Join the motorcade from the private prison site to honk at Valdosta City Hall
and march at the Industrial Authority office.
I’ll be on Chris Beckham’s show on WVGA 105.9 FM this morning at 7:30 AM
to talk about it.
Update: audio of the interview.
Update 2: Here’s video of the interview.
Citizens entitled to open government,
All governmental entities supported by tax dollars are subject to the laws. Private companies are not.As the VDT knows better than anybody else around here, getting informaiton out of Valdosta State Prison or the Georgia Department of Correcions (GDOC) is very hard. The VDT has been trying to find out what’s going on at Valdosta State Prison for years now, and getting the runaround and hitting stone walls.
Florida has a law that says private prison operators have to comply with Continue reading
| “Our organizations advocate for a criminal justice system that brings healing for victims of crime, restoration for those who commit crimes, and to maintain public safety.” |
You can help
drive away CCA, 5PM this Tuesday, March 6th.
Or sign the
petition to the Industrial Authority
to reject the private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.
-jsq
March 1, 2012Continue readingDear Governor:
We the undersigned faith organizations represent different
traditions from across the religious and political spectrum. Our organizations advocate for a criminal justice system that brings healing for victims of crime, restoration for those who commit crimes, and to maintain public safety.
We write in reference to a letter you recently received from Harley Lappin, Chief Corrections Officer at Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), announcing the Corrections Investment Initiative – the corporation’s plan to spend up to $250 million buying prisons from state, local, and federal government entities, and then managing the facilities. The letter from Mr. Lappin states that CCA is only interested in buying prisons if the state selling the prison agrees to pay CCA to operate the prison for 20 years — at minimum. Mr. Lappin further notes that any prison to be sold must have at least 1,000 beds, and that the state must agree to keep the prison at least 90% full during the length of the contract.
The undersigned faith organizations urge you to decline this dangerous and costly invitation. CCA’s initiative would be costly
Two years ago the Georgia legislature was in denial, as Carrie Teegardin wrote for the AJC 4 April 2010, Georgia prison population, costs on rise,
As Georgia lawmakers desperately search for ways to slash spending, they are not debating an option taken by other states: cutting the prison population.
Georgia operates the fifth-largest prison system in the nation, at a
cost of $1 billion a year. The job of overseeing 60,000 inmates and 150,000 felons on probation consumes 1 of every 17 state dollars.
The state’s prison population has jumped by more than a quarter in the past decade and officials expect the number of state inmates to continue to creep upward. Georgia has resorted to measures other than reducing the prison population to keep corrections spending under control.
19 months later, things had changed, as the Atlanta Business Chronic reported 15 December 2011, BJS: Georgia prison population drops in 2010, Continue reading
Monticello and Jefferson County, Florida, have become
dependent on a prison that opened in 1990.
Why?
According to
Rick Stone of WUSF 1 Feb 2012,
Late in the 80s, with crime rising and prisons filling up, Florida needed new prison sites but few counties wanted to be one. JeffersonThat’s not our situation. Crime is as low as it has been since the 1960s, prison populations have peaked, and we do have other sources of employment. Or are we really that desperate?County, just east of Tallahassee, was different. Then, as now, underpopulated and desperately poor, it saw an opportunity and it did something unusual.
because of the state’s declining inmate population. “We welcomed them with open arms,” said Kirk Reams, Jefferson County’s court clerk and chief financial officer.
Jefferson County thinks it has lucked out again, but only at the expense of Florida taxpayers, and against the prison population trend.
John Kennedy wrote for the Palm Beach Post 8 February 2012, Condemned Florida prison gets second chance at life in House, Continue reading
Join us 5PM Tuesday March 6th 2012 at the private prison site (Dasher-Johnson Road off US 84 at Inner Perimeter) for a motorcade by Valdosta City Hall to the Industrial Authority offices: for education and against the private prison.
|
on the web View Larger Map 
Petition |
Winn Roberson read the newspaper Friday (February 24th) and realized the prison site was down the street from him, so the news finally sunk in. This motorcade was his idea to drive the point across to the Industrial Authority: we don’t want a private prison!
John S. Quarterman lives about as far away from the prison site as you can get in Lowndes County, but realizes it will affect everybody for many counties around. So let’s say CCA Go Away!
-jsq
PS: If you can’t come, you can still sign the petition to the Industrial Authority, or write a letter to the editor, or…
In today’s capitalistic food market, several people have felt compelled to begin “living organically.” This philosophy has been brought to Valdosta and centralized by a group at Valdosta State University.From their professor:Bobbi Hancock, a VSU student, founded Blazer Gardens@VSU in August 2010. The group currently has 14 active members.
