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10th Circuit Court of Appeal, Denver Colorado
Nov 8, 2017 .bloomberg.com
Are Private Prison Companies Using Forced Labor?
On Nov. 15 the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver will hear
arguments in a case that could change the future of the $5 billion private
prison industry. Judges will decide whether a district court was correct in
February when it certified a class action on behalf of around 60,000 current
and former detainees who are suing Geo Group Inc., one of the largest U.S.
private prison companies, for allegedly violating federal anti-trafficking
laws by coercing them to work for free under threat of solitary confinement.
The case was first filed in 2014 by a group of immigrants who had been
detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility run by Geo in
Aurora, Colo. Their key claim rests on the assertion that Geo violated the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a law designed to stop human
trafficking—a scourge many associate with sexual exploitation by gangs, not
with government contractors’ treatment of detained immigrants. Their lawsuit
argues that Geo violated the law’s prohibition on using threats to obtain
labor. “It would be forced labor for someone to say, ‘We’ll arrest you for
not working for me,’ ” says David Seligman, who represents the
plaintiffs. “It’s similarly forced labor to say, ‘We’re going to remove you
from all contact with other people.’ ” The lawsuit also argues that
Geo, through an optional work program that pays $1 a day, violated common law
against “unjust enrichment,” since extensive use of low-paid detainee labor
has saved the company money; it employs only one janitor in Aurora who isn’t
in custody, the plaintiffs say. “There is, almost by definition, a focus on
maximizing profits and shareholder value ” Geo says the case lacks
merit and that it’s being scapegoated over what’s really a public-policy
dispute. “Geo’s status as a government contractor puts it in the position of
having to answer for what are essentially grievances against congressional
and DHS/ICE policies,” the company said in a March court filing. In a 2015
motion, Geo said the trafficking claim was “absurd,” because the
anti-trafficking law wasn’t meant to apply to “federal detainees who are
lawfully kept in the custody” of the government. In its motion for an appeal,
Geo wrote that the class certification “poses a potentially catastrophic risk
to Geo’s ability to honor its contracts with the federal government.” The
lawsuit is one front in a long-running battle over the existence of private
prisons. Critics say letting companies run detention centers and prisons
reduces accountability for potential abuses and that the profit motive
encourages excessive cost-cutting. “There is, almost by definition, a focus
on maximizing profits and shareholder value at any publicly held private
business,” says David Lopez, who served as general counsel of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission under President Obama and will argue for
the plaintiffs before the 10th Circuit. “I don’t think the private prison
industry really is different—it’s just its product is different.”
Conservatives say private companies outperform the government. “There’s
certainly no way having the highly problematic ICE come in and take over
management of these facilities is going to improve conditions, because the
ones they already run are terrible,” says Adrian Moore, vice president of the
libertarian Reason Foundation. In August 2016, President Obama’s Department
of Justice said it would phase out its use of privately run federal prisons.
The next day, a Geo subsidiary donated $100,000 to a super PAC supporting
Donald Trump. This year Trump reversed Obama’s private prison policy and
awarded his administration’s first detention center contract to Geo. The
company’s stock price has risen about 70 percent since Trump’s election. If
the case proceeds as a class action, it will threaten other private prison
companies that use inmate labor. “This case is what we call a business model
case,” says Brandt Milstein, who represents the plaintiffs. “Another way to
say that would be an ‘existential threat.’ ” BOTTOM LINE - Private prison companies have
flourished under President Trump, but a class action could undermine their
access to cheap labor provided by detainees.
Adams County jail
Brighton,
Colorado
Nov 25, 2018 denver.cbslocal.com
Nearly $4M
Settlement Reached In Adams County Jail Death
BRIGHTON, Colo.
(CBS4) – A medical provider to jails and prisons has agreed to pay $3.7
million to the family of a man who died while in custody at the Adams County Jail
in 2015. Adams County itself has agreed to pay $200,000 to the family of
Tyler Tabor, bringing the total settlement amount to $3.9 million. The
settlement agreement in the federal lawsuit was only made public this week,
according to documents reviewed by CBS4. Reached by phone Tuesday morning, David Lane, the
attorney for the Tabor family, said he could not comment pursuant to terms of
the settlement agreement. Tabor was booked into the Adams County Jail on two
misdemeanor warrants on May 14, 2015. He told medical personnel he was
addicted to opiates. The lawsuit said his withdrawal symptoms began
immediately and that his life could have been saved if authorities had
administered an IV. A deputy later found the 25-year-old man lying the floor
of his cell after Tabor had vomited. He was pronounced dead May 17. The
lawsuit claimed Tabor’s death was preventable and claimed employees of
medical provider Corizon Health were deliberately indifferent and stood by
while Tabor’s condition worsened. According to newly unsealed court
documents, Corizon and the Tabor family reached an agreement to settle the
case in June, with the medical provider paying $3.7 million and Adams County
chipping in another $200,000. The agreement contains a “non-disparagement and
confidentiality” clause calling for the Tabor family and their attorneys to
not disparage Corizon in any public statements or on social media.
Additionally, the families’ attorneys agreed not to hold a press conference
or “media blitz in any form” although the agreement says that has been their
past practice. The written agreements say that attorneys fees and costs in
the case amount to $1,645,021.63. Court documents say Corizon has so far paid
$1 million but says it has a “cash flow” problem and will need to pay the
balance in installments by next February. Attorneys for the Tabor family
wrote that they are “fearful that Corizon may be on the verge of bankruptcy
given their inability to pay.” Tabor was married and had a 6-year-old son.
Jun 25, 2016
9news.com
Man's family sues Adams County over jail death
ADAMS COUNTY - The family of a man who died on the floor of his Adams
County jail cell in May 2015 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the
county and the medical company contracted to care for inmates. 9Wants to Know
first brought you the story about Tyler Tabor last September. Opioid
withdrawal led Tabor to become so violently ill he developed dehydration,
which was eventually killed the 25-year-old father and husband. Tabor’s death
highlighted a growing problem of heroin and opioid-related dehydration
death’s in jails nationwide. “It’s hard to get up every morning knowing I’m
not going to see him again,” said Michele McLean, Tabor’s mother, during a
interview with 9Wants to Know last fall. “I am numb still.” McLean and
Tabor’s father Ray had known about Tyler’s addiction. They say it started
with an opioid medication prescribed after he was injured on the job. It
turned into the 25-year-old turning to heroin to feed his addiction. When he
called to say he’d been arrested on an outstanding misdemeanor warrant, they
told him to sober up in jail -- practicing what they describe as tough love.
“We thought he would be safe,” Tabor’s father said. The suit filed in court
Wednesday claims the jail and the company contracted to provide medical
services in the jail, Corizon Health Inc., should have treated Tabor with IV
fluids. If they had, the suit claims, Tabor would still be alive. Adams
County Sheriff Michael McIntosh told 9NEWS Thursday he couldn’t comment on pending
litigation. Corizon Health Inc. released the following statement to 9NEWS: We
are first and foremost a healthcare company. Our doctors, nurses and other
frontline professionals are deeply affected by the death of a patient in
their care, and our hearts go out to Mr. Tabor’s family for their loss.
Heroin and opiate addiction is a national crisis facing our country that is
destroying lives and families and inundating our criminal justice system.
Corizon Health doctors, registered nurses and other clinical providers work
consistently day after day to provide reasonable and appropriate care based
on standards established by the National Commission on Correctional
Healthcare and the circumstances presented to them. One of the most common misconceptions about
our company – and indeed our industry - is that we somehow benefit from
providing lower quality care. On the contrary, what makes good medical sense
and good business sense is providing preventive care and intervening early to
treat conditions before they become more serious and costly to treat. Though
we are limited by patient privacy laws and this legal action from discussing
the specific circumstances of this case, the health care providers involved
have a right to be defended based on the facts and not judged in the media
before they have an opportunity to tell an impartial jury what happened. We
trust all involved will have that opportunity as we intend to vigorously
defend this case.
Alternative Youth Adventures
Montrose County, Colorado
Community Educational Centers
January 22, 2009 Rocky Mountain News
The mother of a Salt Lake City boy has filed a lawsuit against a Colorado
wilderness camp where her son died of a staph infection. The mother, Dawn
Boyd Woodson, alleges her son's 2007 death could have been prevented if the
staff of Alternative Youth Adventures had heeded medical warning signs. A
company attorney says operators of the former camp in Montrose had a stellar
reputation until 15-year-old Caleb Jensen's death. Attorney Colleen Scissors
says a staph infection is not something that would have been obvious. She is
defending West Caldwell, N.J.-based Community Education Centers Inc., AYA's
former corporate parent, against criminal charges filed by the Montrose
County district attorney over Jensen's death. A trial is set for March.
July 15, 2008 Daily
Planet
More than a year has passed since Caleb Jensen died in the mountains near
Montrose, in a wilderness camp for troubled kids. Languishing from an
untreated staph infection, the 15- year-old collapsed on his sleeping bag one
day and never got up. That was May 2007. Yesterday, a Montrose County grand
jury indicted the camp, its corporate parent, two camp staffers and a Utah
doctor on charges stemming from the boy’s death. They’re charged with manslaughter,
criminally negligent homicide and child abuse and face up to 12 years in
prison. Jensen’s mother, Dawn Woodson, said she’d been waiting for this news
in one form or another every since she got a phone call telling her that her
son was dead. “I’m glad to hear of it, and that these people have been
indicted,” she said in a telephone interview. “But I still have a huge void
and nothings ever going to fill it.” The Utah boy spent the last month of his
life at Alternative Youth Adventures, a now-defunct youth camp outside
Montrose. He was sent there in late March 2007 after getting into trouble and
landing in the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services. The camp sought to
rehabilitate troubled kids with a menu of long hikes, tough physical exercise,
counseling and education. It was an offshoot of Community Education Centers,
a New Jersey company that runs programs nationwide for adult prisoners and
at-risk kids. But Jensen’s experience became a doomed nightmare. He was prone
to staphylococcus infections and developed one after arriving at the camp,
investigators said. He complained, and other campers complained on his
behalf, but Jensen’s mother said those pleas fell dead to the ground as her
son’s skin went gray, his fever spiked and he started hallucinating. Jensen
was even isolated for insisting that he felt sick, his mother said. “They
were saying he was acting out and lying, and he was being punished the entire
time he was sick,” Woodson said. “He was all by himself the whole time. He
was dying and he was by himself. He couldn’t talk to anyone the whole time he
was sick.” On May 2, 2007, a month after he entered the camp, Jensen died.
After the state suspended its license, Community Education Centers shut down
the camp permanently in July 2007, “without admission of wrongdoing of any
sort,” according to a letter it wrote to the Colorado Attorney General’s
office. The case went nearly silent until yesterday’s indictments were
announced. Alternative Youth Adventures and Community Education Centers were
charged with child abuse resulting in death and criminally negligent
homicide, according to the Montrose County district attorney. James Omer, the
camp’s program director, and Dr. Keith Hooker, a Utah emergency doctor and
wilderness program expert, were also charged with child abuse and criminally
negligent homicide. Ben Askins, another camp staffer, was charged with
manslaughter and child abuse. The three men could not be reached for comment
Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Utah hospital that employs Hooker said he
remains in good standing on the medical staff, but she said the hospital
would investigate the charges. Community Education Centers issued this
statement: “CEC stands by its position that at all times the company acted
appropriately and that the circumstances that lead to Caleb Jensen’s death,
while tragic, were not reasonably foreseeable.” The indictments offered a
rare moment of vindication for child-safety advocates. Isabelle Zehnder, who
runs the Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse, said that
institutions and employees rarely face criminal charges after children die or
suffer abuse in custody. The public agencies and private companies that
provide care for troubled kids are often the last resort for parents, social
services and judges. Their methods are often meant to be tough, and when
things go wrong, agencies say they were simply acting in the name of
treatment, Zehnder said. “You don’t know how many cases we have where
everybody walks,” she said. “And then to have this — it’s amazing.” Jensen’s
mother welcomed the indictments, but said the pain of her son’s death
couldn’t be balmed by the justice system. Months pass, things get better, but
then she’ll chance upon a children’s book Caleb once loved, and confront a
wall of memories and hurt. “I still battle,” she said. “I don’t know how to
tell myself, ‘You just have to understand that you’re not going to have Caleb
back.’ I want him back so much, it hurts. It’s not easier or better. Somehow
we find a way to get through every day.”
July 15, 2008 Montrose
Daily Press
More than one year after Caleb Jensen died while under the care of
Alternative Youth Adventures, the organization, its parent company and three
people have been indicted. Jensen, 15, of Utah, had been placed into the outdoor
wilderness therapy program for at-risk youths. He was on an outing in rural
Montrose County last May when he developed a staph infection and died. The
Colorado human services department said previously the infection produced
observable symptoms, which the department accused AYA staff of neglecting.
AYA’s parent company, Community Education Centers Inc., said Jensen’s death
was tragic and the underlying cause was undetectable. On Tuesday, a Montrose
grand jury handed down indictments alleging criminally negligent homicide,
child abuse resulting in death, and manslaughter. According to a press
release from the district attorney’s office, the indictments name AYA, CEC;
Dr. Keith Hooker, and AYA employees James Omer and Ben Askins. The
indictments have been sealed for now. “The grand jury was able to reach a
decision they felt comfortable with,” District Attorney Myrl Serra said.
“Those indictments have been sealed until the summons can go out and those
charged have notice of what they’ve been charged with.” Community Education
Centers Inc.; AYA; Hooker and Omer were all charged with the felony-3 offense
of child abuse resulting in death and the felony-5 offense of criminally
negligent homicide. Askins was charged with felony-3 child abuse resulting in
death and manslaughter as a class-4 felony. Penalties upon conviction of the
charges in the indictments range from one to 12 years in prison, with fines
of up to $750,000. All indicted parties are due in court at 9 a.m. Aug. 25.
“Community Education Centers stands by its position that at all times, the
company acted appropriately and that the circumstances that led to Caleb
Jensen’s death, while tragic, were not reasonably foreseeable,” Christopher
Greeder, public relations manager for Community Education Centers, said in a
written statement. Jensen’s family could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
AYA and New Jersey-based Community Education Centers came under investigation
by the Colorado Department of Health and Human Services, Colorado Attorney
General’s office and the local Seventh Judicial District soon after Jensen’s
death. The company consistently denied negligence. AYA’s licenses for
residential and therapeutical childcare in Colorado were suspended within a
week of Jensen’s death. Initially, Community Education Centers planned to
contest suspension, but voluntarily surrendered its licenses last July, as a
“business decision,” without admitting wrongdoing. The company at the time
also said it’d decided before Jensen’s death to sell the Montrose facility.
May 11, 2007 Denver
Post
State health authorities have shut down a wilderness youth camp in
Montrose County after a 15-year-old Utah boy died there last week of an
untreated staph infection. The Colorado Department of Health and Human
Services suspended the license of Alternative Youth Adventures on Wednesday.
The 26 at-risk youths in the program were moved from the remote camp in
Montrose County to corrections or human service agencies in Grand Junction
and Denver on Wednesday and Thursday. "We believe we have reasonable
grounds to believe the camp presents a substantial danger to public health,
safety and welfare," said Liz McDonough, a spokeswoman for the
Department of Health and Human Services. McDonough said she did not know how
Caleb Jensen contracted a methicillin- resistant staphylococcus aureus
infection. She said he reported symptoms to the adult camp leaders. "We
are at a loss to see how this was preventable. ... It was something the staff
just could not tell was there," said Bill Palatucci, a spokesman for
Community Education Centers Inc., the Roseland, N.J., company that operates
the wilderness camp and five other rehabilitation-type programs in Colorado
as well as programs in six other states. "From what we know, the staff
acted appropriately, in line with their track record." The type of
bacterial staph infection Jen- sen died from most commonly occurs in
hospitals and usually affects the elderly and very ill or others with
compromised immune systems. It most commonly develops in an open wound. In
minor cases, the infection causes pimples or boils. In serious cases, the
infection can lead to fever, pneumonia, toxic shock syndrome and death.
Jensen died the afternoon of May 2 in a camp in a remote part of Montrose
County just over the Mesa County line. Counselors reportedly tried to revive
the boy, who had been at the camp for a month. He was placed in the program
for two months by the Utah Division of Juvenile Services. A website for
Community Education Centers describes the camp as incorporating "education,
conservation practices, work projects in national forests, rigorous physical
activity, substance abuse treatment and detailed aftercare planning."
Dan Robinson, director of the Grand Mesa Youth Services program in Grand
Junction, said his facility has used the camp for years and has not had
problems with it. McDonough said her department had previous issues with
youths who suffered frostbite at the camp. Last year, six youths walked away
from Alternative Youth Adventure camps in Montrose and San Miguel counties.
All were eventually located.
May
3, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
A 15-year-old Utah boy died during a backcountry outing with a youth program
on the Uncompahgre Plateau of natural causes, authorities said today. The
teenager, whose name was not immediately released, was part of Alternative
Youth Adventures, a Montrose care facility that treats at- risk juveniles
through education, counseling and work projects in national forests. Dr. Rob
Kurtzman, chief deputy coroner in Mesa County, said he'll conduct further
tests to determine the precise cause of death. "It's sudden and
tragic," said Bill Palatucci, senior vice president of Community
Education Centers, the parent company of Alternative Youth Adventures.
"It may have been a previously undetected underlying medical
condition." Palatucci said the boy had been referred to the AYA program
by the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice Services. He declined to release the
boy's name, citing federal privacy regulations. The boy died Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities received a 911 call about 3 p.m. saying he was not breathing, but
the boy was dead by the time rescue personnel reached the remote site
southwest of Grand Junction near the Mesa-Montrose county line.
Antonito,
Colorado
May 17,
2008 Pueblo Chieftain
State Rep. Rafael Gallegos' short political career may be over. In a surprise
vote during Friday's local and state assemblies, the two-term Antonito
Democrat came just four votes short of winning a place on the August primary
ballot. Instead, his Democratic opponent, Rocky White came out on top as the
sole person to win that honor. Now, the only way for him or a third
Democratic contender, Ed Vigil, to get on the primary ballot in August is by
petitioning. What Gallegos plans to do, however, is unknown. He left the
Doubletree Hotel in Colorado Springs almost immediately after the vote, and
could not be reached for comment. Of the 58 votes cast, White earned 32,
Gallegos 14, and Vigil 12. Gallegos and Vigil needed more than 17 to get the
minimum 30 percent to make the ballot. Under party rules, he and Vigil have
until the end of the month to turn in as many as 1,000 signatures of
registered voters in House District 62 to make the primary ballot. That
district stretches from Conejos County to parts of Pueblo County. White said
Gallegos lost because he was out of touch with what residents of the San Luis
Valley district wanted. "They have not been happy with their
representation at all," White said. "I think that an elected
official needs to be out in the public constantly. You've got to be at public
meetings. You have to return phone calls. You've got to return e-mails.
You've got to return letters. This is what happens when that doesn't
happen." White, who lives on a ranch west of Alamosa, said Gallegos
wasn't doing any of that, nor had he gotten much accomplished for the district
in his time in the Colorado Legislature.
November 10, 2007 Pueblo
Chieftain
State Rep. Rafael Gallegos plans to continue his push for a correctional
facility in the Antonito area, despite a recent Conejos County election that
showed residents are against the idea. The Antonito Democrat, in keeping with
his vow to bring economic development to the San Luis Valley, hopes to meet
with Gov. Bill Ritter before the next legislative session and ask for his
support in bringing a facility to the area. Earlier this week, Conejos County
residents weighed in on whether the town of Antonito should continue its
attempts to lure a private correctional facility to the area, with 941 votes
against the idea and 437 in favor of it. The Antonito precinct also went against
the measure with 94 voting against the idea and 69 for it. Gallegos, who
served a stint as the mayor of Antonito before getting elected to the state
House in 2004, thinks voters did not get the full picture. "There wasn't
enough explanation given of the pros and cons to the folks," Gallegos
said. Gallegos said a prison would give the area an economic boost. An
800-bed facility, for example, would bring 250 jobs with good benefits, he
said. Opponents of the measure argued before the election that a prison would
outstrip the area's services and would lower residential property values near
the prison. They also argued that high turnover of staff at private prisons
would make the industry unsustainable for the local community. Although
supporters of the idea crisscrossed the valley this summer and fall, asking
for communities to support a feasibility study for a correctional facility,
Gallegos said the projected demand for prison beds - an increase between
6,500 to 8,000 beds by 2011 - is high enough that a study wouldn't be needed.
"But if (the governor) wants to do a feasibility study that's fine with
me," he said. Although Gallegos will push forward, the other half of the
San Luis Valley's delegation at the state capitol, Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass
Village, said she's not ready to follow suit. "I would not support him
in this effort at this time until I have more information," she said.
"It's too soon for me to align myself to that concept." She also
cited the Conejos County vote totals as a reason to hold off. "I've
heard through this vote this is not what the community wants," she said.
"It's not my position to stand in the way of what the community
wants." Schwartz, instead, pointed to the start of an economic
development assessment for Conejos County that could lay out more options for
the area.
November 7, 2007 Alamosa
News
Conejos County voted against the formation of a weed control district,
against pursuing a private prison in Antonito and against the formation of a
county recreation district. The county did vote to “de-Bruce” the Conejos
Water Conservancy District to allow for an increase in grant revenue of up to
$5 million. If the grant money is received it would go to construction,
maintenance and improvement of water facilities, to acquire water rights and
other interests in water supplies. Ballot Referendum A would have increased
the county mill levy by 2 percent in unincorporated areas of Conejos County
to fund a weed control district. The referendum was defeated by a vote of 427
against to 399 in favor. Referendum B, to “de-Bruce” the water conservancy
district passed by a vote of 638 in favor to 356 against. Referendum C passed
with 122 votes in favor to 81 votes against. However, the results were made
moot because the question would only be considered if Referendum A passed.
Ref. C would have dissolved the existing Conejos County pest control
district. Ballot question A, asking if county voters supported efforts by the
town of Antonito to bring a private prison to Conejos County brought a total
of 941 votes against the plan to 437 votes in favor. The vote has no force of
law as it was taken to measure county opinion on the matter.
Arapahoe County Treatment Center
June 28, 2013 usnews.nbcnews.com
Two people were injured after a gunman walked into a Colorado halfway house
in the early hours of Friday morning and started firing at employees and
residents, authorities said. The suspect, Francis Pizzo, 46, is a former
resident of the Arapahoe County Treatment Center in northeast Colorado who
recently escaped from the facility, said Sheriff's Capt. Larry Etheridge.
Deputies responded to a report of a shooting at the facility just after 1:00
a.m. local time on Friday, the sheriff's office said in a statement. The two
people wounded in the attack were transported to local hospitals, where they
were being treated Friday for "not life-threatening" injuries,
according to the statement. The gunman fled the scene of the shooting and
authorities are working to track him down, Etheridge said. The halfway house
is a contracted community corrections facility for the Colorado State
Department of Corrections, according to the statement. The shooting incident
occurred just three months after the executive director of that department
was shot and killed at his house. Tom Clements, 58, was gunned down outside
his front door in Monument, Colo. on March 19, setting off a search for the
assailant, later determined to be parolee Evan Ebel. The manhunt came to a
dramatic climax after Ebel, who reportedly had ties to white supremacist
groups, was killed in a shootout with Texas deputies March 21.
Ault Correctional
Facility
Ault, Colorado
GEO Group
May 9, 2007 Greeley Tribune
Plans for a private prison in Ault came to a halt recently when Colorado
Department of Corrections rescinded its offer to GEO Group. Ault Mayor Brad
Bayne said board members haven't discussed the prison for months. "Until
there was some sort of guarantee, we'd just rather not talk about it,"
he said. "There is probably some disappointment from me and a few board
members who believe we still could have made it work for the town." Talk
of the 1,500-bed medium-security prison proposed last spring has bought some
uproar in the town of fewer than 1,500 residents. Some said a prison coming
to town would boost the town's economy, but others said it would be too
dangerous because of its proximity to the town. The plan was to build on 40
acres in the southeast part of town. Last spring, the GEO Group entered into
a tentative agreement with the town -- which approved the prison in concept
only -- so it could secure state approval to build there. Months later, the
town board passed an ordinance requiring resident approval before any prison
could be built. Town officials haven't heard from a GEO Group representative
since September, when GEO hosted a public forum answering questions from
residents, he said. But DOC Executive Director Ari Zavaras put a stop to all
discussions with the private prison contractor. He sent a letter April 24 to
representatives of GEO Group, stating they would no longer discuss the plans
for the Ault prison or GEO's request for a guaranteed bed count. "We had
continued to have a very open and productive conversations with GEO," said
Allison Morgan, spokesperson for the DOC. "But we did not agree with a
bed guarantee." GEO requested a guarantee on the number of beds that
would be filled by prisoners at any given time, since the state pays private
prison contractors a daily rate per inmate. Phillip Tidwell, a member of the
Citizens Against Ault Prison, said the decision to rescind the DOC offer to
GEO Group made him happy. "We're definitely feeling this is a
responsible act from both parties," Tidwell said. "The contract
should have never been fulfilled by the state because of GEO making the
specifications with the state for a guaranteed bed count." In the letter
to rescind, Zavaras stated that in June 2006, the DOC offered a contract with
GEO Group with the exception to GEO's request for a bed guarantee. On July 7,
the DOC asked for GEO group to sign and complete the proposed implementation
agreement. After a few meetings, GEO Group still requested a bed guarantee,
which the DOC could not grant. The two entities have gone back and forth on
the bed guarantee issue since August. According to the letter, Zavaras gave
GEO a new deadline of April 2 to sign the Implementation Agreement or provide
a reason for not signing in writing to the DOC no later than that date.
"It was apparent the Department and GEO could not come to an
agreement," Morgan said.
April
18, 2007 Colorado For Ethics
The Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) responded to a March 5, 2007, open
records request by Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG) that
sought documents relating to a private prison contract awarded by CDOC to The
GEO Group, Inc. The documents obtained by CCEG confirm that former Director
of Prisons Nolin Renfrow began working for The GEO Group while still on state
payroll, a blatant conflict of interest. In an email to Brian Burnett, the
deputy executive director of CDOC, Dave Schouweiler, DOC Manager of
Purchasing, stated that Renfrow was on state payroll until January 31, 2006
and acknowledged the “impropriety of Mr. Renfrow’s involvement with the
originating procurement.” The CORA request and responsive documents are
available on CCEG’s website at www.coloradoforethics.org. CCEG is posting
these records as part of its commitment to holding the government responsible
for its actions.
March
6, 2007 Greeley Tribune
Saying GEO Group Inc. can't be trusted, a Pueblo lawmaker asked state
officials Monday to rescind a contract with the company to build a private
prison in Ault. Plans for the prison, which would house 1,500 inmates and
would be built east of the railroad tracks along U.S. 85, has stalled on two
fronts. Ault leaders decided they would not approve the facility until the
public voted on it, and GEO wants to change its contract to ensure payment
for its beds. Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, a vocal
critic of private prisons, said Monday that the proposed change and other
issues regarding GEO's integrity should negate the Ault contract. “Anybody living
in Ault should be concerned that a company that would bid this way on a
contract might have a business in their town," she said. Philip Tidwell,
spokesman for the town group Coalition Against Ault Prison, said residents
hope no one else bids on the Ault prison if GEO's contract is rescinded.
"We just do not want any private prison, whether it be GEO or Cornell or
anyone else," he said. A spokesman for GEO did not return calls seeking
comment. McFadyen said the company is attempting to do the same things in
Ault that derailed plans for a GEO facility in Pueblo. In 2003, GEO won a
contract for a 1,100-bed, pre-parole and parole revocation facility in
Pueblo, and after almost four years of delays, the state pulled the contract
last fall. The company never broke ground on the facility. "The state of
Colorado was held hostage for four years waiting for those beds,"
McFadyen said. The delays included zoning issues in Pueblo and GEO's attempt
to obtain guaranteed payments on 90 percent of its beds, regardless of
whether the beds were occupied. That is something state leaders have opposed
and which may even be impossible because of state laws, McFadyen said. Now,
GEO is trying for guaranteed bed payments in Ault, she said. "You have
to question the integrity of the 2006 bid," she said. "If past
performance is an indicator, I suspect we will be in the same place we were
in 2003 in Pueblo." McFadyen said Ari Zavaras, the new director of the
Department of Corrections, told her he is opposed to bed guarantees. Corrections
spokeswoman Alison Morgan told the Associated Press that Zavaras will review
McFadyen's request and decide how to respond. The story of Ault's possible
prison goes back to late 2005, when Nolin Renfrow, former director of prisons
for the Department of Corrections, started working with GEO on a bid for a
private prison. Renfrow is under investigation for using state sick leave to
obtain the Ault contract on behalf of GEO. On Monday, Colorado Citizens for
Ethics in Government, a watchdog group, filed an open records request about
the Ault bid. "We do not feel that the public's interest was put forth
in the procurement of this contract," said Chantelle Taylor, spokeswoman
for the watchdog group. A state audit found Renfrow's business activities
"arguably present a conflict of interest and result in a breach of ...
the public trust." That breach, coupled with GEO's attempt to change its
Pueblo contract by adding the bed-payment guarantee, should have prevented
the company from getting the Ault bid in the first place, McFadyen said.
Tidwell agreed. "One thing the state should recognize is (GEO) did not
operate fairly," he said. "They hired an insider knowing he worked
for the state. In my mind, GEO has shown itself to be not a company that operates
fairly in the state of Colorado.
March
5, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, and two reform groups today formally
requested the director of the Department of Corrections and the governor
rescind Geo Group’s bid to build a private prison in Ault. The reasons cited
included the company’s performance on a 2003 bid to build a private prison in
Pueblo. McFadyen said GEO Group lost its contract to build the Pueblo
facility because it delayed the start of construction, then tried to
renegotiate its contract to get a guarantee that it would be paid for 90
percent occupancy, even if beds were not filled. "Basically, the state
of Colorado was held hostage for four years. They didn’t even break
ground," McFadyen said. In her letter to Ari Zavaras, executive director
of DOC, she said, "It would appear that the state’s best interests were
not served by allowing GEO group to bid any contract with the state because
of its lack of performance on tis 2003 award." Officials with Geo Group
could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Alison Morgan, spokeswoman
for the DOC, said Zavaras was aware of the letter being sent by McFadyen, but
had not seen it Monday. "Since he was not with the department during the
RFP (request for proposals) process, it is an issue that he is still studying
and is being briefed on," said Morgan. "Once he has all the
information, including McFadyen’s letter, he would welcome an opportunity to
sit down and talk to her."
January
31, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is taking over the probe of a retired
state prison official who stands to be paid $1 million for helping a private
prison company win a state bid. Nolin Renfrow, former state prisons director,
openly became a consultant to the Geo Group and helped it win a $14 million-
per-year deal to house 1,500 inmates in a private prison proposed in Ault. A
state audit said Renfrow began the work for Geo while still on the state
payroll. It also said that he is to collect a $1 million fee if the prison is
built. State employees are prohibited from providing paid assistance to
anyone to win state contracts or economic benefits. State law also prohibits
activities that constitute a conflict of interest. Ari Zavaras, who became
prisons chief with the new administration several weeks ago, said he asked
the CBI to take over the investigation to "overcome the perception that
it won't be a thorough investigation." Renfrow said Tuesday, "I
understand why he would do that, and I just hope it comes to quick
resolution." The Department of Corrections had been investigating. Its
report was to have been given to prosecutors if warranted. Zavaras said he is
letting the CBI decide whether the probe will become a criminal
investigation.
December
26, 2006 Greeley Tribune
After the state Department of Corrections pulled its contract with the GEO
Group to build a prison in Pueblo, Ault residents wonder about GEO's proposed
prison plans in their backyard. While some speculate that the department's
decision to pull the contract will halt the company's plans for Ault, others
say it has changed nothing. For Phillip Tidwell, a member of the Citizens
Against Ault Prison, the Department of Correction's decision in Pueblo was
good news for his own fight. "We are elated ... finally someone will
investigate them," he said. "The board is not calling off anything,
but to me, like the DOC, why hasn't Ault pulled out on our contract with
them? They're not truthful, not honest from the beginning ... Now, we don't
feel alone. We will continue our own fight, it just feels like we're being
assisted by the DOC." The contract was canceled for the Pueblo prison
after concern about Geo's lack of progress on the project. The corrections
department said that after four years, the company failed to respond to
inquiries from them and failed to break ground on the Pueblo facility. In
Ault, the state awarded the GEO Group the right to build a 1,500-bed medium
security men's prison on 40 acres in the southeast part of town. Despite the
initial discussions, there still are no final decisions on the Ault proposal.
Ault Mayor Brad Bayne said the department's decision about the Pueblo
facility won't change what's happening in Ault. "The town hasn't changed
its views on this," he said. He said for the prison to be built in the
town, there has to be a guarantee from the state, a negotiation between the
town and the GEO Group that makes sense and a vote of residents to approve
the plans. Town officials haven't heard from a GEO Group representative since
September when GEO hosted a public forum answering questions from residents,
he said. "... We're in a holding pattern until the state guarantees the
matter," he added. The plan first came to light at the end of May when
the GEO Group gave a proposal to the Ault Town Board. According to meeting
minutes, representatives from GEO said the project would be funded through a
local government bond, where the state pays the local government, which then
pays GEO. They said the facility would house 1,500 beds, but the request for
proposal on the project would allow up to 2,250 beds. To fight the project,
Citizens Against Ault Prison demanded an injunction on the town's code which
will require a vote of residents to decide the fate of the prison. The
injunction, which was signed by 297 voters, was approved by board members in
November.
December
16, 2006 The Gazette
State prison officials have canceled a contract for a new private prison in
Pueblo, a move that casts doubt on how much Colorado will be able to rely on
private prisons while it copes with a crowding crisis. The GEO Group, which
was awarded a contract in 2003 to build the Pueblo pre-release prison, has
also been contracted to build and operate a prison in Ault, in northeastern
Colorado. But the same issue that doomed the Pueblo project — the company’s
insistence it be guaranteed nearly full occupancy — could derail the latter
prison, because GEO is making a similar demand. “If GEO’s going to demand a
bed guarantee, they need to leave the state,” said state Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, a Pueblo Democrat and leading critic of private prisons. “It is not
the job of the Colorado taxpayers to ensure profits for this corporation.”
The Pueblo prison was delayed repeatedly: by zoning issues, by a legal
challenge from a prison-reform group and by several revisions to the plan by
GEO. But the final impasse began this summer, when the company asked for a 90
percent minimum occupancy guarantee for the prison, which wasn’t a condition
of the original proposal and was opposed by Department of Corrections
officials. Private prisons are paid a daily rate per inmate by the state,
currently $52. Last month, the DOC denied a contract-extension request, and on
Thursday informed the company that it was canceling the contract. “Ground has
not broken, and GEO has given no indication when, or even if, it plans to
commence construction,” DOC executive director Joe Ortiz wrote. “Our patience
cannot be infinite.” The department is facing an acute crowding problem.
Years of canceled prison-construction projects and steady growth in court
caseloads have created a shortage of prison beds. The DOC this week began
shipping 720 inmates out of state, a temporary solution until new beds become
available. With only one state prison under construction, Colorado State
Penitentiary II in Cañon City, the DOC this year awarded contracts to three
companies to build prisons for 3,776 inmates. The GEO Group’s proposed
1,500-bed prison in Ault is a major part of the plan. Alison Morgan, head of
private-prison monitoring for the DOC, said the department still expects GEO
to follow through on its proposal in Ault. “We are treating the Pueblo
facility and the Ault facility separately. We have from Day 1, and we will
continue to do so,” Morgan said Friday. However, GEO is making the same
demand for guaranteed occupancy for the Ault prison. Asked whether the DOC is
still opposed to a guarantee, she said, “It is a policy decision to be addressed
by the new administration (of Gov.-elect Bill Ritter) and the General
Assembly.” The local community isn’t even sure it wants a prison. Ault’s town
board last month passed an ordinance requiring voter approval for the prison.
No election date has been set. McFadyen said she doesn’t believe GEO ever
intended to complete the Pueblo prison, and she doubts the company’s ability
and will to follow through in Ault. “We’ve been set back three years in our
planning,” McFadyen said. “I think that kind of delay is unacceptable, and
we’ll learn from this experience and not allow another contract to drag on
for three years.” A call to a spokesman in the company’s Boca Raton, Fla.,
headquarters was not returned Friday afternoon. An audit requested by
Mc-Fadyen regarding the bidding process for the Ault prison was released this
week. It showed that a top DOC official set up a consulting business to help
GEO win the bid while he was employed by the state. Because the DOC is based
in Colorado Springs, the office of 4th Judicial District Attorney John
Newsome will receive the results of the investigation and determine whether
any law was broken. Morgan said the DOC will issue a new request for
proposals for a pre-release prison.
December
14, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A three-year effort to build a private prison facility at the Pueblo
Memorial Airport Industrial Park appears to be dead after the Colorado
Department of Corrections and the prison company reached an impasse over
guaranteed occupancies. On Tuesday, reports said that the DOC was working
with the attorney general's office to draft a letter to the GEO Group that
essentially kills the company's plans to build a 1,000-bed pre-parole and
parole revocation facility on 36 acres east of the city. GEO officials said
Wednesday they had not received any letter from the DOC, but also didn't
express much confidence a deal could be struck for the facility. "We
have been in negotiations with the Department of Corrections, but we don't
have any contract signed and at this time it does not appear there will be
one," said Pablo Paez, director of communications for the Florida-based
company. Paez confirmed reports from November that the company was asking for
a minimum occupancy guarantee for the facility and also confirmed that the
company was planning to go to the city of Pueblo for help to build the
prison. ± PLEASE SEE PRISON, 2APRISON / continued from page 1A ± "We
needed the guarantee to secure the lowest capital cost through tax-exempt
bonds," Paez said Thursday. "We would get those through the local
municipality." State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo
West, who has been a vocal critic of the private prison industry, and state
Rep. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, wrote a letter to the city in May warning against
using public funds to build the facility. "I think it's very positive
that the city of Pueblo is not going to risk its credit rating on this
project," McFadyen said Wednesday. Officials from the DOC were not
available Wednesday to comment on whether the letter had to do with the occupancy
guarantees, or the result of an audit suggesting former Director of Prisons
Nolin Renfrow may have broken the law by helping GEO secure DOC approval to
build a 1,500-bed facility in Weld County, prior to his retirement in
January. Paez said GEO had no contact with Renfrow before March. Last month,
DOC spokeswoman Kathy Church told The Pueblo Chieftain that talks between the
company and the DOC over Pueblo's facility had stalled over the minimum
occupancy guarantees and had reached a critical point. "They need to
either understand our position and accept it or back out completely,"
Church said last month. Church told The Chieftain that the DOC couldn't make
any guarantees without knowing how much money it had to spend. That money
depends on what the joint budget committee decides. McFadyen wondered
Wednesday why those guarantees weren't part of the original agreement when
DOC solicited bids for the Pueblo project. "If the DOC negotiated
additional terms with GEO, they would be the only private prison company to
receive such treatment and that's wrong," McFadyen said Wednesday.
"I think this goes to the point of how committed they were to coming to
Pueblo in the first place." The plans to build the facility started in
2003 when GEO, then Wakenhut Corrections Company, proposed building the
prison on the West Side. Those plans eventually shifted to the airport and
the city approved a controversial agreement with GEO to build a 500- to
1,000-bed facility. A year ago, GEO bought the property at the airport from
the city for $296,800. GEO's original plan was to build a 750-bed facility at
the airport, but got Planning and Zoning Approval in May to expand the
facility to 1,000 beds.
December
14, 2006 Denver Post
Results of an investigation into former Colorado prisons director Nolin
Renfrow's conduct in office will be turned over to a district attorney early
next year, the Department of Corrections' inspector general said Wednesday.
Michael Rulo, who has been the agency's inspector general for seven years, said
his office has been cooperating with state auditors on the probe. On Tuesday,
the auditors announced that a "former senior- level official" of
the Department of Corrections launched a prison-consulting business in August
2005, five months before he retired from the department Jan. 31, and helped a
private company land a state prison contract. State Rep. Buffie McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West, who requested the audit, identified the official as Renfrow.
The auditors found that while still employed by DOC, Renfrow began working to
assist prospective bidders in developing proposals to his department for a
private prison. With his assistance, a company identified as the GEO Group
was awarded the contract for a 1,500-bed private prison at Ault. Auditors
noted that state employees are barred by law from outside employment that
creates a conflict of interest, and from helping people to win a contract
with their agency for a fee. Renfrow couldn't be reached for comment
Wednesday. Rulo said the results of his office's investigation will be turned
over to El Paso County District Attorney John Newsome, probably in January.
The Department of Corrections is based in that county. Rulo said a decision
on whether to file charges will be a "collaborative process" with
prosecutors. Kristen Holtzman, spokeswoman for Colorado Attorney General John
Suthers, said that Renfrow never contacted the attorney general's office to
ask whether his consulting business while still a DOC employee constituted a
conflict of interest.
December
13, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A former top official for the Colorado Department of Corrections may have
broken the law when he helped a private prison company win a state contract
earlier this year, an audit revealed Tuesday. Though the report conducted by
the state auditor doesn't name him, the audit centered on Nolin Renfrow,
former director of prisons for DOC. It even calls on the department's
inspector general to further investigate the matter and, if warranted, refer
it for possible prosecution. The audit, which was requested by Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, showed that before Renfrow retired in January, he
had been working with a Florida-based private prison company, GEO Group, to
land a DOC contract to build a 1,500-bed prison in Weld County. That project
is expected to cost an estimated $100 million, for which Renfrow was to get a
1 percent fee - or $1 million - for helping Weld County get the contract, the
audit said. In 2003, GEO, which is based in Baca Raton, Fla., was awarded a
contract to build a 500-bed, prerelease prison near Pueblo Memorial Airport,
which still hasn't been built. Renfrow's replacement, Gary Golder, says the
department currently is working with the Attorney General's Office on a
letter to GEO that effectively would revoke the 2003 bid and end the Pueblo
project. Though the audit did not find any evidence that Renfrow disclosed
confidential information to GEO to help it win the Weld County bid, he may
have violated state laws, personnel rules and department regulations
regarding outside employment, the audit said. Neither Renfrow nor GEO
officials were available for comment. The audit found that prior to Renfrow's
retirement on Jan. 31, he filed articles of incorporation for a private
prison consulting firm, Patriot Business Solutions, in August 2005.
"Public records and interviews indicate that the former employee began
actively working on behalf of his prison consulting business as of November
2005," the audit said. "Neither the department nor the former
employee provided documentation showing that the employee requested or the
department approved the former employee's outside employment." The
contract was awarded to GEO in June, along with a separate contract to
Corrections Corporation of America to expand two of its existing private prisons
- in Bent and Kit Carson counties - by 720 beds. DOC time sheets also showed
that Renfrow "used a combination of annual, sick and holiday leave"
to remain on extended paid leave from November 2005 until his retirement
date, the audit said. "Neither the department nor the former employee
provided evidence that (Renfrow) received the express consent of his
attending physician or appointing authority to engage in outside work
activities," the audit said. "As a result, we question the former employee's
use of about 240 hours of paid sick leave benefits valued at about
$14,000." McFadyen began to question Renfrow's involvement immediately
after GEO won the contract. The Pueblo West lawmaker, a longtime critic of
private prisons, questioned why such a company would be awarded a new bid
before it had made any progress on the Pueblo prison. McFadyen also
questioned why the department was even considering a GEO request, which was
made after winning the bid, to give it a written guarantee that the new beds
would be filled, something the state has never provided to any of the five
other existing private prisons in the state. "I am still questioning the
Colorado Department of Corrections as to why GEO was allowed to bid another
(project) when they have not performed on the original 2003 project,"
McFadyen said. "GEO Corporation is demanding that the state issue a
mandatory guarantee of filling beds. It is not the responsibility of Colorado
taxpayers to ensure the profits of this corporation. "There's no
question that we're being held hostage by GEO Group when other (private
prison) vendors probably would like to come in and bid those contracts,"
she added.
November
15, 2006 Greeley Tribune
The Ault Town Board eased many residents' minds Tuesday night and gave
them a stronger voice in the prison debate. Town residents have voiced strong
opinions against the proposed GEO correctional facility in Ault after initial
discussions last spring. Tuesday night, the town board voted 5-1 to accept an
ordinance that requires a town election about the location of any prison or
similar incarceration facility. An election date has not been set, but one
will be necessary when the GEO Group Inc. returns to the town to begin
negotiating a contract. GEO has proposed building a 1,500-bed medium security
prison on about 40 acres in southeast Ault. The prison population would
double the town's population. Most recently, the GEO group sought assurances
from the state Department of Corrections for a guaranteed number of prisoners
to house at the prison, but DOC representatives said the state typically
didn't provide such guarantees. Residents recently signed a petition
requesting an election about a site before the town approved permits for such
a building. Petitioners needed a minimum of 40 valid signatures to take the
request to the board. They submitted 297. Mary Schlack, 37, of Ault said she
was part of the petition effort after she went door-to-door and learned more
people were opposed to the prison. She said she expected more than 40 signatures
because of her previous questions to residents.
September
29, 2006 Greeley Tribune
Al Nickel was one of a few passionate people who attended a
question-and-answer session Thursday about a proposed private prison in his
town. He was more concerned about the possible safety risks of having a
prison nearby than the potential for increased revenue. "What are they
going to do for the town?" asked Nickel, a 21-year resident of the town
11 miles north of Greeley on U.S. 85. "It's not like they can go
downtown and buy 100 gallons of milk or toilet paper. Their business has to
go elsewhere." Representatives from The GEO Group, Place Properties and
Patriot Business Solutions met with about 20 residents Thursday afternoon at
the Ault VFW post to discuss the plans of bringing a prison to town. The
group held a separate meeting Thursday night, drawing about 40 people. Many
people were curious about what the prison would look like and had concerns
about Ault being considered a prison town. Ken Fortier, a spokesman for GEO
Group, said he hoped to ease some concerns at the sessions. "There's a
lot of emotions when it comes to a project like this and the perception of a
correctional facility," he said. "We're not here to debate, but to
answer questions."
September
10, 2006 Greeley Tribune
Two months ago, the state awarded the Geo Group the right to build a
1,500-bed medium security men's prison in Ault, but so far, progress has been
slight. A town meeting in July lured about 300 in protest. Opponents worry
about prison breaks, the caliber of employees and the potential for a prison
to attract criminals. Proponents of the prison say their dying town needs
development, and a prison is a clean industry that would bring commerce and
jobs. The prison would be located on roughly 40 acres in the southeast part
of town, east of the railroad tracks parallel to U.S. 85. Since the initial
discussions, however, there are still no decisions. The Geo Group has not
presented the town with a potential contract, and the town board has yet to decide
if a contract with the private prison would have to be approved by the board
or the residents. Those involved, however, insist there is progress but won't
elaborate.
July
22, 2006 Greeley Tribune
It may be a month or more before residents know if the town of Ault will
be home to a 1,500-bed private prison. Ault Mayor James Fladung said the town
board has not decided if it will sign a binding contract with Geo Group Inc.
or if it will allow Ault residents to vote on the proposed medium-security
prison for men. Colorado's Department of Corrections recently granted Geo the
rights to build a prison in Ault in the next two years. But Geo cannot
actually build the facility until it gets approval from the town. The board
is negotiating with Geo over prices and fees on issues such as water and
sewer. A final contract for the prison still needs to be written. "There
is quite a bit of distance to cover yet," said Sharon Sullivan, Ault
town clerk and treasurer. "It will continue to be ongoing, but there is
a long way to go." Fladung said it could possibly be a month before any
decision is made. The town board has the authority to approve a contract
without a vote from Ault residents because the land where the prison would be
located is zoned industrial, Fladung said. But the mayor said that because of
public sentiment the board will consider conducting a poll or even allow a
public vote on the issue. Nearly 300 people attended a public hearing last
Tuesday. The majority of those people opposed the prison. Fladung said he
thought it would be good to hold more public hearings before any contract is
signed. "We must listen to the people. They were the ones who elected
us," Fladung said. In late June the town board unanimously passed a
resolution approving the concept of a private prison in Ault. Sullivan said
that resolution confused many people and led them to believe that the town
board already signed a contract with Geo. The logistics and time frame of a
contract still aren't clear, but Fladung said he can guarantee that the
contract will not raise any taxes or utility fees for Ault residents.
"I'm standing pretty solid about the people in Ault not paying them a
penny more for them to come in," Fladung said.
July
19, 2006 Greeley Tribune
Debate over whether to allow a men's medium security prison to be built in
Ault has divided the normally quiet community. Almost 300 Ault residents
overwhelmed Tuesday night's town board meeting to discuss the pros and cons
of allowing the Florida-based company Geo Group Inc. to build a 1,500 bed
private prison in Ault. So many people showed up that the meeting had to be
delayed half an hour to move the meeting to the larger VFW building. The
issue pitted neighbor against neighbor with strong opinions and statements
made by nearly 50 people on both sides of the issue. "Geo is like
Wal-Mart. They could care less about this town," said John Jablonski of
Ault. "They want to use us to make money." The majority of the
crowd was strongly against the prison but faced opposition from a vocal minority
of Ault's business owners. They believe the prison will be the economic boost
Ault's dwindling economy needs to survive. Sheila Kelsey, owner of the House
of Bargains, has lived in Ault for 34 years and said that during all that
time little economic growth has occurred. "The prison would be in my
front yard, but we desperately need the business," Kelsey said. "If
we do not get this business, this town will die. It will be a ghost
town." Many of those against the prison did not like its close proximity
to town and called it a safety hazard, a drain on resources such as water and
an overall detriment to the well-being of Ault. Amber Kauffman, who has lived
in the town for five years, said she is all for growth but not at the expense
of having to live near a prison. "We came here to live in a small town
and a small community," Kauffman said. "A prison would change the
dynamics of this town." Her husband, Ty Kauffman, said that if the
prison does go in, the company wants to run water and sewer lines across his
fields which would hurt his annual hay crop. Ty Kauffman said that if the
prison does come to Ault, he will be out of town in two weeks. "You do
so much to your home to loose it all," he said. "It's a
nightmare." Ken Fortier, a representative from Geo, said the prison
would bring jobs and purchasing power to Ault. He said that Geo is the
largest private corrections facility company in the world and operates high
and medium security prisons on many continents including the world's largest
private prison in South Africa and a facility that is part of the Guantanamo
Bay complex in Cuba. "Step away from the emotions to the notion of what
economically 300 jobs mean to the town of Ault," Fortier said. There was
still a lot of questions left in the air on Tuesday. Board members did not
tell the crowd when, or if, they would sign a contract with the company.
July
18, 2006 Greeley Tribune
Controversy is brewing in Ault about the proposed men's prison expected
to be built southeast of town by the Florida-based Geo Group Inc. The
Coalition Against the Ault Prison, comprised of 10 residents, will attend
tonight's Ault town board meeting to oppose the 1,500-bed prison. The
residents have passed out fliers and petitions against Colorado's Department
of Corrections late June decision to grant Geo the rights to construct the
prison there in the next two years. If the town board signs a contract with
the Geo Group, the number of prisoners would more than double this town of
roughly 1,400 people. Tasha Greene, 35, an environmental health and safety
officer in Ault began the opposition group about a week ago and said the
members extensively researched the economic and social impacts a prison might
have on a small town. Greene said she collected 117 signatures of registered Ault
voters who are opposed to the prison. "There are a few people we talked
to that want this prison 100 percent, but the fast majority are dead set
against it," Greene said. Though Ault residents have an hour to present
comments at tonight's meeting, Greene said she is unsure if the board will
take her group's concerns to heart. "We get a sense that they will do
what they want to do," Greene said. "Who cares about public
opinion?" The board in May passed a resolution agreeing with the prison
in concept. The resolution states that prior to the board executing a
contract or any financing agreements with the Geo Group, "the final
forms of such documents and/or agreement shall be submitted for approval to
the town, and if satisfactory to the town, their execution shall be
authorized by resolution or ordinance ..." If the board ignores their
concerns, Greene said she plans to pursue formal legal action against the
prison's construction. Larry Hosier, another member of the coalition, said he
thinks the town board is completely out of touch with the people of Ault and
not smart enough to properly negotiate with Geo's high-powered executives.
"They don't even know the right questions to ask," Hosier said. The
group is concerned the prison will make the town unsafe, overtax the already
low water supply in the area, create light and air pollution, lower property
values, create a higher unemployment rate, bankrupt small businesses and ruin
the character and aesthetics of Ault. "Ault will no longer be 'A Unique
Little Town," one of the coalition's flyer's proclaims. "Once a
prison town always a prison town." Some residents are so concerned about
the negative effects they claim they will actually move out of Ault. "I
had one guy sign the petition. The next day his home went up for sale,"
Hosier said, adding that and his wife may consider doing the same after
living in town for more than 30 years. Greene is equally convinced that Ault
isn't big enough for both her and the prison, and said she would find a new
home for her nine horses. She said she is most concerned about safety and the
possibility that escaped convicts could put the community in danger.
"I'd feel I'll need to put up really tall fences and buy really big dogs
and make myself a private arsenal," Greene said.
Aurora,
Colorado
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
Oct
20, 2022 cpr.org
Federal
judge rules GEO Group — which runs an ICE detention center in Aurora — can’t
be shielded from class-action lawsuit
The
Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Aurora run by
private contractor GEO, on Monday July 1, 2019. A federal court ruling has
paved the way for a class-action lawsuit to proceed against a private company
that owns and operates detention facilities across the U.S. — including one
in Aurora. The GEO Group argued in the case that it was protected under a
federal law that protects government contractors from facing lawsuits while
carrying out federal directives. The U.S. District Court of Colorado
determined that GEO could not benefit from that law. Court documents also
showed that the judge ruled that GEO had not performed what was directed by
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and went beyond its contract in
requiring detainees to perform certain tasks like cleaning the commons area.
“The record shows that GEO has not simply performed as ICE directed,” wrote
Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane. “GEO went beyond its contract with
ICE in requiring detainees to clean up all common areas and after other
detainees under the threat of segregation.” The court also denied the motion
to decertify a 40,000-person lawsuit against GEO alleging forced labor and
unjust enrichment. The court ruling is the latest of several ongoing issues with
the Aurora facility. Federal immigration officials say a Nicaraguan man died
Friday while in ICE custody at the Aurora Facility. Melvin Ariel
Calero-Mendoza had been at the detention center since May and was awaiting
proceedings to remove him from the country. The 39-year-old was hospitalized
at the University of Colorado Hospital before he died. His cause of death is
under investigation. It is the third death at the facility in four
decades.
Apr
14, 2022 coloradosun.com
Racial
discrimination, excessive force, retaliation alleged at ICE detention center
in Aurora The complaint, filed by three immigrant rights organizations, could
spark an investigation or cause the GEO-run Denver Contract Detention
Facility to shut down.
Immigrant
rights organizations have filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland
Security alleging racial discrimination and excessive use of force against two
Black immigrants at the Denver Contract Detention Facility in Aurora. (Olivia
Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America) Three immigrant rights
organizations have filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security
alleging racial discrimination, retaliation and excessive use of force
against two Black immigrants housed at the Denver Contract Detention Facility
in Aurora. The complaint, filed by the American Immigration Council,
Immigrant Justice Idaho and Immigration Equality, alleges that two detention
center guards have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits
racial discrimination; the First Amendment of the Constitution; and a manual
that outlines detention standards followed by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, which is responsible for people held at the facility. The
complaint is centered on two Black detainees, identified by the pseudonyms
"James" and "Musa," because of potential for retaliation.
The complaint alleges that two guards whose last names are Perry and Alvarez
have engaged in egregious behavior that has violated the civil rights of
James and Musa and other Black detainees.
The complaint does include the nationalities of Musa and James, but
Wolf said, they are seeking asylum or protection from torture in their home
countries. In the U.S., people held at the detention center are typically
awaiting hearings in immigration court. The immigrant rights organizations
are demanding that ICE remove James and Musa from the detention center after
an investigation into Alvarez and Perry. The complaint also asks for an
investigation into any other claims of racial discrimination at the center,
the firing of any staff member found to have used excessive force there, and
the termination of any employees who have violated the civil or
constitutional rights of detained people at the facility. If a pattern of
those practices is found, the complaint also asks that corrective measures be
instituted by the GEO Group, the company contracted by ICE to operate the
Aurora facility. The immigrant rights organizations have not ruled out filing
a lawsuit. "What is the most disturbing to me is the level to which the
individuals involved did not seem to be concerned at all about what they were
saying," Rebekah Wolf, policy counsel for the American Immigration
Council, said during an interview. "They clearly thought it was
completely fine - that there would not be any repercussions for using clear,
overt, racist language and inappropriate excessive force against Black
detainees. I can't say that surprised me, but it certainly stood out to
me." A woman who answered the phone at The GEO Group would not comment
about the complaint. She said the reporter must contact the ICE Denver Field
Office for comment. Alethea Smock, director of communications for ICE's
northwest region, said the organization had not received the complaint. The
Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for
comment. James, who has been detained at the Aurora facility for more than
two years, said he has been a victim of excessive use of force by facility
officers, has witnessed anti-Black racism and was subjected to excessive
searches and pat-downs. In an affidavit accompanying the complaint, James
recounted multiple instances when Perry made racist remarks in his presence,
including asking detainees if they knew the difference between an elevator
and a Black man. The difference, Perry said, is that an elevator can raise a
child. Another time Perry said to James, "When a white baby dies, he becomes
an angel, but when a Black baby dies, he becomes a bat." James said in
the complaint that he once saw Perry once make a hand gesture that he
believes is a sign used by members of The 211 Crew, a white supremacist
prison gang. Last summer, when Alvarez was promoted to sergeant, he was in
charge of the unit where James is housed. After Alvarez' promotion, officers
began searching cells around four times per week, an increase from the former
policy of searching once or twice per month. The increase in searches
abruptly halted at the beginning of this year. James said he was physically
assaulted by Alvarez during a cell search in December. James stated that
Alvarez used disrespectful language and told him to "Get the (expletive)
out" of his cell. Alvarez then twice sprayed James with pepper spray.
Two other officers tackled James to the ground. "As the officers were
tackling me, I felt like something tore in my right foot," James said.
"I injured my right foot a while back and I was scared that the officers
grabbing me and pushing me to the floor made the injury worse. Officer Perry
got on top of me and started squeezing my neck and head. At some point while
the officers held me down, Sergeant Alvarez lifted my dreadlock from my face
and pepper sprayed me again." Unable to walk because of the injury to
his foot, James was handcuffed and brought to the medical unit in a
wheelchair. Officers also brought three other Black men to the medical unit.
"These men were nearby when the officers attacked me," James said.
"However, the men did not do anything wrong. Despite that, all four of
us were placed in disciplinary segregation." Following an investigation
by Aurora facility staff, James was accused of assaulting a staff member,
endangering the people or safety of the facility and refusing to obey a
direct order. Alvarez submitted an incident report, stating that he pepper
sprayed James, because James threatened him. James said he asked another
officer to view a video recording of the incident to confirm he had not threatened
Alvarez. "It was concluded that I did not violate Code 108 (assault on
staff member)," James says in the complaint. James spent two weeks in
solitary confinement, and he lost the job he had at the facility as a result.
A few months later, in early March, James said he saw Alvarez attack another
Black person. The man was standing near other people who were complaining
that they wanted more time in the yard. This angered Alvarez, who grabbed the
Black man and then twisted his arms behind his back. Alvarez pushed the man's
face against the wall, before another officer pulled Alvarez off of the man.
The incident occurred in an open area outside of people's cells. Many other
detained people witnessed the incident, James said. "I believe that the
treatment to which Black people are subjected at Aurora, is racist and
unjust," James said. "I am making this affidavit to bring the
behavior of Sergeant Alvarez and Officer
Perry to the public and agency attention and raise awareness of these
alarming issues." U.S. scales back in other detention facilities The
Aurora complaint was filed just after ICE announced it is planning to close
and scale back other detention facilities because of similar problems. The
Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsden, Alabama, will close due to the
"quantity, severity, diversity and persistence of deficiencies"
there. ICE will also close Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven,
Florida, where there have been ongoing concerns related to medical care at
the facility. A group of lawmakers said Glades should be closed after
complaints surfaced about racist abuse against Black people detained there.
ICE will also reduce the number of beds at the Alamance County Detention
Facility in Graham, North Carolina, and the Winn Correctional Center in
Winnfield, Louisiana, citing in part a reduced number of detainees, according
to Reuters. In February, the American Immigration Council filed a different
complaint against the Aurora facility, for poor health standards that
resulted in a COVID-19 outbreak inside the facility. According to the
complaint, the facility had not provided sufficient opportunities for
vaccination, did not enforce mask-wearing rules for staff, did not provide
enough cleaning supplies and was neglecting the medical needs of people
detained there. "We received acknowledgement of the complaint but it has
not moved further than that," Wolf said. More than 20,000 people were
detained across the U.S. on March 27, according to Syracuse University, which
maintains a database of immigration detention statistics. "The
allegations against these officers are deeply troubling," said Kaylin
Dines, communications director for Rep. Jason Crow. "Congressman Crow
has a long record of holding this detention center accountable - including
providing weekly reports on the facility to ensure full transparency with our
community. Our office is looking into this disturbing complaint." There
is "very little" oversight of ICE and its immigrant detention
centers, Wolf said. For example, The Department of Homeland Security's Office
of Inspector General, one of the internal divisions that reviews conduct and
conditions at ICE detention centers, released one of the most scathing
reports on a detention center that Wolf's organization has ever seen. The
report cited sanitation-related concerns and security lapses at Torrance
County Detention Center in Estancia, New Mexico, and called for removing
people detained there, with congressional offices supporting the demand, she
said. "And they're at an impasse," Wolf said. "Because there's
no enforcement mechanism that the OIG (Office of Inspector General) can use.
No one can order ICE to close it, except for DHS (the Department of Homeland
Security). So that's a real gap in our system of checks and balances where
the Department of Homeland Security and ICE are really working out on an
island of their own." The most recent complaint her organization
co-filed against the Aurora facility in late March could cause the Department
of Homeland Security to conduct an investigation or close down the facility,
Wolf said. "One report, one investigation, seems a little bit like a
drop in the bucket, but continuing to shed light on what these facilities
really look like and seem like and what happens in them, is important to us
about the broader conversation about immigration detention," Wolf said.
Another complaint, Musa has been detained at the Aurora detention facility
for a year and is seeking a green card. He has several mental health
diagnoses that have been exacerbated during his time at the detention
facility, he said. "Alvarez and
Perry are best friends and work as a team to bother me," Musa says in
the complaint. "When Perry starts harassing me, Alvarez backs him up."
According to the complaint, Perry calls Musa a zookeeper. "I believe
that he calls me a zookeeper because I'm African and Africa is known to have
wild animals," Musa said. "As soon as I see him, I go to my room to
avoid having problems with him and getting in trouble." Musa said Perry
has made so many racist comments in front of him that he said he can't keep
track of the incidents. Musa said he witnessed Perry calling an Iranian
detainee "an RPG," a rocket-propelled grenade, which Wolf said is a
derogatory term for people of Middle Eastern descent. In one incident, Musa
said he was placed in handcuffs that were so tight, his hands became
numb." After an hour of wearing the handcuffs, Musa asked to see a
psychiatrist. He was taken to solitary confinement, and after three days, he
sat in front of a disciplinary board, which said he should serve 72 hours in
disciplinary segregation, but that they would honor his time already served
there. "However, an officer took
me back to solitary confinement anyway," Musa said in the complaint. He
stayed in confinement for nine days, where he went on a hunger strike for six
of those days. When he was taken to a psychiatrist, the doctor told Musa to
focus on getting out of lockdown. A few weeks after Musa was released from
solitary confinement, he was interviewed by CBS News and the Spanish-speaking
news organization Telemundo, about how officers refused to give detainees
COVID-19 tests. After the CBS interview, Alvarez told Musa, "it would
come back to me," which Musa perceived as a threat. In January, Musa was
sitting at a table preparing to eat when Perry walked into the area. Musa
went back to his room and closed the door to avoid an altercation. Perry came
to Musa's door and banged on it, startling Musa, who hit his head on the top
bunk above him. Perry saw Musa, startled, through the window in the door.
Perry laughed and then walked away. "The incident triggered my PTSD, so
I went to talk to the psychiatrist," Musa said. The psychiatrist wrote a
letter that day to the administration of the detention center saying Perry
and Alvarez were intentionally triggering Musa's PTSD, according to the
complaint. The psychiatrist said the letter might help to "prevent
further misunderstanding" but that the doctor would get in trouble for
writing it. Later that day, another detained person told Musa that he saw
Perry putting his ungloved hands in Musa's food. A Black officer promised
that someone would reprimand Perry. Since then, Musa has seen Perry a few
times. "Once in the hallway, he pinched his nose, as if to say that I
stink," Musa said. "I am worried I will have a mental
breakdown," he said. "Every time someone has a breakdown, it's not
guaranteed that they will come back the same. I am scared because I have seen
what Alvarez and Perry can do - choking, pepper spraying and beating. When
other officers see them doing something like this, they don't ask what's
going on to try to de-escalate. They just join in." Musa said he doesn't
want to continue complaining at the detention facility because he fears
Alvarez will retaliate by beating or Tasing him. "But I want to submit
my affidavit because this is America," he said. "Somebody has to
stand up for what is right."
Feb
23, 2022 coloradosun.com
"It's
like they don't believe in COVID-19": Complaint claims ICE failing to
contain infections at Aurora facility Poor health standards resulted in a
coronavirus outbreak inside the immigration detention facility run by the
private, for-profit GEO Group, advocacy group says.
A
national immigrant advocacy group has filed a complaint with the U.S.Department
of Homeland Security over a COVID outbreak at the immigration detention
facility in Aurora. The complaint, filed by the American Immigration Council,
alleges that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's official tally of active
COVID cases within the facility - which hit 138 on Feb. 7 - is an undercount
because the facility is not conducting adequate testing. There were 68 active
cases within the facility on Feb. 15, the most recent official account
reported by the Vera Institute of Justice. The facility has an average daily
population of about 550. According to the complaint, the facility has not
provided sufficient opportunities for vaccination, is not enforcing mask
rules for staff, is not providing enough cleaning supplies and is neglecting
the medical needs of those who are detained. Detainees who want to speak out
against the issues fear reprisal, the complaint states. The complaint asks
for improved conditions within the facility and for more detainees to be
released from custody while their immigration cases are pending. "People
should be able to pursue their claims to immigration relief without putting
their physical and mental health at risk," the complaint states. The
Aurora facility, which is owned by the private, for-profit prison company GEO
Group, has been at the center of controversy before for its handling of the
pandemic during previous waves of infection. The complaint, which was filed
in partnership with the locally based Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy
Network, alleges that little has changed. RMIAN provides free attorneys and
legal services to adults and children in immigration detention in Colorado,
including those at the Aurora facility. "Access to medical care is a
human right," Colleen Cowgill, a RMIAN pro bono coordinating attorney,
said in a statement. "ICE cannot continue to detain people while failing
to provide for their health and safety. We are two years into the pandemic
and ICE has shown that it cannot protect those in its care." In a
statement to The Colorado Sun, ICE said the agency follows U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention guidance in its facilities and has vaccinated
nearly 50,000 of its detainees nationwide. The agency says it has translated
vaccine informational materials into multiple languages for its detainees and
provides appropriate medical care for detainees who do fall sick. As of late
January, the agency had given monoclonal antibody or antiviral treatments to
89 detainees nationwide with COVID. "ICE is focused on delivering
high-quality, evidence-based medical care and will continue to ensure
detained individuals receive care with dignity and respect," the
statement read. Affidavits filed by detainees included in the complaint state
that medical isolation cells at the Aurora facility for detainees who
contract COVID are dirty and testing is minimal. One detainee, identified in
the complaint by the pseudonym Leticia, said she was left in the general
population for several days even after her roommate tested positive for COVID
and she felt sick herself. "Although people are often sick, I only see
people getting tested for COVID-19 when they are getting ready to fly to be
deported," she said in her affidavit. When she finally received a test -
which came back positive - Leticia said she was moved to a "suicide
watch room," where she was initially denied a television and also was
not provided with craft supplies she had requested to pass the time.
"There was a really bad smell in the suicide room because of an issue
with the sewer pipes in the room," Leticia said in her affidavit.
"Medical staff told me they had put in service orders, but nothing had
been done." Detainees also allege that guards seldom provide masks to
detainees or wear them properly themselves, despite rules requiring them to
do both. "If I asked an officer to get me a mask, they would not because
they do not have them or they don't want to," one detainee, identified
in the complaint by the pseudonym Musa, stated in an affidavit. "It's
like they do not care. It's like they don't believe in COVID-19."
Staffers for U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, an Aurora Democrat whose district includes
the Aurora facility, have been conducting weekly monitoring of the facility
since early in the pandemic. His office's most recent report, dated Feb. 9,
found that 140 of the 497 people housed at the facility on that date - 28% -
were being "cohorted" due to sickness. The term refers to the
practice of isolating groups of people in order to contain the spread of the
virus. The report also stated that 910 people housed at the facility have
tested positive for COVID since March 30, 2020 - a number that includes both
ICE detainees and people held there by the U.S. Marshals Service. There have
been 218 positive cases among ICE and GEO Group employees working at the
facility. The complaint echoes concerns he has long raised about the Aurora
detention facility, Crow said in a statement. "The allegations outlined
in this report are serious and highlight the ongoing need for oversight of
these private, for-profit facilities," Crow said. "I remain
committed to holding this facility accountable and increasing
transparency."
Jun 22, 2019 westword.com
Three
Escaped Colorado ICE Detainees Have Been Captured
The
three ICE detainees who escaped from the GEO detention facility in Aurora on
June 16 were recaptured on Thursday, June 20. ICE officers found them in
three separate locations. Amilcar Aguilar-Hernandez, 23, Douglas
Amaya-Arriaga, 18, and Carlos Perez-Rodriguez, 18, climbed a fifteen-foot
fence at the facility during their escape just around noon on June 16. The
immigration detention facility is run by private prison company GEO Group
through a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE said in a
press release that after escaping, the three men spent three days at a "safe
house" in Colorado Springs. "Their goal was to earn enough money to
leave Colorado. However, they were forced to split up once they were
recognized," the press release said. ICE officers captured
Aguilar-Hernandez in Colorado Springs. Amaya-Arriaga was found in a suburban
Denver house with another undocumented immigrant, who was arrested during
Amaya-Arriaga's capture. ICE officers found and arrested Perez-Rodriguez
after he left an apartment in a large complex in Denver. “The investigative
techniques and sheer determination of our team shows that if you run, you
won’t be able to hide. We will find you and bring you to justice," said
John Fabbricatore, the acting Denver ICE field office director, in the press
release. The three detainees will now be prosecuted in federal court in
Denver for their escape. Aguilar-Hernandez, originally from El Salvador, has
a criminal conviction for felony trespassing and is a suspect in a rape case
in Fort Carson. The two others, both from Honduras, had no prior criminal history.
ICE is still looking into the circumstances that led to their escape. Despite
the search for these three detainees coming to a close, ICE officers in
Denver are likely to remain busy in the coming weeks. Multiple news outlets
are reporting that an ICE operation targeting up to 2,000 undocumented
immigrant families in ten cities, including Denver, will begin as early as
Sunday, June 23. Officers will be focusing on individuals that have final
orders of deportation.
Jun 19, 2019 federalnewsnetwork.com
3
men escape from immigrant detention center in Colorado
AURORA,
Colo. (AP) — Authorities are searching for three men who escaped from an
immigrant detention center in Colorado. The Sentinel reports the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says the men escaped from the
center in Aurora around noon Sunday. Authorities are searching for
23-year-old Amiclar Aguilar-Hernandez of El Salvador, 18-year-old Douglas
Amaya-Arriaga and 18-year-old Carlos Perez-Rodriguez, both of Honduras. ICE
officials say the men scaled a 15-foot (5 meter), chain-link fence and then
went over a recreation area wall in the city 9 miles (14 kilometers) east of
Denver. ICE says Aguilar-Hernandez has a conviction for felony trespassing
and is a suspect in a rape case at Fort Carson Army Base near Colorado
Springs. GEO Group Inc., the private company that operates the center, would
not comment and referred questions to ICE.
Jun 7, 2019 westword.com
Report: Aurora Immigrant Detention Facility Violates Multiple ICE
Standards
According to a new federal government report, the immigration detention
facility in Aurora violates multiple government detention standards.
"This report by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General
confirms what we have been hearing for quite some time: that detainees at
ICE's Aurora facility are not being properly cared for," Congresswoman
Diana DeGette said in a statement. Congressman Jason Crow, whose district
includes Aurora, referred to the report as "deeply disturbing" in a
written statement. On June 3, the Office of Inspector General at the
Department of Homeland Security published its analysis of four detention
centers that house detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody,
including the facility in Aurora (the other three are located in Louisiana,
California and New Jersey). The report found that the Aurora facility, which
is run by private prison company GEO Group through a contract with ICE,
violates ICE standards for outdoor recreation, in-person visitations and
restraining detainees in solitary confinement. The authors of the report
investigated the facilities "in response to concerns raised by immigrant
rights groups and complaints to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Hotline
about conditions for detainees held in U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) custody." Before the investigators visited the Aurora
facility, staff used handcuffs on detainees in solitary confinement when they
were outside their cells. However, according to the report, that protocol didn't
comply with ICE standards, since "placement in disciplinary segregation
alone does not constitute a valid basis for using restraints." According
to ICE, security staff at the Aurora facility have since received
"refresher training" about when to use handcuffs for detainees in
solitary confinement, and a security officer will now ensure that staffers
comply with the protocol by reviewing security footage daily. The report
notes that the Aurora facility does not provide a true outdoor recreation
space for detainees, which "may reduce detainee mental health and
welfare." Detainees have daily access to a recreation center inside the
facility that has an open-air, albeit caged, roof. Investigators interviewed
detainees at the Aurora facility who said they wanted "true outdoor
recreation for the fresh air, sunshine and exercise, and for playing soccer
with their fellow detainees." ICE argues that the recreation space in
the Aurora facility fully complies with — and actually far exceeds —
government standards. At the time of the inspection, the Aurora facility did
not allow in-person visits for detainees, which the federal government
recommends would help with morale. Noting that in-person visits are only
recommended and not required (except for lawyers), ICE says that staff at the
facility will now review requests for in-person visits on a case-by-case
basis. The report comes nearly a year after ICE finished its own
investigation into a December 2017 death at the Aurora facility that found
staffers largely mishandled the care of Kamyar Samimi, who died after being
in custody for about two weeks. And as of June 4, 152 detainees at the Aurora
facility were under quarantine because of cases of mumps and chicken pox.
"The report points to the fact that this is an extremely oppressive,
punitive environment, where it may take a real toll on an individual
detainee’s mental health," says Liz Jordan, an attorney who advocates on
behalf of detainees through the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement
Center.
Feb 1, 2019 westword.com
There's Been Another Chicken Pox Outbreak at Immigrant Detention Facility
There has been another chicken pox outbreak at the immigrant detention center
in Aurora, the second in just three months. A detainee "pod," which
is a prison housing unit consisting of individual cells, was quarantined for
weeks after an outbreak in October. Now two pods have been quarantined for 21
days because of the virus, said GEO Group spokesman Pablo Paez in an email.
Paez did not answer additional questions about why a second outbreak had
occurred, or what the facility, which is managed by private-prison company
GEO Group through a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was
doing to prevent future outbreaks. But today, January 31, I met a detainee at
the facility who described what it was like being under quarantine during
last fall's outbreak. From behind a glass partition in the center's visitor
room, Miguel Angel, 34, described how guards one day told his pod, which
housed 77 detainees, that they couldn't leave their housing unit, offering no
explanation. “We had no idea what was going on,” Angel recalls. "Guards
just told us that we had to wait.” They wound up waiting for a few days,
during which they couldn't access the recreation yard, see visitors, consult
face-to-face with lawyers, or even attend their immigration hearings. About a
week in, the detainees finally learned that they were under a medical quarantine
because of a possible chicken pox outbreak, Angel says. The potentially sick
individuals had been removed from the housing unit before it was locked down.
And weeks into the quarantine, a doctor still had not visited the pod.
Exasperated, Angel and about sixty other detainees wrote letters to ICE and
the GEO Group demanding answers — and to see a doctor. Here's the letter: It
has been two weeks now that we have been in quarantine and not one doctor has
been sent to this pod to offer medical treatment for the chicken pox. The
first three people that were infected have been treated, cured and were
switched over to a different pod, and are now living their normal process.
But we have no visits, deportations, and our court [hearings] are being
delayed. They won't exchange our blankets, give haircuts, and we are
prohibited from having rec time in the yard. We are being exposed to
dangerous medical conditions living like this, causing depression, anxiety,
high blood pressure, and conditions that could be fatal. The most difficult
part is the court dates being rescheduled. Many of us have already had
chicken pox or been vaccinated. Our immigration process is being delayed
because this outbreak wasn't properly handled from the start, and it's not
fair. It feels like medical resources don't want to be used on us because we
don't deserve it. We are all in desperate need of help. Meanwhile, he saw
firsthand how the lock-down put some detainees at greater medical risk since
they didn't have regular access to a medical staff. One young man, who was
complaining of a fever and had lost his appetite, asked guards to take him to
a doctor. The guards stuck the man in his cell, believing that he had chicken
pox, according to Angel. But then he collapsed, and guards had to rush in and
do CPR to resuscitate him. "His heart had stopped briefly," Angel
claims. After CPR, the man was transferred out of the pod, Angel remembers.
Either that episode or the letters finally got GEO Group's attention. A
doctor finally visited the pod, dressed in a full-body hazmat suit “looking
like an astronaut,” says Angel. Some of the information that Angel provided
about October's outbreak (at least the number of individuals who were
quarantined) runs counter to what ICE had told media outlets, including
Westword, at the time. “Of the 77 detainees who were tested, medical staff
diagnosed three detainees with varicella; seven others had low immunity and
therefore possessed increased risk factors of contracting the disease; all
ten were quarantined at the facility,” spokesman Carl Rusnok said in a
statement. “The Aurora medical staff continues to provide high-level care to
all those affected, while at the same time continuing to serve the medical
needs of the entire facility population.” Multiple requests for comment sent
to ICE about the second outbreak haven't been returned; if and when they are,
we'll update this story. Angel says he feels for fellow detainees who are
locked up in the two affected pods. Asked why he believes this has happened a
second time, he says, “it's because our lives don't matter to them. We could
die in here and there's nothing we can do."
Dec 21, 2017 westword.com
ACLU Investigating Death of Iranian Immigrant at Aurora Detention Facility
Earlier this morning, the ACLU of Colorado announced that it filed a
Freedom of Information Act request to obtain more information about how a
64-year-old Iranian man, Kamyar Samimi, died while being held at the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora on December 2.
ICE issued a statement two days after Samimi died, saying that the primary
cause of death was cardiac arrest and that Samimi had been transferred to the
University of Colorado Medical Center on the morning of December 2 before he
was pronounced dead shortly after 12 p.m. The ACLU of Colorado wants to know
exactly what happened. “Once again, a death in ICE custody raises serious
questions about whether the agency is continuing to fail in its legal duty to
provide necessary and adequate medical care to detainees in its custody,”
says Mark Silverstein, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado. In 2012, a
46-year-old named Evalin-Ali Mandza died of cardiac arrest at the same
detention center. An investigation of that death showed that staff at the GEO
Group-run facility did not know how to properly use an EKG machine and
stalled in calling an ambulance. The GEO Group manages private prisons across
the U.S. and contracts with ICE to manage immigrant-detention facilities. The
ACLU has looked into deaths at immigrant-detention facilities nationwide and
co-authored a report in 2016 called "Fatal Neglect: How ICE Ignored
Deaths in Detention." Nearly 200 immigrant detainees have died while in
custody in ICE facilities since 2003. Samimi, who came to the United States
as a student in 1976 and was arrested at his home on November 17 by ICE (the
agency says he had a minor drug conviction from 2005), is the latest detainee
to die in Colorado. “Mr. Samimi’s arrest, detention and death in custody
display the inhumanity of our current federal immigration policies,” says
ACLU of Colorado staff attorney Arash Jahanian. “He lived in the U.S. for
forty years. ICE arrested him at his home with the intent to ship him off to
a country he no longer knew. Then they locked him up in a detention facility,
where he died two weeks later. ICE gave very little detail about what
happened but made sure to mention his twelve-year-old drug-possession charge.
The community deserves better, and that starts with ICE explaining what led
to Mr. Samimi’s tragic death.” Silverstein characterizes ICE's detention
facilities as "cloaked in secrecy." "[They] offer little to no
transparency into the way detainees are treated within their walls,” the
legal director says. "We are invoking the Freedom of Information Act to
further the public’s right to know what goes on in these secretive
taxpayer-funded institutions.” Meanwhile, a class action lawsuit is being
tried in federal court over alleged forced labor practices at the Aurora
facility. In September, the ACLU of Colorado found that clients of Iraqi
descent being held at the facility were being harassed by guards and
pressured to self-deport. A GEO Group spokesman told Westword at the time:
"The Aurora, Colorado, facility has a longstanding record of providing
highly rated services in a safe, secure and humane residential environment
while treating all those entrusted to our care with the respect and dignity
they deserve."
Sep 6, 2017 miaminewtimes.com
ACLU Says South Florida Private Prison Giant Is Torturing Immigration
Detainees
Boca Raton's GEO Group is one of the most powerful private-prison
companies in America — and a major player in state and federal politics. GEO
throws campaign money at Florida lawmakers from both parties: Sens. Marco
Rubio and Bill Nelson, Gov. Rick Scott, Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Mario
Diaz-Balart, and the majority of the Florida Legislature have taken thousands
from GEO despite constant complaints from progressives and human-rights
activists who say the company profits from destroying the lives of others.
