Tag Archives: Lowndes County

Starting up Drive Away CCA —Winn Roberson 2012 03 06

Winn Roberson told us how he had the idea for the motorcade against CCA, from the private prison site past Valdosta City Hall to the Industrial Authority.

Here’s Part 1 of 2:


Starting up Drive Away CCA —Winn Roberson 2012 03 06 Part 1 of 2:
No private prison in Lowndes County,
Motorcade against Corrections Corporation of America, Drive Away CCA,
CCA, VLCIA, Corrections Corporation of America, Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority,
Valdosta City Council, Lowndes County Commission, incarceration, prison, private prison,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 March 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

And how he wasn’t opposed to it just because it was down the street from him; also because:

“Every step so far has dollar signs behind it.”
A private prison would give everybody from justices to jailers incentive to keep more people in prison instead of rehabilitating anybody.

Here’s Part 2 of 2: Continue reading →

Video: Drive Away CCA radio (John S. Quarterman interviewed by Chris Beckham)

The motorcade went well and you can still help Drive Away CCA!

Turning radio into TV, here’s LAKE video of Tuesday morning’s interview with Chris Beckham about Drive Away CCA, the motorcade against the private prison. Listen for the mentions of Sheriff Chris Prine (he is opposed to the private prison “I want him in my jail, not a private jail”) Winn Roberson (the motorcade was his idea), Matt Flumerfelt (he filed the open records request that revealed the contracts with the March 13th), Bobbi Anne Hancock (she dug up a history of CCA that reveals problems for many years and she had a very funny interview with VLCIA executive director Andrea Schruijer), George Boston Rhynes (he’s been following incarceration and especially jail issues for many years), and former sheriff and current Lowndes County Commission Chairman Ashley Paulk (he listed a number of hurdles the prison project would have to leap before it could happen), and also the VDT. Too many other people are involved to name here.

Here’s the video:


Video: Drive Away CCA radio (John S. Quarterman interviewed by Chris Beckham)
No private prison in Lowndes County,
Radio WVGA 105.9 FM with Chris Beckham, Drive Away CCA (DAC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 March 2012.
Video by John S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

Audio from WVGA 105.9 Also, audio from WVGA 105.9 is available.

There are plently of things you can still do to help Drive Away CCA:

  • Sign the petition.
  • Speak at the Valdosta City Council meeting Thursday or at the Lowndes County Commission meeting next Tuesday. They’re both implicated in this private prison decision.
  • Write a letter to the editor.
  • I’m sure other people can think of many other things.
CCA cares about “public acceptance of the Company’s services”. If we show enough public opposition, we can Drive Away CCA!

-jsq

Audio of WVGA 105.9 Drive Away CCA Interview

5PM today, Drive Away CCA, from the prison site at East US 84 and Inner Perimeter Road, honk at Valdosta City Hall, and march at the Industrial Authority office.

Chris Beckham’s show has put audio on the web of his interview with me this morning.
Update: Here’s LAKE video of the interview.

John Quarterman, who is with a group informally called “Drive Away CCA” visited The Morning Drive to discuss the group’s displeasure with a possible private prison that is being discussed in Lowndes County. A possible extension for the company to continue its plans here is up for renewal and the group feels its location here would be bad for area businesses and citizens alike.
Follow the link for the audio. Video up shortly.

-jsq

Drive Away CCA Today!

Today at 5PM, help Drive Away CCA! 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.

Here’s the case against a private prison: Continue reading →

Private companies are not subject to sunshine laws —VDT

The VDT reminds us of an important distinction in yesterday’s editorial, 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 →

Georgia takes steps towards more open government; could take more

The state of Georgia may improve open government with HB 397. While the steps it takes are welcome, the bill could go farther.

Kay Harris wrote for the VDT today, Georgia AG works to boost Sunshine Laws, quoting State Attorney General Sam Olens:

“The legislature has given the Attorney General’s office the jurisdiction to enforce the Open Records law and this bill will give us the tools to do so.”

Olens said the AG’s office receives an average of 400 complaints each year of Open Records violations by governmental entities in the state. The bill strengthens penalties and gives the AG more tools to use to prosecute violators.

Subsection 50-14-6 changes the fine for knowingly violating the law from $100 to $1,000 and allows the court to impose a civil penalty as well.

The bill also strengthens the guidelines for posting notices on websites and clarifies the rules for social events that may attract a quorum of officials. Also, destroying public records can be prosecuted as a felony.

The bill ( Here’s HB 397 on the legislature’s website) includes some welcome requirements about meeting times and public records officers having to be posted on a body’s website, but builds in a huge loophole: Continue reading →

CCA Go Away

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.

Lots of clever signs, from the unmistakable:

CCA Go Away
to the symbolic orange jailbirds holding oversize $20 and $100 bills.

Plenty more in their flickr set:

No Prison Here in This Town

Put Residents Before Profit

The Prison is No Longer A Secret

Did You Know?
A Prison is coming to your neighborhood!
Say No to
Corrections Corporation of America
No CCA
If they can do it, we can, too. Come to the prison site Tuesday 5PM to help Drive Away CCA!

-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 →

Tornado damage, Cat Creek and Quarterman Road, Lowndes County, Georgia, 3 March 2012

There was a twister in Lowndes County today. The only property damage we saw was to this house on Cat Creek Road, which now has a pine tree draped across it. The house roof appears undamaged.

There are no reports of anyone being hurt. Everyone is accounted for.

Then the tornado came through the woods to Quarterman Road: Continue reading →

Georgia prison population plummetting

In two years, the legislature went from denial to doing something about the unsupportable costs of Georgia’s prison system. The Georgia prison population is already plumetting, and will drop more. This makes a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia an even worse business deal. If it ever opens, it probably will close.

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 →