The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has rejected an attempt by the parties in a suit against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) to manufacture appellate jurisdiction for an interlocutory appeal from a district court’s grant of partial summary judgment to CCA officials.

David Clos sued CCA officials after suffering discrimination tied to his severe hearing loss. After the district granted partial summary judgment for CCA on some of Clos’s claims, the parties convinced the district court to certify its partial summary judgment order for interlocutory appeal. No explanation was given by the district court for why “no just reason for delay” existed for an immediate appeal.

The Eight Circuit held that the district court had abused its discretion in certifying the case for appeal. There was “no basis for finding Clos will face hardship or injustice by waiting to appeal his remaining claim,” the Eight Circuit wrote. “This case is indistinguishable from any civil rights action where some, but not all, claims are resolved by summary judgment.” The appeal was accordingly dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. See: Clos v. Corrections Corporation of America, 597 F.3d 925 (8th Cir. 2010).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of a nurse at Illinois’ Peoria County Jail (PCJ) who was accused of providing deliberately indifferent medical care to a prisoner.

India Taylor was arrested and taken to the PCJ on October 15, 2003. Taylor, who suffered from congestive heart failure, did not feel well during the booking process. She complained of chest pain and told guards the next morning that she was vomiting and suffering from heroin withdrawal.

Around 9 A.M., Taylor saw Pam Hibbert, a contract nurse at PCJ. Taylor’s blood pressure was up and she continued to complain of nausea. Hibbert, however, sent Taylor back to her cell. Later, during a video bond hearing, Taylor vomited violently. Guards present during the hearing collected Taylor’s vomit and notified Nurse Hibbert.

Rather than see Taylor, Hibbert told guards to have her fill out a sick-call request and she would be seen in the morning. Hibbert was getting off in a few minutes and did not want to take time to deal with Taylor. Besides, Hibbert thought Taylor was faking her illness in order to obtain drugs.

Guards helped Taylor fill out the ...

by Matt Clarke

On August 19, 2010, the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) issued a report concerning the July 30 escape of three prisoners from a privately-operated prison in Kingman, Arizona. The report was highly critical of Management and Training Corporation (MTC), the for-profit firm that runs the Kingman facility.

On the same day the ADC report was released, the last of the three escapees was captured along with an accomplice. Unfortunately, the escapees left behind a deadly trail of crime that included hijacking 18-wheelers, kidnapping, two murders, aggravated assaults and a shootout with police.

The escape from the MTC-operated facility also temporarily suspended Arizona’s efforts to privatize 5,000 more prison beds in the state. [See: PLN, Sept. 2010, p.42].

John Charles McCluskey, 45, was a year into a 15-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder when he convinced his cousin and fiancée, Casslyn Mae Welch, 44, to aid in the escape. Welch approached the prison unnoticed and tossed a pair of bolt cutters over the perimeter fence. McClusky and two other prisoners – Tracy Allen Province, who had served seven years of a life sentence for murder and robbery, and Daniel Renwick, who had served eight years for murder – ...

In a two-week period in July 2010, two doctors employed by Prison Health Services (PHS) were involved in scandals that led one to resign while the other was arrested.

PHS regional medical director Dr. Trevor P. Parks was accused of not being certified to provide healthcare for the 12,000 prisoners covered by a $123 million contract between PHS and the City of New York to supply medical treatment at Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center.

In light of questions concerning his board certification for internal medicine, Parks resigned on July 14, 2010. PLN had previously reported that Dr. Parks operated a PHS subsidiary called PHS Medical Services P.C. that provided healthcare services at Rikers Island – an arrangement that state officials called a sham. [See: PLN, Nov. 2006, p.6]. Dr. Parks said he had resigned to concentrate on his appeal of a recommendation by the American Board of Internal Medicine to suspend his certification.

“They’re just concerned with something that I got caught up in, and I’d really rather not go into it,” he stated. PHS’s contract with the city requires the company’s medical director to be board certified. Until they were notified by a reporter, city health officials, ...

On February 16, 2010, a California U.S. District Court certified a class action lawsuit against Nashville, Tennessee-based private prison transport company TransCor America for transporting prisoners more than 24 continuous hours without giving them an opportunity to rest overnight in a bed.

The class action suit was brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and alleged that TransCor subjected prisoners to cruel and unusual punishment during long journeys exceeding 24 hours by keeping them shackled and in a cage while depriving them of access to regular food, water or toilet facilities, and for failing to allow them to sleep overnight in a bunk. The lawsuit also raises claims under California’s Tom Bane Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civil Code § 52.1. The plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification, which TransCor opposed.

Accepting as true any substantive allegations made in the complaint, the district court held that the requested class of “all pretrial detainees who were transported by TransCor America, LLC, its agents, or employees, and forced to remain in the transport van for more than 24 hours” was too broad. The court limited the claims to pretrial detainees and prisoners who were transported for more than 24 hours from February ...

by Matt Clarke

Municipal bonds have long been considered a safe investment. However, recent defaults on bonds used to pay for the construction of privately-run prisons and jails have investors worried about losing their capital, and towns worried about their ability to raise money through future bond issues.

