On September 11, 2009, Iraqi citizens, Haidar Muhsin Saleh and Ilam Nassir Ibrahim, lost their appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit in regard to lawsuits filed against two private military contractors. The two men represented a group of plaintiffs who alleged they or their relatives were subjected to various abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison complex in Iraq by employees of Titan Corporation and CACI International.

The district court granted summary judgment to Titan due to the federal preemption of the state tort claims. Summary judgment was denied, however, to CACI. These rulings were based on the court's determination that Titan's employees were "fully integrated into [their] military units" with which they functioned as "soldiers in all but name." The CACI employees, on the other hand, ostensibly retained some measure of autonomy, as evidenced by the dual chain of command they were subject to.

On appeal, the D.C. Circuit questioned the extent to which the CACI employees were under the "operational control" of the military and determined that although the employees received "advice and feedback" from CACI, they were "melded into a military mission" that would entitle them to the same summary judgment granted Titan. Therefore, the district court's ...

by Matt Clarke

In September 2009, Alaskan officials denied a protest filed by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which was the final hurdle before awarding Cornell Corrections of Alaska (a subsidiary of Cornell Corrections) a contract worth $19,446,000 to house up to 900 Alaskan prisoners in an out-of-state private prison.

CCA had held the contract since 1994 and was paid $20,669,000 last year to house Alaskan prisoners at its Red Rock Correctional Center in Arizona. In December 2009, the 770 prisoners at Red Rock were transported to Cornell’s new l,250-bed Hudson Correctional Facility in Colorado.

Cornell’s subsidiary received special bidding preference because it was an Alaska-based company. CCA had bid $18,724,000 per year for the three-year contract, and filed a protest against awarding the contract to Cornell Alaska because it had used its Texas-based parent company as the qualified service provider. CCA claimed that Cornell Alaska, which manages Alaskan halfway houses, would not otherwise have had the requisite experience to perform under the contract. CCA also maintained that if Cornell Alaska had to depend on its parent company, then it was no longer entitled to preference as an Alaskan company and CCA’s low bid should have won. Alaska’s Department of ...

The Ninth Circuit held on Oct. 30, 2009 that the Receiver appointed by a federal court to oversee delivery of medical care to prisoners in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) was not immune from an official-capacity lawsuit for damages. The lawsuit alleged that the Receiver had breached a contract with Medical Development International (MDI), a Florida-based company that provided medical services at two CDCR prisons but did not get paid for much of its work.

Responding to what it characterized as an “unconscionable degree of suffering and death,” in June 2005 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California established a receivership to overhaul the delivery of medical services to CDCR prisoners. [See: PLN, Mar. 2006, p.1]. The court subsequently entered a separate order authorizing the CDCR to contract with third-party medical service providers without competitive bidding.

In that context the CDCR entered into a relationship with MDI, and, despite the absence of a finalized negotiated contract, permitted the company to provide services at two facilities – the California State Prison in Los Angeles and the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi.

Later, when the CDCR became concerned that MDI was not licensed to practice medicine ...

On October 1, 2009, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) entered into a consent decree with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to settle allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation involving female employees at the company’s Crowley County Correctional Facility (CCCF) in Colorado.

In September 2006, the EEOC filed a lawsuit ...

by David M. Reutter, Gary Hunter & Brandon Sample

Prison food. The very words conjure images of unidentifiable mystery meat, chili-mac, watery oatmeal and creamed chipped beef – the latter being commonly, though not very appetizingly, known as “shit on a shingle” in jailhouse parlance.

Before someone goes to prison or jail, what they eat is usually taken for granted. But behind bars, food becomes a serious issue. With the trend towards privatizing prison food services, plus economic pressures on state and local governments, there are growing concerns as to whether prisoners are receiving nutritionally adequate diets.

When confronted with jail or prison cuisine, prisoners have only three options: eating what is served or buying overpriced food items from the institutional canteen or commissary, assuming they have sufficient funds, or stealing prison food and preparing it themselves. Most prisons and jails use a rotating menu for their meals, with the same foods being served on a regular cycle. Others plan meals according to whatever foodstuffs can be purchased at the lowest price.

Over the past decade, prison and jail officials have been turning to private for-profit companies to cut the cost of feeding prisoners. Leading the way in contracted food ...

Oklahoma judges are pushing for larger fines imposed on criminal defendants to compensate for a shortfall in courthouse budgets.

The downturn in the economy has affected almost everyone, and the courts are no exception. Judges in Oklahoma have seen a 7 percent decrease in state funding for court operations. To deal with that shortfall, they are being encouraged to increase financial penalties and not forgive court costs. Further, offenders who receive probation are being required to pay larger fines.

