Somebody else is trying to
drive away CCA.
Near Ft. Lauderdale, CCA wants to put a detention center
in Southwest Ranches, Florida, and
CCA Go Away (facebook)
is organizing against that.
Do you want to live in a prison colony?
Help us say, CCA Go Away!
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.
When:
5PM (rush hour) Tuesday March 6th
How:
Cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles
Who:
Everybody is invited
What:
Oppose the Private Prison
From:
Proposed Private Prison Site
US 84 @ Inner Perimeter Road
(Staging on Dasher-Johnson Road next to US 84)
By way of:
Valdosta City Hall
Valdosta City Council Work Session
Honk to say No CCA!
To:
Industrial Authority Office
2110 N. Patterson Street
(Patterson at Park Avenue)
Bring a sign: No Private Prisons!
Contact:
noprivateprisons@gmail.com
Winn Roberson, 229-630-2339, winnroberson@bellsouth.net
John S. Quarterman, 229-242-0102, politics@quarterman.org
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!
Is gently orienting the Land Bank Authority to Sunshine Law
compliance going to be a joint LAKE transparancy in government
venture or am I riding solo? Since their purpose is to acquire,
transfer, divest, etc. land for the common good, real time exposure
of this public good should be welcomed. I’m sure it is just an
oversight that to date I have never seen a posted meeting date and
the city web site has never listed anything but “occasionally” for a
meeting schedule. Perhaps they think citizens would be bored and not
interested in their meetings and we just need to let them know we
are interested. Currently I’m interested in the construction for
Dupont on St. Augustine.
Also we need to keep watch to make sure SB 284, which would
legislate the formation of a regional land bank with greatly
enhanced acquisition powers, does not rise from the 2011 session
ashes. If getting information from the local land bank authority is
so difficult, can you imagine trying to keep up with a regional
entity and all the creative land deal possibilities.
-Barbara Stratton
It’s an hours in the day issue.
if you want to spearhead this issue, please lead.
As you know, LAKE as an organization rarely takes
a position on anything.
Most topics are pursued by one or two or more individuals
and almost all posts are the opinions of the poster,
unless otherwise indicated by “for LAKE”.
You seem to be the kernel of a syndicate of initiative on this one.
Former Sheriff Paulk luke-warm; Sheriff Prine completely opposed.
Water and sewer, wetlands, federal funding: all hurdles, says Paulk.
Sheriff’s Association also opposed, says Prine.
More in the VDT article.
Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine has also shared his thoughts
on the private prison industry:
“If I’m going to house an inmate and if I’m going to be responsible,
I’d rather them be in my facility not a private prison,”
said Prine.
“If I’m going to be responsible for them
I want them to be within my reach.
the Sheriff’s Association
feels the same way I do.
I’d say the large majority of Sheriff’s feel the same way about this.
I don’t want a private facility handling my prisoners.”
“If those signatures and calls are making any impression
on the Authority they certainly don’t admit to it,”
said Quarterman.
“This is another Lofton (Brad Lofton, former
Authority executive director) project.
It’d be nice if the Industrial Authority represented the community
they were located in.”
Do you want the Industrial Authority to notice?
You can sign the
the petition,
or send VLCIA your own letter,
or write a letter to the editor to the VDT, or….
Videos of Lowndes County Commission Work Session 2012 02 27
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 27 February 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.
CCA has
a contract
to buy
the private prison site from a private landowner.
But who did that landowner get the site from?
The Industrial Authority!
And the sale prices involved are rather interesting: the landowner gets almost 100% profit in five years.
One person I showed them to immediately said, “sweetheart deal.”
What do you think?
The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA)
bought the site back in 1998 for $1,243,200, and
sold it to the landowner in 2007 for 1,463,512, which is an increase of
about 18%
in almost 10 years or about 2% per year.
CCA can buy it from the landowner in 2012 for $2,907,000,
for an increase of 99% in about five years or almost 20% per year.
Which is far more than the 20% in five years or about 4% per year shown by the assessed value.
And this remarkable surge in the price of that land
is during the worst real estate market since the Great Depression.
CCA is the leading participant in, and in many ways the embodiment
of, one of the most controversial industries ever created—the
incarceration of people for profit. While the company is looking
back through rose-colored glasses, there is a need for a critical
analysis of what CCA has brought to the world of corrections. That
is the purpose of this report.
Even by its own standards, CCA has not been a success. Rather than
taking the industry by storm, it still manages only about three
percent of prison and jail beds in the United States, and its global
aspirations had to be abandoned.
Only a few years ago, CCA was being widely vilified
Just a quick recap of a meeting I had yesterday with VLCIA’s Andrea
Schruijer. When asked where we were with the private prison issue, she
responded, “we contractually agreed to a 3rd extension with a term of
365 and CCA has until March 13, 2012 to request that extension.” So I
asked,” if CCA doesn’t request a
3rd extension, then the issue is over,
right?” She replied, “If there’s no response from CCA, then it is up to
the board to determine how to move forward.” When I asked her why they
would even consider honoring a contract extension to CCA knowing some
of the controversy over CCA’s business practices, she replied, “because
there is a partnership between the VLCIA and CCA and we are
contractually bound to a 3rd extension.”
I pointed out that the private prison industry wasn’t interested in
public safety and rehabilitation they simply wanted to make a quick
buck off the lives of others. I informed her of the chronic employee
turnover, understaffing, high rates of violence and extreme cost
cutting which all have been attributed to CCA.
I told her that Lowndes County already had its own share of air
pollution and that amount of air pollution here is directly
proportionate to the amount of lung and bronchial caner in our area. I
encouraged her to consider sustainable businesses for the future
economic growth of our community, not smoke stack business. Her reply,
“so what you are saying is that you think the industrial should just
close its doors?” I actually hadn’t thought about that but the
question did make me ponder.
I left her with
a 91 page research report which takes a critical look
at the first twenty years of CCA’s operations. I requested an email
response of her thoughts about the report and am currently awaiting the
response…
Biomass did come up in the conversation and Mrs. Schruijer was quick to
assert that
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….
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.
The Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO) is holding
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.
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.
drive away CCA.
Near Ft. Lauderdale, CCA wants to put a detention center
in Southwest Ranches, Florida, and
CCA Go Away (facebook)
is organizing against that.
Did You Know?
If they can do it, we can, too.
Come to the prison site Tuesday 5PM to help
Drive Away CCA!
its general meeting in Quitman this weekend in support of the Quitman 10.
The big public event is this afternoon:
