated that they had banned the medicine because some
inmates had been using it to get high. She said a doctor should have examined
her client and replaced the drug with another medication. Jail Warden Mike
Haley declined to discuss Atwood's case in detail, citing federal privacy
laws regarding medical treatment. He said medical personnel working for
Correctional Medical Services, a St. Louis firm hired by the jail to provide
health care, determine which drugs inmates receive. Haley referred other
inquiries to Dr. Charles Smith, a Mobile psychiatrist who works for
Correctional Medical Services. "Within that one question that you have
asked, there are a half-dozen thorny questions, difficult questions,"
said Smith, who declined to comment further.
Perry
County Correctional and Rehabilitation Center
Uniontown, Alabama
Louisiana Correctional Services
June 3, 2010 The Dickinson Press
Four Alabama fugitives who were involved in a standoff near Gladstone that
ended a year ago today cost Stark County nearly $80,000, officials say. North
Dakota taxpayers will continue paying for them as they serve their prison
sentences — which vary from 7.5 years to 20 years. Stark County officials
wonder if an Alabama prison is to blame for the incident and whether they can
make the prison cover some of the costs. Ashton Mink and Joshua Southwick
allegedly escaped from Perry County Correctional Center in Alabama with the
help of Mink’s wife, Jacquelin, and his sister, Angela in May 2009. “Frankly,
the escape was well-planned and very well-executed,” said Richard Harbison,
executive vice president of LCS Correction Service Inc., which owns Perry
County Correction Center. “They knew exactly what they were doing and they
were able to find the weaknesses, so to speak.” He added they’re the only
ones to ever escape from the prison. The four then robbed Movie Gallery in
Dickinson at gunpoint, shot at a North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper and
holed up in a garage at a farmstead near Gladstone. After a standoff with
police that lasted several hours, Southwick and Angela Mink — who were
reportedly dating — surrendered. Ashton and Jacquelin Mink ran out the back
of the garage they were hiding in handcuffed together and fired at officers.
Authorities believe they were trying to end their own lives by getting
officers to fire at them. Ashton Mink was shot by officers and Jacquelin Mink
then shot herself. Tom Henning, Stark County state’s attorney, said the
county is refusing to pay an additional $65,000 for Jacquelin Mink’s hospital
bill. He said that bill was from her stay at a Bismarck hospital after the
standoff, but before she was taken to jail. “These people were not arrested
and had not been in the custody of Stark County, and therefore we aren’t
responsible,” Henning said. Stark County has to pay for their medical costs
after they were arrested. Ashton Mink was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in
Dickinson, which did not bill the county for his treatment. “After they
inquired about the nature of the matter and were informed that we did not
consider them to be prisoners at the time of their injuries, nor were they in
custody at the time of their injuries, they did not inquire any further about
payment,” Henning said. Though he hasn’t begun researching whether or not it
is possible, Henning said he plans to pursue a lawsuit against LCS Correction
Service. “The question kind of looms about whether or not they could be found
to have been negligent and therefore responsible for foreseeable costs of
their escape,” Henning said. Harbison declined comment regarding the matter.
However, he said security has been enhanced at the prison since the escape,
though he wouldn’t say how. “We’ve changed a number of policies and of course
a number of people were fired over the incident,” Harbison said. Angela and
Jacquelin Mink cut the power lines to an electric fence around the prison
during a storm so the men could escape, according to a previous Press
article. After the fugitives’ serve their time, they will be taken back to
Alabama to face prison escape charges, Harbison said. Costs: Housing: $53,400
($60 a day while going through court procedures) Medical: $20,704 Hospital
security: $3,945 Total: $78,049
April 22, 2010 AP
The Alabama Legislature has given final passage to a bill that clears the way
for the state to buy a private prison in Perry County. The House voted 82-16
to approve the bill that would permit the state to issue $60 million in bonds
to buy the Perry County Correctional Center and to renovate it. The Senate
voted 19-0 to go along with changes made to the bill in the House. The
private prison is located near Uniontown in Perry County in an economically
depressed area. The prison is designed for 750 inmates, but can be expanded
to handle 1,500. The sponsor, Democratic Rep. John Knight of Montgomery, said
the prison is needed because of overcrowding in the state prison system.
April 17, 2010 Gadsden Times
The state is negotiating to buy the privately owned Perry County prison and
is one step away from getting the money to buy it. A bill authorizing a $60
million bond issue on the House calendar and is in position to pass in the
final two days of the 2010 legislative session next week. Sen. Lowell Barron,
D-Fyffe, is sponsoring the bill for the Department of Corrections.
“Corrections is interested because we are so overcrowded,” Barron said.
“They’re interested in buying it as well as expanding it.” Barron’s
sponsorship of the bill for Gov. Bob Riley is not that controversial even
though they have butted heads politically. But an aspect of the bill puts
Barron at odds with previous statements about Riley. He has vociferously and
publicly lambasted Riley for a so-called no-bid $13 million computer system
upgrade contract. He even sponsored bills this session to limit
non-competitive bidding. Barron’s prison bond issue bill strikes out the
original requirement that the prison bond issue be competitively bid. Barron
said he talked to an independent financial expert he trusts who has no ties
to the administration about bidding versus negotiating. “I talked with an
investment bank house and they said it’s not always the best, especially when
it’s not the most favorable conditions,” he said. “It doesn’t square with my
political stand, but on this one time a competitive bid may not be the best.”
Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson didn’t directly respond to Barron’s apparent
about-face. “The bill doesn’t mandate a bid, but Gov. Riley will make sure it
goes through a competitive process if the bill becomes law,” he said in a
Friday e-mail. Richard Harbison is executive vice president of LCS
Corrections Services Inc., which owns the prison near Uniontown. “Let’s just
say we’re talking to the state of Alabama,” Harbison said. The Perry County
prison houses about 500 inmates but is designed to house 750, Harbison said.
He said the facility can be expanded to house up to 1,500 inmates. The state
has about 400 inmates there now, a spokesman said.
June 24, 2009 Park Rapids Enterprise
Ashton Mink was arrested after a nearly 14-hour standoff June 6, on a ranch
south of Gladstone. Authorities say Mink and his wife, Jacquelin, were
wounded in an exchange of gunfire. Authorities say one of four Alabama
fugitives has been transferred from a Dickinson hospital to jail. Ashton Mink
was arrested after a nearly 14-hour standoff June 6, on a ranch south of
Gladstone. Authorities say Mink and his wife, Jacquelin, were wounded in an
exchange of gunfire. Stark County Sheriff Clarence Tuhy
said Ashton Mink was released Tuesday from a Dickinson hospital and taken to
jail. He is awaiting a bail hearing. Jacquelin Mink is hospitalized in
Bismarck. The couple along with Ashton Mink's sister Angela and Joshua
Southwick, face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to
commit robbery. They are accused of robbing a movie store in Dickinson and
shooting at a Highway Patrol trooper. Authorities say Southwick and Ashton
Mink escaped from an Alabama prison in May and that Angela and Jacquelin Mink
helped them.
June 10, 2009 Athens News-Courier
Tom Henning, state’s attorney in Stark County, N.D., said it’s possible
the four people accused in an escape from an Alabama prison facility will
remain imprisoned in North Dakota for some time. If convicted, the group
could serve sentences there before being returned to Alabama to face charges
of escape. “Yes, they could end up spending jail time in North Dakota,
presuming convictions and at such time as we’re satisfied, then they’ll go
back to the demanding state,” he said. Joshua Southwick, who was convicted in
the 2003 slaying of a Limestone County man, and Ashton Mink, convicted of
attempted murder in a stabbing during a home invasion in Madison, escaped
from the Perry County Correctional Facility in Uniontown, Ala., on May 25.
U.S. Marshals say Angela Mink, Ashton’s sister, and Jacquelin Mink, his wife,
cut the fence from the outside of the private prison facility to help the two
get free. The four were captured in Gladstone, N.D., Saturday during a video
store robbery. Southwick and Angela gave themselves up but Ashton and
Jacquelin held officers at bay for 14 hours. They were shot in the process.
Ashton is under armed guard at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center in
Dickinson, N.D. His wife is under armed guard at St. Alexius Medical Center in
Bismarck, N.D., Henning said. “I have no idea when they will be able to go to
court,” he said. “I’d say at least a month.” In the meantime, Southwick and
Angela Mink are being held at Southwest Multi-County Correctional Facility,
each charged with criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, which carries a
10-year maximum sentence. “It’s entirely likely there will be more charges”
stemming from the standoff and shootout, Henning said.
June 9, 2009 Bennington Banner
Vermont officials said Monday they made the right decision in March when
the state removed about 80 Vermont inmates from a private, for-profit prison
in Alabama where two inmates recently escaped. Needed improvement -- Vermont
Department of Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito
said Vermont pulled the inmates out of the Perry County Correctional Center
in Uniontown, Ala., prison, which is run by LCS Corrections Services in
March. The first Vermont inmate was transferred to the facility in late
December he said. The prison, which has more than 700 beds, had security
equipment that did not work and an inadequately trained staff "for what
we were asking them to do," Pallito said.
"It wasn't what we were after. It wasn't what I would have
expected," he said. Pallito said the
Department of Corrections leveled several demands on LCS to improve, but did
not see action fast enough, and pulled inmates out about two weeks later.
State Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said he
had doubts about the facility before the Vermont inmates were transferred.
Once the inmates were moved, Sears said the facility failed to "keep up
with things that were in the contract." And there were issues with the
"treatment of offenders." "We sent some people down there and
there were continued problems. I was very skeptical myself," Sears said.
"Turned out there were a lot of problems and they moved them all
out." "It was a real loose outfit," Sears added. "There
have been some real problems there." The Associated Press reported
Monday that two men who escaped from the Perry County Correctional Center on
May 25 were recaptured Saturday following a shoot-out with police. According
to the Associated Press, Alabama Prison Commissioner Richard Allen said all
250 of Alabama's inmates will be removed from the facility. Allen cited cost,
however, not security concerns, as the reason for removing inmates. Pallito said Vermont has an ongoing contract with LCS
Corrections Services, but it allows for a "zero minimum," meaning
the state can have no inmates at the facility and pay nothing. The contract
term is for two years, he said. Inmates housed briefly at the Alabama
facility have been moved to facilities in Kentucky or Tennessee run by
Corrections Corporation of America. Vermont had a contract with CCA when it
looked to diversify as a cost-savings measure. Pallito
said CCA agreed to take back the inmates at the $50 per day rate the Alabama
facility was charging. It costs the state about $140 per day to house inmates
in-state. Vermont currently has about 2,200 inmates and only 1,500 instate
beds. The contract with CCA will expire next year, according to Pallito, so the state will need to renegotiate a
contract. Pallito said LCS officials have recently
tried to persuade the state to send inmates back to the Alabama facility, but
that is not likely to happen. "Not at this time, particularly given the
recent development of events," he said. "We're interested in
talking with other facilities, but I don't think we'll be back with
them."
