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Brown County Jail
Brown County, Wisconsin
Aramark
June 14, 2007 Green Bay Press Gazette
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision that Brown County Sheriff Dennis Kocken doesn’t have the constitutional power to privatize
food service at the jail could cost the county more than $1 million a year.
But Bruce Ehlke, the Madison attorney representing
the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, said
the court’s decision preserves the state legislature’s authority over county
offices such as sheriff, district attorney and coroner. “A decision in favor of
the sheriff would have substantially impaired the state legislature from
having anything to say about county government,” Ehlke
said Thursday. “It’s one thing to blow off a few disgruntled employees, but
there were very significant constitutional issues here.” The court voted 4-3
that the union could challenge Kocken’s decision to
lay off its workers and enter an agreement with Illinois-based Aramark Correctional Services to provide the jail’s food
service. Kocken said the privatized service saves
the county about $1.1 million a year and allows him to put more officers on
the road and at the jail. Kocken was not available
for comment Thursday. A spokesman in Kocken’s
office said questions should be forwarded to attorney Tom Godar
in Madison, who represents Kocken in the case. Godar did not return calls to his office Thursday. Dean
Meyer, executive director of the Badger State Sheriff’s Association, which
backed Kocken with a friend-of-the-court brief,
called the ruling disappointing. Many sheriffs who have privatized meal
service at their jails will have to review it to gauge its impact, he said.
“We feel that the sheriff needs to have the flexibility to run their facility
in a cost efficient manner,” Meyer told The Associated Press. “That’s what
the voters put the sheriff in there for.”
Dane
County Jail
Dane, Wisconsin
Prison Health Services
December 6, 2007 Wisconsin State Journal
Dane County 's new contract for jail health services will cost the county
about $600,000 more a year than its current agreement, but county officials
say mental health services should improve. The proposed $4.4 million-a-year
contract with Nashville-based Correct Care Solutions must win approval from
the Dane County Board tonight before it is sent to Dane County Executive
Kathleen Falk for her signature. Falk 's office said
the expiring contract with Prison Health Services cost about $3.8 million a
year. Dane County Sup. Paul Rusk of Madison, who chairs the County Public
Protection and Judiciary Committee, said the new contract includes staff for
mental health services to inmates around the clock. "That was among my
highest priorities -- to have more mental health care available in the jail, " Rusk said. If approved, CCS will take over Jan. 1
from Prison Health Services, which has had the contract for the last five
years. According to documents provided by Falk 's
office, PHS was paying about 30 full-time equivalent employees to work in the
jail. The new contract calls for almost 39 staff workers, including a
full-time mental health director, a part-time psychiatrist and the equivalent
of almost seven social workers. Contract documents show an average hourly
rate of $90 for a medical director, $92 an hour for a psychiatrist, $69 an
hour for a dentist and $40 an hour for a health services administrator. Dane
County Sheriff Dave Mahoney on Tuesday said CCS did not have the cheapest
proposal. "But the company will deliver a level of service that is
better than the current contract provider, "
said Mahoney.
December 7, 2006 The
Capital Times
Some Dane County Board supervisors are up in arms over a huge, unexpected
cost increase in the health services contract for inmates at the Dane County
Jail. At the same time, county officials are also grappling with costs that
have risen by more than $2 million over the last five years to house inmates
in other counties. Both issues are up for votes tonight. Prison Health
Services Inc., the company contracted to provide health care, is requesting
more than $500,000 above what the county has approved for next year's budget.
It's a replay of what's happened in each of the four previous years during
which Prison Health Services has had the jail contract, said County Board
Supervisor Paul Rusk, chair of the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee.
The problem is, the company doesn't come up with its estimated costs for the
next year until most of the current year is over, he said. The contract has
averaged between $3.2 million and $3.3 million a year since the company was
awarded the contract in fall 2002. For 2007, however, PHS said it needs
$3,886,155 to serve the more than 1,000 inmates housed in the three county
jail facilities. That's the price the board will vote on tonight in
authorizing the 2007 contract with PHS, even though Rusk's committee has not approved
the contract. "I am very upset by this contract," said Supervisor
Bob Salov. "We should put this contract on
hold, extend the status quo for a couple of months and investigate it."
Supervisor Mike Hanson said the board can argue for hours about minor line
items in the budget but will be okaying this half-million dollar expense not
budgeted for. "It's amazing how the board can quibble over $500 for
Rhythm and Booms, and then we're expected to just rubber-stamp a $500,000
item that's clearly needed, but so late in the game," Hanson said.
Sheriff Gary Hamblin said PHS's contractual cycle always comes after the
county budget is approved. "Their increase is tied to the consumer price
index, so they wait until the last quarter before they make their estimate on
how much money they need for the next year," Hamblin said. "This
year is no exception." Regardless of the overage, both Hamblin and Rusk
say they are happy with the work done by PHS. "It's ten times better
than what we had before," Rusk said.
August 9, 2006 Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager's campaign
took her opponent, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, to task for taking
donations from those pursuing Dane County business. Lautenschlager's
aides said that was inconsistent with Falk's statements that as attorney
general she would not take money from people subject to enforcement actions
by the state Department of Justice. Lautenschlager's
campaign blasted Falk for accepting a $10,000 donation June 27 from the
political action committee of Unite Here, a laundry workers union. The
donation came six days after Dane County started an audit of non-union
laundry contractor Superior Health Linens - a company that Unite Here has
long criticized for its labor practices. Lautenschlager's
campaign also criticized Falk for: • Accepting $1,500 from America Service
Group Inc.'s political action committee in 2004 because its subsidiary Prison
Health Services has a contract with the county. • Taking $2,500 from
Government Payment Service CEO Dale Conrad last year because his firm has a
county contract allowing people to pay bail with credit cards. • Receiving
money from developers and others who sat on a committee that Falk convened to
advise her on a land-use plan.
February 4, 2005 Capital
Times
Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin and jailer Mike Plumer
won't give a detailed report on Meng-Ju
"Mark" Wu's suicide to the County Board's Public Protection and
Judiciary Committee because a notice of intent to file a claim in the last
jail suicide hasn't been settled. Following the suicide by inmate
Tierra Hill, who hanged herself May 20 in high-security Cell F of Cell Block
727 in the City-County Building jail, Hamblin and Plumer
gave a detailed report to the committee, trying to give a clearer picture of
the situation before and following Hill's death. On Sept. 20, the
last day of the 120-day window for claims following an incident, a
"notice of circumstances of a claim" with no specific damages
attached was filed with the county by attorney Todd Winstrom
of the Wisconsin Coalition for Advocacy on behalf of Hill's estate,
administered by Minnie Marie Hill, Tierra's mother. According to the notice,
Hill was not given the proper mental health and psychiatric care by jail
staff; the Mental Health Center of Dane County; and Prison Health Services,
medical services contractor for the jail.
April 14, 2004
There are no guarantees that Terrance Griffith, who died in the Dane County
Jail Nov. 17, 2002, would have lived if he had gotten better treatment from jailers
and the private firm that provides medical service in the jail. But there is
a good deal of evidence to suggest that, had Griffith received better care,
he might have lived. And there is a good deal more evidence to suggest that
Griffith was neglected by the people who had a legal and moral responsibility
to ensure that he received basic care. Unable to sleep, vomiting
relentlessly, the 27-year-old man complained of
numbness in his legs and blurred vision. A paraplegic who was suffering from
drug withdrawal, he was in deep distress. Finally, with the last bit of
strength he could muster, Griffith pounded on the steel door of his cell in
the segregation unit, begging for medical care. He was told to shut
up. He shook uncontrollably. He vomited so much that at least one guard
admitted the stench from Griffith's cell was alarming. But after a
cursory check, he was left alone in a cell that stunk of vomit and
decay. Then he died. One of the most respected physicians in Dane
County, Dr. Linda Farley, said after reviewing the records of Griffth's last hours, "He really was
neglected." According to Farley, health care workers at the
jail ignored obvious signs that Griffith was suffering a medical emergency.
"The big point is that his physical condition should have placed him in
a hospital situation," said the doctor. Yet Sheriff Gary Hamblin
says "it's simply not true" that Griffith was neglected. The
sheriff claims that an undiagnosed heart condition could have killed Griffith
whether he was in the jail or in a hospital. On that final point, the sheriff
may be right. Then again, he may be wrong. What is beyond debate, however, is
that the failure to move Griffith from the jail to the hospital has left open
the question of whether better treatment would have saved his life. For
Sheriff Hamblin to try to dismiss the evidence that points to failures on the
part of his own staff and the out-of-state health care firm that provides
care in the jail is deeply disappointing. We still think that the sheriff, who
has had the endorsement of this newspaper in every election campaign that he
has run, is a decent and honorable man. But he has fallen into a bad pattern
here. Sheriff Hamblin needs to rethink the unyielding stance he has
taken. Instead of defending actions that seem to be indefensible, the sheriff
should take steps to address the legitimate concerns that have arisen as a
result of Griffith's death. These include: Inviting independent
specialists on health care in jails to review the record and propose
reforms. Examining the contract with Tennessee-based Prison Health
Services with an eye to determining whether private health care services are
appropriate in a public jail. Ensuring that the upcoming county budget
process focuses on the need to develop an infirmary inside, or closely
associated with, the jail, which was built 10 years ago without such a
facility. The bottom line should be clear to all: Sheriff Hamblin can,
and must, respond more thoughtfully and appropriately to the revelations regarding
the death of Terrance Griffith. (Madison.com)
Genesis Behavioral Services
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Correctional Medical Services
November 18, 2009 Sheboygan Press
A therapist accused of sexually assaulting two clients was sentenced Tuesday
to two years probation and no jail time after a prosecutor amended eight
felonies to two misdemeanors, citing "proof problems." The amended
charges against John Monacelli mention only one of
the alleged victims, a woman identified in court records as an approximately
40-year-old Milwaukee County resident. Monacelli
admitted having a relationship with the woman while counseling her, saying he
should have ended the relationship and referred her to another counselor. At
the time of the offense — October 2007 — the woman was a resident at Genesis
Behavioral Services in Sheboygan, an in-patient substance abuse
rehabilitation facility where Monacelli was a
counselor and interim director. The allegations are a far cry from the
criminal complaint filed in December, which alleged Monacelli
forced the woman and a 29-year-old Sheboygan County man to perform an array
of sex acts and threatened them to keep them quiet. He had been scheduled for
a jury trial next month on eight felony counts of sexual exploitation by a
therapist. "(The amended charges) relate to proof problems and my
ethical obligations as an officer of the court to bring counts I believe I
can prove," said prosecutor Thomas Storm of the Wisconsin Attorney
General's Office. "I believe this is an accurate reflection of the
improprieties, the crimes that occurred in this situation." Storm said
the investigation revealed conflicting statements from a number of material
witness and the alleged victims. Monacelli, 46, of
Menomonee Falls, was convicted of two counts of abuse and neglect of patients
and residents, misdemeanors carrying a maximum combined penalty of six months
in jail. Judge James Bolgert, following a joint
recommendation by Storm and Monacelli's attorney,
imposed probation and the maximum $2,000 fine. "I think it's an
appropriate response to the charges of which you have been convicted," Bolgert said. Storm said the alleged victims were told
Monday of the planned amendment, but he said he couldn't say if they
supported it. The original complaint had alleged Monacelli
had the two people recount childhood sexual abuse in great detail and said
re-enacting the sexual acts would help them overcome drug addictions. A civil
suit filed by the victims in September 2008 said both were victims of
childhood incest and had histories of drug addiction and mental illness. The
civil suit was settled out of court in March, and the victims' attorney and
Knight declined to comment on the terms of the settlement. The lawsuit —
which named Monacelli, Genesis and its parent
company, Correctional Medical Services — had alleged Genesis was negligent in
screening and supervising Monacelli and slow to
respond to the allegations of sexual abuse.
January 5, 2009 Sheboygan
Press
A man accused of sexually assaulting several clients while working as
therapist in Sheboygan will make an initial court appearance this afternoon,
online court records show. John R. Monacelli, 45,
of Menomonee Falls, is accused of having sexual contact with a 29-year-old
Sheboygan County man and sexual intercourse with a 39-year-old Milwaukee
County woman while working at Genesis Behavioral Services in October and
November 2007. He was charged last week with eight counts of felony sexual
exploitation by a therapist. He is also named in a civil lawsuit filed by the
two alleged victims that claims he made them recount childhood sexual abuse
in great detail and told them the only way to overcome their drug addictions
was to reenact the sex acts with him. The suit, filed in September, says both
victims were residents at Genesis, 503 Wisconsin Ave., while Monacelli served as interim director of the residential
program. Monacelli — who was arrested following an
investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice — could face up to 60
years in prison, if convicted on all counts. He is scheduled to appear at
3:30 p.m. before Judge James Bolgert. According to
the criminal complaint: Monacelli exposed himself
to the man during a session in October 2007 about a week after beginning
individual counseling sessions with him at Genesis. The man, who had been
assigned to Monacelli, had oral sex with the
therapist at Monacelli’s request. Monacelli repeated the sex acts during counseling
sessions on two other occasions later in October, including one time when an
oral sex act was interrupted by a knock on the door by another Genesis
employee. He told the man to keep the sexual contact a secret. The
39-year-old woman said Monacelli kissed her and
fondled her breasts during an individual session at Genesis in early October
2007, and the next day he asked her to perform a sex act before they were
interrupted by a knock at the door by another counselor. The two had sex
during a session in mid-October 2007. A few days later, Monacelli
offered to drive her to an appointment in Washington County, and had her
perform another sex act on him on the way back to Sheboygan. Genesis began an
internal investigation of Monacelli’s behavior in
November 2007, the complaint said. The civil suit, which is still pending,
was filed in September in Sheboygan County Circuit Court against Monacelli, Genesis and Madison-based Correctional Medical
Services.
