|
Clark County Detention Center
Clark, Nevada
Prison Health Services
May 4, 2004
The death of Karl Robert Kurfis was caused by the
denial of his HIV medication while in the Clark County Detention Center,
attorney Robert Langford said during opening arguments in a federal trial
Monday. A lawsuit originally filed on Kurfis'
behalf and now listing his mother as the plaintiff seeks $10 million in
punitive damages from Metro Police and Prison Health Services Inc., the
medical contractor for the Clark County Detention Center. "Karl Kurfis died because of a system that does not care about
the detainees who arrive and get sick at the Clark County Detention
Center," Langford said. "This trial is about a system that isn't
working. A system that does not provide medical care to citizens when they
are detained at the detention center." Bruce Alverson,
representing the defendants in the case, who also include former Sheriff
Jerry Keller and Dr. Harvey Hoffman, the jail's medical director, countered
that Kurfis did not die because of mistreatment at
the jail, but because of his own unwillingness to take his medication.
"The plaintiff refused to take his HIV medication," Alverson said. "Why? Because he abused
methamphetamine and it has been shown that drug abusers lack the
responsibility to take care of themselves." Kurfis,
34, died on June 3, 2002, of a strain of pneumonia that often attacks AIDS
patients. Kurfis had been arrested in February 2000
on a burglary charge, and was held until September of that year. Kurfis only received his HIV medication for 14 days
during the incarceration, Langford said. (Las Vegas Sun)
November 19, 2003
The family
of a French citizen who died in a videotaped struggle with Las Vegas jail
guards has settled a federal lawsuit against the jail's health care provider,
according to a relative and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The
undisclosed settlement between the family of Philippe LeMenn,
33, and Prison Health Services Inc., was the last of a series of civil
lawsuits stemming from LeMenn's death in January
2001. "Nothing can compensate the family for the tragic
loss of their son, but we hope this gives them some sense of relief and a
small measure of justice,"said Gary Peck,
executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. The ACLU
acted as co-counsel for the family. Peck said the
Oct. 29 settlement with the health care company, combined with a $500,000
settlement in July with Las Vegas police, illustrated the cost of providing
substandard inmate care at the county jail in Las Vegas. The ACLU acted as
co-counsel for the family. Lawyers for LeMenn's
family had alleged that Prison Health Services psychiatrists and
psychologists failed to identify LeMenn's mental
health problems when he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center.
Lawyers for the company, based in Brentwood, Tenn., could not immediately be
reached for comment. The ACLU alleged that the case
highlighted a chronic lack of care for mentally ill inmates at the jail.
The case
against Las Vegas police, who administer the jail, claimed wrongful death,
battery and negligent supervision and training of guards.
A Clark
County coroner ruled that LeMenn died of
asphyxiation due to restraint. A coroner's inquest cleared the nine
corrections officers videotaped struggling to subdue the 275-pound man.
Philip
Moreau, LeMenn's cousin, said he had wanted the
jail, guards and administrators held responsible for his cousin's death. He
said he disagreed with the family's decision to settle, and did not know the
settlement amount. "I wanted them to be punished
publicly, not under the table,"Moreau said by
telephone from his home in West Los Angeles, Calif. LeMenn, a restaurant
manager, had been arrested by Clark County School District police on charges
of disorderly conduct, annoying a minor and causing a disturbance on school
property. Police said he grabbed a child and banged on a school bus
before he was taken to jail. (Reno Gazette-Journal)
Las
Vegas Community Correctional
Las Vegas, Nevada
GEO Group
Apr 4, 2015 reviewjournal.com
A former prison inmate
claims he suffered a minor stroke and nearly died after he was deprived of
blood pressure medication for an extended period of time at a halfway house
in Las Vegas. Oscar Corado, 33, made the allegation
in a lawsuit he filed last year in Clark County District Court against The
GEO Group Inc., which operates the Las Vegas Community Correctional Center on
Industrial Road. On Thursday, the defendant’s attorneys moved the case to
federal court. According to the lawsuit, Corado
spent about 28 months at a federal prison in Sheridan, Ore., where the
medical staff diagnosed him with hypertension and placed him on prescription
medication to control the condition. In October 2012, Corado
was transferred to the halfway house in Las Vegas to finish the remainder of
his sentence. His lawsuit claims the staff at the correctional center stopped
providing Corado with his medication and “ignored
his medical needs for over a month.” On Nov. 7, 2012, staff at the halfway
house gave Corado his medication for the first time,
according to the lawsuit. Later that day, he began having chest pains and
dizziness. He was taken to Valley Hospital Medical Center, where “his medical
providers opined that the reintroduction of the medication following the
deprivation had caused what had amounted to a minor stroke,” the lawsuit
alleges. As a result, according to the document, Corado
incurred significant medical bills and nearly died. The defendant’s lawyers
could not be reached for comment Friday.
Las Vegas
Wal-Mart
Las Vegas,
Nevada
Wackenhut
(Group 4)
Jul 24, 2014 Reno Gazette Journal
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court has
upheld a $1 million verdict against a security firm accused of not doing
enough to prevent the fatal attack of a man in a crime-riddled Las Vegas Wal-Mart
parking lot. The high court on Friday declined to grant a new trial to
private security firm Wackenhut in the death of 51-year-old Michael Born. The
retired Air Force major had been changing his car’s headlight in the parking
lot in 2004 when Raymond Garrett punched him. Born later died of his
injuries. Lawyers for Born’s relatives argued in
2011 that Wackenhut should have been more vigilant in protecting customers at
the store on Nellis and Charleston. Attorneys said
police were called to the store an average of three times a day prior to the
attack.
February 16, 2011 The Street
After fiery closing arguments in the Smith v. Walmart trial, a jury found
Wackenhut, but not Wal-Mart(WMT), liable for
inadequate security in a store parking lot where a customer was murdered. The
jury awarded over $1M in damages. Michael Born was murdered in a Wal-Mart
parking lot while replacing his car's headlight. The plaintiffs claimed that
Wal-Mart knew the store was located in a high-crime area, and that police
were repeatedly called to the site. However, neither Wal-Mart nor its hired
security service, Wackenhut, took adequate measures to protect Wal-Mart
customers. Plaintiff attorney Mont Tanner reminded the jury that there had
been more than a hundred similar incidents of serious crimes at the store,
such as battery and robbery, most within the two years prior to the murder.
However, said Tanner, there was no annual security assessment at this
"crime magnet" by either Wal-Mart or Wackenhut, and the Wackenhut
patrol officer was not trained to identify or deal with suspicious persons.
Wal-Mart also allegedly failed to comply with its own security guidelines.
Lincoln
County, Nevada
Western Correction
June 25, 2000 The Independent
The scramble in the US for the rich rewards to be made out of the private
prison sector is leaving a trail of individual investors feeling as if their
pockets have been picked. Many prisons stand empty, with private investors
holding worthless bonds - a salient warning for those on this side of the
Atlantic who are advocating greater involvement by the private sector in our
penal system. The scramble in the US for the rich rewards to be made out of
the private prison sector is leaving a trail of individual investors feeling
as if their pockets have been picked. Many prisons stand empty, with private
investors holding worthless bonds - a salient warning for those on this side
of the Atlantic who are advocating greater involvement by the private sector
in our penal system. The demand for more space is far outpacing the building
of new US jails, so a for-profit prison looked like a sure thing for many New
York investors. But, after similar scandals in Florida and Texas, the
problems of a small prison in Nevada are shaking investors' confidence and
raising questions about whether profit can be made from felons. The investors
eagerly snapped up the tax-free municipal bonds in the billion-dollar
rent-a-bed prison business that swept the tumbleweeds of rural America in the
1990s. Buoyed up with the initial excitement and 90 per cent returns offered
in the shady rent-a-bed prisons, Lincoln County in Nevada set to work on a
plan sold it by Western Correction, an Albuquerque, New Mexico, agent that
promotes the idea of private prisons. The plan had been proven, it heard, in
other states, and Lincoln County was eager to jump on the
prisoners-for-profit bandwagon. Building conglomerates grew up in the feeding
frenzy. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is developing some 82 jails
with 73,000 beds in the US, the UK and Canada, and has 55 per cent of the
global private prison market. But as new technology takes over real estate as
the stock of choice in the high stakes poker game on Wall Street, prison privatisation is taking a drubbing. Last month CCA helped
remove Robert Crant, the CEO of Prison Realty Trust
(PRT) - which CCA now controls - when PRT stock dived and PRT stopped paying
dividends. Lincoln County hired a private equity company, Juran
& Moody, to issue $3.5m in tax-free bonds for a 64-bed jail. Investors
were offered the security of the lease of the land where the prison stood.
Prisoners could be traded for $30 to $50 each and if the experiment worked,
it would be expanded using prisoners from other parts of Nevada and
eventually other US states. Charles Thomas, who developed the University of
Florida's Private Prisons Project, funded by corporate donations from the
private prison sector, said: "For whatever good, bad, or indifferent
reason, there've been other privately financed facilities that couldn't make
a go of it, and so some who've invested in [them] have lost some significant
money." In Lincoln the numbers looked great and the county paid a hefty
fee in tax dollars to Juran & Moody. At $40 a
prisoner the jail would turn over a $1m a year. For the small Nevada county
whose population of 5,000 is scattered over 10,000 square miles, including a
nuclear weapons testing range, this was a windfall - and it took the bait.
The then county commissioner Ed Wright told the town hall that the profits
would go to build new sewage plants and schools. They then set about spending
most of the bondholders' money paying Salt Lake City's Layton Construction,
the state's top engineer, to build it. The prison gates opened in 1994.
Today, six years later, it still lies empty, the wind whistling through the
razor wire, tumbleweed pinioned on the chain link fence. And in an ironic
twist of fate the new county commissioner, Floyd Lamb, a former state senator
who's spent time in a federal prison for blackmail, refused to send inmates
and defaulted on the lease. Local Sheriff Dahl Bradfield was installed in the
prison with his men but they promptly left the place empty. Bondholders were
told they could have the jail back. In private hands the prison was subject
to property taxes and the bondholders still hadn't seen any return on their
investment. A for-sale sign was hammered on the door. Juran
& Moody liquidated itself and the remains of the bond transaction lie
hidden in a trust set up before the company died. If the sale goes through,
"The bondholders would be able to offset their losses against gains they
made in private equities," says Ted Brownell, a manager with the firm
that acquired Juran & Moody's assets, including
the prison. That's if they have any equities. The bondholders had watched
their 1992 investment shrink to nothing today. And Lincoln County is paying
to house prisoners in jails across the state. "That's rural small-town
politics," says a former county commissioner. The bondholders have been
given a reprieve until September to come up with back taxes before forfeiture
proceedings begin. Spring Past, a California real estate investment firm specialising in distressed properties, offered to take
the facility off their hands for $500,000. That, after the initial
investment, missed interest payments and back taxes, would have been 10 cents
on the dollar for investors. That offer was withdrawn when Spring Past
couldn't find a private firm to operate the jail. For now, bondholders,
mostly individual investors from New York, are holding paper that's never
paid a penny. It seems their best hope is for the county to buy the jail. The
county commission has discussed offering £500,000, if it can come up with the
financing - now a mute point. Dissatisfaction with the for-profit prison
spread to neighbouring Phoenix, where the
construction of a private jail was cancelled this month after the local
community's protests reached federal government, which put a stop to the
project. "When it doesn't work, the core problem tends to be that the
established for-profit prison sector isn't involved at all and that those who
are - investment bankers, real estate developers - simply don't know much
about jails," said Dr Thomas. A point worth thinking about, perhaps, for
those desperate to bring private equity into Britain's creaking prison
service.
Nevada Department of Corrections
Jan 20, 2022 digitaljournal.com
Judge Denies CoreCivic's Request to Dismiss Proposed Nationwide
Wiretapping Class Action
MINNEAPOLIS, MN,
January 20, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ - On January 14, 2022, Judge Jennifer A.
Dorsey of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada ruled that a
lawsuit against the for-profit prison company, CoreCivic,
should move forward. CoreCivic had sought to
dismiss the lawsuit, which is a proposed class action that alleges CoreCivic wiretapped attorneys' phone calls with their
clients who were confined in CoreCivic's prisons
and detention centers. The Plaintiff, Kathleen Bliss, is herself a criminal
defense attorney and will seek to certify a nationwide class of attorneys who
have had their calls with clients recorded, as well as a subclass of Nevada
attorneys. Bliss alleges CoreCivic violated the
Federal and Nevada Wiretap Acts. Bliss said of the court's decision:
"The attorney-client relationship is one of the most important
protections that the Constitution extends to all of us in America. It is key
to our liberty, our ability to defend ourselves against government
accusations. Judge Dorsey's decision recognizes the seriousness, the
importance of these rights; and though not deciding the merits, this first
step demonstrates that all accused people expect and deserve to have the
confidentiality of their innermost thoughts and conversations with counsel
preserved and respected without violation or ill-intention." Bliss is
represented by Anna P. Prakash, Charles A. Delbridge,
Matthew H. Morgan, Melanie A. Johnson, and Charles J. O'Meara of Nichols Kaster, PLLP; Michael Hodgson of The Hodgson Law Firm,
LLC; Lance Sandage of Sandage
Law LLC; Joseph K. Eischens of the Law Office of
Joseph K. Eischens; and Paul S. Padda of Paul Padda
Law, PLLC. The case is Kathleen Bliss, on behalf of herself, the Proposed
Nationwide Rule 23 Class, and the Proposed Nevada Subclass v. CoreCivic, Inc., Case No. 2:18-cv-01280-JAD-EJY (District
of Nevada). Nichols Kaster, PLLP, an employee,
consumer, and civil rights firm has dedicated over 45 years to fighting for
clients in individual and class action matters. With offices in Minneapolis,
Minnesota and San Francisco, California, the firm is perfectly situated for
the work it does representing plaintiffs in cases across the country. The
firm has recently received a First Tier ranking on the 2022 Best Law Firms
List in Minneapolis for Litigation-Labor and Employment by U.S. News-Best LawyersR "Best Law Firms.
Feb 27, 2020 thenevadaindependent.com
State auditors raise
questions about efficacy of new Day Reporting Centers for parolees
A state audit cast
some doubts on the cost-effectiveness of Nevada’s new Day Reporting Centers,
which offer a higher level of supervision, life skills classes and other
resources to people on parole or probation. The audit, discussed Wednesday at
the Executive Branch Audit Committee that includes Gov. Steve Sisolak,
Attorney General Aaron Ford and others, found that the state is paying a flat
rate of nearly $769,000 a year for the physical centers in Reno and Las Vegas
but is about 12 percent below capacity on average. The result is a “windfall”
for the contractor of about $94,000 a year that, if used instead to pay rent
for recently released inmates, could help the state save more than $450,000,
auditors concluded. “DRCs are a high cost program serving a small percentage
of offenders at an additional cost to community supervision,” auditors wrote.
“Allocating resources to other successful programs and services optimizes
limited funds for reintegration efforts to maximize outcomes.” Auditors
looked more kindly on “indigent funding,” a pot of
money that subsidizes rent for people recently released from prison. Nevada
has struggled to get inmates back into the community as soon as they’re
eligible for parole largely because the inmates have nowhere to go; offenders
stay in prison an average of 93 days more than they otherwise would because
they lack appropriate housing, the report said. A $433,000 investment in
indigent funding in 2018 yielded a cost savings of $6.2 million, mostly
because the state did not have to pay to keep parole-eligible people in
prison, the audit noted. The Division of Parole and Probation pushed back on
the conclusions in an extensive written response, questioning the math that
auditors used and positing that inmates were double counted when estimating
the cost savings. The division says that auditors overstated the cost of
inmates staying in prison beyond their parole dates by about 43 percent. The
division also said that the overall concept of DRCs has “been so impactful”
that Georgia’s use of the centers was recognized within the audit itself. And
they said that in many cases, people using the services of the DRC would
otherwise have been incarcerated at taxpayer expense. “Considering the
purposes of the Indigent Funding budget and the Daily [sic] Reporting Center
program, both were successful and represent a reduction in state
incarceration costs,” Parole and Probation Chief Anne Carpenter wrote in a
response to the audit. “As such, both remain worthy of continued funding and
utilization by the Division.” Centers in Reno and Las Vegas, which were
authorized by legislators in 2017 and opened in late 2017 and early 2018,
were recently in the spotlight because the state approved a new vendor to run
them. Previously operated by Sentinel — a company best known for parolee GPS monitoring
equipment — the state’s Board of Examiners earlier this month awarded a
two-year contract to GEO Reentry. GEO Group, the umbrella company, is best
known for operating for-profit prisons and has attracted scrutiny for
conditions in the detention centers it operates for Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE). More globally, critics have said that the profit motive in
having private companies offer DRC services creates an incentive to supervise
more parolees more intensively than is beneficial. Before the Board of Examiners awarded the
DRC contract earlier this month, Sisolak asked if the centers would direct
any state resources to ICE detention. Parole officials said that the centers
would not have any connection to ICE detention and emphasized that DRCs are
not live-in facilities but rather drop-in centers. On Wednesday, Ford asked
how the division would be addressing underutilization of the centers. “We
just had a meeting yesterday and the day before with the new vendor, and
we’ve already discussed metrics, we’ve discussed how we will utilize it
better and more efficiently, so those talks are already underway,” Carpenter
responded. The audit also raised other general criticisms of the Day
Reporting Centers, saying they “show low performance.” Of the 4,536 people
who had participated in DRC activities at the time of the audit, only 113, or
less than 3 percent, had “graduated” the program. Auditors also said that 164
of the participants had found employment, but none had achieved a GED or
obtained housing through the DRC. The audit said the weekday-only schedule of
the DRC, and the fact that staff are not licensed practitioners of any kind,
are limitations of the centers. “Although DRCs are becoming a popular
alternative to incarceration for those under community supervision, there is
conflicting research on the overall effectiveness of DRCs,” the report said.
It noted that a February 2019 research brief from UNLV found that DRC
participants were more successful than those in the control group but “acknowledged
a long-term study is necessary to show the impact of DRCs on reducing
recidivism.” Sisolak, too, called for more study of the centers. The audit
division promised a follow up on the DRCs in a year. “I just want to
emphasize … how important it is to have accurate information and make sure
that we’re utilizing to the full potential those services, and then tracking
any data points that we’re concerned about,” Sisolak said, pointing out that
he had called for the new contract to be halved before it was approved
earlier this month. “That’s why we reduced it from a four-year contract out
to two — to decide if it’s worth keeping
moving forward.”
Oct 22, 2017 thenevadaindependent.com
Transparency advocates concerned about Nevada's new partnership with
private prison, which is exempt from public records law
Nevada’s plan to use private prisons to ease overcrowding in state
facilities has already been controversial on principle — Democratic lawmakers
don’t like the idea of a company profiting off incarceration. But civil
liberties advocates are raising another concern about the arrangement — that
private companies contracting with the government aren’t subject to state or
federal public records laws, potentially complicating the public’s ability to
get timely, complete information about how safely and effectively Nevada
inmates are being taken care of. “There’s really no oversight over that if
we’re not able to request that information through [the Freedom of
Information Act],” said Holly Welborn of the American Civil Liberties Union
of Nevada. “There’s no way to hold them accountable.” Nevada Department of
Corrections Chief James Dzurenda said the 200 or so
inmates who will be sent to Arizona in November through a $9.2 million,
two-year contract with the company CoreCivic will
be treated with the same standards as the nearly 14,000 inmates under
Nevada’s direct supervision. The agency also says they’ll be collecting the
same information from the company as they would about inmates in state
prisons — data about inmate grievances, disciplinary action, segregation,
hospitalizations and deaths — to provide to the governor and the Legislature.
But the department has yet to release specific reporting requirements and
procedures. As of last week, spokeswoman Brooke Keast
said they were still being finalized. The state of Hawaii, whose prisoners
occupy most of the space at the Arizona facility where Nevada inmates will
go, conducts audits every three months to ensure the prison is complying with
its state contractual standards and posts the reports online. Auditors draw
from records reviews, staff and inmate interviews and observations to fill
out a detailed, 243-point checklist covering everything from whether
substance abuse counselors are certified to whether refrigerators are
maintained at the proper temperature. It’s unclear if Nevada will take the
same approach. And even if the state is collecting the information, Welborn
warned that contractors can sometimes exploit a loophole by marking key
documents as “internal,” preventing their public release. Democratic
Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, a former corrections officer herself,
sponsored a bill in the 2017 session that started out banning the use of
private prisons and later became a measure eliminating their use after five
years. It was vetoed by Gov. Brian Sandoval, who said he didn’t want to tie
the hands of the corrections agency when trends in the prison population are
so unpredictable. In hindsight, she says, she should have split her bill into
two. In addition to the more controversial ban, the bill set reporting
requirements for any outside prisons companies the state works with,
mandating data about the makeup of the prison population, their discipline
and how many were participating in rehabilitation programming, and requiring
biannual, on-site inspections of private prisons to ensure compliance with a
contract. “I will be staying on top of that,” Monroe-Moreno said. “Whether
it’s mandated or not, [Dzurenda] seems to be in
agreement with me and others that that information is vitally important.”
