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Brush Correctional Facility, Brush, Colorado
January
8, 2008 Honolulu Advertiser
A lawsuit filed on behalf of two Hawai'i female prison inmates who claimed
they were sexually assaulted by a corrections officer in a privately run
prison in Colorado has been settled for an undisclosed amount of money. Honolulu
lawyer Myles Breiner, who sued on behalf of the
inmates, said the settlement was for a "significant amount of
money," but said he cannot be more specific. "This
a private settlement among private parties, and I'm obliged not to
disclose the dollar amount," Breiner said.
"The parties are satisfied with the agreed upon settlement, and the
plaintiffs have been sufficiently compensated. ... It was the right thing
to do to take responsibility and acknowledge the injuries of these two jail
inmates." Out-of court settlements where the state is required to make
payment become public record because public money is involved, but that
won't happen in this case. Breiner said the state
won't have to pay any share of the settlement because Hawai'i was
indemnified against inmate lawsuits under its contract with GRW Corp. to
hold the women inmates at the Brush Correctional Facility in Colorado. The
inmates, 38 and 26, reported they were assaulted in the Brush Correctional
Facility law library the evening of Jan. 8, 2005. The inmates claimed
corrections officer Russell E. Rollison pushed
one of them against a wall and threatened to write up both inmates for
misconduct if they did not perform a sex act for him. One of the inmates
saved semen from the encounter that was later turned over to investigators
with the Colorado Department of Corrections. Rollison
resigned and was charged with two counts of felony sexual contact with an
inmate in a penal institution, but pleaded guilty in 2006 to a reduced
charge of menacing with a real or simulated weapon, which is also a felony.
He was sentenced to two years' probation and 60 hours of community service,
according to Colorado court records. Gil Walker, chief executive officer of
Tennessee-based GRW, did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment on
the settlement. Brush prison officials have said the sex was consensual and
that the inmates planned the encounter as a way to get transferred back to
Hawai'i, and as the basis for a lawsuit. The allegations of the two Hawai'i
inmates became public when Colorado authorities launched an investigation
into charges of sexual misconduct involving prison staff and a total of
eight inmates from Colorado, Wyoming and Hawai'i. Another former Brush
guard, Fredrick Woller, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor
harassment of a Wyoming inmate and was fined $200; and former Brush Warden
Rick Soares resigned and pleaded guilty to a
misdemeanor false-reporting charge in connection with Woller's
case. All Hawai'i inmates at Brush were moved to the Otter Creek
Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky., which is operated by Corrections
Corp. of America. The two female inmates are now serving sentences at the
Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua, Breiner
said. Hawai'i now pays more than $50 million a year to house more than
2,000 men and women inmates on the Mainland because there is no room for
them in prisons in Hawai'i.
September 26, 2006 Fort Morgan Times
Continuation of the public hearing for CentraCore’s
special exception use permit (SEUP) took the main stage Monday at the Brush
City Council meeting as concerned citizens, representatives of CentraCore, Cornell and GRW Corporation spoke to the
council about CentraCore’s SEUP application.
Following comments from council members, officials and citizens, Brush
Assistant City Administrator Karen Schminke and
staff requested a few minor revisions to the SEUP, and Councilman Harry Rieger moved that the public hearing be closed, and the
council review the revised SEUP during the next
council meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 9. Recommended revisions include
documentation of 1,800 beds as the original SEUP application was for 2,250
combined beds at the two potential facilities, and CentraCore
— in light of water availability — revised its application for 450 fewer
beds, bringing the total down to 1,800. Schminke
stressed the difference between the operator and the applicant for the SEUP
in order to ensure both parties adhere to the rules and regulations. Staff
is also requiring rewording of the 24-month sunset clause for both possible
facilities. The application by CentraCore and
Cornell is to build and operate two prisons in the Brush Industrial Park,
directly behind the Brush Correctional Facility (BCF) which is owned and
operated by GRW Corp. Before beginning the public hearing, Councilman
Phillip Northcutt disclosed his employment at the BCF, and council member
Chuck Schonberger, disclosed his wife, Pat Schonberger’s, part-time employment at BCF. The council
granted both council members permission to continue in the hearing.