The push to increase fines and ensure collection of court costs is being spearheaded by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. During workshops sponsored by the Supreme Court, judges have been encouraged to get “defendants to pay their fines, fees, and costs by credit card,” and to reject plea agreements that include low fines.

“I would suggest to you that a plea bargain that does not take into consideration the court which must accept it, ratify it and enforce it is one that should be looked at askance,” Chief Justice James E. Edmondson told judges in a pre-recorded video during the workshops.

Even crime victims are being put at the back of the line. During one workshop, judges were told they should reject ...

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest private prison company, has lost or terminated contracts totaling 9,754 prison beds within an 18-month period, and is expected to lose at least 1,536 more contract beds by the end of this calendar year.

CCA announced on January 21, 2010 that based on the State of Arizona’s proposed budget, the company would lose its contracts to house Arizona prisoners at the company’s 752-bed Huerfano County Correctional Center in Colorado and its 2,160-bed Diamondback Correctional Facility in Oklahoma. Last year, CCA generated about $56.5 million in revenue from those contracts.

It has since been confirmed that the Huerfano contract, which expires in March 2010, will not be renewed; on March 4, CCA announced that the Diamondback facility would close within 60 days. Arizona officials have said they intend to return all of their prisoners from out-of-state facilities.

On January 13, 2010, CCA announced that the federal Bureau of Prisons had not renewed its contract to house prisoners at the company’s 2,304-bed California City Correctional Center. The contract, estimated at $553 million over ten years, instead went to competitor Cornell Corrections.

Previously, Alaska removed approximately 770 of its prisoners from CCA’s Red Rock facility ...

Morgan County, Missouri was in dire financial straits before contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house immigration detainees at the county’s jail. For a while things were great – Sheriff Jim Petty replaced his worn-out police cruisers with new SUVs, upgraded the local jail and hired more deputies with funds received under the ICE contract.

Ten years ago Morgan County was having budget problems. “We needed a way to generate income,” said Petty. That’s when the county went into the ICE detainee lock-up business. “It wasn’t hitting the jackpot ... but [the contract has] given us a little freedom to operate the way we ought to be,” he stated.

ICE paid the county $65 per day per prisoner, as opposed to the $45 per day paid by surrounding counties. However, with the contract came obligations. For example, ICE required upgrades such as a recreation area, a dietician and a full-time nurse. Further, the county spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to expand its jail by 130 new beds.

The facility averaged 45 ICE detainees a day in 2008 and netted $1.1 million in profit. But things have since changed. The detainee population has dropped to an average ...

When Brett A. Fields entered Florida’s Lee County Jail to be booked on charges of criminal mischief, violating an injunction and probation violation, he was a healthy 26-year-old man. Within a month, according to a subsequent lawsuit, he was paralyzed due to grossly inadequate medical care by Prison Health Services (PHS).

Several days after being booked into the jail in July 2007, Fields requested medical attention for a wound on his left arm. A PHS nurse observed a red, swollen and pus-filled boil that she identified as a furuncle – a boil caused by staphylococci. She treated it with Bactrim, an antibiotic.

Two weeks later the boil had not healed. Fields requested medical care via an “Inmate Medical Request Form,” which was ignored by PHS and jail staff. In early August 2007, he began suffering from severe back pains, difficulty walking, numbness, weakness in his lower extremities and other symptoms. His pleas for medical treatment on August 6 were ignored, even though he stated he was having difficulty moving and had not urinated in days.

The next evening, Fields was finally examined by a PHS nurse. He explained his infection history and symptoms. The nurse arranged for him to see ...

In June 2009, a District of Columbia jail sergeant and two lieutenants were placed on paid leave during an investigation into allegations that the sergeant paid a pimp to have sex with a jailed prostitute. One of the lieutenants was later fired for unrelated reasons.

Jessica Rubio, 32, is a self-described prostitute and drug addict. She was arrested for prostitution and incarcerated at the Correctional Treatment Center annex of the D.C. Jail in Washington, D.C. when corrections counselor Sgt. Aundra Powell allegedly paid her pimp $50 to have sex with her. The pimp gave Rubio a receipt, which she showed to Powell. Powell then reportedly took Rubio to a satellite kitchen and had sex with her. This occurred four times.

Rubio was released, but re-arrested and again convicted of prostitution in June 2009. At that time, D.C. Department of Corrections investigators questioned her about her relationship with Powell. After she told them about the paid sexual encounters, she was transferred to the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Virginia.

Powell, assistant shift supervisor Lt. Ricardo Rich and an unidentified substance abuse counselor were immediately placed on paid leave. Rich was fired for unrelated reasons in June 2009. The Treatment Center is managed ...