Tag Archives: private prison

Industrial Authority meeting cancelled

Can’t recall this happening before,

but according to their meetings page:



Notice: The Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority Regular Meeting
scheduled Tuesday, February 21, 2012 has been CANCELED due to a scheduling
conflict and lack of a quorum. The rescheduled date and time of the
meeting to be determined.

Several times they’ve moved a regular meeting to a different date,
and often they’ve held special called meetings, but I don’t recall
them outright cancelling a meeting.

And so many of us were going to go see them….

You can still sign
the petition against CCA’s private prison.

-jsq

FL Gov. Scott doesn’t care what the FL Senate thinks about private prisons

Governor Scott doesn’t care what

Florida legislature voted. Wonder if he owns CCA stock.
-gretchen

David Royse wrote for the News Service of Florida yesterday,

Scott Will Explore Ways to Privatize Prisons without Law Change,



Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday he will explore opportunities to
privatize state prisons on his own following the Senate’s defeat of
a bill that would have required some prisons be bid out to private
companies.

Speaking to reporters Thursday morning after a public event on
insurance fraud, Scott acknowledged that initially he didn’t
consider privatizing prisons a priority, but was disappointed the
Senate voted down a bill that would have done that, and said he’ll
explore what many backers of the Senate plan said was a possibility
that the governor could order privatization unilaterally.

The irony:

Scott pointed out that there are fewer inmates than anticipated and that
it didn’t make sense to spend state dollars on half-full prisons.

Maybe nobody told Gov. Scott CCA wants
guaranteed 90% occupancy.

More irony:

Continue reading →

What kind of local government body gives a private company “absolute discretion”?

Continuing my response to

Barbara Stratton’s post:
if public-private partnerships are the aspect of private prisons that you oppose,
by all means oppose them for that.
Did you catch this part in

VLCIA’s recent response?

CCA has absolute discretion in issuing or withholding the NTP.

What kind of local government body gives a private company “absolute discretion”
on whether to proceed with a project?


What happened to those appointed officials’ own discretion as to the
appropriateness of a project for the community?
What if their due diligence turns up something unacceptable?
For example, that CCA told Decatur County that

both Lowndes and Decatur are getting a private prison (one state and one federal),
so the guff CCA told VLCIA about Lowndes being the primary site was disingenuous at best.
How about if

CCA has already breached the contract
by not supplying a required document?
How about if VLCIA receives

convincing arguments from the community
that a private prison is a bad business deal?

Indeed,

disaster capitalism or the shock doctrine
is nothing like the capitalism Adam Smith recommended.
The main point of the

petition against CCA’s private prison in Lowndes County is that
it’s a bad business deal: it wouldn’t save money; it wouldn’t increase employment;
and it would be likely to close, leaving us all owing money.

Did the Valdosta City and Lowndes County elected governments appoint these people
to abdicate their authority to a private company?
Maybe they did, since

those elected officials are in cahoots on this deal.
CCA lauded them all for their support after VLCIA signed the contract with that
“absolute discretion” language in it.
Does that seem right to you?



Florida has just demonstrated that

people of all parties can
join together successfully to oppose prison privatization.
Let’s do that right here in Lowndes County and stop the private prison!

-jsq

The good old boy system, legalized, subsidized, & on steroids —Barbara Stratton

Received yesterday on

CCA offers to buy prisons from 48 states. -jsq

As always, LAKE is doing a fantastic job of uncovering the shadows.


However, please note there is a difference in capatalism & crony
capitalism. Liberals have their fair share of the crony variety also
AKA Soros & Monsanto, GM,etc. Free enterprise & capitalism is why
our borders are being crossed legally & illegally, but crony
capitalism will destroy us. If the government chooses to privatize
there should be clear total delineation between them & the private
business, not fascist public/private partnerships like CCA is
courting. We need to resist P3s totally, but they are being welcomed
with multi grant incentives & blessings of the Dept of Community
Development & its Chamber of Commerce conduits. We are on the same
team always for transparency in government & we can be on the same
team against CCA if we focus on fighting the 3P concept.

Just a reminder, I used to work for CCA & I still love to see bad
men in shackles (emphasis on bad). I don’t share most of what I call
simplistic liberal views on prison reform, but I am certainly with
you against crony capitalism especially the public/private
partnership variety. As I’ve said before they are just the good old
boy system, legalized, subsidized, & on steroids.

-Barbara Stratton

Barbara,

Thanks for the compliments, and we’re going to get you carrying a camera yet….
See

next post for the rest of my response.

-jsq

There are some things only government should do: FL Senate ends prison privatization

There are just some things that only government should do.
And jailing for profit is not the public good.
That’s what the Florida Senate decided Tuesday,
ending an attempt to legislate privatization of prisons.