July 14, 2006 Honolulu Advertiser
Two Hawai'i women convicts who allege they were sexually assaulted in a
private women's prison in Colorado last year have sued Hawai'i prison
officials, the company that runs the prison and a former corrections
officer. The suit filed by Honolulu lawyer Myles Breiner
in federal District Court in Denver alleges the state of Hawai'i should
have known conditions were unsafe for the Hawai'i women inmates at Brush
Correctional Facility, and was negligent for failing to prevent the
assaults. Inmates Jacqueline Overturf, 36, and
Christina Riley, 25, reported they were assaulted in the Brush Correctional
Facility law library on the evening of Jan. 8, 2005. The inmates claim
guard Russell E. Rollison, an employee of prison
operator GRW Corp., pushed one of the women against a wall and threatened
to write up both inmates for misconduct if they did not perform a sex act
for him. Breiner said one of the inmates saved
semen from the encounter that was later turned over to investigators with
the Colorado Department of Corrections. Rollison
resigned and was charged with two counts of felony sexual contact with an
inmate in a penal institution, but pleaded guilty earlier this year to a
reduced charge of menacing with a real or simulated weapon, which is also a
felony. He was sentenced last month to two years' probation and 60 hours of
community service, according to Colorado court records. Deputy Attorney
General Diane Taira declined comment because
lawyers for the state have not yet seen the lawsuit. Gil Walker, chief
executive officer of the Tennessee-based GRW, also declined comment on the
lawsuit yesterday because he had not seen it. GRW operates prisons in
Colorado, Missouri and Kansas. Brush prison officials have said the sex was
consensual and that the inmates were using the incident to get transferred
back to Hawai'i and as the basis for a lawsuit. Walker said yesterday the
prison's inquiry into the case revealed that Rollison
was "a willing participant, but we know that (the inmates) perpetrated
it, that it was planned." Breiner denied the
inmates were involved in any "enticement" of the corrections
officer. "This was a deliberate criminal conduct by a senior
correctional officer against my clients. They were raped, and it makes no
difference whether they were inmates or not, they were raped and
abused," he said. The suit also alleges women who complained they had
been sexually assaulted at the prison were punished, including Overturf and Riley. The two Hawai'i inmates were locked
in solitary confinement for 37 days, according to the suit. The allegations
of the two Hawai'i inmates became public when Colorado authorities launched
an investigation into charges of sexual misconduct involving prison staff
and a total of eight inmates from Colorado, Wyoming and Hawai'i. Another
former Brush guard, Fredrick Woller, pleaded
guilty in February to misdemeanor harassment of a Wyoming inmate and was
fined $200; and former Brush Warden Rick Soares
resigned and pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor false reporting
charge in connection with Woller's case. The
Hawai'i inmates were moved last year from the Colorado prison to the Otter
Creek Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky., which is operated by
Corrections Corp. of America. Overturf was
returned to Hawai'i, where she is serving a sentence at the Women's
Community Correctional Center in Kailua for drug offenses. Riley has been
released on parole after serving prison time for theft, forgery, burglary
and fraudulent use of a credit card. Both are undergoing counseling for the
assault, Breiner said. The lawsuit does not
specify how much in monetary damages the women are seeking, but does say
the amount sought is larger than $150,000.
May 12, 2006 Journal-Advocate
Some communities may quiver at the notion a state prison will be built
in their area. Some would think a prison would bring nothing but trouble
and crime would increase in their towns. From 1999 to the present, the city
of Sterling and Logan County have not seen a significant increase in crime,
despite a state-run correctional facility opening here in 1999, according
to law enforcement officials. The District Attorney's Office also stated
the prison has not impacted its caseload in a way that would require major
adjustments on its part. "In general, I can't say that the prison has
made that much of an impact on my office. Obviously, if we prosecute any
prison case it would constitute an increase on our normal caseload, but it
is still a relatively small percentage, and some of our higher-visibility
cases have involved inmates," 13th Judicial District Attorney Bob
Watson said. Watson said private prisons - particularly the Brush facility
- had a more significant impact on his office for which they are not
receiving any reimbursement for the cases they prosecute. "We were
receiving no such reimbursement but that is supposed to be rectified now by
changed contracts between private facilities and the state of
Colorado," Watson said.
October 13, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
The former warden of a Colorado prison whose staff was accused of sexual
misconduct involving Hawai'i women inmates has pleaded guilty to a
misdemeanor criminal charge in connection with one of the misconduct cases.
Rick Soares resigned as warden of the privately run
Brush Correctional Facility in February shortly before Colorado authorities
announced they were investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by staff
involving eight women inmates from Hawai'i, Colorado and Wyoming. Two
corrections officers were later charged with felony sexual conduct in a
penal institution in connection with those investigations. Colorado
authorities said they could find no evidence the inmates were coerced for
sex, but even consensual sexual contact between an inmate and a prison staff
member is a felony in Colorado. Soares was later
charged as an accessory in one of the two cases for allegedly rendering
assistance to Corrections Officer Fredrick Woller
"with intent to hinder, delay or prevent" the prosecution of Woller, according to the charge filed against Soares in Colorado's Morgan County District Court. Woller's case, which involves alleged sexual misconduct
with an inmate from Wyoming, has been scheduled for trial on Feb. 5, Watson
said. A second former corrections officer, Russell Rollison,
is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 5 on two similar counts. Rollison is accused of sexual misconduct involving two
women inmates from Hawai'i. Both of the Hawai'i inmates were returned to
the Women's Community Correctional Center in Kailua. The rest of the
Hawai'i women serving sentences at Brush have been moved to the Otter Creek
Correctional Center in Wheelwright, Ky.
October 13, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has dramatically improved its
oversight of private prisons in the state, prisons officials told lawmakers
last week. In giving the Legislative Audit Committee an update on changes
it has made in how it manages the state's five private prisons, DOC
director of prison operations Nolin Renfrow told
lawmakers that all is well. That audit he was referring to was a scathing
report released in June that criticized the department for being lax in its
oversight of private prisons and ignoring problems with them for years.
Prompted by a riot at the Crowley County Correction Facility in Olney
Springs last year, the audit said DOC knew or should have known about
numerous problems concerning the operations of the prisons but did little
to nothing to correct them. The state audit said the department diverted
DOC workers whose job was to monitor private prisons to other duties, and
failed to enforce operations rules and regulations. And in those instances
when the department's private prison monitoring units did discover
problems, the department failed to follow up to ensure that corrections
were made, the audit said. Four of those facilities are operated by the
same Nashville-based company, Corrections Corporation of American. In
additional to the Crowley County facility, CCA also operates private
prisons in Bent, Huerfano and Kit Carson counties. A fifth private facility
that houses female inmates is located in Brush. It is owned by the
Brentwood, Tenn.-based GRW Corporation.
October 7, 2005 The Gazette
Private prisons in Colorado could face cash penalties for failing to meet minimum
safety standards under new contracts negotiated by the Department of
Corrections in the wake of a stinging audit. In June, an audit of
Colorado's private prisons, which house about 2,800 of Colorado's 18,000
prisoners, found numerous problems, including inadequate staffing levels,
unlicensed medical clinics, employees with criminal backgrounds and poor
food services. Thursday, corrections officials gave state lawmakers an
update on their response to the audit. For instance, private prisons will
be fined if staffing levels do not meet minimum standards or if the meals
they feed prisoners are not up to par. "I'm not sure the liquidated
damages have enough hammer to them," said Rep. Fran Coleman, D-Denver.