Well, here's yet another reason Florida politicians should drop GEO Group
like the plague: The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that the
company is torturing whistleblowers at its private immigration detention
facility in Aurora, Colorado. GEO runs the facility on behalf of U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the ACLU, ICE agents at
GEO's 1,500-bed Colorado detention center are retaliating against Iraqi
nationals who have joined an ACLU class-action lawsuit to stop the U.S. from
deporting them. The ACLU says employees at the GEO facility are denying
Iraqis food, water, and access to the restroom to intentionally make their
lives a living hell. "GEO, the second largest immigration detention
facility in the country, is a tightly regulated, colorless institution with
bare cement walls, large metal doors that lock at every threshold, and scores
of prisoners in scrubs," the ACLU writes. "Each of the detainees we
interviewed provided accounts of mistreatment. These accounts were
consistent, as was their palpable fear of death if ultimately deported to
Iraq." The ACLU writes today that the Trump administration agreed to
take Iraq off its list of countries covered under the so-called Muslim ban if
Iraq agreed to accept ICE deportees. The ACLU has since sued, but the
organization now says ICE agents at the GEO facility are trying to make
detainees miserable so they choose to get deported. The ACLU writes: Since
the court’s ruling, ICE appears to have ramped up its efforts to make the
lives of Iraqis in custody so unbearable that they will “voluntarily” sign
away their rights to reopen their immigration cases or pursue asylum. The
Iraqis have been singled out and denied food, water, and access to the
restroom. One man, who came to the United States as a refugee in 1976,
reflected that if he goes back to Iraq, he will be tortured and killed.
Still, he feels that his experiences at the hands of ICE are “a different way
of torture.” He has told his wife that he is considering just signing the
form and going back to Iraq. In Arizona and Colorado, and on the plane
traveling between the two locations, ICE guards referred to the Iraqis as
“camel jockey,” “rag head,” and “terrorist.” Guards at GEO referred to one of
our clients as ‘Al Qaeda’ and told him, “You Iraqis are the worst people in
here. We can’t stand you Iraqis.” When he tried to say that he has rights, he
was told that he doesn’t have any rights because he was “an alien.” ICE
guards in Arizona and Colorado have openly pressured Iraqi nationals to sign
away their right to fight their immigration cases. Some guards told the
detainees that their situations were hopeless and urged them to sign forms
agreeing to voluntary deportation, without counsel present. Some Iraqis apparently
succumbed to the pressure. The brave men we spoke to have decided to stay and
fight. Miami New Times' sister newspaper Phoenix New Times has covered the
plight of Iraqi nationals trapped in an Arizona detention center run by
CoreCivic (formerly known as the Corrections Corporation of America), GEO
Group's main competitor. In July, an Arizona judge blocked the deportation of
1,400 Iraqi Chaldean Catholics on the grounds they could be tortured for
their religious beliefs and ties to the United States. In 2013, the
Huffington Post reported that the CCA/CoreCivic's lobbying firms have donated
more than $20,000 to South Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. In 2011,
Wasserman Schultz threw her support behind a plan to build a private, CCA-run
immigration facility in South Florida. That decision sparked protests and has
cast a shadow over her recent bids for reelection. But of the two companies,
it's Boca's GEO Group that remains the major political power in Florida.
According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP), GEO
has given $7.8 million to 885 candidates across the nation over the past 17
years. The group rains money in Florida: It is honestly difficult to find a
state politician who has not taken at least a tiny amount of money from the
company in that time period. According to NIMSP records, the group has sent
checks to the majority of the state Legislature in Tallahassee, Rubio has
taken $30,500 from GEO, Curbelo has received $11,000, and Nelson has accepted
$5,000. Other recipients include U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, Frederica Wilson,
Mario Diaz-Balart, Charlie Crist, and Governor Scott. GEO is still donating
today: The group gave former state Rep. Jose Feliz "Pepi" Diaz
$3,000 in his current race for the state Senate seat vacated by N-word-dropping
ex-lawmaker Frank Artiles. Last year, the Miami Herald reported that GEO
absolutely vomited cash at state Senate President Joe Negron and his wife
Rebecca, who ran for the GOP nomination for Senate last year before Rubio
announced his plans to run for reelection. The Herald reported that GEO gave
the couple a combined $288,000 in a single election cycle. "It is tragic
that these individuals, who fear persecution in Iraq because of their
religion and connection to America, are now being persecuted by agents of the
United States government," the ACLU wrote last week.
Aug
18, 2017 nationallawjournal
Advocacy Groups Side With Plaintiffs Alleging Unpaid Labor At For-Profit
Prison
Advocacy groups have weighed in on a lawsuit against the nation's second-largest
for-profit prison provider, arguing in recently filed
"friend-of-the-court briefs" that GEO Group Inc.'s alleged
practices of relying on cheap and unpaid labor by detained immigrants
underscores abuses to this vulnerable community. Attorneys who filed the
lawsuit in 2014 are currently fighting to uphold class certification in the
case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The U.S.
District Court for the District of Colorado in Denver originally certified
the class, which could include as many as 60,000 detainees who cycled in and
out of the GEO Group-owned Aurora Processing Detention Center in since 2004.
Over the last week, a slew of advocacy organizations, including The Southern
Poverty Law Center, Public Citizen and a group of national immigrant rights
groups, filed briefs that point to the broader implications of the case —
noting issues around human trafficking and the for-profit prison industry.
They also discussed the importance of class actions for vulnerable immigrant
groups. This potential class action against GEO, a Republican campaign donor,
comes at a time when the $3 billion for-profit prison industry is gaining
support from the Trump administration. Earlier this year, U.S. Attorney
General Jeff Sessions rescinded guidance from the Obama administration that
would have reduced the construction of privately owned prisons. A separate
complaint has also been filed at the Federal Election Commission by the
Campaign Legal Center against GEO, claiming the company illegally contributed
$225,000 to a pro-Trump PAC during the 2016 election. And according to
reports, the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has
awarded the GEO Group more federal contracts for private prison facilities.
"This is about the excesses of the private prison system and how it
almost invariably led to forced labor and human trafficking," said David
Lopez of Outten & Golden, who represents the plaintiffs in the Aurora
case. "This case illustrates why it's dangerous and they have a built-in
system to keep the costs down. Absent of such class actions, who will hold
them accountable?" Outten & Golden attorneys this year joined
Nashville-based immigration attorney Andrew Free, attorneys for Denver-based
advocacy group Towards Justice and Colorado-based attorneys for Milstein Law
Office and Meyers Law Office in bringing the suit. The lawsuit claims that
GEO amassed enormous profits through "forced labor" provided to the
Aurora prison through a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The suit takes aim at the company's "sanitation policy" that
required ICE detainees to work as janitors without pay under the threat of
solitary confinement. It also targets a "voluntary work program"
that allegedly paid detainees only $1 a day. Two classes were certified by
the Denver federal court that could include between 40,000 to 60,000 laborers
that were detained in Aurora over the last 10 years. The private prison
system, and its profit margin, appears to depend upon this type of labor,
Free said. He said the case in Colorado is a reflection that such policies
and practices affect a wide array of people in the immigration system.
"These policies run directly counter to protections that people have
fought hard to apply to all immigrants and workers," Free said.
"How exactly would these staffing plans work if companies were not
allowed to use free and nearly free labor of detainees?" In a statement,
GEO responded that the volunteer work program at all of its 143 immigration
facilities, as well as the minimum wage rates and standards, are set by the
government. The company also said that all of its facilities, including the
Aurora center, are "highly rated and provide high-quality services in
safe, secure and humane residential environments pursuant to the federal
government's national standards." "GEO has consistently, strongly
refuted the allegations made in this lawsuit, and we intend to continue to
vigorously defend our company against these claims," the company said in
the statement. The organizations filing briefs supporting plaintiffs in the
suit against GEO, a massive for-profit prison company, include the Southern
Poverty Law Center and the National Employment Law Project.GEO: Facing legal
challenges.
Jul 10, 2015 abcnews.go.com
Lawsuit:
Immigrants Got $1 a Day for Work at Private Prison
Immigrants
who were detained at a suburban Denver facility while they awaited
deportation proceedings are suing the private company that held them,
alleging they were paid $1 a day to do janitorial work, sometimes under
threat of solitary confinement. They scrubbed toilets, mopped and swept
floors, did laundry, and prepared and served meals, among other duties,
according to attorneys who filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of nine
current and former detainees. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John L.
Kane declined a request from the Florida-based GEO Group Inc. to dismiss the
claims against it, allowing the federal lawsuit to proceed. GEO is one of the
largest contractors with the federal government for the detention of
immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally or legal permanent
residents with criminal records who face deportation. The company has denied
wrongdoing and said in court documents the work is voluntary and it is
abiding by federal guidelines in paying $1 a day. Attorneys for the
immigrants say they'll move to expand the case by seeking class-action
status. They say the judge's ruling clears the way to gather more information
from GEO through discovery proceedings about how many detainees were put to
work. The attorneys said they've heard from clients for years that immigrants
labor for almost nothing at private detention facilities around the country,
but they called the lawsuit filed in Colorado the first of its kind. "It's
their job to run the facility, and instead they used and abused us to run the
facility, and that's why we're suing," said plaintiff Alejandro Menocal,
53. Menocal is a legal permanent resident who was detained for three months
at GEO's Aurora facility while facing deportation last fall. GEO responded in
a statement that its facilities "provide high-quality services in safe,
secure and humane residential environments, and our company strongly refutes
allegations to the contrary." The company added attorneys and immigrant
advocates have full access to its facilities that U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement contracts with, and they're routinely audited and
inspected by the government. Anita Sinha, a faculty member at Washington
College of Law, American University who has researched immigrant labor at
private detention centers, said the daily wage was set by Congress in 1950
and hasn't been adjusted for inflation. She said on a daily basis, immigrants
facing deportation occupy about 34,000 beds nationally in private and
government-run facilities. More than 60 percent of the beds are in privately
held facilities, she said. The company succeeded in getting the judge to
dismiss a claim that it violated Colorado's minimum wage law because
detainees were paid $1 a day instead of $8.23 an hour. In tossing that claim,
Kane said the detainees do not qualify as employees under state law. But he
said the lawsuit could proceed on the allegations that GEO unjustly profited
from the detainees and violated the federal Trafficking Victims Protection
Act, which prohibits forced labor. "Legally, this is a big step
forward," said Hans Meyer, Menocal's attorney. It's common for inmates
at state or privately run prisons to work below minimum wage, in some cases
for the purpose of gaining job training. "The difference here is that
these are civil immigration detainees who are not being held for any criminal
violation," said Brandt Milstein, another attorney in the lawsuit.
Menocal, a Mexican immigrant from Baja California, was released in September
and kept his legal resident status after his attorney won his case. He said
he faced deportation proceedings last year when authorities learned after a
traffic stop that he had a criminal record from 2010 for driving with a
suspended license and having his wife's prescription painkillers in his car.
He pleaded guilty and served a year of probation soon after, but he didn't
come to the attention of immigration authorities at the time. The lawsuit
focuses only on the GEO's suburban Denver facilities, but the American Civil
Liberties Union said the claims are similar to allegations they've heard
around the country. "There is a name for locking people up and forcing
them to do work without paying real wages. It's called slavery," said Carl
Takei, staff attorney at the national prison project of the ACLU. The
monetary amount the lawsuit seeks hasn't been determined.
Jul
9, 2015 westword.com
GEO LAWSUIT ALLEGING FORCED LABOR OF IMMIGRANT DETAINEES MOVES FORWARD
Update
below: In a move that could have resounding consequences for corrections
practices and the for-profit prison industry in particular, a Denver federal
judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by nine federal immigrant
detainees, who allege that a private prison contractor forced them to perform
maintenance and cleaning jobs for little or no pay. The suit, which is
seeking class-action status, accuses the company of violating federal laws
prohibiting human trafficking and forced labor and seeks millions of dollars
in damages. Senior U.S. District Judge John L. Kane threw out some of the
plaintiffs' claims but allowed the case against The GEO Group, which operates
a detention facility in Aurora under contract with U.S. Immigrant and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), to move forward. The decision was hailed as "a
tremendous victory for civil immigrant detainees nationwide" by Nina
DiSalvo, the executive director of Towards Justice, a Denver-based nonprofit
that partnered with several law firms to bring the action. "The judge's
decision allows us to address the systemic problems with GEO's treatment of
immigrant workers throughout the legal system." One of the largest
private prison companies in the world, GEO operates 66 correctional
facilities in the United States, including ICE detention centers in
Washington, Florida, and Colorado. The complaint alleges that Aurora
detainees participate in a "voluntary work program" that includes
laundry, kitchen and cleaning jobs, for which they are paid a dollar a day.
Six detainees are also selected at random each day to clean the living pods
without pay; refusal can result in being placed in solitary confinement. The
lawsuit argued that the arrangement violates Colorado's minimum wage law.
Judge Kane disagreed, since the state's labor laws specifically carve out an
exception for prisoners, who are not considered employees. But Kane found
merit in the claim that GEO's approach to the pod-cleaning assignments — do
it or get thrown in the hole — may be a violation of the federal Trafficking
Victims Protection Act, which prohibits involuntary servitude and coercive
methods to demand work "by means of force, threats of force, physical
restraint, or threats of physical restraint." The judge also allowed a
claim involving unjust enrichment to proceed. Most correctional systems
depend on cheap inmate labor to keep costs down. Kane's denial of GEO's
motion to dismiss doesn't signal an end to that practice. It does, however,
raise questions about the ability of a private contractor to demand that
inmates perform basic maintenance or cleaning tasks under threat of further
punishment. "Using forced detainee labor is an integral tool in
maintaining GEO's profitability under its contracts with ICE," Nashville
attorney Andrew Free, a co-counsel in the case, noted in prepared statement.
"The court's decision today represents an important step forward in
ending that morally bankrupt business model." GEO has not responded to a
request for comment on the ruling. We'll update this post if a response is
forthcoming. Update, 1:00 p.m.: The
GEO Group corporate headquarters has provided a statement in response to our
request for comment that reads, in part: "GEO’s facilities, including
the Aurora, Colo., facility, provide high quality services in safe, secure,
and humane residential environments, and our company strongly refutes
allegations to the contrary. The volunteer work program at immigration
facilities as well as the wage rates and standards associated with the
program are set by the federal government. Our facilities adhere to these
standards as well as strict contractual requirements and all standards set by
ICE, and the agency employs several full-time, on-site contract monitors who
have a physical presence at each of GEO’s facilities."
Oct 23, 2014 stateswithoutnations.blogspot.com
GEO Sued for Minimum Wage and Forced Labor Law
Violations, and Unjust Enrichment
Yesterday, Alejandro Menoca, Marcos Brambila, Grisel
Xahuentitla, Hugo Hernandez, Lourdes, Argueta, Jesus Gaytan, Olga Alexaklina,
Dagaberto Vizguerra, and Demetrio Valerga on their own behalf and others
similarly situated filed a complaint informing a federal judge that their
guards were breaking the law. The
complaint, filed by an intrepid team of lawyers who spent extensive time
interviewing detainees at the GEO facility in Aurora, Colorado, states: In
the course of their employment by GEO, Plaintiffs and others scrubbed
bathrooms, showers, toilets, and windows throughout GEO’s Aurora facility.
They cleaned and maintained GEO’s on-site medical facility, cleaned the
medical facility’s toilets, floors and windows, cleaned patient rooms and
medical staff offices, swept, mopped, stripped, and waxed the floors of the
medical facility, did medical facility laundry, swept, mopped, stripped, and
waxed floors throughout the facility, did detainee laundry, prepared and
served detainee meals, assisted in preparing catered meals for law
enforcement events sponsored by GEO, performed clerical work for GEO,
prepared clothing for newly arriving detainees, provided barber services to
detainees, ran the facility’s law library, cleaned the facility’s intake area
and solitary confinement unit, deep cleaned and prepared vacant portions of
the facility for newly arriving detainees, cleaned the facility’s warehouse,
and maintained the exterior and landscaping of the GEO building, inter alia.
The complaint also includes violations of a federal law prohibiting Forced
Labor, 18 U.S.C. § 1589: 5. GEO or its agents also randomly selected
six detainees per pod each day and forced them to clean the pods. In the
handbook that GEO distributed to the detainees, GEO announced a “Housing Unit
Sanitation” policy informing the people held at the facility that “[e]ach and
every detainee must participate in the facility’s sanitation program.” 6. GEO
or its agents forced Plaintiffs and other civil immigration detainees to
clean the facility’s pods for no pay and under threat of solitary confinement
as punishment for any refusal to work. And the complaint references Colorado
Common Law prohibiting Unjust Enrichment. In precise and riveting
language the 21 page brief brilliantly lays out the legal problems with the
private prison industry's business model. The attorneys who filed this
lawsuit are Brandt Milstein, Boulder, CO; Andrew Turner, Denver, CO;
Alexander Hood, Golden, CO; Hans Meyer, Denver, CO; and Andrew Free,
Nashville, TN. I have been filing FOIA requests on this topic for several
years and Andrew Free is currently representing me in extricating additional
material for use in a working paper that will be revised for publication next
year in the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. For more research on
related violations, please go here.
February 16, 2009 The Aurora
Sentinel
About 50 people from various advocacy groups gathered near an Aurora
detention facility Monday, Feb. 16, to rally for changes to the nation’s
immigration policies and an end to raids on suspected illegal immigrants. The
vigil, which was organized by local clergy, was one of more than 100 actions
across the country aimed at “demonstrating the faith communities’ commitment
to inject humanity and compassion into the public dialogue on immigration,”
organizers said in a statement. Jennifer Piper, of the Quaker organization
American Friends Service Committee, said ending raids was one of the main
goals of the vigil. “These raids really tear families and workers out of our
community,” Piper said. The vigil brought out a diverse crowd with
participants ranging from toddlers to senior citizens. The group clutched
candles, said prayers and spoke about their concerns. “All faith traditions
share a common mandate to welcome and care for all members of our community
and love our neighbors as ourselves,” Jeremy Shaver, executive director of
the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, said in a statement. “As people of
faith, we must keep that in the forefront of our minds as we approach the
complex issue of immigration.” Organizers said recent immigration raids have
been destructive for immigrants’ families and they hope the vigils lead to
change in Washington. “We call on President Obama and members of Congress to
demonstrate the courage to pass immigration policies that uphold and protect
the dignity and human rights of all,” Shaver said. The vigil was held just a
few blocks from a privately owned and operated detention facility that houses
suspected illegal immigrants. Florida-based GEO Group, which owns the
facility, has plans to expand it — a proposal that has come under fire from
immigrant groups.
January 8, 2008 Colorado
Confidential
A former corrections employee is suing prison contractor The GEO Group,
operator of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention
facility in Aurora. In a suit filed in Denver District Court, former GEO
employee Celia Ramirez alleges the company failed to follow its own
anti-discrimination policies. According to the suit, filed in December,
Ramirez was employed by GEO as a detention officer at the Aurora ICE lockup
for just over two years before being fired for failing to return lockup keys
to their designated area. However, in the suit Ramirez contends that another
GEO worker, Jennifer Beauman, took the keys and placed them on the facility's
roof to retaliate against the plaintiff for reporting the employee for inappropriate
conduct. According to the suit, Beauman is reported to have engaged in
erratic behavior, such as angrily slamming doors and flicking lights on and
off in the presence of inmates. Attempts to reach Beauman were unsuccessful.
The suit alleges Beauman "joked" about taking the keys to get back
at Ramirez, before the keys went missing. A maintenance worker is reported to
have later found the keys on the facility's rooftop. The crux of the lawsuit
contends that Ramirez was discriminated against for her gender and Latino
ethnicity, and that GEO failed to enforce written policies of barring gender
or race discrimination as stipulated in the company's employee handbook.
Pablo Paez, a spokesman for the GEO Group, said that it is the company's
corporate policy not to discuss pending litigation. Lisa Sahli, the attorney
who filed the suit, said that Ramirez had obtained another attorney and that
she could not speak further on the case because she is no longer Ramirez's
legal counsel. Attempts to contact Ramirez were also unsuccessful. The suit
comes as GEO is set to expand its Aurora ICE facility by more than 1000 beds,
tripling the current threshold of 400 beds. Ramirez is seeking to bring the
case to a jury, according to court documents.
December 19, 2007 Denver Post
A private company operating the Colorado immigration detention center in
Aurora plans to sink $72 million into an expansion that will more than triple
the size of the facility based on Senate proposals to expand border
enforcement and bed space for illegal-immigrant detainees. The expansion
would turn the 400-bed facility into a 1,500-bed center, making it second in
size only to the 2,000-bed Raymondville, Texas, site, according to U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Aurora site is in a warehouse area
near East 30th Avenue and Peoria Street. The plan by Florida-based GEO Group,
which owns and operates the facility, has raised concerns among national and
local immigrant- and civil-rights groups and the neighborhood associations in
the area. The expansion is expected to be complete in late 2009. A company
spokesman did not return numerous calls, but GEO chairman and chief executive
George Zoley detailed the plan recently in a call with analysts. GEO
estimates the 1,100 new beds will raise an additional $30 million in annual
revenue, Zoley said during the call. Opponents of the plan say their concerns
are based partly on the lack of access to internal audits of the facility and
recent government reviews showing inadequacies. "One of the major issues
is that GEO has a really spotty record in running these sorts of
facilities," said Chandra Russo, a community organizer for the Colorado
Immigrant Rights Coalition. "Our concern with a private corporation
running a prison is that its profits depend on more prisoners. What is the
benefit for the community?" Neighbors are also worried about real estate
values and environmental impact. ICE denies any connection with the expansion
the private company is planning with its own money, said ICE spokesman Carl
Rusnok. Currently, the ICE contract for the Aurora facility is for 400 beds,
but the deal is up for review each year for the next four years. "If
they expand the facility, unless they modify the contract, there is nothing
to say those additional beds would be used or contracted by ICE," Rusnok
said. Still, national and local immigrant groups are concerned about the
expansion at the facility, where they say reports and audits have been slow
or not publicly released. Several years ago, the National Immigration Law
Center asked the courts to demand that ICE release internal reviews of
contract facilities and won. But ICE has been lax in providing the most
recent two years' worth of reviews, said Karen Tumlin, attorney with NILC.
"Until ICE is willing to release all of the reviews, we don't want to
see these levels of expansion," she said. In July, the Government
Accountability Office found problems at several of the detention centers from
May 2006 to May 2007. The GAO did not find extreme cases but noted issues at
16 of 17 ICE centers with phone calls to pro bono legal help. In Aurora, the
report also found that hold rooms exceeded capacity and log books were not
maintained to show how long people were in rooms or when they had their last
meal. In October 2006, reviews found the Aurora site in violation for lack of
cleanliness in food service. The report also said the center had portable
beds in aisles because of overcrowding. Rusnok said many of the problems
identified by the GAO have since been rectified and that ICE has no plans
based on the Senate proposal. Zoley, during the call, cited a proposed bill,
which provides for additional funding to increase border-patrol agents and
increase detention bed space by more than 5,000 beds. "We believe that
this increase in bed funding will result in additional opportunities for the
private sector," he said. The Department of Homeland Security expects
the undocumented population, estimated to be around 12 million, to grow by
400,000 annually. The total number of illegal immigrants in administrative
proceedings who spend some time in detention annually increased from 95,702
in 2001 to 283,115 in 2006. Detention bed space increased from 19,702 in 2001
to 27,500 last year. After the first of the year, NILC plans to ask for a moratorium
on expansions of these types of facilities until ICE can ensure minimum
compliance with its standards, Tumlin said.
July 11, 2007 Government Executive
Magazine
In a recent review of federal facilities used to detain suspected illegal
immigrants, the Government Accountability Office found a lack of telephone
access to be a pervasive problem, potentially preventing detainees from
contacting legal counsel, their countries' consulates or complaint hotlines.
The GAO review included visits to 23 detention centers housing immigrants
awaiting adjudication or deportation. The watchdog agency observed the
centers -- run by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency within the
Homeland Security Department -- for compliance with nonbinding national
detention standards. Of the 23 facilities GAO reviewed, 17 had telephone
systems allowing detainees to make free phone calls seeking assistance. In 16
of these 17 facilities, however, GAO found systemic problems hindering phone
access. Issues ranged from inaccurate or outdated numbers posted by the
phones to technical problems preventing completion of calls, the report
(GAO-07-875) stated. The review found instances where the centers fell short
of standards in other areas, such as medical care, use of force and food
services, but said these instances did not necessarily indicate a larger
pattern of noncompliance. "While it is true that the only pervasive
problem we identified related to the telephone system -- a problem later
confirmed by ICE's testing -- we cannot state that the other deficiencies we
identified in our visits were isolated," said Richard Stana, director of
homeland security and justice issues at GAO, in the report. GAO recommended
that ICE regularly update the posted numbers for legal services, consulates
and reporting violations of detainee treatment standards and test phone
systems to ensure that they are in working order. In a response to a draft of
the report, Steven Pecinovsky, director of the Homeland Security Department's
GAO/Office of the Inspector General Liaison Office, said ICE concurred with
its recommendations and had taken immediate steps to implement them. In
particular, ICE has started random testing to ensure the phones can access
the necessary numbers. While GAO did not find evidence of widespread
disregard for national detention standards, there have been recent calls for
more oversight of immigrant detention facilities and codification of
standards. According to the American Bar Association's Commission on
Immigration, the fact that the standards are not codified means "their
violation does not confer a cause of action in court." On Monday, the
American Civil Liberties Union called on Congress to codify the standards,
expressing concern over the causes of death for the 62 immigrants who have
died in ICE custody since 2004. GAO's report cited several instances of
noncompliance in the standards for medical care, but almost all were a
failure to complete the routine physical exams required for all detainees.
The only other issue cited was the failure of one detention center to have a
first aid kit available. The ACLU argued there are far more serious medical
failures occurring in immigrant detention centers. "Inadequate medical
care has led to unnecessary suffering and death," the ACLU said in a
statement. "In addition, there is no mechanism in place for reporting
deaths in immigration detention to any oversight body, including the [Office
of the Inspector General] and, therefore, there are no routine investigations
into deaths in ICE custody."
September 27, 2002
Security guards at the Wackenhut INS detention facility in Aurora quelled a
disturbance Thursday. The disruption was caused by several detainees during
the lunch hour, said Nina Pruneda- Muniz, Denver District spokeswoman for the
Immigration and Naturalization Service. "It got handled in a very timely
manner," Pruneda-Muniz said. "We were able to defuse any situation
from going any further." Agents were determining how many prisoners were
involved and why the confrontation erupted, she said. (Rocky Mountain News)
Aurora
Facility
Aurora Colorado
Wackenhut (Group 4)
June 9, 2010 Department of Labor Press Release
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance
Programs has announced that The Wackenhut Corp., doing business as G4S
Wackenhut, has entered into a consent decree to settle findings of hiring
discrimination at its Aurora, Colo., facility. The consent decree settles
OFCCP's allegations that Wackenhut engaged in hiring discrimination against
446 rejected African-American applicants for the position of traditional
security officer for a two-year period. Wackenhut is headquartered in Palm
Beach Gardens, Fla. "The department is committed to ensuring that
federal contractors and subcontractors hire, promote and compensate their
employees fairly, without respect to their race, gender, ethnicity,
disability, religion or veteran status," said Patricia A. Shiu, director
of OFCCP, who is based in Washington, D.C. "This settlement of $290,000
in back pay on behalf of 446 African-Americans should put all federal
contractors on notice that the Labor Department is serious about eliminating
systemic discrimination." OFCCP investigators found that the company
engaged in hiring discrimination against African-Americans from Jan. 1, 2002,
through Dec. 31, 2003. Under the terms of the consent decree and order, filed
with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges,
Wackenhut will pay a total of $290,000 in back pay and interest to the 446
rejected African-American applicants and will hire 41 of the applicants into
traditional security officer positions. The company also agreed to undertake
extensive self-monitoring measures to ensure that all hiring practices fully
comply with the law and will immediately correct any discriminatory practice.
In addition, Wackenhut will ensure compliance with Executive Order 11246
recordkeeping requirements. "We strongly encourage other employers to
take proactive steps to come into compliance with the law to prevent workplace
discrimination," said Melissa Speer, OFCCP acting director of OFCCP's
Southwest and Rocky Mountain Regions, who is located in Dallas.
Bent
County Correctional Facility
Bent County, Colorado
CCA
Jan
26, 2022 coloradonewsline.com
These
private prisons have over 100% staff turnover. Will more state money help?
The
rural Colorado communities depend on tax revenue from two CoreCivic
facilities
Two
private prisons in rural southeast Colorado - both operated by the company
CoreCivic - are grappling with high turnover rates among their staff. To
address this, the Department of Corrections wants more state money to pay
CoreCivic. Lawmakers voted Friday to support that request. In 2021, DOC and
CoreCivic data show a turnover rate of 107% at the Bent County prison and
126% at the Crowley County prison, according to a Friday memo for state
lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee, prepared by committee staff.
"This means that the number of separated correctional officers exceeds
the average number of officers at those facilities; more people are starting
and quitting than are employed there," the memo states. The DOC
requested $1.09 million in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and
$4.32 million in the next fiscal year to raise the per diem rate at the two
private prison facilities. Under DOC's request, the rates would increase
incrementally - by $3.40 this year, and then by another $1.13 next year,
bringing the per diem rate to $63.32. (That's the rate that the state pays
CoreCivic per inmate, per day.) Joint
Budget Committee staff recommended raising the per diem rate by $4.53
immediately instead of doing it in increments. This proposal would cost $1.45 million in the current fiscal year
and $4.32 million next fiscal year. Lawmakers on the JBC voted 5-0 on Friday
to accept the staff recommendation, meaning the funding increase will be part
of budget legislation that the entire General Assembly must vote on this
spring. Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat, was excused for the vote. Sen.
Bob Rankin, a Carbondale Republican who serves on the Joint Budget Committee,
asked JBC staff for some follow-up information about the training of
correctional officers getting hired at private prisons. "If I had a
turnover rate like that, I would really be concerned about the quality and
training of the individuals that I hire," Rankin said. The rate increase
will allow CoreCivic to pay its correctional officers a starting wage of $22
per hour, according to the DOC. That's still $2 less than the starting wage
for state employees. But while the pay increase would probably somewhat help
the turnover situation, there are other reasons why CoreCivic is having a
hard time retaining its employees, said Justin Brakke, senior legislative
budget and policy analyst on JBC staff. "Housing could be an
issue," Brakke told lawmakers during Friday's hearing. "Work
conditions could play into it. There's a lot of different factors." In
an email, CoreCivic spokesperson Matthew Davio pointed out that staffing
challenges were not unique to the Crowley County and Bent County prisons.
"Staffing correctional facilities is a challenge that public and private
facilities alike face in Colorado and across the country," Davio wrote.
"We're taking significant steps to attract and retain talented people
through various means - to counter the current employment challenges so many
employers are facing throughout the country." State-run prison
facilities do have their own staffing issues. The Department of Corrections
reported a turnover rate of 22.9% in November 2021, according to a December
presentation to the Joint Budget Committee. CoreCivic has invested in
commercial advertising, participated in public events, and attempted to
recruit community members through job boards, military bases, local colleges,
social media and local hiring events, Davio said. "Corrections is a
challenging career," he wrote. "In order to keep facilities safe,
candidates must be able to pass background screenings. COVID restrictions to
keep our staff and those in our care safe often add to the staffing
challenge." CoreCivic offers benefits including health insurance, a
401(k) matching savings and retirement plan, paid time off and education
opportunities. The company's leadership and human resources teams make an
effort to talk with staff about any issues or concerns they may have, Davio
added. Tax revenue from private prisons. Recently, a movement to close
private, for-profit prisons grew out of progressives' desire for the state to
shift its approach to criminal justice - away from locking people up for long
sentences, and toward reducing recidivism by providing people in prison with
the services they needed to safely reenter the community. In a world where
rehabilitation was emphasized over incarceration, criminal justice reform
advocates argued it didn't make sense for the state to keep supporting an
industry that benefits from filling prison beds. Private prison company GEO
Group abruptly closed the Cheyenne Mountain Re-entry Center in Colorado
Springs in March 2020, after Gov. Jared Polis said he wanted to close the
facility later that year. A 2021 study commissioned by state lawmakers
concluded that Colorado's prison population should be maintained and that all
remaining facilities should stay open, according to the La Junta
Tribune-Democrat. The study stemmed from 2020 legislation. Colorado's rural
communities heavily depend on the tax revenue from the remaining two private
prisons, the 2021 study found. In Crowley County, the correctional facility
generated 44% of property tax revenue and 42% of school district taxes. The
Bent County Correctional Facility generated 18.3% of Bent County's property
taxes and 25% of Las Animas School District taxes. Brakke's analysis for the
Joint Budget Committee also found that if the two prisons were to close, the
state would not have enough medium-security beds at other facilities where it
could move the inmates. "The private prisons are fully managed by Core
Civic," DOC spokesperson Annie Skinner said in an email, when asked
about the responsibilities of DOC versus CoreCivic in relation to hiring and
retention of employees at private prisons. "We do have a Private Prison
Monitoring Unit that works directly with those facilities." When asked
about how the DOC had addressed staffing concerns at the private prisons,
Skinner mentioned the per diem rate increase as well as retention bonuses for
CoreCivic staff. The department is using $1.3 million in federal funds, from
coronavirus relief legislation that Congress passed last year, to pay
retention bonuses to staff at the Bent County and Crowley County facilities.
Oct
28, 2020 koaa.com
Bent
County leaders worry potential prison closure could devastate local economy
It's
because of a recently passed Colorado House bill
LAS
ANIMAS, Colo. — Residents and leaders alike in one rural southeastern
Colorado community say the state is one decision away from bankrupting their
town. Now, they are hoping people will speak out, to keep it from happening.
If you find yourself in the town of Las Animas, chances are you’re either
passing through or paying a visit to Bent County’s largest economic driver.
“It is Bent County’s largest taxpayer as far as property tax goes, it’s our
largest municipal utility consumer, it’s our largest employer,” Bent Commissioner
Chuck Netherton. “It” is the Bent County Correctional Facility. “It was built
by the Bent County taxpayers in 1993,” Netherton said. That was after the
area’s previous economic driver, a VA hospital, shut its doors. “Of course
when it closed, our little town just kind of fell apart,” Netherton said.
“And that was why the citizens went together and we built the prison.”
Shortly after, the county sold it to a private company to run. and because of
that, this little town, and its neighbors, are in danger of falling apart
again. “That’s the main talk of the town right now,” he said. “Everybody is
just really scared.” It’s all because of the recently passed Colorado House
Bill 20-1019, which according to its summary, concerns “measures to manage
the state prison population.” But leaders in Bent County say it’s aiming at
doing one thing in particular. “This original bill was to close private
prisons by the year 2025,” Netherton said. That could mean, pending a
feasibility study, the bent county correctional facility could be shuttered.
Leaders lobbied the legislature, even met with Governor Jared Polis, who
signed the bill into law, to seek compromise. “What the governor had told me
is, he thought that the state would take it over,” Netherton said. If that’s the
case, the state wouldn’t have pay the county any property taxes. “There goes
our million and a half out of our 4 point something million dollar budget,”
he said. Which leaves leaders with only one thing left to say. “I think my
exact words were, he could be the first Governor in Colorado history to
bankrupt two of the poorest counties in the state of Colorado,” Netherton
said. Tuesday night was supposed to be the first of two community feedback
sessions as part of that feasibility study. Unfortunately, due to the state’s
new COVID-19 restrictions, that meeting had to be postponed.
Sep
9, 2020 chieftain.com
Nurse
sues Las Animas prison company
DENVER
-- A nurse who worked at the Las Animas prison alleges she lost her job as
retaliation for her complaints of discrimination and complaints about the
quality of patient care there. Dannette Karapetian’s allegations are in a
lawsuit based on federal anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws. The
case is in Denver at the U.S. District Court for Colorado. In court filings,
the operator of the privately owned Bent County Correctional Facility denies
her allegations. The operator, CoreCivic Inc., contends Karapetian was
removed from the work schedule for legitimate reasons. The Bent County
Democrat and its sister newspapers reviewed a court filing that states both
sides of the dispute. The nurse alleges a supervisor began in 2018
discriminating against her because the supervisor “was disgusted and upset”
that Karapetian had competed 25 years earlier in a bikini modeling contest.
Around the same time, the nurse “began expressing concerns (to another
supervisor) about the quality of patient care the inmates were receiving,”
the filing states. It goes on to say that a supervisor created “a hostile
work environment” and the nurse began making a series of formal complaints
within the company about it. In its side of the dispute, CoreCivic contends
in a court filing that Karapetian “was counseled or coached regarding
performance and behavior issues,” including “undermining/interfering with
correctional officers managing inmates, inappropriately disclosing
confidential information,” and being “inappropriately familiar” with an
inmate. The nurse contends she “was never ‘counseled’” The company further
contends the nurse was removed from the work schedule later in 2018 because
her nursing license had expired, a reason which the nurse took issue with in
her lawsuit. Karapetian wants a jury to decide she is entitled to lost wages
and other money from the company for various reasons to compensate her for
what allegedly happened. The case is in an early stage of pre-trial activity
between both sides.
Mar
26, 2020 coloradopolitics.com
Former
Colo. prison nurse files lawsuit against CoreCivic alleging sex
discrimination
A
former employee of the private prison operator CoreCivic has filed a lawsuit
alleging civil rights violations for gender-based discrimination and
retaliation against her while working in a prison in Colorado. Danette
Karapetian wrote in her complaint to the U.S. District Court for Colorado
that CoreCivic hired her as a licensed practical nurse in September 2017 to
provide medical care to inmates at the Bent County Correctional Facility. She
described how the nurses used nicknames while at work to prevent prisoners from
learning their real identities. When a coworker asked Karapetian how she
chose her nickname, “DJ,” she responded that she had once competed in a
bikini modeling competition and used that stage name. After other employees
heard the story, Karapetian said, “gossip and rumors” spread. She noticed
that her supervisor became “extremely and irrationally angry” at Karapetian
and the supervisor allegedly “began concocting a story in her head that Ms.
Karapetian was engaging in sexually inappropriate flirting behavior with the
inmates." In July 2018, Karapetian conveyed her concerns about prisoner
care to her supervisor, but the supervisor purportedly became enraged at her
interactions with inmates. When Karapetian sought to make a complaint about
the supervisor to the assistant warden, another employee warned her, “I’m not
threatening you. I’m telling you. Stay away from” the supervisor. Karapetian
went through with the complaint. Subsequently, she alleges, the supervisor
canceled routine blood sugar tests for diabetic inmates. When Karapetian said
that the affected inmates were complaining about low blood sugar, the
supervisor allegedly countered, “Are you sure they’re here for the finger
sticks, or are they here for something else?” Karapetian took that to mean that
the inmates were seeking sexual relations with her rather than medical
assistance. For the rest of her employment, Karapetian wrote, the supervisor
retaliated against her, “both by looking for any reason to unjustifiably
criticize Ms. Karapetian’s job performance and by making Ms. Karapetian fear
for her safety so she would feel compelled to quit.” The supervisor
eventually removed Karapetian from the work schedule, saying that her nursing
licence had expired despite a grace period for renewal. CoreCivic allegedly
told her that it would conduct an investigation, but instead, the company
never returned her to the work schedule, thus ending her employment.
Karapetian claims that CoreCivic discriminated against her on the basis of
sex in violation of federal civil rights law and created a hositile work
environment for her. “After Plaintiff complained of discrimination and
retaliation in writing in late July 2018, Defendants continued to retaliate
against Plaintiff,” she wrote in her lawsuit, “including by subjecting
Plaintiff to disproportionate scrutiny, holding Plaintiff to higher standards
than her male peers, [and] holding Plaintiff to higher standards than female
peers who conformed to sex stereotypes." Karapetian also cited
retaliation after she raised concerns over patient care. A spokesperson for
CoreCivic responded that employees have multiple options to report the types
of conduct Karapetian said she experienced, including by contacting human
resources. "While we can't speak to the specifics of pending litigation,
CoreCivic does not tolerate any forms of sexual harassment and takes these
allegations very seriously," the spokesperson said.
Oct 7, 2017 westword.com
$171K Payout in Dennis Choquette's Cruel Death Is the Tip of the Iceberg
The State of Colorado, acting for the Department of Corrections, has
agreed to pay a fairly modest $171,000 to settle a lawsuit in the torturous,
slow-motion, completely preventable jail death of Dennis Choquette in
November 2016. But Choquette's estate has also reached confidential
agreements with a slew of other defendants, including a giant private-prison
company that owns the facility where most of the horrors took place. And
given the disturbing facts of the case, which we first outlined this past
February, after the complaint was filed, the sum of the settlements is almost
certainly much, much larger. In July 2014, as we've reported, Choquette was
imprisoned in the Bent County Correctional Facility, a jail in the portfolio
of Corrections Corporation of America. CCA, whose website currently lists
thirteen jails or facilities in Colorado, including the one in Bent County,
is at the center of the 1999 feature article by Alan Prendergast headlined
"McPrison." And in 2013, Prendergast tackled the topic again in
"Thirty Years of Private Prisons: New Report Details Trouble Behind
Bars." In the latter post, about a scathing condemnation of the firm by
the group Grassroots Leadership, Prendergast wrote that CCA was
"launched in 1983 by a group of Kentucky Fried Chicken investors"
and has been criticized over the years based on allegations that its
"for-profit model cuts too many corners, resulting in ill-trained and
poorly paid staff," as well as "inadequate medical care." John
Holland, who worked on the case under the auspices of Holland, Holland
Edwards & Grossman, P.C. alongside partner and co-counsel Anna Holland
Edwards, believes that Choquette's experiences definitely reinforce this last
accusation. "His case is the Magna Carta for the protection of the civil
rights of diabetics who are being incarcerated," he told us for our
previous post. "This is one of the things you fear most about jails —
that you have a clear medical need and no one will help you." The
complete lawsuit is accessible below, but here's how Holland summarized the
sequence of events. "Dennis had a history of diabetes," he noted.
"He had Charcot Syndrome, which is a terrible diabetic problem where
basically your bones can disintegrate. He'd had Charcot in his right foot,
and that had been successfully managed. He was still ambulatory. But he was
developing it in his left foot, too." In 2014, Choquette "went to
jail for his latest criminality, which was some kind of fraud charge,"
Holland continued. "When you're admitted, they send you through a
classification system. In that system, he talked about his problems, and when
they X-rayed his left foot, they discovered that he was developing Charcot
there, too. But they didn't tell him. Instead, they put him into a private
facility" — the jail in Bent County — "that had no capacity to care
for people who have ambulation problems. And they did it knowing he had this
foot condition."At Bent, Holland maintained, "they made him walk on
this foot for months, to the point where he could feel his bones were breaking.
But no one would help him. And when he finally got to a hospital, his foot
had progressed to the point where it was no longer viable for ambulation. He
had a known deteriorating condition, and they walked him into making it
worse." Despite being kept in the dark about the Charcot diagnosis upon
entering the Bent County jail, Choquette knew something was wrong and
actively advocated for medical care via communication with authorities known
by the slang term "kites." Holland, Holland Edwards & Grossman
got involved on his behalf, too. "We filed suit," Holland said,
"and one of the complaints we made is that they basically destroyed his
ambulation through their indifference while hiding the condition from him.
And when they found out he needed an amputation, they didn't want to pay for
it while he was in jail. They considered the surgery to be elective." By
mid-2016, after Choquette was transferred to the Department of Corrections,
his foot "was basically rotting," Holland allowed. "But still they
wouldn't do anything. The key to his crisis was to get him amputated while he
was medically stable, but that didn't happen. They wouldn't let him go to a
specialist, and his leg basically opened into a wound." Eventually,
Choquette developed what Holland described as "severe
osteomyelitis" — an infection of the bone — "and raging sepsis that
forced their hand. He went to the hospital when he was dying, basically. The
doctors stabilized him as best they could, pumped him with antibiotics and
then went in and cut his leg off." By then, it was too late. "Two
days into his recovery, his diabetes and sepsis and the major trauma he went
through resulted in his heart failing, and he died," Holland stated. The
length of time that elapsed between Choquette's entry into jail and his demise
made the manner of his passing even more tragic, in Holland's view.
"This was a slow-motion death. In some cases of people dying in jail,
people come in and their condition is exploding with urgency at that specific
moment. But this was like watching a slow torture unfold." Co-counsel
Holland Edwards, who also spoke with us in February, characterized the story
as an example of a larger problem. "What happened to Dennis is exactly
what's wrong with health care at corrections," she said. "They knew
he had a condition, and it was treatable. But they refused to help him or to
intervene even after we sued. Even when we brought to their attention that it
was likely to result in irreparable harm or death, they still didn't want to
help him. We went from trying to help our client to trying to figure out the
value to his estate of them having killed him." She argued that
Choquette "died of deliberate indifference to his medical needs. He died
because this Department of Corrections system and the Corrections Corporation
of America were reckless with his medical care. Certainly, he had underlying
medical conditions, like a lot of people in jail. He had diabetes and some
heart issues. But his foot should have never gotten to the point where he
needed amputation. He should still be alive today." The suit named a
total of 22 defendants, including numerous medical professionals charged with
overseeing Choquette's care under the auspices of Correctional Health
Partners, LLC, another private operation whose website says it manages
"inmate healthcare needs for county and state correctional facilities
and systems across the country." But the first entity on the defendants
roster is CCA, which has been sued frequently over the years and works hard
to prevent the size of its payouts from being made public. Silence is the
rule this time around, too. "With respect to Mr. Choquette’s case, all
claims brought by Mr. Choquette and his estate have now been settled,"
writes Holland Edwards, corresponding via email. "The settlement between
the Department of Corrections and Mr. Choquette’s estate is public because of
the public nature of that agency. With respect to the claims against several
other private parties, the claims against non-public defendants have now been
confidentially settled." For that reason, we don't know the compensation
total in relation to Choquette's death. But Holland Edwards hopes the
resolution will resonate. "Medical care in jails and prisons continues
to be a national scandal," she emphasizes. "Civil-rights cases
continue to be important to tell the stories of people affected."
Jul 23, 2017 chieftain.com
Author recounts years spent as a mental health counselor at Bent
Correctional Facility
Perhaps it's the depth and breadth of Sue Binder's life experiences that
enables her to be an effective behavioral health counselor. Binder has worked
as a house cleaner, sold Avon, as well as toys at Christmas. She's worked as
a newspaper reporter, including a stint as a correspondent for The Pueblo
Chieftain. She's taught college classes as a part-time associate professor
and operated her own mental health office. During much of that time, Binder
was raising her four children. Binder also has worked at writing. She penned
"Hands Down: A Domestic Violence Treatment Workbook," for the
American Correctional Association in 2006. Binder also has written poetry and
short stories. Binder's latest work, however, deals with the 12 years she
worked as a mental health/addictions counselor at the Bent County
Correctional Facility. Binder admits she has mixed feelings about her time at
the Bent facility. Those feelings are detailed in the book "Bodies in
Beds: Why Business Should Stay Out of Prisons," published by Algora
Publishing ($31.95 hardcover, $21.95 paperback or ebook). One misconception
Binder wanted to clear up was that she didn't begin to write the book until
after she had left her job at the Bent facility and the employment of
Corrections Corporation of America (now known as CoreCivic). Corrections
Corporation of America (CoreCivic) did not respond to multiple requests for
an interview. Binder originally began by writing short excerpts of her time
at the Bent facility, more as therapy than anything else. "I started it
after I left," Binder said. "It became a private thing." Eventually
Binder showed what she'd written to a woman who had edited some of her
previous work. "She said, 'Do more research. What are you trying to say
here?' Out of those discussions, I began researching," Binder said.
"The book took me close to two years to write, with all the
revisions," Binder said. "Bodies in Beds" wasn't a vanity
press effort. Algora didn't pay Binder up front, either. Binder will receive
royalties from book sales. "I hope to be paid," Binder said.
"As long as I recoup my expenses, I'll be happy." Binder said she
had a little bit of money invested in the book in the form of payments to an
editor and to a lawyer who reviewed the manuscript. What makes an individual
devote the time, energy and financial resources into a book project that may
or not make any money? In Binder's case, she was frustrated by her experience
at the Bent facility and wanted to put it down on paper. Binder feels CCA put
profits ahead of the prisoners' welfare. She writes that the emphasis on the
bottom line led CCA to cut corners by cheating the personnel and ignoring
prisoners' health care needs. Add to that the mountains of paperwork, she
alleges, and it created unsafe conditions because there often wasn't enough
manpower to go around. "My primary concern was from my role as a mental
health provider while I was at Bent County," Binder said. "I felt
there was so much lacking. Maybe it was a personal thing. I felt I wasn't
able to do the kind of work, the kind of interventions as a mental health
person that I should be doing with the offenders." Binder said when she
was at Bent County there were 444 classified mental health patients and more
than 300 of them were on medication. Three mental health counselors were
assigned to deal with the patients, she said, but often there were only two
because of sick leave or employee turnover. "Trying to do the work you
need to do with those inmates is really an impossible task," Binder
said. "You want to give them counseling and therapy." Often the
time that should have been devoted to counseling and therapy was devoted to
filling out paperwork for CCA or for the Colorado Department of Corrections,
she said. "You couldn't spend that time with those offenders to try and
impact their issues," Binder said. In reality, the situations and
management decisions Binder wrote about in "Bodies in Beds," were
an indictment of the operations not just of CCA, but of corporate America, as
well. Requests for assistance were either ignored or help would be promised
but never delivered, Binder writes. She remembered one supervisor coming into
her office and stating: "I just want you to know, I'm micromanaging this
department now." Similar exchanges occur in corporate settings all over
the country, frustrating the affected employees. In Binder's case, the net
result was that nothing changed for the inmates/patients. The paperwork
continued to pile on, and employees who were hired for one job, found
themselves buried in red tape, and quit out of frustration. Often, it would
take a lengthy amount of time to find a replacement, or no replacement was
hired. That would mean the remaining counselors would be buried even deeper
in paperwork, according to Binder. More paperwork meant less treatment of
inmates, a that situation bothered Binder. "There are so many in the
system," Binder said. "Because of that, I just felt I wasn't able
to help them in the way I should, so they can get back on the street and be
successful. "That should be the goal, at least for most offenders."
Binder concedes that not all prisoners should be put back on the street.
"There are some offenders who should stay in, who are far too
dangerous," Binder said "I've had some tell me they shouldn't get
out because, 'They'll do it again.' " Binder said she experienced
some successes, and for those she takes great satisfaction. Yet, more and
more, she said, prisons are being used as asylums. "Unless inmates are
on appropriate medication, receive some treatment or counseling, they may not
be able to manage on the street without monitoring," Binder said. The
result, she said, is predictable. "They break a rule and go back to
prison," Binder said. She believes the cycle benefited the private
prisons because it meant more bodies in beds. In retrospect, Binder said the
title of her book may be a bit too harsh. She doesn't call for the closing of
private prisons. What she's done in her book is advocate for change. But it's
a big change. "You can't put huge profits ahead of salvaging the
people," Binder said. Binder resigned her position at the Bent facility
take a job closer to her home in Lamar. Her work at High Plains Community
Health Center involves helping individuals on probation or, once in a while,
someone on parole. The important thing about the job is that she gets to
counsel her patients without having to deal with a mountain of paperwork.
Looking back, Binder said she appreciated a lot of things the job at the Bent
facility did for her. "It paid good wages and benefits," Binder
said. "I learned a lot from the experience. I learned a lot about myself,
too: the levels of stress, what works for me and doesn't work so well.
"I tried not to be all negative. There were some positive things, too. I
still have a lot of good memories." Binder said she hasn't received much
feedback on her book, either from employees at Bent or from officials at
CoreCivic. That's OK with Binder. She said what she had to say.
Aug
21, 2013 The Pueblo Chieftan
DENVER
— The mother of an inmate who died at the Bent County prison claims a Pueblo
West physician and the company that runs the prison bear responsibility for
the death. oTNCMS_Ad.show('ros'); The physician, David Oba, received a letter
of admonition in December from the Colorado Medical Board telling him that
his treatment of the inmate “fell below the generally accepted standards of
practice.” Oba and the company, Corrections Corporation of America, deny the
allegations made in a lawsuit against them by Terrell Griswold’s mother. He
died in 2010 at the Bent County Correctional Facility where Oba was a
physician for the privately operated prison. Prison staff and Colorado
Department of Corrections employees are additional defendants who also deny
the allegations. The lawsuit is in its early stage in U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit alleges that Griswold, 25, died because he was denied adequate
medical care at the prison. It also alleges DOC employees destroyed and
falsified evidence, and conspired with prison staff to cover up the true
cause of his death. His mother, Lagalia Afola, contends he died from
complications of a complete urinary obstruction. Oba began treating Griswold
for urinary issues months before he died. Afola alleges, among other things,
that prison staff refused for many months to provide medicine Oba prescribed
for her son and the doctor did nothing about it. Corrections Corporation,
prison employees and Oba contend Griswold died of cardiovascular disease. The
medical board’s admonition of Oba stated he “failed to recognize and take
appropriate action in connection with signs and symptoms of chronic kidney
disease.” - See more at: http://www.chieftain.com/home/1758744-120/prison-oba-died-death#sthash.RSGC1KcB.dpuf
February
14, 2013 chieftain.com
A
Pueblo West physician has received a letter of admonition from the Colorado
Medical Board following the Oct. 28, 2010, death of an inmate at Bent County
Correctional Facility in Las Animas. In a letter obtained by The Pueblo
Chieftain from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, a medical
board panel issued the admonition to Dr. David Oba on Dec. 6 in connection
with his treatment of Terrell Griswold, 25, an inmate at the private
Corrections Corporation of America-run prison. The letter said Griswold had a
history of urinary problems and poorly controlled hypertension. Griswold had
complained of difficulty passing urine for the previous two months when he
first was treated by Oba in December 2009. After examining Griswold, Oba
prescribed a 30-day course of antibiotics. Eight months later, Griswold went
to see nursing staff at the prison on the evening of Oct. 22, 2010,
complaining of abdominal pain, diarrhea, dizziness, tingling in his
extremities and a feeling that his throat was closing. He also reported an
odd smell in his nose similar to ammonia, according to the letter.
September 12, 2012 AP
The mother of a man who died in a private prison claims that officials failed
to provide adequate medical care. Twenty-six-year-old Terrell Griswold died
in October 2010 after being found not breathing in his cell. He was
incarcerated at the Bent County Correctional Facility near Las Animas, Colo.,
which is operated by Corrections Corporation of America. A lawsuit filed
Monday in U.S. District Court by Lagalia Afola of Kansas City, Mo., alleges
that officials failed to treat her son for an obstructed urinary tract. The
lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages. Griswold was serving five years
for a felony burglary conviction. In a statement, CCA says the company is
committed to providing inmates appropriate access to medical care and
couldn't comment on individual inmates because of medical privacy laws.
July 9, 2012 Bent County Democrat
Bent County Commissioners met on June 27 and heard an encouraging report from
Bent County Correctional Facility, a private prison prison run by Corrections
Corporation of America. Even though 18 staff have been recently laid off,
population of the prison has increased to 1,388 which is almost 300 more
prisoners in prison population. Commissioner Bill Long said he felt that Gov.
Hickenlooper and the state recognize the falling economy and past damage to
Bent County by the closing of Fort Lyon and are striving to push for CCA to
be operating at a higher population level. CCA administration also feels the
prison can be operated safely with this reduction in staff. Long said that
after the Crowley County prison riot six years ago, the private prisons were required
to increase staffing within their prisons. But over this same time frame, the
per diem per prisoner had not increased a significant amount, but costs to
operate the prison have risen and this reduction in staff will help run the
prison more economically but still within a safe range. Long said he has been
to the state capitol many times and Bent has also hired a lobbyist to work
for Bent County and he feels the state leaders have heard this message.
June 15, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Still reeling from the Colorado Department of Corrections’ closing of Fort
Lyon prison, residents here got word of more prison layoffs, this time at the
private Bent County Correctional Facility. According to Steve Owen, public
affairs officer with the Corrections Corporation of America, the company laid
off 18 employees at its Bent County Correctional Facility and another 36
employees at the Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs.
"Our top priority is assisting our affected employees through this transition.
All of them are being offered the opportunity to transfer to other CCA
facilities and we hope that they choose that option," Owen said. Bent
County Commissioner Lynden Gill said he had heard “rumblings” about layoffs
at the CCA-operated Bent County Correctional Facility.
April 4, 2012 The Chieftain
A report last week that Corrections Corporation of America needs a subsidy
from the state or it will start shedding jobs has caught the attention of
officials in Bent and Crowley counties. Las Animas is home to the Bent County
Correctional Facility, the city's largest employer at 280 employees. Las
Animas County Commissioner Bill Long said Tuesday that if CCA decided to cut
jobs or shut down the prison it would cripple the county. "It would be
an absolute disaster for Bent County," Long said. "To first lose
the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, which used to be our largest employer,
and then possibly this, it just can't be described as anything other than
awful." Long said that in addition to the correctional facility being
the county's largest employer, it also is its largest taxpayer at around
$400,000 annually. He added that the prison purchases its utilities from the
city of Las Animas and has a monthly bill around $80,000. Long said he and
his fellow commissioners are getting word from the state that no facilities
are going to be shut down but that staff reductions are certainly
possible."We're unhappy that this is even being proposed," he said.
Olney Springs, which is home to the Crowley County Correctional Facility that
also is operated by the CCA, is another correctional facility at risk of
losing jobs.
March 29, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in
Southeastern Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent
closure of a state-run prison. Savings from the pending closure of another
state-run prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the for-profit
ventures. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Crowley County Correctional
Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County Correctional Facility in Las
Animas, has notified the state that it needs a subsidy or it will start
shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff Roxane White said
Wednesday. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure something out they will be
in a situation where they have to close a prison,” she said. Similar threats
loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, which also is operated
by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs, operated
by Community Education Centers Inc., according to White. “At both the CCA
facilities and Cheyenne Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are empty,”
she said. “They are looking at the need to make staffing reductions.” White
confirmed that diverting the estimated $4.5 million in savings the state
expects to realize next year from the pending closure of Colorado State
Penitentiary II in Canon City is one option, but she doubts that would be
enough to satisfy the private prison companies. “It’s not enough to cover
it,” she said. “In this case, we need in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to
$15 million to keep the (private) prisons all operational.” Ideally, White
said, any action by the private prison companies could be postponed while the
state conducts a thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison
population, whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can
best manage its resources in light of the findings.
February 3, 2012 Denver Post
Inmate Terrell Griswold's inability to urinate was never treated and
ultimately led to his death, a medical investigator says. "I feel very
strongly that if they treated this, he'd still be alive today," said
Shawn Parcells, a medical investigator and forensic pathologist assistant
from Kansas City, Mo., who was hired by Griswold's mother to review
circumstances leading to his death. Griswold, 26, was serving a three-year
sentence for theft at Bent County Correctional Facility. He was found slumped
over a toilet 12 hours after a nurse said he looked fine on Oct. 28, 2010,
said Griswold's mother, Lagalia Afola of Kansas City. "This is so
rare," Afola said. "For a young man to die of a urinary blockage is
unheard of. My son should not be dead." The prison is run by Corrections
Corporation of America, a private company. "We take the medical care of
inmates in our custody seriously," CCA spokesman Steve Owen said in a
written response. He could not comment about Griswold's case because of
confidentiality issues, he said. "But we do refer you to the cause of
death in the public record." The El Paso County coroner's office
determined that the cause of death was cardiac hypertrophy, hypertension,
obstructive uropathy and hereditary cardiac hypertrophy. The coroner, Dr.
Robert C. Bux, characterized Griswold's urinary condition as a cause of death
secondary to hypertension and an enlarged heart. However, he added that the
blockage could have caused hypertension and contributed to an enlarged heart.
Parcells said he believes Griswold's cause of death should have been listed
as "complications of obstructive uropathy." A nodule on Griswold's
prostatic urethra accounted for his urine retention and severe kidney
problems, Parcells wrote. It also caused high blood pressure. He had been seen
repeatedly by medical staff at the prison for recurring bladder-related
symptoms, including abdominal pain and an inability to urinate. Griswold
received medicines that didn't address his condition and never got a thorough
examination by a urologist, Parcells said. "In the end, his body was not
able to adjust to the increasing amounts of waste products in his system and
the heart had increasing loads of 'fluid retention' it had to deal
with," he wrote. "Terrell was in metabolic disarray and an imbalance
of electrolytes. This would explain the sudden death." Afola said her
son played basketball nearly every day. She said in the last week of his
life, he was sleeping a lot and complaining of intense abdominal pain.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said Griswold
came to the prison with a long history of neurological and urological issues.
She said the state will conduct a mortality review of the case. "CCA is
committed to providing inmates appropriate access to medical care and is held
to high standards," Owen said. Afola said her son died about three
months before he was to be released from prison. "He was just
ignored," she said.
November 14, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
A state inmate being held at Bent Correctional Facility reportedly committed
suicide Nov. 1. According to Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman
Katherine Sanguinetti, the inmate was identified as Geoffrey A. Scheid, 58.
Cause of death was listed as asphyxiation by suffocation, according to Warden
Brigham Sloan. Scheid was serving a 19-year sentence on second-degree assault
and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust convictions
out of Adams County, Sanguinetti said. The Bent prison is a private
medium-security prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400
eligible for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in
prison housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be
released. But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share
of the proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley,
Bent and Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the
private facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If
they do what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is
5,000 to 6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty
virtually every private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates,"
Long said. "I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for Bent
County and Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County Correctional
Facility in Las Animas are key parts of their local economies with more than
200 employees at each facility, Long said. "We receive property tax,
telephone revenue and other benefits from the facilities," Long said.
Long explained that the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in Walsenburg
and the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington also will be hurt if
the reduction occurs. Currently the Huerfano facility is full of inmates from
Arizona, but Long said that when Arizona gets its inmate situation
straightened out, the inmates will be taken back to that state. "That
would be another facility that was built primarily for Colorado inmates that
would also be emptied," Long said.
May 15, 2009 Lamar Ledger
An escaped male convict, from Bent County Correctional Facility in Las
Animas, led authorities on a high speed chase through Bent County early
Wednesday afternoon. The convict, who is being identified as a 52 year-old
white male, appears to have escaped while working at a recycling center said
Las Animas Police Chief Don Trujillo. The convict appears to have secured
regular street clothing after escaping from supervision. At approximately
12:55 p.m. he is believed to have attempted to car jack a vehicle from in
front of the Family Dollar store. The escapee is believed to have fled
southbound down Bent Avenue. The Police chief said the victim was able to
thwart the attack. “Within five to ten minutes of that incident, we had a
report of a stolen vehicle from the car wash,” said Trujillo. The car wash is
located in the 300 block of Second Street. A 1996 Chysler Concorde appears to
have been stolen while the vehicle’s owner was washing the floor mats said
Trujillo. The suspect is believed to have then fled eastbound on Highway 50
out of town. The police chief said when officers were unable to locate the
suspect in the area around the vehicle theft, they moved the search east
until the vehicle was spotted. The ensuing chase along Highway 50 reached
speeds of over 100 miles per hour said Trujillo. The chase drew to an end
near County Road 34 when two of the tires on the stolen vehicle went flat.
The suspect was then apprehended by a Las Animas police officer said
Trujillo. Assisting in the pursuit and apprehension of the suspect were the
Colorado State Patrol, the Bent County Sheriff’s Office and the State Parks
Department. Following the arrest, the suspect was treated by EMTs on scene.
Police Chief Trujillo said charges are currently pending for the suspect.
Trujillo said the notice of an escaped convict was not given to the
department until after the suspect was in custody and the officers were
attempting to ascertain the suspect’s identity. The Bent County Correctional
Facility is a privately owned, all male, medium security, 1,466 bed facility
located on the eastern edge of the town of Las Animas. The facility is
operated by Corrections Corporation of America, a Tennessee based company.
Phone calls to the warden of the facility were not returned Wednesday.
Officials at both the Las Animas School District administration and the Las
Animas High School said they were not notified of the escaped inmate by the
facility until after the suspect’s apprehension. None of the schools in the
district were placed on lock down.
August 18, 2004
A former prison inmate in Las Animas alleged in a lawsuit Tuesday the prison
staff transported him on the floor of a van and did not give him prescribed
pain medication and proper care after surgery for a hernia. Cornelius Jackson
sued Corrections Corporation of America, the operator of the state prison, in
U.S. District Court for allegedly causing him severe pain and bleeding. Five
staff members of the private prison, the Bent County Correctional Facility,
also are defendants. Jackson said he was operated on at a Denver hospital on
Oct. 8. He claims the staff, contrary to his doctor's instructions, did not
give him prescribed pain medication for 13 hours after he was released from
the hospital. The lawsuit alleges that the staff disobeyed the doctor's
instructions to take Jackson to a Colorado Department of Corrections
institution that had appropriate medical facilities for post-operative care.
The lawsuit claims "cost-cutting in the medical department has recently
been a central focus and a major concern for CCA." (Pueblo Chieftain)
August 1, 1999
A 24-year-old inmate escaped from the private prison. Officials believe he
may have stowed away on a trash truck. He is still at large. Earlier in the
month, another inmate who was working at the regional recycling center
escaped after hot-wiring a prison van. (Denver Post)
Boulder
County Jail
Boulder Colorado
January 13, 2006 Daily Camera
The Boulder County Jail continues to grapple with a nursing shortage, but it
won't hire an outside agency to provide medical care for inmates, the
Sheriff's Office announced Thursday. After struggling to retain and recruit
nurses for the past three years, jail officials proposed spending about $1.6
million for an independent agency to take over health-care operations there.
But that might result in job losses, pay reductions or reduced retirement
benefits for the jail's 10 nurses, said Sheriff Joe Pelle, who announced
Thursday that he'd rather focus on improving the existing program. "We
have good employees there. Some of them have been there more than 20 years.
They were extremely concerned about this and losing their retirement,"
Pelle said. "So the human aspect played a huge part in this
decision." Jail Capt. Larry Hank said Boulder is one of only two Front
Range counties that doesn't contract with a private health care company for
its jail. But he said he would prefer the county continue providing its own
services as long as it can improve operations and attract more nurses.
"If they're our employees, they answer to us, they listen to us and
they're committed to us," he said. "An outside contractor is trying
to make a profit." Hiring an outside agency to provide health care
wouldn't have solved all of Boulder County's problems, said Christie Donner,
executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Many
private agencies don't provide high-quality care, and many struggle to
attract nurses, she said. "They don't have a magic wand. There's a
nursing crisis, and these companies don't come with their own convoy of
nurses," she said. "If it sounds too good to be true, it generally
is."
Brighton
Jail
Brighton, Colorado
Transcor
August 5, 2004
Police are searching for a man they say was being held on burglary charges
who escaped from a transport van in Brighton late Wednesday night. They
say Floyd W. Stolin Jr., 31, jumped out of a van at about 10:22 p.m. as the
van stopped on the off-ramp of Interstate 76 and Bromley Lane. The van,
operated by private prisoner transport service TransCor America, was bringing
Stolin to the Brighton jail. (Denver Post)
Brush Correctional Facility
Brush, Colorado
GRW
January 8, 2008 Honolulu Advertiser
A lawsuit filed on behalf of two Hawai'i female prison inmates who claimed
they were sexually assaulted by a corrections officer in a privately run
prison in Colorado has been settled for an undisclosed amount of money.
Honolulu lawyer Myles Breiner, who sued on behalf of the inmates, said the
settlement was for a "significant amount of money," but said he
cannot be more specific. "This a private settlement among private
parties, and I'm obliged not to disclose the dollar amount," Breiner
said. "The parties are satisfied with the agreed upon settlement, and
the plaintiffs have been sufficiently compensated. ... It was the right thing
to do to take responsibility and acknowledge the injuries of these two jail
inmates." Out-of court settlements where the state is required to make
payment become public record because public money is involved, but that won't
happen in this case. Breiner said the state won't have to pay any share of
the settlement because Hawai'i was indemnified against inmate lawsuits under
its contract with GRW Corp. to hold the women inmates at the Brush
Correctional Facility in Colorado. The inmates, 38 and 26, reported they were
assaulted in the Brush Correctional Facility law library the evening of Jan.
8, 2005. The inmates claimed corrections officer Russell E. Rollison pushed
one of them against a wall and threatened to write up both inmates for
misconduct if they did not perform a sex act for him. One of the inmates
saved semen from the encounter that was later turned over to investigators
with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Rollison resigned and was
charged with two counts of felony sexual contact with an inmate in a penal
institution, but pleaded guilty in 2006 to a reduced charge of menacing with
a real or simulated weapon, which is also a felony. He was sentenced to two
years' probation and 60 hours of community service, according to Colorado
court records. Gil Walker, chief executive officer of Tennessee-based GRW,
did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the settlement. Brush
prison officials have said the sex was consensual and that the inmates
planned the encounter as a way to get transferred back to Hawai'i, and as the
basis for a lawsuit. The allegations of the two Hawai'i inmates became public
when Colorado authorities launched an investigation into charges of sexual
misconduct involving prison staff and a total of eight inmates from Colorado,
Wyoming and Hawai'i. Another former Brush guard, Fredrick Woller, pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor harassment of a Wyoming inmate and was fined $200; and
former Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor
false-reporting charge in connection with Woller's case. All Hawai'i inmates
at Brush were moved to the Otter Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright,
Ky., which is operated by Corrections Corp. of America. The two female
inmates are now serving sentences at the Women's Community Correctional
Center in Kailua, Breiner said. Hawai'i now pays more than $50 million a year
to house more than 2,000 men and women inmates on the Mainland because there
is no room for them in prisons in Hawai'i.
September 26, 2006 Fort Morgan Times
Continuation of the public hearing for CentraCore’s special exception use
permit (SEUP) took the main stage Monday at the Brush City Council meeting as
concerned citizens, representatives of CentraCore, Cornell and GRW
Corporation spoke to the council about CentraCore’s SEUP application.
Following comments from council members, officials and citizens, Brush
Assistant City Administrator Karen Schminke and staff requested a few minor
revisions to the SEUP, and Councilman Harry Rieger moved that the public
hearing be closed, and the council review the revised SEUP during the next
council meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 9. Recommended revisions include documentation
of 1,800 beds as the original SEUP application was for 2,250 combined beds at
the two potential facilities, and CentraCore — in light of water availability
— revised its application for 450 fewer beds, bringing the total down to
1,800. Schminke stressed the difference between the operator and the
applicant for the SEUP in order to ensure both parties adhere to the rules
and regulations. Staff is also requiring rewording of the 24-month sunset
clause for both possible facilities. The application by CentraCore and
Cornell is to build and operate two prisons in the Brush Industrial Park,
directly behind the Brush Correctional Facility (BCF) which is owned and
operated by GRW Corp. Before beginning the public hearing, Councilman Phillip
Northcutt disclosed his employment at the BCF, and council member Chuck
Schonberger, disclosed his wife, Pat Schonberger’s, part-time employment at
BCF. The council granted both council members permission to continue in the
hearing.
July 14, 2006 Honolulu Advertiser
Two Hawai'i women convicts who allege they were sexually assaulted in a
private women's prison in Colorado last year have sued Hawai'i prison
officials, the company that runs the prison and a former corrections officer.
The suit filed by Honolulu lawyer Myles Breiner in federal District Court in
Denver alleges the state of Hawai'i should have known conditions were unsafe
for the Hawai'i women inmates at Brush Correctional Facility, and was
negligent for failing to prevent the assaults. Inmates Jacqueline Overturf,
36, and Christina Riley, 25, reported they were assaulted in the Brush
Correctional Facility law library on the evening of Jan. 8, 2005. The inmates
claim guard Russell E. Rollison, an employee of prison operator GRW Corp.,
pushed one of the women against a wall and threatened to write up both
inmates for misconduct if they did not perform a sex act for him. Breiner
said one of the inmates saved semen from the encounter that was later turned
over to investigators with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Rollison
resigned and was charged with two counts of felony sexual contact with an
inmate in a penal institution, but pleaded guilty earlier this year to a
reduced charge of menacing with a real or simulated weapon, which is also a
felony. He was sentenced last month to two years' probation and 60 hours of
community service, according to Colorado court records. Deputy Attorney
General Diane Taira declined comment because lawyers for the state have not
yet seen the lawsuit. Gil Walker, chief executive officer of the
Tennessee-based GRW, also declined comment on the lawsuit yesterday because
he had not seen it. GRW operates prisons in Colorado, Missouri and Kansas. Brush
prison officials have said the sex was consensual and that the inmates were
using the incident to get transferred back to Hawai'i and as the basis for a
lawsuit. Walker said yesterday the prison's inquiry into the case revealed
that Rollison was "a willing participant, but we know that (the inmates)
perpetrated it, that it was planned." Breiner denied the inmates were
involved in any "enticement" of the corrections officer. "This
was a deliberate criminal conduct by a senior correctional officer against my
clients. They were raped, and it makes no difference whether they were
inmates or not, they were raped and abused," he said. The suit also
alleges women who complained they had been sexually assaulted at the prison
were punished, including Overturf and Riley. The two Hawai'i inmates were
locked in solitary confinement for 37 days, according to the suit. The
allegations of the two Hawai'i inmates became public when Colorado
authorities launched an investigation into charges of sexual misconduct
involving prison staff and a total of eight inmates from Colorado, Wyoming
and Hawai'i. Another former Brush guard, Fredrick Woller, pleaded guilty in
February to misdemeanor harassment of a Wyoming inmate and was fined $200;
and former Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned and pleaded guilty in August to
a misdemeanor false reporting charge in connection with Woller's case. The
Hawai'i inmates were moved last year from the Colorado prison to the Otter
Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky., which is operated by Corrections
Corp. of America. Overturf was returned to Hawai'i, where she is serving a
sentence at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua for drug
offenses. Riley has been released on parole after serving prison time for
theft, forgery, burglary and fraudulent use of a credit card. Both are
undergoing counseling for the assault, Breiner said. The lawsuit does not
specify how much in monetary damages the women are seeking, but does say the
amount sought is larger than $150,000.
May 12, 2006 Journal-Advocate
Some communities may quiver at the notion a state prison will be built in
their area. Some would think a prison would bring nothing but trouble and
crime would increase in their towns. From 1999 to the present, the city of
Sterling and Logan County have not seen a significant increase in crime,
despite a state-run correctional facility opening here in 1999, according to
law enforcement officials. The District Attorney's Office also stated the
prison has not impacted its caseload in a way that would require major
adjustments on its part. "In general, I can't say that the prison has
made that much of an impact on my office. Obviously, if we prosecute any
prison case it would constitute an increase on our normal caseload, but it is
still a relatively small percentage, and some of our higher-visibility cases
have involved inmates," 13th Judicial District Attorney Bob Watson said.
Watson said private prisons - particularly the Brush facility - had a more
significant impact on his office for which they are not receiving any
reimbursement for the cases they prosecute. "We were receiving no such
reimbursement but that is supposed to be rectified now by changed contracts
between private facilities and the state of Colorado," Watson said.
November 3, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Hawai'i prison officials signed a new contract with a private prison operator
this week that for the first time allows the state to financially penalize
the company if the prison operator fails to deliver on promised drug
treatment or other programs for inmates held on the Mainland. Frank Lopez,
acting director of the state Department of Public Safety, said the financial
sanctions included in the new contract with Corrections Corp. of America were
prompted by problems the state had in Oklahoma, when required drug treatment
services for Hawai'i women inmates abruptly ended after the prison was sold
in 2003. Inmate programs were interrupted again for more than four months
this year at another privately operated women's prison in Brush, Colo., after
allegations of sexual misconduct by the staff surfaced, triggering staff
resignations, firings and an investigation by the Colorado Department of
Corrections. Lopez said that interruption in programs at Brush might have
triggered financial penalties if the new contract provisions had been in
place at the time. "Our problem before was that we weren't able to
address the (contractors') failure to deliver certain services in the
past," Lopez said. "It wasn't specific enough. Our contract wasn't
tight enough." Neither the Oklahoma nor the Colorado women's prison was
operated by CCA, but state monitors have complained in the past that CCA also
failed to provide inmate programs that were required by contract. The state
prison system on Tuesday transferred another 53 women inmates from the
Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua to CCA's Otter Creek
Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky., bringing the number of women inmates
on the Mainland to 120, said Shari Kimoto, the department's Mainland branch administrator.
In all, Hawai'i houses about 1,850 men and women inmates in private prisons
in Arizona, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Kentucky because there is no room for
them in state-run prisons in Hawai'i. About half of the state's prison
population is housed on the Mainland. The new contract covers only the 120
women inmates at Otter Creek, but Lopez said he sees it as a model for new
contracts the state will negotiate with CCA next year covering male inmates
held out of state.
October 13, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
The former warden of a Colorado prison whose staff was accused of sexual
misconduct involving Hawai'i women inmates has pleaded guilty to a
misdemeanor criminal charge in connection with one of the misconduct cases.
Rick Soares resigned as warden of the privately run Brush Correctional
Facility in February shortly before Colorado authorities announced they were
investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by staff involving eight women
inmates from Hawai'i, Colorado and Wyoming. Two corrections officers were
later charged with felony sexual conduct in a penal institution in connection
with those investigations. Colorado authorities said they could find no
evidence the inmates were coerced for sex, but even consensual sexual contact
between an inmate and a prison staff member is a felony in Colorado. Soares
was later charged as an accessory in one of the two cases for allegedly
rendering assistance to Corrections Officer Fredrick Woller "with intent
to hinder, delay or prevent" the prosecution of Woller, according to the
charge filed against Soares in Colorado's Morgan County District Court.
Woller's case, which involves alleged sexual misconduct with an inmate from
Wyoming, has been scheduled for trial on Feb. 5, Watson said. A second former
corrections officer, Russell Rollison, is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 5 on
two similar counts. Rollison is accused of sexual misconduct involving two
women inmates from Hawai'i. Both of the Hawai'i inmates were returned to the
Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua. The rest of the Hawai'i
women serving sentences at Brush have been moved to the Otter Creek
Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky.
October 13, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has dramatically improved its oversight
of private prisons in the state, prisons officials told lawmakers last week.
In giving the Legislative Audit Committee an update on changes it has made in
how it manages the state's five private prisons, DOC director of prison
operations Nolin Renfrow told lawmakers that all is well. That audit he was
referring to was a scathing report released in June that criticized the
department for being lax in its oversight of private prisons and ignoring
problems with them for years. Prompted by a riot at the Crowley County
Correction Facility in Olney Springs last year, the audit said DOC knew or
should have known about numerous problems concerning the operations of the
prisons but did little to nothing to correct them. The state audit said the
department diverted DOC workers whose job was to monitor private prisons to
other duties, and failed to enforce operations rules and regulations. And in
those instances when the department's private prison monitoring units did
discover problems, the department failed to follow up to ensure that
corrections were made, the audit said. Four of those facilities are operated
by the same Nashville-based company, Corrections Corporation of American. In
additional to the Crowley County facility, CCA also operates private prisons
in Bent, Huerfano and Kit Carson counties. A fifth private facility that
houses female inmates is located in Brush. It is owned by the Brentwood,
Tenn.-based GRW Corporation.
October 7, 2005 The Gazette
Private prisons in Colorado could face cash penalties for failing to meet
minimum safety standards under new contracts negotiated by the Department of
Corrections in the wake of a stinging audit. In June, an audit of Colorado's
private prisons, which house about 2,800 of Colorado's 18,000 prisoners,
found numerous problems, including inadequate staffing levels, unlicensed
medical clinics, employees with criminal backgrounds and poor food services.
Thursday, corrections officials gave state lawmakers an update on their
response to the audit. For instance, private prisons will be fined if
staffing levels do not meet minimum standards or if the meals they feed
prisoners are not up to par. "I'm not sure the liquidated damages have
enough hammer to them," said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver. Corrections
officials said they need time to see if the new penalty system works.
September 29, 2005 Honolulu
Advertiser
About 80 Hawai'i women prison inmates boarded an airplane in Colorado
yesterday for a trip to the small rural town of Wheelwright, Ky., where they
will be housed in a prison run by Corrections Corporation of America. The
women had been held for the past 14 months in the Brush Correctional Facility
in Brush, Colo., a private prison run by GRW Corp. that was plagued by
problems including allegations of sexual misconduct between staff at the
prison and eight inmates from three states, including Hawai'i. The inmates
are among 1,828 Hawai'i convicts who are housed at privately run prisons on
the Mainland because there is no room for them in Hawai'i prisons. Colorado
Department of Corrections officials launched investigations into Brush
Correctional Facility earlier this year that resulted in a number of criminal
charges against staff and inmates in Colorado. Two prison employees were
indicted on charges of alleged sexual misconduct with inmates, and two more
prison workers were charged along with five inmates in connection with an
alleged cigarette-smuggling ring. Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned in
February, and was later indicted as an alleged accomplice in one of the sexual
misconduct cases. In March the Colorado Department of Corrections revealed
that five convicted felons were allowed to work at the prison because
background checks on some staff members had never been completed. Colorado
authorities later released an audit that was highly critical of the prison,
and contract monitors from Hawai'i reported the prison failed to comply with
its contract with the state in a number of areas.
July 28, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
They're out of sight, but must not be out of mind. Hawai'i's overflow inmate
population, housed at private prisons on the Mainland, remain our
responsibility. And making sure they are treated humanely while serving their
time must be our concern. That's why state officials are right to demand an
investigation into the sudden opening of cell doors in the predawn hours of
July 17 at Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility that resulted in a riot.
More than 700 Hawai'i inmates have been housed since last year at the
Mississippi prison, owned by Corrections Corp. of America. Two inmates were
injured in the fight. Kane'ohe resident Sandra Cooper, the mother of one
inmate, has her doubts that an internal probe will be enough to bring out the
truth about how the cell doors opened. She called on the FBI to do a thorough
inquiry, and that indeed would be the ideal way to proceed here. There's
precedent for the FBI to take jurisdiction in a case where inmates are
brought across state lines. At the very least, an independent authority
should drive the investigation, rather than the prison's private owners. And
state officials here must continue to ride herd to see that the investigation
proceeds to a satisfactory conclusion. In a separate prison issue, it's a
relief to see that the state has decided to pull the plug on its contract
with the troubled Brush Correctional Facility, a northeastern Colorado prison
housing 80 women inmates from Hawai'i. Because of ongoing investigations into
alleged sexual misconduct between staff and prisoners, it's imperative that
the move be made as soon as possible, while allowing for careful scrutiny of
the prisoners' next destination. The end-of-September target date for the
move seems reasonable, assuming that the state maintain its careful
monitoring of Brush in the meantime. These painful episodes clearly
illustrate that housing inmates on the Mainland is merely a short-term
response to our critical prison shortage here, and creates its own additional
problems. Hawai'i must continue to: work toward expanded prison capacity in
the Islands, where we can retain better control of conditions; strengthen the
probation system to keep some first-time offenders out of prison; and work on
preventive strategies aimed at stemming the tide in drug abuse, which fuels
so much of the state's crime problem. Sending inmates to the Mainland is just
a stopgap solution.