June 8, 2009 Tuscaloosa News
Alabama's prison commissioner says the state will remove about 250 inmates
from the private prison where two men recently escaped amid a string of
security failures. However, Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen said
Monday that money - not the threat of additional escapes - was behind the
decision. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Allen said his
agency can't afford to continue housing 250 inmates at the Perry County
Detention Center. An executive at LCS Corrections Inc., which runs the
prison, said he knew of the state's plan. He said the company was told the
state could place twice as many inmates at the private prison next year if
lawmakers approve funding.
June 6, 2009 KFYR TV
Four of America's Most Wanted fugitives were arrested Saturday in western
North Dakota. The group started out in Alabama earlier in the week and came
to North Dakota where police say they went on a crime spree. By Saturday
night, two of the suspects were recovering in a Dickinson-area hospital after
being shot by police after a standoff in Gladstone. That was the culmination
of a series of crimes that started with a robbery Friday night in Dickinson
and included shots being fired at a North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper
during a chase. Let's take you back a week and set the stage that led to
these events. Police had been looking for 26-year-old Joshua Southwick, and
22-year-old Ashton Mink since they escaped from an Alabama prison on Memorial
Day. Mink was serving a 20-year sentence for 1st degree assault. Southwick
was serving a life sentence for murder and 1st degree burglary. Authorities
say they escaped prison in Alabama by wearing kitchen workers` uniforms The
pair allegedly fled through holes that were cut out of the prison fence by
Ashton Mink's wife, Jacquelin, and sister Angela Mink. Somewhere along the
way, all four made it to North Dakota. The trouble in North Dakota started in
Dickinson Friday night around 11:00, when the suspects, two men and two
women, robbed a movie rental store. The foursome fled, and a Highway Patrol
trooper noticed a suspicious car speeding away. The trooper followed the car
onto I-94, and that's when passenger in the suspects` car fired at the
trooper. At least one bullet went into the trooper's car. The fleeing car
continued east to Gladstone prompting the Highway Patrol to lock down the
small town. Authorities blocked off a two-mile section of road leading into
town. Police kept an eye on things during as residents were notified of the
threat through a reverse 911 system. Gladstone resident Kim Hetzel says,
"After we got the automated phone call early this morning, get up, and
lock the doors, and kinda just watch out."
Authorities found the suspects after the owner of a farmstead noticed the
four were staking out in his detached garage. Stark County sheriff Clarence Tuhy says, "They're from the Alabama area; the two
males are escapees from a private prison in the Alabama area which were aided
in escape by the two females." The perps took refuge in the farmstead's
garage as more than a half dozen agencies flocked to the area. About 12 hours
later Tuhy says, "A male and a female came out
giving up peacefully at which time a male and female came out a side door
firing at officers." Officers then fired back, striking both Ashton Mink
and his wife, Jacquelin. The couple is being treated at an area hospital. So
far, there's no word on the conditions of the two suspects who were shot. No
officers were injured, and Joshua Southwick and Angela Mink were taken into
custody. "Any time no officers get injured is a good thing," notes Tuhy. But while no officers or residents were hurt
physically, it will take a long time for the emotional scars of this almost
surreal crime to heal.
June 5, 2009 WAFF
It's been more than week since Joshua Southwick, 26 and Ashton Mink, 22,
escaped from a private prison in Perry County. Now there's new information on
the two women who helped them escape and what the prison is doing to keep
this from happening again. New pictures are surfacing of Angela Diana Mink. A
tattoo artist by trade, the pictures show specific tattoos which may assist
the public in recognizing her. Tattoos are on both upper and lower arms, and
both wrists, plus one at the base of her neck. Perry County prison officials
said they believe she and Jacquelin Rae Kennamer
Mink cut through an electrical stun fence to help Mink and Southwick escape.
It was a single cut that did in fact trip an alarm to alert the control room
operator on the prison. "That stun fence, if it's touched, cut or
grounded, sets off an alarm in our central control unit," said Richard
Harbison, the executive dirctor of the corporation
that owns the private prison. "Evidently because of the weather, the
alarm after it was sounded, no one went to the fence to check and see if it
was cut." And because of that, Harbison said there's been an overhaul at
the unit. "We dismissed seven people, two of which were shift captains
for failure to carry out correct policies and procedures at the unit,"
he said. Others included correctional officers and the control room officer
that failed to follow proper procedures. "We have proper procedures in
place to ensure that something like this doesn't happen. If you fail to
follow those proper procedures, then you more likely to have an escape such
as this one," he said. Also overhauled is the system that alerts
officials when security has been breached. Now, the warden, deputy warden and
chief security officer will all be notified automatically. Officials have
also raised the level of security at the prison to just below the level of a
maximum security prison. That's a move that won't happen overnight, but one
much anticipated.
June 5, 2009 AP
A U.S. Marshals Service inspector said two women cut holes through three
fences at a private prison in Perry County, enabling a convicted murderer and
another prisoner to escape. The fugitives -- 22-year-old Ashton Kenny Chase
Mink and 26-year-old Joshua Loyd Southwick -- were
being sought Thursday after their escape from the Perry County Corrections
Center about 5:30 a.m. on May 25. Rewards totaling $15,000 were being
offered. Dick Harbison, the vice president of operations for Lafayette,
La.-based LCS Corrections Services, said two shift captains and five guards
were fired for not adequately supervising the prisoners. Inspector Ross
Herbert with the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force said 25-year-old
Angela Diana Mink, Ashton Mink's sister, and 25-year-old Jacquelin Rae Kennamer Mink, his wife, are accused of cutting the holes
in three perimeter fences.
June 3, 2009 Tuscaloosa News
Two women cut holes in the prison fences at Perry County Corrections
Center in Uniontown last week, allowing a convicted murder and another
prisoner to escape, a U.S. Marshals Service inspector said. Ashton Mink, 22,
and Joshua Loyd Southwick, 26, escaped from the
private prison about 5:30 a.m. on May 25. Angela Diana Mink, Mink’s sister,
and Jacquelin Rae Kennamer Mink, his wife,
allegedly cut holes in the perimeter fence, said Inspector Ross Hebert with
the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Alabama Department of
Corrections has obtained warrants to charge the women, both 25, with aiding
the escape of state prisoners. They also have warrants to charge all four
with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, he said. Authorities believe that
the four are armed and dangerous. Records indicate that in early May,
Jacquelin Mink purchased a .380-caliber gun that was found near the escape
scene. She is known to carry a semi-automatic pistol and owns several other
handguns and longarms, Hebert said.
June 2, 2009 WAFF
Officers have confirmed a description of the vehicle that two escapees
convicted in North Alabama may be driving, and agencies across the state are
on the lookout for it. It has been more than a week since 26-year-old Joshua
Southwick and 22-year-old Ashton Mink escaped from a private prison in Perry
County. "The inmates are still at large and the search continues,"
said Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections.
State troopers confirm the two men are believed to be traveling in a pewter
2000 GMC Jimmy, with Madison County tag 47A1F2. Corbett told WAFF 48 News a
division of the U.S. Marshals is leading the search. "The U.S. Marshals
Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, they are the entity that are
spearheading the search and investigation into their recapture," he
said. Southwick was serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to murder
and burglary for the 2003 shooting death of Michael Bryant on Hays Mill Road
in Elkmont in Limestone County. Mink was serving
time for attempted murder in connection with a 2005 Huntsville home invasion.
Investigators said he stabbed Jarold Lee several
times in his apartment. "You absolutely have to consider them armed and
dangerous," Corbett said. Investigators said someone helped them cut
through three fences to make their escape.
May 29, 2009 WAAY
TV
New information on two inmates who escaped from an Alabama prison. Joshua
Southwick and Ashton Mink broke out of a private prison in Perry County on
Monday. Southwick was serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to a 2003
murder-for-hire case in Limestone County. Mink was serving time for an
attempted murder in Huntsville four years ago. Police now believe both men
are travelling with Mink's sister and another woman. The four may be on their
way to Mexico. Police say they are armed and dangerous, and say the prisoners
claim that they will not be taken alive.
May 28, 2009 Tuscaloosa News
Authorities believe that two men who escaped from a private prison in
Perry County early Monday morning had outside help. Joshua Southwick, 26, and
Ashton Mink, 22, escaped the Perry County Detention Center in Uniontown after
someone helped them cut through three fences. Southwick is serving a life
sentence after pleading guilty in a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone
County. Mink, 22, was serving time for an attempted murder conviction in
Madison County in 2005. The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Task Force, which
includes members of several law enforcement agencies and five members of the
Department of Corrections, are still looking for the men. Prison Warden Tommy
Buford did not answer phone calls from a Tuscaloosa News reporter Tuesday or
Wednesday. A prison employee referred calls to Dick Harbison, the
vice-president of Lafayette, La.-based LCS Corrections Services, which owns
and operates the prison. Harbison did not return a call placed to his cell
phone Wednesday afternoon. The 734-bed facility houses prisoners from Alabama
and other states in addition to federal prisoners. The state’s Department of
Corrections does not have oversight of the company’s management or security
practices at the prison because it is a private corporation. The Department
of Corrections pays the company $32 a day to house 249 state inmates, less
than the $41.71 it costs to house them in a state facility, spokesman Brian
Corbett said. He said that the department has not had problems with the
Uniontown facility or the company, which housed Alabama inmates in Louisiana
because of prison overcrowding between 2003 and 2006. Until last month, the
prison also housed around 80 prisoners from Vermont, but the Vermont
Department of Corrections removed those inmates after an investigation into
prisoner complaints that they had been injured in fights with other inmates,
said Seth Lipshutz, the supervising attorney in
Vermont’s Prisoners’ Rights Office. The prisoners complained to the
Prisoners’ Rights Office, a branch of the state’s Office of the Defender
General. Lipshutz said that an investigator with
his office conducted an investigation followed by an independent
investigation from the state’s Department of Corrections. “They were letting
the inmates run the asylum,” he said. The staff and management did not pay
adequate attention to security, he said, which resulted in inmate-on-inmate
violence and the smuggling of items such as drugs and cell phones into the
facility. “Drugs get into a lot of prisons, but cell phones don’t get into
many,” Lipshutz said. “It doesn’t take long to
figure out why this would be a problem.” He said that inmates complained that
an assistant warden boasted that he was drunk while driving the bus from
Vermont to Uniontown and behaved unprofessionally when he threatened to shoot
them if they tried to escape during a dinner stop at a fast-food restaurant. Lipshutz said that Vermont, one of the country’s smallest
and least-populated states, sends around 700 of its 2,200 prisoners to
out-of-state facilities because it costs roughly $140 per day to house them
in in-state prisons. Prices in Vermont are high for several reasons, he said,
including union wages, small prisons and snowy weather that makes
transportation between facilities difficult. Many of the state’s prisoners
are housed in detention centers owned by Corrections Corp. of America, the
first company to open private prisons more than 25 years ago. “I’m not too
keen on the privatization of prisons. This is an example of how things go
wrong,” Lipshutz said. Ken Kopczynski is the
executive director of Private Corrections Institute, a private prison
watchdog group based in Tallahassee, Fla. The organization’s mission is to
provide information and assistance to citizens, policy makers and journalists
about what they consider the dangers of privatizing correctional institutions
and service. Kopczynski said no records are kept on the number of escapes
from private prisons. The last records kept, he said, were in 2002 and
indicated that escape rates are higher at private institutions. The institute
compiles media reports of incidents at private facilities on its Web site.