La Crosse,
Wisconsin
Prison Transportation Services of America
June 12, 2006 La Crosse Tribune
Four days after he escaped from a prisoner transport van, 19-year-old Phillip
Dunn of West Salem, Wis., was arrested late Saturday night in the basement of
a home on Farnam Street, La Crosse police said
Sunday. Dunn was hiding behind a washing machine when Lt. Jim Ballas and another officer arrested him at about 10 p.m.,
Ballas said in an interview. “He gave us no
resistance,” Ballas said. “We’d been getting leads
every day” since the escape, Ballas said. “He had a
tent and was moving around the South Side,” apparently camping out in
different locations. Police spotted the tent in a yard Saturday, and later
learned Dunn was inside the nearby home of a man who didn’t know who Dunn
was. Ballas thanked the public for the tips police
received, and the news media for keeping the search for Dunn in the news.
“Our officers did a good job,” Ballas said,
including those who quickly apprehended the first two escapees. Dunn jumped
from a prisoner transport van about 5 p.m. Tuesday at a stoplight at Rose and
Clinton streets, along with two other prisoners who were recaptured less than
two blocks away. The van, operated by Prisoner Transportation Services of
America, LLC, an independent company based in Nashville, Tenn., was carrying
six prisoners when the escape occurred.
La Crosse County Jail
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Health Professionals Limited
July
12, 2004
Seventeen-year-old Rosana Hernandez lay on her La
Crosse County Jail cot, dizzy and nauseated as her body went through
withdrawal. It wasn't an illegal drug Hernandez's body craved during
her five-day sentence for disorderly conduct. It was the anti-depressant
drugs and iron supplements her doctor had prescribed for her. Hernandez, who
lives in a La Crosse group home, is among a growing number of jail inmates
with mental health and other medical problems who say they've suffered
needlessly because of the jail's new medical staff. The problems have cropped
up in the six months since La Crosse County hired Health Professionals
Limited, a Peoria, Ill.-based provider of medical services to jails and
prisons. Prior to Jan. 1, 2004, county Health Department nurses and a local
doctor ran the jail infirmary. (La Crosse Tribune)
Milwaukee
County
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Wackenhut (Group 4)
March 30, 2012 Journal-Sentinel
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.'s plan
to privatize courtroom bailiffs won't fly - at least not for now. Judge
Dominic D'Amato ruled that Clarke could not place private security guards in
courtrooms, a move the sheriff had already started by issuing a $1.4 million
contract with G4S Secure Solutions. The firm, formerly known as Wackenhut, is
an international company that provides personnel and technology services.
D'Amato issued a temporary injunction halting the deployment of 25 part-time
G4S guards, siding with the county Deputy Sheriffs' Association. Clarke
argued that he had the power to hire the G4S guards as an emergency stopgap
and wanted that to avoid paying full-time bailiffs overtime. Clarke issued
the G4S contract on an emergency basis after his 2012 budget was cut and
eliminated 48 deputy jobs. The budget also called for creating a new category
of part-time hourly bailiffs, who would be county employees but not deputies.
Until now, the county has used only full-time deputies for courtroom
security. The deputies' union has resisted opening the door to part-time
bailiffs or private security for the courtroom. Under current staffing,
felony courts have two bailiffs each, while misdemeanor and civil courts have
one. Roy Felber, president of the Deputy Sheriffs'
Association, said Friday the ruling was "a big win for us. I'm very
disgusted that we are trying to privatize law enforcement." Private
security guards would be loyal to their company, not to the county, Felber said.
March 1, 2012 Journal-Sentinel
Milwaukee County supervisors Thursday angrily threatened to withhold funding
for private security guards that Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. wants to hire as
courtroom bailiffs, saying the four dozen deputies laid off last month should
be rehired. Clarke is proposing an emergency contract worth up to $1.4
million with G4S Wackenhut, an international private security firm, to handle
a small portion of courtroom security work. The one-year deal would mean
hiring the equivalent of 12.5 full-time guards to help with the county's 78
courts, with regular full-time deputies handling the bulk of the work. The
sheriff is invoking his authority to unilaterally take that action
"since safety in the courts cannot be compromised," according to a
memo to county supervisors. Supervisors on a County Board panel hearing about
the plan questioned Clarke's motives in privatizing courtroom security. While
acknowledging Clarke has the legal authority to make the move, some
supervisors said they could thwart the plan by blocking funding. "This
isn't a done deal," Supervisor John Weishan
Jr. said. He warned that the board would deny any effort by Clarke to get a
needed budget fund transfer to pay for the Wackenhut bailiffs. And if Clarke
simply ran a budget deficit in order to pay the private bailiffs, "we
will be happy to hang that around the sheriff's neck when he wants to run for
office," Weishan said. Supervisor Gerry
Broderick accused Clarke of political gamesmanship in the bailiff
privatization and warned top aides to the sheriff of a bare-knuckled fight if
the sheriff persisted. "If he wants to play hardball, guys, get the
bats," Broderick said. Chief Judge Jeffrey Kremers
said in a statement that he worried the emergency move would eventually lead
to privatization of all bailiffs.
December 19, 2011 TMJ4
Six teens brutally attacked a young mother on a bus last Thursday on a county
bus- the latest in a string of attacks. The incident at 35th and and Fond Du Lac last Thursday is the latest in a string
of attacks. It has everyone from county supervisors to city aldermen speaking
out. "I think we're seeing a breach in public safety on our buses which
is unacceptable," said Milwaukee County Supervisor Eyon
Biddle. "I think the sheriff and police chief should get together and
talk about these issues," added Alderman Bob Donovan. Milwaukee Police
officers are now boarding buses and monitoring bus stops. This comes after
the Sheriff David Clarke said he didn't have the resources due to budget cuts
to curb the violence. Taxpayers are reminded the county pays G4S, formerly
known as Wackenhut, $940,000 a year to provide bus security. "We really
need to look at what's going on. What is Wackenhut's response to these
incidents? We gave them contract we need to hold them accountable,"
added Supervisor Biddle. TODAY'S TMJ4 went to the security company's downtown
office to get answers. But TODAY'S TMJ4 were told the general manager and
operations directors were both out of the office today. But some are
wondering why taxpayers should be paying twice, especially if MPD officers
are now patrolling the buses. "Should that money that's going to
Wackenhut, is it being used wisely? Should it maybe come to MPD? Are we the
better agency to patrol on a consistent basis?" added Alderman Donovan.
G4S did release the following statement to TODAY'S TMJ4: "G4S Secure
Solutions helps provide security on county buses through a contract with the
Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS). We work closely with MCTS and all
local law enforcement organizations in the county to prevent incidents on
buses and to address those that do occur. We will continue to work with them
to address the issues that have arisen in the last couple of weeks to help
ensure the safety of the citizens of Milwaukee County."
January 10, 2011 Journal
Sentinel
Milwaukee County must offer to reinstate 26 courthouse security guards who
were laid off nearly a year ago when then-County Executive Scott Walker
replaced them with private guards as an emergency budget measure, according
to an arbitrator's decision issued Monday. Walker was sworn in as governor
last week. The county did not have a true budget crisis at the time and
county officials failed to give the union representing the security guards an
opportunity to make some alternative cost-saving proposals before laying them
off, according to the decision from arbitrator Amedeo
Greco. Greco's ruling also said the $125,000 annual savings from privatizing
the courthouse security estimated by county officials was overstated by
nearly $53,000. "It's another example here of penny-wise,
pound-foolish," said Patricia Yunk, policy
director for District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees. She said Walker's emergency outsourcing move of
courthouse security was an example of how his strategy of punishing unions
that failed to agree to concessions went awry. The ruling calls for
immediately hiring back the laid-off county workers with back pay, with any
unemployment compensation or wages from a new job subtracted. It also called
for a guarantee of at least 180 days of work - the amount of time that Greco
said should have been given to the security guards' union to react to
Walker's privatization plan. No estimate was immediately available of the
cost of the back pay or the number of former county security guards laid off last year who might want their old jobs back. The
private firm G4S Wackenhut was hired by Walker to replace the union workers.
The Wackenhut guards are being paid up to $10.50 an hour, about $5 an hour
less than the union guards made. The County Board rejected the security
outsourcing idea in November 2009, when Walker tried to get the move included
as part of the 2010 budget. But Walker unilaterally ordered it last March,
saying the county faced a potential 2010 year-end deficit of about $7
million. Wackenhut is being paid $1.1 million a year under its contract with
the county for security at the courthouse complex, as well as for City
Campus, 2711 W. Wells St., and the Vel Phillips
Juvenile Justice Center in Wauwatosa.
July 8, 2010 WTMJ
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department says a problem during fire alarm
testing resulted in the fire alarm going off in the Milwaukee County
Courthouse Thursday afternoon. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department says
during the time it took to reset the alarm, courthouse security workers began
to evacuate the building. But it appears not everyone got that message. We
caught security workers continuing to allow people into the building while
the alarms were going off. Eventually a supervisor got to the checkpoint and
guards stopped allowing people inside. The company that runs security at the
courthouse, Wackenhut, says in a statement that staff had been notified of
fire alarm testing that could result in false alarms. "Shortly after 1PM
today that testing resulted in a false alarm that was not accompanied by an
evacuation notice," the statement said. The company says staff continued
to let people into the building. The company goes on to say that when
supervisors were, "unable to immediately secure an all clear notice from
courthouse staff, they proceeded with an evacuation." The county says
there's no such thing as an "evacuation notice." It says when the
alarm goes off, people must evacuate, no matter what.
May 28, 2010 TMJ4
The I-Team exposed questionable hiring by the company in charge of Milwaukee
County Courthouse security. That same company got another big-time county
contract. Over the next three years, Milwaukee County will pay Wackenhut
Security Services nearly $6 million to transport prisoners for the Sheriff's
Office. That might not sit too well with taxpayers considering what the
I-Team dug up back in April. "I think we have reasons to be
worried," said 4th District Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic.
Dimitrijevic was one of the eight supervisors who
voted against the contract with Wackenhut, she says, for good reason.
"We lose accountability and transparency," Dimitrijevic
warned. "We no longer know what kind of background checks have happened
or any kind of those details." The I-Team
already exposed former Manawa, Wisconsin police chief Chad Wegener, who
served time in jail for misconduct in office, in charge of security for
Wackenhut at the county courthouse. After our investigation, Wackenhut
reassigned Wegener and several other of its security
officers with questionable backgrounds. When it comes to moving tens of
thousands of prisoners a year, Dimitrijevic said,
"I think I'd feel much more safe with our own
people." The Sheriff's Office figures the move might save the county a
million dollars without costing any county jobs, which was good enough for a
green light from nine supervisors including the board chairman Lee Holloway.
"If you don't have a solution for the million dollars and what you're
going to do with the million dollars, then I can't go along with not saving a
million dollars," explained Holloway. Holloway said Sheriff David Clarke
will be responsible for making sure Wackenhut's people are up to par, and if
things don't work out, the board can pull the plug at any time." We
reached out to Sheriff's Office and Wackenhut officials for comment. So far,
no response.
April 15, 2010 TMJ4
An exclusive I-Team investigation uncovers shocking details about the man
hired to run security at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. When security
supervisor Chad Wegener showed up for work at the Courthouse Wednesday, he
had no idea it would be his last day there. "If we don't know who's
protecting us, or who's supposed to be protecting us at the front door, I
think it may lead to other issues that may happen in the courthouse,"
warned District 18 Supervisor Johnny Thomas. Wegener works for Wackenhut
Security Services, a big international firm, which took over security at the
Courthouse last month. However, back in 2004, Wegener resigned as chief of
police in Manawa, Wisconsin amid scandal -- accused of making repeated
unwanted sexual advances towards on-duty male officers after pressuring them
to drink beer and watch pornography at his home. Wegener plead
no contest to five misdemeanors, including disorderly conduct, and spent
three months in jail. And Wegener wasn't just coordinating security at the
Courthouse. He also oversaw things at the Criminal Justice Facility, the
Safety Building, and two other county buildings. We confronted Wegener at a
Courthouse checkpoint. Reporter: "I wanted to ask you about something.
We're hearing from some folks who aren't real happy with your supervisor
position here after the way things went down in Manawa." Wegener:
"I can refer you to our office." Reporter: "Does the office
know about all that?" Wegener: "I can refer you to our
office." Reporter "What are they going to tell me?" Wegener:
"I'm just going to refer you to our office here." County Executive
Scott Walker had no idea about any of this until we told him. "Simply
put, we told Wackenhut today that we want them to get rid of this individual
from Milwaukee County," said Walker. "What they do elsewhere is up
to them and their attorneys, but in terms of working in Milwaukee County, we
want them to bring in somebody else." But Wegener only got the job after
Walker ordered building security outsourced -- an emergency move to save
money. At least one county supervisor has no problem pointing fingers.
"He can't deflect his responsibility," said Supervisor Thomas.
"He's responsible for making sure that Wackenhut does a good job, and
obviously he just looked at the savings instead of the safety."
March 4, 2009 Journal
Sentinel
A firm that is paid more than $1 million annually to provide security for
the Milwaukee County Transit System has its guards spend less than 3% of
their time riding buses, a fraction of the 85% rate called for in its
contract. Instead, most of the bus security officers spent much of their
workdays riding in pairs in vans, patrolling throughout the county, according
to a county audit released Wednesday. "Very little time is spent
actually riding buses," the audit said. Most of those rides were only a
few blocks in length. The audit underscores criticism leveled by Sheriff
David A. Clarke Jr. against Wackenhut Corp., which has provided bus security
for Milwaukee County Transit System buses since 1993. Clarke's complaints
that Wackenhut spent too little time on buses prompted county officials to
order the audit a year ago. The audit found that a separate firm that manages
the transit system for the county didn't expect Wackenhut officers to spend
the vast majority of their time riding buses, despite the contract provision.