July 27, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Hawai'i plans to move 80 women inmates out of a troubled private prison in
Colorado by the end of September but is unsure where they will go, prison
officials said. Hawai'i prison spokesman Michael Gaede confirmed the
state is requesting bids from facilities to house the Hawai'i inmates and
that the request in effect requires they be moved out of the Brush Correctional
Facility, a 250-bed prison in northeastern Colorado. The Brush prison
has been under close scrutiny since Colorado authorities disclosed in
February they were investigating allegations of sexual misconduct between
staff at the prison and eight inmates from three states, including
Hawai'i. Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned in February, and was later
indicted as an alleged accomplice in one of the sexual misconduct
cases. Two other prison employees also were indicted on charges of alleged
sexual misconduct with inmates, and two more prison workers were indicted
along with five inmates in connection with an alleged cigarette smuggling
ring. Those disclosures were followed by reports in March that five
convicted felons were allowed to work at the prison because background checks
on some staff members had never been completed. Since then Hawai'i monitors
have filed reports noting that the prison failed to comply with its contract
with the state in a number of areas, and Colorado authorities released an
audit that was highly critical of the prison. Contract monitors and
other reports this year cited a litany of concerns about the prison,
including: GRW for many months used inmates to teach required
rehabilitation classes to other inmates. Colorado corrections officials
repeatedly complained about the practice, and Hawai'i contract monitors in
February warned the practice was a "serious concern" for Hawai'i as
well. After the sexual misconduct allegations were made public at
Brush, virtually all inmate rehabilitative and educational programming was
shut down from January to early June, prison officials acknowledged. That
violates the state's contract requirement that those services be offered to
inmates. Inmates and state monitors have repeatedly complained the
Brush prison was providing inadequate dental and medical care. Brush
prison officials reported in May that the facility was visited by a doctor
only once a month, and a Hawai'i contract monitor's report in May called that
staffing inadequate. Hawai'i contract monitors also warned the facility
in February that it was obliged by contract to give inmates better access to
dental care, and monitors again cited the same problem in a follow-up
inspection in May. Hawai'i monitors complained last year the Brush
prison was not conducting drug testing of inmates that is required by
contract, and once again criticized the prison in May for not doing the
required testing. A Colorado audit released in June found the Brush
prison clinic was not licensed as required under Colorado law, a lapse that
also violated the prison's contract with Hawai'i.
June
21, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Three states could pull their inmates from Colorado's private prisons by the
end of the summer, spooked by a recent sexual misconduct scandal and squeezed
by Colorado's own rising prisoner population. The state's five private
facilities house about 2,700 Colorado inmates. They also contract with three
other states - Hawaii, Washington and Wyoming - to hold prisoners those
states can't, due to overcrowding. The private prisons have lost or stand to
lose nearly 400 out-of-state inmates, which would be an approximately $20,000
per-day hit spread between two Tennessee firms who run them. State officials
say they can fill the gap with 400 Colorado inmates waiting for prison beds -
contradicting warnings the private firms sounded earlier this year - and
suggest that facilities filled only with Colorado prisoners could prove
easier to control. Corrections officials say it's easier to manage prisoners
from one state, because they are all used to the same rules. Some states, for
example allow cigarette smoking or conjugal visits, which Colorado does not.
"It is always easier to manage a single jurisdiction population,"
said Alison Morgan, a corrections department spokeswoman. Later, she said the
loss of out-of-state inmates "is not a bad thing." Officials
also have said out-of- state inmates may have fueled or contributed to two
riots in the past decade, including one at the Crowley County Correctional
Facility last July. Washington once sent more than 200 prisoners to Colorado.
The state has moved all but a few to other states, a Washington corrections
official said Monday. Wyoming will move its 54 male inmates - already down
from a high of 300 - from Colorado by summer's end, a corrections spokeswoman
there said. Wyoming has already moved 38 female inmates from a private prison
in Brush, in part because of alleged sexual misconduct between prison guards
and inmates that surfaced in February. Hawaiian officials are rebidding their
contract to house 80 women who are in Brush. Twenty- one state lawmakers
urged their governor in April to move those inmates "immediately,"
the Honolulu Advertiser reported.
April 17, 2005 AP
Lawmakers are petitioning Gov. Linda Lingle to move dozens of female
Hawaii inmates out of a Colorado prison where staffers were allegedly
involved in sexual misconduct with prisoners. Twenty-one members of the
Women's Legislative Caucus want Lingle to increase state monitoring of the
Brush Correctional Facility in Colorado and ultimately move the 80 Hawaii
inmates to another facility. House Judiciary Chairwoman Sylvia Luke,
D-Pacific Heights-Punchbowl, said she is concerned about reports that prison
staff may be retaliating against Hawaii inmates following allegations that
guards were involved in sexual misconduct earlier this year with inmates from
Hawaii, Colorado and Wyoming. Kat Brady, coordinator of the Community
Alliance on Prisons, said Hawaii inmates have faced unfair administrative
punishments and had legal records confiscated. The inmates believe these are
examples of retaliatory acts, Brady said. GRW chief executive officer Gil
Walker has said he expects Colorado to increase its number of inmates in
Brush, so the company won't take a financial hit when Wyoming removes it's
inmates. "I don't think it will hurt us at all," Walker said.
April 14, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Wyoming will remove its women inmates from a privately run Mainland prison
that also houses Hawai'i women inmates, the same prison where staff members
were accused of sexual misconduct involving Hawai'i, Wyoming and Colorado
inmates. Melinda Brazzale, spokeswoman for the Wyoming Department of
Corrections, cited a recent series of problems at the prison in the decision
to remove the Wyoming inmates from the Brush Correctional Facility in
Colorado. Those problems included criminal charges filed against staff
members and the former warden in connection with the sexual misconduct
allegations, and revelations that the prison allowed five convicted felons to
work there because their background checks had not been completed.
Investigations by Colorado state prison officials concluded prison staff had
been involved in alleged sexual misconduct with two Hawai'i inmates, two
Colorado inmates and four Wyoming inmates. Two other members of the prison
staff were charged in an alleged cigarette smuggling ring.
March 24, 2005 AP
Colorado prison officials are reviewing background checks for employees at
five private prisons run by Tennessee companies after discovering that some
employees at one of them had criminal records. State Corrections Department
spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Thursday that five convicted criminals and
three people whose backgrounds "merited further investigation" had
been hired at the Brush Correctional Facility, a privately run women's prison
where several guards face charges of having consensual sex with inmates and
smuggling tobacco into the facility. Morgan said a former warden for GRW
Corp., a Brentwood, Tenn.-based company that has held a state contract to run
the prison for 18 months, failed to complete background checks for some
employees. The failure was first reported by KCNC-TV of Denver. She said it
appears that fingerprints for the guards that were sent to the Colorado
Bureau of Investigation were smudged or otherwise unreadable. The prints were
sent back to the prison, which did not follow up, Morgan said. Morgan said
the Corrections Department's Private Prisons Monitoring Unit does not have
the staff or funding to regularly conduct its own background checks of
private-prison employees.
March 23, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
People with criminal records were hired to work at a Brush prison where
several employees are facing charges for allegedly having sex with inmates,
according to a CBS 4 News investigation. The Brush Correctional Facility is a
medium-security prison that holds 250 women. GRW Corp., a private company
headquartered in Tennessee, runs the prison and hired several employees with
criminal records to watch over the inmates, according to CBS 4 News. The
company has fired six employees with criminal histories so far. Four guards
have resigned from the prison, and one has been put on administrative leave.
The warden, Rick Soares, resigned Feb. 18, a month after the Department of
Corrections first received reports of sexual misconduct. Three prison guards
are facing criminal charges for allegedly having sex with seven inmates. Two
other guards and an inmate are accused of smuggling contraband cigarettes
into the facility. The list of the prison employees with questionable
backgrounds includes 28-year-old Angela Gallegos, CBS 4 News said. A prison
guard, she was arrested on a felony charge three years ago and pleaded guilty
to misdemeanor harassment. Heather Henry, 24, was also hired as a guard. Her
record includes arrests for harassment, domestic violence-assault, violating
protective orders and child abuse. Richard Fairchild, 42, was convicted of
domestic violence and violating a restraining order. Gil Walker, president of
GRW, said these are the last people who should be working in a prison and
should have never been hired. "We don't hire questionable people, and
that's the embarrassing part," Walker told CBS 4 News. Walker said the company
never finished its background checks on potential employees and didn't know
their full histories.
March 10, 2005 Fort Morgan Times
Morgan County District Attorney Bob Watson filed additional charges Wednesday
in connection with the prison sexual misconduct scandal in Brush. The new
indictments include a charge of unlawful sexual conduct in a penal
institution lodged against a second guard, charges of being an accessory to a
crime against the former warden and charges against another nine current or
former prison employees related to introducing contraband cigarettes into the
prison and conspiracy to commit introduction of contraband. According to
Watson, the new charges are not necessarily all that will result from his
office's ongoing investigation of the GRW-owned private prison. According to
case filings made Wednesday in Morgan County District Court, corrections
officer Fredrick Henry Woller, 32, of Brush is charged with unlawful sexual
conduct in a penal institution, a class five felony. Specifically, Woller is
alleged to have engaged in sexual conduct with prisoner Cristie Maez. Also
charged Wednesday was former Warden Richard "Rick" Soares Jr., 57,
of Sterling, who was allegedly an accessory to the crime of unlawful sexual
conduct in a penal institution, also a class five felony. He is accused of
hindering the investigation. The pair joins corrections officer Russell
Rollison, 31, of Brush, who was charged last week with unlawful sexual
conduct in a penal institution. Other charges resulting from the criminal
probe to date regard prison food service and other prison employees allegedly
conspiring with inmates to bring cigarettes into the prison. Cigarettes have
been banned from Colorado penal institutions since 1999. Those charged with
introducing contraband in the second degree, a class six felony, and
conspiracy to commit introduction of contraband, also a class six felony,
are: Pania Akopian, 31, Pisa Tuvale, 35, Annette Cummings, 38, Janice
Crockett, 47, and Jeannette Dillon, 38, all of whom have the Brush Correctional
Facility listed as their address; Gail Guerrero, no age listed, and Maria
Ramirez, 46, both of Brush; Charmayne Kalama, 28, of Kapolei, Hawaii, and
Stannie T. Muramoto, 46, of Honolulu, Hawaii. According to Gil Walker, CEO of
Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the 250-bed private prison, an internal
investigation uncovered only consensual sex between the guards and prisoners.
Alison Morgan, a state corrections department spokeswoman, said the DOC
investigation revealed at least some of the sex as having been initiated by
inmates. She said inmates from both Hawaii and Wyoming admitted to initiating
the encounters either so they could be returned home or in an effort to sue
the prison. However, a Hawaii attorney representing two of the inmates has alleged
his clients were raped. The case was referred to DA Watson's office by the
state corrections department's inspector general's office. The Brush prison,
which became the first private prison for women in Colorado, opened in
August, 2003. It houses 80 inmates from Hawaii, 73 from Colorado and 45 from
Wyoming. Colorado pays $50 a day to GRW to house its prisoners.
March 10, 2005 The Denver Channel
The former warden and 10 other people at the privately run Brush Correctional
Facility for Women face felony charges for conduct ranging from having sex
with inmates to smuggling tobacco into the prison. Filings released by
District Attorney Robert Watson show 32-year-old Fredrick Henry Woller faces
a felony charge for allegedly having sex with an inmate. Former warden Rick
Soares, 57, faces charges of being an accessory for allegedly hindering the
discovery of Woller's conduct. Earlier this month, two correctional officers
and seven female inmates were charged with several offenses, including
introducing contraband in the form of tobacco. Watson said other
investigations are pending. Soares last month resigned from Tennessee-based
GRW, which owns the 250-bed prison in Morgan County, after a month-long
investigation implicated several officers. The department's inspector
general's staff reported to Watson last month that three officers had sex
with four inmates from Wyoming, two from Colorado and two from Hawaii. Some
of the women alleged they were raped, but investigators concluded the sex was
consensual. Having sex with an inmate is a felony for guards. The facility
became the first private prison for women in Colorado in August 2003.
March 4, 2005 Star Bulletin
Female inmates from Hawaii will remain at a privately run women's prison in
Colorado where five officers face sexual misconduct and contraband charges,
Hawaii officials said yesterday. A visit to the prison by state monitors last
month shows Hawaii does not need to transfer its inmates to an alternate
facility, said Richard Bissen, interim director of Hawaii's Department of
Public Safety. "Incidents like this happen at facilities," Bissen
said. "But that place is being more closely monitored than ever, and the
women themselves say they are safe." Three prison officers had sex with
a total of four Hawaii inmates, two Colorado inmates and one Wyoming inmate,
according to Alison Morgan, a spokesperson for the Colorado corrections
department. Two of the officers have resigned, and a third is on
administrative leave. Investigations show the sex was consensual, said Gil
Walker, founder and chief executive of Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the
Brush Correctional Facility for Women, located in Colorado. One case involved
two Hawaii inmates and a guard, who admitted to engaging in sexual activity
in January in the prison library. Some civil rights advocates argue that
there is no such thing as consensual sex between an inmate and an authority
figure. "We have a law that says it's a felony. It's not consensual when
someone is in custody," said Kat Brady, an advocate with the American
Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. Myles Breiner, a Honolulu lawyer who is
representing the Hawaii inmates, has said the women were forced to perform a
sex act for Rollison. Morgan said some Hawaii and Wyoming inmates admitted
they believed having sex with the guards would help them get transferred to
their home states, where they would be closer to relatives.
February 25, 2005 Denver Post
The warden resigned and five correctional officers at the privately run Brush
Correctional Facility for women face sexual misconduct and contraband charges
in the wake of a criminal probe. Warden Rick Soares resigned from
Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the 250-bed prison in Brush, on Feb. 18 after
a month-long investigation implicated the five officers, said Alison Morgan,
state Department of Corrections spokeswoman. The warden was not implicated in
the wrongdoing. The department's inspector general's office referred
contraband allegations involving two staff members and one inmate and sexual
misconduct allegations involving three staff members to District Attorney
Robert Watson on Thursday. Three officers who were not named had sex with
four Hawaiian inmates, two Colorado inmates and one Wyoming inmate, Morgan
said. Two of the officers resigned, and a third is on administrative leave
pending the outcome of the criminal case. Some of the women alleged they were
raped, but investigators concluded the sex was consensual, sometimes
initiated by inmates, Morgan said. It's still a felony offense for
correctional officers, she said. She said some Hawaiian and Wyoming inmates
acknowledged they had sex with correctional officers because they believed
they would be returned home, where they would be closer to relatives. Others
hoped to file lawsuits against the prison. Two officers and an inmate were
caught sneaking tobacco into the prison, Morgan said.
Centennial Community
Transition Center
Arapahoe County, Colorado
Correctional Management Inc
November 22, 2008 CBS 4 Denver
An Arapahoe County halfway house has been placed on probation until next June
after residents were found to be drinking, others were leaving the secure
facility in the middle of the night without authorization and still other
clients said staff members were accepting bribes for looking the other way. "It's
unfortunate staff members violated the trust we have given them," said
Mike Koob, Operations Vice President for Correctional Management Inc., the
company that operates the halfway house. In late July, an offender at
Centennial Community Transition Center, located at 14485 East Fremont Ave.,
told a staff member about numerous security lapses. That led supervisors to
conduct a surprise 1:30 a.m. inspection on July 26. They found four clients
were missing from the facility without authorization. All four had stuffed
their beds with clothes to suggest they were still there and sleeping. One
was serving a four year sentence for felony vehicular eluding. Another was
serving a one year sentence for felony menacing. All four offenders tested
positive for alcohol when they returned after being gone for several hours.
One later wrote a statement saying he paid a corrections technician $100 to
allow him to leave the facility at about 11:45 pm. "This has been going
on for a couple of weeks," the man wrote. Breathalyzer tests given to
other clients showed ten were positive for alcohol. Three days after the
surprise inspection, another offender told a manager that a staff member was
taking $100 bribes in exchange for allowing clients to provide clean urine
samples for each other. All that prompted the Arapahoe County Community
Corrections Board to call a special emergency meeting Aug. 4 demanding
answers from CMI, the operator of the halfway house. Board member John Jordan
said his biggest concern was 'community safety'. Arapahoe County District
Attorney Carol Chambers made a motion to remove all violent offenders from
CCTC and only allow the facility to take property offenders. But the board
voted 12-1 against that motion. Correctional Management subsequently fired
three staff members involved in the halfway house shenanigans. Eight
offenders involved in the July incidents were sent back to jail to complete
their sentences. On Oct. 16, the Arapahoe County Community Corrections Board
placed CCTC on probation until June 30, 2009. Arapahoe County Community
Resources Director Don Klemme said it was the first time the community
corrections board had placed a halfway house on probation. In an Oct. 20
letter to the corrections board, CMI Vice President Mike Koob wrote that "CMI
took the situation at CCTC seriously and responded immediately and
decisively." In another letter from CMI to the community corrections
board, the company said it "hired staff that chose not to live up to the
responsibility and trust placed upon them in their positions...CMI believes
this is a very serious and unfortunate incident." The company said since
the July discoveries, it has made several changes including random,
unannounced facility visits.
Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center
Colorado Springs, Colorado
GEO Group
Jan
24, 2020 kdvr.com
Lawsuit:
Escaping inmate falls through air ducts and lands on another, causing head
injury
COLORADO
SPRINGS, Colo. -- A former inmate is suing a Colorado private prison after he
suffered a closed head injury during another inmate’s escape attempt through
the detention center’s ceiling HVAC system. “I don’t recall if I heard
anything…I just remember I felt a blow. It was a painful blow,” said Shawn
Allen of the January 2018 incident at the Cheyenne Mountain Reentry Center in
Colorado Springs. Allen said he was knocked out during the ordeal, but a
roommate told him one of two escaping inmates had fallen on top of him. “It
was the weight of the man’s leg and foot – part of his body – landing with
the metal on top of my head, slamming my face down to the hardwood table,
which caused a skull fracture,” Allen said. In a federal lawsuit filed
against the facility, Allen’s attorney, Todd Bovo, alleges the nurses and
other staff at the facility were negligent and indifferent to Allen’s medical
needs by failing to provide proper attention to his injuries. “Mr. Allen’s
serious medical injuries went undiagnosed; finally, an x-ray was taken
approximately twenty days after the incident,” the lawsuit says. “Mr. Allen
suffered excruciating pain and was finally seen by an outside medical
specialist approximately (45) forty-five days later who diagnosed him with
traumatic iritis and ordered a CT scan of the brain. Another month passed
without receiving the care he needed and finally, the CT scan was taken which
revealed an undisputed orbital eye fracture from the incident,” the federal
complaint stated. Allen’s medical records confirm he suffered a fracture near
his eye. “I feel like I’m in a dream state,” Allen said. “I feel like I’m in
a daze, a fog.” “We want to respect the dignity of all our people – even
those who are incarcerated – and that didn’t happen here,” said Bovo, who is
pushing for compensation for his client’s suffering. “He deserves the right
to pursue happiness and the right to be free of pain, and when they make
medical decisions for him because he’s in custody and those medical decisions
are inappropriate, that needs to stop." The facility is slated to close
in March, but the Geo Group, which runs the detention center, said it was
reviewing the lawsuit. “We have received and are reviewing the suit brought
by the plaintiff (Mr. Allen) relating to alleged injuries resulting from a
ceiling collapse that occurred when two inmates were attempting to escape the
CMRC facility through the HVAC system on January 21, 2018,” said Brian
Miller, a spokesperson for the Geo Group. Miller said he could not comment
further about the medical care due to the pending litigation. Allen said he
still suffers from pain and difficulty with his eyes. He regularly attends a
music therapy class for victims of head injuries at the Brain Injury Alliance
of Colorado.
Jan
8, 2020 cpr.org
Private
Prison To Close Colorado Springs Facility, Forcing The State To Reopen A
Shuttered Prison To Rehouse 650 Inmates
Colorado’s
Department of Corrections is preparing to find new beds for hundreds of
inmates after the private prison company GEO announced Tuesday it will close
its facility in Colorado Springs in two months. “Although we are disappointed
by (GEO’s) decision, we are confident that as a department we will be able to
manage the considerable impact of this change safely,” DOC Executive Director
Dean Williams said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. The state has 60 days to
relocate 650 inmates from GEO’s Cheyenne Mountain Reentry Center. GEO’s move
comes after Gov. Jared Polis announced in November that he intended to close
the private facility as part of his 2020 budget request. GEO Group spokesman
Brian Miller said in an emailed statement that the company has had challenges
retaining and recruiting staff at Cheyenne Mountain. “We will work with the
DOC to develop a transition plan and prioritize the health, safety and
well-being of CMRC staff and residents,” Miller said in the email. “The state
has made its intentions clear; that it wants to manage this population within
its own facilities, and we will work with them toward that end." Miller
said the Colorado Springs facility has 180 employees and GEO will work with
its staff on transition assistance. The state paints a different picture of
its interactions with the company. The DOC statement says state officials
have been in ongoing conversations with GEO regarding its “inability to
provide appropriate treatment, lack of offender programs, staffing level
issues, and turn-over rate.” Williams said he was surprised and disappointed
in the short notice GEO gave the state.
“While we had been maintaining regular communications with the GEO
Corporation regarding our serious concerns about their current operations and
the terms of our contract with them, we had simultaneously been preparing for
the very real concern that they would choose to rapidly close the facility,”
Williams said. To absorb the 650 inmates from Cheyenne Mountain, the state
wants to reopen its Centennial South prison in Cañon City to house
higher-security inmates from other Colorado facilities. Those inmates’ open
beds would be filled by the medium-custody inmates from the Colorado Springs
facility. Centennial South was
completed in 2010 to hold inmates in solitary confinement but was closed two
years later as Colorado’s prison population declined and the state moved away
from using administrative segregation. The facility can hold almost 1,000
inmates and has since been restructured to give inmates more human contact.
Williams said transferring 650 inmates is doable, but it isn’t an ideal
situation. He estimates 300 inmates will be double-bunked, or put on
gymnasium or day room floors temporarily. He said there is no other long-term
solution besides re-opening Centennial South.
“There is no other place to put 600-some prisoners,” he said. “I
understand there may be reluctance. There's some history about what that
facility's about, but I've tried to assure the legislature and others that
no, no, no, that, whatever that was built for, that's not how we're using
it.” In October, Democratic lawmakers
on a task force studying the state’s prison population agreed to back a
proposed bill that would cut the number of inmates held in private prisons by
almost 30 percent by moving them to Centennial South. That measure will be
introduced in the legislative session that starts Wednesday. Colorado has
three private prisons currently in operation, including the one in Colorado
Springs. The other two are in Bent and Crowley counties, a spokeswoman with
the DOC said.
Nov 29, 2017 patch.com
Inmate killed At Colorado Springs For-Profit Prison : CDOC
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- An inmate at a Colorado Springs prison re-entry
facility died Nov. 26 after an assault from another inmate or inmates that
took place earlier in the week, the Colorado Dept. of Corrections reported.
Daniel Pena, 64, died of injuries Nov. 26 after being assaulted at the
Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center, 2925 E Las Vegas St. A statement from CDOT
said the assault investigation began on Nov. 20, but did not specify when the
assault happened. The assault was described as, "an isolated incident
involving offenders, no correctional officers were injured," in a press
release. CDOC Spokesman Mark Fairbairn told the Denver Post that Pena had
been sentenced in 2014 for illegally drugging a victim, was scheduled for
release on March 21, 2019. He was eligible for parole. Cheyenne Mountain
Re-entry Center is one of four for-profit prisons in Colorado, run by the Geo
Group, Inc. The facility is described as a place where male inmates live and
are given job training and therapy resources prior to ending their prison
terms. The CDOC website calls Cheyenne Mountain, "the last stop before
community reintegration." The Department of Corrections Inspector
General's office and El Paso County District Attorney's office are now
treating the investigation as a homicide, the departments said in a press
statement. The investigation is considered "active" and more
details will be released later.
March 29, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in
Southeastern Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent
closure of a state-run prison. Savings from the pending closure of another
state-run prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the for-profit
ventures. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County Correctional Facility
in Las Animas, has notified the state that it needs a subsidy or it will
start shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff Roxane White
said Wednesday. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure something out they will
be in a situation where they have to close a prison,” she said. Similar
threats loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, which also is
operated by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs,
operated by Community Education Centers Inc., according to White. “At both
the CCA facilities and Cheyenne Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are
empty,” she said. “They are looking at the need to make staffing reductions.”
White confirmed that diverting the estimated $4.5 million in savings the
state expects to realize next year from the pending closure of Colorado State
Penitentiary II in Canon City is one option, but she doubts that would be enough
to satisfy the private prison companies. “It’s not enough to cover it,” she
said. “In this case, we need in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to $15
million to keep the (private) prisons all operational.” Ideally, White said,
any action by the private prison companies could be postponed while the state
conducts a thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison
population, whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can
best manage its resources in light of the findings.
January 11, 2010 Westworld
Sherman Schuett followed the rules at CMRC -- and ended up in the hole
for his own protection. If you're Sherman Schuett, the answer to the question
posed by the headline above, at least for lawsuit-filing purposes, is in
excess of $100,000. The 61-year-old state inmate and his Evergreen attorney,
Ron Beeks, are suing the operators of a controversial private prison in
Colorado Springs that's supposed to help prepare prisoners for the difficult
journey back to society. The Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center encourages its
clients to take responsibility for their actions and confront misbehavior by
others. That's what Schuett thought he was doing in 2008 when he reported
another resident for punching holes in the wal l-- an act that might be considered
snitching in a more traditional correctional facility. An employee left
Schuett's report where the other prisoner could see it, and Schuett was
attacked in a unit that he claims lacked any supervision. He suffered various
facial injuries, including a contact smashed in one eye, and spent three
months in segregation after the attack for his own protection. Schuett's saga
is one of several complaints about beatings, inappropriate relationships
between staff and prisoners, smuggling, and other problems at CMRC that were
explored in our 2008 feature "Con School." Now working in Denver
and awaiting his next parole hearing, Schuett says one of his goals in filing
suit was to prod the prison's operator, Community Education Centers, into
improving its management of the facility.
Colorado Department of Corrections
Aug
27, 2019 denverpost.com
Denver
City Council approves new contracts with for-profit detention companies —
with promise of change. Aug 27, 2019 denverpost.com
Three
weeks ago, the Denver City Council divorced Denver from private corrections
companies in city-shaking style. On Monday, they patched things up — at least
for now. The council unanimously approved new contracts with CoreCivic and a
GEO Group subsidiary to run some of the city’s halfway houses, or community
corrections facilities. The facilities are alternatives to prison. A majority
of council members want to move away from the companies because they run
immigrant detention facilities, including GEO’s facility in Aurora. Members
also questioned the growing role of private, for-profit companies in the
criminal justice system. Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration shortened the
GEO contract to expire at the end of 2019, rather than running a full year.
The contract with CoreCivic still will run until next June 30. And, more
broadly, the administration promised later changes. With growing opposition
and slowing prison population growth, what is the future for private prison
companies in Colorado? “We heard the message loud and clear, so we’re moving
to distance ourselves from both CoreCivic and GEO,” said Greg Mauro, the
city’s community corrections director. The administration also agreed to
create a community advisory group to oversee the transition. Refusing to
renew the contracts on Monday could have resulted in the facilities closing,
with hundreds of residents sent to prison unless they were granted parole,
city and state officials warned. Lisa Calderón, chief of staff for Candi
CdeBaca, said the councilwoman’s office received complaints about food
quality and mandatory chores, among other concerns. But Mauro said a city
investigation showed one of the most serious allegations about unpaid labor
to be unfounded. Together, the new contracts are worth $8.7 million and
mostly are funded by the state. CdeBaca said that the council was pushing the
city toward closer oversight and to figure out “how to build our own capacity
again to do this work.”
Jul 5, 2018 timescall.com
As private halfway houses work to improve procedures, Boulder County says
facilities are outdated
Staff at two private halfway houses in Boulder County say they've shored
up procedures for documenting inmate behavioral violations since a state
inspection found reports of problematic conduct were lacking. But amid that
progress, county officials last week described the Longmont Community
Treatment Center and Boulder Community Treatment Center facilities — run by
publicly traded private-prison giant CoreCivic — as outdated. That
characterization of the halfway houses emerged as Boulder County's
commissioners said they are mulling whether to ask voters to approve a tax
hike on November's ballot that would fund construction of a new alternative
sentencing facility and upgrades to the county jail. Both halfway houses hold
a mix of state prison inmates transitioning back into public life and
low-level offenders sentenced directly to work-release or other programs
requiring only part-time incarceration. Residents stay at the facilities at
night, but can leave during the day to work regular jobs in the community.
CoreCivic's management of the halfway houses came under fire in November from
the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice's Office of Community Corrections
for failing to comply with a voluntary inmate sanctioning model known as
BSMART, as well as more basic state guidelines for handling violations such
as inmate drug or alcohol use or bringing contraband into the facilities.
"We took actions, but not documentation (of behavioral violations).
BSMART is new to us. It was new on our computer system at that time,"
Shannon Carst, managing director for CoreCivic, said in a Tuesday interview
at the Longmont Community Treatment Center. She added that Boulder County
staff has stepped up its presence at the halfway houses and has performed
both scheduled and random fidelity checks to ensure the corrective action
plan requested by the state is being followed. Christopher Jon Cushing, 57,
entered the Longmont facility in November as part of his sentence for
multiple felony convictions of driving under the influence. His experience
highlights some of the differences of the halfway house that county officials
have acknowledged. In phone interviews, Cushing said he spiraled into
suicidal thoughts while in the Longmont facility as other inmates were using
illegal drugs in front of him, and he had no access to a window or any
natural light while sleeping in a room with 10 people. CoreCivic employees
said the Longmont facility has rooms that sleep between two and 10 people.
After contacting Boulder County Community Justice Services officials to
complain of his situation in Longmont, Cushing last month was transferred to
CoreCivic's facility in Boulder, which is a refurbished apartment building
with more windows in inmate housing areas. He said access to the Boulder
facility's outdoor yard also has made his stay there more enjoyable than in
Longmont, where there is an outside patio facing an alley surrounded by a
thin patch of dirt where inmates have planted some flowers that they are
allowed to visit. "Having windows and being allowed to go outside and
get fresh air, I think that makes the difference for every human being on
Earth," Cushing said. Alternative sentencing facilities with windows in
inmate housing areas are rare, though, Carst noted, as windows present
security concerns. Michelle Krezek, the county commissioners' staff deputy,
said there is a lack of adequate programming space at each building, both of
which she said were between 30 and 40 years old. "They're not built for
the programming that is best practices now," she said. "The folks
that go there, the reason they're in the alternative sentencing space is
because they're getting ready to re-enter the community. They need job
training... They're getting services in those facilities, but (the buildings)
are like if you're driving a car with 300,000 miles on it that still
runs." But Mike Koop, CoreCivic's senior director of facility
operations, said just as many inmates prefer the Longmont facility over the
Boulder facility as those who mirror Cushing's likings. "I think it
serves its purpose," Carst said of the Longmont facility, noting its
close proximity to public transportation and downtown employment
opportunities for inmates. "Right now, this is what we have to work with."
She added that she would prefer to live in the Boulder facility because of
its apartment building design, though. High turnover rates among CoreCivic
staff at the two facilities also have been stabilized since last year, Carst
said, as the company's leaders recently have focused on recruiting efforts
and learning employee retention techniques. Many staffers working for
CoreCivic's Boulder County facilities left last year to take jobs with
government-run jails and correctional facilities. "Community corrections
is a lot harder than a lot of correctional professionals think," said
Vanessa Joseph, director of Boulder Community Treatment Center. "It's
different from working in a jail or prison. There is more interaction (with
halfway house inmates), and you have people coming in and going out."
Apr 8, 2017 csindy.com
Colorado Springs' fleet contractor lost money, calls for 22 percent price
increase
In this week's issue of the Independent, we report that then-Mayor Steve
Bach's grand idea to outsource the city's fleet maintenance work to save
money is on a collision course of sorts. Not only has the city not saved the
money it expected so far, but there have been some performance problems as
well. The five-year contract is held by Serco, an international giant based
in the United Kingdom. Serco says it's lost $1.4 million in the contract's
first three years and wants a 22 percent increase in contract price for 2017,
the contract's fourth year. The city isn't obliging, and Serco filed a
lawsuit recently. Serco, it turns out, has had some problems before. A few
examples: In 2006, the Forest Service cancelled a contract. According to a
report on a union website: On May 1, 2006, the Forest Service terminated for
default its Region 5 fleet maintenance contract with Serco Management
Services, Inc. This will affect how the agency's California fleet, including
specialized fire-fighting equipment, will be serviced. The California fleet
maintenance work was originally outsourced to Serco as part of President
Bush's competitive sourcing initiative. Recently, the Forest Service
Washington Office reported that this generated $1.7 million in estimated
savings in fiscal year 2005. However, a Region 5 investigation in early 2006
found that Serco was chronically behind in accomplishing work, and that
shoddy work had placed our employees and the public in general in unsafe
situations. In Sacramento, 14 of 25 Serco-serviced fire engines were removed
from service for critical safety issues. The city of Dallas reported that
while it saved more than expected, Serco had problems meeting the vehicle
availability requirements. Serco has only met the fleet availability
requirement for 81 of 171 workdays, or 47% of the time. After various
meetings with Serco, in June 2006, the City had Serco submit a plan to meet
the 90% fleet availability contract performance. Fleet availability has
improved but continual improvement is needed. While the contract provides for
overall fleet availability requirements, further analysis showed significant
differences in the fleet availability based on the specific types of
equipment. Nevertheless, the Sanitation Department advised us they were
satisfied with Serco’s service and that Serco’s inability to achieve the
fleet availability requirements has not interrupted service to citizens. Both
of those cases date back 10 years, and things could have changed since then.
So we asked Serco for a comment about those contracts and will circle back
when we hear something.
Apr 29, 2016 krdo.com
14 taken to hospital after prison transport van crash
A private prison transport van was involved in a crash
on the west side of Wilkerson Pass Friday. Colorado State Patrol says the
crash happened on Highway 24 just before 9 a.m. 12 inmates, the driver and
another passenger were taken to the hospital with unknown injuries. The
injured were taken to hospitals in Colorado Springs and Woodland Park. Two
vehicles were involved in the crash. The other vehicle was a 1999 Jeep. The
van is operated by Prisoner Transportation Services of America. The crash is
under investigation. State Patrol says weather may have been a factor. The
crash did cause traffic delays. The road fully reopened at 11:26 a.m.
Apr
16, 2016 denverpost.com
Colorado budget talks stumble after $3 million request for rural prison
Hickenlooper's administration said the closure of a prison in a rural
community would have serious repercussions. Hickenlooper's administration
said the closure of a prison in a rural community would have serious
repercussions. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post) Colorado budget writers quietly
gave Gov. John Hickenlooper's administration the authority to spend $3
million to stave off closure of a Burlington private prison that is
struggling as its inmate population declines. The last-minute move angered
some lawmakers Thursday and drew criticism about spending tax dollars to
benefit a private, for-profit prison — angst that is now jeopardizing the
$25.8 billion state budget ahead of Friday's deadline for passage. The cash
infusion would increase how much the state pays Corrections Corporation of
America to house inmates, allowing the company — the largest of its kind in
the country — to keep open Kit Carson Correctional Center in eastern
Colorado. Hickenlooper's administration said the closure of a prison in a
rural community would have serious repercussions. The governor's budget
director, Henry Sobanet, said he understood why the request was sparking
criticism, especially when the budget is tight, but that "given the
seriousness of a potential closure in a rural community," the governor's
office found it necessary. But Democratic lawmakers and critics of the
private prison system are skeptical about the request. "They have a
pattern of threatening to close prisons, to declare an emergency to get a
bailout from taxpayers," said Christie Donner, director of the Colorado
Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. "This is Chapter 2 of the same
crap." It's the second bailout for CCA in recent years after lawmakers
gave the company $9 million in 2012 to keep the Burlington facility open. CCA
officials informed the Hickenlooper administration in mid-March that they may
close the prison — which employs 130 people — amid negotiations on the annual
contract that starts July 1. CCA officials did not provide an interview, but
in an emailed statement characterized the negotiations as an "ongoing
conversation." Spokesman Jonathan Burns said the company is working
toward a "flexible solution" to keep three viable prisons in
Colorado. CCA has two besides Burlington — in Las Animas and Olney Springs.
In all, there are 24 state prisons. The $3 million would come from $5.7
million set aside in the state budget for the Department of Corrections in
case the prison population increases faster than current forecasts. If the
prison closes, the state will need to find housing for its 580 inmates — and
most would probably go to other CCA facilities, meaning the company would
still get state money for housing the prisoners without the overhead of
operating an additional prison. The administration is considering a
recommendation to eventually stop sending inmates to the Kit Carson facility.
But with state forecasts showing an increase in the prison population the
near future, now is not the right time, lawmakers said. "If we allowed
it to close today, we would probably need that capacity sometime before we
could fully implement this (realignment) plan," said Sen. Pat Steadman,
a Denver Democrat and veteran budget writer. "This is the only big
employer out there. Most of those workers would leave Burlington and the
prospect of reopening it would be difficult and expensive." The economic
impact in a rural community is driving the quick action from lawmakers.
"It is basically the only non-agricultural industry on the Eastern
Plains," said Sen. Kent Lambert, a top Republican budget writer from
Colorado Springs. "It's hard to have this transition with no notice on
closing it. It's not so much what you do, it's when you do it." The
Hickenlooper administration's conversations with CCA took place in the background
as lawmakers crafted the final budget bill but the request only came at the
very end as a six-member conference committee reached a final deal Wednesday.
"We have known about this for a little while, but yesterday was the
first time members of the caucus have heard about the problem," Steadman
said. Senate Democrats are particularly angered by the request and the
frustration spilled into a caucus meeting Thursday. "I'd love to make a
stand," said Sen. Rollie Heath, a Democratic leader. But, he added,
"I don't think this is where you do it." "I think it's a game
changer," said Sen. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood. The Senate approved the
budget bill in a 30-5 vote, with four Republicans dissenting, but if
Democrats join the opposition it may threaten the spending measure's passage.
If the private prison company doesn't get the money, argued Sen. Irene
Aguilar, D-Denver, it's not the Democrats' fault if the facility closes —
it's the Republican leaders who refuse to consider a bill to reclassify the
hospital provider fee, which would open more room for spending in the budget.
"I don't want us to lose jobs in Burlington," she said. "We
have other money available, but the only reason we don't have it available is
because they signed a pledge to the Koch brothers." Her remark references
opposition to the hospital provider fee bill being led by Americans for
Prosperity, a conservative advocacy organization backed by the billionaire
businessmen David and Charles Koch. GOP Senate President Bill Cadman took
offense to Aguilar's suggestion about the ties between the party's opposition
to the bill and the lobbying from the Koch-backed group. The Colorado Springs
lawmaker suggested that Aguilar, a doctor, opposed the money because it is
going to a Republican part of the state. "Apparently, the Hippocratic
oath doesn't prevent a doctor/senator from lying to the public," he said
in a statement. "The $3 million of prison funding is already included in
the $27 billion budget for 2016-2017; this is a fact." Sen. Nancy Todd,
D-Aurora, echoed the idea and put the onus on the governor's office.
"They are the ones that have been pushing for the hospital provider fee
from the beginning, so how hard are they fighting?" she asked. The
discord forced the Senate to layover the budget conference committee report
until Friday — the self-imposed deadline for passage in both chambers. The
delay may force lawmakers to request an extension, which is permitted. In
2012, as prison populations in the state declined for the first time in 40
years and CCA warned it might shut down a prison, Colorado lawmakers
guaranteed the state Department of Corrections would pay the company for
3,300 inmate beds. Donner called the arrangement "padding the
budget" and "gouging taxpayers." The 3,300-inmate guarantee
was in place until June 2013, and the number of inmates in CCA prisons
hovered just above 3,300 until then. After the slaying of corrections chief
Tom Clements by a paroled inmate in March 2013, prison populations rose in
the short term. But in the last year, Colorado's inmate population has
dropped by about 1,000 people. "One of the impacts of reform is that
your prison population will decline, and that's a good thing," Donner
said. When Colorado contracted with its first private prison in 1993,
companies told lawmakers they were a zero-risk investment and that the state
would pay only for the beds it needed, she said. Earlier this week, CCA
announced it had purchased Correctional Management Inc., a private company
that runs seven halfway houses in Colorado with 605 beds.
12/31/2013 The Denver Post
One of the top executives with the largest provider of
contract prison and immigration detention services for the U.S. government will
not face charges for allegedly using his position to threaten a Boulder
immigrant and domestic violence victim with deportation. Boulder District
Attorney Stan Garnett's office had investigated Thomas Wierdsma for possible
criminal charges relating to his alleged threats. But this week, Garnett's
spokesperson said the investigation is complete and Wierdsma will not be
charged. "It does not meet the evidentiary requirements to file
charges," said Catherine Olguin , noting that the case is closed. A jury
in a civil case last year found Wierdsma, a senior vice president for The GEO
Group Inc, guilty of outrageous conduct for actions he took after his son,
Charles Wierdsma, was arrested for domestic violence. Charles Wierdsma was
convicted of beating his Hungarian-born wife, Beatrix Szeremi. After his
son's arrest, Thomas Wierdsma tried to evict Szeremi from the Boulder home
where she and his son had been living. He pressured her in texts and e-mails
to delete photos of her bruised face from her Facebook page, according to
court documents. Those court documents show he notified Szeremi that if she
didn't move out of the house, he would be "copying the Department of
Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement with this and other
information." Szeremi was in the country legally, with a green card she
obtained after she and Charles Wierdsma met through an online dating site and
married. Szeremi's attorney, John Pineau, said neither he nor his client
would comment on Garnett's decision to not file charges. Neither Thomas
Wierdsma nor a spokesperson for GEO Group could be reached Tuesday for
comment on Garnett's decision. Read more: GEO Group executive will not be
charged in Boulder case - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24825558/geo-group-executive-will-not-be-charged-boulder#ixzz2p9Z7zR4l
June 28, 2013
usnews.nbcnews.com
Two people were injured after a gunman walked into a
Colorado halfway house in the early hours of Friday morning and started
firing at employees and residents, authorities said. The suspect, Francis
Pizzo, 46, is a former resident of the Arapahoe County Treatment Center in
northeast Colorado who recently escaped from the facility, said Sheriff's
Capt. Larry Etheridge. Deputies responded to a report of a shooting at the
facility just after 1:00 a.m. local time on Friday, the sheriff's office said
in a statement. The two people wounded in the attack were transported to
local hospitals, where they were being treated Friday for "not
life-threatening" injuries, according to the statement. The gunman fled
the scene of the shooting and authorities are working to track him down,
Etheridge said. The halfway house is a contracted community corrections
facility for the Colorado State Department of Corrections, according to the
statement. The shooting incident occurred just three months after the
executive director of that department was shot and killed at his house. Tom
Clements, 58, was gunned down outside his front door in Monument, Colo. on
March 19, setting off a search for the assailant, later determined to be
parolee Evan Ebel. The manhunt came to a dramatic climax after Ebel, who
reportedly had ties to white supremacist groups, was killed in a shootout
with Texas deputies March 21.
April 4, 2012 The Chieftain
A report last week that Corrections Corporation of America needs a subsidy
from the state or it will start shedding jobs has caught the attention of
officials in Bent and Crowley counties. Las Animas is home to the Bent County
Correctional Facility, the city's largest employer at 280 employees. Las
Animas County Commissioner Bill Long said Tuesday that if CCA decided to cut
jobs or shut down the prison it would cripple the county. "It would be
an absolute disaster for Bent County," Long said. "To first lose
the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, which used to be our largest employer,
and then possibly this, it just can't be described as anything other than
awful." Long said that in addition to the correctional facility being the
county's largest employer, it also is its largest taxpayer at around $400,000
annually. He added that the prison purchases its utilities from the city of
Las Animas and has a monthly bill around $80,000. Long said he and his fellow
commissioners are getting word from the state that no facilities are going to
be shut down but that staff reductions are certainly possible."We're
unhappy that this is even being proposed," he said. Olney Springs, which
is home to the Crowley County Correctional Facility that also is operated by
the CCA, is another correctional facility at risk of losing jobs.
March 29, 2012 Pueblo
Chieftain
Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in
Southeastern Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent
closure of a state-run prison. Savings from the pending closure of another
state-run prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the for-profit
ventures. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County Correctional Facility
in Las Animas, has notified the state that it needs a subsidy or it will
start shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff Roxane White
said Wednesday. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure something out they will
be in a situation where they have to close a prison,” she said. Similar
threats loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, which also is
operated by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs, operated
by Community Education Centers Inc., according to White. “At both the CCA
facilities and Cheyenne Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are empty,”
she said. “They are looking at the need to make staffing reductions.” White
confirmed that diverting the estimated $4.5 million in savings the state
expects to realize next year from the pending closure of Colorado State
Penitentiary II in Canon City is one option, but she doubts that would be
enough to satisfy the private prison companies. “It’s not enough to cover
it,” she said. “In this case, we need in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to
$15 million to keep the (private) prisons all operational.” Ideally, White
said, any action by the private prison companies could be postponed while the
state conducts a thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison
population, whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can
best manage its resources in light of the findings.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo
Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400
eligible for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in
prison housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be
released. But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share
of the proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley,
Bent and Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the
private facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If
they do what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is
5,000 to 6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty
virtually every private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates,"
Long said. "I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for Bent
County and Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County Correctional
Facility in Las Animas are key parts of their local economies with more than
200 employees at each facility, Long said. "We receive property tax,
telephone revenue and other benefits from the facilities," Long said.
Long explained that the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in Walsenburg
and the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington also will be hurt if
the reduction occurs. Currently the Huerfano facility is full of inmates from
Arizona, but Long said that when Arizona gets its inmate situation
straightened out, the inmates will be taken back to that state. "That
would be another facility that was built primarily for Colorado inmates that
would also be emptied," Long said.
September 1, 2009 AP
Colorado officials plan the early release of 15 percent of inmates in
state prisons to help slash $320 million from the state budget. The cuts that
took effect Tuesday call for the release of 3,500 of the 23,000 inmates over
two years, saving the state about $45 million, Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said. An additional 2,600 parolees, or 21
percent of those currently on parole, will be released from intense
supervision. Prisoners eligible for early release are those within six months
of their mandatory release date. Those eligible for early parole release must
have served at least half of their supervised term. Sex offenders do not
qualify. Other offenders, including those who committed violent crimes, will
undergo more rigorous reviews. No staff members are being cut. Money will be
saved by reducing the number of inmates sent to private prisons, Sanguinetti
said.
August 21, 2009 Denver Post
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to cut the state budget through inmate releases
could reduce Colorado's prison population by 1,000 in a year and immediately
save $19 million. It will also almost certainly accelerate the commission of
new crimes, and could force layoffs from a privately run prison, experts
said. Ritter's plan calls for trimming parole supervision for some inmates
already out of prison, and releasing some non-sex-offender inmates early and
placing them on parole. A total of 5,700 inmates or parolees could see their
status change as a result of Ritter's cut. A Metropolitan State College of
Denver professor says it's unavoidable that a large number of those prisoners
or parolees will commit new crimes. "The recidivism rate in Colorado is
between 40 and 60 percent within five years, depending on types of
crimes," Metro State criminal justice professor Joseph Sandoval said.
"I do think that the risk of release is that some will go on a crime
spree and there may be a smaller amount that commit crimes that are
heinous." Each of the inmates who will be released early is someone who
was within six months of getting out anyway. So, if the inmates follow
historical patterns, the early release is more likely to accelerate the
commission of new crimes rather than actually increase the crime rate over
time, Sandoval said. Still, Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said the mass
release of prisoners across the state is of "great concern."
Private prisons wary -- There is also concern about the plan's impact on
privately run prisons. Colorado's prison system is a mixture of state-run and
privately run facilities. The private prisons make a profit largely based on
efficiency, and they need full beds to get fully paid. The largest of those
companies working in Colorado, Corrections Corporation of America, is already
fretting that reducing the prison population too far would be bad for the
company's bottom line. "We're hoping it doesn't put us in a position
where our operations are not viable," said Steve Owen, spokesman for
Tennessee-based CCA, which runs Crowley County Correctional Facility, Bent County
Correctional Facility and Kit Carson Correctional Facility. Katherine
Sanguinetti, spokes woman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, said
the early prison releases will save $61 million over three years. Although
there will be population decreases at all Colorado's prisons, the private
prisons will be hit hardest because empty beds at state-run prisons will be
filled by prisoners transferred from the private prisons. She said safety is
DOC's top priority.
March 24, 2009 The Denver Channel
A private prison is planning to transfer its Colorado inmates to other
facilities to make room for 752 inmates from Arizona. The Colorado inmates
will be moved from the Huerfano County Correctional Center to other
facilities in Colorado run by Corrections Corporation of America(CCA),
according to the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper. No Colorado statute keeps the
state from accepting inmates from other states. CCA has four private prisons
in Colorado. The CCA prison in Walsenburg opened in November 1997. State Rep.
Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, is not happy about the
plan. She told the newspaper, "Coloradans should be concerned because
earlier this year we heard that there was a question of whether or not they
wanted to dump the Guantanamo Bay detainees in Colorado and now we are
hearing they want to dump Arizona's inmates here. Why would we want Arizona's
criminals in Colorado?"
December 21, 2008 Daily Sentinel
Colorado lawmakers eager to avoid another series of ultimatums from the
state’s dominant private prison contractor could find some relief after a
Texas-based prison firm finishes a 1,250-bed prison near Hudson, northeast of
Denver. Charles Seigel, Cornell Companies’ vice president of public policy,
said his company hopes the Colorado Department of Corrections will choose to
do business with his company, particularly in light of past budget tussles.
“It certainly is in the state’s interest to have more than one vendor
providing this service,” Seigel said. A contract between Cornell Companies
and the state could cut into Corrections Corporation of America’s hold over
the majority of Colorado’s privately held prisoners. According to Colorado
Department of Corrections statistics, Corrections Corporation of America
houses 4,436, or 82 percent, of the state’s privately held prisoners. The
firm’s corner on private prison contracts contributed to a budget fight last
session, when lawmakers said they felt they were being extorted when the
prison firm asked for a higher per prisoner, per day reimbursement rate.
October 15, 2007 Daily Sentinel
It has been months since Roger Peck has seen his son. A year ago, Peck and
his wife, Millicent, twice a month were driving more than 400 miles from
Grand Junction to see their son, 47-year-old Stephen Dallas Peck, at the
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. But when Peck and 479
other inmates were relocated in December and January to the privately owned
North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., those visits ended. “It’s
almost impossible for us to get to Oklahoma, and I’m sure we’re more capable
than a lot of people that have loved ones in prison,” Roger Peck said. The
retired couple said their contact with their son, who was sentenced in early
2004 to 18 years in prison for felony theft and methamphetamine possession,
has become relegated to brief collect calls twice a month. The Colorado
Department of Correction’s decision to ship its healthiest and best behaved
inmates more than 300 miles southeast of Colorado’s closest prison in
Trinidad, the Pecks said, is “completely opposite” the state’s goal of
promoting prisoner wellness and reducing recidivism. “They skimmed the cream
to start with. They took inmates who were in relatively good health and have
no violent history and were not in there for violent crime,” Roger Peck said.
“So they took the cream of the crop, so to speak, and sent them to this
facility whose sole purpose in life is making money.” Without their support,
the Pecks said, they fear how well their son will cope with his
methamphetamine addiction, which also landed him in prison in 1997. Rep.
Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said in an attempt to address some of the Peck
family’s concerns, he and Colorado Department of Corrections Director Ari
Zavaras are going to visit the North Fork Correctional Facility at the end of
this month. King said after he met the Peck family earlier this year, he
began to wonder if Colorado was abandoning its oversight responsibilities by
shipping felons out of state. “I had some real concerns about us giving up our
ability, in some ways, to have oversight of these people that are Colorado
citizens,” King said. “Granted they’re felons, but they’re our felons, and we
have a responsibility to make sure they’re doing their time in a safe
environment.” King said “outsourcing our felons” removes them from the
support network of friends and family they need to transition from their
criminal lifestyles and addictions back to living normal lives. Zavaras said
from a purely financial standpoint, private prisons — the six in Colorado and
the North Fork Correctional Facility — are a cost-effective way to deal with
Colorado’s exploding corrections population. According to Department of
Corrections statistics, Colorado’s inmate population has nearly doubled over
the past decade, from 13,242 inmates in 2006 to 22,424 inmates this year.
Nearly 5,000 of Colorado’s inmates reside in private prisons. Zavaras said
sending prisoners outside Colorado is neither ideal nor fair to the inmates,
but it is necessary. “Managing prisoners out of state, quite frankly, is
very, very difficult for us,” Zavaras said. “If we would have had in-state
beds, we wouldn’t be out of state. We’re only there as a last resort.” He
said there are plans to expand two existing private, in-state prisons. As
soon as those expansions are completed, he said, “We will bring them back.”
Zavaras said he plans to scrutinize the Sayre, Okla., prison during his and
King’s Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 visits. He said during that time he will not only
speak with Colorado inmates but look into the concerns of inmates’ families.
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said that ideally Colorado would pull
out of private prisons, whose missions are directly contrary to reducing
recidivism. McFadyen, who has 12 state and federal prisons in her southern
Colorado House district, said private facilities have no reason to attempt to
reintegrate felons back into society. She said private facilities see felons
as possible repeat customers, so they have no incentive to decrease
recidivism. Removing inmates from Colorado, she said, is an even better way
for private prisons to maintain demand for their beds. “Sending an inmate out
of state is almost guaranteeing they’ll come back in the system because of
the lack of support,” McFadyen said. “I don’t know how an inmate succeeds
when they have no support from home.”
June 2007 Reason OnLine
After a crackdown on illegal immigration, farmers in the rural area
outside Pueblo, Colorado, found they lacked the labor to help them plant and
harvest crops. When the farmers pressed their case with state Rep. Dorothy
Butcher (D-Pueblo), she offered a proposal: Why not use prison inmates? In
May a private company, Colorado Correctional Industries, will launch a pilot
project putting one or two groups, totaling eight to 10 prisoners apiece, to
work in Colorado fields. It will be the latest of more than 30 work programs
authorized by the state’s corrections department, but the first to fill a
need created by an exodus of Mexican migrant workers. For $10 per inmate per
hour, convicts will till fields, plant seeds, and eventually pick crops. Not
that the prisoners will be raking in the lucre. According to Alison Morgan,
the state’s private prisons director, inmates will get 63 cents an hour for
their labor, 20 percent of which will be taken to pay for “restitution and
child support.” The rest, she says, they can use “to buy phone time, or other
services, or they can use it when they go home.”
April 18, 2007 Colorado For Ethics
The Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) responded to a March 5, 2007,
open records request by Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG)
that sought documents relating to a private prison contract awarded by CDOC
to The GEO Group, Inc. The documents obtained by CCEG confirm that former
Director of Prisons Nolin Renfrow began working for The GEO Group while still
on state payroll, a blatant conflict of interest. In an email to Brian
Burnett, the deputy executive director of CDOC, Dave Schouweiler, DOC Manager
of Purchasing, stated that Renfrow was on state payroll until January 31,
2006 and acknowledged the “impropriety of Mr. Renfrow’s involvement with the
originating procurement.” The CORA request and responsive documents are
available on CCEG’s website at www.coloradoforethics.org. CCEG is posting
these records as part of its commitment to holding the government responsible
for its actions.
April 1, 2007 Denver Post
If Joe Nacchio ends up in the slammer, he'd better hope it's not one run by
Corrections Corporation of America, though Qwest retirees just might feel
particular glee at the thought of his working most of a day to pay for a roll
of toilet paper. About 480 inmates from Colorado have been transferred to
CCA's North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., since December, and
they're finding that hard time is a lot harder in a prison run for profit.
The inmates, all culled from state prisons based on their release dates,
records for compliance and nonviolent prison histories, have been rewarded
for their good behavior with lousy food, fewer visits from family members,
limited access to phones, delays in mail service, a lack of access to
Colorado law books and prices in the prison canteen that have been jacked up
in some cases to three times those in Colorado institutions. "It seems
like minor stuff to people outside of prison, but it's created a real powder
keg," said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal
Justice Reform Coalition. Parents of inmates housed at Sayre have reported
that a boycott of the commissary was organized as a prison protest, and when
a guard was perceived to be harassing an inmate at lunch recently, the entire
room stood in solidarity. They worry that tensions could erupt into a riot
similar to what happened at the CCA prison in Crowley County in 2004.
"The guys are really upset," said Tracy Masuga, whose son was
transferred to Sayre in December. Among the recent price hikes at the canteen
were: peanut butter that sold for $1.48 in January now going for $2.34, AIM
toothpaste jumping from $1.45 to $2.23, raisin bran going from $2.99 to
$4.75, and a 25-watt light bulb going from $1.20 to $3.69. In Colorado state
prisons, peanut butter is $1.80, AIM toothpaste 95 cents, and banana nut
granola (the closest thing to raisin bran on the commissary list) is $2.11.
Toilet paper sells for 70 cents a roll in Sayre compared with 44 cents at
state-run prisons. "This might not seem like much, but we're talking
about people who make literally a dollar a day," said Ann Aber, an
attorney with the Colorado Public Defender's office. "It's arbitrary and
inexplicable exercises of power like this that can create a really incendiary
situation." Alison Morgan, chief of private prisons for the Department
of Corrections, said a team from Colorado visited the Sayre facility this
month and talked to about 200 inmates. Complaints about the price hikes were
rampant, she said, but she insisted that the prisoners' concerns were being
addressed. "The warden is looking at the commissary list and has reduced
prices for about 40 items, including the price of light bulbs," she
said. Steve Owen, spokesman for CCA, said that after a brief drop in
purchases from the canteen around March 9, sales have returned to normal.
Gary Golder, director of prisons for the DOC, said CDs of Colorado statutes
are on order for use in the Sayre prison library, but delivery by the vendor
has been delayed. Problems with phones, mail service and other issues will be
resolved, Morgan said. As for the food, which was described as inedible by
inmates two months ago and resulted in many of them reporting significant
weight loss, Morgan describes it now as "fabulous." "The
previous food-service manager was fired." State Rep. Buffie McFadyen
said she has heard some of the complaints, and while she is concerned,
focusing on things like commissary prices and phone service ignores the
larger issue. "They shouldn't be there at all," said the Democrat
from Pueblo West. "Sending inmates out of state is almost guaranteeing a
100 percent recidivism rate," said McFadyen, who has eight state prisons
in her district. "We're taking the inmates with the best track records
within our system and punishing them by sending them out of state away from
their families. When inmates don't have that support system in place to help
them re-enter society, it almost guarantees failure." McFadyen said this
is all part of the private-prison system's business plan. "High
recidivism rates ensure profits for their stockholders," she said.
"There's no incentive to do what's best for inmates. They profit by
having them come back into the system." Owen called such criticism
"completely false." "We invest a great deal in innovative
programs to rehabilitate inmates," he said. "We consider ourselves
professionals." CCA receives $54 per day per Colorado inmate. The cost
to keep comparable inmates in state institutions is $77 per day, Morgan said.
Even at 30 percent less per inmate, CCA has delivered impressive profits to
shareholders. The company racked up $105.2 million in net income in 2006. How
do they do it? "The private-prison industry makes its money out of
bodies and souls," McFadyen said.
March 6, 2007 Greeley Tribune
Saying GEO Group Inc. can't be trusted, a Pueblo lawmaker asked state
officials Monday to rescind a contract with the company to build a private
prison in Ault. Plans for the prison, which would house 1,500 inmates and
would be built east of the railroad tracks along U.S. 85, has stalled on two
fronts. Ault leaders decided they would not approve the facility until the
public voted on it, and GEO wants to change its contract to ensure payment
for its beds. Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, a vocal
critic of private prisons, said Monday that the proposed change and other
issues regarding GEO's integrity should negate the Ault contract. “Anybody
living in Ault should be concerned that a company that would bid this way on
a contract might have a business in their town," she said. Philip
Tidwell, spokesman for the town group Coalition Against Ault Prison, said
residents hope no one else bids on the Ault prison if GEO's contract is
rescinded. "We just do not want any private prison, whether it be GEO or
Cornell or anyone else," he said. A spokesman for GEO did not return
calls seeking comment. McFadyen said the company is attempting to do the same
things in Ault that derailed plans for a GEO facility in Pueblo. In 2003, GEO
won a contract for a 1,100-bed, pre-parole and parole revocation facility in
Pueblo, and after almost four years of delays, the state pulled the contract
last fall. The company never broke ground on the facility. "The state of
Colorado was held hostage for four years waiting for those beds,"
McFadyen said. The delays included zoning issues in Pueblo and GEO's attempt
to obtain guaranteed payments on 90 percent of its beds, regardless of
whether the beds were occupied. That is something state leaders have opposed
and which may even be impossible because of state laws, McFadyen said. Now,
GEO is trying for guaranteed bed payments in Ault, she said. "You have
to question the integrity of the 2006 bid," she said. "If past
performance is an indicator, I suspect we will be in the same place we were
in 2003 in Pueblo." McFadyen said Ari Zavaras, the new director of the
Department of Corrections, told her he is opposed to bed guarantees.
Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan told the Associated Press that Zavaras
will review McFadyen's request and decide how to respond. The story of Ault's
possible prison goes back to late 2005, when Nolin Renfrow, former director
of prisons for the Department of Corrections, started working with GEO on a
bid for a private prison. Renfrow is under investigation for using state sick
leave to obtain the Ault contract on behalf of GEO. On Monday, Colorado
Citizens for Ethics in Government, a watchdog group, filed an open records
request about the Ault bid. "We do not feel that the public's interest
was put forth in the procurement of this contract," said Chantelle
Taylor, spokeswoman for the watchdog group. A state audit found Renfrow's
business activities "arguably present a conflict of interest and result
in a breach of ... the public trust." That breach, coupled with GEO's
attempt to change its Pueblo contract by adding the bed-payment guarantee,
should have prevented the company from getting the Ault bid in the first
place, McFadyen said. Tidwell agreed. "One thing the state should
recognize is (GEO) did not operate fairly," he said. "They hired an
insider knowing he worked for the state. In my mind, GEO has shown itself to
be not a company that operates fairly in the state of Colorado.
March 5, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, and two reform groups today formally
requested the director of the Department of Corrections and the governor
rescind Geo Group’s bid to build a private prison in Ault. The reasons cited
included the company’s performance on a 2003 bid to build a private prison in
Pueblo. McFadyen said GEO Group lost its contract to build the Pueblo
facility because it delayed the start of construction, then tried to renegotiate
its contract to get a guarantee that it would be paid for 90 percent
occupancy, even if beds were not filled. "Basically, the state of
Colorado was held hostage for four years. They didn’t even break
ground," McFadyen said. In her letter to Ari Zavaras, executive director
of DOC, she said, "It would appear that the state’s best interests were
not served by allowing GEO group to bid any contract with the state because
of its lack of performance on tis 2003 award." Officials with Geo Group
could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Alison Morgan, spokeswoman
for the DOC, said Zavaras was aware of the letter being sent by McFadyen, but
had not seen it Monday. "Since he was not with the department during the
RFP (request for proposals) process, it is an issue that he is still studying
and is being briefed on," said Morgan. "Once he has all the
information, including McFadyen’s letter, he would welcome an opportunity to
sit down and talk to her."
January 31, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is taking over the probe of a retired
state prison official who stands to be paid $1 million for helping a private
prison company win a state bid. Nolin Renfrow, former state prisons director,
openly became a consultant to the Geo Group and helped it win a $14 million-
per-year deal to house 1,500 inmates in a private prison proposed in Ault. A
state audit said Renfrow began the work for Geo while still on the state
payroll. It also said that he is to collect a $1 million fee if the prison is
built. State employees are prohibited from providing paid assistance to
anyone to win state contracts or economic benefits. State law also prohibits
activities that constitute a conflict of interest. Ari Zavaras, who became
prisons chief with the new administration several weeks ago, said he asked
the CBI to take over the investigation to "overcome the perception that
it won't be a thorough investigation." Renfrow said Tuesday, "I
understand why he would do that, and I just hope it comes to quick
resolution." The Department of Corrections had been investigating. Its
report was to have been given to prosecutors if warranted. Zavaras said he is
letting the CBI decide whether the probe will become a criminal
investigation.
December 16, 2006 The Gazette
State prison officials have canceled a contract for a new private prison
in Pueblo, a move that casts doubt on how much Colorado will be able to rely
on private prisons while it copes with a crowding crisis. The GEO Group,
which was awarded a contract in 2003 to build the Pueblo pre-release prison,
has also been contracted to build and operate a prison in Ault, in
northeastern Colorado. But the same issue that doomed the Pueblo project —
the company’s insistence it be guaranteed nearly full occupancy — could
derail the latter prison, because GEO is making a similar demand. “If GEO’s
going to demand a bed guarantee, they need to leave the state,” said state
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, a Pueblo Democrat and leading critic of private
prisons. “It is not the job of the Colorado taxpayers to ensure profits for
this corporation.” The Pueblo prison was delayed repeatedly: by zoning
issues, by a legal challenge from a prison-reform group and by several
revisions to the plan by GEO. But the final impasse began this summer, when
the company asked for a 90 percent minimum occupancy guarantee for the
prison, which wasn’t a condition of the original proposal and was opposed by
Department of Corrections officials. Private prisons are paid a daily rate
per inmate by the state, currently $52. Last month, the DOC denied a
contract-extension request, and on Thursday informed the company that it was
canceling the contract. “Ground has not broken, and GEO has given no
indication when, or even if, it plans to commence construction,” DOC
executive director Joe Ortiz wrote. “Our patience cannot be infinite.” The
department is facing an acute crowding problem. Years of canceled
prison-construction projects and steady growth in court caseloads have
created a shortage of prison beds. The DOC this week began shipping 720
inmates out of state, a temporary solution until new beds become available.
With only one state prison under construction, Colorado State Penitentiary II
in Cañon City, the DOC this year awarded contracts to three companies to
build prisons for 3,776 inmates. The GEO Group’s proposed 1,500-bed prison in
Ault is a major part of the plan. Alison Morgan, head of private-prison
monitoring for the DOC, said the department still expects GEO to follow
through on its proposal in Ault. “We are treating the Pueblo facility and the
Ault facility separately. We have from Day 1, and we will continue to do so,”
Morgan said Friday. However, GEO is making the same demand for guaranteed
occupancy for the Ault prison. Asked whether the DOC is still opposed to a
guarantee, she said, “It is a policy decision to be addressed by the new
administration (of Gov.-elect Bill Ritter) and the General Assembly.” The
local community isn’t even sure it wants a prison. Ault’s town board last
month passed an ordinance requiring voter approval for the prison. No
election date has been set. McFadyen said she doesn’t believe GEO ever
intended to complete the Pueblo prison, and she doubts the company’s ability
and will to follow through in Ault. “We’ve been set back three years in our
planning,” McFadyen said. “I think that kind of delay is unacceptable, and
we’ll learn from this experience and not allow another contract to drag on
for three years.” A call to a spokesman in the company’s Boca Raton, Fla.,
headquarters was not returned Friday afternoon. An audit requested by
Mc-Fadyen regarding the bidding process for the Ault prison was released this
week. It showed that a top DOC official set up a consulting business to help
GEO win the bid while he was employed by the state. Because the DOC is based
in Colorado Springs, the office of 4th Judicial District Attorney John
Newsome will receive the results of the investigation and determine whether
any law was broken. Morgan said the DOC will issue a new request for proposals
for a pre-release prison.
December 16, 2006 ABC 7 News
The state has cut off negotiations and rescinded a contract with
developers planning to build a private prison in Pueblo. Colorado Department
of Corrections executive director Joe Ortiz sent a letter Friday to the GEO
Group, ending six months of negotiations. The letter cites numerous delays
and unresolved issues and says the department has run out of patience with
the developers. The Florida-based GEO Group had been working for about four
years to build the 1,000-bed prison near the Pueblo Memorial Airport
industrial park. Construction never got under way. The prison would have been
for pre-parole prisoners and prisoners who had seen their parole status
revoked. GEO bought about 36 acres for the facility last year, but
negotiations with the state broke down over the company's demand that the DOC
guarantee 90 percent occupancy and grant a 30-year contract. GEO operates
private detention centers in 15 states and one Canadian province as well as
in South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Pueblo facility is one
of two the company was planning in Colorado. The company's Web site also
indicates GEO in 2003 was awarded a contract to develop a 1,000-bed
immigration detention facility in the Denver suburb of Aurora. A DOC
spokeswoman says the department will put the Pueblo proposal back up for bid,
with no promise the facility will still be built in Pueblo.
December 14, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A three-year effort to build a private prison facility at the Pueblo
Memorial Airport Industrial Park appears to be dead after the Colorado
Department of Corrections and the prison company reached an impasse over
guaranteed occupancies. On Tuesday, reports said that the DOC was working
with the attorney general's office to draft a letter to the GEO Group that
essentially kills the company's plans to build a 1,000-bed pre-parole and
parole revocation facility on 36 acres east of the city. GEO officials said
Wednesday they had not received any letter from the DOC, but also didn't
express much confidence a deal could be struck for the facility. "We
have been in negotiations with the Department of Corrections, but we don't
have any contract signed and at this time it does not appear there will be
one," said Pablo Paez, director of communications for the Florida-based
company. Paez confirmed reports from November that the company was asking for
a minimum occupancy guarantee for the facility and also confirmed that the
company was planning to go to the city of Pueblo for help to build the
prison. ± PLEASE SEE PRISON, 2APRISON / continued from page 1A ± "We
needed the guarantee to secure the lowest capital cost through tax-exempt
bonds," Paez said Thursday. "We would get those through the local
municipality." State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo
West, who has been a vocal critic of the private prison industry, and state
Rep. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, wrote a letter to the city in May warning against
using public funds to build the facility. "I think it's very positive that
the city of Pueblo is not going to risk its credit rating on this
project," McFadyen said Wednesday. Officials from the DOC were not
available Wednesday to comment on whether the letter had to do with the
occupancy guarantees, or the result of an audit suggesting former Director of
Prisons Nolin Renfrow may have broken the law by helping GEO secure DOC
approval to build a 1,500-bed facility in Weld County, prior to his
retirement in January. Paez said GEO had no contact with Renfrow before
March. Last month, DOC spokeswoman Kathy Church told The Pueblo Chieftain
that talks between the company and the DOC over Pueblo's facility had stalled
over the minimum occupancy guarantees and had reached a critical point.
"They need to either understand our position and accept it or back out
completely," Church said last month. Church told The Chieftain that the
DOC couldn't make any guarantees without knowing how much money it had to
spend. That money depends on what the joint budget committee decides. McFadyen
wondered Wednesday why those guarantees weren't part of the original
agreement when DOC solicited bids for the Pueblo project. "If the DOC
negotiated additional terms with GEO, they would be the only private prison
company to receive such treatment and that's wrong," McFadyen said
Wednesday. "I think this goes to the point of how committed they were to
coming to Pueblo in the first place." The plans to build the facility
started in 2003 when GEO, then Wakenhut Corrections Company, proposed building
the prison on the West Side. Those plans eventually shifted to the airport
and the city approved a controversial agreement with GEO to build a 500- to
1,000-bed facility. A year ago, GEO bought the property at the airport from
the city for $296,800. GEO's original plan was to build a 750-bed facility at
the airport, but got Planning and Zoning Approval in May to expand the
facility to 1,000 beds.
December 14, 2006 Denver Post
Results of an investigation into former Colorado prisons director Nolin
Renfrow's conduct in office will be turned over to a district attorney early
next year, the Department of Corrections' inspector general said Wednesday.
Michael Rulo, who has been the agency's inspector general for seven years,
said his office has been cooperating with state auditors on the probe. On
Tuesday, the auditors announced that a "former senior- level
official" of the Department of Corrections launched a prison-consulting
business in August 2005, five months before he retired from the department
Jan. 31, and helped a private company land a state prison contract. State
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, who requested the audit, identified the
official as Renfrow. The auditors found that while still employed by DOC,
Renfrow began working to assist prospective bidders in developing proposals
to his department for a private prison. With his assistance, a company
identified as the GEO Group was awarded the contract for a 1,500-bed private
prison at Ault. Auditors noted that state employees are barred by law from
outside employment that creates a conflict of interest, and from helping
people to win a contract with their agency for a fee. Renfrow couldn't be
reached for comment Wednesday. Rulo said the results of his office's
investigation will be turned over to El Paso County District Attorney John
Newsome, probably in January. The Department of Corrections is based in that
county. Rulo said a decision on whether to file charges will be a
"collaborative process" with prosecutors. Kristen Holtzman,
spokeswoman for Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, said that Renfrow
never contacted the attorney general's office to ask whether his consulting
business while still a DOC employee constituted a conflict of interest.
December 13, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A former top official for the Colorado Department of Corrections may have
broken the law when he helped a private prison company win a state contract
earlier this year, an audit revealed Tuesday. Though the report conducted by
the state auditor doesn't name him, the audit centered on Nolin Renfrow,
former director of prisons for DOC. It even calls on the department's
inspector general to further investigate the matter and, if warranted, refer
it for possible prosecution. The audit, which was requested by Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, showed that before Renfrow retired in January, he
had been working with a Florida-based private prison company, GEO Group, to
land a DOC contract to build a 1,500-bed prison in Weld County. That project
is expected to cost an estimated $100 million, for which Renfrow was to get a
1 percent fee - or $1 million - for helping Weld County get the contract, the
audit said. In 2003, GEO, which is based in Baca Raton, Fla., was awarded a
contract to build a 500-bed, prerelease prison near Pueblo Memorial Airport,
which still hasn't been built. Renfrow's replacement, Gary Golder, says the
department currently is working with the Attorney General's Office on a
letter to GEO that effectively would revoke the 2003 bid and end the Pueblo
project. Though the audit did not find any evidence that Renfrow disclosed
confidential information to GEO to help it win the Weld County bid, he may
have violated state laws, personnel rules and department regulations
regarding outside employment, the audit said. Neither Renfrow nor GEO
officials were available for comment. The audit found that prior to Renfrow's
retirement on Jan. 31, he filed articles of incorporation for a private
prison consulting firm, Patriot Business Solutions, in August 2005.
"Public records and interviews indicate that the former employee began
actively working on behalf of his prison consulting business as of November
2005," the audit said. "Neither the department nor the former
employee provided documentation showing that the employee requested or the
department approved the former employee's outside employment." The
contract was awarded to GEO in June, along with a separate contract to
Corrections Corporation of America to expand two of its existing private
prisons - in Bent and Kit Carson counties - by 720 beds. DOC time sheets also
showed that Renfrow "used a combination of annual, sick and holiday
leave" to remain on extended paid leave from November 2005 until his
retirement date, the audit said. "Neither the department nor the former employee
provided evidence that (Renfrow) received the express consent of his
attending physician or appointing authority to engage in outside work
activities," the audit said. "As a result, we question the former
employee's use of about 240 hours of paid sick leave benefits valued at about
$14,000." McFadyen began to question Renfrow's involvement immediately
after GEO won the contract. The Pueblo West lawmaker, a longtime critic of
private prisons, questioned why such a company would be awarded a new bid
before it had made any progress on the Pueblo prison. McFadyen also
questioned why the department was even considering a GEO request, which was
made after winning the bid, to give it a written guarantee that the new beds
would be filled, something the state has never provided to any of the five
other existing private prisons in the state. "I am still questioning the
Colorado Department of Corrections as to why GEO was allowed to bid another
(project) when they have not performed on the original 2003 project," McFadyen
said. "GEO Corporation is demanding that the state issue a mandatory
guarantee of filling beds. It is not the responsibility of Colorado taxpayers
to ensure the profits of this corporation. "There's no question that
we're being held hostage by GEO Group when other (private prison) vendors
probably would like to come in and bid those contracts," she added.
December 13, 2006 Rocky Mountain
News
A retired state prison official stands to be paid $1 million - and
possibly face criminal charges - for helping a private prison company win a
state bid while he was still working for the state. A state audit released
Tuesday cited a possible conflict of interest. The audit does not name the
official, but the audit was aimed at Nolin Renfrow, former state prisons
director. And the document describes work he openly undertook for the Geo
Group. Renfrow helped Geo win a $14 million-per-year deal to house 1,500
inmates in a private prison it proposed building in Ault. Renfrow helped Geo
write its bid and spoke with Ault officials on Geo's behalf, said officials
and Renfrow last spring. On Tuesday, Renfrow did not return a call for
comment. The audit said the official may have violated two state laws. One
prohibits state employees from providing paid assistance to anyone to win state
contracts or economic benefits. The other prohibits activities that
constitute a conflict of interest with their duties as state employees. The
audit cleared the official of using insider knowledge to help Geo win the
bid. But it said that if the prison is built, Geo will pay the official a $1
million fee. The official started working as a consultant on the deal before
he retired this year, the audit said. During his final three months on the
job, the official used six weeks of sick leave, valued at $14,000, without
any proof that he was sick. The Department of Corrections has launched an
investigation as a result of the audit. If warranted, the department will
refer its findings to local prosecutors, said Gary Golder, Renfrow's
replacement as state director of prisons. Golder said the laws cited by the
auditor do not carry specific penalties. He speculated that if charges are
filed, they might be for malfeasance or official misconduct. When the audit
began in June, Renfrow told a reporter he had run operations for existing
prisons and that he had no role in writing the state's bid request that he
later helped Geo win. He also said then that the state attorney general's
office had ruled that his work on the deal was not a conflict of interest.
However, the audit found no evidence that he requested or received the
required state approval for his outside work.
October 13, 2006 Summit Daily News
Six private prisons in the state were fined about $131,000 for failing to
staff mandatory positions, the Colorado Department of Corrections said. It
was the second time such penalties were levied since a riot broke out in 2004
at the Crowley County Correctional Facility and an audit exposed staffing
problems at the prisons. The department released documents this week showing
the six prisons had 1,071 vacant positions from February to May. The Kit
Carson Correctional Center in Burlington received the largest fine of $83,103
for having 567 positions open. It was docked in $103,743 previously after it
left 701 jobs vacant from November to January. The center is operated by
Corrections Corporation of America, which also runs the Crowley County
Correctional Facility. Alison Morgan, the department's head of private prison
monitoring, said some places have difficulty finding and retaining workers,
especially in remote areas.
October 6, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
The Joint Budget Committee on Thursday approved a $153,887 emergency
supplemental request from the Colorado Department of Corrections to contract
for out-of-state prison beds. The contract with Corrections Corp. of America
would provide up to 720 beds at a private prison in Oklahoma, at a cost of
$54 per inmate per day. The rate is higher than the $51.91 per inmate per day
that Colorado pays for housing inmates at in-state private prisons, three of
which are also run by CCA. Last month, officials with the DOC said they would
likely start sending 200 to 300 Colorado inmates to Oklahoma this month,
since all the available beds in the state will be filled. The announcement
was news to the JBC, which had been assured by the department earlier this
year that it would increase the number of in-state prison beds by
double-bunking inmates. Thursday, committee members had concerns about the
cost of monitoring and transporting prisoners out of state, as well as the
apparent lack of planning on the part of the DOC. However, all but one of the
committee members decided to grant the request since the state would need
additional beds next year, and there were fears that the cost of contracting
would go up if other states, such as California, are bidding on the same
beds. In granting the request Thursday, the JBC also said it plans to send a
letter to the DOC stating the committee wants to revisit the department's bed
plan. Another letter would also be sent suggesting that the DOC should
refrain from spending $3.5 million that had been appropriated for the
double-bunking plan.
September 21, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, rallied support
in Pueblo on Wednesday for a strong future fiscal plan for the Colorado
Department of Corrections. Coloradoans, she added, also need to know how the
DOC is going to protect its employees and the communities surrounding their
facilities. McFadyen was flanked by DOC guards, Teamsters, State Speaker of
the House Andrew Romanoff and other Democrats during a press conference held
on the steps of the Pueblo County Courthouse. She told the small crowd that
the DOC has no future plans for corrections. "They testified in
(legislative) session that their only plan is to house inmates," she
said. "They don't set goals and objectives. McFadyen warned of the cost
and repercussions of moving and accepting out-of-state inmates. She cited the
July 2004 riot at the privately-owned, Crowley County Correctional Facility
in Olney Springs. That riot was fueled by inmates from Washington and
Wyoming. And on the same day, a prison riot broke out in Mississippi, caused
by inmates shipped from Colorado. "You can't put those types of
populations together because, right away, the inmates from out-of-state start
banding together," McFadyen said. A critic of private prisons, McFadyen
said the state needs to look at the role of private prisons. "Are we
saving money with private prisons? I think not."
September 16, 2006 The Gazette
The Colorado Department of Corrections is preparing to send as many as
1,000 inmates out of state — probably to two private lockups in Oklahoma — to
alleviate crowding in state prisons. Alison Morgan, head of the DOC’s
private-prison monitoring unit, would not discuss the department’s timetable
for moving the inmates. Last month, she visited two Oklahoma prisons, the
Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton and the North Fork Correctional
Facility in Sayre, and she is in negotiations with the companies that run
them. “Going out of state is inevitable,” she said Friday. The DOC has been
warning lawmakers for months that it will soon run out of space, the result
of longer sentences, a growing population and a multiyear budget crisis that
canceled building projects. New private prisons to hold 3,776 inmates have
been approved, and officials this year expressed optimism to the General
Assembly that they could handle the state’s caseload by double-bunking
inmates and finding unused space until the new prisons are built. It will be
the first time since the mid-1990s that Colorado has sent a large number of
inmates out of state. In 2004, 121 high-security inmates with gang affiliations
were sent to a prison in Mississippi, but officials brought them back a year
later after they were involved in a riot there.
