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Prisoner Transport
October11, 2010 The Journal
An inmate on the run since he escaped from a private prison transport van last
month in the Spring Mills area was shot dead by authorities in Connecticut
following a pursuit, federal authorities have announced. Deputy U.S. Marshal
Michael Ulrich of the West Virginia Mountain State Fugitive Task Force said
federal authorities were notified Saturday at about 5 p.m. that the fugitive,
36-year-old Albert James Voute III, had stolen a
vehicle in Connecticut Friday and led officers on a pursuit that ended when Voute was shot and killed after he pulled a gun on an
officer. At the time of the incident, Voute's
identity was unknown. After the shooting, authorities found Voute had no identification on his person and was
temporarily declared a John Doe until Connecticut authorities submitted his
fingerprints to obtain a positive identification, Ulrich said. The manhunt
for Voute began Sept. 15 when he escaped from a
prisoner van operated by North Atlantic Extradition Services, a private
transportation company hired by the state of New Jersey to transport Voute from the Big Sandy penitentiary in Kentucky to
Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, N.J. Voute
managed to slip out of his leg shackles after the van pulled over at a Burger
King located off of W.Va. 901.
September
16, 2010 The Journal
A manhunt continued in Berkeley County as of press time Wednesday night as
police searched for an inmate who escaped from a transport van early
Wednesday morning at the Burger King in Spring Mills. According to a news
release, at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, the West Virginia State Police received a
call reporting that an inmate had escaped. Troopers learned that the inmate
had fled on foot from a prisoner van he was being transported in after the
van stopped at the Burger King restaurant on W.Va. 901 in Spring Mills. The
inmate has been identified as 36-year-old Albert Voute,
who is described as a white male, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing 175 pounds
with short black hair. The suspect was somehow able to remove his leg
shackles and exit the van, police said. Troopers and Berkeley County
sheriff's deputies utilized K-9s and a Maryland State Police helicopter to
search the area. The manhunt continued as of 10:15 p.m. Wednesday with a
helicopter scanning wooded areas where the inmate might be hiding, while
officers continued looking on the ground. The escaped inmate was being
transported from Kentucky to New Jersey to face an armed robbery charge. He
was being transported by North Atlantic Extradition Services, which is a
private company contracted to transport prisoners, police said. The company's
motto is "extradition you can trust," according to its website. The
company was contacted by The Journal Wednesday seeking comment. A message
left with company officials was not returned as of press time.
ResCare's
Intermediate Care Facilities
ResCare
March
7, 2003
A report released today highlights problems with quality of care at ResCare,
Inc., group homes in West Virginia. The report "Worse Care with
ResCare?" was published by the Service Employees International Union and
demonstrates both qualitatively and quantitatively ResCare's problems with
quality of care issues at its intermediate care facilities for the mentally
retarded (ICF/MR) in the state. ResCare's lapses of care highlighted in
the report include: * Instances of insufficient staffing and inadequate
supervision, which have contributed to a risk of injuries or actual injuries,
including death in at least one case. * Falsification of medical
records and instances of medical duties performed by unlicensed staff.
* Medication errors that were not reported to residents' doctors until up to
19 days after the errors. * "Suspected neglect" that went
unreported to Adult Protective Services until state inspectors discovered
records of the incidents. * Delays in providing medical services.
* Inappropriate diets provided to restricted-diet individuals, leading to
several instances of choking. * A lack of habilitative
services, which are designed to lead to a more independent lifestyle for
individuals with disabilities. The report also documents that ResCare's
record of care is worse than other providers in the state, as measured by
data in publicly available state records. For example, * During annual
facility inspections between August 9, 2001, and September 19, 2002: *
53% of ResCare ICF/MR facilities in West Virginia had violations of active
treatment standards. * 47% of ResCare ICF/MR facilities in West
Virginia had violations of health care service standards. * ResCare's
rate of 3.81 violations per facility was 2.26 times the rate at facilities
run by other providers during the same period. * ResCare was the only
provider to fail to meet basic Medicaid Conditions of Participation
during this 13-month period. * ResCare was the target of 36 complaints
regarding the care and services it provided between January 1, 2001 and
October 28, 2002. Half, or 18, of these complaints were validated by state
authorities. In contrast, other providers were the target of only two
validated complaints during this period. ResCare's rate of validated
complaints per facility was 3.81 times that of other providers.