David Royse in wctv.tv yesterday,

Florida Senate Kills Prison Privatization,

A bipartisan coalition of senators bucked the chamber’s Republican


leadership Tuesday and rejected a proposal to privatize several
prisons, but got warnings from leaders that it will have a cost in
further budget cuts.

In a dramatic showdown with Senate President Mike Haridopolos and
three other top leaders one of whom controls the Senate’s budget,
one who controls the calendar and one who will be the next president
opponents of the bill managed to kill it on a 19-21 vote.

The odd coalition that lined up against the bill included Republican
populists who have become occasional mavericks, Democrats and some
members of the GOP caucus that almost always vote with their party,
but come from areas laden with corrections officers who opposed the
idea.

Private prison proponents tried to sell it as cost savings.
If prison privatization really does save money, why did the
legislature previously try to hide it in a general budget bill,
which was

thrown out by a judge back in September?

This time, senators weren’t buying that baloney.

Continue reading →

“I want him in my jail, not a private jail.” —Sheriff Chris Prine

Last week Sheriff Chris Prine volunteered his opinion of private prisons:

You were talking about the private jail system.
I’d like to voice my opinion of that.
The private jail from our study so far, the cost….
I’m going to use a figure of around 800 inmates;
we’re pretty close to 900 in our jail now.
We figure around maybe $36 a day to feed the inmate,
counting of course the food and our employment.

And looking at the private jail sector.
And of course I’m responsible for the inmate whether he is in a private
jail or in my jail.
If I’m going to be responsible for that inmate, I want him here;
I want him in my jail, not a private jail.

[applause]

Another thing is the cost factor.

Continue reading →

CCA offers to buy prisons from 48 states

Desperation or disaster capitalism by CCA?
Trying to get as entrenched as possible before more people catch
on that private prisons

don’t save money for states?

Andrew Jones wrote for Raw Story yesterday,

Private prison company offers to buy 48 states’ prisons

In exchange for keeping at least a 90 percent occupancy rate, the
private prison company Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has
sent a letter to 48 states offering to manage their prisons for the


low price of $250 million per year, according to a letter obtained
by the Huffington Post.

The company says it’s a way for states to help manage their current
budget crisis. “We believe this comes at a timely and helpful
juncture and hope you will share our belief in the benefits of the
purchase-and-manage model,” CCA chief corrections officer
Harley Lappin said in the letter.

What does CCA

want in return?

…a 20-year management contract, plus an assurance that the prison
would remain at least 90 percent full….

So if a state,
such as Georgia,

was thinking of sentencing reform,
or of getting on with decriminalizing drugs,
either would become quite difficult after signing such contracts.

Here’s
CCA’s offer letter, complete with a blank to fill in for the state.

Maybe CCA is realizing that it’s coming to the end of its rope
on its old tricks, such as these, pointed out by

Chris Kirkham in HufffintongPost yesterday,

Continue reading →

Has CCA already breached the private prison agreement with VLCIA?

And also in

her recent response about the Notice to Proceed (NTP),
VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer
didn’t answer the other question, which was
whether VLCIA had received the Preliminary Specifications
(
see section 1.6.1)
that appear to have been due at least half a year ago,
according to the Development Schedule in Schedule 1.6.2 of the Agreement.
Without those Preliminary Specifications,
maybe CCA has already breached the contract.


She copied VLCIA’s attorney.
Probably he could interpret the termination clauses of the contract that way….

-jsq

Third extension option offered by VLCIA to CCA for private prison?

Update: Andrea Schruijer’s answer of 21 February 2012.

Also in

her recent response about the Notice to Proceed (NTP),
VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer
she didn’t mention this paragraph:

5.1.2. Expiration. If the Company has not issued the NTP by the expiration
of the Term of the Option Agreement, then this Agreement shall expire
and terminate, without any further liability on the part of any Party
to the other, except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement.

The current, second, extension term

expires 13 March 2012,


one month from Monday.
If there’s no NTP and no third extension before then, there’s no private prison
(see 5.1.2).

So has VLCIA sent CCA

terms for a third extension option?
If not, this thing may be over in a month and a few days.
If yes, what are those terms?

-jsq

Development Schedule for CCA and VLCIA private prison

In

her recent response about the Notice to Proceed (NTP),
VLCIA Executive Director Andrea Schruijer


cited and paraphrased paragraph 1.6.2 of the

Purchase and Development Agreement.
The same paragraph points out the Development Schedule is already in
the Agreement, as Schedule 1.6.2.

The Development Schedule contains, among other things, milestones
for the work and assignments of responsibility to the Parties for
the attainment of certain milestones.

Here it is:


So it’s not clear why she said CCA hadn’t provided a Development Schedule.

-jsq