Corrections officials said they need time to see if the new penalty system
works.
October 2, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
A decade ago, Hawai'i began exporting inmates to Mainland prisons in what
was supposed to be a temporary measure to save money and relieve
overcrowding in state prisons. Now, the state doesn't seem to be able to
stop. With little public debate or study, the practice of sending prisoners
away has become a predominant feature of Hawai'i's
corrections policy, with nearly half of the state's prison population -
1,828 inmates - held in privately operated facilities in Oklahoma,
Mississippi, Arizona and Kentucky at a cost of $36 million this year.
Hawai'i already leads all other states in holding the highest percentage of
its prison population in out-of-state correctional centers, and if Hawai'i
policymakers continue on their present course, by the end of 2006 there
likely will be more inmates housed in Mainland prisons than at home.
Although public safety officials say the private companies that house
Hawai'i inmates have generally done a good job, the history of Mainland
prison placements is pockmarked with reports of contract violations, riots,
drug smuggling, and allegations of sexual assaults of women inmates. Former
prisons chief Keith Kaneshiro says years in
Mainland prisons have instilled a dangerous gang culture in Hawai'i inmates
that has spread back to the Islands and will present problems for local
corrections officials for years to come. There is also concern that inmates
who are incarcerated on the Mainland lose touch with their families,
increasing the likelihood they will return to crime once they are released.
Robert Perkinson, a University of Hawai'i
assistant professor of American studies, called the state's prison policy
"completely backward." "None of this makes sense if your goal
is to make the citizens of Hawai'i safer and use your tax dollars as
effectively as you can to make the streets safer, based on the best
available research that we have," said Perkinson,
who is writing a book on the Texas prison system. Marilyn Brown, assistant
professor of sociology at UH-Hilo, said Hawai'i's
out-of-state inmate transfers are a strange throwback to corrections
policies of two or three centuries ago, when felons were banished to penal
colonies in Australia or the New World. Most of the $36 million being spent
this year on out-of-state prison accommodations will go to Corrections
Corp. of America, a pioneer in the private corrections industry. The
company holds about 62,000 inmates nationwide, including about 1,750 men
from Hawai'i in prisons in Oklahoma, Arizona and Mississippi. Last week the
state transferred 80 Hawai'i women inmates from a prison in Brush, Colo.,
owned by GRW Corp. to Otter Creek Correctional Center, a CCA prison in
Wheelwright, Ky. Those selected for Mainland transfers generally are felons
with at least several years left on their sentences who
have no major health problems or pending court cases that would require
their presence in Hawai'i. Private prison contractors have the final say,
and can reject troublesome inmates with a history of misconduct. Ted Sakai,
who ran the state prison system from 1998 to 2002, said it will always be
cheaper to house inmates on the Mainland because of labor costs, which are
considerably lower in the rural communities where many prisons are. But
there are benefits to keeping prison jobs here, he said. In 2000, state
House Republican leaders scolded then-Gov. Ben Cayetano
for proposing to lease more prison beds on the Mainland. House Minority
Leader Galen Fox said doing so would be bad for the state's economy and the
inmates' families. An Advertiser poll of Democrats and Republicans before
the start of the Legislature's 2003 session found a majority of state
lawmakers opposed the practice. Republican Gov. Linda Lingle
also has said she is opposed to sending more prisoners away. Yet spending
on Mainland prisons has steadily increased over the past 10 years, and
politicians have failed to take action on alternatives. The Cayetano administration explored several options for
privately built or privately operated facilities on the Big Island and O'ahu, but each proposal was thwarted by political
resistance or opposition from communities near suggested prison sites. Lingle campaigned in 2002 on a promise to build two
500-bed secure "treatment facilities," but three years later, no
specifics have been provided on when or where the projects might be built.
As Hawai'i's policy of out-of-state incarceration
becomes more entrenched, other states are moving in the opposite direction.
Connecticut and Wisconsin both recently brought home almost all of their
inmates who had been housed elsewhere, and Indiana returned 600 convicts
from out-of-state prisons. Alabama, meanwhile, doubled the number of
convicts on parole to allow inmates to return from a Corrections Corp. of
America-run prison in Tutwiler, Miss., last year. The vacancies at
Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility were filled by more than 700
Hawai'i inmates. Wyoming plans to open a new prison in 2007 that would
allow the state to bring back 550 inmates now held out of state, and
lawmakers in Alaska last year authorized planning for a new prison of their
own.
September 29, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
About 80 Hawai'i women prison inmates boarded an airplane in Colorado
yesterday for a trip to the small rural town of Wheelwright, Ky., where
they will be housed in a prison run by Corrections Corporation of America.
The women had been held for the past 14 months in the Brush Correctional
Facility in Brush, Colo., a private prison run by GRW Corp. that was
plagued by problems including allegations of sexual misconduct between
staff at the prison and eight inmates from three states, including Hawai'i.
The inmates are among 1,828 Hawai'i convicts who are housed at privately
run prisons on the Mainland because there is no room for them in Hawai'i
prisons. Colorado Department of Corrections officials launched
investigations into Brush Correctional Facility earlier this year that
resulted in a number of criminal charges against staff and inmates in
Colorado. Two prison employees were indicted on charges of alleged sexual
misconduct with inmates, and two more prison workers were charged along
with five inmates in connection with an alleged cigarette-smuggling ring.
Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned in February,
and was later indicted as an alleged accomplice in one of the sexual
misconduct cases. In March the Colorado Department of Corrections revealed
that five convicted felons were allowed to work at the prison because
background checks on some staff members had never been completed. Colorado
authorities later released an audit that was highly critical of the prison,
and contract monitors from Hawai'i reported the prison failed to comply
with its contract with the state in a number of areas.
July 28, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
They're out of sight, but must not be out of mind. Hawai'i's
overflow inmate population, housed at private prisons on the Mainland,
remain our responsibility. And making sure they are treated humanely while
serving their time must be our concern. That's why state officials are
right to demand an investigation into the sudden opening of cell doors in
the predawn hours of July 17 at Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility
that resulted in a riot. More than 700 Hawai'i inmates have been housed
since last year at the Mississippi prison, owned by Corrections Corp. of
America. Two inmates were injured in the fight. Kane'ohe
resident Sandra Cooper, the mother of one inmate, has her doubts that an
internal probe will be enough to bring out the truth about how the cell
doors opened. She called on the FBI to do a thorough inquiry, and that
indeed would be the ideal way to proceed here. There's precedent for the
FBI to take jurisdiction in a case where inmates are brought across state
lines. At the very least, an independent authority should drive the
investigation, rather than the prison's private owners. And state officials
here must continue to ride herd to see that the investigation proceeds to a
satisfactory conclusion. In a separate prison issue, it's a relief to see
that the state has decided to pull the plug on its contract with the
troubled Brush Correctional Facility, a northeastern Colorado prison
housing 80 women inmates from Hawai'i. Because of ongoing investigations
into alleged sexual misconduct between staff and prisoners, it's imperative
that the move be made as soon as possible, while allowing for careful
scrutiny of the prisoners' next destination. The end-of-September target
date for the move seems reasonable, assuming that the state maintain its
careful monitoring of Brush in the meantime. These painful episodes clearly
illustrate that housing inmates on the Mainland is merely a short-term
response to our critical prison shortage here, and creates its own
additional problems. Hawai'i must continue to: work toward expanded prison
capacity in the Islands, where we can retain better control of conditions;
strengthen the probation system to keep some first-time offenders out of
prison; and work on preventive strategies aimed at stemming the tide in
drug abuse, which fuels so much of the state's crime problem. Sending
inmates to the Mainland is just a stopgap solution.
July 27, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Hawai'i plans to move 80 women inmates out of a troubled private prison in
Colorado by the end of September but is unsure where they will go, prison
officials said. Hawai'i prison spokesman Michael Gaede
confirmed the state is requesting bids from facilities to house the Hawai'i
inmates and that the request in effect requires they be moved out of the
Brush Correctional Facility, a 250-bed prison in northeastern
Colorado. The Brush prison has been under close scrutiny since
Colorado authorities disclosed in February they were investigating
allegations of sexual misconduct between staff at the prison and eight
inmates from three states, including Hawai'i. Brush Warden Rick Soares resigned in February, and was later indicted as
an alleged accomplice in one of the sexual misconduct cases. Two
other prison employees also were indicted on charges of alleged sexual
misconduct with inmates, and two more prison workers were indicted along
with five inmates in connection with an alleged cigarette smuggling
ring. Those disclosures were followed by reports in March that five
convicted felons were allowed to work at the prison because background
checks on some staff members had never been completed. Since then Hawai'i
monitors have filed reports noting that the prison failed to comply with
its contract with the state in a number of areas, and Colorado authorities
released an audit that was highly critical of the prison. Contract
monitors and other reports this year cited a litany of concerns about the
prison, including: GRW for many months used inmates to teach
required rehabilitation classes to other inmates. Colorado corrections
officials repeatedly complained about the practice, and Hawai'i contract
monitors in February warned the practice was a "serious concern"
for Hawai'i as well. After the sexual misconduct allegations were
made public at Brush, virtually all inmate
rehabilitative and educational programming was shut down from January to
early June, prison officials acknowledged. That violates the state's
contract requirement that those services be offered to inmates.
Inmates and state monitors have repeatedly complained the Brush prison was
providing inadequate dental and medical care. Brush prison officials
reported in May that the facility was visited by a doctor only once a month, and a Hawai'i contract monitor's report in May
called that staffing inadequate. Hawai'i contract monitors also
warned the facility in February that it was obliged by contract to give
inmates better access to dental care, and monitors again cited the same
problem in a follow-up inspection in May. Hawai'i monitors complained
last year the Brush prison was not conducting drug testing of inmates that
is required by contract, and once again criticized the prison in May for
not doing the required testing. A Colorado audit released in June
found the Brush prison clinic was not licensed as required under Colorado
law, a lapse that also violated the prison's contract with Hawai'i.
June
27, 2005
CHEYENNE -- Scarcity of space and a recent sexual misconduct scandal have
prompted state officials to move the 54 prison inmates Wyoming currently
houses at private facilities in Colorado to Texas by the end of the
summer. But by the end of 2007, Wyoming expects to have all of its
prisoners housed within the state's borders, according to Wyoming
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Melinda Brazzale.
Brazzale said a lack of available private prison
space in Colorado prompted Wyoming officials to begin consideration of
moving state inmates out of Colorado. Contributing to the decision were
allegations of sexual misconduct between prison guards and inmates at a
private prison in Brush, Colo., where Wyoming had been housing 38 female
inmates. Those inmates have since been moved out of Colorado.
June
21, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
Three states could pull their inmates from Colorado's private prisons by
the end of the summer, spooked by a recent sexual
misconduct scandal and squeezed by Colorado's own rising prisoner
population. The state's five private facilities house about 2,700 Colorado
inmates. They also contract with three other states - Hawaii, Washington
and Wyoming - to hold prisoners those states can't, due to overcrowding.