Corrections officials have sounded a desperate plea to get relief from
out-of-state as they struggle with a stubbornly high staff vacancy rate and
cramped quarters. There were 13,683 inmates in the system as of mid-October,
which is hundreds more people than beds, and several wings of Nevada prisons
will be going out of commission soon for major repairs and upgrades. “We have 322 inmates today
that are not sleeping or being housed in traditional bed areas,” Dzurenda told the Board of Examiners on Oct. 10, when
they approved the CoreCivic contract. “Those
inmates go into day room areas, program areas that we make appropriate
housing for, but it takes away program space that we know is going to help
get these inmates back into society much better than they came in.” The pleas
for funding for private prison space were met with skepticism in the
Democratic-controlled Legislature, which only authorized money for 200
inmates to be sent out of state rather than the 400 the agency requested. Dzurenda expressed some regret that the state had to
resort to the private solution at all. “It’s unfortunate that the state has
to even look at this today,” he told the board. But he suggested that the
state could be better off if it’s able to send away the worst bullies and bad
apples, relieving inmates who truly want to change. The agency plans to
prioritize inmates who are “identified with strategic threat groups,” are
having disciplinary issues or are not originally from Nevada as the first to
move, although Dzurenda said he won’t be
transferring people with serious mental illness. “I think it’s important if I
make a pact with our staff that we’re not going to tolerate this. We’re not
going to tolerate any of this behavior by these inmates,” Dzurenda
said. “If they want to partake in gang activity, if they want to disrupt the
operation of our facilities, they will find themselves going to Arizona where
I can create a better environment here in Nevada for those that really do
need the help to get back in the community.” While this marks Nevada’s first
time working with a private prison, the practice is done at a higher rate at
the federal level. About 18 percent of federal prisoners (34,900 inmates) are
housed in a contract prison, while about 7 percent of state prisoners (91,300
inmates) were in private facilities in 2015. Private operators such as CoreCivic also run many detention centers for Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including the 1,072-bed Nevada Southern
Detention Center in Pahrump. Almost three quarters of federal immigration
detainees are in private facilities. “We appreciate Nevada’s trust in CoreCivic to provide them a high quality, flexible
solution to their current needs,” said Jonathan Burns, a spokesman for the
company, which was the only one to submit a bid to serve Nevada. “CoreCivic has more than 30 years of experience providing
safe, secure and humane correctional services and effective reentry
programming to diverse correctional populations. We are confident our
state-of-the-art facility, combined with CoreCivic’s
deep experience managing a wide range of inmates, will lead to a successful
partnership.” But the world of private prisons hasn’t all been rosy,
according to a report from the Department of Justice’s inspector general in
2016 that compared 14 private prisons with 14 federally run prisons. It found
that from fiscal years 2011 through 2014, the private facilities had more
contraband, reports of incidents, lockdowns, inmate discipline, telephone monitoring
and grievances than the public facilities. The private facilities performed
better in drug testing and sexual misconduct, auditors found. The inspector
general’s office recommended closer oversight of the facilities, including
more frequent verification that inmates are receiving basic medical services,
periodically validating whether the actual staffing levels are meeting the
agreed-upon levels and ensuring that monitoring steps yield meaningful
information. Under the Obama Administration, the tide turned against the use
of private prisons. In August 2016, then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates
directed the Bureau of Prisons not to renew or substantially reduce the scope
of private prison contracts as they expire. Current Attorney General Jeff Sessions
rescinded the memo this February, saying it impaired the bureau’s ability to
respond to future needs. Now some lawmakers are asking for more insight into
the contract facilities’ operations. Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin introduced a
bill in August that would require private prisons to be subject to the
Freedom of Information Act. “Private prisons account for 20 percent of our
federal prison and detention population but hide behind loopholes in the law
when it comes to how they perform their job on behalf of the American
people,” Cardin said about the measure, which has the support of open
government groups but has no co-sponsors. Barry Smith, director of the Nevada
Press Association, agrees. He believes any contract outsourcing state
functions to a private company should explicitly state that all records
remain under the ownership and control of the government, thus making them
public records. “Private companies doing the work of a government agency
should still be subject to the same open-records requirements as the
government itself,” Smith said. “In the case of a prison, it should be
obvious that everything a contractor does is acting in the role of the
Department of Corrections. We can’t have secret jails or a shadow justice
system. It has to be an open book.” Dzurenda said
he and NDOC’s director of programs visited the Arizona facility, which is
located in Eloy — halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. The 1,896-bed prison
was built mainly for inmates from Hawaii because it’s cheaper than keeping
them on the islands, and the facility observes Hawaiian traditions and
holidays including King Kamehameha Day. “It was important for us to see that
so I can feel comfortable that they will be receiving the services that we
asked for, but also that we’re not going to reduce any of the services for
these offenders, for reentry back into the community when that point comes,”
said Dzurenda. He noted that the prison is
accredited by the American Correctional Administration, which he said
conducts audits to ensure the treatment, programs, grievance process and out
of cell time meet standards. “And you’re 100 percent … that they will be
treated the same as if they were in Nevada?” Sandoval asked at the Board of
Examiners meeting. “That is correct,” Dzurenda
answered. Monroe-Moreno didn’t get to check out the Arizona facility on Dzurenda’s recent tour. But she said she plans to do so
moving forward, and wants the state to work on getting an unvarnished picture
of how the private company is handling the public’s wards. “When you have
company coming, everything is shiny and new,” she said. “I think we need more
unannounced visits … sometimes that’s a logistical nightmare but that’s when
you find out the truth.”
Nevada Legislature
Jun
13, 2019 mohavedailynews.com
Nevada: Bans private prisons
Late last month, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signed into law AB183, a bill
which would ban the use of private prisons for core services, such as housing
and custody. Nevada now joins Iowa, New York, and Illinois in establishing
this type of prohibition. During the 2017 legislative session, Assemblywoman
Daniele Monroe-Moreno introduced AB303, an Assembly bill that contained
similar language banning private prisons. However, then-Gov. Brian Sandoval
vetoed the bill and subsequently signed a $9.2 million two-year contract with
CoreCivic, a private prison company, to house 200
Nevadan inmates in a private correctional facility in Arizona. The company,
formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America, had a notoriously poor
track record with regard to inmate safety. Shortly
after their transfer to the facility, some of the inmates went on a hunger
strike to protest their treatment. Reports at the time noted allegations of
inadequate medical care, retaliation and other forms of mistreatment against
the inmates. In addition to these issues, lawmakers also had concerns that
contract was hastily thought out and too costly to Nevada taxpayers. “As a
retired corrections officer, I have seen firsthand the need for improved
services and reforms in our criminal justice system,” said Monroe-Moreno, the
bill’s primary sponsor. “Outlawing for-profit prisons once and for all will
better help us achieve a criminal justice system of equity, integrity, and
fairness — a system that views prisoners as people instead of profit
margins.” Under AB183, the provisions prohibiting the Department of
Corrections from contracting with private prisons will go into effect July 1,
2022.
Mar 16, 2019 ktnv.com
Nevada legislative panel approves
private prison ban
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A bill seeking to ban private prisons in Nevada
has passed a legislative hurdle. Legislators on a state Assembly committee
voted on Friday to approve legislation that requires the "core
correctional services" at each prison to be performed by local or state
employees. It is sponsored by Democrat Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno,
who told lawmakers earlier this month the state has no private-run prisons at the moment. She says the state once did and experienced
"negative consequences." Several Republican lawmakers voted against
the measure. The same committee on Friday passed a separate measure that
would ban forced human microchipping.
Dec 27, 2017 luxoraleader.com
Assemblywoman wants to ban private prisons in Nevada
There was no opposition to a proposed ban on private prisons in Nevada
when the bill came before a committee of lawmakers this morning.
Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, is amending the bill
to bring down the anticipated price tag of almost $85 million and to give the
prison system time to transition. A retired corrections officer,
Monroe-Moreno said Monday that she’s seen the need for improved services and
criminal justice reforms. “The use of for-profit prisons can be a temporary
fix if necessary, but it is not the ultimate fix for the overcrowding issues
and other problems that we have in our criminal justice system,” she said.
Monroe-Moreno said for-profit prisons are a big business. “It kind of
incentivizes having people be incarcerated more often, having longer
sentences,” she said. The Nevada Department of Corrections estimated the cost
of the original version of Assembly Bill 303 and said it would be unable to
meet the proposed requirements with current resources. The $85 million
estimate attached to the original bill took several issues into account, such
as new construction and the potential lease of an alternate facility in North
Las Vegas. Monroe-Moreno said the amended version largely eliminates that
estimated cost. Nevada’s one for-profit facility is a federal prison in
Pahrump that Monroe-Moreno said the Legislature cannot control. The bill
requires that state and local prisons, jails and detention facilities fall
under the direct operational control of the state or a local government.
Members of the Assembly’s Corrections, Parole and Probation Committee heard
support for the bill from corrections officials and public defenders, among
others. Department of Corrections Director James Dzurenda
said there were almost 600 inmates sleeping in unconventional housing, such
as day rooms and program rooms. Gov. Brian Sandoval’s recommended budget
requests that 200 inmates be housed out of state due to crowding and needed
repairs in an uninhabitable part of Southern Desert Correctional Center. The
Corrections Department’s fiscal note says the original bill would have
prevented that. Monroe-Moreno said the amended bill would temporarily house
those inmates out of state while repairs are made. “We’ve come to a happy
medium between what they need and what I’d like to see,” she said. Two
buildings need to be repaired. Monroe-Moreno said she’s been told the work
would take two years for each, and the inmates would be moved back in state
as soon as the facilities are ready. “Once we’re able to get them back in,
we’ll have refurbished facilities but we’ll also have more programming to
help with the behavioral health care issues and education issues once they
come back,” she said. Less employee training and higher turnover are some of
the issues seen in some for-profit prisons, said Nicole Porter, of the
Washington, D.C.-based Sentencing Project, a nonprofit advocacy group. “With
AB 303, Nevada lawmakers have an opportunity to codify the practice of
incarcerating no state prisoners in private prison,” Porter said. Assemblyman
Keith Pickard said people hear about the same kinds of problem outcomes in
the public prison system as well. Porter said overpopulation issues can contribute
to issues within prisons while also contributing to the need for for-profit
facilities. Keeping in mind the prisoners being transferred out of state,
Pickard asked for an analysis of institutions that are run well. “We’re
talking about a mixed bag of results,” he said. “I’m wondering if then there
are best practices.” If passed, the provisions in the bill would take effect
in July. A sunset clause would give prisons five years to transition.
Jun 14, 2017 lasvegassun.com
Sandoval vetoes proposed ban on private prisons
Assembly Bill 303 is among more than two dozen measures to be vetoed.
Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, sponsored the
proposed private prison ban, and worked with stakeholders to amend the
measure to allow agencies until 2022 to make the transition. Sandoval cited
executive authority in his veto message.. “To the
extent that the intent of AB303 is to ensure that Nevada maintains complete
control over its prisons and prison population, there is some merit to the bill,”
Sandoval said. “But because the bill improperly encroaches on the authority
and discretion of the executive branch of state government, including the
State Board of Prison Commissioners, I cannot support it.” He said the bill
goes too far by limiting the discretion of the Department of Corrections
director to use private prisons when overcrowding or other issues make these
facilities necessary. He also cited the high costs of building more
facilities. “Between now and 2022, much can happen, and there is no way to
predict whether private prisons may need to play a critical part in Nevada's
future prison needs,” Sandoval said. Monroe-Moreno said on Twitter that the
governor’s decision was disappointing, and that she has no intention of
ending her work on this issue.
May 31, 2017 lasvegassun.com
Bill banning private prisons in Nevada reaches final version
A proposed private prison ban is in its final version and making its way
toward a Senate vote with days left before the legislative session ends. Assembly
Bill 303 came up for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, is sponsoring the
measure and says she expects it to reach Gov. Brian Sandoval’s desk in its
current form. Monroe–Moreno worked with Nevada Department of Corrections
Director James Dzurenda to amend the bill, giving
officials enough time to deal with overcrowded facilities and needed repairs.
A retired corrections officer, Monroe–Moreno says two facilities need work.
She said the Southern Desert Correctional Center segregation unit will be
refurbished and the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City needs
to be made compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Nevada
Department of Corrections estimated that the original bill would have cost
tens of millions of dollars to implement. The current version allows Nevada
to continue sending inmates out of state through the Interstate Compact for
Adult Offenders for five years. “So by allowing five years that gave them
enough time to get both facilities to where they needed to be for our
citizens to live in and to work in,” Monroe-Moreno said. Dzurenda
told the Senate committee Monday that the hope is to get inmates back into
the state. He said contracts will ensure out-of-state inmates have the same
offerings as Nevada prisoners. Monroe-Moreno said that prisoners sent out of
state during the five years could end up in a state facility or for-profit
prison. She said using that tool temporarily will allow the state to make its
facilities humane for the people who live and work there. “The five-year
window gave enough leeway time for that to happen,” Monroe-Moreno said. “As
the director said, it’s his hope to bring everyone back in.” Dzurenda said Tuesday that 200 inmates need to be removed
almost immediately from the portion of the Southern Nevada facility that will
be refurbished. “The building foundation is cracking and there’s some sewage
issues,” he said. This refurbishment will cost about $10 million, Dzurenda said, hitting areas needing immediate
improvements. He also said officials are in the planning stages for new
dormitories at the Carson City facility. Monroe-Moreno said banning private
prisons sends a message that the state has tried this method before and doesn’t
want to go down that path again. The Southern Nevada Women’s Correctional
Facility was operated by the Corrections Corporation of America when the
Nevada Department of Corrections’ inspector general was made aware of
substandard supervision and medical treatment of inmates. Nevada’s state
prisons are not currently run by any for-profit industries. “I may not be in
the Legislature 20 years from now and we want to make sure that the next
generations of leaders know that we’ve ... learned from this,” Monroe-Moreno
said. The goal is to avoid overcrowding issues that the state is facing now,
Monroe-Moreno said. “Hopefully we don’t have this overcrowding problem again,
but that is a bigger issue than the for-profit prison,” she said after
Tuesday’s hearing. “It’s working on their parole, and parole hearings, and
probation and making sure that the first order of business when someone
messes up is not to put them right back into prison but to look at what those
wraparound issues were that caused them to mess up.” In its current form, the
bill passed a 38-3 Assembly vote on May 24 and was sent to the Senate.
Members of the judiciary committee who heard the bill Tuesday need to approve
the bill before the full Senate can consider whether to send it to the
governor. The last day of the 120-day session is June 5.
Apr 5, 2017 reviewjournal.com
Assembly bill will bar for-profit prison operators in Nevada
CARSON CITY — For-profit companies that run prisons may get locked out of
doing business in Nevada. Assembly Bill 303, heard Tuesday by the Committee
on Corrections, Parole and Probation, would forbid local jails and state
prisons from contracting with private companies for so-called core services.
Those services, which include housing, security and discipline of inmates,
would have to be provided by state or local government employees. Government
agencies would be allowed to contract with private vendors for support
services, such as food service, medical support and janitorial work.
Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, D-North Las Vegas, said the bill is
needed to avoid problems associated with the for-profit prison industry.
Monroe-Moreno, a primary sponsor of the bill, also said the private prisons’
business model runs contrary to the goals of a corrections system: to
rehabilitate inmates and reduce recidivism. “If the point of a prison is to
ensure justice and provide for the welfare of our citizens, then the use of
for-profit prisons is entirely defective,” said Monroe-Moreno, a retired
North Las Vegas corrections officer. The legislation was amended Tuesday to
enable the Nevada Department of Corrections to contract with private
companies to house inmates out of state. That amendment is intended to give
the agency flexibility to deal with overcrowding. Department of Corrections
Director James Dzurenda said the state prison
system is facing overcrowding, forcing officials to place about 600 inmates
in unconventional housing areas. Officials also need to renovate a unit of
Southern Desert Correctional Center north of Las Vegas; that work will
necessitate the transfer of about 200 inmates. There is no room to place the
inmates elsewhere in the system, so moving them temporarily to a private
out-of-state facility is likely, he said. The bill requires any private
correctional facility that contracts with Nevada to meet state standards and
face biannual compliance audits. That exception in the law would sunset after
five years, giving the state Department of Corrections time to complete the
renovation. No one spoke in opposition to the bill. The committee did not
take immediate action on it Tuesday. Nevada’s experiences with private
prisons has been checkered. In 1997, Southern Nevada Women’s Correctional
Facility opened under the management of the Corrections Corporation of America.
Six years later, the state uncovered numerous problems at the facility,
including inappropriate relationships between inmates and staff and
substandard medical treatment. In one instance, a male guard impregnated an
inmate. The CCA, which last year changed its name to CoreCivic,
did not renew its contract to run the facility, citing losses of more than $1
million annually. The Nevada Department of Corrections now runs the facility,
which was renamed Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center. “We do not
need to repeat the mistakes of our past,” Monroe-Moreno said.
Apr 3, 2017 kolotv.com
Lawmakers considering private prison ban for Nevada inmates
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada lawmakers this week will debate issues
ranging from private prisons and gift card expiration dates to renewable
energy and health care. The prison proposal would prohibit state and local
government agencies from incarcerating Nevada offenders in privately operated
prisons. No private prisons currently exist in Nevada. But the bill would
affect a handful of the 13,300 prisoners overseen by the state because 46 of
them are currently in private prisons outside of Nevada. Gov. Brian Sandoval
proposed this year to move 200 more people to them to relieve overcrowding.
The prison bill will be heard Tuesday.
September 21, 2008 Las Vegas Sun
Some state lawmakers plan to push to end local governments’ hiring of lobbyists
to represent them at the Legislature, but the Clark County Commission last
week agreed to negotiate a contract with R&R Partners to lobby on behalf
of University Medical Center. Is there a particular lobbyist who will be
working on the UMC account? Yes, a former assemblyman, Jim Spinello. He has a long history in state politics. The
year after he lost a bid for secretary of state in November 1990, he became
assistant general manager of the State Industrial Insurance System. Last
year, he was appointed chairman of a 60-member committee, Nevada Educators
for Edwards, established by then-presidential candidate John Edwards. Didn’t
the county select someone else for the lobbying job recently? The county’s
choice of R&R represents quite a change from its previous choice of J3,
the lobbying firm of Robert Uithoven, a longtime
Republican who withdrew his name from consideration in August. Democrats
dominate the commission 5-2, with Rory Reid, son of the U.S. Senate majority
leader, serving as chairman. Uithoven’s being
considered for the job drew many questions. Not only has Uithoven
worked on behalf of Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons, he argued last summer that
the casino industry should be able to obtain refunds for up to $150 million
in state taxes that casinos paid on comped meals. How much is the R&R
contract for? The amount is to be negotiated before being brought to the
commission for final approval. Who else does R&R represent? Perhaps the
better question is: Who doesn’t it represent? During the 2007 session,
lobbyists for the firm represented myriad businesses and industries including
the Andre Agassi Foundation, the Corrections Corp. of America, the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, Medic West, Las Vegas Monorail, the
Nevada Cancer Institute, the Nevada Mining Association, the Nevada Resort
Association, Opportunity Village, Planned Parenthood, the Southern Nevada
Home Builders Association and US Airways.