According to their information, an inmate who had been on suicide watch died
at a LCS facility in Texas in January. At least 15 escapes were reported at
some of the company’s prisons in Texas and Louisiana since 2002, according to
the institute. The Texas Prison Board conducted a review of the Eastern
Hidalgo Detention Center in 2006 after six inmates escaped. The review found
that the prison employed too few guards, added an unauthorized number of
bunks and kept unlicensed guards and guards without adequate training on
payroll, according to a news story from The Monitor, a newspaper in the area.
The company president said at the time that those problems were later
corrected. The six inmates escaped, company officials said, after someone
tampered with a control box for the electrical fence surrounding the prison.
Perry County prison guards noticed that Southwick and Mink were not in bed
during a 5:20 a.m. bed check. After inspecting the perimeter, they noticed
that the fences had been cut.
May 27, 2009 Seven Days
The Vermont Department of Corrections [1] has pulled all of its inmates out
of a privately run prison in Alabama after a state investigation confirmed
that some of the men had been injured by their fellow inmates. The
investigation was launched after the Vermont Prisoners’ Rights Office [2]
began receiving reports from clients who claimed inadequate security at Perry
County Detention Center led to the inmate-on-inmate violence. The April
withdrawal of some 80 Vermont offenders from the 734-bed facility in
Uniontown, Alabama, occurred just five months after the state signed its
first-ever contract with a new private prison vendor: LCS Corrections
Services. Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, the for-profit prison company houses
some 6000 inmates in eight facilities throughout the South. Deputy
Commissioner of Corrections Lisa Menard said last week that the state had
been looking for an alternative prison vendor in an effort to “expand our
options” and “ultimately save the taxpayers money.” Vermont was paying LCS
$49.50 per day per inmate. Its other out-of-state vendor, Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA), charges $67 per day to house Vermont inmates.
In-state prisoners cost $140 per day. Vermont currently has about 680 inmates
in out-of-state prisons, mostly in two facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Both are owned by CCA, the nation’s largest for-profit prison vendor.
According to Menard, all the Vermont inmates from the Alabama detention
center have since been moved to CCA prisons or returned to Vermont. Asked why
the Vermont inmates were withdrawn, Menard initially said, “Vermont has high
standards as far as conditions of confinement. Basically, this facility
didn’t feel like the best fit for us, without getting into a great deal of
detail.” Probed further about the alleged reports of abuse, Menard later
confirmed the stories were true. “We did get reports from offenders that
there was some assaultive behavior happening,” she confirmed. “When we
checked into that, we found that it … was accurate. Unfortunately, this was
Vermont inmates committing assaults on other Vermont inmates.” Menard
downplayed the severity of the injuries, noting that none was
life-threatening and they were “basically bruises, that type of thing.” But
that’s not how a lawyer in the prisoners’ rights office in Montpelier
characterized the situation in Alabama. Managing Attorney Seth Lipschutz called it “a total disaster.” According to Lipschutz, his office received reports of alleged lax
security, contraband being smuggled into the facility, and inadequate
bureaucratic procedures being followed for addressing inmates’ grievances.
There was even one allegation of a corrections officer being intoxicated
while transporting Vermont inmates to the prison. “They were letting the inmates
run the asylum,” Lipschutz added. “It was a system
where the strong were taking advantage of the weak.” Concerned about their
clients’ safety, the prisoners’ rights office notified the Vermont Department
of Corrections, which, according to Lipschutz, “acted
on it right away and got the inmates out of there as soon as possible.” Lipschutz also characterized the inmates’ injuries as
more serious than DOC let on. “There were some people who got beat up,” he
claimed. “There were more than cuts and bruises. I think some people had to
go to the hospital.” He put the number of inmates involved in such incidents
at “maybe two dozen.” But Deputy Commissioner Menard denied that the problems
in Perry were the result of poor security. Instead, she blamed the problem on
the physical design of the prison itself, which featured a “more open floor
plan … that didn’t work well.” Richard Harbison, executive vice president of
LCS Corrections Services, echoed that sentiment. “The physical plant in
Perry, frankly, was not very conducive to the type of inmates they sent us,”
he said. “That prison was designed for low-custody levels and the inmates
[Vermont] sent us were of a higher-custody level.” Harbison said he wasn’t
aware of any Vermont inmates being hospitalized. “It’s the prison business
and these guys are going to get into fights,” he admitted. “But as far as
someone being seriously injured, I’m sorry, not to my knowledge.” Whether the
injuries at the Alabama prison were due to lax security or a “more open floor
plan,” the choice of this particular prison appeared problematic from the
get-go. Back in November, when the DOC signed its contract with LCS,
then-Corrections Commissioner Robert Hofmann pointed out that the new
facility would only be taking Vermont offenders who were “unacceptable to be
placed with a majority of other prisoners.” In other words, the more
dangerous inmates with behavioral problems. According to Lipschutz,
the Perry County Detention Center is used mostly as a holding facility for
people arrested on federal immigration violations by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. Many of those detainees don’t even have a criminal
record. Members of the Vermont House of Representatives’ Committee of
Corrections were notified of the move only after the inmates had been
withdrawn from Alabama, but weren’t told the reason why. “I felt, from our
discussions with the commissioner, that it was not a comfortable situation,”
said Rep. Linda Myers, vice chair of that committee. Asked if she knew that
Vermonters had been beaten up and injured in Alabama, she said she’d heard
word of it, “but I can’t say I heard it from the Department of Corrections.”
Though Lipschutz credits corrections officials for
their prompt response, he sees this episode as symptomatic of the larger
systemic problems associated with the for-profit prison industry, which he
described as “always a race to the bottom. LCS “came in with a low, low price
to take these Vermont inmates,” he added, “which is very attractive to state
governments in these tough economic times.”
May 27, 2009 Tuscaloosa News
Law enforcement officials were still searching Tuesday for two prisoners, one
of them a convicted murderer, who escaped from a private prison in Perry
County early Monday morning. Joshua Southwick, 26, was serving a life
sentence after pleading guilty in a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone
County. Ashton Mink, 22, was serving time for an attempted murder conviction
in Madison County in 2005. He was accused of stabbing Huntsville television
and radio reporter Jarold Lee during a personal
dispute in 2004, according to media reports at the time. He is not scheduled
to be released until 2028. The Alabama Department of Corrections leases bed
space from the private Perry County Detention Facility in Uniontown,
department spokesman Brian Corbett said. The inmates disappeared some time early Monday. The prison warden did not answer
several phone calls Tuesday because he was in meetings related to the
inmates' escape. An official at the prison who did not give her name said
that guards conducting a bed check at 5:20 a.m. noticed that the inmates were
missing. A check of the perimeter revealed that a fence had been cut from the
outside, she said.
May 26, 2009 Tuscaloosa News
Authorities are searching for two state prisoners who escaped from a private
prison in Perry County Monday. Joshua Southwick, 26, is serving a life
sentence after pleading guilty to a 2003 murder-for-hire case in Limestone
County. Ashton Mink, 22, was serving time for an attempted murder conviction
in Madison County in 2005. He is not scheduled for release until 2028. The
Alabama Department of Corrections leases bed space from the private facility
in Uniontown. The inmates disappeared some time Monday. Authorities were
unavailable Tuesday morning because they were in a meeting to discuss the
escapes. More details will be available today.
May 3, 2006 Selma Times Journal
The city of Uniontown welcomed a new business Wednesday, one which is
likely to employee more than 100 Perry County residents, but it wasn't the
sort of commercial site where officials and dignitaries usually hold
ribbon-cutting ceremonies. This ribbon-cutting took place in the shadow of
walls, watchtowers and razor-wire, as Black Belt officials celebrated the
completion of the Perry County Correctional and Rehabilitation Center.
Louisiana-based LCS Corrections, a private prison operator that houses a
number of female Alabama inmates at the South Louisiana Correctional Center
in Basil, La., will administer the facility. State Sen. Bobby Singleton, who
helped attract LCS to Perry County three years ago as a state representative,
said the city, county and surrounding area should be proud of the facility.
"We're never proud to be incarcerating someone, " Singleton said, "however,
I feel we've partnered with good corporate citizen, on that's looking toward
rehabilitation and other positive programs in their facility."
Pine Prairie Correctional Center
Pine Prairie, Louisiana
Louisiana Correctional Services
February 22, 2006 Pickens Herald
The Pickens County Commission in a press briefing last Tuesday after their
regular meeting questioned the state’s motives in housing several hundred
prisoners in Louisiana when they could easily house them at the Pickens
County Jail at a cheaper rate. County Attorney Buddy Kirk addressed the
Herald with four of the five commissioners present (Commissioners Earnest
Summerville, William Latham, Willie Colvin and Ted Ezelle
were present; Tony Junkin was absent) about the
matter after the Commission became aware that the state had moved 140 male
prisoners from the Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent, Ala. to a private
prison over 300 miles away in Pine Prairie, La. The Commission has contacted
the Alabama County Commission Association about the matter, said Kirk, to ask
for their help in approaching state officials about this curious action.
Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama state prison system, told the
Associated Press last Monday that the state plans to move 500 inmates from
the Bibb County facility to the Pine Prairie Correctional Center in central
Louisiana, a private prison operated by LCS Corrections Services Inc. The
sticking point for the Pickens County Commission is that not only is the
state having to carry the expense of transporting the prisoners to another
state but are willing to pay $29.50 a day per inmate to house them there. The
state only pays counties $1.75 per day to house state prisoners in county
jails. “It doesn’t seem right to the Commission,” said Kirk, who noted that
the state will virtually drive right by Pickens County from Bibb County to
travel 300 miles to Louisiana. Furthermore, Kirk said if a prisoner has to meet with his attorney, it is a general rule that
the state will have to pay that attorney’s expenses if the prisoner is housed
far away.
February 16, 2006
Montgomery Advertiser
How willing would you be to do business with a company with a record of
legal problems, even if it was the low bidder? Most Alabamians, we'd wager,
would have some reservations about that -- and Alabamians certainly should
have reservations about their state sending prison inmates to a private
prison. For years, the Advertiser has expressed serious concerns about the
use of private prisons. Nothing reported from the ones involved in state
contracts has eased those concerns. The Birmingham News reported this week
that the Department of Corrections has begun transferring male inmates to a
private prison in Pine Prairie, La. The prison is operated by Louisiana
Corrections Service, which also operates a facility in Basile, La., where
Alabama has housed about 300 female inmates since 2003. The reason for using
these facilities is the chronic overcrowding of Alabama's prison system,
which is the subject of constant litigation. The transfer of male inmates --
eventually about 500 of them -- is an effort to ease the backlog in county
jails of state inmates who haven't been sent to state prisons because there
is no space for them. The overcrowding problem is at present intractable,
given Alabama's sentencing structure and its decades of failing to address
the shortcomings of a system now bulging with almost twice as many inmates as
its facilities were designed to handle. LCS will house the male inmates for
$29.50 per day per inmate, but how much of a bargain is that? There are
important issues inherent in any private prison operation. This is not
someone's hobby; this is a for-profit enterprise. That's fine in most
pursuits; in fact, it is the core of the American economy. But incarceration
is a solemn obligation of the state. Depriving individuals of liberty is
serious business and the state, even though justified in doing so, has an
undeniable responsibility to those individuals. A for-profit prison has
financial considerations that a state facility does not. It has profit
expectations from its investors, and these could all too easily lead to
dangerous corner-cutting that compromises the safety of inmates and
potentially the public as well. Unlike the state, a private prison operator
has no stake in the rehabilitation of inmates vs. the mere warehousing of
them. Add to those concerns -- inherent in any private prison operation --
the legal troubles at LSC facilities and it is easy to see why Alabamians
should be uncomfortable with this arrangement. Last week, the News reported,
a former supervisor at Pine Prairie was convicted of rights violations and
witness tampering in the beating of an inmate. Earlier, four guards at the
Basile facility were indicted on sexual abuse charges. Problems can occur at
state prisons, of course, but there the state has direct authority to act, to
set employment standards and to otherwise control the addressing of problems.
That is largely lost when private prisons are used. The private prison issue
is not going to fade away. LCS is working with officials in Perry County to
open a private prison there. The facility, located outside Uniontown, will be
ready in a few months. The Department of Corrections says there is no
agreement for it to place prisoners there, but clearly there will be great
political pressure to do so. This is a poor approach to prison issues. A far
better one is broad reform of Alabama's sentencing structure, which now sends
to prison far too many people who could serve their sentences in
community-based corrections facilities with drug treatment programs and work
opportunities -- without presenting a significant threat to the safety of the
populace. Funneling non-violent offenders into prisons is always costly and
seldom productive. Absent this kind of reform of the current system,
inherently unsound practices such as the use of private prisons will continue
-- not because they are better, but because they are cheaper.
February 16, 2006 Ledger-Enquirer
Tough on crime, or on taxpayers. Last week, Alabama's prison commissioner
went over the wall. And who could blame Commissioner Donal
Campbell for resigning? He had been given the literally impossible task of
operating an Alabama prison system with too many inmates and not nearly
enough money. Not only is he set up for failure, but he is also set up to go
to jail himself for not obeying court orders to relieve crowding. Of course,
he can't build prisons out of his own pocket, and the Alabama legislature
isn't about to spend precious tax dollars on inmates, so what could the
commissioner do but throw up his hands and walk away? "I wouldn't want
that job," said Lynda Flynt, executive director of the Alabama
Sentencing Commission. She knows what she's talking about, having worked
closely with Campbell to alleviate crowding. Knowing they're going to have a
problem filling a position that includes perks such as being party to a
lawsuit, state officials are finally scrambling to do something. On Monday,
the state announced that it is going to send 500 state inmates to a private prison
in Louisiana. The private prison company there already houses more than 300
Alabama inmates. At $29.50 a day per inmate, that's going to cost Alabama
taxpayers about $24,000 a day. That's Alabama tax money that's flowing into
the Louisiana economy. If Alabama would build the prisons it needs (or
consider sentencing reforms that might ease the stress on the system) some of
that cash might stay home. Or some of it might be sent to Alabama counties
that are picking up a huge tab for housing state prisoners. As of last
December, there were about 100 state inmates being housed in Russell, Lee and
Chambers County jails. It costs counties about $30 a day to house a state
prisoner, but the state pays the counties about $1.75 a day. So housing those
prisoners costs East Alabama taxpayers more than a million dollars a year,
while the state is sending more than $8 million a year to Louisiana private
prisons. If the Alabama legislature is going to insist that this many people
be in prison, then the lawmakers have the moral responsibility to see that
there is space to house the inmates. If you're going to be tough on crime,
then you're going to have to be tough enough to pay the piper. -- Michael
Owen, for the editorial board
February 13, 2006
AP
A total of 140 medium-security male prisoners were transferred Sunday night
from Alabama to a private correctional facility in Louisiana, the first of
500 to be moved in the latest attempt to ease overcrowded cellblocks. The
prisoners were transferred from Bibb Correctional Facility in Brent to Pine
Prairie Correctional Center in Pine Prairie, La., in an effort to make room
for state inmates who are in county jails in violation of an Alabama court
order. State prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said Monday the state entered
into an emergency contract with LCS Corrections Services Inc. to send up to
500 inmates to the central Louisiana facility. The Department of Corrections
currently houses 311 female prisoners at an LCS facility in Basile, La.
Prisons Commissioner Donal Campbell announced
Friday that he had resigned, effective Feb. 28. He had pushed for increased
state funding for prisons and recently said there was no money in Gov. Bob
Riley's budget proposal to pay for the use of private prisons, an alternative
he supported.
February 10, 2006 The Advocate
A former guard at a private prison in Evangeline Parish has been
convicted on federal charges of beating an inmate and then asking other
guards to cover up the incident. The jury deliberated about 45 minutes before
returning a guilty verdict late Wednesday against Gilbert Self, 51, after a
three-day trial. Self was a captain at the Pine Prairie Correctional Center,
owned by LCS Corrections Services. He faces up to 10 years in prison on
criminal civil rights violations and charges of witness tampering. “The
Department of Justice will not tolerate civil rights violations committed by
those sworn to uphold the law,” U.S. Attorney Donald Washington said in a
statement. “… It was Mr. Self’s responsibility to control such violent
outbreaks in the facility, not to initiate the violence.” Self was accused of
beating a Cuban national who was being detained for immigration violations.
Prosecutors said the July 2003 incident began when the detainee allegedly
made crude remarks to a female guard. She reported the remarks to Self, who
went into the detainee’s cell, punched him repeatedly, slammed his head into
the floor and kicked the man inthe ribs, according
to guards who witnesses the incident. The guards, who said they attempted to
stop Self, told investigators that he later asked them to file false reports
to cover up the beating. The guards prepared false reports on the incident,
but the next day, one of the men told Self’s supervisor what had actually happened. The detainee, who lost consciousness
during the attack, suffered bruising and swelling to
both eyes, cuts, and rib injuries, prosecutors said. The injuries were not
properly documented at the time because Self asked a nurse to alter her
medical report, according to prosecutors, and LCS later fired the nurse for
not following proper procedures and sending the detainee to the hospital for
treatment.
A federal grand jury has joined local prosecutors and civil
rights attorneys in bringing charges against employees at private, for-profit
prisons in Evangeline Parish. In the most recent charges, Gilbert Self, 49,
of Florien, a former captain at the Pine Prairie Detention Center, has been
indicted on one count of felony criminal civil rights violation and three
counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly beating a prisoner. U.S.
Attorney Donald W. Washington said Self was arraigned Wednesday morning in
Lafayette and released on a $75,000 bond. A tentative trial date is set for
July 12 on the four charges, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years
in prison and a $25,000 fine. Washington said sentencing in federal court is
governed by the U.S. sentencing guidelines, which do not allow for parole. He
said the federal charges stem from a government contract with LCS Corrections
Services Inc., a Lafayette-based company, which owns the private prison near
Pine Prairie and another near Basile. The current indictment alleges that in
July 2003, Self assaulted and caused bodily harm to a Cuban national, who was
being detained at the facility under the authority of the U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement Service. The indictment also alleges that Self
obstructed the investigation by trying to persuade three fellow guards to lie
to federal law enforcement officials. LCS owns two private prisons in
Evangeline Parish. Both are currently facing ongoing lawsuits. Last month,
Evangeline Parish District Attorney Brent Coreil
opened an investigation of the South Louisiana Correctional Center near
Basile in regard to repeated charges of sexual assaults on female
prisoners. (Louisiana Gannett, May 6, 2004)
A guard at a private prison in Evangeline Parish has been booked
on charges of having sex with an inmate. Todd Daniel Arnold, 22, of Oberlin
faces one count of malfeasance in office for allegedly having sex with a
female inmate at Pine Prairie Correctional Center, a prison run by
Lafayette-based Louisiana Corrections Services. Arnold was booked into the
Evangeline Parish Jail on Monday and released on $7,500 bond, according to
jail records. The incident comes about two years after the former warden of
the Evangeline Parish Jail was convicted on two counts of malfeasance in
office for extorting sexual favors from the family members of inmates.
Michael J. Savant, 48, was sentenced to six months in jail and three years probation on the charges. (Daily Advertiser, July
7, 2003)
Regions
Bank Of Alabama
Feb 2, 2021 forbes.com
Regions Bank Of Alabama Turns Its Back On CoreCivic,
Announces Plan To End Relationship
Today,
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a new major contract with private prison
company CoreCivic, kicking off a $3B plan to
construct three new prisons in the state. This weekend presented a wrench in
that plan: Regions Bank, the largest bank in Alabama, announced that it plans
to terminate its financing relationship with CoreCivic.