By consent of Milwaukee County Transit System officials, the security officers
have emphasized patrolling and responding to calls for help from bus drivers,
the audit said. Auditors recommended that officers should spend more time
riding buses and suggested abandoning the practice of having officers work in
pairs. In its formal response to the audit, transit system officials said it
had already begun increasing the number of hours
security officers spent on buses. They now spend about 30% of their workday
riding buses, officials said. Clarke said the figure should be far higher. "It's
a travesty," Clarke said. "The taxpayers aren't getting what they
are paying for." He'll urge transit system officials to have Wackenhut
put a greater emphasis on having officers on buses, particularly from noon to
8 p.m., when most fights and assaults happen, the sheriff said. Other
security steps are important, too, such as sending security officers to areas
where "large numbers of students transfer or problems are more likely to
occur," said Anita Gulotta-Connelly, the bus
system's managing director. She said the officers also can stay in touch with
many bus drivers by monitoring key intersections. The vehicle patrols by
security officers are important because they permit rapid response to fights
or other incidents on buses, she said in her response to the audit. Transit
system spokeswoman Jackie Janz said consideration
would be given to having the officers work solo. "Our security plan is
always evolving," Janz said. System officials
strive to find the right balance in how security resources are deployed, she
said. Cameras logging incidents -- The installation of video cameras on buses has been an important security improvement, she
said. Vivid footage from those cameras showing assaults on drivers and
passengers and aired on local television also led to the audit request. The
audit found 3,216 calls for service by drivers - anything from fights to
snowballs thrown at buses to rousting sleeping passengers - in 2008. With
1.35 million bus trips and an average busload of 38, that translates to a
99.76% chance that passengers won't face any problems riding the bus, the
audit said. Other data included in the audit: 100 assaults on buses last
year, the most over the past nine years. It also listed 1,229 disorderly
conduct episodes; 24 robberies; 55 thefts; and two sexual assaults for 2008.
The bus drivers union would welcome an increased security presence on the
buses, said Rick Bassler, vice president of
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998. Union wants armed guards -- Union
leaders have repeatedly told Wackenhut executives and transit managers that
they want more security officers on the buses, as well as armed sheriff's
deputies and police officers, both uniformed and undercover, to provide a
deterrent, Bassler said. Even Guardian Angels
volunteers in red berets helped in the last year, but drivers prefer sworn
law enforcement officers because "when you've got someone on there with
a gun (who) can arrest people, that's huge," he
said. The Sheriff's Department sends the union reports that show deputies are
riding buses every day, often issuing tickets, following up with schools
about problems with student riders and focusing their efforts on the most
troublesome routes, Bassler said. It's not clear
from those reports exactly how much time the Wackenhut officers are spending
on buses, he said. On another security issue, Bassler
said bulletproof shields will soon be installed around drivers' seats on
about 25 buses, something the union has long pressed for. Union
representatives will work with transit managers to determine the routes where
the shields can best be used, he said. Wackenhut was paid $1.13 million last
year for a staff of 30. That includes 20 security officers and 10 managers.
The audit found no problems with the way security officers dealt with minorities
or issues of cultural diversity. County supervisors asked for that review
based on some reported problems. Wackenhut officials didn't return a phone
call late Wednesday.
June 4, 2008 WTMJ 620
Four teenagers have been arrested in the beating of a 15 year-old classmate
on a Milwaukee County Transit bus. The Sheriff's Department is still looking
for a fifth suspect. A St. Charles Youth and Family Services student who
tried to start a fight with the victim on May 29th joined four classmates in
repeatedly hitting and kicking him in his head. The victim escaped serious
injury by covering his face. "We obtained surveillance camera video that
depicted a violent mob beating," said Sheriff David Clarke. "It's
the kind of incident that led to the death of Charlie Young, and the incident
in which Samuel McClane was pulled from his car and
savagely beaten on West Hampton Avenue, or the businessman pulled from his
car and beaten following Juneteenth Day."
"These gang-style beatings are serious." The four suspects are all
15 or 16 years old and all have extensive juvenile records for a variety of
offenses including second degree sexual assault, aggravated battery,
burglary, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of a
dangerous weapon in a school zone, and disorderly conduct. In a press
conference Wednesday, Clarke vented his frustrations with the private
security firm contracted to patrol county buses, St. Charles' students, and
Milwaukee's juvenile justice system. "These students have been a constant
problem since the school year started, with over 30 documented instances of
causing some sort of disturbance or criminal acts on county buses,"
Clarke said. "They are a menace." "I think St. Charles is
responsible for the behavior of their students, including to and from
school," he added. "They might not see it that way, but I do."
"And part of the problem is that [these suspects'] ages force us to
refer them to juvenile authorities, where they are viewed and treated simply
as delinquents and are given probation and allowed to rejoin civilized
society...only to commit further acts even more appalling than the
last." "Juvenile justice in Milwaukee is a broken system."
Clarke called for an immediate revocation of reduced bus fares for St. Charles
students, saying "the County cannot afford the liability of injuries or
death that may occur on these public transportation routes by students from
this facility. If we can't keep them off public transportation, at least they
should have to pay the same fare that law-abiding passengers pay." The
Sheriff also called for a review of Wackenhut Security, which has had a
contract with Milwaukee County for bus patrols since 1992 but does not have
officers on the buses themselves.
February 1, 2008 Trading
Markets.com
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. on Thursday blasted the
private security firm hired to guard local buses, questioning whether the
$1.1 million annual cost was worth it. Wackenhut Corp., an international
company headquartered in Florida, has provided security for Milwaukee County
Transit System buses since 1993. Clarke said in a letter to the County Board
that the company had "top-heavy administration that leads to fewer
people actually performing a security function." He called for a county
audit of the firm's contract with the bus system, a move readily agreed to
Thursday on a 6-0 vote by the board's Finance and Audit Committee. Although
Clarke is generally a proponent of privatization to help lower costs of
government services, he faulted the company for a lack of public
accountability. Clarke said Wackenhut had refused to provide detailed
information about its bus security operations to his department. He also said
Wackenhut guards spent too little time riding buses. "If you are going
to deal with disorder on the buses, you've got to ride the buses," he
said. Mark Schaefer, general manager of Wackenhut's Milwaukee operation,
declined to comment on Clarke's criticisms. Of Wackenhut's 32 employees
working locally on bus security, four are managers, transit system
spokeswoman Jackie Janz said. The firm won the bus
security contract in 1993 over other firms that bid, Janz
said. The contract was re-bid in 1998 and 2003, she said. Anita Gulotta-Connelly, managing director of the bus system,
praised Wackenhut, saying the firm last year responded to more than 3,200
security complaints. "We are very pleased with the level of security
they have been able to provide," she said. Complaints from riders --
Clarke said he's received many complaints from riders and bus drivers about
rowdiness, harassment of riders and occasional assaults on buses or at bus
stops. Clarke assigned deputies from his tactical unit to help with bus
security starting in 2006. He credited the move with improvements, but said
he couldn't back off the deputy coverage without worrying about a surge in
problems. He said Wackenhut security guards often simply release
troublemakers rather than turn them over to local law enforcement. Clarke
said he did not seek the audit because he wanted the Sheriff's Department to
assume Wackenhut's duties and contract revenue. However, Clarke said: "I
wouldn't mind doing it with the proper resources." He said $1 million
would only pay for about 15 deputies, far too few for the job.
December 19, 2007 Journal
Sentinel
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. has called for an audit of
Wackenhut Corp., claiming the company is doing a poor job despite its nearly
$1 million-a-year contract to provide security on county bus routes. Buy a
link hereIn a letter to Milwaukee County Executive
Scott Walker and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway, Clarke asked for a
"qualitative and quantitative audit" to be performed amid questions
about Wackenhut's deployment levels. "There has been little oversight of
this program, and self-reporting has allowed Wackenhut to operate without
accountability and in relative anonymity," Clarke wrote in his letter,
dated Tuesday. A copy of the letter was faxed by the Journal Sentinel to
Wackenhut Corp.'s office in Milwaukee, but officials there didn't immediately
comment. Harold Mester, public information manager
for the County Board, said Holloway didn't get a copy of the letter until
Wednesday afternoon and wanted to read further before commenting. Walker
could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Clarke said the county has been
contracting with Wackenhut since 1993 to provide security on bus routes. In
January 2006, he said, his office assigned deputies to Milwaukee County
Transit System security due to rider complaints about disorder and criminal
conduct on county buses. Clarke said his office used its own personnel to
restore order with the idea of handing the services back to Wackenhut.
"After nearly two years, we have not been able to turn this over to
Wackenhut," Clarke said in the letter, "not because we haven't
established an acceptable amount of order, but because we fear that we will
have to come back due to Wackenhut's mismanagement." Clarke said his
office attempted to get deployment data from Wackenhut and, after initial
resistance, Wackenhut officials said they didn't retain the data the
sheriff's office was looking for. "They have flat-out stonewalled our
effort to obtain data necessary for us to make deployment decisions with our
limited resources," Clarke said in the letter. A spokesman for Walker
said it would be up to county supervisors to decide whether to order an audit
of Wackenhut.
Milwaukee
County Jail
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Armor
Feb 22, 2018 jsonline.com
Milwaukee County Jail's health care contractor charged with falsifying
inmate records
Milwaukee County prosecutors have charged Armor Correctional Health
Services with falsifying health care records of inmates at the Milwaukee
County Jail, including Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration while in
custody. The criminal complaint, filed Wednesday, alleges Armor Correctional
employees "engaged in a pattern and practice of intentionally falsifying
entries in inmate patient health care records." When investigators
compared inmates' medical records with jail surveillance footage, they saw
Armor Correctional employees walking past cells without stopping or never
showing up at all, despite notes that they had checked on inmates. Thomas, a
38-year-old inmate with bipolar disorder, went seven days without water in
solitary confinement before his death in April 2016. He lost 34 pounds in his
eight days in the jail. "Had Armor Correctional medical staff actually
performed the assessments that they falsely recorded in Mr. Thomas’ patient
health care records, medical staff may have identified Mr. Thomas’ fatal
medical distress," according to the criminal complaint. One of those
employees, a certified medical assistant, recorded Thomas' blood pressure and
pulse twice on April 21 — but video footage of his
cell showed no one had any physical contact with him in that time period. The
health data "were complete fabrications," the complaint says. Armor
Correctional faces seven counts of intentionally falsifying a health care
record, a misdemeanor offense, related to the care of Thomas and three other
inmates. In a statement, the company said it "would never condone any
criminal conduct by any of our employees" and its policies state
"patient care is first and foremost." "The charges are based
upon the alleged failures of three individuals," according to the
company statement. "This is not a reflection of Armor’s culture or
representative of the many care-providers dedicated to providing medical and
mental health treatment in the Milwaukee County Jail." "In my
experience, criminal charges against correctional health care corporations
are exceptionally rare," said attorney Erik J. Heipt,
who is part of the legal team representing Thomas' estate. "Today's
announcement sends a powerful message," he said, praising the Milwaukee
County district attorney's office for its investigation. "As you read
through this, it was not the case of a lone health care provider making a
mistake, it was a corporate practice of ignoring inmate medical needs and
falsifying health care records," Heipt said of
the criminal complaint. The charges against the company come a week after
prosecutors charged three jail staffers in connection with Thomas' death. At
that time, District Attorney John Chisholm said his office was still
investigating Armor Correctional's role in the
dehydration death. The Miami-based for-profit company provides medical
services to both the jail and the county-run House of Correction. The county,
which spends about $16.5 million annually in medical and mental health care
for inmates, is finalizing a request for proposals for that contract — a
process that could lead to a new provider coming in, Acting Sheriff Richard
Schmidt said last week. Milwaukee County's audit division also has an ongoing
investigation of whether Armor Correctional was meeting contract requirements
and standards of care. History of problems: Since 2001, the jail has been operating under a consent
decree entered after a 1996 lawsuit by inmates challenging conditions brought
on by poor staffing and health care. In May 2013, after years of bickering
between then-Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. and the County Board, a Milwaukee
County judge ordered the county to enter into an emergency contract with
Armor Correctional to try to fix problems with medical and mental health
care, including staffing shortages and poor record keeping. The ruling came
after Clarke had recommended outsourcing the jail medical operation for more
than two years, but the County Board resisted the move. The county's
inability to fill vacancies led to the judge's ruling. Around the same time,
Clarke lost control of the House of Correction in Franklin when the County
Board voted to remove him from overseeing the facility and approved a new
superintendent, Michael Hafemann. The House of
Correction administration handles the Armor contract for that facility and
the jail, a spokeswoman for the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said. Hafemann did not immediately respond to an interview
request Wednesday. Asked about the charges on Wednesday, Raisa
Koltun, chief of staff to County Executive Chris
Abele, said the office is cooperating with the District Attorney’s
investigation. Problems have persisted since 2013, and Armor has been
criticized for its care in other states, including New York. In the fall of
2016, the court-ordered monitor of the Milwaukee County Jail found the deaths
of three inmates, including Thomas, came after mistakes in medical care or
potentially poor monitoring of vulnerable inmates. During his visits last
year, Ronald Shansky, the doctor who monitors the
jail, found many of the same problems plaguing the jail for years: persistent
vacancies among Armor's health care providers, especially nursing. Shansky also been pushing for a full-time psychiatrist to
be staffed at the jail, something Armor said late last year it was getting
close to making happen. Schmidt, the acting sheriff, said he has made
significant charges at the jail since taking over in August after Clarke
abruptly resigned his post and took a job with a super PAC supporting
President Donald Trump. Schmidt has moved several top commanders from the
sworn law enforcement ranks to the jail and added three wellness monitors — a
newly created position — who make
daily one-on-one contact with inmates in the mental health, medical and
discipline units. He also has asked the National Institute of Corrections to
review all operations at the jail. That stalled process appears to be moving
forward, as two people from the institute are expected to visit Milwaukee in
the coming weeks. Schmidt has struck a much different tone than Clarke when
discussing the Thomas case. He said such deaths are rare — about 34,500
inmates come through the jail every year and on average, a
quarter have diagnosed mental health issues — but he can't dismiss
them. He also quickly acted after prosecutors charged three staffers in
connection with Thomas' death. Within a week, he had announced he would
recommend all three be fired, but two resigned while the internal
investigation was ongoing. Sheriff's Maj. Nancy Evans, 48, was charged with
felony misconduct in office and obstructing an officer in connection with
Thomas' death. Jail Lt. Kashka Meadors,
40, and correctional officer James Ramsey-Guy, 38, were each charged with
neglecting an inmate, a felony offense. Meadors
gave the order to shut off the water, Ramsey-Guy physically cut all water to
Thomas' cell and Evans lied about the subsequent investigation, according to
court records. Evans and Meadors resigned while the
Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Division completed its investigation.