Nevada
Southern Detention Center
Pahrump, Nevada
CCA
Jan
13, 2022 nevadacurrent.com
Rosen
calls for review of Pahrump ICE detention facility
Nevada
Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen is calling on Homeland Security to conduct a
review of a Pahrump detention center used by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, saying the facility is potentially obstructing detainees' legal
rights and their pathways for release. In a letter sent Tuesday to Homeland
Security Under Secretary Robert Silvers, Rosen states her office has become
aware of reports that detainees at the Nevada Southern Detention Center
"lack sufficient access to counsel" and that the facility is not
properly notifying attorneys when their clients are transferred to other
facilities, including ones in other states. The senator says the issues are
"deeply concerning" and is calling on Homeland Security to conduct
a "full review" of Nevada's ICE detention facilities. Allegations
within the letter include that attorneys have faced
"significant communication challenges" with facility staff when
attempting to schedule meetings with their clients. Additionally, attorneys
have reported the detention center has required them to meet with clients in
the facility's front lobby, a public area where attorney client-privilege
cannot be maintained, rather than a private space. Detainees have also been
denied accommodations for their disabilities, according to the letter. Rosen
acknowledged that while COVID-19 safety protocols may affect some operations,
"such actions still raise serious concerns and are a potential violation
of the fundamental values of our judicial system and basic rights in our
country." The letter also states there are reports of the ICE facility
transferring detainees without properly notifying their legal counsel. This
significantly complicates effective legal representation and creates an undue
burden when coordinating support for potential release," adds the
letter. ICE maintains an "Online Detainee Locator System" but attorneys have said the system often does not
have accurate or up-to-date information. Nevada Southern Detention Center,
located in Pahrump roughly 60 miles from Las Vegas, is operated by CoreCivic, a private company formerly known as
Corrections Corporation of America that boasts it is "the largest owner
of partnership correctional, detention and residential reentry
facilities" in the nation. The company also believes it is "the
largest private owner of real estate used by government agencies,"
according to its website. The detention center is designed for approximately
1,000 detainees. In addition to being contracted with ICE, the facility holds
a contract with the U.S. Marshall Service. In a statement to the Current, CoreCivic Public Affairs Director Ryan Gustin said the firm "has not received any
complaints or grievances from detainees or attorneys about legal access
issues" at its Pahrump facility, adding CoreCivic
does "not have a role in, nor any influence over, the legal
process." "CoreCivic does not have any
say whatsoever in an individual's deportation, release, or transfer between
facilities," Gustin said, and referred questions
to ICE. Tuesday's letter was not the first time Rosen has spoken out about CoreCivic's Pahrump detention center. In January 2020,
Rosen and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto sent a joint letter to Homeland
Security and the Office of Inspector General asking for an investigation
after Vice News reported a senior employee at the facility was active on a
neo-Nazi website and expressed interest in starting a white supremacist
group. Immigration attorney Dee Sull says she and
her clients have "experienced it all - and then some" when it comes
to issues described within Rosen's letter. Sull in
July 2020 filed a lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions and inadequate medical
care at Nevada Southern Detention Center during the pandemic. That suit is
currently in the discovery phase. Sull says that
throughout the pandemic, and as recently as last week, she has been denied
the ability to visit her clients face-to-face and forced to meet via video
chat while she sits in the lobby and her client sits in a recreation room. Neither
has privacy. Delivery men, other detainees and guards mill about in the
background. "They're nice people, some of them, but I don't need them
sitting there listening to my conversations," she adds. Sull calls it a due process issue and believes it to be
unconstitutional. She blames CoreCivic and ICE for
the issues, saying both the corporation and the government agency seem as if
they cannot be bothered to do even the bare minimum. "It's the bare
minimum," she says. "Nobody is asking for a favor or special
treatment." Sull invested in N95 masks for
protection. She routinely makes the hour-and-a-half trek to Pahrump from Las
Vegas in hopes of meeting face-to-face because in-person meetings lead to
more "meaningful conversations." It's a calculated risk and
commitment she and other attorneys are willing to make. "And they can't
do it?" she asks aloud. "We've all changed (to adapt to the
pandemic). Every single one of us did. It's time for them to go ahead and do
it." Sull says facility staff will tell attorneys
all the meeting rooms are full, yet the visitor log-in book shows few
visitors, or they will say the only time for a private meeting is at 7 a.m.
on a holiday. "It's all very deliberate and calculated on the part of
these industries," she adds. Issues with ICE detention facilities,
especially regarding abrupt transfers not being properly disclosed to
detainees' legal counsel, were being routinely reported by immigration
attorneys long before the pandemic began. But the pandemic has empowered
obstruction, Sull and other lawyers believe.
"I think covid in general has been weaponized against attorneys,"
says Sull. "Systemically. Not just here in
Nevada but all over the country."
May 29, 2021 heraldsun.com
US court revives lawsuit against private prison in Nevada
A federal appeals court said Friday the nation's largest private prison
corporation can be held liable for negligence by a man who spent almost a
year in solitary confinement at a southern Nevada facility without ever
seeing a judge on marijuana-related charges. The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in
San Francisco said a jury can hear Rudy Rivera's lawsuit claiming that CoreCivic Inc. employees failed to tell the U.S. Marshals
Service while Rivera languished in custody from November 2015 to October 2016
at the Nevada Southern Detention Center outside Las Vegas. "A reasonable
jury could find that CoreCivic caused plaintiff's
prolonged detention by failing to notify the Marshals of his continued
detention without a hearing and by discouraging and preventing him from
seeking outside help," a panel of three judges said. A CoreCivic official said the company is confident a jury
will find CoreCivic wasn't responsible for Rivera's
prolonged detention without a court appearance. "CoreCivic
does not have legal custody of detainees and is not responsible for the
arraignment or tracking the arraignment of detainees," Ryan Gustin, company public affairs manager, said in a
statement. Rivera had "numerous resources at his disposal to challenge
his legal custody," the statement said, including telephones that he
used to call family members, mail, attorney visits and legal reference
materials. Rivera also "never submitted any verbal or written grievance
about this issue," Gustin said. The
resurrected case now returns to U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, where a
judge in 2017 dismissed it saying that because Rivera was in U.S. Marshals
Service custody, the company wasn't responsible for Rivera's 355-day
detention. "They were basically taking the position that, 'Eh, what were
we supposed to do? Not our fault,'" said Rivera's attorney, Mitchell
Bisson. He said damages for negligence, intentional infliction emotional
distress and civil and constitutional rights violations could amount to much
more than $1 million. Rivera, 42, lives in Stockton, California. He said the
ruling gave him "reason to hope the broken system we are in now will be
torn down and that no one else will have to go through what I did."
Jan
11, 2020 thenevadaindependent.com
Senators
call for investigation into Nevada ICE detention center after reports that
employee posted on neo-Nazi website
Nevada’s
Democratic senators are calling for an investigation into a privately run ICE
detention center in Pahrump after reports that an employee was active on a
neo-Nazi website and wanted to start a white supremacist group. The letter
from Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen comes after VICE News
reported this week that Travis Frey, a captain at the Nevada Southern
Detention Center run by CoreCivic, posted on the
site Iron March while employed by the private prison company. CoreCivic later said Frey was placed on administrative
leave pending a review, but the senators said the revelation raises questions
about the standards to which the company holds its employees. “It is
imperative that any private company contracted with the federal government to
operate a detention facility be held to the highest standards of care and
management,” the senators wrote in a letter released Friday. “It is also
critical that transparency and oversight not be hindered because the facility
is operated by a private entity through a federal contract.” Frey didn’t
immediately return a voicemail from The Nevada Independent, but CoreCivic provided a statement. “CoreCivic
cares deeply about our employees, communities and the individuals in our
care, and we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” the company said.
“We recognize the inherent dignity of the human person and the need to treat
every individual with respect. Our company has a detailed Human Rights Policy
here that clearly outlines our commitments regarding resident rights and
treatment. We also have strong commitments to promoting and supporting a
diverse and inclusive workforce.” VICE News reported that Frey used a screen
name on the now-defunct website, which had its online archives leaked in
November. The news organization identified Frey by personal information he
shared, including his personal email address, phone number, birthday, and
place of residence. VICE reported that Frey described himself as a “fascist”
on the site and said he was interested in organizing for the Traditionalist
Workers Party (TWP) in Indiana, where he worked for CoreCivic
in 2016 and 2017. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks
extremist groups, the TWP “is a neo-Nazi group that advocates for racially
pure nations and communities and blames Jews for many of the world’s
problems.” In their letter to the
Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, the senators wrote that
“with overwhelming evidence that hate crimes are on the rise in the United
States, it is critical for our government to take concrete steps to combat
them.” Cortez Masto and Rosen also pointed to other issues within the private
detention center, including the death of an inmate who was apparently
strangled by another inmate and the on-site suicide of an employee. They are
asking for an investigation into matters including employee screening and how
closely the Pahrump site is monitored for compliance to the terms of its
federal contract “to ensure vulnerable immigrants are protected while in the
custody of DHS or DHS contractors.” “The federal government has an obligation
to ensure that individuals in its care, whether in a federally- or
privately-operated facility, are subject to safe and healthy environments,”
the senators wrote. CoreCivic’s site describes the
Pahrump facility as a medium-security detention center serving ICE and the
U.S. Marshals Service.
Jul
17, 2019 news3lv.com
Victim,
suspect identified in Nye County private prison homicide
LAS
VEGAS (KSNV) — The Nye County Sheriff's Office has identified the victim and
suspect in last week's homicide inside a private prison in Pahrump. The
sheriff's office said Frank Tocci died from
strangulation, and his death has been officially ruled a homicide. The
suspect, identified as Wyatt Peterson, is still in custody at CoreCivic's Nevada Southern Detention Center, according
to the sheriff's office. A spokesman for CoreCivic
said a detainee was found unconscious in his cell the morning of Friday, July
12. He was taken to an outside hospital where he was pronounced deceased. The
FBI and U.S. Marshals Service were responding to help in the investigation
because the victim and suspect were both held on federal charges, the
sheriff's office said. Nevada Southern Detention is a medium-security
facility that contracts with the Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, according to CoreCivic's website.
Jul
14, 2019 reviewjournal.com
Southern
Nevada inmate dies after ‘incident’ at private prison
A
section of a Pahrump private prison was placed on lockdown Friday following
an inmate’s death after an “incident that occurred in a secured cell,”
according to a prison spokeswoman. The male inmate was found unconscious in
his cell at the Nevada Southern Detention Center, about 70 miles west of Las
Vegas at 2190 E. Mesquite Ave., according to Kayla Gieni,
a spokeswoman for CoreCivic, which has operated the
prison since 2010. He was found after an “incident” in a secured cell, Gieni said in an emailed statement Saturday afternoon. Gieni declined to identify the inmate or release further
details about his death or the lockdown, due to the open investigation. The
inmate was found about 4:05 a.m. Friday during security inspections, she
said. Prison staff began “life-saving measures,” and emergency personnel were
called. He was taken to an “outside hospital,” where the inmate was
pronounced dead about 4:50 a.m., Gieni said. The
prison notified the U.S. Marshals Service and the Nye County Sheriff’s
Office. The Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation
into the man’s death, Gieni said. At least
one unit of the prison was placed on lockdown Friday “until the completion of
the investigation,” she said. It was unclear if that unit remained on
lockdown Saturday afternoon. According to CoreCivic’s
website, the prison is used by the Marshals Service and Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. An ICE spokeswoman on Saturday said the inmate who died
was not in ICE custody. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to
questions on Saturday regarding the investigation. In an interview with the
Review-Journal on Saturday morning, Shawn Tocci
said his 28-year-old brother, Frank Tocci, was the
inmate who died. Shawn Tocci said officials told
his mother about Frank Tocci’s death on Friday, but
he was still unsure what happened. “All I was told, he was found unresponsive
and taken to the hospital,” Shawn Tocci said. “I’ve
contacted the detention center and I just keep getting message machines. I
tried to contact (CoreCivic) and same thing,
nothing but messages.” Efforts to contact Shawn Tocci
were unsuccessful Saturday afternoon after the Review-Journal received
confirmation about the death at the prison. According to the Nevada Department
of Corrections’ website, a 28-year-old Frank Tocci
is listed as an inmate in “out of state confinement.” He has active sentences
for burglary, attempted coercion and assault with a deadly weapon, and his
sentence was set to end on Aug. 3, 2020. The department did not respond to
questions regarding the inmate death on Saturday. Shawn Tocci
said his brother was in prison in connection with robbery, burglary and drug
charges, and had been in the private facility for about a year. “We’re just
trying to get some answers,” he said Saturday morning.
Jul
17, 2019 news3lv.com
Victim,
suspect identified in Nye County private prison homicide
LAS
VEGAS (KSNV) — The Nye County Sheriff's Office has identified the victim and
suspect in last week's homicide inside a private prison in Pahrump. The
sheriff's office said Frank Tocci died from
strangulation, and his death has been officially ruled a homicide. The
suspect, identified as Wyatt Peterson, is still in custody at CoreCivic's Nevada Southern Detention Center, according
to the sheriff's office. A spokesman for CoreCivic
said a detainee was found unconscious in his cell the morning of Friday, July
12. He was taken to an outside hospital where he was pronounced deceased. The
FBI and U.S. Marshals Service were responding to help in the investigation
because the victim and suspect were both held on federal charges, the
sheriff's office said. Nevada Southern Detention is a medium-security
facility that contracts with the Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, according to CoreCivic's website.
Jul 14, 2019 reviewjournal.com
Southern
Nevada inmate dies after ‘incident’ at private prison
A
section of a Pahrump private prison was placed on lockdown Friday following
an inmate’s death after an “incident that occurred in a secured cell,”
according to a prison spokeswoman. The male inmate was found unconscious in
his cell at the Nevada Southern Detention Center, about 70 miles west of Las
Vegas at 2190 E. Mesquite Ave., according to Kayla Gieni,
a spokeswoman for CoreCivic, which has operated the
prison since 2010. He was found after an “incident” in a secured cell, Gieni said in an emailed statement Saturday afternoon. Gieni declined to identify the inmate or release further
details about his death or the lockdown, due to the open investigation. The
inmate was found about 4:05 a.m. Friday during security inspections, she
said. Prison staff began “life-saving measures,” and emergency personnel were
called. He was taken to an “outside hospital,” where the inmate was
pronounced dead about 4:50 a.m., Gieni said. The
prison notified the U.S. Marshals Service and the Nye County Sheriff’s
Office. The Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation
into the man’s death, Gieni said. At least
one unit of the prison was placed on lockdown Friday “until the completion of
the investigation,” she said. It was unclear if that unit remained on
lockdown Saturday afternoon. According to CoreCivic’s
website, the prison is used by the Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. An ICE spokeswoman on Saturday said the inmate who died was not
in ICE custody. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to questions
on Saturday regarding the investigation. In an interview with the
Review-Journal on Saturday morning, Shawn Tocci
said his 28-year-old brother, Frank Tocci, was the
inmate who died. Shawn Tocci said officials told
his mother about Frank Tocci’s death on Friday, but
he was still unsure what happened. “All I was told, he was found unresponsive
and taken to the hospital,” Shawn Tocci said. “I’ve
contacted the detention center and I just keep getting message machines. I
tried to contact (CoreCivic) and same thing,
nothing but messages.” Efforts to contact Shawn Tocci
were unsuccessful Saturday afternoon after the Review-Journal received
confirmation about the death at the prison. According to the Nevada
Department of Corrections’ website, a 28-year-old Frank Tocci
is listed as an inmate in “out of state confinement.” He has active sentences
for burglary, attempted coercion and assault with a deadly weapon, and his
sentence was set to end on Aug. 3, 2020. The department did not respond to
questions regarding the inmate death on Saturday. Shawn Tocci
said his brother was in prison in connection with robbery, burglary and drug
charges, and had been in the private facility for about a year. “We’re just
trying to get some answers,” he said Saturday morning.
Jun
14, 2017 reviewjournal.com
Corrections employee commits suicide at Pahrump federal detention facility
A corrections employee committed suicide Tuesday at the Nevada Southern
Detention Center in Pahrump. The private detention facility, which houses
federal inmates awaiting trial, disclosed the suicide in a statement
Wednesday that said the employee “sadly took his own life.” The employee’s
name and position have not been released to the public. Detention center
staff members found his body after responding to a fire alarm that went off
around 6 p.m. No fire was discovered. Staff contacted emergency medical services,
who pronounced the employee dead at the scene. A source with knowledge of the
investigation said tear gas or some other chemical irritant was set off in
the room before the suicide. The death was the result of a gunshot wound, the
source said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of
our fellow CoreCivic colleague, as well as with the
extended family of Nevada Southern Detention Center staff,” Nevada Southern
Detention Center spokeswoman Kayla Gieni said in
the statement. “Resources are being made available to impacted employees at
the facility as they cope with the loss of a colleague.” CoreCivic,
formerly the Corrections Corporation of America, is a company that owns and
manages private prisons and detention centers throughout the country,
including the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump. The facility
currently is housing notorious anti-federalist rancher Cliven Bundy and his
band of more than a dozen like-minded supporters who are awaiting trial on
charges resulting from the 2014 armed standoff in Bunkerville.
The corrections company said it is cooperating fully with local law
enforcement as it investigates the suicide. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office,
whose jurisdiction includes Pahrump, is investigating. The Clark County
coroner’s office will determine the official cause of death.
December 21, 2011 Pahrump Valley
Times
Nye County Public Works Director Dave Fanning expected to be able to go to
contract on repairing Blagg Road by the end of this
year or the start of 2012; that date has now been extended to March 1, 2012.
“We had a few things to address legally with the utility company that have
actually come to light. We’ve done that,” Fanning told the Board of Road
Commissioners Tuesday. The road commission is made up of county
commissioners. Fanning said he obtained written permission in mid-November
from a group that originally drew up plans for that job site. Fanning told
Commissioner Butch Borasky he hoped to go out for
bids the second or third week of January. It then has to go through the
district attorney’s office for review and go to the county purchasing
department. Commissioners approved a $25,000 work order with Pezonella Associates Inc. Tuesday to perform geotechnical
forensic testing of the sewer line trench for the entire section installed by
Corrections Corporation of America along Mesquite Road, Blagg
Road, Wilson Road and Big Five Road. Pezonella
Associates was already paid $125,000 by county commissioners to prepare a
report on who is at fault for the sinkholes that opened up on Blagg Road after heavy rain last December and the
collapse of two sewer lift stations.
September 20, 2010 KLAS TV
There will be dozens more looking for work in North Las Vegas after the city
hands out layoff notices. Forty-two detention center employees and
corrections officers are being cut after the city lost a large contract. The
North Las Vegas Detention Center will see 300 of its 800 inmates transferred
to a brand new privately-run jail in Pahrump. The U.S. Marshals Service says
the Pahrump facility met their future expansion needs better, leaving North
Las Vegas without federal money to pay for local jobs. "The reduction in
population at the jail will result in about $9.7 million annually for that
facility," said North Las Vegas officer Chrissie Coon. "We're
actually looking at layoff notifications going out to 19 corrections officers
and 23 civilian personnel."
April 30, 2010 Pahrump Valley Times
While Corrections Corporation of America is close to opening an $80 million
federal detention center in Pahrump, the company chose an early termination
of their contract to operate the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center
in North Las Vegas in 2004 due to the high cost of medical care. The Nevada
Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, scheduled to begin accepting inmates in
October, is a male-only facility. CCA was awarded a 20-year contract by the
Office of the Federal Detention Trustee to build and operate the Pahrump
facility, which is up for renewal every five years. At a Jan. 28, 2004
meeting of the State Interim Finance Committee, the Nevada Department of
Corrections considered taking over inmate medical care at the women's prison
from CCA March 1 that year. But talk then expanded to the state taking over
the facility completely. Senate Bill 278, approved by the 1995 Nevada
Legislature, allocated $44 million to construct a new women's correctional
center in southern Nevada. CCA constructed a correctional facility for 550
inmates and began housing the female prisoners. The state purchased the land,
buildings and equipment from CCA on Oct. 3, 2001, with an operating contract
to remain in effect through June 30, 2015, according to minutes provided by
the research division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau. CCA was given a per
diem rate of $40.03 per inmate, which was to increase by 3 percent per year.
By 2004 that rate increased to $47.79. The contract provided for automatic
renewals every three years, with a renewal scheduled Oct. 3, 2004. CCA and
the state DOC had been in discussions over the per diem rate and the
provision of health care to the facility for three years. Nevada DOC Medical
Administrator Chuck Schardin reported CCA health
care costs increased 21 percent from $2.4 million in 2002 to almost $3
million in 2003. Off-site expenses alone nearly doubled from $589,840 to
$1.06 million. The minutes show a dramatic reduction of inmates from
projected numbers also caused difficulties. While the women's correctional
facility held 550 inmates at one time, there was a population of only 445
inmates in early 2003. In spring 2002, CCA alleged inmates from honor camps
with medical problems were being dumped at the women's prison. In excerpts of
the minutes from the Jan. 28, 2004, meeting, Tony Grande, CCA vice-president
for state relations, said, "Continuing the contract would be exceedingly
difficult if CCA was not able to remedy the costs related to medical services
being provided at SNWCF." Dr. Ted D'Amico, medical director for the
state DOC, is quoted in March 31, 2004, as saying: "CCA had struggled
with the medical care of inmates from the start because of their inability to
hire good administrators." The intake process at the correctional
facility required assistance from the Nevada DOC during a year in which the
medical director's budget absorbed nearly $300,000 of medical care costs,
D'Amico said. CCA had problems providing timely dental care to inmates, who
had to be incarcerated for six months before dental care was provided,
D'Amico said. The company provided a half-time dentist, he said. There were
also concerns about psychotropic medications and HIV program standards. John
Tighe, CCA vice president of health services, was quoted as saying bluntly,
"Operating an institution housing female inmates was not an easy task."