July 31, 2006 The Gazette
Colorado prison officials, faced with unparalleled crowding, are poised
to embark on the state’s largest private-prison expansion in years. By the
time three companies build medium-security prisons for 3,776 inmates by the
middle of 2008, one in three Colorado inmates will be housed in forprofit
facilities. Despite the state’s growing reliance on private prisons,
Department of Corrections officials still have deep concerns about the
projects, and numerous issues remain that could derail them — including two
companies’ insistence their cells be filled before those in state-run
prisons. “I don’t believe they’re cheaper in general,” said state Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, a Pueblo Democrat and opponent of private prisons. “As long as you
have stockholders wanting more bodies and cells, there’s no incentive for
that company to reduce the number of people in prison.” “They (private-prison
firms) kind of know they’ve got us over the barrel,” said Dave Schouweiler,
purchasing manager for the DOC. “If we don’t use them, we’ve got to ship
people out of state.” Corrections Corporation of America was awarded
contracts for 720-bed expansions at its prisons in Las Animas and Burlington.
At the Kit Carson Correctional Facility, the company’s original proposal
called for employing just 59 guards, later revised to 64, for an expanded
inmate population of 1,562, a ratio of 1 to 24. Similarly, at the Bent County
Correctional Facility, the company proposed to have 61 guards — later
increased to 66 — for an expanded population of 1,457, a ratio of 1 to 22.
The officer-to-inmate ratio in the state prison system is 1 to 4.6, according
to the DOC. It isn’t the first time staffing at a CCA prison in Colorado has
been a concern. In 2004, a riot broke out at the company’s Crowley County
Correctional Facility, and an audit put much of the blame on low staffing
levels. CCA signed new contracts with the DOC, allowing officials to issue
fines for staffing deficiencies. CCA was recently fined $103,743 for leaving
701 mandatory shifts vacant from Nov. 1 to Jan. 10 at the Kit Carson prison,
Morgan said. The company was fined $23,000 for 157 unfilled shifts at the
Crowley County prison and $2,651 for 18 vacancies at the Bent County prison.
Private prisons pay less than state prisons, and critics say most have high
turnover. Another point of contention: CCA and GEO demand to have first claim
to every person sentenced to state prison. It’s a condition Schouweiler said
DOC officials are not comfortable granting. But the fact the companies made
it a condition of their proposals — at least so far — shows how the climate
has changed since the 1990s. “To a large extent, we can’t dictate to them
like we did in the ’90s,” he said. “They would like to see us in crisis when
they open their doors.”
June 28, 2006 Denver Post
A Democratic state lawmaker raised safety and competitive concerns about
two companies selected by the state Tuesday to build additional prison space
to house more than 2,200 male prisoners. Rep. Buffie McFadyen of Pueblo West
said The GEO Group Inc. has not built the 500-bed Pueblo facility it promised
three years ago. She also questioned whether GEO had an unfair bidding
advantage on the new 1,504-bed facility it was selected to build in Ault. The
company hired Nolin Renfrow, the former state director of prisons, to help it
bid on the project after Renfrow left the department, she said. Renfrow
worked for corrections when the request for bids was made public. Neither
Renfrow nor a representative of GEO could be reached Tuesday evening for
comment. Katherine Sanguinetti, a spokeswoman for the department, said she
didn't know the factors that went into selecting GEO. And, she said, "I
personally know that the DOC staff that were rating those bids have had no
contact with (Renfrow) to keep it objective." Earlier this month,
McFadyen asked lawmakers to audit the bidding process. She also questioned why
the Corrections Corporation of America was selected to expand the Bent County
Correctional Facility near Las Animas by 720 beds. CCA owns and operates the
Crowley County Correctional Facility where a riot broke out in 2004. McFadyen
said she was concerned that the company has still not replaced the porcelain
fixtures in its facilities after broken porcelain was used as a weapon during
the riot.
June 28, 2006 Greeley Tribune
The state Department of Corrections on Tuesday made a decision that could
alter the face of the small Weld County town of Ault. By granting
Florida-based Geo Group Inc. the right to build a 1,500-bed medium security
men's prison southeast of town in the next two years, the state paved the way
for prisoners to outnumber residents. Negotiations between the town and Geo
will begin next week on infrastructure costs and impact fees. If residents of
Ault need development and economic vitality, the last place they should look
at is a prison, warns a long-time private prison opponent. Frank Smith, 67,
co-founder of the Private Corrections Institute, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to monitoring private prisons, cites study after study and incident
after incident pointing to the ills of private prisons. Several studies have
been conducted to test markets where private prisons locate, and most
conclude that prisons do not stimulate an economy any more than the regular
cycles of growth that would come without the parade of orange jumpsuits.
"They don't pay for themselves, they chase away safer and better
industry," said Smith, who began fighting the private prison movement in
Alaska in 2000 and now fights them nationwide from his home in Bluff City,
Kan. "You foreclose your possibility of getting a really remunerative
industry that would actually compensate people so they can make a
living." While pointing out the numerous riots that have occurred in
private prisons for years -- the problems that come with corporate,
for-profit prison building -- Smith cites one insidious problem that has a
domino effect on economic activity: Pay. Geo Group noted in discussions with
Ault officials that prison employees would start at $25,000, about $3,000
less than Ault police officers. The pay is no accident, Smith said. "The
biggest problems are that they cut corners and pay people so poorly they
can't get trainable staff, and they wind up with a bunch of fast-food
workers," Smith said. "They move to where they can pay the
least." The private prison movement has sprawled across rural America in
the past decade, according to Terry Besser and Margaret Hanson in a 2003
study entitled, "The Development of Last Resort: The Impact of New State
Prisons on Small Town Economies." The pair studied 10 years of prisons
in rural America, a time when 69 percent of the 274 new state prisons were
opened in towns of 10,000 or less in population in 1990. In that time, they
found the unemployment rate differed very little in small towns with prisons,
versus their non-prison counterparts, but poverty levels in prison towns did
decrease. "In all other economic indicators, however, the new prison
towns fared worse than the non-prison towns," the study found. "The
rate of increase in the number of new businesses, non-agricultural
employment, average household wages, retail sales, median value of owner
occupied housing and total number of housing units is substantially less in
new prison vs. non-prison towns." The study showed that turnover rate in
private prisons was three times higher than public prisons due to low wages
and a lower level of employee training, creating employee safety concerns.
The study also found that rural towns, lured by the potential development
opportunities, will frequently give tax abatements and breaks, which are not
commensurate with the supposed vitality a prison would bring to a community.
In Ault, for example, a state contract for the men's prison could be a $28
million annual contract for Geo, which has promised just $250,000 a year to
the town as an impact fee. Ault Police Chief Tracey McCoy, who sought the prison,
said that's a number that will have to increase. Ault resident Ed Lesh
worries about the reputation being a prison town could mean in the long run.
"I don't think we've gleaned the good and bad about the facility,"
Lesh said. "There are some points I think should be considered. ... I
don't think having the handle of being a prison town is a plus. If I were
going to start a business, I don't know that I would go to Cañon City."
Ault resident John Dudley believes growth will come as a result of a prison,
but said the town would not see fit to make sure growth pays its own way, his
chief concern when it comes to any growth that might increase town coffers in
the short term. "It would be nice and wonderful if everyone could assure
me it's going to be controlled growth," said Dudley, a local school
board member who was on the town board when a prison in the area was
proposed, then shot down in the mid 1980s. "It's not just going to soak
the city, it will soak everyone in Colorado," Dudley continued.
"It's going to end up where you're going to have impacts on highways and
we'll have to find more money to pay for highways, and all the sudden, it
will impact state patrol, and we'll have to find more people (to hire)."
"I feel pity for our board because they have this tough decision to
make," he said. "Do we give away things to get this, or do we just
kiss more opportunity goodbye? It's a tough choice."
June 25, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
The state has levied fines of $126,000 for short-staffing at two private
prisons run by Corrections Corp. of America, which just won a contract to
incarcerate 720 more Colorado prisoners. The new inmates will go to a
different CCA prison in Las Animas, which had only minor staffing violations
during inspections last winter. The fines are the first in Colorado. The
penalties were recommended by a searing state auditor's report on the private
prisons last year. The audit was prompted by a riot at the CCA prison in
Crowley County in 2004. An inquiry found that CCA's staff-to-inmate ratio was
one-seventh of a state prison's at the time. Only 33 uniformed officers were
guarding 1,122 inmates. Staffing has improved since the fines were levied,
said Alison Morgan, the state's supervisor of private prisons. CCA's Kit
Carson County prison in Burlington, near the Colorado- Kansas state line, was
fined $103,743 for leaving 701 required shifts empty in a 10-week period from
Nov. 1 to Jan. 10, records show. That's about 10 people short per day over
three shifts. The missing staff members were largely guards in various
locations. On five shifts, the supervisor was missing, and on 44 shifts,
there was no assistant supervisor. The fines could have been much higher. The
state waived nearly $46,000 of penalties for October 2005 at the Kit Carson
prison, saying it was unfair to enforce the contract only a few days after it
was signed in September. Documents say state officials complained that in
November, there were 435 cases in which employees did not sign out, making it
impossible for state inspectors to know if the short-staffing had been even
worse. CCA's Crowley County prison in Olney Springs was fined nearly $23,000
for leaving 157 shifts open in the same period. It, too, was given a reprieve
for October's fines, which would have been $18,000.
March 6, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
Eighteen months ago, inmates rioted at a private prison in Crowley
County, setting fires, smashing everything in two cell houses and seriously
damaging another three. More than 100 officers were needed to stop the
violence, which injured 13. A state investigation blamed the riot on
mismanagement by Corrections Corp. of America, the prison's owner. The
company had 33 guards overseeing 1,122 inmates when the riot began. The state
Department of Corrections tightened its contract with CCA to require more and
better trained staff. Now, the company has a major advantage in bidding for
2,250 new private prison beds that Colorado urgently needs for its soaring
number of convicts. Although several companies have expressed interest in the
work, CCA already has the land and the necessary zoning. That could make it
the only bidder capable of meeting the state's demand that the first 750 beds
open in less than two years. Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections is
unclear on whether it can consider the riot in evaluating bids. At first,
department spokesman Walt Ahrens said it cannot. "Procurement rules do
not allow the department to negatively evaluate a new proposal from CCA
because of a past riot at a CCA facility," he said in an e-mail. Later,
the department pointed to the bid document, which says that evaluators will
consider information about the bidder's past performance, but only if the
bidder brings it up in its proposal. Still later, the department said it can
request further information on such incidents "as long as the bidders
are treated essentially the same." Finally, it said, "We are not
going to speculate on what may happen. The process has just begun." But
awarding the contract to CCA would make Colorado even more reliant on the company,
a critic says. CCA "has a track record at Crowley that would make
anybody question whether they are competent to run a prison," said
Christie Donner, of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, which
opposes all private prisons. In Colorado, a state investigation issued a
blistering report after the riot at CCA's 1,800-bed Crowley County
Correctional Center in Olney Springs in 2004. The report said that CCA's
staff-to-inmate ratio was one-seventh of a state prison's and that management
ignored signs of trouble. A new contract between Colorado and CCA requires
more staff, better training, increased medical care and better food. A state
audit also found fault with the state Department of Corrections, citing
insufficient inspections and a practice of keeping dangerous inmates at a
medium-security private prison, in violation of state law. Dave Schouweiler
of the Corrections Department said it would be convenient to have a private
lockup adjacent to a state prison. But state prisons pay about 50 percent
better and it would be difficult for a private prison to compete for staff,
he said. Though CCA has an advantage of speed and cost efficiencies of
existing facilities, it's not the only potential bidder. George Killinger of
Cornell Cos., which houses 18,000 inmates nationwide, noted that the state's
proposal calls for 750 beds each opening in February 2008, August 2008 and
August 2009. He said that allows the possibility of building one large prison
with a cost-effective central administration, instead of several smaller
ones. Other prospective bidders include Emerald Correctional Management, of
Shreveport, La.; the Geo Group Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla., which is
ready to start construction on a 500-bed, specialized preparole prison in
Pueblo; GRW Corp., which runs a private women's prison in Brush; Larry Small
and Associates, of Hattiesburg, Miss., which is pushing a patented design
that allows guards to see all prisoners at all times; and Management and
Training Corp.
February 28, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A private prison company is looking at Fremont County as the possible home
for two private prisons that could grow to a 4,250-inmate population. So with
nearly 8,000 inmates already living here, can the county take on more than
half that number in new inmates? Management Training Corp., based in
Centerville, Utah, is hoping so. The corporation runs private prisons
throughout the U.S. including Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and now is
checking out Fremont County for two potential private prisons. Consultant
Nolin Renfrow, who retired from the Colorado Department of Corrections after
a 28-year career, is taking on the developer role in an attempt to bring all
the players together to make it happen."I was intrigued by MTC - a
private business, a refreshing group with solid credentials. They are heavy
into programs and working with the inmates and I am just pro-corrections. . .
. I believe there are certain people who need to be locked up. "I hate
the thought of turning some inmates loose if there are not enough beds. So,
here I am, hoping to oversee the programming, designing and construction,
then I'll turn the keys over to MTC," Renfrow said. MTC has decided to
submit a proposal for both the two new private prisons and hired Renfrow to
come up with a plan.
February 24, 2006 AP
A former state corrections official says financial considerations are forcing
lawmakers in Colorado and many other states to let private companies operate their
prisons. Nolan Renfro directed a handful of private prisons and numerous
state facilities before leaving the Colorado Department of Corrections. He's
now working with a Utah-based company that wants to build a 4,250 bed prison
near Canon City.
January 5, 2006 Denver Post
Colorado's Front Range is the preferred site for the state's largest private
prison, which planners hope will help handle a population boom of inmates
over the next five years. The state is asking private groups for proposals to
build a 2,250-bed medium-security facility for men somewhere along the
Interstate 25 corridor from the north Denver metro area, south to Pueblo and
west to Cañon City. "We are dealing with a logjam," said Alison
Morgan, the Colorado Department of Prison's chief of private-prison
monitoring. Colorado has six private prisons, and all are at or near
capacity, including the Crowley County building, which is the largest at
1,037 prisoners, she said. Private prisons in Colorado collected $53 million
to house 2,800 inmates in 2004, and supporters say they provide needed jobs
in small communities and help boost local economies. But critics claim that
the state is relying too much on private companies to house dangerous
criminals. A state auditor's report last spring said lax oversight is a
problem in private facilities and helped lead to a riot at the Crowley prison
in 2004. The audit also found that of the nine inmates who died between
January 2001 and September 2004, two of the deaths may have been caused by
physicians who changed medications without physically examining the inmates.
"I have real concerns about who works in these facilities," said
state Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFayden, D-Pueblo West, a critic of
private prisons.
January 4, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
Colorado has already run out of prison space for its most dangerous inmates
and will run out of room for any new prisoners later this year. That dire
warning came in a briefing about the Department of Corrections to the Joint
Budget Committee by its staff Tuesday. "The inmate population is
continuing to grow, and we don't have a place to put them," JBC analyst
Karl Spiecker said. Already, the DOC is violating state law by housing 70 of
its highest-security prisoners in private prisons, Spiecker said. Private
prisons have 25 percent fewer guards than state prisons, he added. Colorado
also could ship inmates to private prisons out of state, but it has pulled
back all of its prisoners from such facilities due to serious problems. Most
recently, Colorado brought 121 of its most dangerous prisoners home from
Mississippi after they were involved in two riots in an under-staffed private
facility there. A 2005 state audit found that Colorado had sent leaders of
prison gangs involved in six disturbances in Colorado facilities to the
Mississippi lock-up. Guards there sparked a riot by opening the cell doors
for all the Colorado inmates at once. Rival gangs immediately attacked each
other.
November 12, 2005 Rocky Mountain
News
The nation's largest private prison operator has agreed to state-mandated
reforms at its four Colorado prisons 14 months after a riot tore through its
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. Corrections Corp. of
America, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., signed new contracts with the
Colorado Department of Corrections in September that address a host of
problems uncovered in the wake of a riot by some 300 inmates on July 20,
2004. Similar contract requirements and state oversight also will apply to
two other non-CCA private prisons in Brush and Colorado Springs to ensure
consistency. Those prisons house more than 500 inmates. The new contract
requires increased staffing levels at CCA facilities, better staff training
and emergency preparedness, increased medical and mental health services for inmates,
improved food standards, and state takeover of inmate financial accounts.
While some of those issues were not considered direct causes of the 2004
riot, all have been cited as trouble spots that may have fed the discontent
that finally erupted into violence and destruction at the Crowley County
facility. During the riot, inmates ransacked two cellhouses and prison
offices, destroyed furniture, smashed doors and windows, and set dozens of
fires, one of which burned down the prison greenhouse. Two inmates were
seriously injured and several received minor injuries. The Department of
Corrections found afterward that the Crowley prison had only 33 uniformed
officers supervising 1,122 inmates and that some officers had been on the job
two days or less. When inmates began damaging property, the small force of
officers withdrew from the yard and cellhouses, and the riot quickly grew.
Staff size and training were central concerns in the DOC report issued two
months after the riot. But a Legislative Audit Committee report last April
found other unequal conditions between state and private prisons that could
breed future riots. But the staffing shortage seen as a major problem in the
Crowley riot remains a difficult problem for CCA. The company has agreed to maintain
staff sizes closer to those at comparable state-run medium-security prisons
and to train officers to state standards. But a gap remains between the
salaries of state and private prison staff members that has led to high
employee turnover. The state's post-riot report found the average monthly
salary for private prison officers was about two-thirds that of state
officers. CCA has raised salaries every year despite decreases in Colorado's
compensation rate since 2003 because of state budget cuts, Owen said. He did
not disclose current CCA salaries. "It is a challenge in trying to make
salaries competitive with what is paid by the state," Owen said.
October 13, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has dramatically improved its oversight
of private prisons in the state, prisons officials told lawmakers last week.
In giving the Legislative Audit Committee an update on changes it has made in
how it manages the state's five private prisons, DOC director of prison
operations Nolin Renfrow told lawmakers that all is well. That audit he was
referring to was a scathing report released in June that criticized the
department for being lax in its oversight of private prisons and ignoring
problems with them for years. Prompted by a riot at the Crowley County
Correction Facility in Olney Springs last year, the audit said DOC knew or
should have known about numerous problems concerning the operations of the
prisons but did little to nothing to correct them. The state audit said the
department diverted DOC workers whose job was to monitor private prisons to
other duties, and failed to enforce operations rules and regulations. And in
those instances when the department's private prison monitoring units did
discover problems, the department failed to follow up to ensure that
corrections were made, the audit said. Four of those facilities are operated
by the same Nashville-based company, Corrections Corporation of American. In
additional to the Crowley County facility, CCA also operates private prisons
in Bent, Huerfano and Kit Carson counties. A fifth private facility that
houses female inmates is located in Brush. It is owned by the Brentwood,
Tenn.-based GRW Corporation.
October 7, 2005 The Gazette
Private prisons in Colorado could face cash penalties for failing to meet
minimum safety standards under new contracts negotiated by the Department of
Corrections in the wake of a stinging audit. In June, an audit of Colorado's
private prisons, which house about 2,800 of Colorado's 18,000 prisoners,
found numerous problems, including inadequate staffing levels, unlicensed
medical clinics, employees with criminal backgrounds and poor food services.
Thursday, corrections officials gave state lawmakers an update on their
response to the audit. For instance, private prisons will be fined if
staffing levels do not meet minimum standards or if the meals they feed
prisoners are not up to par. "I'm not sure the liquidated damages have
enough hammer to them," said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver. Corrections
officials said they need time to see if the new penalty system works.
July
8, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Waste is in the eye of the beholder. Opponents of two fall ballot
measures that would boost state spending say government doesn't need more
money because it wastes what it has now. They drafted a report this
month detailing that alleged overspending. But much of what the report
calls overspending - including locking up drug users, prosecuting anti-trust
cases and employing a lieutenant governor - others call core government
functions. The Independence Institute, a think tank based in Golden,
identified the alleged government waste in a draft report it recently posted
online by mistake. The "Piglet Report," at
www.taxincrease.org,warns voters against ballot measures Referendum C and
Referendum D. Two of the priciest overspending examples the institute cites
are $3 billion in an unfunded liability for a state pension program - money
that the state is not, in fact, spending at the moment - and up to $53
million for private prisons, which cost the state less per-inmate than public
prisons. Examples of alleged government waste identified in a draft
report by the Independence Institute: • Up to $53 million on private
prisons, for which the report says the legislature "is not getting good
value for its money."
June 27, 2005 Tribune Capital Bureau
CHEYENNE -- Scarcity of space and a recent sexual misconduct scandal have
prompted state officials to move the 54 prison inmates Wyoming currently
houses at private facilities in Colorado to Texas by the end of the
summer. But by the end of 2007, Wyoming expects to have all of its
prisoners housed within the state's borders, according to Wyoming Department
of Corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale. Brazzale said a lack of available
private prison space in Colorado prompted Wyoming officials to begin
consideration of moving state inmates out of Colorado. Contributing to the
decision were allegations of sexual misconduct between prison guards and
inmates at a private prison in Brush, Colo., where Wyoming had been housing
38 female inmates. Those inmates have since been moved out of Colorado.
June 26, 2005 Loveland FYI
This we know: • More
prisoners exist in Colorado than there are cells in the state’s prisons. • No
new prisons are under construction. • No money is available to build new
prisons even if the state wanted to. Thus, Colorado is stuck with using
private prisons whose operators contract with the state to incarcerate
prisoners who won’t fit in the state-run system. It stands to reason that
because incarceration is part of the judicial system and an essential
function of government, the state should do all that it can to make sure all
parts of the system — including private prisons — work according to the law.
Colorado’s Department of Corrections has done a horrible job of monitoring
the five-unit private prison system and has violated state law in the
process. So says an audit of the private prison system conducted after a riot
at the Crowley facility. The scathing audit left little cover for the DOC.
The agency simply blew it. While required by law to monitor the private
prison system, the DOC failed to reasonably do its job. In fact, the
Legislature provided additional funding for staff so that monitoring could
occur, but the DOC diverted those employees to other functions. The DOC knew
about problems but ignored them, said the audit report. Inmates judged to be
high security risks were sent to private prisons in violation of the law.
Mental health treatment was not offered as required to those needing it.
Medical centers at private prisons are not certified. Inadequate background
checks were conducted on private prison employees. Sex offenders were given
earned time off for treatment that they didn’t attend. It would be far better
for Colorado to own and operate all of its prisons itself to assure better
accountability. But the decision made several years ago for financial reasons
to contract with private prison operators can’t be easily undone. The DOC
must do a better job of overseeing the contracts, and the Legislature should
consider a gradual process of bringing private prisons back into the public
fold. In the future, if the state continues to struggle with having the
capital funds to build new prisons, it should give more consideration to the
idea of letting private entities build prisons and lease them back to the
state to operate.
June 14, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has been lax in its oversight of
private prisons, and has ignored known problems for years, according to a
scathing state audit released Monday. Prompted by a riot at a private prison
in Crowley County last year, the audit said DOC's inability to properly
manage the five private facilities operating in the state led to numerous
inmate problems, and could spark more. The audit said that the department
knew about specific problems with how private prisons were being operated,
but did little to nothing to correct them. And when the DOC did point out
violations to private facilities, it failed to ensure that they were
corrected, the audit said. "Noted violations by the private prisons are
not being addressed by the department, and have been allowed to continue
unresolved," the audit stated. "Furthermore, the department has not
instituted a systemic follow-up process to ensure that its recommendations
are follow by the private prisons or that documented violations are
corrected." The audit found that the DOC used employees whose jobs were
to monitor private prisons do other work, failed to enforce rules and
regulations on how they are to operate, and was shoddy in how it monitored
private facilities. Nolin Renfrow, director of prison operations for DOC,
admitted that the department has made mistakes in its oversight of private
prisons, but chalked it up to inexperience. "We have over 150 years
experience running our own prisons, but only five dealing with private
facilities," Renfrow said following the audit report. "We're
learning as we go." Currently, there are five private prisons operating
in the state, four of which are owned by the same national private prison
firm: Corrections Corp. of America based in Nashville, Tenn. CCA operates
facilities in Bent, Huerfano, Crowley and Kit Carson counties. A fifth
private facility, which houses females, is located in Brush. It is operated
by GRW Corporation based in Brentwood, Tenn. Steve Owen, CCA spokesman, said
that while the audit was not about his company per se, CCA takes its role in
working with DOC seriously and will help the department address concerns
raised in the report. Still, Owen said the audit was a little too general to
help the company address specific concerns. "We're a partner to the
Department of Corrections and we view ourselves as apart of the system,"
Owen said. "The conclusions and the observations were so general for the
most part, it's hard to specifically identify what specific things apply to
our direct operations. The report doesn't lend itself to identifying specific
things to specific facilities." One part of the report, for example,
says that a mental health providers were not meeting with seriously mental
ill inmates, but didn't say at which facility. Another section of the report,
however, says that the medical staff at the Bent County Correctional Facility
in Las Animas administered two medications to an inmate that led to his
death. Another death occurred at a different private facility in Kit Carson
County when an inmate's medication was changed. Both are operated by CCA.
"We identified two cases where physicians changed the inmates'
medications without examining them," the audit said. "Department
clinical and administrative records indicate that medication changes made by
private prison staff potentially contributed to the death of these inmates."
Owen said he knew nothing about those deaths, and questioned whether they
occurred at CCA facilities. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West and an
outspoken critic of private prisons, said the audit supports what she's been
saying all along, that they have no place in Colorado. "These for-profit
prisons would have a hard time passing even the beginning of the Boy Scouts
of America oath: 'On my honor I will do my best,' " McFadyen said.
"It's clear that the for-profit prison industry has no desire to follow
their contracts, and it is costing taxpayers money every day. This year, the
state could've spent $ 1.1 million on heath care, job creation or tourism.
Instead, we had to spend that money to watch over private prison facilities
that aren't doing their jobs and putting the public safety at risk."
McFadyen was referring to additional money the Legislature gave to the DOC to
add positions to its private prison monitoring unit. The audit said that the
department has 15 monitoring unit positions, but that only four were actually
going to the prisons. Additionally, one of those positions, for a unit
operations manager, has been vacant for three years. Yet, the DOC asked the
Legislature for five new private prison investigators and two additional
monitoring unit workers. Renfrow said that cuts to the department's overall
budget in recent years forced it to use some of those workers for other
duties. The audit said that the monitoring units that did visit facilities
missed numerous required inspections and filed incomplete reports. Auditors
were particularly alarmed that the units failed to conduct the security and
emergency activation drills it was suppose to, particularly one at the
Crowley County facility at which a riot occurred last summer. "Of
particular concern, we noted that the monitoring unit had never conducted an
emergency activation drill at the one private prison that experienced a riot
in July 2004, and only produced monitoring reports for one-third of the
targeted weekly inspections at this facility during fiscal year 2004,"
the audit said. "Additionally, we identified several weekly inspection
reports and security audits that appeared to copy the findings from prior
inspection reports, changing only the date and time of the audit work
performed," the audit said. "Department management does not review
these reports, so management was not aware that the reports contained
errors."
June 14, 2005 Colorado Springs
Gazette
Two Colorado inmates died last year because their prescription
medications were changed by unlicensed medical clinics in private prisons,
according to a stinging audit that charged the state with lax oversight of an
out-of-control private prison system. The Colorado Department of Corrections
houses about 2,800 of its 18,000 inmates in six private prisons. Five are in
Colorado, and one is in Missouri. It cost taxpayers $53 million in 2004. An
audit of those prisons released Monday found numerous problems: inadequate
staffing levels, unlicensed medical clinics, employees with criminal
backgrounds, poor food services and more. The audit laid much of the fault
with the state corrections officials, saying the state did a shabby job of
monitoring and enforcing standards in private prisons. The state’s private
prison monitoring unit has been plagued by job vacancies and only spends a
fraction of the time it should at the prisons evaluating conditions and
addressing problems, the audit found. “I think, from our audit perspective,
we identified substantial compliance issues,” said Cindi Stetson, the deputy
state auditor who managed the project. For instance, the audit found that
private prison monitors filed reports that were copies of old documents that
merely had a new date. Top level managers reportedly didn’t review private
prison reports anyway. Additionally, not all the people assigned to monitor
private prisons were doing that. Fifteen employees were allocated to that
unit, but four were assigned to other duties and the key unit manager job was
left vacant for three years. Corrections officials said they have not done a
good job regulating private prisons but insisted they are taking steps to fix
the problem. “We’ve taken the recommendations very seriously,” said Nolin
Renfrow, director of prisons. “We feel confident we are headed in the right
direction.” Renfrow said staffing has been beefed up in the office and that
computers will track compliance reports. Additionally, he said top executives
will pay closer attention to private prisons. As to the specific problems,
DOC officials say they are tightening the contracts with private prison
providers to force them to take care of the issues. Many of those new
contracts take effect July 1. New stipulations will require private prisons
have a licensed medical clinic. That’s a response to one of the main findings
in the audit. “None of the clinics in Colorado’s five private prisons are
licensed,” said auditor John Conley. “Since the clinics are not licensed,
they are not monitoring them and are not aware of any deaths or problems at
private prisons.” Nine deaths at private prisons last year were not reported
to the Colorado Department of Health, as they should have been, the auditors
said. So there was no investigation. The auditors said seven of the deaths
were from natural causes, but two were linked to medical complications after
prison operators changed prescription drugs. No other details were provided.
The findings outraged lawmakers. “Obviously, they have been having a
free-for-all in practicing medicine the way they wish for a long time,” said
Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood. “We are paying a lot of money to these private
prisons for health care, and we need to get a better product than we are
getting.” The audit found problems in many private prison practices,
including their hiring standards, the nutritional value of their food and
their staffing levels. The audit didn’t specify which private prisons were
having the most problems. But four of the five prisons in Colorado are owned
and run by the Tennessee-based Correction Corporation of America. Company
officials said they are reviewing the audit and promised more efficiency and
accountability. “We certainly would embrace that goal and have been working
and will continue to work with our customer, the Department of Corrections,
to enhance both of those,” said Steven Owen, a spokesman for the firm. A
500-bed, privately run prison under construction on East Las Vegas Street
near the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center is scheduled to open in
August. The medium security facility will be operated by New Jersey-based Community
Education Centers. The prison, called the Cheyenne Mountain Pre-release
Center, will house parole violators and inmates making the transition into
society or to community corrections after serving state prison sentences. Its
purpose is to reduce recidivism by giving inmates about 180 days of
vocational training, drug and alcohol counseling, adult education classes and
other last-minute lessons they can apply outside prison. Joe Ortiz, executive
director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, said part of his agency’s
problem is funding. “When we talk about medical, we talk about food, we talk
about programs . . . that always comes with a price tag,” he said. “That’s
not to say the department hasn’t been remiss in some areas, but it is a
difficult mission, and it is difficult to provide all of these services given
the current budget conditions.” The department’s budget was cut during the
recession but has seen much of that funding restored in the past two years.
The approved budget for the 2005-06 fiscal year, which starts July 1, is
$589.2 million, a 6 percent increase. Lawmakers say they will take a hard
look at the issues surrounding private prisons. “It’s clear that the
for-profit prison industry has no desire to follow their contracts, and it is
costing taxpayers money every day,” said Rep. Liane “Buffie” McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West. KEY FINDINGS - None of the clinics at private prisons are
licensed with the state. At least two inmates who were treated in those
clinics died last year when their prescriptions were changed. Those deaths
were not reported to state officials. - Inmates with serious mental illnesses
were not seen by mental health staff in a timely manner. - Private prisons
are serving meals that do not meet the state’s dietary standards. - The DOC
doesn’t review staffing patterns at private prisons as part of their
contracts. - Some private prison employees have questionable backgrounds,
including some who have been convicted of violent crimes. In some instances,
private prison employees begin working before a background check is
completed. - Private prisons are not properly deducting court-ordered inmate
restitution and child support. - The Department of Corrections office charged
with monitoring private prisons was understaffed and didn’t get the job done.
- Dangerous inmates were sent to some private prisons even though state law
stipulates private prisons should only house medium security prisoners and
lower.
June 14, 2005 Denver Post
Privately owned prisons in Colorado fall far short of minimum safety and
medical standards, possibly resulting in the deaths of two inmates and the
early release of a sex offender, according to an audit released Monday. Part
of the problem, the report from the state auditor's office said, is lax state
oversight of the private prisons, which collected $53 million to house 2,800
inmates in 2004. The audit's key findings: Nine inmates died between January
2001 and September 2004. Two of those deaths may have been caused by
physicians who changed medications without physically examining the inmates.
A sexual offender was released from prison three months early because
officials awarded him credits for treatment sessions he didn't attend. None of the five private prisons in Colorado
have licensed medical clinics. Four private-prison employees had previous
convictions for motor-vehicle theft, assault, criminal mischief and
harassment. Staffing levels are lower at private prisons than at state
institutions, with the worst ratio at the Crowley County prison, where inmates
rioted last year. Steve Owen, spokesman for Nashville, Tenn.-based
Corrections Corporation of America, which operates four of the five private
prisons in Colorado, declined to comment on the audit, saying he had not yet
read it. But he said his company meets the standards set by a national trade
association for private prisons. "We are doing our part to help the
state be good stewards of the taxpayers' dollar," said Owen.
Last year, the prison company settled a lawsuit brought by Tamara
Schlitters, the mother of Jeffrey Buller, a 26-year-old inmate who died 27
hours before he was to be released from the company's prison in Kit Carson
County in 2001. Buller suffered from a hereditary condition that caused his
breathing passages to swell. Despite his pleas, the company wouldn't spend
$35 on the medicine he needed during his final 10 days in the prison,
according to the lawsuit. Instead, he was switched to another drug. James
Gillies, the lawyer for Schlitters, said the case was
"heartbreaking" because Schlitters was planning a welcome-home
party for her only son. Instead, the guests attended a funeral. Buller was in
prison for a sexual encounter with an underage teenage girl. The Department
of Corrections acknowledged the shortcomings and promised to fix them. Joe
Ortiz, executive director of the department, said tight state budgets have
contributed to some of the problems. "It is difficult to provide all of
these services, given the current budget condition the state is in,"
Ortiz said. "Sometimes you want platinum treatment when you're paying
for copper fare." The audit tied many of the problems to lax oversight
by the Department of Corrections. Since 2002, department
officials knew they were failing to enforce a contract requirement that
private prisons operate licensed medical clinics. None of the five private
prisons in Colorado are licensed by the state Department of Public Health and
Environment, the audit said. Lawmakers on the Legislative Audit Committee
chided state corrections officials for failing to enforce the rules in the
contracts. "Two departments have dropped the ball," said Rep. Fran
Coleman, D-Denver. "I don't understand why this has been let go so
long." Ortiz said that hiring medical professionals in rural communities
is difficult - and even more complicated for prison operators. Still, he
acknowledged the problem. "We were lax in our supervision of medical
staff," he said. Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at
303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
June
14, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Colorado's private prisons are riddled with problems that allowed some
sex offenders out early, contributed to a riot, and may have led to two
inmate deaths, a state audit declared Monday. And state officials failed to
monitor the prisons effectively, auditors said in a report to a legislative
committee. The report alleges that operators of five private prisons broke
provisions of their contracts with the state through deficient security,
hiring, health care and even food. Prison doctors twice changed prescriptions
for inmates without examining the patients first, auditors said. Both men
died, possibly as a result. And doctors often delayed required services for
mentally ill prisoners, the report said. Auditors also criticized the state
Department of Corrections, which runs its own prisons and regulates private
companies that manage lockups in Colorado. They said state prison officials
placed violent inmates in the private facilities, violating the law. State
monitors didn't find, ignored or didn't follow up on prison problems.
Inspectors didn't work as much or as long as they were supposed to; some
simply copied old oversight reports and slapped new dates on them. About
2,800 of the state's 18,000 prisoners are in private facilities. The state
paid more than $53 million in the 2004-05 fiscal year to house them. Prison
officials estimate it would cost more than $200 million - $75,000 a bed - to
build enough public prisons. The state auditor's office studied private
prison conditions and the state's oversight of them from September 2004 to
March. Its report frustrated several legislators. "I don't understand .
. . why this has been let go so long," said Rep. Fran Colemen, D-Denver.
Added Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood, "We need to get a better product
than we're getting." Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, a leading
critic of private prisons, said legislators need to crack down on prison
operators and perhaps shake up the corrections department. State officials
pledged stricter oversight, starting with new financial penalties for prison
contractors if they fail to meet future contracts. Corrections department
officials also said they didn't have enough staff to enforce contracts and
the law - a claim the audit disputed - and suggested that decreased state
support and corporate pressures led to problems in private prisons. The
state's per-inmate payments to private prisons dropped 4 percent from 2000 to
2004. Joe Ortiz, executive director of the corrections department, asked
reporters Monday to think like private-prison wardens, operating under
budgets and under fire from Wall Street, as they try to provide inmate
services such as health care. "Do you think they're going to go
overboard?" he asked. Alison Morgan, DOC spokeswoman, later said the
audit "clearly brought to light some significant failures on our
part" but didn't reflect private prison monitors' hard work. Corrections
Corp. of America, which runs four of Colorado's private prisons, "will
do all we can to answer and address the concerns raised in the report,"
spokesman Steve Owen said. Some lawmakers defended private prisons. Rep. Dave
Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, asked whether problems in private facilities
are any worse than in public prisons. Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, said
private prisons play "a significant role" in Colorado corrections.
"By and large, they're doing a good job," White said, "and we
can't live without them." The audit caps a bad year for private prisons
in Colorado. Several employees of a women's prison in Brush were charged this
winter with having sex with inmates; investigations revealed the prison hired
some workers with criminal records. Inmates rioted at the Crowley County
Correctional Facility in July 2004. An October audit spanked the prison
operator, Corrections Corp. of America, for employing an inexperienced and
undermanned staff at the time of the riot. Monday's audit also criticized
staffing levels in private prisons as inferior to those in public prisons.
Among its other findings: • The corrections department didn't force prison
operators to act after doctors changed two inmates' prescriptions without
examining them first. Both patients died, and investigators concluded staff
errors contributed to at least one death. Corrections department officials
also didn't require prison clinics to obtain state licenses, as mandated by
law. And they didn't inspect any clinics from May 2003 to December 2004. •
Corrections officials illegally sent 79 inmates classified as posing more
than "medium" risks in danger and violence to private facilities in
2004. State law says the most violent prisoners must be housed in state-run
facilities. • Private prisons routinely deviate from the state's "master
menu" for inmates, often because they run out of food on the list. That
can jeopardize prison security. It's a contract violation that state
officials recognized in 2003 but did nothing about. • Three-quarters of
mentally ill inmates who arrive in private prisons don't get an initial
appointment with a mental-health practitioner within a state-mandated time
frame. • Private prisons sometimes shaved time from the sentences of sex
offenders who did not complete treatment programs. Such programs are supposed
to be mandatory for sentence reduction. • Four of about 300 prison workers
had "questionable backgrounds." A fifth never was subjected to a
background check. A check of prison visitors also found some with criminal
convictions that should have disqualified them from visiting prisoners. •
State monitors were "inadequate and ineffective" in their oversight
of private prisons. Inspectors missed assigned visits to facilities, stayed
about half as long as required and, auditors said, sometimes filed reports
identical to those of previous weeks. Auditors noted that legislators
increased the monitoring unit's budget by 40 percent from 2003 to 2005 and
questioned its staffing allocation. They said monitors showed no written
evidence of following up on contract concerns with prison operators.
Corrections officials defended their staffing and pledged to assign more
monitors in the future. They also agreed to each of the auditors' 16
recommendations for improvement. They promised to insert stricter enforcement
clauses into new contracts, including the right to dock money from private
operators if performance isn't met. Officials said they'd changed management
in the monitoring division but wouldn't say if any employees were disciplined
over the report's allegations. A second audit released Monday also criticized
corrections officials for poor contract oversight. The audit looked at inmate
health care services provided by private doctors. It said the state could
have saved $2.5 million over the course of a year by regulating provider
rates differently, and said the corrections department provides "minimal
oversight" of contractor performance. CCA's prison record • November
1998: CCA opens the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington. Nine
months later, the prison is investigated over allegations of drug smuggling
and charges that up to 15 female employees were having sex with prisoners. In
2003 the prison is sued in federal court after an inmate dies the night
before his scheduled release after allegedly being denied prescription
medicine. • July 1998: Six inmates escape from CCA's Northeast Ohio
Correctional Center in Youngstown. According to the University of Wisconsin,
at least 79 inmates escaped from CCA prisons from 1995 to 1998. • November
2000: Seven guards from the federal penitentiary in Florence are indicted on
55 counts of using beatings, bribes and torture to control inmates. • July
2003: The state renews CCA's Kit Carson contract and pays the company more
money to run the Florence prison. • July 2004: Two weeks after the beating
death of a female inmate in a CCA facility in Nashville, two riots break out
in CCA prisons in Colorado and Mississippi. A Department of Corrections
report finds that the Colorado prison was not fully staffed at the time of
the riot and that some employees had been on the job only a couple of days. •
January 2004: The Tulsa World reports a 400 percent increase in prisoner
deaths in an Oklahoma prison since CCA took over operations.
Colorado Legislature
2
Feb 14, 2020 coloradopolitics.com
Senate
Judiciary Committee makes sweeping changes to private prison bill
Lawmakers
worked late into the evening Wednesday to craft a delicately-worded
compromise on a bill that could provide a lifeline for the state's last two
remaining private prisons. The Senate Judiciary Committee pulled it off,
passing four amendments to House Bill 1019 and the bill itself, unanimously.
It now heads to Senate Appropriations. The amendments have been in the works
for several days, but the breakthrough took place Wednesday night after a
nearly two-hour negotiating session mid-hearing. One major change affects a
study on the impacts of closing private prisons on rural counties, an
amendment put that study into the hands of the Department of Local Affairs
instead of the Department of Corrections. The study has been the subject of
controversy for months. In the bill’s original language, the study would look
at how to close private prisons, the economic impact on the two rural
counties — Bent and Crowley — where the state’s last two private prisons are
located, and what it would cost the state to buy the prisons. In the House,
Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, agreed to an amendment that said the state would
look at "whether" to close private prisons, not "how" to
close them. But that’s in conflict with the position of Gov. Jared Polis.
During Wednesday’s hearing, DOC lobbyist Aaron Greco said that the state’s
goal is to reduce the use of private prisons, and Herod has said her goal is
to “move in a direction where we will not rely on private prisons"
through a change from private to state management. That message said to
residents of the two counties that the study’s outcome has already been
predetermined. As amended by the House, the bill said DOC would study the
impact on ending the use of private prisons, but the Senate Judiciary
Committee changed that to ask DOLA to look at “future prison bed needs in
Colorado.” It also stripped out language that said the study would look at
“evidence-based strategies to stop using private prisons,” substituting
language on “safely reducing prison populations, including moving individuals
into alternative facilities or programs.” According to the amendment, the
bill also would set up an advisory committee that would consult with the
contractor DOLA hires to do the study. That committee would include at least
three representatives of local governments from the impacted counties. In
addition, before the study is completed, DOLA would hold public hearings in
those counties and incorporate public testimony into the final report. On
Wednesday, 32 residents of the affected counties boarded a bus to Denver for
a four-hour ride to plead for their county's survival with the committee. One
of the major issues for county commissioners and school superintendents is
property tax revenue. Crowley County, home to the Crowley County Correctional
Facility, derives 54% of its property tax revenue from the CoreCivic-run
prison. In Bent County, it’s 25%. Commissioners from both counties have said
the counties would go bankrupt if the prisons closed, even if they were even
transitioned to state-run facilities. But that’s not the only loss those
communities would face. The committee heard from high school students from
LaJunta whose parents work at those prisons, and from school district
officials from Bent and Crowley who pointed out that losing the prisons means
losing students. Elsie Goines, superintendent of the Las Animas School
District in Bent County, said her district has 474 students and 50 are tied
to the CoreCivic-owned Bent County Correctional Facility. If the prison
closes and the families move away, which is what happened when the state
closed the nearby Fort Lyon Correctional Facility in 2010, it means
substantial hits to their budget, including losing teachers and vocational
programming. Fifty students is $800,000, between assessed valuation and enrollment
dollars, she said. “People will leave when they don’t have jobs, and they
take their children with them,” Goines said. “We are full of grit and fight
for survival,” said Scott Cuckow, superintendent of the Bent County School
District. “But we always seem to be under the dark cloud of the legislature.
I’m tired of that dark cloud that the prisons may close, and there goes the
wonderful families and people that make southeastern Colorado special.”
Several witnesses tried to show how large the impact would be by comparing it
to Denver. Losing 241 jobs in Bent County would be like losing 85,000 jobs in
metro Denver, said Sammie George of the Bent County Development Foundation.
Crowley County Commissioner Tobe Allumbaugh pointed out that if the state takes
over the two private prisons, which he said houses inmates at a lower cost,
taxpayers will shell out an additional $49 million per year to cover higher
state employer salaries and benefits. “This could be going to schools, health
care or roads. This is our money, not yours.” But it was the testimony of the
high school students from LaJunta that impressed committee members most,
including committee Chair Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, who commented
that the students did a good job of showing how closures would impact their
futures. “The state gave us this opportunity to better ourselves,” said
Sophie Klob of LaJunta High School, whose mother and grandparents work at the
prisons. “They gave us the heart of the community. Jobs, businesses and
municipalities rely on this. To have it ripped away is unfair… . How will
this affect the future of my generation?” She said it was a future in which
job opportunities just don’t exist, and would create yet another downward
spiral that the region is just now starting to get out of. The Bent and
Crowley residents found something of an ally in bill sponsor Sen. Julie
Gonzales, D-Denver, who agreed to the amendments. She pointed out that her
family comes from Walsenburg, home to the now-closed Huerfano County
Correctional Facility. Gonzales said that when it closed in 2010, 188 people
lost their jobs, and the community has never recovered from it. “Part of my
interest in this study is to lay out the facts” around what happens to rural
communities when a prison closes, she told the witnesses. Another amendment
changed one put on the bill in House Judiciary on Jan. 28, which would affect
whether the state of Idaho could send up to 1,200 inmates to the
CoreCivic-owned Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington, which closed
in 2016. The bill as amended by the House granted the governor the power to
make the call on whether to allow those inmates to come to Colorado in the
event of exigent, or emergency, situation. Previously the statute said the
head of DOC could make that approval, and that it could not be “unreasonably
withheld.” DOC has approved out-of-state inmate placements in Colorado
private prisons for years, including at Kit Carson. The House version took
out the “unreasonably withheld” language; the Senate Judiciary Committee’s
version put it back in. The compromise, which involved the governor’s office,
DOC, representatives from CoreCivic and the city of Burlington, added
additional criteria that the DOC executive director could use to make the
determination on whether to allow the inmates to come to Colorado. That
includes staffing levels, inmate custody levels, and that the prison would
not commingle prisoners from multiple states. That led to a riot at Crowley
County in 2004, according to Christy Donner of the Colorado Criminal Justice
Reform Coalition. “We have a long and sordid history” of importing people
into private prisons, Donner told the committee. “It’s a horrible practice
for human beings to be treated as commodities.” Donner told the committee
that Idaho would send maximum security inmates, but that isn’t borne out by
the contract, according to Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, who said it mentions
only medium-security inmates. Donner admitted she hadn’t seen the contract
and was relying on reports from Idaho newspapers. “In a perfect world we
would ban this practice,” she said. Tristan Gorman of the Colorado Criminal
Defense Bar, which backed the bill’s original version, said she understands
what the rural counties are facing, with the loss of jobs and tax revenue.
“That is exactly what mass incarceration does, and that’s why reducing mass
incarceration and managing prison populations is so important,” she said. It
should be exclusively a government function, she said, instead of creating,
in her words, a “prison industrial complex." "There should never be
a private corporation with a for-profit motive that is in charge of
incarcerating people in Colorado.”
Feb 5, 2020 coloradosun.com
As Democrats try to end private prisons in Colorado,
critics warn of economic ruin for rural areas
The first steps in a push by Gov. Jared Polis and
Democratic leaders to stop the use of private prisons in Colorado are
generating criticism and concern about the potential economic impact in rural
areas. The House will vote on a package of spending legislation this week
that allows the state to reopen a shuttered prison in Cañon City to
accommodate inmates ahead of the March 7 closure of the Cheyenne Mountain
Reentry Center, a private prison in Colorado Springs. The shift from private
prisons is expected to be the most contentious debate on the supplemental
budget bills that begins Wednesday. The spending package includes $127
million in additional spending in the current and prior fiscal year, largely
for increases in Medicaid and education costs, among other areas. The new
spending represents a fraction of the state’s total spending, which tops $30
billion a year, but the larger policy implications are drawing most the
attention. The state is scrambling to reopen the state-run Centennial
Correctional Facility South, a one-time maximum security facility, before GEO
Group closes its private prison next month, an abrupt move that came after it
was targeted by the Polis administration. The budget package earmarks $8.6
million to provide 308 beds in coming months. But the full cost to the state
to run the facility will balloon to $20.8 million in the next fiscal year,
when Colorado plans to double the number of beds. The end of the contract at
the private Cheyenne Mountain will save Colorado $6.4 million in the current
fiscal year. A related measure — House Bill 1019 — outlines the transfer but
includes two other major provisions that are spurring a larger debate about
private prisons in Colorado. One part of the bill orders a $250,000 study on
how the state can responsibility end its reliance on private prisons, and
another includes language that appears to make it more difficult for other
states to ship inmates to private prisons in Colorado. The latter provision
comes after Idaho’s corrections board voted to put its inmates at a private
prison in Burlington operated by CoreCivic and slate to reopen after closing
in 2016. Under existing law, the Colorado corrections director cannot
“unreasonably” withhold approval of the arrangement. But the bill would
change the standard to only allow out-of-state inmates if the director — in
consultation with the governor — determines that “exigent circumstances” to
protect public health and safety warrant the move. State Rep. Rod Pelton, a
Republican from Cheyenne Wells whose eastern Colorado district includes
Burlington, said a prohibition on private prisons would unfairly hurt rural
communities where the facilities are located. “I don’t know why there is a
bill here to target rural Colorado in such a detrimental way as this bill
does,” he said at a hearing Tuesday ahead of the House vote on the bill. Bent
County Commissioner Kim MacDonnell told legislative budget writers earlier
this week that any future efforts to close private prisons in southeastern Colorado
could hurt their economy and schools. The private prison in Bent County
accounts for 25% of the local property tax base, and one in nearby Crowley
County accounts for 54% of its total. Their closure “would have a strong,
negative and lasting impact on Bent and Crowley counties,” MacDonnell said.
Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat who is sponsoring the prison
legislation, said there’s no current plan to end contacts with those two
rural private prisons because the state needs the beds. And she said the
study in her bill would include a look at the potential economic impact.
“There is definitely a movement across the country to close private prisons
and it would be irresponsible for us not to have a plan in place for those
communities once they leave,” she said. Rep. Rod Bockenfeld, R-Watkins,
suggested the study would be biased because it focuses too much on how to end
the use of private prisons, rather than the local economic impacts. “Why
didn’t you use a more balanced approach?” he asked. “It’s written that way
because it’s my bill, and that’s what I would like to do in it,” Herod
responded. “I would like to see what would happen, and how we can phase out
private prisons in Colorado. Make no mistake, that’s what I want to see, but
I want to see it done responsibly, respectfully and I want to have all the
data.”
July 24, 2013 coloradopols.com
POLS UPDATE: Joint Budget Committee leadership slams
Senate Republicans on this issue in a letter today: This letter responds to a
letter dated July 19, 2013, from the Senate Republican Caucus addressed to
you. In that letter, the senators indicate concerns regarding the
Colorado salary survey, specifically that it “has not been conducted
according to best practices, or according to statutory requirements for determination
and comparisons of total compensation.” As evidence, they cite the
salaries of private corrections employees as compared to public corrections
employees, and indicate a belief that the Department does not use private
prisons as data points when conducting salary surveys… Public safety is a
core mission of state government. Prisons perform a complex and vital
function and must have competent, professional and committed staff to operate
safely and well. A “race to the bottom” on corrections employee
salaries would certainly diminish the safety of our prisons, increase
recidivism, and potentially put workers and Coloradans at risk. We are
troubled by the discrepancy between salaries at state run and private
facilities that the Senate Republicans helpfully point to, as well as the
significant differences in staffing levels between the two types of
institutions. We think that reflects a problem in the private, for
profit prison industry. We are interested in ensuring that the private
prisons corporations with which the state contracts are meeting the same
stated goal we have set for the state’s personnel system of providing total
compensation that ensures the “recruitment, motivation and retention of a
qualified and competent workforce.” Imagine your day as a correctional
officer. You get up, put on your uniform and protective gear, and go to work
in a stressful, tense environment. Your clients are incarcerated people, some
of whom will be verbally abusive, many of whom are despairing, potentially
violent, or dangerous. Your job is to protect the inmates from each other,
help them to rehabilitate themselves, and to keep the public safe from your
clients. Sound challenging? How about a 33% pay cut to sweeten the deal? On
Friday, July 19, 2013, fifteen Republican senators wrote a letter to Director
of Personnel Kathy Nesbitt, proposing to change the method which determines
correctional personnel salaries in Colorado. The Senators opined that the
existing salary survey was flawed, because it didn’t compare public
correctional officer salaries to those of workers in private for-profit
prisons. If Nesbitt adopts the recommendations of the senators, it could
result in a 33% pay cut for state employee prison personnel, an average pay
cut of $17,000 per employee per year. In Colorado, most of the 4000
correctional officers are unionized, on the union pay scale, and working in
publicly funded prison facilities. 16% of correctional officers are working
in privately owned for-profit facilities, and most of these are paid 33% less
than their public-sector counterparts. Why are these 15 senators suddenly
targeting the wallets of Colorado prison guards? Although the senators stated
goal in seeking to change the salary study parameters is to avoid a
“continuing detrimental effect on the state budget”, by targeting “The
Department of Corrections, as the department with the most personnel in the
state and most representative of the average state employee”, this claim does
not stand up to investigation. Instead, the letter from the Republican
Senators appears to be a pushback against a recent legislative victory by the
Colorado WINS union. Senate Bill 210, signed into law on May 24, 2013, and
sponsored by Senator Angela Giron and Rep. Crisanta Duran, facilitated
overtime pay for officers working double shifts, and otherwise improved
inconsistent or unfair correctional officer pay and working conditions. This
was a much-needed reform. The same bill repurposed Fort Lyons as a
rehabilitation center for homeless veterans. Passage of SB210 is rightfully
seen as a victory for the Colorado WINS union, and a legislative win for
Giron and Duran. Private prisons in Colorado are standing empty, or are
partially filled. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) , is
Colorado’s largest private prison company. However, CCA only has a 23%
“market share” of Colorado inmates, and only 16% of prison staff work in
private prisons. Incarceration in Colorado is down by a third, over the
last decade, according to Imse, who credits new sentencing structures and
prison policies, which allow time off for good behavior. Less incarceration
for marijuana offenses may also be a factor, since the passage of amendment
64. This is not a friendly environment for expanding CCA's for-profit
prison system in Colorado. There is simply not a need for private prison
beds. Currently, CCA operates five facilities in Colorado, including
facilities for juveniles and immigrants. Their continuing maintenance is seen
as a support for jobs in struggling Colorado towns, where often the prison is
a major employer. CCA, although limited in scope in Colorado, is extremely
profitable nationwide; The company had almost 3 billion in assets at the end
of the third quarter of 2013. Therefore, since there is no need for expansion
of private prisons in Colorado, and in fact some public and private prisons
may be closed or repurposed, how is CCA to maintain its profitability in our
state? Obviously, by cutting wages and expenses of operation. Hence, the
suggested pay cut of the unionized prison staff, by the fourteen Republican
Senators. What would the Senators get out of this? Although they say that
this would save the state money, in fact it will not; If 3500 prison staff
people each lose $17,000 a year, Colorado's economy would take a $60
million hit. Although CCA profits would improve, the welfare of Coloradans as
a whole would decline, along with, probably, conditions and safety within
Colorado prisons. The WINS letter responding to the Senators reminds them of
a riot at Crowley CF, in which the low-paid private staff walked out, leaving
the public workers to deal with the problem. So if the proposed salary
decrease won't save the state budget, nor improve conditions in Colorado
prisons, why are the Senators recommending it? In my opinion, intensive
lobbying by CCA and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is
the motive behind the Senator's proposal. CCA and ALEC are both extremely
conservative organizations. They share a goal of expanding the for-profit prison
system, and ALEC, additionally, has a goal of weakening public sector unions.
Both goals are achieved by the Senator's proposal. CCA is a
corporation; ALEC works with state legislatures all over the United
States to further a conservative social agenda. ALEC creates “sample” bills
which are then adapted for use in different states. Approximately 80% of CCA
political contributions go to Republican and conservative legislators; 20% go
to Democratic and liberal legislators. According to Colorado Common Cause's
report, "Prisons and Profits: Political Expenditures of the Private
Prison Industry", within Colorado, CCA has given over $200,000 to lobby
for legislation to expand private prisons and weaken employee unions. The
money trail is exceedingly clear.** Special recipients of CCA largess and
ALEC direction are legislators Jerou, Lambert, Baumgardner, and Brophy. Every
other legislator signing the letter requesting the prison staff salary
decrease has either been working with ALEC lobbyists, or has received
funds from CCA-funded PACS, or both. Three of the signatories for the Nesbitt
letter are ALEC members. (this link opens the "Prisons and Profits"
pdf report. All of the signing senators have received contributions from
conservative and republican PACS funded by CCA. The Senators attacking
the paychecks of prison guards and staff are, themselves, being paid off by
campaign funding from conservative political PACS, in order to weaken public
employee unions, and to expand private for-profit prisons., which are ALEC
and CCA priorites . The GOP senators are presenting this as a cost cutting
measure, but it will not cut costs. There is a reason one wants well-paid,
dedicated professionals to be in charge of inmates in our crowded,
problematic prison system. Taking $17,000 from the salaries of those
4000 prison guards will harm the guards and their families. It will harm
Colorado’s economy. It will degrade the safety and efficiency of Colorado
prisons. It will not make the public safer. It will put money into the campaign
coffers of those fifteen senators, but that is hardly a public good. Let’s
keep our prisons under the care of unionized professionals. ** I'm not going
to copy all of the details here, but I have used the TRACER program on the
Secretary of State site to look up the committees and PACS listed in the
Prisons and Profits publication, then searched for that committee, then
looked for that PAC's contributions to individual legislators.) Common Cause
has also detailed much of its findings on contributions in that publication.
*Corrections: My first draft of this post
said that only fourteen senators signed the letter to Director Nesbitt;
Fifteen, including Senator Grantham, signed the letter.
March 11, 2013 kunc.org
The private prison company Corrections Corp. of
America shuttered the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in 2010. The
prison, in Walsenburg in southeastern Colorado, was the town's second largest
employer Colorado’s governor and legislature quietly agreed last year to pay
millions to a private prison company for cells the state would not need. Rep.
Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, who headed the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee
at the time, said the deal was negotiated in the governor’s office. She and
other legislators agreed with the plan because it delayed the threatened
closure of private prisons by Corrections Corp. of America. That would have
resulted in devastating job losses in several rural Colorado communities
where the jails are located. Officials knew the number of inmates had been
declining in Colorado since 2009, and five state and private prisons already
have closed. Projections now show that in the near future, two to 10 more
state and private prisons could close, depending on the size of the facilities
chosen. In the end, officials decided to wait until after a study is
completed this June, with recommendations on which ones would be most
efficient to shut down. The deal to keep sending inmates to private prisons
wasted at least $2 million in state tax money, says Christie Donner,
executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
"The whole idea around private prisons was that they were overflow, that
we would only use them to the extent that we needed them," The total
could be far more. The state already has 1,000 empty beds in various state
prisons and that number is rising by nearly 100 a month. That includes 300
beds in cellblocks shut temporarily until the study is completed. Officials
need some beds open for flexibility, but won’t say how many. The deal gave
CCA a written promise of 3,300 prisoners, at $20,000 each, for the fiscal
year that ends this June. Details were hashed out a year ago during meetings
between the governor’s office, CCA and its Colorado lobbyist, Mike Feeley.
Eric Brown, spokesman for Gov. John Hickenlooper, said, “The General Assembly
and the governor agreed to have a year where no other communities were
affected by a prison closure” due to uncertainty about the number of
prisoners and the impact of closing other prisons last year. CCA said in an
email that the agreement with state officials was part of its “flexibility to
manage their changing needs.” CCA also pointed out that it provides 600 jobs
in the Eastern Plains towns of Olney Springs, Burlington and Las Animas.
Department of Corrections director Tom Clements added, “I think it’s worth
the time and investment to do the analysis.” With the recent closure of
Colorado State Penitentiary II, Colorado has now has 21 state prisons and
four private prisons. Colorado currently has 20 state-owned prisons. Another
four are privately owned, including the three CCA facilities for
minimum-to-medium-security inmates from Colorado and other states. “The whole
idea around private prisons was that they were overflow, that we would only
use them to the extent that we needed them,” Donner said. Donner was critical
of the deal, which she noted was “negotiated behind closed doors.” “There was
no [public] hearing on this whatsoever,” said the longtime activist. “I didn’t
even find out about it until way after the fact, when all of a sudden I
started to see the number of people in the private prisons start to increase.
And I thought, ‘That’s odd…’ “Somebody just made a comment that they had
given a 3,300 bed guarantee to Corrections Corporation of America, and I was
stunned.” The state’s Joint Budget Committee staff confirmed there was no
announced hearing on the decision. The secrecy is also backed by a lack of
documentation of any of the discussions that occurred between Hickenlooper’s
staff, CCA and legislators. The governor’s office responded to two Colorado
Open Records Act requests seeking details about the deal without providing a
single record of the negotiations, or how the 3,300-prisoner figure was
reached. Asked how the governor justified making such an important and
expensive decision in secret, Hickenlooper’s spokesman responded, “There is
no way for the governor to send funds to a private company as a result of a
backroom meeting,” because the legislature makes all funding decisions.
Office calendars for the governor, his chief of staff Roxane White and his
budget director Henry Sobanet show a meeting with CCA executives and lobbyist
Feeley in the governor’s offices in the morning of March 28, 2012. That afternoon,
the budget committee began an unannounced discussion of the possible shutdown
of CCA’s prison in Burlington, if Colorado continued to reduce inmates there.
State Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, said he worked with the
governor’s office to contract for the prison closure study, modeled on a
military base closure report. It is being conducted by a contractor, without
a personal stake. “We don’t want to close a prison while the study is being
done,” he said at the meeting that day. The next morning, the Pueblo
Chieftain quoted chief of staff White saying CCA had threatened to cut jobs
and shut a prison if it didn’t receive help. The prison in Burlington was
only half-full. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure something out, they
will be in a situation where they have to close a prison,” she was quoted as
saying. “We need in the neighborhood of $10 million to $15 million to keep
the private prisons all operational.” Feeley, a former legislator and a
Democratic powerbroker in Colorado, denied any threat to shut a prison. But
he did note that everyone knew CCA had mothballed its prison in Walsenburg in
2010 for lack of inmates. “CCA really feels we’re in a partnership with the
state,” which compromised on a figure that shared the pain of reduced inmates,
he said. The budget committee effectively signed off on the deal when it
later budgeted the extra CCA funds. The legislature then approved the budget
containing the payment. Because the number of inmates in Colorado is dropping
even faster than projected, the deal is costing more than expected.
Legislators thought the inmate population would drop anywhere from 160 to
1,256 by this June. Instead, the total fell by far more – 1,700 by February.
The current population of 20,140 is close to where legislators thought the
state would be two and a half years from now. Colorado has fewer prisoners
largely because the crime rate has dropped by a third in a decade. The state
also changed its sentencing structure, and has allowed prisoners to earn more
time off for good behavior.
March 29, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in Southeastern
Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent closure of a
state-run prison. Savings from the pending closure of another state-run
prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the for-profit ventures.
Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County Correctional Facility
in Las Animas, has notified the state that it needs a subsidy or it will
start shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff Roxane White
said Wednesday. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure something out they will
be in a situation where they have to close a prison,” she said. Similar
threats loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, which also is
operated by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs,
operated by Community Education Centers Inc., according to White. “At both
the CCA facilities and Cheyenne Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are
empty,” she said. “They are looking at the need to make staffing reductions.”
White confirmed that diverting the estimated $4.5 million in savings the
state expects to realize next year from the pending closure of Colorado State
Penitentiary II in Canon City is one option, but she doubts that would be
enough to satisfy the private prison companies. “It’s not enough to cover
it,” she said. “In this case, we need in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to
$15 million to keep the (private) prisons all operational.” Ideally, White
said, any action by the private prison companies could be postponed while the
state conducts a thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison
population, whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can
best manage its resources in light of the findings.
February 17, 2012 Westword
A former prisoner, now a shareholder in the country's largest for-profit
prison operator, has won a battle with company management over his campaign
to hold the Corrections Corporation of America accountable for reducing
sexual abuse at its facilities. The Securities and Exchange Commission has
ruled that the shareholder resolution, calling attention to the issue of
prison rape, can be included in proxy materials sent to CCA investors in
advance of the company's annual meeting. Alex Freidmann, who served time at a
CCA-operated facility in the 1990s and has since actively investigated
prisoner rights abuses as an associate editor of Prison Legal News,
introduced the resolution, which calls for biannual reports on the company's
efforts to reduce the number of incidents of sexual misconduct at more than
sixty prisons it operates across the country, housing 75,000 offenders.
Despite the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003, sexual
assaults in public and private corrections facilities remain greatly
under-reported, including in Colorado's state system -- see last year's
feature "The Devil's Playground," which recounts the ordeal of
inmate Scott Howard and drew international attention to the issue. A Bureau
of Justice Statistics report estimates that more than 200,000 adult prisoners
endured some form of sexual abuse in 2008, roughly one out of twelve. A
supporting statement to Friedmann's resolution notes that some CCA facilities
have been singled out in federal surveys as having exceptionally high rates
of sexual victimization. Kentucky and Hawaii have removed female prisoners
from one CCA lockup after a sex scandal involving six employees, and an ACLU
lawsuit alleges sexual assaults against immigration detainees by a CCA employee
in Texas. CCA objected to the resolution, characterizing it as a
"personal claim or grievance" by an activist shareholder who was
formerly incarcerated in one of its hoosegows. "I have no 'personal
claim' or 'grievance' in wanting to reduce rape and sexual abuse at CCA
facilities," Friedmann replied, "other than the concern that all
people should share in wanting to reduce such incidents -- a concern that
apparently is not shared by CCA." Several national organizations have
expressed support for the resolution, including the National Organization for
Women, Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants and the Justice
Policy Institute. The most crucial support, though, has come from the SEC,
which rejected CCA's objections and determined that shareholders should be
allowed to consider the measure.
September 16, 2010 Think Progress
In December 2009, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — a
powerful front group that helps corporate representatives craft template
legislation for state lawmakers, funded partially by the private prison
industry — hosted Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce (R) and began debate on
legislation that would provide broad powers to local police to arrest anyone
who might look like an immigrant. ALEC then distributed the template
legislation to its members. The January/February 2010 edition of ALEC’s
magazine highlights the draft version of SB1070 — the “Support Our Law
Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” — as model legislation. In April of
this year, Pearce then introduced ALEC’s template as the infamous SB1070 law.
Notably, the ALEC task force which helped Pearce devise his racial profiling
law included Laurie Shanblum, a lobbyist from the mega-private prison
corporation Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) which previously played
a role in privatizing many of Texas’ prisons. An investigation from Arizona’s
KPHO-TV found more ties between SB1070 and the private prison industry: Paul
Senseman, Gov. Janet Brewer’s (R-AZ) deputy chief of staff was a former
lobbyist for CCA (his wife is still a lobbyist for CCA) and Chuck Coughlin,
Brewer’s campaign chairman, runs the lobbying firm in Arizona that represents
CCA. In These Times reporter Beau Hodai, who also reported much of SB1070’s
connections to the private prison industry, has a chart to explain the
relationship. CCA is set to receive well over $74 million in tax dollars in
FY2010 for running immigration detention centers. In a presentation given
earlier this year, Pershing Square Capital, a hedge fund with a large
financial stake in CCA, suggested that CCA’s profitability depends on
increasing numbers of immigrants sent to prison. Many of the legislators
helping to earn CCA more profits with radical anti-immigrant bills mirroring
SB1070 have been recipients of private prison industry cash or have worked
closely with the CCA-funded ALEC organization: – TENNESSEE: Earlier this
year, legislators in Tennessee passed an immigration bill with provisions
“similar to, but less harsh than, those of SB 1070, including requiring city
and county jails in the state to report any person who may be in violation of
immigration laws to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” But that
wasn’t enough: right-wing local lawmakers also passed a resolution honoring
Arizona’s SB1070, and a delegation of state lawmakers promised to introduce
an anti-immigrant bill even “broader” than SB1070 in 2011. Many of the
leading local lawmakers who voted for the anti-immigrant bill and resolution
received thousands of dollars from CCA’s political action committee in the
past two years, including State Reps. Gerald McCormick ($250), Barrett Rich
($500), Eric Watson ($250) and State Sens. Bill Ketron ($1,000), Jim Tracy
($500), Dolores Gresham ($1,000), Bo Watson ($500), and Jack Johnson ($500).
Tracy, who sponsored the resolution honoring Arizona’s SB1070, also received
$2,000 directly from CCA founder Tom Beasley, reports the Nashville City
Paper. CCA retains five lobbyists in the state and spent at least $50,000
this year to lobby on immigration and other issues. – OKLAHOMA: Rep. Mary
Fallin (R-OK), who won her party’s nomination to run for governor this year,
received the maximum donation permitted by law from CCA. State Rep. Randy
Terrill (R-OK), who announced that he was planning an “Arizona-Plus” immigration
bill that would be harsher than SB1070, is a proud member of the CCA-funded
American Legislative Exchange Council. – COLORADO: A group of Republican
lawmakers in Colorado, after a research trip to Arizona this summer, have
stated that they plan on passing a SB1070 law in Colorado next year. CCA’s
lobbyists in Colorado have raised funds for many of the lawmakers in the
group. CCA lobbyist Margy Christiansen raised $400 State Rep. Randy
Baumgardner, one of the leaders of Colorado’s Arizona expedition, and CCA
lobbyist Jason Dunn raised $150 for State Sen. Mike Kopp, the Republican
minority leader who is promising to promote an SB1070 bill next session. –
FLORIDA: During the gubernatorial primary campaign between disgraced
businessman Rick Scott and Attorney General Bill McCollum (R-FL), the
prospect of importing Arizona’s SB1070 became a prominent issue in the race,
with both candidates promising to bring a version of the law to the state.
While many Florida Republicans recoiled at the idea, which stands to alienate
many Hispanic voters, a cadre of state lawmakers and candidates for the state
legislature, most funded by the prison industry, announced their support for
an SB1070-type law. State Rep. Bill Snyder, who has received $500 from CCA,
pledged to introduce a bill more draconian than SB1070. State House candidate
Ben Albritton, another outspoken supporter of SB1070, took $500 from CCA, and
State Rep. Joe Negron, who has been working with Snyder to sponsor the bill,
received $1,000 from the Geo Group, another major private prison contractor
which operates immigrant detention centers. Overall, the Republican Party of
Florida has been the biggest recipient of prison industry cash in the past
two years: $37,000 from CCA and $145,000 from the Geo Group. – PENNSYLVANIA:
In the Key State, State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-PA) introduced the
ALEC-drafted “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” one
month before State Sen. Russell Pearce (R-AZ) introduced his version of the
bill in Arizona. Metcalfe is a highly active member of ALEC. He was paid
$1,500 by ALEC just to attend its meetings with CCA lobbyists on how to draft
the law. In Tennessee, the average daily number of immigration detainees sank
to 40 in FY2009, down from 95 in FY2008. This may change with CCA’s
aggressive lobbying for more laws encouraging aggressive arrests of
immigrants or people who look like immigrants. Charles Maldonado, who has
reported on CCA’s corrupting influence at the Nashville City Paper, notes
that CCA may see new business at its West Tennessee Detention Facility with
the passage of more SB1070-related laws. ALEC, with funds from several
private prison companies, helped sponsor “truth-in-sentencing” and
“three-strikes-you’re-out” laws all over the country for the past two
decades. These laws have greatly increased incarceration rates, and have
contributed to America’s distinction of having the largest prison population
in the world.
April 10, 2010 Denver Post
A bipartisan pair of term-limited lawmakers are trying to leave behind a
cost-saving strategy to spare future legislatures some of the budget pain
they've experienced. But the ideas — which could affect road funding along
the Front Range and colleges and prisons across the state — are likely to
draw fire from lawmakers trying to protect their districts and from local
communities caught in the crossfire. House Majority Leader Paul Weiss mann,
D-Louisville, and Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, are crafting the plan.
May said the ideas might not get off the ground this year but could be
conversation starters. Items being discussed include: • Turning
state-maintained roads that are essentially local thoroughfares over to the
communities. • Determining the best use for the state's correctional
facilities and whether some should close. • Asking communities to help
financially support the colleges in their towns. • Trying to eliminate
duplication in college programs across the state and possibly consolidating
some governing boards. The idea to turn state roads over to cities and towns
came from Rep. Glenn Vaad, R-Mead, who worked for the Colorado Department of
Transportation. Many state-maintained roads such as Colorado Boulevard,
Arapahoe Road, Federal Boulevard and Wads worth Boulevard in Denver and
Parker Road in Parker essentially are local thoroughfares, Vaad said.
"Why are we paying for them as state highways?" he said. He has
pushed legislation for several years to require communities to take over
responsibility for the roads, but the bills have died. Not surprisingly,
cities hate the idea. "These are state highways, and urban residents
along the Front Range are the people who pay the bulk of the gasoline tax to
fund the state highway system," said Mark Radtke, a lobbyist with the
Colorado Municipal League. And it's not as if the cities have any more money
for roads, he said. Weissmann and May are also considering telling the state
Department of Corrections to evaluate which facilities are too costly to
maintain and which may be expendable, given the recent 8,000-person drop in
the anticipated number of inmates in state prisons. The plan would lead to
closing one or more prisons and could mean the state relies more heavily on
private prison beds, May said. Public-prison champion Rep. Buffie McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West, challenged the idea that private prisons can house inmates
cheaper, pointing out a number of hidden costs. Private prisons can transfer
the sickest and worst-behaved inmates back to the state, for example.
January 22, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
State lawmakers had mixed reactions to Thursday's announcement that Arizona
is pulling its inmates out of a private prison in Walsenburg, dragging almost
200 jobs out with them. Last year, Colorado inmates were relocated from the
Huerfano County Correctional Facility, owned by Corrections Corporation of
America, to make room for 800 Arizona inmates. "I'm not surprised that
Arizona would be pulling back its inmates," Rep. Buffie McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West. "That state is in a terrible budget crunch. Its whole prison
system is up for sale." Conversely, Joint Budget Committee member Sen.
Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, said Thursday afternoon, "This is the first I've
heard of it. I work with CCA as part of the budget process." In 2008,
CCA sought a 5-percent increase in the fee paid to it by the state of
Colorado per inmate, per day from $52.69 to $55.32. At the time, McFadyen
characterized CCA's demands as the Legislature being "held hostage"
by threats that CCA would end acceptance of Colorado's inmates if the pay
hike wasn't approved. "We took their threat seriously," McFadyen
said Thursday. "It's relevant to this discussion. We got our inmates out
of there because CCA was going to throw them out." She said CCA
officials shouldn't have been surprised by the potential problems it faced
from shrinking government budgets and prison populations. "CCA came in
as speculative investors, banking on the booming prison populations of a
decade ago," McFadyen said. "Economic development through growing
the prison industry is not good public policy." Rep. Wes McKinley,
D-Walsh, was reluctant to blame the situation on CCA's absence of foresight.
"They simply need to find some new customers," McKinley said.
"The reason we have prisons is the market's out there. If we didn't need
them, we wouldn't have them.
October 25, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
A proposed bill that will suggest the state sell Colorado State
Penitentiary II because it cannot afford to staff it is getting reaction for
local lawmakers. Construction of the $208 million
administrative-maximum-security prison is well underway at the East Canon
Prison Complex, and it should be complete by next spring. Because the state
cannot afford to staff it in the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Rep. Glenn Vaad,
R-Weld County, will run a bill that proposes to sell the prison, perhaps to a
private prison company. "Well, I don't think that's a very good
idea," said Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas. "One, it is a high
security prison and two, it is located in that complex with (six) other state
prisons. "I'm not in favor of mixing private and state prisons in short
distances from each other. We have four private prisons in the state and that
is probably all we need - they've been a big help to us when we run out of
room." Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, agreed. "I respect Rep.
Vaad very much, but his proposal is very bad. There are inherent safety
issues. We don't allow private prison contractors to run high-custody beds,
and the entire complex is a secured area," McFadyen said. When the
prison is complete, it and neighboring Centennial Correctional Facility will
run off the same control-room system as well as share a kitchen. "I
don't know of a private prison company that would be able to afford to
purchase CSPII, let alone foot the very significant cost to run it,"
McFadyen said. Kester said he favors holding onto CSPII. "There is
probably going to be a time we need it, and we need to have it
available," Kester said. "He (Vaad) is a very nice person, and I
like him a lot, but he has the wrong idea this time," Kester said.
"I don't believe the bill will pass. I understand his intent, but public
safety is the job of the state," McFadyen said.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections Corporation
of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot program in
August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400 eligible for
parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in prison housing
costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be released. But Bent
County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share of the proposed
reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley, Bent and Huerfano
counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the private facilities
which were built at the request of the state. "If they do what they have
been talking about in the last few days, which is 5,000 to 6,000 inmates
possibly being up for parole, that will empty virtually every private prison
in Colorado that has Colorado inmates," Long said. "I guarantee
that this will be an absolute disaster for Bent County and Crowley County. No
question about it." The Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney
Springs and the Bent County Correctional Facility in Las Animas are key parts
of their local economies with more than 200 employees at each facility, Long
said. "We receive property tax, telephone revenue and other benefits
from the facilities," Long said. Long explained that the Huerfano County
Correctional Facility in Walsenburg and the Kit Carson Correctional Facility
in Burlington also will be hurt if the reduction occurs. Currently the
Huerfano facility is full of inmates from Arizona, but Long said that when
Arizona gets its inmate situation straightened out, the inmates will be taken
back to that state. "That would be another facility that was built
primarily for Colorado inmates that would also be emptied," Long said.
September 1, 2009 AP
Colorado officials plan the early release of 15 percent of inmates in
state prisons to help slash $320 million from the state budget. The cuts that
took effect Tuesday call for the release of 3,500 of the 23,000 inmates over
two years, saving the state about $45 million, Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said. An additional 2,600 parolees, or 21
percent of those currently on parole, will be released from intense
supervision. Prisoners eligible for early release are those within six months
of their mandatory release date. Those eligible for early parole release must
have served at least half of their supervised term. Sex offenders do not
qualify. Other offenders, including those who committed violent crimes, will
undergo more rigorous reviews. No staff members are being cut. Money will be
saved by reducing the number of inmates sent to private prisons, Sanguinetti
said.
August 21, 2009 Denver Post
Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to cut the state budget through inmate releases
could reduce Colorado's prison population by 1,000 in a year and immediately
save $19 million. It will also almost certainly accelerate the commission of
new crimes, and could force layoffs from a privately run prison, experts
said. Ritter's plan calls for trimming parole supervision for some inmates
already out of prison, and releasing some non-sex-offender inmates early and
placing them on parole. A total of 5,700 inmates or parolees could see their
status change as a result of Ritter's cut. A Metropolitan State College of
Denver professor says it's unavoidable that a large number of those prisoners
or parolees will commit new crimes. "The recidivism rate in Colorado is
between 40 and 60 percent within five years, depending on types of
crimes," Metro State criminal justice professor Joseph Sandoval said.
"I do think that the risk of release is that some will go on a crime
spree and there may be a smaller amount that commit crimes that are
heinous." Each of the inmates who will be released early is someone who
was within six months of getting out anyway. So, if the inmates follow historical
patterns, the early release is more likely to accelerate the commission of
new crimes rather than actually increase the crime rate over time, Sandoval
said. Still, Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said the mass release of
prisoners across the state is of "great concern." Private prisons
wary -- There is also concern about the plan's impact on privately run
prisons. Colorado's prison system is a mixture of state-run and privately run
facilities. The private prisons make a profit largely based on efficiency,
and they need full beds to get fully paid. The largest of those companies
working in Colorado, Corrections Corporation of America, is already fretting
that reducing the prison population too far would be bad for the company's
bottom line. "We're hoping it doesn't put us in a position where our
operations are not viable," said Steve Owen, spokesman for
Tennessee-based CCA, which runs Crowley County Correctional Facility, Bent
County Correctional Facility and Kit Carson Correctional Facility. Katherine
Sanguinetti, spokes woman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, said
the early prison releases will save $61 million over three years. Although
there will be population decreases at all Colorado's prisons, the private
prisons will be hit hardest because empty beds at state-run prisons will be
filled by prisoners transferred from the private prisons. She said safety is
DOC's top priority.
August 19, 2009 Denver Post
Gov. Bill Ritter proposes to save almost $19 million by letting as many
as 3,100 inmates out of prison six months earlier than their mandatory
release dates and halting the supervision of some parolees. But the public
need not worry, said Ritter, formerly Denver's district attorney.
"People coming out of prison are going to have more supervision tomorrow
than they did yesterday," he said. That's because the state plans to add
almost nine new positions to provide intensive parole supervision. Ritter
stressed that sex offenders are not eligible to leave supervision because
they face a lifetime parole. The Democratic governor announced his
corrections proposals Tuesday as part of his effort to reduce a $318 million
budget shortfall. Budget officials estimate about 3,100 inmates will be
eligible for the early release, provided the state Parole Board grants them
parole, said Katherine Sanguinetti, spokeswoman for the Department of
Corrections. Also, budget officials estimate about 2,600 former inmates
currently on parole will no longer need to be supervised. Those parolees must
have completed at least six months of parole or 50 percent of their parole
period and completed all of their goals. Studies show that after that point,
parolees usually don't need supervision, said Ritter's budget director, Todd
Saliman. Ari Zavaras, director of the Department of Corrections, and Pete
Weir, director of the Department of Public Safety, on Friday briefed the
Colorado Commission on Crime and Juvenile Justice of the prison and parole
changes. "I'm withholding judgment," said Mesa County District
Attorney Pete Hautzinger, who serves on the commission. "I'm never
thrilled about letting a convicted felon out early, but I'm sympathetic for
the need to do something given the dire budget situation the governor
faces." Hautzinger, a Republican, praised the governor for not cutting a
juvenile-diversion program, which he said is crucial to helping reduce prison
populations. Most inmates eligible for release are housed in private prisons
that cost taxpayers $19,232 a bed, Saliman said.