“Regions provides some banking services to CoreCivic,
and our contractual obligation to deliver these services lasts until 2023. We
are not extending additional credit services to CoreCivic,
and we are specifically not providing CoreCivic
with financing for the construction of the prisons to be built in Alabama,” a
company spokesperson announced on Saturday. This is a historic announcement
for many reasons. Over the course of 2019, there was a massive exodus of
mainstream banks committed to ending their relationships with the private
prison industry. But this is the first time a bank has explicitly named CoreCivic, and the first time a bank explicitly framed
its decision on moral grounds, highlighting the influence of Black Lives
Matter Birmingham, which is part of the larger global network recently
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The bank explicitly noted this
announcement as part of their “100% commit[ment] to
creating more inclusive prosperity and advancing racial equity.” In a year
marked by numerous corporate announcements of commitments to justice and
racial equity, with varying levels of follow-through, it's
important to see companies like Regions Bank practicing what they preach.
What Does Biden's "Ban" On Private Prisons Really Mean? ‘We All Got
Played’: QAnon Followers Implode After Big Moment
Never Comes. Trump’s Business Partners Allegedly Involved In
Human Trafficking, Mafia Matters, Probable Money Laundering. This
announcement comes in the wake of historic opposition of the cozy
relationship banks and private prisons have enjoyed for decades, with over
$2.6B in bank financing. In November
of 2019, activists protesting the role of private prisons in the nation’s
family separation crisis arrived on the doorstep of Regions Bank in
Birmingham, Alabama. That year,
organizations like my own, united under the hashtag Families Belong Together,
helped expose the fact that private prison companies CoreCivic
and GEO Group GEO -1.2% were housing migrants after
their children had been ripped from their arms—and in general, separate
families anytime someone goes to prison or an immigrant detention center.
These companies therefore presented significant reputational risk to banks
like Regions, that provide private prisons with credit and term loans. Over
the course of 2019 there was a cascade of announcements from major banks like
JP Morgan Chase JPM -0.2%, Wells Fargo WFC -0.3% and Bank of America BAC
-0.4% seeking to distance themselves from the private prison industry,
committing to not enter into any new financing
relationships. In fact, by August 2019, 100% of known banks financing GEO
Group, and those representing 66% of CoreCivic’s
credit and term loans at the time, had committed to ending future financing
relationships with the industry. Xochitl Oseguera,
Vice President of Moms Rising/Mamas Con Poder, at
Regions Bank. Xochitl Oseguera, Vice President of
Moms Rising/Mamas Con Poder, delivering petitions
to Regions ... Back in 2019, Regions Bank bucked the trend against private
prisons with a bland statement in response to the protests, and no comment on
their financing relationships: “We recognize that people have differing views
about the private sector’s involvement in prisons. This is a complex issue
that government officials and policymakers are in the best position to
address directly.” On Saturday, January 30th, 2020 they significantly changed
their tune: “Regions provides some banking services to CoreCivic,
and our contractual obligation to deliver these services lasts until 2023. We
are not extending additional credit services to CoreCivic,
and we are specifically not providing CoreCivic
with financing for the construction of the prisons to be built in Alabama. To
be clear, Regions Bank is 100% committed to creating more inclusive
prosperity and advancing racial equity. This past Tuesday, Jan. 26, we met
with the Black Lives Matter Birmingham Chapter and other organizations to
receive feedback on the issue of private prisons. We listened closely to
concerns that were shared, and we appreciate the candid feedback we
received.” Alabama’s critical choice: build more prisons, or reduce
incarceration? Carla Crowder, Executive Director of the Alabama Appleseed
Center for Law and Justice, explained that Alabama has been trapped in a
vicious cycle of incarcerating more people than it can pay for—let alone,
treat with dignity—for decades. In general, Alabama’s incarceration rate is
36% higher than the national average, and the fifth highest in the nation.
Even former Republican Governor Bob Riley noted upon visiting men’s
facilities back in 2004, “We’ve got to do something about the number of
inmates.” In 2019, the issue became even more complex for the state of
Alabama. Gov. Ivey’s office announced a plan to build new prisons through a
leasing partnership with private companies. The cost of that proposal, which
involves the construction of three men’s prisons in rural Alabama
communities, recently increased to $3 billion, to the consternation of
Republicans and Democrats alike in the state. This announcement came in the
wake of serious concerns raised by the Department of Justice regarding the
state of Alabama’s prisons, ultimately culminating in a lawsuit. The DOJ
noted in a Dec 2020 statement, “conditions at Alabama’s prisons for men
violate the Constitution because Alabama fails to provide adequate protection
from prisoner-on-prisoner violence and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse,
fails to provide safe and sanitary conditions, and subjects prisoners to
excessive force at the hands of prison staff.” “The U.S. Department of Justice is suing
the state after documenting horrific violence, corruption, and mismanagement
during an investigation that began in 2016.
But instead of seriously addressing the complex issues identified
repeatedly by the federal government, Alabama’s leaders are doing precisely
what failed forty years ago - building more prisons” said Crowder. “Precious state dollars that could be used
on pressing needs such as health care, drug treatment, and community services
to truly address public safety instead will enrich companies that most of
America is backing away from.” “Our conversations with legislators from both
sides of the aisle have revealed hesitancy and frustration over the
Governor’s unilateral plan progressing without their consent. Our leaders are
aware that this appalling executive overreach does not absolve us of the
DOJ’s charges outlaid in their December 9th lawsuit. To address the
well-founded accusations of physical and sexual abuse, criminal negligence,
and unconstitutionality of our prisons, our state’s leaders must audit and
reform the agency responsible—the Alabama Department of Corrections. Spending
over $3 billion to rent mega-prisons is a gamble our state cannot afford to
make,” said Morgan Duckett, Senior at Auburn University and co-founder of
Alabama Students Against Prisons (ASAP). He added, “Our hope is that Region’s
decision to allow their contracts with CoreCivic to
die will send a strong message to other Alabama companies seeking to profit
from incarceration, such as B.L. Harbert, that their commitment to harm our
communities, specifically Black communities, will be met with the strongest
reproach possible.” Advocates argue that this money would better be served to
invest in Alabama’s people,
addressing the racialized impacts of the criminal justice
system, and made a powerful case to Regions Bank about ending their
relationship with CoreCivic. Lamar Black, Cara McClure and Joshua Thompson after meeting with Regions
Bank. Lamar Black, Cara McClure and Joshua Thompson
after meeting with Regions Bank on Tuesday, January ... “When the young
people of Alabama Students Against Prisons invited Black Lives Matter
Birmingham to join their campaign, we were enthusiastic to see millennials
taking such strong leadership. In general, we believe a bank in a 74% Black
city shouldn’t support white supremacy and mass
incarceration, and as BLM have fought deeply for criminal justice. So I called Regions Bank to set up a meeting,” said Cara
McClure, co-founder of both BLM Birmingham and Faith And Works. “At that
meeting I wanted to make sure that we showed the full strength of Black
organizing. The three Black people in the room truly represented hundreds of
thousands of people across the country: Lamar Black representing the faith community, Josh
Thompson, a student activist from Alabama Students Against Prisons and the
NAACP, and myself, as part of both Black Lives Matter Birmingham and the
Movement for Black Lives ecosystem of over 150 Black-led organizations.” She
continued, “In that meeting, I realized that, 20
years ago, when Regions Bank first formed a relationship with CoreCivic, I was first waking up to the harm of the
private prison industry and the way it has preyed on the Black community. We
made sure to share the real stories of the reality and pain of mass
incarceration of our communities, and they heard us. This harm ends here—when
corporations take a stand to support their communities.” “Alabama is a deeply
religious state, and in general faith leaders have always been instrumental
in organizing for civil rights and social justice. We see our work around
mass incarceration, and the disproportionate suffering of people of color in
the criminal justice system, as an extension of our great
tradition. No one wants their dollars in businesses helping build prisons or
furthering mass incarceration.
Profiting from the suffering of others is morally wrong.” said Lamar Black,
co-founder of Faith And Works. “The state should focus more on providing
support to its communities rather than over policing them. African Americans
are overrepresented in the state of Alabama’s prisons. We are 25% of the state's population, but represent over 50% of the prison's
population. Alabama needs to focus on giving support to low-income
communities through mental health investments, investments in education, and
providing more jobs. If we want to fix the problem of overcrowding in our prisons
then we need to end the school-to-prison pipeline.” said Joshua Thompson,
Senior at University of Alabama at Huntsville. The current fight in Alabama
has lessons for many other states wrestling about how to manage their
relationships to private prison companies, especially in the wake of
President Biden’s executive order reducing the federal use of private
prisons. “It can be easy to dismiss what’s happening in Alabama as another
failure of our dysfunctional state government, but what CoreCivic
is doing to us has the potential to spread across America. First it was
Kansas, where they promised millions of dollars in cost savings, that
disappeared the moment they chose the plot of land for the prison,” said
Isabel Coleman, co-founder of ASAP, referring to a $362M deal CoreCivic cut with the state in 2018 causing some to
question whether decarceration could’ve been a
sounder choice. “Now it’s us Alabamians,” said Coleman, “paying $3 billion
for new prisons we won’t even own. CoreCivic is a
virus, and it’s mutating to survive.” Crowder of Alabama Appleseed concluded,
“The silver lining is that Regions Bank clearly understands that CoreCivic is a problem, and has
taken a bold stand in a law-and-order state to stop financing a company with
such an abysmal human rights record. We applaud Regions. But if Alabama’s
only Fortune 500 company no longer has confidence in CoreCivic,
why should the taxpayers of Alabama?” Update: An original version of this
article noted that the Governor “expected to sign” agreements. This article
was later updated on February 1st to reflect that the Governor’s Office
published a press release announcing the contract was signed, sharing the
following regarding its intent: “It is no secret that, due to decades of
inaction and a lack of resources, our correctional system is at a crossroads.
Thanks to Governor Ivey’s vision, tenacity, and leadership, we have reached
an important step in our continued work to chart a transformative new course
for the Department,” said ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn. “Leasing, staffing,
and operating modernized prison infrastructure that is owned and strictly
maintained by the private sector minimizes our short- and long-term risk for
an initiative of this necessary magnitude. These facilities will provide a
safer, more secure environment in which our heroic staff can better deliver
effective, evidence-based rehabilitative programming to our inmate
population.” Full disclosures related
to my work available here. This post does not constitute investment, tax, or
legal advice, and the author is not responsible for any actions taken based
on the information provided herein. CoreCivic filed
a lawsuit in March of 2020 against author Morgan Simon and her firm Candide
Group, claiming that certain of her prior statements on Forbes.com regarding
their involvement in family detention and lobbying activities are
“defamatory." While we won dismissal of the case in November of 2020, CoreCivic has appealed such that the lawsuit is still
active.