CCA was committed to providing quality care at the women's prison and had to
fill in employment gaps, flying in staff from other areas using temporary and
agency personnel, which wasn't cost effective, Tighe said. State Sen. Bob
Coffin, D-Las Vegas, suggested the state assume operation of the entire
facility, instead of just the medical care. Following that discussion, CCA
provided a notice of contract termination Feb. 23, 2004, effective Oct. 1,
2004. D'Amico "commended CCA's expertise and hard work during the length
of their contract with the state." The facility, now under state
management, is now known as the Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center.
March 3, 2010 Pahrump Valley Times
U.S. District Judge Philip Pro Monday ordered federal judges in the Nevada
district to recuse themselves from hearing a case filed by Concerned Citizens
for a Safe Community against the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee over
the detention center in Pahrump. Attorney Nancy Lord filed a motion for a
change of venue on the grounds federal judges in Nevada were kept posted on
developments of the federal detention center being built by Corrections
Corporation of America. She wanted the case moved to U.S. District Court in
California. "How would that justify change of venue to the Central
District of California? Wouldn't the sensible resolution be to assign a judge
outside the district to hear the case?" Pro asked. "We do this all
the time when we have a conflict." Lord replied, "I didn't know
that could be done, that another judge could be brought in." She said
the entire federal bench in Nevada was poisoned by receiving information on
the detention center six months before the public knew. She cited a comment
by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, in a hearing over her federal suit
against CCA and Nye County, in which Dawson said the community desperately
needed this detention center. "The word poisoned is too strong,"
Pro said. Pro said he would recuse all the federal judges in the Nevada
district and direct the clerk to refer the suit to a visiting judge. But Pro
said, "I'm not suggesting that the judges of the District of Nevada
should be viewed as holding any bias, or they were somewhat individually or
collectively contaminated by the knowledge and placement of a facility."
December 9, 2009 Pahrump Valley
Times
The litany of lawsuits filed by the Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community
and Chairman Donna Cox could come with a hefty price tag. Corrections
Corporation of America and Nye County have both filed claims against CCSC for
court costs totaling over $7,500 in the wake of the unsuccessful federal suit
brought against them in an attempt to block the federal detention center
project. U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson dismissed the case Sept. 30. A suit
by CCSC against the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee is still
proceeding in U.S. District Court. There is also a newly-filed case in state
court against Nye County over alleged Open Meetings Act violations. CCA
submitted a bill for $4,446.66 that included $3,996 for printed transcripts
by the court reporter. Nye County submitted a bill of $3,098.65 for court
reporters for transcripts. Much of the transcript costs involved depositions
by Donna Cox, chairman of Concerned Citizens. The county bill also includes a
226-page deposition of Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo,
for $650.15. The CCSC attorney, Nancy Lord, filed a motion asking the court
to review the request for court costs as inappropriate. "The objection
here is to the taxation of these costs to these plaintiffs, who everyone
involves known [sic] are without funds, have paid their attorney by passing
the hat at meetings," the motion reads. The motion adds: "CCA is a
multi-million dollar corporation who could afford to pay nearly $7 million
for land before its deal was final and Nye County is a county government. The
$7,000 in costs will mean little to either of them, but it [sic] the taxing
of costs will devastate plaintiff Cox." The motion claims the recovery
of costs is an attempt to frighten CCSC into giving up its case against the
federal detention trustee. "Donna Cox has neither income nor assets and
both defendants are well aware of this," the motion said. "She
stated that the organization keeps its money in a paper bag at the home of
Ms. Stern and that it is never more than $100. Counsel is
paid her very discounted fees by passing the hat at some of the
meetings," Lord's motion said. There is no mention of recovering legal
fees. The motion claims that while the CCA attorney was paid by the hour and
Nye County legal counsel was on a salary, Lord was working nearly pro bono,
or for free. Lord makes mention of a 9th Circuit Court case that district
courts should consider the financial resources of the plaintiffs in awarding
fees to a prevailing defendant. "In this case the costs are more than
this plaintiff could ever hope to pay and will only result in an
uncollectible judgment on her credit report. In contrast, the awards of a few
thousand dollars will mean nothing to the wealth of CCA and Nye County except
a mean-spirited victory," the CCSC motion said. In a letter to CCA
attorneys, Lord said Cox lives on her husband's disability which can't be the
subject of a lien. Lord claims CCSC members Christina Stern and Jeff Wiest
weren't listed as plaintiffs during a scheduling conference and shouldn't be
subject to paying court costs. She also attempts to resolve Judith Holmgren
from paying court costs. CCSC doesn't object to the fact the defendants spent
those costs. But the motion claims, "The costs incurred in this case were
the direct result of defendant CCA's deliberate efforts to increase the
amount of time spent on collateral matters, lengthy objections during
plaintiff's deposition of Sheriff DeMeo and the
like." The motion criticizes CCA attorney Paul Shpirt
for running up the clock on the court reporters time during the depositions.
Costs for depositions should be split between both parties, Lord's motion
said, adding both Nye County and CCA could have shared copies of depositions.
CCSC held a good faith belief there was desert tortoise habitat on the
proposed site, the motion said, the basis for the federal case, which alleged
violations of the National Environmental Policy Act. The suit wasn't
frivolous, CCSC claims. If Nye County allowed the plaintiffs the chance to redress
their grievances against the detention center by public objection, there
would be no need for litigation. Lord refers to CCSC as "a rag tag
citizens' rights group." The motion also makes reference to the request
for a change of venue in the case against the Office of the Federal Detention
Trustee by CCSC, which claims the Nevada federal bench had a great need for
the federal detention center in Pahrump, which would no longer require
attorneys to travel as far as Safford, Ariz., to meet with their clients. In
their opposition, CCA attorneys said the time for the concerned citizens
group to file objections court costs lapsed Oct. 23. The response by CCA said
the concerned citizens group cited the court's inefficiency as the reason
costs had to be incurred as well as attacks against the defendant's
litigation strategies. But an objection to the costs must be grounded on
clerical or calculation error, CCA said. "Nowhere in plaintiff's motion
is there an argument that the costs are inaccurate or miscalculated,"
CCA said. Nye County's opposing motion makes the same point. Accusations the
entire Nevada federal bench is biased, based on a declaration by Frank Smith
of the Private Corrections Institute, an anti-prison privatization group, are
baseless and have no factual support, CCA claims. "Plaintiffs' argument
appears to be that because this court did not rule on plaintiff's numerous
frivolous motions to correct a multitude of mistakes made in their pleadings
and complaints in an expedited fashion, it contributed to the costs of the
litigation," the CCA response said. At the same time, CCA points out a
contradiction by the Concerned Citizens who go on to claim the depositions
and discovery will aid them in their subsequent case. Neither Cox nor CCSC
filed for pauper status with the court, CCA said. "In fact, in her
deposition, Donna Cox testified she owned a new truck and a large motor
home." The company requests the court disregard the claims by CCSC until
a debtor's examination is scheduled by the court, at which time assets owned
or controlled by the plaintiffs can be identified to satisfy the judgment.
Lord threatened to seek sanctions against the CCA attorney if there is a
debtor's exam. Nye County claims Lord intended to mislead the federal court
by being intentionally ambiguous about whose interests she represented. She
asserted in a hearing on discovery that CCSC had no members, the county said.
"Nonetheless," the county said, "several persons have put
themselves out in the public as members of this association and parties to
this litigation on their own weekly television show."
November 27, 2009 Pahrump Valley
Times
Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community, or CCSC, has filed a motion for a
change of venue in U.S. District Court in their case against the Office of
the Federal Detention Trustee over the siting of the proposed federal
detention center in Pahrump. "The entire Nevada bench has a direct,
vested interest in the construction of this detention center," the
motion, filed by CCSC attorney Nancy Lord, said. The complaint said the
purpose of the detention center is to serve the federal courthouse in Las
Vegas, where the trial would be held. The motion alleges "the entire
scheme was hatched in secrecy within its walls." CCSC had filed a
lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America and Nye County in an
attempt to halt the project, which was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Kent
Dawson Oct. 1. Dawson had dismissed a request by CCSC for a temporary
restraining order and later an injunction early this year. But a suit against
the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee, who issued a record of decision
to allow the detention center in Pahrump in May 2008, is still ongoing.
"Plaintiffs, and with deep regrets, must respectfully request that the
entire bench of the District of Nevada recuse themselves and the case be
transferred," the motion said. Lord suggested holding the trial in the
Central District of California in Los Angeles. Lord charged the Office of the
Federal Detention Trustee provided information to the federal bench that was
prejudicial. "Defendant OFDT and the U.S. Marshals have poisoned the
bench with information as to the need for the detention center that is at
issue and the progress of its plans," Lord said. She cited an April 30,
2008, e-mail obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from Federal
Detention Trustee Scott Stuermer to Gary Orton of
the U.S. Marshal's Service that noted, "Since the federal judges from
Nevada have been closely monitoring our progress, would they want to be
formally briefed by our contractor on the schedule?" The CCSC group
claims there were violations of the National Environmental Protection Act and
administrative procedures in approving the project. Lord claims the Office of
the Federal Detention Trustee held "secret scoping meetings with paltry
and vague public notice." U.S. District Chief Judge Roger L. Hunt
received a briefing after a "kickoff meeting" May 21, 2008, between
the detention trustee, the U.S. Marshal's Service and CCA, Lord said. Lord
faults the federal detention trustee for sending copies of the final
environmental impact statement to the Las Vegas federal bench but not some
Pahrump churches, physicians, only one Pahrump attorney, one Pahrump Realtor,
not "The Flagman" Ray "Mallow" Mielzynski
nor former television talk show host Harley Kulkin.
Lord claims Nye County Commission Chairman Joni Eastley
remarked "it's a done deal" during a Sept. 16, 2008, commission
meeting in which a date was set for a public hearing on a development
agreement with Corrections Corporation of America. "Now, with
construction well under way, and the related case dismissed because this one
was filed, it was learned that there was regular communication between OFDT,
the U.S. Marshals and the Nevada bench during the planning of this
center," Lord's motion said. CCA officials last week said the federal
detention center is on schedule to be completed next August and accept its
first inmate Oct. 1, 2010. If a contract was rescinded between the federal
detention trustee and CCA to build the center, the federal courthouse will be
lacking a detention center until an alternate location is found, which could
take several years, the CCSC petition said. The group doesn't fault U.S.
District Judge Philip Pro, who was assigned the case against the Office of
the Federal Detention Trustee. Lord said Judge Pro "has timely and
fairly ruled on both of the motions placed before him" regarding the
case. Lord cites as precedent a previous case involving a plot to destroy the
Dirksen Courthouse in Chicago in which a circuit court granted motions to
recuse judges from the entire federal judicial district. When it comes to the
Pahrump federal detention center, Lord said, "Judge Dawson noted in open
court that it was needed because attorneys were traveling to Safford, Ariz.,
to see their clients." Attorneys for the Office of the Federal Detention
Trustee fly in from Washington, D.C., and could just as easily fly into Los
Angeles International Airport for a hearing, Lord said.
October 21, 2009 Pahrump Valley
Times
A handful of union protesters picketed at each entrance to the federal
detention center job site this week, focusing on prevailing wage disputes and
the hiring of non-union labor. "They're just paying some standard wages
for the area. That's cut and dry," said Darrell Fagg,
representative of Iron Workers Local 433. "They're breaking down the
standard of living for us out here." Union picketers said fellow union
workers installing rebar walked off the job in sympathy Monday. They said a
concrete pour had to be stopped. But otherwise, construction seemed to be
going full steam ahead as tilt-up concrete walls were largely in place and a
building was taking shape in the rear of the property. Signs carried by
picketers mentioned Blanchard Hoffman Construction, a subcontractor hired by
DCK Worldwide, the general contractor, to supply and erect metal buildings on
the site. "They're non-union. We live here, we want to work here,"
said protestor Bryan Rowe, a member of Iron Workers Local 433. "We spent
$300 a week going into Vegas, why not spend $300 a week here at the
house?" Rowe said he spent eight years commuting to Las Vegas, another
union worker said he spent 15 years commuting. "They don't have union,
structural iron workers here. They have union rod busters, but non-union
structural hands. All the iron going up there is going up non-union,"
said Ed Williamson, a member of the local. "These guys, most of their
hands are from out-of-state." "There's non-union pipe fitters in
there too," Williamson said. "There's quite a few iron workers out
of work, union iron workers." A man with another group of protesters
said a non-union backhoe driver for a plumbing company was making $23.50 per
hour with no benefits. One protestor, bundled up wearing a hood against the
early morning cold Tuesday, said he underwent four years of training and has
12 years of experience as an iron worker. "There's tons of guys out of
work and we don't really see anything coming up. That's the bad part,"
Williamson said. Protestors said the federal detention center isn't
considered a federal job, which would require paying construction workers
prevailing wage. "If this was a federal job, we wouldn't be out here --
we'd be out here working. Then they've got to pay prevailing wage to what we
make anyway," Williamson said. Other union representatives have weighed
in with their concerns over the project. While a carpenters union
representative said last week four companies they have under contract would
have to pay a $4.50 per hour differential for Las Vegas workers -- an
incentive to hire Pahrump workers -- Scott Wichael,
business agent for the Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 797, said
his union waived the differential for concrete subcontractor Luccero Construction, who was merely asked to hire local
labor. But Wichael said Lucero is is actually only employing one member of their union from
Pahrump. Wichael also had a concern over two
companies working on the job he couldn't find on a list of companies licensed
in the state of Nevada. "It is not a federal project, there's not
federal dollars in the construction activity, therefore we're not governed by
prevailing wage." said Buddy Johns, senior director of project
development for Corrections Corporation of America. If it was a federal job,
Johns said companies wouldn't have to be licensed in Nevada but they would
have to pay prevailing wage.
October 14, 2009 Pahrump Valley
Times
The construction trailer sits near the entrance to the job site at the
federal detention center on East Mesquite Avenue, along with a water tank
advertising a local subcontractor, Wulfenstein
Construction. The fact only one subcontractor headquartered in Pahrump got a
contract to help build the federal detention center doesn't mean the $80
million project won't put to work many local construction workers.
"Right now on the job site, there's
approximately 105 employees of which 30 are Pahrump residents," said
Buddy Johns, Corrections Corporation of America senior director for project
development. "Overall, the project is going to have about 30 percent
local labor." CCA expects a maximum of 175 to 190 construction workers
at the peak. That would mean 52 to 57 local workers based on 30-70 ratio. Wulfenstein Construction was the only subcontractor on
the list headquartered in Pahrump. Wulfenstein did
the foundation work, the pad and the on-site utilities. "When we
investigated the local contractor pool, what we found is they didn't have
enough manpower or they didn't have enough financial strength to back the
project, meaning bonding, or they were not going to be able to meet our
schedule demands," Johns said.
September 11, 2009 Pahrump Valley
Times
Wulfenstein Construction Co. is the only
Pahrump-based firm so far on a list of subcontractors building the federal
detention center supplied by Corrections Corporation of America. Wulfenstein has been doing site work and installing
on-site utilities at the Nevada Southern Detention Center at 2250 E. Mesquite
Ave. Construction crews are working on underground utilities and pouring
concrete footings, slabs and tiltwall, according to
an update by Chris Murphree, CCA director of construction management. Metal
building erection is scheduled to begin about the middle of this month,
precast housing units are supposed to begin arriving around Oct. 1, Murphree
said. CCA hopes to have the $80 million detention center completed by the end
of 2010 for the housing of up to 1,072 inmates awaiting trial in the federal
courts or illegal aliens awaiting deportation. Company officials said the
detention center will provide 231 jobs with a $12 million to $15 million
annual payroll. Regarding the construction, Buddy Johns, CCA senior director
of project development, told an audience during a public hearing at the Bob
Ruud Community Center in August 2008, a general contractor from Pennyslvania would be used for the project but as many
local subcontractors will be hired as possible. The subcontractor list
released last week includes mostly firms from the Las Vegas area. The project
is taking place at a time when Las Vegas shed 32,200 construction jobs from
July 2008 to July 2009, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. That's 25.7
percent of the construction industry workforce.
June 10, 2009 Pahrump Valley Times
A notice of intent to recall Nye County District 4 Commissioner Butch Borasky and town board members Nicole Shupp
and Bill Dolan was filed with the county clerk's office Friday. The notice
was signed by Larky White, Geneil White and Jack
Jordan. Larky White ran unsuccessfully for the Pahrump Town Board last year,
finishing sixth in the August primary with 781 votes. The filing gives recall
supporters 90 days to produce petitions with 652 valid signatures, 25 percent
of the people in District 4 who voted in the 2006 election. That deadline
falls on Sept. 2, according to the county clerk's office. An effort to recall
Borasky had been threatened for some months now,
since the signing of a development agreement between Nye County and
Corrections Corporation of America to build a federal detention center Dec.
16. "Under the NRS (Nevada Revised Statutes) law people have the right
to try to do a recall. I would not try to interfere in any way and respect
their right to do so. I have all the confidence in the world that the voters
who elected me to office to represent them will continue to support me in the
future," Borasky said. "It is sad that
people who can't get elected themselves will resort to a back door approach
to recall someone who is already doing a good job, to force another election
with a cost to the taxpayers of approximately $30,000," he said. Borasky confirmed he will be a candidate for re-election
in District 4 in the November 2010 election. He accused Harley Kulkin of being behind the recall. A companion petition
is being circulated to nominate Donna Cox as the replacement candidate, if Borasky's opponents collect enough valid signatures to
call for a recall election and he is voted out of office. Cox is the
president of Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community, the group fighting the
proposed federal detention center and the plaintiff on a suit seeking to stop
it. So why is Borasky being singled out? The county
commission unanimously passed the development agreement with CCA.
"Because from what we could find out, he was the main person behind
pushing for the prison. His name is on all the documents for the county that
have anything to do with the prison and he's the only one now that's eligible
to be recalled," Cox said. Cox predicted that as soon as Nye County
District 3 Commissioner Gary Hollis and Nye County District 2 Commissioner
Joni Eastley are six months into their current
terms, recall petitions will be circulated against them. Cox said
Commissioner Fely Quitevis
and Lorinda Wichman weren't in office at the time
the county approved agreements with the federal detention center, commonly
referred to as a prison. Quitevis is also an
opponent of the project, she said. Cox was optimistic the recall will pass.
"People are really upset over the prison. I think it's the biggest issue
we've ever had," Cox said.
January 23, 2009 Pahrump Valley
Times
A film crew from Dan Rather Reports, a program aired on HD Net, a
subscriber network available on high-definition TV, was on hand to tape about
80 opponents of the Corrections Corporation of America project crammed into a
strategy meeting in a back room at the Pahrump Community Library last
Thursday night. Cameraman Derek Reich is from Park City, Utah. Reporter Kim Balin is based in New York. Balin
said she didn't want to be quoted but said for publication they were
researching how prisons affect towns on a national level. There is no
guarantee the excerpt will be aired on Dan Rather's show, she said. Opponents
of the proposed 1,500-bed facility for inmates awaiting trial in federal
court or deportation, however, made their presence visible during a hearing
in federal court Wednesday and plan to bring the fight to state district
court and hearings before the Public Utilities Commission on water and sewer
service. "We're going to continue to fight this thing. We're going to
fight it in state court. We're going to fight it in the Public Utilities
Commission. It isn't a done deal. Don't get discouraged," Jeff Wiest
told the crowd at the library. Field organizer Frank Smith, from the Private
Corrections Institute, which opposes the privatization of prisons, said
Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada has yet to receive permission to annex the
site into their service area. Smith urged the crowd to "raise holy
heck" at PUC meetings. He suggested they find out the addresses of PUC
members and write letters to newspapers in their home towns. The PUC
"isn't four or five stiffs that live in Pahrump or Tonopah," he
said. Smith said each inmate needs 150 gallons of water per day. He appealed
to fears over the sinking water table adding, "CCA is going to be
sucking that with the biggest straw you've ever seen ... They've come here
and sold this proposal to a county commission that doesn't know any better,
that should know better. "They came to a little town like Pahrump and
they said, 'We're going to bring development to you, we're going to bring
jobs to you, money will rain from the sky.'" Smith said the plans were
originally for a facility with 350 beds, then 500 beds, then 1,072 beds, now
1,500 beds. He claimed CCA actually wants to house 3,000 prisoners here.