March 24, 2009 The Denver Channel
A private prison is planning to transfer its Colorado inmates to other
facilities to make room for 752 inmates from Arizona. The Colorado inmates
will be moved from the Huerfano County Correctional Center to other
facilities in Colorado run by Corrections Corporation of America(CCA),
according to the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper. No Colorado statute keeps the
state from accepting inmates from other states. CCA has four private prisons
in Colorado. The CCA prison in Walsenburg opened in November 1997. State Rep.
Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, is not happy about the
plan. She told the newspaper, "Coloradans should be concerned because
earlier this year we heard that there was a question of whether or not they
wanted to dump the Guantanamo Bay detainees in Colorado and now we are
hearing they want to dump Arizona's inmates here. Why would we want Arizona's
criminals in Colorado?"
February 20, 2009 Grand Junction
Sentinel
Gov. Bill Ritter has commuted the death sentence of the Rifle
Correctional Center. Ritter and the Colorado Department of Corrections
reversed a decision to close the minimum-security facility after state Sen.
Al White, R-Hayden, pushed to keep it open. “That’s awesome. That’s great.
That is great,” said Mike Morgan, who is chief of the Rifle Fire Protection
District and one of many Garfield County residents who had spoken out against
the proposed closure. Morgan had been particularly concerned over the
prospective loss of an inmate wildland firefighting team. The state
Department of Corrections had proposed closing the 192-bed facility as one
way of helping deal with Colorado’s fiscal shortfall. White said the decision
to keep the prison open followed negotiations with the governor’s office and
state Department of Corrections. Before that, he said, he had to persuade
fellow members of the Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee to support keeping
the prison open. “I’m just glad that we’re able to accomplish what I think is
a laudable goal,” he said. He said it made no sense to close the prison when
the state is sure to need more prison beds. He worries that Colorado could
end up at the mercy of whatever rates private prisons might charge.
March 11, 2008 The Daily Sentinel
State lawmakers have approved of a compromise to increase the per diem
rate Colorado pays its largest private prison company, Corrections
Corporation of America, after a battle between the state and the company this
year. Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, said the Joint Budget Committee agreed to
boost the amount of money the state pays the firm per prisoner per day from
$52.69 to $54.27 — a 3 percent increase — as a gesture of “good faith”
between the state and the private company. “If we don’t have all the money
they want, let’s give them a good-faith offer, and have some negotiation
(over the Huerfano County) facility,” White said. During negotiations this
year between Corrections Corporation of America and the state, the company
threatened to stop holding Colorado prisoners in the 752-bed prison to stay
profitable. According to committee reports, the company requested a 4.25
percent funding increase, but staff had recommended a 1.5 percent increase —
the same rate increase lawmakers planned to give to all other private
companies the state has contracts with. Mike Feeley, a lobbyist for Corrections
Corporation of America, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The Joint
Budget Committee’s vote came despite a warning from legislative staff that a
rate increase for the prison company alone could set a bad precedent. “It’s a
slippery slope when every provider gets a different rate,” said Patrick
Brodhead, an analyst for the budget panel. He said granting Corrections
Corporation of America’s request could encourage other private companies paid
by the state to demand higher reimbursement rates. Rep. Buffie McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West, said she plans, at the very least, to fight the private prison
company’s rate hike when the state budget goes before the full House. “Why
are they getting 3 percent when most providers to the state are getting a 1.5
percent increase?” McFadyen said.
February 6, 2008 Pueblo Chieftain
A private prison company is threatening to move all Colorado inmates out
of one of its facilities if it doesn't get an increase in what the state pays
to house them. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates four of the
state's five private prisons, including three in Southern Colorado, is
demanding that the Colorado Legislature give it a 5 percent hike in the per
diem it receives to house about 4,000 state inmates, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand
Junction, said Tuesday. Buescher, chairman of the Legislature's Joint Budget
Committee, said the Tennessee-based company is using its weight to try to
force more money out of the state. "We've got a negotiating
disadvantage," he said. "The choice we've got to make is to give
them a provider rate increase that is three times what we're giving to all
other providers, or to build hundreds of millions of dollars in additional
prisons. We don't have that hundreds of millions of dollars, and they know it.
The decisions that have been made over the last 12 years (in using private
prisons) have put us in a very difficult negotiating position." Steve
Owen, spokesman for the Nashville company, said CCA is simply trying to do
what's best for its business. He said the company agreed to a lower per diem
rate in 2001 when the state was suffering from a major budget shortfall.
Since then, however, the state hasn't made up the difference. "We were
basically asked to help with the burden of trying to ease some of those
(budget) constraints, which we did," Owen said. "So, there's
nothing Draconian at work here in terms at what has been presented to the
state. We're just honestly trying to put options out there to help preserve
this partnership with Colorado so we can continue to provide the services to
the state and keep our folks employed out there." In 2001, the state had
been paying CCA a $53.33 per diem. That amount was lowered to less than $50
and has since risen to $52.69, still far less than what it would be receiving
after seven years of inflation and cost increases. Now the company is asking
for $55.32 per inmate a day. "We've actually had a real dollar
decrease," Owen said. "That's compounded with another issue that
the state has underutilized beds that we've made available. Between those two
things, it makes for a difficult situation on a financially viable business
operation." Currently, the company - which operates private prisons in
Bent, Huerfano, Crowley and Kit Carson counties - has about 460 open beds,
and that doesn't count the 1,440 more that are expected to become available
later this year because of expansions of the Bent and Kit Carson facilities,
Owen said. Owen said that if the state can't pony up more money, his company
would consider consolidating all Colorado prisoners in three of its
facilities. The fourth facility, which has not been determined, would be used
for inmates from the federal prison system or other states, some of which pay
anywhere from $10 to $15 a day more than Colorado. Still, some lawmakers said
they didn't like the idea of the company demanding a 5 percent hike at a time
when the state can only afford to give other private providers, from health
care to human services, less than 1 percent. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo
West and a longtime critic of private prisons, said the state should call
CCA's bluff and give them no increase. "I don't like doing business when
we're being held hostage, and that's exactly what this is," McFadyen
said. "We saw it coming. We had a past governor (Bill Owens) who brought
us private prisons without a bid process, now we're dealing with it. If they
don't want to work with us, we don't have to play ball with them."
January 28, 2008 Colorado
Confidential
In just two months, two executives of the nation's largest prison
business gave $2,400 to various campaigns in Colorado, nearly triple the
total amount contributed a year before. According to records from the
Secretary of State's office, high- ranking officials with Tennessee-based
Corrections Corporation of America went on a spending spree during the last
two months of 2007, contributing money to the candidate committees of seven
state legislators, usually in $400 increments, the highest legal amount.
State campaign finance records show that Marsha Wedell, wife of CCA board
member Henri Wedell and a listed vice president at the company, gave $1,400
to the campaigns of Reps. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood; Mary Hodge, D-Brighton;
Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield; and House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker.
May's committee received $200, while the rest were given $400 contributions
-- the maximum allowed by law. Josh Brown, a senior director at CCA who
handles business relations in Colorado, gave a total of $1000 to the
committees of Reps. David Balmer, R-Centennial; Michael Garcia, D-Aurora; and
Nancy Spence, R- Centennial, according to SOS documents. What makes the
spending surge unique is not the monetary amounts given to state lawmakers,
but the sheer increase in spending from last year by CCA. State records show
that CCA board member Henri Wedell gave $400 in November 2006 to the campaign
of House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D- Denver, while CCA gave a business
contribution of $500 to the Colorado Leadership Fund, a Republican political
committee, during the same month. The company didn't contribute again until
the end of 2007, when executives gave nearly triple the $900 amount
contributed at the same time in 2006. CCA operates four detention facilities
in Colorado. Earlier in the month, the company demanded a 5 percent increase
in the daily rate the state pays to hold inmates and threatened to stop
housing prisoners.
January 15, 2008 The Daily Sentinel
A private prison company is threatening to stop housing additional
Colorado inmates unless it receives more state funds, an act one state
lawmaker called “extortion.” Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, said
Corrections Corporation of America has demanded a substantial increase in the
daily rate the state pays private prisons to hold inmates. “They said that if
we don’t essentially do a 5 percent increase over each of the next five
years, they will work at closing at least one of their prisons to Colorado
prisoners and start bringing in out-of- state prisoners,” Buescher said.
Corrections Corporation of America prisons in Burlington, Las Animas, Olney
Springs, Walsenburg and Sayre, Okla., house 4,048 Colorado inmates, according
to Katherine Sanguinetti, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.
Those prisoners account for more than 20 percent of the state’s more than
19,000 prison inmates, according to agency statistics. Steve Owen, spokesman
for the Tennessee-based company, said Corrections Corporation of America
requested the rate increase to keep its Colorado prisons operating at cost.
“We’re trying to keep our operations in Colorado financially viable looking
to the long term,” Owen said. “It’s been a very good partnership.” Owen
declined to comment on the company’s dealings with state lawmakers. He said
Corrections Corporation of America is merely trying to negotiate a
reimbursement rate in line with prison companies’ pre-recession funding
levels. Following Colorado’s 2002 and 2003 recession, the state dropped its
per-inmate, per-day private prison reimbursement rate from a high of $54.66
in fiscal year 2001-2002 to $49.56 in fiscal year 2004-2005. Since then, the
reimbursement rate has grown incrementally to $52.69. Ari Zavaras, director
of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was unavailable for comment
Tuesday. Rep. Al White, R-Hayden, said he understands the Corrections
Corporation of America’s financial situation, but its threat to start
“winnowing” Colorado inmates out of its facilities in favor of more lucrative
out-of-state prisoners is insidious. “I do feel there is some level of
extortion involved here,” White said. Buescher, who heads the state’s Joint
Budget Committee, said Corrections Corporation of America’s responsibility
for such a high percentage of the state’s inmates gives it a troubling level
of influence over the state. “When you use private prisons, you become
hostage to their setting the rate,” Buescher said. “And we always knew that
this issue was out there.” White said if Corrections Corporation of America
moves ahead with its plans, the state could find itself scrambling to either
cram more inmates into its already overstuffed 22 public prisons, send
prisoners outside Colorado or build a new public prison. “We need to find
beds for our prisoners,” White said, “and if we lose all of the (Corrections
Corporation of America) beds, we’re in trouble.” According to a Joint Budget
Committee staff report, Colorado will need 5,100 new prison beds over the
next five years. White said building thousands of new public prison beds,
without private prisons to help bridge the bedding gap, could run a tab of
nearly $1 billion. Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said another short-term
solution could be to encourage more community-based sentences for nonviolent
felons. Community corrections programs, he said, are more cost-effective than
prisons. Pommer suggested during a Tuesday hearing the state could condemn
and take over one of Corrections Corporation of America’s facilities, but
said it would not be preferable. He said for the time being, Colorado will
have to rely on private- prison beds. “We should have never let this
situation get to the way it is,” Pommer said.
October 15, 2007 Daily Sentinel
It has been months since Roger Peck has seen his son. A year ago, Peck and
his wife, Millicent, twice a month were driving more than 400 miles from
Grand Junction to see their son, 47-year-old Stephen Dallas Peck, at the
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. But when Peck and 479
other inmates were relocated in December and January to the privately owned
North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., those visits ended. “It’s
almost impossible for us to get to Oklahoma, and I’m sure we’re more capable
than a lot of people that have loved ones in prison,” Roger Peck said. The
retired couple said their contact with their son, who was sentenced in early 2004
to 18 years in prison for felony theft and methamphetamine possession, has
become relegated to brief collect calls twice a month. The Colorado
Department of Correction’s decision to ship its healthiest and best behaved
inmates more than 300 miles southeast of Colorado’s closest prison in
Trinidad, the Pecks said, is “completely opposite” the state’s goal of
promoting prisoner wellness and reducing recidivism. “They skimmed the cream
to start with. They took inmates who were in relatively good health and have
no violent history and were not in there for violent crime,” Roger Peck said.
“So they took the cream of the crop, so to speak, and sent them to this
facility whose sole purpose in life is making money.” Without their support,
the Pecks said, they fear how well their son will cope with his
methamphetamine addiction, which also landed him in prison in 1997. Rep.
Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said in an attempt to address some of the Peck
family’s concerns, he and Colorado Department of Corrections Director Ari
Zavaras are going to visit the North Fork Correctional Facility at the end of
this month. King said after he met the Peck family earlier this year, he
began to wonder if Colorado was abandoning its oversight responsibilities by
shipping felons out of state. “I had some real concerns about us giving up
our ability, in some ways, to have oversight of these people that are
Colorado citizens,” King said. “Granted they’re felons, but they’re our
felons, and we have a responsibility to make sure they’re doing their time in
a safe environment.” King said “outsourcing our felons” removes them from the
support network of friends and family they need to transition from their
criminal lifestyles and addictions back to living normal lives. Zavaras said
from a purely financial standpoint, private prisons — the six in Colorado and
the North Fork Correctional Facility — are a cost-effective way to deal with
Colorado’s exploding corrections population. According to Department of
Corrections statistics, Colorado’s inmate population has nearly doubled over
the past decade, from 13,242 inmates in 2006 to 22,424 inmates this year.
Nearly 5,000 of Colorado’s inmates reside in private prisons. Zavaras said
sending prisoners outside Colorado is neither ideal nor fair to the inmates,
but it is necessary. “Managing prisoners out of state, quite frankly, is
very, very difficult for us,” Zavaras said. “If we would have had in-state
beds, we wouldn’t be out of state. We’re only there as a last resort.” He
said there are plans to expand two existing private, in-state prisons. As
soon as those expansions are completed, he said, “We will bring them back.”
Zavaras said he plans to scrutinize the Sayre, Okla., prison during his and
King’s Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 visits. He said during that time he will not only
speak with Colorado inmates but look into the concerns of inmates’ families.
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said that ideally Colorado would pull
out of private prisons, whose missions are directly contrary to reducing
recidivism. McFadyen, who has 12 state and federal prisons in her southern
Colorado House district, said private facilities have no reason to attempt to
reintegrate felons back into society. She said private facilities see felons
as possible repeat customers, so they have no incentive to decrease
recidivism. Removing inmates from Colorado, she said, is an even better way
for private prisons to maintain demand for their beds. “Sending an inmate out
of state is almost guaranteeing they’ll come back in the system because of
the lack of support,” McFadyen said. “I don’t know how an inmate succeeds
when they have no support from home.”
March 7, 2007 Denver Post
The nation's largest private-prison company said Tuesday it has helped
the state avoid $646 million in construction costs over the past decade.
Executives from Corrections Corporation of America, which houses about 20
percent of all inmates sent to prison in Colorado, added that they pay $40
million per year to 900 employees in the state. The company disclosed the
financial data during a special hearing by state lawmakers into the costs and
benefits of relying on privately owned prisons. While the company touted its
economic impact, opponents of private prisons talked about the human cost.
Tracy Masuga, whose son was moved from a Colorado-based prison to a CCA
facility in Oklahoma in December, said she can no longer visit her son every
other week, as she has for the past six years. "We won't be able to see
him very often," said Masuga, who choked back tears as she began her
testimony, noting that it now costs at least $300 per trip to see her son. As
a result of overcrowding in Colorado, hundreds of prisoners are being
transferred to facilities in Oklahoma. Masuga said she found out that her son
had been moved on the day he was sent to Oklahoma. Ryan Sherman, president of
the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said private prison
operators cut corners to increase profits for their shareholders. He said
such practices endanger workers and could result in higher rates of repeat
offenses by released inmates. "There's nothing but problems if you are
putting profits first," Sherman said. Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora,
said private-prison operators pay lower salaries than state-run prisons,
partly because the companies base their salaries on incomes in depressed
rural areas. "It seems like that's contributing to the pay
disparity," Carroll said. Josh Brown, senior director of customer
relations for CCA, said his company's starting pay for a correctional officer
in Colorado is $24,000 to $26,000 per year. The state Department of
Corrections pays $32,000 annually. Brown said his company turns over 30
percent to 40 percent of its Colorado workforce a year.
March 6, 2007 Greeley Tribune
Saying GEO Group Inc. can't be trusted, a Pueblo lawmaker asked state
officials Monday to rescind a contract with the company to build a private
prison in Ault. Plans for the prison, which would house 1,500 inmates and
would be built east of the railroad tracks along U.S. 85, has stalled on two
fronts. Ault leaders decided they would not approve the facility until the
public voted on it, and GEO wants to change its contract to ensure payment
for its beds. Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, a vocal
critic of private prisons, said Monday that the proposed change and other
issues regarding GEO's integrity should negate the Ault contract. “Anybody
living in Ault should be concerned that a company that would bid this way on
a contract might have a business in their town," she said. Philip
Tidwell, spokesman for the town group Coalition Against Ault Prison, said
residents hope no one else bids on the Ault prison if GEO's contract is
rescinded. "We just do not want any private prison, whether it be GEO or
Cornell or anyone else," he said. A spokesman for GEO did not return
calls seeking comment. McFadyen said the company is attempting to do the same
things in Ault that derailed plans for a GEO facility in Pueblo. In 2003, GEO
won a contract for a 1,100-bed, pre-parole and parole revocation facility in
Pueblo, and after almost four years of delays, the state pulled the contract
last fall. The company never broke ground on the facility. "The state of
Colorado was held hostage for four years waiting for those beds,"
McFadyen said. The delays included zoning issues in Pueblo and GEO's attempt
to obtain guaranteed payments on 90 percent of its beds, regardless of
whether the beds were occupied. That is something state leaders have opposed
and which may even be impossible because of state laws, McFadyen said. Now,
GEO is trying for guaranteed bed payments in Ault, she said. "You have
to question the integrity of the 2006 bid," she said. "If past
performance is an indicator, I suspect we will be in the same place we were
in 2003 in Pueblo." McFadyen said Ari Zavaras, the new director of the
Department of Corrections, told her he is opposed to bed guarantees.
Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan told the Associated Press that Zavaras
will review McFadyen's request and decide how to respond. The story of Ault's
possible prison goes back to late 2005, when Nolin Renfrow, former director
of prisons for the Department of Corrections, started working with GEO on a
bid for a private prison. Renfrow is under investigation for using state sick
leave to obtain the Ault contract on behalf of GEO. On Monday, Colorado
Citizens for Ethics in Government, a watchdog group, filed an open records
request about the Ault bid. "We do not feel that the public's interest
was put forth in the procurement of this contract," said Chantelle
Taylor, spokeswoman for the watchdog group. A state audit found Renfrow's
business activities "arguably present a conflict of interest and result
in a breach of ... the public trust." That breach, coupled with GEO's
attempt to change its Pueblo contract by adding the bed-payment guarantee,
should have prevented the company from getting the Ault bid in the first
place, McFadyen said. Tidwell agreed. "One thing the state should
recognize is (GEO) did not operate fairly," he said. "They hired an
insider knowing he worked for the state. In my mind, GEO has shown itself to
be not a company that operates fairly in the state of Colorado.
March 5, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, and two reform groups today formally
requested the director of the Department of Corrections and the governor
rescind Geo Group’s bid to build a private prison in Ault. The reasons cited
included the company’s performance on a 2003 bid to build a private prison in
Pueblo. McFadyen said GEO Group lost its contract to build the Pueblo
facility because it delayed the start of construction, then tried to
renegotiate its contract to get a guarantee that it would be paid for 90
percent occupancy, even if beds were not filled. "Basically, the state
of Colorado was held hostage for four years. They didn’t even break
ground," McFadyen said. In her letter to Ari Zavaras, executive director
of DOC, she said, "It would appear that the state’s best interests were
not served by allowing GEO group to bid any contract with the state because
of its lack of performance on tis 2003 award." Officials with Geo Group
could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Alison Morgan, spokeswoman
for the DOC, said Zavaras was aware of the letter being sent by McFadyen, but
had not seen it Monday. "Since he was not with the department during the
RFP (request for proposals) process, it is an issue that he is still studying
and is being briefed on," said Morgan. "Once he has all the
information, including McFadyen’s letter, he would welcome an opportunity to
sit down and talk to her."
February 13, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
Gov. Bill Ritter wants to invest $8 million in reducing the number of inmates
returning to prison in the belief he can save $14 million in the long run.
The money would go to mental health and substance abuse programs for
parolees, programs to divert kids from Youth Corrections facilities and more
space in community corrections. In proposals submitted to the Joint Budget
Committee, Ritter asked for $8 million for the year starting July 1, which is
projected to save $3.2 million immediately by reducing the number of inmates
sent to private prisons. Ritter's plan is expected to save an additional $11
million in the long term. "We're very excited to see the governor move
in this direction," said Christie Donner, of the Colorado Criminal
Justice Reform Coalition. "We think he's right on to look at reducing
recidivism and revocations in probation and parole." Ritter must cut
Colorado's explosive growth in inmates or spend $800 million on new prisons
in the next five years. That could sap his ability to fund programs in
education and health care. The governor's proposal says this is just the
beginning of a years-long investment in programs that address inmates' education,
employability and housing in hopes of cutting their repeat crimes. It also
meets a request from the legislative budget committee's Rep. Bernie Buescher,
D-Grand Junction, for measurable goals. For example, a $1 million investment
in more community corrections capacity is expected to save $2 million over
two years because graduates of community corrections return to prison half as
often.
December 16, 2006 The Gazette
State prison officials have canceled a contract for a new private prison
in Pueblo, a move that casts doubt on how much Colorado will be able to rely
on private prisons while it copes with a crowding crisis. The GEO Group,
which was awarded a contract in 2003 to build the Pueblo pre-release prison,
has also been contracted to build and operate a prison in Ault, in
northeastern Colorado. But the same issue that doomed the Pueblo project —
the company’s insistence it be guaranteed nearly full occupancy — could
derail the latter prison, because GEO is making a similar demand. “If GEO’s
going to demand a bed guarantee, they need to leave the state,” said state
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, a Pueblo Democrat and leading critic of private
prisons. “It is not the job of the Colorado taxpayers to ensure profits for
this corporation.” The Pueblo prison was delayed repeatedly: by zoning
issues, by a legal challenge from a prison-reform group and by several
revisions to the plan by GEO. But the final impasse began this summer, when
the company asked for a 90 percent minimum occupancy guarantee for the
prison, which wasn’t a condition of the original proposal and was opposed by
Department of Corrections officials. Private prisons are paid a daily rate
per inmate by the state, currently $52. Last month, the DOC denied a
contract-extension request, and on Thursday informed the company that it was
canceling the contract. “Ground has not broken, and GEO has given no
indication when, or even if, it plans to commence construction,” DOC
executive director Joe Ortiz wrote. “Our patience cannot be infinite.” The
department is facing an acute crowding problem. Years of canceled
prison-construction projects and steady growth in court caseloads have
created a shortage of prison beds. The DOC this week began shipping 720
inmates out of state, a temporary solution until new beds become available.
With only one state prison under construction, Colorado State Penitentiary II
in Cañon City, the DOC this year awarded contracts to three companies to
build prisons for 3,776 inmates. The GEO Group’s proposed 1,500-bed prison in
Ault is a major part of the plan. Alison Morgan, head of private-prison
monitoring for the DOC, said the department still expects GEO to follow
through on its proposal in Ault. “We are treating the Pueblo facility and the
Ault facility separately. We have from Day 1, and we will continue to do so,”
Morgan said Friday. However, GEO is making the same demand for guaranteed
occupancy for the Ault prison. Asked whether the DOC is still opposed to a
guarantee, she said, “It is a policy decision to be addressed by the new
administration (of Gov.-elect Bill Ritter) and the General Assembly.” The
local community isn’t even sure it wants a prison. Ault’s town board last
month passed an ordinance requiring voter approval for the prison. No
election date has been set. McFadyen said she doesn’t believe GEO ever
intended to complete the Pueblo prison, and she doubts the company’s ability
and will to follow through in Ault. “We’ve been set back three years in our
planning,” McFadyen said. “I think that kind of delay is unacceptable, and
we’ll learn from this experience and not allow another contract to drag on
for three years.” A call to a spokesman in the company’s Boca Raton, Fla.,
headquarters was not returned Friday afternoon. An audit requested by
Mc-Fadyen regarding the bidding process for the Ault prison was released this
week. It showed that a top DOC official set up a consulting business to help
GEO win the bid while he was employed by the state. Because the DOC is based
in Colorado Springs, the office of 4th Judicial District Attorney John
Newsome will receive the results of the investigation and determine whether
any law was broken. Morgan said the DOC will issue a new request for
proposals for a pre-release prison.
December 14, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A three-year effort to build a private prison facility at the Pueblo
Memorial Airport Industrial Park appears to be dead after the Colorado
Department of Corrections and the prison company reached an impasse over
guaranteed occupancies. On Tuesday, reports said that the DOC was working
with the attorney general's office to draft a letter to the GEO Group that
essentially kills the company's plans to build a 1,000-bed pre-parole and
parole revocation facility on 36 acres east of the city. GEO officials said
Wednesday they had not received any letter from the DOC, but also didn't
express much confidence a deal could be struck for the facility. "We
have been in negotiations with the Department of Corrections, but we don't
have any contract signed and at this time it does not appear there will be
one," said Pablo Paez, director of communications for the Florida-based
company. Paez confirmed reports from November that the company was asking for
a minimum occupancy guarantee for the facility and also confirmed that the
company was planning to go to the city of Pueblo for help to build the
prison. ± PLEASE SEE PRISON, 2APRISON / continued from page 1A ± "We
needed the guarantee to secure the lowest capital cost through tax-exempt
bonds," Paez said Thursday. "We would get those through the local
municipality." State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo
West, who has been a vocal critic of the private prison industry, and state
Rep. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, wrote a letter to the city in May warning against
using public funds to build the facility. "I think it's very positive
that the city of Pueblo is not going to risk its credit rating on this
project," McFadyen said Wednesday. Officials from the DOC were not
available Wednesday to comment on whether the letter had to do with the occupancy
guarantees, or the result of an audit suggesting former Director of Prisons
Nolin Renfrow may have broken the law by helping GEO secure DOC approval to
build a 1,500-bed facility in Weld County, prior to his retirement in
January. Paez said GEO had no contact with Renfrow before March. Last month,
DOC spokeswoman Kathy Church told The Pueblo Chieftain that talks between the
company and the DOC over Pueblo's facility had stalled over the minimum
occupancy guarantees and had reached a critical point. "They need to
either understand our position and accept it or back out completely,"
Church said last month. Church told The Chieftain that the DOC couldn't make
any guarantees without knowing how much money it had to spend. That money
depends on what the joint budget committee decides. McFadyen wondered
Wednesday why those guarantees weren't part of the original agreement when
DOC solicited bids for the Pueblo project. "If the DOC negotiated
additional terms with GEO, they would be the only private prison company to receive
such treatment and that's wrong," McFadyen said Wednesday. "I think
this goes to the point of how committed they were to coming to Pueblo in the
first place." The plans to build the facility started in 2003 when GEO,
then Wakenhut Corrections Company, proposed building the prison on the West
Side. Those plans eventually shifted to the airport and the city approved a
controversial agreement with GEO to build a 500- to 1,000-bed facility. A
year ago, GEO bought the property at the airport from the city for $296,800.
GEO's original plan was to build a 750-bed facility at the airport, but got
Planning and Zoning Approval in May to expand the facility to 1,000 beds.
December 14, 2006 Denver Post
Results of an investigation into former Colorado prisons director Nolin
Renfrow's conduct in office will be turned over to a district attorney early
next year, the Department of Corrections' inspector general said Wednesday.
Michael Rulo, who has been the agency's inspector general for seven years,
said his office has been cooperating with state auditors on the probe. On
Tuesday, the auditors announced that a "former senior- level
official" of the Department of Corrections launched a prison-consulting
business in August 2005, five months before he retired from the department
Jan. 31, and helped a private company land a state prison contract. State
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, who requested the audit, identified the
official as Renfrow. The auditors found that while still employed by DOC,
Renfrow began working to assist prospective bidders in developing proposals
to his department for a private prison. With his assistance, a company
identified as the GEO Group was awarded the contract for a 1,500-bed private
prison at Ault. Auditors noted that state employees are barred by law from
outside employment that creates a conflict of interest, and from helping
people to win a contract with their agency for a fee. Renfrow couldn't be
reached for comment Wednesday. Rulo said the results of his office's
investigation will be turned over to El Paso County District Attorney John
Newsome, probably in January. The Department of Corrections is based in that
county. Rulo said a decision on whether to file charges will be a
"collaborative process" with prosecutors. Kristen Holtzman,
spokeswoman for Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, said that Renfrow
never contacted the attorney general's office to ask whether his consulting
business while still a DOC employee constituted a conflict of interest.
December 13, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A former top official for the Colorado Department of Corrections may have
broken the law when he helped a private prison company win a state contract
earlier this year, an audit revealed Tuesday. Though the report conducted by
the state auditor doesn't name him, the audit centered on Nolin Renfrow,
former director of prisons for DOC. It even calls on the department's
inspector general to further investigate the matter and, if warranted, refer it
for possible prosecution. The audit, which was requested by Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, showed that before Renfrow retired in January, he
had been working with a Florida-based private prison company, GEO Group, to
land a DOC contract to build a 1,500-bed prison in Weld County. That project
is expected to cost an estimated $100 million, for which Renfrow was to get a
1 percent fee - or $1 million - for helping Weld County get the contract, the
audit said. In 2003, GEO, which is based in Baca Raton, Fla., was awarded a
contract to build a 500-bed, prerelease prison near Pueblo Memorial Airport,
which still hasn't been built. Renfrow's replacement, Gary Golder, says the
department currently is working with the Attorney General's Office on a
letter to GEO that effectively would revoke the 2003 bid and end the Pueblo
project. Though the audit did not find any evidence that Renfrow disclosed
confidential information to GEO to help it win the Weld County bid, he may
have violated state laws, personnel rules and department regulations
regarding outside employment, the audit said. Neither Renfrow nor GEO
officials were available for comment. The audit found that prior to Renfrow's
retirement on Jan. 31, he filed articles of incorporation for a private prison
consulting firm, Patriot Business Solutions, in August 2005. "Public
records and interviews indicate that the former employee began actively
working on behalf of his prison consulting business as of November
2005," the audit said. "Neither the department nor the former
employee provided documentation showing that the employee requested or the
department approved the former employee's outside employment." The
contract was awarded to GEO in June, along with a separate contract to
Corrections Corporation of America to expand two of its existing private
prisons - in Bent and Kit Carson counties - by 720 beds. DOC time sheets also
showed that Renfrow "used a combination of annual, sick and holiday
leave" to remain on extended paid leave from November 2005 until his
retirement date, the audit said. "Neither the department nor the former
employee provided evidence that (Renfrow) received the express consent of his
attending physician or appointing authority to engage in outside work
activities," the audit said. "As a result, we question the former
employee's use of about 240 hours of paid sick leave benefits valued at about
$14,000." McFadyen began to question Renfrow's involvement immediately
after GEO won the contract. The Pueblo West lawmaker, a longtime critic of
private prisons, questioned why such a company would be awarded a new bid
before it had made any progress on the Pueblo prison. McFadyen also
questioned why the department was even considering a GEO request, which was
made after winning the bid, to give it a written guarantee that the new beds
would be filled, something the state has never provided to any of the five
other existing private prisons in the state. "I am still questioning the
Colorado Department of Corrections as to why GEO was allowed to bid another
(project) when they have not performed on the original 2003 project,"
McFadyen said. "GEO Corporation is demanding that the state issue a
mandatory guarantee of filling beds. It is not the responsibility of Colorado
taxpayers to ensure the profits of this corporation. "There's no
question that we're being held hostage by GEO Group when other (private
prison) vendors probably would like to come in and bid those contracts,"
she added.
December 13, 2006 Rocky Mountain
News
A retired state prison official stands to be paid $1 million - and
possibly face criminal charges - for helping a private prison company win a
state bid while he was still working for the state. A state audit released
Tuesday cited a possible conflict of interest. The audit does not name the
official, but the audit was aimed at Nolin Renfrow, former state prisons
director. And the document describes work he openly undertook for the Geo
Group. Renfrow helped Geo win a $14 million-per-year deal to house 1,500
inmates in a private prison it proposed building in Ault. Renfrow helped Geo
write its bid and spoke with Ault officials on Geo's behalf, said officials
and Renfrow last spring. On Tuesday, Renfrow did not return a call for
comment. The audit said the official may have violated two state laws. One
prohibits state employees from providing paid assistance to anyone to win
state contracts or economic benefits. The other prohibits activities that
constitute a conflict of interest with their duties as state employees. The
audit cleared the official of using insider knowledge to help Geo win the
bid. But it said that if the prison is built, Geo will pay the official a $1
million fee. The official started working as a consultant on the deal before
he retired this year, the audit said. During his final three months on the
job, the official used six weeks of sick leave, valued at $14,000, without
any proof that he was sick. The Department of Corrections has launched an
investigation as a result of the audit. If warranted, the department will refer
its findings to local prosecutors, said Gary Golder, Renfrow's replacement as
state director of prisons. Golder said the laws cited by the auditor do not
carry specific penalties. He speculated that if charges are filed, they might
be for malfeasance or official misconduct. When the audit began in June,
Renfrow told a reporter he had run operations for existing prisons and that
he had no role in writing the state's bid request that he later helped Geo
win. He also said then that the state attorney general's office had ruled
that his work on the deal was not a conflict of interest. However, the audit
found no evidence that he requested or received the required state approval
for his outside work.
September 21, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, rallied support
in Pueblo on Wednesday for a strong future fiscal plan for the Colorado
Department of Corrections. Coloradoans, she added, also need to know how the
DOC is going to protect its employees and the communities surrounding their
facilities. McFadyen was flanked by DOC guards, Teamsters, State Speaker of
the House Andrew Romanoff and other Democrats during a press conference held
on the steps of the Pueblo County Courthouse. She told the small crowd that
the DOC has no future plans for corrections. "They testified in
(legislative) session that their only plan is to house inmates," she
said. "They don't set goals and objectives. McFadyen warned of the cost
and repercussions of moving and accepting out-of-state inmates. She cited the
July 2004 riot at the privately-owned, Crowley County Correctional Facility
in Olney Springs. That riot was fueled by inmates from Washington and
Wyoming. And on the same day, a prison riot broke out in Mississippi, caused
by inmates shipped from Colorado. "You can't put those types of
populations together because, right away, the inmates from out-of-state start
banding together," McFadyen said. A critic of private prisons, McFadyen
said the state needs to look at the role of private prisons. "Are we
saving money with private prisons? I think not."
August 23, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
Two political groups are fighting over Rep. Buffie McFadyen, but it isn't for
love nor money. In one corner is a political organization created by GOP Gov.
Bill Owens and financed by several well-heeled Republicans called The
Trailhead Group. In the other is a similarly well-financed Democratic group
called Clear Peak Colorado, which was created for the sole purpose of
countering anything the GOP group says. While Trailhead is accusing the
two-term Democrat from Pueblo West of using her office to enrich herself,
something it has been saying in a slew of recent radio ads in Canon City and
Pueblo, the Democratic group says it is the other way around. That Trailhead
wants to unseat McFadyen so its contributors can continue to receive
lucrative private prison contracts. McFadyen, who has been highly outspoken
in her opposition of private prisons, is running for her third term in office
this fall against GOP challenger Jeff Shaw, a Pueblo attorney. "It's
very clear that these prison building and management companies are using the
Trailhead Group as a vehicle to attack Representative McFadyen for her
opposition to private prison building initiatives," said Clear Peak
director Tim Knaus. "These prison industry corporate donors to the
Trailhead Group have millions of dollars riding on a GOP victory and they'll
stop at nothing to protect their bottom line." Both groups are known as
527 organizations, so called because of the IRS tax code governing similar
political advocacy groups.
June 9, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
A state representative is calling for an audit on the bidding for the
state's new private prisons for men, saying both finalists have serious
problems, and one has been aided by a former state prison official. An audit
could hamper the Department of Corrections' attempt to rush construction of
2,250 new private prison cells. The state is running out of space for its
fast-growing inmate population, and wants the first 750 beds constructed and
open in just 20 months. The contract is worth about $45 million a year at
current rates. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said in her letter to the
Legislative Audit Committee that Nolin Renfrow had been DOC's director of
prisons until he retired recently. She said he quickly went to work as a
consultant for The Geo Group, formerly Wackenhut, on a private prison
proposal that has become a finalist. "It is reasonable to assume Geo may
have had, or has, what could be considered proprietary information. At the
very least, Renfrow may have given his client, Geo, an unfair bidding
advantage," McFadyen wrote in her letter. But Renfrow denied having any
role in the bid request, saying he ran operations for existing prisons. He
said the bid was handled by DOC's purchasing section. "I saw the (bid
document) the same day everyone else did. I had to sign in and buy a copy of
it." Renfrow also said his new work - as a prison consultant - was
cleared by the attorney general's office. "They said it's not a conflict
of interest." He also said he was under contract with Geo's bid partner,
not Geo. DOC spokeswoman Patti Micciche confirmed that Renfrow had been
director of prisons before retiring. She said he did not write the bid
request, or serve on the selection committee. McFadyen also questioned why
Geo is a finalist at all, when it has been unable to build another private
prison it contracted to build for DOC three years ago. Geo has run into
repeated zoning issues on that planned facility in Pueblo and has yet to
break ground. She also questioned why Geo is asking Pueblo to use city bonds
to finance that prison, when the company won the bid with the promise of
private financing. McFadyen also raised issues about the second finalist,
Corrections Corp. of America. CCA had a riot at one of its private prisons in
Crowley County in 2004. She asked if CCA and the DOC have corrected all the
problems found in the riot report and a subsequent state audit. Micciche said
DOC has implemented all 16 recommendations made in that audit. Geo and CCA
officials were unavailable for comment late Thursday afternoon. Finally,
McFadyen said she was unhappy with the DOC's statement that it could refuse
both finalists and simply negotiate a contract without bidding. She said it
should concern all taxpayers "that no bid process is mandatory for an
obligation of this type." Prison officials told the legislature earlier
this year that they generally have negotiated contracts with private prisons
rather than use a competitive bid like this one. Micciche noted that three
bids were disqualified, leaving the two finalists. "That's
disappointing. We would rather have a greater selection to choose from,"
she said. McFadyen said she is not worried about delaying the new prisons for
three to six months for an audit on a contract that will cost the state for
years to come. The Legislative Audit Committee meets Monday.
March 12 2006 AP
A group of Colorado inmates who started a riot at a private prison in
Mississippi in 2004 so they could be transferred back to Colorado will force
lawmakers to review their policy that allowed the Department of Corrections
to ship troublemakers out of state. This week, The House Judiciary Committee
holds a hearing on a measure (Senate Bill 23) prohibiting the Department of
Corrections from placing state inmates classified higher than medium custody
in private prison facilities located within Colorado or outside the state.
The only exception would allow the governor to declare a correctional
emergency and by proclamation authorize the department to place state inmates
classified higher than medium custody in private prison facilities. Rep. Val
Vigil, D-Thornton, said an audit last year revealed that the state had no
policy on shipping high risk inmates out of state, and that other states have
no uniform way they treat low, medium or high risk prisoners. “We had to
decide whether we should change the practice or change the statutes. We
decided to change the statutes,” Vigil said. The disturbance occurred a day after
a similar riot at Crowley Correctional Facility, a private prison near Olney
Springs, Colo. At Crowley, inmates rioted and set fires, destroying one
living unit and extensively damaging four others. Both private prisons were
operated by Corrections Corp. of America, which was criticized by lawmakers
for not hiring enough employees at the Crowley facility. Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said Colorado has a duty to protect its inmates, and
the state can’t guarantee that when it sends them to other states which have
their own rules. “One thing government has to do is ensure public safety.
That includes inmates,” McFadyen said.
January 17, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
Sen. Deanna Hanna scored a small victory Monday when a Senate committee
advanced her bill to stop Colorado from housing its most dangerous inmates at
medium-security prisons outside the state. Senate Bill 23 is designed to plug
loopholes in state law to prohibit the Department of Corrections from placing
high-security inmates at private prisons in states that are not equipped to
handle them. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday voted 4-3 to forward
the proposal to the full Senate. "It's a security and safety
issue," said Hanna, D-Lakewood. "At the prison in Mississippi, they
were used to having medium-security prisoners, and we sent high-security
prisoners there that caused some serious problems." A 2005 state audit
found Colorado sent leaders of prison gangs involved in six disturbances in
Colorado facilities to a medium-security lockup in Mississippi to ease
overcrowding here. The Colorado Department of Corrections was forced to bring
121 of its most dangerous prisoners home from Mississippi after they were
involved in two riots in an understaffed private facility.
August 24, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
If Colorado took a best-value approach to contracts rather than a low-bid
approach, it could save the state millions of dollars in mediocre work that
has to be redone, union representatives said Monday. "Using the low-bid
process, the winning company has little incentive to do more than marginal
work," Gerard Waites, a Washington, D.C., lawyer whose firm represents
construction-trades unions, told members of the Interim Committee to Study
the State Procurement Process. The committee was formed because of
dissatisfaction with end products delivered by private vendors, such as the
one that put together the Colorado Benefits Management System, the state's
new $200 million system for delivering welfare benefits. Some committee
members also are skeptical about whether Colorado's private prisons truly are
saving money, when the cost of paying overtime to state employees to quell
riots is considered.
June
20, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
The company that runs most of Colorado's much-criticized private prisons showered
state lawmakers with campaign cash over the last five years.
Corrections Corp. of America and several of its executives gave at least
$43,000 to legislative and gubernatorial candidates, as well as state
political parties, campaign-finance records show. The company's
beneficiaries include Gov. Bill Owens; Interim State Treasurer Mark Hillman,
who recently resigned his post as Senate minority leader; the former Senate
president; two members of the legislature's budget committee, including the
chairman; and the House speaker pro tem. A government watchdog group said
that CCA's cash still could have been enough to garner influence resulting in
lax oversight from the state, as auditors described in a report last
week. Pete Maysmith, of Colorado Common Cause, an advocacy group that
has pushed for campaign-finance limits, sees a link between the company's
donations and the state's oversight problems. "Let's not pretend
otherwise," he said. "They give large campaign contributions
both to win contracts in the state and, one would also presume, to have as
much free rein as possible." Other private prison companies that
don't hold Colorado contracts donated nearly $15,000 to state candidates this
decade, records show. Records show no donations from the only company
besides CCA to run a Colorado private prison, GRW Corp. of Tennessee.
The company split its Colorado donations among political parties. It gave
$17,250 to Democrats, including $750 to members of the Joint Budget
Committee, $200 to Speaker Pro Tem Cheri Jahn and $15,000 to a party campaign
committee shortly before the 2002 election. It gave Republicans $25,750,
including $12,000 to party committees and $500 each to former Senate
President John Andrews and former House Speaker Lola Spradley.
April 21, 2003
Wanna buy a beautiful, historic old capitol building? How about a state
prison? Or maybe even the Governor's Mansion? Believe it or not, state
lawmakers are considering selling them. Oh, buyers wouldn't get to keep
the buildings. They could get them on a lease-sale agreement, meaning
they'd have to lease them right back to the state. (Rocky Mountain
News)
April 10, 2003
The state
Senate gave a green light Wednesday to using lease-purchase agreements to
build a 948-bed, high-security prison and a medical school in Colorado.
Despite
long, heated arguments on the Senate floor, including warnings that voters
should have a voice in determining long-term debt, the issue won't be decided
by an election as some lawmakers had hoped. (Rocky Mountain News)
February 2, 2003
The senate got its first look Friday at a bill that would begin the process
of building two medium-security prisons and adding space at the state's other
corrections facilities. "The problem is the prisoners who are
housed out of state," said Sen. John Hanes, R-Cheyenne, chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. "And that consists of 443 men and 64
women." Most of Wyoming's out-of-state prisoners have been kept at
private prisons in Colorado. While that situation has been less than
ideal because they have not been getting treatment, Colorado is now telling
Wyoming to find another place for its inmates. Some Wyoming inmates are
being sent to Nevada. (Billings Gazette)
June 22, 2004
Legislative budget writers happily gave their blessings Monday to a $2.3
million supplemental appropriation to lock up 121 problem inmates at a
private prison in Mississippi. Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee
said shipping the gang-related inmates out of Colorado may save the state
money in the long run. State corrections officials already have
transferred the inmates, who they suspect were behind a recent surge in
prison disturbances. Some originally went to a private prison near San
Antonio, Texas, until that facility said it didn't want them. The cost,
at $51 per inmate per day, is $1.44 per inmate per day higher than the rate
for private prisons in Colorado. But budget analyst Karl Spiecker told
lawmakers there were no other alternatives. Spiecker said, however, there
could be problems outside of difficulties in family visits. Because of the
distance involved, it will be more difficult for the state to monitor the
private prison. Corrections indicated it will send one or two staff to the
facilities a couple of times each month. (Rocky Mountain News)
July 22, 2003
Officials are negotiating with a second firm to build 100 beds for male
prison inmates with substance abuse problems after the first company was
unable to get financing. The second company is Corrections Education
Center (CEC), headquartered in Roseland, N.J., said Rep. Doug Osborn,
R-Douglas, chairman of the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee
and a member of the evaluation team that selected the companies. The
Colorado Department of Corrections announced on June 23 that CEC has been
approved to expand its pre-parole and parole revocation center to 750
beds. The company, described as the "largest provider of
rehabilitative services to the criminal justice system" treats offenders
at nine facilities in Colorado, the announcement said. Osborn said
Thursday that three companies replied to the state's request for proposal.
The company chosen first, CiviGenics, couldn't get financing to build the
structure, he said. (The Casper Star-Tribune)
June 25, 2003
Mike Arrelano, a top official with the Colorado Department of Corrections,
told local officials Friday that the Colorado Department of Corrections is
projecting continuing growing needs for additional prison beds. His comments
came during a meeting of an ad hoc committee charged with recruiting a
privately owned prison to Prowers County. "Right now we have
essentially every bed filled," said Arrelano, noting that there are only
about 100 available beds among the system's 22 publicly and privately owned
facilities. Arrelano estimates that by January, 2004, the DOC would be using
every bed that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the state's largest
private prison provider, has to offer. He said the DOC is in the
process of writing a contract with GRW, another private prison company, for a
250-bed facility in Brush, Colorado, that will house both Colorado and
Wyoming prisoners. Arrelano noted that there is both a growth of crime
and a growth of population in the state, which, combined with stiff
sentencing laws, drives the need for additional prison beds. He said there
are factors which could reduce demand, so it is hard to predict exactly.
"Demand is hard to predict because economic conditions prompt new ideas
and they could affect demand," he said. In response to a question
from a resident about out of state prisoners, Arrelano said that currently
only CCA is housing out of state prisoners. When privately owned facilities
first came to Colorado, he said, the DOC had a shortage of prisoner space and
was housing Colorado prisoners out of state. That, he said, caused a lot of
problems for the DOC, and two corporations, CCA and Dominion, came into the
state and built private prisons on speculation. Last year Dominion sold their
Crowley County facility to CCA. People say the private prisons can do
the job of housing inmates cheaper than the state, he noted, but the private
companies do not incur the same expenses as the state. The state continues to
pay for medical expenses, and the state, of course, houses the higher
security inmates in its own facilities. Arrelano said inmates with serious
medial complications are kept in state facilities, because the DOC does not
want to burden local hospitals and medical facilities in communities where
privately owned prisons are located. In response to a question about
whether private prison employees could go on strike, Arrelano noted the the
Colorado Department of corrections retains the right to step in and take
control of any private prison any time it needs to. "The Department of
Corrections will never create a risk to the public," he said. "We
(DOC monitoring staff) are there, visible, twenty-four seven. Both the state
and the private operators strive to make them as safe as
possible." (Lamar Daily News)
February 13, 2003
Prisons continue to be a growth industry in Colorado as the state, strapped
for cash, looks for ways to build and fill them without a big up-front hit on
the budget. Department of Corrections officials said Tuesday that in addition
to financing a second state-owned and operated Colorado State Penitentiary of
up to 948 high-security cells, they would like to contract with private prisons
for an additional 5,000 medium-security beds. Colorado law prohibits
privatizing high-security prisons housing dangerous criminals, and Gov. Bill
Owens' policy is to cap lower-security private prisons at no more than 30
percent of total beds statewide. Rich Schweigert, the department's director
of finance and administration, said all four existing private prisons in
Colorado now are owned by Corrections Corporation of America in Nashville ,
Tenn. Colorado inmates currently fill 2,409 of CCA's prison beds -- 584 at
the 724-bed Bent County facility, 616 of the 778-bed Huerfano County
facility, 639 of the 1,185 beds at Crowley County and 570 of the 820 beds at
Burlington in Kit Carson County . The remaining 1,000 beds are or soon could
be available to Colorado , reported CCA President John Ferguson. The state of
Wyoming has inmates in 365 of CCA's beds here and has been put on notice that
they will have to move out if and when Colorado decides to take them over.
According to Schweigert, private prisons pay employees an average of $ 8,000
less than state correctional officers' salaries. While CCA is Colorado 's
sole private prison operator right now, the state has accepted bids for two
other 500-bed prisons submitted by CCA competitors. If those contracts are
completed, they would take care of 1,000 of the 5,000 additional private
prison beds identified as needed by the state. (The Pueblo Chieftain)
January 13, 2003
Wyoming inmates housed in
Colorado prisons will be sent packing as the Colorado Department of Corrections
makes more space available for its own exploding prison population. Wyoming Department of Corrections
spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale said Wyoming is forced to send prisoners out of
state because of the lack of space in Wyoming's prisons. (Star Tribunal)
January 8, 2003
Growth in Colorado's prison
system appears ready to explode over the next decade as the population of
prisoners soars, state officials warn.
State Department of Corrections officials told lawmakers on the Joint
Budget Committee on Tuesday that they are preparing to ask for the
construction of enough private prisons to house 1,500 low- to medium-security
inmates by 2006. But not everyone
agrees with the rapid growth of the private prison system. Rep. Tom Plant, D-Nederland, said all four
of the state's private prisons soon will be owned by Corrections Corporation
of America, creating a monopoly that could leave the state hostage to higher
prices. "We are becoming overly
reliant on the private prison system, which is motivated by profit, not
societal objectives of rehabilitation," Plant said. "As we become
more reliant on them, we become hostages of private prisons." To find more space for Colorado inmates,
officials will begin this summer kicking out 369 Wyoming inmates from two of
Colorado's private prisons. "We
will do it gradually starting in August, depending on our intake," said
Gerald Gasko, director of Corrections Services for the department.
"Wyoming is already starting to rent beds in Nevada." The Wyoming prisoners are housed in
correctional facilities in Kit Carson and Crowley counties. Six years ago, Colorado housed prisoners in
Texas, Minnesota and Missouri, and had a bad experience, Gasko said. "The prisons were expensive and poorly
run," he said. "It required us to be constantly running to these
prisons to solve problem. ..." (Denver Post)
September 25, 2002
The Colorado Criminal
Justice Reform Coalition (CCJRC) today released a report raising
serious questions as to the accuracy of figures used by the
state to show cost savings from privatizing prison operations.
The CCJRC report,
"Private Prisons and Public Money: Hidden Costs Borne by
Colorado’s Taxpayers," explores indirect (or “hidden”) costs which
the state still pays for inmates incarcerated in privately operated
prisons. Although the state pays less money per inmate
per day when housing a prisoner in a privately-operated
facility, the DOC (and by extension, taxpayers) still foot the
bill for functions such as medical care, transportation, and
administrative costs. The FY 2002-03
DOC budget anticipates spending $47.3 million on private prisons
during the year. The report draws on studies (conducted in other
states and nationally) which have found no conclusive evidence
of cost savings from privatizing prisons and point to the
probability that private prisons provide substandard services.
“It
is absolutely crucial that Colorado gets to the bottom of the cost savings
issue before we put any more money into the privatization experiment,”
said CCJRC Co-Coordinator Stephen Raher, the author of the report. “We don’t know the truth about whether
we’re actually saving money and the evidence indicates that
private prisons are unsafe operations with inadequate
rehabilitative programming.” (www.ccjrc.org)
Crowley
County Correctional Facility
Olney Springs, Colorado
CCA (formerly run by Dominion)
Jan
26, 2022 coloradonewsline.com
These
private prisons have over 100% staff turnover. Will more state money help?
The
rural Colorado communities depend on tax revenue from two CoreCivic
facilities
Two
private prisons in rural southeast Colorado - both operated by the company
CoreCivic - are grappling with high turnover rates among their staff. To
address this, the Department of Corrections wants more state money to pay CoreCivic.
Lawmakers voted Friday to support that request. In 2021, DOC and CoreCivic
data show a turnover rate of 107% at the Bent County prison and 126% at the
Crowley County prison, according to a Friday memo for state lawmakers on the
Joint Budget Committee, prepared by committee staff. "This means that
the number of separated correctional officers exceeds the average number of
officers at those facilities; more people are starting and quitting than are
employed there," the memo states. The DOC requested $1.09 million in the
current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and $4.32 million in the next fiscal
year to raise the per diem rate at the two private prison facilities. Under
DOC's request, the rates would increase incrementally - by $3.40 this year,
and then by another $1.13 next year, bringing the per diem rate to $63.32.
(That's the rate that the state pays CoreCivic per inmate, per day.) Joint Budget Committee staff recommended
raising the per diem rate by $4.53 immediately instead of doing it in increments.
This proposal would cost $1.45 million
in the current fiscal year and $4.32 million next fiscal year. Lawmakers on
the JBC voted 5-0 on Friday to accept the staff recommendation, meaning the
funding increase will be part of budget legislation that the entire General
Assembly must vote on this spring. Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat, was
excused for the vote. Sen. Bob Rankin, a Carbondale Republican who serves on
the Joint Budget Committee, asked JBC staff for some follow-up information
about the training of correctional officers getting hired at private prisons.
"If I had a turnover rate like that, I would really be concerned about
the quality and training of the individuals that I hire," Rankin said.
The rate increase will allow CoreCivic to pay its correctional officers a
starting wage of $22 per hour, according to the DOC. That's still $2 less
than the starting wage for state employees. But while the pay increase would
probably somewhat help the turnover situation, there are other reasons why CoreCivic
is having a hard time retaining its employees, said Justin Brakke, senior
legislative budget and policy analyst on JBC staff. "Housing could be an
issue," Brakke told lawmakers during Friday's hearing. "Work
conditions could play into it. There's a lot of different factors." In
an email, CoreCivic spokesperson Matthew Davio pointed out that staffing
challenges were not unique to the Crowley County and Bent County prisons.
"Staffing correctional facilities is a challenge that public and private
facilities alike face in Colorado and across the country," Davio wrote.
"We're taking significant steps to attract and retain talented people
through various means - to counter the current employment challenges so many
employers are facing throughout the country." State-run prison
facilities do have their own staffing issues. The Department of Corrections
reported a turnover rate of 22.9% in November 2021, according to a December
presentation to the Joint Budget Committee. CoreCivic has invested in commercial
advertising, participated in public events, and attempted to recruit
community members through job boards, military bases, local colleges, social
media and local hiring events, Davio said. "Corrections is a challenging
career," he wrote. "In order to keep facilities safe, candidates
must be able to pass background screenings. COVID restrictions to keep our
staff and those in our care safe often add to the staffing challenge."
CoreCivic offers benefits including health insurance, a 401(k) matching savings
and retirement plan, paid time off and education opportunities. The company's
leadership and human resources teams make an effort to talk with staff about
any issues or concerns they may have, Davio added. Tax revenue from private
prisons. Recently, a movement to close private, for-profit prisons grew out
of progressives' desire for the state to shift its approach to criminal
justice - away from locking people up for long sentences, and toward reducing
recidivism by providing people in prison with the services they needed to
safely reenter the community. In a world where rehabilitation was emphasized
over incarceration, criminal justice reform advocates argued it didn't make
sense for the state to keep supporting an industry that benefits from filling
prison beds. Private prison company GEO Group abruptly closed the Cheyenne
Mountain Re-entry Center in Colorado Springs in March 2020, after Gov. Jared
Polis said he wanted to close the facility later that year. A 2021 study
commissioned by state lawmakers concluded that Colorado's prison population
should be maintained and that all remaining facilities should stay open,
according to the La Junta Tribune-Democrat. The study stemmed from 2020
legislation. Colorado's rural communities heavily depend on the tax revenue
from the remaining two private prisons, the 2021 study found. In Crowley
County, the correctional facility generated 44% of property tax revenue and
42% of school district taxes. The Bent County Correctional Facility generated
18.3% of Bent County's property taxes and 25% of Las Animas School District
taxes. Brakke's analysis for the Joint Budget Committee also found that if
the two prisons were to close, the state would not have enough
medium-security beds at other facilities where it could move the inmates.
"The private prisons are fully managed by Core Civic," DOC
spokesperson Annie Skinner said in an email, when asked about the
responsibilities of DOC versus CoreCivic in relation to hiring and retention
of employees at private prisons. "We do have a Private Prison Monitoring
Unit that works directly with those facilities." When asked about how
the DOC had addressed staffing concerns at the private prisons, Skinner
mentioned the per diem rate increase as well as retention bonuses for
CoreCivic staff. The department is using $1.3 million in federal funds, from
coronavirus relief legislation that Congress passed last year, to pay
retention bonuses to staff at the Bent County and Crowley County facilities.
Apr. 24 2013 blogs.westword.com
On the eve of a 25-week trial that promised to focus on claims of poor
training and worse management, the nation's largest private prison company
has reached a settlement with nearly 200 former inmates over a 2004 riot at
the Crowley County Correctional Facility in southeastern Colorado. The
uprising, which plaintiffs' attorney Bill Trine says was telegraphed in
advance and could have been prevented, left many noncombatants terrorized
first by the rioters and then by corrections staff retaking the prison. Trine
announced this morning the $600,000 settlement his 193 clients have reached
with Corrections Corporation of America, which operates more than sixty
private lockups in sixteen states, including four in Colorado. Depending on
their injuries, individual plaintiffs could receive anywhere from $1,200 to
$17,000. That's "pennies on the dollar" for a billion-dollar
company like CCA, plaintiff Vance Adams noted. Yet the settlement is an
unusual one in that CCA was unable to keep it secret; while the company has
been sued frequently, it rarely settles a case without insisting on a
confidentiality agreement as a condition for payment. Post-riot, 2004. After
eight years of litigation involving hundreds of depositions and motions and
hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, Trine wasted no time calling a
press conference to detail the settlement and denounce what he calls
"the evils inherent in the private prison system" -- many of which
were on display in abundance before, during and immediately after the Crowley
riot. As extensively reported in our previous coverage, Crowley was an
incendiary device in search of a match in the summer of 2004 -- a poorly
supervised operation with skimpy meals, well-documented security flaws and
rising tension among Colorado prisoners and new arrivals shipped in from
Washington state. During the discovery process, Trine learned that many
officers and inmates had expressed concerns about the deteriorating
situation, including a frantic staff meeting held on July 20, just hours
before the place went off, during which several COs questioned the wisdom or
letting all the prisoners on the yard at once when so many were threatening a
disturbance that very night. Despite the numerous warnings, only a skeleton
crew was on hand that evening as a disgruntled core of Washington inmates
began helping themselves to weight equipment, smashing things and going after
reputed snitches. Staff quickly abandoned the place, leaving some of their
colleagues behind. "They didn't have enough trained staff to deal with a
disturbance, let alone a riot," Trine says. By the time SORT teams took
control hours later, at least two inmates had been seriously assaulted and
two units of the prison damaged by fire and flood. "I saw a bunch of
people who were angry and taking it out on inanimate objects," former
inmate William Morris recalls. "They were destroying CCA from the ground
up. Unfortunately, some of them also started hurting other people."
Although numerous inmates hadn't participated in the mayhem -- some had stayed
in their pods, or locked down in the kitchen and other areas, even protecting
a female librarian who'd been abandoned in the guards' flight -- all 1,100 of
them were treated the same by the response teams. Adams, who was trying to
assist a deaf cellmate, was forced to lie face down in sewage, dragged
ankles-first from his cell, and dumped outside all night in tightly ratcheted
plastic cuffs. Men had to relieve themselves in their pants while being
taunted and gassed by responders, then took showers while being video-recorded
by female staff. "It was very humiliating," Adams says. "I
would take zero money if CCA was just forced to give up its prisons to the
state to operate." Trine says some inmates were kept in isolation for as
long as six months. Many received little or no medical treatment, and one
seriously injured prisoner was quickly paroled to avoid further medical
expense. In the years of legal wrangling that followed, the attorney learned
that CCA had prepared its own internal report on the riot but failed to produce
it, claiming it was lost. He also came across entirely different reports of
the incident filed by the same employee, suggesting that the company kept one
version for public consumption and another for internal use.
Nov 6, 2012 The Cheiftain
An inmate at the privately owned Crowley County Correctional Facility died
from injuries he sustained in an incident on Oct. 28. The man was identified
by Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti as
Adam Dixon, 39. Although the facility is private, DOC monitors some of its
operations. The inmate was transported to St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center
after receiving "significant injuries," Sanguinetti said.
Sanguinetti did not say if the injuries were caused by another inmate nor
what the injuries were. "The incident is being investigated. I do not
have any of the particulars at this time," Sanguinetti said. Dixon was
serving time for second-degree murder. The Inspector General's office is
investigating the altercation.
April 4, 2012 The Chieftain
A report last week that Corrections Corporation of America needs a subsidy
from the state or it will start shedding jobs has caught the attention of
officials in Bent and Crowley counties. Las Animas is home to the Bent County
Correctional Facility, the city's largest employer at 280 employees. Las
Animas County Commissioner Bill Long said Tuesday that if CCA decided to cut
jobs or shut down the prison it would cripple the county. "It would be
an absolute disaster for Bent County," Long said. "To first lose
the Fort Lyon Correctional Facility, which used to be our largest employer,
and then possibly this, it just can't be described as anything other than
awful." Long said that in addition to the correctional facility being
the county's largest employer, it also is its largest taxpayer at around
$400,000 annually. He added that the prison purchases its utilities from the
city of Las Animas and has a monthly bill around $80,000. Long said he and
his fellow commissioners are getting word from the state that no facilities
are going to be shut down but that staff reductions are certainly
possible."We're unhappy that this is even being proposed," he said.
Olney Springs, which is home to the Crowley County Correctional Facility that
also is operated by the CCA, is another correctional facility at risk of
losing jobs.
March 29, 2012 Pueblo Chieftain
Colorado’s declining prison population has imperiled two private prisons in
Southeastern Colorado, where the economy already is reeling from the recent
closure of a state-run prison. Savings from the pending closure of another
state-run prison in Southern Colorado could be used to prop up the for-profit
ventures. Corrections Corporation of America, which operates Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and Bent County Correctional Facility
in Las Animas, has notified the state that it needs a subsidy or it will
start shedding jobs, Gov. John Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff Roxane White
said Wednesday. “CCA has said that if we don’t figure something out they will
be in a situation where they have to close a prison,” she said. Similar
threats loom at Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, which also is
operated by CCA, and Cheyenne Mountain Re-Entry Center in Colorado Springs,
operated by Community Education Centers Inc., according to White. “At both
the CCA facilities and Cheyenne Mountain, up to 20 percent of their beds are
empty,” she said. “They are looking at the need to make staffing reductions.”
White confirmed that diverting the estimated $4.5 million in savings the
state expects to realize next year from the pending closure of Colorado State
Penitentiary II in Canon City is one option, but she doubts that would be
enough to satisfy the private prison companies. “It’s not enough to cover
it,” she said. “In this case, we need in the neighborhood of $10 (million) to
$15 million to keep the (private) prisons all operational.” Ideally, White
said, any action by the private prison companies could be postponed while the
state conducts a thorough study of the factors driving the declining prison
population, whether the trend is likely to continue and how the state can
best manage its resources in light of the findings.
December 21, 2011 Westword
Seven years ago inmates at a private prison in southeastern Colorado went on
an all-night rampage, chasing the shorthanded staff from the premises,
attacking suspected snitches, setting fires and causing millions of dollars
in damages. Now documents filed in a long-running legal battle confirm what
many prisoners have been saying all along -- that prison officials received
ample warning of impending trouble but failed to take action in time. The
2004 riot at the Crowley County Correctional Facility, operated by the
Corrections Corporation of America, has emerged as a kind of case study in
the multiple ways things can go wrong in a for-profit prison. The night of
the incident, the prison had only 47 employees on duty, including eight
trainees, to supervise 1,122 inmates. There had been growing tension at the
facility for weeks over issues ranging from food and rec privileges to the
presence of numerous disgruntled inmates recently shipped in from Washington
and Wyoming to fill beds. The Colorado Department of Corrections'
after-action report would later blast CCA officials for inadequate training
and emergency response procedures -- but the DOC's own monitoring of the
prison up to the night of the riot had been cursory at best, marked by a
distinct failure to follow up on report after report of inmate complaints and
indications that the place could "go off" soon. Yet some of the
most telling details about the riot and its aftermath have emerged slowly,
over the course of an epic lawsuit filed against CCA on behalf of close to
200 Crowley prisoners. The plaintiffs, who claim to be among the majority of
prisoners who "sat out" the riot by quietly lying down in the yard
or in their units, contend that CCA could have prevented the riot by
responding promptly to trouble signs -- and that they were abused and injured
by corrections officers in the aftermath of the incident. A recently filed
court document includes excerpts of depositions by several current and former
Crowley officers, who acknowledge having numerous discussions with inmates
and among themselves about brewing trouble in the days and hours leading up
to the riot on July 20, 2004. A body-slamming use of force on a Washington
inmate earlier that day prompted several inmates to inform guards that the
Washington group was going to seek payback that night. One told staffer
Wanona Wyker that "he had been trying to tell staff that there was going
to be a riot...that someone needed to listen, that Washington inmates were
saying they were going to tear the place up." Despite numerous warnings,
Crowley's commanders failed to lock down the facility or stagger the
recreational time. Instead, the warden left at five, and a skeleton crew
remained when all 1100 inmates were released for recreation. A confrontation
between a group of officers and Washington inmates quickly led to a staff
evacuation; emboldened inmates poured into the housing units and began to
help themselves to free weights. Once they realized no one was going to stop
them, they started breaking windows and doors, smashing electronic control
centers, busting fixtures and flooding tiers, setting fires and rifling case
managers' records. Many inmates say they attempted to wait out the rampage in
their cells but were driven out by smoke -- or, after the SORT teams arrived
hours later, tear gas. In many cases, prisoners say they were treated more
harshly by staff in the aftermath of the riot than anything they endured
during the disturbance. An account filed by inmate Justin Dougherty is
typical of the plaintiffs' claims of injury and abuse: "He was on his
way to the weight room when the riot started on the west side [and] he heard
the announcement to lock down. He tried to cross to the other side of the
yard, but was unable to return to his unit on the east side. Guards shot at
him as he tried to get to the east yard, a Molotov cocktail exploded near his
feet, and inmates assaulted him...Shot 3-4 times with rubber bullets and bird
shot...BBs were embedded in back, face, and lips. Assaulted by other inmates:
hit with piece of debris in the back, punched on side of head, chased by 5-6
inmates with weapons after escaping the chaos in the yard. Bruises on neck,
back, forearms. "Smoke and gas inhalation in Unit 1-a for approximately
2 hrs. Coughing, skin and eyes burning. Saw inmates looking through files for
reasons to physically assault other inmates. Saw inmates being chased,
stabbed, and one thrown off the tier. Hid in a cell, under a bunk, until
water filled with feces began flooding the cell. When SORT arrived, they made
him lie face down in the fetid water to be pulled from cell and cuffed.
"Air full of gas. Hands purple and swollen with no feeling, wrists cut
and bleeding from being cuffed in back for 8 hrs. Still has scars...Denied
water in yard even though eyes burning from gas and smoke. Denied medical
treatment. Denied water for nearly 24 hours. No food for 20-24 hours. Forced
to wear soiled clothing for 3 days. Dehumanized and humiliated. Has lung
problems caused by the smoke inhalation and tear gas during the riot."
The lawsuit, brought by Boulder attorney Bill Trine and Washington-based
Public Justice, has involved taking statements from dozens of CCA employees
as well as hundreds of former Crowley inmates. After more than six years of
litigation, no trial date has yet been set, but a status conference in the
case is scheduled for later this week.
October 14, 2009 The Denver Post
A private prison operator will pay $1.3 million to settle complaints from
21 female employees who claimed they suffered harassment from male
supervisors and colleagues ranging from sexually explicit comments to rape. A
female officer complained a male co-worker sexually harassed her and that
after she complained, she was reassigned to an isolated location of the
medium-security Crowley County Correctional Facility where she was raped by
the man she complained about, according to the federal lawsuit. The suit,
filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also accused a
chief of security at the prison of forcing a female correctional officer to
have sex with him so she could keep her job. Female employees also accused
their male counterparts of openly viewing pornography and making demeaning
sexual jokes about them. The EEOC sued Corrections Corporation of America and
Dominion Correctional Services on behalf of the female employees in 2006.
Although a settlement was reached, the defendants did not admit liability.
Dominion is no longer operating prisons and the company could not be reached
for comment. "CCA settled the claim to avoid the time, expense, and
uncertainties of continued litigation and trial," said a statement
issued by that company. CCA assumed control of the prison in January 2003
from Dominion and claims that a "substantial number" of the more serious
allegations occurred under Dominion's operation. "Of the 21 individuals
alleging discriminatory conduct, eight were never CCA employees, but were
employed solely by Dominion," the statement said. "Moreover,
although seven of the 21 individuals were employed by both CCA and Dominion,
the majority of their claims also related to events that allegedly occurred
before CCA began operating the facility." EEOC attorney Rita Byrnes
Kittle said some of the employees accused of sexual harassment over the years
have resigned, but some are still working at the prison. Guadalupe Gonzales,
the 39-year-old former employee accused of rape in 2002, was convicted in
2005 of felony sexual assault. He was sentenced to four years of probation
and is registered as a sex offender. As part of the settlement agreement,
Dominion cannot operate a prison in Colorado for three years. CCA must have
sexual harassment training conducted by an outside expert for the next three
years and have a toll-free number available for employees to call to report sexual
harassment. Some of the women who lost their jobs because of the harassment
will get them back and will also get letters of apology. The settlement comes
four months after a federal judge imposed a $1.3 million judgment against a
former Colorado correctional officer who sexually abused a female inmate at
the state women's complex in Denver.
October 2, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Two companies that operated the prison at Olney Springs have agreed to pay
$1.3 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged sexual harassment of women
employees and retaliation against them. The money will be paid by Corrections
Corporation of America and Dominion Correctional Services to 21 female staff
identified as victims of unlawful conduct and to attorneys who represented
three of them. The companies operated the private Crowley County Correctional
Facility. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the two
company defendants on Thursday submitted the terms of the proposed settlement
to a U.S. District Court judge for approval. The Pueblo Chieftain first
reported last week that a settlement had been reached on the eve of a 16-day
trial that was to have started last Monday. The payments range between $7,500
and $155,000 each, based on the circumstances of specific employees. The
private attorneys will receive $140,000 of the $1.3 million. The EEOC sued
the companies in 2006, claiming the alleged harassment and retaliation was an
unlawful employment practice because the companies purportedly allowed the
harassment, starting in at least 2000. The federal agency alleged male
supervisors deliberately put female employees in dangerous situations in
retaliation for complaining about being sexually harassed. The alleged
"repeated, serious" harassment purportedly included groping and
pawing. The alleged retaliation purportedly included "dangerous shift
assignments and reduced opportunities for advancement." The companies
denied the claims and allegations. They stated in Thursday's court document
they agreed to settle the case "solely to avoid the cost and
uncertainties of trial and to buy their peace." The payments are to
cover pay the women were entitled to but never received, to compensate them
for damages from the mistreatment and to punish the companies. The proposed
settlement also requires Corrections Corporation, the current operator of the
prison, to meet several other obligations. They include expunging parts of
personnel files of some of the women who were disciplined or terminated from
their jobs, training managers and staff regarding sexual harassment and
retaliation, as well as maintaining a clear policy about those issues that
conforms with federal law. Dominion operated the prison until January 2003
and Corrections Corporation after that.
September 24, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
A federal agency that alleged male supervisors at the Olney Springs prison
deliberately put female employees in dangerous assignments has agreed to
settle its lawsuit against operators of the private prison. The Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission alleged the supervisors put the females in
danger as retaliation for objecting to "repeated, serious" sexual
harassment, including groping and pawing. The EEOC sued Corrections
Corporation of America and Dominion Correctional Services that operated the
prison, the Crowley County Correctional Facility. A settlement was reached
this week on the eve of a trial, The Pueblo Chieftain learned. The federal
lawsuit sought damages to punish the companies for their "malicious
and/or reckless conduct" by allegedly allowing its male employees to
sexually harass female staffers. The lawsuit also sought compensation for the
women due to the alleged misconduct. The EEOC, when it sued the companies in
2006, alleged the harassment had occurred since at least 2000. The agency
claimed the alleged harassment was an unlawful employment practice because
the companies purportedly allowed the harassment. Both companies denied the
allegations. Dominion operated the prison until January 2003 and Corrections
Corporation after that. The case had been set for a 16-day trial beginning
Monday. Terms of the settlement were not available Wednesday. The EEOC
alleged the harassment was "repeated, serious, verbal and physical"
in which "female employees were routinely groped, pawed and physically
assaulted by male management and male co-workers." "Females who
resisted sexual activity suffered consequences, including . . . hostile and
demeaning verbal and physical advances and even dangerous shift assignments
and reduced opportunities for advancement," the lawsuit alleged. The
companies "were aware of the sexual harassment, (but) failed to take
reasonable measures to prevent and promptly remedy it," the agency
alleged. Corrections Corporation in 2006 asserted "any unlawful acts or
omissions . . . were not authorized, ratified or sanctioned by CCA." It
asserted it "exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly
any unlawful behavior." Dominion in 2007 contended parts of the
allegations were "frivolous" and any actions taken with respect to
female employees "were taken for legitimate nondiscriminatory
reasons." The EEOC said in 2006 it tried to reach a settlement with the
companies before filing the lawsuit. Dominion said in 2004 it fired a chief
of security at the prison after investigating him for sexual misconduct. The
company said the security chief in that episode was not the same security
chief who was named in a lawsuit by two women employees as the man who
allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct against them. Dominion in 2003 settled
the lawsuit and a similar lawsuit involving a different male employee.
Dominion in 2005 settled a lawsuit by a former female guard who alleged she
was subjected to "severe and pervasive" offensive comments from
male supervisors. Hundreds of inmates took control of the prison for several
hours in July 2004 and the handful of guards on duty retreated. The rioters
tore up parts of the prison and set numerous fires.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400
eligible for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in
prison housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be
released. But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share
of the proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley,
Bent and Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the
private facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If
they do what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is
5,000 to 6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty
virtually every private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates,"
Long said. "I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for Bent
County and Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County Correctional
Facility in Las Animas are key parts of their local economies with more than
200 employees at each facility, Long said. "We receive property tax,
telephone revenue and other benefits from the facilities," Long said.
Long explained that the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in Walsenburg
and the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington also will be hurt if
the reduction occurs. Currently the Huerfano facility is full of inmates from
Arizona, but Long said that when Arizona gets its inmate situation
straightened out, the inmates will be taken back to that state. "That
would be another facility that was built primarily for Colorado inmates that
would also be emptied," Long said.
June 3, 2008 Pueblo Chieftain
Some inmates at the Crowley County Correctional Facility won a new trial
last week. The 234 inmates had sued the owners of the private prison,
Corrections Corporation of America, following the 2004 riot at the Olney
Springs lockup, charging that they were punished unfairly for that event even
though they said they were not involved. The inmates sued the prison in two
cases filed in Crowley County district court in 2005 and 2006, but saw both
cases dismissed by District Judge Michael Schiferl on grounds that they
hadn't fully exhausted all their administrative appeals through the Colorado
Department of Corrections. But a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of
Appeals overruled those decisions, saying state law on administrative appeals
applies only on cases brought under statutory and constitutional provisions,
not on common law tort claims as this suit did. "Giving the words used
by the General Assembly their plain and ordinary meaning, it is clear that
that phrase (under any statute or constitutional provision) does not
encompass civil actions brought under the common law," Judge JoAnn Vogt
wrote in one of two rulings, which were joined by Judges Dennis Graham and
Robert Kapelke. Common law is based on judicial decisions, rather than laws
set by statute or constitution, the judges said. In July 2004, several
Crowley inmates rioted over what they termed poor prison conditions. A 2005
state audit of private prisons, done as a result of the riot criticized DOC
for not properly overseeing how they operate, said problems existed that
could lead to more riots. In their lawsuit, some inmates said they were
assaulted by prison guards, including being shot with pellets and rubber
bullets during the riot because they fled fires that other inmates had set in
their cells. In their suit, the inmates said they were ordered to lie face
down and were handcuffed with plastic ties that cut into their skin and
caused their hands to go numb.
May 9, 2008 NOW
I've been to quite a few prisons, both in the United States and Latin
America. Before visiting a prison I always need time to prepare myself
mentally for what lies ahead. It's hard to see people living behind bars. For
this piece, I was going to see a private prison -- one that operates with the
goal of making profits. As I read up on the Crowley County Correctional
Facility in Colorado I found out how lucrative the business of prisons can
be. The prison is run by the Corrections Corporation of America, which had
total revenues of nearly $1.5 billion in 2007. According to a chart in their
most recent annual report, they expect revenues will continue to rise. In
fact, when I walked into Crowley, a medium security prison, I immediately saw
a sign that shows how their NYSE stock is performing. At the prison, there
were no signs of the 2004 prison riot, which left more than a dozen inmates
injured and caused extensive damage to five living units. In fact, Crowley
had facilities for prisoners that were better than anything I had seen
before. Computers, schoolbooks and attentive students filled one classroom.
There was a huge gym, complete with aerobics and yoga classes, lots of open
space for prisoners to stretch out, as well as a program to rescue greyhound
dogs. They had a partnership with Habitat for Humanity for an inmate
carpentry program. And there was a beautiful greenhouse there, with ferns and
flowers that were well tended by the prisoners. Maria checks out a screen
from the computerized prison monitoring system. Later, we went to one of the
prison's 'pods', essentially a wing of the prison, and I spoke to a young
security officer there. She showed me a screen from the computerized prison
monitoring system. On the screen the prison doors were open, when in reality
the doors were shut. "It's messed up," she told me. Seeing the prisoners
at Crowley made me wonder what these men had done that made them end up
behind bars. It recently came out that one in every hundred people in America
is behind bars. Many are incarcerated because they were caught abusing drugs.
For many years, experts have said that there are alternatives to
incarceration, such as treatment for drug addiction that would cut down on
recidivism. As a journalist, my job is to "tell the untold story,"
but visiting a prison -- especially a private prison -- is especially challenging.
I couldn't find out how many drug offenders or other prisoners at Crowley end
up back behind bars because nobody is keeping track. And I couldn't find out
if the numbers of assaults in this prison had gone up or down since the riot,
because those records are not available to the public. These kind of
statistics are treated as privileged information by private prison companies.
If knowledge is power, a journalist, and by extension the public, is at a
disadvantage when it comes to the corporate corrections industry. I came away
from the experience with greater insight into the new ways we define prisons,
to match the new ways we define prisoners. I'd just like to think that the
corporate world has as much investment -- financial and otherwise -- in
keeping people out of prison as it does in building more of them.
January 25, 2007 AP
The Colorado Court of Appeals agreed Thursday that an inmate who was in a
private prison in Crowley County during an October 2004 uprising was wrongly
convicted of rioting. Mark A. Garcia, 35, was charged by prison officials
with engaging in the riot. A hearing board found him guilty and imposed 20
days in segregation and the loss of 45 days of good-time credits against his
sentence. Garcia challenged the ruling, and Crowley County District Judge Jon
Kolomitz reversed the hearing board's decision. He ordered the prison to
restore Garcia's good-time credit and award him two days of good- time credit
for each day he spent in segregation. The defendants -- the prison, several
prison officials and the Corrections Corp. of America, which operates the
prison under a state contract -- appealed. A three-judge panel of the Court
of Appeals said the judge was correct in reversing the riot conviction, but
said the judge did not have the authority to order the prison to award Garcia
additional good-time credit. The panel said evidence against Garcia was
insufficient to support a conviction of engaging in a riot. The riot, which
left more than a dozen inmates injured and caused extensive damage to five
living units, prompted fines against the prison operator and reforms in the
way private prisons are run in Colorado. Garcia argued that nothing he did
during the uprising constituted rioting under the definition in state law.
Garcia testified to the hearing board that he disobeyed a lockdown order but
touched nothing and broke nothing. According to the Department of
Correction's Web site, Garcia was sentenced in 2003 for drug and theft
charges from El Paso County and is expected to be released in 2013. He is now
at the state-run Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Crowley County.
Garcia and about 240 other inmates filed two separate lawsuits in 2005
alleging they were beaten, abused and inappropriately punished after the
uprising even though they did not participate in it. The inmates are awaiting
a different trial judge's ruling on the prison company's motions to dismiss
lawsuits, said Boulder attorney Bill Trine, who represents the inmates.
November 29, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
Three workers at the Olney Springs prison have joined a lawsuit that
alleges female workers were given dangerous assignments as retaliation for
objecting to repeated, serious sexual harassment. A U.S. district court judge
on Tuesday allowed the three to become intervenors in the lawsuit of the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against operators of the Crowley
County Correctional Facility. The EEOC two months ago sued Corrections
Corporation of America, which has operated the prison since January 2003, and
Dominion Correctional Services, which operated it from December 2000 to
January 2003. The lawsuit alleges violations of federal laws against hostile
work environments and retaliation for complaining about discrimination.
"Female employees were routinely groped, pawed and physically assaulted
by male management and male co-workers," the EEOC alleged. Becoming
intervenors allows the three to participate directly in the litigation and to
have their own attorney, said Denver attorney Barry Roseman, who represents
them. They are seeking monetary damages in amounts to be proven at a trial.