As far back as 2005, bonds used to finance the West Alabama Youth Services detention facility went into default. Those bonds, which were originally issued at par and yielded a 7.25% return, are currently trading at 9 cents on the dollar.

However, such defaults were rare until recent years. Driving the current wave of bond defaults are unscrupulous businesses that sold small towns on the idea of building privately-operated jails while overstating the need for jail bed space and the potential revenue stream. Some of these private detention facilities were able to buck the recent trend of reductions in state prisoner populations by switching to immigration detention.
However, a speedier deportation process and more stringent standards for immigration facilities have resulted in complications.

For example, the Baker County Development Corporation was created to finance a jail and immigration detention center in north Florida. In 2008, $105 million worth of bonds were issued ...

by David M. Reutter

“Florida’s experience with privatized prisons raises serious questions about whether the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth,” concludes an April 2010 policy brief report released by the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy. The report questions methods used to determine whether private prisons cost less to operate or are more effective at reducing recidivism.

“Between 1989 and 2008, the rate of crime in Florida significantly decreased,” the report states. Violent crime dropped by 41%, property crimes by 46% and the total crime index declined by 46%. Yet the number of Florida’s prisoners grew 108% in comparison to the average 78% rate of prison population growth nationwide over the same time period.
State policymakers, swayed by the potential to save money and reduce recidivism through prison privatization, allowed private companies to manage correctional facilities in Florida. The authorizing statute requires private prisons to operate at a 7% savings over state-run facilities. See: Florida Statutes § 957.07(1).

By 2008, six of Florida’s prisons – Bay, Gadsden, Graceville, Lake City, Moore Haven and South Bay – were operated either by the GEO Group or Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), holding 7,725 state prisoners.

On their face, private prisons ...

Employees of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest for-profit prison company, are public servants within the meaning of Tennessee’s criminal code.

In July 2008, CCA guards David Gilliam and Joe Edward McCown III, who worked at the Hamilton County Workhouse in Chattanooga, were charged with official misconduct and official oppression under T.C.A. §§ 39-16-402 and 39-16-403. However, the trial court granted the guards’ motions to dismiss the charges, agreeing that CCA employees were not “public servants” under Tennessee law.

The state appealed and the Court of Criminal Appeals noted that the issue was one of first impression. “The State, citing Alex Friedmann v. Corrections Corporation of America, No. M2008-01998-COA-R3-CV (Tenn.Ct.App., Nashville, Sept. 16, 2009), perm. app. denied (Tenn. 2010), contends that the defendants are public servants because they are performing a service traditionally entrusted to the government.”

The Court of Criminal Appeals found that the state’s Private Prison Contracting Act “specifically extends the provisions of Code sections 39-16-402 and -403 to employees of private prison contractors,” and that the statute was “unambiguous.”

The Court also agreed “with the court of appeals [in Friedmann] that by operating a correctional facility, a function traditionally performed by the State, CCA and ...

by Matt Clarke

Former New Mexico Corrections Secretary Joe R. Williams did not pursue contractual penalties against Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) or GEO Group despite chronic understaffing by the two private prison companies, which operate four facilities in New Mexico.

GEO and CCA manage prisons for the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) in Hobbs, Grants, Clayton and Santa Rosa. The original decision to allow private firms to operate state prisons was controversial, and recent revelations that the privately-run facilities are chronically understaffed have reignited the debate over privatization.

The NMCD’s contracts call for penalties when staffing vacancies reach 10% for 30 consecutive days. In 2007, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), the budget arm of the state legislature, reported 37% understaffing at the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, angering lawmakers. The staff vacancy rate for July 2010 was 22% at Hobbs and 17%, 14% and 13% at the other privately-operated facilities.

However, Williams declined to seek fines for such contractual noncompliance, instead making excuses for GEO and CCA.

Williams said the private prisons were located in rural areas or small towns where recruiting and retaining staff is difficult. He also claimed the companies were offsetting the vacancies by having ...

On June 7, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Richard Lee Pollard, a prisoner in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at the Taft Correctional Institution (TCI) in California, could assert a Bivens claim against employees of a private prison company.

Pollard overcame various procedural challenges before winning the right to pursue his claim. He had alleged that while incarcerated at TCI, he slipped on a cart left in a doorway and suffered possible fractures of both elbows. Employees of GEO Group, Inc., under contract with the BOP to operate TCI, transferred him to an orthopedic clinic outside the prison. Despite Pollard’s complaints, GEO employees forced him to put his arms through his jumpsuit and to wear a “black box” restraint device on his wrists.

After diagnosing serious injuries to both of his elbows, the outside orthopedists recommend that Pollard’s left elbow be placed in a posterior splint for approximately two weeks. Pollard claimed that his elbow was not put in the proper splint by prison medical staff and that he was unable to feed or bathe himself. He also said he was forced to return to work before his injuries ...