The private prisons have lost or stand to lose nearly 400 out-of-state
inmates, which would be an approximately $20,000 per-day hit spread between
two Tennessee firms who run them. State officials say they can fill the gap
with 400 Colorado inmates waiting for prison beds - contradicting warnings
the private firms sounded earlier this year - and suggest that facilities
filled only with Colorado prisoners could prove easier to control.
Corrections officials say it's easier to manage prisoners from one state,
because they are all used to the same rules. Some states, for example allow
cigarette smoking or conjugal visits, which Colorado does not. "It is
always easier to manage a single jurisdiction population," said Alison
Morgan, a corrections department spokeswoman. Later, she said the loss of
out-of-state inmates "is not a bad thing." Officials also
have said out-of- state inmates may have fueled or contributed to two riots
in the past decade, including one at the Crowley County Correctional
Facility last July. Washington once sent more than 200 prisoners to
Colorado. The state has moved all but a few to other states, a Washington
corrections official said Monday. Wyoming will move its 54 male inmates -
already down from a high of 300 - from Colorado by summer's end, a
corrections spokeswoman there said. Wyoming has already moved 38 female
inmates from a private prison in Brush, in part because of alleged sexual
misconduct between prison guards and inmates that surfaced in February.
Hawaiian officials are rebidding their contract to house 80 women who are
in Brush. Twenty- one state lawmakers urged their governor in April to move
those inmates "immediately," the Honolulu Advertiser reported.
April 14, 2005 Honolulu Advertiser
Wyoming will remove its women inmates from a privately run Mainland prison
that also houses Hawai'i women inmates, the same prison where staff members
were accused of sexual misconduct involving Hawai'i, Wyoming and Colorado
inmates. Melinda Brazzale, spokeswoman for the
Wyoming Department of Corrections, cited a recent series of problems at the
prison in the decision to remove the Wyoming inmates from the Brush
Correctional Facility in Colorado. Those problems included criminal charges
filed against staff members and the former warden in connection with the
sexual misconduct allegations, and revelations that the prison allowed five
convicted felons to work there because their background checks had not been
completed. Investigations by Colorado state prison officials concluded
prison staff had been involved in alleged sexual misconduct with two
Hawai'i inmates, two Colorado inmates and four Wyoming inmates. Two other
members of the prison staff were charged in an alleged cigarette smuggling
ring.
March 23, 2005 Rocky Mountain News
People with criminal records were hired to work at a Brush prison where
several employees are facing charges for allegedly having sex with inmates,
according to a CBS 4 News investigation. The Brush Correctional Facility is
a medium-security prison that holds 250 women. GRW Corp., a private company
headquartered in Tennessee, runs the prison and hired several employees
with criminal records to watch over the inmates, according to CBS 4 News.
The company has fired six employees with criminal histories so far. Four
guards have resigned from the prison, and one has been put on
administrative leave. The warden, Rick Soares,
resigned Feb. 18, a month after the Department of Corrections first
received reports of sexual misconduct. Three prison guards are facing
criminal charges for allegedly having sex with seven inmates. Two other
guards and an inmate are accused of smuggling contraband cigarettes into
the facility. The list of the prison employees with questionable
backgrounds includes 28-year-old Angela Gallegos, CBS 4 News said. A prison
guard, she was arrested on a felony charge three years ago and pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor harassment. Heather Henry, 24, was also hired as a
guard. Her record includes arrests for harassment, domestic
violence-assault, violating protective orders and child abuse. Richard
Fairchild, 42, was convicted of domestic violence and violating a
restraining order. Gil Walker, president of GRW, said these are the last
people who should be working in a prison and should have never been hired.
"We don't hire questionable people, and that's the embarrassing
part," Walker told CBS 4 News. Walker said the company never finished
its background checks on potential employees and didn't know their full
histories.
March 10, 2005 Fort Morgan Times
Morgan County District Attorney Bob Watson filed additional charges
Wednesday in connection with the prison sexual misconduct scandal in Brush.
The new indictments include a charge of unlawful sexual conduct in a penal
institution lodged against a second guard, charges of being an accessory to
a crime against the former warden and charges against another nine current
or former prison employees related to introducing contraband cigarettes
into the prison and conspiracy to commit introduction of contraband.
According to Watson, the new charges are not necessarily all that will
result from his office's ongoing investigation of the GRW-owned private
prison. According to case filings made Wednesday in Morgan County District
Court, corrections officer Fredrick Henry Woller,
32, of Brush is charged with unlawful sexual conduct in a penal
institution, a class five felony. Specifically, Woller
is alleged to have engaged in sexual conduct with prisoner Cristie Maez. Also charged
Wednesday was former Warden Richard "Rick" Soares
Jr., 57, of Sterling, who was allegedly an accessory to the crime of
unlawful sexual conduct in a penal institution, also a class five felony.
He is accused of hindering the investigation. The pair joins corrections
officer Russell Rollison, 31, of Brush, who was
charged last week with unlawful sexual conduct in a penal institution.
Other charges resulting from the criminal probe to date regard prison food
service and other prison employees allegedly conspiring with inmates to
bring cigarettes into the prison. Cigarettes have been banned from Colorado
penal institutions since 1999. Those charged with introducing contraband in
the second degree, a class six felony, and conspiracy to commit
introduction of contraband, also a class six felony, are: Pania Akopian, 31, Pisa Tuvale, 35, Annette Cummings, 38, Janice Crockett, 47,
and Jeannette Dillon, 38, all of whom have the Brush Correctional Facility
listed as their address; Gail Guerrero, no age listed, and Maria Ramirez,
46, both of Brush; Charmayne Kalama, 28, of
Kapolei, Hawaii, and Stannie T. Muramoto, 46, of Honolulu, Hawaii. According to Gil
Walker, CEO of Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the 250-bed private prison,
an internal investigation uncovered only consensual sex between the guards
and prisoners. Alison Morgan, a state corrections department spokeswoman,
said the DOC investigation revealed at least some of the sex as having been
initiated by inmates. She said inmates from both Hawaii and Wyoming
admitted to initiating the encounters either so they could be returned home
or in an effort to sue the prison. However, a Hawaii attorney representing
two of the inmates has alleged his clients were raped. The case was
referred to DA Watson's office by the state corrections department's
inspector general's office. The Brush prison, which became the first
private prison for women in Colorado, opened in August, 2003. It houses 80
inmates from Hawaii, 73 from Colorado and 45 from Wyoming. Colorado pays
$50 a day to GRW to house its prisoners.