The three are Sabinita Barron of Rocky Ford, Marcia Manchego of Ordway and
Christine Newland of Colorado Springs. He said Barron is a guard and that
Manchego had been a case manager and Newland had been a guard, but no longer
work at the prison. The EEOC sued on behalf of all female employees who
allegedly had been subjected to the illegal behavior. The companies have not
yet filed in court their answers to the lawsuit. "Historically there has
been a pattern of this kind of behavior where women enter into a
traditionally male-dominated workplace," EEOC regional attorney Mary Jo
O'Neill said when the lawsuit was filed. "We're trying to stop
harassment based on sex, ethnicity, race and national origin," said EEOC
supervising attorney Nancy Weeks. She said the agency tried to reach a
settlement with the companies before filing the lawsuit, "but our
efforts didn't work." The EEOC's district director, Chester Bailey, said
employers "need to be especially aware that when employees complain of
discrimination, the proper response is to investigate and resolve the issue.
To retaliate against those who complain is a separate violation."
November 7, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A court record shows that a tentative settlement was reached Monday between
the operator of the Olney Springs prison and an inmate seriously injured in a
riot. The record shows that U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer conducted a
confidential conference with both sides to aid them in settling the lawsuit
and that he then said in court a tentative settlement agreement was reached.
Shaffer vacated all further proceedings in the case, a step judges typically
take when they believe a tentative settlement will become final. Shaffer gave
both sides until Nov. 17 to jointly file their request to have him dismiss
the lawsuit. Terms of the tentative settlement were not disclosed, but the
record of the proceedings says that everyone in Monday's settlement
negotiations indicated to the judge their agreement with the terms. Former
inmate Rudy Lujan in January sued Corrections Corporation of America, which
operates the Crowley County Correctional Facility. He alleged the firm's
negligence allowed other inmates to beat him in March, April, May and July 2004.
He also alleged the firm's mismanagement and greed, manifested by not hiring
sufficient guards, led to the July 2004 riot in which he was seriously
injured by rioting inmates who considered him a snitch. Corrections
Corporation denied it was responsible and contended, without elaboration, in
a February 2006 court filing that Lujan's injuries resulted from his
"assumption of the risk" and that he was negligent. The company
said other inmates, not the firm, are responsible for his injuries in the
riot. Hundreds of inmates took control of the prison for several hours and
the handful of guards on duty retreated. The rioters tore up parts of the
prison and set numerous fires. Lujan alleged Corrections Corporation was
responsible because guards did not respond to his pleas for help. The firm
denied any wrongdoing. Lujan alleged he repeatedly told prison staff about
the earlier monthly beatings. The firm denied being aware of any threat to
him.
October 13, 2006 Summit Daily News
Six private prisons in the state were fined about $131,000 for failing to
staff mandatory positions, the Colorado Department of Corrections said. It
was the second time such penalties were levied since a riot broke out in 2004
at the Crowley County Correctional Facility and an audit exposed staffing
problems at the prisons. The department released documents this week showing
the six prisons had 1,071 vacant positions from February to May. The Kit
Carson Correctional Center in Burlington received the largest fine of $83,103
for having 567 positions open. It was docked in $103,743 previously after it
left 701 jobs vacant from November to January. The center is operated by
Corrections Corporation of America, which also runs the Crowley County
Correctional Facility. Alison Morgan, the department's head of private prison
monitoring, said some places have difficulty finding and retaining workers,
especially in remote areas.
October 3, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A federal agency is alleging that male supervisors at the Olney Springs
prison put female employees in dangerous assignments as retaliation for
objecting to "repeated, serious" sexual harassment. The U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission made the allegations in a lawsuit against
companies that currently operate and previously operated the Crowley County
Correctional Facility, a private prison, . The lawsuit was filed Friday in
U.S. District Court against Corrections Corporation of America and against
Dominion Correctional Services, a limited liability company. Nashville,
Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation has operated the prison since January
2003. Edmond, Okla.-based Dominion operated the prison from December 2000 to
January 2003. Since at least 2000, the companies "have engaged in
unlawful employment practices . . . by allowing its employees, including but
not limited to management level officials, to sexually harass" female
workers, the EEOC alleges in the lawsuit. The harassment was "repeated,
serious, verbal and physical," in which "female employees were
routinely groped, pawed and physically assaulted by male management and male
co-workers," the lawsuit alleges. "Females who resisted sexual
activity suffered consequences, including . . . hostile and demeaning verbal
and physical advances, undesirable and even dangerous shift assignments and
reduced opportunities for advancement," the lawsuit alleges. The
companies allegedly "were aware of the sexual harassment, (but) failed
to take reasonable measures to prevent and promptly remedy" it.
Corrections Corporation did not respond to a request for comment. Dominion
could not be reached for comment. The EEOC lawsuit seeks: A court order
barring the companies from any practice "which creates a sexually or
retaliatory hostile work environment" and from retaliating against
employees who object to practices of that sort. A court order requiring the
companies to carry out practices providing equal employment opportunities for
women "and which eradicate the effects of its past unlawful employment
practices, including retaliation." Back pay for former female employees
who were victims of the alleged misconduct. Front pay, or reinstatement to
their jobs. Compensation for money the employees lost from the alleged
misconduct and for emotional pain. Damages to punish the companies for their
"malicious and/or reckless conduct." A court order requiring the
companies to provide training to their staffs about "discriminatory
harassment and retaliation in the workplace." In 2004, a Dominion
official said the company fired a chief of security at the prison after investigating
him for sexual misconduct. The official said that the security chief in that
episode was not the same chief of security who was named in a lawsuit by two
women employees as the man who allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct against
them. Dominion in 2003 settled the lawsuit and a similar suit involving a
different male employee. At the time in 2004 when Dominion said it had fired
a chief of security, the EEOC was seeking a court order to compel the company
to provide information for an agency investigation. In a court document at
that time, the EEOC said a chief of security at the prison forced a female
sergeant, beginning in 2002, to engage in sex "under threat of losing
her job" and beginning in 2001 subjected another female sergeant to
"offensive, gender-based harassment." Friday's lawsuit stemmed from
the 2004 investigation, Nancy Weeks, a supervisory EEOC attorney in Denver,
said Monday. In 2005, Dominion settled a lawsuit filed by Mandy Bravo, a
former female guard who alleged she was subjected to "severe and
pervasive" offensive remarks from male superiors from 2001 to 2002.
Hundreds of inmates took control of the prison for several hours in July 2004
and the handful of guards on duty retreated. The rioters tore up parts of the
prison and set numerous fires.
June 25, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
The state has levied fines of $126,000 for short-staffing at two private
prisons run by Corrections Corp. of America, which just won a contract to
incarcerate 720 more Colorado prisoners. The new inmates will go to a
different CCA prison in Las Animas, which had only minor staffing violations
during inspections last winter. The fines are the first in Colorado. The
penalties were recommended by a searing state auditor's report on the private
prisons last year. The audit was prompted by a riot at the CCA prison in
Crowley County in 2004. An inquiry found that CCA's staff-to-inmate ratio was
one-seventh of a state prison's at the time. Only 33 uniformed officers were
guarding 1,122 inmates. Staffing has improved since the fines were levied,
said Alison Morgan, the state's supervisor of private prisons. CCA's Kit
Carson County prison in Burlington, near the Colorado- Kansas state line, was
fined $103,743 for leaving 701 required shifts empty in a 10-week period from
Nov. 1 to Jan. 10, records show. That's about 10 people short per day over
three shifts. The missing staff members were largely guards in various
locations. On five shifts, the supervisor was missing, and on 44 shifts,
there was no assistant supervisor. The fines could have been much higher. The
state waived nearly $46,000 of penalties for October 2005 at the Kit Carson
prison, saying it was unfair to enforce the contract only a few days after it
was signed in September. Documents say state officials complained that in
November, there were 435 cases in which employees did not sign out, making it
impossible for state inspectors to know if the short-staffing had been even
worse. CCA's Crowley County prison in Olney Springs was fined nearly $23,000
for leaving 157 shifts open in the same period. It, too, was given a reprieve
for October's fines, which would have been $18,000.
March 30, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
A second lawsuit has been filed by 150 more inmates of the Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs charging its private operator,
Corrections Corporation of America, with negligence in a July 20, 2004, riot.
Officials from the Washington, D.C., advocacy group, Trial Lawyers for Public
Justice, have joined the Boulder law firm of Trine and Metcalf in the latest
lawsuit filed March 7, and also supported the previous suit filed by 84
inmates in 2005. The suits contend that the prison was understaffed and its
guards undertrained, that food was substandard, and that the staff refused to
hear inmate grievances.
March 12 2006 AP
A group of Colorado inmates who started a riot at a private prison in
Mississippi in 2004 so they could be transferred back to Colorado will force
lawmakers to review their policy that allowed the Department of Corrections
to ship troublemakers out of state. This week, The House Judiciary Committee
holds a hearing on a measure (Senate Bill 23) prohibiting the Department of
Corrections from placing state inmates classified higher than medium custody
in private prison facilities located within Colorado or outside the state.
The only exception would allow the governor to declare a correctional
emergency and by proclamation authorize the department to place state inmates
classified higher than medium custody in private prison facilities. Rep. Val
Vigil, D-Thornton, said an audit last year revealed that the state had no
policy on shipping high risk inmates out of state, and that other states have
no uniform way they treat low, medium or high risk prisoners. “We had to
decide whether we should change the practice or change the statutes. We
decided to change the statutes,” Vigil said. The disturbance occurred a day
after a similar riot at Crowley Correctional Facility, a private prison near
Olney Springs, Colo. At Crowley, inmates rioted and set fires, destroying one
living unit and extensively damaging four others. Both private prisons were
operated by Corrections Corp. of America, which was criticized by lawmakers
for not hiring enough employees at the Crowley facility. Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said Colorado has a duty to protect its inmates, and
the state can’t guarantee that when it sends them to other states which have
their own rules. “One thing government has to do is ensure public safety.
That includes inmates,” McFadyen said.
March 6, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
Eighteen months ago, inmates rioted at a private prison in Crowley
County, setting fires, smashing everything in two cell houses and seriously
damaging another three. More than 100 officers were needed to stop the
violence, which injured 13. A state investigation blamed the riot on
mismanagement by Corrections Corp. of America, the prison's owner. The
company had 33 guards overseeing 1,122 inmates when the riot began. The state
Department of Corrections tightened its contract with CCA to require more and
better trained staff. Now, the company has a major advantage in bidding for
2,250 new private prison beds that Colorado urgently needs for its soaring
number of convicts. Although several companies have expressed interest in the
work, CCA already has the land and the necessary zoning. That could make it
the only bidder capable of meeting the state's demand that the first 750 beds
open in less than two years. Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections is
unclear on whether it can consider the riot in evaluating bids. At first,
department spokesman Walt Ahrens said it cannot. "Procurement rules do
not allow the department to negatively evaluate a new proposal from CCA
because of a past riot at a CCA facility," he said in an e-mail. Later,
the department pointed to the bid document, which says that evaluators will
consider information about the bidder's past performance, but only if the
bidder brings it up in its proposal. Still later, the department said it can
request further information on such incidents "as long as the bidders
are treated essentially the same." Finally, it said, "We are not
going to speculate on what may happen. The process has just begun." But
awarding the contract to CCA would make Colorado even more reliant on the
company, a critic says. CCA "has a track record at Crowley that would
make anybody question whether they are competent to run a prison," said
Christie Donner, of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, which
opposes all private prisons. In Colorado, a state investigation issued a
blistering report after the riot at CCA's 1,800-bed Crowley County
Correctional Center in Olney Springs in 2004. The report said that CCA's
staff-to-inmate ratio was one-seventh of a state prison's and that management
ignored signs of trouble. A new contract between Colorado and CCA requires
more staff, better training, increased medical care and better food. A state
audit also found fault with the state Department of Corrections, citing
insufficient inspections and a practice of keeping dangerous inmates at a
medium-security private prison, in violation of state law. Dave Schouweiler
of the Corrections Department said it would be convenient to have a private
lockup adjacent to a state prison. But state prisons pay about 50 percent
better and it would be difficult for a private prison to compete for staff,
he said. Though CCA has an advantage of speed and cost efficiencies of
existing facilities, it's not the only potential bidder. George Killinger of
Cornell Cos., which houses 18,000 inmates nationwide, noted that the state's
proposal calls for 750 beds each opening in February 2008, August 2008 and
August 2009. He said that allows the possibility of building one large prison
with a cost-effective central administration, instead of several smaller
ones. Other prospective bidders include Emerald Correctional Management, of
Shreveport, La.; the Geo Group Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla., which is
ready to start construction on a 500-bed, specialized preparole prison in
Pueblo; GRW Corp., which runs a private women's prison in Brush; Larry Small
and Associates, of Hattiesburg, Miss., which is pushing a patented design
that allows guards to see all prisoners at all times; and Management and
Training Corp.
January 11, 2006 Denver Post
Rudy Lujan, the inmate most critically injured in the July 2004, riot at
the Crowley County Correctional Facility, filed suit today against the
operators of the private prison, the Corrections Corporation of America.
Lujan, who claims he warned prison officials on numerous occasions that his
life was in danger because prison gang members had labeled him a snitch, was
severely beaten, thrown off a second floor prison tier, repeatedly stabbed
and left for dead by rampaging inmates. Lujan denied he was ever a snitch. He
said the gang turned on him when he renounced his gang affiliation. The
Denver lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of CCA and violations of his
civil rights. CCA spokesman Steve Owen said he had no immediate comment on
the lawsuit. Lawyers Bill Trine and George Nichols, who represent Lujan, said
Lujan was able to break a cell window before roving gang members broke into
the cell. He screamed for help to prison officials who could see him and
directed a spotlight on him. Although they could see Lujan, they made no
effort to rescue him, the lawyers said. After the July 20, 2004, riot broke
out, Lujan, then 32, called one of his sisters and asked her to call police.
"He said a riot was going on and all the guards were so scared they went
on the roof," he told the sister. "The prisoners had already taken
control. He was scared." The sister, who asked that her name not be
used, told The Denver Post that Lujan told her: "If anything happens to
me, tell everybody I love them." Lujan suffered a skull fracture, a
broken nose, more than half a dozen stab wounds to his chest and shoulders,
and a severe laceration to his left wrist, among many injuries. Once he was
found by guards, he was airlifted to a Pueblo hospital where he was placed on
a ventilator for acute respiratory failure. He was in the hospital for about
10 days. He was paroled on his drug charge sentence within weeks of his
release from the hospital and has not received proper medical attention, the
lawyers claimed today. They said that both CCA and the Colorado Department of
Corrections deny they are responsible for paying for any further medical
treatment which his lawyers say Lujan desperately needs.
November 12, 2005 Rocky Mountain
News
The nation's largest private prison operator has agreed to state-mandated
reforms at its four Colorado prisons 14 months after a riot tore through its
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. Corrections Corp. of
America, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., signed new contracts with the
Colorado Department of Corrections in September that address a host of
problems uncovered in the wake of a riot by some 300 inmates on July 20,
2004. Similar contract requirements and state oversight also will apply to
two other non-CCA private prisons in Brush and Colorado Springs to ensure
consistency. Those prisons house more than 500 inmates. The new contract
requires increased staffing levels at CCA facilities, better staff training
and emergency preparedness, increased medical and mental health services for
inmates, improved food standards, and state takeover of inmate financial
accounts. While some of those issues were not considered direct causes of the
2004 riot, all have been cited as trouble spots that may have fed the
discontent that finally erupted into violence and destruction at the Crowley
County facility. During the riot, inmates ransacked two cellhouses and prison
offices, destroyed furniture, smashed doors and windows, and set dozens of
fires, one of which burned down the prison greenhouse. Two inmates were
seriously injured and several received minor injuries. The Department of
Corrections found afterward that the Crowley prison had only 33 uniformed
officers supervising 1,122 inmates and that some officers had been on the job
two days or less. When inmates began damaging property, the small force of
officers withdrew from the yard and cellhouses, and the riot quickly grew.
Staff size and training were central concerns in the DOC report issued two
months after the riot. But a Legislative Audit Committee report last April
found other unequal conditions between state and private prisons that could
breed future riots. But the staffing shortage seen as a major problem in the
Crowley riot remains a difficult problem for CCA. The company has agreed to
maintain staff sizes closer to those at comparable state-run medium-security
prisons and to train officers to state standards. But a gap remains between
the salaries of state and private prison staff members that has led to high
employee turnover. The state's post-riot report found the average monthly
salary for private prison officers was about two-thirds that of state
officers. CCA has raised salaries every year despite decreases in Colorado's
compensation rate since 2003 because of state budget cuts, Owen said. He did
not disclose current CCA salaries. "It is a challenge in trying to make
salaries competitive with what is paid by the state," Owen said.
November 9, 2005 La Junta Tribune
Democrat
The subject of Prisons is one that tends to make people nervous just on
general principles. However, Crowley County Correctional Facility is doing
its part to show that not everything people hear about prisons is necessarily
true. It's been nearly a year-and-a-half since a prison riot shook up the
Crowley County Correctional Facility in July of 2004. Since that time
operational changes have been made at the facility to ensure nothing like
that happens again. Those changes are continuing as the facility prepares to
add staff as outlined at the quarterly open house on Nov. 2. However, the
facility is still having a hard time finding qualified correctional officers
to fill its staff, which seems strange since the unemployment rate in Crowley
County is a fairly high 8.5 percent, and the correctional facility offers a
"Pretty good pay scale plus benefits" according to Crowley County
Financial Officer Mike Apker. The county is planning to hold a job fair in
the near future to try and recruit some more staff.
October 13, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has dramatically improved its
oversight of private prisons in the state, prisons officials told lawmakers
last week. In giving the Legislative Audit Committee an update on changes it
has made in how it manages the state's five private prisons, DOC director of
prison operations Nolin Renfrow told lawmakers that all is well. That audit
he was referring to was a scathing report released in June that criticized
the department for being lax in its oversight of private prisons and ignoring
problems with them for years. Prompted by a riot at the Crowley County
Correction Facility in Olney Springs last year, the audit said DOC knew or
should have known about numerous problems concerning the operations of the
prisons but did little to nothing to correct them. The state audit said the
department diverted DOC workers whose job was to monitor private prisons to
other duties, and failed to enforce operations rules and regulations. And in
those instances when the department's private prison monitoring units did
discover problems, the department failed to follow up to ensure that
corrections were made, the audit said. Four of those facilities are operated
by the same Nashville-based company, Corrections Corporation of American. In
additional to the Crowley County facility, CCA also operates private prisons
in Bent, Huerfano and Kit Carson counties. A fifth private facility that
houses female inmates is located in Brush. It is owned by the Brentwood,
Tenn.-based GRW Corporation.
October 7, 2005 The Gazette
Private prisons in Colorado could face cash penalties for failing to meet
minimum safety standards under new contracts negotiated by the Department of
Corrections in the wake of a stinging audit. In June, an audit of Colorado's
private prisons, which house about 2,800 of Colorado's 18,000 prisoners,
found numerous problems, including inadequate staffing levels, unlicensed
medical clinics, employees with criminal backgrounds and poor food services.
Thursday, corrections officials gave state lawmakers an update on their
response to the audit. For instance, private prisons will be fined if
staffing levels do not meet minimum standards or if the meals they feed
prisoners are not up to par. "I'm not sure the liquidated damages have
enough hammer to them," said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver. Corrections
officials said they need time to see if the new penalty system works.
September 9, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
An inmate who pleaded guilty to participating in last July’s riot at the
Crowley County Correctional Facility was ordered Tuesday to pay $50,000
restitution. Reuben Sustatia, 22, who also was charged with attempted
first-degree murder in the riot, pleaded guilty in June to participating in
the uprising that resulted in severe damage to the facility. Public defender
Ray Torrez said Wednesday that he agreed to the $50,000 levy because Sustatia
faced even more severe penalties. Rudy Lujan, a Colorado inmate who was
beaten and stabbed 14 times during the riot, identified Sustatia as one of
his assailants because of Sustatia’s distinctive devil horn tattoos. Lujan,
32, told authorities that approximately eight inmates assaulted him during
the riot, but that he initially could only identify Sustatia because of his
tattoos.
August 25, 2005 Westword
Slow burn: The 2004 Crowley riot caused extensive fire damage. When all hell
broke loose last year at the Crowley County Correctional Facility, a private
prison on Colorado's eastern plains, Vance Adams stayed very, very quiet.
From his cell door, Adams could see prisoners armed with weight bars running
in and out of his unit, smashing windows, busting up plumbing, setting fires
and raiding offices and vending machines. "They looked like they were
having a good time," Adams says. "But I wasn't." After a
confrontation in the yard on July 20, 2004, the understaffed guards evacuated
quickly, leaving the inmates free to rampage for hours, causing millions of
dollars' worth of damage. Adams, serving a five-year sentence on drug and
escape charges, soaked some towels to try to block smoke and tear gas from
his cell. Prison and state Special Operations Response Teams (SORT) arrived
in the unit around midnight and ordered everyone to put their hands on their
heads and crawl backward, face down. When Adams tried to sign the orders to
his cellmate, who is deaf, the officers became more belligerent, he says.
"I screamed back at them, 'My roommate is deaf!'" he recalls.
"They calmed down a little bit, but I guess I wasn't crawling fast
enough." Adams says he was tightly cuffed, dragged by his ankles through
the water flooding the unit, hauled outside and thrown on the grass of the
prison ball field, where he remained until mid-morning. Older prisoners
around him were passing out; others cried out for medical attention after
being sprayed with birdshot, pepper gas or rubber bullets. "When the
SORT officers cuffed me, they broke my wrist," reads the affidavit of
inmate Terry Borrowdale. "They left me cuffed with a fractured wrist for
four to five hours, until I was taken by ambulance to a hospital in
Pueblo.... When I told the SORT officers that I am almost sixty years old and
had no part in the riot, one officer answered, 'This is what you all deserve
for what you have done.'" Bad as the riot was, many prisoners say they
suffered greater injuries from the aftermath of the disturbance, as officers
from the Colorado Department of Corrections and Corrections Corporation of
America, the private prison operator, regained control. A group of more than
eighty inmates is filing a lawsuit against CCA this week, claiming the
company let conditions deteriorate before the riot, then brutalized men who
didn't participate in the uprising. Prisoners claim they were assaulted by
officers, shot (with live ammo, in at least one case) while fleeing burning
buildings or trying to surrender, denied medical treatment, forced to strip
in front of female staff and denied showers for up to a week after the
incident. Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a Washington-based
public-interest group, has joined Boulder attorney Bill Trine in representing
the inmates. The attorneys have obtained thousands of pages of the state's
investigation of the riot and are seeking access to videotapes made by staff.
"There's absolutely no question about what happened during the
riot," Trine says, "and there's a lot pointing the finger at CCA.
They had to get the riot under control, but what they did afterward was to
punish everybody, whether they were involved in the riot or not." The
Colorado DOC's after-action report on the riot blasted CCA management for
ignoring state inspectors' recommendations before the riot, for inadequate
staff training and for pitiful emergency-response procedures. The report
noted that SORT teams fired hundreds of rounds of buckshot, birdshot and
rubber bullets -- as well as slugs, smoke grenades, "stingballs"
and pepper-spray canisters -- but concluded that "reasonable force was
used" to regain control of the prison. But since that report was
released, the DOC has also come under fire from state auditors for failing to
adequately monitor the private prison. As first reported in Westword last
year, visits by DOC monitors were often shorter than required and suffered
from a lack of followup on critical issues such as poor food, skimpy
portions, chronic staff turnover and abysmal inmate morale ("Going
Off," December 23, 2004). Investigative files obtained by the prisoners'
attorneys indicate that DOC and CCA staff received more warnings from inmates
of an upcoming disturbance than previously acknowledged. One counselor told
investigators that several staff members had turned in reports on the matter
but "the administration seemed more concerned about who the [source] was
than about the information on a potential riot." At the time of the
riot, Crowley held 1,122 inmates, including some from Washington and Wyoming
as well as Colorado, but had only 47 employees on duty. Although the riot was
triggered by an alleged misuse of force on a Washington inmate, investigators
found that inmates had a wide array of grievances, from the disparity in
treatment of inmates from different states to rotten food. Investigators
sampled the food in the dining hall and "found it to be of very poor
quality and distasteful." After the riot, prisoners say, they were
kicked and struck by guards while cuffed, dragged face-down through vomit or
feces-tainted water, and threatened with more violence. An inmate named
Arnold Wyrick claims he was denied access to a bathroom, had to defecate in his
pants, and was forced to wear the soiled clothing for eight hours while
guards called him "Mr. Shitty Pants" and asked, "Does the
little baby need a diaper?" The investigative files also indicate that
some prisoners performed heroically during the riot. Inmates in one honor pod
repelled rioters who tried to enter their house and manned a bucket brigade
to put out fires. Afterward, they were shoved into overcrowded cells with no
mattresses or shipped off to more restrictive prisons or county jails. The prison
was locked down for nearly a month after the riot. Recently paroled inmates
say that conditions at Crowley are no better than before, and possibly worse,
with limited access to recreation and to the DOC's monitors. "I rarely
saw a monitor around," says Adams, who's now in a Denver halfway house.
"They'd have us cleaning the place a day before any inspection."
Inmate Oscar Barron, who left Crowley last spring and is now on parole on a
robbery charge, says staff training is still a sore point. "They've got
guys right out of high school and old ladies," he says. "Come on.
Are they going to protect you if something happens?" The DOC did not
respond to questions about its officers' alleged mistreatment of handcuffed
inmates. CCA spokesman Steve Owen hadn't seen a copy of the complaint and
declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit. "CCA will
aggressively defend the complaint," he says. "Beyond that, we
believe the most appropriate venue to respond is through proper court filings
rather than by way of public comment." Adele Kimmel, staff attorney for Trial Lawyers for
Public Justice, says her group became involved in the case because of a lack
of "significant reform" in the way CCA manages its four prisons in
southeastern Colorado. "We think the lawsuit is the best mechanism for
holding CCA accountable and preventing future riots," she says.
August 25, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Vance Adams had been worried for weeks that something was going to happen at
the Crowley County Correctional Facility, the privately run prison where he
was incarcerated, and on the night of July 20, 2004, those fears were
realized when fellow inmates went wild. First he saw prisoners smashing glass
inside the prison. Then he looked out the window of his cell and saw flames -
one of several blazes lit that night by rioting inmates. "We were
scared," he said. "We didn't know what to do." But as
frightened as he was of marauding inmates, the treatment he and other
prisoners endured at the hands of guards was similarly stressful, he said
Wednesday. Those guards, he alleged, dragged him and another prisoner out of
their cell by their ankles, cinched their wrists tightly with plastic bands,
left them for hours with no water, and told them to urinate in their pants
when they asked to use a restroom. Adams is among 86 current and former
inmates of the Crowley County Correctional Facility in southeast Colorado who
have sued its operator, Corrections Corp. of America. The inmates allege
negligence on the part of prison staff leading up to the riot, use of
excessive force during and after the violent outbreak, and inhumane treatment
of prisoners who had nothing to do with the fracas. Bill Trine, a Boulder
attorney representing the inmates, repeatedly charged Corrections Corp. of
America with ignoring warnings in the days leading up to the riot. For
example, he said, the transfer of 198 inmates from Washington state to
Crowley County heightened tensions. He said that happened, in part, because
the out-of-state prisoners resented the corresponding loss of privileges.
Also contributing was resentment among Colorado prisoners who were paid
substantially less for the work they did - $18.60 a month vs. $60 a month for
Washington prisoners. Trine also made public documents compiled by the
state's Office of Inspector General that showed prison officials were warned
in the days before the riot that trouble was likely. Among the documents was
a report from an addiction counselor who said she had been alerted by inmates
that tensions had escalated and that "people were going to get
hurt." The counselor filed a report with a superior and later told
investigators that others also had alerted prison staff "with
information from inmates who told them that there was going to be a
riot." Those warnings, Trine said, were ignored. "The net
result," he said, "was the riot did occur."
August 24, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Two former state prisoners this morning described an out-of-control scene
last year where inmates who had nothing to do with a prison riot were
indiscriminately abused in the hours afterward. "We were scared,"
Vance Adams said in recalling the night of July 20, 2004, when hundreds of
inmates smashed windows and furniture and set fires at the Crowley County
Correctional Facility in southern Colorado. Adams is among a group of 86
current or former prisoners suing the operators of the private prison in the
wake of the riot. The inmates alleged the prison's operator, Corrections
Corp. of America, ignored brewing trouble in the days before the riot, shot
at them as they tried to seek help once the trouble started, dragged them
through raw sewage, broken glass and blood, and forced them to eat nothing
but bologna sandwiches for a month. A blistering report compiled last fall by
the Colorado Department of Corrections found that the prison's spartan staff
was too inexperienced and undertrained to control the inmates. The night of
the riot, the prison had a uniformed staff of 33 officers for its 1,122
inmates. The lawsuit alleges that the prison staff ignored repeated warnings
that unrest was escalating among the inmate population, caused in part by the
transfer of 198 inmates to the Crowley County Correctional Facility from
Washington. Others alleged they were handcuffed and dragged through feces,
blood, water and broken glass to the prison yard, where they were left
facedown for hours. There, they were left without water, were forced to
urinate and defecate in their pants, and were denied clean clothes and
showers. Trine said the inmates are prevented from filing suit in federal
court because they did not exhaust all their options under the prison's
grievance procedure — in large part because many of them were in
"lockdown" for 30 days after the riot and were therefore prevented
from filing a formal complaint.
August 23, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice of Washington, D.C., will assist in
representing 86 inmates who were injured as a result of a riot that rocked
the prison last year. The lawsuit charges Corrections Corp. of America, the
nation’s largest private prison operator and owner of CCCF, with negligence
that sparked the riot and outrageous and inhumane treatment of prisoners who
did not join in the riot. William A. Trine of Boulder’s Trine & Metcalf
law firm, lead counsel in the case, and TLPJ staff attorney Adele P. Kimmel,
co-counsel, will meet with former Crowley prison inmates, who claim that they
did not join in the riot, to speak about the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges
that CCA employees forced tightly bound inmates to urinate and defecate in
their clothing; dragged handcuffed inmates from their cells face down through
glass shards and raw sewage; withheld drinking water and medications; denied
shower privileges and clean clothes for more than a week; and forced inmates
to strip and shower in front of female guards. Last October, the Colorado
Department of Corrections sent a blistering, 179-page riot report to Gov.
Bill Owens stating that prison administrators should have known about
problems that led to the riot. The report also showed that the 1,130-inmate
facility, one of five privately run prisons in the state, lacked
state-required equipment, failed to follow DOC regulations at times, had
insufficiently trained guards and no adequate plan to deal with crisis
situations. "The after-action report focused on events leading up to the
riot, but there are also official state documents that we will be making
available on Wednesday. These documents will reveal what happened after the
riot," said Jonathan Hutson, TLPJ communications director. More than
one-third of the prison's inmates joined in the 5 hour riot. Rudy Lujan, a
Colorado inmate, was beaten and stabbed 14 times during the riot. Kimmel did
not say if he was one of the 86 inmates involved with the lawsuit. So far,
only one inmate has pleaded guilty to participating in the riot. He was
sentenced in June to eight more years in prison with a mandatory five-year
parole.
June 23, 2005 Lajunta Tribune
Democrat
Reuben Sustaita was just
months from the end of his prison sentence being served in Crowley County
Correctional Facility for second degree vehicular theft and criminal attempt
to escape when he took part in the July 21, 2004 riot. The riot on July 21,
2004 at the correction facility forced the relocation of some inmates and
more than 100 inmates facing additional time in prison for the incident.
Sustaita is the first conviction involving the riot that heavily damaged four
units at the prison during the five-hour uprising that went into the early
hours of the next day. Sustaita could add another eight years to his original
sentence after pleading guilty Tuesday to one count of riots in a detention
facility, a class three felony. Sustaita is the first, but probably
will not be the last, Crowley County Correctional Facility inmate to have additional
time added to his sentence. At the time of the riot, he prison held 1,125
prisoners - 807 of which were from Colorado. In addition to the 807, there
were 198 prisoners from the state of Washington and 120 from the state of
Wyoming. CCCF is operated by Corrections Corporation of America, which also
owns and operates a prison in Las Animas. Another challenge will be
deciding which inmates to bring back to Colorado to face charges if they have
been sent elsewhere. The cost of transporting and housing, the inmates during
trial will come at the cost of state taxpayers.
June 5, 2005 Seattle
Times
Up to 300 Washington inmates soon will fly out on the "chain
plane" to rented prison cells across the country in a strategy to ease
overcrowding. The inmates are expected to be shipped out to one of the 64
facilities run by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's
largest private jailer. The Nashville, Tenn.-based company is already holding
290 Washington inmates and has a mixed track record. Last year, Washington
inmates at a CCA-run facility in Colorado started the largest prison riot in
that state's history. They were promptly shipped to the company's prison in
Appleton, Minn. In May 2003, Washington shipped about 100 inmates to the
Nevada state prisons, and added 140 more by that summer. A year later,
Washington turned to CCA. The state sent a handful of staff along with the
inmates to act as contract monitors. When those staff salaries and travel are
included, Washington pays a per-offender rate of $62 per day. A similar group
of in-state inmates would cost about $55 per day, according to a DOC budget
analysis. The "rented-beds" program has gotten scant attention,
even after the riot in Colorado. State Rep. Jeannie Darneille, vice
chairwoman of the House corrections committee, said separating parents like
Velvett Jones from her son is bad policy, and that the inmates being sent are
the best behaved, sending a bad message to those left behind. But her biggest
objection is the issue of control. "I just don't have a lot of trust for
the privately run prisons," said Darneille, D-Tacoma. "It is done
without public knowledge or debate. We give up our control to a privately run
institution that sets parameters." Last July 20, just after dinner,
dozens of inmates from Washington and Wyoming gathered in the yard of the
CCA-run prison in Onley Springs, Colo., demanding to see the warden with a
list of grievances. Within a half-hour, the jail was in chaos. In the end, it
took hundreds of officers nearly a full day to quell the riot. More than a
dozen inmates were injured. Damage was estimated at $1 million. A post-riot
investigation by the Colorado Department of Corrections faulted CCA for
understaffing and poorly training staff, and for building a prison with
materials, such as porcelain sinks, which could be used as weapons. Eight
Washington inmates face criminal charges from the riot.
June 3, 2005 The Denver Channel
Seventeen people have been indicted in a massive operation that may be
responsible for dozens of stolen cars and more than 100 cases of fraud and
theft around the metro area, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said
Friday. The theft ring was cracked in October when deputies arrested two
women on charges of aggravated auto theft. Authorities say Tracey Richardson
and Sallena Nichols would walk into auto dealerships and purchase expensive
cars using fraudulent identities and credit information. The cars then were
taken to a chop shop where they were dismantled for equipment and parts,
police said. The suspects face 163 criminal charges including aggravated
motor vehicle theft, fraud, forgery, criminal impersonation, and computer
crimes. Three suspects also face the most serious charge of racketeering. The
State Department of Corrections say this group also introduced drugs into the
Crowley County Correctional Facility, with the help of a prison staff member.
June 3, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
Prosecutors have filed the first charge against an inmate in connection with
a July riot at the Crowley County Correctional Facility. District Attorney
Rod Fouracre said Thursday that Reuben Sustatia, an inmate from Colorado, is
being charged with attempted second-degree murder in the July 20 riot. More
than a third of the prison's 1,125 inmates joined in the uprising that caused
significant damage to at least two of the facility's five housing units.
Inmates set three fires, damaged several living units and destroyed the vocational
greenhouse at the facility. The rioters smashed furniture, destroyed desks
and bunks, ripped sinks and toilets from the walls, destroyed television sets
and set off fire alarms and sprinklers that drenched the interior of the
buildings. One inmate was stabbed and assaulted during the riot. He was
identified as Coloradan Rudy Lujan, 32.
February 18, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
A company that operated the prison at Olney Springs has settled yet another
lawsuit in which a female guard alleged she was the victim of outrageous
conduct by her male superiors. Filings in U.S. District Court show that
Dominion Correctional Services and Mandy Bravo recently settled her lawsuit,
which also alleged retaliation and gender discrimination. Last summer, the
company and three other former female guards settled those guards' lawsuits
that alleged managers at the prison repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct,
including rape, against female employees. Last fall, a federal agency alleged
in a lawsuit that a former chief of prison security forced a female
subordinate to engage in sexual activities with him. When the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit, a Dominion spokeswoman
said the company had fired him when it learned of his misconduct. The
allegations in each of those three sets of lawsuits involved the same time
period, 2001 and 2002. Dominion, of Edmond, Okla., operated the prison, the
Crowley County Correctional Facility, until January 2003 when Nashville-based
Corrections Corporation of America bought it. The 1,200-bed prison houses
inmates under contracts with states. Bravo listed her address as Pueblo West
when she filed her lawsuit in October, two months after the settlement of the
lawsuits of the three other former guards. Those three guards sought more
than $10 million total as damages. In her lawsuit, Bravo said she sought
treatment at Parkview Medical Center because an investigator for the prison
injured her hand in an alleged altercation in his office in September 2002.
She said she filed a police report about the incident. Bravo alleged she was
subjected to "severe and pervasive" offensive remarks from male
superiors from the time she was hired in June 2001 until she was fired in
October 2002. She said she was retaliated against because she repeatedly
complained about the way she was treated. The altercation with the
investigator allegedly occurred when she questioned him why nothing had been
done about her complaints. In a court filing, Dominion claimed it fired Bravo
because she refused to return to work after the altercation although prison
officials tried to facilitate her return. Bravo claimed when she returned to
work a superior told her to go home and she was fired later in the day. The
company said Bravo, in meetings with managers immediately after the
altercation, did not complain of an injury. Dominion also said she had been
insubordinate on another occasion and that her allegations of retaliation
were unsupported. In her lawsuit, Bravo sought unspecified monetary damages,
back pay of more than $40,000 and unspecified losses due to losing her fringe
benefits. Bravo's lawyer, Charlotte Sweeney of Denver, and Dominion official
Carolyn Burgess each said separately they cannot comment on the settlement
because it contains a confidentiality agreement. Bravo could not be reached
for comment.
November 10, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
In outlining his spending plan for the next fiscal year, the governor told a
newly minted legislative Joint Budget Committee, chaired by Sen. Abel Tapia,
D-Pueblo, that while the state's economy is slowly improving, it needs some
help to get back on track. Additionally, the governor is recommending that
the Department of Corrections' budget increase about $21 million this year.
That 3.8 percent increase would go to such things as five new inspectors in
the DOC Inspector General's office to watch over private prisons, and two
additional workers for the DOC private prison monitoring unit, which audits
private prisons to see if they are complying with state prison regulations. The increase is part of the governor's
response to July's inmate riot at the Crowley County Correctional Facility,
one of five private prisons in the state.
October 13, 2004 Rocky Mountain News
The staff of the privately operated Crowley County Correctional Facility was
severely undermanned and too undertrained and inexperienced to control
inmates on the evening of July 20, when hundreds erupted into a nightlong
riot. So said the state Department of Corrections in a searing report Tuesday
on the prison in Olney Springs, owned and operated by Corrections Corporation
of America with a contract to house inmates from Colorado and other
states. The prison had a uniformed
staff of only 33 officers for its 1,122 inmates on the evening of the riot, a
ratio of 34 inmates per officer. That compares with a ratio of five inmates
per officer in Colorado's state-operated prisons. Corrections Corporation of
America has not released a damage estimate for the prison, which it owns and
must repair with its own funds. Repairs have not been completed and 30
percent of the prison remains closed. CCA must also reimburse the state
$385,000 for the prison system's Special Operations Response Team and other
state personnel and expenses in quelling the riot. Not even basic prison operational
procedures were maintained at the prison, the report charged. The prison had
failed to satisfy state prison officials' demands to create an emergency plan
or maintain an emergency response team, the report stated. On the night of
the riot, the prison was "not fully staffed," and some of its staff
had been "on the job for two days or less." Once the riot erupted, chaos reigned.
Prison supervisors reported that the entire staff was accounted for, although
two corrections officers were trapped inside the prison and sought safety in
a segregation cell. The female librarian was stranded in the library with 37
inmates, who did not join the riot. A private prison corrections officer's
pay is about two-thirds that of state prison officers - $1,818 per month,
compared with $2,774 per month, and staff turnover is about twice the rate as
in state prisons. CCA has told the state it maintains an approximately 8-to-1
inmate to corrections officer ratio, but it was far off that staffing
strength on July 20. CONCLUSIONS • Turnover: High staff turnover and
inexperience hampered response to emergencies. • Staff: Prison was not fully
staffed at the time of the riot, and some employees had been on the job only
two days or less. • Response: Prison staff's response to the initial incident
was indecisive and failed to comply with orders from a state Department of
Corrections official. • Drills: Emergency drills were rarely conducted.
Prison staff failed to maintain a recommended percentage of emergency
response team members. • Prisoners: Prison staff did not respond to inmate
grievances in a timely manner. • Security: Fundamental security measures were
not consistently followed.
October 13, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
Administrators of the privately run Crowley County Correctional Facility
knew or should have known about potential problems that led to a July 20
inmate riot, a new report revealed Tuesday. The Colorado Department of
Corrections report on the riot said the 1,130-inmate facility, one of five
private prisons in the state, lacked state-required equipment, failed to
follow DOC regulations at times, had insufficiently trained guards and no
adequate plan to deal with crisis situations. The 179-page report to Gov.
Bill Owens revealed that: Prison management failed to comply with
deficiencies and recommendations that DOC inspectors told them about before
the riot. High staff attrition and inexperience contributed to a lack of
ability to respond to emergencies. The prison failed to adhere to
DOC-mandated menus. Fundamental security measures were not consistently
followed. Construction materials used to build cells were too easily
destroyed. The prison's initial response to the riot was indecisive. The
report noted that the riot, which left scores injured but no deaths, was
sparked by a number of factors, at least one of which was not the fault of
the prison operators. Because the prison housed inmates from other states -
Wyoming and Washington - there was a disparity in the monthly wage
out-of-state inmates earned over Colorado prisoners." Buying power is strongest,
therefore, among Washington and Wyoming inmates," according to the
report, written by DOC prisons director Nolin Renfrow, legislative liaison
Cherri Greco and prisons operations manager Anna Cooper. Additionally, in the
six months before the riot, DOC inspectors - known as the private prison
monitoring unit - cited numerous issues with the prison operators, including
food preparation programs, accuracy and timeliness of reports and inadequate
tracking of security threat intelligence. At one point during
the riot, Renfrow ordered the prison to use chemical agents to disperse the
inmates, but the prison delayed doing so because it was seeking approval from
its corporate headquarters in Nashville. The report also revealed that the
prison's level of emergency preparedness was lacking in several areas: It
wasn't fully staffed. Some employees had been on staff for two days or less
when the riot broke out. Because it had not developed an emergency
preparedness plan to DOC standards, some prison guards and managers were
unsure what to do. It
rarely conducted riot drills. When one was conducted, a staff member unaware
that a drill was under way "drew a weapon" on an inmate, the report
said. "The prison riot of July 20 at the Crowley County Correctional
Facility began with a disturbance which, in retrospect, was not responded to
as quickly and efficiently as possible, thus developing into a riot. Some
dynamics among the inmate population, perception that inmate complaints were
not being heard, and use of force by CCCF staff likely all contributed to the
onset of the incident."
October 1, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
A former chief of security at the prison in Olney Springs was terminated
after being investigated for sexual misconduct, his former employer said
Thursday. "We did everything we possibly could when they (two female
employees) brought us the information," said Carolyn Burgess, human
resources director of Dominion Correctional Services. The U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday alleged that a former chief of
security at the state prison forced a female sergeant to engage in telephone
sex and oral sex with him. He also allegedly subjected another female
sergeant to "offensive, gender-based harassment." The EEOC's action
in federal court also accused Dominion of failing to respond to an Aug. 3
subpoena as part of the EEOC's investigation of the women's complaints.
September 30, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
A federal agency alleged Wednesday that a high-ranking employee of a company
that operated a private prison in Olney Springs forced a female subordinate
to engage in sexual activities with him. The U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission made the allegation in a federal court action in
Denver against Dominion Correctional Services of Edmond, Okla. The company
last summer settled lawsuits with three other women employees of the same
prison who alleged prison managers repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct,
including rape, against them. The
prison's chief of security forced a female sergeant to engage in telephone
sex and oral sex beginning in 2002 "under threat of losing her
position," the EEOC alleged. Wednesday's court action alleges that
the company has failed to respond to an EEOC subpoena issued as part of its
investigation of complaints by the two latest women. The EEOC is seeking a
court order to compel Dominion to provide information sought in the subpoena.
The earlier lawsuits also pertained to alleged misconduct in 2001 and 2002. A
former guard claimed a chief of security, Ronald McCall, raped her; and
another former guard alleged that he frequently propositioned her.
September 22, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
Part of the problem in managing rioting inmates at a private prison in
Crowley County in July was that the facility had a 45 percent turnover rate
in employees, state corrections officials told lawmakers Tuesday. A day after
a Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman told The Pueblo Chieftain
that DOC doesn't routinely track employment matters at private prisons, the
DOC's director of prisons, Nolin Renfrow, told the legislative Joint Budget
Committee that one of the things under investigation is the prison's high
turnover rate. DOC wants to know if
that high rate contributed to the riot among 500 inmates July 20 at the
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs, which is operated by
Corrections Corp. of America. "We know that it was 45 percent at this
particular facility," Renfrow told the six-member panel that requested a
review of DOC's investigation of the riot. "Over the past few years, we
have monitored their turnover as a whole. I think ours is around 8 to 10
percent. I think they have averaged 20 to 25 percent turnover in the past few
years across CCA (in the state)." At one point before he arrived at the
Crowley prison, Renfrow said he ordered staff workers to spray
crowd-controlling chemicals into the main yard where many prisoners were
rioting. "The word we received back (after giving the order) was that
CCA was trying to get authorization to do that from their headquarters,"
Renfrow said. "Over the next two to three hours, I continued to repeat
my orders as I was driving to the facility from Colorado Springs. Eventually,
when our staff arrived, we did do that and the inmates were brought under
control." "The (high turnover rate) generally means that tenured
staff is generally low, and when tenured staff is very low, sometimes they
have difficulties dealing with situations that are not typical of everyday
operations." He said CCA's policy in dealing with riots is to
"stand down and wait" for DOC officials to arrive to handle it.
"I'm really concerned with what the counties are going to have to do
with private prisons, what's expected of them and whether or not they really
know what they're getting into when they get into a private prison
situation," said Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, who sat in on the briefing.
"I know that (DOC) has the ability to get a team together to react to a
violent situation. Shouldn't private prisons have that same capability to
control their own facility?" Renfrow agreed, saying one of the
recommendations he expects to make to the governor is to ensure that private
prison guards are better trained and equipped to handle riots.
September 21, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
Colorado Department of Corrections officials don't routinely keep records of
staffing levels, turnover rates or salary information for private prisons
housing state inmates, says DOC spokeswoman Alison Morgan. The staffing
issues were raised following a July 20 inmate riot at Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs, where 400 to 500 prisoners held
control at the prison for five hours, until DOC and law officers from several
local and state agencies used tear gas and rubber pellets to regain control
of the medium-security prison run by Corrections Corp. of America. Following
the riot, The Pueblo Chieftain questioned Morgan about the private prison's
staffing ratio, number of uniformed staffers on duty when the riot began and
salary ranges for CCA employees. Morgan replied: a.. CCA's uniformed
staff-to-inmate ratio was 1 to 7.9, while DOC's average staff-to-inmate ratio
is 1 to 4.7. b.. CCA had 33 uniformed
staffers on duty when the riot began and the prison housed 1,125 inmates at
the time. c.. A Crowley County correctional officer's pay averages $1,818 per
month plus benefits. d.. DOC's monthly beginning correctional salary is
$2,774, plus state benefits; (no average was given). Morgan provided the
information to The Chieftain on July 23. But when private prison critic Ken
Kopczynski of the Private Corrections Institute Inc., asked Morgan in August
for the same information, along with some backup information such as shift
logs, Morgan told Kopczynski that DOC did not have information on the
staffing levels at the time of the riot, annual turnover rates or average
salary ranges. Staff longevity was raised, according to Kopczynski, because
one female Crowley employee stated on television that she was working in the
central control center despite being on the job for only two days. Morgan,
asked Monday about the discrepancy in her responses to Kopczynski and The
Chieftain on staffing issues, said she obtained responses for The Chieftain
in July from CCA, but added that DOC does not routinely keep staffing or other
information on the Crowley prison as part of its ongoing monitoring of CCA.
The reason, she said, is that DOC's contract with CCA requires the company
only to maintain sufficient staffing; no specifics are spelled out.
August 8, 2004
As inmates at Crowley County Correctional Facility grew restless and agitated
in the exercise yard on the evening of July 20, officers of the private
company charged with managing the prison withdrew to regroup. "They
ran," said inmate Robert Horn, serving five years for passing bad
checks. "They just abandoned the place." All but one.
As a peaceful protest devolved into arson and riot over five hours, prison
librarian Linda Lyons kept sole watch over 37 male inmates. Although she
radioed her location, her supervisors from the private Corrections
Corporation of America made no move to retrieve her. They then failed to
notify an elite anti-riot team from the Department of Corrections that she
had been left behind. While up to 500 inmates in a prison full of 1,100
killers, rapists, thieves and drug dealers brought their riot within one
building of the library, Lyons was never harmed. She said the men with her
talked, played chess and stayed clear of the melee while she maintained a
calm demeanor. "Showing fear would have upset the inmates,"
Lyons said. A Department of Corrections review of Colorado's most
destructive inmate uprising has found that the official response was dogged
by slow decision-making and a lack of communication. A senior department
official said CCA officials failed to respond promptly and with enough force,
ignored an offer to negotiate, then left the librarian behind as they
retreated to safe positions. Beyond the questions about the response,
inmates and a corrections officer from CCA say the company's managers had
also failed to heed weeks of warnings about growing inmate unrest. That
unrest - over such typical inmate complaints as poor food, inequitable
treatment of prisoners and a lack of access to prison officials - blossomed
into a riot after corrections officers disciplined one unruly inmate.
Officials with CCA, which manages the Crowley County prison through a
contract with the department, dispute much of the department's criticisms.
They insist they mounted an organized response to the rebellion, deployed
chemical agents promptly and never ignored inmate grievances or a request
that night to see the warden. On the contrary, said spokesman Steve Owen,
company officials tried to negotiate an end to the uprising before the riot
but were forced to withdraw as inmates grew increasingly angry.
"If there are things we didn't do right, we're going to own up to
it," Owen said. "We're going to fix all that." The
company has already placed one Crowley County captain on administrative leave
because his statements about the riot were "very inconsistent,"
Owen said Saturday. "There is a concern about the truthfulness of
his statement," he said. The department's investigation is not yet
complete, but interviews with inmates, department officials and a guard at
the prison provide an outline of the events that nearly killed one inmate and
left the prison smoldering and partly uninhabitable. Inmate allegedly
beaten In the weeks before the riot, about 200 inmates from Washington state
had been moved to Crowley County as CCA sought to maximize profits by filling
every bed. At 10 a.m. the day of the riot, one of the Washington inmates
refused to go to work, according to the department's director of prisons,
Nolin Renfrow. When the inmate struggled with an officer taking him to
a disciplinary unit, several officers jerked the inmate to the ground, said
inmate Fredrick Morris, 47, who is serving a life sentence for murder. Horn
also witnessed the inmate's treatment. "These other guards started
pummeling him and kicking him," Horn said. "We'd just had enough,
you know? To treat someone like an animal is not going to fly
anymore." CCA and the department are both investigating the
complaint about the alleged beating of the inmate, whose name was not
released. The department's inspector general says a videotape of the incident
does not appear to show excessive force. But neither the department nor CCA
has reached a conclusion on whether the corrections officer went too
far. Inmates thought he did. The boiling point CCA is a
Tennessee-based for-profit corporation with contracts to manage prisons and
jails across the United States, including four here. Colorado pays the
company $49 per inmate per day and requires the company to comply with all
state and federal rules for inmate care. The company and its supporters
say they can profit from incarceration by employing efficient techniques lost
on state bureaucracies. Inmates at Crowley County said that quest for
profit went too far at the prison. Morris, who had worked as a cook at
the prison, said he quit his job of three years because of the facility's
poor food preparation practices. Staff were ordered to grind hot dogs for
spaghetti sauce, use muffin mix in meatloaf, combine instant potatoes with
pinto beans for burritos and put pork in soup intended for Jewish inmates,
Morris said. He said he complained about the practices to a CCA
supervisor in March but nothing happened. "The food has gotten
worse," Morris said. CCA officials said they had received no
formal grievances about the food. The most recent inspection by the
department, on June 29, found that the food served to inmates at Crowley
County was considered "good" by department standards in nearly
every category. In volunteer prison surveys for the department, Crowley
County inmates in October rated food they received to be lower in quality
across the board than prisoners at department prisons. But Owen said
CCA by contract serves the exact same menus as the department.
Prisoners have not filed any grievances about food quality, he said.
Inmates had a variety of other complaints against Crowley County.
Colorado inmates were upset that they were paid only 60 cents a day for doing
the same work as inmates transferred to the prison from Washington a week
earlier. Washington pays inmates $3 per day for work, and CCA is bound by
contract to follow Washington policies when keeping that state's inmates,
Owen said. Colorado lets CCA pay local inmates less. All of that boiled
over July 20. A Crowley County correctional officer said inmates had been
talking for weeks about an uprising. "I was told about it,"
said the officer, whose name is being withheld. "They said it wasn't
going to be more than two months, at the most. It wasn't even that long. I
was told this by several different inmates." "They took off
running" On the night of July 20, correctional officers opened a
gate connecting the east recreational yard with the west about 7 p.m. so
inmates could play softball in the west yard. Instead of a handful,
hundreds streamed into the west yard, said inmate Terry Poole, serving life
for kidnapping. Several Washington inmates asked correctional officers
to speak with Warden Brent Crouse about their grievances, Renfrow said.
Crowley County security chief Richard Selman said he never heard about the
requests. Owen, the CCA spokesman, said the company's investigation has
determined that an inmate asked to speak with a "supervisor" - not
the warden. After the request was relayed to supervisors, a shift captain
was unable to locate the inmate who made the request, Owen said. At that
point, the captain became concerned for the safety of the prison staff and
they withdrew from the yard - effectively relinquishing control to the
inmates. "They took off running, and they left the female
employees behind," said William Morris, another Crowley County
Correctional Facility inmate. CCA reported the prisoner rebellion to
department officials, and Renfrow said he urged CCA to immediately use
chemical agents to push inmates away from the living units and put down the
uprising. But, Renfrow said, CCA officials told department monitors
that they needed approval from their Nashville headquarters before deploying
tear gas. CCA spokesman Owen says the company's officers did not need
approval from Nashville and did respond promptly. In a written response to
questions, he said "chemical agents had already been disbursed by
facility staff at approximately 8:20 p.m." That would be before Renfrow
said he asked for its use. Regardless of when the first gas was used,
it came much later than inmates expected and gave ringleaders an opportunity
to organize real mayhem. "If they would have just went back, sat
on the towers and shot tear gas from up there, there probably would have been
less of a riot," William Morris said. "Everybody would have went
home. They would have dispersed." Librarian kept her cool As
inmates began setting the prison facilities ablaze, librarian Lyons, 56,
ordered the men in the library back to their cells. They implored her not to
force them out into the yard, where other inmates were clearly gearing up for
a fight. Before long, fires were burning in front of each living unit
and the greenhouse was burning. In the yard, scores of inmates used filing
cabinets and doors as shields as they approached officers. They
barricaded doors with soda machines they lit on fire. Unbreakable windows
were blown out, and inmates were using shards of glass as shanks. The amount
of damage still has not been calculated, but it may approach $1
million. Renfrow said he asked CCA if all employees had made it safely
out of the prisoner-controlled grounds. He said he was mistakenly told they
had. If he had known Lyons was still in harm's way, he said, he would
have immediately ordered officers to get her. Inmates broke into the shop
next to the library, said Nathan Walter, commander of the department's
Special Operations Response Team, or SORT. Still, Lyons, a second-year
CCA employee, didn't fret, and she said she is not upset with CCA for failing
to dispatch a team to rescue her. In her mind, she didn't need
rescuing. "I felt safe where I was," she said. It was
10 p.m. before the SORT team had moved in to retake the first of the dorms.
Outnumbered by dozens of prisoners to each one, SORT members used rubber
pellets and "triple chaser" tear gas bundles that separated and
exploded to push back inmates who were hurling rocks, sticks, furniture and
flaming Molotov cocktails. In the aftermath, they learned that while
Lyons was unharmed, a group of as many as 15 inmates had gone on the prowl in
the prison to attack sex offenders and men suspected of being snitches. The
man hurt worst during the riot, burglar Rudy Lujan, was attacked by a mob of
maybe 15 inmates who believed he had snitched on inmates to the guards, Horn
said. They beat him, stabbed him, threw him over the railing of the
second-floor tier of cells and tossed a microwave oven onto his limp
frame. He was hospitalized in critical condition, and officials have
not offered an update since. The prison can be repaired, but if CCA's
policies don't change, it will happen again, Horn predicted.
"Those people (in Olney Springs) need to understand that this is going
to occur over and over again," he said. "The population in that
area is seriously lucky. At any point, (the inmates) could have just turned
to that fence and mowed that fence down. Imagine five or six hundred crazed
individuals running into Olney Springs." (Denver Post)
August 4, 2004
Family members of inmate Rudy Lujan sat around his mother's dinning room
table recently, looking at pictures from his childhood and worrying about his
well-being now. Oh, the stories Juliana Lujan has about her 32-year-old
son who was beaten nearly to death after a riot broke out two weeks ago at
the Crowley County Correctional Facility east of Pueblo. Rudy Lujan of
Greeley is still hospitalized from the injuries. His parole hearing is
today. Lujan was stabbed, beaten with a cinder block and forced to jump
from the second floor by a gang of men on July 20 when inmates rioted,
torched and broke pipelines that flooded the prison. Juliana said in
the past year her son has repeatedly asked for protection, but no one took
the convicted felon seriously. He told his family that he had been jumped, "cheap-shotted"
from behind and threatened several times. He was at an undisclosed
hospital in Pueblo where guards watched over him as he recovered from a coma,
a bruised body, blackened eyes, stiff neck, several stab wounds and carnage
torn from his arm by the cinder block beating. It took him nearly dying to be
taken seriously, Juliana said. Lujan was recently moved to an infirmary, she
said. (Greeley Tribune)
July 30, 2004
More than two dozen Airway Heights inmates currently housed at a Colorado
corrections facility will remain there until the Washington State Department
of Corrections completes its investigation into last week's
riot. Criteria for selecting inmates to send out of state include time
left to serve, health issues, behavior and how often they are visited by
relatives. Ultimately though, the private out-of-state prisons get to choose
which inmates it wants to bring in. (KXLY News 4)
July 29, 2004
For more than two hours, Tammera Bravo's son, an inmate at Crowley
Correctional Facility, delivered "minute-by-minute terror" over the
phone as prisoners smashed their surroundings. "He said, 'It's on
Mom. Those prisoners from Washington are refusing to come out of the yard.'
" Washington inmates at the private prison in Olney Springs, about 80
miles southeast of Colorado Springs, had reached a boiling point because of
their recent transfer and because they didn't like their new cells, Bravo
said. Five and a half hours later, it was over. All in all, as many as
400 of the prison's more than 1,100 inmates had been involved. Two of five
cellblocks were trashed, at least one control room had been breached, fires
had burned, and 13 inmates were injured. Ken Kopczynski, executive
director of the Tallahassee, Fla.-based Private Corrections Institute -- which
has been extremely critical of privatized prisons -- said the transfers hurt
inmates' ties to family and friends. Many families, he said, are too poor to
afford regular visits and inmates are left with little to look forward to and
no life outside prison walls. Kopczynski says it was no coincidence
that, a day after the Crowley County prison incident, 28 Colorado inmates
rebelled at a CCA private prison in Tutwiler, Miss., setting fire to
mattresses and clothing. "You're importing inmates from Washington
and Wyoming to Colorado, and then you're shipping Colorado inmates off to
Mississippi," Kopczynski said. "Does anyone see the irony
here?" In 2002, former state Sen. Penfield Tate, as he had in
years prior, introduced unsuccessful legislation that would have prevented
Colorado inmates from being transferred out of state. Tate became worried
after incidents occurred in the 1990s similar to the one in Crowley
County. "We've seen a history of it," Tate said. At
CCA-owned private prisons, the guard-to-inmate ratios are far lower than at
state-operated Department of Corrections facilities. The state's average
ratio is one guard for less than five inmates, while the for-profit CCA
averages one guard for nearly eight inmates. Morgan said the vast difference
in ratios is justified because the state tends to deal with more difficult
inmates. However, critics like Kopczynski note that salaries for
private prison guards tend to be much lower. At the Crowley County prison,
guards make an average of $1,818 a month, compared to state guard salaries
that start at $2,774 a month. Because private prisons tend to pay
guards less, companies grapple with higher turnover, meaning fewer
experienced guards are available to handle complex inmate issues, Kopczynski
said. Some guards, he said, don't last long enough to complete their
training, which can take months. Others stay just a few years, he
added. (Colorado Springs Independent)
July 29, 2004
The state Department of Corrections will accept no more out-of-state
prisoners at Colorado's four private prisons while an investigation unravels
the cause of a riot at one of them, an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday.
(Rocky Mountain News)
July 28, 2004
State Sen. Ken Kester on Tuesday defended the private operators of Crowley
County Correctional Facility, rocked by a riot last week. Kester, R-Las
Animas, questioned statements made by Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, in
the wake of a riot that caused major damage to the prison, and praised
Corrections Corp. of America, which operates Crowley and three other private
prisons in the state. The day following the riot, McFadyen told The
Pueblo Chieftain her attempts to require the state to reveal the actual state
cost of housing prisoners at private prisons was rejected during the latest term
of the Legislature. She said that on three different occasions, she
asked for a breakdown of the cost - not just the per diem rate paid to
private prisons, but also cost for medical care for inmates, transportation,
escapes, riot control, case management and some training of private prison
staff, which the state pays. "I am not trying to be belligerent. I
am just trying to assess the information in a format that can be compared
side-by-side with the state numbers. If that information is available it has
not been made available to me," McFadyen said. Kester defended
private prisons, saying that they save the state an estimated $50 million in
construction costs per private prison, and it also costs taxpayers less to
maintain inmates in private prisons. Kester, who was a Bent County
commissioner when the county negotiated a deal with CCA for the Bent County
Correctional Facility, said that the Bent County prison has been helpful to
the community. (Pueblo Chieftain)
July 27, 2004
A riot that injured more than a dozen inmates and caused millions of dollars
in damage to a prison run by a Tennessee company last week prompted the state
to temporarily stop accepting out-of-state inmates, an official says.
(AP)
July 25, 2004
Staffing and pay at the Crowley County private prison, where inmates rioted
Tuesday night, is roughly half of that at state prisons, a Department of
Corrections spokeswoman said Friday. The DOC's Alison Morgan worked
with the Crowley prison owner, Corrections Corp. of America, to produce the
statement in response to questions submitted by The Pueblo Chieftain.
CCA's uniformed staff-to-inmate ratio is 1-7.9. DOC's average staff-to-inmate
ratio is 4.7-1. She noted that DOC's ratio is affected by the needs in DOC's
high-custody facilities and special-needs inmates. CCA has based its
salaries on the Crowley County area's prevailing wages. The range for a
correctional officer at Crowley County is $1,557 to $2,335 a year, with an
average of $1,818 per month plus benefits. DOC's beginning salary for a
correctional officer is $2,774 per month, plus state benefits. No average
figure was stated. Colorado, like most states, participates in the
Federal Interstate Compact Agreement that provides for the exchange of
inmates between states. "For example, if DOC has an inmate that cannot
be incarcerated in a Colorado facility, we can transfer that inmate to an
accepting state. We then must accept an inmate from that state in
exchange." It was not clear whether DOC reviews the backgrounds of
prisoners before they're accepted into the state's private prisons.
Crowley County had 33 uniformed staffers on duty when the riot began Tuesday
night. The prison housed 1,125 inmates, according to DOC officials.
There have been reports that Crowley staffers feared there would be strife
with the arrival of Washington state inmates. Ninety-nine Washington inmates
arrived on July 2; another 99 on July 9. (Pueblo Chieftain)
July 25, 2004
Details of a sexual harassment lawsuit settlement between an Edmond company
that once operated a Colorado private prison and three women who used to work
there aren't being released. The women, former guards, filed the
federal lawsuit seeking more than $10 million from Dominion Correctional
Services and three managers. The former guards alleged that female
employees were coerced numerous times in 2001 and 2002 into sexual activity
by male managers who condoned sexual misconduct among workers. Former
guard Lucilla Gigliotti alleged that she became pregnant after the prison's
former chief of security, Ronald McCall, went to her home and raped
her. McCall, in court filings, denied he sexually assaulted her and
denied he "engaged in any conduct which violated the constitutional
rights" of Gigliotti and the other two women, Pamela Johnson and Lt.
Jennifer Stalder. McCall had been forced from a previous job at the
Colorado Department of Corrections because "he had an extensive history
of engaging in sexual discrimination and harassment," the three women
alleged. Johnson alleged a guard raped her at the prison despite her
having previously pleaded with Vigil not to assign the guard and her to the
same work area. (AP)
July 23, 2004
A man who suffered the worst injuries during Tuesday's riot at the Crowley
County Correctional Facility called his sister after fires broke out, saying
he feared for his life and that she should call police. Rudy
Lujan, 32, who is serving time for burglary and drug charges, had to shout
because the commotion in the private prison was so loud, said his sister, who
would give only her first name, Bonnie, citing fear of retaliation.
"He said a riot was going on, and all the guards were so scared they
went on the roof," she said. "The prisoners had already taken
control. He was scared. He told me, 'If anything happens to me, tell
everybody I love them."' A prison official called Lujan's family
in Greeley on Wednesday to tell them that he had been hospitalized with
multiple stab wounds, said his other sister, Debbie Segura. On Thursday,
prison officials reported that Lujan was breathing on his own and was in
serious but stable condition, according to the family. Lujan had been
having problems with gang members in the private prison in Olney Springs, his
family said. He had told them stories of being jumped from behind and
"cheap-shotted" more than once. His family believes Lujan had
been refusing gang members' attempts to recruit him. (Denver Post)
July 23, 2004
Prison officials at the Crowley County Correctional Facility foresee a
complex repair project after the prison was rocked by a riot Tuesday
night. The prison is one of four in the state owned and operated by
Corrections Corp. of America. At least one-third of its 1,147 inmates rioted
Tuesday and two of the five housing units were rendered uninhabitable.
Inmates set three fires, damaged three other living units and destroyed the
vocational greenhouse. They also smashed furniture and televisions,
destroyed desks and bunks, ripped sinks and toilets from the walls and
intentionally triggered fire alarms to drench everything in the
buildings. (Pueblo Chieftain)
July 23, 2004
Inmates at the Crowley County prison began telling their families as long as
a month ago that tensions at the facility were high and that an uprising was
imminent, two parents said Thursday. One Denver mother said her son
told her that in early June word began to spread that the Crowley County
Correctional Facility was going to accept prisoners from Washington state.
When the imported inmates began arriving about three weeks ago, several inmates
began complaining to the guards, she said. Colorado inmates complained
that some of the out-of-state prisoners were being mixed in with them, which
was creating a lot of tension, she said. Residents and officials from nearby
Olney Springs said guards who visit the town's businesses or live in the
community had told them in recent weeks that they expected violence at the
prison. (Rocky Mountain News)
July 23, 2004
Although state lawmakers have carried out four audits of state prison
programs since 1999, they have never audited the private company in charge of
the southern Colorado prison engulfed by a riot Tuesday. The Crowley
County prison that erupted in flames is run by Corrections Corporation of
America. A state senator said Thursday the state might want to take a closer
look at its finances. "We can follow the state's money and audit
that," said Sen. Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood, a longtime audit committee
member. "Perhaps we should do more along that line. We have looked at the
bank accounts for the prisoners that are held in the private prisons, but we
have never audited security there." No one could estimate the
damage from Tuesday's melee, but state officials insisted those costs would
be borne by CCA. The state also intends to bill the company for its
costs in rushing more than 100 correctional officers and other help to the
scene to help quell the uprising, as well as the expense of the investigation
- a cost that could run as high as $150,000. And at a news conference
in Pueblo, Frank Smith of the anti- private prison group Private Corrections
Institute said that "Olney Springs came apart at the seams, and it was
no big surprise." Smith, along with Brian Dawe, executive director
of Corrections U.S.A., a nonprofit group that represents the nation's public
corrections officers, said private prisons do not protect the public.
"This isn't about public safety for the private prisons, it's about the
money," Dawe said. Smith said he talked to some of the corrections
officers at Crowley and they expressed concerns about understaffing, low pay
and inadequate training. Dawe said private prison guards receive 30 percent
less training than those at federal facilities. Smith said he was also
told that Colorado prisoners might have started the riot because they were
not happy about what they considered special treatment that prisoners from
Washington state were receiving. Dawe, a former prison guard, said
moving inmates out of state and away from their families is bad for the
prison and the public. "I guess Colorado doesn't have enough problems,
so they need to import some more," he said. (Rocky Mountain News)
July 22, 2004
After an inmate's being denied a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich helped
sparked a riot at the medium-security Crowley County Correctional Facility in
1999, state prison officials concluded that guards at the private prison had
not been properly trained. John Suthers, head of the Colorado
Department of Corrections at the time, later vowed that the state's future
contracts with private prisons would emphasize "proper training."
Five years later, after another riot at the prison - now run by a different
company, Corrections Corp. of America - some critics are raising the training
issue again, though DOC officials say they don't believe it's a problem.
"The people that they're getting employed there - people who have never
been in law enforcement, people who have never been in corrections - they put
them through a training period that they say is effective, but it's
not," former Crowley County correctional officer Jennifer Stalder said
Wednesday. "You're dealing with felons, and they don't play."
Stalder recently settled a wrongful-termination suit against Dominion
Correctional Services, which ran the prison before CCA. Stalder never worked
for CCA, but she has friends and relatives who work there who have told her
the training programs have not changed, she said. And though some
wondered Wednesday if state budget cuts could have led to Tuesday's riot,
that is unlikely, said Republican Rep. Brad Young of Lamar, chairman of the
legislature's Joint Budget Committee. But Rep. Buffie McFadyen,
D-Pueblo, said she's concerned that privately run prisons aren't cheaper than
state-run prisons. She points out that the costs for medical care, transportation,
clothing, case management, escapes and riot control all fall back on state
and local government. (Denver Post)
July 22, 2004
State Department of Corrections officials said Wednesday that Tuesday's
Crowley County prison riot began with 100 to 150 inmates refusing to return
from a recreational yard to their housing unit. As a result of damage
from the uprising, more than half the inmates have been moved
elsewhere. The Olney Springs prison is privately operated by
Corrections Corp. of America, but state employees of the DOC and officers
from several area sheriffs' departments helped bring the riot under control
about five hours after it began. DOC officials said the investigation
of the cause of the riot is ongoing. Department spokeswoman Allison Morgan
said, "one factor may be gang-related," but Executive Director Joe
Ortiz said later, "We have no special information that this is
gang-related." Morgan said the riot began at 7:30 p.m., turning
into a scene of mayhem as inmates used weight-lifting equipment to tear up
housing units. They started three fires, leaving two of the prison's five
housing units uninhabitable from fire and water damage and another unit
damaged. Other property was damaged or destroyed, and there were a few
instances of inmates attacking one another. CCA staffers retreated
until the DOC special operations team and emergency response teams from five
state prisons arrived. Backup officers from Pueblo, Fowler, Rocky Ford and
the Colorado State Patrol also were sent to assist with the crisis. DOC will
put a moratorium on transferring out-of-state inmates into Crowley County for
now. (The Pueblo Chieftain)
July 22, 2004
A Colorado lawmaker whose district includes eight state-run prisons said
Wednesday the riot at the private Crowley County facility raises critical
questions about the safety and cost-effectiveness of private prisons. Rep.
Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said she was alarmed when she first got word
of the rioting and the possibility that inmates and guards might have been
seriously hurt or killed. She intends to press her colleagues during
the 2005 session to take a much closer look at the state's contracts with
private prisons. She had raised the alarm on the House floor this year
during a debate over a bill pushed by legislative budget writers that would
make it easier to seek competitive proposals from private prison
providers. "It's not just the cost," she said. "My
concern also is for the safety of the general public, as well as the people
working in, and even those confined in, these facilities. "This is
the second riot at the same facility since 1999. These prisons are built in
rural areas, where there is little law enforcement to help out. They may not
have sufficient manpower themselves, and they may be poorly trained and
equipped." But Rep. Brad Young, R-Lamar, chairman of the
legislature's budget-writing committee, noted that prisons - both state and
private - are dangerous places. He said he wants to see a full report on what
happened. "It sounds like a full-scale riot broke out really
fast," Young said. "You do everything you can to prevent that kind
of thing. It doesn't mean they weren't doing a good job." Young
said constructing prisons is "a huge cost" and added that with the
economic downturn that occurred a little more than two years ago, "the
state couldn't afford to keep up with the inmate population increases we've
seen." "There definitely is some economy for doing it through
the private sector," he said.
But McFadyen said she hoped what occurred would help bring a better awareness
of the true cost to the state and local governments where private prisons are
located. "As a state legislator, I have frequently questioned the
hard cost of contracting with private prisons," she said. "No one
can give me an exact amount. The question is, are we risking the safety of
the public and is it really cheaper? We must have answers to those
questions." (Rocky Mountain News)
July 22, 2004
State prison officials sifted through a stunning swath of destruction at the
Crowley County Correctional Facility on Wednesday, still uncertain what
caused an overnight riot by more than 400 inmates. Officials on
Wednesday discounted reports that the riot was a "turf war" between
Colorado inmates and 190 prisoners who arrived from Washington state about
three weeks ago. But guards had privately confided to townspeople since
the Washington transfer that they feared something was brewing. The
Washington inmates were angry over their transfer more than 1,000 miles away
from their families. Whatever problem had been smoldering inside the
privately operated prison 40 miles east of Pueblo erupted violently about
7:30 p.m. Tuesday. More than one-third of the prison's 1,147 inmates
joined in the 51/2-hour riot. They set at least three fires, smashed
everything in two of the prison's five living units, damaged its three other
living units, and resisted more than 150 guards using tear gas and rubber
bullets to quell the outbreak. Thirteen inmates were injured. One
suffered multiple stab wounds in one of two inmate-on-inmate assaults. Four
inmates remained hospitalized Tuesday, none with life-threatening injuries,
said Department of Corrections Director Joe Ortiz. None of the prison
staff was injured. On Wednesday, the inmates were being held under
24-hour lockdown in cells and improvised holding areas throughout the
prison. At the height of the riot, inmates set fires in two cell houses
and the vocational greenhouse, and proceeded to tear them apart, throwing and
smashing furniture, destroying desks and bunks, ripping sinks and toilets
from the walls, splintering television sets and setting off fire alarms to
drench everything in the buildings. Some inmates used steel weights and
dumbbells from the exercise yard to smash doors and windows, said Department
of Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan. "Living Unit 2 is not
habitable. Living Unit 1 is not as severe, but it is destroyed," Morgan
said. The destruction ruined 600 inmate cells, leaving prison officials
to find other places to house them. About 300 were being moved to a newly
completed housing unit at the prison, but 300 were being transferred
Wednesday to other state prisons. (Rocky Mountain News)
July 21, 2004
Inmates at a nearby private prison rioted Tuesday, prompting law enforcement
agencies from around Southern Colorado to mobilize in an effort to quell the
uprising. Crowley County Commissioner Matt Heimerich told The Pueblo
Chieftain that local sheriff's department responded to the medium security
Crowley County Correctional Facility at about 8 p.m. with every available
officer from its force of nine people, along with all three ambulances in
Crowley County. By 10 p.m. the rioting apparently had escalated and
reached a threshold of serious concern, as the Pueblo County Sheriff's
Department's SORT team and up to 20 members of the SWAT team from the Pueblo
Police Department were deployed to join in suppressing the situation. The
Fowler Police Department, Otero County Sheriff's Department, Rocky Ford
Police Department and the Colorado State Patrol also joined the effort.
Witnesses said smoke billowed from three separate locations in the prison -
one in the yard and two inside structures - and the smell of tear gas was
thick. Multiple witnesses also reported hearing gunshots from inside the
prison walls. A female guard toting a rifle was stationed at the main
entrance to the prison and turned away several curious onlookers from the
surrounding rural area. Heimerich said he had been told the riot was being
driven by inmates from the state of Washington, who were recently transferred
to the prison in Olney Springs. The prison recently contracted to retain
between 150 and 200 inmates from Washington. (Pueblo Chieftain)
July 21, 2004
At least 100 inmates rioted Tuesday evening and set small fires inside the
walls of a privately run prison in Crowley County. Scores of law-enforcement
officials from all over the state raced to Olney Springs to help quell the
disturbance. The inmates rioted in the yard and in some portions of the
interior of the Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs,
Allison Morgan, Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said early
this morning. Morgan said she did not know where in the prison the fires were
set. (Rocky Mountain news)
July 11, 2003
Three former Crowley County Prison guards are suing the private companies
that operate the prison, claiming they were coerced into having sex with
managers and that sexual misconduct was rampant among employees and
inmates. In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, one
of the three female guards alleged that a high-ranking male official of the
Crowley County Correctional Facility came to her Pueblo home and forced her
to have sex. The lawsuit alleges that man had been fired by the
Colorado Department of Corrections for sexual harassment. Another of
the three women claimed she was raped at the prison by a guard. Female
employees who resisted sexual advances by male managers were punished with
undesirable assignments, hostile and demeaning verbal attacks, sexual assault
and unwarranted discipline, the lawsuit said. Named as defendants are
several businesses including Dominion Correctional Services that own and
operate the private prison and three current or former top officials.
It claimed that Warden Steve Hargett, security chief Ronald McCall and
security official Julian Vigil hired female staff based on
"attractiveness, whether she might be 'easy to get to bed,' or whether
she might be easily manipulated." (AP)
February 8, 2002
Even before the January
opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad, Colo., and a
127-bed detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private, for-profit
prisons in the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation
of America, which operates private prisons in Burlington,
Walsenburg and Las Animas, Colo., had a total of 575 empty prison
beds. Additionally, the private prison at Olney Springs,
Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA acknowledged it has lost
revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January, the
private prisons had nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state
transferred inmates to its new 2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo.
It is state policy to keep as many state prisoners
as possible in state prisons, rather than private
ones. (Corrections Professional)
November 23, 2000
Officers from several state prisons had to suppress a riot at the prison in
March 1999. Inmates flooded floors, smashed doors and windows and tried
to set fires, and prison staff responded with gas and rubber bullets.
Two people received minor injuries. (The Associated Press State & Local
Wire, November 23, 2000)
July 2000
A guard is arrested as he left the facility after he allegedly showed up in a
uniform shirt with badge and holstered sidearm and ordered a wedding party on
private property to turn down its music. (Denver Post, July 27, 2000)
Denver Community Corrections Facility
Denver, Colorado
Misc
February 18, 2005 Denver Post
A private corrections officer was charged Thursday with having sexual
contact with an inmate at a community corrections facility in Denver. Melanie
Ochoa, 32, was arrested Feb. 5 and faces a felony count of sexual conduct in
a penal institution. Prosecutors allege that Ochoa had sexual contact with a
31-year-old male inmate while supervising the man at the private corrections
facility.
District Court
City and County of Denver, Colorado
Jan
14, 2021 denver.cbslocal.com
Denver
Resident Wins Open Records Lawsuit For Internal Documents On Group Living
DENVER
(CBS4) – A judge has ruled the city of Denver must turn over public records
regarding its controversial proposal to amend the city’s group living rules.
This, after a private citizen filed suit against the city when it denied her
open records request for the documents. The proposed group living changes
would allow five unrelated adults to live together, and would allow halfway
houses in some Denver neighborhoods, among several other changes laid out in
this 200-page document. Proponents of the proposal say it would create more
equitable, affordable housing options in the city. Those against it say it
would cause overcrowding and would make neighborhoods less safe. The proposal
was created with the help of the Group Living Advisory Committee. On that
committee were some people who could stand to benefit from the changes, like
a representative from the GEO Group, which runs community corrections
facilities. “It looks to me like the task force was comprised of those who
will benefit directly from their own decisions, and that does not necessarily
mean that it’s going to benefit the community at large,” said Florence
Sebern, who filed the suit against the city. The city has told CBS4 in the
past that it was important to have those representatives on the committee,
because they understand the industries that would be affected. But Sebern
wanted to know more about why and how the committee representatives were
chosen, so she issued an open records request for documents that would
explain more about the formulation of the Group Living Advisory Committee.
The city denied that request, so Sebern filed suit. She even received
donations from several other concerned community members to help her pay for
the fight. This week, the judge ruled the city must turn over 45 of the 49
pages Sebern requested. The judge also required the city to cover the cost of
Sebern’s attorney fees. “It was actually quite astounding,” Sebern said of
the decision. “(The judge) understood the merits of the case, so I was
absolutely thrilled.” The documents are required to be released 21 days from
the date of the order, Jan. 11. That means they will be released before the
city council is set to vote on the proposal on Feb. 8. “I think it’s
important for the public to know how disgraceful it really is to have to do
something like this. So, the, the core request was for documents that were
that we should have rightfully received from the beginning,” Sebern said. “I
think if if there’s anything bottom line to this is that the citizens of
Denver worked very hard to support themselves and to pay their taxes, our tax
money pays those in public positions, who then turn around and stick it to
us, then we have to go back to our hard earned money to bring a court
challenge to hold them accountable when they’re negligent in their duty to
us. I think that’s very sobering.” A spokesperson for the mayor’s office has
not returned a request for comment about the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the
city’s Community Planning and Development Office said, “Community Planning
and Development has previously released all documents related to Group Living
in response to numerous CORA requests over the past year. We were not a party
to this court case and don’t have a comment on it. The group living amendment
package is a much-needed update to Denver’s zoning code that will enable more
and better housing opportunities for all residents. Our staff has worked
steadfastly with City Council, housing providers, and thousands of Denver
residents for over three years in order to thoroughly research and refine
these amendments. It is time to take them to a vote of City Council, so the
neighborhood groups and residents who have been waiting for these can begin
to benefit.”