Smith also claimed there aren't enough federal prisoners from Nevada to fill
the detention center. He added, the purpose of the facility will change from
just housing federal inmates. Smith exhorted the crowd with an impassioned
speech. "They are going to fill this up with gangbangers from California
because California has three people to a cell. They have them sleeping in
gymnasiums. They don't know what to do with them all and CCA is looking at
that market. This federal detention center is just BS. It's a pretense. It's
a charade, and if the county commissioners didn't know that, they deserve to
be recalled for stupidity if nothing else." Smith repeated accusations
CCA will buy their products nationally, not from local vendors. When CCA
Marketing Manager Louise Grant told Storey County Commissioners in Virginia
City last week there were only a few residents in Pahrump opposed to their
project, Smith jokingly remarked she was using "new math." Smith
said 1,500 people signed a petition against the project in Pahrump. Smith
charged Pahrump residents were kept in the dark about the project until CCA
"had all their ducks in a row" with county commissioners, the
planning department and others in approval. In fact, discussions with CCA
were outlined in some detail in the PVT. Hector Velarde, one of four
residents who showed up to protest the rezoning of the East Mesquite Avenue
property in front of the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission in July 2007,
said he was one of only two people who received notice of the proposed zone
change.
January 14, 2009 Pahrump Valley
Times
U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson issued a ruling Friday stating Concerned
Citizens for a Safe Community and its president, Donna Cox, failed to meet
the burden of proof necessary for the issuance of a temporary restraining
order against the proposed Pahrump federal detention center. While the
request for the temporary restraining order was thrown out, a hearing is
still pending at 9 a.m., Jan. 21, at federal court in Las Vegas on a request
for a preliminary injunction to stop the project. Nancy Lord, attorney for
CCSC, argued for the order in federal court Dec. 23 against Josh Aicklen, attorney for Corrections Corporation of America,
and Nye County Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Ron Kent. CCA was awarded
a development agreement by county commissioners Dec. 16, to build a federal
detention center to house up to 1,500 inmates awaiting trail
in federal court or deportation at 2250 E. Mesquite Ave. While CCSC cited the
final environmental impact statement, which states the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency is concerned about the potential impacts of the proposed
project and the uncertainty of the water supply, Dawson said the same EIS
replies to those issues. He said the development agreement addresses impacts
of lighting, visibility, emergency services, public safety and water and
sewer requirements. Paul Burris, regional manager of Utilities Inc. of
Central Nevada, said last week no agreement has yet been signed to provide
water and sewer service to the federal detention center and no hearings have
been scheduled before the Public Utilities Commission.
January 9, 2009 Pahrump Daily Times
Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community has asked the Nye County
commissioners for an appeal of the approval of the development agreement for
the federal detention center to be placed on the next agenda Jan. 20 "I
submitted a letter to each one of the commissioners yesterday in regard to the
reconsideration of the vote," said Donna Cox, president of Concerned
Citizens for a Safe Community Tuesday. "We did that based on all the
verbal changes to the agreement approved on Dec. 16." County
commissioners voted 5-0 on Dec. 16 to approve a 20-year development agreement
with CCA, the final approval to building the facility that will house up to
1,500 prisoners at 2250 E. Mesquite Ave. Committee member Judith Holmgren
said the group learned later this week they have to fill out a form to submit
a request for an agenda item. They were too late for the Jan. 20 agenda and
now may have to wait until the Feb. 17 meeting, Holmgren said. CCSC claims
the county commission hasn't followed Nye County Code 16.32.080, which
requires the scheduling of a public hearing within 120 days of a
"complete" application for a development agreement. A subsection
states the county commissioners may approve the development agreement if it
finds issues identified in the application relating to the project have been
adequately addressed. The agreement has to be in conformity with the public
convenience, general welfare and good land use practices; will not be
detrimental to public health, safety and general welfare; and will not
adversely affect the orderly development of property or the preservation of
property values. The six-page letter to the commission objects to removing a
restriction on accepting only federal detainees apprehended in Nevada. The
agreement doesn't address having to treat effluent at Utilities Inc. sewer
plant No. 3 at Willow Creek golf course, the group states. CCSC said the
agreement was also modified to ban lighting outside the detention center
perimeter.
December 19, 2008 Pahrump Valley
Times
Nye County Commission Chairman Joni Eastley admonished
Tuesday's crowd with a seasonal greeting: "Peace on earth and good will
toward men." But the Christmas-time advice wasn't heeded by most
speakers, who had some harsh words, including a threat to recall
commissioners who voted for the project. "More lies and incompetent
opinions have floated around this issue than anything we have witnessed
lately. For a well-respected company with over 17,000 employees to be
subjected to the kind of abuse that has been proclaimed here cannot be
ignored," said Mary Swadell, speaking for her
husband, Bob Swadell. Swadell
asked for a show of hands of project proponents, many wearing "yes"
stickers sitting in the audience. She said 1,000 letters, e-mails and phone
calls were turned in supporting the agreement. "This project deserves
your support. A small but noisy group tried to sabotage it and the
development agreement. Where were these people when the issues were being
discussed and approved?" Swadell asked. But
critics of the project conjured up a wide range of possible negative
scenarios that might arise. Mary Czajkowski said
she used to live across the road from a prison in Michigan City, Ind.
"There was a prisoner that got out. He went down the road to one of the
farm houses, raped and murdered a woman and her three daughters," Czajkowski said. "I don't want to see that happen
here, and I moved here to retire." Donna Como said she worked for the
Colorado and Montana Department of Corrections and CCA. "I was the
person who doctored the ACA accreditation reports for this company," she
said, referring to the American Correctional Association. Como said
commissioners need to investigate how many family members of inmates will
come to Pahrump. She added no amount of landscaping will hide a full-scale
riot like the one on July 20, 2004, at the Crowley County Correctional
Facility, a CCA institution 40 miles west of Pueblo, Colo. Julie Griffith
presented commissioners with a copy of an injunction filed to halt the
project. Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall determined it wasn't an official
service of a lawsuit. Bob Howard was worried about the water and power use.
He said the detention center would require 230 acre feet of water rights. An
acre-foot is over 320,000 gallons, enough for two families of five for a
year. J.D. Cox asked about requirements to install a traffic light at Highway
160 and Mesquite Avenue. Mike Darby, newly-elected to the Pahrump Town Board,
wanted the company to provide money for scholarships at Great Basin College
in general. The agreement provides for a $10,000 annual contribution if the
college has a criminal justice associate degree program. Katrice Romanoff
said she had concerns over the safety of children and the elderly. She said a
number of schools as well as the Evergreen at Pahrump Health and Rehabilitation
Center are within 9.5 miles of the detention center -- the initial bufffer zone required from residences to a correctional
center before commissioners amended the county code last year.
"Attention will have to be given to building fences and locked gates.
What about indemnification for businesses and residents also in case of any
mishaps?" Romanoff asked. Tony Lloyd felt the county should determine
the best route for transporting inmates between the detention center and the
federal courthouse in Las Vegas. He felt a better route would be to go the
northern route around the Spring Mountains, via Highway 160 through Johnnie
to Highway 95, then south to Las Vegas. Lloyd added a new commissioner will
take office in January representing that district, who should have a vote on
the agreement. He was referring to Lorinda Wichman
who replaces Roberta "Midge" Carver. "We're doing a recall and
it's not going to be just on you Mr. (Commissioner Butch) Borasky,
you guys in six months and some other elected officials," said Don Cox,
pointing his finger at the board. "We don't like being walked on."
An elected official has to serve six months in office before being recalled,
but it's unsure whether that time delay pertains to Commissioners Gary Hollis
and Eastley, who were re-elected. Nov. 4. Cox said
commissioners ignored 25 pages of comments from Concerned Citizens for a Safe
Community. Christina Stern said, "We do not want that prison over in the
middle of town. I have done extensive research on this corporation. I've seen
what it's done to other rural communities and small towns. It destroys the
community we were trying to build here." "We're all sitting here
assuming there will never be an incident. The assumption seems to be made. I
have a problem with the road access availability to our emergency vehicles
that might be needed in the event there is an unfortunate event," said
Realtor Norma Jean Opatik. Mike Scaccia
charged the county's consultant on correctional facilities, Ira Cotler, was a
prison industry financier, not a lawyer. "This alleged development
agreement clearly is incomplete. It's friendly to privatization," Scaccia said. "Water is not guaranteed. Sewer is not
guaranteed. The Fish and Wildlife final biological opinion is not
conferred." He added, "Airport park demands are not mentioned, and
only a few, at the most, if any of the 54 citizen amendments are mentioned in
the development agreement." But others came to the company's defense,
like Lucy Ivins, Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce executive director. She
said approving the development agreement will encourage businesses to come to
Nye County.
19, 2008 Pahrump Valley Times
The handshakes, pats on the back and hugs were abundant between some
local officials and Corrections Corporation of America executives after Nye
County commissioners voted 5-0 late Tuesday afternoon to approve a 20-year
development agreement for a federal detention center, culminating a
negotiating process that lasted almost two years. A few seconds passed when
Nye County Commission Chairman Joni Eastley asked
for a motion, about 6:30 p.m., at the end of a public hearing that began just
before 2 p.m. Commissioner Gary Hollis made the motion. Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos, who hasn't participated in any county
commission meetings since his resignation letter was read Nov. 24, didn't
take part in the discussion but seconded the motion as he voted from a
remote, undisclosed location. Commissioner Butch Borasky
had some last-minute reservations about approving the agreement before the
town board had approved a memorandum of understanding with the company for
fire and ambulance service. Pahrump Town Manager Bill Kohbarger
said he supports the MOU along with Pahrump Fire Chief Scott Lewis. Lucibeth Nave Mayberry, CCA vice president and deputy
chief development officer, said agreements with providers of emergency
services are normally not approved until a warden has been selected. She
added, "We are contractually bound by our contract with the federal
government to enter into that." One possible final obstacle is a hearing
for a temporary restraining order scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday in federal
court in Las Vegas, requested by attorney Nancy Lord on behalf of Concerned
Citizens for a Safe Community. Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall said county
officials weren't properly served notice of the hearing at the commission
meeting. Company and county officials didn't seem concerned after the vote.
Attorney Tom Driggs said CCA is negotiating with Utilities Inc. of Central
Nevada, which has put together an annexation plan for the federal detention
center which will be filed with the Public Utilities Commission soon. Water
rights have already been dedicated to Utilities Inc. for its use as a water
and sewer provider and will be assigned to CCA, he said. "There is no
additional draw from the Pahrump basin that will be caused by that
facility," Driggs said. Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver
thought the commissioners "may be putting the cart before the
horse," approving a development agreement before the company has
guaranteed water and sewer service. "If they cannot serve you, will
those water rights be returned?" Carver asked. "I think those water
rights would stay with Utilities Inc.," Driggs replied. "Well, I
guess I'm having some problems with that," Carver said. Mayberry said a
lot of issues like providing utilities were due diligence items CCA looked at
when they first picked the site. She said private correctional companies like
CCA were asked to submit a list of possible sites for a detention center to
the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee; the federal government didn't
pick them out. Problems providing utilities to the site were a major factor,
she said. "The timing of the signing of this development agreement is
absolutely crucial to the project going forward at all," Mayberry said.
"The project is being delayed past the viability of the project. We
don't want to risk the project on things that at the end of the day are CCA's
risk. We impress upon you the urgency of the project." Brad Higgins, CCA
director of site acquisition, said if negotiations with Utilities Inc. fail,
the company has a backup plan to build on-site water and sewer facilities.
Mayberry, at the start of the company's presentation, said CCA will
contribute, at a minimum, $1.2 million in grants to the community the first
year, then at least $860,000 in payments annually. That will amount to $17.53
million in contributions over the 20-year life of the federal contract, she
said.
December 17, 2008 Pahrump Valley
Times
Petitioners have applied for a temporary injunction to slow or possibly
halt progress toward a 20-year agreement between Corrections Corporation of
America and Nye County on development of a federal detention center at the
east end of Mesquite Avenue. The petition and supporting material was filed
Dec. 15-16 by Nancy Lord. A hearing has reportedly been scheduled in the
courtroom of Judge Kent J. Dawson in Las Vegas at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 23.
Lord is representing a group calling itself Concerned Citizens for a Safe
Community and Donna Cox, who has filed as an individual. The petition cites
the county, the county commissioners and Commissioners Butch Borasky, Gary Hollis, Peter Liakopoulos
and Midge Carver. At the same time, county commissioners were conducting a lengthy
hearing on the proposed development agreement yesterday afternoon in Pahrump.
Results were not available at press time. The petitioners, according to Lord,
all live near the proposed detention center site, and they all "use
nearby national forests for a variety of purposes" and "derive
recreational, spiritual, professional, aesthetic, educational and other
benefits and enjoyment from these activities." They also, Lord wrote,
"enjoy the benefits of dark stars [sic] at night and a peaceful and safe
rural community." Lord's pleading outlines, in some detail, the history
of the CCA's efforts to come into Pahrump and build and operate a detention
center for the federal government. It also details CCA's alleged failures in
some regards, such as not informing the county commission whether it will
drill a well or use municipal water. "Pahrump is a country town,"
Lord wrote. "The citizens enjoy the starlight and the moon rising."
She said the detention center, which she refers to as a "prison,"
"will be seen by almost every home in the valley. And the lights at
night will be unbearable for residents and the stars will no longer by
visible to area residents." Lord also outlined safety concerns once a
detention center is in operation. "The area is close enough to local
residences," she wrote, "and even a private airport, that it could
facilitate the escape of prisoners, allegedly detainees to be deported, with
little incentive to proceed through their deportation proceedings." CCA
has consistently noted the inmates will include both potential deportees as
well as federal suspects waiting to be taken to trial. Additionally, said
Lord, "There has been no public hearing for a Conditional Use Permit, There has been no Conditional Use Permit issued."
Lord said CCA should be held to this requirement of the county code since the
conditional use permit addresses, in her words, "many more issues than
are addressed in the Development Agreement, especially in the areas of
health, safety and welfare." Lord asks for both a temporary and a
permanent injunction against the agreement. Her petition also refers, at some
length, to county height restrictions and notes that "it is not certain
whether the CCA facility will be 40 feet or higher." Zoning districts
are established by structure height, she wrote, and added that for sites of
five or more acres, the code calls for light fixtures no higher than 30 feet.
"The Development Agreement calls for lighting at 35 feet." In
addition, she said, "The Nye County Fire Department is not prepared to
fight a fire in a 40' structure. They have no equipment that will reach that
high." The surrounding area includes, said Lord, the county landfill,
where it is possible spills of hazardous material could occur. She said the
operators have not been required to acknowledge in writing the status of any
hazardous spills prior to the signing of the agreement "because it may
affect the Development Agreement and the construction schedule." Heavy
equipment at the landfill, she said, "could easily be stolen and driven
into the prison fences." Desert tortoises, burrowing owls and Yucca
plants are also issues that have not been properly addressed, Lord wrote. She
also said the county commission has ignored "considerable research of
which it is aware, that indicates that the presence of a prison in this rural
area will actually contribute to economic stagnation." Assumptions about
employment opportunities should have been better addressed by officials.
Prisoners could, Lord said, endanger residents "with chemicals and
equipment taken from the nearby town dump and even flying in aircraft stolen
from the airport that is also near the proposed facility."
December 12, 2008 Pahrump Valley
News
Corrections Corporation of America officials hope Nye County
commissioners will approve a development agreement for the federal detention
center after a public hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, at the Bob
Ruud Community Center. "We have been very, very diligently working with
all of the parties in regard to the development agreement and certainly our
anticipation is that we will end the meeting with an approved development
agreement so we can move forward and relay that information to our customer,
who is eager as well to have that finalized," CCA Vice-President of
Marketing and Communications Louise Grant said. "That customer" is
the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee which has given CCA 18 months to
have the detention center constructed and ready to begin accepting inmates.
"We have been told time and again by our customer, the expectation is we
are still on the same time frame," Grant said. Natasha Metcalf, who
manages CCA contract negotiations, has been in frequent discussions with Nye
County representatives since the Sept. 16 tabling of the agreement, Grant
said. "We want it to be a positive win-win," she said. When asked
whether her company came to agreement on some points raised by Nye County
consultant Ira Cotler back in September, she said, "I believe there has
been a lot of resolution." Frank Smith, a field organizer for the
Private Corrections Institute, a group opposed to the privatization of
correctional facilities, said he will arrive in the area on Saturday. He has
arranged to have Donna Como visit Pahrump. She was in charge of determining
American Correctional Association accreditation for CCA when the company had
a contract to operate the state women's prison. During the 8:30 a.m. session
commissioners will consider approving 20 contracts totaling $2.9 million to
support the county Yucca Mountain oversight program, under the consent agenda
in which numerous items can be approved with one motion. A $42,950 change
order in the contract with Mills Construction for the abatement of asbestos
pipes in the demolition of the Calvada Eye building
is up for approval and an asbestos monitoring agreement with SCS Engineers.
Owners of Paddy's Pub are scheduled to reappear before the Nye County
licensing and liquor board at 9 a.m. on a show cause hearing over their
liquor license, in a case continued from Feb. 5.
October 29, 2008 Pahrump Valley
Times
United Holdings Corp. turned almost a $5.8 million profit on the sale of
land for the proposed federal detention center, county records show. United
Holdings, which lists an address of 5560 S. Fort Apache St. in Las Vegas,
purchased the 160-acre plot from David Patterson of San Juan Capistrano,
Calif. for $1.2 million on July 15, 2004, according to the county assessor's
office. The company then sold 120 acres of it to Corrections Corporation of
America Western Properties Inc. for $6.9 million on June 30, 2008. The
property is located at 2250 E. Mesquite Ave. on the corner of Powerline Road.
The registered agent for United Holdings is listed as Bill Blackwell. The
president, secretary and treasurer is John Hui.
United Holdings Corp. retained a 40-acre chunk of the 160 acres. The taxable
value of the 160 acres was $62,714 in the 1996-97 fiscal year, rising to
$100,660 in the 2007-08 year. After the county commissioners voted 4-1 to
approve the nonconforming zone change from open use to the new community
facilities zone for the federal detention center effective July 18, 2007, the
taxable value increased to $18.2 million before the split into 120- and
40-acre parcels, according to records at the Nye County recorder's office.
That is an increase of roughly 180 times. Nye County commissioners voted on
the zoning change without the minutes of the Pahrump Regional Planning
Commission in their backup file, since the application was on a fast track
from the July 13 RPC meeting. The Mesquite Avenue site was one of five
non-conforming zone changes approved by county commissioners at that July 18,
2007, meeting for potential federal detention center sites. The 160 acres had
been rezoned from open use to a combination of general commercial, mixed-use and
medium-density residential in the comprehensive zoning map approved for the
entire Pahrump Valley on June 20, 2007. The other four properties rezoned to
the community facilities zone at that meeting included a 40-acre town of
Pahrump property at 630 E. Parque Ave., rezoned from a rural homestead zone,
and a 30-acre town property at 1690 E. Mike Road, rezoned from the
village-residential zone. A 30-acre parcel at 6871 N. Blagg
Road belonging to Citizens for Affordable Housing Inc. and a tract at 8500 E.
Huxley Ave. / 8251 E. Panaca Ave., belonging to the
Roland Karl Wiley Trust, were both rezoned from village residential. Nye
County Commissioner Butch Borasky made the motion
to approve the master plan amendment and zoning change for the 160-acre
property, overturning a recommendation by the Pahrump Regional Planning
Commission against it. Commissioner Joni Eastley
cast the sole vote against the zoning change, citing the previous county
commissioner's repeal of a county code requiring a 9.5-mile minimum distance
to nearby residences from correctional facilities. The RPC on July 13, 2007,
had voted 4-2 to recommend denial of the rezoning of the 160-acre site at
2250 E. Mesquite Ave. RPC member Nevada Tolladay
made the motion to deny the rezoning, stating it would be not be desirable
given the location of adjacent, developed commercial property, according to
minutes of the meeting. Pahrump Town Board representative Laurayne
Murray joined RPC member Bat Masterson in voting against the motion to deny
the rezoning. Masterson said some homes were in the area, but they weren't
located right next door and buffering could be required around the detention
center. RPC member Norma Jean Opatik felt the site
wasn't far enough north. The RPC voted unanimously to support the Parque
Avenue location. Al Balloqui, the town of Pahrump
economic development director, argued so hard for the rezoning of the town
site on Parque Avenue he was chastised by Borasky,
who said he was displaying an unprofessional attitude in criticizing county
staff. Balloqui charged there was "serious
inconsistency in the evaluations of the proposed sites and they are tilted
toward some sites over others." RPC Chairman Mark Kimball was initially
in favor of rezoning the 160 acres, but voted against recommending approval
in light of opposition voiced from four neighbors at the public hearing:
Hector Velarde, Luella Davis, Julius McKay and James Davis. No phone number
was listed in the Las Vegas telephone directory for United Holdings Corp.