March 4, 2005 Star Bulletin
Female inmates from Hawaii will remain at a privately run women's prison in
Colorado where five officers face sexual misconduct and contraband charges,
Hawaii officials said yesterday. A visit to the prison by state monitors
last month shows Hawaii does not need to transfer its inmates to an
alternate facility, said Richard Bissen, interim
director of Hawaii's Department of Public Safety. "Incidents like this
happen at facilities," Bissen said.
"But that place is being more closely monitored than ever, and the
women themselves say they are safe." Three prison officers had sex
with a total of four Hawaii inmates, two Colorado inmates and one Wyoming
inmate, according to Alison Morgan, a spokesperson for the Colorado
corrections department. Two of the officers have resigned, and a third is
on administrative leave. Investigations show the sex was consensual, said
Gil Walker, founder and chief executive of Tennessee-based GRW, which owns
the Brush Correctional Facility for Women, located in Colorado. One case
involved two Hawaii inmates and a guard, who admitted to engaging in sexual
activity in January in the prison library. Some civil rights advocates
argue that there is no such thing as consensual sex between an inmate and
an authority figure. "We have a law that says it's a felony. It's not
consensual when someone is in custody," said Kat Brady, an advocate
with the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. Myles Breiner, a Honolulu lawyer who is representing the
Hawaii inmates, has said the women were forced to perform a sex act for Rollison. Morgan said some Hawaii and Wyoming inmates
admitted they believed having sex with the guards would help them get
transferred to their home states, where they would be closer to relatives.
February 25, 2005 Denver Post
The warden resigned and five correctional officers at the privately run
Brush Correctional Facility for women face sexual misconduct and contraband
charges in the wake of a criminal probe. Warden Rick Soares
resigned from Tennessee-based GRW, which owns the 250-bed prison in Brush,
on Feb. 18 after a month-long investigation implicated the five officers,
said Alison Morgan, state Department of Corrections
spokeswoman. The warden was not implicated in the wrongdoing. The
department's inspector general's office referred contraband allegations
involving two staff members and one inmate and sexual misconduct
allegations involving three staff members to District Attorney Robert
Watson on Thursday. Three officers who were not named had sex with four
Hawaiian inmates, two Colorado inmates and one Wyoming inmate, Morgan said.
Two of the officers resigned, and a third is on administrative leave
pending the outcome of the criminal case. Some of the women alleged they
were raped, but investigators concluded the sex was consensual, sometimes
initiated by inmates, Morgan said. It's still a felony offense for
correctional officers, she said. She said some Hawaiian and Wyoming inmates
acknowledged they had sex with correctional officers because they believed
they would be returned home, where they would be closer to relatives.
Others hoped to file lawsuits against the prison. Two officers and an
inmate were caught sneaking tobacco into the prison, Morgan said.
Colorado Department of Corrections
June 14, 2005 Pueblo Chieftain
The Colorado Department of Corrections has been lax in its oversight of
private prisons, and has ignored known problems for years, according to a
scathing state audit released Monday. Prompted by a riot at a private
prison in Crowley County last year, the audit said DOC's inability to
properly manage the five private facilities operating in the state led to
numerous inmate problems, and could spark more. The audit said that the
department knew about specific problems with how private prisons were being
operated, but did little to nothing to correct them. And when the DOC did
point out violations to private facilities, it failed to ensure that they
were corrected, the audit said. "Noted violations by the private
prisons are not being addressed by the department, and have been allowed to
continue unresolved," the audit stated. "Furthermore, the
department has not instituted a systemic follow-up process to ensure that
its recommendations are follow by the private prisons or that documented
violations are corrected." The audit found that the DOC used employees
whose jobs were to monitor private prisons do other work, failed to enforce
rules and regulations on how they are to operate, and was shoddy in how it
monitored private facilities. Nolin Renfrow,
director of prison operations for DOC, admitted that the department has
made mistakes in its oversight of private prisons, but chalked it up to
inexperience. "We have over 150 years experience running our own
prisons, but only five dealing with private facilities," Renfrow said following the audit report. "We're
learning as we go." Currently, there are five private prisons
operating in the state, four of which are owned by the same national
private prison firm: Corrections Corp. of America based in Nashville, Tenn.
CCA operates facilities in Bent, Huerfano, Crowley and Kit Carson counties.
A fifth private facility, which houses females, is located in Brush. It is
operated by GRW Corporation based in Brentwood, Tenn. Steve Owen, CCA
spokesman, said that while the audit was not about his company per se, CCA
takes its role in working with DOC seriously and will help the department
address concerns raised in the report. Still, Owen said the audit was a
little too general to help the company address specific concerns.
"We're a partner to the Department of Corrections and we view
ourselves as apart of the system," Owen
said. "The conclusions and the observations were so general for the
most part, it's hard to specifically identify what
specific things apply to our direct operations. The report doesn't lend
itself to identifying specific things to specific facilities." One
part of the report, for example, says that a mental
health providers were not meeting with seriously mental ill inmates,
but didn't say at which facility. Another section of the report, however,
says that the medical staff at the Bent County Correctional Facility in Las
Animas administered two medications to an inmate that led to his death.