South
Louisiana Correctional Center
Basile, Louisiana
Louisiana Correctional Services
July 27, 2006 AP
About 320 female Alabama prisoners being housed in Louisiana are being
moved to another prison in that state but one closer to Alabama. The women
inmates had been housed at a private prison at Basile in southwest Louisiana.
They are being moved to J.B. Evans Correctional Center in Newellton,
La., which is on the Louisiana-Mississippi line about 60 miles west of
Jackson. The move brings the inmates about two and a-half hours closer to the
Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, prisons commissioner Richard
Allen said Thursday. It also reduces travel time for corrections officers.
The Alabama Department of Corrections has a contract with LCS Correctional
Services to house the inmates to help reduce overcrowded conditions at
Tutwiler. The J.B. Evans Correctional Center opened in 1994 and is a medium
security facility with the capacity of holding 440 inmates. Allen said it
will be used exclusively for the Alabama women prisoners. More than 600 male
inmates are also housed in private facilities in Louisiana because of
overcrowded conditions in Alabama prisons.
January 25, 2006 Birmingham News
When the Alabama Department of Corrections decided to put prisoners in a
private out-of-state prison, women went first. The state opened a transition
center for people on parole, and it was for women. A close look at these
experiments, however, shows that, for the overall prison population to drop
by much, the state may need to turn to alternatives such as expanded drug
courts and community-based treatment and sentencing reform. A bill endorsed
by Gov. Bob Riley takes a step in that direction by stressing changes in
Alabama's sentencing structure. In reaction to a federal court settlement
that forced the state to cut the population at Tutwiler Prison for Women to
950, the state Parole Board released several hundred low-level offenders and
the state began housing pockets of women in other facilities - the Louisiana
private prison, the LifeTech parole transition
center and county jails. But Alabama now incarcerates 1,920 women, only a 4
percent drop in three years. And instead of steering female drug offenders
into community programs - as numerous government task forces have recommended
- the state is locking up more women for drug crimes than ever before.
"The path that Alabama has taken over the last four years of renting
more bed space for women has proven to be the wrong path," said Lisa
Kung, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit law firm
that has won settlements over conditions at prisons. In Birmingham, only 40
of 100 spaces are filled in "Second Chance" a federally funded
program that allows newly released women to live in apartments and work
regular jobs while receiving drug treatment, medical and mental health
services. Not enough women are being paroled to fill the slots. Kung agreed
that LifeTech is a better option than prison. But
she wants the state to use the center for incarcerated women, not
probationers. Nearly 40 percent of the women at the private prison in
Louisiana will be eligible for parole over the next three years, according to
DOC records. Many have served terms of 15 years or more for crimes Kung said
often involved abusive partners. She's hoping parole officials will consider
letting some of these women into LifeTech, and she
has been working with lawmakers on gender-specific parole guidelines that
might help cut the numbers of low-risk women locked in private prisons. LCS
Corrections houses 320 Alabama women at its Louisiana prison, with a price
tag climbing toward $10 million since the contract began in 2003. A prison
run by the same company is set to open in Perry County and may end up housing
Alabama men. Kung's problem with shipping so many women to Louisiana is that
they are housed 900 miles from their children and families and have no
opportunities to take the classes that the parole board looks to as signs
prisoners are trying to improve themselves. "The inmates housed here
have too much idle time on their hands and that defeats the purpose of
rehabilitation," inmate Sharron Kay Jones, 47, serving 15 years for
solicitation to commit murder, wrote in a letter from Louisiana "There
is no rehabilitation here at all." Inmate Paula Settle, 34, of
Tuscaloosa, serving 15 years for drug trafficking, signed up for anger
management, substance abuse, parenting and trade school classes at Tutwiler.
But she was immediately transferred to Louisiana. "There are no classes,
programs, meetings, jobs or counselors here. No trades, no furthering
education, no chaplain or religious assemblies or functions," she said.
April 6, 2005 Montgomery Advertiser
From the day the Department of Corrections began talking about sending some
inmates to private, out-of-state prisons, the Advertiser expressed serious
reservations about the idea, and for several reasons. Nothing that has
happened since has changed our view of the practice. Questions raised by
female inmates sent to a privately operated prison in Louisiana have prompted
a new concern -- whether incarceration there hurts their chances for parole.
The private prison in Basile, La., nearly 500 miles from DOC headquarters in
Montgomery, now houses about 270 Alabama inmates. Severe overcrowding at
Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka, Alabama's only penitentiary for women, led the
department to send some inmates there to bring the Tutwiler population down
to a more manageable level. The state's short-term options were limited, so
using the private prison as a stopgap measure was understandable. But private
prisons have a lot of inherent qualities that should concern Alabamians. They
are for-profit enterprises, of course, so there are financial pressures that
could lead to potentially dangerous cutting of corners. In many cases, they
are little more than warehouses for inmates, with few opportunities for work
or training. That could be a detrimental factor in parole considerations. As
a group of inmates notes in a call for reform, this prison that sits surrounded
by Louisiana rice fields offers no classes, no training programs, no
rehabilitation groups or any of the things that inmates can point to when
they come up for parole consideration. "Down here, the time is not
constructive," said Phyllis Richey, an inmate from Muscle Shoals.
"We have nothing to do. We're basically housed. That's it." For
inmates who are well behaved and are trying to serve their time responsibly
and get out of prison, this is clearly frustrating. Rather than having an
incentive to improve themselves in preparation for life outside prison,
inmates are stuck in a prison far away from their homes and families in
Alabama, simply marking time. That's bad enough. The prospect that their
parole consideration is affected only makes matters worse. Private prisons
are a bad concept. The sooner Alabama can get its inmates out of them, the
better.
April 1, 2005 Birmingham News
Alabama female prisoners locked in a rural Louisiana prison are demanding
changes they say could give them a fairer shot at parole and curb the state's
reliance on private, forprofit lockups. Women at
the South Louisiana Correctional Center, some of whom have been housed 500
miles from their families for two years, wrote a Platform for Fair Reform.
The two-page document includes reasons for their concerns and five
demands they think would improve their chances for getting parole and leading
productive lives. The women have asked for: Objective
parole criteria, workrelease opportunities, an end
to the parole board's backlog, an end to the ''heinous crime'' designation
that prevents some of them from working outside the prison and a chance to
face their victims as well as the parole board. The move to the Louisiana
prison, 475 miles from Montgomery, makes it difficult or impossible for
families to visit, the inmates said. Surrounded by rice fields, the prison
has no classes, programs or rehabilitation groups, the opportunities
prisoners rely on to show the parole board they have worked to better
themselves.
January 21, 2005 The Advocate
The family of an inmate who died in prison held a news conference Thursday to
release the details of his death. The family members of Gregory Lee, 35, of
Kenner, convicted in 2003 of distribution of cocaine near a church, say he
died because he didn't receive proper medical care at the South Louisiana
Correctional Center, a private prison in Basile. The family has filed suit in
federal court against LCS Corrections Services Inc. and Patrick LeBlanc of
Lafayette, Gary Copes, former Lafayette police chief and warden of the
facility, and several facility employees. The suit was filed in 2003 and is
pending before U.S. District Judge Tucker L. Melançon.
Willie Nunnery, the family's attorney, provided the media with a report from
an expert his clients have hired. "This case has taken on a new
twist," Nunnery said. "It is the intent of his family that the
public know what happened to Gregory Lee." According to his death
certificate, Lee died June 22, 2003. The medical transfer document from the
SLCC indicates he left there June 17, 2003. The autopsy report, prepared by
the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office, indicates that Lee died of complications
from AIDS. However, a forensic pathologist hired by Lee's family has examined
microscope slides -- which the Orleans officials did not do -- and determined
that Lee probably died from sepsis, a severe infection. Dr. Robert Huntington
III, an associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory
Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, participated in the news conference
via speakerphone. Huntington said sepsis can be the result of infected wounds
that aren't treated, and it also can start with pneumonia, bladder infections
or heart infections, he said. Nunnery said he also has taken the deposition
of two inmates who were being held in Basile at the time Lee was there. Those
depositions indicate that the inmates testified Lee was being beaten and
sprayed with tear gas. Nunnery said Lee was "hogtied" and beaten,
shackled and left in chains for hours. "There can be no justice until
the courts deal with the privatization of prisons in this state,"
Nunnery said. "There should be a massive inquiry into what happened to
Gregory Lee. This individual was beaten, and the system sought to hide and
cover this up."
October 21, 2004 Montgomery
Advertiser
Although it is important to acknowledge that the filing of a lawsuit proves
nothing in and of itself, the suit filed by an Alabama inmate housed in an
out-of-state private prison raises anew some valid concerns about such
facilities. The Advertiser has long had reservations about private prisons
and nothing in Alabama's recent experience has alleviated them in the
slightest.
In April of last year, Alabama began sending female inmates to a private
prison in Basile, La., to relieve overcrowding at Tutwiler Prison for Women
in Wetumpka, Alabama's only prison for females.
Private prisons are, of course, intended to be money-making ventures, and
that creates the potential for some serious problems. Even the most fervent
believers in free enterprise -- count the Advertiser among them -- surely can
see that the profit motive and the function of prisons are ripe for
conflict. When a state deprives a
citizen of liberty for having violated its laws, it also assumes the custody
of that individual. That is a solemn responsibility. When an individual is
incarcerated for the protection of society, the state is not absolved of the
obligation to carry out that incarceration in a constitutional manner. With a private prison, the pursuit of
profit invariably creates the temptation to cut corners, to skimp on safety,
personnel, medical attention, nutrition and other facets of the operation.
It's simply a bad mix of private-sector motives and public-sector
responsibilities. The merits of this particular suit will be determined in
court, but the inherent problems with private prisons are something Alabama
has to face. They are not an acceptable solution to Alabama's prison problems
in the long term, and even their short-term use is questionable.
October 19, 2004 Daily Comet
An Alabama inmate is suing the state Department of Corrections and a private
prison company in Louisiana, claiming she was raped after being shipped out
of state due to a lack of space. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 1 in Louisiana
federal court, claims that guards at the South Louisiana Correctional Center
sexually assaulted at least two prisoners, including raping the woman who
filed the suit, and that the guards had sex with one another and played cards
and drank beer during the night shift. The
four guards named in the lawsuit have been fired. Also, an Evangeline Parish
grand jury indicted them on charges of malfeasance in office for sexual
conduct prohibited for people confined in a correctional institution. All
four pleaded not guilty, The Birmingham News reported Tuesday. The lawsuit
claims that Alabama prison Commissioner Donal
Campbell failed to properly investigate LCS before shipping Alabama women
there and failed to implement proper policies and procedures for the
oversight of the contract. The inmate who filed the suit claims she got no
medical treatment after the assault.