October 24, 2008 Pahrump Valley
Times
Action on a proposed development agreement with Corrections Corporation of
America for a federal detention center was postponed another two months until
Dec. 16 by Nye County commissioners Tuesday. A crowd of bystanders showed up
anyway to voice comments about the project, though it was reported there
wouldn't be any action taken. That delays a vote on the agreement until well
after the election. CCA Senior Director of Site Acquisition and Development
Brad Wiggins, said when the project was tabled last month commissioners made
a critical timeline even more critical. Consultant Ira Cotler, managing
director of Correctional Finance and Consulting Solutions, just gave his
comments on the development agreement back to CCA officials Monday. The two
sides are said to be far apart on the conditions. Cotler, who was given a
$50,000 contract by county commissioners to work on the development
agreement, said he drafted an outline with all the issues that were raised in
the past. "We've had two meetings with CCA, going through that outline
in very general terms, just to throw out the topics on the table,"
Cotler told commissioners. Cotler also gave his input to Mark White, the
attorney who represents Nye County on the drafting of development agreements,
for inclusion in the agreement. More meetings between Cotler and CCA were
scheduled Wednesday. "Our goal has been to expand the original
development agreement to more than just a development agreement to any other
style of project and address the thoughts and concerns associated with a
correctional facility," Cotler said. Nye County Commission Chairman Joni
Eastley said commissioners didn't have a copy of
the revised development agreement as CCA hasn't had time to reply to Cotler's
remarks. She proposed tabling the discussion until Dec. 16, as there will
only be one regular commission meeting in November due to the election and
the Thanksgiving holiday. Nye County Manager Rick Osborne asked about
scheduling a special meeting. Eastley said her
schedule was totally booked the rest of this month and the first week or two
in November. She said a second public hearing would have to be scheduled
during a regular commission meeting with adequate public notice. When Judith
Holmgren asked for a copy of the revised development agreement, Osborne
replied, "It's all confidential negotiations at this point until we get
a draft that we feel is suitable to present to the board, and at that point
it becomes a public document." The crowd booed. Asked for a comment
after the delay was announced, Louise Grant, CCA's vice-president of
marketing, said, "CCA is disappointed that the development agreement is
not yet finalized. Assuredly, our government partners are eager for us to
have that last component of the plan final and secure so we can move forward
with this exciting project. We trust that the commission will work to help us
make final arrangements by the date they'd just indicated. CCA will continue
to operate in good faith to move forward this very important agreement."
Eastley ran a tightly-controlled public comment
period, with two minutes allowed for each speaker. They were restricted to
commenting on suggestions to be included in the development agreement, not
whether they liked the project or not. Eastley
indicated her exhaustion at being bombarded with comments about the detention
center, asking speakers not to talk about things like a "60
Minutes" news special on CCA or similar topics. The crowd spilled into
Room B, where a television monitor was installed. Frank Smith, representing
the Private Corrections Institute, was cut short after two minutes.
"Nobody did the most basic research on this," Smith said. "The
development agreement is predicated on certain premises. One is that somehow
this would be an economic benefit to the community. We found no evidence the
prison has stimulated growth. In fact, we found evidence the prison has
impeded economic growth." County commission candidate Harley Kulkin wanted a public hearing where the public isn't
limited to two minutes. Jeff Wiiest asked
commissioners to table action until January, so the new board can take
responsibility for their actions. Numerous suggestions were made by Pahrump
residents.
October 22, 2008 Pahrump Valley
Times
A crowd of more than 50 people, energized by a "60 Minutes"
video blasting Corrections Corporation of America's operation of a private
prison in Youngstown, Ohio, had finished two hours of heated rhetoric against
the proposed federal detention center in Pahrump at the Hafen
Elementary School multipurpose room Saturday afternoon. It had escalated into
an atmosphere of cries to vote all the incumbent politicians out of office
when Nye County District 4 Commissioner Butch Borasky
walked in. "I just spent two and a half days with a couple of other folks
in Eloy and Florence," he said of two communities in Arizona where CCA
runs prisons. "We visited eight facilities. I talked to as many people
as I could in those communities. I'll tell you right now, I didn't get one
negative comment from anybody." That comment drew boos from the crowd.
Former Nye County sheriff's candidate Ted Holmes remarked about his fear gang
members and possible drug cartel members would be housed at the proposed
center. Holmes said he wouldn't have any concerns if the detention center was
at Cold Creek, where the present Indian Springs state prison is located, just
over Wheeler Pass from Pahrump. But he said with the proposed location on
2250 E. Mesquite Ave., "the quickest house is less than six minutes
walking distance." Holmes then remarked he was so mad he wanted to punch
a politician about it. Borasky then walked up to
Holmes, where they stood nose-to-nose before Holmes backed down on his threat
and Borasky walked out of the room. It was probably
the climax of a crescendo of angry comments directed at the federal detention
center by people who complained they weren't aware of the project. Judith
Holmgren read transcripts from a public hearing on the detention center by
the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee in June 2007 in which Borasky, commenting as a private citizen, said "I
wholeheartedly support the idea of bringing the detention center here."
The 60 Minutes excerpt concerned a prison break in Youngstown that the mayor
said could've been the country's largest prison break. Show co-host, the late
Ed Bradley, announced hard-core inmates were transferred from Washington,
D.C., into what was supposed to be a medium-security prison. Frank Smith, of
the anti-privatization Private Corrections Institute, who hosted the
informational meeting, noted other prison breaks, including one in Oklahoma
that involved two elderly women hostages, invoking the worst case nightmare.
He told about prison riots, like one at the Crowley County Correctional
Facility in Olney Springs, Colo. Smith charged CCA would use out-of-town
labor to build the facility, as evidenced by his conversation with roofers at
a restaurant in Olney Springs, Colo., who admitted they had worked on a
detention center in California City, Calif. "No matter what the chamber
of commerce may want to believe, they don't leave money in town, they don't
leave a penny more than they have to," he said. Smith said the presence
of detention facilities, even where there are good paying jobs, chases away
other industries and residents. "They go to towns that are desperate,
that are easily convinced they are going to be some kind of godsend, there's
going to be money raining from the sky," Smith said. Steve Holbo, a retired California correctional officer, said
the majority of correctional officers initially will probably be imported
from other states as a job promotion. "You cannot open your facility
with 240 green people trying to work at the facility. The probability of the
fact is that the Pahrump area is only going to see possibly 10 correctional
officers hired initially out of the valley during the first year of
operation," Holbo said. He said being this
close to California could be a temptation for CCA to house some of its 5,000
inmates in that state in the Nevada Southern Detention Center. Kenny Bent
said he was a general engineering contractor for over 21 years, putting in
treatment plants and pump stations. He claimed the project, which would use
130,000 gallons per day, would drop water levels in wells. Pat Kerby said the
development agreement should require CCA to dig wells deeper, if it impacts
the water supply. "We need to pressure the county commission to alter
this development agreement so it's more favorable to Pahrump and make the
decision before the election," Kerby said. An angry Butch Clendenen, who recently bought a home on nearby Kitty
Hawk Drive, went a step further. "You can vote in this election, and the
incumbents have to be voted out now. That's the only way this agreement isn't
going to happen. Face it, they had 17 supposed meetings where they notified
the public that nobody knew about," Clendenen
said. County commission candidate Harley Kulkin
said the development agreement was spearheaded by outgoing County Manager Ron
Williams behind closed doors. "We need to push so that the public is
part of this development agreement and then we need to come up with some
ideas of how we can make this development agreement fair to protect a
community, and then I believe CCA will back out of the agreement and go
somewhere else," Kulkin said. "They're
only here for one reason, they want to house prisoners and the cheapest place
to do business, and they found this is the most naive place and they'll get
away with plenty here." Town board candidate Mike Darby said he has a
history in the construction industry as a heavy equipment operator. "The
agreements that I've read that they have put out there, I would love to have
that agreement because it basically gives you a wide open contract to do
anything and everything you want," Darby said. Jeff Bobeck,
who ran unsuccessfully for Nye County Commission District 1, said he's a
flight instructor at Calvada Airpark, located near
the detention center site. Bobeck said he requested
an opinion from the Federal Aviation Administration about including the
private airport in the development agreement. "If I were going to try to
escape from this prison -- and we have learned it is possible -- I would be
headed straight for there," Bobeck said.
"Within 100 feet of each airplane is the owner with keys who knows how
to fly it and many of them also have enough fuel to make it to Mexico."
Robert Smith, no relation to Frank Smith, asked for a recall "on all the
corrupt politicians in this town." Bent criticized an alleged e-mail
from Commissioner Joni Eastley in which he quoted
the commissioner as saying, "This is a done deal there's no turning
back, there's nothing left but signing the development agreement."
"It could be easily stopped right there, right now," Bent said.
Robin Lloyd urged attendees to flood commissioners with e-mails, phone calls
and letters. She urged them to sign a petition asking commissioners to
reinstate the 9.5 mile minimum distance to correctional facilities in the
county code.
October 15, 2008 Pahrump Valley
Times
Officials from Corrections Corporation of America don't plan to be in
attendance when the Private Corrections Institute hosts a meeting on the pros
and cons of a federal detention center in Pahrump at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Hafen Elementary School Auditorium. Frank Smith, field
organizer for the Private Corrections Institute will be the featured speaker.
He invited prominent local opponents of the project to join him on a panel. A
biography on the Private Corrections Institute Web site states Smith has been
a social justice activist for four decades, involved in criminal justice
research, worked on a medical marijuana initiative in Alaska, labor
organization, moratoriums on prison construction, restoring civl rights, alternatives to incarceration and programs
offering substance abuse treatment. If his resume looks as if he's committed
to finding alternatives to incarceration, that's a correct assumption.
"That makes sense to the taxpayer," Smith said in a telephone
interview. "We have way too many people in jail for way too long."
During comments at the public hearing on the development agreement for the
federal detention center at the Nye County Commission meeting Sept. 16, Smith
said the new president inaugurated Jan. 20, 2009, could change the country's
immigration policy. The CCA facility would house prisoners awaiting a hearing
in federal court and illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. "There
will be an enormous surplus of beds which the (private prison) industry tends
to ignore," Smith predicted. Smith said he has dealt with CCA, the
nation's largest private prison operator, for 12 years and warned, "A
deal is never a deal." "If you look at a town like Shelby, Mont.,
you'll find out how many times a deal gets negotiated in CCA's favor,"
he said at the public hearing. Smith said CCA uses a central purchasing
system, which means they don't spend as much money in town. Smith and CCA
Vice-President of Marketing and Communications Louise Grant exchanged words
at the conclusion of the public hearing. Grant said the Private Corrections
Institute was founded by the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union
representing prison workers. "They're completely opposed to
privatization because unions are (opposed)," Grant said. She charged the
organization receives funding from the American Federation of State, Federal,
County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). "They are paid or they
volunteered to come into communities specifically to go against
privatization. That's their sole purpose," Grant said. Smith, who is
from Love City, Kan., denied Grant's accusations. He said the Private
Corrections Institute was formed by several people active in the area of
private prisons. He downplayed executive director Ken Kopczynski's
role with the Florida Police Benevolent Association, though his resume on the
institute's Web site states Kopczynski has been a legislative and political
affairs assistant for the FPBA since 1993, the largest collective bargaining
agent for law enforcement, correctional and probation officers in Florida.
"I can assure you that we won't be there," Grant said in a
telephone interview Tuesday. "We have stated publicly what the agenda of
the Private Corrections Institute is, and certainly our relationship is with
the county and we are continuing to very proactively work on the development
agreement. That's where our focus is today." Grant said the company has
held numerous public hearings, spoke at length at two recent town hall type
meetings, posted information on its Web site and had community officials
visit their facilities in other communities. Smith will provide extensive
data regarding the harmful consequences for host communities of detention
centers, the advertisement states. He will discuss media, political and legal
strategies to keep Pahrump from being victimized by CCA.
September 19, 2008 Pahrump Valley
Times
When Nye County commissioners postponed consideration of a development
agreement for the proposed federal detention center until Oct. 21, they put
Corrections Corporation of America in a tight spot. County commissioners
heard almost two hours of testimony on the proposed development agreement
Tuesday, which mostly involved listening to the public air their opinions.
Commissioners didn't get into negotiating specific items of the agreement
with the company. "A critical time line has just become even more
critical," Brad Wiggins, CCA's site acquisition manager, said. The
development agreement was made a condition of the rezoning before CCA can
obtain the building permit to begin construction. The company also expects a
biological opinion today on what mitigation measures should be taken to
protect the desert tortoise, which isn't expected to be a deal-breaker. CCA
is expected to have the detention center ready within a number of months
after the biological opinion, Wiggins said. The record of decision issued in
May, identifying the site at 2250 E. Mesquite Ave. as the preferred location,
stated development of the proposed detention facility is expected to be
accomplished within approximately 12 to 15 months following the award of the
contract. Louise Grant, CCA vice-president of marketing and communications,
said, "The federal government has not changed its expectations for when
we would accept the first prisoners." Grant said the turnout and
reaction from many Pahrump residents was typical of the reaction in other
communities unfamiliar with private correctional facilities. Wiggins said
Pahrump opponents may think CCA isn't being honest. But Wiggins, a former
Federal Bureau of Prisons official, added, "They don't know after all
those hundreds of thousands of hours of working in those facilities, I have
to go to sleep at night knowing that I haven't said anything that's not
true." Grant said groups that oppose privatization of prisons in
general, like the Private Corrections Institute, had "their hired
guns" at the hearing. She said the corrections institute was founded by
prison union workers from Florida. Frank Smith, of Love City, Kan.,
representing the Private Corrections Institute, cautioned commissioners that
after 12 years of dealing with CCA, he has found that "a deal is never a
deal.' Steve Holbo, a retired lieutenant with the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said. "It's
really difficult for me to believe you have to accept the fact the federal
government is going to put a federal pen right in the middle of your town.
This is just not happening in California when we build state pens." Holbo said two prisons were built 20 miles outside of
Blythe, Calif. He previously had promoted research prepared by the American
Correctional Officer Intelligence Network critical of private prisons.
Saguaro Correctional Center,
Arizona
Aug 23, 2018 thenevadaindependent.com
Nevada inmates held in Arizona private prison go on hunger strike, allege
subpar conditions
A group of Nevada inmates who are being housed in a private prison in
Arizona have gone on a hunger strike, although prison officials say it’s not
clear that it’s directly rooted in a nationwide prison strike happening in
protest of laws and conditions in America’s prisons. Nevada Department of
Corrections Director James Dzurenda said the strike
began Tuesday, when 18 inmates who are being housed at the Saguaro
Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona skipped a meal. He said several had
resumed eating by Wednesday, and that no force-feeding was happening because
they hadn’t missed very many meals. NDOC spokeswoman Brooke Santina added
that her agency is in regular contact with the private prison, which is run
by CoreCivic. The state has a contract with the company
to house 200 prisoners because Nevada facilities have run out of room.
“Medical staff are aware of the inmates who are choosing to miss meals,
however, inmates fast periodically for health or religious reasons. It is an
inmate’s right to choose not to eat for whatever reason. We do not force-feed
individuals,” Santina said. “There are a certain number of meals that must be
missed before we begin a hunger protocol.” American Civil Liberties Union of
Nevada Policy Director Holly Welborn said that in the past week or two, her
organization had received more than a dozen complaints from Nevada inmates at
the private prison, and about half of those who submitted complaints said
they would be participating in the strike.
While the ACLU of Nevada declined to release direct copies of the
complaints, they shared a summary of the correspondence. The inmates have
alleged that CoreCivic is not following Nevada
regulations related to inmate funds, is failing to follow through with
medical plans established before they were transferred to Arizona and is
reducing good time credits (sentence reductions for good behavior) that the
inmates previously earned. The prisoners also allege that there’s an
inappropriate use of “segregation” (inmates separated from the general population),
that staff is retaliating against inmates for submitting complaints and that
they’re being restricted from or denied access to the commissary, religious
services, educational programming, medical care and visitation. Dzurenda said he’s aware of the complaints and is looking
into the situation. “We had an agreement with [CoreCivic]
that services and conditions of confinement were supposed to be nothing less
than what we have in Nevada,” he said. “So we’re beginning to make sure
they’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to.” But he said he believes the
complaints are originating from members of a single prison gang who have been
harassed by another gang and want to leave. “They’ve been having constant
problems for the last month and they’re trying to find any way possible to
get out,” he said. Organizers of the nationwide prison strike, set to run
from August 21 to Sept. 9, are making ten demands for reform. They include a
call for standard wages for their labor, an end to sentences without parole,
access to rehabilitation programs even for violent offenders and voting
rights for inmates. The ACLU said it supports the demands of the prisoners on
strike. “Our country is stronger when people most marginalized and directly
impacted by unjust policies raise their voices in protest and demand a
different future,” the national organization said in a statement. “We urge
corrections officials not to respond with retaliation. Peaceful
demonstrations challenging unjust conditions and practices do not merit placing
participants into solitary confinement or adding time to their sentences.”
Southern Nevada Womens Correctional
Facility
North Las Vegas, Nevada
CCA
July 8, 2010 AP
A federal appeals court Thursday struck down a Nevada prison policy imposed
to crack down on sex between inmates and correctional officers at a women’s
prison that was described as an “uninhibited sexual environment.” The 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said requiring supervisory
positions be held only by female correctional officers discriminates against
male employees. “Precluding men from serving in supervisory positions in
women’s prisons is not a substitute for effective leadership and enforcement
of workplace rules,” Circuit Judge Marsha S. Berzon
wrote for the three-judge panel. Howard Skolnik,
director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, said Thursday the policy no
longer exists. “We have male lieutenants at that facility,” he told The
Associated Press. “It’s been like that since I’ve been director.” Skolnik was appointed director in February 2007. The
policy was imposed at the Southern Nevada Women’s Correctional Facility after
an inmate was impregnated by a male guard in 2003. The prison at the time was
run by a private company, Corrections Corp. of America, which pulled out of
its contract after the scandal. An investigation by the inspector general
uncovered “widespread knowledge” that inmates traded sex with guards for
favors and privileges. The inspector general interviewed about 200 inmates
and noted “frequent instances of inappropriate staff/inmate interaction,” and
that in exchange for sex, prison staff “routinely” supplied inmates with
alcohol, drugs, cosmetics and jewelry, court documents said. Jackie Crawford,
former state corrections director, imposed the policy after the state took
back operation of the prison.
April 30, 2010 Pahrump Valley Times
While Corrections Corporation of America is close to opening an $80 million
federal detention center in Pahrump, the company chose an early termination
of their contract to operate the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center
in North Las Vegas in 2004 due to the high cost of medical care. The Nevada
Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, scheduled to begin accepting inmates in
October, is a male-only facility. CCA was awarded a 20-year contract by the
Office of the Federal Detention Trustee to build and operate the Pahrump
facility, which is up for renewal every five years. At a Jan. 28, 2004
meeting of the State Interim Finance Committee, the Nevada Department of
Corrections considered taking over inmate medical care at the women's prison
from CCA March 1 that year. But talk then expanded to the state taking over
the facility completely. Senate Bill 278, approved by the 1995 Nevada
Legislature, allocated $44 million to construct a new women's correctional
center in southern Nevada. CCA constructed a correctional facility for 550
inmates and began housing the female prisoners. The state purchased the land,
buildings and equipment from CCA on Oct. 3, 2001, with an operating contract
to remain in effect through June 30, 2015, according to minutes provided by
the research division of the Legislative Counsel Bureau. CCA was given a per
diem rate of $40.03 per inmate, which was to increase by 3 percent per year. By
2004 that rate increased to $47.79. The contract provided for automatic
renewals every three years, with a renewal scheduled Oct. 3, 2004. CCA and
the state DOC had been in discussions over the per diem rate and the
provision of health care to the facility for three years. Nevada DOC Medical
Administrator Chuck Schardin reported CCA health
care costs increased 21 percent from $2.4 million in 2002 to almost $3
million in 2003. Off-site expenses alone nearly doubled from $589,840 to
$1.06 million. The minutes show a dramatic reduction of inmates from
projected numbers also caused difficulties. While the women's correctional
facility held 550 inmates at one time, there was a population of only 445
inmates in early 2003. In spring 2002, CCA alleged inmates from honor camps
with medical problems were being dumped at the women's prison. In excerpts of
the minutes from the Jan. 28, 2004, meeting, Tony Grande, CCA vice-president
for state relations, said, "Continuing the contract would be exceedingly
difficult if CCA was not able to remedy the costs related to medical services
being provided at SNWCF." Dr. Ted D'Amico, medical director for the
state DOC, is quoted in March 31, 2004, as saying: "CCA had struggled
with the medical care of inmates from the start because of their inability to
hire good administrators." The intake process at the correctional
facility required assistance from the Nevada DOC during a year in which the
medical director's budget absorbed nearly $300,000 of medical care costs,
D'Amico said. CCA had problems providing timely dental care to inmates, who
had to be incarcerated for six months before dental care was provided,
D'Amico said. The company provided a half-time dentist, he said. There were
also concerns about psychotropic medications and HIV program standards. John
Tighe, CCA vice president of health services, was quoted as saying bluntly,
"Operating an institution housing female inmates was not an easy
task." CCA was committed to providing quality care at the women's prison
and had to fill in employment gaps, flying in staff from other areas using
temporary and agency personnel, which wasn't cost effective, Tighe said.
State Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, suggested the state assume operation of
the entire facility, instead of just the medical care. Following that
discussion, CCA provided a notice of contract termination Feb. 23, 2004,
effective Oct. 1, 2004. D'Amico "commended CCA's expertise and hard work
during the length of their contract with the state." The facility, now
under state management, is now known as the Florence McClure Women's
Correctional Center.
July
12, 2005 Las Vegas Sun
A federal judge on Monday dismissed a suit against the Corrections
Corporation of America brought by a female inmate who had sex with a former
prison guard, according to attorneys on both sides of the case. The judge,
Robert Jones, also ordered that transcripts of Monday's hearing be sent to
the Nevada State Bar because the case against the corporation may have
violated rules on frivolous lawsuits, attorneys said. The original
suit, brought by Korinda Martin, alleged that the
Corrections Corporation was negligent and did not properly hire and train
staff at Southern Nevada Women's Facility, among other complaints.
While serving time at the facility, Martin had sex with a guard, Randy
Easter, and was impregnated. She later gave birth to a boy. Martin and
Easter pleaded guilty to having sexual relations, and a state judge sentenced
them both to probation. He stated during the sentencing that the sex between the
two was consensual. The judge essentially felt that Martin schemed to
get pregnant and then sue, lawyers said. They said that Jones believed
Martin's suit may have violated rules on frivolous lawsuits and rules
dictating that an attorney make accurate representation of a case as an
officer of the court.
April 20, 2005 AP
A former Nevada state prison inmate and the former guard who fathered her
child have been sentenced to probation by a judge who decided the
relationship was consensual. Clark County District Court Judge Donald Mosley
said Tuesday that love notes and photos Korinda
Martin, 25, gave to Randy Easter, 46, showed she was not a victim. Martin
maintains she was forced into sex by Easter when she became pregnant in 2003
at the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center in North Las Vegas. Easter
pleaded guilty in January to voluntary sexual conduct with a prisoner, a
felony. Martin pleaded the equivalent of no contest to conspiracy to commit a
crime, a gross misdemeanor. The two had been indicted on one count each of
voluntary sexual conduct between an inmate and another person. Martin has
filed a federal lawsuit against Easter and Corrections Corporation of
America, which ran the women's prison until the state took control last
October. Martin's lawyer, Scott Olifant, said Tuesday that Martin could not
have consented to sex because of Easter's position of authority.
August 2, 2004
Leaders of Corrections Corporation of America, the private prison operator
that built and has run the state women's prison in North Las Vegas since
1997, complain the company has unfairly criticized for its treatment of
inmates. John Tighe, vice president of health services for Corrections
Corporation of America, says the company has lost $1 million a year, mainly
from supplying quality health and mental health services to the 464 inmates
at the Southern Nevada Women's Correction Facility. Tighe and CCA
spokesman Steve Owens said they wanted to correct "inappropriate and
misinformed allegations" against the company. They said the company
deals humanely with the inmates and will continue to do so until Oct. 1, when
the state takes over the prison. Dr. Ted D'Amico, director of medical
services for the state Department of Corrections, said the company focused on
its profit margin and "the mental health and health care were not as
good as we thought it should be." (AP)
June 21, 2004
The Nevada Corrections Department says it could do a better job of running a
women's prison in North Las Vegas than a private company - but costs would go
up by at least $1 million a year. The department said it would have a
better-qualified staff and provide "superior programming" for the
prison, which houses about 460 inmates. "Under a private vendor,
the women's correctional system would continue to be fragmented from the rest
of Nevada's correctional operations and remain subject to the allegation that
Nevada's female offenders are denied equal
protection or treated like 'second-class citizens,"' the department
said. The prison has had problems in the past year that included an
inmate becoming pregnant. DNA testing showed a guard was the father. In
addition, inmates signed a petition that complained of poor food quality and
medical care, among other things. Corrections Corporation of America,
which built and has operated the prison since 1997, is pulling out on Sept.
30 at the end of its contract. (AP)
April 12, 2004
Nearly half of the 464 inmates at a privately run state women's prison in
North Las Vegas have signed a petition stating conditions at the prison are
unacceptable and the state should take over. The 215 inmates are
complaining about poor food and medical care, staffers who aren't properly
trained, inadequate grievance procedure and missing personal items at the
prison now run by Corrections Corporation of America. The petition was
sent to Governor Guinn, members of the Legislature and the state Department
of Corrections. (krnv.com)
February 26, 2004
Gov. Kenny Guinn's administration is going to try to find another private
company to run the state women's prison in North Las Vegas, but the state may
eventually become the operator. Jackie Crawford, director of the state
Department of Corrections, said Tuesday she intends to compete with private
companies in the bidding process for control of the 550-bed Southern Nevada
Women's Facility. Crawford's proposal has the support of Assemblywoman Chris
Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, vice chairwoman of the Assembly Ways and Means
Committee, which helps shape the state's budget. Giunchigliani, a
supporter of state operation of the prison, said the Department of
Corrections should be allowed in the competition. Corrections
Corporation of America, the company that built and operated the prison since
1997, has given notice it will not renew its contract effective Oct. 1. The
company said it is pulling out because it has lost money on the
operation. Keith Munro, Guinn's legal counsel and assistant chief of
staff, said Tuesday the administration would put out a request for proposals
for a private company to continue to operate the prison. He said the
Legislature fashioned the biennial budget to have a private company in
charge. But Giunchigliani said the state could take it over with
approval of the Legislative Interim Finance Committee, which meets several
times before the Legislature opens in February 2005. Munro said it
"won't take long" to put together a request for proposals and the
evaluation process would require 90 to 120 days Corrections Corporation
of America is the largest operator of private prisons in the nation. Steve
Owen, a company spokesman, said the company would have an interest in
submitting a bid to win back a new version of the Nevada contract about he
emphasized it would have to be a "viable" contract to allow the
company to earn a profit. Crawford said any bid proposal should require
a company to pay it worker as much as the state would. She said that was
"fair and equitable." Crawford said the security and the
rehabilitation programs of CCA at the North Las Vegas prison were good. She
said there were no escapes and no major disturbances. Crawford said CCA
was "very cooperative" when she had to pare down her budget because
of the tough financial times being experienced by the state. Crawford
said, "I'm not blaming (CCA)" for canceling the contract. She said
she understood the company is out to make a profit. The only issue was
medical care for the women inmates, she said. CCA had complained that the
state would dump sick inmates from other prison conservation camps into the
North Las Vegas prison. The prison and CCA reached an agreement for the
state to assume the medical care for the inmates. Dr. Ted D'Amico, director
of the medical program for the prison, said he could provide better care for
the female inmates if the state assumed control of that phase. CCA
would have paid the state $14.71 per inmate each month this fiscal year and
$15.15 next fiscal year to cover the health care. That would have reduced the
state's payment per inmate to CCA to $33 per inmate a month this fiscal year
and $34.08 next fiscal year. The Legislative Interim Finance Committee,
however, balked at the suggestion and appointed a study committee headed by
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, to
examine the deal. Raggio, a strong proponent
of private companies running prisons, said the budget staff of the
Legislature felt the prison would end up spending more money on this medical
care than CCA was allocating. Raggio, whose
son died in the last week, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The state went out to bid in 2002 for other private companies to run the
prison. It was looking for a better and more economical deal than CCA of
Tennessee. CCA wound up being one of the five bidders. The others were
Cornell Companies of Houston, Texas; Correctional Medical Services of St.
Louis, Mo.; Prison Health Services of Brentwood, Tenn.; and Civigenics of Marlborough, Ma. Munro said an
evaluation showed the existing CCA contract was still the best.
Giunchigliani said legislators "always anticipate the state running the
prison." She said the state does the best job in this area.
"Hopefully Jackie (Crawford) will staff up and make a bid," she
said. Giunchigliani said, however, that she would like to see a
nonprofit company run the drug rehabilitation program at the women's prison.
And she wants to make sure the women are trained for jobs, not just for
cooking, sewing and housekeeping. The Oct. 1 pullout by CCA will give
the chance for the state corrections department to approach the Interim
Finance Committee for some extra money and then come to the session that
starts in February for a full budget presentation, said Giunchigliani.
Giunchigliani said she pushed for a new women's prison in 1991 but some
lawmakers wanted to put it in Lincoln County as a form of economic
development. She said she had to agree to allow a private company to operate
it so it could be built in Clark County where there are more services and the
inmates are closer to their families. The contract between the state and
CCA runs until June 2015 with an automatic renewal every three years. CCA
took the option of notifying the state now so it would have plenty of time to
find an alternative operator. CCA is the latest private company to pull
out of a contract with the state in a penal institution. The state ended its
contract with a private company to provide medical care at the state prison
in Ely last year. Munro said that contract lasted seven to eight years.
Summit View, the male juvenile detention center in North Las Vegas, was
operated by the private Correctional Services Corp. But there were problems
there including escapes and staff having sexual relations with the
inmates. Correctional Services ended its contract, claiming it could
not make money. State Human Resources Director Mike Willden
blamed part of the problem on the low pay at Summit View that attracted some
unqualified staff. Willden advocated and finally
got approval for the state to re-open the center with state employees. Willden argued that state operation of the facility would
allow for better control of security and better control of the programs being
offered to the inmates. Crawford said one of the problems both she and
CCA faced in Clark County was hiring employees. She said Clark County pays
higher wages and the state prison and the privately owned prison lost workers
to the county. She said the turnover rate of correctional officers at
the Southern Nevada Women's Facility was high. CCA built the North Las
Vegas prison but the state eventually bought the buildings and the equipment
from the private company. The most recent controversy at the prison
involved an inmate who became pregnant. DNA testing indicated the father of
the baby was a former guard at the prison, authorities said. (Sun Capital
Bureau)
February 4, 2004
An investigation and DNA testing have identified former prison guard Randy
Easter as the father of a baby boy born to Nevada prison inmate Korinda Martin on Jan. 12, a state Department of Prisons
official said Tuesday. Assistant Director Glen Whorton
added the department’s inspector general has turned over its information on
the case to the state attorney general’s office for review. Criminal
charges could be brought against Martin and Easter for violating a law that
prohibits sex in the prisons. The law says a prisoner who voluntarily
engages in sexual conduct with another person is guilty of a felony. So is
anyone else who has sex with a prisoner. Martin said she was
impregnated by Easter at the women’s prison in North Las Vegas. The prison is
run by Corrections Corp. of America. The baby was born after Martin was
transferred from the prison system’s regional medical center in Carson City
to Carson-Tahoe Hospital. In a lawsuit she filed, Martin named Easter as
the father and sued him, Corrections Corp. of America, the Department of
Corrections and Gov. Kenny Guinn. (Reno Gazette-Journal)
January 31, 2004
The private company that has a state contract to run the women's prison in
North Las Vegas wants to jettison the expensive part of its job. The
Corrections Corporation of America has asked the state to take over medical
care of the inmates at the 550-bed prison. In exchange, it has proposed that
its per-inmate rate of pay be lowered by $14 -- from $47 a day to $33. This sounds
like a fabulous deal -- for the private company. Even Senate Majority
Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, a supporter of
privatization, seemed to be thinking the same thing when he blocked the offer
this week after it came before the Legislative Interim Finance Committee.
Intuition alone tells us that $14 a day per inmate -- $7,700 a day if the
prison was full -- would not likely cover the medical costs the state would
be assuming. Just one major medical procedure, let alone the actual number
that might occur every day among more than 500 inmates, could top that
amount. Although a CCA representative said the deal would be a
"wash," the committee was right to order a thorough financial
analysis of the proposal -- even though there is an urgent aspect to this
issue. Dr. Ted D'Amico, medical director for the state's prison system, was
not considering finances when he urged the committee to approve the proposal.
His issue was the quality of care the women are receiving. The care is
"not up to standard," he said, adding that "it's dangerous to
wait." In our view, this statement alone should be enough for the
state to end its experiment with privatization of vital services. The profit
motive, so productive in private industry, is simply not compatible with the
mission of government, which is to provide efficient, quality service in all
of its areas of responsibility. The state should cancel its contract with
this private company and assume its proper role in running the prison.
(Las Vegas Sun)
January 30, 2004
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, on
Wednesday blocked a state takeover of the medical care of female inmates at
the state's women's prison in North Las Vegas because, he said, he wanted to
make sure the state didn't shortchange taxpayers. Raggio
convinced other members of the Legislative Interim Finance Committee to
appoint a subcommittee to determine how much it will cost the state to assume
responsibility for the health of the inmates. The Corrections
Corporation of America runs the prison under contract with the state and is
paid $47 per day per inmate in the 550-bed prison. Under the proposal, CCA
would reduce its per diem rate by $14 with the state taking over health
care. Raggio said the fiscal staff of the
Legislature believes it is going to cost the state more than $14 per prisoner
per day. Dr. Ted D'Amico, medical director for the prison system, urged
the committee to approve the contract revision. He said the medical care at
the North Las Vegas prison was "not up to standard." He said
his state staff has "better capability" than CCA. "It is
dangerous to wait," he said. The takeover was scheduled for March
1. Raggio said he wanted more time to study
the deal. He said CCA was getting rid of the troublesome program and keeping
the easier one -- security at the prison. But John Tighe, vice president for
health care of CCA, said security "is not easy." (Sun Capital
Bureau)
January 29, 2004
A legislative panel delayed action Wednesday on a plan to have the state take
over medical care of inmates at a women's prison in North Las
Vegas. Instead, the lawmakers'Interim
Finance Committee formed a subcommittee to meet with officials from
Corrections Corporation of America and the Department of Corrections to
discuss the state's proposed takeover of the medical care from CCA.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, pressed
for the delay, despite a plea from Dr. Ted D'Amico, medical director for the
Department of Corrections, to approve a shift in medical care by March 1. The
subcommittee will report back to IFC in March. The state has been
paying CCA, which operates the women's prison, $47.79 per day per inmate. The
prison currently has 452 inmates. Under the proposed contract change, the
cost would drop to $33.08 per day, with the state assuming the medical
care. D'Amico said the difference in payments would more than cover the
state's costs for providing medical and mental health care for the inmates.
He also said the women inmates at the North Las Vegas prison get substandard
care and could sue if the care doesn't improve. CCA officials said they
wanted out of the prison contract unless the state takes over the medical
care because they've been losing money running the women's prison. (AP)
January 9, 2004
A Nevada
inmate who became pregnant at a women's prison in North Las Vegas has sued a
guard who allegedly impregnated her, the state Corrections Department, Gov.
Kenny Guinn and Correction Corp. of America which runs the prison.
The U.S.
District Court suit filed by Korina Martin, due to deliver
her baby in late January, names Randy Easter as the father. Easter was fired
from the prison after the pregnancy was discovered. According to the
lawsuit, filed by Las Vegas attorney Scott Olifant, sex between Martin and
Easter took place at the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Facility. The
state pays CCA to run the prison. The suit says guards hired by that
company are less qualified and get less training than guards at state
prisons, and the lack of training led to violations of Martin's constitutional
rights. Howard Skolnik, assistant
director of the department of corrections who oversees the women's prison,
said Thursday training for guards at the women's prison equals that of guards
at the state prisons, except for firearms instruction. Besides asking
for unspecified general, special and special damages, the suit also seeks to
require the state to provide medical care to Martin and her child until the
youngster is 18 years old. The suit also calls for an injunction
to prevent the prison from removing the baby from Martin when it is born. The
state has a policy of separating a newborn child from an incarcerated mother
soon after birth, Olifant said. "We are not equipped to keep
infants in the institution," Skolnik said.
"We can't raise children in prison." After the
pregnancy was discovered, Martin was transferred to a prison in Carson City
where she now confined. Prison officials said a DNA test will
be conducted when the baby is born to determine the father, and criminal
charges may be filed because it's a felony for a prison staffer to have sex
with an inmate. Easter couldn't be reached immediately
for comment. Donna Nolan, a spokeswoman for Corrections Corporation of
America, said the company had no comment on the matter. Attorney General
Brian Sandoval's office is representing the prison department and Guinn. A
spokesman for Sandoval said the lawsuit will be opposed and the state would
soon file an answer. Martin was convicted of robbery and
coercion in Clark County and was sentenced in September 2001 to two to 10
years for robbery and consecutive one to four for coercion. (AP)
September 19, 2003
A yearlong drug smuggling operation at the Southern Nevada Women's Prison in
North Las Vegas has been broken up with the arrest of a guard and another
woman, the state Department of Public Safety said Wednesday. The
department said it arrested Constance Edwards, 33, a correctional officer at
the prison, as she was trying to bring two balloons of heroin into the
center, which is managed by the private Corrections Corp. of America.
This was the second time in recent months a corrections officer at the prison
has been under suspicion. A female prison inmate became pregnant during the
summer and identified a corrections officer as the father. The case is still
under investigation and no charges have been filed. The staff member
resigned. In the drug smuggling case, Corrections Corp. officials
notified the state Department of Corrections, which began looking into the
allegation with the state Division of Investigations a month ago. The
department said inmate Valerie Moore was receiving heroin and cocaine from
Edwards, who was getting the drugs from former inmate Karen Matthews.
According to investigators, Matthews arranged to supply the drugs to Edwards,
who would then get them into the prison and provide them to Moore. Howard Skolnik, assistant director of the state Department of
Corrections, said the investigation is continuing whether Moore distributed
the drugs to other inmates. The department said Edwards, a prison
employee for about two years, received between $50 and $200 per delivery and
she was involved in the operation for a year. After the arrest, investigators
gained a search warrant for the home of Matthews, who also used the name
Karen Davis, on Jennydiane Drive near Lamb
Boulevard and Vegas Valley Drive, and they said they discovered evidence of
the conspiracy. Edwards and Matthews were charged with introducing a
controlled substance into a correctional center and conspiracy to distribute
a controlled substance. Edwards was also charged with possession of a
controlled substance. Moore will face disciplinary charges at the
prison for her alleged part in the operation. Moore, 44, is serving a life
term with the possibility of parole for a conviction of second-degree murder.
She has been in prison since June 1996 and is eligible for parole in June
2005. Lt. Matthew Alberto of the state Investigations Division is
continuing to try to determine whether other people in the prison were
involved in the smuggling. So far, he said, there is no evidence that
money was paid by inmates inside the prison to finance the drug trafficking.
He said Matthews "had another source of income to purchase the drugs for
the prison and for herself." Matthews has an extensive criminal
background and was a cellmate of Moore before Matthews was released. Alberto
said Matthews was in prison the last time for a drug offense. Evidence
seized at Matthews' residence included drug paraphernalia and documents
showing when the correctional officer got paid, Alberto said. Skolnik said this was the first case in a number of years
of a correctional officer in Southern Nevada being arrested for smuggling
drugs into the prison. He said there have been more of these incidents in
Northern Nevada than in Clark County. (Las Vegas Sun)
September 4, 2003
No more pregnancies were discovered among 535 female inmates in the state
prison who were tested for pregnancy after one convict reported that a prison
employee impregnated her, the state Department of Corrections announced
Tuesday. The inspector general's office is continuing its investigation
of possible sex between prisoners and staff throughout the system. The
testing began after an inmate at the women's prison in North Las Vegas was
found to be pregnant and she identified a correctional officer as the
father. The inmate, whose baby is due in January, was moved to the
prison medical center in Carson City. DNA testing will be done after the
birth to determine who the father is. The prison is operated by
Corrections Corp. of America, a private company under contract with the
state. Howard Skolnik, assistant director of
the department, said Corrections Corp. fully cooperated in the testing.