Schmidt has said he will recommend Ramsey-Guy be fired. A Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel investigation exposed details of Thomas' death, including incomplete investigative
work by the Milwaukee Police Department, which had neglected to interview
fellow inmates who witnessed Thomas' death. Detectives interviewed additional
witnesses once the Journal Sentinel reported the lapses.
October 15, 2007 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
A Milwaukee County Board committee on Tuesday rejected a plan by Sheriff David
A. Clarke Jr. to privatize inmate transport services with a company in
Nashville, Tenn. Clarke said the job could be done more efficiently, free 15
deputies to work on more intensive law enforcement and save the county
$325,000 a year. Supervisors said the move hadn't been well thought out and
should not have been included in County Executive Scott Walker's budget
proposal. The finance committee voted 6-0 to reject the $1.5 million
privatization plan, after the Milwaukee Deputy Sheriffs' Association presented
information critical of TransCor America. The
material included news accounts of escapes of prisoners being transported by TransCor, which bills itself as the largest inmate
transport company in the United States. The association filed a lawsuit last
week to stop the change, arguing that Clarke lacked legal authority to hire
an outside company for prisoner transport. Supervisors questioned whether
public safety would be compromised by using a private company for moving
inmates. But sheriff's Inspector Kevin Carr said, "I don't think the
citizens in our county are going to notice the difference of who picks up the
inmates at Waupun (state prison) and brings them down here to court."
New
Lisbon
New Lisbon, Wisconsin
CCA
June 22, 2002
A judge has rejected a claim by a
Wisconsin inmate held in an out-of-state prison that his sentence should be
reduced. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Callaway ruled that Wisconsin laws
on earning good time credit apply to prisoners housed in other states rather
than the laws of the host state. Under Wisconsin sentencing laws in place at
the time, Sept. 15, 2013 would be his latest discharge date. But Griffin was
transferred to the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre, Okla., Jan. 6,
1999. According to his calculations, if he earned good time credit as an
Oklahoma prisoner would, it would have reduced his sentence by 1,086 days as
of the time he filed his suit. Griffin said a Wisconsin law says inmates
housed in "an institution in an
other state are subject to all provisions of law and regulation
concerning the confinement of persons committed for violations of the laws of
that state." The Wisconsin Department of Corrections argued Griffin was
misapplying the law and other sections of state statutes governed parole and reduction
of sentences. The department also argued, and Callaway agreed, that North
Fork is not a "state correctional facility" because it is a private
prison owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America. (The
Associated Press State and Local Wire)
June 21, 2002
Wisconsin courts can review the punishment given inmates housed at
out-of-state prisons who are disciplined for infractions at those prisons, a
state appeals court ruled Thursday. The 4th District Court of Appeals ruled
that in punishing seven Wisconsin inmates in 1999, the state Department of
Corrections relied improperly upon findings from a hearing at the Whiteville
Correctional Facility, a private Tennessee prison owned by Corrections Corp.
of America. The court said DOC and the Whiteville prison each violated its
own procedures by appointing as hearing examiner a Whiteville employee who
had witnessed the riot that occurred Nov. 30, 1999. The hearing examiner
found seven of them guilty of participating in the riot, during which about
15 people were taken hostage. DOC recommended that the seven be transferred
to the Supermax Correctional Institution in
Boscobel. Their appeals to Whiteville's warden were denied. They also
challenged their punishment through DOC, which said it couldn't hear their
complaints. The Tennessee courts, on the other hand, said the inmates were
residents of Wisconsin and should file their appeals in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin
State Journal)
June 20, 2002
A disciplinary hearing used to
punish seven inmates who were allegedly involved in a disturbance at a
private out-of-state prison in Tennessee was invalid because the hearing
examiner witnessed the November 1999 riot, a state appeals court ruled
Thursday. The 4th District Court of Appeals ruled the state Department of
Corrections must hold new administrative hearings to prove the inmates'
involvement in the riot, but state officials cannot consider the results of
the Tennessee hearing. Corrections spokesman Bill Clausius
said. Clausius said the department conducted its
own investigation into the disturbance at the privately run prison in
Whiteville when it discovered the involvement of the hearing examiner, a
Tennessee prison official, and found evidence that a separate group of 19
inmates was involved. During the disturbance, guards used tear gas to get the
inmates to release about 15 people taken hostage. Three prison employees were
injured. Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America owns and operates
the medium security prison in Whiteville, which houses about 770 inmates from
Wisconsin. (The Associated Press State and Local wire)
January 2, 2002
A key Republican lawmaker wants to help plug the state's giant budget deficit
by delaying the opening of a 750-bed prison in New Lisbon and smaller
correctional facilities in Oshkosh and Sturtevant. Rep. Scott Walker,
R-Wauwatosa, chairman of the Assembly Corrections Committee, said his
proposal to delay prison opening as well as the hiring of related prison
guards and some probation and parole agents should save $14.5 million.
If fewer prison beds open in Wisconsin, more state inmates will have to stay
in private and federal prisons in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Minnesota.
Wisconsin pays $44 a day to keep each of 3,443 inmates at out-of-state
private prisons run by Correction Corp. of America. That's a cost of
about $55.3 million a year. But housing inmates at Wisconsin prisons
costs more. (Wisconsin State Journal)
Outagamie County
Jail
Appleton, Wisconsin
Advanced Correctional Healthcare
April 26, 2008 Post-Crescent
The director of the medical group that employs the Outagamie County Jail's
doctor will lead an investigation into an inmate's death, the county's
attorney says. Investigators have asked the county to review the medical
evaluation and treatment of Curtis Heino, a
27-year-old inmate who died of pneumonia Jan. 13. Advanced Correctional
Healthcare, which employs the jail doctor, will lead the investigation, Joe Guidote, the county's lead attorney, said Friday. Guidote said he approved a request Wednesday from the
Sheriff's Department to have the medical group's director, Dr. Norman
Johnson, conduct the investigation. "We're as interested as anybody else
in making sure that the folks in the jail are safe from a medical
perspective," he said. "We're confident they'll do a comprehensive
evaluation of what happened from a medical standpoint, and we'll take the
results when we get them and give them a close look." Advanced
Correctional Healthcare employs jail doctors, including Dr. George Shotick, who has worked for the jail since November and
signed off on tests of Heino's blood taken by jail
medical staff the week he died. Johnson did not return four messages left at
his office Friday. His home phone number is not listed. Gehring
said earlier this week Shotick would conduct the
medical review. Shotick said he discussed only the
autopsy results with the sheriff. They discussed the review during a
conference call late last week, after Gehring faxed
the doctor autopsy results and asked him for his initial impressions of the
case, Gehring said Friday. A Winnebago County
investigation cleared the Outagamie jail staff of negligence but requested an
"independent medical professional" review of how the jail medical
staff treated Heino.
Sheboygan County Detention
Center
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Aramark
June
6, 2009 Sheboygan Press
A two-time convicted sex offender is going back to prison after resuming
a sexual relationship with a former Sheboygan County jail worker who was
fired for having sex with him in 2007. The relationship is detailed in the
case file of Wydell J. Vaughn, a 28-year-old
Sheboygan man sentenced Thursday to a year in prison. Vaughn was out of
prison for all of three days before authorities discovered the relationship
and put him back behind bars. Court records say Vaughn met Tammy Green, 37,
while incarcerated at the Sheboygan County Detention Center in 2007. Green,
who was married, was a kitchen worker employed by Aramark,
which contracts to provide jail foodservice. Vaughn denied having sexual
contact at the jail, but the two began having sex shortly after his release
in August 2007, and Green was later fired for having the relationship, court
records show. The two were found out when Vaughn called Green’s supervisor to
complain their relationship couldn’t move forward since she wouldn’t leave
her husband. That relationship — along with other probation violations such
as unapproved contact with minors and frequenting parks — led to Vaughn being
sent to prison for two years in November 2007. He was released Feb. 24 to a
halfway house. Before his release, Vaughn was repeatedly told he could not
have contact with Green, and all sex offenders must have relationships
approved by a probation agent, but he reestablished contact the day he was
released, court records show. Green visited him at a halfway house that day
and the next, then had sex with him on the 26th when
Vaughn was let out to buy clothes for a court appearance on the 27th. A GPS
monitoring bracelet showed the pair drove throughout Sheboygan and also left
the city. Green then went with Vaughn to the court hearing, and the two were
seen kissing in the courthouse hallway, court record show. Vaughn later
called his probation agent from Green’s phone, and Green called the probation
agent and identified herself as his girlfriend after he was arrested for
having contact with her. That arrest came on Feb. 27, three days after he had
been released from prison. He was kept in jail on a probation hold until
being sentenced Thursday by Judge Timothy Van Akkeren.
Sheriff Mike Helmke said Green was not a county
employee, though jail administrators have a say in who can work there. “We
conduct a pre-hire background investigation, but other than that the
supervision and employment standards and everything are pretty much regulated
by her employer,” Helmke said, adding that Aramark made the decision to fire Green. Vaughn was
convicted twice in 2002 of felony second-degree sexual assault for having sex
with 14- and 15-year-old girls in 2001, when he was 20. He has served a total
of more than five years in prison in the cases, all but two years of it
resulting from probation violations.
Stanley Correctional
Facility
Chippewa, Wisconsin
Dominion
May 17, 2006 Journal-Sentinel
The Stanley prison that a private company built - and which the state ended
up buying for $87.1 million - violates electrical, plumbing and safety codes
that will cost taxpayers an additional $5 million to repair. The State
Building Commission on Wednesday voted to spend that money to fix a long list
of major problems at the Stanley prison. The vote came after commissioners
complained that buying the prison built by Dominion Asset Services of Edmond,
Okla., was a major mistake. The commission also told the state Department of
Corrections to investigate whether the Oklahoma company can be sued over the
code violations. The prison played a role in the corruption conviction of
former state Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala
(D-Madison). Dominion executives gave $125,000 to Independent Citizens for
Democracy, a campaign group Chvala illegally
controlled in the summer of 2001, records in Chvala's
criminal case show. Chvala changed his position on
the prison and agreed to the state purchase of the facility after the
donations. Chvala was convicted last year of two
felonies and is serving a nine-month sentence on home detention. State
officials said they had no choice but to correct dozens of code violations at
the prison, which held 1,511 male inmates last week. "This is the
Legislature's fault," said Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Berlin). "Now, we
have to fix it up." Olsen said legislators should have demanded a
discount on the purchase price of the Stanley prison, since state officials
had a strong bargaining position and could have decided whether or when it
opened. "This was a serious mistake, and a boondoggle of the nth
degree," said Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison).
"They sold it to us, and it didn't meet code." Risser
said the Dominion firm "made a nice profit" when the Legislature
and then-Gov. Scott McCallum agreed in 2001 to buy the prison. Dominion
employees also donated $4,000 to McCallum's re-election campaign. Proper
procedures ignored. "We're wasting $5 million on this," said Sen.
Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh). "This company
totally did not follow (code) requirements." Gov. Jim Doyle, chairman of
the Building Commission, said proper procedures were not followed when the
state purchased the prison. As attorney general in 2001, Doyle had advised
legislators that no inmates could be placed in the prison until it was either
leased or bought by the state. The process normally used in state building
projects was circumvented for the Stanley prison, the governor said, noting
that the Legislature and governor must jointly agree on what is needed, and
then the Building Commission must formally approve the plan. The Stanley
fiasco led to new laws prohibiting the speculative construction of prisons.
State government bought the prison in 2002, with the code violations
"not readily observable upon inspection," state officials said.
Code problems that must be corrected include those in heating and cooling
systems. Also, the state must install smoke controls in housing units and
electrical grounding wires, rebuild electric conductors, and move metal
stairs. Construction is expected to start next April and be finished by June
2008. Assistant Milwaukee County District Attorney David Feiss,
who prosecuted Chvala, said he mentioned at
sentencing the $125,000 that Dominion officials gave to the campaign group
the Democratic senator controlled. Told of the code violations, Feiss said, "The entire transaction is sordid, so it
is not surprising that there are details that were not known then."
Calls to Dominion were not returned Wednesday. In 2001, Dominion Asset
Services hired several lobbyists to push state purchase of the Stanley prison
through the Legislature. Also lobbying for the purchase were western
Wisconsin legislators and Stanley elected officials. In 2001, according to
state Ethics Board records, those lobbyists included former Senate Majority Leader
Joe Strohl (D-Racine) and former Rep. Rosemary
Potter (D-Milwaukee); John Matthews, former chief of staff to Republican Gov.
Tommy G. Thompson; and Ray Carey, a friend of then-Assembly Speaker Scott
Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield). Jensen pushed for state purchase of the prison
during the 2001 legislative session. Jensen was sentenced to 15 months in
prison Tuesday after being convicted of three felony and one misdemeanor
counts of having Assembly workers campaign on state time.
February 13, 2006 AP
Employees of at least seven companies donated to Gov. Jim Doyle's re-election
campaign around the same time the state picked their firms for no-bid
contracts totaling more than $36.1 million, according to an Associated Press
review. Campaign finance reports show McCallum received $4,001 in 2001 from
executives of an Oklahoma company that built a private prison in Wisconsin
hoping the state would buy it. The money came in one week before the state
Building Commission, chaired by McCallum, approved
buying the prison for $75 million.
December 31, 2005 Journal
Sentinel
Lobbyist Bill Broydrick testified in 2002 about how
Chuck Chvala, the former Senate majority leader,
solicited lobbyists and their clients for contributions. With Chvala scheduled to begin a nine-month jail sentence on
Feb. 13 after pleading guilty to two felony corruption charges, Broydrick was recently shown a summary of his then-secret
2002 testimony about how the former Senate majority leader solicited
lobbyists and their clients for contributions. Prosecutors say another group
that got what it wanted was Dominion Asset Services, which built a prison in
Stanley that it was trying to sell to the state. Dominion officials wrote one
check for $50,000 on June 1, 2001, and another for $75,000 on July 1, 2001,
to Independent Citizens for Democracy-Issues Inc., court records show.
