{"id":1521,"date":"2011-09-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-11T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/if-public-prisons-are-bad-what-about-private-prisons.html"},"modified":"2011-09-11T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-11T12:00:00","slug":"if-public-prisons-are-bad-what-about-private-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/if-public-prisons-are-bad-what-about-private-prisons.html","title":{"rendered":"If public prisons are bad, what about private prisons?"},"content":{"rendered":"If the VDT can’t get a public prison already in Lowndes County\nto comply with Georgia’s quite strong open records law even with\nyears of requests,\nwhy would we want a private prison in Lowndes County, which wouldn’t\nhave any open records requirements at all?\n

\nDean Poling and Kay Harris wrote a long article about\nweapons in prisons for the VDT 28 August 2011,\n\nAn eye for an eye: Life behind bars<\/a>,\nconcluding:\n

\n\n<\/a>\nInmates are intelligent. All they have is time. Why? Because there is no\nrehabilitation anymore. They are merely being housed. The prison programs\ndon’t work, especially for lifers with nothing else to lose. So they\nhave plenty of time to figure out ways to beat the system.\n<\/blockquote>\nThe VDT has been trying to find out more since at least 2009,\nwhen Malynda Fulton wrote 9 November 2009,\n\nDepartment of Corrections says records are \u2018state secrets\u2019 or destroyed<\/a>,\n\n\n
\nInformation regarding the violent attacks at Valdosta State Prison\nremains guarded, with no records made available by the Georgia Department\nof Corrections.\n

\nAccess to documents pertaining to the 2007 attack of former Valdosta\nState Prison correctional officer William Bond through an Open Records\nrequest has been denied by the Department of Corrections, which indicated\nthat this incident was part of an internal investigation.\n

\n\u201cInternal Investigations have been declared privileged and confidential\nstate secrets, as a matter of law, Official Code of Georgia Annotated\nSection 42-5-36(b), and, therefore, pursuant to Official Code of\nGeorgia Annotated Section 50-18-70(b), said records are exempt from\nbeing open to inspection under the Open Records Act,\u201d Rhoda McCabe,\nsenior assistant counsel at the Georgia Department of Corrections\u2019\nlegal office, explained.\n

\nIn response to a request for documents pertaining to the July 2005 and\nJune 2006 attacks of former officer William Lewis, the Valdosta State\nPrison advised McCabe that records concerning the July 2005 incident have\nbeen destroyed. McCabe stated that copies of the incident report from\nthe June 2006 have been forwarded to the Department of Corrections\u2019\nlegal office and will be made available. The Times continues to await\nthis information.\n<\/blockquote>\nRecords privileged, confidential, destroyed, or just never made available.\nBy the same Department of Corrections that\n\nwants to privatize Georgia prisons.<\/a>\n

\nAh, even longer than that, said Kay Harris 17 July 2011 in\n\nTimes makes another request for info on violent incidents at Valdosta State Prison<\/a>,\n

\nNumerous incidents of violence inside Valdosta State Prison (VSP) have prompted an investigation by The Times, the third such investigation in the last four years.\n<\/blockquote>\nDOC did come up with yet another excuse:\n
\nThe DOC provided information to The Times this week with answers to some,\nbut not all, of the questions posed in the most recent Open Records filing\non June 10. The DOC is restricted by HIPPAA (Health Insurance Portability\nand Accountability Act) laws, which makes it illegal for the state to\nrelease information related to medical treatment of an inmate unless\nthe injuries are fatal, in which case records can be released post mortem.\n<\/blockquote>\nHIPAA is generally a good thing, but after all the other excuses,\none has to wonder whether that’s DOC’s real reason for not wanting\nto release information.\n

\nOK, now look at what happened in Florida, which is ahead even of Georgia\non the prison privatization path.\nBy Steve Bousquet, wrote for the Tampa Bay Times 1 September 2011,\n\nA cautionary tale about private prison shift<\/a>,\n

\nA citizen walks into a prison and says, Hello, I’d like to look at the\nvisitors’ sign-in log, which is a public record under state law.\n

\nNo, a prison official says.\n

\nThings rapidly go downhill from there. Police are called, the citizen is\ngiven a trespass warning notice and now the citizen has filed a lawsuit,\nclaiming his constitutional rights were trampled upon.\n<\/blockquote>\nThat’s right, he didn’t even ask to see records about inmate violence,\nor guard corruption, or expenditures.\nHe asked to see the visitors’ sign-in log.\nAnd for that they called the police on him.\n

\nThis is even though Florida has a law that says:\n

\n“Any person shall have the right of access to public records for the\npurpose of making photographs of the record while such record is in the\npossession, custody, and control of the custodian of public records.”\n<\/blockquote>\nWho runs that prison?\n
\nMoore Haven’s warden, Laura Bedard, referred questions to CCA\ncorporate headquarters in Nashville. “This was not a typical public\nrecords request,” CCA spokesman Steve Owen said. “They came in with\na videocamera.”\n<\/blockquote>\nWell, that’s an excuse DOC hasn’t used on the VDT yet, but DOC is\nprobably taking notes.\n

\nApparently \n‘Florida is one of two states that requires private prison operators to\ncomply with public records laws (called the “sunshine law” in the state),\nbecause it has determined they perform an inherently governmental\nfunction.’<\/a>\n

\nSomebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Georgia\nis the other state, so in Georgia private prisons aren’t even\nrequired to provide what would be open records for a public prison.\nAnd we see how well public prisons comply with Georgia’s open records laws.\n

\nAnd remember there is\n\nno federal requirement for open records about private prisons.<\/a>\n

\nThe CCA that called the cops on a citizen for requesting an open record\nis the same CCA that wants to build a private prison in Lowndes County,\nGeorgia.\nSpend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education instead.\n

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