Another death occurred at a different private facility in Kit Carson County
when an inmate's medication was changed. Both are operated by CCA. "We
identified two cases where physicians changed the inmates' medications
without examining them," the audit said. "Department clinical and
administrative records indicate that medication changes made by private
prison staff potentially contributed to the death of these inmates."
Owen said he knew nothing about those deaths, and questioned whether they
occurred at CCA facilities. Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West and an outspoken critic of
private prisons, said the audit supports what she's been saying all along,
that they have no place in Colorado. "These for-profit prisons would
have a hard time passing even the beginning of the Boy Scouts of America
oath: 'On my honor I will do my best,' " McFadyen said. "It's clear that the
for-profit prison industry has no desire to follow their contracts, and it
is costing taxpayers money every day. This year,
the state could've spent $ 1.1 million on heath care, job creation or
tourism. Instead, we had to spend that money to watch over private prison
facilities that aren't doing their jobs and putting the public safety at
risk." McFadyen was referring to additional
money the Legislature gave to the DOC to add positions to its private
prison monitoring unit. The audit said that the department has 15
monitoring unit positions, but that only four were actually going to the
prisons. Additionally, one of those positions, for a unit operations
manager, has been vacant for three years. Yet, the DOC asked the
Legislature for five new private prison investigators and two additional
monitoring unit workers. Renfrow said that cuts
to the department's overall budget in recent years forced it to use some of
those workers for other duties. The audit said that the monitoring units
that did visit facilities missed numerous required inspections and filed
incomplete reports. Auditors were particularly alarmed that the units
failed to conduct the security and emergency activation drills it was
suppose to, particularly one at the Crowley County facility at which a riot
occurred last summer. "Of particular concern, we noted that the
monitoring unit had never conducted an emergency activation drill at the
one private prison that experienced a riot in July 2004, and only produced
monitoring reports for one-third of the targeted weekly inspections at this
facility during fiscal year 2004," the audit said. "Additionally,
we identified several weekly inspection reports and security audits that
appeared to copy the findings from prior inspection reports, changing only
the date and time of the audit work performed," the audit said.
"Department management does not review these reports, so management
was not aware that the reports contained errors."
June 14, 2005 Colorado Springs Gazette
Two Colorado inmates died last year because their prescription
medications were changed by unlicensed medical clinics in private prisons,
according to a stinging audit that charged the state with lax oversight of
an out-of-control private prison system. The Colorado Department of
Corrections houses about 2,800 of its 18,000 inmates in six private
prisons. Five are in Colorado, and one is in Missouri. It cost taxpayers
$53 million in 2004. An audit of those prisons released Monday found
numerous problems: inadequate staffing levels, unlicensed medical clinics,
employees with criminal backgrounds, poor food services and more. The audit
laid much of the fault with the state corrections officials, saying the
state did a shabby job of monitoring and enforcing standards in private
prisons. The state’s private prison monitoring unit has been plagued by job
vacancies and only spends a fraction of the time it should at the prisons
evaluating conditions and addressing problems, the audit found. “I think,
from our audit perspective, we identified substantial compliance issues,”
said Cindi Stetson, the deputy state auditor who
managed the project. For instance, the audit found that private prison
monitors filed reports that were copies of old documents that merely had a
new date. Top level managers reportedly didn’t review private prison
reports anyway. Additionally, not all the people assigned to monitor
private prisons were doing that. Fifteen employees were allocated to that
unit, but four were assigned to other duties and the key unit manager job
was left vacant for three years. Corrections officials said they have not
done a good job regulating private prisons but insisted they are taking
steps to fix the problem. “We’ve taken the recommendations very seriously,”
said Nolin Renfrow, director of prisons. “We feel
confident we are headed in the right direction.” Renfrow
said staffing has been beefed up in the office and that computers will
track compliance reports. Additionally, he said top executives will pay
closer attention to private prisons. As to the specific problems, DOC
officials say they are tightening the contracts with private prison providers
to force them to take care of the issues. Many of those new contracts take
effect July 1. New stipulations will require private prisons have a
licensed medical clinic. That’s a response to one of the main findings in
the audit. “None of the clinics in Colorado’s five private prisons are
licensed,” said auditor John Conley. “Since the clinics are not licensed,
they are not monitoring them and are not aware of any deaths or problems at
private prisons.” Nine deaths at private prisons last year were not reported
to the Colorado Department of Health, as they should have been, the
auditors said. So there was no investigation. The auditors said seven of
the deaths were from natural causes, but two were linked to medical
complications after prison operators changed prescription drugs. No other
details were provided. The findings outraged lawmakers. “Obviously, they
have been having a free-for-all in practicing medicine the way they wish
for a long time,” said Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood. “We are paying a lot
of money to these private prisons for health care, and we need to get a
better product than we are getting.” The audit found problems in many
private prison practices, including their hiring standards, the nutritional
value of their food and their staffing levels. The audit didn’t specify
which private prisons were having the most problems. But four of the five
prisons in Colorado are owned and run by the Tennessee-based Correction
Corporation of America. Company officials said they are reviewing the audit
and promised more efficiency and accountability. “We certainly would
embrace that goal and have been working and will continue to work with our
customer, the Department of Corrections, to enhance both of those,” said
Steven Owen, a spokesman for the firm. A 500-bed, privately run prison
under construction on East Las Vegas Street near the El Paso County
Criminal Justice Center is scheduled to open in August. The medium security
facility will be operated by New Jersey-based Community Education Centers.