El Paso County Jail
El Paso County, Colorado
Correct Care Solutions
1
May 27, 2017 gazette.com
El
Paso County jail care provider under fire
By:
Lance Benzel and Rachel Riley May 21, 2017 Updated: May 23, 2017 at
6:06 pm
The
El Paso County Sheriff's Office is re-evaluating a nearly two-decade
relationship with its controversial jail health care provider, potentially
dealing a costly blow to a private,
nationwide contractor under scrutiny for claims of substandard care.
The possible loss of a contract worth more than $63 million over the past 15
years comes as Correct Care Solutions of Nashville, Tenn., faces six wrongful
death lawsuits in Colorado and numerous others in at least nine states.
County administrators say they invited proposals from competitors in December
and could select a new jail health care contractor by Monday or Tuesday. The
issue involves a company that has attracted claims of putting profits over
patients - "a massive corporate machine" with "a trail of dead
in its wake," in the words of Denver attorney Darold Killmer, who is
involved in several pending lawsuits. El Paso County Sheriff's Office
spokeswoman Jacqueline Kirby wouldn't comment when asked if Sheriff Bill
Elder's decision to seek competing bids has anything to do with the company's
involvement in at least eight lawsuits filed over inmate deaths in Colorado in
the past decade. "This was not the result of any incident but occurred
as part of our efforts to continually evaluate the services providers
available and competitively bid our contracted services as each contract
comes up for renewal," she said in an email. Across Colorado, Correct
Care Solutions and companies under its corporate umbrella are blamed for a
string of preventable deaths. They include an inmate who shed 30 pounds and
became delusional before dying of prescription drug withdrawal; a man who died
in a pool of his vomit and blood from treatable conditions; and an inmate
with the mind of a 6-year-old who died of seizures after jailers confiscated
a medical device that could have prevented them. In addition to the
accusations it faces related to inmate deaths, the company has been named as
a defendant in an additional 37 pending lawsuits in the state. Many are legal
complaints filed by inmates without attorneys, a review of court records
shows. Lawyers involved in several of the wrongful death cases have cited a
culture of "deliberate indifference" among Correct Care Solutions
staff and a business model that makes money off patients who have no other
options for medical attention. "The problem is, it's hard to overcome
the corporate culture of maximizing profits," Killmer said. "It
will always be true that it will be cheaper to not provide medical care than
to provide medical care." Correct Care Solutions denies accusations that
it understaffs its facilities and provides subpar care as a cost-cutting
measure. Jim Cheney, a spokesman for the company, dismissed the claims as
"advocacy and argumentation by trial attorneys who are promoting their
clients' and their own personal financial interests by distorting the facts
and our record of service." Nationwide, Correct Care Solutions and the
company it purchased in 2014, Correctional Healthcare Companies, are involved
in more than 60 active, pending or open lawsuits filed in at least 15 states,
according to a review of federal court filings. "The suggestion that our
business model is to cut costs and deny care in order to reduce expenses is
false," Cheney said in a statement. "A company with such a business
model would not last long in the correctional health care field; it would be
unable to retain clients and to cover the resultant professional liability
expenses." Cheney added that the company contracts with 14 detention
facilities in Colorado, serving about 4,000 inmates "under what can
often be very challenging circumstances." Nationwide, the company serves
more than 302,000 inmates at upwards of 400 local, state and federal
detention facilities, according to its website. The company's identity has
shifted three times, as it changed in name or ownership, in the years it has
served as the jail's health care provider. Killmer said the same executives
are always at the helm, and the changes in title are an attempt to
"limit their liability and camouflage the persistent pattern of neglect
and indifference that emerges when the organization is evaluated as a whole."
Media reports suggest the company is under increasing scrutiny. In Virginia,
federal investigators are looking into the company's ties to the ex-sheriff
of Norfolk County, which contracts with Correct Care Solutions for jail
health care, according to The Virginian-Pilot. In Nassau County, N.Y.,
contract negotiations with Correct Care Solutions were terminated in February
amid media accounts of widespread lawsuits. Who's watching? In Colorado, no
state agencies monitor jail health care systems to ensure that adequate
services are provided, El Paso County officials confirm, but two private
organizations regularly monitor El Paso County's facility: the American
Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional
Healthcare. The jail is audited by both organizations every three years based
on a set of standards. If violations are found, El Paso County must correct
the issues to the organizations' satisfaction to maintain accreditation.
Losing the American Correctional Association accreditation could cost the
Sheriff's Office its contract with the state Department of Corrections, which
houses some of its prisoners at the jail. The latest ACA audit, conducted in
November 2015, found no health care violations. But in the year leading up to
the review, inmates filed more than 400 grievances complaining about health
care access or quality, according to the audit, which was provided to The
Gazette by the Sheriff's Office. During that time, a dozen errors were logged
in how medications were administered, as well as one "lapsed licensure
and/or certification." The most recent audit by the National Commission
on Correctional Healthcare, conducted in October 2014, found four violations,
including one involving an inmate death. National Commission on Correctional
Healthcare standards require jails to issue reports on medical care provided
and the circumstances leading up to the death occur within 30 days. In the
case of an inmate who died of natural causes in February 2014, the assessment
was not conducted until six months later. The Sheriff's Office submitted
revised policies to the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare, which
renewed the jail's accreditation. The history between El Paso County and
Correctional Healthcare Companies began in 1998, when the county contracted
with Correctional Medical Services. Correctional Healthcare Management bought
CMS in 2002, and later changed its name to Correctional Healthcare Companies
in 2006. It wasn't until 2014 that Correct Care Solutions purchased Correctional
Healthcare Companies. The contractor has long been a source of legal strife
for El Paso County. In 2001, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the jail
and Correctional Medical Services for the death of Andrew Spillane, a
pretrial detainee who died of seizures related to alcohol withdrawal the
previous year after being pepper-sprayed by deputies. About six months after
the lawsuit was filed, the ACLU called for the county to launch an
investigation to determine whether "systematic and ongoing deficiencies
in the delivery of medical and mental healthcare" were responsible for a
string of inmate deaths, many of them suicides. The county settled the
Spillane lawsuit for $40,000 in 2002. The company paid an additional $60,000
in the settlement, said ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein. Assessments by
the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Commission on Correctional
Healthcare and a citizen review panel also cited deficiencies in the jail's
mental health care system in the three years that followed, according to the
ACLU. In 2011, the county agreed to pay $85,000 to the widow and daughters of
Bruce Howard, a Fountain man who died of heart problems in a courthouse
holding cell after he was reportedly deprived of medications for several days
at the jail. Correctional Medical Services and Correctional Healthcare
Management were also named as defendants in the case. A sheriff's spokesman
told The Gazette in 2014 that the jail's health care contractor struggled
with basic responsibilities in the years following a 2011 National Commission
on Correctional Healthcare audit, which cited nearly a dozen violations. They
related to health assessments, continuity of care, chronic disease services
and mental health evaluations. The Sheriff's Office later considered cutting
short the contract, then-spokesman Sgt. Greg White said. Another lawsuit came
in 2015, when Christopher Spencer sued the jail and its health care provider
over the loss of his toes, which had to be amputated after he developed
gangrene during a jail stay two years earlier. He was denied medical
attention after he was shot in the chest when he and three others were trying
to steal marijuana, the suit says. In the past 13 months, the county has
shelled out more than $71,000 in legal fees to fight a claim by Philippa
McCully, who sued the jail last year for excessive force and failure to
provide medical treatment after jailers pulled her legs out from under her,
tearing her ACL and fracturing her knee, during her five-day stay at the
institution in 2014. Shortly after the takedown, a nurse hastily cleared her
of injuries; she was not offered medical attention for roughly 80 hours. When
a jail staffer offered to escort her to see a medical professional, she
declined, believing she would soon be released and would see a doctor
immediately after. Correct Care Solutions is also named as a defendant in the
suit. Seven companies, including Correct Care Solutions, responded to a
request for proposals the county issued in December. An evaluation team of
sheriff's officials and a county attorney are assessing the proposals for
costs as well as the quality of services provided, according to the county's
Contracts and Procurement division. The county's procurement policy, approved
by the Board of County Commissioners in 1976 when the department was created,
follows a Colorado law that limits the life of contracts to five years.
However, a spokesman for the State Controller's Office was not aware of
authority that would allow the state to enforce a violation of state law. The
company's contract was renewed after the county issued requests for
contractor proposals in 2002, 2007 and 2013. After county's detox facility
was established in 2009, the county expanded its contract to include detox
services. Last year was the last full year of the jail's most recent contract
with Correct Care Solutions, which ends June 30. In a 2015 report, a
consulting firm hired by the Sheriff's Office found the jail's health care
contract "well-considered and complete, when compared to the contractual
medical services provided in the detentions facilities of organizations of
similar size and complexity of EPSO." The assessment, prepared by KRW
Associates, suggested that the Sheriff's Office should at least consider
inviting proposals from competitors - if only to cut costs. The Elder
administration, the report said, "should ensure that all possible
discounts and economies are considered in future contract discussions without
diluting the level of medical services provided or increasing the liabilities
to the community served."
August 11, 2005 Colorado Springs
Independent
Deputies at the El Paso County jail are in a food fight of sorts and giving
inmates the bird. A Sheriff's Office press release of Aug. 3, defending the
jail's meals in the wake of a brief hunger strike by inmates, is the latest
development in what has become a jail food saga. The release says that on
July 30 inmates were served turkey for a fifth consecutive meal, despite
protests, and it promises more turkey is to come. The episode comes as the
Sheriff's Office faces numerous internal complaints and at least 10 lawsuits
filed by disgruntled inmates over jail food. One suit, filed by former inmate
Mark Compton, describes the jail fare as substandard. He alleges that each
meal was cut back by 25 percent as of March, and that some inmates have
reacted by eating scraps from the trash, begging or intimidating fellow
inmates for food. Yet complaint forms attached to Compton's lawsuit raise
doubts about food quality. Inmate Darius Pinkney wrote that some peaches
served in June were "four different colors (i.e. black, green, red and
orange). "Some were mushy, some were rock hard," he wrote.
"They were in my opinion not fit for human consumption." Other
inmates complained about the peaches, too, but were instructed by a deputy
not to consume them. "In your handbook, it states to eat around anything
not to your liking," the deputy wrote in the official complaint form.
Michael Holmes, another inmate, accuses Sheriff Terry Maketa of standing idly
by as the jail's food contractor, Aramark Correctional Services, shirks its
responsibilities by serving "unhealthy disease causing garbage."
Former inmate Mark Compton claims portion sizes at the El Paso County jail
were cut by 25 percent per meal.
July 18, 2005 The Gazette
Spoiled milk, rotten fruit and watered-down soup that tastes like
dishwater. Those are some of the items on recent menus at the El Paso
County Criminal Justice Center, according to inmates who are suing the jail,
Sheriff Terry Maketa and the jail’s food-service contractor, Aramark
Corp. Nineteen inmates have filed separate lawsuits since June,
claiming the sheriff and jail are violating a state law that requires jails
to provide “good and sufficient” food to prisoners. Since mid-March,
food portions and quality have decreased to 25 percent of what they were,
according to the inmates’ suits filed in 4th Judicial District Court. Inmates
claim they’ve been ignored or harassed when they complained to jail officials
about the food. Some of the suits say Aramark, Maketa and the jail are
“endangering the health and safety of approximately 1,300 seemingly innocent
prisoners at this facility three times daily, seven days a week.”
Inmates are being forced to eat scraps out of trash cans or beg for other
inmates’ food, the suits say. Stronger inmates have resorted to taking food
from weaker ones, according to the suits.
February 14, 2002
Last week, El Paso County commissioners dumped the company that has, for the
past 13 years, provided medical and mental health services to the county's
two jails. You'll recall that the Criminal Justice Center and downtown's
overcrowded Metro facility carry the dubious distinction of logging nine
inmate deaths since 1998. In November, the county's longtime jailhouse health
provider, St. Louis based Correctional Medical Services (CMS), submitted a
bid to continue its contract. The upshot is that the commissioners accepted a
$1.9 million low bid from Englewood, Colo. based Correctional Health Care
Management to provide medical services to the jails. During the commissioners
meeting, both the elected officials and county staff only delicately
approached the, uh, unfortunate problems of the past, which have resulted in
wrongful death lawsuits against the county and tax-paid settlements to the
families of the dead inmates. Current Undersheriff Terry Maketa was on hand
to warmly welcome Correctional Health Care Management aboard. Maketa
specifically noted that the new company has promised that at least one nurse
who is trained in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLF) will be scheduled
during every shift, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A subsequent
Independent review of the county's most current jailhouse contract for health
services shows that the old company, CMS, also promised at least one
ACLS-trained nurse would be available at all times at the jail. Which begs a
couple of questions: If Maketa and the county commissioners are so relieved
to have trained 24-hour cardiac emergency nurses, why didn't they know that
their current contract already required such staffing? And, did CMS violate
the terms of its contract by not providing such nurses at the county's jails?
Four days after the new health care contract was approved, the Sheriff's
Office announced a new committee to review policies and procedures related to
mental health issues at its jails. And why the county signed the contract
first and asked for citizen input after the fact is one of those great
mysteries of life. The sheriff's 14-member detention review panel includes
representatives from the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, the
Adams and El Paso County Sheriff's Offices, as well as Colorado Springs City
Councilman and cardiologist Dr. Ted Eastburn and other local professionals.
Unfortunately, the press was barred from attending their inaugural meeting on
Monday night. Let's hope that doesn't set the standard for a decision-making
body engaged in what should be a serious -- and very public -- review of
jailhouse health-care policies. (CSIndy: Public Eye)
Extraditions International Inc.
Colorado
March 17, 2003
A female inmate who claimed she was sexually assaulted and threatened during
a prison transfer has settled a lawsuit against a transport company and one
of its guards. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the
federal lawsuit on behalf of Robin Darbyshire, said Friday that the terms of
the settlement would not be released. The suit claimed Darbyshire, 41,
was sexually assaulted and harassed by two male officers and male prisoners
during a trip in May 2001 from Nevada to Colorado. The suit named
Colorado-based Extraditions International, Inc., which transports prisoners
between states. An after-hours call to Extraditions was not immediately
returned. The lawsuit alleged that one of the officers sexually
harassed Darbyshire and another female prisoner and forced Darbyshire to
perform a sexual act in a rest stop near Trinidad. Darbyshire said the
officer threatened to shoot her if she screamed. The ACLU also claimed
the two officers allowed few bathroom stops, didn't give the prisoners enough
water and food, and violated state laws requiring stops every 24 hours so
inmates can be unshackled and allowed to sleep and shower. (AP)
April 12, 2002
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Thursday on behalf
of a female inmate who claimed she was sexually assaulted and threatened
during a four-day prison transfer. The national and Colorado ACLU are
suing Colorado-based Defendant Extraditions International Inc., a private
company which transports prisoners between states. The ACLU claims a
41-year-old female prisoner was sexually assaulted and harassed by two male
officers and male prisoners during a trip in May 2001 from Nevada to
Colorado. One of the officers sexually harassed the prisoner and forced
her to perform a sexual act in a rest stop near Trinidad, according to the
lawsuit. The prisoner said the officer threatened to shoot her if she
screamed. The ACLU also claims that during the four-day trip, the two
officers allowed few bathroom stops, didn't give the prisoners enough water
and food and violated state laws requiring stops every 24 hours so inmates
can be unshackled and allowed to sleep and shower. The prisoner's
constitutional rights were violated and she is seeking unspecified damages,
the lawsuit said. An employee who answered the phone at a number listed
under Extraditions International in Commerce City said the company was bought
and is now called American Extraditions. The lawsuit is an attempt to
highlight abuses in an industry that operates out of the public view, said
Craig Cowie, a lawyer with the ACLU's National Prison Project in Washington,
D.C. "We are investigating other incidents and we expect to file
additional lawsuits in the coming weeks and months," Cowie said.
The Colorado ACLU branch settled a lawsuit in the past two weeks with
TransCor of Nashville, Tenn., over similar allegations, ACLU officials
said. (Rocky Mountain News)
February 18, 2002
Robin Darbyshire is the
first to admit that she hasn't led an exemplary life.
What she didn't expect was a five-day journey into squalor aboard a van
operated by a Colorado-based private extradition company.
According to Darbyshire, the trip included large doses of physical privation,
humiliation, threats and harassment, culminating in a sexual
assault by one of the two male drivers escorting her back to
Routt County. "I was shocked at what he did to me,"
Darbyshire says. "What happened was a crime, and he's not
going to get away with it if I can help it."
Darbyshire's claims of
mistreatment by a former employee of Extraditions International
has prompted investigations by law-enforcement agencies in
Colorado and New Mexico and drawn the attention of the ACLU's
National Prison Project, which now counts Darbyshire as a client
in any potential civil litigation. As with so many other aspects of
corrections, the private sector has found a profitable niche in transporting
prisoners. (Westword)
Fremont County Detention Center
Mar 5, 2017 gazette.com
Lawsuit: For-profit medical provider's skimping led to Fremont County jail
inmate's death
While a 53-year-old man was dying of apparent prescription drug
withdrawal at the Fremont County Detention Center, the jail's for-profit
medical provider appeared to be raking in profits. Correctional Healthcare
Companies Inc. (CHC), a nationwide contractor, was paid $500,000 under a 2014
contract to care for an average daily population of 200 inmates. It spent
less than half that sum on services. Newly released records show that while
CHC was paid roughly $42,000 a month, it spent an average of $19,000 a month
on healthcare services, the bulk of it on salaries and benefits for on-site
nurses. Plaintiff's attorneys in an ongoing wrongful death action allege that
the company kept costs low by skimping on medical care - a point they say is
illustrated by the company's "totally unrealistic budgets" for
medicines and hospital bills. According to the records - consisting of 72
pages of financial disclosures made public in February as part of an almost
year-old lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver - CHC aimed to spend no
more than $1,883 per month on medications, or about 31 cents a day per
inmate. Obligated to pick up the bill anytime an inmate required emergency
care outside jail walls, CHC planned on spending $1,000 a month for hospital
fees, or $5 a month per inmate. "It's an extraordinarily low figure and
it's a financial disincentive for the company to send anybody to the hospital,"
said Ed Budge, a Seattle attorney who alleges that a lack of medication and
emergency attention contributed to the harrowing decline of inmate John
Patrick Walter, who died April 20, 2014, after shedding 30 pounds in less
than three weeks. "They know that even a single prolonged visit or
several short visits are going to wipe out their budget." Complaints
over CHC's performance at the Fremont County jail come as the Trump
administration has signaled that it intends to increase the U.S. Department
of Justice's reliance on private prisons - a controversial practice evoking
similar questions over whether for-profit companies should assume central
roles in the nation's correctional system. A CHC company representative did
not return an email requesting comment on its financial records or medical
operations. In 2014, CHC had contracts with 200 jails or prisons in the U.S.,
making it responsible for providing medical care for an average daily
population of 70,000 people, plaintiff's attorneys say. The Fremont County
Sheriff's Office, which operates the jail and is also named as a defendant,
cut ties with CHC effective Jan. 1. Walter, who was supposed to be receiving
6 mg a day of clonazepam, an anti-anxiety drug, died naked on his cell room
floor after exhibiting bizarre behavior and going days without sleep. An
autopsy found he had suffered unexplained injuries including nine rib
fractures, extensive bruising and internal bleeding, and also had an imprint
of a jail-issue shoe on his back. An official cause of death couldn't be
determined, but attorneys for Walter's estate say his symptoms were
consistent with fatal drug withdrawal, and they say guards either neglected
him as he thrashed about his cell or physically abused him while trying to
restrain him. Although his nightmarish descent occurred in a medical holding
cell in the full view of deputies in the jail's booking area, Walter wasn't
sent for emergency care, and a CHC nurse, Kathy Maestas, reassured detention
staff that he was OK, even though toxicology testing shows he wasn't
receiving his clonazepam. A different nurse acknowledged that her colleagues
were responsible for 15 lapses of medical protocol in their handling of
Walter, a deposition shows. Fremont County Sheriff James Beicker conceded
that a detective's six-page death investigation report "could have been
more thorough" but said he wouldn't order further investigation. He
acknowledged in a separate deposition the office did nothing to uncover
policy violations after Walter's death. The notion that hospital fees could
be covered at $5 a month per inmate "wasn't even remotely
reasonable," Budge said in an interview last Tuesday. "Yet
according to the information it provided, CHC was consistently operating
under its already very low budget for off-site medical care," he added.
The records show the company shaved nearly 30 percent from its $6,000 budget
for off-site medical expenses during the first six months of 2014, spending
$4,238. The company came in just under budget for medications, budgeting $10,976
and spending $10,177 during the same period. An attorney for CHC initially
denied it even kept budgetary records for the facility, saying in an August
2016 letter to Budge that "the contract for this small facility is so
small that budget analysis is neither reasonable, nor necessary." The
documents were ultimately handed over on Feb. 24 under court order.
High Plains Correctional Facility
Brush, Colorado
Cornell Companies
June 29, 2010 Brush News-Tribune
High Plains Correctional Facility will close down after the state takes the
remaining inmates away from the Brush prison today. Most of the employees at
High Plains Correctional Facility will lose their jobs after the state
removes the last remaining inmates from the Brush women’s prison today. “We
have already notified our staffs that most of them unfortunately have to be
laid off for now,” said Charles Seigel, spokesman for Houston, Texas-based
Cornell Companies, Inc., which owns the Brush prison. The local facility
normally employs 83 people, Seigel said, but management has left about half
of the positions vacant in anticipation of the closure. “In the last few
months we haven’t filled positions, knowing this was going to happen,” he
said. Three of the roughly 40 current employees will remain on staff to
maintain the facility and prepare for any potential new business, but the
rest of the workers will lose their jobs, Seigel said. Cornell has offered to
transfer some of the employees to company facilities in other areas, he said.
At least 10 of the employees have accepted jobs at a Cornell prison in
Hudson, but workers are reluctant to take jobs any farther away. “We’re still
working on trying to find positions as much as possible for people,” he said.
The closure of the facility will also result in a loss of revenue for the
city of Brush, said city Finance Officer Joanne Gosselink. The city will lose
roughly $22,000 in annual income it received for processing the prison’s
payments from the state, she said. In addition, the city will no longer
receive revenue from sales tax on purchases made by the inmates, she said.
April 8, 2010 Brush News-Tribune
Due to a decline in the number of female prisoners throughout Colorado,
the state might remove inmates from High Plains Correctional Facility in
Brush this summer. “The state has talked about the fact that they may not
need the facility now, that they may not need the capacity that High Plains
provides,” said Charles Seigel, spokesman for Houston, Texas-based Cornell
Companies Inc., which owns the Brush prison. The medium-security prison can
house up to 272 female inmates, who are placed at the facility through a
contract with the Colorado Department of Corrections. The prison had a total
inmate population of 252 in February 2009 and 218 in February 2010, according
to the CDOC. In an attempt to keep the Brush prison operational, Cornell is
now working with corrections officials in Colorado and several other states
to identify alternate ways to use the facility. Seigel said the local prison
might have the opportunity to replace any departing inmates with prisoners
from other states, which is allowed in Colorado. He said he did not know
whether the local facility could be converted into a prison for men. “We’re
not sure yet what the future holds,” he said. “There are different options
and different ways this may work out.”
High Plains Youth Academy
Brush, Colorado
Cornerstone Programs Corporation
July 29, 2007 Dallas Morning News
Executives of the Colorado-based Cornerstone Programs Corp., which
manages the Garza County Regional Juvenile Center in West Texas, have a
history of involvement in troubled juvenile facilities in other states.
Cornerstone closed its Swan Valley Youth Academy in 2006 after a Montana
State Department of Public Health and Human Services investigation found 19
violations, including neglect and failure to report child abuse and an
attempted suicide. "Intake process was particularly harmful to youth,
and many have been made to vomit due to excessive exercise and drinking large
amounts of water," Montana officials wrote in their findings. According
to Montana officials, the state and Cornerstone had developed a corrective
plan to keep the facility open. "There was a number of charges of abuse
filed against the director of the program and the second in charge,"
said Cornerstone chief executive Joseph Newman. The bad press hurt business
and so it closed, he said. Mr. Newman said state officials later cleared them
of all the abuse charges, but Montana officials said they had no record of
that. In Texas, Cornerstone's Garza facility has been put under corrective
action plans to improve staff training, documenting grievances and group
therapy sessions. But the company has hired a new director and added new staff
to Garza, which it began managing in 2003. In 2005, a 17-year-old inmate at
the facility became paralyzed after falling on his head in an attempt to do a
back flip off a table. A lawsuit by his family against the facility, settled
in 2006, alleged that a guard not only failed to prevent the stunt, but
challenged the youth to attempt it. The officer was fired after the incident.
The Garza County facility consistently has received positive reviews by the
Texas Youth Commission. "The Garza County Regional Juvenile Center is an
exemplary program," a TYC monitor wrote in the facility's 2006 contract
renewal evaluation – the same year Swan Valley closed. Cornerstone was
founded in October 1998 by Mr. Newman and board chairman Jane O'Shaughnessy,
about six months after another company they operated ran into trouble in
Colorado. That other company, called Rebound, operated the High Plains Youth
Center in Brush, Colo., which housed juvenile offenders from around the
country. In December 1995, a University of Illinois at Chicago psychologist
hired by the state's Department of Children and Family Services issued a
damning report on High Plains, and the agency later began removing its youth
from the juvenile prison. "Unit staffing practices appear to be a
numbers game where management attempts to balance the competing pressures of
safety and profit," wrote Dr. Ronald Davidson, a faculty member in the
university's psychiatry department. The facility also had a "consistent
and disturbing pattern of violence, sexual abuse, clinical malpractice and
administrative incompetence at every level of the program." A Human
Rights Watch report later found that High Plains "fell short of
reasonable, even minimal, performance." Colorado officials closed High
Plains in 1998 after a 13-year-old inmate from Utah committed suicide and a
state investigation found widespread problems with physical and sexual abuse.
State officials also had uncovered problems at other Rebound facilities in
Colorado. Rebound's nonprofit Adventures in Change program did not meet
requirements to be licensed for drug and alcohol treatment nor meet
"acceptable standards for habitation," according to a 1996 state
audit. Auditors said the services, such as education, family counseling,
vocational training and employment, "are not routinely provided."
In his resignation letter as the facility's clinical coordinator, Paul
Schmitz wrote: "This is no longer a professional treatment environment
... and is not supported by the company as such." In 1997, Florida
officials severed the state's contract with Rebound to operate the Cypress
Creek juvenile detention facility after repeated problems, including reports
of disturbances that led to the arrests of several inmates for inciting a
riot. Rebound also had operated in Maryland, where it ran the Charles H.
Hickey Jr. School briefly in the early 1990s. Mr. Newman was the deputy
secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services from 1992 to 1994,
according to the state. He joined Rebound in 1995. The Hickey contract ended
in 1993 after dozens of escapes, cases of alleged abuse and other policy
violations. Dr. Davidson, the Illinois psychologist, said the past
performance of Cornerstone and Rebound should raise concerns. "Anyone
who had bothered to check the record of this corporation in Colorado and
Florida and Maryland ..... would have easily discovered a troubling history
of incompetence and fecklessness," he said.
Hudson
Correctional Facility
Hudson, Colorado
GEO Group (bought Cornell Companies)
April 10, 2013 AP
Alaskan prisoners housed in the Hudson Correctional
Facility in northeast Colorado are heading home to new quarters after a
temporary stay while a new jail was being built. The move to a new Alaskan
prison in September could leave 1,200 empty prison beds empty and 200 jobs
lost in a region of Colorado starved for jobs. According to the Greeley
Tribune, the GEO Group, a private company that runs the four-year-old medium
security prison, could be left without any customers. So far, there is no
word on any further contracts with other states, including Colorado’s
Department of Corrections. The 1,250-bed correctional center was built in
2009 by Cornell Companies, but later was taken over by the GEO Group, which
runs private prisons throughout the world.
August 23, 2011 Greeley Tribune
A former corrections officer at a privately run prison in Hudson is under
investigation for allegations that she had sex with an inmate. Amber Gunter,
26, of Brighton, said she never had sex with the inmate, a convicted murderer
from Anchorage, Alaska. Instead, she told The Tribune, she’s the victim of an
ex-roommate’s revenge. Gunter worked as a corrections officer for a year and
two months at the Hudson Correctional Facility, a 1,250-bed prison in
southern Weld County. The prison has contracted with the state of Alaska to
house 850 prisoners. Gunter resigned in June after the allegations came
forth. The Weld District Attorney’s Office filed one felony charge of
unlawful sexual conduct in a correctional institution against Gunter earlier
this month. The charge alleges she engaged in sexual conduct and sexual
penetration, but no further information was released. If convicted, she could
face at most one to three years in prison. Gunter, in a telephone interview
this week, said the inmate, Barry Anderson, 35, was in charge of cleaning a
specific area, where she would have contact with him occasionally. “At first
I didn’t think anything about it, I was just listening to him and letting him
vent, and it led to like closer (contact), and it led to what it led to,”
Gunter said. “Like he would touch me, or whatever, but there was no sex
involved.” From April until her resignation in June, Gunter said she allowed
Anderson to touch her. “There was a touching-feeling kind of thing but there
was no sex, but that’s what they’re getting me on,” Gunter said. She said
officials began investigating when her roommate, upset that Gunter was going
to charge her rent to live with her, found letters Anderson had written to
Gunter and showed them to Gunter’s superiors. “There was nothing sexual,”
Gunter said, noting the inmate would pass the letters on to her personally.
“He was talking about his life and what he wanted to do when he got out. ...
I know I had the badge, I was the officer, but I got kinda scared and took them
anyway. I didn’t think I was going to get caught, but obviously I was wrong.”
December 17, 2010 Fort Morgan Times
District Attorney Robert Watson has filed a request in Morgan County District
Court to revoke a personal recognizance bond for Jessica Rehn of Fort Morgan.
Rehn is accused of smuggling heroin into the Hudson Correctional Facility and
was arrested on a warrant on charges of distribution and possession of a
schedule 1 controlled substance and introducing contraband into a
correctional facility. Wesley Shandy, an inmate in the facility, died of a
drug overdose; cellmate James Stanley is accused of providing Shandy with
heroin and remains in the facility. Both were serving sentences in the Hudson
facility, a private prison, on offenses in Alaska. Watson said Rehn was
actively engaged in a multi-state scheme, using the mail, to distribute drugs
by personally introducing it into the Hudson prison. The state legislature
has required a $50,000 bond for people charged with distributing schedule II
controlled substances unless there is showing of good cause to set a
different amount, Watson said in his motion. "As a direct result of the
defendant's criminal conduct, an inmate died," the D.A. said. Rehn
received the heroin by mail August 14 and smuggled two balloons of it into
the Hudson facility August 15 in her bra, slipping it to Stanley, her
boyfriend, during a kiss, Corey Fox of the Colorado Department of Corrections
said in an affidavit. After an August 17 interview with law enforcement,
Morgan County Sheriff's Office Investigator Jessica Schlagel obtained
permission from Rehn to search her car, and officers found three balloons of
suspected heroin and a mail envelope, Fox said. The substance in the bags
tested positive for heroin, Fox noted. Fox said that Rehn told law
enforcement officials Stanley had asked her to bring drugs into the facility.
August 18, 2010 Greeley Tribune
An autopsy Tuesday failed to pinpoint the cause of death of an Alaskan inmate
at the Hudson Correctional Facility in southern Weld County. Wesley Shandy,
44, was found dead in his cell Sunday morning at the prison in Hudson, and
the Weld County Coroner's Office performed the autopsy. Chief Coroner's
Investigator Mark Ward said there was no cause of death shown in the autopsy,
so they will have to wait for the toxicology report. Toxicology tests will
indicate if drugs were present in the body and if they contributed to the
death. It will take up to two weeks to get the toxicology results in this
case, Ward said. No other information has been released. State agencies from
Colorado and Alaska are looking into the case. Investigators have not said if
there were signs of an assault or a struggle.
August 16, 2010 Denver Post
Authorities from a number of agencies are investigating the death of an
inmate from Alaska who was found unresponsive in his cell at Hudson
Correctional Facility in Weld County Sunday morning. Wesley Shandy, 44, of
Ninilchik was serving a 19-year sentence for manslaughter in the death of his
fiancee, felony drunken driving and witness tampering. Hudson Correctional
houses a number of Alaskan prisoners at the 1,250-bed medium security private
prison operated by GEO Group of Boca Raton, Fla. The company released a
statement this afternoon. "The Hudson Correctional Facility is
cooperating fully with the Alaska Department of Corrections, the Colorado
Department of Corrections and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,"
according to the statement. A company spokesman citing the investigation said
by e-mail he could not comment further.
April 30, 2010 The News Tribune
The security breach this month at a private Colorado prison holding hundreds
of Alaskans was caused by human error, according to Cornell Companies, the
prison owner and operator. A correctional officer in a central area
electronically unlocked the doors to the cells of 41 inmates around 1:20 a.m.
on April 14, allowing the prisoners into the pod corridors, Charles Seigel,
Cornell spokesman, said Thursday. The officer at Hudson Correctional Facility
has resigned, Seigel said. The company wouldn't release the officer's name.
Cornell hired experts who determined the problem was not mechanical, Seigel
said. Seigel said the officer was properly trained in security procedures and
it's not clear why he unlocked the cell doors. The pod holds inmates who were
in segregation, typically for behavioral problems or their own protection.
The lapse led to an uprising involving eight to 12 inmates, Seigel said. When
the cell doors unlocked, most of the inmates stepped out, looked around and
returned to their cells, according to Cornell. At least one tried to assist
authorities by describing on the intercom what was happening. Two
correctional officers in the pod barricaded themselves in a staff office
during the disturbance, which lasted about six hours. Some of the inmates
used a filing cabinet like a battering ram to try to break into the office,
Seigel said. The door was dented but they weren't able to open it. In
February, one inmate in the segregation unit punched the assistant warden and
broke his nose, Seigel said. That inmate now faces new criminal charges,
Seigel said. He said Cornell doesn't release names of inmates and Colorado
authorities weren't able to provide details on Friday. Seigel said he didn't
know how long the officer who made the mistake had worked for Cornell. The
prison only opened in November, and most of the officers were new. Starting
pay is $12 an hour and would be higher for experienced officers, according to
Cornell. The state of Alaska contracts with Cornell to house Alaska inmates
at Hudson. The prison houses only Alaskans. At the time of the disturbance,
877 inmates were at the facility. Seigel said he thought at least a couple of
the instigators in the disturbance had been moved to a Colorado institution.
Corrections officials from Colorado and Alaska also have been investigating
what happened. The Colorado department's private prison monitoring unit and
inspector general's office are involved, said Monica Crocker, spokeswoman for
the Colorado Department of Corrections. As a result of the breach and inmate
uprising, Cornell also is looking into making improvements in the security
system, Seigel said.
April 14, 2010 Denver Post
A disturbance at the privately owned Hudson Correctional Facility 25 miles
northeast of Denver International Airport was sparked when cell doors in a
unit housing 41 inmates from Alaska inexplicably opened early this morning.
Charles Seigel, spokesman for the Cornell Companies, which operates the
prison, said his company is investigating whether the doors opened at about
1:20 a.m. in the prison's segregation unit because of an electronic
malfunction or human error. The segregation unit houses inmates who have
disciplinary issues and have caused problems, as well as inmates in protective
custody, Seigel said. When inmates realized the cell doors were open, many
left their cells but most returned a short time later. However, as many as a
dozen began destroying sprinkler heads and computers. They also tried to
break out of the building by breaking windows. Seigel said the inmates who
vandalized the unit were housed there because of disciplinary problems. The
disturbance caused widespread water damage. The unit was littered with water,
paper and smashed computers. Seigel said that two guards who were in the unit
fled to a captain's office where they locked and barricaded the door. He said
some of the inmates outside the office tried to protect the two guards in the
captain's office. During the disturbance, which lasted until about 7:30 a.m.,
the two guards were in constant communications with prison officials and were
able to watch what was going through windows, Seigel said. Seigel said prison
officials decided to let things cool down before acting. At 7:30 a.m., the
prison sent in its emergency response team. The team used tear gas to subdue
the inmates. No corrections officers were injured. But Seigel said some of
the inmates had bruises and abrasions. He said the instigator of the
disturbance suffered the worst injury, a cut hand. Seigel said rioters will
be charged under Colorado law. Seigel said the entire prison, which houses
877 inmates from Alaska, is on lockdown, with all inmates remaining in their
cells. He said the lockdown will remain through at least Thursday. Richard
Schmitz, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Corrections, said the Hudson
Correctional Facility opened in November 2009. Only Alaska inmates are housed
there.
April 14, 2010 AP
A small group of Alaska inmates took over a section of the privately owned
Hudson Correctional Facility during a prison disturbance overnight. No
injuries were reported in the disturbance that happened late Tuesday or early
Wednesday at the prison owned by Cornell Companies Inc. Company spokesman
Charles Seigel says the disturbance involving about eight inmates has been
brought under control. The group damaged sprinklers, setting off a fire
alarm. Additional details were not immediately available. Cornell opened the
1,250-bed medium security prison in November and houses about 1,000 inmates from
Alaska. The Colorado Department of Corrections, which oversees private
prisons in the state, has sent six investigators to the prison Wednesday. A
telephone call seeking comment from Alaska Corrections Commissioner Joe
Schmidt Wednesday was not immediately returned.
September 27, 2009 Alaska Dispatch
After 15 years of managing Alaska prisoners housed out-of-state,
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has lost its contract to Cornell
Corrections. Cornell's will charge the state about $19,446,000 a year to
house 900 prisoners, while CCA's plan would have cost $18,724,000 -- $722,000
less a year. Either way the state will realize savings over the $20,669,000
it now pays through a contract with CCA. The 770 inmates serving time at
CCA's Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona will be moved late this year to
Cornell's Hudson Correctional Facility in Colorado, a 1,250-bed center now
under construction. The move -- via special U.S. Marshals Service planes --
is expected to cost Alaska more than $200,000, Alaska Department of
Corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz said. The Department of Corrections
denied a protest of the award filed by CCA attorneys, who said they won't
launch further appeal. In the protest, CCA attorneys Charles Cole -- a former
Alaska Attorney General -- and Stephen Williams argued that Cornell
Corrections of Alaska lacks the basic experience the state requires, and that
a preference system for Alaska-based bidders was misused. Cornell's bid was
more costly than CCA's for the three-year term, but a proposal evaluation
panel awarded Cornell's plan more points because of the company's status as
an Alaska entity. Points matter as a committee rates the proposals in several
categories. According to CCA's protest, the company gained more points than
Cornell in five other evaluation categories. In denying the protest, the
state said Cornell Alaska qualifies for two perks as an in-state company -- a
bidder's preference and an offeror's preference -- and that Cornell meets
experience standards. CCA's attorneys argue that Cornell's Alaska enterprise
manages halfway house centers and lacks experience housing federal prisoners.
In its bid, Cornell turned to its parent company, based in Houston, as the
qualified service provider. CCA's attorneys took issue with the state
awarding Alaska preferences to a business that would turn the contract over
to its Texas parent company to manage. Alaska has contracted with CCA since
1994 to house sentenced prisoners out of state. Currently, 770 Alaska inmates
are serving time away. Most have at least year-long sentences. Meantime, the
$240 million, 1,536-bed Goose Creek Correctional Center is scheduled to open
in 2012 at Point MacKenzie. The medium-security men's facility, which is
expected to alleviate Alaska's prison space shortage, is being funded through
bonds issued by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The state will pay off the
bonds by leasing the facility from the borough, and will take ownership once
the bill is settled. Cornell has tried for years to solidify support for a
private prison in Alaska, and became wrapped up in a far-reaching probe into
political corruption. The company's lobbyist, Bill Bobrick, pleaded guilty on
charges he tried to bribe Rep. Tom Anderson--who is now serving time in
federal prison himself-- to advocate for a private prison. Cornell was not
implicated.
August 8, 2009 Stock House
Cornell Companies, Inc. (NYSE:CRN) announced today that it has received
from the State of Alaska, Department of Corrections ("Alaska DOC"),
a Notice of Intent to Award a contract to house 1,000 state prisoners at its
Hudson Correctional Facility (the "Facility") located in Hudson,
Colorado. The Facility, which will have a service capacity of 1,250 beds, is
presently under construction and is expected to be completed in the fourth
quarter of 2009, at which point the Company anticipates initiating inmate
ramp. Under the existing terms of the Notice of Intent, the Alaska DOC will
house 1,000 adult male inmates at the Facility, with an agreed-upon 800-bed
guarantee. Upon completion of the inmate ramp and once full occupancy has
been achieved, the contract is expected to generate nearly $22 million in
annualized operating revenues. The Notice of Intent to Award is subject to
the expiration of the applicable protest period and final execution of a
written contract, which is expected to occur in a few weeks. At that time,
the Company anticipates that it will be able to confirm expected activation
dates and to discuss the impact of startup expenses at the Facility in the
third and fourth quarters of 2009.
March 8, 2007 Greeley Tribune
Hudson town board members decided Wednesday night to postpone a decision
to move forward with plans on annexing a portion of unincorporated Weld
County for future use as a private women's prison. Close to 50 residents from
Weld County were at the meeting to voice concerns they had regarding the
economic impact the proposed prison would create. Hudson Mayor Neal Pontius
said the town plans to begin annexing what would be close to 320 acres
northwest of Hudson. Once the area becomes part of the town, he said he would
like to leave it up to the residents to vote on whether the area should be
zoned for the use of the prison. Pontius said the vote is tentatively set for
May. "I want to get all the information and I want to make a smart
choice for the town," Pontius said. The annexation was postponed to get
more residents' comments. Last June, the Colorado Department of Corrections
awarded Houston-based Cornell Companies the bid to build an 832-bed women's
prison in Hudson, a potentially $16 million annual contract. Cornell
Companies runs prisons in 18 states throughout the country, including one
juvenile treatment facility in Cañon City. The proposal for the prison was
put forward to the city's town board last April. Some residents already have
begun working to convince the community that a prison would be a bad choice
for the town, said Laura Moreland, who lives outside the city limits in Fort
Lupton. "We are opposed to private prisons in general," Moreland
said. In the research she's done on private prisons she said shows higher
escape rates. She said she also is concerned because the town does not have a
police department. She said she wonders how the town will respond to the
security issues a prison could create. "I think it is a huge
concern," Moreland said. "The thought of having a prison that close
is very frightening and I'm worried about the safety of my children."
Other residents, however, felt the growth would be good for the town.
"If some of the money is going to be used to build streets, then I'm for
it," said resident Randy Childs. "I've been waiting 34 years for my
dirt street to get paved." Pontius said it still remains unclear how
much having a prison would actually increase the town's revenue.
Huerfano
County Correctional Facility
Walsenburg, Colorado
CCA
Mar 22, 2018 coloradoindependent.com
Lawmakers at odds with Hickenlooper administration over leasing private
prison
“I’m all for alleviating some of this prison population. But if this doesn’t
work we are in deep trouble,” says DOC’s Rick Raemisch. Gov. John
Hickenlooper’s administration doubled down on its calls to open a shuttered
private prison, saying efforts by lawmakers to enact sentencing reforms
instead of making more beds available could lead to prison overcrowding.
Department of Corrections Executive Director Rick Raemisch came to the state
Capitol on Wednesday to discuss prison reform efforts with lawmakers as part
of a working group set up by the governor. Talks failed to reach a middle
ground, however; DOC wants to open a private prison in Huerfano to house
inmates — which are expected to rise to about 20,000 next year, in part due
to an increase in drug arrests — but lawmakers denied DOC’s request last week
for $12 million to lease the prison, saying the agency needs to do more to
get inmates on parole or into halfway houses. The Hickenlooper administration
says the plan moves too fast, putting the state at risk of having overcrowded
state prisons and county jails — not to mention releasing inmates too soon,
potentially leading to higher recidivism rates. “I’m all for alleviating some
of this prison population. But if this doesn’t work we are in deep trouble,”
Raemisch told the working group. “I have overworked, understaffed, full
prisons. And I’m afraid I’m gonna lose it.” Raemisch also said the department
doesn’t have full control over which prisoners make it into parole or into
community corrections. He said in 2017, the department made 8,946 referrals
to community corrections and only 1,492 were placed into beds. Glenn Tapia,
the director of the Office of Community Corrections, referred questions to a
public information office, which has yet to return a request for comment. No
legislation is currently proposed that would make the transfer from prisons
to community corrections more efficient. Instead, lawmakers are wielding
their control over the budget to force DOC to make the changes. Assistant
Minority Leader Cole Wist, R-Centennial, said this is lawmakers’ opportunity
to come up with new ways of dealing with the prison population. “If we fail
to try anything new, were sort of stuck in this same approach year after year
after year,” Wist said. But Henry Sobanet, the governor’s budget director,
said more time is needed for this kind of reform. “There is a concern that we
are taking human judgment out of the equation and we’re working only for
budgetary targets,” Sobanet told the working group. “It merits some
evaluation and some stakeholder work.” After a steady decline since 2011, the
prison population is expected to start rising again — increasing the stakes
for the sentencing reform efforts. But it’s unclear if the lawmakers’ effort
to reel in DOC’s budget will lead to prison overcrowding. A report by a Joint
Budget Committee staffer shows that there will still be about 700 private
prison beds available next year if the DOC does not change its practices.
Lawmakers say DOC can come back next year and make a supplemental budget
request to lease the Huerfano County Correctional Facility, a private prison
that closed in 2010, if space does not open up. Raemisch said this is not a
workable backup plan; it takes months to open up a prison, he said. Also,
packing more prisoners into county jails may get the state in trouble, says
Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, a sheriff. He said sheriffs are already talking
about suing the state to get more state inmates out of their jails. “I think
if we rush into this too fast, I think we’re gonna see more lawsuits from the
counties,” Cooke said. The reform effort comes as lawmakers grow frustrated
over DOC’s rising budget — which has swelled 23 percent over the last seven
years, from $747 in 2011 to an estimated $922 million for the next fiscal
year, despite a drop in the prison population. They are especially concerned
about plans to open up Colorado State Penitentiary II, now called the
Centennial South Correctional Facility, a Cañon City prison that was built in
2010 to hold inmates in solitary confinement but was later mothballed in
2012.
Mar 16, 2018 coloradoindependent.com
Lawmakers put the kibosh on leasing Huerfano prison, call for sentencing
reforms
The Department of Corrections wants to reopen a shuttered prison in
Walsenburg to house an expected rise in inmates next year, but lawmakers
aren’t buying it — literally. The department is asking lawmakers for about
$12 million to lease the Huerfano County Correctional Facility, a private
prison that closed in 2010, to make about 250 beds available for inmates. DOC
says it’s nearing full capacity at its state and private prisons, and expects
about 1,056 additional inmates next year, in part due to a recent rise in
drug arrests. But the Joint Budget Committee on Wednesday voted down the
DOC’s plan. Lawmakers hope that by not paying for the lease it will force the
department to send more inmates to parole and community corrections, also
known as halfway houses, instead of to prisons. “I think the message is there
has to be a lot more cooperation between the Department of Corrections, the
Parole Board and the community corrections facilities,” Rep. Pete Lee,
D-Colorado Springs, who is a member of the JBC, told The Colorado
Independent. “They have to work together to get more people released.” But
not all lawmakers are on board. Sen. Larry Crowder, R-Alamosa, said he is
concerned that inmates who are released to parole or community corrections
will end up back in prison because there is not enough treatment available
for them. According to DOC data, about 45 percent of offenders on parole or
in community corrections returned to prison last month. Failed drug tests
have gone up from about seven to 10 percent in 2011 to about 25 to 30 percent
in January of this year. “Public safety should be the number one thing.
Reform is a great word. But you have to have the knowledge and the programs
set up for that,” Crowder told The Colorado Independent. That’s why the state
should use the money it spends on prison beds and put it into treatment
programs, says Christie Donner, executive director of Colorado Criminal
Justice Reform Coalition. “You either continue to invest more in prisons, or
you shift resources into recidivism reduction programs,” Donner told The
Colorado Independent. “You cannot do both.” Felony drug filings on the rise
despite sentencing reforms In 2013, lawmakers made an effort to ensure that
fewer people end up in prison for lower-level drug crimes. The law allows
those convicted of lower-level felony drug possession to have their
convictions reduced to a misdemeanor. It also requires courts to first consider
alternatives to prison when handing down sentences, such as treatment. But,
despite this law, more people are ending up in prison for drug possession,
according to an analysis by Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Using
data from the Division of Criminal Justice, the coalition found that the
number of felony drug cases prosecutors file with DOC has doubled in the last
five years. Since 2012, the number of filings doubled to 15,323 in 2017,
according to the report, and about 75 percent of these filings were for
simple drug possession. In the 12th Judicial District in southern Colorado,
there was a 205 percent increase in drug felony case filings from 2012,
according to the report. District Attorney Crista Newmyer-Olsen said one
reason for the increase may be a rise in heroin and prescription opioid
abuse. And, she said, there are not many options to get treatment besides a
clinic offering Vivitrol and methadone and a for-profit treatment center. “As
a whole, the community wants to do something about the drug issue,”
Newmyer-Olsen told The Colorado Independent. “It’s really just about a lack
of resources at this point.” Donner said it’s unclear why there is a rise in
felony drug case filings, but it should raise red flags for lawmakers. And so
far, lawmakers have taken the results of the study to advocate for sentencing
reforms. “There are better opportunities for treatment than the Department of
Corrections,” said Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, told The Colorado
Independent. Giving these offenders treatment instead of prison time, she
said, will help keep recidivism rates down. To deal with an expected rise in
the prison population, DOC is hoping to open up more private prison beds,
including those in Colorado State Penitentiary II, now called the Centennial
South Correctional Facility, which was built in 2010 to hold inmates in
solitary confinement and was mothballed in 2012. The Cañon City prison is not
yet suitable for non-solitary confinement inmates; DOC needs to build an
outdoor recreation facility and make other renovations before they can funnel
in prisoners. In total, it is expected to cost $18.8 million to reopen the
prison, which they are requesting from lawmakers this year. DOC’s total
budget request is $922 million for the next fiscal year, a 23 percent
increase from the 2011 budget of $747 million. This comes as the prison
population has declined about 12 percent since 2011. But, next year, the
prison population is expected to rise to a total of about 20,000. Gov. John
Hickenlooper set up a working group with DOC and lawmakers through an
executive order last month to study the issue. “There is unanimous agreement
that we will see a large increase in our prison population,” said Mark
Fairbairn, a spokesperson for DOC, in a statement. “The Department will
continue to work with the legislature in an effort to secure adequate
resources to address this growth.”
March 28, 2011 NPR
Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns In Trouble by John Burnett The
country with the highest incarceration rate in the world — the United States
— is supporting a $3 billion private prison industry. In Texas, where free
enterprise meets law and order, there are more for-profit prisons than any
other state. But because of a growing inmate shortage, some private jails cannot
fill empty cells, leaving some towns wishing they'd never gotten in the
prison business. It seemed like a good idea at the time when the west Texas
farming town of Littlefield borrowed $10 million and built the Bill Clayton
Detention Center in a cotton field south of town in 2000. The charmless
steel-and-cement-block buildings ringed with razor wire would provide jobs to
keep young people from moving to Lubbock or Dallas. For eight years, the
prison was a good employer. Idaho and Wyoming paid for prisoners to serve
time there. But two years ago, Idaho pulled out all of its contract inmates
because of a budget crunch at home. There was also a scandal surrounding the
suicide of an inmate. Shortly afterward, the for-profit operator, GEO Group,
gave notice that it was leaving, too. One hundred prison jobs disappeared.
The facility has been empty ever since. A Hard Sell "Maybe ... he'll
help us to find somebody," says Littlefield City Manager Danny Davis
good-naturedly when a reporter shows up for a tour. For sale or contract: a
372-bed, medium-security prison with double security fences, state-of-the-art
control room, gymnasium, law library, classrooms and five living pods. Davis
opens the gray steel door to a barren cell with bunk beds and stainless-steel
furniture. "You can see the facility here. [It's] pretty austere, but
from what I understand from a prison standpoint, it's better than most,"
he says, still trying to close the sale. For the past two years, Littlefield
has had to come up with $65,000 a month to pay the note on the prison. That's
$10 per resident of this little city. A Resident Burden Is the empty prison a
big white elephant for the city of Littlefield? "Is it something we have
that we'd rather not have? Well, today that would probably be the case,"
Davis says. To avoid defaulting on the loan, Littlefield has raised property
taxes, increased water and sewer fees, laid off city employees and held off
buying a new police car. Still, the city's bond rating has tanked. The
village elders drinking coffee at the White Kitchen cafe are not happy about
the way things have turned out. "It was never voted on by the citizens
of Littlefield; [it] is stuck in their craw," says Carl Enloe, retired
from Atmos Energy. "They have to pay for it. And the people who's got it
going are all up and gone and they left us... " "...Holdin' the
bag!" says Tommy Kelton, another Atmos retiree, completing the sentence.
The Declining Prison Population The same thing has happened to communities
across Texas. Once upon a time, it seems every small town wanted to be a
prison town. But the 20-year private prison building boom is over. Some
prisons are struggling outside Texas, too. Hardin, Mont., defaulted on its
bond payments after trying, so far unsuccessfully, to fill its 464-bed
minimum security prison. And a prison in Huerfano County, Colo., closed after
Arizona pulled out its 700 inmates. According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, the total correctional population in the United States is
declining for the first time in three decades. Among the reasons: The crime
rate is falling, sentencing alternatives mean fewer felons doing hard time
and states everywhere are slashing budgets. The Texas legislature, looking
for budget cuts, is contemplating shedding 2,000 contract prison beds.
Statewide, more than half of all privately operated county jail beds are
empty, according to figures from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
"Too many times we've seen jails that have got into it and tried to make
it a profitable business to make money off of it and they end up fallin' on
their face," says Shannon Herklotz, assistant director of the
commission. The packages look sweet. A town gets a new detention center
without costing the taxpayers anything. The private operator finances, constructs
and operates an oversized facility. The contract inmates pay off the debt and
generate extra revenue. The economic model works fine until they can't find
inmates. In Waco, McLennan County borrowed $49 million to build an 816-bed
jail and charge day rates for bunk space. But today because of the convict
shortage, the fortress east of town remains more than half empty. The sheriff
and county judge, once champions of the new jail, now decline to comment on
it. Former McLennan County Deputy Rick White, who opposed the jail, had this
to say about the prison developers who put the deal together: "They get
the corporations formed, they get the bonds sold, they get the facility
built, their money is front-loaded, they take their money out. And then there's
no reason for them to support the success of the facility." Two of
Texas' busiest private prison consultants — James Parkey and Herb Bristow —
declined repeated requests for interviews. The Inmate Market Private prison
companies insist their future is sunny. A spokesman for the GEO Group
declined to speak about the Littlefield prison, but he sent along a slew of
press releases highlighting the company's new inmate contracts and prison
expansions across the country. Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's
largest private prison operator, says the demand for its facilities remains
strong, particularly for federal immigration detainees. New Jersey-based
Community Education Centers, which has been pulling out of unprofitable jails
across Texas, issued a statement that "the current (jail) population
fluctuation" is cyclical. One of the places where CEC is cancelling its
contract is Falls County, in central Texas, where a for-profit jail addition
is losing money. Now it's up to Falls County Judge Steve Sharp to hustle up
jailbirds: "If somebody is out there charging $30 a day for an inmate,
we need to charge $28. We really don't have a choice of not filling those
beds," he said. Another place where they're desperate for inmates is
Anson, the little town north of Abilene, Texas, once famous for its
no-dancing law. Today, Jones County owns a brand-new $34 million prison and
an $8 million county jail, both of which sit empty. The prison developers
made their money and left. Then the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
reneged on a contract to fill the new prison with parole violators. The
county's Public Facility Corporation that borrowed the money to build the
lockups owes $314,000 a month — with no paying inmates. They've got a year's
worth of bond service payments set aside before county officials start to
sweat. "The market has changed nationwide in the last 18 months or two
years. It's certainly a different picture than when we started this project.
And so we're continuing to work the problem," Jones County Judge Dale
Spurgin says. Grayson County, north of Dallas, said no to privatizing its
jail. Two years ago, the county was all set to build a $30 million, 750-bed
behemoth twice as big as was needed. But the public got queasy and county
officials ultimately scuttled the deal. "When you put the profit motive
into a private jail, by design, in order to increase your dollars, your
revenues, your profits, you need more folks in there and they need to stay
longer," says Bill Magers, mayor of the county seat of Sherman, a
leading opponent. When the supply of prison beds exceeds the demand for
prison beds, there are beneficiaries. The overcrowded Harris County Jail in
Houston, the nation's third largest, farms out about 1,000 prisoners to
private jails. Littlefield and most other under-occupied facilities in Texas
have all been in touch with Houston. "It really is a buyer's market
right now, especially a county our size," says Capt. Robin Kinetsky, who
is in charge of inmate processing for the Harris County Sheriffs Department.
"They're really wanting to get our business. So, we're getting good
deals." Nearby, disheveled and unsmiling men are brought from a holding
cell to stand before a booking officer for their intake interviews. The
detainees are wholly unaware that they may soon become the newest commodities
of the volatile inmate market. Aarti Shahani contributed to this NPR News
investigation and report.
March 24, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
All Arizona inmates formerly held at the Huerfano County Correctional
Center have been transferred out of the facility, clearing the way for the
closure of the prison early next month, corrections officials said Monday.
Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates the facility,
announced in January that it will close the prison in April. Officials at the
private prison company said Monday the prison officially will close April 2.
Steve Owen, director of communications for Nashville-headquartered CCA, said
by 2 p.m. the inmates were in custody of the Arizona Department of
Corrections. Owen said employees will work at the facility until it closes.
Allan Cramer, a spokesman for the Huerfano facility, said employees will
remain at the facility to get the prison tuned up and ready for a potential
client should they want a tour. "Officially, the doors close on April 2,
but between now and then there will be some activity," Cramer said.
Citizens in this community of more than 4,000 already are feeling the pain of
the impending closure with layoffs of town employees and other job losses.
The facility, the county's second largest employer, had about 188 workers.
Approximately 75 of the employees commute from Pueblo. Of the remaining
workers, about 90 reside in Walsenburg and Huerfano County, with others
commuting from Trinidad and Colorado City. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other
state officials are phasing out all out-of-state beds, including the use of
the Huerfano County prison, where 700 Arizona inmates were housed. The
contract with CCA expired earlier this month. Cramer said CCA is continuing
to actively seek a new client for the prison, but as of Monday, none had come
forward. CCA, which claims the mantle of the fourth-largest corrections
system in the nation, houses approximately 75,000 offenders and detainees in
more than 60 facilities, 44 of which are company-owned, with a total bed
capacity of more than 80,000, according to the company's Web site. Prison
officials have said that several employees are transferring to CCA’s other
prisons in Colorado, and some are obtaining employment in other areas.
Walsenburg Mayor Bruce Quintana said with inmates now gone, the closure has
become more of a reality. "Our community is rather numb to this now
because we have been through several closures over the past 30 years,"
Quintana said.
March 7, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
With the closure of the town's second-largest employer approaching, town
officials are preparing to deal with the loss of almost 200 jobs in an
already struggling economy. Corrections Corporation of America, which owns
and operates the Huerfano County Correctional Center, announced in January
that it will close the prison in April. Officials at the private prison
company said this week that the prison officially will close April 2. The
upcoming closure has cast a pall over the town. Citizens in this community of
more than 4,000 already are feeling the pain. The impending prison closure
and a prior budget shortfall have forced the town to lay off 10 people with
another four layoffs possibly to come. "The prison closing and the (loss
of) revenue derived from it has added to the burden of an already stressed
budget," said Mayor Bruce Quintana. "All departments have been
affected. I believe that this (town) council is acting to right the ship.
It's a difficult job, laying off people in a small community, because many of
these people are our friends," Quintana said. City Administrator Alan
Hein said the town could lose between $250,000 and $300,000 from lost utility
sales to the prison, concessions and sales taxes. Hein said the budget already
was short $300,000 before the closure was announced. "We have to
restructure our operations to try and accommodate this loss. It's pretty
serious when you drop that much on your revenue side in a budget the size
that we have," Hein said. Hein said he hopes the layoffs will help take
care of the original shortfall. "I am just not sure. There are a lot of
variables here. "The worst-case scenario is that we would have to lay
off four more people," Hein said. Hein said there will be minimal cuts
to the police department. "We are actually restructuring the whole
department and trying to make it more efficient. We are reevaluating the way
the department does business and trying to save money," Hein said. The
town had been in discussions to merge the police department with the Huerfano
County Sheriff's Department, but the issue was tabled by the town council
last month, Hein said. "The council has decided not to discard the
proposal, but to put it on the back burner and see if we can do some
adjustments within our organization," Hein said. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer
and other state officials are phasing out all out-of-state beds, including
the use of the Huerfano County prison, where 700 Arizona inmates are housed.
The contract with CCA is set to expire Tuesday. Allan Cramer, a spokesman for
the Huerfano County prison, said inmates will begin leaving Colorado next
week by bus and plane. "The last ones will be gone by March 22,"
Cramer said. Cramer said CCA is continuing to actively seek a new client for
the prison, but that as of Thursday, none had come forward. The Walsenburg
prison employs 188. Approximately 75 of the employees commute from Pueblo. Of
the remaining workers, about 90 reside in Walsenburg and Huerfano County,
with others commuting from Trinidad and Colorado City. Cramer said several
employees are transferring to CCA’s other prisons in Colorado, and some are
obtaining employment in other areas. "The mood here is pretty upbeat and
optimistic. Everyone wants to give it their usual 100-percent effort until
the last inmates are gone," Cramer said. The sluggish economy also is
having an impact on Main Street here. The historic Fox Theater, 715 Main St.,
will take a direct hit from the prison closure. Huerfano County Administrator
John Galusha said the county has been paying for utilities for the theater
out of what is called the Prison Authority Fund. "The county contracted
with the correctional center when it opened to form this fund. In that
agreement, the county receives 50 cents per prisoner per day which goes
directly into the Prison Authority Fund," Galusha said. Galusha said the
revenue generated from the fund is about $130,000 a year. "Without that
revenue coming in, some of the things from the prison authority will take a
hit next year," Galusha said. The prison fund also helps pay for new
sheriff's department vehicles and youth programs. Galusha said the Fox was
receiving about $400 a month to pay for utilities. "The county will use
the reserves from the prison to fund the Fox Theater through the end of the
year. If CCA doesn't have a new contract, then we are going to have to
evaluate if we can help the theater through other funds or if we are going to
have to ask them to become self-sufficient," Galusha said. The county
has budgeted $7,500 this year for the theater.
January 27, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
A former inmate at the Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg is
suing prison officials, a doctor and two nurses for allegedly failing to give
him proper medical care at the facility. In documents filed Jan. 14 in
federal court, David Wayne Heidtke claims he has been repeatedly denied his
civil rights and not given proper care for an injury to his right arm at the
privately owned Corrections Corporations of America facility in Walsenburg.
Listed as defendants are CCA, physician Jere Sutton and nurses Anna Jolly and
K. Carpenter. The plaintiff is accusing the defendants of having deliberate
indifference to a substantial risk of serious injury. He also is accusing CCA
and Sutton of negligence. Court documents state that after fracturing the
radius of his right arm on June 2, 2008 Heidtke was sent to Spanish Peaks
Regional Health Center emergency room in Walsenburg for treatment. A doctor
at the hospital ordered the arm be elevated and ice-packed for the first few
days after the injury, noting that it would take three to eight weeks to
heal. Heidtke claims the doctor encouraged prison officials to follow the
instructions to prevent complications and to call him if severe pain or
swelling were to occur. The doctor said if problems occurred to return to the
hospital at once. According to court documents, two days after the injury,
Sutton evaluated Heidtke and noted swelling of his hand and pain on
palpitation and movement. He ordered a cast. Heidtke alleges that after
requesting a lower bunk in his cell from Sutton he was denied. Court
documents state that Heidtke was forced to climb up into an upper bunk with
his arm in a sling. Heidtke alleges that a follow-up was never scheduled and
he never received a cast and that Sutton provided no oversight to ensure his
patient received treatment. Court documents state that between June 4 and
June 15 Heidtke continued to request medical care to no avail. On June 16,
Heidtke saw Sutton again and the plaintiff alleges that Sutton noted that
Heidtke's fingers and hand were swollen. Heidtke alleges that Sutton refused
to send him back to the hospital as the doctor at Spanish Peaks suggested.
Heidtke continued to complain saying the pain from his injury was preventing him
from sleeping at night. He alleges that nothing was done for his pain and
worsening condition. Court documents state that on July 2, 2008, Heidtke was
seen by Carpenter. Carpenter allegedly rewrapped the splint and failed to
follow nursing protocol or contact a physician. On July 5, 2008, Heidtke was
seen by Jolly, who also allegedly rewrapped his arm and did not contact a
physician, the documents state. Several weeks passed and on Oct. 16 a request
for a neurological evaluation ordered by another doctor was allegedly
rejected by CCA corporate offices. On Dec. 5, 2008, the plaintiff was
allegedly denied a visit with an orthopedic physician. On March 27, 2009,
Heidtke was paroled to a private for-profit halfway house. Court documents
state that Heidtke, now responsible to pay for his own medical care, began
receiving treatment at a Denver hospital. Heidtke said he continues to suffer
from pain and immobility which has interfered with his ability to secure
employment and to work.
January 22, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
State lawmakers had mixed reactions to Thursday's announcement that Arizona
is pulling its inmates out of a private prison in Walsenburg, dragging almost
200 jobs out with them. Last year, Colorado inmates were relocated from the
Huerfano County Correctional Facility, owned by Corrections Corporation of
America, to make room for 800 Arizona inmates. "I'm not surprised that
Arizona would be pulling back its inmates," Rep. Buffie McFadyen,
D-Pueblo West. "That state is in a terrible budget crunch. Its whole
prison system is up for sale." Conversely, Joint Budget Committee member
Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, said Thursday afternoon, "This is the first
I've heard of it. I work with CCA as part of the budget process." In
2008, CCA sought a 5-percent increase in the fee paid to it by the state of
Colorado per inmate, per day from $52.69 to $55.32. At the time, McFadyen
characterized CCA's demands as the Legislature being "held hostage"
by threats that CCA would end acceptance of Colorado's inmates if the pay hike
wasn't approved. "We took their threat seriously," McFadyen said
Thursday. "It's relevant to this discussion. We got our inmates out of
there because CCA was going to throw them out." She said CCA officials
shouldn't have been surprised by the potential problems it faced from
shrinking government budgets and prison populations. "CCA came in as
speculative investors, banking on the booming prison populations of a decade
ago," McFadyen said. "Economic development through growing the
prison industry is not good public policy." Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh,
was reluctant to blame the situation on CCA's absence of foresight.
"They simply need to find some new customers," McKinley said.
"The reason we have prisons is the market's out there. If we didn't need
them, we wouldn't have them.
January 21, 2010 Pueblo Chieftain
Corrections Corporation of America will pull out of the Huerfano County
Correctional Center in April, company officials said Thursday. In a report
released this morning, CCA officials said Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other
state officials announced Jan. 15 a proposal to phase out all out-of-state
beds, including the use of the Huerfano County facility, where 700 Arizona
inmates are housed. The contract with CCA is set to expire March 9. As a result,
CCA will be closing the Walsenburg prison, which employs a staff of 188.
According to the report, the closure date has not been determined, but is
anticipated to occur in April. CCA is working with Arizona officials on the
timing of the phasing out of Arizona inmates. Allan Kramer, a spokesman for
the Huerfano center, said there is an air of uncertainty regarding the future
of the correctional center. "Everyone is still evaluating the situation
and keeping a positive outlook. Our company is actively seeking a new
client," Kramer said.
January 21, 2010 Corrections
Corporation of America
CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) (NYSE: CXW), the nation's
largest partnership corrections provider to government agencies, announced
today that the proposed budgets by the Arizona Governor and Legislature,
released on January 15, 2010, would phase out the utilization of private
out-of-state beds. CCA currently has management contracts with Arizona at its
752-bed Huerfano County Correctional Center in Walsenburg, Colorado and at
its 2,160-bed Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, Oklahoma. The
proposed phase-out of utilizing out-of-state beds is based on Arizona's
budget crisis and its desire to utilize additional in-state capacity that
will come on-line in 2010. As a result of the budget proposals, there is a
significant risk that CCA will lose the opportunity to house offenders from
Arizona at its Huerfano and Diamondback facilities during 2010. Our contract
with Arizona at Huerfano expires on March 8, 2010, and our contract at
Diamondback expires on May 1, 2010. In the event that Arizona should not
renew one or both of these contracts, CCA will work with Arizona officials
related to the timing of any phase-out of Arizona inmate populations. We
would anticipate that such populations would be transferred out within 30 to
60 days following expiration of each management contract. If Arizona removes
its offender populations housed at these facilities, CCA will likely close
both facilities. During 2009, CCA generated approximately $56.5 million in
revenues from both of these contracts.
September 18, 2009 The Pueblo
Chieftain
Inmates at the Huerfano County Correctional Facility remained locked down
Thursday while officials continued an investigation into a weekend brawl.
According to Allan Cramer, public information officer at the Corrections
Corporation of America-run facility, more than 10 inmates reportedly were
involved in a fistfight Saturday in one of the prison housing units. Cramer
said that the actual number of inmates involved is unknown at this time. All
inmates have been locked down since the altercation Saturday. There were no
serious injuries and weapons were not used in the incident, Cramer said.
"The fight between the inmates was cause enough to lock down the
facility. That gives a chance for everything to cool off and for us to shake
down the whole facility which is routine also. "Investigators will
search every cell for contraband." Cramer said investigators are still
looking into the cause of the altercation. He said that corrections officers
are reviewing video tapes at the facility. "There have been no further
incidents since Saturday. The altercation was quickly stopped," Cramer
said. Cramer said that it is common for the facility to place inmates on lock
down after fights. The facility currently houses more than 700 inmates from
Arizona. In May, all Colorado inmates at the facility were transferred to
other state facilities, making room for nearly 752 Arizona inmates.
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400 eligible
for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in prison
housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be released.
But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share of the
proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley, Bent and
Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the private
facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If they do
what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is 5,000 to
6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty virtually every
private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates," Long said.
"I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for Bent County and
Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley County Correctional
Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County Correctional Facility in Las
Animas are key parts of their local economies with more than 200 employees at
each facility, Long said. "We receive property tax, telephone revenue
and other benefits from the facilities," Long said. Long explained that
the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in Walsenburg and the Kit Carson
Correctional Facility in Burlington also will be hurt if the reduction
occurs. Currently the Huerfano facility is full of inmates from Arizona, but
Long said that when Arizona gets its inmate situation straightened out, the
inmates will be taken back to that state. "That would be another
facility that was built primarily for Colorado inmates that would also be emptied,"
Long said.
June 25, 2009 The Pueblo Chieftain
Inmates at the Huerfano County Correctional Center were placed on a four-day
lock-down after three homemade weapons were found by corrections officers
last week. A prisonwide search for contraband that began on June 17 and ended
Saturday turned up no other weapons or forms of contraband. Allan Cramer,
public information officer at the Corrections Corporation of America-run
facility, said Wednesday that the three objects were sharp instruments
fashioned from scrap metal. "The weapons were found during routine
searches and we decided to lock down the prison to search for more. We were
locked down for four days and every area of the prison was searched,
including every cell, but no more homemade weapons were found," Cramer
said. Cramer said the objects were found in the commons area of the prison
under a vending machine. "Anytime we find contraband, either dangerous
or nondangerous, we have to do what we call a shake-down. We search every
nook and cranny of the facility and inmates are held on lock-down,"
Cramer said. In May, all Colorado inmates at the facility were transferred to
other state facilities, making room for nearly 752 Arizona inmates. Cramer
said that about 600 Colorado inmates were moved from Huerfano to three of the
organization's other facilities in Crowley, Bent and Kit Carson counties.
Cramer said that situations where contraband had been found happened several
times over the 11-year span that Colorado inmates were housed at the
facility.
March 24, 2009 The Denver Channel
A private prison is planning to transfer its Colorado inmates to other
facilities to make room for 752 inmates from Arizona. The Colorado inmates
will be moved from the Huerfano County Correctional Center to other facilities
in Colorado run by Corrections Corporation of America(CCA), according to the
Pueblo Chieftain newspaper. No Colorado statute keeps the state from
accepting inmates from other states. CCA has four private prisons in
Colorado. The CCA prison in Walsenburg opened in November 1997. State Rep.
Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, is not happy about the
plan. She told the newspaper, "Coloradans should be concerned because
earlier this year we heard that there was a question of whether or not they
wanted to dump the Guantanamo Bay detainees in Colorado and now we are
hearing they want to dump Arizona's inmates here. Why would we want Arizona's
criminals in Colorado?"
October 26, 2008 Pueblo Chieftain
Inmates at the Huerfano County Correctional Center were placed on
lockdown Sunday following a fight that broke out in the prison yard Saturday.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti said 30 inmates
were involved in the incident and one suffered a minor shoulder injury. No
weapons were involved. Sanguinetti said correctional officers quelled the
situation immediately. "The inmates were placed on lockdown for a safety
precaution. It's a normal safety procedure to allow officers to make sure the
facility is safe," Sanguinetti said. Sanguinetti did not say how long
the inmates would remain on lockdown. All programs and visiting hours have
been cancelled. The private facility is a medium security men's prison owned
by Corrections Corporations of America.
September 25, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
A correctional officer at the Huerfano County Correctional Center in
Walsenburg has been arrested on suspicion of Internet sexual exploitation of
a child, Internet luring of a child and attempted sexual exploitation of a
child. Brad Sanchez, 31, of Walsenburg, is accused of contacting undercover
Jefferson County district attorney's investigators in an Internet chatroom
and, thinking he was talking to a 14-year-old girl, soliciting sexually
explicit photographs. He was arrested Thursday night after he agreed to meet
authorities in Jefferson County. He is free on $10,000 bond. Sanchez is a
sergeant at the correctional center, operated by Corrections Corp. of
America, officials said.
February 8, 2002
Even before the
January opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad, Colo., and a
127-bed detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private, for-profit
prisons in the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation of America,
which operates private prisons in Burlington, Walsenburg and Las Animas,
Colo., had a total of 575 empty prison beds. Additionally, the private prison
at Olney Springs, Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA acknowledged it
has lost revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January, the private
prisons had nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state transferred inmates to
its new 2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo. It is state policy to keep as
many state prisoners as possible in state prisons, rather than private ones.
(Corrections Professional)
August 2, 2001
An Oklahoma man who had been a Colorado prison guard was sentenced Wednesday
to two years in prison for deliberately injuring a restrained inmate. Michael
Cook of Fort Cobb worked at a prison in Walsenburg, Colo., operated by the
Corrections Corporation of America. He pleaded guilty in April to charges of
dropping the handcuffed inmate face-down from about knee-height onto the
floor in 1998. At the sentencing in U.S. District Court, Cook, 31, said
he was following orders
April 14, 2001
A Fort Cobb man pleaded guilty to injuring a restrained inmate at a prison in
southern Colorado where he was a guard. Michael Cook was working for
Corrections Corporation of America, which operates the Walsenburg prison
under contract for Colorado. Cook was charged in U.S. District Court in
Denver and pleaded guilty Thursday to depriving the inmate of his
constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Cook
admitted in a signed plea agreement that in 1998 he dropped the inmate, who
was handcuffed, face down from about knee height onto the floor. The
inmate appeared unconscious. (Oklahoman)
January 17, 2001
Two former prison guards are on there way to prison. A federal judge
sentenced Joseph Torrez and Harry Pollard on Friday to two years behind bars
for beating an inmate March 1998 at private prison in Walsenburg. The two
guards worked at the Huerfano County Correctional center, which is operated by
Corrections Corp. of America, the nation's largest for-profit prison company.
Federal prosecutors said numerous guards and officials at the facility now
are under investigtion. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Kaufman said the
investigation has taken a long time because of "the wall of silence by
individuals in the institution...protecting each other or just denying that
any wrongdoing occurred." Torrez and Pollard admitted beating inmate
Daniel Murphy while his hands were cuffed and his ankles were shackled. The
two admitted beating inmate Daniel Murphy while his hands were cuffed and his
ankles were shackled. The investigation began after Murphy wrote to an FBI
agent in Colorado Springs, asking for help. Murphy since has filed a civil
lawsuit in federal court. (Denver Rocky Mountain News)
October 27, 2000
A federal judge has told two former supervisors at a private prison in
Walsenburg they will serve time behind bars when they are sentenced for
beating an inmate. Harry Pollard and Joseph Torrez admitted beating the
inmate Daniel Murphy on separate occasions on March 17, 1998. Murphy had been
subdued after injuring another guard in a fight. Prosecutors and Pollard said
his supervisor, who has not been identified, told him, "You know what to
do," which Pollard understood as permission to teach Murphy a lesson by
beating him. The inmate was dropped face down onto the floor, injuring his
face. Later that day, Torrez, who was a captain and shift supervisor, was
assigned to transport Murphy to a state-operated prison in Canon City. An
unidentified supervisor told Torrez to beat Murphy again, according to a
13-page plea agreement. Torrez and an unnamed officer beat Murphy while he
was restrained by handcuffs, leg irons and a belly chain, according to the
plea agreement. Other prison employees may also be prosecuted for beating
Murphy, authorities said. (Associated Press)
Immigration Detention
Center,
Aurora, CO
Mar
7, 2019 westword.com
Immigrant Detainees Launch Hunger Strike at Facility in Aurora
More
than fifty detainees have launched a hunger strike at the GEO immigration
detention facility in Aurora. The inmates, currently under quarantine for
mumps, refused to eat their breakfast in protest today, March 6. Danielle
Jefferis, a civil-rights attorney representing one of the participating
detainees pro-bono for Novo Legal Group, says they want to draw attention to
conditions at the facility and get more answers about the quarantine. "The hunger strike is a message from these
men to all of us outside the facility — and to our government — that the
conditions inside GEO are not humane and that it's not okay to keep people
locked down for weeks on end with no communication," Jefferis says.
"Their demands are inherently reasonable: lift or shorten the quarantine
so they can go to their court hearings, go outside the pod, see their
families — or at minimum, someone from the medical staff could come and talk
to them to explain the situation." The quarantine was supposed to end at
the start of March but was extended to the 27th without explanation.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement representatives couldn't immediately tell
us why the quarantine was extended but said that another confirmed case of
mumps might have been identified prior to the quarantine's end. The private prison
company GEO Group operates the facility through a contract with Immigration
and Customs Enforcement. Homero Mendoza, deputy director of the Denver ICE
field office, says the agency defines a hunger strike as nine consecutive
missed meals. "If somebody missed their breakfast this morning, it
wouldn’t be reported as a hunger strike," he explains. The facility has
seen a handful of confirmed mumps cases in recent weeks, and as of March 5,
357 detainees were under quarantine for possible exposure to mumps, chicken
pox, or a combination of both. The contagious disease can lay dormant for
weeks before symptoms appear, meaning that a seemingly healthy individual
could be carrying the disease and infecting people without realizing it. The
Tri-County Health Department and the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment have been assisting the GEO facility with best practices for
dealing with the mumps outbreak. The Tri-County Health Department is offering
a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination, otherwise known as an MMR shot, to
staff members and all current and incoming detainees. Congressman Jason Crow,
whose district includes the detention center, has sent letters to ICE and the
Department of Homeland Security asking for more information about infectious-disease
incidents at the facility, which recently expanded into a 432-bed annex.
Following news of the expansion, Crow and Allison Hiltz of Aurora City
Council visited the facility unannounced in February to inspect the premises.
They were denied entrance, and ICE representatives later said they would
allow tours only if they were planned. Crow says he's concerned that the
agencies haven't responded to his letters. "My concerns have not been
resolved by the lack of responsiveness and transparency by ICE and the
facility," he says. "The lack of quick response and cooperation has
only underscored my concerns. The sooner they can get us the information, the
better it’s going to be for everybody."
Intervention Community Corrections Services
Greeley, CO
July 8, 2017
greeleytribune.com
Community corrections case manager accused of illicit relationship could
face a felony charge
A community corrections case manager could face a felony charge after
police say she had a sexual relationship with one of the inmates at a county
facility. According to an affidavit for her arrest, police believe Catherine
Button, 27, had sexual contact with an inmate while she was a case manager at
Greeley's Intervention Community Corrections Services. According to the
affidavit, on June 14 she was placed on administrative leave pending an
investigation. She was arrested Monday on suspicion of sexual conduct in a
correctional institution. Police spoke with therapists who Button worked with
at the facility. One of them, Annie Robinson, said Button told her about the
relationship with the inmate and said she'd snuck into the facility on June
10 to engage in sexual contact with him. Button also told Robinson she
returned the next day with food for the inmate and other inmates. Both Button
and the inmate denied having any sexual contact, and Button also denied
bringing food to inmate and others. Still, according to the affidavit, Button
and the inmate talked by phone even after she was arrested. In those phone
calls, the inmate told her the county was just trying to scare her. The two
referred to each other by the term of endearment "babe" and ended
their conversations by saying, "I love you."
Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Colorado
Cornerstone Programs
January 22, 2002
Two administrators
who ran a youth corrections facility that had its license revoked by the
state in 1998 have won a preliminary, multi-million dollar state contract to
run a similar facility. In 1998, the Colorado Department of Human Services
shut down the High Plains Youth Center operated by a company called Rebound
and run by Jane O'Shaughnessy and Joe Newman. The facility often was cited
for violating state regulations and the suicide of a 13-year-old boy
eventually led to its downfall. Now, O'Shaughnessy and Newman head a company
called Cornerstone Programs, which earlier this month received preliminary
approval for the contract to run a new $7 million facility for 40 female
delinquents in Jefferson County. "We've been very satisfied" with
the work of Cornerstone's programs, said Steve Bates, director of the state
Division of Youth Corrections. "They provide good
services." However, audits of the Grand Prairie operation show the state
consistently cited the 40-bed facility for violating state regulations and
Grand Prairie consistently ignored those citations, some for up to three
years. Violations included: Nonlicensed personnel performing
medical examinations ; No relevant vocational programs outside of a Saturday
welding class ; No programming with meaningful credit for students who have
GEDs; No data to track students' academic progress ; Food-handling practices
that were potential threats to food safety. Bates said it's
important to note an audit is based on 400 different standards, Grand Prairie
gets monitored quarterly, and each time there is a violation the facility is
required to submit an action plan for correction. Newman said all of the
states where Cornerstone operates have been very pleased. The High Plains
Youth Center at Brush also failed to meet standards, but it was the death of
13-year-old Matthew Maloney in February 1998 that precipitated an intense
investigation by human services, eventually leading to the facility's demise.
The Utah boy committed suicide by hanging himself with a bedsheet. His body
went undiscovered for four to six hours. Under the guise of "positive
peer pressure," inmates essentially ran the facility, investigators
found. They had terrorized staff and more vulnerable inmates. Several female
employees had been offering inmates sexual favors. Other states removed their
youth and Colorado followed suit. Rebound's license was revoked in April
1998. (Denver Post )
Kit Carson CC
Burlington, Colorado
CCA
Feb
8, 2020 journal-advocate.com
Fight
over private prisons heats up in Colorado House
Will
CoreCivic, which owns the Kit Carson Correctional facility in Burlington that
closed in 2016, get permission from the state to reopen for 1,200 inmates
from Idaho? That’s been an intense fight over the past week in the Colorado
House. On Jan. 29, the House Judiciary Committee reviewed House Bill 1019, a
bill sponsored by Democratic members of a summer interim committee on prison
populations. The bill would allow the state to fully reopen Centennial South,
a state prison in Fremont County that was closed in 2012 when corrections
policy struck down use of solitary confinement. The prison could take up to
650 inmates, and those beds are needed, given the GEO Group announced Jan. 7
it would close the Cheyenne Mountain Re-entry Center in Colorado Springs, a
medium-security facility that housed around 650 inmates. The closure was
prompted by a Nov. 1 budget request form Gov. Jared Polis that asked for
funding that would result in closing Cheyenne Mountain. The Department of
Corrections can’t move those Cheyenne Mountain inmates to Centennial South,
which is a top-level security (known as closed custody) facility. So the plan
is to relocate the Cheyenne Mountain inmates to prisons around the state
(including Sterling) and move closed custody inmates from those prisons to
Centennial South. The Idaho deal with CoreCivic, which is still being
negotiated, came up during the Jan. 29 hearing. HB 1019 sponsor Rep. Leslie
Herod, D-Denver, said she’d nix that deal if she could. So she added an
amendment to the bill that would change how those deals are approved. Current
law allows that decision to be made by the DOC executive director but that
permission cannot be “unreasonably withheld.” DOC hasn’t in the past denied
permission for out-of-state inmates to be moved into Colorado private
prisons, including in 2012, when Idaho sent 250 inmates to Kit Carson.
Herod’s amendment would allow the DOC executive director to make the decision
under “exigent circumstances. But Rep. Terri Carver, R-Colorado Springs, said
during House debate on Feb. 4 that the amendment changed the law from an
objective standard to a purely political decision. House members also debated
over the bill’s study portion. As introduced, the bill said the study would
look at how to close private prisons, but opponents won a major concession
from Herod when she allowed an amendment to look at whether to close private
prisons. But the big fear is that the state will close the last two remaining
private prisons, in Bent and Crowley counties. It would cost Crowley 54% its
property taxes and 25% for Bent County. Closing the prisons would bankrupt
those counties, according to commissioners from both counties. Rep. Rod
Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, who lives 30 miles from Burlington, said re-opening
Kit Carson would be huge for rural Colorado. It would bring in 300 jobs, with
salaries as high as $50,000 per year, to a town of 3,500. That would be like
gaining 40,000 jobs in Denver, he said. He also brought up the economic
devastation that Burlington suffered when Kit Carson closed four years ago,
which included a loss of $1 million in property taxes for the local schools.
The amendment to allow the governor and the executive director to make the
call over whether Idaho could move their inmates to Burlington, however,
stayed on the bill with the support of House Democrats. Pelton called the
bill a war on rural Colorado during Thursday’s debate. Herod countered that
the bill is mostly a study, and that it will look at economic impacts and
other issues raised by the county commissioners. She said she took offense of
the characterization of a war on rural Colorado. “I stand with rural
Colorado,” Herod said. But she also said she will continue to fight to
close private prisons and to reduce the state’s prison population in a
criminal justice system that says lacks compassion. House Bill 1019 passed on
a party-line 39-22 vote on Thursday.
Feb
7, 2020 coloradoindependent.com
Polis
signals he wants private prisons like Kit Carson kept shut
Gov.
Jared Polis is seeking permission from lawmakers that would make it easier
for his administration to deny the transfer of out-of-state inmates into
private prisons in Colorado, doubling down on his effort to move the state
away from for-profit incarceration.
His administration requested an amendment to a prison reform bill,
House Bill 1019, that would give the governor more power to deny contracts
between private prison companies and out-of-state corrections agencies. Only
under “exigent circumstances” or in order to “protect public health and
safety” would such contracts be approved, the bill states. The move signals
his administration may block a plan by CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based private
prison company, to contract with the Idaho Department of Corrections to
reopen the Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington and house more than
1,000 inmates. The eastern plains prison was closed in 2016. The
administration has not yet received the official request to move inmates into
Colorado. A spokesman for the governor’s office said, “If a request is
received, the Department of Corrections and Governor’s Office will
extensively vet and review the request before any decision is made.” A public
information officer for the Idaho Department of Correction was not available
for comment in time for publication. House Bill 1019 would study how to phase
out private prisons in Colorado by 2025. The Polis administration supports
the bill, which would also authorize the opening of two towers at Centennial
South Correctional Facility, formerly known as CSP II, in Cañon City. The
$200 million facility was built in 2010 to hold inmates in solitary
confinement but closed in 2012 due to changes to the state’s policy on
holding inmates in long-term isolation and a drop in the prison population.
As lawmakers were debating a prison reform bill last month, the Idaho
Department of Corrections began negotiating a plan with CoreCivic to move
1,200 medium to close-custody inmates to Kit Carson Correctional Facility.
Close-custody inmates typically have a history of escape from a secure
facility or a “serious” institutional disciplinary history, according to the
Idaho Department of Corrections. Colorado law prohibits the state from
housing its close-custody inmates in a private prison unless the governor
declares a correctional emergency. According to current state law, the
Department of Corrections has the authority to approve plans to move inmates
from out of state and into private prisons in Colorado. But such approval
“shall not be unreasonably withheld,” the law states. The amendment would
give the governor more discretion. Conor Cahill, a spokesman for the
governor’s office, would not say whether Polis wants to keep Kit Carson
closed. Instead, he said the administration is committed to reducing private
prison use in the state in a “just and responsible manner.” “Given this goal,
we believe that out of state offenders should only be housed in private
prisons in Colorado when necessary to protect public health and safety,”
Cahill said in an email. Despite this commitment, some criminal justice
advocates want the governor and lawmakers to outright ban the transfer of
out-of-state inmates into Colorado. “It opens Colorado up to unnecessary
liability and cost,” said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado
Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. “We’ve had riots and major security
instances when we’ve imported prisoners from out of state. They don’t like
it.” A letter from the CCJRC to Dean Williams, the director for the
Department of Corrections, cites examples in the last two decades when
inmates rioted at prisons owned or leased by private companies: in 1999,
Washington inmates rioted at Crowley County Correctional Facility, which is
owned by CoreCivic; in 2004, Washington and Wyoming inmates rioted at the
same facility; in 2009, Arizona inmates housed at Huerfano Correctional
Facility, also owned by CoreCivic, created security disturbances; and in
2010, a group of Alaska inmates rioted at the Hudson Correctional
Facility, which is leased by Geo Group. The letter also outlined terms and
conditions for approving contracts between out-of-state corrections agencies
and prison companies, including ensuring adequate staffing levels,
liabilities for reimbursing the state in the event of an incident or riot,
allowing free phone calls to families, and barring the transfer of inmates
with mental health or medical needs. None of these conditions were included
in the bill. Amanda Gilchrist, a spokeswoman for CoreCivic, which operates 37
facilities in Colorado, mostly re-entry and treatment facilities, said the
amendment jeopardizes a 20-year partnership between CoreCivic and the state.
“We’ve made significant capital investments, particularly in rural Colorado,
and created meaningful employment opportunities for the chaplains, educators,
counselors and correctional officers who care for inmates in our facilities
every day,” Gilchrist said. “Like Colorado, other states are working to
address capacity issues, and CoreCivic is able to provide a relief valve to
help avoid dangerous overcrowding.” CoreCivic operates two prisons in
Colorado, the Bent County Correctional Facility in Las Animas and the Crowley
County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. GEO Group, a Florida-based
company, also owns Cheyenne Mountain Re-entry Center in Colorado Springs.
Together, the three prisons hold 3,360 of the state’s 19,668 inmates. But in
January, GEO Group said it would end its contract to house state inmates
three months before it was set to expire in June. The company said the
governor’s announcement in November to move inmates out of the prison made it
hard to keep staff. GEO Group was already having trouble staffing the prison,
among other issues. Only 193 inmates remain in Cheyenne Mountain Re-entry
Center, down from 643 in December, according to DOC data. After the transfer,
the state’s prisons are 99.5% full. The last time the state prison system was
this full was in June of 2017. Rep. Leslie Herod, a Democrat from Denver who
chairs the Prison Population Management Interim Study Committee and a lead
sponsor of the bill, said she would like to see the transfer of out-of-state
inmates into Colorado’s private prisons banned. But she said the stakes for
the House Bill 1019 are high and she trying to balance enacting reforms
without jeopardizing the bill’s passage. Lawmakers debated the prison reform
bill Wednesday night for about two hours. House Republicans lined up to
oppose the bill, saying it would hurt rural economies. Earlier this week,
Crowley and Bent counties, where prisons owned CoreCivic are located, hired a
lobbyist to work on House Bill 1019. “This is going to devastate, devastate
our county,” said Rep. Terri Carver, a Republican from Colorado Springs. “Our
economy. Our schools. Our basic infrastructure. Our housing market.
Everything. Our future.” Several Republican lawmakers said the legislature
should authorize the opening of Centennial South without the reforms in House
Bill 1019, including the study to end the use of private prisons. Herod, the
bill sponsor, said efforts to simply open Centennial South have failed three
times in the past, in part because she opposed them. “I will again,” Herod
said, “if we don’t have the right legs to the stool for criminal justice
reform.” The House passed the bill Thursday morning by a 39-22 vote, mostly
along party lines. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Feb 27, 2017
canoncitydailyrecord.com
Burlington struggles after closure of its largest employer, Kit Carson
prison
It's hard to find a person in Burlington without some connection to the
vanilla-brick prison sitting empty at the edge of town, surrounded by
barbed-wire fence and exercise yards of yellowed winter grass. Most of the
folks sipping ice tea at the VFW post and the ones visiting the bank along
the town's four-block Main Street either once worked at the prison, know
someone who worked there or, at the least, are worried its closure will have
long-term effects on Burlington's roads and schools. Since Kit Carson
Correctional Center closed last summer, the population of Burlington has dropped
to about 3,600 from 4,200. Lost wages for the 142 former employees of the
prison — the town's largest employer — are estimated to exceed $2.4 million
annually. Of the $12.2 million in taxes collected in Kit Carson County last
year, $1.2 million was paid by the prison's owner, Corrections Corporation of
America. The largest hit to city coffers comes in the loss of the prison's
$619,367 annual utility bill, because the city owns the electrical system and
provided water and sewer service to the prison. The prison also paid the city
25 cents per day per inmate, which totaled $65,000 a year. "It's a huge
loss," said Mayor Dale Franklin, who owns a plumbing business and has
lived in Burlington all of his 64 years. "We always hope the prison is going
to open back up." Gov. John Hickenlooper's office has asked for $515,000
for a "Kit Carson mitigation plan" that would backfill a portion of
the property taxes lost to Burlington and Kit Carson County because of the
closure of the privately run prison. Town leaders are grateful but say that
amount isn't enough to cover even half of this year's total losses. School
board president Pauline Durham is worried about how the loss of tax dollars
will affect building repair and teacher salaries in a district that already
struggles to retain quality instructors and pay for "unfunded
mandates." "It's going to mean some tough decisions for us,"
she said, noting the board scheduled a budget session this month to discuss
the prison closure. "We've talked about murmurs of the prison closing
for probably the last three years at our school board meetings." The
prison's annual tax bill to the school district was $415,700, and 53 students
enrolled last year had parents who worked at the prison. Some of those
students already have moved away, although district officials were encouraged
that enrollment this year was up by 15 students overall. Burlington sits
alongside Interstate 70 about 30 miles from the Kansas border, in a swath of
farmland and windy open space where Colorado towns are battling to survive.
Without the prison, the largest employer is Midwest Farms, a hog farm with
about 200 employees. Dozens of others work in the corn and wheat fields, at
the hospital, or in welding and equipment repair. The town, a popular
overnight stopover for people traveling from Kansas to Colorado's mountain
resorts, has 610 hotel rooms and a Love's Travel Stop along the interstate.
The prison still will have to pay property taxes, but officials are bracing
for a 50 to 60 percent reduction from the tax assessor now that the facility
is empty. Harder to estimate is the loss to the local economy now that prison
employees who commuted from Kansas no longer do their grocery shopping in
Burlington and employees who lived in town no longer rent homes there. "It's
a real jolt," said Rol Hudler, the city's director of economic
development and a former mayor and publisher of The Burlington Record.
"The prison was the first major firm or facility coming in here to boost
our economy. You obviously are going to miss that tremendously, no question
about that." But Hudler is optimistic, banking on a rise in commodity
prices for corn and wheat. "I think we'll be up and running again,"
he said. The town will weather this, residents say, just as it withstood the
exodus of the area's sugar beet farming two decades ago and the draining in
2011 of Bonny Reservoir, a popular fishing and boating destination. Lifelong
resident Doug Beechley, 56, misses the days when people drove through town
towing boats and carrying coolers for a day at the reservoir. He recalls when
Burlington had five grocery stores; now it has only a Safeway. "The
biggest thing the government did was allow Bonny Dam to close," he said.
The prison closure is just the latest hardship for his hometown, said Beechley,
who can't wait to get back home when he visits his kids in Denver. He knows
the closure is a big deal, though, because he works as a utility meter
technician for the city, and the meters for electricity and water are down
"big time" since the prisoners were moved out and the workers there
lost their jobs. "Money is tight" at the city, he said. Beechley's
brother worked at the prison as a security guard and then a laundry manager
up until a few years before it closed. Kit Carson Correctional Center, one of
three private prisons in Colorado run by Corrections Corporation of America,
which recently "rebranded" as CoreCivic, was the sixth prison in
the state to shut down in the last decade. As prison populations have
declined nationwide because of criminal justice reform, the number of inmates
in Colorado's 20 prisons also has decreased. The Burlington facility was down
to 402 inmates when it closed, despite a capacity to hold more than 1,400.
Judy Fuchs worked at the prison for 17 years, starting in maintenance and
rising to quality assurance manager. She hasn't found a new job, despite
applying for positions at the hospital, the county, the Marriott and Love's.
Jobs with health insurance and benefits as good as those offered by the
prison are hard to come by. Conversation at high school ballgames, church on
Sunday and over chiles rellenos and omelets at The Post Bar and Grille often
turns toward the empty prison, Fuchs said. Some wonder whether President
Donald Trump's promises to get tough on drug crimes and crack down on
immigrants living here illegally could jump-start the need for prison cells.
"Everywhere I go," Fuchs said, "people say, 'Is that place
going up again?'"
Jul 1, 2014 denverpost.com
Kit Carson prison in Burlington to close; 142 jobs lost
The prison in Burlington will shut down at the end of July, bringing a
loss of 142 jobs in the small town on Colorado’s eastern plains and a
devastating impact on the community’s tax-funded services, businesses and
schools. The closure “just quite frankly stinks for a small community like
Burlington,” said Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, a Republican from Sterling and one
of several Colorado leaders pledging to help Kit Carson County recover
financially. As prison populations have declined nationwide because of criminal
justice reform, the number of inmates in Colorado’s 20 prisons also has
decreased. Kit Carson Correctional Center, one of three private prisons in
Colorado run by Corrections Corporation of America, will become the sixth
prison in the state to shut down in the last decade. The Burlington facility
now has about 400 inmates, despite a capacity to hold more than 1,400.
Employees of the prison were informed Thursday morning, said Burlington
economic development director Rol Hudler, who called the impact of the
closure “tremendous.” Hudler said town and county officials have been in
discussions about the future of the prison for several weeks with Corrections
Corporation of America and Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office. “It wasn’t a
total surprise,” Hudler said. “There is no question it was unprofitable for
them. It had to be.” Hickenlooper’s office said the governor has committed to
help mitigate the economic impact of the prison closure. The legislature had
budgeted $3 million extra for the next fiscal year, which begins Friday, in
an attempt to keep the Burlington prison open. Hickenlooper wants to use the
unspent funds to help the area recover from the loss of its largest employer
besides a hog farm. It was the second bailout for CCA in recent years after lawmakers
gave the company $9 million in 2012 to keep the Burlington facility open.
Kathy Green, Hickenlooper’s spokeswoman, said the state had been trying to
keep the prison open as the number of Colorado and out-of-state prisoners has
been declining. Idaho recently pulled their prisoners from the facility. But
the prison company wanted a guarantee of a minimum number of inmates and a
higher daily rate per inmate than Colorado was willing to pay to keep the
prison open, state officials said. Officials with Nashville-based CCA
declined a request for an interview but said in an e-mail that the population
of Kit Carson prison was in decline and that “state officials ultimately
determined that the capacity was not needed.” The company will transfer
Burlington workers to its other prisons or help them find jobs in the area,
spokesman Jonathan Burns said. The Colorado Department of Corrections’
contract with Burlington for the prison was set to expire at the end of June
and recently was extended until the end of July. The prisoners at Kit Carson
will be transferred to the two other CCA-operated prisons in Colorado, in
Crowley and Bent counties. Christie Donner, director of the Colorado Criminal
Justice Reform Coalition, called the closure “appropriate.” “Prisons shouldn’t
be used as economic development,” she said. “We cannot justify keeping people
locked up so that a couple hundred people in Burlington can have a job. It’s
unethical. It’s immoral to even think about that. We’ve got to have more
sensible criminal justice policy than just mass incarceration.” But the
closure will hit hard in the small town, where the prison paid $1.2 million
in property taxes to fund schools, the city and county. The prison is the
town’s largest customer of electricity. Community leaders said the closure
will hurt everyone from landlords who rent to correctional officers, to
grocery stores and gas stations. “It’s going to hurt Burlington,” said Tom
Satterly, superintendent of Burlington schools, which he estimated would lose
$400,000 out of a $7 million budget. “The quality of education will change.”
“If I have to absorb the hit, we’ll have to lay off teachers and discontinue
programs,” Satterly said. “This first year I don’t know what we are going to
do.” The parents of 50 of the district’s 800 children have jobs at the
prison, he said. Satterly’s brother, who works at the prison commissary, is
leaving town, Satterly said. Mark Weber — vice president of Burlington First
National Bank, chief of the Burlington Volunteer Fire Department and treasurer
of the school board — is in a good position to see a range of potential
impacts the prison closing will have on Burlington and surrounding
communities. “You hate to see the prison close, because it affects everyone,”
Weber said. “It’ll impact what we get off taxes, which runs our fire
department. It’s going to have a huge impact in the Goodland (Kan.) area,
where a lot of prison officers rent homes.” The governor’s office said a
cabinet-level team will visit Burlington soon and a budget request for impact
mitigation will be completed for the September meeting of the legislature’s
Joint Budget Committee. “We learned many difficult lessons with the closure
and repurposing of the Fort Lyon prison in 2012,” Hickenlooper said in a
statement. “We are committed to assisting this community with the impact of
this closure and identifying ways to replace the lost economic activity.”
Sen. Sonnenberg said he would continue talking with Burlington city leaders
and Kit Carson County commissioners to ask what they need to help the town
recover. If school enrollment remained the same, the state’s per-pupil
finance formula means the state would make up for the lost tax dollars to the
school district — but many expect school enrollment will drop. A bigger
issue, Sonnenberg said, might be how the area deals with the loss of city and
county tax dollars and with 140 residents out of work. The senator said he
would push for a three-year recovery plan by the state. “We don’t have enough
prisoners to keep those three private prisons open,” Sonnenberg said. Brown
is an investigative reporter for The Denver Post, where she has worked since
2005. She has written about the child welfare system, mental health,
education and politics. She previously worked for The Associated Press, The
Tyler Morning Telegraph in Texas, and the Hungry Horse News in Montana.
June 29, 2012 AP
State prison officials plan to house hundreds of inmates at a privately run
lockup in Colorado to avoid overcrowding at home. The Idaho Department of
Correction expects to finalize a contract in early July with Corrections
Corporation of America to house inmates at the prison company's Kit Carson
Correctional Center in Burlington, Colo. Idaho plans to send 250 males
inmates to the out-of-state facility in late July or early August. That
number is expected to reach 450 a year from now if Idaho's prison population
continues to grow at its current rate. The state's prisons are at capacity
with 8,100 inmates, with some being housed in county jails. Prison officials have
previously sent inmates out-of-state, but problems in Texas, as well as
slowing inmate numbers in Idaho, prompted their return.
February 24, 2012 9News
The Colorado Department of Corrections has started reviewing its inmate seat
belt policy as 9Wants to Know started asking questions about a rollover
accident that killed a 22-year-old prison guard and a 57-year-old inmate.
Inmates riding in the van had no seat belts. The van was owned by CCA, a
private-prison company that Colorado pays to house some inmates. The crash
occurred Dec. 19, 2011 on an icy stretch of Interstate 70 east of Limon.
Grace Cortez and another guard were transporting nine inmates from the Kit
Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington to the Limon Correctional Facility
when the CCA van Cortez was driving went out of control and rolled at least
twice. Cortez and inmate Andres Valdez died. Cortez was wearing a seat belt.
The other guard was not, but he survived. "It was pretty crazy on that
ride," inmate Kitt Cook said. Cook sat right next to Valdez. "We
were going faster than all of the other traffic," Cook said. Inmate Rudy
Heredia was riding in another prison transport van behind the first and
watched the crash happen. "Where I was sitting, I could see the
speedometer," Heredia said. "[We were going] 80 to 85 mph."
Both vans were about seven miles from Limon when Cortez lost control. "I
was scared I was going to lose my life," Cook said. Cortez died of
blunt-force trauma. Valdez died of a severe head injury and blunt-force
trauma. "I could visually see into his head. His scalp was cracked
pretty bad," Cook said. A Colorado State Patrol report says speeding and
an inexperienced driver were factors in the crash. Colorado Department of
Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti says the incident caused the
state to review its policy. "Because of the accident, any good
corrections organization will review their practices," Sanguinetti told
9Wants to Know when asked if inmates would be safer if they had the option to
buckle up. "We are talking to other states and looking at what other
policies are." 9Wants to Know found there are some Colorado prisoners
who do get seat belts. Inmates transferring between state prisons can buckle
up, but the state doesn't require private-prison companies who transport
state inmates to have seat belts.
December 29, 2011 Denver Post
Grace Cortez was driving too fast before a van carrying nine inmates to Limon
flipped on an icy Interstate 70. About 11 a.m. Dec. 19, a Corrections
Corporation of America van was transporting the inmates from its Kit Carson
Correctional Facility in Burlington to the state-run prison in Limon when the
van flipped. Cortez, 22, and 57-year-old Andres Valdez, an inmate riding in
the back of the van, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the
Colorado State Patrol. The van, which was pulling a trailer, flipped between
Genoa and Limon. Cortez was exceeding the posted speed limit of 75 mph when
the van flipped, the patrol reported. Cortez was driving in the left lane,
passing other vehicles, when she lost control of the van, the patrol said.
The van veered off the left side of the road and rolled twice before it
landed upright in the grassy median. The trailer broke loose from the van as
it rolled and also landed upright in the median. The other eight prisoners
and one staff member who survived the crash were taken to Lincoln Community
Hospital in Hugo.
December 17, 2011 The Denver Channel
A prisoner and a corrections officer were killed on Monday when a prison van
crashed in Lincoln County. Officials said the van rolled into the median on
Interstate 70 between Limon and Genoa. There were 11 people in the van when
the crash occurred -- nine prisoners and two guards. All of the offenders
have been accounted for and are being treated for any injuries, officials
said. One eastbound lane of I-70 is blocked. The van, owned by Corrections
Corporation of America, was pulling a trailer. The Colorado State Patrol is
investigating the cause of the accident. Officials with CCA said the van was
headed from the Kit Carson Correctional Center (operated by CCA) to the Limon
Correctional Facility (operated by the Department of Corrections).
September 17, 2009 Pueblo Chieftain
Officials in three Southern Colorado counties said Wednesday that Gov.
Bill Ritter's decision to release more than 6,000 inmates from state
Department of Corrections custody will be devastating to small communities
that house private prisons. Commissioners in Bent, Crowley and Huerfano
counties all have private prisons owned and operated by Corrections
Corporation of America. Ritter announced the Accelerated Transition Pilot
program in August. By June 30, an estimated 2,720 inmates out of 3,400
eligible for parole will be on the streets, saving the state $19 million in
prison housing costs. The next year, another 3,000-plus inmates could be
released. But Bent County Commissioner Bill Long said that the lion's share
of the proposed reduction would come from the private prisons in Crowley,
Bent and Huerfano counties. Long said the proposed releases will impact the
private facilities which were built at the request of the state. "If
they do what they have been talking about in the last few days, which is
5,000 to 6,000 inmates possibly being up for parole, that will empty
virtually every private prison in Colorado that has Colorado inmates,"
Long said. "I guarantee that this will be an absolute disaster for Bent
County and Crowley County. No question about it." The Crowley County
Correctional Facility in Olney Springs and the Bent County Correctional
Facility in Las Animas are key parts of their local economies with more than
200 employees at each facility, Long said. "We receive property tax, telephone
revenue and other benefits from the facilities," Long said. Long
explained that the Huerfano County Correctional Facility in Walsenburg and
the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington also will be hurt if the
reduction occurs. Currently the Huerfano facility is full of inmates from
Arizona, but Long said that when Arizona gets its inmate situation
straightened out, the inmates will be taken back to that state. "That
would be another facility that was built primarily for Colorado inmates that would
also be emptied," Long said.
October 13, 2006 Summit Daily News
Six private prisons in the state were fined about $131,000 for failing to
staff mandatory positions, the Colorado Department of Corrections said. It
was the second time such penalties were levied since a riot broke out in 2004
at the Crowley County Correctional Facility and an audit exposed staffing
problems at the prisons. The department released documents this week showing
the six prisons had 1,071 vacant positions from February to May. The Kit
Carson Correctional Center in Burlington received the largest fine of $83,103
for having 567 positions open. It was docked in $103,743 previously after it
left 701 jobs vacant from November to January. The center is operated by
Corrections Corporation of America, which also runs the Crowley County
Correctional Facility. Alison Morgan, the department's head of private prison
monitoring, said some places have difficulty finding and retaining workers,
especially in remote areas.
June 25, 2006 Rocky Mountain News
The state has levied fines of $126,000 for short-staffing at two private
prisons run by Corrections Corp. of America, which just won a contract to
incarcerate 720 more Colorado prisoners. The new inmates will go to a
different CCA prison in Las Animas, which had only minor staffing violations
during inspections last winter. The fines are the first in Colorado. The
penalties were recommended by a searing state auditor's report on the private
prisons last year. The audit was prompted by a riot at the CCA prison in
Crowley County in 2004. An inquiry found that CCA's staff-to-inmate ratio was
one-seventh of a state prison's at the time. Only 33 uniformed officers were
guarding 1,122 inmates. Staffing has improved since the fines were levied,
said Alison Morgan, the state's supervisor of private prisons. CCA's Kit
Carson County prison in Burlington, near the Colorado- Kansas state line, was
fined $103,743 for leaving 701 required shifts empty in a 10-week period from
Nov. 1 to Jan. 10, records show. That's about 10 people short per day over
three shifts. The missing staff members were largely guards in various
locations. On five shifts, the supervisor was missing, and on 44 shifts,
there was no assistant supervisor. The fines could have been much higher. The
state waived nearly $46,000 of penalties for October 2005 at the Kit Carson
prison, saying it was unfair to enforce the contract only a few days after it
was signed in September. Documents say state officials complained that in
November, there were 435 cases in which employees did not sign out, making it
impossible for state inspectors to know if the short-staffing had been even
worse. CCA's Crowley County prison in Olney Springs was fined nearly $23,000
for leaving 157 shifts open in the same period. It, too, was given a reprieve
for October's fines, which would have been $18,000.
September 10, 2003
A lawsuit making its way through the federal courts charges that the staff at
a privately run prison in eastern Colorado allowed an inmate to die after they
failed to provide him with needed medication. Jeffery Buller’s
medication cost only about $35 a month. But for some reason, when it ran out,
Buller’s mother said his prescription wasn't renewed by prison staff, and he
ended up dying. Private prisons are a growing trend in this country as
states try to keep costs down. Buller's mother believes that can have a fatal
downside. “I have not gotten a real explanation,” said Tamara
Schlitters about the circumstances surrounding her son’s death two years ago.
Buller was serving time in the Kit Carson Correctional Center for sex
assault. He suffered from a medical condition called hereditary angioedema
and his files stated that he was to receive the drug Winstrol. Without this
drug, his lungs could swell up and he could die. So the private company that
runs the prison, Corrections Corporation of America, gave him the drug until
several days before he was to be released. “They stopped giving him his
medication because he was going to be released on the second of May,” she
said. For ten days, Schlitters said her son suffered in his cell as his
condition worsened, reportedly going to the medical counter each day asking
for Winstrol. He was told they were out and was given another drug that
didn't work. The day before he was to be released, he couldn't speak and he
could barely breathe. “He was observed by other inmates trying to force
his own fingers down his throat in an effort to open up his own airway,” said
Schlitters. Buller died in the prison May 1, 2001. The coroner who
examined his body found it was his untreated condition that killed him.
Tamara's lawyers also found out that the manager of the prison's medical unit
had been given an award from the company for keeping costs down.
Schlitters believes her son died as a result of overzealous cost
cutting. (9 News KUSA-TV)
March 25, 2003
A former inmate's mother has filed a lawsuit alleging her son died in prison
because officials didn't want to refill his prescription. Tamara L.
Schlitters of Trinidad filed the federal lawsuit Monday over the death of her
son, Jeffrey A. Buller, 26. He died at the Kit Carson Correctional Center at
Burlington in 2001. The prison is run for the state by a private
company, Corrections Corporation of America. A woman answering the telephone
at the prison said no one was available to comment on the lawsuit
Monday. Buller had hereditary angioedema, which can cause swelling in
the airways of the throat, the lawsuit said. He ran out of his
prescription medication 10 days before his scheduled release on parole.
Buller repeatedly asked for a refill and a doctor ordered it, but staff never
obtained the medicine, the lawsuit said. The suit alleges that prison
officials didn't want to spend money on the medicine because Buller was about
to leave the prison. It cost about $35 for a 30-day supply. Buller had
trouble breathing May 1, 2001, as he was packing for his release the next day
and died, the lawsuit said. He was in prison for a sexual encounter
with an underage teenage girl when he was 20, said attorney David Lane, who
filed the lawsuit for Schlitters.
February 8, 2002
Even before the
January opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad, Colo., and a 127-bed
detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private, for-profit prisons in
the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation of America, which
operates private prisons in Burlington, Walsenburg and Las Animas, Colo., had
a total of 575 empty prison beds. Additionally, the private prison at Olney
Springs, Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA acknowledged it has lost
revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January, the private prisons had
nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state transferred inmates to its new
2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo. It is state policy to keep as many
state prisoners as possible in state prisons, rather than private ones.
(Corrections Professional)
July 3, 2000
Colorado renews its contract with CCA despite sex scandals, a drug death and
rioting. The prison has been plagued by lawsuits from ex-employees,
high-turnover and security breaches. (Denver Rocky Mountain News)
January through September 1999
Charges were made that up to 15 female guards and nurses had affairs with
Colorado inmates during the first 9 months of operation of this private
facility.
Lamar
Lamar, Colorado
Cornell
November 3, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
Citizens voted Tuesday to change the city charter, which will now require
a vote before a privately owned prison can be built or operated in town. The
measure also bars the city from selling water or sewer services to a
privately owned prison or from using city funds or staff time to recruit a
prison without a vote. The ballot measure passed 1,007 to 816. Plans to build
a privately owned prison in town surfaced in 2003 and the issue has sparked a
long fight. Concerned Citizens of Lamar, the group battling the prison
proposal, have fought with city officials for the past three years and on
Wednesday members said they were elated to hear the election results.
"It's been a long and hard struggle - from lawsuits to protests - we are
extremely happy that the citizens get to decide if there will be a prison
located here," said Verdell Howard, CCL president. City Administrator
Jeff Anderson said Wednesday that the people have spoken and he supports the
outcome of the election. "I think we need to be very cautious before we
ever approach this issue again." The fight to keep a privately owned
prison from being constructed gained momentum last March when District Judge
Douglass Tallman ruled against city officials who filed a lawsuit questioning
the legality of a petition seeking a vote on the issue. City officials filed
suit in Prowers County District Court in August 2004 questioning if CCL's
petition had more than one subject. Tallman ruled against the city, clearing
the way for CCL to proceed with the initiative process that was stalled when
the lawsuit was filed. After months of fighting city hall, the petition was
approved by the city clerk in April.
October 27, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
Citizens opposed to a proposed private prison charge that the local economic
development agency is misrepresenting a ballot question on the prison. An
amendment to the city charter, which will allow citizens the right to vote
before a privately owned prison can be built or operated in town, will be on
the ballot next week. In August, CCL turned in more than 300 signatures to
the city clerk. Only 167 signatures were needed to put the issue on the
ballot. On Nov. 1, voters will decide whether to amend the city charter to
require a vote before a privately owned prison can be built or operated
within the city. The measure also would bar the city from selling water or
sewer services to a privately owned prison or from using city funds or staff
time to recruit a prison without a vote. Verdell Howard, president of CCL,
said Wednesday she is requesting that District Attorney Mike Davidson
investigate whether Prowers County Development Inc. has violated a campaign
law. Howard alleges that members of PCDI are lying to the public about the
measure in fliers and cards they are circulating. Colorado law permits any
person to file an affidavit with the district attorney alleging that fair
campaign statutes have been violated. Davidson said that by law, he is
required to investigate and prosecute if necessary. Howard said that PCDI has
violated the statutes by printing misleading information about the ballot
measure. Members of PCDI say the proposed amendment is not just about the
right to vote on a private prison. PCDI has been handing out fliers and cards
that say, "Under the proposed change, any business large or small,
looking to open in Lamar might have to go through a citizen vote." Lisa
DeLancey, economic development director for Prowers County, said Wednesday
that the measure could have a negative impact on attracting new jobs to Lamar
and Prowers County. "We are trying to make people realize that a prison
is a business and if you are having to put a vote to the citizens for this
business then what other businesses are we going to make jump through the
same hoop - there is nothing false about our claim," DeLancey said.
October 14, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
An amendment to the city charter, which will allow citizens the right to vote
before a privately owned prison can be built or operated in town, will be on
the ballot next month. Plans to build a 500- to 750-bed private prison in
town have been hotly debated since the project was announced in 2003. The
estimated construction cost for the proposed prison is $40 million. It would
employ 225 workers. Concerned Citizens of Lamar, a group formed to fight the
prison proposal, filed a petition seeking a vote on the issue last year, but
their effort was held up when city officials filed suit questioning if CCL's
petition had more than one subject. The lawsuit also asked if CCL has to
first notify the city of intent to circulate a petition before it is
submitted to the city. District Judge Douglass Tallman ruled against the city
on both issues, clearing the way for CCL to proceed with the initiative
process that was stalled when the lawsuit was filed. After months of fighting
city leaders, CCL's petition was approved by the city clerk in April. In
August, CCL turned in more than 300 signatures to the city clerk. Only 167
signatures were needed to put the issue on the ballot. On Nov. 1, voters will
decide whether or not to amend the city charter to require a vote before a
privately owned prison can be built or operated within the city. The measure
also would bar the city from selling water or sewer services to a privately
owned prison, or from using city funds or staff time to recruit a prison
without a vote. Members of a committee trying to recruit a privately owned
prison to Lamar have said that although they remain firm in their resolve,
they have decided to tone down their efforts. Lamar City Administrator Jeff
Anderson said Thursday that the issue is currently at a standstill. He said
the project has been compromised because of a series of events including last
year's riot at the privately owned Crowley County Correctional Facility in
Olney Springs.
September 27, 2005 Lamar Daily News
An amendment to the Lamar Home Rule Charter is on the November ballot. The
amendment is designed to change the city charter to allow citizens the right
to vote on whether a privately-operated prison facility can be constructed or
operated within the city. The ballot measure, which will be mailed to active
voters between Oct. 7 and Oct. 17, reads as follows: Referred Measure 2A:
Amendments to the Home Rule Charter of the City of Lamar, Colorado concerning
privately operated correctional facilities; and in connection therewith,
requiring voter approval before any privately operated correctional facility
can be constructed or operated within the CIty of Lamar, be recruited or
promoted by City employees for the City of Lamar, receive funds from the CIty
of Lamar, or receive water and wastewater services from City-owned water or
wastewater utilities. A citizens' group, Concerned Citizens of Lamar,
proposed the amendment after an ad hoc committee consisting of City
Administrator Jeff Anderson, local business leaders and private citizens made
public the pros and cons of a privately-owned prison facility operating in
Lamar.
April 15, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
A group of citizens opposed to a proposed private prison have finally won the
right to circulate petitions calling for a vote on the matter. After months
of fighting city leaders, members of the Concerned Citizens of Lamar said
Wednesday that the town clerk has approved their form of their petition
calling for a citywide vote before any prison can be built or operated in the
city. "We are happy to finally get this petition going," said
Verdell Howard, spokeswomen for CCL. If the CCL collects the necessary
signatures, the issue will be on the November ballot. The petition asks that
the issue be decided as part of the November election rather than at a
special election. "It will save the city a lot of money," Howard
said. In August, city officials filed suit in Prowers County District Court
challenging the legality of certain aspects of CCL's petition. The lawsuit
also asked if CCL has to first notify the city of intent to circulate a
petition before it is submitted to the city. A judge ruled in March against
the city on both issues, clearing the way for CCL to proceed with the
initiative process that was stalled when the lawsuit was filed. Howard said
that since the judge ruled in CCL's favor, the city has been cooperative in
every way. Howard said that once CCL files a statement of intent to circulate
a petition, the organization will then have 90 days to collect approximately
five percent of the registered voters in Lamar or 168 signatures. The
petition, which was submitted to the city again last month, would amend the
city charter to require a vote before a privately owned prison can be built
or operated within the city. The measure also would bar the city from selling
water or sewer services to a privately owned prison or from using city funds
or staff time to recruit a prison without a vote. Howard said that the group
will file a letter of intent and begin the signature-gathering process on
Monday. "We will start gathering signatures right after we submit our
letter of intent. We anticipate getting more than the required amount of
signatures just in case," Howard said.
March 18, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The fight to keep a privately owned prison from being constructed here has
gained momentum. District Judge Douglass Tallman ruled Monday against city
officials who filed a lawsuit questioning the legality of a petition seeking
a vote on the issue. The petition was filed by Concerned Citizens of Lamar, a
group formed to fight the prison proposal. The defendants listed on the
complaint were CCL members Verdell Howard, Wayne Stokke and Nancy Turner.
City officials filed suit in Prowers County District Court last August
questioning if CCL's petition had more than one subject. The lawsuit also
asked if CCL has to first notify the city of intent to circulate a petition
before it is submitted to the city. Tallman ruled Monday against the city on
both issues, clearing the way for CCL to proceed with the initiative process
that was stalled when the lawsuit was filed. The petition, submitted to the
city Aug. 16, would amend the city charter to require a vote before a
privately owned prison can be built or operated within the city. The measure
also would bar the city from selling water or sewer services to a privately
owned prison or from using city funds or staff time to recruit a prison
without a vote. Howard said that an issue of this magnitude should be put to
a vote of citizens and CCL is excited about moving forward. "We are so
elated with the judge’s decision - we are as excited as can be," Howard
said. Howard, who was notified about the ruling Tuesday, said CCL members are
just trying to exercise their rights under the state's system of direct
democracy. "The city
disagreed with us, so they tried to stop us through intimidation but it
didn't work," Howard said. Last month, members of a committee
trying to recruit a privately owned prison to Lamar said that although they
remain firm in their resolve, they have decided to tone down their efforts.
Lamar Mayor Elwood Gillis said that the project has been compromised because
of a series of events including last year's riot at the privately owned
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. Plans to build a 500-
to 750-bed private prison in town have been debated since the project was
announced in 2003.
March 17, 2005 Lamar Daily News
District Judge Douglas Tallman issued a ruling late yesterday finding that a
petition submitted by the Concerned Citizens of Lamar (CCL) is valid. The
petition seeks to amend the Lamar City Charter to require a vote before a
privately owned prison could be built or operated in Lamar, or before the
city could sell water or sewer services to a private prison or use city staff
or resources in the recruitment of a prison. The CCL filed the petition last
summer, seeking the election to amend the charter, but the Lamar City Council
then filed an action in Prowers County District Court seeking a court opinion
on whether the petition language violated the state's single subject rule in
ballot initiatives. During oral arguments in the case in December, the two
sides were at odds over whether the single subject rule applied to home rule
cities, as well as to whether the language in the petition constituted
multiple subjects. The filing of the lawsuit spurred complaints by the CCL
that they were being sued for exercising their rights in the petition
process, partially because of a clause in the original motion for declaratory
judgment which could have allowed the court to award costs and fees,
including any expert witness fees, to the city. The city claimed, however,
that it was filing the court action to clarify the issue because the city
would be faced with the burden of legally defending it if it were later
challenged. In his ruling, Tallman noted that the single subject rule was
intended to apply only to statewide issues, not to local or municipal issues,
thus local issues are not required to conform to the single subject rule.
"Had the legislature intended this requirement to encompass all initiatives,
both local and statewide, it could have simply included such language in the
enabling legislation," Tallman wrote. In a news release issued by the
CCL this morning, Howard said she was happy with the decisions. "All we
are trying to do is exercise our rights under Colorado's system of direct
democracy," she said in the release. "The city disagreed with us,
so they tried to stop us through intimidation."
February 24, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
Members of a committee trying to recruit a privately owned prison to Lamar
said Wednesday that although they remain firm in their resolve, they have
decided to tone down their efforts. Lamar City Administrator Jeff Anderson
said that the issue is currently at a standstill. Lamar Mayor Elwood Gillis
said the project has been compromised because of a series of events including
last year's riot at the privately owned Crowley County Correctional Facility
in Olney Springs. "That riot sparked an audit and a legislative review
panel," Gillis said. Gillis said the committee has been receiving strong
signals to step back and monitor the emerging changes in bed requirements,
the potential changes in sentencing laws and the Department of Corrections
funding for the coming fiscal year. Anderson said the decision to slow down
efforts also gives the district court more time to look into a current
lawsuit filed by the city asking for a ruling on the legality of a petition
filed by prison opponents. Concerned Citizens of Lamar, a group formed to
fight the prison proposal, is seeking a vote on the issue and several related
topics. City officials filed suit in Prowers County District Court in August
questioning if the petition has more than one subject. The case was brought
before District Judge Douglas Tallman last December. He has not ruled on the
matter.
December 17, 2004 Lamar Daily News
District Judge Douglas Tallman yesterday heard testimony in a Prowers
County District Court action in which the City of Lamar is seeking a court
opinion on whether a petition filed by the Concerned Citizens of Lamar (CCL)
violates the state's single subject rule on ballot initiatives. The CCL filed
the petition August 16 seeking an amendment to the Lamar City Charter that
would call for a citizen vote before a privately owned prison could be built
or operated in the community. But the petition seeks additional measures,
including a citizen vote before the city could sell sewer and water services
to a private prison located outside the city limits or before the city could
use staff time or public funds in the recruitment or promotion of a prison.
The city declined to approve the petition for circulation, however, after
City Attorney Darla Scranton-Specht cited concerns that it may violate the
state's single subject rule. The council later voted to authorize Specht to
seek a declaratory judgment in district court - essentially an opinion from
the judge on the issues.
December 17, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
Opponents of a proposed private prison packed a Prowers County courtroom
Wednesday to protest the project. Concerned Citizens of Lamar, a group formed
to fight the prison proposal, is seeking a vote on the proposal and several
related topics. However, city officials filed suit in Prowers County District
Court in August asking for a ruling on the legality of the petition. The case
was brought before Judge Douglas Tallman. He said that he will not rule on
the matter until next year. Plans to build a 500- to 750-bed private prison
in town have been hotly debated since the project was announced last year.
August 31, 2004 Lamar Daily News
The Concerned Citizens of Lamar has a submitted a response in Prowers County
District Court to a legal action filed by the city of Lamar seeking a court
opinion on the CCL's proposed petition calling for an amendment to the Lamar
city charter. The CCL's proposed petition, submitted to the city August 16,
seeks to amend the charter to require a citizen vote before a privately owned
prison can be built or operated within the city. The petition also contains
language prohibiting the city from selling water or sewer services to a
privately owned prison or from using city funds or staff time in recruitment
of a prison without a vote. The Lamar City Council, however, voted to
file the action in Prowers County District Court seeking a declaratory judgment
as to whether Lamar is subject to the state's single subject rule for
amendments, and whether the CCL's petition contains multiple subjects. The
city also sought a stay in the ordinary five day time frame the city has to
rule on the validity of the petition, and sought an opinion on whether the
CCL must first file a notice of intent to circulate a petition before it can
be submitted to the city. The city also requested the issue be heard before a
jury. In responding to the court action, the CCL's attorney, Stephen D.
Harris of Colorado Springs, requested a speedy hearing as well as seeking
summary dismissal of the city's action. A speedy hearing request would allow
the Court to advance the issue on its calendar, and Harris requested the
Court's earliest consideration of the issue. Harris also seeks the
Court to order the city clerk to issue a ruling in the August 16 petition
immediately, saying the clerk has a right and responsibility to accept or
reject on form only.
August 27, 2004 Pueblo Chieftain
The fight over a proposed private prison has moved to the courtroom.
City officials filed suit in Prowers County District Court seeking a ruling
on the provisions of a second petition calling for a vote on the prison,
filed by the Concerned Citizens of Lamar. CCL, a recently formed
nonprofit group, says that an issue of this importance should be decided by
the voters. CCL filed a second petition last week after its first
petition was rejected in July, and after efforts failed to reach a compromise
with the city that would have sent the measure to the ballot. The
defendants listed on the complaint are CCL members Verdell Howard, Wayne
Stokke and Nancy Turner. Scranton-Specht said an answer to the complaint is
due by Sept. 9. "We are just a group of innocent people thinking
that we have the right to petition our government, but we are finding out, I
guess, that we don't have that right in Lamar," Howard said. "We
will move forward from here." (Pueblo Chieftain, August 27, 2004)
Las
Animas, Colorado
CCA
February 8, 2002
Even before the January opening of a new 480-bed state prison in Trinidad,
Colo., and a 127-bed detention facility in Akron, Colo., the four private,
for-profit prisons in the state had 724 empty beds. Corrections Corporation
of America, which operates private prisons in Burlington, Walsenburg and Las
Animas, Colo., had a total of 575 empty prison beds. Additionally, the
private prison at Olney Springs, Colo., had 149 empty beds. CCA
acknowledged it has lost revenue because of the vacant beds. Last January,
the private prisons had nearly 1,900 empty beds after the state transferred
inmates to its new 2,447-bed facility at Sterling, Colo. It is state policy
to keep as many state prisoners as possible in state prisons, rather than
private ones. (Corrections Professional)
Lookout Mountain
Youth Services Center
Golden, Colorado
Youthtrack
January 1, 2003
Nearly two dozen juveniles housed at the Lookout Mountain Youth Services
Center could face criminal charges after they barricaded themselves in the
orientation building for about an hour Monday night. The disturbance
started about 11 p.m. when the boys began overturning bunk beds and breaking
light fixtures. The juveniles were housed in the 22-bed orientation
building, one of the several dorm-style units. While the campus is
operated by the state, the orientation unit is operated by Youthtrack, a
private company. (Rocky Mountain News)
North
Fork Correctional Facility
Sayre, Oklahoma
CCA
February 22, 2008 The Denver Channel
The Colorado Department of Corrections has sent two investigators to an
Oklahoma prison to probe whether correctional officers staged ‘ultimate
fights’ among prisoners and rewarded the fight's winner with a cell phone,
corrections sources told CALL7 Investigators. The DOC inspector general's
staff traveled this week to the privately owned North Folk Correctional
Facility at Sayre, Okla., about 130 miles west of Oklahoma City, to
investigate the complaint of ‘ultimate fighting,’ sources said. It was
unclear Friday whether the details of the complaint have been substantiated.
DOC Executive Director Ari Zavaras, in a phone conversation with CALL7
Investigator Tony Kovaleski, confirmed investigators were sent out to
Oklahoma. "There is an ongoing investigation and we do not comment until
the investigation is complete," he told Kovaleski. The facility is owned
and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America and houses about 480
Colorado inmates on a contract basis. CCA also owns the Crowley County
Correctional Facility, which came under DOC scrutiny in 2004 after a riot.
The DOC report criticized the "lack of responsiveness" by private
prison operators to state corrections officials. CCA also owns about 70
facilities nationwide, including four in Colorado. The Colorado facilities
are Bent County Correctional Facility, Huerfano County Correctional Center,
Kit Carson Correctional Center and the facility in Crowley County. DOC
spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti declined to confirm any details but said
introducing a cell phone into a correctional facility is a federal offense if
it happened. CCA spokesman declined comment and directed questions to
Sanguinetti.
October 28, 2007 The Daily Sentinel
Nearly 400 Colorado inmates being held at a Sayre, Okla., private prison have
sued their prison warden in an attempt to return to Colorado. In a lawsuit
filed earlier this year, 34-year-old inmate Jeremy G. Gardner, a convicted
thief, argues because his crime was committed in Colorado and he was
convicted in Colorado, he should be imprisoned in Colorado. According to
Beckham County, Okla., District Court records, at least 380 Colorado inmates
have joined in his lawsuit against North Fork Correctional Facility Warden
Fred Figueroa, filing nearly identical complaints with the county court between
May 14 and Oct. 19. Colorado transferred 480 inmates, including Grand
Junction man Stephen Dallas Peck, to the private prison in December 2006 and
January 2007. Inmates’ families have since complained that the move was not
only unfair but also hindered their abilities to help rehabilitate their
relatives. Peck’s complaint, which mirrors that of his peers, argued he has
committed no crimes in Oklahoma; therefore, he “has been deprived of all
constitutional due process rights.” Peck argues that the contract the
Colorado Department of Corrections entered into with the Corrections
Corporation of America is illegal, and therefore moot. “(Figueroa) should be
ordered to release the petitioner … due to his complete lack of authority to
detain him,” Peck’s complaint states. Officials from the North Fork
Correctional Facility could not be reached for comment last week. Beckham
County Associate District Judge Doug Haught consolidated the inmates’ cases
last week into a single case, “because the petitioners are located at the
same confinement facility, and because of the similarity of claims, the court
finds that consolidation is appropriate.” Colorado Department of Corrections
Director Ari Zavaras, Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, and Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, are scheduled to visit the Oklahoma prison today and
Monday. King and McFadyen have expressed interest in bringing Peck and his
peer inmates home to Colorado. “With proper oversight, a private prison is a
way of leveraging tax dollars, a way of having adequate bed space and so
forth,” King said. “From a policy standpoint, that adequate supervision part,
in my mind, means that those prisons are in Colorado, not in Oklahoma.”
October 15, 2007 Daily Sentinel
It has been months since Roger Peck has seen his son. A year ago, Peck and
his wife, Millicent, twice a month were driving more than 400 miles from
Grand Junction to see their son, 47-year-old Stephen Dallas Peck, at the
Crowley County Correctional Facility in Olney Springs. But when Peck and 479 other
inmates were relocated in December and January to the privately owned North
Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., those visits ended. “It’s almost
impossible for us to get to Oklahoma, and I’m sure we’re more capable than a
lot of people that have loved ones in prison,” Roger Peck said. The retired
couple said their contact with their son, who was sentenced in early 2004 to
18 years in prison for felony theft and methamphetamine possession, has
become relegated to brief collect calls twice a month. The Colorado
Department of Correction’s decision to ship its healthiest and best behaved
inmates more than 300 miles southeast of Colorado’s closest prison in
Trinidad, the Pecks said, is “completely opposite” the state’s goal of
promoting prisoner wellness and reducing recidivism. “They skimmed the cream
to start with. They took inmates who were in relatively good health and have
no violent history and were not in there for violent crime,” Roger Peck said.
“So they took the cream of the crop, so to speak, and sent them to this
facility whose sole purpose in life is making money.” Without their support,
the Pecks said, they fear how well their son will cope with his
methamphetamine addiction, which also landed him in prison in 1997. Rep.
Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said in an attempt to address some of the Peck
family’s concerns, he and Colorado Department of Corrections Director Ari
Zavaras are going to visit the North Fork Correctional Facility at the end of
this month. King said after he met the Peck family earlier this year, he
began to wonder if Colorado was abandoning its oversight responsibilities by
shipping felons out of state. “I had some real concerns about us giving up
our ability, in some ways, to have oversight of these people that are Colorado
citizens,” King said. “Granted they’re felons, but they’re our felons, and we
have a responsibility to make sure they’re doing their time in a safe
environment.” King said “outsourcing our felons” removes them from the
support network of friends and family they need to transition from their
criminal lifestyles and addictions back to living normal lives. Zavaras said
from a purely financial standpoint, private prisons — the six in Colorado and
the North Fork Correctional Facility — are a cost-effective way to deal with
Colorado’s exploding corrections population. According to Department of
Corrections statistics, Colorado’s inmate population has nearly doubled over
the past decade, from 13,242 inmates in 2006 to 22,424 inmates this year.
Nearly 5,000 of Colorado’s inmates reside in private prisons. Zavaras said
sending prisoners outside Colorado is neither ideal nor fair to the inmates,
but it is necessary. “Managing prisoners out of state, quite frankly, is
very, very difficult for us,” Zavaras said. “If we would have had in-state
beds, we wouldn’t be out of state. We’re only there as a last resort.” He
said there are plans to expand two existing private, in-state prisons. As
soon as those expansions are completed, he said, “We will bring them back.”
Zavaras said he plans to scrutinize the Sayre, Okla., prison during his and
King’s Oct. 28 and Oct. 29 visits. He said during that time he will not only
speak with Colorado inmates but look into the concerns of inmates’ families.
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said that ideally Colorado would pull
out of private prisons, whose missions are directly contrary to reducing
recidivism. McFadyen, who has 12 state and federal prisons in her southern
Colorado House district, said private facilities have no reason to attempt to
reintegrate felons back into society. She said private facilities see felons
as possible repeat customers, so they have no incentive to decrease
recidivism. Removing inmates from Colorado, she said, is an even better way
for private prisons to maintain demand for their beds. “Sending an inmate out
of state is almost guaranteeing they’ll come back in the system because of
the lack of support,” McFadyen said. “I don’t know how an inmate succeeds
when they have no support from home.”
April 1, 2007 Denver Post
If Joe Nacchio ends up in the slammer, he'd better hope it's not one run by
Corrections Corporation of America, though Qwest retirees just might feel particular
glee at the thought of his working most of a day to pay for a roll of toilet
paper. About 480 inmates from Colorado have been transferred to CCA's North
Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., since December, and they're
finding that hard time is a lot harder in a prison run for profit. The
inmates, all culled from state prisons based on their release dates, records
for compliance and nonviolent prison histories, have been rewarded for their
good behavior with lousy food, fewer visits from family members, limited
access to phones, delays in mail service, a lack of access to Colorado law
books and prices in the prison canteen that have been jacked up in some cases
to three times those in Colorado institutions. "It seems like minor
stuff to people outside of prison, but it's created a real powder keg,"
said Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice
Reform Coalition. Parents of inmates housed at Sayre have reported that a
boycott of the commissary was organized as a prison protest, and when a guard
was perceived to be harassing an inmate at lunch recently, the entire room
stood in solidarity. They worry that tensions could erupt into a riot similar
to what happened at the CCA prison in Crowley County in 2004. "The guys
are really upset," said Tracy Masuga, whose son was transferred to Sayre
in December. Among the recent price hikes at the canteen were: peanut butter
that sold for $1.48 in January now going for $2.34, AIM toothpaste jumping
from $1.45 to $2.23, raisin bran going from $2.99 to $4.75, and a 25-watt
light bulb going from $1.20 to $3.69. In Colorado state prisons, peanut
butter is $1.80, AIM toothpaste 95 cents, and banana nut granola (the closest
thing to raisin bran on the commissary list) is $2.11. Toilet paper sells for
70 cents a roll in Sayre compared with 44 cents at state-run prisons.
"This might not seem like much, but we're talking about people who make
literally a dollar a day," said Ann Aber, an attorney with the Colorado
Public Defender's office. "It's arbitrary and inexplicable exercises of
power like this that can create a really incendiary situation." Alison
Morgan, chief of private prisons for the Department of Corrections, said a
team from Colorado visited the Sayre facility this month and talked to about
200 inmates. Complaints about the price hikes were rampant, she said, but she
insisted that the prisoners' concerns were being addressed. "The warden
is looking at the commissary list and has reduced prices for about 40 items,
including the price of light bulbs," she said. Steve Owen, spokesman for
CCA, said that after a brief drop in purchases from the canteen around March
9, sales have returned to normal. Gary Golder, director of prisons for the
DOC, said CDs of Colorado statutes are on order for use in the Sayre prison
library, but delivery by the vendor has been delayed. Problems with phones,
mail service and other issues will be resolved, Morgan said. As for the food,
which was described as inedible by inmates two months ago and resulted in many
of them reporting significant weight loss, Morgan describes it now as
"fabulous." "The previous food-service manager was
fired." State Rep. Buffie McFadyen said she has heard some of the
complaints, and while she is concerned, focusing on things like commissary
prices and phone service ignores the larger issue. "They shouldn't be
there at all," said the Democrat from Pueblo West. "Sending inmates
out of state is almost guaranteeing a 100 percent recidivism rate," said
McFadyen, who has eight state prisons in her district. "We're taking the
inmates with the best track records within our system and punishing them by
sending them out of state away from their families. When inmates don't have
that support system in place to help them re-enter society, it almost
guarantees failure." McFadyen said this is all part of the
private-prison system's business plan. "High recidivism rates ensure
profits for their stockholders," she said. "There's no incentive to
do what's best for inmates. They profit by having them come back into the
system." Owen called such criticism "completely false."
"We invest a great deal in innovative programs to rehabilitate
inmates," he said. "We consider ourselves professionals." CCA
receives $54 per day per Colorado inmate. The cost to keep comparable inmates
in state institutions is $77 per day, Morgan said. Even at 30 percent less
per inmate, CCA has delivered impressive profits to shareholders. The company
racked up $105.2 million in net income in 2006. How do they do it? "The
private-prison industry makes its money out of bodies and souls,"
McFadyen said.
September 16, 2006 The Gazette
The Colorado Department of Corrections is preparing to send as many as
1,000 inmates out of state — probably to two private lockups in Oklahoma — to
alleviate crowding in state prisons. Alison Morgan, head of the DOC’s
private-prison monitoring unit, would not discuss the department’s timetable
for moving the inmates. Last month, she visited two Oklahoma prisons, the
Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton and the North Fork Correctional
Facility in Sayre, and she is in negotiations with the companies that run
them. “Going out of state is inevitable,” she said Friday. The DOC has been
warning lawmakers for months that it will soon run out of space, the result
of longer sentences, a growing population and a multiyear budget crisis that
canceled building projects. New private prisons to hold 3,776 inmates have
been approved, and officials this year expressed optimism to the General
Assembly that they could handle the state’s caseload by double-bunking
inmates and finding unused space until the new prisons are built. It will be
the first time since the mid-1990s that Colorado has sent a large number of
inmates out of state. In 2004, 121 high-security inmates with gang
affiliations were sent to a prison in Mississippi, but officials brought them
back a year later after they were involved in a riot there.
October 13, 2003 Nearly 1,000 criminals
were hauled away from here this summer, all of them incarcerated convicts,
never to return. It pained nearly everyone to see them go. The exodus from
this remote western Oklahoma town took with it about 225 jobs and a third of
the government's revenues after a furor over the cost of inmates' phone calls
led to the closing of a prison. "It's a huge blow," said Elaine
Barker, the city clerk. With the prisoners gone, the operating budget this
year has been chopped by a third to $2.7 million, Ms. Barker said. Plans for
a new City Hall have been halted indefinitely. The city has put off
renovating an old building for the Police and Fire Departments and
constructing a 60-unit apartment complex to relieve the acute housing
shortage. Hiring has stopped. One of five water department jobs has been cut.
With nothing to build, the city construction manager has been let go. The job
of economic development director has been eliminated. The city had budgeted
for a full-time treasurer to succeed the part-time treasurer, who retired,
but now Ms. Barker has inherited those duties. After a heady run of
rebuilding and face-lifting, Sayre, about 120 miles west of Oklahoma City, is
at a dead stop, all because of the collapse of its primary economic engine: a
five-year-old, $35 million, red-roofed, gray-walled, privately run
medium-security prison, the North Fork Correctional Facility. Over the
summer, the prison management company, the Corrections Corporation of
America, sent the 989 inmates, all from Wisconsin, to another of its
facilities, 100 miles northeast of Sayre. Now the state-of-the-art prison in
Sayre languishes in its prairie-grass setting. Sayre's travails arose from
the loss of commissions it had received on prisoners' collect, long-distance
telephone calls home to Wisconsin. Their families each paid about $22 for 20
minutes. Sayre collected up to 42 percent, and the contractor, AT&T, took
the rest. For the fiscal year that ended in June, Sayre's share amounted to
$656,000, close to the entire city budget in the years just before the prison
opened. "We got ourselves into a situation where we were unable to
control the outcome," Jack W. Ivester, the mayor and a lawyer, said.
"Looking back, there were a couple of road signs that we missed."
Sayre, population 4,114 before the inmates left, is one of about 200 rural
communities in the nation, many ravaged by population declines and the loss
of farms, factories and mines, that brought in prisons to bolster their
economies during the 1990's. Swallowing fears about the proximity of
criminals, the towns tapped into a growing population of prisoners and a
shortage of prisons in many states. "To my mind," Jack McKennon,
the city manager of Sayre, said two years ago while the town prospered,
"there's no more recession-proof form of economic development." But
in some states, growth in the number of prisoners has stalled, and some are
opening new prisons so they won't have to send inmates elsewhere. Burned, Mr.
McKennon says now, "It's just like a manufacturing plant that says
they're going to move to China or Mexico." For a couple of years, Wisconsin
pressed the corrections company, based in Nashville, for lower telephone
rates. But the company, which had no say about the contract that would not
expire until next November, deferred to Sayre and AT&T. City officials
say that they tried to renegotiate it but that AT&T declined. "The
rates we charge are no higher in Oklahoma than anywhere else," a
spokesman for AT&T, Kerry Hibbs, said. The corrections company, faced
with losing its contract to house the Wisconsin prisoners, moved the men to
its prison in Watonga, Okla., where it holds the telephone contract and can
meet the Wisconsin limit of about $8 for a 20-minute call. Sayre officials
said that six and seven years ago, during the discussions about building a
prison, no one — not they, the corrections company or the state of Wisconsin
— raised doubts about charging inmates much higher rates than consumers pay.
The fees were high, Ms. Barker said, "but in defense of the city, the
contract was in place when Wisconsin signed the contract with C.C.A. to house
their prisoners here." Still, Mayor Ivester said, "when Wisconsin
prisoners went to Sayre, we started getting complaints." "When we
received those complaints," he continued, "we conveyed them to
AT&T, and that's where I think the problem was. AT&T was inflexible.
On two occasions, the city went to AT&T and said, `You need to
accommodate the rates with the complaints from Wisconsin.' "In both
cases we were rebuffed," the mayor said. "The answer was no. A
third time we went to C.C.A. and said, `We've tried. You talk to them.'
C.C.A. experienced the same inflexibility we did." Bill Clausius, the
spokesman for the Wisconsin prison department, said the state repeatedly
pressed the corrections company to bring rates down to $1.25 to connect and
22 cents per minute, well below the Sayre rate of $3.95 to connect and 89
cents a minute. Mr. Hibbs at AT&T said: "We find it hard to believe
that they would shut down the prison over telephone rates. We had no interest
in shutting the prison down." Ms. Barker said, "AT&T wanted us
to buy out the contract for a price of $850,000, which was way above our
means." With the corrections company looking more and more determined to
move the men, AT&T let Sayre out of the contract in late June at no cost
to the city and washed its hands of further business here. In a statement
then, AT&T said, "We wish Sayre well in finding a new phone service
provider for its prison and hope that the facility and accompanying jobs will
be saved." But by then Wisconsin and the corrections company had had
enough, and the vans to Watonga were rolling. "Everyone tried to get
those rates lowered," said Louise Green, vice president for marketing at
the corrections company. "It was not done." Sayre and the
corrections company, both with big stakes in the prison here, are seeking a
new customer. Once they have one, Sayre could resume collecting water and
sewer fees from the prison and a sales tax from the prison commissary but
much less from the telephone calls. To avoid another closing, Ms. Barker
said, "we're negotiating with different phone companies, and we've got
some really nice proposals." Mostly, though, they would be nicer for
prisoners. "It would cut our income tremendously," she said. (The
New York Times)
Pueblo Halfway House
CCSI
May 3, 2013 www.koaa.com
PUEBLO - Using trash
bags and cardboard boxes, around 60 men living at Pueblo's Community
Corrections Services Incorporated packed up their belongings Friday morning
and moved to another facility to serve out their time. "All they did was
gave them a bags and said pack up, yous are leaving," Denise Sierra
said. Her son was serving a sentence CCSI and she said the suddeness of the
move jarred her. "They should tell the community what's really going on,
everybody needs to know." Former Pueblo City Councilman Al Gurule has
owned CCSI for 27 years. He's turning 70 in a few weeks and told us it was
time to move on. He decided not to renew his contract with the state when it
expires June 30. "I wish that we could've had a pizza party or
something, you know, on the way out, but it doesn't work that way with parole
officers," Gurule said. The timing of the move is curious. Back on April
1, offender Jamie Salazar walked away from the facility. According to the
arrest warrant, witnesses told the police the 32-year old Salazar got drunk
and raped and beat his girlfriend three times that day. Deonte Smith of CCSI
reported Salazar's escape and a warrant was issued. Salazar was taken into
custody after returning to facility the next morning. Salazar had been
serving an 8 year sentence for a domestic violence conviction in El Paso
County and a 3 year sentence for a drug possession conviction from Las Animas
County. Gurule said the closing of the facility and the rape aren't
connected. "I would say that, you know, there's always security issues,
you know, but there's nothing that we egregious or anything like that from my
perspective," he said. The Colorado Department of Corrections issued the
following explanation regarding the CCSI closure. Al Gurule, the owner of
Community Corrections Services (CCSI), Inc has worked cooperatively with the
Division of Criminal Justice within the Department of Public Safety, the
Colorado Department of Corrections and Probation Service within the Judicial
Department regarding the operational issues at the facility. With the
operating contract set to expire June 30, it was determined that the best
option for public safety and offender management was to move the residents to
other community settings as soon as that can be arranged. In cooperation with
Mr. Gurule and his staff at CCSI, the residents of CCSI were all moved this
morning, May 3, 2013 to other community programs. CCSI is one of three
community corrections programs in Pueblo. The state agencies involved were
the Department of Corrections, the Colorado State Judicial Department
Probation Services, and the Division of Criminal Justice. "Community
corrections is an importance piece of the criminal justice system. It
provides a meaningful alternative to prison for individuals who are able to
work and live in the community, but still need a higher level of supervision
and accountability," said Jeanne Smith, Director Division of Criminal
Justice, Department of Public Safety. "CCSI has filed an important role
for Pueblo and the rehabilitation of offenders. Mr. Gurule and his staff have
been dedicated to this effort for many years." Salazar is being held on
$150,000 bond at the Pueblo County Jail. He is expected to appear in court on
Monday.
Phoenix
Center
Adams County, Colorado
Avalon Correctional Services Systems Inc.
May 23, 2002
Adams County will
approve a new community corrections contract, despite one commissioner's
concern about the escape of a sex offender from a halfway house. Commissioner
Marty Flaum balked at approving the contract last week after learning that
John Martinez, 19, had walked away from Phoenix House. Martinez was being
held for attempted sexual assault on a minor and attempted menacing. Flaum
said a sex offender belongs in prison, not in a halfway house. After the meeting,
Flaum said he will vote to approve the new contract with the Colorado
Department of Corrects, which provides $120,000 to keep several inmates in
halfway houses who are making the transition from prison to freedom. But he
is still convinced the Martinez case was mishandled. Even if Martinez thought
the girl was 16, there is still the matter of waving the knife at the girl's
father, Flaum said. "This guy probably isn't going to commit another sex
offense -- he's going to stab someone," Flaum said. Of 29 prisoners
who have walked away from halfway houses in Adams County this year, 24 have
been caught, Phoenix House director Samantha Novatne said. (Rocky Mountain
News)
May 16, 2002
Adams County commissioners balked Wednesday at approving a contract to put more
offenders in a private community corrections program that lost a convicted
child molester. Since July at least 29 inmates have walked away from
facilities operated by a local subsidiary of Oklahoma City-based Avalon
Correctional Services Systems Inc., according to county records. The last
straw for Adams County Commissioner Marty Flaum was news that John Martinez,
convicted of attempted sexual assault on a child, walked away Monday from
Phoenix Center, the company's male facility. "We get these all the time,"
County Commissioner Marty Flaum said of the notice that Martinez had fled.
"I don't know how many of these I read. What are we going to do to lock
these people up?" The news came as commissioners were preparing to
approve a $120,000 contract with the Colorado Department of Corrections to
house additional inmates at the company's facilities who are making the
transition from prison to freedom. Flaum asked that the contract be pulled
from the agenda. Instead, commissioners will call a study session on community
corrections, probably next week. (Rocky Mountain News)
Pueblo
Pueblo, Colorado
GEO Group
March 6, 2007 Greeley Tribune
Saying GEO Group Inc. can't be trusted, a Pueblo lawmaker asked state
officials Monday to rescind a contract with the company to build a private
prison in Ault. Plans for the prison, which would house 1,500 inmates and
would be built east of the railroad tracks along U.S. 85, has stalled on two
fronts. Ault leaders decided they would not approve the facility until the
public voted on it, and GEO wants to change its contract to ensure payment
for its beds. Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, a vocal
critic of private prisons, said Monday that the proposed change and other
issues regarding GEO's integrity should negate the Ault contract. “Anybody
living in Ault should be concerned that a company that would bid this way on
a contract might have a business in their town," she said. Philip
Tidwell, spokesman for the town group Coalition Against Ault Prison, said
residents hope no one else bids on the Ault prison if GEO's contract is
rescinded. "We just do not want any private prison, whether it be GEO or
Cornell or anyone else," he said. A spokesman for GEO did not return
calls seeking comment. McFadyen said the company is attempting to do the same
things in Ault that derailed plans for a GEO facility in Pueblo. In 2003, GEO
won a contract for a 1,100-bed, pre-parole and parole revocation facility in
Pueblo, and after almost four years of delays, the state pulled the contract
last fall. The company never broke ground on the facility. "The state of
Colorado was held hostage for four years waiting for those beds,"
McFadyen said. The delays included zoning issues in Pueblo and GEO's attempt
to obtain guaranteed payments on 90 percent of its beds, regardless of
whether the beds were occupied. That is something state leaders have opposed
and which may even be impossible because of state laws, McFadyen said. Now,
GEO is trying for guaranteed bed payments in Ault, she said. "You have
to question the integrity of the 2006 bid," she said. "If past
performance is an indicator, I suspect we will be in the same place we were
in 2003 in Pueblo." McFadyen said Ari Zavaras, the new director of the
Department of Corrections, told her he is opposed to bed guarantees.
Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan told the Associated Press that Zavaras
will review McFadyen's request and decide how to respond. The story of Ault's
possible prison goes back to late 2005, when Nolin Renfrow, former director
of prisons for the Department of Corrections, started working with GEO on a
bid for a private prison. Renfrow is under investigation for using state sick
leave to obtain the Ault contract on behalf of GEO. On Monday, Colorado
Citizens for Ethics in Government, a watchdog group, filed an open records
request about the Ault bid. "We do not feel that the public's interest
was put forth in the procurement of this contract," said Chantelle
Taylor, spokeswoman for the watchdog group. A state audit found Renfrow's
business activities "arguably present a conflict of interest and result
in a breach of ... the public trust." That breach, coupled with GEO's
attempt to change its Pueblo contract by adding the bed-payment guarantee,
should have prevented the company from getting the Ault bid in the first
place, McFadyen said. Tidwell agreed. "One thing the state should
recognize is (GEO) did not operate fairly," he said. "They hired an
insider knowing he worked for the state. In my mind, GEO has shown itself to
be not a company that operates fairly in the state of Colorado.
January 31, 2007 Rocky Mountain News
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is taking over the probe of a retired
state prison official who stands to be paid $1 million for helping a private
prison company win a state bid. Nolin Renfrow, former state prisons director,
openly became a consultant to the Geo Group and helped it win a $14 million-
per-year deal to house 1,500 inmates in a private prison proposed in Ault. A
state audit said Renfrow began the work for Geo while still on the state
payroll. It also said that he is to collect a $1 million fee if the prison is
built. State employees are prohibited from providing paid assistance to
anyone to win state contracts or economic benefits. State law also prohibits
activities that constitute a conflict of interest. Ari Zavaras, who became
prisons chief with the new administration several weeks ago, said he asked
the CBI to take over the investigation to "overcome the perception that
it won't be a thorough investigation." Renfrow said Tuesday, "I
understand why he would do that, and I just hope it comes to quick
resolution." The Department of Corrections had been investigating. Its
report was to have been given to prosecutors if warranted. Zavaras said he is
letting the CBI decide whether the probe will become a criminal
investigation.
December 16, 2006 The Gazette
State prison officials have canceled a contract for a new private prison in
Pueblo, a move that casts doubt on how much Colorado will be able to rely on
private prisons while it copes with a crowding crisis. The GEO Group, which
was awarded a contract in 2003 to build the Pueblo pre-release prison, has
also been contracted to build and operate a prison in Ault, in northeastern
Colorado. But the same issue that doomed the Pueblo project — the company’s
insistence it be guaranteed nearly full occupancy — could derail the latter
prison, because GEO is making a similar demand. “If GEO’s going to demand a
bed guarantee, they need to leave the state,” said state Rep. Buffie
McFadyen, a Pueblo Democrat and leading critic of private prisons. “It is not
the job of the Colorado taxpayers to ensure profits for this corporation.”
The Pueblo prison was delayed repeatedly: by zoning issues, by a legal
challenge from a prison-reform group and by several revisions to the plan by
GEO. But the final impasse began this summer, when the company asked for a 90
percent minimum occupancy guarantee for the prison, which wasn’t a condition
of the original proposal and was opposed by Department of Corrections
officials. Private prisons are paid a daily rate per inmate by the state,
currently $52. Last month, the DOC denied a contract-extension request, and on
Thursday informed the company that it was canceling the contract. “Ground has
not broken, and GEO has given no indication when, or even if, it plans to
commence construction,” DOC executive director Joe Ortiz wrote. “Our patience
cannot be infinite.” The department is facing an acute crowding problem.
Years of canceled prison-construction projects and steady growth in court
caseloads have created a shortage of prison beds. The DOC this week began
shipping 720 inmates out of state, a temporary solution until new beds become
available. With only one state prison under construction, Colorado State
Penitentiary II in Cañon City, the DOC this year awarded contracts to three
companies to build prisons for 3,776 inmates. The GEO Group’s proposed
1,500-bed prison in Ault is a major part of the plan. Alison Morgan, head of
private-prison monitoring for the DOC, said the department still expects GEO
to follow through on its proposal in Ault. “We are treating the Pueblo
facility and the Ault facility separately. We have from Day 1, and we will
continue to do so,” Morgan said Friday. However, GEO is making the same
demand for guaranteed occupancy for the Ault prison. Asked whether the DOC is
still opposed to a guarantee, she said, “It is a policy decision to be addressed
by the new administration (of Gov.-elect Bill Ritter) and the General
Assembly.” The local community isn’t even sure it wants a prison. Ault’s town
board last month passed an ordinance requiring voter approval for the prison.
No election date has been set. McFadyen said she doesn’t believe GEO ever
intended to complete the Pueblo prison, and she doubts the company’s ability
and will to follow through in Ault. “We’ve been set back three years in our
planning,” McFadyen said. “I think that kind of delay is unacceptable, and
we’ll learn from this experience and not allow another contract to drag on
for three years.” A call to a spokesman in the company’s Boca Raton, Fla.,
headquarters was not returned Friday afternoon. An audit requested by
Mc-Fadyen regarding the bidding process for the Ault prison was released this
week. It showed that a top DOC official set up a consulting business to help
GEO win the bid while he was employed by the state. Because the DOC is based
in Colorado Springs, the office of 4th Judicial District Attorney John
Newsome will receive the results of the investigation and determine whether
any law was broken. Morgan said the DOC will issue a new request for
proposals for a pre-release prison.
December 16, 2006 ABC 7 News
The state has cut off negotiations and rescinded a contract with
developers planning to build a private prison in Pueblo. Colorado Department
of Corrections executive director Joe Ortiz sent a letter Friday to the GEO
Group, ending six months of negotiations. The letter cites numerous delays
and unresolved issues and says the department has run out of patience with
the developers. The Florida-based GEO Group had been working for about four
years to build the 1,000-bed prison near the Pueblo Memorial Airport
industrial park. Construction never got under way. The prison would have been
for pre-parole prisoners and prisoners who had seen their parole status
revoked. GEO bought about 36 acres for the facility last year, but
negotiations with the state broke down over the company's demand that the DOC
guarantee 90 percent occupancy and grant a 30-year contract. GEO operates
private detention centers in 15 states and one Canadian province as well as
in South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Pueblo facility is one
of two the company was planning in Colorado. The company's Web site also
indicates GEO in 2003 was awarded a contract to develop a 1,000-bed
immigration detention facility in the Denver suburb of Aurora. A DOC
spokeswoman says the department will put the Pueblo proposal back up for bid,
with no promise the facility will still be built in Pueblo.
December 14, 2006 Pueblo Chieftain
A three-year effort to build a private prison facility at the Pueblo
Memorial Airport Industrial Park appears to be dead after the Colorado
Department of Corrections and the prison company reached an impasse over
guaranteed occupancies. On Tuesday, reports said that the DOC was working
with the attorney general's office to draft a letter to the GEO Group that
essentially kills the company's plans to build a 1,000-bed pre-parole and
parole revocation facility on 36 acres east of the city. GEO officials said
Wednesday they had not received any letter from the DOC, but also didn't
express much confidence a deal could be struck for the facility. "We
have been in negotiations with the Department of Corrections, but we don't
have any contract signed and at this time it does not appear there will be
one," said Pablo Paez, director of communications for the Florida-based
company. Paez confirmed reports from November that the company was asking for
a minimum occupancy guarantee for the facility and also confirmed that the
company was planning to go to the city of Pueblo for help to build the
prison. ± PLEASE SEE PRISON, 2APRISON / continued from page 1A ± "We
needed the guarantee to secure the lowest capital cost through tax-exempt
bonds," Paez said Thursday. "We would get those through the local
municipality." State Rep. Liane "Buffie" McFadyen, D-Pueblo
West, who has been a vocal critic of the private prison industry, and state
Rep. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, wrote a letter to the city in May warning against
using public funds to build the facility. "I think it's very positive
that the city of Pueblo is not going to risk its credit rating on this project,"
McFadyen said Wednesday. Officials from the DOC were not available Wednesday
to comment on whether the letter had to do with the occupancy guarantees, or
the result of an audit suggesting former Director of Prisons Nolin Renfrow
may have broken the law by helping GEO secure DOC approval to build a
1,500-bed facility in Weld County, prior to his retirement in January. Paez
said GEO had no contact with Renfrow before March. Last month, DOC
spokeswoman Kathy Church told The Pueblo Chieftain that talks between the
company and the DOC over Pueblo's facility had stalled over the minimum
occupancy guarantees and had reached a critical point. "They need to
either understand our position and accept it or back out completely,"
Church said last month. Church told The Chieftain that the DOC couldn't make
any guarantees without knowing how much money it had to spend. That money
depends on what the joint budget committee decides. McFadyen wondered
Wednesday why those guarantees weren't part of the original agreement when
DOC solicited bids for the Pueblo project. "If the DOC negotiated
additional terms with GEO, they would be the only private prison company to
receive such treatment and that's wrong," McFadyen said Wednesday.
"I think this goes to the point of how committed they were to coming to
Pueblo in the first place." The plans to build the facility started in
2003 when GEO, then Wakenhut Corrections Company, proposed building the
prison on the West Side. Those plans eventually shifted to the airport and
the city approved a controversial agreement with GEO to build a 500- to
1,000-bed facility. A year ago, GEO bought the property at the airport from
the city for $296,800. GEO's original plan was to build a 750-bed facility at
the airport, but got Planning and Zoning Approval in May to expand the
facility to 1,000 beds.
December 14, 2006 Denver Post
Results of an investigation into former Colorado prisons director Nolin
Renfrow's conduct in office will be turned over to a district attorney early
next year, the Department of Corrections' inspector general said Wednesday.
Michael Rulo, who has been the agency's inspector general for seven years,
said his office has been cooperating with state auditors on the probe. On
Tuesday, the auditors announced that a "former senior- level
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