(Service Employees International Union)
TransCor America
West Virginia
August
15, 2003
Three prisoners who were trapped in a van after it was hijacked in 2001 by a
fellow prisoner have filed a lawsuit against the van's transport company and
two of the company's former employees. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday
on behalf of Frederick Furlong, Michael Wolf and David Adams by Morgantown
lawyer Jennifer McGinley in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg. In
September 2001 Christopher Paul Savage overpowered two transport officers at
a Clarksburg gas station after faking an illness. He then used the van he and
other prisoners were being transported in to escape. Savage later
abandoned the van and ran away on foot. He was arrested almost two months
afterward in Georgia. The lawsuit alleges the transport drivers'
negligence led to Savage's escape and the prisoners' kidnapping - during
which, the prisoners were denied proper food, drink and bathroom breaks and
were deprived of medication. The lawsuit alleges Nashville, Tenn.-based
TransCor America, Inc. already knew of training and
supervision problems among its drivers. (AP)
West Virginia Department of Corrections
December 10,
2013
Dec. 17, 2013 herald-dispatch.com
As West Virginia officials weigh
further steps to deal with overcrowded prisons and jails, they should give
strong consideration to a proposal floated to legislators last week. It could
well provide a more suitable alternative to another option now being pursued
-- placing some of the state's inmates in an out-of-state prison run by a
private corporation. The plan spelled out a week ago to members of the
Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jails and Corrections involves
expanding programming to state inmates now being held in the state's regional
jails so that they can more quickly become eligible for parole. The proposal
put forth by John Lopez, chief of operations for the state's Regional Jail Authority, calls for hiring one to two additional
full-time counselors at each of the 10 regional jails. The price tag for
doing that would be about $700,000 a year for salaries and benefits, he said.
The regional jails now house about 1,300 Division of Corrections inmates that
should be in the state-run prisons, but those prisons are already beyond
capacity. One drawback of that situation is that the regional jails now do
not offer adequate programming that could make those inmates eligible for
parole consideration, so that slows the process of reducing inmate
populations. Adding the counselors could mean adding the programs -- on such
topics as domestic violence, life skills, anger management, and alcohol and
substance abuse -- that are needed. Taking such a step should help speed up
the parole process for many inmates, and possibly reduce the state's overall
inmate population, particularly at the regional jails. And it could keep West
Virginia's inmates housed within the state's borders -- unlike another plan
being considered by the Division of Corrections. Corrections officials
earlier this year sought bids from contractors to house up to 400 of the
state's inmates at an out-of-state prison. It received one bid this month,
from Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest private prison
operator. The company proposed housing the inmates at one of its prisons in
Beattyville, Ky., about two-and-a-half hours from Huntington. The second part
of the bid -- how much it would cost the state -- won't be opened until later
this month or early January. Even though the cost of that plan isn't known
yet, it's unlikely to be a less expensive option than Lopez's plan to hire
more counselors. State officials say incarcerating an inmate can cost up to
$25,000 a year. Even if Corrections Corporation of America's bid comes in at
half that cost per inmate, the sum would be $5 million a year. Another factor
is that the West Virginia Constitution forbids banishment of prisoners to
other states -- a principle worth maintaining if at all possible. Any inmates
moved to an out-of-state facility would have to do so voluntarily. At this
point, the state is making headway on its efforts to reduce its prison and
jail population, giving encouragement to officials that expensive steps such
as building a new prison won't be necessary. We think the same thinking
should be applied before sending prisoners out of state. The alternative
proposed by the Regional Jail Authority appears to
be a better option overall.