The prison, called the Cheyenne Mountain Pre-release Center, will house
parole violators and inmates making the transition into society or to
community corrections after serving state prison sentences. Its purpose is
to reduce recidivism by giving inmates about 180 days of vocational
training, drug and alcohol counseling, adult education classes and other
last-minute lessons they can apply outside prison. Joe Ortiz, executive
director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, said part of his
agency’s problem is funding. “When we talk about medical, we talk about
food, we talk about programs . . . that always comes
with a price tag,” he said. “That’s not to say the department hasn’t been
remiss in some areas, but it is a difficult mission, and it is difficult to
provide all of these services given the current budget conditions.” The
department’s budget was cut during the recession but has seen much of that
funding restored in the past two years. The approved budget for the 2005-06
fiscal year, which starts July 1, is $589.2
million, a 6 percent increase. Lawmakers say they will take a hard look at
the issues surrounding private prisons. “It’s clear that the for-profit
prison industry has no desire to follow their contracts, and it is costing taxpayers money every day,” said Rep. Liane “Buffie” McFadyen, D-Pueblo West. KEY FINDINGS - None of the
clinics at private prisons are licensed with the state. At least two
inmates who were treated in those clinics died last year when their
prescriptions were changed. Those deaths were not reported to state
officials. - Inmates with serious mental illnesses were not seen by mental
health staff in a timely manner. - Private prisons are serving meals that
do not meet the state’s dietary standards. - The DOC doesn’t review
staffing patterns at private prisons as part of their contracts. - Some
private prison employees have questionable backgrounds, including some who
have been convicted of violent crimes. In some instances, private prison
employees begin working before a background check is completed. - Private
prisons are not properly deducting court-ordered inmate restitution and
child support. - The Department of Corrections office charged with
monitoring private prisons was understaffed and didn’t get the job done. -
Dangerous inmates were sent to some private prisons even though state law
stipulates private prisons should only house medium security prisoners and
lower.
June 14, 2005 Denver Post
Privately owned prisons in Colorado fall far short of minimum safety
and medical standards, possibly resulting in the deaths of two inmates and
the early release of a sex offender, according to an audit released Monday.
Part of the problem, the report from the state auditor's office said, is
lax state oversight of the private prisons, which collected $53 million to
house 2,800 inmates in 2004. The audit's key findings: Nine inmates died
between January 2001 and September 2004. Two of those deaths may have been
caused by physicians who changed medications without physically examining
the inmates. A sexual offender was released from prison three months early
because officials awarded him credits for treatment sessions he didn't
attend. None of the five private
prisons in Colorado have licensed medical clinics. Four private-prison
employees had previous convictions for motor-vehicle theft, assault,
criminal mischief and harassment. Staffing levels are lower at private
prisons than at state institutions, with the worst ratio at the Crowley
County prison, where inmates rioted last year. Steve Owen, spokesman for
Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, which operates
four of the five private prisons in Colorado, declined to comment on the
audit, saying he had not yet read it. But he said his company meets the
standards set by a national trade association for private prisons. "We
are doing our part to help the state be good stewards of the taxpayers'
dollar," said Owen.
Joplin City Jail, Joplin, Missouri
August 11, 2008 Joplin Globe
Joplin will take over operations of the city jail and a transportation
service instead of contracting the services to outside vendors, the City
Council decided Monday night. The decision was based on a projection that
the city could save more than $800,000 over the next five years by taking
over the operations. The council made the decision at a work session that
preceded a “City Hall in the Park” informal session at the Wildcat Glades
Conservation and Audubon Center in Wildcat Park. Budget director Leslie
Jones told the council that the Metro Area Publictransit
System contract was bid out last year, and the contracted operator, Access
Transit, recently notified the city that it cannot honor the contract
beyond Oct. 31 because of the increased cost of fuel. The jail contract
with GRW, of Brentwood, Tenn., expires Oct. 31.
May 14, 2007 Joplin Globe
A Joplin city jail inmate is dead after he was found hanging from the
ceiling of the jail about 7:34 a.m. today. According to Lt. Geoff Jones of
the police department, attempts to revive the man were unsuccessful. He was
being held in a two-person cell by himself awaiting court in Joplin and
possible extradition to Greene County. Detectives with the Joplin Police
Department are investigating the death and an autopsy is scheduled for
later today. The name of the vicitm is being
withheld pending notification of family members. The Joplin City Jail is
operated by GRW Corporation, a private security company. Jones said this is
the first in-custody death at the Joplin jail since 1997, when GRW took
over day-to-day operations.
Labette Correctional Conservation Camp, Labette
County, Kansas
February 27, 2007 Parsons Sun
Some employees of the Labette Correctional Conservation Camp women's
facility lost vacation time when the facility was transferred to county
management on Feb. 1, but county commissioners say it isn't their fault. On
Monday, commissioners met with LCCC administrators to discuss the
situation. County Commissioner Jerry Carson said the situations at the
men's and women's camps are different because the county has never operated
the women's camp directly. Labette County created the boot-camp style
facility in the early '90s and has held responsibility for operating it.
The camp has always been operated by a private management firm until now,
however. The women's camp was created by the Kansas Department of
Corrections a few years later. KDOC hired the same company to operate the
facility and the two have operated in concert. However, Carson said the
differences translate into employees at the women's camp losing leave time.
Carson pointed the finger at GRW Corp., the Tennessee-based management firm
that ran the facilities. Carson said he thought there was a
"gentleman's agreement" with GRW to honor the vacation time.
Carson said he would be willing to meet with camp employees and explain the
situation to them. Commissioner Lonie Addis
agreed with that assessment of the situation but said he didn't like it.
"The simple fact is it's still not fair," Addis said.
Commissioners also discussed setting up times to meet with camp employees
to discuss the county's personnel policy. The county has revised the policy
in order to include camp employees.
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