Tag Archives: justice

Dump CCA and other private prison stocks now –smart analysts

If business is so good,
why did CCA

lose two contracts for new prisons in Georgia last year


when neither the state nor the feds had enough prisoners to fill them?
And why was

the private prison in Ocilla nearly sold at auction?
Why this year was
Gladiator School closed and two other CCA prisons cancelled?
And all that was before

U.S. DoJ announced today it will “avoid charging certain low-level and nonviolent drug offenders with crimes that carry mandatory minimums”.

Ed Arnold wrote for Memphis Business Journal 23 July 2013,

Corrections Corp. of America debunks Anonymous report,



As reported on Monday, the computer hacking collective known as
Anonymous Analytics published a blog warning investors that a
declining prison population and reforms designed to reduce
incarceration rates in the U.S. point to shrinking revenue for
Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE: CXW) going forward.

CCA flatly denied the Anonymous Analytics conclusions in a
statement.

CCA apparently didn’t dare link to the actual report.
Anonymous Analytics wrote 9 July 2013,

Corrections Corporation of America: The Dismantling of a National Disgrace, Continue reading →

USA #1 in youth detention

The U.S. locks up far more juveniles per capita than any other country, and our country and our state cannot afford that any longer: not economically, and not in the cost of incarceration turning children into criminals.

Pete Brook wrote for Wired 11 April 2012, Uncompromising Photos Expose Juvenile Detention in America,

States have turned away from punishing acts such as truancy and delinquency with detention; acts that are not criminal for an adult but have in the past siphoned youths into the court system. Less detention has been accompanied by less violent crime among youth.

“It may seem counter intuitive, but if you look at the types of offenses for which we’re no longer detaining youth, it is not,” says Sarah Jane Forman, assistant professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and director of the Youth Justice Clinic which provides legal counsel to indigent youth. “The kids who have committed serious violent crimes; they remain locked up.”

Not only is being locked up ineffective as a deterrent in youths who have not reached full cognitive development and don’t understand the consequences of their actions, it can actually make a criminal out of a potentially law-abiding kid.

The U.S. has far more juveniles per capita locked up than any other country, according to Cross-national comparison of youth justice, by Neal Hazel, 2008, www.yjb.gov.uk.

And Georgia has a large proportion of those locked-up youth.
On this map of prisons in Georgia,

Continue reading →

Human rights and American rights —JC Cunningham @ SCLC 2012 03 22

Excerpts:



It may have been a civil rights violation. But let’s talk about human rights violations. That young man was a human, and he deserved his human rights to be expected. And until we as a people — a people, black, white, Latino — come together and demand our human rights, this will continue to happen.

That young man didn’t deserve this because he was black. He didn’t deserve it because he was a human.

Here’s a playlist:


Human rights and American rights —JC Cunningham
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

More excerpts:

But they didn’t even respect basic human rights basic American rights….

Ladies and gentlemen, we must write, we must continue to march, we must continue to speak, not amongst ourselves. Tonight I ask when you go home look to the right of you, to the left of you. I mean the houses to the right of you, the houses to the left of you. Ask them where they were tonight. Ask them what their thoughts are. What if it would have been their child. They would have been here. They would have been appalled if you were not here….

Don’t be afraid to talk to your white colleagues, don’t be afraid to talk to your hispanic colleagues. There’s nothing to be ashamed of to be out here and to demand, to demand your basic human rights.

-jsq

ALEC, Trayvon Martin, CCA’s private prisons, and charter schools?

What’s the connection between

the Florida law that’s letting
the killer of Trayvon Martin hide, the

private prisons CCA
runs in Georgia and other states, and HB 797, the Georgia charter schools
bill
that’s on the floor today for Senate debate today?

ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Paul Krugman wrote yesterday for the NYTimes,

Lobbyists, Guns and Money,

ALEC seems, however, to have a special interest in privatization


— that is, on turning the provision of public services, from
schools to prisons, over to for-profit corporations. And some of the
most prominent beneficiaries of privatization, such as the online
education company K12 Inc. and the prison operator Corrections
Corporation of America, are, not surprisingly, very much involved
with the organization.

What this tells us, in turn, is that ALEC’s claim to stand for
limited government and free markets is deeply misleading. To a large
extent the organization seeks not limited government but privatized
government, in which corporations get their profits from taxpayer
dollars, dollars steered their way by friendly politicians. In
short, ALEC isn’t so much about promoting free markets as it is
about expanding crony capitalism.

And in case you were wondering, no, the kind of privatization ALEC
promotes isn’t in the public interest; instead of success stories,
what we’re getting is a series of scandals. Private charter schools,
for example, appear to deliver a lot of profits but little in the
way of educational achievement.

Same as private prisons.
The only real benefit goes to

private prison company executives and shareholders.