ICD-Issues was the group Chvala set up to get
"soft money" donations from corporations - companies barred by
state law from giving directly to state candidates and their campaign
committees. On July 25, 2001, Chvala and
Republicans brokered a final budget that included $79.9 million to buy the
Stanley prison. Assembly Republicans long supported the purchase of the
Stanley prison, but they were unable to get the deal through the Legislature
because of Chvala's opposition to the deal.
"And then, suddenly and surprisingly, he allowed it to go through,"
said Rep. Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield), who was speaker of the
Assembly at the time. Dominion built the prison even though state law bars
private companies from operating prisons. The state could have used the law
to negotiate a lower price because only the state and federal governments
could buy the facility, critics said at the time. Jensen defended the
purchase decision, saying it helped move prisoners held out of state closer
to their families while creating jobs in Stanley, near Eau Claire. Around
that time, Dominion employees gave $500 to Jensen and $500 to Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), who offered the budget amendment to
purchase the prison. Employees also gave $4,000 to then-Gov. Scott McCallum,
a Republican, and $9,600 to Senate Democrats. After the state bought the
prison, it delayed its opening for almost a year, after the state determined
it would cost more to run the state facility than to keep inmates in
out-of-state facilities.
July 17, 2002
Outraged Stanley Correctional Facility staff and local politicians packed the
dining room of the Renegade restaurant to overflowing Tuesday
afternoon. "It's not just our jobs," said Sgt. Zahn Erdman of Chippewa Falls. "This is our
careers." Erdman has one of the nearly 200 prison jobs in limbo
until the proposed January opening of the facility. It had been
scheduled to open in September with training scheduled to begin this week.
Gov. Scott McCallum accepted a proposal last week by Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, to save the jobs of 77 correctional
officers who had been scheduled to be immediately laid off because of the
delay. If the budget hadn't been approved, the prison might not have
opened until 2004, if ever, McCallum told Suder.
Suder showed McCallum and his staff figures
indicating it will cost the state $1.3 million to delay the prison opening
until January. Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire,
said most prisons in Wisconsin are at 130 percent of capacity. If the
Stanley prison were to open, 60 prisoners per week could be taken from the
overcrowded prisons and brought into the Stanley facility. (The
News-Herald)
July 9, 2002
The controversial Stanley prison was at
the heart of a deal that finally capped six months of debate over how the
state should rid itself of a $1.1 billion budget deficit. Gov. Scott McCallum
and Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford) struck the
deal, which preserves prison jobs in Suder's area.
"The governor and I had a long conversation about the Stanley prison,
and we wound up saving 77 jobs that were scheduled to be laid off because of
the impending delay," Suder said. "They
will be retained at various institutions, including Stanley." As part of
the deal, the hiring of another 108 workers will be accelerated, Suder said. "Scott proposed a plan that places the
Stanley workers in correctional facilities in the area until the prison
opens," McCallum said. "I believe his approach is reasonable, and
we will make it work." The budget includes a Democratic Senate proposal
that pushed back the opening of the 1,500-bed facility near Chippewa Falls
from Sept. 1 until Jan. 1. Other costs associated with the prison mount as it
awaits inmates. State taxpayers are spending more than $350,000 a month for
salaries, utilities and payment on the prison. (The Journal Sentinel)
July
5, 2002
State Rep. Scott Suder is hoping to kill a budget
provision that would delay the opening of the Stanley prison in Chippewa
County by four months. Suder, R-Abbotsford, and
state Sen. Dave Zien, R-Eau Claire, are pushing
Gov. Scott McCallum to eliminate a state budget provision that would delay
the prison's opening from Sept. 1 until January 2003. Senate Republicans
sharply criticized the delay. Zien said the delayed
opening unfairly toyed with the lives of people already working at the prison
and those of people who have been preparing to start their new jobs. He also
said opening the prison would allow the state to bring back some of the prisoners
now housed in out-of-state facilities because of overcrowding at Wisconsin
facilities (The gannet Wisconsin ).
Tomas Cantreras
November 1, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
When Wendolyne Morales received a letter from the
Corrections Corporation of America on Saunders Street, and then spoke with
the detainee's wife in Wisconsin, she knew she was onto something. The
KLDO-Univision investigative reporter spent six months working on a series of
10 stories related to Tomas Contreras, a resident alien detained at the
border for a drug charge and fine he paid nearly 20 years ago. With the help
of photographers Elsa De Leon, Guillermo Rodriguez, Ruben Carranza and Sammy
de la Garza, Morales did stories on the detainee's plight with the
government's mandatory detention law. In particular, the last one she filed
in June, after Contreras was released, propelled her into the big leagues.
This weekend, at a sumptuous gala event in Dallas, her name was announced
after the presenter said, "And the Emmy goes to … "
Morales had just become Laredo's first television reporter to win an
Emmy Award. "I feel very happy and I'm so proud to belong to the team
that I do," she said. "More than anything, it feels good to know
that our competitors were the big sharks." Her entry beat out six other
English- and Spanish-language reporters from the Houston, Dallas and San
Antonio television markets in the Lone Star Emmy category for Specialty
Assignment Report-Single News Story. Since the Emmys opened a chapter in
Texas five years ago, this is the first time a KLDO entry made it into the
finals, and the first time that a Laredo television news network brought home
a trophy. A native of Guanajuato, Mexico, Morales came to Laredo in the
seventh-grade and graduated from Cigarroa High
School and the Vidal M. Treviño School of
Communications and Fine Arts, where she focused on television, film and
communications. She is pursuing a bachelor's degree in communications and
previously worked for Univision in Corpus Christi. Dressed in a long, red
evening gown that Saturday night, Morales was accompanied by Maria Montoya,
Maria de la Luz de Alba and Alma Blanco. These are her best friends, "my
sisters," she said, describing them as her mentors and role models when
they worked together at another local television station several years ago.
"We grabbed hands and when the announcer said my name, we
screamed," Morales said. "I was so excited and emocionada
(emotional) and when I get like that I stumble my words. I didn't even know
what I was saying." What attracted Morales to her award-winning story
was how the mandatory detention laws, enacted immediately after 9/11, are
dividing families and creating undue hardship and suffering, she said. Meant
to catch terrorists at points of entry, the mandatory detention laws are now
detaining people, regardless of their immigration status, for crimes
committed decades ago. "They need to modify the laws because they are
punishing people who went through the whole process to come into the country
legally," Morales said. "They are detaining people for long periods
of time, for six months or longer," Morales said. "It's dividing
families and making people lose their jobs, because what job is going to wait
six months for you to come back?" In her stories, Morales focused on Contreras,
a resident alien and successful businessman in Wisconsin. He was detained for
an 18-year-old drug charge by Laredo officials at the bridge upon returning
from a family vacation in Mexico. In 1989, Contreras was fined for drug
possession when police found cocaine residue in a car he was borrowing from a
friend. Contreras has since built up a successful career. As part of her
series, Morales filmed part of Contreras' family protesting outside CCA on a
cold early Saturday morning, even though she and the photographer, Guillermo
Rodriguez, are off weekends. She also interviewed Contreras after he was
released six months later and learned about the mistreatment and poor
conditions facing detainees behind bars. After she spoke with his wife in
January, Morales said she knew she had to "at least investigate."
She began calling CCA officials and U.S. Customs officials in San Antonio,
and stayed on top of the story. "When we won on Saturday, we were able
to show that Hispanic reporters can also put out an excellent product and can
compete with the big North American chains," she said.
September
24, 2007 Laredo Morning Times
For the first time in history, a television reporter working in Laredo
has been nominated for an Emmy Award. Univision reporter Wendolyne
Morales was recently named a possible recipient of a Lone Star Emmy Award in
the Specialty Assignment Report-Single News Story category. "I was very
surprised, but more than anything I was grateful for the support from God and
(Univision General Manager) Terry Elena Ordaz and
(anchor) Osvaldo Corral," Morales said.
Morales said she received tremendous support and encouragement from the
Univision team when she was working on the story of a resident alien, Tomas
Contreras. Contreras was living in Wisconsin but was detained by officials in
Laredo when he crossed the border while returning from a vacation with his
family. "He had a previous drug charge, and was detained under the
mandatory detention law," Morales said. "He is a successful businessman
and a good person. (The authorities) just wanted to detain him." Morales
said Contreras had long since paid his debt to society, but was detained at
the Corrections Corporation of America detention facility on Saunders Street
in east Laredo, nonetheless. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
Contreras owns five businesses and was only required to pay a fine after
police found cocaine residue in a car Contreras was driving in 1989. The car
belonged to another individual. After Morales' report, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin,
D-Wis. became involved in the matter, and local news media in Milwaukee also
took notice of the issue. Contreras was freed shortly thereafter. "I am
proud of Wendolyne and the entire news team," Ordaz said. "This proves that the level of reporting
at Univision really reaches high standards. Maybe now, as a consequence, they
may change the laws." Ordaz said the report
came as a result of Morales being well respected and having confidence in her
sources, as do all the reporters at Univision, she said. "Just to know
that we were actually picked, it's wonderful," Ordaz
said. Morales has been at Univision in Laredo for
about two years, Ordaz said. The Emmy awards
ceremony takes place Oct. 27 in Dallas.
July
19, 2007 The Capital Times
Tomas Contreras, a Madison businessman held for 81 days earlier this year
when he tried to re-enter the United States, is working to expose the
cruelties, including a two-week stay in an isolation chamber, that he said he
was subjected to at privately run detention centers in Texas. "One night
after midnight, I was sleeping and a whole bunch of people showed up. They
tied me up and beat me," Contreras, his voice catching, told a forum on
immigration issues in Whitewater last week. Contreras appeared with a
"Reality Tour" of the state organized by Voces
de la Frontera -- a rally at the State Capitol in
Madison, a forum in Whitewater, a stop in Milwaukee -- to tell of what he
calls abuses in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention
centers. "Every time I get into what was going on back there, what
happened to these people, it breaks me," Contreras said in a recent
interview at his family's east side carpet cleaning business. The experience
took 90 pounds off his 260-pound frame, he said, weight that he's putting back
on since he was released following an order by a federal judge on March 30.
Contreras was taken into custody in early January after a computer check at
the border as he and his family were returning from
Mexico. The check turned up a 1989 arrest in Illinois, where a trace of
cocaine was found in the car in which Contreras was riding. He said he paid a
$250 fine and was told he would have no record. Although he has lived legally
in the United States since 1964, Contreras is not a U.S. citizen, so his drug
conviction was a deportable offense under a 1996 law. He has crossed the
border without incident many times since then, but ICE recently upgraded its
computers at the border, which may be why he was detained this time. Tough
Texas treatment: Contreras was held at three ICE facilities in Texas run by
private companies under contract with the federal government. At the Laredo
Processing Center in Laredo, run by Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of
America, a national prison services giant, Contreras said he was placed in a
large dormitory with 80 or more men from around the world. He saw fights
among detainees and unprovoked force used by guards on detainees. His
objections to rough treatment by guards of other detainees brought threats of
retaliation, he said. Contreras launched a hunger strike and encouraged
others to join him in protest of treatment there, as his wife, Carmen, gave
reports on the protest to Spanish-language media. Contreras said in an
interview that he and six other men who challenged guards' treatment of
detainees were shackled and beaten as they were transferred to another
facility. He said after he was awakened in the middle of the night and yanked
from his bunk, his wrists and ankles were shackled to his waist, and he was
prodded repeatedly -- hard -- by a guard wielding a police baton. Because
their shackled feet could not step up high enough to get into a transport
van, Contreras said, he and others we picked up and thrown in. "They
tossed us all in there like animals." Contreras said the incident left
bruises on his legs and arms, and his arms were cut when guards used tools to
snap off the plastic restraints. He was transferred to Corrections Corp.'s
Webb County Detention Center, also in Laredo, where he continued his hunger
strike. After a letter from U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin to ICE officials,
solicited by Contreras' family, he said he was transferred to the South Texas
Detention Complex in Pearsall, run by the international GEO Group Inc. After
a dispute with a guard about an assignment to a lower bunk, which Contreras
said was made by GEO's medical unit, he said he was
put in a 5-foot-by-6-foot isolation cell. He stayed in the metal cell, with
bunk, toilet and sink, for two weeks, he said. The prescribed periods of
release, for showering, exercise and visits, sometimes were not given because
there weren't enough guards on duty, he added. Steve Owen, Corrections
Corp.'s director of marketing, referred requests for comment to ICE, saying
that was ICE's policy. Nina Pruneda in ICE's public
affairs office in San Antonio said she could find no record in Contreras'
file "of the things he said he witnessed and endured. We are looking
into the matter." GEO spokesman Pablo Paez
said as a matter of policy, the company does not comment on "third party
allegations" like those made by Contreras, but said that all of GEO's
facilities are run in accordance with the American Correctional Association's
standards for humane treatment. A spokesperson in Baldwin's office said they
had received no further requests from Contreras since his release, but said
Baldwin would ask the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to
"investigate issues raised by the Contreras case in its review of
possible civil liberties violations and its review of the consequences of
privatizing basic government services." The committee, under Chairman
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is reviewing Bush administration practices and
policies. Waxman's office said that on Baldwin's request, the committee would
look into it. "If she thinks this is an important issue, the committee
will treat it very seriously," Waxman said in a prepared statement.
Contreras said he and six others held in the detention centers are preparing
a federal suit. The San Antonio attorney he said was representing them did
not return calls seeking comment. Contreras said the suit will seek to force
the government to improve conditions at the prison. "I'm not doing it
for the money. I'm doing it so they treat people right," Contreras said.
"Somebody has got to say enough is enough.' "
April
14, 2007 Wisconsin State Journal
I wonder when the U.S. immigration officials realized they made a
terrible mistake by detaining Madison businessman Tom Contreras. Was it when
he turned down special privileges in the for-profit jail run by Corrections
Corporation of America near Laredo, Texas, asking, "What about these
other people?" Was it when he organized a six-day hunger strike against
conditions that included overcrowding and no medical care? Or when the TV
crew from Univision, the Spanish language station, arrived on the scene? Or
when the letters started arriving from U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold
and from U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin and from regular Madison people who know Tom
Contreras as a businessman, employer and supporter of local charities?