August 15, 2004
Soon after arriving at the South Louisiana Correctional Center near Basile in
2003 inmate Gregory Lee died. Attorney Willie J. Nunnery, who is representing
Lee's mother, Mae Thompson Lee, is charging that the private, for-profit
prison abused and tortured him. Nunnery is seeking access to prisoners
who allegedly witnessed what happened to Lee and a reexamination of the
forensic evidence. When the charges where first filed,
prison guards said Lee jumped off the top bunk of his cell, hitting his head
on the toilet. Nunnery, a civil rights attorney, has a darker theory. He
claims that following an altercation after the evening meal, prison guards
attempted to punish Lee by beating him. Following the incident, Lee, badly
injured from whatever cause, was transferred to Elayn Hunt
Correctional Center , a state facility,
where he died several days later. Nunnery said he is in possession of
photographs taken when Lee arrived at Elayn Hunt.
"They were very barbaric pictures," Nunnery said. "If you saw
those pictures it would make your stomach turn." The Basile facility and
another LCS private prison at Pine Prairie have repeatedly made headlines
recently with both female employees and inmates bringing charges of sexual
harassment against the company. "I don't understand why there isn't any
public outcry to have that place shut down," Nunnery said. (Daily World)
June 11, 2004
Four guards who worked at the Basile Detention Center in Evangeline Parish
were indicted Friday for allegedly having sexual contact with female
inmates. An Evangeline Parish grand jury indicted the four guards on
charges of malfeasance in office for sexual conduct prohibited for persons
confined in a correctional institution. Kenneth Stenson Sr., Horace Edwards,
Frank Lenoir and Jeffery Collins will be arraigned July 1 and will face up to
10 years in jail and a $10,000 fine. The indictments follow four days of
testimony from investigators, prison guards and 22 inmates at the south
Louisiana correctional center. (AP)
June 7, 2004
Allegations of sexual contact between security officers and female inmates
from Alabama at a private prison in Basile are scheduled to be studied this
week by a grand jury. Two prison employees were fired after an internal
investigation into the allegations made by female inmates who were being held
at the South Louisiana Correctional Center. (AP)
April 7, 2004
A Louisiana district attorney says he will pursue criminal charges against
guards at a private prison over sexual contact with inmates from Alabama, The
Birmingham News reported. About 200 female prisoners from Alabama are
being housed at the South Louisiana Correctional Center, where they were transferred
last year to help relieve overcrowding at Tutwiler Prison for Women.
The criminal case, involving an incident late last year, is the result of an
investigation begun by the Alabama Department of Corrections.
"There is definite misconduct that did occur, and we will follow through
with it," Evangeline Parish District Attorney Brent Coreil
said Tuesday. He said he has not decided whether to file direct charges or
present a case to a grand jury. The Basile, La., lockup is owned and
operated by LCS Corrections, based in Lafayette, La. Alabama pays the company
about $23 per inmate per day to house the women. "ADOC's
investigation produced a confession from an employee at South Louisiana
Correctional Center, along with subsequent termination of that employee. We
then turned our investigative report over to the local district attorney for
prosecution," Alabama prisons spokesman Brian Corbett said. (AP)
February 13, 2004
Investigators are looking into allegations of illegal sexual contact between
a female prisoner and a guard at the Louisiana private prison housing
prisoners from Alabama. This is the second such investigation involving an
Alabama inmate and an employee or employees of Southeastern Louisiana
Correctional Center, said Richard Harbison, general manager of LCS
Corrections Services. The Lafayette, La., company runs the prison housing
about 275 Alabama women. "We do have the district attorney involved in
it," Harbison said Thursday. "Which means we're taking it very
seriously." Harbison said the current investigation stems
from an alleged incident that occurred about two months ago, but was reported
only recently. He said it was not considered an assault. Under Louisiana and
Alabama law, sex between prisoners and guards is illegal. The laws are aimed
at keeping guards from using their power to coerce or abuse prisoners.
The Alabama Department of Corrections pays LCS about $24 per prisoner to per
day. DOC signed the contract with the for-profit company last April because
of pressure to relieve crowding at Tutwiler Prison for Women. Tutwiler
Warden Gladys Deese and a DOC investigator visited
the Basile, La., prison this week to look into the recent claim, Harbison
said. Deese's visit was already scheduled and
part of her duties as warden, said Steve Hayes, an Alabama prison
spokesman. Hayes confirmed that Alabama authorities are investigating
reports of an inappropriate incident at the Louisiana prison. LCS has
placed three guards on leave during the investigation. Harbison said not all
of them are suspects, that some are suspected of observing improper activity
and not reporting it. Last year, officials at the Louisiana prison
investigated another alleged sexual incident between an Alabama inmate and a
prison employee or employees. "The first one we were unable to prove or
disprove," Harbison said. LCS had arranged for the inmate who made
the first allegation to take a polygraph test. Before the test could be
administered, the Alabama DOC transferred to the woman back to Tutwiler, one
of a group of 30 inmates who returned last November, Harbison said.
(Advocate)
Tutwiler Prison for Women
Wetumpka, Mississippi
Prison Health Services
December 12, 2005 Birmingham News
It's been a year since Tutwiler Prison's health care became subject to
quarterly visits from a court monitor, Illinois Dr. Michael Puisis. His reports have blamed prison doctors for
several deaths and generally have been scathing. But the latest is different.
"Much improvement has been recognized," Puisis
begins. He commends the Alabama Department of Corrections for refurbishing
clinics, examining rooms and the pharmacy. However, medical care remains
sketchy for many prisoners, with missed medications, delayed treatment or no
treatment at all. "There is a system in place to administer medications,
but it remains broken," Puisis wrote. Puisis, an expert in correctional health care, was
appointed in 2004 to monitor the medical agreement from a class action
lawsuit settled on behalf of Tutwiler inmates. The DOC switched medical
providers shortly before the agreement was signed, replacing Birmingham-based
Naphcare with PHS. The lawsuit, filed in 2002 by
the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, also produced a
settlement that governs overall conditions at the prison. In the June 2004
federal court settlement, the Alabama Department of Corrections agreed to
dozens of improvements in medication, dental care and mental health care for
almost 1,000 women housed at the state's only prison for women. Sweeping
changes called for everything from better sanitation to cut down on insects
to quicker responses to inmates' complaints of painful medical problems left
untreated for months. A year later, Puisis is
lukewarm in his evaluation. He says the prison is in "partial
compliance," but repeats concerns he's voiced all year. Among them,
women housed in the segregation unit filed repeated sick call requests that
were ignored. One woman, who filed four complaints about abdominal pain since
February, was found to have a hemorrhaging cyst in March. The potentially
malignant cyst has not been removed, and she has not been seen since August.
"This is an excessive wait to evaluate this potentially life-threatening
condition," Puisis wrote. Earlier this year,
the Alabama DOC withheld $1.2 million in payments to PHS as a result of
understaffing at some of the prisons. A March report from Puisis
cited poor, incomplete or substandard medical care as contributors to three
women's deaths at Tutwiler.
May 7, 2005 AP
The third death of an inmate in two months at Tutwiler Prison for Women
has raised more questions about the quality of care provided for prisoners.
Officials said Mattie Bouie, 42, died last week at Baptist Hospital South in
Montgomery - six months after a federal court monitor cited her case as an example
of "no effective physician monitoring of patients" at the Wetumpka
prison. Bouie's death was the sixth at the women's prison since
Tennessee-based Prison Health Services took over the medical contract. Court
monitor Dr. Michael Puisis has suggested that
negligent care was responsible for at least two deaths. He has not released
mortality reports on the other cases. Puisis was
appointed by a federal court last year after the state settled a lawsuit over
poor conditions and medical care at the prison. The Department of Corrections
agreed to improvements and increased staff at the facility, and Puisis is responsible for monitoring the agency's
progress toward achieving those goals.
May 6, 2005 Birmingham News
Prison Health Services has been under the gun, and rightly so, for the
way it's provided medical care to Alabama inmates. The Tennessee-based
company was hired to improve health care in Alabama prisons, which had been
sued over services provided by a previous contractor. But the care in prisons
remains unacceptable. A recurring theme is a shortage of doctors, nurses and
other staff to tend to the inmates, with predictable consequences. At best,
the care has been inadequate. At worst, it may have been downright deadly.
The state of Alabama, which has the ultimate responsibility (and liability)
for what happens to prisoners in its custody, has every reason to demand
better from Prison Health Services. And withholding part of the company's
payment is an appropriate place to start. The state is reducing the company's
$143 million contract by $1.2 million for staffing shortages, and may cut
more if staffing levels aren't increased. Why not? The state is paying Prison
Health Services to provide a certain number of professionals and support
staff to administer inmates' health care. If the company is not meeting the
requirements of the contract, it should not expect to be paid as if it were.
Besides, what's really at stake here is bigger than money. Too many inmates
are not receiving proper care for chronic conditions, and some are dying
unnecessarily as a result, according to doctors who monitor prison health
care for the courts. At the Tutwiler women's prison, the monitor found that
three inmates who died last year received poor or incomplete care, and two of
them may have died as a result. At Limestone Correctional Facility, which
houses HIV-positive inmates, the monitor found prisoners weren't getting
crucial medication and that a required HIV specialist was not on staff. It's
true that turnover has been a big problem. Prison Health Services has had
problems retaining doctors and other health care workers; some have left
complaining they didn't have the resources to do their jobs. But the bottom
line is that the company agreed to provide a certain level of services, and
it has been failing to do so. At the very least, the state should adjust the
payments to Prison Health Services accordingly. So the company is losing
dollars. Inmates are losing their lives.
May 5, 2005 Birmingham News
Alabama's prison medical provider is losing $1.2 million from the state
because it has not provided enough doctors and nurses to state prisons.