“There was reports of a food pantry being implemented on campus and that was implemented because there was students going to the dining hall asking for food,” said Hancock. “I just thought, if we could teach students how to grow food, it would eliminate a lot of the issues we have with campus hunger.”
Blazer Gardens started as nothing but seeds in the yard of Kathryn Grant, an organization member.
“This was an opportunity for me to understand and for me to appreciate how my food is grown,” said Grant.
Dr. Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, Blazer Gardens faculty advisor and VSU professor of modern classical languages, said she feels compelled to get involved with this organization.Maybe they can help us all not eat poisons and even stop Monsanto and ConAgra from poisoning our food supply. It’s good health and it’s good business.“I think we are what we eat, so I want to be clean and organic and safe,” said Espinosa-Dulanto.
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Valdosta City Council and Mayor, who may not have been following the private prison issue,
now know about it and are aware that they are all implicated in the private prison
decision, due to events at the Industrial Authority board meeting
and the Valdosta City Council meeting, both Thursday 23 February 2012.
After remarking that I’d rather be talking about the additional solar panels recently installed on my farm workshop up here in the north end of the county, I recapped the case against a private prison and referred the Valdosta City Council to my LTE in the VDT of that morning (Thursday 23 February 2012). I remarked that I was disappointed the Industrial Authority hadn’t done anything to stop the prison at its meeting earlier that same day. Since they might be wondering what all this had to do with them, I pointed out that, if I could use the word, they were all implicated as mayor and council in the private prison decision because Jay Hollis, CCA’s Manager of Site Acquisition, in his Valdosta-Lowndes County, GA / CCA Partnership: Prepared Remarks of August 2010, lavishly praised the Lowndes County Commission and Chairman and the Valdosta City Council and mayor. Although the mayor was different now, and maybe some of the council, nonetheless it was the same offices of council and mayor, still implicated. I asked for their opinions on that subject. Per their custom, they did not offer any at that time. So, maybe we’ll hear from them later. Or maybe the Industrial Authority board will hear from them….
Here’s the video:
Valdosta Mayor and Council are implicated in the private prison —John S. Quarterman @ VCC 2012 02 23
VSEB, employment,
Regular Session, Valdosta City Council (VCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 23 February 2012.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I., the bostongbr on YouTube.
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Greg Gullberg wrote for WCTV yesterday, Protesters Descend On Quitman For Weekend Long Rally: Protesters gear up to rally against what they call voter intimidation revolving around the “Quitman 12”.
WCTV quoted George Rhynes, and also:Hundreds of protesters from across Georgia descend on Quitman in Brooks County.
They gathered at area restaurants like the Wiregrass Restaurant & Bar Friday night. They’re gearing up for a weekend long rally against what they call voter intimidation.
The “Quitman 12” is the focus of the march Saturday at the Quitman court house. The 12 include three Brooks County School Board members, along with nine other defendants who were indicted for charges of voter fraud.
Latoya Hamilton is a Quitman resident and also a Protester.I agree with her and with George, that it’s a historic event.“To me, being a small city like this, it’s the first time something like this is being held in Quitman. It’s an honor being a part of this. It’s pretty much history in the making,” Hamilton tells Gullberg.
Appearances are expected by Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Rep. Tyrone Brooks and many more. Events start Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. The march starts at 3:00 p.m.
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its general meeting in Quitman this weekend in support of the Quitman 10.
The big public event is this afternoon:
3:00 p.m. March for Justice to End Voter Intimidation and Voter Suppression (March from Shumate Street Church of Christ to Brooks County Courthouse)
In this video, George Rhynes interviews Rev. Floyd Rose about
how GABEO heard about the Quitman 10+2.
Rev. Rose also expresses hope that the local media will announce the GABEO meeting.
(The VDT did have a story on it the other day, although it doesn’t seem to be online.)
Amont many other points, he notes that the school board members of the
Quitman 10 were elected mostly by white voters in Brooks County.
Here’s the video:
3PM today in Quitman: GABEO March for Justice to End Voter Intimidation and Voter Suppression
March for Justice to End Voter Intimidation and Voter Suppression,
Meeting in Quitman to support the Quitman 10+2, Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 February 2012.
Videos by George Boston Rhynes for K.V.C.I., the bostongbr on YouTube.
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