Certainly, when Contreras, a legal U.S. resident since 1964, finally got his
day in court on March 30, it took immigration Judge Bertha Zuniga just a few
minutes of reading his file to realize that a mistake had been made.
"She told me she was proud to release me," Contreras said.
"She told me, 'Go back to your life and keep helping others.'"
Contreras and his wife, Carmen, made it home to Madison on Friday after
stopping by Fort Polk, in Louisiana, to see their son, Tomas, 21. He
completed basic training in the U.S. Army while his father was being detained
and is scheduled to be shipped out to the Middle East. While the family
members were traveling, an official government letter arrived at their home
in Madison inviting Tom Contreras to be fingerprinted as his application to
be a U.S. citizen took another step forward. While his wife and three
children are citizens, Tom Contreras had delayed because of a now-changed
Mexican law that forbade non-Mexican citizens from owning property there. On
Saturday, Contreras family members and their friends gathered in the April
sunshine in the side lot of T.C. Carpet Cleaning on Fair Oaks Avenue. There
was the sound of music, the smell of grilling meat, and the heartwarming
sight of Contreras' youngest granddaughter, Sophia, toddling over and giving
Grandpa's leg a big hug. "We want to thank everyone who supported
us," said Contreras' wife, Carmen. She said the family was overwhelmed
with calls and letters of support. "The mayor even sent people (to the
family businesses) to offer help." The family's nightmare began on Jan.
9, when the Contrerases, along with their older
granddaughter, were returning to Madison from visiting family in Mexico. While
Contreras estimates he has crossed the border "a hundred times," a
new computer at the border came up with a minor drug possession ticket from
1989. A federal law passed in 1996, which applies retroactively, allows the
government to deport noncitizens for crimes that include any drug-related
offense. Stories like his were common at the deportation center. "There
was a Cuban who was caught with a joint (of marijuana) in 1982,"
Contreras said. "They can't deport Cubans because Cuba won't accept
them. He's been there six months, and he's still there." Others were
being deported to countries they don't remember. "There were people who
have been here all their lives and they're being deported to countries where
they don't even speak the language," he said. Contreras said that
conditions were awful: more than 100 people crowded into a space for 30, only
six toilets, awful food, and non- existent medical care that left
"people crying in pain." "You don't have any rights because
supposedly they're going to deport you, they're never going to see you again,
so they know you can't come back and complain," he said. "And, they
make money on you." But, here's the interesting thing. Tomas Contreras
took notes every single day of the 81 days he was in detention of the abuse
he witnessed. He hopes to sit down with the staffs of the senators who helped
him and expose what is going on in the name of homeland security. As his
wife, Carmen, said, they support keeping the borders safe, yet oppose a
system that would distinguish between people who are threats and those who
aren't. Contreras said he can't forget those he left behind in detention:
"I am going back to help the people who are still there."
Waukesha County Facility
Waukesha, Wisconsin
North Atlantic Extradition Service (formerly run by TransCor/CCA)
January 21, 2010 TMJ4
Waukesha County's DA has told Today's TMJ-4 the county is ending its
relationship with North Atlantic Extradition. The county's contract expires
within days and it will not be renewed. Guards for North Atlantic were
transporting accused hitman Justin Welch from
California to Wisconsin when Welch escaped earlier this month. Welch has been
charged with killing a woman from Oconomowoc in her home last year. He was
caught a day after his escape and has since been returned to Wisconsin. He is
behind bars awaiting trial. North Atlantic staffers apologized and told
Waukesha County the escape was a mistake and it happened because company
policies were not followed. The county's law enforcement officials say
they're planning to review what happened in depth once a complete
investigation is done but for now they do not intend to renew the prisoner
transportation contract with North Atlantic.
January 14, 2010 Press
Argus-Courier
A Wisconsin homicide suspect who escaped Wednesday from a transport van in
Dora was recaptured shortly after noon Thursday in Sallisaw. Justin Welch
hitched a ride with a trucker Thursday, and the way he was acting made the
driver "suspicious," Van Buren Lt. Brent Grill said Thursday
afternoon. He said the trucker either called or texted a family member to
express concerns, and the family member alerted
Sallisaw police, leading to Welch's capture. Grill said Welch was currently
being held at the Sallisaw Police Department, and he was not sure if he would
be booked into the Sequoyah County Jail or taken elsewhere. Grill said he was
still gathering details, including where Welch spent Wednesday night after
reportedly being seen headed east in a private prison transport van
Wednesday. Grill said the van has not been located yet. Welch was one of five
prisoners being transported by North Atlantic Extraditon
Service, a private transport company from Mississippi. The van stopped at the
I-40 rest stop in Dora so Welch and the other four prisoners could use the
restroom. Grill said Welch stabbed and beat one of the guards, taking his gun
and fleeing to the van, where he struggled with the other, unarmed guard,
firing a shot at him but missing.
January 13, 2010 Press
Argus-Courier
A manhunt is on for a California man accused of murder who escaped Wednesday
morning from a private prison transport van at a rest stop in Dora on
Interstate 40. According to the Van Buren Police Department, Justin Welch was
being transported along with four other prisoners when the driver stopped at
the I-40 rest area in Dora around 2:45 a.m. The five prisoners were in the
bathroom when Welch is believed to have stabbed the guard in the hand and
started beating him in the head area. Van Buren Lt. Brent Grill said Welch
then took the handgun from the guard and fled from the bathroom to the van,
where he confronted the second, unarmed guard, firing a shot at him in the
struggle. Welch then left the area in the transport van, possibly heading
east on the interstate. The van is a white 2007 Dodge, marked on both sides
with the letters NAES, as well as the words "North Atlantic Extradition
Service" Since the transport company is out of Columbus, Miss., the van
has Mississippi license plates LTC537. The guard who was stabbed was taken to
Summit Medical Center, where he was treated and released. The other guard was
not injured.
July 27, 2001
A prisoner transportation company that has been accused of losing and
mistreating inmates allowed the escape of a Wisconsin teen who
later made his way to Texas, where he is charged with attempting to kill a
police officer. Officials at TransCor America
Inc. acknowledge their employee botched the case of the teenage runaway, who
wasn't handcuffed when he fled Mitchell International Airport June 19.
The Darien teen stayed on the lam for six days after escaping from the TransCor guard, stealing two cars in Missouri as he
headed for Mexico, authorities said. He was stopped for not paying for
gasoline at a service station in Texas and, after a high- speed chase,
stabbed an officer in the neck during a struggle, according to police and a
criminal complaint. David R. Puckett, 17, remains jailed on a charge of
attempted capital murder in Hallettsville, Texas. Fault acknowledged
"Our employee did not follow proper procedures in restraining him
immediately after deplaning. He was terminated," said Chuck Goggin, vice president of TransCor
America, which bills itself as the "largest and most experienced"
company in the prisoner transportation industry. (Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel)
Wisconsin
Department of Corrections
CCA
Aug 25, 2018 communityjournal.net
Audit Reveals Shortfalls in Required Medical Staffing
MILWAUKEE – An audit of the contract for medical services at the County
Jail and House of Corrections (HOC) reveals persistent understaffing and
makes several recommendations to improve the provision of health care
services at both county facilities. The Audit Division conducted a review of the contract with Armor
Correctional Medical Services at the request of County Board Chairman
Theodore Lipscomb, Sr. “The audit confirms what many already suspected, some of the most serious
staffing issues that originally led the court to order this contract still
persist. The election of a new Sheriff provides a fresh perspective and the
opportunity to rethink oversight of medical services, and the audit also
identifies various improvements that should be made,” said Lipscomb. During the review period of November 2015 to August 2017, auditors found
that staffing levels for medical staff never achieved the minimum 95%
threshold required for full payment, and recommended consideration of
additional penalties for Armor if staffing levels are not met. As a result of a class action lawsuit over jail conditions, a 2001
court-approved Consent Decree set specific staffing levels in order to
provide reasonably necessary health care to inmates. The audit noted that Armor relied heavily on staffing agencies to fill
vacant positions, and called for an analysis of the impact that reliance on
agency staff has on the quality of care. In addition to improved staffing levels, auditors recommended the
assignment of a contract manager with clinical expertise to oversee the
implementation of the contract. Auditors made a total of 18 specific recommendations for improving the
contract for jail medical services and for improving compliance with all
provisions of the contract. Chairman Lipscomb has referred the audit to the Committee on Finance and
Audit and the Committee on Judiciary, Safety, and General Services for
further review.
Apr 12, 2018 madison365.com
Corrections Secretary Pledges No Private Prisons
Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher
stated emphatically that he will not ever use private prisons in the state of
Wisconsin. Secretary Litscher’s position on prison
privatization was being questioned by leaders of Madison based community
organizers who were concerned about the use of private prisons after a series
of scandals involving privatized prisons in Mississippi. “As long as I am
Secretary we will not use private prisons,” Litscher
said in an email exchange with community leaders on Thursday. It was the
strongest Litscher has stated publicly on the topic
of private prisons in Wisconsin. In 2017 Madison365 reported that Litscher had broached the topic of prison privatization
while addressing a State Assembly committee. At that time Litscher
had stated that using private prisons would be a last resort if the prison
population continued to grow and there was nowhere else to put inmates. Litscher continues to be concerned about the steady
growth in the prison population but indicated he would not seek the use of
private facilities. DOC Spokesman Tristan Cook confirmed Litscher’s
position to Madison365 on Monday morning. “As we have indicated previously,
the Department sees no need to use private prisons and has no interest in
doing so,” Cook told Madison365. Last week private prisons in Mississippi came
under national scrutiny after a video showed prison guards not responding to
a gang beating another inmate. In the video an inmate is seen being assaulted
by several other prisoners while the prison guards took over 30 minutes to
respond to the incident. Inmates at East Mississippi Correctional Facility,
which is privately run by Management & Training Corporation, resorted to
setting fires in their cells in order to force guards to respond to normal
security situations. Inmates also reportedly crafted knives and other weapons
to protect themselves because guards were not able to, and lived under
grotesque physical conditions due to the uncleanliness
of the facility. In Wisconsin, all prison facilities are owned and operated
by the state. Prison guards are state employees and typically respond quickly
to security situations. Violence against fellow inmates is not tolerated,
units are fully staffed and day-to-day the majority of inmates are in
relatively safe and clean environments. In privately run facilities, however,
this is often not the case. Private corporations have minimum
inmate quotas, which means the state agrees to fill approximately
1,000 beds on average. The facilities are often poorly staffed and are not
physically designed in the same way State run facilities in Wisconsin are. In
Wisconsin, correctional officers are in direct contact with inmates at every
moment, which is often not the case in private facilities.Prison
overcrowding in Wisconsin has reached peak levels as a result of truth-in-sentencing
laws that cause prisoners to serve 100 percent of their sentences and not be
eligible for parole. Prisoners sentenced before 2000 are generally eligible
for parole because they were incarcerated under different guidelines that
allow parole after they have done two-thirds of their time. Governor Scott
Walker has greatly reduced the Parole Commission during his tenure, however,
slowing to a trickle the number of inmates being released even under
the older guidelines.It is those policies that
concern proponents of prison reform, such as The Prison Ministry Project
Director Jerry Hancock, himself a former prosecutor. Hancock points out that major portions of the prison population could be
safely released back into the community. The continued use of prison to house
people struggling with addiction or poverty-based offenses is driving up the
number of inmates. The prison overcrowding that even Secretary Litscher has expressed concern about is a self-inflicted
issue on the part of the Walker administration that many community leaders
like Hancock feel is more the result of non-release policies than the result
of some overwhelming crime wave in the community. The concern is very real
that Governor Walker would use overcrowding as justification to pursue privatized,
for-profit prisons in Wisconsin. Thus, hearing Secretary Litscher
adamant about not using private prisons has alleviated the concerns expressed
by community leaders like Hancock. “Secretary Litscher’s
promise that ‘as long as I am Secretary we will not use private prisons’
proves that he is a man of conscience and compassion,” Hancock told
Madison365 on Wednesday. “It is also a clear message to the Governor that he
can have private prisons or Jon Litscher but he
can’t have both.”
August
4, 2004
The state now has fewer than 500 inmates in out-of-state prisons, but
Wisconsin prisons remain thousands of prisoners over capacity. Thanks
for participating. Please check back for results.Important
to bring out-of-state prisoners back? Do you think it's important for state
officials to focus on bringing out-of-state prisoners back? Yes No State
Corrections officials have been working to bring all prisoners back to
Wisconsin by next year. Wisconsin has 432 prisoners in Minnesota and two in
Oklahoma. That's about 1,200 fewer in out-of-state prisons than four months
ago. The state prison system has 22,000 inmates -- about 5,300 over
capacity. Corrections officials are exploring ways to alleviate
overcrowding through alternative treatment options and additional community
corrections programs. Gov. Jim Doyle takes credit for cutting the
number of out-of-state prisoners in half since he took office. Doyle says
that Wisconsin does a better job of managing its prison population and offers
many new in-prison treatment programs, such as drug and alcohol treatment and
boot camp-like programs that focus on rehabilitation. (The Milwaukee
Channel)
December 8, 2003
Wisconsin will be able to bring home more than 200 inmates from out-of-state
private prisons in 2004 under agreements with 11 county jails to rent space
for prisoners, state officials said Thursday. Inmates already in
Wisconsin prisons will be moved to the county jails under the agreement to
make room for the 276 out-of-state prisoners who will return to the state.