CHARLESTON,
W.Va. — A top official with the state Regional Jail
Authority told state lawmakers Monday there’s a less expensive option that
should be considered to the one that would send up to 400 state prison
inmates to a private prison outside of West Virginia. Regional Jails Program
Director John Lopez said those state inmates, who are currently housed in
regional jails, could get the programs they need for a chance at parole if
additional counselors are hired at the regional jails. “If you hire two
counselors at each facility, we have 10 jails, you are looking at about
700-thousand dollars,” Lopez said. Supporting lawmakers said that would be
much cheaper than a plan currently under consideration by the state Division
of Corrections. A lone bid was submitted last week that offers a private
prison in Kentucky for up to 400 inmates. The proposal is under consideration
because the state inmates can’t get the programs they currently need in the
regional jails so they are less likely to make parole the first time. Lopez
cautioned lawmakers that if you take too many state prisoners out of the
regional jails it’s going to raise the costs for the counties who pay the
jail bills. “If we lose too many more eventually down the road we’re possibly
going to have to raise the jail per-diem,” Lopez said. “That’s just commonsense.”
The regional jails currently offer 8 programs for their misdemeanor inmates;
only 2 of those are approved for state prison inmates who are lodged in the
jails. Lopez said additional counselors and additional programs would
accomplish the same goal as the out-of-state prison plan—getting inmates
released as early as possible. “Those two counselors will be able to zero in
and focus solely on the convicted felons housed in our jails,” Lopez said.
The private prison bid, which came in last week, is currently under review.
West Virginia Legislature
September 14, 2011 AP
West Virginia is facing an inmate crowding crisis, but building a new prison
may not be the answer, state Supreme Court administrator Steve Canterbury told
lawmakers Tuesday. Addressing a House-Senate subcommittee wrestling with the
problem, Canterbury cited his years as head of the West Virginia Regional
Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. "When the state commits to
spending $100 to $200 million — and this will be closer to $200 million, mark
my words — for building a prison, it takes a political life of its own,"
Canterbury said. Groups representing contractors and construction unions will
each lobby hard to get the work, Canterbury said. Local economic development
agencies will jockey for the new prison's location. Canterbury said someone
shot up his car while the jail agency debated where to build. He kept one of
the bullets as a souvenir. The private prison industry, meanwhile, will press
West Virginia to change its stringent legal standards that have so far kept
their facilities out of the state. Canterbury said that industry is why the
conservative American Legislative Exchange Council helped write Arizona's
tough new immigration law. "They sensed that this is a growth
opportunity," he told lawmakers, while also saying that the industry
"will lobby pretty hard for more customers. And how do they get more
customers? Enhancing penalties, and jailing more people." West Virginia
should instead revisit its criminal penalties, as Texas has done in recent
years, and find better ways to spend that $200 million, Canterbury said.
Those alternatives include a statewide work-release program for nonviolent
offenders. Wheeling and Morgantown are among the state's larger communities
without work-release, he said.
July 17, 2006 Daily Mail
Tucked into a proposed rule clarifying how the state's jails are funded is a
provision that would open the door for the state to accept inmates from
outside its borders. But chronic overcrowding in the state's 10 regional
jails makes this importation a long shot. John King, operations director for
the state Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, said officials
are keeping options open should the state Division of Corrections increase
bed space in its prisons enough to eliminate the overcrowding. Bills to
strengthen the corrections commissioner's control over private prison
construction and operations have languished in the last two legislative
sessions. The bills add language to enable laws already on the books that
permit private prisons in the state.
July 11, 2006 Charlotte
Gazette
The state of West Virginia is considering a proposal by one of the
world’s largest private prison companies to run its two mental hospitals. The
proposal was made by Florida-based GEO Group, formerly known as The Wackenhut
Corp., which manages more than 42,000 prison beds in the United States.
Increasingly, the company is getting into the psychiatric hospital business.