Think about that: we seem to be turning into a country where crony
capitalism doesn’t just waste taxpayer money but warps criminal
justice, in which growing incarceration reflects not the need to
protect law-abiding citizens but the profits corporations can reap
from a larger prison population.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from a Birmingham jail in 1963:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

And today we have an organized threat to justice everywhere.
That threat is called ALEC.

-jsq

The bird that could speak nine languages —Rev. Floyd Rose @ SCLC 2012 03 22

A man sent a bird to his mother as a gift….

Here’s the video:


The bird that could speak nine languages —Rev. Floyd Rose
Sanford Florida where 17 year Trayvon was murdered, and the killer has not been arrested,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Video by George Boston Rhynes for bostongbr on YouTube.

-jsq

Hoodies and skittles suspicious? WCTV @ SCLC 2012 03 22

That’s WCTV reporter Greg Gullberg leaning over in the picture on the right. Here’s his report Friday, Protesters Rally For Trayvon Martin At Valdosta’s Old Courthouse,

Several protesters wore hooded sweat shirts, held boxes of Skittles and cans of iced tea. They asked if those items made them appear suspicious as well.

More excerpts:

“That this community and every community in this country will continue to press for Mr. Zimmerman’s arrest and conviction,” Rev. Rose told Gullberg.

The news that Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee temporarily stepped down sparked new life into the rally.

“We all know that he botched the investigation. He did not even arrest Mr. Zimmerman, which would have been standard practice,” said Rev. Rose.

“I think the story is still kind of broad right now, people want to know what’s happened. So I’m actually happy about the crowd that came out today,” Valdosta State University NAACP Chapter President DeAndre Jones told Gullberg.

LAKE videos of the rally.

-jsq

Rally “Justice for Trayvon Martin” @ SCLC 2012 03 22

Videos of the rally on the courthouse steps Thursday.

Please join me and SCLC at the Courthouse in Valdsota at 6:30 for a “Justice for Trayvon Martin” rally Thursday, March 22nd. Thousands of people all over the United States will be gathering, including thiousands in Sanford Florida where 17 year Trayvon was murdered, and the killer has not been arrested.

Come let your voice be heard: 6:30 Thursday, March 22nd.

Floyd Rose, President

Here’s a playlist:


Rally “Justice for Trayvon Martin”
Floyd Rose, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 March 2012.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Faith groups urge state governors not to sell prisons to CCA

From

Quakers
to
Catholics,

“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.”

religious groups oppose privatization of prisons.
Here is

the text of a letter
many of them sent to all 50 state governors,

joining the ACLU in opposing
CCA’s recent

offer to 48 states to buy their prisons.



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, 2012

Dear 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

Continue reading →

LTE: Tell the Industrial Authority No private prison —John S. Quarterman

My LTE in the VDT today. -jsq

Industrial Authority Executive Director Andrea Schruijer told me to expect
their board to say something at their 2PM Thursday board meeting about the
private prison Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) wants to build
on US 84 at Perimeter Road. If they don’t give CCA another extension,
the contract expires March 13th.


There’s still time to contact them, (229) 259-9972.
Or go to their board meeting at 101 North Ashley Street,
2PM Thursday February 23rd.



A private prison would not increase employment in Lowndes County. It
would not even save the state money. And it would have high risk
of closing after or even before it opened, because of escapes and
inmate disturbances, and most importantly because the state and federal
governments can no longer afford to incarcerate so many people. That would
leave us and the state holding the bag for any investment in building it.

Outsourcing public justice for private profit at taxpayer expense is
not only bad business, we the taxpayers can’t afford to pay for it while
public education is under increasing budgetary pressure.

As members of the local community, we do not wish to live in a private
prison colony, with the attendant risks of inmate violence and escape,
and the accompanying public opprobrium that would drive away the
knowledge-based workers we claim to be trying to attract.

Finally, public justice should not be a matter of private profit.

John S. Quarterman

lives in Lowndes County

You may recognize the wording from the

petition.
You can always write your own letter with your own reasons.

-jsq

ACLU podcast against private prisons —Alex Friedmann

CCA inadvertently rehabilitated former prisoner Alex Friedmann
and gave him a new career, lobbying against prison privatization.
He says:



In my view, the worst thing
is that they have normalized the notion of incarcerating people for profit.
Basically commodifying people, seeing them
as nothing more than a revenue stream….

If you incarcerate more people and you put more people in
your private prisons you make more money.
Which provides perverse incentives against reforming our justice system.


And increasing the number of people we’re putting in prison,
whether they need to be there or not, just to generate corporate profit.
I think that’s incredibly immoral and unethical,
I think that’s the worst aspect of our private prison industry.

This comes from the ACLU’s

Prison Voices, Episode 1: Private Prisons:

Continue reading →