Wisconsin currently houses 1,986 inmates at prisons in Minnesota and Oklahoma
operated by Corrections Corporation of America. The state Department of
Corrections has relied on the out-of-state prisons for several years to
alleviate overcrowding in Wisconsin prisons. In Minnesota, CCA operates
the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton. The corrections
department already has contracts with five of the 11 counties to house about
215 inmates, paying between $51 and $53 per inmate per day. All of the
counties agreed to accept $49.96 per inmate per day under the new one-year
deal, the same the state pays to house inmates at out-of-state private
prisons, corrections spokesman Bill Clausius
said. "The funds that cover the costs of housing these offenders
will stay in Wisconsin," Gov. Jim Doyle said. "Most importantly,
the agreement will improve rehabilitation efforts and ultimately make
communities safer." (AP)
January 31, 2003
Wisconsin could bring back all but 500 prisoners of nearly 3,500
now being housed in other states by the end of next year, if the state
Department of Corrections was allowed use all its available prison space,
Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher said
Tuesday. Litscher
made the comments after the Legislature's budget writing committee approved a
new $56 million-a-year, three-year contract with a private company to keep up
to 5,500 prisoners outside the Wisconsin prison system. Despite concerns voiced by some lawmakers,
approving the contract with Corrections Corporation of America won't further
delay openings of the prisons, Litscher said. An
increase in prison population, prompted in part by Truth-in-Sentencing
legislation, means the state still will need "contract beds," even
when all five prisons are operating at capacity, Litscher
said. As of Dec. 6, CCA had custody of
4,017 Wisconsin prisoners, of whom 3,482 were housed in Minnesota, Oklahoma
and Tennessee under the company's current contract with the state. Another
535 state prisoners were being housed by CCA in federal prisons or county
jails. "The people we're
employing in Tennessee don't pay taxes here, and they don't spend their money
here," said Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center. Housing prisoners out
of state appears to be cheaper, based on the $48.50 a day rate the state will
pay CCA next year. But that doesn't consider economic boost from payroll and
other businesses and development associated with operation of the prison,
Schultz said. (La Crosse Tribune)
December 10, 2002
State corrections officials want a new 3-year contract to house inmates
in private prisons in other states - a controversial idea that would let
Gov.-elect Jim Doyle and legislators keep up to 5,500 prisoners at a time
outside Wisconsin through 2005. In a letter to the Legislature's budget
committee, Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher say
the current contract with the CCA ends Dec. 21. He recommends a 3-year deal
at rising costs - including an immediate 10% jump in the daily cost. In
the campaign for governor, Doyle repeatedly said he wanted the number of
out-of-state inmates reduced, but offered no plan to do that. The
request for a new contract for out-of-state prison beds must receive approval
from the full Legislature, which does not convene until January, of the Joint
Finance Committee, which is tentatively scheduled to meet next week.
Wisconsin began exporting more inmates than any other state in 1996, when
soaring prison populations exceeded the capacity of crowded state prisons.. (JS Online)
Wisconsin
Legislature
CCA, Dominion
Feb 27, 2015 thenation.com
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is
perhaps best known for dramatically weakening public and private unions in
his state—something that has propelled him to the top of the 2016 Republican
presidential field. Over Walker’s long career in state politics, he also
accomplished another transformation: increasing Wisconsin’s incarceration
rate while making sure private companies had a larger role managing those
prisoners. He rarely talks about it anymore, but Walker's efforts as a young
legislator didn’t just change the Wisconsin criminal justice system—they
helped fill Walker’s campaign coffers with money from private prison
operators as he ascended from the state legislature to the governor’s
mansion. During his nine years in the state house, from 1993 to 2002, Walker
often campaigned as a tough-on-crime Republican who promised new efforts “to
protect our families, our senior citizens and our property.” Walker pushed
dozens of proposals in the state house to lengthen criminal penalties, for everything
from perjury to privacy invasion to intoxicated boating. In just the
1997-1998 legislative session, Walker authored or
co-sponsored twenty-seven different bills that either expanded the definition
of crimes, increased mandatory minimums for offenders, or curbed the
possibility of parole. Walker’s biggest victory in this area was the state’s
Truth-in-Sentencing legislation, which ended parole opportunities for many
categories of prisoners, and increased prison time for others. “The time has
come to keep violent criminals in prison for their full terms,” Walker said
in 1996 as he advocated for the bill. Later, as chair of the state assembly's
Committee on Corrections and the Courts in 1998, Walker shepherded the
legislation into state law. At the time, Walker openly credited the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for Truth-in-Sentencing’s success.
“Clearly ALEC had proposed model legislation,” Walker told American RadioWorks in 2002. “And probably more important than
just the model legislation, [ALEC] had actually put together reports and such
that showed the benefits of truth-in-sentencing and showed the successes in
other states. And those sorts of statistics were very helpful to us when we
pushed it through, when we passed the final legislation.” While Walker
advocated imprisoning more people, he was also paradoxically decrying
overpopulation in Wisconsin’s prisons. “Massive overcrowding threatens our
public safety," Walker announced in a press release less than a month
after Truth-in-Sentencing was passed. Indeed, by the early 2000s, there were
over 20,000 prisoners in a prison system originally designed for 10,000.
Walker conceded that his bills imposing harsher sentences exacerbated the
problem. “Criminals will be spending more time in jail, and that means the
population will increase as well,” he told the Wauwatosa News-Times. His
solution wasn’t to stop imprisoning nonviolent offenders, however, but to put
them in private prisons. Walker, like many state legislators during this
time, argued that private prisons cost less yet deliver the same quality as
their public counterparts. Decades of research, however, have shown the
opposite to be true: across the country, private prisons have been plagued by
lax security, falsifying records to cover up understaffing, rampant prisoner
mistreatment, and in many cases actually cost taxpayers more money than
public prisons. Private prisons also have a clear incentive to increase
prison populations—in fact, most private prisons demand a “lockup quota” whereby
the state guarantees that most private prison beds will be filled (or would
pay for unused beds if crime rates dip). The quota is typically 90 percent,
though in some instances can be as high as 100 percent. Walker still wanted
private prisons to play a big role in Wisconsin. But the tricky part was that
Wisconsin laws forbid private prisons inside the state. So Walker found a
pretty good work-around. In 1997, he voted to allow the Wisconsin Department
of Corrections to ship inmates private prisons in
other states. This built off legislation Walker co-sponsored in 1995 that
first allowed Wisconsin to ship inmates off to public prisons elsewhere.
Following the bill’s passage, when the DOC formally proposed a contract in
1998 to ship inmates to out-of-state private prisons, Walker was a vocal
advocate, boasting online about his work on the matter. “This plan keeps
inmates locked up and it saves taxpayers money,” Walker said. Throughout
1990s and early 2000s, with Walker at the helm of the assembly's Committee on
Corrections and the Courts, Wisconsin shipped around 5,000 inmates to
Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Minnesota. Most of the prisoners, along with almost
$45 million in Wisconsin taxpayer money, went to private prisons operated by
one company: the Corrections Corporation of America. CCA is the largest
private prison operator in the country, running more than sixty prisons with
over 90,000 beds across the country, and generating $1.7 billion in revenue.
It’s the biggest player in a private prison industry in the United States
that has spent $45 million in the last decade on political contributions and
lobbyists. In states across the country, the private prison industry was
pushing legislatures to send more prisoners its way, and this was certainly
the case in Wisconsin. When ALEC was providing the text for the
Truth-in-Sentencing, CCA was a corporate member of the group. (It left ALEC
in 2010). CCA was also a major contributor to Scott Walker’s political
career. During Walker’s decade in the State Assembly, just fifteen people
gave the maximum contribution to his campaigns. Two worked for CCA, including
then-CEO Doc Crants and then-board member Henri Wedell, who owns $25 million in CCA stock. Both men live
in Tennessee, not Wisconsin. Over the course of Walker’s political career,
CCA executives have contributed more than $7,500 to his campaigns. Though
Walker later conceded that CCA stood to benefit from Truth-in-Sentencing, he
shrugged off any notion of pay-for-play. "Often times that's your
greatest challenge, as a legislator, is trying to weed through what
everybody's hidden agenda is, and figure out who's giving you credible
information and in many cases playing one interest off of another to try and
figure out what the truth is,” Walker said. “More information to me is
better." After Truth-in-Sentencing passed and Wisconsin began
alleviating its overcrowded prisons by shipping inmates to out-of-state
prisons run by CCA, Walker still wanted to open private prisons in Wisconsin.
“We are sending thousands of inmates to public and private facilities in
other states,” Walker said in December 1998. “It only makes sense that we
allow a private firm to build and operate an accredited facility in our own
state. The jobs and taxes that come from a prison should stay in our own
state.” In the following legislative session, he proposed at least three
separate bills to privatize prisons in the state. Each one failed, in part
because labor unions opposed them. Democrats, who controlled the state
senate, also opposed the prison privatization bills, and even fellow
Republican and then-Governor Tommy Thompson didn’t approve of Walker’s plan.
In the meantime, Walker still did his best to ensure the flow of Wisconsin
inmates to out-of-state prisons. For instance, he proposed delaying the
opening of a new public prison—despite his earlier outrage about overcrowding
in state prisons—in order to prevent the return of Wisconsin inmates from
out-of-state private prisons. In recent years, Wisconsin has sent fewer and
fewer inmates to out of state prisons as the overall incarceration rate
dropped, though it retains the legal ability to ship inmates out. In 2002,
Walker left the State Assembly after getting elected Milwaukee County
Executive, but his affinity for private prisons continued. Though he was no
longer in a position to legalize them in Wisconsin, there were still favors
that could be doled out to companies like CCA. In 2007, for example, Walker’s
budget proposal included an initiative to privatize the county’s prison
transport service. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Walker's
budget lists a $1.5 million cost to hire TransCor
for the last 10 months of 2008.” TransCor is a
wholly-owned subsidiary of CCA. The county’s finance committee unanimously
rejected Walker’s prison transport plan. Despite his significant achievements
in pushing more incarceration and more privatization of prison services in
Wisconsin—surely among the top achievements of his early career—Walker never
boasts about it these days. In fact, by 2010, Walker disavowed his earlier
support for private prisons. “We’re not going to outsource correctional
officers…because that’s obviously a vital public safety issue that should be
done by public sector employees,” he said during a radio interview, sounding
markedly different from state representative Walker. When the host pressed
him on his past support for privatization, Walker said it was simply a
“safety issue” due to prison overcrowding. He did not mention his legislation
increasing prison sentences, his opposition to new public prisons, or the
contributions he received from executives at CCA.
May 17, 2006 Journal-Sentinel
The Stanley prison that a private company built - and which the state ended
up buying for $87.1 million - violates electrical, plumbing and safety codes
that will cost taxpayers an additional $5 million to repair. The State
Building Commission on Wednesday voted to spend that money to fix a long list
of major problems at the Stanley prison. The vote came after commissioners
complained that buying the prison built by Dominion Asset Services of Edmond,
Okla., was a major mistake. The commission also told the state Department of
Corrections to investigate whether the Oklahoma company can be sued over the
code violations. The prison played a role in the corruption conviction of
former state Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala
(D-Madison). Dominion executives gave $125,000 to Independent Citizens for
Democracy, a campaign group Chvala illegally
controlled in the summer of 2001, records in Chvala's
criminal case show. Chvala changed his position on
the prison and agreed to the state purchase of the facility after the
donations. Chvala was convicted last year of two
felonies and is serving a nine-month sentence on home detention. State
officials said they had no choice but to correct dozens of code violations at
the prison, which held 1,511 male inmates last week. "This is the
Legislature's fault," said Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Berlin). "Now, we
have to fix it up." Olsen said legislators should have demanded a
discount on the purchase price of the Stanley prison, since state officials
had a strong bargaining position and could have decided whether or when it
opened. "This was a serious mistake, and a boondoggle of the nth
degree," said Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison).
"They sold it to us, and it didn't meet code." Risser
said the Dominion firm "made a nice profit" when the Legislature
and then-Gov. Scott McCallum agreed in 2001 to buy the prison. Dominion
employees also donated $4,000 to McCallum's re-election campaign. Proper
procedures ignored. "We're wasting $5 million on this," said Sen.
Carol Roessler (R-Oshkosh). "This company
totally did not follow (code) requirements." Gov. Jim Doyle, chairman of
the Building Commission, said proper procedures were not followed when the
state purchased the prison. As attorney general in 2001, Doyle had advised
legislators that no inmates could be placed in the prison until it was either
leased or bought by the state. The process normally used in state building
projects was circumvented for the Stanley prison, the governor said, noting
that the Legislature and governor must jointly agree on what is needed, and
then the Building Commission must formally approve the plan. The Stanley
fiasco led to new laws prohibiting the speculative construction of prisons.
State government bought the prison in 2002, with the code violations
"not readily observable upon inspection," state officials said.
Code problems that must be corrected include those in heating and cooling systems.
Also, the state must install smoke controls in housing units and electrical
grounding wires, rebuild electric conductors, and move metal stairs.
Construction is expected to start next April and be finished by June 2008.
Assistant Milwaukee County District Attorney David Feiss,
who prosecuted Chvala, said he mentioned at
sentencing the $125,000 that Dominion officials gave to the campaign group
the Democratic senator controlled. Told of the code violations, Feiss said, "The entire transaction is sordid, so it
is not surprising that there are details that were not known then."
Calls to Dominion were not returned Wednesday. In 2001, Dominion Asset
Services hired several lobbyists to push state purchase of the Stanley prison
through the Legislature. Also lobbying for the purchase were western
Wisconsin legislators and Stanley elected officials. In 2001, according to
state Ethics Board records, those lobbyists included former Senate Majority
Leader Joe Strohl (D-Racine) and former Rep.
Rosemary Potter (D-Milwaukee); John Matthews, former chief of staff to
Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson; and Ray Carey, a friend of then-Assembly
Speaker Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield). Jensen pushed for state purchase
of the prison during the 2001 legislative session. Jensen was sentenced to 15
months in prison Tuesday after being convicted of three felony and one
misdemeanor counts of having Assembly workers campaign on state time.
February 13, 2006 AP
Employees of at least seven companies donated to Gov. Jim Doyle's re-election
campaign around the same time the state picked their firms for no-bid
contracts totaling more than $36.1 million, according to an Associated Press
review. Campaign finance reports show McCallum received $4,001 in 2001 from
executives of an Oklahoma company that built a private prison in Wisconsin
hoping the state would buy it. The money came in one week before the state
Building Commission, chaired by McCallum, approved
buying the prison for $75 million.
February 2, 2006
Journal-Sentinel
Two former legislative leaders - one of whom is now a state Supreme Court
justice - are prepared to testify that campaigning on state time was
widespread and stretched back until at least the late 1970s, according to
summaries of their testimony filed Thursday in state Rep. Scott Jensen's
corruption case. If a Dane County judge allows the testimony, Supreme Court
Justice David Prosser and lobbyist Joseph Strohl
will testify about their time leading the Legislature. That testimony is
intended to benefit Jensen, a Town of Brookfield Republican who is to go to
trial Feb. 21 on felony charges of directing aides to campaign on state time.
"What Jensen is accused of has gone on for many years," Strohl said Thursday. "I'm sort of glad that they
didn't come after me when I was there. I didn't realize what we were doing
was so improper." Strohl is a Racine Democrat
who served as Senate majority leader from 1986 to 1990. He said that he would
tell jurors that lawmakers routinely solicited campaign cash in their Capitol
offices. He said lawmakers did not accept checks in their offices and did not
discuss donations in connection with bills pending before the Legislature,
which would have been a clear violation of the state's pay-to-play statute.
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard called Strohl's
proposed testimony "misleading . . . confusing and a waste of time"
in a brief filed Thursday that argued against allowing testimony from Strohl and Prosser. Blanchard's brief echoed a motion he
filed last week that says such testimony would not exonerate Jensen because
using state resources to campaign clearly is a crime. "A claim that
'other guys were doing it' is a confession, not a defense," Blanchard
wrote. Two of Jensen's colleagues, former Majority Leader Steve Foti (R-Oconomowoc) and Rep. Bonnie Ladwig
(R-Racine), recently pleaded guilty to misdemeanors to avoid trial on
directing aides to campaign on state time. Former Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Chvala (D-Madison) and former Sen. Brian
Burke (D-Milwaukee) pleaded guilty last year to felonies for directing aides
to campaign on state time. Burke is now serving a six-month sentence under
home confinement. Chvala will begin a nine-month
jail sentence Feb. 13. Jensen's latest filing came two days after he
submitted more than 50 pages of Department of Justice memos in which
Democratic Assembly workers acknowledged widespread campaigning on state time
in the 1998 and 2000 elections. Strohl, the former
Senate majority leader, said in an interview it was "common
practice" for legislators to make fund-raising calls from their Capitol
offices. Sometime between 1988 and 1990, Strohl
installed a personal phone line in his office after Senate Chief Clerk Donald
Schneider advised him he shouldn't make fund-raising calls on a state phone, Strohl said. Strohl is now a
lobbyist for the Menominee Indian tribe, the Corrections Corporation of
America, Wellpoint Inc. and others.
December 31, 2005 Journal
Sentinel
Lobbyist Bill Broydrick testified in 2002 about how
Chuck Chvala, the former Senate majority leader,
solicited lobbyists and their clients for contributions. With Chvala scheduled to begin a nine-month jail sentence on
Feb. 13 after pleading guilty to two felony corruption charges, Broydrick was recently shown a summary of his then-secret
2002 testimony about how the former Senate majority leader solicited
lobbyists and their clients for contributions. Prosecutors say another group
that got what it wanted was Dominion Asset Services, which built a prison in
Stanley that it was trying to sell to the state. Dominion officials wrote one
check for $50,000 on June 1, 2001, and another for $75,000 on July 1, 2001,
to Independent Citizens for Democracy-Issues Inc., court records show.
ICD-Issues was the group Chvala set up to get
"soft money" donations from corporations - companies barred by
state law from giving directly to state candidates and their campaign
committees. On July 25, 2001, Chvala and
Republicans brokered a final budget that included $79.9 million to buy the
Stanley prison. Assembly Republicans long supported the purchase of the
Stanley prison, but they were unable to get the deal through the Legislature
because of Chvala's opposition to the deal.
"And then, suddenly and surprisingly, he allowed it to go through,"
said Rep. Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield), who was speaker of the
Assembly at the time. Dominion built the prison even though state law bars
private companies from operating prisons. The state could have used the law
to negotiate a lower price because only the state and federal governments
could buy the facility, critics said at the time. Jensen defended the
purchase decision, saying it helped move prisoners held out of state closer
to their families while creating jobs in Stanley, near Eau Claire. Around
that time, Dominion employees gave $500 to Jensen and $500 to Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), who offered the budget amendment to
purchase the prison. Employees also gave $4,000 to then-Gov. Scott McCallum,
a Republican, and $9,600 to Senate Democrats. After the state bought the prison,
it delayed its opening for almost a year, after the state determined it would
cost more to run the state facility than to keep inmates in out-of-state
facilities.
October 17, 2005 WisPolitics.Com
Representative Spencer Black announced today that he is drafting legislation
to ban contributions to state candidates from outside Wisconsin. Black's bill
comes on the heels of press accounts that Governor Jim Doyle raised more than
$200,000 in contributions during the first 6 months of this year from people who
don't live in Wisconsin. Previous reports indicate that out of state
contributions to candidates running for state office topped $1.2 million in
the last gubernatorial election year. In addition to statewide candidates,
legislators received hundreds of thousands of dollars from contributors who
don't live in Wisconsin. Major out of state interest givers in recent years
have included top officials in Wal-Mart, the Corrections Corporation of
America, petroleum companies, pay day lenders, and SBC. "When these out
of state interests pour money into Wisconsin elections, they don't care about
our state's well-being. They are out to obtain benefits for themselves. It's
time that Wisconsin elections were cleaned up and stopping out of state
contributions is one way to start doing that," Black concluded.
May 10, 2005 CBS2
Wisconsin's decade-long practice of paying out-of-state prisons to house
its inmates ended last week with the return of 53 inmates from a Minnesota
correctional facility, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday. Doyle said their return
marked a turnaround for a state that once led the nation in the number of
inmates housed outside its borders, peaking at more than 5,000 in the year
2000. The inmates were held in Oklahoma, Minnesota, Mississippi and
Tennessee. "Our practice of exporting prisoners out has been totally
eliminated," Doyle said at a news conference. "It doesn't make
sense to spend taxpayer dollars sending prisoners to other states when there
is a better chance of rehabilitation here in Wisconsin."
May 20, 2003
Nearly half of Wisconsin prisoners being held in other states could return to
the state as early as next year under plans to be presented todayby Republicans revising the 2003-05 state budget. Vacant prisons would open sooner and
existing prisons would boost capacity under proposals to be considered by the
Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, said Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau,
who serves on the committee. Fitzgerald said he also will introduce a
budget amendment to require the state Department of Corrections to contract
with county jails in the state before exporting prisoners. "The
emphasis will be on returning prisoners to the state, which Gov. Doyle has
slammed the door on. We're trying to figure a way to bring as many back as
possible at the same rate," said Fitzgerald, who is ushering Corrections
items through the budget process on behalf of Senate Republicans. The
state is expected to pay about $69 million during the fiscal year that ends
June 30 to keep prisoners in Oklahoma and Minnesota under contract with
Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), said Jere
Bauer, analyst with the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Doyle supports
bringing inmates back to Wisconsin and has proposed $3.4 million in contract
bed savings during the fiscal year that starts July 1, said Doyle spokesman
Dan Leistikow. Savings would come through
converting juvenile prison space to adult use at the Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution and Racine Youthful
Offender Correctional Facility, Leistikow
said. But Doyle's plan also calls for not opening prisons built in New
Lisbon and Chippewa Falls until after mid-2005 as a way to help offset a
potential $3.2 billion state budget deficit. The state pays CCA $48.50
per inmate per day, while the average daily cost of housing an inmate in a
Wisconsin prison was $75.73 in 2001, Bauer said. Some legislators say the
governor's plan, however, fails to consider the overall economic impact of
prisons, including income taxes and spending. That money should not be sent
out of state when prison space is available in Wisconsin, Fitzgerald
said. Republicans will push hard to open the prisons in New Lisbon and
Chippewa Falls and to expand the number of inmates held at Redgranite Correctional Institution from 750 to as many
as 990, Fitzgerald said. Those changes alone could add 1,400 beds to the
state's prison system. The opening of 1,500-bed Stanley Correctional
Institution earlier this year has helped open prison space in Wisconsin, and
budget estimates predict fewer contract beds will be needed, Bauer
said. This year, the state had estimated it would have to contract to
hold an average of 3,739 prisoners per day through June 30. Doyle's plan
would drop that number to 2,415 by mid 2005. Opening prisons sooner or adding
capacity would lower it even further, Bauer said. (Wisconsin State
Journal)
March 4, 2003
About 400 non-violent offenders would be diverted from prison each year under
a program proposed in Gov. Jim Doyle's 2003-05 state budget.
The program is just one of the sweeping changes envisioned in Doyle's
two-year $49.4-billion budget plan, which still must be approved by the
Legislature. About 3,000 prisoners would remain in other states as a
cost-saving measure. On the other hand, some Democrats say the state's
prison-building boom has been spurred more by rural economic development
needs than sound criminal justice policy. As of Feb. 14, the state had 3,237
inmates housed in Minnesota, Oklahoma and Tennessee under a contract with the
Corrections Corporation of America, state records show. The contracts will
cost the state about $51 million a year during the next two-year budget
cycle, said Jim Johnson, a budget analyst with the state Department of
Administration. The opening dates of at least five prisons have been
pushed and pulled in a political tug of war between Republicans and Democrats
since the 1,500-bed Stanley prison was built without state permission by a
private company in 1998. In 2001, the state paid about $80 million for the
prison, which began accepting inmates in January. Stanley now houses about
800 prisoners and Doyle has included funding for its operation in his budget
proposal.
July 17, 2002
Just when you think the flow of
financial news out of Madison can’t get more embarrassing, we learn that
waiting until September to open the Stanley prison, one of the proposed fixes
in the budget repair bill, will actually cost us $3.5 million more than if
the place opened in July, as planned. That doesn’t include the 78 jobs Gov.
Scott McCallum promised he’d save at the prison so Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbottsford, who represents the district, would
cast the deciding vote for the budget repair bill. Moving up the opening
costs less because we could bring prisoners home from Tennessee, Minnesota
and Oklahoma. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau did the math in a blunt Feb. 28
memo. “The net result … is that the delay in opening the Stanley Correctional
Institution (until September) will increase costs $3,475,500.” The bill their
leaders negotiated and the Legislature signed to repair our $1.1 billion
budget deficit would cost us $4.775 million more than opening the prison
right now. We’ve criticized lawmakers for making us dizzy with the spin
they’ve spun over this budget, but maybe we were mistaken. Maybe they just
don’t know any better. (The Post Crescent)
January
31, 2002
The governor may accelerate moving
inmates into an empty prison to help make up for the economic impact a delay
in opening the facility could have, his spokesman said Tuesday. Officials had
mentioned a target date of July to open the prison at Stanley in Chippewa
County. Gov. Scott McCallum's budget-cutting plan would postpone the opening
until September as part of a 6 percent budget reduction for the state
Department of Corrections. The governor still wants to delay the prison's
opening but is considering filling the 1,500-bed prison at a quicker pace
once it opens. That would mean providing prison jobs earlier than expected.
(AP)
January 26, 2002
Wisconsin taxpayers are spending about
$352,000 a month on a new prison that stands empty even as state officials
ask local governments to tighten their belts to close a yawning $1 billion
budget deficit. The 1,500-bed facility near Chippewa Falls employs a warden
and six other workers - to the tune of $24,500 per month - but they will have
no prisoners to watch until at least July, or possibly September. Meanwhile,
Wisconsin continues to spend $4.3 million per month to house prisoners out of
state. The prison, which lawmakers believed would be a boon to the local economy
in Stanley and would allow the state to bring inmates home, was built by
private developers from Oklahoma who speculated that the state would lease or
buy it upon completion. Before that, only the state had chosen sites and
built prisons in Wisconsin. But as long as the developer, the Dominion
Venture Group, met zoning and building codes, it could legally build the
prison. By law, Dominion just could not operate it when finished. Lawmakers
chafed at the developer's chutzpah. Later they objected to proposed
lease-purchase agreements that provided Dominion substantial rent payments.
Finally, it didn't hurt that Dominion lobbied heavily in Madison, giving some
lawmakers and the governor $15,000 in campaign contributions and spending
more than $130,000 on lobbying. Opposition ceased, including the argument
that the state should bide its time, let Dominion's investment sour, then
exercise its power of eminent domain and claim the prison at a bargain price.
McCallum's budget proposal unveiled last week has left Stanley Mayor Dave Jankoski reeling. Besides delaying the opening of the
prison and its economic impact, McCallum's plan would take away $1 million in
shared revenue payments to his community of 2,100 residents. To eliminate the
deficit, McCallum wants to end aid to cities, towns and villages. "Any
delay with this prison is another frustration," said Jankoski,
irritated by paying out-of-state private prisons money to house Wisconsin
inmates. "At times one wonders if reason doesn't go out the window. Why
continue to send this money out of state when it could be supporting our own
Wisconsin workers, who then in turn would pay taxes in Wisconsin to help them
with their tax problem?" Jim Hunter, Dominion executive vice president,
and others at Dominion made $15,000 in campaign contributions to state
officials since 1999, according to state Elections Board records. McCallum
received $4,000, while $9,600 went to Democrats who control the Senate and
for a long time blocked the prison's lease or purchase. Among eight Senate
Democrats receiving Dominion money were Bob Wirch
of Kenosha, $5,000; Kevin Shibilski of Stevens
Point, $3,000, and Burke, $500. Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen (R-Town of
Brookfield) and Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), a
finance committee member, also received $500 each. "It was for the
purpose of contributing to the political process of our government,"
Hunter said with some hesitation when asked about the donations. "That's
the way the system works. Campaigns request contributions, and we
respond." Why money went to certain lawmakers and not others, Hunter
couldn't say. The state is spending about $352,000 per month on the vacant
prison in Stanley. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
January 22, 2002
Faced with a $1.1 billion deficit, the governor Tuesday proposed cutting the
corrections budget $40 million by delaying the opening of seven prison
projects, charging inmates more for their keep and ending the busing of
families to prisons for inmate visits. McCallum's budget adjustment bill
would open a 1,500-bed, privately built prison in Stanley in September, two
months late (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
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