Its subsidiary, GEO Care, operates three mental institutions for the state of
Florida and a state-run nursing home in New Mexico. GEO Care made two
separate pitches to West Virginia officials, according to John Bianconi, commissioner of the state Bureau for Health and
Health Facilities. Bianconi said he plans to tour a
GEO Care facility in Florida this week. He is already in Orlando for a
convention and several of his colleagues also are taking the tour. “We are
looking at options for better ways of doing things,” Bianconi
said. “But we are far from making any decisions.” The privatization proposal
was discussed in a draft report from a state consultant that is studying the
state’s mental health system. The Gazette obtained the draft document last
week. As one of its recommendations, Public Consulting Group said the state
should “explore privatization of state facilities.” Bianconi
said the recommendation refers only to the state’s two mental hospitals, the
150-bed William R. Sharpe Hospital in Weston and the 90-bed Mildred Mitchell-Bateman
Hospital in Huntington. Other state long-term care facilities, such as Lakin and Pinecrest hospitals,
have not been part of the discussions with GEO Care, he said.
Wheeling Jesuit University
Sodexho
May 23, 2002
Statement on Wheeling Jesuit University's
Relationship with Sodexho by Rev. George F.
Lundy, S.J., Ph.D. nUniversity President During the late
fall of 2000, the question was raised by the Wheeling Jesuit University
student organization JAPOT (Justice and Peace in Our Times)
whether the University could continue its business partnership
with its campus food service provider, Sodexho, without
incurring complicity in the prison-industrial complex.
To research the issues in question, and
to advise me as to a just course for Wheeling Jesuit
University, I appointed a campus-wide
committee in the fall of 2001 under the leadership of the Rector of
the Jesuit Community and my Senior Advisor for Social Justice,
Fr. Joseph R. Hacala, S.J. Comprised of faculty,
administrators, students and Sodexho management, the group
worked in concert with an external researcher, as well as with labor leaders,
prison advocates and others, including a variety of Sodexho
personnel. I asked the Committee to focus especially on the
degree of Sodexho's openness about the extent of its
prison-related activities, on the human rights implications of operating
prisons for profit, and Sodexho's
level of understanding of and compliance with the Catholic labor
tradition. An
interim report submitted to me by the Committee at mid-year confirmed both
the complexity and the utmost seriousness of the issues
involved. After
much study and prayerful reflection, I
have concluded that Wheeling Jesuit University cannot continue
with Sodexho as a major business partner without incurring some
complicity in what is now a global prison-industrial complex. My
reasons are as follows:
1) The eight-fold increase in the number
of people held in prisons and jails in the United States over
the past thirty years is a national disgrace. The use of prisons as a preferred response
to non-violent crime is poor stewardship of resources, and is a preferential option against
the poor. 2) Through their corporate contributions to the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), corporations
in which Sodexho had a significant share of ownership helped
shaped the laws under which ever more Americans spend ever more
time in prison. The American Legislative Exchange
Council is an organization founded in 1973 to support conservative
legislators and conservative legislation. It prepares
"model" bills which are then introduced in state
legislatures throughout the nation. The Council claims credit for the
enactment of "Truth in Sentencing" (inmates
must serve 85% of their sentence) laws in 25 states, "Habitual Offender/Three
Strikes" (life in prison for a third violent felony) laws
in 11 states, and Private Corrections Facilities laws in 4
states. Representatives from the corporate sector co-chair the
task forces that develop ALEC's model legislation. The Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA) long held a co-chair position on the
Criminal Justice Task Force. In 1999, when Sodexho had
about 10% ownership of CCA, CCA made ALEC's President's list for
contributions to its States and Nation Policy Summit. Sodexho Marriot,
then about half owned by Sodexho, also sponsored the
conference. Some of these laws, such
as the "three strikes" statutes, have been
criticized by the U.S. Catholic Bishops as inappropriate.
3)
Sodexho is expanding its global prison operations at a rapid
pace. Additionally,
I have concluded, from documents I have reviewed, that Sodexho's
posture towards collective bargaining leaves much to be desired
from the perspective of the Catholic labor tradition. (NWOM-News)
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