Prison Health Services has not fulfilled minimal contract requirements that
call for a certain number of doctors, nurses, administrators and support
staff. The company is not being fined, Department of Corrections spokesman
Brian Corbett said, but DOC will not have to pay $1.2 million of its
contract. The department hired PHS in November 2003. The company's
three-year, $143 million contract could see more reductions if the medical
staff does not increase. Tennessee-based Prison Health Services also has come
under fire in recent months by physicians who are monitoring two prisons
under federal court settlements. A lawsuit alleging inadequate medical care
is pending at a third prison, the Hamilton Aged and Infirm facility, where
the oldest, sickest men are housed. Dr. Michael Puisis,
court monitor at Tutwiler Prison for Women, said in a March report that
prison medical staff provided poor or incomplete care to three inmates who
died last year. He suggested that negligence might have led to two of those
deaths. The third, a suicide, was likely the result of inadequate care by
mental health workers, who are employed by a different company. Two deaths since
then are still under investigation. Still, attorneys for the Limestone
inmates have asked the federal courts to hold the state in contempt for
failing to abide by the conditions of the settlement. Last year, the state
agreed to dozens of improvements, centering on added medical staff and more
humane housing conditions. Doctors keep leaving, some after claiming PHS did
not allow them the flexibility and resources to practice medicine as they
want to do. "There are just as many complaints raised after the
settlement as before," said Gretchen Rohr, an attorney with the
Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, who represents Alabama
prisons in both cases.
April 26, 2005 Mobile Register
Poor, incomplete, substandard -- and perhaps error-ridden -- medical care led
to the deaths of at least three women incarcerated at Tutwiler Prison for
Women last year, emphasizing the need for improved health care in Alabama's
prisons. It also suggests the physician who treated the women should be
suspended while officials determine if he was at fault; and if he was, he
should be fired. Moreover, the poor health care the women apparently received
indicates the state should consider finding a different health services
company. The staggering conclusions by a physician who monitors the prison's
medical system for a federal court settlement were revealed by the Birmingham
News last week, and implicate Dr. Samuel Englehardt,
a retired obstetrician and primary care doctor at Tutwiler at the time of the
three deaths. Two other deaths have occurred this year, and officials should
speedily investigate those, too. Outrageously, Dr. Englehardt,
who provided the health care for one of the three prisoners who died last
year, also performed her death review and concluded that there were no
problems with the health care she had received. A policy of independent
reviews would prevent such conflicts of interest. Dr. Michael Puisis of Illinois, an expert in correctional health
care, studied the three women's deaths for a federal court. He discovered one
patient suffered a brain hemorrhage and died a few months after Dr. Englehardt canceled tests recommended by an outside
cardiologist. Another woman's extremely high cholesterol wasn't treated and
"unquestionably contributed to her death." A third -- an obviously
distraught woman who was denied adequate psychiatric care -- committed
suicide. Dr. Puisis also found that other Tutwiler
inmates received substandard care at the prison, including a lack of
follow-up on treatments and mistakes in prescribing drugs. The inmates
deserved better health care. When the state confines a person in a prison,
preventing her from taking care of herself, then the state assumes the
responsibility for the inmate's medical care. That's part of the cost of
incarcerating people, and the moral duty it entails cannot be avoided. State
officials must hold both the Department of Corrections and its private
contractor, Prison Health Services of Tennessee, accountable for these and
other lapses; and the public must hold the Legislature accountable for
failing to provide funding for an adequate corrections system. The poor
health care alone has subjected the state to three lawsuits so far from
prisoners at Tutwiler, Limestone and Donaldson prisons. Moreover, it has
exposed the state to possible suits by families of deceased prisoners.
Department of Corrections managers apparently did not monitor the care
provided by PHS or, if they did, they ignored or missed problems that should
have been evident. The state, its taxpayers and its prisoners deserve better.
April 24, 2005 Birmingham News
Three women who died at Tutwiler prison last year received bad medical
care - perhaps even bad enough in two of the cases to be blamed in the
deaths. That's the conclusion of Dr. Michael Puisis
of Illinois, an expert in correctional health care who was hired by a federal
court to monitor Tutwiler's health care services for inmates. Specifically, Puisis found: The primary prison doctor at the time had
"grossly mismanaged" the underlying medical problems of an inmate
who suffered from lupus and died of a brain hemorrhage in March 2004. Her
death came a few months after the doctor, for no clinical reason, canceled
tests that had been recommended by an outside cardiologist. Another inmate
received substandard care for three chronic conditions, including high
cholesterol that went untreated and "unquestionably contributed to her
death." After she died in August, the doctor responsible for her
"substandard care" performed the death review and noted no problems
with her treatment. An inmate hanged herself after being on suicide watch for
five days in January 2004. The day before she died, she was crying, saying
"Daddy, don't hurt me anymore," and banging her head against the
wall. Yet she was not evaluated by a mental health professional except for a
phone call to a psychiatrist who prescribed medicine. These kinds of stories
hardly inspire confidence in the Department of Corrections or its medical
contractor, Prison Health Services. And unfortunately, the cases aren't just
extreme examples. In 19 of 22 cases Puisis reviewed
at Tutwiler, he found problems with followup, drug
errors and substandard care. Women with HIV, staph infections, diabetes and
other conditions were consistently denied treatment, he said. His findings
are simply alarming - especially if, as the Department of Corrections and
Prison Health Services contend, inmate health care services are better now
than they used to be. But scariest of all is that the department and PHS are
now trying to keep Puisis' reports away from public
view. The reports have typically been filed with the court and made public by
the Southern Center for Human Rights, the Atlanta-based law firm representing
prisoners in a lawsuit over health care. Now, the state and its medical
contractor want to keep the reports confidential. That's absurd. The need for
scrutiny is obvious: Inmates aren't getting proper health care, and some may
be dying as a result. The problems need to be brought to light so they can be
fixed. But keeping the monitor reports secret would be a bad idea even if
they were glowing tributes to the health care services provided to inmates at
Tutwiler. Alabama taxpayers are footing the bill for the prison system and
for PHS' $143 million contract, and they have every right to know whether
their money is being well-spent. If Gov. Bob Riley is serious about
accountability, he shouldn't stand for his prison commissioner working to
keep such information out of the hands of citizens.
April 21, 2005 Tuscaloosa News
Negligence and medical errors may have led to two of three inmate deaths
last year at Tutwiler Prison for Women, according to a report by a physician
and court monitor of the prison's medical system. Dr. Michael Puisis of Illinois, an expert in correctional health
care, based his report on visits to the Wetumpka prison March 7-10. He
reviewed records, interviewed staff and toured parts of the Wetumpka prison.
His report, obtained by The Birmingham News and disclosed Thursday, was
required by a 2004 federal court settlement of a lawsuit over crowded
conditions and medical care at Alabama's only prison for women. With current
patients, Puisis reported that private contractor
Prison Health Services lacked follow-up, made mistakes in prescribing drugs
and gave substandard care to 19 of 22 prisoners whose charts he reviewed.
Women with HIV, staph infections, diabetes and other conditions were
consistently denied treatment, he wrote. Two more women have died
at Tutwiler this year, and their deaths are under investigation. Puisis has yet to review those cases. Dr. Samuel Englehardt, a retired obstetrician and the primary doctor
at Tutwiler at the time of the review, worked there before PHS took over and
was retained by the company. "Based on chart reviews, Dr. Englehardt should not be providing general internal
medical care to the patients," the report states. Among the mistakes the
report cited in the three deaths: -"This patient's underlying medical
conditions were grossly mismanaged," Puisis
wrote about one woman, a lupus patient who suffered a brain hemorrhage and
died in March 2004, a few months after Englehardt
canceled tests recommended by an outside cardiologist. "There is no
clinical basis for this decision," Puisis
wrote. -"Care (of three chronic conditions) was substandard and may have
contributed to her death," Puisis wrote about
a prisoner who died in August. Her hyperlipidemia, a form of high
cholesterol, was untreated and "unquestionably contributed to her
death," he wrote. This woman needed to go to a hospital, he wrote, but
instead was kept in the prison infirmary and was not seen regularly by a
doctor. -The third inmate hanged herself while on suicide watch. She was on
suicide watch for five days, but was not evaluated by a mental health
professional except for a phone call to a psychiatrist who prescribed
medication. On Jan. 24, 2004, the woman was crying, saying, "Daddy,
don't hurt me anymore," and was banging her head against a wall, a nurse
reported. The next day she hanged herself. "It appears that the record
is either incomplete or she was not seen for the duration of her suicide
watch until she died," Puisis wrote.
"This type of death review is inadequate and leaves many unanswered
questions." In the report, Puisis discusses
the publicity issue. While fear of liability keeps doctors from reporting
errors and is counterproductive to improving care, "on the other hand
some errors are due to negligence and gross incompetence," Puisis wrote.
University
of South Alabama
ARAMARK
February 4, 2004
A number of concerns have been fielded regarding the price of
school-sponsored catering services on campus and administrators are working
to find acceptable mediums to settle the contention. The University of South
Alabama's dining service provider, ARAMARK, has come under fire from two
separate student organizations for charging inflated fees for simple catering
events. Inquiries began after USA's Student Government Association
received a bill for an ice cream social that it hosted last semester. The SGA
followed contractual bylaws requiring on-campus, school-sponsored catering to
be managed by ARAMARK. While SGA President Clay Hammac
insisted the event was a success, he lamented the cost. "We wanted
students randomly passing by to just grab a bowl of ice cream and sit around
with other students and socialize," Hammac
said. "We ended up with a great turnout. We must have had about 100
traditional and non-traditional students and I think some friendships were
made and some ice was broken. But to put on that social, we had six gallons
of ice cream, some sprinkles and two ARAMARK attendants on hand. The whole
thing lasted about an hour and it ended up costing us a little over
$600." A similar complaint arose Jan. 21, when the African-American
Student Association and the Office of Minority Student Affairs co-sponsored a
speech by celebrated Tuskegee Airman Maj. Carrol S. Woods, as part of the
annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. The SGA, at the request of
AASA, agreed to pay for the cost of catering. Hammac
contacted MSA Office Manager Celia Rochelle and permitted her to place the
order and have the bill sent to the SGA. "The bill was $210. I
went to see the Tuskegee Airman speak and when I got there, man, I was just
blown away," Hammac said. "For $210, we
had three trays of cookies and two pitchers of punch." After that
episode, Hammac immediately relayed his
dissatisfaction to Dr. Dale Adams, USA's vice president for student affairs,
who said he would address the issue on an administrative level. Sally
Cobb, USA's manager of campus involvement, was equally surprised by a bill
she received from ARAMARK for Papa John's Pizza. Cobb placed the pizza order
last year for a meeting of the Freshman Leadership Council. ARAMARK's role was
to arrange for a delivery, which Cobb was able to receive directly. While
Cobb couldn't recall an exact dollar figure, she said the arrangement cost
"almost twice as much as if I had placed the order myself."
(USA Vanguard)
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