Sex between an inmate and a staff member is a felony. The staff member
accused of having sex with the inmate at the North Las Vegas prison has
resigned. About 750 women prisoners were given blood tests; those of
child-bearing age who had not had hysterectomies were tested. Scott
Olifant, the attorney for the inmate who became pregnant, could not be
reached for comment Tuesday. He has said that a lawsuit will be filed.
The inmate pregnancy was the first in the state since 1975, Skolnik said. (Las Vegas Sun)
January 30, 2003
A new inmate transitional center, a programming division and staff cuts were
outlined Wednesday as lawmakers reviewed the Nevada Department of
Correction's $431 million budget. One of those shifts coincides with
the opening of the Casa Grande transitional center in Las Vegas. The facility, being constructed and operated by a
not-for-profit organization, would open this fall with 200 beds. Guinn
budgeted more than $2 million to pay for the contract. Another issue is
the possible expiration of a state contract with Corrections Corporation of
America to run the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional Center. Senate
Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, asked what
would happen if the company declined to renew its contract in the fall of
2004. "We are very capable of moving in and taking over that
facility immediately," Crawford responded. (AP)
September 30, 2002
The
Southern Nevada Women's Prison has been run by Corrections Corp. of America
since opening in 1997. But now the state, hoping to save money, is looking
for a better deal. Darrel J. Rexwinkel,
deputy director in charge of finances for the Department of
Corrections, said the state now pays $46.60 a day per inmate but wants a
lower rate. Renny Ashleman, an attorney for Corrections Corp., has said his
company has lost money on the current deal - but
intends to submit a new bid. The women's prison is the only
full-service prison operated by a private company in Nevada. The
contract for Corrections Corporation expires in October 2004.
(AP)
January 2, 2002
Financial trouble has developed at the Southern Nevada Women's Correctional
Facility, which is run by a private company whose contract doesn't expire
until 2004. The state Department of Corrections has a three-year
contract with Corrections Corporation of America, which says it's losing
money on the prison in North Las Vegas that houses more than 500
inmates. Renny Ashleman,
a Las Vegas lawyer representing CCA, said CCA welcomes the state's move to
look for additional operators, as it will probably confirm that it costs more
to run the prison than the state is now paying. News accounts say CCA
may have lost about $1.5 million on medical treatment alone. The state
had a lease-option to buy the prison after 20 years, but it purchased the
center in August for $24.1 million. Because of IRS rules, the CCA
contract had to be trimmed after the purchase from 20 years to three years,
with an automatic renewal if both sides agree. (AP)
Storey
County, Nevada
CCA
January 8, 2009 Nevada Appeal
An industrial park in Storey County is preparing land and paperwork for a
private prison. The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center will seek a zoning change on
about 550 acres of the park, according to its broker, Lance Gilman.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, the largest
private prison company in the country, has said the 107,000-acre industrial
park that takes up over half of Storey County is one the places it is
considering for a new private prison. It would hold up to 3,000 inmates and
employ about 600 workers, according to the company. The Storey County
Planning Commission will not consider a permit for a private prison at its
Jan. 15 meeting as was tentatively scheduled, according to the planning
department. The item was taken off the agenda because an application for the
permit was not finished. Gilman said the industrial park is a great place for
a private prison. It is home to large distribution centers for Walmart and others
and has an open 160 square miles. “Don’t you think I can find a really nice
canyon or meadow that won’t interfere with anyone?” he said. “Hell, yes, I
can.” Gilman said he can’t say anything about Corrections Corp. under an
agreement with the company, but the industrial park will be ready for a
private prison as soon as possible. The Corrections Corp. prison would be
built in two phases on the southeast side of the industrial park near the
corner of Portofino and Malta drives, according to paperwork filed with
Storey County by the industrial park. The buildings will be less than 35 feet
tall and “similar in scale and appearance to a light industrial park or
secondary school,” according to the county records. A minimum 100-foot buffer
zone would surround the patrolled prison along with double 12-foot security
fences, records say. Corrections Corp. would get inmates through a state or
federal contract, said Louise Grant, a company representative. The company
has no contract and no definite schedule to start building the prison,
however, she said. Corrections Corp. managed the Southern Nevada Women’s
Correctional Facility in North Las Vegas from 1997 to 2004. It was the first
private company to manage a Nevada prison. The company did not renew a
contract to continue managing the prison, saying medical care and other costs
made it too expensive. Nye County in December approved a federal detention
center that the company will build and run in Pahrump. Some residents and the
Florida-based Private Corrections Institute criticized the plan during the
company’s two-year negotiations with the county. Frank Smith of the institute
said in an e-mail that the detention center will lack oversight and hurt Nye
County. But the project is supported by the county government and the “vast
majority” of residents, according to Grant. She said the institute rallied a
few people to spread “misinformation” about the company.
Summit View Youth Correctional Facility
Las Vegas, Nevada
Correctional Services Corporation
January 27, 2004
A youth corrections facility where inmates staged a rooftop revolt two years
ago when the place was privately run was expected to reopen today under state
control, officials said. Summit View Youth Correctional Center closed
in March 2002 after numerous complaints about suicide attempts, escapes,
unchecked drug use and sexual and physical abuse of inmates by guards. Those
problems came to light after 20 inmates, fed up with the prison conditions,
took to the rooftop of the facility and had a 90-minute standoff with
police. Now under the control of the state, Summit View will become a
place where the young prisoners can be properly rehabilitated because the
facility has better staff that is prepared to deal with their charges, newly
appointed Summit View Superintendent Robert McLellan said. (Las Vegas
Sun)
January 23, 2004
Pizza parties. Movie nights. Staff who smoke weed with inmates and ignore
tips about riots. And blow jobs. Blow jobs! What disrespecting, young male
scofflaw wouldn't beat down a warden's door to serve time in this teenage
Club Fed? Juxtaposed against Summit View Youth Correctional Center's
ascetic veneer—a fortress of steel and thick brick circled by barbed wire; to
the north lies restricted Nellis Air Force Base
land—is the reality of its past: Inmates, with the help of complicit staff,
ran the asylum. And not just any inmates—Nevada's most violent and dangerous
male juveniles. Three years ago, 19 of them led a rooftop uprising that
trained global attention on the privately-run, 96-bed facility in a
cul-de-sac in a desert patch of northeast North Las Vegas. Months of
feverish work by state officials to close wide-ranging gaps in Youth Services
International's program, from tracking allegations of mistreatment to escape
procedures to staff training, the Florida-based company opted out of its $4.3
million annual contract in September 2001, closing the facility and
displacing an already hard-to-place population. Two months later,
before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, Gloria Kim—one of two female
employees given probation for performing oral sex on inmates—explained why so
much went unchecked at Summit View: "It was poorly run." On
Monday, the prison is slated to reopen. This time, under state rule (all
state juvenile correctional centers are under the auspices of the state
Department of Human Resources' Division of Child and Family Services). At the
helm will be Superintendent Robert McLellan, tapped from the Montana
Department of Corrections, who's indicated he'll not use the past as a guide.
He neither knows much about the riots and oral sex, nor does he care.
"I'm not familiar with what occurred down to the details," says
McLellan. Prior to becoming assistant superintendent at the Pine Hills Youth
Correctional Facility in Miles City, Montana, he worked in enforcement.
"This is an entire new operation. It'll be completely
different." The first 24 inmates are scheduled to arrive on
Monday, with the facility expected to be fully operational, all 96 beds
filled and 86 staffers hired, by year's end. Big Difference No. 1
between YSI and McLellan: Under YSI, employees routinely took on assignments
without being properly trained. McLellan's workforce will undergo 160 to 170
hours of instruction set to American Correctional Association Standards.
"You absolutely have to screen and hire the best staff to supervise the
youth." Big Difference No. 2: Inmates' entire days will be
structured, from wake-up to bedtime, chow time to exercise—the facility's central
portion has soccer fields, volleyball and basketball courts and a gym.
Also in place will be a "cognitive behavioral restructuring model."
It delineates levels of behavior and rewards inmates for obeying rules. Via
the Clark County School District, inmates can take continuing education
courses, vocational and GED classes or, McLellan says, sign up for
life-skills programs. McLellan is in the process of identifying the
inmates; there's no plan to accept youth from other states. The typical stay
will range from nine to 12 months. Given the caliber of his future
clientele—chronic offenders (they've committed large number of crimes),
serious offenders convicted of assault, weapons and drug-related crimes) and
parole violators—McLellan doesn't expect a trouble-free ride.
"Every juvenile facility has the potential to have problems. We have
already planned for a variety of things," he notes, neglecting to say if
that includes weed-smoking parties between inmates and staff and the
occasional act of oral sex meant to deflate an unruly prisoner. "We're
prepared for problems if they do happen." (Scope mag.com)
January 5, 2004
After being closed for nearly two years, the state-owned Summit View male
juvenile detention center in North Las Vegas will be reopened Jan. 26 and
will take in 24 boys the first week. "We intend to keep (the
inmates) engaged and busy," newly hired superintendent Robert W.
McLellan said. "There will be little unstructured time." From
6:15 a.m. until lights-out at 10 p.m. there will be schooling and a variety
of programs with only a minimum of free time, he said. Classes at the
facility will begin Jan. 29. The $14 million, 96-bed center originally
opened in June 2000 with Correctional Services Corp. hired by the state to
operate the facility. But there were problems, including escapes and sex
between female staff and inmates. The private company pulled out of the
contract in January 2002, complaining it could not make money. Except for a
maintenance staff, Summit View has been vacant since March 2002. The
2003 Legislature approved the recommendation of Gov. Kenny Guinn that Summit
View should be run by the state, rather than a private company. State
Human Resources Director Mike Willden said the
first group of inmates will come from county juvenile facilities, mostly in
Clark County. He said Nevada delinquents placed in out-of-state facilities
would not be brought back immediately unless their treatment programs are
completed. McLellan, who comes from Montana, has hired Audrey Fetters
from Washington state as his assistant superintendent. McLellan is a
former chief of police in two cities in Montana, a deputy sheriff in Colorado
and was deputy director of care and custody of Pine Hills Youth Correction
Facility in Miles City, Mont., before taking the Nevada job. Before
coming to Nevada, Fetters was juvenile court administrator and administrator
of the juvenile detention center in Yakima, Wash. She has a background in
clinical social work. The typical length of stay for a juvenile at the
facility is expected to be nine to 12 months, though chronic offenders may
stay longer, McLellan said. Inmates can be held at the facility until they
turn 20. The center has an authorized staff of 85 and McLellan said he
will have 44 on board when it opens next month. The staff will be augmented
as more youths are accepted. Willden said he
intends to follow the guidelines of the American Corrections Association,
which call for one staff member for every eight inmates during the day and a
1-16 ratio at night. The Clark County School District will provide the
schooling. Willden said the state has hired nurses,
mental health counselors, security staff, cooks and others. Reveille is
planned for 6:15 a.m. for the inmates, who will do calisthenics, shower and clean
their individual rooms before going to breakfast. School starts at 8:50 a.m.
and goes until 11:30 a.m. when there is a break for lunch. The boys are back
in class from 12:30 to 3:10 p.m. After school there will be group
sessions aimed at changing the behavior of the inmates and recreation.
McLellan said there will be at least an hour of "large muscle
exercise" that will include such sports as football and soccer.
The inmates will use a gymnasium that has never been used. It was completed
after the private company pulled out and the center was put in mothballs.
There will be a new soccer field and weight room, Willden
said. After dinner the boys will have one to two hours of leisure time
to write letters, work on their school courses or do other activities. There
will also be mental health counseling. A "wrap-up" session will
follow to allow inmates to talk about the day's activities. At 7 p.m.
there are more group sessions for counseling on drug, alcohol and health
problems. And at 9 p.m. the juveniles are put in their rooms and the lights
are turned out at 10 p.m. Willden said the
inmates will be serious offenders, many of whom "flunked out of Elko and
Caliente," the other two state-operated training centers for
delinquents. Willden said Summit View
"gives us another tool" in the placement of youngsters but the
state may still contract with private companies for some. After closure in
2002, the state sent the youths to Rite of Passage in Northern Nevada or to a
facility in Tennessee. "This is high security -- high fences and
razor wire. And there will be lockdown," he said. Willden
said he doesn't want to see the security lapses that plagued the center when
a private company operated it. The facility is scheduled to be in full
operation by August 2004. Its budget for next fiscal year is $5.2
million. (Sun Capital Bureau)
December 5, 2002
Gov.
Kenny Guinn wants to reopen Summit View Youth Correctional
Center, the prison for serious juvenile offenders in North Las
Vegas, with the state -- instead of a private company -- running
it. Guinn said Tuesday he would include money in his next budget
to reopen the 96-bed center in July. From the time Summit View
opened in 2000 to its closure on Jan. 31, 2002, it was run by
Correctional Services Corp. But that private contractor pulled
out, complaining that the state never put enough inmates in the
facility to enable it to make a profit. The state had paid
Correctional Services $122 per day per inmate. Guinn and state Human
Resources Director Mike Willden said the state can
operate the center at a rate competitive with private companies
and would provide better accountability. A state-run center would be
a stable work environment for employees, who must be trained to
handle violent youth, gang members and drug offenders, state
officials said.
A
number of problems were documented when Correctional Services ran the center,
including escapes and sexual contact between female staff
members and male inmates. There also were allegations that
Correctional Services didn't hire qualified guards and didn't
pay adequate wages, Willden said. After Correctional Services
announced it would pull out, Guinn and Willden
proposed the state reopen the facility. They estimated the
state could run the center for $155 per day per inmate. But the Legislative Interim
Finance Committee nixed that plan and told the administration to
find a private contractor. In the meantime, the inmates were
placed in other facilities at a cost of $113 to $126 a day. Bids
were solicited and Securicor New Century of Richmond, Va., was
selected as the operator. But before a contract could be signed,
the state's budget crisis worsened. Instead of going with
Securicor, the state decided to ship the inmates to other places.
Willden
said the bids from the two private companies that sought the contract
ranged from $149 to $160 per day for each inmate. Guinn
suggested the state's initial $155 per inmate estimate could be knocked
down to $145 or $150. (Las Vegas SUN)
August 19, 2002
The
director of the state Department of Human Resources says he
wasn't aware of allegations that a Georgia company that wants to
operate the Summit View detention center may have had past
problems in running similar youth programs in Florida. But that doesn't mean the
company will lose the contract, said Mike Willden,
whose department oversees Summit View near North Las
Vegas. Willden
said Monday that an evaluation committee in the state Purchasing Division,
not his department, issued the "intent to award" the
contract to Securicor New Century. Willden
said he intends to meet this week with the evaluation committee to talk
about the allegations. He said, however, he doesn't know if this
will change the decision to go forward with negotiations with Securicor.
The real issues, Willden said, are whether the problem at three youth
centers in Florida were "pervasive and continuing" and if
there were no efforts to correct the deficiencies. Willden
said every company that runs detention centers for hard-core juveniles
has problems of "uprisings, runaways and improper relations"
between staff and the inmates. Ernie Adler, attorney for Rite of
Passage of Minden, which came in second in the bidding for the
state contract, said the company would file an appeal in the
next week.
Adler
said many of the problems that occurred in Florida were similar to the ones
Summit View had when it was operated by Correctional Services
Corp., which ended its contract in January. The $14 million Summit
View, with 96 beds for serious male juvenile offenders, opened
in 2000 and closed on Jan. 31. Rite of Passage President Lawrence
Howell also complained that the company's parent is based in
Great Britain.
William
Florence, president of Diversified Business Vision of Las Vegas, a third
company that submitted a bid, said Monday he was also concerned
how the bid was awarded. State Purchasing Officer Colleen Janes
could not be reached for comment on whether the evaluation team
knew about the past problems of Securicor, which runs three
centers in Florida for the state. Securicor President Gail Browne said
there has been one escape in the past year. That came at a
center where the least restrictive inmates are allowed to go
into the nearby town. She said in the three years Securicor
has been operating in Florida, there have been two incidents of
improper sexual relationships between staff and an inmate. In
one case the employee was fired within 24 hours and in the
second, the worker quit, Browne said. (The Las Vegas Sun)
June 20, 2002
Nevada
is looking again at leasing the mothballed state prison at Jean.
The state also has narrowed
the list of private bidders to reopen the Summit View juvenile
detention center in southern Nevada from three to two. The $14 million center is a
96-bed facility for serious male juvenile offenders. It opened
in 2000 and was run under contract by Correctional Services Corp.
But after a number of
problems, including attempted escapes and sexual contact between
female staff and inmates, the private company ended its
contract, saying it was losing money. The facility closed earlier
this year. (Las Vegas Sun)
November 26, 2001
Lawmakers
balked Monday at a Guinn administration plan to have the state take
over Nevada's first privately run youth prison, where inmates took
over a rooftop last summer. The state Child and Family
Services Division wanted a go-ahead from the Legislature's
Interim Finance Committee to run the Summit View Youth Correctional
Center, but failed to get a majority of either the Assembly or Senate
members of the panel. The state decided to take over
Summit View, subject to IFC approval, after Florida-based YSI
recently decided to end its $4.3 million annual contract two
years early. Last summer, 20 inmates climbed onto a
Summit View rooftop and had an hours-long standoff with police -
on the first anniversary of the prison's opening. The inmates
caused more than $12,000 in damage before giving up. In August, two former
employees were arrested on charges of having sex with two
inmates, ages 17 and 18. The women pleaded guilty and will likely receive
probation when they are sentenced next month, prosecutors said.
(AP)
October 11, 2001
Gov. Kenny Guinn says plans for the state to operate the troubled Summit View
Youth Correction Center in North Las Vegas are moving ahead. But Guinn
said the center's current private operator, Youth Services International,
will first have to make some repairs before it pulls out. "They've
got to clean up the place and leave it like it was," Guinn said.
"It has not been taken care of." YSI in September gave six
months' notice that it was pulling out of the operation, which has had a
number of problems. (AP)
September 24, 2001
The private company that operates the youth prison where inmates took over a
rooftop in June is pulling out of its contract with the state - two years
before it expires. Youth Services International, which operates Summit
View Youth Correctional center, notified the state earlier this month that it
wants out of its $4.3 million annual contract. YSI officials said the
company is pulling out of Nevada because the prison never reached 95 percent
capacity and administrators had trouble hiring staff in Las Vegas' highly
competitive market. The facility's problems were revealed after 20
inmates escaped onto a rooftop and had an hours-long standoff with police on
the first anniversary of the prison's opening. In August, two former
employees were arrested on charges of having sex with two inmates, age 17 and
18. The women pleaded guilty and will likely receive probation when
they are sentenced next month, prosecutors said. The company pulled out
of a similar contract in Florida after problems surfaced and has been under
fire in Maryland after a state audit found problems at two YSI facilities
there. (AP)
June 26, 2001
Two teen-agers accused of trying to escape during a detention center
disturbance have agreed to plea bargains. They were among 20 teen
inmates accused of climbing onto the roof of the state-owned and privately
run Summit View Youth Correctional Center on June 1. (AP)
June 02, 2001
The uprising ended peacefully after about three hours, with the last two of
about 20 inmates surrendering to authorities on the roof of the
facility. Earlier, aerial video footage from a local news helicopter
showed about 20 young men on the roof of one building at the facility, some
carrying large pieces of wood and metal parts from air conditioning
ducts. Police and prison guards surrounded them on the ground in the
104-degree heat. Military police from nearby Nellis
Air Force Base were also on the property, aiding local authorities. The
13-acre, 96-bed facility, which opened one year ago today, houses male
juvenile offenders aged 13-18. It's the state's first secure juvenile
facility, built for chronic offenders, many of whom have been convicted of
felonies. The center was paid for by the state of Nevada, but is
operated by Youth Services International, a private company based in
Sarasota, Fla. (CNN.com)
June 01, 2001
Teen-age inmates surrendered Friday after a disturbance at a maximum security
youth correctional facility outside Las Vegas. Some of the inmates took
to a rooftop and could be seen brandishing sticks or clubs before the
standoff ended without further incident. The uprising by at least 15
teens came on the first anniversary of the opening of the Summit View Youth
Correctional Center, a privately managed 96-bed state prison for the most
serious teen-age offenders. (FOX News)
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